Third Movement: Part 1- Minor Strings
Minor Strings
Luna fell smoking to the ground. Celestia was immediately upon her, cradling her head in her forehooves. Pinkie Pie tottered to the side and collapsed, her mane sizzling. She looked over at the pegasus princess with a furrowed brow. “What… what happened?”
“A very powerful teleportation spell,” Celestia said, gently laying down her sister’s head. “It’s designed to teleport a single unicorn to a predefined location of their choosing.”
Celestia turned slowly, taking in their surroundings. Ancient ruins, crumbling with age, rose above the snow-draped ground. Once-grand towers were backed by the setting sun, its light shining through gaping holes. Wintery wind whipped through gaping doorways and broken windows. Before her was a pedestal with five empty platforms, each of which, she knew, used to hold an Element of Harmony.
It was the Palace of the Royal Pony Sisters.
Celestia gazed at the palace, her once and future home. “We call it ‘Journey’s End.’”
Celestia dipped her head under Luna’s neck and strained to lift the blue unicorn onto her back. One of Luna’s hooves bumped her blackened wing, sending jolts of pain up and down her spine. She hissed and dropped to the ground. “Pinkie, I need your help.”
No answer came. “Pinkie,” Celestia said through gritted teeth, “help me.”
She looked over to where Pinkie Pie was sitting. Pinkie stared at the prone form of Twilight Sparkle, her lip trembling. She looked at Celestia with wide eyes. “Wh-what happened?”
A snowflake touched down on Celestia’s nose. “Th-the Hearthswarming spell—”
“What happened?” Pinkie gasped. She looked down at Twilight, then shifted to the unconscious Spike. “Wh-what ha-ha-happened? What h-happened?”
Celestia trotted over to Pinkie as the pink pony’s breathing became quick and shallow. “What happened!?” Pinkie shouted. “What happened!? Why!?”
“Pinkie—” Celestia started.
“No!” Pinkie screeched. “No! No! Nopony! Nopony!”
She raced across the courtyard, her flying hooves kicking up snow. She screamed as she barreled for a dark doorway. Celestia cut her off and grabbed her by the torso.
“Nopony!” Pinkie sobbed. “Nopony!”
“Pinkie!” Celestia said. Snow fell heavier, coating their three sleeping friends with a light blanket. “Pinkie, I need your help! I need you to hold it together!”
“No!” Tears poured from Pinkie’s eyes. She choked. “Nopony could smile after that! Nopony!”
“Pinkie!” Celestia grabbed Pinkie’s cheeks and held her eye-to-eye. “Pinkie, I can’t do this without you! Look!”
She turned Pinkie towards the others. “We need to carry them inside, alright? We need to help them, and I can’t do it on my own!” She brought Pinkie’s attention back to her. “Help me. Just hold on long enough to get them inside, get a fire going. Please, Pinkie.”
Pinkie snuffled. “Twi… She won’t smile after this. She won’t want to smile. She can’t. Sombra stole it!”
“You can’t steal a smile, Pinkie,” Celestia sighed. She hugged the pink pony close. “You can only give one, or receive one. Twilight still has her smile.” She looked up at the cloudy sky and heard the wispy moans of a windigo. “She needs you to help her find it again. Help me.”
Pinkie sobbed into Celestia’s shoulder for a few minutes. She pulled away and wordlessly helped Luna onto Celestia’s back. Turning around, she picked Twilight and Spike and set them effortlessly onto her own back. The two ponies carried their friends inside the abandoned castle, where an old fireplace awaited attention.
A few ancient tapestries were repurposed as quilts, and an old desk was demolished for firewood. Pinkie arranged the senseless people before the fire, and then knelt down between Twilight and Spike. Those three shared warmth, while Celestia draped her good wing around her sister.
Twilight Sparkle woke, wrapped in a warm comforter and settled a couple meters away from a lit hearth. She stared into the flames for a long time before she gazed around at her surroundings. The walls were gray, cold, and ancient. Ruined tapestries clung to decayed hangers. A window peeked out over a vast, wintery forest, which held a glimmer of familiarity to her.
