In the frigid wastes of northern Equestria a small group of allies fight an ancient evil.
Long forgotten at the top of the world an ancient prison rests beneath the ice and snow. Built for one purpose, it has held a force of nightmare at bay for over a thousand years. Now the spells are broken, and the nightmare dragon Insomnia has escaped and she is determined that all of Equestria will taste of her wrath. The small town of Glendale must field its best to contend with the dragon, for they are Equestria's first and only line of defense against this great evil.
Night had come to Glendale, but it failed to bring the usual blanket of peace. Town hall was alive with activity. Lights shone bright, Cheerful music sang through the cool night air and laughter was its chorus on the wind. The party had long ago spilled out into the square. Everything had been perfect, exactly as it should have been. Exactly as it had been every autumn for as long as any soul living in the town of Glendale could remember. This night was different.
A gryphon had arrived, sputtering clumsily through the air like a hatchling on its first flight, struggling to keep the wind beneath its wings. The flight ended in an unceremonious crash in the middle town square. He'd woken briefly, just long enough to plead for rescue. He was whisked away in minutes, and no word had come for nearly an hour. The mayor's assistant tried to keep the festivities moving along but the grisly arrival had a sobering effect. Conversation about the square had turned to speculative whispers.
Meanwhile the most influential ponies of Glendale were gathering in the monolithic observatory tower. An emergency meeting had been called by the mayor and each of them had been invited, or rather, summoned.
The first to arrive had been a white-furred pegasus mare. Her mane and tail were a sunset medley of oranges, reds, and yellows like the fireball that adorned her flanks. She was Emberwind, the master of the local flight school. She knocked sharply on the old ivy-strewn door and was greeted by the tower's singular resident, Sapphire Starlight.
“I can't believe he's having it here,” Sapphire grumbled as she slid the bolt aside with her telekinesis, permitting the pegasus to enter.
“It's not heard to believe at all.” Emberwind tried not to smirt, but the unicorn's indignation was hard to overlook. Sapphire's fur was white as fresh-fallen snow, and her mane was as blue as her namesake.
Emberwind studied the unicorn's features for a moment. “You were going to skip,” she said, grinning.
“I was not!” Sapphire protested to deaf ears. Emberwind knew she was right. The frosty-maned unicorn had developed a habit of skipping out on meetings and catching the finer points from her friend at her convenience.
“You hate meetings,” Emberwind said, “and it's the middle of the night. Anyway the tower is mostly town property so Fleethoof can, and apparently will, have meetings in it. Particularly if a certain night-pony continues to make a habit of not attending.”
“Well he could have asked,” Sapphire shot back.
“Would you have agreed?”
“No.”
Emberwind shrugged her wings. “Maybe that's why he didn't ask?” Sapphire bristled like at her friend's smarmy tone.
“That's hardly fair,” Sapphire shot back.
“He's a politician,” Emberwind offered.
A steady stream of arrivals marked the next twenty minutes. The growing assembly in Sapphire's dining room had done little to improve her mood. This was made worse by the mayor's absence. An hour would pass before he'd arrive.
* * *
“This is unacceptable!” Sapphire hissed through jaws clenched tighter than an old miser's purse. The mayor had finally made his appearance, and seemed impervious to the fireballs crackling in the frosty-maned unicorn's cobalt eyes. Her complaint was lost in the quiet din of a half dozen anxious voices.
“I know it’s very late,” mayor Fleethoof said, immediately bringing the speculative chatter to an end. “but thank you for coming.”
A soft aura of light surrounded his horn, and a smooth stone with a rune carved into it lifted from his pack and found a resting place in the center of Sapphire's dining table. No sooner had it landed than Emberwind sprang on with all the zeal of a filly going after the pile of candy under a freshly disemboweled pinata.
“What is going on with the gryphon?” she asked, looking down at the mayor.
“Miss Emberwind if you would please wait your turn,” Fleethoof said, glaring up at her. His horn glowed again and the smooth stone began to struggle beneath Emberwind's hoof.
“Then get to the point! Like you said, it's very la-” voicelessly she mouthed the last of her complaint. The stone had slipped loose from her grasp. It was her turn to glare fireballs at the mayor.
“This is why we use the silencing stone,” the mayor lectured, shaking the bauble like a clenched fist. “To keep order.”
Sapphire Starlight felt like she'd been sent back to her school days and they were all about to be made to sit indoors through recess. While Emberwind's display had accomplished little, Sapphire empathized with her eagerness to skip the pleasantries and get to the point.
“His name is Ironfeather,” Fleethoof said at last. The stone floated up into the air, away from Emberwind's pawing hooves. “He’s still in the infirmary but as soon as the doctors have him stabilized enough they’re going to bring him up here to speak with us.
Sapphire called the stone toward her, but at the last minute it swerved away and rested on the table before Morning Rain.
“Do we know what got a hold of him?” the light blue pegasus asked.
“Wolven,” Fleethoof said. “They live even further north than the gryphons. I doubt they’d ever come as far south as Glensdale, even in light of the coming winter. They are probably not a problem.”
Sapphire tried to summon the stone away from Rain, only to have it swept away by Light’s Hope. Sapphire glared at the sunflower colored unicorn. The symbol of the sun rising between two mountains was on his flank.
“If you’re not worried, why bring us all here at this late of an hour?” Light asked.
“Preparedness,” Fleethoof said. “And we didn’t want anyone to worry.”
Sapphire rolled her eyes. She was fairly certain that spiriting away over half a dozen prominent ponies to a secret meeting in the middle of the night was cause enough for worry in the minds of most of the town. A quick glance out the southern window at the crowds still gathered in front of town hall was evidence enough of that. Emberwind snorted her frustration.
The light purple earth pony seated next to Light’s Hope snatched the silencing stone away from him.
“Yes, Autumn Song?” Fleethoof asked.
“Preparedness for what exactly?” she asked. “Is there reason to believe the wolven might be planning something?”
“We really won’t know until Ironfeather gets here,” Fleethoof said. Emberwind stamped a hoof in frustration. Rain waved to Autumn for the stone. She tossed it toward the pegasus, but it never arrived. Sapphire pounced it with a wild roar, like a tiger catching its prey. Now all eyes were fixed on the white unicorn with a blue sapphire wreathed in dragon fire on her flank.
Not one to be cowed by attention, Sapphire shook off the stares and blew a lock of her bright blue mane from in front of her eyes.
The harsh stamp of Fleethoof's hoof against the observatory's stone floor echoed in the silence. “Miss Starlight! Control yourself,” he snapped.
“This is ridiculous,” Sapphire shot back. “We’re standing around waiting for something to happen. We should send some pegasus ponies up north to investigate immediately! Furthermore if we can’t have any productive discussion until Ironfeather arrives lets go to the infirmary where he is rather than waiting here until somepony decides he’s well enough to drag up seven flights of stairs!”
She'd begun to advance toward the mayor's end of the table. Her jaws were clenched tight and the silencing stone floated along beside her on a short magical tether. By the time her tirade ended she was teetering on the edge, eye to eye with the older pony.
Fleethoof held his ground. “Are you quite finished Miss Starlight?” Fleethoof huffed. Sapphire’s eyes narrowed darkly. One quick tap with her horn and the silencing stone was frozen in a block of ice. She gave it a swift kick, sending it sliding across the table. There was a quiet thud as it landed on the ground. Sapphire found the sound quite satisfying.
“I’ve had quite enough of that thank you,” she said, then hopped down from the table.
“She’s got a point you know,” Emberwind chimed in. Light’s Hope nodded his agreement.
“I’ll go see if Ironfeather is well enough to be woken up,” Autumn Song said, practically diving for the door. The tension was so thick, a window might have worked in a pinch. “I’ll be quick!”
“So it’s settled then,” Emberwind said, stretching her wings. “I’ll fly up north and see what the wolven are up to. Rain are you coming?”
“Uh, I’m not quite sure,” she said, looking to Mayor Fleethoof for feedback.
“No, no wait” he said, desperate to regain control of the situation. “Winter is coming and we need our weather crew at top efficiency. I’m not particularly satisfied with the headmistress of the flight school running off on her own either. Surely the two of you can put together a team to investigate without going yourselves.”
“What about Dawn Chaser and his men?” Emberwind offered with some reservation.
“I’m not sure,” Rain said. “Aren’t they our most veteran weather crew?”
Sapphire was beginning to notice that there were a lot of things Morning Rain was not sure about tonight and expressed her disapproval with a sort snort.
“Yes but its only early winter right now,” Emberwind said, mentally reviewing the roster. “And there’s ten rookies that applied to join straight out of flight school. Surely the ten of them can handle one three pony squad’s work for a few days.”
“Wonderful, excellent,” Fleethoof said. “Scouts will be dispatched, the snow will arrive as scheduled, and the flight school will run smoothly.”
Sapphire chuckled at the mayor's delight. Nothing seemed to bring the stallion more pleasure than a well organized plan. He wasn't in a good mood just yet, but at the least he had stopped glaring at her. The frosty-maned unicorn used a bit of her magic to push the frozen silencing stone under the table, out of sight, just to make sure he stayed that way.
The meeting reconvened a short time later in the infirmary without the two pegasus ponies. Ironfeather was awake, but not at all lucid. He was wrapped in blood-stained bandages on nearly every limb. A jagged gash across his left eye bore promise of an impressive scar. The room itself was littered with enough feathers to serve a large mattress.
“What’s with all the feathers?” Autumn asked. “Those weren’t here when I was just in here a few minutes ago.”
“I’m sorry, I’m afraid we had to cauterize the wound on his flank,” Doctor Rosebloom said. “There wasn’t time to mix more anesthetic or fetch a unicorn. Somepony called them both to an emergency meeting.” Fleethoof suddenly became extremely occupied with Ironfeather's charts and offered no explanation for his actions.
Sapphire winced at the sight of the uneven wound on the gryphon's flank. “Is there anypony else on staff right now?” she asked, willing herself to look away.
“Just one nurse in the back, mixing up some medicine. I really should join her, gryphon medicine can be tricky,” she said. The red earth pony excused herself and vanished into other parts of the infirmary.
Song peered through the window of the door after the doctor. “Well, now what?” she asked.
“We wait for Dawn Chaser to get back or Ironfeather to wake up,” Sapphire said. She couldn’t help but sigh. Patience was not among her strengths.
“That’s right,” Fleethoof said. “In the meantime it’s important to carry on with our normal day to day duties and responsibilities.”
Everypony but Sapphire began to file out of the infirmary. She lagged behind.
“Are you coming?” Light asked, holding the door for her.
“I’m going to stay and help the doctor make something for Ironfeather’s pain.”
“Alright,” Light said.
Sapphire poked her head out the door after Light. “Hey. If you see Emberwind, could you tell her to meet me back at the tower. I should be there in a couple hours at most.”
“Don’t stay up too late okay?” Light asked. Sapphire seemed to think this over for a moment but capitulated to Light's searching eyes.
“Well…okay,” Sapphire conceded. She wasn't fond of the idea but she never was. It was already dark out, which made the sacrifice of time somewhat lessened. “Tell her to meet me there in the morning then.”
Light smiled. “Of course,” he said, and left.
* * *
Morning came much too soon. Sapphire Starlight woke to the sun shining in patches directly upon her face, warming her unevenly. She stumbled from the bed and made her groggy way to the window with her forelock hanging gracelessly over one eye. There she found a pair of young pegasi flitting about just outside. No doubt they’d confused the cloud she’d placed over her window with something that was wont for removing. It was their first day on the job, Sapphire assumed, and simply waved when the two darted past.
A hot shower scalded away the grogginess of a long night. There would be little time for grooming. A quick wash and a brush through her frosty blue mane was all the time she could spare before the ringing of the doorbell announced that Emberwind had arrived. Sapphire hurried out to the balcony and looked down at her guest far below.
Sapphire waved at the pegasus on the ground. “I’m up here!” she called. Emberwind darted up toward her.
Emberwind landed gracefully before her on the mossy balcony and folded her wings. ”Good morning.”
“Morning,” Emberwind answered, yawning.
“Long night?” Sapphire asked.
Emberwind's head sank and her ears drooped subtly. “Early morning,” she answered quietly.
“I guess Dawn Chaser and his crew left for their mission?” Sapphire asked, hesitant to broach the subject.
Emberwind nodded slowly. Sapphire wasn’t sure what to say, she opened her mouth twice to speak before she could find the right words. Well, not the right words, but something that seemed at least acceptable.
“He’ll be back before you know it. He’s fast and strong. I’m sure he’ll be alright,” she said, giving Emberwind a reassuring a nudge.
“Yeah, I know,” her friend said. “He’s got his job to do, we’ve got ours. Let’s just get to work okay?”
“Sure,” Sapphire said. “Breakfast first?”
“Not very hungry,” Emberwind said. Sapphire frowned, vainly attempting to wish away the empty pit she could feel in her belly. She grabbed an apple from the kitchen and wolfed it down on the way up to the observatory.
“So what’s the plan?” Emberwind asked.
“Remember that book I ordered a few weeks ago from the Canterlot library?” Sapphire asked.
The pegasus shook her head. “Not really.”
“Well it arrived yesterday afternoon before the party. I haven’t had a real chance to go through it mind you,” Sapphire said.
“Sapphire I’m hoping really, really hard that there’s a ‘but,’ here,” Emberwind said. “Cause if you think I’m gonna spend another afternoon pacing around the observatory while you read all day you’ve got another thing coming.”
“No no of course not,” Sapphire said, blushing. She was still sore about that? It had been practically a week.
“I’m just saying, you can get a little carried away sometimes.”
Yup, still sour.
“This time is different,” Sapphire said. “There’s a spell in it I want to try.”
Half an hour later, Emberwind and Sapphire were hoof-deep in snow. It was falling from a billowing cloud that filled much of the high ceiling-ed observatory. Sapphire pranced about in it, half-dancing and beaming with pride.
“Sapphire… is this another book on dragon magic…?” Emberwind asked, prodding at the cover as though she thought it might bite. This was an idea not above consideration when visiting Sapphire's observatory.
“Miiight be,” Sapphire sang, dancing through the snow. “aaand this one’s real!”
“Well this is all really nice and all, but considering that it’s supposed to be snowing within a week, maybe we should work on something a little more practical and a little less Sapphire-ish?”
“I know I know, I’m sorry, just it was the only thing in the book I thought I could knock out in an hour,” she said. “Plus it will be great this summer. The book listed over a dozen food plants alone that need snow to grow.”
Emberwind’s ears drooped and her face twisted into a bewildered frown. “Sapphire, iceberg lettuce doesn’t need to grow in the winter.”
“…misty corn, strawberries, all kinds of mints,” Sapphire continued without missing a beat.
“That’s all well and good, but do you have any tricks to clean this up? The entire observatory is buried in snow.”
“Uh…” Sapphire groped about for an answer. It was her turn to have drooped ears.
Emberwind raised her brow, glaring. “Sapphire…tell me you have a plan...”
“Right right,” she said, “just… let me think a second…” a nervous chuckle implied that she didn’t.
“Oh Sapphire,” Emberwind chuckled. “Look, I’ll take care of this. You’re probably still starving. Leave the weather stuff to the expert and get some breakfast. Then we’ll go check on Ironfeather, 'kay?”
Sapphire’s stomach had begun to churn with a subtle hollow pain, building slowly over the past hour. “Yes, that's a good idea.”
After a much more filling breakfast, Sapphire reunited with Emberwind at the hospital. “Ready?” she asked, trotting up to the desk.
“We better hurry,” Emberwind said. “Fleethoof’s been in there over an hour. Might bore the fellow to death.”
Sapphire’s eyes widened. “He didn’t send for us?” she asked, stamping a hoof in frustration. The nurse suddenly took notice of them.
“Oh, are you here about the gryphon?” she asked.
“Yes, didn’t Rosebloom tell you I would be here?” Sapphire asked. “I was up half the night conjuring up his medication.”
“Oh I’m sorry. Rosebloom went home before I got here. Ironfeather is doing well though. You’re welcome to go back and see him.”
“Thanks,” Sapphire said as she hurried by.
Ironfeather’s room was back in order. All the feathers had been swept up and his bandages had been changed and cleaned. The young gryphon was sprawled on his side on the bed still, but his eyes were wide open and bright with alertness and focus. Or rather, Sapphire felt they would’ve been if they hadn’t already faded to the listless dullness often associated with listening to one of Fleethoof’s best laid plans.
“Ah, good, you’ve arrived,” Fleethoof said. “Ironfeather, this is Emberwind and Sapphire Starlight. They assisted in your treatment last night.”
The gryphon lifted his head and studied the two newcomers for a moment. “Sorry, I don’t remember either of you. I had a nasty crash you see,” he explained.
“Oh we were there,” Sapphire said. “It was quite fantastic. Right into the fountain!”
“Not bad for how torn up you are,” Emberwind said.
Ironfeather managed a halfhearted chuckle. Landing gracefully with injured wings was not an art he cared to perfect, merely to survive.
“I’m sure you’re very tired,” Sapphire said, trying very hard to check her curiosity with a healthy dose of empathy. “But if you could fill us in a little on the details of how you got here and how you got hurt so badly it would really help us figure out what we ought to be doing, aside from getting you back in one piece.”
“There were wolven, dozens of them, hiding beneath the snow in our winter hunting grounds. They burst from the ground and took our entire pride by surprise. Everyone was killed or captured. I may be the only one to have escaped,” he added somberly.
“I’ve read all about them,” Sapphire said.
“You have?” Emberwind asked, eyes wide in disbelief.
“Yes, they’re half wolf, half dragon,” she explained, her enthusiasm building like the momentum of a cart let loose down a hill. “They usually live in the glacial mountains up north. They’re very dangerous, but they’ve got plenty of access to food in the mountains.”
“Ah, dragon hybrids,” Emberwind said. Everyone that knew Sapphire well enough knew that these were the moments it was best to step aside and simply let the unicorn's train of thought barrel by.
“You’re in luck Ironfeather,” Emberwind chortled. “You’ve found our local expert.”
“We do hunt in the mountains,” Ironfeather said, “but never far enough north to encounter the wolven.”
“Never?” Sapphire asked. “You’ve never seen one at all?”
“Never,” Ironfeather repeated. “I only heard about them when I was young. We were at war with them once. Mostly stories from back then.”
“Is that important?” Fleethoof asked.
“It might be,” Sapphire said. “Maybe something drove the wolven out of their own lands?”
“Or maybe they just invaded unprovoked,” Emberwind said. “Monsters don't need a reason.”
“This is distressing news,” the mayor said. “There’s much to think about before we decide to act.”
“We should work on our defenses,” Sapphire said, frowning. “And we should get a message to Dawn Chaser warning him about the wolven. When his squad gets back we’ll know more about what we’re up against.”
“They are many,” Ironfeather warned. “If you’ve sent scouts…”
Sapphire winced inwardly and stole a glance at Emberwind. Her friend's ears had drooped; her face was fraught with worry.
“They’ll be fine,” Sapphire said quickly. “I’ll go get Light’s Hope to get a message to them now.”
In a flash of magic she was gone. Startled by the arcane display, Ironfeather nearly tumbled from his bed, barely averting the imminent crash by flaring his wings to steady himself. His eyes were still wide as dinner plates when he'd righted himself in the bed. His chest heaved laboriously for air.
Emberwind had a very guilty look on her face as she struggled to suppress a snicker. “I remember the first time she did that around me.”
