Author's Note

Hey All,
If you're reading this, Thank You! I'm glad you enjoyed the story enough to make it this far. Just a heads up I won't be posting a new chapter next week. Don't worry I'm not falling behind. I have the rough drafts of the next several chapters written. But I want to take time to rewrite large swaths of Chapter 2. I was reading it over with a friend and I decided I'm really not happy with how my description of the city turned out. But after that we'll be back to our regularly scheduled (kinda) adventure (Sorta)

Good Night all!

Book 1 - Chapter 5: Cinders of the Past

Founders of Harmony

Book 1: World of Chaos

Chapter 5: Cinders of the Past

“HOOOOOOOOOLD! HOLD YOUR GROUND!” The officer yelled as streams of Earth Pony and Unicorn infantry ran in a panic past her squad of Unicorn Artillery. She watched in shock as a terrified soldier ran like the ground was cracking open, and Tartarus itself threatened to swallow him whole. “EBONY ROSE!” The officer yelled in her face, shaking her violently. “I DID NOT TELL YOU TO STOP! KEEP FIRING!” In a daze, Ebony obeyed. Her horn glowed and a fireball began to form between her hands. She recalled her teachings. An old mare named Nebula had supervised training for a large field full of Unicorns.

“Don’t grow the fire faster than you can handle, or you might well blow your hands off,” Nebula had instructed in a booming voice. Despite the deafening sound of battle all around, Ebony took a deep breath and let her energy flow naturally. When the fireball reached the appropriate size; she thrust her arms up at a forward angle launching it high into the air, where it was silhouetted against the swarms of aerial Pegasus troops battling one another. They looked like a swarm of gnats buzzing wildly about. The fireball arched and landed beyond the friendly infantry battalion directly in front of them, which had managed to hold despite the other formations dissolving around them. Ebony was at the left end of ten unicorns standing in a line, launching fireballs from afar to support the frontline. Behind them were two more Unicorns, horns glowing brightly and arms outstretched, maintaining a barrier that protected the unit from arrows and other magical attacks. In front were a few lightly armored Earth Ponies with large but crude wooden shields and spears tipped with magically sharpened stones. They were there to protect them incase anything big enough to just walk through the barrier got through the front line. The officer went past Ebony to far right side of the firing line and grabbed a fleeing soldier, pulling him into the barrier.

“WHO GAVE YOU ORDERS TO RETREAT SOLDIER?”

“IT’S OVER! King Quartz already withdrew! They have Manticores! We’re being torn apart!”

“UNTIL GENERAL PHALANX ORDERS A FULL RETREAT WE ARE GOING TO STAND OUR GROUND AND-” The Sergeant was cut off as a loud noise shrieked behind them. It was accompanied by three bright streams of magic, the middle was bright white flanked by two reds, the signal for a full retreat. The officer gazed up at the light in disbelief, letting go of the soldier who wasted no time resuming his manic flight. “Listen UP!” the officer began, turning to the squad who stared at him blankly. “IF YOU WANT TO GET OUT OF THIS ALIVE WE NEED TO BE CALM AND ORGANIZED! NOW FIRST-”

The sergeant disappeared mid sentence, crushed by a hulking beast that had come from above. A manticore, mane bloody and burned from the battle above, snarled at them through a blood drenched maw. It unfurled its batlike wings, casting a shadow over the entire squad. Then in nearly a single moment it killed both of the unicorns maintaining their barrier. One was sliced clean in two at the waist by razor sharp claws, the other impaled by the black scorpion tail that stretched unnaturally over its head.

This all happened just as Ebony had nearly finished charging a fireball. Turning towards the manticore in surprise, she accidentally sent the fire ball hurling towards the mass that had crushed the sergeant. The manticore was struck directly in its right eye. It roared in pain, briefly staggering back before fixing Ebony with an angry glare from its other eye. Then the unicorn beside Ebony was struck in the chest by an arrow, and it finally registered in her mind that the barrier had fallen.