She turned back to the flames and watched them dance. Her muzzle twitched as tears burned behind her eyes. Great, heaving breaths shook her chest as she brought her blanket above her head.
The sound of crying brought Celestia into the room. The white pegasus walked quickly up to the quivering mound beside the fireplace. She wrapped her forelegs around Twilight and whispered lightly. “Easy… Easy, now… You’re safe.”
Twilight’s sobs trailed off. Her head rose and the blanket slid off the back. She looked up at Celestia with red, bleary eyes and shook her head. She rested against Celestia’s chest.
“No,” Twilight croaked. “He’s dead.”
Celestia brought her muzzle down to Twilight’s mane. “Twilight…”
“He’s dead. Dead!” Twilight sat up, her cheeks drenched. “He’s dead because of me!”
Twilight curled up in Celestia’s embrace as if she was a young foal, and the princess wrapped her good wing around her. Celestia watched the fire as they sat for a while in silence. Her eyes flickered to the window as the moon rose in the distance.
“Twilight,” Celestia sighed, “mourn as long as you need to. It is natural. But do not let yourself be consumed by guilt.”
“I planned the infiltration,” Twilight hissed. “I allowed my brother and my friends to come, even though I knew it would be dangerous.” She took in a shaky breath and looked up at Celestia. “Did you find Applejack, Rarity, and Lyra? Or are they dead, too?”
“They did not escape with us,” Celestia said. “But that doesn’t mean—”
“It means I failed them, too,” Twilight sobbed. “I failed Rainbow Dash. I killed Shiny! I’ve ruined Equestria!” She tried to pull away from Celestia’s strong grip. “I destroy everything I touch!”
“Stop this instant!” Celestia took Twilight’s chin in her hoof. “It is not your fault that bad creatures like Sombra exist, Twilight. You have fought hard to make the world a better place, do you understand? Your knowledge and heart have saved the day more times than even I can comprehend. Shining Armor died proud of his little sister, and he remains proud even now!”
Twilight Sparkle wept. Celestia held her tighter, embraced her all the closer. “Shh. It shall be well. It shall be well.”
A room over, Pinkie leaned against the doorway, her ear perked. Tears crept down her cheeks as she listened. “She’s never gonna smile. Never ever.”
Luna placed a hoof on her shoulder. “Don’t underestimate the healing power of love, dear one. It just takes time and effort.” She knelt closer. “And friends.”
Pinkie looked over to the other side of the room. Spike sat alone, rocking back and forth with his arms wrapped tight around his knees. His eyes burned with unshed tears. Pinkie Pie stood and made her way over. She sat beside him and fiddled with her hooves. She looked at him, and his eyes met hers. He blubbered as he leaned against her, his claws seeking a purchase that wouldn’t prick her.
“H-he—” he choked. “He was my big bro—”
Luna watched the two hold each other, and something welled up in her chest. She walked over to the empty pedestal near the entrance to the castle and lay. Her eyes trailed down the carved stone until she came to the base. A dark spot was burned into the marble, and she could make out a bit of melted brass embedded in the floor.
“Healing,” she muttered. “How slow it comes.”
Melted snow ran down the side of the mountain in miniature waterfalls. Rarity dipped the edge of a scarf into one downpour and brought it over to the motionless Lyra. She dabbed the mint unicorn’s forehead, wiping away a bit of dried blood.
Applejack stared down a light-barren tunnel. A few muted howls echoed, though their point of origin was obscured. Hidden.
Rarity rested Lyra’s head in her hooves and placed her battered lyre beside her. She bowed her head, her mouth a grim line. “Sing a song for me, won’t you, darling?”
She looked up to the mouth of the cave, where water still trickled. Her ears perked at a particularly-loud howl. “What do you suppose they’re doing?”
“Gettin’ themselves riled up,” Applejack replied. “Gettin’ themselves ready to attack us. Drivin’ up their bloodlust.”
“I see.” Rarity stood beside the seated Applejack. “I don’t suppose you can guess why they haven’t attacked yet?”
“They’re scared,” Applejack whispered. “They’re scared of the monster pony and her magical rope.” Rarity thought she heard a tremble in her friend’s voice. “The pony who slays Diamond Dogs.”
