The Song of The Unbroken: Divided Souls

Chapters

Prologue - The Line of Kings
Demons in the Sky
Three Lost Souls
Eels and Elks
A Short Respite
From Darkness Into Light

Prologue - The Line of Kings

Prologue

The Line of Kings

Loneliness.

It’s a strange, fleeting feeling, loneliness. It comes and goes, like an old friend from far away. It choses its own path, and has the power to make any living, thinking creature bow down before it. It can shatter minds and break spirits, without ever doing anything than lingering.

Simply being.

Ever since the dawn of time, it has been waiting, biding its time until its proper moment. So it shall do until the end of times, when nothing and nopony remains and the land is a barren husk of shadows and ashes.

The kingdom of Loneliness.

But until then, it has no choice but to remain. Always watching, always waiting. It sees all, hears all, and spares none. In complete silence, it awaits the day when its final reign will come, and all will be swallowed by the everlasting emptiness.

But long before such an end, eons before the coming of the crimson tide, loneliness established a small, temporary kingdom for itself. Deep beyond walls of stone and earth, within reclusive halls, it nestled itself. Deep inside, deep down, it relished in its newfound chamber where it could thrive.

This chamber, hid behind a pair of shimmering eyes of pure silver, eyes covered in trembling lids and building tears.

Loneliness.

If it had been a living, breathing creature, it would’ve devoured him whole. His body trembled and convulsed, his breath erratic and uneven.

He felt his coat soaking up the thin layer of water that ran across the cold floor beneath him. He felt his own blood mix with it. The wound it seeped from ached and burned, and he didn’t dare to move anymore, from fear of tearing it open further.

In the tainted water next to him, he could see the reflection of his own face when he moved his eyes a bit. Saw the distorted image of his white face and black hair, streaks of red running across his hollow face.

Goldgaze. The rugged pony looking back at him from the water, that was its name, yet it didn’t even look like himself anymore.

It hadn’t always been this way. Once, everything had been perfect. But now, those days felt more like a hazy dream rather than actual memories. The pain and loneliness clouding his body and soul made it near impossible to think properly.

Everything had been simple, all those years ago. He’d never forget his first day, when he stood nervous at the wedding of the soon-to-be rulers, next to his twin brother Silversoul. Still, he held up a façade of confidence, as was expected from the members of the royal court. Unlike the groom himself, who was pretty obviously having trouble holding back his own nervous thoughts. He’d been shifting his weight back and forth between his feet, his face visibly pale as he awaited his future wife.

He remembered every morning, walking through the royal gardens in silence to watch the sunrise. Despite him being the personal servant and assistant of the queen of the night, he’d always through that the sun was more beautiful. He often regretted that he’d never had the chance to see the queen’s sister when she was still alive.

Many times had he looked upon her grave in silent awe, sometimes with his queen next to him. Towards the end, they had begun taken frequent walks together, and he often found himself almost wishing that she wasn’t already married.

Years had passed, and his life had been good. But as always, everything good comes to an end. Even though neither he nor anypony else realized it, the end began on the day that the king left for the island. Moonshimmer Island. The beginning of his own demise.

His own brother left him. Left him all alone when he set off to the island after the king.

Whatever happened out on that rock remained a mystery to him for several years, and both the king and the queen refused to ever talk about it, though the loos had been great. Silversoul didn’t come back, and the king didn’t want to talk about him.

From that moment on, things went downhill. Slowly at first, like a weak poison slowly eating away at its host, but then faster and faster as the end came closer.

War came, and with it, death. So much death. Even the son of the rulers, Stardust, perished. He could still remember the little foal, how they used to play tag together, or hide-and-seek. He always let the foal win, of course.

His death had been the final blow to the royal family, and with it a shadow descended upon the castle.

The king withdrew into his own mind, became violent and aggressive. He spent most of his remaining days locked in his study. The queen was beyond all hope, and hardly ever stopped crying. The royal family slowly crumbled, together with the castle.

And then one day, everything came to the inevitable conclusion. Goldgaze had entered the king’s study and found it empty. The desk in the middle of the room was almost buried in parchments and books, and the curtains had been pulled over the windows to lock out all sunlight.

Goldgaze had instead made his way to the royal chamber, in hopes of finding the king there. He did find him, but not in the way he was expecting.

When he knocked on the door, there was no response. After a few moments, he decided to push it open.

He found the king just beyond the door. The human that had ruled the land for thirty years, king Dust Eclipse, hung from one of the thick wooden beams in the ceiling. A chair had toppled over on the floor next to him.

Goldgaze felt something within him crack, and his legs trembled at the sight.

Terrified of what he would find, he rushed past the hanging man and stormed into the couple’s bedroom. When he did and saw the blue figure on the bed, lifeless and unmoving, he fell to his knees and hardly even registered his own scream.

Quickly, the kingdom fell apart. Everyone blamed each other for what had happened, instead of trying to see the full picture. Eventually, the blame fell upon the Unicorns. Through their reckless and disrespectful way of abusing magic, they had brought ruin and death upon the land, they said. That Queen Luna and King Dust had been a warning, a sign.

Despite their innocence, the Unicorn race became hunted, butchered like dogs. Everypony that took their side was slaughtered too, and no mercy was ever shown.

The Great Fade, as some came to call it. Equestria’s darkest hour. It tore through the land like a plague, leaving the bodies of countless Unicorns in its wake. The massacre tore Canterlot apart from the inside out, and before long the town fell. Only the castle remained, where the last surviving Unicorns had taken shelter.

It didn’t last long, however. Not even the royal guard could hold back the tide for too long, and eventually, the castle was taken. What followed was a bloodbath, and Goldgaze watched it all from the windows of the former royal bedchambers.

When things got too close for comfort, he felt no remorse or shame in fleeing. He hurried through the bloodstained corridors and down winding stairs until he found himself in the dungeon.

A few years prior, King Dust had ordered the royal library to be fully renovated and expanded in order to house the ever growing amount of books that came to the castle. During the renovation, a stallion had gone straight through the floor by accident. The floor boards where old and rotten on the inside, and couldn’t possibly support his weight.

He had fallen into a deep, dark room which they first though was an old well, before they explored it further and found it to be an older part of the prison dungeon that for some reason had been completely sealed beyond the new one.

The king took it upon himself to dive into the unknown darkness, saying it was the least he could do for the stallion that had discovered it. When he came back out, his face had been a pale white hue, and he ordered the area to be sealed off quickly.

Known only to the king and his personal assistant Silversoul, a door had been carved into the mountainside that separated the two areas, and Silversoul had in turn told Goldgaze about it.

He reached to the side and pressed his hoof against a certain rock on the wall. At first nothing happened, until he pushed harder, and the rock slid back. A loud rumbling filled the dungeon as the heavy door slid open, pebbles of stone and particles of dust falling to the floor as stone ground against stone.

Goldgaze quickly hurried through the door, and after a few seconds of silence, the rumble came back as it once again returned to its original position. The silence on the other side was almost deafening. Back in the new dungeon, he’d been able to hear the sounds of battle and screams of pain and fear.

In here, there was nothing. Every little noise had been cut off instantly the moment the door slid shut, and the darkness had swallowed him. It was like a veil had been pulled over the world, and he was on the other side of it, completely lost to the rest.

Somewhere deep within these tunnels rested a rusted gate, where water ran across the floor and out into the open on the other side of the bars. It ran out into the river, then away from Canterlot. That’s what Silversoul had told him, that it could be used as a secret way to escape, should the king ever need it.

He’d also told him to never ever enter the tunnels. To keep away from them under any and all circumstances. Yet now, here he was, bleeding out on the cold floor.

First, he’d heard them.

A faint sound that tore through the silence. Nothing more than a distant whisper, yet cutting through the stillness like a battering ram. Slowly, it grew in strength.

Then there was the smell.

Like spoiled meat, left in the sun for too long. Yet at the same time, something different, much stronger, almost burning his nostrils. It smelled like coals, embers, searing flesh.

In just a matter of seconds, something had thrown itself over him.

He was knocked to the floor, his right shoulder smashing into the ground with an audible crack. He couldn’t hold back a scream of agony as waves of pain burst through his fore leg. His mind told him to act and move as quickly as possible, and he tried to roll around to get back on his hooves.

It proved to be a difficult task, as his aching leg bent under his weight and he once again fell over. If everything hadn’t been completely dark in the tunnel, he guessed his vision would’ve been blurry and hazy, mimicking that of the state of his mind.

No more than a second later, something pounced him. He yelled out as a pair of thin legs wrapped themselves around him, and the force of the speeding impact sent them both rolling across the floor.

Goldgaze struggled as best he could, and felt his limbs connect to a scrawny body that didn’t feel like a pony in the slightest. He thought he felt bare skin, wrinkled and aged like old leather. His legs flailed haphazardly into the darkness, like a beetle stuck on its back, unable to get back up. A beetle with a predator holding it down with brute force and determination.

His hoof connected to something flat and cold, followed instantly by a loud screech. The creature seemed to let go, and a strange sound suddenly filled his ears. Powerful gusts of wind blew across his face, pushing him hard into the ground, and he felt something soft brush against his face for just a moment.

Then he felt the creature bear down on him again, and his whole body froze as he felt a sharp, pointed object slide across his neck and then down his chest.

The only thought that entered his mind was that the creature was a gryphon, but whatever it did beneath the castle was far beyond him.

Pain suddenly tore through him as a talon pierced through his skin, and Goldgaze started to thrash and turn again. Adrenaline rushed through him with the beat of his heart, and somehow he managed to gather his final strengths and push himself up. The creature fell off him with another shriek, and he forced himself up on three hooves.

With the sounds of the creature just behind him, he ran as quickly as he could, hobbling close to the wall. He could almost feel his pursuer breathing down his neck, but it didn’t attack him. He started to wonder if maybe it was just toying with him, like a cat playing with its kill before the final strike.

The thought made him push himself harder, and suddenly he felt his side brush against something that wasn’t solid rock. Something much smoother and not as cold.

A wooden door.

Panting, Goldgaze pushed himself against the door, and the hinges creaked as age-old rust broke and shattered.

He fell through to the other side with a yelp, and then quickly pushed the door shut. Through it, he could hear the creature screeching yet again, a terrifying, bloodcurdling shriek that reminded him of a dying animal and made his skin crawl.

But for some reason, the being seemed to either have lost him or just ignored him, as the sound steadily grew more and more distant, eventually to disappear completely.

Realizing that the threat was finally gone, his body let itself go, and he fell to the floor in exhaustion. He tried to wrap his wings around himself for protection and warmth, but felt too weak to do it. Instead they fell limp to the floor, splayed out like the rest of his limbs in the cold stream of water.

There he remained for a long while. Or maybe it was no more than a few seconds. He couldn’t tell, the everlasting darkness and silence surrounding him made time lose its flow. He could’ve been there for hours for all he knew.

After an eternity, or perhaps a minute, Goldgaze slowly retracted his legs close to his body, and with gritted teeth he managed to push himself back to standing. He shuddered, his coat soaked in cold water and blood.

Carefully, he laid his ear against the door and listened intently. Nothing came to him, not a single sound or even the hint of a whisper.

He pushed the door open as much as he dared, then snuck out through it.

In silence, he hurried down the tunnel, hoping to reach the grate that led out into the river, and freedom. He had no choice but to keep going at this point; if he remained here he would either die of starvation or loneliness, unless that creature got to him first.

And going back to the castle would probably mean a slow and painful death. The only way to at least have a chance of survival was to find the way out.

The longer he pushed on, the more he started to worry about what else might hide in the darkness. He still remembered the look on the king’s face when he came out of the tunnels. Pale as a ghost.

