The Hand of the Shadows
The last time Misty Dawn clutched a weapon was before her Ma passed. Dancing over felled logs, her primitive bow slung across her back, she lived to race under the shadows of the trees which made up her home in the forest. Every flicker of sunlight from the verdurous canopy above cast a golden light over her olive coat and a brief glimpse of the young yet matted-brown mane covering most of her front. The forest’s humid breath hung stale in the air, and piercing rays permeated the treetop canopy and cast an ambient light over the mid-summer shrubbery. Through the haze of the sinking sun, the intermittent low thuds of arrows striking wood came almost rhythmically as if it was the pulsing heart of the forest.
Out of breath, Misty came to rest on a long since fallen trunk, tired from her flurry. A good day’s practise. Where she lay was a luscious assortment of obstacles and an array of trees and shrubs centred around a small yet open clearing, where she could practise undisturbed for most of the day. She had only broken one arrow, due to a sloppy mistake where she buried it in a nearby rock near to where she rested.
Scattered haphazardly in the trees around her were a patchwork selection of wooden targets, peppered with dents and holes where years of torture had reduced some to little more than husks of wood-chipping and paint. Clutching her quiver of arrows leaning against one of the trunks, she promptly broke into a quick sprint towards one of the many interconnected paths through the forest around her.
She knew every path of the grove she raced through, determined to become one with the evening breeze as leaves and branches whistled past in a furore of her fledgling wings, and arced up, cutting the canopy in an open spot she always aimed for, previously often hitting the leaves and branches on her escape up to the clouds. Now, she was a little more experienced as it was several months since she could sustain flight. She had more control over her glide and acrobatics as the canopy drifted below in a sea of lush foliage and flora.
It was only a short journey: taking her mere seconds when it may have before taken several minutes to navigate on the forest’s floor before. Diving towards a small island in this sea of green, a small hill protruded, where a small cave lay captive by the earth and overlooked a small meadow of summer flowers and grasses.
The cave sat perhaps a mile from the local pony homestead, where sometimes smoke from the bakery could be seen marking its location. It had always wondered Misty how a Pegasus would choose a life away from her kin, preferring the shelter of the trees rather than the clouds and boundless sky. But she liked the comfort of the forest. For her, it was all she could ever dream of.
She reminisced about her Ma, where she lived a quiet life passing the time, watching her daughter grow into who she was today. She had never known her Pa, no one knew anything of him, and Ma certainly wouldn’t talk of it. The secret was lost forever when a village pony came to inform her of her Ma’s passing; she had fallen several weeks ago and was too frail to keep going for much longer. She knew what was coming, and she made herself ready, just like she always did for every eventuality, but it didn't stop the pain.
Alone in this wilderness, she had nothing but the whispering trees and mountain dew for company. She took lessons from the waterways and the dirt, secrets from the night sky and treasures from the clouds that swept overhead. She developed a life connected to the mysteries and beauty of the forest and grew to become a part of it just as much as a hoof or limb. The part missing for so long torn by the death of her Ma, the forest completed her once more.
Now, she was alone again, alone with the long since abandoned shadows of a weald, hanging lumber like a baldachin laid out over a forgotten foal trail, encapsulated by a twilight aura echoing from far above her. Instead of her rugged and now worn bow for which the bowstring had been repaired many times since its conception, an unfamiliar rifle was left bouncing from a brown woven strap at her side. The uniform of the Solar Empire was soddened in the rain and slick with mud caking her coat and hooves, but she had to carry on. It was only several minutes since she left the company of her battalion on a volunteer mission to deliver a message to an adjacent magical battalion in the next valley over, who was leading the trek towards the former Equestria-Crystal Empire border to defend it from King Sombra’s forces who were spotted preparing an assault in the region.
Thinking back to the encampment again from where she left off, something about a confidential letter floated around her memory, and a photograph of a map wafted like a sweet scent in the chilled air. This was a map unlike any other she had seen, covered in lines and acute details sprawled across the page so it took her a little longer than she’d like to admit, growing comfortable with the simplistic maps she’d discovered when she was younger. She was around halfway across her planned route, having stopped for a slow walk to recover herself from the icy winds high above the cover of the trees.
