Aid From Afar
Chapter 1
Written by: Airror
Edited by: Airror
"Do you think they'll help us?"
Everclear looked up from the flickering flames of the campfire, and blinked until a thin silhouette was visible across from her. "I don't know, Uriel," she answered honestly, and not without a hint of despair in her voice. She looked to her right and saw a polished, glistening city of marble and glass—it shined even though the sun had set several hours ago. It clung to the side of the mountain like a child to its mother—their destination. "Nobody has met with them in living memory, and something tells me they don't remember things the same way we do. They might think of us as a threat, or a precursor to one, and slay us on their steps—"
"Or," grumbled Rubble from where he laid, "you could stop worrying about things out of your control."
Everclear smiled grimly. "Sometimes I think I'm the only one with enough sense to worry," she retorted.
Rubble laughed, and both Uriel and Everclear felt the vibration through the ground beneath them. "All sane people worry," he said. "But only mad people worry about possibilities."
Sagely advice given, Rubble put his head down with an audible thud, and seconds later, was snoring.
Deciding not to argue, Everclear turned her attention back to the tendrils of flame. "How much longer until we're there?" she asked a few minutes later.
Uriel's silhouette shifted slightly, turning towards the city. Everclear could tell he was thinking. "A day," he finally said, "give or take a few hours. Some of the shelves look pretty narrow—you and Rubble might have some trouble."
"We'll be fine."
"Yeah. You're probably right." Uriel sighed. "Look, we should probably get some sleep. No matter what happens, it will happen tomorrow. I'll wake you up at dawn."
"Alright. Good night, Uriel."
"Good night, Everclear."
Everclear laid on her side, the hood of her cloak acting as a makeshift pillow. Tomorrow was the day—the day. Everything rested on their backs.
Tomorrow was the day she enlisted the help of the ponies—or died trying.
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Princess Twilight Sparkle's eyes fluttered open. She glanced around in the dark, searching for the reason why she had been woken. The blinds were closed and the window was shut, eliminating the possibility of a draft. Twilight sat up, yawning, and after cocking her ear, listened. There had to be a reason why she was awake, and she was going to find out why.
A few seconds later, she heard hoofsteps outside of her door. Several knocks in quick succession followed.
"Who is it?" she asked, wondering if there was danger. She was expecting to hear the voice of her guard, an older, grizzled unicorn named Strings. Instead, she heard her brother.
"It's Shining."
Twilight jumped out of bed and undid the latch securing the door. She opened the door to see her brother's tired face. He looked like he had ran all the way from his room on the other side of the palace. She nuzzled him affectionately. Twilight rarely saw her brother even though they both ate, worked, and slept at the castle. Her duties and his rarely overlapped.
"Brother," was all she said.
Shining nuzzled Twilight in return. She could feel the sweat on his fur and his breath on her cheek, strong and stable. "Sister," he replied.
"Not that I don't appreciate your company, but why are you here at—" Twilight squinted to pierce the darkness veiling her bedside clock; all she could see was that it was past midnight, "—this very late hour? Is there trouble?"
He narrowed his eyes. "Not necessarily trouble, but there's definitely something... out of the ordinary."
"Meaning?"
"We've got visitors. A few of my men were on the graveyard shift tonight, and they reported to me, rather than Celestia." He grimaced. "It's not that I'm not honoured, but protocol is protocol, and they were supposed to bring it to her attention first."
Twilight's heart skipped a beat. There was only one sort of visitor that would elicit that particular command.
"They're... unfamiliar visitors, I take it?" Twilight asked.
He nodded.
"What are they here for? Do we at least know what their intentions are?" she stammered, mind racing. Many terrible scenarios began to formulate. Were they a caught scouting party of an invasive force waiting just outside Equestria's borders? Were they just a distraction while more agents slipped into the castle unawares?—
Twilight had to stop herself. All of her ideas were ridiculous, she decided. She must have been spending too much time mulling over Gryphon politics in the back of her mind, and some of it had bled over into her waking thoughts.