“Relax, please calm down, it's just a warp spell!” Fleethoof pleaded.
“I've never seen anything like that!” Ironfeather said, taking a moment to clear his throat. He was not quick to regain his composure.
“It’s alright, it’s not common for us either,” Emberwind said. “It’s a difficult feat. Out of our entire town only she and Light’s Hope can handle it.”
“Really?”
“Yes, they’re both very talented and they have the work ethic to develop it into something really unique. Magic ability among unicorns varies from pony to pony just as much as flight skill varies among gryphons and pegasus.”
“I imagine you are correct, miss…Emberwind was it?” Ironfeather asked.
“Yes,” Emberwind said.
“Would it be possible to see more of your town? If you’ll have me, I think I will be staying with you for some time. At the very least until I can reunite with my pride.”
The mayor’s eyes brightened. “Of course, of course, we are more than happy to take you in. Glensdale has always had a very bright outlook on our relationship with the local gryphon pride.”
“Thank you,” Ironfeather said, bowing his head in an antiquated gesture of respect that made him look more asleep than grateful.
“I’ll go check with the doctor and see if he thinks you’re good to go,” Emberwind said, and galloped off in search of Rosebloom.
Sapphire had warped into the midst of a small crowd on one of the more well-worn roads through town, scattering them like dandelion seeds in the wind. She staggered and nearly fell, winded from the force of exertion required to cast the spell. Just before her was the small blue house that Light's Hope lived in. It was a much more practical residence than the observatory tower.
“Sorry, excuse me,” Sapphire called back breathlessly. The multitude of angry stares and shouts from behind hastened her journey as she galloped up the path to the door. She pounded on it with both hooves.
“Light, Light it’s an emergency!” she shouted over the hailstorm of hoofbeats. The door swung open, glowing briefly with the subtle aura of Light’s magic.
“What’s the matter Sapphire?” Light asked, appearing from the back room to meet her. Sapphire's words were punctuated by gasps for air.
“Dawn Chaser. The others,” Sapphire said, gasping for air like a beached fish. “We need to get them. A message. It's an ambush. Entire gryphon pride was wiped out.”
“Sapphire I need you to take a deep breath,” Light said evenly. “Just calm down, and tell me what we need to tell Dawn Chaser. Okay?”
Sapphire nodded slowly, still panting for air. She tried again, this time with more detail and less heavy panting.
“Come with me, I’ve got the crystals we’ll need upstairs,” Light said after he'd heard Sapphire's revised message. Sapphire heaved a sigh of relief as she fell in step behind the yellow unicorn. Crystal magic, that explained why she couldn’t remember how to do it. Crystal magic had always been Light’s forte, not hers. Not that it wasn’t an interest, but there were so many other fields to study already.
“Ironfeather says there are many of them, several dozen at least. Enough to subdue an entire gryphon pride. They’ve taken to hiding in the snow drifts to ambush their prey.”
“I will pass that on to Dawn Chaser,” Light said. Several crystals floated to the center of the room under his power. A much larger white crystal waited there for them.
“It’s a science,” he said, carefully placing each of the smaller gems. Each sparkling addition began to softly glow as it was added to the pattern. Once they’d all been arranged the yellow-furred unicorn closed his eyes in deep concentration. Sapphire took a few steps back, opting to give the stallion a wide berth for the spell he was about to cast.
“This will be loud,” Light warned, peeking out the corner of one eye at his guest. He placed one hoof against the white crystal at the pattern’s center. Suddenly his voice boomed through the room, coming from nowhere and seemingly everywhere at once. The birds on the windowsill scattered. Sapphire found herself backed against the wall with her ears pinned down from the onslaught of sound. Fortunately the event proved to be as brief as it was loud.
“You were right,” Sapphire said, trying to talk over the church bells ringing in her ears. If it was a song, it had been a glorious battle hymn.
“Dawn Chaser has received your message,” Light announced. “For the moment, it seems that he and his team are safe and intact.”
“Do you know where they are?” Sapphire asked.
“I am afraid not,” he said.
“But you’re sure they’re okay?”
“Yes,” Light said. “I made contact with Dawn Chaser. I couldn’t sense any fear in him, nor grief.”
“Good, Emberwind will be relieved. I think we’ll all feel a lot better once everypony is back home and safe,” Sapphire said.
“Are we safe? It sounds like we are not,” Light said, in his usual mercurial way. He'd already begun cleaning up the crystals. Sapphire sometimes thought that even if the whole world collapsed all at once, Light would simply explain why it might have happened and then begin cleaning up the mess without complaint.
“Perhaps not,” Sapphire said, ears drooping.
“Now now,” Light said warmly. “Do not despair. We know of the threat. When the time comes, and it will, Glendale can defend itself.”
Sapphire could hardly believe how nonchalant Light continued to be. This, the mare thought, was the very attitude that made him always seem to know a little more about what was going on than everypony else. Was that all it was though? An illusion? Or did he actually know?
“…war? Will it really come to it?” she asked.
“I believe so,” Light said. Sapphire frowned. Not the answer she'd hoped for.
“Surely there’s got to be a way we can preempt this,” she said.
“You know as well as I that peace with the wolven is not an option,” Light said. “There are other ways to prevent war though.”
“That would mean finding a way to send the wolven back home,” Sapphire contemplated aloud. The gears were beginning to turn. These were the moments when the frosty-maned unicorn was at her best. “We need to find out why they were driven out in the first place.”
“Monsters do not need a reason, Sapphire,” warned Light, darkly.
“Everything needs a reason,” she said. “Why leave home if everything you need is right there?”
“Assuming you're right, why would the wolven leave their home?” Light asked.
Sapphire wasn’t sure. She hated how serene Light seemed about it. She could never tell if he already knew the answers to the questions he asked, or if he was just not bothered by not knowing.
“Any number of reasons,” she said. “They could be migrating in search of food, water, or to escape harsh conditions. Like birds flying south for the winter.”
“These are savage creatures,” Light said. “Savage creatures from a harsh climate,” he added. “Whatever forced them out must be quite impressive.”
“This means we need another mission,” Sapphire said, hanging her head. “We can’t risk sending Dawn Chaser in there to take a look without knowing more about what we’re up against.”
“I agree,” Light said. “For now we should concentrate on our defenses and wait to hear back from the pegasus squadron. Then we can plan a more substantial expedition. The gryphon should prove invaluable in such an endeavor. Let us hope he makes a speedy recovery in Doctor Rosebloom's care.”
“Yes, you’re right, as always,” Sapphire said. “Thank you for sending the message. I’m sure Emberwind is grateful as well. She would have come herself if it were not for the urgency.”
“I understand,” Light said. “I suggest you return to her before she spends more time worrying about the welfare of her mate.”
“Of course, thanks again,” she said, and vanished into thin air once more.
* * *
Sapphire found the hospital abandoned. She huffed and stamped her hoof in frustration. There was no telling where Emberwind had gone. For a moment she wanted to scold the pegasus for leaving without her, but she quickly remembered she’d never told anyone to expect her return. A brief wave of dizziness and nausea washed over the young unicorn, snapping her out of the internal monologue she had been having between herself and an imagined Emberwind.
Sapphire leaned against the wall to steady herself, grimacing at the faint nausea that had stayed with her since that last warp. The strain of all the magic she'd used was quickly taking its toll. She chided herself for her most recent expenditure, all that magic wasted to hurry back to meet nopony.
Nearly an hour later, Morning Rain would find her asleep, head resting on the table in a puddle of drool next to a cold daffodil sandwich at the café next door to the hospital.
“Sapphire, are you okay? You don’t look so good,” Rain said, studying the white unicorn.
Sapphire mumbled a quiet protest and tried to shake the sleep from her eyes. She smacked her lips and looked down at the untouched sandwich she didn’t remember ordering.
“Yeah, I’m fine sorry. What time is it?” asked the groggy unicorn.
“Only midday,” Rain said, stealing a skyward glance out the window. “Sapphire how late were you awake last night?”
“Late… got up early,” mumbled Sapphire. She hoped the sandwich was hers, because she was eating it.
“Yeah you shouldn’t do that,” Rain said. “Magic can get unstable if you get too tired you know.”
Sapphire cast a harsh, bloodshot glance at the pegasus. She was not in the mood for a lecture. Too much magic, not enough sleep, the heaviness of her eyelids said more than Rain could have in an hour. Each felt like it weighed at least 20 pounds. Sapphire looked up from her snack. The violet-maned pegasus was still there, watching, scowling.
“I know?” Sapphire said, hoping that would appease her. No such luck.
“So why are you here, eating my sandwich?” Rain asked. Sapphire choked. That explained the steady, unsympathetic glare.
“Your sandwich? I’m sorry, I didn’t know. I thought, I mean, I didn’t. I’m… I’m not quite sure how I got here.”
“Just relax,” Rain said. She made little effort to hide a heavy sigh of frustration. “You stumbled in here about ten minutes ago complaining that you were dizzy. I went next door to get the doctor and found you asleep on my lunch when we came back.”
Sapphire became keenly aware of Rosebloom's presence with the feeling of a cold metal stethoscope being pressed to her chest.
“Hey!” Sapphire yelped, nearly falling over as she tried to get away.
“Relax,” Rosebloom said, studying Sapphire’s bloodshot right eye, then the left.
“How is she?” Song asked, trying to see what Rosebloom was looking at while trying to stay out of the way.
“Eyes are bloodshot, breathing is a bit labored," Rosebloom said without looking away from her patient. “Probably just a bit overtired. She was up half the night conjuring medication.”
“It wasn’t half the night,” Sapphire protested half-heartedly.
“It might’ve been more than half. I was there if you recall. When did you wake up? How much magic have you done today?” Rosebloom asked. Sapphire shied away, flustered by Rosebloom’s sharp tone.
“Uh, I, two warps… a summon…” Sapphire's cobalt eyes stared blankly at the wall as she tried to stir the fog from her mind. “You're wrong it was definitely less than half the night...”
“Not so many questions at once,” Rain said, stepping between the doctor and her patient with her wings flared defensively. “Give her a minute to think!”
“She’s a clever pony, she should be able to handle it,” Rosebloom said, looking past the angry pegasus. “I warned her last night not to do this. She’s clearly overtired and she’s overused her magic so much she’s barely standing.”
Sapphire whined with her head hung low, staring at the black and white tiled floor. She felt as though her legs had taken on the consistency of jelly. Barely standing? Wrong again Rosebloom, she thought as the floor rushed up at her.
“Sapphire!” Rain yelped. “Now look!” She snapped at Rosebloom.
“Help me get her up,” Rosebloom said. The doctor was impervious to Rain's outrage. Such outbursts from patients and their family and friends. “Let’s get her over to the hospital. She can sleep it off there.”
Autumn Song arrived just then, pushing the door open with her nose. She immediately recognized the unmistakable white fur and bright blue mane of the downed unicorn.
“Woah what’s going on here? Is Sapphire okay?” she asked, pushing through the gathering crowd.
“Everypony step back, give us some room,” Rosebloom said. “Sapphire’s going to be just fine. Autumn, help me get her to the hospital. She just needs some sleep.”
“What about me?” Rain asked, already regretting her harshness toward the doctor. “How can I help?”
“Figure out where Emberwind went. She and Sapphire are almost inseparable. She’ll know just how much magic Sapphire’s been using over the past few days. Get Light on your way back,” she said. “Maybe he can recharge her or something.”
“Right, I’ll hurry,” she said, and galloped outside before flitting gracefully into the air. She was off like a shot, a thin wispy blue aura trailed off her tail and wings as she flew.
Meanwhile, on the other side of town, Emberwind was in the last place Rain would expect to find her: on the ground, giving Ironfeather a tour.
“So all ponies have magic?” Ironfeather asked, looking up at the bakery. A basket of fresh muffins sat on the ground between them.
“Yeah, that’s what our unicorns say,” Emberwind said, munching on a muffin. “That’s why we’re so colorful, and why our marks match our talents. It’s also why everypony excels so much at their talent, and why pegasus ponies can walk on clouds and trail an aura off their wings and tails when they fly. It’s just a theory though, something Light and Sapphire cooked up.”
“Do you think it’s true?” Ironfeather asked.
“Could be,” Emberwind said. “They’re both very clever ponies. I don’t pay it much mind really. I’m more about flying and weather management. I teach the young pegasi here in Glendale actually. We have the occasional gryphon as well, none in the past couple years though.”
Ironfeather nodded slowly. He was proving to be an attentive listener, but talk of flying had caused his features to droop a little.
“Wings still hurting you?” Emberwind asked.
“Yes, I hope that doctor of yours is wrong. I am not keen on being grounded for three weeks.” Ironfeather started to stretch his wings but a sharp sting made him think better of it and he folded them across his back.
“I hope so too, I’ve been grounded before.” Emberwind did not cherish the memory. “Not something I’d like to have happen to me again. On the bright side, at least Doctor Rosebloom cleared you for a walking tour. She probably could have kept you there a couple more days. Best to do what she said or you’ll be flat on your belly for a solid week.”
The gryphon nodded slowly without saying anything. The unhappy look in his eyes was impossible to conceal. Emberwind pushed the basket of muffins in front of him.
“Try one, you’ll like it,” she said.
Ironfeather snatched up one of the warm, buttery muffins. It practically melted in his mouth as Emberwind had promised. He wolfed down two more of them in seconds.
“Easy there,” Emberwind said. She chuckled at the gryphon’s appetite. It was an encouraging sign. “We’ll want to save a few for the hospital staff.”
“Maybe we should get a second basket?” Ironfeather suggested with a hopeful look. Emberwind however, was not responsive. “Something wrong?”
High overhead a light blue figure soared by, making good time toward the cliffs overlooking Glendale. Emberwind was tracking it through the afternoon sky.
“Is something wrong?” Ironfeather asked.
“Not sure,” she said as the pegasus vanished in the distance. “I should go check on that. Somepony just went up to the flight school in a hurry and there’s no classes today, so they might be looking for me.”
“Should I go back to the hospital?” Ironfeather asked. “I think I can find it on my own.”
“I imagine you’ve had more than enough of the hospital. Why don’t you wait here at the bakery? They’ll probably whip you up something special and I shouldn’t be gone long.”
“That sounds nice,” Ironfeather said. “Also I’d very much like to see your school once I am well enough to make the flight.”
“Of course, that’s the first place we’ll take you,” Emberwind said.
“Back shortly,” she added, then leapt into the air and raced off trailing a fiery aura in her wake. She stopped for a moment and looked back down at the gryphon below. He was watching her with an unmistakably sullen expression. Suddenly the mare wished she’d waited until Ironfeather had gone inside before racing off into the sunny mid-afternoon skies. Too late, she chided herself for the insensitivity. She hoped that something in the bakery, whether it be a new friend or just a nice treat, would lift the grounded gryphon’s injured spirit.
“Ugh my head,” Sapphire groaned. She was flat on her back, tucked neatly into a hospital bed. A bowl of water had been left on the nightstand by the bed next to her. She snatched it up and took a few sips from it.
A quick glance in the mirror confirmed her suspicion that she looked no better than she felt. For the moment she was alone. She took a little solace in knowing that no one could see her in this state. She pawed at her brightly colored mane, trying to straighten it. Another sip of water and then a quick escape. That was the plan, but it didn’t get far off the ground. One of Rosebloom’s nurses came in just as she was about to slip out.
“Miss Starlight why are you out of bed?” the nurse asked.
“I have work to do,” Sapphire replied, trying to edge past the other pony. No luck, the earth pony nurse took a preemptive step to fill the doorway. Teleporting was out of the question and even at her strongest Sapphire couldn't muster the force to charge down an earth pony.
“You need to recover. Rosebloom found Emberwind and she told us what you’d been doing. Your magic is severely depleted. That’s not healthy for an aspiring unicorn. Dr. Rosebloom’s ordered a day of bed rest for you.”
“Can’t I do that at home?” she whined, her ears drooping as her voice picked up in pitch. She felt like she’d already spent far too much time at the hospital this week.
“No,” said the nurse firmly. Sapphire's head sank. The argument was already as good as lost..
“I’ll rest, I promise. There’s nothing to do here and my books are all at home.” Sapphire looked longingly over the nurse's shoulder into the hall.
“Emberwind brought your new book from the observatory,” the nurse said. She gestured to the nightstand. The old leather-bound tome was there. The unicorn chided herself for not having spotted it already. There went her best excuse to leave. Emberwind knew her far too well.
“Sorry,” Sapphire said, sulking back to the bed. “I got a little carried away and overdid it. I shouldn’t have worried everypony like that.”
“Its fine I’m sure,” the nurse said. “I’ll be right outside. Call if you need anything.”
“Thanks, I will,” Sapphire said.
“And do not try to sneak out.”
Alone again, the young mare mechanically flipped through the pages of her book defiantly determined to make use of the day. The words passed by unnoticed as the pony's heavy eyes drifted prematurely toward the bottom of each page. Absorbing nothing, Sapphire put the book aside, pulled the covers up over her head, and was soon fast asleep.
When she woke later, Sapphire found the book had been placed back on the bedside table. Next to it another sandwich had mysteriously appeared, presumably from the café next door. Perhaps meant to serve as a subtle reminder of how she'd first come to be in the hospital, or of the debt she owed. The unicorn made a mental note to buy Morning Rain another sandwich after Rosebloom released her. From this prison.
The shutters over the window above the bed were slightly ajar, letting through a faint shaft of sunlight, stained orange by the imminent nightfall. The light dyed all the walls with its pale glow, replacing the almost oppressively sterile hospital white with the somber orange of dusk. Sapphire guessed it was almost dinnertime. A few timid nibbles of the meager meal left for her made the unicorns stomach churn. Great. Still no appetite. Not the great sign of recovery that she’d hoped to parade in front of Rosebloom.
“Sorry, but you’ll have to stay the night,” Rosebloom said when she arrived to light the candles. Sapphire's mouth popped open but she couldn't find any words in the confused haze of indignation and outrage. Rosebloom hadn't even looked at her and had already consigned her to an entire night in the hospital bed.
“I’ve been here all day,” Sapphire protested. She stifled her quickly raising voice, but it was too late to hide the frustration.
“Why do you suppose that is?” Rosebloom asked. Her nose wrinkled up and she cast Sapphire a disdainful look.
“I already said I was sorry!” Sapphire said, scrambling for some defense of her actions. “I overused my magic. It was a priority. Light’s Hope was the only one that could get a message to Dawn Chaser and Emberwind is very worried about him. You have to let me go home! I'll sleep there.”
Well that was dignified, she thought. Not that there was much dignity left to preserve after passing out on the cafe floor.
“This isn’t a punishment Sapphire,” Rosebloom reminded her. The doctor's voice remained firm and even despite her patient's outburst.“Nor is it a negotiation. You’re not a filly in time out. Your friends were worried and I was worried. It is my job to see that you get better. That means getting a restful night of sleep and making a full recovery, not just patching you up enough to shove you out the door. Okay?”
“Okay,” Sapphire said, trying hard to conceal her disappointment. Rosebloom seemed to consider the matter settled and left her to rest.
Late in the night Sapphire was awoken by a soft light and a hushed whisper. “Sapphire, wake up,” it was Light’s Hope.
Yes, restful. Colts sneaking into her room in the middle of the night. Very restful.
“Light? What’s going on?” Sapphire yawned and rubbed her head against the pillow. “Tell me this is a joke,” she groaned, looking up at the starry night sky outside her window.
“You need to get up,” Light said. “Come with me. We need to hurry.”
