Cycle: With Wings as Eagles

by SSky

Tearing Down

Livana felt herself wake up, light flooding her eyes. She wasn't relived that she could see, but instead even more frustrated than she thought she could ever be. She knew what was happening: she was dreaming. It was a sixth sense she had: when she was dreaming or not, and by Aquila she hated it sometimes. The most torturous curse Livana could ever think of was to dream about something better than what she had.

And instantly, she took off from the confused mess her subconscious was creating. She had better things to do than lie around in a dream while she was lying down, maybe bleeding to death. Using a spell she had long ago discovered, she exited her dream, stepping out into a forest. Wait... forest?

She whipped around and saw a humongous cliff behind her, pebbles plinking down it. At the base, she saw crumpled figures of herself and Luz. Both breathing at least. She bounded up, opening her wings and taking to the skies in her astral projection.

Dear Aquila, she loved flying. As an alicorn, it was impossible to fly, with wings being a vestigial “genetic mishap.” Someone tried to explain it to her once, but it confused the nightkeeper despite her trying to get it. But in her dream self, she could fly with grace, and it was awesome. She swooped down over the forest treetops, trying to get bearings on where she was.

Surely, The nightkeeper had never seen this place, and it seemed like every sort of plant grew here. Exotic trees, flowers she swore she only ever saw in Everfree. She even saw an Ever Tree poking up, even though the house-sized plants never naturally grew, and no sign of life was anywhere.

She glided up more to get a general view of the forest, and in the moonlight, she started seeing odd little things here and there. She could swear that the mountain nearby was Canterlot mountain, and that the clearing she could see in the forest looked almost identical to Solaris' hill with a broken statue. Or how in the center you could see...

Ruins. Big ruins.

After only a few seconds, Livana registered it. “SHAHAR!” She yelped, zipping down into the remains of the castle.

And then she woke up.

---

Nope, nope, this pain on her eyes and... well the rest of Livana's body was a lot worse than having a fakeout regaining of sight. She growled in absolute pain, but then felt Luz beside her again, caressing her face. “Are you alive?”

“Y-yeah,” the nightkeeper choked, uncomfortable with the way Luz was treating her. But suddenly, she felt the leg violently throw her away into the cliff Livana had seen in her dream.

“Well, maybe you should THINK so you can STAY THAT WAY!” Luz harshly grinded Livana into the wall again, and the pain in her body grew exponentially. Rapidly reacting to her pain and anger at Luz, she flared up her horn, but felt a small tap on it, and felt the tap again down at one of her bottom legs.

Not to sound like a broken record, but the pain she felt down at her leg from the tap made every other part of her body feel like it was taking a WARM BATH. She felt her voice crack trying to scream louder than she already did, her body seemed to lock up, and she crumpled to the ground, feeling rocks dully slice any non-cut part of her left. And all the while, her leg felt like it was cut off and placed in Hell.

Luz didn't seem to have any sympathy. “That is your own magic you are feeling. That is what you almost did to me. That is what you DID do to Marcus.” It was hard to think through the pain and anger, but Livana felt horrified. “I want you to survive this, but your actions have consequences. You nearly killed both of us with your outbursts. So you will shut up, calm the hell down, and learn to live with what you got. I will get you out of this, but it is your own fault if you are worse for wear.”

He placed his hoof on Livana's forehead, checking to see if she could hear him through her pain. “I want to be nice, but I am your commanding officer. You do not seem to have common sense, so welcome to the proverbial school of hard knocks.”

Livana didn't have the strength to cry, or fight back, let alone yell at him. So she lay there feeling blood soak her leg, but her body cruelly staying conscious.

She heard some faint sounds far above her, but the pain took precedence, and Luz didn't seem to notice.

---

Things you don't want to really see in a dark forest: Giant spiders, your sister's dead body, and magic arrows, not exactly in that order. Thankfully, Shahar only saw the last of those while galloping to the site of the explosion. She and Philomena had neared a cliff where Philomena thought she had pinpointed the blast, but an arrow whizzed from nowhere right to the roc. The warrior sprang into action, taking the full brunt with her armor, and changing to phoenix form, setting fire to the surrounding area to light it up.

Shahar tried to use her own magic, but it completely failed once again. She felt rather helpless without a light, and bearing the full load of Redcross was no easy task while a firebird and a series of arrows whizzed past her. Quickly, Philomena dived at a point, changing into her mare form with blades fully deployed. A silhouette emerged, and even though he was in full firelight, he was completely black and unrecognizable. Not even Philomena looked like she recognized him, somewhat throwing her off.

