Wings of Dawn

Luna’s scowl deepened as she continued to glare spears at the creature before her. A creature that had just introduced itself as Raven, and had, in just a few short minutes, proven to be not only annoyingly flippant, but impossibly disrespectful and sarcastic. Not a combination of traits that she found endearing.

“Speak plainly creature. You claim to be here because of this dreamer. Are you here to aid her, or harm her?” Luna growled before pawing at the “ground” and lowing her head to present her horn, “Know that if it is the latter, you will have to contend with us.”

Raven merely smirked at her and chuckled.

“What do you find so humorous?” Luna hissed.

“Nothing. Just you’re far to serious for your own good.” Raven chuckled as he looked at the night princess. “Very well, if that’s the way it’s going to be. No, I’m not here to harm her. Quite the opposite in fact.”

“So you claim to be here to aid her?” Luna said, “You will have to excuse us for not taking thine word at face value. Why would you do this thing?”

Raven’s eyes slowly turned towards the dream body of Dawn Wings, and a bit of sadness crept into his expression.

“I’m here to help her because in a lot of ways, she is to me what your ponies are to you.” Raven replied. “Unfortunately, she’s a bit lost right now, and as much as I don’t like getting involved personally, she needs me to give her a push in the right direction.”

Looking at Luna again, Raven’s expression grew a darker.

“Like I said before, you’re right. She’s lonely, and a long way from home. A long, long way from home. Longer away than you can possibly imagine. A nudge in the right direction, and she might be okay. A nudge in the wrong direction, and she’ll probably kill herself. If you knew one of your ponies were lost and hurting, wouldn’t you try to help?”

Luna continued to stare impassively, while Twilight, who had remained silent the entire time, gasped and put a hoof up to her mouth.

“Why would she try to kill herself?” Twilight asked.

Raven looked at Twilight.

“It’s complicated child, but the short of it is that she has nothing right now. Back home, she has a life, family and friends, a purpose and a mate she adores.” Raven said as he looked Twilight in the eyes. “But, she’s cut off from all that. Right now, as far as she’s concerned, she’s got nothing.”

“Think about what that would be like. To suddenly be torn away from your life, your loved ones and your home, only to find yourself in a world that was not your own, surrounded by beings who are nothing like the ones you know, and who you can't even communicate with, and ask yourself, how well do you think you’d fare.”

“That…sounds terrible. I can’t even ima… wait, did you say world? As in, she’s from a whole different world entirely. Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh. That’s just… amazing! Please, you have to tell me about it.”

Raven quirked an eyebrow at Twilight.

“I think I’ll let her do that. Y’know, after I’ve made sure she’s not going to kill herself from, say, loneliness and depression.”

Twilight gasped and blushed.

“Sorry. I guess I got a bit distracted. You said you were going to help her. Are you going to tell her how to get home? You do know how, right?” Twilight said, her voice sympathetic.

“No.” Raven said bluntly.

“What? Why not?” Twilight asked.

“She can’t go back. Its impossible.” Raven sighed.

“But, why?”

“Let me answer your question with a question: what do you know about paradoxes?” Raven asked.

“Uh, well, isn’t it something that contradicts itself.” Twilight replied.

“That’s a gross oversimplification, but sure, we’ll go with that. Now, lets suppose that her existence was forcibly re-defined as not being real, but she clearly is? What do you think would happen?”

“Huh?” Twilight replied as she tilted her head to the side slightly. “Well, ummm…”

“That’s how she ended up here. Her ‘being real’ setting got forcibly divided by zero, so to speak. But, since she clearly does exist… well, you can see the problem. Reality ended up with a massive ontogenic contradiction, and resolving it dumped her here.”

“Couldn’t she get back the same way?” Twilight said.

“Nope.” Raven said with a shake of his head, “The only reason she’s still alive was there was just enough paracausal inertia that reality found a tiny loophole in the ‘she’s not real’ overwrite it got: dropping her in your back yard, so to speak.”

Luna’s eyes went wide.

“How long ago did this happen?” She asked, though she had a sinking suspicion she knew.

“About a week.” Raven replied.

‘So it was her arrival.’ Luna thought as she recalled the moment of agony she, her sister and niece experienced. If this Dawn Wings had been forced into Equus by paradox, it would explain why there was such violent feedback in Equestria’s magic.

“If it has been nearly a week, why have you not acted yet? Surely, it was within yor power to do so. We can sense it.” Luna said.

“It is?” Twilight asked as she looked between Luna and Raven.

“Aye, Twilight Sparkle, it is.” Luna said as she looked at the unicorn. “Though his power is foreign, we can still sense its magnitude. And it is immense. Do not let his appearance deceive you. He may very well be our equal in terms of sheer mystical might. Perhaps our superior if we art honest.”

Twilight stood slackjawed as she looked at Raven, her eye twitching slightly.

“Seriously?!” Twilight shouted.

“Well, I don’t like to brag or anything.” Raven said with a slight bow. "Unless it's funny."

“Answer our question. Why did you not act sooner?” Luna said, focusing back on Raven.

“Yea, well, about that.” Raven chuckled as he rubbed the back of his head with a wing. “It’s taken me this long just to find her. Your world isn’t exactly just around the corner from ours. And, really, I’ve kinda got to be careful. There are things that are only peripherally aware of your home that you really don’t want noticing you.”

“Things? What sort of things?” Luna asked.

“I don’t really have time to explain. Just trust me when I tell you that it’d be bad if they thought it was a great idea to move in and set up shop.” Raven chuckled nervously. “Look, we’re getting off track. I just need to point her in the right direction, and then I’ll be out of your… whatever the hell that is.”

“Our hair?” Luna deadpanned.

