Lead Us Not

Gather.

Sunny opened her eyes to find the noon sun beating down on her. Her back ached, the muscles stiff as if she had been laying in one position for days.

“Good morning,” Zipp laughed, munching on an apple. She rolled one towards Sunny, where it stopped against her belly.

“Doesn’t look morning to me,” Sunny said, stretching and grabbing the fruit. “Did I scream?”

“Nope.”

“Giggling? Stand up and levitate and spin my head around backwards?”

“Maybe the issue is you watch too many horror movies. Nope. So far as I’ve been awake, you’ve been sleeping soundly. So much so I let you sleep in a bit. We should be in Bridlewood by supper, anyways.”

Sunny shrugged. She didn’t feel very refreshed, but that might have been a combination of a good sleep on rugged terrain. She didn’t feel any worse, either.

What she did feel was hope. Hope that maybe after the incident in Zephyr Heights, her nightmares had run their course. Hope that her dreamless sleep last night was truly dreamless. And hope that she would soon be home in Maretime Bay, where she could take a break from being the saviour of Equestria and rest easy for a time.

That hope carried her tired hooves forward, and sure enough by the time the sun was setting Zipp and Sunny were knocking on the door to Izzy’s cottage, eagerly awaiting their friend.

The door swung open and Izzy launched out, embracing the two of them in a bear hug while she spoke rapidly.

“You’re back! I’m so glad to see you made the trip safely and you’re looking a little better and you brought Zipp! Hi, Zipp!”

“Hi, Izzy!”

“Hello to you too,” Sunny laughed, following Izzy as she released them and led them inside.

“I was so worried for you. It was all I could think about. And the more I thought about it, the more I knew what I was gonna do to help.”

“And what’s that?” Sunny asked, settling down near Izzy’s tea table.

“I’m going to come back with you to Maretime Bay, early.”

“I had the same thought,” Zipp said with a smile. “She had a rough time in Zephyr Heights,” she added, glancing at Sunny.

“And here, too,” Izzy replied, looking warily at Sunny as well.

“Right. Yeah. Sorry,” Sunny mumbled, looking away as her shoulders dropped.

“It’s okay! It’s not—we’re not judging you, Sunny! We’re just concerned. We want our friends to be healthy and safe. We’re here to help.”

“Thanks, Izzy. I really do appreciate it. And yeah, once we get back, I’m just going to… spend some time inside, chill out, maybe read a bit.”

“Awesome. You’ll be fixed right up in no time. Oh!” she shouted, perking up and rummaging around in her mane. “I got our crystal from Alphabittle, so I can bring that with us too,” she added, sliding the gem across the table to Sunny.

It flashed as Sunny’s eyes locked onto it, the miasma of blue magic clearing away like fog in the sun, and within it came a new rush of horror. Bodies collapsed in front of her, disfigured as jagged crystals grew rapidly out of them, blood flooding out of their mouths as they gargled in pain. A city atop a mountain much like Zephyr Heights billowed black smoke as towers fell down over fleeing ponies. A pile of unicorn horns, none with owners, each fractured and sparking, burned beneath an eclipse that oozed fire.

She shrieked, kicking the tea table over as she flailed backwards. Zipp immediately flew around and caught Sunny as she fell, lowering her to the floor and holding her steady.

“No! Stop, get them away! Stop, stop, stop!” Sunny screeched, clawing at her eyes and flailing in Zipp’s legs. “No! I don’t want to see this anymore! Stop, please!”

“Izzy, can you… do you know what’s happening?” Zipp asked, pulling Sunny up into her lap and cradling her in her hooves.

Izzy stood frozen next to the toppled table, her eyes wide with shock and distress. “I… I don’t know, she just… her sparkle was dark like the last time I saw her, but when she touched the crystal it went… weird.”

“Shh, shh, it’s okay Sunny, it’s okay, we’re here, I’ve got you,” Zipp crooned to Sunny, who had ceased flailing and instead only sobbed, tears running down her face as she clung tightly to Zipp. “Weird how?” she asked Izzy.