Goldgaze knew that the king was a skilled man, and he was sure that the strange creature that attacked him earlier would have been no match for the man. He knew he’d seen many horrors throughout his life and ended many foes with his curved sword, the Lullablade. Whatever lay in these tunnels still had the power to shake the king to his core.

The vision of his pale face clouded Goldgaze’s mind, like an ill omen.

Nothing else happened for a long while, and Goldgaze started to get a bit more used to the darkness. Not enough to see anything properly, but he could at least see his own hoof in front of his face.

Because of this, he felt almost blinded when he finally spotted light in the end of the tunnel, right as he came around a corner. It wasn’t too far away, two dots of light on either side of the hallway.

When he came closer, the source of the light became clearer, but he still had to squint a little to see it properly. It was two simple lanterns, suspended from metal hooks from the walls. A bright light shone through their glass sides, shimmering in a pale magenta hue.

It wasn’t too hard to figure out that it was some sort of magic, a force that never waned or died out.

Just in front of him, the first steps of a staircase led down into the darkness below. The dull magenta glow only managed to illuminate the top of the stairs, making the shadows beyond all the more uninviting and threatening.

Goldgaze allowed himself just a moments breather, and sat down underneath one of the lanterns, leaned his sore back against the flat stone wall.

He looked down on himself, and saw that the wound had stopped oozing blood. Thankfully, it seemed it wasn’t as deep as he’d first thought, and even though it still strained and hurt when he moved, it wouldn’t be life-threatening. Still, long streaks of red had painted his entire left side; some already dried and caked into the fur.

Before long, he pushed himself back up, and peered into the darkness in the staircase. As much as he wanted to stay in this tiny oasis of light for as long as possible, he had no choice but to keep on going, and with a sharp inhale of pain, he took the first few steps downwards, into the compact shadows.

Making his way down the stairs proved easy, and after a little while he could see more light down at the bottom, but unlike the magical lanterns, this was a pure, white light. He hurried his steps as the sound of running water reached his ears.

If it was the gate, freedom was almost within his grasp.

When he reached the bottom of the stairs, he found that it wasn’t the gate he’d been hoping for, but rather a wide doorway opening into a massive chamber beyond.

The light that emanated from the center of the chamber was blinding, and he had to put a hoof across his eyes to shield them.

As he finally managed to see what was beyond the light, Goldgaze felt his entire body freeze.

He now understood why Dust had been so pale.

The snow fell heavy upon the cobblestone street. A few lanterns still burned faintly, a dim bulwark against the bitter shadows of the night.

Her steps made not a sound as she hurried through the white fog of the snow. She was already running late, but it was of utmost importance that she remained hidden. If anypony saw her, everything could fall into ruin.

It had never been difficult for her to move undetected. As a matter of fact, some would call her an expert thief, perhaps even a master. She preferred to call it surviving. Nevertheless, she didn’t deny that she had a gift, a very rare one at that.

Had she not been but a little filly at the time, she was sure she could’ve snuck into the castle and stolen the princesses’ crowns right from their heads without anypony noticing.

The wind howled and moaned, and she stopped just for a moment. With a tiny slither of her magic, she pulled her hood further down her face and tightened the shawl around her neck and face. Just in case.

To the untrained eye, she would’ve looked like any other pony trying to escape the bad weather.

She pressed on and hurried down the street towards her destination. She followed the instructions she’d been given; past the town square, left after three houses, then left. The second house on the right would have some sort of sign above the door, to signal her.

When she approached her supposed target, her eyes caught glimpse of something hanging from a string above the door. A bundle of sleek, black feathers. It was a good a sign as any, and with careful steps, she entered the building.

Inside, everything was in disarray. Broken furniture dotted the floor, and most windows had been broken. Snow had blown through the broken glass and gathered in drifts below the empty frames. A piece of a tattered curtain still hung from its rod, swaying slightly in the wind. The hinges of a cupboard creaked slowly.

“Hello?”

No one answered her, but right after she’d spoken, she heard the floor boards above her head creak slightly, as if someone moved on the upper floor. She couldn’t help but shiver, and not just from the cold.

She moved through the house to the stairs that led to the second floor, and stood there and looked up into the darkness for a while. After a few moments, she made her way upstairs.

“Hello?” She called out when she came to the top of the stairs. “Anypony there?”

Again, the floor creaked, coming from the room on her left side. A feeling of uneasy had been creeping up her spine, and she started to wonder if it was best to get out of there while she could.

But once more, she pushed her thoughts away, muttered to herself to get a grip. Then, she turned to the door on her left, brought up her hoof and knocked.

After a few moments of silence, she decided to open the door anyway. The room on the other side was dark, quiet and seemingly empty.

It took her a few seconds to realize that she shadow over by the window in the corner was in fact another pony, and she did her best to hold back a little gasp of surprise.

“You came.” The figure said, its voice deep, commanding, yet unmistakably female. “I have been expecting you for quite some time.”

“Forgive me.” She answered. “I lost track of time.”

“You are forgiven. Now, you have need of my service?”

“Oh, yes.” She said, carefully closing the door behind her, just in case she’d been followed. “I was told that you’re quite good at finding… lost things?”

“That is correct.” The shadow responded. “I can find anything you desire. For a price, of course.”

“I’m looking for a book.” She said bluntly. “I’ll pay whatever it takes to have it.”

“My, my, eager little filly, are we not?” The figure said with an almost alluring voice. “Very well, what is this book that you seek?”

With a little help of her magic, she lifted her cloak and pulled out a small leather pouch that had been hanging from her saddle bag, safely hidden underneath her cloak. She opened it and pulled out a small object, a seal made from purest silver.

A crescent moon adorned it, encased by a serpent swallowing its own tail.

“A journal, actually.” She said, before holding the seal up for the shadow to see. “Only the most important journal in all of creation. Just name your price.”

The figure was quiet for a while, until she lowered the seal and put it back into the leather pouch.

“Do not worry about the price.” The shadow said. “This, I will gladly do for free. I assure you, it will be my pleasure.”

“Really? You sure? I mean, I wouldn’t feel too comfortable about sending you out there for not a single bit.”

Another moment of silence followed.

“I will return.” The shadow said. “When I do, look for the feathers.”

Just a moment later, before she had time to answer, the shadow had disappeared out the window, leaving her alone and confused.

Demons in the Sky

PART ONE

FALLING

Chapter I

Demons in the Sky

Piper shivered as a particularly cold breeze grazed the top of his ears. He pulled the hood of his jacket over his head, effectively shutting out the cold wind. In the same motion, he took the opportunity to wipe some of the snowflakes that had gathered on the glass of his goggles before it became too much to see through.

Despite the relatively weak breeze, the snowfall was heavy and dense, making it hard to see properly through the haze of white. He squinted, but couldn’t see too far ahead. He shivered again, his legs tensed up from the cold.

Even though he’d been in Equestria for many years, he doubted he’d ever get used to the biting winds, and he often found himself longing to be back in his homeland.

A loud groan pushed itself out of his throat, and he muttered a few curses in his native tongue as he peered deeper into the wall of falling snow. He’d never been a patient stallion, and fewer things made him more frustrated than waiting.

“Spencer!” He called into the howling wind. “Spencer, come back!”

He knew that he would get annoyed rather quickly when he was chosen to stand guard for the rest of his group, but the fact that Spencer had taken off into the mist made it all the more unbearable.

The waiting, he could handle if he just pushed himself a bit, but seeing his furry little friend fly away into the unknown turned the annoying waiting into a much more tense situation, and a growing worry slowly clouded his mind.

“Spencer!”

“What are you on about, Zanzib?” A voice echoed from behind him. “Did the cold finally drive you nuts?”

Piper took a look over his shoulder spotted the growing silhouette of a pony in the snow. Even though he couldn’t make out any features, he couldn’t mistake the approaching figure.

“Rogue…” He said when the pony came closer. “I’ve told you not to call me that. That name doesn’t belong to me anymore.”

“I’m just teasing you, stupid.” Rogue answered, coming up next to him.

Unlike Piper, who only wore a thick hoodie and vest along with several pouches and bags, the mare next to him wore simple yet effective armor, consisting of a layered leather cuirass covering her chest and stomach, covered in cuts and bruises, scars from battles in the past. A collar shot up from the cuirass and covered about half of her neck, and a thin slit in the leather lined up perfectly with an old scar on the side of her throat. Rusted old chainmail ran down her forelegs like sleeves. The rings sang a quiet song in the wind.

“The little bugger took off again, huh?” She asked. “One day he won’t come back, you know.”

“Spencer always comes back.” Piper said with bluntly. “He wouldn’t leave me.”

“And yet here you stand…” Rogue said, tilting her head towards him, giving him a sly grin. “Alone. No Spencer. Just a lonely Zebra. And little old me.”

“He’ll be back any minute now, you’ll see.” Piper answered, and tried his best to ignore her. She always behaved that way around him, but he couldn’t understand why. She never made fun of the other Stalkers the way she did with him. Piper wondered if he’d ever be able to understand her.

Then finally, he caught sight of a tiny speck of pure blue in the fog of white, and breathed a sigh of relief as it came closer and closer by the second. Little Spencer finally emerged from the blizzard, his paper-thin wings working intensely to keep the tiny Parasprite up.

No more than a second later, Spencer darted forward towards Piper, and quickly snuck into his hood and buried himself in Piper’s mane.

“What’s gotten into you, Spence?” He said with low voice. “Did something scare you?”

Spencer made not a sound or movement, and despite Piper’s attempts to get him to come out, the Parasprite refused to budge.

“He’ll probably eat you someday.” Rogue said with a smirk. “That’s what Parasprites do, after all.”

“Oi! Shut it, Rogue.” Piper said. “Did you want anything at all, besides just mocking me?”

“Mock you? Dear Zanzib, I’m offended. I wouldn’t dream of ever mocking you and your little fuzz ball.” Rogue answered, putting on her most hurt tone. Faked, of course. “I just thought you would love my company.”

Piper gave her a long look.

“Oh, fine. Fang sent me up, said I should tell you that they’ll be done in a half hour or so. They’ve already finished placing all the dynamite, but Windlass took a tumble and sprained her leg.”

“Why am I not surprised?” Piper asked, more to himself than Rogue. “She always finds new ways to fall over and hurt herself. Such a klutz.”

“She is not!” Rogue said. “She’s just… um… endearing?”

“Klutz.”

Rogue sighed. “Anyway, they’ll be ready to leave soon, I think. I’m sure Topaz will be pleased, these Devils built their nest a little too close to her hospital. I hope nopony has stumbled upon it since we found it.”

“I’m just longing for a warm bed and food.” Piper said. “And Topaz has both.”

“Is that really all you’re longing for?” Rogue asked, letting her sly smile slowly return. “Sure you’re not just missing Topaz herself? In a warm bed?”

Piper sighed and rolled his eyes at her, but said nothing. The smirk on Rogue’s face stayed on for a good while, just like her big, blue eyes, staring at him. It wasn’t too uncommon, her staring; sometimes, she could go for a good fifteen minutes until she stopped, and at times like those, Piper often contemplated if she was dropped on her head as a foal. Multiple times.

“Go.” Piper said when she finally stopped her staring session. “The others could probably use your help, and you’ve stayed here for too long.”

“As you wish, little Zanzib.” Rogue said and trotted away into the mist.

“It’s Piper!” He yelled after her, but she was already gone.

The following half hour, Piper spent the time by trying to coax Spencer out of his hiding place, but to no use. Whatever the little thing had seen out in the mist of snow, it must’ve terrified him. Nothing made him come out, not even the lullabies from Piper’s homeland that the Parasprite loved dearly.

