Age of the New Sun

by Foreshadow

Chapter 2

Comet was completely out of breath when she slammed back the door to Springbreeze’s study, panting heavily, her mane even more of a mess than normal. The Archmage, a cup of tea to her lips, paused mid-sip, her eyes widening as Comet barked, “There’s something attacking the barrier!”

Cautiously, Springbreeze turned to face her, placing her cup on her desk as two Sunwalkers raced up behind Comet.

“Sorry, Archmage, we couldn’t stop her,” one of them called.

“That’s quite alright,” Springbreeze assured them, and then beckoned them in after Comet as well as she edged up to the younger, frantic unicorn.

“Dear, what’s this all about?” she asked.

“I was up in the observatory,” Comet said hurriedly, “and I saw these... these things start hitting the barrier. They’ve been cracking it!”

“Cracking? Is that even possible?” one of the Sunwalkers asked nervously.

Springbreeze frowned slightly, saying, “I’m not sure.”

“It’s true!” Comet said rather shrilly.

“It better be, or else you’ll be in deep manure,” the second Sunwalker grunted, frowning at Comet.

“Shush. I’ll investigate,” the old unicorn assured them, and then nodded at the two Sunwalkers. “Please ask Stonehoof to meet me here as soon as he can.”

“Yes, Archmage.”

The two Sunwalkers left in a hurry; Comet watched them go with wide eyes, trying to stop her body from shaking. When she turned back to Springbreeze, she had just donned a dark robe and straightened it quickly. She strode past Comet with a quick, “Follow me,”, and Comet nodded and trotted alongside her. The blue unicorn was starting to feel absolutely exhausted, but she hurried despite that.

“What did these creatures look like?” Springbreeze asked.

“Dark, um.. like...”

Comet tried to think of something comparable and gulped to wet her dry throat.

“Dark pelts with white eyes, and they... well, they sort of looked like ponies, but... I don’t know, wrong?” Comet tried to explain. “Their bodies were all twisted and strange. I have no idea what they were.”

Springbreeze’s brow furrowed and her ears pressed back.

“I’m not sure either,” she admitted.

She slowed her pace and Comet followed her lead, and the older unicorn looked around until she picked out a plain, unsuspecting door in the wall. Comet was surprised; she had never noticed it before.

The glow of the Archmage’s silver magic shot forth and pried the door open with a heavy creak and the sound of small bits of debris crinkling down to the floor. Opening it sent a burst of fresh air into Comet’s face, and she was stunned to see a small, unkempt balcony. Though Springbreeze stepped out of the tower and onto it without trepidation, Comet was hesitant at the sight of the crumbling railing and edges. She sucked it up and walked out beside the Archmage, and then looked around quickly to get her bearings.

They were high up the tower, with a what would have been clear view of about half of Canterlot if it hadn’t been so dark. Comet got her bearings almost immediately and raced to the right end of the balcony, ready to point out the field that was absolutely black with the creatures, only to be stunned still. They were all gone. Comet gulped and her mouth dropped open with shock.

“But... But they were all right there,” she breathed.

The Archmage heard her and edged closer to her with an air of caution about her. Comet merely shook her head.

“I can’t believe it,” she said, and then quickly whipped around to face Springbreeze, mortified. “They were right there! There had to be hundreds of them, but-”

“Comet Strike, I don’t think you’re lying, don’t worry,” the older unicorn reassured her quickly.

She frowned into the darkness and Comet backed up, allowing her to get closer to the railing as she peered into the field. The young unicorn tried to read the Archmage’s expression carefully, but couldn’t garner much other than the mare’s obvious concern.

Comet’s stomach was starting to knot and she bit her lip nervously. The chill wind sent her mane bristling and she took a hesitant step back towards the interior of the tower again. She noticed Springbreeze’s horn start to glow, so she gave her a bit more space. A shock of silver magic shot upwards and crashed against the barrier, splashing like water and spreading against it, staining it with light. As it spread, the cracks came into view, shining in bright contrast against the sky.

For Comet, it was a bit of a relief to see them again, if only so that she knew she hadn’t imagined it the first time. Her relief was short-lived, however; realizing what she had seen was unequivocally real set her mind spinning and her body trembling. Springbreeze’s hushed, shocked words of, “Dear Celestia,” didn’t make matters any better either.

“Comet,” the old unicorn said, turning a stern, steady gaze on her, “you should go back to bed.”

Comet almost had to do a double-take.

“What?” she replied rather dumbly.

“Let Stonehoof and I handle this,” she said. “Go back to bed.”

Her tone was stern, her face utterly serious. Comet had had more questions, but they evaporated under the heat of the old unicorn’s gaze. Her throat dry, she nodded shakily and scooted back into the tower.

Once inside, Comet tried to contain her fear. She was mostly unsuccessful and was shaking from eartips to hooves, but despite that, she could only think of one thing to do. She took off at a gallop towards the library.

Her run was a blur in her mind, but when she finally arrived at the library, it felt like it had taken a week. As she panted for breath, Comet saw that the large double doors were tightly shut. Mumbling out a tired expletive, she put a hoof up to the door and pushed, but to no avail. She drew back again and huffed in irritation, and then summoned a burst of magic to her horn. Before she could even try to knock the door back, she heard an abrupt, “Hey!” It almost scared her out of her fur, and she whipped around, wide-eyed.

