Chapter 1
There was a Fire
Stepping onto her front porch, Applejack looked out at the fields and paused a moment to watch the orange glow of the dawn as it began to illuminate the rows of apple trees. She breathed in deep and allowed the crisp clean air to invigorate her mind.
A second later the enjoyment of her morning was cut short by a faint noxious odor that forced her muzzle to wrinkle into a partial scowl. It was only then she realized, with a certain unease, that the light shining into her fields was coming from the wrong angle.
She turned back into the house and mounted the stairs, rushing past her older brother who, seeing the distress on his sister's face, turned to follow. Upon reaching the high attic loft, she threw open the window and looked down on the fields. Time seemed to stand still as another warm breeze blew toward the house carrying with it the scent of burning timber. The distant horizon was alight with an orange blaze that seemed to reach out forever beyond her vision. Her mind struggled to understand how something so vast could have swept in under the cover of just one night.
The strong heavy hoof on her shoulder broke the moment, and she turned in time to see her brother's face as he suddenly realized what she had seen.
She looked up into his stunned face, and her stern resolve began to set in. "Big Mac. Big Mac! Dang it, look at me when Ah'm talkin' to ya. We have to warn the town. We have to tell them that the Everfree Forest is burning."
**********
Rainbow Dash coughed roughly, the spasms jerking her eyes open. Panic briefly ran through her mind and her legs began to flail. Then she felt the reassuring hooves on her shoulders slowly pressing her to lean back down onto the soft clouds.
"Whoa, there Dash. It's ok, your safe now. Take a few minutes." The green pegasus guided her gently backwards before he spoke again. "You ran off into the smoke before your mask was properly sealed. It was a wonder you remained conscious as long as you did."
"Is Ponyville safe?" She tried to rise only to be overcome with a spinning in her head that bordered on nausea. Immediately she was on her back again.
"Hey! I said take a few minutes." He pressed his hoof down on her shoulder, more firmly this time, and left it in place. "Ponyville won't burn. We gathered the rain in time to prevent the fire from reaching the town. But you need to rest for a little while, and breath the clean air to get that crud out of your system. This isn't a normal fire, and the Everfree wood doesn't give off smoke like a normal tree. Remember that before you go charging in again."
The cyan pony let out a huffy little sigh, and tilted her head to look across the sea of clouds she had been forced to rest upon. The dawn was beginning to break it's rays across the upper sky. She scanned over the dark rain-heavy floor until her eyes came to the edge of the cloud cover. Directly below that lay the Everfree Forest, now aflame with a blaze they couldn't quench. Her neck craned as her eyes followed the immense pillar of thick blue smoke rising out of the primal forest below.
She watched as a squad of weather scouts zipped in circles around the enormous areal eyesore, each of them wearing special issue breathing masks. They had been dispatched to funnel the smoke straight upwards, to clear the air for those working on the ground.
The weather team had long ago discovered that normal clouds refused to be relocated over the Everfree Forest. The forest had its own clouds, but today the sky over the Everfree area was empty, except for the terrible blue haze that threatened to suffocated anypony that got near. The only help they could give now was to position rainclouds near the forest boarder, and allow the runoff to soak through the ground.
Dash shuffled a small section of cloud floor away, and poked her head through. Looking down, she saw ponies at the edge of Sweet Apple Acres scurrying around digging trenches around the perimeter of the forest. The holes had already started to fill with water. She saw other ponies too, running into the forest with their water tanks and hoof pumps and hoses to fight the blaze directly.
She leaned back up and turned to her good intentioned captor. "I'm fine now. It's time to get back at that smoke." She began to fly off when a shout from behind grabbed her attention. The green pegasus said nothing, but simply held up a clean-breathing mask with a rainbow colored lightning bolt sticker plastered on the side. "Oh, uh … yeah, that would come in handy." She let out a halfhearted chuckle and turned to retrieve her property.
