The Last Pegasus

by Tealove

Wicked Winds

The citizens of Ponyville came down the darkened streets of the town with scowls, accusations, and hooves pointing in the direction of the minty green pegasus that landed before them. Sugarmint Skies was patient as everyone talked at once. It took everything in her to meet the angry gazes that held her but she kept her chin high. It helped when Thunder Clap landed beside her and Candy Pop stood on her other side. When Moonflower stood directly in front of her, head down, ears flat and a growl on her lips, the pegasus touched a hoof to the unicorn's withers and shook her head gently. “It's all right. They have every right to be angry.”

“Yeah, but not at you,” Clap argued. “You're the scapegoat just because you're the newest pony in town.” The pegasus smiled darkly when she saw Bon Bon mixed in with the group. “So much for being Skies' new best friend, huh Bon Bon?”

“Somepony is to blame for the disappearances of the pegasai,” the earth pony spat.

“And what makes you so certain it's Skies?” Candy Pop asked.

“How can you defend her?” asked a voice from the crowd. “It's her fault Scribes is gone!”

“And Raindrops!”

“And Spectrum!”

“And Medley!”

Skies visibly flinched as the last name was called out, visions of her nightmare swimming through her mind. There was nothing telling her for certain that any of this actually was her fault but the voice that called to her from the darkness. He wanted her to stay. He'd taken the pegasai to create an army, specifically an army for her. But for what reason? And how would any of this help in defending herself now? She should have left when she was well enough to have her wits about her and none of this would have happened. Looking at the bell necklace in her hoof only made her feel worse. Pinwheel, the one pony who made it her mission to truly make her feel comfortable from the very start, was now somewhere in that darkness.

“Everypony, please!”

The mayor's pleading voice broke through the winged mare's thoughts. The hostility in the air as voices raised all around her was palpable and made her shrink back. As though protecting her from a physical attack, both Clap and Candy closed ranks before her acting like a shield with Moonflower aiding them. There wasn't a silent pony in the entire group. Skies could see the two ponies she recognized to be Pinwheel's parents and the little filly with them, Pinwheel's younger sister. They too were yelling, pain and fear evident on their faces. Their daughter was gone because of Skies. Seeing them hurt more than any of the words she heard and she took a few more steps back. It was time to go. She needed to get as far away as possible and as quickly as she could.

But ponies were closing in around her. There were so many more of them than her three friends could push back and soon all four of them were encircled in a blur of color and anger. The mayor had given up trying to keep order and now stood back to watch helplessly.

“Skies,” yelled Clap. “Use your wings. Make a run for it!”

It was the only way now. Skies flexed her wings and crouched down, prepared to spring. Then someone behind her gasped and shouted, “Look!” The dark night sky erupted in light so blinding for a moment that no one could stand the sight. Hooves covered eyes, young ones hid behind their parents, and then the light was gone. In its place was an alicorn of the palest pink, her multi-colored mane and tail flowing in an ethereal breeze felt by no one else, two royal guardsponies at her side.

“Princess Celestia!”

Every single pony dropped to the ground in a bow, temporarily forgetting the situation at hand. In the middle of the crowd Sugarmint Skies clenched her eyes shut, her body low to the ground in a bow as fear raced through her veins.

“What is the meaning of all of this?” the princess demanded, her tone gentle yet still maintaining authority.

For a moment no one breathed a word, then everyone was talking at once. Only Skies remained silent, still bowed until Moonflower nudged her to get her to stand. The pegasus looked at the ground as she listened to the accusations presented before Celestia. It seemed that everyone wanted to give her their version of things and everyone had a different account of events, different ideas of what should happen now. For awhile Skies wondered if it would ever end. Timidly she glanced up to find Celestia listening patiently, but her violet eyes were on the young pegasus and her expression unreadable. She lifted a hoof to quiet everyone before turning fully to Skies.

“Well, my little pony. What do you have to say for yourself?”