Before her stood a Sunwalker, light orange in gold armour, his green eyes probing her questioningly. Comet felt like she could just die on the spot, until he asked, “You’re... Comet Strike, right? The bookworm?”

“Wha- Um... Yes! Yes, that’s right,” Comet said hurriedly, trying not to let her utter relief show. “Yes, I’m Comet. And you?”

“Uh... Redstreak,” he replied a bit awkwardly, a look of confusion on his face.

“Well, Redstreak,” she said, placing a hoof on his shoulder, “I need help. You wouldn’t happen to have the key to the library, would you?”

“Yes, but-”

Comet looked at him pleadingly.

“I have some research I really need to get done. Do you think you could open it up for me?”

“This late?”

He looked skeptical. Comet nodded quickly and he paused and looked her up and down, and after a moment, sighed and craned his neck to reach back into a pocket at his belt. He pulled out a key ring and passed it to Comet. Her eyes lit up and she unlocked the door in a hurry, rushing out a fast and sincere, “Thank you,” before galloping inside.

Comet summoned light to her horn and charged through the library to the bestiary shelf, pulling down all the books she could find concerning magical beast or evil monsters from the Everfree Forest. She rushed them, all twenty six of them, to one of the study tables at the front, spreading them out all around her. Forcing her light into a hovering ball by her side, she began to flip through the first book frantically. Her eyes skimmed sections on the cockatrice and dragons, and several other creatures, but none matched the description of what she saw. She frowned frustratedly at the pages and closed the book, hurrying onto the next. Her mind was racing: what could those creatures be? As she read on, she found Changelings, creatures with a shape like that of a pony and a twisted, black hide, but these didn’t fit the bill either. Their appearance had more insect leanings, while the creatures Comet had seen were simply monstrous.

What the hay are you...?

Comet frowned to herself, trying to work it out. Reflecting upon it frightened her, but she felt like she needed to know.

As she pawed through her books, coming across sections on timber wolves and quarry eels and other creatures of the forest, nothing stood out to her as what she had seen. Comet slumped in her seat, blowing out a large puff of air and resting her cheek on her hoof. He ears twitched to the sound of hooves behind her and warm light pooled around her, and she craned her neck over her shoulder to see Redstreak approaching her, holding a bright lantern.

“Thought you could use a light you didn’t have to hold up,” he said as he placed it on her table.

Comet tried to hide her surprise and smiled.

“Thanks,” she said, extinguishing her ball of light, “Good idea.”

The stallion smiled and nodded, and then began to head out of the library. Comet turned back to her books, though she heard the pony behind her stop and let out a startled, “Oh!”. He trotted back to her quickly.

“Here, I think this is yours,” he said.

He placed a folded piece of paper before her. Comet frowned with confusion.

“I didn’t think I had any paper on me,” she said, puzzled.

Redstreak shrugged.

“Not mine,” he stated simply.

“Well, thanks,” Comet said with a shrug.

He nodded at her and bid her a quiet goodnight before clip-clopping away back into the hallway.

Comet stared at the paper curiously. Perhaps it had fallen out of one of the books? Holding it in midair, Comet unfolded it and paused to look at it. The paper was a rough copy of the library blueprint on Springbreeze’s desk, with the words “check into Equestrian history” scratched near the bottom. She didn’t recognize the writing. Comet’s mouth ran dry and she spun in her seat, her golden eyes casting about in the dark. Her mind demanded, how? over and over again. She couldn’t answer it.

Comet was on her feat before she could even begin to think about it. Taking the lantern and paper with her, Comet rushed through the darkened, book-lined halls of the library to the clearing at the back. When she arrived, casting the area in the warm glow of the lantern, she was startled to see the tables in the back completely cleared.

“Okay, weird, definitely weird,” she mumbled to herself.

Cautiously, she edged to the closest table and placed the lantern down, letting its light fill her little section of the room. Someone had definitely been to work there.

Comet turned her attention back to the paper. and stared at it closely. The picture on it indicated a room behind a bookshelf; the unicorn tried to match it with what was before her in her mind. Cautiously, she went around the tables to the shelves against the wall and peered at them closely. With her magic, she brought her lantern closer. Scuff-marks on the floor drew her attention to one shelf amongst the rest. She remembered seeing them earlier, but now, as she spied a book called Equestrian History at the edge of the rows of books, she knew there had to be something to it.

Her heart beating quickly, she sucked her tongue and slid the book gently from the shelf. It looked a bit older, and upon opening it, she noticed it flipped most naturally to the end. She winced as she noticed some pages had been roughly torn out. She knew the story before the missing pages well; she assumed every pony did. It told the tale of how Celestia was somehow sent from the world by a group called the Cult of Nightmare Moon. Not much was known about Nightmare Moon, except for that she had been banished from the moon once before by Celestia. Rumours said that the two were once sisters. Comet wished she knew more, but the books always only included so much; they all felt like they were missing a part of the story. Then again, the events had occurred around three hundred years ago, the unicorn supposed it wasn’t entirely strange for the story to be incomplete. This book, however, reeked of deliberate sabotage. Before the torn pages, however, the story continued to explain that once Celestia had vanished, the sun and moon were frozen in the sky, and in this strange, unchanging land, before the Everfree Forest had spread, a new creature had appeared to threaten Equestria, though it didn’t say what it had been. She flipped through the book, hoping for a more information, but found nothing. She frowned and groaned in irritation, and put the book down. It was time to see what was behind the book case. In truth, she had been putting it off. She was nervous to see what was there, but she felt now that she had to keep going. Perhaps there were answers in the strange, hidden room.

