Chapter one: Lingering Dreams

“There’s a nice breeze today.”

The wind rolls through the lush green hills of the valley while the blades of grass dances accordingly to the ever changing gust. Though faint, there is a nip of salt in the air despite being roughly five miles from the sea; not to mention the massive mountain range that acts as a wall between this valley and the vast ocean that lies beyond. That’s one thing that I love about this place, I can always sense the sea. The dirt road that runs through here was always a peaceful walk between towns. This valley is considered to be wild lands, parts of the country that are not inhabited by civilization; lands that are said to be dangerous and un-relenting. I never felt that way about this place though. It always seemed to be a quiet little area where nothing bad could happen, however there was a big land mark in this valley that suggests otherwise.

What rest at the bottom of this hill is a reminder of that fact. Strung out across the valley floor were the skeletal remains of a rigid airship. The steel frame of its envelope crumpled in on itself, rusted and scorched from the battle it endured. The main hull was split apart and separated from the frame, but the signs were visible that it use to connect to the envelope as a whole. I suppose the most intimidating thing about the airship wasn’t the state it was in or how many guns it had, but more so the sheer size of it all. I estimated its envelope was at least two-hundred meters in length, though I also have never been up close to the thing to get a personal feel for it.

I’ll see them every now and then as they patrol the skies. I tend to spot them off the coastline near my home town; it’s like watching a whale sore through the sky. And they’re not just warships either. They serve as a symbol of protection and security for our nation. I also heard that they are state-of-the-art with some of the best weapons and technology in the world, so to see one lying there in defeat is a bit unsettling. Though disturbing as it is, I can always seem to find peace here. Sure it’s a tourist spot in a way and draws the occasional traveler but it’s tranquil. I often find myself spending hours on end just daydreaming at this spot whenever I feel down or in the dumps. Unfortunately that’s been the case for quite some time now and it only feels like my situation getting worse. But for some reason I can always stop by this place and just relax on the cool grass and stare up at the clouds as they roll on by.

“You come here often?”

Breaking the ambience of the wind was this unfamiliar voice calling out in the distance. A smooth yet loud voice, it was defiantly a female by the sound of things. However I paid it no attention and went back to resting my eyes and soaking up the rays of the sun.

“I’m guessing you like airships, huh? I see you hanging out here quite a lot.”

“Ahh!” being the only remark I could make after opening my eyes to seeing a stranger’s face hovering above my own. Springing backwards in a panic, I almost ended up rolling down the hill. Giving my heart a moment to slow down and to catch my breath, I began to get a good look at my startler. She was a unicorn with a bright yellow coat and a beautiful rainbow mane, the colors blended together almost seamlessly. Equally as beautiful were her eyes which manifested a brilliant sapphire blue.

“I hope I didn’t scare you too badly. I was just curious as to why you hang out here all the time. You’re always staring at that airship so I figured you find them interesting or something.” She had a soothing yet slightly energetic tone to her voice. Her face glowed with a pleasing smile as she turned her gaze towards the rusty remains of the colossal aircraft.

“I guess I do find it interesting to some degree, I know it went down about four years ago and I recall hearing the cannons firing the night it sunk but other than that I don’t know too much about it. However I always feel safe around it. Something about it is just calming,” I explained in hopes of satisfying her curiosity.Turning my sights upon the airship I began to wonder for myself as to why I felt so safe near it.

“Sir Dante.”

“What?” I asked, puzzled by her random response. “Wait, are you saying that your name is Sir Dante?”

She looked back at me just as puzzled but then a smile just ran across her face. “Oh no, the ship, the ship is called the Sir Dante. It was a knight-class battleship, thirty-eight confirmed ships sunk and over eighteen kill assists. With over ten years of active service, it was a pretty well-known ship in the Imperial Air Force.”

Needless to say, she knew more about the airship than me, but to also know its records was a bit more than I expected.

“This ship protected this valley from what would have been a catastrophic ambush. In that case maybe you feel calm around this ship because you see it sort of as a guardian. It makes you feel safe, secure to just be around it.” There was sincerity in her voice and she was actually making sense. Maybe I did feel this way. Looking back I was always drawn to this spot for reasons unbeknownst to me. But it got me wondering as to what was up with this pony in particular. She was odd to put it nicely but I feel like there’s something more to her than meets the eye.

“So I guess you feel the same way then, about the airship I mean. You seem to know a lot about it,” I inquired since she was the one who started this whole conversation and I was curious to get to her story.

She chuckled a bit as she just sat there letting the breeze blow by her face all the while her mane fluttered in the wind. “Yeah I guess you could say I feel that way from time to time. Whenever I feel sad or depressed I’ll just gaze at it and for some reason I’ll feel a tad bit better than before.”

Yeah she was definitely an odd one, though am I really all that different. I mean I’m out here today to escape my own sorrows, and it’s not that I’m scared of anything or that I feel that I’m in need of protection; but I’m here none the less. Uh, maybe I’m just over thinking everything, I tend to do that.

“Do you live nearby?” The yellow unicorn asked as she continued to gaze upon wreckage.

“I live in the town just south of here, Chesternut to be exact.”

“Oh you mean that little village on the bluffs near the eastern sea. Has kind of a thatched roof and cobblestone architecture going on right?” She responded, almost intrigued for reasons unknown to me.

“Um, yeah, that’s the one,” I answered, hoping she wasn’t about to ask which bungalow was mine. She seems nice and all but I don’t know anything about her, for all I know she could be some psychopath who likes to set thatched roof cottages on fire. Maybe she’s just lonely and wants a friend. I don’t know; she doesn’t strike me as the violent type.

“Well I didn’t mean to bother you; I was just curious as to why you like this place so I thought I’d ask. Anyway I’ll let you get back to what you were doing. I enjoyed talking with you,” she said as she got up and started to make her way back to the top of the hill.

“Oh no problem,” I responded back just to be courteous. Awkward as it was at first, it was nice to actually chat with somepony else for a change. Turning my gaze back towards the clouds, I noticed that there was now a slight tone of pink to them as the sky grew more turquoise. “Is it reaching that time already?” I sighed as I pulled myself up off the ground. I gave my body a good shaking to knock lose any dirt that might have gotten on me and whipped my tail once in case there were any pieces of grass that might have been attached.

As I got back on the path and started to head home, I turned to check and see if that strange unicorn was still there. She wasn’t, but I figured that she’s probably right in front of me and when I turn my head she’ll be two inches from my face. “Ahh!” I turned back around and to my surprise… she wasn’t there. If anypony else were around to see this then I would have felt like a total idiot. Not wanting to be stuck out here during nightfall I decided to hurry back to town as quickly as possible.

I knew I was getting close now as the sound of the surf could be heard clashing against the rock faces below. The ocean stretched on for miles over the horizon, seemingly endless. The sky was a deep orange as I neared the town walls. I scanned the skies around to see if I could spot a military airship on patrol; I didn’t see any.

“Just in time!” I exclaimed enthusiastically as I brought myself closer to the ground, my wings kicking up the dirt below me as I was touching down. I dusted myself off as I retracted my wings inward and headed in through the main gate. The sky was almost as orange as my coat, almost; though technically I guess it would be a light shade of maple. My mane and tail were a mix of orange, red, and yellow though I do have this light blue streak that runs through it.

As I walked through the plaza I could smell the sweet aroma of hot soup, baked bread, and honeyed mead that leaked forth from the tavern. The atmosphere was filled with the sounds of strings, dancing, and everypony generally having a good time. The street lanterns emitted a dim light as they awaited the arrival of the moon. After the strolling through the market place I eventually made it to the outer district which consisted of small cobblestone walls that lined the road. The houses ranged in size but they weren’t too big, though a lot of them tended to have small vegetable gardens or the occasional workshop. Living on the far eastern road was pleasant. It was quiet and there is a lovely view of the ocean stretching beyond the edge of the cliffs.

“Ah finally, home sweet home,” I said to myself as I headed in through the gate of my front yard.

“Hey Autumn, how was work today?” A voice yelled out from across the street. It was just my neighbor, Mr. Clover. He was very friendly and is always there for me when I needed somepony to turn to.

“It was work, nothing more than that,” I responded with a smile. “Same old same old, ya know.”

“Hehe, yeah I know just what you mean. I’m guessing you’re done with classes at the academy now huh, been seeing you around town much more lately,” he yelled back just as enthusiastic as ever.

“Yep, all done for the semester. Still can’t decide if I really want to be a weather pegasus or not though. I’m just not sure what I really want to do in life.”

He just laughed away, “Ah don’t you worry, you’re still young so there’s plenty of time left for you to decide. You’re a smart, beautiful, young mare with endless possibilities. You’ll find something you like and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”

I just smiled and agreed. “Well I guess I’ll head on inside now and start on dinner, I’ll talk to you later, Mr. Clover.”

“You take care of yourself now yer hear,” he said as he waved bye.

Opening the door to my house I took a quick look around just to get an idea of what I needed to work on first. Well I can’t really cook anything without a fire so I guess that will take priority. Walking up to the fireplace a sat down on the cold stone floor, clasped my hooves together and pointed them at the slightly charred wood.
“Fire… I said FIRE!” Uh I guess I’ll need to get the matches. Someday I’m going to learn how to cast a fire spell; one doesn’t need to be a unicorn to use elemental magic. Apparently all pony species have the ability to use magic of some sort. Earth ponies tend to do well with plants and other forms of life magic, pegasi a gifted in elementals like lighting and water. As for unicorns any kind of magic is fair game.

I grabbed the box of matches and lit the fire, though I still want to learn how to actually conjure a flame magically. “I wonder if I that unicorn I met today could teach me how,” I told myself jokingly. Anyway, work again tomorrow so I guess it will be another quick dinner and strait to bed again tonight.

Lying in my bed, I stretched under the sheets in an attempt to try and wake up. The warm fleece blankets make it hard to get up in the morning. As sunlight filled my one room cottage I could hear the gull cries and the ocean waves beating against the cliffs.

“Wait, the ocean? OH NO! The high tides; shit I’m late for work!”

Leaping out from under the sheets I galloped around the room, grabbing my saddle bag and rushed out the door.

“Good Morning Autumn, slept in again I see,” Mr. Clover shouted out chuckling.

“Yes sir, sorry no time to chat,” I yelled back as I stumbled while trying to get out the front door. As fast as my wings would let me, I took to the air and nearly hit a tree as I attempted to gain altitude.

Mr. Clover just watched smirking all the while. “That girl is a mess at times, but she’s a good kid.”

“Are you going to get off your plot and actually get some yard work done today or not?” Mr. Clover's wife called out to her husband.

“I’m gettin the paper, woman; that is work in my book!” Mr. Clover replied in joking tone.

Flying over the residential district I set my eyes upon the central plaza in town, a large, circular bazaar with a fountain in the middle. As I passed over the market district I banked hard right and threw myself into a spiraling free fall. Letting gravity take over I could feel the wind rushing past my back as I made my vertical decent backwards. Having done this before, I rolled over and spread my wings out as fast as I could. There was a loud gust as the air rushed against the cobblestone. I gave my wings a few good flaps, touching down smoothly.

There was a fair amount of ponies in the town square, and all eyes were on me. Most were either looking at me like I was crazy, or they thought I was just being a show off. Not sparing another moment I dashed over to the grocery store, busting in through the door.

“Autumn Bliss! You should have been here thirty minutes ago,” my boss said in a not so cheerful tone. I never could stand this guy; he was very demanding and short tempered. He was like this to all of his employees.

“Sorry sir, I accidentally over slept.”

“I don’t care what your reasoning is. Hurry up and get in here, vegetables aren’t going to sell themselves you know,” the bastard replied.

“Yes sir, right on it.”

Time really seems to slow down to a crawl when I’m here. It’s the same routine every day I work; hose down the produce, clean the area, and help the customers. The problem is that most of this can be done within an hour, so apart from the occasional shopper there isn’t much to do. We’re not allowed to wait around and do nothing so keeping busy is a chore all on its own. Of course it means that I feel so much better when I end my shift.

After work I headed for the main gate at the northern edge of town. “I guess I’ll head back to the airship since I have nothing else to do.” Trotting down the road I just took in the surroundings, to the east was the ocean and the rest of the landscape to the north and the west was lush green fields and hills with the occasional patch of trees and shrubs. The road was now starting to turn westward since the next couple of miles north will hit the ocean as well. And there it was, the airship laid right beyond this next hill.

Reaching my favorite spot on the hill I dropped my saddle bag, flopped on the ground and shut my eyes. “Ah, this feels nice, I think I might just take a nap,” speaking to myself.
Laying there I began to drift off, thinking back to my friends at the academy. One of them was an exchange student from Equestria, far to the east across the ocean. She was studying about the latest in weather machine engineering. Apparently in Equestria, pegasi have full control of the weather and are responsible for maintaining it. Here we more or less just alter its current state and that’s on a town to town bases, the weather is still wild all over this country despite the presence cities. My other two friends lived in different parts of the nation. If only I had friends who lived in Chesternut with me.

“Well hello again,” spoke a voice that sounded familiar.

“AHH!” I yelled, opening my eyes only to see the face of that same unicorn from yesterday.

“You really shouldn’t sneak up on a pony like that,” I replied hastily. “You do that to everyone you know?”

“I guess I do have a tendency of doing that,” she said wearing a smirk on her face. “So what brings you back to this memorial between the hills?”

“Same reason I was here yesterday, it’s peaceful here and I like that,” I told her since I had no other real reasons to be here.

She just looked at me for a moment before turning her gaze to the sky, her rainbow mane blowing in the wind. She closed her eyes, head pointed to the heavens while her face basked in the sunlight. “You’re right. It is very peaceful.”

I just watched her for a moment. There was something about her, something I couldn’t quite put my hoof on. Magical? And not just because she’s a unicorn but more so because she’s mysterious. Yet for some reason I feel like I can relate to her, like we both come here for the same thing.

“Spectra,” She said, tilting her head towards me. Her eyes were as blue as the water in the sea.

“What?” I ask to yet another random remark of hers.

“My name is Spectra, Spectra Serenity” she replied with a smile.

“Ah, well that name is much more suiting than Sir Dante,” I said with my feeble attempt at a joke. “Well, in that case; I am Autumn, Autumn Bliss.”

“Well then, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” Spectra said with that warm yet firm voice of hers. She sounds older than me, but not by much.

“The pleasures all mine,” I responded. “So what’s your story? Why do you keep coming here?”

Spectra just lowered her head and smiled, “For many of the same reasons as you probably. It’s tranquil here; the atmosphere is soothing. However this ship holds sentimental value to me.”

“What would that be?” My curiosity now getting the better of me.

“I use to work aboard that airship, traveled all over the country. So many adventures, so many memories,” she said now turning her gaze towards me. “That, however, is a story for another time,” Spectra teased as she stood up and stretched. “It’s getting late, so I guess I’ll see you again soon. I really enjoyed talking with you; hopefully I’ll get the chance to tell about the ship someday.”

“Wait your leaving already? We just started talking. Don’t let my nap be interrupted in vein!”

She grinned as she continued leave. And just like last time she walked off. Uh, well I guess I’ll do the same thing then; the sun was beginning to set after all. Grabbing my saddle bag I headed back towards town before it got dark. I think I might make pumpkin stew tonight.

For the past week, every evening I would meet up with Spectra at the top of the hill by the airship wreckage. She still is quite mysterious, not revealing too much about her past or her feelings. However she did admit to being a soldier for the Ponytopian Imperial Air Force, so that kinda explains how she worked on the Sir Dante prior to its crash. As for what her position aboard it was, she still hasn’t told me. All though Spectra did tell about a dream she kept having for some time now; something to do with a strange amulet. Anyways I plan on meeting up with her again after I get off of work today.

“Autumn Bliss! You’re late again!” My boss shouted as I stepped into the grocery store.

“Sorry sir, my sundial broke and didn’t go off this morning. As a result I slept in for a few extra minutes, sir!”

“Your sundial? OH very funny, smart ass! You really know how to piss me off, you know that right?” His face was all up in my own, glaring at me with those bloodshot eyes of his.

“The feeling is mutual, Sir!”

“Eh, shut up and get to work. And don’t let me catch you slacking off, got it.” He was trying to remain somewhat calm but I could tell I was getting on his nerves.

Today’s shift felt longer than usual, but no matter, I’m done with work for the day. It was three o’clock and that meant it was time to go see Spectra. I trotted along the road and as I reached the site I could see Spectra waiting up on the hill.

“Hey Autumn, over here, I want to talk to you about something!” She yelled, waving at me in the distance.

“Yeah, what is it?” I asked as I approached her. She seemed different than how she normally was when I visit. She seemed more excited and hyped than her normal calm and smiling self.

“You remember about that strange dream I’ve been having lately; the one I told you about a couple of days ago, right?” She asked, wearing a grin on her face.

“Yeah, kinda; you said you keep having a dream about a magical amulet located in a familiar place. It was somewhere you felt like you’ve been but couldn’t remember, right?”

Spectra nodded. “I had that same dream again last night; and I remembered where I recognized that place.” She glanced back at the ship and smiled. “The place in my dream is actually my old cabin onboard the Sir Dante.”

“So you’re telling me your mysterious dream is about a necklace you left on the ship? Why is that so strange?” I asked, curious as to why this dream was so important to her.

“The part that’s strange is that I’ve never seen an amulet like it, and I certainly don’t recall owning it. But there it was in my dreams in a place I know all too well. And I’m aware that it’s probably nothing more than a dream. Though I still want to check it out for curiosity sake,” Spectra said as she turned to face the airship. “Plus I figured you never seen an airship up close so I thought I’d ask and see if you wanted to join me. If nothing else, it would a fun little adventure. So, what do you say?”

“Wait, are you serious? Won’t we get in trouble for going in that thing? Besides is it even safe?”

Spectra just laughed. “Only if we get caught; besides, it’s not like there’s any security. And we’re not going to vandalize it. Come on, it’ll be fun.”

“But what about all the ponies that died on it? Wouldn’t it be disrespectful to just go wandering around the memorial site of a fallen vessel?”