Skies swallowed and tried to find her voice. She may not have remembered much about her past before tonight but there was no way to forget who and what the pony before her was. Though Celestia was known for being a gentle and just ruler there were tales of her swift and uncompromising punishment that frightened Skies now. She looked up at the alicorn and tried to keep her legs from wobbling. “I...” Her tongue felt heavy in her mouth and words would not form. All she wanted was to fly as far away as she could. But everyone was looking at her now, not with the anger and intolerance from before but with expectant silence. Somehow it made her feel worse.

“They...” She wet her lips and took a breath. “They're right. It is all my fault.” If only the ground would open and swallow her whole right now.

“I see.” Celestia regarded her with her carefully blank expression. “What is your name, my dear?”

“Sugarmint Skies, your majesty.”

“Perhaps you and I should have a talk, Sugarmint Skies.”

Candy Pop stepped forward, nervousness on her face. “Princess, we can go to the bookstore.”

Celestia looked at the unicorn and nodded, sparing her a quick kind smile. “Thank you, Candy Pop. I think that is a good idea.” She returned her attention to Skies, her smile fading. “Would you please follow me to the bookstore?” Looking at the three faithful ponies surrounding Skies, a twinkle of something, was it amusement, sparkled in Celestia's eyes. “You three as well if you wouldn't mind.” She lifted her head, her mane billowing out before her. “Everypony else should go home and get some rest. Be assured that I have things well in hoof. Your loved ones will be returned to you safely if it takes all of my magic to see that it happens.”

The crowd was pacified enough with this promise that they turned for home, though not reluctantly. Celestia was quick to offer private words of comfort to Pinwheel's family sparing a few moments for the four friends to talk quickly. Skies shook her head. “I'm going to be exiled.”

“You're not going to be exiled,” Candy soothed.

The pegasus looked at her. “How does the princess know your name?”

Clap smirked, answering for her friend. “Princess Celestia comes to Ponyville all the time. She gets stuff from the Cakes at Sugarcube Corner a lot.”

“And she comes into the bookstore sometimes when she's in town. She knows most, if not all of us by name.”

Skies groaned. “I'm going to end up on the moon like Princess Luna.”

“That's just an old mare's tale,” said Moonflower with a roll of her eyes. “You haven't done anything wrong.”

“I haven't done anything to stop it or get anypony back yet, either.”

“Shall we?”

The four looked up to see the princess waiting for them. With a unified nod they all fell into step behind her to go inside the bookshop. Candy unlocked the door for everyone to enter through, save the guardsponies who waited outside, then locked it behind herself. Celestia looked around the store, a slight look of sadness in her eyes. “I was very sorry to hear of Scribes' disappearance, Candy Pop. How are you fairing in her absence?”

The unicorn smiled sadly. “The shop is fine. I just miss her.”

“I'm sure you do.” Celestia looked at Skies. “You have a lot of ponies very upset with you, my dear.”

Skies hung her head. “I know, Princess.”

“Some of the things I have heard tonight are rather startling. To think they could imagine one single pony being responsible for the disappearance of hundreds. They must think you hide a secret power.”

“I don't!” Skies looked up at the alicorn, desperate. “I didn't steal anyone away or help another pony to take any of the missing pegasai. But it is my fault.”

“Skies,” Moonflower moaned.

“She has to know, Moonflower.” The pegasus looked at Candy
pop and Thunder Clap. “You all have to know.” She took in a deep, steadying breath before delving into her tale. “I don't remember everything from before my arrival here, like where I was born, who my parents are, if I have siblings or not. I don't even know where I was living. But I remember a certain stallion, a pegasus by the name of Wicked Winds. He was my friend, I think. He had a crush on me, or maybe I had a crush on him. Either way it was the reason why I was even involved. See, Wicked always thought he was better than everyone else. He thought pegasai were more special, more important than unicorns and especially the earth ponies. He said that the earth ponies were weak and powerless, and that unicorns relied too much on magic to ever be any real force to contend with. But a pegasus had control over most of the natural elements. If we wanted to cause a flood we could create rainclouds that would pour down forever. We could keep the earth so dry that nothing could grow and everything would die. We could stir up winds so powerful that they could destroy everything within reach in mere seconds. We could make it so cold that ponies would simply lie down and fade away. We held the power of life and death in our hooves.