***************
"You're gonna want to set up the controlled burn over there, for when the fire decides to move around in that direction." The curly haired pink pony gestured her hoof in a wide arc towards a section of the unburned undergrowth.
A stocky blue stallion looked out over the area where she was pointing, and then back at the fire in the distance, before turning to speak. "Listen Miss Pie, I appreciate your help, but I'm not exactly sure that you would be the best of all ponies to direct a counter burn."
"What do you mean? I've got on my fire hat and everything." Her large red firefighter's helmet wobbled as she tapped against it.
"You don't have any experience in fires and couldn't possibly know how the flames are gonna move. Even us trained professionals- “
"Harper!" A loud gruff voice interrupted the blue pony, causing him to come to the position of attention. A large red earth stallion stomped towards him. "Harper, are you giving our secret weapon a hard time?"
"No Chief! I was just suggesting to her that we may want to move the counter burn in a different direction." The sweat poring down his brow marked streaks through the fine layer of soot covering his face.
"Balderdash! She knows what she's doing. You and most of the rest of these young bucks haven't ever been dispatched to the Ponyville area, so you wouldn't know this. I've personally worked with Miss Pie, and I've seen her uncanny ability at work. She can and will plan out the movement of this project." He lowered his brow and stared into the smaller pony.
"Yes, Chief, we did but-"
"No buts! You'll do as you're ordered. Now get back to your duty." He watched the shaking blue earth pony run to rejoin his coworkers.
The older pony turned back to the small pink mare as she beamed up at him with clear blue eyes. "Sorry about that Miss Pie. They can be a hoof full sometimes, but they're all good ponies."
"No problem Chief. I just hope they can set up the controlled burn in time." She looked over at the group of sturdy earth ponies as they began unloading their large heavy equipment from the wagons. “You better make it snappy or we'll all end up like roasted marshmallows." At this Pinkie smiled as her eyes drifted off dreamily, her mouth salivating.
Turning sharply the Chief hurried to join the rest at the wagons. "OK Gents, time to get a move on. That fire's going to be here sooner than expected, so let's hustle."
"Yes, Chief!" They all responded in a booming synchronized voice. That sturdy sound was suddenly accompanied by the off key whistling toot of a cheap paper party horn.
The Chief turned to see the small pink pony standing behind him smiling. He couldn't help but grin back. "Let's do this."
*************
The tent stank of burned mane, charred skin, and antiseptic soaked bandages. Through the crowded rows of rickety cots the moans of the wounded rose and fell like a suffering choir. The sparse light of hanging glow-bug lanterns allowed Nurse Redheart a grim appraisal over her miserable stage show. She felt hollow, having been relegated to playing the part of a jester, a pony that can bring only slight comfort with no cure.
The supplies had run out before sunset, and the staff had been forced to begin ripping the bed sheets to bind the wounds of the incoming injured. The last of the unicorn medical interns had exhausted her magical strength shortly after, and now lay unconscious under a nearby bed. It had pained the white earth pony to have to slide the exhausted form of her loyal assistant under an already occupied bunk, but bed space was strictly limited. Even a few of the less critically burned ponies had to be turned away to nearby houses.
She looked at the clock nailed to a nearby tent post. Soon the dressings would need to be changed. If left long enough infection would set in and spread, perhaps necessitating amputation. It had already happened with more than one of the patients. They had been left out in the dirt, some of them knocked out for hours, before a rescue team could reach them. It had been a nightmare cleaning those wounds.
The only real help had come from the Canterlot Firefighters, but by the time their team arrived the damage had already been done. They had their own small medical team, but nothing to resupply anypony outside of their own group.
She moved to speak with the closest of her helpers. "I need some fresh air. Keep them comfortable, and I'll be back in a moment."
Stepping out of the tent, she looked up into the dark starless sky. The rain was only falling in a light mist. Looking toward the horizon she could still make out the dim hazy glow cutting through the night. Admittedly it seemed much smaller now, but this came as little comfort. She knew more wounded would be on their way at first light. All the ponies that fell during the night and weren't found till daybreak would be carted in, riddled with wounds that had been left to fester out in the mud and the ash all night long. They would probably continue coming in the day after that as well, if the rumors of the size of the fire were even partially accurate.