For the next few minutes, Ebony wasn’t wholly cognizant of her actions as panic and fear overwhelmed her. When she finally regained awareness, she was sprinting wildly, halfway between her squad and the forest that had been on the army’s left flank. She heard a Manticore roar from behind. Same One? Didn’t Matter. Ebony reached the forest, but she was barely beyond the first few trees when she tripped on something, and twisted around as she fell, landing flat on her back. She squinted as pain shot through her, then opened her eyes to behold the Manticore, right eye still scorched, poised above her. It raised a paw, 5 claws shining grimly in the dark forest. Ebony froze in fear. It was over. Then a Pegasus fell through the trees, colliding with the top of the beast’s head and bouncing off, landing hard on the ground. The manticore roared in pain again, the Pegasus’ spear had gotten awkwardly lodged at the base of it’s neck during the collision. It reared back, trying to get at the spear with a paw, its neck contorted upward in pain. Ebony watched in wide eyed shock for a few seconds before she realized what she had to do. She sprung back to her feet with manic energy and rushed towards the Manticore. Standing directly under the flailing beast, Ebony’s horn glowed brightly. A small glowing orb of fire sparked to life in her hands, she pointed it upwards, and then, she lost control. She allowed the energy to flow faster than she could handle, and just before she thought it was going to burst, she released it.

A searing flash of light, an air splitting crack, and the explosion incinerated the Manticore’s neck, effectively decapitating it. Ebony was blown back, colliding with a nearby tree. Her ears rung, and she couldn’t see for several seconds. When her sight did return, she screamed as she beheld her hands, completely engulfed in flames. She created an orb of water at the tip of her horn, and in her panicked state the it grew enormous before crashing down on top of her. It extinguished her hands and completely drenched her. With all immediate threats to her life resolved, Ebony let herself sit and shiver for a few moments.

Movement

She looked over to the Pegasus, yellow fur, dark orange mane, around her age and rather stocky for his kind. His wings were mangled. The right wing was pierced by a Manticore spine near a joint. The left one looked oddly crumpled; he’d probably landed on it. He had stood and pulled off his helmet, looking around at his surroundings, dumbfounded. Ebony gazed past him through the trees, and gasped. She could see the enemy had overrun the resistance army. A squad of bat ponies was approaching the forest. Someone must have heard the explosion. They hadn’t spotted Ebony and the Pegasus yet, but they were advancing steadily. Ebony scrambled forward, and grabbed the still bewildered pegasus by the hand.

“We have to run,” she said breathless pointing to the approaching enemies.

“Oh...shit,” he said with panicked exhaustion. Without another word they fled deeper into the woods. It would have been hard enough to perceive the passage of time in a world that wasn’t distorted by a god of chaos. But as day, turned to night and every other time, at random intervals, Ebony and the Pegasus were practically in a dream state as they ran.

and ran

and ran

and ran

and ran

Until the Pegasus collapsed

Ebony ran a few more paces before she realized his hand had slipped from her grasp. She stopped and turned, instantly dizzied by the sudden change in momentum. She fell to her knees. He’d fallen on his face, his wings limp. She crawled over to him, and checked his pulse. Heart still beating, lungs still breathing, wings...a disaster. She had to act fast. She had no knowledge of pathfinding, so If she wanted to have any hope of getting back to the resistance, to her friends, her home, her life, she would need his wings to heal properly. Then he could fly up and find a way back for them. So first…

The pain returned, or rather she remembered it, it hadn’t gone anywhere. Her hands ached and she looked at them for the first time since they’d been on fire. The fur was completely burned off, probably never to grow back, in addition it looked like she’d suffered serious burns. Her skin was red and had swollen in many places. With her horn she floated her medicine pouch off from her belt and dumped its contents onto the grass. She selected a bottle of salve, and poured it onto her hands as well as she could with telekinetics. Then, as gently as she could, she rubbed her hands together to spread the salve. Lastly she closed her eyes and began the healing spell. A green orb of light engulfed her shaking hands, using as much energy as she could spare to repair the wounded flesh. It eased the pain, and for the first time since before the battle, Ebony felt something akin to calm. But with her guard lowered the buildup of exhaustion fell upon her and she was instantly asleep.

