• Published 15th Jun 2014
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Avatar: The Last Alicorn. Book 3: Unicorn - Jeweled Pen



Third book in the MLP Avatar the last airbender saga. Twilight must face off against the seemingly invincible Water Nation, and its ruler Nightmare Moon. Can she harness and use the elements in time to defeat her greatest enemy?

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Chapter 7: Doubts

Sweetie groaned as she awoke in her bed. A strange sensation made her look down, something scaly and sharp was poking into her stomach. With a start, she remembered what it was and sat up quickly. Spike was laying with his back to her, gently suckling on one of his claws. She had to suppress the urge to yell 'd'awwwww' at the sight, for fear of waking him from his adorable little nap.

She slowly opened her door and stifled a yawn. The halls were empty, as she'd expected, so she slid out and gently closed the door. She then turned and began trotting down the halls, her head held high. It wasn't too early, though the castle was nowhere near in full swing yet. She entered the dining room and let out a sigh. Her mother, of course, sat at the head seat, surrounded by unicorns. They were all discussing with each other, until she stepped inside and they all fell silent.

The mare's eyes tinted green for a second, anger billowing up in her at her mother's lack of trust. After all, SHE was the one who'd amassed the forces needed to finally end this war! SHE was the one who'd taken down Fillydelphia. SHE was the future Nightmare Moon! However, the eyes slowly dimmed. Her mother had already promised that both she, and her sister, would be able to rule the world once their mother had finished all the preparations, taken Discord's power and then finally passed on. Even if she wanted to smack the haughty mare out of her chair, she knew she stood no chance against her mother. Instead, she enjoyed her little fantasies.

She couldn't wait until the current Nightmare Moon was no more. Despite her mother's words, she had a feeling the old hag still didn't trust Rarity. She fantasized many times of slapping sense into the old cow. Worst yet, even if she had even a small chance of defeating the elder mare, her sister would be horrified. So, instead she just trotted forward and took a seat, smiling gently to the ponies. “Good evening. A wonderful day, is it not?”

“Indeed,” Nightmare Moon said, green eyes descending on her daughter and causing the mare to shiver.

“What are you all discussing? More war plans?”

“Just ancient history. Nothing you need concern yourself with, daughter.” The elder mare said, her face blank and emotionless. “Though, I do think you'll want this.” A small envelope fluttered out from her mane and was dropped in front of her daughter. “It arrived this morning, from your flightless friend.”

Sweetie cocked an eye, the description not really giving her much to work with. She pulled the letter open and quickly read through it, before gasping. “If I may be excused.” Her hooves trembled, though she tried to suppress them.

“As you wish.”

The unicorn jumped to her hooves and galloped away, leaving the ruler to discuss affairs with her guests.

------

“Okay, that's far enough,” Applejack said, before thrusting her hooves down and making the ground shake. The sun stood high in the sky over them and they were no longer moving along the rocky shores, but instead traveling through lush fields of tall green grass and the occasional tree. She motioned to one such tree with a smile. “We'll get some rest in the shade before movin' on.”

Twilight quickly objected. “But what about--”

“We all got a buncha Water Nation clothin' on. Well, at least from that place. The tree will cover us from above an' the grass around here is so tall, unless somepony comes an' walks on top of us, ain't no way they'll be able tah find us. We've also all been up all night an' ah don't plan tah be up all day. If yah want, ah can make us a lil tunnel tah rest in, but ah'm puttin' mah hoof down an' gettin' some rest.”

The avatar slowly nodded her head. “Okay... I see. You're right. We can't run forever and...” she glanced up. “I haven't seen any patrolling pegasi in hours, so they probably don't come this far inland.”

“Heh. I'd almost be thankful they have so much territory now,” Rainbow said with a snicker. “Makes sneaking in super easy. Just goes to show you how short term these water ponies think. They'd need something really powerful to control all their territory at this point.” She smirked and gave a haughty chuckle.

“Like Discord's magic?” Twilight asked with a sigh.

“Touche...” the pegasus said nervously, the smirk disappearing. Applejack stomped her foot, lowering the ground around the tree so when they laid down, it would truly be near impossible to find them. With tired, aching bones, the five collapsed under it and soon, most of them drifted to sleep.

Except for Twilight. Once the other seemed to be asleep, she slowly got up and moved to Fluttershy, nudging her with a hoof. “Fluttershy? Are you awake?” she whispered.

“Hmmm? What is it, Twilight?” the pegasus asked softly, blinking the short amount of sleep from her eyes.

