The Lost Spark

Chapters

Chapter 2
Chapter 4
Chapter 4.5 Violet
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 7.5 Sonnet
Chapter 8
Chapter 1
Chapter 3

Chapter 2

Spark looked out over the green fields as the orange, gold tint of the sun graced the land for the first time that day. Unicorns were no longer the ones that were charged with bringing up the sun and the moon during their respective times anymore. Now, the team of six unicorns had been replaced by a single pony, an alicorn.

The first day that Spark had heard about the end of Chaos, he was so amazed to find out that ponies other than unicorns were tasked with bringing the night and the day. He was distraught, more or less, when it was revealed to him that the ponies that had replaced unicorns also had horns and the ability to use magic. That fact, for a short time, had been the source of so much of his inspiration, but upon that information being revealed, that inspiration was gone and he was back to searching the books to learn about his own magical abilities.

By this time, the sky was already turning blue and the light, less brilliant. Waking up to watch the sunrise was always something that Spark enjoyed. There was nearly nopony else up at that time and he could just be alone with his thoughts. The only thing that he could think of that would make those moments better was if Sonnet would join him, but she always slept in after the harvest was finished.

“She does an excellent job, doesn’t she?” a pony asked, walking up behind Spark.

“Star Swirl!” Spark gasped, spinning around to greet his hero. “What are their names?”

“Princesses Celestia and Luna. Goddesses of the sun and moon respectively.” Star Swirl stated, watching the sky with Spark. “Where is your marefriend, Sonnet was it?”

“I usually wake her up after the sun rises. She isn’t a morning pony most of the time.” Spark remarked, remembering the last time that he’d woken her up to watch the sun rise; she’d thrown everything that she had nearby at him.

“What’s in that box?” Star Swirl asked, gesturing to a small box, wrapped in a bow, which was sitting next to Spark’s hooves.

“A present for Sonnet. Today is our three year anniversary. I bought her a ruby necklace.” Spark stated, blushing slightly.

“Let me see it. I’ll cast a protective spell on it so that you won’t ever have to worry about her. I can understand worrying for another pony that you care about deeply. Both Celestia and Luna are like daughters to me, and I worry about them every minute that I spend away from them.” Star Swirl offered. He smiled in a way that gave Spark a feeling of comfort. Despite the lack of his need to worry about her, having an extra precaution against harm could never hurt. Usually the most dangerous thing that she would participate in was bucking trees to get some oranges down. Aside from the possibility of having an orange fall on her head, she was usually pretty safe.

“Yes please,” Spark said graciously, “I’d love that.”

Star Swirl used his magic to gently remove the bow from the box and pull the small red gem. Connecting the gem to the black cloth was a small piece of gold. The gem didn’t look that expensive, but its value came from who it was from and who it was meant for. Within seconds, his horn began to glow slightly brighter and the ruby reacted to its glow by glowing equally as bright.

“It’s done. Now, I’m going to head back to the house that I’m staying at. Once you wake up Sonnet, and give her the necklace, would the both of you please join me.” Star Swirl commented, turning around and going on his way.

“Thank you!” Spark called out.

Spark looked at the ruby necklace and thought about how it would look with her light blue coat. He thought that the contrast would definitely work well. She also always loved rubies, so Spark was feeling very confident in his choice of gifts.

He began to make his way back to the guest house so that he could give Sonnet her present and then they could go and help out Star Swirl. Sonnet was usually fine with waking up as long as the sun was already up. The only time that she would even consider getting up any earlier was if it was harvest season, and that had just ended.

“Sonnet, it’s time to wake up.” Spark said quietly as he gently shook the sleeping pony.

Sonnet grunted and rolled over, facing away from Spark. “No.”

“We’ve got to go and meet with Star Swirl. Also if you get up, I have a present for you.” he replied, setting the wrapped gift beside her on the bed.

“For waking up?” Sonnet groaned, turning over to face Spark.

“No, for our anniversary.” Spark answered. “It’s been three years today since we started dating.”

“That’s today?” Sonnet gasped, jumping up from her bed.

“Uh, yeah.” Spark laughed back. “It is on a day that should be easy to remember.”

“Pretty easy to remember.” Sonnet smiled back slyly. “Look behind you for your present.”

Spark turned around and saw a hoofmade scarf hanging on the far wall. It was the same blue as Sonnet’s coat in the middle with a streak of brown, matching Spark’s coat, on either side. The amount of time that she had most likely spent making it was clear in that each stitch was made with a precision that it was hard to find anywhere else.

“I love it.” Spark said happily, hugging Sonnet as she climbed out of her bed. “Now go on, open yours.”

“Okay, give me a second.” Sonnet laughed back, lifting her present up. She began to remove the bow that functioned for holding the box closed and quickly lifted the top off. She let out a gasp when she saw the necklace. “It’s beautiful.”

“I hoped that you’d like it.” Spark smiled.

Sonnet and Spark sat with each other and talked, reminiscing about some of their favorite memories together. They talked for nearly an hour before they finally decided to go over to Star Swirl’s and assist him in whatever way he needed.

Upon reaching Star Swirl’s house, they saw that the door was propped open with a stack of books and smoke was seeping out through the open door. Spark immediately charged in, calling out for Star Swirl. His worries were quickly put to rest as the old unicorn stepped out from behind a doorway.

“My teleportation spell still appears to need some work.” Star Swirl coughed out light heartedly. “On the bright side, I just invented applesauce.”

“I think somepony beat you to that one already.” Sonnet laughed, stepping into the house.

“Yes, well, my applesauce is magical. Or at least it was created with magic. It depends on who you talk to as to if that makes something magical.” the wizard laughed.

“I’ll get to cleaning this up.” Spark volunteered, grabbing a rag and going over the golden paste that covered the wall behind the desk.

“Sonnet, would you be a dear and fetch me the journal that I have sitting on the table in the kitchen?” Star Swirl asked, using his magic to levitate the stack of books that he had previously used to prop the door open back into place. As the door slowly closed under its own weight, Star Swirl opened the window and locked it in place.

Sonnet wandered back into the room, carrying with her an old looking journal. Star Swirl pulled it away from her with his magic and began scribbling something down on a page a little less than half-way in. As he did this, Sonnet’s eyes caught a glimpse of a piece of paper that was resting on an otherwise empty desk.

“From one to another…” she began to read.

Star Swirl galloped over and interrupted her mid reading, “No!” he gasped. “That spell isn’t ready yet. I’ve been working on it for years, but it isn’t quite to the point that I need for it to be at.”

“Oh. Okay.” Sonnet replied, startled by the sudden liveliness of the old pony.

“It’s fine, that spell just has a very specific purpose. It is meant for another pony to cast.” Star Swirl apologized.

“Who?” Spark asked, glancing over from the newly wiped down wall.

“Somepony who won’t be around for some time, but she has great potential.” Star Swirl answered, returning the paper to his desk. “Luckily, soon, my part of the spell will be completed and it will be left to her to finish my greatest work.”

Spark stared at the unicorn for a few seconds, wondering about what he had said. It wasn’t like him, at least not from Spark’s own reading, to leave a spell unfinished, especially not one that he seemed to be so proud of.

“I shall make another attempt at this spell.” Star Swirl said suddenly. “For your own safety, I must ask that you step out of the room.”

Spark nodded, leading Sonnet from the room. Star Swirl created a magical barrier along the door frame, allowing for the two earth ponies to look in and observe his spell, without endangering themselves. He then proceeded to create a small bubble around himself, just in case his current test subject, a bright, ripe orange, ended up in a similar state to the apple that came before.

A few moments of absolute, deafening silence passed as the unicorn lost the expression of merriment that had dominated him up until that point, faded away into what could almost be described as a scowl. A faint yellow light began to glow around the wizard’s horn and, at the same time, an identical glow formed around the orange that rested on the desk that Spark had just cleaned around. A quiet grunt emanated from the pony as he attempted to recall upon the legends that inspired him to create that spell.

A blinding flash of golden light filled the room, and the orange was sitting on the floor on the other side. It had been teleported. After seeing that the spell was a success, Star Swirl let down his shields and approached the fruit. He lifted it with his magic, peeling it as it was raised higher. Once it reached the same level as his face, he took a bite.

“I deserve it.” he smiled, looking over to the two earth ponies. “There doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with it, lucky me.”

From what Spark had observed of Star Swirl thus far, he was surprised to see such a playful nature in a pony so highly regarded for his contributions to pony culture. It was unexpected, to say the least, that he would take a failed attempt so lightly, and moments later joke about a success. Most ponies were unable to laugh at their own failures, and so, seeing a pony who was capable of doing just that, especially one as well renowned as the great Star Swirl the Bearded, was beyond surprising.

“You’re not quite what I expected.” Sonnet laughed, almost as if speaking Spark’s very thoughts. “You joke around a lot more than I would have expected.”

“One has to be able to laugh at one’s own mistakes. What good does getting angry about that sort of thing do? From my experience, it causes one to stress, making future attempts that much less likely to work than the initial failure. That is why I laugh.” Star Swirl explained. “Now I begin work on crafting a more precise version of that same teleportation spell, making it safe for ponies to use on themselves.”

Spark walked over to the unicorn as he scribbled something, nearly illegible, down in a notebook. “If you don’t mind me asking, where did you learn about this spell?”

“While exploring the outskirts of a forest, I came across a small tribe of zebras.” Star Swirl started, noticing expressions of confusion on Spark and Sonnet’s faces, he began to elaborate in more detail. “They are another equine species, found in a far off land. There is a small tribe that has migrated here to Equestria from their native land. Upon encountering them and learning of their culture, I found it hard to resist the urge to seek out their homeland, and in the end, I learned of potions that they could craft that had mysterious properties. Teleportation was one of the more interesting of these properties.”

“What do the zebras look like?” Sonnet asked, curiosity getting the better of her.

“They are similar to earth ponies, but their manes stick straight up and they have black and white stripes. Their cutie marks are rather interesting as well, instead of the more colorful ones that we have, they have black and white ones. Also they have access to a strange and foreign magic that is simply fascinating.” Star Swirl continued.

There was a moment of silence as Star Swirl put up his journal and approached his desk. He lifted an odd looking journal from a drawer that was built into his desk. “I was honestly expecting that to take longer. I guess that I’m done for the day, all there is left to do is research to find a way to be able to teleport a pony.”

Spark nodded and bid the unicorn farewell as he walked toward the door. He hoped that once Star Swirl had finished with his teleportation spell, he could start investigating the ancient art of earth pony magic, and possibly how to externalize it.

“Star Swirl, do you have any books on earth pony magic that Spark could borrow?” Sonnet asked, once again taking charge of helping Spark.

“I believe that I may have one. I believe that it is one of the few that survived Discord’s reign.” Star Swirl replied, quickly turning to face a bookshelf. Seconds later he pulled out a book and held it in front of Spark. “Here you go; I’d appreciate having it back when you come in tomorrow. Have a good day you two, wouldn’t want to keep you cooped up with an old coot like me on a day as important as this.”

Spark looked at the book for a moment, noticing how well kept it was. A book as old as the one that he was holding should surely be showing signs of wear and tear after all of those years, but looking at it without knowing that, one would assume that it had just been printed that day. The cover was plain, without a title or an image. It was a wonder how the unicorn was even able to recognize the book for what it was.

Spark and Sonnet happily trotted from the house and made their way to somewhere that they could spend some time together. Sonnet had suggested going down to the lake before it got too cold.

Dartmoor Lake was the nearest place that they could follow Sonnet’s wishes, and the weather would only be warm enough for the next couple of days. As far as Spark saw it, it was one of those “now or never” situations, but in that case, “never” was only a few months.

Upon arriving at the lake, Sonnet set her new necklace down next to her and jumped in right away. With her, there was never any hesitation, never any forethought, it was always action. When she was younger she used to say, jokingly of course, that thinking was a waste of time. “Once you’re done thinking it through, I’ve done it three times already.” she would always tell Spark.

A few seconds after Sonnet became fully submerged in the lake water, her head floated up to the surface and she gasped for air, shivering violently. She paddled her way to the shore and climbed out, water dripping from her coat, mane, and tail.

“You should have checked the water.” Spark smirked approaching his marefriend.

Sonnet made a whiny noise as she stuck her tongue out at the young stallion. “Maybe you should go for a swim too.” she giggled as she shoved him into the ice cold water.

“Th- that was unc- called f- for.” Spark stuttered as he climbed out of the lake.

“What? Like this?” Sonnet jumped in a second time, splashing water over Spark just as he managed to finish wiping his eyes from the first time.

“Uncalled for.” Spark grimaced as he pulled himself out of the water and flopped down onto his back. “I’m going to dry out now.”

“Oh, come on!” Sonnet giggled, nudging him slightly with her muzzle. “Stop moping and have some fun.” she continued in an exaggerated tone.

“I don’t know about you, but I don’t consider hypothermia to be fun.” Spark rolled his eyes. “Can’t we just relax for a while? Just this once?”

Sonnet let out a painful sounding groan, “Fine…” Afterward, she laughed again. It wasn’t hard for her to have fun, especially not with her imagination.

Sonnet happily threw herself at the soft grass next to Spark, and the two of them laid there, looking up at the blue sky for the better part of an hour. It seemed that the world around them just stopped existing in its entirety as they enjoyed each other’s company.

After a while, once they were completely dried out, they left and made their way back into the small village that they called home. The guest houses on the farms were going to be closed until next harvest season, so everypony would go back to doing what they used to for another few months. The two small family owned restaurants would reopen, the one inn that the town had would be accepting guests again, and Spark’s family would come home.

“Wanna get a bite to eat?” Spark suggested as they entered the town.

“Sure, I am kinda hungry, especially considering that I haven’t actually gotten to eat yet today.” Sonnet answered, her gaze drifting off to follow one of the last birds that they would see that year.

“Now that you mention it, I haven’t eaten yet either.” Spark laughed. “Let’s go to Wood’s place since it’s the closest.”

“Sounds good to me.” Sonnet replied, speeding up to catch up with Spark, who hadn’t seen her get distracted and had continued moving at his natural, quick pace.

As the couple made their way through the small town of Stable, they eventually reached a small building that had a rather large, eye catching sign. “Wood Grill, finest eats” was all that the sign said.

Wood Grill was one of the first ponies to settle in Stable. That made his restaurant the go to eatery for miles, until Nighttime came into town with his diner that stayed open all night. The two of them had worked out a deal where only one would be open at a time, except for the twilight hours, two hours in both morning and night when they would be in competition with each other. These hours weren’t particularly popular for eating anyway, so there wasn’t a huge competition, but there was some.

This was during the time that they were both open, but Nighttime’s diner was out of the way. It would be easier for Spark to stop by Wood’s place, get some dinner, take Sonnet home, and then go home himself. This choice just seemed like the most rational.

They had a quick meal at Wood’s Grill before setting off on their way home. Sonnet’s house was a quaint little hut that her grandfather had built years before when he first moved to the settlement. Over the years, the thatch roofing had been replaced by a more water repellant material, windows had been added, and the dirt floor had been covered by stone tiles.

Her home looked more natural than Spark’s did. His house was made using his parents’ magic, forged from the timber harvested from some of the older trees that surrounded the village. There were more windows in his house than there were in any other house in the village. The roof consisted of two layers of wood, preventing any leakage of water and insulating it from the elements more effectively.

Once Sonnet and Spark arrived at the mare’s house, they parted ways with a kiss. Spark, left with a good mood and a good book made his way home. His mind set on having that book read come sunrise. He’d promised Star Swirl that he would return it the next morning, so he had little choice if he was to discover the secrets of earth pony magic, and how to externalize it in a different way than just growing plants better and faster.