Her smile started to retreat a bit, however she still maintained a pleasant grin. “Yes it would if anypony actually died. But I can assure you that nopony did. Sure there were some injuries but the entire crew made it out alive.”

I just looked at her, not knowing what to think about that response. “How can you be sure that there weren’t any casualties, that everypony made it off safe and sound?”

Spectra’s face now displayed a slightly more serious side. “I told you once that I worked aboard the Sir Dante. So is it so hard to believe that I was actually aboard it when it went down,” she replied. “In fact, I know because I was the last one to leave the ship after the crew had been evacuated. I was the one responsible to ensuring that nopony was left onboard.”

“Hmm, I don’t know. It’s not that I don’t believe you, but this still just doesn’t feel right. I mean even though it’s not flyable or anything, it still is military property.”

Spectra just grinned, so I figured she had some loop hole reasoning. “Think of it this way. That ship was purchased with tax payer’s bits, so in turn it’s partially your ship as well.” Yep, I hit the nail on the head with that one.

“I hardly believe that, but whatever. If we do get caught though, it’s entirely your fault,” I replied as I followed her down the hill. Spectra continued to laugh.

I’ve only known her for a little more than a week and I barely know anything about her. However the was one thing that stood out to me; Spectra, as mysterious as she was, she seemed very sincere; I felt like I could trust her enough to do this. Besides it does sound like a fun idea. Well I guess I’ll humor her for a while and see what this airship and this dream of hers is all about.

Chapter two: The Amulet

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I never would have thought that this hill was so large. Following Spectra down to the airship really put that into perspective. The metal beams of the envelope’s structure were enormous to say the least. They were stained a dark red from both the fires that scorched them and the rust brought on by the weather. The envelope looked to be around twenty meters tall, though a lot of the bottom was crushed into the ground. So I expect that it was at least double that when it was still in one piece.

“Hey, Spectra, you know a lot about this thing right? How big is it exactly?” I inquired.

“The Knight-class usually has an envelope that is two-hundred and thirty meters long and a diameter of thirty-eight meters wide. That’s about seven-hundred and fifty feet in length and one-hundred twenty-five feet in width.” Spectra replied, almost as if it was child’s play to her. “The cabin hull varies from ship to ship, but it’s usually rounds to one-fourth the length of the envelope and four-fifths the diameter in width. The height is dependent on how many decks the hull has, though they too tend to average out about twelve meters high.”

“Uh ok then, I’ll just go with really big,” not wanting to get into a math lecture with her.

Standing right beside one of the outer beams, I poked my head pass it and looked around at what supposable the inside would have been like. It was phenomenal, though parts of the frame had collapsed and the ground was a sea of twisted metal, machine parts, and tall grass; most of the envelope retained its basic shape. Steel cables and chains hung from many secondary frame structures while parts of the bridging that ran through the center still remained suspended. There was also a ton of pipes and cables that where left bolted to the support structures.

“Wow, this is amazing! I can only imagine what it was like in here back when it was all functional,” I blurted out, unable to contain my excitement.

“It was loud and very noisy; the air inside was hot and often times humid, and the whole place reeked of oil,” Spectra commented in a less enthusiastic tone.

“Wow! Way to kill the moment.” Suddenly something caught my eye down towards the middle section of the structure. It looked a lot different than the rest of the envelope. It was a large platform in the middle while the frame was altered differently, almost as if this part of the ship opened up. And there, lying outside of the main structure was another platform. It was wide and thick however it looked like it would fit that opening in the frame perfectly. As we got closer I could see large gears exposed underneath the burnt wood deck.

“Hey Spectra, what is this thing here?” I asked as I flew up and landed onto the platform. As I landed on it, Spectra teleported up here with me and gave it a quick glance.

“This here is the flight deck,” Spectra replied. “When not in use, they fold up and blend in with the rest of the envelope. But if we need to launch aircraft or pegasi squadrons, we open these flight decks and it gives us a stage to use.”

Spectra then turned her attention to this weird looking steel plate that was slightly elevated off the main deck. There looked to be a metal grove under it that extended strait forward to the edge of the flight deck. She then looked over my way and grinned.

“Autumn, come here for a sec,” she said wearing smirk.

“Yeah, what is it?” I asked knowing she had something to show me.

“Stand right there on that platform and do as I say,” she replied vaguely.

“Um, why?”

“Just do it, I promise it won’t hurt you or anything,” Spectra said, eyeing the large metal disc.

“Alright, fine.” I stepped onto the center of the plate. Examining it, I noticed there were some elevated markers and indentions on it.

“Ok now I want you to face forward, towards the front of the ship. See that rail embedded in the deck, under the platform you are on. You need to align yourself to face the way it runs,” Spectra explained, though her intentions were still unclear to me.

As she said, I faced forward, parallel to the envelope and the rest of the ship.

“Ok, now look at the plate. You should see some grooves where you can slide your hooves into. I need you to spread your legs apart so you can fit into those grooves. You’ll also want to lean forward and keep your legs strait,” Spectra said, pointing to the specific spots. “You’ll want to keep your legs apart and your spine and neck aligned. Think of it as if you’re about to dash off a starting line for a race.”

Doing as she said, I positioned myself to match her instructions. Legs spread, back strait and neck aligned. “Is this right?” I asked. This wasn’t exactly a comfortable position.

“Good. Now I need you to raise you wings upward but at the same time keep your joints bent and tilt them to align with the angle of your body. This is the difference between soaring through the sky or having your wings ripped out of their sockets,” Spectra explained, which was a bit unsettling. Despite how ridiculous I felt, I did what she said, tilting my wings upwards while keeping them bent.

Spectra then started to examine me, glossing over every detail in my posture. “Sorry, but why is any of this important?” I asked her. She continued to just check me out and then she just gave me a smile.

“Excellent, you might actually make a good combat pegasus someday. The whole point is of this stance is to endure break-neck acceleration and not get injured. What you’re standing on is a pegasus launch rail, or what some of us like to call it, the pony catapult. It’s design to take pegasi from zero to a hundred and sixty miles per hour within three seconds.” Spectra explained. I was still trying to take it all in.

Spectra then trotted over to a control panel of some sort and put her hoof on a large lever. “This allows our combat pegasi to engage in a method called terminal vectoring, using terminal velocity as a means to fly at speeds which pegasi normally can’t achieve. Of course this only gives the pegusus a quick jump start; the rest is up to a pegasi’s own knowledge and skill.”

“And now rookie, you’re ready to take flight!” She said with a big smile on her face.

“Wait, what, no don’t -” Before I could finish, Spectra pulled down on the lever. I could hear the rapid clicking of cogs and gears’ turning as the lever was pulled all the way down.
“AHH!” Screaming as loud as I could, I suddenly felt movement as I went flying… backwards? Stumbling backwards in a panic and falling down on the deck, I realized that the platform didn’t move but instead I lost balance expecting to be flung forward.

Spectra also hit the floor, clutching her side and laughing the whole time. “Ahhaha! Oh my God, that has to be one of the funniest things I’ve seen in a long time!” She was wiping a tear from her eye. “Your face is what made it priceless!”

My heart was racing, I was scared to death. “You nearly gave me a heart attack, you know!”

Spectra started to pull herself up, still giggling. “Sorry but I couldn’t resist. We use to do that all the time to the new recruits.”

“And what if that thing had actually launched? What then,” I exclaimed still mad at her little scare tactic. I’ll probably look back at this one day and laugh; on second thought I don’t think I will.

“Well for starters, there’s no power; and if it did somehow go off, well let’s just say that the ground would be painted an ugly shade of brown and I would be wanted for ponyslaughter. But like I said, without power that thing won’t move an inch.”

I still wasn’t as amused, or more so that I didn’t want to admit that it was a bit amusing. “Uh my coat isn’t brown, it’s maple.”

“Yeah, yeah, come on lets head over to the bridge,” she said as she teleported back down onto the ground. I just hoped off the edge since it wasn’t that high up.

Drifting away from the envelope now, we made our way over to the severed part of the hull. It too was massive. Spectra was making her way towards the front of the ship. Even I could tell that we were reaching the front as there was a giant convex window that wrapped around the front and bottom of the bridge. Mid ways ran another metal beam that divided the window into two levels; but when I looked inside, it was one giant room with a second story deck towards the back.

Spectra teleported inside, however I decided to fly over and enter through the roof; which was mostly absent. I just hovered above for a moment looking down at the sheer size of it all. This was the command bridge!

“Holy crap, this thing is huge! My house could fit in there, no, two could; easily.” I began my descent. Looking around I noticed that the floor cut off about half way towards the front of the window. It rounded out perfectly to match the curvature of the front of the frame; so was this a design aspect? As I got closer I could see a safety rail lining the front.
After landing on the main deck, I quickly cantered over to the edge and looked down over the railing. All I saw was dirt, grass and debris. But what if this thing was in the air, I would be able to see what was directly beneath the ship. I then looked around at the rest of the massive window that wrapped around the bridge.

“Amazing; so it gave you a one-hundred eighty degree view of the front of the ship. It must have been spectacular.” Suddenly something caught my eye, and I could feel myself tingling with excitement. To the left of me was a console station, though there were many different stations around this bridge; I had a strong feeling as to what this was. Trotting over to it I walked around the back, I was almost giggling as I examined the station.

There was what remained of a large chair; it looked like it would have been comfy. But I was more interested in console in front of it. There were gauges, switches, and dials everywhere. There were a bunch of levers on a lower panel, but what stood out to me the most was the giant wheel in the middle. It looked like the ones found on old sailing ships, though parts of the wood where burnt, it was still in pretty good shape. Then I noticed a second one to the side of the chair. This one was slightly smaller and didn’t have those big nobs like the main one did. I was almost positive that this was the pilot seat.

“Hey, Spectra! Come here for a second,” I shouted since I didn’t actually pay attention as to where she went. Suddenly there was a bright flash right beside me and out of nowhere, Spectra suddenly appeared.

“Yeah, what is it?” she asked, looking to see what I found.

“I’m almost certain of this, but I wanted to be sure. This here is where you fly the ship, correct?”

She took a quick look and grinned. “Yes, this is the flight controls for the aircraft.”

“Ok so I can kinda figure that this big wheel turns the ship, right? What does that other one do?” I ask eagerly.

Spectra just nodded. “You are correct. The main wheel controls the rudder, which turns the ship left or right. That other wheel on the left controls the elevators, either increasing or decreasing the rate of climb. Those levers on that panel right of the pilot seat are the individual throttles for the engines.”

“Wait, are you saying that you actually know how to fly one of these things? That you’re actually a pilot?” I was so intrigued to say the least.

Spectra just smiled back. “Fly, yes. Pilot, no. I know how to fly and maneuver it in the open sky as well as how to perform the proper start-up procedures; but ask me to land, dock, or anything advance like that then there’s gonna be problems.”

I walked up to the wheel and placed my hoof on it, turning it slowly. I then looked at all the different gauges, seeing what I could make sense of. “Spectra, I think, I think I might actually want to be an airship pilot.”

Spectra just laughed a little but then she looked confused “Wait, you’re serious? You actually want to pilot airships?”

“Yeah,” I nodded, smiling as rotated the wheel.

“But you’re a pegasus; a pony with wings,” she said, stating the obvious.

“Yes.”

“A pony that is capable of flight independently.”

“Uh Huh.”

“And you want to fly an airship, despite already being able to fly on your own?”

“Is there something wrong with that?” I asked, since it didn’t seem to click for her.

“No, there’s nothing wrong with it. I just figure that since you can fly there was no sense in why you would want to… never mind, let’s just get moving,” Spectra replied before turning around and headed towards the back of the bridge. I was serious though, I think I might actually want to fly these things as a career. I know that weather companies in large cities use airships, so I can gear my academic studies in that direction instead.

Following Spectra, we soon exited the bridge and entered this long hallway on the second deck. The fire damage was much more present here as I could see where parts of the steel had started to melt. We had to tread much more carefully here since the wood flooring was reduced to ashes, exposing many of the pipes and cables under the floorboards. The corridor was too small to fly through safely, so we just had to watch our step.

“Hey, Spectra, where are we headed to now?” I asked since this was one area I didn’t mind skipping. She just continued a little further and then stopped at a bulkhead door.
“The place in my dream, Autumn. This is my room aboard this ship.” Spectra then grasped the handle and started to pull it backwards. However the door didn’t open. She then got on the other side and tried pushing the handle instead. “Damn, it won’t budge; it’s rusted shut!”

I stepped in to help, grabbing onto whatever I could and pulling back. Moments after, the door started to squeak as the metal hinges began to loosen up. Suddenly we managed to get the door open. Spectra entered first and I followed shortly after. It was a mess, most of the furniture was either halfway melted or just a pile ash. There was debris all over the place; a lot of it looked like it was actually parts of the ceiling.

“So where is this amulet of yours?” I asked Spectra. Since it was her dream, she would know what to look for.

“It’s never in the same spot, but it always appeared in this room. Of course that’s assuming it even exists, which I doubt it even does.”

I continued to look around. “Well you came here in search of it, so you obviously think it exists.”

“It’s just an annoying dream that I keep having. I came here with you because I thought it would be a fun little adventure. That’s all. I didn’t expect to find it, but I wanted to confirm my suspicions and be done with it. You know the feeling. It’s like when you lock you door to your house, but after you leave you can’t remember if you locked it or not. And it bugs you until you return and check. That’s all this is,” Spectra explained as she shifted through some cabinet draws.

I was looking around the bed. All that was left of the mattress was a bunch of spring coils and pile of burnt wool. “So this necklace of yours, what does it look like?”

Spectra was rummaging through a wall safe by now. “I don’t know, if I recall, it was made out of gold and had a wing pattern going on.”

“Large spot for a gemstone in the middle?”

“Uh, yeah; how did you know that?” Spectra was confused by my statement and I didn’t blame her. I was just as confused.

“I think I might have just found your mysterious accessory piece,” I said looking down at a gold amulet lying inside the bed springs.

Spectra rushed over and took a look for herself. She reached in and pulled it out of the mattress frame. Examining it, she had a look of disbelief on her face. “Well I’ll be damn, it actually exist.”

We exited the airship shortly after discovering the amulet. The sun was already starting to set, so we made our way back to town, stopping right outside the main gate of Chesternut. Spectra was wearing the amulet and to be honest, it suited her quite well. It was a bit strange after we found the amulet though; for starters neither, one of us expected to find it. It did give of a slight sense of magical energy and according to Spectra, there was no record of such an item stored on the ship. We did have fun, it was a nice little adventure and a great way to break the day to day routine. I only wish that the airship was flyable because now I can’t stop thinking about being a pilot. But all in all I enjoyed today.

“So what are you going to do now?” I asked. Spectra’s mind was set on discovering what the amulet actually was.

“Well I guess I’m going to do some research on this thing and see if I can’t find something out.” She replied, examining every detail of it. “I’ll be sure to let you know if I discover anything.” Spectra then turned around and started to head back into the wild lands.

“Wait, it’s almost nightfall! You aren’t seriously going to head back out there are you?” I asked worryingly. I mean I don’t know where she lives but I kinda figured it was somewhere in town.

“Yeah, it’s late so I don’t want to waste too much time getting back,” she replied.

“But it’s dangerous out there. If you want, you can stay at my place tonight, I don’t mind,” however Spectra just kept on walking.

“Thanks for the offer, but I’ll be fine. I am a soldier after all, I can fend for myself. I’ll see you later, ok,” Spectra said as she started to disappear into the distance.

The moon was already starting to rise so I decided to just head back home and get some sleep. Hm, I wonder, are the airships used by weather squads as big as the Sir Dante? I sure hope so, I can’t wait to try my hoof at flying one someday. I continued my walk back home to get a good night sleep. I can’t wait to hear what Spectra discovers about that thing. It did look really cool and rare, so I can’t wait to find out more about it.

The next day, after work, I headed up to the usual meeting spot by the airship. But this time Spectra wasn’t there waiting for me. “Spectra, hey Spectra, are you around? Where are you?” I shouted, looking around for any sign of her presence. However I got no response; but I didn’t think too much about it. Instead I just flopped down on the grass to take a nap, and when Spectra shows up she’ll most likely be lingering over me. I closed my eyes and drifted off, listening to the wind as it blew through the valley.

The sound of cicada could be heard off in the distance. I open my eyes to see an orange sky and the sun was starting to set. However Spectra never showed up today. That was a bit unsettling, but I’m sure she is deeply immersed in research and was unable to make it today. At least that’s all I hope it was. I made my way back to town and I’ll try again tomorrow.

I sat upon the hill top, today was a no show again, it’s been this way for the past week. I don’t know why but I was feeling a bit empty on the inside. Why does this always happen; I start to make a new friend and then they end up leaving. It was the same thing back at the academy; all my friends lived in different parts of the country or a completely different part of the world. As for anypony who I knew in town, they would say hi occasionally, but I never did have a true friend to hang out with. And the few that would hang out with me from time to time eventually became too busy with their jobs or ended up getting married and starting families. I was always on the back burner, often over shadowed or forgotten completely. It was a bit sickening, always having to watch my friends go. But this time I thought it would be different, “IT’S NOT FAIR!” Shouting did no good, but it helped me feel a little better or at least I thought it did.

I waited, and waited, and waited; but she never showed up. Did something happen to her? Did she just leave now that she had that amulet? Did she ever see me as a friend, or even as an acquaintance? It’s not knowing that bothers me the most.
“The sun is starting to set, I guess I’ll just try again tomorrow,” I sighed, getting up and making my way back home. Half way down the road, I stopped and took a quick look back; hoping I would spot her, there was no one there.

Reaching my house I looked up at the dark night sky, the moon was now rising above the ocean; its reflection glistened brilliantly off of the pitch black water. It was a peaceful night. I entered my house, dropped my stuff and climbed strait into bed. I wasn’t in the mood for dinner tonight. Pulling the covers over me, I closed my eyes and drifted off into a deep sleep.

Knock knock!

Was somepony at my door, it wasn’t a subtle knocking either. I pulled myself up and glanced over at the door. I was still groggy, rubbing my eyes so as not to fall back asleep. Knock knock knock! There it was again; I peeked over at the window. It was still dark out. I got out of bed, the cold floor and the cool air inside the house made me shiver. I never did like the cold.