Applejack’s back straightened. “Ah can fight ’em off. Ah can.”
Rarity held her breath for a moment. “Why did you do that, Applejack? Was there no other way?”
Silence reigned in the cave, save for a few guttural growls.
“What should ah have done?”
Rarity’s head bobbed back. “Well… Well, you might have bashed him unconscious.”
Applejack’s eyes glazed as she stared at nothing. “That’d last ten minutes, tops.”
“You—” Rarity coughed. “You could have tied him with the rope.”
“He had sharp claws an’ teeth.” Applejack’s shoulders drooped. “This cave is full of crystals he could cut the rope on.”
“I…” Rarity stared at her friend’s face, searching for movement. “You thought of it, too, then?”
“Of course ah did!”
Rarity jerked back as Applejack stood. “Ah thought it all! Ah thought of a millyun ways to do it! Ah saw a millyun possibilities! An’ you know what?”
Applejack blinked. “All of ’em ended with you hurt.”
“A-Applejack—” Rarity stuttered.
“He killed Lyra!” Applejack shouted. “He was gonna toss her off a cliff! He was gonna go out an’ kill a dozen more like her! He was gonna kill you!”
She pulled her hat off her head and tossed it to the ground. “Ah can’t lose anypony else, Rarity! Ah can’t! Lose! Nopony!” Tears poured from her eyes. “Nopony!”
She sat, her mane hanging loose around her face. “Ah can’t lose any more of my family, Rares. Ah can’t.”
Rarity took her in a strong embrace. The unicorn’s own eyes glistened as she searched for a response. “F-family?”
They held each other in the dark cave, the howls growing louder by the second. “Rarity,” Applejack whispered, “if’n there was another way, it don’t matter. Ah can’t”—she choked—“ah can’t take back what ah done.” Applejack looked Rarity in the eyes. “Whatever it was, ah wouldn’t take it back if’n it meant you got hurt.”
Rarity hiccupped. “Applejack, thank you. For saving my life. But—”
Applejack looked up, her eyes reddened. “‘But’ what?”
A Diamond Dog barked as Rarity answered. “Don’t lose your heart protecting what’s inside it.”
She grasped Applejack’s hoof and dragged her to the mouth of the cave. “I don’t know about you, but I feel like protecting my heart in this circumstance means getting out of here, don’t you?”
Applejack’s eyes ran along the side of the mountain. “Ah see a path up, an’ a path down. Which way we goin’?”
Rarity spared a glance behind her, where a few eyes glinted in the shadows. “Either way. Go!”
Applejack rushed down the path to the mountain’s base. She slipped on a wet rock and nearly tumbled before Rarity grabbed her with a spell. The two of them raced as quickly and as cautiously as they could. They were a quarter of the way down before the first Diamond Dog poked its snout out of the cavern mouth.
An overzealous mutt pounced, meeting the slick ground with skidding claws. He yelped as he slid down a sheer drop toward unforgiving ground. Rarity bit back a cry as the Dog disappeared from sight.
Other Dogs followed at a slower pace. They trailed after the two ponies as a distance that was far too close for comfort. Rarity took hope that she and Applejack might be able to outrun them once they reached level soil.
Applejack screamed. Fido was waiting at the base of the mountain, his lifeless body sitting where it had landed. She leaped over him and headed for the woods, the sight burned into her head. Rarity took a few seconds longer getting around the body, repressed shudders slowing her progress.
The Diamond Dogs halted at the corpse. They stared at the ponies racing for the tree line, their jaws slack.
Rarity’s hoof crunched against snow. She looked down at a visible line that separated the damp, sun-kissed ground from the winter of the forest. Overhead, sun glared down upon the mountain, but clouds hovered above everything else. Above Canterlot Castle, the Hearthswarming Spell could be seen burning bright.
Its light never reached the land beyond the city.
The whisper of windigos could be heard in the distance, but Rarity chose to deal with that before facing a couple dozen vicious Diamond Dogs. She and Applejack disappeared into the white, small hoof prints laying their path out vividly.
