The Silent Shoreby The DescendantChaptersChapter 2: "The Unfortunates"Chapter 3: "The Elder Lord"Chapter 1: "The Lantern Bearer"Chapter 2: "The Unfortunates"The Silent Shore Written by The Descendant Chapter 2: "The Unfortunates" The balloon had sat quietly, only the occasional burst of the burner keeping it aloft. It's seeming solitude was broken when the mist parted in a ball around the appearing forms of Twilight and Spike. As the unicorn's magic erupted forth the mist that covered the meadow at first retreated, then clung around them once more. "…dead?" concluded Spike in a trembling tone, finishing the sentence that had begun on the outcropping an instant before. "Oh Spike," said Twilight, lowering her head to his, "I'm so sorry you saw that…I'm so sorry. We…we're going to help them…help any we can…" Spike laid his head to hers, let out one dry huff of emotion, and nodded. "Come on," she said, raising her head, "We have to get the balloon and…" She opened her eyes to see the mist rolling across the meadow. As it did it wrapped oddly around catches, slipped across the road… …and outlined a shadow, a shadow that looked upon her and then dove silently into the woods on long strides of its sinuous limbs. Twilight's gasp brought Spike up and to attention. "Twi…Twi, what's wrong?" he began, moving in front of her, looking up to her. Twilight did not reply at first, but as the mist hung quietly around them she panned her head across the woodline. She saw nothing, heard nothing, across the misty meadow. "I…thought I saw something, thought it might be a peryton, one who had crawled…crawled up here, but…but it didn't look like…like a peryton," she said, slowing. Spike spun around, looked across the meadow as well. He looked back up to her in confusion and concern and then shrugged his shoulders. Together they began to walk the ancient road back towards the balloon. As they did Twilight reprimanded herself and then reminded herself of the same consolation she had given Dash a few minutes earlier. "Just tricks of the fog," she told herself as Spike's clawed hand rested against her foreleg, "Spatial distortion…" She laughed a small laugh, stopped looking so deep into the fog. She contemplated all the things that she though she saw in it…changed them from the unknown to shades of her friends, one mist becoming the branches of her home in the library, another waft became lines of treats at Sugarcube Corner. She began to lift her hooves, more certainty…yes, just tricks of the fog. She concentrated on one particularly hard bit, one that seemed to be haunched by the side of the road among the grasses. She felt Spike begin to take half steps, seeing it too, the little dragon wrapping his arm around her leg. She bent down, began to offer him the advice, let him know to just turn the mist into something other…something happy…"giggle at the ghostie" as Pinkie would say… …and at that instant the shadow hovering in the grass, the hole in the mist, unwrapped itself as a figure with long, sinuous legs. It looked through them, opened its mouth…lunged across the road into the meadow beyond, disappearing into the fog. The two stood there silently as the haze rolled over them once more, Twilight's eyes wide. "Twilight!" came Spike's voice, high with fear. "Spike, you hold onto me. You close your eyes and don't open them…do you understand? You hold onto me and don't open your eyes until I say to…" Spike dove beneath her like a foal would do, placed his hands behind her knees, tickling her in the slightest, drawing her back from her own fear. "Are your eyes closed?" "Yes." Twilight ignited her magic, sent a single shimmering beam across the meadow, down the road, into the deep woods beyond. Her beam was consumed by the fog, almost absorbed by it, yet it clung to its purpose. She leveled it across the meadow, let it search out any other source of magic present. Any magic would be revealed, deep magic, dark magic, even magica vasto or an upwelling of Equestria's own inherent magic would be visible in the purple shaft that drove through the grey. It circled her, rotated around her in the fog that she desperately wished that Dash had lifted…and found nothing. There was no magic to find. There was nothing. Twilight sighed, let the beam slow, knew now it must have been a trick of the fog. She knew that they had seen something similar, she and Spike, had reacted to each other's fear. She slowed her beam, began to collect it with a satisfied smirk when something caught in the corner of her eyes. A image hung there for an instant, darted through her perception and was gone… The fragment of a face, an unponylike face. A face looking upon her with a cold, distant countenance… …but looking upon her. We are here…we see you. We see you. Twilight sucked in a whisp of air, stuttering through it. Sucking at it in shivers, not wishing to make any noise. "Twilight?" "Spike, keep you eyes closed. We're walking, okay? Keep your eyes closed…Spike, keep them closed. Keep a hold on me." Together they went down the road, Spike creeping beneath her on three legs, one in contact with her calf at all times. Twilight concentrated on the feel of the road beneath them, sensing its center, feeling the stone and dirt around her hooves as she fought to lift and move them. Noises reached her, and she fought them, fought to keep them out of her mind. She fought to ignore the sounds that she felt winding through the haze, wrestled them with the sounds of Spike's uncertain feet across the rocks and his shallow breathing. Yet, along the woodline she heard them…heard the rustle of leaves, a snap of a branch. Whispers. Up the road she went, the feeling that she was under the watch of something beyond the mist crawling over her, driving cold spasms across her back…only the feel of Spike's warm touch below keeping her from pelting off into the mist, keeping the screams of fear from her lips. Being strong for him. "Twilight?" "Keep walking…keep your eyes closed." The long tortuous walk, the sliding shuffle across the dirt of the path, the agonizing fight to go forward ended. She felt the brush against her nose, heard the hiss, felt the rough scratch… She screamed, Spike doing the same…grabbing at the leg he'd been guided by, rolling with her as they opened their eyes in horror. The burner of the balloon was still sounding out as they looked upon it, the balloon illuminated from within as the flames filled it with warm air once more. Spike and Twilight looked at one another, smiles growing across their faces. They laughed as they nuzzled each other, Twilight gathering him up in her forehooves. What a story to tell the girls… "That was pretty scary, huh Twi?" said Spike as she lifted him into the basket, the fog drifting away as the balloon bobbled at their return, "We scared ourselves pretty good!" "Yes," she said, lowering him in, feeling his weight shift to the balloon. "We've got some imaginations! Wait until we tell Princess Celestia about…" As she said the words, as Spike dropped out of her grasp, the color went out of him. At once Twilight recoiled, drawing a sharp breath. She spun, sensing something...and from the woods beyond came a thrumming sound. She gulped, looked to where it had come from once and then quickly prepared to lift herself into the balloon. "Twilight?" "Yes?" she answered, stopping mid-leap. "Twilight, why are you leaving?" She stuttered to a stop, looked down on him, saw confusion over his face. "Spike," she said, softly, "Spike…I'm right here…" "Who are you!?" he demanded of nothing, not looking at her, instead facing deep out into the woods. "Spike? Spike what's going on…are, Spike?" she said, fumbling to enter the basket, trying to reach for him. "Leave her alone! Leave her alone! Twilight!" he called before she could place her hooves around him. To her horror she saw his eyes illuminate, saw the features of an enraged dragon cross over him. In one movement, almost animal and feral in likeness, he had leapt over side of the basket. The green of his eyes shone forth into the haze before he was gobbled up by it, as he ran out into it. "Where are you taking her!? Leave her alone! Twilight! Twilight!" he raged in wild, wounded tones. His high shrieks tore at Twilight as she tripped over the edge of the basket, came crashing down to the grass of the meadow in a call of pain, raised herself up to pursue him. "Spike! Spike I'm right here!" she called, worry racing through her, tears forming in her eyes. She looked back and forth through the fog, sought to catch even the smallest glimpse of him…yet she could not. "Stop touching her!" his voice rang out, and to her left a shock of green cascaded through the mist. His fire was raging out at something that was not there, the flames locked in earnest battle with nothing. "Stop hurting her!" "Spike! Spike!" she called again, turning in a tuft of grass, her voice breaking, "Spike I'm here! I'm here…I'm okay, Spike! Spike!" "I said stop hurting her!" came his voice once more, loud, high…terribly high and locked with grief and a driving, consuming rage. His fire once more spilt out over the meadow, seemingly coming from where she had just sped. She tripped over her own hooves as she turned back through the haze…locked on it. And then it was gone. "Spike!" she called out again and again, dancing in place, spinning about in the grey. Fear grew in her as the silence pervaded all, as she darted from spot to spot, calling for him, receiving no reply. Finally she heard him again, but it brought her no comfort. "Twilight…Twilight," came his small voice in sobs, as a child separated from its mother, "Twilight…" Twilight spun, darted towards the sound, the sound that was so very far away… She skidded to a stop as his distant voice, spoken as through tears, wound it's way from within the distant woods, barely audible as the whips of fog devoured them. "Please don't hurt her anymore…I'll go, I won't fight anymore…just please don't hurt her anymore…please don't hurt her anymore…" "Spike! Spike!" she called as her heart moved into her throat, as she pelted into the woods, as the long thin form of young trees reached out for her. She went on for long moments, stopping to lift her ears, let them toss about her head. Every little sound became a beacon, the fall of leaves, the toss of a broken branch. Twilight strained, begged, implored…but his voice did not reach her. Instead, a new sound met her. The screams of a mare filled the woods, radiated down into her, making Twilight go still with shock as it bounced off of trees…swirled among the mist that rose up like smoke from the bases of trees and tufts of grass. Twilight began to move towards it, towards the screams that slowly subsided. She fought to keep lifting her hooves once more, fought to ignore that part of her instinct that told her to flee off into the mist, to go anywhere but to where the horrible sound was coming from. As she went she swallowed hard and winced, gulping for air as she moved towards the origin of the sound. As she went new sickening sounds drove into her, the sounds of a grown stallion begging for his family, the sound of a filly calling for her mother, the long wet tearful sobs of a young colt…so similar to Spike's a moment before. These noises ripped at Twilight's soul, became louder as she forced herself to turn into a thicket of crooked trees, as her body trembled around her. The screams stopped. She opened her eyes to find herself in a circle of stone. Something powerful thrummed around her, and a force drove through her. As she looked upon the stones they seemed to stare back at her, and in their midst was a long smooth table of rock. Twilight risked her magic, let it sense if there was something at play. As the beam met the table it rose up in a tower of malice…dark magic. She shuddered at it, saw it reveal itself along the stones of the circle. Yet it did not move against her, and soon she saw why. It was broken, entrapped…defeated. It was as though the magic itself was dying, had died a thousand, a million deaths…was still dying. As her beam subsided she looked once more to the rocks, the logical and analytical part of her brain struggling for some understanding as the other parts dwelt in fear and in concern for Spike. The rocks were scarred, split, blasted…as though they had been punished. Broken. There was a sound nearby, and movement in the mist. Something was there…something beyond the table, something that made little movements and no sound. Twilight turned again, ignited her horn. She dragged her trembling body far around the altar, far from the dark magic, and moved slowly, wordlessly upon the figure. When she saw it she took a sharp draw of breath and lifted her hoof to her mouth. Spike stood there, his body making small movements, moving in fits and starts. She looked upon him in horrified wonder as his mouth moved and his arms went wide in concert with his soundless words. As his wide eyes rocked back and forth across the scene, his pupils small and dim, she saw him rock, reel with expression. His face went from dark and grim up into astounded wonder, and then back down into hopelessness. Finally, finally he sank to his knees as he made the motions of a knife that lifted across his… "Spike!" she called rushing up to him, terrified. At once though she stopped, and as she did he lifted his eyes once more, his body following along as he lifted his hands high, seemed to be invoking wrath. To Twilight he looked like a prophet calling down judgement, like a priest of a dead religion… When she could stand no more she placed her head to his, her muzzle across his face, and spoke his name. "Spike, Spike…" As she did so he went stark still, stiffened, and collapsed to the ground. She ran her muzzle across him until he began to move, her worry for him superceding the continued fear. "Twilight," he said, dimly, reaching up for her, "They want to go home…they just want to go home…" As he spoke it was as though a curse had been called down upon them. The mist gathered heavily again, and the thrumming sound once more coursed through the woods. She lifted Spike, gathered him to herself. In the mist, something moved…many things, all just beyond her vision, twisting through the mist. The whispers came once more…the snapping of twigs, motion nearby, now just outside the ring of stone. "Who Spike?" she asked covering his body. To her surprise his voice was not scared, not fearful as he too looked out into the mist, as the whispers came. "It's okay," he said, retreating beneath her, once more putting his clawed hand on her leg, "He'll go with us…others brought me in, but he'll come out with us…" "Spike? Spike what…" she began, looking down between her own forelegs to where he stood ready. As he closed his eyes she stared at him. "Close you eyes, Twi," he said again, "It's okay, he'll come out with us…with them…" Twilight lifted her head, jumped as a figure seemed to retreat from just beyond the table at the edge of her vision. She thought of Spike's words, wondered who he was speaking of…and closed her eyes. There was a presence…a powerful one. She lifted her hoof, took a step. Tiny bells rang out before her, making her jump, and as she did she felt the presence look back to her, and then forward again. It moved. She followed it, her eyes clenched shut as they exited the circle. As they did he she felt more presences, felt that she was being followed. Yet, they too were not unhappy eyes…not the coursing, cold ones that had driven her along the road in fear, these were something else. From behind came the sound of hooffalls, those of a stallion, a mare, and two foals. There had been nothing in the circle, nothing there but her and Spike…and now that nothing both lead them and followed them. Now the whispers of the nothings from besides them became despondent, wails…wails that struck at Twilight, drove cold nails through her heart. In the distant wails of the figures she heard pain, fear, a fear that only added to her own. In it she heard darkness being driven down around them, the presence of something awful, beautiful, and terrible all at once. She heard in the wails that echoed through the trees a terrible pain, the cracking of rocks, as though light itself had become a scythe that cut at them. Before her came the sound of the tiny bells, up above her and before her, and the sense of something powerful…from behind came the hoof falls of ponies that she, knew, knew, knew were not there. The chair turned to the wall. The letter left unfinished. Where was the cart, who has borne it off? The meal uneaten…a doll alone in an empty playhouse. With her eyes clenched shut Twilight concentrated not on the sounds that fell upon her from the woods, but instead on Spike below, his one clawed hand pressing warmth into her calf as she felt the heat draining from her own body. She shut down all of the parts of her mind that told her that none of this could be happening, that the sounds of hooves around her were not real, that the bells were an illusion. She shut off the part of her brain that scolded her, that told her that the screams in the woods was just the wind that she knew was not blowing. She silenced the part that believed that the presences that she felt around her was the imagination she had long since satiated. She fought to keep her eyes closed, felt only Spike's hand…heard the bells and hooves. As she felt the scratch across her nose she did not jump, did not scream as last time. "Twilight, Twi…are we back at the balloon?" asked Spike, jostling a bit. "Keep you eyes closed," she told him. There was a moment of stillness and silence across the meadow. There came a jangling of the bells, and she felt the balloon move as though some creature had tapped a hoof upon it. "Keep your eyes closed," she said, lifting him both with her hooves and magic into the basket. She leaned over the basket, kept her hoof on him, not letting the connection between them break again. Behind her she sensed movement, and cold swept over her as a feeling of some big stallion lowering himself into the gondola moved past her. She felt him looking at her, smiling, and she nodded her head as the tears began. "Twilight?" asked Spike, "Did it just get colder?" "Yes." She felt the stallion put his forelegs over the side of the basket, she felt him retrieve something. She felt the small forelegs of a colt go across her in a brief hug, and then enter the balloon. "It is getting colder," said Spike. "Yes." Another presence spread over her, and as it did she felt a small muzzle touch to hers, the kiss of a filly-foal. "Twi, Twi it's getting so cold in here," spoke Spike, shivering. She lowered her other foreleg over him, wrapped him up tight to her as another presence caught in her nose. The smell of a mare's perfume lingered there. She felt a head lay alongside hers, and she tilted hers slightly to answer it. Soon it too had moved to within the basket. "Twillight," said Spike, "Twilight, I'm so cold, it's really cold in here…" At once she sightlessly leapt into the basket, gathered Spike up into her body, shivering in time with him at how cold it was within the cradle beneath the balloon. As she did she fumbled around for the releases, sweeping her magic out around the balloon until the stakes came up and the balloon gave a solid warble of certainty and lifted into the air. As it did, the screams in the woods became louder. Twilight clamped her hooves across Spike's ears as the sounds rose. First the wails contained rage, then fear…fear. In a long moment the voices were swept away, and the woods and meadow below fell silent. She felt the sensation of dissipating black magic waft from the woods…felt it slide down into the earth to be remade, hopefully as something more blessed. Below came the sound of tiny bells, and the sound of hoof falls crossing the road towards the beach. Twilight's eyes were still clamped shut when the balloon began to warm, as the cold left their bodies. At once there was a feeling of blessed warm light, and soon it was as water. Yet, it was not water... Around them came the happy sounds of a family running off together into the warm waters beyond, and soon the basket was still. Twilight blinked her eyes, opened them slowly. The tops of the trees were still shrouded in the mist, but below them in the meadow it had cleared. A fox popped out into the midst of the tufts of grass, and a few birds sang in the lowest branches. Spike opened his eyes as the balloon came up, looked out to the band of blue still hiding in the departing mist. "Spike?" she asked, turning him to face her, "Are you okay?" He nodded up at her drowsily, as though he had been awakened early from a restless sleep, regarded her with uncertain eyes. "Spike," she said, looking down at him. "Spike, I'm okay…nothing happened to me." He continued staring up to her. "Spike?" she asked, "Are you okay? Are you hurt?" He shook his head in a few small movements, continued to look to her. "How much do