Obsidian Prophecy

He gave chase.

The stallion pulled a hoof full of hay out of his saddlebag and refused the food offered by the members of Chief Thunderhooves’ tribe. He threw the hay into his mouth and started to chew, looking around at the buffaloes surrounding the camp fire. He seated himself onto his haunches and stared into the fire. He was mesmerized by twitching and flickering of the flames, the magical sight of sparks flying into the air and disappearing like they had never been there. He looked around the fire and saw the buffaloes eating the greens they had collected. He looked past them. Far out, he saw the vastness of the sands. The great desert stretched out for great miles, holding secrets long uncovered by any Equestrian. This was the Land of the Buffalo, but even they had never ventured into the brutal heart of the great expanse. Far out, he saw the slight rises of dunes etched into the seemingly never-ending sea of sand.

        It looked strangely beautiful.

Chief Thunderhooves came over and sat around the fire, beside the stallion. The stallion turned his gaze away from the distant desert and towards the Chief. “I wanted to thank you for the hospitality you’ve all shown me.”

The Chief smiled. “It’s the least we could do. You seemed like you desperately needed a rest.”

The stallion pulled the hood of his cloak further over his head, hiding himself like a turtle. “I have been traveling, non-stop since Ponyville. The tracks going towards Appleoosa have been damaged in several places on the way, making the train unable to move.”

“So you walked all the way here?” One of the buffaloes asked.

“Yes.” The stallion said simply and started chewing another mouthful of hay.

“You must have a strong passion, following some goal this far from home.” The Chief said in response, pushing some extra grass into the fire. More sparks rose.

The camp had entered a very calm quiet. The buffaloes had left their daily jobs and routines and had settled around small camp fires scattered around the small camp. Those who had not been a part of the smaller fires where with the main campfire in the center of the camp. The stallion had been offered a spot at the main fire. Many buffalo stared at him curiously. He kept himself hidden behind a gray cloak, made all the more ominous by the strange tear at the bottom. The hood stuck up to a point, making them sure he was a unicorn. They could only tell his fur color when he stuck his hoof out, a sickly yellow color. Small strands of his mane dripped out of the hood, revealing a light blue. The stallion knew of the looks he was being given; unfazed.

The stallion began nodding his head, staring abjectly into the flame. “This is a very nice community you’ve all set up. Such an interesting culture as well.”

The Chief gave a laugh. “Thank you for your kind words. Generations upon generations have worked hard to build this great way of life we live.” He began to eat some of the grass that the tribe had collected.

The stallion moved his saddlebag away. He wanted to conserve as much food as he could for when he started his trek.

He thanked the buffaloes again for their hospitality and stood up. He trotted away from the fire and placed his saddlebag down in a fairly large open space between two tents and laid down. He placed his head on the saddlebag and curled up into his cloak. A few of the curious buffalo watched him as he did all this.

        He woke up to the Sun shining brightly into his face, through the hood. He pushed himself off of his side and steadied himself. He looked around and saw many buffalo already wide awake. Many buffalo were preparing to go out and continue the collection of food. Some were passing around the morning rations that had been readied. Many younger buffaloes were running around chasing one another. The stallion put his saddlebags back on and began to trot into the town. He saw one buffalo that caught his eye.

        There was a group of fairly young buffaloes, in some kind of contest. They were trying to see who could jump highest off of the trunk of a dead tree. While many of them were able to get just higher than the stallion’s height, one jumped up and her forehooves hit near the very top of the tree, though relatively small it was still big for their stature, and she pushed herself off of it near to the height of two buffaloes if they were to stand on one anothers' backs. The stallion gave a smirk. He enjoyed the show. There was no doubt that that buffalo had easily topped the rest of them. Then, a voice called to them. “Hey, I bet I can beat you!”

        A buffalo, not much older than maybe a filly or colt in grade school would be, stepped towards the group. They laughed at him while he started setting up for the jump. He sprang forward and jumped against the dead tree. He didn’t make it more than five feet up it before simply falling straight to the floor, not even managing to push himself off. They laughed at him again. He stood up and shook his head to clear the dizziness.

        “I tripped,” He began to lie. “let me go again, I’ll get it.”

        He set up again, taking a large number of steps away from the tree,  and stampeded towards it. He jumped up. His hooves hit the tree and his legs bent, but he didn’t have the strength to push himself off because of the force he used to charge it. He hit his face directly against the trunk and fell straight to the floor. He stood up and his legs wobbled, nearly collapsing. The children were not laughing anymore. A dark red bead of blood slowly made its way down his face from the cut that opened up on his forehead.

        “I know I can do it!” He went back to his spot to begin running again.

        “You should stop. You’re hurt!” The buffalo who won yelled at him.

        “Shut up, Strongheart!” The young one said in response. He sprinted forward and suddenly stopped, his forehooves falling behind him and his chin hitting the cracked desert ground. He looked behind him and saw the green luminescent glow surrounding his tail and keeping him from moving. All the children looked back and saw the stallion holding back the young one. The young buffalo started to hit the ground and scream at the stallion.

        “You,” The stallion said, pointing a hoof toward the one called Strongheart. “Can you bring him back to his family? He needs to get that cut healed up.”

        Strongheart nodded and she went over and helped to hold up the young buffalo. The rest of the group helped and they started carrying him back towards a tent near the center of the camp. He continued to kick and scream.

        The stallion continued his trot into the camp. He continued to look around. Some buffaloes were tending to their children, others to the tents themselves. He saw many buffaloes in a sitting area. He assumed this must have been some form of rest area.

        He trotted on past this and towards a large tent near the very back of the camp.The tent looked as though it could fit a minimum of four grown buffalo in it. A large buffalo blocked the entrance.

        “I need to speak with Chief Thunderhooves.” The stallion informed him.

“The Chief is currently busy with another matter.” The buffalo responded.

The stallion grunted in annoyance. “Inform him the Equestrian visitor needs to see him when he finishes, please? Its fairly urgent.”

The buffalo nodded.

The stallion turned back and went to the rest area he had passed on the way. He sat on his haunches in a distant corner of this small area. He looked and saw many buffaloes talking to each other. He stared at the floor. The ground was cracked and dry here. He followed the cracked ground with his eyes. There was a pattern.

The stallion saw a star.

A shadow covered the stallion. He looked up and saw a large buffalo standing over him. “Mind if I sit with you?” the buffalo said. The stallion could hear the age in the deep voice. It was a dry voice, but still loud and booming. The gray hair of this buffalo came down in a small braid that had a feather stuck on top of his head, blending in almost perfectly. The stallion patted the spot beside him in confirmation. The buffalo sat.

“You have been a bit of spectacle here, despite only showing up yesterday.” The buffalo told him.

“I hadn’t noticed.” The stallion lied.

“You seemed fairly weary when you arrived, and I was curious, but it seemed disrespectful..”

“Hmm?”

“I'm sorry, let me start with my name. I'm Bravehoof.”

“A pleasure to meet you.” The stallion continued to stare at the star pattern cracked into the ground.

“Same to you, friend. Now, I was curious, why the strange attire?” The buffalo asked.

“The cloak? I suppose it’s more symbolic than it is for any purpose other than blocking the Sun.” The stallion replied honestly, not removing his eyes from the ground still.

    “Symbolic of what?”

“I’ll tell you when I figure that out for myself.”

Bravehoof chuckled. “I’ll hold you to that. Might I ask why you have made your way so far from home?”

“Well... There was an incident. It was back in my home. Somepony did something unforgivable. I don’t know who or what, but I packed all my stuff together and set out after them. I’ve followed them since the night of the incident... They did some bad things along the way, but I know where they are going,” The stallion picked his head up and pointed up towards the mountains that were a good twenty miles or so out from the campsite. “towards the mountains.”

“And you’re sure of this?”

“As sure as I can be; Not very, but it’s my only lead.”

“Well, you need to follow what you think is the right way.”

The stallion nodded. “Tell me, do you know anything about what lies in the center of the desert? Passed the mountains?”

The buffalo frowned slightly, but it grew into a warm smile. “Do you have time for a story?”

The stallion nodded.

“Good.”

I was once very naive. My idea of greatness and being wise came from old stories and I believed that I would have to go out and learn what the desert holds. I heard these tales of the ancestors from so long ago. The great journeys that they went out on. I heard these tales and I felt like that was what I needed to know what life is.

My family and the rest of the tribe always told me greatness came from all these different places. I never listened. I was too thick-headed. I listened to them, but I convinced myself that they didn’t know what they were really talking about. So, I saved half of the food I got in the morning and nights and made a collection. After a year, I felt I was ready. So a few days before my birthday, I prepared to leave.

My mother figured out what I was doing. “Brave, don’t do this, Please!” She said. She was so worried. “You’ll be safer with us. You could get hurt out there!” She warned and begged and everything you could think.

I just ignored her and I marched right out of the camp. I set straight into that desert, intending to find something great. Then, I would return and feel all powerful, finally understand what it would feel like to be among these great legends. I used all my strength to stampede as far as my legs would take me, and even a bit further after that. I knew they wouldn’t be able to catch me, or it would at least take them some time to organize and stampede out to me. I walked and walked, never stopping. I didn’t understand the idea of really rationing my food, I was so young. Four days. My food ran out. I knew I wouldn’t last long without it. The Sun was bearing down on me and I could feel the heat deeper and deeper through my fur every minute.

I made it to the those mountains that you plan to travel to, the Great Dunes, or the Tartarus Cliffs, as I’ve heard some Appleoosans call it. I figured that my journey would either truly begin, or end, once I passed those cliffs. So, I used all the strength I could muster to climb to the top of the mountains. I looked out past the top. I saw a great lake, filled with fresh water. The mountains were like a wall. There was an entirely different world hidden behind them. A paradise. I thought that this must be my where my journey was to take me.

I remember taking a step forward into the world, but something, I didn’t know what at the time, told me to stop. I remember deciding that my journey should not take me there. I turned around and went back down the mountain.

I walked and walked back the way I came, and the searching tribe found me on my way back. I apologized so much for my mistakes.

I know now that my naive mind wanted adventure, but my heart knew that my journey was not to go to the heart of the sands. It was not to see the fresh water.

I know now that wisdom comes from years of learning and truly living. It cannot be forced...

“Why do you tell me these things, Bravehoof?” The stallion asked him with great curiosity.

“Destiny is truly the wind that decides our direction. I see something of myself in you. I want you to think about what your heart truly wants. Perhaps, your destiny does not lay with this mysterious thing you’re following towards the Great Dunes. When mistakes are made on the winds of destiny, the soul is lost. And this is the greatest shame.” The old buffalo stared at the cracked ground with the stallion. “You see the stars too.”