Author's Note

Second chapter, and still nothing is really happening, but maybe chapter three will be a tad bit more eventful, we'll just have to wait and see.

Chapter 4

Spark prepared to buck the door down and chase after Sonnet, but his tail was quickly given a painful jerk by Star Swirl’s magic. “If you go out now, you’ll die!” the unicorn shouted, creating a bubble-like shield around himself and Spark.

Less than a second later, the house crashed into the trees, the branches tearing the house apart. There was a slight rotation of the house as the trees hit it. By the time that the house hit the ground, it was on its side. The house collapsed in on itself as recoil to the impact with the hard ground. Spark blacked out as he bounced within the bubble shield that Star Swirl had cast.

“Spark, wake up.” Star Swirl said, shaking the stallion awake.

Spark, vaguely able to remember the last few moments before he lost consciousness, prayed that it had all been just a dream, but to his dismay, he saw the condition that the house was in and realized that it had all been real.

“Sonnet!” he shouted, jumping straight up, ignoring the sharp pain in his left rear leg. “Where is she?”

“Relax!” Star Swirl commanded in such a voice that it scared Spark into stillness. “If you don’t hold still, you could bleed out.”

“Bleed out?” Spark asked back, turning to look at the unicorn.

He saw a pool of blood below his own back leg, the one that was hurting. A large chard of wood was sticking out of him, just above his hoof. The pain now had an explanation, but he wasn’t sure how the wood had gotten there. “Hadn’t you made a shield?”

“Yes, but I lost focus just after the house hit the ground. For that, I am sorry.” Star Swirl apologized, the intensity in his expression and voice fading away, but he still wasn’t back to his usual cheerful self.

“Where’s Sonnet? I saw her falling outside the house. She couldn’t be far. She’s probably hurt, she needs help.” Spark said erratically.

“Spark…” Star Swirl started, trying to maintain strength in his voice, but finding even that difficult. “If that was Sonnet, she probably didn’t make it…”

“Don’t say that!” Spark shouted. “You cast the spell on her necklace to protect her! She has to be alive!”

“There is no guarantee that my spell was strong enough to protect her from a fall like that.” Star Swirl replied. “I was barely able to keep the shield up long enough to keep the two of us alive; even that could hardly be considered a success.” he gestured toward the piece of wood that he had just pulled out of Spark’s leg.

The blood drained through the open wound with ease until Star Swirl managed to cast a spell to clot the blood enough to put an end to that. Afterward, he tied an old cloth on the wound to keep any dirt out of the sensitive area. Consistently throughout the procedure, he had to use his magic to force his patient to remain still.

“Let me go!” Spark shouted, trying with all of his might to break free from the magical grasp of his temporary doctor. “I have to find Sonnet!”

“I have a preference of treating the living before lending medical attention to the dead.” Star Swirl growled, tightening his grip on the earth pony. “Now, would you kindly shut up and hold still for a few more seconds.”

As soon as Star Swirl finished tightening the knot on the cloth that he’d wrapped around Spark’s leg, the earth pony galloped off at full speed. Each time that his hoof hit the ground, a pulse of pain shot through his entire body, but that didn’t matter, nothing except for Sonnet mattered.

“Sonnet?” Spark cried out as he ran into dense forest. “Where are you?”

Spark quickly came to a sudden halt as he found a splash of crimson covering the grass that made up the forest floor. Horrified, he slowly turned his glance upward as a warm droplet fell upon his forehead. Blood was dripping from a tree branch above him.

There was no sign of Sonnet aside from the blood, which Spark kept telling himself, “It could belong to anypony.” This did nothing to ease his fears though, as now he had no idea where Sonnet even was. Finding her probably wouldn’t have eased his fears either, as she would have surely been in bad condition.

Spark fell to the ground, failing to hold back the tears that had building up since before he had left the house. As he slowly lifted his head from the blades of grass, he saw something that he had previously overlooked. It was a trail of blood leading deeper into the woods. If it was Sonnet, then she was alive and moving. There was hope.

Spark leapt up to his hooves and started in a full speed gallop with the intention of never stopping until he found the most important pony in the world to him. He ran for at least a mile before the trail went cold and despair began to work its way back into his heart. There was a faint cracking sound as a stick broke from an external force. Somepony was nearby. With any luck it would either be Sonnet or somepony who had seen where she had gone to.

“Hello? Is anypony there?” Spark called out, waiting quietly for a response.

“Who are you?” whispered a ghastly sounding voice.

“My name is Spark. I was wondering if you might have seen a mare come by here. She was badly injured.” Spark explained, looking around for the source of the voice, but unable to see anypony.

“I may have seen something, but it was hardly what you described.” the voice replied. It clearly belonged to a stallion, most likely an older one, but aside from that, Spark was clueless. “Did you care for that mare? You seem quite worried for her safety.”

“I love her.” Spark said solemnly. “Did you see her or not.”

“I saw a blue mare being dragged along by two cloaked ponies. I cannot say whether or not she was alive, but I can promise you that those ponies were not pleasant company. They were heading north toward the Frozen North.” the voice replied.

“Where are you? I’d like to thank you properly, face to face I mean.” Spark stated.

“I hardly think that necessary, but I do not wish to seem rude.” Spark could hear the sound of wings flapping and immediately looked up. A gryphon with a dark grey, almost black body and a white face was slowly descending toward the ground.

“Thank you. By the way, where are we?” Spark said gratefully.

“This area is known as the White Tail Woods. I must advise that if you intend to catch up with that mare, you move along quickly.” the gryphon stated, pointing a single claw to his right.

Spark nodded and started walking in the direction that the gryphon had gestured. As he walked, one thing kept crossing his mind again and again. The Frozen North seemed oddly specific of a location, what was to stop the mysterious cloaked ponies from stopping before they got to that location? Either the Gryphon was making assumptions with no basis, or he knew something that he had held back from Spark during their conversation.

As Spark wandered in the direction that he hoped was north, he began to worry about his mentor. He had left Star Swirl behind in his rage. It was getting to be late and they were lost in a completely foreign area, not the best pair of circumstances when put together, especially not since they were both alone. The problem was that Spark had already made so much progress toward finding Sonnet, he couldn’t turn back; he was too close.

Night quickly began to set in and the world became consumed in the endless darkness. Spark kept moving though, nothing would keep him from looking for Sonnet, not even the threat of death itself. She needed him, and he was not one to let a pony down.

“I’m coming for you Sonnet…” he whispered to himself.

He broke into another gallop as soon the pain faded away. Any boost that he could get in catching up to those to ponies was important. However hesitant Spark was to trust the gryphon, it was still his only lead, and he would have to believe it until evidence to the contrary came to light.

Eventually Spark saw a dim light in the distance, and as Spark approached it, it grew more and more brilliant. It was a city, filled with lights and ponies. On the other side of the city was an expanse of water that stretched on into the darkness. Either he was no longer in Equestria, or the gryphon had pointed him in the wrong direction. The only oceanic boarders that Equestria had were on the eastern and western sides.

Which thought was worse was beyond him though. On one hoof, he was so far from home that he would never have any chance of returning, even if he found Sonnet. On the other hoof, the gryphon that had pointed him in the direction of the coast could have been lying to him, and he may have taken Sonnet himself.

“I’ve got to get an answer quickly, maybe somepony in town can tell me something.” Spark said quietly to himself as he slowed down for his entrance to the city.

The lights of the city were a welcomed contrast to the darkness that he had grown accustom to in the White Tail Woods. Once he was out from the cover of the trees, Spark took a moment to look up to the sky. He was no astronomer, but he could usually recognize one or two constellations. Due to the location of Orion’s belt, he was able to recognize that he was going west, not north, just as he had feared.

With limited choices, and a very angry stomach, he reluctantly continued toward the city, hoping to find food and a place to stay for the night. Perhaps his concerns about the gryphon were unfounded and a pony living in the city could shed some light on the whole situation.

Spark walked down the packed streets as he looked for any building that had a sign saying something about lodging. Several ponies had stopped and looked at him; each one seemed to have a certain level of astonishment when looking at him. Some parents had to force their foals to look away. Spark thought nothing of it; after all, he was probably filthy, and probably a bit bloody, especially after wandering in the woods for who knows how long.

A large sign reading “Inn” hung over a bright red door. Spark pushed the door open slowly, causing a little bell to ring, and trotted into the brightly lit room. There were candles lining the walls, creating a light that rivaled that of the sun. To the immediate right of the entrance was a small oak counter with a young pegasus filly standing behind it. She had a bright pink mane and yellow eyes, and her coat was a soft violet.

The filly stared at Spark blankly, her mouth gaped open slightly. He was beginning to suspect that it was more than just mud or blood that was causing him to draw so much attention. Regardless, he needed to get some food and information about the gryphon.

“Excuse me…” Spark started, but was quickly interrupted by the quiet stuttering of the filly.

Before he could continue, a pegasus mare walked into the room from a door located behind the counter. “Lilac, honey, I think that it’s about time that you… go to… bed.” the mare stated, her voice trailing off as her eyes locked with Spark’s. “Now.” she added on, finalizing her statement and removing any possibility for the filly to argue.

There was a silence as the filly left the room and trotted up the stairs, glancing back occasionally at Spark before her mother would cough to remind her of what she was supposed to be doing. Once the filly was far enough away so that she would be unable to eavesdrop, the mare spoke again.

“An earth pony…” she said quietly leaving Spark unsure of how to react. “What brings you to Seaddle?”

The mare clearly had suspicions about Spark’s motives, although he was unsure why. However, he was now aware that it was because he was an earth pony that he was drawing the attention, not blood or dirt. If it had been the latter, the mare surely would have offered help, but instead she showed surprise at his race.

“I’m looking for somepony important to me who was taken. I was directed this way by a gryphon in the forest. He told me that she was being taken north, and directed me here.” Spark explained.

The mare just looked back at him inquisitively, as if trying to make sense of a foreign language that she’d just heard for the first time. “Do you mean Gale?” the mare asked, looking away from Spark and at some papers on the counter.

“If that is his name, I suppose so. I do have a question though, this was to the west of where I started, yet he directed me here and told me to go north.” Spark explained.

The mare, not looking up sighed. “Gale is very kind and looks out for any who get lost in that forest. He sent you here because this is a port town and you might be able to catch a boat to take you north faster.”

Before Spark could respond, there was a quiet tapping on the stairs. The mare’s head immediately shot up and she was about to speak before she caught a glimpse of a large grey hoof instead of the little violet one that she expected.

“Excuse me, miss. I don’t want to be a burden, but I was wondering if you could…” the stallion started as he came into full view. “Spark, I see you found your way out.”

“Star Swirl?” Spark replied, surprised to see that the old stallion had beaten him to the city. “When’d you get here?”

“About half an hour ago.” he answered calmly. “And if I may ask, what took you so long to arrive here?”

“It was hard to make good time with my leg in its current state.” Spark argued. “Plus I had to follow a trail…”

Spark’s voice drifted off when he mentioned the trail. The fact that it was probably Sonnet’s blood was killing him inside. It was his fault that she was sick, his fault that she decided to come by late, and it was his fault that they met Star Swirl in the first place. If it weren’t for his desire to live his dream, neither of them would be in their current predicaments.

“Mr. Swirl,” the mare started, rejoining the conversation. “Do you mind explaining how there is an earth pony standing in my inn?”

“We’re from very far away, a place where earth ponies still exist.” Star Swirl replied calmly.

Now Spark was more confused than ever. A place where earth ponies still exist? There was no doubt left in Spark’s mind, this place definitely wasn’t Equestria. His mind automatically assumed that it could be Saddle Arabia, since their population was made up of horses, not ponies, but the environment wasn’t right at all. Also, there were ponies here, pegasi to be exact, which was another hole in his idea.

Star Swirl gestured to Spark and then toward the stairs. Spark nodded and trotted up the stairs, waiting impatiently for Star Swirl to follow suit. Whatever this place was, Star Swirl knew more than Spark expected him to.

After a few moments, the old unicorn trotted up the stairs, joining up with Spark once again. His face bore a scowl like nothing Spark had ever seen before, making the young earth pony shrink back, hoping to avoid a scolding. Star Swirl shook his head slowly before letting out a long and aggravated sigh.

“You are lucky to be alive.” the unicorn growled. “Do you have any idea what happens to earth ponies around here? They are immediately executed!”

“What?” Spark gasped loudly. “Why?”

“The Constellar ponies don’t want the threat that earth ponies pose. From what I can tell they are the in far north, meaning that if I can find some way to send you back to Equestria, then you should be safe.”

“What’s going on? What do you know?” Spark stomped his hoof to the ground.

“It’s amazing what half an hour of reading can accomplish. Come up to my room and I’ll explain everything once I have a few protection spells up.” Star Swirl stated. “I’m not sure who we can trust.”

Spark agreed with Star Swirl about one thing. Who could he trust? Star Swirl was clearly holding back, and if the answers that Spark was about to get weren’t sufficient, then they were going to have a problem.

They quickly moved through the darkened hall until they reached a wooden door with the number 203 painted on it at about eye level. Star Swirl used his magic to slide a key into the keyhole and turned the doorknob quickly. He silently slid into the room, followed shortly by Spark.

Star Swirl’s horn began to glow a brilliant yellow as he shot small beams of light into the four corners of the room. Spark could have sworn that he had seen them connect once Star Swirl was done, but he couldn’t be sure. Star Swirl nearly collapsed after the protection spells were finished.

“Are you all right?” Spark asked, catching the exhausted unicorn.

“I’m fine.” Star Swirl pushed Spark away and took one last look around the room before speaking again. “Listen very carefully, I will not repeat myself and we will not discuss this further once we leave this room.”

Spark nodded quietly, he needed the explanation. “I’ll listen.”

“This is Equestria, but not the one that you know.” Star Swirl began. “This world lies parallel to our own, at least from my understanding, and this is the first time any creature from one has ventured to the other. As in our Equestria, there were three species of ponies that lived in this nation, but unlike ours, one of those species in now gone, earth ponies.”

“Why? What killed them?” Spark asked, worried for Sonnet. She had been ponynapped, and if whatever killed the earth ponies was still around then it was possible that they would be after her if they weren’t what had taken her in the first place.

“Two hundred years ago the stars rained down from the sky. They were born from the constellation Pegasus, they are Constellar ponies.” Star Swirl began to pace as he ran each of the legends that he had read on the topic through his head to make a semi-coherent story. “The Constellar ponies have a strange magic that no myth has consistently described, the only common factor is that their magic can lead to the death of others. Aside from that strange magic, they are very similar to pegasi, both in form and in weather based abilities.”

Star Swirl paused for a moment, walking over to one of the two beds inside the room. He sat down and put his face in between his hooves for a few seconds before looking up again. It looked to Spark as if he was trying to figure out what to say, which in Spark’s opinion, meant that bad news was sure to follow.

“In this world, the earth ponies had the ability to harness the powers of the elements of nature and bend them to their will. Unlike unicorns, their magic cannot be restricted through the use of a horn brace. Most unicorns were captured and given horn braces, and every earth pony, at least as far as I can tell, was systematically executed.” Star Swirl finished.

“Did you say that earth ponies could use magic here?” Spark asked, dwelling on that one fact. His dream was coming true, which would be the best thing ever if the circumstances surrounding that fact weren’t so awful.

“As far as I can tell from my readings they can.” Star Swirl replied. “I’m not sure if that ability will extend to you, seeing as you are a foreign pony to this world, just as I am.”

“From the sound of it, you’ve done a lot of reading in just… what’d you say, half an hour?” Spark replied, taking a seat on the other bed in the small room.

“Yes, but reading isn’t exactly the most accurate word for it, now that I put some thought to it. I cast a spell that transferred the knowledge stored within several history books into my mind.” Star Swirl explained.

