Ponies, each with stories of their own, all linked across time by a horrific, unknowable entity. Something terrible is happening... or has it already happened?
I dream of her again. Her legs are too long.
She doesn't look at me. Filthy water runs from her mane and tail into nothingness. Her back faces me and she stands far away but not far enough to hide the choking stench of rot. Then she speaks to me.
“You are lost, little one,” she says in inharmonic voices empty of life or love. “Please let me help you.”
I do not want her help but I don’t speak. I feel her breath on the back of my neck. I am filled with dread. She still doesn’t face me. Why doesn’t she face me?
When I wake, my bones ache and the smell of her salty decay is stagnant in the cold night air.
I live over the Great Ocean with my family, and I like to watch the shapes beneath the waves.
I peek over the edge of the cloud at the waters far below. They churn and grumble, spitting yellowed foam up into the air where the crests meet and disagree. If I unfocus my eyes I can sometimes make out the forms beyond the surface.
"Young colt, come here!" I blink and sigh, my attention broken, and push myself up from the edge. As I do, Braves the Cold Waters flies past me, over the fat white lip of the cloud.
"You'd better do what she says, Shines," she teases, her fishing line in hoof, "you're in for it this time."
I stick my tongue out but follow her advice, turning and going to meet my mother on the front stoop. She bites the inside of her cheek the way she does when she is only frustrated, not angry, so I know I have dodged the worst of her wrath. "Shiny, what have I told you about your daydreaming?"
I sigh and roll my eyes, making sure that she sees. "You've said that I need to finish my chores before lazing around."
Her mouth thins into a crease. "And did you finish helping your uncle with the fishhooks?"
"...No," I mumble, my ears dropping, "but it's so boring, and he never says I do it right!"
She stares with a hard eye for a moment, then sighs. Her gaze becomes softer and she sits down. "I know, sweetie," she says, "but we're a family. We have to work together, and you're still growing." She holds my cheek in her warm hoof, just the slightest bit damp from the cloud. "After you're finished helping your uncle, you can be done with chores for the day."
I groan. "Fine."
It's a short walk around our house to the back, where my uncle is fiddling with the hooks. He raises his head when I round the cloudy corner and his bushy brow furrows. "I was wondering when you would find the time in your busy schedule."
I snort, but I don't reply. He jerks his chin, motioning me over. I sit next to him and reach out, holding one of the hooks still on the special rock while my uncle uses the old pliers to correct the hook's bend. Every so often he frowns and tells me to hold it differently as if I can find some sort of magical way to pinch a tiny bit of wire between my hooves any better. Once he's finally satisfied, he grunts and sets it with the others and gets a new one from the bag.
He doesn't ask me to hold the next hook. He lets it sit on his hoof instead, holding it up to his eye before snorting. "Damn it, this one's broke."
I tilt my head. "It looks fine to me."
"That's because you're not looking close enough, as usual." He frowns and holds it out to me. "See? It's too thin at the middle. Third this week. We'll have to go to the island to restock soon."
The island! We go there so rarely, and I always have to stay at the house. "Can I come this time?"
"Only colts who do their chores can come, so focus on helping me first."
He tosses the hook over the cloud's edge, and as I watch it fall, I catch the barest glimpse of something beneath the churning waves far below before its elongated form disappears into the deep.
"This is Investigator Close Look with the Dodge City division. Case One-Two-Five, interview one. This recording is for the purpose of analysis at a later date."
Paper being shuffled, then the scratching of a pen on paper.
"Miss, please state your name and age for the recording."
"Um, Lilyshade, twenty-three."
"Where do you live?"
"Like, my address, or–"
"The city you live in."
"Oh. Sweetwater."
"Please describe your cutie mark."
A heavy wooden thump.
"This is dumb! I just wrote down all this stuff on a form! That one right there, by your left hoof. I know you see it."
"Miss, it's proper protocol. We just need to cover the basics for the recording."
"Fine. My cutie mark is a garden trowel holding a lily that's sprouting from a little pile of dirt. Happy?"
"...One moment please."
The scratching of a pen on paper.
"Okay, Miss Lilyshade–"
"Lily is just fine."
"Alright, Miss Lily–"
"I just said Lily was fine."
"..."
The scratching of a pen on paper.
"Hey, what'd you just write down?"
"...Okay, Lily, I'm interviewing you today for the purpose of the investigation of Case One-Two-Five, pertaining to the Sweetwater Foal Disappearance Incident that occurred about fourteen years ago. I trust I don't need to explain further?"
"Yeah, that's when I got lost in the woods as a filly."
Paper sliding across a wooden surface.
"The incident occurred in the spring of that year on this date, correct?"
"Yep."
"And you were seven years and one month of age at the time?"
A mare's groan.
"Mm-hmm."
"Good, good. Okay, Lily, please describe the events of the day of the filly's— your disappearance in a detailed manner."
"Uh, alright. That day was a weekend. My older brothers were out. I was at home being watched because I was too little to be left alone."
"Who was watching you?"
"My mom. Dad had a job in Dodge City back then. He came home on the weekends."
"Thank you. Please, continue."
"Um... we were in the back yard, mom was gardening, and I was playing in our old sandbox. We lived on the edge of town, next to the forest. We were a lot smaller then, before all the logging, so the forest was a lot closer than it is now."
A heavy sigh.
"So, anyway, there we were in the backyard, like normal. She was busy with her flowers, I was busy with my sand, and then she came by and told me we needed to go into the woods for a second to get something to help her with her gardening work. She was always usin' leaves and seeds and stuff to help her plants grow, so we went into the woods.
"I'm not so sure exactly how it happened, but I lost sight of her somehow. I wandered further in, got myself good and lost, and cried for a few hours. Mom freaked out, of course, and some ponies from town found me that later night. It was simple as that."
"You're sure of these events?"
"Sure enough. I was seven."
"Lily, are you aware that you were missing for almost an entire month?"
"What? That's stupid. I remember it clear as day."
Paper shuffling, then sliding across a wooden surface.
"This is one of your 'missing foal' posters, dated five days after your disappearance."
"..."
"Miss?"
"I'm done talking. Shut off that stupid recorder."
This is my first entry in my new trav Should I start with 'Dear Diary'? Maybe 'Dear Journal'? Is that better?
Dear Journal,
No, I like 'Diary' more. Sorry, Diary. I'll try again.
Dear Diary,
This is my first entry in my new travel diary! I bought it as we were leaving the city today. I had the idea to record our expedition in a more personal light than the research logs. It can hardly fit, though― my travel saddlebags are packed to the brim because we packed so much stuff!
I plan on keeping entries for the whole trip. I think it'll be fun to go back and read it afterward and remember all of my experiences! Maybe I can publish it, but I'd certainly have to revise...
I'm so excited! We set out headed due west. It was the first time I'd been outside the city proper in ages, and I forgot how big the walls are. The guards didn't give us trouble, though. They were very relaxed. I guess there haven't been any incidents in a while.
The other side of the walls was unnerving. As we walked over the drawbridge, I looked down in the trench. All the old bodies are still down there because it's hard to clean them out. My granpap grandfather used to talk about how bad it smelled when he was a colt, but I thought it was fine. Old-timer stuff, I guess. Still, there're a lot of bones down there. A lot of bones. Good thing the ponies who built the trench had the good sense to line it with stone. And make it so deep.
We only got a few hours in before Steady Compass and Four Score got in an argument about our route. Wait, I should write down our little group.
Steady Compass: Our navigator. She's an earth pony and a cartographer! Four Score: He financed the trip in the first place. He's a unicorn archaeologist, like me! We've been friends since school. Quick Quill (me!): Archaeologist. I also dabble as a historian. Auburn: The pegasus bodyguard we hired. She doesn't talk mutch much, but she has a pretty sharp-looking spearzapper. Snazzy!
Anyway, Steady and Score were arguing about the route. They agreed that we should stop by the Mountain City, but Steady thought that we should go south, through the desert, and follow Horseshoe River through the swamp. Score said that we'd have better luck going north, around Foal Mountain, pass by Shade Hollow to the coast, and go south from there. They argued for hours and never reached an agreement, and now they're sitting on opposite sides of the fire, not speaking to each other.
Oh, nevermind, Steady just went into the tent.
They also never asked me what I thought for that matter, which I didn't like, or Auburn, though I doubt she would have cared. (She hasn't payed paid attention to most of our conversations.) I think that Steady probably knows what she's talking about. She is a cartographer, after all. She took one look at the map I bought and began crossing out all the various old roads and bridges that were out and added a few new ones, too. She really knows her stuff.
Auburn is telling me to put out the fire now, so it looks like that's all for today.
As mentioned in previous sections, General Gustavus the Griffon is regarded as one of the more notable leaders of the Griffon armies during the invasion. He is credited with the victory at old Baltimare and commanded the southern army during the Haysead Campaign. Rather uniquely, his military coordination is the best documented of all the Griffon generals due to his extensive correspondence with his overseas wife, and thus he remains our clearest insight into the motives and thought processes of Griffon command during the war.
However, another notable feature of Gustavus' writings is his mysterious and poorly-recorded encounter with an unknown clan of ponies in the Haysead Swamps. Though this subject only appears in a hoofful of his letters, the events recorded remain an unsolved mystery and a continuing subject of debate in historical circles. The intent of this section is to more closely examine the actions the Griffons took five hundred years ago, and to perhaps make an educated guess at just what exactly the griffons found in the southeastern swamps.
Below is the first letter Gustavus sent, written shortly after his arrival in Equestria.
My dearest Guinevere,
I write to you from just outside the pony city of Baltimare. I have ordered my battalion to make camp near the shores of the bay here, and we prepare to reinforce the brave and noble conquerors to the west. We number just shy of four thousand and two hundred well-trained warriors, so do not fear, I shall be in no danger while I am here in the pony lands. As you wish, I shall see to it that I do not place myself in harm's way, so that I may gaze upon you and sweet Genoa once again.
The war at large proceeds quite well by my understanding. The house of the ponies atop the grand mountain is near siege and General Goestrom's master stratagems are no matter to take lightly at all. I believe that the ponies in their capitol will hear the wingbeats of our troops in but a few weeks.
We are to break camp and fly on the overmorrow. Until then, I oversee the delivery of more goods and arms for the troops, as I'm told our current supplies are not enough to brave the swamps the ponies call Haysead. Though we are able to pass over those troublesome lands, I am to secure them completely and root out any pony forces that may be conniving beneath the canopy. A courier from General Garrowind, who commands forces in the west, has reported troubles along his rearguard— I suspect I shall have to clean up for the waste of an eggshell once again.
I have scarcely left, and yet I yearn for the day that I may again feel your plumage against mine, my sweet. How fares Genoa? Are her chicks well? Is that tom of hers staying in line? If not, inform me at once. Though I am far from you, I am not so far that he finds himself out of my reach, so to speak.
I watch my cousin bring in her catch from the house's edge.
Rides the Cool Winds struggles to keep the fish on the line as she flies up from her fishing cloud. It's thrashing and squirming, trying to twist itself into a knot and threatening to rip the fishhook from its raw gray gullet. I don't like the look of its teeth.
"Whoa!" shouts Braves. Rides barely makes it up over the soft white edge of our home. She's over the yard in a flash and drops it onto the smooth, flat surface in an angry, writhing pile.
"Father!" Rides the Cool Winds cries between panting breaths, "come look at this!"
"What?" The call from the house is somewhere between a shout and a growl. "I'm busy!"
"I caught a strange fish! Come see!"
She's right. I've never seen a fish like this one before. It has the same bleary eyes and the same gaping mouth as any other fish but the rest of it keeps going and going and going, like an eel's. It has too many fins. Each one is whispy and long, like strands of thin white mane that sprout from between the fish's scales. They're being wrapped up and tangled around its long, slimy body. It's still shivering and thrashing.
Its teeth are the worst of all. They're thin, spinelike. Too long for its mouth.
My uncle steps beside me from nowhere. "Ah! Erm, Uncle Soars!" I quickly move to the side.
"Settle down, colt," he mutters, eyeing the enraged fish-like thing. He rubs his chin with one silver-gray hoof. "Now there's something you don't see every day..."
"Is it some kind of eel?" says Rides, holding her head up high. I feel like she's reached into my ear and plucked the question right out.
"No, no," he says, shaking his head, "it's a tuna."
I snort. "No it isn't, uncle! Just look at it!"
"It is, you stupid colt. Once again, you're not paying attention." My uncle rolls his eyes and points his hoof. "Look closer. see the shape of the mouth? See the color on its tail and around the eye? It's a shimmerfin."
I lean in as its thrashes lessen. There's a messy blotch of color on the tail that pokes out from within the writhing pile of flesh and flaking scales. I look to its eye. The scales around it also have a pearlescent sheen, at least where they haven't been torn away by its fight with my cousin. He's right.
Then its eye catches mine. There's a glint deep inside. Its mouth starts to strain. It gapes its jagged mouth and pushes its lips out in sickly, almost recognizable patterns. I'm just confused at first. Its movements are jagged, uneven, and then I see it. It's trying to make words. Trying to speak to me.
"Yes, definitely a shimmerfin," my uncle affirms. I look at him, my head feeling fuzzy. He hasn't noticed. "You don't see long fish too often, but it looks like this one's luck ran out." Then he turns to return to the house, jerking his chin towards the edge. "Go ahead and toss it."
"What?" Rides the Cool Wind cries. "It's huge!"
"No good to eat," Uncle says, annoyed. "Throw it. Stay away from its teeth."
"But the hook–"
"Hook's gone."
My grumbling cousin heave and shoves the wet pile off and away. I watch it fall and splatter onto the ocean with a splash and a spray of red and pink.
"This is Investigator Close Look with the Dodge City division. Case One-Two-Five, interview two. This recording is for the purpose of analysis at a later date."
"What are you doing?"
"One moment, Miss."
A crisp click. A soft, background static.
"This is Investigator Close Look with the Dodge City division. Case One-Two-Five, preparatory interview. This recording is for the purpose of analysis at a later date."
The scratching of a pen on paper.
"Ma'am, please state your name and age for the recording."
"Um, L-Leaf Shade, forty-eight."
"You live in Sweetwater, correct?"
A slight cough.
"E-excuse me. Erm, yes, I do."
"Please describe your cutie mark."
"Oh, dear, is that really necessary?"
A soft sigh.
"Yes, ma'am, it is."
"If you say so. Um, my cutie mark is a potted plant with wide, green leaves."
"One moment please."
The scratching of a pen on paper.
"Ma'am, you are Miss Lilyshade's mother, is that correct?"
"Yes, um, I am."
The shuffling of paper.
"Alright, Miss Leaf Shade. I'm interviewing you today for the purpose of the investigation of Case One-Two-Five, pertaining to the Sweetwater Foal Disappearance Incident that occurred about fourteen years ago. I trust you are familiar?"
"Of course! How could I forget my own daughter's disappearance? How dare you ask me that?"
"It's just proper protocol, Ma'am."
A cough.
"Oh. I'm sorry, then."
"That's alright, Ma'am."
Paper sliding across a wooden surface.
"The incident occurred in the spring of that year on this date, correct? And you were thirty-four years of age?"
"That's all correct."
"Good. Now, Ma'am, can you please describe the events of the day of your filly's disappearance?"
A short silence.
"It's quite unpleasant. Are you sure–"
"I'm sure."
"..."
A throat being cleared.
"I-it was a weekend. My husband was at work in Dodge and my two older colts were over at a friend's. I was home with Lily. Lilyshade, my daughter."
"I know her name. Please, continue."
"I was watching her outside, while I was gardening. She was playing with her toys in our old sandbox on the other side of the yard. She used to talk to herself as she played, Lily did, so I didn't think much of it until I heard her talking to 'mommy'."
"She was talking to her mother? To you?"
"She was talking to somepony, but it sure as Celestia wasn't me. When I turned around, I saw her being lead into the woods. We lived near the woods then, or I suppose the woods were nearer to us, but I saw her following a pony. A mare, but something— something wasn't right about that mare. She was much too tall, and she— and there was this horrible smell, and I tried to follow them, but she— and I— and—"
Very labored breathing.
"Miss Shade, are you okay?"
Labored breathing.
"Y-yes, yes, I'm quite alright. It's just... as I said, it's unpleasant. I just... I just wish we could have found her sooner. She never talked about what happened, just pretended that it hadn't, and I... I worry."
A crisp click, and the static cuts out. Slightly labored breathing.
"You went to my mom? Do you know how much that mare worries about her kids? And you went and involved her in this mess?"
"I had to know what she thought about your–"
A wooden crack.
"I'll let you know what I think, you trash-for-brains piece of–"
I am ushered into the house by my mother gently, but firmly. She looks strange without the strands of silvery-pink mane in her face. "Alright, your manecut is all done. Come on now, Shiny. It's time for little colts to go inside."
I tell her that I'm a big colt, not a little one, and I don't have to go inside this time. She pushes me in anyway and closes the door. I quickly press my ear against the crack between it and the cloud wall, where the sound outside isn't so muffled.
"Okay, Soars, we're all ready."
"About time." The annoyed grumble can only come from my uncle. "Come on, girls, let's get to work."
A moment later I feel the clouds beneath my hooves begin to move and I steady myself with my wings. Nothing happens for a long while, and I get very bored. I can hear talking outside, but they're too far away, even for the crack.
Then the house stops. I rush to the crack and I catch the barest snippet of words. "...head down to the machine..."
My eyebrows jump up! Little colts have had to go inside more times than I can count, but I never knew they go down. Are we over something? We must be― why else would anypony want to go down to the water?
Quick as a flap, I dive to the corner, where the floor is easiest to pull apart. I jam my hooves into the clouds and a minute later I feel the cool sea air against my coat. I put my eye as close as I dare.
The house is lower than normal. The ocean below is broken by some kind of island, but it's not the kind that we visit. There are no trees or sand, and the whole thing is a slimy gray. There are no gentle swells or curves, either, it's all strange, unnatural angles, like something half-sunk. A shiver climbs my spine.
I spot my family just as they set down on the strange island. My uncle has a tan bulge on his shoulder. It takes me a moment to recognize it at such a distance: the sack. I'm not supposed to touch it because we only have one. I saw it not an hour ago when my uncle was cutting our manes.
My uncle walks to the island's unnatural shore. He stops at the water's edge and I see him overturn the sack. A little multicolored pile appears next to him and he canters away without skipping a beat, empty bag in tow.
A moment passes.
Five strange tendrils creep up from the ink-black water. They're made up of too long, many-jointed segments and I'm baffled until they finish rising— they merge together at the base. The fingers of a claw. They hover over the pile of our mane clippings, hesitating briefly before curling around it. Then it drags it into the black water and vanishes.
My family and I wait.
The fingers emerge again, their tips together, and touch the shore of the island where the clippings used to be. Then they split and slip into the ocean once more.
The spot glitters in the sun, and I realize the owner of the claw left something.
Then my uncle swipes it up with the sack, and before I know it everypony is flying back. I mash the cloud back together and move far away, praying that nopony saw.
The door opens and my mother smiles. "Well, Shiny, I hope you're ready to visit the island!"
Princess Twilight Sparkle looked down at the folder on her desk.
Well, not the folder, a folder. Just like always, a not-technically-countless number of scrolls, papers, forms, bills, and, of course, manila folders battled for space and attention atop her personal writing desk, all marked for her attention and nearly all marked 'urgent.' Lunchtime was approaching and she hadn't conquered half of today's quarry of bureaucracy. So much for the itinerary. She'd have to work well into the night today.
There were a lot of unpleasant facets about running an entire nation, but paperwork days were near the top of that particular list. The princess let out a sigh, realized her eyes had unfocused, and looked down at the folder on her desk.
Again.
It appeared it was from a department she vaguely recognized, or more accurately, a division of that department located in Dodge City. Some part of the intelligence ministry. Those two facts alone told her that this probably was some facet of the recent and utterly maddening dispute with the buffalo over southern lands. Either that, or there was a dragon problem. Both options sounded absolutely terrible to the exhausted princess.
Twilight looked a little closer. It was a report of some kind. A threat assessment― no, an unknown threat assessment. Some investigator... scratch that, the name was scrawled right below the dry-looking title, one Investigator Close Look had apparently found something that spooked him and had decided that it was a threat that needed a princess' attention.
Princess Twilight loved her little ponies, but sometimes, they could be quite a hassle. Well, I had better take a quick look, she thought, just in case.
Her salvation came in the form of three sharp knocks on her door. Her ears perked up and a little life blew into her ever-flowing mane. "Yes? What is it?"
The door to her study cracked open and an attendant poked his head in. "Your Majesty, Fluttershy has arrived for lunch."
The princess glanced down at the plain-looking manilla folder. "Case 125: LLM" could certainly wait a little while, couldn't it? After all, a princess had the right to take a break after working so hard all morning.
"Send her in, please." The attendant nodded, and a moment later, one of her best friends in the world trotted through the door.
Of course, in typical Fluttershy fashion, her head lowered the moment she spotted the princess' desk. "Oh! I'm sorry, Twilight, I didn't know you were busy. We can do lunch another time."
"No!" Twilight burst out. Her friend shrank back a little, her eyes wide, and the princess felt a heat rise to her face. "Erm, I mean, I've planned out my whole day, including getting lunch with you. It's no problem at all, Fluttershy."
"Oh, good," Fluttershy said with a smile, pushing an errant lock of mane behind her ear. A little spark of pain jumped through Twilight's heart when she saw its streak of gray.
That was when the doors burst open and a royal guard tumbled through. His helmet fell to the floor with a clang as he clambered to his hooves, but he didn't seem to notice.
"Your Majesty," the guard said as he struggled to catch his breath, "we just received a letter from the Baltimare Division. They sent a direct courier. You'd better take a look at this right away."
Sorry it's been so long since my last entry! We've been traveling like mad!
I wanted to write every day, but our travel has been swift and purposeful since we left the city. Each day begins with a quick breakfast, then we travel all day, with a short stop for lunch. By the time we make camp for the night, my hooves are so tired and sore that it's all I can do to pitch my tent, eat supper (stew, always,) and flop into my sleeping bag. Tonight was different because― well, I'll get to that in a moment.
We began with a hurried trot through the Eastern Lands. Four Score and Auburn were both eager to move quickly, though for different reasons. Auburn told me in gruff, stunted sentences that what remained of the Children were attracted to the city in the old days, and even though there were plenty of patrols out nowadays, it still paid to be discrete and to not linger. She has the scars to back up her words, so I believe her wholeheartedly. Score seemed less worried about that and more concerned with the fact that he is the pony who's paying for the journey, so the less time our adventure takes, the better.
Anyway, we traveled through the Eastern Lands quickly. We only passed through one small town on the way― Barnsborough, I think it was called― stopping briefly to top off our supplies before continuing on. Before I knew it, we had reached the base of the mountains.
The mountain range used to have a railway line going through it, way back before our time. The rails are still technically there, I suppose, rusting away underneath countless tons of soil and stone. Back during the Event ponies used rockslides to block the valley, turning the range into a massive barrier, which I'm told was quite the disputed decision when it was made. Apparently, a lot of ponies were still on the other side of the mountain range.
Today it's quite safe, however. We followed a scraggly trail up through what used to be the side of the old valley, which looks quite natural nowadays. It's heavily wooded, all pines and brush, and the hills made travel slow. Still, we reached the other side in the middle of the second day and made camp early, at Auburn and Compass's recommendations. Thus, I actually have had time to get off my hooves and relax for a bit. A win for diary keeping!
We have a good reason for stopping, one that Score didn't even argue. We're camped in the foothills of the Range, and the Ash Fields lie ahead of us. Unlike the Eastern Lands (which are, ironically, currently to our west,) the Ash Fields has far more Children and even some active machines. We haven't encountered any yet, but I can see a great big mass far in the fields. It's motionless and overgrown, but I think it might be one, old and broken.
We'll pass by it tomorrow, on our way to the first site, and the real work, the entire purpose of our expedition, will start then.
I'm being called over to join in the game of Mare's Hoof. Four Score continues to be crummy at cards and needs a teammate who knows what he's doing, so that's all for now.
"This is investigator Close Look with the Dodge City division. Case—"
A yawn.
"Case One-Two-Five, interview three. This recording is for the purpose of analysis at a later date. As a note, this interview is being conducted at, um... approximately one-thirty AM."
A throat being cleared.
"Sorry about that."
"Well, we're here and the tape's running, Lily. Why don't you explain why you're here for the record."
"Again?"
"It's–"
"It's proper protocol, yeah, yeah, I know. Okay, um, I came back because I, um... I remembered."
"Despite your insistence to the contrary five days ago."
"Wait, it's been five days?"
"It has. Is that a problem?"
A short pause. Slightly quickened breathing.
"I don't know. Maybe. I'll... I'll explain it in a bit."
"Then, by all means, continue."
The squeaking of a wooden chair on linoleum.
"Alright. I'm back because I remembered. I remembered Her, in a dream."
"Her?"
"The Mare."
"You'll have to be a bit more specific–"
"The Long-Legged Mare. She was there. She looked like my mother, at first."
"Wait, slow down. Who is this 'Long-Legged Mare?'"
The quick tapping of a hoof on wood.
"I, um... I don't know. She's tall, too tall. Like the princess, but wrong. It's hard to explain."
A short silence, then the scratching of a pen on paper.
"I don't think I understand, but please continue."
"She's the one who led me into the forest. I thought it was my mom. At first, She looked just like her, but as we walked further, the ground got wetter and She got taller and Her mane didn't fall down Her neck right–"
"Lily, are you okay?"
Quick breathing that steadies after a moment.
"Y-yeah, I'm alright. I kept following Her, and She kept talking to me in my mother's voice, but it was just the same phrases over and over. 'Stay close to me, dear,' and 'my, it's a lovely day.' Stuff like that, and She never responded to the questions I was asking so I just stopped eventually. The ground got wetter and muddier and the trees changed. I remember how scared I was when I realized we were in the swamp."
"The swamp?"
"Yeah, the swamp past the forest. It's supposed to be three days' walk, but I eventually realized She tends not to care about that sort of thing."
"I don't understand."
"I don't either."
A throat clearing.
"We came to this hole in the ground. I could tell it'd been carved out of the rock a long time ago, with a cave at the bottom. Inside, it was almost pitch black, but there were these symbols painted on the walls. I only remember one, it was like a bunch of circles, like— here, gimme that pen."
"Alright."
The hurried scratching of a pen on paper.
"Like that. She led me to the biggest one, and then she stopped, and-and she finally turned around and looked at me, and I looked at her eyes and her eyes repeated."
"Repeated? Lily, are you alright?"
"They repeated too far back into her head and then she— she opened her mouth and she said—"
Panting. A pony struggling to breathe.
"Lily, can you hear me?"
"She said— she looked right at me and she said—"
A clattering racket of wood on linoleum and the meaty thump of a body hitting the floor.
