My Brave Pony: The Heart of the World

by Scipio Smith

Waypoint

Waypoint

Ace blearily opened her eyes.

Twilight Sparkle stood over her, looking down at her with anxiety written upon her face. That anxiety seemed to relax a little – not completely, but a little – as she saw Ace’s eyes open. She even managed to smile a little. “Ace! You’re awake! Oh, thank goodness.”

Ace tried to smile herself, although she could only manage it a little way. “Twily. Hey, you’re okay.”

“I’m okay?” Twilight repeated. “I’m okay? You’re the one with the injuries.”

Ace groaned. “Yeah. Yeah, I guess, I am, aren’t I?” She glanced to her right. A zebra in a mask as red as blood was tending to the spear wound on her flank. “How… how bad is it? Actually, no, don’t answer that,” she added, as Twilight bit her lip and glanced away.

“You’ll be okay,” Twilight said quickly. “It’s just… it’s going to take you some time, that’s all.”

Ace grunted. “Still, from the fact that we’re here able to talk about this, I take it that we won?”

Twilight sighed. “Yes,” she murmured. “The mist cleared, and Mantle was able to rally his zebras and drive off the attackers.” Someone groaned from off to the left; Ace glanced that way to see that she was not the only one under the care of what Ace guessed to be healers or apothecaries of some kind; she was in a tent, a large black tent with the flap shut to keep out the sand, and within the tent where numerous zebras. Some had their injuries bandaged already, with cloth covering their eyes or necks or flanks; others were waiting their turn, trying to be quiet but sometimes failing as the attendants worked their way through those in need of aid.

“Although it wasn’t without cost,” Twilight added, a melancholy note in her voice. She paused for a moment, before glancing at Ace. “The mist clearing… without that… was that your doing?”

“As much by accident as by design,” Ace admitted. “I… it was Raven, just like you thought it was.”

“She did this to you,” Twilight said, her voice freezing like ice, sharpening like a knife, becoming as venomous as a serpent’s bite. “She hurt you.”

“It was a fight,” Ace pointed out.

“She hurt you!” Twilight snapped. “She hurt you and she hurt Pinkie and she hurt all of these zebras here!” she gestured to the other wounded in the tent. She took a deep breath, and then another, but neither of them actually seemed to serve to make her any calmer than she had been before. “She… she is the reason for all of this. She is the reason why Lightning and Krysta aren’t here right now because she… next time I see her I am going to-“

“Twilight,” Ace said firmly, cutting her off. Ace tried to sit up, but her entire flank protested at the mere effort, drawing a groan of pain from her and prompting the zebra in the red mask to push her back down again.

“Still,” the zebra urged.

Ace winced. “Right. I’ll try and remember that.”

Twilight looked down at her. “Raven’s work,” she declared.

Ace looked into Twilight’s purple eyes. “So what are you going to do about it?”

Twilight was silent for a moment. “I… I want her to stop.”

“How?” Ace demanded.

“I… I don’t know, maybe I should go looking for her for a change!”

“You don’t mean that,” Ace replied. “I hope you don’t mean that.”

“Why not? Why shouldn’t I?” Twilight cried.

One of the zebras tending to the wounded shushed her.

“Sorry,” Twilight murmured, lowering her voice immediately. “Why shouldn’t I?” she asked again, more softly this time. “She keeps coming and everytime that she does we suffer more misfortunes. People are getting hurt. What if next time somepony dies? What if Lightning is… what if he or Krysta are already dead because of what she did?”

“What if you die because you decide to… to what?” Ace demanded. “To end this? To kill her? That’s not who you are, Twily; I may have missed you growing up but you haven’t changed that much.” She paused. “I get it. You’re angry, and you have a right to be angry. I don’t like her very much either. But… I fought her, Twilight, and I… yes, she ran, and I’m alive so I suppose that counts as a win, but… if she wanted me dead, Twilight, I’d be dead. She could have killed me before she left. I don’t know why she didn’t. When I got there she was tired from throwing all of those weapons at us, I think that using those powers exhausts her… I hope it does, it would exhaust anyone else that I can think of, but the point is that even despite that she did all of this to me and she could have killed me if she wanted to. Yes, you’ve got magic that I don’t, and maybe that would serve you better than my training or my speed but… you’re not a warrior, Twilight; Princess Celestia didn’t teach you to be a great fighter and she… Raven’s dangerous.”

“So I should be afraid of her?” Twilight asked. “I should stand back and-“

“I’m not saying that,” Ace said. “I’m saying… I’m saying that before you charge off, maybe you should think about everypony who would miss you if you didn’t come back. And maybe think as well about how much you actually know about being in a fight.”

Twilight was silent for a moment. “You… you make a very good point,” she conceded, with an air of ill grace. She tossed her head grumpily. “I just… when I think about what she might do next, who she might hurt next… the idea of having other ponies like you, or these zebras, or… it feels like innocent people get in the way and I… I don’t like it.”

Ace nodded. “No, I wouldn’t expect you to,” she murmured.

“But you’re right, I’m not… I’m not a great battle mage, that isn’t where Princess Celestia’s instruction focussed… I didn’t even join the school duelling club,” Twilight admitted. She sat down on her haunches. “I suppose… I suppose that it’s a lot like this whole trip. I don’t want to put my friends in danger, I don’t want them to come to harm on my account… but against that I have to accept the fact that I’ve only ever accomplished anything because of them-“

“You’ve only ever accomplished anything with our help,” Rainbow Dash’s voice floated in from outside the tent. “You’ve done loads of cool stuff with us, don’t sell yourself short.”

Twilight looked around towards the tent flap. “Rainbow Dash? Have you been listening the entire time?”