She didn’t like leaving her newfound friends, she’d never had any before. But then again, she was the only Pegasus in the 31st Infantry Division and the job practically was suicidal for anyone besides herself. She knew that if a pony was to get lost, it would spell disaster, as the clutches of Luna’s night could disorientate even the best navigators along this seldom-used land. The small mountain cluster was isolated with nothing but the untouched forests to use for the trek that would likely take several days by land, yet only hours by air. Her physique and natural ability gave her the freedom needed to overcome the task and was desperate to get some time to herself; she’d never had so much attention from anyone else before, it was overwhelming, to say the least.
It was only a few months ago when a recruiter came to the village, and she quickly drew their attention being the only Pegasus so far from the sprawling cloud cities and her kin. After an acrobatic demonstration of her agility and ability requested by the Officer, she would be forced into conscription as a reconnaissance officer and deployed only a few weeks later alongside many other experienced soldiers with the 31st. She’d made outstanding progress in training, excelling at almost every aspect. She’d never gotten tired of learning, and every new task was a challenge to be conquered and overcome. Her unique abilities made it a little unfair in some places to her cohort, but she didn’t let that phase her; she wasn’t about to forfeit her natural gift to make it fair after all.
She had prepared the supplies needed for her short journey and, slinging a worn and battered Lavender rifle which she fastened around her torso, she whistled out the tent and with a quick flurry of her wings, leapt, and soared to a nearby treeline where the lights of the camp quickly receded and vanished in the murky night light. She was quickly lost to the echoes of the leaves, whistling and whipping past, their black silhouettes multiplying endlessly against the fog as the night reached its peak. What was once a lush and secluded part of the forest that had remained untouched for many moons had become tainted by the influence of the modern world, lonesome yet unbroken from the spoils of wartime industry. Breaking the canopy once more, she nimbly shot up in a sharp incline for a relief in the blanket of trees. Once more, the night sky stretched out before her. The sky at night had always fascinated her; the soft glow of white against the deep black illuminated the void not only in the landscape but also in her. These lights had been her friend for as long as she could remember, dancing and sparkling. The other ponies may have taken an interest in her, but these celestial friends could never leave her side, always watching over her, even under the influence of daylight.
She found herself stopped, lost, yet totally transfixed by the twilight sky that she’d managed to completely come to a halt, just floating there high above the trees. She’d gotten so used to flying by now it was almost as second nature as walking. Misty kept herself there for a moment longer, as if to take in as much warmth from the glow as possible before the harsh Northern winds lashed out again once she started again.
The journey wasn’t a long one: she could see the mountain she had to compete with, and it had only been a few minutes since she left. She’d have to take a break at some point and planned to stop for a little bit at the base of the mountain to give her the best chance at scaling it quickly and in one go. Slowly drifting to a small meadow that she sighted not too far from the base, the wind crept through the grasses below, creating an almost haunting yet mesmerising effect until it captured her hooves, entangling and enveloping, yet, grazing softly against her windswept uniform. A nonchalant breeze emanated from the very land itself, the benign yet sharp icy whispers muttered through the meadow. Pausing only for a moment; it was clear that she was the invader in this wild land, a land untouched for centuries.
She’d rested long enough. The short walk to make up some kind of ground was more than enough to recuperate enough stamina to easily scale a mountain this size. She’d previously regularly trained and practised trying to go as high as she could, often breaking the clouds long before she felt like she needed to stop. There was something serene about drifting through the clouds, and she dreamed of basking in the golden shower of the late evening, imagining the forest of her home stretching for miles below.
Fixating her mind on the present, she took flight once more.
A cascade of greens and blacks tumbled silently across the mountainside, forever still yet disturbed only by the shadows of the wind. The peaks of the trees rose and fell, reminiscent of stormy seas that angry clouds threatened to recreate, haphazard yet natural. These waves sprawled to the plateau below, scattering ancient thickets into whirlpools of shelter against the long grass and dulled flowers bathed in the twilight light.