After a while, the sound of voices reached his ears, and guessing it was the rest of the group returning, he hurried back to meet up with them. Rogue was the first one he saw, then Fang in his signature beige, hooded jacket. Windlass came after them, limping slightly, her pink mane and black blowing across her face. She’d been awfully quiet and worried the past few weeks, especially after they left The Heart.

Their journey up to Manehattan had taken a few days, and she had hardly spoken a word on the way, and refused to tell anypony why she was so worried. Piper guessed they would find out some time in the future, and that whatever it was, it was best to deal with it when they could.

Despite his attempts to figure out what was wrong with her, he couldn’t settle on any conclusion of his own. The only thing he could come up with was that it had started about a week after that Crescent-pony left with his team of Stalkers. They hadn’t been heard from for a while, but it wasn’t too uncommon for groups to be out for extended periods of time, and so he thought nothing more of it.

“Piper!” Fang exclaimed when he caught sight of him. “I was just about to go and get you. Is everything alright?”

“Yes, it’s fine.” Piper answered. “Everything’s been calm and quiet up here. What about you lot?”

“We’ve torched most of the webs, and the dynamite has been placed. Lucky for us, these particular Devils ain’t too clever, only made one way in or out of the place. Saves us the time and trouble of blowing up any more of them.”

“You sure about that?” Piper asked. “Did you check everywhere?”

“Well, we did find another way out… Or probably in.” Fang responded. “A hole in the ceiling, leading up to the building above. The floor had caved in for some reason. Maybe the wood was old and just crumbled in on itself.”

“Or maybe somepony fell through it.” Piper said bluntly.

“Possibly. I didn’t see any fresh bodies, though. Just withered remains. If somepony did fall into the nest, it was either a very long time ago, or they somehow made it out alive. Either way, we covered it up as best we could.”

A high pitched squeal interrupted him, coming from Windlass as she tripped on her bad leg. Rogue hurried over to help her up.

“… Anyway.” Fang continued. “We had to take out some of those disgusting bugs that got in our way, but after that the others seemed too afraid to attack us. Everything went a lot smoother than I ever thought it would, and if not for Windlass’ little mishap… things would’ve gone completely without a hitch. Just need to set off the dynamite, then we can head back.”

“Odd place to set up a nest, don’t you think?” Piper asked Fang once he was done talking. “They don’t usually come this close to settlements and outposts.”

“They’re getting more bold, for some reason.” Fang said in response. “Or more reckless. Maybe something’s driving them further up north, away from the park.”

Piper shrugged. “Perhaps. If you ask me, that park should be burned to the ground. If the Devils all come from there, imagine what else it could spawn.”

“That’ll have to wait for another time.” Fang said. “Our orders were to wipe out this nest, nothing more. So far the park isn’t posing an actual threat.” He turned away from Piper and started back towards the others. “Let’s just get this over with and head back.”

Piper followed him, and decided to help Rogue with Windlass.

In only a few minutes, Fang had finished laying the fuse of the dynamite, and they all huddled down behind some rubble nearby. He lit the fuse, and the sparkling flame rushed away towards the dark stairwell that led down into the nest.

Somewhere deep down, the dynamite ignited, and the following explosion made the ground beneath their hooves tremble, and the group of Stalkers could all have sworn that they heard distant shrieks coming from the dark underground.

“I hope that’s the last we hear of them.” Rogue said, once everything went quiet.

They emerged from their hiding spot, and found the entrance to the underground tunnels completely demolished, rubble and stone piled up together into an impenetrable wall. Soon it would be buried beneath the snow, and forgotten.

“So, job finished?” Piper asked.

“Job finished.” Fang answered. “Let’s head back. Topaz promised us medical supplies in payment, and I’d really like to get them back to the ponies of The Heart quickly.”

The group headed out once again, and left the buried entrance behind without even so much as a second glance.

In silence they walked, thankful that the ruined streets of the once proud city was calm and quiet for the time being. After some time, Spencer finally dared to come out from inside Piper’s hood, and seemed contempt with hovering next to him as they pushed on.

Spencer had been with him for a couple of years now. During a scavenge run up in Vanhoover, they had stumbled upon a tiny nest of Parasprites, hidden inside a dilapidated boat down by the harbor.

Fang wanted to take them all out, knowing full well what they could do if they where allowed to multiply. Piper refused to be a part of it, but despite it all, Fang burned them all and Piper could do nothing but watch. He was a quiet Zebra, and believed that he had no right to hinder anypony’s free will. So he stood and watched as nothing but ashes remained of the Parasprites.

It was first a few days later that he noticed that the supplies in his saddle bag started to vanish, most of all the food.

Turned out that it was a Parasprite that had survived that was hiding in his gear. Piper didn’t have the heart to reject the little creature, and decided to take care of it in secret for as long as he could.

He tried to train Spencer into eating nothing but regular food, and eventually it worked, but by then his little secret had already been discovered. The Elders of The Heart wanted him to get rid of Spencer immediately, or he would be banished from Ponyville and never be called a Stalker again.

Lucky for him, a Unicorn by the name of Sweetie Belle from town had helped him, and through the use of magic spells and incantations that he couldn’t understand, she managed to alter something within the Parasprite that stopped it from multiplying like it normally would.

Piper and the Parasprite had been nearly inseparable since, and Sweetie Belle had become his close friend.

As they walked, the snow slowly fell harder, making it hard for them to see much at all. It had gone from light snowfall into full-on blizzard, and they picked up their pace to reach the hospital faster.

“I really don’t like the look of this…” Piper said to Rogue, who was trotting to the right of him. “Something feels… off.”

“You’re just being paranoid.” Rogue said bluntly. “It’s just a little snow, it won’t kill you.”

“You never know…” He muttered under his breath.

The longer they walked, the more Piper felt that something was really, really wrong. The feeling had grown and grown, much the way the snowfall seemed to increase as they came closer to the hospital. Spencer hid inside his hood yet again, unable to keep up with the strong winds.

Suddenly, Piper felt his skin crawl as a strange howl traveled through the wind around him.

“Did you hear that?” He called out to Rogue, now forced to raise his voice to be heard over the wind.

“Yeah! What the hell was it?”

Again, the howl rang through the air, this time closer and louder. Piper had never heard anything similar in his life. He was sure of one thing; whatever made that sound was not of this world. It wasn’t natural.

“Nothing good.” Fang said.

“Hey guys!” Rogue called. “We need to slow down, Windlass can’t keep up!”

They did as she said without hesitation, and Piper once again hurried over to help her keep straight.

“How bad is it?” Piper asked. “Do you need to take rest?”

Windlass didn’t answer, but she shook her head slightly. Further questioning got nothing out of her, so Piper decided to just stay quiet and give her his support to walk properly for a while.

Once they were almost at the hospital, Fang hurried away before them, to get a good view of the place, just in case. Piper and Rogue stayed with Windlass, who took the opportunity to sit down and rest her still aching leg.

Just a little while later, Fang came rushing back to them, panting and wheezing.

“Piper, you need to come see this!”

“But, Windlass, she-“ Piper started.

“Now!” Fang yelled, before turning around and hurrying off into the blizzard again.

Piper made sure that Windlass was fine, then stood up and ran after his leader. Even though he couldn’t see him anywhere, it wasn’t too hard to follow his hoof prints in the snow. He rounded a building, and found Fang just in front of him and the hospital a little while away on the opposite side of the street.

The moment he laid his eyes upon it, his blood froze in his veins.

“Oh, no…” He whispered.

Snow rushed through the air and the heavy blizzard raged, the skies a whirlwind of black clouds. From Dust Memorial Hospital Was in the epicenter of it all.

In the whirlwind, Piper could see several dark, ghostly silhouettes circling above the hospital in synch with the wind. The howls they had heard earlier echoed once again, and it was apparent that they came from these creatures in the sky.

“What are those things?” He yelled to Fang.

“… Wendigos.”

“And what the hell is a Wendigo?” Piper asked, but Fang shot him down instantly.

“No time to explain!” He shouted before setting off towards the hospital. “We need to get the ponies out of there, quickly!”

Piper ran after him, but once he came to the shallow stairs leading up to the entrance, he couldn’t help but stop and stare for a few moments. Thick ice covered the upper walls of the hospital, and somehow it moved on its own and descended towards him at an alarming pace.

With his heart stuck in his throat, he rushed through the broken glass doors.

“Topaz!” He yelled. “Anypony?!”

The entrance hall was a total disarray. Fires burned all around him, ponies rushing back and forth in their attempts to put it out. Several bodies littered the floor, one of them with gaping, burnt holes where its eyes should be. Some tried to drag the dead bodies out of the room, while other injured ponies crawled away from the building fires.

“Piper!” A voice suddenly called out. “Piper, is that you?!”

He looked to where the voice came from, and saw a pony running towards him. He didn’t recognize who it was, but the voice had been unmistakably male, although the strange mask covering the pony’s head seemed to distort it a little bit.

“What the hell happened here?!” Piper yelled to the masked pony, not caring who it actually was. Identity of other Stalkers mattered not when lives were at stake.

“I don’t know.” The masked pony answered as he came up to him. “I’ve only been here a few hours, there was this- I don’t know, Crescent said it might be King Dust returned from the dead, and I don’t-“

“Wait, Crescent is here?” Piper asked. “Where is he!?”

“I don’t know, and we don’t have the time to talk about it! Help me get these ponies out of here instead, quickly!”

“What about Topaz, is she okay?”

“I don’t know, a few ponies pulled her out after she was knocked out. I’m sure she’s alright, though, but there’s others that need help!”

Piper looked up quickly, and saw that the highest windows of the hall had already been covered in ice. Time was running out, fast.

He followed the masked pony through the burning room and did his best to help him gather as many ponies as possible and lead them towards the exit. They had no choice but to leave the dead, but some ponies refused to leave their loved ones and tried their hardest to drag their lifeless bodies through the glass doors.

“Hurry! Go!” Fang yelled as he pushed a couple of crying ponies through the room.

The ice now covered half the windows, and the Stalkers worked even more frantically to save as many as possible.

Piper tore himself away from the others, and took off into a doorway on the side of the room to look for Topaz or any other pony that needed help.

Just beyond the doors, he stumbled upon the body of a Pegasus stallion, a very odd one with rainbow mane and deformed wings. He leaned down and put his ear to his chest and heard the faintest heartbeat still ticking.

He tried to wake the Pegasus up, but nothing seemed to help, no matter how much he pushed the stallion didn’t move. Piper had no choice but to leave him, and hurried down the hallway instead, taking care to look and yell into every room he passed.

Eventually, the zebra looked into a room, and found two ponies inside. He rushed inside and told them to hurry out of there before it was too late, but for some reason they refused to budge.

They sat around a bad on the opposite side of the room, and when he came closer, Piper saw that someone was resting in it, covered by blankets.

“We can’t just leave her…” One of the ponies said. “Can we take her with us?”

“There’s no time.” Piper answered. “Just get out of here, head for the entrance and get out.”

“But-“

“No buts.” Piper said quickly. “Run, now-“

He became quiet when he approached the bed, and saw the pony in it. The bright, blonde mane and orange fur was impossible to mistake.

“… Topaz.” He whispered without taking his eyes off of her. “Is she…?”

“She won’t wake up.” One of the ponies said. “She hit her head pretty hard and now… I think she’s comatose.”

“But she’s alive, right?” Piper asked.

“Barely. You know her?”

He sat down next to the bed and lowered his head. She looked like she was just sleeping, and he wanted her to remain that way in his memory. Peaceful.

“Get out of here.” Piper whispered. “I’ll look after her. Just go, please.”

They didn’t protest, and instead hurried out of the room and left Piper all alone with Topaz. He looked at her through eyes that slowly felt more and more welled up, but no tears came to him. He wanted to cry, but nothing came.