“It’s a natural miracle.” The stallion said earnestly.

The buffalo looked out towards the direction of the mountains. “Think about what I’ve said. You are a very kind, gentle soul. I do not want to see the tragedy of destiny be your downfall.”

“I don’t understand, still, why you tell me these things.”

“I know about the problem in Appleoosa. The being you search for, does it wear a cloak covered in stars?” The buffalo asked, not expecting a true answer. They both knew the answer.

The stallion finally broke his gaze from the ground and stared at Bravehoof. “You saw it?”

“Her. I saw her. She ran from Appleoosa and I saw her. I sensed something was wrong. She ran off towards the mountains and disappeared in the horizon.” The buffalo explained.

The stallion sat there in silence, lost for words.

Bravehoof got up and began to trot away. “While I do not believe she has a good intention with her travels, I still trust your heart will make the right decision. I beg you follow it.”

The stallion watched as Bravehoof trotted into the camp and disappeared among the tents and other buffalo. He stood up and started to trot back towards the Chief’s tent. He looked back to see if he could get another glimpse of Bravehoof. Nothing.

He went back to the tent and the guard buffalo was standing away from the entrance. He nodded at the stallion. The stallion went inside and saw Chief Thunderhooves, steam surrounded the air of this large tent.

The stallion sat across from the Chief. “Chief Thunderhooves,”

“Ah, Welcome.”

“Yes... There is a pressing matter that needs to be discussed.” The stallion kept himself perfectly upright in his spot and never looked away from the Chief.

The Chief looked up at the stallion and kept a calm expression, listening for what the stallion had to say.

“There was a situation in Appleoosa. I'm sure you have heard some word about it.”

“I know that the town appears to have been completely abandoned. I was informed by a messenger that arrived two days ago from Equestria. The princesses wanted my tribe to keep an eye on Appleoosa while they figure out what’s going on. So, I assume you’re telling me what I already know.”

“No. Tell me, your tribe’s camp moves with necessity, correct?”

“Correct. We move depending on certain conditions.”

“For the safety of your tribe, I suggest that you move as far from Appleoosa as your tribe is willing to go.”

“Why would we do that?”

“The disappearance of Appleoosa’s population, I believe, has a much more sinister reason for happening than the princesses honestly believe. That’s assuming they are expecting the worst.”

“What sinister purpose could removing those ponies serve?”

“That is what I'm trying to figure out.” The Chief’s expression had gone from a calm one to one of fear. He was concerned about his tribe. He could not bare to see anything bad happen to any member of his tribe.

“We haven’t heard anything about the problem past the basics I just told you... I assume you’ve seen it. Was there anything?”

“I saw it. Appleoosa is currently owned by three things: empty buildings, apple trees, and tumble weeds. I know it might just be for nothing, but I still think you should pack up and get moving before whatever removed Appleoosa comes back, if it does at all.”

“Thank you. I will inform the tribe that we are considering a move.” The Chief had started pacing back and forth in the tent, listening and thinking. This news was all so sudden. The idea of something so horrible being so close was not something that was very pleasant to his thoughts.

The stallion stood up. “Thank you again for the hospitality I’ve been shown. I'm journeying deeper into the desert. Hopefully, this evil presence will not get the chance to hurt anything.”

The Chief turned to him. “Thank you. I wish you good luck in your travels.”

“And the same for yours. If the princesses come, or send somepony, and ask about why you’ve moved away from Appleoosa, tell them that Testament sent you there. Luna will understand. I can’t promise she will condone.” The stallion walked out without another word and set his sights far from the camp.

The stallion trotted out of the camp without saying a word to any of the buffalo. He did not look for that young buffalo that cut himself, nor Bravehoof. He kept the words that had been given to him in his mind, but his work was done. The warning had been passed. His saddlebags bounced against his back as he made his way into the expanse. He pulled his hood over his face but could already feel the Sun shining through the material. He pressed onward.

The stallion continued his move through the desert. The feel of dirt and even the cracked soil of the desert had been easy to walk on, but he found himself struggling with every step through the loose sand. His hoof would become entirely engulfed and buried by the sand. He struggled to pull his hoof free from the sand. After succeeding, The stallion would take another step, only for the same thing to happen again.

It had already been three days since leaving the buffalo tribe, and the sunset was upon him. The hottest point in the day, at least for the stallion, was during this time. He was walking directly in the light of the final rays the Sun would expel during the day. The Sun would make these rays its hottest.

The stallion knew he would need to start a fire and make his camp for the night. However, he chose to make his camp only when he knew the Sun had been gone for a fairly long time, an hour usually. He would continue to march on no matter how tired he was. His decision on where to set his fire for the night was always dependent on when his legs gave out. The motivation for his struggle remained ever clear in his mind. Not the face, but the shape of it. That image of the silhouetted mare galloping passed the sands towards the mountains.

The Sun slowly faded away behind the distant desert sands. Now that he had the chance to slowly cool off, the stallion chose to speed up, now that the rays of heat were no longer burrowing into him and making him weak.

He felt strong this time, like he would never need to stop. He continued on for a longer period of time than he had the other nights. There was never a moment that his legs felt weak the entirety of the night. And yet, there was a point when he felt that he had gone far enough while cloaked in the moonlight.

As he trotted to the top of a dune, he found it. The remains of a once vibrant fire lay at the very top, only a pile of ashes. Hoof prints were beside it and went off in a line towards the mountains. Since Appleoosa, this was greatest hint that the pony he was tracking truly had the mountains in mind as a destination. The stallion sat next to the ashes and used it, plus a small portion of his hay, to light the fire. He placed his saddlebags down and curled into his cloak again, letting the small fire warm him as he drifted off to sleep.

        The stallion’s dreams were filled with memories.

        Trottingham. This was his home. A town that was always busy, but had never grown to the size of its sister cities, Manehattan and Hoofington. It was an ideal place. The stallion worked for his family. They owned a bakery. He was never good at baking, he was never particularly good at anything. His mother and father employed him as a delivery colt for the bakery. His days were mostly spent trotting across town and back to the bakery. His older brother and sister had discovered they were every bit as talented as their parents with baking. While they occasionally made deliveries, most of their service was spent helping to keep their product in stock.

        He remembered his mother’s orange mane and fur clearer than anything else, She was the only unicorn in the family, other than him, the rest being earth ponies. His sister was a spitting image, except for lacking a horn. His brother’s bright red eyes. His father’s kind voice. He loved them. It didn’t matter to him that he got those strange looks from everyone for being a blank flank. Despite being basically full grown, his cutie mark had never come. He didn’t care.

        He was returning to the bakery. He had made a delivery. The Sun was just setting. “Lone, think you could take one more? It’s the last for the night. Crimson’s order. You know how he loves his sweets.” For a moment, her beautiful orange mane turned black and her skin looked charred, but it went away and she was back to her beautiful appearance again. Just his eyes playing tricks.

        Lone took the package with a smile and made his way to the other side of town.

        The Sun was gone and the stars had begun to come out. The stars had a job to do. Always, this job was to clear the skies to make way for the coming of the Moon. It was a truly foalish idea, especially for those who understand and know the story of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. Lone liked to take solace in this idea, however. He never knew why.

        He got to the house of the stallion named Crimson. Crimson came to the door groggy, tired.

        “Hello, Mr. Crimson. Your delivery.” Lone said.

        Crimson rubbed an eye with his hoof. “What? I never placed any order.”

        Lone, in his confusion, simply pulled the order notice off of the box and held it up for Crimson to see. It was a notice from about two hours ago informing them of where to leave the package.

        Crimson scratched his head and blinked, trying to make sure his eyes weren’t tricking him. That was his signature right there.  “I'm sorry, but I didn’t order anything. Somepony’s pulling a prank.”

        Lone slowly took the notice back and put it back on the box. “Well, sorry for the disturbance. Have a good ni-” The sudden BOOM! made Crimson cringe and Lone fell backwards, dropping the box, the cupcakes inside it scattering on the ground. They both looked out and saw the bright light illuminating the town. People were coming out of their houses to see what was going on. Lone and Crimson both began to trot towards where the sound had come.

        Lone broke into a gallop when he heard the words leave the mouth of a mare. “Oh Celestia! The bakery’s on fire!”

        Many others moved towards the fire quick, desperate to help stop it before it engulfed the town. Lone got there and ran for the door, but he was held back by a few neighbors. “Stop! Stop!”  “Lone, you’ll get hurt.” They yelled.

        The door suddenly broke open. Everypony stopped.

        Lone’s sister slowly crawled out, her mane completely burned away. Her skin black and burned off, charred. Lone started to cry and gag at the sight. The stallion fell back onto his haunches and watched the gruesome scene as his sister, unrecognizable to him, crawled towards the crowd.

        She reached out for somepony to help her. Her voice was raspy and dry, barely getting the word out, even then it was but a whisper. “Help...” Her eyes had been burned and Lone looked directly into them, then turned away as tears filled his.

        He felt somepony reach into his saddlebag during the chaos that ensued afterwards. He didn’t check his saddlebag, how could he? Ponies rushed over desperately trying to put out the fire with buckets of water. A few came over and Lone saw them carry his sister away to try and help her.

        He finally got up and simply started walking, absent-minded of where. He just needed to be away. The stallion’s shock was far too great to even describe. The other ponies watched him, but none dared to even go and speak with him. They knew he needed to be left to his own devices. As he trotted towards the outskirts of the town, he reached into his saddlebag to see what had been taken. He found a note.

Ponyville☺

He crumpled up the note and put it back in his saddlebag. He sat on the on his haunches at the edge of town and stared at the ground.

        The stars were beautiful.

        Running! Across the dark desert. The sand grabbed at their hooves like tentacles with every step. The risk of being dragged down! He pulled with all his might, furiously. No! No!

        Can’t let it get away. Two giant figures, shadows with their cloaks blowing in the wind. Through their silhouettes, indistinguishable from one another. He stepped, his hoof stuck in the sand. It dragged him down. Break free! Impossible.

        He was slowly sucked down through the sand. He reached out his hoof towards the figure that ran. It walked back to him and extended its hoof just out of reach. He was sucked down into the sand, drowning. It laughed.

        Became bright white. Figures, blocked by the bright light, moved to him. Snakes. Wolves. A cactus grew in front of him and the snakes got stuck on its thorns. The wolves jumped and feasted on the snakes.

        The cactus burned. Fwoosh! The flames engulfed it. A rectangle formed.

        Stone. It became stone. A door. The hinges formed. Wooden. Born from fire. He moved towards it.

        He opened the door. It creaked open slowly. The thing crawled toward him. It wasn’t a pony. It was a monster. It was at the door. It hissed. “DIE!”