Despite the storm-laden clouds whispering overhead, she found it peaceful; a change in the world from what she had become so accustomed to in the previous months. Everything just changed so fast, she couldn’t face the prospect of war, the hateful demise of life.
She suddenly became aware of her face being wet, something she hadn’t felt in the years since her Ma had passed. Lost in the beauty of the valley laid before her, she thought of everything that she’d lost, everything she’d never get to experience due to a war she never even knew could happen. The life that she could’ve lived if things had just been different. She watched the ground arc below her dramatically, littered with trunks of fallen trees smashed against the rocky cliffs where she sat, and imagined the winds ripping through the valley cutting away at all life that stood against it.
Emotions violently consumed her. She openly wept, imagine of all the hardships and horrors that they were not ready for. She’d seen what they had to fight this powerful force, the equipment they had, for peace was all Equestria had ever known. She was alone at this moment, and nothing could have ever prepared her for this.
Now looking to embrace hope, she fought to raise her head and paused to rationalise herself. All was not lost, and it was not yet time. She was not alone, the whispers of the leaves dancing in Luna’s light and she imagined the soft embrace of the grasses between her hooves wrapping around her like her Ma used to do. A salt spray of fireflies glistened from the base of one particular tree: their glow and iridescence, a beacon in this otherwise destitute landscape of light, gave her hope of what was to come.
The rifle started to feel heavy under the weight of emotion, and Misty’s wings were getting sore. She hadn’t ever flown this far and so high in a single journey, and desperately needed to rest for a while. Noticing that the foreseeable path was incredibly steep into the valley, trying to make her way down this mountain would cause more harm than good, she settled. She searched for a small perch on the edge of a ridge and stopped and lay to rest on a particularly flat rock.
She sat for a while. She knew she may never get this chance again to dance among the trees, alone and isolated from both friend and foe, watching the fabrics of time drift and weave around her in the breeze.
Inspecting her surroundings further, a narrow pass flanked between the bases of the two mountains, and where the mage division was to be found on her map. A set of scattered large bouncing lights and lanterns entered the valley basin, where a sizeable group of Unicorns and supplies marched on. This was the mage company she was looking for! But now wasn’t a time for exhausting herself to make the complex descent down and risking her life, and the message would have to wait for a moment longer she thought. It couldn’t possibly be that important?
She saw the winding path of the meadow, flanked by two huge mountains and littered with trees she couldn’t even recognise. She was so far from home, so far from what she knew and what she could ever expect. She steadied herself, not wanting to lose the valuable time before her inevitable yet treacherous climb down to a better position to take off from.
She further surveyed the landscape, the silence of the trees comforting her. She spotted a selection of trees on the far side of the meadow, joining onto the sloping hills on the opposite side to the mage company. An almost-inaudible pop echoed, and a pink light shot up from this treeline to her right, quickly breaking the canopy and levelling out. It hung there for a second, its luminescence mesmerising against the silhouette of the valley, time seemingly standing still to admire its beauty.
Then the valley erupted in a thunderous roar.
The cascade of cracks and explosions and gunfire that followed instantly deafened her, flashes of orange and white echoed and exploded across the opposite treeline, and the air instantly filled with the scent of gunpowder and death. Ribbons of gold streaked across the valley for an instant. But that was before they fell on the mage company below.
Screams were followed by shouts, almost lost to the wind as arcs of purple and blue were cast into the air. Hasty spells and shields were thrown to protect what was left of the land they once stood, as all who could make sense of the situation ran for the treeline in hopes of survival against the onslaught of lead and fire that rained upon them. A veil of dirt and dust was conjured by these shells, obscuring all but the hazy light of explosions, haphazardly and indiscriminately igniting the very dirt beneath the company’s hooves.
