A Darkened Land

Chapters

Arc I: The Lost Cloudsdale Scout
Arc I: The Wanderer
Arc I: The Village
Arc I: The White Witch
Arc I: The Hermit
Arc I: The Crevasse
Arc I: The Reunion
Arc I: The Hallow Cave
Fluttershy: The Fall
Lyra: The Songspony

Arc I: The Lost Cloudsdale Scout

The Lost Cloudsdale Scout

Twilight fled through the dark of the forest with her pursuers snarling in her wake. They were wolves—but they also weren't. They had been taken and changed. Their skin had turned to charcoal and their fur all but fallen out. Along with their bodies had gone their minds. Madness and insatiable hatred filled their eyes.

They had become darkened.

Too many chased her for a clear count. Her lungs felt raw, her legs made of iron. Sweat stung her eyes and the whispers in the air grew steadily worse.

Hate. Fight. Kill.

Lessons had taught her about the magic intoxicating the outside air, but nothing had quite prepared her for its pull. With time she had learned to dull its edge so as not to be cut, but she could never be rid of it completely. As she ran for her life, its first voice urged her to face her foe, killing and killing until she died. Its second voice told her of how futile her struggles were and how she should simply lay down and die.

But to the fear it brought forth, she listened. Fear quickened her blood and spurred her legs. Fear might yet keep her alive.

Her ears swiveled.

A pair of darkened wolves had gained on her left flank. To her right, the forest gave way to a field filled with shoulder-high grass. Inside it her stalkers would be hidden, and so they likely meant to force her to run there.

She was pinched. In a moment they would be on top of her. With little choice, she veered into the clearing. Grass whipped her shoulders and behind her should could hear the rustle of the wolves entering the grass. The only way to track them now was by that sound and by the movements of the grass.

At the far side of the field, cliff bordering either side, was a ruins. Its moss-covered stone buildings were lit brightly by the naked moon. Twilight's eyes widened. In there she might find a place to lock herself in so she could buy some time to come up with a plan.

Movement came from the corner of her eye. She looked to see the grass stir to her right, only to hear a rustle behind her and see the same on her left. A pair of wolves were preparing to take her down.

She summoned her magic. A white-hot light emanated from her horn and illuminated the field around her.

One of the wolves leaped with its maw open, exposing rows of razor-sharp teeth. Twilight was ready for it. She turned her head and let forth an explosion from her horntip. The combustion struck the wolf directly, and it released a howl of pain and fell to the ground as Twilight jumped clear over top of it.

She hit the ground running, her eyes fixing themselves on the second wolf. Reacting quickly to seeing the other fall, it snarled at her and lunged. Twilight reacted just as quick with another burst of air and fire that sent it tumbling across the ground.

A smirk nearly crept up Twilight's lips, but a biting ache in her horn turned it to a grimace. She couldn’t cast many more spells like that, not while her legs sapped what energy she had left. She glanced behind her. There had to be at least a dozen wolves still after her.

As Twilight got closer to the ruins, she saw they were built over a gorge, which meant there was likely a bridge to the other side. With any luck, there wouldn’t be any more darkened over there.

The grass gave way to the cold stone of the stairs. Crumbling walls passed her on either side as she galloped up and onto a cracked street, empty save the wolves behind her. She turned left, then right, then left again, weaving through the ruins in rapid search of a safe haven, but at every weave the darkened wolves’ snapping jaws drew closer to her heels.

As she rounded another building, she spotted a thin stone bridge that led across the gorge and headed right for it.

The wolf at the head of the pack snapped at her legs, falling just short of them. Twilight spurred herself to go faster. As she turned onto the bridge, she stumbled, her momentum nearly carrying her over the edge. Air burned her lungs. She couldn't breathe, and so her legs rapidly began to slow. Heart pumping fast enough to burst, she had to forced her body and sprinted across the final stretch as fast as her legs could carry her. It came within reach. Only two steps more.

A snarl came from behind. She glanced back just in time to see the darkened wolf at the front of the pack leap at her. She drew magic to her horn. Its teeth had nearly closed over her face when she managed to release her spell.

The resulting flash of light blinded all those in the ruins who looked upon it. A thunderous boom and fire’s sucking hiss followed. Twilight’s body grew weightless from the floor crumbling beneath her. As gravity began to take hold, she watched the wolves that had been on the bridge thrash and twist in the air, nothing beneath them save for the depths of the gorge.

The sight was cut short as Twilight’s vision became filled with grey. She had barely begun to fall before her hooves met stone. Her legs buckled immediately in surprise, leaving her chest to absorb most of the impact. What little air her lungs had was forced from them. The motion had all come to an end. She was left lying on a floor, her cheek pressed against the stone while she gasped for air.

Her chest rose and fell with her struggle. Body bruised, immovable, and in shock, she watched the hole she had fallen through, waiting for a darkened wolf to leap down and finish her off. A moment passed. Then another. Nothing came. There was only her: desperately gulping the dusty air of where she had fallen.

In the aftermath, everything was still.

With a groan of pain, Twilight opened her eyes and slowly climbed to her hooves. Her chest and legs were bruised, and the hairs on her cheeks were still singed from the spell she had just cast, but otherwise she was intact. She lifted her head and glanced around to see four cold stone walls surrounding her, the furthest of which had an iron-barred cell door.

The silence following her spell’s fallout was broken as a distant growling reached her ears. She stood with a stumble, wincing as her legs shook sorely under her weight. Managing to limp over to a wall with a window, she stood on her rear hooves and planted her forehooves against the wall just beneath the sill.

Looking past the window’s iron bars, she saw nearly a dozen of the darkened wolves stuck across the gorge. They paced restlessly, growling and snapping as they watched her, but it was all they would be able to do with the bridge gone.

Twilight limped over to the cell door and pushed it. It stayed firmly shut, whatever locking mechanism it had rattling inside its place in the wall.

With a sigh Twilight let herself collapse in front of the door and curled into a ball. Moonlight poured in through the hole in the ceiling she'd fallen through. It wasn't perfect, but hopefully it would be safe for the time being.

She closed her eyes, her exhaustion finally catching up with her, and sleep took her at once.

"Hey, psst!"

Twilight’s eyes snapped open and she looked up. A light blue pony was looking at her through the hole in the roof, her messy rainbow mane dangling around the sides of her face.

"You're not crazy, are you?" the pony asked, tilting her head.

Twilight stared at her for a moment before realizing what was asked. She shook her head. "No."

The pegasus pony smiled. "Oh, good!" she said, then disappeared. There came what sounded like someone rummaging through bags, then the pony returned with a set of rusty keys between her teeth. "I got these off of one of the guards," she said, after dropping them into the cell. "Go on, see if one of them works."

Twilight rose hesitantly, her legs still aching. Slowly, without taking her eyes off the light blue pony, she walked to the keyring, picked it up, and approached the cell door. After a few moments and a couple attempts, one of the keys made the lock click. With a nudge, the door swung open, emitting a biting screech of rusted metal which echoed down the dark hallway beyond.

"Great! I'll meet you around the other side!" the other pony said, leaving.

Twilight stared at the hole until she could no longer hear the pony's hoofsteps. Looking to the open door, she entered the hallway, her glowing horn lighting the way forward. She walked cautiously, each step as gentle and silent as she could make it, her eyes fixed on the turn at the end of the hall.

As she drew closer to the corner, her ears perked to the sound of approaching steps. She killed her light and dropped to a crouch, inching her way up to the corner. The approaching steps were loud and showed no sign of stealth or caution. She took a deep breath. Her heartbeat stilled as the steps drew near.

Twilight leaped around the corner and knocked the figure to the ground, pinning them. Beneath her hooves was the pony from earlier, her eyes wide.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!” the pony cried, holding a hoof out towards her. “Hey, it's me! I helped you, remember?"

Twilight snorted, putting more weight on the other pony’s chest. "What do you want from me?"

"Me? Nothing! I just saw the wolves chasing you earlier and thought I'd help you out!"

"I don’t need your help, and I didn’t back there. I was perfectly capable of getting out on my own." Twilight’s eyes narrowed once she noticed the other pony’s blue wings folded over the straps of her saddlebags.

"Yeah, yeah, you unicorns and your magic and everything," the pegasus said. "Why didn't you just teleport through the cell door, then?"

"Nopony has had access to that kind of magic for a thousand years."

The pegasus sat on her haunches, crossing her hooves in front of her chest. "Oh yeah? Then how were you going to get out?"

Twilight's horn glowed white-hot. She whipped around and shot a fireball down the hallway at the cell door. When the explosion cleared, the door and the stone around it were no more. There was only a gaping hole, black and slick with molten stone.

The other pony stared down the hallway at it, blinking. "Oh."

Turning back to the pegasus, Twilight glared and leveled her horn at her, its tip glowing.

“Hey, watch where you’re pointing that thing!”

"I don't need the help of somepony who hid until the danger was gone, and I most certainly don't need the help of a pegasus."

The pegasus stepped back, her focus back on the tip of Twilight's sword. "Whoa, what have you got against pegasi?"

“You abandoned us all when the night came, and ever since then you’ve been safe up there in the clouds while the rest of us have to run and hide in the dark," Twilight snapped. “Or do they not teach you that part of history anymore?”

"I didn't. I mean, not me, specifically. I'm down here right now, aren't I?" the pegasus said. "Besides..." She stretched one of her wings out, doing so slowly as not to antagonize her. "Look, I'm stuck down here now, just the same as you."

Twilight gave the pegasus a sidelong stare before turning to the wing she held out. A good deal of its feathers were missing, cut from it in a diagonal slash. "Blade wound?" Twilight asked.

The pegasus shook her head. “Animal.”

Twilight took her hooves off the pegasus’s chest, backing away. "Sorry," she mumbled under her breath.

The pegasus’s ear flicked as she got back to her hooves. "Huh? I didn't quite catch that."

"It was nothing," Twilight said curtly. "Why are you alone out here?"

"I got split up from my squad. We were being chased by a darkened manticore." The pegasus rubbed her shoulder while staring at the ground. "Soarin distracted it so that me and Spitfire could get away, but now I don’t know if either of them..." She shook her head vigorously. "No, I definitely know they’re out there somewhere. They’re two of the best fighters in Cloudsdale—they must have gotten away."

The pegasus cleared her throat. "So how about you? How’d you wind up out here with those wolves chasing you?" she asked.

"I attracted too much attention while fighting a few of them off,” Twilight said, the glow around her horn fading as she brushed past the pegasus. “More came and forced me to run.”

“So you’re all on your own?” the pegasus asked. Twilight stiffly nodded. "That's great! Well, I mean, it's not great, but since we’re both alone out here and you seem pretty cool, what say you and I stick together until I find my squad? You could be my sidekick."

Twilight stopped and looked back to find the pegasus grinning. She snorted and continued walking.

Still smiling, the pegasus rushed to catch up to her side. "You came from the other side of the gorge, right? You heading back there?"

"No," Twilight answered.

"Then you could use somepony who knows their way around this side of the woods. Me and my squad flew over this side of the forest." She lifted a hoof and scratched her ear. "Or at least I think we flew over from somewhere in this direction. I sorta got lost when we got separated."

Twilight resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "Wonderful."

"I'm Rainbow Dash, by the way."

"Twilight Sparkle."

"So Twilight, what else can that horn of yours do? Does it shoot lightning? Or maybe you can do stuff with wind or water or—"

Twilight rounded on her, releasing a flash of flame from the tip of her horn in the face of the other pony. Rainbow Dash jumped back, her eyes wide.

"Stop following me. I mean it," Twilight ground out, her horn glowing.

Staring at Twilight’s horn, Rainbow Dash swallowed. "But you're my sidekick, right? I'm supposed to look out for you."

Twilight stomped the ground. "I am not anypony's sidekick.”

"Partners then?" Rainbow Dash asked weakly.

Twilight did nothing but glare in response.

Rainbow Dash sighed. "Look, I've been hiding in these ruins long enough for the moon to complete a cycle. My rations are basically gone and soon I’m going to have to go looking for food. I can't make it out there alone with a damaged wing. You're the first pony I've come across." Rainbow Dash stared at the ground, her ears drooping. "I just want to find my friends. I need to know whether they're safe."

Twilight stared at her, chewing the side of her mouth. She turned to leave, then turned back, then turned to leave again, and then turned back once more. "Fine," she said. Rainbow Dash's ears shot up, and a smile spread across her lips. "But only until we find your friends."

"Of course," Rainbow Dash said.

"And we go where I want to, not where you want to."

"Fair enough."

"And if you slow me down, I'm leaving you behind."

"I won't. I promise."

Twilight took a deep breath and started down the hallway again, trying not to dwell on the feeling that she was going to regret her choice. "Let's go. The dark doesn't wait for—"

Her ear twitched. She heard something, faint and coming from the end of the corridor.

"Huh?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Doesn't wait for what?”

Twilight shushed her, trying to focus on the sound. There it was again: sluggish steps and the occasional sound of metal scraping stone. "Come," she whispered, creeping toward the sound.

Peeking around the corner, Twilight saw the source of the sounds further down the hall. It used to be a pony, perhaps a guard given its rusted helmet and sword, but its skin had become burnt, black, and dry. It bore the darkened curse. Whoever it may have once been was gone, their mind warped beyond recognition by sorrow and violence.

The darkened sluggishly stumbled toward Twilight, its blunt sword scraping carelessly against the wall.

Twilight walked around the corner and stared at it. She heard a sharp intake of breath behind her.

"That's the guard from earlier I found the keys on," Rainbow Dash said. "Crud. She must have followed me here."

Twilight looked at her, raising an eyebrow. "You didn't kill it?"

Rainbow Dash shook her head. "No, I just got the keys from her and ran."

Twilight turned back to the guard, her horn glowing.

"Hey, wait, what are you doing?" Dash asked.

"I'm going to kill it," Twilight said flatly, taking a step towards it.

Rainbow Dash ran in front of her to block her path. "Woah, woah! You can’t just kill her, she used to be somepony! Even if she’s all messed up by the dark, what if there’s still be some part of her left inside there?"

"You don't have any clue what you're talking about," Twilight said, giving her a stern glare, but Rainbow Dash didn't budge. She sighed, rolling her eyes. "When somepony goes dark, they lose their emotions. Sympathy, joy, generosity, all of them are gone. All they ever feel is hatred, sadness, and desire for violence. They aren't the pony they once were. You can't cure them if they’ve already been corrupted. Even if you remove the darkness from them, the second you take it away, they die."

Rainbow Dash took a step away from her. She glanced back at the darkened still stumbling towards them, then looked back at Twilight. "How do you know all this?"

Twilight glared. "I've seen it before."

The creature's sword scraped against the wall again. It paused in its sluggishness as its eyes fell upon them. The charred skin around its mouth tightened, splitting cracks in it as the darkened bared its lips in a snarl. When it started towards them again, its limping had hastened to a feverish shambling.

After a moment biting her lip, Rainbow Dash stepped aside, allowing Twilight past.

Twilight approached the darkened at a brisk walk. As she drew near, it swung the sword in its mouth, which Twilight ducked with ease. Stepping to the darkened’s undefended side, she conjured a needle-thin blade made of fire and drove it into the darkened's heart. The darkened merely blinked when the blade pierced it, a wheezing breath forced from its lungs.

When the blade of fire dissipated, the darkened collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut.

Rainbow Dash walked up to the body of the guard, stopping beside Twilight. She looked down at it and gulped.

Twilight glanced at her, then back at the body. "When all somepony can ever feel is sadness and anger," Twilight said, the glow around her horn fading. “They’re better off not feeling anything.”

She began to walk away.

"Who do you think she was?" Rainbow Dash asked, causing her to halt. "Before this, I mean."

Twilight stopped and turned, giving the darkened on the ground another look. "Somepony who was too weak for this world," she answered, walking away again with her eyes downcast. "If only I were so weak..."

As she left, she looked back to see Rainbow Dash lingering by the body. The pegasus reached down and closed the guardmare's eyes. Twilight looked back ahead, and shortly after she heard the hoofsteps as Rainbow Dash raced to catch up to her.

Arc I: The Wanderer

The Wanderer

Twilight’s horn glowed, her flame ready. The darkened stallion before her circled for a moment, cautious, flaring its nostrils, but it wasn't long before its anger led it to charge her recklessly.

Twilight shifted her stance and conjured a jet of flame to pierce through the darkened's neck. The blade of heat hissed. The darkened gurgled. Twilight stepped to the side as its charging momentum ran it aground where she once stood. After crashing into the earth, it lay crumpled and still.

Rainbow Dash let out a cry. Twilight spun to see the pegasus pinned against the cliff wall, holding a sword-wielding darkened back with the pommel of her spear shoved against its chest.

