Shield and Shadow Part 2: Renaissance

by LucidReverie

Chapter 16: A perilous journey

Chapter 16: A perilous journey

Venture.

Spring Mist breathed heavily, trotting rapidly in place. He stopped, looking around him. Rough Runner was regarding him with slight skepticism. Mist cocked his head at the pony.

“What?” Mist inquired.

“You’re just in good shape for an old pony,” Rough Runner said with a shrug.

Mist sighed. “I told you, I’m not really old.”

“You’re technically over a thousand. That makes you old.”

Mist scoffed. “Well, be that as it may, I’m not done yet. I was a guard. And that was in a less ‘safe’ time. What exactly do you protect against?”

Rough Runner recoiled slightly, looking angry. “There are always threats to Equestria.”

“Of course there are. Are we done? I need to see Starlight.”

“Yes, we’re done. Gramps.”

“Great, thanks, Runner.” Mist turned, leaving Runner behind.

As Mist walked back in the direction of the safe house, he was ambushed by a sudden pink and white blur. Mist stumbled back a few steps. Radiant Bloom stood before him, smiling.

“Hello there, Mist. How are you today?” she asked sweetly.

Mist shook, recovering from the surprise. “Ah, Radiant. Aside from the heart attack you just gave me, I think I’m doing just fine. Why?”

“Oh, it’s just part of my job to make sure everypony is doing okay.”

“I thought you were an historian and hippologist?”

“I am. But I still know a bit about ponies and how they feel. So how do you feel?”

“Mind if we walk and talk? I need to see Starlight.”

“Oh, of course. So… How are you?”

“Fine, I suppose. Anxious to get going.”

“And how are things between you and the Princess?”

Mist thought he heard a slight catch in the question, but he ignored it. “Fine. I think. I’m still not very happy with her way of handling things. I know I made the choice to be here, but I’d still like to see that second part of the deal I made.”

“We, I hate to say it, but… the Nightmare didn’t actually promise that Princess Luna would still be there. Just that you would be there when she was free. Right?”

Mist stopped, stomping in anger. “No, I won’t have it that way. The Nightmare might have manipulated me, but I’m going to take advantage of the chance.”

“Okay, I’m just saying. It’s been years since the Princess returned, years of her believing that you were gone. You come back suddenly, and she’s flooded with memories of you. You know how you don’t remember anything from your thousand years?”

“Yes, why?” Mist resumed walking.

“She remembers everything. All one thousand years. It took a while for her to remember, but she did eventually. With that came the thousand years of loneliness and emptiness of the isolation, and the fear, guilt, resentment, and despise of her downfall. When you came back, she had to face an end to something that had consumed her life, for the second time. She was resigned to fate, and had faced the demons of her past. You forced her to face those demons again. She hates herself for succumbing to the Nightmare. She feels she betrayed you, betrayed what you gave her. And she constantly feels the sting of her actions: Nightmare Night, bedtime horror stories, the terms ‘lunacy’ and ‘lunatic’. Small by themselves, but they tend to weigh on a pony after a while. Even if never aimed at her, she’s the reason they exist.”

“I never thought of it that way… I never really considered just how much had changed, how much was affected by the whole ordeal… But how do you know all of this?”

“Like I said. It’s my job in this little team we have.”

“And this isn’t betraying her trust? Should you be telling me any of this?”

“Well, those are mostly my personal observations. But if you don’t want to hear it…”

“Not that I don’t appreciate it, I just think that Luna should be the one to talk to me about any of her concerns.”

“I can respect that. It might take her a while though, okay?”

“I understand, thanks. Now tell me, do you think that what is happening to her – the guilt and the memories – will happen to me?”

“I can’t say for sure. Princess Celestia kept your change quiet, but an entire city saw Nightmare Moon. In that regard, not much will have been changed by you directly. As for the questions about your memories, like why they haven’t come back, and what will happen when then do… well, that’s something we’ll have to look out for when it happens. I wish I had a better answer for you, but it is completely possible that you will go through the same issues she is going through. It will be different, but we should still be prepared.”

“Wow. My prospects are fairly grim, aren’t they?”

“No! Well… yes. But you have to be mindful, and maintain a positive attitude. Remember, the Nightmare feeds off of the negativity of emotions like anger and sadness.”

“Thanks. Doesn’t really help, but thanks.”

“Anything I can do! And here we are, so I’ll see you later, okay? And stay positive.”

“Indeed we are. Alright, see you later, then. And I’ll try.”

Mist watched as Radiant trotted off, probably to go interrogate some other poor member of the team. Radiant was a good pony, though. Sincere, honest. Mist enjoyed it. She had no agenda.

