Daughter of the First Reign

by LegionPothIX

Act 3 | Rising Tides

It was a mistake and they all knew that it. But after the lecture Sombra had given to Lieutenant-Commander Hurricane he had backed himself into this. The metal collar fell to the ground from the filly's neck and she stretched her aching shoulders. Though it effectively did nothing anyway, it was symbolic, and there would be no way to keep Treeling's trust so long as she was a prisoner. Sombra levitated the extra chalk pack from the restraint that now lie useless on the ground and clipped it to the back of her slate.

Hurricane and his troops had long since marched off after he had ordered that they should be chained to a tree so that they couldn't endanger his troops any further. Treeling had crippled the antimagic chains and Sombra levitated the key that was "accidentally" dropped in a nearby bush. After that they were home free. That, however, was the question: could they ever go home again?

Each wondered for different reasons and for two the answer was obvious: the ladies did not have a home. For Sombra the question had more complexity. If he returned to his home, and to his family, he feared what devastation would follow in his wake when the Crystal Queen learned of LCDR Hurricane's betrayal. Five long years the Queen had waited for the perfect instrument of her revenge, dispatched the whole of the crystal army, and sacrificed the remainder of her kingdom to the reign of chaos: all to settle the score with one madman.

Yet, now it was Sombra who stood in her way of achieving that revenge. If he returned home, he could not fathom what punishment she would inflict on his people just to get at him, but he feared that she would turn to the Crystal Heart. It was the last card she had to play, her trump card, and he had a good idea of just how painful that could be for his people if the war turned the two longstanding empires against each other. He knew that they were headed for a tunnel and that it was going to get much darker before they could again see the light from the other side. The kind of darkness that Sombra was growing all too familiar with.

His attention turned to Treeling who was playing with her old collar like a cat with a mouse it had killed. She thrashed it back and forth until accidentally bashing herself in the head with it. She started to cry and instinctively ran to Nurse Clarity for moral support. Clarity hadn't been herself since they were arrested and Sombra took great strides to reassure her now.

"It's almost over," Sombra said to the pair as he wrapped his hoof around them.

"It'll never be over," Crystal Clarity despondently responded, "I'll never be free of her." Her words came as she stroked the filly. Roughly. Her hooves dug into the skin and drug across muscle. Treeling squirmed under the pressure but didn't shy away from it.

Sombra pulled Treeling away from C.C. with a look of shock and disgust. While there was no tearing of the skin, the filly started to bruise, and the mare stared glassy-eyed at the crystal trees. "It'll be alright, Treeling. We're going to get you home," he said to the filly.

She looked up to him with tears in her eyes, nodded, and stiffed her moans of pain... she was going home.

Though there was no longer an artificial sun and moon to signify the day and the night, living in the city had adjusted their sleep schedule, so they no longer needed it. They knew in their bones it was time for bed and, after starting a fire to keep away predators, the three unicorns cuddled up to sleep. As they drifted off Treeling reached up and batted at the strand in her hair.

***

The fires of war still burned ever as brightly as the first time Treeling had seen them, though, this time they were placid and distant. They raged all over Equestria, the Crystal Empire, and beyond through lands foreign to the filly. Yet, if she held up her hoof and stared past it they would all be obscured from sight. The fires clashed with the waters of the sea, spilling into the oceans, where a dark cloud of steam mixed with smoke hung the whole world over. This was more than Treeling could have ever dreamed of. She tore her eyes from the heavens, where her planet lay, to survey this new stone island she sat upon.

"We had wondered," Luna's voice hung in the air, filled with regret and sadness, as she looked up to the world above them. "How dark our dreams would become. How lost we would feel before thy magic wouldst draw thee here." She hesitantly paused to look to the filly, before continuing, "If they drew you here. We couldst not be certain thou would arrive. Thy magic is alien to us."

Treeling approached the troubled alicorn and sat quietly next to her. The filly looked up to meet Luna's gaze before resting her head on one world-weary shoulder. She purred softly and slid her slate to the ground as if to ask what was on the Night Princess's mind.

"When thou didst meet us," Luna began to ask, "What was thy impression?" Her curiosity in its note of concern showed the intentions of her heart. The filly drew such a pure heart in the center of her slate that Luna could scarcely believe it. In the rendering Treeling drew herself on one side, with Luna on the other, and arrows from Luna's chest passed through the heart into the chest of the filly.

"Loved?" Luna asked cautiously as they gazed into each other's eyes

The filly nodded, and without breaking eye contact she pointed to the sky wherein the world they lived still burned brightly. It was clear that they sat upon the moon and so there would be no question where the sun was; given this was a replication of the her previous dream-states.

A wave of emotion poured out from Treeling as she continued to point to the distant lands of the Crystal Empire. Just as the emotions of others had flowed into her there, now she was delivering one to Luna.

