Keeper of Life - NaPoWrMo Entry

by Anneith

Rating: teen
Tags: Tragedy, Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Alternate Universe, Other
Length: 48961

The story of two characters, Solar, guardian of The Tree, and Coal who would see it fall.

Sometimes not everything is as it seems.
Coal, a ruthless changeling, takes a elite force into the desert in order to reach The City, the only true city left. Her goal is simple, destroy The Tree, the only force keeping the harsh and poisonous desert at bay. If The Tree falls, so shall The City.

Solar isn't a guardian yet, but she's trained her whole life and she'll need everything it takes to stand against the shadows that creep into The City. It's a much darker world then she would have believed. What is worth saving and does the ends truly justify the means?

Published 2012-10-01 00:50:01 UTC
Last updated 2012-10-01 00:50:01 UTC

Chapter One: Sacrifice

Broken pleas from the canvas wrapped against her ears, struggle with a wind that would never die, the desert kept echoing torment back. Even though she could see nothing inside the swirling cloud of dust she held firm her bearings, the stars told her so. The iron tube strapped to her side jutted from the flowing robe. She checked it again, paranoid.

“Lady.” She knew his voice even past the crimson scarves that shielded the dust. “It's Brother Yoke, he... The sand took his eyes,” he said. His fangs caught the fleeting glint of the sun as he looked into the horizon and caught the puff of his breath.

She nodded and tore herself from the void of dust, away from the tree that lay beyond. Fang led the way through the flap allowing barbarous wind to play games with their small tent.

She nodded, turned and entered the tent. “Brother Yoke,” she said in a high tone.

“Lady,” his voice creaked from the ground. Empty eyes attempted to search the bereft world around him.

'He looks dead, he's beaten us all to it.' Her heart twinged, but she controlled herself, as she always had, as she must.

“Too long in the sands, the poison. Lady Coal I've failed you, I...” Wrinkles formed as he spoke. His words pulled against her cutting shallow lines.

Fang shook his head and placed his hoof out, as if to stop her concrete stare from turning him to stone.

“No, Brother Yoke he-” She cut his voice with her ember eyes before her voice could lacerate the rest.

“He's given his rations to the others, it was foolish and now I am without another underling,” she boomed. Inside her cold words her own nerves wove braids, they tied her heart in bondage, subtle songs played for the others who'd fallen along the path. She knew his sacrifice, he knew his end and choose to meet it head on.

“Lady, please tell the others back home I-” Her eyes glowed, the soft emerald hue filled the tent like a whisper. Her muscles flared and trails shot out from her horn like vipers. Yoke's head twisted, his body shook violently, and finally he stilled. 'Fool, none of us will return to speak your words,' she thought. She hated him for his self sacrifice, for his empty hope.

Her legs felt unwelcome as she stood above her dead underling and again her stomach attempted to revolt the little food that remained, there was no more moisture left for spit. The sands poison burned through them all, leaching strength and slowly their own soul. The tar colored blood that dried on her lips and tongue a remembrance of the sacrifice her people paid for a war they had lost.

Turning she said, “Son Fang, deal with him and meet me outside.” With efficient ease they began their work, cutting into his body, as she exited.

The wind skipping along the sand muffled their movements inside. The death of an elder underling filled her with only greater anger toward those cuddled under the soft glow of the city barrier. Those that needed not to know sacrifice as they had.

“Lady,” Son Fang said exiting the tent. “You wanted me?”

“Brother Fang, I will not accept this measure of carelessness in my underlings,” she said. He gained his rank back once again. The sun now painted her dark scales in a crimson hue, the wind already carrying a brisk cold that ripped any warmth from the sands. “Ensure they prepare properly, their discipline has been slipping, we set out soon,” she said without turning.

He made to retort, to remind her the journey had been long, that they had lost four others along the path but held his tongue, he knew her better. “Yes Lady,” he replied and returned to the tent.

Like a stone skips over a pond the light trailed off the barrier in the distance. The failing sun slowly draping the earth in a dark blanket. Darkness, it was something she was used to, something they were all used to. She was eager to continue.

“Soon I'll see that city burn,” she said allowing a smile to creep along her face until she too was covered by the darkness and only the stars remained.

Chapter Two: Solar Flare

Fireflies danced in the dimly lit room. A flash igniting when they make contact, framing them like a photograph. She let out a cry as she lunged forward, the aurora splitting then reforming as she wove her magic with the delicate precision of a watch maker. Yet time shows all and as colors danced above her enemies head it highlighting her fatal mistake. She saw the sky as it appears covered in cloud, a blank canvas as her eyes rolled and she was sent toppling back. Her body impacting the ground in staccato movements.

“Ugh,” she groaned. “When did we start practicing so hard?” A loving chuckle emanated from the other side of the room, and as if her smile lit the room light came flooding back.

“Aggression is important, but too much and you'll allow your enemy to find your weakness. You must keep your opponent off balance when attacking,” she said, allowing the unicorn to rise, albeit painfully.

“I just couldn't get inside no matter how hard I hit,” her student said dipping her eyes to the painfully crafted marble floor. The designs wove inside each other depicting an epic battle between the forces of good and evil.

“You should never commit one hundred percent to any one attack, you must be balanced, allow yourself freedom to adapt and expand,” she continued. “Besides Flare, you're the first one who’s managed to make contact with me in a very long time, including the troops I spar with.” She turned her head to show the charred tuft of white hair. They both smiled, filling the room with a soft warmth that relieved Flare.

“Well, I have a great teacher,” Flare said.

The door opened and vented the room. Flare only now noticed how filled it was with soot and smoke. The guardian coughed, the hair on his helmet dipping as he did so. “Matriarch Valor, the committee is waiting on you,” he said adjusting the silver helmet.

Valor gave a 'thank you for telling me but I already know,' nod and turned to Flare. “I must be going Flare, remember you've other studies then combat. Be as diligent in them as you are here. The Tree-”

“The Tree is the keeper of life, and the giver of knowledge, and I am but it's humble protector,” Flare finished.

“Will be,” Valor corrected. “I shall see you tonight Flare.” They bowed and she exited. Flare would have left at the same time, but then it would have been awkward. Besides she wasn't totally keen on cracking open the books. How long she'd spent in their pages, how much she had transcribed. Grandmaster Song would have been glad to pile more books on her plate, and Flare was in no mood for it.

With a sigh she trotted over to the balcony that overlooked the city, the marble merging with it as if the tower itself had been cut from a single slab. As the sun dipped the rays skipped over the barrier casting a brilliant rainbow of colors over the roof's tiles. A bird landed on the balcony to enjoy the view with her, his crimson wings emulating the falling sun.

Life was slowing as night approached. The street lamps had already been lit and soft white plumes of cooking smoke drifted from the chimneys. Smoke that would later be converted back into energy by the control casters. The soft warm smell of fresh bread drifted up to her balcony and she reveled in it trying to ignore the smell of sweat and smoke that came from inside.

A lake that ended abruptly against the barrier shimmered as a boat came to dock and she placed her head against the cooling railing. Trees meshed with the stone houses in a way that made them look natural. As if the houses had sprouted from the ground itself. Orange dotted the trees in the outer yard and she imagined the guards stationed there tending to the trees, picking the fruit. She wondered how they got those duties, were they good ones, or were they being punished by tending to the gardens? Perhaps she would ask Valor one day. The main gardens were tended on the other side of the outer yard, and she realized suddenly that she hadn't seen them in such a long time, oh well.

She looked out from the tower in which she stood. A tower that sat atop the formed ring. A ring that protected the keeper of life, The Tree. In the close distance the Queen's castle stood, the purple banners flowing softly in the breeze.

“I wonder what it's like in there?” Flare asked no one but the bird. It answered with a soft peep. “I know, I have a job,” she told it. “Maybe once I complete my test I'll get a tour, I'll be important then right?” she asked with an air of excitement. She smiled. “Being a guardian is almost silly, nobody has gotten past the second wall since the war anyway.” The bird chirped again. “Yeah yeah, I know.” She raised herself and held out a hoof, “We must always be vigilant, for The Tree is the keeper of life and the giver of blah, blah, blah,” she said exiting with a chuckle. Then turning to the bird, “Oh I know, I'm just having fun. Val's just really serious sometimes.” She went to touch the bird but it flew off. With a sigh she took that as a sign she should start studying. As she entered the tower she stole one last look as the sun faded. She couldn't imagine a life outside. No, not with those monsters.

Chapter Three: Sandwalkers

She wished she had more time with them, to mold them, to train them but she didn't need old sandwalkers, she needed young, strong blood. The passing of Brother Yoke proved this. She always thought she would die in the sands under the stars but if she died under the collapsing barrier she would die happy.

The chill of the winter night bit into them, their thick cloaks no longer insulating their haggard bodies. Coal's cloak played on the wind, two dark lines twisting together like crossing snakes were etched onto hers. It was the symbol of the last queen, of the brood they had all descended from. Now she was little more then a memory.

“Keep the pace up,” Brother Fang ordered. He fell into his new position easily. The others picked up speed. He trotted beside Coal. “Lady, they cannot match your pace,” he said hesitantly.

“They will match my pace or be left behind in the sand,” Coal returned. She knew her long legs kept stride more easily, but that was no excuse. She raised her voice and said, “We have two moons to reach the barrier and we shall not travel in daylight. The winter solstice is our only opportunity and we shall not miss it because of any individual weakness.” Her underlings didn't respond but picked up pace.

“At our next stop distribute load if need be, discuss it amongst yourself,” Brother Fang ordered.

The night drug on in slow silence that was only marred by the cutting wind, their footsteps becoming forgotten on the desert floor. Coal directed them toward a maw of jutting rock. It seemed to lurch from the sands like a great beast threatening to consume them all. She stopped them from setting up camp, instead they distributed the remaining food, handing Coal her share.

“We all know the plan Brother Fang, but go over it with them again. A tired mind slips,” she ordered. “And we bleed ourselves no longer, we'll need to save our moisture.” She saw the look in his eyes. 'We'll die before the poison kills us,' she answered in her mind.

“Yes Lady,” he said with a nod. He brought out a map and gave lay of the land yet again, he drew patterns in the sand and gave them subtle reminders about food and water rationing, though they had none left. Fang had a way with these words, he could go over the most mundane details and not insult one's intelligence. Fang should have been brother from step-off. She watched as he went over the infiltration plan, and how they thought it might go, how he instilled an almost placid sense of hope in them, as fragile as it was.

While Fang went over the plans behind her she tried to envision the city. She drew pictures and maps in her mind from the old ones who'd attempted to breach it before. There were so few. She remembered sitting beside an old sandwalker, his face withered and distorted by poison and by age. He had already outlived his years, and had even outlived his broodmother. “Water that sits on the ground,” he had told her. The thought was hard for her, like envisioning a sense that didn't exist. “And it falls free from the sky. The sun, they live during the rise of the sun,” he had said. The pictures he drew for her were vivid and light, like capturing a dream in a bottle. “And their food grows from trees, they have but to pull them off.”

Shifting grains twisted around her hoof making a faux puddle on the ground as the wind swirled. She looked down on it, and wondered if those in the city had ever actually seen sand. It was a land devoid of life, and what little remained there fought each other to survive.

The night was already cracking, she could feel the night chill beginning to slip. “Don't get settled, we're moving on.” As she spoke she could feel the weariness in their eyes, and in their joints. They obeyed though and rose, legs cracking as they did.

She went to turn when she heard a sigh, and caught the shaking of a head. “You!” she bellowed. They all instantly turned and took a pace back. With steady paces she brought herself before him. Her eyes seemed to make him smaller then he already appeared next to her. “Do you mock my command?” she asked. He shook his head. “Do you assume that my orders are not just? Would have me do else?” Her eyes shone with fierce intensity.

“No Lady,” he said.

“What are you?” she asked.

“I am but your humble servant Lady,” he said bowing his head.

“No!” The sand shook with her voice. “No,” she said lowering it. She paced beside him. “You are a warrior, a sandwalker, a destroyer, you are the last. You are not my servants, you are the servants of Death herself.” She looked to her underlings, each of them. “You alone hold the power to bring down the barrier and we, together will see The Tree withered, rotten, dead. We will see the pain on their faces as all they love come tumbling down.” She smiled now, and they looked upon her with hunger, and lust. “We'll see them suffer, like we have, see them starve like we have, and see them beg us for mercy!” Her laughter seemed to tear through the wind, creating a void that swirled with her energy. Their fangs shone as the vision filled them, she filled them with the only fuel that kept them going.

“But..” she said stilling them, “we will do so under my command. We cannot succeed unless we are united as one, fight as one, think as one. I will not accept any measure of this hesitant action again. If any of you are too weak to continue I'll personally pull the energy from your bodies myself,” she said with deadly seriousness. No one doubted the truth of her words. “Am I clear?” she asked.

“Yes Lady,” they chimed together.

“Good, then we depart,” she ordered. They turned and moved into the slowly lighting sands.

Chapter Four: Friends For a Moment

The Tree filled her view, the leaves reaching out in arcs and spirals. The roots twisted like a painters brush filling the ground. The surrounding stone walls had long since yielded to the ivy and tendrils that covered it. Not only could she see it, she could feel it. The heartbeat of the tree. How it eased her mind, how it relaxed her. It took all the stress and worry of her test away.

“It doesn't matter how many times you see it eh Sol?” Clover said.

“Yeah,” Solar responded, the awe still in her voice.

“Aren't you excited, you'll be a guardian,” Clover said.

Flare chuckled and watched a leaf as it trailed off the tree and spiraled to the ground. “That's still a few days away Clover. Besides you're being invited to the archives, that's much more exciting then being a tree guard,” she said.

Clover burst out in laughter. “Well if you think making books is that exciting sure, though I will get to research a lotta stuff, and that's pretty cool too. Still though, you'll be, like, elite soon. You'll be some super duper untouchable mountain of unstoppable powa!” Clover said, Solar hit her in the shoulder.

“Don't make me hit you again,” Sol said grinning. Both of suddenly grew quiet and they just stared at The Tree.

“It's not like we'll never see each other again, you'll be permitted out after the first year right?”

“I know, but then we'll both have duties, and yanno, stuff.”

Sol leaned against her. “Clover, no amount of stuff could keep me away from seeing my best friend,” she said with a soft smile. “Besides, that's assuming I pass all my tests.” The stress lurched back inside her for only a second before The Tree relaxed her again.

“You'll do fine Flare, you're one of the best casters I've seen. Bam, kapow,” Clover imitated. “All I can do is remember stuff and fly,” she said, rolling her eyes sarcastically.

“Hey don't make me invent flying magic now,” Flare jibed and nudged her friend. They both laughed lightly and watched as The Tree created artwork with the light. “Remember when we were little, when we used to sneak out during the night and play games here?”

The pale grey pegasus laughed with nostalgia. “Yup, remember getting caught?”

“Well thanks for disrupting that memory. Thank, you, very, much.”

“Hey, I wasn't the one who-” The tower bells disrupted their conversation. “Oh, is it time already?”

“I guess it is,” Sol said. They both rose and caught sight of the robe clad tenders that entered. “Well I guess I won't see you tomorrow will I?”

They embraced each other not wanting to let go, as if the other would drift away never to be seen.

“I'll miss you Sol,” Clover said holding back tears.

“We'll meet again, it's only one year. You think they'd let you have the festival...”

“I know,” Clover said breaking it off. “But a scholar’s job is never done I guess.”

“See you in one year, same place, same time?”

“Count on it,” Clover said taking flight. Sol waved her hoof in the air as her friend departed above the canopy.

One of the tenders approached her. “We must tend to The Tree, we ask that you-”

“I'm going, I'm going,” Flare said. They thanked her and she exited through the stone arches that were set in cloverleaf walls.

Chapter Five: Sacrifice

She awoke to the dreams that only the sand could create. The sun outside the canvas rippled and the barrier glimmered in the oppressing light. She couldn't see them or the city, but knew they were there, past the barrier, and past walls. 'How they think they're safe, how they think that their little world is perfect. And how they'll be safe forever. Such greed.' The heat threatened to bake the scales off her body. She counted the reflections as they jumped in the pits of sand. The dunes before her towering like mountains, it made her feel so small. This was not the flatsands of the north and their rippling plains.

'We'll never make it, we'll die before we even get in,' the sands whispered lies to her, and all she could do is grind her teeth until that was the only sound she could hear.

