The Heart's Promise

by MyHobby

Three Wishes

Merry Mare sat at a picnic table that had been set up at the base of Canter Mountain. A few seats down sat Jeuk, in the thin guise of a pony, nose-deep in a salad bowl that almost reached across the table. He was laughing to himself as he ate, adding occasional strange squeaks of delight whenever he came across a strawberry slice. He raised his eyes to the pony across from him, Silver Spoon, and said, “I would have become mortal much sooner if I had known eating was such an absolute delight.”

Silver smiled surreptitiously, or it would have been if she had not followed the smile up with “There are plenty of mortal pleasures one can take part in. I suppose for most it’s a fair trade-off for the stunted lifespans most of us experience; but then, people like us won’t have to worry about that, will we?”

Jeuk raised a wine glass to his lips and sniffed the bouquet. “I trust you’ll be there to guide me along the way, dear Silver.”

Merry turned away from the two of them, the immortal Siren and the mortal Fairy. She sunk into her own thoughts to escape their inane, shameless blabber. She had won, but the victory had ended up even more bittersweet than she had feared. Reports were coming in of arrests, mostly members of the Apple family, but far more numerous were reports of soldiers refusing to take part in the arrests. This led to them being arrested and awaiting court martial, at best. At worst, they had deserted, vanishing into the wilderness that surrounded every City-State in Equestria, ready to be gathered into a rebellious coalition. Merry’s plan had been to strike so decisively, to achieve victory so firmly, that any thought of civil war would be lost in the confusion. Yet here they were, their numbers falling, the City-States becoming distant even as they took a firm hold of New Cloudsdale and the Canter Mountain region.

That, and Applejack had escaped.

Merry Mare had done her best to make Applejack’s mayorship miserable to an unbearable degree. But Applejack was stubborn. Even complete demotivation was not enough to douse her fighting spirit. She would stand against Merry out of spite, the Siren could see that now. Even if all of Equestria had been against the Apples, there would still have been Applejack throwing rotten fruit at the Sirens… And far more than Applejack was ready to resist the change in leadership.

Even the Captain of the Canterlot Royal Guard, who could be seen directing troops to set up the encampment around Canter Mountain, had a grim glower ready whenever she thought Merry wasn’t looking. She was following orders, standing firm with the rightful leader of Equestria as her job description stated, but her heart wasn’t in it. The arrest of the Bearers of the Elements hadn’t sat right with her, or the rest of the Canterlot Guard.

Merry pointedly ignored the fact that she also felt uneasy about it. She forgot the betrayal on Fluttershy’s face. She denied the injustice of Celestia’s execution…

A small group of four creatures approached. Three ponies and a displacer beast. Merry stood and made her way towards them. Maybe Caution’s report would take her mind off of her troubles. Unlikely. If she was unsettled by the capture of Fluttershy, the death of six young people from Ponyville was not likely to sit easier—

“Failures!” Jeuk screamed. He leapt up from the table and stalked his way across the field towards them. “Worse than traitors! You let them escape!”

Caution Tape stopped in his tracks, his eyes wide and his mouth small. Dr. Midnight shrunk into her cloak and hid behind the bulky stallion, vanishing from sight easily with her slight frame. There was too much direct sunlight for Lacer to disappear completely, but he still did his best to remain motionless. Rhombus was the outlier, rolling his eyes and pinwheeling gently in midair.

The large earth pony stallion shuffled hooves that looked large enough to crush Jeuk in a single blow. “Beggin’ your pardon, Master, but oi have news. News that just about turns the whole world upside down. See, one o’ those ponies you had us attackin’, she were none other than me an’ me love’s daughter.”

Jeuk’s face contorted to levels of rage Merry had only seen on pissed-off toddlers and blood-spattered berserkers. “You think that changes a horseapple-chewing thing?”

The pupil of Caution’s good eye widened, while a tear fell from his blind one. “Master, you promised we’d be reunited.”

