Wings of Dawn

*Canterlot castle*

Dear princess Celestia,

Today, I was able to locate the aberrant bit of solar energy that you felt. While I am pleased to report that the power is not free roaming, and has thus far caused no damage, I have discovered something far stranger.

The solar essence is contained in a living vessel: what appears to be a large raven.

I encountered the bird in the market plaza of Ponyville where it was perched in a tree. Much more than that, I cannot say. The only other thing that I can report is that the moment my attention was diverted from the bird, it quickly flew off, as though it were waiting for me to take my eyes off it before it fled.

This development is both wholly unexpected and unprecedented. I have begun an extensive investigation of all available literature at my disposal to identify any possible prior occurrences of such a creature. I will also continue to observe the bird should it return to town, and report back to you what I find. Or, if my search turns up nothing and you deem it advisable, I will attempt to capture it for study.

I will keep you apprised of any new information I uncover.

Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle

Princess Celestia slowly read and re-read the letter, trying to make sense of it. She hadn’t known what to expect regarding the sun shard, but whatever it was, it certainly wasn’t this.

“Mystery upon mystery.” Celestia said to nopony in particular as she looked back towards Ponyville. “Just what are you, little spark?”

*Ponyville, two days later*

Dawn Wings was slowly gliding along, following her target as she walked down the road. The pony in question was blissfully unaware of the corax tailing her from the sky, and she hoped to keep it that way.

Having made some basic observations about her new home, Dawn Wings had decided to spend a little while exploring the umbra around the forest and town she was observing, as well as practice with her new bodies. While she had made rapid progress on the latter, the former had turned out well, in a way. Though her explorations had confirmed to her that the world outside a few select areas was indeed predominantly aligned with the Weaver, something else had come to light: the spirits in this place had little to no contact with anything from the material world. When she had first approached several of the bird spirits that were allied with Raven back on Gaia, she quickly learned that while the pact was still present here, they had never encountered a wereraven, let alone any shapeshifter.

This startling realization made the corax balk. Was she the only one of her kind on the whole planet? She had assumed that there would be other fera present, and that she would be able to find them once she got acclimated. The thought that she was the only corax, nay, only fera in the world disturbed her greatly. So much so that she had returned from her umbral exploration early to spend some time clearing her head by observing the ponies.

And so it was, that five minutes earlier, as Dawn Wings was flying towards town, she had spotted the youngest member of the apple farmer family. Normally, she wouldn’t have paid the child much mind, but a moment of whimsy had made her decide to follow the filly. So far, she had spent most of her time observing the adults in town. Perhaps it might be worthwhile to spend some time observing the younger generation.

As the little redhead made her way through town, the corax slipped into the comfortable role of observer, and started making mental notes. For one, the filly wasn’t being escorted to wherever she was going by either of her siblings. Could this place so safe that a child could walk through town without worry of being attacked, kidnapped, and/or raped? From what she could tell, it could.

‘A far cry from Los Angeles,’ Dawn Wings thought as she glided along.

Another thing that she noticed was that the filly, unlike most of the adults, lacked one of the strange symbols on her hips. She had noticed this discrepancy when she had first encountered her, but hadn’t paid it much mind. Now, after spending a few days observing the ponies, as well as having found that she also had one of the symbols on her body, Dawn Wings’ curiosity began to shift towards this new mystery.

‘Do they receive those symbols when they reach maturity?’ The corax pondered. ‘How are they produced? I have one, but I just got here. Just one more thing to work out.’

Turning her eyes back down towards the ground, Dawn Wings spotted another young pony approaching the one she was following. This one was a white-silver unicorn with a bi-colored pink and lavender mane and tail, which addressed the normal pony with a friendly wave and greeting. Like the other youngster, she lacked a symbol on her hips.

As the two walked, they were joined by a third, this one an orange pegasus with a magenta mane and tail. Unlike the other two, this newcomer didn’t arrive on foot, but instead made her appearance on a scooter, one that she apparently used the thrust from her wings to drive. Like the other two, she lacked a symbol.

‘Wonder why she’s not flying?’ Dawn Wings thought as she cataloged the new arrival. ‘Is she like a fledgling? Do they not learn to fly until they’re older?’

