• Published 28th Sep 2014
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Aethia - Malckeor



Yonder east across the sea from Equestria, well outside the rule of the princesses, three ponies investigate a claim that could change their lives forever.

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V - Anomaly

There was a figure approaching from the edge of Dazzle's light. Emerald breathed a sigh of relief and rose from the earth pony's side. She, Breeg and Dazzle had moved away from the two drakes' corpses, over to where Doug had come to rest. The old griffon hadn't the energy to fly after their struggle; it had fallen to Emerald alone to perform a quick sweep around Peak's Pass following the smaller dragon's unexpected plummet, but she couldn't make anything out in the darkness, and she'd dared not settle down within the town itself. While the inferno had shrunken since that poor drunk griffon's attempt to flee, several flames had still been raging on, and there was no way the stability of the remaining structures could have been deemed safe. Their only option was to hang tight in the dimness of Dazzle's glow with hope that Zolf and the others would spot them, and thankfully, they hadn't lingered long before someone had come near.

"Looks like just one," Breeg said softly. He moved past the unicorn and stood as tall as he could. "Who goes there? That you, Zolf?"

The figure stepped further into the light. A glimmering large sword dragged behind in his free paw, its blade half-coated black from the tip. His white feathers were streaked and spotted with crimson, as was his light fur. It was Zolf alright, but he wasn't alone; slung over his right shoulder was a tan griffon who’d looked much worse for wear. Jen's left wing wasn't recognizable, and both of her hind legs had been scorched raw. When Zolf laid her down, they all saw her face: a bloodied, chipped beak, a bleeding right eye, and a few spots that were void of feathers. There was a long gash across her chest. Somehow, she was still breathing.

"By the First," Breeg muttered to himself. Emerald cast her gaze on the graying griffon. She'd never heard such an old saying spoken out loud before. While the pegasus knew naught of the exact details, she'd been made aware throughout her childhood that the griffons had held some sort of belief system in ancient times, their own vision of how the world had come to be that didn’t involve some powerful pony-like being. These beliefs had been all but abandoned in the thousands of years since the alicorn princesses’ arrival and were rarely ever spoken of outside of the occasional citing by historical scholars. Emerald couldn't be sure whether or not Breeg had practiced those ancient beliefs, but his tone and outright usage the saying had inferred to her how much these losses were affecting the old griffon.

The large sword toppled into the grass. "Easy there." Breeg helped Zolf to sit. Emerald was at Jeneine's side, and the old griffon moved to assist when his friend was secure.

Emerald was quick to bandage Jen's chest and douse her hind legs with water. The wounded griffon remained silent. "I-I can't do anything for her burns, Breeg." She sighed and wiped blood from her forehead. "And I don't think she'll be walking on our way..."

Jen opened her good eye and moved a bloodied paw to her chest. She looked towards Emerald with a spit of blood. "I h-hope you p-ponies are proud of yourselves..."

Emerald felt a chill creeping up her spine as she stared into the griffon's wounded face. She almost didn't notice the brief dimming of the orange light.

"None of that," Breeg said. "We're all going to be together for a while yet, I feel, and I'd prefer that we not be at each other’s throats during this whole ordeal."

Jen coughed. "Heh. You'd prefer. R-remember when you said that after this one came up w-with her little plan, right before y-you left us to help these murderers?" She paused. "Y-your words mean...nothing...y-you..." She lost consciousness.

"Help me sit her up," Breeg said to Emerald. He showed no noticeable reaction towards her words. "It's a good thing she decided to pass out. I'm afraid there's a problem with her wing. She's losing a lot of blood, and I doubt you have enough bandages to fully stitch her up with how much of a mess it is…"

Emerald looked away from Jen's broken visage. "Breeg..."

"We have to do this, or she dies," he concluded. "Zolf, you with us? Can you pass me the-"

"We all heard it," muttered the bartender without looking at Breeg, "f-from across the flames. Something loud. It h-heard it too, and it went into a f-frenzy. It was hell-bent on getting t-to the source, but we kept it. We kept it. All of us wound up in th-the air with it. We knew what it was going for. I... I..." He looked towards the sword with wide eyes. The light dimmed again. "I clipped it, but n-not before...bl-blood-curdling screams..."

