Wings of Dawn

*Canterlot*

Dear Princess Celestia,

The solar raven made another appearance in town today, though I was not witness to its activities. And, I must say, its actions indicate that it may be much more than a “simple” animal. After hearing an account of its actions from three of the local fillies (an account I later corroborated by interviewing a few of the other foals), I’ve come to believe that this strange creature is, in fact, intelligent, possibly to the point of sentience.

My reasoning for this is simple. Earlier today, the solar raven humiliated one of the fillies at Ponyville Elementary School. The attack on the filly was calculated and methodical, and seemed to target her specifically. The bird stole an object from the filly, damaged it, and then discarded it in a place that resulted in the filly being covered in mud. Had the incident ended at that, I might have chalked it up to coincidence.

However, the raven later returned to the school and proceeded to target the same filly again, resulting in her being tricked into a second pool of mud.

What is of note is that the foal targeted, one Diamond Tiara, is a notorious bully who routinely picks on the three fillies I questioned. From their account, the bird initiated its attack soon after she had begun to taunt the other foals.

I’m not sure what to make of this. Was the bird targeting Diamond Tiara specifically? With the two-staged nature of the attack, as strange as it sounds, I’m inclined to think so.

What is of note is that while this was clearly an attack, the bird did not do any actual physical harm to the filly, merely humiliated her. I’ve included an account in a separate document for you to assess.

So far, none of my research has turned up any material pertaining to any recorded instance, myth or legend of anything resembling this creature. In an effort to determine exactly what this creature is, I will attempt to discover exactly where it goes when it leaves Ponyville.

Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle

Celestia set down the letter, as well as the document covering the testimony of the witnesses. As she did, she furrowed her brow, narrowed her eyes, and felt a small, tight frown forming on her face. This creature was becoming more perplexing by the day. Its disappearances and reappearances were one thing, but the possibility that it was self-aware further raised the stakes. If this creature was indeed sentient, then its attack on one of her little ponies raised further questions.

Lifting a quill in her golden magic, Princess Celestia began to compose a response to Twilight.

*Golden Oaks library*

One enchanted burst of dragonfire later, Twilight Sparkle unraveled and read Princess Celestia’s response.

My faithful student,

I feel that it would be best if you continued to observe this “solar raven”, as you call it, as cautiously as possible. If this creature is indeed self-aware, then provoking it would not be beneficial to our attempts to understand it. If you can covertly determine where it goes when it leaves Ponyville, I would encourage you to do so.

Best regards,

Princess Celestia

“Well, what’s up Twi?” Spike said as he tried to get a look at the letter.

“Spike, I’m going to be out for most of the day.” The purple unicorn said as she rolled up the scroll and set it on her desk; a desk covered with dozens of folklore, history and mythology texts she’d been pouring through in an attempt to track down any information on her quarry.

“Going to look for that bird again?” Spike said as he crossed his arms and cocked his head, looking Twilight in the eyes.

“Yea. Wish me luck.” Twilight said as she started heading downstairs and towards the door.

“Good luck.” Spike said, before turning back to the piles of books Twilight had been pouring through. “Well, better get these organized for when she gets back.”

And with that Twilight’s number one assistant metaphorically rolled up his sleeves and got to work.

*Ponyville Market, four hours later*

Once again, Dawn Wings had found herself a nice, comfortable perch in the market, this time concealed in the branches a large oak. So far, she’d manage to avoid detection, and she planned to keep it that way.

She was starting to get a sense of the pony’s language, and had begun to pick out certain repeated sounds, as well as begin figuring out their monetary system. It would still be some time before she could understand them, but it was a start.

She was also starting to get a sense of how these “people” operated. For the most part, their culture gave the corax an impression of genial egalitarianism, with an undertone of civic responsibility. Each pony appeared to be part of the whole, performing a function that was responsible for ensuring the entire town continued to operate. Despite this, there seemed to be little to no prejudice between the races. Though the normal ponies were by far the most common, they didn’t seem to be treated any different by the other two species. The pegasi were much the same, as were the unicorns.