Incessant ear-shattering booms rumbled the valley once more. Fireballs streaking between the needles of rifle rounds tore through the air, threatening to replicate Misty’s own aerobatics and beauty. Noticing streams of thick smoke pouring from the valley floor, she spotted these towering hunks of steel she’d never seen before, moving as though puppeted by some other form of life. Thickly armoured and covered with dirt, they were marvels of machinery to witness, engines she’d only heard stories of roared as yet more smoke cascaded from the rear. What seemed to be tracks she’d seen only used on heavy farm equipment in her village formed the manipulative medium from which these metallic creatures moved, the dirt churning beneath their weight. A rounded turret sat on top, equipped with what seemed to be some kind of small artillery gun, where she was brought back from her morbid curiosity when it fired. Another ear-shattering boom was followed by another, then another, as each one of the monsters fired. Each round tore into the smokescreen of dirt and gunpowder encapsulating the mage company, where explosions erupted in yet more screams drowned out by the sound of gunfire.
The howl of pony and steel clashed. The few that were left standing fired off spell after spell, pink and white engulfing these behemoths, and yet they kept moving forward. A return blast of heat and fire thudded against the valley’s defenders. Their attacks ceased abruptly, and they stood no more, clambering onto frays of life and strength. The intermittent squeal and cracks of the support infantry’s weapons ricocheted and pinged from the metallic hull, and yet they kept moving forward, their unnatural gaze sweeping and searching, never faltering.
A lash of white spewed across the valley basin, followed by three more, and struck one of these lumbering metal beasts, crackling and fizzing. All four casters were clearly hurt; their spells wavering and fragmenting, yet they held their grasp firm and with sheer determination. They wrapped and curled around one of these steel monsters, and it was lifted, turned, and slammed into the mud. A screech preceded a roaring explosion of fire and flame, hissing and spitting as it burned, ripped through the gaps in the armour, scorching another of these monsters and setting the forest around it ablaze. The heat from the seconds of battle stinged Misty’s face, turning the bitter wind into a fury of steel and fire.
The battleground was reduced to a mud bath in seconds, the earth shifted and churned, threatening to swallow those that were still left standing. Groups of casters, once numerous, dwindled with every second as the yet more shells screamed across the valley, thudding in an explosion of dirt and fire. Every shield met the same fate, shattered and splintered by bullets and fire; the caster’s withering strength insufficient to retain it. Blue merged with the unholy gold; those who had the strength left to stand Misty could see conjured wavering shields, dulled from the night light, shattered by an eruption of white. Shields cracked and crashed under the weight of the incoming fire as the unrelenting artillery lit up the forest from every direction, entrenched and planned; the ensign of Sombra’s army illuminated by the unnatural light.
Misty knew the strength of the fabled mage companies, their magical power thought unrivalled against any threat.
But she could only watch the slaughter below as the 15th mage company was torn apart.
Soon, the thunder of guns slowly came to a slow and stopped. The pink light drifted for a moment longer, before hastily fizzling out to join the twilight.
Darkness fell again.
Misty became aware of herself minutes later, her body frozen from shock, her muscles tensing and now cramping. She couldn’t breathe and gasped at the still-warm breeze that drifted through the valley. Her ears rang incessantly, the piercing internal scream of her body vibrated and coursed through her violently, and her mind spun wildly out of control. Her eyes stung by furious light cast shadows and echoes from the battle, locked in place, staring. She watched silently the bodies of the fallen, their white and blues and pinks fading in favour of a deep red, glistening on the dirt and mud. Torn uniform became one with the landscape, the brown hidden among the dirt.
None remained, besides her. None knew of what was to come, besides… her.
A second of control was all she needed, and Misty darted backwards, breaking her view from the chaos below, the sounds of the lost still ruminating madly in her mind. She had to run, she had to leave, now. Right now, she had to go, she told herself repeatedly.
Misty ran. She ran at first wildly, fearful and desperate, sprinting and weaving between trees, adrenaline fuelling her every move and motive to escape the hell that she just witnessed. She ran to find freedom, to find the light, to run from the nightmare. But as the piercing wind swept through her, she slowly collated herself, structuring and re-ordering her mind to bring her control once again.
Now she ran with determination rather than fear. Will prevailed over terror as she focused on the path ahead, her vision clearing. Leaping up over another fallen log, she gained speed now using her wings and adrenal strength lashing out into flight along the ridge of the mountain. She knew where she had to go, as she studied the map and positions and locations of all the companies and divisions on the front.