There was a short silence that followed Star Swirl’s statement. This world was parallel to Equestria, but had a form of magic that was either extinct in their home world, or so rare that it had faded into legend. It would be the best thing to ever happen to Spark if it wasn’t for the fact that Sonnet was hurt and lost… or worse.

“We’ve got to go and find Sonnet.” Spark stated.

“You need to rest.” Star Swirl stated, his horn glowing for a second before Spark’s vision began to fade away. The unicorn had cast a spell to sedate and put his companion to sleep.

Author's Note

For those who did not see the blog post I made recently, I will be posting a short subchapter on Friday.

Chapter 4.5 Violet

Violet slowly walked out onto the field, looking at the crater where a house had once been. There was nothing left there except for the glimmer of magic that remained after whatever spell had been cast. She had heard about the events that had transpired earlier that day from a pony who had been walking the fields, simply double checking to make sure that everything that had to be done, was done.

About half an hour before she had arrived on scene at the field, he had galloped into Stable, screaming about how the world was ending. When Violet had asked about it, the pony explained that he had seen Sonnet approaching the house that had once stood in that spot, but as soon as she got there, she and the house vanished into thin air.

“This was clearly a very powerful spell.” Violet said as she stepping into the rubble that was left in the bottom of the hole.

As Violet began to search through what remained of the house, which was mostly broken planks of wood, she started thinking. She remembered seeing a unicorn move into this house a couple of days before hoof. It hit her like a brick when she realized that this was the same place that both Sonnet and Spark had been going to.

Violet looked around, noticing that most of the town was standing out in the field that had surrounded the house. As she scanned the crowd, she noticed that Spark wasn’t there either. Sonnet was to be expected, seeing as she had vanished with the house, but Violet had been praying that the same fate had not befallen her brother.

She quickly galloped out of the crater and into the crowd. “Has anypony seen my brother?” she called out. “Has anypony seen Spark?”

She began to feel a sense of dread as she realized that if she hadn’t helped Spark recover from being sick that morning, if she had just made him live with that one mistake, he would have stayed home and never gone missing. She would rather Spark be sick than lose him to a vanishing house.

The crowd responded to Violet’s cries with an outstanding silence before one pony spoke up, Sonnet’s father.

“Sonnet told me… she told me that he was going to be at that unicorn’s house, and she was going to meet him there once she got to feelin’ better.”

Violet, in a fit of terror, fled the scene and started scouring the fields, desperately searching for her beloved brother. It was late at night by the time that she finally fell into the tall grass, vision completely lost through a combination of tears and the dark of night. She looked up into the sky in utter despair, wiping away her tears for a moment as she stared at the moon. She had heard that their new princesses were from the sun and the moon, and she had hoped that if she prayed to the moon that one of them would hear her.

“Please, Princess of the Night, I need your help. My brother is lost, and I don’t know what to do.” Violet pled with the celestial body. “I… I’m begging you.”

She had faith in the princess, but she could not bring herself to sit idly by. She quickly galloped to her home and charged into her brother’s room. She grasped a scarf in her magic and pulled from it a spare hair that had clung to it since the last winter. Once she had the hair she moved on to her room and got a map from her shelf.

Her horn flared as she cast a scrying spell to find her brother. The particular one that she was casting showed that he was a few kilometers away. A glowing spot on the map moved around, showing where Spark was. There was something off about it though, the glow, which should have been opaque, was transparent. She had never seen anything like that before.

Rolling the map up and placing the hair in a vial, she packed her saddlebags and ran toward the door. Just as she got there, her parents arrived at the house.

“Where are you going?” her mother asked.

“I’m going to find Spark.” Violet said, she was unable to mask her worry though. “I have a lead, a scrying spell showed me where he is. Can you handle winter this year?”

“I won’t…” her mother started, but she was silenced as her father placed a hoof on the mare’s shoulder.

“We can. Do what you have to. Find him.” he said, showing more confidence than Violet felt.

Violet nodded, holding back the tears until she was far from the house. She was the best pony for the job. She knew the most spells, she had the strongest magic, and she would not give up until Spark was safe at home.

Author's Note

Sorry that it is so short, but it felt complete, at least to me. There will be more later, I promise that.

Chapter 5

Spark awakened early the next morning to see Star Swirl gazing intently out the single window in their room. Spark could see the old unicorn’s eyes moving frantically as if he were watching something. Almost as if he knew that Spark had woken up, Star Swirl turned around and looked at him.

“We need to leave.” Star Swirl stated, using his magic to tie his cape on and set his hat on his head.

“What’s going on?” Spark asked groggily, rubbing his eyes as he sat up on the bed.

“Every time that I use my magic, it sends out a resonance that the Constellar ponies can feel. They are just outside the inn right now, meaning that we can’t afford to be here.” Star Swirl explained, cracking the window open slightly and throwing something outside. Spark could hear several shouts and a couple of screams from the ground below. He considered looking out to see just what Star Swirl had done, but he knew that they were close to being caught so they needed to move quickly and he couldn’t afford to waste time by investigating at the moment. It would have been easier to ask Star Swirl about it once they were a safe distance away.

There was nopony waiting outside the room, meaning whatever Star Swirl had thrown out the window had distracted the Constellar ponies from their hunt for the duo. As they reached the ground floor, they saw the mare who they had spoken to the previous night hiding behind the counter. Spark suspected that she feared for herself and her foal while the Constellar ponies were around, which to his understanding, was very understandable. He had a hard time believing that they would stop at anything to kill him, after all, he was exactly what they hated apparently, an earth pony.

As the pair went outside, they were greeted by a large cloud of black smoke. Spark saw Star Swirl wrap his face in his cloak to keep him from breathing in the cloud. As Spark had nothing to mimic that action with, he simply held his breath and quickly followed after the old unicorn. Even though neither of them had to fear choking on the smoke, there was still the highly limited visibility that it created, which was both a curse and a blessing. Despite the fact that they couldn’t see much of anything, neither could the Constellar ponies.

Once they escaped the cloud, they looked around to see if they were followed. Star Swirl smiled upon seeing that they had escaped without having been seen. The pair made their way down to the harbor, leaving behind the chaos that they had created in their escape.

They galloped down the back alleys of the city in an attempt to remain undetected while still making good time. Star Swirl was determined that the Constellar ponies had come from the farther inland, meaning that the safest path for them was to board a ship and move up the coast. Spark protested valiantly, but was assured that they would move faster that way and would have a better chance of catching up with Sonnet, and possibly even heading off her captors. It was also too dangerous to travel in such a foreign place on one’s own. Spark’s little trek through the White Tail Woods had proven that to him.

Once they reached the edge of the land, a vast blue ocean was strewn out before them. The sound of the waves crashing into the shore was something new to Spark, soothing, but at the same time, it made him feel overcome with sadness. It was always a dream of Sonnet’s to get to see the ocean, and now he was seeing it without her.

“We’ll find her.” Star Swirl stated, dragging Spark onto a nearby ship that was docked on the harbor.

Spark nodded, knowing that both he and Star Swirl were in positions where they would need one another. He couldn’t afford to leave Star Swirl in hopes of finding Sonnet, he’d already seen how something like that would turn out, after all, Star Swirl had beaten him to Seaddle. But at the same time, it wouldn’t be safe for a pony Star Swirl’s age to be wandering about on his own, especially not with the Constellar ponies being able to track him every time that he used his magic.

Star Swirl stopped, just before leaving the shadows between the buildings. He removed his cloak and threw it over top of Spark. There was no reason for Spark to inquire about Star Swirl’s action; he already knew that the cape was to cover his back. He could easily fake being a pegasus, so long as nopony asked him to fly.

A single pegasus stood guard at the dock in front of a decent sized ship. It didn’t occur to Spark until they were only a couple of meters away from the pegasus that they had no way to board the ship. It could require tickets, or payments, or it might only be available to ponies who were working on that particular ship. He could only hope that Star Swirl had a plan.

“Could we gain passage on this ship?” Star Swirl asked.

Some plan. Spark sighed, holding back his critical evaluation of Star Swirl’s attempt to get on the ship.

“I ain’t allowin’ no freeloaders on mah ship.” the pegasus replied, shaking his head. His voice was a bit raspy and fairly deep. His accent was very thick as well, making it slightly challenging for Spark to understand him, however, Star Swirl seemed to have no problem. It made sense to Spark, Star Swirl had done some traveling before meeting Spark, so this accent might not have been so foreign to him.

“Your ship? Am I to presume that you are the captain of this vessel?” Star Swirl asked.

“And proud of it.” the pony smiled smugly.

“Forget it. He won’t let us onboard.” Spark said quietly.

The captain stared at Spark for a few seconds without blinking. As the time passed, his eyes widened as if he was having an idea. Finally he spoke, “An earth pony? How in Tartarus’re you alive?”

“I- I’m no earth pony.” Spark stuttered back, fearing that the captain would give him up to the Constellar ponies.

“Well ain’t that a shame. I woulda given ya a ride if ya were, just ta spite them bastards.” the captain sighed, shaking his head solemnly. “Are ya sure that you ain’t just hiding it with that there cape?” The captain spread his wings and flew above Spark, giving his wings a hard flap and knocking the cloak off of the earth pony. “Welcome aboard.”

Star Swirl smiled, realizing that they weren’t alone in fighting against the Constellar ponies. “You know, I was beginning to fear that everypony had given up hope and become submissive to the Constellar ponies.”

“Not ever’pony.” the captain replied. “Mah name’s Cap’n Hoofwind and Ah’ll getcha outa here, no prob’em.”

“Thank you, Captain.” Star Swirl said with a nod, following Hoofwind as the led the pair onto his ship.

As they walked through the ship, Spark was the center of attention of everypony in the crew. He could over hear some of the ponies making hushed remarks, such as, “He really did it,” and, “They’re still alive.” The second comment, he could easily attribute to the fact that he was an earth pony, but the first one was a mystery to him. The tone suggested surprise, but was it positive or negative?

Hoofwind led the ponies into a room that had a plaque over the door, “Captain’s Cabin.” Once they were inside and the door had been closed, Hoofwind pointed the ponies to a couple of seats in the room and sat down himself. “This’s mah ship, but Ah’m lettin’ ya’ll on board on a couple o’ conditions. Ya’ll ain’t gonna attract too much attention; it’ll be safer that way.”

A few moments of silence passed before anypony spoke again. Spark’s silence was mostly due to the lack of trust for Hoofwind. Back home, he could trust ponies because of the fact that he wasn’t being hunted down and he didn’t have to worry about saving Sonnet. Here though, everything was different and there was no room for misplaced trust. For all Spark knew, Hoofwind was going to take him straight to the Constellar ponies.

“Why are you helping us?” Spark finally asked.

“Mah wife and daughter were earth ponies.” Hoofwind said quietly. “Needless ta say, they aren’t around an’more.”

His content for the Constellar ponies made more sense, but just like with the gryphon, it was a possibility that he was lying. Spark decided to play along, but to be ready for betrayal at any moment. On the possibility that Hoofwind was telling the truth, they would hopefully make it to Sonnet before it was too late.

“So, where exactly do ya’ll need ta go?” Hoofwind asked after regaining his composure. “I can pretty much getcha an’where ya need ta get here in Equus.”

“Equus?” Star Swirl asked.

“It’s the name of the world.” Hoofwind replied, shaking his head. “I shoulda known that ya’ll were from somewhere else, ain’t no earth ponies left. No way, no how.”

“We came through a misfired magical spell.” Star Swirl explained, earning himself a dark glared from Spark for revealing too much to a stranger. “I thought that we were just moved to another nation, but it appears that we may have traversed our way between dimensions. The world, at least where we’re from, is called Equestria, which is also the name of our home nation.”

“Ah see. Well, now that we’ve got that settled, where do ya’ll need ta go?” Hoofwind asked again.

“North. We need to head off the Constellar ponies before they make it all the way up to the Frozen North.” Spark stated.

“Head ‘em off? What do ya’ll plan ta do when you see ‘em again?” Hoofwind asked, bringing up a point that hadn’t completely crossed Spark’s mind at that point. What was he going to do? Ask them politely to let Sonnet go? Kick a rock at them? Star Swirl had mentioned earth pony magic, but Spark didn’t know the first thing about actually doing it. Or did he?

“I read a book about earth pony magic before arriving here.” Spark replied after a few moments of silence. “If the magic from Equestria is anything like the magic that can be done here, then I can learn it.”

“I see.” Hoofwind responded quietly before taking a step toward the door. He pushed the door open and shouted out to the members of his crew, “Weigh anchor and prepare ta set sail fer north!”

“Thank you.” Star Swirl stated as Hoofwind came back in to his cabin.

“Now I gotta question fer ya, Mr. Earth Pony. Do ya know what kinda magic yer good at?” Hoofwind asked, sitting down at a desk and pulling out a book.

“What do you mean, ‘what kind of magic’?” Spark asked back, watching as Hoofwind flipped through the pages with a reasonable level of caution.

“Mah wife Shera was capable o’ using fire based spells.” Hoofwind continued, stopping on a certain page and looking up at Spark. “So, what can ya do?”

“Uh…” Spark hesitated. He hadn’t tried anything out yet, how was he supposed to know that? “What are the possibilities?”

“Fire, earth, air, water, light, and ‘bout another dozen or so less common ones.” Hoofwind replied. “Mah daughter had light an’ could blind a pony easy.”

“I haven’t tried yet, so I don’t know.” Spark shook his head.

“Well, on the chance that it’s water, here’d be a good place ta start learnin’. If yer lucky, you’ll be able to use water, pegasi have a hard time flying when they’re wet, Constellar ponies ain’t no exception neither.” Hoofwind explained, getting back up and opening the cabin door, leading both Star Swirl and Spark out into the open air again. “We should be far ‘nough away fer it ta be safe fer ya’ll.”

Hoofwind waved his crew away slightly, informing them of what was about to happen. They all happily obliged, ecstatic about being able to see an earth pony cast a spell. There was a quiet murmur making it way around the crew, not quite loud enough for Spark to make out any of what was being said.

Spark began recalling upon what he had read in the book. Step one, steady breathing patterns. Step two, vision what you want to accomplish. Step three, act on that vision.

Spark took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and imagined a spout of water rising up beside the ship. When he opened his eyes, he was disheartened to see that the water had not been bent to his will. He tried again, failing just as he had the previous time.

“Ah did say that most ponies could only use one kinda magic.” Hoofwind laughed, causing the rest of the crew to laugh. It was the kind of laugh that was shared between friends and it made Spark feel a little more comfortable.

“I guess you did.” Spark replied, scratching his head with his hoof. “At least I know what my magic is not.”

Spark looked over at Star Swirl, who smiled back at him. He could only assume that it was because he was doing a little better as far as not letting everything get to him. So far, Star Swirl had mostly focused on just getting Spark to think before acting.

“Captain!” started one pegasus, gliding down from the crow’s nest and hovering in front of Hoofwind. “I can see them off the coast. It looks like a scouting group.”

“It seems our plans’ve jus’ changed. Constellar ponies are waitin’ fer ya along to shoreline. I’m afraid that if we drop ya’ll off there, they’ll kill ya.” Hoofwind turned to a member of the crew and addressed him, “Crusher, Ah need ya to take the helm and take us west, toward Hawks Island.”

“Aye, aye Captain.” replied a pony, giving Hoofwind a quick salute before flying up to the helm of the ship. “Prepare for a hard turn to Port!”

The ship gave a sudden jerk to the left and they changed course. At least three ponies lost their hoofing and fell onto the deck of the ship. The remainder of the crew went to work making sure that the ship would be able to handle the sharp turn. They were hard at work keeping everything on the ship in its right place.