“Does Rosebloom know you’re in here?” Sapphire asked. Despite the doctor's assurance that was not 'time-out' for Sapphire, the unicorn was convinced that sneaking out would somehow lead to a much longer stay.
“She knows,” Light said, “and she’s already gone. Come though, the pegasi have returned.”
Sapphire shot up out of bed much too quickly. A heavy thud announced her collision with the floor. Frantically she scrambled to kick herself free of the sheets that had somehow become tangled about her hind legs. She was wide awake now, searching Light’s stoic expression for some sign of what news Dawn Chaser had brought.
“They made it back in one piece,” Light said, picking up quickly on Sapphire's concern. “Though one of them is injured. I do not believe the wounds were life-threatening. Rosebloom's been with him for a while by now.”
“So what did Dawn Chaser say?” Sapphire asked, eager for Light to get to the point.
“There was a light at the top of the world. He felt it was important that everyone hear tonight. We should go,” Light repeated, this time turning to leave.
The mare heaved a sigh. “I’m going to end up in the hospital again,” she said, catching up to him.
The returning pegasi had landed just outside of town in a tall, grassy field. A soft crash, Sapphire suspected. It was something she’d heard Emberwind teaching one of her students. Two pegasus could carry a wounded third, but landing gracefully was almost always out of the question. The solution: find something softer than bare rock to crash into. Her suspicions were confirmed when they reached the crash site. Autumn Song and Rosebloom were carefully lifting Tempest onto a stretcher. He looked like he’d been through hell. He’d lost several of his flight feathers and was covered in scratches.
“You said it wasn’t serious,” Sapphire whispered to Light.
“He will survive,” Light explained. Sapphire winced. Light was often a little hard to follow, even for her. Much to her relief, Dawn and Stormy had fared much better.
Dawn Chaser was briefing the mayor on the mission with Emberwind by his side. Stormy waited in the backdrop, keeping a watchful eye on the northern skies.
“We were on our way back when the wolven caught up with us. A storm rolled in and forced us to land. We tried to take shelter in a few evergreens but there was a wolven hiding in one. He got a good piece of Tempest. Stormy and I rushed in and knocked it out. Then we high tailed it out of there. The blizzard broke about an hour later and we made a rush south. Had to carry Tempest most of the way. Sent up the signal flare when we got close and crashed here in the field.”
“Well we are very glad that all three of you made it back,” Fleethoof said. “Of course we’re very interested in your findings.”
“Its overrun up there,” Dawn said. “There’s hundreds of wolven and they’re not the worst of it.”
“What did you see?” Light asked.
“A chimera for one,” Dawn said. “We saw some signs of dragons as well. But the thing that really bothers me, is there was a… blackness.”
Sapphire swallowed hard. She didn’t like the sound of that. “Dragon smoke?” she asked.
“No it wasn’t like that at all,” the pegasus explained. “It was more like storm clouds, big, wild storm clouds. Nothing like they make over in Cloudsdale. They were heavy with lightning and wind. The roar was incredible. We couldn’t get very close. It was all in a blazing ring, circling something bright that shined way up into the stars.”
“Light into the stars? Do either of you know what that might mean?” Flinthoof asked, looking toward the two unicorns for answers. None were forthcoming. Ironfeather lurked out of the back of the small crowd.
“I’ve heard stories,” he said. All eyes turned to him.
“but they’re just… stories…” his voice faded away as he spoke.
“About a light at the top of the world?” Dawn asked. “Well go on, out with it.”
“Yes,” the gryphon said. “Our pride’s storyteller sometimes spoke of a great evil at the top of the world, sealed away in centuries past. It is an incarnate essence of the darkness, and fears the light. They say the moon was a sacred seal placed in the night sky to ward the evil off forever, so that the sacrifice of the heroes that sealed it away would not be in vain.”
“And you think this might be true?” Fleethoof asked, wrinkling his nose. “It seems so…”
“Let’s not be hasty,” Sapphire said, speaking up before the mayor could say something to offend the gryphon. “Legend sometimes has a ring of truth to it. Maybe there is something up there, sealed away. I’m not sure about the moon part though, I think that’s been around since the dawn of Equestria.”
“That makes sense,” Emberwind said. “So something’s been trapped up there, and its getting out. That’s what’s driving all these monsters south into gryphon territory.”
“They will not stop there,” Light said.
“So we flee further south then?” Ironfeather asked.
“Glendale does not retreat,” Fleethoof said firmly. “We’re digging in. I need each of you to spread the word. We’re going to have a town hall meeting first thing in the morning. All of you know what to do.”
The crowd mumbled a tired affirmation among a sea of nodding heads. Heavy clouds had rolled in, blotting out the moon. Light flickered to life on the tip of Light’s horn. Everypony fell in step behind him as he led the way back to town.
Dawn Chaser looked up at the gathering clouds and sighed. “I’m going to have to have a word with those new recruits,” he said.
“Aww they did very well considering you were gone,” Emberwind said. “They even knocked out Sapphire’s shade cloud.”
“Oh?” Dawn chuckled, looking over at the bleery-eyed unicorn with the frosty mane. “Up early yesterday?”
“A little,” Sapphire grumbled.
“Such a night owl,” Emberwind said.
“At least you’re in a better mood,” Sapphire said. “She was so quiet while you were gone Dawn. Just kept watching the north sky.”
“Did you now?” Dawn asked, nuzzling Emberwind’s neck.
“I did,” the pegasus mare said, grinning. “I missed you.”
“Are you two lovebirds coming by the observatory tonight?” Sapphire asked.
Emberwind shrugged her wings. “Maybe,” she said. “We’ve got to figure out what to tell the students at the flight school though.”
“Do you need assistance Miss Starlight?” Ironfeather asked.
“I enjoy company,” she said, “and somepony to bounce ideas off of.”
“I would prefer to not have to spend another night in the hospital,” he said.
“You and me both,” Sapphire said. “I’ve got an extra bed you can use. Maybe Rosebloom won't realize we've gone.”
Ironfeather grinned. It was an odd expression to see on a gryphon, residing mostly in the eyes since the beak was completely rigid. She couldn’t help but smile back. She was sure it wouldn’t be hard to convince Rosebloom to let her and Ironfeather out of her sight for an evening. She’d have her saddlebags full taking care of Tempest.
The tower was quiet enough that even the soft scraping of turning pages seemed loud, just as Sapphire Starlight liked it. In fact it was why she’d bought the top floor and converted it into a small apartment when she’d moved to Glendale so many years ago. She had almost an hour to study her new book before Ironfeather woke up and joined her in the observatory.
“Not going to the town meeting?” he asked, looking down across the grassy square from one of the numerous windows that were spaced along the walls. Sapphire set her book back on the desk and joined him in his vigil. The view was another thing the unicorn liked about living in the tower. It made it easy to keep an eye on things.
“I already know what they’re going to say. I’d rather not see all their faces when they find out what we’re up against,” Sapphire explained. “It just... won’t solve anything.”
“The books will though?” he asked, surveying a shelf of dusty tomes. There were books of every color and size with tops ranging from the mundane Harvesting Northern Grains to the arcane Captivating Cantrips. Each of them showed signs of wear with the one exception of Healthy Sleeping Habits which had gathered more dust than even the darkest of the observatory's corners. …...
“They help me focus,” she said, tracing her hoof down along the page. “I’ve been trying all morning to find more out about those lights up north and the legend you told us about.”
“And did you find anything?” Ironfeather asked.
“No,” Sapphire said, slouching in defeat.
“What do you suppose they’re saying down there?” Ironfeather asked, looking down at the crowd far below.
“Just the truth of what we’re up against,” Sapphire said. “I do not envy Fleethoof’s job.” She took a deep breath and then returned to her book with the hope that her brief break had been enough to clear her head. Her guest watched out the window for a while longer, then began to explore the observatory.
“This is a nice place,” he said. “What sort of work do you do up here?”
“I study magic, dragon magic mostly, but other magic as well. Starlight and moonlight are essential components in many spells. Living in the observatory gives me good access to that without attracting a crowd.”
“So magic is your job?” he asked. He turned a skeptical eye on the unicorn. “Is that a common practice?”
“Basically, most towns try to keep a few unicorns around for magic,” she said. “We help with healing, sometimes assist the pegasus teams with the weather, and provide protective wards against monsters. What about you? Does your pride keep magic users around?”
“Gryphon magic doesn’t work like pony magic,” he said. “It comes when we need it, from somewhere within. It rarely manifests. Usually it’s… locked.”
“It’s locked away? Maybe that’s something I can fix,” Sapphire said. “I’ll look into it after all this mess is over.” Another book joined the growing heap on her desk.
“Still nothing?” Ironfeather asked.
“Still nothing,”she echoed.
A soft chime interrupted her search.
“I wonder who that could be,” she said, dropping the most recent book into the pile. Ironfeather hurried to the window and looked down.
“It’s the unicorn from last night,” he said. “Light’s Hope was his name I think.”
“Light? Here?” Sapphire asked. She began frantically straightening her desk and removing the clutter from the floor.
“I’ll just… go let him in then…” Ironfeather said, bemused by the unicorn's strange behavior.
“Gah, wait, I’ll get it,” Sapphire said. A soft aura of light glowed about her horn as she slipped the latch far below, letting the door swing open for Light's Hope.
Light had an uncharacteristically cheerful expression when he reached the observatory. An old scroll tied with a bright red ribbon rode in the satchel he carried about his neck.
“I see you’re hard at work this morning,” he said. “I thought you could use some help. You’re looking into the gryphon legend right?”
“Yes,” Sapphire said. She shook out her mane and looked over at the pile of books. “So far I’ve not had much luck. I got some stuff together on the wolven, but nothing on the legend itself.”
“I found something that might interest you then,” Light said, unfurling the scroll across her desk. It made a little 'fwip' sound as it abruptly straightened, only to fall unevenly over the many open books on Sapphire's desk.
“This is… where’d you find this map?” Sapphire asked.
“Town hall. It’s an old surveyor’s map of the region Glendale was built in. When the town was originally chartered they sent dozens of scouting groups into the area to evaluate the land.”
“Light this is brilliant,” she said, transfixed on the time-yellowed page.
“I uh… well… the thing is,” he stuttered, then regained his composure. “There’s a mention here of an old building way up north. Nothing about function, it could just be a weather station. Thing is, its right about where Dawn Chaser saw that light.”
Ironfeather peered over Sapphire's shoulder. “Why is there no gryphon territory marked on the map?” he asked, brow furrowed.
“This is centuries old,” Light said. “Your pride probably wasn’t around then.”
A sudden thought struck Sapphire. She yelped and took her hooves off the map. “This isn’t the original right?”
“Of course not,” Light said, shaking his head. “The original is safely stored in the archives. This was a copy someone had made. A little faith Sapphire, please.”
“Right, sorry, of course it’s not.” There was an awkward silence for several moments as Sapphire stared at the map and tried to decide what the old building could be. “Listen,” she said, “there’s something I’ve been meaning to talk to you about.” Her voice trailed off.
“Yes?” Light asked.
“You talk a lot about faith, and you always seem so calm and well-gathered. Half the time I’m around you I feel like I’m just a goofy filly. So please, if this seems, premature, don’t think me too silly. I’m just nervous about this whole wolven invasion ordeal.”
Light's expression told Sapphire she'd begun down a road with too few signs marking the way.
“At any rate,” she said, quickly moving toward the point. “I do have faith in Glendale, I do. I just, I’m not sure how well we’re going to be able to handle ourselves against the wolven. There are so many of them, and they’re much more savage than our kind. What if fortifying the city isn’t enough? I just don’t want to see any of my friends hurt or killed when I didn’t exhaust every possible alternative.”
“That’s a very practical, reasonable approach,” Light said evenly. “What are you proposing?”
“A journey,” Sapphire said. “We take our bravest and best up to the light at the top of the world, and put an end to whatever is driving the wolven our way. We could end the entire invasion with one action.”
“So a quest then,” Ironfeather said.
“It sounds a little silly when you say it that way,” Sapphire said. She forced a meager grin, all at once feeling much like a schoolfilly whom had just confidently delivered a very wrong answer in front of the class.
“This is worth looking into,” Light said after some consideration. “I don’t know why you were so nervous about mentioning it. We could leave as early as tomorrow morning. We just need supplies, and enough strong ponies to deal with any wolven we might come across.”
“I would like to go,” Ironfeather announced. “I know I’m grounded but the storms will keep even your Emberwind on the ground. I know the area well. I can be useful here.”
“Then it’s settled,” Light said. “A glorious expedition to the north to save our town from disaster. We’ll want to bring Emberwind and Dawn Chaser, and perhaps one or two others, in case we run into trouble.”
Sapphire felt her lungs finally let go of that last breath of air, relieved that Light had moved on so quickly to planning the expedition. In his enthusiasm he had failed to notice the nervous blush that still warmed her cheeks.
“There’s one other person we should talk to before we go,” Sapphire said. She was looking up at the polished brass clock that hung over the doorway from the study to her room. Gears whirled behind the handcrafted faceplate, spinning to the beat of the steady click of passing seconds. When she looked back she found Light's features had tightened as though she'd dragged her hoof down a chalkboard.
“Do you think he’ll help?” Light asked, seemingly forcing the words out through half-grit teeth. His enthusiasm had evaporated as quickly as Sapphire had broached the subject of the watchmaker. It was a hatred as old as the force the watchmaker's craft metered out, long ago turned from personal vengeance to a seething tradition passed from father to son. Light held no personal malice toward the dragon but still the even-tempered unicorn could find only vitriol in his heart for the old creature.”
“He’s very old,” Sapphire said, quickly trying to make her case. “He might know something about the story.”
“Who are you talking about?” Ironfeather asked. He was lost, feeling quite uncomfortable at the sudden tension in the room. Sapphire was almost certain that the soft tick of the clock had been slowed because of it.
“There’s an old monster that lives on the edge of town. He makes time pieces. He’s-,” Light began. His nostrils were flared, and his voice had been rising in volume and tempo until Sapphire's harsh gaze caught his eye. He could see embers sparking in the mare's eyes.
“-a little off in the head,” Light finished, choosing his words carefully.
“A dragon, is that safe?” Ironfeather asked.
“It’s been done several times before,” Sapphire said, speaking quickly before Light could interject.
“What has?” asked the gryphon, but his question went unheard.
“Have a word with him if you think it could help,” Light said. “I’ll be at the flight school, gathering others for our cause.”
He left without another word. Sapphire’s ears wilted as her head sank.
“Well that could have gone better,” she said once she was sure the other unicorn had gone.
“He likes your plan for the quest at least.”
“I shouldn’t have told him I wanted to go to Brindolar for help,” she said. Ironfeather shrugged helplessly in response.
Later that afternoon, Sapphire stood in Brindolar’s shop, with Ironfeather at her side. The old watchmaker stood on two legs and towered over his visitors, as he had every visitor he'd had for the better part of a millennium. He was covered head to toe in red scales as dark as wine. Leathery wings were folded across his back, protruding through a pair of slits in his cloak.
“Miss Starlight,” he said without looking up from his work. An unfinished cedar clock face was propped up on his desk with half the numbers still missing. Gears, coils, springs, and screws were sorted into bins around the workshop, giving the air the subtle scent of metal and oil.
“It is good to see you again. I am afraid that your device is not quite ready. It will be another week, as we discussed. But then, I suppose you’re not here about that. Something to do with the town hall meeting perhaps?”
The dragon's voice was soft and weary, tempered with a coldness of a hard life and a faded sense of pity. Despite his brisk presentation, Sapphire felt comfortable in the dragon’s presence, perhaps in spite of the subtle shaking of her companion.
“You went to the meeting?” Ironfeather asked, wide-eyed.
“I did not,” the dragon said evenly. “I prefer to keep to myself and my work but I do pay attention.”
“Well you’re right, it is about the meeting,” Sapphire said. “There have been some things happening that we’re having trouble explaining, and it looks like it might be related to an old building Dawn Chaser found up north.”
“An old building up north you say?” Brindolar asked. He turned for a moment and looked back at his two guests. It was the first time he’d made eye contact with either of them. His bright cobalt eyes seemed almost hypnotic to look at. Ironfeather quickly found an interesting spot on the floor at the dragon’s feet to stare at.
“Yes,” Sapphire said. “It looks like it was here before Glendale was founded. I wanted to ask if you knew anything about it.”
“That was several centuries ago. How old do you believe I am?”
“I’m not sure I could even guess. Your magic is very developed but you’re rather small.”
“This is small?” Ironfeather half-muttered half-gasped. He immediately regretted speaking up. The dragon grinned at him with a smile that could have peeled the paint from the walls. Instead it caused Ironfeather to visibly shrink, one of the easiest feats of dragon 'magic'.
“Yes, I am small. Most dragons with my level of development are hulking beasts that spend centuries napping in light-forsaken caves,” Brindolar said, his voice remaining calm and steady. “I have no interest in living my life as a bleary-eyed monster.”
“So you found a way to stop your growth? I thought maybe you had,” Sapphire said.
“Yes, around five centuries ago. I still age but I will never grow larger than I am now.”
“That means you were here when Glendale was founded, right?”
“Yes, I was,” the dragon said quietly. “I was a young thing then, a little naïve to the dangers of living on the frontier. There were difficulties no one expected. It takes a great deal of sacrifice, Miss Starlight, to survive on the savage frontiers of Equestria. We had some great heroes, and such terrible curses.”
“Anything from back then that you think might still be around…?” Sapphire asked, walking up to the workbench Brindolar was hunched over.
“Sometimes, I think, if I just… if I could… ” his voice broke. He was looking up at the large clock above his desk. He had such a sorrowful look on his face that Sapphire couldn’t bring herself to interrupt. The dragon reached up with a gnarled black claw, and began slowly turning the minute hand back, hour by hour. Eventually he put his head down and shut his eyes.
“I’m sorry,” Sapphire said, quietly backing away. “We’ll leave you be.” Ironfeather had already withdrawn to the door, waiting for her.
“Sapphire, are you going to the old sanctuary? With the lights?” Brindolar asked.
“Yes, we are.” Sapphire said, looking back at the dragon.
“I would very much like to go with you,” he said.
“We’re leaving at dawn the day after tomorrow,” Sapphire said. “If you’re sure, show up then, ready to go. We’ll meet at town hall.”
“I will be there,” Brindolar said, lifting his head high.
The morning came to leave Glendale and Sapphire found she was still not as ready as she wished to be. There were so many things she wanted to bring, and precious little room in her saddlebags. Ironfeather was doing his best to help, but was quickly finding Sapphire’s organizational skills lacking.
“Miss Starlight I do not think you are going to be able to fit more than one book into your pack. There’s simply not the space.”
“It’s just Sapphire,” she corrected for the third time of the morning. Either from pridal tradition or an overdeveloped sense of respect the gryphon seemed to passively insist on adhering to decorum. It would've begun grating on Sapphire's nerves by then if she were not so busy trying to pack.
“Do you have any space left in your pack?” she asked. Her pack was leaned up against the foot of her bed and stuffed so tightly that it strained against the buttons.
“I’m sorry no,” Ironfeather said, dismissing the idea with a shake of his head. “Light's Hope loaded mine up with food supplies.
After a moment of quiet consideration Sapphire settled on her personal spellbook, stuffing it into a space in her pack that only she could have found. Her new book was left on the desk with a scarlet ribbon across the open page.
“I guess that’s that then,” she said, looking at it. “It will just have to wait until we get back.”