Knock knock!

“I’m coming!” I yelled as I walked around my small table in the middle of the room. Taking a glance down at the utensils, I picked up a butter knife and tucked it close to me with my wing, just in case. As I opened the door, I just stood there, unable to believe what I was seeing.

“Spectra? What are you doing here? More so, how did you know where I live?” I was shocked to see her, here this late in the night.

“I’m sorry. I had nopony else to turn to. Please, I need a place to lay low for the night!” she begged with shine in her eyes, illuminated by the moonlight.

“Absolutely, come on in.” She dashed inside without a moment’s hesitation. Her body looked to be bruised up quite a bit. Spectra looked like she had just came out of a battle, and by her looks, I’d wager it wasn’t good.

Spectra suddenly started using her magic, locking the door and closing all of the shutters. The sound of metal and wooden locks filled the room as Spectra sealed us in. She was acting strange, and it was starting to scare me a bit.

“Can I get you anything; some coffee or some tea perhaps?”

“No, I’m good. Thank you so much by the way. I’m sorry I disturbed you so late in the night,” Spectra replied. She was shaken up quite a bit.

“Are you ok, what happened to you?” I asked since I was now getting worried about the whole situation. Something bad was going on, I could feel it.

Spectra just sat there for a moment, catching her breath.

“It happened early on in the morning after we found the amulet. This creature came out of nowhere and attacked me. I couldn’t beat it, I couldn’t hide from it; all I could do was run. It hunted me down all week; and earlier on tonight, that damn thing found me at the airship. I used the wreckage to my advantage and trapped the thing under some debris; however the bastard doesn’t know how to die!” Spectra explained frantically. I didn’t know what to think of the situation. Her ears where twitching, jumpy at every little sound.

“So what is this thing-”

“shhh” Spectra whispered as she dropped to the floor, backing into the corner by my bed. She was motioning me to do the same. I did as she said, backing up into the other corner of my house, away from the kitchen and the front door. Something was wrong; I don’t know how but I could sense it, something evil. Everything was quiet, dark, and disturbing. I could hear something faint; it was like a collection of whispers rambling on. Whatever it was, it was right outside my house.

There was a loud crash coming from my kitchen window. Glass breaking; the wooden shutters splintering!

Spectra looked over at me, horrified. The look of true terror was clear in her shrinking pupils, and her nervous jittering. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry I pulled you into this mess.”

I was really scared now, glancing back over at the window. How long until what ever is out there gets in here? In panic, my wing slipped, dropping the knife. It echoed as it bounced of the stone flooring. I jumped out of the corner and got as close as to Spectra as I could. “What is that?!” I asked eagerly, watching the shutter as it was being smashed from outside.

“Listen to me! When it gets in, I’ll distract it. When you get an opening, I want you to get out of here as fast as you can. Do you understand me Autumn!” Spectra ordered as she took up a defensive stance. I heard her, but can she hold this thing off? What if it comes after me when I make a run for the door? Will I even stand a chance at making it that far!

Suddenly the window shattered. The room grew dark as a black cloud quickly filled the room, taking form right in front of my eyes. It had the shape of a pony but it was dark, cloaked in tattered black robes. The hood was up but even then I should have been able to see a face, there was nothing but darkness under the wraps. It had a form, but felt empty. It was like a ghost, but it was physically in existence.

Spectra and I just stood the in shock. The air around us grew cold, and that thing just stared at us. It breathed slowly as it stood there. It felt like time froze over, it was almost paralyzing.

“AUTUMN, NOW!” Spectra shouted as her horn glowed a brilliant white as she casted a spell. It formed a transparent block out of pure light, covered in runes and shining like a star. Spectra’s horn busted into a brilliant glow as she smashed the creature strait into the floor, crushing it under the magic block of light. The whole house shook as the cube fought to hold the monster down, the magic energy was humming loudly as light flashed from the spell block.

I ready myself to make a dash for the door but then I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. Hanging above the mantle of the fireplace was an old family crest with a pair of rapiers crossed behind it. I dashed to the mantle instead and pulled on the bronze hilt of one of the swords.

“Autumn, what are you doing? I told you to run!”

“I can’t leave you here to fight this thing alone!” I yelled as I fought to dislodge the sword from the brackets. The crest rattled against the wall the more I tried to shake the blade loose.

“Autumn, I can’t hold the spell for much longer, you need to leave now!” Spectra shouted. Her horn was flickering has her magical energy was depleting.

Suddenly there was a loud crashing noise. The room grew dark again as the spell cube shattered into multiple light fragments. I suddenly felt myself falling backwards, pulling the crest down with me. I could hear the sweet sound of scraping steel as the blade slipped free from its brackets.

Spectra collapsed from exhaustion, that spell took a lot out of her, not to mention that she was already in a poor state when she arrived. The monster slowly picked itself up off the floor. Standing up on all fours, it turned its attention to Spectra and started to make its way to her.

“Get away from her!” Jumping in between the two, the sword clutched between my teeth; I swung as hard as I could. The blade screeched loudly as it sliced its way across the monster’s torso. My swing sent the monster flying backwards strait into the kitchen. “Not so tough are now, are you? Prick!” However, my cockiness soon turned to pure disbelief as I watched the monster stand back up.

“This can’t be. That strike should have cut his chest right open, yet it’s acting like its nothing but a scratch.” Clutching the hilt tighter, I jumped over the table and went in for the next attack. This one was going straight through the bastard’s heart. “Let’s see you survive this!”

I swung the blade in a stabbing motion towards its shoulder. Suddenly there was a loud cling as my sword strike came to a halt. It stopped the blade with its hoof, pressing against the tip like it was a stick. Feeling a gust build up around us, I was immediately thrown backwards by a wave of pressurized air; a magical attack from what I figured. Regaining my balance, I could see it lift its hind leg in an attempt to kick me. Acting quickly, I block the kick with the blade; my hind leg pushing against the lower tip of the blade to support parry. I could feel the force of the kick vibrating through the sword.

Suddenly there was a wretched sound of metal shattering. My leg began to slip forward; I lost balance, watching as shards of steel went flying everywhere. “What the hell?” I then felt a sharp pain in my abdomen. My body, thrown backwards into the wall, let out a loud thud as I dropped to the floor. Gasping for air, I was unable to breath from the blow of that kick. There was the distinct sound of metal ringing trough out the room as the rapier rolled across the ground; the blade was now snapped in half.

“Autumn, no!” The creature turned its attention back to Spectra, seemingly to only be interested in her. It ignored me this whole time until I attacked it; but why? Why was it after her?

Spectra’s eyes were no longer showing fear, they now exhibited pure rage as she brought herself back onto her hooves. “Alright! You want to fight? Then fight me!” Using her hind legs to propel her forward; Spectra bolted across the room, swinging her right hind leg straight into the creatures head. It was flung strait into the cabinets, killing my dinner plates in the process.

I focused on trying to get myself up. That kick, I was in so much pain, my stomach felt like it had been hit by a brick. It was still hard to breath. Spectra and the monster continued their fight in the kitchen as I attempted to pick myself up off the ground. My legs felt like they were about to give way under me. It took me a moment to catch my breath and ease the pain. My head down, breathing heavily, I had no idea how I could help. I barely had the strength to stand on my own.

Spectra was fast, she was agile, and she was ferocious. However she was also tiring out. If she can’t beat this thing in hoof to hoof combat then I knew I wouldn’t stand a chance in the state I’m in. The sword! I glanced over to my side and there it was, lying with in my reach. Its blade was broken in two, but it was still usable. I didn’t have the energy to remove the other rapier from the crest. Still a damaged weapon is better than no weapon at all.

My small table split inwards, right down the center as Spectra’s body fell onto it. She was running out of energy. The monster, now towering over her, was moving in closer. Spectra’s was watching as the creature drew closer but then her focus suddenly shifted to what was behind the it. Using my wings and what little energy I had left to get the advantage. I was now in perfect position; directly behind and above its backside.

“Spectra, now! Give it all you got!”

Kicking off of the top of the wall, I dashed strait for my target. Driving the blade all the way through; stabbing it right below the nape, strait through its torso. The creature let out a loud, ear-cringing scream unlike any living thing. It was like listening to somepony scraping their hoof against a chalkboard.

I couldn’t bare it. Releasing the sword hilt and clasping my ears, I fell of the monsters back and crashed onto the floor. As the creature screamed, Spectra made her final strike. She leaped off of the table and pointer her horn up, strait at the monsters chest. Despite the screaming I could also hear the rapid buildup of magic in Spectra’s horn; it shined as bright as the sun.

The room flashed as Spectra let off a blast of pure light, piercing straight through the monster. It was a beam of pure magic, cutting its way through anything. It only lasted for a second, but I could tell it dealt the killing blow. The monster began to glow as bright as the spell, imploding in on itself and bursting into a cloud of black mist. The silence was abruptly interrupted as the rapier fell from the smoke and hit the floor, ringing throughout the room as it rocked back and forth. Spectra following suit, collapsed onto the ground.

I just laid there on the floor, still in disbelief as to what I witnessed. I have never seen or heard of anything like that in my life. “What was that thing?” It was almost as if it was a wraith, but that can’t even be possible, can it? Can there truly be such things as ghost in this world.

Suddenly there was loud a bang coming from the door, splintering the frame. Something else was trying to break the door down. “Oh God, not another one.” I muttered at the thought of it, unable to gather any strength to defend myself. The door suddenly busted open and large stallion ran into the room, wielding a large wood splitting axe. It was Mr. Clover with a few other neighbors rushing in behind him.

“Autumn! Are you here! Autumn, Answer me!” he shouted, ready to swing that large axe of his. He then glanced down; spotting me on the ground, seeing the look of horror on my face with tears running from my eyes. He dropped the axe on the floor and kneeled down in front of me. There was relief in his eyes. “Are you ok? Where does it hurt?” he asked as he examined me over; noticing all the cuts and bruises along my body.

I tried to bring myself to speak. “I… I don’t-”... I was unable to speak, only to start bursting into tears. I wasn’t a crier, but I could not stop crying. Mr. Clover just pulled me in close with a big embrace. “Everything’s fine, you’re safe now, darling. I promise.” He said with a strong and protective yet soothing voice, holding me close. The tears just kept flowing as I buried my face in his chest.

“I thought I was going to die! I really thought I was going to die!” still huddling in fear in between his arms, “I don’t want to die!”

“It’s ok; nothing is going to hurt you now. I’m here to protect you. You’re safe.”

Chapter three: No Turning Back

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Awaking in my bed later that morning, I thought it might have been a bad dream or something. That was until I saw all the damage to my house. The table was split inwards; the kitchen cabinets next to the sink were busted. I looked over by the fireplace. The family crest was place back above the mantle; however one of the rapiers was missing. The door was closed but I could tell that the lock was broken.

Climbing out of bed, I felt a tingling pain in my abdomen as well as a few sore spots along my body. I trotted over to the entrance of my house, glancing around at all the damage. Opening up the splintered door, I was blinded by the light of the sun. It took a moment for my eyes to adjust. It was getting close to noon from what I could tell.

“Well look who’s awake,” said a familiar voice coming from the front lawn. It was Mr. Clover, sitting in a chair with a smile. “So are you feeling any better?” He asked with a sense of relief that I was alright. “You poor thing; you cried yourself to sleep in my arms. What ever happened, I know it was bad when my tough little Autumn breaks down the way she did last night.”

I lowered my head. I’m not fond of crying or letting others know when I'm driven to tears. “Yeah, it was bad. Some monster broke in an attacked me and my friend last night.” I just realized that Spectra was nowhere to be found. I saw her collapse after the battle but that’s all I remembered.

“Spectra! What happened to her? Is she safe?”

“You mean that yellow unicorn with multi-colored mane? She regained consciousness shortly after you doze off. She gave us a brief rundown about what happened; but when we tried to bring her in for questioning, she teleported away. It was a powerful spell too, we couldn’t even trace her,” Mr. Clover explained. “But if she’s your friend then I guess she’s off the hook for now.”

I was glad to know that Spectra was ok, but where did she run off to? Perhaps back to the airship. Mr. Clover then stood up out of his chair and looked at me.
“Listen, you take it easy and rest for today. Me and a few of the others will be around in case you need anything. Perhaps later if you’re willing, you can tell us in detail about what happened. We’re here if you need anything.”

“Ok, thank you Mr. Clover, for everything,” I replied with all my gratitude, I knew that if anypony, I could always count on him.

Mr. Clover just looked back and smiled. “Anything for my favorite little pegasus; and the daughter of my best friend.”

As Mr. Clover and the others suggested, I spent the next couple of days recuperating. Mainly working around my house; I was either fixing the damages or tending to my garden. I’d journey into town for a bit but nothing more. The investigation lead to nothing, nopony seems to of ever heard of a creature like the one that attacked us. Spectra had also disappeared; nopony has seen or heard of her either, other than the few who showed up to my house that night.

The weekend has passed and today starts another day of work. Maybe some normalcy will help me get my mind back on track. As I opened the door to head to work, I was surprised by a familiar face.

“Spectra! Where have you been? I was worried about you,” I exclaimed, happy to see her safe and sound. She didn’t seem as happy as I was though.

“Hey, Autumn; I just wanted to apologize for putting your life in danger like that. And I never got to say thank you; thank you for all that you done for me. Not only were you friendly to me, but you saved my life that night. Even though it meant that you had to stay and face an unknown danger, you stayed and fought to protect me. That’s difficult even for a soldier, and for that I thank you.” Spectra explained; her heart heavy with regret as she looked me in the eye.

“It wasn’t a problem, you were in need of help and I was happy to oblige. It wasn’t your fault for what happen.”

“It was my fault,” Spectra rebutted “It’s the amulet, that creature was drawn to it. That’s why I left that night, in case there were anymore of those things.”

I wasn’t sure how to take the situation. There was this look in her eyes and I didn’t like it.

“I came here to say goodbye. I’m leaving to see if I can’t find any more information on this thing. There’s something about this amulet, something more than meets the eye, and I’m going to find out what that is. It’s been fun while it lasted, and I’m glad I met you.”

“You’re serious, aren’t you? You’re really just going leave.” I just lowered my head for a moment. Guess it wasn't a surprise givin my track record of making friends.

“So, I guess this is goodbye then… For what it’s worth, I’m glad you spooked me back on top of the hill the day.” I replied with a heavy heart. I don't know why I even try anymore. “Even though we’ve known each other for little more than a few weeks, I feel like were becaming good friends, would you say?”

Spectra just smiled, subtly. “Yeah, I would say so.” She just turned around and began to walk off. “Oh and, Autumn, I think you might just make an excellent airship pilot someday. Just follow your heart, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. You take care now, you hear.”

“Yeah, you too,” I responded, feeling like somepony just hit me in the chest with a brick. Spectra made it out of my front gate and teleported away. “Damn it! Why, why does everyone have to leave?” I cringed, losing yet another would be friend. I think, I think I’ll walk to work today. Hopefully the walk will help me clear my head of all this drama, all the sorrow, all this… all this grief.

“Autumn Bliss! What’s your excuse this time? Well?” My boss yelled. At least that much hasn’t changed, I still hate that bastard though. “You know, I never did like you. You’re lazy, you’re sarcastic, you always back talk me, you never show up to work on time; hell, I sometimes get the feeling that you don’t even want to be here!”

“Wow, what gave you that idea,” I replied in my usual tone when ever he yells at me.

“That’s it; I have had just about enough of you! I think it’s high time you start thinking about your priorities, the things that you need to do! And being a genuine smart ass isn’t one of them!”

"Yeah, yeah, yeah..." Hold on, what did he say? “Wait, what did you say?”

“I said to quit being a smart ass!”

“No, no, no! The other thing, what you said before that?”

He looked at me strangely. “Um, I said you need to start thinking about the things you need to do.”

“That’s it!” I said excitedly, who would have thought my boss would actually have been useful. He was right; there is something that I need to do. It suddenly hit my like a rock, I’ve just been coasting through life and never prioritizing what’s important to me. Never actually taking action. I always just accepted things for how they were and never gave a thought as to what really mattered to me.

“What’s it? You finally came up with a clever, half-baked excuse for being tardy, again?”

“Yes sir, the reason I’m late for work is because I had to piss you off one last time before I told you!” I explained excitedly. He wasn’t amused.

“Before you told me what?” he asked, batting an eyebrow. I’ve waited for this moment my whole life!

“Fuck you!”

His mouth dropped at that response, trying to comprehend if what he heard was true. “WHAT DID YOU SAY TO ME!”

“Fuck! You! Do you need me to spell it out? F U C-”

Everypony’s attention was now directed this way. “You are in a world of trouble now! By time I get done with you, you’ll wish you never stepped hoof in that door!”

“I already wish that, sir! I wished that for a long time now.” I was enjoying this but I was also low on time. I turned around and galloped straight for the exit.

“Autumn! You walk out that door and you are fired! You hear me! Fired!”

“Sorry sir, but how can you fire somepony who already quit? Or did I not make it obvious enough?” With that last remark, I spread my wings and darted into the sky. I haven’t felt that great in a long time. Making my way back to my house as fast as I could, I sped strait towards my front yard. My hooves dug into the grass as I skidded across the lawn, it wasn’t exactly my smoothest landing.

“Hey Autumn! You’re home early.” Mr. Clover shouted from across the street.

“I quit!” I told him happily as I ran into my house.

“You what?!”

I emptied my saddle bag of everything and started repacking it with the bare essentials I was going to need for a long trip. Rushing over to my bed, I pulled out an old trunk from underneath. Inside it were a lot of old photo albums, letters and other trinkets. I rummaged through it all, looking for one specific item. “There it is!”

Mr. Clover was still waiting outside when I exited the house and locked the door.

“Hey, that’s the scarf your father got you all those years ago, isn’t it?” He asked, referring to the cloth around my neck. It was a long silk scarf, bright blue with three orange stripes at the end. “It looks good on you.”

“Yep, the one and only,” I responded with a smile. “Hey, Mr. Clover, I just wanted to say, Thank you for always being there for me.”