But she charged full force at the assailant, watching as a magic bow appeared and notched an arrow, firing directly at her armor, but it was immediately absorbed. The punch was enough to make Philomena miss the target, though. All the same, the roc smiled, getting ready to slice up and end it, when another shadowy figure jumped from the trees, swiveled about mid-air, and landed with a firm buck to Philomena's head, sending the pony flying into a tree in a crumpled heap.

Shahar was now inches from the two, but felt like... energy was just all around her suddenly. In reflex, she made a huge light blast from her horn, and it worked! The two stumbled back, apparently blinded enough for Shahar to give two quick bucks to them both with enough force to knock them off the cliff.

A final shadow intercepted them in their fall, whisking them away, and Shahar rushed to Philomena's aid. The roc seemed more surprised than hurt, even though blood poured down the side of her face. “I- I couldn't even see the second one. H-how?”

“I think Discord may have a few more tricks than we thought.” Shahar guessed.

“That-” Philomena gasped for air, “wasn't Discord. The two had aura magic. Your magic. They may have had a bubble of magic both they and you tapped into. Discord has no control over that. I- I don't even know.”

Shahar pieced what she was being told together. “So, there's someone else besides Discord here?”

The expression on Philomena's face was legitimate fear. “Oh Solla, no. No, no. I hope not.”

Philomena picked herself up and took her half of Redcross again. They quickly left the area, not stopping to look around what had caused the explosion.

---

Luz told Livana that after she had stopped bleeding horribly, he hoisted the filly onto his back, and began to wander. He wanted to fly so much, but the trees were impossibly dense. Getting on top of them would be impossible, so he was forced to walk. Just in one direction, not really knowing where it would take them, but twisting around would get them lost even faster.

He thought he heard Livana mutter various things at different points, normally when she had just stirred. She later told him she was passing in and out of consciousness, trying to get anything she could while she had her uninjured astral projection whenever she was out. Sadly, she never found anything because she kept going back and forth. And even if she did, she couldn't have spoken.

But the point was they just walked. Eventually the plants, critters, and odd rocks began to blend together in a slurry of sensory overload. There was no way he would admit it to Livana, but he was very very hurt from the fall and blast. His armor had an magic quality that absorbed Livana's black outrage, but he felt the black-and-green fire lick his face, and the damage it did to the cliff was enough to say how much sheer force went into it.

He wasn't in near as much pain Livana was, though, but he felt a certain amount of happy revenge in doing it. She had done this to Marcus, and now she could feel the pain herself. He didn't like the stallion all that much, but he didn't like anyone hurting his squad, especially not the hot-shot trainee.

And he could only imagine the pain she was really in. In his research he had read about the effects of void magic. The book said only to imagine the worst death you could think of, but is over quickly. And then imagine if you didn't die, and had to suffer that pain on and on and on. Despite himself, Luz would have probably killed himself by then if he was in Livana's horseshoes.

Livana said it was an idea she wasn't really opposed to at the time, but she couldn't even power her horn enough to do that.

It wasn't a fun journey for the either of them.

But soon, they began to enter a darker, thicker portion of the forest Even Luz felt like he couldn't see anything in the pitch darkness of the forest. Staying on course became harder when trees scraped you back and forth, impeding your way at every step. Thorns scratched the unprotected backs of Luz's boots, and he started to wish he had his full armor.

Then, he heard a cry. It was faint, but there was a distinct yelp. Even Livana seemed to twitch as if she heard it. Marking their direction, Luz crept slowly through the thorny vines towards where the noise came from.

Livana twitched again, and Luz heard what she had a mere few seconds after that. It was hushed discussion between two mares, and Luz could swear he knew at least one. “Track!” He called out to his comrade.

For a second there was no reply, before finally: “Luz? Careful where you step!”

“Thorns, I noticed.” Luz gingerly trotting toward the voice. “Who is with you?”

“A palace servant.” She called back

“I have a name.” The other mare chided.

A grunt. “So do I, but you refuse to use it.”

“I use your formal name, Jane. The place of any servant of Everfree.”

Deer Tracks huffed. “Can the pleasantries. it's the end of the world, I think calling me by my actual name isn't going to kill you, Selene.” Luz decided not to interject himself into this. He was happy to know they were both... marginally okay. “Wait, Luz, your steps are heavy. What are you carrying?”

Luz started to hear the voices closer. “An overgrown filly with around twenty pounds of armor that looks like she took a bath in a river of Tartarus. If you ladies are any better for wear, I could use your healing reserves.”

Luz felt a warm limb touch his front, stopping him. Soon, there was a dim light from a healing charm that revealed the four.

Track gasped, and Selene looked squeamish. “Oh, Hestia,” Selene cried. “What happened to you two?”