“Lady?” Fang inquired from inside the tent.

“Sleep,” she said in a tone that mothers would sing with. Her horn glowed softly and his eyes fluttered until his head contacted the ground again. She pulled her hood over further but the straightened fabric only let in more light.

Hot breath exited from quickening lungs. She wanted to scream to throw her fury against the barrier, she wanted to see it burn. “Patience Coal,” she told herself. “You will have your victory.” History told her otherwise, it told her how legions had thrown themselves against the barrier, how spies had tried to poison the tree, how her ancestors past had pooled their magic together in vain, and how even Queen Emerald had failed. “This time will be different,” she said, “this time it dies.”

She turned out of the sun and back into the hidden tent, the billowing sand pushing off as she entered. The order for guard was pulled down, they would all need their rest, and life here, next to the city, was barren. Even if they needed to hunt, there was nothing to be found. It made sense, of course, the closer they got.

When morning broke Talon approached her.

“Lady,” he said, “Brother Claw told me I was required.”

“You're lying to me Son Talon,” she said. “I asked for the weakest of you, and yet you came.”

He shuffled uneasily. “I know what you need Lady, and I volunteer myself,” he said with renewing pride.

“Talon, I need strength when we reach the barrier, myself and the others. You yet have life, send the other that Brother Fang choose.”

“Lady, I am the lead navigator,” he said, “my duty is done. The others, they can fight better then I and inside you will have use for fighters, but not for sandwalkers. We both know there won't be a trip back.”

She listened to his words carefully.

“Besides,” he said, “you will need strength to break the barrier walls, and I can give you that.”

A soft smile graced her, she was almost touched. “I will honor your selfless sacrifice Talon,” she said.

They both dipped their heads. “May the stars guide you home,” he said as her horn glowed.

A chill ran through his body, then bounced back up. She watched as he shifted and struggled to remain standing. Then with one sharp twist of her neck she pulled the energy from his body and let him fall limp against the sand, an impossible feat unless one is willing.

The air in her lungs felt fresh, new, her body tingled with radiance. There was no longer hunger, or thirst in her mind and she accidentally let a small moan slip. His life filled her renewing her muscles, her vision, her mind. Everything around her suddenly seemed so lucid, and her goal so much more urgent.

As she looked upon his fallen body she called Fang over. Like the others they had drug Talon's body off to be stripped of what else could sustain life. She looked to the barrier in its shimmering twilight. “They have Talon,” she said.

Chapter Seven: The Beginning of the End

Coal looked up as the light of the moon filled her with warmth and for the moment, hope. The contrast to the day before was startling, she was ready now, renewed. To be so close with the barrier towering over them, it made their mission seem all that much more real. She knew they would get here, for they had to, failure was not an option. She... they had sacrificed so much just to get here. All in the hopes that they would just 'figure something out'. It was difficult working off plans and maps that ended at the barrier wall.

She knew, of course, the two walls surrounding the city, and could only safely assume another perimeter of some sort around The Tree. They had marked everything they could as they leafed around the barrier. The number of guards, shift duration, defenses, ages, everything they could. Everything down to the color of the cobblestone underfoot. She didn't know if they had the energy to shapeshift, and wasn't willing to find out. Any expense of energy at this point could get them killed, they were all weak enough as it was. But ah, in the city they would find strength. The city had food, water and life. She could feel herself hunger for it, they all did. Watching the guards with zealous eyes like one looks upon a buffet from the store window, it was painful turning away when so close.

It had taken almost two moons alone to find a suitable entry point. The walls were high, but inside the barrier and here there was no gate, door or entry point; in other words it was practically unguarded.

“They've grown complacent,” Lance had said, and she had agreed.

“They're ready,” Brother Fang told her.

“Good.” She meant to tell them to keep low, to stick to the plan, and what was at risk but was reminded of Scar, an old broodling that had first taken her into the sands; “Give as few orders as possible," he had said. "Once you've given orders on a subject, you must always give orders on that subject.”

The change in atmosphere inside the barrier and the outside world made it glow with an almost malevolent aura. It reminded her of blood spreading around a wound, the sands trying to cauterize itself. The city was here, before them. She tried to count the amount of times others had walked to this barrier, and how many since the war was declared over. 'How long has it been since we stepped hoof inside?' Coal wondered as the barrier towered above her.

Their progress was slow, almost unnoticeable, but that was the point. Without their cloaks the cold rendered them all unstable but they had gone too far to be reckless now. If they were detected they would be picked off like sand-lice. Being cornered in the sands now would be as much a death sentence as one could get. The Tree was capable of too much, it was protective indeed. And the spawn that suckled from The Tree's fruit would flock to its defense. The last thing the guards needed to find or see were cloaks and supplies scattered around. There was no other attempt though, this was the last. If they failed here then she had failed her whole race. She would bring it down.

She pushed all unnecessary thoughts from her mind, and tried not to let the massive scope of the city overwhelm her. It felt as if she were getting smaller, rather then closer. As if she was but a bug waiting to be swallowed whole and digested. Just more fruit for The Tree, more energy for The Tree. No, it would not be this time.

They were inches away, guards shuffled too and fro reminding her of cave lizards after they'd been in the sun for too long. Even she was growing impatient, her underlings fought off chattering teeth. She was here, right here and yet couldn't advance. The guard they had watched was still there, he was off time, lazy. She watched as he slouched against the wall, how his eyes drifted inattentively. Still, she needed him to move.

The sun would tip the far dunes soon, and they would lose the cover they had waited for. Out here they would be lucky if the guards finished them. The tent was now buried in the sand, along with their cloaks and supplies. It was unnecessary weight and bulk that would have given them away. They had no more food or water anyway, everything from Talon's body had been used in preparation for this moment. Only the tube still strapped to her leg would enter with them. She knew what they all knew, there was no turning back.

Finally the guard lumbered around the base of the tower and further down the wall. The blind spot was clear. They still wouldn't have much time.

Her underlings nodded as she turned to them, ready. They closed the distance to the barrier. Short sparks trailed from her bent horn as it lit. Sweat instantly dripped from her muzzle leaching the only moisture that was left in her body. Her head twitched as if an invisible force was twisting her away but perhaps it was. She fought it and pushed back, grooves in the sand marking her slow advance as she forced herself forward. The barrier warped and distorted as if bending glass. Her lungs filled with fire the night air wouldn't cure, her underlings stuck low to the ground behind her despite their frantic need to get warm. The barrier pushed back and for a moment she feared she wasn't strong enough utnil there was a moment of give. With a push she made a small tear then brought her horn down and opened a crack. With one last heave she pushed forward opening the rift, 'Through!'

The wind twisted as sand rushed in, heat immediately stuck them seemingly bringing them to life like a reptile on the rocks at dawn. 'Hurry,' she commanded in her mind. They didn't need to be told, they were already through. She pushed inside and sealed the barrier with far less effort then it took to seal.

Fang caught her as she collapsed. “Let go of me, I'm fine,” she ordered, but he waited until she found her legs anyway. If not for Talon's sacrifice they might have still been standing in the sands with nowhere to go back to. A quick death would have been mercy.

They hurried against the wall in the direction she noted and waited. The barrier pulsed slightly, sending dark reflections up to the top. 'Not good,' She thought as they held their position.

Finally she had what she wanted, the sound of hooves against cobblestone. With a twist of her head a body came skidding toward them. In seconds they were upon him, their fangs glittering with hunger. “Feed quickly,” She ordered and closed her eyes.

“What's going on?” a voice called from around the bulge in the wall the guard tower base created, she cursed. She stepped out, nervous. “I... uh,” she stammered and slouched slightly. “Well you see...”

“Straighten up Rollic, you're a guard for bucksakes. And I expect to be addressed by sergeant, I think I've earned that much. Did something happen?” he asked with stern authority.

She straightened up, now having the information she needed. “Sorry Sergeant, I, well you see. I thought I saw something, and... I kind of shot at it,” she said, her eyes cast aside. Her underlings crouched against the wall, hidden from the tower above still. They hinged, waiting to see if their gambit would play out.

The sergeant scoffed and shook his head. “What am I going to do with you? You already shot Pa... Wait, your eyes, they...” Black bodies pounced from around the edge with viscous speed. She lanced forward, her magic stifling his cries.

“Don't kill him,” she commanded. His body collapsed on the ground and she saw how hard it was for them to refrain.

Her teeth grated against the breaking night. How foolish she was! After all this time, after all this distance how could she be so stupid! She scolded herself. This would cost them all.

“Grab the other body,” she said already shifting to a new identity, making sure to get this one right. Two bodies wouldn't be easy to hide along the wall, and any opening of the barrier would only get them noticed. Besides she hardly had the energy to hold form right now.

“Don't mar their bodies too much, assume a fake appearance,” Coal ordered. They did and she was glad. “Brother Fang, take Son Fury and Son Gave further along the wall, remember your timings and enter through the south door. We'll meet on the inside,” she commanded.

“Same code words Lady?” Brother Fang asked. She nodded. He knew already, it was for those under him. They split.

When they reached the gate they carried two bodies. The guard towers hung over too far to see inside the barrier. They didn't have much time before another shift brought a guard out here.

She held up a hoof as she entered the small gate. A hall stretched inside the outer wall, and a hallway had been cut through forming a long tunnel that disappeared around a long bend. She called them through. Steps could be heard echoing through the tunnel and it was hard to distinguish direction. She closed her eyes and tried to visualize what direction they were coming from, how fast and how many. 'I need Talon now...' She thought and chose to travel left.

She checked the doors as she passed them, being more quiet as she progressed. They housed beds, garrison quarters for the night shift it appeared but she could only speculate. She found she already missed the sands, this grave uniformity left nothing to her. In the sands a body would be purged within the day, and that was if nothing else got at it first.

Finally she found a food storage room. Cobwebs slung off the corners and the mortar grooves were deep. 'Looks older then the rest of the wall,' she thought and commanded them to place the bodies down. They did so and eyed the supplies that lined the shelves. There were old containers of food that despite their age filled them with a hunger she could actually hear. The sand had stripped taste from them long ago, but perhaps out of the things the sand took that was a mercy. Containers were easier prey then sand dogs anyway.

She went up to the dead guard and bent over, analyzing him. 'How are we going to hide this?' she thought then turned to the sergeant. “Stuff it somewhere, we don't want it found,” she told them and readied herself.

The dust of the room filled her lungs yet it felt clean compared to the outside. She found now she could smell the hardened blood her face. Her legs already trembled, and doubt filled her mind. 'You don't have the strength for this,' she told herself. 'Shut up,' she shouted back.

The room glowed with her magic and the sergeants head flicked. Slowly he rose like from the grave. She opened her eyes, they filled with a crimson hue from popping blood vessels. “You're going to tell me some things,” she said her breath hot and hard.

“I'm going to...” she pushed harder. “I'm going to tell you some things,” he repeated.

“Where is the exit through the outer-” a sharp pain bit into the side of her head and her vision distorted. “Exit through the outer and inner wall,” she demanded.

“There are one hundred exits from the inner wall, they are located along the wall. The first is-”

“Enough,” she said, she didn't have time for that. In other words all they had to do was keep going until they found it. She fought her own muscles and remained standing. “The inner wall.”

“There are main gates located at the south, east, north, and west,” he said.

“I need guard shifts for the space between the two walls,” her words were already weak and fractured yet she remained until he was done talking. There was more that she wanted, but she could hold on no longer.

As she released her grip stars once again burst before her until she could no longer focus. Claw approached her his words no more then a jumble. Her blood seemed to slow to a still and she fell, her head contacting the ground sharply. The world around her grew black.

Chapter Eight: Tests and Trials

Solar walked toward the tower she had spent so much time in. Yet this time it seemed different, taller, darker. A shudder ran through her body as she ran through the possibilities again. Forcing her breathing under control she made toward the imposing ironwood door.

As Val burst through the doors she jumped, already on pure nerves. Val's concerned look worried her.

“Val, what's going on?” she asked seemingly catching the tall unicorn off guard.

“Oh, Solar,” she said distractedly, “it's nothing.” The guard paced ahead of her and stopped, looking back. “You'll do fine Solar, just remember to relax.” She gave the small unicorn a warm smile, hiding the swirling mind beneath. “I have to go now,” she said following the guard.

“Great now I'm even more nervous,” Solar told the air. “Just deep breaths,” she said as she made toward the doors.

They were waiting for her on the third level. Their eyes bored holes into her as she entered and found herself staring at the floor. Knowing better she readied herself and met their gaze. “Grandmaster Ilos, Grandmaster Serene and Grandmaster Song, I present myself and am ready for your judgment.”

“We shall see,” Grandmaster Song said. Her melodic namesake doing little to hide the disdain in her voice. Or maybe she was just being too nervous. Solar found she had been holding her breath, and forced air back into her lungs attempting not to make it look obvious.

'Stop being so stupid, just calm down,' Solar told herself. Easier said then done.

“You're late,” Grandmaster Ilos said, though distractedly. “Let's begin,” he said before giving her a chance to explain herself. “Lady Valor may be lenient with you now Miss Flare, but once you serve under her she won't accept tardiness.”

“Yes Sir,” she said following behind, the daggers stuck from her chest and she couldn't dislodge them.

“It's being noted,” Grandmaster Song said, another knife in her shot nerves.

They entered a darkened room that was illuminated with Serene's magic. “First,” Song said, “we shall judge your scholarly attributes, history and general knowledge.” She stood beside a large chalkboard filled with mathematical and historic questions. The letters and numbers filled the dark-green reminding her of weeds in the garden. When she was younger it had been one of her duties to pick the weeds and store them so they could be used for future compost. 'But there'll only be more weeds,' she had said then, and got another lecture about the circle of life.

'Breathe Sol, breath,' she told herself again.

Grandmaster Song pulled an hourglass from the table. The sand glowing blue from her magical grasp. “You have until the last grain falls. You may ask questions on the context of the problems and we can clarify. That is the only assistance you will have. Do I make myself clear?” she asked.

“Yes,” Solar said, her voice meek. The hourglass spun and landed on the table with a soft *thack*. She picked up the chalk and began writing, trying to keep the chalk from vibrating. Sweat lurched into her eye and she scrawled a line through a question.

Getting to this point had almost killed her yet the questions seemed to comeeasily, as if the answers were being whispered to her. The textbooks of old began to squirm with life telling her their knowledge. She stopped shaking.

'The war began -22 After Life, and declared by the griffons under King Callan. It ended in 321 AL,' she thought, 'easy.' This was stuff they told kids to remind them of what The Tree had done for them, and what they had endured. They had held strong under the weight of three armies!

She thought back to when she had been younger, how they'd gathered in the classrooms and read over history books that seemed to get heavier as the days went by. It was odd, then she had so many friends, in fact she never did have time for school, funny how life had a way of punishing you. There were far too many nights in the tower studying, pulling out her old books and reviewing.

All of her friends were elsewhere now, spread around they city, and none cared to keep in touch. The only one who was there for her was now gone. Clover had always been there for Sol, despite her living so far away from the inner ring where Sol lived. She remembered once when she had accidentally broken a water main in the school while playing around with magic and Clover had convinced the teachers it was old age, and how the abundant humility in the air that year had caused over corrosion due to the sweating of the pipes and how they were just unlucky bystanders. 'Clover could have done this test with her eyes closed,' Sol thought. Not that she was having particular problems with it.

The questions recounted the war, how they'd driven their enemy from the barrier and from their walls. How they'd snuffed out the spies hiding among them, and collapsed the tunnels they had dug under the city in an attempt to undermine and destroy The Tree. She answered questions on the number of matriarch’s there had been. It was a trick question, Val was known as “the seventh”, but technically the Queen was the first as the position of matriarch hadn't been made yet. 'Eight,' Solar thought as chalk lined the board.

She answered questions about Queen Emerald, how she had driven the invading changeling army back, how she had collapsed their tunnels and shown them mercy by allowing them to return to the sands. Solar thought back to pictures of Queen Emerald, like those that hung in a throne room she never saw. How they'd learned about her foresight, how she'd been able to see through the Changeling tricks. How they'd tried to sneak their way in, but she had been waiting. 'Should have gotten rid of them when she got the chance,' Solar thought.

As she poured through the questions her motivation only ramped up. The pins that had been stuck by her nerves were gone. She was glad they started with this and wasn't sure if the questions were just really easy, or she was that good. 'Probably the latter,' she thought.