I went to pick up Symphony from school today, and I found myself staying there later than I should have because she wanted to show me the soap sculpture she'd made in class, and what kind of self-respecting mother says no to that? She made a little model of the town out of a bunch of bars of soap, and even though she got a lot wrong, she got a lot right, too. Our house was in the right spot, as was the fishery, and the docks, and the schoolhouse, and her little friend Leaf's house. I was honestly astonished because she's got a lot better sense of space than I do. Maybe she'll be some sort of urban planner in the city someday! I hear that it's set to grow for decades, so who knows?
Anyway, we left and headed for the grocery store after that. I only mention that we were there a little later than usual because I ran into Heavy at the store. He looked distracted, and when I asked him what was wrong, he told me a pretty concerning story.
Apparently, he'd been tending to their front garden when a mare had wandered into town. Because they're pretty much as far south in Sleepy Cove as you can be, he's almost entirely sure that he was the first to see her. She looked haggard, with tangles in her mane and tail and deep bags under her eyes, like she hadn't slept in days. When he asked her what was wrong, she told him a story.
The mare had been having horrible nightmares, so scary she was afraid to sleep. The dreams had told her that something bad was going to happen to the town she lived in, Shoreside, so she'd been having trouble doing much of anything without being scared. And then... something had happened. Apparently, something really, really bad. Or at least, that's what she thought. She'd flown away as fast as she'd been able to the second she saw "it," and refused to elaborate any further, just asking to be shown to the closest place to eat.
He brought her to the tavern, staying with her because something was obviously terribly wrong with the mare. He said she wouldn't stop twitching and looking around. He also helped her pay for her food because she barely had any bits on her. In return, she warned him, telling him to get him and his family out, to go north as fast as they could.
Then she'd walked out of the tavern and flown off. She didn't even tell him her name. Super weird.
He brushed it off, saying it was probably nothing, and how he hoped the mare would get help, but I could see the worry on his face. The mare, whoever she was, must have really spooked the big guy.
At least Symphony wasn't worried. To her, it was just a boring grown-up conversation being had by boring grown-up ponies. I felt a little envious when I saw how she was skipping on the way home.
I just I can't help but feel like something's not right.
I watch the waves break on the shore of the island. The waves froth and spit white foam, their water tinted by the sand it disturbs. Past them is a stretching coastline, pale and shining in the midday sun. It borders the obscene, the downright incredible: a bulging, shivering mass of blinding-bright green rising from the ocean in defiance, thrusting itself into the sky where land does not belong. Even at its steepest, life clings to the side of its rocky slopes.
I've seen the island before, and it strikes the same boggling feeling into my heart now as it did then. I imagine what it must be like to have so much space to walk around, but at the same time, to be anchored in place forever. What must it be like to live so far down?
In the past, things were different. The island was nothing but a strange, unknowable, dangerous place that little colts were only allowed to stare at from afar, wondering what kind of beasts lurked beneath the gently-swaying treetops. Wondering what kind of ponies could live in such a place. Perhaps they weren't ponies at all, after living in such a strange land for so long. I imagined them with claws and fangs, stalking the shadows, hunting for prey instead of simply fishing. When I had asked my uncle, he'd laughed in my face.
Not today. Today I will fly.
We are gathered at the edge of the house's cloud. My mother stands near me. A little ways away, Uncle has the sack on his back, laden with a fresh catch of deep-sea fish. Braves the Cold Waters and Rides the Cool Winds stand at his side. The former meets my nervous stare and grins.
"Shiny, you had better stay close! We wouldn't want you to get scooped up by a stranger, would we?"
I stick my tongue out at her. She laughs.
Mother nudges me with her elbow. "Are you ready?" My throat is too dry to speak, so I simply swallow and nod. She smiles. "Don't listen to your cousins. The islanders are always very friendly." Then she places a hoof on my shoulder. "It can be dangerous, yes, but you keep your wits about you and you'll be just fine."
I offer up my bravest smile. It doesn't feel very brave.
Uncle shouts for us to leave and we take flight. The sea air is a special type of exhilarating. My heart begins to pound in my chest as the wind whips over my cropped mane, growing quicker with every wing beat. I feel nervous and excited at the same time.
I study the landscape below as we cross over the island; there's a small lake at the base of the mountain. I wonder if I'm allowed to visit it. I've always wanted to take a bath in real freshwater. A cluster of wooden buildings also comes into view, huddled together near the far shore. As we get closer, I realize that a lot of the buildings dwarf our cloudhouse! It makes sense. With all this space, there's no need to build small! I bet their houses don't even try to drift apart.
Uncle begins to dip, beginning the glide down, and we all follow him. He's making for the shore near the village, where colorful, toy-like ponies are beginning to gather. We're down in a moment, and before I know it, I'm beating my wings and slowing into a landing.
My hooves touch down on the sand. It feels even more incredible than I imagined.
"Yeah, I am. Just got a little scared remembering, that's all. I promise."
"Alright. Um, this is investigator Close Look with the Dodge City division. Case One-Two-Five, interview four."
"This recording is for the purpose of analysis at a later date."
"..."
"What? It's proper protocol, you know."
The shuffling of paper, and the scratching of a pen.
"Oh, now with the silent writing again."
"Let's continue the interview. Do you remember where you were in your recounting?"
"Um, it's... kind of fuzzy. Can you remind me?"
"Of course. You said that you had followed the mare, who initially looked like your mother, Leaf Shade, from your home into the forest, then into the swamp."
"Okay."
"Then she led you into a cave of some sort, painted with symbols, like the one you drew there, and then she said something. You fainted before you said what."
"She said something?"
"That's what you said."
"I don't remember saying anything like that."
"You don't?"
"Nope. All I remember is She led me to the back of the cave, to the house."
The scratching of a pen on paper.
"You're sure?"
"Positive. Why are you so hung up on this?"
The scratching of a pen on paper.
"Please, continue."
"The house was strange. It wasn't quite right. For one, every room smelled kind of like rot, but I got used to it. There was always the sound of rushing water behind the walls. Always. It looked really fancy, with big stairways and chandeliers and stuff, like where a rich pony would live."
A cough.
"She led me to my room. That's the thing. It was my room, just like at home. It looked exactly like my room."
A hoof scratching at mane.
"We had meals together every day, with the other foals. They–"
"There were other foals?"
"Yeah, of course. They came and went, but I saw tons. Something you need to understand about Her is that she harmonizes."
"Harmonizes?"
"I mean when She's around, it's like the world arranges itself for Her, and it was always in fives. The house had ten rooms that I was allowed in. The stairs had twenty steps. The dining table was always set for five foals, even though I counted at least twenty through my... stay."
"That's... strange."
The shuffling of paper.
"The official record of the incident says there were only fifteen foals reported missing around that time. Wait, fifteen..."
"There you go— three fives. You could hear it in the way She spoke. You could hear it in the rhythm of Her footsteps. It's... like everything is falling into place, but... the worst is when it happens to you."
"Please explain."
"You notice yourself walking in fives, speaking in fives. Breathing in fives. All unintentionally. It scared me. The idea still scares me."
"It's... unsettling, yes."
"The other foals always looked scared, like me. Sometimes they would cry, but She didn't like that. Sometimes I'd notice them growing taller a few days before they left, but if we behaved, and if we followed the rules and did our chores She wouldn't look at us so much. If I was especially good, She'd make herself look like my mother."
"Dear Celestia."
"I remember missing home, wanting to leave desperately, but the real trouble came when I finally tried to leave. That was when..."
Readers will no doubt be aware of the famous Battle of Saddle Lake's history and prominence during the war, and so this section will omit any summary. General Gustavus wrote the following letter upon learning of the result of the battle, and his predictions about the war's future proved mostly correct.
Though it contains little about Gustavus' actual military movements, this missive is important to our examination as it is the first appearance of the crystal site in the body of surviving letters and raises initial questions about the true nature of the Griffons' discovery in Haysead.
My dearest Guinevere,
My heart is heavy in my breast, my love; I bear grave news from the front. General Goestrom's army engaged the pony forces ereyesterday and, against all odds, the ponies emerged victorious. However, the battle was hard-fought. I am told that our brave warriors forced their victory to be phyrric. Both griffons and ponies were slain in staggering numbers.
The enemy has mirrored us and withdrawn to the mountain. I expect the front to slumber for a fortnight, perhaps more, and even afterward, I fear reinforcements may be too slow and too few to properly hinder the ponies' next counterattack. As always, I shall keep you as well-informed as my own aides.
As for myself, I remain thoroughly out of harm's way. For all the trouble the ponies have given to Goestrom and Garrowind, my forces remain largely unchallenged. We located another band of militia in the swamps last week and swiftly eradicated them, claiming their outpost for ourselves, just as with the others. Aside from that, there has been little action for my troops― save for one curious instance.
Sergeant Grimwold investigated the disturbance mentioned in my previous letter. His scouts reported the discovery of another militia outpost, unremarkable to the flying eye excepting its location: near what appeared to be some sort of quarry or mine. Even stranger, the outpost seemed to have been the site of a battle, one that my soldiers had no claw in, and was in extreme disrepair. Part of its palisades had been knocked down and it was partially flooded.
Occupying such a broken encampment in its current state would only be inviting pestilence and attacks from the beasts that prowl the swamp, so I ordered Grimwold to leave be for now. However, its location is divine for my task, as it is near the center of Haysead, and it is far too inefficient to continue commanding my entire operation from the initial encampment. I have begun assembling an expedition to repair the outpost and prepare it for my arrival, and the site will become the new center of my operations. Perhaps the aid will allow Goestrom to send more of his forces to the north and assist at the front.
I continue to want for your presence, my sweet. It is tiring, commanding alone, and I would very much benefit from your company. I wish for your safety far more, though, so we must continue to endure. Did my gift for Genoa's chick arrive in time for her hatching day? Did she like it? Did that scrappy father of hers try and take it from her? Oh, my beautiful songbird, our daughter is wonderful, but I fear I shall never understand her decision.
After we left the Mountain City, we traveled back through the destroyed town. I was extra careful to look out for machines and Children, but we didn't encounter anything. We dropped off most of the heaps of things we'd recovered from Canterlot in the cellar (I could go on for pages about the texts we got from Twilight Sparkle's School for the Gifted Magicians!) and then we began southward, following the old railway line— more twin lines of rust than rails, really.
That was a long trek with not much of note. We didn't encounter any Children or Machines, though we did find a machine that was actually dead, torn into chunks by some force I can only guess at and surrounded by corroded sets of old armor. The few towns along the route had already been picked clean of valuables, save for a medical almanac in good condition, and our nights were so peaceful that Auburn declared we didn't need to keep the second watch. Still, it was empty, and we found no living towns. Food still doesn't grow nearby.
In good news, the others seem to have forgiven my blunder, and I feel no hostility towards me around the fire! Even Four Score seems to have let the lost time in the detour slide. We predominantly play team-based card games now, and for reasons beyond me, Compass chooses to play with Score against me and Auburn. It's baffling to me because they always argue with each other no matter what we're playing, but I like having Auburn as a partner teammate. She's much more clever than she lets on, and her favorite trick is letting Score underestimate her before producing a winning hoof. (I've also seen her sneak cards off the table, but what can I say? I like to win.)
Once again, though, I owe Auburn my life. The bridge over Ghastly Gorge was built before the Event, but it was also built for trains and built to last. Its wood and metal are so heavily warded that it's only just begun to degrade in recent years. Compass insisted that it was perfectly safe. Of course, about two-thirds of the way over, a bit of wood gave way beneath me.
Before I knew it, I was falling. I thought for sure that was it for me, but a big, strong leg wrapped around my middle and hoisted me up. Auburn set me down, wide-eyed and shivering, on the track. It took me a few moments to process it, but then I thanked her profusely. You know what she said? You know what she said?
She said: "At least it wasn't your own fault this time."
I really should stop letting these life debts pile up.
We made it to New Appleoosa the next day. Its walls are almost as impressive as home's! Almost. We exchanged some of the Mountain City jewelry that we had kept with us for new supplies and a couple of rooms to stay the night, but honestly, I kind of preferred spending nights outside, playing games around the campfire and sitting next to Auburn
We did go to the local saloon and enjoyed a break, though. We all bought drinks and played a game of pool. Score and Compass beat me and Auburn in pool even though we were cheating because they were cheating harder.
We walked for hours today. My hooves are really sore. They feel like they're splitting open. Thank Celestia we finally got the chance to stop and rest. We found a group of guardsponies who were getting ready to march towards our village. I stopped one of them, a mare, and asked her if she had any news from the city. She said yes and told me that ponies from all over Equestria were sending help! We'll be safe once we make it. I told our group the good news, but then I had to pull Steady away and tell him the other thing the mare told me.
I walked him away from the others and told him that things were a lot worse than we thought. The mare'd gotten quiet and said to me that they hadn't just brought the Guard from the city, that regiments from as far as Canterlot had been summoned. Steady got angry because the guard that told us to leave Sleepy Cove said that everything was under control and that we'd be back in a month or so. I guess we know that he had been lying.
It doesn't change the plan for now. We still need to walk to the city and stay there until all this blows over. I'm sure we can find other ponies from the village already there, maybe they can lend a helping hoof. I'm trying to look at the silver lining, like mother told me. Maybe the princess will come and see us all! I told that to Symphony earlier today, and she got so excited! Her eyes just lit up! It made me feel much better.
I think I'm going to ask Steady to walk a little ways ahead of us tomorrow. I don't want to scare Symphony again. When we were traveling today, we saw a stallion lying on the side of the road. He wasn't moving, and nopony was stopping to give aid. Symphony, bless her little heart, started crying for us to stop and help him. I couldn't even find the words. After we passed by, it took my mother and Steady an hour to get her to understand that we couldn't afford to stop. We don't have all that much food in our bags, and if we took another pony with us, we wouldn't have enough for ourselves. She looked so heartbroken. I don't know what to do about that, but at least she's talking to us again.
There are still ponies on the road, even if it's less than during the day. They look so scared, all lit orange by our campfire. I saw a tired little colt point at it like he wanted to come over with us and sit, but his father shook his head and told him something, then put him on his back, on top of his bags. Seeing all these ponies walking is making me uncomfortable. I feel like we shouldn't be resting here.
I have the last watch. I think that I'm going to wake our group up early so we can leave. I'm nervous staying here. I really hope that it's just paranoia.
As the war continued, General Gustavus' position slowly shifted from merely supporting southern (western, from his perspective) Griffon troops to a more pivotal role in overall military strategy. As Equestrian forces continued to gain ground, the more inexperienced or incompetent griffon commanders needed additional soldiers and supplies routed through Gustavus, who continued doing his job with the utmost quality. It was during this time that he made contact with an unknown group of ponies living somewhere in the central Haysead swamps.
The ninth∗ of Gustavus' letters is translated as follows.
My dearest Guinevere,
I continue to bear unpleasant news. The pony forces have recaptured Rambling Rock Ridge and continue to advance southward. I fear that my colleagues' inexperience may be our downfall. Judging by my continued communications with Garrowind, his forces appear to perform the worst in each battle, retreating early and often without reason. I do not believe that he understands the requirement of sacrifice in this war, and his refusal to act decisively may soon turn the Haysead Swamps into a true battleground. I remain safe for the moment, however, so fear not for me.
I continue to operate from the mine encampment. Cleanup operations were completed just this morning, and I am proud to declare that my new location has allowed me to command my forces most efficiently. Additionally, I find myself somewhat entranced by the mystery this place offers. Judging from the recovered weaponry and the few carcasses that escaped complete consumption by the swamp beasts, I believe that this outpost was initially manned by Equestrians, who were attacked and forced out by another group of ponies weeks before our warriors even landed on the continent. They were driven off by masked warriors with primitive bows and a strange manner of stone-edged clubs. Of course, judging from long-rotted corpses, I would have no way of knowing this had these same warriors not arrived at the gates of the camp.
When we cleared the quarry near the camp of vines and detritus, we found a curious door at its base, hidden by rubble and overgrowth. Upon forcing our entrance, we discovered an extensive cave, with walls lined with glittering crystals and strange paintings prominently featuring an odd design made of multiple concentric circles.
Not two days later I was awoken near midnight to the presence of said clansponies, all with their primitive weapons and wearing wooden masks. I assume this clan made the markings in the cave, as their war masks featured the same concentric circles around their viewing holes. They spoke no language we understood, but shouted and waved their clubs until we drove them away. The incident occurred two days ago, and we've seen nothing of them since.
I send Genoa my deepest condolences. My influence could not protect her tom from the call to arms, but I have organized his delivery to my camp. I give to her my promise that he will be out of harm's way. Give her and her chicks the warmest of embraces for me, my sweet.
All the love in the skies,
Your Gustavus
∗ : Curiously, due to multiple confusing references and implications present in many of General Gustavus' letters, many historians, including this author, believe that one of Gustavus' letters is missing somewhere between his fifth and eighth letters, making this letter the tenth, not the ninth.
I follow my family into the village. The sand is soft and warm, not like clouds at all. It cradles my hoof with every step, giving way just slightly and clumping in the edges of my coat.
A group of ponies has gathered at the edge of the village. There are all colors and all kinds, including the wingless ones. Some wear strange, ornate headdresses that poke up into the sky, and all of them have slings of beads and glinting metal bangles around their necks and legs and even their wings.
My uncle strides up to them, and one, a smooth-sided yellow stallion, steps forward to greet him. He bumps my uncle's hoof and greets him warmly, and does the same with my cousins. Then they step aside, and my uncle looks to me.
"Come here," he says, "come and introduce yourself."
"Ah," says the yellow stallion, "what's this? Another member of the family, eh, Storms? How many are you hiding up there?"
I feel a nudge on my backside. When I look, my mother nods her head. "Go on, it's alright."
I swallow and step forward. "Greetings, sir. I am Shines With the Wind."
His eyebrows raise. "And polite! I take it he's not one of yours, eh?"
My mother steps forward as my uncle snorts out a laugh. "You know me too well. No, he's Glitter's."
The stallion looks towards her and bows, taking her hoof and touching it to his forehead. "Ah, Glittering Waves. Beautiful as ever, of course." Finally, he looks back to me. "Young stallion, you are very lucky to have such a kind and generous mare for a mother. My name is Creates with Stone and Wood. Welcome to our village!"
Then the stallion, Creates, waves his hooves. "Come, come. Do your business, and then we can reconvene, yes? Have you any tales of the Will of the Ocean?"
They begin a back and forth as they walk more further into the town. My cousins follow, speaking to a few of the villagers like they are old friends. I content myself with following in my mother's tracks as she joins Uncle and the stallion's conversation. I don't bother to listen, I'm too busy looking around the town.
It's incredible. I've never seen so many structures, so many ponies. They've decorated every surface, hanging strings of colored cloths between buildings splattered with arcs of colorful paint. Everywhere I look, ponies are talking, trotting, even singing. I'm bombarded with new smells, some woody and gentle, others so pungent my eyes threaten to water. I even detect the unmistakable scent of a roasting fish coming from one of the thatch-roofed huts.
As we near the village's center, I spot something that captures my gaze completely. There's an orange mare standing with a group of ponies, set aside by a complete lack of any beads or bangles save for two bangles that bunch the end of both her mane and her tail. She's wearing a pair of bags on her back and an absurdly-shaped hat on her head, and her cutie mark is a trio of small, red blobs.
She turns and looks our way, meeting my gaze after a second. She looks nervous, out of place, but she smiles at me and waves. I hesitate, then wave back, feeling a little better, and hurry after mother.
This place may be strange, but mother was right. The ponies here seem plenty friendly.
"This... this is investigator Close Look with the Dodge City division. Case One-Two-Five, interview five. This recording is for the purpose of analysis at a later date. Are you sure you're ready?"
Measured breathing.
"Yeah. Yeah, I'm ready."
"Tell me about your escape attempt from 'the house.'"
A cough.
"Well, we knew where the exit was, but most of us were too scared to use it because of the crystals. Listen, if you ever see a yellow crystal that doesn't look right, just avoid it and forget you saw it."
"Why?"
"Just trust me on that one. I, um... I don't remember exactly, but one day I missed home so bad that I walked through the cave. Maybe I made it through by sheer luck."
"That's incredible."
"I'm not sure about that because when I walked outside, She was waiting for me. She looked different than I'd ever seen before, and She was looking away from me. I remember exactly what She said, clear as day."
"What did she say?"
"'If you leave, dear child, you will be the last.'"
"The last what?"
A silence.
"Of the foals that went missing, how many were found before I was?"
Paper shuffling.
"Four."
"And how many were found after?"
"...Zero. Are you saying—"
"The foals that I left behind never escaped. They might still be there."
"What happened next?"
"I walked for maybe an hour before I reached my backyard."
"Oh. Oh."
"That was the deal."
"...If this is real, if she's real–"
"She's plenty real. Not quite in all the ways that matter, but She's definitely real. How many times have you recorded me while investigating this case?"
"This... would be the fifth."
"And what's this case's number?"
"Case... case one-two-five."
"One hundred twenty-five. Five sets of five sets of five. She involved you before you even knew a thing about Her."
"What does that mean?"
"It means that something about what you're doing, or something about you has attracted her attention."
A silence.
"It's coincidence."
"Listen, I didn't just come back to argue about Her. In my dream, there was something wrong with Her. She was the same, somehow, but different. Angrier and happier than She was when I was a filly."
"What changed?"
"I hope I never find out. I'm gonna take my family on vacation. We'll be leaving here for a while. You should too."
"Are ponies in danger? Could She pose a threat?"
"I... don't know. I have a really bad feeling about all of it."
"Then I need to send this up. I need to send this all the way up."
A wooden chair scraping across linoleum.
"I'm sorry, but I don't have anything else that can help you. Whatever you do, you had better do it fast. As fast as you can. Goodbye, Close Look. Good luck."
"Goodbye, Lily."
Receding hoofsteps and a hurried scraping of paper.
"Come on, come on..."
The quick scratching of a pen on paper, and more shuffling.
"Ah, there it is. Oh, I can just make the next one."
Cloth sliding across fur and the gentle clink of a buckle being clasped.
I think things are getting worse faster than anypony in the village knows.
I'm writing this just before I pack. It's afternoonish, and I'm very worried. It feels like the whole town's coming apart at the seams, and it hasn't even been a week since we saw the first guards pass through Sleepy Cove.
On the bright side, Symphony was elated to meet real guards. She's lived here all her life and she's never seen them all bundled up in their glittery armor outside of her picture books. She flagged one down the second she got the chance and began bombarding him with her usual deluge of questions. The way her eyes went wide when he actually answered them is a picture I'll hold in my heart forever. I've never seen her so full of wonder. I thanked the guard for being so patient with our filly while Bass distracted her, and luckily, he was very gracious.
Most of the guards that come through aren't so forthcoming. They all have these stoic looks on their faces all the time, and they never stop to speak. Nopony even told us what was going on until today, and I'm lucky I heard it from that kind guard, Silver Shield, and I was able to break the news to Steady and mother early.
We haven't heard much from the south since it happened— just rumors. Aside from the one mare, a rather large family came up the other day pulling a cart full of their stuff, and they didn't stop to speak to anypony. I didn't see them myself, I just heard this from the neighbors, but they said the group just pushed on right through town, heading north. It concerned me then, but after hearing what the guard said, well, I don't know what to think, really.
Silver Shield said that some sort of monster had come out of the ocean. A sea-beast, I think it must be. He said it had badly damaged Shoreside, and that the little hamlet's residents fled. Then the mystery thing had begun heading north, directly towards us. We'd have to evacuate.
He reassured me that the Royal Guard was handling it, but they were having some trouble, so some reserve guards had been called in from neighboring towns. He was apparently one of those ponies and lived a little ways away in Hayflower, and he didn't expect us to be gone for more than a few weeks, a month tops, just to "make sure everything is safe."
I thought it was silly that the Guard couldn't get rid of an ocean beast (on land, even,) in just a few days, but I didn't argue, we went right home and I told mom and Steady. An hour later an official crier announced the same thing in the town square. Now everypony in the town is packing, getting ready to leave. I think we're going to head for the big city. Steady can find us a place to stay, given his history with it.
I just saw a big group leave town. I didn't think anypony was heading out today. We're packing and getting a good night's rest, mostly for Symphony's sake, as we're going to be walking the whole way, but those ponies were really making a beeline. Some of them didn't even have saddlebags. Should we be leaving tonight? I don't know.
I see something move in the jungle where the village gives way to Mother Nature. I blink and it's gone.
A beast, I initially think to myself. Of course there are beasts on the island. The forest is huge. It makes sense. I keep an eye on the treeline and continue to follow my mother.
Uncle's already sold off our fish and has the empty sack around his neck by the time we― Uncle, Mother, and I, my cousins are old enough to venture off on their own― arrive at a building that looks different. It's no house, its open front gives that away. The entire bottom floor is devoted to tables and shelves, and what's more, I recognize what's on them. Fishhooks! Dozens, no, hundreds, more than I've ever seen in my life!
My uncle approaches the storekeeper and reaches beneath his wing, removing a small, cloth-wrapped bundle. He sets it on a table and undoes its knot, letting the cloth open and reveal a glimmering jewel. It's tinted gold and shines so brightly that it jostles my memory. That's what that claw left on the shore of that strange island.
The storekeeper's eyes widen, and I suddenly feel my mother's leg across my back. "Why don't you go wait outside, Shiney? We'll be out in a moment." Then she ushers me out, and I'm left sitting on the side of the road. That's when the trees catch my eyes again. This time, the culprit is obvious. Braves the Cold Waters is hiding in the bushes.
My spirits drop and I grumble. Just another trick played on the little colt. I roll my eyes and stick my tongue out at her. She returns it, then giggles and beckons with her hoof. I spot her mouthing the words 'come on!' Huh?
I glance back at the store. Mother and Uncle both have their backs to me. I get to my hooves and make my way over to the edge of the trees. Braves waits a little further in and snorts when I pause at the edge of the ferns. "What's got you so riled up?"
I trace a circle in the dirt with my hoof. "Mother said to wait outside."
Braves smiles and rolls her eyes at me, then winks. "You're with family, worst you'll get is an annoyed sigh."
"What's that weird wet smell? What do you two want? Is Rides hiding here too?"
"Relax, Shines With the Wind. We're not just messing around with you this time, yes?" She beckons me over again. "Come on, we've got something really cool to show you."
I stay close by her side as we venture in. She leads the way with confidence, forging through the greenery. We're not walking for very long before we near a burbling stream so shaded by the treetops that we couldn't have possibly spotted it during our flight over the island.
"Where are we going, Braves?" She hasn't said anything since we left the village's edge and that awful smell persists.
She doesn't speak, but she smiles back over her shoulder and moves aside a damp palm frond with her hoof.
My eyes widen and I walk forward, up to the edge of the glittering blue lake, but when I look back, my cousin has disappeared.
Four Score continued to be absolutely insufferable during the journey back from Dodge. It was a semi-constant stream of "I told you" this and "I told you" that, and he wouldn't shut up about the gigantic detour our little expeditionary family finds itself on even though nopony is even remotely happy about the situation. I wasn't even getting the worst of it. He kept on laying into poor Steady for her route ending up being the wrong choice, even though there's no way she could have known about that incredibly unfortunate (and incredibly unsettling) roadblock.