Mr. Clover turned his eyes on the saddlebag that rested off my flank. “I’m guessing you’re about to head out on some long journey, uh?” He responded as he began to chuckle. “You’re just like your dad in that respect, unable to resist a good adventure. Go, I hope you find whatever it is you’re looking for.”

I bit my lip; I had to so I wouldn’t start tearing up. Leaping towards him, I wrapped my arms around him, giving him one last big hug. “I’m going to miss you, so much!” I could already feel a tear running down my cheek, and I think it was starting to make him emotional as well.

“You go on now, be safe. And have fun!”

“I will!” I shouted back, smiling as I slammed my wings down, taking to the sky. Even though she teleported away, I have a good idea of where Spectra was at. Gliding over the plains, I could see the airship and as I got closer, Spectra too. Not wasting a moment I banked hard right and threw myself into a free fall.

Spectra sat on top of her usual spot, which was the hill next to the one I always napped on. Before reaching the ground, I sprung my wings open and cushioned my landing. I could also tell that I nearly gave Spectra a heart attack from the shocked expression on her face.

“Autumn, what are you doing here? I thought you had work,” Spectra said to me, rather surprised by my sudden appearance.

“I did, but not anymore. I’m coming with you to find out more about this amulet and that monster.”

Spectra showed no sign of happiness or joy to have a somepony to accompany her. Instead she just exhibited a serious expression on her face. “I’m sorry, but you can’t come with me.”

“What? But why not?” I demanded; seeing how I quit my job for this, I better get a good explanation.

“It’s too dangerous, not knowing if any more of those things will show up; plus I don’t think you’re up for the challenge of the wild lands. Sure you helped me out back at your place but you're not exactly adventurer material,” she said, expecting me to just accept that reasoning.

“I can handle myself, you saw for yourself first hoof.”

“Look, I don’t need you following me around. You can barely swing a sword, much less defend yourself. You’re not a fighter, Autumn; you’re a civilian. All you will do is slow me down,” Spectra answered coldly with a piercing gaze.

“Hang on a moment; I managed to get a few good swings in! I think I can handle myself in a situation.”

“You acted without thinking, you didn’t flee when I told you to, and you went down after one hit. In that respect, you’re not suited to accompany me anywhere that I’m headed. I’m not going to foal sit some civilian who thinks they’re as good as a trained soldier,” Spectra replied, determined to change my mind.

“Oh yeah, well you aren’t exactly wearing a flak jacket or a uniform flying the Ponytopian colors. Nor have I seen any signs of you being on active duty. So as far as I’m concerned, you are not a soldier. In that respect, you and I are the same!” I struck a nerve with that one, Spectra’s calm posture shifted into full out anger as she lunged forward.

“I may not be an active soldier anymore, but my military training far surpasses any skill you possess! Furthermore I am the one who has more combat and survival experience with the wild lands! You and the other hoof are just some lonely, desperate for a friend pegasi; who thinks the whole world is against her. And because you got to spend a little time with somepony, you automatically assume that they’re your best bud!” Spectra shouted, each of her sentences striking at my soul; each word hurting more and more.
“Well listen and listen well! I may have been nice and friendly to you; I might have considered you as an acquaintance. But that does not; I repeat, does not make you my best friend! You are not my comrade, you are not my companion! You’re just some pony who I met on top of a hill and that’s THAT!” Spectra exclaimed.

Her words stung, and stung badly. Is that how she saw me? Was I really that clingy, too desperate for some pony to call my friend? Am I really that naïve? “I’m… I’m sorry, I just wanted to-”

“Wanted to what? Follow me on some adventure because your life here is too boring; because you’re too reckless to see what you’re getting yourself into? I don’t need anypony’s help, especially the help from a pony who doesn’t know how to take a hint!”

“But I-”

“Go home, Autumn. Study to become an airship pilot or whatever it is you want to do; but just leave. This is my journey, not yours. You have nothing more to contribute to it. So just go home,” She said as she turned around and started to trot off down the road.

I could always sense that Spectra wasn’t all smiles and laughs, that there was something more to her. But was this the true Spectra? All I wanted to do was curl into a ball and cry. I wasn’t a crier, but I wanted to break down right then and there.
“No,” I mumbled accidently, Spectra’s ear twitched but she didn’t stop. Just follow my heart; that’s what she said right before she left my house. Well, my heart is telling me to stand up and assert myself to her. I had too; there was no turning back!

“NO!” I shouted, holding back my feelings of despair, fear, and embarrassment.

Spectra stopped in her tracks only to glance back, though not so much as to turn her head. “What?” she asked in an aggravated tone.

Gritting my teeth in anger, I darted to her as fast as I could. My hooves dug into the dirt bringing me to a halt; face to face with Spectra as she turned around. Her eyes widened as I appeared instantly up in her face, our muzzles barely inches apart from each other’s.

“I SAID NO!” I yelled, glaring into her eyes. Spectra was not one to be intimidated by someone up in her face.

“I told you, Autumn, you’re not coming with me and that’s final!”

“Yes I am!”

Spectra was growing more irritated by the second. “No you’re not! Listen, you have no right-”

“I have every right!” I exclaimed. This was my turn to go on the attack, I wasn't about to go back to that old cycle of watch ponies leave me behind. If Spectra wants to play the bitch attitude, then so can I!

“The way I see it, I was taking a nap and minding my own business like I always do. Then some random unicorn decides to interrupt my daily routing. She then drags me along on some expedition into an airship, which I might add was dangerous by its own right, just so she could lay to rest some dream about a stupid necklace. And upon finding said necklace, keeps it for herself and leads some evil ghost monk thing from hell strait into my house. Then upon fighting the ghost monk from hell, wrecks my home in the process, only to leave with a short farewell and offered nothing for trouble. Then she has the nerve to call me incompetent when I try to help her out even more!”

Spectra just stood there for a moment. Her tone of voice changed, she was a bit calmer in her attitude now but she was still against me. “Look I understand you want to help, and I’m grateful. But you don’t understand what you’re getting yourself into. You’re unaware about how the world works and how dangerous it is out there. You’re too young to understand.”

“I’m twenty-two and I’m plenty aware of how dangerous this world is. You are right about some things though. Yes I am a bit naïve, yes I lack experience in dangerous situations, yes I’m lonely and I’m desperate for friends. But I’m not stupid. I know that I’m doing this because I feel like my life is boring. I live in a small town where everything is peaceful and repetitive. I work a job that I can’t stand. I have a hard time making friends and I feel like I’m just coasting through life, doing nothing with myself.”

Spectra’s face slowly started to shift, form slight annoyance to almost sympathetic. She just stood there, listening to what I had to say.

“Look, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to anger or insult you; but, I’ve always hated how indecisive I am. I never act, always second guessing myself. Life is passing me by and I’ve done nothing to change that. I know now that I did jump the gun; that I acted without thinking. However I’m tired of not acting. I realize now that you didn’t see me as much of a friend as I saw you. Hell I’m willing to bet that you view me more as a nuisance now, and that’s natural. We’ve only known each other for a few weeks and I’m not exactly the most social of ponies.”

I took a moment to catch my breath and calm my mind. Now with a more collective train of thought, I just looked her in the eyes.

“But, there’s no turning back for me. I quit my job and left my house in the care of my most trusted neighbor. I wanted to be decisive for once and actually do something. Maybe I am in over my head but that’s a risk I’m willing to take. If we get in each other’s way then I’ll go my own path from there and leave you be. I’ve made my decision and I’m not backing down.”

Spectra just stood there. I couldn’t tell if she was still angry with me or if she actually understood what I was trying to tell her. Suddenly she just closes her eyes and cracks a small smirk.
“I remember saying something similar to my dad when I first decided to become a marine for the Imperial Air Force. I want to see the world, make a difference. Not sit around and do nothing. It was tough, training was intense and live combat was terrifying. I believe it was the best decision I ever made,” Spectra explained as she opened her eyes with one of her trademark smiles.

Spectra then sighed. “I’m sorry. It was wrong of me to of said all those things about you. That being said, I’m still not sure if it’s a good idea for you to accompany me. I can’t guarantee your safety or anything for that matter. However you are correct, you have every right to join me if you want. I got you involved the day we went aboard the airship. This may be a short trip with nothing to worry about, or it can prove to a long and dangerous one. I don’t know what we’ll find out, but… I won’t reject any more if you are truly set on this.”

I didn’t expect her to change her mind that quickly. Well technically she hasn’t, but she’s giving me the choice. She is right, I don’t know what I’m in for and I won’t be able to change my mind later. Maybe I should just… no, I’ve already decided, I can’t back out now after everything I said.

“I’m coming with you, for better or for worst.”

Spectra smiled. “Well in that case, we are headed westwards to the industrial city of Detrot. I recommend that you take one last look at this place, because you won’t be seeing it again anytime soon.”

It would be a while before we return to this place. I was already beginning to feel homesick the moment I started to think about it. But at the same time I was also excited. I’ve practically lived here my whole life, rarely venturing out of this valley. So I couldn’t wait to see what the rest of Ponytopia looked like. I’ve seen a few pictures and all but to actually travel the country was an amazing yet terrifying idea.

I took in one last view of home; the lush green rolling hills, the scattered collections of trees, the mountain ranges to the north and south west, and most of all, the ocean that separates us from the rest of the world.

The wind blew strong, north, north-west; a good sign that it was time to head on out.

Spectra looked excited to get moving. “You ready?”

“Yeah, let’s do this. To Detrot?”

She smiled. “To Detrot.”

Chapter four: The Journey Begins

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The landscape here defiantly took a dramatic turn. We were only a few of miles west from the Sir Dante and the lush plains and rolling hills that I was accustomed too. Here it was tall evergreen trees, large ferns grew everywhere and the sun light filtered in from above. Large boulders dotted the forest and the ground was more mulch than grass. Spectra and I stuck to the road, a wide dirt path that cut through the woods. The further in we traveled, the larger and more spread the trees grew. Apart from the bird chirps that echoed in the distance, it was rather quiet. Spectra lead the way, occasionally glancing at the map, but mostly she would just read one of her books from her saddle bag. I didn't mind the peace and quiet but this constant walking and saying nothing was starting to bore me.

“Hey Spectra,” I said to get her attention away from that book. “Do you know a lot about magic?”

She just glanced back, “I know a good deal about it. Why do you ask?”

“Well I was wondering; what if supposedly that a non-unicorn, like for say an earth-pony, wanted to learn elemental magic. I know it’s rumored to be possible that non-unicorns can use certain elementals, like for say, fire magic. Is that true?”

Spectra just cocked a smile at me. “What are you saying? That you want to learn fire magic?”

“Wait what? No, I was just… well I suppose a pegasus could also want to; I mean… uh, yes, I want to learn fire magic. So, is it possible? Can you teach me?”

Spectra just kept on grinning as she slowed her pace. “Yeah it’s possible, however it’s not something most ponies are capable of. Otherwise a lot of ponies would be shooting fireballs or conjuring lightning.”

Well at least I knew it wasn’t all just a hoax or a rumor. “So, can you teach me how its done?”

Spectra’s grin took on a more a more sarcastic look as she paused her advance. “You seem to think that there is some trick to it, and once you know it, then the rest will be easy. I’m sorry to burst you’re bubble but it doesn’t work that way. You need an understanding of magic on the fundamental level.”

“And you seem to think that mere words will deter me,” I replied with a smirk. Spectra just sighed and smiled, like she always does.

“Ok, first off I want you to take in a deep breath. Ok, now exhale slowly. You need to feel it in your chest, let the air fill your lungs. Now exhale again at a slow and steady pace.”

Taking in a few gulps of air and releasing it like she said, I was tingling with excitement, eager to learn the next step. “Ok, what’s next, Spectra?”

“Just keep breathing like you were. Breathe in and breathe out. Breathe in and breathe out.”

This was starting to sound ridiculous. “I know how to breathe. What I need to learn is how to use magic? It sounds to me like you’re training me for pregnancy, not fire magic.”

She just smiled as she batted an eyebrow to that remark. “Yes well you are right there. Giving birth and casting fire are quite similar if you think about it. In both instances you are bring new life into the world.” Her light hearted smile switched to a serious glare. “However, unlike child birth, if you screw up with fire, you can end you taking life from this world as well.”

I didn't think about it in that perspective. All I wanted to learn as basic stuff, like lighting my fire place or simple tricks to show off.

“Proper breathe control will teach you how to manage your magic’s flow and output. This will not only allow you to control the size and duration of the flame, but also the ability to intensify the heat, compress it into a jet that can cut steel, and even extinguish the flame at will.”

I was defiantly pumped now! “So all I have to do is breathe for a while and control my breath and I’ll be ready for the next step?” I asked eagerly with a spark in my eye.

“More or less, but that’s the jiff of things,” Spectra said as she continued to walk. She then went back to levitating her book as I continued to practice my breathing.

We were now deeper into the forest; the terrain was getting rocky with ledges and steep inclines. It felt like the side of a small mountain, or a really big hill. I must have been practicing my breathing for an hour or two. Slow breathing, fast breathing, holding my breathing and releasing in on big breath breathing; Spectra had me doing it all. It felt like my lungs were ready to pop.

“Ok Spectra, I’ve been breathing for a while, can I stop now?”

Spectra just glanced back at me. “You want to stop breathing? Why would you want to do that?”

“You know what I mean!”

“Alright,” Spectra said with a chuckled. “Next up is magic. As a pegasus, this concept will come easier to you than it would an earth pony. I assume you know how to make precipitation and lightning strikes from clouds, right?”

“More or less,” I replied since I don’t actually do that on a day to day basis. I studied about it back at the academy but unlike Equestria weather pegasi, Ponytopian weather teams used ships and machines to control weather.

Spectra just sighed in disappointment. “Ok, well first off, all you need to be concerned about is lightning. You don’t realize it but when you strike a cloud to make a lightning bolt, you’re actually releasing a stream of magic energy from your body to direct the lightning. Once you’ve learned to recognize and perform this technique on your own, you’ll be able to summon electricity to you at will.”

“So I need to learn how to make lightning? Which is supposedly natural to pegasi?”

“You need to learn how to sense and control the flow of your own magical energy. Magic is your primary fuel for controlling a flame. If you can’t control a magical flow, then you might as well douse yourself in kerosene and light a match. You’ll get better results that way, but you probably won’t do much else after wards.”

Her sarcasm seems to rival my own. “So create lightning and feel the magic as I use it. Sounds easy enough, what should I look for when I try to sense it?”

“I don’t know. I’m not a pegasus, I don’t do lightning. I’m a unicorn. Unicorns don’t need to sense magic to use it, that’s why it’s so easy for us. This is something you’ll have to discover for yourself,” Spectra snapped aggressively as she tried to continue reading her book.

“Alright I get it, sorry for asking.” flapping my wings, I took off for the nearest cloud.

“And don’t forget to keep practicing your breathing!” Spectra shouted from the ground as I made my way up to the cloud line.

Another hour or two must have passed as I was up there. It took me around thirty minutes to just figure out how to even create a lightning strike. I tried bucking, kicking, even karate style moves just to make a lightning bolt. Usually I just busted the cloud up or made it rain. I was actually forced to venture off just to find new clouds since I busted up all the close ones. In all the commotion, Spectra’s location almost became lost to me. Luckily the path through the forest was easily recognizable from up here. The road was the only place where the trees weren’t growing in large numbers. Once back over the road, I could spot Spectra easily on the ground.

Once I mastered creating lightning without destroying the cloud then I was set to continue practicing above Spectra’s location. One thing I did notice immediately was that I found myself reaching for my water canteen a lot. Even to the point that I was draining other clouds to refill it. I did start to notice something though but it was faint and I still didn’t understand what I was feeling. However, all this practice was tiring me out.

After another hour of continuous lightning bolts and thunder claps, I finally returned back to the ground. Landing beside Spectra as she cantered along, still reading her book. Trotting alongside her, I took a peek at the pages and read it a bit. It looked to be some sort of a romance novel involving the relationship between a vampony and a robot.

“Hey, Spectra, are we near Detrot yet?”

“Not even close,” Spectra replied, not even bothering to take her head out of that book.

“Well, is there a town nearby that we can stop at?”

“We passed a trading depot a couple of miles back, and we’re at least a few hours from the next town. Why do you ask?” She said still reading her novel.

“Well you see I was hoping we could stop somewhere and find a bathroom. I’ve gotta pee really badly!”

Spectra didn’t even take her eyes off the pages after hearing that. I was hoping she would at least pull out the map and check. “Well, can’t you hold it for a few hours until we reach the next town?”

“I went through like five canteens full of water while I was up there! You try holding it for that long after drinking that much!”

Spectra lowered her book and glanced back at me. “Well, I guess you’ll have to go in the woods then.”

“What! You can’t be serious?” I shouted; I could feel myself blushing from embarrassment at the thought of it.

“Haven’t you ever gone camping before? Yes I’m serious. Go find yourself a bush or a fern or something. I’ll wait right here till you’re done.” Spectra replied, immediately she went back to reading.

“What if somepony sees me? I would die right then and there, never able to show my face in public again!”

“Nopony is going to see you! We’re the only two here, besides, we’re both girls. I’m not going to peek at you, so you should have nothing to worry about.”

“Alright fine, but something bad happens then I blame you,” I replied as I put some distance between me and her. Luckily these sequoia trees were huge, offering me some privacy.

“Quite complaining, that’s part of going on an adventure. I knew you would only slow me down,” Spectra yelled back as she sat down on the road reading her love story. “Honestly, I never thought I’d be arguing with somepony about the morals of peeing behind a tree. I swear.”

About a minute later, Spectra started to get a bad feeling. “Something’s wrong.” Spectra hoped to her hooves, looking around in all directions. “Autumn, where are you?” She yelled worryingly as she scanned the tree line.

“I’m right here!” I shouted back as I hoped back onto the road. “Damn that felt good, I seriously thought I was going to-” Spectra shushed me, she was on edge. “What’s wrong?”

“We’re not alone,” she said looking up at the ridge.

“What! I knew it, somepony saw me didn’t they?!”

“No, this is something else… Timber wolves,” Spectra replied in a low, aggressive voice. Her eyes focused up on the ridge to the left of the road.

