Act II: The Stars in their Courses
The barracks looked exactly like Vermilion remembered.
Change was afoot at the company’s old headquarters, but it hadn’t yet reached the musty bay where Vermilion had spent the past year of his life. The wood bunks, the map table, the armor racks, the lockers lining the walls – they were all as he remembered from before the company’s ill-fated mission to Hollow Shades. A relic of his memory, a signpost pointing toward forgotten times.
And what he would give to return to those times. To unwind the clocks and go back to the days when the worst thing he had to worry about was a reprimand from Buckeye for being late to formation. When his sole earthly concern was following the orders of his betters. But now… well, there was no use in pining for what was lost. The world changed, his friends had changed, and he had changed as well.
Only these barracks remained the same. And soon, not even they. He let out a quiet breath, trying to savor the sight before him one final time.
Cloud Fire ruined the moment. “Hey, bud, you awake there?”
“Yeah, just…” He shook his head. “Reminiscing. I didn’t think I’d ever leave this place, you know?”
“Well, that’s a failure of imagination.” Cloud Fire tossed a duffel bag filled with the few personal belongings he’d stored at the barracks onto his back. “Everyone leaves the barracks someday. Hopefully sooner rather than later, you know? Can’t really woo a mare when you share a room with your squad.”
“Blaming the barracks for your failures, now?” Vermilion gave his locker one final look-see, to make sure he hadn’t forgotten anything. It was as bare and empty as the day it had been issued to him. He put his hoof on the door, hesitated, then pushed it shut.
“Oh, a comedian now.” Cloudy trotted over to the exit. “You coming or not?”
“Yeah.” He swept his eyes around the deserted room. “We’re never gonna see this place again, you know.”
“You’re sentimental about the wrong things, Cherry. Worry about ponies, not places.”
Ponies, not places. Vermilion smiled. “When did you get so smart?”
“I’ve been smart. You’re just experienced enough to start noticing.”
“Right, right.” Vermilion slung his own duffel bag onto his back, where it joined an identical bag filled with Zephyr’s belongings. She was out of the hospital, but not strong enough yet to carry her own luggage. Besides, as the team’s earth pony, Vermilion was used to hauling extra gear. “Okay, all set.”
Quitting the company had one unexpected effect – a significant windfall of golden bits. Princess Celestia hadn’t been lying about buying out their contracts, and between Vermilion, Zephyr and Cloud Fire they had amassed more money in the space of just a few hours than Vermilion had seen in his entire life. More, by far, than his parents’ farm earned in an entire year.
With their modest newfound wealth, the three had leased a rundown apartment in the Osage district, just a few blocks from the river. A muddy, fishy scent rose from the waters at the height of the day, and Vermilion knew it would be so muggy they could chew the air during the summer, but he didn’t care. It was their home, and although it was bare inside with not a scrap of furniture or paint on the walls, it was his. He had his own room now, with no need to share (unless, it occurred to him as they walked through Everfree’s wide, crowded streets, he wanted to share his bed, something that had never been in the realm of the possible before).
Things were definitely looking up. Of course, after Hollow Shades, there was hardly any room to go down.
They followed the nameless street toward the heart of Everfree. As they approached the center of the city, the palace came into view before them. The heat of a warm spring day and the sodden air rising from the river filled the air with haze, but through the mist Vermilion could see the high towers and minarets of the Sisters’ capital rising like giants toward the heaven. Their gold-clad pinnacles gleamed in the sun, scattering its warm rays all across the land. On the clearest days, when the chill of winter froze the air into stillness, one could see the palace sparkle from a dozen leagues away.
Today was not such a day. The heat and moisture left them both sweating after only a few blocks. A thousand other sweating, tightly packed ponies contributed to the aroma that pervaded their senses. He swore he could taste the crowd.
The road led, as all roads in Everfree did, to the Plaza of the Sun. Blocks of gleaming white marble filled a square a hundred yards across. Countless vendors and carts and stalls battled for space with the ebb and flow of the crowd, displaying food and clothes and rugs and jewelry and potions and toys and musical instruments and books and weapons and everything else a pony might need or desire. Vermilion paused to gawk at a vendor hawking explicit bedroom aids before Cloud Fire pulled him away with a snicker.
“Maybe later, buddy,” he said. “Maybe later.”
Rising above the crowd was a massive golden beam, as tall as a dozen ponies, the gnomon of an enormous sundial that covered half the square. Its shadow counted the hours, or it did on days when the sun was not a hazy impression in the gray sky.
It was impossible to cross the Plaza of the Sun without spending bits. They had a lunch of fried green tomatoes on sticks, and Vermilion bought an ancient brass writing set filled with quills and nibs and inkpots, just like his father owned. He slipped it into his bags, and the two of them proceeded further into the marble and gold jungle that was Everfree.
After a few more stifling blocks they reached the Plaza of the Moon. It was smaller than its sister, darker and emptier as well. Onyx blocks drank the afternoon sunlight, reflecting only faint glimmers of the sky above. No vendors bothered to set up stalls here, for it was too small and there was no traffic to entice with their goods. The few other ponies they saw hurried across the bare, polished black stone. Even the noise of the city seemed to fade behind them.
Vermilion stepped out into the square. The black stone swallowed the sun’s glare, easing the strain on his eyes. A cool wind blew across his shoulders, a gentle caress, teasing away the sweltering heat of the city. Some faint scent, half-imagined, of primrose or lavender or moonflower, chased away the city’s sweating stink.