Once the ship was level again, Star Swirl addressed Captain Hoofwind. “You mentioned going to Hawks Island? Where exactly is that?”

“More importantly, how are we going to get from there to head off the Constellar ponies?” Spark asked, not giving Hoofwind a chance to answer.

“Hawks Island is the first in a chain o’ islands that lie north east o’ here. Upon reaching ‘em, the inhabitants should be able ta help ya’ll intercept the Constellar ponies on their way north.” Hoofwind explained before flying up to the helm of the ship and standing next to the pony that he had addressed as Crusher a few moments earlier.

Crusher was a red pony with a dark brown mane. From what Spark could see, he was adept at managing the ship, but still needed supervision over something, or else Hoofwind wouldn’t have approached him like that. Just as Hoofwind started back in our direction, he was intercepted by a pony who had a mane unlike any that Spark had ever scene.

Her mane was made up of three different colors, red, yellow, and blue. Her mane was messy and unkempt upon first glance, but after exchanging a few quiet words with Hoofwind, she flew past Spark at a blinding speed and he was able to see that her mane was made to look like that intentionally. Her coat was a dark blue and her eyes a bright pink. Her cutie mark was of a cloud with a section that almost looked like it was being kicked out. Spark assumed that it meant her special talent was weather and the manipulation thereof.

The mare took off into the sky, leading a group of four more ponies, made up of two stallions and two more mares. Together they started to use their wings to create a gust of wind to give the ship in increased forward momentum. The ship made a noticeable increase in speed before the five ponies returned, the mare landing next to Spark and Star Swirl.

“We should be there by sunrise tomorrow morning.” the mare stated, waiting by the newcomers for Hoofwind to finally get back to them.

“Thank ya, Gale.” Hoofwind stated before turning to Spark. “I think that it would be pretty good fer you if ya’ll two were ta get some rest before we reach Hawks Island. Ya’ll will need it before we get there, ‘cause once we land, ya ain’t gonna get ta rest until ya’ll make it ta the mainland again.”

“Thank you for the offer.” Star Swirl responded with a nod before following Hoofwind into a cabin that had several cots for ponies to sleep on. Spark was just behind them, but he didn’t plan on sleeping until he was with Sonnet again. It wouldn’t feel right, knowing that she was in danger and he was getting a good night’s rest.

He and Star Swirl silently rested their heads on the cots that they had chosen to lie down on. It wasn’t long before Star Swirl had fallen into a much needed slumber, letting out the occasional grunt and, even rarer, snore. Spark however, stared upward thinking about every great experience that he had shared with Sonnet. Every joke and laugh that came in response, every silent conversation that brought them closer to one another, every time that he did something silly and made a foal of himself and she would play, along as though it was intentional. He remembered every tear that they had shed together and how, even in their darkest moments, they were always there for each other.

He remembered the strength and courage that his sister had shown one day when he and Sonnet were out and a wild manticore attacked. Violet came in and subdued the beast with a single combative spell that she had created herself on the off chance that something dangerous came to the village. She had found the strength to protect the ponies that were important to her, and yet he, her little brother, was helpless at the hooves of a few winged fiends. There was hardly anything in either world that he wanted more than to save Sonnet from whatever fate the Constellar ponies had in store for her. The only exception being that it wouldn’t have ever been necessary in the first place.

If it hadn’t been for his insatiable need to fulfill his stupid dream, she would have been fine. None of this would have ever happened. Star Swirl would have probably finished his teleportation spell where his actual students, the princesses, could have helped to support him. After all, they defeated that draconequus that had been dominating Equestria for so long.

Even still, Spark was surrounded by greatness no matter where he went. Violet, his sister and all of her incredible talent and her even more incredible heart was what he always had to live up to at home. Now he was with the great Star Swirl the Bearded, possibly the most powerful unicorn to ever live and teacher of the two princesses. Sonnet, a pony so pure of heart that she had never voiced a negative thought her entire life and whose song could bring a light like no other into the hearts of everypony who could hear it.

As Spark thought, he began to notice that the rocking of the ship steadily more and more rough as time passed. Eventually, he was knocked off of the cot that he had been laying on the whole time. Seconds later, Star Swirl followed suit, awakening him with a start.

“Son of a-” Star Swirl grunted, rubbing his hoof against his head. “Hitch. What the buck?”

The mare who had led the team in giving the ship a boost glided into the room. “You two, we need you to come up on deck. We’re having some issues making the transition right now in the storm.” Gale stated, dragging Spark behind her as she started toward the exit.

Spark passed from the warmth of the ship’s interior into the heavy downpour of rain and gale force winds that had overtaken the once blue sky outside. It was dramatically colder and the clouds made it dark enough so that it was a challenge to see much of anything. Spark almost instantly lost sight of Gale once she had let go of his hoof.

A flash of lightning lit up the sky, accompanied by a heavy, earth shaking boom of thunder. The lightning had given Spark the chance that he needed, letting him see that the ponies who were onboard the ship were all dispersed about, working on various tasks that were required to hold the ship together. He could also see that Gale was up by the crow’s nest, speaking to a pony who had just landed there. It looked like it was Crusher.

Another flash of lightning revealed Crusher flying up into the sky and Gale swooping back down toward Spark and Star Swirl, who had just managed to catch up. “Listen,” Gale started, “I need you two to help the Captain keep us on course. In weather like this, it’s hard to keep a ship going where you want her to.”

Just as Gale finished speaking, a third flash of lightning lit up the sky and Spark was able to make out a shape falling down toward the water. It was Crusher; he had been struck while flying up there, no life was left in the charred corpse that splashed into the water though. Regardless of the lack of hope, one of the ponies who had helped Gale previously dove after Crusher, but sadly, the next flash revealed that he returned empty hoofed.

“Go!” Gale shouted, reiterating the importance of the task.

Without a single word of argument, Spark hurried up toward where the helm of the ship was located. As he did, he was able to make out Hoofwind pulling on the wooden wheel. The stallion’s hooves were digging into the wooden surface of the ship. Spark quickly grabbed hold of the wheel where the captain was holding and tried to assist him in steering the ship.

Star Swirl soon joined the pair, using his magic to take the wheel to its proper position and hold it there. Hoofwind quickly left them, giving only the instruction to “Hold ‘er steady!” Within a few moments though, they were rejoined by Gale, who seemed to have relaxed a bit.

Soon the ship was moving on a much steadier path, despite the storm not letting up. Spark grew curious of how that was, inspiring him to look over the edge of the ship, only to see the water growing farther away. They were going up.

Within moments the clouds that the ship was set to be passing through were cleared by a group of pegasi that had been flying above the ship. The blue sky was a welcomed change, but the last few moments had left Spark with more questions than he was ready to process.

“B- but… how?” Spark asked in disbelief.

“How else were we going to get to Hawks Island?” Gale replied calmly, letting out a long held back sigh of relief. “Oh, right, you guys are from another world.”

“That we are.” Star Swirl replied, muting his magic and holding the wheel with his hooves.

“So here’s the deal, Hawks Island and all of its neighboring Islands are a group of islands that float above the surface of Equus. Our ship is one that is specifically designed to be able to be lifted by just the right kind of winds, winds which are almost exclusively found in that perpetual storm that we just passed through. It’s dangerous; sometimes we lose ponies, like today. Crusher was a good stallion, but he just wasn’t experienced enough for the voyage.” Gale explained as an enormous float rock came into view.

Spark had never seen such a pure blue sky before in his life. As his eyes drifted down from the sky, he found himself mesmerized by a stream of water that poured over the edge of Hawks Island, right down into the storm clouds below. There were still so many questions that he wanted answers for, but everypony needed a while to catch their breath and prepare for what was in store next.

Chapter 6

Once the ship was docked and tied off, everypony on board disembarked. Hoofwind bid his passengers farewell, suggesting that Gale accompany them as he made his way to a bar where he could get himself what he had called, “Some well-deserved cider.”

Gale gladly obliged to Hoofwind’s request of her and led Spark and Star Swirl across an open, uncultivated area of the island before reaching a small village that, at least to Spark, looked no bigger than his own. There was very little to see aside from the inhabitants of the village, which included pegasi, gryphons, and even hippogryphs. Spark had always heard that gryphons and ponies didn’t quite get along and that it had always been that way, but clearly, on this world, there was a significant difference. Otherwise, there wouldn’t have been any hippogryphs, after all, they are part pony and part gryphon.

Spark was amazed to see all of the sights around him. He had never seen a sky as clear as the one above him at that very moment. Back home, it was up to Violet and his parents to maintain reasonable weather, but they also had other tasks that they would need to handle on a day to day basis. In a place with so many pegasi, there was bound to be at least one weather team working at pretty much any time.

“So, how many times have you been here?” Spark asked, breaking the lasting silence that had started when they had left the port.

“I was actually born and raised here. I joined Hoofwind’s crew a couple of years ago out of the need to see the rest of the world, sadly because of the Constellar ponies, he’s been talking about calling it quits and staying up here.” Gale explained as she led the pair into a small building that had a sign hanging over the door. The sign depicted a balloon.

“Why would he choose to stay up here? Doesn’t he have a home back down closer to the ground?” Spark asked, following Gale around a counter in the store.

“Yes, he does, but you see, the Constellar ponies don’t usually come up here.” Gale explained as she looked at an assortment of keys hanging underneath of the counter.

“Is there any reason why?” Star Swirl inquired.

“No reason that I know of. They just don’t come up here.” Gale shrugged. “Some ponies have theorized that they gain their powers from being closer to the ground, what other reason would they have for descending from the stars?”

“I read about that.” Star Swirl replied. “What can you tell me about when they first arrived on Equus?”

“Not much, I was only a filly at the time, but I do remember a lot of ponies were scared. Some ponies left here and never came back.” Gale continued. “Now’s probably not the best time to talk. I’m going to get us a balloon and take you to the next island over, Ravens Isle.”

“How long do we have until we set out?” Spark asked, looking around the room.

“I’m not certain, but you should have some time to explore, just make sure that you come back here within a couple of hours to check in.” Gale explained as she lifted a key from under the counter. “It will take a little while to get the required supplies for taking one of these things out to Ravens Isle.”

“Are you certain that you can just take one of them?” Star Swirl asked, seeing as Gale was almost making it out to seem like a covert operation.

“Yes. My family owns the store. My dad should be back before we go if you want to check with him, but he’ll just agree with me.” Gale smiled confidently.

Spark nodded before heading out of the store with Star Swirl. They weren’t entirely sure what the differences between this world and their world were, but it was clear that there would be a lot of learning involved.

Star Swirl headed off into a small bookstore that was next door to the hot air balloon rental that they were just in. Spark was more interested in exploring the world and learning about it first hoof. He made his way to the edge of the floating island and looked over the side, seeing the dark storm clouds that separated him from the surface of Equus. The clouds would light up with the occasional bolt of lightning.

There was some familiarity with this world, while at the same time, it was completely foreign. There were so many things that both Sonnet and Violet would love to see. The open skies and scenery that was far beyond anything that anypony in Stable had ever imagined; something that Sonnet would have loved to see. As for Violet, the magic alone would have fascinated her, the flying ships and the accuracy of the pegasi during the manipulation of the weather would have inspired her to improve her own weather magic.

“Hang in there Sonnet, I’ll save you.” Spark whispered to himself as he made his way back to the hot air balloon building. He would rather be there as soon as possible than explore this new world without Sonnet by his side.

As Spark walked back into the building, Gale stepped out from a back room. She looked at him silently for a few seconds, unable to hide her sympathy for what he was going through. It was clear that she wanted to say something, but she remained silent, as though the words were lost to her. In the end, it was Spark who initiated the conversation.

“I was told that the Constellar Ponies were taking Sonnet north. Is there any reason why they would go that far before doing anything?” Spark asked.

“I don’t know if it’s true, but I’ve heard that they are stronger up there. I don’t know exactly why, but I’ve always assumed that it has to do with the clearer skies in that area.” Gale explained as she approached Spark.

“I thought that they gained more power from being closer to the world itself. Isn’t that why they left the stars?” Spark continued, gaining more questions for every answer that he was given.

“It is, but it isn’t. They gain power from the earthly magic that your kind has. The reason that they need clear skies is that the stars have healing properties for them, although I’m not sure what good that does. After all, the Constellar Ponies are immortal, they can’t even be injured.” Gale paused, noticing that this information visibly distressed Spark. “But don’t worry, there has to be some reason for them killing the earth ponies in the past, otherwise they wouldn’t have.”

“I feel that hearing that information is probably the last thing that Spark wants to hear. I think that I may have found the weakness of the Constellar Ponies.” Star Swirl stated as he walked into the building, joining in with the conversation.

Gale became silent again for a few seconds before opening a door and gesturing for Spark and Star Swirl to follow her through it. On the other side there was a hot air balloon, filled up and ready to go. Once everypony was on board, Gale tugged on the rope that held the balloon to the ground, letting it lift up into the air.

As the balloon gained altitude, Gale began to manipulate the gases that the balloon was taking in, forcing it to move in the direction that she wanted it to. It wasn’t long before another island came into view. It was smaller than the first and was comprised entirely of woodlands. Spark could faintly make out what appeared to be a bridge on the far side of the island.

“This is where I have to leave you. I promise that if I find anything out about your marefriend, Spark, I’ll send word to you straight away.” Gale stated as she lowered the balloon so that the edge of the border touched against the stony cliff of the floating island.

Spark and Star Swirl climbed out of the balloon and onto the grassy ground of the island. “Anything else before we head on out?” Star Swirl asked, checking to make sure they could be ready for anything.

“You’ll need to make your way across the island to the bridge on the western side. From there, you can cross over onto the third island, Ibis Island. You can find a pony there by the name of Mist Chaser. She has a meeting in the Crystal Empire in two days, so she should be setting sail by nightfall, so hurry.” Gale said, leaving them with just the short parting message.

“Aye.” Star Swirl state with a nod as Gale drifted out of earshot. “Now, that leaves us with three hours by my guess. As to who would want to set sail at night: that much is beyond me.”

“Come on!” Spark shouted back, having already traveled a short distance into the underbrush.

“Relax, by my estimation, it should only take us about half an hour to traverse this island.” Star Swirl stated, galloping up to Spark’s side. “You didn’t test to see if you had any magic while we were on Hawks Island, did you?”

“No.” Spark replied, still moving forward at a continuous rate. “Why?”

Star Swirl shook his. “No reason other than the fact that you were told that your magic might work better on land. We’ve got the time and the privacy, so why not give it a go?”

Spark stopped. As much as he wanted to avoid distractions, if he could use magic, than he could gain that much of an advantage on the Constellar Ponies. He would have a better chance of saving Sonnet. It wasn’t like getting to the ship two and a half hours early would make it leave earlier.

“Fine.” Spark said, a sting of resentment in his voice.

Spark closed his eyes so tight that they began to hurt as he attempted to use the magic that Hoofwind had mentioned. He wasn’t sure about how to cast it, seeing as he had never been able to before, but unicorns could do it from birth so there couldn’t have been that much to it. Or at least so he thought. Violet had always told him that in the beginning, it required a lot of huffing and puffing with some concentration thrown in for good measure.

A few minutes passed as Spark grew tired from the effort that he was putting forth. He wasn’t feeling any different than he was before he started trying to use the magic. It wasn’t like there was any guarantee that he would even be able to, after all, he was from a whole other world. The hope for using magic left Spark as he slowly opened his eyes, only to see Star Swirl staring at the ground.

“Incredible…” Star Swirl stated, nodding to the ground so that Spark would look down. “You managed, not only to affect the ground around you, but to lift a chunk out.”

Star Swirl was right, there was, what appeared to be a crater between the two ponies. Spark began to look around for the missing piece of stone, confused as to what happened to it, until he looked up. There was a stone the size of a full grown mare sitting in the upper branches of a nearby tree.