‘These ponies really are… like overly sappy, four legged humans.’ The corax mused to herself as she watched the blond apple farmer and her little sister working at their stall. ‘Heh, if they weren’t almost painfully saccharine, I think I might actually be able to like them.’

Flexing her wings, and fluffing out her feathers, the corax settled back down to continue her vigil. Unbeknown to her, around the corner of one of the adjacent buildings, a certain purple unicorn was watching her with an equal amount of interest as she had in watching the ponies.

*****

Twilight Sparkle’s hunch had paid off, and her detection spell had found the solar raven in the market again. Unlike the fist time she found the thing, she kept out of sight around the corner of one of the buildings. With the knowledge that the creature was intelligent, she was taking no chance that it would spot her, and ruin her opportunity to follow it back to wherever it went.

“Hey Twilight! What’cha doing?”

Twilight Sparkle’s heart jumped into her throat for the second time in a week as another pony snuck up on her. Whirling around and shoving her hoof into the mouth of a certain rainbow maned pegasus, Twilight began shushing her friend intensely.

“Rainbow Dash, be quiet.” Twilight whispered to her friend as she slowly removed her hoof.

“Why? What’s going on?” Rainbow Dash asked, not bothering to lower her voice.

“Keep it down Rainbow. I’m watching that.” Twilight hissed as she peaked around the corner of the building to point at one of the trees along the edge of the market. Rainbow Dash hovered above her friend, looked at the tree, then at Twilight, once more at the tree, then finally back to the unicorn, before she raised her eyebrow.

“What?” Rainbow Dash asked. “The tree.”

“No, not the tree. The bird that’s in the tree.” Twilight corrected.

Looking at the tree again, the pegasus strained to spot the bird that Twilight was going on about. At first, she couldn’t see it, then, she could make out the outline of a large, black bird.

“Okay. Looks like a crow. What’s the big deal?” Rainbow said, her tone a mix of confusion and concern.

“It’s not a crow, it’s a raven.” Twilight corrected. “And it’s not a normal raven.”

Without turning her head, Rainbow looked back at the tree, and the ~~crow~~ raven. Slowly, she turned her eyes back to Twilight, who was still crouching behind the corner of the building, her eyes locked on the tree and its avian occupant.

“Twilight… I know this is going to sound really strange coming from me… but have you ever considered switching to decaff?” Rainbow said, her eyes narrowing as she looked down at the purple unicorn.

Twilight turned her eyes up towards the pegasus hovering above her, her eyelids narrowing in annoyance. “Rainbow, I’m not over caffeinated… again. That thing’s not a normal bird. For one, its intelligent…”

“And you know this how?”

“Well, its been hanging around town for the last week or so, but it mostly just sits around and watches everypony. Second, it went after a filly yesterday…” Twilight began.

“Wait, went after a filly?” Rainbow interrupted, “Seriously? That’s the bird that went after Diamond Tiara?”

Twilight’s mouth fell open.

“How do you know about that?” Twilight asked.

“Scootaloo told me about it.” Rainbow Dash replied, tuning her head back towards the tree. “From the way she described it, she makes it sound like some sort of super-bird or something.”

“It just might be, and that’s what I’m trying to figure out Dash.” Twilight retorted. As she did with Rarity and Pinkie, she chose to omit the fact that the bird was imbued with solar energy. Solar energy that was starting to move away.

Turning her head, Twilight spotted the raven flying off.

‘Ponyfeathers!’ Twilight thought. ‘Its going to get away again. But, maybe…’ her thoughts trailed off as she looked up at Rainbow Dash.

“Hey Rainbow Dash, think you could tail that bird for me?” Twilight said, a sweet smile on her face.

“Uh, why?”

“I need to know where it goes when it leaves town. Its important.”

“If it’s so important, why aren’t you following it?” Rainbow said, crossing her forelegs and looking intensely at Twilight.

“I can’t fly. It can. Even if I tried teleporting after it, I couldn’t keep up for long. But you could. Please, Rainbow, I really need you to do this.” Twilight pleaded, walking out from under Rainbow Dash and giving her a forlorn look.