“For awhile I thought he was just rambling, that it was just something to say. Wicked liked to hear himself talk a lot, I do remember that. And I played along sometimes because...well, I don't really know why. Maybe I was afraid of him, maybe part of me thought he was right. I shouldn't have encouraged him no matter what the reason was, even if I didn't really believe him to be serious. Then one day he told me about another idea of his, one that would take him to the nations of the zebra. He'd heard about their strange magic and the dark ways of some of their kind. He had decided it was time to test his little theory but wanted some assurances only magic could provide.”

“What kind of assurances?” asked Thunder Clap.

“The kind that take away free will. He wanted to find a zebra who could enchant him with an unnatural gift. He wanted to be able to talk anypony into joining him just by speaking.”

Moonflower's brow furrowed. “What kind of idiot zebra would put that kind of a spell on anypony?”

“To be fair Zuri, the zebra, didn't fully know what he was doing. Wicked lied to him and told him he was in trouble and needed to be able to talk himself out of it.” Skies grimaced. “You'd be surprised what a good story and a bag filled with bits can do.”

“Not really,” grumbled Candy. “So he got the enchantment put on him?”

Skies nodded. “It was a spell just strong enough to last for a few hours but Wicked used it against Zuri. He talked him into making a stronger potion and to making multiple vials of it. Then he talked Zuri into becoming his personal potion maker.”

Candy frowned. “So how do you figure into this?”

“The necklace.” She held out the little bell on the black ribbon. “Before he left Wicked gave it to me and said it was his promise to return for me. I thought it was just a simple gift like it was something to remember him by if we should never come back. But he was claiming me even then just by putting it around my neck.”

“What about Pinwheel?” Clap asked. “She's been wearing it since the day we found you.”

The light green pegasus looked down, pained. “He knows this necklace. To find another pony wearing it when he gave it to me...”

“Can we not think about that right now?” asked Candy anxiously. “Get back to your story.”

“Wicked was gone for almost a year,” Skies went on, rubbing her head. “I don't remember much of anything from that time, just that I was overjoyed to see him come home. Except he was changed. There had always been this darkness behind his smiles but now there was something sinister. He had come home to collect me, he said. I would be the first, the best, the most prized. I would be his queen. I remember laughing it off at first but then feeling the allure of going away with him. I didn't want to be where I was anymore.” She stopped, puzzled, and tried to remember why she would ever want to leave her home. There was so much of her past that was lost to her and all that she remembered involved Wicked Winds. Somehow she knew it was not a coincidence.

“I know part of it was his enchantment but there was a very real part of me that wanted a new life. The one Wicked promised me was better than anything I could have hoped for myself. He said he would always take care of me and protect me.” Her cheeks colored slightly. “What mare doesn't want that from a stallion? So I went with him and little by little I slipped under his spell. We traveled together, Wicked, myself, and Zuri. Wicked spoke to as many pegasai as he could and slowly he began leading them away. We started in bigger towns and cities where missing ponies would not be as easily noticed. Soon we were large enough to need a place of our own to call home. Once Wicked found it we all lived there together while our numbers continued to grow every day.”

“Where?” Moonflower asked.

Skies sat and looked down at her hooves. “It's in the shadow to the gates of Tartarus. You'd never know it was there unless you knew what you were looking for. The shadows are entire worlds all their own and Wicked took one of them as his personal kingdom.”

Clap spread her wings. “Looks like we're going to Tartarus, girls.”