you remember…about what just happened? What did you see?" she asked, looking him over. He rocked, tossed his head. With a wobble he ran his clawed hand across her foreleg. With one last look up to her his eyes watered, and he fell down into her chest and barrel. She lifted him up, pressing his face into hers, and together they cried softly as the balloon crossed out over the hidden trees to the silent shore beyond. Nothing had answered Dash when her small word of concern had flit out over the waves. As she had stared into the mist no reply had come to her call, and now she felt herself foolish for having entertained such fears. She was Rainbow Dash…nothing can bring her down. Nothing drops Rainbow Dash down into fear and uncertainty. She smirked at herself, lifted her wings, and went out into the mist. She swooped along the beach, her eyes straining through the haze. She swept back on herself, parting the fog with her wings as she began to curse. At first they came softly, the curses…little invectives of self-remonstration. Before long though, as she saw no one, as her calls went unanswered and she fought to peer through the fog the curses became louder and more earnest. She streaked alongside the shoreline, so close to the foaming surf that her reflection across the darkened waters seemed a part of her. As she went it was not her own reflection that registered in her mind, but instead the lack of something…the lack of anything. There was no wreckage in the water, no flaming debris to cast small light across the waves. No wounded perytons called out to her, no broken bodies washed across the silent shore. Nothing, there was nothing. She landed on the beach, cursing as she skidded across the smooth stones of the shore. She jumped, kicked, whinnied. Frustration overwhelmed her as she stood there, calling out, "Hey! Hey! Is there anyone that needs help?" She swore, spat as silence reached her…and no voices came back speaking of their pain…as the victims of the explosion, she worried, slowly succumbed to their wounds. "Frickin' fog!" she yelled up to the sky, her face turning with malice. At once she resolved to end it, to lift away the carpet of grey that had consumed her thoughts and driven down her body since she had arrived here. She at once called herself "stupid" for ever wanting to come here…to spend even the smallest amount of time here by the shore. Why, why had she said that? She had a race to get ready for. What, she wondered, had made her to want to… With that she stopped, shook, turned out over the sea… …as a voice called to her by name. The sound caught in the rocks, trembled ashore on the waves. She breathed heavily, stared out into the waves that slipped beneath the grey haze. She grit her teeth even as her body shook, narrowed her eyes even as her knees became weak. As the fog seemed to spin, dive in on itself… …she roared out into it, screaming. She focused on it as she beat at the mist with her wings. She powered through it, bellowing through her own fear and frustration. Her cry went out over the waters as she raced over the surface, out into the waters beyond the shore. Nothing met her, no stare greeted her…nothing. "That's right!" she called, raising herself up, the gift of the pegasi alive within her, "That's what you get! You…fog! Yeah!" As the fog whipped around her she rose up through it, climbed higher and higher. "Nothing gets Rainbow Dash down!" she called, "Nothing pulls me out of the fight!" At once she erupted through the fog, high up over it. She spun through the sky, felt the coolness fall in around her as she reached the pinnacle of her ascent. "Nothing gets Rainbow Dash down." She looked up to the sun, was surprised to see it already high above. Was it already noon? She pondered this as she flapped her beautiful wings, hovering in the air high above the sea below. She panned around, began pulling in the magic of Equestria, began fueling her pegasus magic and her body for the act to come. She concentrated her power for the massive burst of energy she was about to expend to clear the fog, push it back beyond the nearby border…reveal the shipwreck and the injured who undoubtedly still needed, desperately needed, her help. As she did she felt a tug…felt something pulling at her. She opened her eyes, looked to the trees of the Whitetail and Everfree beyond. Nothing, only the cords of fog that fell across the woods met her gaze. She turned to the sea beyond. Nothing, only the long white-capped waves that rolled in from far beyond and the peninsula off to her left. She had been about ignore it, to return to refueling her magic and body. As she prepared to do so she blinked, took a deep breath and happened to glance to the fog below her. At once the breath left her, pulled out of her in her scream of horror. Faces looked up at her through the fog…dozens of them, faces straining up to her, beseeching her. Their mouths moved, seeming to call her name over and over, begging her, pleading with her…the soundless words streaking through her body. As it did Dash's resolve left her. It streaked out of her, the terror and revulsion stealing out her breath, her power, and her consciousness… Down, down, she went, her thoughts fading as dozens of tearful and distraught faces mouthed her name over and over… Nothing pulled her down through the fog. Nothing dropped her into the cold waters. Nothing drew her down into the rolling waves that covered the sands of the bed below and rolled out as foam along the silent shore. Chapter 3: "The Elder Lord"The Silent Shore Written by The Descendant Chapter 3: "The Elder Lord" The water washed over her, filled her mouth and her nose. At once Dash felt her breath escape her. She pedaled hard, felt her hooves strike against something. At once there was a feeling that she was being pulled, dragged. Something, something was tugging at her! As the last bit of her air burned in her lungs she threw her head wide, felt it contact whatever was pulling at her. At once there was a cold feeling, and the rush of water around her ended and she immediately drew a massive breath. She spun around in place, fighting to her hooves, attempted to look upon whatever had been dragging her… …and saw the old hat and dearly familiar face of Applejack before her. "R.D.?" asked Applejack, her own face seemingly ashen, deeply set and worried. Rainbow Dash wobbled to her feet. She was as cold, wet, and confused as a newborn foal, and her knees knocked together both from the cold and the remains of the visions she had seen while high above…the faces that… She went weak again, falling forward into Applejack's offered hooves. Together they sat there on the silent shore, the mist covered reaches beyond the sea. As Applejack's warmth flowed into her friend neither Dash or Applejack spoke. Each seemed to sense the other wobbling in uncertainty and deep confusion…fear. "Dash, you okay?" asked Applejack after a long while. "You saved me," she said, turning to face Applejack, "A.J., A.J., I'm so…grateful, I'm…" "You was only in about a foot ah' water," said Applejack, her face still emotionless, "I thought ya'd gone loco…too cold fer' swimming this time of year." Rainbow Dash shuddered again, another great tremble went through her, this one composed both of the shuddering cold and the realization of what it meant that she'd not been so far out to sea… "But, but I fell…I fell so far," she said, "If I'd landed on the beach, I'd…I'd be…" No, no she'd fallen into the water. Deep water. It was the last thing that she remembered…remembered as the faces… She shuddered hard once more, realizing that somepony…something…must have brought her up out of the sea. Must have laid her in the shallows…watched over her until Applejack drew near, kept her muzzle from the water… The vision of the fog, the faces, around her unconscious body filled her with a new dread even as she wondered at what it meant that…that she'd been saved… Saved by the dead. Applejack saw Dash still shaking, still trembling. It was only when Dash looked up to her that she saw the expression across her face…an expression that she knew she must be mirroring. "Dash?" asked Applejack, "There's no perytons to be found on this beach, and not a single stick of the wreck. But I'm tellin' you a fact, Dash. Dash, we ain't alone on this beach…" Dash's expression went white, and Applejack feared she was about to be ill. Still she continued, needing, begging to know if she'd been alone in her travails. "Dash…did, did you see anything, odd?" Dash's shivering got worse, and Applejack moved closer, letting more of her body heat slip into the pegasus. "A.J., I…I saw," said Dash, wavering, "I saw something I never want to see again…" The two stared at one another, the wordless understanding flashing between them. "Did…did you see, hear, anything?" said Dash as Applejack lowered her head. After a long moment she took a deep breath. Slowly the earth pony lifted her head and looked to her friend. "Dash, I didn't see nor hear a single livin' soul," said the Bearer of the Element of Honesty, the emphasis on the last two words, "Not a single livin' soul." Dash and Applejack sat there, the meaning of their statements clear to both of them. There may come a time for exposition but this was not it. Now was just the time to sit and shiver, to watch the waves roll in beneath the grey blanket. "I don't wanna be here anymore," said Applejack, nuzzling Dash to stand. Together the two ponies began moving from tier to tier, moving much slower than when they had first arrived. As they went they were silent, noiseless as they crossed the spaces between tiers with little jumps and slides, Applejack nursing her still raw cuts from her earlier experience. At once their heads tossed in unison, and then they looked at one another in alarm. A noise…they had heard a noise. Together they stared not down towards the water, back out over the tossing sea, but instead up the beach. They looked towards the line of dunes beyond where the forest ended and the beach began. The sound reached out to them once more. Together they stood there, staring up the beach as the sound moved from ethereal to very, very, very real…clarion and clear. Bells, the sound of tiny bells…and, hooffalls. They gulped as the bells came nearer to them, as they saw nothing. Yet, the nothingness had it's own presence…it was so very real. They heard the hooffalls, heard the tiny bells jangling in time with the rhythm of the unseen hooves that went across the slippery rocks. They heard the hooves draw nearer, their bodies tensing as it became clear that they were angled towards them. There came the sound of a great large creature planting hooves into the pools of the water that sat among the stones, but no water moved in them. The sound of the breath of an immense creature was amid them, yet the mist did not part… …not until his head moved. To Dash it was though the fog had left a memory…as it wrapped around the nothingness the immense figure of a peryton seemed to disappear through it. From the hole it left came a sound, words…words she did not understand, spoken softly… "Tilgi meh…" Dash lifted her hoof to her cheek as a soft feeling went across her face, a small wet spot that almost seemed a kiss. Her mind raced…it couldn't have just happened… "Tilgi meh…" Applejack too felt the little kiss, her heart racing as the nothingness moved between her and Dash. As the sound of bells began again they felt the presence move on…on past them, past where the waves broke across the stones of the beach…down into the sea, the vast rolling sea. Great timbered halls and firelight. The snows across high mountain fields. The old song sung across deep woods. Loss. With that, the fog began to lift, and the great presence disappeared from their senses. Dash looked down, saw her own hoofprint in the small collection of sand below her. She let out a great gasp as she realized a large hoofprint of a peryton stood beside hers. As the haze rolled away all that was revealed was the great stretch of the stony beach and the sky beyond in a deep shade of grey that fought with the blue. There was a hiss behind them, one that made the jump in time, kicking like wild horses. They turned to see the balloon touching down on the beach. Looking to one another sheepishly they slowly made their way to where the purple sat illuminated against the still-grey sky. As they did the first seabirds they had seen began to walk across the crevasses, darting their long thin bills into the spots between the rocks. A seagull squawked overhead and more birds ran up and down the stones in advance and retreat in time with the waves. The earth pony and the pegasus looked over the lip of the basket and down into the still bleary, tear-filled eyes of the unicorn and the dragon. "I don't want to talk about it," said all four in unison. A short while later they had crossed over the outcropping, turning around the bend to make for the peninsula beyond. Three of the occupants of the balloon looked on in wonder as they crossed before a massive glyph, one bigger than the balloon itself. They looked upon the great jade eyes that stared out over the sea. The figure of a massive peryton stag stood there proudly yet remorsefully. His vigil over the waters was as silent as the bells drawn upon his antlers. The remembrance of the hooves upon the beach and the soft wet spot upon her cheek smashed through Dash, and at once she turned to Applejack. "A.J., A.J., do…do you think…" Yet, Dash could not continue. As she and the others looked down over Applejack all that they could see was how she had pulled down her hat, clenched her eyes, and covered her ears as she lay in the bottom of the gondola. She knew, of course, that dragons eat meat. Spike would have to eat meat if he'd ever want to grow wings, become the vast and terrible dragon that she knew he would someday become. He was already bigger than most dragons his age, and soon he'd be molting again. Whatever her own feelings about it, she knew that eating a lobster would do him no harm. It had been the money she was worried about. Her stipend saw them through many things, but it was hardly a fortune. With winter coming they'd need things, firewood, scarves…and so, she'd thought, maybe he'd be willing to forego? But, as they had walked wordlessly into the restaurant in Nag's Head his eyes had lit up at the sign of the crustaceans in their bubbling tank. In that instant she'd gladly agreed to part with the bits if…if they kept his mind off of… "Here we go, folks," said the waiter as he and his buscolt brought up the trays, "Here's a nice little dinner for ya'." "Lunch, actually," said Twilight, looking upon the salad. It was too much…she couldn't even imagine eating this much. Her stomach still turned, flipped…thought of the cries in the darkened woods… She looked up to see the same expression across the faces of Dash and Applejack. Only Spike's face was alight as the waiter cut open the bag of mussels and cracked the shell of the lobster for the whelp. The waiter smiled to them all, his own heavy Old Northeastern dialect becoming more obvious as he saw the crestfallen appearances of his customers. "We all are most glad you folks stopped on up," he said, trying to make polite conversation, "'Tis most likely our last weekend up her for the tourists, what with the leaves about to come down in the Runnin'. No more leaf-peekers! No one will be comin' up to the beach anytime soon, neither…" "I can't imagine why," deadpanned Dash, her voice getting quieter as she looked down at her tiny piece of quiche, "We had such a great time…" "Oh!" said the waiter, laying the corn beside the lobster as Spike drooled across the table, "Was you up to the beach today? Go on up to see the Standing Stone? Kin' hardly think you saw that much with how foggy it were…" The four were silent. "Standing Stone?" asked Twilight, noting how Applejack turned her head away as it was mentioned, "The great big peryton, in the stone, the glyph?" "Tells the story right proper, don't it?" asked the waiter, laying the steaming crustacean before Spike. Spike however simply looked back up to him in surprise. "The story?" he asked. The waiter looked back and forth to them in confusion, then smiled. "You all didn't go see the Standing Stone without knowin' aboot' it, didja?" They looked at the table, fought to understand his Old Northeast accent, tried to think of a reply. "No, no we didn't…I, we don't know why we stopped," added Dash, weakly. "That's a right shame. National treasure that is, one of the reasons we get tourists here in Nag's Head. It's a right wonderful thin' too," he said, smiling over them. "Yeah…it's, interestin'," added Applejack. He looked to them, saw them looking back at him in different shades of emotion. Worried that they're concern and confusion may lead them to forgo ordering desert he began to regale them with an old story. The few salty ponies at the bar turned around to hear the cherished foal's tale of their youth… "T'was long ago, you see," he said, laying his serving tray across the stand, resting easily on three hooves as he lifted the fourth over them, "Back when Equestria weren't so old…back just after the War of the Witches…" "That's thousands of years," said Twilight, looking to the girls, going quiet as the waiter looked back over her, "Sorry…" "Not at all, miss," he continued, "This was when the last of the peryton tribes that had lived in the west came down into Equestria. They came to take their share of the promise made by the Sovereigns to the allied races that had stood before the Witches and their multitudes. Those that had stood with us in the war…had fought back against the invading army and the consuming blackness it unleashed." "Now, only one more tribe remained here in Equestria, a small band, lead by a great and powerful Elder Lord. One of the majestic peryton stags, one with great rainment and many bells, symbols of rank, tied in his antlers…" The four looked up to them as remembrances of bells sounding through the haze flit over them. "These perytons, as all do, lived in the woods and fields in their lodges and got along quite well with the local ponies, as all do, good friends indeed. This was when Hofston and Manehattan and all that were still just villages, and just little homes beside the sea here and there made up the entirety of the Old Northeast…which weren't so old then, as I'd said…" "Now, down across the border came a race…one that had served in the ranks of the Witches, a brutal people, or so the story goes…history they say is written by the winners…but anywho, we know that somehow they got past the Regular Army. You have to hope somebody lost their job over that one…" "What, what did they look like?" asked Spike, his lobster yet untouched, "What race was it?" "Who can say?" replied the waiter, adjusting his tray, "T'was so long ago…we know that they were long things, with great long legs and arms that were clawed…" Memories of shadows of nothing in the haze sent Spike scotching closer to Twilight. "…and that they were Bloodspillers." "Bloodspillers?" said Spike, his arms crossing in front of him. "Aye, the most fiercely devoted adherents of the Witches…ones who believed that they could use the blood of their enemies to pull the Witches out of the deathly sleep into which the Sisters had placed them." Twilight, in reply, moved closer to Spike, the memory of dark magic hovering over the long low table reaching back into her mind. "So, it was said," continued the waiter, motioning the buscolt to see to a distant table, "that when this race came over the mountains and through the Everfree they captured ponies that lived in the little homesteads along the border, began to...gather them up, the poor unfortunates, like lobsters for the boilin'…" The scene of a family of ponies, a big stallion fighting, the mother uselessly trying to help her colt and filly escape down the road, filled Twilight's mind. "Now, this last peryton lord, he was waitin' to go to Cervia, the land set aside for the whole of the peryton race…and his last ships sat here in the harbor and beyond the toe of the peninsula. The news came down in runners that there was a fell people aboot', the lantern bearers racing through the woods with the news…some killed, the last one running far, far, far out into the sea to drown in his attempt to signal the ships…" Applejack's cup came crashing down to the table, her eyes wide. As the waiter cleared it away he continued, "The bearer's sacrifice was worth it, though, for the Elder Lord of the perytons sensed the meaning. He asked for volunteers to go with him, and he sped out into the woods to try to save as many of the ponies as he could, save those who had helped his people." "Yet, he was fighting an army, and as they battled towards the great stone circle…" Twilight felt her heart go into her throat. "…all of his lieutenants were killed, and he saw he was too late to save one family." Spike reached for