Wings of Dawn

*Golden Oaks Library*

Twilight found herself sweating a little as she stood in her doorway opposite her guest. Just beyond the threshold was the strange, otherworldly entity wrapped in the guise of a pony named Dawn Wings, who was fixing her with an expression that was a mixture of annoyance and cold fury. Clearly, the pegasus was not pleased to see her again.

Nervously looking away, Twilight rubbed the back of her head with a hoof and chuckled.

‘This is off to a good start.’ She thought.

“Twilt Spakel?”

Twilight looked back to the pegasus, who was now pointing a hoof at her.

“Uh?” Twilight muttered, not sure how to respond. Even as mangled as her pronunciation was, she was pretty sure that the pegasus had just asked her name.

“Twilt Spakel?!” Dawn Wings demanded as she pointed at the unicorn with a bit more force, the furrow in her brow deepening.

Sheepishly, Twilight nodded. “Yea, I’m Twilight Sparkle.”

Twilight fidgeted slightly as Dawn Wings slowly lowered her hoof and just stood unmoving, boring into her soul with those cold, calculating black eyes. Then, after a few painful seconds, she closed her eyelids and slowly inhaled through her nostrils then out through her mouth. Opening her eyes, her expression softened slightly, going from glacial to figid, though it still felt hard as stone. Lifting her right hoof and turning it hoof-up, Dawn Wings made a small vertical circle with the appendage, as though she were asking to be let inside.

“Oh! Sorry, sorry. Please come in.” Twilight gasped and nervously stood aside, raising a hoof and ushering the pegasus in. Curtly nodding, Dawn Wings stepped inside the library without bothering to look at Twilight. Once the pegasus was in the building, Twilight closed the door and turned to face her guest, who was looking around the library with what Twilight could only call an appraising look.

Twilight took a deep breath to calm herself. How to start things off? Did she go up to the pegasus and properly introduce herself? Just jump right into the lessons?

The unicorn jumped slightly as said pegasus turned back towards her and fixed her with her hard, onyx black eyes. For the second time in the span of only a few minutes, Twilight chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of her head.

‘Yea, this is off to a good start. Yes indeed.’ She thought.

Steeling herself, Twilght trotted up to Dawn Wings and offered her a hoof, putting on the warmest smile she could as she met the other pony’s eyes. She’d read that when trying to make a good second impression after a bad first, it was important to show the other pony that the way you acted the first time wasn’t how you usually were, and hopefully that would convince them to give you another chance.

Twilight winced internally as Dawn Wings looked down at the offered hoof without moving to return the gesture. For a moment, she thought that the pegasus would reject the peace offering. Then, much to her relief, Dawn Wings reached out and placed her hoof on Twilight’s and gently shook it. As she did, a small bit of tension left the unicorn’s body.

It was at least something.

*****

“slï” Twilight said, pointing to the next character in the Equestrian alphabet.

“sï” Dawn Wings replied, trying to pronounce the sound the unicorn had made. She grimaced, knowing that she’d got it wrong.

“slï” Twilight repeated.

“sli” Dawn Wings repeated. She was closer now, but still not quite there. Luckily, she saw the unicorn nod. She’d gotten close enough.

Setting down the pointer that she’d been holding in her magick, the unicorn sighed and sat down. Dawn Wings guessed that her tutor needed a break. And, quite frankly, so did she, a fact emphasized when she rolled her back and neck, hearing a satisfying series of pops from her joints. As she groaned contentedly, the corax looked up at the sky through one of the library’s windows. From how far the sun had moved, they’d probably been at this for close to three hours. The thought of that alone was enough to make her tired.

Flaring her wings out and flapping them gently, she turned her attention back to the large poster the unicorn had been going over, one that was covered in a series of rune-like symbols that sort of reminded the corax of a weird mix of Arabic script and Japanese hiragana. She was grateful that the mage hadn’t started off with words, instead choosing to focus on the basics of the pony alphabet and its pronunciation, which suited her just fine. Better to learn to crawl before having to swim blindfolded with starved tiger sharks.

Still, from what she saw in the school a few days prior, and what she was being subjected to now, the pony’s written language was decidedly more complex than she’d been expecting. First, there was its structure. Each symbol represented a consonant-vowel combination, but from what she’d gotten from the mage’s lecture so far, the exact pronunciation was dependent on accenting modifiers added after each symbol. As quick of a learner as she was, Dawn Wings was honestly daunted by this writing system, especially if she was actually expected to write that stuff without hands.

And it was clear that the spoken form was almost as complicated.

She’d been surprised by the melodious qualities of the pony’s language when she arrived, but now hearing it broken down into its elementary form, she was amazed at how similar the individual phonics of the language were to musical notes. It was like the thing was built with the dual purpose of speaking and singing.

