Chapter 3
The early rays of sun caused the sleeping Twilight to stir as they cascaded across her closed eyes. As the sun continued to creep higher into the sky, the light roused the young unicorn out of her sleep. She opened one eye partially only to close it immediately, not yet having adjusted to the offending light. The more consciousness the young unicorn regained, the more she could sense the dull pain increase in her still injured hoof. Finally, her system was awake enough to begin rational thought and recollection of the recent events. She sat up to take in her surroundings, and that was when the smell of burnt wood and grass invaded her nostrils. A few feet in front of her was the ash pile of the late alpha timberwolf that had attacked her last night. That reminded her of the creature that had saved her last night.
“What was that thing, and where did it go?” she asked no one in particular..
Looking around, she noticed claw prints in the soil from where the creature had landed when it jumped down from the wall. Going over to investigate, she noticed an odd golden object mostly buried inside of the print. Removing it from the ground, she realized it was a necklace of some sort.
“This is sooo pretty!” the filly marveled at the intricate engravings on the heart shaped pendant. “I wonder if this necklace belongs to the thing that saved me last night”.
Twilight continued to look at the odd piece of jewelry, when an idea had came to her. Shutting her eyes tightly and clenching her teeth, she lit her horn up and she concentrated on her desired spell. After she felt that everything was right, she brought the necklace up to her horn. As soon as the two touched, her horn began pulsing and she felt a light tug in a singular direction. She began to clap her hoofs in celebration however as soon as the first clop of applause rang out, she let out a loud shout of pain.
Looking more into her injury, she noticed that the hoof had a medium sized crack in it, that did not hurt unless pressure was applied to it. While her horn continued to pulse, she dropped her now soiled saddle bag on the ground and looked around to see if there were any medical supplies she could use. However, to her dismay, all she could find was a pink and blue polka dot band-aid. She gingerly applied it over the crack and tested her footing. She winced and brought her hoof off the ground, deciding that keeping her weight off of it was probably her best option. Putting her saddlebags back on, she three-leggedly began her journey in the direction her horn was telling her to go. Unfortunately, that path just so happened to go straight towards the stupid wall. She let out a small snort of frustration and tried to figure out how to continue her journey.
She did not know how far in either direction the wall went and did not want to wander to far off from her course. Looking around, she noticed several large branches that had fallen off of an old tree as well as some smaller hoof long ones as well. Looking back at the impertinent igneous formation, she noticed long tendrils of vines and ivy that cascaded down. A light bulb went off in her mind and she immediately got to work. Collecting the vines and sticks, she began to tie together a makeshift ladder that would allow her to climb over the hurdle.
Her first attempt did not even get the chance to be tried out as it fell apart immediately after completion. Using better knots and more vines, the second and third ladders held together better. However, as her now sore flank found out, they were not strong enough to support her weight. At about midday, with the sun at its zenith, Twilight brought the fourth ladder to the wall and began her ascent. The first rung held, as did the second, “So far so good” the filly said to herself. Then she tentatively tried the the third rung, then the fourth. Before she knew it she had reached the top, and with a small “hup”, hoisted herself up. She let out a sigh of relief and wiped a few beads of sweat that had accumulated on her brow. Her horn was still performing the spell and the small filly continued her journey to find whoever or whatever had saved her the previous night.
She did not have far to go from where the cliff dropped off as after slowly walking for about 15 minutes, her horn pulsed rapidly and pointed her head towards a small cave that descended into the ground. Once she made eye contact with it, her horn ceased pulsing and she no longer felt the pull. Tentatively, Twilight walked up to the mouth of the cave.
“Hello?” She called out just above a whisper.
A soft deep rumbling was her only response. Not knowing whether or not that was the creature's way of saying she could come in, she slowly walked into the cave. The farther back into the cave Twilight traversed, the closer the rumbling sound became.
“Wh-whoever you are, my name is Twilight Sparkle, I w-wanted to th-thank you for saving me from those scary wolf monsters last night and w-was wondering if you lost this nec- oof” she was cut off as her only good front hoof tripped over something and she fell onto her chin. The rumbling stopped and she could hear something shift beside her. Sitting upright and rubbing her sore chin, she turned her head towards the noise. To her surprise, she was greeted by a large green slitted glowing eye, causing her to let out a small “eep” as she jumped back several feet. The eye focused on her and a look of drowsy confusion swept over it. However, the cat like pupil constricted as hostility took its place. Twilight’s senses told her to flee and she listened to them. Before she could gallop two steps, the creature's tail wrapped around her back hoof and lifted her up, dangling the trembling filly upside down. She watched as it brought her face close to his as two angry eyes stared at the filly and the same low growl from the previous night rumbled throughout the cave.