She looked up again as a light caught her eye. As it got closer she realized it was the leading light on the front of a carriage box, guiding the way for the team of pegasi pulling it through the sky. The vehicle settled on the ground several paces from the door of the tent, and three tall neatly groomed unicorns stepped out.
The oldest among them, a dapple gray stallion wearing a white lab coat, approached the weary earth pony, speaking quickly as he did so. "You are Nurse Redheart, I presume. We've been sent from the Royal Canterlot Emergency Medical Organization in answer to your request for help with the relief effort. I take it this is the field tent housing the wounded?"
Nurse Redheart stared for a few seconds, opening her mouth to speak but couldn't find the words. She tried once more before abandoning the attempt, and simply stepped forward to throw her hooves around his shoulders in a weeping mess of a hug. Soon after, she regained her voice enough to repeatedly thank him through the clusters of sniffling and sobbing.
"Oh dear." The unicorn guided the wailing nurse into a nearby folding chair and turned to his companions. "Blotto, we've got our work cut out for us. Fetch the supply crate. Hammer Mill, have a quick glance through the tent and report back with your findings. I'll see about calming her down."
*****************
It had been over forty hours since the fire had first been reported. Since that time heroes had been made and family tragedies had been incurred. The blaze had finally been successfully snuffed out, but only after considerable cost.
The mayor of Ponyville sat at her desk, looking across at the towering stacks of invoices, requisitions, injunctions, and various other paperwork. She sighed deeply as she thought of the carelessness of the forces of nature. They paid no regard to authority or regulation, and they held no room for compromise. She cringed at the idea, as she picked up the summary of the status report and paged through it again, half wishing it had magically changed its content.
The whole thing had been a logistics disaster at every turn. The initial stalls and confusion had carried their consequences through till the very end of the operation. Pumps hadn't worked properly, water tanks ran out too soon, and the overall lack of any communication between the various scattered groups had led to bickering and injuries. The panic that ensued in the actual town had bordered on rioting, and may of the ponies attempting to evacuate now turned to the mayor's office for compensation of the items that had been lost or destroyed in the scuffle. The final count of the injured and the deceased totaled higher than any other incident in the town's history.
The financial report was doubly troubling. The entire mess had annihilated the town's budget, and drained the emergency fund. The whole operation would have stopped dead midway through the first day, if they had not received royal authorization for an extension on their allotted expenses. Then there was the matter of compensation to the surrounding townships that had lent their personnel and supplies.
More money would have be to allocated for the new fire alarm system that the public was sure to demand. Not to mention the additional guards and new security system that would need to be implemented for protection from the refugee wildlife that had been displaced from the Everfree Forest. The last thing she needed was a manticore attack at the school house.
That led to the matter of the animals they had already managed to capture. Ponyville simply wasn't able to contain and provide for such creatures. There was a zoo in Fillydelphia, but nothing equipped to dealt with the sort of exotics that had escaped the forest. Simply releasing them back into the wild wouldn't do either. Their habitat had been all but erased. The town's ability to hold the creatures was fast running out, and she shuddered to think of the PR nightmare it would generated to simply have them put down.
On top of it all, there was now a very large ugly cinder field sprawling out right next to their fair little town. Nothing would be able to grow there for years, and actually building anything was out of the question. Most ponies were so superstitious they wouldn't go anywhere near the area, let alone build up houses or businesses. The rumors and ghost stories had already started cropping up.
She put down the summary report and glanced over at the most recent of the invoices. This one was from the Carousel Boutique, for the dozens of enchanted fireproof cloaks that had been supplied for the citizen rescue teams. She nearly choked as she read the total price of the items. Was there really a need to adorn each of them with a silver encrusted onyx broach? The mayor threw her hooves up in exasperation, letting the papers fall to the floor around her.