“Did I… did I do that?” Spark asked, unsure of what to think.

Star Swirl nodded. “Yes, it would seem that you’re a natural when it comes to this stuff.”

Spark dug a hoof into the ground and tried again, keeping his eyes open this time, hoping to see his work in action. Just as Star Swirl said, three or four small stones lifted off of the ground and began circling around Spark before launching into the sky. He then turned his attention to the large stone that was still resting in the tree, carefully lowering it back into its place in the ground, going so far as to make it seem as though the stone was never moved in the first place.

His dream had finally come true, but he wasn’t nearly as happy as he had imagined that he would be. What was the point in being happy without Sonnet there to share his joy with? Star Swirl may have been his hero, but he wasn’t the kind of friend that a pony would just casually hang out with, he was more of a supervisor, the adult who you spend some time with, who makes sure that you don’t get into too deep of trouble. If Sonnet or Violet were there then he would be feeling an entirely different emotion. As it was, she would probably never believe him about any of what had transpired over the past couple of days.

If Sonnet was there to share that moment with him… But without her having been lost, he might have never been able to use the magic in the first place. He was torn by guilt; enjoying something that came as a result of losing her was unforgiveable in his mind.

“We don’t have time to enjoy the moment.” Spark said, stomping a hoof to the ground. “Maybe if we get there early, Mist Chaser can set out early. If he knows what’s going on, he’ll have to help us.”

“I understand. You miss her terribly. I swear to you, I will not stop until the two of you are home, safe and sound.” Star Swirl stated, galloping ahead of Spark, leading him toward the location of the bridge.

Luckily for both ponies, there was a clear path down the middle of the island, leading straight to the bridge on the western side. This kept them out of the way of the hazardous roots that crawled across the forest floor. They could afford to pay all of their attention to their forward progress as opposed to constantly watching where their hooves came down.

The forest sang with the songs of birds and frogs, creating a familiar ambience to what could be heard in Equestria. This familiarity was welcomed by both Spark and Star Swirl, as they made their way toward the next island. For Spark, each step brought him closer to Sonnet and home. For Star Swirl, he had sworn to help Spark, and that was a very serious matter. Some ponies would deviate from their vows, but Star Swirl was not one such pony. A promise was something sacred, and he would never turn his back on one, nor would he stand by idly and watch somepony else do the same.

The bridge came into view before too long, and with it, a single pony, hovering over one of the side rails. The bridge itself was a marvelous construction, stretching what appeared to be three to four hundred meters, sustained only by the pieces of land it connected and the shimmering of magic that appeared every few meters. The stonework consisted of a glossy white marble, and enchanted gems on the railing to produce light as a safety precaution.

The pony waved into the distance, beckoning Spark and Star Swirl nearer. There was a certain air about him, something was off, and Spark knew it. It wasn’t like there was anywhere else for them to go though, the pony was blocking their path, and the only way off of the island that wouldn’t result in death.

Star Swirl was the first to speak, approaching the mysterious pegasus. “Is there something that you need?”

“Cap’n Hoofwind sent me up here with some news for you two. A couple ponies from a northern city arrived on the island shortly after our ship did.” Spark then realized that he had seen the pegasus onboard the ship that they had used to go to Hawks Island. “After talking with them, he sent me straight here to meet with you two.”

“Why?” Spark asked impatiently. They didn’t have the time to waste on somepony who was going to beat around the bush as opposed to getting to the point.

“The couple saw Constellar Ponies dragging along a cart.” Spark’s heart sank in anticipation of the next words. “Inside was a blue earth pony mare. She was… she was dead.”

“No!” Spark screamed at the pegasus. “She isn’t dead! Sonnet can’t be dead!”

As Spark shouted, rocks began to rise from the ground, spinning around the earth pony at dizzying rates. A cloud of dust began to rise, covering up the continued screams from the pony within. The pegasus backed off, letting the wind push him away until he felt he was at a safe distance. Star Swirl tried to shout to Spark, but his voice was unable to reach him.

After a few minutes, the storm of rocks died down, revealing Spark lying on the ground, curled up and crying. Star Swirl waved the pegasus away before trying to approach Spark in hopes of comforting him. He gently placed a hoof on the earth pony’s back, hoping to get his attention, but was unable to get a response.

“Spark, listen to me, you have to get up.” Star Swirl stated as he used his magic to lift Spark off of the ground. “The least that we can do is find her. With any luck, she might still be alive. I’m sure that those ponies only saw from a distance, surely the Constellar Ponies didn’t let the check for a pulse. For all we know, she was just sleeping.”

Spark looked up at Star Swirl, his vision blurred by the streams of tears that continued draining from his eyes. He attempted to nod and stand up, but was unable to find the strength, simply falling back to the ground when Star Swirl let go. Another attempt to stand ended with Spark on his hooves, but stationary for a few minutes before Star Swirl gave him a nudge forward.

“What’s the point in trying… if she’s already dead?”

Chapter 7

Star Swirl led Spark to the large island of Ibis. The streets were densely packed, at least for a community that size. There were a couple dozen ponies roaming the streets as Star Swirl led the search for Mist Chaser. Most of the ponies on the island seemed to be unicorns, unlike the first island.

“I bet most of these ponies bought passage on board a ship like Hoofwind’s to come here.” Star Swirl mused.

Spark just trudged along silently, almost as though he were a zombie. His expression was blank, which, at least for Star Swirl was an improvement upon the crying that he had dealt with when crossing the bridge.

Star Swirl caught up to a stallion, “Do you happen to know where I can find a pony by the name of Mist Chaser?”

“Misty? Yeah, but a pony like you probably wants to stay as far away from somepony like her as you can.” the stallion laughed.

“I was told that she was going to the Crystal Empire, and that she might be able to help us get there.” Star Swirl argued.

“That she might. Well, if you’re as sure about this as it sounds like you are, I can take you to where she usually sets up dock.” the stallion stated as he started down a side street.

Star Swirl followed the stallion, practically dragging Spark along after him as they made their way down the narrow road. “So,” Star Swirl started, “what exactly makes Mist Chaser the kind of pony that I would avoid? You hardly know anything about me, so either that is a radical assumption, or it holds true for almost everypony.”

“Here’s the deal, she isn’t the sanest pony to ever sail the skies. Rumor is that the Constellars did something to her head back before the whole ‘kill all the earthies’ thing.” the stallion explained, stopping at a dead end in the alley. “She claims that they did things to her, most ponies think that she’s full of horse apples, but her crew believes her. So naturally, they have to be just as crazy.”

“Why’d you lead us to this dead end?” Star Swirl asked, bracing himself as he prepared for the worst.

“I know who, or more appropriately, what your friend is. Not only that, but I’ll let you in on a secret. Nine out of ten ponies here, are only here because when the Constellars came to Equus, we gave up every earthy that we knew. The other tenth were foals born to those of us who helped them. As a result, the Constellars gave us exceptional treatment.” As the unicorn said this, his horn lit up a vibrant green and he lifted Spark off of the ground.

“Spark!” Star Swirl shouted. “You have to fight back!”

“What’s the point?” Spark asked quietly as he was lifted higher into the air. “Sonnet’s gone… She was my reason for living.”

“Would this Sonnet happen to be the same pony as the earthy that the Constellars caught a couple days ago? If so, then she must have truly suffered considering what they needed her for.” the unicorn laughed.

“What about your sister Spark? Do you not care enough to live for her?” Star Swirl yelled, recapturing Spark’s attention. “Even if you’ve given up for yourself, you need to keep trying for her!”

The ground began to shake weakly, but slowly became more violent until the unicorn was thrown off of his hooves. As he fell, his grip on Spark was released, dropping the earth pony to the ground.

Before Spark could hit the ground, he was moved by a dark streak as a second streak slammed into the unicorn. The newly dazed unicorn tried to fight back against his attacker, but was quickly subdued by a third streak that joined in on the fight. Spark and Star Swirl were far enough back so that they were unable to discern what was happening in the shadows where the unicorn was trapped.

After a few seconds of the unicorn crying out for help, a mare stepped out from the shadows. “Name’s Mist Chaser, but you guys can call me Misty. I overheard that you’re looking for safe passage up north, is that true?”

Mist Chaser was hardly what Spark was expecting. She wasn’t a pegasus like the members of Hoofwind’s crew, nor was she a unicorn like most of the inhabitants of Ibis Island. She was a dark grey with bright yellow eyes. Her pupils were slender black slits as she stared into Spark’s eyes. Her ears were another anomaly; they came off into three feather-like points at each of their tips. Lastly were her wings, they hardly resembled those of a pegasus, they were more like the wings of a bat.

“What are you?” Spark asked, stumbling backward, trying to distance himself from the demonic looking pony.

“She’s a bat pony.” Star Swirl stated quietly as he stared at Misty. “Quite the rare site back home. They mostly live in the immense caverns of the southern wasteland.”

“Actually, we prefer thestral; ‘bat pony’ is more of a term for those who fear us, of which there is no need of you to do.” Misty explained as she smiled gently, revealing small fangs on either side of her smile. “Anywho, is it true about you needing a ride to the mainland?”

“Yes, we hope to intercept some Constellar Ponies who have captured my companion’s marefriend.” Star Swirl explained.

“Fighting the Cons?” Misty asked deviously, “Count me in. I’ll take the two of you as far as you need to go. I’m used to flying into Con territory; they ain’t nearly bad enough to scare me away.”

“Cons?” Star Swirl asked, as Misty led the pair out of the alley and down the main street once again.

The street had even more ponies standing on it at that point, each one glaring at Star Swirl and Spark as they made their way through the town. Spark was sure that they would have attacked if it wasn’t for the fact that four more thestrals were keeping a close eye on the group, looking out for potential threats. If what the first unicorn had said was true, then everypony in this town gave up earth ponies for safety and privilege from the Constellar Ponies.

“That’s what we call the Constellar Ponies. Just call them that, everypony knows what it means. Well, everypony but you that is.” Misty laughed. “I guess that the rumors are true. Three ponies came from the sky, foreigners to our world. Just let me say, ‘Welcome to Equus,’ where we have demons falling from the sky rather than rising from the depths of Tartarus.”

“You make it sound so charming.” mocked one of the thestrals that was watching over the group. “Best watch out, lest you scare these poor ponies away.”

“Yeah, whatever.” Misty laughed back, sticking her tongue out at the mocking thestral. “But seriously, before the Cons came here, our worst fears were of the boogeymare hiding under our beds. But to be honest, the only ones that are really in danger now are the earth ponies and those willing to help them. That means you guys need to watch out, just like we do, ‘cause the boogeymare is done hiding under the bed, and she’s out for blood.”

“We both understand the dangers of being here, and neither of us came to this world by choice, we just want to find Sonnet so that we may return home.” Star Swirl explained.

“I’m going to assume that Sonnet is the missing marefriend?” Misty asked, getting a silent nod from Spark as confirmation. “Well, tell me this, if you don’t mind. Why on Equus would the Cons take an earth pony alive if they were just going to kill her? They aren’t the type to drag along a corpse.”

“Doesn’t sound that smart to me.” laughed the thestral who had mocked Misty earlier.

“You’re right Specter; it doesn’t sound intelligent, much like most of the things that come out of your mouth.” Misty remarked.

It was clear to Spark that the thestrals in Misty’s crew were fairly candid with each other. Her crew seemed to be less of a group of coworkers, and more a family that spoke freely with one another. It was much more lighthearted than Hoofwind’s crew appeared to be. None of Hoofwind’s crew would have dared to speak with him in such a way that Specter was talking with Misty, not to mention the use of shortened names.

“You aren’t much for formalities, are you?” Star Swirl asked.

“By law, we’re criminals, by morality, we’re heroes. If I were to die standing up for what is right, then don’t want myself to be the only leader that these dopes had. I want any one of them to be able to stand up and take my place, so no, we’re not very formal.” Misty answered as they neared a set of docks.

There was only one ship and it was smaller than Hoofwind’s, but not by too much. Several ponies were already trotting about on the ship, all of whom were thestrals. As they neared the ship, Misty waved Spark and Star Swirl on ahead of her leaving them under the watch of Specter while she looked around. Spark assumed that she was looking to see if they were followed. A few seconds later she galloped after them.

“I think we’ve got a good ten minutes before they are able to get the Cons here. Spec, hoist the anchor; Rogue, unfurl the sails; I’ll take the helm!” Misty shouted as the thestrals glided around to their positions.

As the ship started sailing out from the confines of the docks, Spark made his way to the edge, looking over the gunwale that kept ponies from falling overboard. He stared down, only able to see the dark clouds that separated the islands from the surface of Equus. Something that Misty had said was sticking in his mind.

“Cons aren’t the type to drag along a corpse. If that’s true, why would they? Maybe the ponies who thought that she was dead were wrong.” Spark pondered as he looked out over the world.

Hours passed and those thoughts continued to dominate his mind. It would have been completely pointless for them to take her along if she wasn’t alive, which brought up a question. What did they want with her, if not to kill her? As he attempted to think up an answer to that question, he heard Misty start yelling.

“All right everypony, we’re about to take the first drop!” she shouted, alerting everypony onboard the ship.

“First drop?” Star Swirl asked concerned about what it could mean.

“There are three drops before we reach sea level. I’d suggest you hold onto something. This’ll be fun.” Misty said with a giant grin on her face.

Seconds after Misty spoke, the ship dropped for an extended distance. The thought that the ship had lost its ability to fly in the air crossed Spark’s mind as they plummeted downward. The sudden altitude change made Spark’s head spin as the ship pulled up suddenly and caught itself.

The water was now in sight and there land far off in the distance. The clouds were once again above the ship, of at least some of them were. A significant number lingered beneath the flying ship, but not enough to completely obscure the view of the ocean below.

“What was that?” Spark gasped out, having finally managed to get in a good enough breath to allow him to speak.

“That was the first drop. We are now cruising at an altitude of just over four and a half kilometers. After the second drop, which won’t be for another fifteen minutes or so, we’ll be at a little less than two and a half kilometers above sea level. Finally, the third and last drop will put us back on the water.” Misty explained as she flung her now wild looking mane back into order.

“I was expecting something… a little more… slow.” Star Swirl said with a weak look on his face.

“I don’t do slow. And if you’re gonna get sick, please do so on Specter.” Misty laughed as she wrapped a hoof around the unicorn.

“Screw you!” Specter called out as he brought over a bucket as a precautionary measure.

“I think that I’ll be fine… for now.” Star Swirl managed to say in a quiet voice before taking a deep breath.

“Yeah, it can be rough for first timers. There are other ways to make this trip downward, but it is much more effective to just do it this way and to be honest, it’s a bit safer.” Misty stated as she made her way toward the front of the ship and started speaking to a couple of the thestrals up there.

“What’s she mean ‘safer’?” Spark asked, walking over to Star Swirl and Specter.

“Well, normally ponies sail their ships in circles while making a steady decline through the storm. The problem with that is that they stay in the storm too long and their ship takes a decent bit of damage and usually at least one injury occurs per run. With our way, somepony may get sick, but that’s about as bad as it has ever gotten.” Specter stated as he watched Misty from the distance. “Don’t let her apparent pleasant disposition trick you guys. There’s no safer place to be than with her. She used to be a guard on the Fringe, keeping its denizens out of… civilized company.”

“The Fringe?” Spark asked, unfamiliar with that location. Even Star Swirl seemed to be uncertain as to the precise location of the Fringe.

“It’s a region just south of Equestria’s Wastelands. Once you make your way through the Hive, it should only be a matter of days on hoof before you would see the border city.” Specter explained.

“What are the denizens that you speak of?” Star Swirl asked, reaffirming Spark’s belief in his uncertainty.