“Like, boom! Like it exploded! It’s back to dark now, I don’t know, I didn’t mean to, I never would have if I’d known that—”

“Izzy, it’s okay. It’s not your fault.”

“But it is! I shouldn’t have been careless, I, oh gosh, Sunny, I’m so sorry…”

Sunny’s sobs slowed, replaced over time with infrequent gasps and wet sniffs as she cleared her eyes and nose. “It-it’s fine, Izzy. I didn’t kn-know either. It’s not your fault.”

Izzy pursed her lips and gave a small nod, sitting down next to Zipp and rubbing Sunny’s leg. “I still feel awful about it.”

“I forgive you,” Sunny rasped, returning the touch and smiling with bloodshot eyes at her friend.

“How about some tea, Izzy?” Zipp suggested, gently rocking Sunny.

Izzy nodded eagerly and jumped back up, trotting off to her kitchen with her head held low. Several minutes later she returned with a pot and cups, uprighted the table, and set the set down gently. She walked around and offered a hoof up to the two ponies on the floor, helping them up and to their seats.

“I’ll… I’ll carry the crystal back, don’t worry,” she offered, sliding a cup under Sunny’s downcast eyes. “Alphabittle will get the rest of the Unicorn part figured out and be there next week. I’m so, so sorry again, Sunny,” Izzy muttered, gingerly stroking Sunny’s mane.

“It’s not your fault,” Sunny said again, unconvincingly but honest all the same. “Something’s wrong with me. With me.”

“You’ll be okay, promise,” Zipp said, sipping the tea.

“Izzy?” Sunny spoke to the floor, still staring at her cup.

“Yeah?”

“Do you have anything stronger than tea?”

“What use is friendship? Look where it got us. Decimated.”

...

“I think we should reach out to the Unicorns. They oughta be able to charge these things, right? Like when the crown stopped glowing, we slowly stopped being able to fly.”

“The old Queens have always said the same thing. We are forbidden from speaking to the other races.”

“But—”

“Whatever it is they did, it must have been bad. Think about it. That old nursery rhyme, you know the one.”

“‘Ring of friendly ponies, one for every tribe. Bring the love together and the old witch comes alive. Pull us all apart and we’ll see the shining day, trust in one another and your loved ones go away.’ Sounds like nonsense to me.”

“Yeah, but like, it says if we come together, ponies will die. Clearly inspired by something.”

“If you say so.”

…

Lighthouse.

“Sunny? You with us?”

Sunny snorted and gasped, blinking dry, stinging eyes rapidly until she realized where she was. She was walking along the trail through the prairies, Zipp and Izzy on either side of her. The rolling hills of flowers she could see were similar to what she last recognized, but different enough for her to realize what had happened.

“Was I… sleepwalking?”

“I think so. We were all quiet for a bit and then Izzy and I got chatting for a few minutes.”

“I noticed you didn’t say anything when I mentioned my favourite smoothie and knew something was up.”

“I don’t remember sleeping.”

Zipp slowed and then stopped, rubbing her mouth with a wing. “This might sound stupid, but I have a suggestion.”

“What are you thinking?”

“Normally we’d have one more night and then reach Maretime Bay by mid morning. I think we should keep walking through the night.” She held a wing up as Izzy opened her mouth. “I don’t think Sunny’s been sleeping as soundly as we think she is, anyways. We might be all a little more exhausted for it, but she’ll be home and surrounded by friends and neighbours—and, you know, a doctor—that much sooner.”

“I’d say it’s your decision, Sunny,” Izzy said, smiling. “I’m good to do either.”

Crystals.

“...Let’s go through the night,” Sunny decided, her words slow and unsure. “I think you’re right, Zipp. The sooner I see somepony about whatever’s going on, the better.”

“Ooh, I know,” Izzy said, her eyes large and bright. “Let’s sing our favourite songs to get through the night! I’ll start. It’s the one I sang to all of us when you first came to my house.” She cleared her throat and winked at Sunny, who returned the gesture with a smile.