“You could still have killed even one of them!” The very snap of Jeuk’s voice pressed Caution back until he fell to his haunches. Dr. Midnight scrambled to get out of his way and only barely avoided being squashed. Merry saw the hood fall from the unicorn’s head; her glasses sat eschew, bent during the battle, leaving the fear in her eyes plainly visible. It was an expression Merry hadn’t seen on Twilight Sparkle’s face for many a year—not since Tirek stole her magic. It was a visible manifestation of being outclassed, of truly knowing that there was nothing you could do. The alternate Twilight shrunk back when Jeuk laid his glare upon her. “You might have killed him. You came this close to slaying the dragon. You but needed to pierce his heart, quiet his fire, cast him from the heights to dash against the rocks, but no! You failed here as assuredly as you failed in your own world, doctor!”

He swiveled on Lacer with eyes aglow with magic. The displacer beast rose in the air on wine-red currents of energy, his hair standing on end and his tentacles wriggling. The fairy’s breath came out hot against Lacer’s nose. “You allowed the Apple giant to live, and not only that, guided her to the ground. Your life is not worth the six of them surviving, Lacer the Displacer. Not even close.”

Rhombus nudged Caution’s shoulder with his own. “I wouldn’t worry, big fella. We were always going to bring Scootaloo in warm.”

Lacer plopped unceremoniously to the ground. Jeuk turned slowly, ever so painfully slowly, and regarded Rhombus with a lidded stare. “I don’t even feel like berating you. You are truly unfixable. How could you, who has been a killer since you were a whelp, lose against one of the lowest-ranked soldiers in Equestria?”

“Come now, I didn’t lose…” Rhombus shrugged, his eyes anywhere but on his liege. “It was… a stalemate. I still came out of it better than him, judging by my missing wingblade.”

“Enough!” Jeuk’s face twitched as he glanced one last time at Caution, then turned back towards the picnic table and his meal. “You are to pursue the six of them and slay them. Capture one or two if you must take them alive, but kill the majority. I’ll have the Captain of the Guard outfit you with a fast airship.”

The four of them, browbeaten as they were, could only mutely stare at the mortal fairy as he trudged away. His brief conversation with Stonewall sounded like ice crackling on the ocean. The Captain of the Guard waved her hoof for them to follow, though she kept her eyes locked on Merry Mare, who was supposed to be the one giving orders.

That was the plan, Merry thought. That had always been the plan. She raised her head as Jeuk neared; he was just a touch taller than she was, and she did not like having to look up at such an individual. She liked it even less when he bent his neck to whisper in her ear, “And where do you suppose Adagio went to?”

Merry took a meaningful step to the left, away from his rank breath. “I assume she will turn up when her mission is complete. Barring that, we’ll send out a search party after a few days. She knows how to stay hidden when she doesn’t want to be found, but I’m sure you have ways of tracking the intractable.”

“Indeed I do, Mayor Merry Mare,” he said with a faint giggle in his voice. “I imagine you’ll want to find her sooner rather than later, considering her intimate knowledge of mirror portals. Happy is out there, somewhere, waiting for you.”

She scowled as he returned to his lunch. The air rumbled with the hum of an engine when a small airship, barely a sloop, shot by overhead on its way to hunt down Scootaloo and her friends. Merry watched it until it vanished over the horizon. The ponies they were targeting were younger than her son would have been.

She lowered her gaze to Ponyville. She could just see the glinting crystal castle. She could imagine the crowds filling town square, crowds she had been priming for just such a time as this. Ponyville would not put up much of a fight. That was the plan. That had always been the plan.

Applejack had not been part of that plan.

“Stonewall,” Merry called out, “how long until we can march on Ponyville?”

The Captain of the Guard’s stare bordered on being a white-hot glare, but cooled just enough to allay Merry’s suspicions that she, too, would abandon her oath to serve Equestria. “Three hours before we have a sizable enough force to occupy the city. Four if you plan on any sort of fighting. A lot of our armor was damaged by the sun’s radiation.”