***

It was light when Ebony Rose awoke, leaves rustling peacefully above. She tilted her head and saw a large yellow Pegasus, unconscious on the ground. She gasped. The battle. The Manticore. It all came rushing back to her, including the wellsprings of pain her hands had become. They had healed some. She got to her knees and was able to apply more salve without telekinesis, but it still hurt to move them. She breathed deep and began another healing spell, but her stomach growled, and pain surged in her forehead as her muscles gave out and she collapsed to the ground. Between the battle, the spells, and the unknown hours they’d spent running without rest, her body was thoroughly depleted.

“Don’t pass out.”

“Don’t pass out.”

After a few minutes she was able to sit up again. She ate from her rations, and drank from her water pouch, and let her body recover strength for a time. When she started to feel better, she slowly stood up on her hooves. She was light headed and stumbled a bit, but it passed quickly and her head was clear...er. She walked over to the Pegasus and checked his pulse. Still alive. She looked at his wings. The left wing was fractured, the humerus was bent at one end, she could re-align them easily enough. The right wing was the problem. There was a Manticore spine lodged just below the bone, near the first joint. Probably what sent him falling to the ground. The spine was almost certainly barbed, and she did not have the skill to remove it properly by enlarging the wound and carefully pulling it out. Even if she’d had the skill, she couldn’t trust such a delicate operation to her shaky hands, or the horn atop her tired, clouded mind. Her safest bet would be to push the spine out the other side until all the barbs had pierced through. Then she could cut the spine in two, remove it, and cauterize the wound. She found a dagger on his belt and used it to cut and shave away the feathers around the wound and where the arrowhead would emerge. Then she grabbed an appropriately sized fallen branch to stick between his teeth. Going around to the front so she’d be able to see the barb when it emerged she levitated the wing up. She put both hands atop the spine, took a deep breath, and pushed down. With a rip, and splurt of blood, the barbs pierced through the skin. The pegasus awoke gasping and shrieking in pain, the branch in his mouth cracked in a few places, and he began to move around in a panic. Ebony laid her right hand on his head.

“Please stay still or you might never fly again,” She said calmly. He turned his head slightly, one eye staring at her confused and afraid. She kept a solemn face, trying to exude confidence and keep him calm. He didn’t say anything, but planted his head in the ground and squeezed his eyes shut, biting down hard on the branch. “Thank you. Your wing got hit with a Manticore spine, once I remove it, I’ll need to cauterize the wound and that will likely hurt the most, so stay as still as you can,” he nodded slightly. With the dagger she cut the shaft in two above the barbs, and pulled both pieces out. She made a small ball of fire in her hand and held the top half of the dagger in the flame until it glowed orange. His flesh sizzled with each press of the dagger on his wing, he uttered a deep guttural growl through the branch, but kept his body dead still. “Ok now fold this wing up, your other one is fractured...that will hurt as well.” After a snap of bone and muscle, another strained growl, and a small healing spell, the left wing was...better than before. The Pegasus slowly folded it back in as well, then spit out the branch.

“I think you picked the absolute worst tasting piece of wood in all of Equestria,” He said matter of factly, tilting his head to look at her.

“Well I hardly had time to taste them all in advance,” She said annoyed. He chuckled in disbelief.

“It was a joke friend...I’m trying to ignore the pain,”

“Oh...of course...sorry,” she said embarrassed.

“Gods don’t apologize. You probably saved my wings, and my life I’d wager,”

“Just repaying the favor,”

“Really? When did I save your life?” he asked genuinely curious.

“When you fell, you landed on the Manticore that was about to kill me,”

“Oh, I was wondering why the ground was so soft when I hit it” He said as he slowly sat up. “Name’s Wild Bolt, 3rd aerial cavalry division, and since we're friends now you can just call me Bolt,” he said extending a hand to Ebony.

“OH! Um, Ebony Rose, Unicorn artillery,” she said taking his hand without thinking and shaking it. She went to let go but Bolt held firm.

“The hell happened to your hands?” He said looking genuinely worried at them.

“The Manticore,” she said pulling away. “Your spear got stuck in its neck, so while it was distracted I...um...purposefully mis-cast a fireball and...blew its neck off,”

“Well...shit, thanks. I you owe you more than one,”

“No, its like I said, if you hadn’t landed on it, I would’ve died anyway,”

“Well, all the same…” silence followed and they looked away from each other. “So, where’s everyone else? Did we set up camp after the retreat?”