“Have you been here before?” Cloudy asked. He stood at the edge of the black stones, frowning, and only slowly followed Vermilion into the square. “I’ve never been out this way.”
“Once,” Vermilion said. He waited for Cloudy to catch up before continuing toward the center of the square. “The first time I visited the city. I just walked around until I got lost, and ended up here when the sun was setting. It’s quite beautiful at night, actually. The stones reflect the stars, and it’s like you’re walking on space itself. Like you’re flying.”
“I’m a pegasus. I fly all the time.”
They walked together across the square, passing by the small monument in the center. A stone plinth, gray like the pre-dawn sky, rose to their shoulders, carved all around with the stars and lines of the constellations. Above the stone, embedded by its tip, stood a silver scimitar with an elegant curved blade. A cool breeze blew from it, teasing Vermilion’s forelock and setting Cloud Fire’s feathers afluff. They paused for a moment to bask in it, to enjoy the oasis of quiet solitude, and for a moment Vermilion imagined that they had gone away, leaving the world behind, and now the hustle and bustle of the city was far away and untouchable as the moon.
A line of sparrows passed overhead, filling the air with their chorus. It roused Vermilion from the illusion, and with his next breath he tasted the cloying, vibrant city again. Beside him, Cloud Fire shook himself, as if waking from a dream, and together they walked briskly across the flat stones and back into the hectic maelstrom of the city.
From the heart of Everfree it was a long hike through the wealthy neighborhoods, down clean, wide avenues filled with unicorns and pegasi, until they reached the middle-class section of the city. Fine wood rowhouses crowded together, shoulder to shoulder, their faces pressed up against the edge of the street. Foals shouted from within and ran through the streets, chasing each other and being chased in turn by exhausted parents.
Finally, past the modest newfound wealth of Everfree’s merchant class, they came to the Osage district. Named for the weedy, ambitious Osage trees that struggled against ponies and each other alike for dominance, the neighborhood was one of honest toil, populated by tailors and bakers and papermakers, ponies who worked with their hooves. Honest ponies, Vermilion’s father would have called them. Down to earth. And, incidentally, almost all earth ponies.
Their house was a humble, two-story wood structure, covered in peeling white paint and stains where, until just a few days ago, vines had clung with their tendrils. The eponymous Osage trees that grew in every gap in the cobblestones lorded over the roof, shading it, granting the entire edifice a wild, abandoned look. Apparently the previous owner had liked plants.
And cats. A squadron of felines prowled along the stairs leading up to the door, brushing against Vermilion’s legs. They hissed at Cloud Fire, and he hissed back.
“Well, here we are.” Vermilion fished the key out of his saddlebags. He paused to savor the moment, letting the key’s iron taste seep into his saliva and down his throat. For the first time in his life, he was about to open his own house. He grinned around the key, slid it into the lock, and opened the door.
The cats beat him inside. They surged around his legs, flooding into the house. He blinked at the rush, then followed them in.
“Celestia damn it,” Cloud Fire said. “They better not think they live here. I can’t live with cats, Cherry.”
Vermilion set his bags down inside the entrance. There was no furniture inside yet, just clean, empty floors and walls. And cats.
“Why? Allergic?” he asked.
“No, I just… Look, pegasi and cats don’t get along.” He paused to scowl at a grey shadow darting through the room. “Zephyr won’t like them either. We need to get rid of them.”
“Mhm.” Vermilion’s farmhouse was home to dozens of cats in the time he’d spent there. Half-wild mousers and kittens filled his foalhood memories. “Sounds terrible. I think I’ll call this one ‘Whiskers.’”
“Asking for trouble, buddy. Asking for trouble.” Cloud Fire vanished up the narrow stairs, emerging moments later without his bags. “Okay, ready?”
“Sure.” Vermilion gave the pearl gray tabby twining around his legs another pat.
The march back through Everfree took another hour. The sun now sat at the top of the sky, a molten lead weight on their backs. Every pony unfortunate enough to be outside in the swampy Everfree summer swam through a sea of their own sweat, panting, dripping onto the elegant cobblestones. Pegasi had it worst – their thick coats and insulating wings, so perfect for the high, airless reaches of the sky, made for misery down on the ground. Cloud Fire, though he was one of the fittest ponies Vermilion knew, struggled just to keep up a brisk walking pace.
Vermilion barely noticed. It was worse on the farm, where they were not just hot and sweaty but stinky and muddy as well. At least the city was clean.
At last, after retracing the boulevards and squares and markets and neighborhoods, they came to the true heart of the city. Before them, so large it filled its own district, stood the palace of the sisters. Gleaming marble walls, shot through with pink and purple minerals, buttressed slender minarets and towers and balconies and soaring bridges. Colored pennants waved from atop the spires, snapping in the breeze like whips.
“So we just, like, walk in and ask to speak with her?” Cloud Fire asked. They paused at the threshold of a massive gate set into the palace wall. It was open, and a constant stream of ponies flowed around them into and out of the castle grounds. A few bored-looking guards, decked out in sparkling ceremonial armor, stood to the side and kept a half-hearted watch on the crowd.
“I guess? I mean, she didn’t leave detailed instructions. She’s a princess, not a secretary.” Vermilion took a step toward the gate, and when the guards didn’t immediately rush over to tackle him, kept walking until he was on the far side. Cloud Fire followed a few steps behind. “I think we just find someone who works for her and tell them we have an appointment.”