“Twlight, I really don’t…” Rainbow Dash said as she scratched the back of her head and looked away.

Twilight glanced at the bird, which was rapidly disappearing towards the horizon. Soon, it’d vanish again, and she’d be back to square one. She had to get Rainbow to follow it. As much as she disliked doing it, she had to play dirty.

“Oh, okay. I understand. You can’t do it.” Twilight said, turning away, “I guess it’s too tough for you.”

The change in Rainbow Dash was almost instantaneous. Her head snapped back towards Twilight, eyes narrowed. “Care to repeat that.” The pegasus hissed.

“I said it’s probably too tough for you to handle. Following that bird without being seen would be too hard for you. It’s okay. Sorry I brought it up.” Twilight said as she turned to walk away. She got two steps before she had a very blue, very cross, pegasus in her face.

“Oh it is on. You don’t think I can track that bird down? I’ll show you.” Rainbow said as she pressed her hoof into Twilight’s chest before launching herself into the sky and speeding off after the retreating bird.

‘That felt…really wrong.’ Twilight thought to herself as she watched her friend speed off. Lowering her head and pressing her ears against her skull, she began to trot back towards the treebrary.

‘I think I need a shower.’ She thought to herself dejectedly.

*****

Dawn Wings mood was… not as good as it was ten minutes ago.

‘Okay, what the hell is up with that unicorn?’ She thought as she briskly flew over the rooftops of the town. She’d been minding her own business, not bothering anyone, when she heard a voice she recognized from behind her. Looking back, she had seen a blur of purple duck behind a building near the edge of the market, and begin a hushed conversation with a second, slightly rougher voice. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted the unicorn pop around the building and point at her. Seconds later, a second pony popped its head around the building, this one blue with a disheveled, rainbow colored mane.

If she still had hands, she would have started rubbing her temples, because she recognized the purple mare from the day before. It was the same unicorn that had shown an uncomfortable amount of interest in her. The other pony was passingly familiar too: she was one of the pegasi the corax had seen manipulating the clouds around town. Did the unicorn have minions or something? She’d put the thought out of her mind, and prepared to at least try to get some more observation done.

But, the unicorn’s voice had irritated her to the point where she didn’t want to stick around. So, she’d left.

‘I think I’m going to find a new place to do my observations. I don’t want to keep running into that damn mage.’ Dawn Wings grumbled in her mind as she flew.

As she glided along towards the edge of town, she felt a familiar itch in the back of her mind. It was a sensation that she was all too familiar with. One honed by years of experience in the field: the sensation of being followed. Grumbling, she slowed her flight and invoked her power to detect enemies. As before, she felt the presence of several potential threats in the town, but none in her immediate vicinity.

‘Unicorn didn’t set any bells off the first time either, so can’t be sure that it isn’t her.’ The corax thought as she sped up and changed direction, flying directly west and back over town. As she did, she flicked her eyes around and scanned both the ground and the sky for anything out of the ordinary.

At first, she couldn’t find anything. But, after some time, she did notice something that caused her to raise an “eyebrow.” One of the clouds seemed to be following her.

‘Okaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay… this is new.’ The corax mused.

Landing on the roof of one of the houses, the corax glanced back at the cloud out of the corner of her eyes. ‘Not moving.’ She thought before taking to the sky again, keeping the cloud in her peripheral vision. Sure enough, as soon as she began to fly, the cloud began to follow her.

Sighing, Dawn Wings pulled her power into her eyes and activated her sight enhancement gift. Vision now empowered, she cast a quick glance back at the cloud. With her augmented sight, she could see through the suspended vapor, and spotted the blue, rainbow maned pegasus hiding inside it.

Dawn Wings’ eye twitched.

‘Well, that’s just great.’ She thought. ‘I bet that mage is behind this. Well, can’t head back to the forest now.

‘I suppose I could just duck out of sight and step sideways. She couldn’t follow me then.’