“Wait a second.” Candy tugged on one of Clap's forelegs to bring her back to the floor. “We still need more information.” She looked at Skies. “So Wicked doesn't physically steal anypony, he just talks them into following him?”

“Yes. Most of the time.”

Moonflower quirked a brow. “Most of the time?”

“The strong willed ponies that are harder to convince may have force used against them.”

The room fell silent for a few moments, each pony playing over the tale laid out before them, all four of the mares wondering if Pinwheel was all right and whether she had been one to need force used against her. Skies closed her eyes and let herself picture her nightmare again. Finding her necklace discarded had not been a coincidence. She knew when Wicked took Pinwheel he left it there for her to find. He wanted to make her feel as miserable as he could, and it had worked.

“Your tale is not yet finished.”

It was the first time since Skies began to speak that Celestia had something to say. The pegasus looked up at the princess and wished she could see into her thoughts. Her expression was inscrutable and did nothing to comfort her. She suddenly felt more tired than she could remember ever being before. No, her tale was not yet finished there was still one part left. It was a part she had hoped to somehow avoid telling. “Go on, my dear,” said Celestia kindly. “Tell us how you came to be here in Ponyville and why your eyes are so different.”

Skies bit her lip and nodded slowly. She took a minute to simply breathe before finishing her story. “My eyes used to be like all of yours. There was nothing different, nothing special about them. But I guess one day they began to change. It could have been a day after I joined Wicked, a week, even a year. I don't know. I didn't bother to care. He had me believing that there was nothing I needed to worry about beyond our lives together and the pegasai that were our subjects. I didn't call it an army then because I didn't know that's what they were becoming. All I knew was that I was happy and protected, and had more friends than I could have ever dreamed of. Then in came the first pony to fight back.

“Up until that point every pegasus who was part of our family, that's what we called it, had either come willingly or had been made to submit outside my awareness. Under Wicked's spell as I was, I truly believed every single pony had come of their own free will and wanted to become part of the kingdom we would eventually raise up.” She glanced up at Celestia sheepishly. “I'm ashamed to say that I thought we could even overthrow you.”

“Go on,” urged the alicorn quietly.

“One day Wicked brought in a spirited young mare. I swear he must have seduced her on her way to Flight School, she was so young. But was brought to us kicking and biting, screaming at everyone that we had all been put under a spell and that we were being used, that Wicked had us all fooled. I saw him strike her and it startled me. More importantly, it made something click in me. I remember looking at Wicked with disapproval and the slick smile he gave me in return. 'It's all right, my love,' he'd said. 'She is ill. When she wakes she will be well and happy just like you.' His words repeated themselves in my head and I remember feeling like they were worms trying to dig into my brain. I'd never felt that before. His words had always been truth but this time, with the proof right in front of me, I had a harder time believing him. He realized it and spoke soothing words to me again but it only made me fight harder. The more I fought the angrier I became and the more self awareness I received.

“I looked around and saw hundreds of pegasai, all with blank and faded eyes, all walking around as though in a stupor and bending to anything Wicked said. I ran from him, ran from our dark kingdom and out into the open sunlight for the first time in...I don't even know how long. I just remember the light hurt my eyes but I kept running until I stumbled and fell into a small stream. It was there that I saw my new reflection for the first time. My eyes were faded just like the others, only far more so. Beside Zuri, who had disappeared at some point, I had been under the spell the longest.” She stopped and shook her head. “Poor Zuri. I realize now that Wicked probably has him captive somewhere.” She looked at Celestia pleadingly. “When we save the others we have to find him as well.”

“We will,” the princess promised.

Candy Pop frowned. “So he simply let you go?”