Dawn Wings smiled slightly as she continued to glide above the three children, a familiar sense of elation filling her as she watched them. ‘So many questions to answer.’

*****

‘Is that a school?’ Dawn Wings pondered as she stared at the large red building ahead of her, which was clearly the three filly’s destination. Looking out across the townscape, the corax saw several other young ponies heading towards the building.

‘Of course it is.’ She thought, rolling her eyes. ‘They’re so much like humans, naturally the little ones would attend school.’

As she looked over the other children approaching the building, Dawn Wings suddenly noticed a discrepancy in her earlier theory: most of the others had hip markings. From their sizes, they all looked like they were probably about the same age.

‘So, adolescence isn’t how one gets a tattoo.’ The corax thought as she flew ahead of the three she’d been following, before landing in a nearby tree. ‘So how do they get one?’

As more of the children approached the school, the corax decided that she should probably take her leave and get back to observing the adults. If she was going to blend in with them eventually, it was unlikely that acting like a child would get her ingrained into the culture.

Dawn Wings was preparing to take off when she heard a heated conversation… no, argument. The exchange was between a new pair of voices and the three she’d been following. Turning back towards the children, the corax noticed that the two new voices belong to a pair of normal pony children. One was a gray filly with two-tone mane and tail that was wearing a large pair of glasses, while the other was a light magenta with a white streaked lilac mane and tail, with a… distractingly… sparkly… crown. Dawn Wings closed her eyes and took a deep breath, forcing down her intense, burning desire to fly down and grab the tantalizing accessory. Bringing her mind back to the subject at hand, these two new children, like many of the others, had symbols.

It was also clear from both their body language and tone of voice that the two newcomers were the ones who had started the conversation, though it clearly wasn’t a friendly one. Where as their posture was sure and even arrogant, the three unmarked fillies were tense, guarded and more than a little agitated, and gave only short, terse responses to the other two.

As the three unmarked children walked past the other two and into the schoolhouse, the crowned one shouted one last remark at the retreating three before smiling viciously and laughing with her companion.

Dawn Wings’ narrowed her eyes and frowned.

‘Looks like not everything here is so nice after all.’ She thought as the two bullies walked towards then into the school building, their arrogant laughter filling the air.

Slowly, her frown twisted up into a devilish smirk. The corax were many things: spies, scouts, emissaries, and messengers. But they were also something else: teachers and tricksters. But, more importantly, she was bored. And nothing alleviated her boredom like a little good old-fashioned object lesson.

If she had been in a cartoon, her lips would have curled up into little spirals along the edge of her mouth as a kernel of mischief planted itself firmly in her brain and began to spread itself through her thoughts.

‘I think someone needs a little dose of humility.’ The corax mused as she began to scheme.

*****

The classroom window provided Dawn Wings with a nice view of the students and teacher inside, one that the wereraven was making full use of as she watched and listened to the lesson being taught. The pony’s language was still incomprehensible to her, but she committed everything she heard to memory, as well as made sure to look over all parts of the room. Schools for students of this age tended to have a lot of basic information about both language and numbers, which was something that the corax was in desperate need of.

Like many corax, Dawn Wings had trained her memory to be nearly flawless, which allowed her to recall details that she had missed the first time. It was a handy skill to have in her line of work. In this instance, she was using it to memorize every detail of the lesson magenta pony teacher was giving. She may not understand them at the moment, but she hoped she would soon.

Eventually, their teacher finished her lesson and dismissed the students, who all happily left the classroom and made their way out to the schoolyard, most of them carrying paper bags or what the wereraven assumed were lunch pails. Soon, the children were all seated at one of the tables or benches, chatting with one another or cheerfully eating their meals.

Still sitting in one of the trees near the schoolhouse, Dawn Wings kept her eyes peeled, looking for her target.

It didn’t take long for the corax to spot her.

‘Now, time to have some fun.’

*****

Applebloom was having a nice lunch. Emphasis on was. Past tense.

After class got out, she and the other Cutie Mark Crusaders had hustled to get outside, find a bench and spend some time planning their next attempt to get their cutie marks.

“What about rock climbing?” Scootaloo had suggested as she munched on her daisy sandwich.