Even that turned out to be a challenge. While the palace nominally belonged to both princesses, Celestia seemed to be the sister who stamped it in her image. Guards and servants and courtiers bearing her golden sun emblem manned every office and station. It was a blonde-coated stallion wearing her gold armor that directed them to the northern wing of the palace, past the crowds, to where the white marble beneath their hooves transitioned to a gentle gray shot through with blue specks.
Luna’s half of the palace was emptier by far, but only of ponies. Of art there was an abundance – the night princess’s role as patron of the arts was on full display here. Every wall bore some painting or mural depicting wild, fantastic images, of twisted beasts and heroes and luminous landscapes. Elaborate stained-glass windows stretched the long length of the hallways. Above them, murals and frescoes painted the ceiling in the colors of a cloudless night.
Not all the artworks were suitable for foals, either. They passed a marble sculpture of two mares who, at Vermilion’s first glance, appeared to be fighting, but upon a moment of closer inspection turned out to be doing something he hadn’t realized artists considered an appropriate subject for depiction. A hot flush filled his face, and he stared straight ahead as they walked by. Cloud Fire leered appreciatively until it passed behind them.
In time, and after a few wrong turns, they came to the heart of the Night Wing. Although the sisters shared a common throne room and audience chamber, it was located in Celestia’s half of the palace, where the common pony (and merchants, and nobles, and almost everypony else) felt more comfortable. When she was not sharing that space with her sister, Luna and the small army of administrators who tended to her needs filled out these darker offices.
A pair of crystal doors blocked off the executive offices from the rest of the wing. A dusky pegasus guard searched them briefly, then let them pass with directions to the princess’s secretary.
“Security here seems kind of lax,” Cloud Fire mumbled once they were out of earshot. “They just let anyone in to see the princess?”
Vermilion thought back to the hospital and his brief meeting with Luna. He remembered the way the stone floor shattered beneath her hoof.
“I don’t think they’re here to protect the princess,” he whispered back.
Through the doors they found a standard office, complete with sitting area, tasteful artwork (or, at least, nothing overtly sexual), and industrious ponies scratching away at scrolls and sheafs and papers that cluttered their desks. Behind the largest desk sat a charcoal unicorn mare, who beckoned them over with a smile. A brass nameplate at the front of the desk read “Starry Night.”
“Good afternoon, stallions,” she said. “Do you have an appointment?”
“Yes. Well, um, not yet,” Vermilion said. “We need to make one.”
“Mhm.” Her horn lit, and a quill began taking notes. “And your names?”
“Vermilion. The bird is Cloud Fire.”
“Oh!” She set the quill down and peered at him. “I’m sorry, I should have recognized your coat color. You’re a bit smaller than I expected, if you don’t mind my saying.”
Cloud Fire snickered. Vermilion cleared his throat.
“Of course not,” he said. “We’re expected, then?”
“I should say so, she hasn’t stopped talking about you since her visit to the hospital.” She summoned up a thin ledger and flipped through its pages. “The princess is at an appointment at the moment, but she should return within the hour. Do you mind waiting?”
Do you mind waiting for the princess? Four weeks ago, Vermilion would have waited all day just to see a sergeant, and he wouldn’t have had a choice in the matter. “We’ll be glad to wait,” he said.
She escorted them to a quiet waiting room, tastefully decorated as the rest of the wing. They reclined on comfortable, down-stuffed cushions and sipped at glasses of cool water brought by a servant. A unicorn servant, Vermilion marvelled. He’d never seen such a thing.
They entertained themselves with magazines and small talk for the promised hour, and then a bit longer. Vermilion was about to go and check with the secretary when she poked her head around the corner.
“The princess will see you now, sweetie,” Starry Night said. “This way.”
She led them back through the offices and down a broad hallway. The air took on a familiar chill as they approached the thick double-doors at the end, and the lanterns on the wall seemed to struggle against the shadows. A pair of alert-looking pegasus guards, armed with ceremonial spears and not-ceremonial-at-all short swords watched them approach.
“Have you ever been in the princess’s office?” the secretary asked quietly.
They shook their heads. “No,” Vermilion whispered back.
“It’s probably different than what you’re expecting,” she said. “Try not to be frightened.”
Er. Vermilion missed a step and nearly stumbled. “What?”
“It can unnerve ponies, especially their first time.” She stopped before the doors, then raised a hoof to knock loudly, three times. After a moment she pushed the door open, revealing a dark expanse beyond. “Quick, in you go. She doesn’t like to let the light in.”
Vermilion had questions, but he was already being pushed inside by the gentle insistence of Starry Night’s magic. Cloud Fire’s tail had barely cleared the door when it slammed shut behind them. A faint wisp of the hall’s light, like a tendril of glowing smoke, lingered with them and slowly evaporated.
It wasn’t complete darkness. Dim, perhaps, like a snowy field lit by the full moon. Not bright enough for color, but Vermilion could make out the shapes and shadows around them. The ceiling above, painted with nebulae and stars and galaxies, seemed to be the source of the weak light.
After a few moments his eyes adjusted to the gloom, and the confusion of the room revealed itself. They were surrounded by piles of books and weapons and furniture and what seemed to be ordinary rocks. Far out into the darkness, farther than he could see, the disordered collection of everyday and extraordinary objects extended. A rough, basalt-smelling statue of a prowling leopard, a brass armillary sphere hanging from the ceiling by a thread, a rack of swords and spears, a bookshelf leaning at a precarious angle against the wall. He spun in a circle, trying to take it all in.