Of course, I wasn't free from his asinine wrath either. I did agree with Steady's route, after all.
It all came to a head yesterday. We'd traveled all the way up from Dodge, past the rambling lake, and up towards the Mountain City. We were tired, we were hot, and it was still hours until we got to the river because we spent a long time hiding from a wandering machine. I'd tried everything to get Score's mind off of the detour. I tried to talk to him about school, tried to get his help telling funny stories from when we were colts. Nothing worked. He just kept complaining. Right when I was about to lose it, Auburn... exploded.
I've never seen her so angry. I've never seen such intense emotion on her at all, of any kind. Score made some ridiculous comment about all the grass and she just... went off. She shouted him down properly, told him that we all knew that he'd ended up being right and that Steady made a mistake and for the sake of everything good in this world to just give it a damned rest already. It was easily the most words I've ever heard her say at once, without a doubt.
Watching her shout was terrifying because Auburn is not a small mare, but I respect her for it. I should have spoken up days ago, but instead, I let the problem get worse and worse until the most silent pony in the group had had enough. I also thought that it was kind of attrac
Anyway, nopony spoke for the rest of the walk to the river. We set up camp where the river bends near the base of the mountain with minimal speaking, and then Score and Steady each went into their respective tents, leaving me sitting by the river and Auburn with the first watch.
Then the strangest thing happened. Right as I was getting ready to write here, Auburn came over, stood right next to me (still keeping her head on a swivel, of course,) and said she was sorry. She said she felt like she went too far. I told her that she went exactly the right amount of far and that Score really needed to learn some manners, as far as I was concerned. I explained that I really should have been the one to speak up and say something, that she shouldn't have needed to do that.
And then she told me that the whole reason she shut him up was that she could see me wanting to do something and decided to give me a hoof. Then she bumped my shoulder with the not-pointy end of her spearzapper and wandered off. Just like that. What???
I should get some rest. I have second watch and I really don't want to think about anything anymore. Mares are a mystery, Diary.
By the time this letter was written, the war was nearing the famous Second Stalemate. However, it was written during a rare lull in the Equestrian advance, (observant readers may notice that this is due to Princess Celestia's historic Speech at the Horseshoe River, which uniquely called for the ethical treatment of Griffon prisoners of war,) and thus had very little to do with the war itself.
Instead, the letter focuses almost entirely on Gustavus' discoveries within Haysead, making it the single most informative letter of the collection.
My dearest Guinevere,
I wish I had good news for you, but I do not. Our lines continue to fall back, and though most of our commanders have finally pulled their heads from the sand, all we seem to be able to do is slow the Equestrians down.
The quarry continues to baffle me. We continued excavations in the cave, taking care to clear out the extremely sharp crystals lining many of the walls, as I'm told they are a great annoyance for my workers. The paintings also continued, getting denser the further in we went. Strangely, the cave seemed to transition from a natural formation to a more constructed set of underground rooms. It appears that they were carved many, many years ago, and only much later were the symbols painted upon every available surface.
When the exploration party reached the end of the cavern-rooms, they found what looked to be another door, although this one was made of stone and appeared to have been sealed for a long time. It was painted with the circles-in-circles symbol, the biggest one that we've seen. When the workers finally broke through the door, they stumbled into what appeared to be an ancient underground riverbed that had long since dried. I am told it stretches out in both directions for a great distance. We have not explored any further as of writing.
Our encounters with the swamp pony tribe continue. We always drive them off and they always return. Their home has proved impossible to locate, of course. They continue to send war parties to our encampment, but I am not entirely sure they mean to kill. They carry weapons, yes, but the swamp is dangerous and they prefer to shout at us instead of attacking outright, although that could also be because our weapons are obviously more threatening and technologically superior. They also have begun walking in circles on strange stilts made of bone outside our gate, sometimes for hours at a time. I find the performances extremely macabre.
I believe the condition of the war is beginning to press upon my griffons a great deal. Though none report it to me, I have heard that many have ongoing nightmares and great difficulty getting proper rest, and it is an easy thing to see this, as my soldiers drag their claws and fly as if their wings are made of lead.
Tell Genoa that her tom received her gift and that it has brightened his days a great deal. He talks of her daily and continues to tell me what a wonderful daughter we have. He even carries out all his duties quickly and without complaint, and does not expect further special treatment. I believe I am warming up to him, against all odds.
It was cold this morning. Really cold. After we broke camp, we went back to the house and we― or I guess I went in and looked for winter clothes while Steady stayed back with Symphony. I was careful not to look at the stallion and I found some scarves and coats and a set of foal's boots for Symphony. We felt much warmer after that, and we got on the road lickety-split.
It's hard to find the words to describe the devastation that we saw. It's horrible. Wherever ponies had built something, five times out of six it was smashed to pieces. Homes, bridges, farms, even the road signs. We saw a train that was lying upside-down like a dead snake nowhere near any rails.
We gave up on our plan not too far into the day because of the tracks we saw, all going in the same direction. There was an overwhelming amount of pony hoofprints wherever there was mud, all heading northwest, and then the big, squarish holes that they leave behind when they walk, and then on top of all those, more pony tracks, except they were all messy, like the pony walking was drunk. Steady thought they were from other stragglers like us, desperately trying to do what we were trying to do: get to Canterlot and Ponyville.
We'd arrived at a crossroads when I realized what was happening. If all the ponies were going to those two cities, then they would be following them. For all we knew, the same thing was happening there that had happened in the city we had barely escaped from. We stood there, not knowing what to do, talking as evenly and carefully as possible to keep Symphony calm, when another group came up the road.
I was scared at first, but it was another group of survivors travelers like us. Three mares and a colt, and they all eyed us as warily as we eyed them, but once we sorted out that nopony was going to rob anypony, they stopped to talk to us for a bit.
They said they were going to the north, to the Empire. They said the snow and ice would keep them at bay, and that the Crystal Ponies and the royal family would protect them. Steady thought that was a pretty crummy plan, and thought we should go west. The other ponies left not long after, so they didn't hear me and Steady's shouting match. I feel just terrible about it, but I still know I'm right. Anyway, these big fat flakes started falling right about then. I thought it was snow at first, but it was ash, floating down on a southeasterly wind. We decided to follow them north.
I think something is wrong with Steady Bass. He had deep bags under his eyes this morning, and he kept shivering and looking around. Well, I guess I was doing that too, but usually, he's the one trying to reassure me. When I asked if he was okay, he just said "I'm fine." He hasn't talked to me so harshly in such a long time, not even during all of this, but most of all, he's avoiding our daughter. Symphony kept trying to sit next to him at breakfast this morning but he pushed her away. I had a mind to smack some sense into him right then and there, but he looked at me, and I just―
I arrived at Sleepy Cove with the first Canterlot division just as the sun rose. Right away, I realized the problem thus far. The reserve company assembled from the surrounding settlements was extremely poorly organized and was in desperate need of coordination. Most of the personnel were poorly equipped, especially the unicorns, and many of the squads were not in proper fighting shape. I know I shouldn't expect as much from the reserve, but this is a disgrace. I've submitted another report to the Captain of the Guard, to save you the trouble. I know he can get that sorted out.
Really, the main failure of the reserve detachment was its command. The officer responsible, one Lightning Blast, was woefully over her head and was not prepared to command more than a dozen guards. I believe this was no fault of her own, just an oversight in the organization of the reserve guard. Again, I've included this report to the Captain.
As commanding officer, I took control immediately. I judged it best to completely dissolve what little organization the reserves were in and incorporate them into my existing structure, as that way they could be properly ordered while preserving my own chain of command. This worked well enough, though many of my sergeants have complained to me already.
As I reorganized the reserves, I sent some of my light scouts to fly ahead and gauge the threat from the air. Their report was swift, and it was refreshing to get a clear, professional assessment after that flood of rumors and garbled reports from Monday. I assume that you will also like a clearer idea of the threat, so I've included it below.
The beast neared Sleepy Cove in the mid-afternoon. I followed my scouts' advice and organized a bombardment using team-slung boulders from the quarry further north. I thought it best to minimize damage to Sleepy Cove so we engaged before it could do any harm to the settlement or any of the citizens that refused to evacuate, so I ordered the attack when the beast was a short distance from the town.
The bombardment proved somewhat effective. The beast's shell was cracked and it began to stagger, appearing disoriented, but stopping it outright required multiple binding spells to its limbs and attacking the legs' joints on its right side. However as we began to examine the beast, another appeared from the waves.
Luckily, I thought it prudent to prepare extra boulders, and we engaged it immediately in a similar fashion. We took it down, but not before it severely damaged the town's docks. Only one citizen was injured with a broken leg, and she was treated immediately.
I must say that it bothers me greatly that there are more beasts than we expected. We have no idea how many of these ocean beast things there are. I will continue to engage any more that come near Sleepy cove until I receive further orders.
Dutifully yours, Commander Stronghoof
The beast appears to be protected by a shell of stone. Covered in seaweed and unidentified markings. Moves using four thick limbs, no visible head or tail. Resemblance to turtle suggests withdrawal beneath the shell. Emits glow from underside. Traveled about three-fourths of the way to Sleepy Cove. Appears formidable against ground forces. Recommend aerial bombardment.
Addn: sent Private Lightwing to scout Shoreside. Settlement is a complete loss. Second beast sighted emerging from ocean.
That looks like a promising spot, I think to myself as I crest the hill. There's a large building jutting up from the next hill over. It looks pristine, its roof hasn't caved in, and the second floor is easily accessible. Looks like Mr. Shovel gets to stay on my pack for now.
It takes me a while to get the sled off my back, but once I get it on the ground, it's a smooth ride down. I feel a momentary scrape, a yipe of bark on metal as I slide over what must have been a tree once. I cringe, but the wind is blowing hard today. The sound won't put me in danger.
I come to a slow, gradual stop. It takes a moment to wiggle into my shoes, but it's not long before I step off the sled and sling it across my neck once more. Then it's time to hike up the hill.
As I place one hoof in front of the other, patting carefully before leaning my full weight into each step (sinkholes are no joke, folks,) I wonder what's buried beneath me. I'm approaching the building from the side, from the looks of it. There might be a road buried underneath me, but more likely, it's coming from the building's front. Does it lead somewhere?
I pause for a moment and turn, craning my neck. It takes a little while to spot with all the gray-on-gray and I need to wipe my goggles a few times, but I can make out a collection of rooftops poking out from the landscape, just far enough to resist fading into the dust. A lot of them look tall enough to enter, and better yet, not too many of them are caved in. A town! My next stop.
Once I reach the building, it's an easy task to get inside. Because of the wind, I don't think I have to worry about the sound; I send my hoof through a window and open the latch, letting myself in, thank you very much, and shutting it behind me.
Even with the hole in the pane, the air is much more motionless in here. I look around the room as the wind whistles through the smashed-in glass. There are three identical beds, bent in the middle and lined up against the wall among an army of racks and long-dead machines. I'm in a hospital. Score!
I stow my shoes and let myself into the pitch-black hallway, lighting the lamp on my helmet with the flick of a hoof. First off, before I start looking for goodies, I need to figure out where I am. I'm not sure it's a good idea to go downstairs just yet, but I follow the hallway to a small common room that's pressed up against the front of the building. The far wall has two huge windows that offer a view of the landscape outside... however much there is to look at, anyway.
I blink. Was that what I think it was? I freeze and listen extremely carefully, my ears twitching and turning. There it is again. A voice! Oh, no. Did they hear me break that glass?
I rush to the window, looking for their gangly, spindly forms, and see something else: a perfectly normal pegasus mare, calling out and struggling to trudge through the ash. With her chromatic mane and that trademark jacket of hers, it doesn't even take a second to recognize the famous Rainbow Dash.
I back away from the trees until I feel mud. The water laps at the edges of my hooves, but I keep my eyes locked on the treeline. My heart feels tight, flooded with a mix of terror and rage. How dare they? I know my cousins like to fool with me, but this? This is something cruel.
We didn't even walk that far. How'd we get all the way to the lake? It looked much farther from the air.
My wings are spread, ready to carry me away at the first sign of a jungle beast. I imagine some terrible chimera or manticore or hydra, stalking among the ferns and watching me from the shadows. I really should have looked over my shoulder.
"Who are you?"
"Gah!" I yelp, scrambling onto drier sand and doing my best to spin around at the same time. Only my shock keeps me from taking to the air. When I do manage to get my head on straight, I'm looking at... a pony? A filly, in fact, not much older than me.
Only her torso pokes out of the water, and she holds her legs close to her chest. Her mane, colored a soft pink that complements her sky-blue coat quite nicely, is sopping wet and doesn't seem to fall across her head and neck the way it should. She stares at me with wide eyes that match her mane.
"Um, hello?" She tilts her head at me as water runs off her muzzle. "Are you mute?"
I blink and swallow away the dryness in my throat. "N-no," I say in what I hope is a brave voice, "who are you?"
The strange pony frowns. "I asked you first." Why didn't I hear her swim up? Was I too focused on the trees?
"Well, you snuck up and scared me, so that makes us even."
The filly scrunches her muzzle. "There's no need to be so standoffish, I'm not some sea monster." Then she raises an eyebrow. "You're not used to meeting new ponies, are you?"
I feel my face flush a little as I kick the sand. "Not really."
"Ugh." She tosses her odd-looking mane and swims in a little circle. "Let's start over. Hi!" she waves. "My name is Sea Spray. What's yours?" The strange filly still hasn't come out of the water.
"Um... I'm Shines. Shines With the Wind."
She grins. "Wow! That's a cool name! Are you from the village? You don't seem like a villager, but then again I guess I've never seen one up close..."
Now that my heart isn't trying to leap out of my throat, I can let my wings close and sit down on the sand. "No, I'm not from the village, I'm just visiting."
"If you're just visiting, then what are you doing out here by the lake?"
"My dumb cousins tricked me," I say with a shrug, "what are you doing out here in the lake?"
"Where else would I be?" she says, tilting her head at me. "It's not like I can go anywhere."
"Huh?" I look at the frankly ridiculous amount of land around us. "You can't?"
She makes a knowing smile at me. "Oh, you've never seen a seapony, huh?" Before I can continue to make a fool of myself, the water near her splashes, broken by what looks to be the tail of a massive fish, except that its fin is the exact same color as her mane.
We never should have come here. I now know what the tribesponies were trying to warn us about, but far too late. We dug too deep, and I ignored too many warning signs. Once I learned of the crystals' power, it was all I could see, but what it has done to my own soldiers— What I have been forced to do is unforgivable.
The ponies near our position. I can hear their forces doing battle with what remains of the encampment. It shall slow them down just enough. They shall find nothing there, we placed the corpses in the tunnels and collapsed the entrance. Hopefully, our barricade is enough to hide the quarry's entrance. I pray what we found never sees the light of day.
Genoa's tom and I will move for the coast with what's left of my force. We have with us samples of the crystal and crates carrying evidence of a disturbing effect that may be our final chance against the ponies. There, the Indomitable is moored and waiting to evacuate us over the sea to safety. I'm sending this letter ahead of us to tell you to prepare high command for my arrival. I wish to speak with them as soon as we land. I will see you soon, my sweet.
Gustavus
As readers can likely gather, this letter was hastily written in the closing weeks of the war. Unfortunately, it's also the last set of clues that Gustavus gives us concerning his discoveries in the Haysead site. Had he provided a location of the site or perhaps a more thorough description of his claimed pony tribe, perhaps we would know today exactly what he found. Instead, he was driven, assumedly by fear, to destroy the entrance to the underground complex that he described.
Not only that, the Indomitable never arrived in the east. It was lost at sea and presumably sank in that week's massive ocean storm, and though a few expeditions have searched, (mainly for the 'weapon' he claimed could win the war for the Griffons, what was by then essentially impossible) no wreck was ever found. The crystals, the evidence, the son-in-law, and Gustavus himself all sank without a trace.
Several researchers, including this author, have attempted to locate the clan of ponies and the site Gustavus describes. Though there is evidence of ponies living in the Haysead interior at the time, there is no definitive match for the tribe in Gustavus' letters. They left very little evidence when they disappeared, save for a single half-rotted bone club whose origin is heavily disputed. Additionally, Gustavus appears to have done his work well, as the Equestrians that found his encampment deemed it so unremarkable that they didn't bother to record its location, leaving modern researchers thoroughly helpless. All we are left with is Gustavus' letters. Some claim them to be alterations of the originals in the first place.
So what did he find in the cavern? Why was it carved in the first place? What scared Gustavus so? Based on the evidence, this author believes that the Griffons unwittingly discovered an ancient magical artifact that bestowed upon them a curse, and although said curse's effects aren't described, it explains some questions but opens others, most importantly: who created such an artifact, and why was it in an underground structure in the first place?
These questions are, ultimately, beyond the scope of this study, but this author encourages readers to investigate for themselves.
As some of you may know, my name is Spearhead, and I lived at a town called Snowhaven.
It wasn't very creatively named. A haven that's in the snow. Then again, the ponies that built it weren't worried about the name too much. They had a lot on their minds already.
See, the town was built by... what would be my grandparents' generation. My family wasn't living there yet, we came later. The ponies back then, they had been through a lot. They're the ones that lived through the Event, and they'd been running north. When they found the valley, they realized it was safe. By chance, that group of ponies decided to stay instead of traveling to the Crystal Empire, which ended up saving their lives.
They built a wall across the mouth of the valley, and that kept them hidden. Then they built the town. It was nestled in a bowl made between two mountains, and during the summer, you'd grow crops next to the river that runs through the place.
It all fell apart in the blink of an eye, and it started with a nightmare.
We usually rotated guard duty, but because I'm good at it, I was the only pony who always had a pike. I was in the watchtower during my dreaded weekly graveyard shift when I heard the shouting. I clambered out of my tower and rushed over as quickly as I could. One of the village houses, one that belonged to my cousin Willow and her family. Inconsolable screaming was coming from inside.
I had to shoulder my way past half the village, but I'm not a small stallion so they got out of the way when they saw me with my helmet and my spear. I pushed my way inside and shut the door behind me, trying to take in the scene as fast as I could.
Willow and her husband Furrow's twin colts huddled up against the wall, looking shocked and confused. Their parents sat in the middle of their hearth room cooing and desperately reassuring the screaming, crying filly in their arms. She was screaming fiercely, and I had to thump the butt of my pike on the timber floor to be noticed.
"Look, Buttercup!" Willow said once she saw me standing awkwardly in the doorway, "Big strong Spearhead is here to protect you! He's not going to let her get you."
It took a little more convincing, but once she sees me, she finally calmed down. We dried her tears and I gave her a big hug before Furrow took her and her brothers back to bed while I let the crowd outside know everything was fine.
"Whoof," said Willow once things had finally quieted down, "she's going to be sleeping in our bed for months."
I rubbed the side of my head with my slate-gray hoof. "What was that all about?"
Willow heaved a massive sigh and rubbed beneath her eyes. "She said... she had a dream about, uh, her. You know. Said that she told her scary things."
I swallowed. "Well, she's just a filly, right? Maybe she just thought she saw her."
"I don't know, Spear. She seemed terrified." The mother bit her lip.
"Well, I can up the guard rotations for the next couple nights and we can go scout out past the wall, make sure this is just a dream, alright?"
Willow smiled at me. "Yeah, I'd like that. Thanks, Spear."
It wasn't until a few nights later that we all really began to realize what was happening.
I stare at the thing in the water with my mouth wide open. She has a tail. She has a tail. Not only that, she's enjoying herself, splashing the water and spinning around. I can't believe my eyes. It's as if her torso continues, down and down, four or five times what should be her front half's length, and ends in a fish's tail. She's like a sea serpent!
Sea Spray makes so much more sense now. She wasn't coming out of the water because she doesn't have enough legs. Her mane isn't mane at all, it's a fin. She's a seapony.
"I really wowed you, didn't I?" She says, smirking.
"Um, yeah," I barely manage. "I've never seen anything like you."
She smiles at me. "Well, I've never seen a land pony up close before. Or, I guess in your case, a sky pony."
I blink and look back at my wings. I almost forgot they were there. "Uh, right."
Then she giggles and dives back into the water before bursting out again. "Eee! I'm so excited! Usually, the only ponies that come by here are those darned villagers, and I'm not allowed to go near them. They're mean."
"Huh?" I tilt my head at her. "When I met them, they were very kind to me and my family."
"Well, not us." She sticks out her tongue. "They hate us."
"Us?" My eyebrows shoot up. "There are more of you?"
Sea Spray rolls her eyes at me again. "Well, duh. Where do you think I come from? There's twenty-four more of my tribe living at the bottom of the lake!"
I stare out over the surface of the lake. How deep is it? I suddenly feel more nervous. "Uh, why do the villagers hate your tribe?"
She shrugs. "Don't know. They always have, which is stupid. They haven't even seen how cool our village is. If you could breathe underwater, I'd show you all the cool stuff we have, like the townhouse, and the pearl bed, and Omita– Oh!" She fixes an intense, sparkly-eyed gaze on me. "I can take you to meet Omita! Come on!"
"To meet who?"
She's already swimming off, and I have to take flight to follow her. She leads me across the lake and to the edge of the mountain, then swims up a river along its side to a particularly overgrown face of the rock. She pauses by it, letting me catch up, then winks at me and swims... into the rock face.
"What?!" I shout.
She pokes her head out through the vines. "Come on, silly!" That's what it takes for me to realize there's a cave hidden there.
I land next to the river and push away the vine-curtain, making my way inside, and I'm astonished once again.
The cave is lit by luminous yellow crystals that grow all over its walls and ceiling. Its floor is mostly sand and rocks, save for the river's small inlet, where Sea Spray is grinning at me some more. The cave's centerpiece is what's seized my attention.
There's a massive, ancient-looking wooden ship of some sort lying on the rocks, filling half the space. When I look closely, it seems like the crystals have grown out of the ship's far side. Its rigging lines cling to the barest tatters of wispy cloth and long-faded paint barely spells out a strange name across its side: OMITA.
It's hard getting used to life in the city. I don't know the streets, everything is so expensive, and it's so crowded. Nopony is nice to each other, and ponies keep bumping into me without even apologizing. And it smells bad. And the food isn't as fresh. Maybe it's just in a bad place right now because of all the extra ponies, but I can't imagine why anypony would want to live here. It's no wonder Steady left.
But I suppose I shouldn't be complaining. We're doing better than a lot of the ponies who fled the coast. We have an apartment, Symphony and mother are safe, and Steady found us work. I was even able to buy some books for Symphony from a store here because she was missing the ones we left behind at home.
I can't believe our I heard something terrible from my workmate at the factory today. Her husband is in the Guard, and she told me that the reason for all the movement three days ago was that the Princess ordered the mobilization of all Guard divisions. In all of Equestria.
I don't think we'll be going home anytime soon. In fact, I don't think we'll have a home left to go back to... if we even do right now.
There's a lot of guardsponies in the city now. They're carting huge piles of lumber and strange metal parts through the streets. I think they're building a wall or something on the south side. That makes me feel a little better. At least they're trying their best. It helps me sleep at night, even if it doesn't help Steady.
I told mother and Steady what I'd heard when I got home. Mother shook her head and said that our town was too resilient for that. She said that this will all be over in two months, tops. Steady thought I was right. We're trying to figure out how to break the news to Symphony. She keeps talking about her friends and how much she wants to play with them. It really hurts to listen to her.
I think we should go further from the city. I think we should go all the way to Canterlot, or at least Ponyville. Somewhere far, far away from whatever's happening here, where Symphony can go to school and have friends and play and go outside without being afraid.
I wish I could protect her from all this. I wish she didn't have to see all this as a child. I just want her to be safe. Is it really so hard for the Princess to make things safe again? I just want her to be safe. I just want her to be happy. I want to see my baby smile again. I haven't seen her smile in so long. I haven't heard her laugh since we left home. What is this doing to my filly?
I'm really tired from work. I'm going to go to bed.
I request more reinforcements immediately. Send every guardspony in the region. I also heavily recommend the mobilization of all available Royal Guard divisions and their immediate transport to the southeastern seaboard. I realize that this may not be a popular decision, but the situation is much more dire than we thought.
Firstly, the number of machines emerging from the ocean continues to increase. Sleepy Cove has been fortified extensively and continues to be our base of operations, and is so heavily guarded that the ocean beasts are driven away without much effort. The switch to heavy piercing spells was even more effective than you estimated, and with preparation, we can drive them off without much trouble.
The problem is the beasts' appearances. They continue to emerge from the surf in seemingly random places across the coast. Even with the extra reserves from Baltimare, this force is woefully unprepared to protect such a stretch of land.
I have regular patrols along the coast and near towns, but the system is imperfect. Five beasts emerged near the town of Whinnieton and overwhelmed the squad I had stationed there. The town is a complete loss, but we reclaimed the territory the next day.
Secondly, the beasts themselves. I use the term "beast" but I'm not sure they are alive at all. They're more like golems of stone, and distressingly, some kind of metal. When we break them apart, we find nothing but twisted, half-rusted metal among the stone and those strange yellow crystals, which I imagine are what drives their movement and thoughts. As a result, I don't think the beasts, or perhaps more aptly, the constructs feel pain or fear.
Thirdly, the crystals. After the beasts are brought down, the crystals within begin to grow and are quite sharp, making disposal annoying and tedious and leaving many of my ponies with cuts and slivers. It's so common that my medics are running out of supplies to treat all the lacerations.
Fourthly, my guards are being stretched thin. There's not enough resting time to go around, and many complain of persistent aches and poor sleep. These guards can't keep this up on their own, and it's imperative that they receive the assistance that they need.
The good news is that the beasts' attacks have slowed, but I fear that this is merely the tide pulling out, so to speak. We have staged no counterattack and are no closer to understanding what these things are, where they are coming from, or how there are so many. I believe they may be waiting to attack en masse. If this is the case, my fears of their organization may be founded.
I've had photographers capture multiple images of the constructs, both functional and fallen, and I ordered them to take care to record the symbols along their sides, as you requested. My second-in-command Shimmer Spear had an idea about one of the symbols, the set of concentric circles, and I've included her note with this letter. I believe you are correct, Princess, understanding those symbols may be the first step to understanding the beasts themselves.
Act quickly, Your Majesty. Time is of the essence.
Dutifully yours, Commander Stronghoof
Princess, I think I recognize the symbol made of a bunch of circles inside each other. When I was a filly, my father used to read me an old family storybook and it had that in some of the pictures. Are you familiar with the Tale of the Long-Legged Mare?
Once upon a time, long before Equestria, before the Princesses, even before the hearth's warming, there was a queen who ruled over a small kingdom of ponies. She was graceful and kind, and had long, slender, beautiful legs, and towered high over her subjects, whom she cared for greatly.
The Long-Legged Mare's kingdom was safe and prosperous. Crops grew so easily and plentifully that farmers merely had to cast their seeds upon the ground and they would bear fruit in a night and a day. Woodcutters had only to ask the trees to fall, and they would topple to the ground. Artists could touch their brush to their canvas and be filled with such inspiration as to create the most beautiful works the world had ever seen, and soldiers needed only to brandish their spears to drive their enemies away.