Comet immediately set her magic to work, wrapping the blue around the bookcase and trying to levitate it out of its spot. Her magic, however, faltered and faded around the shelf, leaving it standing very much where it was.

“Oh, great,” Comet sighed, rolling her eyes.

She tried once more just to be sure, and when the magic continued to fail, she grumbled and took a spot beside the shelf. Putting her front hooves against it, she shoved with all her might, what little muscle she had straining badly. She heard the scraping of wood against tile; grunted as she pushed the bookcase to the side and then, when there was some room behind it, pushed her side forward until there was enough of a gap to pass through.

There was what seemed to be a small doorway cut into the wall quite cleanly leading into a dark passageway and downwards sloping stairs that were illuminated a little by the lantern. Comet gulped and felt cooler air drift in from the passage and brush her face. It made her shiver a little. After hesitating for a moment, Comet pulled the lantern to her and cautiously made her way into the hidden room.

The warm light spread over stone walls and a set of stairs that were battered with age. Dust was brushed from just one side, as if someone had gone down the stairs with their shoulder to the wall. After a moment’s hesitation, Comet followed the cleaned path.

The way down was deathly quiet, with only the sound of Comet’s hooves on the stairs echoing against the stone. A glint below her hinted at the bottom of the stairs, and she thought about hurrying before she remembered how prone she was to toppling and decided against it. She proceeded carefully, noting as she went that she under the light she was starting to be able to see the reflection of her light quite clearly. At the bottom of the stairs, to Comet’s surprise, the stone transitioned into what seemed to be polished crystal. After a second thought, she supposed it wasn’t so strange. Canterlot was known for having crystal caves underneath it. Carefully, Comet tested one hoof on the top of the crystal. It wasn’t very slippery and seemed solid, so she continued. She tried not to let her own clear reflection framing her down the hall unnerve her.

Down the end of the hallway, she found a door, or what she suspected was a door: it had no handle or anything of the sort. It was large, divided into several sections of varying purples, with three circles running down each side vertically. In the center, a stylized sun stood out, a hole almost like a keyhole in its center. Comet stared at it with awe, wondering how it got there; how long it had been in such a strange place. Her magic holding the lantern aside a bit, Comet snuck forward to peer into the hole. She could see nothing but blackness beyond. Part of her wanted to turn back, leave it to the Archmage and the Sun-Commander, but another part of her insisted that she had come too far already, that she should finish what she started.

Comet stood back and looked at the door quietly, trying to determine how to open it. She doubted it would work, but she conjured a simple lock picking spell and stuck her horn into the hole to try to aim it. Before she had even released, however, the door surged to life with a powerful, distinctive whumf sound. Comet skittered back with a yelp, her eyes wide as she was bathed in a bright blue light that traveled from the keyhole, around the edged of the sun, and up around the outer rim of the door. Stone ground past stone and the door parted slowly down the middle. Comet watched, mouth agape, as the blue faded down to nothing, leaving just her lantern’s light to illuminate the strange room within.

One step inside the room set a faint magic glow in the room, illuminating a strange, square chamber made of crystal and stone. Engravings of alternating dark and light alicorns frolicked across the walls, glimmering in the light. Comet looked, wide-eyed, at the strange place, observing a strange, purple second door inside and six square panels on the floor framing a seventh in the center of the room. Looking up, she could see a ceiling lined with crystal balls, arranged in a closely packed series of rings. The unicorn had no idea what to make of such a place.

“Dear Celestia,” Comet breathed, awed.

Upon her words, the chamber roared to life, bright lights shooting from the crystals above her so suddenly that Comet jumped up in fear and reared back, pressing herself against the wall in panic. The light flashed brightly and she yelped and had to close her eyes. She felt the white on the back of her lids dim and, carefully, she looked again to see the white light had changed to cerulean, then turquoise, cobalt and heliotrope. When the light dimmed entirely, Comet’s gaze was drawn to the crystal balls in the ceiling that still glowed bright. Scattered in the crystal, she saw, in fragments, a moving image of a palace and, to her utter surprise, Princess Celestia.

For the umpteenth time that night, Comet’s mouth dropped open and she stumbled back onto the ground.

“H-How?” she stammered aloud. “Princess Celestia?”

Above her, the alicorn smiled gently and Comet felt her knees go weak.

“Approach,” she said.

Comet didn’t know what to do or where to go, though again, Celestia said, “Approach,” and a pale blue light streamed from the ceiling and into the center of the six square panels in the middle of the room. Without question, the unicorn edged her way into the light, unable to tear her eyes away from what she was seeing.

How is this possible? She’s gone, she’s... I don’t understand!

The image above her jittered and set back, and Celestia smiled once more, exactly as she had last time.

“My faithful student, Twilight Sparkle, I have-”

“Wait, wait,” Comet interjected quickly. “I’m not...! I’m not Twilight Sparkle, my name is Comet Strike.”

The Celestia above her paused and flickered across the crystals, as if computing what she had said.

“I do not understand,” Celestia said finally. “Repeat?”

Confused, Comet stood a little taller to look at the image more closely, and she said loudly, “My name is Comet Strike. I’m not Twilight.”