        Without skipping a beat, the door was slammed in its face. Blood flowed from through the bottom of the door. He went away. Fire. An Apple. It was burning.

        He was in a building. A castle. He looked around. Canterlot. He laid on the floor and covered his head. Something would happen, he knew. His eyes opened. He forced himself up. Silence. Solace. Peace of mind.

        Perfect silence. Wonder. His ears twitched. CRASH!

        The stones that made up the castle room fell. A cacophony of sound as the bricks fell around him. He cringed. His eyes sealed shut.

        Waterfall. He looked up. He was in a forest. Before him stood a waterfall that crashed and splashed into a lake. He approached it.

        Shine. The light gleamed off the surface of the water and gave off a semblance of paradise. He looked into the water. A reflection. He stared at it.

        Regrets. It was his enemy. The figure he chased in the desert. He saw it in the water. He stepped back. The wind began to blow fiercely. He held onto his cloak and looked up to the waterfall. Sand began to cascade into the lake. The water became sand. It overflowed. The lush, green life died on contact with the sand.

        Dead. The forest. Dead.

        Alone. He was in the desert. No one to chase. Nothing to follow. No help of safety. He felt woozy. Nothing in sight. No landmarks. No sign of life. He sighed and looked towards a cloud. A tiny cloud. The only one in the sky. It moved to the Sun. It was barely the size of Sun.

        Darkness. It became night.

        WAKE UP!

        The stallion awoke with a start. He sat straight up and gasped. His breathing was heavy and he sat there for many minutes, slowing his breath, one deep breath after another. It was already the afternoon.

        His hood had fallen off. The magnificent light of the Sun bounced off his orange eyes. He quickly held up his hoof to shade himself from the light. He pulled his hood back up. He got up to his feet and threw his saddlebag over his back. He stood atop the dune. The mountains were still in view. They dominated the horizon. The peaks of the mountains made the image of a spear from a royal guard appear in his mind. He shook the thought out of his head and looked down on the desert path towards the mountains. He could not see anything near the mountains. It was too far out. The stallion knew it was out there. The shadow that had been eluding him. The stallion looked down to the bottom of the dune. He stumbled and fell forward. His face, red with anger toward himself. He was cross. He couldn’t believe the sight.

        The base of the dune had a small black dot, the indication of a campfire that must have been there. The elusive shadow might have been within his reach. The stallion would not know until he got there. The stallion cautiously made his way down the dune. His hoof became stuck. He slipped and tumbled into the sand. He pushed himself back up, but his front hoof ached. It had been twisted when it was pulled out of the sand so harshly. His hoof gave out on him. He fell again. He rolled to the base of the dune.

        The stallion stood back up and started coughing violently. The coughing fit slowly subsided and he found himself limping slowly to the place a fire once stood. The ashes were still in a pile, but were not fresh. This fire pit was at least a day old. The stallion was now assured that he was on path that he needed to be on. The shadowy mare was within his grasp. He had the instinct, but did not know why he did. He removed his cloak and threw it onto the ashes. He removed it and looked at it. A black spot was now in the center of his gray cloak. It was like ink that had tipped over onto a paper and randomly splattered on it. He shrouded himself in the cloak again and continued on.

        The Sun beat down heavy on him. His cloak could only help so much. His breathing slowly became a wheeze. He reached into his saddlebag and pulled out a small bit of hay, starting to eat. He pulled out his canteen and took a brief sip. The canteen was small and the water in it was scarce.

        The stallion wished that his magic was better. He had never had much use for his magic, he learned how to use levitation to a very strong degree, but nothing else. He had heard of a spell that can summon whatever a unicorn wanted. He didn’t know how hard it was to master, or if it was just a story of a spell that unicorns were trying to master, but he wished he knew it.

        The stallion continued to trot, slowly, but never quitting. He kept on his way. He sought justice and answers. He knew that he could not stop until he had found his way. His destination. His target.

        He passed many cacti and many bones of creatures that had been unlucky out here in the desert. He passed sun bleached bones of something that might have once been a dragon, perhaps a large snake. He could not tell. He went to the bleached bones of the beast and crushed it under his hoof. He collected the shattered pieces into his saddlebag. It would serve its purpose for him.

        His trot continued on. The mountains slowly became larger each day. Twenty miles from the buffalo camp, the stallion figured that he must have been moving a good two to three miles a day. Five more days. Five days until he would finally be at the mountains. However, he knew that the Mild West would not make these next five days easy for him. He knew he needed to make some extra distance in a shorter time today, due to his late start.

        He resumed his path, following the hoofprints. He pulled out his canteen once again and took another sip, brief but longer than the last. He stopped moving. He prepared himself. He lunged forward and pushed himself into a gallop. Dust trails flew behind him as he moved. He pushed himself further and further, knowing that wherever he stopped would be his camp. His goal was the next fire pit. The hoofprints marked his path. He continued pushing himself. The Sun’s rays seemed to become stronger. He felt as though he was unsuccessfully trying to run from the Sun. His legs were already feeling weak, his energy exerted.

        “AHH!” The voice bellowed from not so far ahead.

        The stallion felt the adrenaline enter his body. He pushed himself further, faster. His hooves carried him. He felt like a pegasus, soaring through the clouds. A wind picked up and started blowing dust widely around, but he kept the hoofprints in his sight, following the cry. The sand is fire, let your hooves touch it as little as possible, He told himself, increasing his pace.

        “Now I’ve got you!” The stallion shouted. He looked and saw the red mare. She was on her side. The green apple cutie mark exposed and her straw on her head, barely covering her shiny green mane. A saddlebag stayed under her head as a pillow. The stallion stopped and fell forward, falling onto his side. His hooves had finally quit on him. He landed a few feet from her, the only thing separating them being the empty fire pit. He looked ahead and saw the hoofprints go on further, past this spot.

        “Dear Celestia!” The mare got up and grabbed her saddlebag, moving quickly to him. “Are y’all alright, Mistah?”

        “I'm fine... My hooves just got tired of supporting me.” The stallion responded and breathed heavily, on his side.

        The mare pulled out a canteen. “Ah’ll soak ya hooves a bit, relieve the pain some.” She tilted the canteen to the side slightly.

        The stallion quickly moved up and stopped her. “NO! Never waste water...”

        She was scared for a moment, but nodded and closed her canteen, putting it back in its place. she moved close to him and started to massage his legs, trying to relax him. The stallion closed his eyes and let out a groan of pleasure. His hooves had ached since the first day of his walk.

        “Ya know, ya scured the heck out o’ me.” She said. She continued rubbing his legs and hooves, feeling him become more relaxed.

        “I heard you scream and came to help.” The stallion half lied.

        “Why’d ya scream at meh?”

        “I thought you were somepony else.”

        The mare stepped away as the stallion was finally able to sit up on his haunches. She sat beside him.

        “What’s your name?” She asked.

        “Huh? Oh... Lone Testament.” He responded awkwardly.

        “It’s a pleasure. Name’s Dandy.” She held out her hoof.

        They shook hooves and there was a long silence. They were complete strangers in the middle of nowhere, what was there to say? The stallion thought of one thing.

        “Why are you here?” He asked.

        She smirked. “Ah could ask y’all the the same question.” She sighed and looked at him. “Somepony in all black get-up mosied on in and everypony in Appleoosa up and disappeared with ‘er. That’s mah family. Ah’ve been on ‘er tail the last days now.”

        Out of fairness, the stallion gave his answer. “The same pony did the same thing to me back in Trottingham. I’ve been tracking her since.”

        “Trottin’ham,” Dandy echoed. “Tha’s deep in Equestria. Ya’ve been followin’ ‘er a good while.”

        “Yeah.” The stallion said absently and started reaching into his saddlebag.

        “Ya reckon, this one we’re chasing, what’s ‘er plan?” The red mare looked at him, cautious still.

“I wish I knew.” The stallion pulled out the pieces of bones.

Dandy sat there and simply watched him for a while. He started crushing the bones into a fine powder, bone meal. He mixed it with the ashes. If he remembered correctly, the fire would last longer, slightly, from this. Dandy reached into her saddlebag and pulled out a small piece of timber. She handed it to the stallion.

        “Ah’ve been savin’ some o’ the wood from every fire Ah came across.” She explained.

The stallion nodded and put the fire down with some of the hay. “We don’t light the fire until night.” She agreed. There was an urge in him to continue moving, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Maybe it was because he had finally found a companion that could honestly be of help, and she seemed as though she wouldn’t leave either.

The Sun slowly descended behind the horizon. The light that exposed the desert before them slipped away and they were left in darkness.

The stallion lit the fire and looked at his companion. She removed her hat and placed it a few feet away, as not to be lit by the fire. They sat by the fire in silence for a good while. They stared at the bright flames.

A small movement caught the eyes of the stallion. She shivered. Wrapped in his cloak, he only barely noticed the cold that the desert nights brought. But, he could see how cold she was. He moved to her and threw side of his cloak over her. She looked at him and pulled the cloth around her. “Thank ya...” She said

He nodded. She moved toward him and put her hoof to his cheek. “Let’s get that hood off ya.” She pulled the hood down and saw half of his face glow from the fire light. She watched the sparks in his eye. “Ya eyes are beautiful.” She smiled.

The stallion gave a soft smile and patted her shoulder, moving her hoof away. “It’s time we get some rest.”

They laid down and wrapped themselves in the stallion’s cloak. They dreamed.

        Fire of an Apple.

        His sister was burned horribly. She got to the hospital and died of her burns. Lone couldn’t visit her. Wouldn’t visit her.

The note said Ponyville. He knew he had to go. Lone packed all his essentials in a long gray blanket, folded into a makeshift bag, and was ready to set off. The royal guards had spoken to him a great deal. They discussed the situation and gave their condolences for his losses. It was discovered that the fire was not a simple accident. They discovered that somepony intentionally started the fire. The boom that could be heard all across the town was the oven exploding, which only added to the initial fire. In the investigations, Lone informed them about the note and they were planning to send a group to monitor Ponyville and make sure nothing like that would happen again.

        Lone didn’t want to hear any of it. He was packed and ready to go to Ponyville. He’d never been there, but that strange note said had that word. Somepony wanted him to go there and he decided that he might as well. He had nothing left here. What was there to stay for? He had nothing anymore. Somepony specifically wanted him to get that note. There were answers out there, and this was the first step of going about it. The royal guards liked to keep an eye on him while a major investigation was being done.

        He purchased a train ticket to Ponyville and planned to stay the night at the station. He laid down on the wooden bench and closed his eyes. He drifted to sleep, but saw no dreams. Only darkness. Somepony’s hoof shook him awake.

        “Lone?” The soft voice asked.