Emerald stared at the broken griffon in silence. Breeg moved over and rested a paw on his friend's shoulder. "Nira?"

Zolf covered his face with folded forelegs and dug two pairs of claws deep into his shoulders. He said no more.

Breeg took a quick step and began rifling through Emerald's saddlebag. "Hey, wh-what are you-?!" As the pegasus started to move away, while still holding Jen upright, Breeg's paw emerged with a picture frame grasped between the claws. On the photo was a teenage griffon with two paws settled on the wheelchair of his elder.

"I was able to save this when that fireball hit your place," Breeg said. "I know it's not much, but..."

Zolf took the picture and gazed into it. He brought his forehead to rest against the cracked frame.

"I heard your outcry when you sliced its wing,” Breeg continued. “It must have been exhilarating, felling an airborne dragon. You should be proud, Zolf. That thrust saved us all.”
He looked Breeg’s way and smiled. For the first time since his arrival, Zolf looked hopeful. “I need you to turn around for me now, buddy,” the old griffon continued. “Don't look away from your old pop's face. I'll let you know when we're good."

Zolf nodded and followed Breeg's instructions. The old griffon grasped the sword and moved back to Emerald's side. "Sorry about that. Thanks for not bucking me one." He sighed. "Hold her still for me."

Emerald did as he said. She looked away from the wounded griffon and squinted in preparation for a torrent of blood. Dazzle was swaying near Doug's corpse. His glow went dim again.

"Unicorn, I need the light."

Emerald watched him sway. When he turned to face them, he looked as though he were intoxicated.

"Light please! We don't have time for this!"

Dazzle sat himself down, and his magic went out for a moment.

"What's going on back there?"

"Dazzle...?" Emerald let go of Jen and inched closer to the burned unicorn.

"Y-you guys almost done?" he slurred. "Not sure why, but I-I'm suddenly exhausted..."

Emerald shook him. "Hey, stay with us, Dazzle. We're not out of this yet, but we'll make distance tonight and get you to a doctor in no time. There’s a comfy bed waiting for you! Just stay with us."

Dazzle took a gulp. His light blacked out once again. "I-I can't feel my legs, or anything. Heh... It's like I'm a parasprite. Wheeeeee!" He moved his two shaking forelegs upward. "Eh, y-you're still working on that griffon? Just leave her. Th-the only good griffon's a dead..."

Emerald was about to shake the unicorn again, but a strange sight stopped her. In the dimming orange light, the pegasus saw what looked like some sort of plant waving back and forth from the ground a short way behind the unicorn. It seemed to be black all the way up, with a larger triangular shape on top. With each dimming of Dazzle's light, it appeared to be moving closer and closer as if the soil were a pool of water. Emerald's suspicion was soon confirmed; the grass was parting with its approach, leaving a line of dirt in its wake that seemed to collapse downward. Dazzle's orange light went out again for a few long moments, and when it returned, this strange organism had come to a stop at Emerald's left side. It was taller than a standing pony.

"What in the alicorns' names?" Breeg voiced Emerald's thoughts.

The thing turned towards the earth pony's corpse, and a dim yellow sphere appeared in the center of its triangular tip. It swayed in place, staring at Doug as if plotting something.

"Wh-what is that?" Zolf had turned around when Breeg spoke.

Emerald inched herself and Dazzle away. The thing seeped forward through the grass until it was right up against Doug's cut torso. It bent over his side and swayed against his motionless body before wrapping itself around the corpse. When it had made four passes around his torso, the soil beneath began to part. Doug's corpse was being taken below.

Emerald left Dazzle and ran to the earth pony's side. She grabbed onto his hooves. His descent slowed.

"Emerald, don't!" Breeg yelled. "We have no idea what that thing is! Just let him go!"

The pegasus kept her hold. "N-no! I c-can't just…"

Breeg laid Jen down and prepared to intervene, but he stopped dead in his tracks.

