The Desert Sands
It had started off as an ordinary patrol, nothing out of place nor anything wrong or dangerous. We had thought ourselves safe under the gaze of the sun, though that roved to be our downfall, pillars of fire had rained down from the sky, striking us dead left and right. I to my shame survived by hiding underneath a larger colleague, a friend, his name was Swiftrot and he had a wife and two foals. To my eternal shame I did not face death like I should have the day the sky rained fire. Soon the howling winds ceased and I peeked out from my hiding spot, wrinkling my nose at the stench of burning fur and flesh and what I beheld was horrifying. All around me lay death and fire, the first grains of sand already swirling through the air. I heaved the body of Swiftrot off of me with a whine of effort and sparked my horn though nothing happened but a painful feedback that punted me through the air, a sure sign powerful magic had been employed here.
I shuddered and puked, emptying my stomach repeatedly before panting for breath and stumbling away, towards the Canterhorn, towards safety and sanity. I had to report a rogue mage of some kind. A hitch in my step made me yelp in pain, for a plate of my armor had grown almost red hot and had burned my flank when I rubbed against it though I dared not use my magic to cool it down nor use my hooves to remove it at the moment. Instead I layed down, sobbing pathetically for a few moments before grabbing Lacewing’s dead hooves and gripping the plate as if they were potholders, pulling it off with a mumbled apology to her. With that horrible business out of the way I unbuckle the rest of my armor, looking back at my patrol with sorrow. I heaved a sigh and started cantering towards the Canterhorn, ready for the long road back. I dared not test the my magic again, not when you could feel the pressure in the air, like a pony sitting atop your head. Everything was strangely silent around me, as if nature itself were mourning with me. The wind slowly picked up, oddly arid and filled with the scent of death. With a great cry of disgust I turned my head and ran, as swiftly as I could to get away from that reminder. It took days to get back though I remain glad I met some kind folk along the way who had fed me and let me ride on their wagon.
I slept most of the ride there, waking only for water and food. The wonderful ponies made sure to wake me for food every time, and their foal had giggled delightfully at seeing me eat like a ravenous minotaur. It was a peaceful and lovely week. Though once I got back to Canterhorn and the city residing on it I was greeted by stern royal guards, and a twitchy paranoid unicorn draped hoof to horn in protective garb. He flares his horn and scans me horn to hooves, muttering and swiping a lock of my mane. After a moment of consideration he nods and the guards wrap their wings around me, guiding me to the spire.
“Welcome back. We need to discuss something.” The unicorn I now recognize as my friend Shining Horn mutters again as he starts walking ahead of us, bearing the badge of the Celestial Guards boredly, causing the ponies around us to part with a curious muttering as they watch a group of royal guards drag somebody off without chains nor coercion. The atmosphere in the city was as lively as ever, colts chasing fillies, fillies chasing colt, all laughing happily. Why, some even tagged along for a brief bit, tittering and running circles around the small group. Shining Horn graced them with a smile and a bag of change, easily enough for a months worth of sweets.
“Run along now little ones, we can’t play right now” He spoke gently, ruffling one’s mane as they scampered off toting their prize with jubilation. When he noticed my fond grin he had grown embarrassed, shaking his head briefly. One of the guards wrapping his wing around me chuckled good naturedly though it elicited a rustle of cloth as the mage rewrapped his face, hiding it from all. Though I’d say his posture looked sheepish. We continued on though I started hearing rumours of dragons on our borders. My face paled imperceptibly, for if dragons were massing on the border it might mean war.
Perhaps I should have struggled. Would it have changed anything? Now dear commandant, I trust you know full well what happened next. How I was sat down at a table and interrogated. Sure it started pleasantly enough. But as the questioning wore on and on, as it became clear I wasn’t giving the answer they wanted to hear they decided to bring you in. slamming the door open as you swept in, powerful and dark. I had gasped and withdrawn when I saw who was interrogating me.