        He opened his eyes and rubbed them, looking up to see who had woken him. He stopped all movement at the sight of Princess Luna. “Huh-Hello, Princess...”

        “Good morning, Lone. Do you mind?” She placed her hoof on the bench.

        “Oh, Oh!” He said and quickly moved and made room for her. “Of course, here.”

        She sat beside him. “How have you been holding up?”

        “I'm alright...” He said reluctantly.

        “I'm not gonna lie and say I know how you feel. What happened was horrible, and I can’t even imagine what you’re going through right now.” She put a reassuring hoof on his shoulder. “Tell me, what do you like to do?”

        “I don’t really know. I liked being with my family. I really don’t know anything else. I'm a blank flank, no talents.” Lone said and moved closer to the side, away from Luna.

        “Now I doubt that. Everypony has-”

        “A special skill,” He finished. “I don’t.”

        Luna frowned and pulled her hoof away. “I know you don’t know how to really talk about this. We’re not sure how to handle it.” She gave a frustrated chuckled. “I’ve never seen anything like this happen. My sister... she hasn’t seen anything like this either. And she put me to deal with it!”

        Lone looked at her. A worried look flashed in his eye. She was smiling, but it was a forced. He saw her eyes starting to water.

        “Please, know that if you ever need to talk. Anyone in the royal palace is here for you.” She patted his shoulder again. “I'm here for you. ”

        “Luna,” He turned to her. “I want to extend the same kindness to you. If you need to talk, I’ll be waiting.”

        She smiled, truly smiled. “Would you object my asking you a question?”

        “I wouldn’t dream of it.”

        “Where are you going?”

        The words echoed in his head for a bit. There was a long pause. He wasn’t quite sure what would constitute a good answer, since he didn’t exactly know himself. He knew his destination, but what was he actually going there for? The princess’s question put so many more in his head, but he knew he needed to answer something.

        “Ponyville.” He said.

        “Is this about that note?” The princess inquired.

        He nodded.

        “Princess, Why do you care?”

        “It is my job to care for the subjects of the kingdom. Everypony deserves to be cared for.”

        The stallion remained silent, looking out to see if his train was even in view yet. He spoke up. “You don’t understand, I think. I need to go there.”

        “We have guards around Ponyville at all times. You don’t need to endanger yourself.” She whispered.

        He stared at his hooves. “Somepony or something wants me to know where to go. I need answers.”

        Luna sighed. “That I do understand. I once ran after something to find answers, too. So long ago...”

        “What happened?”

        “Well... Let’s just say the Moon is a lonely place...”

        There was another silence. Lone stared at the ground now. The train must have been close. It wouldn’t be much longer now.

        “Lone, I'm going to tell the guards not to stop you, and I trust you will make the right choice. You seem smart and kind. Please, don’t do anything you’ll regret... Or anypony will regret.” She got off the bench. She slowly moved away.

        “When you raise the Moon,” Lone said as she began to trot away. “The stars, do they clear the skies of the daylight from the skies to make way for it?”

        Luna giggled. She gave him a kind look. “My doors are always open for you. Despite your name, remember that you aren’t alone. I don’t know you well, but I do know that it’s hard to face a loss. Sometimes, you just need a pony to talk to.” With that, she walked out of the station.

        The train arrived a few minutes later and Lone got on with all his stuff packed. Ponyville was his next destination. The train ride was nothing spectacular. It ran from Trottingham through Hoofington, Las Pegasus, and ultimately Ponyville.

        He was greeted by the bustling sound of business in this small town. He saw the constant movement of these ponies going back and forth between buildings and shops. He heard a large amount of talking from every direction. This place seemed smaller than his town, but it also seemed busier. He stepped out and began to see what this town had to offer.

        He must have looked odd, going around with a blanket to carry his stuff, most of which was food anyway. He chose to ignore that for now and focused on finding a place to stay for a few days.

        He managed to find an inn and paid to stay for three days. He figured if he couldn’t find was he needed in three days, he never would, such a small area to explore. He went up to his room, room 234, and laid his blanket on the bed. He untied it. Lone took an inventory of what he had. Bits, food, and a few books. He grabbed a few bits and went back out. He found an accessories store and bought himself a pair of saddlebags. He rushed back to the hotel and shoveled all of his things into them. The large blanket, he folded and placed in with his books.

        He spent the rest of the day inside the room. He picked one book out of his saddlebag and started reading. It was a book for young ponies, the story of Celestia and Luna.

        The first day led to nothing of major importance. He got to learn the layout of the town. There was a pastry shop not far from where he was. Like the one his family owned... He left it quickly. He met a pleasant pink pony who kept offering to throw him a party. She seemed slightly sad when he convinced her he didn’t want one. He gave her a bit to go and get a cupcake.

        He also learned that there was a tailor shop just a little walk outside the town. A snobbish white pony owned the place and seemed to be very high strung over every little detail in the shop. He went to her and gave her the blanket. He showed her the places he wanted it to be sewn.

        “So, essentially, darling, you want me to turn this raggedy thing into like a cape?” She said, asking for confirmation.

        “More of a cloak, really. It’s very special to me. Do you think you can?” Lone asked.

        “Oh, I don’t think it really fits you...” She sighed. “But, I will do it. Come by in the morning and I’ll have it ready.”

        “Thanks,” He responded. He left the bits on a table for her on his way out.

        He also learned there was an apple farm towards the back of the town. Thousands of apples on apple trees that he couldn’t possibly be counted. It looked delicious.

        The second day was more fruitful. Lone received his new clothes from that pony at the tailor shop, folding it up and putting it in his saddlebag. He also went to the library, which he cared for because of the curious way it was built into a tree. He found a book. The book was very curious to his eye. It was completely black, no art, nor author name. It was completely black, front and back cover. The only thing that broke the full blackness was the title stamped in dark red on the side of the book. Dragon Glass.

        He took the book out from the librarian. Lone was curious about the baby dragon that followed her around, but kept his mouth shut. He sat under a tree and pulled out the book. He opened it up and realized that it was simply a great collection of short stories, poems, and quotes, all created specifically for this book.

        It was separated into ten parts. Each of those parts were separated into ten sections, each with their own different number of separations to determine the chapter and verse.These were the ten main separations: Stone Setting, Birthing, Learning, Mastery, Towering, Commanding, Grieving, Discovering, Reverence.

        Lone turned to a random page. “Mastery; Steel; 23:8- Singing, the chorus let fly the voice of a dragon’s breath. Ash fell from the clouds, like snow, but not a flake would touch the greenery. The alchemist would let it pass the leaves, but only snow would fall this Hearth’s Warming Eve.”

        Lone blinked in confusion. He turned to another random page. “Towering; Stars: 2:34- Behold, the eyes of Fire’s Sun bear witness to the Water’s Moon, and there shall be harmony.”

        “Well, that one makes a tad bit more sense, I suppose.” He told himself. He was still confused. He turned to another page, but this was not random.

        “Stone Setting; Beginnings; 1:1- Fire shall be the one that reigns. Let none who oppose the stability of hope quench the flames that lay for us the path of every creature’s lives. If anypony shall quench the fire, Disharmony and Disarray will be all that thou will have. Let it be known! Those that set thyself to the glass of dragons will be the one that holds all great things. Let this be the only known truth. No! Without the fire, the wastes and destruction that follows evil shall be all that covers the world, and harmony shalt not return. Let the words above and below be known true.”

A bird began to sing and chirp in the branches above Lone.

        He closed the book and shoved it into his saddlebag. The book made no sense, but it caught his attention. Perhaps it wasn’t just random stories and quotes scattered about.

        He got up and went off to that pastry shop he saw yesterday. The ponies inside were very busy, but more than happy to take his order. His order was simple, a muffin.

        He saw a foal crawling on the ceiling towards the kitchen.

        The mare behind the counter put a muffin up for him and he levitated it to himself. He handed her the bits and made his way to back out. He saw a royal guard sitting at the table by the window, munching on a slice of cake. He ate the muffin on his way out.

        He went back to the inn and sat on the bed. He left his saddlebags on the floor and stayed up from that moment until the middle of the night, reading his new book.

        Lone woke up, the Sun shining through the window and into his eye. His new book was beside him. He got up and started reorganizing his saddlebags. He wrapped himself in the cloak and put his saddlebags on. He set out, accidentally leaving behind the books he brought from Trottingham in the room and only bringing Dragon Glass. He kept his hood off to avoid looking suspicious.

        He walked out of the inn, seeing that it was already the middle of the afternoon. He started his walk around. He knew the layout of the town, but he could find no hint at anything happening around here. There was not a single thing out of the ordinary. There was nothing. Absolutely nothing.

        He sat on a bench stared at the clouds. He saw a large number of pegasi going around and pushing the clouds around.

        Lone heard the sound of somepony sit beside him, but didn’t take his eyes from the blue sky.

        “Mister?” The voice said.

        “Yes?” He responded, turning to the voice. He saw the gray mare, a pegasus with the bright yellow mane. He couldn’t help but notice the shade of gray her fur had was the same as his blanket-turned-cloak.

        “You seem sad, what’s wrong?” She watched him.

        “Oh, It’s nothing.” He lied.

        “Hmm... I think you’re lying.” She said, rubbing her hoof against her chin.

        Lone smiled. “I think I know when I'm lying, and I'm not.”

        “There it is again!”

        “What?”

        “You blink when you lie.”

        “Um... Shouldn’t you be flying around with the other pegasi?” He quickly responded.

        “No, They don’t like me helping with the weather.” She blinked and her eyes went in two different directions. She looked up at the sky. “The sky is pretty.”

        Lone turned his gaze back to the clouds. “It is.”

        “There’s gonna be a rainbow tomorrow.”

        “Really?”

        “That’s what the weather reports said. It’s gonna rain for a while, but then everypony gets to look at a big, big rainbow!”

        “I’ll keep my eyes out for it.” He looked back at the mare and saw the bag around her. “You’re a mail-mare?”

        “Huh? Oh, Yeah! One of the best, even.” She put her hoof to her chest and smiled wide.

        “Do you deliver to Canterlot?”

        “I deliver all over Equestria.”

        “The mail office is over that way, right?” He stuck his hoof out and tried to get an idea of the direction.

        “Actually, over there.” The mare pointed to the opposite direction. “Or, wait...” she blinked and moved her hoof over. “No, you got it. It’s over there.” She finally answered with a smile.

        “No offense, but you’re a bit ditzy, bubbly too” He spoke with a smile and held out his hoof to her. “I'm Lone Testament.”

        She shook his hoof. “Thanks! I'm Ditzy Doo.”

        Lone and Ditzy sat back on the bench and watched the sky for a while. She pointed up at a cloud. “What does that look like?”

        “I see a... cricket.” Was his answer.