“It’s...just us. An enemies were approaching and we had to run into the forest...I have no idea where we are,” she looked at him feeling slightly embarrassed. He stared back as he began to remember his last memories from yesterday, and looking around he finally understood their situation.

“Shit...wait then the battle-”

“We lost,” Ebony interrupted “The lines around my unit collapsed to the Manticores, I heard King Quartz was withdrawing his forces, and that was before I saw the retreat flares. If I had to guess, we were completely routed and...”

“And you doubt there’s much of a rebellion left,” Bolt finished, Ebony bowed her head silently in confirmation. He let out a heavy sigh. They sat there together for a long time. Ebony staring awkwardly down at the grass, and Bolt pensively up into the trees. Then, very slowly and deliberately, Bolt began to stand up. When he was upright, he waited for a moment to see if the rest of his body would hold up. He stretched slowly and cautiously, wincing with every movement as he began to discover all the bruises he earned from his fall, thankfully that’s all they were. Then he spent a few minutes walking around the grove, before going behind a tree and relieving himself, in a manner that Ebony thought was quite loud and a bit crude.

‘He could’ve at least gone a bit out of earshot’ She thought. But truthfully she was too tired to really care.

“Right so, can you walk?” Bolt said approaching, still in the middle of buckling his trousers.

“What?” she turned towards him.

“Can you walk? We need to go,” Bolt repeated, dead serious.

“Right now?”

“Oh yeah. I mean, don’t get me wrong, this a lovely little grove and you look very nice sitting there in the sunlight. But we need to find somewhere the both of us can get rest our wounds, and hide from pursuit,”

“Pursuit?” Ebony asked confused, “Surely if anyone was still following us we’d have been killed in our sleep,”

“Not necessarily,” Bolt shook his head and gazed into the forest. “Even if they gave up after a bit and had to rejoin their main force, they’ll send someone to scour the countryside. You know how much Discord hates rebels.”

“Yes…” Ebony said, beginning to understand where Bolt was going.

“And as I was walking around I saw where we came in and...whelp if we left that obvious a trail the whole way we ran,

“Then finding us would be trivial,” Ebony sighed.

“That and I just got rid of what I half expected to be my last meal,” Bolt began ‘Ewww’ Ebony thought “We need food, water, and somewhere with enough tree cover that sky hunters won’t be able to see us from above.

“Very well,” Ebony said getting slowly to her hooves. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to prepare her still worn body and mind.

“You good?” Bolt asked, eyes darting momentarily down to her hands. Ebony opened her eyes.

“For now,”

“Ok, follow right behind me, I’ll keep us from making too much of a mess,”

While they walked it changed from day to night 9 different times, for random amounts of time. They came across an almond tree at one point and gathered what they could. As for water, they hadn’t heard even a whisper of a distant stream or river. Ebony’s water skin wouldn’t last much longer between the two of them and she was so exhausted she feared using a spell to fill it, lest Bolt have to carry her unconscious. Still they pressed on. As they continued Ebony noticed that nearly every 5 to 10 minutes Bolt would turn his head to look at her before facing forward again, and it was beginning to perturb her.

“I’m fine,” Ebony said at last, rather tursely.

“What?” Bolt asked.

“You keep looking to see if I’m going to faint. But I’m fine, and if I do feel as though I’m about to faint, I’ll tell you I need to stop,” Bolt chuckled at this.

“Oh no. I’m just making sure you’re not too close; incase I faint and fall on top you. Then you definitely wouldn’t be fine. I’m pretty heavy.” he said casually. Ebony stopped in her tracks, completely disarmed.

“What?”

“Well I got shot in the wing, fell from the sky and broke my other wing by landing on a Manticore. So if anyone faints suddenly, it’ll probably be me,” At this he turned back to look at her now thoroughly puzzled face. He waited a few seconds and when her face didn’t change he said “Rose, you understand...humor? Right?”

“Of course, of course I do I-” she stammered, embarrassed again. He laughed.

“It’s ok, you’ll figure it out,” Bolt began to walk again. After a moment she followed, somewhat more at ease than before. Or perhaps she just was distracted from the monotony of their hike while she wondered if he really might faint and fall back on top of her. She made sure there was enough space between them.