Twilight watched the two of them struggle, a scowl crossing her lips. "Kill it!" she shouted, glaring at Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash managed a firm kick to the darkened's chest, knocking it on its back and giving her a moment to breathe. She was tiring. Her shoulders sagged from the effort of keeping her weapon risen. She leaned against the cliff wall and rested as the darkened sluggishly began getting up.

The darkened did not let her rest long before again bearing down on her with its sword. Rainbow Dash brought her spear up in a wide hold and blocked an overhead blow with its length. The sword stopped against the wood of her spear and sat there, quivering as the darkened pushed down on her. Rainbow Dash’s front legs shook with strain.

Twilight summoned her magic and launched an orb of fire at the darkened. The fire hissed as it sailed through the air, taking most of the darkened’s chest with it. Its eyes going blank, the darkened sank to the ground, leaving its sword embedded in the shaft of Rainbow Dash’s spear. Silence filled the ridge, the conflict over.

Twilight clenched her eyes shut while her hooves held her horn, a dull ache coming from it.

Rainbow Dash tipped her head back to rest against the cliff and let out a shaky chuckle. “Life on the road, huh?”

Through the pain, Twilight cracked an eye open and gave Rainbow Dash a one-eyed glare.

Rainbow Dash dropped the last branch onto the pile beside the fire, spitting the taste out of her mouth. She fell back on her haunches and let out a sigh. "That should be enough to last until morning. You got a tinderbox or something?"

Twilight tipped her head down so her horn touched the wood. A brief flash of fire shot from her horn, lighting the bed of dry grass.

Rainbow Dash knocked her forehead with a hoof and let out a chuckle. "Well, 'duh'."

Twilight snorted. Lying down by the fire, she rested her head on her forehooves and watched the flames. "It's not as useful as you may think. Fires usually attract more attention than they're worth."

Rainbow Dash held her hooves out by the fire, pulling them back and rubbing them together when they grew hot. "Sure is nice to be warm for a change though, don't you think?"

Twilight gave her a noncommittal shrug. Rainbow Dash turned to her saddlebags and began rummaging through them. Twilight watched as she pulled something out of them, holding whatever it was in her hooves and picking at it. She blew on it and licked her hoof to rub a bit of saliva on it.

"What are you doing?" Twilight asked.

Rainbow Dash glanced up, blinking. "Cleaning a piece of altoroot, so I can eat it. It had a bit of dirt."

Twilight sat up slightly. "Altoroot?"

"Yeah," Rainbow Dash said, showing her the pale, lumpy root in her hooves. She took a small bite from one end of it, chewing thoughtfully. "You wanna try some?"

Twilight nodded. "I've never heard of any plant called altoroot," she said, accepting a piece from Rainbow Dash.

"Well, that'd make sense, given that it grows on clouds."

Twilight's eyebrows rose, and she glanced down at the piece of root in her hooves. She raised an eyebrow at Rainbow Dash. "It grows on clouds?"

Rainbow Dash shrugged. "Sure, how else do you think we manage to live up in the clouds without coming down? I mean, clouds are water, right? And there's plenty of moonlight up there."

Twilight looked down at the altoroot. Putting it in her mouth, she chewed, curious how a plant grown on clouds might taste, but upon finding out, she immediately spat it out. "Blech! It tastes putrid!"

"Sorta like a mix between garlic and ginger?" Rainbow Dash asked, receiving a nod. "Yeah. It's a lot better as a soup."

Twilight rubbed her tongue as the terrible taste was doing its best to cling to it. "How do you eat this stuff?"

"Not a whole lotta choice, is there? Not much grows on clouds. Ponies who go on patrol try to bring things back: mushrooms, potatoes... but it's not enough to live on." Rainbow Dash took another bite of her altoroot, grimacing slightly at the taste. "I've been eating the rations of these I brought for about a month now, ever since we came down here. They're pretty nutritious, actually."

"How much do you have left?" Twilight asked.

"This is my last one," Rainbow Dash answered.

Twilight frowned. She turned over the piece of root in her hooves, examining it. Placing it between her teeth, she took a bite and winced as its bitter tanginess flooded her mouth.

"Hmm," she hummed as she moved the piece around her mouth. "Garlic and ginger. I can see what you mean."

Rainbow Dash bit off another small piece of her root and swallowed. "So what about you? Where are you from?"

Twilight didn't answer right away, instead staring at the fire. She glanced back at her clothes then stared at her hooves, fiddling with the altoroot. "The Crystal Kingdom," she answered eventually.

Rainbow Dash sat upright, eyes wide. "You came from beyond the north mountains?" Twilight nodded. "Whoa..." Rainbow Dash said, sitting back down. A grin spread across her face. "So did you ever visit the Royal University?"

Twilight paused, shifting. "I graduated from it."

"Aw, no way, you're just bucking my cloud!" Rainbow Dash said with an even larger grin, but as she saw Twilight looking serious, her grin faded. "No way. You're not kidding."

Twilight nodded.

"So you're like... what, nobility? A princess?"

"My father is the Captain of the Royal Guard," Twilight said, crossing her forehooves.

"Huh." Rainbow Dash wrinkled her nose. "So if you were all the way up in the Crystal Kingdom, why did you—"

"I'd rather not talk about this," Twilight said, cutting Rainbow Dash off sharply.

Rainbow Dash flinched, her ears drooping. "Sorry."

Their conversation fell to silence. Each pony pointedly avoided the other’s gaze, staring instead into the fire. The wood crackled as the firelight flickered on the walls. Someplace a way off, a bird—maybe an owl—let a shrill cry out into the night. A howl shortly followed, then a blood-chilling scream cut short.

The hairs in Rainbow Dash's tail stood on end. She let out an audible shudder and edged a little closer to the fire. "Did that sound close to you?"

"Not particularly," Twilight said, shrugging. It had sounded a ways off.

"You sure?" Rainbow Dash asked, eyes fixed on the entrance to the cave. Twilight didn't dignify her with a response. Rainbow Dash picked up another of the small logs to place on the fire, but hesitated as she was about to put it on. Twilight spared a glance up. She knew that look: a look torn between fear of the dark and fear of being found by what lurks in it.

"You just put wood on," she said, sparing Rainbow Dash the decision. "The fire is fine for now."

Rainbow Dash froze up at her voice, but then nodded, setting the log down. Sitting once more, she crossed her forehooves and began rubbing her shoulders. "So what's the deal with those things? You called them darkened, right?"

Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Don’t pegasi have a name for them?"

"Not really," Rainbow Dash said, shaking her head. "We usually just call them 'ponies who've gone dark', 'ponies taken by the night', or sometimes in training we just called them 'hostiles'. Ponies up in Cloudsdale don't like to talk about what goes on down on the surface much. It makes them uncomfortable."

"You mean it makes them feel guilty." Twilight snorted. "They aren't ponies, as I said before, but they aren't mindless, either. When a creature becomes cursed by the dark, they share a sort of... symbiotic connection with its magic."

"Symbiotic?" Rainbow Dash asked, her brow drawing an arch. "Wait, you mean it helps them?"

Twilight nodded. "A pony taken by the dark won't starve, won't thirst, and won't die of age. The second you deprive them of the dark magic, though..." Twilight stared into the fire, the light flickering in the reflection of her eyes. "The masters of magic at the Royal University have tried for centuries to undo the curse. It can't be done. The second you deprive them of the dark, they go limp like a puppet with its strings cut."

Rainbow Dash glanced to the side, where her spear lay against the wall. The polished, sharpened metal of its head gleamed by the fire, the light dancing off of it and making it look as though its edge were molten.

"You'll have to kill one of them eventually," Twilight said. "You must know that."

Rainbow Dash looked at her and gave her a weak nod, her shoulders slumped. "In training we're taught to always fly away if we can, never to risk combat if we don't have to. Our job is to look for supplies that could help the city, not fight." She paused, turning back to her spear. "I always wanted to be a great fighter, to be somepony proud and noble, but what we're fighting down here—there's nothing proud or noble about it, just like there's nothing proud about putting down a rabid animal."

"You don't need to be proud. You need to survive," Twilight said, prodding an unlit corner of a burning log into the fire. "If it consoles you in any way, what they have cannot be called living. It's suffering. Ending that is possibly the greatest kindness you could do for them."

"But it's still a life," Rainbow Dash said, but the words came out so weak she had to stop and let out a sigh. "You're probably right."

"It's something you'll realize for yourself in time," Twilight said. She stood, moving to the side of the fire opposite the cave entrance before lying back down. "We should rest. The sooner we do, the sooner we can begin searching again. Will you be alright to take the first watch?"

Rainbow Dash nodded.

"Good. Keep your spear close and the fire low. Wake me in four hours, and we'll switch."

“Hear me sing, sky midnight lake,

Sweet solace and darkened shroud,

Limbs and backs may break,

But hearts shall stay unbowed.”

Rainbow Dash startled awake, her last memories having been of those on watch. She felt sheepish for a moment, but in another moment, the singing resumed, closer. And as they drew closer, the chords of a lyre drifted through the woods.

“Forward tells of wrath and fear,

And therein lies the shade,

Whose dark dampens even the ear,

But the horrors shall find me unafraid.”

A unicorn of pale green stepped into the firelight outside the mouth of the cave, her eyes closed as she played her instrument.

“On a soul as light as—” She stopped, taking notice of the campfire, and of Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash reached for her spear. Its point was low, but ready to raise at a moment’s notice. She reached out with a rear hoof and gave a light kick to her sleeping companion. “Twilight—”

Twilight’s eyes were already open. She first looked to Rainbow Dash, then noticed their visitor. Any trace of sleep vanished as she was on her hooves in an instant. The newcomer with the lyre glanced between the two of them, staying her ground.

“Who are you?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Lyra,” the newcomer answered. She put her harp away in a saddlebag. “I don’t mean any harm… might I share in your fire?”

Rainbow Dash lowered her spear and started to answer, but Twilight’s reply came first.

“We don’t know you,” Twilight said tersely. “It would be for the best if you found another campsite.”

Lyra stepped forward, now underneath the roof of the cave. “What is a campfire without music or warm food? My bags have mushrooms and herbs, and I know how to make a soup that warms ponies to the tips of their hooves.”

Rainbow Dash leaned over near Twilight and whispered, “Why can’t she stay?”

“We don’t know her,” Twilight hissed back.

Rainbow Dash sighed, her stomach gnawing from the words ‘mushroom soup’ being spoken. “Look, lady—”

“Lyra of Lyre,” Lyra interrupted.

“Look, Lyra of Lyre,” Rainbow Dash said again, “thanks for the offer and all, but like my companion said, it would probably be best if you take yourself off to another campsite.”

Lyra leaned forward, peering at Rainbow Dash. “You’re a pegasus,” she said, raising her brow.

Rainbow Dash snorted. “So?”

Lyra walked up to and right beside Rainbow Dash. Twilight tensed and pointed her horn at Lyra. Lyra, however, either didn’t notice or didn’t care about the threat as she paid no attention to Twilight while she set down her saddlebags and took seat next to Rainbow Dash.

“You look malnourished. What have you had to eat lately?” she asked Rainbow Dash.

“Altoroot, mostly. Rationing to just one a day. Every third day I have none. I just ate the last one I had.” Rainbow Dash wasn’t sure whether she should be telling the stranger all this, but the offer of food lingered in the back of her mind. She caught Twilight’s look of concern out of the corner of her eye and tried to shake it off with a grin. “I’ve had a fair amount of water.”

Lyra reached into her bags and pulled out a wooden bowl. Beside it, she set some leaf-wrapped packages. She addressed Twilight. “I understand if you don’t want me here, but I can’t walk away and leave this pony to starve. Let me prepare something for her, and then I’ll leave.”

Twilight lifted her head, but remained tense.

Lyra set about making the soup. She removed a banged-up pot from her bag, followed by a water canteen which she then poured into the pot. The parchments she laid out were filled with spices, mushrooms, and onions.

“Judging by the weapon, I gather you’re from Cloudsdale, are you not?” Lyra asked.

“Yeah. Been stranded down here for at least a full cycle now.” Rainbow Dash snorted. “First time out of the cloud on a basic scouting trip and everything goes as wrong as it can get.”

“There are two things it would do you well to learn from that,” Lyra said, taking out a wooden spoon to stir the pot. “Life for those of us on the ground hasn’t been nearly as peaceful as the lives you pegasi lead in Cloudsdale. Your friend was right to be cautious concerning me. The danger here is never to be taken lightly.”

Rainbow Dash crossed her hooves in front of her chest. “And the other thing?”

Lyra smiled. “The fact that so long as you’re alive and undarkened, there’s always at least one more thing that could go wrong.”

Twilight turned away from the two of them, seemingly trying to go back to sleep, but with Lyra there, Rainbow Dash doubted she really would. The fire let out a hiss and pop, and then the embers settled in.

Rainbow Dash studied Lyra. She seemed harmless, stirring the pot and humming to herself, but the Wonderbolts taught recruits to stay away from all earth-bound ponies. Her rather dangerous first encounter with Twilight came to mind.

“You haven’t really told us anything besides your name,” Rainbow Dash said.

“There can be much in a name,” Lyra answered with a curved lip. “What do you wish to know? Where I grew up? I’m afraid my story is unremarkable, and quite similar to anyone else who has lived on the surface.”

“I want to know why you’re here and where you’re going.”

Lyra paused for a brief moment in her stirring. “I’m meant to meet someone—a friend. ‘No matter what,’ she said, ‘we’ll meet again by the oak tree at the crossroads out of town,’ so that crossroads is where I’m headed.”

“Town?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Ponyville,” Lyra answered. “Or so they’ve taken to calling it. It’s a peculiar basketful of ponies who all wound up stuck out here one way or another.”

Rainbow Dash straightened. “Would somepony there know their way around the forest here?”

“Quite possibly,” Lyra answered, shrugging. She reached back into her bag, pulling out three wooden bowls, and served the soup. The first bowl she held out to Rainbow Dash, the second she held out to Twilight. “Would our sleeping friend like any?”

Twilight shifted, moving her shoulder into a more comfortable position. She answered curtly, “No.”

Putting the third empty bowl away, Lyra took the offered one back and brought it to her lips. “All the more for us,” she said, and drank.

Rainbow Dash stared down at her own serving. The soup was a light brown with soft, oblong slices of mushroom cap floating in it. Aroma mingling with the steam triggered a pang of hunger. Lifting the bowl to her lips, she tipped it generously, causing a small amount to drizzle from the corners of her mouth down to her chin. The broth was a heaven-send to her dry throat.

She drank until the bowl had nothing more to offer, then set it down. The sudden change in her throat caused a coughing fit. As she sat there, hacking up the broth she had consumed too hastily, Lyra came over and took her bowl, refilling it at the cauldron.

As Rainbow Dash’s coughing fit ended, she looked up to see Lyra offering her another bowl.

Rainbow Dash wiped her face with her hoof, wearing a sheepish grin. “It’s a whole lot better than the other stuff I’ve had lately.” She took the bowl from Lyra’s hooves.

“Given how you look, I’d imagine that means better than nothing,” Lyra said, chuckling.

“I guess it pretty much does.” Rainbow Dash lifted the second bowl to her lips, drinking slower, and when she’d had enough, she set the bowl down. “So is Ponyville far from here?”

“Within a day’s travel. There’s a trail not far from this cave, if you’d like me to take you there.” She leaned over near Twilight. “I know I said I’d leave, but I’d truly appreciate the company! You’ll have me out of your hair before a phase’s passage.”

Twilight’s ear flicked. “Noon,” she mumbled. “Do as you want.”

Lyra blinked. She turned to Rainbow Dash. “Is that her way of saying yes?”

“I think so,” Rainbow Dash replied.

Lyra shook her head. “Well, good luck with her. If you want a piece of advice: Friends are your best bet to surviving down here. Ponies who don’t play well with others usually don’t last long.” Her eyes briefly darted towards Twilight.

The hair on Rainbow Dash’s coat bristled. Her lips drew tight. “She saved me when I was trapped and alone.”

Lyra’s features softened, and her ears flattened against her skull. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to offend. I understand perfectly where you’re coming from. I have someone who I’d stick through thick and thin with as well… No, I suppose that’s not entirely true, considering what happened.” Her smile grew pained. “It would probably be best if we get some rest. I disturbed you rather late.”

Rainbow Dash stared at Lyra. After a moment, she lifted her bowl and finished her soup, before wiping her chin and letting out a loud yawn. “Catching some zees sounds pretty good right now.” She looked at Twilight. “Hey, Twilight, you good to change shifts?”

Twilight nodded, sitting up. Already she seemed wide awake and alert as ever.

Lyra lay down, folding her hooves beneath her. “Thank you again for letting me in from the cold. It was a kind thing to do.”