“I’m so sorry, Topaz….”

Piper raised his hoof up on the bed and placed it on her leg. She was still warm. When he looked to the side, he saw that the ice covered the window right next to him. The first floor. It had reached the first floor. He stifled a broken wail, and looked back at the mare before him.

Carefully, he stroked her leg, hoping that wherever she was, she would feel it and get some sort of comfort from it.

In the corner of his eyes, he saw something move across the floor towards him. He looked over, and saw the ice from outside slowly covering the cold floor. It crept closer and closer to him and the bed.

With a final sigh that tore up into a sob, he reached over Topaz, and with great care, planted a tender kiss on her forehead.

He felt the coolness from the ice approaching, and removed himself from the bed quickly. He hurried towards the door, his eyes fixed on it and it alone. He didn’t dare to look back, for fear of seeing the ice covering the bed.

Still, right before he left he couldn’t contain himself, and threw a last glance on the mare he so admired. The ice had crawled up the bedframe and was coming up on the blankets without slowing down.

Piper looked away, and hurried out of the room and into the corridor, and then sat off towards the entrance.

When he once again passed the Pegasus, he had been completely encased in ice, and Piper could do nothing to help him. He could hear the Wendigos howling above the hospital again, and hurried into the entrance hall.

As he did, the masked pony instantly called out to him, and Piper made his way towards him. He helped him hoist up a pony from the floor, a mare that was completely black and wearing a trench coat. It had been ripped open in several places around her stomach.

Piper and the other Stalker rushed towards the exit as the ice came closer and closer, creeping across the floor like a cold shadow. It extinguished all the flames it touched, and seemed to almost race them to the way out.

Time seemed to slow down, and Piper could suddenly feel every inch if his body, feel every drop of blood pump through his veins. Spencer flew ahead, and he could see every little flap of his tiny wings. The ice had made his way across half of the doors, leaving only a small gap open.

In just the nick of time, Piper threw himself forwards and tumbled out of the small opening in the steadily growing ice. The other Stalker came right after him, and they both fell over as the weight of the mare became too much for them.

Somepony helped Piper up, and even though he wasn’t paying much attention to who it was, he understood that it was Rogue, due to the metallic ringing of her chainmail.

He looked back to the doors, just in time to see the ice completely cover the entrance, trapping anyone still inside.

The masked pony stood up as well, and managed to remove the mask from his face. Piper instantly recognized the young Stalker that had been hiding underneath.

“Bucket?” He asked.

“Yeah.” Bucket answered, panting heavily. “Are you alright?”

Piper nodded, and then turned his gaze up. Bucket followed his example, and caught his first sight of the ghostly apparitions circling the skies.

“Oh my-“ He stopped himself. “Are those-?”

“Yes. Wendigos.” Piper said. “What are they, anyway?”

“Spirits.” Bucket answered, his voice low and unsteady. “My mother told me about them. They feed on hatred and anger, and conjure up snow and ice wherever they go…”

“That would mean… Could they be the cause of this terrible winter?”

Bucket turned to him with a serious look on his face. It alone was enough to answer his question.

Another blood freezing howl rang out across the world, making everypony hearing it tremble in fear.

Silence then fell upon them all, as the Wendigos vanished into thin air.

Three Lost Souls

Chapter II

Three Lost Souls

Slowly, the sky opened its maw. Only a few slithers of sunlight managed to pierce the veil of dark clouds.

Not a sound could be heard as a bolt of lightning cut through the sky. Rain poured from the heavens above.

Naked, he ran. Not a single piece of cloth to shield his frail body from the elements, yet he felt no cold. The mossy floor of the forest was wet and damp underneath his bare feet, that he knew, but he couldn’t feel it.

Scared, helpless and completely alone, he could do nothing but run. And so he did, as quickly as he possibly could, between the fir trees that surrounded him. Thin branches reached for him, like the finger of a thousand lost souls, leaving deep cuts across his bare skin.

Someone called his name, over and over. Even though he couldn’t hear it, he could still somehow feel it with every inch of his body. Someone was beckoning him. He could feel the call pulsate through every fiber of his being.

He hardly even noticed the trees thinning out. Barely realized that he had stopped running. Once he did, he found himself in a clearing, a meadow with tall grass swaying in a non-existent breeze. Some part of his clouded mind recognized the place.

The rain covered the grass in a thin layer, glistening like moving silver.

In the middle of the sea of grass, there was something else. Something not part of the world it was in. A tiny slither of intruding colors that had no place in the damp grass.

Blue and white. A sensation he recognized. An instinct and a wish, buried just beneath the surface. He wanted to reach out to it, but found that his arms refused to obey him.

Lilly.

Life rushed through his body. A warm current of energy that filled his entire being.

The first thing he did was scream. Before he even opened his eyes or tried to move, he screamed from the bottom of his lungs, a cacophony of deep agony forcing its way out.

In due time, his terrified yells turned to coughing and wheezing as his dry throat started to burn, and he felt a similar itch that he couldn’t scratch, somewhere within. This caused his first thought to enter his mind; cigarettes. That’s what he needed, to get the itching away. Needed to smoke.

He was sure he was on his back, but the ground was as cold as ice. He tried to move his arms, but just like in the dream, they wouldn’t respond. He tried to push himself into a sitting position, but a heavy weight on his chest kept him down, and the constant need for a smoke made his skin itch in anxiety.

Finally, Anton forced himself to open his eyes, and it felt as painful as knives cutting into his skull. Every inch of his body felt numb and cold, yet almost burning hot.

At first, he couldn’t see much, his vision was blurry and unfocused, but after a while, it slowly became clear. Despite that, he wasn’t even sure what he was looking at, now that he could see it properly.

It looked like some sort of flat surface, but something was off with it. It had a color similar to concrete, but it looked shiny and slick, almost like it had been encased in a thin sheet of glass. Furthermore, several long, thin white strands ran across his vision like icy veins. When he breathed hard enough, the white strands moved on their own.

They weren’t part of the mirror-like surface above him.

It was hair. A mane.

Realization dawned on him, just what the heavy weight on his chest was. As much as he didn’t want to see, Anton moved his head upwards slightly, feeling his neck crack with every move he made.

He was on his back, sprawled out with his cloak between himself and the cold floor.

Lilly lay across his body. Lifeless and still. Her hooves pressed down on his left arm, and he guessed that the pressure it caused had slowed down the blood flow, which would explain the numbing. Her head rested on the side, her snout hanging of the side of his chest.

One of her ears tickled against his chin when he moved.

“… Lilly?”

His voice came out as nothing more than a whisper. His throat instantly itched even worse.

She didn’t move. Didn’t show any sign of hearing him.

Anton managed to push his free arm up towards her, pushed her shoulder.

“Lilly?”

Once moving again, he felt his body awaken, and the numbing slowly subsided. He grabbed hold of Lilly and pushed himself up from the floor into a sitting position. He held her clutched against his chest as best as he could to prevent her from falling to the floor.

That was when he noticed what had happened around him. The ceiling hadn’t been covered in glass. It was ice. Ice as clear as crystal.

It seemed to cover every inch around him. The ceiling, the walls and windows. Everything had been encased in a thin layer of ice.

Everything except him and Lilly. The ice stopped abruptly just a few inches away from them, forming an almost perfect oval shape around his body. How something like that could ever happen was far beyond him, and he wasn’t about to try to understand it. The pony in his grasp was more important.

He shook her slightly in hopes of getting a response. Nothing happened, and the only movement came from her legs that dangled lifeless as if she was a ragdoll. He loosened up his grip a bit, and he head fell to the side.

It was enough to send him into a fit of blind panic.

“Lilly! Lilly, come on, wake up! Wake up! You have to wake up, you have to-!”

With his heart threatening to burst out his chest and a throat that felt more and more dry with every panicked breath he took, he grabbed Lilly again and forced himself up on his feet. Lilly hung limply from his arms as he stumbled towards the rail he’d been looking down from earlier.

“Du är inte död, Lilly, du är inte död, inte död, inte död!”

His head started to spin as he took in the view of the entrance hall, and memories of what had transpired there came flooding back into his mind.

So much carnage and wanton death had been dealt by the hands of his brother. So many innocent lives, forever taken away. Now, the entrance was empty, with nothing but the shin sheet of ice covering every inch of the room. No bodies, no blood. Nothing that spoke of the terrible deeds of last night.

“I promised Willow and Crescent I’d keep you safe!” Anton shouted, falling to his knees on the cold ice just in front of the spiral stair case. “You can’t be dead, I-I won’t let you!”

He managed to stand up again, and took a few fumbling steps down the stairwell. The ice made it slippery, and he wanted to grab hold of the railing, but that would mean letting go of Lilly, and he couldn’t do that.

The best thing to do would’ve been to take it easy, one step at a time in a calm and careful way, but in his panicked state of mind, the thought of being careful never entered his mind. Fight or flight had taken hold of him, and all he could think about was getting out of there, as far away as possible and never return.

Anton hardly even noticed when his foot slipped to the side. He tumbled over, hit his hip against the railing and came crashing down like a ragdoll. Some small fracture of his mind made him react out of instinct, but it did little good. He rolled around, his mouth open in a silent scream of pain as his body hit sharp step after step.

Something cracked loudly, and instantly he felt a different kind of pain rush through his leg.

They hit the floor and stopped almost instantly. Anton still held Lilly close, but the pain he now felt made him unable to hold on to her anymore, and the force of the sudden stop caused her to slip out of his grasp.

Every inch of his body hurt and ached, and Anton couldn’t do anything but moan in agony. His leg had gone completely numb, and he was sure he’d sprained his shoulder. A thought told him he was lucky that it wasn’t dislocated.

As he laid there, he didn’t care about anything but his own pain. He was tired, spent and exhausted, and despite the pain being almost crippling, it allowed him to shut out the rest of the world for just a little while.

If given a choice between the terrible, uncertain world he was in, and the simple sensation of pain, he’d chosen the pain. It was easier to handle than the reality of his situation.

Then, he heard something. A low, quivering sound.

Anton turned his head.

Lilly was moving. The sound came from her.

She was clearly in agony. Her legs began to shake and tremble.

Anton forced himself up from the floor, almost tripping on the hem of his cloak in the process. Instantly, the pain in his leg rose in strength, and he found himself clamping his jaw shut together in order to avoid screaming. He took a few fumbling steps towards the writhing pony.

The pain became too much, and his legs buckled underneath his weight.

He fell to the floor mere inches away from Lilly, who had now become much more still. Anton crawled on his elbows towards her. Her back was still against him, her torn and tattered cloak sprawled out on the floor around her.

Its dark burgundy colour made him think of dried blood.

His arms started to ache as well, as the ice cold floor took its toll on his arms. He couldn’t hold any longer, and turned on his side. He felt exhausted after the fall and the pain, and couldn’t stop himself from resting the side of his head on Lilly’s back.

Anton could almost feel the warmth of life slowly fade from her.

“…. Are we dead..?”

The voice was faint, no more than a whisper. Shivering like the last sigh before the shadow came.

“Not yet…” Anton answered, his voice sounding almost the same. The moment he spoke, his throat started to itch and burn and he couldn’t hold back a few coughs.

“… Why am I alive?” Lilly whispered.

“I don’t know. I-I thought I saw you die…”

Carefully, Anton propped himself up on his elbows so that he could look at her properly. Lilly tried to move with him and get up, but the moment she did, her body froze in pain. Anton caught a glimpse of Lilly’s eyes slowly opening. They locked on to him, and a hazy fog seemed to cover them.

“What’s wrong?” Anton asked. “Where does it hurt?”

“M-my leg…” Lilly whispered. “I can’t… move it.”