This is her office? It looks like a unicorn’s warehouse.
“Cherry, what is this place?” Cloudy whispered.
How was he supposed to know? Vermilion took a step into the room, careful not to step on any of the small treasures scattered about the marble floor.
“Princess?” he called. “It’s Vermilion. I’m, uh, the pony from Hollow Shades.”
Silence answered. A breeze blew through the massive room, stirring the silk tapestries on the walls. After a moment it died away.
And how was there wind in a closed room? The question occurred to him in the moment he heard a quiet gasp from Cloud Fire, and he turned around.
She was there, standing before them. Massive, looming, pouring out cold like blood from a wound. Her mane drifted behind her in a cloud of sparkling stars. Wings the size of sails tested the air, then settled down at her side.
“Luna.” He remembered to use her name. “It’s a pleasure to meet you again.”
“Vermilion,” she breathed out his name in a cloud of frost. Her huge cyan eyes danced up and down his frame, and she grinned with obvious pleasure. “You came.”
“You bade me to. What choice did I have?”
“Oh, no need to play coy, little earth pony.” She leaned down to sniff at his mane again and brushed her lips against the tips of his ears. “You made the right choice. Now, introduce me to your friend.”
Cloud Fire had retreated behind him during their interaction, and Vermilion stepped aside to reveal the pegasus. “Luna, this is Cloud Fire, my best friend and squadmate from the company. He saved my life several times in Hollow Shades.”
“How noble of him.” Luna stalked forward to inspect Cloud Fire, who looked like he was moments away from bolting. His wings strained at his side, and his ears lay flat against his mane. “Tell me, noble Cloud Fire, what did Vermilion tell you about his agreement with me?”
Cloudy swallowed. “He said you offered to help. He—Vermilion—he’s dead set on saving ponies wherever they are, but the company won’t do anything but defend Equestria’s borders. All the towns like Hollow Shades, they’re just… they’re going to abandon them, leave them to whatever monsters come calling. He wants to fight them, and I want to help him, and I guess you do too.”
A smile turned up the corners of Luna’s lips. “I do want to help him. More than my sister, for I understand the nightmares that haunt the edges of the world. She will not fight them, but you, you have something rare in this age. A hero’s spirit. And that is what the world needs now, Cloud Fire. Heroes.”
“You still intend to help us, then?” Vermilion asked. He tried to edge around the princess to stand at Cloud Fire’s side, and nearly tripped on something soft that tangled around his hooves. It escaped with the quiet rustle of fabric.
“More than help you,” Luna said. “I will guide you, build you up. Ponies can be such remarkable warriors if properly developed. And not just warriors, but leaders.” Her eyes slid to Vermilion as she spoke.
“Like Canopy,” he said.
Luna paused, and something flashed across her eyes. “If you are fortunate, yes.”
There were many words Vermilion would use to describe Canopy – fearless, talented and strong not the least of them – but fortunate wasn’t one. He was the fortunate one, alive by chance, and her dead despite her bravery and sacrifice. He wracked his brain for some tactful way to correct the princess when Cloud Fire spoke.
“You could make us like her?” he asked, a reverential shade in his voice.
“Hm? No, I cannot make you into a warrior of her caliber. That power lies within you already, noble Cloud Fire. All I can do is show you the way.”
“And what must we do?” Vermilion asked.
Luna settled onto her belly, her legs folded before her. Even so seated she was taller than Vermilion. “I will give you directions. Tasks. Locations where ponies are in danger and in need of heroes. You will carry Equestria’s banner to these dark places, Vermilion, and destroy our enemies. You, and any ponies you can call to your side.”
That sounded exciting. Thrilling. He found himself breathing deeper, his heart beating faster. Except… “Places like Hollow Shades, you mean?”
She nodded. “It will be quite dangerous. But that is why I will aid you.”
Vermilion glanced at Cloud Fire. The pegasus’s ears strained forward, and his wings bobbed gently at his side. If it weren’t for the close confines of the dark room, he suspected Cloudy would be hovering with excitement. Hell, he was close to floating himself, with so much energy flowing through his veins. He could take on anything, defeat anything, destroy anything. He felt like he could crush the marble floor beneath his hooves with a stomp. The last of his pains, the shadow of the hurts inflicted by Blightweaver, faded away in that moment.
“I’ll do it. We’ll do it,” he said. Beside him, Cloud Fire nodded.
Luna nodded. “Have you any others? Two ponies make for a small army.”
“We do,” Vermilion rushed to say. “Three others! Zephyr, the bravest pony and most skilled warrior I’ve ever known except for Canopy. Quicklime, a unicorn responsible for more dead spiders in Hollow Shades than I could count. And Rose Quartz – you met her, Luna. She was the unicorn sharing my hospital room.”
Luna tilted her head. “The mare with the missing eye? I would have thought she’d seen enough of war.”
“She, ah…” Vermilion swallowed back the image of Rose’s rent face. “She has her own reasons for wanting to help. And we need a medic.”
“Hm.” Luna stared at him for a long moment, then offered a tiny shrug. “Very well. I will not gainsay her desires, so long as you all understand the dangerous nature of these tasks. But then, you are survivors of Hollow Shades, are you not? You understand danger more than most ponies ever will.”