The Diamond Dogs looked at their dead fellow, looked out into the spirit-stricken winter, and then filed back up the mountain. They’d just report to Rover Redvest that the ponies had vanished, but they found tracks leading into the wilderness. A team should be assembled to track them down.
Yes, a few thought, we should find a team that can face windigos. Not that we’re scared. It would just be a good idea.
Somewhere in Equestria’s untimely winter, a butterfly took refuge in an apple tree.
The small creature felt the effects of the coming frost and nearly abandoned hope. It flew on, even as it watched its fellows slow and freeze. Just as the end came, however, a hollow in an apple tree presented itself. The butterfly hunkered down within the hole, just as the frost of the windigos passed by. It stayed within the apple tree, awaiting the day when it could once again share its beauty with the world.
Somewhere else in Equestria’s unseasonable winter, Fluttershy took refuge in the Apple family’s mountain cabin. She looked out the window at the endless falling snow, Angel Bunny at her side. Her eyes drifted to the misplaced boulder in the valley, the one that had ended the life of Dusty Shelves.
She tore her attention away from it and back to the towering drifts.
“We gotta move.”
She looked over her shoulder. Big Macintosh lifted a yoke onto his shoulders, his forelegs flexing with the effort. “Winter ain’t gettin’ any shorter,” he said. “An’ our cellar ain’t gettin’ any fuller.”
Fluttershy’s feathers shook. “Where can we go?”
Big Mac shrugged. “Canterlot’s Sombra’s town, now. We don’t have enough food to get to Manehatten. Only one way to go.”
They drew close. Fluttershy leaned her head in and nuzzled his neck. “Home,” she said.
“Eeyup.” He placed his chin on top of her head. After a moment’s thought, he pressed his lips against her mane. “Don’t worry, we got Angel to protect us.”
The bunny leaped from Fluttershy’s back and stood at attention. He saluted with his left paw and blew a raspberry at Big Mac. Fluttershy giggled.
“Cute.” Macintosh trotted over to a set of saddlebags and placed a can of apple jam inside. “It shouldn’t take more’n a couple days travelin’. Snow’ll make it harder.”
“I-I can fly,” Fluttershy said. “I wish I could carry you, but—”
“Wouldn’t even think ’bout it,” Big Mac replied. “Wouldn’t be proper.”
Her brow furrowed. “‘Proper’ is no good if it hurts you.”
Big Mac opened a rickety truck and produced two scarves, an overcoat, and four… tennis rackets?
Fluttershy picked up a racket and raised an eyebrow.
“Snowshoes,” Big Mac said. “Homemade.”
Fluttershy flicked an ear, then winced as pain shot through it. She touched a hoof gingerly to the bandages that wrapped around her head. “Do you think the others got to Manehatten?”
Big Macintosh sat and stared at the wall. His mouth moved slowly as he formed words. “Ah like to think they did.”
Fluttershy walked a little closer. “But?”
“But y’can never be sure ’bout such things.” Big Mac looked down at her, his eyelids heavy. “You can only pray and hope.”
Fluttershy looked into his green eyes. She held her breath and frowned. “I know. I just…”
Her wings spread halfway. “I guess I just wanted to hear you say it’d be alright.”
His eyes met his hooves, but jumped back to hers just as quickly. “Fluttershy, if there’s anything ah can do to make all this right, then I promise ah’ll do it.”
She nodded as she spread her wings fully. She flew up a short ways, just enough that their faces were level, and pressed her lips against his. The held still, breathless. Neither dared to move or speak, lest the moment vanish like mist.
Angel’s face grew red. He hopped to the window with a grin and looked out over the vast winter wilderness.
He could have sworn he saw a windigo.
“So, how do griffons kiss?”
Gilda blinked rapidly. “What?”
Rainbow Dash reclined on a cot a few feet away from where Gilda was laying. “How do griffons kiss? Just wondering.”
Gilda shifted a wing, wincing in pain as she stretched the bandages around her back. Sweat broke out on her forehead. “Nrrgh.”