The Long-Legged Mare ruled from her palace built over a sacred spring, from which the waters of the kingdom's mighty River flowed. This River was none other than the River of Fate, and the Mare, who sat at its base, only had to dip her hoof into the River's mouth to guide the fate of her little ponies to their happiest, most wonderful lives.
However, there were some in the kingdom who desired more, who desired to dip their own hooves in the River and guide destiny for themselves. These wicked ponies gathered one fateful night and burst into the palace where the Long-Legged Mare slept. They slew the palace guards and made their treacherous way to the Long-Legged Mare's chambers, built around the spot where the sacred spring came forth from the World.
The wicked ponies sprang upon the mare and held her down. Then they took an iron from the Long-Legged Mare's own hearth and thrust it into the Long-Legged Mare's face, boiling out her eyes. This caused her such excruciating pain that she was filled with terrible strength. She threw off her attackers and stumbled to the pool where the River came forth, scooping water upon her ruined eyes.
The water of the River of Fate seeped into the Long-Legged Mare's wounds and changed her.
When the Long-Legged Mare stood and faced the wicked ponies, they were so terrified that they ran from the palace and fell to the ground, dead. Then the land shook, and a great chasm opened beneath the River and the palace, swallowing them into its depths.
The kingdom soon withered and faded away, forgotten by nearly all.
Ever since then, the Long-Legged Mare has watched over the dreams of all beings from her palace buried deep under the ground. She does not rule dreams, no, as that is not her place. She merely observes the visions of those who are alone and those who suffer, watching and learning of their troubles and woes, and perhaps, if she deems them worthy, she dips the tip of her hoof into the River of Fate and gently, ever so gently, guides the pain out of their lives.
However, be wary, for her heart is still full of grief. If you ever spot her in your dreams, pray she is not facing you, and if she is, look away and tell her that you are sorry, because even the slightest glimpse will bring forth her dark and endless rage.
The manila folder floated into the air, stuffed to its absolute limit and encased in a shimmering aura. It hovered above the center of the wide, circular, dark-oaken table for a moment before the light winked out and it fell with a thud. Eight ponies and four alicorns stared at it for a moment.
"This is my master folder for case one-two-five," said Princess Twilight Sparkle. "It contains not only the original report on the Dodge disappearances, but every recorded interaction with the entity including the Gustavus correspondence and images of the sea beasts, plus a collection of storybooks that I once believed were fiction. In a moment, we will all go through it together, and once we're done, you will understand why it is nowhere near enough information."
Rainbow Dash dragged a hoof over her mane and leaned forward, eyeing the folder. "Twi, what does this have to do with what's going on out east?"
"Yes, Twilight," Luna said, shuffling her wings, giving her sister a glance. "Whatever it is, we're sure that you can–"
"I'm confident in my ability to rule," Twilight snapped, "this is something completely different. Something's very wrong, I can feel it."
"Okay, so we handle it like we always do," Applejack said as she smacked a hoof on the table, "together." Rarity and Pinkie Pie nodded from either side of her, their faces resolute.
Twilight smiled and raised her head a little at that, and everypony present got a good look at the bags under her eyes.
"Of course," she said, "and that's why I've brought all of you here: to tell you that this time is different. I'm breaking it to you now because we may be at the beginning of the most crucial period in all of our lives, and I need your help."
Princess Cadence took hold of her husband's hoof. Her voice threatened to shake when she spoke. "You had better be very clear with us, Twilight. All we've heard in the Empire is that there's been some trouble with sea monsters."
"That's because the crown has been working desperately to control panic," Twilight said. "Here's the truth. Approximately one week ago, strange beasts began emerging from the ocean along the southeast coasts. They are extremely dangerous. Several villages have been destroyed, dozens of ponies are dead, and hundreds are displaced." Twilight's horn lit and she withdrew a photo from the folder and tossed it on the table.
"W-what?" Starlight Glimmer stammered, her eyes glued to the photo. "They're killing them?"
Twilight nodded solemnly. "Upon closer study, the Royal Guard division tasked with countering the threat realized that these are not sea beasts, but a kind of magical constructs inscribed with extremely ancient runes. Machines are made for a purpose, and machines can be controlled. When I examined the emergences, I found a pattern." She leaned forward. "A pattern means something, some... entity directs those machines, and from what I can tell, it is either testing the Guard's capabilities... or toying with us."
Luster Dawn's frown grew even more worried.
Twilight Sparkle set her hoof on the folder. "The runes led me to a tangled web of disturbing evidence, but I realized that, while the exact nature of this entity is unknown to us, it is extremely influential. Until we understand it, we're entirely at its mercy."
"It's Her," Celestia said.
"Yes," Twilight said, opening the folder and removing a thin storybook. "We'll start with this: a several-hundred-year-old collection of passed-down foals' tales. We're interested in the one called 'The Tale of the Long-Legged Mare.'"
First off, she's wandering around with only that jacket, and it's cold. If nothing else gets her, that certainly will.
Second, she isn't wearing anything over her mouth. She's breathing in all the ash in the air, and crystal flakes or no, that's not good for the lungs.
Thirdly, and by far most likely to kill her (or worse) in the next two minutes, she's been shouting her head off. With the wind this strong, the sound won't carry that far, but it's far enough, and she's even closer to the town than I am. If I were a reasonable pony, I'd stay put. It'd be stupid to not only risk my own life but the life of the one relying on me too.
It's a good thing I'm not a very reasonable pony.
I shoulder off my pack as quickly as I can and bolt back down the hallway, backtracking into my entrance room. The window shatters when I throw it open but I barely notice. I leap out onto the powdery ground outside. It's a real chore to run with snowshoes, but I'm in way too deep to back out now.
I'm bounding awkwardly down the hospital's hill when she notices me. She shouts something but I can't hear it over the blood pounding through my head. I wave her to me as frantically as I can and I see her pupils shrink to specks. Good, she knows something's wrong.
I make it to her side and hook a foreleg under hers, pulling us into a loafing struggle upwards.
"Who are you?" She shouts at the top of her lungs directly into my ear.
I cannot have her screaming her head off. "I'm the one trying to save your stupid life!" I shout back as loudly as I dare, "so shut your damned mouth and move!"
When we get to the ruined window I shove her through, dive in after her, and slam it closed behind us. After I yank the curtains shut and turn around, I scoop her up off the ground and shove her into the hallway, pulling the door shut behind us, and then I stay perfectly still.
"Ah... Ow..." I look back and wince. She's got shards of glass sticking out from bits all over her forelegs and she's bleeding at a pretty alarming rate. My eyes widen behind my steamed-up goggles. Ah, crap.
"Shh, come on," I whisper. "Can you walk?"
"I... Um..." She's just staring at her legs. "Sorry, I just... I..."
"Come on," I say, helping her to her hooves as gently I can. "Come on."
I sit her down next to my pack, at the windowed room's wall. It's a good thing I carry gauze, she's gonna need all of it. She didn't get too much glass stuck in her, luckily, and once I pull the shards out, I wrap her legs up tight. She hisses a little during the process but otherwise holds her limbs out for me perfectly still, stoic as can be. Just like I remember. How 'bout that?
I finish bandaging her other leg when she finally decides to speak. "...what happened to Ponyville?"
"I, um..." I swallow. After all the excitement, it's kind of hard to find words. "I didn't know this was Ponyville." It doesn't help that I'm distracted by the view outside.
"But..." she trails off, then tries again. "Why'd you drag me all the way in here, huh?"
Once upon a time, long before Equestria, before the Princesses, even before the hearth's warming, there was a queen who ruled over a small kingdom of ponies. She was strict but fair, and had long, slender, beautiful legs, and towered high over her subjects, who cared for her greatly.
The Long-Legged Mare's kingdom was safe and prosperous. Crops grew so easily and plentifully that farmers merely had to cast their seeds upon the ground and they would bear fruit in a night and a day. Woodcutters had only to ask the trees to fall, and they would topple to the ground. Artists could touch their brush to their canvas and be filled with such inspiration as to create the most beautiful works the world had ever seen, and soldiers needed only to brandish their spears to drive their enemies away.
The Long-Legged Mare ruled from her palace built over a sacred spring, from which the waters of the kingdom's mighty River flowed. This River was none other than the River of Power, and the Mare, who sat at its base, needed only to dip her hoof into the River's mouth to provide food and health and life to herself and to her ponies.
However, the queen desired more. She used the River to arm her ponies and to create powerful beasts and to conquer, and in this way, many were slain and the kingdom grew into a mighty empire that trod on the backs of its fallen enemies. And the sky was turned gray from the fires upon the world. And the ponies who conquered saw the ruined lands and the corruption that the River had brought to their once-fair queen. So one day, the palace guards took up their arms and made their way to where the Long-Legged Mare's chambers, built around the spot where the sacred spring came forth from the World.
The ponies demanded that the queen give up her crown. When she refused, they bore down upon her with their spears, and in the chaos, the mare was struck in the face and made blind. She stumbled to the pool where the River came forth and toppled in.
The water of the River of Power seeped into the Long-Legged Mare's wounds and changed her.
When the Long-Legged Mare rose from the pool and faced the ponies, she was no longer their queen. They fled the palace in fear, and the land shook, and a great chasm opened beneath the River and the palace, swallowing them into its depths.
The empire soon broke upon itself and faded away, forgotten by nearly all.
Ever since then, the Long-Legged Mare has lusted for revenge from her palace buried deep under the ground. She is sealed there by her own hoof, twisted and warped into something that is not a pony at all. She plans for the day when she will again emerge and the River of Power will see the sun once again. Until then, she watches the dreams of ponies from the shadows, waiting for her time to come.
However, be wary, for she still sits at the mouth of the River, and you ever spot her in your dreams, pray to whatever power you hold dear because you have captured the focus of the Long-Legged Mare's dark and endless rage.
I pace back and forth on the sand, staring up at the airship wreck.
I had no idea ships could be so big. Mother used to tell me stories of the long-ago days when ponies had air-slung vessels larger than our house five times over made of wood and metal, but I never imaged how big they would be... or how small I would feel beside them. How did ponies manage to build this?
"By the skies above..." I mutter. "Who left this here? Why?"
"We have no idea! That's the best part!" Sea Spray laughs. "I knew you'd think she was cool! Your jaw practically hit the floor!"
"H-how old is this?" I point a shaky hoof. Something about the crystals on the wall isn't sitting with me right.
"Oh, Omita's old," she says, laying on the sand. The water is still and she looks quite peaceful. "It's older than anything we've made. The elders say it was here before us." She shrugs. "They say she's even older than the Will of the Ocean, but I don't know about that."
"The Will of the Ocean?" I tilt my head. "Um, what's that?"
"You've never heard of it?" She looks concerned. "It's the reason why we can't go to the sea. It's why the waters of the world are so angry! How can you not know?"
"Well, I've lived over the Great Ocean my whole life, and I've never heard of it before."
Her eyes go wide. "What? You live over the ocean and you don't even try to protect yourself?!"
"Huh?" I can't stop worry from creeping into my voice. "Protect myself from what?"
"Haven't you seen them? The warped beasts? The corrupt fish? The waters are stalked by tainted, twisted creatures, and are hostile to all things good because of the Will of the Ocean."
I remember the long fish trying to speak to me.
"H-how do you protect yourself?"
She waves a hoof at the ship. "It's all over the walls. Those crystals, they're sacred and filled with power that wards away the evil. Look." She lifts her necklace with one hoof and when she taps at its side with the other, it swings open.
There's one of the glowing crystals inside, a sharp sliver of yellowish-gold, faintly glowing against the pearlescent interior of her shell necklace. It's not like the ones on the walls of the cave, it's faceted and cut, and I realize with a start that it looks almost exactly the one my uncle sold.
That's when we hear shouting from outside.
I rush to the vine-curtain and poke my head out. About a dozen ponies are in the air, flying in wide circles over the island.
"I think they're looking for me," I say as I pull my head back.
Sea Spray looks at me for a long moment, then smiles sadly. I decide I like it much better when she's laughing. "You need to go." She says. "They'll be mad if they see me with you."
Then she lifts the necklace over her head. "But I want you to have this."
"What? I-I-I can't take that!" I stammer.
"Take it," she insists, "I can get another one. I want you to be safe." She swims up to the water's edge and pushes it into my hoof. "Goodbye, strange colt."
"Um... Goodbye." Is all I can think to say. Then she slips into the water.
I stumble out of the vines and out into the sun. Before I know it, I'm staring my uncle right in the face.
Rainbow Dash has her eyes glued to the creature that is trembling where she once stood mere minutes ago. It shudders in place, lifts its gangly head up high with its spindly, angle-ridden neck, and swivels it all the way around twice. It looks like it's barely holding its balance and would fall at its first step, but I know how deceiving that particular appearance can be.
"Whoof," I say, "looks like I got you inside in the nick of time."
She looks back at me, furious, and speaks in a shuddering tone. "What. Is. That. Thing."
"Um... it's kind of hard to explain." I tilt my head. "You're really Rainbow Dash, right?"
Her glare deepens. "You're asking for a bruising, pal."
I roll my eyes. Yup. Just like I remember. "Forgive me for not questioning finding a dead mare walking around in the Wastes."
She makes a choking sound and recoils as if I smacked her across the side of the head with my shovel. "What the hay do you mean I'm dead?"
"I mean you died when I was little, at Canterlot or something. That was years ago, and you suddenly just showed up here, just asking to be killed by our friend out there." I point my hoof at the thing outside. It's trying to scrape at the ash. Does it think something is buried there?
"I..." Rainbow Dash collapses into one of the chairs and stares at her hooves. "I don't remember dying." She looks at me with wide eyes. "I don't remember how I got here. I just woke up out there, in the..."
"In the ash," I finish for her.
"Last thing I remember, we were just hearing about the― Dear Celestia, did we lose?"
"Hmm?" She pulls my attention from the thing that's now digging with its face.
"Did we lose against the machines?"
I have a feeling she already knows the answer. "Yeah, we did. That was a long time ago, though. I was barely ten, so I don't really remember it all that well." I turn and sit down in the chair across from her. "If that's all you remember, then lady, I've got a lot of stuff to catch you up on."
Her face hardens. "Okay."
"Equestria is very different. Most of it is gone." Already, I can tell that's a hard one for her to hear. "That 'most of it' is called the Ash Wastes. I bet you can understand why."
She nods, her face glum.
I point with a hoof. "That thing out there is what we call an Ash Child. As you've probably guessed, it was a pony once." I see her wince and lean into it. "Look at me, Rainbow Dash. Listen. That is not a pony anymore, no matter what it tries to tell you. If it catches you, you had better hope it's hungry, because if it isn't, it's going to turn you into one of them too. But they aren't the worst things that we're going to need to worry about, because–"
That's when the ground begins to rumble beneath our hooves.
The day after Buttercup's nightmare, we began sending scouts out. I was still pretty sure it had just been a dream, and that the worst that would come of it would be some ponies who were very unhappy with the routes I chose for them. I had ponies go up into the mountains around the town and look around for any machines or Children, and I had a few travel down to the mouth of the valley to look for tracks or anything that might get interested in the wall.
See, we'd dealt with Ashen Children before. Every so often, a herd of them finds the wall and decides to try and get over it, and we've had to go and fend them off pikes and spears. Usually, we put them down and drag them far enough away, but they've gotten over the wall once or twice. Those were scary days, but with a little thought and some coordination, a few Children aren't impossible to take down. The worst we've ever had to deal with after those days was wearing around metal shoes for a while while we made sure there weren't any stray crystal shards hiding, waiting to be stepped on.
We also upped the guard on the wall during the night, when the Children are most active. I also ordered some extra pikes and caltrops from Hammerhoof, because you can never be too careful. For the next few days, everypony felt extra safe. Willow and Furrow even invited me over for dinner as a thank-you.
Of course, New Leaf went missing the next day, during his afternoon scouting patrol.
As soon as he didn't come back, I organized a search party. I got together a dozen guardsponies and lead them out. It'd just snowed the last night, so it was easy to follow his tracks. They were regular and bored all the way out to the furthest point in his route, and then they intersected with a mess of kicked-up snow and slush.
I almost wish the trail hadn't been so easy to follow. We heard his shouts not long after we started, and we rushed as fast as we could, following them into a grove of pine. When we found him...
He was being held down in a clearing by something that used to be a griffin, I think. It had a long, lithe body, like a snake's, but feathered like a bird, and a spearlike beak. It had wrapped around his legs so he couldn't move, but his head was free and he was trying to scream it off. The other one was definitely a pony. It was barely managing to balance on eight stretching, nonsensical legs, standing with its too-long torso curved around the griffon-thing and New Leaf almost in a whole circle. Just as we got there it reached up to its neck, where a cluster of the crystals had burst out of its skin, snapped one off with a howl of pain, and shoved it roughly down New Leaf's throat.
That was when my pike rammed into its side. I didn't see what the others did but I had my full weight behind that charge and I am not a small pony. Not even a Child can survive a blade through the spine.
It was too late. New Leaf's neck had already begun to snap and lengthen even before they untangled him from the griffon's gray, flaky corpse.
Once upon a time, long before Equestria, before the Princesses, even before the hearth's warming, there was a mare who lived in a small village of ponies. She was graceful and kind, and had long, slender, beautiful legs, and towered high over her fellow ponies, whom she cared for greatly.
The Long-Legged Mare's village was built in the ruins of a once-great kingdom and was full of hardship. Crops grew with such difficulty that farmers needed to tend to their fields through every night and every day. Woodcutters wore down their axe heads working a single tree. Artists struggled to paint even the most basic subjects, and soldiers needed to fight with tooth and hoof to drive their enemies away.
The Long-Legged Mare had heard legends of a sacred spring, in which a most sacred Crystal was hidden. This Crystal was none other than the Crystal of Life and Death, and the mare who held it needed only to wish aloud to provide food and health and life to herself and to any ponies she wished. The Mare gathered her closest friends and went out to search for the Crystal.
They searched far and wide, set upon by beasts and savages and cruel strangers. After many struggles, those who remained finally found the sacred spring in the depths of the darkest forest, and they created a net, and they dredged the Crystal from the pool's depths.
However, the ponies each desired to hold the Crystal and to guide destiny for themselves. In a burst of jealousy and desperation, they fell upon each other and fought, and in the discord, the Crystal was shattered. In a fit of anguish and despair, the Long-Legged Mare picked up the shards of the Crystal and thrust them into her eyes.
The Shards of the Crystal of Life and Death sunk into the Long-Legged Mare's wounds and changed her.
When the Long-Legged Mare rose from where she had fallen and faced the ponies, she was no longer their friend. She spoke to them such terrifying things that they fled the spring, never to return. The land shook, and a great chasm opened beneath the spring and the Mare, swallowing them into its depths, and the trees shook, and the wind roared, and the sky turned gray from the fires upon the world.
The ponies returned to the village empty-hoofed, and the village soon withered and faded away, forgotten by nearly all.
Ever since then, the Long-Legged Mare has stayed, forever sealed within the chamber of her own making. Nopony knows what she said to those who once called her friend, but she was all but forgotten until she began to appear in the dreams of those who lust for wealth and power, and she is said to whisper sweet nothings into their ears, and she is said to guide them to their desires for a price that they are sworn never to reveal.
However, be wary, for only her appearance is that of a pony's. If you ever spot her in your dreams, and you wish to bargain, pray she is not facing you, and if she is, look away, for the price of such a sight is far, far too steep, and should you ever refuse to pay, you will bring about her dark and endless rage.
Two alicorn sisters stood before a massive, beautifully ornate set of doors. They boasted reinforcements of both cold steel and intricate enchantment, and yet the words within were being shouted with such emotion that the two could clearly make out the 'conversation' from their awkward spot in the halls of what had once been their palace.
"We have no choice, Twilight! We've exhausted every other option. For Celestia's sake, I've... I've lost over half my 'bolts already." The scratchy, raw, near-tears voice made the aforementioned sister dip her head.
"I agree with Rainbow, darling. Too many have been forced from their homes and— and hurt. We have to do it." Beside her, formerly-princess Luna eyed the door with a hardened, unreadable expression.
"No. No. We can't!"
"Listen, sugarcube, we've just got to try and–"
"No!" Both sisters cringed and dipped their heads. "No. No, we can't do that! That's exactly what She wants!"
"Oh, you can't seriously be talking about that mare again!" Celestia shivered at the gravelly mare's words. "We've sent out dozens and dozens of scouting parties! You even had all those magicians do that tracking spell. That stupid mare isn't even real!"
"She's real!" The mare's voice trembled in its strength. "She's real, I know She is! I'm so close to— to finding out where She is, why She's doing this. Then we can stop her! Together! I just need more time!"
"All the time we bought you wasn't enough?" shrieked the scratchy voice. "Do you know how many ponies are dead, Twilight? Do you know how many cities we've had to abandon? It seems like you care more about this mare than the ponies you have an obligation to protect!"
"Just what are you implying, Rainbow Dash?"
"The term 'unfit to rule' comes to mind!"
A scream of rage was the only response.
Luna dipped her head. "Sister, we cannot let this continue." Celestia swallowed, nodded, and lit her horn. The room and the hallway both fell to a stone silence the moment the doors opened.
The sisters observed the room with a practiced, even face. Rainbow Dash hovered directly above the war table, muzzle-to-muzzle with Princess Twilight Sparkle, who stood at her full royal height. A frazzled Rarity, a mortified Fluttershy, an ashen-faced Applejack, and a straight-haired Pinkie Pie all huddled below the two. Every single pony widened their eyes.
Twilight Sparkle swallowed and nodded. "Celestia. Luna. You're early."
"We traveled as quickly as we could," Luna said as she took measured steps into the war room. Her steel expression faltered at the staggering amount of red on the table's map. "We're ready to assist however we can."
Twilight gave them the barest, most tired smile either of the sisters had seen in a very long time. "You two need to leave Equestria."
"What?" Luna looked to the others, but they only studied their hooves. Rainbow Dash even landed and looked away. "Why do you wish this of us?"
Twilight's eyes fell. "We can't afford to lose the day-night cycle. If things go how I fear, there may not be enough organized unicorns to do it if the worst happens to us." Then she raised her chin and squared her shoulders, but a sadness flooded her features. "The best thing you can do for Equestria is leave it."
Luna gaped, but Celestia took a deep breath and nodded her head. "If that is what you wish."
Twilight nodded sharply. Together, the sisters turned around.
"Alright, Rainbow," Twilight Sparkle said as they left the war room, "let's do it your way."
We look at the thing rumbling through the remains of the town— no, of Ponyville. Its six legs hold its thin, spindly body well above the surviving houses' roofs, and its tendrils twitch and shudder in the gray air. As it nears the place where I found Rainbow Dash, the tendrils all seem to become interested in the dozen or so Children now gathered there. For their part, the Children moan and shuffle around, cowed by the machine. One extends its tongue and makes a grab at a tendril, and with a flash of metal and razor-sharp crystal, it's turned into a wriggling pile of wormlike limbs that soon go still.
Rainbow moans and moves away from the window, holding her head in her hooves. "My home," she whispers. I hesitate for a moment before moving to her side and setting one cloth-bound limb over her shoulders. She just stands there for a while, then pulls away.
"Okay," she says, sniffling and wiping at her nose. "Okay. I'm here. If I'm here, maybe my friends are too." She adjusts her old Wonderbolts jacket.
Whatever happened to the Wonderbolts? I silently ponder.
"If my friends were here," Rainbow quietly continues, "they'd know to get away from the danger. That gives us a better chance of reuniting." She looks at me. "Is— Is there anywhere left that's safe?"
I shrug. "Define safe."
"Not being constantly under threat of death by freezing or violent dismemberment."
"There's supposed to be a place out west, past the Unicorn Range, where there's less ash and Children. Should be pretty safe there."
She raises an eyebrow. "So what are you doing here, in the thick of it, instead of over there?"
I groan. "That's what we're trying to do. Crossing the Wastes is way easier said than done."
"Oh. Well, then... Wait, 'we'?"
"Yeah," I answer with a nod, "my special somepony. She's not as capable of handling the Wastes as I am, so I've been going on ahead, scouting and finding food and medicine." I give her a smile. "Don't worry, you can come with us. We'll help you as much as we can. You're an Element, after all."
That puts a pained look on her face. "I guess... but that's not worth much of anything without my friends."
I pat her shoulder. "You'll see 'em again, I'm sure of it. Now let's find you some gear and some proper clothes."
We begin searching the hospital for anything that can help us. Between items left behind when ponies fled and a generous lost-and-found on the second floor, we gather replacement bandages, some magical medicine, and a few layers of winter clothing and a pair of old saddlebags for Rainbow, but nothing to protect her eyes and mouth, so we're forced to go to the ground floor.
The darkness there is complete. We can barely see, even with my magic lantern. I guess it's been a while since I charged it, I think. We pass by several hospital rooms that have been barricaded from the outside, taking extra care to be quiet, and find a great score near a pile of old abandoned Guard armor: a full-face protective mask! Loot in hoof, we hurry back upstairs.
After I help Dash bundle up— she insists on cutting holes for her wings— and give her some of the gear to carry, we return to the broken window, masked up and as prepared as you can be for the Wastes.
We put down New Leaf before he could lengthen any more. I was the one to do it. I just... drove my pike through his heart. He was already in too much pain to feel it.
After that, we carefully pulled the crystal from his throat. It was a good one, so I gathered three or four more from the Children's corpses for the few zappers the village had managed to get its hooves on while the others wrapped New Leaf up in Flitterwing's spare cloak. Then we burned the bodies, left our normal caution signs— we thought we'd be by next spring to make sure there were no dangerous shards left— and went home.
The incident shocked the village. We planned a burial, gave him a short service, and lowered him into a grave that was just a little larger than normal. There was barely a word from anypony, and there wasn't much conversation at all for days after... but I wasn't thinking about what we had lost.
I was thinking about the danger we were all in.
Ashen Children always attack in waves. I don't know what drives them, but when they attack somewhere, it's only a few at a time, then hordes. If you're especially unlucky, they'll have a machine with them. Ashen Children always follow each other, and they'd found another way into our valley.
It was some positively, absolutely rotten luck. I don't know what happened, maybe a pass opened up earlier in the year and we didn't notice, or maybe the Children had made one themselves. We'd heard stranger stories from the traders that came by Snowhaven once a year or so.
The point is, it wouldn't be long for the Children to figure out where the village was, and the wall we had wouldn't do us any good. I went to Hammerhoof's forge first and told him what I thought was going on. He agreed with me, because he's always been sensible, and told me he'd be bringing both his apprentices in and begin making pikes and armor plates as fast as he could. Then I traveled up to where New Leaf had been grabbed, looking for chokepoints. There was one, at a spot where a small cliff gave way to a slope. The trail made by the Children dragging him down into the forest was still there.
With a plan in mind, I called a town meeting. I explained to everypony the danger Snowhaven was in, and what needed to be done. I explained my idea to build a second, smaller wall along the cliff, and to use the choke point to force the Children to manageable numbers. We were all afraid, but princesses damn it, we were a community. And something needed to be done.