“I heard Earth Ponies were the pony ladder’s bottom rung…”

Maretime Bay rose up over the hill, and Sunny found herself breaking into a canter. The moon was high in the sky, illuminating the streets and buildings where the lights had all been turned off. On the edge of town her temporary home, the Mareiott, stood waiting for her, the flood of light pouring out its doors beckoning her in.

Beyond the doors lay the bed she had slowly become accustomed to sleeping in. It wouldn’t be nearly as comfortable as the one in Zephyr Heights, but the thought of it being her own felt a thousand times more cozy than anything the Pegasi could invent. She found herself practically tearing up with happiness as they approached the building.

“Izzy and I are going to book the room next to yours,” Zipp said to Sunny as they walked through the doors. “We’ll give you a spare key in case you need to see us.”

“We want you to know we’ll be there for you, but I felt it might help if you had as much ‘normal’ as possible!”

“Which is difficult when sleeping in a room with Izzy,” Zipp laughed.

“Hey! I’m not weird, I’m just… exaggerated.”

“How strangely succinct,” Zipp muttered.

“But anyways, yeah. We’ll be right next door, okay Sunny?” Izzy asked, patting Sunny’s back.

“I really can’t thank you two enough. Oh, I’m so happy to be home, and I am so looking forward to my bed.”

Crystals.

“I’d say so. Your eyes just went funny. Alright, off to bed with you, Sunny.”

“Goodnight!”

“Night!”

With parting words given, Sunny ambled up the stairs to her room as fast as her tired legs could bring her. She slipped her card into the door and leaned against it, falling into the room as it swung open. She lay on the floor for a moment, laughing softly to herself, her glee at having made it back infusing her with a strange euphoria. She was home! Well, as home as she could be, at the moment—

Lighthouse!

Still apparently suffering from craziness, she thought, grimacing at the intrusive voice. Of course I miss the lighthouse. It was my actual home. She considered this for a moment, still laying silently on the floor. I think that unicorn at the Tea Room is probably the closest. It’s the homesickness, the trauma of losing my house and most of my belongings.

She blinked to herself on the floor. It felt so obvious now. She was probably having nightmares about watching her house collapse while she was still in it, probably not remembering them due to some weird mental block from the event.

It clicked in her brain, and a wash of relief came over her as she stood up from the floor. Nothing was broken with her, she was just still dealing with a major change in her life! The nagging fear that had been growing in her brain that she was malfunctioning, infested by nightmares or cursed by some spiteful spirit, flitted away under the clear reasoning that she was simply suffering from a traumatic event.

“The doctor, first thing tomorrow. But for now, bed,” she said to herself, crawling underneath the covers.

As she waited for sleep to kick in, she started a quick mental inventory in her head for the coming weeks. She would still help out with the Celebration, in a more limited capacity. She wasn’t a therapist but working on things you’re passionate about couldn’t be anything but beneficial, right? The delegations would be arriving soon, and with them they could organize the full event. Decorations would depend on the research she had done, and so her help would be needed, but only in a consultative capacity.

The plan for the weeks ahead settled in her brain, Sunny smiled, feeling herself finally drift off to sleep without some sudden jump or shift.

When her eyelids finally fluttered open, she found she was not laying in bed, nor was she in the endless void. About her, hundreds of ponies stood gathered around at the base of a massive castle set into a mountain. It looked like Zephyr Heights, but wasn’t exactly the same: the mountain seemed fuller, taller, and the city itself seemed to hang off the side instead of resting on top.

The ponies, she noticed, were of all different races. They were cheering, some stomping their hooves, some clapping. Unicorns sent off sparks of magic while Pegasi looped in the air. All around her was the air of exuberance and joy, of delight, of love.

With the dream the flood of memories of prior nightmares had come rushing back, but the happiness that flowed around her suffocated her fears, tamping them down until they were just a mild annoyance. Here on this mountain side, amongst hundreds of friends, she felt safe—excited, even.