As she was musing, an idea struck her.

‘Or, I could mess with her a bit. I could use the entertainment.’

A sly grin made its way onto the corax’s face as she glanced back at the cloud.

‘Yea. Alright Crayons, lets play.’

Swooping down between a couple of buildings into a blind alley, the wereraven made sure that the cloud didn’t have a line of sight to her. Then, focusing her mind on passing through the gauntlet and flexing her spiritual power, she stepped sideways into the umbra and began to double back around behind the pegasus.

*****

“Hey, where’d it go?” Rainbow Dash said as she moved the cloud over the building the bird had slipped behind, and noticed that it was gone. There was no cover to hide behind, and there was only one way out that she could see.

‘What in Celestia’s name? How’d it get past me?’ Dash thought as she popped out of and then stood on top of the cloud, looking around for the bird. Despite her frantic searching, she couldn’t find beak nor feather of the thing.

“Argh! Darn it! Where’d you go?” Dash said as she stomped her hoof on the cloud, causing it to rumble slightly.

There came a sudden flapping of wings, followed by a light breeze on the back of her neck, and a sudden weight on top of her head. Looking up, she found herself staring directly into the upside-down face of the very bird she had been following. Rainbow’s brain de-railed for a second as the two of them just continued to stare at each other, the bird giving her an almost smug look as it perched on top of her head. The pegasus could almost swear that it was smirking at her as it stared into her eyes with its own black ones.

Giving her one last look, the bird launched itself off her head and began to lazily glide towards Whitetail Woods. Rainbow was too stunned to follow, until the bird looked back at her and made an almost imperceptible shake of its head in the direction of the trees. For a second, the pegasus could swear that it was beckoning her to follow it. No, it was more than that. It was daring her to chase it.

Slowly, a smile crept across her face as the bird landed in a tree on the edge of the woodland, and looked back at her, before repeating the gesture and flying between the trees.

“So you want to play? Alright, lets play.” Rainbow Dash said as a smirk grew on her muzzle before she launched herself off the cloud, a rainbow colored contrail forming behind her. “Lets see you get away from the fastest flier in Equestria.”

*****

Dawn Wings dove between a couple of elms and into a tight thicket of brush, and out of sight of her dance partner. Peeking out of from between the branches, she could see the pegasus flying around, her magenta eyes scanning the vegetation for her. Dawn Wings had to suppress a smirk as the pegasus flew past her hiding place and off to the north.

When she challenged the pegasus, she had thought that it would be easy to outrun her in the trees, since she was sure that as a flier, she’d be both faster an more maneuverable. As it turned out, she was wrong on both cases. Despite being more than eight times Dawn Wings’ size, the blue pegasus was proving to be both far faster, and more agile in the air than she was. Since she'd been using her own flight abilities in equus form as a measure, it was a reasonable mistake.

But that didn’t change the fact that speed and agility weren’t the only advantage corax had on her side.

While it was true that the pegasus was faster than her, and could maneuver in the air in a way that made Dawn Wings think she had to be part hummingbird, she was also sloppy and brash, and didn’t use what she had as efficiently as she could have. This was the edge that Dawn Wings had been using to keep ahead of the pegasus. The pony might be faster, but the corax was clearly the far more experienced flier of the two, and had much finer control of her movements in the air, even without the use of her gifts. And that made all the difference.

At first, she had planned to tease and rile up the pegasus, using the trees to keep her off balance. But, as they played cat and mouse through the woods, Dawn Wings realized that she was actually starting to have fun evading the pagasus as she tried to catch the stealthy corax. After being by herself for nearly a week, Dawn Wings was lonely. And even if she wasn’t exactly talking to her tag partner, it was nice to interact with another living thing again. And from what she could tell of the pegasus’s body language, she was starting to enjoy herself too.

Spotting her playmate through the trees, Dawn Wings launched herself into the air, her sudden movement drawing the pegasus’s attention. Turning sharply, the flying pony rushed after the wereraven as the latter headed towards another thick stand of trees. Dawn Wings smiled to herself as she dodged the pony’s attempt to grab her and wheeled back around, flying through a narrow gap in the branches as the pegasus turned to pursue. She was going to enjoy this game as long as possible.