“I want to know as soon as the troops are ready.” She glanced upward at the sun despite herself. Ever since they’d made their move, and Jeuk’s control was broken, she’d felt as if the sun was watching them. Waiting to strike. She imagined she’d feel more comfortable indoors, even if it was a lie that she’d be any safer. She had to trust that Cadence wasn’t as quick to violence as they were trying to convince the populace she was. She had to trust that the Crystal Empress wouldn’t attack before Jeuk regained the power necessary to set the sun on her kingdom forever. She had to trust the hostages they’d taken would be enough of a deterrent.

Magic filled the air. The wind caught her mane and tugged at her robes. A shadow approached from the north. It appeared from beneath the looming cloudcover of New Cloudsdale, taking up the entirety of the sky, scouring the land beneath it in a shadow barely abated by the low honey-hued glow of magic stones.

The Grove of Golden Apples had arrived.

Before Merry could process the mountain’s appearance, Silver Spoon was among the troops, shouting orders to move out of the way. Airships were hastily transported up and out. Soldiers broke ranks and ran, flew, or teleported away. Jeuk watched the proceedings with a patent smile, with just a twist of cruelty between his teeth. He giggled like a pony possessed while the mountain grew closer, closer, closer.

The glow beneath the mountain faded, and the Grove dropped softly to the ground. The weight of the Grove caused the ground beneath to crack and crumble, opening up until the magic-imbued stones sat flush with newly-unearthed bedrock.

Jeuk raised a hoof, and New Cloudsdale descended upon the mountains, both the home of the Grove and what remained of Canter Mountain. The entire city-state swallowed the summits and climbed down the slopes like a rolling fogbank. All around the concrete cloudstuff churned like a hurricane, and Merry was afraid she might see the Commander herself orchestrating the storm. Thunder crackled from the suburbs. Hail scoured the industrial section. Raindrops trickled from convenience stores yet to be opened. Merry’s world was enveloped in white, cold wind and chilling moisture all around.

She couldn’t see the sun, and felt no safer for it. She thought she could see the ghastly shape of ponies in the fog, but every image dissipated the moment she spied it. An eerie moan reminded her of the old tales of windigos tearing apart the Pony kingdoms of old. Her body prompted flight, her mind cried out to fight, but neither option was prudent; just equally suicidal.

A clammy hoof, one belonging to the mortal fairy himself, clapped against her shoulder. It was a stark reminder that he was not a pony, just a spirit inhabiting the body of a wight. He smiled at her and jerked his head towards the newly-arrived Grove. “So, shall we return to home base and consider our options?”

---

Caution Tape locked eyes on the train that had just left Ponyville. He swallowed back the bile that had been building since his one-sided talk with Jeuk. Didn’t the fairy know that the only reason he worked with the Unseelie was to reunite his family? It seemed to be all the Lord of the Court had talked about while Caution had been in prison. It seemed to come up every time Caution’s faith wavered, every time another pony needed killing, every time Jeuk appeared in some forsaken mirror.

Dr. Midnight glanced up from the hoof-bound book she had been writing in. Her glowing irises dimmed as she slipped her round glasses back onto her nose. “You know she’ll never love you, right?”

“Oi beg your pardon?” he said, only half-listening. He had seen Scootaloo get on that train. He could recognize her coat from a mile away, and that wasn’t even an exaggeration.

“Your daughter.” Dr. Midnight closed the book and glanced at Rhombus and Lacer. The two of them were at the prow, pointing at the crowd of ponies gathering around Ponyville Castle. Neither of them would interrupt the conversation. “You know there’s no way she ever comes with you willingly, right? After all you’ve done? She sees you as a monster. A murderer. A traitor. You can’t possibly have any hope that you’ll be a family after all this.”

Caution ground his teeth together for a moment. “You don’t know—”

“I do know that.” She spoke calmly. Matter-of-factly. As if giving a lecture on the water cycle. “My best friend abandoned me when he found out what I had done. Later, he even came to an entirely new world just to track me down and stop me. Family ties don’t hold up in the face of murder, Caution. Even people who once loved you will find their emotions completely reversed. They will abandon you. And Scootaloo has nothing but contempt for you in the first place.”