She took a deep breath as she stared again across her desk. Her brow wrinkled in worry. "It's going to be a tough re-election year."
***********
Zecora stood within the crumbling circle of what used to be her humble one room house. Looking down into the wreckage, she began to scrape her hoof through a nearby mound of dirt and soot. She stopped suddenly, wincing as she glanced back at her bandaged hind leg.
Slowly she moved to one side of the dilapidated structure, eying the ground for any trace of a recognizable artifact she might be able to easily unearth. After a few minutes she found what she hadn't dared to hope for.
She brushed the soil and cinders from the trinket before holding it up by the thin silver chain, allowing the deep red stone on the end to hang between her eye and the sun. There she saw it; the device still held its magic. Her eyes rimmed with tears, and a smile broke across her face. "Little one I nearly forgot, how long ago it was, that for you I fought." Still smiling, she packed her treasure into her belt pouch.
Her eyes roamed toward the ground again. There wasn't much left. Her cauldron still remained and there were a few stone statuettes intact, but they would have to wait for a time when she was fully healed. She turned about once more, checking to see if any particular memory tugged at her heart. There was nothing specific, just a general frustration at the knowledge that she would have to rebuild. After one more glance, she turned and slowly limped back toward the town.
**************
From the moment she had first seen the flames, Twilight could tell that there was something strange about it. In the days after the disaster, her suspicions were confirmed. She visited the site of the origin of the blaze, and sensed a primal power radiating from the ground. A seismic sonar spell revealed it to be a convergence point for layline energies.
It took a week of searching through her library and a trip to the arcane book depository in Trottingham, but she managed to learn much of the origin and use of such energies. She learned that at specific regions of the world, where laylines cross, there was a certain level of ambient magic that lay dormant, capable of being harnessed. The energies could be used to bend reality to summon objects of power, other worldly creatures, or even portals to other dimensions.
Armed with this she revisited the layline site in what used to be the Everfree Forest, and performed an appraisal of the magics that had been imbued in the ground. Once she knew what she was looking for it was easy to identify. She felt it, pulled it into her mind and turned it over, mentally examining its unique properties.
As every sorcerer-detective knows, magic takes on an underlying blueprint from the minds of those who use it. If you've encountered the mage before, you can identify their distinct imprint, and use it to create a locator spell to track them down. The hardest part is finding the root spell carrying that imprint. Now that she was holding it there in her mind, she knew exactly who had cast it. Her blood began to boil and she struggled to keep a clear head. She needed to find Trixie, and hold her responsible for her actions.
****************
"Why yes. I would love another spot of tea, Mr. Higgenbottom." The blue unicorn smiled coyly to the slime covered statue. "Oh, my. You are the charmer, aren't you?" A rusted metal can began to glow a pale blue before it floated up toward her lips. "Oh, you're not having any?" Her expression darkened as she stared at the stone figure. "You've put something in it, didn't you? You're trying to drug me, aren't you, Mr. Higgenbottom? The Great and Powerful Trixie may or may not allow this, depending on the effect." She looked down her nose at the stone pony, but continued to smile slyly.
"Trixie!" Twilight's voice echoed through the sewer tunnel.
She spun around to meet Twilight's burning gaze, letting out a gasp and nearly falling backward into a nearby drainage pool. "You've found us Twilight! Well, I'll have you know that only my superior sense of morality shall prevent you from meeting your doom from the magics of the Great and Powerful Trixie." She raised one hoof into the air in a flairish gesture.
Twilight stepped out from the tunnel into the tall stone room. "You've got a lot to answer for. Do you have any idea what your failure did to all of Ponyville? How much it cost us?"
"No! The Everfree experiment was a resounding success! The summoning was complete. Such a spell could not have been possible for anypony with lesser talents." She stood up tall, leaning her head backwards as she grinned wide at the purple unicorn.