Everypony worked double. We cut down trees and dragged them to the cliff, where the carpenters of the town began assembling the wall. I'm not even sure Hammerhoof slept, and it showed. By the fourth day after New Leaf's death, he'd melted down dozens of tools and produced enough plates and blades to give half the village adults reinforced barding and pikes. I was working hard to show ponies how to use those weapons to fight the Children at a distance.
It was then, in the middle of our desperate preparations, that a Rarity appeared right inside Willow and Furrow's home.
I hide the necklace under my wing, keeping it clamped against my body, and pray my Uncle doesn't notice.
"Where in tartarus have you been? You stupid colt!" He's red in the face. When he shouts, I can feel his spittle on my muzzle and I can't help but take a step back. "Your first day on the island and you just wander off?! What were you thinking! You had your mother worried sick!"
I watch my cousins land behind him. They look worried but I know it's just a farce. This is all because of them in the first place!
I glare at Braves. Infuriatingly, she just pretends to be confused back at me.
"Look at me when I'm speaking to you!" Uncle snaps my attention back. "Listen well, colt. I'm not letting you leave the cloud until you've earned it, and with the way you act, I doubt you ever will. Now come on. We're going home now. Your mother's waiting."
He takes off without another word. My cousins glance at me awkwardly and follow, so nopony sees me slip the necklace into my hoof. On the way, I fly up near Braves.
"Worst I'll get is an annoyed sigh, huh?" I snap at her. "Thanks a lot, cousin."
She puts on the perfect imitation of a thoroughly confused, slightly hurt face. "Shines, what are you talking about?"
Rrgh, I think, my cousins are the worst. I ignore her and focus on my flying.
When we get home, I get another talking to from my mother, albeit one less intense. It's true, I'm banned from leaving our cloud home for the foreseeable future. The rest of my day is spent cleaning the house, and by the time I flop into my bed, my legs are as sore as ever.
I am in a black void. I'm standing in some sort of water, though it barely wets the fur around my hooves, which are firmly on what feels like smooth stone.
I look around. There's nothing. My heart begins to race. How did I get here? Where is here? I decide to call out, to see if I am alone. "Hello?"
"Hello, Shines With the Wind." The voices come from right behind me. I yelp and spin around as fast as I can.
There's a pegasus mare standing far away. A mare, I think. Her legs are too long, so she's much taller than me, and her mane and tail hang down, limp. There are blotches of brownish-red in her coat. Why is she facing away from me?
I'm hit with a stench so horrid and foul that I gag and cough. It smells like fish left out in the sun for days. When I open my eyes again, she's much too close.
I take a step back. "W-who are you?"
"I am your friend, Shines." Her head begins to turn.
"Shines!"
I awake with a start. My legs ache terribly and my mother is sitting next to my bed. One of my hooves is in hers.
"Oh, honey, you're finally awake."
I take a shuddering breath. "M-mother," I manage, "I just had the most horrible dream."
"Aw, honey, did you have that terrible nightmare again?" she coos, stroking my mane. "It's okay, dear, it was just a dream."
The Rarity apparently scared the absolute socks off of Willow and her twins. I could hear the screams from across the town.
I rushed there as fast as I could. Willow was standing in front of the door, assuring everypony that it was alright, there was no cause for concern. We waited there for Furrow to arrive from the wall, and then we went inside.
The Rarity sat in the center of their living room, playing patty-cake with Willow's foals. She looked exactly like the stories said: an alabaster coat with a brilliant gray-streaked purple mane and a luxurious cloak. She was stunningly beautiful, too, in a refined sort of way. Apparently, this was exactly how she had looked generations ago, during the Event. I could hardly believe it.
"Oh, hello!" she said as we entered. "Again, I'm terribly sorry, Willow. I never meant to scare you."
Willow took her hoof and shook it gently. "Oh, it was just a little startling, it's nothing to fret about. Let me introduce you to my husband, Furrow."
Furrow respectfully took her hoof. "It's an honor to meet you."
"And this is our good friend, Spearhead." I nodded my greetings.
"Well, thank you for your hospitality." The Rarity put a hoof over her chest. "It's just dreadful that I appeared here without any memory of travel!" She examined the inside of the cabin as she spoke. "Though... I do enjoy this rustic chic. Now, where exactly am I?"
"You're in Snowhaven," Willow said. "It's a little town in the Crystal Mountains, so it's a real honor to host a Rarity. I just wish it could have been during less worrying times."
"'A' Rarity?" The beautiful mare laughed. "Darling, I assure you, I am one-of-a-kind."
Willow, Furrow, and I all gave each other a look.
"What?" the Rarity said. "What is it?"
"Ah," I said, searching for the right words, "you had better come with me, miss."
"Oh... alright, I suppose."
She took in the village as we made the short walk to the old house we generously called our town hall. Ponies shored up windows and walls or hauled timber on sleds all around us. When she spotted a hoofful of guards armored in plated barding and practicing with their pikes, she pointed a dainty hoof.
"Are you preparing to attack somepony?" the Rarity asked. "You know, there are ways to solve problems without violence— I could help mediate an agreement if you like."
I shook my head. "We're preparing to defend ourselves, unfortunately."
"But surely if you just tried to–"
"That's not the case," I interrupted. "I'm sorry for being harsh, but you don't understand. That's why I'm taking you here."
I pushed open the town hall's door and allowed her inside. The space that isn't taken up by shelves of pre-Event books and scrolls and magical artifacts was bathed in darkness. I moved to light a candle, but the Rarity lit her horn and gave me a little smile. I nodded my thanks and led her to the back room.
"This is where we keep our treasures," I said, pushing past the village's most valuable heirlooms to a little box at the back of the room. There were three bound books atop it. I take one, set aside the others, and lifted the box's lid.
The Rarity gasped when she saw its contents: a faded turquoise maneband. "W-where did you get that?" she stammered. "That doesn't belong to you!"
"I know," I said, picking it up as gently as I could. "She left it for you."
She gets to know the Ash Wastes' sounds and signs within the first day. It takes longer than that to get used to flying near to the ground, and even longer than that to get used to the permanent ash-cloud cover, but before long she's pointing out Children calls faster than I can. I can see why ponies thought so highly of her. I wish that I could see her fly like she used to, in the Wonderbolts shows that my family was never really welcome at... but it's far too dangerous. Maybe when we reach the west.
We spend a couple of days looking for a route around the deathtrap that used to be called Ponyville. It's not too difficult to find a path through burnt trees of the Whitetail Woods, and from there it's a straight shot north to the old railway.
According to my map, we're nearly at the rails, me sliding on my sled and her flying a couple of pony-hights off the ground when she spots it. "Hey!" she says, her voice low enough to be claimed by the wind by anything but me. "We got something up ahead."
"Can you tell what it is?" I ask. She shakes her head. "Better approach on the ground, then. If it's a machine, it'll be better if it doesn't notice we're here.
I stow my sled and she lands with a little flurry of ash, her new snowshoes keeping her from sinking into the ash all the way to her belly. We approach the long, crooked lump in the ash as carefully as possible.
"I don't think that's a machine," I say, "I think it's been here since the ash started falling. Look how thick the layer covering it is. We can't even tell what's underneath."
"Yeah," Rainbow says, "I think you're right. Hold on, I'll go check it out." It's a good idea— she's the one of us who can fly away if it ends up being dangerous.
"Careful. It could still be dangerous, even if it's not a machine."
She nods solemnly and approaches the long, ash-covered lump, digging at its end a little before straightening up. "I know what this is," she says, "It's a derailed train."
"What?" I call as loudly as I dare. "Are you sure? We're in the middle of nowhere."
"I'm sure," she says over her shoulder, grabbing hold of something under the ash. "Check this out!" She groans and pulls, lifting something out of the ash. No, she's pulling open a door, but I didn't recognize it at first because it's sideways.
We peek inside the train car together. It's essentially a pitch-black hole, a hidden room underneath a drift of ash. I light my lantern and shine it into the hole. There's nothing but abandoned luggage and sideways seats.
"It's perfect," I say. "We'll stash the food here and stay here for the night. We can start heading back to the last shelter tomorrow."
"You got it," says Dash as she follows me in, leaving the door cracked open behind her. "Where is she, anyway?"
"In the Everfree Forest," I say. "We found a little hut away from everything that seemed safe." She grins at that. I don't understand why.
I cough after I finish charging the lantern and my horn's light goes out.
"Yo, you sick or something?" she asks.
I wave her off. I'm too tired to argue, but that night, I dream about Her.
The Guard stopped telling us to leave today. Up until now, they had been urging everypony to get out of the city and to evacuate north. Or west. Or anywhere that isn't here. It wasn't more convincing than the massive walls they've been building around the city, though— at least, Steady didn't think so. He's been insisting that the city is the safest place we can be, and I think he's right. I guess the princess agreed with him because I didn't see any guardspony criers on the corners on the way to work this morning. I hope that means we don't have to leave, and not that we can't leave anymore.
There are thousands of guards in the air and on the streets every day. I've never felt so safe and scared at the same time. On one hoof, I can't imagine so many guards being overcome by any monster. The only way we could be safer is if the princess herself were here. On the other, I know that there wouldn't be so many guards here if they didn't have a good reason. Are they handling whatever's going on in the south, or are they preparing for something? What's got them so scared?
On top of that, we have a money problem. We brought all our savings from home, and with the jobs we've been making it last as long as we can, but the prices of everything in the city goes up every day. I thought about the math as I worked today. If the prices keep going up, we'll only be able to afford food for another week, maybe a day less if things get worse faster. I know it's bothering Steady because he tosses and turns in his sleep the same way I do. I don't know what we're going to do when we can't eat. We talked with mother, and we agreed to start eating a little less. Maybe we can get an extra day or two of food for Symphony.
The worst of it all, though, is what I saw on my way home today. The streets are bustling almost all the time now, but while I was walking I heard louder shouting than usual. There was this crowd of ponies across the street, all surrounding a tall mare on the sidewalk. They were shouting and screaming, and the mare was crying. She kept saying "No, I was born like this! I was born like this!" but that didn't stop the crowd. They kept shouting that she was sick and dangerous. There was so much shouting, and then the crowd surged forward and I saw her get pulled down and
And that was that, I guess.
It feels like the city is about to boil over. Ponies are so scared they'll stomp a mare to death in the streets. There's the rumor of the disease but nopony knows how to tell if you're sick. I can't remember the last time I saw a pony smile. I can't remember the last time Symphony smiled.
We should have left the city while we had the chance.
Declare a national emergency. Send all available forces to the southeast and evacuate every settlement from Baltimare to Dodge City immediately. The situation has changed and is now extremely dire.
The machines attacked during the night. We weren't ready for them in the slightest. We've pulled back to South Baltimare and have set up a perimeter, but I lost an unknown amount of guardsponies in the retreat. I have ponies working on that now, and I'll get an estimate to you in the next report.
There isn't one type of machine. We've encountered a staggering variety emerging from the ocean, including ones with great speed that ran like many-legged timberwolves and ones that flew like insects. They range in size from that of a pony to that of a sizeable building, though my scouts report they have seen bigger. They are all extremely dangerous and are advancing both north and west, and they all exhibit signs of extensive crystal growth. Many use these crystals to attack, stabbing with them or throwing them at ponies like darts.
The machines weren't just in the ocean. Our defensive line was attacked from both sides. I don't know how they got there, but a large number of machines emerged from the Haysead Swamps. The guards were trapped and the lucky ones were torn to pieces.
Princess, there's something terribly evil about those crystals. When they get stuck in a pony's body, it turns them into something else. I can't find the right words to describe it. It stretches them out in the worst ways, they howl and scream, and then they start attacking us.
We don't know how or why. We don't know how to protect ourselves. We must assume that every pony who falls to these machines without dying will get back up and walk with them. The effect on my guards cannot be understated. I'm already seeing desertions and breakdowns. Nopony is able to sleep. Many are having extremely unsettling dreams, and once I finally rest tonight, I believe I'll be among them. I'm on my hooves so much and sleep so little that I ache every hour of the day. I am in dire need of more assistance in command.
Only the quick thinking of many of my subordinates prevented the retreat from becoming a massacre. We were able to pull back about half of the line, but unless we get reinforcements and whatever siege weaponry is available immediately I am not confident that we can hold Baltimare. I've already ordered the mayor to evacuate. I told him that the order was from you.
Princess, I won't lie to you. A lot of ponies are about to die.
It is my belief that you should organize any available magical weapons as quickly as possible as well as summon Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. I also recommend an emergency draft, and whatever you've discovered with Case 125, I pray that it is helpful. We will need every advantage we can get our hooves on.
Expect the next report in no more than five hours.
Once upon a time, long before Equestria, before the Princesses, before even the hearth's warming, there was a mare who was worshipped by a small kingdom of ponies. She was secluded and mysterious, and had long, slender, beautiful legs, and towered high over the ponies of the kingdom, who thought greatly of her.
The kingdom was by the sea and was safe and prosperous. Fish grew so large and were so easily caught that farmers merely had to cast their nets into the water for but a second and have plenty for a night and a day. Stonecutters had only to ask the stones kindly, and they would fall into perfect blocks. Sailors could raise their sails and be taken to any shore on timely winds and gentle waters, and soldiers needed only to brandish their spears to drive their enemies away.
On those occasions when she visited the kingdom, Long-Legged Mare emerged from her shrine built around a sacred pool, into which the waters of the kingdom's mighty sea flowed. This pool was none other than the Pool of the Stars, and the Mare emerged from its waters under the glow of the night to bid greeting to the waiting ponies. Under their fascinated gaze, the mare would dip her hoof into the pool's mud and would lay her hooves upon it and carefully shape it into a figurine of the pony she deemed most worthy of her blessing. She would breathe upon it and give it to them, and they would be led to their happiest, most wonderful life.
However, the queen who ruled the kingdom desired the blessing, and though she was present at every visit, she was never chosen. One night, when the Long-Legged Mare visited the kingdom, the queen gathered her soldiers and drove the ponies away from the shrine, approaching the mare herself and demanding her due.
The mare refused, and in a fit of frustration and rage, the queen thrust her blade deep into the mare's heart.
But the mare did not fall. Seawater poured from the wound, first clear, then dark. The waters of the pool grew clouded and foul and the Mare laid her hooves upon the queen and changed her.
When she was finished, what remained was no longer their queen. She, too, towered over the ponies, gurgling and dispelling putrid seawater from her mouth and eyes, and when the Mare blew upon the ponies who looked up at their queen in horror, all who had ever received her blessing were made the same.
The kingdom fell upon itself and burned, the land shook and sunk, inundated, and what remained was filled by marsh and swamp, forgotten by nearly all.
Ever since then, the Long-Legged Mare has remained hidden. Nopony knows where she has gone, but some still say her shrine can still be found, hidden deep in the darkest swamp and choked in stagnant water. She waits there for somepony to find her, so that she may shape her mud once more, but until then she prowls the dreams of ponies, watching for reasons greater than we can ever know.
However, be wary, for she still desires to give ponies her blessing. If you see her, turn away and pray you do not feel her breath, lest you wish to receive it.
I am an idiot. I am a royal, majestic, incredible idiot. Everypony in the group is mad at me right now because of how much of an idiot I am.
Let me start at the beginning. We began our journey into the Ash Fields quite early in the day. We broke camp and packed just like normal, and even though some parts of the foothills were difficult to navigate, we were waist-deep in the wild grass shortly before midday.
The Ash Fields are something else. As far as the eye can see, it's yellow-green grass, all at the same height, forever, like an ocean. There used to be forests and farms and towns here but the Event saw to that, and after it all, grasslands filled the entire plain. It's tragically beautiful and just... resoundingly empty.
I wasn't looking at the grass, though. I was looking up at the sky, because of a legend I'd heard somewhere. They say that if you're in the right area, you can still see chunks of the old cloud cities floating by. I was searching the skies for building remnants so closely that I didn't see the big grassy lump in our path, nor did I see my travel-mates move around it. I smacked right into a big grassy boulder– or so I thought.
Auburn jumped up as if she'd been electrocuted. She hissed at me to freeze and for Compass and Score to step away. I was confused until I looked closely at the boulder and saw the runes inscribed into its side, including the Eye Rune. It was a machine.
Auburn told me to carefully step away, but I, in my infinite wisdom and intelligence, laughed her off. "There's nothing to worry about, everypony," I said, like a complete buffoon, "It's dead, and it looks like it's been that way for some time. See?"
Then I kicked it, and it woke up.
I was so frightened that Auburn had to tackle me out of the way as it rose up onto three and a half massive limbs, stumbling on its shattered fourth. I scrambled away, and Auburn loaded a crystal into her spearzapper.
I've never seen one go off, but wow. Golden lightning lanced out of it and into the beast and it screamed. I can't properly describe it, but it just about drove me deaf, and then the thing collapsed, its metal-and-crystal innards turned into outards.
I was about to congratulate her through the ringing in my ears when she began shouting for us to move. She said that any and all Ash Children that had heard it were going to be traveling here as fast as they could and that if we wanted to live we needed to be far enough away that they wouldn't smell us. On top of that, most of them would be coming from the Mountain City. After a panicked map-reading from Compass, we set off to the southeast.
It wasn't an hour after that that we heard the yelps and groans behind us. We kept going and they kept following for hours, long into the night. By the time we found the ruins of the town, we'd been walking for almost three-fourths of a day straight. I don't know why there was an abandoned university sitting up on a hill at the edge of the town, but it saved our lives, no thanks to me. We're barricaded inside now, waiting for the children to wander off. Auburn says it'll be at least a day.
I'm standing in nowhere. There's nothing but blackness all around me. I'm scared, but I don't know why. I don't want to be here.
Then the air begins to smell like rotting meat. I gag and swivel my head around, looking for the source, and it doesn't take me long to find it. There's a changeling standing not too far away from me. A mare, I think. Her carapace is an unhealthy black and her legs are far, far too long, riddled with countless holes. She's facing away from me.
I stare at her, but I get the sense that she's waiting for me to speak. "H-hello?" I ask, struggling to repress a gag.
She coughs. "No, no, perhaps later, yes," she says. She's a lot closer now. The smell is overwhelming.
"W-what?" I say, retching. "What do you want from me?"
Her head slightly turns towards me. I can't see her face; it's hidden by her frill, which is disgustingly long and falling across her neck like a mane. For reasons I can't describe, the tiny motion nearly makes my heart stop with fear.
Rainbow Dash is shaking me. "Gah!" I say, throwing out my hooves. "Stop it! What the hay?"
"Holy Celestia, dude," Rainbow says. Her eyes are wide. "I thought you died. I couldn't wake you up at all!"
"Ugh." I groan and roll over onto my hooves. "What time is it?"
"It's like, an hour past the wake-up alarm." Dash points at the crack of gray light coming from the train car's sideways doorway. It's a little brighter than normal.
I groan again and stand, trying to stretch the soreness out of my legs. "Damn it. We have to get moving."
Pretty soon we're packed with the bare minimum and heading out. We hide our little stash, just in case, and we're on our way.
The next few days pass without a notable event. As we travel, I keep thinking back to the dream, and the terror that I felt. It seemed so real, and the uncanny length of the changeling's legs sticks in my mind.
Our travel is unhindered until we come to a little canyon pass. There's a Child there. We wait for it to wander off until Rainbow spots that it's got one of its seven legs jammed underneath a boulder, for whatever reason.
"Whatever," she whispers, "let's just go around."
I shake my head. "This is on the route. On the way back, we'll need to be taking the quickest possible path. Going around will take her too long." I turn my head and carefully remove my zapper from my pack. "I can take him out now."
"What's that?" Rainbow says. "Have you had a weapon all this time?"
I roll my eyes. "It's low-powered, for one Child at a time only. Don't forget, we're in a hurry both there and back."
I strap the zapper to my hoof and walk as quietly as I can towards the Child on three hooves. It's focused on its stuck limb, trying to pull it out from beneath the boulder with slow, rhythmic tugs. I notice that its cutie mark is a faded image of an apple inside a horseshoe.
I'm practically right next to it when it notices me. It tries to lunge, twisting around its caught limb, and falls to the ground with a wet snap.
Now's my chance. I jam my zapper against its head. Zap, it goes, and ejects its brain out of its skull.
The Rarity sat on the floor and cradled the maneband with delicate hooves as if it might crumble into dust if she loved it too harshly. As far as I knew, it might. The thing had been in the village longer than I could say.
"Why does it look so old?" the Rarity asked in a quiet voice. She spoke without looking at me, her eyes still locked on the faded bit of cloth.
I cleared my throat. "It's because it is old," I said. "It's been in the village since I was born." She didn't respond. "I, um... You should know that it's... been a while since you were last, um, awake."
"...what do you mean?" the Rarity whispered. "I just saw her..."
I tried to swallow the thing that was in my throat. "I don't know when that Fluttershy was here. It's been many years... generations, maybe. I'm sorry."
"No," the Rarity said. "No, that can't be right."
I shuffled my oversized hooves. "I'm sorry," I repeated lamely.
She hugged the maneband to her chest. "No, you don't understand. I just saw her. I just saw all my friends! It can't have been more than a few hours ago!" The Rarity got to her hooves, still clutching the maneband, as her voice began to quicken. "Is there a post office nearby? Or-or perhaps a dragonflame brazier? I must send a letter to Canterlot at once."
"There is no Canterlot. Not anymore." I said.
"W-what?"
I sighed and held out the little black book. "I think you should look at this, Miss."
The Rarity stared at me for a moment before sinking back down to the floor. She gently set the maneband down and took the book, opening it to the first page. I watched as her eyes darted back and forth and her face fell.
After a long, uncomfortable few minutes, she spoke. "What is this?" she said in a husky whisper. "Is this true?"
"It's a Journal. Your Journal, in fact, you and the rest of the Six, but you'll have to be more specific," I said. "I don't know what's in there."
Her chuckle was hollow and worn. "My apologies, dear," she said as she lit her horn. "I'm talking about this." She levitated the book around and showed me a blank page.
I set a hoof on the book and gently pushed it back to the Rarity. "You misunderstand. That Journal's enchanted. I can only read the first page."
"The first page?" The Rarity said. Her brow furrowed as she flipped to it. "But that's... just instructions for duplicating it."
"So ponies can help you and your friends fix all of this. With the way that you, um, are, you can't do it on your own. Not without the Journals. Not without help."
Her head fell. "Then... all that about the isolation rule, those machines, those— those Ashen Children. It's true, then?" Her eyes began to water. "Even the limit?"
"Yes," I said. "I'm sorry."
The Rarity's horn flickered out and the Journal fell to the ground. She scooped the maneband back up and hugged it to her chest, and then she began to cry.
Without really knowing what I was doing, I sat down next to her and pulled her into a tight hug. After a long while, she caught her breath with a sniffle and leaned back. looking up at me with shimmering eyes.
There was another attack at midday. Expect a more detailed casualty report to follow shortly. It was a full assault. We held, but only just. There are extensive damages to south Baltimare, but the city remains intact, for the most part. The line held, but barely.
That is the good news.
The reinforcements are the only thing that has kept this city from falling, but it is a stopgap measure at best. Only overwhelming numbers are keeping this area under our control, but that advantage is dwindling fast. From what you say about Dodge City, their state is less than a week behind ours. The larger machines will soon reach the city and its defense will require similar resources. This strategy is unsustainable, not to mention the sheer loss of life.
Evacuation efforts continue, but many ponies are too scared to leave what is essentially the safest place in the region. My guards' hooves are already full driving off the beasts daily, so I believe a forced evacuation is impossible. We're doing all we can, and the full use of the police you authorized is helping, but we aren't getting enough citizens out of the city as it is. On top of that, I fear that we won't be able to keep the elongation effect hidden from the public much longer. From what I can tell, rumors are starting to spread. Once they find out what's happening outside the city, it won't be long before there's rioting in the streets, princess.
As if that wasn't enough, the elongation effect proves to be even more horrific than we imagined. The ponies that have been transformed appear to retain scraps of their intellect - they can sometimes manage to speak or, in the case of unicorns, perform very basic spells or magic blasts. Additionally, they appear to be driven to use the shards of crystals as weapons whenever they can. I think whatever is forcing them to change knows how to direct them to spread the effect. It's a plague waiting to happen.
We need to find a more effective way to combat these machines and their effects. Their unnatural magic absorption abilities are forcing us to use physical measures and every day we need to put down more elongated ponies. My guardsponies' extra barding can only do so much to prevent 'infection', and during the attack, we encountered a sizeable number of what appeared to be transformed civilians. We have no way of knowing where they came from but it concerns me greatly. Should a large population center fall to the constructs, I believe the number of elongated ponies will grow out of control. The effect is very capable of spreading like wildfire, and the machines just keep coming.
It's all weighing too hard on my ponies, princess. The constant combat, the hellish nature of our enemy, the threat to the country— nearly everypony suffers nightmares of the things that stalk outside the city, myself included. Exhaustion is setting in fast, ponies are making mistakes. Fear is beginning to push out discipline. We'll keep doing what we can, but we need something, anything, to give us an advantage, or I fear the worst for our country.
Our study of the Event is back on track! After last entry's mishap in the Fields and our little detour that didn't end up being so little we finally made it to the Mountain City, or as it was called before the Event, 'Canterlot'.
I'm getting ahead of myself. We stayed in the town for a week or so. (Plenty of time for me to properly apologize.) Compass cataloged some cartographical data and Score and I recovered some texts from that nearby school. We ended up storing all our recoveries thus far in a cellar for the way back. I warded it to stave off the elements, so it's safe for a few weeks. Less work for us! Hooray!
Because the town was so close to the city, traveling between them only took a day. We saw the densest destruction we'd seen so far but it was nothing compared to what we found when we reached the mountain. I can only guess what chaos must have taken place, with everypony fleeing to the one place they thought had to be safe. Needless to say, I'm glad everything has long since rotted, and that Ashen Children are so few in number nowadays.
We hiked up the old road and made camp outside the gates. I think Auburn is starting to warm up to us, or at least to me because she actually made some conversation as we were setting up camp. Of course, it was to make a snarky joke about how Steady and Score were always arguing like an old married couple. (Today it was about how to set up the tent. I don't know how they haven't figured this out by now— I've lost count of how many times we've made camp.) She's got a good sense of humor when she chooses to speak. I'm glad we hired her, and not some other somehow-even-more-gruff-and-silent guard. (Can I hyphenate stuff like that?)
The city was incredible. Things fell apart so quickly that nopony had any time to take anything with them, if they got out at all. Combine that with the fact that, for a long time, it was the densest population of Children... anywhere (AKA The Place You Don't Loot Unless You Have A Death Wish) and presto, you have a treasure trove of pre-Event, well, treasure!
We filled our funding quota in a matter of hours just by breaking into the fanciest-looking houses and we were able to get through the old wards into the Royal Library the next day. There's so much lost knowledge there that I couldn't decide which texts to take. One place we didn't go was the old palace, though.
There's a ridiculous amount of elongated remains in the city, but a specific set is easy to pick out. Long strings of leg bones and knees, about as thick as your torso, crisscross through roads and over rooftops all over the city. They all lead into the palace. We all decided that whatever was in there was something best investigated by a braver, more numerous group of ponies.