Twilight's foreleg. As he did she looked down to him. She saw his mouth move and his lips tremble. At once Spike spoke, Twilight gasping as she saw him lift his arms as he had when he stood inside the fog…beside the table. Spike's face was distant, and his words silent, almost a whisper. "E'er his noble blood spilt, ah'n his court cast down to death, Lukas Magnus lifted up his head. There amidst tah' foe did the Elder Lord invoke the word, and it became as light…" "Very good lad!" said the waiter as some applause came from the bar, "You do know the legend! Ya' even spoke it nice an' properly!" "Yeah", said Spike, wavering, "Yeah…" "But," asked Dash, not noticing Spike's discomfort, "What does it mean?" "It means, lass," added the waiter, replacing Applejack's cup, "that he called for help, called out to those who had promised to help the peoples who had saved Equestria…called for the Sister Sovereigns…the Princesses…" Silence hung about the restaurant, only on the far side was there conversation and the tinkling of cups and plates. "And let me tell you…they did indeed answer," continued the waiter, "If the story is correct. An', when the Sister's saw what the Bloodspillers had done…they were…a tad miffed…" Twilight's mind raced back to the stone circle. She saw light cascading through it, saw Celestia's eyes alight, a most perfect and holy rage racing through the elder sister as she scythed her light across those who had harmed her little ponies. She saw the very rocks being scoured by the light, ripping at their surfaces. She heard the reverberations of the words of the Firstborn Alicorn as her judgment upon them became death. She saw Luna's dark and terrible countenance fall over them, saw the very life being strangled out of them on waves of darkness. The Nightbringer's powers smothered the black magic already at work in the place…killed it, punished it, had been punishing it over and over and over for millennia. So great was the wrath of the Sisters upon this fallen race, Twilight realized in that moment, that the very souls of the Bloodspillers had been driven deep into the earth of Equestria. They had been unable to lift from it, go to their true judgement, until their victims were themselves free to splash in the waters of the Well of Souls. "Oh," she breathed, the realization of these facts growing behind her eyes. "So the myth says," added the waiter with a shrug, "Only Celestia and Luna know 'tis true or not…" Twilight's mind flashed to the quills and parchment on her little desk back at the library. A look down to Spike made her realize he was thinking the same thing. "Anywho, as this was happenin'," he continued, "The ship that was waitin' for the Elder Lord and his retinue caught fire…" The eyes of all those in the booth stared back at him. "Nopony knows why it happened. Some say it 'twas one last arrow, alight with fire, that that a dying Bloodspiller sent flyin' through the air. Some say it were a magic spell that came creeping out of the woods in want of vengeance...could be any of these, or none, but in the end there was a great explosion, you see…they heard it all the way Downwest in Hoftson, so great was it." He looked over them, very glad that they seemed so enthralled with his storytelling, almost as thought they were living through it…had been there and seen it. "It was so horrible that the perytons were all killed, and not just the ones on the poor boat, but also those perytons and ponies on the shore who were waitin' for a chance to escape…they were all killed too." "What, what…did the ship, have a name?" asked Dash. "Nopony knows after all these years, but we do have an idea of what it looked like, " he said motioning to a counter far beyond. There, under a dim light, stood a model ship… …one almost exactly like the ship that had parted the fog before them. The group sat quietly as he continued. "Now, down to the shore came the Sisters, the ponies, and this one last Elder Lord. Now, you see…they all saw the carnage, the wreckage, and the silent shore gave them no replies when they asked if any creature needed help. So, the peryton stag, the lord who had sacrificed so much to save the ponies, had to suffer the death of his people…" He stopped, went quiet. The ponies at the bar hung their heads as well. "We've always been good friends wit' the perytons, you know, especially here in the Old Northeast," he added softly as the ponies at the bar and in the booth nodded in respectful agreement. "So, this wounded Elder Lord," he continued after drawing a deep breath, "His grief became great, and though he fought to contain it…he could not. He wished to be with his people…and, even though the Sisters and the ponies there begged him not to he simply gave them each a kiss and said one wish to each in his native tongue…" "Tilgi meh," said Dash and Applejack in unison, their hooves going to their cheeks. "I thought you folks didn't know the story!" he said, smirking at how they had interrupted the best part of the myth. "We…we've got a working knowledge of it," said Twilight, guessing at what had happened to her friends. "Yes," the waiter said, lifting the tray once more, "'Tilgi meh'…'forgive me', he had said. With that his proud hooves fell across the sand, the stone, and through the pools as his bells rang out across the shore… …as he went down into the sea, drowning himself with his kind. Thus ended the last Elder Lord of the Perytons to come over the mountains." The booth was quiet, and the ponies at the bar turned back to face their drinks and make small talk with the barkeeper. The waiter looked over the group of ponies and the young dragon in front of him, saw that they seemed to be lost in thought. "Soon after the bodies were all recovered, and placed in a cairn. Today the ancient remains of that cairn sit beneath the Standing Stone, the image of the peryton lord upon it. The names of the perytons and ponies alike that were lost that day are written there. We get a few perytons who come to pay their respects, and not as many ponies as we'd like…shame that, it's a national treasure, really…" "It's somethin' else," added Applejack, trying to lift her cup as she trembled. "Oh yes…we get ghost hunters, too," he added, watching as the group suddenly all looked up to him. Ah, here's what they wanted to hear. "They say that on foggy days you can still see them all…that the perytons who were killed don't know that they are dead, seeing as they died so fast. It's said that they still try to draw ponies down to the sea…to the safety of the ship. But, they don't know that the boats not there…so the ghosts draw them down to their deaths!" he said, attempting a haunting flourish. "That's a damn lie!" called Dash, pounding her hoof on the table. He startled, nearly tipping the tray, and looked at her as the other patrons of the restaurant spun as well to look at the pegasus. Dash quieted, returned to her seat. "They'd still be saving ponies…lifting them out of the sea, if they were weak…" she said, seeming to hide behind her quiche. "Maybe true, maybe not, miss," he said, forcing a smile, "'Tis all a bunch a whooey anyhow…made up for the tourists, I suppose, if you don't mind me sayin'." He looked once more to the quiet group, realized that they hadn't eaten any of their dinner. With some small worry he looked upon the little dragon, saw that the whelp hadn't touched the lobster. "Kin' I fetch ya' some more hot butter, lad?" Spike put his arms across his belly and spoke in a fragile tone. "I'm not hungry anymore…" The balloon lifted from where it had sat in Nag's Head, the ponies and dragon now loaded up with little travel trays of the food they had barely eaten. As soon as they were clear of any of the eyes of the village they tossed it all over the side of the basket. Each sat in a corner, unspeaking. Dash stood, gave a low moan of displeasure, one that brought the others to attention. As she cursed they too looked out beneath the basket. When they saw what had brought her so much distress they too made unhappy noises. The trees of the Whitetail Woods were now bare…the leaves having already been wiped from the branches by the magic of the ponies. The Running of the Leaves, and the Hofston Mare-athon that they had hoped to judge, announce, and participate in had already been run…it was over. Beneath them the colors of autumn had failed, been removed and laid to the forest floor. "How long were we on that beach?" asked Applejack, her words solemn and grave, "Twi…Twi, how long were we on that beach?" "The waiter," she said, making a sudden realization, "He asked us how our dinner was…" Dash turned her head to where the sun should be…to where Celestia's deep magic should have it if the time was still the early afternoon. It was not there…it was lower, much lower, and far to the west. "Twi…" continued Applejack, soon stopping as she saw the expression of worry that flew across the faces of the other occupants of the basket. The balloon shifted course, now to the south, their purpose for coming now firmly ended. As the magic shifted around them the heat of the day seemed to fade, and as they came closer to the lesser mountains that ran like a spine down Eastern Equestria they seemed to pass into a shadow of doubt and confusion. "Are…are you gonna write to the princess about all of this?" asked Applejack after a long while, after the sun had begun to dip across the western horizon. "Twi, you gonna ask if any of this was…real?" "No," replied Twilight, moving to where Spike had laid himself, wrapping herself around him to share their heat. "Why not?" "Because I'm afraid she might tell me." Applejack looked out across the mountains, then to the forest below. It was stark, barren…lifeless. It was as lifeless and without sound as the shore had been, almost entirely devoid of any motion and life. Thus, as she looked down at the expanse of black limbs below Applejack could not get the worry that something might be looking back at her out of her mind. She moved to the center of the basket, nuzzled the two who already lay there, and joined them in their comforting embrace. Rainbow Dash continued looking out over the edge of the basket for a long while, watching the blue of the sea beyond recede until the black of the forest consumed it. As she watched she listened, listened very hard and with much intent. No voices came back to her, and when she closed her eyes the faces were not there…as though it hadn't happened. Yet, it had happened. She knew it had, and that fact alone made a shiver go through her. She turned, looked at the mound of her friends nearby. They were not sleeping, simply huddling together against the cold that seemed to be reaching up into the balloon…the cold and doubt of their uncertainty driving them to one another. With that she walked to them, and they parted for her, making a space. With that the group joined together in wordless mutual support, the understanding that they had been witnesses to something beyond understanding. In that time and that place all they could do was offer each other their warmth, something denied to the dead who, they hoped, had now been freed from their cold walks upon the silent shore. As the small group hovered above the Whitetail Woods the hiss of the burner sounded out at intervals, breaking the silence of the forest below. Small breezes whispered through the dark, leafless branches, catching in hollows and sending up the dead leaves in little flips and tosses. Here and there a crow sounded out. One crow listened as his caws echoed far down the rows of trees, as the sound bounced off the black, stark limbs. He tossed his head, listening for a reply, staring off with his small black eyes. Hearing none he raised his great black wings and lifted though the outstretched branches to the sky above. Here he moved to avoid coming near the purple balloon, banking away as the hiss of its burner illuminated the sphere in the skies that were drawing down into darkness. Inside the basket beneath the four little figures huddled together silently and tried not to think about the vast expanse of the forest below, the great stark trees that seemed to be reaching up to them with pleas of mourning as they drifted on the cold air. End. Chapter 1: "The Lantern Bearer"This work of fan fiction contains characters, ideas, situations, and places found in the Hasbro Studios series "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic". No infringement of copyright is implied by this work of satire and parody, and this work is meant as a celebration of the people involved in the creation, development, and production of the series. Original Release Date: October 25th, 2011 "The Silent Shore" Written by The Descendant Chapter 1: "The Lantern Bearer" The radiant colors of a full autumn spread far across the Whitetail Woods, the entirety of the forest exploding forth in reds, oranges, and yellows. From above it appeared as a vast sea of color, one that undulated in response to the land hidden beneath it, a secret that the panorama of color kept quietly. Here and there the sounds of crows calling would sound out, the harsh caw echoing through the branches that moved slightly on the tiniest of breezes. Finding no reply to his heed one large black bird sounded out again, his cawing racing down the line of trees, bouncing off of the grey trunks, flitting past the few falling leaves in a plaintive tone…finding no answer and no regard. The crow tossed his head, his small black eyes regarding nothing as his feet made long scratching noises across the bark of one of the spectacular trees. Finding no answer he opened his wings and once more lifted into the sky above the canopy that came alight with color around him. As his long wings lifted him higher his hard eyes fell across the sea of trees, saw them shifting slightly on the little breezes that swirled among the outstretched branches. Thus the trees seemed to be marching towards the horizon, a few leaves falling from them as the small breezes floated among them. The crow hung in the still air, his small hard eyes panning back and forth in the silence. At once an object grew in his perception, and a deep rumbling sound came from it. Something was there, hanging in the air, its brilliant purple in sharp contrast to the fall colors below. The crow turned, rode the currents away from the balloon, avoiding it as though it were some sort of cursed object interrupting his solitary journey across the still autumn sky. "Would ya' look at that!" said Applejack, looking out over the side of the basket, her hooves drawn up beneath her chest as she leaned way out over the side, "That's a right pretty picture…" "It's so beautiful," added Twilight in a soft tone, "and I thought it was so lovely while walking the race last year. It seems so much more…vibrant, from up here." Spike stood next to her, his arms folded across the edge of the wicker, holding himself up to look across the forest below. The dragon whelp did not speak and instead dragged his toes across the inside of the basket. As he did so it made little click-clack sounds that sounded out sharply…ones that competed in the conscious thoughts of the ponies within the basket both with the waves of color below and the statement he had made moments prior. "…I do," he repeated after a long moment, rolling his face back and forth across his forearms, watching a crow slide off into the horizon, "I wanna try a lobster." "We'll…talk about it, when we land," said Twilight with a sigh. There was another pause, and as the cool air of the autumn day slid past them the silence hung heavily in the basket. It was interrupted only by the occasional blast from the burner overhead as it fed warm air to the balloon. "I'm…I'm a dragon, I'm supposed to eat meat," he said, slowly lowering himself down the side of the basket, his claws catching in the strands of wicker, "and lots of ponies eat fish and seafood…Fluttershy does…" "I know," said Twilight, turning to him as apprehension played across her face, "but, Spike, I just…" "Does Shy eat fish herself," interrupted Applejack, arching her eyebrow as her hooves made soft sounds across the floor of the basket, "or does she just feed 'em to the animals? I know she don't have no qualms about that…" "Aaaaggghhh!" came the hoarse, frustrated voice of Rainbow Dash. The other occupants of the basket looked down at her as she placed her hooves to her head and spoke of her annoyance. "For the last three hours all I've heard is 'Oh, look at the trees!' and "Ain't it pretty, ya'll!' and 'I wanna try lobster.' It's driving me nuts!" she said, jumping to her hooves. "I could'a flown to Hofston in half of this time! I could be there and stretching for the race already!" she said, her hooves dancing in place in exasperation, "I'm surprised they invited us to be in the Hofton Mare-athon segment of the Running of the Leaves anyway…what with how poorly we did last year in the Ponyville segment…I don't wanna mess up the chance!" "Ya' don't think they invited us 'cause of our performance last year, do ya', R.D.?" asked Applejack with a smirk, "You don't think the fact we're part o' the famed team that saved Equestria from Discord had anythin' tah do with it?" Dash stopped prancing in place anxiously. A smirk went across her face, and with a single burst of her wings she jumped up to the railing of the basket, sending it tilting a touch and her friends within wobbling about. "I'd like to think," she said, her graceful hooves keeping her standing carefully in place along the rim, short flaps of her wings aiding her balance, "that it's a mix…" At that she wheeled over the side of the basket, her legs splaying out, her graceful form falling down, down, down to the sea of color below. As the occupants of the basket looked on the pegasus pony ignited her wings, recovered from the fall in a long low arch, and then burst at speed along the treetops. As Rainbow Dash whipped by a great wave of the autumn leaves lifted from the branches behind her, flying up into the air in her wake. As her friends in the basket looked on she careened back through these fragments of autumn hue with a twist, sending them flying out into the sky as a jubilant spray of confetti. With that she arched back around, landed in the basket, breathing heavily as she concluded, "…of both." Applejack rolled her eyes, turned back out to the vision beyond the borders of the balloon. She rested her head on the rim, let the unfolding scene play out before her as she listened to Twilight speak with Dash. "I could have flashed us to Hofston," said Twilight, her voice a little disappointed, "but…I thought it might be nice…nice to just spend some time together, to see the trees." "Yeah," said Dash, lying down once more. Her hooves went behind her head, and she stared up past the flickering burner to the enclosed space of the balloon above, "Yeah… that's cool." The four floated there, the balloon carrying on the small breeze above the forest below, the passing of the company unnoticed at large by the trees and their colorful raiment. So as it went by the balloon was as a single purple fish crossing over a vast coral reef. "I still wanna try a lobster," said Spike, breaking the silence. As Rainbow Dash moaned again Twilight looked past the side of the basket to a darker band of trees…one more brown and tan than the red and orange of the Whitetail Woods…one darker both in the physical reality and in her memory… "We're so close to the frontier of Equestria here…" said Twilight, helping Spike lift himself with her magic, "That's the Everfree Forest up there…this is where they meet, and the mountains beyond are where Equestria ends…and the world beyond begins…" Applejack's ears had twitched at the name, and memories of the Everfree met her as she looked to the darker shade, the imaginary line between the two forests being almost palpable. She turned her head from them, looked forward across the Whitetail to the horizon. As she did a new smell reached to her, that of fresh salt, and her senses opened up around her. Lifting her head from the rim of the basket she squinted her eyes…and a blue band met her. "Twi," she called, her voice just on the grounded side of excited, "Twi…the ocean!" The basket wobbled beneath them as the four moved to the side facing the growing line of the sea beyond, as each searched to see where the autumn colors met the unchanging blue. "Well, it's the sea, really, the North Sea," giggled Twilight. "Ya'll pardon mah' geographical inequity," smirked Applejack, smiling back at the unicorn. "Right, sorry to be so nit-picky," laughed Twilight, giving Applejack a quick nuzzle before turning to face Dash, "Now we'll just follow the shoreline up into Hofston…we'll have you there in plenty of time to be bored stiff for hours before the Hofston Mare-athon even starts." Dash however had continued staring across the horizon, seemingly fixed on the sea beyond. It was as though…it wanted to see her…the sea longing for