Anton looked down. One of her forelegs looked a bit crooked, and he could clearly see something poking out from her side, by what he could only assume was the closest thing to a shoulder.

“I don’t think it’s broken.” Anton whispered. “Only dislocated.”

He let himself slouch down yet again, resting the back of his head against her back. With a shivering sigh, he grabbed his cloak and wrapped his arms around his chest.

“Are you hurt?” Lilly asked, quietly. “You’re... shaking.”

“It’s not too bad.” Anton said back to her, trying to stifle another coughing fit. “I’m in pain, but at least I can still walk. Sort of. I just… I need to rest for a while. I’m so tired…”

He turned is gaze up into the ceiling above, as high up as a towering cathedral, and every inch covered in the clear, glistening sheet of ice. Nine floors high, rickety stairs spiralling their way all the way to the top. It almost made his head spin, as if the open space was about to crush him. He could only imagine what this place would’ve been like back in the day.

Now it was just empty and hollow. Quiet.

Was his brother the one that conjured up the ice?

“Where is everypony…?”

Lilly’s question pulled Anton out of his thoughts.

“I don’t know. Does your leg still hurt?”

“No, only if I try to move it…” Lilly said.

Anton didn’t say anything more. He remained still, staring into the ceiling, trying to figure out what to do now. If Lilly couldn’t walk, they would have to stay here, but if they did… They couldn’t stay here, not for any longer than necessary. They didn’t belong there, two lonely souls in a place of absolute death. If they stayed, their souls would soon join the others.

But if Lilly’s leg really was dislocated, he knew all too well what had to be done. He didn’t know much at all about equine anatomy, but if what he had to do to her was anywhere near as painful as it was to humans… he dreaded the thought of causing her such pain.

They both lay there in silence, the pony and the human, as time passed them by. It could’ve been minutes, maybe even hours that they spent together on the floor, finding at least a tiny slither of comfort from each other’s warmth.

After what could’ve been an eternity on the cold floor, Anton slowly sat up. As much as he wanted to remain there in the comfort of his only friend, he knew deep down in his heart that he had to do something.

Slowly and with much grief, he pushed himself back up on his feet.

“… Are you going to leave me?” Lilly asked quietly.

“No, I’m not.” Anton answered. “I just… we have to find a way out of here. And we need to do something about your leg.”

He spun around and took a good look around the room, which he hadn’t been able to do properly before. There was nothing there, nothing besides themselves and the ice. But one thing instilled him with a bit of hope; some of the doors leading to other corridors and rooms hadn’t been fully covered in ice.

Anton took a few steps around the pony and squatted down in front of her.

“I’ll just have to take a quick look around, okay?”

“Let me come with you, I-“

Anton interrupted her mid-sentence. “No, you need to remain still, or your leg could get worse.” He reached out and carefully tucked her cloak closer around her for warmth. “I’ll just be a minute, I promise.”

He stood back up and gave Lilly a look that he hoped would be somewhat reassuring, before turning over towards one of the doors leading out of the room, this one being one he knew lead to the eastern hallways.

“Anton?”

He looked back over his shoulder. “Yes?”

“Are we going to die?”

Anton remained quiet for a few seconds before answering. “No. Not today.”

Anton took off, leaving Lilly alone to her thoughts and silence. Her body still trembled just a bit, both from the cold but also the pain in her leg, as well as the fear of being left alone. She never wanted to be alone ever again if she could help it, a decision she made some time ago, when she was all alone in the darkness.

Strangely enough, she felt more secure with Anton than she had done with anypony else, and as odd as it was, she was glad it was so. Even though she couldn’t understand why, she at least had someone to keep her company. If he hadn’t shown up when he did, she was sure she’d been dead by now, torn apart by that crazed, bleak pony in the alleyway.

Anton clearly wasn’t a fighter, but his refusal to give up made her feel safe. Even now when he was injured and exhausted, he was out there trying to solve their problems. She only wished she could’ve been of any help, and not just a helpless pile on the floor.

Maybe the fact that he wasn’t a pony also helped, she thought. That he was a human, taller and much more imposing than any pony she’d ever seen. In a way, he was watching over her, quite literally.

Whatever it was, she was happy to have him as a friend in these dark times.

Her mind wandered as she tried to remember what had happened the night before, but everything was a blur except the pain and the screaming all around her. Without wanting to think about it, her mind took her back to that other time, that fateful moment when a knife cut through flesh, and those green eyes looking at her as he died right in front of her and there was nothing she could do to stop it-

She cringed, and banged her head into the floor in a feeble attempt to shut the memories out.

Duskshine.

The knife.

Duskshine.

Blood.

Duskshine.

Eyes.

Luckily she was pulled out of her thoughts when she heard Anton call out to her.

Getting through the ice hadn’t been much of a problem, but he had to crawl on the floor to do so, since the opening was so close to the ground. Once inside, he found himself standing in an empty and silent corridor, covered in ice from top to bottom just like the entrance hall.

He hobbled forward on his aching leg as best as he could, stopping a few times to lean against a wall and rest.

A few doors stood opened into the hallway, offering entrance to rooms where ponies had lived until just recently. He couldn’t help but feel his heart sink when he peaked into the rooms, still furniture but empty of all life, as if everyone had just walked off into the night.

He hoped they had gotten out in time, and that wherever they were now, no harm had come to them.

After a few minutes, he decided to head back. He’d found nothing useful in the many rooms he passed, and every piece of furniture was frozen solid and impossible to move.

Instead of taking the same corridor back, he decided to take a left turn at the end of the one he was in, and follow another that he knew led back to the entrance hall. He rounded a few corners, but stopped dead in his tracks when he did.

The moment he saw the hallway in front of him, he knew that something was off about it. Something didn’t look like.

On the opposite side of the corridor, too far away to make out completely but close enough to notice was an irregularity in the ice. Something was lying on the floor. Cautiously, he made his way towards it. He thought he could see something red at first, and then something different, like a rainbow…

Realization dawned on him, and he couldn’t stop himself from picking up his pace until he ran towards he now saw was a certain Pegasus he knew all too well.

“Willow! Willow!” He yelled as he came closer. His speed proved too much, and he slipped on the ice and fell, skidding a bit before coming to a stop. He fumbled up, and crawled towards his friend with ever-growing worry.

And his worries were met.

He came to a stop just in front of the red pony, completely aghast and appalled by what he saw.

Willow had been encased in ice.

“Willow, what’s… what the hell’s happened to you?” He reached over and hesitantly touched the ice. Stone cold. Willow’s eyes were closed, and he looked like he was sleeping. Broken shards of glass protruded from his fur, and several thin wounds ran across his body.

Anton remembered. The night before, when his brother had shown up, the massacre. He remembered seeing Willow being hurled through a glass door into the hallway beyond. And now, here he was. Cold.

“Please, don’t be dead…” Anton whispered, his throat suddenly feeling soar once again, almost like he couldn’t breathe properly. “Not like this.”

Trembling, he placed the palm of his hand on Willow’s head, feeling nothing but cold, hard ice. Slowly, he stroked his friends head and down his neck, like he would a dog.

“Please, don’t take this away from me…” He whispered. “Don’t take him away. I can’t lose another friend…”

Anton sat down, feeling like every little ounce of hope he had left had just been sucked away from him. His heart sank deeper than he’d ever thought possible.

“Willow, you…” Anton said, his voice trembling as his hand kept on petting the creature’s head. “I haven’t known you for very long, but… You were the first I met, Willow. The very first. And you treated me like a friend even then, you... I don’t want to lose you, buddy. You might be one of the best friends I’ve ever had, just because you cared, I-“

He had to take a deep breath, as his ramblings made him forget to breathe.

“Please don’t go. I-I need you, Willow.”

Nothing happened. The Pegasus remained still.

Anton blinked away a few tears, looked up into the ceiling. He wanted to scream, wanted to shout out his anger, but nothing came out of him.

He looked down again at Willow, and when he did, something caught his eye. Something looked strange with one of his ears. Anton looked closer.

“Vad I helvete...?”

The tip of Willow’s ear had become free from the ice, seemingly in a matter of seconds. As Anton watched, the ice seemed to melt all on its own, and he couldn’t even begin to understand what he was seeing.

Quickly, he fumbled to get up, and once he got to his feet, Willow rested on the floor in front of him, wet and cold, but very much alive and breathing.

Wasting no time, he reached down and picked up the Pegasus in his arms, then hurried towards the entrance hall.

“Lilly!”

He stumbled towards her, pressing the limp pony to him.

“Lilly, look!”

Anton made his way towards her, fell to his knees next to her and carefully placed Willow on the floor next to her.

Lilly’s eyes widened in surprise. “Is he alive?” She asked.

“Yeah!” Anton answered, unable to hold back a smile. “I don’t know how, but he’s alive!”

He brushed some rainbow-colored mane from Willow’s face, before pulling off his cloak and placing it on the pony instead. Willow seemed to tremble ever so slightly, and his fur looked like he’d just been pulled out of the sea.

“Need to get him warm…” Anton said, then started rubbing across Willow’s back and neck, hoping it would build some warmth.

Suddenly, a cerise eye opened slightly.

“Willow!” Anton said. “Willow, can you hear me?”

The eye seemed to search for the owner of the voice, but couldn’t focus on anything.

“It’s Anton and Lilly, we’re both here, Willow. We’re here.”

The Pegasus opened its mouth as if to speak, but seemed too. Only a weak pant came out. Then the eye closed itself yet again.

Anton continued to try and warm his friend up, but after a while he had to give up and rest. At least Willow was still alive. Exhausted, but alive. Anton picked up his friend and did his best to wrap him tight in the cloak before putting him down again.

Tired, but filled with new hope, he sat down next to Lilly again. His leg was aching much worse now than before, but he couldn’t do anything than try to ignore it. He tried to rub his leg where most of the pain came from, hoping it would calm it down a little bit.

With a sigh, he leaned backwards and once again rested his back against Lilly.

“Fy fan, jag är så jävla trött…”

”What?” Lilly asked.

”I said I’m so fucking tried.” Anton whispered back to her. “I wish I could just go to sleep. Maybe wake up in my bed. That all of this is just a dream.”

“More like a nightmare.” Lilly said slowly.

“Maybe we’re both here because we’re dreaming the same dream.” Anton said. “Like that dream about that crystal tower and all that… perhaps we’re both still asleep.”

Anton sighed. Of course, both of them knew that it wasn’t a dream, but the idea was at least little bit comforting. But the reality of the situation always came back and reared its ugly head.

“… Lilly?” Anton asked, cautiously, worried that what he was about to say would affect her the wrong way.

“Yes?”

“We need to do something about your leg.”

Lilly didn’t say anything in response.

Anton rolled around and half-crawled over to the other side of her. Her face looked pale, almost as pale as the ice itself. Anton carefully touched her leg.

“What are you going to do?” Lilly asked.

“… When I was a kid, me and my brother used to play out in the woods. Pretend to be knights and warriors. But then one day, my brother tripped and fell and hurt his shoulder. We’d been playing on a cliff, and he stepped on a rock that came loose. Tumbled down, landed right on his shoulder. It got dislocated. Despite the pain, he kept calm and managed to tell me what to do. I need to do the same to you, but it’s going to hurt.”

He looked her in the eyes. “A lot.”

“Are you sure you know what you’re doing? Maybe…”

“Well, what else can I do? I know how to fix it, and if I don’t you won’t be able to walk, and I’m sure as hell not leaving you here.”

Lilly whimpered. “How bad will it be?”

“… Very bad. Some say that it’s one of the most painful things one can go through.”

“It would’ve helped if you said it felt like a bee sting or something…”

“I’m not a fan of lying.” Anton concluded.