        “I see... a duck. No! A tree.”

        Lone blinked in confusion. He cocked his head and looked up at it. “Now I see it.” He didn’t see it. He wanted to go back to the inn, but he couldn’t think of a good reason why. “I have to be going, but it was a pleasure meeting you, Ditzy”

        “Oh! Same to you, mister.” She closed her eyes. A gentle smile came to her expression.

        “I’ll leave a letter for you to deliver to Canterlot later, ok Ms. Ditzy?” He got off the bench.

        She gave a playful salute. “Understood. I hope I see you around soon, you seem fun.” she stayed on the bench and waved as he disappeared around a turn.

        He found another nearby store that sold quills and ink. He quickly bought a quill, a small pot of ink, and a piece of stationary. He levitated the paper, pushing it against a wall, and floated the quill to it, beginning his letter. He kept the ink bottle on the floor beside him at all times. He was there for a few minutes, scribbling on the paper furiously with the quill.

        As the Sun set, he decided that he had written enough and folded the letter with great care, placing it in his saddlebag. He went to the mail office and left his letter in a pile that was going to be delivered tomorrow.

        He walked away and began to walk around the town. This was the last night he had paid to stay here, and it seemed to him that nothing was happening. It had been a few weeks since what happened in Trottingham. Adding these few days, maybe it was just a bluff. What pony would try to do something with all these guards surrounding the place? There was a guard on nearly every corner. Lone remembered the one he saw at the pastry shop.

        It was time to go back home, he finally decided. Lone went over to the train station. A crowd had formed.

        There was a good fifty ponies, at minimum, gathered on the platform, yelling at each other and the ponies selling tickets. Lone pushed his way through the crowd to the ticket seller.

        “One for Trottingham.” He asked, placing his bits on the table.

        “There’s no tickets.” A yell went up through the crowd.

        “What do you mean ‘no tickets’?”

        “I mean exactly what I mean, no tickets. No trains, either.” A sigh through the crowd.

        “How can there be no trains?”

        “Look, I have no idea. This crowd is angry at the wrong pony. I'm not the one stopping the trains. The letter just came in, no trains going to Manehattan, Appleoosa, Trottingham, Hoofington, or Canterlot. something wrong with the junctions, or something, and the workers are trying to sort it out. I'm sorry, but I can’t do anything but relay the information.”

        The crowd got louder, but Lone nodded to him. “Thank you, I’ll be back if anything changes.” He had to shout over the crowd.

 He trotted back to the center of town. His thoughts rushed for a moment. No trains coming in from any major Equestrian city. Even from the rare used tracks going to Appleoosa, as trains from there only arrived at cities to deliver apples, tourists on their way to Appleoosa ranged from little to none. It was some kind of major coincidence that all these junctions had been broken. The thought broke into his brain and his eyes widened with revelation.

Ponyville was cut off. Pegasi could still move into the town, but unicorns and earth ponies outside wouldn’t be getting here fast. He shook the thoughts from his head. He was assuming the worst, and it was a stupid thought. Impossible!

He looked up towards the newly arriving stars and gazed up at them for a moment. Impossible...

As Lone gazed up at the stars, his peripheral vision saw the great light rise into view, then fall. He lowered his head and the light rose higher. Ponies around him ran for the great light, hidden from him behind buildings. He galloped after them to see what was going on. His view was still blocked by buildings, so he pushed his way through the moving crowd. Then, he saw it.

The great, expanding apple farm had been set ablaze. Many ponies gathered towards the barn on the farm. They all looked out towards the rampaging fire. Many were screaming and shouting, while others ran to find something to help put out the fire. The owners of the farm were not concerned with the fire. They were running around the crowd shouting the name of, what Lone assumed, must have been a sibling that was lost at the moment. Everypony was staring up at the branches, where most of the fire was. Lone stared at the trunks of the trees and caught a sight that nopony else had spotted. The shadow of a pony motioning to follow and stepping into the blaze.

Many ponies gasped and shouted as they witnessed the stallion gallop into the flaming farm.

The stallion moved with all his speed, but was being weighed down by the contents of his saddlebag. He opened it with his magic and quickly threw out the things that weighed him down. He left the hay he had packed, since he didn’t pack enough for its weight to be noticed. He threw out all his bits and a book called Dragon Glass. He grabbed his hood and pulled it around his mouth, to help filter the smoke.

The book fell and opened to the last page, with the final piece of the story. “Reverence; Thorns; 2:9- Let the world be gone with fire, Let the stones set by glass make free the souls that need to learn. Let the horses, boars, deer, zebras, camels, and all see the face of Titans, and may thy mercy be sweet to those that hath been deemed worthy by claims of inferno. Harmony shall be restored through the burning! Let the Dragon Glass lay!”

He ran forward and towards the towering inferno. The deeper into the farm he went, the closer together the trees seemed to be, making the fire brighter and larger as it went on. The stallion realized that the entire farm was on fire, not just a certain part of it, everything was ablaze.

He continued to run along the path of empty space left by the trees, until finally he came to a tree that blocked the empty pathway. The fire was slowly making it’s way down the tree trunk, but there was a piece of stationary attached on the ground beside it. The stallion picked it up and saw what it was. A note.

Catch me if you can! ↗☺

        The stallion left the note and looked the way the arrow pointed, down another path that was clear of the apple trees. The fire was bright and the stallion had to squint to see down ahead of him. The heat was immense and he could feel himself sweating under his cloak. The makeshift mask he had made out of the hood of his cloak was only working to a degree. He could taste the thick smog in the air and his breathing began to slow as he moved, but he knew he had to keep pace. The stallion waited at the spot a minute, doing his best to catch a breath, which was nearly impossible. He felt he was ready to make a run, but then he heard it.

        “HELP!” The little voice shouted. He turned and could hear the coughing. The voice was that of a filly. It came from the exact opposite direction that he needed to run. The stallion needed to go and catch the being that was responsible. The small voice continued to scream out for help, getting weaker every time. The stallion continued to stare the way the arrow had pointed. He began to slowly back away from the arrow and towards the voice.

        The stallion watched as a shadow from the distance slowly came into view and began to stutter and twitch in the light of the fire. Lone galloped the opposite way, giving one last glance back at the shadow, to see who was hurt.

        “Help!” The voice blew out one last time before finally going quiet. The stallion ran quickly, following where he heard the voice. He started coughing and looked forward, his view blocked by the smoke now.

        “Who’s there?!” He screamed passed the great sound of crackling branches.

        The voice perked up again and shouted. “HERE!” The filly started to cough violently from the smoke.

        The stallion moved towards the sound. He saw her. Her body matched the color of the flame that was behind her. The yellow fur and the red mane was the same shade as the fire was burning. If it wasn’t for that giant bow she wore, he never would have been able to distinguish her with how little he could actually see.

        She was surrounded by collapsed branches and one of her hooves was stuck under a large one. She held her hooves over her head, protecting herself from other falling branches. The fire had started to spread to a branch that was close to the one holding her leg, but she didn’t notice. She was too scared.

        The stallion quickly moved to her and pushed the branches away. He pulled her away from the tree and she laid there limp. “Thank ya...” She whispered.

        “Don’t talk, try not to breath either,” He tore off a piece of his cloak, along the bottom lining, and handed it to her. “But if you do, breath through this. It’ll block out some of the smoke.” He pulled up his hood. He lifted her up onto his back and she wrapped her hooves around his neck. “Let’s get you out of here.” He turned to start running back the way he had come.

        A blazing tree fell over and blocked the path in front of him. He turned and quickly started searching for another path that went back that way. He heard the sound of the tree trunks beside them start to creak and snap. He quickly started galloping away from the trees that were about to come down and tried to find something to guide him out. He looked up towards the sky and saw pegasi moving towards the forest with clouds, causing rain to fall on the fire.

        “Hey!” He shouted and started to cough. They couldn’t hear him. He finally found a narrow, but clear path that led back. He turned and started running. He could hear the raspy wheezing of the filly on his back. She sounded more in pain with every breath, and he felt the same way.

        He ran until finally a tree blocked his path. “Gah!” He screamed. He looked back at the filly. Her eyes were watering from both the smoke and the pain. She clung to him and kept the piece of cloth against her mouth.

        Lone looked around. He gritted his teeth and looked at the filly again. “What’s your name?” He asked her hastily.

        She blinked at him in confusion and whispered “A-Applebloom.” before starting to cough again.

        “Applebloom,” He echoed and coughed. “I need you to hold on real tight. We have to -koff- go through these trees here. Not a lot of room. We’ll be moving fast; We might get hit when it gets narrow on us, so hold on. Can you do that?”

        She nodded slowly, her lip quivering at the thought of being left behind.

        “I'm gonna get you out safe.” He dug his hooves into the dirt and got ready to make a run for it. He breathed slowly and watched the fire around him. The smoke was now taking its full effect and the heat was only making him more tired. The Stallion looked ahead at his path, a straight shoot, as long as Applebloom held on. He took one final deep breath and coughed slightly from the smoke. He galloped ahead and hoped.

        The trees were all still burning, but in the distance he could hear the fall of rain trying to put out the fire. He moved faster than he ever has before, desperately attempting to break free from the flames that had consumed him. The trees began to get more and more narrow in the space he was running, and fire spread further down the trunks. The trunks of two trees hit against him as he ran and tore off an small piece of his cloak, leaving a small cut on both him and Applebloom. She cried out some, but it was hidden away by the coughing that followed. He continued running with all his strength, which was slowly being sapped away by the flames and the smoke. He saw darkness up ahead, which meant he was nearing the end of the tunnel of inferno that he was now trapped in. The gaps between the trees suddenly became much wider and wider. The fire took the trunks and they were swept up in the flames. He leaped forward.

        The onlookers watched as the mysterious stallion broke through the fire and cascaded onto his side. Applebloom rolled off of him. They both laid there, unmoving, limp.

        The stallion looked over and watched as a small group of mares ran to her.

        “Applebloom!” “Are you alright?” They yelled. He recognized a few. The librarian pony was there. The tailor pony who made his cloak, too. And the pleasant pink partying pony, also. an orange pony, whom the stallion recognized as the mare that was going through the crowds looking for somepony, came to the group, shooing them off. “Let her get some air.” She commanded.

        As they watched her, The stallion forced himself to his feet and all attention turned to him for a second. He staggered forward. He moved back towards the fire. He took one slow, reluctant step at a time. There might still be time to catch the pony behind all of this. The stallion took one more step forward and stopped. Lone fell forward and onto his nose, then fell to the side. He blinked, staring at the fire. The darkness stayed longer each time his eyes closed, only to be exposed to the blinding light. Finally the darkness lingered, and would not subside. He remembered hearing somepony call for help before blacking out.

