Chapter Eight

“Can’t you go any faster?” Spike urged from astride Misty Moonrise.

Misty flicked her ears back in frustration, but pushed herself for every last scrap of speed. “I’m running as fast as I can,” she replied, trying to ignore the exhaustion burning in her legs and lungs. She came to a fallen log and leapt clear over it. She stumbled a little upon landing, but recovered quickly and galloped onward.

Spike fought Misty’s flying mane out of his face—Twilight’s mane was never so long and bothersome when he rode on her back. “What about that transportation spell? Just zap us to Ponyville!”

“I can only use that spell over short distances,” said Misty. “I’m not practiced enough to transport myself, let alone both of us, all the way from the Tree of Harmony to Ponyville. Besides, we’re almost—”

Before she could finish, a blue blur tackled her to the ground. Spike was sent rolling through the brush, until he slammed into a pair of large hooves about as movable as a mountain. He rubbed the back of his head, which had taken the brunt of the sudden stop, and looked up to see a familiar mahogany pegasus.

“Oh, we were so worried!” Juniper Berry exclaimed, hugging Misty tightly.

Misty tried to pick herself up and respond, but Juniper just tightened her embrace more, squeezing the breath from Misty.

Lilypad came to the rescue. “Juniper, dear,” she said, fluttering over to alight beside them. “Your enthusiasm is appreciated, but you’re crushing her.”

Juniper Berry quickly released Misty with a sheepish smile. “Sorry.”

Finally able to breathe again, Misty replied, “It’s okay. But what are you doing here?”

“We took care of things in Ponyville,” answered Steel Shield, helping Spike to his feet. “The Royal Guard’s assembled and ready for the changelings, and everypony else has been told to stay indoors.”

“And we sent word ahead to Canterlot,” Lilypad put in. “The princesses won’t be caught off guard.”

“So we came to help you,” added Cloudy Day, walking out of the shadows. Nightingale was with him, and she nodded firmly in agreement.

“But…” Juniper Berry looked back the way Misty had come anxiously. “Where are the others?”

Misty and Spike traded glances, and then they quickly explained the situation. When they had finished, the other five ponies stared at them in stunned silence. Cloudy Day’s ears drooped, and he looked ready to huddle in on himself. Nightingale appeared bewildered, but also determined. Lilypad began to hover slightly above the ground, fretting quietly to herself and seemingly unaware that she had taken flight. Juniper Berry was crestfallen, with ears back and eyes downcast.

Steel Shield, however, was angry. He snorted and stamped a fore hoof emphatically. “Well, what are we standing around for? Let’s go!”

“Wait!” Misty forestalled. “The mist—I don’t know what it does, but I know it’s dangerous. We can’t run blindly into this.”

“Then what’re we supposed to do?”

“Zecora!” Spike exclaimed, suddenly excited. “If anypony knows how to get rid of that mist, it’ll be her. C’mon, her place isn’t far from here.” With that, he hurried off into the Everfree depths once more.

They followed Spike down a path lined with ferns and bracken, brightly colored mushrooms, and moss that hung from branches like curtains. At the end of the path, Spike pulled aside more of the draping vegetation to reveal a gnarled and ancient tree with looping jungle vines and corked potion vials suspended from its twisting boughs. Sprawling roots formed the front steps, which led to a door and windows that gave the wide trunk of the old tree the semblance of a face. An exotic mask watched the path to the hut, and another mask hung upon the door lintel. From within, the warm glow of a fire signaled that somepony was home.

A zebra answered Spike’s knock, her black and white mane standing up stiff and straight, her mysterious blue eyes widening in surprise. Around her neck she wore golden dzilla bangles, with more gracing her left foreleg, and heavy gold earrings. Upon her flank was a curious, tribal spiral sun in the same black and white which striped her body.

“This night is a most unfriendly one,” said Zecora, her voice deep and rich, with an accent as exotic as her appearance. “Tell me, why is it that you have come?”

“We need your help,” replied Spike, and he swiftly explained to the zebra what he and Misty had told the others. “We have to get through the mist,” he finished.

Zecora nodded, brow furrowed in thought. “The Shards of Shadow are being gathered,” she muttered. “The Fell Mists are a dangerous hazard.”

“Do you know how to dispel them?” Misty Moonrise asked.

“Fell Mists without their conjurer will fade,” said Zecora, disappearing inside her hut briefly. When she reappeared, she wore a brown cloak and satchel. “ ’Til then, their ill effects we must forbade.”

“ ‘Ill effects’?” echoed Cloudy Day with a shudder. “What do they do?”

Zecora closed her front door and started off into the forest. She waited until the others had caught up to her before replying, “These mists so silver seem harmless at first, but, of all dark magic, they are the worst. Unicorn magic like a candle they snuff out, and even pegasi can no more fly about. Even the earth ponies’ strength they sap! The Changeling Queen has set a mean trap.”

Suddenly, the shuttering of changeling wings rasped from overhead. When the ponies, zebra, and dragon looked up, through the branches they glimpsed the racing horde. Hundreds—no, thousands—of changelings blotted out the night, cackling and hissing like the last brown leaves of autumn on a blustery evening. Their passing made the Everfree trees shiver. The very air seemed to grow cold with fear. By the time the terrifying army had gone, dark clouds had settled over the heavens, hiding the stars and moon and casting all Equestria in shadow.

Misty Moonrise recovered first, fighting back the terror gripping her heart. “We’re wasting time.” She placed Spike on her back with a wisp of magic and forged ahead at a full gallop. The thunder of the others’ hooves were not long in following.

They reached the ravine without encountering any more changelings. They stood along the ridge, gazing upon the silver river of Fell Mists that swirled below. There was no sign of Princess Twilight or the others.

Steel Shield spread his wings, but Zecora stopped him before he could take flight.