Not wanting to lose herself to the trees, she slowed a touch, before diving down the mountainside once more. This time the incline wasn’t as steep and could stop if she made a mistake. However, the mountains didn’t last forever, as she knew an almost impassable cliff lay only a few miles south of the meeting point, which plummeted hundreds of metres vertically down before slamming against a notorious set of rocks and boulders which had fallen from the cliff many years ago. She knew her limits and knew it would be a huge risk to take such a dive and not make any mistakes, she was still quite young, and sustaining such a dive would almost be suicide. She had to cross through the gorge where the mage company had come, which was a crevasse which lay between two mountains. This was her fastest exit into open plains and fields and towards the frontline HQ which lay in Bales, under a hundred miles South.
Surging down the slopes as fast as she could manage without colliding with a rock or a trunk, she swept and arced her way down to the valley basin, her every move focused and precise. But soon the adrenaline powered rush faded, and she had to slow a little to not get tired due to the long flight she’d already taken. Attempting to stay within her known physical limits, she scouted out for a place to stand and walk for a while, to gather herself again in this twilight grove. Not quite realising how much energy she’d already expended, the landing was a little harder than usual due to a spike of wing cramps developing on both wings, sending streaks of muscle spasms and pain down her body. Misty couldn’t afford to lose the supplies she’d almost certainly need for the journey to Bales, so she was forced to rest up against a fallen log and take a moment to breathe clean air once more. Actively resisting the horrific images left forever imprinted in her mind, she doused herself in water and tried to shake away the battle in her mind like a swarm of insects attacking her from every direction. She knew she couldn’t hold this out for much longer, already completely shattered from her mission and journey to this point. Here the forest floor was a little flatter, giving her the chance to make up some ground before trying to fly once again.
She trekked on; across the mud and stones and murky flora washing under her, a motion of subdued viridescent waves lapping at the trucks of trees under the hazy adumbration of the stormy clouds enveloping the glowing spots in the night’s sky. The waves and surges of fire and flame echoed and swept around her in a rapid of emotion, heavy and impossible to escape. As she walked the images of the fallen enveloped and cascaded over and around her, deafening, yet eerie silence beside the rustle of the wizen leaves towering overhead. The mud seemed to swirl and shift, and the walls of the trees rushed in, threatening to collapse and encircle her like…
She closed her eyes… and ran. She ran not with fear like she had before, but with bitter sorrow yet conviction of herself, and what she had to do. No longer could she fight the demons as she’d always done, for they would kill her where she stood if she ever gave herself up to them. There could be no more fighting or conflict, that would stop her from warning the rest of Equus about the dangers they faced. Picking up speed once more, she took off once again, this time more determined, her strength growing every second.
The trees in front of her vanished. Misty hadn’t realised how far she’d gone while she was locked in perseverance and focus, as she’d reached the basin of the mountain. Now there were no more trees in the way, she could pick up more speed and fly for longer, as the wind also happened to be in her favour, carrying her despite its bitter touch in the night air.
She stopped. Suspended in the air, floating in the shadows. Something wasn’t right, she could feel it. But she was right there, the gorge clearly visible only a few hundred metres to her right…
An almighty roar of machinery exploded near her, multiplying with every second. A flood of light poured over the grass in the basin below, when one of the huge steel monsters surged past, followed by a dozen more. Their armour shined a dull green and brown, caked in mud and dirt and soot, and an elongated barrel turned black. The prominence of Sombra’s insignia could not be faltered, as it was painted in bright colours and etched into the side of every vehicle that passed her.
She dared not move until they’d long since entered the gorge. Startled that they could move that quickly, she edged out in caution onto the dew-sodden grass that covered the valley’s floor. She knew that if she was even as much as spotted, whatever that beast even was would surely decimate her with ease. Clearly not wanting to hang around for any longer than she had to, she took flight once more into the depths of the gorge, following the line of vehicles in.