“Shoot, let me get that.” Rainbow Dash gently gripped a group of sturdy feathers in her teeth and eased Gilda’s wing open. Dash’s wing reached out and gripped a wash cloth sitting in a basin of water. She ran the cloth over Gilda’s forehead. “Good?”
Gilda nodded. “Better, I guess. Why do you ask?”
“Ask what?”
Gilda shook her head. “About the kissing. Are you talking about—” A sly look entered her eyes. “Oh. Okay.”
Rainbow Dash cocked an eyebrow. “What?”
“Martial finally got to yah, huh?” Gilda cracked her knuckles. “M’kay, m’kay. That’s cool.”
“That’s not—” Rainbow snorted. “Whatever. How’s it supposed to work? You guys don’t even have lips. What, do you think preening is hot, or something?”
Gilda sighed. “Yes, Dash, picking dead feathers off of your significant other is the most sexy thing I can possibly think of.”
“Oh, for the love of—” Rainbow Dash groaned. “This conversation is so stupid.”
“You started it,” Gilda chuckled. She winced. “How long is this trip gonna take? I think I can feel gangrene setting in.”
“Oh, you’d feel it alright.” Rainbow Dash rolled over. “I dunno. I was unconscious during half of the last one.”
She tilted her head. “You feeling okay?”
Gilda smirked, but the smile didn’t reach her eyes. “I’m fine. I guess you could say I finally got out of daddy’s house, or something dumb and self-empowering like that.” Even the false smile melted away. “I don’t even know if he’s sorry he did it.”
“He looked pretty broken up when we dragged you below deck,” Rainbow Dash said. She offered a small, cocky grin. “Maybe that massive fleet we see tracking us wants to make an apology, huh?”
“The king wouldn’t let him leave me alone anyway.” Gilda gingerly shifted her body. “I’m a traitor to the crown now, you know.”
“Yeah.” Rainbow Dash tapped her hooves together. “You realize that I’ll never be able to thank you enough, right?”
Gilda raised a talon. “Got yah wrapped around my pinky, huh? Sweet.”
“It means,” Rainbow said, “that I’m gonna try and stick by your side, you hear? And you’ll make my life a heck of a lot easier if you play nice with my other friends.”
Gilda grimaced. “You’re gonna make me live in Wussyville, aren’t you?”
“‘Ponyville.’ And yeah.” Rainbow Dash stood. “You can move anywhere you want, but we’re headed for Ponyville first.”
A griffon sailor walked in, the one who seemed to know a thing or two about doctoring. She nodded to Rainbow Dash before bringing a new roll of bandages to Gilda. The “doctor” waved a talon at Dash, shooing her away.
“See you later,” Rainbow Dash said. She hesitated at the door. “Look, just see if you can hold off yelling at Fluttershy this time, okay?”
“Fine.” Gilda sneered at the bandages, before a tiny grin cracked her beak open. “And Dash?”
Rainbow Dash turned. “Yeah?”
Gilda’s grin stretched from one feathery ear to the other. “Mouths open. Tongue to tongue.”
The door slammed shut on Rainbow Dash’s face, cutting off her wide-eyed stare.
This was being written over the entire three months between now and the last update. I dunno if it benefited from the extended period of consideration and re-consideration, but we're here, this's there, and that's that. 
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Normally, I'd be against the death of canon characters, but here, it kinda works. Putting Twi and AJ through the wringer like this really tells us what's at stake here. I-I just hope they have the resolve to carry on.
Also nice to see the Gilda Redemption angle come into play. I'm looking forward to see where this goes.
4071756
I used to be against the death of canon characters, but then I started writing. It became an almost gleeful delight to off the occasional well-loved character (though I don't regulate that to canon characters, one story I wrote killed off the main character, after setting up his buddy as the new one).
I've always wanted to write a story where it felt like no one was safe. Dunno how well that's gone, but I can at least stick a small sense of danger into the story.
Hmm... Nah.
Well, I'm gonna try and make it work. I know I've done a little too much with this story, but I hope to focus a little better in the coming chapters.
It'll help to have all the main characters in one city, at least.
“Mouths open. Tongue to tongue.”
- Oh, sweet Celestia, Gilda!
4155256
It's hard to kiss with that beak in the way!