“The usual mostly; changelings that have been excommunicated, dragons, and some others that are less frequently spoken of. Most ponies are afraid to mention them, but as for me, I just don’t like to talk about their king. I’ve heard that he is omniscient, and doesn’t like to be misrepresented.” Specter continued upon the inquiry.

Misty flew back over to the group and looked around at them. “All right, there’s still a bit of time left before the next drop, so you’d best prepare yourself.”

Star Swirl nodded and made his way to the ship’s interior and Specter went to his previous station. “Misty?” Spark asked once they were alone.

“Yeah?” she responded as she glanced around the ship to make sure that every job was being done.

“Specter just said that you used to be a guard near the border between Equestria and the Fringe. What was it like there?” Spark asked.

Misty stayed silent for a few seconds before speaking again. “Scary. There are creatures there that you could never imagine in your worst nightmares. The Cons won’t even go there, mostly because the Fringe’s king hates them.”

“Has he fought them?” Spark asked.

“Yes, several of them at once. He may not be able to kill them due to their immortality, but they can’t kill him either. The main difference is that he is bigger than they are.” Misty explained.

It was then clear as to why the Constellar Ponies mostly stayed up north; it was to avoid the Fringe. The reason for the lack of earth ponies fleeing to the area that was vacant of Constellar Ponies was because of the other dangerous creatures that made it their home. Whatever the king was, he was a force to be reckoned with if he was obeyed by dragons and other creatures. Spark’s mind drifted to the Star Swirl mentioning the draconequus that he called “The Lord of Chaos” and the possibility that he and the king were one and the same, that was, if there could be similar entities that exist in both worlds.

“Hold up, just about a minute to go. I’ll let everypony else know really quickly.” Misty said, turning away from Spark. “Drop number two’s coming up in about a minute!”

“How do you know when we’re to a drop?” Spark asked, noticing that she wasn’t anywhere near the front of the ship either time that she had announced a drop.

“There’s a pressure change in the air that comes just before a drop. Most ponies wouldn’t notice it, but I’ve trained myself to. It took a few trips, but after a while it became pretty easy for me.”

“What is the king of the Fringe like?” Star Swirl asked, proving that he was just as curious as Spark was.

“He’s… different. Let’s just say that it’s a good thing that you are going north, as opposed to south.” Misty stated as her expression turned direr. “The king gained his power through combat expertise and intelligence. Before him, guarding the border was fairly easy, but once he took over-” Misty paused, “Dropping!”

That was about as much heads up as they were going to get before the ship plummeted down for two kilometers. The air rushed along the ship at a deafening speed, something that Spark had been ignorant of the first time due to the shock of the fall. Once again, at the end of the fall, the ship made a miraculous landing, in that it took no structural damage.

“The next drop is a bit closer than that one was.” Misty explained. “We only have a few minutes before we hit it.”

“What were you saying before?” Star Swirl asked once he composed himself. “Was it something about the king taking over?”

“Oh, yeah, sorry about that. When the king took over, he established a capitol a few kilometers from the bridge and he set up several guard towers so that he could monitor us. From what I can tell, he has no interest in taking Equestria over, or in expanding his land. He simply wants to rule over the creatures that live within the Fringe. There were a couple of times before I left that he even sent us some changelings to help hold off a rebellious bunch that wanted to take the bridge.”

“You seem to know a decent amount about this king. What is he exactly?” Star Swirl asked before Spark could do the same.

“That’s the fun part, I don’t know. He has never shown his face except to a few of the more important creatures over there. A couple of changeling queens have seen him and a few dragons, but I think that’s it.”

“Some ponies say that he’s a lost god from faraway, others think that it’s just a ploy to get us to let our guard down.” Specter stated. “I think that he’s probably just a changeling or something stupid like that.”

“The bugs are smarter than you.” another thestral laughed.

“Rogue, you are asking for death.” Specter smirked.

“You seem to all joke about him the same way, why’s that?” Spark asked, his mood being lifted by the lighthearted air around him.

“Who, Spec? He fell for a trap once and we won’t let him live it down.” Misty laughed. “Drop in ninety seconds!”

Spark and Star Swirl braced themselves against the gunwale. In a matter of seconds they impacted and water splashed up onto the deck, however, it was significantly less water that either Spark or Star Swirl would have suspected. Earlier, the lack of damage could simply be because they were not landing on water, but air.

“That was far from a rough landing.” Star Swirl commented.

“Well, my crew isn’t just thestrals; we have a couple of unicorns down in the hold for just such an occasion as this one. They only come out when we need to find out information. Only the crew knows about them.” Misty explained.

“Then why tell us?” Spark asked. Neither he nor Star Swirl were members of the crew, and on top of that, they were both strangers from a strange land.

“I’m pretty sure that I can trust you two. It isn’t that big of a deal anyway, after all, most ponies won’t talk to outsiders anymore.” Misty explained.

With that, Misty flew off to the top of the main mast and looked out over the surroundings, leaving her two guests alone. Spark wasn’t sure of what to think about the thestral, but he felt like she was one of the safest ponies to be around. Star Swirl seemed entirely too trusting of the ponies of this world though for his taste.

There wasn’t a lot to do for the passengers aside from trying not to get in the way of the crew. As a result, Spark simply walked to the edge and leaned over the railing, his forelegs hanging limply. Without Misty creating a distraction, his mind had returned to Sonnet. He wondered if Star Swirl had been right when saying that she was alive. There really couldn’t have been a point to drag around a… dead body, could there? But then again, very little made sense since their arrival in Equus, and it only served to make him miss home even more.

Land was already in sight from the bow. A great deal of ice separated the ship from the land, but it was there. He was one step closer to finding Sonnet and bringing her home. Nothing could stop him as he felt energy course through his body. He lived by one thought, one sliver of hope.

“Sonnet is alive.”

Author's Note

Sorry for the late upload on this one. I got help back by work last night.

Chapter 7.5 Sonnet

“Whe… where am I?” the mare asked weakly as she looked around the cart that she had awoken in.

The cart was an enclosed wooden space. The only light was brought in from a barred window on the door. As the mare attempted to climb to her hooves, she noticed that she was bound by chains to the floor. Even if she wasn’t, she didn’t know whether or not she would have had the strength to stand up on her own.

Her legs were sore and damp and somewhat sticky, and her head was throbbing with a crippling pain. She could have sworn that her coat looked darker than it should have, redder, but she wasn’t sure. Not about her coat, or anything else for that matter. She remembered falling and screaming for help. A face without a name. She could connect her screaming to the face, but couldn’t recall the name to which the face belonged.

“Hello there, I’m glad to see that you are alive.” said an old sounding voice.

“Where are we?” she asked again, unable to move enough to look at the pony in the cart.

“We are going to their castle. It won’t be long now before they arrive, only a day or two left.” said the pony, who the mare was able to discern was also a mare like herself. “My name is Exuvia, what is yours?”

“I…” the mare thought for a few seconds. “I can’t remember.”

“Lost your memory? Terrible tragedy.” Exuvia stated. “Perhaps you shall regain it soon, or maybe its best you don’t.”

“What do you mean?” Just as the mare finished speaking, the cart hit a bump and her body came off of the floor and floated in air for a second before slamming back down onto the wooden planks. “Ow!” she yelped in pain as her head bounced off of the floor.

“I mean that if you can’t remember those you care about or anything about yourself, you cannot have their wellbeing used against you.” Exuvia whispered as she gently ran a hoof through the mare’s mane.

There were so many more questions that the mare wanted to ask, but the two that she’d gotten through took all of the energy that she had to spare. Instead of speaking, she chose to try to put a name to the face of whoever she was screaming for. She soon found that her thoughts were slow and her headache worsened before she finally conceded an empty victory to her pain. Tears welled up in her eyes as if she was sad, but she couldn’t recall why. The only explanation that she had was the face of the pony that she yelled for, perhaps he meant something to her, or perhaps it was just the pain that coursed through her body.

“You must rest, young mare. The Constellar ones wish for you to be at your weakest. You must not let them take you, you must fight back.” Exuvia stated as she pulled her hoof away and became silent.

The mare couldn’t find the strength to nod, so she instead followed her instructions. Moments later the cart came to a complete stop and hooves could be heard stomping outside. As the noise grew closer to the door, the mare tensed, fearful of what may come.

The door swung open and a rush of icy air flooded the room. Snow drifts were lifted by the powerful winds and thrown inside the cart. Two shadows stood in the doorway, the lack of time to adjust to the light made it hard for the mare to make out any specifics, only that both of the ponies were pegasi. In a matter of seconds she was able to discern that they were covered in blood that was not their own.

“Exuvia, are you all… right?” asked one of the ponies, his voice slowing and growing quieter as he spoke. “Is that a… an earth pony?”

“Yes, and she is quite injured. We need to take her to safety.” Exuvia replied to the stallion.

“Rip, I want you to stay back here and work on freeing her of her shackles. Firefly and I will pull the cart back south.” Exuvia commanded. Her voice no longer soft or caring as it had been when addressing the mare. “I promise that everything will be all right.” she once again spoke to the mare before shutting the door behind the stallion.

