The Last Ride

“Do you have need of anything else, your highness?”

The night guard spoke with clarity, yet it was becoming increasingly more evident that fear was threatening to betray his professional composure. His leathery wings were at unrest, pupils dilated, unspoken pleas for immediate dismissal unmistakable. What was to be the impression of her citizens, if even one of her own nocturne guards now trembled at her mere presence?

“We do not require further assistance. You may return to the carriage.”

Her past self would have punished such insolence. But that was just it—her past self mistook fear for insolence. Her new perspective—courtesy of the six—was beginning to open her eyes, along with her mind, to the errors of her ways.

The night guard wasted no time in giving a hasty salute, before backing out of the chamber and closing the door behind him.

It had been a thousand years since Luna had stepped foot in this place. Time had cruelly turned what was once a majestic site of architectural significance into a broken ruin, and her dear sister had allowed it all to happen. The once pristine pillars holding the chamber up still stood, but they were cracked and tarnished. The walls, once adorned with priceless works of art, now lay barren and derelict.

Luna ground a forehoof into the dust. Tia had had her reasons, and her reasons were indeed sufficient. Still, to see the place Luna held closest to her heart naught but rubble and decay was enough to bring a tear to her eye.

A gust of wind swept through the empty chamber, and Luna turned to see her sister land on the decrepit balcony. An alicorn goddess, unyielding leader and bastion of hope for the citizens of Equestria. Nothing had changed in a thousand years, it seemed. Multi-hued mane still flowing, the nuclear power of a star still abundant. Coat pristine white, and a beauty of which artists through the ages had tried time and time again to replicate in their works.

“Luna, I implore you, this place should be left to history,” Celestia spoke, her voice cracked. Barely a whisper. She sounded older than she ever had. “I… I couldn’t stay here. Not after what happened,” she whispered, her voice breaking. If only her subjects could see their leader now…

Luna’s chest tightened. These thoughts… they were her own, but she did not want them to be. She turned her back once more. “We understand, dear sister. ‘Tis not our place to question your actions.”

Celestia closed her eyes, opening them again after a brief moment. “I lost a sister that night.”

“As did we.” Luna faced Celestia once more.

Celestia looked troubled. Even more so than usual. “What is the reason you followed us here tonight? Our personal progress notwithstanding, we know you would not have done so if it were not of utmost importance.”

Celestia gave a sigh, stepping out onto the balcony and idly surveying the seemingly endless expanse of the Everfree. She smiled. “You haven’t lost your touch, dear sister,” Celestia observed, gazing up at the moon, surrounded by a select few of Luna’s favourite constellations. “My morning meditation was… disturbed, by something.”

Luna joined her sister on the balcony, brows slowly raising. “How so?”

“I could only describe it as a… wave, in the harmony field.”

Luna frowned. “An ill conceived endeavour of one of your harmonically potent graduates, perhaps?”

Celestia rested a golden-horseshoe clad hoof on the balcony railing, still surveying the moonlit forest canopy. “No, whatever it was—it was not generated by a pony, or any creature I have knowledge of.” She paused, eyes unfocused. “I suspect it is an unknown entity, not native to any part of Equador. The only plan of action I have been able to come up with is based on the assumption that it must lay down to rest at some point.”

Luna gave a knowing smile. “And thus, our assistance is required.”

Celestia’s gaze focused on Luna. “We must determine its intentions. I trust you will be able to accomplish this task?”

“We shall make it our top priority,” Luna replied, gazing up at her former prison glowing brightly against the purple sky.

* * *

HISS!

The dumping of pressure, followed by the constant whine of the turbo could just be heard over the cacophony of wind, tyre and engine noise. Kye draped himself over the tank and willed the Yamaha to go even faster. Trees, buildings, lamp posts, spectators—they all flew by, barely distinguishable. Even the road markings were becoming a blur.

With a squeeze of the brake lever, the motorcycle slowed just enough to allow a precise amount of lean angle to the right. The tyres clipped the apex of the corner, as Kye twisted the throttle once more. The front wheel lifted briefly, but a delicate movement of the wrist gently dropped it back on the tarmac.