The creature released a small ball of fire into the base of a nearby wall and the entire cave was lit in an eerie green light. Before her were hundreds of glistening white fangs that reflected the flickering green light of the flames. The deadly dentin was within a purple maw that growled and sneered at the terrified filly within in the grasp of its thin yet muscular tail. Sitting on it haunches with its forearms crossed, its head nearly touched the ceiling of the twelve foot high cave. Its thin membranous wings stretched out in a semi open position, increasing the appearance of its already impressive stature. Twilight then realized that before her sat one of the most dangerous and aggressive creatures within the land of Equestria, a dragon.
The dragon released a breath of hot hair over the filly that rustled her fur and blew her hair back. After a moment more of glaring at the small unicorn, the creature finally spoke
“What are you doing in here?”
Its voice was deep, but not as deep as its growls would make one believe it to be. In fact, it had a slightly scratchy sound to it. Twilight let out an audible gulp and putting on a nervous smile, offered her hoof towards her captor.
“H-h-hello, m-mister d-dragon. M-m-my n-name i-i-i-s Twilight S-spark-”
“I didn’t ask who you were, I asked what you were doing in my cave”. It growled in a louder and even more vexed tone.
“W-well, after you chased away those monsters last night, you took off. S-so i wanted to th-thank you for saving me by-”. The filly began to answer but was cut off by another gust of hot air accompanied with a growl.
“I want you to understand one thing very clearly, pony. Me saving you was an unfortunate accident, I was simply protecting my territory from those mangy mutts. I would seriously try to stay out of trouble if I was you, because I will not be there to help you next time”.
“B-but mister dragon, you drop-” Twilight began to say, reaching back into her saddle bag. However, she was unable to finish her statement, as the feeling of weightlessness overtook her body and she began to fly towards the entrance of the cave. She landed heavily with a loud thud just beyond the mouth of the cave and her eyes glazed over from the wind being knocked out of her.Surprised, and her feelings slightly hurt, she turned back towards the cave with an angry (yet cute) look on her face as a few tear welled up in her eyes.
“Hey!” Twilight began yelling, moving back towards the entrance of the cave, finally removing the necklace from her bag. “I was trying to be nice and say thank you for helping me last night, whether you meant to or not. If you don’t want this back then-”
In the blink of an eye, the dragon was at the mouth of the cave and released a loud and threatening roar right into the filly’s face, making every sharp tooth visible and smoke leak from his nostrils. Twilight could only stand there, frozen in fear.
“How dense are you kid!” the Dragon spat venomously at her. “How much more clearly do I have to spell out ‘get lost’!” He breathed heavily, smoke still leaking from his nostrils and anger in his eyes.
Though she was terrified, twilight could still feel the tears continue to fill her eyes, finally breaking eye contact with the dragon. She dropped the necklace, and ran in the opposite direction from the monster, ignoring the pain in her hoof. The dragon could hear sobs begin to hiccup from the filly as her form receded farther and farther away. Once he could not see or hear the filly anymore, he let out a snort of satisfaction. The dragon was about to return to the comfort in his cave when a glint of light on the ground caught his eye. Looking down he noticed it was a golden heart shaped necklace, that looked almost identical to his-. The dragon’s claw immediately went a small pouch near his chest under his scales, and felt that it was empty. He quickly grabbed the necklace from the ground and delicately activated the opening mechanism. Inside was the same familiar image, that he cherished so dearly. A sense of guilt and anger simultaneously flooded his system. He had almost lost his most prized possession because this foolish filly got lost in the woods! But then a second thought crossed his mind, and slowly began to become more dominant. She came all this way to return this to him, instead of taking it for herself and returning home. She was trying to show trust and gratitude towards a creature painted as the antagonist in almost every single story known in Equestria, and tried to open up to him, and what did he do, he chased her off with her tail between her legs.
“If she was lost before, then being scared to death and upset is not going to help her find her way home any faster…”
Looking at the locket again, a small tendril of warmth leaked its way into his hardened heart, and kissing the image inside, he proceeded to fasten it closed, put it around his neck, and took off in the direction he had seen the filly run.
*Canterlot Hospital*
Celestia lay sleeping across several of the waiting room chairs, while to her left sat Night Light with his sleeping wife resting against his shoulder. Though he was exhausted, he could not sleep until he heard the results of the now nineteen hour operation. His bloodshot eyes, looked over the sleeping form of his wife, tear stains were prevalent on her cheeks, and her sleep seemed restless. The princess was in no better condition, her regal and ethereal mane now frazzled and unkempt. Drowsiness began to overtake him, and just before his treacherous eyes could give in. He heard the a door open and immediately looked up to see a surgeon's walk towards them. Night Light immediately roused his wife, then went over towards the slumbering monarch to wake her up. All three now conscious ponies looked to the doctor expectantly. His face mask concealed any readable emotion as all they could see in his eyes were exhaustion. Using a hoof to remove the mask, the addressed the unicorn couple directly, maintaining a neutral expression.