They felt a rumbling.

Dazzle's light went out.

Emerald saw more of the strange organisms rising from the ground.

There was a roar.

Not organisms.

Or were they?

I...

I remember…

The onyx horror rose from below, sending boulders and debris soaring about. Somehow, the evening brightened with its rise. Or had her eyes adapted to the cursed moonlight that allowed her to look upon such a horror?

It was four times larger than what they'd already faced that night. The tendrils protruded from its scales, its wings, anywhere there was flesh. Each one was spaced out with enough room to creep; to creep and gaze with their yellow sockets that burned brighter than the beast's own two eyes, filling all those they looked upon with hopeless dread.
It stood there, savoring and searching, drooling as its plant-like appendages dancing about. A seasoned voice yelled out. The pegasus couldn’t understand it.

At that, the draconic horror sent a deep, piercing wail through the night. The pegasus couldn’t move. Zolf took to the skies. The tendrils reached, grabbed, and wrapped him out of the air. He struggled. There was no hope.

No. Leave them. Let them go. Please...

Emerald heard that same grizzled voice again, but it was Zolf's horrified shrieks that formed words in her mind.

"WH-WHELPS!" he yelled, tears in his eyes. "WHELPS ON THE LEFT SIDE! THEY'RE COMING OUT OF THE GROUND! S-SOMEONE, BREEG, PLEA-" A tendril wrapped around his neck. Snap.

The griffon fell limp. Someone shouted from behind. Onyx whelps with small wings swarmed about the corpse and devoured to their fill.

She could only watch as it added to their meal with a delirious unicorn. It took him in its appendages, cracked his legs backward, and threw Dazzleflash into the frenzy alive. His screams persisted through every crunch. She still couldn't make out the voice behind her. She just stared, numb.

The two pure eyes settled on Emerald Dream, and then the rest from the triangular appendages. They’d all darkened to a burning orange upon touching Zolf’s flesh. The pegasus stood motionless as each dancing sun crept closer...

There was a downward chop. The extended tendrils dropped to the ground, fading to onyx dust before hitting the grass. Their slimy stumps started to grow, to replace themselves, while more swarmed forward from the horrible beast. Jen was as good as dead. They all were.

He shouted something that made Emerald turn hoof and book it towards the burning town. Why the town? Why am I running? She'd known it wouldn't do her any good.

The pegasus lost sight of them when she passed the remains of the Pawtapped Inn. She came to a stop at the structure that the wounded drake had leveled with its charge, minded her breath for the first time in what seemed a century, and rifled through the debris, searching for anything she could use. Her eyes settled on an old, seemingly vacant establishment that wasn't burning, adjacent to the inn.

The brood mother came barreling through the Pawtapped Inn, decimating what remained of it. Breeg had come into town. Emerald saw him, standing before the appendages that swarmed towards their prey. He glared at the horror without a hint of fear, before a cracked stake of wood bounced off the brood mother's maw. It turned all of its piercing enigmas to face the pegasus.

Emerald ran towards the adjacent building with the horror hulking after her. She was quick to check every rotting door, hoping to the moon and back that the establishment had what she was looking for. On the fourth creak, her hopes had been answered. Emerald soared down the stairway into a basement that was probably used by an opportunistic business griffon to store supplies during the town's golden days. She ran across the stone floor to where she'd judged was furthest away from the stairs, furthest from the building above. There, Emerald Dream crouched down in the corner, hearing and feeling the ferocious destruction above. She reluctantly kept herself looking at the back of the stairway. A gigantic, onyx leg smashed downward with a loud bang, causing the stairs to crumble. A few pieces of the building above joined the destructive descent. The horror was carving out a larger opening from above, through wood and rock. More debris crumbled down, but the pegasus was well out of the way where she'd crouched.