Cloud Fire cleared his throat. “I don’t suppose we’ll be, uh, compensated for all this?”
“Be paid, you mean?” Luna grinned at Cloud Fire’s discomforted expression. “Relax, noble Cloud Fire. I understand ponies must eat to live, and I can hardly have my servants living as paupers. You five will all be commissioned as officers in my service and paid as such.”
Officers. In all the company, there was not a single earth pony officer. He hadn’t realized earth ponies could be officers. Who would obey his orders? Not the unicorns, certainly. Or would they? Did they have a choice? The tangle of thoughts, the dissonance caused by the words earth pony officer, dizzied him. He sat and squeezed his eyes shut.
“Wow. That’s, uh, very generous, your majesty,” Cloud Fire said. His voice shook, and Vermilion could hear the smile on his face as he spoke. “I know the others will be happy to accept.”
“It’s no more than you’ve earned,” Luna said. Vermilion opened his eyes in time to see her stand. “If you two will come with me, I want to show you something.”
They followed her through the dark room. The shadows and towers of debris, of antiques and treasures and unknowable shapes whose purpose and origins Vermilion could only guess at, turned the space into a maze. Luna walked through the clutter gracefully, placing each hoof perfectly to avoid the coins and jewels and nameless baubles strewn across the marble floor. Cloud Fire floated in her wake, his wings stirring pages and cloth, and Vermilion stumbled to keep up with them both.
“What is this place, your majesty?” Cloud Fire asked. His voice was low with wonder, and even in the room’s silence Vermilion barely heard it.
“My office,” Luna said. “I keep things here.”
Had Luna never seen an actual office? Vermilion took his eyes off the floor in front of him for just a moment to look around and nearly stumbled over some sort of chimed instrument. A quiet ring rose from its bells as his hoof struck them, filling the room with their song.
“Sorry,” he whispered.
Luna never slowed or stopped. For several minutes they followed her, until Vermilion was certain they’d passed beyond the limits of this wing of the palace. Either some sort of magic was involved, or Luna’s office extended into the rock beneath Everfree. Perhaps both.
In time the nature of the objects around them changed. The weapons grew cruder, fashioned of bronze and wood rather than tempered steel. The books mouldered and flaked onto the shelves, and he could smell the parchment rotting. The tapestries were replaced by actual skins, tanned and decorated with some flowing script he could not read. The entire place reeked of age.
Finally, they reached their destination. Luna stopped by a wide, round crystal platform, as high as Vermilion’s chest. A faint hum rose from its surface, and from deep within he could make out the glimmer of something moving, like a leviathan beneath the ice. He stared, enraptured.
“When you are ready for a task, you will come to me here,” Luna said. She circled the platform and hopped up onto a tall, narrow stone throne behind it to take a seat. “And here we will survey the world, and view all the dark places therein.”
Um. Vermilion stopped at the edge of the platform – no, a table, he realized – and chewed over her words. “How do you mean?”
“Observe,” she said, and set her hoof on the crystal surface.
The pervasive hum doubled, shaking Vermilion’s teeth. A light grew within the table, bubbling up from its surface like foam upon the waves, and sharpened into forms. Mountains appeared, and valleys, and rivers, and in the center grew the image of Everfree and the palace. Cloud cities materialized above, Cloudsdale and Derecho and others he could not name. Near the table’s border, water lapped at the world’s edge.
“Ohh…” he breathed. “It’s a map.”
“More than a map,” she said. “It is a living representation of our kingdom, of the entire known world. Everywhere Harmony touches. Please, gentlestallions, place your hooves on it.”
Vermilion hesitated for a moment, but only long enough to realize how silly that was. He could hardly serve the princess if a mere table stirred fear in his chest. Before Cloud Fire could beat him to it, he stepped forward, reared back onto his hind legs, and placed his forelegs on the table. They touched down in the ghostly image of Equestria’s western shore, sinking through the light to touch the marble surface beneath. Cloud Fire joined him a moment later.
At first, nothing seemed to change. The light illuminating continued to pulse in time with some unknown beat, but the subtle hum rising from it persisted. He glanced from the map to Luna, but found no answers there – her eyes were shut, and her horn glowed with a pale cyan light.
Cloud Fire saw it first. He sucked in a quick breath, and his wings jerked, batting Vermilion’s side. He motioned with his muzzle toward the map’s northern quadrant. Vermilion leaned forward.
A pair of cutie marks floated above a small dot on the map – his own black scales, and Cloud Fire’s twilight-touched cloud mark. They rotated around each other, orbiting the small dot.
“And that is where you will go,” Luna said. She gave her wings a little shake, then opened her eyes. “Maplebridge, if my geography does not fail me. Only a few days travel from Everfree, too. It seems you won’t have to travel far for your first mission.”
“It’s close to the border,” Cloud Fire said. “What could threaten it? Those lands are nearly as safe as the rest of Equestria.”
“Ah, as to that.” Luna leaned over the table, staring at the village beneath their floating cutie marks. “I’m afraid this map cannot offer any insights into what you may find out there. You will have to discover it for yourselves.”
Maplebridge. Vermilion stared at the dot, letting himself get lost in the map’s gentle glow. Images of serene fields and scattered woods surrounded it. A peaceful place – a place where ponies could live without fear. Should live without fear.
“We’ll do it,” he whispered. “We’ll go.”
