A Dying Light

by Nobrains

Chapter Three

Chapter Three

The fog was strong this morning on the road back to Ponyville. Titus wasn't even looking forward but rather at his feet to make sure he didn't miss a step or trip over something that may have been thrown onto the well-traveled road.

The fog was a goodbye token from the lake they had visited for the past few days, now lamenting over their departure. It added a sense of seclusion from the rest of the outside world that the unicorn trotting at his side was really enjoying.

“You need to look where you're going.” Titus said, watching her humming and trotting along.

“You're just looking down, yourself!” She countered, still humming. “Besides, you'd stop me before anything happened, right?”

“Uh-yeah. Sure.”

“Knew you would. Is my lyre still okay?”

Titus looked to see if everything was in order in his grip and he counted one lyre in one hand and a blanket tucked under his arm. He still felt like so much was missing due to his lack of armor or weapon, but it would just take some more time to get used to it all. He had never lived in a time where he didn't need to be prepared constantly.

“Everything is right here, I'm pretty sure.” He double checked just to make sure that everything was in a safe state and not damaged at all.

“Great!” She began to hum again, nearly leaving Titus behind as he had been busy checking everything. He was soon catching up to her when she said the words that would bring a house down upon him. “Love you!”

He nearly dropped the items in his hands as he faltered under those words. She had him in submission just from two simple words. Whatever happened to the days when he was beyond such emotion? He shouldn't rendered so weak just by a set of sentimental words! He was better than that!

Lyra was giggling the whole time up ahead. Oh how the tables had shifted. She remembered when she was the one getting all flustered by this when it wasn't such an issue and she had been sorting through her own feelings.

“Too much?” She laughed.

“No.. It's just...” Titus was catching back up to her, making sure that he hadn't lost anything in his possession.

“Hmm? There's something you want to admit?” This was too good.

“N-no.. Not at all..”

“Fine. I can wait.” She turned and kept humming merrily as she picked up the pace, forcing Titus to keep up with her or lose her in the fog. Oh boy was she a hand full after all this time. He wouldn't have it any other way, though.

The walk went without much chatter after that, and they simply kept down the familiar road they had traveled before. It was all very routine at this point, but something about it sent a feeling of discovery and exposure each time they took the trip both to and back from Hoofington.

Soon Titus was whistling an old little tune back from the days when he was a simple going Paladin. Lyra soon picked up the notes he was whistling and was humming them similarly, feeling like she was on top of the world.

With the fog and their merry little tune going, they almost walked right past the break in the road back to Ponyville, having to backtrack several steps thanks to Lyra's recognition of the misdirection they had both taken.

“Weird how the fog is all the way out here, huh?” Lyra asked, starting to notice the buildings cutting out the fog and allowing for them both to remember familiar buildings as they stepped onto the cobblestone street that indicated that they were back home.

“Yeah, but I've seen stranger.” Titus returned, looking around to see if any of the ponies were outside in the fog. Unfortunately, it didn't seem that he could find anyone with his attenuated sight. Oh well, they were probably just enjoying the day indoors for once was all.

“Okay.. let's see... I think it's this way..” She kept down the road with Titus in pursuit, still baffled by the fog from a lake that was so far away. It was probably nothing, it was just weird to think that the one type of weather the pegasi couldn't control was running rampant all through the region as of late.

“This is taking longer than usual.” Titus blurted out, growing impatient and tired of holding all of their items.

“This fog is just so annoying!” Lyra yelled out, trying to see if they were getting closer to their home. “Grrr..”

“What about if we use the center of town as a reference point again?” The Paladin suggested. It had helped them several times before, and in much more mire dire situations than the one that was before them currently.

“That would be a great idea if we knew where that was, too..” Lyra groaned. She just wanted to get home so bad and stay locked up for the rest of the day, probably not letting her human out of her reach either. But she needed to find her home first.

“What if I told you we past it, fountain and all?”

“No way. I would have known if we passed that for sure!” He had to be lying! Some silly joke from him probably.

“Why don't we just backtrack a bit, then?” Titus suggested, smirking.

“Fine, liar.” She pushed back by the grinning Paladin who was taking quite a bit of pleasure out of this.

It only took one minute for her to notice the fountain. Titus was taking his time catching up to her this time, obviously amused that she had been proven wrong. She didn't really want to admit defeat however, and simply did not say anything but instead remembered which way her home was from the landmark.