As she stared at the poster, she felt an uncomfortable jab in her gut. Casually lifting her foreleg and rubbing her stomach, the corax chuckled to herself as her body reminded her that she needed to eat something.

Rising, Dawn Wings began to head to the door. As she did, she heard the unicorn rise and call out after her. Turning back, she regarded her tutor for a moment before raising a hoof, opening her mouth, and pointing to the open orifice. Trusting that the unicorn got the message, she turned back to the door to leave. However, she stopped when her host called out to her a second time. Turning back to the unicorn, and saw she’d raised a hoof as though she were asking the corax to wait.

Once she saw Dawn Wings stop, the unicorn turned towards the upper levels of the library, and called out, presumably to… the princesses had called the small lizard creature “Spike”. A few moments later, he yelled back down from the depths of the library. They traded words for a minute before the unicorn turned back to the corax. Raising a hoof again, she pointed to Dawn Wings, then herself, to the front door, and finally to her own mouth.

‘Guess she’s inviting me out to get something to eat.’ Dawn Wings thought. ‘Eh, why not? S’ not like I’ve got anything to lose.’

Shrugging slightly and nodding, Dawn Wings watched as the unicorn’s face slowly turned up into a smile. Raising a hoof and gesturing for her to wait, the unicorn practically galloped into one of the back rooms, before emerging moments later with a pair of bags slung over her back.

‘Heh, a pony purse. Cute.’ Dawn Wings thought as the unicorn approached the front door and opened it with a burst of her magick. If she was honest with herself, she had planned to go scavenging in the Everfree. Now that she had company, that idea was blown apart. After all, she doubted that a herbivore would enjoy fresh carrion or whatever small animals she could catch. Still, she decided to make the most of it. After all, going around town with the Princess’s student would help establish her cover.

She just hoped that wherever they went, it’d be low-key. The day was already stressful enough.

*****

‘This was a mistake.’ Dawn Wings mentally growled as she “read” the menu in front of her. The mage had to know that she couldn’t actually understand the thing, not if she was just learning the ~~Helios~~ Bridgid damned alphabet. As she glanced up at her guide, she fixed her with an annoyed glare before flicking her eyes down to the menu, then back to the mage. The unicorn chuckled sheepishly under the power of her frigid eyes, and then went back to looking at her own menu. Dawn Wings got the distinct feeling that either it’d slipped her mind, or she was pulling something on the wereraven.

And as much as she wanted to be angry at the pony, she had a feeling it wasn’t the latter.

Dawn Wings sighed and awkwardly closed the menu with a hoof. Resting her left elbow on the table, she propped her head up and closed her eyes.

The trip from the library had been a painfully slow walk through Ponyville. The worst part was having to stay grounded. Even as ridiculous as her current body was, at least it could fly. But, since she was ostensibly being shown around town, she couldn’t just fly off on her own. So, she’d stayed grounded, and walked with the unicorn.

After a few painfully silent minutes, the two had arrived outside the shopping district. Dawn Wings watched her guide look around before selecting a place to eat. Gesturing for the corax to follow, she made her way towards the outdoor café with the garish mushroom theme Dawn Wings had observed during her earlier trips to town.

She followed the unicorn in through the front door and to one of the tables out on the patio. A minute or two later, the waitress came over and set a couple of menus in front of them. Menus that, to Dawn Wing’s mounting irritation, had no pictures.

‘Why would they?’ She thought as she sighed out her nose.

Opening her eyes again, she aimlessly began to scan the other ponies at the diner and milling around in the market square adding to her internal catalog of faces, colors and buttoos. It wasn’t terribly productive, but it gave her something to focus on other than being annoyed.

Presently, their waiter arrived, and, after pulling an order form out of his pocket with his mouth and setting it on the table, spoke to Dawn Wings, presumably to ask her what she wanted. The corax languidly turned her head towards him without lifting it off her hoof before replying.

“Sorry, but I can’t read this damn thing.” She said evenly as she gestured to the menu with her other hoof, then to her guide “Ask stick-head.”

Looking him in the face, Dawn Wings got to see a very delightful look of “what the fuck did I just hear” work its way across his features. Flicking her eyes around to the other tables, she saw the other nearby ponies had the same look of shock and mild horror written across their features.

After recomposing himself, the waiter turned to the other pony at the table, who said something to him. He nodded after that, pulled out a pen with his mouth, wrote something down on the pad which he proceeded to stuff back in his pocket, nodded to them both, then trotted off.

Sighing, Dawn Wings went back to pony-watching while her guide sat across the table, looking a little uncomfortable with the silence. Eventually, the unicorn reached into her purse with her magick and pulled out a book. Dawn Wings quirked an eyebrow, but decided that letting the unicorn read was better than having her sit there staring at her uncomfortably.