In terms of routes, we finally decided where to go. I told Score that I thought Steady Compass had a good point. Historically, because the machines followed the ponies, the desert should be safer, and it's a more direct route to our destination. Less time traveling equals less money spent, right? Steady agreed, so as soon as we finish up here, we're going to begin heading southeast.
Auburn just called me over. This should be interesting.
Once upon a time, long before Equestria, before the Princesses, before even the hearth's warming, there was a mare from a lost kingdom of ponies. She was a traveler of lands far and wide, and had long, slender, beautiful legs, and towered over the ponies of the places she visited, who were fascinated by her greatly.
The kingdom she had once called home had been a magnificent empire. It claimed the most prosperous of farmers and fisherponies. Its woodworkers and stonemasons' creations were that of legend. Its artists had made works so beautiful that ponies gathered from places untold for a simple glimpse, and its soldiers had forged the empire alongside wondrous magical beasts of metal and stone.
The kingdom's queen, a ruler of great renown, had built her palace atop a sacred spring, from which the waters of the kingdom's mighty River had flowed, all the way to the sea. This River was none other than the River of Harmony, and it was said that the queen, who sat at its base, had needed only to dip her hoof into the River's mouth to bring Harmony to her land.
What became of that kingdom? None besides the Mare remained who knew.
The ponies of the kingdom were no more, its cities long since swallowed by nature. The Mare was its final memory. Some said she had been its queen, others said she had been one of its many citizens, and some said she was merely the last descendant of its last family, but each time somepony asked the Mare, she would refuse to answer.
Instead, the Long-Legged Mare would sit among the ponies of the villages she visited and tell the many stories she'd gathered on her travels. She would tell tales of adventure on a great ocean, and of family enduring disaster. She would tell tales of command and unwitting discovery, and of exploration and the recovering of once-lost things. She would tell tales of desperate battles, and of fascinated investigation. She would tell tales of unlikely companionship in harsh lands, and of bravery and community, and of friendly princesses. If she was melancholy enough, and her listeners were lucky enough, she would even tell tales of her own lost home— though ponies argued over whether these were true.
Sometimes the Mare would tell her stories in mysterious, frightening voices, and sometimes she would tell them in soothing tones. Sometimes the stories had happy endings. Often, they did not. No matter the tale, the ponies who heard them would be completely and utterly entranced by her words, and her visits to their towns were cause for celebration, and the mare visited such settlements for many years.
But there were some who wished for more than stories. They wished for the power that the kingdom and its queen had wielded. After gathering together in a great band, they set off in search of the mare. Not long after that, the Mare's visits ceased, and the ponies who'd searched for her were never seen again.
Ever since then, the twisted Mare has appeared in the dreams of the scant few. To those she appears to, she will tell a story. However, if you see her, be respectful and be wary, for the story may not be one you wish to hear at all.
The Rarity clung to me for a while after she finished crying. I wasn't sure what to do, so I let her. After a quarter of an hour she finally leaned away and lit her horn, levitating the Journal up off the floor, still clutching the maneband to her chest. Without a word, she began to read the blank pages. She stayed planted next to me, and I had nowhere more important to be, so I stayed put.
"This is remarkable," she said after a while. "I have no memory of this, but I can see my own writing here. I've held this book before..."
"Or a version of it," I said, my voice gravelly. "I don't know how it works exactly, but I think the Journals can talk to one another somehow."
"Yes, somehow," she said, absentmindedly. A few pages turn. "I can only see a few of my own, erm, entries, I suppose, in here. Four, as a matter of fact." She frowns. "And... this page is blank."
The Rarity flipped through the rest of the book. "The rest of the Journal is blank." Her shoulders sink, and she leans her head against my foreleg. "Goodness," she muttered, "I hope we don't need to fill this before we sort this out."
"Um." I wasn't quite sure how to respond to that. "What are the entries about?"
She sniffed. "Our experiences. It says here that Applejack once woke up in the southern desert. She helped some ponies defend their home from those horrid Children, and they showed her how the crystals that grow out of them can hold power." The pages of the book flipped themselves back. "And it says here that Fluttershy was once told of a crippled machine that spoke like a pony, but she was too afraid to try and find it." Her voice shook, threatening more tears. "It's just— bits and pieces. We're nowhere near discovering the reason for it all, let alone being able to fix this horrible mess."
"Well," I said, "one hoof in front of the other, right?"
The Rarity looked up at me with a small smile and wiped at her eyes. "Yes, I suppose you're right."
I nodded.
"You know," she said with one last sniffle, "that machine was rumored to be near here." Her voice gained some strength. "Perhaps... perhaps there's something to be learned from it."
"Well," I said as I stood, "looks like you have a destination." I held out a hoof to her, and she took it.
"It is reassuring to see that gentlestallions aren't gone from Equestria just yet," the Rarity said with a little smile.
I smiled back. "Not yet, at any rate."
She stared at me for a moment before wrapping her hooves around my neck. "Thank you, Spearhead. All this is happening so fast, but I can't afford to waste my time." She gave me a squeeze before stepping back. "It's hard to be alone. I wish that my friends were here dearly."
I began to lead the Rarity out of the town hall. "Well, your friends may not be here, but you've got the next best thing." I pointed at the journal as I pushed the hall's door open, leading her out into the street. All around, ponies worked to keep their home safe. "And Miss Rarity, you're far from alone. You've got us, and we're all ready to help you in any way we can."
"How much further?" Rainbow Dash says with a groan. I roll my eyes.
"If I'm remembering correctly, and I am, then we're almost to her." We're ashshoeing through the burnt-out remnants of the Everfree Forest, now nothing more than countless spikes of blackened branches poking out from a gray sea. The remains of the trees stretch up two pony-heights high, at least, plenty to give us cover.
The Element snorts. "Who is this special somepony anyway?"
"Nothing," I say.
"Come on, dude," she says, an annoyed edge coloring her gravelly voice, "no need to be a jerk."
"No, you don't understand," I say back over my shoulder, "her name is literally the word 'nothing'."
"What?" Her disbelief fills the question.
"Don't ask me, I don't know why she chose it," I say as we come upon the half-buried hut, still sheltered by what's left of the trees. The windows are still covered and the door's latch is unharmed, and I feel my withers loosen.
"Pfft, whatever you say."
I roll my eyes again and shuffle up to the dug-out door to give it a few firm knocks in our old tap-tap, tap-taptap-tap pattern. Rainbow stands by my side as we listen to a clutter of thumps and off-pattern hoofsteps behind the door. It cracks, and we see one shock-blue eye before it swings all the way open.
She's okay. Her mane is mussed and lumpy, and she's got bags under her eyes, and her coat looks a little thin, but she's okay. Before I know it I'm pressing my neck against hers, breathing in the scent of her silver-blue mane. She's okay.
She leans into the nuzzle before hobbling back a little and beckoning with a hoof. "What are you waiting for? Come in, come in!"
We hustle through into the hut, shivering at the transition from bitter cold to a soft, comforting warmth. I hear Nothing latch the door behind us and I turn at the sound of her beautiful voice.
"Membrane, of all the things to find and bring back, you chose an Element?"
I start to respond but Rainbow beats me to it. "Your name is Membrane? What kind of name is that?" she scoffs as she pulls off her mask.
"You never asked," I say with a shrug. "You just kept calling me 'dude'. I didn't have a–" I'm forced to stop and cough. "I didn't have a problem with it."
"Okay, but Membrane? I don't—" Her voice cuts out as I tug off my goggles and pull my headwrap away.
I give my head a shake and sigh. "Damn it feels good to finally let my frill out." I can't help but smile at Rainbow's expression as I wipe the last of the moisture from my muzzle's orange chitin.
"You're, uh..." Rainbow manages, "you're, um, a changeling."
Nothing takes an uneven step closer. "Is that a problem?"
Rainbow's eyes widen. "No! No, um, no that's not— that's not what I meant, I just—" She gapes for a moment and licks her lips. "I guess it's just not what I expected."
"No hard feelings," I say with a grin. "After all, you're gonna help me get Nothing to Vanhoover."
Nothing limps to my side and gives me another nuzzle. "Well, only if that's what she chooses to do with the time she has left, sweetie."
"Wait," Rainbow says, ice in her voice, "what do you mean, the time I have left?"
During the night, something happened. I don't know why or how, but what must have been half the guard began to spontaneously elongate approximately an hour after midnight. No internal crystals, no recent attacks. Nothing. It was slow, but it was enough. We couldn't put them all down, and within an hour the triage tents had become a battlefield. That's when the Entity struck the south wall.
We couldn't do anything. I had to make the call. We opened the northwest gates and ordered all civilians to evacuate while we did everything we could to organize a retreat. I wish I had the names of the brave souls who stayed behind to buy time. They should be heroes. I'll see to it that they're remembered after all this is over. If I even
Even with their efforts, the evacuation was a disaster. There wasn't enough of us to guide the stampede. All we could do was keep the biggest ones away from the city's main exits. On the flight out I could see the streets, and goddesses, I wish never to see such a sight again.
I estimate three-fourths of the Baltimare divisions lost to the machines. Between them and the civilians, the number of elongated will be nothing short of a waking nightmare. They'll be reaching the nearest towns and cities in hours, I think. It's a good thing they were evacuated last week. Hopefully, the cities will have a chance.
I spoke with as many of the guards who managed to pull back as I could. They all report nightmares, same as the rest of us, but none reported the dream. I imagine the Commander didn't tell you. He hadn't just been experiencing terrible nightmares— he'd been experiencing one nightmare. He kept putting off sleep, saying he couldn't face the dream anymore. I caught him ranting to himself about 'Her' just yesterday. Not only that, but when I asked the survivors, they reported many of their colleagues had shown very similar behavior. Colleagues who are no longer with us.
I imagine we both know the immensity of that.
We'll have to get the information out. We need to know who is having this dream, and when, immediately. Maybe there's a way to plug this wound. Maybe there's still some way to save them.
I've organized what's left of the Baltimare Guard into an emergency division. We're flying harassment missions on the faster machines and the elongated, trying to buy time for fleeing civilians, but we're still on the retreat. A regroup at Canterlot is our best bet. We need to be fed, treated, rearmed, and reinforced if we're going to have a fighting chance against what's coming, so prepare.
The things they sent at us, Princess. Horrors bigger than We need a new strategy— something, anything— and we need to plan for the possibility that Equestria may not survive another month.
We'll arrive a few hours after this reaches you. I'll speak with you then.
It was horrifying. I don't know how to begin. I saw my own mother
We wouldn't have made it if not for Steady. I don't know what tipped him off, but instead of going to work two nights ago, he jumped out of bed and woke all of us up and began telling us to grab anything important. I could see something had scared him, but he wouldn't say what. We stuffed our saddlebags with food and hit the streets, headed northwest.
I think I only really understood how crowded the city had become then. The streets were full, even in the dead of night, and we needed to shoulder past dozens of ponies to even travel a block. I held on to Symphony so tightly that she kept saying her hoof hurt, but I wouldn't let go. I was too terrified of losing her.
We could see the wall when it happened. There were these loud, screaming sirens, and all of a sudden the sky was filled with Royal Guards. Everypony was shouting and crying and Steady threw Symphony on his back and told her to hold on as tight as she could. And then I saw it crash through the wall.
It was wider than a city block. It groaned and made horrible shrieking sounds and then it began to wade through buildings full of ponies. Just like that, it was chaos. I saw fire leaping from building to building. I tried to cover Symphony's eyes when burning ponies ran out of a house, but she saw.
All I could do was follow Steady and make sure Mother was behind us. Those gray beasts were everywhere, and monsters that looked almost like ponies. I saw them grabbing ponies and throwing ponies and crushing ponies and stabbing and then the air was so hot and ashy and I could barely breathe, but Steady just kept pushing through it all. I'd say it was a miracle that we made it past so many of the beasts, but my mo
We were so close. We were so, so close. The air was getting clearer, there were fewer beasts, fewer ponies. I could see a treeline that we could disappear into, and Steady was leading us right for it. The beast appeared out of nowhere. It teetered on two legs, standing high above us, with a tendril sprouting from its faceless body. It whipped it around and grabbed my mother. She was screaming and crying for help as it lifted her up into the air, and then it opened up like a flower bud and it was full of yellow crystals and it lifted my mother up and
Next thing I knew, I was running, with Steady's foreleg around my neck. Symphony was screeching and crying as we ran into the trees. We ran for a long time before Steady found a hole under a tree. He shoved Symphony and I in and then huddled on top of us, dragging dirt and leaves over our bodies, and then we laid still.
Symphony tried to cry sometimes. I held my hoof over her mouth when she did. Aside from that, I closed my eyes and pinned back my ears, trying not to listen to the sounds.
We haven't made it much further since that night. We're in a little gorge now, eating canned food for breakfast. I'm going to tell Steady I think we should keep moving.
We set out from the Southern City bright and early. Ha-ha. We nursed hangovers all morning before we got kicked out of our inn. We didn't argue because we didn't want to stay the night, so we finished packing on the street and left the city shortly before noon.
Our trek through the desert was mostly sandy. We walked north, following the old railway, or at least the parts that hadn't been buried in sand, and stopped for the night near the old junction town. There wasn't much left there but foundations, the Event or the sands had taken the rest, so we didn't even bother to pick it over and headed east in the morning.
The Desert Ruins came over the horizon the next day. Before the Event, it had been one of the fastest-growing settlements, and even though its ruins held no candle to those at the Mountain, by modern standards it would have been nothing to scoff at. We also saw the reason for its relatively unlooted nature: Ash Children are still active in the area.
Approaching the city ruins proved difficult. Auburn once told us to stay put and headed off with her spearzapper. She was gone for the better part of an hour before she returned, and when she did, it was with a messy mane and a filthy weapon. She announced that she'd cleared a path into the ruins.
For whatever reason, the city center was relatively unspoiled. The library proved a goldmine; an entire wing had survived. We spent two whole days picking over the books and scrolls and found a couple on pre-Event magical charting spells that Steady Compass says have a good chance of funding the entire expedition on their own. That pleased Score greatly.
After that, we headed northeast. The plan was to find the river and follow it through the treacherous southeast swampland. Steady assured us that it should be low at this time of year, giving us plenty of riverbank to walk on. She and Auburn both agreed that it was risky to trust a swamp.
We had just found the river when we saw it. I've never seen anything like it. The Hulking Machine (I know of no other name) towered high above the trees of the swamp, its legs as thick as buildings. They all lead up to what appeared to be a gargantuan chunk of the very earth ripped up, bedrock and all, held high above the rest. I didn't even realize it was a machine until it took a step. We could feel it in the ground, even as far away as we were.
We argued for so long we had to make camp. Nopony wanted to risk getting by that monstrous thing, not with the flying shapes that flittered around it. Steady wanted to wait and see if its path would lead it away, and Score insisted we were wasting time. We waited for a day, but the thing only moved a short distance before stopping. Our river passage was closed.
I am quite dejected. We were so close! The origin city of the Event is just on the other side of those swamps, and now we have to go north, all the way back to the Mountain Ruins. At least Auburn's come by. She didn't say anything, of course, but she gave me a little pat on the shoulder. It was nice.
"No! No, that's— that can't be true. You're wrong."
Turns out, Nothing knows a lot more about her than I do.
"I'm sorry. That's how it is with Elements. You're a Rainbow Dash now."
"No, that's not how it works. I'm me! My friends are my friends! There can't be more than—! I don't understand!"
I stand off to the side myself, rubbing a hoof on my foreleg and flittering my good wing.
"You— you and your friends— you come, one at a time, and then go again. Nopony knows how, nopony knows why. If there's some way to tell when or where an Element will appear, nopony's figured it out yet."
"No! No, I just, I only have to find Twilight. She'll know what to do! She'll figure this out, this— this spell, or curse or whatever. She has the magic to undo it, she's a princess!"
She finally stops rambling after stripping off her winter clothes and flying in circles for a quarter-hour straight. We're caught by surprise; she's talking and flying on and on and then she just... stops. In an instant, just like that, she stops and falls to the ground with a resolute thump.
"Rainbow!" Nothing cries. I try to shout, but my chest seizes, and I cough so badly that I have to sit down. While I catch my breath, Nothing limps to her side and helps her sit up. Dash slumps in her forelegs and her wings hang limply at her sides. It even seems like some of the vibrant color has drained from her brilliant mane.
Everypony is silent for a moment while Dash stares at the ceiling.
"...they're gone," she whispers after a long while. "My friends are gone. We're trapped, and I'm alone." Tears gather in the corners of her eyes and I swallow the lump in my throat.
Nothing doesn't say anything, but she wraps the limp mare in a tight hug. I pull off my last sweater and sit down beside them.
"Hey, Dash." She's motionless. "We've met before, you know." Her magenta stare flicks to mine. "Before all this, when I was little, changelings were new to Equestria... ponies didn't exactly trust us. It wasn't easy." I stop to cough. Nothing gives me a worried look.
"But one day, wouldn't you believe it, the Wonderbolts performed at my hometown. When I saw them fly, with you leading the formation. It was incredible." I can't help but smile and wave my hoof in the air. "After the show, my parents took me to meet you. Do you remember? A couple and their excited little nymph."
Rainbow barely nods.
"I told you how I wished I could be a Wonderbolt, and you kneeled down and asked, 'what's stopping you, kid?' And I pointed out that I was a changeling, and there were no changelings in the Wonderbolts. Do you remember what you said to me?"
She doesn't move.
"You said, 'well then you'll just have to be the first, won't you?' Just like that." I chuckle at her twitched smile. "Obviously that didn't happen, but believe me, if it weren't for everything, you'd have seen me in that uniform."
My smile fades, but I hold her stare. "If there's anypony who has a chance of figuring out who did this and why, it's you, Rainbow Dash," I say, placing a hoof on her shoulder. "I believe that."
"Heh," She croaks and sits up. "Thanks, Membrane."
Even though few ponies from our town ever left it, we all knew the dangers of the outside world. The traders and travelers would tell stories on the rare occasions that they visited Snowhaven. We knew all about the Ash Wastes, the Children that prowled the world, and the machines that ruled it. Better than that, we knew all the strategies to use if a pony wanted to have the best chance at surviving.
First, the Rarity would need to be able to breathe and run. With a little luck, she'd need to eat, too. The next day we stopped by Peachy Breeze's cobbler's hut. She gave the Rarity her favorite set of snowshoes and her spare mask, free of charge, despite the Rarity's resistance. "Oh, no!" she kept saying as she waved her hooves, "I would never charge an Element. You all are going to fix this someday, and that'll be payment enough."
That only made the Rarity look queasy, but we kept going.
When we stopped by Willow's place, she insisted that the Rarity take a share of dried carrots and hay. "I'm honored, truly," she said. "I'm surprised I actually got to meet an Element! I mean, wow!"
Next, Rarity would need to be able to navigate. That took us to Sextant, our resident navigator and the only pony in town brave enough to regularly travel to the old places. His expeditions were the reason Snowhaven boasted an array of magical plows and saws enchanted with pre-Event quality. He greeted the Rarity as boisterously as ever before helping her find a compass and a set of maps. He even helped her read them!
"Now listen," he said, showing her his biggest chart, the one he kept hung on his living room wall, "after you finish your Element business, you're gonna want to find a town, and I'm not sure you'll be able to come here." He pointed out a spot to our southeast. "The next closest settlement is right here, Hollow Shades. We get trades from them 'bout once a year, and they're kind folk. They'll keep ya safe as long as you need." Again, when she tried to compensate him, he refused and sent us on our way.
As we walked to Hammerhoof's forge I noticed that the Rarity looked pensive, so I asked about her thoughts.
"It's strange," she said, "I'm supposed to be the Element of Generosity, and yet here I am, accepting and accepting and giving nothing in return. What about you all? Your town is in danger!"
I shook my head. "Believe me, between you and us, we have the easier job."
The Rarity had the most trouble with the pike. I'd like to think of myself as a pretty good teacher, but she just couldn't get the hang of it. Her magic kept flickering out.
"I-I'm sorry, darling," she said, staring at the pike laying on the snow at her hooves, "but I— I don't think I can stomach it."
"You're going to have to, I'm afraid," Hammerhoof said in his usual gruff, raspy tone, "it might just save yer life."
That was when we heard it: a moaning on the wind, coarse and hollow and full of pain. I looked at her, trying to act as calm as possible. Judging from the way her eyes widened and she took a step back, I didn't do a very good job.
"Miss Rarity," I said, "I think it's time for us to get you out of here."
It's hard to believe it's only been a month since this started. It's impossible to imagine that only thirty days ago we were all back home. Steady was still working at the fishery, and Symphony was still going to school, and mother wasn't
It's been five days since we escaped the city. We were lucky to have planned to pack our bags with food the night before, because, by the time we ran out of food in that cellar back in the outskirts, it seemed like everything was over. At least, we couldn't hear any more of those horrible noises coming from outside.
We were out of food and water, though, so we had to do something. I don't remember many defensive spells from school, but I do remember how to cast a shield, so I made Steady stay with our daughter while I went outside and made sure it was safe. I was so scared, but we had no choice, and I have to keep them safe.
I'll remember it until the day I die. The air was completely silent as I pushed the cellar door open. I tried to leave slowly, and I was careful, but it made this awful groaning noise. I was so scared one of them would hear it so I shut the door as quick as I could and dashed away, so that if something came, I could maybe lead it away. I ran around to the front of the house and that's when I saw the body in the road.
A pony was crumpled there. A stallion's body, I think. It was hard to tell. He had a horrible burn along his side. Thinking back on it, probably some kind of incineration spell. His legs were far too long. They stretched out in long, furry, knobbly tangles of meat. It wasn't like they were just stretched out, they bent sharply at random, unnatural places. I thought they were broken until I looked closer, and I really wish I hadn't. They were knees, he had more knees on his legs.
It wasn't just his legs. His neck was too long. His muzzle was too long, and his teeth were too long. His tongue looked like a gray rope lying there on the dirty, empty road. His eyes were wide open. They were green, underneath all of the cloudiness in them. I remember that the clearest.
I couldn't run back, because if one of them had heard, it could have found Steady and Symphony, so I ran into the barn. I hid in there for a long while, and once I was sure it was safe, I crept back outside. I could see the city in the distance, still burning. I made a big circle around the house, just to make absolutely sure there was nopony or nothing there.
Steady could see I was pretty shaken up, so he went and searched the house for food. I warned him about the thing in the road, but he must have seen because he had this horrible, haunted look in his eyes when he came back. There were a few cans inside, but most of the food must have been taken or something because Steady said the front door had been smashed in. Then we left.
Night fell before we got too far into the woods so we pitched the tent. We were too scared to make a fire, though, so we're all just huddling in the tent being quiet right now. I'm putting out my light now.
When Twilight Sparkle's eyes opened, the first thing she felt was a soft, warm acceptance.
It was the first time in the last month that she'd done so. It felt strange to wake up without the fading tatters of a nightmare or the dawning pressure of the upcoming deadline. The world had been accepted. The work was done. There was nothing left for her to do― nothing that would change things, anyway.
And now, the twenty-fifth day. Her time was at an end.
She stretched in the massive yet aging king-sized bed, careful not to disturb Pen (a not inconsiderable task), and sidled out from under the covers, stretching to her full royal height. As she trotted down the stairs, she marveled at how well the apartment had been restored; really, its only difference from a pre-Event one was the darkened electric ceiling lights.
Breakfast was a quick affair. She'd just scooped the last bite of cereal into her mouth when Feather Pen clomped down the stairs.
"Mmh―" he groaned, "you got up early."
Twilight smiled. "I felt ready for the day."
Feather frowned. "I don't."
It would be a gross understatement to call what Feather Pen had done for Twilight 'assistance'. He'd been there for her when she finally understood what was happening. He'd given her a place to stay. He'd been the one to get her a Journal and he'd helped her pore through the reams of notes it had accumulated. He'd even had the idea to use the Mare's own horrid crystals against her. Twilight was forever in his debt.
It killed her to think that next time she woke up, she'd have no idea who he was.
Feather was silent as he helped her gather her things. It wasn't much― just personal mementos and the Journal. She took a moment to admire the book's spell. Its complications and extensive jumble of modifications made her want to spend months just studying it, and she wished she'd been the one to think it up in the first place. Well, it had been her, technically, and improved on by herselves and other Rarities, but she didn't remember it, so it just wasn't the same.
"Here," Feather Pen said, yanking her from her reverie. He'd packed her saddlebags for her. Twilight smiled a gentle thanks as she took them from his aura and levitated them up to her back.
When she tried to speak, Feather hushed her. "No," he said, "I can't do the good-bye." Twilight lowered her head down for one last kiss, and then... there was nothing left to do.
She left the apartment with tears in her eyes.
As she flew over what had once been Equestria, Twilight took note of the grasses slowly claiming the endless fields of ash. Her heart warmed at the idea of a healed land, sometime maybe not so far away. Perhaps next time she woke up, the grass would be green and sweet and the Children would be nothing more than part of a dark chapter in a history book.
The evening sun began to dip past the horizon as Twilight landed on the upper balcony of the Castle of Friendship. She strode into a dusty room, set her bags in a pile among dozens of others, and wrote her last entry in the Journal― the one about Feather Pen.
"There," she said, "now I'll always remember you."
Overwhelming tiredness filled her as the sun slipped away and she sank to the floor, ready to rest.
We've done quite a bit of traveling since my last entry. We forded the Neighagra River at Foal Mountain's foothills and skirted around their north side. There wasn't much there. The one town we found had long since been looted, so our expedition had effectively gained nothing by the time we reached what was left of the forest.
Steady Compass suggested stopping by a town on our way east, but once Auburn saw its name, she refused. She said that Hollow Shades was a cursed place and that we should never, ever set hoof there. As to why, she admitted she didn't know, but that she wasn't willing to risk our safety. She looked right at me when she said that! After all, if word of its danger had lasted thus far, it must have been for a reason. We crossed the forest in two days and began heading south.
The Flooded City ruins are inaccessible, at least to our expedition, but it was certainly something to see. The city itself has sunk since the Event, and it is, as the name might suggest, quite inundated with seawater. Its old towers rise up out of the water like rotted logs a thousand pony-heights tall. Even if we had hired a pegasus, I doubt they would find all that much of value in there. Seawater is quite destructive given enough time.
Four Score finally got over himself a few nights ago. He'd been sulking up until now and staying quiet unless absolutely necessary, and then out of the blue began conversing as if nothing had ever happened. I suspect Compass had a word with him while Auburn and I were distracted busy, though I couldn't say when. However, I'm not one to over-examine a good thing, and I was quite excited to continue our nightly games. Auburn and I have become quite adept partners at Mare's Hoof, you know! She's taught me how to slip cards off the table.
Oddly, I must confess, seeing the ruins took something of a toll on me. The wanton destruction, the trails of old Guard armor and long roads still cluttered with the remains of ponies' belongings... I can't help but imagine the fear those ponies experienced as their entire world changed.