In his dreamscape, he remembered dessert. Chocolate cake.

        He awoke in a hospital bed. He was breathing heavy. Lone looked to his left and saw all his stuff on a small table beside him. He turned his attention to the right side now. He saw the little filly he rescued lying in the bed beside him. She was looking at him and smiled when she saw he was awake. He smiled back.

        “Everyone, He’s awake.” He heard a voice say from the foot of his bed. He looked and saw the pony who spoke. It was that librarian. The group from the fire gathered around him again, but they had more ponies with them now. A blue pegasus with a rainbow mane was here now too. The large red stallion that was searching the crowd was there, with the orange mare as well. He saw one yellow pegasus with a pink mane that was hiding behind the crowd as well. Two more little fillies arrived, but they moved over to his right side, by Applebloom. One was a white unicorn with a pink and purple mane, and the other was an orange pegasus with a purple mane. He could also see the gray pegasus that he had met earlier. His smile remained longer and he sat up to greet them. This motion was welcomed by a coughing fit that forced him down onto his back again. The smiles turned to frowns for a minute and the librarian moved closer, pulling the blanket up and over him.

        “Try not to move. That little act of heroism of yours really knocked the wind out of you.” She said gently.

        “Wuh... -koff- -koff- Why are you all here?” He said weakly and looked at all of them.

        “Ta thank ya,” The orange mare said. “Ya saved my sister, and we’re mighty thankful. Once we saw Applebloom was alright, we just had to be sure y’all was, too.”

        “Eeyup.” The red stallion said.

        The stallion shook his head. “I shouldn’t -koff- be here. I need to get moving...” He tried to push himself up again, but they pushed him back down. He wasn’t going anywhere, he knew. “How long have I been out?”

        “A few hours.” The pink pony answered.

        “What about the fire?” Lone watched them all carefully.

        The blue pegasus stepped up. “The pegasi teams and I were able to bring in some big storm clouds and rained the fire out.”

        The orange mare nodded “The farm is alright. But got some replantin’ to do still.” She shook her head, possibly out of annoyance, but looked up at Lone. “We’ve been rude. I'm Applejack. This ‘ere’s my brother, Big Macintosh,” She put a hoof on his shoulder.

    She went through the introductions for him. The librarian, Twilight Sparkle. The party pony, Pinkie Pie. The pegasus was Rainbow Dash. The tailor, who had moved to the table beside him and was inspecting his makeshift cloak, Rarity. The yellow pegasus hiding behind everypony was Fluttershy. The unicorn filly was Sweetie Belle, and the pegasus was Scootaloo. Lone Testament couldn’t help but feel out of place.

     “Look, I didn’t do anything spectacular, none of you should be thanking me.” Lone tried to protest.

        “Nonsense,” Twilight Sparkle responded. “If you hadn’t gone in there, who knows what might’ve happened.” Everypony in the room, sadly, knew exactly what might’ve happened.

        Rarity spoke up, holding the cloak up. “If you wanted, darling, I could patch this up for you.” She motioned towards the new small tears that had appeared when he ran through the trees, plus the large tear for the piece he gave to Applebloom.

        The stallion shook his head. “No, Thank you. I kind of like it this way.”

        Rarity seemed to cringe a little, but nodded and put it back down, taking a few steps back towards the group. Lone looked towards the window. It was still night. It was still a small while before dawn.

        He felt uncomfortable, surrounded by these smiles and receiving all these thanks. After a while, Ditzy finally trotted to him. “I, uh, brought you a letter.” She held out the small envelope.

        Confusion hit the stallion like punch. Nopony knew he was in Ponyville, except maybe Luna. The envelope was sealed shut with wax, but the stamp in it was not a royal seal. It wasn’t any kind of seal he recognized. It looked like a crow. He broke the wax and pulled out the note.

        In his appearance, a cloud of utter calmness became the mask he wore. Inside, he was ready to hurl. The note was that of a pure chaotic thing he didn’t want to think about now, but he knew he had to.

Appleoosa ☹

He remained calm and folded the letter, putting it on the side table with his other belongings. He nodded. “Thank you, Ditzy. Did you find my letter?”

        “Yup! Right before that big, big fire.” She patted her messenger bag.

        He faked a smile and nodded again. The pink pony stepped up, but didn’t say anything. She left a cupcake on the bed for him and gave a big smile. Twilight Sparkle spoke up. “Visiting hours are long over, sadly. You two were a special exception they decided to give. We’ll see you around?”

        “Yuh-Yeah. Sure. I’ll look forward to it.” Lone kept up his fake smile as they all shuffled out. The two fillies with Applebloom were told they could stay around a little longer.

        He looked over to the three fillies and couldn’t help but feel slightly threatened by their mysteriously huge smiles. “What are you three smiling about?”

        “You,” Sweetie Belle said. “You’re a blank flank?” They were looking at him. They must have looked for a cutie mark, expecting it to be something about saving other ponies maybe.

        “Uh-huh.” The stallion said, nodding slowly.

        “Just like us?” Scootaloo asked. That huge smile was still on all of their faces.

        He nodded.

        “That means you can be,” They all spoke in unison and paused to take a deep breath. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle had to make up the extra sound since Applebloom couldn’t yell. “A CUTIE MARK CRUSADER!”

        Lone couldn’t help but laugh. “Sounds fun. Yeah, I’d love to join your group.”

        They gasped from happiness. and Sweetie Belle jumped up. “I’ll make you your own special cape!”

        They whispered in excitement for a few minutes and Lone stared up at the ceiling for a little, still chuckling.

        Rarity walked back in. “Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, it’s time to go.”

        The two of them hugged Applebloom and gave a playful salute towards Lone before leaving the room.

        Lone sighed and closed his eyes.

        “Thank ya...” He heard the small voice say. He turned to Applebloom.

        “It was no problem. What were you doing so far out there, anyway?”

        “Just, ya know, playin’. Eatin’ a few apples.” She turned over and faced him. “Ah didn’t exactly expect for the whole dang farm to go on fire!” She started coughing again.

        “Nopony did... You better get some sleep, we can talk some more when the Sun’s up.” He turned over.

        “Right. G’night.” She kept smiling and turned over.

        “Good night...” He waited for awhile until he heard her small snoring. He got up slowly and wrapped the cloak around himself. He picked up his saddlebags, which, he was glad, was still filled with food. He pulled up the hood and moved quietly towards the door. He stopped and looked at Applebloom. He went to her and pulled the blanket up, tucking her in quietly without her waking up. He left the room and made his way out of the hospital, veiled by the dark.

        The trains still weren’t working, and it was a long walk to Appleoosa. He hoped he had enough food to last the walk to the Mild West. Appleoosa was going to be where he could finally put an end to all this, he hopes.

        He stood atop a hill just outside of Ponyville and looked down at it. It was a nice place. Perhaps, when this was all over, he would settle down here. He knew, at least, he would be welcomed.

        Something Glorious. He envisioned a cascade of emeralds.

        Three days they had traveled. The stallion fell face first into the sand. He started to cough.

        Dandy turned back to him. “For Celestia’s sake! Just take some o’ my darn water!” She held out the canteen for him.

        He pushed it away. “No. you have your water supply, I have mine. I didn’t adequately-”

“Oh, Horse apples, Shut up and drink it!” She said, forcefully shoving the canteen into his hooves.

Reluctantly, he took a gulp and quickly pulled it away, handing it back to her. A nice, cool feeling swam through his body. His throat had been so dry, it was a strange sensation. He picked himself back up. He put the canteen back in her hooves.

They knew that they were only a five a day trip when they first met. Two days now. A sandstorm had blown over them on their second day together and covered the tracks left by the being they sought after. The mountain remained in full view, but they would not know which way to approach it. They continued walking along the straight path that had given them so much in following their mutual enemy. Another fire pit could not be much further away.

        They continued to trudge through the sand. Without the hoofprints of their enemy, the thought of never finding another fire pit had to cross their minds. The enemy could have taken a random turn and started along a different way, but they would never know. All they could do was continue to march on straight ahead.

        The wind began to pick up and soon the sand blew fiercely with the wind and circled them like a tornado. They knew that they couldn’t stop until they reached another fire pit or the mountain itself. The Sun had already begun to disappear beyond the horizon. It would be night soon. They continued their march onward. The stallion held his cloak over Dandy and himself to help protect from the sands.

        Night came upon them and stayed for a great time as they moved. They were both becoming tired, but it was not for nothing. As the Moon began to move close to the horizon like its sister had only hours ago, they found the next fire pit. They surrounded it and lit the fire quickly. Neither felt like sleep at this moment. Dandy tried to make the fire grow, and the stallion removed his cloak and attempted to remove the massive amount of desert dust that had began to overtake its gray coloring.

        “How much food do we still have?” He asked.

        “Ah don’t have any left,” Dandy responded, sadly. “What about ya?”

        “I’ve been out since yesterday.” The stallion said with a sigh.

        Dandy stopped what she was doing and stared at the fire for a couple of minutes.

        Finally, the stallion spoke. “I don’t think we have any other option. No food, half a canteen of water left. There’s no way we can risk another day’s journey. The mountain is in sight from here. The second we wake up tomorrow, we will have to make a gallop to the mountain. No stopping for anything. We each take a drink of half the water left. Make sure the canteen is empty. Then we just run... What are you doing?” He responded to her embrace.

        She wrapped her hooves around him from behind and he turned around to see her.

        “Ah’ve never seen ya without yur cloak. Ya look mighty handsome.” She smiled at him.

        He wasn’t sure how to respond. “Thank you?”

        “Tell meh, have y’all ever taken a mare before?” She gave him this look that he couldn’t figure out.

        “Like how?” He asked, but his mind put it together quickly. “No. No I haven’t.”

        “What? Ah’m shocked. A nice stallion like ya shoul’ o’ taken more mares ‘an he can count.” She moved over to him, practically crawling over him.

        “Dandy, what’s come over you?” Lone finally asked, trying to push her off some.

        “What’s come over meh? A need is what’s come over me. Ah need somethin’ that’s been annoyin’ meh since I came to this desert.” He recognized and put together what that look was. That was unbridled lust.

        “Ah want you to take meh, Please meh, Ah beg you.” She stayed over him and those words hung in the air for a minute.

        Something was wrong with her. These last few days had been nothing out of the ordinary. She kept offering her water and he continued to deny needing it. She kept on staring back towards Appleoosa. Why would she suddenly start speaking like this? The stallion’s thoughts moved at miles a minute.

        Lone wasn’t sure what to do. Finally, the stallion did as he was bid. She was not disappointed.