* * *
“Officers, huh?” Zephyr nibbled at her wing, tugging at the straggly pin feathers starting to emerge from the taut skin. She was still a few weeks from being able to fly, but at least she didn’t look naked anymore. “Nice. Always wanted to be an officer.”
She spoke from atop one of the bookshelves in their new house in Osage. There were no actual books in it – Vermilion hadn’t gotten around to that yet, and wasn’t quite sure where to start, but houses needed bookshelves. In his oldest memories, in the smoky winter farmhouse lit only by the sputtering fire in the hearth, there was his father’s bookshelf, tall and resplendent and filled with knowledge. Other farmers, other earth ponies, might disdain such things; most couldn’t even read. But their father insisted they were better than that, that books were the most valuable thing a family could own.
Bookshelves were not meant for pegasi to perch upon, but Zephyr couldn’t help herself, so Vermilion filed that slight annoyance away and forgot it. This was, after all, Zephyr’s home too. If she wanted to take naps on the bookshelf, she could.
A gray feline that was probably Whiskers meowed up at the pegasus. The cat stared at Zephyr with intense, golden eyes, and the tip of its tail twitched back and forth. Zephyr, for her part, ignored the tiny predator.
“Not me,” Cloud Fire said. “Officers never sleep. Like, I don’t know how Canopy even found time to keep her feathers preened. We don’t even have any sergeants working for us.”
“We don’t need them,” Vermilion said. The house had no furniture yet aside from the bookshelf and a few tables, so he lounged on a cheap rug in front of the fireplace. “Canopy never slept because she had an entire company to run. We’ve got five ponies who can all take care of themselves.”
That, of course, assumed Quicklime and Rose Quartz went through with their earlier pledges to help. The unicorns had not accepted his offer to live in their house in Osage – as an Royal Intelligence officer, Quicklime already had a swanky apartment of her own, and Rose Quartz lived wherever enlisted unicorns lived. Some sort of country mansion, he assumed.
He had no doubts about Quicklime. The little unicorn had proven herself worthy of his trust a dozen times over, and after all they’d been through together in Hollow Shades, he would gladly put his life in her hooves. A little eccentric, yes, but what unicorn wasn’t?
And Rose Quartz, well, she was still in the hospital on the edge of the city. Would she want to come on their trip to Maplebridge? Would she even be able to, if she wanted? They hadn’t spoken more than a few words since Vermilion’s last night in the hospital, and he had little to gauge her true intent by.
But then, of the five of them, she was the one with the least to lose. Any of the rest could walk away, but a one-eyed unicorn… another shudder ran down his spine, and his lungs spasmed again at the image of her face, half pristine, half ruined by some spider’s fang. War had marked Rose Quartz now, and there was nothing more for her to do.
“So what’s out there, then?” Zephyr said. “Any ideas?”
“Quicklime’s doing some research for us,” Vermilion said. He wasn’t quite sure what this research entailed, but he imagined a vast warehouse full of paper, magically sorted into every bin conceivable by pony minds. “We’ll meet her tomorrow morning, and head out after lunch. We’ll make the border by nightfall, and probably reach the town by the end of the next day.”
He expected Zephyr to respond. Instead she glanced down at Cloud Fire, who frowned and shook his head.
Huh. “What?” Vermilion asked.
Zephyr sniffed. “Cloud Fire doesn’t think I should come.”
“I didn’t say that,” Cloudy said. “I said it maybe wasn’t a good idea.”
“That’s the same thing!”
“Wait, wait.” Vermilion waved them silent. “Why can’t Zephyr come, Cloudy?”
The pegasus sighed. “She’s not healthy yet, Cherry. She can’t even fly.”
“So?” Zephyr shot back. “Cherry can’t fly either. Maybe we shouldn’t bring him?”
“It’s not the same, you know that.”
“I can still fight better than both of—”
“Okay, enough!” Vermilion raised his voice, trying to channel Buckeye’s tone when he was sick of their bickering. It must’ve worked, because both pegasi froze. “Zephyr, you can come if you want, but you know how dangerous this might be. If you want to take that risk, well, that’s your choice.”
“I will, thank you.”
“Fine, don’t blame me when something eats you because you couldn’t fly away.” Cloudy scowled at Zephyr, scowled at Vermilion, then finally scowled down at Whiskers, who seemed to be taking their little argument with equanimity.
Perhaps cats simply didn’t care when birds squabbled.
* * *
Vermilion had the house to himself in the mornings.
He wasn’t alone in it – his two housemates simply didn’t wake as early as he did. Pegasi operated on their own clocks and never rose before the sun was halfway up the sky if they could absolutely avoid it. In ancient times, when the three tribes were still separate nations always on the verge of war, it was the pegasi who claimed the mantle of the warrior race. Vermilion was fairly certain the only reason they hadn’t conquered the other two tribes was that they simply couldn’t get out of bed early enough to do so.
So, mornings at their house in Osage were quiet affairs, which left Vermilion free to cook breakfast, feed the cats, and read the newspaper that somepony kept leaving on their doorstep. He was halfway through the front page when the expected knock came from his door.
“One moment!” He folded the newspaper and stacked his dishes in the sink. Several slices of toast were still warm on the oven, waiting for Cloudy or Zephyr to wake, and an ever-expanding collection of jams and preserves lined the cupboard above the stove. In a few months he would have a fully stocked kitchen, and it would be time to invest in additional pantry space. But then, knowing how much pegasi could eat, a basement larder might be a better use of his bits. He pondered all this, thoughts of future meals dancing in his head, as he walked to the entrance and opened the front door.