The next corner was a blind sweeping left hander. Kye leaned the bike over, his knee slider throwing sparks and the top of his helmet skimming the hedge as the vanishing point receded… into a wall of fire.

With a panicked yelp, Kye blindly grabbed the front brake lever. The front tyre refused to yield, however, throwing the rear of the bike into the air, but the flames were already upon him.

The firewall receded after a split second, but the entire front end of the bike was suddenly burning as though it had been soaked in kerosene. Kye grabbed the brakes again, leaning wildly to the left in order to avoid what looked like the petrol-soaked, flaming corpse of a downed rider. Red flags were being vigorously waved by several race officials at the sidelines.

The front brake lever suddenly snapped, sending the bike into an unstoppable understeer off the side of a cliff that hadn’t been present a few seconds earlier. Both rider and motorcycle were thrown into the air. Kye yelled as the ground fell away from him at an alarming rate. He could feel his gloves melting on his hands, smell the pungent odour of burning leather in his nostrils. The bike began spinning in the air, but he was unable to let go—bound by an invisible force. Ground and sky flashed end over end in a hazy blur. The engine tachometer needle was spinning like a propellor, despite the engine screaming at a constant redline. The digital speed indicator spelled out the word “DIE” instead of the usual numbers. Kye closed his eyes and screamed, wishing it would just end.

Then, it did.

* * *

With her quarry finally in sight, Luna allowed the night terror to fade. For a pastime she had once enjoyed, she found herself a little disgusted. What was to be gained from torturing a soul, other than enabling a subject to be located with ease? Cruel amusement? Witnessing the endurance of unending torment? It was truly an abhorrent affair—but a necessary one—when one factored in potential threat to Equestria and her citizens.

The familiar dreamscape materialised. An unending field of grass beneath a cloudless sky. The only points of reference were the sun shining directly overhead, the strange creature curled up on its side, and its even stranger contraption lying a short distance away. It was odd, to say the least. Material possessions usually faded with the dream upon transition to the dreamscape.

“Rise, subject! We wish to speak with you,” Luna commanded, her hooves silently touching down on the grass. Her mind set to work, searching for the answers her sister had requested.

* * *

The pain stopped abruptly, leaving Kye questioning if he had actually felt it at all. Opening his eyes, he discovered he was lying in a field, still shaking from the horrors of the crash. Someone was speaking to him. A feminine voice, projecting and powerful.

Kye pushed himself to a sitting position, spotting the bike fully intact and lying on its side just a few feet away. Had that crash actually happened? Or, was he just imagining things? Glancing around for the woman that was speaking, he spotted something that made his hair stand on end.

If not mistaken, he appeared to be in the company of a blue unicorn. He squinted, his jaw falling open. ‘I must be dead,’ he thought, unable to do anything but stare mindlessly at the creature. It was roughly five feet tall, if you included the long, spiral engraved horn protruding from its head. A black crown rested behind the horn, matching the half-moon adorned regalia around its neck. Four hooved legs the colour of midnight met a slender barrel and torso. A mane and tail resembling the night sky cascaded majestically from its head and rump. Turquoise eyes, seemingly too large to be biologically viable regarded him with caution.

“Be calm. The nightmare is over,” the creature said, large wings the same colour as its coat sprouting from its back. An unmistakable hum of power radiated through the air.

Kye tried to speak, but in a split-second, found himself lunging towards his bike instead. Whatever this place was, he had swiftly arrived at the conclusion that he did not want to be here anymore. Without thought of repercussion, he snatched the Yamaha up and fired up the engine. The crossplane growl filled the void as he sped off over the unusually flat field. He waited for the boundary to appear. A fence perhaps? A hedge? A road? The speedometer read three hundred and seventy-four miles per hour. Kye frowned. There was no way he could be going that fast. He grabbed the brakes, but nothing happened.

The bike was stationary. It had never even moved.

“What the fuck?!” he yelled, stumbling off his ride and scowling at it. The engine stalled. It stood level on its wheels, despite the sidestand being up. He could’ve sworn it had been moving not a moment ago.

“You cannot flee from us in this place. We are its creator.”