“Din’t we ah’lready try that?” Applebloom responded. “Ah still have aches in mah back from how that one ended.”

“We could try oil painting.” Sweetie Belle chirped hopefully. “Rarity took me to an art gallery last week, and…”

“Boring.” Scootaloo dismissed with a wave of her hoof.

“It couldn’t hurt ta try Scoots.” Applebloom said, “Ah don’t think the rock climbin’ thing’s gonna work.”

“Well, do you have any ideas Bloom?” Scootaloo asked as she started on her juice.

“Ah’ve been thinkin’ about it, and ah’d like to try sumthin’ ah saw in one of Zacorah’s books. Ah think it was called her-ball-ism, or sumthin’ like that.” Applebloom said as she tried to recall the word she’d seen in her zebra friend’s book on plants.

“Oh, hello blank flanks. Still trying to get your cutie marks?”

All three Cutie Mark Crusaders’ ears simultaneously flattened against their heads as their eyes narrowed. Letting out a sigh, Applebloom turned towards the offending voice.

“What do you want Tiara?” Applebloom said, the venom in her voice barely contained.

Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon stood next to the table the Crusaders were seated at, their faces wearing the same smug grins that they had worn ever since they started tormenting the three cutie-markless girls.

“Oh, just wondering what you three blank flanks are planning now.” Diamond Tiara said with a sneer. “I doubt it’s going to work, but its still funny to watch you fail.”

“Yea. I mean, how many times have you tried, and how many times have you not only failed, but caused more damage than Discord?” Silver Spoon chimed in.

All three of the Crusaders bristled at the two earth ponies.

“I just hope being a blank flank isn’t contagious.” Diamond Tiara said. “I’d just hate to actually lose my cutie mark after getting it.”

“Like it would matter.” Applebloom retorted, “Ah’ll you’re good at is bein’ a nasty spoiled jerk. Great talent to have if ya’ ah’sk me.”

“At least I have a talent.” Diamond Tiara said with a smug grin. “You losers, on the other hand…”

Diamond Tiara’s tirade was interrupted by a flapping of wings, a gust of air, and a sudden violent jolt on the top of her head that yanked at her hair, causing her to stumble forward. A split second later, a large black shape flew across her line of sight and into one of the nearby trees, which resolved itself into the shape of a large, black bird. Diamond Tiara was stunned for a moment before noticing the glittering object held in the bird’s beak. Lifting her hoof, she felt the top of her head. It was gone. Her tiara was gone. All of the other foals were staring in stunned silence, their eyes were glued to the eagle sized bird that had just swooped down and snatched the accessory of off the earth filly’s head.

“Hey! Give that back you stupid bird!” Diamond Tiara yelled as she ran towards the tree the bird was perched in.

The bird looked down at her, almost as if considering her, before transferring the tiara from it beak to a foot, standing on it and rocking it back and forth while looking Diamond Tiara in the eyes. There was something in the bird’s expression that made the filly certain it was taunting her. Picking up a rock, she threw it at the bird, but missed by a wide margin.

“I said give it back!” Diamond Tiara yelled, throwing another rock, but missing just as badly. Silver Spoon soon cantered up to her friend, and looked up at the bird, before throwing a rock too, trying to get it to drop her friend’s beloved accessory.

Cocking its head to one side, the bird looked down at the two fillies, then started doing something that made Diamond Tiara shriek out in dismay. Slowly, it reached down with its beak… and started violently yanking off the largest gem on the tiara.

“No! No! Stop it right now!” Diamond Tiara shrieked as she threw another rock at the bird, which paid her no mind as it continued to work the gem free.

An eternity of seconds passed for the earth filly as the bird continued to pry at the gem, until it finally came free. Holding the crystal in its beak, the bird turned its head back towards her and made eye contact again. Diamond Tiara could almost feel the contempt in the bird’s eyes as it looked at her. Then, tilting its head back, it swallowed the gem.

Diamond Tiara’s scream could be heard across the playground as the bird began to wrench the next of the gems free. The filly’s shrieks instantly summoned Cheerilee, who came galloping out of the classroom, desperate to see what could have caused one of her precious students such distress. She stopped short as she spotted Diamond Tiara screaming up at one of the trees by the playground.