"I haven't seen them or spoken with them. All I have is a corporal's hearsay, which was enough for me to wake up the princesses." He turned towards Strings, who was standing guard in front of a different door down the hall—Twilight knew there was only an empty room behind him, but very few others did. "Wake up the rest of the Guard and tell them to await my orders. There's no sound quite like a platoon of armoured hooves marching down the halls, and I want this to be as subtle as can be."
Strings saluted. "Sir." He turned tail and continued further down the hall, marching at a quick pace. Twilight thought she saw something blurry where her bodyguard used to stand, but after she blinked, it was gone. It was probably just a patch of hot air from a nearby vent.
"Are Celestia and Luna already in talks?" Twilight asked.
"If I had to guess, no—but they will be soon." Shining Armour smiled. "Which is why I'm here to escort you, Princess Sparkle."
"I suppose there's no sense in waiting," she replied. "Lead on, Captain."
Shining nodded with a straight face, but his eyes were still smiling. "Of course, Princess Sparkle. Follow me."
Twilight and Shining arrived at the Common Room—a large, ornately decorated room meant to house visiting dignitaries and ambassadors—just as an armada of serving ponies, working in mild disarray due to the hour, began to flow out whilst carrying silver trays laden that once contained food. Two Pegasi guards stood on either side of the door, staring straight ahead as if the night was a perfectly normal one. After the wave of servers trickled out and down the hallway, the two Pegasi saluted.
"Sir," the taller of the two Pegasi acknowledged. He glanced around briefly before lowering his voice and speaking again. "The Princesses of Day and Night are inside and about to initiate talks with the three visitors." Somehow, he lowered his voice even further, to a point where even Twilight's acute hearing could barely hear it.
"I've never seen anything like them before, sir. They call themselves humans."
Twilight was thankful for the information, however minor. Arriving late at meetings was something she studiously tried to avoid, but when she couldn't, she liked to have at least a modicum of knowledge about the topic.
Twilight entered as the last of the servers left; Shining closed the door behind her. Celestia and Luna were sitting at the head of a long table. They both inclined their heads towards Twilight, and she returned it. The visitors, the humans who Twilight was trying very hard not to stare at as she walked by, waited in silence for her to be seated as well. She could feel them looking at her as she took her place.
"Greetings. I am Princess Twilight Sparkle," she announced quietly. "I apologize for my tardiness. I hope I didn't miss anything important."
"Not at all," Celestia said. "We were just exchanging names when the food arrived. May I please present to you..."
The humans were not what she had expected. Not in the slightest. The three of them were unlike anything she had ever seen, and though they shared the same rough body structure, each was completely different from the others. If Twilight hadn't been told, she wouldn't have known they were the same species.
The first human, Rubble, was impossible to miss. Twilight thought it was a very appropriate name, considering what he could probably do to most structures in the span of a few minutes. He was the only one kneeling at the table, mainly because his round, bald head would rub against the ceiling if he was forced to use a chair. His skin was the colour of unbaked clay, or faded bricks. Underneath his once-red shirt, thick knots of muscle lying just beneath the surface roiled with every breath. A backpack large enough for Twilight to disappear into was strapped to Rubble's back. Veins the size of snakes slithered down his biceps, and one of his hands looked large enough to wrap around Twilight's entire midsection. His shorts came down to his knees, barely concealing the tree trunks he had for legs. Two enormous, dirty feet stuck out behind him—evidently, whatever shoes he once had were long gone. Hidden intelligence glittered behind brown eyes that never met hers; instead, he preferred to stare at the ground while the introductions were made.
The second human, Uriel, fascinated Twilight the most. Two large, white, feathered wings sprouted from between his shoulder blades. Though they were furled up and tucked in, they still protruded past his slim torso. Whenever Twilight looked at his wings, they seemed to twitch and flutter, as if they couldn't continue with a grounded existence for much longer. Curly brown hair stuck out at all angles on his head, and two piercing blue eyes darted around the room, as if he was trying to watch everyone at the same time—he reminded Twilight of a wily alley cat. Where Rubble was strength and stability, Uriel was speed and agility; his arms and legs were longer, leaner, and his body seemed shaped for aerodynamics. His skin was the same colour as Applejack's fur, although the white, skin-tight suit he wore made it seem lighter. Polished, buckled boots that looked brand new covered his feet.