There was enough geography here to make a map spin, and she was only taken for a loop twice. How long had she spent staring at a map? Though what really helped her was the trolly trips she had taken around the city when she was bored. The voice of the conductor rang in her ears telling her the answers.

She placed the chalk down and reviewed her questions until she heard Song's booming voice.

“Stop!” she thundered.

'I can hear you without yelling, I'm, like, four feet away,' Solar thought now that she'd regained some confidence. She jumped when Song snapped her a scowling look and wondered, for only a moment, if she could read minds.

Grandmaster Song made to her side and looked up at the board. “Incorrect,” she told Solar pointing out a math equation. The tone came down with such scorn and brimstone that Solar was afraid she'd throw her out the tower window.

“Ninety nine point five percent. Congratulations Solar,” she said flatly.

“Well done child, a perfect score has only been achieved once and you've come very close,” Ilos said. Song shot him a sharp glance. He didn't seem to notice, giving him the appearance that he couldn't see through the beard that surrounded his face like a mane. “Follow me, I shall be administering your next test,” he said. They followed through, Serene trailing behind Song.

Serene's body wobbled slightly as she walked, her thin legs giving away her age. Solar guessed she was the oldest mare in the city, and the oldest she's seen. 'I wonder if she even has grandfoals?' she thought as the room around was lit.

Ilos continued to the center, passing her. The other two stood silently along the wall. He took an aggressive stance and contorted the room into an artist's canvas. Lights and trails of color spun off in random arcs. Solar was stunned momentarily by the view before lightning crashed down on her. A purple bubble lit around her momentarily, showing itself only when being struck. She strafed and lunged forward, blades ripping from the floor. He deflected them easily and with a noise she barely heard, she was thrown violently away. She skidded along the floor before shooting to her knees and deflecting another blow. Whips of spikes evanescent violent rained down on her. The bubble bulging before breaking and tossing her against the far wall.

She weakly got to her legs. “I wasn't ready, I didn't know we were starting,” she said in defense, fearing that she'd already lost.

“The enemy will not give you warning Miss Flare. The enemy will not show you mercy and will not hesitate to stoop to any levels of depravity. Now on your feet,” he commanded and she obeyed. “You are to be the protector, the defender, the keeper and the watcher. Now show me your strength!” he bellowed. The placid demeanor he once held was now gone, she thought him more a lion now.

She lashed out, manually controlling her shield, reflecting specific areas. The blows sent her skidding left, then right, but she stayed course. With a lunge she pulled her shield like one pulls a string on a sweater. The shield unraveled becoming a infinitely thin line which she brought down with blinding speed. There was only the skim trail of light as a deafening crack blind-sighted her. Pain lit into her side and sent her mind reeling. Her body crumpled on the ground instantly as if she had been pulled from her body.

Her eyes opened moments later, Ilos pacing beside her. “You left yourself open Solar, it was a daring move,” he said. She hung her head in disappointment. “On your feet Solar.” With weak legs she rose. Her muscles and joints quickly gained energy back, it was only a stun, but her heart trembled and she worried she would topple again.

“I'm sorry Grandmaster, I have disappointed you,” she said.

“Oh no child, you did very well. Excellent use of defensive manipulation. Clever strategy, consolidating energy from offense into speed and using that with the energy already expended. With more practice I think you could become a very accomplished warrior,” he said brushing his face lightly. He turned revealing a patch of missing hair. “Keep in mind Solar I've been doing this for longer then you've been alive. It's why I get the fancy title,” he said with a grin.

“You have passed this test Miss Flare,” Song interjected, as if the conversation had gone on long enough. “The last test shall be administered by Grandmaster Serene, it is the hardest of the tests and your final trial. Do not disappoint us,” she said. Her voice filled Solar with hesitation and that trembling in the legs she kept having like a bad itch.

Another door opened and she entered. This time nobody lit the room and the silence hung like lead. The moment was shattered as the doors boomed closed behind her, the noise dancing off the walls and twisting into rabid voices. Yet they didn't stop. The voices built and climbed as if they were literally scaling the walls preparing to jump and assault her. The darkness was alive.

She created a burst of light but the darkness snuffed it as if it were feeding off the light. Another attempt proved worthless the utter blackness devouring it, lusting for more.

“Grandmaster Serene,” she called over the mounting noise. “I don't understa-” in the middle of her words silence fell again. “Grandmaster Serene?” she asked, timidly.

“Help me!” a voice called out. Instinctively she rushed toward the dull light that appeared. A body lay distorted and twisted on the ground. Limbs lay in a position only the dead would find comfortable, and blood crept along the floor like a living animal.

She tried to speak but found no words. The closer she came the more injured he appeared and the weaker his voice. His lips moved but no words formed and she leaned in closer to hear.

As she blinked his body shifted from the blood stained white to coal black, scales appeared along his body, white teeth. With fangs drawn he dove at her. The image tore through her as she screamed, mist circling her. The meek light faded again and she felt sick, her world spun and she tried not to vomit.

“Flare?” another voice said, a voice she recognized.

“Mom?” she asked as the image appeared. “Mom I... wait.” She understood, they were illusions. “This isn't real,” she said. Yet the image pressed on. She shook her head trying to make sense of it when a creature burst from the side. The scene seemed to move in slow motion, Sol could see his image shift from normal into demon, she saw his fangs as he dropped his jaw, saw the venom as it trailed from them. Her mother's eyes filled with dread as the creature bore down on her. Another pulled from the darkness staring at Sol, his eyes piercing her, making her cower back as the image of her mother continued to be mauled.

The black body tore at her throat while she whimpered, “Help me Flare, please.” She held out a hoof as the creature drained life from her.

“Mom!” she called throwing magic into the air and on the ground. Another grabbed her tail dragging her back into the darkness. “No!” Solar called out as she used every ounce of magic in her body. When her mother disappeared she collapsed in the puddle of tears that was already appearing. Every muscle shook so violently they stung and begged for release. It was only moments later that her stomach attempted to repel its contents once again.

It took a minute for her to register the voice of Grandmaster Song. “It's okay child, they're all gone,” she said crouching beside Solar. The room was now lit revealing golden tiles spread out in clockwork patterns. Song reached out and stroked her mane then lowered her hoof and raised Solar's head. “It's okay,” she said again.

Solar looked past her and traced the lines in the tile as they climbed the walls. She followed the patterns until she was looking straight up at a mosaic tree, the tiles seemed so new. The roots of the tree twisting inside the colors of each tile, trails of green marking leaves, it made her feel so small. Song smiled.

“The Tree finds ways to comfort us when we are most afraid,” she said. “Now come on, on your feet.”

“Grandmaster, I... I failed didn't I. I'm so sorry, I failed you all, I... I...” she stammered.

“No child,” she said, her voice melodic and maternal, “it was a very difficult trial. We were too hard on you.”

“Deep breaths,” Grandmaster Ilos said beside her.

“Not one soul has passed this trial on the first try. One has to know fear in order to defeat it,” Song said. She wasn't satisfied, she felt coddled, patronized.

“I should have done better,” she said tearing her eyes away from them.

“The Tree has a way of showing us our direction,” Grandmaster Serene said from the back. “Follow its path young Flare and you shall triumph.”

“Now come, you need rest,” Ilos said and they escorted her to the tower doors.

“Try not to become too worried about this,” Ilos said. “We shall summon you again, and I expect grand things.” He turned to show the tuft of hair that was missing and smiled. It did little to alleviate the pit left in her heart but she did her best to smile.

She turned and walked away, a shadow following her path. “Mom,” she said under her breath and tried to hide the tears that flowed from her face.

The trip to the hospital was slow and even more painful then the trials. Smells of fresh baked bread and cakes flowed from the market and it helped distract her for only a second. That was until the memories of her mother's baking came back, then she erupted in more tears then before.

Stone archways marked the city's districts, and thankfully they all revolved around The Tree. She could dip into every district right from the tower. Though she knew she couldn't close the entire distance on foot and waited for the soft chime of a bell.

The trolly approached behind her, she felt it through the rails before she heard the bell, and stepped to the side so not to be crushed. A small group gathered under a sign near by waiting to get on. As the trolly slid to a soft stop the glow around the wheels dimmed then died. She got on a the conductor yelled, “All aboard for District 3, next stop Fire Response and Control.”

For this time of day the trolly was practically empty, but this wasn't a popular part of the city. Besides the trolly would be going to pick up those just finishing work, and transport them to District 2 where all the houses were.

The conductor yelled a few other things before her stop came up. “Health services,” he said and she almost got off. As they approached the stop after, “Hospital and medical lodgings,” she found her legs wouldn't work. How could she face her mother now, how could she go in there and say what a failure she had been?

“Miss Flare,” the conductor said, “It's your stop.” He knew her, almost all the conductors did. She made the trip to the hospital almost daily. Yet during the last week her mother had been even weaker so they weren’t allowed to visit.

She nodded. “Oh, ya, thanks,” she said stepping off the trolly. Not a soul was left on the trolly but he yelled again, “Essential services, support administration and logistics.”

The building towered before her, seemingly larger then ever before. The windows scowled at her making grimacing faces and warning her to stay away. She placed a hoof on the door and found she couldn't go any further. The disappointment her mom would have for her. She was supposed to be a guardian of The Tree now, she was supposed to be something. All these years of training only to fail now and there was no excuse. There was no telling her about the last trial, it was hard enough on herself, let alone telling her mother something so horrific.

It wasn't until the sun started to tip and spread twilight streaks through the sky that her father came out.

“Solar!” he said. “I thought you had gone home, I...” he trailed off. Stupid, of course she had been here, why would she have missed seeing her mom. “Or that you were still at the tower, well how-” he bit his tongue. The dried tears, the red roots that climbs through her eyes. “Sol,” he said sitting beside her and holding her head beside him, “what happened?”

Tears came instantly back to her face but her father just held her until she was ready to talk.

“I... I...” she stammered, “I'm a failure Dad.”

“Shh, you know your not Sol, now tell me what happened, everything is going to be okay,” he said. It was hard to be so brave, to see his wife near death in the hospital bed, to hear her painful wheezing, then to say “It's going to be alright honey,” knowing that it won't. How long did he have to force a smile? As long as he had to.

“The test, I failed Dad, I failed!” He didn't pause and continued to stroke her mane, softly and calmly. He let the time travel at its own pace then finally she continued. “It was the last one, it had...” she said trying to bring air into her lungs. “It had mom in it, she, there was images, and, and, I got sacred, and I shouldn't and there was nothing I could do, and mom she, she,” her panicked voice climbed. Her father squeezed her tighter.

“Shh, Sol, it's okay.” She took in deep breaths and calmed herself. “Now what did the grandmasters say?” he asked.

“Well,” she said, “they said that there hasn't been one yet that's passed the final test on the first go.”

“See,” he said almost ruffling her hair now, trying to lighten the mood.

“And that they'll call for me again, when I'm ready,” she said herself already lightening. Perhaps all she needed to do was just talk about it.

“There you go, see Sol, everything tends to work out for a reason. I bet you aced the other two though didn't you?”

She smiled and said, “A little yeah.” He put her in a head lock and gave her a noogie.

“Daaad,” she wailed and poked him in the ribs. He chuckled and let go of her while she straightened her mane.

“That's my girl,” he said tousling her mane once she'd groomed it straight again. “Now I bet you wanna see Mom don't you?”

She nodded and entered the hospital. As they climbed the stairs the emotion and clamor came to their ears and they rushed faster. When they pulled open the doors to Wing B nurses and doctors scrambled around them. She saw where they were coming from and into, her mothers room. They were spotted and pulled aside instantly.

He looked at her father, then at the floor, back at him and shook his head. Her eyes lit up and she dove toward the room marked “27” and pushed past the nurses that tried to stop her. She saw her mother's lifeless body lying on the bed as a nurse pulled her eyes closed. They all paused and looked at Sol as she bellowed. Magic glowed from her horn causing the shelves and glassware in the room to shake. The windows blew out and metal squalled.

When her father pulled her out and held her in his arms she almost collapsed. She would fall asleep in his arms and cry in her sleep.

Chapter Ten: Eavesdropping

“Ugha,” she moaned getting to her feet. If it wasn't for four legs she would have toppled again as blood rushed away from her head. The tube was the first thing she checked. It was still there.

“Lady,” Claw said rushing to her side.

“I'm fine Son Claw,” she said looking around. She seemed off balance, and only then noticed the blood crusted around her right eye. She held up a hoof in front of her, but it was unnecessary, she knew. The spell had taken her right eye.

“Brother Fang?” she asked. He shook his head. “I didn't expect it, we're still in the wall,” she said observing the stone around her. This room was larger, cluttered and dark. She felt like she'd been thrown against the wall then force fed sand. Despite her condition she forced herself together, at least she got some rest, involuntary as it had been.

“Are you well Lady?” Claw asked tearing into a balled chunk of preserved food.

“Well enough,” she replied accepting whatever it was he slid toward her, “how are the others?”

He looked despaired and cast a glance back. They were sleeping. “Well enough,” he replied in turn. “I forced them to rest and we found some food. It's just...” he trailed off.

“Yes, they'll be looking for us now I'm sure,” she said. He nodded.

“There's nowhere to hide a body here, we tried to segment it, and find other rooms, but there's only so much we could do. I'm sorry La

“No,” she cut him off, “you've done well.” She gathered more strength in her limbs and stretched. 'I should have done better,' she thought. “When did they go to ground?” she asked.

“As soon as we got you to safety. Your... not light,” he said, then noticed his words, “Lady.”

“Be still Son Claw, formality is a luxury now,” she said exploring the area. “Wake them, we'll have to depart.” He nodded. “Your eyes tell me you've taken guard,” she said and he nodded again.

“Lady,” he said walking beside her. The others behind woke and ate something. “They reported odd... dreams. I said to report anything out of the norm, well they're... concerning.”

“It will only get worse as we get closer. The lunar solstice is still a few days away. Until then it will threaten to drive you to madness. It's a defensive mechanism of The Tree. Remind them that any act of disloyalty will be met with death,” she said. He didn't need reminding, none of them did. 'Death for all of us.' What frightened her the most is the eventually of it.

They slid out of the room, patterns of movement echoed up and down the hall. “Assume disguises,” she said and they slipped out patterned as guards. Lance took rear guard, almost disappearing behind the bends the hall took.

Torches lit their way filling the void with a soft ember hue. Who was responsible for maintaining the magical light she wondered, and cast the thought aside as distraction. Yet there was something there to note, each color of flame held special properties and important to know if she needed to snuff it an act that wasn't made easy for them now. Still she could tell enough this flame couldn't be extinguished with wind, it would need deprivation of air. It would be hard to kill all at once. 'It's as if they block us intentionally,' she thought, then knew they did.

A pattern of steps against the ground, Son Lance telling her that two guards were inbound. They sped toward her then paused. “Didn't you hear?” he asked her.

“Hear what?” she replied, worried they might notice Rollic's voice. She had no other image to copy. Thankfully her underlings had managed where she didn't.

“Commander Bright wants us on parade, like now,” he said.

“Oh, we better hurry then, thanks,” she replied from her guard disguise. “Come on guys,” she called back, “taskings changed.”

“Don't they always?” his companion said as they all began running. 'Damn,' she cursed in her head as they sped down the corridor. She reconsidered as they broke left on the inside ring of the wall. 'Perhaps this was a stroke of luck after all.'

They stood in the rear rank, forming up from the left as the others did. Her underlings had been trained for this, they matched patterns in movement, dialects, mannerisms and posture; they blended in perfectly. She was both glad for the twilight giving her cover, and disturbed at the time she had forced them to lose.

They all acquired new images as they scanned the parade upon entering and none noticed the duplicates. It was a terrible gambit, but on parade all eyes were forward.

He called them all to attention, then stood them at ease. “Guards, I've gathered you all here to set some rumors straight. Private Rollic collapsed from an unknown illness. We won't know more until later. It's unfortunate but we must all remember our duties and I expect you will show respect and refrain from speaking about this incident. Some of you have been spreading rumors about a breach in the barrier. I have said it before and I will say it again. Under my command the barrier will never be broken,” he said. “I have dedicated my command to this duty as have you all. I want you to remember that. Now those that were close to Private Rollic may be entitled to a day off, send your request up through he chain of command, just keep in mind we still need guards.” Voices shuffled inside the parade, and high ranking officers shot serious glances into the group. “I know you've been wondering about the extra duties, with the winter solstice coming up we all have to do our part. Outstanding members may even get to take part in this year's festival,” he said, the murmurs grew but fell dead when a bark came from the sergeant-major. “I know you've been wondering why we're short on guards, or even where some members have gone. Well with the festivities coming up we've sent them into the city. If you're worried they didn't tell you, well you can all have your chit-chat over a cup of tea or something. Now, I expect you'll all do your part, and pull together.”