“Can you look at my legs? I was running around a lot yesterday and they've been getting worse and worse. I didn't want to say anything in front of the others while we were on the run, but...”

Fluttershy slowly nodded and sat up. She placed a hoof on the leg, before flushing. “O-oh. Right, I-I can't do that any more. Ummm, hold on.” With a soft sigh, she gripped the leg in her hooves, and gently began moving it around, asking how the avatar felt with each movement. She hung her head when she was done. “It's just a minor sprain. If you don't put too much pressure on it for a few days, it should be fine.” She reached into her small satchel and pulled out a vial filled with orange liquid. “This will make it heal faster. So long as you don't fight, you'll be fine.”

“Thanks,” the alicorn said, before downing the tonic and walking back to her resting spot to collapse. Fluttershy watched the mare with sad eyes.

She slowly looked to Angel, who was pulling on her mane. “It's fine. I'm just... worried.”

The bunny patted her head and looked up with worried eyes.

“It's... I'm just afraid I'll end up holding them back. I mean... I could have healed that pulled muscle in seconds before I... before I lost my bending.”

Angel's eyes widened.

“No! I-I don't, I'd never regret it! Saving Twilight wasn't just the right thing, it was the only thing I could do. I couldn't have lived with any other choice. I'd have given up all my powers a dozen times over to save her!” The pegasus lowered her head and sighed sadly. “But... now I don't know what I can do. I can't fight, I can't heal, I can't do anything but get in the way. Maybe I should just... run off, leave them to their fighting. Or find them a real healer. Maybe I should have let Spitfire come, she'd have been both a better healer and a fighter.”

The bunny hopped off her arm and landed on top of her small bag of herbs and remedies, tapping on it with a firm foot.

Fluttershy smiled in appreciation. “Oh, I... I know I can still help. But there's so little time. I used to be able to heal the toughest of sprains in seconds. Now if anypony gets hurt, it can take days, possibly weeks. We... don't have that time now. Look at Twilight, she needs to practice but it'll be days before she can again. We need everything to be fast.” She sighed again. “Not to mention, broken bones would take ages to heal without bending.” She thought about Rainbow's broken wings, so long ago. She couldn't imagine how long they'd take to fix now.

Angel humphed and crossed his widdle arms, before jumping onto her arm again and poking at her throat.

“W-what?” She flushed a little and nodded. “I... I guess you're right. They still might need my element. Who knows what could happen if we weren't all there when Twilight tries to... force them?”

The bunny nodded, before sitting down and staring up at her.

“You're right, I know. I'm just... worried. I don't want to hold anypony back and cause us to fail. I... I don't think I could live with that.” A shiver went down her back. “Though... I guess I likely wouldn't have to worry about living with it.”

The bunny patted her nose, drawing another smile from her. She gently laid down again, pulling him tight to her and closing her eyes. “Thank you, Angel. I don't know what I'd do without you.”

Angel rolled his eyes and dropped off to sleep besides her.

------

Rarity was awoken by another pounding on the door, forcing her to sit up from her rested position, collapsed over her papers on the desk. “H-huh? What?”

“Sister? It's me!”

The elder princess blinked a few times, before looking at herself in the mirror. Her eyes bulged in horror at the sight that greeted her. She had bags under her bloodshot eyes. Her hair was a frizzled mess and her face had ink all over it. “Huh? S-sweetie? What is it?”

“Let me in! We need to talk!”

Rarity sighed and considered leaving the door locked. Then alarm shot through her and she instantly unlocked the door and turned to her little sister. “W-what is it? Is it about.. err...” She waited for her sister to charge in and slam the door, before finishing her sentence. “Spike? Is he okay?”

“What? Yeah, he's fine. He's not the problem, look!” The smaller unicorn thrust a letter forward, nearly knocking Rarity out of her chair. The elder sister took it and slowly began reading. After a few moments she sighed.

“So? Scootaloo will be fine. The Shadowbolts wouldn't send her to recruit ponies if they didn't have the situation under control. This isn't all you came to bother me about, is it?” The dread began to wash away, replaced with annoyance.

“Well... sorta. I just thought that maybe... we should go with her? We could bring Spike and--”

“If we brought Spike and he was discovered, mother would have him skinned.” She shivered. “Literally.” She glanced down at her sister and smiled, drawing the mare in for a hug. “However, that is quite generous of you. Offering to take him to his home like that. It's best he doesn't know, though.”

Sweetie sighed, but slowly nodded. “I guess. So... ummm... what happened to your face?”