Carefully, he picked her leg up by her hoof. Lilly stifled a groan of pain. He placed his other hand by what he hoped was her shoulder.

“Okay. Ready?” Anton asked. Lilly whimpered, but nodded slowly. “On the count of three.”

Lilly clamped her eyes shut hard.

“One…”

Anton braised himself.

“Two…”

And held his breath.

“Wait!” Lilly shouted. “Wait! I-I… Are you sure about this? What if it just makes it worse, then what?”

Anton loosened his grip a little. “It’s a risk we’ll have to take. We’re getting the hell out of here, even if I have to carry you.”

“B-But…”

“Lilly…” Anton said. “You’re scared, I get that, but we can’t just stay here and wait for death. It’s going to hurt, but it has to be done. Here, bite down on your cloak, alright?”

“Why would I do that?” Lilly asked.

“Because this is going to be awful.” Anton said. “Just roll it up thick enough and bite down on it, okay?”

He helped her do so, before he once again returned to holding her leg.

“Okay… Do you trust me?” He asked.

Lilly nodded.

“One… two… three!”

Anton pushed with all his might with his hands. Something cracked and came loose, and he could feel something pop into place beneath his hand.

Lilly’s scream was terrible, despite the cloak muffling her voice. Her teeth clamped down on the fabric and almost tore through it as she yelled in pure pain, and tears streamed down her face in an instant.

“I’m sorry!” Anton yelled. “I’m so sorry, but the pain will pass, I promise!”

Eventually, her scream died down, and Lilly calmed herself. Her chest heaved as she gasped for air over and over again. After a while, it too calmed down.

“How does it feel?” Anton asked once she breathed normally again. “Can you move it?”

“I-“ Lilly strained herself, and managed to move her leg slightly. “It hurts, but not as much as before.”

“Good.” Anton whispered. “Then maybe you’ll be able to stand up, eventually.”

“Yeah… Let’s hope so.”

Hope. He like that word. Yeah. Hope.

He turned back to Willow and scooped him up in his arms and then returned to Lilly, laid down, rested against her like before, and held the trembling Pegasus close in his arms to keep him warm.

If not for the dire situation, the three friends huddled together could almost have been a perfect, peaceful sight, but Anton couldn’t be more contempt than he was in that brief, fleeting moment.

Through some otherworldly miracle, his friends had survived, and were with him. All three of them had gone into the shadow of death, yet somehow returned before it covered them completely.

His friends were alive, and he couldn’t ask for anything more.

Finally, he had a bit of hope.

Eels and Elks

Chapter III

Eels and Elks

The snow fell silently upon the streets of Manehattan. The wind howled in the distance, a low mumbling traveling through the empty town, stirring up gusts of snow as it rippled across the ground.

Once, in a time almost forgotten by some ponies, the streets had been buzzing with life and movement. Ponies walked the streets, chariots hurried down the roads, flames burned in lanterns come nightfall, but the city never slept.

Now, Manehattan stood silent and empty, its final resting place beneath a thick layer of snow and ice and bitter grief. Much was lost with the city’s fall. Much was forgotten and left to slowly wither away.

Some ponies claimed that the mere sight of the ruined city would cast a shadow over anypony’s heart, a shadow as deep as the abyss, and darker than death itself. Some claimed the city was haunted by the souls of the ponies that died in the invasion and the following war. Others claimed that the great sorrow and fear it brought had cursed the city.

In the east, the first golden rays of light broke across the frozen sea as the sun rose to greet yet another day of the cold land. The radiant light made the snow run red as with blood, and flames danced in the unyielding ice.

The dance of death as the world peaked on the edge between light and shadow, the uncertainty and fear. Fear that the next day would never come. But it always did, no matter what. Eventually, the world would step over the ledge and emerge into the light, and leave the shadows behind in an endless cycle, over and over again until nothing but dying embers remains of the world.

And even then, perhaps the dance would go on, never to be seen by mortal eyes again. A flickering flame forever held just inches away from its own death. Flickering forever and ever, long after the last ashes buried the world.

Eventually, the sun had risen high enough for its light to reach a certain building in the middle of Manehattan, a hospital built like a ring around a courtyard. The façade was cold, every door and window covered in ice.

The orb that had been suspended in the courtyard to provide light for crops and vegetables for the ponies that previously had inhabited the abandoned hospital now lay shattered and broken on the ground. The ice had caused the suspensions to break, and the orb fell, crushing several trees in its landing.

Shards littered the courtyard, and snow had begun to cover the green grass. Whatever the strange, glowing artifact had been or where it once came from was now forever lost, a mystery that would remain unsolved.

In the entrance hall of the hospital, all was quiet. Not a single movement could be seen, and the only sounds came from the small bundle of bodies, huddled up in one of the far corners of the room.

The human lost in an unfamiliar world, with his back propped up against the wall. His cloak was wrapped around him as makeshift blanket, and the head of a red pony with rainbow mane could be seen sticking out from underneath, resting just at the top of the humans chest. Next to them sat a second pony, she too wrapped in a cloak, resting the side of her body against the human’s shoulder.

No other sound could be heard throughout the entire hospital except the trio’s joined, quiet breathing.

Anton, Willow and Lilly. Three friends huddled close together for warmth. At first, they had agreed that Lilly would take the first guard, and after a few hours, she would switch with Anton and get some sleep herself.

She had fallen asleep almost instantly.

The trio was exhausted and spent, and no amount of fear or worry could keep the sleep away.

When the light of the sun pushed its way through the snow-covered windows, none of the three noticed. After a while, the light touched upon Lilly, and she stirred slightly in her sleep but didn’t wake up. Instead, she just turned away and buried her face behind the human’s shoulder, mumbling something in her sleep.

After a little while longer, the light had moved up to Anton’s face, and after a short struggle against it, he woke up and slowly opened his eyes to the morning sun. The light was blinding, and he wanted to move a hand up to his eyes. It took him a few seconds to remember where he was and what had happened earlier.

He closed his eyes again when he realized that his right arm was wrapped around Willow, and that Lilly pressed herself against his left. Despite the cold, it was oddly relaxing, like waking up to your dog sleeping across your legs. Warm, comforting. And Willow wasn’t shaking from cold like he did earlier. Now he seemed calm and relaxed.

Carefully so as not to wake the others, he shifted himself a bit to get more comfortable, at least as much as it was possible on the cold floor.

A quiet yawn came from his left as Lilly woke up from his movement. She looked at him with lidded, tired eyes, her mane a complete mess and her ears flopping limply.

“So much for shifting guards, huh?” Anton said calmly, hoping not to wake Willow up as well.

“I tried to stay awake…” Lilly mumbled as she wiped her eyes with a piece of her cloak.

“Never mind.” Anton answered. “Nothing happened and we’re all still here, so no harm done.”

Lilly nodded before yawing again, and then stretched out her stiff legs, taking extra care about her left fore leg. After a moment of silence, she spoke up. “Is he going to be alright?” She looked at Willow, still sleeping in Anton’s lap.

“I hope so.” Anton looked down at the sleeping Pegasus. Even though he was obviously relaxed, he looked incredibly fragile and tiny. “But I wouldn’t be too surprised if he catches a cold.” He looked back at Lilly. She gave him an unsure look, and opened her mouth as if to say something, but promptly shut it again, and didn’t say anything else.

For a long while, they sat in silence, both of them wrapped up in their own thoughts. Lilly was contemplating how they should get out, while Anton worried about Willow.

“Hey, can I…” Lilly said, trailing off mid-sentence.

“Hm?”

“Can I ask you something?”

“Pretty sure you just did.” Anton answered.

Lilly gave him a long look. “Funny. But I’m trying to be serious here.”

“Fine, ask away.” Anton moved a bit, did his best to wrap Willow better in his cloak. “I’m not going anywhere anyway.”

The little unicorn scooted closer to him. “What was life like back where you come from? Tell me everything.”

“Everything?” Anton asked.

“Or anything.” Lilly said. “Please, just tell me anything, I need to think about something else for a while, I…”

Anton sighed. “Where should I begin?”

“Anywhere.”

For a short while, Anton sat silent, seemingly thinking. Then, he looked at Lilly, extended his right hand in a gesture towards her that she didn’t recognize, and then said: “Hej, Lilly. Jag heter Anton Svanström, trevligt att träffas.”

Lilly’s eyes shifted back and forth between Anton’s face and his outstretched hand. “Okay-? What are you doing?”

“Put your hoof in my hand.” Anton said. “Go on.”

She did as he said, he grasped it, gave it a little shake. “This is called a handshake. It’s how humans sometimes greet each other. And I also just told you my name and that it’s nice to meet you.”

“Huh. I don’t think I’ll ever understand your language. What’s it even called?”

“Swedish.” Anton said, then let go off her hoof. “Or Svenska. It’s not actually that hard to learn. Like, I remember this kid back in kindergarten. His family came to Sweden from America, and he learned to speak Swedish fluidly in two, three weeks.”

“America?” Lilly wondered. “What’s that?”

“A different country, that’s… It’s actually a lot like Equestria, oddly enough.”

“Really, how so? I thought you didn’t have any ponies where you come from.”

“Not like that, but.. I don’t know how to explain it. Probably because I don’t understand it myself. Take this Manehattan for instance. America has a place called Manhattan, and they both look pretty fucking similar.”

“That’s… Yeah, that’s odd, to say the least.” Lilly said.

“I wouldn’t be too surprised if there’s even more similarities, but…” Anton furrowed his eyebrows in thought. “I wonder if there’s a different version of Sweden here – a pony version.”

“No idea.” Lilly answered. “But maybe we could find something in some geography books? We could go and have a look upstairs, see if the library survived the ice.”

“Kanske det. But what about Willow?” Anton asked. “I can’t leave him alone here, and it’s probably not a good idea to go carrying him around.”

“You could stay here with him, I’ll go myself.” Lilly said, and then made a move to get up.

“No.” Anton answered instantly. “You’re not going anywhere alone, and neither am I. With all the shit I’ve seen here, I don’t trust this place for a second. We’ll go together later.”

Lilly sat down again, sank back into silence for a few minutes.

“Could you teach me?” She suddenly asked.

“Teach you what?” Anton said in response.

“Your language.”

“… You want to learn Swedish?”

“Please?” Lilly’s eyes suddenly widened.

Anton shrugged. “Guess I could try.”

“Awesome!” Lilly exclaimed, letting her older, childish demeanor shine through for just a seconds. The sudden outburst caused Willow to shuffle in his sleep. Lilly fell silent when she realized what she had done and her body slouched a little when she remembered the last time she acted in such a way.

Ashcraft.

When she followed Duskshine to the inn to talk to the Stalkers. She could still remember how nervous she was, and her rapidly beating heart, but it felt like it had happened ages ago, in a different world.

“Sorry.” She blurted out. “Didn’t mean to disturb him.”

“It’s fine, he’s still sleeping. So, wanna start with the basics?”

“Yeah, sure.” Lilly perked up a bit again, did her best to push back the memories of her former life.

“okay, uhm… Let’s start with ‘hello’. That’s easy. Try to repeat what I say, okay?”

Lilly nodded in response.

“Hej.”

“… Hay?”

“Yeah, that’s pretty much it.”

“So, in Sweden you call each other Hay all the time?” Lilly asked with a grin.

“Some say hallå instead.” Anton added.

“Hal-?” Lilly began, unable to pronounce the word.

“Hallå.” Anton said again. “Like, uh… Oh, like halo, but with two L’s, and a little different emphasis on the A.”

“Hallo?” Lilly asked slowly.

“Close enough, I guess. Wanna try something harder?”

Lilly nodded yet again.

“Okay, try this; jag heter Lilly.”

