Mortality

by Aceofgods

Rating: teen
Tags: Twilight Sparkle, Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Alternate Universe, Princess Luna, Original Character, Adventure, Princess Celestia
Length: 79324

Ace and Twilight have been together for a few months now, but the pair are still on edge. Ace has to perform the ritual to prolong his life... But should he fail, his life will be at an end instead.

Three months have passed since Ace and Twilight first got together, and Twilight has grown more and more nervous about their future. Ace has to perform the ritual to prolong his life, which he has only barely managed to complete in the previous two attempts. Should he fail a third time, his life may very well be forfeit...

Little is known about the very secretive ritual, normally meant only to be performed by ascended Alicorns, not Unicorns, and lesser still about the adverse effects that are caused when somepony fails to complete the ritual as intended. Ace's theory has always been that, should a Unicorn fail thrice in a row, then their magic will devour them from the inside out. Hopefully, that won't happen...

This book is a near-immediate sequel to the first in Ace and Twilight's series, Ace's Spell Shop. As with all of my stories, I am still working out what's going to happen as the book progresses, so I look forward to going on the same journey as all of you!

Published 2013-12-25 18:40:04 UTC
Last updated 2019-02-03 00:03:44 UTC

Magical

Chapter Two: Magical

Twilight and Ace emerged from a blinding, black flash of light. Twilight was still recovering from the longer-range teleportation spell that Ace used – the spell utilizing a special network of beacons only he could use – as she heard him sigh in agitation.

When Twilight had regained her senses, she noticed that they were in a dark alleyway somewhere near the residential district of Canterlot. “Pmekrdat secvenac...” Ace said, an old habit of voicing curses and anger-borne comments in his native language of Al Bhed. “E lyhhud fyed du pa net uv dras.” Twilight had learned to speak the language, partly from Ace’s lessons and partially from her own studies as she read the older tomes from his library.

Ace cleared his throat for a moment before putting on a sheepish smile. “Let us walk the rest of the way. Shall we?” he said before bowing, perhaps more comically than politely, and allowed her to lead the way out of the alley.

Twilight emerged from the alleyway into the stone city, taking a short moment to adjust from her usual, dusty town of Ponyville to the cold stone of the larger city as Ace came out behind her.

Being that it was nighttime, the Shadow Sentinels – Princess Luna’s well-trained sect of guardians who acted as the city’s military – patrolled the streets. Ever since Princess Celestia had taken ill, Princess Luna had to rule over the city, and no shortage of crime had risen out of chaos. A Shadow Sentinel was patrolling as the pair came from the alleyway, his attention immediately turning to them.

Twilight shied away from the imposing guard as he approached, the enchanted plate armor of the Sentinels turning their coats black, their teeth into pointed tips, and their pupils into slits that looked as though they had been punctured by a dagger. Further adding to their fearful image were the enchanted swords they carried, enchanted in such a way that they could nullify all but the strongest of spells. To make matters worse, this Sentinel was a Pegasus, the armor turning his normally feathered wings into leathery, bat-like equivalents.

“Halt, citizens,” he called as he approached them in a calm voice. “It is currently past curfew for this residential zone. Do you require an escort?” The frightening pony came to a stop in front of the pair as he looked over each of them.

Ace stepped forward with a deep, introductory bow – a gesture that he always did when he met somepony. “Ace Deus Fenrir,” he said with the proper ‘Ah-chay’ pronunciation of his name before coming out of the bow. “I do believe that Twilight Sparkle and I are on the exemption list?”

The Sentinel nodded once, but still appeared wary of the duo. “Yes, those names are indeed. However, what proof do I have that you are who you say?” Ace nodded with a smile before removing his glasses with a hoof, looking the guard in the eyes, giving him full view of the unique gaze.

The guard flinched for only the slightest of moments – were it not for her training under Ace, Twilight likely would have missed it. “Yes, you certainly fit the description High Captain Luna has given,” he said before pressing a hoof to his chest in salutation. “Should you have need of the Shadow Sentinels, you need only call. Carry on.”

The guard was already on his way before Twilight realized she forgot to breathe for a time. Ace replaced his glasses before stifling a laugh in her direction. “Well it’s what all that enchanted armor is meant to do, is it not?” she said with a mild glare, which only made him laugh a bit harder.

“Well, I suppose so,” he snickered, “for somepony who does not use their magical senses to see through the disguise.” Twilight only sighed, reprimanding herself for once again forgetting the usefulness of the magical senses as Ace motioned for her to lead again.

Twilight had learned to use her magic to form a variety of other senses ponies did not normally have, such as a full view of their surroundings and a wellspring of information not normally visible to the naked eye. While Twilight was only able to maintain the senses for a few hours before succumbing to an overwhelming headache, Ace had his senses flared nearly constantly.

Twilight looked around at the beautiful stone homes, though the metal bars that covered a number of windows detracted from that beauty by no small amount. To her side, she could tell that Ace was thinking the same thing as his eyes drifted over the houses.

After Princess Celestia’s condition became widespread knowledge, crime in all of Equestria had risen. Princess Luna did her best to maintain order in her sister’s place, but was still getting accustomed to the new world after her thousand years of imprisonment as well. To make matters worse, much of the Canterlot Royal Guard who once served Celestia have resigned, not wishing to serve the lunar princess.

Of course, Princess Luna still had her personally trained Shadow Sentinels, each trained by Princess Luna herself, in addition to a number of renowned trainers. However, the Shadow Sentinels are warriors and soldiers, not peacekeepers. While they are able to triumph in nearly any battle of the sword, few of them are fit to interact with anypony other than enemies or prisoners.

“A city that builds an army creates war,” Ace said, as though he had read her thoughts. “A city who trains guards creates peace. A nation that has neither shall soon crumble.” Twilight nodded to the short lesson as they both turned their gaze to a Shadow Sentinel who was escorting somepony.

The Sentinel was calm as he silently led the way, but the pony who followed was so nonplussed that he was visibly shaking even from their distant standpoint. Ace could only manage to shake his head at the sight.

“The Sentinels mean well,” Twilight commented, “but they are bred for times of war, not peace… They strike fear into the hearts of not only their enemy, but the ponies they are meant to protect.” Ace nodded as he agreed.

“Princess Luna has done much to quell the uprisings, but she has limited resources, and many ponies still refuse to heed her. In truth, she is doing nothing other than what Princess Celestia would do.” Ace sighed dejectedly, sad for the sorry state of affairs. “Still, most cannot see beyond her troubled past, unable to forgive her for mistakes she has atoned for tenfold over.”

Twilight nodded as they watched the Sentinel open a door to one of the houses, allowing the panicked pony to enter as they arrived at their destination. “At least Princess Cadance and Shining Armor came forward to help where they could.”

The Sentinel looked over to the pair, but before they could come any closer, Ace raised his glasses to display his unique eye. The Sentinel mimicked the salute the last performed as Ace replaced the lenses before going back on patrol. Ace sighed with a shake of his head.

“I am sad to say that Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Shining Armor have their hooves full tending to the Crystal Kingdom and the Crystal Ponies.” The pair turned down a side street as they neared the home of Twilight’s parents. “The Crystal Ponies are in no better a position than Princess Luna insomuch that they are a millennium behind the times as well.”

Twilight body checked his flank with her own with a playful smile, catching him off guard. “Just call them brother and sister. You already call my parents mom and dad, after all.” Ace body checked her back before he replied.

“You say that, dearest Starlight, but I have yet to meet them. While I understand the sentiment, I do not feel comfortable calling somepony I have never met family.” Twilight looked at him with a mild glare. “They are family, but are not… ‘Tis difficult to explain.”

Twilight let up the glare with a smile. “Well, I’m sure you’ll meet them soon enough… after you get back.” Ace nodded as they walked up the steps of Twilight’s home, the pair knocking on the door together. The pair looked at each other as they counted down the inevitable.

“You know you don’t have to knock,” came a stallion’s voice from beyond the door as Ace and Twilight mimicked him. “Come on in, there’s nothing but family here!” The pair stifled their laughter with a hoof before pushing the door open.

“There he is!” came the same boisterous stallion as he rose up to greet Ace with a bear hug. Ace did the same as Twilight walked back into the kitchen to see what Twilight Velvet was doing.

Ace and Night Light parted before proceeding to seat themselves in the living room. Ace sat at the couch as he admired the modern Canterlot style décor of the home, featuring a couch for company, though the more elegant recliners were reserved for the heads of the household, such as Night Light as he took his seat opposite him.

Night Light was a light-blue coated Unicorn, with a mane and tail of a darker shade. Held within his eyes was a tarnished gold that still shone bright with his joy of life. A quirk of his was his tail that was frequently messy, straight but turning wavy near the end before coming to a point. Much like Ace, he most often wore a soft smile.

Between them was a long table, and directly opposite the couch was a fireplace and mantle. Upon the latter were various photos of the family – Shining Armor at his promotion ceremony when he became Captain of the Canterlot Guard, and again with Princess Cadance at their wedding. Also featured was a younger picture of Twilight when she passed her entrance exam for Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, and again with her friends after besting Discord with the Elements of Harmony for the first time.

The rest of the pictures were of Twilight and her friends, with a couple showing what seemed like a younger Night Light and Twilight Velvet, but none of the photos portrayed Ace. Night Light had mentioned a time or two that Twilight Velvet had been saving a special frame for Twilight’s wedding day, and that that same frame would likely be his home on the mantle as well. Ace shook his head softly at the memory with a smile.

“I do hope you are not over-encumbering yourself, my dear,” Twilight Velvet said as she came into the room carrying a tea tray, followed by Twilight Sparkle, who carried the hors d’œuvres. “Surely there must be much to be done before your big business trip. I would loathe hearing that you were ill prepared, having spent your time coming here instead.”

Ace shook his head with a polite smile. “While I welcome the concern, Mom, I am happy to say that I have seen to the preparations nearly a month ago, as anxious as I am.”

Twilight Velvet was a Unicorn as well, with a light grey coat that was as spotless as she kept her house, while her mane and tail were two pairs of white and light violet stripes, evenly spaced. Her eyes were a shallow-ocean blue, and her voice matched her soft name.

Night Light laughed heartily while Twilight Sparkle and Twilight Velvet laid the trays on the table before taking their seats. “That’s Ace for you; always ready for anything. You don’t need to worry about a thing, all you need to do is stay out of his way! Am I right, son?”

Ace smiled with a polite nod before turning to Twilight Sparkle sitting next to him. “Still, it’s always nice to have somepony to help you and worry for you,” he said as he held her gaze, then turned back to their parents. “While I can do many things on my own, that does not mean I always have to; my dearest Starlight taught me that lesson. In truth, I should have learned it a long time ago.”

Twilight Velvet nodded as both she and Twilight Sparkle mirrored a smile. “It truly is the sign of a great teacher to not only admit to their weaknesses, but continue to learn from their students.”

Night Light nodded with a smile. “Yes, though most teachers do not come crashing through their students homes and breaking the coffee table the first time they meet their parents!” Night Light laughed, though Ace shied away with an apologetic smile at the memory.

“Oh, but that does remind me…” Night Light said as he rose up from the chair and walked into an adjacent storage room, followed by rustling, shifting noises as he dug through whatever clutter he had found. “Sparkle told us the trip would be dangerous, and you left something here after your first visit…”

There was an ‘Ah-ha!’ sound as he found whatever he was looking for. When he came out of the room, he carried a strapped scabbard, which held a blade with a rubber grip. The pommel of the hilt was adorned with a small, circular ruby. Attached to the pommel was a woven sword knot, the end of which was graced with an emblem that matched Princess Celestia’s archaic sun cutie mark.

Twilight Sparkle and Ace shared a look of concern for a moment as they immediately recognized the sword as that of a Royal Canterlot Guard. “You left this here the first time you showed up,” Night Light said as he offered the scabbard to him with both hooves. “Velvet and I took it to a blacksmith to, uh… Have it cleaned, and whatnot…”

Ace accepted the weapon with a nod of thanks, his hoof running over the unadorned scabbard until it came to the cross-guard; one side featured the archaic moon cutie mark of Princess Luna, while the opposite held Celestia’s mark. In total length, the sword was about 4.5 feet long, leaving the blade at around 3.5 feet long.

Ace pulled the blade partway out of the scabbard so that he could take a better look. The weapon came free easily as first the rain guard came into view, and then the ricasso. The rain guard was small, so as not to detract from the primary use of the blade. The ricasso, or the blunt section of blade used as an optional, secondary hilt, was only slightly larger than his hoof.

Ace pulled the sword out slightly further, the edge of the blade coming into view now as the light of the room played across one of the two edges. Testing the blade, Ace ran his hoof over it delicately, confirming that the blade had indeed been sharpened recently – though the steel was not of the finest quality, and the blade would dull after only a few uses.

Ace replaced the weapon in its scabbard as his eyes finally wandered from the gift. Twilight Velvet looked mildly perturbed at the unwarranted display, and Night Light did not seem wholly unaffected either, though he showed it less. Ace smiled shyly before setting the weapon aside.

“My thanks, mom and dad,” Ace said as he regained his posture. “In truth, I had all but forgotten I had left it here… You must have gone through no small amount of trouble having it restored.”

Night Light shook his head with a smile and a shrug. “Actually, it’s quite funny, really. We had no clue how much it would cost to have the sword cleaned, but when we asked the blacksmith what we owed him, he said he would never charge us. We just assumed you knew him from somewhere.”

Ace and Twilight Sparkle shared a look for a moment, realizing the blacksmith had likely thought the sword to belong to a Royal Canterlot Guard. “A blacksmith in Canterlot…” Ace started, his hoof coming to his chin as he thought. “I am afraid nopony comes to mind. Perhaps it was the sword, rather than the client?”

Night Light looked over the sword once more as it leaned against the side of the couch. “Perhaps that’s exactly it; it must be!” He said with a nod and a smile. “It truly is a fine blade, even to my untrained eyes.”

Twilight Velvet nodded that she agreed as well. “When Sparkle told us about your dangerous business trip, we immediately thought about the sword you left here that night. I won’t claim to know much about fighting, but we figured that you would be safer with a weapon, rather than without.”

Ace nodded his thanks once again with a smile. “Yes, I am sure it will help me out on my, erm… dangerous business trip. It will certainly, uh… extend my life, to be sure.” Ace’s smile became quite noticeably uncertain as he wavered.

Twilight was constantly flabbergasted by Ace’s aversion to lying – unless somepony’s life was in danger, Ace had the utmost difficulty maintaining even the simplest of lies. Twilight nearly paled when she remembered the second time Ace met her parents and outright exclaimed ’Your daughter and I have not had sexual relations,’ in an attempt to clear up an unspoken misunderstanding.

No sooner than Twilight Velvet and Night Light could raise their eyebrows in question of Ace’s odd behavior, the kitchen timer a couple of rooms away started going off, Ace and Twilight sharing a sigh of relief.

“Might I be so bold as to ask what we are having for dinner, Mom?” Ace asked, happy for the opportunity to change the subject as Velvet started to make way for the kitchen.

Velvet paused for only a moment to turn back with a smile to say, “Sparkle may have mentioned a certain recipe for fontal polenta with mushroom sauté. She says it’s one of your favorites.” She went back on her way as Twilight Sparkle started to make for the dining room even before Velvet called, “Sparkle dear, would you mind setting the table?”

Twilight and Ace laid at opposite ends of her bed in her old bedroom. As a filly, she shared the room with her older brother, Shining Armor, so the room and bed were thankfully large enough to accommodate both of them. Ace was likely the only other stallion, besides Night Light, who had ever been in the room.

After their good nights, Twilight Velvet and Night Light went upstairs to go to bed, but Ace mentioned that there was still one more recapitulation lesson he wanted to cover before retiring for the night.

Ace cleared his throat for a moment, filling the otherwise silent room with a deep sound. "Vun dra cyga uv bnyldela, drec maccuh femm pa ahdenamo eh Al Bhed,” he said in his native language that sounded almost pristine. “Ihtancdyht?"

Twilight mouthed a few of the words to herself before she finally understood, nodding once she had. Ace had spent a fair amount of time teaching her the cypheric language, and she had practiced the language much in writing – keeping a journal written solely in the language, as well as reading a number of Al Bhed books from his library.

”I understand,” she replied as best she could, but Ace’s accent and deep voice brought a natural cadence to the words while Twilight still stumbled every so often and spoke shakily, at best. ”I’ll try to keep up as best I can.”

”I would expect nothing less,” Ace said with a soft smile before his features became more scholarly; the face of a mentor, not just her special somepony. ”First, let us discuss the fundamental types of spells. Can you recall them?”

Twilight nodded as she thought aloud. ”Yes, I believe so… First are ‘Control’ spells: These are the most common spells, such as Teleportation and Majediea- Majedydeia-“ she stuttered as she stumbled over the word, her tongue tied.

“Majedydeuh,” Ace said as he stifled a laugh with a hoof as his horn and glasses glowed in the black of his magic as he moved them to the nightstand, demonstrating the skill. ”Please, continue.”

Twilight nodded with a blush before regaining her composure. ”Yes, Levitation. ‘Control’ magic is the most common because it envelops the majority of spells Unicorns use. Most Unicorns today know only Control spells… Myself included…”

Twilight started to trail off, but Ace motioned with a hoof for her to continue as he nodded. ”The second are Inscribed spells. Inscribed spells, such as the ones you sell in your shop, are spells that are written with enchanted ink that can retain magical energy, later activated by putting more magic through them.”

Ace nodded once more, though this time it was punctuated by him rubbing his chin in thought. ”That is correct, though you mentioned ‘Enchanted’ before discussing it. Please discuss enchanting next.”

Twilight shied away for a moment in her nervousness, the recap feeling more like an exam with each passing breath. ”Yes, Enchanted spells…” Taking a deep breath to calm herself as she gathered her thoughts, she continued.

”Enchanted spells are passive effects placed into an object, location or other manifestation.” Twilight’s features worked in her concentration as her gaze turned downward as she thought of examples of enchantments. Finally, her gaze fell upon the necklace she had the good habit of always wearing.

The necklace was a metal, hoof-crafted raven’s talon clasping a spherical sapphire gem that glowed with a soft light in the dimly lit room. Along the side of the talon was scrawled a brief epitaph in honor of the previous owner of the accessory, Little Raven – Ace’s long-dead wife. Ace had mentioned before that it was an Al Bhed betrothal necklace made only for her, though he had agreed to allow her to wear it while under his tutelage.

With a deep breath for confidence, Twilight carefully removed the necklace, bringing it to instead rest over Ace’s shoulders. ”Enchantments, for some unknown reason, work best with gems and jewelry. Various gems offer their own penchant or aversion to various types.” Ace’s mentor façade started to crack as his gaze fell upon the memento.

”Like this necklace, the Sapphire is enchanted with a spell that increases the wearer’s magical strength by a slight degree…” Twilight said before Ace’s gaze met hers again. “And I feel that it will help you more than me… If anything happens...”

Ace nodded his appreciation with a soft smile. ”My thanks, my student… Ace’s gaze wandered once more to the necklace held in his hoof, rolling it side to side for a moment as he read the inscription to himself before letting it fall against his chest. Clearing his throat once more, he motioned for Twilight to continue.

Twilight rubbed a hoof against her head as she thought for a moment, ”Next are Somatic spells, which are spells that are performed through physical means, often requiring physical ingredients, or ‘reagents.’” Twilight’s gaze still locked with his, Ace looked as though he expected another example.

Closing her eyes for a moment in her concentration, Twilight recalled one of the Somatic spells she learned from his library, but thought further for a moment in attempt to remember another, but could not. ”A lit candle whose wick is comprised partially of the recipients mane, a discarded robin’s egg, and a parchment bearing the name of their partner, to be burned by the candle…”

Ace raised an eyebrow not so much out of confusion, but more of curiosity as his mischievous smile played across his features. ”The spell is completed when the robin’s egg shatters of its own accord…” Twilight’s cheeks became flushed with color when she realized Ace was very much familiar with the spell in question. ”An entry level fertility spell.”

Twilight could only scarcely recall the last time her face had felt so warm, afraid that Ace would ask her to elaborate as to why she had studied and memorized such a spell. However, she was relieved – if only slightly – as he allowed the smile to wear away to his normal countenance before motioning for her to continue.

With a swift nod, Twilight wasted no time moving on to the next subject. ”Verbal spells and their sub-division, Incantations, are spells that are cast using one’s voice. In the case of Verbal spells, the effect takes place, or begins to take place, as soon as the spell is completed.” Twilight’s head tilted to the side as she tried to think of an example.

Ace motioned for her to continue once more. ”Given the nature of these spells, no example is needed. Please explain Incantations.” Twilight nodded before she continued.

”Incantations are similar to Verbal spells insag- insub- inkluy-“ Twilight paused for a moment to take a deep breath as she started to become tongue-tied over the word. ”Insomuch that they are spoken, but the effect begins to take place partway through the incantation, and most only persist for so long as the incantation is repeated.”

Twilight waited for a moment until Ace nodded before continuing. ”Finally,” she started, causing Ace to already bat an eyebrow. “There’s, ir…” Twilight was starting to feel less confident and it was beginning to show, until Ace smiled kindly and waited patiently for her to sort herself out again.

Clearing her throat before she continued, she made the most of the allotted time extension before she continued. ”Rituals are spells that take a vast amount of time to prepare, and can sometimes be a culmination of other spell types. Also, Rituals are often only potent during certain times depending on the ritual, the way it is performed, and what its intended effects are.

“Rituals are often dangerous in that, should anything go wrong, it can have catastrophic side effects, as well as the intention of the spell being altered or not completed at all.” Twilight’s gaze became burdened once more with her fears and concerns for Ace’s safety as her posture slouched as well. ”An example would be the ritual you must finish soon, yourself…”

Not wanting to warrant her fears with a response, Ace instead made his way beside her and wrapped his hoof around her as she leaned against him. Neither of the pair wishing to broach the topic once more, they simply sat in silence for a time.

When Twilight had once more visibly calmed, Ace rubbed a hoof against her far side as he spoke softly. ”You have forgotten two that we ourselves must use, my dearest Starlight,” he said a soft tone, though Twilight knew she had made a mistake.

”Those two are,” Ace started to explain, ”Runic spells and Illusion spells.” Ace’s horn was alight in its black glow as the illusionary glamour dissipated from her side, revealing a circle of runic writing carved deftly, delicately into her with a knife.

Ace’s hoof played across the writing, which read as ’Nasuja dra ajem fedreh’ in Al Bhed, or ‘Remove the evil within’ in common Equestrian. ”Runic spells are a sub-division of inscribed spells – or rather, the opposite is true – so I will grant half credit for it. Runic spells are similar to inscriptions in that they are written, though they do not require external magic and function more akin to enchantments, though they are a physical magic like Somatic spells.

“In addition to these differences, Runic spells do not dissipate as they are used, but rather remain for an indefinite amount of time. Disrupting Runic spells is as simple as removing portions of them, altering their meaning, or changing what they are written upon. Furthermore, Runic spells have no effect when used on flimsier mediums that can easily be edited, such as paper. As such, Runic Spells are most often transcribed into stone, flesh, or metal.”

Ace took a moment to allow Twilight to soak in all of the information, and only continued once she had nodded to confirm she would not so easily forget again.

”Lastly, there are Glamour and Illusion spells,” he said as his horn alighted once more with its black glow and the Al Bhed words disappeared from her side. ”Illusion spells cause others to view something that is not real, or makes something that is real appear differently.

Twilight, in an attempt to at least earn half credit on this point as well, interjected with, ”Meanwhile, Glamour spells can be used to elicit responses from other senses, as well. As an example, the Glamour we use to mask my scars also replaces the physical sense of touch and the magical sense that reveals information about an object.”

Ace nodded with a smile at the answer. ”Yes, very good. Now, to allow you the chance to make up those lost points, briefly explain why these various forms of spellcasting are significant. Twilight tilted her head and closed her eyes for a moment, pondering her response for the question, grateful for the opportunity and not wishing to muck it up with a hasty answer.

”Each form of has its own set of benefluh- benefry- belhu-“ Twilight cleared her throat for a moment to untie her tongue once more. ”Its own advantages and disadvantages, as well as some being entirely unable to serve some purpose or another. For example, there likely is no Ritualistic way to repair a common vase that has shattered, while there are a number of Control spells that could perform the task easily.

“Likewise, there is no Control spell to prolong one’s life, while there is a Ritual for it…" Twilight paused for a moment as she cleared her mind from the accidental reminder of what the coming days would bring. ”In addition to this, a number of these methods, such as Somatic and Runic spells, do not actually require any ‘magic’ on the user’s part.

“These spells operate either without magic, or are somehow able to provide magic to sustain themselves. This allows non-Unicorns and other non-magical beings or entities to use said spells on their own. Some such spells do require magic, but the magic is siphoned from the area in which it is enacted if the user does not provide the magic themselves.”

Ace waited patiently for a time to be sure she had finished before nodding with a smile and surprising her with a swift, brief kiss. Twilight’s face flushed once more as Ace’s proud smile persisted.

“Passed, with flying colors,” he said before moving to the head of the bed and sliding the covers back. “Your Al Bhed is coming along quite well, also. The pronunciations and accent are a little off, but a grand improvement overall.”

Twilight mimicked the actions, sliding to the floor on her side of the bed before sliding the covers back as well, the pair of them both climbing into bed together before pulling the covers back up, laying their heads against the pillows, and turning to face each other.

“Good night and sleep well, my darling Starlight,” he said in a soft whisper when the pair had settled themselves in comfortably.

“And a good night to you as well, my beloved Wolf of the Moon,” Twilight whispered back, using the unique name she had given to her special somepony, a name that he adored so much that he blushed every time he heard it, this time being no different.

Much as how his nickname for her carried a deeper meaning, the name regarded him as something akin to a guardian spirit, forever watchful as it protected her from the shadows of the night, ever by her side.

With another kiss and a shared embrace, they laid together in the warmth of the others hooves, their minds struggling to ward away their thoughts of what was to come, allowing their worries to melt away in each other’s presence.

New Life

Chapter Four: New Life

Sanctis awoke slowly at first as the tender wisps of her slumber faded. She curled into a tighter ball, hoping to return to her peaceful dreams with a contented sigh.

Try though she might, however, there was an insistent clattering and jingling that only grew louder as time passed.

Whatever the noise was, it wasn’t going away, and something about it set off Sanctis’ sense of danger.

As her rose colored eyes slid opened, she remembered why the sound was so threatening.

This isn’t my home.

Sanctis looked around the room quickly, panicking.

She was curled up on a bale of hay in the corner that was scratchy, but one of the best things she had slept on in days. The room that surrounded her was that of a restaurant with the chairs turned upside down as they rested on the tables. There was a locked display counter that showed many scrumptious looking treats.

Most importantly though, there were only two doors that led out of the room, and currently only one of them was unlocked, and it wasn’t the back one. The front door was banging against the chair that was braced against it as somepony on the other side attempted to come in.

Sanctis quickly ran for the opposite door, grateful that the windows were covered by shutters, preventing anypony from seeing her.

Jumping onto the chair that sat in front of the rear door, she started fumbling with the lock.

If only I was old enough to use my magic!

Her heart pounding, her ears ringing, her hooves shaking, the lock finally clicked open as she leapt through the doorway straight from her chair before kicking it shut again.

As quick as she could, Sanctis climbed onto the stove in the back of the kitchen, already knowing that the door that led outside required a key to open. She hastily scrambled up the pipe chimney of the stove as she heard the chair finally break behind the door in the front room.

At least being a small filly has some advantages… she thought to herself before coughing from the smoke and dust her hooves knocked loose as she braced them against the sides of the chimney.

“Somepony come quick! I’m being robbed!” called the stallion who had entered the store before a commotion erupted.

No… I didn’t take anything important, honest! Sanctis thought to herself as tears started to well up in her eyes not just from her situation, but her sad lot in life and that she was being misunderstood for a thief.

I only ate the stale dough that was going to be thrown out… I didn’t take anything else!

The reminder of the dreadfully small, dreadfully terrible meal she ate last night made her tummy grumble as her hooves hooked around the top of the chimney, the black of the smoke and grime covering her normally dark pink coat.

Straining under her own weight, weak from the effort and her hunger, Sanctis managed to pull herself over the edge of the chimney.

Hanging on the outside of the chimney now, Sanctis looked down below her, seeing the snowy ground at least twenty feet below her. She swallowed hard against the lump in her throat, but doing so only brought on another wave of dry coughs.

Her weak body weakening further from the effort, her hooves slipped causing her to fall backwards. Hurtling to the ground, Sanctis instinctively covered her head with her hooves.

Please still be open!...

Sanctis landed with a crash into a dumpster outside the backdoor of the restaurant, discarded foods and ingredients softening her landing as the shock of the impact slammed the lid of the dumpster down over her.

Sanctis sat in the dumpster, stunned from the event as her heart pounded in her ears.

“Quick! I heard something back here!” called another pony who had likely came to help the shop owner.

Sanctis wrapped her hooves around herself to try and quiet the shaking before she got herself caught.

Why is this happening? I haven’t done anything wrong! Honest! Why can’t they just look around and see that nothing is missing?

Sanctis heard the door beside her opening, followed by several ponies walking around, looking over the snow covered field that separated the shop from the mountains.

Sanctis held her breath silently as a pair of ponies walked in front of her dumpster, the snow crunching beneath their hooves. Her heart pounding so loudly in her ears, she thought the other ponies might hear it and find her.

They stood in front of the dumpster, and they stood there, and they stood there… Her fear covering her senses, her perception of time, it felt like they stood there for hours.

Finally, she could hear the snow crunching as they walked away to the side of the building. Sanctis started to let out a sigh of relief as she started breathing again, but quickly caught herself as she sat quietly, her ears dancing as she listened to the sounds around her.

The other ponies that were outside started to take off in different directions before the sounds faded.

“Sorry Mr. Frosting, but whoever was here is gone now. Do you know what’s missing?”

“Well, um…” the shopkeeper hesitated.

Yes, please realize that nothing’s missing! I didn’t do anything wrong, I just wanted to stay warm for one night.

“Oh yes, the register! There’s money missing from the register! At least a hundred bits are missing!”

That’s a lie! I don’t even have anywhere to put a hundred bits!

“Okay Mr. Frosting, if you would kindly submit an Incident of Theft report to Captain Snow Castle, we will review your case. If the culprit is found, they will be charged the full sum of any misappropriated funds as well as all damages. If nopony is found guilty, your insurance should cover you. Have a nice day.”

The other stallion walked around the building as the others had. “A nice day, indeed! The only damages are a broken chair and some dust in the kitchen… A hundred bits should fill my registers quite nicely!”

Mr. Frosting had returned into the store with an undeserved laugh before closing and locking the door once more.

Why are adults so stupid?! He’s obviously lying for money! Sanctis thought to herself as she pulled a half eaten piece of bread from her mane. I can’t even tell the truth because then I would be in trouble!

She pulled a frozen, nearly whole donut from around her small horn as she continued removing foodstuffs from her coat.

”You’re worthless!” her mother’s words rang inside of her head. “A Unicorn filly of nearly 8 years old, and you cannot even lift a feather with your magic!” Sanctis’ mother, a Pegasus, could not teach her magic, and refused to allow anypony into their home to teach her.

“An 8 year old who cannot even work for her own meals! Have you ever heard of such a thing?” In truth, Sanctis didn’t know any other fillies or foals, or very many other ponies for that matter.

Growing up, her mother had left Sanctis alone in their home in the forest, saying that you couldn’t trust anypony but yourself. Her mother was obsessed with being independent and had insisted that Sanctis do the same.

“Surely you do not expect to depend on me for your whole life? Do you really think that is fair for me? You have got to be kidding me!”

These arguments happened often, and thankfully they were usually only verbal. Her mother was a lot of things, few of them good, but she rarely hit Sanctis out of anger.

Yeah, Celestia forbid should mother try to hurt me or anything…

Sanctis poked her nose out of the dumpster for a moment to look around, seeing only the field of snow and the hoofprints that were left by the others only a few minutes ago.

Hoping the coast really was clear, Sanctis climbed out of the dumpster before kicking bits of hay out of her tail, tossing up tufts of smoke that clung to her.

I can’t wander around town like this…

Looking around once more with a greater view now, she didn’t see anypony around. With nopony watching her, she ran as quick as she could in the snow that came up to just below her ankles.

Sanctis was mostly use to the snow now, having spent her 8th birthday in the cold weeks after her mother had kicked her out of her home. The only thing that accompanied her birthday that day was a snowstorm that drove her into a thankfully warm cave.

A shiver passed over her small body as the chill of the wind caressed her.

Sanctis was getting use to the cold a bit as well, but that didn’t make it any less unpleasant. It was especially unpleasant after feeling the warmth of a comfortable bed of hay inside an actual building for a night.

After running in the snow for a while in the direction of the mountains, she finally came to the unusual stream she knew so well. Surrounding the stream, instead of snow, there was plush green grass and a few flowers.

Without a thought of hesitation, Sanctis jumped into the water headfirst, her body falling to the bottom slowly before her hooves alighted along the rocky riverbed before she pushed off back to the top.

The water was warm to the touch, but not quite hot. After travelling through the snow, it was the perfect temperature.

Sanctis watched as the black of the smoke and dust from the chimney washed from her body along with multiple colors of frosting and other bits of food, carried away by the subtle flow of the stream.

After scrubbing away some of the more stubborn bits, Sanctis came back aground as she shook some of the water from herself before curling up on the side of the water, watching her reflection as the water calmed once more.

Her rose-colored eyes were nearly covered by the grayscale mane that flattened against her forehead, parted only partially by the small, blunt horn that matched her dark pink coat.

Wanting to take a nap as she listened to the soft sounds of the stream as she dried before heading back into the snow, Sanctis curled into a comfortable ball as she rested, her eyes setting on her blank flank.

”You’re worthless! Absolutely worthless!”

The moon was beginning to rise into the sky as Ace and Twilight started to make their way back to the library. Despite their insistence, Pinkie Pie had thrown a get-together under the pretense that ‘it isn’t a party, sillies! Get-togethers and parties are like cakes and cupcakes!’

Regardless, Ace said that it was fine, since it was only his closest friends who were there, and he said he had no reason not to let them all say their goodbyes together rather than having them come by the library.

Ace let them have the get-together, but Twilight could tell it bothered him. ‘Leaving is not something that should be celebrated… Only a safe return should be festive,’ Ace had said to her in private as they left.

Even now, Twilight watched as Ace walked down the path physically, but she could tell his mind was already in another place.

In the past couple of weeks, Ace halted all of her lessons in favor of recapping everything she had learned, and he started acting more… methodical. It was as though every word, every response, every action was premeditated and automatic, like he had expected that it was coming and was only letting you finish to be polite before replying.

Ace was acting just like he was when they had first met… Distant, and closed…

Twilight understood that he was just falling on habits he had likely held for hundreds, maybe thousands of years. That he was mentally focused on what was coming while his body only served to carry him to his destination while he was distressed.

Ace just has a lot on his mind, and secrets to keep not only for himsel, but for others… He carries such heavy weights on his own…

Twilight understood, but it still bothered her.

When they finally came to the library, Ace opened the door for her, but looked as though he was in a hurry.

Once they were inside, he took the sword that Night Light had given him and strapped it onto his back, adjusting the cinch so that it made very little noise as he walked.

“You’re not going to take Loki’s Key with you? Wouldn’t it be safer?”

“Loki’s Key is a powerful and irreplaceable artifact,” he said immediately. “I cannot risk the artifact being destroyed should my magic overload from the ritual as it has before. ‘Tis one of the reasons why I commit the ritual in private, far away from here.”

Twilight hesitated nervously before saying anything else, not wanting to interrupt him.

Ace was looking around the room as though making sure not to forget anything, though the only thing he appeared to be taking was the sword.

When his gaze fell on her rubbing the side of her hoof, his gaze softened considerably.

“I won’t forget my promise, my Starlight. I will do everything in my power to come back to you, even if I have to hop all the way back here on only a single hoof.”

Ace’s hooves wrapped around her before his muzzle pressed against hers, bringing her into a deep, passionate kiss.

“So long as my lungs draw air in this world, Twilight, I will return to you. That is my promise.”

Twilight could only nod as her eyes became blurry with her tears. “I know you will; I believe in you… It’s just… Stay safe, okay?”

Ace only managed to nod before lowering himself in a deep bow as his horn alighted in its blackened glow, and with a dark flash, he was gone – and Twilight was reduced to tears as the worried feeling inside of her only beat louder.

Deep inside the cave in the side of the mountain, a bright, black flash illuminated the cave for only a brief moment as a Unicorn appeared from its depths.

His vision quickly adjusting to the unlit cave, Ace made his way deeper, following the sounds of the drips of water falling from the stalactites as they struck the surface of his objective.

The further into the cave he went, more and more fungal growth and other signs of life started to appear. On top of the sounds of water deeper in the cave, there were also the sounds of insects skittering across the rocks, snakes making territorial noises as he passed, and bats overhead as they returned home after hunting for food, the crunch of their meals punctuated by bits of it falling from above.

Before long, he could see a soft light hanging over the surface of the water ahead, though the light appeared to flow into the water, as though it were a part of it.

Ace approached the light, setting his sword against the rock wall of the cave before taking the light in his hooves.

The light itself was a flat and shallow cup, used in some nations to drink wine or sample foods. Or rather, the light was the unending wine that flowed from it, a radiant golden color with a smell so sweet and indescribable that Ace nearly lost himself to it as he inhaled its fragrance.

The liquid held in the cup, known as either Light Wine or Life Wine depending on the interpretation, has long since become a part of the ritual since the magical cup came into his possession.

Ace took several long, indulging drinks from the cup, the glowing golden liquid cascading down his body as the cup overflowed in response to his insatiable thirst.

The more Ace drank from the ever-full cup, the brighter the cave became even through his closed eyes.

Finally removing the cup from his lips, the sweet and flavorful liquid still dancing over each of senses, Ace opened his eyes to bear witness to the numerous dull, golden lights that floated or danced over the surface of the expansive pool of water laid before him.

Each of the lights was a pony’s soul, but they were not the souls to be used in the ritual – the dullness of the lights signified that these souls were spent, only now preparing to return to the network of souls after being cleansed in the purity of water over the year since their departure of their vessels.

The fact that these duller lights were here, still bathing in the water, meant that Ace had come early, so he took a seat at the edge and watched as more and more lights rose from the water's depth.

While the pool seemed small inside the cave, it was actually an incredibly deep spring rising up from inside of the earth. So deep, in fact, that the water was warm to the touch despite the chilled climate of the mountain and surrounding areas.

The spring ran over and out of the mountain, causing a stream that melted the snow as it went. The deeper down one were to go in this section, however, the hotter the water would become. So deep, the water went, that it was boiling, with bubbles rising to the top in other places.

This specific spring carried its water to numerous towns and villages in more streams and rivers than Ace cared to count, given each of its sub-branches.

In addition to the water, the Life Wine that overflowed from the cup poured into the water, allowing it to grant life to many plants down the length of the streams and rivers.

Life Wine was known to a number of races and beliefs to be the life-granting essence of the world. Normally, to acquire such an elixir, one would need to burrow deep below the crust to even have a glimmer of a hope of hitting a Life Spring, and even if you had, it would dry up quickly as it moved to another place.

The power of such elixir, however, has been said to bring back even the dead in large enough quantities, but often at an irreparable cost. Ace could never use such a gift to enact such dark rites, though the thought had danced into his mind no small number of times.

“It isn’t right that she died simply because she is my child!” came a younger, rasher voice that sounded much like Ace’s. “Forest Wave has every right to live in this world, not me… Her only sin was that she was proud to be born a fraction Al Bhed… Pride that I never felt myself.”

“Just because it is right does not always make it so; you yourself taught me that.” A mare’s voice that sounded like aged wine trickled from not far behind. “You know there is nothing that can be done; nothing that should be done… Why are you doing this to our daughter?”

“Because I can bring her back.”

Little Raven’s jaw went slack as she stared at Ace’s back as he worked, nearly all of his attention focused on the strange maps he was studying.

“If I can find a vein of the Life Spring, I can extract enough of it to bring Forest Wave back to life.”

Little Raven’s hoof grasped at his shoulder to spin him around to face her on the stool, but when she looked into his eyes, it was like he was already dead to the world.

Little Raven knew that Ace hadn’t slept at all since Forest Wave’s death in the hospital room, their daughter hospitalized by her lover and his thuggish, prejudiced friends almost three days ago.

“Immortality is a curse I would never wish upon my most hated of enemies…” he said in a deadpanned voice. “Burying generations of your own children… Planning your spouse’s funeral… Being by their side as they draw their last breath when you look nary a day older than them… I hate it!

Little Raven jumped as Ace’s hoof slammed against the nearby table, shattering it beneath the force of his rage, sending splinters and scrolls sailing through the air across the room.

“You have a choice, my love… Do not perform the ritual, and eternity will come to greet you as you wish.”

Little Raven had meant the words as a comfort, I knew that…

Ace was reduced to tears as he was sheltered in Little Raven’s embrace.

But her words still cut deep, and it hurt… Not that she was offering that I die to be happy, I know she didn’t mean that… But because I couldn’t…

“I’ve promised, sworn an oath, that I will continue living for as long as I am able… I made this oath to so many… My father, my first wife, my second daughter, the Watchers of the Stars, my sisters… I could never break such a promise, no matter how selfish I was.”

That didn’t mean that I had never tried…

Just as he was about to delve into memories left buried, the light of the souls that covered the surface of the water started to fade before drifting through the rocky ceiling, disappearing entirely from view.

As Ace watched all of the souls dissolve through the ceiling, there was only a brief moment of darkness before the cave was bathed in a soft but brilliantly bright light as the first hoofful of new souls started to trickle in.

The light put off by these radiant spheres was bright enough to illuminate the cave for as far as the eye could see, should the eye be able to see them, but they were not hurtful to Ace’s sensitive eyes as the Sun was.

Like the far off lights of the distant stars, the lights of the souls was soft and delicate, even kind. These lights, the very essence of life, so out of this world, could never be used to harm anypony, or anything.

The pure, unsoiled souls continued to come from on high as they filtered into the cave at random intervals. The souls had no sense of direction, no sense of order… They each were drawn to the water, rich with the impurities that were washed from the previous souls.

Those impurities, washed away from the souls as they bathed in the water, served as a catalyst to the new souls, granting them new energy and strength. In a couple of hours, the new souls would be rested from their journey here and they would seek out their new vessels.

The ritual of New Life hinged on these facts, as the souls were desperate to find a new host, a new vessel to carry them in this world.

A pony could only see pony souls, just as a wolf, for example, would only see wolves’ souls after supping of the Life Wine. While there were other ways to view the souls, the Life Wine was the simplest method.

What made the ritual so hazardous for anypony who was not Alicorn was that all souls look alike, be it a Unicorn, an Alicorn or even an Earth Pony… At our core, all of our souls are exactly the same in appearance.

Two of the souls were already leaving the cave, signifying that somewhere nearby, two pony foals were coming into this world, and were about to take their first breaths of life at this very moment.

The thought brought a smile to Ace’s features.

May your lives be long and without suffering, young ones…

Remembering the core principle of the ritual, to extend one’s life beyond normal limitations, Ace started to set hoof into the water. It was warm to the touch, the water feeling as though it meant to absolve him of all his sins.

If only such were possible… To so simply clean one’s hooves of all trespasses…

The stony bottom of the water brought him near to the center of the pool before falling away to the deep chasm that laid below the surface, the light blue of the water fading to a much darker shade.

Ace laid at the edge of impromptu platform, fully immersing himself in the water as the cleansing feeling carried throughout his entire body.

Followed by a pain akin to having one’s insides removed.

Ace gritted his teeth as the pain washed over him before he rose from the water gasping for breath, though the air came shallow into his lungs.

”I shall become thine vessel!” Ace spoke in the language he had first learned the ritual in. Grant me life, so that I may continue to serve others… Grant me your strength, and you shall have mine in return!”

Ace paused for a moment to catch his breath, his body feeling as though it were being torn asunder as his present soul fought to leave his body.

”My life is my own, yet I share it with so many… Grant me New Life, not for my sake, but for the sake of those who rely on me.”

Ace’s back arched before he collapsed into the water once more, each of the lights overhead beginning to shake violently, anxious to be the first to claim a new vessel.

Ace’s screams of pain caused the water to bubble as a sphere of light raised from his place below its surface. The light was nearly extinguished as it rose listlessly from the cave.

No sooner than the bubbles stopped and the faltering light had faded from view, one of the souls overhead shot straight into Ace’s body below the water.

For a span of a time, there was no movement in the cave. Each of the remaining lights drifted and hovered over the surface of the water, content to wait before receding into the depths of the water as they await the birth of their vessels.

As this time passed, another light drifted into the cavern to replace the light that had been consumed.

As it came to rest above the surface of the water, there was a violent commotion as a pony shot forth from the silence, sending water flying throughout the cavern as he sucked in a deep breath.

His body shaking, Ace started to make his way slowly out of the water before his legs started to give out beneath him.

When it made it to the dry ground, he fell forward with his eyes closed, beginning to lose himself to the pain as his body adjusted to the new soul.

The tawny wisps of consciousness were beginning to fade when there was a loud hissing directly in front of his face.

Ace’s entire being was sore, and he couldn’t bring himself to raise his eyelids, let alone any part of his body.