her, and she for it. She shook her head at the odd sensation, looked back to it…answered it. "Hey…" she began, looking down into the forest below, "If we have this extra time…maybe, maybe…we can take a break?" All three looked at her with slight surprise evident on their faces. "It's just that," began Dash, blushing a bit, "I kinda…wanna go down there, and see the, well…sea. I…I don't know why. I haven't seen the ocean since I was a foal…and, for some reason…I do. I just kinda, wanna…do." Another silence met them, but before long there was a flash of magic, and they turned to see Twilight unraveling a map that bobbled up to her from her saddlebag. "I suppose we could do that…there's a bay ahead, and the village of Nag's Head is just on the other side of the peninsula there," she said, motioning to a speck of land with her hoof, her concentration remaining on the map as she guessed the position, "We'll walk the beach for a little bit, and then go into town for an early lunch, and then be in Hofston with plenty of time to spare." "Oh boy! Lobster!" called Spike, as the quartet nodded in agreement at the plan. "Maybe," said Twilight, grasping at the ropes with her teeth, letting the knowledge of balloon handling take the place of her magic so that she'd have a legitimate excuse not to explore the topic further. Within a few minutes the balloon had descended into the thin space between the shore and the edge of the woods, coming to rest amid a small meadow alongside the single road that ran the length of the shoreline, from the world beyond, down into Equestria, and long past it into the west…the Old Shore Road. From a distance, it seemed, that the trees had swallowed up the balloon…that they had consumed it. The ponies and single enthusiastic dragon walked through the narrow band of trees and out to the shore beyond. To their surprise there was no sandy beach, no long thin strip of white stretching off in either direction to the horizon beyond. No, instead there were shelves of stone, tiered platforms that the sea had battered over the long ages of Equestrian history, the same sea that had been rolling over different shores since before the land of the ponies had been dreamt of, summoned, and set. The four walked cautiously out over the stones, gazing deep into the little cracks between them, watching the seaweed lodged there flowing back and forth in sympathy with the strain of the waves far down the sheets of rock. Here and there little pools had formed in hollows, and Spike sat over them, staring deep with fascination as Twilight named the creatures that lived within. She smiled as he lifted his clawed hands timidly, lifting out a single shell. As the hermit crab emerged it stared to him with wobbling eyes, Spike returning the look with wonder, Twilight smiling over him gently. Applejack stood on a nearby tier of rock, letting the sea smells fill her lungs, feeling the power of the waves beyond. As the sea breezes fell over her they moved her mane in little whips that fell down gently among the smell of salt. They tugged at her hat, leaving streaks of white across it. Rainbow Dash had pelted off deep down the beach, up to the thin, wet, slick surface that remained after each wave had rolled in. Here she cantered back up and down, smiling out over the sea beyond, her wings igniting at times to catch her when she had begun to slip or when her excitement had gotten the better of her. At once her hoof sunk, and she looked down in surprise. Her hoofprint was left behind, filling with water, in one of the few bars of sand that poked up through the levels of stone. "Heh," she laughed to herself, self-conscious that she been surprised. She at once looked up to see if anyone had witnessed her little bit of shock… …and saw no one. Fog. Fog had rolled in. "Hey!" she called out, listening for the reply. There was none. Once more she lifted her voice. "Hey!" she yelled out into the mist, "Where are you guys?" She listened intently, her ears standing up, alert. They flicked about on her head, moving to catch even the faintest noise, hearing nothing but the waves rushing amidst the rocks. She opened her mouth, prepared to call again, when a call reached back for her…reached to her from behind… …from out amidst the fog and rolling seas. Dash startled, turned slowly, peered out into the grey beyond, out to where the waves came in beneath the haze. She listened…listened for a good long while… There was nothing…just the sound of the water, nothing but the sound of her own shallow breathing. She laughed at herself, wondered what the others would think if she told them she was hearing things. It was the fog…playing at her perceptions. That was all. Cursing herself she turned back up the beach, looked around, wondered why she just didn't lift into the sky and clear it all away. Yes, why not just clear it all away? She readied her wings, smirking in concert with the gift of the pegasi deep inside her, and prepared to do just that… …when the call found her again. She spun around, her wings clamping down around her. She spun her head left to right, scanning the rocky beach. She hopped a touch as a wave came farther up the beach than the previous, taking a few steps backwards, recoiling at the small froth it left behind that dissipated in a crackling sound. Dash looked deep out into the fog, out into where the sea disappeared into the haze. Her eyes narrowed, not believing. "Hello?" she whispered, the word floating out of her in a cloud of curious uncertainty. As she squinted her eyes the word hovered over the waters, floated out over them. As it did she thought she saw the fog twist, a cloud of vapor turn over and over on itself… …and stare back at her. Dash backpedaled, splashed through a tidal pool, falling through it as her wings went wide in alarm. At once she bolted through the fog, heading in the direction she had last seen her friends. She closed her eyes, took deep breaths as her hooves skidded across the wet stone. "Dash!" "R.D.!" She opened her eyes to see the faint outlines of her three friends above her, high up on an outcropping of the rocks. With a sigh of relief she leapt up the face of the outcropping with powerful beats of her wings. They helped her up the last few steps, looked upon her as she panted, waited for her to recover. But…she didn't. She trembled, wiped her hoof across her eyes. "Dash…are you okay?" asked a concerned Twilight as Spike stepped forward, began running his clawed hand across her foreleg. "The fog…the fog is getting to me, I think…I…" she began, trying to smile. "Well," asked Applejack, moving closer, "Why don't ya' just clear it all away then?" "I…I tried, but…" she began, lowering her head, trying to hide her worry behind Spike as he began to stroke her mane. At one she lifted her head, nearly throwing him off balance. "Twilight, Twi," she began, looking to the unicorn, "Is…is it normal to see stuff…hear stuff…in the fog? You, know…things that aren't actually…there?" "Oh, yes!" replied Twilight with a smile, Spike and Applejack adding their own as Dash gave an obvious sigh of relief, "It's called spatial distortian…happens all the time, makes you believe that there are things in the mist that aren't…actually…" Applejack opened her eyes, looked back from her happy smiling to see all the faces of her friends looking past her to the sea beyond. Behind her she felt movement…something vast making slow progress through the mist. "Oh wow," breathed Spike, as Applejack turned. There before her came the great long bowsprit of a sailing ship, perhaps not even more than one hundred yards off the rocky outcrop where they stood. "That is so cool," said Dash as the ship sliced through the fog, the mist swirling about it as it slid by them, the four looking on wide-eyed. As the ship came up they marveled at it, saw how ancient it looked, like a boat out of a fairy tale. As it came on the waves lapped at the hull, the ship grinding on otherwise in total silence. Yet, upon the deck something moved. "Perytons!" called out Twilight, motioning to the deck as it came into view. Indeed, among the deck and hidden in the dark fog the silhouettes of the winged deer could be seen, the familiar outlines of a race friendly to Equestria moved about quietly…hurriedly. Something…something it seemed, was wrong. Something was very wrong indeed, almost palpable from where the black ship stood on the horizon. The realization dawned over them, the four friends looking to one another in surprise as the sense of urgency that leapt from the craft reached them. "Do ya'll need any help?" called out Applejack at the top of her voice, "We kin' be out there pretty quick…if ya' need anything…" Though they could not see the crew entirely, their features hidden in the mist, the worry that flowed over them, the excitement, was painfully evident. Yet, there came no reply, and not even the words of the crew could penetrate the fog as they strode about the deck… "Hey!" brayed Rainbow Dash, lifting into the air, "We asked if you need any…" As a geyser of flame erupted from the ship's hold Dash was knocked to the ground, Applejack tumbling into her as she was thrown to the stone. At once Twilight gathered Spike into herself, turned her back to the calamity so that he wouldn't see it…so that she could lower her head to his and not have to witness it as well. As the great rush of fire drove on Rainbow Dash looked on in horror, her mouth moving up and down without words. She watched as the flames consumed the ship, as the figures of the perytons leapt from it, or were consumed in the flames. Some tried to fly away, their little deer wings catching alight as they did so, as they spun down into the cold waters… "Oh Celestia! Oh Luna! Oh Celestia! Oh Luna!" cursed Applejack over and over as she paced back and forth, as she watched the ship become engulfed. At once there was a massive report, and at once she felt Dash leap across her and drag her down to the cold, wet surface of the outcropping. The ship flew apart in a massive detonation that threw red and orange light deep into the fog, that made their ears ring in pain. Before long there was a silence again, and the four travelers lifted their heads. They looked around, trying to grasp at what they had seen…the horror they had just witnessed. "We…we need tah' do something! We need to help," spoke Applejack, her voice a twist of shock and worry. "Twilight!" said the earth pony again as she cantered up to the unicorn, helped her unfold her forelegs from around the heaving form of Spike. As Twilight lifted her eyes Spike lifted his own, taking a deep breath, looking around to the ponies in startled bewilderment. "Twilight," spoke Applejack, nuzzling against her friend, "C'mon now, we need yer' organized mind with us…we need a plan, Twi…" Plan. At the word Twilight came back to life, her face panning back and forth across the foggy reaches beyond the outcropping… "Twi," came the high, concerned, voice of the dragon, "Twi…are, are they okay, the perytons? Twi…Twi?" "You two split up," she said, motioning to the nodding Applejack. Intentionally ignoring Spike she pointed to the still unmoving form of Rainbow Dash, "Go find the wounded…they'll have burns…elevate their legs to keep them from going into shock. Spike and I will fetch the balloon, we'll have evacuate as many as we can…" With that she began to charge her magic, the sheen of the purple light cascading out into the misty haze. "Twi…are, are they…" began Spike again, but before the word could come Twilight had flashed them both away, the fog rolling in as swirls to occupy the space they had vacated. Apllejack lifted her ears, tried to see if any of the winged deer were calling out in pain. No, no sounds, no shrieks of pain…the fog must be muffling the moans. "Rainbow…Rainbow you head on out that way, I'll head this…" Dash had not moved, was still sitting there, her mouth moving up and down wordlessly. "C'mon Dash!" said Applejack, pulling on the tail of the pegasus, "We gotta go search the wreckage fer' survivors and…such…" "What wreckage?" came Rainbow Dash's voice, just above a whisper, wrapped in doubt and confusion, "Applejack…what wreckage?" Applejack tilted her head, looked first at Dash with bewilderment, and then followed the gaze of the pegasus. As she did her own mouth began to drop open. There were no flames, no cracked hull ripped open by the force of the carnage…nothing. Nothing met their gaze, just the swirls of fog drifting above the endlessly rolling sea. Applejack shook her head, ran her hoof across her eyes. No, no she knew what she had seen. It was fact, real…there, there must be…some reason… Of course there was. "C'mon now," said Applejack, nuzzling Dash back into motion, up and onto her hooves, "The fog's just coverin' it is all, you know that…eatin' up their voices before they can reach us…like what Twilight done told ya' earlier…" "Right, right," said Dash, shaking her head, clearing away the visions of the ship and crew being overtaken by flames, "Right…we gotta get down there…" "Thatta girl," spoke Applejack, nodding, "I'll head this way…up the beach, you try clear some more of this fog, okay?" "Yeah…right." Rainbow watched Applejack leap down the far side of the outcropping, listened as her hooves clapped against the rocks and her sounds of efforts departed into the mist. Dash found herself alone again, alone atop the outcropping. She peered out into the fog, out to where she knew she had seen the ship. She tried to lift her wings, but before she could a thought, a recent memory went through her. She stretched out her neck, listened, and then whispered a single word out into the grey… "Hello?" Applejack went down the ridgeline, making her way as quickly as she felt she safely could. Before long her hooves were once more running across the flat surfaces of the tiered platforms of rock. "Hey!" she called out into the mist, her hooves splashing through the tidal pools, "Hey is there any creature there that needs help?! Call out nice and loud!" She pelted across the beach, jumping or sliding to avoid large stones or driftwood piles that reached up to her as if to snag her. At once she stopped, her rear hooves sliding across the slick surface. A call…she, she had heard a call. She stood stock still, waiting, waiting for it to come again. She slowly panned her head, closed her eyes. Listened…listened into the far distance, listened as the waves rolled in beside her. A voice rolled up the beach, just perceptible, the voice just barely audible as it fell meekly across the stones. The voice called to her, called to her down the long beach… …called her by name. "Yes! Yes…it's, me! I'm, I'm comin', hold on!" she said, pelting off again. She leapt from one tiered layer of rock to another, scrambling a bit where the slick stones denied her a steady purchase. She went down the beach, beginning to breathe hard. "I'm comin', I'm comin'…I'm…I'mma comin'…" she said, going quieter, fighting for breath each time. She blinked, opened her eyes. As she did something caught in them. She skidded once more, slowing as she fought to comprehend what she saw. A faint green light bobbled across the beach, seeming to swing slowly, steadily. The dim sheen was barely visible, almost drowned amidst the fog. As it went she swore she could see the frame of the lantern, but not all at once, and as the light bobbled it seemed to come up from the water…out of it… "Hey!" she called out, splashing ahead through a large pool of the saltwater, "Hey…you need some…help?" she asked. The lantern seemed to swing about. At once she thought she saw the light fall across something, across the bearer, but in the fog whatever held it remained unseen. For a long moment they stood there, the pony and the owner of the light. Neither moved…yet the unseen eyes fell across Applejack, and she faltered under the stare. The light hung there, just far enough from her to offer a hint at who carried it…just far enough to touch at her perception. Whatever creature possessed it stood there quietly, unmoving…unflinching…the unseen bearer gazing back at her… "Hey," she offered up again, her voice breaking a bit, "I'm…I'm a friend…" With that the lantern receded, retreated around a bend in the stony beach. "Hey! Hey, I'm tryin' to help!" she called out, her trepidation leaving her, 'It's okay…I'm…I'm…a friend…" She rounded the corner herself, came down from her trot into a canter, finally a walk…before standing still. There was no bearer, no lantern. Just her…just her and the mist that swirled about in the little breezes, and the sound of the sea beyond, hidden from her wide eyes. She stood there, on a patch of sand that offered up a few stalks of grass, as she looked back and forth across the beach once more. She was alone, utterly alone. At once a new dread fell over Applejack, and she dared lift her head. She felt a gaze once more upon her, this one powerful, palpable…one that came from her side, staring at her body as she faced down the beach. Slowly she turned to face the gaze. Taking little breaths, moving in controlled movements that consumed fractions of inches she turned up to face what gazed down over her. Two massive green eyes peered down at her from high above. She let out a little yelp as she saw them, kicking like a wild pony in alarm, then shrinking back down among the grass. She stared up them in horror, her mouth wide open, as they gazed back down at her…unblinking and resolute. The mist parted, and Applejack saw the fearsome eyes fall down into something more serene. A face appeared there, one hewn into a great massive glyph. She exchanged fear for constrained trepidation as the small breeze revealed the eyes to be that of a vast white peryton, his antlers huge, his form tall…his outline pressed in chalk and marble into the immense slab of stone. Instead of over her the two vast eyes, seemingly made of a shimmering jade, looked out sadly over the sea. Applejack was at once terrified and moved. With small steps she came forward, came up to where the slab erupted forth from the sand, to where it towered over her and all around her. She looked upon it, blew the mist away to reveal names…names of perytons, the exotic accent marks standing out in white, and of ponies. Ponies and perytons inscribed together on the towering wedge of granite and marble that stood alone on an empty shore… Why? Why were they here? She lifted her hoof, ran them across the names…and at once she stopped. As, as she had…she'd been called for. Called for once again…by nothing. Names and faces…a race through dark trees. The broken glass and the dying falls. Helplessness. Voices lifted from beyond the cold surface. Slowly, almost imperceptibly, Applejack lowered herself to the flat of the stone. "Yes…I'm here," she said, laying her head to the stone, "Who are you?" The mist rolled around, broke down and was built up again in long cords that settled as noiselessly as grey blankets across the silent beach. "It…it sounds right beautiful," she said, running her hoof across the names, sinking more of her body against the cold stone. Her eyes came half-open, gazed at the empty shore. The sea rippled through the spaces between the ledges of rock, the seaweed bouncing in cadence with the endless cycle of the waves. "I'm…how do I help you? Yes…yes, I wanna help, I am your friend," she said, laying fully against it, seeming to deflate against the stone names and white outline. The grass rustled in the tiny breeze, a few grains of sand rolling down from where they had been deposited on the lonely beach. "Just…just pick up the lantern, and carry down into the water? Far out into the water? Sure…sure…" she said, turning her head, looking down at the bobbing green flame that filled the lantern that stood by her hooves. She lowered her head, opened her mouth, prepared to grasp and carry it… "No! No!" her mind screamed. At once Applejack rocked over, fell back. No one had joined her on the beach, she had seen no living thing. She was entirely alone, just her, the waves, and the glyph above… …yet there stood the lantern, the green flame rolling in imperceptible breezes. "No, no, no…" she repeated, standing, backing away. As she did so the fog rolled in once more, and she was once more under the gaze of the green eyes of the glyph, and the lantern light that flickered there before her… "No, no, no…" she repeated, retreating with uncertain steps over the slippery stones. She clenched her eyes shut, tripped over driftwood, through cracks in the rocks…held them shut as the green light faded from her consciousness, until she could no longer feel the eyes upon her. In this way she went, cutting herself on sharp rocks and splashing across still pools, until she felt the towering stone of the outcropping across her back. At once she turned, dared open her eyes, and began to climb as she made small sobs. Up the outcropping Applejack went, desperate to find Dash or any other living soul. Far behind her pale green eyes once more stared out over the quiet beach to the sea beyond.