There came a hush over the crowd, and the Unicorns and Earth Ponies ceased their sparking and stomping. Even the Pegasi settled, hovering quietly in the air a few feet above the others. Sunny watched as all their heads craned high, looking far up to an open balcony that jutted out from the castle, their eyes focused on a distant purple figure that she could just barely make out.

“Citizens of Equestria!” a voice boomed from the stand, and Sunny froze, mouth agape. It was the monster’s voice, but higher pitched, more energetic. Its speech—a mare’s, Sunny recognized—seemed to be coming from only feet away, and with a sense of awe she realized it had been magically enhanced.

“We gather on this day to celebrate,” she continued, pacing about the railing, “what we have made, all of us, together!”

The crowd roared, cheering even louder than they had before, until a solitary hoof raised into the sky from the figure, quieting them all.

“Some of you children may only know this day as a celebration,” she said, and most of the crowd hung their heads low in some show of respect. “And may they continue to do so forever. For the others, I thank you for your wishes. This day, ten years ago, marked the first death of a Guardian of Harmony.”

Sunny stepped back, shocked. Was this Twilight Sparkle speaking now? But she shared the voice with the monster from her dreams. Could the creature have been a mimic? Some sick mockery of the Princess and all her ideals?

The speaker continued, choking slightly as she resumed her speech. “I ask you now as I asked you then to celebrate their life and ideals, not mourn their passing. They should live on, remembered for what they achieved with all of us.” She paused for a moment, moving her hoof by her face—wiping tears, perhaps, Sunny thought—before standing tall and speaking again. “Since that day, we have lost two others, and this day has been marked to celebrate all of the Guardians and what they stood for.”

There was applause now, but quiet, muted noise only. Nopony cheered, only clopping their hooves to the ground in respect.

“This being the tenth anniversary, it is an auspicious day. As it approached, I have spent many days thinking on the passage of time and what we have left, and I have made a decision. Ponies of Equestria, I, Princess Twilight Sparkle, have a gift for you all.”

And above her, six brilliantly coloured stones rose into the air, circling slowly around the speaker. Sunny blinked in awe, almost blinded by their radiance, feeling even her own heart throb with their revolutions as if being pushed and pulled by a magic far stronger than any in the world. As she watched, the six stones separated themselves into three groups of two. After a hushed pause of shock from the audience, the stones flashed even brighter and then each pair smashed into each other, letting out an ear-splittingly loud crash.

Sunny flinched away from the sound, feeling dust and feathers blow by her face. When it settled she looked back up, and found there were now three stones above the figure.

No, not stones.

Crystals.

They were the crystals, she realized.

“To the Earth Ponies of Equestria, I grant you this crystal, symbolizing Laughter and Honesty. To the Pegasi of Equestria, I grant you this crystal, symbolizing Loyalty and Kindness. To the Unicorns of Equestria, I grant you this crystal, symbolizing Generosity and Magic.”

The three stones flew apart then, floating gently down in front of three new figures who had been standing behind Princess Twilight, apparently one of each tribe.

Gather.

“The Elements of Harmony belong now to you, the three races of our nation, not to the heroes of old. May they grant you security and safety in unity. Thank you.”

As the Princess bowed and started to step backwards, Sunny felt the world slowly pull away from her. Ponies around her faded into dust and then into darkness. The castle above dimmed, painted red by a sunset she could not see. She looked around, watching the dream fracture to pieces, and then closed her eyes, hoping to wake up once from a nice dream.

And as her eyes closed she found herself once again in the void, staring up at the grotesque caricature of Twilight Sparkle as it stood tall overtop her, staring down with those hateful, white-hot eyes.

“Lighthouse,” it ordered, and with a flash of its horn, Sunny was awake.

“Sleep well last night?”

“Oh, better than ever, Izzy!”

“So no nightmares?”

Sunny paused for a moment. She seemed to have slept well, having woken up feeling the slightest bit more refreshed, but she had been once again wrapped in her magic, her wings bent strangely underneath her back.

No.

“Nope!” she said, a headache blossoming. “I think I’m going to stay in and try to rest up as much as possible before the Celebration, though. I want to be in full form for the event!”