Again he called them to attention, the Sergeant-Major approaching, saluting then taking command of the parade. It was another speech, this one more lengthy then Coal would have liked. 'Are there any guards left in the towers?' she wondered and knew it would be so. She made sure to count their numbers and took in what faces she could for later use. Her knowledge on patrol schedules would be outdated now, but with the numbers she gained it would be easier to avoid them.

The lecture on professionalism was starting to bother her, the entire parade was, yet the subject matter was hopeful. Clearly they'd been detected but it needed to stay under wraps. 'This is good, arrogance is our friend,' she thought.

When they were finally dismissed they blended with the crowd and skidded around a corner. The large stone buildings served as cover enough but the stalks of tended flowers and groomed shrubs helped their cause even further. The ground was laid out in a semi-circle cut off from the wall. A parade square was set in the middle, immaculately cleaned. Shrubs surrounded with tended flowers spun around in intricate patterns. Even the cobblestone had been laid using different colors and positions yet at this height she couldn't make out the pattern. 'It's probably a tree,' she thought.

They crept along the edge of the wall until they dove behind shrubs and began to crawl. Guard duty had resumed as normal, the shifts resuming regular duty as if nothing had happened. She heard chatter about Private Rollic, and listened to the rise and fall of their voice.

The spaced buildings and foliage served them well, it was easy to assume disguise, slip past a bush, and assume another. If they needed to they could even just blend with the walls or trees. The twilight and coming darkness only made her life easier.

As they made their way around the courtyard like an intricate maze she stopped them suddenly. Voices rose from around the wall and from the sound of breathing she noted six figures. One of them happened to be Commander Bright.

“I understand your concern Matriarch but rest assured myself and my guards have everything under control,” he said impatiently.

“The Tree does not lie commander,” she returned.

“The matter will be investigated thoroughly,” he said, “I'm already on it.”

“Very well,” she said turning toward the sky, “I heard one of your guards fell... ill.”

“It's nothing Matriarch, just a cough that spread into rumors,” he said brushing off the matter of a dead soldier and glad she heard nothing of the battle that took place earlier.

She thought on this. “The Tree's influence is weaker here, I worry that the guards stationed here will become ill because of it,” she said.

“Not at all Matriarch, in fact duty in The Guard seems to prolong life,” he said chuckling.

“Hrm, perhaps that is true. Still,” she said unconvinced, “I shall be returning to see what your investigation reveals.”

“Oh course Matriarch Valor,” he replied and saluted. She stood at attention honoring his gesture and turned with her guards. Spreading her wings she took flight and disappeared under the starless interior of the barrier.

“What a troublesome mare she is,” he scoffed. “I expect no word of the breach to go higher Captain, I'll not have my record sullied because some sand worms decided to slip in.”

“Of course sir,” the captain returned. “I'll have a team assembled and ready by dawn, Master Corporal Fire works quickly. Investigations are already underway as to Private Rollic. His family will wish to see the body though.”

“It's fine, do what you can before and prolong it as much as you can. I want a separate team assembled for quick reaction,” he said. “Tell them his body is quarantined or something.” Their voices were already becoming dimmer as they walked away.

“Shall I pull from the inner wall QRF sir?” he asked.

“No our station is sufficient here. Also notify the junior officers the o-group will be held in the CP,” he said.

“Yes sir.” They made to depart when the commander stopped him.

“Oh and Captain, I don't need to tell you that no word of the prisoners will be said.”

“Of course sir, not on my life. ”

“Good, I'll be visiting them in 27B soon,” the commander said as they departed.

Coal trailed back along the building, only then noting the numbers. '12A,' she read. Studying the faces of her underlings she tried to hide her concern, for their sake. “They have to be in this courtyard,” she said knowing the outer ring circled the city. “They can't be far.”

“Lady,” Claw said, “they knew the price, their sacrifice will be honored.”

She bit her tongue. 'Never go back on your own orders,' Coal lectured herself. “This is differ-” No, she didn't need to make excuses, she only needed to tell them what will be. “We're going to find them,” she concluded. They didn't argue.

As the sun fully yielded to darkness it made their search easier. They could spread out and roam without being questioned, taking the position of roving patrol easily. She had even been as bold as to ask for directions pretending to be sleep deprived. She couldn't shake the sense of their words, how the Major's conversation seemed to hang in the air. Still she understood the risks, and was willing to take them. So far in and she had lost half, it was unacceptable.

It hadn't taken long before she stumbled on 27B, the guards posted outside the standard yet elongated building giving it away before she even read the numbers. They nodded to her and paced by it, trying not to seem obvious. She called them back and they slipped from the shadows.

“Commander Bright,” one of the guards said standing taller, “sir.” They both saluted.

“At ease guards,” she said walking toward them. “Are you going to let me in?” she asked and one of them jumped and flung open the door.

“Sorry sir,” he said nervously. She wasn't sure if it was her nerves running so high, The Tree, or her injuries but even her own heart was running faster then she liked. Something wasn't right.

She waved her followers beside her. “You two are relieved, you need the rest after what happened. These two will take guard,” she said nodding to the two helmeted guards.

“Oh, yes sir, thank you sir,” they said departing without a glance. Her two underlings took their place and she steeped into the dimly lit building.

Chapter Eleven- “Little One”

She shuffled down the hall, the wooden planks under her hooves groaning with even her small weight. The manor that was set inside the large wall was older then the city collar itself. Yet this stone structure had always been home to the Guard Commander. A station Commander Bright would pass to his successor. Bright already had somewhere lined up to live inside the city near the castle on the edges of District Two. It had little shrubs and a lovely garden, and most importantly it wasn't half way across the city to the nearest school. But for now little hooves stepping on the newly laid floor were all that was heard.

She paused by the window that looked to the outer wall then hurried to her mom's room.

“Mommy,” she pushed the bed, “Mom!” A worm fidgeted under the blankets, her mother let out a small groan.

“What's the matter Lilly?” she asked with sleep worn words.

“I had a nightmare,” she replied prodding at her mother once again. “It had Dad in it.”

“Your father is fine Lilly now go back to sleep,” she said adjusting the pillow.

“But... I can't sleep.” Her mother finally rose up and tried to brush off the sleep so she could focus in the dim light. Small trails of emerald luminescence ebbed into the room from the hall lantern.

“Lilly, they're just dreams,” she said lifting her daughter up. “Your father is fine and I'm fine. The Tree is always there to protect us.” She brushed her daughters mane. “I'll always be there to protect you okay? You have to remember, they're just dreams honey.” She placed her daughter on the ground again. “Now we both have a big day tomorrow preparing for the winter solstice festival. Your father will want to see your project,” she said. “Now good night.” There was an air of finality in her words that Lilly didn't fight. She turned and walked back through the hall filled with its squeaks and squalls.

Her bed felt more uncomfortable then last time but she had finally fell asleep. The attempt lasted only about twenty minutes when she awoke covered in sweat, the images of her father being ripped apart still filling her mind. As she stepped out of bed her head spun and her vision blurred. With deep breaths she regained control and tried to suppress the tears.

She was going to sleep in her mothers bed, she was going to make her way to her parents bedroom yet her feet had taken her downstairs. Oddly the newly laid wooden floors were silent this time. Unknowingly she looked up at the double doors that would take her outside. Why was she here, why hadn't she walked to her parents room. 'I have to find Dad,' a thought entered her like it wasn't her own. Yet she agreed. She couldn't fall asleep until she saw he was safe, that he would be okay.

She had no way of knowing how exactly this trip would end, but perhaps she was better off not knowing. And like so many decisions of youth she set out without a second thought. The double doors coming silently together behind her as if cushioned.

Her paces were short and slow but they were eventual and determined. Her small figure easily evaded the detection of the guards that were posted beside the massive gate, their stances hazy from the endless silent guard duties. The shadows hid almost every movement yet she tried to cling to the corridors of light the ember lanterns created.

There wasn't a time in recent memory that told her what these lanterns really looked like. How long had it been since she had been outside at night? Now that she was surrounded in the soft ember glow the night didn't seem so bad. Why didn't she do this more often, it was almost peaceful.

“Miss Lilly what are you doing out here?” a voice asked. She instantly jolted aware, the hair on her mane standing on end. She was caught, what was she going to do, what now, what would her father do?

“I'm supposed to see my father,” she said in an attempted regal tone.

“Is that so?” the guard replied, brow raised. “At this time of night.”

“Of course, I'm allowed to stay up late now that the winter solstice is coming,” she said instantly proud she'd thought that up.

“Oh, where's your escorts?” he asked her.

“Well I...” she brushed her feet on the ground. “I kinda told them I wanted to do this by myself, so I ran off. But now... Now I'm lost. Can you help I need to find Dad,” she lied.

“Very well,” he said. “Hey Colit!” he called. “Cover my shift, I gotta bring the little one here to Commander Bright.”

“Don't go earning too many brownie points eh,” a voice called back. “Don't worry, I got this.”

He called back thanking Colit. “Okay common let's go,” he said taking stride beside her and walking into the dimly lit yard.

Chapter Twelve- Let's Dance!

Coal was young, and brash. She was known as being stubborn and impatient. She was prone to anger easily and was aggressive. Now she was even infertile. One thing she was not however, was stupid.

As soon as Coal stepped inside the building she had ignited every ounce of oxygen she was capable of. If there had been glass instead of iron lattice she would have thrown reflective rain into the surrounding buildings. The spell brought her down, and she struggled to stand again.

The dust slowly settled revealing guards who'd been crushed against the wall, blood trailing from their mouth. She knew however, that it took more then that for an ambush.

“Well done,” the commander said behind a glowing purple barrier. It was not his and was reinforced by the two unicorns beside him. “But I'm afraid you're still not going to win,” he said with a smirk.

Her underlings were not at her side. 'Good,' she thought, 'they have been trained well.'

She readied herself and counted twelve that started to circle her, closing the gap the others had failed to hold. The building, despite having two floors, was empty, not even a trace of a stairwell could be found, but she had more important things to keep in mind. The unicorns that continued to close the gap all seemed ready to pounce.

“No one get's past my walls,” he said. “It's too bad I can't hang your head from my own wall,” a chuckle trickled out as he said this. “No, your memory will be erased, you were never even here. Then I will retire inside the city with my record unscathed.”

“We'll see,” she said noting the guard who approached from behind. She struck out but a body dove and blocked the shot. It struck his body and the impact caused him to slide back toward the commander. “Damn,” she cursed aloud as the others pounced. Light trailed off the walls and shook the ground as she reflected it.

She danced as swords, bolts and lightning skipped off the floor and the air around her. She was in harmony with the chaos, and she navigated the boiling rapids with such ease it would make a leaf envious. Yet this was pure defense, she swam with the battle until she saw an opening. The commander still stood with his two protectors, any attacks against him by her would be useless.

“Under the stars!” a voice cried out. It was lost amidst the clashing of magic on shield, yet she heard it, it was what she was waiting for. The soldier who'd jumped out and blocked her strike now broke disguise and pounced fangs bared. The commanders shielder had no chance. Another figure flew from the chaos bringing down the guard on the left.

Coal jerked her head, a green whip circled the room lacerating the current conjured spells and bore down on the commander. His body cracked and buckled but the fight was far from over. Backing against the wall where the now disabled commander lay she readied herself, her underlings beside her.

Despite their overwhelming advantage in numbers the guards looked frightened. 'Fools, they've never seen actual battle,' she smiled as she thought. Her bent horn glowed as the door slammed closed and she flew toward them.

The small building did nothing to aid her, an errant arrow pierced her side then disappeared as something stuck her from the other side. She dipped low and popped the air in front of a guard. He staggered back while a black figure buried his fangs. A materialized blade twisted in the air making contact with her deflections. She cast it wide, pushed it into the ceiling and plunged into the caster sending him sprawling against the ground. Another body tackled her, she twisted on the ground and pushed him off with a burst of light. The stonework yielded slightly as he made contact with it. 'Six,' she counted and deflected another blow.

It was a mistake any true warrior never makes, thinking the battle is won before it was over. She had loosened her defense and began holding them all back. A canvas of colors pitted the walls and air, and in her haste had lost track of her underlings. In the corner of her eye she saw a bolt head toward a guard who'd been toppled by Claw. When her body was thrust in the middle of the two it caused her ears to ring, and rippled pain through every bone. It didn't leave her though, the sensation stayed causing her body to stiffen, her muscles to tighten and tense. She couldn't move and for those moments was trapped inside that prison of pain and panic. It wasn't until Claw took him down that she was able to move freely again.

And tt wasn't until she turned and sent blood flying from another guard did she notice the holes from the arrows. She deflected one and sent it flailing above her head. 'Three,' she thought twisting the direction of one of the arrows into a guard set to pounce beside her. 'Two.'

It was at this point the last two guard turned to run onto to die with poison leaching through their bodies. They went down easily.

The floor was silky with blood. Ink spread across the pools like a foals hoof painting. She looked to herself then to her underlings. She was bleeding worse then them. “Use their rags to patch yourself up. Take what you can, we might not have another chance,” she commanded. They stayed quiet as they listened for approaching trouble.

Chapter Fourteen: Hard Decisions

They made to go when a body groaned on the ground. “Commander,” she said as she turned, making ready to extinguish his life for good.

“You,” he managed to say. Blood poured from his words. “You'll never- ugh.” He flinched holding in pain. “The outer wall will never yield to you.”

“We shall see my dear commander,” she said, a satisfied smile trailing across her face. It was then the door opened.

The golden armored guard had only time to register the scene when his neck contorted from the emerald ropes that twisted around him. Soot stained blurs topped and threw their bodies into the room, his corpse sliding across the blood like a curling rock. The girl was pinned under bared fangs. He didn't strike as she cowled though, he looked up, his eyes asking Coal what to do.

Realization lit up. 'A foal here, what is a foal doing here?' she asked herself. She closed the door again in panic. 'Damn,' she cursed.

“Lilly?” a voice groaned from the floor.

'Oh no,' she thought.

“Please spare her, just let her go,” he instantly pleaded. He was no longer the stern and arrogant commander of the guard, now he was a father.

Coal's lungs ignited, fueled by the pain that already threatened to consume her. Her left front leg howled in pain as she moved and was sure it was broken. 'Think Coal,' she told herself through the throbbing in her head.

“I'll do anything, do what you want with me. Just, let her go,” he whimpered again knowing that he would die from these injuries anyhow.

“Where are my underlings?” she asked.

“Inside the wall, he's inside the inner wall,” he said then noted her face. “We only captured the one.”

“And the city wall, is there another entrance?” she asked.

“Daddy help, please,” she called from the other side.

“I'll tell you, just, do you promise to let her go?” he asked. Tears meshed with the blood that trailed down his face, his voice a garbled mess.

“Yes,” she said, “and if you lie.”

“I know, I know,” he said trying to nod. “There's a sealed gate, it's hidden but marked with two lanterns hung closer together then the rest, you can tell from pacing. It sits right in the middle past the mess hall, east.”

“How far?” she asked.

“Not close, but... close enough,” he said knowing they were fighting time. None of that mattered now though, he would sell the soul of the city for his daughters life, but what father wouldn't. “The first lamp twists, that'll open it. Now please,” he said.

She nodded. “Very well, know she will be safe then,” she lied. The muscles in her neck twitched as her horn lit up. The action was delicate sending him to his death.

Walking over to where the the tiny figure lay, huddled under Claw's body, was painful. Not because of her wounds but for what she must do. Her limp caused distorted echos and mingled with her weeping.

Coal's mind spun and lied to itself over and over. 'You can alter her mind, you can trick her, just let her go,' it said. The voices were not hers, they were not voices of reason. Those roads led to death and worse, failure. As she nodded Claw unmounted her, but the little body didn't move, it only quivered.

“Lilly,” Coal said. Saying her name caused pain to erupt inside her again and made her mind twist.

“Yes?” an even smaller voice said.