Rose Quartz stood on his doorstep. A light blue shawl covered her mane, wrapping around her neck like a scarf and draping her face with shadows. It was enough that, from a distance, an observer might be forgiven for missing the shell-pink band concealing the ruin of her right eye. Going a step further, she’d restyled her mane, combing her forelock down to hide the blinded half of her face.
But greater than any of those masks was her demeanor – downcast, hunched in, canted away from the observer. She kept her face tilted such that only those who consciously peered closer would even see the shattered half of her face.
Vermilion cleared his throat. “Good morning, Rose. Er, uh, do you mind if I call you that?”
She shook her head. “It’s fine. Cherry, right? That’s what the others call you?”
“Yeah.” He stepped to the side. “Please, come in. I was just having breakfast.”
Rose Quartz slunk through the door like she was half-cat herself. Through some reflex she kept her right side against the wall, so ponies in the room would only ever see the left half of her face. So positioned, she circumnavigated her way around the room and toward the kitchen, where Vermilion had already returned and taken a seat.
He indicated the spot across the table with a hoof. “Hungry? I have toast and jam, and can make anything else you like.”
She stared at the empty cushion for a long moment, then carefully climbed onto it. Her tail, a crystalline pink that caught the morning light coming through the window, spread out behind her in an eye-catching wave. Unicorns were far more colorful than earth ponies, and Vermilion’s eyes nearly watered at her sight.
“Toast is fine,” she whispered. “Do you have orange marmalade?”
He raised an eyebrow. “I do. It’s a bit bitter, though. Do you want sugar with it or—”
“Plain is fine,” she said.
Well, alright then. He fetched the appropriate jar and some toast from the oven and set them on the table. For the pegasi he would have opened the marmalade as well, but in his experience unicorns preferred to do such things themselves. The fewer earth pony mouths touched their food, the better.
He waited until her mouth was full of bread and jam before speaking. “You’re still interested in being a part of our company, then?”
“Would I be here if I weren’t?” Her tongue flashed out, lapping away some orange preserves that stuck to her muzzle.
She’s hurting. Let it slide. Vermilion let a few heartbeats pass before responding. “I guess not. We met with Princess Luna yesterday. She asked us to travel to Maplebridge, a town not far north of here. We leave in a few hours.”
“Maplebridge? I’ve heard of it.” Rose’s left eye drifted, losing its focus for a moment. “A battle was fought there, I think. But that was centuries ago.”
“It still exists. Just outside Equestria’s border. Mostly earth ponies, I’m told.”
“Again?” A wrinkle of distaste twisted her muzzle, but just as quickly her eyes widened, and she sucked in a quiet breath. “I mean—”
“It’s fine,” he said, though of course it wasn’t. “It’s not like Hollow Shades.”
“Right. Sorry.” She cleared her throat. Her face, he noticed, was always turned to the right, presenting her uninjured eye toward him. Perhaps the better to see him, or an unconscious effort to hide her injury; she didn’t even seem to realize she was doing it. “What seems to be their problem?”
“That’s for us to find out.”
“Hm.” She took another bite of her toast. For the next few minutes, only the quiet sounds of chewing and swallowing filled the kitchen.
A door creaked upstairs. Rose’s ears swiveled toward the sound. Seconds later Zephyr made her way down the stairs. She froze at the sight of the unicorn, and then recognition light her face. She beamed and nearly ran toward them.
“Rose!” She wrapped her scraggly wings around the mare. “They let you out! How do you feel?! Oh, you have no idea how good it is to see you up again. I never got to thank you!”
“It’s good to see you too.” Rose pressed her cheek against Zephyr’s and held her for a long moment. “I was worried when they brought you to me. How’s your chest?”
“Oh, heh, better.” Zephyr stepped away and pawed at her chest. The coat around her injury had started to return, but it was still scraggly and thin around the scar. Perhaps it would be that way for the rest of her life. Pegasi, of course, didn’t care about such things. “And how’s, uh, your…”
“It’s fine.” The shreds of warmth in Rose’s voice vanished like they’d never been. She turned, casually, presenting her left side toward the both of them. “And how are your wings? Flying yet?”
Zephyr flexed her wings. They were still more skin and bone than feathers, but at least they had her color back. Thin primaries only a few inches long extended from the trailing edges of the limbs. “Better. Not flying yet, though.”
“Mm.” Rose’s horn glowed, and she closed her eyes. “Don’t move.”
Zephyr flinched and bit back a yelp as a similar glow surrounded her body, fading after a moment. When at last it vanished she danced away a few steps, looking like somepony had ruffled her feathers the wrong way.
“Sorry,” Rose said, opening her eyes. “The feathers are growing back well.”
“I already knew that.” Zephyr let out a long breath. “But, uh, thanks. Good to know we’ll have a medic with us.”
“Did you see if Cloudy is up yet?” Vermilion asked. At some point they would need to get on the road. Quicklime was probably already waiting for them.
“I thought I heard him moving around,” Zephyr said. “We ready, then?”
“I guess we are.” Vermilion stared down at his empty plate, then tilted his head back to take in the rest of the room. They’d owned the house for less than a week, and they were already preparing to leave. Off on another adventure.
