The Deepest Magic

Celestia walked slowly and deliberately down the hallway from the room where she had left Lily alone with Sky. Her mind was more anxious than it had been in years, but she understood, perhaps more than anypony in Equestria, just how important it was to keep a level head. Especially in times of crisis.

Behind her, she heard the familiar hoofsteps of her six faithful subjects. The holders of the Elements of Harmony. From the day they had restored Princess Luna to the empire, she had found each of them to be faithful and trustworthy. She had relied upon them with tasks that she would have withheld from many of her own personal guards. They had faced dragons, confronted monsters, and even fought an invading army. And she hoped that, somehow, they would continue to impress her.

But now, here in the security of the royal palace, she could almost feel their unease. Some of them looked unnaturally tense, while others followed with heads hung and ears flat against their heads. The princess sighed to herself. They’ve done so much already. But all too often, the battles we lose are the ones that strike us at home.

She inclined her head back to the group following her to speak when another voice broke the silence. “So, now what?” Rainbow Dash asked, the impatience in her voice coming as no surprise to the monarch.

“Now we wait,” Princess Celestia replied firmly. She turned straight ahead again, hoping to signify and end to the discussion.

But Rainbow Dash wasn’t through. “Wait? That’s all we ever do! We wait. Sky’s lying in a coma because we waited too long!” she blurted, disregarding Celestia’s attempts to cut off the conversation.

“Rainbow…” Twilight said softly. It had a compassionate tone to it, which stung the princess’ heart. Rainbow Dash was merely saying what they must all be thinking. In fact, she herself had thought the same thing over many sleepless nights. And she still wondered where it had all gone wrong. Where she had gone wrong.

“Look, Sky can’t last forever like this,” Rainbow continued to protest. “It’s been five days, and the only way he’s getting any nourishment at all is with magical spells, and we can’t count on that lasting forever.” Her sigh came out loud and harsh. “We don’t have time to wait.”

Celestia stopped in her tracks and turned to face the group of six ponies. She locked her gaze with Rainbow Dash for a moment, whose eyes grew wide with sudden alarm at the thought of having possibly offended the princess.

But Celestia’s expression grew soft. “I understand that, Rainbow Dash,” she said, her eyes drifting from mare to mare as she spoke. “The entire Council does. But even if we had the time, what could we do?” She closed her eyes and shook her head sadly before continuing. “Sky’s body is here. We have no word on the Chimera. And we all agreed that bringing Lily to Canterlot was our best chance at saving Sky. All we can do is wait and see what happens.”

Rainbow Dash took a breath as if to argue, but after a short moment, she released the breath in defeat. “Yeah, I know,” she admitted. “It just feels wrong to be sitting here on our haunches when there’s still so much that needs to be done.”

“I can appreciate that,” Celestia responded. “We may not have much time, but until we gain some new information or something changes, we can only do one thing with it. And we just have to believe that it won’t run out before Sky comes back to us.”

“But what will we do if we find out where the Chimera is and Sky isn’t awake yet?” Rarity asked, a worrisome look coming to her face.

“We won’t know until that happens,” Celestia replied simply. “But I may have to ask the six of you to wield the Elements of Harmony against it.”

“But Princess,” Twilight interjected, “you’re the most powerful pony in Equestria. Why can’t you just go and face it? I’m sure it wouldn’t be able to stand up to you.”

Celestia let her eyelids close as she responded. “There are a few reasons. First, I don’t think it wants to fight me like this. Perhaps eventually, but not yet. If I were to come, I doubt it would stay and fight me. And secondly,” she continued, opening her eyes, “there are those ponies that Sky told us had been consumed by the Chimera. I fear trying to vanquish this creature at the expense of not being able to save those ponies.”

“So does Sky,” Twilight countered. “Why should you be any different?”

“Because, my faithful student,” Celestia answered, stepping forward, “Sky has faced this creature three times now. And I think that deep within his mind, wherever it is, he knows how to defeat it, once and for all.”

“How can ya’ know that?” Applejack asked.

“Because even though he is unconscious, his body still exists. Which means that the Chimera did not consume it. Which means that somehow, he found a way to protect himself from that fate.” She turned to a nearby open window, where the stars glittered in another crisp, clear night sky. “I believe he finally has the key to ending this. We just have to wait for him to come back.”