"Any unicorn fresh out of a intermediate magical conjuration class could summon a flame thrall if they had the instructions and materials. You utterly failed to control it, and it's obvious that you didn't do a very good job protecting your own mind from the magical backlash either." Twilight glanced at the various bits of trash adorning the walls.
Trixie's head cocked to one one side as she twirled her hoof in the air. "Details, you horrid little failure of a wizard, simple details. You're obviously just jealous of the Gre-"
"Ponies died in that fire! Don't you even care about that?!" Twilight stomped her front hooves on the stone floor, her shout silencing the other unicorn.
There was a pause for a few seconds, each pony looking into the face of the other, Twilight holding an expression of rage and Trixie cast in a mask of shock. When she spoke again her voice was small and fragile. "I care. Of course, I care. It would be impossible not to. But what would you have me do? I won't be taken off to jail, not over a simple mistake."
"There wasn't anything 'simple' about the results. You have to take responsibility for what you've done." Twilight's voice rose in volume until it was on the verge of shouting.
Trixie's expression suddenly grew sharp and her voice began to strain with an anger of its own. "Responsibility?! You and every stupid little pony in that stupid little town are partially responsible for all of this! I wouldn't have been stranded out in the middle of those cursed woods, practicing magic that I was ill prepared to contain, if my travel wagon hadn't been smashed! You all just laughed me right out of town! Me, utterly homeless! No pony even offering to help me rebuild. Then you justify it by saying I deserved it for being a jerk? Do you even know what a 'stage persona' is?"
Twilight's eyes had been widening as she listened to the outburst. When she sensed Trixie was finished, her eyes narrowed and her voice rang with a quiet low intensity. "You're going to try to blame your own personal actions on a dejected emotional state that was caused from the loss of your wagon?"
"My home!"
"That still doesn't excuse the lives you've ruined!"
"So it's perfectly fine to ruin my life, but if I happen to do the same by mistake then I go to jail for it? Where's the pony who'll rot in a cell for the destruction of my house?"
"You … you self centered, bratty, little foal! You're coming with me right now! I'm taking you back to Canterlot and you're going to stand accountable!" Twilight gestured back to the rickety wooden door at the far end of the tunnel.
It was Trixie's turn to narrow her eyes. "So! You think you'll be able to confront the awe inspiring skill of-" Her words were cut short by a magenta stream of light rocketing from Twilight's horn. Trixie found herself sailing through the air for a short period of time before crashing down onto a pair of driftwood chairs, splintering them into pieces.
"Yes, I think I can manage you." Twilight stepped forward as the blue unicorn struggled out of the wreckage of furniture.
Pulling herself out of the pile of debris, Trixie nearly made it to a standing position before Twilight sent another bolt of magic in her direction. "No, wait!" The impact sent Trixie careening backwards, landing hard on the stone floor.
Twilight approached again. "I could literally do this all day, you know."
Trixie blinked several times before trying to sit up. "My … my hat. I seem to have lost my hat. That's just something a wizard should never be without ..." She swayed as she pulled herself into the sitting position.
Twilight's response came with a neutral expression. "It fell off with the first shot. And you've never been a wizard. You used to be an illusionist, but now it seems you're a bit lacking in that department." The purple unicorn's expression softened a little. "Listen Trixie, I don't want any more ponies getting hurt because of this whole thing. Not even you. If we fight, if we really fight, then that's what's going to happen." Twilight reached a hoof down toward Trixie. "I can testify on your behalf that it was all just an accident, but you have to cooperate with me and allow yourself to be held accountable for what you've done."
The little blue unicorn simply stared for a moment, her face in a neutral expression. Cautiously, she reached up to touch the thin trickle of blood that ran down the side of her head. Looking down, her face revealed a sudden surprise at the red stain adorning her hoof. She raised her other foreleg into view, and her brow knitted together as she suddenly noticed the grime that had built up in the cracks of both her hooves. Looking up at Twilight, she started to say something. She struggled with it for a second, before giving up and falling silent.