Kye spun to face the winged unicorn, his breaths shallow. Heart rate rising. The sun overhead dimmed. “Let me go!” he gasped.

“You need not fear us,” cried the voice, but the darkness was already descending. It engulfed everything, including the winged unicorn.

* * *

With a gasp and a jerk, Kye awoke.

The sun was shining, and his motorcycle leathers clung to his body with sweat. Memories of recent events flooded his mind. The race. The void. The road to nowhere. He had ridden for hours under a moonlit sky, before deciding to take a nap when the road had indeed led him nowhere.

Then of course, the dream. He shivered, though it wasn’t particularly cold. Never had he experienced a vision so lucid, so detailed. Whatever that creature that had spoke to him had been, he was fairly certain it wasn’t a manifestation of his subconscious.

Rising from his makeshift bed of a particularly tall patch of grass, Kye pulled his parked motorcycle back onto the dirt track. The road ran along the boundary of a poppy field, surrounded by a mountain range on one side and a thick forest on the other. The unmistakable urban-sprawl of a town lay up ahead on the horizon. Buildings, street lights, roads.

Civilisation.

Though, what kind of civilisation was anyone’s guess.

* * *

The creature vanished, claimed by the waking world. His mind was as deep and complex as any pony’s, but it was so shrouded in fear that it had been difficult to decipher anything of use. His thoughts were of Equestrian tongue, but had been too disjointed to effectively read.

Luna too, returned. She awoke in her new quarters in Canterlot Castle.

Once again, she lived a life of extravagance, returned to favour by her sister’s assurances. Though Princess Celestia had not changed much in a thousand years, Equestria had. Many of the old traditions had been lost to the ages, and in the few weeks since her return, Luna couldn’t help feeling like an old relic of a world that no longer was.

A knock on the chamber door pulled Luna from her self-deprecating thoughts. “Enter.”

The door swung open to reveal a royal guard stallion, as white as Celestia herself. He gave a hasty salute. “Princess Celestia has requested a meeting at your earliest convenience, your highness,” he said, before giving another salute even hastier than the first, and disappearing so fast Luna began to question if he had in fact been a fleeting apparition.

With an inaudible sigh, Luna teleported her regalia and crown from her nightstand to her person and got out of bed. Another flash of her horn, and her bed was neatly made.

Yet another flash, and she was standing in front of an extravagant court bench constructed of solid marble. Her sister was sitting behind it, before a courtroom full of ponies. A series of cries, gasps and panicked whispers abounded, all of which Luna ignored.

“THOU SUMMONED US, SISTER!” Luna bellowed, quite deliberately. “THIS IS OUR EARLIEST CONVENIENCE!”

The whispers grew louder. One middle-aged, slightly overweight mare actually pulled out a fan and started flapping it at her cheek. Princess Celestia did not look very amused.

“Court is temporarily adjourned,” she announced to the room, before striding from her perch to a doorway next to the jury box. “Princess Luna, if you would?”

Luna followed her sister into the small, wood lined room, closing the door behind her. “Next time you wish to speak with us, come to us thyself. We shall not be summoned by servant,” Luna huffed.

Celestia sighed. “This is an important case, Luna. I won’t always have time to get messages to you myself. Anyway, what’s more important is the creature. Did you manage to find it?”

“We found it, in the realm of dreams. We assume its gender to be male, though we were unable to learn much else. We cannot say if he would pose a threat to Equestria, though we fear his appearance would certainly create a panic,” not unlike the effect we have on ponies, Luna silently finished.

“Have you learned his physical location?” Celestia asked, her voice betraying worry.

“Nay. We saw visions of mountains and forests in his recent recollections, but none clear enough to determine his whereabouts.”

Celestia paused, rubbing a forehoof over her eyes, her flowing mane looking a little duller than usual. “Mountains and forests,” she sighed. “That could be anywhere.”

Luna scowled. “Dream interpretation is not as easy as some would assume. We cannot just locate a subject and instantly gain knowledge of every little deta-”

“I know, Luna,” Celestia interrupted. She smiled. “Please don’t assume I don’t appreciate everything you’ve done.”

Luna sighed, eventually returning her sister’s smile. “We found him once. We can do so again.”