*****

Despite her mounting frustration, Rainbow Dash had found herself starting to grow fond of this little game of cat and mouse she was playing with the bird. At first, she had been sure that she wouldn’t have any problem keeping up with the raven. She was, as everypony should know, the fastest flier in Equestria. But, as it turned out, despite her speed and prodigious maneuverability advantage, she just couldn’t seem to actually catch the dang thing.

At first, the bird simply would fly through thickets and brambles too narrow for her to follow. It had clearly been surprised when she had been able to speed around such obstacles and meet it on the other side. It was then that the raven had seemed to switch tactics, and become almost mockingly playful with her. It would suddenly evade her and vanish from sight, only to let her catch a glimpse of it again once she was far enough away that she couldn’t just rush it.

She was also starting to realize that Twilight was right about the thing: it was smart. And, as much as she was loath to admit it, it was clearly very good in the air, to the point that it could evade her whenever she got close.

And it was also clear to the pegasus that what had started as a pursuit on her part had somehow morphed into a game. One, she realized, that the bird was winning. That thought alone made her want to keep playing. If there was one thing Rainbow Dash loved more than flying, it was winning. And she was going to win this game. No way was she going to let a mere bird, no matter how smart, get the better of her.

Unfortunately, she’d lost track of it again, and was currently flying between the trees, trying to spot the elusive black bird.

“C’mon, where’d you go beak face…?” Dash muttered to herself as she scanned the area, trying to spot her dance partner. As a glint of glossy black feathers bolting from cover to her left drew her eyes, she turned her head to see the bird slipping into a thicket of birch trees. Smiling and narrowing her eyes, the blue pegasus twisted in the air and sped off after the feeling bird.

“One way or another, I’m going to catch you. Just you wait.”

*Five minutes later*

Rainbow Dash had her target in sight. Having lost track of the bird a couple of minutes before, she had spent them searching for her avian playmate before spotting it again, standing near the edge of a large pond. By this point, Rainbow had given up on trying to rush the raven, as it proved to be far to adept at evading her if she gave it space.

Instead, she quietly landed a few yards away, and, crouching low to the ground, began to creep up on it with almost cat-like grace. For its part, the bird didn’t appear to have noticed her, instead looking up at the trees, clearly expecting her to be coming from above. Good. Just a little closer, and she would be able to rush it. Just a little closer…and…

Rainbow Dash pounced, launching herself forward, forelegs outstretched, ready to grab the raven. Yet, at the last second, the bird made a sharp down stroke with its wings and rose just millimeters above her grasp. Unable to arrest her movement quickly enough, Rainbow Dash landed face first in the pond.

“Ack! Pbht! Argh!” Rainbow sputtered as she flailed around, trying to re-orient herself in the water. After a few seconds of struggling, she managed to stop herself from panicking and turned around to look at the bird.

There was that smug look again. The same one it had given her when they first started to play this game. But, mixed in with it was a small amount of concern.

“Buck you!” Rainbow said with narrowed eyes as she splashed water at the bird, which easily dodged out of the way with a quick flap of its wings. Landing, it cocked its head from one side to the other.

Plopping down, Rainbow couldn’t help but start laughing. Here she was, soaked to the skin, sitting in a pond in the middle of the Whitetail Woods, getting angry at a bird that had just clearly tricked her into taking a face first dive into said pond, and all she could do was laugh.

The laugher was clearly contagious, because the bird lowered its head and began to lightly croak deep in its throat, almost as though it were chuckling.

It was at that moment that Rainbow struck, launching herself out of the pond and, at long last, managing to snatch the raven, which made a startled croak, up in her forelegs.

“Gotcha!” Rainbow declared, staring the stunned avian right in the eyes, a giant grin spreading itself across her face.

The bird looked at her dumbly for a moment, but then closed its eyes and nodded, as though it were conceding to her.