“Oi never turned my back on Aria,” he growled. “Even after oi found out she was a Siren…” He shrugged with a grunt that was almost laughter. “Oi s’pose the thousand-year age gap was more of a shock tah me.”

“You’re deluded, Caution Tape.” Dr. Midnight returned to her book, but not before also casting an eye towards the train they were now following. “And your delusions will get more people killed. More people hurt. That’s what Jeuk is counting on, in any case.”

“Deluded, eh? All me life’s work summed up in a single word. Rich comin’ from the pony who wants tah make herself an alicorn.”

“That’s the difference between gathering actual facts and data, as opposed to wishing upon a dying comet.” Dr. Midnight allowed herself a small, satisfied, dark smile. “My plan for immortality is a near inevitability and your hope for a family is a shambling corpse coming apart at the seams.”

Caution turned his eyes upward, leaning against the ship’s wheel. “Tell me, Twilight Sparkle, did you always enjoy hurtin’ people, or did it come as a side-effect to workin’ with the Unseelie Court?” Before she could reply, he cracked a mirthless grin. “’Cuz our Twilight got everythin’ you ever wanted without ever doin’ what you’ve done. Seems to me you’re just the sort to never be happy unless you’re standing on somebody’s tail.”

She matched his grin with a tight-lipped grimace. “Mock me if you wish. It’ll help you ignore the emotional stampede you’re flinging yourself headlong into.”

“Yeah, you’re right. She’ll never see me as a father.” Caution shook his head as Dr. Midnight returned to her book. “But if oi can orchestrate, even if just for one moment, the three of us bein’ together as a family, it’ll be worth all the pain so far. Just that one moment.”

“If the Unseelie Court could raise the dead,” Dr. Midnight spat, “they wouldn’t need the four of us.”

Caution gazed at the train just ahead of them. He longed to be aboard it, helping his daughter out on her long journey. Instead, he was a ready and willing roadblock on it. “Hate to say it, but oi think you’re right.”

---

Sky Wishes wiped down the stretcher where Rumble had been lying. Her frilly apron was smudged with ash from the night before. Her coat was ragged and unwashed. Her maid’s uniform was beyond saving. They’d nearly not gotten out alive… Alive by mortal standards. She glanced over at the nurse who had been attending to Rumble, a survivor of the destruction of Canterlot General, Flower Wishes. “You holdin’ up, Sis?”

Flower Wishes removed the small hat from her purple mane and ruffled the hair loose. She frowned at the red plus-shape on the hat. “I almost feel like I abandoned them. My patients, that is. I feel like I should have went with them. To Manehattan Healthcare, or Fillidelphia U, or even Dodge Junction Emergency. I felt like… Like I was making a difference, these past few years.”

Sky Wishes bowed her head and wheeled the stretcher over to a wall, to await the next injury that necessitated its use. “Back before… before all this… I used to think mortal lives were a waste. Like they couldn’t do anything in the time given to them. Like they were trapped in a rat race with no way upward. Just eat and breed and die.”

Flower Wishes blinked back a tear. “I guess you really don’t know how precious life is until you try to save one.”

Sky Wishes lay her chin on the stretcher and rested her forelegs against her cheeks. “Or until you want to share one.”

Flower Wishes’ eyes widened. She trotted over to her sister and rested a hoof on her shoulder. “Sky, don’t be foolish. He’s a mortal. You’re a fairy.”

Sky Wishes cracked the corner of her mouth open. “Fairies don’t rest a hoof on each others’ shoulders to comfort them in the face of inevitable parting.”

Flower snatched her hoof away and sucked on it, like she’d stubbed it on a chair. She took a seat and stared at nothing in particular. Princess Twilight’s laboratory beeped and hummed around them as they waited quietly, neither really sure of what to say.