I couldn’t see any timber wolves at first but I did notice a low growling in the distance. All of a sudden they started to make their way out into the open. Five timber wolves in total, and they looked vicious.

Spectra then turned to me, grinning as she hatched some sort of plan. “Ok, Autumn, I need you to do exactly as I say. You’re in for a real treat. I need you to sit there and don’t move a muscle, got it.”

“You want me to just sit here!”

“Yes, don’t move an inch unless I tell you to,” She ordered. I didn’t like the thought of it but I did as I was told.

A timber wolf suddenly launched towards Spectra. Just as fast, Spectra performed a backwards somersault. There was a distinct glow around her hind leg as a fire began to kindle. The flame engulfing her hind leg was then shot forward in a vertical spiral, knocking the wolf backwards as well as setting it a blaze. Spectra landed on three hooves and slid backwards, extending her foreleg forward to keep herself balanced.

The timber wolf started whining and rolling about trying to extinguish itself. Two more of the wolves attacked Spectra simultaneously from the side, barreling down on her. She twisted around and launched another fire wave with a butterfly kick. Timber wolves did not like fire as those two dashed away in the opposite direction, a trail of black smoke following them.

There was a growling coming from behind as a wolf set its eye on me. “Spectra, can I move now?!” I asked eagerly as I heard the wolf approaching.

“Don’t move, Autumn!” She said with confidence, I wasn’t as confident.

I heard the growling turn into a full snarl, the wolf making its attack.

“SPECTRA!”

“Don’t move!” Spectra yelled spinning around with yet another kick, firing a large flame ring directly at me.

I could feel the heat of the ring grazing me as it passed over. Suddenly there was a burst of hot air rushing behind my body accompanied by a loud explosion. I couldn’t help it. Turning my head around to see what happened, I saw the timber wolf scorched from the blast, smoking heavily as embers flew off as it retreated back behind the trees. I then caught something out of the corner of my eye.

“Spectra, watch out!” I yelled as the last timber wolf jumped out of the shrubs, lunging at her. She quickly hoped to the side with another somersault, landing on her hind legs. As the wolf was right about to pounce, she clasped both of her front hooves and thrust them forward, strait at the wolf’s chest. A blast of fire was released in a continuous stream, pushing the wolf back into a large tree, Spectra standing up on her hind legs now, slowly walking forward. She did not let up, the flames roaring as she maintained flow of the fire, gusts of hot air and steam was flowing all around. It sounds just like a flamethrower.

Spectra started to back off, the flames dying down. The whole front of that sequoia tree was scorched black with glowing embers everywhere. What remained of the timber wolf was just a pile of glowing ash and sparks. There was the sweet smell of roasted charcoal, which now that I’m thinking about it is quite disturbing.

Spectra just glanced over at me with a smile. “Didn’t even use my horn once.”

“So that’s fire magic?” I was astounded. Something like that could be performed by any kind of pony, the thought of it was… seductive to say the least. So much power at one’s hoof tips.

“Alright then, I’m off to practicing again!” I said as I dashed up to the sky.

“Hey, we need to get to the next town soon before it gets too late. So don’t wonder off!” Spectra yelled back from the ground.

“Yeah, alright I hear ya!”

The sun was beginning its descent as we reached the nearest town. I got a good three more hours of practice in, and I was actually noticing that magic flow Spectra was talking about. Still can’t summon lightning on my own though.

The landscape was much different now than it was back in the sequoia forest. The trees grew scarce, the entire area was surrounded by tall rocky mountains, steep drop offs, and large cliff faces. The air up here was a bit chillier than it was in the forest. A lot of the plant life looked dead. I turned east while I was up in the sky, to see if I could spot the green rolling plains I called home, I saw nothing but endless trees and mountain peaks.

Bringing myself to the ground, I landed beside Spectra who stopped at a split in the road.

“So how far did we travel?” I asked since I didn’t pay any attention while I was practicing.

“Oh we covered some ground, at least forty miles,” Spectra replied looking at her map. “We’ll head north up this road. It will bring us to the town of Canterburg , up in the mountain.”

“Ah, ok. So where what region are we in exactly? It’s a lot different than the Chesternut valley.”

“We’re in the Ponievynian Mountains, located on north eastern region of Ponytopia. Good thing you can fly, because it’s nothing but sheer drops and deep canyons for a while. Any ways, lets head in to town before it gets dark,” Spectra said as she turned right and headed up the road towards town.

A chill ran down my spine, “Spectra, wait up! Do you mean the Ponievynian region? Aren’t there like, a lot of monsters here; wyverns, basilisk, hyenas, vampires and other nightmarish creatures?”

“Yes, that’s why it’s a good idea to make it into town before nightfall,” she said as just kept walking. I for one did not want to be out here after nightfall. So I followed Spectra closely until we reached town.

Making our way up the road, we started to spot houses and eventually the town itself. It was a nice little place, a large open plaza lined with shops and a fountain in the center. Everypony seemed happy, so that was a relief.

“You wait here; I’m going to go see about getting us a hotel room for the night.” Spectra stated as she headed off to some market stalls to ask around. I in the meantime will wait over by the fountain.

The place was lively, not what I was expecting. The sky was a beautiful array of orange, pink, and turquoise as the sun started to set over the mountain tops. I gazed at my reflection in the town fountain, getting lost in thought.

“Wow cool, a real pegasus!” a voice said from behind me. Turning around I saw that a large group of young fillies and colts had gathered around me.

“Ah, look at those wings, they’re so big!” one of the colts said with big bright eyes.

“And they’re so soft too!” a filly replied as she rubbed her cheek against my wing.

“Hey miss, do you fly a lot?” one of them asked as they all watched me, excited to hear my response.

I was starting to blush; I was never the center of attention just because I had wings. “Why yes, I do indeed fly,” I responded, loving all the attention.

They all got really interested now. “Wow, so how are you not dead?”

“Well you see I… what?” Did I just hear what I think they said?

“I thought she would have been eaten by now!”

“Do you think she’ll disappear in the middle of the night like the others?”

“Let guess how long she’ll last; I say she won’t make it till tomorrow morning!”

My heart sank into my stomach. I can’t believe what I’m hearing; you don’t say something like that to somepony. What where they talking about? Was it really that safe to be here? Should I have stayed home after all? I then noticed that some of the adults were eyeing me. What’s going on here?

I was soon approached by a mare this time. “I’m sorry about that miss, but I think that it’s best if you leave.”

“I agree, this is no place for a pegasus like yourself.” A stallion said this time.

“Wait, what’s going on? I don’t get it,” I asked nervously, having no idea as to why I was so unwelcomed here. All the commotion caught Spectra’s attention, who was close by at a nearby market stall.

“What’s going on here, Autumn?” Spectra asked as she approached the crowd. “What did you do?”

“I didn’t do anything! I was just by the fountain and all of a sudden everypony wants me to leave.”

“Hey, is she with you?” one stallion asked, staring at Spectra.

“Yeah, what of it?” Spectra responded, not amused by the whole situation as she gazed at each member in the crowd.

“You need to tell your friend to leave immediately!” another mare said franticly, nudging her head towards me.

“What is going on? Why do all of you ponies want me to leave so badly? What do you have against pegasi?” I glanced around at all of them. I was the only pegasus in town by the look of it. Everypony else was either earth pony or unicorn.

One of the mares turned to me with a look of worry on her face. “We don’t have anything against you or pegasi in general. It’s just that it isn’t safe for you here and it’s best if you leave.”

Spectra just glared at the others. “It’s not safe for her out in the wild at this time of day either. What can be so dangerous that all pegasi need to be driven out of town while everyone else lives as if it’s perfectly safe?”

“You really don’t know, do you?” A stallion asked surprisingly. Spectra just batted an eyebrow at him. “This has been going on for years. Young pegasus mares have been abducted all around the area and never seen again. All of the other pegasi and any other ponies that assisted them in their search were wiped out as well. The military hasn’t done much about it either.”

“Look, we don’t mean to be rude, but it’s for your own good,” one of the mares said.

“We can’t risk remaining in the wild lands during the night either. We’ll stay here for the night and we’ll be off by morning.” Spectra responded to the crowd. She then just glanced to me. “Come on, Autumn, let’s find a room for the night. Oh, and for your sake, I’d suggest you stick close to me until we leave.”

“Um ok,”

Trotting up to Spectra, I kept close, watching everything around me. As we visited the few hotels that where available, they all were too scared to let us stay the night, saying they didn’t want us to bring trouble to their doors. The hour was growing late, the west was a dark orange while the east a deep blue. The moon was on the rise and we were running out of time.

“Excuse me, but aren’t you the two from that big fuss in town square earlier?” asked a soft, sweet voice; smooth as silk. It was a young unicorn; her coat was light lavender while her flowing mane was a light combination of silver and purple. Her eyes were a bright amethyst.

“Forgive me for intruding but I noticed that you were having a hard time finding an inn to stay at.”

Spectra just gave her a suspicious look. “Yeah, it seems like everypony here believes we’re some kind of bad omen.”

She didn’t seem dangerous to me. She had a soft and caring tone to her voice. She seemed almost bashful, though that could just be because Spectra wasn’t in the most welcoming mood.

“I’m sorry about that, it was wrong of them to act that way, but they’re not heartless, just scared. Anypony who associated with a pegasus here usually ended up in a worst off position themselves. Everypony here is just scared of the consequences.”

“You don’t seem too scared of those consequences,” Spectra replied intimidatingly.

“No I’m not, I know better. This is why I came to offer you a place to stay until morning,” she said with a smile on her face. This wasn’t one of Spectra’s shallow smiles that were always hiding something. This smile was sincere.

“Ok I’ll bite, it beats staying on the streets,” Spectra responded, still with a suspicious tone in her voice.

We made our way back to the town square and stopped outside of a large three story building. There was a lot of commotion going on inside. Was this a bar or a tavern of some sorts? As we opened the door, we were met by the sound of music blaring. Rock guitars, wind instruments, and strings all playing in an energetic harmony. A lot of the ponies here wore cloaks, armor, robes or other adventuring gear. Most also brandish weapons of some sort; rather it be blades, axes, guns, scepters, great swords, spell books, and what not. This was a lively crowd; drinking at the bar, wrestling in the corner, or just sitting around exchanging stories.

Walking in there was one pony that came running at us hastily. Spectra was on edge as he ran right on past us towards the door. “Sorry, gotta go, Later!” he said busting out into the street.

“Does that guy ever take a break?” one stallion asked another sitting at a table right beside us.

“I know right, if he’s not on a quest, then he’s combing the job board looking for one.” They then looked our way and waved. “Yo, Platina, did you bring us two new recruits?”

Our lavender guide just smiled “Oh no, not this time; they didn’t have a place to stay for the night so I brought them here. Pegasus incident you know,” she said smiling as she glanced at me.

“Is that right, well its a damn shame they act that way towards you. Any who, you’re welcome here,” the stallion said to us as he took a gulp from his pint.

I liked it here, it reminded me of home. Spectra on the other hoof didn’t seem to enjoy the atmosphere as much. She just cringed as she looked around. “Uhhh, if I would have known we were headed to a guild hall then I might have reconsidered the offer.”

“I don’t know, Spectra, I kinda like it here,” I said with a grin as I glanced around. I was loving this place, it felt so inviting.

“You!” Sperta growled, “you didn’t strike me as member of the guild.”

“Calm down Spectra, there’s no need to be rude,” I intervened. “Forgive her, she’s been kind of a bitch since we left on our journey. I’m Autumn Bliss and this here is Spectra… uhm, hmmm I can’t quite seem to remember your last name.”

“It’s Serenity!” Spectra snapped.

“Oh yes, right, Autumn Bliss and Spectra Serenity, it’s nice to meet you, and thanks for the help.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you both. My name is Platina Palladium, and it was my pleasure,” Platina smiled. She then turned to Spectra. “I know I’m not the adventurous, quest fulfilling, monster slaying type like most members are. But the guild is my home, and I love everything about it. I hope you can understand.” Platina explained with a charming smile on her face. She was similar to how Spectra was when I first met her, though Platina seems a lot more innocent than Spectra is.

“Lighten up Spectra, what do you have against this guild anyway?”

“Nothing much, other than it’s the complete opposite of the military. The guild is undisciplined, rambunctious, and destructive.”

“Sounds like my kind of place,” I replied with a grin. “So, Platina, is there anything in the guild that involves airships?”

“There is actually a section of the guild dedicated to airship captains who use their ships to complete quest. Many larger quest will often times require the use of airships.” Platina responded happily.

“Where do I sign up?” I was excited now.

“No, we are going to go get some sleep, then we are leaving in the morning,” Spectra said as headed towards the stairs.

“Uh, ok, fine. Thanks again for all the help, Platina!” I yelled back as I made my walk up the stairs.

“Oh no problem, hope you sleep well,” Platina shouted back waving.

“… So do you think he’ll come?”

“I don’t know, but if he does, then we need to be ready.”

Chapter five: Zombie

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Tossing and turning under the sheets, I opened my eyes to see sunlight filling the room. Spectra was still asleep in her bed. How could she do it, these mattresses were so uncomfortable, not like the one back at my house. Getting out of bed quietly, I made my way to the bathroom. Looking in the mirror, I saw that my mane was in a mess. Still half asleep, I figured I might as well take a shower and freshen up before Spectra wakes up and demands to leave.

Finishing up with my shower and brushing my teeth, I noticed Spectra was still asleep. Taking advantage of the situation, I made my way down stairs to the guild hall before she could wake up. Upon reaching the lower level, I noticed that it was much different than last night, everything was calm, there were plenty of ponies here but they were sitting around chatting. Some were over by a big bulletin board in the middle of the room, while others either ate breakfast or were preparing to set out.

I headed up to the bulletin board to get a better look. It was covered by papers, all job request that ranged in types of task as well as rewards offered. A large bulky Stallion in plate armor and wielding a great sword pulled a page of the board and proceeded towards the door. I glanced around at a few of the different request.

Lost cat, grey tabby, his name is chuckles. Please return to the florist shop if found. Reward 20 bits.

Looking for an adventurer to deliver a letter to San Filliaro, see contractor for details. Reward is negotiable.

A Dangerous dragon is roaming the Everfree forest of Equestria. Need a party of capable warriors willing to travel to Equestria and take on the beast. Reward one million bits.

Need potion ingredients, seeking somepony willing to collect forty night drop flowers from the Great Sequoia Forest. Reward 500 bits.

“See any that strike your fancy?” said a voice behind me. I turned to look and it was the two stallions that were talking to Platina last night.

“So let me get this straight, you guys take on these request and get paid for it?” I asked as I took a seat at their table. One of them was an earth pony wearing a mantle, a shoulder pad on his left side, and had a battle axe. The other was a unicorn wearing a cloak; he had three weird looking staffs for casting magic.

“More or less; that how we make our living, taking on job request that others won’t.” The earth pony said as he took a drink from his tankard. “You should think about joining the guild yourself. It’s an interesting life style and pays well, assuming you got the skill and the balls to tackle the good jobs.”

“Not to mention you meet a lot of unique and friendly individuals. All you need is a little drive and determination. Just grab yourself a weapon and sign up, hell you don’t even need to be a fighter,” The unicorn guy said smiling with his arms crossed on the table. “Look at Platina, she uses support magic and avoids actual combat whenever possible.”

“You guys actually think I’d be good at this sort of thing?” I asked, intrigued at the thought of it.

“Hell yeah; you have spunk, I can tell just by the tone of your voice. It’s one thing all adventures have; eagerness to see the world, take life by the horns and just roll with it.” The unicorn said as he glanced at a lot of the other members around the hall.

“Hey, speaking of which, where is Platina?” I asked since I didn’t see her in the guild hall with the others.

“She’s probably still resting. She was working late last night,” the unicorn said turning his attention back to me.

There was suddenly a loud ruckus coming from the stairs. “Autumn, where are you!” Spectra yelled as she slid down the stairs. She was looking all around the room frighteningly until she noticed me at the table. The panic on her face immediately turned to anger as she walked up. “What do you think you’re doing? Do you know how worried I was?” She yelled at me, gritting her teeth.

“Uh, sorry, I just didn’t want to wake you,” I responded calmly as she scowled down at me, her eyes read pissed off. This was starting to get a bit embarrassing as some of the others in the room started looking over.

“Look, pegasi have been disappearing in this town and I wake up and don’t see you anywhere. I assumed the worst!” With that last shout, she backed off and calmed herself down. “Go grab your things; it’s time to head out.” Spectra headed back towards the stairs. Spectra seemed so nice and cool when I first met her, now she's just a royal pain in the plot. However not wanting to stir her up any more I just followed her back to the room.

“Hey, tell Platina goodbye for me if I don’t get to see her,” I shouted back to the two stallions.

“Yeah don’t worry, we’ll let her know.”

It was a bit overcast as we exited the guild hall and made our way through the town center. The town was just as lively as the moment we arrived. I could smell freshly baked bread at the stalls along with other fine pastries. There was a chill in the morning air as a light breeze blew by. Spectra was shopping for food and supplies when suddenly there was a large commotion at the north gate. Naturally curious, we went to go investigate as well. An orange stallion was being drug through the streets, he was hurt badly, bleeding all over like something mauled him.

“What happened?” a mare cried out.

“It was him!” the wounded stallion said. “He thought I was her, that pegasus from yesterday!”

I could feel that more than a few eyes were no gazing upon me as more an more ponies took notice that I was standing here.

“Who did this?” Spectra spoke out as she approached the stallion.

“The zombie!” the stallion shouted. “He’s the one that has been abducting all of the pegasi!”

"Zombie? There's no such thing," Spectra stated, thought it seemed like the rest of the town disagreed.

There was a lot of commotion going on now. I could see the townsfolk glaring at us. “We warned you! You should have left when we told you so, and now it’s your fault somepony got hurt!”

"That zombie has been here for years and yet you wouldn't listen to us! We told you it was dangerous to have a pegasus here!"

“Wait, you all knew about this thing?” Spectra asked surprised by the turn of events.

“Of course we did, and you didn’t listen!” a mare yelled pointing at us.

Spectra’s surprised look morphed into pure anger, and she was pissed. “So what you’re telling me is that you knew all along and you have done NOTHING about it!”