It seemed the whole castle had gone quiet when you locked the door. Quieter than a temple. To your credit you never struck me. You once pulled an angry guard off me, grieving at the loss of his brother. You asked again and again from what angle did the attack take place and I continued to answer that I did not know. The ground seemed to have exploded with fire from all directions, causing me to slip underneath my partner for protection. Though that is a rehash of the beginning of our story as you well know. I place my forehooves together and regard the inquisitor, closing my eyes as I frown.
“Why must you insist there’s more to my story than I’m telling? Wild magic attacked us, as it is wont to do at times. I’m of no more use.” The shadows shifted as she came close, lighting her horn to display an angry, yet pitying face.
“You tell the same tale over and over. Though you stumble in places, twisting your tongue just so. What aren’t you telling us?” She frowns once again, the dark blue fur fading back into the darkness.
I gulp and frown back. “What aren’t you telling me?! I omitted some hallucinations alright? What do those have to do with anything?!” She managed to creep behind me, a wing caressing my side as she whispers.
“Because you alone saw what happened and survived. You survived the might of a Sun Goddess raining upon your head… Celestia disappeared that same day, at that same hour I might add. Something happened to her and we’re struggling to make do.” I freeze and my eyes widen.
“That night I had horrible dreams, I had tossed and turned for hours, by the time I finally awoke we were moving through the plains, though I heard something just before the attack, a laugh, long and bitter. One I had heard in my dreams.” She pulls away thoughtfully.
“There are no more plains and the sun lies weakened in her chambers. Somepony had stolen her power and abused it most thoroughly. A desert swells with each day, the land dry and dessicated.” Her horn sparks once again and I look down shamefully from Princess Luna’s gaze. “Somepony has broken the Day and stolen her magic. Twisted it into a vile thing.” I start breathing quicker, my horn hurting as she utters the last words. I collapse on the floor like a bag of flour, writhing.
“W-we are NOT VILE!” My horn flares for the first time in days, the usual russet twisted about with brightly glowing bands of Celestial magic, the gold hue bringing hope to any in its light. Luna gasps in shock and backs up as I stagger upright, more shocked than her as my injuries flake away in the heat of the sun. A flaming rag pops into existence, reeking of tainted cruelty and a unicorn’s magical signature, though not mine nor anyone’s that I recognise.
“Y-you bonded with the magic… pure and uncorrupted as it is I can not believe you perpetrated this evil. The rag burns with a stench I’m familiar with though… brimstone and darkness. Signs of a unicorn truly lost to harmony.” She summons a book and a jar, trapping the cursed rag and paging quickly. “You will never lose what has touched you. The erm magic at any rate. I wish we could return it to my dearest Sister but unbound as it was it bound to you instead. At the least having you nearby will help her recover her magic sooner.”She sweeps away, leaving a fresh cup of coffee on the table with a little pop, black as Her night and as bitter as a Nightmare. “Please enjoy the coffee and relax, and uhh, keep the magic to a minimum for now. The Celestial Order is rather zealous of late.”
The door gently swings shut, a vast difference from her actions earlier, leaving me alone in the dark with naught but my thoughts. I sip the coffee and cough in surprise, it’s hotter than I expected. The taste withering my tastebuds with the bitter power. I squee and grin, somehow she made me the perfect cup of coffee. I sip again and sigh in satisfaction. The wait for her to return for me pleasant.
The Centre of Magic
The coffee lasts me far longer than it should have, the steaming scent filling the dark room. With a sigh I finally drain the cup, as coffee that’s gone cold tastes stale in a way. The lights flash back on, causing me to yelp and shield my eyes from the sudden harshness. As my eyes adjust I’m greeted by a grumpy and pale unicorn, looking more light-starved than I.