“I...” Coal tried. “I need you to be brave, for your father, okay?” The sea of Lilly's eyes attempted to drown Coal as she stared into them. They were locked together in that moment, both with the dreadful knowledge of what must be done. She had been brave, she had set out here all by her self. She had tried to conquer her own nightmares and face her own fears. She had been brave and now she must be again. She nodded. “Now close your eyes and think of a happy place,” Coal said.

The movement caused a burst of stars to ignite Coal's vision and sent a ripple through her legs that sent her down. It was as swift and precise as she could have possibly been but it was not pretty. Lilly's head was twisted, looking almost at the floor. Despite the fire in her lungs Coal forced the head straight again. It produced a sound that made them all cringe. 'Stupid,' she thought. She knew what she was here to do, she knew what bringing down the barrier would cause. She understood how many lives would be lost and how much the inhabitants of the city would suffer. So why, why did it have to hurt so much?

“There was no other way Lady,” Claw said. “She would have alerted-”

“I know Son Claw,” she said, “but thank you.” Regaining her legs and command she said, “Now you both know where we have to go, we must be swift but carelessness now will cost our lives.” They both nodded, stopped, listened, then opened the door and made into the night with the speed their injuries allowed.

Chapter Fifteen: How Much is Pain the Mind's Deception?

“Solar,” her father after putting down a tray, “are you sleeping?” She sat up on the couch she was laying on.

“No, I couldn't,” she said. They had been up practically all night and both met downstairs at the same time. Since midnight they'd camped out in the living room waiting for dawn. She picked up the cup and blew off the smoke that trailed up.

“I know it's coco first thing in the morning, but we can make an exception today,” he said with strained emotion in his voice, it sounded fake to even his own ears. He sat on the floor for no reason in particular and drank his coffee. “I have to leave later, to go back to the hospital, you know for paper work and... things. Do you want to go with me?” he asked but she didn't respond. It was okay he would ask later.

They hadn't talked about it at all, each of them filling the air with silent movements during the night. Even the card game they played was quiet, one sentence conversations that were never entertained any further. He tried to console her and wondered who would console him?

A knock came at the door as the sun began to rise. They were both relieved, this lingering silence was painful and threatened memories to burst back.

“Matriarch,” he said as he opened the door. Dipping his head in respect he let her in. Her two escorts stood outside by a reserved trolly.

“I heard what happened, you have my respect. Know The Tree honors her sacrifice,” she said warmly.

Solar wasn't sure how to react, fearful that Val would know how she did on the test, apathetic because of her mothers death, or glad to do something, anything to get her mind out of the sickening gloom. Decidedly she got up and stood beside her father. Both of them with deep rings set in their eyes.

“I have something you should see, as a future guardian, but... if you need time I'll understand,” she said looking down from her tall position. Even without wind her mane seemed to flow elegantly.

“If you want to Solar, I have to go to the hospital anyway and-”

“It's okay, I'll go Dad, Val,” she said cutting him off. She knew what he wanted to say, and she had no intentions of ever returning to the hospital again if she could help it.

“Good, I know it's hard but try and keep your mind off it, okay,” he said trying to keep breath flowing into his lungs at a steady pace.

She nodded and went to Val. “I know Dad.”

Valor turned, dipped her head and said, “Thank you Mr. Flare.” He bowed back.

Before they left Solar turned and threw her arms around her father, tears threatening to burst forth again. “I love you Dad,” she said.

“I love you too honey,” he replied.

Valor said nothing until they got on the trolly and it shifted forward. It was the first time Solar remembered seeing Val on a trolly.

“Are you okay?” Val asked.

“Yeah,” she replied quietly.

“Do you want to talk about it?” she asked but Solar only shrugged. “Life is complicated sometimes, but all life returns to The Tree. It's hard to think about it, but without death there would be no life. Your mother will always be a part of you because she's a part of The Tree, don't forget that.” It did nothing to help and Solar had to bite her lip not to cry again.

“We have something really important today,” Val said trying to change the conversation. “I want you to keep in mind what we're dealing with. You can't let it fool you,” she said as the trolly passed under a large arch when they crossed districts. “They're things of deception, vile, seething insects. They are not you or I, they don't feel like us Solar and they'll use everything they can to turn you against yourself and The Tree.” Solar nodded feeling both incredibly important and afraid.

“Why me?” she asked. “What about the others apprentices or the other Guardians?” Val smiled at this.

“I have to find a successor one day Solar, you have a strength inside you that I can't deny. Besides the Guardians are... busy right now,” she said. Solar smiled at the complement then darkened.

“You know I didn't pass,” she said downcast.

“Even I didn't pass my first trials,” Val said. “To be Matriarch we have to pass The Guardian's tests, and the Matriarch's Trial.” She leaned in and whispered, “Don't tell any one but the matriarch trial is way easier.” Solar giggled at this despite herself and was glad she came along.

They neared the wall and the cart slowed down. “Now remember Solar, this may be your duty one day, remember to take in everything. Where it looks, what it says, how it moves, where and why. I want you to observe every little detail because details can tell you everything.”

They departed the trolly and a set of guards opened a small set of doors beside the monolithic gates.

“Why is there that huge gate when we have this little one?” Solar asked, always wondering why.

“This was the first wall built. The main gate cuts through the entire wall and let our armies out and back in. This little one just goes inside,” she answered.

“Ohh,” Solar replied, the answer painfully obvious to her now and she felt silly for asking.

“Before we go in Solar you should know. Yesterday the barrier was breached,” she said.

“But I thought that was impossible!” Sol jumped in. Valor held up a hoof in a 'let me finish,' fashion.

“They've passed the first wall and have killed Commander Bright and ten others. I am to blame, I knew something was wrong, The Tree warned me, but I underestimated them, and overestimated our own command. When you're a guardian, remember to trust your instincts,” she told her and they entered the wall. “No one is without flaw. Not you or I, and not our enemies.”

The inside was surprisingly well lit, filled with an ember hue she felt welcoming. The stone walls looked different then those outside, and she wasn't sure if it was the light or how they built it.

She walked beside Val, guards passing them and bowing their heads as they made down the hallway.

“Matriarch,” the major said greeting them. “We've nothing yet, but we're looking. We have guards posted all along the outer ring of the wall and the inside of the outer wall. There's nowhere they can hide we'll have them soon,” he said.

“Good,” she replied though unhappy they remained hidden still. “I know you're acting commander Major, so make sure that your old position is filled, I don't want you over worked,” she said. He nodded and they both knew he would continue doing both jobs until the monsters were killed. “So where is it?” she asked.

“This way,” he said leading them down a divergent path, then down a set of stairs.

Even though there was just as many lanterns this floor seemed darker to Sol. They passed rooms filled with shackles and closed with iron bars but those didn't frighten her as much as the bolted steel doors that concealed anything behind.

“Is there anyone in here?” she asked almost afraid of the answer.

“Only one right now Ms.Flare,” the major said. It shocked her he knew her name. Clearly her accompaniment was not an afterthought.

They stopped at the end where the hall widened out making another room. Four guards were posted there. The door was opened for them but the major paused.

“Excuse me for asking Matriarch, but is it really okay to bring her in?” he asked.

“She has to see sometime, perhaps if the rest of our ranks were like educated this whole affair could have been avoided,” she said.

“Perhaps,” the major replied and led them in.

Inside was a large open room, covered with the ember light that seemed to permeate even the stone walls. Iron bars separated them and the collared beast inside. His breath was jagged and she could see the shattered teeth that were set inside his mouth. Clots of blood marred his body, they were hard to see against his black scales but the patches of missing scale and large wounds were not. A massive gash covered his face running through his left eye. The right side of his body appeared burnt. It reminded her of a charred page, one touch would turn it to ash. A collar sat around his neck, adjustable screws bit into his skin from around the ring. A deterrent against him changing. None of them knew he was incapable of doing so now, or adjusting to a size capable of slipping out. She could see how the weight of the collar and the chains attached brought him down, and saw his strained muscles as he attempted to raise his head at their approach.

Solar had not expected this when they told her in school about the beasts that lay outside the walls. Of the fearsome griffon army that wielded massive weapons, of the impenetrable dragons who summoned inferno's from their breath, and the wicked changelings that could take any form, that could mass in numbers. The changelings who's fangs were tipped with venom, the ability to take the shape of ones they loved, and words that were laced with poison. Changelings who could be among them even now.

Yet what she saw was not the beasts in her nightmares, or even the creatures that drug her mother away in the trial. She saw a creature that was at Death's door.

“Here it is Solar, the scourge that we will soon be permanently be rid of. How these things still exist I don't know,” Val said shaking her head at the pathetic creature. She paced along the bars looking down at the injured creature inside.

“He looks so injured,” Sol said.

“It pretends to be injured,” Val corrected.

“You fill their minds with lies young I see,” he said from inside the bars. He didn't have the strength to raise his head.

“So,” Val said to it, “should we skip to the chase then, should I start making you talk or do we have to go through this whole ordeal step by step?” It stayed quiet and she motioned for the door to be opened. The guard who'd entered the room with them entered the combination lock and slid the crossbar out. As the bars were opened they wined from neglect. How long it had been since these cells held prisoners.

'Isn't this a little excessive?' Solar wondered. From the wall, the door to the stairs, the cell door, the iron bars, and then the collar around his neck. To Sol it all seemed too much. 'Remember what she said,' she thought, 'it's killed others, it's trying to look weak.' They would need security like this, to keep it in, and to keep the others from trying to rescue it. She watched as it breathed as if on the verge of death and couldn't help wonder how much of it was acting.

“We both know I'm going to die, just get it over with,” he said. His voice was shallow and low. The weight of the collar keeping his head pressed against the cold stone ground. Pits filled his face from previous injuries, and the blood helped to fill the gaps the cuts left.

“You'd like that wouldn't you demon? No, your fate will not be so easy,” she said walking up to him.

“Demon?” he said laughing as much as injury allowed. It came out like a gurgle, the broken bones in his chest burning with every movement. “I do have a name you know.”

Now it was Valor's turn to laugh. “You don't deserve names demon, you're insects that will be exterminated and you're going to help me find the rest of them.”

“Oh will I?” he said.

“Yes,” she returned. He couldn't look up at her but knew what was coming from the glow that filled the room. Howls pierced Solar's ears and she cringed instinctively.

There was no moment in Sol's life that prepared her for what she saw. This was pain being born, like a creature being brought into existence before her eyes.

His leg twisted, the bones first popping then snapping. The wounds splitting back open. The sound of scales grinding against each other then tearing off was like the ripping of cloth.

“Stop, stop!” he yelled. The pain overcoming his reserve almost without warning or illusion. She did. Now his rasping breath grated against Solar's ears, his lung's demand for air that wouldn't come.

“You...” he said. Drool hung from his mouth. “You call us the demons,” he chuckled but couldn't continue due to the pain. He turned his head and his gaze pierced Solar. His expression a deep anguish but soon turned to pity. “I feel sorry for you child,” he said and returned his head. “Your terrible at this, you're supposed to ask me a question first,” he said to Valor.

“That was to show you what I'm capable of, and believe me, that was nothing,” Val said, her words laced with a scorn that seemed to wash humidity into the room. “Where are the others?” she asked.

“You should ask me questions I actually know.” His voice was little more then a whisper and Solar found herself leaning in to listen.

“You can't stop lying can you insect?” Her hoof landed by his head, but he didn't flinch. “Well, shall we continue then?”

“Sure,” he said and prepared for the pain he knew would eventually break him. It was his back leg this time but now he was silent and Solar heard every pop and snap. Blood flowed from his gritted teeth. Fragments shattered off from the already cracked fangs from when they slammed his head against the stairs. She released him to the same gasping of breath.

“So, where are the others?” she asked again.

“Should... I just lie? They're at candy cane lane,” he said with jagged tones. A sickening noise came from his throat. Solar only knew Val was doing something to him, but couldn't see what.

“I don't... know... we, we split up,” he said gaining the last of his words as she released him.

“Well then, was that so hard?” she said grinning.

Val stretched her neck letting her joints pop and released a sweet sigh.

“What now?” Solar asked, “Your done with him, right?” she asked. She felt sick, her emotions slammed into each other like a bar brawl. It would have already broken her if she wasn't still numb from the loss of her mother. Her mind swirled as she looked down at him, at Valor who towered above the creature. Her shadow circling her like a cut-out paper star.

“No,” she said, “we have much more to get from it,” she said. Solar wasn't sure she could watch much more and found herself backing against the wall. “Remember Solar, it's trying to deceive you. It knows it can't fool me, so it's trying to hurt you.” She looked to Solar with a concerning face. “It doesn't feel like you and I do,” saying as she drove a hoof into his side. “Without us this thing would consume all, it would spread like a disease preying on foals in the night. Solar, it would rip you limb from limb without regret, without remorse and drink your blood.”

He would have said something if he wasn't trying to just breathe. He considered, for just a moment, that it would be easier to stop breathing, to just pass out and hopefully she would kill him him. He looked around the room for something to end his life but nothing came to view. It was useless anyway, he didn't have the strength. 'Forgive me Lady,' he thought because he knew, with time, he would crack. Torture bleeds everyone in the end.

“So, now your going to tell me how exactly you plan on killing The Tree,” she said. Blue arcs of pixy flight swam around and through his body. He shook until blood ran from his now useless eyes and nose. It filled the floor along with whatever fluid he had left in his body. The smell hung in the room like a deep musk and Solar was now beginning to gag despite the scene before her.

“Magic,” he lied. She grinned and shocked him again.

“You think I'm that stupid?” she said. “I know when you're lying. Or are you just trying to be smart with me. I assure you it's a very stupid decision on your part.” She shook her head. “I know more then you think I do already. There were six of you in my city, your broodmother of a leader is with the other group, you entered in the same location but split up.” Her face took on a softer appearance. “She left you for dead, as decoys, she can't save you, and there's nothing for you left. Allow me to give you the pleasure of death, the alternative is not as merciful.” He stayed silent.

The major stepped in. “Matriarch, why do we not take him to The Tree?”

“It is too weak Major, The Tree would only kill it.”

He smiled through blood stained fangs. “Does it do naught else?” he asked.

“Then you've chosen,” she said standing tall once again. Static lines swarmed him, flickers of blue light arcing into the walls and floor. His body surging all at once and without pattern. A beat began to grow as his head contacted the floor over and over again. His eyes shook and spun like a chameleon's.

She waited until he tried to stammer something, an unintelligent babble and continued after she stopped shocking him. “Spear” he said, “the spear,” His now dead eyes narrowed. No voice came out. His tongue hung out limply. He mouthed the word over again.

“Ah, very good. I know what they're planing on doing,” she said to the major. With a cocked head she looked down at him with curious eyes. “This could have been easier,” she said and her horn lit up again. Lightening lit the room until his body no longer moved, it had taken longer then Solar bared to watch. She exited the cell accepting a rag from one of the guards. She wiped the blood and spit off her hooves and tossed it on the ground where the guard promptly picked it back up.

“Besides Major, I needed to test their limits,” she said as the guards entered the cage behind her. She looked to the quaking body in the corner. “I know that was hard Solar, but this was very important. You've seen something no other guardian will. You have seen first hand their resilience and how easily they can manipulate you,” she said, raising a hoof toward her. Solar flinched away instinctively but Val didn't seem to notice.

“Come on Solar,” she said guiding her out. When Sol exited the room air filled her lungs again, she didn't notice that she had been holding her breath.

“That... It... I...” she stammered not knowing what to say.

“It's hard seeing that kind of thing, I know. As a guardian you have to understand it was just trying to use you, it was reaching into your mind and twisting your thoughts. Remember Solar, it's not like us, it doesn't feel like we do, it's just an insect,” she said wiping a tear from Sol's face.

“It seemed so real,” Sol said.

“Of course, that's how it uses you,” Val returned. The major subtly intoned the movement forward. “It's like a nightmare, it seems frightening at the time, but once you wake up you realize what it was, that it was only there to frighten you and weaken you. Don't let it, use it and grow stronger.” She smiled now. “I bet your trial will be nothing now right?” Val said nudging her.

Despite herself she smiled, memories twisting together until they canceled each other out, at least for the moment.

When they reached the top of the stairs the major finally spoke up, “That didn't seem... overly useful.”

“What are you talking about Major?” she asked. “I know their team make up, that the higher ranking insect escaped and is alone trying to regroup. I know they haven't reached the inner wall and are badly injured. I know the extent of punishment they can take, and gauged their loyalty. Their broodmother is young, and hasn't enforced her will upon them and I know they come from different broods,” she said.