“Well, hey, after making that great food, we’ll call it even,” Rainbow Dash said with a cheeky grin. Lyra smirked and closed her eyes.

Rainbow Dash soon closed hers as well.

Rainbow Dash woke a half moon phase later to an ear-rending scream off in the distance. It bolted Rainbow Dash awake, causing her to accidentally kick her spear’s point. She cursed and sucked on the wound. At least the pain and taste of copper served to wake her. Although she could have done without the condescending look Twilight had given upon seeing her injure herself in such a stupid way.

As Rainbow Dash stepped out of the cave, she looked around, noticing Lyra was nowhere to be seen. “Huh? What happened to that pony from last night?”

“She said something about thanking you for reminding her of her priorities, and that she wanted to leave early to meet up with her friend,” Twilight answered, scanning the woods below their cliff. In the darkness of a quarter moon, it was difficult to see anything below the treetops.

Rainbow Dash folded her forehooves in front of her chest. “Jeez, she left without saying so much as goodbye.” Her nose wrinkled. She directed her glare towards Twilight. “You know, it wouldn’t kill you to just be a little bit nicer to ponies. Who knows, you might even make some friends.”

“Friends are a burden I’d rather not carry, and I don’t need help,” Twilight replied, never tearing her gaze away from what she was doing.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Yeah, right. You’ve said it all before.” Her brow furrowed. “If friends are such a weakness, why did you let me travel with you?”

Twilight paused. She turned to Rainbow Dash and examined her from head to hoof, then shrugged. “A lapse of judgment.” She started down the cliffside trail to the forest below.

Rainbow Dash smirked, shaking her head as she followed Twilight. “I know what you’re doing. You’re just trying to get me to leave. Well, tough, because it ain’t happening until I repay the debt I owe you for saving my life.”

Twilight sighed. “Do as you want,” she said.

The forest had grown still since Rainbow Dash woke: not a howl nor any other cry. There lay only the steady groan of trees whose pale wood brittled and dried under the cloudless night. Some had leaves, but most did not. It was how most trees were on the surface. Then again, it was how most everything was on the surface. Pale and starved of light. Above the clouds, Cloudsdale had enjoyed the radiance of the moon’s constant light. It was only ever so dark when the moon was new.

Rainbow Dash paused for a moment, walking up to a tree. She lay her hoof on it. It felt smooth, like the river stones the Wonderbolts sometimes brought back, yet there was something haunting about its touch.

Ahead, Twilight carried on. Not wanting to be left behind, Rainbow Dash dropped her hoof from the tree and ran to catch up with her.

“So…” Rainbow Dash began, causing Twilight to glance over her shoulder. “You really are from the Crystal Kingdom, right?”

Twilight nodded. “I was, yes.”

“Was?” Rainbow Dash asked. They came to a tree, wide as she was tall, that had fallen across the road.

“No one crosses the Northern Mountains,” Twilight replied without looking, gracefully leaping clear over the fallen tree. “Even if I wanted to, I wouldn’t be able to go back.”

Rainbow Dash tried to imitate Twilight and make the same jump, only she fell short and had to scramble to get up on top of it. She jumped down on the other side of it and brushed down her coat. “But you made it across once, didn’t you?”

“And I shouldn’t have survived.” Twilight turned to her, fixing her with a stern look. “If I were to cross them again, I would die. And if you meet your friends, that is what you tell them: that no one crosses the Northern Mountains, understand?”

Rainbow Dash sat down and leaned back, raising her hooves. “Okay, okay, I get it. I won’t say anything about you to them.” She glanced down, spotting a scuff she’d missed, and straightened it out.

Twilight nodded, satisfied, and continued on the road.

“Sheesh,” Rainbow Dash mumbled, getting up to follow her. “So without getting my head bit off, how long have you been south of the mountains?”

“A few years,” Twilight answered. “Seven maybe, I guess.”

“Seven years?” Rainbow Dash’s eyebrows rose. “You’d have to have just been a kid when you left! You don’t look like you’ve even broken twenty.”

“Three years then,” Twilight said, irritably.

Rainbow Dash snorted. “Well which is it then? Seven or three? Those two are literally years apart.”

Twilight’s hair bristled. “Look, I don’t know how long it’s been. I haven’t kept track of the moon cycles that closely.”

“So you hit your head while you were in the mountains then?” Rainbow Dash asked, chuckling.

“In a way, maybe,” Twilight said, staring ahead at nothing in particular. “I’d prefer not to talk about the mountains.”

“You’d prefer not to talk about most things,” Rainbow Dash said. She something. “Think we’re getting close to Ponyville? Lyra said it wasn’t far from the cave.”

“Maybe you should ask her yourself,” Twilight said, pointing ahead. The road split in three, a signpost marking the paths, and slumped against it sat Lyra, mutedly plucking the strings of her lyre.

Rainbow Dash ran past Twilight, skidding to a halt at the crossroad.

Lyra continued to pluck her strings as though she weren’t there, but only for a few notes more before she let out a sigh and looked up.

“Sorry for skipping out earlier,” she said, trying to smile. “What you said the other night really got to me. I wanted to see this place as early as possible.” She looked around. “But as you can see, she’s not here.”

“Hey now,” Rainbow Dash said, trying to give Lyra a reassuring smile. “She could just be late or something. If you just give it a bit of time, I’m sure she’ll show up. She promised you, didn’t she?”

“‘At the crossroad outside home,’ she said. ‘Eleven cycles from today, by the late light of the quarter moon,’ she said.” Lyra looked up. The moon hung directly overhead, shining through the clearing at the crossroad. Half its face glowed pale and white, the other half lying in darkness.

“That is no early quarter moon,” Lyra said, her gaze falling back to her lyre. She plucked the strings, a vacant, melancholy tune playing from them. “‘No matter what,’ she said. ‘No matter what.’”

Rainbow Dash took a step back, staring at Lyra with unease. She found her smile faltering. “It’s a hectic world out there, I’m sure she’s on her way,” she said. She could tell by Lyra’s look that she didn’t believe it.

In the meantime, Lyra continued to play. She began to sing, “Hear me sing, sky midnight lake… ”

Rainbow Dash stomped her hoof, startling Lyra out of her playing. Lyra lowered her instrument, looking up at Rainbow Dash through bleary eyes.

“I know you must be thinking that the worst happened to your friend,” Rainbow Dash said. “But you don’t know that. You really don’t. She could just be sick or something. I’m not going to try to make you believe that’s the case, but it could be, couldn’t it? If something is keeping her from being here, I just know it must be tearing her up inside. She is your best friend, isn’t she?”

Lyra nodded, wiping her eye. “The best I could have ever asked for.”

“Then you have to wait—wait and believe that if she’s out there, she’ll be here.” Rainbow Dash walked over and rested a hoof on Lyra’s back. “You owe her as much. As a friend.”

Lyra let out a shuddering breath. She smiled, looking up at Rainbow Dash. “Thank you. It’s been twenty cycles. I’ll wait to see her a while longer.”

Rainbow Dash smiled and nodded. “And when we get back from finding my friends, maybe you can introduce us.”

Lyra’s smile grew, albeit still pained. “She would like that, I think.”

“Great, so I’ll just go get them!” Rainbow Dash glanced around, looking at the three dirt paths leading away from the crossroad and away from where they came. “Which of these is Ponyville again?”

Lyra pointed down the road to the right of where they came from as she raised her lyre once more, picking the strings of a melancholy tune.

“Wait for us,” Rainbow Dash said. “We’ll definitely be back.”

Lyra nodded and began to sing.

“On a soul as light as the moon,

I wander the deep of night astray,

In hopes I may find you soon,

If not this life, then one far away...”

As her voice faded, Twilight and Rainbow Dash carried on down the road towards Ponyville beneath the glow of the quarter moon.

Arc I: The Village

The Village

Twilight and Rainbow Dash came across a sign on the forest path. Made with aged oak, it was littered with scratches, most of them scratching out the words carved into it. Where it looked like it had once said Welcome to, the only word still clear now was the name: PONYVILLE.

“Gee, seems charming enough,” Dash said.

“Keep your weapon by your side,” Twilight cautioned. “We don’t know what to expect from this town’s inhabitants.”

As they continued past the sign, Dash turned to Twilight. “Are there a lot of settlements like this around?”

“Not many, no. Most of the remaining unicorns and earth ponies took refuge behind the Crystal Kingdom’s magic barrier. Those trapped south of the mountains have not fared so well. Of the settlements I’ve seen, most number ten or fewer.”

“How many have you come across since travelling south of the mountains?” Dash asked, peering at Twilight.

“Enough to have learned that staying in one for long is almost never a good idea,” Twilight answered. “Ponies band together to survive. Their settlement attracts the darken. Those who survive look for a new home.”

“So they come and go, like a cycle?” Dash stared at her hooves, a frown marring her lips. “How long usually before… you know?”

“Not long.”

The trail lead them out of the forest to an open field with wheat grass shimmering silver under. Up a hill ahead lay a farmhouse. The grey of aged wood bled through its original chipped and faded coat of red and white painted on years ago.

Twilight led as they made their way through the wheat fields to the farmhouse. They stopped on the dirt flat outside, tensed and glancing around. A pair of pitchforks sat on an empty hay cart by the house door. There wasn’t a candlelight to be seen, nor any sound from within to be heard.

Dash’s stance relaxed. “It looks abandoned. Should we poke around inside?”

Twilight nodded. “See if you can find yourself some food. It looks like this farm was abandoned recently.” As they walked inside, she glanced at the tools lying out in the open air. “In a hurry as well. They probably left behind some provisions they couldn’t take.”

“I guess we should make sure it doesn’t go to waste,” Dash said with a cheeky grin.

Inside the farmhouse it was pitch black. Spotting a candle on a nearby table, Twilight lit it with a spell. They stood in a kitchen, the candle on the dining table. All around them cupboards lined the walls and filled the space beneath the counters.

Dash dove right into the cupboards. “I wonder if they have any jarred fruit, maybe some fruit leather—ooh, what if they have jams!” She let out a giddy chuckle, licking her lips as she flipped through empty cupboard after empty cupboard.

While Rainbow dug around for food, Twilight examined the room. Beside the candle were a pair of books. One looked like a fantasy book belonging to a young foal, while the other seemed to be about cooking recipes. The fantasy book lay face down, saving what page the reader was on, yet its spine appeared to be unbroken.

“Twilight, behind you!” Dash shouted.

Twilight’s ears stood on end, her spine stiffening. She barely spun around in time to have the wind kicked out of her, a hoof planting itself firmly in her side. Her eyes winced shut. The blow sent her reeling and she fell against the table, banging her head against its surface on her way down to the floor where she crumpled.

She opened her eyes. The light hurt and the room swam in a dizzying manner. Her assailant stood overtop of her, pointing something long and sharp at her neck.

“What in tarnation do y’all think you’re doing rummaging through our cupboards?”

Twilight’s vision came back into focus. A pitchfork. It was a pitchfork that pointed at her neck. The room swam less. She glanced over to see Rainbow Dash being held against the floor by a massive red stallion. The room swam less. The pony who had her pinned was a mare, Twilight realized. One with an orange coat and a cowpony hat.

“Don’t even think about usin’ your magic here, missy. That horn so much as glows and you’re gonna find yourself with a new hole to breathe through.” The mare inched her pitchfork towards Twilight’s neck. “Now, I believe I asked the two of you a question.”

“We were looking for food,” Dash managed to chew out, her face being pressed into the floor by the stallion. “We didn’t think anypony was here!”

“Is that so?”

“I swear!” Dash said as the stallion pushed her face into the floor harder.

“You think she’s lyin’?” the mare asked, never taking her eyes off Twilight.

The stallion snorted. “Eeyup.”

“See, I can never tell whether a pegasus is lyin’ or not. They got coward’s blood runnin’ through their veins. Makes them natural born liars.” The mare lifted Twilight’s chin with the tip of her pitchfork, its point scraping Twilight’s throat. “Now what would make a unicorn such as yourself want to keep such company?”

Twilight glared defiantly, her lips sealed shut. She glanced down at the weapon pointed at her neck. Between the prongs of the pitchfork was room enough for her head. It would keep the farm mare from killing her briefly—but briefly was all she needed.

“She’s just trying to help me find my friends!” Rainbow Dash shouted. The stallion holding her pushed down harder. Dash let out a cry of pain.

The mare on top of Twilight looked over at Rainbow. “Now what did I tell you about lyin—”

Twilight interrupted, making her move. She forced her head forward in between the prongs of the pitchfork, escaping the pointed ends. The mare’s eyes widened in alarm as she tried to pull the pitchfork back, but it was too late. Twilight’s horn lit and a great flash of fire burst from it.

The mare dropped her pitchfork, bringing her hooves up to shield her eyes. In trying to distance herself from the flame, she fell over, back away from Twilight.

Twilight sprang to her hooves, pointing her glowing horn at the fallen mare. Her gaze snapped to the stallion. “Release her or your friend will burn.”

The stallion removed his hooves from Rainbow Dash at once, his eyes wide. Dash kneeled on her side, coughing and wheezing at finally being able to breathe again.

The stallion moved away slowly, backing up until his rear bumped into the counter. He trembled, frightened as a mouse. “P-please don’t hurt her!”

Twilight looked back to the mare on the floor. She glared back with the same defiance Twilight had not moments ago, only her eyes were filled with hate.

The glow surrounding Twilight’s horn faded. She scoffed. “Let’s go, Rainbow Dash.”

The farm mare’s defiant glare vanished. She blinked, looking between Rainbow and Twilight in clear confusion.

“Hold on,” Dash wheezed, one of her forehooves pressed against her chest. She turned to the mare that assaulted Twilight. “Have you heard of any pegasi passing by here? I’m looking for a mare and a stallion wearing armor just like mine.”

The mare took off her hat, revealing a short, tousled blond mane. She beat the dust out of it before putting it back on with a thin-lipped frown. “Afraid we haven’t seen any pegasi besides you in years. The last we saw was when a group of them raided the place that used to be our home.”

The stallion cast his eyes towards the ground as his companion spoke.

“This was our first surface trip to the ground as a squad.” Dash stood, wobbling slightly. “We got split up a little over a cycle ago in the forest southeast of this village when a manticore attacked us.”

The mare turned away from Dash, her lips sealed tightly shut.

“Please,” Dash said, trying again. “I’m just trying to find my friends.”

“So what?” the mare snapped. “Doesn’t it occur to you I might lie about seeing them, that I might lead you off someplace astray? I’ve shown nothin’ but a fond dislike of you and your kind—we attacked the two of you for cryin’ out loud!”

“Yeah, you could just make something up. Lead me on a wild goose chase.” Rainbow Dash huffed. “But I still have to ask. If I don’t, I might never find them.”

The mare scoffed, folding her hooves in front of her chest. “You’re too darned honest for your own good, you know. That kind of honesty can get you killed here, maybe even worse.” She chewed her lip, looking between Dash and Twilight. After a moment spent examining them, she stood. “I’m Applejack,” she said, finally. “This over here is my brother, Big Mac. I don’t know where your friends are, but I know of somepony who might.”

Dash let out a sigh of relief. “Thank you.”

“Can’t believe I’m helpin’ a pegasus,” Applejack mumbled. “Before you said you came in here lookin’ for food, right?”

“Well, yeah, but I couldn’t ask—”

“If you’re about to refuse the offer, I might just take you up on it,” Applejack interrupted. “It’d do you well to keep your mouth shut when gettin’ help, seeing as I’m sorely tempted not to give it.”

Applejack walked over to the cupboards beside Dash. Reaching inside one, she moved a board aside, revealing a hidden compartment. “But if I went and did that, I suppose then I’d be no different than the pegasi cowerin’ up in their clouds.”

She pulled her head out of the cupboard, handing Dash a package wrapped with parchment and twine. After, she dove back in retrieved a second parchment package and then two jars. “Fruit leather, dried stale bread, apple jam, and apple sauce.”

Dash stared at the package in her hooves, then at the package and two jars sitting on the counter. She wiped a spot of drool from her chin, blushing. “Sorry, we don’t get much fruit up in Cloudsdale.”

“The bread is dense,” Applejack said. “If you ration it well between the two of you, could last the pair of you a week, maybe two. That’s all we can spare.”

“I’ll try not to eat it all right away,” Dash said, grinning. “But no promises.”

Applejack smirked for a second before quickly correcting her mouth back to a scowl. Shoving past Dash, she walked towards the door. “Come on, I’ll show the two of you the way to Pinkie’s place.” She paused to look over her shoulder at Big Mac. “Help Applebloom out of her hiding spot while I’m out. Let her know the danger’s gone and I’m just makin’ a round trip out to town.”

Big Mac nodded. “Stay safe.”

“I reckon if either of these two wanted to do me harm, the horned one over here would have already,” Applejack said. “But I will.”