In a matter of seconds, the stallion known as Rip had shattered the metal shackles that had bound the mare. He didn’t say anything, he simply watched her as she drifted off into a world of dreams where she could feel safe.

~~~ ----- ~~~

When the mare awoke sometime later, she found that the pain was dulled. The cart was no longer moving, but the stallion that had been with her when she’d fallen asleep was missing. She could hear faint speaking outside as she attempted to climb onto her hooves. It was still painful, but she made a little progress before falling flat on her flank.

The noise must have been audible outside as Firefly poked her head into the cart before cautiously approaching the mare. Firefly was a young mare with a bright orange coat and golden eyes. Her mane was a flurry of reds and yellows that swirled together much like the fire that generated warmth and light behind her. Her companion sat around the fire, trying to ward off the chill of the northern night air, while also telling a thrilling tale of confrontation and whimsy to Firefly.

“And then I looked him dead in the eye and I said, ‘jump.’ And he did. He jumped straight onto the Con and…” Rip’s voice trailed off as his and the mare’s eyes met. He seemed slightly less grim in the flickering of the firelight than he had in the dark cart.

“Let me help you.” Firefly stated, wrapping a wing around the injured pony and helping her out of the cart and to the fire. “Are your legs feeling any better? Exuvia is out searching for another herb to speed up your recovery.”

The mare noticed that Rip’s eyes locked onto her neck, closely examining her. She glanced down to see what had caught his attention, and then she saw a necklace with a ruby as the focal point. “That’s very nice. Who got it for you?” Rip asked.

The mare stared at it in silence. In her mind she could hear a familiar stallion’s laugh, but she wasn’t sure why. “I don’t remember.”

“Exuvia had mentioned your memory loss. I’m sure that it will come back to you soon.” Firefly said reassuringly as she laid the pony down by the fire.

“We need to call you something though. You’re cutie mark is a musical note, so something related to that should do. How about Elegy?” As Rip asked this, the mare could see Firefly signal something out into the woods before returning her attention to the fire.

“I think that is a beautiful name. Wouldn’t you agree Exuvia?” Firefly asked as a unicorn mare walked out from amongst the trees.

“Quite. I was to find this root, which once ground up, may assist you in your memory.” Exuvia stated as she dropped a shriveled root before the fire. “Rip, go and acquire tools that could be useful for the task. Firefly, I want you to scout out ahead for any potential obstacles.”

Both ponies nodded in response, neither showing the slightest hesitation to follow their orders. It was clear that she was in charge and the others were entirely subservient, however, there did seem to be room for their input.

“All right. You can call me Elegy then.” the mare answered. “At least, until I remember my real name.”

“Good. We need to get moving soon, and we can’t afford the weight of pulling that thing around with us. I will help you walk until you are healed.” Exuvia told Elegy. “It won’t be long before they find this little campsite of ours.”

Author's Note

The upload schedule is being changed to Wednesday until I have finished uploading what I have written (Chapter 10.5). This change is due to my work and school schedule posing numerous problems.

Chapter 8

“Ready yourselves. The journey ahead of you will be long and dangerous.” Misty stated as she threw a hoof over Spark’s back. “Come on, we need to get to town as quickly as we can. Cons have a tendency to search vessels once they make land fall, so they won’t be far off.”

“What do you mean we need to? Aren’t you going to stay with your ship?” Star Swirl asked as he and Spark followed Misty off of her ship.

“Hell no. I’m going with you two. There’s no way I’m missing out on an adventure like this. ‘Sides, Specter can take the helm for a while. He could use the practice, right Specs?”

“With all due respect Captain, screw off.” Specter groaned as he oversaw the moving of crates to the frozen shore. “Please, take her. I’d love the peace.”

“Well, we could use a guide and you did help us get this far. You said it was going to be dangerous though, are you sure that you want to risk yourself further?”

“Me being alive is putting myself at risk.” Misty’s cheer went away in an instant, replaced with a dire tone. “It’s because of that very reason that I want to go with you. I have been training to fight these bastards most of my life, now I have a chance to make a difference, even if it is a small one. A single pony can change the course of history, and I feel like you, Spark, are that type of pony.”

Spark had mostly been thinking about what it would be like to see the love of his life again. If she was alive, which all the evidence pointed to, he would save her. He had only barely caught the tail end of their conversation, “If you say so. I just want to bring Sonnet home.”

“I do say so, so there.” Misty replied in her normal, happy tone.

“Lead the way.” Star Swirl told the thestral. “You know more about this world than I or my companion may ever know, so it is best that we follow.”

“Of course I’ll lead. I’m a born leader, and I’m great at it. As well as a few other things.” Misty laughed. “We might want to swing by and get something warm. It’ll be cold near the Empire.”

With that, Misty led the two ponies away from the docks and into the small coastal town. The snow was just beginning to fall, but the ground had already accumulated enough so that Spark’s hooves were freezing. He could tell that Star Swirl was suffering the same as he was. Misty tried flying for a little while, but even she had to land as the freezing temperatures were too much for her wings to take.

Very few ponies were outside in the snow as the trio trotted through the town. It was pretty clear as to why that was the case though, as the snow picked up and it became increasingly difficult to see where they were going. Just as the temperature was becoming unbearable, they slid inside of a building and were greeted by a young pegasus mare behind a counter.

“How may I… Mist Chaser.” the mare asked as her smiled fading into a blank expression. “What are you doing here? Last time you showed up, you were drunk and it cost me nearly four hundred bits to clean up your mess.”

“That was forever ago.” Misty said, adding an intentional slur to her speech.

“Less than a month.” the mare replied straight faced.

“I’m kidding.” Misty said with a devilish smile. “Listen, I need to get some snow gear. These two need to get to the Crystal Empire ASAP.”

“Not in this weather. The storm is only going to get worse before it gets better. We still have the place for you to stay for the night. The storm should be over by the morning.”

Spark anxiously scraped his right forehoof against the wooden floor. Waiting another day to save Sonnet was something that he didn’t want to think about. Despite his hope in her life having been revitalized, waiting any longer would simply prolong whatever suffering she was being forced to endure. He glanced at Misty, who frowned back at him.

“Sorry mate, but we can’t really manage that. Is there any way to safely go out there? We’re kinda crunched for time.” Misty said to the mare.

“What in Tartarus could be so blasted important that you would risk a blizzard for?” the mare almost shouted.

“They found one.” Misty answered quietly, trying to hide the information from prying ears.

“An earth pony?” the mare’s eyes went wide and her mouth dropped open. “Where’d you find it?”

“It came with these two.” Misty gestured to Spark and Star Swirl. “The younger one is the missing one’s coltfriend and I promised to help him find her.”

“I’m sorry.” the mare stated, not looking at Spark, but at Misty.

“There’s nothing to apologize for Front.” Misty said quietly. “We’ll be waiting for you to come up with something. If anypony can, it’s you.”

Misty turned to Spark and Star Swirl, who had both remained silent up until that point, and she signaled for them to follow her as she went through a door behind the counter. Once through, they made their way down a narrow and dimly lit set of stairs. The bottom of the stairs led them to a small room that had shelves of dried food and other various supplies. Misty pushed one of the shelves to the side and revealed a hidden room behind it.

The room was set up with about ten low quality beds pressed up against the two walls to either side. On the far wall, there was a weapon rack and a small tunnel that le out of the area. Misty was clearly familiar with the location as she trotted up to one of the beds and pulled out a small box. She stared at it in silence for a few minutes before opening it.

“These are for you.” she finally said as she gave Spark and Star Swirl each an amulet. “This one,” she gestured toward Star Swirl’s, “will restore your natural magic and hide its presence from the Cons.”

“Wait, restore?” Spark asked, surprised by the new information. “I thought that it was just a way that they could track you?”

“I didn’t want you to worry any more than you already were. But it seems that our friend here saw through my hiding.” Star Swirl responded.

“It happens to all unicorns. They never lose all of their magic, but it is reduced to levels that make levitating a stick challenging. To be honest, I’m surprise that you are still as strong as you are.” Misty then turned to Spark. “Your amulet will hide you from the eyes of Cons indefinitely. They won’t be able to sense you, or even see you for that matter. We still have the problem with traitors though, so I would still recommend keeping a low profile.”

“Why do you have these in the first place?” Spark asked.

“Did Hoofwind mention his family to you?” Misty asked after a moment of hesitation.

“Yes. He had a wife and a daughter that were killed by the Constellar Ponies, didn’t he?” Star Swirl confirmed.

“Aye. Well, his daughter was a mare named Venus. She and I were very close, and one day, while we were hiding from the Cons, a kind unicorn created that amulet to hide her using his magic. He stayed with us for a short while before the Cons caught us and he died saving our lives. That is where the amulets came from.”

Misty’s eyes were getting watery as she told the short excerpt from what was clearly a much longer story. However, due to how it clearly hurt her to talk about it, neither of the stallions was going to press with further questions. The questions that they had were possibly better left unanswered.

Misty wiped her eyes and put on a smile. “Front should be down here soon, and with any luck, she should have a plan. How about you two lay down for a few minutes? The journey ahead is going to be long and even under the best circumstances, it will be dangerous.”

“I’ll be fine. I want to be ready for when anything happens.” Spark stated as he started pacing.

As he impatiently waited for any information from Front, he silently thought about what Misty had told them. She and Venus were close. She was like him in that way, but he could only hope that it wouldn’t go as far for him as it did for her. He couldn’t imagine losing Sonnet like that.

“…ible idea.” a voice said as it came close enough for Spark to hear.

“No, it’s bloody brilliant.” a stallion said in response. “They would never suspect a thing.”

“It’s too risky.” Spark could now recognize the first voice as Front’s. “We can’t take that chance. If they go that way, there is no turning back.”

“Front,” Misty started as she glided over to where the two ponies now were. “If your brother is talking about where I think he is, he may have a point.”

“Misty, you, more than anypony, should know that it is too dangerous. You cannot tell me that you don’t remember what happened there.” Front recoiled back at hearing Misty’s response.

“There’s no better option. I’d rather not if I had any choice, but Spark needs to find the mare.” Misty stated.

“Do either of you bucks know how to use a blade?” the stallion asked.

“I am trained with most kinds of swords.” Star Swirl stated. “In fact, I taught the Royal Guard back home a good bit of what they know.”

“Royal Guard?” the stallion asked.

“There aren’t an abundance of them, but they protect the alicorn princesses.” Star Swirl explained.

Misty was now looking at the old stallion. “What’s an alicorn?”

Spark had just assumed that Equus had alicorns somewhere. Despite the fact that there were only two known alicorns in Equestria, it was still a kind of pony. It almost felt like a given that there would be at least one alicorn in Equus. At that point though, Spark just had to assume that she was in hiding.

“Alicorns are a rare type of pony where we are from. They are part unicorn, part pegasus, and part earth pony.”

“That doesn’t sound possible. How can there be a pony like that?” The stallion interjected.

“I could ask you the same question about your Constellar Ponies. However, I suppose that they came from the sun and the moon in order to better protect our world.” Star Swirl said passively.

“So you’re from another world. That explains the earth pony.” the stallion responded. “Sis, are you sure that we can trust them?”

Before the Front could respond, Misty spoke up. “Yes. You can trust them. What reason would they have to lie? He’s an earth pony; he couldn’t work with the buckers even if he wanted to.”

“You shouldn’t get so personally involved in this.” the stallion replied. “I understand how you see similarities, a second chance, but it won’t bring Venus back. Nothing will.”

“Shut your damn mouth.” Misty said, throwing a hoof into the stallion’s face. The stallion stood there, taking the punch without flinching. “You don’t understand anything, you bastard.”

“You’re out of line, Wild. That was too far.” Front added. “I think that you should go upstairs and get them all something warm for their journey.”

Wild grunted before stomping up the stairs. As the ponies awaited his return, a silent conversation commenced between Misty and Front. Spark was starting to get a better feeling for just how close Misty was to Venus. If anypony said something like that to him about either Violet or Sonnet, he would have the same reaction as she did.

“You know he didn’t mean it that way, right? He was just speaking before he thought about it, just like he always does.” Front said as she draped a wing over Misty’s back.

“He should know better by now.” Misty replied, clearly upset.

“He should. But you know him, he’s a slow learner.”

As Front spoke, Wild came back into view, carrying a bundle of scarves and coats as well as twelve boots. He silently distributed them amongst the three ponies. They quietly put on their winter weather gear as Wild left the room again, probably in an attempt to avoid getting punched a second time, as when he gave the stuff to Misty, she growled at him like a feral dog.

“Good luck everypony. Remember, if it gets too bad out there, take shelter and don’t get yourselves killed. Hypothermia isn’t fun, trust me.” Front said with a sheepish smile as she approached the tunnel near the weapon rack.

“We’ll be fine. I promise.” Misty replied.

She then led Spark and Star Swirl into the tunnel, leaving behind Front and Wild after getting a spear for herself and a sword for Star Swirl. Spark declined a weapon claiming that he didn’t know how to use it, meaning that it would simply get in the way.

Spark was able to notice several signs that the tunnel they were taking wasn’t as sparsely used as one would believe. The most concerning piece of evidence was the blood that was stained onto the right wall in multiple spots. It was easy enough to believe that a pony had been injured and was leaning on the wall for support, staining it with his or her blood. Regardless, it wasn’t something that he wanted to dwell on. The mere thought of death caused him to worry about Sonnet even more. He just wanted to feel secure that she was safe, to stop doubting in the evidence that had been presented.

“Just a moment.” Misty said, stopping by a marking in the wall. “This is where it happened.”

“Where Venus…” Star Swirl started, but he became silent before finishing the thought.

“Where she died, yes. The Cons caught up with us outside the Crystal Empire, we were able to get away, but they hit her with a spell just as we got out of their range.” Misty stated.

“But wouldn’t the blood be on the other side?” Spark asked.

“I carried her to the shop from here. I wasn’t going to just leave her behind.” Misty explained.

“I understand.” Star Swirl said quietly. “Thank you for helping us, I know it hurts.”

“Saving Spark and his marefriend is the best way to get back at the Cons. Besides, I heard rumors that they are getting weaker. The earth ponies may be their only vulnerability, but some ponies have been saying that the Cons were also getting their strength from them.”

“If that is true, and we can get Spark and Sonnet out of their reach, they may very well become weak enough to kill.” Star Swirl stated. “But the longer I think about it, the more a secondary solution comes to mind. Does this world have the Everfree Forest?”

“Yes, but it is too far out of the way for us to go to. Why?” Misty replied.

“Isn’t that around where Discord was supposed to be staying back when he was alive?” Spark interjected.

“He is still alive, but only by technicality, and yes, it is. Little did he know, deep within the forest is a tree that contained the most powerful artifacts in our world.” Star Swirl explained. “Perhaps, if you are able to find ponies who can use them, if they are even on this world, you could banish the Constellar Ponies off of Equus.”

“As incredible as that sounds, the Everfree is too dangerous for anypony to enter. It was bad before the Cons, but it seems like their presence pissed it off.”

“Perhaps once Spark and Sonnet are home then, I shall remain here and help you acquire the Elements of Harmony.”

“You would stay behind?” Misty asked.

“I have done everything that I can for my own world. The rest is up to my students, the princesses.” Star Swirl said quietly, not even attempting to hide his satisfaction with the fact.

Chapter 1

“A unicorn is able to channel their internal magic through their horn, externalizing it. This results in their ability to cast the magical spells that the species is known for.” the earth pony muttered to himself, flipping frantically through the pages of his book. “A pegasus is able to externalize its internal magic in a different way. They, instead of casting spells, use their magic primarily in their bone structure. This results in decreased bone density giving them the ability to fly and to walk on clouds.”

Finally, the young stallion turned to a page that depicted a pony with neither a horn, nor wings. An earth pony, like himself. “Earth ponies externalize their magic through the connection with the land and their physical strength.”

As he finished reading the brief entry in the old book, he heard the sound of hooves trotting on the outside of his door. Seconds later, the door was propped open by a slightly older earth pony mare. Her once bright red mane and tail were beginning to get a touch of grey. Her blue eyes were as lively as ever though, contrasting the wrinkles that had started to form in her brown coat. An orange was emblazoned upon her flank, revealing her talent as an orange farmer.

“What are you still doing in here, Spark? You have work out in the farm that needs doing. If we don’t finish the harvest come winter, the entire community will have to survive on smaller rations.” the mare stated, glaring down at the stallion, who had quickly hidden the book he was reading under the sheets on his bed.

“I’m sorry Ma’am.” he quickly replied, hopping off of his bed. “I’ll get to it right now.”

The mare let out an agonized sigh before following the stallion outside into the fields of orange trees. There were only six ponies that were going to be working the fields that day, as opposed to the usual ten. The apple harvesters were not going to make the deadline without some additional help, and that help had to come from somewhere. The orange harvesters were going to have to make up for the lost farm hooves.

As Spark kicked an orange tree, shaking loose some of the fruit that the tree had been named for, he thought about what his family was supposed to do for winter preparations. He was the only earth pony born into a family of unicorns, so he had been made to help the other earth ponies during the harvests. The rest of his family used their magic to move the clouds and keep the weather manageable for the earth ponies to work. The lack of pegasi in the immediate area made that responsibility all the more important.

“Did you hear, Spark?” asked a female voice, “Mist said that he saw a unicorn riding into town from the east.”

“Sonnet?” Spark spun around to see his friend kick up one of the oranges that he’d just knocked out of the tree.

“I know how much you’d want to meet him, so how about we pay him a visit tonight?” the mare suggested.

“Yeah.” Spark replied quietly, wondering to himself what the pony could possibly want in such an insignificant settlement as that.

Sonnet smiled back at him before returning to work. They both would need to stay focused on the task at hoof if they were going to ensure the community would have enough food to make it through the winter. One day left for harvesting crops would make it slightly more challenging with the fewer hooves available.

The entirety of the work day, Spark was unable to tear his mind away from his own speculations on the identity of the mysterious unicorn. There were so many possibilities, and each one seemed more fantastical than the last. Before he knew it, it was already nightfall and the other ponies were retreating indoors to the subtle warmth of the fire that lit the guest house.

Spark looked cautiously around the fields for Sonnet. The darkened sky made it difficult to see his friend. After a few minutes of looking around, he was nearly ready to give up, thinking that she may have gone inside to warm up a bit before their trip. Just as he was about to start on his way back to the guest house, he felt something brush past his flank. With a bright red blush overtaking his face, he spun around to face Sonnet, who, just as quickly, planted a kiss on his cheek.

“I gotcha.” she smiled, playfully pushing him.

“You know I don’t like things to be around my flank.” Spark whispered quietly.

“You just haven’t found your talent yet. It’s hard to do in a place as small as this. I remember the day that I found out that I could sing, it happened so fast that I hadn’t even noticed my cutie mark until my dad told me.” Sonnet recounted her story that she’d told many times before. “I’d bet that it has something to do with magic, you might be the first earth pony in a hundred years to learn how to cast spells.”

Spark sighed, brushing a hoof through his mane. “I hope that you’re right.”

Sonnet pushed Spark forward, her smile almost seeming to shine in the darkness. “There’s no time to lose! What if he goes to bed early?”