“Haha! I win. I win! I gotcha! Haha! Still the best out there.” Rainbow dash chortled, without losing her grip on the sneaky creature in her hooves. It had taken nearly an hour, but she’d finally managed to catch the thing.

Rainbow’s celebration was suddenly cut short when the raven lifted its beak up and, with deliberate gentleness, tickled the inside of her nostril with the tip of its beak.

“Ah-ah-ATCHOO!” Rainbow sneezed, causing her grip to loosen, allowing the bird to fly free and land in the branches of a nearby tree.

Wiping her nose with her forehoof to work out the last few remnants of the tickling from the bird’s beak, Rainbow Dash looked up at the raven, their eyes meeting. The two of them just stood there, staring at one another. There was something new being born between the two as they looked deeply into the other. A feeling of respect.

‘What exactly are you?’ Rainbow thought to herself as she stared the raven in the eyes. Twilight was right. There was something special about it.

It was the raven that made the first move. Flying down to the edge of water across the pond, Rainbow Dash watched intently as it picked up a small, whitish stone in its beak and flew back over to her. Taking a few steps forward, the bird dropped the cloudy crystal about four hooflengths away from the pegasus, before backing up. Then, spreading its wings, it bowed to her, lowing its head and closing its eyes, before rising back up and looking at her.

Rainbow cautiously approached the stone, before picking it up with a hoof. It wasn’t anything special: just a simple piece of white quartz. But, somehow, the gift signified something both much more profound and intimately touching.

“Uh…thank…you.” Rainbow said, her eyes moving back and forth between the stone and the bird.

Croaking once, the raven launched itself into the air, and flew over the pegasus’s head. As Rainbow Dash turned to look behind her, she was surprised to find that she couldn’t see beak nor feather of the raven. Somehow, in a span of mere seconds, it had vanished into thin air.

*****

In the umbra, Dawn Wings looked back over her shoulder towards the direction she had left the pegasus. Despite her aching muscles, she was happy. Sure, she was spent, but she had enjoyed herself. And, maybe, just maybe, she had found a potential friend in the blue pegasus. Flying up and out of the umbral woodland, Dawn Wings began to make her way back towards the thick forest she’d started to call home.

‘Glad I can regenerate.’ She thought to herself. ‘Otherwise I’d be crazy sore tomorrow.’

*That evening, in Ponyville*

There was a knock at the door, one that caused Twilight Sparkle to look up sharply from her books.

“Come in!” She called before turning back to the volume she was currently examining.

“Hey Twi.” Rainbow Dash called as she trotted into the treebrary.

“Rainbow! How’d it go?” Twilight asked excitedly as she set the book down and walked towards her athletic friend.

“I’m… not sure… exactly…” Rainbow Dash said, her face conflicted, as she looked down at a small piece of quartz in her right hoof.

“What do you mean? Did you manage to follow the raven?” Twilight asked, her head tilting to the side as she studied the expression on Rainbow’s face.

“Yea, about that. Its kinda a long story.” The pegasus said, lifting her head and looking towards the unicorn. “It started when I lost track of the bird as I was following it…”

One explanation later, and both Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash were staring down at the rough piece of crystal the latter still had in her hoof.

“That’s… almost unbelievable Rainbow.” Twilight finally said.

“Well, unbelievable or not, that’s what happened.” Rainbow said quietly, looking up at her friend. “I think you’re right. Whatever that bird is, its smart. Really smart.” She said before chuckling. “And it’s got a sense of humor too. I hope I get the chance to meet it again. I’d love to have a rematch.”

Twilight could only stare at her friend. Then, a small smile crept across her face.

“I’m sure you will Rainbow.” Twilight finally said as she turned back towards her books. “Thanks again for doing this for me. I appreciate it.”

“No problem Twi. What’re friends for?” Rainbow Dash said as she trotted up to the other pony and patted her on the shoulder with a wing. “I hope you’ll let me help out again next time it shows up.”

“Yea.” Twilight said as she began to add new notes to her document on the solar raven. “You can count on it.”