Twilight and Rainbow followed her abreast, out of the farmhouse and into the open night air. They were lead down a winding, overgrown trail opposite the side they came up. The wheat fields on either side of the trail were silent as the grave, their white ghostly stalks absent of insects or any other life. The sea of them leaned and rippled under the hollow wind.

The night seemed even more frigid here, out away from the forest’s shelter. It was hard to tell whether it truly was, or whether it was just the emptiness of the sky above, the exposure to the dark above.

It wasn’t until they reached the bottom and the trail flattened out that they began to see houses. Their rooftops were what they saw first. Thatching, pale and white as the fields around them, sat atop the homes. As they drew closer still, it became apparent most of the houses had been long since abandoned. Many lay in near ruins—even more in rubbled heaps.

“Applejack!” a mare shouted, walking over towards them. “What brings you into town in the middle of the night?”

Applejack arched an eyebrow. “Not quite sure what you mean, Mayor Mare.”

“Why, it should be sunrise any moment. You should go home and get some rest. Start early in the morning.” Mayor Mare paused, taking notice of the two accompanying Applejack. “These two aren’t from around here—I should know, I am the mayor after all.”

“No, ma’am, they’re not,” Applejack said, gritting her teeth.

“Are they tourists?”

Applejack sighed. She put on a fake smile. “Why yes, ma’am, yes they are. I was just showing them around our lovely, quaint little town.” She cleared her throat. “If you could kindly let us get back to it, Ms. Mayor? I’m sure somepony of your position has a lot to do.”

“Why yes. Yes yes yes.” The Mayor Mare fidgeted. She turned and walked away, muttering loudly. “Always so much to do. So much. Paper work, ceremonies, yes yes. Much to do.”

The three of them watched her go until she had walked far out of earshot.

Dash was the first to speak, once they had started walking again. “Uh, is there something wrong with her? Maybe a bit?”

Applejack gave her a confused look. “Whaddya mean?”

“I mean she seems a bit unstable, maybe even insane.”

“Well, we’ve all got our peculiarities. Some folk more than others. Then again you may be right; anypony who talks about the sun’s existence like that has got to have lost more than a fair share of their sanity. But then as I said before: we’ve all got our peculiarities.”

Rainbow Dash snorted. “Yeah, well, I don’t think I have any peculiarities in the same way she does.”

“Why sure you do,” Applejack said, nodding her head. “You got wings, dontcha? That’s a mighty big peculiarity in and of its own self.”

“What?” Rainbow Dash refolded her wings. “How is that in any way the same thing?”

“I meet a whole lot more folk with peculiarities like hers than I meet with wings like yours. I’d say that makes them a mighty peculiar thing indeed.” Applejack glanced at Twilight. “Your friend don’t talk much, do she?”

Twilight’s ear flicked at her name being brought up, but she otherwise made no motion in response to being talked about.

Applejack wrinkled her nose. “Last time she spoke, she threatened to have me all burnt up.”

“That’s not true. The last words I spoke were, ‘Let’s go, Rainbow Dash,’” Twilight said.

Applejack gave her a deadpanned look. “Seems like she’d be a real bundle of fun on the road, too.”

“Eh, you get used to it,” Dash said, smiling. “She talks a bit more when other ponies aren’t around.”

Applejack shook her head. “I’ll have to take your word for it.”

The more they walked, the more deserted Ponyville seemed. One house they passed had a filly and her mother. The pair of them stared as Twilight and Rainbow walked by, the mother clutching her child closely. Their manes were dirty and haggard, their eyes wide and bloodshot, surrounded by the dark circles of many sleepless nights.

Dash shivered, tearing her eyes away from their gaze. “So where are we headed, anyway?”

“Pinkie Pie’s house. She can take the two of you to the White Witch. She’s the only pony in Ponyville who knows exactly how to get there.”

“White Witch?”

“She’s a shamanic zebra livin’ out in the Everfree forest—the most unsettlin’ of all the forests surroundin’ Ponyville. I hear noises comin’ out of that forest I don’t ever want to know the cause of. It’s a darkened place full of wrath, I tell you. The trees themselves are alive, inhabited by the ghosts of the lost and tortured.” A visible shudder ran through Applejack entire body. “I don’t want nothin’ to do with nopony who calls that place home.”

Dash trotted up to Applejack, walking shoulder to shoulder, and leaned in close to her face. “But you think she might have seen my friends?”

“No, but she may have some way of findin’ them. If you’re truly desperate to find your friends, well, she’s the sort of answer a desperate pony might turn to.”

“Well, it’s not like she’s going to turn me into a newt or anything, right?” Dash said, chuckling.

Without turning around, Applejack gave a half shrug, her eyes staying on the road ahead.

“Hey, wait, you don’t think she’ll actually—”

“We’re here,” Applejack announced, interrupting. They stood before a house as large as any of the two around it put end-to-end. A chipped wooden sign hung from a post, spinning lazily on one chain as the other was broken. Etched onto the sign was a loaf of bread.

Dash stared quizzically at the sign. “A bakery?”

Applejack nodded. “According to Pinkie, bakin’s not so entirely different from brewin’ potions. She visits the White Witch for help with her recipes.” She leaned in close, whispering in Dash’s ear, “I wouldn’t eat anything here, either, if I was you.” She ran her hoof across her throat, making a croaking noise. “You know, just to be on the safe side.”

Dash unconsciously shuffled away from her. “Uh, right. I’ll keep that in mind.”

Contented by Dash’s answer, Applejack approached the door of the bakery. She stood on its steps and knocked. “Pinkie? It’s Applejack.”

“Just a minute!” came a shout in reply. There was some shuffling around, what sounded like pots and pans. The sound of hoofsteps approached the door, then a mare opened it. Her mane was pink and curled and knotted, a rat’s nest sticking out from under her purple shawl. She greeted the three of them with a lip-splitting smile, smelling of things Twilight wasn’t sure she had ever smelled before. Like a pungent sour-smelling smoke.

“Oh, hey! New friends!” the mare said, shaking Twilight and Rainbow Dash’s hooves vigorously. “I’ve never seen you before, which means you must be new, because I know everyone in Ponyville!”

“So do I, Pinkie. There’s only a wagonful of us,” Applejack muttered. “Look, this winged one here’s lookin to see the White Witch. She’s searchin’ for a friend.”

Pinkie snorted and giggled, covering her muzzle. “Well of course she is! If anypony knows where somepony is, that anypony is the White Witch.” She reached inside her bag. “Cookie?” she offered Dash.

“Uh…” Dash shook her head. “No thanks.”

“Well, suit yourself.” Pinkie tossed the cookie on the ground to their side. “Anyways, come on in. It wouldn’t do if you all stood outside and caught gaptrout because of me.” She turned and walked inside, leaving them an invitation to follow.

Dash turned to Applejack. “Gaptrout?”

Applejack shook her head. “Ain’t the foggiest.” She tipped the front of her hat down. “Well, I best be gettin’ back to the farm. Y’all don’t go dark out there.”

“Wait, that’s it?” Dash said.

“It’s outta my hooves from here,” Applejack replied, then turned and left, eventually being swallowed by the night from whence they came.

“I guess we go in,” Twilight said, stepping inside the bakery.

Dash made to follow, but a flap of wings gave her pause. A crow had landed by the discarded cookie. It pecked it into crumbs with its beak, picking up the crumbs and swallowing them. Not a moment after it swallowed a second beak-ful, it began wheezing. Flapping its wings, a series of panicked caws escaped from it.

Dash approached it cautiously, her hoof extended out towards it.

Just as her hoof was about to touch it, the crow exploded in a plume of green smoke and fire.

Dash leaped back, her eyes wide. As the smoke dispersed upward, a large, fat lizard stood where the crow had been, looking alarmed and confused. In its state of panic, it turned and ran, disappearing into the forest and distancing itself as far as possible from the scene of its transformation.

Dash blinked. She looked around, hoping to see if anypony else had seen the same thing, but Twilight had already gone inside.

Heading inside, she swallowed the newly formed lump in her throat.

Dash found her way to the kitchen, where Pinkie and Twilight were both silently waiting for her--or at least mostly silently on Pinkie’s part. She hummed an uppity tune while prancing across the kitchen to a massive black wood stove, a pair of oven mitts on her front hooves.

She opened the stove and pulled out a tray of cookies, much like the one she had offered Dash. She inhaled deeply their scent. Her lips pursed and nose wrinkled up as she stared at them.

“Wait, if these are…” Pinkie muttered. She turned to Dash, rubbing the back of her head. “Woops. I guess it’s a good thing you weren’t feeling peckish earlier.”

She slid the cookies off the tray onto a plate and placed the plate on the kitchen table next to where Twilight stood.

Twilight shook her head. “I’m not hungry.”

“Suit yourself,” Pinkie Pie said with a shrug. She picked one of the cookies off the plate and ate it in one large bite, licking her lips afterwards.

“So,” she said, turning to Dash. “How did you and your friend get separated?”

“Actually there were two friends. The three of us got attacked by a darkened manticore, but my wing was injured so I couldn’t fly away. Soarin’ and Spitfire stayed to help me, but I don’t remember really what happened after that.” Dash picked up a cookie and gave it a test nibble. She took a seat and stared at it, turning it in her hooves.

“The manticore swiped at me. I think I remember diving into a cave or between some rocks or something to avoid it. I must have hit my head because everything went black after that and when I woke up there was dried blood on my forehead. That was about a cycle ago.”

Dash something something. “After we got separated they probably just flew away. I know they must have come back looking for my body. When they didn’t find it, they probably started looking for me.”

Turning to Twilight, Pinkie giggled. “Her optimism sure is refreshing, isn’t it?”

Dash’s brow furrowed. “Spitfire and Soarin are the strongest, fastest Wonderbolts in Cloudsdale. They can handle themselves.”

Pinkie Pie stifled her laughter and gave Dash a warm smile. “Glad to hear that.” She walked over to the table and slid the plate of cookies into a tin container. “Right now seems like the perfect hour to take a stroll through the forest, doesn’t it?”

Arc I: The White Witch

The Forest of Dark

Light continued to fade as the cycle approached the new moon. Between this and the skeletal branches shading the barren forest floor. A near perfect dark surrounded the path they walked. Were it not for their torches they would be blind. Even with them, the dark seemed to swallow their firelight with a feverous hunger.

The earth beneath their hooves was packed and frigid, more resembling stone or concrete than dirt. Its dead greyish hue did little to help the comparison. Yet still, roots breached its surface and the pale trees filled the forest as densely as any jungle.

Twilight and Dash followed Pinkie, who for the last hour had led them through the seemingly endless and unchanging forest. Every so often she would stop, stare at their surroundings, and then they would be walking in a new direction.

“We’re walking in circles,” Dash said. “We’re lost, aren’t we?”

Pinkie Pie glanced back at the two of them and smiled. “Nope! We’re following a path.”

“We’ve turned around in a full three hundred sixty degrees over the past ten minutes, maybe more. How is that not walking in circles?” Dash caught Twilight staring at her. “What?”

“Have you not felt the dark?” Twilight asked.

“What do you mean, ‘felt it’?”

Twilight gestured with a nod behind them. “Look.”

Behind them their torchlight fell off into darkness, but for the first time, Dash noticed the darkness was not still. It swam and circled their heels like a thousand swarming eels. Every so often a part of it would dart out into the light, swallowing it.

Dash felt a trail of ice make its way up her spine. Her breaths quickened. Her gaze darted all around them, and now that she’d seen it, all around them the darkness thrashed. Her ears pounded from its terrible shriek, which came from all directions at once.

Then it all vanished. There was a hoof on her shoulder. Twilight’s. She looked up and met Twilight’s eyes, and for a moment every fibre of her being stood still as if under a spell.

Then Twilight spoke. “Breathe.”

Dash did. Her chest moved and she gulped in air. With the first movement the rest of the spell broke. The chill receded from her spine and she could once again move her limbs.

“W-what was that?” she asked.

“The Miasma,” Twilight answered. “Otherwise known as the Dark. It’s a magic as ancient as it is vile. Its spread is what has been steadily wiping ponies from this earth over the past thousand years, and it’s what originally made the pegasi retreat to their clouds.”

“But I’ve never seen or heard of it like this.”

“Some places are darker than others,” Pinkie Pie said, butting in. “The Everfree forest is one of the darkest. That’s why we haven’t been walking in a straight path, because some places are too dark—even for these torches. As far as walking in circles goes, well… the darkness moves.”

Dash glanced back at the darkness. It was still thrashing and boring into the light. Horn glowing, Twilight’s torch grew brighter. The darkness coiled away from the increased brightness as if burned.

Twilight looked between Dash and Pinkie. “Don’t stray too far from me. If the torches go out, my pyromancy will be the only thing that can save us. In the event of that happening, we’ll have to move fast.”

Pinkie Pie gave her a wide smile and nodded, but Dash still struggled to speak.

As Pinkie glanced around again, her smile faded. “We should keep going. The darkness is moving.”

As Pinkie began to move, so too did Twilight. Dash snapped to her wits, raising her torch. Her other hoof ached from walking so long on three legs, but she wasn’t about to be left behind. Not after what she had just seen.

They walked for another hour in silence. Dash no longer questioned the path they took, nor where they were going. She kept glancing up at the tiny holes in the branches through which moonlight peeked. There was the distinct impression that the forest was a prison, the branches its bars, and the light which entered its prisoner.

Eventually they came to a crevasse, the depth of which they couldn’t begin to guess. They crossed by a giant fallen palewood whose trunk reached from one side to the other.

There they were, in front of a perfectly circular hut whose thatching seemed to be made of the thinner branches from the trees around it, for above it lay a gap through which the light of the moon poured.

Pinkie Pie walked over to its door, sat, and extended her hoof out towards it. “May I present to you, ponies of the sky and ground, the home of the White Witch!”

The door opened. Out stepped a zebra, her coat as pale as the moon and her stripes a faded gray. Her mane fell down, long and unkempt, around her shoulders, while her neck and left hoof were surrounded by several rings of silver.

She turned to Pinkie Pie and glared. “I have told you not to call me that. I do not appreciate being jest at.”

Pinkie covered up a giggle. “Sorry.”

Zecora huffed. She turned back to Twilight and Rainbow Dash, arching a brow at them. “And what are these? Why have you brought along two ponies?”

“I’m trying to find my friends,” Rainbow Dash said, stepping forward. “Two of them. We got separated a while back. I was told you could help me find them.”

“That I might be able to do, but it would dependant upon you.” Zecora walked up to Rainbow Dash, examining her. “Do you have some of their skin? Their blood? Their hair?”

“What? No, I don’t.”

Zecora stepped back. “Then I’m afraid I cannot help you there. For at least one of these things would be needed if I were to find where your friends have proceeded.”

Dash’s ears drooped. “You don’t have any sort of magic that could help?”

“I’m afraid I merely brew potions to divine my secrets. And a potion, as you may know, requires ingredients.”

Dash hung her head. She could feel a stinging in the corners of her eyes. “So… that’s it then, I guess. Back to Square one.”

“We should head back to Ponyville,” Twilight said. “Figure out where to go next from there.”

Zecora brought a hoof to her chin. She stared at Rainbow Dash and Twilight. Her eyes narrowed as her gaze lingered on Twilight. “Why don’t the three of you come inside? There may be some help I can give offering my services as a guide.”

Dash’s ears perked up. She raised her head. “Really?”

“I know the forests around here to each and every tree.” Zecora opened the door to her hut and paused in the archway, glancing back at the three of them. “You’re welcome to stay and warm yourselves while I prepare a fresh pot of tea.”

Pinkie accepted the offer and stepped inside. While Zecora went into the back of the hut, she stopped in the doorway and held it, looking back at Rainbow and Twilight.

“Zecora might not be able to whip up some cure-all for your problems,” Pinkie said. “But she knows this area better than anypony. You should try telling her your story; she might still be able to help.”

Rainbow Dash and Twilight glanced at one another.

Dash shrugged. “It’s worth a shot, right?”

Twilight nodded, her mouth set in a grim line.

“What?” Dash asked.

“Nothing,” Twilight replied. “Let’s head inside.”

The interior of Zecora’s hut was lit by a green flame that sat in a fire pit in the center of the home’s only room. Over the green flame hung a black cauldron filled with boiling water. Books, potions, and ingredients of every color and shape filled the shelves lining the room’s walls.

Zecora took the cauldron off the fire and lay it on a flat stone to one side of the room. Using a cloth, she tipped it to fill a scratched-up kettle, then set the kettle aside to steep.

“Now then,” she said, joining the rest of them. “For what happened to your group I am most sorry, but if I am to aid you in finding them, then I shall have to hear your story.”