Chapter 2: "The Unfortunates"The Silent Shore Written by The Descendant Chapter 2: "The Unfortunates" The balloon had sat quietly, only the occasional burst of the burner keeping it aloft. It's seeming solitude was broken when the mist parted in a ball around the appearing forms of Twilight and Spike. As the unicorn's magic erupted forth the mist that covered the meadow at first retreated, then clung around them once more. "…dead?" concluded Spike in a trembling tone, finishing the sentence that had begun on the outcropping an instant before. "Oh Spike," said Twilight, lowering her head to his, "I'm so sorry you saw that…I'm so sorry. We…we're going to help them…help any we can…" Spike laid his head to hers, let out one dry huff of emotion, and nodded. "Come on," she said, raising her head, "We have to get the balloon and…" She opened her eyes to see the mist rolling across the meadow. As it did it wrapped oddly around catches, slipped across the road… …and outlined a shadow, a shadow that looked upon her and then dove silently into the woods on long strides of its sinuous limbs. Twilight's gasp brought Spike up and to attention. "Twi…Twi, what's wrong?" he began, moving in front of her, looking up to her. Twilight did not reply at first, but as the mist hung quietly around them she panned her head across the woodline. She saw nothing, heard nothing, across the misty meadow. "I…thought I saw something, thought it might be a peryton, one who had crawled…crawled up here, but…but it didn't look like…like a peryton," she said, slowing. Spike spun around, looked across the meadow as well. He looked back up to her in confusion and concern and then shrugged his shoulders. Together they began to walk the ancient road back towards the balloon. As they did Twilight reprimanded herself and then reminded herself of the same consolation she had given Dash a few minutes earlier. "Just tricks of the fog," she told herself as Spike's clawed hand rested against her foreleg, "Spatial distortion…" She laughed a small laugh, stopped looking so deep into the fog. She contemplated all the things that she though she saw in it…changed them from the unknown to shades of her friends, one mist becoming the branches of her home in the library, another waft became lines of treats at Sugarcube Corner. She began to lift her hooves, more certainty…yes, just tricks of the fog. She concentrated on one particularly hard bit, one that seemed to be haunched by the side of the road among the grasses. She felt Spike begin to take half steps, seeing it too, the little dragon wrapping his arm around her leg. She bent down, began to offer him the advice, let him know to just turn the mist into something other…something happy…"giggle at the ghostie" as Pinkie would say… …and at that instant the shadow hovering in the grass, the hole in the mist, unwrapped itself as a figure with long, sinuous legs. It looked through them, opened its mouth…lunged across the road into the meadow beyond, disappearing into the fog. The two stood there silently as the haze rolled over them once more, Twilight's eyes wide. "Twilight!" came Spike's voice, high with fear. "Spike, you hold onto me. You close your eyes and don't open them…do you understand? You hold onto me and don't open your eyes until I say to…" Spike dove beneath her like a foal would do, placed his hands behind her knees, tickling her in the slightest, drawing her back from her own fear. "Are your eyes closed?" "Yes." Twilight ignited her magic, sent a single shimmering beam across the meadow, down the road, into the deep woods beyond. Her beam was consumed by the fog, almost absorbed by it, yet it clung to its purpose. She leveled it across the meadow, let it search out any other source of magic present. Any magic would be revealed, deep magic, dark magic, even magica vasto or an upwelling of Equestria's own inherent magic would be visible in the purple shaft that drove through the grey. It circled her, rotated around her in the fog that she desperately wished that Dash had lifted…and found nothing. There was no magic to find. There was nothing. Twilight sighed, let the beam slow, knew now it must have been a trick of the fog. She knew that they had seen something similar, she and Spike, had reacted to each other's fear. She slowed her beam, began to collect it with a satisfied smirk when something caught in the corner of her eyes. A image hung there for an instant, darted through her perception and was gone… The fragment of a face, an unponylike face. A face looking upon her with a cold, distant countenance… …but looking upon her. We are here…we see you. We see you. Twilight sucked in a whisp of air, stuttering through it. Sucking at it in shivers, not wishing to make any noise. "Twilight?" "Spike, keep you eyes closed. We're walking, okay? Keep your eyes closed…Spike, keep them closed. Keep a hold on me." Together they went down the road, Spike creeping beneath her on three legs, one in contact with her calf at all times. Twilight concentrated on the feel of the road beneath them, sensing its center, feeling the stone and dirt around her hooves as she fought to lift and move them. Noises reached her, and she fought them, fought to keep them out of her mind. She fought to ignore the sounds that she felt winding through the haze, wrestled them with the sounds of Spike's uncertain feet across the rocks and his shallow breathing. Yet, along the woodline she heard them…heard the rustle of leaves, a snap of a branch. Whispers. Up the road she went, the feeling that she was under the watch of something beyond the mist crawling over her, driving cold spasms across her back…only the feel of Spike's warm touch below keeping her from pelting off into the mist, keeping the screams of fear from her lips. Being strong for him. "Twilight?" "Keep walking…keep your eyes closed." The long tortuous walk, the sliding shuffle across the dirt of the path, the agonizing fight to go forward ended. She felt the brush against her nose, heard the hiss, felt the rough scratch… She screamed, Spike doing the same…grabbing at the leg he'd been guided by, rolling with her as they opened their eyes in horror. The burner of the balloon was still sounding out as they looked upon it, the balloon illuminated from within as the flames filled it with warm air once more. Spike and Twilight looked at one another, smiles growing across their faces. They laughed as they nuzzled each other, Twilight gathering him up in her forehooves. What a story to tell the girls… "That was pretty scary, huh Twi?" said Spike as she lifted him into the basket, the fog drifting away as the balloon bobbled at their return, "We scared ourselves pretty good!" "Yes," she said, lowering him in, feeling his weight shift to the balloon. "We've got some imaginations! Wait until we tell Princess Celestia about…" As she said the words, as Spike dropped out of her grasp, the color went out of him. At once Twilight recoiled, drawing a sharp breath. She spun, sensing something...and from the woods beyond came a thrumming sound. She gulped, looked to where it had come from once and then quickly prepared to lift herself into the balloon. "Twilight?" "Yes?" she answered, stopping mid-leap. "Twilight, why are you leaving?" She stuttered to a stop, looked down on him, saw confusion over his face. "Spike," she said, softly, "Spike…I'm right here…" "Who are you!?" he demanded of nothing, not looking at her, instead facing deep out into the woods. "Spike? Spike what's going on…are, Spike?" she said, fumbling to enter the basket, trying to reach for him. "Leave her alone! Leave her alone! Twilight!" he called before she could place her hooves around him. To her horror she saw his eyes illuminate, saw the features of an enraged dragon cross over him. In one movement, almost animal and feral in likeness, he had leapt over side of the basket. The green of his eyes shone forth into the haze before he was gobbled up by it, as he ran out into it. "Where are you taking her!? Leave her alone! Twilight! Twilight!" he raged in wild, wounded tones. His high shrieks tore at Twilight as she tripped over the edge of the basket, came crashing down to the grass of the meadow in a call of pain, raised herself up to pursue him. "Spike! Spike I'm right here!" she called, worry racing through her, tears forming in her eyes. She looked back and forth through the fog, sought to catch even the smallest glimpse of him…yet she could not. "Stop touching her!" his voice rang out, and to her left a shock of green cascaded through the mist. His fire was raging out at something that was not there, the flames locked in earnest battle with nothing. "Stop hurting her!" "Spike! Spike!" she called again, turning in a tuft of grass, her voice breaking, "Spike I'm here! I'm here…I'm okay, Spike! Spike!" "I said stop hurting her!" came his voice once more, loud, high…terribly high and locked with grief and a driving, consuming rage. His fire once more spilt out over the meadow, seemingly coming from where she had just sped. She tripped over her own hooves as she turned back through the haze…locked on it. And then it was gone. "Spike!" she called out again and again, dancing in place, spinning about in the grey. Fear grew in her as the silence pervaded all, as she darted from spot to spot, calling for him, receiving no reply. Finally she heard him again, but it brought her no comfort. "Twilight…Twilight," came his small voice in sobs, as a child separated from its mother, "Twilight…" Twilight spun, darted towards the sound, the sound that was so very far away… She skidded to a stop as his distant voice, spoken as through tears, wound it's way from within the distant woods, barely audible as the whips of fog devoured them. "Please don't hurt her anymore…I'll go, I won't fight anymore…just please don't hurt her anymore…please don't hurt her anymore…" "Spike! Spike!" she called as her heart moved into her throat, as she pelted into the woods, as the long thin form of young trees reached out for her. She went on for long moments, stopping to lift her ears, let them toss about her head. Every little sound became a beacon, the fall of leaves, the toss of a broken branch. Twilight strained, begged, implored…but his voice did not reach her. Instead, a new sound met her. The screams of a mare filled the woods, radiated down into her, making Twilight go still with shock as it bounced off of trees…swirled among the mist that rose up like smoke from the bases of trees and tufts of grass. Twilight began to move towards it, towards the screams that slowly subsided. She fought to keep lifting her hooves once more, fought to ignore that part of her instinct that told her to flee off into the mist, to go anywhere but to where the horrible sound was coming from. As she went she swallowed hard and winced, gulping for air as she moved towards the origin of the sound. As she went new sickening sounds drove into her, the sounds of a grown stallion begging for his family, the sound of a filly calling for her mother, the long wet tearful sobs of a young colt…so similar to Spike's a moment before. These noises ripped at Twilight's soul, became louder as she forced herself to turn into a thicket of crooked trees, as her body trembled around her. The screams stopped. She opened her eyes to find herself in a circle of stone. Something powerful thrummed around her, and a force drove through her. As she looked upon the stones they seemed to stare back at her, and in their midst was a long smooth table of rock. Twilight risked her magic, let it sense if there was something at play. As the beam met the table it rose up in a tower of malice…dark magic. She shuddered at it, saw it reveal itself along the stones of the circle. Yet it did not move against her, and soon she saw why. It was broken, entrapped…defeated. It was as though the magic itself was dying, had died a thousand, a million deaths…was still dying. As her beam subsided she looked once more to the rocks, the logical and analytical part of her brain struggling for some understanding as the other parts dwelt in fear and in concern for Spike. The rocks were scarred, split, blasted…as though they had been punished. Broken. There was a sound nearby, and movement in the mist. Something was there…something beyond the table, something that made little movements and no sound. Twilight turned again, ignited her horn. She dragged her trembling body far around the altar, far from the dark magic, and moved slowly, wordlessly upon the figure. When she saw it she took a sharp draw of breath and lifted her hoof to her mouth. Spike stood there, his body making small movements, moving in fits and starts. She looked upon him in horrified wonder as his mouth moved and his arms went wide in concert with his soundless words. As his wide eyes rocked back and forth across the scene, his pupils small and dim, she saw him rock, reel with expression. His face went from dark and grim up into astounded wonder, and then back down into hopelessness. Finally, finally he sank to his knees as he made the motions of a knife that lifted across his… "Spike!" she called rushing up to him, terrified. At once though she stopped, and as she did he lifted his eyes once more, his body following along as he lifted his hands high, seemed to be invoking wrath. To Twilight he looked like a prophet calling down judgement, like a priest of a dead religion… When she could stand no more she placed her head to his, her muzzle across his face, and spoke his name. "Spike, Spike…" As she did so he went stark still, stiffened, and collapsed to the ground. She ran her muzzle across him until he began to move, her worry for him superceding the continued fear. "Twilight," he said, dimly, reaching up for her, "They want to go home…they just want to go home…" As he spoke it was as though a curse had been called down upon them. The mist gathered heavily again, and the thrumming sound once more coursed through the woods. She lifted Spike, gathered him to herself. In the mist, something moved…many things, all just beyond her vision, twisting through the mist. The whispers came once more…the snapping of twigs, motion nearby, now just outside the ring of stone. "Who Spike?" she asked covering his body. To her surprise his voice was not scared, not fearful as he too looked out into the mist, as the whispers came. "It's okay," he said, retreating beneath her, once more putting his clawed hand on her leg, "He'll go with us…others brought me in, but he'll come out with us…" "Spike? Spike what…" she began, looking down between her own forelegs to where he stood ready. As he closed his eyes she stared at him. "Close you eyes, Twi," he said again, "It's okay, he'll come out with us…with them…" Twilight lifted her head, jumped as a figure seemed to retreat from just beyond the table at the edge of her vision. She thought of Spike's words, wondered who he was speaking of…and closed her eyes. There was a presence…a powerful one. She lifted her hoof, took a step. Tiny bells rang out before her, making her jump, and as she did she felt the presence look back to her, and then forward again. It moved. She followed it, her eyes clenched shut as they exited the circle. As they did he she felt more presences, felt that she was being followed. Yet, they too were not unhappy eyes…not the coursing, cold ones that had driven her along the road in fear, these were something else. From behind came the sound of hooffalls, those of a stallion, a mare, and two foals. There had been nothing in the circle, nothing there but her and Spike…and now that nothing both lead them and followed them. Now the whispers of the nothings from besides them became despondent, wails…wails that struck at Twilight, drove cold nails through her heart. In the distant wails of the figures she heard pain, fear, a fear that only added to her own. In it she heard darkness being driven down around them, the presence of something awful, beautiful, and terrible all at once. She heard in the wails that echoed through the trees a terrible pain, the cracking of rocks, as though light itself had become a scythe that cut at them. Before her came the sound of the tiny bells, up above her and before her, and the sense of something powerful…from behind came the hoof falls of ponies that she, knew, knew, knew were not there. The chair turned to the wall. The letter left unfinished. Where was the cart, who has borne it off? The meal uneaten…a doll alone in an empty playhouse. With her eyes clenched shut Twilight concentrated not on the sounds that fell upon her from the woods, but instead on Spike below, his one clawed hand pressing warmth into her calf as she felt the heat draining from her own body. She shut down all of the parts of her mind that told her that none of this could be happening, that the sounds of hooves around her were not real, that the bells were an illusion. She shut off the part of her brain that scolded her, that told her that the screams in the woods was just the wind that she knew was not blowing. She silenced the part that believed that the presences that she felt around her was the imagination she had long since satiated. She fought to keep her eyes closed, felt only Spike's hand…heard the bells and hooves. As she felt the scratch across her nose she did not jump, did not scream as last time. "Twilight, Twi…are we back at the balloon?" asked Spike, jostling a bit. "Keep you eyes closed," she told him. There was a moment of stillness and silence across the meadow. There came a jangling of the bells, and she felt the balloon move as though some creature had tapped a hoof upon it. "Keep your eyes closed," she said, lifting him both with her hooves and magic into the basket. She leaned over the basket, kept her hoof on him, not letting the connection between them break again. Behind her she sensed movement, and cold swept over her as a feeling of some big stallion lowering himself into the gondola moved past her. She felt him looking at her, smiling, and she nodded her head as the tears began. "Twilight?" asked Spike, "Did it just get colder?" "Yes." She felt the stallion put his forelegs over the side of the basket, she felt him retrieve something. She felt the small forelegs of a colt go across her in a brief hug, and then enter the balloon. "It is getting colder," said Spike. "Yes." Another presence spread over her, and as it did she felt a small muzzle touch to hers, the kiss of a filly-foal. "Twi, Twi it's getting so cold in here," spoke Spike, shivering. She lowered her other foreleg over him, wrapped him up tight to her as another presence caught in her nose. The smell of a mare's perfume lingered there. She felt a head lay alongside hers, and she tilted hers slightly to answer it. Soon it too had moved to within the basket. "Twillight," said Spike, "Twilight, I'm so cold, it's really cold in here…" At once she sightlessly leapt into the basket, gathered Spike up into her body, shivering in time with him at how cold it was within the cradle beneath the balloon. As she did she fumbled around for the releases, sweeping her magic out around the balloon until the stakes came up and the balloon gave a solid warble of certainty and lifted into the air. As it did, the screams in the woods became louder. Twilight clamped her hooves across Spike's ears as the sounds rose. First the wails contained rage, then fear…fear. In a long moment the voices were swept away, and the woods and meadow below fell silent. She felt the sensation of dissipating black magic waft from the woods…felt it slide down into the earth to be remade, hopefully as something more blessed. Below came the sound of tiny bells, and the sound of hoof falls crossing the road towards the beach. Twilight's eyes were still clamped shut when the balloon began to warm, as the cold left their bodies. At once there was a feeling of blessed warm light, and soon it was as water. Yet, it was not water... Around them came the happy sounds of a family running off together into the warm waters beyond, and soon the basket was still. Twilight blinked her eyes, opened them slowly. The tops of the trees were still shrouded in the mist, but below them in the meadow it had cleared. A fox popped out into the midst of the tufts of grass, and a few birds sang in the lowest branches. Spike opened his eyes as the balloon came up, looked out to the band of blue still hiding in the departing mist. "Spike?" she asked, turning him to face her, "Are you okay?" He nodded up at her drowsily, as though he had been awakened early from a restless sleep, regarded her with uncertain eyes. "Spike," she said, looking down at him. "Spike, I'm okay…nothing happened to me." He continued staring up to her. "Spike?" she asked, "Are you okay? Are you hurt?" He shook his head in a few small movements, continued to look to her. "How much do you remember…about what just happened? What did you see?" she