"Come on. Let's go up." Twilight pulled her into an unsteady standing position.
Trixie wobbled a bit before looking back at the purple pony. "You're using calm-word magic, aren't you?"
"You need it. Your mind is in too much of a frenzy to speak to you normally." Standing a step behind her prisoner, Twilight began rummaging though her own saddlebag.
"So, that means it was all a lie?" Trixie's voice was level, but held a hint of disappointment to it.
"Nothing I've said to you here was a lie. I didn't need to resort to that." Twilight produced a silver ring adorned with several glowing runes. In a single deft motion, she slid it down over Trixie's horn and twisted downward, securing it firmly in place.
Trixie paused a moment looking up at her new ornament. "No more magic for me anytime soon, I guess?"
"Let's be honest. It's probably better this way." Twilight guided her back up through the tunnel's entrance.
"That's a shame. I had a special enchanted bobble all ready for just such occasions. It would summon a water elemental. I think you may have enjoyed that." Trixie's voice took on an almost sing-song quality, as she shuffled down the tunnel.
Twilight took mental note to return after Trixie had been safely given over to the Canterlot authorities. There would have to be a careful search through all the junk that lay scattered around the chamber. "You know, I think I'm happier that you didn't get the chance to use it."
**************
The orange pegasus descended near the far edge of the enormous sprawling field, where the amber grass began to change into a gradual slope of a nearby mountain range. As her hooves touched down, the tall grass closed around her almost totally concealed her. She looked up at the chestnut pegasus lagging behind her. "Hey, Sky Dancer. Over here. Come on, hurry up. What gives, kid?"
"What? Scootaloo? Where are you?" Her voice cracked a little as her eyes searched the ground. "I can't see- oh. Oh, you're right there." She sped down to meet the other pony. The filly's landing wasn't nearly as graceful, but she was quick to recover. "What does this have to do with the story? You said you were gonna tell me a cool scary story, and now we're out to the middle of the grasslands on a sunny day."
"It's called 'setting the mood', short stack. Besides, you needed to get out and practice your flying anyway." She grinned at the younger pony's grumbling. "Now, what do you see here?"
"What? You mean we came out here to play 'I spy with my little eye'? I see grass and sky, because that's all there is out here." She crossed her forelegs in front of her and huffed incredulously.
"Oh, there's plenty of that here, no doubt, but there are other things too. This area used to be a forest a long time ago, way before you were born, and it used to be wilder than any other place in all of Equestria. No pony ever found out why it was like that, but the trees and the weather and the animals were all very different from what you know."
"There are still animals here, I see them all the time on fly-overs."
"No, not like the ones from before. See, these were horrifying monsters. They were attracted here because of the way the forces of nature acted back then. If you calm yourself you can still feel it too. It's weak, but that wild energy is still here." She paused and stood up straight, unfolding her wings. She closed her eyes and stood waiting, poised as if feeling a breeze moving over her coat.
After about a minute of standing with the same posture, the younger pegasus broke the silence. "I don't feel anything. You're putting me on."
"Maybe I am," Scootaloo opened her eyes, "or maybe I'm not. Maybe you're just not able to sense these things yet. But, here, let me show you something else. This is something I know you'll be able to feel." She pointed a hoof toward a small patch of trees a little more than a hundred meters away. "That's the last of the original trees from the forest. All the rest were either burned down in the fire or cut down later."
"I learned about the fire back in school. Mrs. Lavender said it was huge and a lot of ponies got hurt." She ran a bit to catch up to the older pegasus, as they began walking towards the small cluster of trees.
"Yes. Quite a few were hurt, and some even died." She paused when she saw the filly's face suddenly turn to shock. "Oh, they don't teach you about that part do they? That's why the trees near the edge of town were chopped out. They were some of the few that hadn't been touched by the fires, but many of the ponies back in town felt a certain resentment to the place and didn't want anything similar happening again. So they cut them all down and set fire to them where they fell, just to get rid of the lot. It didn't really help much that most ponies thought the trees were haunted to begin with." She stopped a few paces from the nearest tree. "Now tell me. Can you feel it?"