His entire being was calling out to him, trying to warn him of some danger he knew he should know and be wary of, but his mind was foggy and he couldn’t connect the thoughts together.

The hiss grew louder, and it seemed impossibly closer, like it should have been touching him already.

Then he felt a slimy, gooey presence sliding into his nose and mouth.

Ace’s eyes shot open, sending a new wave of pain through his body in addition to the pain that was persisting over his entire body already.

Then he felt it – or rather, he couldn’t feel it - his magic had left him, left his control.

It wasn’t a Unicorn or Alicorn soul he had accepted into his body.

Ace tried to rise to his hooves, but he couldn’t move, his body wouldn’t obey his commands.

An indescribable pain shot through his core, like a phoenix was being reborn from its funeral pyre inside of him while a dragon was rampaging through the whole thing with its claws tearing at his insides while the fire melted his flesh.

Ace started to suck in his breath in attempt to scream in the pain, but it only caused to pull in the slick, gooeyness that was filling his body.

His gaze finally obeying him, he looked down to see the last of the pre-magic crawling into his mouth and nose, the sleeve having come loose from the force of the water and his arching body in the pain.

The last of the pre-magic faded from his view while the magic inside of his own body started to devour his flesh.

He could feel his insides shuffling, shifting, disappearing.

The magic was devouring his organs, his entire body, from the inside out as the soul rejected the foreign force, having no clue how to handle such strange phenomena.

Ace managed to rise to his hooves shakily, but the bright blackness of his horn blinded his vision and hurt his eyes.

I’m going to die if I don’t do something!

But what could he do?

His body was weak from the transferred souls, and his magic was the cause of his death.

I have to try! To do something!

Ace ran forward blindly, his head lowered.

His body ached with the pain pulsing like fire with every slight motion, his nerve endings igniting with every step.

A violent cough erupted from his muzzle, spewing forth either blood or pre-magic.

Ace slipped on the puddle of expelled fluid.

His body slid forward on the rocks, but not for long as the wall ahead of him stopped his advance violently as his horn struck against it with all of his momentum.

Ace coughed up more blood as a hundred new pains ran through his body, a loud crack resounding through the cave as the bone protruding from his skull, his horn, was fractured by the impact.

That’s it!

Ace pulled his head back before swiftly bringing it down against the rocky wall again, his horn pulsing even greater pain through his body as he recoiled.

Ace lost consciousness for only a few seconds before being awoken once more as his magic feasted upon him.

With no time to lose, he swung his horn violently against the wall again…

There was another loud crack throughout the cave, followed by a thud and a splash.

The pain finally took its toll over the beaten and battered pony, and with another cough of blood, his head fell forward, the blackness of the world swallowing him up as his eyes slid shut.

Author's Note

Trying many new things here... Be sure to let me know what you think in the comments!

Drawing a Blank

Chapter Five: Drawing a Blank

There was an odd stirring in the cave as a young stallion rose to his hooves, a hoof pressed against his head.

Where am I?

The stallion looked around the cave, but there was little indication as to a location. The only things that could be seen was a sword, a strange dish, and… A pair of glasses that laid in a section of dried blood.

The stallion’s stomach started to heave as he covered his muzzle with a hoof.

Are these all mine? The stallion looked around once more, but couldn’t see anyplace for somepony else to be. They must be…

The stallion took the glasses and started to walk over to the pool of water near the sword, but stepped on something along the way, something soft.

What’s this?

The stallion picked the article up, finding that it was a sleeve resembling a pony’s hoof, but it was slightly larger than his own hoof. Not knowing what to do with such a thing, he threw it onto his back before going back to the pool with the glasses.

The stallion dipped the glasses in the water, rubbing them gently to remove the dried blood from the lenses.

If only there was some light in this cave so that I may see a reflection in the water… I would ever so much like to know who I am…

The stallion wore the glasses, but it didn’t feel as though his vision were any different.

Well, they certainly fit me…

Shrugging in his uncertainty, the stallion took the sword and threw it onto his back, tightening the cinch to keep it and the sleeve it held in place.

Looking over the cave once more, the stallion noticed the nearby dish resting on a small lip near the pool of water.

I’ve no way to carry such a thing… How did it even get here? Oh well… I can come back for it if I remember something.

Noticing nothing else other than various fungi and peaceful animals, the stallion started to make his way through the cave.

The cave seemed to go on for quite a ways, but there weren’t any other tunnels or caverns, nor was there any source of light.

Is this where I live? It seems so… lonely.

The further the stallion went, there were fewer and fewer signs of life, and it felt as if it was getting colder and colder.

Is there any end to this cave? Is there anything else on the outside at all?

For a while now, the cave had been without any sign of life… The rustling of the sleeping bats faded away behind him, the skittering of insects had long since vanished, and even the snakes were either silent or non-existent.

The cold air seemed to intensify the pain in the stallions head while bringing a new pain to his lungs with each breath.

Not long after, the pony came to see why it was so cold; he came to the mouth of the cave, greeted by a field of snow that went on for as far as he could see, halted only in a couple of places: a stream running off from the mountain, and a few major streets in the nearby city.

That must be where I came from… But why was I way out here? And why can’t I remember anything?

The stallion started to make his way down from the cave, suffering only a quick shiver as the wind greeted him.

Well, if I don’t have the answers, somepony else might.

Once the young pony made it to the town, he had hoped his memories would return as his eyes roved over each of the buildings on the outskirts… They did not.

With no sense of direction or belonging, he just wandered the streets aimlessly, his body still hurting and a bit sore, but he was starting to believe it was just normal.

The pony came alongside a bench, sliding the sword from his shoulders to rest against it before taking a seat, the sleeve loosely tied to the sheathe of the sword for safekeeping.

The stallion rubbed his hooves over his arms and shoulders, working his way to his chest in an attempt to keep warm as he watched the other ponies wander past with their coats, scarves and other warm clothing.

If I lived here, I’d have to have a warm house with warm clothes, right?

His gaze wandered to the sleeve, which appeared to be his only possession aside from the sword and glasses.

Shame I haven’t a clue where to even start looking.

The stallion sat on the bench for a time, huddled up to try and keep his body heat from flowing out as he watched numerous ponies going about their business, talking amongst each other, hoping for somepony to recognize him.

“Ace?”

All the ponies in town seemed to have warm clothing, so--

“Ace!”

—I must have had something if I lived here. It doesn’t appear--

“Ace! That is you, isn’t it?”

I wish that stallion would find who he was looking for, he’s quite--

The stallion felt somepony nudging his shoulder as they leaned over to look him in the eyes.

“I knew that was you! What happened? Are you okay?”

Is he talking to me?

“I… I don’t know. Anything… Do you know who I am?”

The new stallion was an earth pony with an orange-red coat covered by a warm looking brown vest, his mane obscured by a fluffy hat while his tail betrayed its likely dingy-brown color. His eyes were a seemingly bright gray that showed concern.

“Yeah, and I owe you quite a bit, too,” he said as he started to make his way down the street again. “Grab your things and follow me, you can stay at my place until you get your memory back… You look like you took a pretty hard hit to the head.”

The stallion was stunned for a moment before nodding and taking the sword onto his back once more, hastening his step to come alongside the earth pony.

“Then you know who I am? My name, and where I live? I’d very much to like to hear it.”

The orange pony nodded, looking over his shoulder. “I do. My name is Helping Hooves, but you’ve helped me more times than I care to count. I’d like to repay the favor any way I can.”

“Then please, my name! Anything you can tell me would be most helpful.”

The stallion shook his head for a moment before looking ahead again. “I think it’d be better if we talk inside. There’s a fair number of ponies out here who might take advantage of you if they knew who you were.”

It didn’t take long before the pair made it to Helping Hooves’ house, but waiting even that long when the answers were at hoof was excruciating. The stallion had a hard time remaining still as Helping worked at the lock.

“Sweetie?” came a mare’s voice from inside at the sound. “What are you doing back so soon? You’ll be late if—“

When the door opened, the mare’s voice appeared to halt in her throat as her eyes wandered over the forgetful stallion. Her eyes were a muted amber, framed by her baby blue mane as it fell around her features. Her coat and wings were as white as the snow, reminding the stallion how cold it was outside, bringing him to hurry inside with a shiver as Helping closed the door behind them.

“Oh my princess! Ace, what’s happened to your horn! Are you okay?”

My what?

The stallion’s hoof groped over his forehead while Helping removed his coat. Parting his mane, the hoof came in contact with a protrusion at the crest.

The stallion was immediately brought to his knees by the surge of pain that pulsated through not only his head, but seemingly radiated from his very core.

His teeth clenched at the pain, but the groan still escaped, causing the mare to flinch while Helping disappeared somewhere in the house.

The mare was looking around worriedly, unsure of what she should do. The stallion struggled to get back to his hooves, but was lowered once more as a wave of coughs subdued him with his eyes winced shut.

“Goodness, he’s bleeding! He’s bleeding! Helping—“

“I’m here,” he said as he came back into the room with a glass of water and some medicine in the other hoof, handing them off to the mare before helping the stallion back up and rubbing his back.

The stallion continued coughing until the pain subsided, blood falling from his mouth with each breath, staining his hoof as well as the floor.

The stallion’s breath slowly recovering, the snow-white mare offered the medicine and water, which he took gladly without question.

“They’re a couple of pain-killers,” Helping Hooves said as he stepped away slowly. “It should help with the pain, but I think we might have worse things to worry about after all of that.”

“My… Name…” the stallion said, his breathing still ragged and labored.

“You’ve always introduced yourself as Ace Deus Fenrir,” Helping Hooves said, pronouncing the name properly in an effort to jog his memory. “Most ponies call you Ace though, because many have trouble remembering the foreign name.”

“My name’s Graceful Charity,” the snow-white mare said, catching on to what was likely going on. “I’m Helping Hooves’ wife. We do what we can at the soup kitchen in town.”

Helping Hooves’ nodded with a smile. “That’s right. You’ve come by a few times to help out as well, sometimes even bringing spells from your shop in Hoofsdale to help us or the others out.”

“Shop?... Hoofsdale?... Is that where I’m from?” Ace said with a hoof to the side of his head before noticing there was a small mirror on the wall behind Graceful.

“I’m not sure,” Helping said as Ace looked over himself in the mirror. His horn had been shattered, the remainder sticking only a few inches out from his two-tone red mane that matched the blood clinging to the near-black coat around his jaw. Following the trail of blood, Ace noticed he was wearing a necklace.

How long has this been here?

“I’ve never left Frost Valley, myself,” Helping continued as Ace readjusted the glasses that had been loosened from the coughing fit. “I think you’ve mentioned living someplace else, but I can’t recall where… Hoofsdale is where you sell spells at…”

“The Dragon Eyes Spell Shop,” Graceful Charity finished for him. “You use to tell us stories of how your grandfather built the shop there when it was nothing but grass and hills. After a while, ponies started to build a whole town around the shop.”

“That sounds like a good start,” Ace said hopefully. “Do either of you know where I can find my family?”

They both shook their heads before Grace answered. “You would often speak highly of your father and grandfathers, but you would normally avoid questions about where they were, so we didn’t ask.”

Easy come, easy go…

The weight of his forgotten memory, his pain, his broken horn and the events of the day wore heavy on his shoulders as Ace sat back with a heavy sigh.

“You’ve helped us out quite a bit in the past,” Helping said as Grace nodded with a smile. “You’re welcome to stay here for as long as you need while you recover and get your memory back.”

“Yes, our doors are always open for those who need help. Who knows, maybe if we tell you a few of the stories you told us, your memory might come flying back right away!”

Ace’s features turned to a smile as their kindness fell upon him. “I’d hate to impose, but I certainly have few options. I hope it won’t be too much trouble.”

I also hope it won’t take too long… I can’t help but feel I should be somewhere far more important right now…

Twilight laid alone in her bed, her body weak from her lack of restful sleep despite spending much of her free time under the covers.

Her head fell lazily to the side on the large, circular bed that was not originally hers. Through the window, she could see the sun already high in the sky.

Ace has been gone for 3 days now… He should have been back by now…

Twilight turned to the opposite side, taking a pair of plush dolls from the nightstand.

”You should look for him! He could be hurt!” she heard her own voice speaking inside her head as she held the doll that looked just like her.

”You must wait here, my student. It is not safe to look for me,” Ace’s voice played through her mind as she carefully stroked the mane of the doll made in his likeness.

Besides, I haven’t a clue where to even start looking…

”Let us examine the facts,” her own voice offered. ”Ace has mentioned a few times that the ritual can only be performed near a large body of water.”

That’s a start, but it’s been three days… He could be anywhere by now, and with his magic…

The doll persisted. ”Ace has mentioned the ritual left the caster physically weak and without magic for a time. Odds are he wouldn’t have made it very far in such a condition!”

If that’s the case, Ace will be here as soon as his magic recovered…

”Perhaps not,” Ace’s doll-pleganger posed. ”If the ritual failed to produce a Unicorn or Alicorn soul, then even I can only guess as to the result. At the best, I would be without magic until the next ritual. At worst, my magic would rapidly devour my physical body. Of course, any result in between is possible as well.”

”He’s right! Ace could be in need of our help!” Twilight Spark-doll restated frantically. ”We have to do something!”

But what can I do? I don’t even know where he went…

The Twilight Spark-doll was readying another retort when somepony came through the window with a thud.

“What are you doing still in bed, lazy plot?” Rainbow Dash asked loudly before Twilight covered her head with the other pillow. “Come on Twilight, this isn’t like you!”

“Ih dohn’ wahna herr et,” Twilight’s voice came muffled under the pillow.

“What? I couldn’t make that out…”

“Ih sayd Ih dohn’ wahna herr et!”

“What was tha- oh forget it!” Rainbow Dash threw the blanket up before grabbing Twilight’s tail in her mouth.

“Wait, what are you-“ Twilight started to interject, but was cut off by her own screams as Rainbow took off with her in tow through the window.

Twilight spun in a circle from Rainbow’s loose grip on her as they flew towards the center of town. “Rainbow Dash! Where are you taking me?!”

“Shuddup an’ shtop shquirmin’ or elshe ah’m gunna drop ya!” she managed through her clenched teeth.

Despite the warning, Twilight couldn’t stop the spinning, making her dizzy on top of air-sick. Fortunately, before she could even puff out her cheeks, Dash was heading toward the ground in front of Sugarcube Corner.

Twilight landed lightly on her back as Rainbow Dash’s hooves alighted the ground next to her.

Twilight had just enough time to stand up straight and start dusting herself off before Dash took her by the tail again and started pulling her in through the shop as she flew in.

“Dash! What are you doing?!”

Before Twilight could finish protesting, she was thrown into Pinkie’s room upstairs, causing the pink pony to bounce aside out of the way.

“Oh hey girls! Am I missing a party?”

Twilight rolled to a stop in a pile of confetti with an explosion of the specks of colored paper flying everywhere.

“Not a chance, Pinkie… Twilight’s just been moping around in bed all day since Ace left. I think she needs 120% more Pinkie Pie, stat!”

“You mean Acey’s still missing?” Pinkie asked, her normal smile fading only for a second before coming back.

“Yeah, he’s been missing for a few days now.”

“Ace left at midnight. He’s been gone for 3 days, 11 hours, 28 minutes now…” Twilight mentioned dejectedly as she crawled out of the pile, her horn glowing as she straightened her mane, tail and coat.

Rainbow Dash’s jaw was slack for a moment before she motioned to her with a hoof. “See? This is what I’m talking about! Help me cheer her up!”

Pinkie pounced right on top of Twilight, giving her a huge hug as she pushed her back into the confetti with another explosion of color. “Let’s get everypony together for a picnic! That’ll take your mind off of everything!”

“—And after he cast the spell, he dived deep down to the bottom of the sea there, just off the coast of Dragon’s Roost, and sure enough he found the city the mermaid was talking about!” Grace continued telling the story, a large smile full of wonder crossing her pure white features as her soft amber eyes lit up.

“Once he got close to the city, it was completely encased in glass,” Helping Hooves said as he picked up the story again. “He swam around and around – it took him almost twenty minutes just to get to the other side! – and came to the gate.

“‘Halt!’ the guard said when he swam close. ‘Land-dwellers are not permitted beyond the gates without reason,’ he said as he leveled his weapon, a trident, at him.”

Ace listened to the story with awe, hanging on every word. “So what did he do? He got into the city, right?”

Helping laughed with a nod as Grace took up the story once more. “’I’ve been invited by a local citizen,’ he said as he opened his pack. From the pack he pulled out the young mermaid’s brassiere.”

The three of them shared a laugh for a moment at the absurdity of the image that played in their minds. “He didn’t!” Ace managed through the laughter.

Grace could only nod for her own laughter before Helping Hooves took up the storytelling. “After he got into the city, he found out that that mermaid woman was actually a princess, and her gallivanting was getting her in trouble…”

“He got escorted straight to the king and got invited to stay in the castle until the king could make the time to talk to him. They even gave him a re-breather thing that let him breathe underwater for a while! He kept it and placed it in the trophy room.”

Ace sat in stunned silence for a moment as the story digested in his mind.

“Wow, and my great grandfather did all of that?” he asked in amazement.

Grace and Helping nodded with wide smiles. “That’s what you told Helping and all of us around the campfire that night. You even brought the re-breather thingy with you. It was made of fishbone and scales that glistened beautifully in the firelight.”

Ace was still sitting and staring like a young foal as he stashed away the story along with the other tales Grace and Helping told him about his forefathers.

For the past few days, Ace had stayed with Graceful Charity and Helping Hooves in their quiet home. Each day passed as they would sit around the fireplace, at the dinner table or on the couches in the living room, the couple retelling stories that Ace apparently told them before. Whenever they weren’t regaling him, Ace would help out in places here and there in the house or in the kitchen.

“Ace, would you mind coming with me to go grocery shopping?” Helping said as he was putting on his coat and heading for the door, likely already knowing the answer.

Ace nodded with a smile as he made for his own clothes. “Sure, my pleasure.”

Sanctis awoke to the sounds of other ponies going about their business as a cold wind blew over her.

She curled up into a tighter ball, the newspaper making crunchy sounds as she pulled it over herself.

At least it isn’t wet from the snow…

Try though she might, Sanctis just couldn’t get back to sleep. She laid on the bench for a while, but between the cold, the noisy newspaper blanket, and the hubbub of the passersby she just couldn’t rest.

“Hey look everyone, it’s the blank flank filly!”

Not this again!

Sanctis rose up with a start just in time to see one of the foals throw a snowball at her. She ducked under it as it flew over her head between her ears, but didn’t see the little Unicorn boy throw another from behind her with magic.

The sphere of solidified cold ran down her back as they laughed in their warm clothing.

"Cdub dryd! Ed'c lumt!" she shouted at them in Al Bhed, careful to keep her anger at the forefront as she masked her fear.

“A blank flank who can’t even speak Common!” cried the foal who threw the first snowball.

“What’s she even doing here if she can’t even speak right?” asked one of the fillies.

”I can too speak common, I just refuse to,” she said in Al Bhed as she kept up the ruse. ”You lot aren’t even worth the breath…”

Sanctis leapt off the bench and shook the snow from her coat before ducking under another snowball as she started to run from the spoiled children.

I know the snowballs are just meant to be a fun way of playing, but the cold hurts when you don’t have a coat…

“Blank flank foreigner! Blank flank foreigner!” the kids teased as they pursued her, laughing as the Unicorn used his magic to toss snowballs at her as they went.

”You’re all being mean!” she called as they ran.

Sanctis didn’t like the spoiled foals around town as they teased her and made fun of her blank flank. She preferred they knew as little about her as possible. Whenever she had to speak to them, she did so in Al Bhed to keep a distance from them.

At least something mom taught me has been useful here…

She ran down a side alley, quickly leaping on top of a trashcan, onto the dumpster, then used the flexibility of the plastic lid to propel herself over the fence.

Sanctis turned around just in time to taunt and tease the children as they came into the alleyway before she turned and continued down the street leisurely.

Her mother had taught her a few things, such as how to speak Al Bhed. Sanctis’ mother was nice enough when she was in a good mood, and she would sometimes bring home a cool artifact or scroll.

Something that her mother was always interested in, however, were the Al Bhed ruins and the machines they called ‘machina.’ She would often sell a few interesting trinkets and scrolls, but she would always keep anything that related to machina.

When Sanctis was younger, she shared a similar interest in them, often spying on her as she worked with the machines, trying to fix them or take them apart to learn more about them.

One day, her mother caught her. Sanctis was afraid she’d get into a whole new world of trouble for spying, but her mother was happily surprised instead. Sanctis can’t remember her and her mother ever bonding other than when she decided to teach her how to read and speak Al Bhed.

It took a couple of months, but Sanctis learned the language quickly and enjoyed every moment of it. That was until she tried to learn more without her mother, and she started going through her scrolls and drawings, reading the language anywhere she could find it.

Then her mother found out, and she was furious. After that, the lessons stopped and everything was back to how it always was. Sanctis and her mother returned to their shaky, unhealthy relationship.

Why did I have to spoil everything? Why did I try to read her scrolls?...

The question didn’t linger in her mind for long before her hooves brought her to the Frost Valley Museum of History.

Oh, right. Because I love to learn new things!

Sanctis ran into the large building with a smile, the warm air inside greeting her welcomingly. Sanctis took in a deep breath as she looked around at the multiple exhibits, the entry room covering the founding of Frost Valley as a town.

To the left laid a path leading to the exhibits that featured the cultural innovations Frost Valley had to offer, the middle path leading to an open theater that was empty at the moment as no events were planned. To the right was a room with a rotating room where a narrator spoke of the valley’s contribution to the Magic Wars in the past.

Sanctis looked around at the copper and bronze statues that depicted the founding of the simple town, which was originally a mining village that pulled resources from the nearby mountain – all of the statues in the museum were made from materials drawn from that same mountain!

Sanctis had visited the museum a fair number of times, both to learn as much as she could from the establishment, and to keep warm. Because of this, she had nearly memorized what each of the statues represented just by sight.

The first copper statue on the left was a pony striking at a rock with a pickaxe in hoof with a small house in the distance.

The small village thrived on the sales of the metals as much of Equestria consisted of gems and soft metals such as gold. Since these materials were ineffective in the fabrication of tools and other practical objects, the metals sold for a fair price and aided in the production of the village’s own tools.

The second statue showed a pony working at a forge – the forge itself was made of stone with a real fire burning in its heart, both for likeness and to heat the museum. The blacksmith pony was forging a weapon as he hammered it into shape over the anvil.

When the Magic Wars came to Equestria, Frost Valley was a small outpost that outfitted many of the infantry soldiers with weapons. Since the railroads were only beginning to be built, Pegasi from Cloudsdale were the only ones to benefit from the weapons. Because of this, Frost Valley couldn’t smith armor with their heavy metals, as it would weigh down the Pegasi as they flew to the front lines, only weapons were made. The money from the Magic Wars brought Frost Valley up to be a sturdy, thriving city.

Sanctis looked around the statues for a second more before a grumble in her tummy reminded her that she hasn’t had anything to eat today… Or at all since she was last by the river, and even then she just had a few flowers and some grass…

Sanctis opened the door to leave, the cold wind buffeting her as she stepped out of the warm embrace of the museum.

Okay, so… Where to eat? she mused to herself. The dumpsters over there, she thought to herself before turning her head with a sigh. Or the dumpsters over there?

Sanctis had tried a number of times to find work in the town, but she would always get turned away at the door and told to run back to her mommy. She even tried to enlist to work in the mines, but that was work meant for earth ponies four times her size, and twice her age. The forestallion was quick to tell her as much.

Looking to the sun and seeing it was a few hours past noon, she worked out that Mr. Frosting would be throwing out the first batch of goods before long, assuming business was as slow as always.

If I get there before long, they might only be half frozen…

Compared to the other options, it was likely her best as she willed her hooves to carry in the direction of Mr. Frosting’s shop, Frosted Foods.

Along the way, Sanctis started to pass a metal concession stand with steam rising up from its heated trays and compartments as a Unicorn tended the stall serving steamed vegetables in various manners.

An earth pony was ordering a steamed carrot on a warm, wheat bun as the aroma struck her, causing her to take pause as she watched the Unicorn serving the morsel in his magic, taking the carrot out, placing it on the bun, covering it lightly with ranch…

Sanctis hadn’t realized she had been drooling until the cold wind reminded her why a wet coat was a terribly bad idea. Her tummy grumbled even more as she wiped away the saliva, her eyes still transfixed on that delicious carrot…

Ever more so as the clumsy earth pony dropped it into the snow, Sanctis’ eyes going wide at the sight.

That must have cost a whole three bits!

Despite the cost that, to Sanctis, was a luxury price, the earth pony just shrugged as they ordered a replacement the same as the first.

Sanctis could barely believe her luck when the earth pony strolled away nonchalantly, paying for both of the carrots as the first laid in the snow, almost entirely whole as the Unicorn turned his back for a moment to stow the funds in the register.

Fresh snow-food wayyyy outclasses dumpster food, she thought to herself as she ran up to the front of the cart without thinking.

Sanctis was pulling the carrot out of the snow and already delighting in its taste as the ranch danced over her palate. Despite the cold of the ranch and snow, the sogginess of the bun, the carrot was warm with just the right texture. The simple treat was like a feast to the starved filly.

The Unicorn turned after hearing the sound of the snow crunching below her hooves as she approached. “Welcome! What can I get-“ he managed before looking down at her as she walked away, carrot in hoof. “Wait, stop! Thief!”

Sanctis made the mistake of turning around at the voice, forgetting where she was and what was happening as she lost herself in her meal. Her rose-colored eyes met his gaze with an innocence that melted under the Unicorn’s anger. “Guards!”

Not good…

Sanctis quickly shoved the rest of the food into her mouth as quick as she could, already knowing nopony would take the word of a blank-flanked foreigner that nopony knew, the ranch overflowing from her mouth as she struggled to make it fit.

Without stopping to chew her food, she turned and bolted down the road as quick as her little hooves could carry her.

What, was he going to sell it off the ground? Come on! I’m not a thief!

She didn’t make it far before an earth pony guard came running at the Unicorn’s call. Once the concessioner pointed a hoof at Sanctis running, the guard didn’t need to hear anything more as he begun to chase her.

Sanctis had a small lead over the lumbering guard, but it wasn’t going to be enough to save her alone. She started looking around at the side alleys, but she didn’t know very many of them and few of them had anything that would help her lose the guard.

Think Sanctis… Think! she chided herself as she considered her options. The fenced alley by the museum is a few streets away… If I can just make it there…

“Watch out! She’s foaming at the mouth!” somepony called as she ran past.

“Careful! She must have rabies!”

It’s just ranch dressing! Gah, why are adults all so stupid?!

Ace and Helping were on their way back from shopping when they heard the sound of ponies screaming not too far away from them.

“I wonder what’s going on over there,” Ace said as he started to turn and look in that direction.

“Kad uid uv dra fyo!”

Wait, is that?… I know those words…They’re--

Before Ace could finish his thought, somepony barreled into him at full speed and knocked him aside, the groceries throwing him further off-balance as he fell to the side, his head landing on the pointed corner of a bench.

“Dannepmo cunno!“ the little voice called as it ran away.

“Ace? Ace! Are you okay?” Helping was frantic as he lifted his friend off of the ground.

Ace’s head was bleeding from the impact, the trauma extending to his horn, causing another blood-fueled coughing fit as he laid unconscious in the snow.

“Guard! Help me get him home!”

The guard who was chasing the pony who ran past stopped for only a moment before seeing the blood, his features turning from anger to fear and concern for the stranger before nodding, lowering himself so Helping could lay Ace over his back.

That was… Al Bhed…

Workday

Chapter 6: Workday

With a bandage over his head and a soft smile on his face, Ace absentmindedly cleaned the counter of the simple shop with a warm, wet cloth. A day had passed after he struck his head, the sudden blow doing more good than harm as it returned his memories.

After the unidentified filly had barreled into him, his memories had begun returning… Resulting in a long stint of unconsciousness beyond his control that lasted for the rest of the day and well into the night as his brain worked to process the overflow of information. So strong was the overflow, that it caused his brain to hemorrhage, blood flowing from not only the small cut caused by the bench, but also his eyes, nose and mouth.

Helping Hooves and Graceful Charity had thankfully called for a house call from a local doctor rather than taking him to a hospital. In addition, miraculously, the doctor that was sent had been one that had operated on Ace before and knew at least a small bit about his unusual circumstance… Fortunately, it was his age that the doctor knew.

“I am here. Where is the patient?” Doctor Heart Scan called as Graceful Charity opened the door to let him in, a medic bag that appeared hastily thrown together following behind him in the soft red glow of his magic.

The doctor looked around the room curtly. Beneath the winter jacket, Graceful could barely see the color of his walnut-brown coat, but the gray that was overtaking his muzzle as well as his light-gold mane and tail easily denoted his older age.

“In here, doctor!” Helping’s voice came from the living room, followed by coughing and gurgling. Heart Scan wasted no time as he hurried in that direction, the medical bag following swiftly behind him.

When Graceful came around the corner, she saw the doctor standing, staring, as if in shock. The look on his face made Grace’s heart sink in her chest.

Doctor Heart Scan nodded once, his resolve steeling his features once more. “What happened?” he asked Helping as he came alongside the couch where Ace rested. The cushion and pillow beneath his head were saturated, painted a crimson shade of red as his blood soaked deep into the material, nearly spilling over into the floor.

“We were coming home with a load of groceries when a young filly charged past us. She accidentally knocked him into the corner of a bench. He started bleeding from the side of his head and coughing up blood, but his face hadn’t started bleeding until after we got home.”

Doctor Heart Scan opened the bag as he continued, setting a number of tools aside on the table. “And his horn? Was it broken against the bench as well?”

Helping shook his head. “No. We’re not sure when it broke… He came into town with a case of amnesia… Grace and I have been telling him stories he told us before in the hopes to jog his memory, but it’s been a couple of days now.”

The doctor nodded in acknowledgement as he donned a pair of rubber gloves. “Amnesia?” he asked as he felt around Ace’s shoulders, throat and head carefully. “Then his horn was broken when he came into your care?”

“That’s right. As far as I know, it doesn’t cause him any distress, aside from when it is touched.” As if that was some sort of invitation to do exactly that, the doctor lightly touched the base of the horn.

Ace’s eyes flinched tighter, his body cringed into the fetal position as his hooves braced against his chest, nearly decompressing it even as he heaved, coughing up even more blood.

Grace and Helping watched in horror at the great deal of that came from so simple a contact, the doctor’s façade caving as he watched with dreadful concern.

“Ace has a few special… conditions, shall we say. The bleeding can be attributed to the amnesia; his memories are returning, which is causing a great strain on his mind,” Heart Scan said as he started to, very carefully, bandage the cut on the side of his head.

Grace and Helping shared a look of, very slight, relief for a moment before Helping turned back to the doctor. “Then he’s going to be okay, right? He’ll be better when he wakes up?”

The doctor shook his head as he cinched the bandage. “I’m not sure. He’ll have his memories back and his brain will stop hemorrhaging when he wakes up, but the unusual sensitivity is, well, unusual. I have never even heard of such a condition.

“You see, a Unicorn’s horn is a bone with no joints, like the long parts of your legs. That bone connects directly to the skull, so whatever caused Ace’s horn to break likely caused the cranial trauma that led to his amnesia, but… So little as a few hours after a horn is broken, it should no longer be sensitive.”

Worry again danced on the features of Helping and Graceful as they looked to one another while Doctor Heart Scan dug through his medical bag in search of some specific tool. “But you can help him, right? I mean, you’re a doctor…”

Doctor Heart Scan pulled a square, metallic frame from his bag before extending it to a moderate length. “I’m not sure, but I can try. As I said, I’ve never heard of such a condition before, even in Ace’s rare case.”

His horn glowing, Heart Scan held the frame over Ace’s head as it glowed in the soft-red glow of his magic. After a few moments, the glow filled the frame, turning it into a screen that cycled through a number of views.

Graceful Charity and Helping Hooves watched the screen devotedly, but could only make out a few of the settings. First was an image of Ace’s brain, which was pulsing and throbbing in his condition before the view changed to show what looked like veins and blood flow, revealing the blood flowing from his face and the cut – the cut slowing as the bandage allowed the wound to begin healing.

Next was a view of his skull and horn; his skull had a few, very small, cracks around where he struck the bench, but his horn was cracked in several places, nearly all the way down to the base of his skull. Whatever had happened, it had been deliberate.

The screen cycled through several other settings before the doctor finally settled on one. On this setting, the screen was almost entirely black, save for a few white channels that led to his horn and throughout all of his body. They looked like the veins in the previous setting, but were in different places and some were noticeably larger, with the channel to the horn being largest.

The doctor ran the screen over several places of Ace’s body, avoiding the chest at first, as he examined the white channels. None of them were more than half the size of the one that trailed to his horn, and that single channel was the only one a pure white, the others being anywhere from dull gray to almost unnoticeable against the black background.

“What is all of that?” Grace asked as they watched the screen almost breathlessly.

“These are magic channels. Most Unicorns live their whole life with only the primary channel – the large one that leads to the horn. A few others develop channels to other parts of their body, but Ace is one of very few who have trained their body to utilize their magic in its entirety. However, the color shows they have not been used for several days, and many of them have even been damaged... Here, have a look.”

As quick as he could utter the invitation, the two of them came up behind the doctor, now viewing the screen from directly over his shoulder. As he held it over Ace’s hoof, they could see that at least a fourth of the channels had terribly small cracks all throughout their length.

“Most concernedly is that of his primary channel,” he said as he moved the screen to his head, avoiding the chest once more. The largest channel had the small cracks as well, but it was far worse… There was a much larger crack running the center all the way through, as though someone had sliced it open with a scalpel.

Grace had to cover her muzzle as she let out a loud gasp at the sight. “What does it mean, doctor? Ace can never use magic again?!” Heart Scan only shook his head dejectedly.

“I don’t know, son. Whatever is happening to Ace, it has never happened to anypony else in all of Equestria’s documented history. This is either the first ever affliction, or Ace is the only one to ever live long enough to be examined... Knowing him, the chances of either are as good as fifty-fifty.”

“His chest…” Grace managed shakily from behind her hoof. “Why are you avoiding his chest? Is there something we shouldn’t see?”

Heart Scan rubbed the back of his neck hesitantly for a moment. “To be honest with you, I’m afraid. I’m not even sure it’s something I should see. The source of a Unicorn’s magic is near their heart, and whatever is happening to Ace is likely centered there…”

“Well we have to look!” Helping claimed, his gaze still fixated on the screen. “Ace could be in danger, we need to at least know if we can help somehow!”

Heart Scan contemplated his options, the situation, for several long moments before finally nodding his head. The screen moved steadily down Ace’s side, following the primary channel. The screen was perfectly steady, despite the doctor’s shaky hooves.

Many of the smaller channels met with the primary channel along the way, each sharing their own damage, but never once did the huge cut separate into the lesser channels. Only the primary channel was affected; it was as if whatever had been trying to destroy the channels had been cut short.

The place where Ace’s heart would be came to the edge of the screen, and the doctor froze with a gasp, his hooves shaking even more. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

“Normally, a Unicorn’s magic is separate from the workings of our physical body… Sort of acting as a second nervous system, but this…”

Despite the setting that showed only magic channels, the right half of Ace’s heart appeared to show through the screen… It beat and pulsed just like a normal heart would under an X-ray. Helping and Grace only just now noticed the primary channel didn’t connect to the heart section, instead going past it.

“What- What does it mean, doctor? Is Ace going to be okay?”

“I don’t know. The only pony who would have any chance of telling you what any of this is presently rests on the couch in front of you.”

“Keep going, we need to know.”

Heart Scan nodded nervously, though it was several long moments before he found the courage to move his hooves and the screen any further.

Something that was neither black nor white, something that somehow mixed both magic and non-magic together, came across the screen for the span of a blink of an eye. Then, as quickly as it appeared, the screen disappeared. The metal frame it once was fell to the ground, followed by the doctor’s hooves as he gasped in breaths.

“What is it?! What was it?! Is it bad?!” Grace’s shrill voice shredded the silence before the doctor held a hoof out to her, begging she remain quiet as he composed himself.

“I’m not sure, child. But whatever it was, it is like nothing I have ever seen… It cut the flow of my magic as soon as the screen came over it.”

The couple shared a look of apprehension before Helping spoke for them. “Is it possible that somepony enchanted him to ward against your screening thing? Somepony who doesn’t want Ace to get better?”

Heart Scan shook his head as he shakily packed his medical bag once more. “I am the only doctor this side of Canterlot who knows that spell… I doubt anypony could have warded against it without knowing me personally, and I can think of nopony other than Ace or the Princesses who could do such a thing.”

Fear spread through their features before they looked at Ace worriedly once more, his mouth hanging open in his labored attempt to breathe through the blood. Then they saw something else unusual…

“D-D-D-Doctor… Doctor!” Graceful Charity stuttered as they both recoiled from the shock of the sight. “He has fangs! Ace has fangs!”

The doctor looked over for only a moment before he muttered a curse. “He’s lost a lot of blood… I’ll send for a transfusion immediately. Do not tell anypony about what you just saw. Not his teeth, not his horn, not his magic. Nothing. Understand?”

They nodded, fearfully. “Good. I’ll be back with the blood soon. Make sure nopony else sees him like this.” The doctor hastily crammed the rest of the equipment into the bag with his magic before closing it tight and running as quick as his old legs could carry him through the door.

Doctor Heart Scan was a friend of Ace’s since he was a young colt. He always put others before himself and showed great promise. When Ace heard he was looking to earn an education as a doctor, it came as no surprise. Ace had pulled some strings to have him put immediately into classes at Canterlot’s finest medical school, even footing half of the tuition.

Funny how the deeds of our past pave the way for our future…

Over the years, Ace had needed a doctor that wouldn’t ask any questions, a doctor he could trust with at least a few of his secrets. It came as no surprise that Heart Scan was his first choice.

Ace placed another rack of cupcakes into the oven, warming his hooves over the warm air that escaped at the brief opportunity when the bell above the door chimed in the front room.

“Welcome to Mr. Frosting’s Frosted Foods!” he called with a smile as he walked into the room. “Is there something I can get for you? A custom order, perhaps?”

Ace looked around for a moment, but couldn’t seem to see anypony in the empty shop. “Down here,” came a little voice beyond the counter.

Looking through the display shelf, Ace could see the source was as little as the voice, a dark-chocolate colored earth colt. Accompanying him was a Unicorn foal and a Pegasus filly of varying colors, their winter clothing attempting to hide their variety.

“Where? All I see are a bunch of cupcakes!”

The little ponies laughed as they waved their hooves around in front of the glass. “We’re right here, mister!”

“Wait a minute, cupcakes don’t move!” he said as he came around the counter to greet the customers. “Why, it’s a bunch of little ponies! I mistook you for cupcakes!” The children laughed as they looked up at him. “Well, little cupcakes, what can I help you with today?”

The little ponies looked amongst themselves for a moment, their smiles fading away before looking back up at him. “We were kinda sorta hoping that you would maybe let us stay in the shop for a while so we could get warm, mister…” the filly asked shyly.

Ace held a hoof to his chin as he thought for a moment with a loud ‘hmmm.’ “We can pay for it!” said the Unicorn foal, his horn lighting for a moment as he turned out his coat pocket, a couple of copper bits falling to the floor.

The young foals worked to pick up the coins, holding them up as if an offering to some mighty being. Ace shifted his stance for a moment, another loud ‘hmmm’ escaping his muzzle before the corner of his mouth turned up.

“I’m sorry, little cupcakes, but we don’t sell hot air here…” The three ponies turned their gazes down dejectedly as they worked to put the few copper pieces back in the Unicorn’s pocket, the whole of them unable to buy so much as a cupcake at Mr. Frosting’s exuberant prices.

“Well, since we don’t sell hot air, I can’t really charge you for it…” The foals started to look up at him again with renewed hope. “Just don’t make a mess and don’t let Mr. Frosting know you’re here, okay?” Ace said with a soft smile.

The foals and filly would have nearly jumped through the roof if they had the strength, the little filly flapping her wings excitedly. “Thank you, mister! Mr. Frosting never lets us in here unless we buy something…”

Ace only nodded, grateful that he wouldn’t be working the Frosted Foods store for too long. “Which is why we’re going to play the Secret Game and make sure nobody tells him you’re here, right?”

The little ponies nodded excitedly before pantomiming zipping their lips and throwing away the zipper. “Very good. I have to get back to work, so just don’t knock anything over and don’t go behind the counter, okay?” The zipped-up ponies nodded some more before poking around the shop quietly.

Ace watched the young ones for a little bit, not wanting to go back into the kitchen until he could be certain they weren’t going to play a game meant for outside-only, fearful that they may indeed make too much noise for the little shop.

When the ponies started playing some make-believe game, Ace felt satisfied that the shop would be safe in his absence as he returned to the kitchen to pull the cupcakes from the oven.

Ace didn’t much like Mr. Frosting – not his attitude nor his work ethic. Nevertheless, Ace needed the money and the work was simple enough.

“Well, Mr. Frosting, I have a proposition for you,” Ace said as he came into Mr. Frosting’s office just the other night, the bandage over his head still soaking in blood, already saturated in the short walk from Helping’s home.

“I’ve heard tell that you recently fired your dayshift staff, so that means you need a worker. I need to travel to Ponyville as soon as possible, preferably by hot air balloon, so that means I need money – 80 bits to be precise.”

Mr. Frosting, a light blue traditional Earth Pony with a darker blue mane with lineage tracing back into the town’s rich history sat across the desk, his hooves poised in front of him as he considered the offer.

“Well you see, jobs are fairly difficult to find these days… You’re not the only pony who needs money, you understand. A pure, thoroughbred business such as mine has no trouble finding new workers. Being a foreigner-“

Ace pushed the desk against him casually, but with enough force to silence him with shock.

“I know you like to think you’re a rare breed, Mr. Frosting, but I have heritage in the city as well. My forefathers worked in the mines alongside yours, as well as funding the development of the trade routes. They also went to the frontlines during the Magic Wars while yours cowered behind the forges.”

“B-B-Be that as it may, Mr. Fenrir, your proposition hinges on the idea that my shop is lacking in willing employees, yet it is not.” Ace pressed the desk a little harder.

“My offer hinges on your willingness to accept it, Mr. Frosting. Should you choose to decline my humble offer, there will be consequences.”

“Are you threatening me, in my own office, Mr. Fenrir?”

“I am making you an offer you cannot refuse. The way that you receive that offer is up for interpretation. Should you choose to view the offer as a threat, it is no fault of my own.”

Frosting was selfish and egotistical, but he wasn’t a complete fool. He would have researched each of the founding forefathers of the city before digging through the old laws and requesting a ‘Thoroughbred License of Authenticity’ plaque to hang outside of his shop.

Ace and his ‘forefathers,’ or rather previous reincarnations of himself from the Ritual of New Life that he said were his relatives so as not to raise suspicion to his age, had been using the same name for millennia. Even Mr. Frosting flinched when he heard Ace’s full name.

Ace released the desk to allow Mr. Frosting some thinking room, who immediately took a deep breath of relief before clearing his throat and deciding it would be better that he stood for their meeting.

It didn’t take Frosting long to realize that the deal was even more one-sided than he thought, just not in the direction he believed. Still, his head was bowed as he tried to think of a way to weasel out of this, or to extort it beyond its fair value.

Business and politics… Two foes that I despise above all others…

“Twelve hours,” he said below his breath, only just loud enough that Ace wasn’t sure he heard it.

“Beg your pardon?”

“Twelve hours. You said you needed 80 bits; they’re yours for twelve hours of quality work. I’ll charge you for any dissatisfied customers, wasted materials, or burnt goods.”

“Twelve hours? Minimum wage laws in Frost Valley dictate twelve hours of work to be worth 120 bits at least,” Ace refuted in a calm, level voice.

“This work is being done under the table since you’re not going through the board of work applications. I can pay you what I say you’re worth. Twelve hours, 80 bits; that’s the deal, take it or leave it.”

Sadly, he was right. The Board was a system in place to regulate work to the ponies fairly, and working under the table was a misdemeanor. Reported offenses could get as severe as expulsion from the city.

“Twelve hours, it’s a deal then,” Ace said as he extended a hoof to seal the deal. Mr. Frosting, who clearly had more enemies than friends, nearly flinched at the motion before looking puzzled.

“A hoofshake? How very… rural,” he said before taking the proffered hoof hesitantly.

Ace had finished frosting each of the treats that had finished baking, taking them into the front room where the kids were playing.

“And then the big dragon takes the princess up into the castle!” one of the foals called excitedly as the Pegasus filly flew onto a chair before climbing up onto the table with a red dragon toy in her hooves.

“Save me, Shadow Sentinels! Save me!” she called, feigning distress that was betrayed by her laughter as Ace laid the tray above the display shelf so he could replace the few remaining baked goods.

“We are coming, my princess!” the earth pony foal called way up the tower. “You must not lose hope!”

“But how are we going to best the dragon, Captain?” the Unicorn foal posed. “We have no weapons and neither of us can fly!”

Taking some of the older goods out of the display shelf, Ace set them onto the tray to take them outside to the dumpster, where Mr. Frosting insists all ‘spoiled goods’ were to be disposed of without question.