Their inactivity was interrupted with the sound of two sets of hoofsteps tramping down the hall. They both raised their heads to greet the new arrivals, Applejack and Ribbon Wishes.

Applejack could see the family resemblance immediately. All three shared coat and mane colors: Pink and purple respectively. However, while Ribbon had a curly mane and the guise of a unicorn, Sky had a short mane and the wings of a pegasus, and Flower had a fluffy mane and neither horn nor wing. Three ponies from three tribes in one family.

Ostensibly, anyhow. Applejack felt a chill run up and down her spine at the sight of the three together. Now that she knew what she very well knew… She’d spoken with Ribbon in the past—treated her like any other pony. Sky had been a maid in Canterlot Castle for years. Flower had helped heal King Andean Ursagryph, for cryin’ out loud! These three fairies had been hidden in plain sight for longer than Applejack cared to find out.

“Any other… ‘Wishes’ I oughta know about?” she asked.

“Afraid not, Your Majesty.” Ribbon Wishes looked at the former mayor out of the corner of her eye. “In all the stories, you only get three.”

“First of all, drop the ‘Majesty’ hogwarsh.” Applejack tilted the brim of her hat back to rub her forehead. “The title’s just for looks. And just for now, ’till we save Twilight.” She looked at the other two fairies in disguise and pursed her lips. “What do the two of yah got to say for yourselves?”

“That we’re here to serve the people of Equestria,” Flower Wishes said with a stiff back. “As ever.”

“Ditto,” muttered Sky.

“What sorta powers do y’all got?” Applejack rolled a hoof and turned her eyes up in thought. “Telekinesis? Psychokinesis? Good ol’-fashioned laser-vision?”

Ribbon quirked the corner of her mouth upward; a scowl in miniature. “What ponies would call our ‘powers’ are more realistically the basic abilities all fairies share. The ability to move about unperceived by mortals, the ability to traverse between your reality and our Dreamland, the perception of dreams as they happen around us.”

“We do have lasers,” Sky Wishes said, then winced when Ribbon shifted her frown onto her. “Kinda. Really only work against other Fae Creatures. Not real effective either, ’cuz we don’t die. More of a sock-to-the-jaw than a finishing move, you ask me.”

“And yet, it’s plenty enough to put some of us out of commission.” Flower took a step between her sisters, leveling her glittering eyes at Ribbon. “As some of us found out rather painfully.”

“I lasted five whole minutes and could have—” Ribbon Wishes shook her head and reset her expression to one of serenity. “Regardless, I’m afraid we’re more valuable to you in our fleshly guises at the moment. Fairies make for poor brawlers, and you seem intent to go to war.”

Sky Wishes gasped and leapt into the air with her wings spread. “War! No!”

“I ain’t agreed to no war!” Applejack kicked a hoof out to release some steam. “I just know that if we don’t fight back, a lot more ponies are gonna fall victim to the whole Unsilly’s scheme. Soon as we beat Merry and her cronies, the fightin’s done, right? So that’s all. That’s the only thing I agreed to.”

Sky Wishes settled to the ground, her brow furrowed and her wings shivering. Flower patted her back as Ribbon turned away, towards Applejack.

Applejack rubbed her chin. “What I do know is that we ain’t gonna be able to run with alla that mean outside. Anything you guys can do to calm the crowd down, send them back to their homes? Then we could at least let everybody pack for the trip south, and my—” She pulled a face. “—‘Freedom Fighters’ can skedaddle off to our new hideout.”

Ribbon Wishes sighed through her nose. “There is one thing we can do with our connection to dreams, but it’ll grab the Unseelie’s attention like a bonfire on a hill. You won’t have much time at all before Jeuk sends some sort of attack, even if his main force is still regrouping from the capital disaster. Maybe an hour.”

“It’s more time than we have right now.” Applejack gave each of them a furrow-browed frown, hesitating before speaking. “Just don’t hurt anybody, okay?”