We're camped just west of the city right now, and I've felt almost overwhelmingly melancholy all evening. I thought that it was just me, but when nopony was up for any games I realized it was all of us. I was pretty disappointed until Auburn followed me over here and actually sat right up against me and told me a story. She said that the reason for our sadness was the souls of the lost. They still wander the Eastern Fields, moaning their grief into the wind forever. She also makes a fantastic backrest, as a matter of fact. I think I'll be quite disappointed when our expedition comes to an end.
We're nearing the Horseshoe Ruins. Our goal is so close! The first city to see the Event firsthand is just down the coast. I can hardly wait. We're seeking out the source of it all— the reason for the machines, and the crystals, and the elongation. We're possibly the first ponies to realistically do so since then!
I can't help but feel uneasy. Our path since the Mountain City has been without challenge. I feel like it should be different. More Children, or machines perhaps, especially after what we found walking over the swamp. We're close, though, I can feel it.
This morning I was making breakfast. Steady was sleeping in. We're further north. It's colder now. There are so many ashy gray clouds in the sky today. No pegasi are doing the weather. The clouds are getting bigger I think. I wonder how they'll clear
I was making breakfast. It was me and Symphony. We were waiting for him to wake up because we had to get moving soon. I didn't think anything was wrong. More wrong. There's so much wrong. I don't know what to do.
I thought that we needed to get moving and packing up but Steady had to eat. How was he going to walk if he hadn't eaten? I asked Symphony to go wake up Daddy. Why did I ask her? Why didn't I just do it myself? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Why didn't I go wake him up?
I went back to cooking and there was a scream. Symphony screamed. I don't even remember what she screamed, I thought the monsters had found us. I thought I would find Symphony underneath a long pony or a machine open like a flower. But Symphony was crawling in the dirt. Crying and trying to get away from Bass.
Her leg. He'd stomped on it. He'd hit her face. He tried to crush her throat. He was still trying. He was yelling at her. I remember. There was foam coming out of his mouth and he was shouting
She took it she took her name I cant remember her name I need it back she took it she took it and left nopony there's nopony there's nothing she's nothing and I need it back and
so I levitated a rock and hit him across the head as hard as I could. He stumbled back, and suddenly there was blood all in his mane and down the side of his face. He looked at me, like it was really him, and he looked down and saw Symphony. He stared at her like he couldn't believe what he saw. And then he looked at me. I don't think I'll ever forget what he said.
She wants your names, Silk. She wants both your names.
Then he ran away. Gone.
I didn't say anything. I didn't try and stop him. I just picked up Symphony and laid her down on her sleeping bag. I cleaned her cuts and wrapped them. I tried to splint her leg but I don't know how. I think I messed it up.
What do we do? Do we go after him? Symphony is hurt. He didn't take any food. There are monsters. How am I going to carry her and the tent? The tent has their blood on it.
Maybe I'll find other ponies going north. Maybe I can get help from them. Maybe they'll help us get to the Empire.
Rainbow Dash falls asleep not long after we get her fed. After she's asleep, Nothing insists on checking on me, even though I tell her that I'm perfectly fine. She lays her ear against my chest and listens to me breathe, and promptly prepares a strange, foul-tasting drink for me. Then she puts me to bed right next to the Element. I know better than to do anything but comply.
Then I am back in the nowhere place. The water around my hooves is frigid and there's nothing but the darkness. And then there isn't. I don't just smell the rotting flesh, I feel her behind me.
My legs tremble but I manage to turn around. The long-legged changeling mare is only a few steps away. Her limp, wet frill hides her face. I can see her raw flesh through the gaping cracks in her carapace.
I try to vomit, but nothing comes out. "Go away," I barely manage to croak, "leave me alone."
"I will not, I think," she hisses in ragged harmony. Her voice sounds melodic in a way that sends cold water flowing down my spine.
I step back. I can't keep my voice steady anymore. "W-what do you want? Tell me what you want."
"Oh, Membrane, my dear child," she says with a laugh. "Why, you are already coughing."
"C-child? I don't want to be..." My throat is painfully dry. "W-wait, I've heard stories of you."
She chuckles at me again. "I suspect you have, yes."
"This is just a dream." I try to steel my shivering voice and fail miserably. "You can't make me turn."
She laughs like she's agreeing. It's a jagged, awful noise. "So the rotted wood insists."
It's getting hard to breathe. "I— I don't understand this. I made sure to protect myself, my mask, my clothes— I did everything right, please!" I can't stifle my sob. "I didn't even get to make sure that she's safe."
Her head turns some more and she takes a step. My heart turns to stone. “Membrane, my dear, sweet child. I am no natural force. I have no expectation to pay tribute to rules or patterns or routines, oh no. When I decide something will be, then it will be. But… you’ll find that I am no deaf tyrant, either.”
My eyes grow even wider. "What... what do you mean?"
"I do so respect devotion... and I enjoy a bargain every now and then, yes?" I can hear her grin.
"A bargain... you mean you're willing to make a deal?"
She just hums an unnerving tune into the stifling darkness.
I push away my fear. "I want to make sure she gets to someplace safe. Someplace where she doesn't have to be so afraid anymore."
The mare's whole body shivers. I catch a glimpse of her muzzle, with its thinned lips pulled back in an almost warm, yet rotted smile. "For this price, your memories of Loyalty will be my claim, until I desire otherwise."
"Loyalty... won't I be dead?" I can't help but tilt my head to one side.
"Do we have a deal?"
The air is suddenly cold. "Yes, we have a deal."
She makes a sound somewhere between weeping and laughing and her head snaps around to me and her eyes her eyes her eyes her eyes
"Come on, we have to move. Have you got everything?"
"I, um... " The Rarity eyed her well-stuffed saddlebags and travel pack. "I think so."
"Good," I said as we made for the town's entrance, "We have to move quickly."
I studied the sky as we trotted. It had taken far too long to get the Rarity ready for the Wastes. It was nearly evening, and well, we'd already been expecting the attack on the fifth night. Children tend to do things like that.
"Spearhead," the Rarity said from beside me, "I don't think I can do this on my own. What happens if I make a mistake?"
"Well," I replied with a grin, "you won't have to worry about your mistake for very long." She didn't appreciate my joke much, so I tried again. "Did it say anything in that journal of yours about your friends braving the Wastes?"
She studied me with a worried gaze as she held a brisk trot to keep up with my notable stride. "I suppose. There was even an entry from me about it."
My grin grew into a smile. "Then you've got nothing to worry about! After all, you've done this before."
I planned to walk her to the end of the pass to give her the best shot, and it was a good thing we did because not a minute after we left Snowhaven we found a Child heading our way.
The Rarity screamed when she saw it. I remembered my first sighting with a shiver as I tossed the pike at her. "Let me handle this!" I shouted. "And watch carefully! It's the only lesson you're going to get!"
It had been a pony once. A pegasus. "Evacuate the city!" it screamed and slithered into the sky on centipede wings.
"Be careful!" I shouted at the Rarity. "Don't lose track of it!"
It made a circle or two in the air before twisting and spiraling down far faster than I expected. "Spearhead!" I dropped my pike and dove to the side and its crystalline teeth passed inches from my neck. It still wore scraps of rusted armor.
"Hurting me! Ngh!" the Child cried as it untangled itself. It reared up and showed me the spikes sprouting down the length of its underside, and if would have used them if it hadn't been for the pike that thrust itself through its chest.
"Get away from him!"
The thing spun around in an instant. "Eep!" the Rarity went. I scrambled to my own pike and swung it like a sword, carving a ragged hole through the back of its neck. It had the sense to look surprised before it collapsed to the ground.
"Oh, my," the Rarity said.
I took a moment to catch my breath. "Well done," I panted, "I think you'll be just fine."
She only stared at a lock of stray gray-and-purple mane that had fallen over her face. Her brown furrowed, her horn lit, and a sky-blue maneband floated out of her bags. She tied her hair back in one clean, practiced motion.
When we got to the end of the pass, the Rarity paused and shrugged off her elegant shawl, examining it for a moment. "Thank you, Spearhead. Your town has been beyond kind." She levitated it to me and redonned her barding and bags. "For the next of my friends."
I took it. "Good luck, Miss Rarity. Don't forget to wear the mask when you get to the Wastes."
She nodded, gave me a hesitant smile, and then she was gone.
We spent the better part of the morning packing and breaking camp. Everyone was still feeling dour, but as we walked south, Four Score mentioned a song that he and I used to sing back during our school days. We spent a good deal of the day debating over and poorly recalling the lyrics to that particular diddy, which lifted everypony's spirits. In fact, Compass and Auburn's spirits were so lifted by our performance that they refused to speak to us.
As we began to work on the twelfth verse, Auburn halted the group. I thought it was because of the singing at first, but when I saw what had made her freeze, my heart went cold. We had stumbled into the center of a rough circle of five rocky lumps that, of course, were not actually rocky lumps. On top of that, these lumps had no grass on them— they had moved recently.
As Auburn was beginning to navigate us out, they all began to shift at once. She loaded her spearzapper and I lit my horn, prepared to cast the only shield spell I know, but the machines only stood up. They were shaped like a cross between an insect and a pony, each a little larger than us, standing on six straight legs. Their oviform 'heads' had no features to speak of besides smooth stone, yet they looked at us with what might have been curiosity, tilting their heads this way and that.
After they had stared at us for a good long while, they began to close in. I nearly collapsed then and there but they stopped a dozen or so hooflengths away, encircling us. Then they moved as one, but only a little, and looked at us, waiting. We backed away from the closest ones, and they moved again. Compass noticed what they were doing first: they were corralling us to the south, effectively leading us towards the Horseshoe Ruins. We tested this by traveling at a steady walk, and they matched us, always staying only so far away.
We walked like that for the rest of the day. We saw nothing in the Fields save for one gruesome sight: Ash Children slaughtered so recently that the snakeflies still flew in clouds around them.
We made sure we were out of smelling range of the above before we made camp. Once we'd set up the tent, the machines seemed to understand what we were doing and gathered in a little pod behind us. They sit motionless in their cluster now, but we're all very nervous. No games tonight.
As a group, we discussed leaving while they were 'asleep'. Auburn thought that we could escape to the west, maybe, and Compass agreed that we should do something, but she thought we should go north. I spoke my mind. I said we had come this far, and that if the machines wanted us dead, well, we'd be dead. There was a reason for this. We have to find out what.
Auburn is sitting very close as I write this, pressed up against my side. She says that she still doesn't trust them. I can tell she's trying to be reassuring, but I know her voice by now. She's scared too. It's a good thing that she never unloaded her spearzapper. I can see the city's ruins on the horizon. We'll be there tomorrow.
The machines started whispering, but we can't make out what they're saying. I'm putting my journal away now.
I returned up the pass and through the town gate as fast as I could, praying to whatever princesses remained that the Rarity would survive the Wastes, but when I reached my house, I pushed the thought from my mind. We'd done all we could for the Element. It was up to her now. I left the Rarity's shawl there, tugged my chest plate over my barding, and slapped my helmet on.
Sure Shoe met me on my way back outside. "Spearhead!" he said, his normally cheery red face a pale pink. "Flitterwing just finished her scouting flight. She saw them coming up the other side of the ridge. There's a lot"
I realized our night was going to be every bit as bad as we had feared. "Have we got everypony up there? Are the fire-flasks ready?" I asked him.
"Almost." Shoe swiveled his head around, looking down the street. "The stragglers are heading up now, and we're as stocked as possible."
"Good," I said. The sun had passed the tips of the peaks around us, and the shadows had already begun to bathe the valley. "Let's hope Luna's looking out for us tonight."
As we hurried to the wall I studied my near-emptied town with worried eyes. We'd done all we could. Windows were boarded, lights were put out. The foals and the elders were all together in Willow's home, protected by her and Furrow. Every able-bodied pony left was armed and bound for the ridge palisade.
They were just beginning to arrive when I climbed up onto the wall-walk. We could scarcely hear one another over the gurgling moans that filled the air.
"Steady!" I shouted over the Childrens' unholy roar. "Not one gets over this wall, you hear me?!"
I never got an answer. The surge of Children slammed into the wall hard enough to make it creak. Ponies scrambled to light the braziers as we hacked at too-long legs and tongues with our blades and our unicorns blasted down the Children that could still fly. We shoved and sliced and chopped, but we could only do so much. I nearly broke down when I saw Sure Shoe get snatched out of the sky and pulled down into the fray of teeth and gnashing crystal, but I had no choice but to keep going.
I feared for the palisade beneath my hooves dearly. It kept groaning and shuddering under the weight of so many Children. Again and again, we had to shore up the worst sections, first with the spare logs, then the disassembled log sleds, and then the shafts of broken spears and pikes. Gray blood mixed with red as it flowed down the logs and stained the slush below, but we kept going.
The night was a blur. I remember smeared bits and pieces, watching ponies get bitten and pulled off the wall, having to put down a lengthening Hammerhoof. Our ranks had been thinned, but we had killed so many Children that I'd begun to hope.
But then, as we shouted with ragged throats and pitched the last of our fire-flasks into the throng of Children, we heard a horrific screech that frenzied the Children. We felt the ground shake and the wall groan, and then we saw it, stomping through the Ashen Children and brandishing its bladed claws on long, insect-like segmented arms.
We pack the next morning. Rainbow seems back to her normal self. If anything, she's invigorated. She chatters to Nothing nonstop about the details of the curse, or spell, or whatever it is. She's determined to get as much information about it as possible. 'Looking for a chink in the armor,' she calls it.
I say nothing. How can I? I can only think about the dream. I remember it in perfect clarity. And I'm not coughing anymore.
I guess She keeps her word.
While Nothing is fitting her foreleg with her walking splint— she always insists on doing it herself— Rainbow sidles up next to me. "Hey, why's her leg like that?"
I glance back at my love carefully inserting her bad foreleg into the wood-and-leather contraption, then give Dash a raised eyebrow. "Why don't you just ask her?"
"I, uh..." A blush spreads across the Element's face. "It just felt awkward, y'know?" She gives a nervous grin.
I chuckle a little. "It's alright. It's been like that since she was little. Got it during the Event."
"The Event? Is that..." Her confused look morphs into something closer to a grimace. "Right. That's what you call, um... what happened."
"Mm-hmm. Most folks have some kinda scar. Here's mine." I show her the ragged, shriveled remains of my right wing.
Her muzzle scrunches. "Ouch, dude. Just... ow. Damn."
"Yup. Children can really bite."
Nothing hobbles over then and we help her with her coats and wrappings. Rainbow insists on giving her the nice full-face mask we found in the Ponyville hospital. "If Rarity's not around, then I gotta be generous for her, right?" She says with a pained smile. We give her Nothing's old goggles and cloth mask after that.
Rainbow spent exactly a week plus three days with me, leaving her just over two weeks before the limit. After we calculate how much time she has left, she decides to go off on her own. She plans to fly ahead, hoping to find ponies in the West who know about magical curses. I can tell it's killing her to leave us on her own, so I reassure her that we'll make it there safely.
We're left standing, all wrapped and packed up, just outside the hut. Rainbow notices me studying the strange wooden mask over the door and chuckles. "Yeah," she says, her Wonderbolts jacket slung over her shoulder, "I always thought it was a little creepy too."
"What?" Nothing says as I give her an incredulous look. "You've been here before?"
She smirks. "Sure have. Friend of mine used to live here. She was a zebra."
I can't think to say anything more than "huh."
Rainbow laughs a little at that, then gives us both an intense look. "Nothing. Membrane," she begins. I imagine her biting her lip behind her mask. "I've never been good at the mushy stuff, so, um..." She rubs her neck. "Thanks. For everything. I never would have made it without you."
I nod and Nothing gives her a tight hug. "Be careful, Rainbow Dash," she says.
"There's one more thing." Rainbow holds out her Wonderbolts jacket to me, and I take it with as much care as I can manage. "That's not a gift. I want you to give that to the next one of my friends you see because... because I really could have used something like that."
I swallow. "We'll make sure of it."
Rainbow Dash opens her mouth, then closes it, and simply nods. As she flies away, Nothing and I begin the long journey.
I had a good day today! It started like any other weekday. I was up first today because Steady worked overtime shifts yesterday had today off. No early fishery for him! Still, he held on to me as I tried to get out of bed. He kept saying he wanted his 'personal bedwarmer to come back for five more minutes. I may have even obliged him― I can't help it! That stallion just knows how to be cute!
Symphony ate all her breakfast without complaining about it once! She's still riding out the excitement of getting her cutie mark, even after two weeks. On our walk to school, she told me all about how her little friend Leaf Shine was soooo impressed! It must be nice to be the very first in your class to get a cutie mark! She must get that from her father because I was one heck of a late bloomer myself. I thought I'd never get it, but there goes my little filly, flaunting that viola cutie mark around like it'll disappear if she doesn't. It's still too cute to be annoying.
We got there a quarter-hour early so I took the opportunity to chat with Sand Slate about Symphony's performance in school. He says she's doing well on the homework, and she's making progress on her little daydreaming problem. He also told me about how she actually broke up a fight in the play yard the other day! I was so proud of my little Symphony that I grinned the whole way home.
When I got back Steady was up, and guess what? He surprised me by saying he wanted to go on a walk on the beach! He's usually too worn-out on his days off, but going on a romantic walk on the beach on a weekend? I'm impressed. We spent the rest of the morning on the shore, walking and enjoying the season. We even went for a little swim!
Afterward, we got lunch at Clean Cut's place, even though it's a little pricy. We haven't been on a date for a while, so it was really nice to spend some bits on a nice day out! I got the number four (of course, how could I get anything else?) and it was so good that I was actually a little bummed out when I finished!
We went back home and spent a little time together while mother and Symphony were both out, and then we relaxed with one another while I worked on the quilt some more. Then we went to pick up Symphony together. She was so excited to get picked up by her mommy and her daddy that she showed us off to all her friends. She's really so sweet.
When we got home, I found mother already cooking! She said she wanted to surprise me by making my favorite soup from when I was little. I tried to help her make it but she insisted on doing it herself, and by the goddess, it was amazing. I was even sadder about finishing that one!
In the evening Steady volunteered to help our filly with her homework so I finally, finally got to put some real work into the quilt. And guess what? I finished it! After all this time! It's really warm (and expertly crafted, if I do say so myself) and I couldn't wait to give it to Symphony. I even tucked her into it!
It walked on unsteady legs. Some battle decades ago had torn out its side, but it still staggered forward. The countless runes covering its hide glowed with a sickly light. It had the eye rune right on its front. I could feel it staring at me.
Once it came through the wall, we'd be swallowed by the wave of Children. "Retreat!" I shouted as I used my pike to shove back a Child who had scrabbled up the blood-slick palisade. "Light the wall! Retreat to the town!"
We struggled off the wall-walk and back through the gap that would return us to the town. By the time I had crossed the ridge, a half-dozen Children had already scrabbled over the flaming palisade, smoke pouring from their skin and eyes.
"Flitterwing!" I called up to the skies as we ran. "Where're Evergreen and Storm? We can't stop the machine without those zappers!"
"Evergreen's gone!" she shouted down at me. "I don't know where Storm is! Should I look?"
I had no guarantee that Storm wasn't dead too. "Don't bother!" I told her. "Pick off as many as you can before they reach the town, and be listening for me!"
I thundered through our little streets at full speed and nearly smashed down Willow's door with my knocks. She yanked it open. "What's wrong?" she said, her face nearly white.
"Willow, where's the zapper?"
"Right here," she said. She hoofed me the magic-tech machine, loaded with its crystal payload, and I slung it on my back. When she glanced over my shoulder her eyes grew wide and her breathing quickened. "It's coming over the mountain!"
"Stay inside! Barricade the doors, put out the lights. Don't let them find the foals." I shouted before running for the town square. All around me my friends and my neighbors fought for their lives. Fire lit the streets and houses belched smoke into the sky. I knew if we wanted a chance, we had to take down the machine.
"Flitterwing!" I shouted when I spotted her hacking off three of a pegasus Child's wings. Seconds later she skidded to a stop in the slushy mud in front of me.
"Pick me up!" I shouted. She started to protest. "Just do it!"
"You got it!" she panted.
I'm no small pony, but she was our strongest flier. She got me off the ground as I strapped my front hooves into the heavy zapper. "The machine!" I shouted over the wind. "Drop me onto it!"
She banked towards it, letting go at just the right time. I felt myself in free-fall for less than a second before I smashed into the machine's carapace zapper first.
Every crystal discharged into its body and launched me back into the air. I heard my foreleg snap. If it hadn't been for Flitterwing grabbing my hind leg and slowing our fall just enough, my impact with the mud would have killed me. Instead, I got to see the machine burst into flames, laugh in a broken imitation of a mare's voice, and collapse onto my home. Its eye rune flickered.
After it was over, there were barely two dozen of us left in the shattered remains of a place that had been home to five times that many. Myself, Flitterwing. Willow and half the foals. A hoofful of stragglers. There was nothing to do but gather what little we had left and head down the pass.
I'm sorry, but it's getting very late. I'm afraid the troubles of our journey west is a story for another time.
It's been two days since we first encountered the five machines. Each day they waited for us to pack, assumed their formation around us, and moved us closer to the Horseshoe Ruins. We entered the northern outskirts early in the morning. I was shocked at how little destruction there was. A few city blocks had burnt, but most of the city had simply been abandoned and left to rot. Score and I guessed that the Event swept through that part of the city so quickly that there simply wasn't any time for resistance, but we can't be sure.
The machines led us right through the center of the city. The streets are filled with the same grass that covers all the Ash Fields, but a few of the city's towers are still standing, thrusting up out of the ruins and reaching high into the sky. They're wind-swept by the sea air and overgrown now, but walking below them felt like walking alongside ancient giants.
It happened so fast. One moment, we were walking in the shadows of the centuries-old skyscrapers, and the next, we were surrounded. Dozens of children poured out of the buildings' remains and began to circle around us, twitching and groaning something like words. The machines froze, motionless, as we huddled close to Auburn. For a moment, nothing at all happened, and then the first Child screamed and sprinted at us.
The nearest machine's back unfolded and something glinted in the sun. The Child went tumbling down, spasming on the ground before going still. I barely had a moment to see the tendril that had sprouted from the machine, lithe and long and tipped with a razor-sharp crystal, before the rest of the Children attacked. I pressed myself close to Auburn but I needn't have bothered. The machines all opened up and began whipping at the monsters. Not a single one got close.
In a few terrible moments, it was all over. The machines promptly folded back up and began to move again, ignoring their coating of stinking gray blood and leading us out of the ring of corpses as if nothing had happened at all.
The southern side of the city had seen unimaginable destruction. There were rusted sets of armor and destroyed machines everywhere. I've never seen so many in one place, of so many different sizes. They were lying in the streets and draped over buildings or blown apart. I thought our destination would be there, but the machines ignored it all and lead us through a hole in the decaying remains of a massive palisade wall and out of the city.
They walked us to the edge of the ruins. Then they stopped and laid down, save for one. It looked at us and pointed a hoof to the south. Compass recorded the direction and we departed our strange allies, eager to leave them behind. The last one watched us go.
We had all been unnerved by our time in the Ruins, so we silently made camp not long after that. I cannot help but wonder why the machines chose to lead us through the city like that, but I am determined to find out.
There is a large hill on the horizon, directly in our path. We'll reach it tomorrow, I believe.
The voice sounded soft and distorted, as if it came through water. Fittingly enough, the crashing of waves on a far-off beach accompanied it.
"What, you are dead already? I said, wake up!"
Annoyance lanced through her and she groaned. Judging from the ache in the back of her head, she hadn't been asleep more than a few hours. Her throat felt hot and dry and her nice, soft bed was so wonderfully cool. Whatever fresh hell had reared its head could wait five minutes.
"Okay, stupid. Here comes the wave!"
The wave? she thought. What wa–
It hit her square in the face. Bitter, grainy, salty water rushed into her open mouth and nostrils and forced its way under her eyelids. She choked and gasped as the wave rolled over her, shoving her across coarse, grating sand and leaving her wheezing, struggling to open her eyes.
Princess Twilight Sparkle, ruler of Equestria, coughed and rubbed at her face with a fetlock. It didn't help. As she moaned and tried to get the sand out of her face, she noticed the laughing of an absolutely delighted mare no more than a leg's length away. Twilight's attempt at words devolved into more gasps and coughs, and as the mare finally got over her case of the giggles, the princess felt a leg curl around the back of her neck.
"Guh!" Twilight said. "Stay away!" She kicked and met nothing but thin air.
A hoof tapped against the side of her skull. "Settle down, Element! I am trying to help you!" Indeed, once Twilight let her legs go limp, the mystery mare dragged some kind of rough cloth across her face, wiping the sandy gunk out of her eyes and nostrils with quick but gentle movements. "There. Open your eyes."
Twilight rolled onto her belly and did as she asked. The mare stood before her, giving her a self-satisfied grin as she shuffled her silver-blue wings and shook out a wind-blown mane. A thick maroon scarf hung from around her neck, its end caked in sandy mud. "Much better, yes?"
"Yes, I, ah..." Twilight's words died in her throat. Twilight lay on wet sand, where a clean blue sea stretched out beside its white-sand beach, meeting it with frothing, crashing waves. Yellow seagrass scraped at the beach's edges from a low ridge, walling them off from the rest of the world.
"What? Who–" Twilight paused to cough up a little more seawater. "Who are you?"
"My name is Braves the Cold Waters," said the pegasus mare in a strange, harsh accent that Twilight Sparkle, receiver of foreign dignitaries and visitor to every corner of an increasingly diverse Equestria, had never heard before. "And you are Twilight Sparkle. The princess."
"Yes, I'm the..." Twilight blinked. "This isn't my bedroom," she said.
"That is true," said Braves the Cold Waters.
"This isn't the palace."
"Yes."
"This isn't Canterlot."
The mare sighed and rolled her eyes. "You catch on very fast, eh?"
Twilight felt a hot blush spread across her face. She rose to her full height and fixed her most stern, disapproving stare down on the pegasus. "Listen carefully, Braves the Cold Waters. I've just woken up on a beach instead of the capital city during the worst crisis in Equestrian history. In case you've forgotten, national stability is my responsibility, so you had better tell me where I am and how to get to Canterlot right now. Ponies are in danger and I–"
"Ah-ah," Braves the Cold Waters said with a wave of her hoof. "No ponies are in danger." Then she paused and put the tip of her hoof to her chin. "Well, no more than usual, at least."
The princess snorted and stamped her hoof. "You clearly don't understand what you're talking about. I need to return to Canterlot immedia–"
"There is no Mountain City, no Canterlot, no crisis." The mare looked her right in the eye, her nonchalance gone in an instant. "I never thought I would be somepony to say this, but Twilight Sparkle, there is no more Equestria. The great battle with the machines is over long ago."
"What?" The gravity of the mare's words felt like a punch to the chest, and Twilight snorted. "Is this some kind of joke? Braves the Cold Waters, it could be considered a crime against the Crown to obstruct matters of national security."
The silvery mare shook her head. "No crimes, no crown. I can prove it to you." She pointed a hoof behind herself, down the beach. "This way is a town. 'Clearwater's Coast', they call it. If you fly there with me, I can show you."