“Diamond Tiara, what’s wrong?” Cheerilee asked as she cantered up to the screaming filly and Silver Spoon.

“Some bird grabbed Tiara’s tiara. Now it’s tearing it apart.” Silver Spoon said as she pointed to the bird in the tree, which had just finished prying off and swallowing a sixth gem from the accessory, which was now mangled nearly beyond recognition.

Noticing the larger pony’s presence, the bird looked up from its work, and stared at her for a moment. Then, spreading its wings, the bird launched itself from the tree, still holding the mauled tiara in its claws. Diamond Tiara turned and began to chase the fleeing bird, yelling the entire time.

Tiara’s screams abruptly stopped as the bird dropped her stolen accessory, but quickly transformed into dismayed wails when she saw where it had been dropped. The bird, by accident or intent, had dropped the tiara directly into a puddle of thick, brown mud.

The filly slowly approached her ruined tiara before gently reaching down and pulling it from the muck, her tearful eyes trying to assess the damage. As she did, the bird landed on the grass on the edge of the mud puddle, cocking its head and croaking as though trying to make sense of her reaction.

“You stupid bird!” Diamond Tiara screamed as she lunged, only to succeed in slipping and face planting into the thick, sticky mud. With a contemptuous croak, the bird took to the air and flew away, leaving the sobbing earth filly in the muck.

As Cheerilee galloped up to the distraught filly, the entire playground, sans one silver-grey earth filly, burst into laughter.

*****

Looking back over her shoulder, Dawn Wings smirked. Now she just had to wait a couple of hours, and she could finish giving the little bully her lesson. The corax turned sharply and headed back towards the forest.

*After school, the same day*

“Are you feeling any better Tiara?” Silver Spoon asked, concern for her friend evident in her eyes and posture.

“No. Lets just get out of here. The sooner I get home, the sooner I can get my tiara fixed.” The other filly said, looking down at the ground and kicking a rock. “Stupid bird!”

As she passed several other students, she could hear them snickering. Shooting a glare at them, they turned away, though not out of fear. Instead, their eyes held nothing but mirth as they quickly covered their mouths to stifle their giggles, still looking at her out of the corner of their eyes.

Diamond Tiara gritted her teeth as she continued to trot towards the edge of the schoolyard, Silver Spoon trotting to keep up. She was Diamond Tiara, daughter of Filthy Rich. She was one of the most affluent ponies in all of Ponyville. The other foals should fear and respect her. Not laugh at her.

“At least things can’t get any worse.” Diamond Tiara mumbled under her breath.

Just as she was about to reach the edge of the schoolyard, she felt a light impact on the top of her head. Looking up, she saw the black bird from earlier flying toward the fence nearby, landing so that its back was to her. After it landed, the bird turned its head towards the filly and met her eyes. In that instant, Diamond Tiara could almost swear that the insufferable thing was smirking at her. Fuming, she turned away, only to stop when Silver Spoon gasped, while the other foals began to laugh and point.

“Uh, Tiara…” Silver Spoon said as she pointed her hoof at her friend’s head.

A sudden, horrible thought crossed Diamond Tiara’s mind, as she slowly reached her hoof up and touched the top of her head. As she did, she felt something squishy, hot and damp. One that had a few hard, round objects in it. Six of them, to be exact.

‘No. No no no no no!’ The filly screamed internally. ‘It didn’t! That bird didn’t just do what I think it did!’

Withdrawing her hoof, the filly saw a black and white stain on the end of the appendage, along with a dirty, yet glittering, crystal. With dawning horror, the filly recognized the stone. It was one of the gems from her tiara. That the bird had EATEN!

‘It did! Oh Celestia, it did!’ Diamond Tiara’s mind screamed.

“Hay Tiara, glad to see ya got ah’ replacement so quick. It suits ya'.” A familiar voice yelled from across the yard. Looking up, Diamond Tiara gritted her teeth as she spotted Applebloom and her friends snickering.

Something in the filly’s mind snapped.

“I’m going to kill you, you stupid bird!” The filly screamed as she took off galloping towards the offending avian.

The bird almost nonchalantly took off as Diamond Tiara charged at it, lazily gliding along near the ground with an almost contemptuous casualness.