        He woke up the next day, wrapped in his cloak like a blanket. It was mid-afternoon. There was a saddlebag next to him. Instinctively, He opened it and found a full canteen of water and enough food for three days. He looked around for Dandy to show her. He saw her straw hat by the ash pit and got up, trotting to her.

        “Dandy, Look what I-” He looked down and saw the hat was on the head of a Sun bleached skull. The bones were undoubtedly those of a pony. A full skeleton. He saw a small note on the hat and leaned down to read it.

This was how she died the first time! ☠

He put the note down carefully and pulled the hat off of the skull. He put it to his chest and bowed his head. “Sleep well.”

        The thought crossed his mind if Dandy had ever been real. Perhaps, she had just been an illusion placed by the being they chased after. Maybe, she had been killed by a spell he had never heard of that left her a pile of bones, but if that were true, why didn’t the enemy kill him? He might never know. He knew that whatever Dandy truly was, her sacrifice should not be for nothing. Somepony went out to stop the monster behind so much misery and failed; helped him to keep going to succeed. The stallion would rectify this. He took a small sip of water and chewed on some hay. He put the saddlebag on and put on his cloak over it. Finally, his hood up, he put on the straw hat and looked ahead of him. The mountain was within view. He had provisions that would last him an extra day of marching, if it came to that. There was a game being played here, he knew. He didn’t know the rules, but he’d win. All his chips on the table, he’d win.

        His final goal in sight, he set off.

        He looked up to the sky. The clouds had invaded the skies and the Sun was no longer shining bright on the desert. It was almost as though the elements wanted him to reach the end of his journey today. As unlikely as it was, it looked like it would rain today. He could only hope that it was true. It was still a strange sight to see so many clouds gathering in the desert skies. It was still humid, but he felt much more relaxed now that the Sun was no longer beating down on him. The mountain was two miles away. He would be at the base of the mountain by nightfall.

        The stallion began to think. Not about his upcoming confrontation. He thought about what he would do when he went back to Ponyville. He was increasingly becoming used to the idea of settling down far from Trottingham. He wanted to live up to his family’s name by making sure he did something that would make them proud, but he couldn’t bare the memory of what he saw in Trottingham that night, his sister...

        Wherever he settled, he knew it had to be far from Trottingham. He wondered if they’d been buried yet, his family. By now, it must have been months now since what happened, the wait on him coming back to bury his family must have finally fallen through. He decided that he would need to make one trip to Trottingham. He never properly paid his respects. He owed all of them that much...

        He continued to stare up at the mountain with every step he took. It was surreal. It was so close; closer than he ever imagined he would be to it. There was something enchanting about it. Something mystical. He couldn’t put his hoof on it, but he could sense the wonder that would soon be upon him.

        He approached the base of the mountain. There was one final fire pit. It was freshly made, but never lit. He sat by it. He knew that it was a stupid idea to make a final camp here. It might be a trap. But, his enemy had had so many opportunities to take him out before. He doubted it would capitalize on this one. The Moon was shining through the clouds. He lit the fire and started eating some of the hay in his saddlebag.

And There was blood!

        He woke up the next morning. It was dawn.

        He kept the straw hat pulled down. With his hood, it provided perfect shade from the Sun, the little that there was thanks to the clouds.

The Sun was a perfect being, controlled by Celestia herself. It brought life and energy to the world. My flank it does, The stallion thought. Maybe in Equestria, but I don’t think it does much outside it.

He entertained the thought for a minute. Traveling outside of Equestria. There were many kingdoms and lands far beyond Equestria that the princesses traded with. Maybe these places could be enjoyable. He shook the thought away. He was getting ahead of himself. The stallion pressed forward, slowly making his way up the mountain, one hoof hold at a time.

 The mountain was steep, but not very high. The rocks had been displaced and there were many spots to cling onto. He made his way up, occasionally pulling his hat back down when it began to loosen on his head. A small wind started to blow as he climbed. The clouds began to clear from the skies and the Sun began to beat down on him heavily once again. Many spots on the way up did not have a place to continue climbing. He had to push many rocks out of the way just to make another ledge to climb up onto. The mountain was tiring, but proved to be only a minor inconvenience that separated him from his goal.

He stood atop the apex of the mountain and looked down at the small valley. Bravehoof had been right. Trees and tall, overgrown strands of grass filled the small portion of land. It was half a mile in length. Half of it was full of green, like a small forest. The other half was a great lake. He could see the clear water and the Sun sparkling off of it from his position. He took a long sip from his canteen and slowly made his way down the mountain to the perfect oasis.

        The feel of grass beneath his hooves was a welcome change. The soil was perfect, but he couldn’t help but feel strange at the sudden transition his path had now taken. The stallion pressed forward into the tree line and towards the water. The Sun still shone into the oasis, but the leaves of the trees provided perfect shade.

 This land was hidden away from the rest of the world by a wall of mountains. It was like some secluded, unexplainable paradise. The stallion couldn’t wait to leave.

        He looked towards the light at the end of the small forest. He saw the shape of a pony ahead. He found himself walking faster, but never running, to the edge of the lake. There, he saw his fate. A blue mare, a unicorn, wrapped in a purple cloak, covered in stars. He made his way to her slowly, but she turned around and they both remained still for a time.

        “Who are you?” The mare before him said.

        Lone remained silent, glaring.

        “You know, it isn’t polite to not answer. You are my guest.” She sounded so cocky.

        “I'm Lone Testament,” He finally responded.

        She put a hoof on her chest and bowed her head slightly. “You are precisely who is needed.”

        “What are you talking about?” The stallion was prepared to go to her, to finish this.

        “You know,” She put on this grin that he wanted to wipe off. “I want to play a brief game. Then, we can settle all the tension between us. I sense there’s quite a bit.”

        The stallion remained silent.

        She turned away and grabbed something that was on the floor behind her.

        The stallion felt the temptation to charge her then, but he remained still. He humored her.

        She turned back to him and separated something into two halves. She floated it to him. He accepted it. It was a deck of playing cards.

        “Shuffle them.” She began to shuffle them with her magic and he did the same. “We will draw the cards from the top of the deck. Pony with the highest card value wins. Whoever has the highest number of winning rounds by the time we run out of cards is the winner. However, first to draw a joker card instantly loses,” She smiled. “Agreed?”

        He nodded and kept his cards in sight, the same line of sight as her.

        They drew their cards. “Nine of Clubs,” The stallion said, turning the card for her to see.

        “King of Clubs,” The mare responded, doing the same.

        She wins. “Queen of Spades,” She said on the next draw.

        The stallion simply threw the card away.

        “Let me guess,” The mare said with a smile. “Eight of Diamonds?”

        The stallion nodded.

        The game went on until the Sun began to hide behind the mountains. She won most of the draws. When they were down to their last three cards, she started to talk.

        “Your mother was such a pretty pony.” She drew the card. “Three of Spades.”

        The stallion continued his glare, trying to ignore what she was doing. “Six of Hearts.”

        “It was a shame she had to roast alive.” She continued to smile.

        “Shut up...” The stallion began to stare at the floor.

        “You know you have her eyes? It’s truly remarkable.” She drew the card. “Four of Hearts.”

        He drew his card. “Ace of Spades.”

        It was the last draw, but she didn’t want to draw yet. “Tell me, is this what they would have wanted?”

        “Shut up!”

        “They were all such gentle spirits. Would they have truly wanted you to chase somepony across such a distance just to, what, kill them?”

        “I'm here for justice...”

        “You’re here for revenge!”

        “I’m here to make sure that you pay for the crimes you’ve comitted! Nopony should get away with anything you’ve done!”

        “Killed your family. A horrible thing, I admit, but it isn’t quite the solid reason that I need be hunted down, though all the better still...”

        “You didn’t just kill my family. You tried to burn down another family’s farm and tried sacrifice their little filly. I'm here to serve justice for them too.”

        “But if you serve your brand of ‘justice’ you’ll never find out what happened to Appleoosa.” She went to get her card. “You know, this is the last draw. I win no matter what. I’ve one almost every draw.”

        “I don’t care...” The stallion grabbed his card, just so he could be done with this game. “Two of Clubs.”

        She picked her card up and looked at him. “You win.”

        “What?”

        She turned the card around to reveal a Joker. “You win. Congratulations.” She turned away and stared down at the water. “I'm sorry.”

        The stallion threw the card away and ignored her words now. He charged at her. She turned and fired a blast of magic out of her horn. He rolled to his side to avoid it and jumped at her. He saw the complete blackness that hid inside her pupils.

        He rolled her away from the water and into the center of the ground. He started to beat her. One furious punch to the mouth after another in rapid succession. He put all the strength he had into each hit. She managed to hit him once on the side of the head. He stumbled slightly, but the center of his hoof quickly found its way back into her eye. The blood started gushing out from her mouth and forehead. She kept spitting it up, mostly.

        He pulled her head up toward him and slammed it back down against the hard soil. He did it repeatedly, following it with a straight punch to her face. For her, he had thrown mercy out the door. He continued to beat her, one fast hit after another. She went limp at one point and just laid there taking the hits. She was too weak to fight back.

        There was a certain feeling of elation to all this. He felt strong; dominating. His journey had taken him across such a harsh place and this was his reward for struggling through. It was all worth it. This was what he had hoped for, he told himself. Each strike was justice being served. For his family, for Dandy, Applebloom... for himself.

        His rapid punches finally gave way to slow, but strong, ones. He would lay a strong punch into her and take a time to set up for another one. It would take a moment, but the next one would strike eventually. The punches were strong, slow, and reluctant. The limpness faded every once and awhile for her to cough up more blood and a tooth or two. Still, his punches went on.

        This was what he hoped for, he told himself.

        The black that hid away in her pupils finally left to reveal a light purple. Tears started to stream down her face. He continued to beat her for a time. Watching her cringe and weep with every hit. Finally, looking down at her, he stopped his hoof in the air and it did not come down. He stared down at her. She was so small and weak...

        This couldn’t have all been worth it. She could barely defend herself. He had travelled this whole way to finally face the being that had caused so much destruction, but was instead met by this weak mare. He looked at the cuts, the blood, the bruises and realized that she was right. This was revenge, not justice. His family would disown him if they knew he was doing something like this, he realized. Nopony truly deserves this. No matter how sinful...

        He let go of her and watched her. He just wanted to fill his canteen and go.

        “I'm... sorry,” She whimpered. She leaned her head back, groaning.

        The stallion watched her. He couldn’t bring himself to move off of her for a time. “Why did you do it?”

        “They told me too.”

        “They? Who are they?”

        “The same that made me do this...” She lifted her head and blast of magic shot from her horn.

        The stallion fell off of her. He was gasping for breath. The blast had caught him directly in the face and he could feel the burning. He looked around. He saw his straw hat burning a few feet away. He was limp and couldn’t bring himself to move. Everything hurt.