“Hold on now, we’re just every day towns folk. We’re not fighters, we can't take on a zombie!” another member of the crowd said.

“You have the military; there is a guild hall in your town. Don’t tell me there was nothing you could have done to end all of this! You all knew what was causing these attacks and you chose to ignore it? No, it wasn’t our fault that somepony got hurt. You all brought this on yourselves! ”

“There is nothing we can do! We ward off all other pegasi that way things like this won’t happen, if you would have just left when we told you too then things would have been just fine!” that same mare from before replied.

Spectra started to chuckle maniacally. “You don’t get it do you? By choosing to live in denial to this threat, you allowed it to terrorize this town. By choosing to do nothing, you cost the lives of many who could have been spared. As long as you weren’t a pegasus you were safe; that’s the mindset you fell into and now reality is starting to sink in… Come on, Autumn, let’s go pay this zombie a visit.” Spectra turned here gaze upon the mountain path that led up the hill. She gave one last glare at the the town's crowd. "Pathetic, all of you..." and with that last comment Spectra began to canter up the road and I in turn followed closely.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea? We don’t know what this thing is capable of, besides-” Spectra cut me off mid sentence.

“When I became a soldier, I swore an oath to protect the citizens of this nation no matter the cost. I’m not going to force you to come along; I know you don’t have combat experience and as a pegasus you will be the primary target. This could prove to be fatal for you and me both. But that’s your decision if you’re willing to come.”

I just stood there, not sure what was the best choice. If I leave then the attacks would stop; at least for now. But then what, could I live with myself if I didn’t do anything, letting Spectra go alone?

“Regardless, if I don’t try to stop this thing then others will suffer the same fate. And I know that no pony else here is going to do a thing about it. So as my sworn duty, I will stop this menace no matter what. I won't think any less of you regardless of your decision.” Spectra said as she began to make her way up the northern road.

“Yeah, I’m coming with you. For better or for worst,” I followed suit, no way was I going to turn my back on a friend even one as aggravating as Spectra . All the other ponies just stood there and watched. Not a single one tried to follow and help us. It disgusted me to think that they would let two outsiders handle their mess. It disgusted me that I had to hesitate about helping Spectra or not.

Making our way up hill, Spectra just turned to me and smiled. “Despite how hard I’ve been on you; you still chose to follow me knowing it was dangerous. I admire that about you, Autumn.”

“What kind of friend would I be if I let you go alone?”

She chuckled a bit. “Friend huh? I guess I should start treating you as friend as well, huh.”

“It would be a nice start,” I replied with a smile, continuing our trek up the mountain. We didn’t know what was in store for use, nor did we know what we got ourselves into or if we could even come back from this alive. What we did know was that this is the right thing to do, and I don’t regret my decision to leave home.

We eventually made our way to the top which was a large open plateau; it was the site of an old cemetery. There were a lot of jagged stone boulders surrounding the place, which was marked off by a collapsing cobblestone wall. To the east side of the cemetery stood a large crumbling stone watch tower that sat on the edge of the cliff. The remains of an old manor where nestled close to the tower, but not as close to the cliff. To the north of the graveyard was a large mausoleum made out of marble, granite and polished stone. There were a few trees that dotted the area, though a lot of them were dead or appeared that way. The headstones were old and spread out; a lot of them were weathered to the point of illegibility with moss growing on them. The ground was mostly dirt but there were patches of tall grass, mostly along the walls. The ground was covered by a thick mist.

I looked around at the surrounding area. The mountain continued upwards on the west side but it was too steep to walk. The surrounding sides of the plateau dropped off deep into a chasm. On the other side of the chasm were large steep mountains with vertical, jagged rock faces. Mist and fog rolled off the edges, the sky was still an overcast grey. The wind howled at this altitude and the air was moist and chilly. I had chills running down my spine, part due to the climate but mostly from the eerie vibe of this place. Apparently the only place left to go from here is back down the road into town, so at least we where in the right place.

“Keep close, there’s a strong magic aura to this place,” Spectra said as she slowly made her way into the cemetery. I followed her as she led the way. Spectra was on edge, focusing on the slights movements.

“So how do we exactly find this-“gulp “zombie?”

“Let’s look around a bit first, see if we can spot anything unusual,” Spectra said as she looked around each tombstone.

“What if we try to draw him out, then we can get him in the open,” I asked trying to be helpful.

“How do you suppose we do that?” Spectra asked, still checking out the grave sites.

“HEY ZOMBIE; I got some nice, tasty, pegasus meat for ya!” I yell as my voice echoed throughout the valley. Oh God why did I even say something like that?

Spectra just stared at me. “Nice work,” she responded sarcastically with a smirk.

Suddenly I could hear the sound of dirt crumbling beneath my hooves. There was a loud burst as something rises out of the ground. It grabbed me from behind, wrapping its arms beneath my shoulders and pulled me back onto my hind legs. My saddle bag slipped off and fell to the ground.

“AUTUMN!” Spectra screamed as she spun around, horrified.

I could hear it breathing right behind my ear as its mouth drew closer, feeling its breath rushing across my face. I was paralyzed with fear as it clutched me with its cold pale blue arms.

“Well you certainly are a loud one,” it said with a rough, rasped tone of voice, snickering as it looked into my eye.

I could only see it out of my peripheral vision. He was a stallion unicorn, with a light pale blue coat and a spiky black mane. The white of his eye were stained yellow and bloodshot, his pupils were maroon and his iris dilated. He had this creepy grin on his face.

“PLEASE DON’T EAT ME! I taste terrible I swear! I’m not really that meaty any ways, all skin and bones! Besides I drink a lot of vinegar so you don’t want-” I yelled panicking.

“Huh? What are you talking about?” he asked curiously. “I’m not going to eat you, what good would that do me?” He replied with a sinister, coughing like laugh.

Spectra was standing there shocked, gritting her teeth. “So I guess you’re the zombie everypony was talking about.” He turned his attention to her.

“Ahhh” he moaned, as he stared at Spectra. “Hehe, I would say aren’t you the smart one, if only it wasn’t so damn obvious. So who are you anyway; her side-kick, a close friend or family member; her lover perhaps?”

“I don’t swing that way!” I griped, still unable to move; he may be a decaying corpse, but he had strength, a lot of it.

“A guy can dream can’t he?” He replied, still grinning creepily.

Spectra was at a loss, unable to attack as long as I was in the zombies clutches. “Why did you attack that stallion this morning?”

He just laughed. “A simple mistake, all I wanted was your beautiful, feathered, orange friend here.”

“My coat is maple!”

“Eh? What are you talking about, maple isn’t a real color.”

“Yes it is!”

“Will you two shut up!” Spectra shouted; more annoyed than scared now. We both turned our attention to her. “Why do you want her, what’s she to you?”

“Well aren’t you a nosey one. If you must know, I plan to use her in a little experiment of mine.”

“What experiment? What do you plan to do with me?” I asked, still struggling to break free.

“It is a most glorious honor for you my dear. You shall become the vessel for my dearly beloved's soul. Assuming the ritual is a success that is, hehe.” He replied, chuckling in my ear. I did not like the sound of that.

“What do you mean? What about all the other pegasi that you kidnapped? Where are they?!” Spectra inquired anxiously, she was trying to get to the truth of this mystery or buying time to create a plan.

“They were; how should I put it, incompatible? Magic is a very picky thing you know, one must be very precise.” He let out a loud cackle as he observed Spectra’s reaction. She was horrified, I didn’t quite understand what he meant but I think Spectra figured it out. It wasn’t good judging by the look on her face.

“If magic is what you’re dealing with; then use me instead, Let her go!” Spectra shouted, anger simmered in her eyes as she stood there shivering at the thought of what his experiments were.

He began to study Spectra, glaring over every inch of her body. He began to laugh creepily. “No no no, you won’t do at all. You’re too bitter in your spirit; you lack those gorgeous angel-like wings. Besides you’re far too old.”

“What? I’m only twenty-seven!” Spectra snapped, now insulted.

“You see, I need somepony who is young and beautiful in both body and soul, brandishing wings that will allow them to sore the heavens! However that’s just the start, there’s so much more that needs to be right. Everything must be exact! However perfection is a cruel mistress.”

“And how do you know that Autumn meets all the requirements? If perfection is what you seek, then how can you be sure she will work in you grand scheme of things?” Spectra shouted in attempts to bargain for my release. “If she won’t work for you then there’s no need to do this to her!”

He chuckled evilly as he gazed upon me, his eyes piercing into my very soul. “Beggars can’t be chooser now can they? Your friend here is the first pegasus to stroll into town in months; can’t let an opportunity like that slip away.”

“You bastard,” I replied struggling to escape. Suddenly there was a large buildup of magic beneath me and the zombie, resonating in the ground. A burst of light that shined like the sun erupted as a large silver crystal formed right in between me and the undead stallion. It shot up out of the ground, breaking his hold on me.

“What the hell is going on?!”

“Where did that thing come from?”

“Holy shit, I’m gonna be rich!” Wait, this is my chance to get away. Kicking off of the giant crystal, I launched myself towards Spectra, hitting the ground rolling as I came to a stop. The giant metal crystal suddenly shattered, its fragments dissolving into magic mist.

“Are you guys ok?” shouted a soft, pleasing voice. Platina jumped down off of a nearby ledge and teleported strait to us. She then turned her focus onto the zombie, who was standing there glaring at us.

“What do you think you’re doing; you let my subject get away!” He snarled as he glared at Platina with those ever so creepy eyes of his.

“You’re the zombie that has been terrorizing the town of Canterburg, aren’t you? Answer me, what have you done with my sister? Where is she?!” Platina yelled; her heart filled with worry, anger, and fear.

“What, who are you talking about? I have no use for uni… oh wait, I remember you. You’re the younger sister of that pegasus from the guild aren’t you?” He started to laugh maniacally “Ah yes I remember her now, a lovely sky blue coat and wings of an angel. She did a real number on my jaw, took me weeks to heal. Well if you want to find out then come meet me in the mausoleum. Oh and do bring you friends with you. I’ll be waiting.”

He then sank back into the ground, laughing the whole time. We stood there for a moment, collecting our thoughts. I couldn’t believe what just happened. First my house is attacked by a wraith, and now I was assaulted by a zombie. I wanted an adventure but I didn’t expect any of this undead bullshit.

“Are you ok?” Spectra asked.

“I’m good now, still a little overwhelmed after all of that, though.” I turned to look at Platina, who was now tearing up. “Thanks for showing up when you did, you saved my life.”

She just looks back at me, wiping the tears from her eyes and putting on a pleasant smile. “Oh no problem it was my… no, I should have acted earlier. Instead I waited and eavesdropped in on the conversation. I prolonged your danger for my own benefits. Please forgive me. I’m sorry I didn’t act sooner.”

Spectra grinned; looking down at her while she wiped her eyes a bit more. “What you did was the smart thing to do. You didn’t rush in and blow your only opportunity. You collected what data you could and struck at the best possible moment. So don’t sell yourself short. I would have done the exact same thing.”

Spectra then gazed upon the mausoleum; a large white marble building with columns running along the front and sides. The entrance was a pair of large reinforced wooden doors, a pair of lit sconces mounted on the stone door frame. The walls were weathered and old, vines and moss clinging to the sides. We approached with caution.

“Are we sure we want to do this?” I asked nervously. Being grabbed by a zombie once was more than enough; but this place, its whole vibe was death.

“We’re getting to the bottom of this and we are going to stop that thing,” Spectra replied. She pushed on the large, uninviting door. The cast iron hinges creaked slowly as the door rotated inward, the sound of the wood resonated with the room as it slid across the floor. The door final stopped as it swung open fully as large iron knockers bounced off of the wooden boards.

The building was huge, it wasn’t really wide and spacious on the inside, but its walls were thick and the ceiling stood tall. A large brass chandelier swung slightly above the center of the room, emitting a warming yellow glow. There were three large granite sarcophaguses in the middle of the main room, equally spaced apart. In the corners of the room were some old candelabras and marble benches. A large hallway ran through the center back wall, running deeper into the mausoleum. As we proceeded through there were even more sarcophaguses embedded in the walls. The hallway was lit by wall sconces, a pair rested in between each of the tombs. At the end of the hallway was a large archway with another door. The archway itself was beautifully decorated with marble carvings.

“So, what do you think is behind there?” Platina asked as she gazed upon the door nervously.

Spectra examined the door and the engravings upon the archway. “If I had to guess; I’d say that this will lead us into the catacombs.”

Chapter Six: The Catacombs

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“The catacombs?” I thought being in the eerie foggy cemetery was bad enough, but to go underground into some dark wet tomb was terrifying. I wouldn’t be able to escape, I won’t be able to fly, there is only one way out, this was a nightmare!

The door creaked as it was opened. The tunnel stairs curved downward, deep into the ground. There were some lit scones lining the wall so at least it wasn’t completely dark. Spectra led the way as she entered in first, I followed second and Platina followed behind me. The sconces were well spaced out, their glow were slightly visible around the curvature of the tunnel, so it was still dark to some degree. We must have walked for about a minute or two before we reached the bottom. It was a long dark corridor with different chambers along the way. The walls of the catacombs were carved into stone shelves which housed an array of coffins. The floor was masonry, covered by dirt while the walls were smoothed out stone. The air had a moldy smell to it and I could almost taste a trace of salt in the atmosphere as well.

As we entered the third chamber, there was another door to our right. A faint glow was visible from underneath the door. Spectra nodded at me as we quietly brushed up against the sides of the frame. She looked at me and nudged her head at the door. I knew what to do. I positioned myself in front of the door, rearing up my hind legs and kicked it as hard as I could. The buck sent the door flying off the hinges. It echoed throughout the catacombs as the door slammed onto the floor. Spectra immediately rushed the room, her horn glowing at the ready. Platina followed directly afterwards.

This room was a lot different from the rest of the chambers in this place. It was well lit and tidy. Bookshelves, desks, and storage creates lined the walls of the room as a large woven rug lay in the middle. There were a few candelabras scattered around and an old suit of armor next to a tapestry. The place was full of cobwebs and dust covered the books and furniture.

“He’s not here. Spread out and see what you can find,” Spectra ordered as she made her way to the bookshelves. Platina started searching the desk in the corner while I examined the storage containers. “Find anything yet?” Spectra asked as she shuffled through the bookcases.

“Nothing yet,” I replied as I tried moving some of these barrels out of the way. I immediately noticed a large chest hidden behind the barrels. I brushed it off and blew the dust away. It was a worn blue with brass fittings. It was big; you could probably fit a pony in there. What if there was a pony in there, I wasn’t sure if I should open it now. It had a rusty pad lock on it anyways so I wasn’t getting in… I grabbed a piece of the legging from the suit of armor and started bashing the lock; I was going to see what was inside that thing! Again and again, I smashed as the lock refused to fall off.

“Autumn, What are you doing?” Spectra inquired as she looked my way.

Suddenly the lock broke off; I heard it hit the floor with that last swing. I set the armor leg piece down and proceeded to opening the chest. Spectra and Platina started to make their way to me to see what I found. As I rummaged through the chest I felt something, something big.
Spinning around, I lifted it up into the air above me with my right hoof, excitement on my face. “Da data da daaaaa!” I whistled as I stood there on my hind legs, balancing whatever it was above me.

“What the hell are you doing?” Spectra asked. “Quit playing around, this is no time for games.”

“Way to kill the moment,” I replied as got down from my pose and actually examined what it was that was in the chest. Whatever it was, it was wrapped in a raggedy old cloth. As I unraveled it, my eyes grew, my heart began to race and my body was trembling with excitement.

It was a sword, the hilt was a brilliant light lavender with turquoise engravings that crossed and wrapped around the hilt. The guard was a thick chevron with grooves running up the sides, it shined a magnificent silvery blue. The pommel was just a rounded cap at the end, made of the same metal as the guard. The scabbard itself was beautiful in its own way. The head and cap of it were brushed steel while the sheath was worn brown leather. I sure hope that the leather wasn’t made from ponies; that would be creepy. The rest of the sheath was wrapped in silver like belting.

I drew the blade out slowly, it shined brilliantly. I could see a good bit of my reflection in the polish. The blade was nice and strait; about a sixth of the way down though, it then angled inward about a fourth of the width and continued downward. The tip was triangulated rather than rounded like other swords. There was an inscription along the middle of the blade where the fuller would have been. It was written in some language I couldn’t understand. The blade itself was about thirty-two inches in length, making the whole thing roughly forty inches total.

“You know, I was frightened as to what we would encounter in here. But after finding this, I’m kind of glad we came into this gloomy place!” I said as I sheathed the blade and swung it onto my back.

“It is very pretty. I’ve never seen a sword like it,” Platina replied happily.

“That thing isn’t a toy, Autumn, you need to be very careful with it.” Spectra lectured, as if I didn’t already know better.

“Yeah, yeah I know that. I used a sword to fight that creature that attacked my house, remember,” I told her as I fought to find a way to connect it to my saddlebag. It was no use; my bag wasn’t designed to carry a sword, especially one as big as this.

“I can get you a sword belt from the guild once we get back,” Platina offered in a sweet and charming voice.

“I’d appreciate that, Platina.”

I guess I’ll just have to tuck it under my wing for the time being. I feel like a true adventurer now; with my scarf, my saddlebag, and now this sweet ass sword. I’ll be able to actually defend myself! Spectra may have magic but I feel like I can take on the world with this blade.

“Yeah! Come on out zombie, I’m ready for you this time,” I shouted, unable to withhold my hype.

“GET DOWN!” Spectra screamed.

I didn’t even have time to think, automatically dropping to the floor. The wall behind the tapestry busted outwards as the zombie bolted into the room. Stone and dirt was raining everywhere. As he landed on the large rug, he slid a bit. “Yep, you’re a loud one alright!”

“YAAAAAA!” Spectra yelled as her horn lit up like a star. She formed a large domino thing out of light, similar to the cube she made back at my place. Swinging her head, her horn guiding the light rectangle, she smashed the zombie against the wall. The force was great enough to make books start toppling off the cases. The zombie’s legs were spread out as if he belly-flopped the wall, pressed up against it by the block of light.