“Oh.” Celestia turned again to see Rainbow Dash, red with embarrassment, nervously running her hoof through her multicolored mane. “I’m sorry, Princess. I was just…frustrated. I shoulda known that you had thought everything out like that.”

The alicorn smiled softly as she approached the speedy pegasus. “I am certainly not infallible, Rainbow Dash,” Celestia admitted. “I know how worried you are about Sky. How worried all of you are,” she said, once again scanning the faces of her small audience before returning to Rainbow. “You do not need to apologize.”

The pegasus smiled sheepishly as Celestia turned and began walking again, leading the slow procession to the throne room. She and her entourage were silent as they passed the guards on duty, who promptly saluted as they passed by. The stained glass portraits along the hallways were dark as they plodded along. I don’t care what he says, Celestia thought to herself, if he comes back and defeats the Chimera, he’s getting a window of his own.

Finally, as she opened the doors to the great throne room, Celestia heard a small voice speak up from behind her. “Lily seems really sweet and kind,” Fluttershy said, though her voice was barely louder than a whisper. “I’m not surprised that Sky liked her so much.”

“She’s really quite lovely, as well,” Rarity added.

“Did you guys hear her crying in there?” Rainbow asked. “She really liked Sky, too, it seems.”

So much for tact. She continued down the bold red carpet to the front of the room, where her two guards snapped to attention on either side of the throne.

The discussion behind her continued. “Likes, ya’ll, likes,” Applejack interrupted, a bit forcefully. “Not ‘liked’.”

“What’s the difference?” Rainbow asked, sounding a bit put off by Applejack’s unnecessary abruptness.

“Sky’s still alive, ya’ll. He still likes Lily, and she still likes him.”

“Applejack, you know what they meant,” Twilight chided. “Of course Sky’s still with us. We won’t give up on him.”

Celestia raised an eyebrow as she ascended the steps and turned around, seated on the throne. She quickly looked to Applejack, who was looking somewhat dejected where she stood.

“It’s just that talkin’ about him in the present keeps me thinkin’ about him in the present. It’s mah own way o’ keepin’ myself convinced that he’s comin’ back to us,” Applejack explained, her speech becoming softer with each word.

The room suddenly became deathly quiet. Each of the six mares looked to a different area of the room, as though they were ashamed to look at each other. It was apparent that the horrible reality had washed over them again, uncertain of what to say in response. After several tense moments, it was Pinkie who broke the silence.

“Aw, come on, you guys,” she said in her contagiously cheerful manner. “Sky’ll wake up soon, and then we can set everything right again.” She smiled broadly in conclusion.

“Of course he will, Pinkie,” Twilight replied. “It’s just hard to believe that right now.”

Polarmino
April 6, 12:06 AM – Approximately five hours after Lily’s arrival in Canterlot

It was too cold to be doing this.

Hayseed stood at the edge of town, gazing out into the frigid night. A light veil of clouds caused the moon and stars above to be surrounded in a gentle glow. His shift had only just begun, but he was already tired of it. Ever since Lily had been summoned to Canterlot, the townsponies had decided to form a town watch. Apparently, something had happened that concerned the town leaders enough to force them to keep a constant vigil on the town.

Unfortunately, they had not seen fit to inform him of what it was.

He had his suspicions. When Sky had been here, he had gone off to the windigo colony. The windigoes hadn’t bothered the settlement since that time (which had only been about two weeks earlier), but he wondered if Sky’s and Lily’s journey to their home had agitated them.

But he didn’t think that was the answer. No, deep in his mind, he believed that the answer lay in what Sky had fought when he went to the windigo colony. He hadn’t mentioned much about the creature, but he had said enough to convince Hayseed that it was powerful, it was dangerous, and it could hold a grudge. And if all that was true, it was very possible that it would return to Polarmino.

For revenge.

So, here he was, just past midnight, fulfilling a makeshift guard duty on the frozen ground of his hometown. On the other side of the town, Lemon Cobbler held her own as the other half of the night force. If you could even call it that.

It’s not like we could actually do anything against something that decided to attack the village. All we could really do is manage to warn everypony so that they could get away. We’re not fighters…we’re settlers.