Rarity cringed, and decided to just yawn rather than answer. “I'll be down for breakfast soon. Go keep mother company, okay?” she growled before pushing the mare out the door. Once she was alone again, she sighed. She moved to the mirror and stared at herself, unease rising in her stomach. It could be the Shadowbolts were looking for more recruits, but what if it was something else? All those rocks were being delivered from that country, what if the two were connected? What if the Shadowbolts were involved in whatever plan her mother had?

If they were, that meant both the unicorns and the pegasi were working together. If the earth ponies weren't involved, did that mean it was something aimed at hurting and destroying them? She grabbed a cloth and dampened it, before wiping at her face. What if it was some arcane ritual and the earth ponies were being set up as the sacrifice? She'd heard of death magic before, but even the cruelest of the Water Nation rulers and generals had been unwilling to touch such things since long before even her mothers birth.

Was it possible she was just being paranoid? Maybe the Shadowbolts were just that desperate. It made sense. With the percentages of the Water Nation shifting so heavily in the non-benders favor, a special unit of pegasi might no longer be required, even desired, with so many earth ponies and normal pegasi to take their place. If they fell out of favor with her mother, chances are they wouldn't be able to crawl back out anymore. The stars knew that the ponies from the Fire Tribes would jump at the chance of all those special privileges. Even if her mother had always looked down on earth ponies, Sweetie had no such judgments and her results couldn't be argued with.

She groaned and lowered her head. All this random plotting was giving her a headache. All she really knew was her mother was bringing in rocks and unicorns, probably something to do with Discord. Binding him, possibly. All the unicorns being gathered to the inner reaches of the kingdom could even be her mother's hateful reproach towards the non-benders. Keeping all the other races outside the kingdom, or at least the majority, could show them that, even though they had helped with the war, they still weren't seen as valuable enough.

She put a hoof to her forehead and groaned, a light pounding forming between her eyes. She wished she could get just a few hours of sleep, that would be all she needed. All she wanted. She knew she could think clearly, figure everything out, if she could just sleep. A part of her blamed Spike. The princess hadn't had any trouble sleeping before his arrival. It was only once she woke him up, somehow, that she'd had all these nightmares coming up. Having been reminded of the avatar and her possible survival.

Guilt filled her stomach and she shook her head. No, it wasn't the dragon's fault. He was just a baby and blaming him for something he had no control over wouldn't just be unkind, it would be cruel. For all the trepidation and unease she felt, his must have been a hundred times worse considering he was sleeping in the capital of his worst enemy. Surrounded on all sides by ponies who would happily skin him alive for a place of honor at her mother's hooves. Not to mention the ones who wouldn't let him die, at least quickly. A shiver ran down her spine as she thought about the myths she'd heard of dragon soup.

She pushed off from her desk, only taking a few seconds to partially straighten her hair and make herself presentable. She forced a smile and headed to the door. Well, she'd best get breakfast over with, before she passed out on her work again. Hopefully, today would be quiet. She wasn't sure she'd be able to endure whatever parties were taking place today.

------

“We're here!” Twilight said happily, looking down at the clear, blue water. The lake was beautiful, though shallow and small, clear enough to see to the bottom. It was surrounded by rolling hills and mountains, though they had seen plenty of both the farther they had come. The highest even had snow near the tips, though most were now empty of the frozen water, much of it having melted and slid down to gather in the natural bowl.

“It seems a bit... small, don'tcha think?” Applejack asked, cocking an eye. It looked barely big enough to hold ten of them, easily dwarfed by all the hills and mountains.

“Nonsense,” the avatar said with a shake of her head. “There's mountains and hills over here, just like on the map. It's probably just shrunk due to all the heat. This has to be the lake. Now we just need to--”

Rainbow froze and pointed. “Do... do you see that?”

Twilight blinked and stared across the water. For a few moments she didn't see it at all. Then she began to notice one of the large rocks on the opposite shore was quite oddly shaped. Though it blended in with the dirt, she began to make out hooves, a head and even a mane, all the same color as its coat. It wasn't moving though, laying on the ground. They stared for a moment, before Fluttershy took to the air and flew to the ponies side. The action of the mare shook the others back to their senses and they galloped after her.

“What's wrong? What happened? Is it one of the Water Nation?” Rainbow asked, glaring down at the pony.

“I-I don't know...” Fluttershy whispered. She gently nudged the pony, before quickly stumbling back as the pony groaned. It didn't make any more moves, so she slowly moved forward and nudged the pony over.