“You know, I’ve heard stories of Red Dragons being weak against snow. Mayhap the brave Sentinels would stand a better chance outside?”

The three little ponies turned with frowns on their faces. “Aww, can’t we stay just a little longer, mister?”

“Sorry little cupcakes, but I’ll be in big trouble if Mr. Frosting sees you. We have to play the Secret game, remember?”

“I hate Mr. Frosting…” the young filly said as she hopped from the table, her little wings beating as she landed.

Seeing the sad looks on the little ponies faces, a mischievous smile came to Ace’s features as his head ‘accidentally’ pushed the tray of cupcakes to the floor, a ‘smoosh’ sound coming just before a loud clatter of the tray against the tile.

For a moment, the sad looks were replaced with a worry. “Oh darn, I appear to have made a mess… Tell you what, if you all keep this a secret and help me clean it up, you can each have a cupcake. Sound good?”

Realizing what had actually happened, the three ponies lit up with smiles as Ace handed them each a cloth rag to clean up the frosting while Ace righted the tray and moved the food off the floor.

After the mess was gone, Ace let the excited ponies each pick something from the tray before hurrying them out the door with a smile.

Sanctis was waiting outside of the dessert shop, which should have cleared the display shelf 10 minutes ago. Sanctis had showed up early, so she was certain she hadn’t missed it.

Did everything sell?... No, there’s always been at least one thing to throw out…

Sanctis came out from behind the dumpster slowly, being careful as to not let the snow make too much noise as she approached the door.

She leaned her ear against the door hesitantly, the metal a burning cold as it touched against her.

The fans for the oven are running, so the new batch is finished, but I can’t hear anypony inside the shop… Mr. Frosting wouldn’t leave the shop untended during open hours, so he must be in the front-

Sanctis froze, but not because of the cold; the locking mechanism in the door clicked in its release before the handle started to turn, the springs stretching and compacting as the knob twisted before the hinges creaked open as the door moved inward.

That’s not Mr. Frosting!

Sanctis stared up at the dark stallion with a dual-red mane as his gaze immediately fell on her, the long awaited tray of food held aloft in one hoof. Even with the wide-rimmed black glasses setting on his muzzle, the broken horn and bandages over his head carved an incredibly imposing image.

His image, posture and demeanor, combined with the silent way he had approached the door chilled the blood in Sanctis’ veins much more than the snow all around her.

Mr. Frosting must have hired a guard after that ‘break-in…’ I’m so dead!

Sanctis tried to run, but her fear froze her in place. As she stared into the face of what she was certain would be the end of her life, his lethal demeanor melted into a smile just before the bell over the front door chimed.

The stallion’s smile shifted, becoming wider as he seemed to have thought of something unusual.

“Oh, well I certainly couldn’t leave a customer alone in the shop to dispose of these treats…” he said before dropping the entire tray flat onto the snow, each of the delectable morsels toppling over, but remaining on the tray nonetheless. “I’ll just have to finish taking out the trash after they have gone.”

Just like that, the stallion closed the door behind him as he wandered back into the shop.

Sanctis still hadn’t moved from her spot in the snow, her eyes roving over the tray and the scattered treats it held. Sanctis blinked several times, just waiting either for her dream to end, or for the stallion to come back and end whatever cruel joke he was playing out.

When neither happened, Sanctis hastily took one of the cookies and bit into it. At first, she had thought it was a trick, like they were rocks with frosting on them, but the cookie crumbled down her chin, the frosting danced on her tongue, and her eyes rolled with the flavor.

It’s just too good to be true!

Sanctis had thought she had seen the Unicorn somewhere before, but the smell of the nearly-fresh treats, not to mention their flavor, melted any form of thought that wasn’t focused on the tray in front of her.

After she had eaten her fill, she took one of the larger sweetbreads in her mouth as she took off towards the stream.

Whoever that was, better to be gone when they come back, just in case…

Whoever that was, she knew she owed them a debt as well. That had been the best, and likely the only, worry-free meal she had ate in weeks, if not months. Thanks to his theatric generosity, she would sleep well on a full stomach that night.

Full of Hot Air

Chapter 7: Full of Hot Air

Ace stood outside of Mr. Frosting’s office, directly next door to Frosted Foods, as he adjusted the cinch on the sword he carried on his back, the anti-magic sleeve tied in a striped pattern against the scabbard and a fresh bandage over his head.

After his twelve hours of work yesterday, he was going to collect his pay and head straight for the hot air balloon station in town. With luck, he would be back home in Ponyville by that night.

I’m going to have a lot of apologizing to do when I get back… he thought to himself with a soft smile as the scene played in his mind. I wonder how long she’ll stay mad? Ten minutes? Ten seconds, perhaps?

Already in a good mood as his smile widened at the thoughts of home, he shifted in his winter coat before making his way into the office, allowing himself into the central office as he disregarded the secretary, who barely seemed to notice he had come in as she read some magazine.

Entering without warning, Mr. Frosting nearly jumped straight out of his seat behind the desk at the entry, followed immediately by actually leaving his seat as he stood on the opposite side.

“Wh-what do you want?” he managed in a panic as he shook, pointing at Ace. “If you so much as draw that sword, your plot will be thrown in jail faster than you can say lawsuit!”

Ace arched an eyebrow at the accusation before having to physically look on his back to be reminded of the weapon with a chuckle.

“Beg pardon for the scare! I’m actually just preparing to leave town. If you would be so kind as to pay me for yesterday’s arrangement, I’ll be skipping town before you even throw out the remnants of the first batch.”

“You mean before you take out the trash. An associate of mine, who will remain anonymous, confirmed that you were giving away my wares,” he said as he walked around to the front side of the desk, his features mimicking that of a rat who just stole a block of cheese from another.

“The cost of those products has been deducted from your pay, and you now owe me thirty bits, and thus another eighteen hours of work.”

“Tell me, Mr. Frosting… Do you sell trash at Frosted Foods?” Frosting was clearly appalled at the accusation.

“But of course not! I sell only the finest-“

“Then I have not given away any of your wares, product nor resources. Pay me for my work, and I shall leave.” Ace’s voice was calm, level, despite the anger he kept at a simmer under his coat.

“I have eye-witness accounts of three foals walking out of my store after loitering for an extended stint of time, my signature baked goods in hoof. Not only were they also seen doing your job cleaning the store, but their pockets weren’t looking any lighter, either.”

The rat’s face twisted in a conniving smile, believing he had already won the argument. “So, Mr. Fenrir, what do you have to say for blatant disregard for my business?”

“My argument still stands. The only way that I would have done anything wrong is if your business was that of selling trash. Truth be told, I believe you would be quite proficient in such a venture. Why, the bullshit that runs over from your mouth alone could fetch millions.”

Despite Ace’s calmness, Mr. Frosting’s blue coat turned red around his face as he raised his voice in anger, a hoof slamming against the tile. “I am NOT in the business of selling neither trash nor manure! Three ponies walked out of my store with cupcakes in hoof after loitering in my establishment!”

“What they held was trash. Those ‘cupcakes,’ as you called them, had not only fallen on the floor, but was also seven minutes past expiration. As you have said yourself on two accounts, they were trash.”

“Until that frosting freezes or they are placed in the trash, they are not trash!”

Ace’s lips curved slightly in the corner for only a moment. “I assure you, Mr. Frosting, as soon as the cupcakes enter your display shelf, they become trash.”

With a terribly pitiful growl, Mr. Frosting charged at Ace, his hoof raised before sailing through the air into his side. No sooner than the blow had hit, Ace’s hoof pulled the sword free of its scabbard with a distinct metal ring before it was pressed against Frosting’s throat.

“That is assault. Legally, I can now kill you under fear of life.” Ace’s voice was calm, Frosting’s hoof was still pressed against Ace just behind his shoulder. The adorned hilt glimmered in the light as the blade followed Frosting’s sorry attempt to get away from it.

“If you kill me, you’ll be sent to prison and-“

“And you’ll be dead while my father will cover my bail. At least, that is what would happen if I didn’t have legal right to kill you.”

Several moments passed, Mr. Frosting constantly swallowing deeply, the blade biting slightly into his throat as the lump passed it. Sweat beaded the easily angered pony’s brow.

“You don’t have any witnesses, and I am thoroughbred with deep-seeded roots in the community… You’ll hang for this!” The panic was clear in Frosting’s voice.

“My roots are deeper and far more out-reaching than yours. Furthermore, you have tarnished your family’s good name with your pitiful treatment of others, your sense of entitlement. I will be celebrated for what is just, and your words carry no weight if you are dead.”

The sweat poured from Mr. Frosting like water from a faucet. Several more seconds passed before he backed away, fell to the ground and rubbed his throat in defeat.

“Take your bits and leave. If I ever see you around town again, you’re a dead stallion.”

Ace sheathed the blade and helped himself to the safe against the wall as Frosting read off the code. Knowing better by now, he voiced no complaint as Ace took 120 bits worth and a coin pouch to carry it in, though his look was clearly distaste.

“You had best count your coins while you have them, miserly fool. When I return home, I’m buying your business out from under your nose and throwing your plot to the streets.”

Ace stood before the door as he finished tying the pouch to his hoof, just below the shoulder. Certain it was secure, he turned a burning glare to the beaten pony. “You claim to be a part of this city, yet you do not live among its denizens. Perhaps poverty will force you to embrace the town you cling to so forcefully.”

With that, before Frosting could even offer a reply, he proceeded through the door and slammed it just hard enough that it would remain on its hinges, shocking the secretary to attention as he left.

“Have a nice day!”

Ace turned with a soft smile and a wave, “To you as well!” before making his way out of the office and heading for the hot air balloon station on the outskirts of town.

Sanctis awoke by the river with a yawn and a stretch, both her stomach and her attitude fuller than normal. She looked to the sky as she continued her lighthearted stretching, noting how early it was in the day.

Three hours earlier than normal… she remarked to herself. Well, what am I going to do with all this extra time?

She took a quick drink from the river before taking the last half of sweetbread from last night and nibbling on it as she wandered leisurely towards the town.

Being cold season, most businesses are either still closed, or only just now opening… I could go to the Museum, but it’s on the far side of town… And the mares who watch over the library won’t let me in because they don’t know that I can speak Common…

Sanctis started to sigh, but she found it hard to be sad when she had sweetbread to nibble on, her soft smile returning.

When she made it into town, it was about as she expected; Most of the shops and stores and other businesses were still closed for the night, with a few of them just starting to prepare their wares for the day.

Having rarely been in the town so early, she decided to just follow the streets and see where they took her.

I’ve been around town for a little over a year now, but I haven’t really done or seen much… If it couldn’t help me get away from the bad ponies, keep me warm or feed me, I’ve sort of overlooked it…

Looking around the city, she was flooded with memories and events. Such things as Peachy Petunia’s Perfect Pretzel Place, where Petunia first gave her something to eat when she arrived into town for the first time, or the sandbox in the park where the spoiled brats buried her in snow one night.

That taught me real quick that I needed to be more careful of where I slept…

She passed by a few alleyways where she practiced acrobatics, such as using the flexible lids of dumpsters to leap over fenced-off alleys to evade pursuers, and another with a dumpster close enough to a concession stand that it was where she had her first meal that wasn’t a handout.

Even I notice that it’s sad those qualify as ‘good memories,’ but beggars can’t be choosers…

On a corner next to a street sign, she remembered when a beggar pony was kind enough to offer her a few of his bits, the old stallion remarking, “At least I have a few rags to ward against the biting cold, but I can imagine nopony else realizes how rough you have it… They offer me coins because I am homeless, but they only see you as a child who forgot to wear a coat when she left home… It’s the least I can do, young one.”

He was right, everypony sees my age and believes I am just another spoiled child who has life easy, a child who has never worked for a meal in her life…

Then she passed the alleyway not far from the homeless pony where a group of teenage thugs mugged her, blinded by the shiny jingling of her few measly coins.

Right, little fillies have life soooo easy…

The coins had done her more harm than good as she limped out onto the street, wishing she had the good sense at the time to forfeit the coins instead of futilely trying to protect them…

Sanctis had limped down the street, her eyes and cheeks freezing as tears fell to the snow, until she managed to find the hospital. She sat in the lobby for hours, nopony paying her any mind.

Finally, when she was the only one left in the waiting room, the nurse finally motioned for her to come forward. Not that it did any good, because the doctors wouldn’t so much as give her the time of day unless she had the money to pay for treatment.

Sanctis then started to make her way outside, her tears falling all the more, when somepony wrapped a hoof around her tenderly and proceeded to turn her head from side to side as he looked at her bruises.

“I’m not sure what happened, little one, but perhaps it would be best if you avoided the ponies who did this to you next time,” the older looking pony said before taking some equipment from his bag and bandaging the worst of her injuries and applying a splint to her damaged hoof.

“If you get hurt like that again, ask for Dr. Heart Scan at the desk, okay?” he said as he handed her lollipop from the bag. “Now you take care, and try to stay off that hoof for a day or two.”

Sanctis sat against a building as she went over the memories that clouded her thoughts.

The city itself looks kind, and peaceful… The white blanket of snow granting it an air of calm serenity… But it seems for every nice, kindhearted pony I meet, there’s two or even three bad ponies to beat a lesson about trust back into me…

Sanctis rubbed her shoulders and chest to ward off the cold wind before taking the last bite of her sweetbread, the face of the beat-up Unicorn who graciously, if theatrically, gave it to her coming to mind.

I can’t help but think I’ve seen that stallion somewhere before… Oh, why can’t I remember?!

Sanctis was rubbing the side of her head as she fought to recall, when in the distance, towards the edge of town, she saw a hot-air balloon starting to inflate.

I’ve always wanted to ride in one of those! she thought to herself as she rose to her hooves, running in that direction. Watching one take off could be fun, too!

“That’ll be 80 bits, in all,” the ticket-master shouted over the loud drone of the hot air balloon inflating behind him, the material groaning as it was disturbed.

Ace placed the bits on the counter and took the ticket, placing it into the coin pouch for safekeeping. “Thank you for your patronage, the balloon should be prepared in about ten minutes time.”

Ace sat away from the balloon against a building, hoping to deafen the noise with distance.

In just a few more hours, I’ll be back in Ponyville and all of this will be behind me… he thought before his eyes glanced up, remembering his damaged horn. Well, most of it anyway… One step at a time, I suppose.

Ace’s thoughts wandered for a time, his smile spreading as he thought of Twilight. I can only imagine the look of her face when she sees what’s happened. I’ll bet she really tears into me over it, too.

He started to laugh until he noticed that the noise of the balloon had been replaced with a far sharper sound. Looking up, Ace saw the air escaping from the top of the balloon as it toppled over, deflating.

Ace’s expression changed first to shock, then annoyance at how easily he could remedy the situation if he had his magic, then to a sigh of defeat.

Almost entirely deflated, he watched as the ponies working the station scrambled, shouting, trying to contain the situation and begin repairs.

Then Ace noticed something odd with the balloon, or rather, the air escaping the balloon… It spiraled as it ascended into the air, rather than coming out in a stream and dissipating gradually.

Darting to his hooves, Ace’s eyes darted around the surroundings, looking for anything out of the ordinary, or perhaps a saboteur or anyone suspicious.

Po dra vydac… Why didn’t I notice it sooner?! His eyes darted across rooftops, through windows, over alleys and even around the snowfield that stretched out of the town.

The balloon held air long enough to rise, so it wasn’t damaged to begin with… The air was escaping from the top, so whatever did that came from above, or was lobbed from nearby… Vydac! If it was another pony, they would be long gone by now…

Then another thought dawned on him.

His eyes ran across the area once more, but this time, he wasn’t looking for anything specific. Ace’s eyes roved over everything close enough to be seen, slowly, like a newborn foal.

Rather than looking for a pony, or signs of a pony, he looked for differences; things that didn’t belong. Slowly, his gaze wandered – almost without direction. Slowly, he perceived each of the houses, each of the drifts of snow, all of the sets of hoofprints.

Time passed, the balloon already completely flat against the snow-covered ground as the workers started to press, seal and sew a new patch over the hole.

Then he found what he was looking for; something that was completely out of place: At the end of the row of houses across from him, there was a house, an exact duplicate of the one beside it.

However, this duplicate had icicles hanging from the awning, where no other house had any. Also, it was the only house with an iron mount for a lantern, where the other houses had electrical lighting.

Without a second thought, Ace darted for the house to take a closer look, the snow crunching underhoof as he went.

When she had made it halfway to the balloon station, the balloon started leaking and fell over!

I may not get to see a balloon taking off, but at least I can watch and see how they fix them, Sanctis thought to herself as she continued running through the snow to the station.

Sanctis could see the station and its workers, but she didn’t want to get any closer, so she hid behind the corner of the house at the end of the street, watching silently from afar.

With my luck, they’ll think I popped it if I get too close… Best to stay back here, out of the way.

She watched as the ponies rolled the balloon on its side so the hole was on the ground, onto a patch of material. Once that was done, they took a few support beams and propped them up inside the balloon as a few workers came inside.

Fortunately, from her angle, she could see into the balloon, where the workers were bringing in water and heated metal rods. They poured some of the water onto the edges of the hole, the material becoming saturated and clinging to the spare material on the outside.

After the water had started a bonding process, they rolled the heated rods over the edges, the steam causing the material to adhere more firmly as the water evaporated. They then brought in another swatch of material and repeated the process.

Fascinating! Because of the cold air, the water begins to crystallize inside of the material, loosening the bonds just enough that the other material meshes with it, then they remove the water using the electrically heated rods! Once the material is conjoined, they sew it up and its even better than new, having two layers instead of one! This alleviates the need to thicken or broaden the material to compensate for any imbalances without adding extra weight to the balloon, and since the material is sealed together, there’s no pressure points to be exploited by the hot air!

Sanctis continued to watch the workers, nearly forgetting where she was until she heard the crunching of the snow in the street beside her. Her ears flitting nervously, she quickly looked to her side just in time to see a dark grey blur dance across the street to the alley directly behind her.

With a gasp, she ducked behind the backside of the house as she pressed herself against it in an attempt to make herself as small and unnoticeable as possible, her ears dancing as she listened for any sign of danger.

“Oh, however do you always manage to find me?” came a distinctly feminine voice that was both musical and grating at the same time.

“This realm has changed quite a bit since you were here last,” came a deeper, male voice that sounded somehow familiar.

“Not only the realm, dearest Deus,” the musically-grating voice cooed. “You seem quite a bit different from before as well. I like what you’ve done with the horn; very avant-garde!”

“Oh, but all of the most dignified Unicorns wear their horn this way now, haven’t you heard?” the male replied with a thick helping of sarcasm. “I take it you’re the reigning Draconequus now?”

Sanctis wasn’t sure what was going on, but she couldn’t contain her curiosity despite the sense of danger she felt. She carefully sidled against the side of the building until she could slowly peek her nose around the corner.

Sanctis’ hooves darted to her mouth to cover the gasp that threatened to give her away. Standing directly in front of the theatrical Unicorn from the other night, now with a coat and a sword on his back, was a creature beyond comprehension.

It had ears that matched a cat’s, each pointed at the tip, the left one black and the other white while the hairs inside were opposite, resting over a long black mane that crowned a solid white, nodding head resembling a skinny dragon’s.

Where the neck met the body, it separated into black and white, the right being black down to the end of skinny dragon’s claws with long white talons, the opposite side being white with black claws.

In the center of the creature’s body was what resembled a jigsaw puzzle piece as the four squares of opposing colors were reversed for the bottom half of the beast, the right being white and the other black, but both featured slender, powerful looking dragon’s legs. Finally, the creature’s tail was patterned with black and white scales tapering to a point as it swished forward and back.

“And Discord? You’ve already dispelled his residual magic?” The Unicorn asked warily as he sat across from the unique being.

Discord?! Isn’t he that really big bad guy the princesses fought a long time ago? Sanctis listened intently, inadvertently leaning closer to get a better look.

The creature appeared annoyed before laughing, covering her mouth before crossing her claws over her distinctly female chest and leaning against the wall as her tail ran over the stallion’s nose.

“Please, Deus, you insult me; I know how to do my job better than most of my kind. I completed the transfer of power even as the ashes of the foolhardy king spread to the seven winds.”

The stallion rubbed a hoof against his nose before turning a glare up at the beast, nearly three times as tall as himself. “Then why do you pester me so? Surely you have much work to do acquainting yourself with the realm and securing your seat of power.”

The creature laughed again, this time with actual joy on her draconian features. “Such a silly pony you are! I have been here for months, and have visited this realm before. As you said, much has changed – physically – but metaphysically, the realm is the same.

“As for my ‘seat of power?’ Such a dated term, but I will permit you that much… I am not Discord, as you know, and have no fear of my power being threatened. I have no grand schemes of realm domination, nor do I seek the demise of any foe. Just chaotic business, nothing more.”

“So you say, and yet you are here throwing a wrench into my plans, as it were. If you truly are all business, as you say, then why go out of your way to hinder me?” The stallion didn’t show any sign of it, but his voice sounded quite annoyed.

“Consider it a favor to an old acquaintance, Deus. Also, I wanted to see first-claw the stallion who bested my predecessor. I oft thought you were capable, but to know that you finally did it… Bravo, wolf, bravo.”

The stallion sighed and shook his head. “I’d rather you didn’t call me that, and as you likely know, I have someplace very important to be. You want me to go the long way, so be it, but hinder me not, Cassie. I don’t take kindly to those who keep me from those I care about.”

The creature shook its head with an incredibly wide, dragon-toothed smile as it snapped a claw, a vortex of black and white swirling into being before it proceeded into it. “Tell your little filly hello before you go, would you kindly?”

“Filly? Twilight and I haven’t-“ the creature disappeared into the vortex, and as it closed, the house that Sanctis was pressed against faded from view as well, like a mirage, causing her to fall into the snow with a slushing sound as her features turned to that of fear and panic beneath the moist cover.

Sanctis scrambled in the snow as she struggled to reclaim her posture, but only managed to raise her head out of the snow in time to see the stallion standing over her, his hoof moving towards her.

Out of fear and panic, she covered her head with both hooves as she ducked to the ground, shaking.

Seconds that felt like minutes passed until she finally looked up at the stallion, his hoof reached out to her as though he was offering to help her up. Frozen, she managed only to look up at him dumbly.

“Um, hello there,” he said almost nervously. Finally, she took his hoof and he helped her to her hooves with a single pull. “You’re the little filly from behind the dessert shop, aren’t you?”

The stallion sounded friendly, but with the sword on his back, the bandage covering his head under a broken horn, and the strange back-alley meeting with… whatever that other thing was, he seemed like a terribly seedy pony.

Should I run? No… With him this close, he could catch me easily. He’s way stronger than me, so there’s no way I could win a fight against him…

“It’s okay, I’d probably be speechless, too. You saw Cassie, right? The Draconequus I was talking to just now?” Sanctis didn’t know what to do, so she just nodded slowly.

“You don’t need to be scared of her, she’s harmless so long as you don’t make her angry. She acts rough and tough, but she means well. Anyhow, it would be for the best if you forgot you ever saw her, okay?” Sanctis only nodded again, fearful of what might happen if she didn’t agree.

To her left, the machine that pumped air into the hot air balloon kicked on suddenly, a loud hiss starting before the loud drone filled the air. The stallion quickly covered his ears as he looked towards the machine.

That’s my chance! Sanctis ran off as quick as she could, not paying any attention to where she was going, so long as it was away from the strange stallion, not looking back once.

Following in his Hoofsteps

Chapter 8: Following in his Hoofsteps

The clouds drifted listlessly overhead, the white powdery contents they held falling as they went, the streets and homes below receiving the gift gracefully as the fragments gathered and coalesced into blankets that chilled the host, rather than providing warmth.

Hastily, many ponies went along their way, the soft blanket crunching underhoof as they went, many of them holding a hoof to close an exposed opening in their jackets and coats, others holding the hood or cowl over their head to protect their faces from the biting cold, some others still wrapping scarves around their muzzles.

Even with the warmth of the sun overhead, now obscured by clouds and snow, small businesses were closing up shop while many families bolted their doors and shutters, warding against the wind and cold as best they could.

Inside, mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters would all gather around the fireplace, telling tales as warm as the fires in the hearth; already the black columns rose from the chimneys throughout town, more coming forth as time wore on.

Few ponies remained in the streets, and fewer still by choice. One little filly in particular, with nary a stitch to warm her fur, wandered the streets with an empty belly and a heavy heart.

I should have stayed by the stream… Why did I even come back into town?! Sanctis thought, chastising herself. Not long after, her stomach growled in protest, a reminder to her purpose.

Oh, right… Another grumble. Oh, quiet you; I’m working on it.

Sanctis’ eyes wandered the streets, her gaze roving over the businesses that had already closed and bolted their doors, many sporting a “Closed for bad weather, check back tomorrow! ☺” signs.

A shiver ran down her spine, her whole body quivering as she tried futilely to warm herself with her hooves as she shook the snow from her fur. A sharp wind passed through the empty street, buffeting her with another chill.

The stream’s too far away, I’ll have to find someplace here to keep warm… Nopony’s going to be throwing out any food with all the businesses closed… I’ll just have to put up with yesterday’s leftovers.

Sanctis looked over each of the dumpsters, sizing up each of their contents based on the two closest businesses.

Just as she was deciding between the dumpsters between either Takeout for Two and Buttery Biscuit’s Creamy Pastas, or the one between 15 Minute Buffet and Timeless Tarter Fishery, she heard a bell ringing behind her.

Not fifteen feet behind her, the door to one of the few businesses that was still open in this weather opened. “Thank you for your patronage, travel home safely,” the shop tender called.

“Thanks, take care yourself,” the customer said as he backed through the doorway, waving his farewell as he closed the door.

Sanctis wasted no time climbing into the nearest dumpster as she heard that voice that was still fresh on her mind from earlier that same day.

She poked her nose against the lid just enough that she could peek over the rim of the dumpster, the biting cold metal pressing against her chin.

From her vantage point, she saw the darkened stallion with the broken horn, now sporting thick boots on his hooves and a pair of saddlebags on his back under his sword.

The stallion seemed preoccupied as he stood in the snow, wrapping a scarf around his muzzle to ward against the cold. His eyes looked distant through the wide, black-rimmed glasses he wore. Then he refocused with a nod and started down the street.

Before he even took two steps, he froze for a moment as his eyes locked with hers. His gaze through those lenses were murderous, a look Sanctis learned early in her travels to avoid. Then they melted into a soft smile, even without being able to see his lips.

Sanctis quickly ducked back into the dumpster with a high-pitched squeak before she could cover her mouth with her hooves, though she already knew he had seen her.

Outside of the dumpster, she could clearly hear each of his hoofsteps crunching the snow as he went.

Please keep walking, please keep walking, please keep walking…

The crunching of the snow stopped outside the dumpster. Sanctis held her breath as she continued her silent chant.

Then the lid of the dumpster rose up above her, the wind carrying snow into the garbage-strewn sanctum. Sanctis quickly pressed herself against the front wall, hoping that he would overlook her and believe he was only imagining things as she held her breath, sweating even against the cold air that invaded her hiding place.

Then he reached down and scooped her up with practiced ease with a booted hoof, pulling her out of the dumpster and setting her in the snow just long enough to pick her up again by the scruff of her neck.

Sanctis already knew she was helpless, so she dared not utter a single word as he carried her back towards the shop he came from.

“Come now, young one, the dumpsters are no place for you.”

Oh yeah? Could have fooled me…

He shouldered the door open softly with notable finesse. “Hello and welc- Oh, hello again, Ace! Do the boots not fit after all?”

“Oh no, the boots fit quite well,” the stallion said before setting Sanctis down on a bench near the counter. “I was actually hoping you could fetch some clothes for the little miss here.”

The Unicorn stallion behind the counter came forward, his horn glowing softly as he carried with him a few lengths of measuring tape as the other stallion emptied his coin pouch onto the counter, then put something back in it before Sanctis could see it.

Sanctis let out a short gasp as some of the measuring tape coiled around her in several places before the stallion looked over the bits on the counter.

“Certainly, sir, but you have only enough to purchase a single winter jacket for the young darling. Are you sure that is what you wish?”

What in Equestria is he thinking? This must be some kind of trick, but I can’t figure out what his angle is…

“Yes, it is. The young filly can choose the coat she likes best with the bits I left,” he said as he made for the door of the shop. “If she chooses something cheaper, keep the change. Good day.”

The stranger opened the door and left as he had before, waving farewell with a soft smile before closing the door swiftly while the shopkeeper lined a carted rack with a selection of winter clothes and pushing it to the front of the store.

“Here we are madam, the finest selection of coats and jackets on a budget this side of the valley!” he said with a showy bow to his wares.

The coats were bland brown-and-white, utilitarian even, but they were new. Best of all, they all looked very warm.

Sanctis looked over the choices, but only one had a hood, which would go a long way towards keeping herself warm, and she could even sleep on it like a pillow.

Hesitant with the uncertainty of the situation, she slowly rose a hoof to point towards her selection. The shopkeeper nodded with his showpony smile as he helped her to put it on.

Once Sanctis was fully enveloped in the fluffy, warm fabric, a wave of comfort flowed over her at the feel as the stallion pulled a mirror over to give her a better look.

Sanctis shifted from side to side to get a good look at herself. With the hood over her back, the white, fluffy inside of the hood framed her mane which was black along the right side, shifting between shades of gray to the center, which was white before shifting to gray and darker gray on the end.

Her rose colored eyes were complemented well by the dark pink color of her coat and the soft brown of the jacket, which covered her hooves to her knee and her body down to where her cutie mark… would have been.

“A fine selection for the young filly, non? You like it very much, yes?” Sanctis nodded softly with a blush as she realized how she was posing in front of the mirror like some kind of model.

“Very good! Customer is pleased, then Steady Stitch is very happy!” he said with a large smile as he started to replace the other coats and measuring tape with his magic.

“You are a friend of Ace, non? A very good stallion, he is! Helps around town very often, is true! Is very sad thing that has happened to his horn… Do wish him the best for me, yes?”

The shopkeeper wheeled the mirror back where it came from before placing the bits in the register with a ringing sound. “Take care young one, and mind the snow! Au revoir!”

Sanctis was still thinking somepony was going to come out of nowhere and take the coat from her back as though it was all some sort of joke as she made her way to the door.

She waved her goodbye, still afraid to speak, as she left.

Once she was outside, the wind greeted her before she pulled the hood over herself, only just realizing how uncomfortable it was to have something over her horn, but disregarding such a feeling as the warmth took hold over her.

That’s two favors he’s done for me now… I should thank him… Maybe he’s not so bad?

Sanctis looked up and down the streets, but she couldn’t see the stallion anywhere, though his hoofprints led away from the shop and toward the edge of the city, in the direction of the air balloon station.

Unsure of why, unsure of what she would do when she found him, unsure of what led her to such reckless action, she quickly followed his hoofprints, pulling the drawstrings for her hood to ward against the snow.

Sanctis followed the stallion’s hoofprints past the hot air balloon station, having originally thought that he would be at the station waiting for a balloon.

Instead, she found herself on the outskirts of a forest, the boughs of the trees burdened by the weight of the snow that blanketed nearly everything. All around her was a panoramic view of serene landscape of the purest white as far as the eye could see.

She stood at the edge of the forest, the stallion’s hoofprints laying in the snow in front of her down a visible path, though they would soon be covered in as the new snow fell from the clouds on high.

What am I doing? she contemplated, still unsure.

I’m about to follow a complete stranger into a forest. A complete stranger who is carrying a sword, bags of Princess-knows-what, and has done something bad enough that he’s had his horn broken off!

A chill wind passed over the fields, whistling through the trees as it jostled a branch overhead, the snowy contents it held falling onto Sanctis as she pulled the jacket tighter against herself. She shook the snow off as she stepped out of the small pile.

A stallion who fed me when I was hungry, and gave me warm clothing when I had nothing. A stallion who didn’t judge me when he saw me like everypony else. A stallion who didn’t make me feel bad about myself when everypony else did.

Sanctis turned to look back at the city, only a few street lamps burning in the distance that marked its place in the cover of snow.

Do I really want to give up everything I have to chase after this stallion?

Sanctis’ features fell into a deadpan stare before she turned and darted into the forest.

I hope he’s not too far ahead already.

At first, the forest was simple – a few trees here, a couple of bushes there… The snow covered any form of grass, flowers or underbrush and all of the animals were hibernating or keeping warm until the sun came out.

The further Sanctis went, however, the more complicated it became. There were more trees. In more than a few places, she had to weave her way through them as she followed the hoofprints.

In some places, there were trees that had fallen over at some point, the snow covering them. Fortunately, Sanctis learned real fast that a bank of snow usually wasn’t a bank of only snow after the first time she tried to push her way through it, falling muzzle first into the soft powder.

Now, she leapt over any such obstruction. Furthermore, she was beginning to hear the crunching of snow ahead of her.

Sanctis hurriedly chased after the sound, the flame-red color of the stallion’s mane standing out against the snowy landscape like a beacon.

Her eyes transfixed on the stallion ahead, she wasn’t watching her step. Her hoof fell upon a large branch, sending a thunderous crack through the forest, silent as it was with the snow.

The stallion immediately stopped mid-step, Sanctis freezing in a panic before darting behind a tree.

Time seemed to stand still as she cowered against the trunk of the tree. The snow stopped falling. With no animals nearby in the forest, all was still and silent.

Sanctis could hear her own heart beating in her chest as she drew in deep, shallow breaths that burned her lungs in the cold air.

Several moments passed, followed by several more.

What am I even doing?! If I’m going to thank him, he needs to know I’m here, right?

Despite her sound logic and reasoning, she just could not seem to will her hooves to move. Then, something happened that sent a chill down her spine even without the chill wind.

A wolf howled in the distance. A long, drawn out sound that lasted for several seconds; just long enough for the sun and moon to both be on the cusp of horizons.

Two more howls filled the air. One sounded close enough to be in the same forest, maybe less than 150 yards away.

The howls finally faded as the moon came into view; only a small sliver of itself. Finally, the stallion resumed his pace through the forest, the snow crunching beneath his hooves.

Sanctis let out the breath she hadn’t realized she was holding.

Once the stallion had covered a bit of ground, Sanctis started following his hoofprints, attempting to mimic his pace, and now stepping precisely where he had in an effort to lessen the sound of the crunching snow.

The darkness of the night wasn’t doing Sanctis’ vision any favors, the young filly now staring directly at the ground just to keep track of the hoofprints she was following. Thankfully, for the most part, the stallion seemed to be headed in a straight line.

Hang on a moment, Sanctis thought to herself as she looked around herself in the empty darkness, then felt around with her hooves. There’s no trees here!

Sure enough, Sanctis strained her eyes as she looked ahead, the snow curving upward slightly to form a small hill, likely in the center of a clearing.

Darn it! If I follow him in this clearing, he’ll know I’m here for sure! she noticed as she gritted her teeth. Isn’t that what I want though? For him to notice me, so I can thank him?

She played the event over in her head: The dark-coated stallion sitting at the top of the hill as Sanctis walked up to him, the snow crunching beneath her hooves…

The stallion, noticing somepony sneaking up on him in the middle of the forest, turns on her with sword in hoof, and attacks her.

’Wait! I just wanted to thank you for what you did!’ she would say, backpedalling to avoid his assault.

’In the middle of the night, in a clearing in the middle of the forest miles away from the town? Do you take me for a fool?!’ he would say before attacking her with renewed fervor.

Okay, second option…

I’ll wait down here, behind the trees, for daytime. In the daylight, somepony approaching you isn’t so scary or threatening and he can see me coming, so I won’t be sneaking up on him.

I’ll just go to sleep here, and in the morning… Sanctis’ features fell to a deadpan stare again. And in the morning, all the snow will either melt or be covered up, and his hoofprints will be gone. Stupid!

Sanctis rubbed a hoof against her temple before shaking her head to clear her thoughts.

Okay, the stallion is walking through the forest in a straight line, so he probably knows where he’s going… He probably has a map and compass, and is following it to wherever he’s going… Good.

If he is carrying such supplies, he’s probably going to set up camp and sleep for the night… He might even be getting ready to go to bed now as he sets up his tent… I could likely circle around the hill to the other side and sleep in the trees over there. In the morning, he’ll pass me by and leave new prints, and possibly wake me up…

With a satisfied nod and a smile, Sanctis set her plan into motion. She came out of the trees with the hill directly in front of her.

In an effort to keep her orientation, she strafed to the side, still facing the direction the stallion was headed. Following the edge of the trees, she made her way around the hill, being certain not to move her head at all.

About half way around the hill, she noticed a light flickering at the top. Raising a hoof to point in the direction she needed to remember, she turned her head to the side to see that it was likely a fire burning at the top of the hill.

At the sight of the orange light, she felt the sudden chill of the wind against her exposed half, as well as the moistness of the snow over her hooves as she shivered to her core.

I was so focused on following him that I forgot just how cold it was! she chastised herself as she tried to warm her hooves before pulling the jacket tight against herself.

Wait! If he has a fire, he can see me coming, and he won’t be as surprised! This might be perfect!

Sanctis started up the hill with hardly a second thought, slowing herself nearly to a crawl as she neared the top to keep from making too much noise. Eventually, she came to a complete stop when she saw the stallion sitting on what looked like a blanketed rock next to the fire.

As far as she was, the firelight didn’t reach her, but the stallion was clear as day as the light danced over his body, which was facing toward the direction he had come from. The saddlebags and his sword laid against the far-side of the rock, out of hooves’ reach but not out of sight.

Is this really a good idea? I mean, what if he isn’t friendly at all, and he tries to hurt me? There wouldn’t be anypony out here to help me… If I died here, they may not even find my body for weeks, maybe even months…

Sanctis stood there, watching the fire and the stallion for several minutes, her mind continuing to either come up with more and more reasons why to or why not to approach the stallion, as well as chastising herself either for her actions or inactions.

The fire crackled in the distance, dancing to a tune known only to nature as the shadows played against the trees. Time wore on, and the stallion added wood to the fire as needed, still waiting and watching the distant tree line he had come from.

After a long while, he finally called, as if to nopony in particular, “You know, it’s a lot warmer next to the fire. I don’t think it has much effect way over there.” He spoke at nothing in particular, still not looking in her direction, but Sanctis could have sworn he was speaking directly to her.

Sanctis started to back slowly away from the campsite, but before she took her third step, the stallion called again, this time looking right at her through the darkness. “No, I don’t believe you understand. It’s warmer closer to the fire, not further.”

Sanctis stood speechless, frozen mid-step as she stared at the stallion, his eyes seeming to lock with hers despite the distance and the darkness, Sanctis swallowing hard against the knot in her throat.

After a few moments, the stallion motioned with a hoof for her to come closer. “Come along little miss, don’t be shy. You followed me this far, you might as well say hello.”

Sanctis, her head hung low, approached the camp slowly, taking nearly two whole minutes to traverse the distance even at the steady pace.

When she came close to the fire, she stopped, afraid to get within sword’s reach of the stallion without good enough reason.

“Please, please; have a seat wherever you like,” he said with a soft voice and a softer smile. “You must be cold without any boots on. Feel free to warm your hooves by the fire.”

Nervously, Sanctis nodded before coming closer to the fire and sitting in the slightly damp grass where the snow had melted, her hooves reaching out to the warmth of the fire gladly, though warily.

As easily as the smile sat on the stallion’s face, a veil of silence fell over the campsite, with only the sound of the wood in the fire crackling and popping as the orange wisps of heat danced to the beat.

Calling it a campsite was a loose use for the term. In truth, the only noticeable differences was the loose pile of snow beside the rock – likely the snow thrown aside to make a space for the fire, - the blanket over the rock to keep from sitting on its cold, hard surface, and the saddlebags at the edge of the rock. Other than that, there was only the sword with the large, dark gray ribbon wrapped and tied around it, leaning against the rock near the saddlebags.

Doesn’t he have a tent? The map and compass are probably in his bags, but wouldn’t he have set up his tent by now?

Time wore on, neither pony saying anything; Sanctis being too nervous to say anything for fear of speaking out of turn, and the stallion was… just sitting there.

After a while, the stallion leaned back, bracing himself on a single hoof, and seemed to look at the moon, which rose from the direction opposite of Frost Valley, where they had come from. Now, however, it rested far into the sky, only hours away from reaching the peak of its journey.

Again, time wore on with no event worthy of mention, the moon rising further and further into the sky.

Were she not so nervous, Sanctis would have fallen asleep next to the fire, but the silence was far more uncomfortable than the noise of the town when she had slept in the park.

“I’m not sure why you followed me here, little miss,” he said, breaking the silence and giving Sanctis a start as he continued to watch the moon, a soft smile still on his features, “and I’m sure you have your reasons, but it would be best for you to go back to town in the morning.”

Sanctis looked over her shoulder, but she couldn’t see anything but the silhouettes of trees. Like it or not, I don’t really have much choice at this point… I’ll get lost if I try to go back to town on my own…

Sanctis wanted to say something about what he said, but she also wanted to thank him… And, well, he might be gone when she woke up tomorrow, and it’d be weird to say thanks for something that happened before out of the blue…

“Th-th…” The words hung in her mouth, at the tip of her tongue, not only from her nervousness, but also from not having said anything in Common since travelling to Frost Valley… Nevertheless, she seemed to have the stallion’s full attention as he watched her curiously.

“Than… Thank you... For the, uh… Food… and the clothes…” Sanctis didn’t think her face could turn any redder even if the flames took up residence in her cheeks.

The stallion sitting on the rock laughed, a deep and pleasant sound that seemed to bring the fire to life as well as the atmosphere.

“You came all this way to tell me that?” he said before sitting up to look at her properly. “Little miss, you truly are an odd one. Regardless, you are welcome, don’t mention it; my pleasure!”

“Don’t… Don’t call me that… ‘Little Miss…’ My name is… I’m Sanctis.”

The stallion looked at her with a puzzled look for a moment before rubbing under his muzzle as he thought about something. “How do you spell that, exactly? ‘Iamsanctis?’”

Sanctis puffed out her cheeks in annoyance. “Not ‘Iamsanctis!’ It’s just ‘Sanctis.’ My name is Sanctis. S – A – N – C – T – I – S, Sanctis.”

The stallion laid a hoof into the other as though he had just figured it out on his own. “Ah, I get it now. Sanctis… Sanctis, like the protector, or guardian.”

Sanctis only nodded, unsure of what the stallion was getting at before he rose to his hooves.

“Well Sanctis, it’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance. My name is Ace,” he said in an accent remarkably similar to the accent her mother adopted when speaking Al Bhed as he took a deep bow, “Ace Deus Fenrir. Most just call me Ace,” this time without the accent as he arose, “since they find it easier to pronounce and remember.”

“Ah-chay…” Sanctis said, sounding out the name with her own Al Bhed accent. “Ah-chay Day-eus Fen-rear…” this time the entire name.

The stallion looked clearly surprised at the display, even clapping quietly for a moment. “Very good, Sanctis. Yes, that’s my full name, but perhaps it would be best if you just called me Ah-chay, okay?” he said with a chuckle. “The whole thing is a bit of a mouth full.”

Sanctis nodded once before repeating the name to herself again. “Ace… What are you doing out here anyways? Where are you going in such a hurry that you’d walk straight through the forest?”

The look in Ace’s eyes fell to sadness for only a moment before he looked back to the moon with a soft smile once more. “Well Sanctis, I’m going home.” He watched the moon for a moment before his gaze fell upon her again. “I’d like to say you should return home yourself, but you don’t have one, do you?”

Sanctis’ expression flitted to that of surprise for only a moment before nodding painfully. “No, there’s nowhere for me to go back to…”

Ace only nodded. “Well, I don’t want you following me; it’s dangerous, I have a long way to go, and I can’t be responsible for you.”

I was afraid he was going to say something like that…

“Be that as it may, I also would never hurt a filly, and I don’t own the forests, nor do I own the roads or towns. While I don’t want you following me, I also can do nothing to prevent it and cannot forbid you from doing what you please, so long as no harm comes to myself.”

Wait, is that his way of saying… I can follow him?

Before she could say anything, Sanctis’ stomach grumbled loud enough to be heard over the fire. Again, her cheeks flushed a brighter shade of pink, and even more so as Ace laughed across from her.

“Right, how rude of me,” he said before stretching and falling over on his side to reach into one of the saddlebags. “You must be hungry; here, take some of this,” he said as he tossed something to her over the fire.

The throw was a tad bit too high, Sanctis having to jolt upright slightly to catch the article, causing her to fall over backwards lightly as she caught it in her hooves, Ace chuckling softly across from her as she laid on her back for a moment to recuperate. “Nice catch!”

Pulling the item ahead of her, she righted herself as she looked it over. It looked like a cracker, but it was harder than one and as big around as her hoof. “What is it?”

“It’s called hardtack, or travel bread. It’s a simple food made for travelling that won’t go bad while you’re on the road.”

Looking over it for a moment first, Sanctis bit off a bit from the corner. As soon as it hit her tongue though, she had to keep herself from spitting it out.

“Bleh! Why is it so salty?!” she said when she had finally managed to chew it enough to swallow. Sanctis wasn’t picky when it came to food, of course, but most of the things found in dumpsters lost most of their flavor and tasted bland. For something with a taste as sharp as salt… It caught her palate off-guard.

Ace was still laughing at her, taking a moment before he could speak clearly as he watched the expression on her face, her tongue hanging out between her teeth as she tried to keep the salty flavor out of her mouth.