The look on Sky Dancer's face was answer enough. Her eyes had grown progressively wider as they neared the treeline, and now she positioned herself behind the taller pony as if to hide from the shadows it cast.
"Oh my. You do feel it, don't you? But what's wrong? We're here in the middle of the grasslands on a nice sunny day?" Scootaloo's voice dripped with mockery. "Hardly the place to be if you wanted to tell a scary story. Are you telling me that you're too scared to go any further?"
Sky Dancer straightened her expression before replying in a tone she hoped wasn't too timid. "I'm not scared. Just ... just cautious." She leaned out from behind Scootaloo to peer into the trees again. "Why is it so dark in there? There can't be more than a dozen trees standing there."
"There doesn't need to be more than a dozen of these kind." Scootaloo turned to face into the gloom. "But can you see it? There in the center of the trees? Look hard."
The little pegasus squinted her eyes as she stared in. Between the dark trunks she could see something dark standing. "I … I want to go home."
Ignoring the filly's plea Scootaloo took a step toward the trees. "Do you know how the fire started, Dancer?" She looked back at the smaller pony to she that she was now trembling. Scootaloo's face split into a long grin. "Did Mrs. Lavender teach you that?"
"No. No she didn't." Her voice was weak and faltering as she answered.
Scootaloo took another step towards the trees, turning away from the little pegasus. "It was a pony."
"Why, uh … why would a pony want to start a fire that hurt other ponies?"
"She was evil and insane. Mad with rage. Not only that, but she was a wizard … a great and powerful wizard. Do you know what they did with her after they caught up to her?" She turned to confront the trembling filly.
Sky Dancer had lowered herself to the ground and stared up with eyes nearly ready to bulge out of their sockets.
As Scootaloo continued her voice became lower and took on a menacing quality. "Of course you don't. This isn't the sort of thing fillies learn in school. You see they didn't put her on trial. Her mind was gone, and they didn't want her just sitting in a jail cell waiting to escape." She took a step back towards the frightened pony. "They trapped her in stone. A dark stone statue, as black as night, and they set it amongst the last of the trees so that she would forever be forced to guard the remainder of what she tried to destroy."
Sky Dancer glanced back toward the trees, through the leaves and limbs, at the barely visible dark figure standing motionless in the shade. Her eyes locked back again to Scootaloo, who stared wildly down at the poor shaking pony.
"Do you know what her specialty in magic was? It was illusions. The power to beguile and control the minds of others." She crouched down, eye level with the petrified Sky Dancer. "And over the years that power has been growing, reaching out, searching for other ponies to take possession of." Her orange hoof reached out and landed on Sky Dancer's trembling shoulder. "Come join us!"
"NO!" The small brown pony shrieked as she shot off into the sky, leaving her orange tormentor rolling on the ground and laughing loudly. After a few moments she stopped and stared down. "You …? You! You tricked me!"
"Darn right I did. That'll teach you to doubt me. When I say something's scary, that's because it is." She picked herself up from the ground and dusted off her coat before joining the filly in the air. "Come on. Lets go get something to eat. It's nearly lunchtime."
"Wait, so was that just a story or was it real?"
"Tell you what. If you can catch up to me by the time we reach the coffee shop, I'll tell you." With that she sped off like an orange bullet, leaving the smaller pegasus to stutter a bit before chasing after her.
"Hey! I wasn't ready yet."
As the two sped off in the direction of Cloudsdale, the wind brushing through branches was the only sound left to accompany the lonely moss covered statue as she peered out from her shaded home nestled between the trees. The afternoon wore on, and the stone pony continued her stare across the vast sunlit plains, unblinking, just as she always had since the day she was first put there; just as she always would, until the day the God-Princess of Equestria deemed that her penance had been paid.
END.