“It was my first time down to the surface,” Dash began. “Since I was a rookie, it was just supposed to be a day trip. A couple hours, maybe more. We walked through a rocky area containing lots of caves filled with white-capped mushrooms. We were picking the mushrooms from the caves to take back to Cloudsdale, each of us taking separate caves at a time, when I walked into the wrong one.

“I was in the deep end of the cave when I first heard it move. I remember turning around and seeing its eyes glowing in the dark—but I didn’t realize they were eyes at first. I’d never seen anything so big.

“Once I heard it growl, I realized the danger I was in. I ran and flew straight for the exit. With how dark the cave was, I never saw its claws. One moment I was in the air, soaring towards the light at the mouth of the cave, the next I was tilting out of control.”

Dash held out her wing, showing the diagonal cut that had stripped almost half the wing’s feathers. It looked to have just missed the wing itself. Pinkie Pie gasped and covered her mouth.

“That’s when this happened,” Dash said. She folded her wing back away. “I managed to crash land outside the cave. Spitfire and Soarin must have heard my shout from just before I hit the dirt, because they were at my side the next instant.”

Dash rubbed her shoulder as she let out a shudder. “Then the darkened manticore stepped outside. Its skin was black and burnt and rough as leather. It was huge—bigger even than some of the monsters in the stories my mom read to me as a filly. And its eyes were pale white and filled with rage.

“Spitfire led the way as we ran. Soarin flew around the manticore, jabbing it with his spear, trying to distract it. But his spear couldn’t pierce its hide, and I think it knew I was weakened, because it just kept coming after me. We ran from it for three… five… ten minutes?”

Dash clenched her eyes shut and shook her head. “My memories about what happened next are still hazy. At some point while trying to get away, I dove into a small opening between some rocks and hit my head. When I woke up, the manticore was gone, but so were Spitfire and Soarin.

“I tried looking for them, but a pack of darkened wolves chased me to some ruins, where I became trapped until Twilight came along.”

The hut filled with silence after Dash finished telling her tale.

Zecora walked over to the kettle and brought it, along with some clay cups, back beside the green light of the fire. As she served the tea, her brow furrowed.

“Before you poked this wasp’s nest, were you able to see a mountain in the west?” she asked, offering them each a cup of tea. Twilight declined when it came to her.

“I don’t think so,” Dash said, taking a sip of her tea. She flinched as the hot liquid burnt the tip of her tongue. “It was my first time on the ground. I would’ve been lost without Spitfire or Soarin there.”

“Do you remember anything else distinct about this cave-filled area you passed through?”

Dash shook her head.

Zecora sat back and sighed. “Then I’m afraid I am once again unable to help you,” she said, sipping her tea.

Dash stared at the ground. She took another small sip of her tea. “I just wish I could remember more clearly what happened.”

Twilight’s eyes narrowed at Zecora. “You’re lying.”

Zecora’s eyebrows raised. “Pardon?”

“You know where the place in Rainbow Dash’s story is. I saw the recognition on your face as she described it.”

“You are observant for one so young.” Zecora grimaced and set down her tea. “True, I may know of where these caves lie, but that does not mean I told a lie. I would be unable to, in good conscious, tell you the way back to something so monstrous.

“Rest and live down here while you let your wing repair. Head back to Cloudsdale when you can once more take to the air. That is the advice I would instill. Do with it is as you will.”

Dash glanced at her back, reshuffling her wings. “It could be almost a year before my feathers grow back. I can’t wait that long to go looking for them, not when there’s a chance they could need help.”

Dash clasped her hooves together, gritting her teeth. “Please. Spitfire was like a big sister to me.”

“I can’t imagine it’s the same in Cloudsdale,” Pinkie said, cutting in. “But down here, everypony has someone they’ve lost. Don’t you have parents? Friends back in Cloudsdale? You have to think of how they would feel if they lost you, too.”

“They came back for me,” Dash said, Pinkie’s advice falling on deaf ears. Her gaze was set firmly on Zecora. “They could have left me when the manticore attacked me and I couldn’t fly, but they didn’t. I won’t be able to live with myself if I don’t at least do the same for them. The two of them mean as much as family to me.”

She sat up, crossing her hooves in front of her chest. “And if you won’t tell me where that place is, then I’ll just find it myself, even if it means having to walk to each and every corner of this forsaken forest.”

Once Dash finished, Zecora lifted her teacup and tipped it to her lips, drinking deeply. She closed her eyes and let out a deep breath.

“If this is truly the path you are set upon, there would be no sense keeping what I know withdrawn.” Zecora something something.

“The place you seek is on the southern edge of the Everfree, where these pale trees are met with moss and greenery. Travel west along this edge and you shall find your caves.” Zecora finished her tea and set the cup down. “And I hope, not your graves.”

She reached up, rubbing her forehead as if to stem an oncoming headache. She stood, glaring at Twilight and Dash. “I ask that the two of you most expediently depart. Having you linger would only serve to weigh further regrets upon heart.”

She shooed them away with her hooves. “So now get out, get out of my den, but see to it you manage to return here again.”

Twilight and Rainbow Dash backpedalled towards the door as Zecora forced them out. Dash’s rear pushed the door open, and then the two of them were outside. Zecora stood in the doorway.

Zecora faced Dash. “If you wish to head south, it is in that direction which you must aim,” she said, pointing to her right. She then turned to Twilight. “And you, accursed life, touched by the dark, I never received your name.”

Twilight stiffened, the hairs on her coat bristling. “My name is Twilight.”

Zecora nodded to herself. “I shall pray for your soul.”

“Nice meeting you two!” Pinkie shouted from inside, right before Zecora slammed the door.

The two of them stood in silence in the light of the clearing surrounding Zecora’s hut. Beyond where the moonlight poured, beyond the clearing and beneath the shade of the trees, the dark hissed and writhed.

Twilight’s horn lit up. A small, torchlight flame came out the top, lighting their surroundings. She began walking in the direction Zecora had pointed them.

“What was that about?” Dash asked, following her into the dark. “‘Accursed life, touched by the dark’?”

Twilight ignored her, trying to walk on in silence.

Dash stepped out in front of Twilight, stopping her in her tracks. “There’s something about you that’s been bugging me that I can’t quite figure out. You rarely sleep, yet you never seem tired. You rarely eat, yet you reject food. Most of all, I still have no idea why you’re helping me or what it is you’re hoping to get out of this.”

“I’d rather not talk about it,” Twilight said, avoiding Dash’s eyes.

“Well, tough. It’s clearly something important, judging by what Zecora said and how you reacted, so you’re going to have to tell me about it if we’re really going to trust one another.”

Twilight took a deep breath, letting it out as a sigh. Undoing a clasp, she lifted her robes and lay them to her other side, revealing her flank. Blackness marred her skin. Dash initially took it for bruising, but then she saw how rough and flakey the skin was, like it was made of charcoal.

Dash unintentionally took a step back, her snout wrinkling.

Twilight lowered her robes, covering her marred skin. “‘Accursed life, touched by the dark.’ And so I have been for seven years.”

Dash blinked. “Come again? Seven years?”

“But…” Dash shook her head. “How did this happen?”

“I would rather not talk about it.” As Dash was about to protest, she continued. “It brings up painful memories, ones that have never ceased in their relentless haunt of me, even after all these years.”

Dash grew quiet. She stared at the ground, kicking the dirt. “Do you know how long you have?”

Twilight sat down, sighing. “No, I don’t. Its growth is sporadic. I could have as many as five years or as little as one.”

On that last note, Dash fell silent. She walked close by Twilight’s side. The light from Twilight’s horn didn’t travel far, and the dark always seemed to be pressing in.

Another paragraph here.

about this long

And another one here.

about this long

Several hours passed since leaving Zecora’s hut before Dash and Twilight once again saw moonlight. The pale woods of the Everfree stopped abruptly, opening to a field across which greener woods lay. The field was a rich blue-green and ran between the two woods like a river, stretching as far to either side as the eye could see.

Dash failed to cover up a boisterous yawn. “So,” she said, smacking her lips. “Should we set up camp in the field? Great big clearing, easy to see if something’s creeping up on us, etcetera.”

“No. It’s too noticeable. After traveling through these woods, we would be too exhausted to run if we got attacked by something we couldn’t handle.” Twilight snuffed out the flame at the tip of her horn. She started across the field, nodding for Dash to follow. “Come on, it’s only a little ways further to the woods.”

Dash groaned, trudging through the field.

Not far from the treeline, the campfire Twilight started crackled with burning twigs as Dash returned, carrying a large, thin fallen branch. Spitting it out, she began to go about breaking it up into kindling with her hooves.

“You should get some rest,” Twilight said, watching her work. “I can handle it from here.”

Dash ignored her, continuing to stomp and break apart the branch. “Just because you’re all untiring or whatever, doesn’t mean I’m not going to pull my share around here.”

“The earlier you get some rest, the earlier we can start west along the field, searching for where it is you and your party got split up.”

Dash continued stomping apart the branch with her hooves, gritting her teeth.

Twilight glared at her. “Dash.”

Dash gave the branch one final stomp, breaking it apart with a crunch. She looked up at Twilight, her head hanging low and her eyelids drooping. “I guess you’re right,” she said, letting out a sigh.

Walking around the fire, she lay down beside Twilight. “I’m just tired of needing help. I needed help when I stumbled into that manticore’s den, I needed help when you found me in those ruins, and I needed help when that stallion had me pinned back at the farm house.”

“I wouldn’t have been able to take away their advantage if you hadn’t distracted Applejack.”

Dash snorted. “Yeah, like begging for them to let us go as my face was pushed into the floorboards is anything to be proud of.”

“Maybe not,” Twilight said, shrugging.

Dash stared into the campfire, the light flickering off her eyes. Her tail wrapped around her body, ending beside her snout. She re-folded her wings and shifted from side to side.

Arc I: The Hermit

The Hermit

Dash opened her eyes to a spinning room, her vision bleary. Her wing was folded painfully under her side. She slid it free, wincing.

“Oh! You’re awake.”

Dash’s head snapped up at the soft, unfamiliar voice. It sounded like a mare. Dash rubbed her eyes, trying to make things less blurry, but to no avail.

“Where am I?” she asked. Her tongue felt numb. “Where’s Twilight?”

A blurred yellow shape—the pony who spoke, Dash figured—approached her. The other pony rested her hoof on Dash’s head and pressed something firm against her lower lip.

“Drink up,” said the gentle voice, leaning Dash’s head back and tipping the bowl against her lips so liquid touched them.

She broke away from the drink container with a refreshed gasp. A soft cloth dabbed at where the medicine had run down the sides of her mouth, courtesy of the soft-spoken pony.

“There you are. That should leave you feeling all better.”

“Thanks,” Dash said, offering her a grateful smile. Her smile faltered. “But where am I? Where’s Twilight?”

“You’re in my home,” the mare said. She put a hoof to her chin. “Twilight? You mean the other pony you were with?”

“Yeah. Purple mane, purple coat. Unicorn. Has a…” Dash shook her head, trying to clear it. “Has a pink stripe going through her mane.” The room was gradually coming into focus.

“Oh, yes. I know her. She’s resting in another part of my home. I just finished giving her the same medicine. Well, not the same. I needed to prepare hers a little bit differently.”

“Is she alright?” Dash asked, sitting up sharply. She was forced to brace herself with her hooves as a quick onset of lightheadedness struck her.

The mare put a hoof on her shoulder. “You shouldn’t try getting up while the medicine is still taking effect,” she said, gently laying Rainbow down.

Dash let out a frustrated sigh, but lay down as the other pony suggested. Her vision was nearly in focus. She could make out the mare’s wavy mane and the color of her eyes. It was then she first spotted the mare’s wings.

“You’re a pegasus!” Dash said, the words coming out partially slurred. She broke out in a grin. “What’s your name? Are you from Cloudsdale or Las Pegasus? How long have you been down here?”

The mare shrunk away under Dash’s barrage of questions. “Um, my name’s Fluttershy.”

“Cool. I’m Rainbow Dash.” Dash stood, stumbling half a step from the dizziness that followed. “So which one? Cloudsdale or Las Pegasus?”

“Cloudsdale… but I haven’t been up there in a long time.”

“Hey, I’m Cloudsdale, too,” Dash said, pointing to herself. Her snout wrinkled. “So what the heck are you doing on the surface?”

Fluttershy seemed to smile to herself. “I live in this cottage along with all my friends.” Her smile grew. “Would you like to meet them?”

Dash shrugged. “Sure, why not?”

Fluttershy looked over her shoulder and called, “Angel Bunny!”

A small, black animal came scurrying from the other side of the room. Once it drew near, Dash could make it out as a miniature rabbit. It jumped up on Fluttershy’s back and sat there.

Dash reached out a hoof towards it. It leaned forwards, sniffing her, curiously.

“He’s a sootsy little guy, isn’t he?” Dash said to Fluttershy, chuckling, causing Fluttershy to stifle a giggle. “Almost looks as though he’s been playing in the chimney.”

The rabbit bit her. Hard.

Dash winced and snapped her hoof away from it. A few drops of blood trickled down her hoof. “Hey!” she said, turning back to the rabbit to glare at it. As soon as she did though, her glare disappeared, her eyes growing wide.

Black skin. Like charcoal from a fireplace. Its eyes vacant, yet hateful.

Dash took a step back. “That thing’s darkened!”

Fluttershy glanced at the rabbit on her back, then turned back to Dash, tilting her head. “Darkened?”

“Their skin, when it’s all blackened like that, like it’s been burnt, those are darkened.” Dash licked her injured hoof before setting it down. “They’re dangerous.”

“Dangerous?” Fluttershy repeated, one brow raised. “But all my animal friends are like that. They’re not dangerous.”

“All your…” Dash began, but paused when she heard a rumbling sound coming from across the room.

Blinking, she noticed for the first time that two dozen pairs of glowing eyes were watching her from the darkness. In the center of the room lay an enormous darkened bear, the source of the rumbling that was now steadily rising to a growl. Out of its paws stuck a set of long, razor-sharp claws, slowly scraping across the wood floor.

Dash’s pupils dilated, her tongue going dry.

Fluttershy rounded on the bear, scolding it. “That’s enough, Harry! Rainbow Dash is our guest.”

The bear stopped and raised its head, staring at her. Then, letting out a whimper, it rested its chin on the floor.

Fluttershy turned back to Dash with an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry. They sometimes get a little worked up around strangers.”

“H-how did you do that?” Dash asked.

“Oh, well…” Fluttershy crossed her hooves, rocking forward and back. “Ever since I fell out of Cloudsdale as a filly, I guess I’ve just had a way with the forest critters.”

One of the darkened, a ferret, scampered over to her, climbing up her front leg and neck before taking perch in her mane atop her head.

Fluttershy giggled, extending a hoof up towards it. It took the cue to jump onto her hoof, clinging as she brought it down beside her cheek and nuzzled it.

She glanced up at Rainbow Dash, extending her hoof and the ferret towards her. “Would you like to try holding him?”

The ferret glanced back at Futtershy, then looked at Dash. It growled.

“Oh, woah.” Dash fervently shook her head with an uneasy smile. “Nooo thank you. I’d probably wind up holding him wrong or something, and besides, animals don’t like me.”

“Nonsense, I’m sure you two will become fast friends,” Fluttershy said. Before Dash could protest, she reached up and placed the ferret in Dash’s mane atop her head.

Dash’s entire body froze as she felt the added weight. Looking up and crossing her eyes, she saw the ferret, poking down over her forehead to look at her.

“Uh, hey,” Dash said to it, forcing a broad smile.

The ferret’s lips pulled back in a snarl and it hissed. Disappearing from view, she felt it stepping on her head, its claws digging into her scalp.

“Ow, ow, ow!” Dash hissed, wincing as the ferret clawed and climbed its way down the back of her neck—and after, down her leg. It walked back to Fluttershy’s side while still growling at Dash.

Fluttershy picked up the ferret and placed it back on top of her head, smiling as if nothing happened. “Would you like something to eat?”

At the mention of food, Dash felt a pang of hunger. “Listen, I really need to get back out there along with my friend. We’re looking for two more of my friends that I got separated from.”

“You can’t go out there,” Fluttershy said, eyes wide with alarm. “It’s far too dangerous!”

Dash glanced around the cottage filled with darkened, biting the tip of her tongue to keep from retort. “That’s exactly why I need to find them. I need to make sure they’re alright.”

Fluttershy bottom lip quivered. “B-but you only just got here, and what if something happened to you, too?” She started sniffling. “I’ve never h-had any pegasi friends, n-not even back when I lived in Cloudsdale.”

Dash’s jaw clenched, her sympathy in low supply as her patience wore thin. Her frustrations welled up inside her, and she glared at Fluttershy, preparing to shout at her, but she stopped. A tingle ran down her spine, the hairs on her neck standing up straight. She glanced around the room.