“Ah, yes. You see, when you sweat, you lose a lot of the salt in your body. Salt is important to your body because it is the mineral your body uses to keep your joints comfortable, as well as many other purposes. Travelling on the road without salt will leave your joints achy, stiff, and sore. Worse, if you aren’t careful.”

Sanctis wasn’t entirely convinced, though what he said was likely true. “And you were expecting to be sweating much in weather like this?” she asked, motioning a hoof around at the snow.

Again, Ace laughed lightheartedly. “Of course not! However, as I said, I have a long trip to make. To be quite honest, I hadn’t intended to even start eating from the hardtack for a few days.”

Another likely story…

“You were just going to go without food for ‘a few days’ when you knew you were carrying some with you?” Sanctis asked, incredulous. “Why would you do that?”

This time, instead of laughing, Ace rubbed a hoof behind his head nervously with a smile. “Not a few days, no. I ate once already today, and I intend to be out of the snowy part of the North by either tomorrow afternoon or at night. By that time, I can start eating… nature’s bounty.”

Oh, right… Aside from Frost Valley, most places have already come out of the snowy seasons… The fruits and berries would be coming in by now.

“Still,” Sanctis pressed further, “Wouldn’t it have been better to just buy more food to take with you, instead of going hungry for a day or two?”

Ace only shook his head. “I didn’t have the money after buying more important supplies. Besides, it would just be extra weight for me to carry alone, and I can go a few days without food. As for the travel bread, the first bite is the worst. After that, your tongue gets use to the salt a bit more.”

Sanctis eyed the bread for a moment before taking another, smaller bite from a different corner. As he said, the salt was less noticeable, though it still tasted like what it was – a brick of bread coated in salt that crunched when you bit into it; regardless, she ate it happily, glad to have something.

Ace stretched and yawned before taking out another blanket from the saddlebag, throwing the bundle to the side in the grass.

“I don’t know about you, little mi- I mean, Sanctis, but I need to go to bed so I can cover more ground tomorrow. You’re welcome to stay here for the night, and I’ll wake you up tomorrow when I pack the blankets.”

“So that I can come with you?” Sanctis asked, raising an eyebrow.

“So you don’t get eaten by wolves as you layabout under the sun like a well-cooked meal,” he said as he took a hoofful of snow to dump onto the fire. “What you do after that is your own business,” he said as he dumped the load onto the fire, a sizzling sound rising to the air as the night closed around them.

Sanctis shakily reached for the blanket, clicking the buckle of the fasteners blindly before laying down where she sat and curling up for bed.

He didn’t have to put it like that… Him and his theatrics…

She pulled a corner of the blanket behind her head, bunching it up into a pillow before finally looking up at the stars as she waited to silently drift off to sleep.

There’s so many stars out tonight… One, two, three, four… Sanctis counted the stars to herself, and before long, she was fast asleep.

Winter Dreams of Summer

Chapter 9: Winter Dreams of Summer

Sanctis ran through the forest as quick as her hooves would carry her, dodging trees, ducking under low-hanging branches and bounding over drifts of snow.

The faster she ran, the more the white blanket crunched and groaned with each step, kicking it up as she carelessly ran for her life.

She came to a clearing, but still she never slowed. Behind her, almost invisible against the snowy background were it not for the trees that it obscured, was a large, solid white wolf with eyes as red as blood.

With a bone-chilling snarl, the wolf leapt at her, Sanctis only narrowly dodging the attack as she bounded out of the way.

With an angry growl, the wolf rose out of the snow like the sun over the horizon: slow, and steady. Unstoppable.

Sanctis wasted no time to watch the wolf regain its footing as she ran for the forest again, hoping to lose the wolf in the trees as she ran.

An ear shattering howl came from behind her before she could hear the wolf closing in on her.

This is it, I’m so done for!

Despite her thoughts, she continued to run and run, as fast as her hooves could carry her, she ran, dodged, ducked and bounded through the forest.

Until she ran into a dead end, a cliff that went straight up into the air, far higher than her eyes could see.

Her back to the wall, Sanctis could only watch helplessly as the wolf approached her with a snarl, its every movement slow and deliberate.

Pressed against the rocks as flat as she could, she shook violently with her fear. She tried to scream, but her voice wouldn’t come. She tried to run, but her hooves were frozen in place as they trembled.

Please, somepony… save me!

The wolf closed the distance, a clawed paw biting into her chest as it pinned her against the rocks.

The wolf’s head bolted to her neck and everything went black.

“Sanctis?”

In the darkness, somepony, a stallion, was calling her name.

“Sanctis, wake up. It’s time for me to leave.”

Sanctis’ eyes slowly opened to reveal the source of the voice; a red-maned broken-horned stallion with glasses, his near-black hoof pressing against her chest, gently shaking her.

“Wha-? Where am I?” she said blearily, rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she sat up, the memories of the previous day coming to mind as the wispy tendrils of her nightmare faded away.

“About sixteen or seventeen miles East of Frost Valley, if I were to venture a guess,” he said as he bundled up the blanket Sanctis had slept with. “It’ll be another fourteen or fifteen until we get to the town of Summervale.”

Sanctis adjusted the winter jacket she had slept in, nearly forgetting about it until a chill wind passed through the trees.

“So you’re heading to Summervale, then?” she asked as Ace was packing the blanket away in a saddlebag next to the blanket he had used.

“On the short term, yes,” he said before turning to face her as he closed the bag. “Have you ever been there?”

Sanctis only shook her head. “I’ve heard rumors about it. They say it’s always warm there, even when the ground is covered in snow… It sounds like a bunch of phooey to me.”

“We’ll see about that,” he said with a chuckle. “Oh, and I brought back something to eat. I figured you would be hungry when you woke up, and I won’t be stopping to eat.”

Sanctis’ gaze followed his hoof, pointing to the rock he had slept on. Resting on said rock was a small pile of red berries, along with a canteen of water.

Sanctis’ gaze flitted between Ace and the berries, wondering if they really were safe to eat when Ace threw a few in his mouth, chewing them happily.

“I already had my fill before coming back to the camp, so help yourself. I warn you though, the first few will taste quite bitter.”

Fine by me… Bitter is still better than salty; bleh!

Sanctis tossed one of the beady morsels into her mouth, immediately biting down on it. She had expected it to gush with juices, but it was nearly solid instead.

The taste was a bit bitter, but not nearly as bad as some of the food she’d ate from the dumpsters in Frost Valley. She happily ate nearly half the pile at once, eliciting another chuckle from the stallion.

“My, I’ve never seen anypony take quite the liking to them before. They’re called Winter Berries; they’re one of the few natural foods you can find while there’s snow all around.”

Swallowing the berries with a small gulp of water, she listened intently to the brief explanation. “Is that why there’s not much juice? They adapted to the colder climate so that they wouldn’t freeze, right?”

Ace nodded happily as he threw the saddlebags over his back. “That’s exactly right. Any other berry, as full of juice as they are, would freeze and die off if they tried to grow in the winter. Winter Berries take advantage of this, and in doing so they get all the sunlight and soil to themselves during the cold seasons.”

Ace threw the sword with the ribbon tied around its scabbard onto his back, adjusting the cinch to account for the saddlebags as Sanctis finished her berries.

“Frost Valley is due West from here,” he said as he pointed a hoof into the forest. “You’ll get there just before noon if you travel with the sun to your back. Summervale is closer, to the East, if you’d rather take the shorter trip.

“I’m not sure what affiliations or connections you have to Frost Valley, but it’s not easy to live on the streets of such a town. Either way, I’m not the boss of you and you’re responsible enough to make your own decisions, I’m sure. Take care!”

Before Sanctis could even offer a reply, Ace shrugged his bags into a more comfortable position and started down the hill to the East.

“Wait a minute, what about your canteen!” she called before running after him, nearly tripping when the grassy hill turned to snow.

“You can keep it,” he said as he waved a hoof at her without looking. “I’ve got more, don’t worry about it!”

Sanctis ran alongside the stallion, matching his pace as they came into the forest.

“Ah, Summervale it is, then,” he said with a muted smile. “A wise decision, I hear it’s quite nice this time of year.”

“Yeah, well, if the rumors are true then it ought to be nice all year-round,” she muttered under her breath, the stallion chuckling lightly again as they walked along opposite sides of a tree.

“Well, rumors or not, the town is positively beautiful. I’m surprised you’ve been this close to it all this time without going to see it, really.”

Sanctis looked away for a moment. “Yeah, well, Frost Valley was just sort of the first place I stumbled upon… I guess I just stayed there out of habit.”

“Well lucky for you, habits break if you push them hard enough. You’ll like Summervale much more, trust me,” he said with a warmhearted smile as the pair made their way through the forest, Sanctis carrying the canteen around her neck by the strap.

Twilight Sparkle sat at the center table in her library, rereading some of the magical texts Ace had loaned her during their lessons before he…

With a heavy sigh and a shake of her head, she redoubled her focus as she worked fervently in an attempt to find something, anything that might help her find him, or bring him home, or… or even bring him back to life, if that was what it would take!

She had reread six of the eight books she still had, but none of them had anything of much use. The third had featured a short-range locator spell, roughly 120 meters from the individual casting it, but it couldn’t be performed while moving and despite altering it, she couldn’t make it reach beyond 200 meters.

The seventh book in the order of books most likely to contain location spells, which she was currently rereading on her third pass, focused on the effects of prolonged exposure to magic in living, non-magical entities.

The eighth was an incomplete travel journal that featured numerous magical creatures discovered by an explorer in his travels, thus earning its position as least likely to contain a solution.

Twilight fell over backwards in frustration, her teeth grinding as her hooves scraped back and forth through her mane in an attempt to ease the migraine, when there was a knocking at the door.

She opened the door with her magic, not trusting herself to call out to the individual calmly in her frustration – which evaporated almost instantly as she rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn’t seeing things.

“As comfortable as the floor may seem, my Starlight, wouldn’t the bed upstairs be a better place to sleep?”

The teasing voice of the stallion before her, as well as the special nickname known to so very few and used only by one other pony, confirmed what her sleep-deprived, reddened eyes revealed to her.

Her mouth hanging open, stuttering as she tried desperately to form words, Twilight rolled to her hooves as she started to approach him.

“Ace? Is that… Is that really you?” she said as she brought a hoof to his cheek, her eyes starting to flood with tears of joy and relief.

Until her hoof finally touched his cheek, and it turned to mush that dripped and adhered to her coat.

Twilight could only stare in disbelief as she pulled her hoof away to examine it, and when she looked back, Ace was on his knees, coughing and spluttering.

“Ace! Ace, what’s wrong?!” she cried out in fearful panic at the sight.

Twilight tried to wrap her hooves around his neck, but the muck clung to her, even pushed against her as holes begun to develop over his body, splotches of the gunk coming up with each cough as they became increasing worse.

“My magic… my magic is destroying me… Save… save yourself…”

The look of pain intensified in his eyes as he tried weakly to push her away as the goop started to flash brightly in places. “Run! Don’t worry… about me… Save yourself!”

“No! No, I won’t lose you again!” Twilight yelled, tears streaming down her cheeks. “There has to be something we can do! Anything!”

Twilight turned to run back into the library, as if believing a book would hold the key to saving her special somepony, but what she saw only brought her to her knees as the tears came faster.

Her library, her home, was ablaze.

She turned back to Ace, his entire body blindingly bright with the mass of energy flooding through him, devouring him. And behind him, the entire town was burning to the ground as well.

Twilight couldn’t move. Couldn’t speak, couldn’t act. All she could do was stare in frantic disbelief as everything she knew and loved burned before her very eyes.

Then the world lit up in a blinding flash of light that emanated from the pile of muck that flooded at her hooves.

Reflexively, she shielded her eyes as silence fell around her.

Is that it? Am I… dead?

Twilight was afraid to look, but after several long moments, she finally started to lower her hoof slowly, opening only just one eye at first, before her mouth fell in awe.

All around her, the town was back to normal. The buildings were whole and undamaged, ponies were walking about, holding conversations she couldn’t hear, and just… living. Like nothing had happened.

She turned to check on her library, which was entirely whole and healthy, but she found little solace in that fact. Her eyes shut tight, she wept as she entered the library, closing the door with a forceful slam of her back hoof.

“That’s just the kind of stallion he is, young Twilight,” came a familiar voice behind her where the door had slammed. “He would give his life for what he believes in, and he believes that nopony’s life holds any more, nor any less, value than any other.”

Her eyes red and puffy, still flowing like a river, she turned to see Princess Luna standing before her, the stars in her mane twinkling like the night sky as it waved without so much as a breeze behind her.

Twilight wiped her eyes with a hoof, now fully aware that what she had seen – and was seeing – was only a dream. Still, the pain in her heart felt real, having seen her beloved dying at her hooves, helpless to stop it from happening…

She shook her head to clear the thoughts from her mind. “Is that really you, Luna?”

Luna only nodded as the world around them faded away, the pair now sitting on a pathway of stars, surrounded by the night sky, as though the hurtful world of Equestria was but a dream entirely.

A sudden realization came to her, Twilight’s eyes shooting wide open. “You said… You said ‘the kind of stallion he is… Then, he must be!...”

“Calm yourself, dearest Twilight,” she said before her gaze wandered to a nebula in the distance. “I do not know if Ace is still physically alive, but I know that he still dreams. And, most fearsome of all, my magic cannot reach him,” she said as her expression remained solemn.

“I can feel that he dreams, and I can tell he’s afraid… very afraid. Wherever he is, whatever has happened, I cannot be certain if he is alive… When one such as we dies, their soul is returned from the ether until the next Time of Cleansing – the next New Year’s when the souls of this realm are purged of their worldly belonging and returned to the ether.

“There are other possibilities, as well. In his time of weakness, perhaps Ace was captured and imprisoned in a place where magic cannot reach. Perhaps he lived through the ritual, but his magic has not yet returned. Perhaps he is on a journey and does not wish to be disturbed – so skilled is he that he could block out my magic…”

Luna looked back to Twilight, the fear and concern visible in her gaze. “Anything is possible, but still I fear for my brother’s safety – clearly, so do you.”

Twilight could only nod that it was true. “There must be something we can do to help him... Sitting around here, doing nothing, it’s… It’s really bothering me.”

Luna nodded that she agreed before returning her gaze to the far-off nebula. “As I said, Twilight, even my magic cannot reach him. I do not know what this could mean, but Ace’s dreams are clouded by fear… In my vision, they are as black as Chaos itself… So black are they that even those around him suffer in their sleep.”

Twilight could have gone her entire life without hearing somepony suffering as he was. If Ace knew his fears were invading others dreams, he may go so far as to avoid sleeping altogether… “What about Celestia? Is she getting any better?”

A soft smile came to Luna’s face as she thought of her sister. “She is improving greatly now. A few nights past, she was even able to recognize me in her dream. Fates permitting, perhaps she may recover someday soon, and perhaps she will be able to help Ace… Her magic has always been so much stronger than ours.”

Twilight finally managed to breathe a sigh of relief at the good news when she felt a hoof stroking her mane.

“Be strong, Twilight. Magic or not, Ace’s emotions are tied more closely to yours than you may think.”

And just like that, Luna was gone, leaving Twilight in the beautiful expanse of space. All around her, stars twinkled, nebulae swirled silently, and far off planets and solar systems drifted forever onward.

It was as if all that was laid before her; all the lights and colors, all the designs and constellations, were made only for her. Her sense of sight dulled in the dim lights, the sounds of her body was all that graced her ears, and there was nothing she could reach out and touch.

It was as if the world had never existed, and she was all alone.

It’s all so… lonely…

“You would dare to challenge I, Daylight Zenith, valiant knight of Day’s End, loyal servant to the Gooey-Gumdrop Empire and Queen Everlasting Flavor herself?! Be ye a fool, a drunkard, or both, knave?”

Daylight Zenith, fully adorned in her brilliantly polished, solid white plate armor that bore the crest of her rank in the army of Day’s End, the military force that served the Gooey-Gumdrop Empire.

“That’s right, Daylight Zenith the Radiant. Should I win, I shall take your position of vice-captain from under your wing, and then it will be I who will lead our troops to trample our foes in the coming battle!”

Daylight Zenith couldn’t help but laugh at such an idea, covering her muzzle with an armored hoof before tossing her pastel-rainbow colored mane back over her shoulder.

“The Queen, in her wisdom, has chosen me to lead our forces while the Captain is away on her royal assignment. The Queen, in her glory, has elected that you remain in the city and off the battlefield, lest you lead yourself and our forces to certain death!”

Her foe, garbed in a mix-up of patchwork cloth, leather and a few out-of-place collections of metal, was neither the first nor last opponent who would challenge her in an attempt to claim her position.

As per the Queen’s laws, any legal resident of the militant Gooey-Gumdrop Empire could challenge any position below Captain in an effort to claim their rank, title and quarters for themselves.

There were of course restrictions, such as a challenge may only be issued during daylight hours, and cannot be issued on a military base or a royal facility. The challenge must be fair, with no greater than one versus one or two versus two combat. The challenge is only valid should the knight verbally accept the challenge on their own terms.

“Very well then,” Daylight Zenith proclaimed as she drew the lance from her back, pointing it at her, rather enraged, foe. “If it is a fight that you wish, then it is a fight you shall have. Mind you, this will be my eighty-first successful defense of my rank.”

The other ponies around the pair backed away a fair distance, but watched the confrontation all the same.

“Oh please,” he voiced as he drew a kitchen knife from a makeshift sling, “one may think you had already won, the way you talk!” he yelled as he lunged knife first at her.

With a subtle movement of her lance, Daylight Zenith knocked the weapon from his hoof, the stallion’s momentum driving the lance into his own shoulder as he recoiled from the pain.

“Anger on the battlefield is no benefit to you, nor this empire. Were you to lead our forces, you would condemn our military to defeat.” The knife still disarmed, the foe could only clutch a hoof to his bleeding shoulder as he glared at the knight who had bested him.

“Return to your home, citizen. This war does not concern you.”

Daylight Zenith replaced her lance on her back, leaving the beaten foe to wallow in their shame when she heard somepony in the crowd muttering to themselves in a voice so low, she wasn’t certain she heard it.

”Please sister, get well soon… We’re all counting on you…”

Daylight Zenith chanced a glance to the murmuring pony, her features obscured by a long, hooded cloak, though a pair of silver shoes and heavy-looking chainmail, painted black, could still be seen.

Zenith had thought she had seen the pony somewhere before, but only shrugged off the idea before returning to her patrol.

Sanctis followed Ace through the forest, and not long past, the floor of the forest came alive with lush greens and blooming flowers, as if the snow had never touched the earth in this half of the forest.

Sanctis observed each new plant, bug and tree the pair passed, but neither of them uttered a word since camp.

If I didn’t know better, I would say he wasn’t even paying attention!

Despite his distant state, he still stepped quietly through the forest, even with the uneven footing of the roots and the dried branches. When there was an obstacle, he bounded over it easily, and he avoided stepping on any plants if he could help it.

Still, it seemed like he wasn’t paying any attention.

Hmm… Maybe if I…

Sanctis hopped ahead a few yards, and stood in his path, facing him. When he got close, he merely stepped around her without mention of the odd behavior.

Okay… Second test!

Sanctis hopped around into the trees and, again, waited several yards in front of Ace’s path, this time out of sight.

When Ace came by, Sanctis ‘accidentally’ walked into his path, nearly falling over as he collided with her.

“Ah, sorry, pardon me,” he said with a nod of his head to her as he continued walking down the path, as if it was an automatic response.

Okay… Third test!

With a sizeable log in the path ahead, Sanctis ran ahead again, this time resting on the log until Ace leapt over it. When he had, she leapt onto his back as delicately as she could, nearly losing her footing.

Again, he didn’t seem to acknowledge her whatsoever.

With a small giggle to herself, she stood on his back, bracing her hooves atop his head like he were some sort of mountain she had claimed.

Shielding her eyes from the sun, she looked about this way and that before shooting her hoof straight forward. “Full speed ahead! We set sail for Summervale, lads!”

Still, Ace didn’t seem to get the message, as the sorry layabout just shuffled along at his lazy pace, making no attempt to fulfill the captain’s order.

Sanctis hung over the top of his head to get a good look at his eyes, but just couldn’t lean over far enough, and she didn’t want to touch his horn… Broken as it was, it looked sharp.

“Wake up, First Mate Ace!” she fake-yelled as she padded his cheek gently, not really wanting to hurt him or make him angry.

Finally, this seemed to do the trick, causing him to look around before looking up at her. Not quite sure how he would react – or how she should act in such a situation, she only managed to smile dumbly.

“Sanctis?” he finally replied, his voice soft and lined with curiosity. In fact, he sounded bewildered, almost confused even. “What are you doing on my head?”

In truth, Sanctis expected him to be angry. Wondering how far his kind attitude would stretch, she thought the truth would be a fun answer.

“I’m playing pirate ship – I’m the Pirate, you’re the ship! Now, full sails, yah rickety old tub! This tailwind don’t get no more favorable!”

Ace paused for only a moment to salute her. “Aye aye, captain! Loose the sails, and brace for rough waters ahead!”

Rough waters? What’s he-

Before Sanctis could finish her thought, Ace took off like a streak of lightning, Sanctis wrapping her hooves around him for fear of falling off.

Despite the uneven composition of the ground in the forest, Ace ran as easily as anypony would on a paved sidewalk. He leapt over fallen trees and logs, and bounced from root to root when they were large enough to support him.

Once she was certain she wasn’t going to fall off, Sanctis rose her head over top of him to watch where they were heading, the trees passing by in a blur of greens, yellows and browns.

“WOOOOOOOHOOOOOOO!” she yelled in her excitement, bringing a hearty laugh from her faithful ship beneath her.

“Nothing like open water, aye captain?!” Ace shouted back at her as he ran.

“Nothing in the whole wide world of Equestria!” she called back excitedly as she ducked under a branch.

After several minutes of racing through the forest, the favorable tailwind finally faded, and the ship had slowed to a stop near a large rock beside the path.

Wanting to give Ace a chance to catch his breath, Sanctis climbed onto the rock as Ace removed the bags and the sword from his back, leaning against the rock. Once he was settled, Sanctis offered the canteen.

Ace took it gratefully with a nod of his head before downing the contents.

“Where did you learn to run like that through the forest, anyways?” she asked once his breathing started to level out.

Replacing the canteen in the saddlebags and offering her a new one to carry, he laughed softly. “What an odd captain, asking her ship how to sail!”

“I’m serious! I’ve never heard of anypony running through a forest like that, that was amazing!”

Ace could only manage another chuckle while he rubbed a hoof behind his head, fluffing out his mane where she had been pressed against him.

“Just practice, mainly. I’ve travelled through my fair share of forests, so I would be in a bad situation if I didn’t know how to walk or run in them.”

Sanctis nodded, accepting his response as a plausible possibility. “Well I guess that it’s normal to zone out doing something you’re used to… What were you thinking about, anyways?”

For the first time, Ace seemed to hesitate before answering right away. “Hmmm, I’m not quite sure. Whatever it was, it seems a good run was just what I needed to clear my head!”

Yeah, not buying it…

“You just… forgot? You were thinking about it for a pretty long time.”

Ace hesitated for a moment again, this time deciding to fill the pause by replacing the saddlebags and sword on his back.

“I couldn’t tell you, I’m afraid. Perhaps I was just sleepy… I didn’t sleep too well last night, I’m afraid.”

Well, he WAS up before me… Long enough to have picked all those berries and eat his own breakfast while packing away the blankets…

“How come you couldn’t sleep? You’re used to the forests, so it wasn’t that…”

Ace started to walk down the path again, Sanctis leaping from the rock to follow after him. “Oh, um… just nightmares. I’ve been having them a lot lately, actually.”

Come to think of it…

“You know, I had a nightmare last night, too! What was it… something about a wolf… chasing me through the forest, I think…”

Ace had to pause for a moment to cover his muzzle with a hoof, but Sanctis could still tell he was trying to hide a laugh. “Hey, what’s so funny?! Wolves are scary!”

Ace waved it off, but the laugh still marred his muzzle as a large, toothy smile. “It’s nothing, it’s nothing; just considering the irony, is all.”

“Irony of what? Did your nightmare have wolves in it too?”

Ace’s head tilted up for a moment, as if considering something. “Sort of, I suppose. My nightmares were more related to losing my horn… and soon after, my magic.”

Yeah, something like that would probably give me nightmares, too…

“Did you use your magic much? Your cutie mark doesn’t look very… magical,” Sanctis noted, taking the opportunity to get a closer look at his mark, which resembled a full moon casting light over a pair of clasped hooves, one near-black and one white.

Ace leapt over a log before nodding solemnly. “My special talent is helping others, and I use to sell spells at my shop in Hoofsdale. I’ll make due without my magic until I can do something about it… But that won’t happen anytime before I make it home.”

“Home? Aren’t you going the wrong way then? Hoofsdale is to the southwest, not the east… You’re not, uh, lost, are you?”

A hearty laugh filled the air. “No, no, not at all! I’m actually heading to Ponyville, which is south of Summervale if you follow the river the whole way. However, I planned on swinging through Summervale, restocking my supplies at the tourist town near Neighagra Falls, then following the train tracks to Hollow Shades and taking the train from there, through Canterlot Station, and on to Ponyville.”

Sanctis didn’t know exactly where all those places were; she only knew Hoofsdale because her mother had taken her there once before, following a rumor about an Al Bhed pony living there… They never found any proof.

“Wow, you really weren’t kidding when you said you had a long trip ahead of you…”

Ace nodded before turning back to her, stopping in the middle of the path, a low-hanging branch blocking the way. “Which is why I’m going to take you to Summervale, and then I’m going to go ahead on my own tomorrow. Got it?”

“But what if I don’t even like Summervale! I’ve never been there before, and I don’t know anypony there, and I won’t even know which alleys I can use to get away from bad ponies or which dumpsters have the best food like I did in Frost Valley!”

Sanctis’ pink complexion turned pinker as she realized what she had just said out loud. Ace only laughed before turning and moving the branch. If a filly could die of embarrassment…

“We’ll just see about that then, won’t we?” Sanctis’ jaw dropped at the view as she walked to the cusp of the forest.

The pair stood at the top of a small hill that overlooked the city of Summervale, which was enclosed in a tall wall of white winter-pine wood. All around the town, flowers were blooming, butterflies were flying, a couple was having a picnic and even the animals seemed happy as they danced about in the fields. The buildings rose just over the wall, each painted a different color from the last and twice as beautiful.

Largest of all, was a giant, floating green crystal in the middle of town, which glistened and glowed in the golden rays of the sun, with large, plaster-looking pillars at each intersecting cardinal direction.

“I’ll race you there!” Ace shouted as he took off for the road that lead to the large, open wooden gates.

Sanctis could only stare for several seconds, stunned by the beauty of the town before she realized how far she was falling behind. “HEY! Wait for me!”

The Vision of Summervale

Chapter 10: The Vision of Summervale

The race to the gates of Summervale was cut short by a long line of ponies and their belongings queued to be searched by the guards. Ace had won the race to the line, and motioned for Sanctis to join him.

Looking down the line as she made her way to their position in queue, Sanctis saw various carts and salesponies - some even selling their wares, such as foods, while waiting in line - as guards at the gate interviewed and searched everypony that came to the gates. "There's more than I expected... It's still pretty early in the day, isn't it?"

Watching the guards at the gate, and the guards walking the line to make sure nopony became unruly, Ace nodded to her. "Summervale's a large town, and there's only two gates into and out of the city. This South gate is the larger of the two, primarily used for transporting goods into and out of the city. Many of these ponies with wagons likely camped overnight nearby in a caravan, as the gates would be closed at night." Ace turned his gaze from the guards to her as he spoke, "Pedestrians are welcome to use whichever gate they choose, but security here is stricter - though not by much, I'd wager."

Despite the security, the line was still moving pretty fast, considering. "What do you think they are looking for? The searches don't seem to take very long, so it's probably not anything small or easily hidden." Ace nodded again. ‘He sure nods a lot.’

"Probably the usual... Contraband, criminals, malcontents... The presence of a guard detail and a customary search are as much a deterrent as a filter. Furthermore, it gives precedent; in more dire times, they can easily increase the level of security without seeming to change much. Being searched one day is the same as the next to the average, innocent civilian, regardless of how invasive the search is. Meanwhile, a criminal or smuggler can be caught off-guard if they expected to be searched briefly, but are instead searched thoroughly."

The queue steadily made its way forward, Ace politely waving off vendors with a smile as they plied their wares. Before long, a pair of guards waved them to one side of the path. The guardstallion motioned for them to stop about ten paces out. "Place your belongings on the ground in front of you." He motioned to a cloth laid out, like a picnic blanket worn out over many weeks of other ponies doing the same.

Sanctis laid her canteen in one corner of the blanket before stepping away. Ace laid his sword and the saddlebags out in the middle. The guard's gaze fixated on the sword for several long moments, then, "Step away from the bags, please," as his partner stepped forward to perform the search. "What is your business in Summervale today?" the first guard asks.

"I was planning on meeting a friend, meeting with the Matron to receive a reading for the future, and staying at the Cozy Hearth for the night.” At the mention of the inn, the first guard passed a look to the second.

“Yeah, I know the place,” he said as he checked the last of the canteens, smelling the contents passively before closing it back. “Just off of 3rd street. Quiet place, if you can get over all their fillies and foals roughhousing.” He hefted the sword appreciatively, admiring the stylized handle.

Sanctis never really noticed before, but now that she took a closer look she couldn’t fathom how she missed the style – the handle bore the cutie marks of both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna!

“Where, might I ask,” the guard started, still studying the sword, “did you find a sword like this?” The other guard looked like he wanted to chime in as well.

“I have a relative in the Canterlot Royal Guard…” Ace said as he shrugged. “His father insisted I bring the sword along on my trip, to ‘keep me safe,’ he said.” Ace looked thoughtful for a moment, before he added, “Come to think of it, it’s proved useful once already. Perhaps his wisdom was greater than I knew.”

The guards shared a look for a moment before the first shrugged and the second said “Well keep it in the scabbard while you’re here. There’s dangers on the roads, but let the guard handle matters within the walls.” He laid the sword next to the saddlebags and stepped away. “Gather your belongings and proceed through the gate in an orderly fashion. Have a nice day.”

Ace took up the saddlebags once again, cinching the sword overtop the bags before looking over his shoulder at Sanctis, nodding his head to the gates. As they made their way into the city proper, Sanctis was once again awed by the beauty of such a city compared to Frost Valley.

In Frost Valley, houses were painted white, brown or somewhere in between – if at all – while here in Summervale it seemed every color of the rainbow was represented by one building or another. In Frost Valley, the roofs were fortified against the snow, but here the roofs were more decorative than utilitarian, seemingly only fortified for light rainfalls.

Granted they were walking down the main road leading to the largest of two gates leading to town, but there were so many vendors and shops, and countless ponies perusing their wares. Shops selling everything from souvenirs to fresh veggies, restaurants specializing in local delicacies – even some that promised fresh ingredients all year round!

But the most beautiful thing, the most amazing thing, was the gigantic green crystal in the middle of the city. It glowed faintly as it floated, slowly bobbing up and down in its cement-looking brackets that didn’t seem to actually touch the crystal itself. The crystal had to be at least ten stories tall, though only a quarter that at its widest point.

Underneath the crystal was something akin to a temple or perhaps a place of worship in a crater. With the crystal floating just a few stories above the structure, Sanctis wasn’t sure how anypony could stand to go inside for fear of being crushed by the very thing they worshipped. Or perhaps that only strengthened one’s faith?

Noticing her staring, Ace followed her gaze. “It has gone by many names in the past, but now most ponies know it as the Summer Crystal. It floats under its own power – the scaffolding around it was added later, for the safety of the city around it – and it puts off a pleasant, constant warmth. It’s warm to the touch, safe to be around and radiates a sort of ‘energy’ that encourages strong life and crop growth.” He motioned to the various buildings around them, pointing out how each had a garden, either in front or hanging off of the second or third floors. “Nearly everypony here grows something – from flowers to foods.”

“I know you’re been here before, but you sure seem to know a lot about the crystal,” Sanctis asked as she saw his expression lighten as he watched the crystal’s movements.

Ace nodded. It seemed he was always nodding. “That’s not even the half of it! I’ve studied the magical properties of the Summer Crystal many times in the past, and every time I think I’ve learned all there was to know about it, the Matron surprises me with another tale that completely blows it all away.”

“The Matron? Who is that?” Sanctis asked. “Somepony who watches the crystal?”

“In a sense, yes. Though, she’s not quite a pony. I’ve never seen her in her own form, but you may think of her as a spirit. She possesses a new pony every generation, and watches over the crystal from this side. In exchange, she tells small fortunes and the like, and supervises all manner of things that benefit from the crystal’s presence.”

“Hold on,” Sanctis stopped dead in her tracks, incredulous. “You said she possesses ponies? And what do you mean ‘from this side?’” What was it about Ace that he knew a Draconequus, and a pony-possessing spirit, and carried a sword with the marks of the Princesses, and he acted like it was no big deal?

Ace nodded. Again. Like that explained everything. ‘Yes, that’s correct. A pony-possessing spirit is very normal on the planet I hail from.’ “It’s a mutual arrangement. A young pony is offered by a family that is either devout or destitute or both, and they are raised for the purpose of being the Matron’s host. When the old host dies – usually comfortably of old age – the Matron possesses the new one. There’s a ceremony, of course – though I’ve asked the Matron about the rituals and she says they are just for show; a pampering pageant for the young pony to enjoy and make the transition less stressful.”

“Less stressful, because it’s the pony’s last moments in their own body?” Sanctis couldn’t imagine death by possession… would anypony even realize her very spirit was different?

…Given the fact the only pony she was on friendly terms with was a stranger she met, like, two days ago… probably not.

“Not quite. The host resides in the body still. The Matron really only takes over for ceremonies, visitations and the like. 80% of the time, the host is merely treated like a VIP, residing in the structure below the crystal, waited on by a staff of ponies that see their every need fulfilled. Their parents are even welcome to visit at any time. It’s not unusual for the host’s family to move into the temple itself to be near their child.”

Ace started looking around at the side streets, but kept on talking. “Still, the host does change after the possession… it’s hard to remain a child when you have thousands of years of memories and lessons and wisdoms floating within hoof’s reach inside your very mind.”

Sanctis tried to imagine having the memories of somepony else inside her mind… even a normal pony like – well, Ace doesn’t seem like a normal pony – but even a normal pony. She could definitely see how it could change you. And to have that pony talk to you inside your head, having conversations all the time nopony else could hear…

Ace looked around for a moment, before walking to the next street ahead and took the left, motioning for her to follow. They made their way down the side road before turning down an alley. “It should be around here… ah, there it is!”

It wasn’t a small building, but pressed between two other houses was a plain brown building made entirely from bare logs with a sign above the door of a burning fireplace; the Cozy Hearth. Judging by the sounds coming from within, it was certainly occupied. Ace pushed open the doors and made his way inside, Sanctis following shortly behind him.

A bar sat against the far wall, lined with various spirits on the uppermost shelves, and more casual beverages on any of the shelves Sanctis could reach. The counter was unadorned, but practically shined under a coat of wax as somepony was buffing the counter during the downtime.

“Welcome to the Cozy Hearth,” the hostess, a mare with a soft blue coat and a light purple mane, called as the backdoor burst open and a veritable herd of young fillies and foals leapt into the room; a young filly with a muddied mane screeching as she chased a colt with a suspiciously muddied hoof with various others laughing as they chased behind her.

“I said SETTLE DOWN,” an older stallion called as he came in from the backdoor as well. “Ya’ll are disturbing the customers!” The fillies and colts ran a lap around the room – muddying the floor – then a lap around the stallion who spun around to try and catch the leader of the pack before they all bolted back outside.

Ace simply laughed as he watched the children play, careful not to step in any of the mud they brought in. The mare at the counter gave a huff and directed a pointed look at the stallion, who managed to smile sheepishly before pursuing the herd into the backyard.

“Are those all Timberheart’s grandchildren?” Ace asked with a smile on his muzzle. “He always said ‘a house’s not a home until there’s a filly or a colt,’ and he always wanted the Hearth to feel like a home. I’d say he’s done it!” he finished as he looked around the inn, at the various pictures on the walls.

“Great grandchildren…” the hostess said, exasperated, but still smiling in spite of herself. She looked Ace over from hoof to horn. “How’d you know my Grandpa, anyhow? You look a mite too young to have known him first-hoof…”

Ace, a smile still on his face, pointed to one of the pictures on the wall. It featured a pair of stallions, their hoofs around the other’s shoulders, standing in front of an unfinished log building. “My, uh… grandfather helped him build this place! Gave him half the idea and all the encouragement, the way I hear it. How’s he holding up?” His smile finally faded as he asked that last question, likely already knowing the answer.

Sanctis studied the picture a bit more, and it seemed the hostess was doing the same. The pony on the right looked exactly like Ace… except for the horn, which was pointed in the picture but busted in the flesh. Even for being a relation two generations past, the likeness was… uncanny.

“He passed on, some few years back,” the hostess said. It was plain her grandstallion meant a lot to her. “Mentioned your grandpa a time or two… a ‘something something Fenrir’ if’n I ‘member right. Real friendly sort, got the place off the ground then skedaddled. Said he’d be back someday to see how it all went. I hear he stopped in once in my mother’s time, but I never thought his grandcolt would come here in my time.”

“That’s right,” Ace said, nodding happily. “I’m named for my grandfather; Ace Deus Fenrir,” he said, dipping into a formal bow, which seemed to take the hostess by surprise as much as anything. “I came into town on other business and couldn’t stand to stay the night anyplace else!”

Sanctis wasn’t sure she bought it. It was one thing to be named after your sire or grandsire, but to be named for your grandsire and look exactly like them, several decades down the line? Even their smiles were the same.

“Right, right, that was it!” The hostess said, all smiles. “As a filly, the name always struck me as odd. It’s just such an… irregular name, if you don’t mind me saying so. My name’s Glass Heart, and I run the inn these days.”

Sanctis realized, perhaps for the first time, that it was an irregular name. Her mother had raised her with both the common Equestrian and Al Bhed language since she was a filly, so it never dawned on her how strange Ace’s name must seem to other ponies.

But wait… if he has an Al Bhed name… were his ancestors Al Bhed? Sanctis considered asking him about it right now, but couldn’t seem to get it out. ‘Oh my gosh, you’re an Al Bhed?!’ didn’t seem like an appropriate thing to blurt out in the current situation.

Besides, he’s a Unicorn and doesn’t have the cursed-eye of an Al Bhed Unicorn. Whatever relation of his that was Al Bhed was probably centuries old.

Sanctis shook her head, as if to rid it of such silly thoughts.

Ace was paying the hostess a few bits over the counter – presumably the ‘friends and family’ discount – when she passed a look to her over the counter as she stood numbly in the entryway.

“And who is this shy little filly?” Glass Heart said in that patronizing voice adults use around other children. “Is she yours, perhaps?”

“My name’s Sanctis,” she started before realizing the rest of the question. “We, uh, met on the road.” Ace nodded it was true. Sanctis wondered if he ever stopped nodding.

“She’ll be staying here, too. We came to seek the Matron for advice. She, uh, still open during the day?”

“Well, she isn’t open during the night, that’s for certain!” Glass Heart started with a smile. “Even powerful ponies need their shut-eye like the rest of us,” she finished as she handed over a key to their room.

“So then today would be a good time?” Ace asked, asking Glass Heart but looking at Sanctis. What, he thinks I’m gonna say no? I want to see this Matron too.

“No time like the present!” Glass Heart said with an affected smile.

“Excellent, we’ll wash up and head over there before night falls. Could you, uh…”

“We’ll send up a couple of washbasins right away. Enjoy your stay!”

Still all smiles, Ace made his way up the stairs to the side of the bar, motioning for Sanctis to follow. As opposed to, what? Getting apple juice at the bar?

Ace checked the number on the key, made his way to their room and unlocked the door. He pushed his way inside and threw off the saddlebag with a contented sigh, resting the ribbon-scabbarded sword against the bags and practically collapsed onto the bed.

His whole body seemed to jerk when he landed. Guess the beds are harder than they look.

Sanctis looked around the room, but there wasn’t much to see. A landscape painting of some farm hung on the far wall between two medium-sized beds that probably could fit two ponies each, a dresser to store things with a vanity mirror on top and… a window. That faced a building. Cozy.

She made her way to her own bed, followed Ace’s lead and jumped into it.

After almost a year without so much as a proper pillow, it was like falling into a cloud of warmth and being hugged from all sides as everything else faded away, as if all the hurts and sores of living an ‘outdoor lifestyle’ were just a bad dream.

She must have fallen asleep for a few minutes, because the next thing she knew there was a knock on the door, and Ace let in a group of foals carrying their washbasins.

Two of them were the mud-hoofed colt and the mud-maned filly from earlier, though they had recently had baths of their own. If Sanctis didn’t miss her guess, the barroom below would probably be cleaned as well.

Ace thanked the foals once they had set the lightly-steaming basins down and closed the door behind them. He made his way to the larger of the two, threw his winter coat onto the bed, then soaked a rag in the soapy water.

“Sanctis? Sanctis, it’s time to- oh, you’re up,” he said as he started by washing his hooves. Was that a scar on his left forehoof? “I think I already know the answer, but do you need help washing yourself?”

Sanctis rose out of bed with a derisive snort as she made her way to the smaller basin, throwing off her coat as well. “I can wash myself just fine, thank you.”

Ace watched himself in the vanity as he washed himself – taking special care around his broken horn – and Sanctis wondered if he would take his glasses off. Being too short to see herself in the mirror, she watched Ace instead.

As he washed his back, she confirmed it was indeed a scar on his left forehoof. Just above the knee. “What happened there?” she asked, pointing to it with a soapy hoof of her own.

It looked like a perfectly straight line all around his hoof, with imperfections stemming from it. Barbed wire? And above it, it looked like… it was! It was Al Bhed rune lettering. She could only make it ‘ouhtan’ or ‘yonder’ from where she was, but it was definitely Al Bhed.

Ace looked over the hoof, then turned it around at the shoulder for her to see the full scar. “I had some trouble with an experiment recently, and ended up having to carve that to mitigate an even worse result…” his features seem to drop for a moment, before he snapped back to his all-smiley self. “It even worked for a time. It says- “

“’No magic yonder’. I can read it fine,” she said, much to Ace’s surprise, if the look in his eyes was genuine. “What I don’t understand is how. What kind of experiment would you need to do that would leave… that?”

Ace looked pensive for a time, then, “A dangerous one. That backfired; but it also saved my life… You can really read Al Bhed? How much do you understand?”

Sanctis stifled a laugh. “Suna dryh oui, bnupypmo. E fyc nyecat fedr ed!” More than you, probably. I was raised with it!

Ace smiled – really smiled this time. That big goofy grin from the pastry shop when he thought he was being sly, giving her cupcakes for free. “Oui sekrd pa cinbnecat. E fyc nyecat fedr ed, duu. Maynhat ed pavuna Common Equestrian, ajah.” You might be surprised. I was raised with it, too. Learned it before Common Equestrian, even.

Sanctis couldn’t believe her ears – and when Ace took off his glasses, she couldn’t believe her eyes. He had the cursed-eye of the Al Bhed. His left eye was red, with the pupil a spiral crafted of 90° angles, his right a slightly lighter shade of blue without glasses but still for all intents and purposes a normal eye.

Sanctis wanted to scream. Almost did scream, but Ace put a soapy hoof under her muzzle to keep her from opening her mouth, and shook his head lightly.

“You were really raised Al Bhed?” Sanctis couldn’t help but squeal. “Since you were a colt?”

Ace nodded. It didn’t even bother her this time. “Of course! I’m half Al Bhed, you know, on my mother’s side,” he said with a wink of the cursed-eye. “And my father was… a poor role-model.”

“Is that why you nod all the time? It’s an Al Bhed thing?” Sanctis’ mom had taught her Al Bhed language, but an entire pony culture was more than just its’ language. There could be a million-million nuances she didn’t understand.

“No, that’s uh, something one of my fillies started. She’d think I was ignoring her when I was really just considering what she said, so I’d nod when she finished speaking so she would know I heard her. Now, wash your mane and let’s get ready to go see the Matron.”

“What? My mane doesn’t need washed!” Wait, did he say he had fillies?

Ace gave her that ‘are you sure about that?’ look, then reached behind her head and pulled a twig out of her mane, examined it, then raised an eyebrow at her – his foolish grin plastered on all the while.

“Heh… Uh, missed a spot?” Sanctis said, smiling weakly. “How many fillies do you have?” she asked as he stepped away from his own washbasin.

“Oh, I’ve had enough to know when some filly doesn’t want to wash her mane,” Ace said as he stepped behind her, cupped his hooves and then dumped soapy water over her head.

“Hey! That’s cold!” Sanctis complained as he started to scrub her mane. The feeling was… not as unpleasant as she thought it’d be.

“Well if you would have washed properly in the first place, it wouldn’t have been an issue. My water was perfectly warm when I washed my own mane.”

Rather than make a weak excuse for herself, Sanctis decided to just accept the kind gesture. It actually felt kind of nice, having somepony else help her. Even for such a mundane task as washing her mane.

Was he massaging her scalp? By the Fates, it felt amazing.