“And I am sure it will still be here Miss Starlight,” Ironfeather assured her. “We should get downstairs, the others will be ready to go soon.”
“Right,” Sapphire said.
She stopped at the gate for one last look back at the tower door, locked behind her, then made her way to town square where her companions were sure to be waiting.
Seeing Emberwind at town hall lifted her spirits. Sapphire had been so busy the past couple days that she’d hardly had a moment to speak with her friend.
“Sapphire, glad to see you’re up. I know it’s a little early for a night-pony like you,” Emberwind said, teasing.
“Yeah yeah I know,” Sapphire said. Her eyes darted around, wondering if anyone heard. “You shouldn’t mention that in public Ember,” she said quietly.
Emberwind ignored the complaint. Her attention had been caught by the overstuffed saddlebags draped across Sapphire's back. The impression of her stood out against the cloth side of her saddlebag.
“Can I help you?” Sapphire asked, turning that side away from the pegasus' prying eyes.
“You did bring more than just books right?” Emberwind asked.
“I brought one spellbook, which I will need” she said defensively. “Everything else is food. Food and tools. I swear.”
“Good, then we’re ready,” Light said. He unfurled a map in the air in front of everypony.
“This is Karamon Pass,” Dawn Chaser said, tracing an outline of it with his hoof. “With the winter storms rolling in, it’s our best route through the mountains. It’s low, and well-sheltered from the winds. We’ve got about a week before it becomes impassable by snow. We’ll want to be back by then, or we’ll have to weather the storms. Our objective is here, a small compound high in the mountains. Unfortunately it's well past the sunline.”
“How far past the sunline?” Autumn Song asked.
Sapphire’s ears perked at a sound from behind her. Coming up over the hill was Brindolar dressed like she'd never seen him before. He wore a thick fur vest and carried a pack over his shoulder. A formidable sword was fastened to his belt.
“I am relieved,” the old dragon said, “to see that you have not left yet. I am afraid I overslept.”
“That won’t become a problem I hope?” Light asked in a stern voice. Sapphire shot him a look.
“I have spent the last two days in meditation and preparation,” the dragon said. “I will require little sleep for the duration of our journey.”
This seemed to satisfy Light. He returned his attention to the map, pointing out possible campsites, and the exact location along their path where they would cross the sunline. It was much sooner than Sapphire had hoped. Well over half the distance was on the other side of that line. It would be a long, cold march in complete darkness, save the light of the moon when it was to be had.
“Who here, has been past the sunline?” Dawn Chaser asked, once the route had been explained. Slowly Brindolar raised a claw-like hand.
“I have,” he announced.
“As have I,” Ironfeather chimed in.
“Then speak up,” Light said, “and tell us what you know.”
“Past the sunline it will be dark for the entire day,” Brindolar said. His voice could really boom when he wanted it to. “I hope you all packed very warmly, the weather up there is uncontrolled by pegasi. Mark my words, there will be storms, vicious and cold. They will not be scheduled, nor will they be announced. If you have not brought your cold weather gear, now is the time to speak up and go get it.”
Brindolar continued for a while longer, marching along the line like a drill instructor with fresh recruits. He explained the route in great detail and the finer points of clubbing a wolven to death with brutal efficiency.
“This is not a game,” he warned. “You must not hesitate to take a life. The wolven will not.”
Once he'd finished it was time to leave. Everyone lined up to say their farewells to the small crowd that had gathered to see them off.
“I wish I could go,” Rain said, pushing her head up against Sapphire’s. Morning Rain and Stormy were both present with the crowd of well-wishers, but had been selected to stay behind.
“We’ll be fine, don’t worry,” Sapphire said, hoping to reassure her, and perhaps to convince herself. “Besides, somepony has to watch after things while we’re gone. You and Stormy will do fine. Try to keep Fleethoof calm, and we’ll be back before you know it.”
Morning Rain nodded slowly and forced a smile before she continued down the line. Sapphire looked to Light. He was already pointed north, eyes fixed on the distant horizon. Everypony fell in step behind him and Dawn. Sapphire fell back alongside Brindolar who had taken up the rear of the line.
“You never said you’d been past the sunline,” she said after some recollection. “Why?”
The dragon looked down at her, but did not respond right away. He seemed to be weighing his options. “It was not a happy time in my life,” he said at last. “It is not something I prefer to reminisce upon.”
“I see,” Sapphire said. “Did… something happen?”
“I cannot remember,” the dragon said with a furrowed brow. He was looking down at the snowy path before him. Sapphire felt he was lying, but decided not to press the issue.
“We’ll be safe,” she said. “Ironfeather knows the region well.”
This, unfortunately, did not seem to lift the dragon’s spirits. She took a moment to herself to study the group. There were seven of them in all: Light’s Hope, Dawn Chaser, Ironfeather, Autumn Song, Emberwind, Brindolar, and Sapphire herself. She would have felt better if Stormy and Rain had come as well, but mayor Fleethoof had thrown such a fit when he found just how many were going in the first place that he’d explicitly forbade taking more than two of the town’s few pegasus ponies off on some quest.
Sapphire really hoped the old pony could keep the place together in their absence. It was a tough job that few had the desire to do.
“Thinking about something?” Emberwind asked.
“Yeah,” Sapphire said, looking back at Glendale, by then far in the distance behind them. “I’m just glad we have people left behind that we can count on. I want a home to come back to when this is over.”
“I’m with you there,” the fiery-maned pegasus said.
“Think you’re going to need that?” Emberwind asked, eyeballing Brindolar’s weapon.
“Yes,” he answered coldly, offering no further comment.
“Delightful fellow,” Emberwind said, looking away from him.
“I am what I am,” the dragon said. There was no malice in his words, despite Emberwind's light jabbing.
“You are armed as well, of course,” he pointed out.
“Just the wings,” Emberwind said, flapping them once for good measure. “And that’s more than enough for me.”
“I know,” the dragon said, smiling subtly. “Let us hope we will not need to use them.”
The sunline seemed to come all too soon. The pass was already half covered in snow and crowned with dark clouds so heavy with precipitation that they looked like soggy ceiling tiles ready to give way at a moment's notice and deluge anyone so unfortunate to be caught beneath them. The grim canopy blocked out what precious little sun was left. From there on, Sapphire and Light took the lead, the constant, steady glow of their horns providing beacons for the others to follow.
Sapphire ached all over when Light finally called for a stop to the march. The small band found a cave to rest in, and started a small fire near the mouth to keep the cold at bay.
“That’s probably the last we’ll see of daylight,” Ironfeather said, looking out into the dark void. Snowflakes whistled past, little stinging arrows carried on an arctic wind. “The sunline is very far south in the winter I’m afraid.”
“How far do you think we made it today Light?” Autumn asked. Light had unfurled the map across the cave floor and a few of the travelers were gathered up around it.
“Better than I’d hoped,” he said, “but there’s still a long way to go. Everypony should get some rest. Tomorrow will not be easier. We’ll be more exposed to the wind once we leave the pass.”
“Actually, I’ve got something prepared just for that,” Sapphire said. “Ironfeather told me a bit about gryphon magic. Modern gryphons migrate south for the winter every year but ancient gryphons hibernated in caves like these. The mountain range used to be volcanic and some of the latent energy from the magma still persists in these rocks. It just takes the right application of force…”
Sapphire shifted her weight to her front legs and lashed back at the wall with both hind hooves. Her efforts were rewarded with a thunderous clap that reverberated up and down the length of the cave like water sloshing in a tub. A coarse, somewhat spherical black rock no bigger than a tennis ball fell loose and rolled up to her. She stomped as hard as she could on the coarse stone. Nothing. She snorted in frustration and tossed her mane. Another attempt sent the stone spinning across the floor like carelessly thrown board game dice.
“It's harder than I thought,” Sapphire said. “The gryphons used to crack these with their beaks...”
“Let me take a whack at it,” Autumn said. She took the rock and positioned it on the ground in front of her, and then stomped it with brutal efficiency. The outer layer of the rock shattered like glass and fell away. The core was dark black and smooth as ice. It began to warm and turned a dull orange color.
“Thank you,” Sapphire said, scooping up the emberstone.
“Don’t mention it,” Autumn said. “You just need to practice your uh… technique there a bit.”
In reality there was nothing wrong with the unicorn's technique. The problem was in the application of magic. Unicorn magic had a certain finesse to it which did not often lend itself to brute force application. Autumn, however, had exactly the sort of magic the emberstone needed.
“Right, of course,” Sapphire said with a quiet chuckle of embarrassment riding on her voice. Her first instinct was to explain why she'd not been able to light the stone, but she felt Autumn Song wouldn't be nearly as interested in the theory as she was.
“Good job, both of you,” Light said. “These will take the edge off the cold. Let’s try to get a few more of them together.”
Soon they had built a campfire out of the magic rocks, and dinner was cooking in a kettle nestled among them like an egg in a strange nest. Several of the travelers gathered at the mouth of the cave, watching the snow fall. It was like a sea of falling stars, sparkling in the faint light of the moon.
“It’s nice to watch,” Emberwind said.
“It’s a lot like the stuff we make,” Dawn said. “Just a lot more of it. I wonder, where it all comes from.”
“The magic up north,” Sapphire said. “There must be so much of it. That’s the only thing I can think of that could cause this much weather.
“Leave it to a unicorn to jump to magic,” Autumn said, adding a snort of disapproval as punctuation.
“Not the case,” Emberwind said. “Glendale ponies are the furthest north in this region.”
“Sapphire is probably right,” Ironfeather said.
“Sleep! Everypony should get some sleep,” Light said. “We’ve got a long way to go yet. There will be plenty of time to debate where the snow comes from when we’re marching through it tomorrow.”
Sapphire grimaced. Light never seemed to be bothered by anything, it was an admirable trait, but it seemed to her that he often forgot that others were not nearly so hardy.
“I’ll take first watch,” Brindolar said, settling in by the entryway. He had a tireless patience that made him well-suited for the task.
It felt like hardly any time had passed at all when Sapphire awoke to Brindolar’s hand on her shoulder. Bleary eyed, she looked up at the old dragon.
“My turn to watch?” Sapphire asked.
“Sorry, no,” Brindolar said. “It is morning, according to my timepiece. That means time to go.” The old dragon smiled. Sapphire wished she had the energy to smile back.
The days wore on, but at last the lights came into view. Sapphire and Light stood on a ridge, looking on toward the beams of splendor rising in the distance. They came from the center of a sprawling compound, ringed in the dark black clouds of a raging storm. Sapphire was in awe of it. It was like nothing she'd ever seen. She looked back at the others, gathered around a small fire nearby, all eyes were fixed on the sprawling wonder before them. It was far grander than Sapphire had ever expected.
"The others are ready to go into the sanctuary," Brindolar said, coming up the ridge behind them.
“Sanctuary…?” Sapphire asked. “You called it that before. Why do you call it that?”
Brindolar squinted, looking at the big cluster of buildings.
“Is it not?”he asked as though it could not possibly have been anything else.
“It’s big, that’s all we know,” Sapphire said.
“Much bigger than we thought,” Light added. He came dangerously close to stating what was on everyone's minds. The compound was big enough to house an army that would dwarf any force Glendale could possibly muster without Canterlot itself marching to her aid.
“There’s something wrong with the magic here,” Sapphire said. She could feel it in the air, like the wet scent in the wind in the hour before a big storm.
"It does feel different," Brindolar said contemplatively. He was trying to get a sense of what the unicorn was feeling but could only come so close as that vague sense of wrongness that comes when one marches into a room and is gripped by the feeling that something had been moved in their absence.
"Is it something you've seen before?" Light asked. His neck was beginning to ache from straining to look up at Brindolar. The old dragon just rubbed his bearded chin and shrugged.
"It feels familiar. I am sorry, I cannot place my finger on it," he said. He took his timepiece from the pocket of his robe and quickly became lost in its glinting face.
"Very well. We should get moving," Light said. "The general area seems safe enough.”
“We're moving on!" he called down the hill. A flurry of activity erupted as the others began to break camp.
"Doesn't it bother you that we've not seen a single wolven on our entire journey?" Sapphire asked, pawing at the snow. It had been bothering her for hours as a sort of nagging suspicion that she’d forgotten something important.
"It's strange," Light said, looking off toward the distant cliffs. "We have numbers. They might have just kept their distance."
"Not as many as my pride had," Ironfeather said darkly.
Sapphire frowned. "Not a single sighting, no scales, no tracks... It's like they've all vanished."
"They were here," Dawn Chaser said, stamping his hoof.
"No one's doubting you," Sapphire said quickly. "Let's just... get out of the snow."
Out of habit a line had formed behind Light's Hope. The glow of his horn had been the beacon to follow for the past days. Now it was finally out, reduced to obscurity by the light of the sanctuary.
The courtyard path had been buried under the snow for so long that the only memory of it lived in the blueprints for the place, wherever they might be. Tall statues protruding through the drifts marked the way toward the door. The monolithic stones bore resemblance to strange creatures that even well-studied Sapphire Starlight could seldom recognize. A wolven snarling at the sky. Gryphons in shining armor suits. A sinister dragon was perched atop a massive fountain in the middle of the courtyard, it's loathsome grin was eternally preserved in dark granite. Neither the fountain nor its occupant had stood up well to the centuries. Cracks and chips had robbed it of its ability to hold water less solid than the snow that filled the bowls.
In the blink of an eye the courtyard was swarming with wolven. Sapphire had no time to react. Wolven were already around her, rushing by. Fur and scales brushed against her sides in the stampede away from the great citadel at the sanctuary's core. A blinding fog of snow had been kicked up by the stampede. Sapphire shook it from her eyes, trying to forge past the onslaught. Suddenly a particular wolven appeared before her, bearing down on her like a charging bull. She braced for impact, but the blow never came. The stampede vanished, blown away on the wispy arctic winds, obliterated like the hoofprints they'd left in the snow just moments ago. Nothing seemed to last on the temporal landscape of the courtyard.
Sapphire abruptly became aware that all of her companions were staring at her. Shocked and slack-jawed faces were warped out of proportion by the shimmering protective bubble that had sprung to life around her. A bright aura, blue as her cobalt eyes, still blazed on her horn.
"Woah there Sapphire, you okay? You nearly jumped right off your hooves there," Autumn said.
Sapphire's teeth were still set tight as a vice and her neck was so stiff it had begun to ache. Slowly she twisted her neck, looking from puzzled face to puzzled face. She nearly collapsed as she relaxed, letting the magic defenses fall.
"There were wolven!" she barked. But they were gone. No fur, no scales, not even tracks in the snow. The only evidence they'd ever existed was the furious pounding of the young mare's heart.
"Where? Which way?" Dawn shouted. He reared up on his hindlegs and boxed wildly at the air with his hooves.
"They're gone," Sapphire said. "There were dozens of them, running away from that." She raised a hoof toward the citadel at the end of the path.
"I thought I saw something for a moment," Ironfeather said. He was trembling like a leaf in the wind. "Out of the corner of my eye, but when I looked it was gone."
"Stay close together," Light said. “Keep your eyes peeled.”
"It was an echo," Brindolar said. He was looking up at the column of light rising from the citadel. "An echo of time, from all the magic coming off that light. The wolven aren't here now, but they were here before."
"Then we continue," Light said, moving down the path.
"Wait!" Brindolar called out. "We're not safe from the time flows. They're all out of alignment here. That's the strange aura in the air. Damaged magic."
"We’re more vulnerable from attack out in the open. Is there anything we can do about it?" Light said, looking up at the dragon.
Brindolar dug through his backpack for a moment and came up with a fistful of silver chains. He had three of them in all. The first he placed around Sapphire's neck.
"These are wards, against time disruption," he said. "They'll protect us from time slips, but they need a magic user to keep them active."
"...why did you bring these?" Light asked. He advanced toward Brindolar with the courage of a being thrice his size.
"I don't know," Brindolar barked back, meeting Light's furious gaze. "I saw them in my home, I thought they'd be useful."
"Wards against damaged time flows?" Light asked. He was practically screaming by then. "That's far too convenient. Just how far north of the sunline have you been dragon? You called this place a sanctuary. Why? Answer me now dragon."
"I don't remember," Brindolar said, not giving any ground. Sapphire quickly stepped between them.
"Light! Give it a rest. Just be glad we've got them," she said. She'd begun to stamp her hooves with almost every word.
"If he knows more-”
"He'd tell us!" Sapphire snapped, cutting him off. “He's here to help. Why else would he give us these?”
"My memories are not whole Light's Hope," Brindolar said. "I do not know why. I just felt strongly that we'd have need of these. There's a chance that I have been here before, and simply do not remember."
"How could you not remember a place like this?" Autumn Song asked. "Not saying you're lyin' or anything, but I gotta tell you Brindo. This is a place I don't think I'll soon forget, even if I did live a few hundred years or so."
"There are spells that can erase memories," Sapphire said. "Maybe somepony used one on Brindolar."
"But why?" the dragon asked, desperate for an answer.
"Perhaps something you saw was too terrible to remember?" Ironfeather said sullenly. His movements were unnaturally stiff and forced. The slightest shifting of shadows seemed to make the gryphon jump.
"Gather your courage," Light said, hurrying to the gryphon's side. He'd gone from zealous knight to even-tempered counselor in a few quick strides.
"Maybe it was important," Sapphire said, searching the bewildered dragon's face for clues that were not to be found. Brindolar shook his head, lost. Sapphire knew Light was right, Brindolar knew far too much about the sanctuary. It was hard to understand. If he wasn’t lying, it meant somepony had gone to the trouble of erasing his memory. She groped around for a reason but found none.
A magnificent foyer had once welcomed visitors to the sanctuary. What was left was a gaping cavern, strewn with stone debris and shed wolven scales. Tapestries, dimmed by centuries of exposure and neglect, hung in tatters from the walls and ceiling. Countless others had been torn down and reduced to stained shreds in the mess on the floor. In the center of the room a grand chandelier had fallen, its severed chain swaying in the breeze. The only light came from torches on the wall, eternally burning from the enchantment that gripped them. They cast an eery, flickering light across the room making tall shadows. The sighing whisper of the wind through the doors seemed to promise that each was home to some dire shade.
All eyes were drawn to the far corner of the room where the strangest sight of all resided. A unicorn mare seemingly fixed in place, bound by an unseen force. Her fur was light caramel and she had a dark brown mane and tail. An old leather-bound tome lay open on the floor before her with a writer's quill resting against the page. A picture of an open book with a quill put to it adorned her flanks.
"Is she... another echo?" Sapphire asked, carefully feeling her way through the debris.
"She's real," Autumn said. "I can see her too."
"Hey! You there! Are you okay?" Emberwind called out, crossing over the length of the room with a pump of her wings. The unicorn did not respond. Her eyes were shut tight, and she was still as the statues outside. Even her fur didn't seem to move, despite the wind.
"Is she... dead?" Ironfeather asked, timidly voicing the thought on every mind.
"She's frozen in some sort of spell," Light said. "Look closely, but don't touch. Watch how the crystal catches the light."
Everypony circled around the unicorn's crystalline prison. It was clear as glass. Only the imperfections along the jagged edges betrayed its presence.
"Looks like she might've been a writer or something," Autumn said, prodding at the spilled inkwell.
"It looks like she tried to keep writing even while the spell trapped her," Emberwind said, inspecting the fallen book. "The writing gets so frantic right before the end."
"This is awful," Sapphire said softly. Her stomach churned at the thought of being caught in such a trap, alone for all those years. "Light, please tell me you can save her."