Celestia’s eyes narrowed in apparent contemplation.

“Understood,” she said.

Comet relaxed for a moment, but wished she hadn’t as a the beam of blue light changed to gold, warm magic sparking across her body with it. She felt herself being pulled upwards and she drew in a sharp breath of surprise, fear gripping her as she realized she was floating. She gulped, shying away from the intense, pale magenta gaze of Celestia peering down at her. Almost as suddenly as the magic had appeared, however, it vanished, leaving Comet to plop unceremoniously to the ground. As she stood again, dazed and confused, she heard the voice, now a little distorted, say, “You’ll do.”

“I’ll... I’ll what?” she stammered. “Celestia, I... I’m sorry, I... I don’t know how to address someone like you. I’ve... I’ve never spoke to a god before.”

“I am no god,” Celestia replied simply, her tone slightly amused.

Comet paused, uncertain, though Celestia seemed unfazed, her stance kept flickering and resetting, as if replaying. Comet gulped.

“Are you really here?” she asked.

“No.”

The unicorn took a deep, shaking breath and muttered, “Okay,” to herself.

“Then how am I seeing you?” she asked curiously.

“My dearest student, Twilight Sparkle, discovered a way to record images into crystal through the use of magic. A wonderful technology, I wish I had thought of it myself,” Celestia replied.

Cycle back to her gentle smile. Comet’s brain whirred and she nodded. She was starting to understand.

“So you’re a recording with preset answers to certain questions, then?”

“Yes.”

Again, Comet nodded and she sat down on her haunches, rubbing her head with one front hoof tiredly. She wasn’t sure what to ask, or even what answers the recording could give.

“What did you mean when you said, ‘I’ll do,’ to me?” she asked.

“You have sufficient magical abilities. Once we are done, I will give you something that you might make use of.”

“Okay...” Comet said quietly. “Why are you here?”

“To leave instructions.”

“For what?”

“Once we are done, I will give you something that you might make use of,” she said again, the recording jumping back.

Comet frowned and inclined her head. She didn’t know what else to ask, but hesitantly said, “Do you know what Nightspawn are?” and when she got no response, she tried, “How did you vanish?” Again, Celestia had no answer. The unicorn sighed.

“Why do you have to be so cryptic?” she asked, a little frustrated.

“My apol- apol -apologies.”

The recording was faltering, a hiss playing through words as the image was crossed with white gaps in the recording. Comet gulped. Was the magic running out? She wasn’t sure, but she felt like now that she had her here, she needed to ask Celestia more.

“Why did you make this recording?” the unicorn inquired.

“The recording- made when there were rumours of- plan,” she explained, her dialogue stilted and broken; missing pieces, “Plan to overthrow me. The recording was for Twilight and- friends. But you’ll do. Magic bends to you.”

The crystal balls flickered, the light dimming. Comet gasped unwittingly and jumped to her hooves, calling, “Wait!” desperately.

“I do not understand,” came Celestia’s voice.

Comet shook her head at herself, recalling that she wasn’t talking to a real-live alicorn.

“What else do I need to know?” Comet asked quickly. “Anything you could tell me about... anything! Anything at all!”

Celestia paused, froze in place; it felt like she was considering, though Comet knew that was not the case.

“If I am correct, and the plan of my enemies succeeds, there will be much fighting in the future,” Celestia said, her eyes sad. “Friendship is what will get you through. Be ver- careful the- of Harmony will- and the new sun will-”

The recording had degraded so much that it was all but inaudible, and the image quickly flickered and died, leaving Comet standing in only the pale, magic glow of the walls around her. She unceremoniously plopped back onto her rump, her eyes wide, only now realizing that her heart was pounding frantically. Why had that just happened? Before she even had time to really mull it over, Comet was startled to hear the sounds of gears whirring and tile sliding over tile. She approached the spot slowly; a space was opening up in the floor, and from it, a jeweled chest was pushed upwards. Curiously, Comet snuck up to it, and then once it stopped moving, opened it.

Inside the chest, Comet was surprised to find two books. She wasn’t sure what she had been expecting, but it certainly wasn’t that. One was clearly a book of spells, and a very old one at that. The other, however, was a thick, leather-bound brown book with gold inlays and the head of a golden unicorn with turquoise eyes on the cover. Intrigued, Comet pulled it from the chest first and flipped it open. It was about the Elements of Harmony, a mystical power that had been used to save Equestria on several occasions. Comet knew little about them other than that. As she skimmed the pages, it seemed to be a combination of a history book and an explanation of the aforementioned Elements. In this book, however, she found the first record of the war from three hundred years ago she had ever seen written and saw, in in-depth detail, two pages filled with illustrations labeled “Nightspawn”. It gave Comet chills; the twisted, monstrous creatures in the pictures looked exactly like what she had seen outside. She read a little farther, and the book spoke of their toxic blood and aversion to the sun. Comet was starting to feel sick.

“Nightspawn,” she breathed. “Oh... this is not good...”

She put a hoof to her forehead and rubbed her face tiredly.

“What did I get myself into now?” she grumbled at herself.

She took a deep breath and the turned her gaze on the second book in the chest. A quick look through told her immediately that it was something she would need to hide: it was a book of spells, and strong ones too.