The third human was rather unremarkable—compared to her companions. Her name was Everclear, the only name that seemed reasonable to Twilight, and she had neither the strength of Rubble nor the agility of Uriel. She was taller than the latter, yet still eclipsed by the former in size, and her posture was straighter, more regal. In fact, she had barely moved since Twilight had entered the room. Her entire body was covered in a large, flowing robe the colour of an overcast day that sagged and made her body look more amorphous than it should have. A cowl several shades darker than the rest of the cloak shrouded her head in darkness. Twilight wondered why she hadn't dropped the hood as of yet.
All of them looked like they had been on the road for a great deal of time. Scratches and grime were visible on nearly every bare patch of skin, and their clothes were nearly falling apart at the seams. Wherever the humans had come from, it was obviously very, very far away.
After the introductions were made, the hooded human, Everclear, spoke. "I thank you for the hospitality you've shown us. Our travels have been arduous and lengthy, and your compassion is... a great solace. Thank you again." Her voice was light and transparent, the honesty ringing like silver bells.
Celestia inclined her head. Twilight followed a second later.
"Do not thank us yet," Luna said. "Only after you have eaten, your clothes been laundered and mended, and a good night's sleep been had may you thank us."
Everclear seemed like she was going to argue, but Luna's stare pacified her arguments.
"Eat," she ordered in a tone that brooked no argument. "We will speak after food is resting comfortably in your bellies. I'll not have guests falling unconscious from hunger under my roof."
The humans all turned to stare at the plates piled high. It was evident from their expressions that they hadn't eaten for a while. Twilight wasn't sure if she would've noticed had Luna not spoken up about it.
"Please help yourselves," Celestia said. "There's more than enough to go around."
The humans didn't need any more encouragement. Uriel reached forward, his wings expanding and resting against the edge of the table to give him extra balance. He began loading up his plate with every single iota of food he could reach.
Rubble put a fist into an open palm and inclined his head—evidently a showing of thanks—before grabbing a whole watermelon. Several eyebrows were raised after his choice was made. Securing the melon in the crook of his arm, Rubble carefully tore a large enough hole, and used a nearby soup ladle to scoop out the inside.
Everclear patiently waited for the others to grab what they wanted before selecting a few pieces of bread and fruit, quiet as a ghost.
Twilight felt rather than heard her stomach growl—she had missed dinner last night due to a flood of paperwork. There was still so much food on the table that Twilight felt it was her responsibility to help put a dent into it.
She willed her magic to bring her a small bowl of flowers. Beside the bowl was the last piece of blueberry pie, and Uriel and Rubble were arguing in a language she didn't understand over the ownership of it. Twilight noticed that they barely flickered an eye towards the floating bowl, meaning they had seen the use of magic before, or were at least educated in what it looked like. She filed the information for later use.
Locks of dark blue, almost black hair tumbled into Twilight's vision, and two sunken, grey-green eyes that looked like they had seen Pale Rider himself stared at her from across the table. Everclear had removed her hood—and Twilight was still unsure as to why. Her skin was a sickly white colour, yet she looked a lot younger than Twilight had imagined, young enough to not suffer from any diseases due to old age.
"I apologize for only revealing my face to you now. I meant no offence, but I had to be sure that we were not followed," Everclear said, a pained look on her face. "There are several powerful men that will use every ounce of their power to ensure that I do not return to my homeland, P—"
She froze, and her expression twisted into frozen terror.
"He's here," she breathed; Uriel and Rubble dropped their food and stood up, scanning the room. "The Watcher is here."
She cocked her head to the side as if she were listening to something far away.
"And he wants me dead."