All the darkened creatures gathered in the room had been watching Dash intently with eyes full of bloodlust and hate, but now their bodies had tensed, ready to tear and slash and gouge her apart.

Both the anger and the blood drained from Dash’s face. She walked over to Fluttershy post haste, resting a hoof on her shoulder. “Hey now, I-I’m not planning on going anywhere.”

Fluttershy sniffed, reaching up and rubbing one of her eyes. “You’re not?” she said, hopefully.

“Not without you, I’m not,” Dash said, giving her a grin. “Ponies of the feather stick together, right?”

Dash’s words teased a smile from the corners of Fluttershy’s lips. “Is that what they say in Cloudsdale?”

“All the time!” Dash said, nodding. “So why don’t we both go and find my friends? They’re pegasi, too, so all four of us should be sticking together.”

The smile that was starting to form on Fluttershy’s lips disappeared. She hung her head. “I can’t… I can’t walk.”

Dash’s head reared back. She glanced down at Fluttershy’s legs and then back up at her. “What’re you talking about? Sure you can. I’ve seen you.”

Fluttershy shook her head, biting her lip. “When I fell out of Cloudsdale I hurt my legs really badly. I’ve had trouble walking ever since.” She took a few tiny steps around to demonstrate, her legs shaking when she lifted them. “I can walk around my home, but I’m afraid I’m not strong enough to do much more.”

“What about your wings?” Dash asked.

Fluttershy unfurled them. “I use them to get around outside, but I’m not a terribly strong flier. I’ve never been far from my home because flying for more than a few minutes is exhausting. Besides...” She looked around at all the darkened animals in her home. “I couldn’t possibly leave all my friends alone for more than a few moments, they might get scared and confused.”

Dash sat and ran a hoof down her face, sighing. “No, I don’t suppose you could, could you?”

“Sorry,” Fluttershy said, staring at the ground and looking bashful. She raised her head, smiling. “But it’s okay. We can stay here together.”

“Can I at least see Twilight?”

Fluttershy looked up at her and nodded. Wordlessly, she led Dash to a set of stairs and they went up to the second floor. The first door they came across Fluttershy opened. Inside the room, by the door, a darkened wolf stood watch, and on the floor sat Twilight, still donned in her robe.

Dash felt a smile tug her lips at seeing Twilight alright. She ran over to her side, grabbing her by the shoulder. “Hey, Twilight.”

Twilight didn’t react to Dash’s touch nor voice, her eyes glazed and unfocused.

Dash shook her. “Hey! Twilight!”

“Um…” Fluttershy stepped forward. “She may not exactly be able to hear you right now.”

“What did you give her?” Dash asked through clenched teeth.

Fluttershy flinched at her tone. “M-medicine,” she said, looking hurt and confused. “When I brought her here she was dangerous. I’m trying to make her better.”

Dash huffed and turned back to Twilight. She lifted Twilight’s chin so she faced her, but Twilight’s eyes remained spread and unfocused. There wasn’t so much as a hint of recognition.

Dash turned to Fluttershy and stomped her hoof. “That’s it! No more of this stupid game. Me and Twilight are out of here.”

“But you can’t go! You’re meant to stay here and live with me.” She forced a smile across her her mouth, her lips trembling. She walked up to Dash, a mad sort of desperation in her eyes as she straddled the line between watery eyes and full blow tears. “Ponies of the feather stick together? Right? Ponies of the feather stick together forever. That means you’re not allowed to leave.”

Dash glanced around the room. There was a window opposite the door she and Fluttershy had come in through. In the dark of the late cycle, there was no telling what the landing would be like, especially if she had to carry Twilight.

Fluttershy followed Dash’s eyes to Twilight’s still form, the corners of her smile twitching. “Is she the reason you’re upset with me?”

Dash stepped back, standing in front of Twilight defensively. The darkened wolf in the room with them began growling.

Fluttershy’s trembling stopped. Her whole face spread into a friendly smile. “Please step aside. It will only take a moment.”

For a moment, the room stood silent and still. Dash tensed, glancing between Fluttershy and the wolf. Swift as she could, Dash reached for Twilight.

The wolf snapped its teeth and lunged across the room in two gigantic strides, fast as an arrow.

Dash halted what she was doing, pivoting as the wolf leaped. Her rear legs wound up and snapped out with all the force she could muster. She was rewarded by the sound of bones crunching as her hooves planted firmly in the wolf’s chest.

Limp as a ragdoll, the wolf sailed back to its corner, crumpling as it hit the wall.

In one quick motion, Dash lifted and slung Twilight over her back. She turned to face Fluttershy.

Fluttershy stared at the crumpled form of the darkened wolf, her chest falling and rising with quickened breaths. Turning to Dash, her eyes had dilated to mere dots. Her lips pulled back in a snarl, her teeth bared.

A terrible, bone-chilling cry came torn from her lips. It was a howling scream the likes of which Dash had never heard. Its sound froze her on the spot.

The animals downstairs all joined Fluttershy in her cry. Barking, howling, squalling. The chorus rose to a deafening pitch. Dash’s attention snapped back to her plans of escape. Bolting to the window, she jumped blindly into the night abyss.

For a few brief moments, she plummeted. Not knowing how soon she’d land, her hooves met the ground and buckled with shock. The tingling quickly wore off, however, as she heard a door slam open and animals howling after her.

She ran from the cottage, Twilight saddled on her back. Behind her there were shouts from Fluttershy’s pack of darkened animals.

Even tired, even weak, she was the fastest Pegasus Cloudsdale ever saw, flying or no. As she leaped and dodged through the trees, the howls of the darkened faded. She kept running long after their voices had faded, trying to put as much distance between her and the insane pegasus.

The forest disappeared to a blue-green sea of grass, the haunted pale of the Everfree on the other side. Dash ran out into the center of the field, then turned west, heading in the direction Zecora had told them to go.

Dash ran west ‘til her soreness stabbed her muscles with each movement. She ran ‘til her throat ran dry and her breath haggard. She ran ‘til all this, then she ran some more. If Fluttershy or her animals were searching for them, she needed to get as far away as possible.

Overhead, the moon continued to fade to new, the land steadily growing more lightless.

The river grass between the two forests seemed to stretch on forever. By the hours Dash had spent running west, she wondered more than once whether she was running on the spot. But then, up ahead, there lay a gouge in the earth, a gaping crevasse running across the river grass and well into the two forests. At the gouge the Everfree seemed to halt. Its pale, skeletal trees ran no further across the far side, instead stretching into a seemingly endless silver sea of wheatgrass.

In the crevasse there were structures built—ones Dash recognized. They were the ruins where she’d met Twilight, the ones she’d hid in after waking from the blow she’d dealt herself in escaping the darkened manticore.

Arc I: The Crevasse

The Fiery Gorge

Somepony’s cough snatched Dash from her sleep. Awake and alert, she lifted her head to find it was only Twilight, having finally woken up.

Twilight sat leaning forward heavily on her front hooves with her head hung. She paused briefly as she glanced at Dash, then began coughing again.

After a few moments, her coughing died down. She wiped her mouth with her forehoof. Sitting upright, she found herself having to rest back against the wall of the cell. All her joints ached as she tipped her head back to rest on it as well.

Dash sat up as well, watching her with raised eyebrows. “You okay? I was worried for a bit that you might have gotten seriously messed up.”

“What happened?” Twilight asked, her voice raw and scratchy.

“Some crazy pony kidnapped us and tried to keep us at her cottage.” Dash tilted her head, peering at Twilight. “You alright? She gave us some sort of dizzying medicine stuff. From what she said, it sounded like she was trying to keep you completely out of it.”

“I think she did,” Twilight said. Her chest rose and fell with tiny breaths. Leaning to her side, she retched, spilling a small trail of stomach fluid in the corner of the cell. She stayed leaning, trying to catch her breath.

Dash wrinkled her nose, looking away. “Uh, I know you usually don’t eat or drink anything, but should I get you something?”

Twilight shoved against the ground, righting herself in her seat. “Water,” she said, pausing to take a breath after, “would help the taste.”

“I think I can manage that.” Dash walked over to the wall where she’d laid her saddlebags and rummaged through them. Finding her canteen, she walked over to Twilight and handed it to her. “I’ve still got a decent amount left, but try not to waste any.”

Twilight nodded, taking it from her. She slipped off the lid and held it above her mouth. Slowly as she tipped it, drops of water drizzled onto her tongue. She drank a mouthful before setting it down and extending it out towards Dash.

Dash accepted it from her, taking a drink herself before placing the cap back on and stuffing it in her saddlebags. She looked up at the hole in the ceiling, the last sliver of the moon visible through it.

“It doesn’t look like it’s all that long until the new moon,” she said. “We should be safe here for the time being. We’ll start looking again once you’re better.”

“You should just go,” Twilight said, sweat shining her coat. “Find your friends.”

Dash snorted. “And what, leave you like this? Fat chance. I’m not ditching one friend just to go looking for some others slightly sooner.”

She sat down next to her bags, digging through the food Applejack had given her. “Besides,” she said, eventually settling on a canning jar of applesauce. “If that manticore is still there, I’m going to need you to watch my back. Heck, I’d just rather have you watching my back in general.”

Twilight gave a slight nod, hearing her reasoning. She grew quiet, as she often did. She glanced around the cell, her eyes resting on the door. “These are the ruins we found each other in,” she said, staring at the melted hole through the door’s prison bars.

Dash nodded. “We can’t be all that far away from where I got separated, and this time I know which direction to go in.”

“I came to this ruin from the southwest, through the forest.” Twilight paused, catching her breath. “Going through, I never saw any place matching the one you described.”

“We weren’t near the forest. It was my first scouting run, so we tried to stay clear of danger by staying out in the open.” Dash sighed, drinking a mouthful of the applesauce. It tasted astoundingly sweet. “But I guess staying clear of danger just isn’t something you can do down here.”

Twilight’s ears flattened as she hung her head. Her eyes seemed to stare past the ground.

Dash’s brow furrowed. She straightened. “So what about you? What were you doing in the forest to the southwest? What have you been doing at all for these past seven years?”

Twilight looked up at her, then cast her eyes back toward the ground. She remained silent. Her mouth curved in a thoughtful frown. Just as Dash was beginning to think she wouldn’t get an answer, Twilight gave one.

“Searching.”

It was short. Reluctant. Having said it made Twilight look uncomfortable. Dash stored it in the back of her mind to ask about later, but for now didn’t push it, instead finishing the rest of her applesauce.

“I guess that makes two of us,” she said once she was done. “Seven years, huh? Must be pretty hard to find, whatever it is.”

Twilight nodded.

“Well, after we find my squad, how about I help look? I’ll be stuck down here and Spitfire and Soarin will probably be itching to go back to Cloudsdale. I could spend the rest of my time down here helping you find it.”

Twilight stared at Dash, stunned. Suddenly her whole body tensed up and she leaned over to her side to puke.

Dash’s lip curling slightly in disgust while Twilight retched. She reached into her saddlebag, finding the waterskin, and slid it across the floor as Twilight finished.

Twilight took it and removed the cover. “Do as you will,” she said, coughing. The corners of her lips betrayed the barest hint of a smile as she drank. “I’ve given up on trying to be rid of you.”

Dash crossed her hooves in front of her chest and huffed, but she supposed it would be the closest thing to a ‘thank you’ she would get.

Twilight stood, her legs shaking slightly, and walked over to Dash, giving the water back.

Dash took it and placed it back in her bags. She turned back to Twilight, looking at the way her legs wobbled. “You sure you’re going to be alright?”

Twilight nodded. “I’ll be fine. I believe I got rid of most of the poison,” she said, glancing back at where she’d been sitting. She turned back to Dash. “We’ve stayed here too long. We should keep moving.”

Dash nodded. She lifted her saddlebags and strung them over her back.

The two of them climbed through the hole in the cell door, Twilight’s spell having melted the lock shut. They made their way down the mossy stone corridor. The mummified body of the darkened pony from before still lay around the turn where Twilight had killed it. Its eyes were still fixed with rage. Dash tried to ignore it, but she still felt a slight chill as they walked past.

The corridor opened up and they stepped outside. Mossed-over crumbled stone and the lightless night greeted them.

“The bridge is gone,” Twilight said, staring to their side at the remains of the bridge she had destroyed.

Dash gestured for Twilight to follow her. “I know another way across.”

Dash led her to a dome-like structure with a large gap in its roof where the stone had caved in. Inside it were stairs that ran around the wall in a spiralling descent. Twilight lit her horn as she peered over the edge, staring down at the pitch darkness of the drop through the center of the stairwell.

“There’s a tunnel down here that leads out to the ground of the gap between the ruins,” Dash said, starting down the stairs. “I poked my head out the door while I was here last time and saw a matching door on the other side, but then closed it because there were darkened outside.”

Twilight followed Dash’s descent. As the faint light from the stars above faded, their hoofsteps began to echo in the stairwell. Another sentence to elongate time.

“I think this place was once some sort of barracks or something,” Dash said. She walked near the edge, peering down. “Down there is where I got my that spear I had, after I lost my Cloudsdale one while running from the manticore.” She glanced back at Twilight. “You know how to use anything besides that twig-sword you had?”

“Rapier,” Twilight said. “And no, I never formally learned how to use any other sort of weapon. I never thought I’d need to. What little I know of how to use a rapier was self-learned during the past few years I’ve had it.”

“Spitfire taught me how to use a spear, but most of what she taught me was how to abuse speed, flight, and reach to attack in a way where a darkened can’t attack back. I’m still trying to figure out how to make it work with all four hooves planted firmly on the ground.”

Twilight stared down at her hooves as she walked. There was a lull as neither of them spoke, their echoing hoofsteps filling the emptiness.

“If we wind up in combat,” Twilight said. “Will you be able to kill a darkened?”

Dash gave a shrug while she walked. “Sure, if push comes to shove.”

“Even if they’re ponies?”

Dash paused briefly mid step, then continued on. “I don’t know if I want to talk about this yet. There’s still a lot I haven’t made my mind up about—I mean, I don’t know if that’s me.”

Dash stopped. She turned around. “I want to be like you, I really do. I want to be like Spitfire and like Soarin. All my life I’ve wanted to be like them, and I knew sometimes they kill darkened. I understand it’s a mercy to kill them and that sometimes it needs to be done, I just don’t think I’m someone who can be there, standing face to face with them.”

Turning back around, Dash sighed. “I don’t think I can take a life. Even one as miserable as a darkened’s.”

“It won’t be whether to kill or not to kill, it will be to either kill or die,” Twilight said, the corners of her mouth forming a frown. “Maybe as a Wonderbolt you would have been able to avoid it, only coming down for brief day trips to scavenge supplies, but you’re stuck here now. On a long enough timeline down here, you will find yourself in such a situation. It’s the reality of life here on the surface. It will be them or it will be you.”

Dash glared back at Twilight. “You don’t think I know that? I’m not some naive filly. I know that it’s dangerous here and I know completely how easy it is to find yourself in a life-or-death situation down here. It’s not like I don’t think about it, okay? I think about it constantly—and you know what? It scares me. I’m not even afraid to admit it. The thought that any phase of the moon now I might find myself in a life-or-death situation where I have to kill somepony is terrifying.

“But you know what? Being badgered by you constantly about it, as if saying ‘Yeah, Twilight, I think I’ll be able to kill somepony now’ would actually mean anything, doesn’t help!”

Twilight blinked, her frown gone. She opened and closed her mouth, but ultimately nothing came out.

Dash huffed, turning on her heel and continuing back down the stairwell.

Twilight silently followed.

They continued on the rest of the way in mute discomfort. Occasionally Twilight would catch Dash stealing an over the shoulder glance at her, and whenever she did, Dash would jerk her attention back forwards, glaring at the walls.

As the seemingly endless way down gave way to an end, Twilight glanced around. Description of the floor level.

Dash motioned towards a door on the opposite side of the stairwell floor. “The armory is through here.”

The two of them crossed the stairwell floor to the iron door. Dash undid the metal latch and gave it a stiff shove. The hinges on it groaned and screeched miserably as it slowly swung open, leading to a larger, darker room.

Twilight peered into the dark corners of the room, staying by the door. The room looked to be a mess hall of sorts. Ten long wooden tables sat in half as many rows while weapon racks lined the walls. Another iron door mirrored the one they entered on the opposite side of the room, though unlike the one they entered it supported a heavy wooden beam, bracing it shut against the outside.

Dash stepped inside the room. “Come on. It’s safe. I made sure to lock up last time I left, so we don’t have to worry about any darkened down here.”

Twilight stepped inside, immediately heading to the walls to see the weapons. Dash closed the door and joined her, following as she strafed the walls. Each weapon rack Twilight came to, she was greeted with the orange-brown sight of rusted steel.