“Sure, sure, whatever you say doll.” Raven replied as he spread his wings and took off.

“Wait.” Twilight called, “Is there anything we can do to help?”

“No, not really.” Raven replied before fading away into the dream.

*****

“Ha ha ha ha!” Dawn Wings laughed as she slid down the snowy bank on her back, coming to a stop at the bottom of the hill before righting herself and looking back up the slope. “Your turn Chaser!”

Lying on his back, Cloud Chaser began to slide down the hill, laughing as he did. A few seconds later, he was next to Dawn Wings, giggling as he got to his feet.

“Ah, I love it when it snows.” He cheered, “To bad the monkeys always mess the slopes up when it does.”

“Oh, c’mon, lets not talk about that now.” Dawn Wings replied. “Race you back up!” She called as she spread her wings and launched herself into the air.

“Right behind you.” He called as he took to the air.

As Dawn Wings approached the summit of the hill, she noticed something peculiar. The sun was far too large. In fact, it was taking up more than a quarter of the sky.

“The hell? Hey, Chaser, you see that?” She said as she looked back over her shoulder. But, despite him being there just moments ago, Cloud Chaser was nowhere to be seen.

“Chaser? Chaser! Cloud Chaser! Where are you?!” She called as she began to frantically look around for her mate. As she did, she was suddenly aware of a presence. It was familiar, warm and comforting, like the safe feeling of sleeping under her father’s wing when she was a chick.

Slowly, realization dawned on her. She knew this presence.

“Raven.”

Looking around frantically, she noticed that she wasn’t in her home in the Sierra Nevada anymore, but back in the ruined castle in Ponyland. Above her, she could hear a great flapping of wings, as a massive black silhouette briefly eclipsed the sky, and flew off towards the horizon. As she followed the shape with her eyes, she saw something in the distance growing larger and larger. It was a mountain. And built into the side of that mountain was that same city she had seen before, the one that had somehow prompted that strange sense of longing.

Larger and larger the city grew, till it eclipsed the entire horizon. In the sky above, the massive form of the sun and moon began to condense into a pair of shapes. At first, Dawn Wings thought they were birds, but as they resolved themselves, she realized that they were a pair of massive, majestic winged and horned ponies. The two of them slowly flew higher into the sky, before flying towards one another and then descended to the city, lazily spiraling downward in a helix. After a few moments, they alighted by the castle, which slowly faded away, leaving only the two ponies. Moments later, they both turned their heads towards her. As they did, an aurora of blazing sunfire and shimmering moonlight erupted from the twin shapes, and the sun formed pony lifted her hoof and gestured towards Dawn Wings, as though beckoning her to come to them.

Unsure what to do, Dawn Wings turned around, only to see nothing but a wall of darkness behind her. Turning back to the two celestial ponies, she saw that all around them, everything had faded to black, with only their forms providing any light. The solar one beckoned again, before slowly retreating into the darkness.

Frantically, Dawn Wings launched herself into the air. As she did, a blazing trail of light materialized below her before launching out into the darkness, forming a radiant road. Flapping her wings harder, the corax pushed herself forward faster and faster. Soon, the horizon began to glow. Brighter and brighter it became, till it was filled with its warm radiance. Just before it became too bright to see, she spotted three silhouettes in the light: the two heavenly ponies, and a single raven hovering above them.

*****

And she woke up, gasping for breath. A dream. She’d been dreaming. Dawn Wings lowered her head and sighed.

‘Damnit.’ She thought. ‘Too good to be true.’

She looked around the room she had been roosting in, her mood sinking even further.

In the back of her mind, she could still vividly remember her dream. Seeing Cackling Mesa, and Bright-claw. Having the pleasure of gutting the malfean that screwed up her life so much. Seeing Cloud Chaser. Getting a personal visit from the boss…

Dawn Wings’ mind froze.

She didn’t just dream. She had been sent a vision.

By Raven himself.

There was no mistaking it. She had felt him there. Guiding the vision.

And he wanted her to go to the shining City on the Mountain. But what for? To meet the two pega-corns that she had been shown. She had seen motifs of such beings in the ruins.

‘Thanks, you old bastard.’ Dawn Wings thought, ‘Glad I’m not totally off your radar.’

‘Daybreak is just a few hours off.’ She thought as she hopped out the tower window, and launched herself into the umbral sky and in the direction of the city. ‘If I hurry, I can make it there by sunup.’

*****

As the dream sphere disintegrated around them, Twilight and Luna found themselves back in the aether of the dreamscape. Before either of them could react, Raven appeared once more, though now, his form was far less tangible.

“Looks like she got the message. With any luck, you’ll be seeing her by tomorrow morning.” He said as he began to fade away. “Huh. My time’s almost up. Too bad.”

“Wait,” Twilight said, “Why go through all of that? Why not simply tell her?”

Raven chuckled.

“Aw, where’s the fun in that?” He replied as he continued to fade, “Kids only grow through figuring things out for themselves. I can’t just give her the answers. She needs to find them herself. You of all people should know that, little miss ‘friendship reports’.

Shrugging, Raven sighed and looked the two ponies in the eyes.

“Anyway, she’s in your hands now. It might take a while, but I think she might actually be alright. And try not to take anything she says too personally. Adjusting to a new place takes time. So, good luck. She’s a handful.”

And he was gone.

“Well, that was weird.” Twilight said as she looked up at Luna.

“Truly, Twilight Sparkle. Truly.” Luna replied as she continued to stare at the spot where Raven had once been.

“I wish I had more time to talk to him. I have so many questions about that other world, and…” Suddenly Twilight’s brain stopped, “Wait a second! How in Tartarus did he know about my friendship reports?!”