“Y-yag? Yag… what did you say, heater?

Anton chuckled. “No, heter. Jag heter Lilly.”

Lilly tried again. “Yag-hetter-?”

“Almost got it.” Anton said. “Try again, and try to put more emphasis on the first letter, you’re turning it into a Y, it should be a J. And it’s heter, not hetter.”

“… Jag?” Lilly looked at Anton with wonder eyes, and he nodded encouragingly. “Jag… Heter Lilly?”

“You got it, girl.”

“What did I even say?” Lilly asked.

“You said that you’re name’s Lilly. Not too hard, right?”

“No, it really isn’t. Anything more?”

“Okay, let’s try something a bit more challenging. Ready?”

“I was born ready.” Lilly said with a smile.

“That was terrible, Lilly.” Anton answered grinning at her. “Anyway, how about this; Min svävare är full av ålar.”

“I… Okay, that was long. What did you say, meen…?”

“Min svävare är full av ålar.”

”Meen… sveh-vare?”

”Close.” Anton said. “Min svävare. Är full av ålar.”

“Min? Min sveh-vare are ful? Min sveh-vare are full..”

”Av ålar.” Anton finished.

”Min sveh-vare are full av ohlar?”

Anton couldn’t hold back a laugh as he watched Lilly’s attempts. She looked like she was trying to tie her tongue into a knot, and then swallow the entire thing.

”Come on, you’ve almost go it.” Anton said when he managed to stop laughing. He repeated the sentence again, slower, to let Lilly hear every word properly.

“Min svehvare är full av… oh-åhlar?”

”There you go!” Anton said, then started chuckling again.

“What’s so funny?” Lilly asked. “What did I say? Did you make me say something stupid, or something dirty?”

“You said that your hovercraft is full of eels!” Anton had to bury his face in his palms to keep the laughter back.

“What?!” Lilly asked. “Why would I need to say that? And what’s a hovercraft?!”

“Fuck if I know!”

“And why is that damned thing filled with eels?! And you’ve got terrible humor!” Despite her claim, Lilly still couldn’t stop herself from laughing too, at the sheer stupidity of it all.

“Sorry, I just couldn’t help it! Bara så du vet så är din svävare full av ålar!”

”Min svehvare are full av ohlar.” Lilly said once again. ”… Gods, that’s stupid.” She stopped laughing, scrunched her mouth.

“Has anyone ever told you you’re adorable when you’re mad?” Anton said, trying to calm himself from the fit of laughter. He didn’t even realize what he was saying until after he’d done it.

Lilly instantly tensed up at his words. Her eyes darted back and forth, trying to find anywhere to look other than at Anton. The fact of what he had just said made her mind race, and she couldn’t understand why he would say something like that.

Quickly, the cheerful atmosphere between the two turned awkward and tense.

Anton was about to say something to end the silence, when a slight stirring caught him off guard. He looked down at the Pegasus wrapped up in his lap.

Willow’s eyes slowly opened, and a weak groan escaped his lips.

“… Anton-?”

“Yeah, It’s me.” Anton whispered. “Finally decided to wake up?”

Willow drew in a few hard breaths. “Where… Am I?”

“Still in the hospital.” Lilly answered. “How are you feeling?”

The Pegasus shifted his head a little to the side, barely enough to see the blue little unicorn next to Anton.

“Lilly? Is that you…?”

“It’s me, yes. We’re both fine.”

“… It’s so quiet.” Willow whispered. “Why is it so quiet? And so cold?”

“Don’t worry about that, buddy.” Anton answered. “Right now, the most important thing is for you to get better, okay?”

Willow nodded slowly, and then looked around him carefully, then straight up into Anton’s face. “Anton?” He asked. “… What am I doing on your lap?”

“I’m trying to keep you warm.” Anton said.

“Oh…” Willow whispered. “… T-thanks.”

“Don’t mention it. Anything for my friends.”

Willow sighed. “Did… Did you guys say something about the library?”

“I did.” Lilly responded. “Thought we could go there, see if it made it.”

“What do you mean, made it…?” Willow whispered. “Did something… something happen?”

Anton sighed, held back his tongue for a while, contemplating whether or not he should tell Willow. After a little while, he came to a decision.

“Yeah, uhm-“ He cleared his throat. “Last night, there was an… incident. You where there.”

“… I can’t remember.” Willow said. “Everything is hazy; I can barely remember anything from before I woke up…”

“I’m not sure what happened either.” Anton said back to him. “But, uh… It was my brother. I think it was him, I mean. He… hurt ponies. When I yelled at him to stop he knocked me out. And now… I don’t know what the hell happened when we were out, but… something bad. The hospital is empty now. Every pony is gone, and we don’t know why. There’s ice everywhere, that’s why it’s so cold. I guess my brother conjured it up, for whatever reason…”

Once he was done talking, Willow looked down on the floor and sighed. “… Did he kill anyone?”

“We don’t know.” Lilly said. “But hopefully not.”

Willow nodded solemnly. Then carefully, he stood up from Anton’s lap and crept down to the floor next to him, finally giving Anton freedom to move his limbs.

“Go to the library, then.” The Pegasus said as he wrapped himself in Anton’s cloak. “I’ll just… stay here.”

“We’re not going to leave you.” Anton said. “No way, you’re still weak.”

“I’m fine, I just need to sleep some more…” Willow whispered. “Besides, the library isn’t far, we-“

“No.” Anton said, interrupting him mid-sentence. “My brother caused all this, and since he’s not here I have to take the responsibility for his actions. No matter what they are.”

Willow looked at him with tired eyes. “Just go, I promise I’m fine. I tried to say that the library is just upstairs, you’ll still be able to hear me if I call for you.”

Anton groaned.

“And you said the hospital was empty, right?” Willow pushed on. “So… what’s there to be afraid of? Empty hallways?”

“… Fine.” Anton said after a while. “But I still don’t like it. Carefully, he stood up on his feet, his joints cracking from the long period spent on the cold floor. “You coming, Lilly?” He didn’t face her when he spoke to her.

“Yeah, hang on.” Lilly said and got to her hooves. “And Willow, promise you’ll call us if anything is wrong, okay?”

Willow nodded.

Then, the human and the unicorn set off across the entrance hall and made their way up the same spiraling staircase that they had fallen down earlier. It creaked and cracked under their weight, and they had to move cautiously due to the slippery ice covering each and every step, but eventually they found themselves at the top.

The first thing Anton saw was a patch on the floor, a big area that was still untouched by the ice.

“What’s that?” Lilly asked when she saw it.

“That’s where I was. And you as well.” Anton said. “The ice never so much as touched us.”

“Any idea why?” Lilly said back to him.

“No, and I don’t know if I even want to find out.”

None said anything else, and the two continued past the strange anomaly and set down the corridor on the right side of the room, straight opposite from the corridor where Anton’s room had been.

They walked on in silence, and neither of them had looked the other in the eyes after what happened earlier. The tension between them had become as thick as fog.

“So, uh…” Lilly suddenly spoke up. “About earlier. What you said-?”

“Let’s just forget about it, okay?” Anton responded.

“Oh, right, right.” Lilly answered, then went silent again for a while.

They found the door to the library, and luckily it was open. If it had been shut, the ice would’ve made it impossible to get through. Anton used his body weight to push it open a little bit more, and the ice around its hinges shattered and fell do the floor without almost a sound.

Inside, things looked pretty much the same as last time they’d been there. The books that Lilly had been reading still littered the large table on the other side of the room, the pages now frozen stiff in a thin layer of ice. Every single book case and shelf shared the same fate.

Just like every other shelf, the book case labeled “Geography” was also covered in ice, and the books were impossible to pry lose.

“Well, so much for that.” Lilly said. “I really wanted to know…”

Anton still didn’t look at her. He still felt embarrassed of what he had said before. And even more embarrassed over what she possibly thought of it. He stood still, instead focusing all his attention on the books in front of him.

One of them caught his eye.

A guide to Scandineighvia – From Lush Forests to Glistening Seas.

“Anton?”

“Yeah?”

“… Did you really mean it?”

Anton tore his gaze from the book, and looked down at Lilly. She looked a bit anxious.

“Mean what?” He asked, trying to pretend that he had no idea what she was talking about.

“You know what.” Lilly said, her voice now flat and stern. “Why did you say it?”

Anton remained silent, averted his eyes from her. “… Yes, I meant it. Yes, you are adorable when you’re mad.”

Lilly raised an eyebrow at him. “Really?”

“Yeah, but… I mean, it’s not just you.”

“What do you mean?” Lilly asked.

“I mean that pretty much every single pony I’ve seen so far looked cute. You’re all so colorful and pleasant. Well most of you, anyway. Maybe not Crescent so much, but… Damn it, ponies are adorable.”

“Oh.” Lilly answered.

“Oh?” Anton asked.

“Yes, oh.”

He looked back down at her, and for some reason she looked almost… disappointed.

“… Did I say something wrong?” Anton asked.

Lilly shook her head. “No-no, not at all. Just not what I was expecting, is all.”

“Well, what did you expect?”

“I don’t know, just… A different answer, I guess.”

Anton didn’t like where the conversation was going, and decided to focus his attention on the books again. Perhaps if with enough force, he could move them.

“Are you even listening to me?” Lilly asked.

“Of course, I just really want this god damned book!” He hit his fist against it several times.

His sudden outburst made Lilly’s ears fall flat, and she closed up completely, didn’t say anything else while Anton hammered away at the book. Slowly but surely, the ice begun to crack, but with every new crack, the tension between the two friends seemed to rise.

Then finally, the ice shattered, and the final impact caused books to sail to the floor in droves. Lilly quickly jumped back as some rained down towards her. Anton squatted down, started rummaging through the books until he found what he was looking for.

“Here.” He said to Lilly. “Look – A guide to Scandineighvia. There has to be something in this.”

Lilly walked up to him and took a peak over his should has he flipped open the book, its pages still stiff as cardboard. He flipped to the last pages, hoped to find an index. And then suddenly, there it was.

“… Norhay.” He read aloud. “I’m guessing that’s Norway. Wait, here’s something… Älgi- Oh, you got to fucking kidding me! Älgie! Really? The pony version of Sweden is Elken? That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard!”

He flipped to the page that the index pointed him to. “Then again, we do have a lot of elks, but still, it’s just… Oh, look at that.” They looked down on a complete map of the supposed Elken, and Anton found that it looked almost identical to Sweden.

“Is that... your home?” Lilly asked cautiously.

“Yeah… That’s Sweden, all right.” Anton whispered. “So… What the hell does this mean?”

“Maybe Equestria is a parallel universe or something? The same world but still slightly different?”

Anton shook his head. “Any rational person would say this is complete insanity, all of this. But from what I’ve been through so far I’m inclined to believe almost anything.”

“Think you’ll ever be able to go back there?” Lilly said.

“I have no idea. And honestly, I prefer not to think about it.”

Lilly reached her head around his shoulder to get closer to the map, looked at it intently. “I wish I could see it someday.”

Anton looked closer, and managed to find what he was looking for. “Here. See that, Eskilstuna?” He pointed a finger on the map. “That’s where I come from. Strange that it has the same name here…”

“Do you miss it?” Lilly asked.”

“I don’t know.”

“And is that a lie?”

Anton looked at her, finally breaking through the uneasy tension that had been building. “Of course it is.”

For a while they remained there, just looking at each other, none speaking a word. There wasn’t much to say anyway, both had readily forgiven the other almost instantly. Then, Anton closed the book, stood up and put it into his back pocket.

“I think it’s time we head back to Willow.” He said quietly.

“Sure…” Lilly answered.

They left the library and headed back, and Anton was sure that Lilly was walking much closer to him now than before.