asked, looking him over. He rocked, tossed his head. With a wobble he ran his clawed hand across her foreleg. With one last look up to her his eyes watered, and he fell down into her chest and barrel. She lifted him up, pressing his face into hers, and together they cried softly as the balloon crossed out over the hidden trees to the silent shore beyond. Nothing had answered Dash when her small word of concern had flit out over the waves. As she had stared into the mist no reply had come to her call, and now she felt herself foolish for having entertained such fears. She was Rainbow Dash…nothing can bring her down. Nothing drops Rainbow Dash down into fear and uncertainty. She smirked at herself, lifted her wings, and went out into the mist. She swooped along the beach, her eyes straining through the haze. She swept back on herself, parting the fog with her wings as she began to curse. At first they came softly, the curses…little invectives of self-remonstration. Before long though, as she saw no one, as her calls went unanswered and she fought to peer through the fog the curses became louder and more earnest. She streaked alongside the shoreline, so close to the foaming surf that her reflection across the darkened waters seemed a part of her. As she went it was not her own reflection that registered in her mind, but instead the lack of something…the lack of anything. There was no wreckage in the water, no flaming debris to cast small light across the waves. No wounded perytons called out to her, no broken bodies washed across the silent shore. Nothing, there was nothing. She landed on the beach, cursing as she skidded across the smooth stones of the shore. She jumped, kicked, whinnied. Frustration overwhelmed her as she stood there, calling out, "Hey! Hey! Is there anyone that needs help?" She swore, spat as silence reached her…and no voices came back speaking of their pain…as the victims of the explosion, she worried, slowly succumbed to their wounds. "Frickin' fog!" she yelled up to the sky, her face turning with malice. At once she resolved to end it, to lift away the carpet of grey that had consumed her thoughts and driven down her body since she had arrived here. She at once called herself "stupid" for ever wanting to come here…to spend even the smallest amount of time here by the shore. Why, why had she said that? She had a race to get ready for. What, she wondered, had made her to want to… With that she stopped, shook, turned out over the sea… …as a voice called to her by name. The sound caught in the rocks, trembled ashore on the waves. She breathed heavily, stared out into the waves that slipped beneath the grey haze. She grit her teeth even as her body shook, narrowed her eyes even as her knees became weak. As the fog seemed to spin, dive in on itself… …she roared out into it, screaming. She focused on it as she beat at the mist with her wings. She powered through it, bellowing through her own fear and frustration. Her cry went out over the waters as she raced over the surface, out into the waters beyond the shore. Nothing met her, no stare greeted her…nothing. "That's right!" she called, raising herself up, the gift of the pegasi alive within her, "That's what you get! You…fog! Yeah!" As the fog whipped around her she rose up through it, climbed higher and higher. "Nothing gets Rainbow Dash down!" she called, "Nothing pulls me out of the fight!" At once she erupted through the fog, high up over it. She spun through the sky, felt the coolness fall in around her as she reached the pinnacle of her ascent. "Nothing gets Rainbow Dash down." She looked up to the sun, was surprised to see it already high above. Was it already noon? She pondered this as she flapped her beautiful wings, hovering in the air high above the sea below. She panned around, began pulling in the magic of Equestria, began fueling her pegasus magic and her body for the act to come. She concentrated her power for the massive burst of energy she was about to expend to clear the fog, push it back beyond the nearby border…reveal the shipwreck and the injured who undoubtedly still needed, desperately needed, her help. As she did she felt a tug…felt something pulling at her. She opened her eyes, looked to the trees of the Whitetail and Everfree beyond. Nothing, only the cords of fog that fell across the woods met her gaze. She turned to the sea beyond. Nothing, only the long white-capped waves that rolled in from far beyond and the peninsula off to her left. She had been about ignore it, to return to refueling her magic and body. As she prepared to do so she blinked, took a deep breath and happened to glance to the fog below her. At once the breath left her, pulled out of her in her scream of horror. Faces looked up at her through the fog…dozens of them, faces straining up to her, beseeching her. Their mouths moved, seeming to call her name over and over, begging her, pleading with her…the soundless words streaking through her body. As it did Dash's resolve left her. It streaked out of her, the terror and revulsion stealing out her breath, her power, and her consciousness… Down, down, she went, her thoughts fading as dozens of tearful and distraught faces mouthed her name over and over… Nothing pulled her down through the fog. Nothing dropped her into the cold waters. Nothing drew her down into the rolling waves that covered the sands of the bed below and rolled out as foam along the silent shore.
Chapter 3: "The Elder Lord"The Silent Shore Written by The Descendant Chapter 3: "The Elder Lord" The water washed over her, filled her mouth and her nose. At once Dash felt her breath escape her. She pedaled hard, felt her hooves strike against something. At once there was a feeling that she was being pulled, dragged. Something, something was tugging at her! As the last bit of her air burned in her lungs she threw her head wide, felt it contact whatever was pulling at her. At once there was a cold feeling, and the rush of water around her ended and she immediately drew a massive breath. She spun around in place, fighting to her hooves, attempted to look upon whatever had been dragging her… …and saw the old hat and dearly familiar face of Applejack before her. "R.D.?" asked Applejack, her own face seemingly ashen, deeply set and worried. Rainbow Dash wobbled to her feet. She was as cold, wet, and confused as a newborn foal, and her knees knocked together both from the cold and the remains of the visions she had seen while high above…the faces that… She went weak again, falling forward into Applejack's offered hooves. Together they sat there on the silent shore, the mist covered reaches beyond the sea. As Applejack's warmth flowed into her friend neither Dash or Applejack spoke. Each seemed to sense the other wobbling in uncertainty and deep confusion…fear. "Dash, you okay?" asked Applejack after a long while. "You saved me," she said, turning to face Applejack, "A.J., A.J., I'm so…grateful, I'm…" "You was only in about a foot ah' water," said Applejack, her face still emotionless, "I thought ya'd gone loco…too cold fer' swimming this time of year." Rainbow Dash shuddered again, another great tremble went through her, this one composed both of the shuddering cold and the realization of what it meant that she'd not been so far out to sea… "But, but I fell…I fell so far," she said, "If I'd landed on the beach, I'd…I'd be…" No, no she'd fallen into the water. Deep water. It was the last thing that she remembered…remembered as the faces… She shuddered hard once more, realizing that somepony…something…must have brought her up out of the sea. Must have laid her in the shallows…watched over her until Applejack drew near, kept her muzzle from the water… The vision of the fog, the faces, around her unconscious body filled her with a new dread even as she wondered at what it meant that…that she'd been saved… Saved by the dead. Applejack saw Dash still shaking, still trembling. It was only when Dash looked up to her that she saw the expression across her face…an expression that she knew she must be mirroring. "Dash?" asked Applejack, "There's no perytons to be found on this beach, and not a single stick of the wreck. But I'm tellin' you a fact, Dash. Dash, we ain't alone on this beach…" Dash's expression went white, and Applejack feared she was about to be ill. Still she continued, needing, begging to know if she'd been alone in her travails. "Dash…did, did you see anything, odd?" Dash's shivering got worse, and Applejack moved closer, letting more of her body heat slip into the pegasus. "A.J., I…I saw," said Dash, wavering, "I saw something I never want to see again…" The two stared at one another, the wordless understanding flashing between them. "Did…did you see, hear, anything?" said Dash as Applejack lowered her head. After a long moment she took a deep breath. Slowly the earth pony lifted her head and looked to her friend. "Dash, I didn't see nor hear a single livin' soul," said the Bearer of the Element of Honesty, the emphasis on the last two words, "Not a single livin' soul." Dash and Applejack sat there, the meaning of their statements clear to both of them. There may come a time for exposition but this was not it. Now was just the time to sit and shiver, to watch the waves roll in beneath the grey blanket. "I don't wanna be here anymore," said Applejack, nuzzling Dash to stand. Together the two ponies began moving from tier to tier, moving much slower than when they had first arrived. As they went they were silent, noiseless as they crossed the spaces between tiers with little jumps and slides, Applejack nursing her still raw cuts from her earlier experience. At once their heads tossed in unison, and then they looked at one another in alarm. A noise…they had heard a noise. Together they stared not down towards the water, back out over the tossing sea, but instead up the beach. They looked towards the line of dunes beyond where the forest ended and the beach began. The sound reached out to them once more. Together they stood there, staring up the beach as the sound moved from ethereal to very, very, very real…clarion and clear. Bells, the sound of tiny bells…and, hooffalls. They gulped as the bells came nearer to them, as they saw nothing. Yet, the nothingness had it's own presence…it was so very real. They heard the hooffalls, heard the tiny bells jangling in time with the rhythm of the unseen hooves that went across the slippery rocks. They heard the hooves draw nearer, their bodies tensing as it became clear that they were angled towards them. There came the sound of a great large creature planting hooves into the pools of the water that sat among the stones, but no water moved in them. The sound of the breath of an immense creature was amid them, yet the mist did not part… …not until his head moved. To Dash it was though the fog had left a memory…as it wrapped around the nothingness the immense figure of a peryton seemed to disappear through it. From the hole it left came a sound, words…words she did not understand, spoken softly… "Tilgi meh…" Dash lifted her hoof to her cheek as a soft feeling went across her face, a small wet spot that almost seemed a kiss. Her mind raced…it couldn't have just happened… "Tilgi meh…" Applejack too felt the little kiss, her heart racing as the nothingness moved between her and Dash. As the sound of bells began again they felt the presence move on…on past them, past where the waves broke across the stones of the beach…down into the sea, the vast rolling sea. Great timbered halls and firelight. The snows across high mountain fields. The old song sung across deep woods. Loss. With that, the fog began to lift, and the great presence disappeared from their senses. Dash looked down, saw her own hoofprint in the small collection of sand below her. She let out a great gasp as she realized a large hoofprint of a peryton stood beside hers. As the haze rolled away all that was revealed was the great stretch of the stony beach and the sky beyond in a deep shade of grey that fought with the blue. There was a hiss behind them, one that made the jump in time, kicking like wild horses. They turned to see the balloon touching down on the beach. Looking to one another sheepishly they slowly made their way to where the purple sat illuminated against the still-grey sky. As they did the first seabirds they had seen began to walk across the crevasses, darting their long thin bills into the spots between the rocks. A seagull squawked overhead and more birds ran up and down the stones in advance and retreat in time with the waves. The earth pony and the pegasus looked over the lip of the basket and down into the still bleary, tear-filled eyes of the unicorn and the dragon. "I don't want to talk about it," said all four in unison. A short while later they had crossed over the outcropping, turning around the bend to make for the peninsula beyond. Three of the occupants of the balloon looked on in wonder as they crossed before a massive glyph, one bigger than the balloon itself. They looked upon the great jade eyes that stared out over the sea. The figure of a massive peryton stag stood there proudly yet remorsefully. His vigil over the waters was as silent as the bells drawn upon his antlers. The remembrance of the hooves upon the beach and the soft wet spot upon her cheek smashed through Dash, and at once she turned to Applejack. "A.J., A.J., do…do you think…" Yet, Dash could not continue. As she and the others looked down over Applejack all that they could see was how she had pulled down her hat, clenched her eyes, and covered her ears as she lay in the bottom of the gondola. She knew, of course, that dragons eat meat. Spike would have to eat meat if he'd ever want to grow wings, become the vast and terrible dragon that she knew he would someday become. He was already bigger than most dragons his age, and soon he'd be molting again. Whatever her own feelings about it, she knew that eating a lobster would do him no harm. It had been the money she was worried about. Her stipend saw them through many things, but it was hardly a fortune. With winter coming they'd need things, firewood, scarves…and so, she'd thought, maybe he'd be willing to forego? But, as they had walked wordlessly into the restaurant in Nag's Head his eyes had lit up at the sign of the crustaceans in their bubbling tank. In that instant she'd gladly agreed to part with the bits if…if they kept his mind off of… "Here we go, folks," said the waiter as he and his buscolt brought up the trays, "Here's a nice little dinner for ya'." "Lunch, actually," said Twilight, looking upon the salad. It was too much…she couldn't even imagine eating this much. Her stomach still turned, flipped…thought of the cries in the darkened woods… She looked up to see the same expression across the faces of Dash and Applejack. Only Spike's face was alight as the waiter cut open the bag of mussels and cracked the shell of the lobster for the whelp. The waiter smiled to them all, his own heavy Old Northeastern dialect becoming more obvious as he saw the crestfallen appearances of his customers. "We all are most glad you folks stopped on up," he said, trying to make polite conversation, "'Tis most likely our last weekend up her for the tourists, what with the leaves about to come down in the Runnin'. No more leaf-peekers! No one will be comin' up to the beach anytime soon, neither…" "I can't imagine why," deadpanned Dash, her voice getting quieter as she looked down at her tiny piece of quiche, "We had such a great time…" "Oh!" said the waiter, laying the corn beside the lobster as Spike drooled across the table, "Was you up to the beach today? Go on up to see the Standing Stone? Kin' hardly think you saw that much with how foggy it were…" The four were silent. "Standing Stone?" asked Twilight, noting how Applejack turned her head away as it was mentioned, "The great big peryton, in the stone, the glyph?" "Tells the story right proper, don't it?" asked the waiter, laying the steaming crustacean before Spike. Spike however simply looked back up to him in surprise. "The story?" he asked. The waiter looked back and forth to them in confusion, then smiled. "You all didn't go see the Standing Stone without knowin' aboot' it, didja?" They looked at the table, fought to understand his Old Northeast accent, tried to think of a reply. "No, no we didn't…I, we don't know why we stopped," added Dash, weakly. "That's a right shame. National treasure that is, one of the reasons we get tourists here in Nag's Head. It's a right wonderful thin' too," he said, smiling over them. "Yeah…it's, interestin'," added Applejack. He looked to them, saw them looking back at him in different shades of emotion. Worried that they're concern and confusion may lead them to forgo ordering desert he began to regale them with an old story. The few salty ponies at the bar turned around to hear the cherished foal's tale of their youth… "T'was long ago, you see," he said, laying his serving tray across the stand, resting easily on three hooves as he lifted the fourth over them, "Back when Equestria weren't so old…back just after the War of the Witches…" "That's thousands of years," said Twilight, looking to the girls, going quiet as the waiter looked back over her, "Sorry…" "Not at all, miss," he continued, "This was when the last of the peryton tribes that had lived in the west came down into Equestria. They came to take their share of the promise made by the Sovereigns to the allied races that had stood before the Witches and their multitudes. Those that had stood with us in the war…had fought back against the invading army and the consuming blackness it unleashed." "Now, only one more tribe remained here in Equestria, a small band, lead by a great and powerful Elder Lord. One of the majestic peryton stags, one with great rainment and many bells, symbols of rank, tied in his antlers…" The four looked up to them as remembrances of bells sounding through the haze flit over them. "These perytons, as all do, lived in the woods and fields in their lodges and got along quite well with the local ponies, as all do, good friends indeed. This was when Hofston and Manehattan and all that were still just villages, and just little homes beside the sea here and there made up the entirety of the Old Northeast…which weren't so old then, as I'd said…" "Now, down across the border came a race…one that had served in the ranks of the Witches, a brutal people, or so the story goes…history they say is written by the winners…but anywho, we know that somehow they got past the Regular Army. You have to hope somebody lost their job over that one…" "What, what did they look like?" asked Spike, his lobster yet untouched, "What race was it?" "Who can say?" replied the waiter, adjusting his tray, "T'was so long ago…we know that they were long things, with great long legs and arms that were clawed…" Memories of shadows of nothing in the haze sent Spike scotching closer to Twilight. "…and that they were Bloodspillers." "Bloodspillers?" said Spike, his arms crossing in front of him. "Aye, the most fiercely devoted adherents of the Witches…ones who believed that they could use the blood of their enemies to pull the Witches out of the deathly sleep into which the Sisters had placed them." Twilight, in reply, moved closer to Spike, the memory of dark magic hovering over the long low table reaching back into her mind. "So, it was said," continued the waiter, motioning the buscolt to see to a distant table, "that when this race came over the mountains and through the Everfree they captured ponies that lived in the little homesteads along the border, began to...gather them up, the poor unfortunates, like lobsters for the boilin'…" The scene of a family of ponies, a big stallion fighting, the mother uselessly trying to help her colt and filly escape down the road, filled Twilight's mind. "Now, this last peryton lord, he was waitin' to go to Cervia, the land set aside for the whole of the peryton race…and his last ships sat here in the harbor and beyond the toe of the peninsula. The news came down in runners that there was a fell people aboot', the lantern bearers racing through the woods with the news…some killed, the last one running far, far, far out into the sea to drown in his attempt to signal the ships…" Applejack's cup came crashing down to the table, her eyes wide. As the waiter cleared it away he continued, "The bearer's sacrifice was worth it, though, for the Elder Lord of the perytons sensed the meaning. He asked for volunteers to go with him, and he sped out into the woods to try to save as many of the ponies as he could, save those who had helped his people." "Yet, he was fighting an army, and as they battled towards the great stone circle…" Twilight felt her heart go into her throat. "…all of his lieutenants were killed, and he saw he was too late to save one family." Spike reached for Twilight's foreleg. As he did she looked down to him. She saw