Twilight gasped at the sight before her. Its underbelly was rubbed raw, though covered in a thick layer of dirt like the rest of it. Parts of the flesh she could see had purple splotches and its tongue was revealed when it opened its mouth, a sickly green color. Its coat and body were strange, they seemed to be melted and fuzed together at points. She couldn't even identify its gender. The ground nearby and leading to it was torn and gouged, where the pony had rubbed its body raw against it. Weak, agonized eyes opened, revealing bloodshot, cloudy irises.

“What happened to you?” Fluttershy asked, gently.

“Gggg... W-water...” the pony asked softly. Fluttershy nodded and pulled out her canteen and pushed it to the pony's mouth, but it recoiled, spitting it out. “P-poison...” It rasped out, trembling.

Fluttershy whimpered, staring at the pony. She reached a hoof out, but all she felt when she touched the pony was a weak heartbeat. “What poison? Is that what happened to you? How did-- ahhh!” She pulled her hoof back, her hoof burning slightly from the purple liquid. She wiped it off in the ground, before gulping. “H-help me get this pony in the water!”

“Fluttershy...”

“What?” the pegasus asked, before looking down. She shivered softly, staring. The pony was convulsing, its body recoiling in pain. It lasted for a few moments, before it went limp once again, eyes still open and unmoving. She reached out, nudging the pony a few more times. She ignored the irritation on her hoof, shaking violently, though the pony never stirred. “W-wake up...”

“Fluttershy, that... pony is gone. There's nothing any of us can do.”

“But... b-but I have remedies to a lot of poisons!” Fluttershy objected, her legs shaking as she stared at the corpse. Tears began to form in her eyes. “If I knew what... what kind of poison it was, I-I could counter it. I could have...”

Twilight shook her head. “That pony was too far gone. I doubt even a master healer could have saved them at that point. They were so covered in poisons, and probably swallowed so much, that there was no chance they could have survive.”

The pegasus cringed. “But... but I... t-this is what I do. I-I save ponies and... and I...”

“Hey now, easy sugarcube,” Applejack said with a nervous grin, gently patting the pegasus on the shoulder. “Ah know yah are upset, but yah can't let it break yah. Yah didn't even know who this pony was. Mighta even been a member of the Water Nation. Ain't nothin' any of us can do, so yah can't fret on it. Let's just bury this pony and go on, mmkay?”

Fluttershy gulped. “B-but--”

“There are plenty of ponies yah still can help, Fluttershy. Focus on them,” the earth pony said, slightly harsher than she meant to. “As awful as it sounds, ponies die all the time. Especially these days. What makes this pony any worse than all the others that have died by us?”

“I... I don't know,” she whispered, before lowering her head. “Y-you're right. I'm... I'm sorry...”

She found herself quickly enveloped in a group hug as her friends moved to comfort her. “Ain't nothin' wrong with wantin' tah help every pony yah meet. Jus' sometimes, only so much yah can do.”

Fluttershy forced a smile and nodded, though her mind quickly focused on other things. Namely, despite there only being so much she could do now, she used to be able to do so much more. A few months ago, she could have saved the pony, she knew it. She couldn't even help with the burial, as the poisons made it dangerous to touch the corpse, so she had to wash herself in the water. Applejack and Twilight buried the pony underground, gave it a small stone tomb stone, and they departed. The high spirits at their arrival to the 'lake' having completely vanished, the ponies only allowing themselves a quick cleanse and restocking on their water. With heavy hearts, the left the small grave behind.

------

Flowerbloom slowly packed her bags, quietly examining each garment and item she stashed.. She didn't plan on bringing many pairs of clothing, though her knives and kits to maintain them were bundled up in a small, personal chest. She had also made a second, smaller package for travel, only holding ten knives, two cloaks and a small bag of gold. Her letter had been sent this morning and, if her request was denied(a likely event), she fully intended to take the second bag and leave on her own. She wasn't sure how she'd get there, or if she even could, but she'd try. It was too late now, she had to know.

Her father was packing as well, though he didn't know of her plan. If she was denied, he assumed she'd give up with her tail between her legs, and abandon any thoughts of ever finding the ponies who had been her family. As if that would happen. They'd already found five separate locations where they could be, though to her dismay many of those places had been ones their armies had tore through. She tried not to think about that, she wasn't sure if she could bear it if she found out their forces had killed whatever remained of her family.