He looked shocked and shook his head.

“It's clear they aren't imprinted, it isn't rigid enough. It tried to lie at first, and it joked. It engaged me in frontal conversation. That tells me a lot Major, and that's only the beginning,” she said. “We fought these things in the past, and our library is a marvel of it's own. You should visit it one day.”

Solar perked up, the library.

“I'll have to do that,” he responded.

“Ensure that you enforce the further rim as well, they're likely here for the Winter Solstice. There's no need to hunt them, let them come to us just clear out the rim so we don't incur further casualties.”

“Already done,” he replied.

“Good, I've already set up with Captain Stone lodgings and meal services inside the city for relief. Don't overwork them. Tired guards are useless,” she said.

“Of course,” he returned.

She shook her head. “Of course you know, I apologize I'm used to dealing with Commander Bright. But this is still my duty you understand.”

“I wouldn't have it any other way,” he said stopping as they stood outside the door. He bowed his head to her. “May The Tree watch over you Matriarch,” he said.

“May The Tree watch over us all Major,” she returned.

Val turned to Solar and guided her toward the trolly. “Let's visit The Tree, we both need to relax a little,” she said.

“I just don't get it, why would they come all this way just to kill The Tree? How were they going to escape. I mean, they couldn't have thought there was a way out, it's just... I don't understand, why?”

“They've been our enemies since time began Solar, hate is a hard thing to break. We've always had the city, we built this stone ourselves, and created The Tree so it could protect us from those who wished us harm. They cannot stand to see us prosper while they have squandered their time.”

“But try and clear your mind now Solar. I think a stop for ice cream could do us both well, what do you think?” Solar smiled and nodded as the trolly shook and started off.

Chapter Sixteen: United!

They had found the passage but no sign of Fang and the others. It worried Coal more then she was prepared to accept. She knew none of them would be leaving here, but Fang was the last of her brood, and it only added to the weight in her heart. She wanted to fly up, to find him from above. But even if her wing hadn't been ripped off it would be a death sentence. Her past injury removed the temptation, and she was glad, for once, of her battle with the maw.

Her leg seemed to have repaired itself, not a break after all, but her other injuries dug deeper. Walking caused the wounds to constantly open back up, and the rag around her had now blended in with the dark scales. Thankfully her underlings were better off then she was, though that was the intention, she was being a deliberate target to negate their damage. These were tactics she was warned to go against, she was told how important she was, and how her underlings would be willing to take the brunt of any force how if she fell they would all be at loss for it. Yet after sacrificing so many to get here... 'You're being stupid Coal,' she scolded herself.

There was no more they could hide, the sun was already brimming over the far walls washing away their cover like the water.

“Lady-”

“I know, we have to go,” she said looking at the sky. It seemed so much different inside, the way the sun spread softly, how the air distorted, it seemed... fake. She brushed the thought aside, they had to leave. “Fang,” she found herself saying aloud. The other two made ready to move.

They had taken up refuge in the attic of an older storage shed. The buildings around were all empty, as if the inhabitants had all gotten up and just left. It worried her but this was the closest she had for a secondary location. 'Stupid Coal,' she scolded herself. She gave direction under the stars, but there were no stars above. How could she have hoped Fang would find her? 'Stupid.'

They quickly pulled supplies that were left as if for the taking and tried to sleep. Claw had been sent out to listen for Fang's calls, the soft chirping that let them know he was near. It would be impossible to find him once they were in the city. There was no way of meeting up and they would be holding disguises the entire time. 'Fang,' she thought again as they checked the perimeter.

She wanted to tell them to be careful but knew it was needless. The aura of the inner yard seemed to drip with dread. Like fear stories the old broodmothers would tell the newborns to entertain them. Coal enjoyed the quiet, she loved the cool night air and the lack of sound, she liked being alone with her own thoughts but this... This was like a constant warning sign they could be slain at any moment, like she would hear the soft shifting of the sand as they sunk into the jaws of an antlion.

A pair of wandering guards set her at ease a little. 'Three,' she counted. Which would make six in total, all night. 'Better then nothing,' she thought. At least this told her they didn't know exactly where they were, yet. The only guards she saw were those cutting from the inner wall to the outer, there were no patrols.

They had traveled a fair distance down the wall, making haste in the cover of darkness, as unnecessary as that was with the lack of patrols.

When they crept close to the wall she could see where all the guards had gone. The towers above the wall were filled. Golden helmets shone with the newcoming light, commands bounced down the line. More on the ground scanned the nearby yard and a few paced back and forth.

'Damn,' she cursed in her head. She had waited too long, now they would be easy picking. They were probably waiting out the night to begin a full sweep. Or perhaps they knew she was trapped... It was an even worse thought.

'Retreat further in,' she told them. There would be nothing they could do for now. Losing the faint cover of dawn bothered her. The deep shadows helped to obscure their faces though. Even with disguises there would be no using a secret passage now.

They pulled back into the inner yard sticking to the deep shrubs and buildings. A fountain filled the air with a soft mist and created rainbows in the dawn light. Coal had been told that once her people could see them, not like this in shades of grey, but in real color. Sure, she knew was red was, and what blue would look like, but the old broodmothers had painted such detail it made her mind glow. They had said colors were so beautiful they could bring one to tears, colors so vibrant they felt hot or cold. She tried to imagine that now, and it only filled her with anger. Just one more thing the sands and this city took away from them. It reminded her of why she was here.

They moved in further, darting from edge to shrub from building in a mock pattern that upset Coal. There hadn't been enough guard movement to blend in, but with the new light they had to. She sent Claw ahead as scout, they'd be a give away as three.

It was easier to conform to size differences now that she had eaten, and rested a little. But she still stood above her underling. They would still be easy to spot. 'Damn, damn,' Coal cursed. 'This whole plan is...' What else was she supposed to do, what else could she do? Her mind spun as she tried to pull ideas.

“Hey!” a voice called through the yard. It sent her hair on edge, she thought they had been spotted. “Help!” they called. It was followed by mockery and incoherent profanity. She sent Claw toward the voices.

He darted back, urgency in his eyes. She wanted to scold him for being so obvious, disguise or not, but held her tongue.

“It's Brother Fang,” he said and her heart lifted, then settled back down. She had to approach this calmly, rushing into things had nearly gotten them all killed too many times.

“What's the situation?” she asked.

“One guard is down, the other is holding Brother Fang and trying to immobilize him,” he said as the guard's cry for help reached them.

“We better hurry then,” she replied. They sped off but stuck to shadows and corners. She was grateful for all the foliage and gardens. She had to thank the guards for their maintenance of yard, then again they had little else to do.

She reached them then thundered in putting her hooves on Fang's shoulders.

“Thank The Tree your here,” the guard said. Another guard lay immobile to the side.

“My shift ended under the moon,” she said. “No problem.” His face was already twisting as they sprang and brought him down. “Stop!” she ordered. Claw's fangs hovered above his neck. “Don't kill him, he's mine,” she said, an idea forming. “Restrain him.” They did.

She raised his head with her hoof and locked eyes. The feeling of being off balance filled her again as she forced herself to focus on his one side. It was unnecessary, just another reminder how careful she had to be. “Now,” she said, her words a flowing silk that trailed into the air. “You're going to listen, very, carefully my dear~”

He stammered and tried to move his head. Claw held him tighter. Emerald ribbons spun around his body as her eyes glowed deeper. She moved her hoof telling them to let go, his body now swaying gently side to side. “Uhh,” he said blinking. She moved closer and smiled.

“You're going to do something special for me, aren't you?” she asked. He nodded in a zombie like fashion. She tried to maintain her breathing, the pain of her wounds flaring up. Already ringing built in her ears telling her to get on with it or she would lose something else.

“You're going to follow the wall four buildings down and you're going to kill every guard you see,” she said. He flinched and struggled but she moved closer. “Listen to me.” The ringing in her ears built until even her own voice was drowned out. “Kill every single guard you see,” she said slowly and methodically. “Kill every guard you see,” she said again. “Every guard you see. Now, repeat your orders.”

“Kill every guard I see, down the wall, three buildings,” he answered then began repeating again. She stopped him with a hoof.

“Shh, now go. Go and do my bidding,” she said as the glow stopped and her magic receded, her legs nearly gave out. When he left she emptied her stomach unwillingly and tried to restrain the pain in her chest. “Make sure the other...” she said trying to keep from gagging, “is dead.” The thumping in her head hid Fang's words and she had to watch his mouth to see what he was saying.

“We know another way in,” she said returning to her feet. She tapped both sides of her head. 'Good,' she thought, she could still hear which was some consolidation to feeling like death. Regaining her composure she asked, “The others?” Fang shook his head. “We have to go, we have little time.” The fireworks would start very soon.

As they walked, in groups of two, she asked Fang what had happened. “We were discovered, the other two held them back so I could... escape,” he said with regret in his voice. “I hid and tried to look for you. I was injured though, and my form shifted. They jumped on me.” He shook his head. “I got careless and the others... I should have done better, they died because of my foolishness. Lance suggested we go around the forest but I-”

“We have no time to regret our decisions,” she replied back.

They saw the wall, the soft canopy of trees keeping them hidden as they reverted back. She noticed Fang's figure distorting and ordered them all under cover. Claw trailed behind, watching.

“It is as if this glade was meant to hide us,” Fang said.

“Of course, these were once our gardens,” she replied.

They waited by the entrance and she pondered the thought they'd all be attacked the instant they entered. 'Maybe this is just another trap,' she thought then tore herself away. 'I can't think like that, this is our only chance.'

“They should have used a tunnel,” Claw said with his disguised voice. They all smiled.

“You remember how to open it Son Claw?” she asked as he trailed back, he nodded. “Good we go in two's.” She didn't tell them everything else that was swimming in her mind.

The sounds of slaughter, madness and frantic pleas could not be heard, much to Coal's disappointment, but she did see the guards at the top begin to scramble, then shift away from the entrance. They hadn’t waited as long as she would have liked but there was no time left for indecision. Fang held back as they opened the hidden door. From his injured state his disguise was choppy and distorted. If he was seen at close, there would be no hiding it.

The wall pushed in, then slid only two hooves length. She cursed and pounded the wall. Thankfully that dislodged whatever ancient mechanism had jammed up and slid wide enough for them to fit. The sudden and total darkness was welcoming and she smelled the air. No, this hallway was empty.

She nodded the other two forward, Claw came from the side, and Fang hobbled from the rear. It occurred to her and Claw at the same time. She lit up the hallway with a meek light and spotted an unlit lamp. Claw saw her nod, entered and she pulled it down. At first nothing happened and Claw made to activate the outside one, closing himself off, but then dust shifted, and the door slid shut.

They stood in the silence and darkness, as if absorbing it. They listened for movement, looked for light, ready for anything but nothing came. Coal lit up the passage and was surprised to find stairs. She started down, they all took their respective positions, Claw in the rear, and Fang behind Coal.

“Your leg,” Claw said silently as he watched Fang limp ahead of him. “I have extra cloth, you're still bleeding.” Coal turned and Claw feared she would scold him.

“Good idea, we don't need a trail,” she said taking pace ahead and listening. 'It will be best if they think we're still in the yard,' she thought. The city would be easier, she hoped, large gatherings, distant areas, more room for flexibility.

She looked back but could see only the blobs of her underlings. How close she had come to leaving Fang behind. How fickle and chancy life could be.

It wasn't long until the tunnel sloped around, back up and spat them into some storage room. They moved the shelf back, covering the hole, and surveyed the room. “Don't touch anything,” Coal ordered as they spied the food. “There will be time later, we leave no evidence.”

The door creaked slightly and she waited. With a nod Claw came up and put his ear to the crack. “Clear,” he said. The ringing had returned as if bouncing off the inside of her skull.

They all pulled back in the room as five guards came flying down the hall. 'That's a good pace,' she thought and motioned them forward. With brisk movement they scoured the hall looking for the door out. To her surprise they found several. The first two opened on a small plot of grass with tents spread around, one for extra lodgings and the other for dining apparently. Coal was willing to look for a better exit now that they had found two and the third treated them well.

The city sprawled before them. Rows of houses, some stacked on top of each other and ran along each side of the street. As if tying them all together cobwebs of clotheslines ran to and fro, the clothes still. Images moved in the distance, doors opened and voices called out. They heard the laughter of a colt playing near by and then the smack of a ball as it hit stone. The light seemed brighter now, how long had they really been down there? Or was it just the darkness? To slip out here as a guard, and shift around a corner would be without effort. It filled her with hope.

She looked behind her as she ordered them out and the feeling died. The cells were behind them somewhere. It was possible the other two were in there, suffering. Her previous order came back to her, “Remember, if you're captured there will be no rescue attempt,” she had told them. The mistake of going back on her own orders had shown itself, and she paid the price.

Just walking out the door made her feel hollow. 'None of us shall be leaving this place,' she consoled herself and shut the door.

Chapter Seventeen: The Stars of Eternity

Solar watched as the fire built, then slowed then finally died. She had listened as a tender talked about the circle of life, about The Tree. They always talked about the tree, everyone did. She walked with them and gave water to the ashes that now lay around the roots, and whispered words she was told to say.

It had been hard walking through the archways into the grove, tears had streamed her face as if they would never stop. Yet as soon as she entered the feeling lifted. As if The Tree itself had soaked away her pain. There was no joy here though, just apathy. For this moment she was incapable of feeling, and considered it was probably better this way. Thus she continued, as they all seemed to, through the proceedings that would send her mother's life back into The Tree in a dull placid state.

When they all left Solar stayed and leaned against the wall. She missed Clover, she missed the days when she just trained and didn't worry about failing or passing a test, and she missed her mother.

“Hello Sol,” Valor said entering the grove. She didn't look up but nodded and Val took a seat beside her. “She lead a long and happy life Sol, it's hard now, but everything will get better,” she said calmly. “The festival is coming, and I hope you'll be a part of it, your mother would have wanted to see you happy and the best thing to do is just to enjoy yourself.”

A spark rose inside Sol at this. She wanted to shake her head, she wanted to shake Val. 'After what I saw yesterday, after this? Just forget?!' she thought. Yet the flare of anguish slowed to a trickle, then died altogether. 'Damn tree,' she thought wantingfeel angry.

The tenders came to care for the tree, same time as always. Sol would have been asked to leave if not for Valor lying beside her.

“Come on Sol, it's time to go,” she said and they both rose up. “I want to show you something, something fun this time.” Solar followed her without word as they continued into the tower.

“Have you ever wondered how we keep time?” Val asked.

“On parchment?” Sol replied. “I mean, the sun comes up then down and we have calendars.”

“It's a little better then that,” Val said stopping at a small set of doors that were almost hidden by the towering bookshelves beside them. “The Grandmaster's and tenders use a different entrance, but this is my little secret,” she said with a wink.

They entered into a soft darkness. As hesitant as Solar was to enter another dark room in the tower this roomed seemed warm, welcoming even.

“Watch this,” Val said, her faint figure moving toward the wall.

Solar's eyes lit up catching the reflection of a thousand moving shapes. White dots filled the dome like room. Patterns drew before her, worlds spun and the ground under her suddenly seemed unsteady. The feeling filled her until she was airborne. Just a dust moat floating admits the endless tides of the wind, so did she feel here under the innumerate dazzling lights. Some flickered while others glowed a steady red or blue or even green. To match the wonder above her a disk of detailed light slowly inched around an artificial sky.

“See Solar, we're here, where you're standing, and this,” she said waving a hoof, “this is all around us.” She pointed to the crawling disk. “That's the moon, notice how you can see shapes in it, and the light it makes.” Val said as if reminiscing.

“That's the moon?” Sol asked bewildered. “What... what is this?”

“This is the sky at night. This is what you'd see without the barrier, they're stars. It's amazing isn't it?” Val asked.

“Yeah,” Sol said pacing around the room. She took in everything, every light, every movement, even the vagrant stars that seemed to fall and shoot across the faux sky. Every inch of the room was used, every spot a light, a movement, or a marker for something; and set in the middle was a massive mechanism that held spinning disks.