Comet decided it wouldn’t be a good idea to hang around and read these old tomes now: warning Springbreeze of Nightspawn was more important. She gathered up her books and the lantern, and before she left, tried the other purple door, just in case. It wouldn’t open, not even with magic, so she gave up and hurried back to the library, replacing the bookshelf where it had been and dousing the light before she left.

The unicorn hurried back to the dormitory first, hiding the books beneath her mattress before she took off at a run back to Springbreeze’s office. Upon arriving, she heard hushed voices talking sternly to one another. Comet paused outside the door, unsure if she should wait until whomever was inside was done talking to the Archmage or if she should interject; it didn’t take her long to choose the latter. Quickly, she knocked on the door, and when she heard Springbreeze ask for her to come inside, she hurried through the door. She saw the Archmage, tired and a little disheveled, sitting at her desk while the huge grey stallion, the Sun-Commander, Stonehoof, stood beside her, his face fixed in a concerned frown.

“Sorry. To interrupt, I mean,” Comet said quickly. “Archmage, I know what they were.”

“I have my own suspicions, but go on,” the older unicorn said.

Comet nodded. She had a moment of doubt. What if they didn’t believe her? Nevertheless, she sucked it up and tried to look as confident as she knew she should have been.

“Nightspawn,” she said.

Springbreeze and Stonehoof shared a knowing glance, and the stallion sighed deeply.

“I was afraid of this,” he admitted.

“Have you heard something, Commander?” Springbreeze asked.

“Unfortunately, yes. Nightspawn being spotted at the edge of the forest. Threats of attack, I’ve heard, that King Tornado is taking very seriously,” he said. “There may be battles in the near future.”

“So... you believe me?” Comet asked a bit hesitantly.

“I almost wish I didn’t,” Stonehoof said with a tired laugh, “but I know better than that. Thank you for the news, filly.”

Comet nodded and smiled a bit shyly. Springbreeze’s face donned a strange expression. She seemed almost proud.

“Thank you, Comet Strike,” she echoed. “How did you figure it out?”

“I found a book in the library about the war that started after Celestia vanished,” she said, and when Stonehoof gave her a strangely probing look, she continued to say, “It... didn’t say much else. Just a bit about Nightspawn.”

“Where is this book now?” the stallion asked.

His expression was cold and Comet immediately knew that it wasn’t something she wasn’t supposed to have stumbled across. Weakly, she shrugged.

“At the back, somewhere,” she lied. “I just sort of shoved it back into the nearest shelf when I was done. Sorry, sir.”

“Very well,” he said, nodding. “You may go.”

Comet nodded hurriedly and scooted from the office.

---

When Comet awoke in the dormitory the next morning, the normal teenaged chatter was replaced by hushed, tense whispers. The unicorn rolled out of bed groggily and peered around for any sign of Pinklily or her other friends, but they weren’t around in the immediate area, so Comet went to wash up quickly.

Once she was done, she set out to find her friends, though Glimmer Pearl found her first, jumping her almost as soon as she left the dormitory.

“Comet, did you hear?” she demanded quickly.

Comet’s brain wasn’t awake enough yet to even begin to know what she was talking about, so all she managed to say was, “What?” rather tiredly. Glimmer frowned and leaned in close to Comet.

“Two of the Sunwalkers vanished last night! The tower’s a mess about it!” she said in a hurried, hushed tone.

This woke Comet right up.

“...It... wasn’t from the area near the field with the train tracks, was it?” she asked.

“It... Yeah, it was,” Glimmer replied, looking confused. “How did you know that?”

“Some weird stuff was happening last night,” Comet admitted, but before Glimmer could ask, Comet quickly said, “Have you seen Pinks anywhere? I need to talk to her.”

“Well.. yeah, she’s fooling around with some rocks or something in that workroom she likes,” the tall unicorn said, a small frown creasing her brow. “What’s going on, Comet?”

“Well...” Comet said quietly; she mulled it over for a minute and then patted her friend on the shoulder. “How about I fill you in when I actually know what’s going on?”

Glimmer looked a bit disappointed, but she nodded and said, “Okay, I’m counting on you.”

Comet felt a little guilty as she trotted off to find Pinklily, but she couldn’t tell Glimmer without worrying about the information ending up all over the tower. The ivory unicorn was always well intentioned, but she had a sort of compulsion to talk that could get others into difficult situations.

Just as Glimmer said, Comet found Pinklily on the second floor in a work room, her magic wrapped around a dark blue crystal as she manipulated it in midair. Sparks like lightning could be seen jumping across its surface. Comet knew better than to interrupt. She waited until the crystal flashed brightly and a look of satisfaction passed over her friend’s face before approaching her, saying, “Looks like that went well.”

“Sure did,” Pinklily said proudly, placing the crystal down on the floor where it levitated of its own accord. “I just made a lightning totem. Anyway, good morning! You look like you had a rough night.”

“Thanks,” Comet laughed. “But, uh... I had some stuff I wanted to tell you about.”

“About the monsters outside?” she asked, and before Comet could ask how she knew, she smiled and said, “The Sunwalkers are talking. A lot. Two went missing, did you hear?”

“Glimmer mentioned,” Comet said, her ears drooping, “and... I think I know what’s going on. Sort of.”

Pinlily looked intrigued and inclined her head. She looked at Comet quietly for a moment before an expression of surprise shot across her face.

“By Celestia, you saw them, didn’t you?” she said quietly. “What was it?”

“Nightspawn.”

Pinklily looked taken aback.