Unsurprisingly, a land filled with earth bending ponies had an annoying habit of losing and shifting its land marks as it went on. Entire towns could and sometimes did move. Fortunately, they did try to stay (relatively) in the general spots, along with roads. Unfortunately, the Water Nation hadn't had the best maps then, so her father could have ended up in any number of farms. Including ones that hadn't survived the war or even until the rising of the sun. It was all she could do to avoid having a minor panic attack and imagining her family, torn asunder by the war and gone forever.

She glanced at her bed and sighed. Why did it all feel so important now? She hadn't cared at all that her parents weren't her parents, until recently. Now it was all she could do, imagining what they were like or what remained of them. She wondered if she had any aunts or uncles. Maybe even a grandparent or two. Heck, she might even have a full family line, spread all over the country! Dozens, hundreds even! She rolled her eyes and chuckled. “Right. Like that'd happen. Yah all are makin' too big a deal ah this, Flowerbloom,” she said to her reflection in the mirror. “Jus' focus on findin' one or two ponies. Then yah can worry about findin' a whole clan.” She turned back to her bags, closed them up and tossed them in the corner on the chest. Now all she had to do, was wait.

------

Twilight stared, her eyes twitching and mouth hanging open. “That... that explains a lot.”

“Eeyup. That explains everything,” Applejack said in awe. “How yah think they do that?”

“A whole lot of water benders,” Rainbow mumbled, her eyes wide with horror. “I... I've never seen anything like it. What if it got to the normal waters?”

“Benders, I doubt they'd care,” the alicorn said softly. “Could probably fix it easy enough.”

“I couldn't think of any party that could cheer this up,” Pinkie whispered, her hair slightly limp from the sight. “Do you think...”

“Yes,” Fluttershy said softly. “That's where that pony came from. He must have been desperate to swim through that...”

The five ponies stood at the crest of a hill, facing yet another lake. However, this one was far more intimidating the one they had found the corpse at. It was surrounded on all sides by steep mountains, with a single metal coated vessel floating on the opposite shore. In the center of the vast lake was a flat metal structure, standing on large, metal legs that held it above the liquid. However, the water itself was the worst thing. It was a dark purple, the same color of the bending poisons that Sweetie had used and it lapped at the legs of the structure, dyeing them a dark purple. Near the boat on the shore, a large tower had been built, bearing the Water Nation's flags.

“It's a prison. It must be,” Rainbow said, narrowing her eyes. “No bars, no cages. But I can see ponies on that... thing.”

The structure in the center of the lake was completely flat, with no cover or shade, leaving the ponies at the mercy of the elements. Even from this vantage point Twilight could see the ponies were crowded in, huddled as close to the center as they could be. Now the weather was fair, but she couldn't imagine how horrible it must be when it got rainy or windy. It was close enough to the edge that enough wind would send droplets of the water up on them, splashing the poor ponies. Not to mention the nights, where all the crowded ponies might accidentally knock a pony off to their death. “It's horrible,” she whispered.

“We have to help them,” Fluttershy said suddenly, making them all turn and stare.

“Excuse meh?” Applejack asked.

“We have to help them,” the pegasus repeated. “I-I mean, they're a... we're a... I mean... I...”

Rainbow smirked. “Well, we can't go and argue with that, now can we? Looks like we've got another Water Nation outpost to wipe out.”

“Need ah remind yah that we're supposed tah be incognito?” Applejack asked with a glare. “This is a pretty big prison setup they got here. If we wipe it out, we're gonna bring down the whole Water Nation on our heads.”

“Not n-necessarily,” Fluttershy whispered. “They... t-they're short hoofed, right? T-they might not be able to notice it for a while...”

The earth pony sighed. “Ah... ah guess. But if they think the avatar came here, they'd never stop lookin'.”

“I'll do it!” Fluttershy squeaked. Every eye turned to her again.

“Do what?” Applejack asked.

“I... I could go over there. T-try to help them. Warn them of our plans. Prepare them.”

Rainbow shook her head. “That's nice and all, but if anypony should be going over there, it's me. I can fly faster, I can fight and we might need you to... to... ummmm...”

“They are surrounded by poison,” Fluttershy said softly, eying the prison. “Alone in the elements. They probably have sick and wounded. I... I might be the only pony who can help them.”

“You can't heal any more!” Rainbow snapped. “If you go over there and are found, you'll be toast. We need benders, not... not...” She stared at her friend, gulping nervously at the tears welling up in her eyes.

“I... I know I can't use healing bending any more,” Fluttershy whispered, but slowly ground her hoof in the ground. “And... and I know I can't fight. But I know more about illnesses and sickness than any of us. I have medical herbs, I know how to make potions to increase the rate of healing. The zebras taught me all they could in the time we were with them, and gave me a book on the others. I can do this. I... I know I can't fight, but I can help. Just... I...”