his mouth move and his lips tremble. At once Spike spoke, Twilight gasping as she saw him lift his arms as he had when he stood inside the fog…beside the table. Spike's face was distant, and his words silent, almost a whisper. "E'er his noble blood spilt, ah'n his court cast down to death, Lukas Magnus lifted up his head. There amidst tah' foe did the Elder Lord invoke the word, and it became as light…" "Very good lad!" said the waiter as some applause came from the bar, "You do know the legend! Ya' even spoke it nice an' properly!" "Yeah", said Spike, wavering, "Yeah…" "But," asked Dash, not noticing Spike's discomfort, "What does it mean?" "It means, lass," added the waiter, replacing Applejack's cup, "that he called for help, called out to those who had promised to help the peoples who had saved Equestria…called for the Sister Sovereigns…the Princesses…" Silence hung about the restaurant, only on the far side was there conversation and the tinkling of cups and plates. "And let me tell you…they did indeed answer," continued the waiter, "If the story is correct. An', when the Sister's saw what the Bloodspillers had done…they were…a tad miffed…" Twilight's mind raced back to the stone circle. She saw light cascading through it, saw Celestia's eyes alight, a most perfect and holy rage racing through the elder sister as she scythed her light across those who had harmed her little ponies. She saw the very rocks being scoured by the light, ripping at their surfaces. She heard the reverberations of the words of the Firstborn Alicorn as her judgment upon them became death. She saw Luna's dark and terrible countenance fall over them, saw the very life being strangled out of them on waves of darkness. The Nightbringer's powers smothered the black magic already at work in the place…killed it, punished it, had been punishing it over and over and over for millennia. So great was the wrath of the Sisters upon this fallen race, Twilight realized in that moment, that the very souls of the Bloodspillers had been driven deep into the earth of Equestria. They had been unable to lift from it, go to their true judgement, until their victims were themselves free to splash in the waters of the Well of Souls. "Oh," she breathed, the realization of these facts growing behind her eyes. "So the myth says," added the waiter with a shrug, "Only Celestia and Luna know 'tis true or not…" Twilight's mind flashed to the quills and parchment on her little desk back at the library. A look down to Spike made her realize he was thinking the same thing. "Anywho, as this was happenin'," he continued, "The ship that was waitin' for the Elder Lord and his retinue caught fire…" The eyes of all those in the booth stared back at him. "Nopony knows why it happened. Some say it 'twas one last arrow, alight with fire, that that a dying Bloodspiller sent flyin' through the air. Some say it were a magic spell that came creeping out of the woods in want of vengeance...could be any of these, or none, but in the end there was a great explosion, you see…they heard it all the way Downwest in Hoftson, so great was it." He looked over them, very glad that they seemed so enthralled with his storytelling, almost as thought they were living through it…had been there and seen it. "It was so horrible that the perytons were all killed, and not just the ones on the poor boat, but also those perytons and ponies on the shore who were waitin' for a chance to escape…they were all killed too." "What, what…did the ship, have a name?" asked Dash. "Nopony knows after all these years, but we do have an idea of what it looked like, " he said motioning to a counter far beyond. There, under a dim light, stood a model ship… …one almost exactly like the ship that had parted the fog before them. The group sat quietly as he continued. "Now, down to the shore came the Sisters, the ponies, and this one last Elder Lord. Now, you see…they all saw the carnage, the wreckage, and the silent shore gave them no replies when they asked if any creature needed help. So, the peryton stag, the lord who had sacrificed so much to save the ponies, had to suffer the death of his people…" He stopped, went quiet. The ponies at the bar hung their heads as well. "We've always been good friends wit' the perytons, you know, especially here in the Old Northeast," he added softly as the ponies at the bar and in the booth nodded in respectful agreement. "So, this wounded Elder Lord," he continued after drawing a deep breath, "His grief became great, and though he fought to contain it…he could not. He wished to be with his people…and, even though the Sisters and the ponies there begged him not to he simply gave them each a kiss and said one wish to each in his native tongue…" "Tilgi meh," said Dash and Applejack in unison, their hooves going to their cheeks. "I thought you folks didn't know the story!" he said, smirking at how they had interrupted the best part of the myth. "We…we've got a working knowledge of it," said Twilight, guessing at what had happened to her friends. "Yes," the waiter said, lifting the tray once more, "'Tilgi meh'…'forgive me', he had said. With that his proud hooves fell across the sand, the stone, and through the pools as his bells rang out across the shore… …as he went down into the sea, drowning himself with his kind. Thus ended the last Elder Lord of the Perytons to come over the mountains." The booth was quiet, and the ponies at the bar turned back to face their drinks and make small talk with the barkeeper. The waiter looked over the group of ponies and the young dragon in front of him, saw that they seemed to be lost in thought. "Soon after the bodies were all recovered, and placed in a cairn. Today the ancient remains of that cairn sit beneath the Standing Stone, the image of the peryton lord upon it. The names of the perytons and ponies alike that were lost that day are written there. We get a few perytons who come to pay their respects, and not as many ponies as we'd like…shame that, it's a national treasure, really…" "It's somethin' else," added Applejack, trying to lift her cup as she trembled. "Oh yes…we get ghost hunters, too," he added, watching as the group suddenly all looked up to him. Ah, here's what they wanted to hear. "They say that on foggy days you can still see them all…that the perytons who were killed don't know that they are dead, seeing as they died so fast. It's said that they still try to draw ponies down to the sea…to the safety of the ship. But, they don't know that the boats not there…so the ghosts draw them down to their deaths!" he said, attempting a haunting flourish. "That's a damn lie!" called Dash, pounding her hoof on the table. He startled, nearly tipping the tray, and looked at her as the other patrons of the restaurant spun as well to look at the pegasus. Dash quieted, returned to her seat. "They'd still be saving ponies…lifting them out of the sea, if they were weak…" she said, seeming to hide behind her quiche. "Maybe true, maybe not, miss," he said, forcing a smile, "'Tis all a bunch a whooey anyhow…made up for the tourists, I suppose, if you don't mind me sayin'." He looked once more to the quiet group, realized that they hadn't eaten any of their dinner. With some small worry he looked upon the little dragon, saw that the whelp hadn't touched the lobster. "Kin' I fetch ya' some more hot butter, lad?" Spike put his arms across his belly and spoke in a fragile tone. "I'm not hungry anymore…" The balloon lifted from where it had sat in Nag's Head, the ponies and dragon now loaded up with little travel trays of the food they had barely eaten. As soon as they were clear of any of the eyes of the village they tossed it all over the side of the basket. Each sat in a corner, unspeaking. Dash stood, gave a low moan of displeasure, one that brought the others to attention. As she cursed they too looked out beneath the basket. When they saw what had brought her so much distress they too made unhappy noises. The trees of the Whitetail Woods were now bare…the leaves having already been wiped from the branches by the magic of the ponies. The Running of the Leaves, and the Hofston Mare-athon that they had hoped to judge, announce, and participate in had already been run…it was over. Beneath them the colors of autumn had failed, been removed and laid to the forest floor. "How long were we on that beach?" asked Applejack, her words solemn and grave, "Twi…Twi, how long were we on that beach?" "The waiter," she said, making a sudden realization, "He asked us how our dinner was…" Dash turned her head to where the sun should be…to where Celestia's deep magic should have it if the time was still the early afternoon. It was not there…it was lower, much lower, and far to the west. "Twi…" continued Applejack, soon stopping as she saw the expression of worry that flew across the faces of the other occupants of the basket. The balloon shifted course, now to the south, their purpose for coming now firmly ended. As the magic shifted around them the heat of the day seemed to fade, and as they came closer to the lesser mountains that ran like a spine down Eastern Equestria they seemed to pass into a shadow of doubt and confusion. "Are…are you gonna write to the princess about all of this?" asked Applejack after a long while, after the sun had begun to dip across the western horizon. "Twi, you gonna ask if any of this was…real?" "No," replied Twilight, moving to where Spike had laid himself, wrapping herself around him to share their heat. "Why not?" "Because I'm afraid she might tell me." Applejack looked out across the mountains, then to the forest below. It was stark, barren…lifeless. It was as lifeless and without sound as the shore had been, almost entirely devoid of any motion and life. Thus, as she looked down at the expanse of black limbs below Applejack could not get the worry that something might be looking back at her out of her mind. She moved to the center of the basket, nuzzled the two who already lay there, and joined them in their comforting embrace. Rainbow Dash continued looking out over the edge of the basket for a long while, watching the blue of the sea beyond recede until the black of the forest consumed it. As she watched she listened, listened very hard and with much intent. No voices came back to her, and when she closed her eyes the faces were not there…as though it hadn't happened. Yet, it had happened. She knew it had, and that fact alone made a shiver go through her. She turned, looked at the mound of her friends nearby. They were not sleeping, simply huddling together against the cold that seemed to be reaching up into the balloon…the cold and doubt of their uncertainty driving them to one another. With that she walked to them, and they parted for her, making a space. With that the group joined together in wordless mutual support, the understanding that they had been witnesses to something beyond understanding. In that time and that place all they could do was offer each other their warmth, something denied to the dead who, they hoped, had now been freed from their cold walks upon the silent shore. As the small group hovered above the Whitetail Woods the hiss of the burner sounded out at intervals, breaking the silence of the forest below. Small breezes whispered through the dark, leafless branches, catching in hollows and sending up the dead leaves in little flips and tosses. Here and there a crow sounded out. One crow listened as his caws echoed far down the rows of trees, as the sound bounced off the black, stark limbs. He tossed his head, listening for a reply, staring off with his small black eyes. Hearing none he raised his great black wings and lifted though the outstretched branches to the sky above. Here he moved to avoid coming near the purple balloon, banking away as the hiss of its burner illuminated the sphere in the skies that were drawing down into darkness. Inside the basket beneath the four little figures huddled together silently and tried not to think about the vast expanse of the forest below, the great stark trees that seemed to be reaching up to them with pleas of mourning as they drifted on the cold air. End.
Chapter 1: "The Lantern Bearer"This work of fan fiction contains characters, ideas, situations, and places found in the Hasbro Studios series "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic". No infringement of copyright is implied by this work of satire and parody, and this work is meant as a celebration of the people involved in the creation, development, and production of the series. Original Release Date: October 25th, 2011 "The Silent Shore" Written by The Descendant Chapter 1: "The Lantern Bearer" The radiant colors of a full autumn spread far across the Whitetail Woods, the entirety of the forest exploding forth in reds, oranges, and yellows. From above it appeared as a vast sea of color, one that undulated in response to the land hidden beneath it, a secret that the panorama of color kept quietly. Here and there the sounds of crows calling would sound out, the harsh caw echoing through the branches that moved slightly on the tiniest of breezes. Finding no reply to his heed one large black bird sounded out again, his cawing racing down the line of trees, bouncing off of the grey trunks, flitting past the few falling leaves in a plaintive tone…finding no answer and no regard. The crow tossed his head, his small black eyes regarding nothing as his feet made long scratching noises across the bark of one of the spectacular trees. Finding no answer he opened his wings and once more lifted into the sky above the canopy that came alight with color around him. As his long wings lifted him higher his hard eyes fell across the sea of trees, saw them shifting slightly on the little breezes that swirled among the outstretched branches. Thus the trees seemed to be marching towards the horizon, a few leaves falling from them as the small breezes floated among them. The crow hung in the still air, his small hard eyes panning back and forth in the silence. At once an object grew in his perception, and a deep rumbling sound came from it. Something was there, hanging in the air, its brilliant purple in sharp contrast to the fall colors below. The crow turned, rode the currents away from the balloon, avoiding it as though it were some sort of cursed object interrupting his solitary journey across the still autumn sky. "Would ya' look at that!" said Applejack, looking out over the side of the basket, her hooves drawn up beneath her chest as she leaned way out over the side, "That's a right pretty picture…" "It's so beautiful," added Twilight in a soft tone, "and I thought it was so lovely while walking the race last year. It seems so much more…vibrant, from up here." Spike stood next to her, his arms folded across the edge of the wicker, holding himself up to look across the forest below. The dragon whelp did not speak and instead dragged his toes across the inside of the basket. As he did so it made little click-clack sounds that sounded out sharply…ones that competed in the conscious thoughts of the ponies within the basket both with the waves of color below and the statement he had made moments prior. "…I do," he repeated after a long moment, rolling his face back and forth across his forearms, watching a crow slide off into the horizon, "I wanna try a lobster." "We'll…talk about it, when we land," said Twilight with a sigh. There was another pause, and as the cool air of the autumn day slid past them the silence hung heavily in the basket. It was interrupted only by the occasional blast from the burner overhead as it fed warm air to the balloon. "I'm…I'm a dragon, I'm supposed to eat meat," he said, slowly lowering himself down the side of the basket, his claws catching in the strands of wicker, "and lots of ponies eat fish and seafood…Fluttershy does…" "I know," said Twilight, turning to him as apprehension played across her face, "but, Spike, I just…" "Does Shy eat fish herself," interrupted Applejack, arching her eyebrow as her hooves made soft sounds across the floor of the basket, "or does she just feed 'em to the animals? I know she don't have no qualms about that…" "Aaaaggghhh!" came the hoarse, frustrated voice of Rainbow Dash. The other occupants of the basket looked down at her as she placed her hooves to her head and spoke of her annoyance. "For the last three hours all I've heard is 'Oh, look at the trees!' and "Ain't it pretty, ya'll!' and 'I wanna try lobster.' It's driving me nuts!" she said, jumping to her hooves. "I could'a flown to Hofston in half of this time! I could be there and stretching for the race already!" she said, her hooves dancing in place in exasperation, "I'm surprised they invited us to be in the Hofton Mare-athon segment of the Running of the Leaves anyway…what with how poorly we did last year in the Ponyville segment…I don't wanna mess up the chance!" "Ya' don't think they invited us 'cause of our performance last year, do ya', R.D.?" asked Applejack with a smirk, "You don't think the fact we're part o' the famed team that saved Equestria from Discord had anythin' tah do with it?" Dash stopped prancing in place anxiously. A smirk went across her face, and with a single burst of her wings she jumped up to the railing of the basket, sending it tilting a touch and her friends within wobbling about. "I'd like to think," she said, her graceful hooves keeping her standing carefully in place along the rim, short flaps of her wings aiding her balance, "that it's a mix…" At that she wheeled over the side of the basket, her legs splaying out, her graceful form falling down, down, down to the sea of color below. As the occupants of the basket looked on the pegasus pony ignited her wings, recovered from the fall in a long low arch, and then burst at speed along the treetops. As Rainbow Dash whipped by a great wave of the autumn leaves lifted from the branches behind her, flying up into the air in her wake. As her friends in the basket looked on she careened back through these fragments of autumn hue with a twist, sending them flying out into the sky as a jubilant spray of confetti. With that she arched back around, landed in the basket, breathing heavily as she concluded, "…of both." Applejack rolled her eyes, turned back out to the vision beyond the borders of the balloon. She rested her head on the rim, let the unfolding scene play out before her as she listened to Twilight speak with Dash. "I could have flashed us to Hofston," said Twilight, her voice a little disappointed, "but…I thought it might be nice…nice to just spend some time together, to see the trees." "Yeah," said Dash, lying down once more. Her hooves went behind her head, and she stared up past the flickering burner to the enclosed space of the balloon above, "Yeah… that's cool." The four floated there, the balloon carrying on the small breeze above the forest below, the passing of the company unnoticed at large by the trees and their colorful raiment. So as it went by the balloon was as a single purple fish crossing over a vast coral reef. "I still wanna try a lobster," said Spike, breaking the silence. As Rainbow Dash moaned again Twilight looked past the side of the basket to a darker band of trees…one more brown and tan than the red and orange of the Whitetail Woods…one darker both in the physical reality and in her memory… "We're so close to the frontier of Equestria here…" said Twilight, helping Spike lift himself with her magic, "That's the Everfree Forest up there…this is where they meet, and the mountains beyond are where Equestria ends…and the world beyond begins…" Applejack's ears had twitched at the name, and memories of the Everfree met her as she looked to the darker shade, the imaginary line between the two forests being almost palpable. She turned her head from them, looked forward across the Whitetail to the horizon. As she did a new smell reached to her, that of fresh salt, and her senses opened up around her. Lifting her head from the rim of the basket she squinted her eyes…and a blue band met her. "Twi," she called, her voice just on the grounded side of excited, "Twi…the ocean!" The basket wobbled beneath them as the four moved to the side facing the growing line of the sea beyond, as each searched to see where the autumn colors met the unchanging blue. "Well, it's the sea, really, the North Sea," giggled Twilight. "Ya'll pardon mah' geographical inequity," smirked Applejack, smiling back at the unicorn. "Right, sorry to be so nit-picky," laughed Twilight, giving Applejack a quick nuzzle before turning to face Dash, "Now we'll just follow the shoreline up into Hofston…we'll have you there in plenty of time to be bored stiff for hours before the Hofston Mare-athon even starts." Dash however had continued staring across the horizon, seemingly fixed on the sea beyond. It was as though…it wanted to see her…the sea longing for her, and she for it. She shook her head at the odd sensation, looked