Flower Wishes put a hoof on her chest. “I myself have made a vow never to harm a mortal.”

“That makes one of us,” Sky muttered, “but I’ll go along with it for now.”

“Then it’s settled.” Ribbon trotted towards the main hallway, leaving the laboratory to continue operations on its own. The others joined her, with Applejack hanging back a few steps. The ponies gathered around the throne room watched the three fairies pass by, sitting still until Applejack motioned for them to rise and follow.

“We’re gettin’ ourselves outta here before the Sirens attack and occupy Ponyville.” Applejack tipped her hat to Blueblood. “Y’all know where you’re goin’?”

“Indubitably.”

That’d better mean ‘yes’ or we’re all in trouble.” Applejack gave the throne room one last once-over. She tapped the map table, and the illusion winked out. The fires of friendship that always kept the room warm and aglow seemed dimmed, as heavy as the atmosphere around them. “We got maybe an hour until the Sirens retaliate, so move your hindquarters. Essential goods only. Books and such’ll just slow you down at this rate. Remember, you’re all movin’ at the speed of the slowest pony. Anybody who has a cart they can pull, offer rides to the needy.”

The eyes that looked back at her were full of sorrow, fear, and confusion. Applejack wondered if her eyes were just big ol’ mirrors reflecting that same worry back. She shook her head, sucked in a breath, and smiled. “Remember, if we work together, if we stand by each other, if we care for one another, we can make it through this. We’ve been in tight spots before and always made it through. That what Ponyville does. It rebuilds together. It takes care of its own. It doesn’t have to be the mess that the Unsilly Court wants to make of it. It doesn’t have to be the darkness that the Sirens believe it is. We know better. We’ll do what we all know is right. And we’ll do right by each other.”

Pumpkin Cake piped up before her parents could stop her. “And if Jeuk shows his creepy little face around here, my brother’ll just uppercut him like he did last time. POW!”

Sky smirked at Ribbon. “Sounds like someone made a better match than you did.”

“He ought to,” Ribbon said with a pout.

As Sky passed the gathered castle servants, the vast majority failed to meet her eye. Applejack honestly felt like she couldn’t blame them. There was no way you could hide being a fairy for so long and still keep your friendships. That said, she was surprised when one snappy-dressed, slightly overweight fellow reached out and caught Sky’s shoulder.

“Sky,” Royal Scheduling Advisor Natter said quietly, just loud enough that Applejack was able to overhear. “This doesn’t change anything.”

“You only say that ’cause you already knew.” Sky Wishes’ ears lay back against her scalp. She almost reached a hoof out to touch him, but in the end decided to leave her four feet down to earth. “So I guess you’re right, in a way. It doesn’t change anything.” She pulled away and followed her sisters to the front door of the castle.

Snow Cap and Coldstone stood their ground, even in the face of the rapidly-souring mood of the gathered crowd. A rotten tomato bounced off of their enchanted armor and splattered against the ground. Laughter rang out from a few spots, and a couple of the younger protesters ran for the abandoned market stalls for more produce to huck. Applejack let out a sharp whistle, and the two guards retreated into the opening doors of the castle. The crowd surged forward, some of the frontrunners demanding to her face to be let into the castle. She didn’t answer them. She looked out over the crowd and saw family storefronts being ravaged. Market stalls overturned. City Hall and the police station filled with broken windows. It had gotten worse and worse since she had returned to Ponyville, and would grow worse as the Sirens’ influence sank deeper and deeper into their psyche. She knew the same scene was being repeated in every city-state in Equestria. She was beginning to think she might be the only pony who wanted to stop it.

No, she thought to herself. No, there were people who hadn’t gone crazy, and it was her job to make sure they got out safe.

“I’m glad Celestia’s finally dead!” a protester shouted. “Long live Queen Merry! Long live the Sirens!”