Twilight stopped after viewing all the weapons in the room. The only weapons there were blunt, heavily rusted short swords and spears. “Most of these wouldn’t be much better than wielding a stick,” she said.

“That still leaves them being better than a stick,” Dash said, picking up a spear off the wall. She slid it back into the loop in her saddlebag where she carried her old one. She glanced around the room. “I don’t see any twig swords.”

Twilight gave a slight shrug. “I’ll be fine without one. I would sooner rely on my magic than a rusted blade.”

“Suit yourself,” Dash said. She began walking towards the iron door opposite where they entered. “The door outside is this way.”

Leaving the hall, they entered long and winding corridor. It never branched nor opened to any room, yet every hundred or so paces there was another of the underground ruin’s thick iron doors.

Eventually they came to a much heavier iron door, with hinges as thick as an entire hoof. At it, Dash stopped and turned to Twilight.

“There’s a door like this on the other side of the valley. I’ve only ever opened this door once. What I saw was… well, I don’t know what happened to the guards that used to be here, but I’m pretty sure most of them are behind this door.”

“Darkened?” Twilight asked.

Dash gave a nod. “Around twenty. Maybe more. I shut the door after seeing how many there were. I didn’t want to stick around to have them notice me.” She craned her neck up and stared at the top of the iron door. “I have no idea what could have caused them to all turn or why they’re all out in the valley.”

“The dark is constantly moving. In a deep, narrow channel like this, it could be a cloud of it swept through before any of the guards knew what was going on. It would have turned them all dark in an instant.” The light from Twilight’s horn flickered and dimmed. “Darkness grows in places the moon fails to reach. It’s a good reason not to explore far from starlight.”

“So is it even safe to cross?”

Twilight’s lips thinned in a slight grimace. “I don’t sense the miasma being any denser than normal on the other side of this door. Still, with the new moon it would be best if we don’t linger in the valley.”

A sharp snort came from Dash. “Not like we’d have any reason to want to.” She turned to Twilight. “Maybe we should just head back and walk around this thing.”

“When I passed through here it stretched in either direction as far as I could see. I’d sooner pass through here.”

“Okay. So then what’s the plan for getting past the regiment of darkened and getting through the locked door on the other side?”

Twilight walked up to the door and slid its latch open, having to shove the iron widget with both hooves. With the door unlocked, but still closed, she faced Dash.

“Follow me and stay quiet.”

The door eased open slowly, a low groan of metal scraping against metal coming from its hinges. The outside was pitch black, the new moon robbing the crevasse of what little light usually reached its depths. With its high walls blocking the night sky, only the light of a few stars reached them.

Twilight was the first to step outside, the light from her horn dimmed to light a minimal space around her.

In the darkness around her, outside the reach of her light, the moaning of the darkened filled the crevasse. Their voices, thin and rasping, carried in them their suffering and sorrow. They were the muted cries of lost and wandering souls.

Dash joined her and closed the door behind them, closing it by its outside latch. Sliding her rusted spear out of its loop, she bit it by the middle. Her stance widened in preparation.

Out into the abyss they walked, surrounded by an unseen battalion of darkened. They took their steps slow but with lengthened stride so as to cross quickly and unheard.

They were unnoticed for but a few scarce moments. As they passed through, the moans of the darkened grew more restless, and accompanying their cries in the dark were the sounds of their shambling, of chainmail rustling and of metal plates scraping against one another.

Twilight and Rainbow Dash’s pace quickened, their hoofsteps growing louder.

Out of the dark ahead of them, a darkened stepped into the light. Its pale white eyes locked on them, its face contorting in rage just moments before Twilight killed it with a thin blade of flame, melting a hole clear through its chest and the armor it wore. The darkened dropped quietly with its strings cut.

In the darkness, however, the cries had escalated to furious howls of anger.

“Run!” Twilight shouted, breaking into a gallop.

Dash followed suit, her head whipping around with her spear at the nearby cries of the darkened. One lunged at her from the side and she shoved it back roughly with the butt of her spear.

“More light!” she shouted around the handle of her spear, barely managing to react in time to shove away another darkened on her other side with the blunted head of her spear.

The light from Twilight’s horn grew, and the visible area around them tripled in size. As its area grew, the light encompassed more than a dozen darkened. Some ambled or limped, falling behind, while others ran with nearly the same speed they did. Some ran at them with spears. Some with swords. Some with nothing other than a mindless hatred.

Most were behind them or to their sides, as the far wall of the crevasse came into sight. The iron door wasn’t far off of the direction they were running. They angled their course towards it as the few darkened ahead of them drew close.

Of the three darkened ahead, Twilight engulfed two in pillars of flame while Dash’s spear crashed against the forelegs of the third. The two engulfed in flame writhed, cooked in their own armor, while the darkened guard hit by Dash’s spear collapsed on its now broken legs.

“Get to the door,” Twilight said, her commanding tone rising clear above the senseless cries of the darkened.

Dash ran past her and reached the door, whirling to face the darkened in a lower stance.

As Twilight drew near the door, her horn glowed bright and wall of flame several carriages wide erupted behind her and encapsulating her and Dash against the wall of the crevasse near the iron door. An unfortunate darkened who was caught in it as it went up let out a shrill cry, writhing and covered in flames.

Burning, it stumbled, tripped, and fell over. Then it moved no more.

Two more enraged darkened attempted to charge through the wall of fire, meeting the same shrieking end. Beyond that, no more tried, though their disgruntled cries could be heard on the other side of the wall of flame.

Twilight turned to the iron door, her horn fading to a dimmer light as the wall of flame lit the area. The center of the door began to glow with heat. “Make sure none of them slip past,” she said to Dash without turning around, her attention fixed on the door.

Dash stepped forward, standing protectively in front of Twilight with her spear ready. For a full minute, the darkened moaned and howled on the other side of the fire. Whatever sensibilities remaining kept them from trying to cross the fire.

As a melted hole began to form in the door, Twilight’s magic grew strained. The wall of fire flickered and waned as the cries of the darkened grew ever more frustrated and impatient.

Two darkened charged through the flames. One, carrying a sword, burned up and crumpled to stillness shortly after passing through.

The other, carrying a spear, howled as it caught on fire, but neither faltered nor fell. Its flesh still burning, it charged Rainbow Dash with spear point lowered.

Dash swept its blunted spear to the side and jammed her own blunted spear into the hindquarters of its rear weight-bearing leg, causing the darkened to collapse and burn in its fire.

The hole Twilight was melting had grown large enough for a pony to easily fit through. She stepped through it, careful of its molten edges. Once inside, she turned around to look at Dash through the hole.

Dash hesitated for a brief moment before slipping her spear into the loop on her saddlebags. She stepped carefully through the hole, feeling the proximity of the melted iron through its heat on her coat. Once through, she glanced back outside, where the flaming wall still held the darkened guards at bay. The bodies of the darkened who had tried to pass through the wall of flame still burned, fire flickering across their skin. Rainbow Dash swallowed.

“I can hold the wall for a little while longer,” Twilight said, “but we should go sooner rather than later.”

Dash nodded, and the two of them walked down the dark stone corridor, leaving the flames and the cries of the darkened behind.

Like the last, the corridor contained a series of iron doors, facing out. The first they reached was unlocked, and once they had locked it behind them, Twilight allowed the glow around her horn to fade, a scarce pink glow remaining.

She leaned against a wall, breathing heavily, but before Dash could ask whether she was alright, she shoved away from the wall and righted herself.

“I’m fine,” she said, answering Dash’s concern. “The poison hasn’t completely left my system yet.”

“Well, this might be the last safe place to stop and rest if you’re actually not feeling fine.”

“It’s passing,” Twilight insisted, and began to walk down the hallway once more.

Dash shrugged, following her.

They passed two more iron doors before they reached a stairwell like the one they had gone down. Drops of water fell from above, and as they ascended the stairs the dripping grew until the sound of rain reached their ears. There became a steady shower of water falling down one side of the stairwell’s open center.

As they reached the top, the stone beneath their hooves became slicked and wet. Rain poured in through a collapsed hole in the roof above, through which only clouds could be seen.

Dash stood beneath the hole in the rain, squinting up at the black sky. “So much for starlight,” she said, flicking her damp mane out of her eyes.

Twilight put on her cloak’s hood, leaving her horn out to continue lighting their path. “The rain should make it much harder for the darkened to spot us.”

Arc I: The Reunion

The Rocky Outcrop

Crossing the plains had taken the better part of Rainbow Dash’s waking hours. The already long trek was made to seem longer in the darkness beneath the clouded sky. The rain persisted and had long since soaked the two of them completely, while the wind was no kinder and had picked up once they’d entered the open plain, chilling them to the bone.

The best that could be said of their crossing was that it was uneventful. Between the cold, the rain, and the effort required to keep moving forward, neither of the two had felt much like talking.

Every so often they would pause as there was a cry somewhere off in the distance. Twilight would have them wait until she decided it safe to continue, possibly altering the direction of their path depending on where the sound came from.

The fields of wheatgrass eventually shortened and thinned as it gave way to rockier ground. The earth became riddled with boulders, and the boulders stacked with the dirt to form hills, valleys, and cliffs.

“This is it,” Rainbow Dash said, viewing the rocks. She suddenly backtracked on her words. “I mean—this looks a lot like it could be it. It’s muddier than I remember, but these stones are like the ones I remember.”

“It probably is,” Twilight said, allowing her horn to burn a little brighter. The ground looked treacherous. The last thing either of them needed out in the wilderness, far from any help or resources, was a sprained hoof.

“We’re not far now, but we have no idea whether your squad stuck around.”

Rainbow Dash took a deep breath, letting it out slowly, her jaw shivering. “If they made it out uninjured, then they’ll probably be coming back here every so often to check for me.” She nodded to herself. “At least that’s what I would do.”

“I think that’s likely what they would do as well,” Twilight said. “Seeing how far you’d go to find them, you must have had a special bond.”

“They took me through training, but it was also more than that. Our parents knew each other, so Spitfire and I wound up spending a lot of time together when I was young. She was like a big sister to me. Then whenever she went, Soarin’ went, too.” Rainbow Dash glanced up at the rain. “You know, after training I thought I was going to come down here and kick butt, but this place isn’t anything like I imagined it.”

Twilight nodded, her eyes still cast towards the ground. “I made the same mistake when I set out across the Northern Mountains.”

Rainbow Dash opened her mouth, but hesitated, chewing her lip. “Have you ever had anyone close to you? Friends? Family?”

“My family was strict and formal,” Twilight said. Her eyes become lost in remembrance. “I once had some friends I was very close to.”

A silence followed with Twilight wrapped up in her thoughts. Rainbow Dash once again saw that sorrowful, haunted look in her eyes and knew better than to push.

“We should probably start looking,” Rainbow Dash said, her words seeming to do the trick of snapping Twilight out of her thoughts.

Twilight gave a stiff nod in agreement. She glanced their surroundings. “Do you recognize where we are?”

Rainbow Dash looked around again, studying the terrain. “I can’t recognize anything in this rain, but we might as well start searching. When we flew down these hills only looked like they covered a couple dozen or so acres. It’s small enough that I bet we could search the entire place on hoof.”

“Let’s start with the low ground, looking for caves like the ones by the manticore’s den. We should be safe. With this downpour the manticore is likely staying inside its den. Once we find the manticore cave, either we’ll find something there or we’ll try tracking the path you took back to where the three of you became separated."

Rainbow Dash nodded.

Frigid water dripping from their coats, they crossed the hill and headed down into a valley on the other side. The mud, its grass too thin to hold together in the rain, soon covered their hooves up to their fetlocks. Slippery, uneven terrain forced them to move slowly until well within the valley, where the ground grew flat and the soil more compact.

As they searched for caves in the niches and crevasses of the outcrop, the downpour served to hide them as it had across the plains.

They came across only a single darkened: a sorrowful earth pony far from any home. It posed no danger as they came across it. It lay on the ground with its mouth open and twitching, sobbing. Its eyes were white as all darkened’s were, but reddened by what seemed like tears.

As they stopped at it, Rainbow Dash stared at it, rubbing her foreleg. “What the heck’s wrong with it? Why is it gasping like that?”

Twilight approached the sobbing darkened, her horn glowing. A brief orange glow was followed by a hiss as her fire burned a hole through the darkened’s chest, over its heart.

Its quiet sobbing stopped, and it grew still.

Twilight turned away from it, her lips marred by a grimace. “When the darkness seeps into a pony’s mind, sometimes it takes hold by their anger, sometimes it takes hold by their fear, and sometimes it takes hold by their sorrow.” She walked away from the corpse, distancing herself from it. “Usually it’s a combination of negative emotions, but sometimes when a pony slips and it takes hold, one emotion is much stronger than the others.”

“So then he was depressed when the darkness took hold of him?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“And he’s been suffering it ever since,” Twilight said, staring over her shoulder at the corpse. “Darkened without hatred pose no real threat. Even so, it’s only merciful to give them a quick and painless death.”

Rainbow Dash stared at the slain darkened and faintly shuddered. “Its eyes are so much worse than the angry ones the other darkened have had.”

“They are,” Twilight agreed.

Rainbow Dash walked up to the darkened. Reaching down, she closed its eyes, its wrinkled black lids hiding the look of pain that had been there.

“You did that before,” Twilight said, as they started on their way.

Rainbow Dash blinked. “Huh? Did what?”

“Close their eyes. You’ve done it quite a few times, actually.”

Rainbow Dash gave a half-hearted shrug. “It was something Spitfire told me to do. ‘Most ponies see too much in this life,’ was the only time she ever said why.” They travelled a steep slope out of the valley. “I guess it’s because it makes it look like they’ve finally gotten a chance to rest.” She glanced at Twilight. “Why? Do earth ponies and unicorns not do that?”

“No, we do, just usually not for darkened.”

“I guess because I still haven’t stopped seeing them as ponies. They might be messed up beyond anything resembling the pony they once were, but at one point...” Rainbow Dash scratched her neck. “Yeah, I know. It’s something I probably shouldn’t think about. But darkened don’t sleep, right? I figure the least I can do is close their eyes and so they can finally rest—”

As soon as Rainbow Dash finished speaking, Twilight threw herself against the pegasus’ side and knocked them both into the mud. Rainbow Dash immediately started scrambling to get up, ready to give the unicorn who bowled her over a piece of her mind, but a hoof between her shoulders pushed her down into the mud and kept her from standing.

“What the heck are you—?”

“Shh,” Twilight hissed.

Rainbow Dash looked at her to see her expression grim.

Twilight slowly removed her hoof. Calmly, she told her, “There’s a pony up ahead.”

Rainbow Dash froze. With a minimum amount of movement, she scanned around them. Seeing nothing, she turned back to Twilight, confusion written plainly on her face.

Twilight motioned in the direction of a rock slab beside them. Crawling through the mud on their bellies, they both made it to the slab and pressed their backs flush against it.

“I’ll take a look,” Rainbow Dash said, rising.

Twilight paused her with a touch on her foreleg. “They might not be alone.”

Rainbow Dash swallowed and nodded.

Ears flat and pointed back, she peeked around the boulder. The pony in the clearing below seemed unaware of their presence as she paced along a cliff wall, scrutinizing it. Her coat was an unreasonably clean shade of white for being where she was with mud all around her, and though her mane had flattened with the rain, it showed signs of having once been well-groomed. She stopped, thinking to herself for a moment, then shook her head. As she did so, Rainbow Dash spotted a horn atop her head.

Rainbow Dash turned to Twilight. “She’s a unicorn,” she whispered. “What should—”

A crystalline spike erupted from the boulder between their snouts with a crack like thunder, cutting Rainbow Dash off. They both sat in shock for a moment, staring at the razor-sharp spike, thick as a leg, that had burst forth inches from their snouts.

Twilight was the first to act. Dashing out from behind the boulder, horn glowing, she looked to the unicorn in the clearing, who was staring straight at her. In less than a second, she conjured and loosed a ball of flame, but in another thunderous crack the instant after, a wall of crystal spikes jutted out of the ground in front of the unicorn, and it broke harmlessly against them.

More spikes erupted from the ground around Twilight in a crisscross fashion, grazing her limbs and chest and forming a prison around her. She squirmed, feeling every part of her body locked in place, right down to the crystals at the back of her head and beneath her chin, keeping her head stuck looking straight ahead.

Half a second later, seeing Twilight become trapped and just starting to come up with a plan of action, another cage-like pattern of crystals erupted around Rainbow Dash. The pegasus gritted her teeth and struggled against them, but it proved to be futile.

The ground rumbled, and a box-shaped crystal as thick as a wagon extended slowly out of the ground at an angle towards the cliff Twilight and Rainbow Dash lay trapped upon. She stepped onto the crystal, its growth carrying her towards the top of the cliff.