“Sure thing! If we need anything, we’ll just come knocking, okay?

“Of course,” Sunny said, hugging Izzy hard before turning around and stepping back into her dark hotel room.

…

Scores of Pegasi fall, their wings smoking and riddled with magic blasts. Of those on the ground, they are forced to crawl, to drag their bellies along jagged rocks at the base of the mountain. In the distance, a massive collection of clouds with strange buildings atop glows red and black, pillars of marble or cloud plummeting to the ground far below.

A lone Pegasi scrambles backwards, his back oozing from deep gouges where wing joints should have been, his hoof raised in a feeble defense, gibbering to the shadow-casting figure above him.

“No, Harmony, no, spare us, please Princess, no! No, ple-AAAAAAUUUUGGHH—”

…

“I can’t quite make out your notes here, Sunny. What were the colours used for the celebration? This is like, the worst hoofwriting I’ve ever seen. Writing this bad should be illegal. It might be, even.”

Sunny smiled, her cheeks lifting the bags under her eyes. “No getting out of fines for poor writing just because you’re my friend, right?”

Hitch laughed. “That would be nepotism, and is definitely illegal. So what does this say?”

Sunny craned her neck over, reading from the letter she had written to all the delegations. “Well, there was some mention of whites and golds, which kind of makes sense with the sun, you know?”

“Yeah. So white and gold?”

“But there was also purple and black, specifically talked about in one of the oldest journals. The one with the fairy tale.”

“So purple and gold?”

Pink and purple.

“Why don’t we do pink and purple?” Sunny asked, swaying slightly on the spot.

“Huh? How come?”

“Izzy, Phyllis, and Queen Haven all have some shade of them in their coats. It seems like the most neutral colour we could choose,” Sunny lied, looking off in the distance.

“Sunny? You okay? You’re drifting off there. You’re not having any more nightmares, right? At least you’re sleeping tons… right?”

“Nope! No nightmares. I am sleeping. I just have a lot of it to catch up on, I guess.”

“Alright. Well, I’ll leave you to it, then.”

“See you Hitch! It sounds like you’re doing great so far, I can’t wait to see it when it’s all done.”

She hugged him tightly, patted him on his shoulders, and gave him a bright smile in farewell. After watching him all the way to the stairs, she turned back around, facing her bed with a drowsy yearning.

…

A massive Alicorn sits within a hospital room, her frame hunched over and bent awkwardly to avoid the dozens of machines and tubes and wires that spread across the room like spiderwebs. Her head is down, nestled in tightly to the neck of an elderly, pink Earth Pony.

“Not you too, Pinkie. Don’t leave me, Pinkie, not like the rest, not like all the others, I can’t… I can’t handle this any more. It hurts too much.”

“Come on, Twilight,” Pinkie Pie says, raising a febrile hoof and stroking the elegantly long mane on her chest. “You’re the Princess of Friendship. You will always have friends. You can always make new friends.”

Twilight sobs quietly into the mare for several minutes before finally speaking, her words disjointed between choked breaths.

“To watch them die as well? I can only do two things, Pinkie. I can stop caring entirely so it doesn’t ever hurt again, in which case why bother, or I can care and suffer a thousand grievings before my own time.”

“You always overthink things,” Pinkie says, her hoof dropping heavily to her chest despite a shaky attempt to keep it up. “You can live a happy life for us. Be honest for Applejack. Be loyal for Rainbow Dash. You get it, right?” She coughs hard, and Twilight levitates a tissue to her mouth and dabbles away the spit that had gathered. “Go be happy and have fun, for me.”

“How can there be fun without you?”

There is silence.

“Pinkie Pie?”

There is silence.

“P… Pinkie Pie?”

There is silence.

…

“So we fashioned these lift things out, kinda like those old balloon carriages in the transit station under the castle, right?” Zipp said, fluttering around Sunny excitedly.