“No.” Skies laughed humorlessly. “No, he came after me with his most trained pegasai. After he tried several times to convince me to return with him he realized his hold over me had somehow been damaged. I was not as susceptible to his words anymore. So he tried to use force. I fought back and I remember the fight did not last long. His pegasai took to the air and stirred up winds the likes I had never seen before. They sucked entire stones from the ground as they gathered strength and eventually sucked me in as well. The last thing I remember him saying was that he hoped my end was quick because if he had to find me and kill me himself, I would beg to come back to him before I met my end.” She sighed quietly. “The next thing I remember after that is waking up here in the hospital.”

For a moment no one had anything to say. With Skies being a pony they all thought of as a friend now, none of the other three mares wanted to believe the pegasus could have ever had a hoof in something so horrible. They each wanted to comfort her and try to make her feel better, but at the same time there was something that kept them from offering soothing words. Moonflower, at least, gave Skies a small smile of encouragement. Then one by one their attention went to their stoic princess. When Celestia remained quiet and pensive, Skies bit her lip once more.

“Wicked has been coming to me in dreams.” She quickly looked at Clap and Candy. “I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I didn't know what to make of them before tonight and I didn't want to worry you. Each night I see a little bit more than the previous night. Tonight he warned me that if I did not stay with him I would not like the consequences. I think that's why he took Pinwheel specifically.”

“She shouldn't have been out so late by herself,” Clap argued gruffly.

“She may not have been.” Skies shook her head. “If he can come to me in dreams it is possible he visited Pinwheel as well. He may have convinced her to go out alone. She would have been powerless to stop it even if she knew what was going on.”

“Now that you remember,” Celestia said finally, “can you find your way back to the shadow kingdom?”

Skies nodded slowly, thoughtfully. “I...I think so.” She looked up at the princess with a line of worry on her brow. “I don't know if I can go back there. I don't know if I'm strong enough on my own.”

“You won't be on your own,” said Moonflower definitively. “There's no way I'm staying here knowing even a part of what you're heading into.”

“If Wicked Winds has Pinwheel and Scribes,” added Candy Pop, “then you know I'm going too.”

Thunder Clap puffed out her chest importantly. “Count me in! Together the four of us can kick some serious tail and get our friends and the rest of the pegasai back!”

Smiling thankfully, Skies pulled them all into a tight group hug. “I don't remember life before any of this but I know I never had friends as wonderful as any of you.”

“I wish I could accompany you,” said Celestia somberly, “but I cannot leave Canterlot unprotected.” She gave a slight frown and fixed her eyes on the four mares huddled together. “You are all very brave and I do not envy you the trials ahead. Stay together and always remember you have each other.”

Skies nodded. “Thank you, Princess.”

“Rest now,” the alicorn instructed gently. “You will need your strength. I will leave my guards here to watch over you until the time of your departure is upon you.” There was something different in her eyes now, something that looked like pride. “Good luck, my little ponies.”

They moved aside so that the princess could leave, watching through the window as she spoke to her guards, then disappeared into the night sky completely alone. Candy Pop and the others filtered out into the night to watch Celestia leave, then headed back upstairs to Candy's apartment.

“He'll know we're coming,” Skies lamented as she lay down on her blanket roll.

Thunder Clap set her own blanket on the floor beside Skies and settled down. “Good. I'd hate to take him by surprise and have this whole thing over with before a good fight.”

Skies shook her head. “It's not the fight I'm worried about. It's what I'm going to see when I close my eyes.”

“We're all right here,” said Moonflower. “We'll take turns keeping watch over you. If it looks like you're having a bad dream we'll make you up.”

“Thank you, Moonflower.” Skies nuzzled the unicorn gently. “Thank you, all of you. How you can still be my friends after all of this...”

“None of it was your fault,” Candy Pop argued amiably. “You were under an enchantment.” She smiled at the pegasus. “Close your eyes and get some rest. All of you. I'll take the first watch.”

Clap yawned and rolled over onto her back. “Don't have to tell me twice.”

With one last look around at her friends, Skies rested her head on her pillow and sighed to herself. How she ever ended up with such caring friends she'd never know. But she knew she'd never been more thankful for any other ponies in her life.