"I can try..." he said, circling the crystal prison. Bright light flashed from his horn and crackled across the crystalline surface. The blinding intensity forced Sapphire back. When her vision finally cleared the crystal had begun to melt away, giving off a foul-smelling smoke. The unicorn hung limp like a puppet on strings. She collapsed to the dusty floor as soon as her legs were freed. She laid eerily still. Sapphire was the first to approach.
"Are you okay? Can you hear me?" she asked. "My name is Sapphire Starlight."
The unicorn suddenly sprang to life, gasping for air as though she'd just been pulled from a lake. Even as she coughed and choked on the bitter air she struggled to get her hooves beneath her.
"Take it easy," Emberwind warned. "You've been through quite a lot."
"My book, where is my book?" she asked, frantically searching the floor.
"Here it is," Autumn Song said, holding it up in her mouth. The unicorn snatched it away, up into the air. She flipped eagerly through the pages, listening to the soft rustle as they turned. The inkwell and quill quickly joined the book in the air. Both were renewed with the touch of her magic. Quill to ink and then to page and she was off, zealously scribbling into the old tome like a mare possessed.
"I am Lyric," she said, her quill still racing across the pages.
"Well, Lyric, I'm Emberwind, this is Sapphire, Light, Autumn, Ironfeather, Brindolar, and my husband Dawn Chaser," Emberwind said, gesturing to each of them in turn. "Now, what were you doing up here alone?"
"I am not alone," Lyric said. She paused to lick the tip of her quill. "There are two others with me: Brazen and Stardust. I assume you're here to help us fight the monster?"
"Not exactly," Sapphire said. "We're not particularly familiar with the area, and we haven't seen any monster."
"What? How can that be?" Lyric's book snapped shut. The confused faces around her were telling a different story than the one she'd just been writing.
"You may have been trapped in that crystal for a long time," Light said. He kicked a bit of the ruined prison toward Lyric. She stared down at it for a moment, trying to register the significance of it. Her fur bristled along her spine as a chilling memory came back, seeming almost like a dream, of said crystal crawling up her legs.
"Where is Brazen? Did Stardust ever return? If not for us then why have you come?" she asked.
"There's a big light coming out of the top of this place. It's driving hordes of monsters called wolven toward Glendale," Sapphire explained. "We came to find out why. What can you tell us about this place?"
"This is the Sanctuary of Light, a place of great tragedy," Lyric said. "When these lands were first discovered, there was day and night here, just as in the rest of Equestria. But in the absence of good, evil had flourished, our settlers were unprepared for the violence brought to bear against them. But a wonderful thing happens in the darkness."
"What's that?" Autumn asked, unconvinced.
Lyric's horn glowed softly and a flame sparked to life in the midst of her audience. "In the dark even the smallest light shines brightly. Brave and noble souls rose up to fight the monsters, and those weaker souls rallied beneath their light. Evil was prepared. They blighted the lands with an eternal night, so that the sun would never shine and darkness could rally under the bleak banner of night. That was where the great dragon first came to be. The Sanctuary of Light was our answer: a sacred place, in defiance of evil. A prison for her and her minions to last until the end of days."
"So the evil was beaten?" Dawn Chaser asked.
"For a time," Lyric said. "It recently tried to escape."
"But you said it was supposed to be trapped forever," Sapphire said. "What changed?"
"The land itself is cursed," Lyric said. "The sun cannot rise. Light was needed to keep the monster's power in check. Luna's Eye still shines down upon this place every night, and the light of it is harnessed by the sanctuary. But then there was an awful day, and our dear Princess was corrupted by the darkness. Her wrath grows each year, for centuries now, and taints the light needed to control the dragon's evil. One by one the defenses fell as the light grew weaker. Brazen and Stardust came to gauge the damage. A new source of light must be found."
"But Luna is free now,” Sapphire said. “Its been over a thousand years since she was banished to the moon. She returned for her vengeance, but found redemption in the ruins of a temple in the Everfree Forest. The moon doesn't even rise here anymore."
"A thousand years...?" Lyric asked. Her lips trembled and she fell to her knees as though her legs had been cut out from under her.
"I've been gone for six centuries," she said in a breathless voice that was barely audible. "Everypony I knew... my friends..."
For a moment the room was silent but for Lyric's soft sniffles and the uncaring scream of the wind picking up outside. At last Light's Hope spoke up.
"I'm sure this is a pretty big shock," Light said. "You can stay with us though."
"Did you say Luna's Eye doesn't light the Sanctuary anymore?" Lyric asked, wiping her nose.
"If you mean the moon then no, I don't think it did even when I was just a filly," Sapphire said. She looked to the others for feedback but got nothing but shrugs.
"It used to, but I cannot remember when that stopped," Brindolar said. "I believe it was over a century ago at least. Maybe two."
"Well that narrows it down," Emberwind said. "It's all moot anyway, the Sanctuary's standing up just fine on its own. The whole valley's lit up with the light it's throwing up into the night. Except for the parts sheltered under that storm."
"That is not good news at all," Lyric said. "The beacon's been lit... It was never lit before."
"Hey guys?" Ironfeather asked. His voice cracked, and his eyes had become wide as saucers.
"What is it?" Light asked.
"That! What is that?!" Ironfeather cowered, stretching a talon out toward a spot on the floor. A shimmering black puddle had formed, a viscous oily soup swirling with dark purple. Ominously it began to rise into the air. Without warning, the massive stone door slammed shut, trapping the adventurers inside.
"Everypony out!" Sapphire shouted, practically screaming. She hurried to Autumn Song, dipped her head under the pony's right foreleg, hoisted her up, and flicked out of existence. She returned a moment later, having dropped Autumn in the snow outside. The dark ooze was starting to take shape now. Orbs of magic whirled around it. Sapphire knew there wasn't much time left. Light was just leaving with Dawn when she came back. One by one the Sanctuary was evacuated. At last Sapphire returned to find only Emberwind and Lyric left.
"She can't warp," Emberwind said, answering the question already at the front of Sapphire's mind. Sapphire stole a glance at the figure forming in the middle of the room. It was a huge, hulking creature with spikes and wings. It felt very much like watching the last few grains of sand fall into the basin of an hourglass. All at once the torches around the walls went out, plunging the room into darkness.
"It's going to be both of you at once," Sapphire said, forced to make a decision. There was no time to wait for Light's Hope.
"But Sapphire!"
Unwilling to listen to the pegasus' complaints, Sapphire dove under Emberwind's belly. The frosty-maned unicorn had one goal: get outside. Remaining conscious afterward would be a welcome luxury, but not one she was expecting. In a flash the three vanished, but they never reached the air outside. Sapphire slammed into a barrier of dark magic, breaking her warp spell. There was a vague sense of being unburdened as Emberwind and Lyric tumbled off her.
Sapphire slouched to the ground, barely conscious. She wondered if she'd been struck, or come out of warp just in time to crash into the wall.
"D-did we make it?" Sapphire asked, her senses still reeling as she struggled to stand.
From behind, a cold growl answered. “No, you did not.”
Hoofbeats echoed off the cavernous Sanctuary walls, bouncing and reverberating and building into an ominous roar, ever pursuing the three souls lost within the labyrinthine maze. Sapphire's light led the way. Lyric and Emberwind were close behind, following on faith alone. Their leader had no real direction, a left, a right, a ramp down next, each decision made only to serve the purpose of putting distance between them and the beast that pursued. At first she tried to keep track in her head but the frantic pace quickly got the best of her. Rounding one last corner she collapsed in a dark room, sides aching from the effort. The torch on the wall crackled to life, some small act of pity from the maze of tunnels.
“Was that a dragon? A full grown dragon?” Emberwind asked, poking her head out around the corner. Her voice was barely above a whisper.
“She is called Insomnia,” Lyric said. “She is the ancient evil that was trapped here.”
“Apparently that’s no longer the case,” Sapphire said, sprawled in the corner.
“How’s your head?” Emberwind asked. Sapphire found the pegasus peering down at her in concern. “It looked like you hit that wall pretty hard.”
“I did,” Sapphire mumbled, rubbing a hoof through her mane. It did little to ease the soreness, but it seemed like such a small problem in light of things. She stared up at the ceiling wondering how far down they were, if there were other ways out. If going back toward the entrance was the best path or the closest thing to suicide. Were the others even looking for them? Light wouldn’t leave her behind.
“Sapphire.” Emberwind shook her.
“What?!” Sapphire half-snapped.
“I asked if you needed some water,” the fiery-maned pegasus said.
“Not all that thirsty,” she said. “Thanks.”
This seemed to do little to ease Emberwind’s concerns. Sapphire could feel her friend’s concerned gaze upon her whenever her back was turned. There was little she could do to stop that though.
“How about you?” she asked, peering over Lyric’s shoulder. The caramel colored unicorn had filled several fresh pages.
“I am beginning to feel my old strength again,” she said. She snapped the book shut and slid it into her satchel. “I was suspicious that this was another of Insomnia’s tricks, but your story is convincing. She has surely grown in power. When we arrived she could not escape the bottom level. Only her lieutenants.”
“There’s more than one monster here? Great.” Emberwind huffed. “Just how many are there?”
“Three, counting Insomnia herself. She had two lackeys. We called them Avarice and Wrath. Both are very dangerous. Their incursions into Glendale are how we first came to know of problems in the sanctuary. Avarice is a shadowy creature, he’ll rob you of your senses. Wrath is a powerful manticore. He is so full of rage he fights as though consumed by fire.”
“You’ve fought him?” Sapphire asked.
“I am not a warrior,” Lyric said. “Stardust was. She fought with great valor. She was lightning through the air, and thunder when she struck. She would never know defeat, even unto death. Sadly, brave Stardust was not enough to end Wrath. She was forced back into the darkness. She vanished there. I do not know what happened to her. I am afraid she perished in my defense.”
“You said there were two with you. Brazen right?” Emberwind asked. “What about him?”
“We found the Lunar Stone after Stardust vanished. It was cracked, bleeding its power away. We were going for help when Avarice stopped us at the door. That is the last thing I remember.”
“We need a plan,” Sapphire said. “Do you know of any other ways out? They’ll probably have the way we came blocked.”
Lyric shook her head. “Sorry, that’s the only way I know.”
“Then it will definitely be guarded,” Emberwind said. “We should go back now, maybe try to sneak past. We don’t have to get too close for Sapphire to warp us out. As long as that magic wall is gone.”
Lyric raised a trembling hoof toward the doorway. Golden eyes gazed in, fixed on the three cornered mares. A low, guttural growl rumbled in the manticore’s chest. Sapphire was closest. She could feel its hot, panting breath on her face. A savage swipe sent her tumbling head over hoof along the floor. Her barrier had crackled to life just in time to prevent a killing blow. It faded away so quickly. She knew she was depleted. All that warping…
Wrath seemed fixated on her. He marched past Emberwind and Lyric, barely casting a sidelong glance at the two shocked ponies. The sight of Sapphire struggling to stand stirred Emberwind to action. A wing-powered leap landed a hoof against the back of the manticore’s skull. He swiped at the pegasus, phased by the blow’s tremendous force. Emberwind easily evaded the clumsy attack, but the manticore was still standing and her next attempt might not be so lucky.
“Sapphire, you have to run!” Emberwind cried out.
Sapphire glanced toward the door. Getting to it meant charging the manticore, or warping, a feat she felt would end with her unconscious. Not that charging seemed much more likely to succeed. Quickly she found herself backed into a corner, prompting an urgent, desperate effort. Magic was out. Charging seemed fatal, staying worse. The wall behind her shimmered, dissolving into a dark vortex of swirling energies. A cold wind seemed to be trying to pull her in.
The manticore could never have anticipated what came next. A cobalt blue creature whistled out of the portal like a comet borne to the earth. She crashed into Wrath full force, knocking the mighty manticore over. Emberwind seized the opportunity and landed another crushing strike to the beast’s head, but her effort paled in light of the savage assault the monster was now under.
The creature from the portal had the tail and claws of a dragon, and one pony’s hoof. Vengeful spikes lined her back, protruding though her ragged cerulean mane. Nightmarish wings, feathered and scaled, spread behind her into a bleak shroud. Like an angel of death her attack was relentless and without mercy. Time and time again she slashed the manticore with her claws or battered his head with her hoof. His attempts at retaliation were shrugged off or deftly evaded. Even the mightiest of creatures could not have stood against her tireless rage. When it seemed that Wrath was about to fall, the beast fled into the portal he'd meant for Sapphire. His attacker did not follow. She roared her frustration, pacing back and forth as she considered diving in after him.
The three ponies were huddled against the back wall, slowly edging toward the door. The dragon-pony didn’t seem to notice them right away. She clawed at the earth, shouting curses into the portal as it shrank. When it finally closed she threw herself against the wall, clawing at the bricks with reckless abandon.
“That mark…” Lyric said. Emberwind put a hoof over her mouth.
“Are you trying to get us killed?” she hissed. Her leg was pushed away by the unicorn’s magic.
“It’s Stardust!” Lyric shouted, forcing past Emberwind and Sapphire.
“Lyric?”the creature turned slowly, finally taking notice of the lives she'd just saved. Her jaw fell slack for a moment, recognition spreading across her face.
“Stardust! Are you okay?” she called, rushing toward the distraught creature.
“Do I look okay?” Stardust snapped furiously. Lyric slid to an abrupt halt and wilted under Stardust’s wild-eyed glare.
“I’m sorry, I-“
“You ran! You hid! You left me to this!” Stardust shouted. “I died that day Lyric. I died and Brazen died and you scribbled in your little book about it.” She stamped the ground with her right forehoof, the only leg that didn’t end in a dragon’s claw. The cruel spikes along her mane and back bristled menacingly, glimmered knives in the faint torchlight.
“We’re not looking for a fight,” she added, which was good because she was pretty sure they’d lose.
“Then you’ve come to the wrong place,” Stardust said, slinking out of the light. “Leave while you are yet whole.”
“That’s the general idea,” Emberwind said, squinting to see where the dragon-pony had gone. “We were looking for a way out when that manticore attacked. Thanks for the help there. I’m not sure what we’d have done if you’d not come along.”
“Perished,” Stardust murmured from somewhere in the dark.
“What?”
“You would have died,” she snapped surging forth into the light. Emberwind made a hasty retreat out of the reach of Stardust's claws.
“Stardust I’m so sorry…” Lyric said weakly. Her head was lowered and she cast a fleeting glance at the dragon-pony. “I’m glad that you escaped.”
Escaped. The word seemed to sort of hang awkwardly in the air. It rang hollow.
Stardust seemed to think for a while, looking down at the caramel unicorn. Lyric could see glaciers in Stardust’s eyes. At last the hybrid broke away.
“Come with me,” Stardust said. “I’ll lead you out.”
Stardust had been leading the three of them through the catacombs for hours with no end in sight. Lyric still hung back, avoiding Stardust's judgmental gaze. The dragonized pegasus was tireless. Even Emberwind seemed wearied by the march.
Sapphire was first to break the silence. “Are you sure this is the fastest way out?”
“It is neither fastest nor the shortest,” Stardust answered with a snort. “Wrath's stench is weakest. Learn it, it may serve to save your life.”
“Right...” Sapphire said, considering this new wisdom.
“You've been through here a lot?” Emberwind asked. She, like Sapphire, was beginning to question Stardust's expertise, as it were, on the Sanctuary's layout.
“There's another sanctuary on the other side,” Stardust explained. “In the Nightmare Realm.”
“So that's where you've been for all these years,” Sapphire said.
“600 years,” Stardust amended curtly.
“What was that like?” Emberwind asked. Sheer morbid curiosity, Sapphire assumed.
“It was dark and cool, the sun never rose, the moon never more than a sliver in the sky. You can see the real world echoing around you. Faint displays of the important events flickering through. No one can see you. No one can hear you. After a while you watch every soul that ever knew you age, and succumb to the years. It's not long until there's no one left that's ever heard your name. Then there's nothing, just the dark. And the hunger. You learn to appreciate the hunger...”
“Uh yeah, I'll... I'll remember that,” Emberwind groped about for an appropriate response.
“Do. Not. Eat the food. In the Nightmare,” Stardust growled, flicking the tips of her hybrid wings. “It's bitter at first, but it doesn't take much.”
“Is that how.. the uh... scales?” Lyric asked.
The spines along Stardust's mane bristled. Lyric melted away beneath the hate-filled glare that turned toward her. An unnatural sound rumbled in the hybrid's chest.
“Why don't we take a short break,” Sapphire said, stepping up to get the dragon-pony's attention. Her legs ached for a long rest.
“We're almost to the center, we'll rest there,” said Stardust, leading down yet another corridor. It emptied out into a large, domed room. It was freezing cold, and the night sky was visible through a little hole in the roof. Light shone out through it from a stone in the middle of the room. It was raised up on a pedestal. Each facet seemed to shine with moonlight from within.
Standing guard was a single earth pony. He was little more than a faint image made of light. On each shoulder was a sword, and he was clad in ancient armor. To Sapphire he looked like a general out of an old history book.
“This must be Brazen,” she said.
“He lives, but only within the Lunar Stone.” Stardust sat in front of him with her snout just inches from Brazen's muzzle. The earth pony did not flinch or respond. His tireless gaze seemed to look right through her, miles into the distance. “I don't know if he can hear us or see us. I've spoke to him countless times and he's never moved. I like to think that he can hear me.”
“I don't... I don't understand,” Sapphire said. Emberwind shook her head in tandem with the unicorn. “What is it he's doing here?”
“Insomnia is held here by the pure light the stone casts off,” Stardust said. “The moonlight was corrupted and so the stone's power was corrupted. She knew how it worked. Celestia would not let her sister languish in darkness forever. So she took advantage of that window, and tried to destroy the stone. Brazen would not have it. In the eleventh hour he threw himself on the stone and became trapped inside. Now his very life purifies the light.”
“But even noble Brazen cannot last forever, not with Insomnia's power increasing,” Lyric added. She'd caught the scent of the story she'd been following not so long ago. “This must be made known. Everypony must learn of his great sacrifice.”
This, Stardust didn't seem to mind. Lyric's quill whistled across the pages. Sapphire was more interested in the stone itself. Just looking at it there was no way to tell that somewhere in there, somehow, was an earth pony.
“We have to help him,” she said at length. “I don't know how, but there must be a way to free him from the stone, surely he doesn't have to stay.”
“His task will only end when the dragon lies dead,” Stardust snarled. “Mercy was a mistake.”
“Lyric, didn't you say the stone was cracked?” Sapphire asked.
“Yes, it was badly damaged,” she answered without looking up.
“The crack is gone...” Emberwind said, circling the stone.
“Brazen has had a long time to repair the damage. Part of his effort to resist Insomnia's attacks. Every day she returns to this chamber and assaults him with all of her might. I have been unable to intervene until today.”
“Woah wait, what are you planning?” Sapphire asked.
“We stand. Here,” Stardust stomped her one hoof. She pawed at the ground like a bull readying to charge. “When the dragon comes, we fix the mistake our ancestors made.”
“Stardust this is not the time for vengeance,” Sapphire cautioned.
“Vengeance? You think this is about revenge?” Stardust snarled. A growl cut through her voice. “This is justice! The end of a thousand years of horror.”
“We need a plan,” Sapphire said. “Look, we can see out from here. I can warp us out. There are allies waiting just outside. Another unicorn is with them. Light's Hope. He's good with crystal magic. He set Lyric free. He can save Brazen. But he won't know Brazen's down here if we don't go get him.”