She had to get around them somehow, that much she knew, and in the confines of such a restricted space with the walls of the cliffs flanking either side, it would be a difficult task to overcome. What she didn’t expect was that these machines had stopped, along with a number of others to set up a defensive formation within the gorge, almost like a temporary camp complete with tents and supplies boxed in wooden containers being carried off a truck. But these weren’t ponies that carried these crates, but rather a horrifying amalgamation of metal and flesh, as if the two had merged to become one. Their faces were hidden in a kind of steel mask and their eyes shielded from view, the rest of their bodies plated with metal and armour. She could see them, as she perched behind a small rock a small distance away, almost lifting each container effortlessly, as if they weighed no more than an apple, yet each one was filled completely with small beige bags, filled with sand. They moved with unnatural ease, working almost in perfect unison. She’d heard stories of the Changeling Hives that united hundreds of workers seamlessly to perform a huge task in a fraction of the time, and yet these were ponies, not changelings.
While it was clear that they weren’t expecting any unwanted company, she doubted that they would take to it lightly. They were always carrying their weapons on them, she knew that if she was spotted, then, well… That wasn’t something she wanted to even consider, not now, she couldn’t allow herself to doubt herself. Spotting a stacked set of piled boxes near some boulders, she crept from her hiding place. The ground here was hard and sandy, it had changed some while ago and she barely noticed it on her journey here. It kicked up a puff of dust in protest to her movements, but she managed to make her way and peer through the slits between these large wooden crates.
The camp wasn’t big; it was clear that it was still in its early stages of being set up and not everything had yet arrived. But she wasn’t planning on staying around to find out what it might become. Already looking for her next position under the cover of darkness, she kept an ear out for any movements that might signify that she’d been seen, to give her the best chance of escape, despite how impossible it seemed.
She had to wait, standing only metres from the almost-heartless soldiers she saw murdered a company of mages before her. She had to fight every urge, every instinct to bring up her rifle to her cheek and to make sure that they could never kill again. But she knew it was pointless, insignificant. If this happened here, then what was going on in the countless other regions along the border with the former Crystal Empire, how many other lives had been lost due to the old ways of the Alicorns’ pacifist motives? And how many had survived to tell them of the enemy they faced…?
Seeing her moment flourish before her, as all their backs were turned and otherwise distracted, she took off stealthily, using the cover of the darkness and fallen boulders as cover against the seemingly omniscient machines that roamed just a few hundred metres away. A rifle cracked.
A whistle and a thud in the rocks next to her told her that she was in danger. The air quickly filled with yet more cracks, and thuds and puffs of dust peppering the landscape around her. Knowing the gorge still continued straight for too long for her to continue dodging every bullet, she arced upwards and shot up towards the now lightening sky as she had always practised in her youth. Turning over, rolled onto her back and dived down once more, trying to do her best to be as unpredictable as possible. The cracking of rifles was deafening now, the terrifying amalgamation of sound pounded in her ears, the gorge enveloped in total shadow, threatening to reach out with its cursed hands. She feared she couldn't keep going for much longer, her wings already cramped after the rest she'd taken, the danger flooding and settling in. She looked up, searching for her escape. She was so close now, only a few more seconds...
The sun blinded her. Rising up from beyond the distant mountains the rays of golden light streamed through the valley, blinding not only her for an instant but also her pursers. The echoes ricocheted and fell silent as the gorge opened up into the meadows stretching out all the way to Canterlot. Diving quickly to the left, she lost sight of them in an attempt to break their line of sight. Adrenaline-fuelled and determined, Misty dove down and levelled, picking up as much speed as she could manage, going faster than she'd ever gone before. The grasses and flowers below her whirled past in a blur of green and yellow, dotted with the occasional tree and shrub. But she knew she couldn’t stop, couldn’t rest or sleep. They knew now that their plan of censorship-by-extermination to hide their secrets was broken, and they would not rest until she was found.
Quickly orienting herself, Misty set herself a course for Bales, with the knowledge that the fate of Equestria rested in her hooves. Technological advancement of their adversaries proved damaging; Misty wished to give her home that fighting chance, or to give them their only hope for survival against the might of technology.
Author's Note
Where will Misty's journey take her next? This is my first submission, but if you'd like to see more of this then let me know!