Subtly rolling her eyes, Dawn Wings turned her attention back to the crowd of ponies in the market. Time felt like it was slowing down as she scanned the crowd, watching the ponies move about as a living mass of flesh and pastel. There was something meditative about people watching. The simple, dedicated movement of living bodies with a decidedly random flow as each individual in the throng made their way towards a destination. All the little paths being walked in an uncoordinated mass of life, yet without any collision or conflict.

‘I guess there are some things that aren’t that different here.’ She thought.

Yet, as she watched, she began to notice something out of place as a familiar chill worked its way up her spine. What she was seeing wasn’t anything obvious to a casual observer. Rather, it was something very subtle. While the majority of the ponies were moving around normally, there was always at least one pony in the plaza that was subtly keeping an eye on the table where she was sitting. These ponies would only stay in the area for a few minutes at a time before moving off and being replaced by another, different pony.

Dawn Wings instantly went from meditative to full observation and threat assessment mode.

Focusing her full attention on the watchers, yet making sure her own posture didn’t change or betray her now laser-sharp focused, she began to take in all that she could about them. At first, she thought that they might be watching her. But, as the pony currently watching the table was replaced by another, she realized something. Their eyes never really focused on her. They were focused on the princess’s student.

Whoever these ponies were, they were interested in the mage.

As the realization hit her, she spotted someone interesting making her way across the plaza. Not that she looked particularly interesting, because her appearance was actually rather plain for one of the equines. Rather, it was someone who shouldn’t have been there. Because Dawn Wings had drank the last vision from her corpse’s eyes not two days ago in a canyon about twenty miles from town.

‘Well, you’re pretty spry for a dead horse.’ Dawn Wings thought as she watched the mare walk up to one of the stands and begin making small talk with one of the vendors. As she did, the pony currently watching the princess’s student moved off.

And the dead mare walking subtly replaced the watcher.

Dawn Wings mood began to rise. She hadn’t expected to run into the identity thief this soon.

‘Hmm, bet you’re what I’ve been sensing, aren’t you.’ Dawn Wings thought cheerfully as she called on her power. An invisible pulse of spiritual energy burst from her body and rapidly spread out to the surrounding area. To her satisfaction, the dead mare walking lit up as a threat. To her even greater satisfaction, she also could sense a second threat moving off, presumably the tick that was watching her companion before. Dawn Wings smirked internally, though her outward expression never changed. So the ticks were one of the things she was picking up. Maybe, one of her other gifts could tell her a bit more about…

Dawn Wings found her vision suddenly obstructed as the waiter returned with their orders. As soon as he’d moved out of the way, she saw that the dead mare walking was gone. Swearing internally, but betraying none of her irritation outwardly, Dawn Wings cursed her luck. No matter. She could start tracking her down later. Especially now that she knew she could detect them with her powers. Sure, she probably wasn’t the only type of threat she was picking up, but it gave her something to work with. It was a shame she didn’t get a chance to try out some of her other gifts on them before they escaped.

She could experiment later. Now was time… for…

Dawn Wings looked at the plate before her, not bothering to hide her confusion. It was a sandwich. Filled with flowers. And a pile of what she could only guess was deep fried hay.

‘Really?’

Looking up at the unicorn, she saw her already biting into her own, identical sandwich. The unicorn, feeling Dawn Wing’s eyes on her, looked up and smiled sweetly before turning her attention back to her own meal.

‘Should have just gone scavenging. I could use something rotted and bloody right now.’ She thought as she resigned herself to the floral sandwich. As she ate, she refused to admit to herself that it was actually not half bad. Her mind was instead on something else.

The ticks.

This wasn’t just an infestation. They were after something.

Or rather, someone.

It was obvious they were intensely interested in the princess’s student. But to what end, the corax could only guess. From what she’d been told by the princesses, her guide had been instrumental in foiling the tick’s plans to conquer Canterlot. Depending on the state of their queen, these changelings could be out for revenge, or trying to learn enough about the princess’s student to remove and replace her.

Dawn Wings groaned internally as she ate. She just didn’t have enough information to go on.

She had to admit, they were good. Rotating observers. Making sure they kept their spying to brief stints to avoid being obvious. It was remarkably subtle, and frighteningly well coordinated. To any normal observer, their trick would have worked.

But she wasn’t a normal observer. She was a corax, and it was her job, nay, her very nature, to notice things.

Still. First thing’s first. She needed more intel to figure out what was going on with the ticks.

For the first time in days, Dawn Wings’ mood actually started to improve. Because, finally, she was back on the job.