“Let’s get moving.” He grunts, turning and stalking off, his little ceremonial sash tinking gently with its little ceremonial medals. A stout solar priest then. Oddly enough for those that worship the sun they all have a pale complexion, pallid. They recluse themselves into their dark and grim cells to study the Sol Inferna, their damned book of propaganda and horrors. Celestia dislikes them fiercely. Or so the newspapers say. Ugh, sometimes my thoughts and journals feel like I’m reading out an encyclopedia, having to explain everything. I look over the marble walls with their beautiful if ‘Pony’ banners. The castle has always felt more like a palace to me, way less defensible. The Royal Guards that dot the halls either walk purposefully to their destinations or assume their best statue impression, though I could never do that, why I’m a scout. Or was a scout I guess… I rub my horn and glance at the unicorn in front of me, his tail primly trimmed and proper, his hooves almost dancing across the cool floor. He still keeps silent, a few of the maids waving at us in their friendly almost forgettable way.
“We’re going to speak to the Princess, I trust that you know how to act? If you somehow became a guard without knowing then it would behoove me to know so you do not embarrass me.” His mouth creases in a humorless smile as he regards me with his dark eyes, exhausted from the past days of frantic research and activity to help his ‘god’.
“We’re all trained in the proper protocol, mister solar priest.” My eyes drift back down to those little medals on his sash before staring back at him.
He scoffs and rubs his chest with a hoof, almost frowning. “Yes well, I see no reason for any animosity between us, differing creeds included. We are better than that.” The way he says it is truthful yet smug in my ears. I nod to him and examine the gold laced marble floor tracing a swirl with my chipped hoof, a few grains of sand falling from my fur.
“Shall we go to her then? I’m not sure what there is to talk about at this point? The Lunar Princess got my report.” He actually smiles and just motions me through the dual doors, leading to Celestia’s private study.
“I am not going to spoil the secret but I’ll tell you this does have to do with your new propensity for the holy magics” The Royal Guards open the doors in perfect synchronicity. I straighten up, brushing a strand of my mane behind an ear, wishing I didn’t feel so oddly naked in the moment. We trot inside, though my escort’s hooves sound muted against the humble wood flooring the princess has her study furnished with. The main room of the study held no princess but a small library with a roaring fireplace, the heat oddly welcome, as well as it’s flickering light. I relax in the warmth, just staring quietly at my hooves as he knocks on the next door. Tilting one too and fro as I examine the chips and scorched patterns left on it by the armour I had removed, though some seemed at times to simmer strangely, as if they held within them magic. My opinion was they summoned more sand as no matter how many times I scrubbed at my coat I still had yet more sand to discover.
A regal voice I had only heard twice in my lifetime, chiming and magnificent, though weakened called out from the inner study. “Come in!” I steel myself, taking a firm breath before pushing open the door. Every time I see her is like the first, her graceful legs and beautiful swan-like wings folded primly. But as I look into her eyes I note a tiredness, a slight dullness of colour in her flowing mane.
I bow. “Your majesty.” I gulp nervously as the magic inside me twists, as if it feels its rightful owner nearby. I take a breath to centre myself and it slowly settles.
“Stand Guardspony, and tell me, what happened to the plains? What do you recall from the moments before?” She stares levelly at me, calmly waiting for me to speak. The fireplace crackles, the out of place bed of coals in the summer providing an almost oppressive heat in the room, birds quiet through the heavily enchanted windows.
“We were going to our station on the edge of the plains. We were pulling our wagon and joking with each other. Everything was ok. Then it wasn’t. Explosive pillars of fire and stones falling from the sky. It was like we were in the middle of a volcano. I survived by hiding under my comrade. He was always there for me.” I sigh sadly. “I was rather meek until that trial in the new desert. But I feel like I left part of me there. And the sands left part of them in me.” As if to demonstrate, a few grains of sand dislodge from my mane. The Princess blinks, her eyesight sharp enough to see the smallest details far away, proven, to our chagrin when a Gryphonian assassin slipped through the defences only to be blasted into dust from her balcony.
“It wasn’t warmer before it started? No strange phenomena?” She has a notepad out, how didn’t I notice it? I shake my head, contemplating.
“Well, the animals had all gone silent half an hour beforehand. Then the cry of a phoenix, it sounded exultant and we laughed that it had gotten lucky. Heh...” Silence, it sounded like even the coals had gone out as she stared, momentarily surprised. “I guess that was important information?”
“Yes. It was.” Oh fiddlesticks.