Then it stopped. She wanted to say something, hoping he could keep washing her mane, but he was already toweling off. Having missed her chance, she rinsed herself off, then started toweling down as well.

“Sooo… This Matron,” Sanctis started, “she sounds like she’s pretty important. Won’t we have to wait a long time to see her? Like, make a reservation or something?”

“Probably won’t have to wait at all, honestly,” Ace said as he grabbed the sword and cinched it back on.

“Wait, seriously?” Sanctis said, incredulous, her head poking out of the towel as she dried her mane. “Isn’t she, like, the most important pony in town? Next, I suppose you’ll say you know her personally, and you go way back.”

“No, well – not exactly. We’ve met a time or two, but… look, the fact is, the Matron is the most important pony in the city – true. But, she has so many servants at her command, even though she is in charge of everything, she summarily does… nothing. All day,” he said with a look back to her, her straightening her mane and him putting his glasses back on. “I wasn’t joking when I said the host was pampered and cared for.”

Ace opened the door and made to leave. Then why are we in such a hurry to leave?

Glass Heart waved them off with a smile from behind the bar, her other hoof serving drinks to the fillies and colts. Ace and Sanctis smiled, waving back as they left.

Once they were back on the street, Sanctis couldn’t help but ask, “So why the, uh, glasses?” Maybe it was because she was raised learning Al Bhed, without ever actually meeting an Al Bhed personally, but Ace’s eye was the coolest thing she had seen in months… maybe years.

Well, a giant levitating green crystal full of life energy came kinda close.

“Do you know what they call the red eye of a magically gifted Al Bhed Unicorn?”

Oh, right. “The ‘cursed-eye’… Why do they call it that? Is it really bad luck?”

Ace looked hurt. Almost physically hurt; but he recovered just as fast. “I didn’t always think so, but I think the curse is that ponies look at you differently. Some think it’s interesting,” he said as he ruffled her mane with a hoof affectionately, “but most think it’s an ill omen, or weird, or scary, or any number of unfortunate things.”

“Why does it feel like you’re never telling me the full story?” Sanctis said, shaking her mane back into place. “Adults never think foals can handle hard truths, but you saw how… how I was living. Do you really think you have to hide everything from me? Because I’m a filly?”

Ace looked at her for a long moment as they headed toward the crystal in the center of town. “Not because you’re a filly, no,” he said before looking away. He was quiet for another long moment, then, “My daughter died because of her heritage. Killed, and worse, by ponies she called friend the day before when they found out.”

Wow. Okay. Yeah, maybe not a story to tell little fillies. Sanctis was contemplative for a time, then, “Thank you.”

Ace looked at her askance. “For telling you about my daughter’s horrific end?”

“For taking care of me, for telling me the hard truth, for making me laugh sometimes, for trusting me with one of your probably myriad secrets, for… for being a friend, really. Thank you.”

Then Ace smiled. Small at first, then his big dopey smile that somehow suited him perfectly. The kind of smile you just can’t help but smile back at, and she did.

It didn’t take long to reach the crystal in the middle of town. Sanctis stared up at the massive jewel. Looking through it, everything was tinted green. It was almost like looking into another world.

A world full of green clouds, emerald trees, jade skies, and so much pure beauty, untouched by pony kind. A world full of nature and natural wonder.

Wait, did she just see something move?

“Sanctis? The guards have allowed us to pass,” Ace called, waving a hoof motioning for her to join him. One of the guards took his sword and placed it in a small building, presumably to claim later.

Sanctis spared another glance at the crystal, where she thought she saw something moving, then ran to meet Ace at the top of the stairs leading down to the temple.

The temple itself was large, but looked smaller bathed in the green light of the massive crystal floating above it under its own power. There were stairs leading down to the Temple at each cardinal direction. Each flight of stairs was comprised of maybe eighty steps.

As they neared the Temple, Sanctis noticed the green light wasn’t only coming from the crystal itself, but also many smaller crystals that sat in sconces upon the walls, bathing the whole building in a green glow, possibly through night and day, all year round.

After the long staircase down to the Temple, there was a smaller flight leading up to its plateau. As they neared that staircase, a servant greeted them with a formal bow. Ace mimicked the bow, so Sanctis followed suit as well.

“How may the Matron serve you today, Sir? Madam?” the polite servant inquired.

“We’ve come to have our fortunes read,” Ace replied as he rose out of the bow. “And perhaps hear a story or two,” he said with a meaningful glance to Sanctis. “It’s her first time in Summervale, after all.”

Sanctis though the servant would turn them away for disturbing the most important entity in town, but she merely smiled. “The Matron will be most pleased. Should you require anything during your stay, please relay your request to the nearest servant. Crystal light your path,” she said before bowing and backing into an alcove below the stairs.

Ace made his way up the stairs, and Sanctis followed. “If anypony can come and go as they please, why isn’t the Matron swamped with ponies bothering her all the time?”

“The ponies that live here view visiting the Matron as a religious affair. It’s normally reserved for events like birthdays, inquiries on large trade deals, breaking up familial conflicts that get out of hoof… But really, the Matron doesn’t view herself with any religious significance. Last I spoke with her, she said she wished more folks would visit her. She’s rather… well, you’ll see for yourself soon enough.”

They crested the plateau and the first thing Sanctis noticed was the servants. Two along every edge of the plateau, equidistant, but far enough from the center so as not to be eavesdropping on every conversation. Standing at attention in a servant’s uniform. If the emblems on their chest was anything to go by, they were pretty high up on the pecking order.

In the center, the second thing she noticed was a large pile of pillows, arranged into various mounds for comfort. Resting amidst one pile was the Matron.

A young filly.

Her coat was a dark green, her mane and tail a light jade, her eyes a deep emerald. Those emerald eyes locked onto Ace immediately.

First, she rose up with a look of surprise, then smiled with excitement, then her features dropped as she saw his shattered horn. The emotions played across her face quickly, but they didn’t seem… genuine. Like they were emotions not quite her own.

As they approached, she said, very quietly, “Welcome to the T-Temple of the C-Crystal… How may I- “

“Ace! It’s such a pleasure to see you!” The Matrons voice, and her very demeanor changed immediately. She leapt from the pillows and wrapped her hooves about him in a firm hug. Ace hugged her back with one hoof, chuckling fondly.

“Well, most of you…” she finished as she backed off of him just far enough to look meaningfully at his face. “What happened to your beautiful horn?” She casually brushed his mane aside to assess the damage, grimacing at what she found.

Sanctis hadn’t noticed before, but there was a fracture from the tip of his breaking horn down to his skull… and what looked like dried blood around the base of the horn. Had he reopened the wound when he collapsed onto the bed earlier?

But we’ve bathed since then… So that means the wound was still fresh. Just how recent was that injury?

“Oh, you know how it is… failed a ritual, got in a fight with a wall, lost, wandered around for a while… even ran into our good friend Cassie.”

The filly- the Matron, sauntered back to her pillow-pile and laid back at her leisure. Ace wouldn’t have seen her face as she walked, but Sanctis did – and it played host to a series of negative emotions as Ace spoke: Fear, mixed with sadness; shock, mixed with worry; desperation, mixed with all the above.

“Yes, I knew about Cassie coming here… and I suppose I have her to thank for the visit, such as it is. All the others though… grave portents, indeed.” Fighting a wall and losing is a grave portent? “I suppose you’re the reason Cassie is here?”

“Yeah, that was sort of my doing…” Wait, Ace, what… SUMMONED a Draconequus? “After Discord was… relieved of his duties in Equestria, Cassie moved in. She prevented me from flying to Ponyville by balloon; thus, the road trip.”

“And did Cassie put that… thing, inside of you, too?” Thing? What thing?

Ace sighed, then smiled guiltily. “No, that one was kind of… my own fault. An experiment gone awry, followed by a poor miscalculation that both endangered, then saved my life.”

The Matron sighed loudly, splaying her hooves out. The posture was rather… revealing, but she didn’t seem to care. “You know I can’t help you, right? Not just because of Cassie, but because it’s beyond my power. What’s inside of you… even our magic is useless against it. And even if I could…”

“I’d die, I know. Was kind of hoping you could remove it later, but… No, no it was too much to hope that even your magic was foreign enough for this.”

Would everypony start talking some sense?!

The matron spun around then rolled over to her stomach to face them, then propped her head on her front hooves, her hind-hooves kicking playfully. “I think Sanctis feels left out of all the big pony talk.” How did she know my name?

“Sorry, we got caught up in our conversation. Sanctis, meet the Matron. She guards this side of the Crystal from anypony with ill intentions. She’s a Seer, a Spirit, and- “

“And if this host were 20 years older, I’d be a Lover,” she said with a hooded gaze towards Ace.

Not liking the path the conversation was taking, “What do you mean ‘this side’? Who guards the other ‘side’?”

“The Elves,” they said in unison.

Riiiight.

Hundred-foot-tall free-floating crystal, magic mind-reader future-seer spirit that possesses ponies, talks of Draconequus and Princesses-knows-what else, and I draw the line at Elves? Either I’m insane, or everypony around me is.

I mean, statistically…

“It’s an unusual world you stepped into when you met Ace, I know. Just remember while he might seem like the center of everything weird and phenomenal, he’s not. A bit of a magnet for it, perhaps, but certainly not the center.”

The Matron pushed off her hooves, falling back into her pillows before wriggling her way to a sitting position, her hind-hooves pointed to the sides for balance – still very revealing – before saying, “Now, let’s talk futures.

“Sanctis, your future is simple. Danger abounds at every turn; stay with Ace, and your very life will be in peril. Alternatively, you could stay with the Heart family at the Cozy Hearth and live the rest of your days in relative, boring peace. They’ll treat you like one of their own fillies, giving you chores, room and board, some meager earnings for your work at the inn, and die happily an old mare without ever really accomplishing much.”

“Now hold on Sylvan, I never said I- “ Ace tried to interrupt, but the Matron just bulled over him with her words.

“Ace will protect you, you can be certain of that, but even if you go with him, he won’t always be there for you. You’ll have to learn to protect yourself, too. You’ll grow into a strong filly, even learning magic from some of the best tutors in the world. Your life will be hard, but you’ll be stronger – even happier – for it.”

“Sylvan, I can’t just- “

“Ace, your future is far muddier.” The Matron threw her hooves into the air, exasperated. “You know how these things work; I can’t read your future the same way I read everypony else’s. All I can really make out is that you’re going to need help. A lot of it. With your horn, with your magic, with that… experiment writhing inside you, with your sisters, with their castle, with your that mare back in Ponyville… with your journey, with, with… with everything!”

She focused a hard glare at Ace. “Everything is coming to a head, and because of your blasted meddling, I can’t see all the important events as clearly as I would like. You’re like a massive blind spot moving through my visions, obscuring them, keeping me from the truths that could save hundreds- maybe thousands of lives. You need help. Fail, and you’ll die. They all will.”

“What should I do?” Whatever protest Ace had been working towards faded as he grasped the dire circumstances.

The Matron collapsed bodily, then rolled over on her pillows and threw a little temper tantrum, flailing her hooves and slinging pillows about in her outburst.

“I don’t know. But I know who you need to see first. Fang is on a mountain, northeast of here. You know the one. He’s been troubled since your little…” she blindly circled a hoof in the air at him, “’fiasco’ near Frost Valley. Seek him out. I don’t know if he can help you with your problem, but I know without him, many ponies die.”

Sanctis’ gaze flitted between the two ponies around her.

In front of her, there was a pony possessed by a spirit that was Princess-knows how old, almost-blithely commenting that many ponies would die, only distressed because she couldn’t tell how many or how they died.

On her left was the pony upon which all those lives rested, ostensibly, with Princess-knows-what inside of him, after performing Princess-knows-what ritual and then consorting with a literal embodiment of chaos and then talking of her like she was a close friend who came to tea unannounced.

A pony who, ostensibly, would protect her from all manor of bad things, while somehow enriching her life and giving it purpose if she followed him, for Princess-knows how long, leading to a life fraught with dangers and perils that would make her stronger. A pony who would somehow guarantee her tutelage in magic with some of the greatest tutors in Equestria. Her, Sanctis, a blank-flank who could barely pick up berries left on a stump with her magic.

Then, looking at herself, here was a pony who was becoming accustomed to all this weirdness that gravitated around Ace, and who was totally going to follow Ace because duh she didn’t want to be some no-pony living with a bunch of other foals her age happily playing in the mud behind the Cozy Hearth and live a peaceful life ending in dying of old age.

Maybe I’m just crazy enough to fit in with these crazies.

“Will he still be there when I arrive?” was the only question Ace had about this. Because of course it was.

“He’s waited this long. You raised him to be very patient, you know.”

And they’re related. Because of course they were.

“I’ll head out first thing tomorrow morning, taking the East gate towards the mountains.” Ace bowed gratefully, Sanctis doing the same, then he turned to leave.

“One last thing, before you go… Keep an eye on her. You know how easily young fillies can find trouble.” The reminder seemed to sting Ace deep to his core, but he concluded his bow and went back the same way they’d come.

After reclaiming his sword, Ace and Sanctis made their way back to the inn in silence. Words didn’t seem to have much meaning when you knew countless lives depended on you.

Dark Clouds in Summervale

Chapter 11: Dark Clouds in Summervale

~Wax Wick~

It started as any normal day. I walked to the shop, fumbled with my keys, found the right one, opened the lock as I always do.

I walked in, setting a new supply of wax on the counter to be taken into the back for today’s set of candles as I always do.

I lit an aromatic candle – lavender today – and took a deep breath of the refreshing fragrance as I always do.

Then the candles came to life – which they never do.

Some hopped around, retaining the form of an ordinary candle. Some others transformed into animals, or creatures. Bird-like candles flapped around, divebombing me waxen-beak-first as I cover my eyes and face with my hooves.

Rat-like candles bite at my hooves and flank as I cower in the corner. Bat-like candles swoop at my neck as I swat them away, leaving the bird-like candles to aim for my eyes again.

Then I catch a glimpse of many candles forming a much larger creature. A waxen wolf, snarling mutely as it forms from a pool of wax melting around it.

My guard drops in awe of the spectacle before me. A bird-like candle takes my left eye as I scream in pain and panic. The waxen wolf lunges, taking my throat. Blood mixes with the smell of lavender.

~Gourmet Gorge~

A mountain of a meal lies before me. A wonderful arrangement, with every eating utensil imaginable and napkins folded to look like swans. Each placement at the table features a bowl of warm water to rinse your hooves before the meal, or between especially messy courses. A goblet of fine wine adjacent a salad bowl next to the primary platter.

Leaves of every plant under the sun, an assortment of every sauce that could ever grace such a fine meal, from the garish and rarely seen barbeque sauce to extra-virgin olive oil imported from the olive farms in Oldancia far to the south of Equestria.

The main course? A fried wolf, in the center of the long banquet table; large as an Alicorn with steam rising off of its freshly cooked hide.

And then it spat out the apple in its mouth and growled.

It races down the table toward me, knocking aside candelabras and bowls of vegetables in its pursuit. I turn from the table to run, but my hooves tangle in my chair. I fall onto my back in time to see it leap the last few yards towards me, and its jaws snap around my neck.

~Star Weaver~

Watching the stars through my telescope is normally relaxing. Checking each of the constellations normally fills my heart with warmth and joy. Naming each of the stars and seeing every constellation in the tapestry of the nighttime sky normally fills me with such wonder.

Not tonight.

Tonight, the constellations are alive and they are angry. As I watch them in my telescope, they spring to life. The bears Ursa Minor and Ursa Major. The great archer Sagittarius. Cancer the crab and so many, many more. All of them spring to life and charge earthward.

Straight towards me.

I turn to run, but already I am surrounded. To my left and right are the Gemini twins. Behind me the archer Sagittarius has already nocked an arrow, mounted on Ursa Major. Ahead of me… a wolf clad in stars. A constellation I’ve never seen before. It lunges for me, maw agape, and all I see is blackness.

Twilight was going through Ace’s library, for perhaps the hundredth time.

Or rather, one of Ace’s libraries. She knew there were numerous others, but she had no idea where they were, how to get to them, or if Ace even wanted her to go through those books. He could have stored the books separately for any number of reasons.

After discovering that tome on blood magic in this library, she didn’t like the idea of what could be hidden away as forbidden knowledge.

Still, with the Filter Resource spell Ace taught her, it was easy to find the things she was looking for.

“Filter word: Location spell,” she spoke aloud as her horn lit up with the magic.

‘227 matching results. Query?’ What wasn’t easy was the way the spell mimicked Ace’s voice in her head when she used it. It seemed delightful at the time, so she never bothered to ask how to change it… Now it reminded her more and more of his extended absence with every use.

“Query: Global range.”

‘No results found. Query?’ Well, it was worth a try. Or rather, a third try.

“Rescind previous query. New query: Extended range.”

’15 matching results. Query?’

Right, the same 15 books she had already read lit up in the glow of her magic, ready to be plucked from the shelves. One of them had even boasted a massive range: 20,000-meter radius; but either it was a boast, or she was casting the spell completely wrong as it only covered 200 meters.

Twilight let the magic fade from her horn, ending the spell as she collapsed onto the sitting pillow that lied in front of her.

Then there was a flash the color of midnight around her, and Princess Luna appeared before her. She didn’t look happy.

“Twilight, I’ve come bearing news of Ace’s location.” Still not happy. Why wasn’t she happy? “He stayed the night somewhere in the densely populated city of Summervale.”

Oh, that was why. “Were the nightmares… bad?” Twilight ventured hesitantly.

“Terrible. I believe many ponies will have a hard time working tomorrow, both because of the lack of sleep, as well as the content of the dreams traumatizing them. And they are only going to get worse as his condition worsens with time.”

“Do you think he’s realized he’s causing nightmares for everypony around him when he sleeps?” Twilight very likely knew the answer, but didn’t know what else to say. She was overjoyed to have a solid lead on where Ace was, but all those innocent ponies suffering because of him… Ace could never find joy in that, and neither could she.

“I daresay he has not. Still, this provides us a lead where before we had none. Summervale lies far to the north of Ponyville and Canterlot, and I have not the means to travel there whilst also caring for mine sister.

“I know that Ace has likely shared his secret for teleporting vast distances with you… My sister and I are not so fortunate. It falls to you to check on Ace, dearest Twilight. But know… that whatever you should find, it’s still our beloved Ace. Go with all speed, Twilight. Before the trail runs cold.”

What did she mean by “whatever I should find”?

Princess Luna teleported herself away, giving Twilight the privacy to do what she needed to do to find Ace. He had shown her once how his network of teleportation beacons let him bounce his spell from one place to another, covering far greater distances than any unicorn had ever imagined possible with a single spell.

Still, Twilight had no idea how to find a beacon she hadn’t been to herself before. Well, she was in a library. “Filter: Beacon,” she said, her horn glowing once more.

’28 matching results. Query?’

“Filter: Teleportation.”

‘0 matching results. Query?’ Of course, he hadn’t written down his secret here. Either Princess Luna or Princess Celestia could have searched here, same as she had. She let the spell fade away once more.

Well, Princess Luna said that Summervale was far north of Ponyville and Canterlot, so if I just use my magical senses to spread myself from one beacon to the next, heading North, it should be near the end of the line… right?

She made her way to the foyer of Ace’s massive home, where the nearest beacon was located. Using her magical senses to find the otherwise invisible beacon, she admired the simple-once-you-see-it-done magical marvel.

Unicorn magic is unique to every unicorn. Each unicorn’s magic has a sort of pull towards that unicorn, which lets you follow somepony by the trail of magic they leave when they cast a spell. This ‘residual magic’ is like a magic hoofprint in moist mud.

Ace took this simple affinity and amplified it, altered it to have no directional pull of its own, then preserved it with a perfectly cast preservation spell – leaving behind no further residue to alter it further.

What he created was a beacon of unaligned residual magic that he could always sense no matter where he was by extending his magical senses in its general direction, which then let him lock onto it as a target for a spell.

One teleportation or translocation spell later, and he would be anywhere in the world he needed to be – provided he had been there before to set up said beacon.

Twilight wondered just how many beacons there were, once. She had let her senses spread out from one in every direction she could manage… and there were hundreds of them. She did the same thing with another beacon, attaching her magical senses to it then searching again. Still yet, there were hundreds more.

And Ace had memorized all of their locations, where and how to find them, when it would be safe to teleport to which ones, as well as being able to teleport to them without first checking to make sure he wouldn’t appear in a wall or floor. It was astounding.

Taking a deep breath, Twilight calmed herself and let the beacon feel her magic. She focused her magical senses north, and found numerous beacons along her path. Just by measuring the distance of the beacons Ace had used with her when their magic was joined together, she knew they were roughly 500-800 meters apart on average.

Twilight figured that Ace wouldn’t have beacons just in Equestria. She knew from her books that Summervale was well within Equestrian borders, so she pulled her senses back a bit, losing maybe 10 or 12 beacons. She bound her senses to the northern-most beacon, feeling around with her senses to find a safe place to teleport.

Twilight prepared her teleportation spell… and fell through several feet of snow on her arrival.

Wishing she had worn warmer clothes… or any at all, she cast a spell to warm and dry her body, while flash teleporting on top of the snow, along with a Snowtread spell. Now able to walk on top of the snow, and dried off and warm, she looked around for any landmarks.

Just to the north, she saw a gated town with tall walls of timber. With a Farsight spell, she discerned a sign in front of the gate. It read: Yakyakistan, best home of all Yaks.

Yakyakistan? But that’s not in Equestria, it’s north of- Twilight’s thoughts were scattered as she heard a loud roar to her right. A terrible creature far taller than a pony raised its claws menacingly at her, loosing another territorial roar.

Without thinking, she immediately teleported to the nearest beacon to the south, careful to place her teleportation higher than the beacon for fear of integrating with a wall.

When she appeared, she used her magical senses to find where the ground was, then flashed herself to it before she lost much height.

Crises averted, she sighed a deep breath and shook her head to clear it, then found it was hard to breathe. Twilight looked around, and realized she was on the peak of a snowy mountain.

Suddenly afraid of heights, she laid on her stomach on top of the snow – still under the effects of her Snowtread spell – and looked around as far as she could see.

She was on top of one of the snowy mountains that served as Equestria’s border. Looking to the North, all she could see was snow between her and the horizon. Looking south, she saw snow still, bordering the verdant lands that made up the rest of Equestria.

Once again using a Farsight spell, she saw a snowy town to the East, and some ways past that a glowing green crystal in the center of another town, completely devoid of any snow.

Guessing this was Summervale, Twilight did the mental arithmetic to find a beacon that would lead to the town itself. As far as the town was, she teleported herself to the 4th beacon away from her, this time with the luxury of using her senses to teleport onto the ground firmly.

There was another wall of tall timber between her and the town proper, and she could easily teleport herself inside, but she decided to follow protocol. Which was probably for the best, since there was a small line of ponies and some vendor ponies queued to get through the gate… and her sudden appearance had drawn their attention.

Smiling guiltily, she made her way to the back of the line, and thankfully nopony made a big deal out of it.

A short time later, Twilight made it to the gate and a guard pulled her aside for the inspection. “No belongings, ma’am?” Clearly, he thought it was unorthodox for a pony to arrive without at least some comforts for the road.

“Just uh, thought I’d pop in. See what’s going on in town.” Twilight smiled sheepishly, wishing she had spent more time thinking of a cover story.

The guard had bags under his eyes that denoted he hadn’t slept well last night. They were further accentuated by the scowl he showed her. “What is the nature of your visit today?”

“Actually, I’ve been told everypony had nightmares here last night. I’m here to investigate.” I really hope this doesn’t get Ace into trouble… “Did you see anypony come here recently, perhaps with a unique sword bearing the marks of the Princesses? Dark coat, two-toned red mane, Unicorn?”

The guard’s companion stepped forward. “Yes ma’am. He came into town yesterday. Carried that sword, a pair of saddlebags and a young filly. Seemed a right friendly sort. Said he was to stay at the Cozy Hearth just off 3rd street.” The guard looked nervous for a moment, then added, “Is he a threat? Should we detain him if we see him?”

“No, he’s uh, my colleague. He’s investigating the phenomenon as well. Said it happened in the town just west of here before, and he thought it’d come here next… I didn’t believe his theories, and he came here without me… guess he was right.” Twilight tried her best to give a nonchalant smile, but felt that she was failing.

The guards shared a look, shrugged. “Go on in. The sooner you can get the nightmares to stop, the sooner everypony will be happy.”

“Believe me, if we have it our way the nightmares will stop before everypony goes to sleep tonight,” Twilight said as she made her way through the gates.

Following the guard’s directions, she found 3rd street and took the path off of it, then another off path before she saw the sign over the inn. Without delay, she made her way inside.

As soon as she opened the door, a group of foals ran past her, some carrying buckets, some carrying bags. Watching them pass, she nearly walked right into a stallion holding a shopping list. “Pardon me, ma’am,” he said politely as he made to chase after the foals.

“Welcome to the Cozy Hearth! How may I help you today?” the pony tending the bar called. She looked like she was used to sleepless nights, but had bags under her eyes all the same.

“I’m looking for a unicorn stallion carrying a sword. Dark coat, two-toned red mane, possibly accompanied by a filly? I’m told he stayed here last night.”

“That stallion with the broken horn? He and that filly left early this morning. Didn’t say where they went.”

Broken horn? That didn’t sound good. Twilight knew Ace could use magic with nearly any part of his body, but a broken horn?... things didn’t sound like they went well.

“Do you have any clue as to where I could find him? Or where he went yesterday? It’s important that I find them!”

“Well you say that it’s important, and I don’t have any notes to give ya. Might be I know where he went, but why should I tell you? For all I know, you’re out to hurt him or his filly, and they seemed like right fine folks.”

Twilight was running out of ideas, looking around the inn for a clue or a hint or an idea or something when she saw the picture. Ace and another stallion, building the inn right here, before all the other buildings were built around it.

She took the picture off the wall and held it up, pointing at Ace. “His family helped build this place, didn’t he? I don’t have any way to prove that I’m friends with this stallion, and I don’t know a thing about your family or this inn, but I know that if you owe Ace anything, then please tell me where he went. I need to know.”

The hostess looked over the picture, then looked over Twilight for a long moment. Then finally, “He and that filly went to see the Matron. Center of town, right under the Crystal – can’t miss it. Mind you, this was yesterday, and I don’t think anypony goes to see the Matron twice in one week, but that’s all I got for ya. I hope it helps.”

“That’s exactly what I needed to hear. Thank you, thank you so much!” Twilight left the picture on the bar and made her way back to 3rd street, then sprinted down it all the way to the crystal.

She asked the guards at the top of the steps leading to the Temple down below, and they confirmed that Ace and that filly had been here just yesterday. She thanked them and immediately made her way past them.

Making her way down the steps to the temple, Twilight’s heart was racing; from the excitement of getting some real answers, the exertion from running down stairs, and for the love blossoming in her heart for Ace.

The Temple grew in front of her as it came closer. Compared to the structure and the floating crystal, it looked so much smaller than it truly was. The glowing crystal fragments looked incredibly regal floating in their sconces, but Twilight barely noted them as she ran up the stairs to the top of the temple.

Twilight vaguely registered how all this running around would have left her exhausted and breathless before she met Ace who taught her that training her physical muscles were as important as her mental and magical ones.

Oh, please let him be okay…

As she reached the top of the temple, her breath came short and ragged, but she pressed on. So close to her goal, how could she not?

The first thing she saw was the servants standing near the ledges. Following their collective gazes, she saw… a young filly. Was the Matron away on other business? Surely-

“W-welcome to the T-Temple of the C-Crystal,” the young filly said in a quivering voice that suggested she was still learning her lines. A young servant’s daughter, perhaps? “How can the Matron- “

The young filly’s eyes and voice changed almost instantly. Her stance shifted from tense and nervous to calm and relaxed; the sort of calm that comes from millennia of easy life, and the promise of millennia more.

“Ah, if it isn’t the spirit of Little Raven. Come, come. I know what you seek, and you’re too late. He’s already left.” The Matron’s eyes and voice were calming, soothing. She spoke with a power the young filly lacked, almost seductive.

“Where did Ace go? I need to find him before- “

“You’ll not find him. He shall find you. He does not wish to be found.” The Matron sauntered over to a pile of pillows, and sat at an easy lounge, her back against the pillows and her back hooves crossed. If she were in the body of anything but a filly, it would be almost erotic.

Twilight had heard of Seers and Prophets being cryptic; leading travelers astray with vague descriptions of where to go, or sending warriors to their deaths as they proclaimed great and powerful feats they would perform.

She had also heard of charlatans who did more or less the same thing.

“If Ace doesn’t want to be found, why has he been leaving all these clues of where to find him? Everypony who has seen him has been able to lead me to the next, except for you who dares say he doesn’t want to see me!”

“Calm yourself and be at ease, Little Raven. I never said Ace doesn’t want to see you. I said he doesn’t want to be found. Even now, he is on a journey that will lead him to Ponyville with the express intent of seeing you.”

“But you said- and my name is Twilight Sparkle, not- “

“To one who can See the very soul of a pony, you will always be Little Raven. She is who I met first, and such is the way it is. You are Little Raven. A bit more proficient in magic and with a tighter circle of friends, and perhaps you met Ace at a much younger age, but Little Raven you shall remain.

“Now as for Ace, to explain why you mustn’t find him before he finds you, the powers that be have forbidden it.”

“The ‘powers that be?’ The only powers in Equestria that could forbid such a thing are the Princesses and the laws of Physics, which I assure you- “

“Spare me such tripe.” The Matron rolled her eyes, somehow managing to do even that suggestively as her whole body rolled with the motion. “The powers in this world are Order – your ‘physics’ and the like – and Chaos. Anypony who believes themselves to be a great power need only step back and view the larger picture to see they are small and insignificant. Nopony has any more value than anypony else in the grand scheme of the universe. Surely Ace has taught you this much?”

He had, of course, but Twilight was starting to think she and the Matron could never get along as friends. Something about her just grated against her nerves. “Discord? Ace has already slain the Draconequus. Chaos no longer has any power in Equestria!”

“You fool girl, if there were only Order in the world, it would collapse. Did you know that Cutie Marks are Chaos magic?” She rolled over slowly, waving her blank flank lewdly in the air, her tail swishing behind her. “If Cutie Marks were Order magic, they would appear at a set time, like a pony’s 5th birthday or when they first started doing what their talent was.” The Matron rolled onto her side, one hind-hoof arched and a forehoof propping up her head.

“Ace was foolish to slay Discord,” the Matron continued. “It was a gigantic risk, but it payed out handsomely. As has always been the way with Ace, fortune has favored him greatly. There’s a new Draconequus in Equestria. Did you know that Draconequus are only a lesser form of Chaos? Pure Chaos, perhaps, but there are far greater terrors in their realm. They survive by being sly and cunning, but they have many predators in their world.”

“Wait, so you’re telling me that a new Discord has come, and that’s a good thing, because if it wasn’t Discord then it would be something more powerful?”

“Not another Discord, merely a Draconequus. But yes, exactly that. There are demons that would sooner devour Equestria than govern it. If one of them had become the new embodiment of Chaos in Equestria, we would have been summarily fucked.”

Hearing a swear word from the mouth of a filly was disconcerting. Hearing it in the same breath as something that entirely shattered your understanding of a fundamental part of your beliefs was mind-breaking. “So, when Ace slew Discord…”

“… He risked Equestria for a petty vengeance. He risked everything because he thought Discord was getting too comfortable in his role, because he thought Discord was going to become something far worse. I don’t know, maybe he was right. Ace knows far more than anypony – myself included – about the Draconequus and their realm of Chaos. He took personal tutorship under Cassie ages ago… and now, she is the reigning lord of Chaos.”

It was almost too much to process at once. Ace never acted recklessly… so he must have known something about how the next lord of Chaos would be chosen. The idea of Ace being tutored by a Draconequus sat ill in her gut, but she could fathom him doing it. Ace would do anything to further the sciences of magic… but what did this Cassie get in exchange? For that matter… “Who’s Cassie? Is she dangerous like Discord was?”

“Cassie is the nickname Ace gave the Draconequus Causality during his tutelage in Chaos magic. To my understanding, it was a long tutelage by standard; time flows differently in the realms of Chaos. As Draconequus go, I’m told she’s reasonable to a fault, but never approaches a problem directly. Currently, she’s helping avert some disaster I cannot fathom by preventing you from meeting Ace immediately.”

“Aren’t you a Seer? Whatever disaster Causality is talking about might have already been averted, or never existed at all. She could be trying to get Ace killed! How can we trust her?” Twilight was barely learning to trust Discord when he turned against them. Now she was expected to believe a different Draconequus had only good intentions?

“Ace trusts Cassie. That’s good enough for me.” The Matron adjusted herself on her pillows, laying on her stomach, her head propped on her hooves. “Something is wrong with Ace. The pre-magic is integrating with his body. It’s destroying him, but it’s also keeping him alive. The ritual failed, Little Raven. Ace is dying; slowly. Painfully. His magic is trying to devour his body. The pre-magic is trying to devour the magic. The pre-magic has worked its way into the veins of his magic. Now it’s feeding… and growing.

“Imagine you had a family of ticks in your blood veins. They suck up the blood, grow fat and push on your veins from the inside, stretching them, bursting them, clogging them and draining them. Every beat of your heart causes the blood to flow, the ticks to swell and your veins to expand. That is what Ace is suffering with every breath. He locks the pain away, continuing to make his way to you in Ponyville.

“Ace desperately wishes to see you, he desperately wishes for the pain to end. But he trusts Cassie. He knows that if Cassie wants him to avoid seeing you immediately, then it is to avoid some catastrophic event. Ace is willing to trust her that much, then I’m not going to betray his trust by disbelieving.”

Twilight could only sit and stare at the Matron. She imagined the pain. She imagined the grief. She imagined the trust that Ace had for an old tutor. Twilight’s body shook from imagining the mental stress of all Ace must be going through. Without his magic; no, against his magic. She was in awe. She couldn’t find a way to speak. Her vision swam as her cheeks became wet.

“You ask me why I cannot see his future, Little Raven? It is because I love him, and we are blind to the ones we love.” There were tears in the young filly’s eyes.

Crystal Clear

Chapter 12: Crystal Clear

With every step, his hooves throbbed. With every breath, his lungs burned. With every thought, his head ached. When he ate, his mouth felt dry and the food tasted like mush. When he spoke, his tongue felt like a lead weight.

Still, there were countless places to go, and time would only make these wounds fester.

Ace walked through the market, trying to work up his usual energy as he looked at what everypony was selling. Most stalls featured homegrown produce, enlivened by the energy of the Summer Crystal. Some others featured crafts grown from such, like woven baskets and needlework made from homegrown fibers.

Everypony in the market had a craft, plying the products of their work. An honest living, for honest ponies, in an honest town. Ace couldn’t help but smile.

“See something you like?” the young filly walking alongside him asked. It seemed as though her gaze never left him.

“Indeed, I do. It’s long been my theory that you can see the heart of a settlement through its open market. By evaluating the goods that ponies are selling, as well as what wares sell the most, you can determine the very life of the city.

“I smiled because in this city, ponies work for what they own. Since everypony grows produce, the food is incredibly cheap, ponies only selling that which they cannot eat themselves.

“The cheap price of food means the cost of living is low, which means there is less pressure to work. That leaves other ponies free to seek out their hobbies and interests,” he said motioning to a stall selling paintings, then a stall selling puppets crafted by hoof, and a third selling arts and crafts supplies, which had a short line of interested customers.

“Every pony gets what they need, and it frees them to do what they want. As you might recall in Frost Valley, many ponies went hungry, and there were never enough jobs for all those who needed to work.”

Sanctis looked thoughtful for a moment. Her eyes showed what her young age hid; a pony wise beyond her years, with more life experience than one would expect and an intelligence that shined despite never being in a formal classroom.

“You still haven’t given me your answer, Sanctis.”

“What answer? I must have missed the question there…” She did seem honestly confused.

“Not to my question; the Matron’s. You have a choice before you: Join me at your own peril, or become one of the Heart family’s foals. Surely you noticed they take in orphans?

“This is your chance to have everything you were missing in Frost Valley. Caring parents, family and friends, a roof over your head… A happy, honest city – where you won’t need to sift through garbage to find a meal.” Ace regretted bringing it up as her face dropped and her cheeks flushed, but it was the truth, and it was no way for a young filly to live.

“You’ve cared for me so much already,” Sanctis said, her eyes pleading. “And you’re probably the only pony I’ve spent any measure of time with in over a year… do you really think I want the sort of life that the Heart family could offer me?”

“Perhaps not… but you deserve to be happy, and failing that, you deserve to have a choice. You’re intelligent, Sanctis. You could go on to do great things, but sometimes good is good enough. You have the chance to live a quiet life here. If you miss this chance, you might not get this same option ever again in your life.”

“No. I’m coming with you.” Sanctis’ look was determined. Clearly, she hadn’t even considered it a question. “The Matron was pretty darn clear what my options were, thank you, and my mind is made up. Good enough isn’t good enough for me.

“A life of adventure? Of danger, of peril, of magic? A life of getting the best tutors in Equestria? How could a filly say no to that?”

Ace wanted to say ‘By walking away. By making the smart choice and staying safe.’ But he knew that was just the bitterness and spite he had within him over losing his young filly Forest Wave over a similar choice.

Ace was the older pony. He could put his hoof down, carry her all the way to the Cozy Hearth and tell Glass Heart not to let her out of her sight. To care for her like one of her own; and she likely would.

But Ace saw the maturity in Sanctis. He had meant it when he said she deserved a choice in her future. Sanctis’ mind was made up, and he would respect her wishes.

Goodness knows nopony else ever respects foals’ opinions. As if a child had no value until it was grown.

“Well, I wasn’t planning on having company…” Sanctis’ face dropped again, then rose back up with anger. She made to speak, but before she could, “I’ll need more bits if I’m to care for the both of us.”

Sanctis beamed as her smile came back. “What about that ribbon? If ponies around here like arts and crafts so much, it’d look really nice on a project – better than on a sword!”

Ribbon? Oh, the anti-magic cover. Ace uncinched the sword to pull it off his back – the ponies around him growing wary, cutting him sideways glances as they afforded him a wide berth on the street.

“A wonderful idea,” he said as he examined it. Rarity had done a fine job crafting the cover, but with the pre-magic inside his body, feeding off of his magic straight from the source, there was no need for it any longer.

Even if he ingested the thing, it would have little to no effect. Well, no positive effect. A stomach ache seemed likely.

Ace looked around for a shop that might be interested in the fabric. “Care to take a look around the stalls for something we might need on the road? I’ve got blankets, canteens, a map and compass, the hardtack and… well, not much else, really. I wasn’t expecting to climb a mountain when I made my itinerary! I’ll be in that shop there in the meantime.”

Sanctis gave an overdramatic salute, “Aye-aye!” and wandered into the market.

One thing good about being a filly, nopony minded much if you darted between their hooves, or cut them in line for a moment to climb up a stall to see what they have for sale.

Still, Sanctis didn’t have the bits to buy anything, and even if she did, she wasn’t quite sure what sort of things she needed to buy. What would be useful for climbing a mountain? Furthermore, what kind of mountain was it?

She looked over the city wall to try and see what mountains were to the northeast, but she could only see the Equestrian border mountains… which wasn’t likely where they were headed; there was nothing up there!

She could think of a few useful things… A tinderbox for starting fires easily, climbing gear – would that be too heavy? – sleeping bags, her own saddlebags, maybe even tents…

Sanctis could think of all sorts of useful things but Ace seemed to prefer traveling light. He had a long way to go, and to be fair, Sanctis couldn’t carry a lot of weight before it would start slowing her down.

Traveling with a filly might already be slowing him down more than he liked.

Standing in the middle of the sidewalk as she debated buying a saddlebag on display in a shop, Sanctis shouldn’t have been surprised when a colt ran into her, playing with his friend.

“Ey, sorry about that, chum! Silvermane and me was playing catch and I didn’t see ya there,” he said, before his friend helpfully tossed a ball into his head with a laugh, earning him a look before the clumsy colt threw the ball back harder than was necessary.

“How’s about you play with us, huh? Catch’s funner with more’n two anywho!” Silvermane went to throw the ball, the clumsy colt stepping aside, leaving Sanctis to catch the ball.

“See? Yer a natural! Come on, my name’s Goldie, on account of mah glorious mane,” he said, a brown hoof flipping his namesake. “The colt with the hundred-yard throw there’s Silvermane. Care to guess why?” Silvermane, unsurprisingly, had a silver mane, and a light white coat. They both had matching green eyes.

Sanctis tossed the ball under-hoof to Silvermane before dusting herself off. “Look, I’m sure catch is loads of fun, but I have shopping I need to do. Try not to back into anypony else, have fun,” she turned to leave.

“Ah, shoppin’ for a new saddlebag?” Goldie said, a meaningful look at the shop Sanctis had been ogling. “My gran has a spare pair. Just yer size, too. She bought it for me when school started, but it’s too girly for me. Flowers and rainbows and bleh all over, know what I mean? You come play with us, and I’ll tell’er you can has it.”

Now that got Sanctis’ attention. If I can get a saddlebag without spending any bits, Ace would see how much I can help on his journey!

“Alright, I guess I could play for a few minutes… how far away is your granny’s place?”

“She lives in a little place on the next street over. Lemme show ya a shortcut!”

Silvermane and Goldie raced down the street and darted into a side alley. Sanctis followed after them, but as soon as she turned the corner, something fell on her and she couldn’t see anything. Then something heavier fell on her, and she lost consciousness.

Ace came out of the fabric shop, defeated. The pony minding the shop was a substitute and didn’t have the authority to make blind purchases…

Ace had shown the wonderful fabric to the pony, and he seemed intrigued, especially when he pointed out the fine, sparkling fragments of the anti-magic stone with the shop’s loupe.

However, closer inspection also meant the pony had found and pointed out that having been tied around the scabbard for so long, the ‘ribbon’ was stretched in several places.

Ace looked around the market to try and find Sanctis, but couldn’t see her anywhere. He had given her free agency to find anything she thought would be needed on the journey, but had expected her to finish making a list and come back to the shop before he had concluded the sale.

Not for the first time, Ace considered using his magical senses to look for her. Not for the first time, he reprimanded himself for his reliance on magic – an unnecessary reproach, as the pain coursing through his entire body and total lack of magic seemed punishment enough.

Well, then we look the old-fashioned way. “Excuse me,” he asked of the pony minding the nearest stall. “Have you seen a filly with a grayscale mane, brown jacket and dark pink coat here recently?”

“That young one with you earlier? She ran up and down the market, checking all the stalls for something or other, then played ball with two colts over that way,” she said, pointing a hoof toward a saddlebag store. “Ran down that alley there with the colts and haven’t seen her since.”

Ace thanked her for the information, then made his way toward the alley.

Now that didn’t sound like Sanctis. Would she really have played ball with some random colts?... Maybe, if she was bored enough. Ace was in that fabric shop for much longer than she might have expected.

Even if she was bored enough to play ball with some passing colts, she wouldn’t have run off with them. She was smarter than that. Or, if she had, shouldn’t have gone very far.

Passing through the alley, Ace was getting a bad feeling. Coming out on the other side, it was getting worse. He saw two colts playing ball, but they were playing amongst themselves.

They also looked like they were looking at everyone around them, rather than looking at each other or the ball. Very suspicious.

“Excuse me,” Ace said to the nearest of the two, a colt with a silver mane, white coat, and now that he turned this way, Ace could see they both had matching green eyes. “I’m looking for a young filly, wearing a brown jacket and sporting a black-and-white mane and dark pink coat. Have you seen her?”

The colt laughed for a moment. “Yeah, we saw her all right! She’s- “

“Shut it, Silver!” the other colt said angrily as he covered the distance between them, carrying their ball. “Nah, we ain’t seen nothin’.”

Ace looked from the angry colt with the brown coat and golden mane, to his friend Silver, who was still stifling a laugh.

“Hmm, well that is odd, because the shopkeepers on the next street over said you three were playing together… they were very specific about your descriptions… Oh well, maybe the guards would like to hear about this missing pony report. Surely they would be very interested in this case.”

Silver stopped laughing, and the golden-maned colt didn’t look happy either. “We, uh, gotta go. We’re late for lunch with my gran!” the golden said as they turned and bolted.

The trick to following somepony is to not let them know you’re interested in following them. Ace waited for them to duck behind a corner before he chased after them as well.

They had turned into a one-way alley, so even though he couldn’t see them their trail was easy to see. He ran as fast he could, easily outpacing the colts, but didn’t see any trace of them as he came out the other end of the alley.

Then a ball bounced out of another alley across the street.

Ace ran for the alley, and finally caught sight of them just as Silver turned left on the next street.

Following as close behind them as he dared, the chase stretched on for an eternity – which Ace translated as a few minutes, dilated by the pain of the physical and emotional exertion while his whole body was throbbing with pain from the pre-magic inside him.

Finally, the colts ducked into a warehouse several streets over from where he found them. The colts hadn’t seen him chasing them, but there were two ponies posted outside of the warehouse – guards, but relaxed and inattentive, leaning against walls and the like.

So basically, guards that aren’t trying to look like they are guarding anything.

The guards eyed him warily, so Ace kept running past the building until the next alley, looking for all the world like some pony who was very late for something important anywhere but here.