As the disks revolved Solar tracked them noting how they were all connected, how all six moved. “This tells time,” Sol said. “The hour, day, month, year,” she trailed off and shook her head in amazement. Even the pedestal that it sat on was embossed with an artist's grace. Words ran along the rim and massive patterns etched each side. One was that of The Queen, a soft round sun with lines circling it with ebb and flow, everyone knew that but the other symbol eluded Solar. The pattern almost moved under her hoof. They were two lines that rose, twisted, then departed. It reminded Solar of snakes crossing paths.

“What is this one?” Solar asked and Val came over.

“Nothing important,” Val said. “Marks for the artisan who helped build Eternity.”

“So that's what it's called,” Sol said with an aerial wonder, her eyes soaking up the sky once again. “I wish I could see it like this, the stars for real.” She turned to Val and saw her face. “I mean, I know I can't, it's just, you know, it would be nice. Not that this isn't nice, I just mean-”

“I think it's time to go,” Val cut her off and darkened the room again.

Solar sulked out afraid she had said something stupid, just when she was feeling good again.

“You have some time off, the Grandmasters can't administer another test until after the festival. Go out and enjoy the city,” she said. “I'm afraid I have work to tend to, remember Sol, this was our little secret.”

Her heart lifted a little, maybe Val wasn't mad after all. “Thank you so much, bye,” she said and hurried out the tower, toward what she didn't know.

Chapter Eighteen: Royal Court

Valor stepped into the room, a hearth burnt in the corner despite the already warm air. The velvet carpet felt slippery under her hooves and only reminded Valor of blood. 'Eye's everywhere,' she thought as she spied the many paintings lining the wall. All the queens that have come to pass. Queen Emerald hung over the throne, overshadowing them all. She was “The” Queen, the image to look up to. 'Literally,' Valor thought. Chancellors and advisers stood around a large marble table and she joined them, the major in tow.

They both bowed to the throne and took their respective places. Water had been placed before them but neither felt thirsty. She looked around to see chattering and mild squabbling among the advisers about festival preparation and ideas. 'Such petty problems,' she thought shaking her head.

“Thank you for joining us Matriarch Valor,” the queen said.

“Of course Your Majesty,” Valor said dipping her head.

“And this is?”

“Major Brisk, acting commander of the guard,” she introduced.

“Well then Commander, congratulations on your promotion. I trust that was in order Matriarch?” she asked.

“Yes Your Majesty, my thanks for speeding up military bureaucracy.” The queen nodded and motioned for the guards to shut the door as one last member entered. She waited for him to bow and take position around the table with the rest of them.

Valor stood and listened as they all droned on about problems with the festival, about logistics and renovation of the city. The new commander seemed restless and uneasy.

“Relax, it's always like this,” she whispered. “The frivolous issues are taken up first and we close on the serious ones.” The commander raised a brow in a 'well that doesn't make any sense' fashion. “I know, but I'm not the one in charge,” Valor answered.

They waited respectively until the queen broached the topic of public perception in relation to the festival.

“Commander, I want all troops currently utilizing city property to return to their normal station,” she said. Brisk shot Valor an inquisitive look, not knowing how these meetings play out. Valor interjected for him.

“Your Majesty, with respect we have them stationed outside the wall because we've not the facilities inside. Putting them inside the wall would only put their safety in jeopardy. Our plan is-”

“They're soldiers, they're supposed to be in there protecting us!” a councilor yelled.

“They are protecting you!” the commander retorted slamming a hoof against the table.

“Enough!” the queen bellowed, all voices stopped. “Public perception must be maintained. If word got out that the barrier had been breached it could cause all manners of panic and disorder. This would only aid the invaders, and would damage the festivities and the ceremony. Commander, I expect you to resolve the situation. And Matriarch you are to assist our new commander in any way necessary, including strategic assets.” Valor nodded.

“Yes Your Majesty,” she answered.

Yet as she did the table was struck alight. Voices rose and fell as they jabbered about a breech in the barrier, what it would mean and why the guard wasn't doing more.

“Isn't this why we have you Matriarch?” one cried. She didn't give him the satisfaction of an answer. Of course they already all knew, or had been informed at least. Whether they choose to dismiss the information or outright ignore it was beyond Valor, though she could care less. 'Idiots,' she thought, 'every one.'

“Silence!” The queen's voice roared. “I will hear no more of this.” The room stilled until not even the chancellors breath could be heard. “Good, now, I expect everything else is going as planned?” she asked.

“Yes Your Majesty, all preparations have been made and are ahead of schedule as you've requested,” the head tender said.

“Good. This festival marks an important time in our history, a time when we shall finally be at peace, when we no longer need to fear, when we can expand into the outer court, when a guards presence will be unnecessary. Finally after all these years the barrier become impenetrable. Nothing will be able to enter our sanctuary and all of you are helping to make this dream come true,” she said, the regality in her voice ringing true. “Those living under The Tree owe all of you a great debt for the service you've provided, and I'm very proud. But, our duties are not over yet, and we've obstacles to over come. We must remember they are only obstacles, and we shall, with time, overcome them,” she said passing a glance toward Valor and the commander. “I expect great work out of all of you. I'll expect you all to be in attendance after the festival, good luck.”

They all bowed and made their way out of the throne room. The guards shut the door behind them and it filled the hall, and her ears, with thunderous echo.

The commander sighed and readjusted his shoulders as if realigning his attitude. “We'll have to reallocate positions, I'll be in liaison with the other district majors. At least now I'll have the authority to do what I need without bothering you,” he said.

“Indeed,” Valor answered. “Congratulations on the promotion, though we all knew it would be a matter of time, one way or another.”

“I wish it was under better situations.”

“Don't we all, but we've more pressing concerns. I would rather do this my way, but plans change. I'll be tasking out five of my casters, use them as scanners. They'll be able to reveal any subterfuge. I expect you to set up checkpoints, and to straighten up shift management. I know Commander Bright left things in a mess but we have to resolve that,” she said.

“I've already been working on it. The nominal roll is being completely rebuilt, now we'll be able to see how many hooves we have on the ground, where and when. I'm going to be promoting a few captains, I need better micromanagement of who's going in and out,” he said.

“Good, don't be afraid of making changes. We've let too many years of calm dull our edge. Though I suppose you'll all be reassigned soon,” she said to the sigh of the commander.

“Well you and your guardians will still have a job. Not that there has ever been a real security issue from the inside,” he said with a shrug. “Care to use another?”

“Sorry Commander, no magic, no entry, but we could use logistic officers. Besides, we haven't had a threat from outside in our lifetimes either.”

“Touche,” he replied, and they returned to topics of logistics and strategy.

Chapter Nineteen: Fields of Green

The city was brimming with activity, signs and banners were hung, streamers with tiny green triangles knitting the buildings together. Even the merchant shops seemed to be decorating their stands and stores. It put Solar's mind at ease. Everything had happened so fast, all together. Yet now it was as if her mind told her, 'It's okay, we'll worry about stuff again once the festival is over.' In fact she felt a bit guilty about not being worried, then she thought of her mother and had to stifle tears. 'So much for that,' Solar thought cringing. She shook her head as if to ward off the thought. 'Enough, enough.'

That's when she saw the mare sitting beside her; middle aged with sunken features, it only reminded Sol of her mother. She looked out into the city as they strode through the districts.

“It's pretty isn't it?” Solar asked purposely distracting herself.

“Yes it is,” she replied.

“I know it happens twice every year, but it's nice to see everyone so happy,” Solar said looking out with her.

“Yes,” she replied flatly.

“I...” Solar trailed off.

To the surprise of both of them the mare turned and asked, “Are you alright little one?”

She chuckled. “I guess I'm not very good at hiding it eh?” Solar said brushing her nose. “I'm sorry.”

“You don't have to be,” she replied. “We all have our reasons.”

“Yeah, it's just...” Solar paused. “It's hard losing someone. I mean, you know it's going to happen sooner or later, but still it's just...”

Silence hung between them until the mare finished, “It's hard.”

“Yeah,” Solar said. “I should have been ready, I mean, I thought I was ready,” she said surprising herself by being so open. Yet she didn't really have anyone to talk to, her Dad was going through it himself and she tried not talking about it, Clover was in the archives and when she was with Valor she didn't want to bring it up. She shook her head. “I guess I wasn't. I'm glad though, she lived a full forty-five years, and she didn't have regrets. Still though.”

“Forty-five?” she asked and Solar nodded. “It wasn't always like that.”

Again silence.

“Can I ask you something... Silly?” Solar asked switching topics. The mare nodded. “Do you ever... you know, do you wonder what's out there?” She thought of the stars and of the moon in crisp detail. She looked up at the haze of the sun to where stars could have been.

“Sand,” she replied.

Solar smiled and chuckled. “I know that, but you know, what else?”

The mare opened her mouth to talk then closed it. They both sat there without saying a word as the trolly slowed.

“Guess it's just sand,” Sol said capping the conversation, now embarrassed.

“There used to be fields of grass the size of this city. Massive pools of water further then the eye can see, teeming, a system of life so deep it rivaled our own. Birds soared through the sky and clouds painted the ground with brilliant brushstrokes. You could see the snow capped mountains of the dragons and watch the water as it spilled over the cliffsides. The spray would billow up like cotton pillows as the light danced inside it.” She seemed lost in her words and swam in her own mental painting. “There were forests filled with trees, trees that belonged to the cycle. Some that would touch the top of the barrier and could live to see eons pass. And the flowers; fields of flowers with colors so deep I'm told they can bring you to tears just by looking at them.”

“But not anymore?” Solar asked.

“Not anymore,” she replied.

Solar looked up to the canopy of the trolly as if she could see through it. The images danced in her mind as she tried to form them, as she tried to imagine what an endless pool of water would look like.

“What happened?” she asked but when she looked over the mare was gone. The trolly lurched forward again, and departed toward District 3.

Chapter Twenty: Changeling Caves

A dark figure approached the mouth of the flat sand polished cave. Broodlings stood out against the moonlight, their shadows meshing with the darkness of the cave. Stars filled the night like they always did. It was rare to find clouds in the desert, it made the winds harsh and the nights cold.

“What are you doing?” she asked as she watched them each bite into their flesh and run their fangs down. Their wounds matched the tiger stripes that lined their forelegs.

They stood there, blood dripping from their legs, covering old puncture scars. Shocked they couldn't find words, and froze as if spotted by a sand viper.

“Lady,” a strong voice rang out. Apparently he was tired of waiting for the others to respond and shot them a look. They all bowed their heads slightly and offered the same greeting. “She asked you a question Son Dart,” he said.

“Oh uh, yes Lady, well we bleed ourselves because the sand, well, the poison leaches into our blood first and then the body. If we do this it stops us from... dying?”

“To prevent the poison from escaping the blood and entering our flesh we must drain our blood so our bodies will produce more. If there is blood for the venom to occupy then it will not spread to our bones Lady,” the one in the rear responded. “Excuse them, they're not used to seeing a broodmother out here. Come Lady, this place is not for you.”

“The sands must be hard if you have to do that,” she said ignoring his last statement.

“They are cruel indeed, that is why sandwalking is for broodlings.” He turned to the others. “Get the kill inside, and start post hunt drills. I'll be inside shortly, no cutting corners,” he ordered and they hurried past her each with a torn piece of cloth wrapped around a large object.

“Sister Coal wasn't,” she said.

“No, she wasn't,” he replied. “Now come this place is not for you.”

“I just wanted to see the stars, I wanted to see if they're as beautiful as Coal said they were,” she said staring into the sky. “And they are.” The broodling approached and stared into the sky with her. She could see the large deformation on the right side of his face as if he'd been burnt. “Do you... do you think Coal will make it?” she asked.

“I have walked with Coal until we saw the clouds of the Griffon Highlands, we've slain beasts larger then the broodling hall itself. When I first walked the sands with her I feared she would be arrogant, a broodmother is not used to losing her place, no offense,” he said. He looked to the sand beaten tent that stood on the edge of the cave, his home. There had not been a sandwalker in the past so resilient to the poison, but he thought that perhaps it was because he spent so much time beside it. There was no going back into the caves for him. The absolute darkness of their passages, the closed in spaces. He couldn't handle that sort of thing. Scar would rather battle an antlion then have to report in the caves below. No, they sent him everything he needed, and as long as he kept training the new broods there would be no need for him to go below.

“None taken,” she replied.

“But that was not the case with Coal, she listened, learned,” he said, a certain pride in his voice. “While she may have been brash, and stubborn at times, she always listened to what those under her said. I give her great admiration for that. In order to lead one first has to learn to follow. Besides, Fang is with her,” he said. “It both saddens me, and brings me joy knowing they will pass under the stars together.”

“I wonder if I could ever take her place, in the sand I mean.”

“No,” he said with finality, “we need broodmothers, you are so few now.”

“I know, it's just... I can't imagine staying in the caves for the rest of my life. I guess this will be the first and last time I ever see the stars.”

“Perhaps one day you shall, if Coal succeeds.”

She shook her head. “No, my life is not long enough.” He cast his eyes down in answer.

“Coal could adapt, and that is what made her so strong, it is what has made us all so strong.” She smiled at his words.

“I hope so,” she said.

“Now come Lady, we shall have to bleed you too now. I will tell none you were here.”

“I guess I have to if I want to keep living,” she said.

“Live so that one day our kind may yet see the stars and know not what poison is.”

Chapter Twenty-one: The Library

As Solar walked into the library the dust seemed to flow around her, welcoming her to this sanctuary of knowledge. She shifted through the books and tombs all archived with meticulous zeal. There was fiction, myth, history, the wealth of their collective knowledge. How long had it been since she had stood here. It was bigger then she thought, which didn't make sense since last time she had been just a filly.

Stainglass windows let in a patchwork of colors, they illuminated the books creating a palette of detail. Yet she couldn't find what she was looking for. There were maps of the city, of the outer yard, of the inside of the castle and the inside of the wall but nothing else. There was of course endless tombs on the war, but she knew that history already. They'd all been issued similar books in school and the only difference she found was the outer cover. As she flicked through the pages she thought she might stumble across a doodle. 'Useless,' she thought.

“What are you looking for young guardian?” Grandmaster Song asked entering her view. Her voice was stoic yet now held soft tones that carried her namesake.

'Guardian?' Solar thought, the word made her heart flutter and she had to still herself. “I haven't passed the tests yet, I'm not a guardian.”

Song just shrugged and said, “You will. So, what are you looking for?”

Solar shook off the shock and the heightened anticipation toward a goal that now seemed inevitable. It was as if her goal might actually find finality. Before she found it hard to consider herself a guardian, but now one of the grandmasters considered her one. She had to shake the thought from her mind and still her heart so she could refocus. It took her a second to remember what she was doing. “Maps,” she said looking at the tumble of books and scrolls before her. Sol dove for a tomb that she accidentally knocked off and gave a sheepish grin as it contacted the floor with a crack.

“I can see that,” Song said allowing Sol to regain her composure. “So what specifically are you looking for inside those maps?” she asked.

“I want to see what's outside the wall, you know, beyond the city,” she said.

“Sand,” Song said and turned to walk away. Sol felt despaired at being abandoned so quickly. “Follow me young guardian, I shall tidy that up later.”

She followed the grandmaster through enough turns to make her head spin until they finally stopped at a small set of doors that were lost against the tall bookshelves.

“You're going to be privy to this knowledge soon however discretion would be appreciated,” she said pushing the doors open.

“Of course Grandmaster,” Sol said, suddenly taken off guard by her seemingly switching emotions. 'Guess she's just hard when she tests,' Sol thought, thankful.

Song opened a small golden lined door that reminded her of Eternity and she wondered as to the awe that must be inside. Yet when Song opened the door and light spilled in only dusty scrolls lined the walls. An old table was set in the middle made out of a wood Sol didn't recognize. She ran her hoof over the top, it was hard and even yet gave a soft oily smell that relaxed her.

As a scroll was placed on the table Sol was broken out of her fix and she gazed upon what Song had placed down. It was a simple map that showed location, if little else. Song pointed to a patch of what would be marked as mountains and said, “This is where the changelings reside.”

It was odd to Sol hearing their actual name, they'd always been 'them,' 'it,' or 'the demons'. Somehow the professionalism that she associated with knowledge was renewed, if for a little bit. Song pointed out The Griffon Highlands, and where dragons used to lie, in the northern rim. Sol found it odd, she always thought of dragons as fire beasts like they were painted in the lore and fables.

Though what stuck Sol as off is while the Dragon Peaks, and the Griffon Highlands were labeled there was no 'Changeling Caves', or whatever; only the city remained, set in the center of the map. Other then that it was bleak, and vapid. It left Sol with more questions then answers.