The horror descended its maw into the basement, showing its blackened teeth not seven inches from where the pegasus sat. Two enraged supernovas branded themselves into Emerald's being. The tendrils slithered down through the rubble, past the maw to bring forth their own orange glows. They slithered around the pegasus; around her hooves, her wings, her back, and stretched her legs into four adjacent directions. She was off the ground. The horrors were almost calming against her coat, swaying ever so slightly as they pulled. Her crossbow dropped to the floor, as did her saddlebag.

A high series of shrieks echoed against the stone. Some of the whelps had plopped down into the chamber, their jaws opened, ready. She'd known that the horror was about to break her, kill her, but she’d given Breeg a chance to get away. She'd hoped he'd taken it; hoped he was soaring off to Westglide with Jen in his grasp, preparing a tale or two for the locals. That was all that had mattered to the pegasus at that point. There would be two survivors from the hellish evening. As for herself, she would go without a tear. She would let this horror take her at last.

The soft, wet appendages began to yank tight against her spine while pulling her legs and wings back towards the wall. She felt the sharp pain all through her bones, heard the snap in her right hind leg followed by numbness, but she wouldn't yell out. She would face the horror without falter until the onyx void was all she saw, until her body was cracked and torn into giblets beneath the thousand razor fangs...

The appendages froze.

A collective agonized wail echoed off stone from mother and whelp alike. The tendrils retracted, releasing Emerald to plop onto the stone below. She looked upward through her clouded vision to see the brood mother smash its onyx horns into the ceiling above. Dust and sprinkles of dirt crumpled onto the floor. The horror raised its neck through the makeshift opening and cried out one last time. Its offspring in the debris-ridden chamber were thrashing about, but their death wails were snuffed out by the pegasus’ ringing ears, followed by a groan that rendered her motionless.

She let the darkness take her.

Her father stepped closer to the target.

"That's...a perfect shot, right on point."

Young Emerald blinked her green eyes; she'd noticed she'd done that quite a lot on that day. "I-isn't that called a bulls-eye? Did I get one? I got one, right?!" She fluttered her wings.

"Yes," her father replied, "a bulls-eye on a moving target. Em, did you know what I was up to? That I was going to make it move?"

She rubbed her little hoof in the dirt, peering downward shamefully. "No, I… I-I heard it."

"Heard it?"

"Mhm," she replied. "That noise it was making. W-was I not supposed to use my ears?"

"No-no!" her father reassured. "Hearing is just as important as eyesight when wielding such a weapon. I just had to ask, because, well..." He paused. "We've only been at this for a few days. I thought you'd be able to land a bolt in its general direction, at least, or maybe even graze it, but I wasn't expecting your best shot thus far to come out of this little test, not at all." He smirked. "Has someone been sneaking out of bed to practice on her own?"

She looked up and shook her head. "No, Daddy. You told me, ‘sleep is good for a balanced and efficient learning experience.’ I breathed, like you said, and saw it in the dark through the water. When I heard it, I just…"

The young filly was interrupted by a tingling sensation on her flanks.

There was a scent of ash in the air.

Emerald awakened to a coughing fit on the cold stone floor. She fought herself to stop, unsure if any whelps had still been lingering in the town above. When she was calm, the pegasus laid there motionless for a time, trying to ignore the pain in her joints. She listened through the ashen evening with a quiet breath against the stone.

For the first time that night, there was a dead silence.

Emerald wiped spittle from her mouth and rose, holstering her equipment and peering forward for the first time since awakening. Through the blackness, it looked as though more debris had crumbled down since the brood mother’s descent. She limped forward, setting her hooves on the pile of ruin that had spread out from where the stairway had stood…

…and tumbled down the far side of the debris, crashing onto the stone floor where the front of the stairway had faced before its destruction. She winced and grabbed at her aching leg, her teeth clenched to suppress the cry of agony in her throat. She could feel that a few of her cuts had re-opened from the fall. Had the horror left her like this in some self-aware act of sadistic cruelty? Emerald was alive, yes, but her right hind leg was broken, and a few of her other limbs may have been sprained. On top of that, she had all but exhausted the bandages in her saddlebag. How was she going to get back to Westglide in such a state? She’d assumed she hadn’t been out too long; no one had found her in the wide opened basement, and if she were correct, there was still quite a bit of time to go until Breeg’s estimate as to the local flocks’ return. Would she live long enough to witness their arrival? She’d imagined the onyx horror hadn’t moved far.