“You do not want to know.” Luz assured them, feeling the magic heal him. “Use your healing charms on the girl, she is not doing very well.” Enchantment holders went flying out of special places in Jane's armor and Selene's robe, scanning Livana for wounds.

They both pinpointed the void wound. “What did this?” Selene shot, seeing the pained expression on Livana's face and her quiet rasp.

“Herself.” Luz icily stated. “She became enraged when...”

Track saw the scratch across the alicorn's eye, starting to look green in the muzzle herself as she emptied her holders into the void wound. “This... cut looks like it won't heal fully, even with our first aid kits. She'll feel less pain, but she'll be limping. Not good if we want to get out of this forest.”

“E-ver-free.” Livana rasped with her burnt-out voice. “We-'re i- in Ev-er-fr-ee.”

The three looked confused. “Everfree?” Luz asked. “No, we are not in Everfree, dear.”

“E-ve-rfr-ee g-gard-ens.” Livana continued to explain. “Ever-fr-ee For-est. Ca-castle be-hi-nd us.”

“She's delusional.” Selene argued, stopping her magic. “She thinks we are still in Everfree, when this is obviously an ordinary forest.”

Luz placed his own hoof on Selene to silence her, and nuzzled Livana's side, though turning his neck that far was hard. “How do you know, Livana?”

Livana didn't want to have to explain anything with her hoarse throat, but she had brought it on herself. “Dr-eam. Walk ar-ound. Saw... ruins.”

Track was very quiet, watching Selene's impatience grow. “Oh, she's telling us stuff from her DREAMS now?”

“I would be hard-pressed to believe her myself, if not for three things:”

“What would those be, Corporal Luz?”

“She is a Nightkeeper, for one.” Luz seemed a bit irritated himself. “She is taught by griffons, the masters of dreams.”

“So?” Selene shot. “She has awesome dreams. You're expecting me to follow her hunch because of THAT?”

“Third—and listen closely servant,” Luz huffed, “She is blind. I hope you noticed that much. She hasn't strayed off any clearing. I have not described her surroundings. And she has been in too much pain to register any other touches. She has no way of knowing this is a forest.”

Selene looked like she wanted to deny that, but Track stepped in. “Also, Luz, the plants don't go together in any natural habitat. It looks like it's from the northeastern part of Everfree, simply overgrown.”

“Overgrown!” Selene countered. “Everfree is not overgrown, and for it to grow this bad would take hundreds of years.”

“Or chaos magic.” Luz finally clicked. “Metis used his power to overgrow this place.”

“With all due respect, this is idiocy!” Selene barked, calling attention back. “Metis is perfectly trustworthy! Plus, when I was last with Metis, he was with the Supreme Commander, the princess, and the queen. There is no way he could have done anything. We're going off a few plants, accusations against a loyal servant, and a blind and delusional girl instead of accepting that we need to get out.”

“Dis-cord.” Livana rasped. “Metis. Dis-cord. Me, Philo-mena, Sha-har. Dis-cover-ed.”

Selene groaned and returned a magic holder to Livana's throat. “Speak full sentences, girl. If you're going to be delusional, don't waste my time.”

Livana felt her throat moisten. “Uhh. Philomena told me and Shahar that... Metis was Discord. That's why she had the queen over.”

Selene didn't seemed fazed; track looked suspicious, and Luz didn't feel like explaining would get them anywhere. Finally after a bit of silence, Selene turned around, “We need to get out then. We have no chance.”

“NO!” Livana cried, “We need to find Shahar!”

“Honey,” Track sympathized, “if this is Discord, your friend is likely dead. We need to get out and find a plan.”

Luz looked at Selene, and how she gained a smug smirk. Livana cried out again as the two started to walk out. Quickly thinking, Luz stared out after them. “Servant,” the corporal finally called, “Who are you under the command of?”

Selene swiveled about. “I serve only the royal family. I don't respond to your orders, and I think the queen and princess both would want me to not die looking for their desecrated bodies.”

“So you would be under the command of the nearest kin to the deceased princess?”

“Yes.” Selene confirmed, raising an eyebrow. “Why?”

Luz turned to Livana, who realized what the corporal had done for her. She gained a bit of a snarky attitude. “Well, then. You're coming with me to find my sister, alive and well.”

Selene's jaw dropped, and Track seemed to sense that Luz wouldn't leave the filly behind.

Livana didn't know if it was having a painful cut dulled, or being able to get the best of Selene, but she felt great.

Comments

[SSky]

You know those jerks who pander to one person like they are God but become jerks the second that person leaves the room?
I don't get them. I can't even wrap my head around a motive. I'm normally good with that, but I can't for this type of person.

Parodying the way people view the elements of harmony may not have been a great idea in retrospect.