“Right!” Sunny said, sipping a smoothie. They were sitting out on a bench overlooking the ocean. Zipp had suggested that Sunny try and get some sunlight before the event, and while Sunny believed Zipp truly cared and meant it, she suspected Zipp really wanted to be able to fly unrestrained while they visited.

“And we’re gonna do Pegasus flights around the bay with them! So Earth Ponies and Unicorns can see things from our perspective. Get it? Huh? Our perspective? Come on, up high!” Zipp said, descending so Sunny could clap her hoof. As she did, Zipp rolled around, laughing. “Heh, up high, like…”

“You’ve been spending too much time around Izzy,” Sunny laughed, slumping back against the warm bench. Walking outside had felt like an incredible chore, even though Sunny’s mind seemed clearer than it had been since her troubles sleeping first started. The bags under her eyes had gone somewhat, but her legs were thinner, her coat duller.

Zipp’s probably right, Sunny thought, finishing her smoothie with a rude slurping noise. I should really start getting out of bed and getting some exercise. I’m wasting away in there.

“Maybe, but that’s only because I’m not spending enough time around you. I’m really glad you came out today,” Zipp said, landing on the bench and wrapping her foreleg around Sunny. “I’m sorry you haven’t been doing well. Hitch and Izzy tell me you think your nightmares are all done, though. Awesome news, right? You just needed yourself some piece of home.”

Lighthouse.

“Yeah! I’m pretty much just building my energy back up. Tell you what,” Sunny said, returning Zipp’s hug. “I think it’s going to be all I can do to walk back to my hotel today, but why don’t you get me tomorrow and we’ll walk a bit further?”

“Sunny, tomorrow’s the Summer Sun Celebration!”

“It’s technically not until the day after. It’ll all start tomorrow night.”

“Yeah. So don’t you want to be as rested as you can be?”

“Worst case scenario, Phyllis said CanterLogic had some neat wheelchair thing they could lug me around in. I’ll be there, don’t worry.”

“Sounds good to me then. I’ll knock on your door tomorrow morning sometime, okay? But let’s get you home and back to recovering for now.”

…

The lighthouse of Maretime bay stands tall, the great white beam circling around, illuminating the ocean for miles away.

“She’s coming!” a stallion screams, racing up the hill towards the tower. “She’s coming now! Do you see the clouds?”

In the distance, over the crashing black waves, massive clouds of purple and red billow and grow out of nowhere, as if a volcano were rushing along the sea. Cracks of thunder rumble menacingly in the air, echoing flashes of purely pink lightning.

“Are you sure this will work?”

“They’re the Elements of Harmony! Or, well, they were… If these don’t stop her, we’re all doomed.”

“Up the stairs now, hurry!”

“We can’t all fly, you know!”

“We can argue about it later, I can see her now!”

“Here it is, quick! The altar, get the crystals before she destroys this thing!”

“Mine’s in!”

“Mine too!”

A demonic screech fills the air, shattering the glass of the lighthouse windows. Shrapnel flies into the three ponies, knocking the Pegasus to the floor. The sky outside is now pitch black, the indigo clouds completely enveloping the tower. Between the pink flashes of lightning and circling lamplight, a dark and jagged shadow of an Alicorn with glowing white eyes can be seen, never in one place, rapidly flickering around the tower.

“Hurry!”

“Almost… There!”

The Pegasus drops their crystal into the center platform of the lighthouse, and the three watch in desperate, breathless silence as the lamplight spins slowly around.

“There must be no love!” the black demon shrieks, settling in place now outside the lighthouse, blasts of wind from its wingbeats flinging more broken glass at the ponies. “No more friends! No more companions! All shall hurt as I d—Aaaiiieeee!”

The lighthouse light illuminates the demon, washing it with rainbow coloured light. As it howls in pain, the three ponies watch as her form fades away into the light, the rainbow flowing into the lamp and down into the three unified crystals.

As the last vestiges of the demon’s shape sucks away into the crystals, the world fades to black, an endless universe so far removed from everything it is as if light itself has never graced its halls.

…

Gather. Crystals. Lighthouse.