They’re gone… Your fault…

Emerald groaned and moved her left hoof to stand, but something brushed against her foreleg. It felt nothing like stone. She tried to shuffle away, wincing as her broken leg had dragged across the floor, but she heard nothing. She stopped and let herself look forward. On its side, stretched motionless across the stone floor, was a whelp. When Emerald’s eyes further adjusted to the darkness, she saw that there were others strewn about, all throughout the intact side of the basement that the stairs had faced. None of them were breathing.

She stood up and limped to inspect the corpses. Emerald figured that a pack had arrived after all and had overlooked her passed out self in the darkness, but her inspection proved otherwise. All of the whelps were intact; there were no cuts, no shattered limbs, nothing like that. It seemed as though they had all just dropped dead.

The wounded pegasus had no idea what to make of it, but she didn’t waste any time theorizing. Emerald began to test her wings, ascending a short distance above. She stayed afloat while doing her best to keep her wounded leg from swaying, and when she was sure her wings were fine, Emerald took off through the makeshift opening above.

The town was still burning, but most of the flames were mere embers, whereas the largest had shrunk by about half. It was still bright enough to overwhelm the pegasus’ night-touched vision. Without thinking, she flew out past the destroyed Pawtapped Inn to where all Tartarus had broken loose. There were more whelps, motionless all around where the horror had made its ascent. Various streaks of blood coated the ground near the draconic corpses. With a quick glimpse around, Emerald had seen what she’d feared; a griffon on her back with bone showing through her ruined torso. Jeneine’s eyes were shut, her blood-covered cracked beak opened slightly as if frozen in its final, eternal death wail.

You did this…

Emerald almost lost her balance. She did her best to stay composed while searching the immediate area for anyone else. There were just whelps, and blood. Doug was gone. Zolf was gone. They were all gone.

She didn’t bother flying. The pegasus limped back into town, despising her breath more and more with each slow step. She walked past the general store and stopped, her eyes tearing as they adjusted to the burning light. No surprises here; there were more dead whelps all over the place, but something was different about them. The onyx tone on their scales was gone; they had all reverted back to their traditional bronze, sort of like...

Emerald shook out of her thoughts. She wouldn’t think about that, not now. Some of the whelps were charring in the larger flames that were still burning within the crumbled structures, as if they had sought to quicken whatever caused them to die. No griffons or ponies were in sight. All the pegasus had for company were dead dragons, ash, and piles among piles of charred debris that had spread out from each destroyed building.

She walked closer to the flames that still burned at the Pawtapped Inn. The roof overhanging the two-stepped entrance had collapsed, inviting the dragons’ fire to spread through to the front. Emerald heaved a young dragon corpse off the steps and set herself down as close to the flames as she could get, gazing into the orange fire with sweat dripping down her face. She could almost see the late bartender in the inferno, weeping over the loss of his home and physical being with naught but a cauterizing family photo for comfort. The spirit morphed into her father, whose eyes melted into Emerald with a shunning glare. He turned hoof towards the cursed mountain range and vanished into a sudden wave of tendrils.

Emerald felt her flesh begin to crawl. She lifted herself and stepped back, almost falling over again while taking clean deep breaths away from the smoke. She felt her heart rate increasing as she limped back to the town center, near where the stone hole in the ground had resided. Pieces were everywhere from the horror’s wrath. Further past its destruction were more glowing buildings, with one in particular missing a large chunk of its roof as if something big had grazed it. This town was once a famous, bustling landmark that had housed hunters from all across the land, and had attracted tourists and hunters way out from more populated lands for decades following, and its lasting mark on the world would be a scar of cinders, a fate that would spit on the namesake of the legendary huntress that had given the region its fame.

All because of you.