Stardust seemed to be considering Sapphire's words. Sapphire could see the war brewing in the pegasus's mind. There was justice in killing Insomnia, but on some level Stardust knew she wanted vengeance. It was the bloodlust that gave her pause, though she knew Sapphire was right, leaving was the best option. Still her claws scratched at the ground. Insomnia was an itch in want of scratching.
“You okay there?” Emberwind asked.
Stardust stared into the eyes of the fiery-maned pegasus. Emberwind met Stardust's gaze without flinching, her head held high and proud. In those amber eyes Stardust could see the steady confidence of a sound mind. Emberwind was beautiful, healthy and whole. Just as Stardust had been so long ago before the Nightmare had changed her, twisted her into the unnatural form of fur and scales now surveying Emberwind with such envious eyes. She longed for her life before Insomnia, the life she'd once had. She would never have it back. Normalcy... peace... clarity... all a faded dream made dim by the cold light of another starless night in the Nightmare.
Stardust looked down at her front claw, the first step in her grim metamorphosis. It had been so hideous at first, the horrifying aftereffect of the hybrid's first meal within the gloom. She could still remember the first time she'd eaten of those grim fruits. The ripple of change corrupting her appearance. The talons spreading beneath the weight of her hoof. The birth of an unending numbness that had long ago devoured any sense of compassion and mercy she'd ever had. Scales and spikes soon followed. Every meal cost her more, until so little seemed to remain and she'd grown complacent to the effects. Her wings, her tail, nothing was left pure. Day by day the hunger seemed to grow. The insatiable hunger for more of the dark fruits, and for revenge...
Her lips tugged back into a cold grin, revealing subtly sharpened teeth. “One learns to appreciate the hunger...”
Her new companions all took a step back.
“That's a 'no',” Emberwind whispered to Sapphire.
“Stardust,” she said. “Do you understand? We can not stay.”
“We can save Brazen?”
Sapphire looked the hybrid straight in the eye. “If Light cannot then I will find a way myself.”
“Swear it.”
“I swear,” Sapphire said, head lifted high.
It was nearly an hour circling the perimeter of the compound before Brindolar flagged them down. Autumn stood beside him, shivering in the cold. Neither looked particularly happy to see them.
“You're all alright. That is good,” Brindolar said stiffly.
“This is Lyric, and that's Stardust. She's a pegasus,” Sapphire explained. “They helped us escape. Especially Stardust. She knows the layout very well.” The unicorn bit her lip, immediately wishing she'd left out that part about Stardust being a pegasus.
“Is everything okay...?” Sapphire asked, her voice losing momentum. She knew the answer. It was written on Autumn's face in the uncharacteristic way she shied away. It was the explanation Sapphire didn't want to hear.
“Where are the others? Where is Dawn Chaser?” Emberwind demanded.
“No, everything is not okay.” Autumn looked away. Her face twisted up and her eyes pinched shut. Her whole body wobbled on unsteady hooves.
“Autumn?” Sapphire felt her blood run cold. “Autumn where are the others? Was somepony hurt?”
“It's Light!” Autumn sobbed out. “He's... hurt. There was so much... so much blood... Dawn and Ironfeather are taking him to Glendale. We... we couldn't get to him!”
Sapphire's jaw was working, but the words didn't come. She couldn't breathe. It felt as though the frost had finally got to her lungs, freezing them shut. Desperately, she looked up at Emberwind but the pegasus seemed as lost as she was.
“Is... is he...?” Emberwind asked, hurrying to the white unicorn's side.
“He... He's gonna die,” Autumn sobbed, choking out the words before falling apart completely.
“L-light?” Sapphire squeaked out. It was all she could think to say. She stared numbly at the ground in front of her, trying to will away the words she was hearing. Dizziness and nausea washed over her. The unicorn wobbled unsteadily and the ground rushed up at her.
Emberwind curled a leg across Sapphire's shoulders and held her tight. “Take deep breaths Sapphire... deep breaths...”
For a moment there was just silence, save for the ragged sound of Sapphire struggling to breathe.
“Brindolar,” Emberwind said quietly, “What happened to Light's Hope?”
“The dragon found us. Light did something to her, some spell. I don't think it worked right. Insomnia became furious and separated us with a wall of ice. She fell upon Light before we could break through.”
“I tried, Sapphire, I tried...” Autumn whimpered. She bore the bruises to prove it.
“How bad?” Emberwind asked softly. Brindolar just grimaced and shook his head.
For a moment the devastated ponies were oblivious to the commotion going on behind them. Lyric's shrill cries for help finally got Emberwind's attention. She turned to see Stardust looming over Lyric.
The hybrid bore down on the struggling unicorn with all her weight, crushing the air from her lungs. Lyric's pupils had shrunk to little pinholes. She struggled, squeaking out desperate pleas as she attempted to placate the impassioned hybrid. One heavy claw caressed the beige mare's chest almost lovingly. Lyric squealed in distress as Stardust's claws traced lightly through her fur.
“I, am going to rip your chest open,” cried Stardust, her voice starting out soft and raising to a roar, “just to see if you have a heart!”
“Stardust! Stop!” Emberwind shouted. The hybrid didn't flinch. Her eyes were locked on her prey.
“She was writing in that book!” Stardust shouted. The spines along her mane were standing rigid, cruel knife edges tearing at the sky.
“This is not the time!” Emberwind snapped. “We're going back to Glendale. We need to regroup. No questions, no debates, we're leaving. Now!”
It was nearly dusk, and the early winter sun was sinking quickly in the western sky, soon to strike the horizon and burst in oranges and yellows like Emberwind's mane. It was neatly lined up with the little yellow flag at the center of the crowd, casting a long shadow across the crowd and across Sapphire Starlight. The flag was nearly completely washed out, paling in comparison to the bright sphere that seemed to rest just beyond it. Sapphire hung her head, staring at the ground to shield her eyes from the searing rays.
“We have a lot of work to do,” Light urged, nudging Sapphire's shoulder. She nodded her quiet agreement and turned to leave.
“Sapphire... How're you holding up?” Emberwind asked, cutting off the white unicorn's escape. Sapphire could see the concern in her friend's eyes.
“I'm just... really tired,” Sapphire said.
“And don't tell Rosebloom,” she added, forcing a faint smile.
“Okay, well with things how they are and all you know you can stay with us a while if you want,” Emberwind said. Sapphire nodded again. Stardust was not the best of roommates, but leaving the dragon-pony alone in the tower seemed likely to be construed as an insult.
“Thanks,” she said, “but really I'm fine.”
“Well at least tell us where you're going,” Emberwind said.
“Over to Light's to work on freeing Brazen,” Sapphire said, stifling a yawn. She hoped the walk would get her blood flowing, else it was likely she'd be going over to Light's to sleep on the floor.
“I'll tell you how it goes later...” she said, looking down the road.
Emberwind nodded slowly and stepped out of Sapphire's path. The white unicorn left with Light at her side. She paused only once to look back at the little yellow flag fluttering in the evening breeze. Many were still there around it, talking quietly. Sometime between her departure and harried return hushed tones and quiet whispers had become the standard of communication for the ponies of Glendale. Looming war had a way of setting souls on edge.
Sapphire's mission was the gossip of choice. Particularly, how Sapphire's mission had ended in failure. The dragon was not defeated, nor was the sanctuary reinforced. She'd taken all the valor Glendale could muster into the lightless reaches and returned with two washed out heroes of an age relegated to the dustiest corners of the Canterlot archives. Little more than a scribe and a monster to common eyes.
Lyric had spent the better part of the last three days at the school entertaining the young with old legends. A few of which Sapphire suspected the storyteller had witnessed with her own eyes.
Stardust had been met with all the shock and terror that Sapphire had expected. Jeering adolescents and sobbing foals was not the hero's welcome that a wounded hero like Stardust deserved. Time was a pitiless foe that afforded Sapphire no opportunity to repatriate the ill-tempered pegasus. For now, she had isolated herself in Sapphire's tower, her presence casting a pall over Sapphire's floundering social life.
But Sapphire Starlight needed no help destroying her social standing. The frosty-maned mare could feel judgmental glances and prying eyes boring into her almost anywhere she went. Some looked with pity, others with concern or distrust. She didn't really blame them. They'd had such great hope and she'd taken that way when her mission had failed. Every day brought more reports on the advance of the wolven horde, joined by even more sinister creatures that the scouts could not identify. Half-glimpsed shadows, indeterminate growls, and unfamiliar prints in the snow were inconclusive sightings at best, but had blossomed into tales of fearsome demons and savage monsters with horrendous claws and yawning mouths of merciless pointed teeth. Those few that dared to venture close enough to peer into the shadow yielded no reports, only little flags marked with clouds and feathers in the old church yard. Even wearing the pariah's mantle, Sapphire's goal hadn't changed. In her eyes her mission had not ended in failure. It simply had not ended.
“You've hardly said a word,” Light said, nudging Sapphire's shoulder again.
“I was just thinking about Stardust,” she said.
“Worried about her?” asked the yellow-furred unicorn.
“She's having a very hard time adjusting,” Sapphire said. It was an indirect answer, but the truth of the matter was complex. While Stardust was back in the waking world and for lack of a better term, healthy, the former pegasus had habits from that ranged from slightly odd to outright worrisome. Regularly Sapphire would find Stardust staring at herself in the mirror with the most contemptible scowls etched into her face, sharp-toothed snarls that might have reduced lesser mirrors to useless shards. The hybrid didn't speak much. The few conversations she did initiate seemed to turn quickly to the macabre. Sapphire was glad it ended there. So far. She wasn't sure how she'd handle things if Stardust started having shouting matches with invisible ponies.
“Stardust is strong and independent,” Light said. “She'll survive this. Otherwise she'd have turned those claws against herself centuries ago.”
Sapphire wrinkled her nose and just nodded. It was exactly what she was thinking but not particularly appropriate for street conversation with everyone so down about the war at their doorsteps. Finally they'd reached Light's door.
“After you,” the young stallion said, bowing with a little flourish. Sapphire smirked and smacked him with her tail as she trotted past.
“Where do we begin?” Sapphire asked once they were both inside.
“Start with the Lunar Stone. Do you remember what I taught you about Crystal Magic?”
“Some,” said Sapphire in an unsteady tone.
“What did I tell you was the most important thing to know about a crystal?” asked Light.
“Composition,” she said. “But we don't know what the Lunar Stone is made of.”
“Take a look at this reference,” Light said. “See anything that looks similar to it?” A book found its way to the floor before Sapphire. The cover was well-worn. It was one of a few Sapphire had often seen open on Light's desk.
“Magicite... Seraphite... Stellacine...Valicite...” she read aloud from the topics as she swept through the pages. “Ah ha! Sacrilite! This has to be it. It says here sacrilite comes from fallen meteors. It is very rare. Larger stones can be used to collect light and distill it into a very potent form of magic. Ponies exposed to charged sacrilite can expect to see increased magical potency at the expense of the sacrilite's charge.”
“Sounds like a good match,” Light said. “Unfortunately I've not got any sacrilite to test with.”
“I imagine not,” Sapphire said. “Of course it would be the one that comes from meteors.”
A knock at the door interrupted the mare's thoughts. She looked up and found Light was digging through the shelves for another book.
“I'll get it,” she said, hurrying to the door. On the stoop was an earth pony. His pelt was light brown and his mane was much darker, almost black. Spilled powder kegs marked his flank.
“Sapphire Starlight, right?” Brisance said. “It's good to see you again!”
Again? Sapphire thought. Have we met? She bit her lip as she struggled to recall where she might have encountered him before. The earth pony's ears drooped.
“It's Brisance,” he prompted, hoping for some sign of recognition in Sapphire's cobalt eyes.
Light appeared at Sapphire's side. “Oh it's Bris, Sapphire how could you forget Bris? You met him last night at the hospital.”
“Right, Bris, sorry, it's been a long few days,” Sapphire said.
“I'm sure it has,” he said, but his face still wore a frown.
Slowly Sapphire was recalling the events of the previous evening. This was the demolitions expert Fleethoof had sent for.
“Oh, come in,” the mare said, stepping aside. Bris brushed past her.
“Emberwind and Dawn Chaser told me I'd find you here. I've been to a few parties like this before,” the demolition pony said. “It's always best to touch base with the leading unicorns in each town about defenses. I offer a different sort of magic that they're often not used to. Usually they've got lots of questions.”
“It's explosives, right?” Sapphire asked.
“That's right,” Bris said. “Earth pony magic how it ought to be. Sudden, fierce, and unstoppable. I've seen my bombs stop dragons cold in their tracks.”
“A few of those might have done us a lot of good,” Sapphire said. “I'm sure the militia will want to talk to you about the bombs and how they should be used.”
“Of course. They're my next appointment. Listen, I know current circumstances aren't.. ideal...” the earth pony hesitated, choosing his words carefully. “...but I was told there might be some amplifying crystals I could get at to spice things up a little.”
“I'm not really sure that we've got anything like that lying around,” Sapphire said, taking a cursory glance around the room for anything she might lay hooves on for him. “Sorry...”
“Yes, sorry,” Light echoed.
The earth pony frowned. “Right, it's fine really. Perhaps another time. I know you've a lot of important work to do. Please call for me if you find any though.”
“Of course,” Sapphire said.
The demolitionist quietly excused himself, leaving Sapphire and Light to their studies. For a while things were quiet save the soft turning of pages. Sapphire switched back and forth between reading the resources Light had provided and helping him to assemble a crystal matrix based on their research. According to the book, a proper matrix would let the unicorns charge a release spell into a small, portable crystal. If they could get the release stone in contact with the Lunar Stone long enough, Brazen would go free. Sapphire was convinced that the super charge the Lunar Stone had been giving to Brazen all this time would be enough to let the valorous earth pony finally defeat his age-old foe. Unfortunately the matrix was more difficult to align than Sapphire could have ever imagined.
“I'm worried about you Sapphire,” Light said after a while. “I can't believe you forgot meeting Bris. It's not like you.”
“I know,” Sapphire sighed. She'd been trying to make sense of it for a while. Yesterday seemed so far away though. The day was so dim in her mind that it seemed like months had transpired in one afternoon.
“You should get some rest Sapphire. Try to clear your head.”
“Yeah, you're right,” the frosty-maned unicorn admitted. “I think Rosebloom would have me back in the hospital already if she weren't so busy with her patients and stocking up on supplies. While we were gone she hired on three new nurses to help mix medicine and take inventory.”
“You're probably right,” Light said. He chuckled to himself as he skimmed through yet another book. Sapphire peered over his shoulder, hoping to see what he was looking for, but the words seemed blurry on the page.
“Good night, Light,” she said.
* * *
Click click clop. Click click clop. The distinctive sound of Stardust's gait alerted Sapphire that she had failed to sneak into the tower without waking her guest. Alternatively she'd begun to wonder if the dragon-pony slept at all.
“Welcome home,” Stardust said flatly. It was a stiff, nearly mechanical comment to which Sapphire could hardly muster the enthusiasm for even the most halfhearted of salutations.
“How're you this evening?” Sapphire said, her words distorted by a yawn that she tried to speak through.
“It was quiet. Have you determined how to free Brazen?” asked Stardust, barely pausing for a breath before moving on to the matter at hand. The answer was going to be the same in the morning, only then Sapphire might have cared to tell it.
“Almost,” the unicorn muttered, hoping it would be enough to get her sleepless house guest to leave her be for the night. It wasn't.
“How close? Do not forget your oath Sapphire Starlight,” Stardust said. Her voice seemed even stiffer than usual.
“I've not forgotten. There's a release spell. It's really complicated, going to take a little longer to figure out. Maybe another day or two.” Sinking into her sheets she wished it were more like three or four days, maybe even a whole week. Brazen had survived 600 years without Sapphire's help. What were a few more days in the shadow of centuries? The softness of her bed was a warm reprieve from sleeping on a beat-up old mat in the snowy northern reaches. Sapphire was eager to welcome their embrace.
Morning came all too soon for Sapphire Starlight. Everything was still a haze when she answered the door and found Light looking as alert and well-composed as ever. Sapphire cursed inwardly. She'd not been expecting him nearly so early. Running through the list of grooming rituals in her typical morning routine, the bleary-eyed unicorn tried to gauge just how awful she looked. Wash mane, brush mane, brush tail, brush teeth... Sapphire realized she'd done exactly none of these things. She grimaced inwardly, trying hard not to imagine the mess she must look like. An image came to mind, courtesy of the stories about the night-pony next door that one of the young colts in the neighborhood seemed to be telling his hooligan friends nearly every time she was in earshot. Sapphire could see it now – hazy visions of herself as a mangy-haired witch with leaves and brambles caught in her mane and pelt, an unkempt hermit living out in the forest all alone.
“Light! You're early!” Sapphire barked out. It sounded more accusatory than she'd wanted.
“There was a breakthrough,” Light said. “The crystal is ready. Emberwind is ready to go. I have opened a portal into the Nightmare Realm.”
“Woah Light, slow down a minute there. Portal? Nightmare Realm?” Sapphire's groggy mind was having trouble keeping up with the stallion's energetic pace.
“Yes, it's a brilliant plan,” Light said brightly, enthusiasm was creeping into his voice. “Insomnia will never expect an incursion through the Nightmare Realm. You will be sneaking in the back door. She'll never see you coming.”
Stardust appeared next to Sapphire in the doorway. The hybrid seemed just as alert as ever. Does she ever sleep? Sapphire wondered.
“I will lead the way,” Stardust declared. She knew the place better than any other. Sapphire wasn't thrilled about following the ill-tempered hybrid around for days in the Nightmare Realm but she could see no other choice. Light seemed to be going through the same thought process and his look of worry mirrored her own.
“Stardust will make an excellent guide,” declared Light. The hybrid nodded amiably.
“I'll gather my things,” Sapphire said, still a little stunned by the rapid progress.
* * *
Sapphire could hardly believe her eyes. Light had done all this in one evening? The portal's energies whirled outward from the spinning vortex in Light's living room. Though she knew the portal was Light's creation, the yawning chasm seemed to stare back at her in quiet judgment, like a great lidless eye accusing her of some unknown sin. She shot one last nervous glance back at him as she followed mechanically after Stardust. The portal snapped shut behind Emberwind. A geode hung around the fiery pegasus's neck. Thanks to Light's enchantments, the soft azure stone would open the portal on the other side. It would be a one-way trip. With the geode's magic spent, the three mares would have to walk back in the waking world.
The Nightmare Realm was fittingly named. The air seemed dead. It was cool and still and just a little hard to breathe. Sound didn't seem to carry far, quickly becoming muffled by the oppressive fog. The ground was uneven rocky plates, broken and fractured. Here and there gruesome plants had erupted through the cracks. Some bore dark, shriveled fruits with the hue of freshly spilled blood. Sapphire found herself looming over one such plant, eyes fixed on the unsavory produce.
“Do not eat the fruit,” Stardust warned. Her wings snapped sharply against her sides, drawing attention to the danger that lurked in even the most passive forms of life in that lightless place. Sapphire's curiosity was piqued. If these were in fact the berries that had warped Stardust's body, perhaps they could also hold the key to the hybrid's redemption? Determined to investigate the possibilities more fully, the unicorn deftly swept a few of the sickly berries into her pack and hurried to catch her companions.
“Do you think Insomnia will be here in the Nightmare Realm?” Emberwind asked. Stardust shook her head.