Spark smirked and started a full gallop toward the only unoccupied house in the entire community, which now had a candle burning in a window. Through the curtains, Spark could see the silhouette of a unicorn and a floating book. Sonnet dashed past him as he slowed to try and think of how he was going to introduce himself. Before he got much time to think, Sonnet began pulling him along by his front right hoof.

“Say, ‘Hi, my name is Spark. Can you teach me magic?’” Sonnet said simply.

Spark grunted, “It isn’t that simple, I doubt that he’d even consider trying to teach an earth pony magic. It just sounds absurd.” Spark dragged his hooves along the ground, delaying their arrival at the doorstep, if only be a few seconds.

“I’m knocking on the door.” Sonnet stated, raising her hoof.

Just before her hoof made contact with the door, it slowly creaked open. Quiet hoofsteps could be heard from within, growing slightly louder as the pony approached the door. “Who’s there?” asked an old voice.

A pony arrived in the doorway. He stood a little taller than Spark, not including his horn. His grey coat stood in contrast with the blue cloak that was draped over his back. A white beard seemed to dominate his appearance, being both the first and last thing that Spark noticed.

Spark tried to speak, but was unable to even get out a legitimate syllable. Sonnet looked over at him, confused by his sudden increase in nervousness. He couldn’t wrap his head around how she didn’t recognize the pony who stood before them.

“Is there something that you want?” the stallion asked.

“My name Sonnet and this is my coltfriend, Spark. He wants to know if you can teach him about magic.” Sonnet explained, before looking back at Spark, “I’m not sure why he’s a wreck right now.”

“It’s Star Swirl!” Spark blurted out almost incoherently. “Star Swirl the Bearded, the most powerful unicorn in the world.”

“Most powerful might be an exaggeration.” Star Swirl commented, smiling softly. “However, if what she says is true, I would most certainly be willing to take on a willing apprentice, seeing as my most recent apprentices have moved on and have started their own journey.”

“I would be honored.” Spark stated, finally managing to catch his breath.

“Would you be all right with starting tomorrow?” Star Swirl asked. “If your marefriend wants to learn as well, I wouldn’t decline willing help.”

“I think that sounds fun. We’ve finished the harvest now, so there’s not much left to do.” Sonnet smiled happily.

“If you don’t mind me asking, what exactly are you doing here?” Spark asked, looking up at the unicorn.

“It’s quite simple really; I have taken it upon myself to see how the lands are holding up after the defeat of the Draconequus.” Star Swirl began, reminding Spark of the previous couple years and how calm they had been, compared to every other year for as long as he could remember. His father had told him stories about how a powerful monster was creating chaos, and that the world had, at one time, been stable and relatively predictable. Spark had been having a hard time believing it, that was, until he’d heard from a traveler that the Sun and Moon had defeated Discord. “With the Lord of Chaos incased in stone, it will be up to the ponies to maintain the balance that the world needs. I’m just overseeing the restructuring of the nation.”

“Who’s the ‘Lord of Chaos’?” Sonnet asked, head perking up at the mention of something so different from the everyday conversations of the small community.

“He was a being whose sole purpose was to create chaos for this world. He was neither good, nor bad, simply determined.” Star Swirl explained. “However, as the hour grows late, I must return to my studies. I am nearing a breakthrough for a new spell that I have been developing for quite some time. I feel that it is nearing the final stages of testing.”

“What kind of spell, if you don’t mind me asking?” Spark asked, tilting his head curiously.

“I believe that, with the help of unicorn magic, it would be possible for a pony to instantaneously travel between multiple locations. Distance, supplies, and time would no longer pose a problem for ponies who could use the spell.” Star Swirl smiled. “Good night, my young ponies. I look forward to your company tomorrow.”

With that, Star Swirl the Bearded used his magic to gently close his door. Seconds later, the candle that had once lit the window was extinguished and the darkness of night overtook the world once more.

The two ponies stood outside, silently for a few moments before they began to head back to the guest house for the last night that it would be open that year. It was only used during the harvest season; during the remainder of the year, it was left unoccupied, receiving only minor check-ins to make sure that it wasn’t going to fall apart when anypony was inside.

“Thanks, now you’ve dragged me into your crazy plans.” Sonnet joked, pushing up against Spark before shivering. “It’s cold. Let’s go on back to the guest house.”

“I didn’t make you say yes, but I’d definitely appreciate the company.” Spark smiled back as he started to walk her back to the warmth of the fire that awaited them inside.

Thoughts of the possibilities rushed through Spark’s head. He was going to be helping the legendary Star Swirl the Bearded. This could be everything that he ever wanted. If anypony knew about the possibility of earth pony’s using magic, it would be Star Swirl. He was possibly even old enough to have seen the ancient days when it was possible.

There were legends that over a hundred years ago, there were earth ponies that were able to harness the elements in a more literal way, casting spells to bend earth, fire, air, and water to their will. While unicorns were mostly skilled at only more arcane magic, such as levitation and manipulating various things by controlling the space around them, while not actually interfering with the target of their attention itself.

“Tomorrow,” Spark whispered to himself as they neared the guest house, “everything will change.”

Author's Note

Well, here we are, the first chapter of my newest story. I hope you liked it.
Just in case you didn't read the last part of the description, I haven't finished writing the whole story, but I do know what will happen. If the story is well received, I will write everything that I can to complete it, but if it isn't well receive (Meaning you guys hate it) I will cut it short, but give what I hope is a satisfying ending. Chapters after 7 will rely on my teachers and their incredible kindness to not bombard me with two books to read in a week again. First week of the semester and I'm already scared.

Chapter 3

Spark woke up to the smell of breakfast cooking in his home. His sister was at work in the kitchen, levitating various ingredients around the room, trying to form them into some concoction that they could all find appetizing.

It took Spark a few minutes to realize that he’d fallen asleep while reading Star Swirl’s book at the kitchen table. It didn’t really even hit him until his sister spoke.

“Spark, it’s about time you woke up.” his sister joked. “Mom saved you from having a bucket of water poured on your head.”

“Violet…” Spark grunted, trying to lift his head from the table. He had been sleeping there so long that his face had gotten stuck, making him slow his movements as to avoid any pain.

“You were in my cooking space.” she commented, laughing at her brother.

Violet was a light purple with a bright pink mane and tail that just fell straight down. Her mother had suggested that she cut it so that it would look a bit more uniform, but Violet had never been one for putting more effort into her mane than she had too.

Her green eyes drifted until they met with Spark’s own, blue eyes. “What’s that book you have there?” she asked, smirking.

“Nothing, just something that was loaned to me.” Spark said, half of which was true, but it most certainly wasn’t “nothing.” Within the book was a history that had been all but forgotten; only trace elements of the stories told in the legends had any truth to them. Within the book were first hoof accounts of earth pony magic, and ways that it used to be cast.

“Looks like a book on magic.” Violet replied, the smirk growing wider. “Now where’d you get that, little brother?”

Spark sighed; closing the book he sent a glare like daggers at his sister. “How late is it?” he asked, avoiding her question.

“Quite a while after sunrise.” she laughed, turning back to her cooking. “By my guess, you’ve gotten just over two hours of sleep. You were awake when I came down this morning, but you fell asleep while we were talking.”

Spark tried his best to remember what she was talking about, but the last thing that he could clearly remember was reading how to cast the third spell that the book detailed. “I don’t quite remember that?” Spark replied.

“You said something about not feeling well, so I cast a spell that lowered your fever. You really should stop pushing yourself so hard. Just because you’ve got the strong body of an earth pony doesn’t mean that you should push yourself to your breaking point.” Violet replied.

No matter what they did to each other, they were pretty close. They looked out for each other, and since Violet was a whopping year older than Spark, she also took the roll of a second mother to him. She, pretty consistently, viewed him as helpless due to his lack of magical abilities.

“I’ll just have to take your word on that one. So thank you.” Spark replied, climbing to his hooves. “I’ve got to go over to Sonnet’s house and get her up to come over to…” Spark paused, trying to think of a way of hiding that he was going to learn magic. Anytime that he expressed any interest in learning, his parents would remind him that he was an earth pony.

“You two have been going to that unicorn’s house, haven’t you?” Violet smiled. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell mom or dad. Just please, don’t push yourself too hard.”

Spark nodded back at her and closed the book. As he turned to head out, she called for him, regaining his attention.

“You might want something to eat.” she said setting a muffin down in front of him with her magic. “Also, I found chapter four to be particularly interesting. I couldn’t help but be curious, but I did my best to not disturb your sleep.”

Spark looked back and her, taking the muffin and thanking her for both it and the advice about chapter four. He began to eat the muffin as he made his way out the door.

Spark made his way through the town, noticing quickly that the sun was already high in the sky. With a sigh, he began to wonder if Star Swirl would accept his tardiness. He glanced back at the book that he’d been loaned and thought about what his sister had said.

“She could’ve at least asked my permission to read it.” he grunted quietly to himself. “But what was so important about chapter four?”

After an additional few minutes of pondering as he made his way through town, he came to the conclusion that since he was already late, he could stop for a few seconds to look at chapter four without having any great impact on his arrival time at Star Swirl’s. Not to mention the fact that Sonnet would probably enjoy the extra few minutes of sleep.

Spark flipped through the pages of the book, stopping on the first page of the target chapter. “Genetics” was the title of the chapter. As Spark skimmed the words that littered the pages, he caught on to what his sister had noticed. In a family that is predominately unicorn, an earth pony that was born into that family would be more likely to be capable of tapping into their magic. This is due to the possibility of inheriting a gene that has a higher chance of appearing in unicorns and is what allows them to use their magic in so many ways. It was even more common if a member of that family is exceptionally good at magic, and his sister’s special talent was magic. There wasn’t a single spell that she wasn’t a natural at; in fact, she was the one who had taught their parents how to control the weather.

Spark smiled, knowing that he had a better chance than he had initially thought. He just needed to swing by Sonnet’s house and then speak to Star Swirl about possibly learning from him. It was hard not to be optimistic at the moment; after all, everything was going so well.

“Today’s just the best day!” he laughed to himself, drawing the attention of an old mare who was doing some window shopping. “Heh, sorry, I’m just really excited.” The mare rolled her eyes and went on her way, finally entering the store to get the hat that had appealed to her so greatly.

Spark happily made his way to Sonnet’s house, seconds after knocking on the door, he got a response. The door opened slowly, revealing Sonnet, but instead of her usual happy self, she appeared pale, her nose was running, and all around miserable.

“Hey,” she paused for a moment, sniffling to clear her nose. “Spark, I don’t think that I’ll be going to Star Swirl’s today.”

It hit Spark after a few seconds; his sister had mentioned a fever, judging by the look of Sonnet, it would have turned into much more than that if it hadn’t been for his sister. He placed the blame on going to the lake, especially considering the temperature of the water in conjunction with the air temperature at the time.

“How are you feeling?” Spark asked.

“I’ve been worse.” Sonnet feigned a smile and gave Spark a playful shove. “Go and spend some time with Star Swirl. I don’t want you getting sick on my account.”

“If you feel better later today, swing by and we can spend some time together, inside, away from the lake this time.” Spark laughed. “I hope you feel better soon.”

With that, Spark and Sonnet waved to each other and went their separate ways. She would need that time to recover, and since she would be home, she could get care from her parents. There wouldn’t be much point in her leaving if she was still sick, especially since that could worsen her condition.

As Spark passed by a small herb shop in town, he noticed a familiar figure walking out of the building. Star Swirl the Bearded was in town making a purchase. Upon seeing the young stallion, the unicorn waved him over.

“Spark, good to see you. Did you finish your reading?” Star Swirl greeted the earth pony.

“Um, yeah. About that…” Spark hesitated. “I was working on it last night, but I fell asleep. My sister pointed out something in chapter four to me though.”

“Chapter four?” Star Swirl appeared to fall into his thoughts. “How much of that chapter applies to you?”

“Both of my parents and my sister are unicorns, and my sister taught herself a spell for weather manipulation. She learned it without a book, through just trial and error. The first couple of times, she made some decent sized storms, unintentionally of course, but later on, she became quite effective at manipulating it.” Spark explained, following after Star Swirl as they made their way out of the village.

“Interesting. I’d like to meet her someday.” Star Swirl stated, using his magic to rearrange the herbs in his saddlebag. “Where is Sonnet?”

“She’s got a bit of a cold.” Spark said after a moment of hesitation. “We went swimming for a little while yesterday… I guess that it was a bit cold for that. Anyway, the only reason that I’m not sick is that my sister used a spell to reduce my fever.”

Star Swirl stopped and looked back at Spark. “I hope Sonnet feels better soon, but now my interest in your sister has increased yet again.”

“Hopefully I can introduce you to her soon.” Spark suggested.

“It will have to be tomorrow, the next day I will have to move on and return to the royal castle. I have received a letter from the princesses requesting my guidance in a discreet matter.” Star Swirl replied with a sigh. It was clearly something important enough for him to drop everything in order to see it resolved.

“When will you come back?” Spark asked, growing worried that he would still be unable to learn magic.

“I’m afraid that I won’t be returning in all likelihood. I am growing old and I am beginning to feel the effects of age. My final years will be spent teaching the princesses their final lessons.” Star Swirl replied.

Spark swallowed hard. That was going to ruin any chance he had of learning magic. He knew that Star Swirl had to leave, but that didn’t mean that he liked it. More than anything else, Spark wanted to learn magic, and he was about to lose his best chance at learning it.

“It is your desire to learn magic, is it not?” Star Swirl asked, setting his saddlebag down as he reached a tree just outside of town.

“Yes.” Spark answered without hesitation. “It’s what I’ve always wanted to do.”

“Now, tell me, what is more important to you, your home or your dream?” Star Swirl asked. He had a stern expression, much more befitting the legends that followed the unicorn than his usual relaxed smile.

“What kind of question is that?” Spark asked, unsure of how to process what he had just heard.

“If you were to return with me, you would be able to continue learning, but you would have to leave home for an unknown amount of time. I am unable to promise you that your aspiration is even possible, but this must be asked before anything else.” Star Swirl replied, staring into Spark’s eyes. “I understand that this is not the kind of question that can be answered straight away, nor should it. However, due to the constraints that time has placed upon you, you will need to reach a conclusion by tomorrow.”

Spark was left speechless. Leaving his home behind was the only way that he could ever have a chance of living his dream, but that meant leaving Sonnet and Violet and his parents behind as well. There was no telling how long he’d be gone either, it could be years, if he ever returned at all. If something horrible were to happen while he was away, something that he could have helped to prevent, he’d never forgive himself. At the same time though, everything he had done during his life had been almost exclusively set to the goal of learning to use magic.

Star Swirl, noticing the troubled expression on Spark’s face, put on a smile, “Remember, it isn’t a choice that you should make without consulting everypony else who will be affected by it. You have all day and night to think about it” Star Swirl continued, just quiet enough so that he couldn’t be heard, “And maybe, just maybe, you won’t make the same mistake I did.”

Spark nodded, unable to break his mind away from everything that he’d have to leave behind. Up until then, he had always known what he’d wanted to do with his life, even if he wasn’t brave enough to be up front about it, but now, he was clueless.

“Is there any chance that I could learn it on my own?” Spark asked, perking up at the thought. He was unable to learn before due to a lack of knowledge on where to even start, but now he had already learned that he had the potential, now he just had to figure out how to channel it without a horn.

“There is, but it would, in all likelihood, be the hardest thing you’ve ever had to do.” Star Swirl answered.

“I never expected it to be easy. There aren’t that many earth ponies that use magic after all.” Spark replied. “What would I have to do?”

“I would give you that book, and it would be up to you to get your sister to guide you. With her apparent skill in unicorn magic, she may be one of the only other ponies with the knowledge to teach you. You see, the method for externalizing the magic is quite similar to how unicorn’s cast spells. It must be intentional, as opposed to the passive externalization that earth ponies are familiar with.”

“I’d like to try that.” Spark stated, finding the option that allowed him everything that he wanted.

“There’s a catch, it may be that the magic within you is too hard to tap into without a push, and the only way that it could be unlocked would be with the aid of the two ponies who I am returning to the castle to teach. Without them, it could all be hopeless.” Star Swirl replied, once again bringing Spark’s hopes to a low.

“It’s still worth a shot though, right?” Spark asked, “I want to learn, but not at the cost of losing everypony important to me.”

“Yes.” Star Swirl smiled. “I’m glad to see that you value those around you. Come along, we’ve little time to lose. The teleportation spell needs to be ready before my return to the castle.”

The old unicorn lifted his saddlebag onto his back and started on his way back to the old house that he would stay in for the last full day of his visit. The earth pony quickly trotted behind him. Even if they were going to part ways soon, Spark still wanted to help his hero with this spell.

Upon arriving in the house, they immediately got to work. Spark was setting things up for Star Swirl as the unicorn made the calculations that would be necessary for making the teleportation spell safe for ponies.

After about an hour had passed, Spark was making a couple of sandwiches, at his mentor’s request. The calculations were nearly completed and it wouldn’t be long before the spell was ready for its test run. Everything had to be exact. One slight miscalculation could result in any number of horrific possibilities. Some of the few that Star Swirl had explicitly stated were the possibilities of only teleporting part of himself or teleporting the space around him as well. There was also the slight possibility that since he was manipulating space, the possibility of a time distortion wasn’t too far off, and he could very well end up in either the past or the future with no way to return to his own time.

“The time is almost upon us.” Star Swirl stated, using his magic to move the journal that he’d been scribbling in the whole day away from the desk that he was seated at. “I think that I’ll test it after I have something to eat. Are you about done in there?”

“Just about.” Spark said, slapping the top slice of bread onto the sandwich before galloping into the study where Star Swirl was now pacing. “Here you go.”

Star Swirl took the plate from Spark using his magic, ending his pacing with a quiet stomp, something that he seemed to have a habit of doing. “Thank you.” he replied happily as he took the first bite.

As they finished their lunches, Star Swirl used his magic to drag a stick of chalk across his floor, making a box that went across most of the room and was a little wider than he was. From what Spark could tell, they were safety lines, a place for him to stay out of, just in case something went awry.

Just as the unicorn prepared to cast his spell, Spark heard a knock at the door. As the doorknob began to twist, there was a blinding flash of light and then nothing. Spark started to run over to the window, but after the first step, he noticed something was off. He seemed to bounce off of the floor.

“We appear to be in free fall!” Star Swirl shouted, still standing in the same place as where he’d started.

Spark quickly reached the window, just in time to see a blue shape fall toward the trees below. They were in the sky, falling straight down into what appeared to be a dense forest. It quickly occurred to Spark just what that blue shape was. It was the only thing that would have knocked on the door at that time of the day.

“Sonnet!” he shouted down through the window as his beloved marefriend vanish into the thick brush below.

Author's Note

And so it begins...