His eyes watched his misty breath linger in the air until it vanished into the frosty air. Inside the town, behind where it had disappeared, he saw gentle orange glow radiating from a low window in his own home. Hayseed smiled. He couldn’t see inside, but he already knew that his brother Barley was reading by the fireplace. Again.

He adjusted his scarf and looked up at the lantern-pole attached to the harness he wore. He rather disliked it; in the deep darkness of the far north, it could be seen for miles. While it was meant as a deterrent to frosty creatures and a beacon to anypony who may have been unfortunate to have gotten lost, Hayseed feared that if something determined came to the village, then it would know exactly where they were.

He felt a cold shiver race up and down his spine. Can’t think like that, he thought to himself. Gotta keep it together.

A faint movement in the corner of his eye drew his attention. Every hair on his body stood on end as he turned in its direction, uncertain of what he had seen. Gathering his courage, he called into the darkness.

“H-hello? Is anypony there?”

The only sound he heard was the light breeze blowing past his ear. He began to wonder if his mind was just running wild. It wouldn’t be the first time that had happened to somepony on the night watch. He started to turn back to the village when he felt a strange urge to call out one more time. Just to be sure.

“I said, is anypony there?” he called. His voice echoed off the hard ground into the empty spaces of the frozen north, and he cringed each time he heard his own voice repeated back to him. Then, in the midst of the echoes, he heard a raspy voice that was distinctly not his own.

“Help! Where are you? Please, help!”

In spite of his worry, he found himself darting into the night as his lantern swung back and forth from its mount on his pole. He waved it back and forth frantically, hoping to catch sight of the owner of the voice. As he frantically looked around, he finally spotted it: a dark gray pony with a jet black mane, looking half-frozen and rather haggard from days without food.

Hayseed rather unexpectedly found himself standing beside the mare. She looked to be an older pony, though not quite as old as his grandfather had been. No, not as old as he IS, he subconsciously corrected himself. He looked at the mare, and he saw fearfulness in her eyes, though he could tell that she was both relieved and surprised to see him.

“Oh, my, I never thought I’d find a pony out here! Are you lost, too?” she whispered.

“No, ma’am,” Hayseed responded politely. “We’re just on the edge of my hometown. How long have you been out here?”

“Oh, I honestly don’t know,” she replied, her speech giving way to a coughing fit as she finished. “I just lost my way, and there was a bad fog, and soon, I was all turned around. Where am I?”

“This is Polarmino,” he said, turning back to the town. “If you’ll come with me, we can get you inside where you can start to warm up.”

“Oh, thank you! Thank you so much! I thought I was going to be a meal for a windigo out here!” she said with a chuckle. Or a small cough. Hayseed couldn’t tell.

The two of them slowly made their way to the edge of town, and Hayseed led her straight to his own home, where the fire still glowed through the window. As he opened the door, sure enough, he saw Barley sitting on the floor in front of the fire, engrossed in another of his books. He arched his eyebrow as he looked up at his elder brother. “Aren’t you supposed to be on watch?” he said, a tinge of sarcasm in his voice.

“I am on watch,” Hayseed replied as he helped the newcomer into the house. Barley was on his hooves in a flash, startled by the approach of this unfamiliar pony. “I found her on the outskirts of town. She says she’s been lost for a while. I brought her here so she can warm up and get something to eat. Think you can help with that?” He leveled his eyes at Barley, trying to will him into the kitchen to grab something warm to eat.

“Oh, uh…” Barley stammered for a moment. His gaze quickly passed from Hayseed to the newcomer several times before he finally seemed to gather his wits. “Oh! Here, you can sit in front of the fire,” he said, backing away from his spot on the floor, “and I’ll grab some warm cider from the kitchen, and perhaps I can toast some bread for you?”

The grey mare merely nodded as she dropped to the floor and huddled close to the fire, still shivering. Hayseed gave Barley a look that said, “Well?” and he was off to the kitchen, a panicked brown blur of motion.

Hayseed shut the door and walked over to a cupboard, where he found a suitably thick blanket. He walked over to where the mare lay on the floor and gently draped it over her. She looked up at him and smiled in a gesture of appreciation.