“Oww, oww, oww! Damn it, this hurts you know!” the zombie griped, his face was pressed against Spectra’s spell. It looked just like when somepony presses their face against a glass window.

“Alright, it’s time we get some answers,” Spectra demanded as she approached the zombie with caution, her horn was shining brilliantly.

“And don’t think about trying anything, because if you do, I’ll sever every limb you have,” I replied as I bumped the sword guard with my hind leg. It started to slide out of the sheath, I was ready to grab it and show off my new piece. The sword slide out about a third of the way and stopped. The whole thing then leaned forward and fell to the ground with a clank; most of the blade was still in its scabbard.

“Hehe; nailed it!” the zombie responded sarcastically.

“Shut up!” I yelled furiously, picking the sword up off of the ground. I had it planned so perfectly, it would have made me look so cool if I would have pulled it off correctly.

“You know a sword isn’t really that intimidating when it’s still in its case you know.” This zombie was really starting to piss me off.

“Both of you shut up!” Spectra demanded glaring between the two of use. “Alright let’s start with something simple, why don’t you start by telling us who you are exactly,” Spectra asked the zombie, waiting for his response. He just chuckled a bit as he kept on grinning, not uttering a word.

"You think this is a joke? DON'T SCREW WITH ME!" Spectra yelled, her horn increased in brightness as she gave more power to her spell.

There was a large blast, parts of stone started to chip off the wall as Spectra increased the pressure of the light block. “OUCH! Damn it! Alright I get your point!”

“Talk! Who are you, and how did you become a zombie?” Spectra asked, not playing any games.

“… Ruuke,” He responded, snickering as he remained pinned between the wall and the spell block.

“That’s it? Ruuke? Quite an odd name for a pony, don’t you agree? What about becoming a zombie, how did that happen?” Spectra continued to inquire.

Platina suddenly had a surprised look on her face. “Wait, you don’t mean the clan Ruuke, do you? If that’s the case, then you’re Shadow Shield of the Ruuke family, Lord of the manor on the cliff?”

The zombie let out a strained laugh. “Somepony knows their history. Yes, you are correct, I am Shadow Shield Ruuke; Master of this plateau. Prodigy in the art of necromancy and the science of reanimation.”

“Necromancy? So am I to assume this is the result of some backfired spell,” Spectra ask, seemingly intrigued with any form of magic.
“Backfire, hell no, I’m not some amateur. This was intentional, though I will admit this wasn’t how I planned to turn out but it got the job done.”

“Why would you do something like this to yourself?” Platina asked, unable to comprehend why somepony would do such a thing to their own body.

“When you start playing around with dead things, ponies tend to despise you. When you start bringing dead things back to life; well, ponies start to fear you. It was only a matter of time before I was found out and executed, so I needed a way to live on and continue my research. Vampirism was out of the question since it would only expose me sooner not to mention that they would know how to finish me off for good. By becoming a zombie, I transcended death and was able to continue my work and no pony would be non the wiser,” Ruuke replied with a sinister look on his face.

“So why young pegasi mares; why so specific?” Spectra questioned now that we were getting somewhere, gradually getting closer to as the conversation drew on.

Shadow Shield dazed off for a moment, lost in thought as to what Spectra was asking. “Though I was able to live again, it is an incomplete existence. Technically you can still consider me dead or at the least undead. I’m fine with that, however that kind of existence is unfit for my love, she deserves to be complete.”

“But why; why did you need other pegasi?” Spectra demanded as she was starting to loss her calm composure. Trotting up to the spell block, she glared into the zombie’s eyes, eager to know what he hoped to accomplish.

Shadow Shield just smiled, suddenly his horn began to glow and he teleported away. Spectra’s spell crashed into the wall, shattering into pieces. Light fragments went flying everywhere as they slowly dissipated.

“Ruuke! You bastard! Get back here!” Spectra screamed as she stumbled backwards; her face full of rage as she grinded her teeth.

“So, Platina, what all do you know about Shadow Shield?” I asked seeing as she was able to identify him on the spot.

“Not much. All I know is that he was caught kidnaping ponies and performing magical experiments on them. He was sentence to death shortly afterwards. But this happen a long time ago,” Platina replied. She was just as curious as I was on the rest of the subject.

“Alright you two, stay alert and follow me; it’s high time we put an end to all this. We’ll continue to search the catacombs for Ruuke.” Spectra ordered, exiting the room as she slouched forward in anger. Platina and I just glanced at each other as we began to follow her without question.

Back in the cold dark chambers of the catacombs, we continued our search, heading deeper into the tunnel. The air was incredibly damp; water could be heard, echoing as it dripped from the ceiling. As we passed through more chambers, it grew darker and the foul smell in the air grew stronger. We reached the end of the tunnel. The last chamber had a door at the end of it. It was dark but I could tell that this door was old, the wood was decaying, and there were large gaps between the boards.

“Ewwwhhh, what is that? It smells like sulfur,” I asked, wrapping my scarf around my muzzle, which didn’t help much.

“We are underground; it’s possible that there is a sulfur deposit nearby,” Spectra replied as she slowly opened the door. It was dark in there but as the light from outside the room filtered in and our eyes adjusted… it wasn’t sulfur that we smelled.

Lying along the floor and on the shelves where bodies, all wrapped up in rags and casted aside.

“I think I’m going to be sick-” I cringed as I saw all of them laying there, wrapped and piled up like plague victims. Pegasi, at least that was the majority of them anyways. We couldn’t see much under the rags, but their wings made a bulge in the wrapping, that or a wing or two just hung loose.

“My God… why… why would someone do something like this? Why? I don’t understand…” Platina said, trembling in horror at the sight, tears building up in her eyes. I wrapped my wing around her and steered her away, trying to guide her out of this revolting room. Spectra was at a loss for words.

We exited through a second door which led us into another series of chambers. After we put some distance between us and the corpses, we took a moment to rest. No one said anything. Platina was shaking, her eyes watering up. Spectra just sat there, looking down at the floor. I wasn’t fairing any better, hanging my head, I drew my sword blade out a bit; looking at my reflection. That could have been me; a body tossed to the side, never to be seen again. The thought sickened me. The blade screeched as I pushed it back into the scabbard. What the hell have I gotten myself into? We sat there for a few more moments.

“Well, you all look so depressed. What happened to all that fight you had earlier?” Right down the hall in the next chamber was Shadow Shield, wearing that same vile smirk as before, taunting us.

The sound of steel ringed throughout the chamber as I yanked the sword out of the sheath, dashing right at him. “YOU BASTARD; I’LL KILL YOU!”

“Autumn wait!” Spectra called out as she leaped up, not able to react in time.

“That a girl, come to me,” he said grinning. I spun around and swung the blade down vertically. He stepped to the side as the sword fell, scraping against the earth. Following up immediately for my next attack, I used the momentum of the first swing, twirling around to level out the blade horizontally. Sparks flew as the sword tip cut into the stone, leaving a gash in the wall. Again he dodged it, springing backwards as the swing neared him.

“Gotcha!” He said as his horn shined an ominous purple.

There was a blast of magic energy, I felt myself stunned by the pain, dropping the sword as he grabbed me and spun me around. Pinning me up on my hind legs again, it was just like how he had me last time.

“No, Autumn!” Spectra yelled as she finally made it into the same chamber. Platina was right behind her.

“You got some fight in you now! That’s good, maybe you’ll be successful, the final piece to the puzzle!” He said chuckling. “Or perhaps you’ll just end up like the others, dead and useless-”

There was a loud crack as I swung my head backwards into his muzzle. I hoped I at least broke the bastard’s nose. It was enough of a hit for him to loosen his grip. I twisted around and reared him with my hind leg, right in the abdomen. Ruuke was sent flying backwards as I fell to the ground. I landed on the sword as it echoed throughout the halls. Using what strength I had left at the moment, I reached for the blade and clutched it between my teeth; the metal grinding across the floor as I pulled myself back on to my hooves.

Spectra immediately attacked with her light magic, though Ruuke just teleported away at the last moment. He left with a scowl across his undead face, annoyed by my escape, and his bleeding nose.

“You’re hurt, here let me help,” Platina said as she rushed up, her horn glowing as her magic enveloped around my body.

“It’s nothing, just a scratch, that’s all,” I replied accidentally dropping the sword as I spoke. That magic she was using sure did feel good though.

“Are you alright?” Spectra asked calmly as she glanced around the room, levitating the sword and sheathing it for me.

“I’ll live. Just need a moment to catch my breath, that’s all.”

“Look, I’m just as angry and as eager to take him down too, but you need to cool your jets. Rushing in like that without thinking is not the best strategy,” Spectra commented as she returned the sword to me. “You’ll have your shot, but we need to be more cautious for now on, got it.”

Taking back the blade, I nodded my head. I was feeling a lot better now than I was before. “Thanks for the help, both of you. Sorry for losing it like that.”

“Just be more careful next time; right now we need to remain vigilant,” Spectra said as she turned to face the rest of the catacombs. Platina just smiled and nodded her head at me. “We’ll continue searching the catacombs, and we’ll put a stop to Ruuke once and for all.”

Continuing our search through the underground tomb, we were nearing yet another door. Spectra stopped and motioned for us to get close. “Alright, I sense a strong magic aura up ahead, so we need a plan before entering,” Spectra said softly. “We’re only going to get one shot at this so pay attention.” She looked us in the eyes, dead serious on what she was about to propose. Platina and I sat there and listened closely to what she had to say. It was a simple plan but it required precision. If we failed then it would come down to Spectra's pure skill in combat.

“You both understand what needs to be done, right?” Spectra asked waiting for assurance, looking us both in the eye.

“Yeah, I got it,” I replied, nodding my head knowing the severity of my role.

“I’ll do my best,” Platina responded with a hesitant tone to her voice, lacking confidences in her offensive skills yet still determined to see this through.

“Alright then, I’m counting on you two. This is our only shot, let’s give it our all.”

Spectra walked up to the door as we backed off. Opening it slowly, Spectra peeked inside. She motioned for us to come to her. It was another stairwell with a distinct purple glow at the bottom. Spectra proceed down the stairs while Platina and I waited at the top. As Spectra reached the bottom of the stairs, I creeped down slowly half way, barely able to get a glimpse down below.

There was a door cracked slightly open, Spectra waited beside it, listening in onto what was inside. Suddenly the door creaked as she opened and went inside. As quietly as I could, I made my way down and hid by the wall. Peeking inside, I could see a large sarcophagus in the middle of the room, the candelabras burn with a violet flame. Ruins and diagrams were drawn all over the walls.

“So what’s this?” Spectra said out loud. I could see a mirror in the corner, allowing me to see what was going on in the reflection. Shadow Shield was in there standing by table a filled with books and scrolls. He seemed to have been waiting for us.

Shadow Shield turned to face Spectra, who was now circling around to the far end of the room. "You're not who I need, where's your little friend? Planning to ambush me or are you stalling for time to let her get away?"

"Does it really matter? At the moment I'm your opponent so you better start focusing on me. Now I'll ask again, what is this place?"

“Oh alright, I'll play your game, not like it will make much of a difference though. This is the resting place of my love,” he said chuckling.

Spectra glanced over the sarcophagus. “Who was she?”

“An angel, the most beautiful pegasus I ever laid eyes on, she had a voice sweeter and more addicting than honeyed mead; wings as soft as the clouds she rested on, and a spirit as innocent as a child. Winter Wisp, that was her name back in life,” Shadow Shield said in a soft, reminiscent tone of voice. This wasn’t the same zombie we were dealing with before, was it?

“What happen to her?” Spectra asked drawing his attention away from the door.

“She fell sick one day; it only got worst from there. She was so young, so much more for her to experience in life. I dedicated myself to trying to bring her back. Time went on and I discovered the forsaken art of necromancy. With it I could bring her back, but this was a dark magic, it would bring her body back, but it would not heal her corpse. I couldn’t bring her back to live that way.” He said as he touched the tomb with his hoof, rubbing the granite gently as he slowly mirrored Spectra’s path around the room.

Spectra continued to hear his story and he felt obliged to tell it. "So why all this? You just said necromancy was an option for you, I don't see any difference in what you are trying to do now."

“I needed to reconstruct her body first. This proved to be the most challenging part. She had been gone far too long for medical science to be of any use. So I turned to magic, it too proved to be pointless in the end. No amount of light, life, or necromancy magic could undo the damage of death and time. Alchemy proved to be of no use either. Everything I tried could not restore her.”

“So why did you start kidnapping other pegasi, what drove you to commit such atrocious crimes?”

He chuckled as he looked up at Spectra. “If I couldn’t rebuild her body then I would have to find her a new one. I knew that I needed a female vessel, one particularly close to her own. I need a vessel that was both young and had wings if I was to give her back the life that was taken from her.”

“And it failed. You were caught and executed. You cast a spell upon your body right before you died so as to reanimate yourself, right?” Spectra summarized, gazing into his eyes as he returned the favor.

“I guess you are the smart one after all. Yes you’re right, a minor setback, that’s all it was. I laid low for a while, studying as to what might have gone wrong. After I was nothing more than a memory I continued my experiments trying to find a solution. Was it an age difference, maybe phenotypes? I tried all sorts of methods, different types of vessels but they all proved to be useless in the end.”

“And you think more senseless murder will help you achieve your goal?” Spectra asked as she stopped on the opposite side of the room in a larger open area.

“I believe so, such is the nature of progress, wouldn’t you say?” he replied with his sinister laughing as he too stopped in the larger open space of the study.

“I believe dead is dead, there is no returning to the living once you die. You need to let her go.” Spectra rebutted in a more resentful tone of voice, taking a few steps towards him.

“What would you know; magic and science are the same. You keep experimenting until you get it right! That is how it works; I will have my beloved Winter back some day.” He responded as he glanced at the sarcophagus before returning his gaze towards Spectra.

“You don’t get it do you? Nothing is going to change; you can’t bring her back! You will fail again, and again, and again! There’s no changing that fact; it’s what happens when you try to play God,” Spectra explained as she stopped only feet from him.

“You don’t get it. I will have my Winter back, no matter what it takes,” He replied glaring down at Spectra. He was a towering figure to say the least.

Spectra sighed as she stepped back, gazing into his heartless yellow eyes. “There’s no reasoning with you, is there?”

“Hehe, damn straight.”

“In that case, as my sworn duty as a soldier, it’s my job to protect the innocent. Shadow Shield Ruuke, Lord of Canterburg. You are here by declared a threat to the citizens and the nation of Ponytopia, and for that reason, you must be eliminated. All I can offer you now is a swift end,” Spectra exclaimed as she backed off and stepped to the side.

“You actually think you stand a chanc-” Ruuke stuttered, his face exhibited shock as he glanced to his left. His eyes meeting mine, our faces parallel to one another. It felt as if time stood still, if only for a moment, as he gazed deep into my eyes and I back at his. Falling forward, I landed in front of him, rolling forward as my hooves slid across the brick floor. I was biting down, clutching the sword between my teeth as I glanced back.

“No… this can’t be,” Ruuke muttered as his head fell forward; his body severed as it collapsed behind him. There was the distinct thud as his body hit the ground while his head bounced away. “How? How could this of happened?”

“What the hell? I cut off his head, yet he still won’t shut up!” I mumbled with the sword still in my mouth. “That’s it; I’ll finish this once and for all!”

“No, that’s enough, Autumn, you did well. Take Platina and go wait outside. I’ll be along shortly” Spectra replied as she put her hoof on top of Ruuke’s head, turning him so she could see his eyes as well as shielding him from my blade.

“Alright, whatever you say,” I replied as I sheathed the sword. I took one last look at Shadow Shield, his head lying on the ground. It was too much for me to take anyway, not being able to finish that creep. I headed up the stairs to inform Platina that we were successful.

Spectra held Ruuke’s head in place with her hoof as she looked down at him. He continued to ramble.

“Winter, oh my beloved Winter, just you wait, I’ll have you back some day; I promise. I’ll find you the perfect body, you’ll be so happy to finally sore the skies again! Don’t you worry, Winter, it will just be a little longer…”

Spectra lowered her head in disappointment, batting her eyes as she listens to him. “You poor soul; consumed by grief, you chose to live your whole existence in denial, because you couldn’t let her go. I truly feel sorry for you. But… you have committed unspeakable crimes and for that, there is no redemption, only retribution…”

We waited outside the mausoleum for Spectra to return. It was a little after noon, I kind of lost track of time while we were down there. The fog had dissipated and the clouds had broken up, still cloudy but the sun was visible now. It was still a bit chilly but the warmth of the sun fixed that easily.

“I’m sure glad everything went according to plan.” Platina commented as she stared up at the sky, the large cotton clouds drifted slowly in the wind. “I’m not really a fighter, so I’m not sure if I could have pulled off my part if it came to it.”

“I’m sure you would have done fine. You did rescue me the first time after all.”

Spectra soon emerged shortly after. Her face was hard to read this time, I couldn’t make out if it was good or bad.

“Spectra, you’re hurt!” I shouted as I noticed blood on her right leg as she exited the mausoleum.

“What are you talking about?” She asked confusingly, she then noticed her leg as well. “Oh, this isn’t my blood.”

My stomach churned when she said that. “Spectra… what did you do?”

“Does it matter what I did? What’s been done is done. Pegasi will be safe from now on.” She said as she washed her hoof off in a nearby puddle.

I just stood there as my imagination ran wild. Spectra turned her attention to me and Platina. “I’m sorry to ask this, but I need you two to help me with one last thing. I’m not quite through here.”

“What is it, Spectra?” I asked, still a bit unsettled at her earlier remark.

She levitated three shovels, gaving one to each of us. “Follow me.”

“What do you think she wants?” Platina asked me, assuming I knew the answer. I shrugged, not know anything that goes through Spectra’s mind.

We followed Spectra as she cantered into an open spot in the cemetery. She then started shoveling out a large out line. We watched her for a minute or two as she finished. “Alright, start digging,” she said as she stood there, using her magic to wield the shovel. Platina did the same thing with her magic. I wasn’t a unicorn so I set my saddlebag, sword, and scarf by a tree and went to work. About thirty minutes in, Spectra trotted off. She marked out the edges as to the depth we needed. Platina just sat their using her magic to dig. I was worn out from all the manual labor.