There was nothing left for the local flocks to rescue. Emerald stared at the orange glow that had been flickering from the structure with the destroyed roof. She walked towards the flames, almost in a trance. The wave of heat kissed her flesh, wrapped her lungs in a tight embrace. It was the most peaceful she’d felt in days, and she had no intention of letting it go. The roar of the flames thundered as they took her…

She heard a groan.

Emerald stopped in her tracks and returned to reality. She plopped to the grass in a coughing fit with pain shooting up her leg. Sweat from the flames trickled down her whole body. When she was calm, she perked her ears up and listened.
There was another groan, followed by a cough. Someone was close, and alive. Emerald crouched closer to the nearby debris.
The pegasus stood herself up and dug through the bits and pieces of wood as quick as her fatigued self could. She was distressed to find that quite a few were smeared with blood, both crimson and black. She dug faster without stopping, even as her head swam.
Emerald removed one last large piece of a wooden beam. Beneath was a brown, scaly beast with a shredded set of wings, its head resting on the grass below with wide open jaws. The long neck was cast over an orange-feathered torso, where the tips of its young claws had found flesh. Various gashes and streaks covered the griffon’s body, but he’d shoved the large sword through the side of its torso before it could reach his neck.

“H-hey there, Emerald. Good to see you.”

The pegasus gasped and backed away as stars formed in her vision. She sat herself down.

“Whoa, easy there.” Breeg chuckled. “Y-you look like you’ve just seen a ghost or s-something.”

Emerald recalled the flaming figures. She could see them clear as day in her mind’s eye. “A-are you okay?” she asked.

“Mmm, been better,” Breeg replied. “Got a c-cut here, a scratch there... Oh, and there h-happens to be a young dragon plastered over m-my body, guts and all. It’s not so bad, though.”

Emerald blinked until her head was on straight. “S-sorry. Let me…” She rose and helped the griffon to move the scaly corpse. It rolled onto a piece of wood with a wet sound.

“Well, I can breathe now.” He sighed. “That’s something.”

Emerald’s eyes were locked on the old griffon’s hind legs. In the orange glow, she could see that his left was twisted at both joints, and his other had been bit and clawed all over.

“Looks bad, eh?” Breeg peered up at the pegasus. “Doesn’t feel all that great either.”

She gulped. “Can you walk? Or fly?” She already knew the answer.

“No way,” he replied. “Th-that thing messed me up pretty bad. I’m afraid I’m grounded, completely.” He chuckled to himself. “Wh-what of Zolf? And the others? Did you find them?”

Emerald closed her eyes and sighed. “Th-they’re all gone. I found Jen right where w-we left her, but they stripped her to the bone. She’s dead.”

Breeg rolled his head back to stare at the smoke-filled sky. He squeezed the small bits of wood in his working claws and started to shake. Emerald saw an orange-tinted droplet trickle down the side of his face; whether it was perspiration or a tear, she couldn’t say. “Fuck this night,” the old griffon rasped. Emerald said nothing. She thought back to a few days earlier, when she’d arrived in Westglide after a lengthy bit of research in the east with an idea that could set her up for life. All she’d needed was a contact to point her to the right place and a team of earth ponies who’d known how to dig in a precise downward direction. She’d thought she’d lucked out with the greedy unicorn Dazzleflash, who’d spent years on a rock farm learning the ins and outs of manipulating the stuff with his magic, and on top of that, had broken into a few smaller dragon lairs back in Equestria before getting himself busted, and the cast-out Doug, who was an earth pony with an even stronger talent for digging than others, but then the pegasus ran into Swooping Stan himself who’d happened to be taking a short leave from patrolling his feared, profitable hunting grounds. Emerald had heard the stories, as had anyone else who’d frequented the area, and kind Stan who’d already had all he’d needed in life had assured her that every word was true. Her bravery and determination had impressed the famous hunter, and he generously gave her a full rundown on the network along with the safest location to dig to it without attracting any of the ancient protectors below: just a few paces south from the Scorched Huntress’ statue, where grass turned to dirt and cliffs hanged above as if protecting Linone’s likeness from rock slides. ‘Dig down diagonally until the rocks glimmer with tiny crystal shards, and then head straight. You’ll find an isolated egg cluster, dozens of yards out from where the big ones reside. The brood mother always provides for the whole clutch, no matter how large the network. I’m confident you’ll be able to find something, even that far away from the main network.’