Mist nudged open the door to the safe house. He entered into the main room of the building and immediately spotted Starlight Secret. The purple pony was looking at a map posted on one of the walls. Starlight was examining the southernmost area of the map, and the first place on their journey: the Equestrian Badlands.

“See something interesting?” Mist asked as he approached Starlight.

She calmly turned around to look at Mist, a serious expression etched on her face. “I’ve warned to before, it’s not a good idea to sneak up on a battlemage. And no, I’m just going over the first plan.”

“Ah, well I can’t help it if I’m naturally sneaky. What was it you called me?”

“A Shadow Walker.”

“And what was that again?”

“An archaic term for a unicorn that inherently uses shadow and stealth spells. Rare. Not especially remarkable. But rare. Either way… be mindful of the fact that I can kill you faster than you can cast your favorite shadow or shield spell.”

“Thanks… I’ll remember that. Now, you wanted to see me?”

“Yes. I want to go over some potential… risks we might encounter.”

“Risks?”

“Yes. See, we’ll be travelling to ancient areas of the world. So ancient it seems that even the Princess has forgotten about them. Few ponies know anything about where we are going and even less about what we’ll encounter.”

“How do you mean?”

“Well, you recall the tale of Hearth’s Warming Eve?”

“Yes… but what does it have to do with anything?”

“Well, in some ways: nothing. Others? Everything.”

Mist raised an eyebrow, unsure of just where Starlight was going with this. His expression seemed clear enough to encourage Starlight on.

“Well, you recall the Windigos of course. Ancient spirits not dissimilar to the Nightmare, feeding on strive and hatred. Those creatures still exist somewhere. So there’s that threat. More concerning, however, is something everypony seems to forget: unicorns raised the sun and moon, supposedly. Not the Princesses. They are never mentioned in the story. Now, that leaves some startling implications relating to the power of ancient ponies. If a group of unicorns, or even just a unicorn like you or I, could raise the sun and the moon as Princess Celestia and Princess Luna do, what exactly can they not do?”

“That is concerning… but, what do we need to really be worried about? Surely you can’t expect to run into an ancient pony.”

“No, that would be very unlikely. I’m honestly more worried about what the left behind. The three tribes were constantly at odds with each other. Ask Radiant, and she’ll tell you all about the measures that were taken to defend against the world and each other. It was far more savage, even more so than your time.”

“I’d assume so. My time was relatively peaceful, even Everfree, right in the middle of the forest. But I’m surprised some much is unchanged in those thousand years. But even that being the case, do you think we’ll run into… well, anything left behind?”

“I do. And so does Radiant. I’m mostly going off of her word. I’m just familiar with the possible spells, enchantments, or other hazards we might encounter. And of course we have to be prepared for any wandering bandits, animals, or really anything else we don’t want near us. And that means strong defense.”

“You think that we’re going to need battle magic?”

“I hope not. But we should still be prepared. Now, I assume you know a bit about tactics?”

“As a guard, yes. What spells do you use exactly? And I thought you were a scholar? Exactly what training as a battlemage do you have?”

“Ah yes…” Starlight looked slightly guilty, though through it, proud. “I may be a studier of magic, but I am also a practitioner. I wanted to join the military, but… they frowned on my scholarly past and my lack of ‘physical presence’. So I practiced anyway.”

“I… I can actually understand that.”

“You can?” Starlight questioned flatly, “Sorry if I doubt you.”

“No, I do understand. Except I wanted to be a scholar. Work under the Princesses. I was in Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns for a time, but I couldn’t fund it, so I joined the guard. I was accepted almost immediately once I said I wanted a spot on the night watch. Not many ponies wanted the position, but my sense of duty drove me to do it. That, and my borderline obsession with astronomy. After a few years, I met Luna, and I eventually began working in the astronomy tower. That lasted a few weeks until… well...”

“Wow. I had no idea.” Starlight’s eyes looked around briefly. “Okay then, I’m going to trust you. But could you trust me, as well?”

“Of course.” Mist smiled. “Now what spells do you use the most?”

“Lightning, the occasional fireball. And ice-based spells. All aggressive. Most potentially lethal.”

“Great. I’d prefer to not kill anything if we don’t have to. And complicated tactics won’t work. We’re not fighting a war.” Mist thought for a bit. “So here it is, if, Celestia and Luna forbid, we get attacked: I’ll throw a shield around us, or distract whatever is attacking with shadows; and you – only if you must – kill the attackers. Though I’d prefer you incapacitate them. Your spells can do that, right?”

“Of course. Freeze them or give a minor electrical shock.”