“Let it be known!” Starswirl’s voice boomed out from the open castle gate. “Let it be known throughout all the land that Princess Celestia has chosen an heir! One who can lead us through the dark times and into the light!” He appeared before the crowd, his cape billowing and the bells on his hat jingling like a Hearth-Warming Eve decoration. Smoke backed his silhouette and made him appear much larger than life. “All hail Princess Applejack of Ponyville! All hail Princess Applejack of Equestria!”

The crowd booed as one, their response immediate. “She was a terrible mayor! Why the hell would we want her as a princess?”

A shiver rolled its way up and down Applejack’s back. If she wasn’t mistaken, several of the ponies in the crowd had said those exact words in unison. They were backed by cheers spoken in clumps, as if there were only ten or so unique ponies photocopied several times over. These people were caged, tied up in strings wound so tightly it was thought to be part of their mane.

“Your whole wicked family’s gonna be imprisoned, Applejack! Every single Apple! Everybody who supported Celestia is going to find out what true justice looks like!”

She pushed the sickened feeling down and held her head high. Out of the corner of her eye she could see the three Wishes sneaking out through Starswirl’s smoke cloud, circling around the outskirts of Town Square, taking up positions equidistant around the crowd. They met each others’ eyes, then Applejacks, and all three nodded as one.

Rotten fruit had proven insufficient for the young troublemakers. One of them hefted a rock in his hoof, and he was taking careful aim at Starswirl’s head. He chucked it with a speed and accuracy that shocked Applejack; the colt was halfway across square, but the stone was zipping fast enough to crack open the old wizard’s skull. Before Applejack knew what she was doing, she was reaching out for the stone, to bat it away or intercept it. The stone shifted its trajectory midflight, and she soon found herself staring down the projectile as it sped right for the spot between her eyes.

The stone broke apart in midair when it struck Starswirl’s hastily-erected shield. He gave her a small smile. “I am not quite that helpless, Your Majesty.”

More stones flew in and peppered the shield. Starswirl winced with the ferocity of the assault. Applejack wanted to close the front gate, to hole up in the castle until Apple Bloom found the Elements, but there was no hope in that line of thought. She had to trust the fairies, and she hated it.

Three beams of light shot into the sky where the Wishes had once been standing. The ponies around them scattered like ants fleeing a hoof. Wings unfurled, three pairs for each fairy. Their skin held the appearance of marble, and their eyes the sheen of pearls reflecting midsummer waves. The eyes covered their bodies from head to hoof, lacking pupils but having the sense that they were staring at everything. They walked forward, one step at a time, pushing the crowd back further and further. A panicked young pony tossed a rock at them, but the stone vanished, vaporized in an instant.

Ribbon Wishes, or at least Applejack thought it was her, rose into the air and spoke in a booming voice. “Ponies of Ponyville, you have been harassed by the Unseelie Court for far too long. Their undoing begins today!”

Flower Wishes and Sky Wishes joined her with a cheer. It was not the artificial unity of the protestors, but a three-part harmony, each voice clear and distinct, each lending a new dimension to the musical whole. “All hail the Creator, who blessed his servant Applejack to rescue Equestria from her enemies!”

Applejack scoffed. “This is why I hate propaganda! How’m I supposed to live up to somethin’ like that?”

“Because if you don’t,” Starswirl said quietly, “we’ll all be dead before the year is up.”

The three Wishes flashed with light, colors on every point of the spectrum radiating across the faces of the crowd. The ponies’ screams grew with every crackle of thunder that came out of the mouths of the Seelie Fae. Soon, the rumbling of the Fae and the flashing of the magic drowned out all else. Town Square was awash in a display that boggled the mind and left one dumbstruck. No one who had seen it could describe it afterwards. No one who had seen it could remember it without being silent for several moments afterward.

When the light faded, and the thunder stilled, Ribbon, Sky, and Flower trotted up to Applejack in their pony guises and bowed at the neck. “It is done, but the Unseelie Court has already begun to stir.”

Applejack surveyed the crowd and found them, every one, asleep where they stood. Her mouth gaped as she trotted down the steps and poked the nearest protestor. He tottered, but did not fall over. “Holy… They’re just asleep, right?”