Rainbow sighed and slowly she nodded. “Fine. But... you're not going alone. I'm coming with you.” She glanced out towards the lake of poison. “But not until the sun goes down. Got it?”

The yellow pegasus nodded and smiled. “Thank you...” she whispered. The group slowly walked down the hill, keeping an eye out for any trouble. They took shelter near a small indent in the hills, which Applejack turned into a comfortable cave, and sat down to watch the prison.

The day went by slowly, though they kept a constant eye on the platform. A few hours before dusk they saw a pegasus and three unicorns exit the tower. The pegasus flew over the lake, while two of the unicorns got in the boat and began sailing across the river of toxins. They carried a bag of supplies with them. The pegasus landed first and began shoving and pushing ponies aside. One almost toppled into the lake, barely being saved by one of its fellow prisoners, but making Fluttershy chew on her hooves nervously.

Once they were all sufficiently shoved back, the boat landed and the bag was tossed onto the island. The Water Nation ponies quickly departed and what came next made the group's blood run cold.

The ponies started fighting for the supplies, smacking, bucking, kicking each other as they tore into the bag. Food was stuffed into a mouth with one hoof while the other hoof shoved a pony's face into the ground. Near the end of the scuffles, one pony was knocked back, toppling off the safe edge and into the purple liquid. The pony's screams echoed all the way to their hiding spot and sent shivers down their spines.

“Look at that,” Rainbow whispered. “Those ponies are bloodthirsty! They just killed one of their own, for a couple bites of food! Look, they don't help each other at all!” She gestured towards the back of the stand, farthest from where the supplies had been dropped. The smallest and weakest seeming ponies were all laying there, unmoving and uninvolved with the conflict, merely trying to stop from falling to their deaths. The only reason they knew they weren't dead is because if they were, they'd have likely been tossed over the edge already. “Let's go. Nothing good will--”

“No!” Fluttershy squeaked, stomping a hoof down. “They... they're hurt. Scared. Probably starving. They... it... I...” Her frightened eyes trembled as she watched where the small pony had fallen over the edge. “They need our help.”

“They just killed one of their own!”

“We aren't in the same situation as them!” Fluttershy shrieked, closing her eyes in fear. “I... w-who knows what we'd do if we had to? We... we aren't, we can't...”

Rainbow snorted. “I'd never kill a pony over something like that. Especially a pony who I'm allied with. The Water Nation should be their enemies, not each other.” She paused and lowered her eyes over Fluttershy. “But... I'd never abandon a friend to do something so reckless for ponies like that, either. If you really want to keep helping them... then we will. Tonight. Happy?”

The meek pegasus slowly nodded, before turning and laying down, unable to watch the imprisoned ponies any more. After many slow hours the sun disappeared from the sky and the two pegasi took to the sky, flying rapidly over the poisonous lake and towards the trapped ponies.

------

Scootaloo took a slow, deep breath as she stared up. “I... I didn't think it would be like this...”

“Didn't yah see it when it landed?” an earth pony asked as he walked by, dragging a crate behind him.

“No, didn't get to sleep until a bit before it arrived...” the pegasus mumbled, still staring with wide eyes. The air ship they would be taking was, in a word, amazing. It had three long, thin balloons, two under and one over the ship. The sails jutted out from the side, currently strapped up.

The entire thing was painted jet black, with its polished surfaces seeming to absorb the torchlight. The perfect vessel for traveling in the night. “Amazing...”

“I hope you don't always stare slack jawed at your vessels,” a voice snapped from behind her, making her jump. She turned to see Venomwing, a smirk on his face. “Are you prepared to depart?”

“Yes sir,” she said instantly before saluting.

“Good. It should take about three days to arrive. I expect you to do a good job while you're there. Don't rush this, understand?”

She nodded slowly. “Of course, sir. I will make the Shadowbolts proud.” She grinned before turning back. “What's she called?”

“The Darkwing. Just remember, this mission may get dangerous. Make sure you're prepared for anything.”

“Of course, sir. I won't let any of you down. I'll be prepared for anything from the dragons to ducks,” she said with a nod.

The stallion chuckled. “See that you are. Now go.” He gave her a little push and the mare trotted forward, holding her breath as she trotted up the ramp into the ship. She didn't know what she'd see in the Fire Tribe's lands, but she knew she'd have to be ready for it. The Shadowbolts were depending on her.

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