Taking cover in the mouth of the alley, Ace let his breath recuperate, coughing into a hoof. He felt it get moist as he coughed up blood. He scowled at the hoof like it was its fault his insides were being torn asunder by his failed experiment.

Sometime later, once his breathing had leveled out, Ace made his way to the next street, hoping to see the warehouse unprotected on the other side. As he walked past it, he noted there wasn’t anypony guarding it, but there was a chain with a large padlock through the handle of the door.

Examining the lock briefly as he made his way past it like he had somewhere else to be, he noticed it looked a little… off.

Making sure nopony was paying him any mind, he stepped closer to the lock and tried jiggling it on the chain.

It was made of wood. The latch had a little give to it, and after working it for a moment, slid out of the hole it was in, and the ‘lock’ fell to the ground.

Unwinding the chain from the door, it would look to anypony else that he was simply the owner of the building and had opened the lock by key.

Somepony’s trying to cut corners… he thought with a laugh. In a town completely walled off, where imports were monitored closely and there was such an abundance of natural materials, the chain alone would have been costly. A padlock wouldn’t have been that much more expensive, but more than buying one elsewhere, certainly.

The door finally unfettered, Ace sneakily made his way inside, closing the door gently behind him.

In this lesser-used half of the building, it was dark as several piles of boxes and crates blotted out the light from the windows. Still, Ace could hear chanting, and a pony speaking.

“The Life Crystal that sustains our city is pure!” The stallion orated to what sounded like a small gathering of assenting ponies, the latter voicing an ‘amen’. “The Life Crystal grants all those around it great health, and a bountiful harvest!” another amen.

Ace felt his way blindly around the boxes and crates, inching forward in hopes of finding some way to the rest of the building where the gathering took place.

“And lo, the Life Crystal doth grant life eternal to its Matron! The Life Crystal sees all, knows all! Wisdoms of a thousand ages pulses within its great green light!”

Ace found a corner, and as he poked his head around it, he saw a light around another at the far side. He made his way toward it slowly, careful not to make a sound.

“A thousand truths within the crystal! A million lives within the crystal!” Amen.

Ace poked his head into the light, and saw the gathering of robed ponies standing before a Unicorn stallion, propped up on a podium, his hooves waving above his head wildly at the speech.

Behind the orator, on a stone plinth stained a deep crimson by countless sins and tragedies before, laid three foals with their hooves bound to the slab and gags in their mouths.

“Today, brothers and sisters, we commit these young lives to the crystal, that it might be made stronger! That one day our town may all know Eternal Life in the glow of the great Life Crystal!”

The orator drew a ceremonial knife from a sleeve of his robe.

“Life, for a life!” the orator ordained as he approached the plinth, dagger raised.

“Life for life, life for life,” the crowd chanted.

Ace shrugged off his saddlebags, leapt onto the stage, up onto the plinth, drew his sword and severed the raised hoof holding the dagger, then batted the unicorn’s face with the scabbard to stun him and push him back.

“Have you all lost your minds?! You think a Crystal of Life would seek the deaths of innocent foals to sustain itself? You think it’s right to end the life of another, in the hopes of elongating your own life? Absurd!”

There were murmurs in the crowd. The unicorn stallion stared at his bleeding stump of a hoof, trying to move what wasn’t there. Then he pointed said hoof accusatorially at Ace.

“This nonbeliever would interrupt the ritual of eternal life! Strike him down! The Life Crystal shall not stand for these transgressions!”

The robed ponies pulled weapons from their sleeves, some picking up clubs from nearby boxes. Some grabbed cleavers or cooking supplies from crates.

The unicorn’s horn lit in a spell. Ace raised the scabbard ribbon-first between them. The fireball struck the ribbon and fizzled out. The unicorn was stunned beyond belief, turned to run, but fell on his severed hoof.

Ace leapt from the plinth and decapitated the unicorn, then settled the scabbard onto his back once more as he motioned for the other ponies to calm down and drop their weapons.

“We don’t have to do this… You can just walk away. I haven’t even seen your faces!”

“Cut down the nonbeliever!” cried a mare in the back, a cleaver raised into the air.

Po dra Vydac… I’m really going to do this, aren’t I?

As if I have any other choice, he thought with a look back to Sanctis, her eyes pleading him from the plinth, shot through with worry and paralyzing fear.

Ace leapt back as a club smashed into the air in front of his face. He flipped the ceremonial knife from the ground, to a hoof, from hoof to skull with a fluid motion, dropping the stallion with the club.

The mob let loose a collective battle cry and the first row charged Ace in earnest.

A Pegasus leapt into the air and dived for Ace, dagger first. Ace dodged to the side, raised his sword horizontally and held with both hooves, letting it rest where he was a heartbeat ago. The Pegasus cleaved her own head from her body.

A club sailed for his skull, he ducked and shoulder charged the stallion wielding it. Ace leapt back just in time for another club to crash down onto the other clubber’s hoof. A dagger swiped for his throat, but he raised up on his hind-hooves, severing the dagger-hoof and slitting the throat of the first clubber in a single movement. Slamming down onto his free hoof, pivoting and bucking with his back hooves, he caught the second clubber across the face and sent her sprawling into the crowd.

Somepony threw a dagger at his head, but he turned and caught it from the air, nearly missing the handle. He stabbed it into the nearest throat, leapt to the side, ducking as more ponies threw weapons through the air where he was a moment ago, then slashed his sword before him to clear the space ahead, scoring several hits across chests and hooves.

He stabbed the sword forward, throat. Slashed it open to the right, another gash across another throat.

This isn’t right… these ponies all had families. Ponies who loved them. Ponies who are going to wonder why they didn’t come home last night. They could have little foals who will go hungry with nopony to care for them.

Ace leapt backward as a club, a cleaver and a dagger bashed, cut and slashed the air ahead of him. The dagger wielder reared in fear of retaliation; Ace cut her across the stomach. The clubber attempted an uppercut with the club; Ace batted it away with his free hoof, then ran him through with the sword. The cleaver dropped their weapon and ran, pushing their way through the crowd, screaming.

This sword was crafted to protect ponies, yet I’m cutting them down one by one… This isn’t how it was supposed to be! How many does that make… 12? 13? Does it even matter?

The mob was starting to circle behind him. He parried a dagger with his sword, brought the guard down and slashed their other hoof, took the dagger and threw it to the left, the point burying itself in the flanker’s eye. Thrusting his sword to the right, he managed to clip a tendon on the other flanker’s rear hoof. They fell bodily into a stack of boxes, collapsing the stack on top of them and cutting off the path.

Two ponies charged him together with daggers, from the left and the right. He cut down the one on the right before she could reach him. He raised his left hoof to push back the other, but she stabbed her dagger into his hoof, above the knee. His sword hoof still free, he decapitated her before she could retrieve the weapon.

A clubber tried to bash his weakened left hoof. Ace raised up on his hind-hooves and slashed the attacker’s hoof off. He kicked the club into the crowd, tripping another pony charging him. He slashed across the clubber’s throat.

Switching his sword to his left hoof, he shakily withdrew the dagger buried in it, and promptly parried a cleaver coming down on him. He thrust with the sword through the stallion’s heart, then leapt back onto the stage behind him.

“Stop this madness!” he shouted from atop the stage. The effect was somewhat lessened as he stood over their leader’s corpse. “So few of you remain! Leave now, or die! You cannot best me!”

Ace’s vision was getting blurry. The dagger wound was deeper than he must have thought. His body felt as though it were on fire, pressed to its limits by the battle and the magic devouring him from the inside.

They didn’t seem like they were willing to give up. From the high ground, Ace easily slashed the throat of another pony trying to make for the stage.

Did that pony even have a weapon?

“The Life Crystal knows all, sees all!” he said, trying a different tact. “It did not approve of these sacrifices, so it sent me to cleanse this group of those whose faith was weak!” The ponies stopped, looking at one another.

“Rejoice, brothers and sisters! You have been deemed pure by the crystal! Leave, and never speak of what has happened here under the falsehood of this charlatan!” Ace decreed as he kicked the unicorn off of the stage.

There were mumblings among the few who still stood over the corpses of their fallen brothers and sisters. “Go now, or earn the wrath of the Crystal! Nonbelievers shall fall upon the altar!” he said, pointing to the plinth behind him.

The crowd dispersed rapidly, almost tripping over the corpses as they ran for the exit.

Once they had gone, Ace wiped his sword upon the robes of their fallen leader, then made for the plinth and freed the foals on the altar. The two strangers bolted for the door – one not even removing the gag – while he freed Sanctis.

Ace knew that look. The look in her eyes that screamed ‘monster’ as he stood over her; bloodied, fatigued from battle, hurting, hurting, hurting… yet still high on the adrenaline. High on the thrill of taking a life. High on proving yourself greater than anypony else.

How he absolutely hated the feeling.

He couldn’t even refute her. He was a monster. He had just killed… he didn’t even know how many ponies. Lost count in the delirium of his pain, his focus on the battle.

She stared at him for a long, silent moment. Then, “We need to get you to a doctor.”

“We need to get me to a mortician.”

“What?” she said, incredulous. That look of monstrous fear still in her eyes.

“These ponies had families, Sanctis. They deserve proper burials.”

“What they deserve is to rot where they lay! They were going to sacrifice children to their almighty crystal! They tried to kill you! How could you possibly even- “

Ace laid a hoof on her shoulder calmly. She jumped, revulsed by the contact, fighting her natural instinct to run away. He realized too late he was getting blood on her. He took his hoof away, leaving a bloody smear on her jacket.

With a sigh, he continued. “These ponies were being misled. I’m sure they thought that what they were doing was right, under the guidance of that unicorn who led them – or perhaps some pony higher up than even he. Whatever they believed, no life has any greater value than any other life.”

Sanctis looked from the pile of corpses in the middle of the warehouse, their collective blood spreading to every corner of the room, back at Ace. “You’re wrong. A life is what you make of it, not what it makes of you. Those ponies chose the wrong path. You chose the right one. Besides, even if that were true, how do you value your life, after hearing the Matron say that hundreds – maybe thousands! – of other pony’s lives rests in your hooves?”

Ace paused for a moment. He looked upon the mound of lifeless bodies he had made. He looked at the unicorn who led them. Looked at the blood on his hooves – his own on the left, that of everypony else on his right. He thought about what she said. How so many lives depended on his own.

He waded into the pile of corpses, fished out the ceremonial dagger that had started it all, wiped off the blood, and brought it to the stage, Sanctis watching him all the while. He pulled the knife’s sheath from the severed hoof of the unicorn orator, replaced the knife within it, then gave the thing to Sanctis.

“You don’t want to be treated like a filly? You’ve earned that. Any number of times. You want to travel with me? I could use the company. I wish I could say ‘I’m never letting you out of my sight again,’ but that would be impractical. There’s a thousand-thousand things that could warrant my attention at any given time.

“You want to travel with me? You’re going to do so armed. No buts. Every night when we set up camp, you’re to practice with that knife. By the time we reach Dragon’s Roost, the weight of that knife will be as a feather, but know that the weight of taking the life of another pony is a weight you will never become accustomed to. Understood?”

Sanctis ogled the knife like it held all the answers in the universe. It had a wrought gold handle with a large emerald in the center of the hoofguard, two lesser emeralds at the end of each side and another in the pommel. It was all chased with silver, with the sheath to match. The sheath sported straps that would let her attach the whole thing to a hoof, with cinches to adjust the fit.

Sanctis drew the knife appreciatively. There was a sort of wavy pattern to the curved blade, but it looked sharp, and after watching Ace pierce a stallion’s skull with it, she knew it was true.

“You and I both know that’s not a toy,” Ace said as he watched her. “It is a weapon, and weapons require practice and upkeep. I have oils to clean and maintain the blade in my saddlebags, and a whetstone to keep it sharp. You will learn all this and more on the road, but for now… I think I should see a doctor.”

Ace’s head was getting woozy. He took the sleeve from the severed unicorn’s hoof, ripped it open and tied it as a bandage over his cut open hoof. Ace went to the boxes to retrieve his saddle bags while Sanctis experimented with the straps and cinches of her new weapon, strapping it to her hoof and feeling the fit.

Then, the door opened at the front of the warehouse. “What in blazes!” the guard started as he saw the bodies and the blood scattered about. “What happened here?!”

“Something that the Matron will want to hear about first-hoof…” Ace said, a hoof to his head, shaking it as if to clear it. “Immediately.”

Given the nature of their message, Sanctis and Ace were given special dispensation to keep their weapons in the presence of the Matron… while under heavy escort from several guards, naturally.

Sanctis thought that she had set the straps on the knife just right… until she had to go down a bajillion steps, the sheath bouncing and chafing her with every step. Of course, she couldn’t very well adjust it now, the guards would think she was reaching for her weapon!

They had every right to be on edge. Ace just fought thirty armed ponies, killing almost twenty of them. And all he had to show for it was a bloody jacket and a single stab wound on his left hoof.

Like, woah.

It would have been totally awesome to see, if it wasn’t for the fact she thought the thirty would win, and her life would end strapped to a stone table, which showed signs of many other ponies being sacrificed there.

Finally, they made it to the plateau where the Matron waited for them. She was at first excited to have company, then her features fell when she saw all the blood and the guard escort.

“Ace! Sanctis!” she called, immediately switching to the Matron this time, rather than letting the little filly greet them. “I’d ask you what happened, but, you know, mind-reading super powers and all…”

“We found them standing over the bodies of numerous civilians in the- “ The head guard started.

“In the warehouse nearest the Temple, yes, I know. Furthermore, they were cultists and not civilians,” the Matron said with a huff, falling back onto her pillows, her hooves crossed. “Trust me, I know. Wanted those losers dead two moons ago, but you could never find them when I sent you after them, Silver Helm.”

The head guard looked flustered, made to speak, thought better of it, opened his mouth again, changed his mind, saluted instead, turned and motioned for his guards to follow him.

The Matron watched him go, waving a hoof like she was happy to see him leave. Then, she turned and arched an eyebrow at Ace. “I told you not to take your eyes off of her.”

Ace looked flustered, made to speak, thought better of it, opened his mouth again, changed his mind, laughed instead, nodded his head and made a bow. “That you did. How foolish of me not to listen.”

The Matron shook her head at his theatrics, leapt from her pillows and gave him a firm hug. “I know you both learned something important from all of this,” she said before pulling back, looking at the blood covering her hooves in disgust.

Seeing a filly with blood over her was… disconcerting, to say the least. But then, Sanctis probably didn’t look much better in a bloody jacket, either.

The Matron motioned with her hooves, pulling blood off of herself, then off of Ace and finally off of Sanctis. The blood collected in orbs in front of each of them, then disappeared with a wave of the Matron’s hooves. Then, with a thoughtful look, she pressed a hoof against the makeshift bandage around Ace’s left hoof.

She tore off the bandage with her teeth, and underneath the hoof was good as new… or at least, as good as it was before today, still bearing the scar with the Al-Bhed writing.

“Now, go on and get out of here,” the Matron said as she turned back to her pillows. “I said Fang was patient; I didn’t say he’d wait around forever.”

Recovery

Chapter 13: Recovery

Princess Luna’s days were filled with Princess Celestia’s duties. Ordering the guards, hearing reports from the city, overseeing orders for new candles for the candelabras, managing the castle’s budget, attending feasts with a faux smile with dignitaries who had come from far and wide to ascertain the state of their relations under the rule of a new princess.

Honestly. Candles? At a time like this? Certainly, somepony else could handle such a task!

Princess Luna’s nights were spent training the Shadow Sentinels, hearing their reports, reviewing cases from the Jury of the Moonblinked (which were becoming all too frequent), aiding other ponies in the dream realm, and – most importantly – administering Celestia’s treatments.

The only time Luna slept was when she needed to enter the dream realm, and even then, her mind had little rest if any.

Well, aside from the mindless banter with the dignitaries during the day. Many of them frowned at her frequent yes-or-no answers, but by the Fates, she was tired.

Now, Luna sat in her room, all of her attention focused on crafting another cloth doll. In the hopes of better tempering her control, it was a filly this time. Her muse was the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

By crafting the child’s plaything, she was focusing her magic intently on a needle without bending it, on thread without tearing it, on cotton without shredding it, and on cloth without ripping it.

Such control was beyond her ability, once, long ago. The practice had helped her magic come a long way – no longer bound to her uncontrollable emotions, she could more minutely control it without putting forth all of her effort on a task that called for little.

Crafting a smaller doll meant more precise movements. A stitch with a larger doll had a larger margin for error. The minute movements meant controlling finer and finer points of magic; the very essence of Celestia’s treatments.

Tonight would mark the first of the 21 artice treatments. The smallest dose that Luna could administer.

With Ace unable to administer further treatment, that meant that Celestia’s treatments would grind to a halt if Luna couldn’t improve herself in that time.

Putting the finishing touches on the doll, she set it on the shelf with her friends, the other ponies of Ponyville. Sparing a glance at the time, Luna took a deep breath to calm herself, then made for her sister’s bedchambers on the other side of the castle.

A Shadow Sentinel saluted her as she left her room. All of the guards and the Sentinels were on edge; there was some dissent growing in the city. Some did not care for Princess Luna taking over for her sister; some believed it was a plot to steal the throne and rule Equestria herself.

Absurd! But, not without precedent…

It wasn’t the most direct path, but Luna often walked past the mosaic windows that featured her battle with her sister as Nightmare Moon, her subsequent defeat, and her banishment to the moon.

She let it serve as a reminder, that whatever the ponies feared was well grounded. That she had brought ruin and strife to Equestria in the past.

A reminder that she would never let it happen again.

Steeling her spine, raising her head and finding her confidence, Luna found her way to her sister’s room in short order. The guards saluted her, opening the large doors before her.

Celestia’s room was orderly; a sign that she had not relapsed in almost two days, when her furniture would have last been replaced. An auspicious sign.

Celestia laid in her bed – another good sign – cradling the Ace and Luna dolls to her chest, the Twilight and Celestia dolls sitting beside her pillow, watching.

Luna removed the moist rag from her sister’s head, feeling with a hoof for signs of her fever. The fever had come down over the last week, but whether she was truly doing better or the treatments and precautions were simply having more effect was hard to determine.

Erring on the side of caution, Luna replaced another rag on Celestia’s brow.

Unable to put it off any longer, Princess Luna’s horn lit up in her midnight blue color, and she focused on converting her magic into that of chaos magic. She pushed away the disorderly thoughts that sprang to her mind as she did so, focusing the trickle of her magic on Celestia’s horn.

The chaos magic took shape as a midnight blue cloud, as if she were levitating the air itself in her magic, and made its way down the center of Celestia’s horn, into her very mind.

Though Luna first had reservations about such a treatment, she couldn’t argue with the results. Celestia smiled, her weight relaxing further into the bed with a contented sigh escaping her lips.

With the treatment administered, Luna made for another bed to the side of the room. Smaller, not nearly as grand as the bed Celestia, occupied, it would serve Luna’s needs.

Her eyes never leaving her sister, Luna fell asleep, and made her way into Celestia’s make-believe world.

Daylight Zenith surveyed the battle from above, her well-oiled captain’s armor making barely a sound as she flapped her wings. The armor was truly a marvel; intersecting plates followed the movements of her wings, light and maneuverable material meant it did not hinder her, while being strong enough to deflect all but the most direct sword strokes.

I’ve worn something like this before… when would I have ever…?

Daylight Zenith shook her head. Now was not the time to chase her foggy memories.

The front lines of the Day’s End army met with the opposition in a crash. The center held – as well it should have; her best soldiers and commanders were in that line.

The right flank feigned a collapse – as was the plan. With the cliff abutting the right flank, it was an easy maneuver to feign a collapse there, then when the enemy made to turn and attack the vulnerable side of her forces, they would find the army’s strength redoubled, the cavalry pressing them against the cliff, routing them.

The left flank, however, was under no such orders, but were falling apart all the same.

With her commanders in the center of their attack, they had the most outreaching positioning for their orders, and could more easily survey the battlefield. Putting the commanders in the field made them great assets, but left them vulnerable – that meant the army’s finest soldiers had to protect them.

With much of the cavalry diverted to the right flank in the feint, that left the left flank with much to be desired.

“Honorguard, to me!” Daylight Zenith called. She made for the left flank immediately, her Pegasi escorts following her as she went.

As she flew over the enemy forces, Daylight Zenith’s horn lit in a series of spells; she rained fire down upon the strong left flank of the enemy, then hexed her lance to set it spinning even as she held it, functioning as a powerful drill.

Coming from the outside, Zenith dove through the enemy lines, making holes in the enemy’s lines even as she made holes in their soldiers. Her men cheered as they regrouped and pressed the advantage, her Honorguard harrying any foe that dared flee or leave the lines to flank them.

“Charge! Don’t let them regroup!” Zenith shouted over the din of battle as she landed amongst her soldiers. With her large, powerful form came a powerful orator’s voice, her rallying cry carrying through her ranks and into the enemy’s lines as well. Many tried to break formation and flee for their lives, only to be greeted by a spear or sword from the Honorguard flying over them.

The Day’s End army crashed against their foes, Zenith leading the charge herself, her powerful lance cutting a swath before her. None could touch her.

A volley of arrows came from the back of the enemy lines, but Zenith shielded herself and those around her with her magic. A group of her Pegasi swept in and cleared the enemy’s archer lines, their arrows deflecting off of armor or shields.

A saboteur laid mines before her, hoping to eliminate the enemy captain and deal a decisive blow. Zenith found the traps, hoisted them in her magic and set them to work amongst the enemy lines.

It seemed as though the battle would end uneventfully. Zenith stood back as her soldiers charged past her, pursuing the enemy line as it broke and ran in earnest.

Somepony jumped onto Zenith’s back, and thinking the battle already won, she thought it might be one of her soldiers congratulating her. She turned and only too late saw the knife in their hoof.

“Sister! No!” she heard a booming voice call before a Pegasi flew headfirst into the attacker, goring them with a dagger as she flew past.

No, not a dagger… a horn. An Alicorn!

There’s no other Alicorn in my army… did she say “sister”?

Zenith’s head ached as memories floated just out of her reach. It felt as though she were adrift in the ocean, and there was flotsam all around her, but whenever she swam toward any of it, it sank, or floating away just out of reach as the movement of her body pushed it away.

She was getting used to the feeling. It occurred several times a day now, and the triggers were seemingly random, innocuous. But this, this felt like a ship had finally sailed close enough to see her. Like there was a lifeline right in front of her and she had only reach out to grab it.

Zenith reached, and reached and reached, but the boat was sailing away, the lifeline drawn behind it. She swam and swam but it drifted further and further.

Zenith stood with her hoof pressed against her head, the battle within drowning the battle without.

Until, “Sister? Sister, are you hurt?” That voice… Zenith turned to look, and she caught the life preserver. The ship pulled her in, dried her off and fed her. Fed her memories she thought were dreams, now realizing it was all a dream, that the dreams were real and that this was all a ploy to incapacitate her.

“Luna…” she managed, the Alicorn before her embracing her, tears in her eyes.

“OH, DEAREST SISTER, YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND THE JOY IT BRINGS US TO HEAR YOU RECOGNIZE US SO,” Luna said, her voice booming as she lost control of herself in her emotion.

Zenith- no, Celestia stroked her sister’s mane, returning the tearful embrace in kind. Then, “Tell me everything that has happened.”

Wiping away her tears, Luna fought to control her emotions before she continued. “Tell us the last thing you remember,” she started, still composing herself.

Celestia focused on her thoughts and memories, and it was like the battle around them just faded away as her focus drifted away from it. She thought back as far as she could.

“Discord freed himself from his statue imprisonment, and was wreaking havoc in Ponyville. I sent Twilight and her friends, with the Elements of Harmony, to stop him. Anything after that is… a blur.”

Luna sighed deeply. “We were afraid of this… Brother had said it was possible you were being controlled by Discord. That it was unlikely that you would order him to be re-formed and, well, reformed.”

The dreamworld of the Gooey Gumdrop Empire faded away to nothing, Celestia and Luna stood alone in a field of stars and nebulae and cosmos, Luna retelling all the events that had transpired.

Turns out Dragon’s Roost was one of the Crystal Mountains to the northeast of Summervale. Sanctis couldn’t see it from here because of the trees around them, but Ace said it would be pretty distinct once they saw it.

After the Matron healed Ace’s hoof, they immediately went to the East Gate, stopping only to buy a pair of saddlebags for Sanctis. She only got to carry a canteen, some of the hardtack, a blanket and some blade oil and a whetstone for her knife.

Ace said she got to carry half of their supplies, so she would have the means to fend for herself if they somehow got separated. Sanctis didn’t know how to use the blade oil or the whetstone, but Ace said he’d show her when they stopped to make camp.

For perhaps the twentieth time, she checked the straps on the knife’s scabbard. It was still snug.

For a while, Sanctis debated if she should keep the sheathe on the left side or the right side of her left hoof. On the right, it would be closer to her body and more easily concealed. On the left, it would be easier to draw and use. She decided on left.

Like before, Ace didn’t seem to take any effort walking through the forest; he just seemed to instinctively know exactly where to place his hooves. Even though he was probably 3 or 4 times her weight, she made far more noise than he did, stepping on leaves, branches, noisy grasses… her hoof scuffing hidden stones and roots, disturbing noisome critters…

For a while, she watched him just walking, bounding over logs or other places seemingly at random – which she found was actually areas with poor footing, and on one occasion… leavings from some other passerby.

Rather than trying to learn the method to his madness, she started following his hoofsteps instead, placing her hooves where he had passed moments prior. Astoundingly, it worked most of the time. Ace's longer stride meant she had to leap in some places to match, or take a double stride to keep inside his prints, though either was too exhausting to do for too long.

“How much further?” Sanctis asked, trying not to sound like a petulant, impatient child… and probably failing. Darn it.

“Still a ways to go yet,” Ace replied without turning his head. “Would you like to play a game to pass the time? It’s called 'Dodge, Reflect, Honesty.' We take turns asking questions, you have to either answer truthfully, or you can ask the question back and skip your turn. You get 3 dodges or reflects for questions you don’t want to answer. First one to run out of dodges loses.”

“Okay, sure. I’ll go first,” Sanctis said, grateful to do anything to pass the time. “Do you have a special somepony?” she asked, hoping it would throw him off balance.

“Yup! Her name is Twilight Sparkle.” Didn’t even miss a beat! “I call her my Starlight, and she’s very important to me. My turn: How old are you, Sanctis?”

“I’m-“ she had to stop herself from saying 8, which would have been how old she was when she ran away from home, “9 years old now. My turn: How did you learn to use magic and make spells? Who taught you?”

“Hey now, that’s more than one question!” he said with a laugh. “And a tricky one to answer, besides… I guess I first learned to use magic from a tribe called ‘The Watchers of the Stars,’ and after that I learned from so many ponies and places I couldn’t even name them all! I learned to make the spells that I sold in Hoofsdale myself, though. Now, my turn: Do you know anything about your family? How come your parents aren’t around?”

“Dodge!” Sanctis said immediately. She sooo didn’t want to talk about it. “Is it my turn now?” She thought he would push her if she didn’t change the topic.

“Yup, go ahead,” was all he said. Like her refusing to comment about her parents wasn’t unusual at all.

“Do you have any brothers or sisters?”

“Hmm… I have two ponies I call my sisters, but we’re not really related. I’m not sure how many ‘real’ half-brothers and -sisters I have though, as my father continued to have children after he was… split from my mother. My question: What was your favorite part about Frost Valley?”

“The Museum,” Sanctis answered right away. As if there’s any contest. “I love learning new things, and the museum was always super warm inside. I got to learn about blacksmithing, which metals are good for what, and even a little bit about the Magic Wars.” Wait, did he just stumble a little when I said ‘Magic Wars’? “Where did you learn to fight with a sword like that?”

“From Master Steel Dancer. He taught me how to fight with almost any weapon, while dancing away from opponent’s attacks. ‘The first rule of combat: don’t get hit,’ he’d always say. For my turn: How’d you learn Al Bhed? Who taught it to you?”

“Dodge!” It was an innocent enough question, but it would lead to more questions about her mom. Dang, that’s 2 of my dodges already… “Do you know a lot about the machines the Al Bhed call Machina?”

Ace smiled wide. “You could say that. I own a few old pieces from centuries ago, but I’ve actually made some Machina of my own. One that I’m really proud of is an ‘abomination’ that combines Machina and Magic to make a more perfect machine; I call it my Anti-Magic Countermeasure System. A.C.S. if you prefer.”

Okay, of all the things I’ve seen Ace do or talk about, THAT is the coolest!

“My turn: Where’d you learn about Machina?”

“No fair! You keep asking questions about where I learned things, knowing I would only have learned them from my parents, knowing that I don’t want to talk about it!”

Ace just looked back at her with an eyebrow raised. So much for not being a petulant child. “Just answer the question in a way that doesn’t reference what you don’t want to talk about. That’s part of the game.”

Sanctis thought for a moment, then, “I saw a few Machina when I was growing up. I tried tinkering with them a little, and reading ‘blueprints’ and stuff about them, but ended up in trouble for it. My turn: What’s the biggest Machina you’ve ever seen?”

“A turbine generator. It was large enough to generate power for an entire Al Bhed settlement, until it malfunctioned and almost self-destructed in front of me. My turn: How come you don’t use your magic?”

“I… I never learned how to use magic.” Ace ‘hmmed’ at that, but didn’t say anything. “How’d you get your cutie mark?”

“A turbine generator. It was large enough to generate power for an entire Al Bhed settlement, until it malfunctioned and almost self-destructed in front of me. I contained the blast in a magical shield, and when I woke up, I had my cutie mark.”

“That was when you were a foal?” she asked, incredulous. Ace turned to her, raised an eyebrow that said ‘You know it’s my turn now, right?’

He answered anyway. “Yup. Before I was kicked out of my settlement. For my question: How would you like for me to teach you magic?”

Sanctis stopped in her tracks. She wasn’t sure she heard him right. “Really?! You’ll teach me how to use magic?! Wait, can you, with your horn all… busted?”

“Well, yes, though you’ll have to do as I say… not as I do. It’ll be harder to teach without doing so myself, but I think we could manage.”

“Yes! A hundred, a thousand times: yes!” Sanctis caught back up, literally bouncing around him as he walked. “I’m gonna learn magic! I’m gonna learn magic! I’m gonna learn magic!”

“Alright, alright little one, calm down,” Ace said, all smiles and laughter. “Let’s finish our game, first. It’s still your turn.”

Sanctis had to stop herself from blurting out ‘What is my first lesson going to be?!’ She was excited to learn magic, but this was a great chance to learn more about Ace.

“What happened to your horn?”

“It got beat against a stone wall until it broke. Almost a week ago, now. Also, please never touch it. It’s very sensitive right now.” Owww, Sanctis thought to herself. A dumpster lid fell on my horn once, and I couldn’t see through the tears for an hour after that…

“My question: Did you have any friends in Frost Valley?”

Shoot… I could use my last dodge and end the game… if I answer, I’ll have to do more than ‘yes or no,’ since it’s only fair…

With a sigh, Sanctis replied, “No… I didn’t try to make any, either. Whenever somepony talked to me, I would talk to them in Al Bhed so they wouldn’t know I understood them. The foals… the foals called me ‘blank flank foreigner.’”

Ace ‘hmmed’ again, as they came out of the forest – how long have we been walking through snow? – and in front of them was the Crystal Mountain range. Nearest them was the only mountain with no snow on top of it.

“Woah, is that Dragon’s Roost?” Sanctis asked as it loomed over top of them.

“Yup, and that’s where we’ll get to see Fang. My question:”

“Hey, wait, that wasn’t my question!”

“Why wouldn’t you want to make friends in Frost Valley?”

“Well, I… that is… Dodge!” Dang, so much for that…

Ace smiled knowingly, then started to make his way up the mountain. Fortunately, there was a path that spiraled around the mountain, seemingly going all the way to the top. It looked as though it was carved directly out of the stone.

“Do you know why they call it Dragon’s Roost?” Ace asked, sparing her a brief look before watching his footing again.

“Uh, because dragons roost here?” Looking over the side of the mountain, Sanctis agreed it was a good idea to watch her footing as well. There were no guardrails or supports; not too big a problem this low, but further up… one misstep and you’re pony paste.

“Doesn’t it seem odd that a northern mountain, on the north side of Equestria, is called Dragon’s Roost when the Badlands – where dragons hail from – is to the southeast of Equestria?”

“Maybe… but dragons can fly, nothing is too far away when you can just fly straight there whenever you feel like. And dragons are probably incredibly territorial, so some of them would have to find roosts outside of the Badlands.”

Ace nodded, a light smile on his features. “A clever guess, and mostly right, but lacking one detail: infant dragons are often unable to fly, and even as they learn to fly, there are many predators in the Badlands that eat dragons – including their young and their eggs.

“A mated pair of dragons will often leave the Badlands to lay their eggs, and to care for them until they hatch and grow strong enough to survive the journey home. Dragon’s Roost, devoid of these predators and far from any territory conflicts in the Badlands, is an appealing candidate.”

“So, what you mean to say is that a dragon could come here any time while we’re meeting this Fang pony?” Sanctis asked, not seeing the point. “Isn’t that dangerous? Couldn’t we meet him, I don’t know, literally anywhere else?”

Ace laughed for a moment before he continued. “To meet Fang anywhere else would be the real danger. You’ll see why when you meet him,” he said as he looked up the mountain.

Between the conversation and the carved steps leading up the side of the mountain, they were already nearing the top. Travelling with somepony else really is more convenient.

Sanctis filled the time with thoughts of who Fang would be. One of Ace’s foals? He never mentioned how many he had at the inn. I wonder what his full name is… Snarl Fang?

Sanctis imagined a powerful Unicorn with spear in hoof, fighting a dragon. A flowing red mane like Ace’s and with a scar over one eye. Muscles trained over a life time of combating wild dragons that came too close to pony towns.

In her imaginings, they swiftly crested the summit of the mountain and found… nothing.

“Did Fang already leave?” Sanctis despaired as Ace made to sit in the middle of the summit, his back to a large rock that served as the precipice.

“He probably left to get something to eat,” he said as Sanctis made to sit beside him “Probably with his partner as well.”

Sanctis harrumphed. “Well how long do we just sit here doing nothing?” Then an idea sprung to her mind, “Can we start my magic lessons now?!”

With a quiet laugh, Ace nodded. “We can talk about the principles of magic, but any actual lessons would need to be in a place a bit closer to the ground,” he said, glancing at the edge of the mountain meaningfully. “We wouldn’t want you to levitate anything pony-shaped without knowing how to control yourself.”

Sanctis looked at the edge as well, remembering her earlier thought of pony paste. She managed to keep the shiver from reaching her spine.

“To start off: Magic is a muscle, much like the mind and the body. At first, you must learn how that muscle moves, and what that muscle can do comfortably. That’s why as foals, Unicorns often have uncontrollable outbursts of magic: they are just flexing their muscle without any idea of what it does.

“This is actually very healthy, as it means that that muscle is getting some exercise. First-time parents often make the mistake of inhibiting their Unicorn foals’ magic, or punishing or reprimanding them to teach them not to use it.”

That explains why I have such a hard time doing anything with magic… Mom would have definitely not wanted me using magic in the house as a foal…

Sanctis realized Ace was watching her reaction, then realized he had practically read her mind through her face. Oops.

“Such a foal would find their magical muscle has atrophied when they grow older, and will need to put forth greater effort into learning to connect with and control their magic.”

I can do effort! Sanctis thought, glad that her mother hadn’t completely ruined her future.

“Like a muscle, it is possible to use it too much, or rely on it too much and cause your other muscles to atrophy as well. In the case of the former, using too much magic can cause you to deplete your magic reserves. Doing so means you will be without your magic for anywhere from five days to several weeks, varying from pony to pony.”

Several WEEKS without magic?! Sanctis thought, then realized the irony of that thought coming from a filly who hadn’t ever used magic before.

“Many ponies misguidedly believe that magic is just spells given form; the opposite is true. Spells are magic given form. It is possible to form magic without a purpose, or to give it a purpose after calling it forth.

“For the sake of our lessons, I will be teaching you how to control your magic, not to cast specific spells. Once you grasp the fundamentals, and learn to control your magic as easily as you control your hoof, you’ll find your magic to be a much more versatile tool.”

Ace’s eyes drifted to the sky, and he got that big goofy grin that he got when he did something devious. Following his gaze, Sanctis saw a huge dragon… flying straight toward them.

The color drained from her face. Her hooves and mouth were stunned beyond her control. Her thoughts frozen.

Ace watched as the dragon landed on the perch behind them. His smile still plastered on his face, Ace walked toward the giant dragon.

The dragon was a solid midnight black, one eye a dark void, ostensibly all pupil, and the other was red and shaped like a fang, with two points on top coalescing to a single point on the bottom. He was almost two hundred feet of pure, lean scaly doom, his wings beat once as he balanced – they were leathery like bat wings and where his veins shown through the membrane it was like constellations of stars.

And Ace walked right up to it.

“Ace!” Sanctis finally managed to speak as she mastered her fear. “We have to leave! It’s dangerous!”

Ace laughed as loud as he could, the dragon looking perplexed. His massive head tilting to one side as he looked at her.

“He’s not dangerous, he’s my friend!” he said, hysterical. “Fang, show her your smile!”

THAT’s Fang?!

Then the dragon smiled. He had no teeth, his jaw separated as though there used to be teeth, and the look on his face was something out of a comedy.

Sanctis’ fear melted away as she started laughing hysterically too. Fang put his claws in his mouth and pulled the smile wider, tilting it and his head at various angles. Sanctis rolled on the ground, her hooves clutching her stomach, her eyes closed as they teared up.

When they opened again, Fang’s head was inches from her own, upside down as he stretched his mouth as far as it would go. Sanctis thought she would die of laughter.

As Sanctis recovered from her laughter, Fang was caressing Ace’s mane and back like he was the pet, Ace hugging his hooves around Fang – which meant just placing them flat against his lean stomach as he sat placidly.

“Old friend, it’s great to see you again, but I’m afraid I must ask a favor of you.” The dragon cocked his head to the side, inquiring. “Let me feed you. All of me. You know what’s going on?”

Sanctis didn’t like the idea of feeding a giant dragon – fangs or not.

Fang nodded. Ace walked to the center of the summit, motioning for Sanctis to step aside as he did so. “Everything will be fine, Sanctis… I hope.”

Ace laid his sword, saddlebags, necklace and glasses to one side, then nodded up at Fang. “I’m ready.”

Placing his front legs on the ground, Fang leaned forward, his head nearing Ace, his mouth opening… then his mouth enveloped Ace’s head!

“Ace!” Sanctis started as she ran forward, but Ace just held up a hoof, signaling her to stop.

Then Fang’s mouth turned as black as night. Blacker than night. It started to swirl around like water draining out of a sink. There was a sucking sound like air being pulled into a vacuum.

Still, Ace motioned for her to remain still.

The vortex spun around Ace’s head for what felt like hours, but watching the sun Sanctis knew it was minutes stretching past.

The Vortex stopped for a moment, Fang starting to pull his head away, until Ace said, “All of it. Every last drop.”

Sanctis had never seen a dragon look concerned – never saw a dragon, but that’s besides the point. Fang was concerned.

He continued anyway.

For several long minutes more, Fang did his vortex sucky-sound thing, and Sanctis was afraid of what was happening. Was Ace giving his life to feed a dragon? Was this how dragons ate?

She’d only seen dragons in books… they had teeth, and Fang didn’t. Did that have something to do with it?

Then again, they also breathed fire. Not… sink-swirls.

Then there was a hissing sound. It sounded like air escaping a balloon, mixed with the cries of agony that escaped the damned when they fell into the eternal fire.

Fang looked really concerned now. He stopped what he was doing, and Ace pleaded, almost pained. “ALL of it, Fang!”

Fang turned his sink-swirler back on and the hissing continued. Was it getting louder?

“Don’t stop until the hissing does!” Ace yelled over the sound.

Sanctis had to cover her ears at the screeching, but she never took her eyes off of Ace and Fang.

Her chest on the ground, her hooves over her ears, she had a better angle to see into Fang’s maw. It looked like he was sucking something out of Ace. Duh. But his broken horn was glowing as he did it!

Was that black around his horn the color of Ace’s magic, or the color of Fang’s… sink-swirl thing?

Finally, the hissing stopped, and Fang immediately pulled his mouth away to look at Ace, his countenance absolute worry.

Ace flexed a hoof experimentally, then looked over his body slowly. He leapt in the air on all fours, then whooped as he started jumping in earnest.

He pivoted on a front hoof, bucked his back legs, pushed off with a front hoof, landed on a back hoof, did a pirouette with his other back hoof kicking out, then collapsed onto his back – still spinning – and balanced on a front hoof, spinning and kicking then pushing off and landed on all fours.

“Fang, this is amazing!” he said, hugging the dragon’s head to his chest. “You sucked all the magic out of not just me, but the pre-magic as well! It doesn’t hurt to move any more, my body doesn’t feel sluggish!

“Do you know what this means?!” He said, holding the dragon’s head by the cheeks as his mismatched gaze matched the dragon’s mismatched stare.

“Well I sure have no idea what ANY of this means!” Sanctis said, happy that Ace was better or whatever, but mad at being left out again and mad that Ace didn’t tell her what was going on and mad at Ace for scaring the coat off of her with his dragon-mouth stunt.

Looking to Sanctis, back to Fang, then back to Sanctis – all smiles – Ace said, “After my horn broke, my magic started devouring me from the inside out. Fang is a Void Dragon. He eats magic. Ergo…”

“… He ate all the magic from your body, so now it’s not eating you anymore?” Wait, why was it eating him in the first place? I’ve heard of unicorns breaking their horns before, but never of this…

“Right! And… remember the lesson we just had.” Fang snuggled his head against Ace, his worry gone and replaced with joy at aiding his friend.

“Oh! That means your magic won’t come back for several weeks!” Wait, that was a good thing… right?

“Well, a week in my case, at the most… but yes! Exactly that!”

“So wait, you mean you broke your horn, and your magic was destroying you,” Ace nodded. “And the Matron knew this, and about that… thing… inside of you, so she sent you here to see Fang?” Ace nodded again emphatically.

“The thing inside of you, that the Matron couldn’t help you with? And that even if the Matron could remove it, it would have killed you?” Another nod. “Then how in Equestria did she know it wouldn’t kill you if Fang did it?!”

“Sanctis… that thing is still inside of me. It feeds on magic, and grows and grows as it does so. It hurts… it hurts a lot but it also is saving my life right now.

“Fang just sucked the magic out of it – that was the hissing noise – and that made it shrink down. Without my magic destroying my body, and without the pre-magic devouring the magic, I feel as good as I did before my horn broke! Well, I had magic then so maybe not exactly as strong as I felt then, but still really good!”

“Then you’re cured?” Sanctis hoped.

“Well, no. But Fang has bought me another week if we’re lucky, and by that time we should be back in Ponyville and Twilight can help me keep it under control until… until I can do something that’ll make me better… hopefully.”

“You don’t sound very confident,” Sanctis said, making her way over to Fang’s head. It’s not every day you get to pet a dragon!

“There’s… quite a few ‘ifs’ and ‘maybes’ in the plan… But Twilight and I will work something out, I’m sure of it,” he said while showing Sanctis the best places to scratch.

Fang seemed to be enjoying the attention, rubbing his head against her hoof.

Sanctis had felt leather – real leather, made from actual dead animal hides tanned and stripped – on a sword hilt at the museum in Frost Valley, in the Magic Wars section. Fang’s head felt like a cool, bumpy version of that.

Her hoof wandering down his neck, the bumps – scales – along the back were bigger the further she went.

Fang snuggled against her chest now, rubbing those cool bumps against her as she stroked his neck. Ace laughed as he watched the dragon soaking up all the attention.

Best. Day. EVER. Sanctis thought to herself.

Well, aside from that whole foalnapping and ritual-sacrifice thing…

Better in Frame

Chapter 15: Better in Frame

Sanctis woke up as the sun beat down on her face. Wondering if she woke up before Ace today, she turned and-

There he was, next to a small rock, with a blanket over it, with berries on it. Again.

Does he ever sleep?

“Good morning, Sanctis,” he said with a stretch and a yawn.

Wait, did he sleep?

“I found breakfast, and refilled our canteens in a spring I found a little further out.”

“How do you manage to always wake up before the sun?” she said, trying some of the berries. It was a mixture of sweet blueberries and tart blackberries. It was rather refreshing, actually.

“I’m rather… nocturnal, some nights. Oftentimes I’ll have too much energy to sleep, and besides, I’ve always been more a fan of the soft light of night than the harsh light of day… Here, look,” he said, taking off his glasses and proffering them to her.

She put them on… but could only see through one lens at a time, they were so goofishly large on her. “What about them?” she asked, still fighting to get them to stay on properly.

“Close one eye and look at the sun.”

Doing as he suggested, she noticed that the lenses adjusted as she looked to or away from the sun. “Whoa… how many enchantments are in these things?!”

“Hmm… The masking illusion, the darkening condition, a Disinterest hex to make passersby forget that I wear the glasses unless they are looking directly at them… Oh, and there’s an inscription that activates with ‘Illuminate’ as well.”

“Illuminate?” she said, then remembered that he used a similar method for his hoof. So, it was probably… “Emmisehyda?”