“And will be for at least an hour.” Flower Wishes sucked in a breath and glanced northward. “It will be the most refreshing sleep of their lives, at least until the Nightmare Forces arrive. They will pursue us, but will no doubt have their fun with their subjects long before they find us.”

“Then let’s hurry.” Applejack raised a hoof to her mouth and shouted to the ponies inside the castle. “Get to your homes and pack! Come on! Time’s wastin’!”

Ribbon and Sky joined their sister in looking north. Applejack peered in that direction, towards Canter Mountain, and gasped. Another mountain stood alongside the one-time capital, and the valley between them was coated in the thickest fog Applejack had seen in her life. It was unnatural, is what it was. Deeply unnatural. The closer she looked, the more the fog seemed alive, swirling with some unknown monster she could only guess at. A cold wind, sharp and sudden, struck her chest and kept blowing. A faint howl touched the tip of her ears.

“He has already summoned the windigos.” Ribbon Wishes turned to Applejack with an expression that was as unnaturally blank as the fog-covered landscape. “The Wild Hunt is about to begin, and you are the fox they chase.”

“Don’t worry.” Adagio Dazzle slapped a hoof against Applejack’s back, and nearly got kicked in the teeth in response. She held her forelegs up in a disarmed gesture. “Easy, Your Majesty. The windigos can’t freeze you so long as you have friendship in your heart. Or somethin’ like that. Just don’t let them catch you alone. Or scared. Or hungry.”

Applejack glared at the Siren. “How’s about that hideaway, Dazzle?”

“Leave that to me.” Adagio picked her teeth with a small shoot she plucked from a stomped-out garden plot. “There’s a nice little cave west of the old Palace of the Royal Pony Sisters that Jeuk would never think of searching.”

---

An hour later, Applejack stood at the south side of Ponyville watching the wagons retreat into the distance. She watched Big Mac’s cart until she could no longer distinguish the red of his coat.

And so they went:

Blueblood and his family of Fleur and Jadeite

Big Mac along with Cheerilee, Cinnamon, and Grand Pear

Night Light, guiding his grandkids Flurry Heart, Twilight Amore, and Silver Lance

Rumble’s brother Thunderlane and his family of Cloudkicker, Dovetail, and Summerwind

Carrot, Cup, Pound, Pumpkin, Patty, and Rice Cake

Button’s and Sweetie’s parents

Bulk Biceps alongside Filthy Rich, the two single fathers

Scootaloo’s parents, Davenport and Roseluck, along with her friends Lilly and Daisy

Dinky’s mom Derpy Doo, traveling with Lyra and Bonbon

The servants of Canterlot Castle, led by Natter

A smattering of students from Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, overseen by Abacus Cinch

Several royal guards, led by Coldstone, Snow Cap, and Gaston the Griffon

And Zecora acting as doctor and guide.

Applejack shut her eyes to hold back the tears that sprung to her face. She didn’t cry on the outside. She didn’t have the time. She hadn’t for a good, long time. Not since her ma and pa had passed. Or so she liked to tell herself. Every once in a while, a droplet or two liked to slip past the dam.

“Your Majesty,” Skyhook said, glancing over his shoulder, “we need to move.”

What was left of the beautiful New Cloudsdale roiled like a stormy sea, rippling with the power of windigos and frost. More immediately, the protestors gathered in Town Square stirred, the first of Jeuk’s nightmares taking root in their dreams.

She surveyed her loyal followers. The fire brigaders all stood tall with packs bursting with food, each one having been assigned a spear. They looked small and untested beside the Royal Guardsponies who surrounded the party, but they had spark. Starswirl and Adagio Dazzle stood on opposite sides of Applejack, the wizard with his forehead wrinkled with worry and the Siren with her insincere smirk on full display. Skyhook cleared his throat and gave Applejack a meaningful twitch of his eyebrows.

Applejack gritted her teeth and slung her pack onto her back. “Everypony, into the Everfree.”