“The dragon remembers her old home, once her prison,” the hybrid explained. “She's not returned once since the day she escaped into Equestria. It's the same with Wrath. I have no doubt he's returned to the Sanctuary. He took a great risk coming back here. He knows I'm after him. He'll not escape me again.” The grim determination in Stardust's words worried Sapphire. The mission was important above all things, and with the former pegasus expressing sentiments like that, Sapphire needed to be prepared for the possibility that the hybrid would abandon her and Emberwind to pursue revenge against Wrath.
With little to see, Sapphire's mind was quickly numbed into near insensibility. She trudged along dully, not even noticing when night fell. A subtle decrease in the gloomy light was easy to overlook. Had Stardust not called a halt to the march Sapphire felt she might have just kept going until she passed out standing up. Despite the disturbing landscape, sleep came easy to the worn out ponies.
Sapphire was stirred awake in the middle of the night by the thick sound of greedy slurping, the smacking of lips and gnashing teeth. A cold growl made the unicorn's hackles rise. She gritted her teeth and illuminated the area with the light of her horn. Emberwind stood just a few feet away. Her head was stuffed into Sapphire's bag.
“Emberwind?” Sapphire asked. No response. Sapphire's stomach lurched. She had not been able to quite make them out at first, but dark crimson spikes had begun to erupt through the other mare's mane. Sapphire's heart skipped a beat.
“Ember... Ember stop....” Sapphire whimpered. She reached out and pulled the bag off of the pegasus' nose. Emberwind's eyes had turned bright red and glowed fiercely in the dark.
“Sapphire, you fool...” Emberwind's voice gave way to a growl. Her wings snapped open, spilling feathers across the ground. She arched her back as more spikes cascaded down her spine. A long reptilian tail had already unfurled behind her. “What have you done?”
“I... Ember I'm so sorry... I... I can fix this,” Sapphire pleaded, but she was melting away under Emberwind's hate-filled gaze.
“What have you done?” Emberwind snarled, advancing on the fear-stricken unicorn. “WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!”
The last thing Sapphire saw was a savage orange claw racing out of the darkness. It struck her throat, slicing through her soft flesh with brutal efficiency, spraying her lifeblood across the grisly floor.
* * *
Sapphire's heart hammered in her chest, pounding against her ribcage like a bird desperate to escape a snare. She woke up screaming at the top of her lungs, struggling against an oppressive weight. She couldn't move. She couldn't see. She couldn't scream loud enough to placate her beleaguered soul.
“Sapphire!” a familiar voice called.
“I'm sorry Ember! I'm sorry!” the unicorn sobbed. Hot, wet tears streamed down her face. Her voice finally gave out under the punishment. Soreness in her throat, a dry mouth. Light standing over her.
“Sapphire!” Light shouted again.
“Where is Ember! Where is she?!” Sapphire pleaded.
“I'm right here.” It was Emberwind's voice.
“Don't eat the fruit!” Sapphire shouted as she collided with Emberwind. She'd summoned up every bit of strength she possessed, sending Light tumbling and shoving Stardust aside to get at the fiery-maned pegasus.
The entire room broke into panicked chaos. Light and Stardust struggled to pry Sapphire off of Emberwind. Everypony was tangled up in a sea of clinging bedsheets. Somewhere in the struggle an entire shelf of books was knocked loose from the wall and spilled across the melee. Over all this was the sound of Emberwind shouting over and over again: “Somepony get this lunatic off of me!”
Finally Dawn Chaser stepped in. He took Sapphire by the scruff of her neck and pulled the sobbing unicorn off of his mate.
“Emberwind forgive me! Please forgive me!” Sapphire was sobbing uncontrollably.
“Sapphire it's fine!” Emberwind snapped.
“Wh...what?” Sapphire asked, trying to rub clarity back into her tear-muddied eyes. She finally got a good look at her pegasus friend and found that Emberwind was whole. Sapphire sniffled, mind whirring as she tried to piece together what she was seeing, where she was.
“Are you okay?” Dawn Chaser asked.
“You're not supposed to be here...” Sapphire said.
“We came to help,” Light said. Sapphire barely heard him though. She was looking around the room, her room. It was her sheets she had been tangled up in. Her books that had been scattered across the floor.
“What... happened...?” Sapphire asked, rubbing her head.
“A nightmare,” Emberwind said. “Everypony's having them tonight. There's no stars out either.”
“It was so real,” Sapphire said, suddenly stricken by the zeal of her outburst. A portal into the Nightmare Realm in one night? The geode built without her in the same brief span of time, Emberwind sneaking food from her bag, and Light sending her off to fight a dragon alone? It seemed so silly that she'd believed it was real.
“Nightmares can seem very real,” Dawn said. “But you've not left the tower all night. Your neighbors seem to be watching out for you.”
Sapphire harrumphed. “I bet they are.”
“You've been under a lot of stress,” added Light. He pressed his muzzle against her shoulder and nuzzled tenderly behind her ear. The mare visibly began to relax.
“This is how the changeling hunts,” Stardust said. “All at the dragon's bidding. Every soul will be plagued by Avarice's nightmares. Who can resist Insomnia's armies when there is no rest, no reprieve from the struggle day in and day out? She'll have victory before the battle has even begun.”
“Fine, then we have to stop him.” Emberwind said, stamping her hoof. It made a loud clack against Sapphire's stony bedroom floor.
“If he's casting a spell on the entire city he has to be close by,” Sapphire said. “And he's probably got a rune.”
“What does he look like?” Dawn Chaser asked. He had been keeping a wary eye on Stardust, and his attention had not gone without notice.
“Less wretched than I,” the hybrid snapped. A curt snarl underscored her words.
“Have you seen him?” Dawn Chaser asked, speaking slowly, loudly, and glaring down at Stardust across the tip of his muzzle.
“I don't know,” Stardust answered vaguely. She sneered at Dawn Chaser, gazing defiantly into his eye. The stallion's patience had been reduced to a quickly fraying rope holding a heavy rock aloft. Stardust was standing just beneath it in his mind's eye.
Emberwind took her mate's angry snort as her cue to intervene. She took a step toward Stardust to get her attention.
“What do you know about Avarice?” Emberwind asked once those callous eyes were turned toward her.
“He is a cunning and devious trickster,” Stardust said. “He takes on many forms to stalk his prey. He could be standing next to you at any hour and you would believe he was a lifelong friend. He will afllict you with delusions nearly impossible to see through. The truth is often less acceptable than the lies he'll wield. He has probably come and gone among us as he pleases for days.”
“Why do that though?” Emberwind asked.
Stardust just looked at Sapphire for a moment. The unicorn had a truly miserable look on her face, slouched there on her bedroom floor.
“To learn your fears and desires,” she said. “And he'll turn them against you. He is an intimate and callous hunter. Always he feels the Nightmare's hunger. He paws at the ground, eager to slake his appetite with your sorrow.”
Stardust seemed to shudder for a moment. She remained fixated on Sapphire's stricken visage.
“Stardust?” Emberwind asked. Stardust's ears pinned back, and the drooping spikes along her spine stood up a little as her shoulders tensed. Emberwind's mouth shut without another word. The seconds seemed to slow to a crawl in the tense silence that followed. At last she spoke.
“He came to me once. That's what you wanted to know right? How I know these things?”
Emberwind nodded slowly.
“It could help,” Sapphire added.
“It could,” Light echoed Sapphire in agreement.
“It was almost a century ago,” Sapphire said. “Maybe more. You begin to lose track. I was asleep in the inner sanctum. Right there before Brazen, where he's stood vigil all this time. I woke up to a hoof on my shoulder and I looked up, right into his eyes. For the first time, he looked back, and I knew he could see me. He'd opened the way into the Nightmare, he said, because of the Stone's divine power he was able. All to save me.”
“But it was Avarice...” Sapphire said somberly.
Stardust's claws raked the floor, leaving little grooves in the stone in their wake. She roared her fury, rattling the shutters on the windows. Sapphire grimaced at what was going to amount to one more barely-civil conversation with her neighbors in the morning.
“I had him, right there. I could have killed him. I failed. I missed the chance, and now that monster is free.” Stardust had begun to pace about the room with a sort of nervous restlessness. Watching her, Sapphire couldn't help but wonder if they'd still be facing this enemy if he'd made the misstep of approaching Stardust as Lyric instead of Brazen. As far as she knew, the two mares she'd brought back from the Sanctuary of Light hadn't so much as been in the same half of town as each other since their harried arrival a few days ago.
Sapphire was snapped out of her thoughts by Light's muzzle against her shoulder. His voice was calm but firm.
“It would be prudent for us to look for a way to protect ourselves from Avarice. Immediately.”
“Shouldn't I get some sleep?” Sapphire asked.
“I don't know,” Emberwind said. “Are you going to wake up screaming again? I thought for a minute there you were going to choke me to death.”
Suddenly Sapphire felt her blood run cold. She turned her head slowly, surveying the faces of those gathered around her. In her bedroom. In the middle of the night. She could feel an icy chill crawling up her spine.
“Why are you here?” she asked. Almost on instinct, fire began to crackle at the tip of her horn. She couldn't imagine using the strength she'd already begun to summon up, but fear was a powerful motivator.
“Everypony came to help,” Light answered.
“Easy there Sapphire,” Emberwind said. She and Dawn were each inching away from the blue-maned unicorn.
“Relax Sapphire,” Light said. “There are no threats here, but you are right to be suspicious.”
“We were passing by and heard the screaming. Dawn thought... Well it doesn't matter,” Emberwind said. Her eyes had involuntarily drifted toward Stardust. The hybrid growled to herself, then turned away with a disdainful snort, melting into the plentiful shadows that she seemed so comfortable in.
“Well we heard shouting and came to help,” Emberwind said.
“Stardust isn't dangerous!” Sapphire said, stamping a hoof.
Dawn hadn't seemed to be paying attention until that moment. His eyes narrowed as he furrowed his brow as he stepped up to the plaintive unicorn.
“Listen you,” he said, glowering down at her. “It's good that you trust her, Celestia knows someone must if she's ever going to heal from... from whatever that place did to her to make her that way, but it is my duty to question every soul that comes through those gates. Do you understand?”
“She saved me – ”
“Do you understand,” Dawn Chaser repeated sharply.
“– from the manticore, and she led us out of the dragon's lair. It's hardly fair that-”
“'Fair?!'” Dawn Chaser barked, shouting down Sapphire's rant before it could gain momentum. “This is war, Sapphire Starlight. Nothing about this is fair. What happened at the Sanctuary of Lights was awful, but it's time to face facts. This isn't about you, it's about Glendale. Glendale needs you, now most of all. We put four new banners in the cemetery yesterday and the battle has not yet begun. Pull yourself together.”
Sapphire's backside bumped into the wall and she slid down into a clumsy seated position as Dawn Chaser's words struck her like a hammer blow to the head. She could feel tears beginning to well up in her eyes, threatening to run down her face.
“Easy there,” Light said, resting a hoof on her shoulder.
“I think she gets it,” Emberwind said, nudging her mate's jaw. “Why don't you go on home, I'll stay here the rest of the night and keep watch?”
“Fine,” Dawn Chaser said gruffly. “See to it.”
He left through the window. Sapphire scrambled to wipe away the tears.
“I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me,” she said, staring at the ground bewildered and embarrassed. “I never get this way.”
“You've been through a lot,” her friend said softly. “And Dawn is very zealous. Many of the ones we've had to bury were once our students. You've just been sleeping so much. It's worrisome.”
“I have?” Sapphire asked, genuinely confused. Emberwind telling her she was sleeping too much? What was next, Stardust announcing she'd decided to pick up playing the harp? Then again, the pegasi were still awake and active when she'd woken up screaming like a banshee.
“I'm sorry,” she said remorsefully.
“It's sunup soon,” Emberwind said, glancing out the window. “An hour or two at most. The donut shop will already be open. We can go have tea and donuts. Maybe that'll put a little vigor in your legs.”
“It's a great idea,” Light's Hope encouraged. He was just as energetic as ever, despite the late hour. He smiled warmly at Sapphire. His enthusiasm was a little out of character perhaps, but she was in distress, and the sunflower yellow unicorn always seemed to know exactly what she needed.
“You go ahead with Emberwind. I'll catch up.” Light ducked out of the room, trotting into the darkness after Stardust.
“Alright,” Sapphire said, forcing a feeble smile. Inwardly, however, she cringed. The bed was just a few feet away. An entire day of work on the keystone with only a few short hours of sleep lay ahead of her. She didn't feel she was up to the task, but wearily she fell in step behind the pegasus, and followed her out of the sanctuary of her tower.
The air was biting cold, stinging the unicorn's nose as she trudged along be0neath the silvery moonlight. She cast a despondent look skyward. It was a perfect night. Exactly right for her studies. Her books had languished weeks already, and were liable to be gathering dust for much longer.
* * *
A cheery metallic jingle summoned Minty Whisper to the front counter. The sea green earth pony went wide-eyed at the sight of the first two customers of the morning. Sapphire became starkly aware that she'd completely failed to run a brush through her mane and looked like she'd just crawled out of a week long safari into the Everfree Forest. A little getaway cottage out in Everfree, wouldn't that fill out her reputation quite nicely? She chuckled at the thought. Minty Whisper was still staring, biting her lip. Why was...? Oh yes, her son was that cheeky little colt telling everyone stories about the night-pony witch living in the tower.
“So uhm, what can I get for you?” Minty asked.
“Two witch chocolate,” Sapphire said. “With! I mean with! Two with chocolate.”
“I see you've already tried an espresso?” Minty asked, giving her a bewildered look. Sapphire wished she could disappear. It got added to a long mental list of spells that she meant to learn one day.
“No but that's a great idea,” Sapphire said. “I'll have one of those as well.”
“Same for me,” Emberwind said, shoving a few coins onto the counter.
The coins were quickly swept away and replaced with a tray of sweet treats and two steaming cups of 'the good stuff'. Sapphire took a sip and felt her face scrunch up on its own.
“Geh, you could etch diamonds with this stuff,” she said, eyeballing it. Two more swigs of the bitter caramel elixir and Sapphire could feel her racing heart skipping beats like a schoolfilly playing hopscotch.
“Do you like it? It's our special house blend,” Minty said, coming up to the table.
“It's potent,” Sapphire said, honestly. The bitter taste left much to be desired, but the effect was spot on.
“Glad to hear it,” Minty said. “I'm also glad you came by again. We've not seen you around since...”
Emberwind cast the donut pony a look of warning. Minty flushed and started to make a hasty retreat back to the counter.
“Anyway his amulet looks quite lovely on you,” she said, and was gone.
Sapphire's hoof automatically went to the jewel resting against her chest. The weight of the silver chain was so subtle she barely noticed it even now. Her donut made a soft landing on the tray and the haze of blue magic winked out around it. She looked down at the amulet, holding it up to see better. It glowed softly from within, a little teardrop of captured light. Light's amulet.
“It does look nice on you,” Emberwind said somberly, her voice barely above a whisper.
Sapphire could feel her head spinning. Light's amulet? She couldn't remember how she got it. Why didn't he have it?
“I need to get some air,” Sapphire said, pushing away from the table. Suddenly the donut shop seemed stiflingly hot. She burst out the door into the cold night, taking a deep breath as though it were her first in minutes. Light was there, coming up the road toward the shop.
“Sapphire? You look terrible,” the stallion said, frowning. “Why don't we go for a walk?”
Sapphire nodded mechanically, following her friend down the road. Emberwind sat watching on the steps for a few minutes, but didn't follow.
“Sorry,” Misty said forlornly, joining the pegasus.
“It's not your fault,” Emberwind said, even though her tone said otherwise. “Don't worry about it...”
* * *
“Where are we going?” Sapphire asked after a while.
“It's not far,” Light said. “Do you remember when we first came back to Glendale?”
“You were hurt,” Sapphire said, immediately wondering where the stallion was going with this.
“Was I?” Light asked. “Think carefully.”
“Of course, that's why we came back,” Sapphire said.
“That's why yes, but do you remember?” Light asked.
“Does it matter?”
“Sapphire Starlight. Look me in the eye,” Light said, stepping in front of her on the path.
“I don't like this Light,” Sapphire whined. “Let's go back to the donut shop. Emberwind will be worried.”
Light shook his head, his face a dour mask of concern. “Emberwind is already worried. All of your friends are worried. You know this.”
“I don't walk to talk about this!” Sapphire shouted. Light fell silent. Sapphire found herself avoiding his gaze, then seeking it when her guilt caught up to her for yelling at him.
“Then come with me,” Light said, starting back down the road. It was not a request. Sapphire had to hurry to keep up with his pace. The stallion had his head down, intent on the near horizon.
“Why are we here?” Sapphire asked. The night air suddenly felt a lot colder. She felt her knees wobbling.
“Because you have my amulet,” Light said. “You never even saw that you were wearing it until tonight.”
“That's not true,” Sapphire said.
“But it is,” Light answered sternly. “You cannot lie to me, Sapphire. You know why. Now, tell me how you got my amulet.”
Sapphire closed her eyes. She flinched, her whole body shaking. The memory was slow to surface, little more than a hazy image at first. It felt years old, like faded glimpses at a childhood vacation. There was Fleethoof, placing the amulet around her neck. Her eyes stung, and she could feel hot tears in twin streaks down her cheeks. Fleethoof had said something to her, but the image got blurry, more tears, her sobs were drowning out the words.
The mare's eyes snapped open. She looked up at Light and shook her head. “Please, no, I don't want to think about this. I can't... I won't...”
“Sapphire, it's okay,” Light said, nuzzling her forehead. “All my life I stood against the darkness...”
Sapphire could hear Dawn Chaser's voice. He was standing on a little platform, looking out at a small crowd.
“All my life I stood against the darkness, that I should fear no evil,” Dawn Chaser said. “That's what he told me before he slipped away.”
He stopped for a moment and looked down at Sapphire. She was barely standing, leaning against Emberwind for support. She struggled to lift her head to meet his gaze.
“Light's Hope was a good stallion,” Dawn Chaser said. “We honor him today not only for his great sacrifice, but for the life he lived day by day. Light was a faithful friend, a source of comfort to those that needed it, and a skillful artisan of his craft. There is not one among us that did not have their life somehow made better by his companionship. The world was brighter for his presence. May we all strive to live such a life as his, that when we stand to account for our days, we may hold our heads high.”
Sapphire collapsed at Light's hooves, choking on sobs.
“I don't understand,” she cried, looking up at him through the blur of tears. “I can see you. You're here.”
Light looked up at the little yellow banner that bore his symbol. The pendant fluttered gently in the early morning breeze. He reached down and lifted Sapphire's head from the ground.
“Avarice,” he said. “He has been plaguing your for days. I know this because you know this.”
The yellow stallion reached down and touched his hoof to the amulet around Sapphire's neck.
“This protects you,” Light said. “I left this to you because I knew I might not always be around for you...”
“You're... not real?” Sapphire's voice quavered. She sniffled as Light shook his head.
“The amulet is real, and I am the amulet. I never would have wished for it to be used this way,” he said. “You know that. Avarice wished you to believe I was alive, that we've been working on the keystone.”
“We've not?!” Sapphire yelped, eyes-widening.
The phantom Light shook his head. “No, not at all. You've slept the better part of three days.”
“You have been quite a nuisance,” a familiar voice crooned, emerging from thin air. Ironfeather reached out, running a talon across the amulet's shining diamond. “So it was the necklace all along that resisted me.”