“Nightspawn? But I thought they were exterminated in the last war.”

“Guess not,” Comet joked weakly. “I even heard that... well, the Sun-Commander mentioned that there’s actually been threats of attacks. Big ones. King Tornado, you know, from Zenith, he’s actually gonna be fighting them or something.”

“Scary,” Pinklily said quietly.

“I know, right?” Comet agreed readily. “But, I really need to show you something.”

“Okay...” the other unicorn said a bit hesitantly. “What?”

“Just come with me, okay?”

After making a quick stop-off in the dormitory for her saddlebags and her secret books, Comet lead a curious Pinklily to the back of the library and, once again pushing the shelf out of the way, the blue unicorn took her friend down to the strange chamber below, explaining what she had seen last night as they went.

Once more, the chamber below the library lit up as they entered it. Pinklily scanned the room with an inquisitive eye, not saying much. She was quiet after Comet finished her story, and the blue unicorn watched her eagerly as she ran her hoof curiously along the wall. Her yellow magic tested the wall, and she looked up at the crystal balls in the ceiling and touched them as well. The crystals flickered at the insistence of her magic, and she drew in a sharp gasp as, quickly, the image of Celestia flashed across them before they dimmed. She turned to Comet, wide-eyed, and the blue unicorn perked up hopefully.

“This whole room is... amazing,” Pinklily said. “You really just found this last night?”

Comet nodded and Pinklily said a quiet, “Wow,” as she circled the room. She came to the strange purple door and pointed at it.

“What’s this?”

“Not sure,” Comet admitted. “It doesn’t open.”

Pinklily frowned at it and then whirled on Comet quickly.

“So you really talked to Celestia?”

“Well, a recording, yeah,” Comet replied.

She opened her saddlebags and pulled out the two books, and as she gently placed down the historical one, she flipped it open to the picture of the Nightspawn.

“She gave me these because... Well, I’m actually not sure,” Comet said. “I think this place was meant for Twilight Sparkle to find.”

“But she never did,” Pinklily concluded.

She sounded a little sad.

“Celestia kept saying ‘you’ll do,” to me,” Comet continued. “I’m not really sure what she wanted, but she gave me this book. It showed me... well, look.”

She sat down and gestured to the Nightspawn illustrations. Pinklily sat on the floor as well, frowning at the pages.

“I think I would have screamed if I saw that for real,” she admitted. “What were they doing?”

“Honestly, it looked like they were trying to get into Canterlot,” Comet said, ears folding back.

“Did you tell the Archmage?” the pink unicorn asked swiftly.

“Of course I did.”

Comet sighed deeply, and then nudged the book towards Pinklily.

“It actually has info about the war from three hundred years back,” she said. “Do you know a lot about it?”

“Just that Celestia vanished and because the sun and moon got stuck, her student, Twilight, and some other ponies had to spread the Everfree forest all over Equestria,” Pinklily said with a shrug, “And... that that’s when the Nightspawn appeared. That’s about it.”

“This book talks about a group called the Wardens of Harmony, a group who used to fight the Nightspawn,” Comet explained. “I’d heard of them, but I sort of thought they were a myth.”

“Same here,” Pinklily agreed. “You’ll have to let me read that when you’re done with it.”

“Sure,” the blue unicorn said with a nod.

Pinklily smiled appreciatively, and then stole another glance around the room.

“I’m just gonna-”

“Go ahead,” Comet said with a laugh.

Pinklily’s face brightened and she got to her hooves once more and went back to inspecting the various aspects of the room.

As the the day wore on, Comet and Pinklily returned to the tower proper and tried to keep themselves busy. Comet heard the word Nightspawn whispered throughout the halls several times, and waited to see if the Archmage would call an assembly to warn the students about what was going on. It didn’t happen.

That night, against Pinklily’s advice and her own better judgement, Comet returned to the observatory to scan the area once more through her telescope. She saw nothing out of the ordinary, save for that the guard at the edge of Canterlot near the field had been doubled. As the night went on, Comet found herself far too on edge to go to bed. It was risky, she decided, but she felt like magic practice would help her, as it always had in the past. She headed downstairs.

Comet’s secret training room was deep below Canterlot, in a set of crystal caves long forgotten by most. Taking her new spell book and traveling with the utmost silence, Comet hurried into the Temple of the Sun. She had always thought it perfect that the entrance had been hidden there by whomever had crafted it, stuck behind a pillar and a pew, and a small statuette of the sun on a pedestal. Nimbus had shown her the place when she was just a filly, though she still didn’t know how he had found it. As far as she knew, no other Sunwalkers had ever found out about it. Though she had to sneak past the Sunwalker’s barracks hall to get there, the night was quiet so far so, though she was on edge, Comet found her way to the caves without incident.

The caves Comet trained in were made of large crystals of varying hues of purple and turquoise. They were strangely beautiful, and in a way, Comet felt a little sad that only she and Pinklily knew about it. When she arrived there, lighting her way with illuminated spheres of magic, she looked around the place and felt a little proud to see the streaks of discolouring and long cuts in the crystals: scars of her training. Before starting this time, however, Comet decided to take a look at her new book, so she put it on the floor and lay down to read it.