“Our friends below in the silvery deep,” Zecora cautioned, “would not want us also to fall asleep.” She retrieved from her satchel a vial of dark orange liquid. “Breathe of the sun-nectar before descent—the Fell Mists cannot overcome its scent.” Zecora unstoppered the vial and held it before her nose, inhaling deeply. Then she passed the vial to Spike, who did the same.

“Gah!” Spike’s eyes began to water. He quickly gave the vial to Misty, glad to be rid of it. “You could have warned us, Zecora.”

A bit suspicious now, Misty cautiously sniffed the potion. She immediately wished she had not, squeezing her watering eyes shut. It felt like a spear of pure flame had shot through her nose to her brain, igniting a blaze inside her that burned and raged like nothing she had ever felt before.

“The initial spark does not last long,” urged Zecora, a little impatiently. “Hurry now, before all hope is gone!”

Misty gritted her teeth and inhaled the fiery aroma deeply, sending a wildfire racing through her from horn to hoof. She passed the vial on to Steel Shield, feeling a twinge of sympathy for the others as they each breathed in the scent of the sun-nectar and encountered for themselves its inferno effects. But the fire soon cooled inside Misty Moonrise, just as Zecora had said it would, though she felt a residual warmth in her breast, like a shield of embers protecting her heart.

Misty started down the stone stairs, but then hesitated. She looked back at Zecora and asked, “The mists won’t harm us now? It’s safe?”

Stoppering the vial and returning it to her satchel, Zecora nodded.

Misty Moonrise turned back to the swirling silver mist. She could feel Spike’s claws gripping her mane tightly—he was so worried about his friends, he probably did not even notice.

It’s time to stop being afraid, she told herself firmly, plunging into the mist.

A part of her expected something to happen, but with the sun-nectar warming her Misty felt only the cool vapor’s dewy caress. With the clopping of the others’ hooves as they descended the stair behind her to bolster her confidence, Misty Moonrise hurried to the bottom of the ravine. Her sapphire aura glowed as she illuminated the Fell Mists’ concealing gloom. Neither the princess nor anypony else were where Misty and Spike had last left them, so Misty led the way instead into the cave.

The mist was thickest here, but the tainted Tree of Harmony was no less obscured. The sight sent a chill quite different from the Fell Mists coursing through Misty. Then she saw the figures slumped on the ground before the dying Tree.

“In here!” she shouted, going to the sleeping ponies. Spike slipped from her back and ran straight to Twilight.

Zecora produced the sun-nectar again and began administering it to each of the six ponies in turn as Steel and the others gathered around. The effect was immediate.

“Wow!” Pinkie Pie bounced up, her already crazy curls frazzling wildly.

Rarity delicately covered her muzzle with a fore hoof. “Sweet Celestia, what a positively horrid incense!”

Fluttershy released an involuntary scream, as if struck by lightning.

“Hoo-wee!” exclaimed Applejack. “That’ll clear the sinuses, sure as shootin’.”

Rainbow Dash shot into the air from the jolt of the sun-nectar, inadvertently ramming her head against the cavern ceiling. “Ow! What the—” Then she blinked, realizing she was airborne, and grinned. “Yes! The Dash is back!”

“Twilight!” Spike wrapped his arms around his friend. “Told you we’d come back. Are you okay?”

Twilight Sparkle shook her head to clear it of the sun-nectar’s fiery aroma. Then she smiled at Spike and returned the hug. “I am now. Thank you.” She glanced over Spike’s spines at Misty Moonrise and her companions. “All of you.”

“Relieved we are that all of you are well,” said Zecora as she set her satchel on the ground before the tainted Tree, “but Chrysalis sounds a terrible knell. You must not tarry longer, Twilight. Defeat Chrysalis this darkest night.”

“She’s right,” agreed Twilight, picking herself up. “We must hurry. Chrysalis is already on her way to Canterlot.”

“Canterlot?” echoed Lilypad, puzzled. “Why ever would she go there when Ponyville is closer?”

“It’s where she was defeated last time,” supplied Rarity. “It only makes sense for her to want to start there.”

Applejack snorted derisively. “That changelin’s got a hankerin’ for punishment, if ya ask me. What makes her think she’ll do better this time ’round?”

Fluttershy let out a startled squeak, drawing everypony’s attention to her. She stood with her back to the others, staring fearfully up at the tainted Tree. Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Applejack gasped simultaneously—it was the first time they had seen the Tree of Harmony in its withering state.

Misty Moonrise just sighed. She had thought that Chrysalis would return the tainted Elements of Harmony to the Tree before making for Canterlot. “Chrysalis still has the Elements, then.”

“No,” Twilight assured her. “Chrysalis doesn’t have them. She doesn’t even know where they are.”

“But she had them in the dream,” Misty went on. “She used them to taint the Tree. I saw her do it.”

Zecora walked over to Misty and Twilight. “A vision of the past you might have seen,” said she. “Nevertheless, it was still just a dream.”

“Don’t worry about the Elements, Misty,” said Twilight Sparkle. “They are quite safe. But we must leave. I can get us to Ponyville, but we’ll need to find another way to reach Canterlot after that. Zecora, Chrysalis said the Tree will be dead when the sun rises. Will you stay here and do what you can to keep the Tree alive?”

“Of course, I will try to slow the poison’s progress,” said Zecora, already taking from her satchel more vials and herbs and a worn book with strips of cloth for bookmarks. “However, to cure it by dawn… I can’t promise.”

“Thank you, Zecora.” Twilight returned her attention to the others. “All right, gather around. I don’t want to leave anypony behind.” When they had done as she said, Twilight Sparkle closed her eyes and summoned her magic. No sooner had her aura begun to glimmer than a blazing magenta light engulfed them all.