Titus was looking into the waters of the fountain, trying not to lose his grip on everything when Lyra was rushing off in the direction she remembered was home. “Hey! Hey wait! You're forgetting me!”

She turned back, grinning deviously. “No, I'm not.”

His face was covered in bewilderment and then realization as the mare continued off into the fog. She was messing with him! She always took this too far! He needed to catch her before he got lost out here and would be force to either keep searching for their home or to wait until the fog dispersed.

He was grumbling and cursing the whole time as he shuffled down the street after the little unicorn, hoping he was heading in the right direction. He swore he could hear her giggling and taunting him as he kept pushing forward.

Then he was in front of their home. It was still the small little home that he had come to know so well. He almost couldn't remember the last home he had lived in before this due to the constant traveling he had done back in Azeroth.

The door opened a crack and Titus raised an eyebrow at the possibility of what might have been awaiting him within, lurking in the shadows.

He stepped up to the door and slowly pushed it open, the interior just the same as he remembered it. No sign of Lyra, though. He stepped in, ready for anything to happen. He closed the door and walked over to her bed, placing the items down near the foot of the bed and looked out the window to see fog; big surprise.

“Gotcha!”

Titus turned and saw that there just so happened to be a unicorn flying right at him. Oh that was just great. He took a step back but found himself falling back onto the bed, cursing the whole time, but being drown out by Lyra's giggling.

Titus felt smothered under the mare's onslaught of affection. No matter how many times this happened he was never used to it, but he never did feel like stopping it either. Maybe that was the point of it? To never get used to it? To send shivers throughout your whole body when it happened? It had to be, for the feeling was always a strange mix of novelty and thrill.

A knock was suddenly heard from the door and Lyra was forced to cease her little act. She audibly sighed and hopped off the bed, heading to the door. Titus sat up, a bit shaken from the sudden attack, but feeling rather bubbly from the whole thing.

There was another knock and Lyra flew open the door with her magic with quite an unsubtle amount of anger. Before even looking at who was at the door, she asked the typical question that kindled any conversation. “Yes, did you need something?” She was almost gritting her teeth at this point. How dare they interrupt a tender moment in her very household?

Her mouth dropped when she noticed just who was at her door. Two stallion pegasi clad in royal armor stood before her with stern looks across their faces, obviously something serious was up. She reiterated her question now, realizing just who she was talking to. “Uh-uhm, how may I help you two today?”

“We are here on behalf of princess Celestia.” One of the guards stated, emotion absent from his voice. “The Beacon and Lyra Heartstrings are hereby summoned by princess Celestia to Canterlot castle. It is urgent, and we are here to escort you both.”

“How did you navigate through the fog so easily?” Lyra asked in disbelief.

“We did not, it has taken us quite a bit to locate your dwelling. We need to depart as soon as possible; we have a chariot awaiting you.”

“Isn't that a bit dangerous to do in fog?”

“Ma'am, fog tends to stay near the earth and does not blanket the sky. Canterlot is not burdened by the fog that has engulfed the entire region as of late.”

“I knew that.. Yeah..” She looked around nervously, hoping nopony actually caught the faltering in her voice.

The guards expression did not change in the least. “Miss, we aren't interested in what you know and what you don't. Is the Beacon with you?”

“I'm here.” Titus called out, getting up from the bed to see what all the commotion was about.

“We trust you heard all of that?” The guard asked.

Titus nodded. “Is this as urgent as what you're making it out to be?” He really didn't want to go back up to Canterlot. He had had enough of that city back when the Icebringers had arrived. Nothing but pompous and upstart royalty up there accompanying the princesses. If he could help it, he would do what he could to negate any need to head back up there.

“I'm afraid so. She made it very clear that you were to arrive in Canterlot as soon as possible.”

“Very well..” He sighed. “Would you let me adorn my armor and hammer?”

“Just be quick about it, sir.”

Titus went out of sight to find his plate armor and hammer, hoping that Lyra did not attempt to mess around with either this time. He remembered the time she had tried to put on his breastplate. As serious as it was at the time, he couldn't help but smile when thinking about her trying to act more and more like a human. She still tried eating with her hooves on occasion.

Meanwhile, Lyra was standing awkwardly in front of the two guards who still had that same stern look cemented upon their faces. It was like two statues staring into their home; it was uncomfortable to say the least.