The spell book seemed ancient, with tattered pages and faded words, but there were notes in ink scribbled in the margins, obviously by somepony who knew the subject matter deeply. Some of the spell Comet already knew: shields made from ice, energy bolts that could slice through or pierce many things or a similar spell that was merely a blunt impact, and pure energy eruptions. The blue unicorn felt a little uneasy with the book. If anyone else found out about its contents, she could only imagine the worst for herself. Sighing, Comet flipped to the front of the book where she had seen a spell she didn’t know. It was a teleportation spell, and though those were still very much against the rules, it was a bit out of Comet’s comfort zone and seemed interesting.

Getting to her feet, Comet stashed the book behind a jutting crystal for safety and then stood in the center of the chamber to practice. Comet was quite good at magic. At least, she usually was. Attacking and projectile magic was simple to her, but this teleportation thing wasn’t quite working. She got the basic concept: visualize oneself in a different location and use magic to put the body there. However, though she tried to for over an hour, she couldn’t quite get it. Though she was a bit frustrated, she understood that it wasn’t really her forte, and at least she was tired now.

---

Sleepily, Comet returned to the surface and headed back into the Temple of the Sun. To her surprise, however, she heard the sound of hooves and distant chatter. She held in a squeak and skittered back and ducked under the pew in front of her. After a moment, three ponies, one a pegasus and two earth ponies, trotted into the temple, snickering.

“-I can’t even... ugh, he’s just sad. Just sad,” one of them said.

Comet’s ears drooped and she slunk down against the floor, ducking down as far as she could.

“I can’t believe that blankflank actually took the bait,” the pegasus said as she rolled her eyes.

“I don’t understand why he’s even here,” the first said.

Comet felt a yawn coming on, and she took a quick breath and held it in, trying to shut herself up. She just wanted to yawn even more.

“Maybe you shouldn’t be so harsh,” said the third pony. “I heard he didn’t have a choice. No parents.”

“Whatever,” the first scoffed. “Neither did I, and I’m fine.”

“Yeah, most of us are orphans, big deal,” the pegasus said quickly, frowning at the other two.

“Well, either way I don’t envy the headache he’ll have in the morning.

They laughed, a bit louder this time, until one of them hushed the other; Comet couldn’t tell which. They continued on, whispering to themselves about their patrol. Comet didn’t move a muscle until she couldn’t hear them anymore.

When all was quiet, Comet released her held breath slowly and emerged from her hiding place, biting her lip and trying to remain quiet. She felt rather uncomfortable with what she had heard.

I guess they bully each other, too, not just us, she thought, her ears drooping.

She wondered whom they had been talking about, wondered if maybe they had beaten somepony up. Comet paused, shuffling on her hooves a little, and then quietly edged to the barracks hallway. She peered down into the dark, but there didn’t seem to be anything there. She felt her heartbeat quicken, but she drew back away.

I should really go to bed. Seriously.

A bit hesitantly, she backed away and began to head slowly back across the temple towards the main area of the tower. Despite her best efforts to hold it in, she yawned, nearly stumbling over her own hooves in grogginess and letting out a shrill “Oops” as she regained herself. Her ears flattened a bit and she grimaced: so much for being quiet. Nervously, she froze, listening carefully with ears erect, but after almost two minutes of silence, she supposed if any Sunwalker had heard her, none of them were worried enough about what she was doing to approach her.

As she reached the passageway from the temple, the vague sound of a male voice sent her jumping, her heart pounding with shock. She spun on her back legs and her eyes shot around, peering into the shadows of the temple. However, she saw nothing. Comet took a deep breath and her mind began to race, debating with herself over whether she should go back to check or not, but in an instant, she froze, hearing the voice again. It was like a groan; tired, and a little upset. Frowning, she stared down the barracks corridor. She didn’t want to go down there: she was terrified of getting in trouble. She bit her lip and shuffled on the spot. She heard the voice again and her ears drooped. He didn’t sound like he was in a good way. Sighing deeply, nervous, but unable to ignore the voice, she edged back across the temple and quietly down the hall towards where she had heard the voice.

Lights were out further down the hall, so she quickly had a small ball of light hover beside her as she followed the voice. It lead her down a hall she had scarcely been in, though she didn’t recognize it in the dark. At the end, a small set of stairs lead to a plain wooden door left slightly agape. Cautiously, Comet clip-clopped down the stairs and edged her way into the next room. Again, she was unsure of where she was, but there was another open door at the end of this new room, with firelight pooling out to expose a few armor racks nearby.

This must be where he is, she thought, I’ll... I’ll just take a peek.

She pawed at the floor with one hoof anxiously, but she was worried about the possibly injured Sunwalker. She took another deep breath as she doused her magic, and then stuck her head in through the doorway.

Before her, Comet saw what appeared to be a small barracks dining hall, with worn benches and tables lining a room that, though still illuminated quite brightly by firelight, was vacant save for one tan-coloured stallion. He lay, a bottle of cider nearby, his face pressed against the table as he made some strange mumbling sound to himself. Comet recognized him a little, had seen him around the dormitories a few times. The pony was a Sunwalker in training, around her age, and though he had brown appaloosa spots on his flank, his Mark was still absent. At the moment, he seemed rather inebriated, much to Comet’s relief. It was much better than the alternative.

After summoning a bit of courage, Comet trotted up to the pony, inclining her head.

“Um, ‘scuse me,” she said quietly, sounding a bit more worried than she had intended to. “Are you okay?”

The young stallion slowly turned his head and looked at her with big silver eyes, seeming utterly startled that she was there.