Another Hollow Shades? Of course not – the world was not yet crawling with evil gods. Whatever waited for them in Maplebridge surely could not hold a candle to the horror that was Blightweaver. Their princess would not send them to fight battles they could not win. So long as they were careful, trusted each other, and gave it their best, they would be fine.
The mares were staring at him, he realized. Waiting for him. Even Rose Quartz, a unicorn who had never taken an order from an earth pony in her entire life, was waiting for him to lead.
He swallowed. “Zephyr, go wake Cloudy up. Tell him we’re leaving.”
Stats
Page generated in 0.043 seconds
Total duration
646 users online
622,318 hits today, 1,822,946 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Trust in the cutie map.
And so our merry band prepares for their first adventure. I liked the description of Luna's quarters, and the inclusion of the cutie map.
I noticed a few typos, I'll PM them to you.
derpicdn.net/img/view/2012/6/23/16094__safe_screencap_princess+luna_luna+eclipsed_animated_lightning_solo.gif
You were supposed to exterminate Starlight Glimmer, not befriend her!
Awesome.
Everywhere the light touches, is our kingdom...
But what about that shadowy place?
Eh, that's New Jersey. We try to pretend it doesn't exist.
Another good chapter, and I enjoyed seeing the city of Everfree from Lost Cities. Derecho has come up as well, so I can't help but wonder if we'll happen to run across any of the others. Coming together nicely either way.
I am enthralled with the way you've written Luna, especially in the previous chapter. It's not about what we're told she can do, or what she has done or may do, but what she is and how others perceive her, how obvious and frightening her power and presence is even when she's merely sitting there. She's damned frightening. And very cool.
And hopefully you'll correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure that in this story you used the same Everfree City you wrote about in Lost Cities, which (if true) is both awesome and saddening.
Given the callback to Lost Cities...I wonder if the last monster they'll face will be Nightmare Moon.
8169411 personally I'm hoping that is far beyond the lifespan of our intrepid heroes.
Very good read. Can't wait what happens next and if you implement whole idea of Mane6 and Elements of Harmony. Love how you did the whole city and Luna's part of the castle.
Oh-oh. Luna using the Cutie Map to guide her monster-slayers? Interesting!
I do love the idea of cats and birdhorses not getting along. And how Vermillion is resigned to his nickname when Rose calls him by it.
The inherrent inequalities in the sisters' representation in castle and city alike speak of what is to come... though not for some time. Still, an excellent ominous air of the Nightmare in this look at the city before it is lost.
Huh. Luna has a Cutie Map. Didn't see that one coming. And technically speaking, there are similarities here between the two groups of Map-chosen: Six ponies, one an alicorn who probably won't see a lot of action. Two pegasi, two unicorns, two earth ponies, if we let the alicorn even up the count. Very interesting indeed.
As for the map mission itself, I really hope Vermillion didn't jinx it. I'm not expecting dark gods around every corner, but these missions have a nasty tendency to only make sense in hindsight.
At this point I'm fairly certain this is set in the same universe as Lost Cities. At least I recognize Everfree and Derecho.
I wonder about the Cutie Map. I don't think this is the same one in the show, since the Tree was shown making it and the castle from scratch, which makes me wonder how it came about, especially with how it's among the nearly prehistoric relics. Unless it is the same one from the show, and the tree can "store" it somehow?
Wow I really wasn't expecting to see the Cutie Map show up in this story! I really enjoy the way you've envisioned it being used.
8169272
This chapter is unsettling if you remember that part of Lost Cities, like living ghosts walking through dreams of the dead city.
8169682
Or perhaps the new cutie map of the Castle of Friendship is a harmonic echo of a disastrous tragic failure in the past. History doesn't repeat, but it does rhyme.
8170160
But we don't have six ponies, we have five. The story promised us isn't one of destiny fulfilled and happy endings, but one of noble attempts and beautiful failures. And here we have the bitter lunar aura of the Princess of the Night to remind us by the chill in our bones whenever we are in her doomed presence. She's a walking premonition of catastrophe.
I hope that the map won't send them to solve Fashion Problems.
Really good so far!
8169311
Even now Luna sometimes frightens Ponies, and this is Luna slowly slipping into madness. You can tell she's trying to be friendly to them, too.
I am loving this series so far! Can't wait for more!
His first order as an officer ever given is to wake a pegasus up - typical.
Count me also intrigued by the potential crossover with Lost Cities.
I know this might be too late, but I would like to give some constructive criticism.
The part where it was talking about the food, cloths, rugs, jewelry, potions, toys, musical instruments, books, weapons and everything else a pony might need could be summarized, similarly like I did in this sentence.
If I am wrong about this then please let ME know. I don’t want to preach the wrong thing.
Forgive me for being insanely pedantic, but how did zephyr manage to get to the top of the bookshelf without functional wings?
I don’t know why, but this point is bugging me to an inordinate degree.
9564975
Cloudy gave her a ride.
8175477
Yeah. This isn’t going to end in the fabled Sunshine and Rainbows. This will end in ice, regret, and sorrow. Truthfully, I couldn’t tell you a better end to such a bittersweet tale.
Whenever I think this story is going to take a happy turn, all I have to do is remember that first chapter, and the letter written to Celestia.
"If you think this is going to have a happy ending, you obviously haven't been paying attention."
So....
Celestia is pony Thomas Jefferson, Luna is pony Teddy Roosevelt?
jajaja xDD!!
8214984
xD
HEY!! jaja xd