“It’s not terribly polite to spy on somepony, you know,” the white unicorn said as the crystal bridged with the cliff. She frowned at Twilight. “Tsk. Pyromancy. How boorish. I do wish the Royal University would acquire better taste in magic.”

Twilight stiffened as the unicorn circled around the crystalline cage.

The unicorn paused, sparing Rainbow Dash a brief glance before turning her attention back to Twilight. The crystals trapping Twilight’s head dissolved to dust, falling down her neck to the ground.

Her head and neck free to move, Twilight looked behind her at the unicorn, who was staring at her with one eyebrow arched.

“You are from the Royal University, are you not?”

Twilight’s eyes narrowed. “Who are you?”

The unicorn huffed. “Answering a question with a question,” she muttered. Clearing her throat, she straightened her neck. “Very well, I suppose proper introductions are in order. My name is Rarity. I’m what you might call a gem enthusiast.”

The bonds holding Rainbow Dash and Twilight dissolved completely, turning into a pale sand and running down around their coats.

Rarity gestured to the two of them with a hoof. “And yourselves?”

Rainbow Dash and Twilight glanced at one another. Rainbow shrugged. “The name’s Rainbow Dash. I’m a Cloudsdale Scout looking for the other members of my squad.”

“Twilight,” Twilight said. “Graduate of the University, and I’ve never seen nor heard of magic like yours before.”

“I wouldn’t believe you if you said you had. I’m the only pony who knows how to cast it,” Rarity said, her gaze drifting towards Rainbow Dash as she spoke. Walking over to the pegasus, she gestured to her spear. “Such an ugly thing… May I?”

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. “May you what?”

Sliding the spear out of its holster, Rarity examined its rusted point. She paused for a moment and sat. The spear lay level as she weighed it in her hooves. Wordlessly, she took the bladed end and placed it against the ground.

Pale yellow crystals grew from its tip and spread across the rusted steel in a fractal pattern, covering it completely. Once the blade had been covered, the crystals shattered to a fine sand and dissolved off the blade. What remained was gleaming steel, the fractals left by the crystals etched in a beautiful pattern along the flat of the blade.

She handed the spear back to Rainbow Dash, who took it with wide eyes.

“Wow…” Rainbow Dash said, examining the renewed blade. Its edge looked sharper than any she had ever seen. “Uh, I mean, thanks, but why?”

“It was distractingly hideous,” Rarity said with a wave of her hoof. “I hope you don’t mind my saying—a downright eyesore for anypony to look upon.”

“That’s it?”

Rarity tilted her head. “Is that not reason enough?” She shook her head before Rainbow Dash could respond, then looked to each of them, smiling. “Well then. Lovely meeting you two. I can’t say it’s every moon’s phase that I get to speak with somepony intelligible and civilized, let alone two ponies both at once, but there is something yet I must search for, and so I suppose this is a quick, but fond, farewell.”

With that, she began to leave.

“Wait,” Rainbow Dash said, causing her to pause. “I’m looking for my friends. We believe they might be around here. Have you seen a pegasus mare with a short orange mane and bright yellow coat or a pegasus stallion with a dark blue mane and lighter blue coat? We got separated when a manticore near here attacked us.”

Rarity spun to face her. “A manticore, you say?”

Rainbow Dash leaned forward, eyebrows raised. “Yeah, a darkened one. You know where he is?”

Rarity nodded, pointing in a direction beyond the other side of the clearing. “There was the body of such a creature not far off that way when I passed through.”

“Body?” Rainbow Dash repeated.

“Yes, that’s right. A bit of a gruesome sight, too. It appeared absolutely riddled with wounds—must have taken quite the effort to finally bring the beast down.”

Rainbow Dash glanced at Twilight, the corners of her mouth twitching from her barely suppressed grin.

Rarity cleared her throat. “Well, I’d best be off for real this time. I would enjoy if we were to meet again. It’s been so long since I’ve spoken to somepony.” She shook her head, smiling. “Then again, I suppose this land doesn’t look kindly upon such reunions, does it?”

She turned to walk away, but she did not leave without bidding them one last farewell. “May the moonlight shine on your travels.”

Twilight and Rainbow Dash watched as she left. The giant crystal embedded in the cliff gradually broke down to dust in her absence. Once she was a mere silhouette in the rain, Rainbow Dash turned to Twilight, excitement creeping into her voice.

“Did you hear that? Spitfire and Soarin killed the manticore. That means they’re still out there!”

Twilight nodded, still staring after where the white unicorn went. “If what she said is true, we should go see the body. There may be signs of where your squad went.”

Finding a steep path down into the clearing, they descended and traveled in the direction Rarity had pointed.

It was only a short way before they came across the manticore’s body. Perforations speckled its chest and front legs. Thin trails of dried blood ran from the holes, though most of the blood stemming from the wounds looked to have been washed away by the rain.

“Was it recent?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“It’s difficult to say. It appears as though it had been a darkened for at least a couple hundred years. Its body is heavily mummified, preserved so the miasma can keep it alive. It looks recent, but recent in this case could mean anytime in the past couple months.”

“So who knows when they were actually here.” Rainbow Dash gave a half-lidded look around and sighed.

As she continued to glance their surroundings, her brow knotted. “These were some of the ones we searched for mushrooms,” she said, pointing at the cave nearest them. Her gaze moved to the farther of the two caves, and her hoof lowered.

“That’s the cave I found the manticore in.”

The entrance of the cave stood twice as tall and nearly twice as wide as that of the other cave, its black gaping maw large enough to have fit the dead beast. Leaving the body, they crossed over to its entrance, halting in front of it. Rainbow Dash peered into the darkness, her ears faced forward and twitching.

“Do you hear that?”

Twilight hadn’t, but swivelling her ears towards the cave, she began to hear a low murmuring coming from somewhere within. “It sounds like a pony.”

Those were the only words Rainbow Dash needed to hear. Heedless of the dark, she walked into the cave.

“Hey, wait a moment!” Twilight said.

Rainbow Dash ignored her and continued inside, the blackness swallowing her.

A scowl crossed Twilight’s face as she lit her horn and went inside after her.

Rain leaked and drizzled from above and outside, and trails of it ran across the uneven floor. Its dripping echoed and filled the cave along with the croaked moaning of whatever it was that lay inside.

A short way in stood Rainbow Dash, just beyond the reach light coming from the mouth of the cave. Her ears twitched and scanned.

“It sounds like it’s coming from over there,” Rainbow Dash said, pointing deeper into the cave. She started walking in the direction of it, and Twilight reluctantly followed.

The dull roar of the rain outside the cave faded, the trickling of water and the inconsistent moans filling its absence. As one faded to the other two, the sounds of whoever or whatever it was that lay at the back of the cave became clear, and with it, became clear a quiet sobbing which filled the gaps between the moaning.

They stood before it now. At the edge of Twilight’s magic light, a figure sat hunched over something. Faint, washed-away trails of blood sat caked upon the stone before Twilight and Rainbow Dash’s hooves, stemming from where the stranger sat.

Twilight grew the light from her horn.

The washed-away blood painted a thick, wide path to the body of a light and dark blue pegasus.

Rainbow Dash’s breath caught in her throat. Her eyes widened as her pupils shrunk as a terrified whisper escaped her lips.

“Soarin?”

Dark red marred the blue pegasus’s still chest. Hunched over the wound, skin black and cracked with the faded remnants of a mane draped around its head, was the figure. A darkened. Its front hooves lay on the wound, poking and prodding it.

Rainbow Dash felt her legs go numb, unresponsive. She wanted to tear her gaze away from the blood and red matting Soarin’s coat, to shut her eyes and pretend it wasn’t real, but she couldn’t shut her eyes or look away.

The darkened poked and prodded the wound on Soarin’s chest, a throaty rasping noise coming from it.

Rainbow Dash blinked, the spell shattered. Breaking the breath she’d unknowingly been holding, she gasped a lungful of stale air. Her shoulders shook while her eyes narrowed on the darkened touching Soarin’s body with its cracked, blackened hooves.

“You leave him alone!” Rainbow Dash shouted, drawing her spear and marching over to the darkened. She approached the darkened and stood on her hind legs, towering over it, her spear in her hooves and hovering just off of the side of the darkened’s neck.

“Back away from him,” Rainbow Dash growled. When the darkened didn’t move or even look up, she repeated herself with the blade of her spear resting on its neck. “Get. Off. Now.”

The darkened halted as the steel touched its skin. It turned, slowly, to look up at her. Its eyes were pale and clouded, but a hint of their former color still remained: an unmistakable orange.

Rainbow Dash moved her spear away from the darkened’s neck, once the recognition had set in. Her anger vaporized and her bottom lip trembled. “S-Spitfire?” she asked, choking on the word.

The ghostly white threads of what mane the darkened had left were still colored with a few orange and reddish hairs. It looked up at Rainbow Dash, its eyes red and veined, then turned back to Soarin’s corpse once more and resumed sobbing.

Rainbow Dash’s spear fell from her hooves and clattered against the floor as she sank to her knees. She clenched her eyes shut as tears sprang to them. “No no no,” she said, shaking her head. Her shoulders jerked, and her sobs joined those of the darkened’s as their tears spilled onto Soarin’s chest.

Twilight walked over and stood apart from the three of them with her head bowed.

Rainbow Dash looked up from Soarin at Spitfire. Grief had formed lines around her mouth and eyes, her skin ashen and cracked. Rainbow Dash reached across Soarin’s body and embraced her.

“You were always there, looking out for me. I loved you like a sister,” she said as she sobbed into Spitfire’s shoulder. “I’m so sorry. Please forgive me.”

Grabbing her spear off the ground, Rainbow Dash thrust it through Spitfire’s heart.

A gasp came from Spitfire as the blade pierced her. Her sobs halted, then she grew still.

Rainbow Dash removed her blade, now darkened red, and gripped Spitfire’s limp form. Tears raced down her cheeks. Head snapping back, an unearthly scream came torn from her throat.

Arc I: The Hallow Cave

The Cold Cave

Inside the cave, beneath the pale pink glow of her horn, Twilight sat in silence. In the hours that passed, the rain outside had turned to sleet and then to hail. The chilling cold had long since clawed its way inside the cave. The water dripping down the walls had become liquid ice.

For those past hours, Rainbow Dash had sat before her. In her hooves lay Spitfire’s limp and frail form, lips slightly parted and eyes closed. Were it not for the red matting her coat, one may have thought she was sleeping.

In the time since she had cried out, Rainbow Dash had hardly moved, staring at the bodies of her two friends with the stillness of a statue. The tears had stopped some time ago. Her shoulders had sunk. Even as the water and blood in her coat turned to frost, she remained in place, her body wracked with shivering.

Eventually the cold forced a sneeze from her. She reached up to wipe her snout, but jerked her hoof away when she smelled the blood on it.

Her gaze turned to Twilight, her eyes widening slightly as she seemingly remembered someone else was in the cave with her. She let go of Spitfire and stood.

“She took care of me,” she said, her voice cracking. “Now she’s dead and I never managed to do anything but drag her down. Why did she take care of me?”

She backed away from the bodies. Her shoulders sagged even more as she stopped a short distance away. “Back in training, there was this other pegasus, and we butted heads constantly. He called me a liar and said I was just making things up. He made fun of something I said, and the next second all the pegasi I was originally telling the story to started laughing at me.”

She let out a chuckle, humorless and dry. “I can’t really remember what the story was, or how he made fun of it. All I remember was feeling really embarrassed having everyone laugh at me like that. Then Spitfire stepped in and she…” Rainbow Dash wiped her snout, sniffling. “I guess it doesn’t really matter anymore now, does it?”

Fresh tears sprung up as she bowed her head. “Soarin was such a clown, and he always managed to make her smile.” Tears trailed down her cheeks. “Damn it. This isn’t funny anymore.”

Rainbow Dash gave a choked sob, her body shaking. “We left you down here,” she said. “We left you down here to this. The pegasi abandoned everyone else, and for what? So we could slowly starve in the safety of the clouds?” Her voice raised to a shout by the end. She slowly shook her head. “Why is the world is like this?”

“It wasn’t,” Twilight said. “Not always.”

Rainbow Dash stiffened. “What do you mean?”

“It used to be that the world was bright. The air wasn’t filled with dark magic, and the moon and the sun spent an equal time in the sky.”

Rainbow Dash’s nose wrinkled. “The sun is just some myth ponies tell their foals about as a bedtime story. It never really existed.”

“I have reason to believe it’s not a myth. There are too many old carvings and murals depicting the sun. Most tree branches are completely barren of leaves, but the old murals depict them covered with leaves, leaves touching side by side all along the branches. They still have those branches, but since the sun is gone, they don’t have enough energy to create as many leaves along them.”

Rainbow Dash gave her a tired, incredulous look. “If that’s true, then why are you out here? What about the ponies back at the Crystal Empire?”

A frown tugged Twilight’s lip. “I tried to tell them, but nopony believed me. I wasn’t the first to try arguing that the sun was real, and a lot of my research was based on what others found before me. Most of those ponies were met with ridicule, expulsion from the academic community, or even exile when they tried to argue their findings. I was lucky enough to come from an influential family, but even they did their best to keep me from speaking to anyone about it.” She sighed. “So I came here, searching for answers.”

Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes. “You’re not just yanking my chain here as a part of some cruel joke, are you? You seriously think the sun existed?”

“Not just existed, but exists,” Twilight said, her tone completely serious. “I have reason to believe some part of it is still out there. The White Witch knew of my curse without seeing the mark, and she spoke of divining things. I mean to travel back to the Everfree and find out what she knows.”

Rainbow Dash glanced over her shoulder, her ears drooping. The bodies of Spitfire and Soarin lay next to each other, Spitfire’s head resting on Soarin’s shoulder. Rainbow Dash clenched her eyes shut and tore her gaze away from them, turning back to Twilight.

“You think we can change things to how you say they were? No more fear of the dark? No more struggling to stay alive?” She finished, barely above a whisper. “No more losing ponies we care about?”

Twilight shook her head. “I don’t know,” she said. “But I think it’s worth it to find out.”

Rainbow Dash started to look back again at the bodies, but stopped herself. She forced her legs to lock and stood up straight, despite the bags under her eyes or the way her body shivered. “I said I would help you in your journey if you helped me find my squad.” She swallowed. “Well, you did. So I will.” Her resolve faltered as she glanced back at the bodies.

“She told me she joined the Wonderbolts because she wanted to create someplace where ponies could feel safe and call home. She joined to try and make Cloudsdale that home, but after seeing what it’s like down here…” Stiffening, the cold forced another sneeze out of her. She sniffled, turning away from the bodies. “The rest of the pegasi might have abandoned you on the ground, but I won’t. I can’t. Not after seeing what it’s like down here.”

“You realize that if you agree to go on this, there’s no clear end in sight. I mean to follow this trail I’ve chosen wherever it will lead me, even if it’s to the most forsaken corners of this land.” She closed the distance between them and looked Rainbow Dash in the eye. “Are you so readily willing to sacrifice what you have left?”

“What I have?” Rainbow Dash croaked, growing angry. “The two ponies I cared most about are the ones you see on the ground behind me. I have nothing.”

“You are alive and you have a home,” Twilight said. “Where I am going, I can guarantee you neither.”

Twilight’s words gave her pause. Her anger vanished and she stared down at her hooves in thought.

Seeing her anger slip away, Twilight’s gaze softened. “I’m sorry about what happened. I know the pain you’re feeling right now.” She slipped off her travel coat and wrapped it around Rainbow Dash. Her eyes lowered to glance back at her now-visible darkened curse. “I know what it means to lose those closest to you.”

Rainbow Dash raised her head. She seemed to mull something over as she nodded. “I want to go with you.” Twilight opened her mouth to object, but Rainbow Dash continued, “I don’t want to be alone. And despite how you push others away, I don’t think you want to be alone either.”

Twilight’s mouth closed. She fell silent.

“So yeah,” Rainbow Dash said, “I’m going with you back to the Everfree, or wherever you go.”

Twilight hesitated a moment. “If you’re sure of this…”

After a glance over Twilight’s shoulder at the mouth of the cave and the world outside, Rainbow Dash nodded. “I am.”

Twilight looked past Rainbow Dash. “Would you like to take them outside and bury them? Maybe say a few words?”

Rainbow Dash looked back at Soarin and Spitfire, her ears flattening. “In Cloudsdale we would have a sky burial and scatter the pegasus’ ashes to the wind. I visited one for a Wonderbolt who died during a trip to the surface. Spitfire was there with me. She said it was their last flight.” Rainbow Dash sniffed and wiped her muzzle. “Could you lend me your fire?”

Fluttershy: The Fall

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Lyra: The Songspony

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