“Ironfeather?” Sapphire asked. “What are you saying?”
Light bristled, growling at the gryphon. The diamond shone brightly, its lambent glow casting harsh shadows off the graves.
“Avarice!” Sapphire shouted, pawing at the ground like a bull about to charge.
The gryphon sneered, looking at her in disgust. “Well. Aren't you clever?”
Ribbons of dark purple smoke rose up all around like cage bars, slowly filling in to form opaque walls, blotting out the faint moonlight. Sapphire found herself trapped, with the gryphon stalking toward her menacingly.
“All this time? No, you wouldn't have warned us of your own escape...” Sapphire asked, desperate to buy time. If Avarice was a changeling, or even a demon as the legend suggested, she had no idea how to fight one.
“Worried about your cowardly friend?” The false gryphon shrugged. “He's dead, I imagine. After Light died it was easy enough to replace him. All those dead gryphons, an entire pride fed to the wolven horde... Forcing him to watch that over and over again every night made it a simple matter to drive him mad, send him screaming into the night. Oh that look of disgust suits you well, Sapphire Starlight. Perhaps Ironfeather had not told you how he hid and watched, watched as they were consumed.”
Light flashed from Sapphire's horn, striking the gryphon in the center of his chest. The beast screamed agony as Sapphire's arcane comet set fire to feather and seared skin. Abruptly the screaming stopped. With grim determination, Avarice set his gaze on Sapphire's chest, and forged across the tiny arena, weathering every barrage of comets that the desperate unicorn could summon. A sudden swath of ice erupted around him, snaring lion paws and eagle talons. Avarice roared his frustration, cracking the ice with a furious blow of his powerful beak. One by one he freed his limbs.
“Your magic, will run out,” he growled ominously, freeing his last paw. Again Sapphire reached out with her magic, ice blossoming around her like a giant frozen flower, the vines wrapping around the gryphon, pinning him down.
A savage cry drowned out the gryphon's unrelenting growls and snarls. The smoky wall cracked, and Stardust forced her way through from outside.
“You...” Stardust growled, advancing on the gryphon. A new look appeared on the demon's face. Eyes widening in terror, he struggled violently to tear through the icy bonds that held him.
“I won't let you escape again,” Stardust said, licking her teeth. “I know where we are... I know what it means...”
“No, wait, don't. I can fix you. Trust me, I can. She won't like it but I can...” Avarice bargained, drawing back as the hybrid closed the distance. His back feet were both still trapped. Stardust charged, barreling into him with her head down. Her ice-bound foe was unable to even attempt to avoid the blow and landed flat on his back, wings flailing beneath him. Stardust put her one hoof on his chest, holding him down.
“There's only one thing I want from you...” she hissed, her claws tracing lovingly across his soft vulnerable chest --
The gryphon whined pitifully. “But I can f-”
Avarice mouthed the last two words silently, only the slightest hiss of air flowing from his throat. He went rigid for a few seconds and then fell still. Sapphire looked away, stumbled a few feet, and vomited espresso and donut chunks behind the bushes.
Dawn Chaser paced back and forth at the front of Town Hall's big meeting room. He had not said a word since he'd ordered out all of his troops. Armor and weapons were scattered across the floor like the battle had already ended. Only Stardust and Sapphire Starlight stood before him, waiting for him to talk. Emberwind looked on from her perch atop the stage. Finally Dawn stopped in front of them and looked Stardust in the eye with a glare that could turn a cockatrice to stone. It was the first time Sapphire thought someone might successfully stare the hybrid down.
For a moment Dawn Chaser just stared into Stardust's eyes, seething. At last Stardust spoke.
“Do you expect me to--”
“I expect you to shut your mouth, look me in the eye, and listen carefully to every word I am about to say you,” Dawn Chaser shouted, his eyes still fixed on the former pegasus. He seemed to have sworn off blinking. “Do I make myself clear?”
Stardust did not answer.
“I am extremely angry with you,” Dawn Chaser raged. Stardust started to open her mouth but the wrathful pegasus shouted her down. “You put our entire city at risk! Light's Hope is gone. Sapphire is this city's last unicorn with proper magic training. And you had the audacity to use her as bait to settle your personal vendetta with a changeling.”
“Avarice was a monster,” Stardust barked. She dug a set of grooves in the floor with her one clawed forelimb. “And because of me he is dead.”
“Because of you one of our greatest assets was dragged halfway into the nightmare realm and nearly killed. I am responsible for defending this city! Not you. If you are aware of an enemy threat, you bring it to me. Do you understand?”
“I had to be sure. He escaped me once.”
“And all of Glendale should be put at risk, so you can kill the changeling that hurt you? You're not the only one that's suffered losses, Stardust. I suggest you remember that. If we didn't have a horde of wolven knocking on our door I'd have you in the clink. That is how serious I am about this.”
“He's right, Stardust,” Sapphire said sullenly.
Caught off-guard by the younger mare's support for Dawn Chaser, Stardust wheeled around with her hackles raised to confront Sapphire's betrayal. “You're-- I saved your life!”
“This is important,” Sapphire said, trying to sound sympathetic. “If you want others to trust you, you have to show some trust in them. Yes, you saved me from Avarice, and he's one less threat we have to worry about. However, Dawn Chaser has an army, we could have handled all of this a lot better.”
Stardust stared at her, considering the facts she'd been presented. “I was blinded... by my rage,” she said, looking away. “I will do better.”
“Good,” Dawn Chaser said, sounding not nearly so sympathetic as Sapphire. “That's the last I want to hear of this. Now go and ready yourselves. The wolven are close.”
* * *
Through the darkness Brazen Soul could see cold yellow eyes staring back at him. He was accustomed to this ritual. She was the predator. He was the prey. From his perch atop the Lunar Stone he watched as the nightmare dragon slithered into the room. Eery coils of dark purple magic wafted around her, burning away before Brazen's sun like an early morning dew. The thin sheets of yellow light that hung around him like smoke were all that protected him from Insomnia's terrible strength.
“You wonder what hope I have left,” Brazen said. Unflinching he met the dragon's cold glare. “I know your mind dragon. I can see your armies advancing on Glendale, amassing at the gates. You think they cannot stand against you but you're wrong. You think they'll whither before your strength. Six centuries have passed and you've grown stronger with every passing season, but you're not as strong as you think you are. Alone, I stand before you. A single earth pony holds the great Insomnia at bay. You think you've broken them, but you're wrong. You think she's just a little girl with a broken heart, but still the unicorn fights. Still Stardust fights.”
Insomnia hissed her distaste, dragging her claws along the invisible barrier that protected the ancient earth pony. Her claws left trails of vibrant light in the air, bathing the tableau in an intense yellow glow before fading slowly away.
“You sealed your fate when you killed the unicorn Light's Hope. Behold, they rally in his memory...”
* * *
Sapphire stood on the wall, looking out across the field at the amassing enemy. A dozen unicorns stood on either side of her, watching, waiting. Each wore a gem around their neck, glowing in soft sympathy with her own.
“They're in range now,” Emberwind said, looking through a spyglass. The wolven had passed the first marker.
“Ready?” Sapphire asked.
“Ready!” her unit barked.
“Catapults ready!” Dawn Chaser shouted. “Fire!”
Timbers creaked and groaned as the catapults were loosed. Fiery boulders roared through the air, crashing down among the charging enemy force and spreading smoke and fire throughout.
Sapphire closed her eyes for a moment, focusing her will. She could feel the magic of the others with her. Light crackled around her horn, and the others lit up around her. They would be her instruments, and she their conductor. And so the symphony began. It was as though the sky itself had seen Glendale's plight and in their pity the stars were falling to the earth in great waves of fiery glory. It was not enough to stop the advance, but the carnage on the field was evidence of the effectiveness. The winged wolven swarmed onto the battlements, but did not do so unopposed. Many met a sudden end by spear and lance, and those nearest Sapphire suddenly found icy spikes driven through their weak underbellies.
“Beat them back!” Dawn Chaser shouted over the din. “We cannot let them take the walls!”
Their courage does not falter, dragon.
Bombs and stones rained down on the wolven as they scaled the walls, but for each that was struck down, another rose to take its place. A thunderous explosion rocked the city to its very foundation. All eyes were drawn to the gate, where wolven fire had found its way into a box of bombs. For a moment there was no movement, only smoke rising from the chewed up piece of ground. The gate shook, creaking. Ponies fled as it toppled over, collapsing under its own weight. Wolven poured through like blood from an open wound.
“Sapphire! Get down there!” Dawn Chaser shouted.
“But the shields...” Sapphire said, her protective aura was glowing around her unit, as well as many other ponies that would be left behind on the wall, Dawn and Emberwind included. Despite her frown, Dawn Chaser wasn't budging.
In a flash Sapphire's unit was down by the gate. She gave them only a second to gather their bearings after the sudden, involuntary warp and then fired upon the wolven. Half a dozen soldiers rushed to their aid, but still several of her unit fell. Focused on the task at hand, Sapphire's magic filled the break in the wall with a thick sheet of ice. Immediately she could see wolven fire dancing across its surface on the other side. It was their mistake, thinking the unicorns could not reach them through this barrier. A moment later the earth itself erupted, and the wall of ice was splashed with blood, not fire.
Twice more the wolven horde breached the gate, but Brisance's bombs and Sapphire's icy walls proved to be a more than suitable substitute for the iron-studded oak, now laying shattered on the ground. Time and time again the wolven made an attempt on Sapphire's life, only to meet a brutal end at the ruthless efficiency of Stardust's claws and teeth. She was lightning through the sky, silver light flashing through the dark night, casting blood across the snow in her frenzied dance of death.
Even a fallen star, she burns so brightly. Where is your manticore now, dragon? Does he dare to face her again? He cannot hide forever. You cannot hide forever.
Sapphire was so exhausted that even lifting a hoof made her feel like she might throw up. Stardust appeared beside her. Even in the silvery moonlight it was apparent that the hybrid was covered in blood. The stench of it stung Sapphire's nose, but Stardust paid it little mind.
“Is that all of them?” Sapphire asked.
Emberwind swooped in and lit neatly nearby. “They fell back. Something's coming,” she announced. “Something big.”
Even the wolven had cleared out. Dawn Chaser became starkly aware of the uneasiness in his troops. Something had come, and blotted out the moon. It was like a shadow given life, a great hulking monster wreathed in dark purple light.
“Ursa major!” the cry rang out. A moment later the wall crumbled beneath its massive paw. Ponies scattered before the monster's advance.
“Stand your ground!” Dawn shouted and stamped his hoof. “Turn the catapults against it! Bomb it into dust!”
A flight of pegasi raced through the night sky, peppering the astral bear's hide with bombs as they whistled past on the cold north winds. The beast roared, swatting at foes like pesky flies. In a thunderous clap its slammed its paws together around them. It cried out in pain as fire and smoke belched from between. Only thing wisps of dark smoke memorialized the bombers. Forces on the ground could only gawk helplessly at the spectacle. The bear shook off the pain and lumbered toward the bulk of the survivors. They had gathered together in the courtyard with what was left of the catapults to make one final stand.
Without a word, Stardust plucked a bomb from Emberwind's pack and took to the sky on leathery wings. She swept low over the bear's head, then turned skyward, dropping the bomb as she bled off speed for a quick gain in altitude. For an instant she hung motionless, then dropped headfirst toward the monster below, chasing the falling bomb. Silver starlight gathered around her as she rocketed toward her quarry.
The earth pony bomb exploded on impact, rattling the ursa major to its core. It was stunned, vulnerable... Silver light exploded around the once-proud pegasus as her speed crested the magic barrier. A bright halo of starlight spread across the night sky as through the smoke and fire Stardust found her mark and sliced through the ursa's neck as though it were no more than a cloud. Blood and starlight trailed behind her as she narrowly escaped being crushed beneath the dying monster's bulk. A cheer of victory rose from the square as the ursa fell.
Your army falls, dragon.
* * *
A new expedition marched into the snowy courtyard of the Sanctuary of Lights. Fifty strong, under Dawn Chaser's command, they had a singular goal. Not a single wolven had dared to stand in the way. The canyons echoed with the tale. Glendale had felled the great ursa major. Its death had meant victory for the ponies, scattering the wolven horde into the night to the anthem of the ursa's dying groans.
Sapphire stopped at the base of the steps, looking up at the doorway. This was the last place she'd seen Light's Hope. His amulet still hung around her neck, the subtle weight reminding her of the loss. A heavy stone still blocked the way.
“Knock it down,” she said.
“With pleasure.” Brissance mounted the steps and placed his ordnance against the barrier. “Fire in the hole!”
When the dust cleared the way was open.
“Do you remember the way, Stardust?” Dawn Chaser asked. The hybrid stretched her wings and stepped into the gap, peering into the darkness.
“I do,” she said, calmly. “Follow me.”
* * *
“Do you hear those hoofbeats marching through your halls, dragon?” Brazen asked, relishing the sound. “They are the drums of war.”
Insomnia hissed her displeasure. She crouched in the corner, waiting for her would-be slayers to come.
At Dawn Chaser's command, Glendale's forces swarmed into the room, charging the black dragon with murderous intent. The dead would be avenged. A sea of fire blossomed from the dragon's maw, threatening to end the conflict just as it had begun. It was cut short; Brazen reached out with all of his strength and held it back.
Everypony stood fast, bracing behind the soft blue glow of Sapphire's shields. A few of the more adventurous souls started to creep toward the wall of fire. The talismans they wore crackled with electricity.
“Wait! Stop!” Sapphire warned, her voice barely carrying over the din. “The fire charms aren't strong enough for this!”
“What? How?!” Dawn Chaser snapped.
“She's too strong for them!” Sapphire shouted. “We have to fall back!”
For a moment Dawn Chaser stood there, looking at the roaring wall of flames. “Alright, fall back!”
“Free me!” Brazen Soul's voice boomed through the chamber. “Free me, unicorn.”
“Who said that?” Sapphire asked.
“There! On the Lunar Stone!” Emberwind raised a hoof to point. The flames had parted around Brazen's image. His eyes glowed with zeal.
“Everypony out! Now!” Dawn Chaser ordered. His troops were quick to comply.
“I'll be fine,” Sapphire said, but Emberwind could see the fear in her eyes.
“But if he's free the fire-”
“Go!” Sapphire shouted. “I have Light's amulet. It protected me before. I.. I have to do this!”
Dawn nudged Emberwind toward the door. He stopped to give Sapphire one last look. His sorrowful expression brought her little comfort. She took a deep breath, then warped atop the Lunar Stone and forced the keystone toward the surface with all of the strength left in her. Dark magic hissed and popped, resisting her as if she were trying to shove two magnets together the wrong way. The further she pressed, the brighter Brazen burned.
“For all that you've done, for all you might yet do, I condemn you,” Brazen proclaimed over the din. “Suffer the rage of the land!”
Sapphire cried out as the fire was set loose. It washed around her, but she did not burn. Cold wind rushed in from the catacombs and smothered the flames, drawn by the wake of Brazen's charge. With a sound like thunder he had burst from the Lunar Stone with a great flash of light and impaled Insomnia. The momentum carried him and the dragon into the wall.
When the dust settled, Sapphire stood atop the stone alone. Small fires burned here and there. Insomnia lay dying, Brazen's broken spear still sticking out of her chest. The earth pony stood, his legs wobbling from the force of the impact. He gripped the spear in his teeth and yanked it free of the dragon's chest. Thick black blood issued from the mortal wound. Brazen roared his rage, jamming the spear deep into Insomnia's throat.
“Brazen? Are you alright?” Sapphire asked.
He spat out the spear and turned to her, surveying himself, whole for the first time in centuries. “I will survive,” he said wearily.
“You're glowing...” Sapphire said, eyeing the earth pony up and down.
“So I am,” he said, lifting a hoof to his nose. “And you're fading.” He pointed at her. Sapphire could see straight through the ancient warrior's smiling face. Allies were gathering around her.
“Brazen? Sapphire, what is happening to him?” Stardust asked, emerging from the crowd.
Sapphire shook her head, mouth agape. “I... I don't--”
“Sapphire! What is happening to Brazen Soul?!” Stardust pleaded. “Stop it! Fix him! Save him!”
Before their eyes he faded away, leaving no trace but the shattered spear, still dripping with Insomnia's dark blood.
“He's gone...” Stardust said softly. She stared into the middle-distance where the earth pony had stood just moments before.
“There's nothing we can do about it now,” Dawn Chaser said. He stood before Insomnia's body and plucked the broken spear from her throat. “The monster is dead. We can all rest a little easier tonight knowing that. Let's get the Lunar Stone loaded up. It has served its purpose here, correct?”
Sapphire nodded.
“Good work everypony. I know we just got here, but let's go home,” Dawn Chaser said.
Back in Glendale everything was slowly starting to get back to normal. The dead had all been cleared away, and repairs were well underway to the town's gate. The walls would take longer, but much of the rubble was salvageable.
When Sapphire arrived at the churchyard with her companions she found dozens of new flags standing in rows. Light's was among them. At the front, a monument had been erected, built from the damaged keystone that had once held the arch together over the gate. Dawn Chaser placed Brazen's broken spear at the foot of it.
In darkness these flags were raised so that when the sun rose, ours still flew. Epilogue
A knock at the door broke Brindolar's morning routine. The clock on the wall showed a solid hour before his little shop was due to open. Begrudgingly he answered it. His heart skipped a beat. Stardust stood in the snow, brow furrowed as she studied him up and down with a scowl o her face.
“I recognized you,” she said. “When I was hunting Avarice. You were a lot smaller 600 years ago. They tell me that's how long it's been...”
“I didn't.. I didn't recognize you...” the old dragon said quietly. Today he was feeling his years.
“Well?”
Brindolar looked away. There on the shelf by the door was the book. “I can't talk about this now, not yet. So many things are coming back. But this... I had this in my things. I couldn't remember until the expedition to kill Insomnia. You should have it,” he said, and held it out to her. Brazen Soul's mark was emblazoned on the cover. The centuries had faded it, but the message was unchanged. Somewhere in the pages, Stardust found some small solace.
I was forced by hunger to return to Glendale alone. There I found that time had not passed for me, despite my centuries within the Lunar Stone and I was greeted by old friends that I had long ago watched pass into the annals of history. For them I had been gone mere days, and they could not understand my joy after so many lifetimes. To my surprise and dismay Stardust and Lyric had been completely forgotten. They vanished from the minds of their families and friends as though they died the day we left to tend to the Sanctuary of Lights.
Some say I've gone mad, that I'm a doddering old stallion, wishing to relive my past days of Glory. Three times so far I have returned to the Sanctuary to no avail and have given up on recovering my friends there, having searched every nook and cranny the place has to offer. There are no signs of Stardust or Lyric. The Lunar Stone lies dormant, and the dragon that we found sleeping there is gone. She haunts the place like an echo. My only solace lies in her ultimate death.
I bare a heavy burden, being the only guardian of their memories. Wherever Stardust is, I hope she knows somehow that I remembered her. Unto my death I shall always cherish the memories of my little falling star.
Author's Notes
Well it's been quite a journey! I started this project about a year ago in an effort to improve my writing abilities. I think I've been successful in that. I really want to extend a special thanks to Fernin. He's been proofreading for me and been very helpful in bringing this project to completion. If you haven't heard of him, go look him up! I particularly recommend Whip and Wing! Go read!
Sapphire Starlight's story will continue in Last Dawn.