Spectra was making her way back to us to check our progress. “This should be good enough,” she said as she glanced down at the hole.

“Spectra, what is this all about? Why are out here digging a hole?” I asked as I sat there catching my breath, being the only one doing physical work.

“It’s for the bodies of all those pegasi we saw back in the catacombs,” She said with a heavy heart. “They deserve a proper burial.”

This was the hardest part of the day by far. Spectra did most of the carrying since she was the only one willing entering that room. We would wait for her in the study were I found the sword as she went back and forth to fetch the bodies. It took several trips to get them all out. Words could not describe the feeling of what that was like; it was something I never want to do again. As we laid them to rest, Spectra used her light magic to carve a monument out of a nearby stone, labeling it as the final resting place for the victims of Shadow Shield.

“So is that it,” I asked, my heart filled with mixed emotions. Platina wasn’t taking this well either.

“Not quite,” Spectra replied, trotting over to a nearby tree. There was a separate hole much shallower than the one we dug. Lying beside it was one last body wrapped in cloth. The wind just blew on by as the cloth swayed in the wind; light filtering through the braches, shining down on the fresh grave site. Spectra started to stumble on her words as she brought herself to speak.

“This one was a light blue pegasus. She had the guild mark inscribed on her hoof. I believe this is your sister, Platina.”

Platina dropped to the ground beside the body, her eyes widened as she observed it. Hesitating, she slowly lifted the cloth on the face. “Osmia… I… I,” Platina muttered, her face tearing up as she embrace her lost sister tightly. Her eyes barely able to keep themselves open. “Sister I’m… I’m so…”

“I wanted to give her a separate burial. It only seemed right,” Spectra replied as she started to tear up.

Platina sat there holding her big sister close to her chest. Trembling as the breeze blew on by. “Thank you,” She whispered as she stuttered to speak. “Thank you for this… you don’t know how much this means to me.” She just busted into tears, crying as she let out all the bottled up feeling she’s been holding on to.

I stand corrected; this was the hardest part of today. The sky was starting to change colors now as the sun began its descent. The clouds sailed across the sky; they were a beautiful shade of pink. The ground glistened orange from the light of the sun. Spectra levitated a polished stone slab into place, setting in down gently at the edge of the freshly turned dirt. We all took a few last moments of silence before we decided to head back to town. I took one last glance at the engravings on the stone, letting its words sink into my heart.

Osmia Palladium

Loving sister, proud guild member, fought for what was right when others wouldn’t.

K.I.A.

Chapter Seven: Sister

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“So are you sure this won’t hurt?” I asked nervously as I held my left hoof out; gritting my teeth as I prepared for the worst.

“You’ll be fine, it won’t hurt at all,” a pink unicorn responded as she levitated a magic rod towards the bottom of my hoof. There was a zapping sound as a light flickered from the rod when it made contact with my skin. I could feel a tingling sensation as she held the device in place for a moment. The light subsided as she removed the rod and placed it back in its case, which was a steel lock box.

Turning my hoof towards me to see the final result, I felt my heart racing with excitement as a smile drew across my face. Platina and her friends were all standing around me with just as much of a grin. The earth pony with the battle axe placed his hoof on my shoulder, “Congratulations kid, you’re now a full fledge member of the guild.”

“Think of that tattoo as a pass card. With it you can gain access to any guild hall, guild bar, and what not. You now have the ability to take on quest and get paid for it; or if you need a place to stay then the guild hall guest rooms are available whenever you need them,” the unicorn with the three magic staffs explained as he lifted his tankard.

“Wow, so all you need is a tattoo of the guild logo on your hoof to get access that all that?” I replied, still getting a grip on all my excitement.

“That’s a magical seal actually, not a tattoo,” Platina said as she smiled, happy to welcome me aboard. “Like any magic seal, it can be upgraded or revoked by the guild itself. Should a member cause trouble for the guild or break rules, their membership can be revoked automatically and the seal will disappear. However, if a member proves to be a skilled individual, they can be promoted and gain even more rights and benefits. The seal itself will be upgraded automatically as well. The seal is also readable by a magic scanner, so that way nopony can forge a fake seal and try to pose as a member when they are not.”

“So wait? Spectra and I weren’t members when we first entered town, how come we were able to stay then?”

Platina smiled, “As a member of the guild myself, I vouched for you two to be able to stay for a while. That doesn’t always work though. I’m a well-known member to this guild hall, so they had no problem with it. That normally wouldn’t work if it was a different guild hall; but they will usually let a non-guild member or two stay if they are in a party with an actual guild member who is passing by.”

I sat there in awe as to what I was now a part of, taking in everything that was happening so fast. Three days ago I was a normal run of the mill pony with a boring job and a normal life. Now I’m a member of the guild, I battled a zombie and acquired an actual weapon. Glancing down at my new sword; it had a lovely light blue tint to it. It was hard to believe that I actually looted it, from what could be considered more or less a dungeon. Just like in those old rpg games I would occasionally play. Why didn’t I do this sooner?

“I sure wish there was a guild hall back where I came from, I could have been doing stuff like this a long time ago,” I replied jokingly as I stretched my back and spread my wings, sitting there was starting to make me tense.

“So, where are you two from exactly? I’ve been wondering that,” Platina asked with a curious look in those gorgeous big eyes of hers.

“I’m not sure where Spectra is from; but I live in Chesternut village.”

Platina’s earth pony friend batted an eyebrow. “Chesternut you say. That might be a place worth considering. We’ll defiantly talk to the headmaster about it. ”

“Wait, what do you mean?” I asked not knowing his intentions or what he was talking about in general.

Platina smiled as she glanced at him. “What he means is that we need a new guild hall. This one is in poor condition and it’s loosing work to the larger halls westward of here.”

“Due to the nature of this place, many guild halls have sprung up around here, but most failed due to the popular ones taking all the work and members. We’re a tight nit family here, but without a guild hall, we would have to separate to find work. That’s the way it works.” The unicorn replied, setting his drink on the table.

“However there are hardly any guild halls by the eastern sea; so that sounds like a great place to set up a lasting headquarters for us,” the earth pony replied as he pondered the idea even more.

“Hey, I like the sound of that. Chesternut is a very lively place; your guild hall should fit right in there. Oh and if you do plan on setting up there, talk to this grey earth pony named Mr. Clover. Tell him Autumn Bliss sent you and he’ll know what to do. He is part of the town committee after all,” I explained as I sat back down at the table. My body was filled with excitement at the thought of this becoming a reality.

The unicorn mage took one more sip from his mug as he grinned towards me. “You know, you might be one of the best things that have happened to this guild in a while.”

“Autumn, there you are. I thought I would find you down here.”

“Oh, good morning Spectra, how are you feeling after yesterday’s mess?” I asked with a grin as she trotted up to the table. Climbing over the bench, she took a seat right next to Platina and yawned for a moment.

“So what have you been up to all morning?” She asked. I lifted up my left hoof and showed her the mark, smiling the whole time. Spectra just dropped her head onto the table, causing some of the dishes to rattle. “Uhhh, I should have known it was only a matter of time until you joined them.”

“Oh lighten up, Spectra, I really don’t understand why you’re so against the guild anyway. Besides look at the positive, now we have a way of making money.” I said with a smile. I never would have though Spectra would be such a buzz kill. “So Platina, do you mind giving me some tips on how the guild works?”

“Sure, follow me over to the request board. We’ll start there,” Platina responded as she got up from the table and headed towards the main entrance. I followed her in turn.

Spectra sat at the table and sighed as she looked up with a smile.

“Spectra was it?” The earth pony asked as he turned his gaze towards Spectra. “I just want to say thank you. Thank you for everything you done for us.”

Spectra looked back at him, puzzled and confused as to why he would say such a thing. “What did I ever do?”

The unicorn guy just cracked a smile; a tear ran down his cheek. “Both of you helped Platina fulfill that job request, and we heard that you went out of your way to give our beloved Osmia a proper burial. That meant a lot to us; that meant a lot to Platina.”

Spectra was in awe, surprised by their words. “Wait, fulfill a request? You don’t mean... there was a request to deal with that zombie, and Platina took it on by herself?”

The two stallions looked at each other for a moment with heart felt regret. Their faces displayed the burden on their minds. “The request to deal with the zombie, to solve the mystery of the disappearances; that job was taken up by Osmia. Platina inherited the responsibility after the loss of her sister and swore to see it through to the end, yet she wanted to do it alone. She wanted to avenge her sister but she wasn’t strong enough to do it on her own, despite that fact, she was still determined to do it by herself and refused any help form the other members.”

“Look soldier, I don’t know what you have against us, but we want you to know that we still appreciate everything you did,” the unicorn said, grasping is tankard as he was reading to take another swig.

Spectra just smiled at the two of them as she leaned forward towards the table. “I just don’t like the guild itself; I’ve got nothing against its members. It doesn’t matter to me if Osmia was guild or military or just a plain day to day pony, she stood up for what was right. I can respect that.” Spectra then grabbed the unicorn’s tankard and took a drink from it. She smiled as she set it down and pushed it back towards the confused stallion.

“The truth is I have a lot of respect for all of you and what you do, despite what my attitude may seem like towards the guild. Everyone is equal in death and as such, deserves their final respects.”

“You know, you too would make a good addition to the guild. You sure you don’t want sign up, you never know, it might be something you’ll end up enjoying,” the earth pony replied with a grin.

“Forget about it, I still have my own reasons for why I’m against joining.” Spectra replied with a smile and a wink. They were sure getting along as Platina and I returned to the table.

Spectra stood up and stretched her back for a moment before turning to me. “So you ready to head out? We need to leave soon if we’re going to make it to Detrot on time.”

I sighed at the thought of it. I was enjoying it here too much here; however she was right. We had somewhere to be and we didn’t need to be stuck out there during night fall. “Yeah I guess so.”

“So this is it then? You’re really leaving?” Platina asked; her ears drooped downward as she looked up at us.

“Yeah, I guess so,” I replied with a smile, hoping she would cheer up a little. She lifted her head up, her eyes where watery. Suddenly she pulled both me and Spectra into a tight embrace. Spectra had a look of shock as I glanced at her.

“Thank you, so much for everything both of you have done. I’m so glad to have met the two of you.” Platina said as she held on to us. I just wrapped my arm around her; Spectra returned the favor as well.

“Thank you for saving me back there, I don’t know what would have happened if you didn’t show up.”

We stood there for about a minute before she loosened her grip. Spectra was starting to get emotional as well, her eyes were starting to look more liquidly than usual. We waved good bye one last time as we exited the guild hall. Platina was standing over by her two friends with a smile on her face and tears in her eyes as she watched us leave. The door closed and Platina’s smile retracted inward.

“Spark Shot, Rockwell, what do you think I should do? My whole life here was to avenge my sister, and now that that’s done, I don’t know what I should do anymore? Should I… should I go after them?”

“Hehe, hell if I know. That’s up to you, what did your sister always say?”

“My… my sister?”

“Hey Sister! What ice-cream flavor should I get?

“I don’t know, Platina, what flavors do you like the most?”

“hmmm, I don’t know… I like them all!”

“Hehe, well, in that case, get the one that your heart desires the most!”

“My sister, it was always the same thing with her…”

“Hey sister? Do you think I should actually join the guild, like you did?”

“I can’t answer that, Platina. You’ll have to do what you feel in your heart is right.”

“In that case, I’m going to be an adventurer like you!”

“My sister… she… she...”

“Sister! Why! Why are you going on that job! You know that zombie has been targeting pegasi! Why would you choose to do something so reckless and dangerous! I don’t understand sister, why!”

“Platina, I don’t expect you to understand why right now, but somepony must do something about this. We can’t let this menace roam free any longer!”

“But why! Why you of all ponies! Can’t somepony else take care of it instead? Osmia, please, please don’t go.”

“Platina, this is something I must do. I can’t explain why; but… but my heart is telling me it is the right thing to do.”

“She… She said to always do what my heart is telling me to do. That I must listen to my heart, and make my own decision based on that! Osmia, I miss you, I miss you so much. I wish I would have listened to you more often. My heart told me to follow you that day; that I should have gone with you despite your orders not to, despite all my fear. I should have listened to what my heart was telling me… and maybe you would still…”

“You’re sister was a wise mare, though she was stubborn as hell some times, she had a good head on her shoulders. And you’re no different, Platina. Your sister would have told you the exact same thing. So what are you going to do? What is your heart telling you right now?”

“What my heart is telling me… I know what I must do. Thank you both for always being there for me. For always being there for Osmia; I, I will miss you both!”

“Don’t you worry about it, now go on; we’ll always be here if you need us. Do what your heart is calling you to do.”

The morning air was chilly to say the least. I could actually see my breath as it froze in the air. I guess that’s how it is up in the mountains. Spectra and I were already closing in towards the split in the road. The trees were much livelier here than they were up at the cemetery. The road was much smoother down here than it was way back up on the mountain. As we reached the cross in the road, we headed westward towards what looked like more rocky terrain. Spectra was back to reading her book as I started to feel the strain of the sword and all the extra weight it added.

“Hey, wait up you guys!” shouted a voice coming from behind us. It was Platina, all dressed up in a silver cloak and carrying a saddle bag with all sorts of neat gear attached to it.

Spectra looked at her in confusion as she levitated her book back into her bag. “Platina, what’s wrong? Is something the matter?”

Catching her breath, Platina spent a moment resting so she could speak. “I… I want to come with you on your journey, that is if you don’t mind.”

“No, not you too?!” Spectra shouted as she lowered her head, like she was reliving a case of déjà vu. She then rolled her eyes up and stared at Platina with this awkward look. “Do you even know where we’re heading and why?”

“I don’t know where you’re going or why; but what I do know is that my heart is telling me that this is what I need to do!” Platina explained as she started to recover from all the exhaustion.
“When I was younger, it was just me and my sister. We would travel the lands, helping those in need. Now that she’s gone, I don’t know what to do anymore! Please, I’m begging you, let me come with you. I want to help any way I can; it’s what Osmia would have done. Like I said, I may not be much of a fighter but my support and healing magic should come in great use to you, so please, will you let me join you?”

“I don’t know Spectra, I mean we can’t let your quest be slowed down. However we don’t know if this is going to be a short trip or a long dangerous adventure. Having a pony with medical magic could be handy wouldn’t you say! I’m all good for letting her join. Besides it’s good to make new friends, and what better way than letting them join us on our quest. Plus she did save us once so that’s something to consider. But this is your call so I’ll leave it up to you.” I explained with a smirk on my face as I wrapped my wing over Platina who had some of the cutest eyes I’d ever seen. The grin on my face was getting wider as I watched Spectra struggle to come up with a counter argument.

“Damn it, Autumn, you really are learning how to piss me off,” Spectra replied with a sinister grin.

“Come one, Spectra, have a heart. Don’t be as tough on her as you where to me when I asked to accompany you. Besides how can you say no to that sweet little face!”

Platina was on edge as she awaited Spectra’s final verdict. Letting out a long sigh, Spectra lifted her head towards the sky. “Alright, you can join us.”

“Thank you! Really I mean it, I won’t let you down!” Platina smiled as she sprang up and readied herself for the journey that lay ahead. Her mane blew in the wind, her eyes glistening with joy as she cantered up to us with a smile.

“Glad to have you on board!” I exclaimed happily as a patted her on the back. We faced Spectra as she glanced back with a smile, she didn’t want to admit it but she was happy too.

“So, we’re heading to Detrot?” Platina asked as she tagged along beside me.

“Yep, we sure are,” I responded cheerfully while maintaining a decent trot to keep up with Spectra’s pace.

“If you don’t mind me asking, why are we going there anyway?”

“We’re… come to think about it, I’m not entirely sure why we are headed there,” I replied since I was never told why we were going there in the first place. I looked towards Spectra, who was remarkably quick to get back to reading her love novel. “Hey, Spectra, why are we going to Detrot anyways?”

“We’re headed to a magical academy so we can figure out what this amulet actually is; don’t tell me you forgot already.” Not even bothering to lower her book, Spectra kept on trotting down the road. “We actually need to head to Central city to find the academy, but to get there we need to catch a ride on an airship. Detrot is the closes city that has an airport with an airship facility.”

“An amulet huh? Oh that reminds me, I have something for you, Spectra,” Platina said as she cantered up to Spectra. She opened her saddle bag and levitated a crystal out of it. It was a shard of a cut gem stone, or at least that’s what it appeared to be. It was a dull grey in color, but the luster on it suggested it was a gem and not a rock. “I found this back in the mausoleum when we were waiting in that study room. I could sense that it had some magical properties.”

Spectra took over the levitating and examined it more thoroughly, rotating the gem around. On one side it was flat; on the other it was refined and smoothed. The rest of it was rough, like it was shattered from a larger stone. “Strange, I sensed this magic before, back when… it can’t be? Can it?” Spectra questioned as she took a closer look at the amulet.

“Maybe you should put it in that gem slot on the necklace. It might look nice,” I commented in a joking tone, gazing at the two. Suddenly the shard lit up brilliantly when Spectra levitated the gem too close to the amulet. After the light subsided, we were shocked, the gem fit perfectly into one of the corners of the amulets gem slot. “Wow, Spectra, how did you do that?”

“I didn’t do anything! It happened all by itself,” Spectra replied as she stepped back, eyes wide and dumbfounded.

“I'm no expert on magical artifacts, but things like that don't normally happen!”

Spectra glanced over the now modified amulet around her neck, puzzled by what just happened. “What is this thing? It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before.”

“Well, I don’t know about you, but that just makes me want to get to Detrot even faster! What do you say, shall we head out.” I gave them both a look of eagerness. I was ready for a big adventure and this amulet is looking promising.

Spectra glanced at Platina, then back to me and nodded her head. A grin ran across her lips, “Lets go.”

An Elegy of Enlightenment

by Algoortheviking

Chapter one: Lingering Dreams

Chapter two: The Amulet

Chapter three: No Turning Back

Chapter four: The Journey Begins

Chapter five: Zombie

Chapter Six: The Catacombs

Chapter Seven: Sister