Another dozen shifts in time, and now they were walking on terrain that sloped downward making it harder to get proper hoofing. Ebony wasn’t sure how much farther she could go.

“Hey,” she said audibly more tired than before, “Maybe we should stop,”

“Not yet,” he said turning back, looking quite exhausted himself, “I think we’re almost there, we need to keep moving while we have momentum,”

“Almost to waht?”

“I’ve been following some animal tracks for awhile now, good chance it’ll lead to water,”

“And if not?”

“Well...there’s also a good chance we’ll get some rain before we die of thirst,”

“That’s...definitely not funny.”

“Course not, I’m getting tired. You’d be surprised how much work a good joke takes,”

She stared back at him blankly.

More time passed, until it had stayed night for quite some time with thankfully enough light to see by the moon. Ebony estimated her water skin had been empty for around five hours, they needed to rest, then maybe she’d be strong enough to fill it with a spell before they continued.

“Bolt...I...think,” She spoke slowly, tired, making sure each word didn’t make her pass out.

“SHHHHH!” He whispered, holding up a hand and cocking an ear forward.

“Waaa?” she asked confused.

“Listen!” He whispered again. Ebony listened, and heard an ever so slight trickling sound of water.

“AHH!” She said louder than she expected, “Oh sorry,”

“It’s fine, let’s go,” he said as they continued down, the ground beginning to level out. As it did, the sound of the water got louder and louder, and Ebony began to wonder just how big this stream they’d found was. Finally the trees ended and they came upon a river at least half a mile wide, which went on a ways to their right before plunging off a cliff as a waterfall.

“OH BUCK YEAH!” Bolt cheered, rushing to the river’s edge and plunged his muzzle into the water drinking greedily. Ebony did the closest thing to rushing she could and sat beside him, filling her water sack and then drinking.

“I won’t lie, a little longer, and you’d have had to carry me,” Bolt said breathing deeply.

Ebony let out a little chuckle.

“Pffft, I’d have just rolled you down the hill,” Ebony said looking to Bolt who starred back in disbelief. A few moments of silence followed before they both broke out into raucous laughter, the stress of the many hours before expunged from their systems.

“See Rose, I knew you’d figure it out,”

“I…am going to fall asleep now,” she said wiping her eyes with water.

“Actually,” he said getting up, “don’t close your eyes just yet, I have a hunch,” he said offering her a hand.

“What now?” she asked taking his hand and standing.

“C’mon,” he said as he walked them toward the waterfall. Reaching the rocky edge, they peered over and saw it went down at least a hundred feet, forming a lagoon below before the river continued. Ebony took a few steps back after peering over.

“What about it?” She asked, looking back at the edge nervously.

“Look” he said pointing to the right of the waterfall. The ground sloped down and gave way to rocky stone platforms, “I’d bet you there’s a nice cave somewhere on the way down,”

Ebony looked at the rocks and the tough walk down it would likely be.

“Must we?” she asked feeling more exhausted than ever.

“I know, but a cave is the perfect place to hide from sky patrols,” He said sympathetically.

“If we do find a cave, does it mean we can sleep safely for longer?”

“Sure does,”

“Very well,”

It took some careful walking, making sure they didn’t slip and fall. But about halfway down a cliff jutted out of the rock, more than big enough for them to walk on, and near the middle, an opening.

“C’mon let’s check it out,” he said taking the lead as they went. They ducked their heads a bit to enter and Ebony lit her horn so they could see inside. The cave was round and large enough to fit a dozen ponies with room to spare “Nice! ,mostly dry, no signs of animals, this’ll do!”

“Thank the gods,” Ebony said throwing her pack to the ground, resting her head on it as she laid down. “Sleep on your stomach, don’t hurt your wings,” as she finished speaking, she extinguished the light from her horn so that only the bit of moonlight that slipped through the waterfall lit the cave.

“Right good call, wouldn’t want-” Bolt began but stopped when he saw Ebony was already fast asleep. He sighed, took off his leather cuirass, and layed down on his stomach, using the armor as a makeshift pillow. “Ehh I’ll come up with something better in the morning,” he said yawning to himself right before he fell asleep.

End Chapter 5