Thinking back, it had all sounded so deceptively simple. Emerald should have taken a moment to think it all over, but impulsiveness got the better of her, and they had set out a mere hour later to their doom. She was almost in disbelief at how wrong everything had gone for everyone involved; a famous pack had perished, a monument was destroyed, a landmark had burned to the ground, and four others were lost, all from some strange and horrible anomaly in nature that Emerald could have avoided if she’d given herself time to think.

But it wasn’t nature. You know that.

“Hey, wh-what are you doing?”

Emerald had moved a hoof forward to lift the old griffon on his right side. She crouched down, pulled him up with her two front hooves, and soon had Breeg balanced on her back. She loosened her crossbow and saddlebag and let them fall.

“Emerald…”

“I’m g-getting you out of here,” she strained, “t-to Westglide.” He wasn’t as heavy as she thought he’d be, but she would be walking for a while yet, and it didn’t help that one of her legs was out for the count.

Breeg turned his head to glimpse towards her blue mane. “Westglide? It would take hours just to fly there. Odds are we’ll be food for a couple of harpies, or timber wolves. We’re not in fighting shape, Emerald. And how do we know that that thing isn’t still-“

“Sh-shut up!” she interrupted. “I’m not leaving you to bleed here, o-or worse. We’re both getting out of this. Don’t try to t-tell me otherwise.”

Breeg took a deep breath in. “Emerald, l-listen to me. You have a broken leg, but if you can carry me like this, that means you’ve still got the energy to fly-“

“Stop-“

Listen,” he repeated. “Between both of our w-wounds, I’m a lost cause. Y-you have to leave me here. Fly to Westglide, get yourself fixed up, and move on. My day’s been a long time coming. You’ve still got a l-life of your own to live. Just-“

“Shh!” Emerald perked her ears higher. They were about to pass the last of the buildings, and this one wasn’t aflame; it wasn’t a collapse she’d heard.

“Wh-what is it?” Breeg whispered.

Emerald followed the trail of roof bits with her eyes, out into the plains from the building where she'd found Breeg. On the other side of the last structure, grounded in the grass that had parted with its landing, was the horror. Its appendages were idle across the ground with the occasional twitch. It raised its head to stare at the duo.

“I-it’s alive,” Emerald stammered.

“Run! G-get out of here!” Breeg yelled. “Leave me! Get away-“

“Hold it, Breeg,” she interrupted. “I don’t th-think it’s in any shape to…”

The horror hissed before Emerald could finish. It tried to rise, but came crashing down hard with its head in the dirt.
Emerald stepped closer, cautious. The brood mother twitched, and cried out as if in pain.

“Emerald, what are you-”

“Quiet, Breeg. P-please,” she replied. “Just give me a minute.”

The pegasus limped to where the humongous head had come to rest. It moved to rest the bottom of its jaw in the grass. The left orange eye rolled to look at Emerald, half-opened. It made no move.

Emerald Dream raised one of her hooves and touched the brood mother beneath its eye. It let out one last suppressed hiss as one of the nearby tendrils twitched.

“What’s going on?”

The brood mother’s eye closed. Its breath evened and grew weaker until it came to a quiet stop.

“I…” She stared at the dead beast as its black skin began to fragment. The appendages shriveled small and faded into onyx dust one by one, along with the peelings of flesh. Soon, the brood mother’s hide was returned to its blemish-free bronze. Emerald gazed into the scales with a sudden dizziness.

“Emerald, you’re shaking,” Breeg said.

His voice pitched into a ring. The pegasus’ vision blurred. Pins and needles split out from her flesh.

“Emerald? E-Emerald?!” The ground swarmed up to meet her.

”I did it, Daddy! Look! Look! I got my cutie mark!” The young filly pranced around in a circle, trying to get as good a look as she could at the crossbow emblem on her flank.