        She laid there, just as limp as he was. The blood continued to pour. She forced herself back up to her feet after a while and fell back down. He closed his eyes.

        He opened them and he was being dragged be his hood toward the water. The mare had moved from her spot. Lone was in too much pain to move, still. He closed his eyes again and could only wait.

        SPLASH!

        He could feel the cold water surround him. He slowly drifted to the bottom. He continued to blink on the way to the bottom, but had no idea of what was going on. He took a breath, out of instinct only. He truly awoke then.

        He began to thrash and flail, trying desperately to swim back to the surface. It was no use. He found himself continuing to be dragged to the bottom. He continued to struggle against it, but there was no use. He began to slip into unconsciousness again. The stallion surrendered and looked towards the bottom. This is how it all ends, huh?

        Then he saw it. In his last moments before blacking out, he saw the shining light, as bright as the Sun, from the bottom of the lake. What was this? His thoughts raced in his head for a moment. They faded out. Sleep came over him like a blanket and he knew his end was near. He wondered, for a moment, if Ditzy ever got the letter to Luna. Then, he regretted writing it at all.

        The light hurt. He awoke with his head on a rock. He looked around and could not find the lake. Lone was no longer in the oasis hidden by mountains. It was a rocky valley, possibly the bottom of a canyon. High cliffs and mountain that stretched for miles. He looked up to the mountain that he was in front of. A high up tower made of rock. His eyes followed it up. A spiraling staircase made from the rock. It was carved into the rock itself. Then, The stallion’s eyes beheld it.

        A high rising spire. A great tower taller than anything he had ever seen. It looked like a palace. He could make out the cobblestone and marble that made up the entirety of the tower. The roof was different. It looked like metal. Two smaller towers rose nearly as tall as the main tower, to the left and right of it, and connected to it close to the very top. There was another, smaller, tower being built on the side and the beginning of another one being built on the other side. He saw plants growing out of the windows on the side. Many of the windows were lit up. There were torches in the tower. It all seemed like it had been built into the rock itself. It seemed so natural. It looked like it hadn’t been built, but formed. Like, the rock was created with this tower attached to it. It had been planned that way, it seemed. He noticed, the top floor was separated from the rest of the tower by a dark black line. He couldn’t make out what it was made of because he was so far from it. It was a sight that he knew few could truly behold and appreciate. It was a tower that truly stood larger than life.

        He tried to move toward it. His legs wouldn’t move. The stallion looked and found his hooves were bound by shackles. He couldn’t move them forward while on his side like this.

        The mare he had fought moved in front of him. “Good, you’re awake,” She pulled him to his feet.

        “What is that?” The stallion motioned towards the great tower with his head.

        “Your new home.” She lead him towards the tower.

        He could only look up in wonder. It was greater than any other building he had ever beheld in Equestria. He’d visited Manehattan before, which was supposed to be the greatest place in the world architecturally. This tower beat the entire city without contest.

        He was led up the staircase that had been carved into the side of the rock. He saw that he had been correct. The base of the tower had been built into the rock itself. They were made for one another, it seemed. The doors to enter the towers were fifty feet high. They were metal and opened slowly. There was a dragon carved into it. The stallion felt he was but an insignificant ant in comparison to the grandeur of the tower before him.

        The first thing that came to the stallion’s view was the stained glass that composed the windows of the entire first floor. It all looked like fire. He couldn’t even judge how high the ceiling was. The actual size of the first room was indeterminable. He looked around the room and finally saw it. Houses. There were houses built all around the room of the first floor. This room was wide enough to fit an entire village.

        “Stay here. I’ll be back for you.” She turned away from him and trotted to some distant corner. He didn’t see to where. The stallion was too much in awe to care. Some ponies started leaving the homes and he recognized them, not by face but by cutie marks.

        He had discovered the people of Appleoosa. They all had these huge grins on their faces as they all started to trot off into different places. He wouldn’t know where.

        “It’s wonderful ain’t it?”

        The stallion jumped, startled, and turned around. He saw a shadow. A pony with no features, just the blackness of the a shadow.

        “Sorry if I startled you,” The shadow sat on its haunches beside Lone. “I’d offer to shake hooves, but you’re a bit tied up, I see.”

        “Who are you?”

        “That’s a tough question. I don’t really remember. Uh... Call me Cryptic.”

        “Ok...”

        “Don’t worry! I'm neutral here. I don’t agree with you or them.”

        The stallion wasn’t concerned with who ‘they’ were right now. “What is this place?”

        “Well, most species would call it The Spire. We call it Home.”

        “We?”

        “Look around you. These fellow ponies here.”

        The stallion shook his head. “There ponies are from Appleoosa...” He had convinced himself that he had gone insane, or maybe this was a fantasy he was experiencing before death by drowning. It sure felt real.

        “Now they’re from Home. They are provided everything. Food, Water, as many mares or stallion, their preference, that they could possibly take. As long as they don’t leave.”

        “So, basically....”

        “Happiness, for freedom, yeah.”

        “That’s horrible...”

        “Sounds like a solid deal if you asked me. Look around! Everypony has a big grin on their face because they know it doesn’t get better than this!”

        “...What’s your role in this?”

        “I'm a messenger. What about you?”

        “I don’t know why I'm here.”

        “You’re Lone Testament, right?”

        “Yeah... Why?”

        “That ain’t good. You’re too early.”

        “Too early? For what?”

“Can’t say. I was told to leave you those notes all around when you followed Trixie, but she was supposed to take longer getting here. They haven’t made the preparations yet!”

   “What in Celestia’s name are you talking about?!” The stallion had had quite enough of this.

        “Lower your voice.” The shadow was stern about that. “If they hear that forsaken name, they’ll go ballistic.”

        Lone did as he was bid and spoke quietly. “Who are you talking about?”

        “The Creators. They wouldn’t want to hear that bad name. They’re gonna be sore when they hear that you’re here so early. Trixie’ll probably be sent off with you.”

        “Trixie is the mare that I was following?”

        “Yep. You’re catching on quickly.”

        “...You left those notes?”

        “It’s my job. I also know you’re going to ask about Dandy. And yes, She was exactly who she said she was. She was from Appleoosa. She set out to stop Trixie. Only, she died while you were still with the buffalo tribe. She had a few friends that went out with her. But, you know, when you’re out in the desert, you get hungry. You stay in the desert long enough, you just keep thinking about things, then you want it. She had her two friends give her exactly what she asked you for. Got all guilty about it for some reason and slit her neck on a jagged bone piece. Funny, right? We decided to use her as a puppet with some magic spells and sent her back to meet you. I'm sure she felt every bit real as you are right now, we needed to be sure of that. It was just a fun game, you know?” Cryptic started laughing. “Anypony ever tell ya, with that cloak and your mane, looks like rain falling from clouds. I like it. Gives this mysterious vibe.”

        The stallion remained quiet, but heard screaming coming from high above them. The mare, whom he now knew as Trixie, ran down and back to them. She used her magic to bring out a key and unlocked his chains quickly.

        “Run! Quickly!” She screamed.

        “What?!” The stallion screamed in response. First, she was bringing him here for some horrifying reason, now they were supposed to run.

        “Don’t question, run!”

        They turned and ran for the opened door. They were looking to reach the outside, but their faces hit against some invisible wall. A force-field spell.

        “Damn!” Trixie shouted. They turned around and saw the ponies of Appleoosa slowly trotting towards them, the huge grins on their faces.

        The voice was loud and booming. Powerful. It reminded the stallion of Bravehoof “You should have followed our directions.”

        “I did everything you said! This is wrong!” Trixie shouted back.

        The building seemed to shake. “You followed most of our directions, but you have failed in our most important one. He should not have seen the tower. It is not his time. You know your punishment, Ms. Lulamoon.”

        “No!” Trixie shouted, starting to cry. The stallion noticed the cuts and bruises he had left on her. Her right eye was black and swelling. “Don’t involve them, please!”

        “Too late.” The Apploosans moved closer and closer, cornering them. A bright white light began to shine in both of their eyes. They felt like they were going blind now. “As for you, stallion, Your time will come.”

        “I want answers!” The stallion shouted.

        “You have all the answers you could want now. No more, No less.”

        Cryptic put his hoof to his ear. “We’ll keep in touch.”

        The light came over them and neither could move. They supposed that this was judgement or, perhaps, death.

        Smoke. It could only grow worse.

        Grass. He felt grass underneath him. He stared up at the Moon. The stars were beautiful. They truly were.

        He remembered the tower, the ponies, that voice. He wondered what Cryptic had meant by The Creators. He looked to his side and saw Trixie. She was looking at him also.

        She was crying. “I'm sorry... I'm so, so sorry...” She whispered. He could only focus on that swollen eye of her’s. “They were going to hurt somepony special to me... and I...” She gulped and looked away, sobbing.

        He noticed the look in her eye. The black that had been in her eyes was gone, replaced by the gentle purple that seemed like it was going to stay. He turned to his right and saw the note.

Good Luck! ♙

        He turned away and stared up towards the Moon again.

        “Trixie?” Lone asked.

        “Yuh-yes?” She said between sobs, turning to him.

        “Who were they?” The stallion looked at her sternly.

        “I only met one of them... Phoenix.”

        “And who is that?”

        “...The being that made the Sun.” Her expression was blank.

        “I'm being serious here, Trixie.” He saw that her expression was not changing. “Celestia be damned...”

        “He’ll be watching. He is always watching those that see the tower...” She looked away from him. “I'm sorry...”

        “Where are we, now?”

        She shrugged. “I have no idea. We’re not in the desert, that’s all I know.” She finally moved her hooves and wiped the tears away.

        “We need to get back to Canterlot. The princesses will have a solution.” The stallion stood up. He moved to Trixie and held out a hoof. She smiled slightly and he helped her back up. They were at the top of a hill in an unknown land.

        Beneath the stars, Lone and Trixie, the stallion and the mare, looked down from the hill upon an extending plain. They had bore witness to a place of unexplainable origins and lived to speak of it.

        Lost, they had found the nature of their journey, to bring an end to happenings of that tower.

Discovering; Light; 1:2- Shall the Dragon Glass be risked? The answer is known to few, but the outcome affects many. The tales speak of an empire, ruling with fire and destruction at the ever changing mood of those created to populate this land that thou has been given. How can we know that such legend speak true? We cannot. We trust the words of Spark, Starswirl, Flicker, and the Organizer. Shalt these words be taken for true? Decisions. It is thou choice. Embrace the return of harmony by fire, or live thy sinful life of chaos. We hath made out choice. Let the Reign of Fire be started at the name of the Dragon Glass, the Door, and their Sea!

END OF PART 1