back to it…answered it. "Hey…" she began, looking down into the forest below, "If we have this extra time…maybe, maybe…we can take a break?" All three looked at her with slight surprise evident on their faces. "It's just that," began Dash, blushing a bit, "I kinda…wanna go down there, and see the, well…sea. I…I don't know why. I haven't seen the ocean since I was a foal…and, for some reason…I do. I just kinda, wanna…do." Another silence met them, but before long there was a flash of magic, and they turned to see Twilight unraveling a map that bobbled up to her from her saddlebag. "I suppose we could do that…there's a bay ahead, and the village of Nag's Head is just on the other side of the peninsula there," she said, motioning to a speck of land with her hoof, her concentration remaining on the map as she guessed the position, "We'll walk the beach for a little bit, and then go into town for an early lunch, and then be in Hofston with plenty of time to spare." "Oh boy! Lobster!" called Spike, as the quartet nodded in agreement at the plan. "Maybe," said Twilight, grasping at the ropes with her teeth, letting the knowledge of balloon handling take the place of her magic so that she'd have a legitimate excuse not to explore the topic further. Within a few minutes the balloon had descended into the thin space between the shore and the edge of the woods, coming to rest amid a small meadow alongside the single road that ran the length of the shoreline, from the world beyond, down into Equestria, and long past it into the west…the Old Shore Road. From a distance, it seemed, that the trees had swallowed up the balloon…that they had consumed it. The ponies and single enthusiastic dragon walked through the narrow band of trees and out to the shore beyond. To their surprise there was no sandy beach, no long thin strip of white stretching off in either direction to the horizon beyond. No, instead there were shelves of stone, tiered platforms that the sea had battered over the long ages of Equestrian history, the same sea that had been rolling over different shores since before the land of the ponies had been dreamt of, summoned, and set. The four walked cautiously out over the stones, gazing deep into the little cracks between them, watching the seaweed lodged there flowing back and forth in sympathy with the strain of the waves far down the sheets of rock. Here and there little pools had formed in hollows, and Spike sat over them, staring deep with fascination as Twilight named the creatures that lived within. She smiled as he lifted his clawed hands timidly, lifting out a single shell. As the hermit crab emerged it stared to him with wobbling eyes, Spike returning the look with wonder, Twilight smiling over him gently. Applejack stood on a nearby tier of rock, letting the sea smells fill her lungs, feeling the power of the waves beyond. As the sea breezes fell over her they moved her mane in little whips that fell down gently among the smell of salt. They tugged at her hat, leaving streaks of white across it. Rainbow Dash had pelted off deep down the beach, up to the thin, wet, slick surface that remained after each wave had rolled in. Here she cantered back up and down, smiling out over the sea beyond, her wings igniting at times to catch her when she had begun to slip or when her excitement had gotten the better of her. At once her hoof sunk, and she looked down in surprise. Her hoofprint was left behind, filling with water, in one of the few bars of sand that poked up through the levels of stone. "Heh," she laughed to herself, self-conscious that she been surprised. She at once looked up to see if anyone had witnessed her little bit of shock… …and saw no one. Fog. Fog had rolled in. "Hey!" she called out, listening for the reply. There was none. Once more she lifted her voice. "Hey!" she yelled out into the mist, "Where are you guys?" She listened intently, her ears standing up, alert. They flicked about on her head, moving to catch even the faintest noise, hearing nothing but the waves rushing amidst the rocks. She opened her mouth, prepared to call again, when a call reached back for her…reached to her from behind… …from out amidst the fog and rolling seas. Dash startled, turned slowly, peered out into the grey beyond, out to where the waves came in beneath the haze. She listened…listened for a good long while… There was nothing…just the sound of the water, nothing but the sound of her own shallow breathing. She laughed at herself, wondered what the others would think if she told them she was hearing things. It was the fog…playing at her perceptions. That was all. Cursing herself she turned back up the beach, looked around, wondered why she just didn't lift into the sky and clear it all away. Yes, why not just clear it all away? She readied her wings, smirking in concert with the gift of the pegasi deep inside her, and prepared to do just that… …when the call found her again. She spun around, her wings clamping down around her. She spun her head left to right, scanning the rocky beach. She hopped a touch as a wave came farther up the beach than the previous, taking a few steps backwards, recoiling at the small froth it left behind that dissipated in a crackling sound. Dash looked deep out into the fog, out into where the sea disappeared into the haze. Her eyes narrowed, not believing. "Hello?" she whispered, the word floating out of her in a cloud of curious uncertainty. As she squinted her eyes the word hovered over the waters, floated out over them. As it did she thought she saw the fog twist, a cloud of vapor turn over and over on itself… …and stare back at her. Dash backpedaled, splashed through a tidal pool, falling through it as her wings went wide in alarm. At once she bolted through the fog, heading in the direction she had last seen her friends. She closed her eyes, took deep breaths as her hooves skidded across the wet stone. "Dash!" "R.D.!" She opened her eyes to see the faint outlines of her three friends above her, high up on an outcropping of the rocks. With a sigh of relief she leapt up the face of the outcropping with powerful beats of her wings. They helped her up the last few steps, looked upon her as she panted, waited for her to recover. But…she didn't. She trembled, wiped her hoof across her eyes. "Dash…are you okay?" asked a concerned Twilight as Spike stepped forward, began running his clawed hand across her foreleg. "The fog…the fog is getting to me, I think…I…" she began, trying to smile. "Well," asked Applejack, moving closer, "Why don't ya' just clear it all away then?" "I…I tried, but…" she began, lowering her head, trying to hide her worry behind Spike as he began to stroke her mane. At one she lifted her head, nearly throwing him off balance. "Twilight, Twi," she began, looking to the unicorn, "Is…is it normal to see stuff…hear stuff…in the fog? You, know…things that aren't actually…there?" "Oh, yes!" replied Twilight with a smile, Spike and Applejack adding their own as Dash gave an obvious sigh of relief, "It's called spatial distortian…happens all the time, makes you believe that there are things in the mist that aren't…actually…" Applejack opened her eyes, looked back from her happy smiling to see all the faces of her friends looking past her to the sea beyond. Behind her she felt movement…something vast making slow progress through the mist. "Oh wow," breathed Spike, as Applejack turned. There before her came the great long bowsprit of a sailing ship, perhaps not even more than one hundred yards off the rocky outcrop where they stood. "That is so cool," said Dash as the ship sliced through the fog, the mist swirling about it as it slid by them, the four looking on wide-eyed. As the ship came up they marveled at it, saw how ancient it looked, like a boat out of a fairy tale. As it came on the waves lapped at the hull, the ship grinding on otherwise in total silence. Yet, upon the deck something moved. "Perytons!" called out Twilight, motioning to the deck as it came into view. Indeed, among the deck and hidden in the dark fog the silhouettes of the winged deer could be seen, the familiar outlines of a race friendly to Equestria moved about quietly…hurriedly. Something…something it seemed, was wrong. Something was very wrong indeed, almost palpable from where the black ship stood on the horizon. The realization dawned over them, the four friends looking to one another in surprise as the sense of urgency that leapt from the craft reached them. "Do ya'll need any help?" called out Applejack at the top of her voice, "We kin' be out there pretty quick…if ya' need anything…" Though they could not see the crew entirely, their features hidden in the mist, the worry that flowed over them, the excitement, was painfully evident. Yet, there came no reply, and not even the words of the crew could penetrate the fog as they strode about the deck… "Hey!" brayed Rainbow Dash, lifting into the air, "We asked if you need any…" As a geyser of flame erupted from the ship's hold Dash was knocked to the ground, Applejack tumbling into her as she was thrown to the stone. At once Twilight gathered Spike into herself, turned her back to the calamity so that he wouldn't see it…so that she could lower her head to his and not have to witness it as well. As the great rush of fire drove on Rainbow Dash looked on in horror, her mouth moving up and down without words. She watched as the flames consumed the ship, as the figures of the perytons leapt from it, or were consumed in the flames. Some tried to fly away, their little deer wings catching alight as they did so, as they spun down into the cold waters… "Oh Celestia! Oh Luna! Oh Celestia! Oh Luna!" cursed Applejack over and over as she paced back and forth, as she watched the ship become engulfed. At once there was a massive report, and at once she felt Dash leap across her and drag her down to the cold, wet surface of the outcropping. The ship flew apart in a massive detonation that threw red and orange light deep into the fog, that made their ears ring in pain. Before long there was a silence again, and the four travelers lifted their heads. They looked around, trying to grasp at what they had seen…the horror they had just witnessed. "We…we need tah' do something! We need to help," spoke Applejack, her voice a twist of shock and worry. "Twilight!" said the earth pony again as she cantered up to the unicorn, helped her unfold her forelegs from around the heaving form of Spike. As Twilight lifted her eyes Spike lifted his own, taking a deep breath, looking around to the ponies in startled bewilderment. "Twilight," spoke Applejack, nuzzling against her friend, "C'mon now, we need yer' organized mind with us…we need a plan, Twi…" Plan. At the word Twilight came back to life, her face panning back and forth across the foggy reaches beyond the outcropping… "Twi," came the high, concerned, voice of the dragon, "Twi…are, are they okay, the perytons? Twi…Twi?" "You two split up," she said, motioning to the nodding Applejack. Intentionally ignoring Spike she pointed to the still unmoving form of Rainbow Dash, "Go find the wounded…they'll have burns…elevate their legs to keep them from going into shock. Spike and I will fetch the balloon, we'll have evacuate as many as we can…" With that she began to charge her magic, the sheen of the purple light cascading out into the misty haze. "Twi…are, are they…" began Spike again, but before the word could come Twilight had flashed them both away, the fog rolling in as swirls to occupy the space they had vacated. Apllejack lifted her ears, tried to see if any of the winged deer were calling out in pain. No, no sounds, no shrieks of pain…the fog must be muffling the moans. "Rainbow…Rainbow you head on out that way, I'll head this…" Dash had not moved, was still sitting there, her mouth moving up and down wordlessly. "C'mon Dash!" said Applejack, pulling on the tail of the pegasus, "We gotta go search the wreckage fer' survivors and…such…" "What wreckage?" came Rainbow Dash's voice, just above a whisper, wrapped in doubt and confusion, "Applejack…what wreckage?" Applejack tilted her head, looked first at Dash with bewilderment, and then followed the gaze of the pegasus. As she did her own mouth began to drop open. There were no flames, no cracked hull ripped open by the force of the carnage…nothing. Nothing met their gaze, just the swirls of fog drifting above the endlessly rolling sea. Applejack shook her head, ran her hoof across her eyes. No, no she knew what she had seen. It was fact, real…there, there must be…some reason… Of course there was. "C'mon now," said Applejack, nuzzling Dash back into motion, up and onto her hooves, "The fog's just coverin' it is all, you know that…eatin' up their voices before they can reach us…like what Twilight done told ya' earlier…" "Right, right," said Dash, shaking her head, clearing away the visions of the ship and crew being overtaken by flames, "Right…we gotta get down there…" "Thatta girl," spoke Applejack, nodding, "I'll head this way…up the beach, you try clear some more of this fog, okay?" "Yeah…right." Rainbow watched Applejack leap down the far side of the outcropping, listened as her hooves clapped against the rocks and her sounds of efforts departed into the mist. Dash found herself alone again, alone atop the outcropping. She peered out into the fog, out to where she knew she had seen the ship. She tried to lift her wings, but before she could a thought, a recent memory went through her. She stretched out her neck, listened, and then whispered a single word out into the grey… "Hello?" Applejack went down the ridgeline, making her way as quickly as she felt she safely could. Before long her hooves were once more running across the flat surfaces of the tiered platforms of rock. "Hey!" she called out into the mist, her hooves splashing through the tidal pools, "Hey is there any creature there that needs help?! Call out nice and loud!" She pelted across the beach, jumping or sliding to avoid large stones or driftwood piles that reached up to her as if to snag her. At once she stopped, her rear hooves sliding across the slick surface. A call…she, she had heard a call. She stood stock still, waiting, waiting for it to come again. She slowly panned her head, closed her eyes. Listened…listened into the far distance, listened as the waves rolled in beside her. A voice rolled up the beach, just perceptible, the voice just barely audible as it fell meekly across the stones. The voice called to her, called to her down the long beach… …called her by name. "Yes! Yes…it's, me! I'm, I'm comin', hold on!" she said, pelting off again. She leapt from one tiered layer of rock to another, scrambling a bit where the slick stones denied her a steady purchase. She went down the beach, beginning to breathe hard. "I'm comin', I'm comin'…I'm…I'mma comin'…" she said, going quieter, fighting for breath each time. She blinked, opened her eyes. As she did something caught in them. She skidded once more, slowing as she fought to comprehend what she saw. A faint green light bobbled across the beach, seeming to swing slowly, steadily. The dim sheen was barely visible, almost drowned amidst the fog. As it went she swore she could see the frame of the lantern, but not all at once, and as the light bobbled it seemed to come up from the water…out of it… "Hey!" she called out, splashing ahead through a large pool of the saltwater, "Hey…you need some…help?" she asked. The lantern seemed to swing about. At once she thought she saw the light fall across something, across the bearer, but in the fog whatever held it remained unseen. For a long moment they stood there, the pony and the owner of the light. Neither moved…yet the unseen eyes fell across Applejack, and she faltered under the stare. The light hung there, just far enough from her to offer a hint at who carried it…just far enough to touch at her perception. Whatever creature possessed it stood there quietly, unmoving…unflinching…the unseen bearer gazing back at her… "Hey," she offered up again, her voice breaking a bit, "I'm…I'm a friend…" With that the lantern receded, retreated around a bend in the stony beach. "Hey! Hey, I'm tryin' to help!" she called out, her trepidation leaving her, 'It's okay…I'm…I'm…a friend…" She rounded the corner herself, came down from her trot into a canter, finally a walk…before standing still. There was no bearer, no lantern. Just her…just her and the mist that swirled about in the little breezes, and the sound of the sea beyond, hidden from her wide eyes. She stood there, on a patch of sand that offered up a few stalks of grass, as she looked back and forth across the beach once more. She was alone, utterly alone. At once a new dread fell over Applejack, and she dared lift her head. She felt a gaze once more upon her, this one powerful, palpable…one that came from her side, staring at her body as she faced down the beach. Slowly she turned to face the gaze. Taking little breaths, moving in controlled movements that consumed fractions of inches she turned up to face what gazed down over her. Two massive green eyes peered down at her from high above. She let out a little yelp as she saw them, kicking like a wild pony in alarm, then shrinking back down among the grass. She stared up them in horror, her mouth wide open, as they gazed back down at her…unblinking and resolute. The mist parted, and Applejack saw the fearsome eyes fall down into something more serene. A face appeared there, one hewn into a great massive glyph. She exchanged fear for constrained trepidation as the small breeze revealed the eyes to be that of a vast white peryton, his antlers huge, his form tall…his outline pressed in chalk and marble into the immense slab of stone. Instead of over her the two vast eyes, seemingly made of a shimmering jade, looked out sadly over the sea. Applejack was at once terrified and moved. With small steps she came forward, came up to where the slab erupted forth from the sand, to where it towered over her and all around her. She looked upon it, blew the mist away to reveal names…names of perytons, the exotic accent marks standing out in white, and of ponies. Ponies and perytons inscribed together on the towering wedge of granite and marble that stood alone on an empty shore… Why? Why were they here? She lifted her hoof, ran them across the names…and at once she stopped. As, as she had…she'd been called for. Called for once again…by nothing. Names and faces…a race through dark trees. The broken glass and the dying falls. Helplessness. Voices lifted from beyond the cold surface. Slowly, almost imperceptibly, Applejack lowered herself to the flat of the stone. "Yes…I'm here," she said, laying her head to the stone, "Who are you?" The mist rolled around, broke down and was built up again in long cords that settled as noiselessly as grey blankets across the silent beach. "It…it sounds right beautiful," she said, running her hoof across the names, sinking more of her body against the cold stone. Her eyes came half-open, gazed at the empty shore. The sea rippled through the spaces between the ledges of rock, the seaweed bouncing in cadence with the endless cycle of the waves. "I'm…how do I help you? Yes…yes, I wanna help, I am your friend," she said, laying fully against it, seeming to deflate against the stone names and white outline. The grass rustled in the tiny breeze, a few grains of sand rolling down from where they had been deposited on the lonely beach. "Just…just pick up the lantern, and carry down into the water? Far out into the water? Sure…sure…" she said, turning her head, looking down at the bobbing green flame that filled the lantern that stood by her hooves. She lowered her head, opened her mouth, prepared to grasp and carry it… "No! No!" her mind screamed. At once Applejack rocked over, fell back. No one had joined her on the beach, she had seen no living thing. She was entirely alone, just her, the waves, and the glyph above… …yet there stood the lantern, the green flame rolling in imperceptible breezes. "No, no, no…" she repeated, standing, backing away. As she did so the fog rolled in once more, and she was once more under the gaze of the green eyes of the glyph, and the lantern light that flickered there before her… "No, no, no…" she repeated, retreating with uncertain steps over the slippery stones. She clenched her eyes shut, tripped over driftwood, through cracks in the rocks…held them shut as the green light faded from her consciousness, until she could no longer feel the eyes upon her. In this way she went, cutting herself on sharp rocks and splashing across still pools, until she felt the towering stone of the outcropping across her back. At once she turned, dared open her eyes, and began to climb as she made small sobs. Up the outcropping Applejack went, desperate to find Dash or any other living soul. Far behind her pale green eyes once more stared out over the quiet beach to the sea beyond.