“Get back here! I’m going to pluck every feather off your body!” Diamond Tiara yelled as she ran blindly towards the bird.

Unfortunately, she wasn’t paying attention to anything in her path other than the bird. It was unfortunate, because by accident or design, the bird had flown over another large mud puddle. One that Diamond Tiara ran straight into before slipping, and skidding, face first through the muck before coming to an abrupt stop in the middle, her body covered in grime. All of her anger evaporating, the earth filly simply laid there in the mud for an eternity of seconds, her mind all but shutting down. Then, throwing back her head, she let out an ear-splitting scream as tears began to run down her face.

All at once, the dam broke and every foal (other than Silver Spoon) within eye-shot burst out laughing. Even the bird’s croaking call seemed to resemble laughter as it circled above the wailing filly.

*****

Turning to leave, Dawn Wings looked back down at the screaming child one last time before flying off.

‘Maybe now that she’s gotten a taste of being picked on, she’ll think twice about doing it to others.’ The corax thought to herself as she calmly glided back towards the forest.

*Ponyville Post office, some time later*

“Thank you, Ditzy.” Twilight said as she picked up her parcel from the mail mare.

“You’re welcome. Have a good day.” The walleyed pegasus said cheerfully as she waved goodbye to the other pony.

Stowing her parcel in her saddlebag, the purple unicorn began to head back to the library, her mind already turning back to the task at hoof. After she’d exhausted most of the books in her own collection, which dealt predominantly with the mythology of the pony races, she sent a request to the royal library for a few volumes on non-pony mythology. The tomes she had just acquired covered a few of the more common griffon and minotaur myths. Perhaps a clue about the solar raven might be buried in one of them.

As she was making her way through town, Twilight spotted three familiar fillies, all of who were clearly in very good spirits. All three had a decided spring in their step, and almost manic grins on their faces as they walked.

‘Knowing those three,’ Twilight thought ‘I’d better check to make sure this isn’t going to result in a house getting blown up.’

“Hi girls. What’s got you in such a good mood?” Twilight said as she approached the Crusaders.

“Oh, hai Twilight.” Applebloom responded, “Nothin’ much. Just ah really good day at school.”

“That’s good. What happened?” The purple unicorn said, raising an eyebrow as she looked at the girls.

“Well,” Scootaloo began, “it started off pretty boring. But the cool part of the day started when we were having lunch, planning our next Crusading activities…”

Twilight winced ‘Of course. I better warn Rarity and Applejack.’

“But then Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon came up and started being mean.” Sweetie Belle continued. “We were mostly ignoring them when…”

“When this big ol’ black bird just came ah swoopin’ out of the sky an’ yanked the tiara right off Diamond Tiara’s head.” Applebloom said with a flourish of her hooves, illustrating the swooping motion of the bird.

Twilight’s mind suddenly stalled. ‘It couldn’t be.’ Regaining her composure, the unicorn looked at Applebloom.

“Then what?”

*****

“That’s… an interesting story girls. And after Diamond Tiara fell in the mud a second time, the raven just flew off?” Twilight said as the girls finished telling her the story.

“What’s a raven?” Sweetie Belle asked, looking at Twilight quizzically.

“I’m pretty sure that’s the kind of bird that you saw.” Twilight said, the gears churning in her brain. “They’re not usually found around here.”

“Are they all as cool as this one?” Scootaloo said, her ears perking up.

“No, I think this one’s special.” Twilight said. If it was the same raven she was thinking of, it was really special.

“Well, whatever it was, I like it. I hope we get to see it again.” Scootaloo declared, getting an enthusiastic nod from the other two CMCs.

Keeping her expression as normal as possible, Twilight smiled at the girls. “Well, if you do see it again, would you please come tell me? I’d be interested in seeing it too.”

“Sho thin’ Twilight.” Applebloom said with a smile.

“Good. Now, you girls run along. And try to stay out of trouble.” The elder unicorn said.

“Yes ma’am.” The three fillies said in unison before scampering off.

Twilight watched the girls for a minute before she turned back towards the library.

‘Just what are you?’ Twilight thought, her mind trying to figure out the bird’s actions.