“Oh!” he said, seeming dazed; he sat straight up at a speed that didn’t seem healthy. “Sorry. Sorry, I’m- I’m-”

He spoke with a Trottingham accent, though his words were a little slurred. He hiccoughed and shook his head, tossing his short, dirty-blond mane from his face, and then suddenly looked very dizzy.

“Somepony spiked my- my cider,” he whined, and then put his head to the table again. “And the barracks are so far.”

Comet looked at him sympathetically and used her magic to pull the bottle over to her and gave it a sniff. She cringed; it indeed smelled heavily of fermentation.

“Why would they do that?” she wondered aloud.

“They think I don’t take this seriously,” the stallion answered, putting a hoof heavily on the table. “Being a Sunwalker, I mean. And I’ll tell you what: I don’t take it seriously. Hah!”

He giggled to himself and waved his forelimbs around in front of him.

“All these grumpy old ponies lording over the unicorns, I don’t want to be like them, it’s such a downer,” he said, grinning just a little, but then his face fell. “They don’t like me now, though.”

Comet didn’t know what to say and merely nodded to acknowledge his words, but to her surprise, he patted the bench beside him, inviting her to sit. Hesitantly, she did, and he looked at her with a tired smile.

“So what’re you doing up here, blue... pony?” he asked. “What’s your name?”

“Oh,” Comet said, surprised, “I’m Comet Strike. I study in the Canterlot tower.”

He nodded understandingly and replied with,

“Runestone. That’s my name, I mean. Hello. Hi. Nice to meet you.”

He started laughing loudly as if someone had said something hilarious, but then thumped his forehead down onto the table. He snickered a little more and said, “Sorry, Comet Strike, I’m not having a very good night.”

Comet smiled sympathetically. In all honesty, this pony confused her. She had never met a Sunwalker who hadn’t poured all that he was into the position. To find somepony who clearly didn’t want to be there puzzled her, but also gave her a bit of hope. It meant not all of them looked upon unicorns with such disdain. It was a bit reassuring. After watching Runestone sort of roll himself on the table, Comet piped up a bit.

“Maybe you should get to bed?” she suggested.

The stallion perked up, and stood to get off the bench, saying, “Good idea!”, only to topple unceremoniously to the floor.

“Oh... right,” he mumbled to himself, and Comet cringed a little before getting up from the bench.

Since he obviously couldn’t walk, she easily levitated him above the ground. He didn’t look very surprised that he was floating, but he did seem surprised that she was the one causing him to.

“Where do you sleep?” she asked, and he awkwardly pointed through another door at the opposite end of the room.

“Two... no, three doors that way,” he said.

Comet bit back a sigh. As tired as she was, it did seem much too far. She sucked it up, however, and with Runestone floating before her, she headed for the next room.

She passed through a small armour cache and another hallway before arriving in a dimly lit barracks, filled with sleeping ponies. Comet trod softly and found a vacant bed midway through the room, where she placed Runestone and tucked him in with her magic: he was already basically asleep by now. His eyes shut, he waved a hoof in the air and groggily mumbled, “Thanks, Comet Strike.”

“No problem,” she whispered in return.

Feeling rather good for helping the poor inebriated pony, Comet turned to leave, only to see, looming before her, the imposing form of Stonehoof. Comet felt her blood run cold and her mane prickle as he stared her down with eyes of ice.

“You again? What are you doing in here?” he demanded.

His voice was low, still considerate of the other ponies, and yet it frightened Comet to her core. She stammered for a moment before he said, “Spit it out, filly!”

“I, um, I found Runestone in the dining hall and he was drunk because somepony spiked his cider so I brought him back to his bed and that’s all and please don’t cut my horn!” she rambled, fast and shrill.

Stonehoof looked down at her, frowning, and she felt her knees begin to wobble.

“That’s all?” he asked.

She nodded quickly and, after a moment of feeling like her heart would beat out her chest, the huge pony sighed, his expression softening, and he said,

“Thank you. Some of the others have been picking on him. Now, off to bed with you.”

“Yes, sir,” Comet squeaked.

She found herself running out of his sight before she could stop herself.

As she returned to a more familiar place, tired but still a bit shaken, she rushed back towards the sleeping quarters. She hated this feeling of terror the Sunwalkers evoked in her. When she returned to the dormitories, she headed for the lower level of her bunkbed and rolled onto it. Almost immediately, above her, there was a shifting sound and Pinklily stuck her head down over the edge, smiling at her groggily.

“Good time?” she asked.

Comet shrugged, mumbled, “I couldn’t do the teleport,” and put her pillow over her face. The other unicorn’s ears drooped a bit, but she smiled sympathetically.

“Maybe tomorrow,” she said hopefully. “Goodnight!”

“Yeah,” Comet tiredly agreed.

She still wasn’t in the beset state of mind for sleep. Physically, she was exhausted, and even though her mind was tired as well, her thoughts still raced over Nightspawn. She could see the face of that flying one too clearly in her mind for comfort. She couldn’t help worry that they would get through Canterlot’s defenses. And if they did, what then? Could the Sunwalkers hold them off? She hadn’t a clue. Her heart thumped painfully in her chest as something dawned on her: she had offensive magic, if attacked, she’d have to fight, wouldn’t she? She cursed in her mind and took a deep breath, and then pulled her blankets up around herself tightly.