He felt a warm satisfaction grow in his chest as he watched her lower her head to the floor and close her eyes. He had done a good deed tonight, if nothing else happened. It was what his parents had taught him to do. It was what his grandparents had taught him to do. They had told him many times that it was his job to teach others to treat ponies with kindness and respect. “You owe it to them, and they owe it to you,” they had said to him. And now, it felt good to have lived up to that expectation.

He heard a soft clatter from the kitchen. He leaned down beside the resting mare and whispered, “I’m going to the kitchen to help get you something. I’ll be right back.” He then rose up and made his way to the kitchen.

As he walked inside, his lantern clanged against the frame of the doorway, grabbing Barley’s attention from where he was trying to bring the water to a boil. “Hey, everyone else is sleeping!” he whispered. “Can you at least try to keep it down?”

“You’re one to talk, with all that clattering and knocking from in here,” Hayseed shot back. “I’m just here to help. What do you need help with?”

“Grab some apple concentrate of ours and toss it in here,” Barley said, gesturing to the steaming pot of water before him. “I’ll toast a few slices of bread. That should at least take the edge off her hunger.”

“Bread?” Hayseed asked incredulously. “That’s it? Seriously? We can’t offer her anything more, I dunno, cordial?”

“If she hasn’t eaten anything in a while, you can’t risk upsetting her system,” Barley explained. “We’ll need to slowly reintroduce food to her, and bread’s pretty neutral when it comes to stuff to eat. It’ll nourish her, and we won’t run the risk of her reacting badly to it.”

“Oh.” Hayseed paused for a moment before continuing. “Where do you learn all this stuff?”

Barley gave him a quick look before tossing a few slices of bread onto a metal rack over the fire. “Where do I learn most of what I know? I read, unlike a few other ponies I know.”

“Har har.” Hayseed dropped pulled the top off a large jug and poured a healthy amount into the pot, then grabbed a ladle and began to stir.

Shortly thereafter, the cider and toast were ready, and the two of them offered them to the elder mare. She was already looking much better than when Hayseed had found her, and she eagerly scarfed the both the toast and the cider. Barley had returned to the kitchen while Hayseed remained with their guest. She looked up at him nodded.

“Thank you for finding me,” she said in a suddenly much clearer voice. “I wasn’t sure how much longer I was going to last!”

“Oh, it was nothing,” Hayseed replied, blushing slightly. “I’m just surprised you made it here. There aren’t any real towns or anything nearby. You must have been walking for days.”

“It might have been that long,” she agreed. “But look at you, taking me into your home to take care of a complete stranger on a cold night like this. Aren’t you just the sweetest thing?”

The thought registered in his head like a cannon. “Ah, I’m sorry, but I’m supposed to be on guard duty. That’s why I found you tonight. And I’m afraid I need to get back out there. Never know who else I may find,” he added with a wink.

She nodded in understanding. He turned to the kitchen once again, careful not to knock his lantern against anything, where Barley was apparently fixing a few more slices of toast. “I’m headed back out, bro,” he said. “If you could just keep an eye on her, we can tell mom and dad what’s going on in the morning.”

“If the smell of the cider doesn’t wake them up soon.”

“True.”

“Heh, this is your revenge. If you have to stay up all night, so do I, huh?” Barley retorted.

“You would have been up all night reading, anyway,” he countered. “So I don’t think it’s asking too much.”

“Fair point. Hey, I was gonna make a few more slices of toast for her if she wanted any. Did she happen to mention that?” Barley asked as Hayseed turned to leave.

“She didn’t, but I can ask.”

“Please do.”

He walked out of the kitchen (still careful with his lantern) and began to talk as he rounded the corner to the living room where the newcomer waited. “Hey, my brother was going to fix a few more pieces of toast if you wanted some. Are you still hungry?”

And as he rounded the corner, his eyes grew wide and his heart nearly exploded in his chest.

The old grey mare was standing in front of the fire now, her blanket tossed aside. From her back, a huge plume of black smoke, or a horrible shadow, rose, filling the air and spreading around the ceiling. Her mouth opened slightly, revealing rows of razor-sharp fangs. As Hayseed stumbled backwards, she opened her eyes in his direction, and, to his horror, he saw a pair of glowing red orbs emerge on either side of her head.

“As a matter of fact,” she hissed, “I am.”