"Afraid? Of the war?" Luna asked, her regret overcome with fear, but the answer was more specific than that. Treeling tapped her own horn, and then patted Luna's cutiemark. Luna interpreted the signals as best she could as the fear subsided, "Of our war? My part in the war?"

Treeling nodded again but also whined with impatience; Luna was close but still wasn't getting it. She pulled a tuft of hair out of Luna's mane and used it to draw on her slate; rather than the chalk she had been accustomed to thus far. Her canvas became an infinite one as the images in her head were painted into the dreamscape. Though she never looked up from her slate the moon came alive with the full color renderings and Luna marveled at her aptitude for such a young dream weaver.

What started out as a swarm of ants crawling out holes in the earth and swiftly grew into ponies. Two teams of ponies, black and red, just as the ants of her home. Every pony in both armies were identical and all were unicorns. Their numbers grew and grew, hundred, thousands, millions, until there was a sea of red and black with a thin line of white separating the two. The occasional personal struggle was shown where the unicorns would lash out with their magic. Regiments and battalions would glow simultaneously as cities rose and fell until every unicorn everywhere had their horn alight. From that point they were no longer armies of black, and red, but a singular flame of magic that consumed everything beneath it– the ponies included.

The Princess of Dreams was finally able to connect some of the dots. "The end of war wilt soon be nigh. The fires wilt die down."

The filly sighed. Luna was so close to understanding, but needed a few more dots to connect. Treeling wiped away the flames and magic. Starting from scratch she drew an ominous cloud of evil being destroyed by the magic of the Celestial Sisters.

Luna looked at the rendering with surprise as she said: "Tis true. A weapon hath been found that can vanquish the foul creature of chaos." She looked to the ground and the scenes painted by the filly melted away only to be replaced by visions from Luna's own past. Battle after battle after battle played out featuring the trio, before Luna recounted one of her greatest fears: "Many times hath we battled, he and we, but always didst it end with no victor. Our powers are even matched. Were only we as strong as Tia couldst we prevail." She looked longingly at a memory of their removing the Elements of Harmony from the Tree of Harmony. "We didst warn our sister of the dangers disrupting the tree couldst bring. To put balance at risk but... with our powers waning, however, we were no choice save concession."

Treeling's body language filled with concern as she gently rubbed Luna's cutiemark; hoping that it might help the power return to her body. A smile was a decent start but it was not until after Luna gave her explanation did the final dots come into focus to be connected. "We can no longer hear the desperate cries of the dreamers," she gravely said, "A dark force steals them away from us as we sleep."

Treeling tapped her ear and raised a questioning eyebrow.

"The ring of Hell's Bells," Luna stated with a suspicious look. A suspicion which eventually passed as the filly continued her vacant stare. "Tis a jingle," Luna added, "We are made aware to the suffering of others through such a sound."

Treeling recognized the sound, of course, that Asheveld had given her with the strand of stolen power but said nothing of it. Instead she returned to her canvas, with the brush of mane, and painted the crystal capital covered in its magic shell. Luna chimed in "Yes, tis the Crystal Empire, we thought it lost, whereupon its returned didst we find our answer therein."

Treeling shook her head. She drew beds with children in them. Fillies and colts who came alive with very sad faces, and thought bubbles with nightmarish things inside. The dashed outline of the lunar princess within signified that she was not. For the five years when they had needed her most she was nowhere to be found and they stopped needing her. Luna's heart sank into the pit of her stomach, and Treeling returned the tuft of her mane to its proper place. She hadn't anything further to draw as she turned her attention back to the sky and that ball of smoke and fire.

"What else can we do?" she asked the filly.

With a single stroke of her chalk across the blackboard Treeling drew the Celestial Sisters blasting an ominous cloud with their powerful magic. When she put down the chalk the fires across their world died down significantly until nearly none were left.

***

In the morning Treeling woke to the sound of alarm, the Hell's Bells were swiftly batted out of her mane, and she knew. When she had drawn Luna's power into herself she had breathed Asheveld's into Luna. Asheveld couldn't stop Luna's dream-walking so she left the Night Princess nowhere to go. Luna was growing alone and isolated, distant from her sister, so much so that she reached out to Treeling for help. Were she not responsible, it would have worked, but now she was certain that Luna felt an entire world's distance between her and her sister. The silhouettes were coming closer into position. She need only navigate the final two before bringing up her hind legs and bucking down the entire stack.

She was broken from her thoughts when Sombra's words echoed her intentions. "We must get moving. Our return to the Crystal Empire will not be a welcome one. It would be best not to delay further."

<< Keeping Score | Ring Fitting >>

Comments

[Cascadejackal]

Just read through the entire thing, and while it can be a little unclear and metaphorical at times (the dream sequences, mainly), it's still a fascinating and worthwhile read.

[LegionPothIX]

5082446 Thanks for the feedback! The final two chapters coming out this week should clear up most of the abstractions set up in those dream-sequences.