A Short Respite

Chapter IV

A Short Respite

It wasn’t much, the collection of items spread out on the frozen bed.

There was a lighter that barely worked anymore, the receipt from the café, an old copper coin and a lot of lint. All items had come from his leather jacket, and due to the recent events he’d been through, he’d completely forgotten he even had them.

Although they seemed useless at first glance, Anton felt the need to hold on to the, just in case. The lighter could be used as illumination, or start a couple of fires if they needed to. The receipt wasn’t much to work with, but it could at least serve as a last resort for tinder.

But the copper coin, on the other hand…

A faint blue aura enveloped it, and it levitated off the bed. Lilly looked at it with wondering eyes.

“What’s this?” She asked. “Doesn’t look like any coin I’ve ever seen.” She flipped it around in the air in front of her, studying both sides of it.

Anton grabbed the coin between his thumb and index finger, pulled it too himself. He felt a tingly sensation across his fingers as they came into contact with the magical aura.

“It’s nothing much, really.” He said, as he let it rest against the palm of his hand. “It used to belong to my brother. He called it a lucky charm.”

Lilly’s magic hoisted it back up so she could see it again. Both sides had engravings on them; one bearing the likeness of a devil in red with horns and demonic wings. The other resembled a blue angel, with corresponding halo and heavenly wings.

“Is this what the currency looks like?” Lilly said. “Back where you come from, I mean.”

Anton huffed quietly. “No, it’s, uh… Oh, how do I explain this? It’s a sort of… collector’s item, I guess. It came with a… video game.”

“A what?” Lilly asked, tilting her head.

“Well, a game is like… You play it on a TV, which is like a moving picture, I guess? Man, that sounds stupid. Never mind, it’s not important. Let’s just say my brother liked games a lot more than I did, and often spent a little more money on special collector’s editions.”

“Is it worth anything?” Lilly asked. “Oh! Is it magic?”

“No, it’s just a copper coin, zero value except sentimental, I guess.”

“Then why would he pay more money for it if it’s not special?” Lilly wondered.

“Because…” Anton stopped himself. “I don’t know. Still, he liked it a lot; he used it whenever he came across a choice he couldn’t make on his own. Flipped it and let chance decide. Chance’s always fair, he used to say.”

“Chance is never fair.” Lilly said, and then levitated the coin back to Anton. He picked it up, stuffed it back into the inside pocket of his jacket. “Chance is cruel.”

“Maybe, maybe not.” Anton responded. “Not sure what to think of it, myself.”

He reached back down, grabbed the lighter. Luckily, it was made out of some sort of see-through plastic, making it possible to see how much was left in it. It wasn’t much, barely a centimeter that sloshed around at the bottom, but it was something, at least.

Neither said anything for a while, and Lilly seemed to be deep in her own mind as she studied the receipt with a concentrated look on her face. Anton couldn’t help but roll her eyes at her, then turned around from the bed, took the few steps needed to get over to the room’s only window.

“We can’t stay here.” He said after a little while

He looked out through the window, gazing out at the frozen, empty city on the other side of the glass. No movements could be seen anywhere, not a trace of life. A small speck of fog appeared on the glass in front of him as he spoke.

He averted his eyes from the outside and spun around to look back into the room. Lilly sat on the bed wrapped in her cloak, her ears flat against her head, her eyes tired and spent. She’d put down the receipt, and her entire demeanor seemed to have changed in an instant. Willow was pacing back and forth in the room, clearly worried.

“Need to find a way out.” Anton said, more to himself than the others, leaned his back against the windowsill, crossed his arms over his chest.

“And we need food.” Lilly continued. “I can’t even keep track on time anymore. How long is it since last time we ate? A day? A Week?”

“I don’t know.” Anton answered. “But it feels like an eternity.”

“My stomach feels like it’s tied itself into a knot.”

Anton could do nothing but agree with her.

After their talk in the library, they had returned to Willow, and quickly decided to head to the kitchens. Unfortunately, every bit of food was frozen, and without fire, impossible to eat. After that, they had decided to return to Anton’s room and devise some sort of plan of action for the future.

“The ice is too strong to break and we can’t open the windows…”

“What about the roof the roof?” Lilly said. “Maybe we could get across to another building.

“No”. Willow’s voice suddenly echoed out, but he didn’t stop his pacing. “There’s none close enough.”

“You sure?” Anton asked. “We could always go and have a look.”

“There’s open street all around us, several meters, way too far to jump.” Willow answered. “I saw it earlier, when Topaz showed me how that magical orb was suspended.”

“Why did she show you that?” Lilly asked before Anton could say anything.

Willow stopped his pacing, and then drew a heavy sigh. “In case I stayed here. She said that every pony here needed to know the basics of it, at the very least. But that knowledge is completely useless now.”

Anton felt his heart sink, and guilt took its place instead. Guilt and shame, heavy and oppressing. He removed himself from the window, sat down on the bed next to Lilly.

“… I’m sorry.” He said. “All this is my fault.”

He brushed both his hands through his hair; something he often did when he felt stressed or worried. Then he leaned backwards, let himself fall flat on his back on the frozen covers.

“Of course it isn’t your fault.” Lilly said.

“No, it is.” Anton answered. “My brother did all of this… If I had just stopped him, if I just had the courage to stand up to him, I could’ve stopped him, I know I could. Instead I just froze, stood there like a fucking statue as he… killed them all.”

“Don’t blame yourself. Even if that thing is your brother, you’re not responsible for his actions.”

“He’s family.” Anton said. “That makes me accountable for what he does. If I had stopped him, then all those ponies would still be alive, and we wouldn’t be in this damned mess…”

The bed stirred a little, and Lilly’s face came into his view, staring down on him.

“If you did, he would’ve killed you too. He nearly did it anyway! What happened wasn’t your fault and nopony is going to blame you for it.”

Anton sighed, pushed her mane out of his face, stared back up at her.

“Jag är en värdelös jävla fegis.”

”Don’t curse at me when I don’t know what it means!” Lilly said, much louder than now than before.

Anton raised an eyebrow at her.

“Put that down.” Lilly said. “You always curse in Swedish, it isn’t that hard to pick up on.”

“You guys?” Willow suddenly said, causing both of them to flinch. “Could you two stop bickering like an old married couple and actually focus?”

Lilly quickly moved backwards, just then realizing that she was still leaning down over Anton, giving him space to sit back up again. He then sprung back up on his feet.

“Yeah, sorry. You’re right, Willow, there’s more important things to worry about now. And Lilly… I get that you care and I shouldn’t hold myself responsible for what happened, but I have to. It’s my brother, and I won’t stop until I learn the truth about him. Whatever that truth is, I have no choice; he needs to be stopped, no matter what it takes.”

“Wait…” Lilly began. “Are you saying you would… kill your own brother?”

Anton rested his back against the nearest wall, crossed his arms over his chest, something he often did when he felt uncertain.

As Anton stood there, arms crossed over his chest and one foot resting over the other, a thought came to Lilly. It was something that had been lurking in the back of her head for a long time now, but she couldn’t make sense of it.

There was something… off about Anton. Something that she couldn’t quite make out, yet it had been there since…

She noticed it the first time she saw him. She saw it during the incident in the alleyway. She noticed it in the hallways of the hospital. She felt it in the way he moved and acted, in the way he sprung himself out of bed just moments ago, and the way he leaned against the wall now.

It had always been there, but she couldn’t understand it. The way he moved, even when just walking or getting up from the floor of the library, his movements were surprisingly fluid and elegant, almost… feminine.

The thought made her head spin. How could he behave with such body language, such… otherworldliness? While he was obviously a male, something that was made sure by the ponies that took him in when he was injured, nursed him and cleaned him, there was an unmistakable feeling about him.

Lilly couldn’t for the life of her find rhyme or reason behind it.

It would take many years for her to finally understand; many years after her initial realization that day in the frozen hospital, she would finally learn a word that embodied Anton completely.

Androgynous.

Anton was, for all intents and purposes, an androgynous man. Not in the way he looked or talked, but in his behavior, his movements and presence. At the time, Lilly didn’t know that term even existed, and the entire thought process felt incredibly foreign to her.

She could do nothing more than chalk it up to Anton simply being a bit odd, and that strange feeling being amplified by the fact that he was a human. She held him high as a friend, sure, but he was still an alien, in a way, and a very odd one at that.

And despite it all, there was another thought in the back of her head that had refused to leave her alone for the past minute or so. Ludicrous and silly as it may sound, Lilly couldn’t help but think that if there ever was a man who’d be able to make a woman’s dress look good… Anton was that man.

Suddenly, Anton’s voice jerked her out of her wandering thoughts. “No. The mere thought of hurting anyone sickens me, let alone killing someone… but what choice would I have?”

“There’s always a better choice.” Lilly responded. “Death shouldn’t be the answer.”

“I know, but what if I have to?” Anton said back to her. “If it’s the only way to stop him, then… Either way, I need answers, I need to know. My brother was always kind and caring, back home. I can’t imagine what twisted him into this… monster.”

“Ten years after his own death.” Lilly added.

“I don’t want to think about that, right now. I can’t stand the thought of him living and dying here without his family. I guess he started a new one, but I’m sure he always missed us, and I don’t want to imagine what he went through. But I need answers to all those worries, somehow.”

“What about our dreams?” Lilly asked. “The Crystal Empire seems like our best bet to get those answers. There has to be a reason we shared that dream.”

Anton nodded solemnly, and then fell silent for a little while. He still hadn’t told her about the other dream he had earlier, where he ran through the forest towards a meadow, only to find… what he thought was her. The dream unsettled him, made him question himself and Lilly as well, and he wasn’t comfortable enough to tell her about it just yet.

“I got it!”

Willow’s voice suddenly broke the silence and pulled Anton out of his thoughts. The Pegasus had stopped pacing, and sat still on the cold floor.

“Got what?” Lilly asked him.

“A way out!” Willow answered. “I’m so stupid, I had it in the back of my head all the time but couldn’t get it out! Topaz showed it to me when she gave me that tour of the hospital – the cellar!”

“What’s so special about the cellar?” Anton asked. “They wouldn’t lead us out, just down.”

“No, listen, there’s these tunnels underneath the actual cellar itself, Topaz told me. I never went down there, but she said that they sprawl out all under the hospital, and some tunnels lead to the sewers and service tunnels! If we go far enough, we could probably get out!”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea…” Lilly said, cautiously. “We don’t know what’s down there. It could be dangerous.”

“What else can we do?” Anton said to her. “It sounds like our best bet, and if there ever was anything dangerous down there, I’m sure those Stalkers cleared it out a long time ago.”

Lilly didn’t say anything for a while, just looked at the two of them with a worried expression. Finally, she gave in.

“… Fine, let’s try it. But if I see any cobweb down there, I’m not sticking around a second longer.”

“What, afraid of some small spiders?” Willow asked.

Lilly gave him a glare. “No. I’m not scared of spiders. But you should be.”

Willow raised his eyebrows at her, then shrugged off her comment, clearly none the wiser about what she meant.

“So… it’s settled then?” Lilly asked before jumping off of the bed. “We’ll go through the tunnels, and then head for The Crystal Empire?”

Anton nodded. “It’s our only lead. Did any of the books you read say how far away it is from Manehattan?”

“I don’t think so, but I could go back to the library and fetch it, or at the very least a map.”

“Right.” Anton said. “So, you head to the library, and Willow and I will have a look at the cellar. Okay?”

“Sounds like a plan.” The Pegasus said.

Lilly nodded in agreement.

As the three parted, she asked the boys to be careful and not venture too deep down. She headed towards the library, and Willow headed the other way with Anton in tow.

From Darkness Into Light

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