Her father looked on, still as stone. “Wow, honey! That’s, umm…”

”I can’t wait to show Mommy! She’ll be so happy at how good I am at shooting!”

”Yes, I’m sure she’ll be… Heh.” A bead of sweat trickled down from the stallion’s forehead.

”Does this mean that my learning is complete? But I don’t want it to be! It’s so fun! And… I can’t wait to be big! I’ll shoot all the bad guys! Mommy will love it!”

”Hold it there, Em. Not so fast. I, umm…” He cleared his throat and recomposed himself. “This cutie mark, this talent of yours, could mean all sorts of things. Take mine for example.” He glimpsed back at his own. “It’s a big old metal hammer. Now, I had a few years on you when mine appeared, and when it did, I wasn’t completely sure what to make of it. Did it mean that I was good at hammering those nails in, and nothing else? Could it have meant that I’d be good with a hammer for self-defense purposes? There were all sorts of possibilities.” He pulled her close. “Through years of self-discovery and experimentation, I discovered that my cutie mark was telling me that I’m good at building things; I’m good with my hooves, with using tools to put huge foundations and projects together. That’s how I was able to build this whole targeting range, and modify my weapon to have a wing-trigger.”

The filly looked at him with big eyes. “Wow… But, how do I do that? What should I do now that I have my cutie mark, Daddy?”

”Keep practicing,” he replied. “Hone your abilities and look at every possible option that can branch out from such a talent. I’m confident that when it’s time, you’ll use your gift for something truly amazing and inspiring. When that day comes, I have no doubt that your mother will be so, so proud of you; proud of your talent, and the mare you’ll have become.” He kissed her on the forehead.

”And so will I.”

Author's Note:

HELL, IT'S ABOUT TIME.

So, months and months ago I conceived a story set within the My Little Pony universe where three "mining ponies" go on a treasure hunt to find stuff for riches and all that. I wrote some stuff down in the trusty notepad, and after much development and thought processes and stuff, this is the premise that I came up with.

And it was a lot of fun to write.

Regarding the gap-filled schedule, well... I'm certainly a slow writer, there's no doubt about that. The way I write, I don't just poop out drafts; I'm meticulous with every word and plan every scene, climax, and twist all in advance in my notebook with my trusty pen that's since run out of ink. This is to ensure that I don't Mass Effect 3 any of my stories. I generally come up with the lore and side-character tidbits on the fly as I write (the whole background with Linone, Swooping Stan's fame and deception, Zolf's family background, to name a few). Heck, one of the reasons I'm so slow is due to my short attention span; I have trouble writing one story without brainstorming for future plot points and events, sometimes for other stories, even. But this is what I love about writing. There's just no limit to it. There's so many variables that have allowed storytelling to remain fresh and awesome throughout centuries up to now, and it's incredible. Creativity is truly infinite, and it feels amazing to be a part of that delicious infinity-ness.

But, *ahem*... As I was saying, some pretty heavy unrelenting real life stuff has been going on for me since around Thanksgiving of last year, which is why the gaps in this story's upload schedule are so large. I mean, odds are they still would have been fairly large due to how crap my attention span is, but yeah. Sorry for any of those watching me who may have been waiting for updates. What matters is that it got done, though, like that George R. R. Martin guy said about no one caring about the time it takes to write a story ten years down the line or something like that. Yeah.

Anyways, I'd like to give big warm thanks to Chris and Authority2 for taking a look (several, even) at a few of my earlier in-progress chapters, and to Horizon for being such a coolio swellio fellow, and to PsychoMotorBoat for voicing a few things when the story was in a much earlier production stage.

Yes. Hope you guys were able to find enjoyment in my little project here, and please please PLEASE leave your thoughts and critiques in the comments if you have the time. I love to read all that stuff.

Oh, and don't worry. Aethia will be returned to in the (hopefully) near future. Keep your eyes opened...

Now if you'll excuse me, the floodgates for Witcher 3 opened around fifteen minutes ago. TOODLES!

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