A light flickered across the lenses, and then she could see everything. Well, that was a misnomer; she could see everycreature. It was like she had heat vision and everything the glasses roamed over, she could see.

Snakes hiding in the grass, insects flitting from place to place, birds in the trees. She even saw the Plainstrider from yesterday lounging in the shade of a nearby tree, almost 200 meters away!

And then she looked at Ace. Every other creature was vibrant; like their light was its own star fallen from the sky. Ace’s light was broken, dim. A ladybug flew between them, and its light was almost enough to drown out Ace’s little spark.

“So, the Emmisehyda enchantment… lets you see how much magic a creature has?” She waved her hoof in front of her eyes, only too late realizing she must have ended the spell when she said the phrase again.

“Not quite. It lets you see the life of every creature that crosses the lens. It’s great for avoiding things in the forest, or tracking somepony who has used magic to turn invisible.”

Then why was your light so dim? Sanctis wanted to ask, but she could only see the conversation going one of two ways: either Ace didn’t want to talk about it, or it would be something sad, like he was dying in a year and that this was his last journey or something.

After all, he said yesterday his family had a secret that made them all look the same as they aged. He could be, like, a hundred years old!

He definitely acted like it, sometimes.

“So, how’d you sleep?” He asked, reaching a hoof out to ask for his glasses back.

“Great, actually. I think that’s the first night I haven’t had a nightmare since we left Frost Valley.”

Ace hmmed at that, then, “I’m glad you slept well. We’re still a ways out from the town around Neighagra Falls, and you’re going to be carrying your saddlebags with your magic today.”

Sanctis hefted the bag with her magic experimentally. It was even easier to pick up than yesterday, and she could still manage it after putting the blankets back.

“I think my magic really is getting stronger!” she exclaimed excitedly.

“As well it should. After being dormant for so long, it’s got lots of growing to catch up on.”

“When can I learn my first spell?”

“Hmm… Normally, the first spells you learn are your own. Your magic starts to develop its own strengths, and before you know it, the first spell just kind of… happens.

“Some unicorns even get their cutie mark from their first spell, but that’s more of a rare case.”

“So, then you can’t just teach me a new spell?”

“Well, I could, but it might actually hinder you. Like knowing the answers to a test because you saw an answer sheet, not because you actually know how to solve the problem.”

Ace stroked her mane softly when she pouted, still carrying the bags in her magic. “It might sound more fun to learn spells, but there’s an immense sense of pride at developing your own spell. It helps you become better acquainted with your own magic, as well.”

Sanctis concentrated on her saddlebags as she and Ace walked across the plains, willing her magic to do… something, but only managed to rotate the bags, or spin them around, or press the loose sections out or inward, compressing the contents.

Sanctis tried to think of what she wanted her magic to do but couldn’t really think of anything that wasn’t likely to damage their belongings. She tried real hard to not think about how easily she might set her bags on fire.

After trying everything she could think of – concentrating on her bags, not concentrating on her bags and just sort of letting her magic take control, wiggling her horn around, rubbing her horn with her hooves, closing her eyes and pretending the patterns on the bag were cuter – Ace tapped her on the shoulder.

Then she realized they had already made it to the town.

The falls themselves were huge. The river – is it still called a river? – was wide enough to sink the crystal from Summervale… and that was the biggest thing she had ever seen! Fang probably couldn’t even jump across without using his wings!

“Can we go see the falls?”

“Well there wouldn’t be much use in us coming all this way if we didn’t!” Ace said with a smile.

Sanctis laid the saddlebags across her back, worried she’d lose focus on her magic as she wandered through the small town.

Much of the town was just souvenir shops, and a few inns. What few houses there were were small and decorative, as if everything here was for show. Excited to see one of the natural wonders of the world, Sanctis wasn’t really concerned with the rest of the town, however.

Sanctis bounced through the town happily, Ace keeping a leisurely pace behind her with his casual smile on his face, matching the smiles of passersby who were delighted to see a happy filly.

It didn’t take long to reach the edge of the town, a platform that overlooked the falls. “Come on, slowpoke!” she called behind her. “You’re gonna miss it!”

With a laugh, Ace replied, “I promise you, Sanctis, the falls aren’t going anywhere.” Regardless, he trotted up beside her as she made it onto the platform alongside another onlooker.

With her front hooves on the guardrail, Sanctis looked over the falls.

Now she was looking down at it, Sanctis could see the other side of the river… and it was absolutely huge. The water fell over the cliff face and crashed at the bottom, kicking up a thick mist and making a powerful sound that drowned out everything else. She could practically feel her hairs standing on end at the sight.

Then she realized they were standing on end! From her mane to her tail, errant hairs were floating skyward.

“The water breaking at the bottom creates a highly humid and electric environment,” the onlooker yelled over the crash of the water beside them, her own mane standing on end as well. “That’s what makes your hair stand up like that. Isn’t it fascinating?!”

“It’s amazing!” Sanctis yelled back, still watching the falls, wondering how thick the mist was.

“The falls are just over 1,000 meters across… with about a 70-meter drop to the bottom!” The onlooker marveled.

“You sure seem to know a lot about the place, miss…” Ace said, looking to the wise pony. Sanctis checked her out, too.

She was a young earth pony mare, with a light purple coat and a darker purple mane. She looked at them with a smile on her face and in her emerald eyes, which had the most beautiful golden flecks in them.

“I’m here on a little vacation. My name’s Feather Scribe. I don’t have any feathers, so call me Scribe!”

“I will call you Scribe,” Sanctis said in a monotone voice. Ace raised an eyebrow at her.

Wait, I didn’t say that… did I?

The mare’s smile faded to worry for the briefest moments before she turned her gaze back to the falls.

“You have really beautiful eyes, Miss Scribe,” Ace said over the crashing water. Something in the tone of his voice said it was more than just a complement. “Might I see them again?”

Feather Scribe turned back to look at them for only long enough to say, “I don’t want to talk about my eyes,” before looking back away.

“We won’t talk about your eyes,” Sanctis said, again in monotone.

I’m not saying that!

“I suppose this is the part where I’m expected to drop the matter,” Ace said, his voice level, “but I’m afraid I just can’t do that, Miss Scribe.”

She looked at him with complete and total shock. Like he had just suggested she jump off of the platform to get a closer look. “You’re not affected?”

“Then it is true. You’re a magic-touched hornless unicorn who can’t control the compulsion hex in her eyes.” Hornless Unicorn? They make those? And what’s a ‘compulsion hex’?

“Where I come from, they just call us ‘earth ponies,’ but the rest of that sounds spot on… You’re really not affected?”

“Hard to say if I’m affected or not… but I wonder if these might have something to do with it,” he said as he took off his glasses. Feather Scribe gasped as she saw his mismatched eyes. “Try me,” he said, his glasses in hoof.

“Jump up and down,” the mare said, looking hard into Ace’s eyes. Sanctis managed to look away before she spoke.

Ace looked at the falls, then the platform, then said, “I think I’d rather not. Still, that’s quite a powerful hex. If I didn’t expect it and didn’t have a strong desire to not do what you said… it would probably have worked.”

“I… I don’t think I’ve ever met somepony who could resist it before. This curse has been with me for as long as I can remember.”

“It says a lot about your character that you view your situation as a curse, rather than a blessing,” Ace said, his gaze never leaving hers as he studied her eyes.

“How could I not? You don’t understand what it’s like, having everypony do everything you say. I can’t even look my mother and father in the eyes when I visit for fear of making them do something they don’t want to do… and forget trying to make friends!

“Please, if there’s something – anything! – you can do to help me, I would be in your debt.” Even without looking in her eyes, Sanctis could tell the mare was pleading.

“I can’t be certain if it’ll help, but,” Ace said, placing his glasses on her muzzle. The large frames weren’t particularly flattering on the mare’s more petite and feminine features, but they did have a sort of ‘bookish charm’. Behind the lenses, however, her emerald-and-gold eyes became a solid, brilliant sapphire.

“You really think these will help? I’ve worn glasses before, but they didn’t really do much…”

“These ones are special, as I’m sure you can see,” he said with a wink of his Al Bhed eye – either at the pun or the evidence. “Sanctis, if you’d be so kind?”

Sanctis held the mare’s sapphire gaze with a gulp, worried she might lose control of herself as soon as she spoke.

“Tell me a joke,” Feather Scribe said.

“No… and I don’t know any good jokes, anyways,” Sanctis said, relieved.

“They… they work!” Feather Scribe said, first incredulous then overjoyed. “I can’t believe they actually work!”

Ace just laughed at the honest joy in her reaction. “Glad I could help, Miss Scribe. I hope your ‘little vacation’ is filled with many such pleasures.”

“I… I can’t just take these. They’re too valuable. You must let me do something to pay you back! I, I don’t even know your name!”

Ace dipped into his usual bow, one hoof to his chest and the other sweeping outward. “Ace Deus Fenrir, and my companion Sanctis. You may call me Ace.

“We’re traveling together, and if you really wish to repay us, we’re rather short on funds. Even something so simple as a meal would be much appreciated.”

“Funds?” Feather Scribe laughed over the sound of the massive waterfall beside them. “Of course! Please, just tell me how much you need!”

“Oh, we wouldn’t want to inconvenience you. Just give us what you think the glasses are worth, and we’ll be grateful for your contributions.”

Scribe was almost in hysterics. “What I think they’re worth?! I couldn’t afford such an exuberant price!” she said, uncinching a coin pouch from her hoof and shoving it into Ace’s chest. “Just take it all! I have more in my hotel room.

“You have no idea what these mean to me. I’ve been to other unicorns who said they couldn’t help. Then you come along and solve the problem they couldn’t even explain like it was nothing!”

Ace was looking like he was considering giving her the bits back, then looked at Sanctis, then his broken horn and put the pouch in his saddlebags with a smile. “You’ve helped us out too, Miss Scribe, so I think that makes us about even”

“Even?!” Feather Scribe let out a sharp laugh once more. “If you say so!” She wrapped a big hug around Ace before she continued, “Oh, I can’t wait to tell everypony back home about this! Thank you so so so sooooo much!”

She raced off to one of the hotels, smiling the whole way.

“What was that?” Sanctis asked once she had disappeared behind the door. “A ‘hornless unicorn?’”

“Sometimes a unicorn is born without their horn, or a pegasus without wings. In the former, there are two types: Magic-touched and magic-capable, the latter of which is the same as a normal unicorn.”

“Then Feather Scribe was magic… touched? What does that mean?” Sanctis asked, the wonder of the natural world behind her forgotten as she was presented with an opportunity to learn more about magic.

“It means her magic manifested in a way that she couldn’t control. Think of it like she was enchanted; the enchantment in her case being the Compulsion Hex in her eyes,” he said as they started to make their way back into the town.

“So, whenever you look into her eyes, you do whatever she says?” That sounded cool, but after giving it some thought, Sanctis can see how it would get old real quick when you couldn’t control it.

Ace nodded. “I’ve known quite a few hornless unicorns who had apparent magic-touched properties, but hers… I can’t imagine what life must have been like growing up with such an affliction.

“Her mom and her dad probably learned to never look her in the eyes. Such treatment during the developmental stage must have been positively debilitating. Can you imagine such a thing?”

Sanctis gave the back of his head a droll stare, until he turned and found it.

“Right, sorry. Probably an unusual scenario for you to sympathize with.”

Her own situation aside, Sanctis could imagine how that could give rise to any number of issues or complexes. How everyone agreeing with you or doing what you say could raise your confidence, subsequently causing you to fail at something you were clearly not prepared for, or fostering bad habits.

“So, what happens with ‘wingless pegasi’? Don’t tell me they can fly!”

Ace chuckled at the idea as he reviewed various storefronts as they passed. “They get to walk on clouds. There’s no sub-divisions this time.”

Sanctis imagined an earth pony walking on the clouds with a group of pegasi, looks of shock on their faces. She couldn’t help but smile at the idea.

Finally finding a shop that offered what they needed, Ace made his way inside, Sanctis following behind him.

“- and when he dug it up, he said he found a hare’s carcass,” the mare behind the counter said to a customer as she bagged her goods. “Said it looked like a wolf tore into it.”

A look played across Ace’s features, but when Sanctis turned to him he already covered it up. “Sanctis, go get us some hardtack and some satchels for berries. Bring them to the counter,” he said as he stood in line behind the mare.

Sanctis did as she was bid, but kept her ears open. As small as the store was, she could hear the conversation at the counter.

“How about you, stranger?” the attendant asked. “Which way did you come from?”

“My companion and I came across the plains to the northwest, from Summervale.” Sanctis could hear the mares gasp, and didn’t need to see their faces to hear the surprise.

“Did ya’ll see any signs of a wolf? The head tracker in town says he found a mutilated hare buried along one of his paths. Dug it up just this morning before dawn.”

Sanctis figured the pause was Ace shaking his head. “Biggest thing we saw was a Plainstrider. Raced it to the shade of a tree just before sundown. We slept out in the plains under that tree and never saw nor heard anything.”

The mares shared a look as Sanctis made her way out of the aisles and towards the counter.

“I’ll wager this all blows over in a week with nopony seeing hide nor hair of this ‘wolf’ again,” Ace said with a smile. “How long’s it been since you’ve heard of any predators this far from the Everfree?”

The mares shared another look, visibly relaxing at the thought. “Why, I think the last one was in my great-great-grandmare’s time. Ya’ll are probably right. Just trackers getting’ bored and telling tales.

“This be all for you, then?” the attendant asked as Sanctis laid a batch of hardtack and two satchels on the counter with her magic. That’s three things, now! She thought to herself, not even realizing she did it.

Ace laid some bits across the counter and the attendant rang them up as the previous patron said her goodbyes and left with her bags.

“You seem the type to have an ear to the ground,” Ace said as he stowed their change. “You happen to know if Swirl Star is still around these parts?”

“That old unicorn? Reckon he is; he’s lived in the same place since I was a filly. Can’t say if he’s home or not. You know those big and important types – always got someplace better to be.”

Ace got directions to Swirl Star’s house, and thanked the mare as he gave half the hardtack and a satchel for Sanctis to carry in her saddlebags.

“Isn’t Swirl Star that famous sorcerer from forever ago?” Sanctis asked as they left the shop.

“That’s Star Swirl the Bearded,” Ace said with a smile. “Swirl Star is a unicorn named after him. His parents were an earth pony and a pegasus, just like Star Swirl’s parents were believed to be.”

“Aren’t the odds of that, like, really unlikely? I mean, Star Swirl was a really powerful unicorn… if he had parents that couldn’t do magic, wouldn’t the odds say he wouldn’t be a unicorn?” Then again, my mom was a pegasus too…

“It actually happens pretty often. Furthermore, his parents might have actually been a hornless unicorn and a hornless Alicorn. That would account for his excellent command over his magic, as well as his chances of being born a unicorn.”

“Wait, there’s hornless Alicorns, too?!” This is getting way too confusing.

“There’s every variant from pure earth pony to hornless-wingless Alicorns. It used to be pretty common knowledge, before the Mare-in-the-Moon era. For some reason or another, that knowledge has slowly faded into obscurity. Probably just because to most ponies, it doesn’t really matter.”

“So, then some earth ponies are actually Alicorns… and they just have no idea?”

“More or less, yeah. I’d say there’s more hornless and wingless variants than there are actual true earth ponies. The only way most could tell is by how strong that pony’s physical body was. True earth ponies’ muscles develop more easily than the sub-races.”

“Then I might actually be a wingless Alicorn?”

“Conceivably, yes. If you ever get a chance to walk on a cloud, give it try,” Ace managed with a light-hearted laugh. “I’d suggest having a pegasus friend to help you though, just in case.

“The odds aren’t likely. Even with hornless- and wingless- variants, Alicorns are the rarest of races and sub-races.”

I guess that was too much to hope for…

Making their way through the town, they came to Swirl Star’s house. “I honestly expected it to be… bigger.”

The house wasn’t much bigger than the houses through town, so it wasn’t that it was small, but Sanctis was expecting a great and powerful sorcerer to live in a place that, well, looked great and powerful.

“It’s bigger on the inside,” was all she managed to get out of Ace before he knocked on the door. What’s that supposed to mean?

Some time passed, Ace knocking a second time more persistently.

“Maybe he’s not home?” Sanctis said as Ace reached for the knob. It turned.

Making his way inside, Ace called out, “Swirl Star? Are you home?”

Not sure what else to do, Sanctis followed Ace inside.

There were books floating around by themselves, some drifting away from the door, presumably hit as it was opened. There were crystals in the sconces that provided light, though the light coming through the – mostly blocked – windows was rather brighter.

The room was actually pretty big. It might even have been spacious if it wasn’t for all the piles of books, tables of books, chairs of books, and the singular, large work table… covered in books.

There were two doors in the far wall. Ace opened the right one and revealed a staircase going down. “Swirl Star? Are you down there?”

“I really don’t think we should be in somepony’s house when they aren’t around…”

“He wouldn’t have left the door open if he wasn’t home. He’s probably just on one of the lower levels and can’t hear us.” Ace made his way down the stairs.

Not knowing what else to do, Sanctis followed Ace once more. That’s another thing I hate about being a filly… If I get caught here alone, I’m in trouble. If I’m caught with Ace, he takes the blame.

The stairs lead downward in a spiral. Surprisingly, they were made of stone. Also, surprisingly, there were a lot of them.

“How far down does this place go?” Sanctis wandered aloud.

“Down to the base of the falls,” Ace said, knocking on every door they passed. “When the local housing board refused to let him build a tower, Swirl Star commissioned builders and stonemasons to make an inverted tower instead. At the time, the housing board didn’t have any jurisdiction on what was built under a home.”

“I’m guessing that’s been changed?” Sanctis asked as Ace knocked on another door.

“Correct. Though, the housing board couldn’t unbuild the inverted tower, so Swirl Star keeps his property and the value skyrocketed. Turns out there’s many a business that would like the extra space, as well.”

Finally, there was a response on the other side of one of the doors.

It started with a crash, followed by a curse, followed by the shattering of glass, a much louder curse, then a bright flash of light under the door that probably wasn’t from a unicorn.

“Who in blazes is in my-“ the voice on the far side started before the door swung open. “Just who do you think-“ then he saw Ace’s eye. He was quiet for a time, until a fire burst from one of the books behind him, settled in a pool of glowing fluid with shards of glass at its center.

Without turning around, the unicorn in front of them lit his horn in a deep ocean-blue glow, the fire behind him smothering to a waft of smoke even as his gaze studiously examined Ace.

The older unicorn featured a dingy beige coat, with a mane that’s faded to gray with age, stubble on his chin from a beard infrequently attended. His eyes were an inquisitive gold.

“Another from the Fenrir family?” the unicorn harrumphed. “And to think folks say you only ever meet them twice. Once to form a debt and another to see it paid.

“Apparently they neglected to mention a Fenrir debt is never paid, no matter how many times you meet them.”

“Hey now,” Ace said, either offended or feigning offense, “you received magic lessons from the best and brightest in Equestria! Surely you didn’t think building a bottom entrance to your tower, or taking the apprenticeship of a young foal would see such a debt repaid!”

With a sigh, the unicorn nodded. “Yes. Yes, I did, in fact.” He seemed to notice Sanctis for the first time. He raised an eyebrow at her, appraising her, then shooting a meaningful glance to Ace’s broken horn.

Another sigh. “What does she know of magic? Have you even taught her extrasensory yet?”

“She’s not the reason I’m here.” Swirl Star gave Ace a doubtful look. “I need another pair of glasses like my father had. You know the ones? Wide lenses, enchanted…”

Swirl Star waved a hoof in the air, his horn lighting up once more, a pair of lenses appeared in the air, followed by frames. “Something like these, I presume?” They looked exactly like the lenses Ace gave to Feather Scribe!

“Yes, yes that’s it exactly. They just need a masking enchantment and a darkening condition for the eyes and they’d be perfect!”

Swirl Star looked at the glasses floating in his magic like he would rather drop them on the ground and break them. Then, with a sigh, the lenses flickered once and fell to his hoof. He proffered them to Ace.

“Just take them and leave. I’m very busy. I assume you’ll be taking the bottom exit?”

“That’s right. By the way… the trick with alchemist’s fire is to craft it in a vacuum so there’s no air to fuel the fire.”

The stallion’s eyes shot wide at the idea, slamming the door in their faces. “So nice seeing you, so sorry you have to leave so soon! Much work to be done! Do see yourselves out!”

Ace just laughed as he settled the lenses over his eyes. “Friendly sort, isn’t he?” He said as he made his way down the stairwell.

Sanctis’ gaze switched from Ace, to the door, then back again before she trotted down the steps after him. “What was that?”

Ace raised an eyebrow at her. “You mean the socially seclusive unicorn, his rash denial of company or the alchemist’s fire he was trying to create?”

“Yes,” Sanctis said. Petulant child rides again.

Ace shrugged as he walked. “Swirl Star’s never been one for company. Even when I- I mean my father, signed him up for lessons under madame Elegant Suffusion and sir Righteous Energy so that he could learn magic… though to be fair, those two were a lot to be around even for a socially active pony.”

“And that flaming liquid that nearly set the whole tower on fire was… alchemist’s fire?”

“A less potent variant, likely for experimentation purposes, yes.”

“And the more potent stuff would be useful to have in a town full of ponies… because?”

Ace froze in his steps for a moment, then carried on like it was nothing. “I’m sure he has a reason. He’s asocial, but not necessarily crazy. Eccentric, yes. But I don’t think he’s making the alchemist’s fire to hurt anypony. Probably just some casual fancy he had when reading some tome about the stuff.”

“Say it is just some passing fancy… where is he going to keep it? Here in the inverted tower? What happens if that stuff breaks loose and he’s not here to contain it? The whole town could go up!”

“If it was closer to town, maybe. Down here, amongst the stone and rock, there’s nothing to really carry the flames up to town. Swirl Star might lose some precious books, but the town is safe. That’s why he’s made his workshops down here and the library up at the top.”

They made their way down the tower, and at the bottom it leveled out to a long hallway with doors along both sides.

“Does he really need all of these rooms when he’s the only pony that lives here?” Sanctis asked as they walked past the bajillionth door.

Ace feigned shock dramatically. “One never knows when one may need a room for their experiments, or a room for their trophies, or another room for books… Better to have and not need than to need and not have!”

Sanctis fixed him with a glare. Ace just laughed it off. “Besides, the hallway itself is necessary,” he said as they reached the end of the hallway. Is that the sound of water?

Ace opened the door and made his way through, the sound of water getting considerably louder. When Sanctis made her way out as well, she saw why.

Not 20 meters to their left was the base of the falls. Swirl Star’s tower led them all the way to the bottom of the falls.

“Now from here,” Ace shouted over the crashing water that threatened to deafen them both, “we follow the train tracks to Hollow Shades!”

Physical

Chapter One: Physical

The dark Unicorn made his way through the underground tunnel, a few small stones set in the walls lighting his path in a soft blue light. Looking around at the walls, he noted that they were almost completely smooth, as though they had been carved with the most delicate of strokes as they came to a curve as they leveled with the ground.

Before long, the Unicorn came to a sliding door with a fountain-like recess in the wall that had accumulated a natural collection of clear, clean water that showed his reflection. Taking a moment to view himself in the pool of water, he straightened his dark-and-darker red mane as his horn alighted in the black glow of his magic. Now finished with his preening, the deep-gray coated Unicorn looked the reflection in the mismatched red and blue eyes as he steeled himself.

The door began to open as it glowed with the blackened touch of his magic, revealing the slightly brighter room ahead with a domed ceiling and a few stone columns, some natural and some carved. As the door behind him closed, a ball of fire hurtled towards him.

The dark Unicorn leapt into the air, his horn alighting as he spread his magic around him, an imperceptible field of the aura dancing across everything in the surrounding area as the fireball crashed into the door as it barely managed to close in time.

Through the field of his magic, the dark Unicorn could feel something moving around the cave, though it was moving in such a way that it could not be traced as it appeared and disappeared in a seemingly spontaneous pattern. As he was trying to predict the movements of the creature who had attacked him, a voice echoed through his mind.

’I have been waiting for you, Ace. I do hope that you do not mind that I have taken the initiative in this lesson…’ the female voice reverberated in his mind before another fireball pulsed through the air towards him, seeming to materialize out of thin air.

’Not at all. ‘Tis the sign of a great teacher to allow their student to learn at their own pace,’ Ace called back through the telepathic link as he used his horn to harness the magic of the slow projectile, causing it to fizzle out just before it would have collided with him.

Using the energy from the absorbed spell, he waited until he felt the opponent’s gaze fall upon him before releasing the energy in a blinding flash of light as he closed his eyes, using only his magical senses to feel around the room as they flooded his mind with details of his aggressor, as well as their surroundings.

In light of his effort, the enemy was blinded and stumbled for only a few steps before it again disappeared from his magical sight. Ace attempted to trace the spell his opponent had used to escape, but could not as there was no magical residue – excess magic that is normally left behind as too much magic is used to cast a spell.

Ace again opened his eyes as he looked around the arena of a room for sign of the creature, but even with his magical senses, he could not detect the foe. However, it was quite apparent that they could see him, as Ace felt a spell being cast behind him.

Out of reflex, Ace jumped and spun around to better view the spell, though he had jumped too soon as the spell that was cast had a homing element mixed in with it, causing it to turn towards him as he was propelled helplessly in the air. To evade the blow, Ace flash-teleported away, causing it to lose track of him as he appeared on the other side of a pillar, making the spell collide with the ceiling.

Before Ace could even finish releasing a sigh of relief, another spell seemed to appear out of nowhere in front of him. Taking no time to assess the spell, Ace absorbed the magic into his own, and used the energy to cast a revealing spell around the area from whence it came.

The spell had succeeded insomuch that it allowed Ace a small glance at a pair of lavender hind-hooves that were accompanied by a disembodied gasp of shock before the entity flash-teleported away again, though Ace could now track the pony in his magical senses.

Doing exactly that, Ace flash-teleported himself behind her and cast the revealing spell once more, this time hitting directly. Whatever glamour spell the lavender Unicorn had been using dissipated almost immediately, revealing her lavender coat in full, as well as her dark blue, violet and rose mane and tail. Not only her body came into view, but her amethyst eyes and glowing horn revealed themselves, the latter being used to teleport a single-bladed sabre to hoof with a rosy flash of light.

Muttering a short curse under his breath, Ace teleported a short sword of his own to block her coming attack as she leapt at him, sliding back a few inches as his hooves scraped along the stone of the cavern. Once he had come to a stop and regained his footing, he sidestepped the attack as he used his blade to guide hers to the ground before turning with a flourish to strike her from behind.

As his sword whistled through the air, his foe pivoted on a back hoof to evade the blow as Ace’s momentum set him off-balance before he could recover, creating an opening as the sabre made its way towards him in a circular motion.

Ace discarded his weapon and rolled to the side, dodging the attack but leaving him unarmed as he snarled at the foe with an animalistic growl that shook her nerves for the slightest of moments. Making use of this, he charged at her and rammed his shoulder against her chest, knocking not only the wind from her lungs, but also the sabre from her hoof as she backpedaled.

As swift as he could, Ace took the sword from her weakened grasp before sweeping around and reclaiming his weapon in his other hoof. A look of fear crossed the Unicorn’s features as Ace prepared to dive at her in another violent assault.

The opponent’s eyes winced shut at his approach as her horn alit once more, teleporting herself elsewhere in the cave. Ace’s hooves slid across the floor once again as he assessed his surroundings in his magical senses, finding the mare as his horn glowed black in a flash-teleport of his own.

Ace appeared in front of her, just over her head, as he swung down upon her with both of the blades. However, the mare had teleported another weapon to hoof – another sabre – and blocked the attack as her horn began to glow. Ace kicked off the Unicorn’s chest just in time to watch a flurry of icy needles soar past his head as he flipped backwards through the air.

When he had landed, the mare was already charging at him, blade first as her horn continued to glow. With little time to react to the attack, Ace quickly erected a barrier with his magic as he prepared to counter the physical attack with his own weapons. The mare leapt into the air, her hoof raising above her head as she neared him, but as Ace rose a blade to parry, she flash-teleported.

Ace’s horn was alight again as a curse escaped his muzzle. The barrier that surrounded him become much denser, deflecting the physical attack as the mare collided with it. Turning around, Ace watched as the mare climbed to the top of the solid shield, taking a deep breath and closing her eyes as her horn started to glow.

Ace continued to watch, confused, as the enemy Unicorn leapt into the air; his expression changed to shock as she pulled back her blade and started to fall horn first into the obstruction. Ace quickly pulled back one hoof as he prepared an attack of his own, the other sword awaiting by his side to counter hers.

The mare landed horn first against the barrier, causing a loud thundering sound to crash through the cave as the shield began to crack and shatter beneath her horn, enhanced and strengthened by her magical power. As she broke through, she started to swing her blade in a wide arc that threatened to decapitate her foe.

Ace blocked her sword with his spare as his knees buckled under her strength and her weight, now suspended only by their swords fighting for dominance as his weapon began to crack beneath the force. With her exposed, Ace swung his sabre and laid the blade against her throat.

“You have grown strong, dearest Twilight, but your aggression leads you only on the path of defeat,” Ace said as Twilight swallowed hard against the sword that threatened her.

Ace discarded the blade as gravity finally caught up with Twilight, Ace catching her as she fell, causing all three of the blades to clatter against the stone floor of the cave.

“Nevertheless, that was a very impressive maneuver, my student. I don’t remember teaching you such reckless behavior,” he said, half-impressed and half-scolding.

Twilight Sparkle landed into his hooves before lowering herself to the ground with a nod of thanks, a soft blush and a smile gracing her features. “I didn’t intend to use it, really… I learned the technique for using one’s horn to breach barriers in one of the books from your library, and it just sort of… fit the situation.”

Ace nodded with a smile as he teleported their weapons away. “Well I can definitely support the idea that it fit the situation, but your primary concern should have been disarming me, as I had you at a disadvantage,” he said before the smile faded and his tone became that of a mentor. “I would not have had the advantage if you had not faltered and lost control of your weapon, however.”

Twilight shied away with a nod as she reflected on the short moment of weakness. “I know, it’s just… that growl of yours is incredibly imposing, and it always catches me off-guard. It wouldn’t work for anypony else-“ she managed before Ace placed a hoof over her muzzle.

“Your opponent will use any weakness you allow, my student,” he said as he lowered the hoof and started making for the door at the far end of the arena. “I know that I can make you hesitate, and so I do so when I need. You must always be wary of any trick your foe will employ, and my voice is a very simple one; anypony else may do the same thing.”

Twilight started to follow behind him with a soft sigh. “Maybe, but still… We’ve been together for nearly three months now, so I have a hard time remembering just how… imposing you can be.”

Ace shook his head once as Twilight came alongside him. “We have discussed this matter while we were making this small arena, remember?” he said before looking at her. “Here in this cave, we are not one another’s special someponies: we are enemies - only for the sake of training, of course.”

Twilight nodded that she remembered as her horn lit in her magic as she opened the door at the far end of the cave, which revealed a small spring of water they had found as they were excavating the cave, now serving as their own personal bath after their training sessions.

The soft, blue lights that lit the cave danced across the surface of the water elegantly as it rippled from the droplets of water that fell from the small stalactites overhead. Twilight started to move towards the edge of the water, wishing to take a small drink before wiping the sweat from her face after the brief battle.

With little warning aside from a short chortle of laughter, Ace body checked her, causing her to gasp sharply before submerging into the water with a loud splash, her hooves landing on the floor of the pool moments later, the cool water rising up to surround her as her coat and mane fanned out. She pushed against the floor of the pool, leading her back to the surface. As her head breached the water, she took in a sharp inhalation of air before glaring at Ace.

Ace, still laughing lightly, had taken the sleeve off his left hoof and was already leaping into the water as he tucked himself into the shape of a ball. Twilight had only enough time to close her eyes as she looked away before he splashed into the water.

Once Ace had come up, Twilight looked at him with a playful glare as he laughed all the louder. “You looked like you could use a short dip,” he said before Twilight’s glare melted away into a smile at the small trick. “Wouldn’t want to show up back in town all sweaty, would we?”

“No, I suppose not,” she said with a laugh before splashing him in the face, causing a long battle of splashing to ensue.

After they had finished playing around in their private pool, they both crawled back onto solid ground as Ace teleported a fluffy white towel for them to share, taking only a moment to dry his own face before helping towel her down.

While it was true that either of them could dry themselves with their magic, Twilight admired that Ace often preferred to take a much more… personal approach to things, his hooves carrying the thick fabric over her body to collect the moisture. His gaze lingered for a moment as he admired her cutie mark – a large, violet six-pointed star with white points at each of the corners in the center of five smaller, white six pointed stars.

Twilight took the opportunity to steal the towel from him as she started to repay the favor in kind, her hooves carrying the dampened fabric over him as well, though her gaze mimicked his as she lingered over his cutie mark as well. His emblem, as he called cutie marks, was that of a dark-gray hoof grasping a white one, as though somepony had fallen and needed help, the pair silhouetted by the full moon.

When Ace noticed her staring at his flank, the towel pausing over his body, he smiled and playfully nudged her with his left hoof, causing the black mass that covered it to brush over her as she budged. In response, she took the hoof into her own as she caressed it.

Twilight felt sad that Ace always had to wear the sleeve over his afflicted hoof, though she understood it was for everypony’s safety. On its own, the pre-magic that coated him was harmless – adhering to him after a failed experiment some months ago, attempting to drain the magic from him as it started to glow with a few white lights.

However, if somepony else were to use magic too close to the black goo when Ace did not have the sleeve, crafted from fibres treated with anti-magic stone powder, then the goo would leap from him and latch onto them, preventing them from using magic altogether.

Twilight’s hoof traveled up the amorphous mass that felt a bit like gooey, uncooked batter until she came to the scar tissue that separated the pre-magic from his flesh. Where the pre-magic touched there was just a solid, straight line all around the hoof that acted as a barricade to protect the runic words beyond.

The words were not the common Equestrian Twilight had grown up with, but rather the Al Bhed language that Ace knew as a foal. The intricate curves of the language made the scar more alluring than grotesque as the letters did not resemble common Equestrian, yet she had learned to read them all the same: ‘Hu sykel ouhtan’, or ‘No magic yonder’ in her language.

The runic letters were not the only signs of his heritage as her eyes wandered up to meet his multi-colored gaze, his left eye being a solid red as the pupil swirled from the center out to the edge, making a spiral through the red iris. The spiral was the trademark signature of an Al Bhed – a technology driven race who shun magic. Normally, an Al Bhed’s eyes were green, but Ace’s one red eye denoted him as a half-blood who carried powerful magic.

Ace leaned towards her, pressing his muzzle against hers in a tender kiss as their eyes slid closed. After they parted, Twilight helped Ace replace the sleeve as his horn alighted, preparing to teleport the two of them away, out of their private, softly lit cave.

Ace and Twilight emerged from a dark flash of light in the upstairs bedroom of their small little home in Ponyville, the first floor being a library that had more books than shelves. No sooner than Twilight recovered her senses after the teleport, a pink pony with a tangled mane of a darker pink poked her head over the top of the stairs.

“Hey Acey!” the pink pony said when she caught sight of the pair. “Did you two just get home? That sure is lucky; I just got here!” Ace nodded with a smile as he and Twilight turned to face the manic pony.

“That we did, Pinkie,” Ace said as she started to bounce around the room, looking over the single, circular bed the pair shared. “Did you need something?”

Pinkie picked up a doll that looked remarkably similar to Ace and started to play with it before turning to answer the question. “Well actually I wanted to ask what you were going to do about the Acey-going-away-tomorrow-night party,” she said as she made the toy dance around on a pillow stage. “I mean, we haven’t even discussed how many balloons we’re going to blow up, let alone what shapes they should be!”

Twilight’s face took on a sad countenance as Ace wrapped a hoof over her back. “Pinkie, we’re not having a going away party…” she replied to the easily excited party pony. “You and the others are welcome to come by and see him off, but… We’re not doing anything big, okay? No parties. Please.”

Even the ever-happy Pinkie Pie started to look a bit sad at the idea as she dropped the toy, causing it to sprawl itself over the small pillow. “Are you sure? I mean, it might be the last party Acey gets to go to...”

Ace walked over to the bed, reaching a hoof under their friend’s muzzle as she started to droop, making her look him in his unshielded eyes. “Pinkie, we’re doing our best not to talk like that. Besides, there’s only a three in seven chance that I won’t be back.” The odds made Pinkie smile a sad smile, but they only made Twilight all the more nervous.

Ace was soon going to be leaving to perform a secret ritual in private. The ritual would take him far away from Ponyville, but it could only be performed each year on the night of New Year’s Eve as the old year fades to the new. The ritual was important, as it allowed Ace to renew his life, making him an immortal – at least as far as time was concerned; anything as simple as a high fever could kill him as easily as anypony else.

Pinkie let out a soft sigh as Ace allowed his hoof to fall away from her muzzle as he straightened the cloth doll so it stood on its hooves. “Well, just Pinkie Promise me that you’ll come back safe, okay?”

Ace nodded solemnly as he crossed a hoof across his chest, “Cross my heart and hope to fly,” he said before raising the same hoof and placing it over his right eye gently, “stick a cupcake in my eye – I will do everything in my power to return to Ponyville.”

Pinkie Pie shook her head with a forlorn smile, “You always leave an escape for yourself, don’t you? Well, it’s definitely not your worst quality…” Pinkie shook her head more rapidly for a moment before she bounced in place for a moment. “Well, it’s your last night together, so I’ll leave you two alone. Tell the princesses I said hi!” she said before bouncing down the stairs and out the door.

Twilight was watching her leave as Ace stifled a laugh for a moment. When Twilight turned to look what he was laughing at, he half-lidded his eyes as he wriggled his eyebrows at her. Twilight froze, blushing for a moment at the insinuation before recovering as she nudged him, making him laugh a bit more.

“Alright, alright,” he said as his features set back to his casual smile. “Still, we never decided if we were going to sleep here at home, my mansion, or at Mom and Dad’s house.” Twilight smiled a bit, remembering how her dad, Night Light, told Ace to call him and her mother, Twilight Velvet, Mom and Dad.

“Well, we need to visit the princesses before you leave, and my parents are going to want to say goodbye as well. Just in case, you… you know…” Twilight started rubbing her hoof anxiously as she turned her eyes to the floor for a moment.

Ace wrapped a hoof around her shoulders as he reassured her, “I’m not going to go without a fight, my dearest Starlight.” Twilight smiled softly as he used his own special nickname for her, calling her the light that guided him in his darkness. “Just as I promised Pinkie, I’m going to do everything in my power to come back to you,” he said as he wrapped his hooves around her in a warm, but melancholic embrace.

As they parted, Ace pulled his glasses from the bedside nightstand in his magic, bringing them to rest before his eyes as they changed colors, the red Al Bhed eye turning bright sapphire blue as the opposite brightened to match.

Whenever they were alone, Ace left the enchanted lenses on the nightstand, but whenever they went out, or would be seeing somepony who was not close to them, he would wear them to hide his secret heritage. Twilight was glad that Ace felt comfortable around her and her friends, but wished that Ace did not have to hide his lineage from everypony else.

Once his glasses were in place, he walked over to the window for a moment as he looked up at the sky with a sad, worried look on his face. Twilight came up beside him as she did the same, noticing that he was once again looking at the tiny sliver of light that betrayed the waning crescent of the moon.

“Are you sure everything is going to be okay?” Twilight asked as she turned back to look at Ace, who looked as though he was reciting a prayer in his mind. On no small number of occasions, Ace had told her that he and the moon bore an unusual bond – whenever the moon was wan and weak, so too was his fortune. Likewise, whenever the moon was wax and strong, especially full, so too was his luck.

Of course, Twilight had at first dismissed such unscientific thoughts, but Ace had made it a point to lecture her that in their world of magic, not all things can so easily be explained. Ace did seem to have an affiliation with the moon aside from his cutie mark, and often reminded her that they had met on the night of a full moon. Regardless, Twilight had witnessed a number of other situations that befit his argument as well.

After several moments, Ace finally turned to her with a tilt of his head as though he only just heard her speak, though some time had passed. “I am afraid that I cannot be sure of anything, my Starlight,” he said with a frown before moving away from the window. “The only certainty is what will happen if I do not at least attempt the ritual.”

Twilight nodded as she thought of the situation for perhaps the twentieth time that day; Ace had lived for thousands of years through a ritual meant solely for Alicorns – ponies with the horns and magic of a Unicorn, and the flight-granting wings of a Pegasus. Since Ace is not an Alicorn, the ritual could fail, causing trouble with his magic.

At present, Ace has failed the ritual two times in a row, causing him to be unable to properly control his magic, resulting in misfires every few spells. Additionally, if he did not use his magic constantly through his magical senses or other means, then it would overflow and cause a magical-equivalent of an Electromagnetic Pulse, draining all of the magic from anything or anypony caught in the blast. Both of these things caused a tremendous strain on both his body and his magic. If he failed a third time, his magic would devour his body from the inside out.

When Ace had noticed she was brooding, he promptly nudged her with a hoof, a tell-tale false smile on his face that betrayed his own fears on the matter. “Come on, cheer up. Mom and Dad are going to get mad at me if you show up all mopey when we visit.” Twilight nodded once as she playfully nudged him back before his horn alit in the teleportation spell.

Author's Note

I'm actually releasing this earlier than intended, so I may edit, revise or re-vision a part or two. I'll notify all of you should any significant changes be made!
Also, as always, let me know what you think! Did I do something too much? Should I change something? Let me know as soon as possible! ^^

Sightseeing

Chapter Three: Sightseeing

After breakfast, Twilight Velvet and Night Light waved their goodbyes as they wished Ace the best of luck on his ‘business trip’ as he and Twilight Sparkle made their way towards the market that stood before the Royal Canterlot Castle.

“Wouldn’t it be simpler to teleport straight to the castle?” Twilight said as they turned a corner, now out of sight of her old house.

“Simpler, yes, but not nearly as much fun,” he replied before looking up to the sky with a melancholic gaze. “I’d like to a do a bit of sightseeing before my trip. If we were to teleport there now, we’d be early, anyways.”

Twilight nodded before turning her eyes skyward as well. The sun had only begun to rise from the horizon, obscured slightly behind a cover of white, fluffy clouds.

“Well, I suppose it has been a while since we last strolled through town. Any idea where you’d like to go first?”

Ace’s mischievous smile quirked its way back over his muzzle as he leveled his gaze once more. “Why, aimless wandering is the only way to see all of the sights a city has to offer, my dear.”

’Somehow, I doubt that…’ she thought to herself, only rarely knowing Ace to do anything aimlessly without thought or cause.

As the pair ascended a set of steps just shy of the marketplace, the sword Ace carried on his back rattled with each step as the leather strap creaked.

“Should you really wear that out in the open? We could have left it with mom and dad until we were ready to go back to Ponyville.”

Ace looked confused for a moment before realizing what Twilight was talking about. “Actually, it would be best that I carry it with me.” Though they were still climbing the steps, the rattling and creaking noises stopped completely.

“In all honesty, it has been quite some time since I’ve carried a sword. Should the event arise that I do need to travel with it, I need my body to remember all of the slight nuances and differences in weight. The last thing I need is to sound like a church bell with every step I take through the forest.”

Twilight sincerely hoped it wouldn’t come to that, but she was glad that he always accounted for every possibility he could think of, even if some of his solutions seemed unorthodox.

As they came to the crest of the steps, Twilight was surprised when Ace hung to the right, rather than going straight for the Market. Normally, one of Ace’s favorite things to do in just about any town or city was to watch the ponies coming and going at the market or bazaar, watching what was being sold or what items seemed most valuable.

Today, however, he seemed rather uninterested in the bustling raucousness of the market as he made his way towards a small restaurant that featured a covered rooftop that served as a second dining area.

Without so much as paying any mind to the sign that read “Customers and Employees only” along the way to the rooftop, Ace ascended the steps and sat down at a vacant table near the edge, motioning for Twilight to have a seat as well.

The restaurant was nice, featuring an edible centerpiece of various flowers and two pairs of theater binoculars.

Having just ate, Ace appeared more interested in the latter as he picked up a pair and looked about the town from their shaded vantage point. After a brief cursory glance, he lowered them just long enough to motion for Twilight to pick hers up as well.

“Take a closer look at the castle from here, particularly the stained glass windows.” Ace’s mischievous, playful smile persisted even once the glasses were in place once more.

Doing as she was asked, Twilight brought the binoculars up as well before turning her gaze to the castle before setting the focus to a more reasonable setting.

As her hoof played with the dial, the exterior of the castle slowly turned from a massive white blur, to a somewhat distinguishable blur, then finally became clear again.

Once she could properly see through the lenses, she started to admire the stained glass windows that featured various scenes from Equestrian history, each of which glistened brightly in the sunlight that made each of the windows evermore vibrant with color.

The first bore an image of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna combating Discord with the Elements of Harmony.

Next to it was the scene of Unicorns, Pegasi, and Earth Ponies uniting under the Princesses standing side by side with a space between them, each raising a wing opposite the other as they bore banners that carried the symbol of Equestria. On the same window was a scene of each of the previous ponies working together in constructing something, likely symbolic of raising the new nation from the soil.

In the third, there were three scenes: The first bore Princess Luna as she taught the Pegasi to control the weather and shape the clouds; the second held the image of earth ponies working the fields and raising houses; the third held Princess Celestia as she instructed the Unicorns in the ways of peaceful magic.