He better hurry up, she was going to soon run out of sight after him to clobber him from leaving her all alone with these two frigid guards. “Come on.. Come on..” She muttered, tapping her hoof against the ground.

After about five minutes, Titus was back and in his plate armor. He was still adjusting the hammer he used onto his back. He was a careful one, she learned to know. If there was any hint that there might be danger, he was in his armor. It was pleasant to think that he would always have her back and would protect her with everything he had. He had made sure to have her commit that to memory one time up at the lake by Hoofington.

“We better depart now.” The guard said, stepping back onto the road, followed by his companion. The fog was so bad at this point, that they had trouble seeing the two guards even from such a short distance from their home.

Lyra looked at Titus who gave her a reassuring nod gestured towards the door. “You first.” She smiled faintly at that and stepped out into the foggy street, Titus following behind her, ducking his head and closing the door.

The guards did not say anything, but began to move down the street towards what they were sure was near the outer border of Ponyville. Nothing safe could come out of trying to land close to town in this kind of fog.

The two kept behind the guards, able to whisper to each other without alerting those in front of them that they were conversing.

“What do you think this is all about?” Lyra asked.

“Honestly, I don't know. You haven't been gloating again, have you?” Titus gave her a sly smile.

“Of course not!” She hissed. “I'm better than that... now.”

“Yes, yes of course.”

“You're being sarcastic, aren't you?”

“No, why would I be?” He gave her an innocent smile and shrug in response to her accusation.

“I'm going to smack you.”

Titus put a hand up to his head at the mention of getting struck by one of her hooves yet again. She insisted it was a playful gesture, but he always felt like it was more hostile than whimsical. She didn't hold back sometimes, that was the scary part.

“Are we getting close?” Lyra suddenly asked aloud, trying to get the stallions in front of them to notice her question.

“We should be, Ma'am.” One of the guards returned, not even looking back at the two.

As soon as they stepped onto grass, indicating that they had left Ponyville's boundaries, a chariot came into view. The guards quickly walked into the front of it, attaching themselves to the cart by reins. How strange that they sometimes treated themselves like mounts at times, Titus thought.

“This already going to be worse than last time up there.” Lyra complained while eying the chariot with a hesitant look.

“What? What's the problem?” Titus asked her. He was answered with a glare and snort from the unicorn. “I swear, I don't know what's the deal.”

“They're pegasi... They're going to pull that chariot not along the road, but up into the air.”

Titus looked over to them, surprise in his eyes. “Seriously? Do you think they can support our weight?”

Lyra almost laughed at the absurd question. “Of course, silly. They're trained for this stuff, they could pull a lot more than you with all your armor on.”

“I don't know..” He gave the chariot a skeptical look as they walked up to it.

“As soon as you're ready.” One of the guards said, shifting slightly alongside his counterpart.

“We just hop in?” Titus asked. He wasn't answered and huffed in frustration as he brought a leg up an over into the interior of the chariot and sitting down in one of the two seats. “I feel a bit oversized for this..”

“Oh, you big baby.” Lyra hopped in after him took the seat next to him, reaching up suddenly at his head playfully. “Didn't I say I was going to smack you?”

“Nope. No you didn't.” He returned flatly.

“Secure back there?” The guards asked.

“As secure as we'll ever be..” Lyra said with dismay. She was going to hate this, she just knew it. But she had her human, and he would keep her safe up in the sky.

The pegasi suddenly started to gallop forward, not taking to the sky just yet. Lyra wasn't enjoying the delay at all. It was only amplifying the feeling of vehemence building up inside her. She already found herself leaning up against the Paladin by her side. She was helpless without him at this point, she knew it.

Then they took to the air, at least she thought they had. None could be sure in this fog. She felt the weight under he ease and that only caused her to grab her human by the arm. Yep, as helpless as a newborn foal.

They broke free of the fog, and were able to see the clear sky now, but that wasn't what caught Titus' eye. As far as the eye could see below the mountains, the foggy mist laid upon the land with asperity. The sight was beautiful nonetheless, the mists twirling and easing up tenderly along the top of the blanket. The navigation trouble was almost worth the sight from above at this point.

He had been so carried away with the backdrop that he didn't notice that Lyra had curled up beside him and refused to open her eyes. He smiled gently and stroked her mane while keeping his eyes on the fog's dance below. It was a good day regardless of the end result that was coming. That was something he knew quite clearly at this point.