"A town?" Twilight tilted her head. The name sounded familiar, but it was nigh-impossible to keep track of every tiny town on Equestria's coasts. "Yes, of course. I'll be able to meet with the elongation patrol stationed there. They'll be able to actually help me."
The mare snorted and spread her wings. "Follow me, Twilight Sparkle."
It felt strange to fly.
Twilight hadn't flown herself in weeks. When teleportation wouldn't do, she'd summon her best Guard pegasi to pull a chariot faster than she could ever fly herself.
The yellow seagrass below was remarkably barren. From up high, Twilight could see that the grasses apparently stretched on and on, bleeding from the beach's dunes and flowing over the coastline's hills. They danced in the wind, giving each invisible gust a form as they swayed in harmonic waves. Not a single tree disturbed the grass's surface. She racked her brain, trying to recall which part of Equestria's coastline was so overwhelmingly barren.
The princess would have asked the pegasus about it had they not arrived at the seaside town so quickly. 'Clearwater's Coast' consisted of nothing more than two dozen or so structures all huddled at the foot of a dock, like they were bracing against the wind and the waves. Braves the Cold Waters banked towards the meager cluster of ramshackle buildings, somehow constructed of wood despite the complete lack of trees, and made to land in its quaint little town square. Twilight followed her impromptu guide and they both landed with a little flurry of hoof-tracked sand.
Right away, things began to feel more normal. About a dozen or so townsponies streamed out of homes and side-streets towards them, oohing and aahing at the sight of their princess. "That's better," Twilight muttered before raising her head and summoning her best authoritative princess voice.
"My little ponies of Clearwater's Coast," she began, bringing a hush over the small crowd, "I am overjoyed to see that your home is unharmed, and as much as I love visiting all places in Equestria, I fear I have little time. I must speak to your local EUP Guard station. Can somepony please direct me to the pony in command?"
The ponies all stared at her with a mix of awe and, strangely, confusion. Not one of them responded to her. After a long, stretching moment, a stallion stepped forward, an older pegasus with the same silver-blue coat as Braves the Cold Waters. He spoke not to Twilight, but to the mare beside her.
"Daughter," he said in the same thick accent, "you have not told the princess Element?"
Braves the Cold Waters rolled her eyes. "I have tried, and she will not listen. I was about to show her the Journal."
Twilight cleared her throat. "I am sorry to be hasty, my little ponies, but there simply isn't time–"
"There is time," the pegasus interrupted. Again. "Come with me."
The princess shook her head. "I need to see the local guards, Braves the Co–"
"We will find the guards after. And please call me 'Braves', Twilight Sparkle."
"Of course, Braves," the princess responded through gritted teeth.
The pegasus led her to what appeared to be the settlement's main warehouse: a long, rectangular structure near the dock running parallel to the ocean. She shouldered her way through an unlocked door, ignoring what protocols such a building might have had. Twilight followed with a little more hesitation. She searched for a clerk or a worker, but the building held nothing but rows upon rows of shelves and crates and an overwhelming odor of fish.
As they walked, in the light of grimy, uncleaned windows, Twilight examined the countless shelves. They held food, mostly— a veritable hoard of unlabeled cans— but she spotted heaps of fishing gear, too. She examined the buoys and floats and nets piled high on the rickety old shelves, wondering how long they had been there as they walked.
Braves the Cold Waters brought her to the very end of the building, to an ancient-looking rack huddled into the back corner. Somepony had stored a scrawny collection of dusty books on its middle shelf, leaned against what appeared to be a little crate of old clothing.
"Here," Braves said, plucking one of the books off the shelf with her teeth. "Take this. Read."
Twilight blinked. "What is it? How does this relate to the Guard station?"
"Just read."
The princess rolled her eyes, took the old book in her magic, and opened it to the first page.
Princess Twilight Sparkle, sovereign supreme of a dead nation, closed the Journal. She studied its faded green felt cover and its fraying gold-thread binding, turning it this way and that in the dying evening light. Once, long ago, this book had been different. It had been printed with a scientific treatise, perhaps, or a thrilling novel. Maybe it had even been somepony's hoofwritten diary. What had been erased when it was enchanted with the Journal spell? What had been lost forever? How many times had this happened? Why did it have to happen?
"It was desperation," she whispered. "It was sacrificed in the name of winning an impossible battle."
"I, ah... do not understand," said Braves the Cold Waters, who sat only a foreleg away. It was the first words she'd said since Twilight had opened the Journal.
The princess blinked and looked down at the smaller pony. "I'm sorry, Braves. It's... a lot to take in."
The pegasus studied her silvery hooves and her mussed-up mane fell over part of her face. "I do not know what it is like to be you, Princess Twilight Sparkle," she said. "Are you okay?"
The alicorn swallowed. "We failed so many ponies. So many were hurt, and you all just..." she trailed off at the mare's shake of her head.
"No, Twilight Sparkle. Not us. Your crisis— the Event— was very very long ago. Many generations, enough to mostly forget. To us alive today, it is more like a sad memory." She smiled at Twilight through the grime-stained sunbeams filtering through the warehouse's musty air. "The world is not so bad. Not perfect, but there is safety and kindness to be found. My family and I came here to the land of our ancestors in our time of need and they welcomed us with open hooves, yes?" She chuckled a little. "Very patient they were as we learned the old language."
"Your family?" The princess sniffled. "Oh, yes, of course. Your father was there when we arrived."
Braves' smile grew wider. "Yes, he and my sister, and I would like very much for you to meet them," she said as she rose to her hooves. "Would you like to join us for dinner, Twilight Sparkle?"
The princess took a deep breath, slowly let it out, and gave the pegasus a little smile. "I would love to, Braves. And please, call me Twilight."
Rather unsurprisingly, the main dish in Clearwater's Coast was fish. It wasn't that Twilight had never eaten fish before, she'd hosted enough Griffon ambassadors to get used to it, but it never quite went down right. Not like a good daisy sandwich did, anyway. Still, even after three weeks of nothing but war room meetings and fitful nights, she recalled her table etiquette perfectly.
No, Twilight reminded herself as she swallowed down a bite of baked salmon and halfheartedly listened to Braves' story of her discovery on the beach, my last political dinner wasn't three weeks ago, it was centuries. Maybe more.
"So, Princess," said the stallion seated across from her, grabbing her from her unsettlingly cold train of thought, "I have seen many of them in my time, but I always wondered what those magic books have written in them. There are rumors, of course, but, you know... only a true Element can read them, yes? Would you, ah, indulge me?"
The princess blinked at the father's straightforwardness, caught off-guard and struggling to recall the odd name Braves had given her. The other pony in the room, Braves' younger sister, beat her to the punch.
"Father!" the sister cried. "What has happened to your manners?"
Twilight smiled as she remembered his name and raised a disarming hoof. "No, no, it's quite alright. To answer your question, Soars in Storms, it's quite a lot. It's very difficult to follow at times, especially early on, when my friends and I were apparently still struggling to contact one another through our... condition."
She neglected to mention the fact that she didn't actually remember doing any of this. It all felt as if somepony else had taken up the name Twilight Sparkle and accomplished an astonishing amount.
The alicorn pushed the unsettling feeling away and continued. "To actually answer your question, though, it contains an astonishing amount of memoirs, interactions, and notes. The sheer volume of people we've met, the experiences we've had, both good and bad... I don't quite know how to process it all, really."
The younger sister leaned forward, her eyes wide and her plate of salmon and dried kelp forgotten for the moment. "Does it really have entries from the old days?" she said in the same thick accent as her father and sister. Rides the Cool Winds Twilight recalled. She noticed the way that Rides flapped one of her wings when she was excited, but only one. A quick, discreet glance showed her why— her other wing only twitched at her side, a ragged flap of feathers and misaligned bone.
"No," Twilight replied, pulling her eyes away before she stared, "at least, not that I can tell. I think these Journals came about some years after the, um..."
Piles of casualty reports. Crossing Dodge City out with a quick stroke of an overused quill. A photo of something that used to be a mother.
Twilight noticed that the little sister fixed her wide-eyed stare directly upon her. "...after the Event. Based on the earliest entries, my friends and I seem to have had some way of communicating with each other across iterations, though it must have been inefficient. I think that's why the first entries are decades afterward." She felt an unprincessly blush rise to her cheeks. "I'm not sure, though. That's just a theory."
"A strange problem to solve, to be sure," the father chuckled. "How can one converse with a pony one never meets? And yet, you and yours have solved this generations ago."
"Mm-hmm," Braves nodded and hummed through a full mouth.
A warmth welled up in Twilight's chest. "Yes, my friends have overcome a great deal. The struggles in this book... the accomplishments... I'm so proud..."
The princess realized once again that she'd stared at her half-finished plate for a few beats too long and cleared her throat, willing the tears back. "But, ah, it'd take a lifetime to go over everything. In the most recent section, though, there are some very interesting notes." Twilight hoped they wouldn't ask about her pause.
"Oh?" said Braves the Cold Waters. "What's that?" All three pegasi fixed their eyes on Twilight.
The alicorn smiled. "Well, the Journal details a kind of... magical compass. It's built from pieces of reclaimed magic from the machines, believe it or not. The notes are fairly confident that if we can find the last component, we can end this, once and for all."
Twilight didn't think Rides' eyes could open any wider. "What component?" she asked, her one wing flapping on her back.
"An eye rune. They're fairly rare because they only appeared on the bigger machines, and most wrecks are so destroyed the rune didn't survive or so old they've been picked clean. We've been searching for a while, apparently." Or so pages and pages of frustrated entries in the Journal implied.
Braves blinked and looked at her father. "Hey, just like in the family story."
"Yeah!" Rides said with a smile. "If the town was hidden enough, it might still be there!"
"What family story?" Twilight ventured, before quickly following up with: "That is, if you're willing to share it with an outsider like me. I wouldn't want to intrude."
"No intrusion, it is all alright." The father dabbed at his mouth with a napkin. "Our family fled from the mainland long ago, but we have a story from then. From long ago, when the old nation's ashes still smoked. One of our ancestors once lived in a hidden town deep in the northern mountains. It was attacked by a machine very much like the ones you describe. Our ancestor managed to bring down the beast, but the town was destroyed, so he is said to have fled west."
"Really?" Twilight's head raised a little, and he had to remember not to scrape the tip of her horn on the ceiling. "None of the entries mentioned the northern range. If it's there..."
"You should fly there and search!" said Braves the Cold Waters, practically bouncing in her seat.
"Tell me, though," said Soars in Storms, "what exactly will this magical compass find?"
"The one responsible for all this."
That brought silence to the family. Braves and her father shared a tense look while her sister immediately deflated and began picking at her plate. Twilight swallowed, realizing that she'd brought the conversation to an abrupt end.
"Ahem," the father said as he stood, "I will take your plate, Princess."
The family began clearing away the dinner and Twilight made herself scarce, slipping out the backdoor and sitting the squat one-story home's yard. It had been cleared of the yellow-green grass that stretched over the horizon and, according to her notes, covered a great deal of what had been Equestria. Rows of homemade planters stood in the cleared yard, complete with shore-slate walkways and a variety of flowers. Many of them looked vaguely familiar, and it took a while for Twilight to put her hoof on why.
Roseluck, she eventually realized. She had a shop near Golden Oaks, on my route to the Boutique.
Twilight's ears pivoted at the sound of squeaky hinges and she turned around. "I'm sorry for tonight," she said as Braves carefully shut her home's back door behind her.
"Ah, it is not your mistake," she said, her voice heavy. "Remember when I spoke of our family's, ah, time of need?"
The princess nodded and Braves sighed. She walked to Twilight's side and sat beside her. She looked ashen in the starlight.
"We used to live over the Great Ocean with my aunt and my little cousin," she began. "One day, when we were visiting an island, my cousin went missing. After we found him, he was... different. Not right."
Oh, dear, Twilight thought as a cold, wet stone slipped into her gut.
"He got sick. Stopped remembering things. Us. Woke from nightmares constantly. Then he started raving about... Her."
Twilight said nothing while Braves took a shuddering breath.
"He changed in the night. We heard my aunt cry out and rushed in, but there was nothing we could do." She shivered for a beat. "My cousin came after us next. In the end, we managed to strangle him with fishing wire, but... well, you saw my sister's wing, yes?"
The princess nodded.
"After that, we couldn't stay in our cloud home, not with my sister at risk of falling. Father refused to return to the island, so we came here..." She sighed. "We have been, trying to, ah, fit in, I suppose."
Twilight tried to find words. "...I'm sorry," she eventually said.
Braves muttered under her breath in a language Twilight didn't recognize, then shook her head and spoke again. "I mean to say that it is not your fault you reminded us of this, but that is not why I joined you out here." When she raised her head, she looked Twilight in the eye. "I am going to join you."
The princess blinked. "Do you, uh, mean that you want to join me?"
Braves' gaze turned sharp and hard. "That thing that took my cousin. I want it gone. I want it gone forever. I don't want it to hurt us anymore. So. I am going with you. "
"But your family–"
"I already spoke with them. I've wanted this for a long time, princess."
Twilight chewed the inside of her cheek. "Well, my time is limited. Having another set of hooves with me could only help." Then she smiled. "I'd love to have you along, Braves the Cold Waters."
Braves smiled. "We leave in the morning."
They found the machine on the fifth day of travel.
The valley was nestled between two ridges, set apart from the world by snowcapped peaks and crags for miles, save for a thin, stubborn little valley. Spring had cleared the shallow bowl of snow and painted it with a carpet of yellow and pink wildflowers. A cute little stream bisected them, running from the higher slopes to the lower. Fluttershy would have squealed with delight.
The machine still caught the eye, even after such a long time crumpled in the middle of the valley. The wildflowers covered its form and softened its harsh edges. "It looks like a massive pony on its side," Twilight said as they circled over the peaks.
"What?" called Braves over the rushing wind.
Twilight shook her head and pointed down at the wildflowers before banking downwards. The duo coasted down to a soft, easy landing in the beautiful mountain meadow. The princess shivered, thankful for the respite from the biting northern winds.
The place's history was evident from ground level. The barest bits of walls and foundations poked up from between the wildflowers' shade, the imprints of what had once been a bustling town. A town that had been built, prospered, razed, and decayed to nothing but a shadow in some flowers while Twilight had caught what'd felt like two hours of sleep.
She felt a rush of lightheadedness. "Oh, dear," she murmured.
"Twilight," said Braves.
"Y-yes?" she replied as she began walking to the machine, still feeling unsteady.
"When we get the rune, what do we do next?"
The machine loomed overhead as Twilight trotted into its shadow. She lit her horn, pulling off swathes of loamy earth and flowers. Its carapace shined underneath. Not quite rock, not quite metal. Something different.
The princess blinked and realized she'd never responded to Braves' question. "Oh, sorry. What did you say?"
She heard an annoyed grunt from behind, along with some muttered words she didn't understand. "What will we do with the rune?"
"Oh, yes, the rune!" Twilight said as she spotted the faded grooves in a plate of the thing's armor. Circles within circles within circles. The eye rune. It certainly stood up to its name. "There's a device that my friends and I have—nngh—that we've apparently built. Can you give me a hoof here?" Twilight frowned as she yanked at the obstinate plate of mettalic stone.
Braves flew herself up to the rune, edged her hooves underneath the lip of the plate, and pulled with all her might. "Ugh! Where is this machine?"
"In my old home! Ponyville!"
The plate came loose with a flare of Twilight's horn and a loud Pop! that echoed off the valley walls. It flipped through the air and landed in the soft dirt at an odd angle, like the blade of an oversized spade. The machine groaned.
"Aah!" Braves cried as it rumbled beneath her hooves. She took off with frantic wings and a sound like the skittering of hooves on stone, crystal-barbed tendrils trembling all around her.
The machine attempted to raise itself up on its remaining legs. It made it about five pony-heights and listed to the side, slamming back into the flowers at a new angle, one that faced its gaping eye socket directly at her. Then it made the sound like shrieking metal and spoke.
"I have waited for you," it said in a horrid, wet voice. The machine moved no more.
A moment passed as Twilight and Braves gaped at the pile of stone and metal. "Oh, my."
Braves made a little surprised sound overhead. "Hey, what's that?" she said, pointing at a spot of disturbed soil where a shock of deep blue peeked out from mounds of pulled-up flowers and fresh earth. The princess approached with careful steps, flicking her eyes at the dead machine as she walked.
The machine had been laying on what appeared to be the ruins of a house. It'd been preserved, crushed underneath the machine's weight for who knew how long. Twilight spotted floorboards, shards of glass, what looked to be the mangled remains of a spear, and there, in the middle, Rarity's cloak. She would have had a fit at the mud soaking into its silver-blue fur lining.
"The Rarity from the story," Braves murmured.
Twilight ignored her, lifting the cloth with her magic. She dispelled the grime and dirt and brought it closer, wrapping it around her neck. She'd grown during her rule, but it still managed to find a graceful way to fall about her withers.
"Princess?" Braves said, giving her a concerned look from above. "Are you alright?"
Twilight spread her wings. "It's time to go."
A day's flight later, at Braves' advice, they skirted around Canterlot on their approach, deftly avoiding the few serpentine shapes flittering around its dark and silent towers before swinging down towards Ponyville.
"Do you see the Children in the streets?" Braves said, flying nearby so Twilight could hear her over the rushing wind. "I hope we do not have to search any buildings!"
"I know where it is!" Twilight called back as she pointed her hoof. "My old castle!"
The Castle of Friendship had certainly seen better days, but Twilight ignored its gashes and missing spires and landed on the uppermost balcony. They passed through a room cluttered with a shocking amount of saddlebags before making their way downstairs, careful not to touch the jags of golden crystal sprouting from the walls—the same kind that Twilight had spotted smothering the base of the castle. The corrupted veins crept everywhere but no light glowed from within. They were dark and dead, frozen in their act of infection long ago.
"What happened here?" Braves asked, echoing Twilight's thoughts. The princess couldn't find an answer.
Somehow, through all of it, the Golden Oaks' roots had survived. They'd shriveled into dry husks, and a few twigs had snapped off, and most of the shimmering jewels hanging from their tips had fallen to shatter on the Cutie Map below, but it was still there, largely intact.
Most of the colorful shards had been swept away to make room for a mass of mismatched metal and runes written on everything from sandstone to what looked like ice. It hugged the left side of the table, and it sprouted a number of cables and artificial leylines that ran into the base of the dormant Cutie Map. A gaping hole dominated the device's center.
Twilight's eyes danced over the machine and she found herself taking shaky steps towards it. It must have been decades' worth of work, from countless incarnations of her friends... and herself. She smiled when she noticed faded balloon stickers smacked over one corner, and she rolled her eyes when she saw the 'Rainbow found this!' graffiti written on the side of a banged-up thaumic resonator. She nearly burst into tears when she noticed the note stuck next to the hole: 'Don't give up! I love you!'
Braves hesitated beside her, unnoticed, while the princess placed her hoof on the side of the machine. "I'll see you soon," she whispered, levitating the eye rune from her bags. With a little tinkering, a little adjusting, and a little thanking to whoever designed the rune's slot, Twilight clicked the slab of stonish metal into place.
The machine began to hum and whir, and then beside it, the Cutie Map leapt to life. The two ponies took startled steps back while it projected its map of Equestria, flickering and crackling, into the world. Then, just as it had generations ago, a symbol sprang up; not a cutie mark, but the eye rune itself. It floated above the hologram's Castle of Friendship for a moment, then slowly hovered to a place on the very eastern edge of what had been Haysead Swamp.
Beside her, Braves the Cold Waters made a venomous smile. "There you are."
The machine was enormous. It was large enough to split the sizeable river it lay in into two streams. Even laying on the ground it was bigger than Twilight could have ever imagined. It could have crushed the entire Castle of Friendship with a single step. Even from the air, they could only see its ten massive legs sprouting out from beneath the entire hill that it had lifted on its back.
"Stars above," Twilight said as she hovered far above it. "This is what we were up against?" Her heart felt cold and slow.
Braves' face had gone ashen. "I'm more worried about what's inside." She said, pointing at the conical valley in the crown of its hill.
The princess turned to her companion. "Braves. Thank you for coming with me, but you don't need to follow me in."
The pegasus nodded. "I'll... look for you out here."
"Whatever happens, I hope we meet again." Twilight swallowed and dove towards the machine.
When she stood on the crest of its hill, she could almost pretend she was in the dead swamp, except for the massive legs in all directions. With a shiver, Twilight made her way to the valley, but as she ventured down its slopes she realized the grass was growing in a distinct steplike pattern. With a start, she realized it wasn't a valley, it was a quarry. A very very old, quarry. She wondered what had really happened to General Gustavus as she stepped into the cave at its bottom.
The sunlight faded quickly, and the ground became damp. The cave walls glimmered in her horn's light as they slowly transitioned to carved, engraved stone, littered with the eye rune among countless others. The remains of statues jutted up out of the smooth stone floor, their broken pieces cluttered around their stumplike legs.
The cave led to a mighty underground river, flowing unimpeded in the dark. Twilight took flight and flew upstream for what felt like hours, and eventually, she reached its source: a wellspring pool of swirling black water.
She landed in its shallows, and looked around for a sign of somepony... or something. Her heart felt cold as ice, but she swallowed her fear and spoke into the spring's dark and clouded waters. "I must speak to you." She twitched at the echo. "I have come here to speak with the Long-Legged Mare."
"So speak, my little regent," the Mare said in her warm, dead voice because she'd always stood in the pool. The dark, fetid water reached her fetlocks. Her head hung like a steel weight and her knotted, matted mane fell around her horn and over her eyes. Her wings hung by her torn sides, limp and tangled.
Twilight gasped but didn't cry out, refusing to step back. "You're another alicorn, like me."
"We are very alike, stranger." the Mare responded too quickly. She didn't meet Twilight's eye.
The princess shivered, standing firm. "I'm here to stop you. To stop all of this."
The Mare smiled a rotted, broken-toothed fang-filled smile and said, "Aren't you curious, my daughter?"
"Why would I be curious?"
"You wish to know why." The smile grew even wider. "Why I killed your world."
Twilight shivered at the cold. "So then... why'd it happen?"
She said nothing, only smiling.
"Why did you do this?" Twilight snorted and stepped forward. The mare didn't even shift. "You will look at me! Why would you ruin my–"
The mare's head snapped up and Twilight saw the eyes within eyes within rings within rings of iris sclera colors blending together pits she knew recognized receding far far into the back of the head endless pits funnels that gaped open into eyes within eyes numerous as the stars and far more cold swallowing her screaming as she fell and sobbed and cried at the top of her lungs "stop it stop it stop–"
Twilight hit the shallow water with a splash and a smack of flesh on stone. She moaned, her voice weak, while the thing standing before her lowered its dripping head. The wet snapping of flesh-bound bone echoed off the stone walls as the long-legged mare brought her mouth to Twilight's ear without taking a step. Her breath felt wet and warm and smelled of bile.
"We are the same, daughter," she hissed through broken teeth, "different only by our time. You will be like me."
A flare of anger jumped in Twilight's chest and she groaned, struggling to her feet. Water dripped from her fur as she shuddered and spoke. "I will never be like you."
The mare only smiled her haunting, jagged-tooth smile at Twilight. "You have found me, filly. You've come further than most. Do you wish for answers? "
Twilight remained silent, letting her magic gather in her horn.
"Then what do you desire? I so enjoy a bargain..." She chuckled out of a gaping hole in her chest.
The spell's light cast sharp shadows on the shining walls. The Mare's shadow had too many limbs, twitching and flailing. "Let all of us go. Me, my friends, my ponies. Haven't you tortured long enough?"
"I have never tortured, scholar," it hummed out of tune. "I have what I want. What will you pay me?"
Twilight racked her brain, trying to remember all she knew about the thing before her. "What do you even want?"
"Nine, seven, six, two, eight. Six, nine, nine, nine, five. All those that lie between. The answer was always there."
The answer came to her in one clear, cold instant. In her heart, Twilight knew the idea hadn't been hers. "Memories, me and my friends'. However many others you've taken."
"Do we have a deal?"
She let the spell go.
"Hey! What happened? Did it work?"
Twilight opened her eyes. A clear blue sky, framed with tall, yellow grass, stared right back. She blinked. "Did what work?" she responded out of politeness more than anything.
A pegasus mare flew into her view, hovering just before her― or just overhead, depending on how she thought about it. Twilight was sure she'd seen the mare somewhere. A name danced just on the edge of her tongue. There was no hurry, thankfully, because the pegasus wasn't even looking at her. Instead, she stared off to the princess' side, her mouth gaping.
"Twilight... you should sit up, I think."
The princess decided to ask the obvious questions later and rolled onto her belly. Her closest friends lay in her clearing, too, fast asleep. They looked as exhausted as she felt.
Twilight blinked and studied the mare. Her coat was an eye-catching silver-blue and her mane had been swept back by her flight. A thick maroon scarf hung around her neck, loose in the heat. The name would come to her any minute now.
"Who are you? Why are my friends and I here? Also, where is here?"
The mare seemed surprised to hear that. She blinked, and instead of providing an answer, turned to look at a rather odd hill a little ways away.
"Hello?"
"Ah!" The mare turned back. "I am, uh... Braves the Cold Waters."
Twilight smiled. "That's a lovely name," she said, and meant it.
"Oh my living stars."
Twilight and Braves both yelped and spun to face the new voice. A pith-helmeted unicorn stallion, apparently unknown to Braves, stepped out into the clearing, followed shortly by a saddlebagged earth pony mare, a second unicorn stallion, and a pegasus mare that looked like she could give Big Mac a run for his bits in a hoof-wrestle. She was nearly tall enough to look Twilight in the eye.
They all gaped at Twilight with wide eyes, but that was nothing compared to their faces once they spotted her still-sleeping friends. The first stallion took a step towards them, and Twilight immediately placed herself in his way. A moment hardly passed before the massive and rather intimidating pegasus mare matched her, placing herself squarely between Twilight and the rather scrawny-looking unicorn stallion. She locked her eyes with Twilight, who found herself readying a spell.
"Ah!" The little stallion squeaked. "Auburn! That's no way to treat a princess!" The mare snorted but didn't move until he pressed a hoof against her shoulder and gently pushed her aside. Then he cleared his throat, straightened his neck, and began to speak in a confident voice.
"Princess Twilight Sparkle, it's an honor to meet you. I am Quick Quill, and these are my fellows, Four Score, Steady Compass, and our bodyguard Auburn." The earth pony and unicorn behind him waved hesitantly, still looking a little shellshocked. Auburn huffed, her stonelike demeanor unchanged.
"It's... well, I can't really put into words how excited I am to see you all here. To put it bluntly, this is beyond my wildest hopes and dreams for our little expedition."
The princess shook her head. Too much was happening too fast. "I'm sorry, where am I? What is this? I should be at the Canterlot Palace, and my friends should be... I don't know. How did we get here? What's going on? I'd like to speak to a guardspony right away."
"That, well..." Quick Quill rubbed the back of his neck. "That's going to take some explaining. Tell me, do you know the tale of the Long-Legged Mare?"