“I am ever so glad that sir and madam enjoy the view,” came a voice behind the pair. “Have sir and madam not received their menus?”

Ace and Twilight lowered their glasses to acknowledge the waitress. She took a moment to look over the pair, her gaze lingering a bit longer over Ace than it had Twilight.

As she examined Ace a bit more closely, she suddenly jumped back a moment before bowing politely. “A thousand pardons, Mister Fenrir! Might I interest you or your marefriend in a cold beverage?”

Ace simply shook his head with a soft smile before the waitress looked to Twilight as well, though her response was no different.

“Should you require anything, simply call and somepony will assist you. Good day!” The waitress seemed in a hurry to leave as she proceeded to tend to another table.

Twilight looked to Ace, expecting an explanation, but he instead rose the glasses before his own once more. “Tell me, Twilight, do you notice anything odd about the second and third windows from the left?”

Raising the glasses again, she took a closer look at the last two windows she had examined. “The style is… a bit odd. Celestia and Luna look as though they have enough room to raise their wings closer to each other, but they have only their outer wings spread. In the third, the earth ponies do not have anypony leading them. Considering that the theme is meant to be unification of all ponies, it seems odd that they would be left without somepony to guide them, as the Pegasi and Unicorns do. In fact, there’s even a space as though somepony could easily fit in that position.”

Even with the glasses obscuring her vision, she could still see Ace clearly in her mind as she heard him chucking to himself across the table. ”Right as always, my dearest Starlight. If you look closer, the glass in those sections are slightly newer than the rest.”

Straining her eyes through the lenses, Twilight did notice that the glass was slightly brighter in those two places, despite each of the windows being fully illuminated in the daylight.

“So then there was somepony there? Who might it be?” Twilight lowered her glasses to look across the table at Ace, but he appeared to have vanished.

“There was somepony there, yes,” he called from behind her as he made his way back down the steps. “However, that pony and their contribution to Canterlot’s and Equestria’s past has been removed, redacted, rescinded or rewritten in all but the most official and all-inclusive archives. Were I to venture a guess, I would say what few tomes bear the original image those murals held would be found only in the Royal Canterlot Archives’ Equestrian History branch under the Secure/Private section.”

Ace paused at the bottom of the steps for only a moment to be certain Twilight was following along before turning away from the market once more.

“But why?” Twilight questioned as she came alongside him in measured strides. “If Equestria had another ruler, why would their name and silhouette be removed from the history books?”

“Because that pony was not an Alicorn, my dear. Furthermore, they wished not to be remembered for their deeds in the past, and further still, they did not wish to lead anypony. After the mystery pony fought alongside Celestia and Luna to defeat Discord, the masses rejoiced and proclaimed them the new rulers in Discord’s stead. There was no vote, no tally, no checking of credentials. The trio was simply granted the power Discord once held. Someponies are not meant to lead, and that mystery pony understood that their place was among the commonponies, not aristocrats and politicians.”

Twilight mulled over the words, contemplating what she may have done in the same circumstances, fearing that she likely would be unfit as a ruler herself, forever believing that Princess Celestia was the only pony she could ever dream would be capable of ruling over Equestria.

Remembering that it was not Celestia who currently ruled over the nation, Twilight winced as she chastised herself for forgetting about the poor situation Princess Luna was currently in.

When her thoughts returned to the situation at hoof, she realized Ace was leading them down a dead-end street that ended in the rock face of the mountain with nary a business or house to either side of them.

“Um, Ace, where are we going, exactly?”

Ace looked at her as he continued walking forward as though he suspected she may have amnesia before his mischievous grin returned. “We are going to visit Princess Luna to catch up and see how Princess Celestia’s treatments are going. Do you not recall?”

Not wishing to be the pessimist of the situation, but seeing little else for the pair down this street she responded with a droll stare. “And Princess Luna is to meet us in a dark alleyway with nopony watching rather than in the nicely lit castle surrounded by all of her guards, because…?”

Ace sat down only a hoof’s length away from a corner of the rocky mountain wall that punctuated the end of the poorly cared-for road as he looked at her as though she may have had a screw loose.

“But we are meeting her in the castle,” he said before extending a hoof to wall without taking his gaze from her as the mischievous smile persisted beyond his sarcastic tone. His hoof rolled to the side as he slid away a loose piece of stone, then slid his hoof into the rock beyond it until there was an audible ‘Click’ sound. “We’re just taking the scenic route, is all.”

The cover slid back into place before the ground shook unexpectedly. Followed by the ground, the massive rock wall started to shake as well before it slid back several feet, then slid to the side out of the way to reveal a massive cave beyond, laminated by the soft glow of crystals placed at set intervals throughout.

Twilight’s jaw dropped as Ace casually made his way into the hidden path, motioning for her to follow as she stood dumbstruck by the momentous find.

Once Twilight had recovered enough of her composure to slowly put one hoof in front of the other, she entered the expansive cave with the look of awe affixed to her muzzle.

Her eyes wandered over the roof of the cave, which was rounded out with only small stalactites beginning to form to mar the perfect shape. On the side of the cave immediately across from the entrance there was a wide crevasse carved into the stone, somewhat like a ditch.

Twilight jumped a bit with a feminine noise as the entrance slammed to a close behind her, eliciting another chuckle from Ace’s mischievous grin.

“This tunnel was once used to carry small goods such as letters and commands down the mountain, back when the water flowed through here,” he said as he motioned towards the ditch, illuminated by the crystalline lights overhead.

“What happened to change that?” Twilight asked as they started to make their way up the gentle slope of the cavern.

“Just nature, really. The water eventually gained enough pressure to open a release somewhere further upstream, and the tunnel had already served its purpose by that point, so nopony bothered to combat nature and block up the alternate path.

“This pathway has since been repurposed, however,” Ace said as he motioned to a couple of split stones that laid in the path of tracks Twilight would never have seen otherwise. “During times of war, such a tunnel would be used to quietly move troops to key positions around the city in the event of a siege, but during these times of peace they are used to move private goods into the castle, such as Celestia’s medicine.”

Despite Princess Celestia’s condition being of a magical nature, with the only effective treatments being of a similar breed, she still had common symptoms such as fever and delirium. To stem the effects of the physical ailments, the finest herbalists and other practitioners provided the kingdom with their most potent remedies and potions. These were, of course, screened by the castle staff before being administered, but it made sense that they trafficking of such goods was done in secret so as not to raise alarm about the Princess’s condition.

When Ace, leading the way by several paces, reached the top of the small slope, he turned to the right and sat down, a calming aura washing over him as his entire body appeared lose all of its tenseness.

Curious, Twilight hurried her pace slightly before she came alongside him, and realized what he had seen. Her own plot fell to the ground, her jaw nearly following it.

In the cave, centered around a crystal clear pool of water whose clarity belied its true depth, were all sorts, shapes and sizes of gems that glistened in the soft light of the crystals overhead. The light from these gems reflected onto the water before dancing across the others, causing an unending show of light as each of the gems shared their beauty with the others.

With each subtle drop that fell from the small stalactites overhead, the water rippled and danced as if alive, the gems both above and below the surface its eternal partner as the lights played a metaphorical tune with an irresistible rhythm.

The blues of sapphires, the reds of rubies, the greens of emeralds, the yellows of peridots… There were so many beautiful and colorful lights dancing from gem to gem as the lights mingled together to make more colors, new colors.

Twilight, her jaw still descended, looked to her side to watch Ace, but his head was bowed in what she could only guess was a silent prayer.

Twilight couldn’t be certain what Ace was thinking, or what significance the site held for him, but she thought it best to let him finish before questioning it.

’He always manages to find meaning in the smallest of things…’

Over the past few months, Twilight started to realize more and more that Ace analyzed nearly everything, and not just with his magical senses. Ace was capable of finding meaning, purpose, significance or value in even the smallest of things.

’The longer that one lives,’ he had told her once as part of a lesson, ’the more that one will bear witness to the consequence of their actions. When Little Raven and I built our home where we intended to raise Forest Wave, we carelessly took all of the trees and lumber from a single area, rather than spreading out and taking the trees from various areas.

’We had thought nothing of it at the time, but a few years later when Forest Wave was still just a young little foal, she ventured into that clearing and stumbled across a patch of Venovine, which can only grow in direct sunlight…

‘The vine has a weak poison that could make a full grown pony fall slightly ill, but for such a small foal, the illness is strong enough that it could take their life. Luckily, Raven and I found her not long after she was pricked. We tended for her, and I do not believe that Raven ever realized where that clearing had been… That we had inadvertently harmed our child, nearly killing her.’

The lesson hung heavily in Twilight’s mind, but she was certain the memory held a far stronger hold over Ace’s.

”May my journey be safe, my hooves be strong, and let nothing of this natural world hinder my success.”

Twilight started suddenly as Ace broke the silence with what she guessed was an Al Bhed prayer. Putting that aside, however, she asked, “What is this place?”

The solemn look on Ace’s features gave way to his usual soft smile. “We call it the Spring of Fortune, but it has no real name as so very few know of it,” he said before waving his hoof around in a showy motion. “This entire cave, aside from the curved overhead, is all natural. When we found the spring, we said ‘My, how fortunate we are!’ and it became the Spring of Fortune.”

Twilight had to stifle a laugh at so simple an explanation. She mildly recalled that the Ritual of New Life had to take place at a body of water. “Is this where you perform the ritual?”

It was Ace’s turn to stifle a laugh. “I’m afraid not. The ritual requires a much, much larger body of water than this.” He looked at the beautiful sight once more with a gaze that appeared both happy and sad. “It certainly would be nice, however.”

As Ace proceeded further into the tunnel, Twilight turned to mutter her own prayer to the vibrantly beautiful Spring of Fortune.

“Please let Ace come back to me whole and complete, as nature intended…”

’Did the crystals just get… brighter…? Surely not…’

After a while, the pair emerged from the tunnel in what appeared to be an infrequently used service hallway in the Lunar Wing of Canterlot Castle. Twilight watched as a torch turned sideways as they stepped into the corridor, noting its position and the nearby paintings for future reference.

“Are there very many secret passages like this around the castle?”

Ace’s mischievous smile returned as he turned the torch right-ways up, causing the wall panel to rotate back to its natural position, leaving nary a seam of its opening.

“Quite a few to my knowledge, and surely others beyond. However, the secrets are not limited to the castle; all of Canterlot was constructed during a time of wars and secrecy, strewn with shortcuts and messenger’s paths.”

It took a moment for the concept to sink in, but when it had, Twilight vaguely recalled a number of times she had raced her brother, Shining Armor, thinking she had come into the lead only to have her brother be there long before she had.

“A fair number of them have fallen to ill repair, and I have little doubt that others have been forgotten entirely.”

When they came into a more active corridor, one of the Shadow Sentinels happened to notice and approach them, Twilight instinctively flinching behind Ace as he chuckled calmly.

“Identify yourselves. How have you entered the castle without an escort?”

Ace bowed deeply before removing the glasses with a hoof. “Ace Deus Fenrir and my student, Twilight Sparkle, here to see Princess Luna. Would you be so kind as to take us to her?”

The Shadow Sentinel saluted with a hoof to its chest. “Of course Sir, right this way.”

The guard led the pair down a number of corridors, though the layout of the castle was not very direct anywhere but the main corridor through the center or the outlying corridors so Twilight could scarcely tell where they were at any given time.

Twilight started to consider the intentions of the floor plan in a new light after Ace had mentioned that the city had been erected during times of war, the confusing layout meant to confuse and bewilder would be insurgents.

Before she could make much headway into such thoughts, however, the Sentinel turned them down a corridor that looked like it was still living in the times of war it was constructed in.

The paintings were destroyed, doors hung from their hinges, some broken in half and others littering the floor. The carpet and even some of the stone tiles suffered grievous burns or slash damage, likely from spell rather than blade. A few of the chandeliers had been knocked from their mounting and crashed upon the ground, as well as a number of the candelabras that were destroyed and strewn about.

From a few of the rooms that still had doors, there were voices or other signs of life coming from the other side. Twilight flinched behind Ace when they happened past a door that punctuated their approach with a loud crashing sound.

“Wh-what happened here, exactly?”

The Sentinel seemed hardly to notice either the squalor of the corridor nor the trepidation in her voice. “Many of the Daywalkers left when High Captain Luna ascended the throne. Not all of them went peacefully.”

Deranged laughter echoed through the hall from one of the closed doors ahead. “Shouldn’t the c-corridor have been repaired? What is this area used for n-now?”

The Sentinel cleared its throat for a moment before responding. “As I am sure you have heard, Ma’am, not all of the Shadow Sentinel are very… sociable. The less… amiable of the Sentinels, who we often refer to as the Moonblinked, have made a number of these rooms their quarters.”

Twilight looked around the corridor again, fearful of anypony who would actually choose to live in such conditions. “Why don’t they take up residence in the barracks with the other soldiers and guards? Aren’t they out of line staying here? And if they are… difficult to control, how come they remain as Sentinels?”

This time it was Ace that answered her queries. “The Shadow Sentinels operate under a different code of conduct. High Captain Luna is aware that many of the Sentinels are lacking mental stability, but this is why she has chosen to train them. As we mentioned before, the Sentinels are a military force, not police – proficient in decapitation, not incapacitation.”

The trio emerged from the corridor and into another well-kept portion of the castle, earning a sigh of relief as Twilight visibly relaxed.

“But how come they are above the law? Even the Royal Guard had to obey the rules.”

Ace shook his head at the misunderstanding. “They follow their own laws, but are not above any other laws, just more… resilient. For example, the Sentinels are permitted to kill anypony on sight, but only if they can later prove they broke a law, were going to break a law, or were in any way a threat to anypony else. Failure to provide proper evidence results in immediate termination by either a fellow Sentinel or High Captain Luna herself.”

The Shadow Sentinel that led them nodded in confirmation without looking back at them. Twilight’s jaw nearly dropped. “So those psychopa- sorry, ‘Moonblinked’ soldiers can just walk into town and go on a killing spree?”

The others shook their head, though it was Ace again who answered. “High Captain Luna and the other Sentinels are well aware of the condition of the Moonblinked, hence the title. They are given jurisdiction only over the Castle and its grounds, but may not cast judgment upon any of the working staff unless they are attacked first. However, a select few of the Moonblinked are elected to be a part of the Jury.

“The Jury is in charge of carrying out judgment on the Sentinels who have wrongly executed somepony without providing strong enough evidence to justify their actions. In the case of the Jury being uncertain in their judgment, or if the Sentinel pleads that the evidence is too sensitive, then High Captain Luna acts as the Supreme Judge in the matter.”

Twilight was still having trouble comprehending the reasoning behind training sociopaths to kill, but before she could press the issue any further, the trio were nearing the Sun’s Bedchamber, Princess Celestia’s bedroom. Ever since she had fallen ill, the guards stationed outside the massive pair of doors were both her protectors and her wardens.

The Sentinel inclined its head to the Royal Guards before turning to Ace and Twilight. “High Captain Luna is currently tending to the Princess. Given your clearance, you may proceed as you wish. Should you require our service, you need only call.”

The Sentinel pounded a hoof to its chest before walking past the two as they left. When the Sentinel turned down a side corridor, the Royal Guards bowed their heads to the pair and opened the doors to grant them entry.

Before they even set hoof into the room, Twilight could tell everything inside was brand new; the drapes were rigid from their infrequent use, the carpet rose swiftly after each step, patches of the wall looked as though the paint was still wet.

Even the bed looked uncomfortably form as Princess Celestia laid upon it, with her sister Luna watching over her closely, her horn alight as her eyes were closed in concentration.

Twilight and Ace rested just short of the entrance as the large doors closed behind them. Turning as she was tapped on the shoulder, her eyes followed Ace’s outreached hoof, her gaze falling on what appeared to be the only article in the room not recently replaced, refurbished or reconstituted; a set of cloth dolls that bore the likeness of Princess Luna, Princess Celestia, Ace and Twilight sitting in a row.

’Even in her unstable state, she recognizes us,’ Ace’s voice echoed in her mind. ’Countless times the room has been found damaged beyond imagination by her thrashing, yet each time the dolls remain whole and intact.’

A soft smile crossed Twilight’s features, grateful for the ray of hope that laid on the recently replaced dresser as Ace started to slowly make his way to Luna’s side.

When he had come beside her, Luna expelled a deep breath as the light faded from her horn before she fell forward into Ace’s waiting hoof.

“Been a long day, my sister?”

The Lunar Princess only managed to nod as she laid her weight against her brother. “Days and night both, I fear. Not only do my new duties keep me busy at all hours, the stunts of my foolish brother have warded off the already thin, ethereal gossamer strands of slumber.”

Princess Luna’s eyelids slowly slid open as she gazed upon her brother with a worrisome look in her deep cyan eyes that was riddled with signs of her lack of sleep in the past couple days. Her long, flowing sapphire mane was lightly tousled, the usual violet glow that accompanied it appearing duller as white flecks resembling stars twinkled regardless.

Ace held her in a tight embrace, his muzzle working to whisper something Twilight couldn’t hear into her ear. When he had finished relaying the message, Twilight could just barely see the tears working in Luna’s eyes, a single drop moistening a deeper blue trail down her already deep blue cheek before she wiped it away with a sad and solemn nod.

As they parted, Ace’s gaze fell to Princess Celestia lying on the bed with a moist rag over her ivory head, her pastel-rainbow mane brushed aside to make room for the fabric in an attempt to bring down her fever.

“How is her treatment coming along?” Ace asked in a low voice, his gaze never wandering as he watched the painfully slow rise and fall of her chest beneath the bedspread. “Has there been any improvement?”

“Today marked the second of the 21 artice treatments,” Luna said in an equally low voice as Twilight came alongside Ace. “Fortunately, there has been notable improvement: Sister Celestia is awakening as herself more often while the episodes grow further apart. However… the episodes are becoming a touch more violent.”

In spite of the last tidbit, Ace’s features appeared a tad relieved. “That is good to hear. The last tendrils of Celestia’s addiction are lashing out because they are cornered and weak. Should the Fates favor us, she will come out of this mostly unscathed.”

Twilight calmly laid her hoof over Celestia’s to offer her strength.

“Sis… ter?”

Celestia awoke with barely a breath of the words on her muzzle before succumbing to a violent coughing fit.

Luna and Ace helped her sit up as Twilight, recovering from the sudden stir, rearranged the pillows in her magic to be more comfortable. “We are here, Sister, Ace and Twilight as well.”

When Celestia recovered from her coughing fit, she was quick to wrap her hooves around everypony in reach. “I’m so glad to see all of you,” she said as she parted from the embrace before covering another set of coughs. “How are all of you doing? I’m afraid I do not even know how long I have been like this or what day it is…”

“We are doing well sis,” Ace answered first. “Twilight and I came to visit family before dropping by the castle. It’s a pleasant surprise to speak with you, and I’m glad to say you’re recovering well.”

The others nodded, the three of them having agreed not to tell Celestia of Ace’s current predicament, not wanting to add any further stress or worry to the ailing princess.

Celestia nodded with a soft smile. “I am glad you all are doing well, but I wish I felt like I was getting better…” Taking the rag from her head, she dropped it into the nearby pail with a subtle splash. “I feel scarcely different from the last few times I awoke, though I know at least a season has passed in my absence…”

There was a pause as Celestia suffered another wave of coughs.

“While my mind knows you speak true, brother, I wish only that my body would go along with your words…”

Twilight took Celestia’s hoof in both of hers. “So long as the three of us are here to watch over you, you will get better Celestia… I know you will; we know you will.”

The others nodded they agreed. “You are in good hooves, sister, and always in our hearts,” Luna said happily, though Celestia could see the duress her absence had caused her sister in her eyes.

Celestia rose a hoof to her sister’s cheek. “Be strong, my sister; be strong for both of us, but do not forget to care for yourself.” Luna could only nod that she would as her eyes moistened once more.

Celestia’s eyes started to droop as her posture slackened.

“I’m sorry my dearest ponies, but I feel… so very tired. It was a pleasure to see all of you today, but now I fear I must go back to sleep for a while… Take care, everypony…”

As before, Ace and Luna helped Celestia lay down as Twilight readjusted the pillows once more. Once Celestia looked as though she would be comfortable, Luna drained the rag before laying it back over Celestia’s head tenderly before the three of them made their way out of the room.

The Royal Guards saluted to the reigning princess before closing the door behind the trio as they headed down the secondary corridor in the direction of the Lunar Bedchambers.

“Dearest sister, are you having difficulty keeping up with Celestia’s treatments?”

Princess Luna flinched subtly as she nearly missed a step before sighing audibly. “Always striking straight to the heart of the matter, either with swords or with words, my brother; yes, the treatment’s increasing difficulty is proving to be… complicated for me.”

Twilight had seen the fatigue in Luna’s features as she was treating Celestia, but had hoped it was more from her lack of peaceful sleep than the treatments themselves…

“How much longer will you be able to continue?”

“For as long as it takes,” Luna replied with a stern gaze over her shoulder.

“How long, sister?” Ace returned the glare in kind.

Twilight watched silently as the two either continued the argument telepathically or in gesture alone.

Finally, Luna relented with a sad, defeated expression. “Try as I might, I cannot seem to bring my control below 20 artices… Enough for only two more weeks of treatment, four if I can improve even slightly in that time…”

“Po dra Vydac…” Ace said, again cursing in Al Bhed. “Hopefully, Fates willing, Celestia will recover before then.”

“But you could continue the treatments,” Twilight interjected hopefully. “After you come back, you can finish the treatment. You were the one who came up with the technique, right? Surely you could handle it.”

The pair shook their head almost in unison, though it was Ace who replied. “Assuming I do make it back as we pray, I am not the progenitor of this technique. It was taught to me by the mentor who taught me to control and utilize chaos magic. That aside, I can only bring my control down to 11 artices, which would buy us only a couple more months of time.”

Luna nodded that it was true. “To our knowledge, the only ponies to ever control a single artix was the Unicorn whom developed the scale, and Princess Celestia herself. With the former no longer of this world and the latter confined to her sickbed, we are without options. We can only pray that Celestia can overcome the withdrawal before that time.”

Twilight didn’t much like the idea of leaving such a thing to chance, but she understood the unusual circumstance they found themselves in.

“I just hope that everything will work out for the best.”

Author's Note

As always, let me know what you think!

Do you want to see something more often? Less often? Did I miss something? Let me know!

A Plain Day

Chapter 14: A Plain Day

After they said their goodbyes to Fang, watching him fly off to meet his mate, Ace and Sanctis made their way back down the mountain.

“We’re headed to Neighagra Falls next, right?” Sanctis asked as they came off the mountain. “That’s what you said the other day, outside of Summervale at least.”

Ace nodded, working over the map in his head. “We go southeast across the Crystal Plains, making our way to the river that feeds Neighagra Falls. We’ll stop in the little tourist town there and restock our supplies.

“It should be about a day’s journey,” Ace said, looking up at the sun to gauge the time, “which means we’ll have to set up camp before we get there, since we’ve not got much day left.”

Sanctis’ face lit up at the thought of setting up camp. “Which means my first ever magic lesson! I’m gonna learn magic!” she chanted, bouncing around Ace as they made their way across the plains, a light breeze whipping the grasses and flowers to one side.

“Alright, alright,” Ace said, chuckling. “Don’t forget it’ll also be your first lesson with your knife, too. Magic can be a powerful weapon, but it’ll take longer to utilize. You’ll learn to use the knife first, magic second.

“I know, magic sounds like fun and the knife sounds like work,” he said with a smile at her groan, “but I want to make sure you can protect yourself. Any number of unfortunate things could happen between here and Ponyville.”

“Can’t I learn magic and walk at the same time? Other unicorns do it all the time!” Dang, I’m acting like a petulant child again…

Ace seemed to consider her idea for a moment, then, “Try to levitate something, then. If you can levitate something as we walk, that’ll be a good warm up.”

Not sure what else she should use, Sanctis pulled out the small bottle of blade oil from her saddlebags and held it in her hoof as she walked.

Sanctis stared at the bottle in her hoof, willing it to lift into the air as she focused on her horn, not sure what else to do.

Her face scrunched up in the concentration, she tried closing her eyes and focusing on it as well.

After a moment, she saw a little bit of light from behind her eyelids, opening her eyes with a gasp, then a frown as it was just sparks coming off of her horn. That she could do before… and they did nothing.

Ace, watching her the whole time, nodded at this. “Since you never got to use your magic as a toddler, your body has trouble connecting to your magic.

“The first misunderstanding that unicorns-in-training have is that the magic comes from their horn; it does not. The well of magic is close to the heart, in your chest. Our horns are just outlets for the power, as it bears a direct connection to the magic.

“Sit still for a moment,” Ace said, walking toward her as she did so. “Close your eyes, and focus on just feeling; center yourself on your horn and your chest.”

Not entirely certain what ‘centering’ meant, she focused on herself as he asked. “Now, take deep breaths. In,” she inhaled slowly, filling her lungs as much as she could, “and out.” Exhale.

“In,” another deep breath, then he flicked her horn with a hoof.

“Hey, what was that for?!” she complained, her eyes darting open as she rubbed her horn. It didn’t hurt, but there was a tingly feeling.

“Did you feel it? The tingle in your chest?” Sanctis shook her head. She felt a tingle in her horn, but it didn’t reach her chest or anything. Ace just ‘hmmed’ again.

“Oh, I know what’ll help,” he said, shrugging off his saddlebag to pull something out. It was the necklace he stopped wearing after their visit with Fang. “Put this on,” he said, already draping it over her head.

Sanctis felt a wave of energy pass over her body, and another spark flew off of her horn. Now she felt the tingle in her chest and horn. Ace flicked her horn again, magnifying the feeling. “Feel it?”

Sanctis nodded excitedly. “That’s my magic?! That tingling?!”

Ace nodded with a smile as he adjusted the knot on the necklace; it was hanging between her hooves instead of around her chest.

Barely waiting for the necklace to be adjusted for her height, Sanctis focused on the feeling in her chest, her horn and the blade oil once more.

With a gasp, she watched as her horn lit up in a light pink glow, followed by the bottle. With a squeal, she started bouncing around – the blade oil maintaining a static distance in front of her horn – “I’m learning magic! I’m really learning magic!”

Ace smiled his large, goofy smile as he watched her prancing around the open field. “And doing a good job of it, too. Now, try moving the bottle without moving your horn.”

Standing still, her face worked in concentration, she imagined the bottle moving around. At first, she thought nothing was happening, then realized she was rotating the bottle in place.

“Don’t just imagine the bottle moving in your mind. Imagine it moving relative to something stationary, like yourself.” Ace stifled a laugh as Sanctis smacked herself in the face with the bottle at first.

Then, once she got the hang of picturing a stationary object and the bottle moving relative to it, she made the bottle orbit around herself. Sanctis was all goofy smiles too, but decided not to say anything for fear of dropping the oil.

She started doing tricks with the bottle; leaping over it, raising a hoof to let it dart underneath before stomping down, throwing it as high into the air as she could manage, tossing it up and catching it before it hit the ground…

“Alright, alright Sanctis, that’s enough. You’re gonna make me jealous if you keep carrying on like that!” Ace said with a laugh, telling her he wasn’t really jealous.

“Ah come on, just a little longer?” she asked, puppy-dog-eyes-mode in full effect, but Ace just shook his head.

“No more playing around Sanctis, we have a lot of ground to cover before nightfall.” Sanctis’ features drooped as she made to put the bottle back in her saddlebags.

“Besides, you need to practice walking and levitating at the same time,” he said, bringing her smile back.

The pair walked in silence for a while. The plains were clear as far as the eye could see. Nothing but grass and the occasional flower, with some trees far and few between.

The minutes passed, and Sanctis played with her bottle of oil the entire way, the glow never adding from her horn.

Honestly, I thought that using magic would make me tired, but I feel like I could do this all day! Sanctis thought excitedly. Is it just because it’s a simple spell, or is it the necklace?

Trying to maintain the levitation spell on two things at once, she continued spinning the bottle around her while also lifting the necklace so she could examine it.

It took more concentration than she thought though, and she alternated between dropping them and picking them back up a few times before she got the hang of it.

Once she had, she saw the necklace with a silver-looking talon grasping a sphere-cut sapphire. She looked at the thing more closely, and noticed on one side there was Al Bhed writing engraved on one side.

“Eh sasuno uv Little Raven?” In memory of Little Raven?

Ace nearly missed a step as she read it, so she figured it must be important. “You said your special somepony was named Twilight Sparkle… was Little Raven one of your fillies?”

Ace looked sad since the mention of the inscription, but his glance shot up for a moment, across the field, before he regained his composure, then smiled his goofy prank-loving smile.

“A story for another time, Sanctis. Do you see what I see? There, across the field, in the shade of that tree?”

Following his gaze, Sanctis saw a filly-sized bird laying down in the shade and watching them closely. “Is it dangerous?” she ventured, not wanting to be bird food after just starting to learn magic.

“Dangerous? No! But a lot of fun. It’s a Plainstrider! Stow the oil and follow my lead,” he said, calmly making his way toward the bird.

When they were about ten meters away, the bird leapt to its feet, its body hunkered down like it was ready to attack. Ace jumped and turned to the side – the direction they were headed before – and looked at Sanctis to do the same.

The bird seemed to perk up, tilting its head as it watched them. Its long, pointed beak opened and shut, making a sharp clacking noise.

And then Ace ran – not as fast as he ran in the forest when Sanctis was riding him, but when Sanctis caught up he picked up the pace.

Looking back to the bird, Sanctis saw it was chasing them! No, not chasing… it was racing them!

Ace looked at Sanctis, all smiles still. “Run as fast as you can! I’ll follow your lead.” Sanctis poured it on as hard as she could, Ace and the Plainstrider matching her speed.

The ponies kicked up light puffs of dust as they ran, but the Plainstrider’s long legs barely left anything behind as they passed, save for some bent or cut grass from its sharp talons.

“How long will it race us? What happens if we lose?!” Sanctis called, perhaps louder than she meant to.

Ace just laughed as he kept up the pace, the bird just a hoof’s length to his left. “A lot longer than we can run for, that’s for sure! And I don’t think anypony’s ever beat a Plainstrider in a race out here before.

“They’re real friendly creatures that love to race. They’re perhaps the fastest thing out here. They’re birds, but they can’t fly in the air. Their talons are sharp, and their beak is great for stabbing predators in the eyes if they get cornered.

“But really… they just love to race!” Ace said, his laugh loud and wonderful.

Sanctis watched the bird to see if it was struggling to keep up at all. It had long legs, a small, brown feathery body with only vestigial wings for balance. It had a long, narrow neck with no feathers, but the short feathers of its head were blowing in the air behind it as it ran.

Noticing her watching it, it sped ahead of Ace and Sanctis, then ran along to her side to race beside her. It tilted its head as if to say ‘Is that the best you can do?’ its beak clacking once.

Sanctis poured every bit of energy into running, her eyes closing as she concentrated on the effort, her head lowering as she wasn’t watching where she was going.

She ran and ran and ran, and when she opened her eyes, the Plainstrider was still right beside her, watching her.

“Argh! He’s so cocky!” she said, Ace only laughing.

“A little competition is nice though; we’re making good time in our travels thanks to this little guy.” The Plainstrider’s beak clacked again. “Besides, he’s earned the right to be cocky… He’s way faster than us. Watch this,” he said, reaching into his saddlebag.

He broke off a piece of hardtack in the bag, the bird eyeing him warily, then pulled it out and held it up for it to see, immediately returning to Ace’s side as they raced.

“Go get it!” he said, throwing the hard, salty bread as hard as he could as he ran. The Plainstrider darted ahead, almost doubling their speed, and caught the hardtack out of the air without even breaking stride.

“Wow… he really does have us beat!” Sanctis said, starting to run short of breath.

Ace nodded to a tree just off their path as the bird ran back to their side. “We’ll stop there to rest,” he said.

Once they turned for the tree, the Plainstrider clacked its beak once, then ran ahead and beat them to the goal.

Once Ace and Sanctis made it, they found the Plainstrider strutting, its head bobbing up and down as it walked with a swagger between them and the tree.

Sanctis puffed out her cheeks in annoyance, but Ace just laughed.

“If you give him a piece of your hardtack, maybe he’ll let you pet him,” Ace said as he shrugged off his sword and saddlebags next to the tree.

Remembering what it felt like to pet Fang, Sanctis jumped at the idea. She reached for her saddlebags, then fumbled with the clasp as she watched the bird. Then, remembering her magic, opened the clasp with her horn alight as she reached for the snack, breaking it in half by pushing it against her side first.

The Plainstrider’s beak clacked as it watched her, lightly hopping closer as he tilted his head to the side.

She held the piece of hardtack in one hoof, reaching towards him with the other. He eyed her warily, hopping to the side with the hardtack.

With one last hop, he snatched the hardtack from her hoof and took off across the plains, back to where they started the race.

“HEY! Come back here and let me pet you!” Ace just laughed as Sanctis pouted. “Stupid bird…”

Sanctis looked to the sun as Ace started setting up camp, not realizing that the day was nearing its end. Setting her saddlebags down like Ace had, she started to make her bed as well.

“We’ll forego the fire tonight. Wouldn’t want to turn the Crystal Plains into the Crystal Flames, eh?” Ace said, smiling at his own witticism. “The blankets should be enough to keep us warm out here.”

“What about critters? Won’t they bother us if we just sleep out here in the grass?” Ace just shrugged.

“Blankets should keep the worst of the bugs off. Most larger critters steer clear of ponies. Any overly-predatorial animals around here have been hunted to extinction millennia ago, or relocated elsewhere.

“Such is the way of ponies: we force our will upon even mother nature herself. Woe be to any who resist ponykind,” Ace said, though it lacked any energy or conviction, like it was just something he was used to, not something he endorsed.

Not wanting to waste daylight on a philosophy lesson, Sanctis quickly changed the topic. “I get to do another magic lesson now, right?” she asked excitedly.

Ace nodded with a smile. “You were trying to levitate two things at once earlier, weren’t you? How did that go?”

“Slow, at first…” Sanctis said, using her magic to open her saddlebag from some meters away, pulling out her blade oil at the same time. “But I think I’ve got the hang of it, now!”

Performing all manner of tricks with the bottle, Sanctis displayed her mastery of the levitation magic as she pulled some hardtack from her bags with her magic, eating and doing tricks with her magic at the same time.

“Ta-da!” she said, her mouth full of the salty brick of bread as Ace just smiled.

“Try lifting your whole saddlebag with only your magic,” Ace instructed. “If you can manage it, you can carry your saddlebags in your magic for as long as possible tomorrow.”

“That just sounds like work!” Sanctis griped as she tried to focus on lifting the heavier object.

“That’s the point, Sanctis,” he said as she barely managed to lift the bag from the ground at first, though the movement became increasingly fluid. “By doing something that you struggle to do, you’ll grow stronger – in this case, your well of magic will increase as you strain the muscle.

“Just be sure to stop when it feels uncomfortable. You don’t want to run out of magic like I did!”

Sanctis’ eyes shot wide open and she dropped the bag immediately. “How uncomfortable? Lifting the bag is already a little uncomfortable.”

Ace walked over to her bags and pulled the two blankets out, setting them beside his own. “Try now.”

Sanctis lifted the bag easily now. “It’s not uncomfortable, I guess… but how will I know when I need to stop?”

“If it feels uncomfortable in your horn, you’re just not able to use enough magic for that task yet. If it feels uncomfortable in your chest – where the magic is coming from – then it’s time to stop.”

Sanctis gave a sigh of relief, glad that she hadn’t pushed herself too far. “What happens if I keep going when it’s uncomfortable?”

“Well if it’s just your horn that’s uncomfortable, the magic may not behave the way you want it to… hence my fear of you practicing with us on top of a mountain.

“If it’s your chest that is uncomfortable, and you continue heedlessly, it will turn to pain, and then… absence. Once your magic is out, you won’t be able to use it until it’s fully recovered.”

Sanctis set the bag down for a moment, when a thought came to her. “What did your magic feel like after your horn was broken? Before Fang ate it all?”

Ace put a hoof to his chest, wincing as he recalled the feeling. “Like dragon teeth tearing through my entire body… like the eternal flame relocated to my heart. Like my organs were all on fire, being cooked alive from the inside out. Like my blood ran cold, every movement sending daggers through my muscles.

“Sanctis, I’m one of the few unicorns I know of that are alive today that has magic flowing through their entire body and not just centered in their chest. That magic was destroying me.”

Sanctis recoiled at the thought of all those sensations. She never knew Ace to exaggerate… but how could he have kept going if he felt like that?

I probably would have just laid down and not moved a hoof until it was over…

“How come it was doing that, though? I’ve heard of a few unicorns breaking their horns before, and I’m sure it’s really unpleasant, but to my knowledge they lived.

Thinking back, there had been a unicorn in the waiting room of the hospital with a broken horn the day she was mugged. Something about a cave-in in the mines breaking his horn. That didn’t sound too different from Ace’s story.

Ace looked like he wasn’t sure how to respond to the question. His eyes appraised her like he wasn’t sure he could trust her, or maybe that she wouldn’t be ready to hear the truth.

Old enough to carry a knife, too young to hear adult stories…

Finally, Ace said, “I have a lot of secrets, Sanctis. Secrets that others might do anything to learn. Not least of all are the secrets about how the stallions in my family all look alike, or how we always look the same age, or how we share the same memories.

“Do you understand what those three things together could mean for somepony?”

Sanctis didn’t need to give it much thought. “It’s the next best thing to immortality.”

“Exactly. I can’t trust you with these secrets, Sanctis. Not because you’re a filly, but because you might get hurt if you knew them, and because you’re vulnerable. You don’t know how to defend yourself the same way I do.

“However, I can at least make an effort to teach you,” he said, making his way to his sword by the tree. “Draw your knife. It’s time for practice.”

Sanctis gulped, afraid of having a sparring match with the bladed weapons. Especially having seen what Ace could do with his, and how easily he moved even while he was in so much pain.

“No, you’re holding the knife wrong,” he said almost immediately.

Sanctis was holding the knife the same way she had seen him holding a sword before. Her hoof in front of her, elbow bent, knife pointed forward.

“Knives and swords are different. Where a sword deals the most damage with slashing strokes, a knife’s strength is its short blade, granting it a strong point.”

Ace demonstrated with his sword, first slashing the air diagonally over his shoulder with both hooves, then horizontally with a single hoof.

“The power in a sword’s stroke comes from the forehoof, past the elbow. That means you hold the sword and strike like this,” another horizontal stroke with one hoof.

Ace flicked his wrist, and the sword rolled across his hoof to a backhanded grip. “Daggers and knives are best held like this. The shorter reach means that this style grants the most mobility, and allows the greatest transition of force from hoof to weapon.”

Ace made a punching gesture – both his hoof and his sword acting as a weapon – followed by a cross-cut as though he were still punching. On the recovery, he stabbed blade-first at the air.

“You may have noticed the movements seem awkward with my sword… With the knife, it will flow more easily.

“Daggers and knives will use energy from above the elbow, the elbow itself and even the power of your wrist and forehoof – past the elbow. Give it a try.”

Sanctis tried to mimic the three strikes that Ace had used, punching her hoof forward, then pulling it back to punch diagonally in front of herself, then stabbing directly in front of her in a single fluid motion.

It didn’t look all that fluid.

“The trick to mastering any weapon,”

“Is practice. Right?” Ace smiled with a nod.

“Just like how you had to find the magical well in your chest before you could use your magic, you’ll need to practice those strokes a thousand times before they feel natural to your body.”

“A thousand times?!” Sanctis said.

“With many other attacks and techniques woven in for good measure, yes. But any manner of practice will make you better than those… cultists were.” Ace motioned for her to continue the training.

“You mean the cultists you cut down when you saved me? What was wrong about them?”

“Aside from the obvious moral deficiencies? They weren’t trained to fight, Sanctis. I wouldn’t have been able to push them back so easily if they were. Their whole strategy was ‘There’s more of us, just charge him’ which was an easy ‘plan’ to counter.”

“So, you’re saying you could have… died?” Sanctis stopped mid-stroke to watch the emotion play over Ace’s face at though. Sadness, fear, worry…

“Yes, Sanctis. That’s what it means to fight. I’m strong, but I’m not invincible. I’m even more vulnerable without my magic…

“Few ponies rely on their magic like I did. Without it, I feel like I’m a blind pony stumbling around, bumping into things occasionally and getting hurt. If I’d had my magic…

“Well, if I had my magic, even more of those misguided cultists would have died. That’s for certain. Without my magic… I can’t protect you as well as I might like, either.”

“That’s why you’re training me, isn’t it? Because if I can’t fight, then you’ll end up dying trying to protect me. You know that if it came down to it, you’d endanger your own life if it meant saving mine.”

Ace looked her in the eyes for a moment, solemn, then nodded.

“You barely even know me!”

“And yet you chose to follow me. Trust is a two-way street, Sanctis. So is friendship. The Matron was pretty clear, besides: I would protect you from anything that could happen to us.”

“You really mean that, don’t you?” Sanctis bit her cheek to keep from getting emotional. Ace just nodded, his face completely serious.

“Alright, that’s enough for the knife practice. Let’s talk about cleaning and maintaining the blade.”

“I- I can keep going!” Sanctis blurted out, still having 978 repetitions to do.

“Sanctis, you’re shaking,” he said, pointing to her other hoof. “We’ve been through a lot today. There’re only a few minutes of sunlight left, and we don’t have a lantern.

“Any time you use your knife, you need to clean it. Whether you’re striking dummies, targets or ponies. Especially ponies. You can clean with a cloth most of the time, but every few cleanings you need to apply the blade oil.

“If there’s any contaminants on the blade, it won’t cut as cleanly. Keeping it clean is just like keeping it sharp.” Ace cleaned his sword with the edge of one of their blankets.

Afterwards, he took his bottle of blade oil, put the cloth over top of it, and tipped the bottle at it briefly before leveling it back out. The cloth dampened with oil, he ran it over the blade, polishing it.

“Once the oil has been applied, carefully dry it off with another section of cloth. Be sure to get all the oil off, and don’t let any soak into the handle. If you get water or oil in your handle, it can lead to rusting underneath, and the blade may break off in combat.”

Sanctis followed his instructions, cleaning and then wiping off the knife as he did the same with his sword.

As she cleaned the knife, Sanctis found a bit of blood left over from the previous… encounter. Ace watched her, ostensibly evaluating her reaction. She cleaned the blood off, but thought she was going to be sick.

“A weapon that is never bloodied is a either a legendary weapon indeed, or a waste. Part of protecting yourself is going to include hurting somepony else, Sanctis.

“You won’t know until it happens if you’re able to do it. Either you can hurt somepony else, or you can’t. It’s just pony nature; one or the other.”

“Then you’re… one of the ponies that can hurt others?”

Ace took a deep breath before he answered, as if calming himself. “Some days Sanctis, I’m barely even a pony.

“Now, we won’t often need to sharpen our weapons, at least comparative to cleaning, but it will be necessary. We won’t sharpen today, but I will explain how.”

Pulling the whetstone and its case from his saddlebags, Ace laid it on the ground and removed the lid, leaving the stone in the case.

“To start, you pour water into the case, submerging the stone. Once the bubbles of air stop rising from the stone, pour out enough water so that the surface isn’t submerged.

“Once that’s done, you run the blade at an angle over the stone,” he said, demonstrating from above the stone, “first towards your body, then away. Apply a light yet constant pressure towards the stone. Move from the tip of the blade to the base, then back again.

“Every few strokes, be sure to jostle the case, running water over the surface of the stone. This will clean it, and keep it properly abrasive.

“Once the edges have been honed, run the blade along the whetstone twice at an angle, to finalize the process. Afterwards, poor fresh water over the blade to rinse it off. Remember to dry it softly and carefully.”

“I think I got it all,” Sanctis said, trying to memorize the entire thing, “but how come we’re not sharpening right now, or every time we clean the blades?”

“The act of sharpening means taking away some of the metal to make it come to a finer point. Take away too much metal with too-frequent sharpening, and you’ll have either a brittle blade or a broken one.”

The lesson concluded, Ace and Sanctis put away their weapons, Ace stowing his whetstone as well. After the day’s trials and their exertions, Ace and Sanctis ate a small meal of hardtack and water, then settled into their blankets to fall sleep.

Once Sanctis was asleep, Ace got out from under his blankets, his body full of too much energy to fall asleep.

Starting his routine, he stood on only his front hooves, the back raised into the air, and silently counted to 100 slowly as he held the position, keeping his balance carefully.

After the hundred count, he started doing pushups. He continued until the shaking of his hooves threatened to topple him, falling onto his back softly in the grass. He laid for a moment to catch his breath.

Then came the sit-ups.

I really owe Fang for this, he thought to himself. I’ve been falling behind in my physical exercises… and that magic situation made it impossible to get anything done!

Once he was through with the sit-ups, he grabbed his saddlebags and draped them over his shoulders for weight and started doing squats, his upper body raised, all the weight on his back hooves.

I have to get stronger again, he thought, sparing a glance back to Sanctis. For both of our sakes.

Once he grew tired of the squats, he looked around the plains for any sign of nocturnal dangers. Finding none, he made off at a sprint.

Maybe a short jog… perhaps I’ll even find something good to eat, he thought to himself, changing as he went.