“Mr. Light, Mrs. Velvet, though your son lost a tremendous amount of blood due to his traumatic injuries, we were successful in stabilizing him”. Twilight and Night Light both let out a sigh of relief.
“However,” the doctor continued, “His condition is still critical. The next few hours will determine whether he pulls through, but I believe that with the amount of care that he is receiving, his chance of survival is looking optimal”. Twilight turned to her husband, a small glimmer of hope returned to her now glistening eyes, and her husband returned her look.
“But, although we were able to successfully repair his damaged organs and stop the internal bleeding, there was one problem that we could not fix”. The look of hope was immediately replaced with a look of dread, as the parents waited with bated breath for the disparaging news.
“Your son received two blows in the fight with the intruders. The first crushed his ribs, leading to penetration of his right lung and the blunt force trauma ruptured his spleen. However, the second blow completely fractured the lumbar vertebrae in his spine. We have reconstructed and realigned the bones to the best of our abilities however, the nerve damage was far too severe for us to do anything. Although it is only speculation, it is unlikely that your son will be able to walk independently on his own again”. The doctor looked shamefully to the ground as he delivered the diagnosis.
For a moment, all was silent. Then the doctor winced when the horrified shriek of the wife pierced his ears. Looking up, he could see her bawling into the chest of her husband who fought, and failed, to restrain his own lacrimation. “I am so sorry, but we did all that we could”. The doctor then retreated behind the doors from which he came and left the parents to grieve.
Celestia felt numb, although a small part of her felt relieved that Shining armor would survive, this injury would put a permanent halt his once bright military career. Deciding there were no words to be said, Celestia quietly removed herself, however the sound of wailing was still audible from outside the closed off waiting room. She had failed to save this mare’s son. Yes, he was alive, but life as he knew it had come to an end far too soon. Now a new fire and resolve was ignited in her. She had failed one child already, she would not fail the other. Her pupil was out there, most likely scared, lost and alone. She marched her way to her captain, a grizzled and war hardened beige pegasus who was standing guard outside the hospital.
“Captain, is there any word from the search parties on the location of Twilight Sparkle?” Her voice was even and controlled, despite the rage and despair she was feeling inside.
“Nothing as of yet your highness”, the Pegasus replied. “We have scouts looking from Van Hoover to Manehattan and there has been no news of any filly matching Twilight Sparkle’s description, randomly appearing. We have search parties of pegasi scouting the untamed areas of Equestria however, they have not reported anything as of yet.
“I should be out there looking for her myself” Celestia stated, as she turned away frustrated from the lack of results.
“Your Highness, your people need. Who knows how long it will take till we find her. We are doing everything within our power to locate and retrieve the child. But you are needed here, allows us to do our job and bring the child home”. The captain responded, sympathy and resolve evident in his voice.
Celestia let out a small breath of resignation, and nodded her head. “You are right Captain Spear Wing, but the moment, there is any news, you are to alter me at once.
“Yes your highness” the pegasus saluted. Then the two of them walked out of the hospital as more guards from outside fell into formation around there ruler, and escorted her back to the palace.
“Don’t worry Twilight, we will find you and protect you from whatever Sunset SHimmer has planned. I swear upon the sun.” Celestia pledged to herself as they procession made its way in the wee hours of the morning.
Not too far away, a raven with glowing azure eyes, watched the princess and her guards walk off before flapping its wings and flying out of the city.
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I just found this story and so far i gotta say i'm loving it completely. can't wait for more interactions between spike and twilight.
Psst, typo in the short description
Nice, can't wait for the next chapter sometime early 2018
Still looking good. But I still hate the cliffs!
8240536
Fixed! Thank you
8240569
Haha, should be sooner than that
8240662
8240662
Don't worry, they have one more appearance before we bid them adieu
8240817
You're welcome. As much as I dislike how important a cover+blurb is to getting new readers, seeing a typo in a blurb is a really fast way to get me to skip over something. It's sad but true.
finally an update.
8240828
You capatalized the H in Sunset Shimmer.
Update?!!!!! YES!!!!! Thank you!!!!!
8243636
You're welcome! Sorry it took so long. But I hope you enjoy it!!
Eh, I'll give this story one more chapter to explain itself. But so far it's just mostly reiterating what already happened. Not a good sign for a story that took this long to update.
Good work so far!
Excellent chapter
8243863
It’s fine if it takes a long time. RL comes first, and you’re writing fics for free.
As long as you give news once in a while to let readers know you aren’t gone.
i hope there is more in the works
This story seems interesting. Please update soon.
Love this please do more not manny stories catch my eye but yours is to great to let go
Haven't seen a blog post or update. Starting to worry. You doing OK?
Will this continue?
2019......And so we settle in for the long haul and hope one day this will continue.
please update this story.
Please continue the story!
Please continue
LOVE this story!!! I am so hoping for more chapters please!!! It’s so amazing!
More?