“Well when you say it like that it sounds weird,” Rainbow muttered, slipping in through the tent flap. “But not the entire time. I came to tell you that we were ready and I… well, I started to hear stuff. And you have done some stuff yourself; like, when Discord… Discord-ed us, you were the one who worked out how to free us all, and you freed Applejack all by yourself, even if you didn’t have help with everypony else.” She hesitated. “That’s not me saying you should go after Raven on your own, by the way, if you do that I will kick your ass.”

Twilight winced. “You heard that, huh?”

“Yeah,” Rainbow said flatly. “I heard. Come on, Twilight, what were you thinking?”

“I wasn’t,” Twilight admitted. “My anger got the better of me.”

“I get that,” Rainbow said softly. She glanced at Ace. “Thanks for talking her out of it.”

“I think Twily mostly talked herself out of it,” Ace said.

Twilight snorted. “But then… what’s the answer? If I can’t confront her myself then-“

“Then we’ll do it together,” Rainbow said. “Just like we made it this far together. Assuming that she ever stands still long enough.”

“That’s a good point,” Ace muttered. “Look at what Raven does: she uses tricks, she recruits others to do her dirty work, and even when she actually joins in the attack she has to hide behind a mist that keeps her out of sight and when that doesn’t work she gets out quick. I think she knows, or at least she’s worried about facing you. I don’t know why exactly-“

“She’s smart, and she knows we’ll win,” Rainbow said, as a grin appeared on her face.

Ace started to chuckle, but it hurt and she ended up moaning instead. “Something like that.” She blinked. A frown appeared on her features. “Ready for what?”

“Huh?” Twilight asked.

“Rainbow came in to say that you were ready,” Ace pointed out. “Ready for what?”

“Ah,” Twilight said. She took pause for a few moments. “Mantle isn’t continuing on any further. We don’t think that the bandits, or whoever they were, will attack again – a lot of them were hurt or… or worse – but a lot of his zebras are wounded, and so they’re going to head back to Cirta… and you’ll be going with them, while the rest of us press on to Mount Hyperion.”

“You… you’re leaving me behind?” Ace asked plaintively. She understood it; with her head she understood it perfectly. Was she supposed to insist that she could come along, that it only hurt when she breathed, that she wouldn’t slow anypony down? That wasn’t true, Ace knew that it wasn’t true and Twilight would know that it wasn’t true as well. With her head, Ace knew that Twilight was making the right choice.

But that didn’t mean that it didn’t hurt a little in her heart.

“You’ve done enough,” Twilight replied gently. “You’ve done more than enough.”

“I hope Princess Celestia and your brother agree with you,” Ace muttered.

“Ace-“ Twilight began.

“I’m fine, really,” Ace replied, forestalling her. “I don’t blame you. Well, I do blame you a little, but I also get it. It’s not like I can go on, and you can’t expected to come back to Cirta and wait for me to heal up.” She paused, grinning mischievously. “Actually, why can’t you come back to Cirta and wait for me to heal up?”

Twilight’s eyes narrowed as she gave Ace an ‘are you kidding me’ kind of look.

Ace didn’t try to laugh for the sake of her limbs. “Yeah, I know, I know. I’d ask if you were going to be okay without me, but on the basis of the trip so far you’ll all be just fine.”

“Don’t put yourself down,” Rainbow said. “We wouldn’t be here right now if it wasn’t for you.”

“Nice you to say, are you sure that you’re not the kind one?”

“I only say what I mean,” Rainbow replied. “Most of the time.”

Ace nodded. “Take care of her.”

“Always,” Rainbow vowed.

“Excuse me, I’m standing right here!” Twilight squawked.

Ace smiled. “Take care of yourself, Twily. And I’ll see you in Cirta when you get back.”

Twilight smiled. “I’ll see you in Cirta, when we get back.”

---

Raven’s whole body ached.

It wasn’t just the use – the overuse – of her magical abilities. It was… it was more than that. Her joints ached, and she was bleeding from more place than Ace had hit her.

Her wounds were starting to reopen. She was probably beginning to suffer from scurvy.

It wasn’t too surprising. She hadn’t eaten any fresh fruit in… some time. It didn’t exactly grow on trees around here; even outside the desert, not many zebras wanted to sell to the dark figure keeping her face hidden beneath a cloak.

If they’d seen what was under the cloak they would have been even less likely to want to deal with her.

Raven’s breath came in deep, gasping gulps. She needed water. She needed rest. She needed vitamins. She needed sleep.

She needed sleep so badly. She wanted it so badly. She wanted to sleep like she had when she was a little filly, when the world was bright and full of hope, when friendship would carry on through the ages, when… when it was not so obvious that she had brought doom upon the world.

She wanted to sleep, but if she slept then she would dream, and if she dreamt… her dreams would not be present.

And besides, it would provide opportunities for Princess Luna to confront her, and she did not want that.

So she slept as little as she could; fortunately her implants and enhancements enabled her to do without sleep, as they enabled her to do with little food.

Just as they had robbed food of its taste.

Raven took another deep breath. This was not the time to dwell on such things.

There were more immediate problems to dwell on. Such as the fact that she had failed, and what with the strain she had put on herself – and the fact that she had scurvy that would kill her if she let it – meant that she would not get the chance to try again.

The Servants of Memory were scattered. There would be no more help from that quarter. And if she confronted Twilight and her friends again she feared that she would lose.

The six of them together were stronger than Twilight knew. If Twilight went after Raven herself then… no, the others would not let her be so foolish.

Which meant… which meant that there was nothing she could do. She was… she was out of options.

All she could do was hope that Twilight did not get what she was looking for when she reached the mountain.

Because if she did… if she did, then it would doom them all.