“Wait. ‘Electrical’?”

“Oh, um… electricity is what we call the energy in shock spells and most modern technology.”

“Huh. We just called it magic.”

“Right, I’ll explain more, later, if you want. But about the plan – is that it?”

“Yep. Of course, if Runner thinks he has a better plan, we can just use that one.”

“Sounds good to me.”

“Now, what exactly might we be facing in the older areas?”

“My biggest concerns are the remaining defensive spells and traps. But beyond that, I’m not sure. Tales often tell of ethereal ponies who walk through walls and steal your soul, or ancient ‘tamed’ beasts that will tear anything that enters apart.”

“Grim. Okay, we’ll just have to improvise.”

“That’s the best we can do, I’m afraid.”

“Terrific. Anything else?”

“Nothing from me. Chaser wants to see you about the travel plan. She should be outside somewhere.”

Mist nodded. “Thanks. I’ll go look for her. Anything else, you know where I am.”

“Of course. We should be ready to go in a few days.”

Mist nodded again as Starlight turned back to the map on the wall. Mist trotted off to find Flare Chaser. She was bound to have vital information on the physical layout of Equestria, and would prove invaluable to the team’s movement.

Outside once again, Mist looked about for the Night Guard Pegasus. He spotted that dark blot in the sky, performing some aerial maneuver that Mist could really only look at with some measure of awe. He was happy as a unicorn, but his mind sometimes drifted, wondering what it would be like to fly so freely through the sky. That thought was always silenced by the memory of flying with Luna over Everfree. Mist shuddered, clearly remembering the discomfort. In truth, he was very happy to not be a Pegasus.

Flare Chaser must have seen him staring, because she angled herself towards him and began to plummet. Mist began to worry as she drew closer and closer to not only the ground, but to him. As Mist grew truly worried, she pulled up sharply, flaring her wings, slowing her descent. She hovered just in front of Mist, a bright smile on her face. Unsettling when grouped with her sharp teeth and yellow cat-like eyes.

“Worried? I’m hurt you don’t have more faith in me,” she said in a mock-pained tone.

Mist grunted slightly. “I’d just prefer neither of us were injured. We have a long journey ahead. Plenty of time for injury later.”

“AH, I was just having some fun. You should try it some time. You are allowed to enjoy life, especially since you’ve got a second chance at it. Now, I trust you are here about the travel plan? OR maybe you are just here to stare at me. Bat wings aren’t the most attractive things, but if that’s what you like…” She shrugged playfully.

“Just… tell me what your plan is.”

“You really are incapable of fun. I really enjoy your snide humor, you know. Why can’t we see some of that?”

“Plan, please.”

“Ugh, fine!”

Mist listened patiently as the plan was laid out in detail. Sometimes too much detail, Mist thought. Despite Chaser’s fun-loving side, she was impeccable and simply impressive when she got down to business.

Mist struggled to follow the plan at points, but he figured out most of it. Head to the Badlands, then go further south into the more forgotten areas. Chaser would fly reconnaissance the entire way, making sure the area was clear before the party moved forward. After that… well, it was fuzzy. Nopony knew exactly what they were looking for or where any of it would lead. There was a high probability that they would wander mainland Equestria, probably even going so far as the Frozen North, or even across the Western Sea.

Mist hated not knowing, but understood the nature of the quest. What he had failed to consider was the time it would take. Months, certainly. Years of travel were not unrealistic. Staying away from roads, towns, cities, train tracks (a concept that Mist didn’t really understand), would extend the journey many times over. After hearing of the revolutionary system of transportation that had been developed, Mist had hoped, perhaps naively, that the journey would be a bit faster.

Either way, when Chaser had ended her report and left to continue her exercises, Mist was left with an overwhelming feeling of guilt. These ponies, whom he had only just met, were sacrificing amazing amounts of their lives to venture into the deepest and furthest parts of the known world, and even beyond that, to save Equestria from a threat that by all rights should no longer exist. He had caused everything that had happened thus far, and was responsible for everything to come. Luna would soon return to the safehouse, and the lives of the others would be Mist’s responsibility.

No pressure. You monster.

Comments

[Ghost-091]

This updates when I'm crammed with homework to finish (all of which is due in a few minutes). Good thing I fought off the temptation to read this until I finished with everything (which for the amount of work, I finished an amazing amount in about a half an hour). Talk about dangling a carrot

[LucidReverie]

1694388 yeah, feeling that pressure myself. sorry to tease, but hope you enjoy it! good luck!

[Darth Quadro]

I liked this chapter you did well with it. You created a team of ponies and in one chapter revealed the ponies importance or role as well as their personality.