“What about this one?” Sol asked taking another from a different shelf, this one from behind glass that should have been locked. Even Song tilted her head as the scroll was unrolled. It was laden with arrows, crossed diamonds, and shields.

“A campaign map,” Song said with an air of curiosity. Sol pointed to the vast amount of lines with little numbers set in them. “They show elevation and depression, the number shows you how much, or how little,” she said. The symbol of the clans were shown around the map, and Sol looked for where the changelings should have been, yet there was nothing. She found the claw that represented the griffon army, the tuft of fire that could only be the dragons, yet in the center, the city, was The Queen's crest and the same pattern of crossing snakes.

“Who's this?” Sol asked. Song seemed to jolt alert as if realization snapped into her. She opened her mouth to speak when bells chimed in the distance.

“That's enough for today,” she said suddenly relieved and rolled up the scroll. “Come, I have duties to attend to now,” saying as she pushed the door. “Come on,” she said turning back to Sol. As they exited the room the small glass cabinet shifted open.

Song walked her to the front entrance. “Now I apologize but I am needed. The festival is approaching, go out and enjoy yourself. Soon you'll have duties too young guardian, enjoy your freedom and downtime while you have it.”

“Grandmaster, one more question,” Sol said looking at the walls.

“Very well,” she replied.

“How old is this building?”

“This library used to be a place of worship, and dates back to four hundred years.”

“Thank you Grandmaster,” Sol said and bowed her head. She watched the old mare walk away and stared at the stained-glass windows depicting a tree.

“The old windows are gone,” Sol said to herself.

Chapter Twenty-Two: Broken Guises

They had gotten too close, and Fang had pulled Lance back only seconds before bolts filled his body with holes. They were surrounded but still managed to squirm through the framework of buildings, through open cellars and out upper windows.

Pegasi now filled the air like a disturbed wasps nest, they plotted their direction and Fang dropped them back down.

How was he to know they could detect them? They weren't even that close but it was his previous injuries that had given them both away, the subtle shift of color he wasn't able to stop.

Another chuck of wall was taken off as Guardians at each side of the alley boxed them in. Fang jumped against the wall and Lance bounced off him. It was under the hail of lightning and imploding air that they scrambled up and onto the clay shingles.

Dipping birds struck at them and Lance was sent sliding toward the edge. Fang jumped down and placed himself between the edge and Lance. It was only chance that he managed to hook onto a smoke stack and stop Lance from hurling to his death. As another pegasi dove Fang brought it down like one picks apples from a tree, they all flew higher after that.

When the building rocked Fang knew it was time to go, and they dipped down into another alley and onto the street. It was quiet, too quiet, the business district was closed this time of year, everyone got the next two days off for the festival, and time to recover. How was he supposed to know that, that was the purpose of this reconnaissance. If he only would have known, if he would have started off further away, stuck to the streets, and not headed directly for The Tree. It blinded him, the luster of their mission right there. He wanted to see it, what they traveled across the land to find, what others had died for. Yet like history had already told them, The Tree would be their undoing. 'No, it was my stupidity,' Fang thought landing against another wall as they ran. There was no time for turning, he used the walls to redirect his motion.

It was for nothing though because when they broke into a long building there was only two entrances, trapped. Fang cursed and frantically looked about the room.

“Fang,” Lance said, the finality in his words told Fang everything already.

“No, I won't leave you, I can't, no more,” he answered but Lance just shook his head.

“You have to, it's come to this. We'll both dive in, and when we do I'll give you cover to disguise yourself and slip out.”

“No, they'll just spot me,” Fang made the excuse. He could hear them nearing, they waited at the doors, waiting for more to come, for the right time.

“Time is running out Brother Fang, you know what needs to be done. A chance is better then none.”

Fang knew the truth in his words, if there was a chance he could get away he should take it. The mission would suffer without them both and Fang knew this wasn't a winning battle. These weren't the guards he'd fought with before, these would bring them down quickly.

“I...” Fang tripped on his words, trying to find something to say. How many times must he be made to abandon those under him, how many times must they pay for his mistakes?

“It's not your fault,” Lance said. “Now let's go!” Lance charged the door giving Fang no more time to falter. The door was broken down just as they lunged into the air and into the group of five guardians. There were more behind them, along with pegasi who hovered just above the ground. Lance and Fang rapidly shifted disguises, and as the guardians fought their magic was formed into something else. They would be lit up for only a second before they were forced to use defensive magic again.

The brawl expanded, every time they tried to distance themselves Lance and Fang would close the gap instantly and would strike out at any that were near. Finally they got him surrounded.

“Wait, where's the other?” one said. Panic filled their eyes and Lance used the diversion. He was brought down quickly after but not without a fight. Even the guardians with their training were inexperienced, but not anymore. The pegasi were launched into the air.

“May the stars guide you home,” Lance said as they forced him against the ground.

Chapter Twenty-Three: Plans Awry

To have broached the walls was one thing, to get to The Tree was another. Somehow this wasn't going to be as easy, but Coal knew this before they even set out. The city was large, they could hide anywhere, disperse into any home, any building and merge with a seemingly endless amount of disguises, yet, life was never that simple.

She had separated herself from the others. It was for naught they'd rush the inner sanctum anyhow, and she wouldn't risk it before the winter solstice. There was a chance the poison would work but she was not about to waste years of effort, and their closest victory on a chance. No, she thought herself smarter then that. Yet oh how she wanted to.

The trolly bumped away in the distance, skirting around the districts each with their multicolored fanfare, and sporadically altering building sizes. The districts themselves were easy to tell apart. Apartments and, closer to the center, standalone homes filled District Two with even set rows that spread as they distanced out, yet not seeming to get any more roomy the further they went. There were a few large houses that sat near the center but those were far and few between. District Six, which she could only see the edges, held trees and parks, small yards where benches were set, and markets, stores, and merchants sold their wares.

Coal had a hard time tearing herself away from what could only be madness, yet a chaos that somehow aligned itself into a functioning system. They needed not venture out for weeks to kill prey only to haul it back one limb at a time. There was no need to cut yourself open to bleed the poison, to hide in the darkness of caves for fear of the sun. If they wanted food it was there, right there and all they needed to do was walk up and take it. They mingled around in the streets with such transient ease, there was nothing to fear here, nothing that could, at an unseen notice, leap out and take them. No, not one knew anything of true survival, of strife and hardship. Outside this barrier was a different world and they didn't even know, they didn't care. She would change all that.

Guards were stationed near the ring, their posts meshing with each other in crossing arcs. 'Smart,' she thought then realized why. These were not the guards of the wall, their armor was different. The silver ivy helmets were buffed to a matte luster that somehow only seemed to make them brighter and they stood with an aura that told Coal they were ready. As the city remained safe the guards had simply been reduced to glorified grounds keepers and gardeners, but these were real soldiers. Coal could tell from how they stood, how they looked into the crowd, from conversations and smiles that spoke of training and discipline. Yet there was more there, they seemed... cocky.

Coal made her way around the cloverleaf walls gently, shifting her disguise several times and not daring to get too close, caution had to be observed. Her goal was right there, all she needed to do was run in and pierce The Tree. 'Patience Coal,' she told herself again. There had been price to pay for her brash attitude in the past, a price that was paid with the lives of her underlings and fellow sandwalkers. Not again.

As she made to turn away she convinced herself into making one more pass, and as she did so, at a distance she noticed her scales shift, her magic flicker and she distanced herself quickly. The mingling commuters didn't seem to notice, neither did the guards, yet any longer and she would have broken cover. A shudder of fear ran through her as she thought of her underlings and the scouting mission they were given. 'Damn detectors,' Coal cursed the guardian.

Almost reluctantly she turned her back on the earthen obelisk and returned to their meeting point. The house was quiet, and it unnerved her. Skillfully she slinked through the levels, then out to the back, nothing. It both eased her, and caused dismay. They should have been back by now.

When the door opened she shifted her weight and braised the doorway with arching bolts at the ready. Death hovered over a disguised Fang who only paused waiting for magic to rain on top of him.

“Are the others not back Lady?” Fang asked once she dispelled the threat, obviously aware of her apprehension. Her head shifted and she sighed. “There's too many variables, it'll do naught to worry,” he said.

“I know,” she returned. “We'll proceed as planned, we must be moving positions soon.” Fang nodded in approval.

When the sound of hooves approached the door they both made ready, yet Lance appeared and they both relaxed. Lance dropped his disguise and looked around, his eyes unfocused.

“Lady?” he asked as if under water.

As the walls came down around them Coal pushed them back. The house exploded and stone shrapnel rained into the streets. Screams and yelps barely came back to her through the ringing in her ears. When she saw the figures surrounding her she made ready. One look to Fang and she discarded the steel tube and flung it at him.

“Run!” she ordered. He lingered a second as purple streaks bounced off her shield. A roll to the side allowed her to remain unfrozen, the ground cracking as the ice spread like time-lapsed moss. “That's an order!” she screamed. Fang picked up the tube and scrambled out the remains of the house.

They moved around her quickly but she would have none of it. She raised her forelegs and brought them down with a thunderclap. Emerald waves rolled into the walls beside her. They cracked the walls and brought stone down with them. Another scream exited her lungs as the earth behind her rose up carrying the rubble and blocking them from the alleyways. Fang was gone now and she stood surrounded by twenty guardians and one who wore brazen armor that seemed to carry the sun with it.

They all stopped and waited for the unicorn in the head. Coal panted trying desperately to get air into her lungs, to ready her legs that begged to fail, and to hold for anything that might come. There was no longer any notion in her mind of escape, of success for her. It was in Fang's hooves now. Her eyes parsed for only a second toward Lance who stood unmoving. 'Delay Coal,' she thought, hoping to bide as much time as possible for Fang.

“What have you done to him?” she asked and the lead unicorn smiled. “Who are you?” she switched questions.

“One, I am Matriarch Valor leader and commander of the Guardians, defender of The Tree. And two,” she said pacing toward Coal. “Two, I merely pacified the evil in his heart.” She looked to him as he drifted back and forth. “Though it doesn’t look like there was much left, well, we can fix that.”

Coal lunged, intending to incinerating all before her, yet in the moment her hoof twitched she was brought down. Her whole body felt like iron, no muscle could move, not even her head could be raised to see what was suppressing her. They all moved around her, their magic pressing her against the ground until she was sure she heard the cobblestone crack. Or was that her bones? The ringing in her ears intensified and her remaining vision shifted and blurred. It took five guardians alone to hold her still.

“Enough,” Valor ordered, “don't kill her.” Through the pain, static and cracking of magic, Coal could hear the venom drip in Valor's words. “Bring her to The Tree, and do something with that one will you?”

Chapter Twenty-Four: Vines in the Mind

As Coal looked up at the arching branches she could only reflect upon the irony. How long did it take her to get here, how much had she sacrificed and how many lives? She'd lost half of her underlings just reaching the barrier. How foolish she had been. It was stupid of them to send her, why didn't they just send Scar, someone who knew the land better, who knew battle better. She forced herself to see reason, and knew it was because she could get past the barrier, that was the only reason they sent a broken broodmother.

“No,” she told herself. Scar would have scolded her for such thoughts. He would have told her that keeping the mind that low would bring them all to death. Yet hadn't she already? Hadn't she sold them all to that final door? Perhaps there was hope, Fang was her most capable, he was her only brood and he had the rod. 'If only I had it now,' she thought, then reflected on her previous words. 'It wouldn't work now anyway.' Again she shook her head. It was as if these thoughts were creeping into her mind, eroding her will.

“Why?” she asked. Why did she have to be so stupid, why did she have to be so weak? If only she'd trained longer, if only she was better prepared, if only she could just lie down and be a good obedient... “Argh,” she bellowed and uttered a string of curses under her breath. “May the stars show me the way,” she said.

“You will find no stars here,” Valor said, her voice dripping with satisfaction.

“You,” Coal said, though her words were tinged, tapered even as the back of her skull lit up with pain. It eased itself suddenly and lulled her into a relaxation she forced herself out. “What is this?” she asked.

“It's The Tree,” Valor answered. “It can help cleanse your mind, free you from all your worries, from all your fears and despair. But you have to let it,” she said.

“Is this what you did to Lance?” she asked.

“Oh, is that it's name? Then yes, we just allowed him to find his own way, The Tree freed him of all those dark thoughts,” Valor answered. “We hold funerals here, of course there's the obvious reason, but the other is because The Tree pulls the pain from our hearts. The Tree leaches our pain from us, our suffering, and takes it into itself.”

Coal just scoffed and flinched as something seemed to smash into the side of her head.

“It'll hurt if you keep fighting it,” Valor said.

Coal forced herself to breath, to think of home, of her underlings, and to maintain the fragile hold over her mind. 'Focus Coal, focus,' she said in her head. She repeated mantras and laws of the sand that Scar had told her. She ran through the different beasts of the desert, their numbers, locations, sizes and weight. 'Five legs, two hundred and fifty pounds, can pounce up to distances of ten lengths. How I wish I was fighting them now instead of being here. Not that it's bad here, there's no sand, no poison. It feels so safe here, there's nothing to-' She twisted her head violently. The shackleds that bound her rattled against each other. The collar strapped to her neck biting in even further. Small glass bulbs jutted from the side and forced her body into throws of pain if she tried using any magic.

“You won't win.” Coal said.

“Why would you want us to lose?” Valor asked. “Are you that spiteful? Does your kind still vow revenge?”

“You know why,” Coal said, pain causing her neck to twitch.

“The Tree has cured hunger, eliminated poverty. There is no disease or sickness here, and death comes with mercy. The Tree eases our pain, the suffering in our hearts, and it has unified us as one. Look around you demon, look at what The Tree has allowed us to do, how it's protected us. We could have shared this.” Valor shook her head and looked down on the suffering creature. “Soon you'll be at peace. Just let go, you're safe here, we can take care of you now, we can give you everything you've always wanted,” Valor said in a sweet calming voice.

“I want to see you burn,” Coal returned. “I will break free, and when I do I will break you, I will shove you into the ground and see you suffer. I will watch when you beg for mercy. And when you look up and tell me to spare your life and I will say, 'No,'.”

Pain lit through her body then darkness as the roots rushed up toward her. Valor scoffed. “We'll have to be more aggressive with you then it seems.”

Chapter Twenty-Five: The Archives

Sol crept into the archives and found it didn't require nearly as much sneaking as she previously thought. The golden rimmed building seemed to glisten as if it were new. Sol found herself wondering how much time they spent cleaning it, and whether they were that busy or not.

Her pace slowed when she entered a longer hall. The paintings on the wall disturbed her, she felt watched by their eyes. It was like those horror stories they told during the festival, with paintings that came alive, you only had to watch for their moving eyes. A chill ran up her spine, even more engraved by the feeling that she wasn't supposed to be here. Any other time would have been fine, but during the festival this was off limits. Besides she would be getting into the wing where no one was allowed.

She skirted the wall and watched her back, sure she heard hooves against the marble tile. The hairs on her back shot instantly on end when she made contact with something warm and soft. A robe clad acolyte and her turned and met instantly. They both shrieked a little and back up.

“Hey I'm uh, you, I mean, I, you... you can't be here!” he said.

“I need to find Clover,” she said, knowing he was an acolyte like she would be now.

“Well, I shouldn't because, you... Well, the festival-”

“Out with it!” she ordered.

“Forth door to your left,” he blurted out. “Now I have some rooks, er, chickens to organize, I mean, I, er. I have to go,” he said rushing off.

Okaaay,” she said out loud and continued down the hall. An elder scholar walked out, robes trailing behind him. His image almost made Sol chuckle, then she realized she was hiding. Ironically Sol would never have gotten this far in the wing if it wasn't for the festival. They too, like all the others, had duties to prepare for. It was a special time for The Tree and for them all. 'This is so stupid,' Sol thought as she continued after he had passed. 'What's in here that visitors aren't allowed?' she wondered. Of course she knew the restrictions Clover had, like all the acolyte, it was a notion of discipline that she wasn't allowed out for one year, still, 'It's silly,' she thought.

It had taken a while. The subtle peering through doors, sneaking through the archive library after the forth door to the left was a dud, and trying not to wake those who had worked through the night. Yet she finally found what she was looking for through a humble door at the end of a narrow hall.

“Clover!” she said closing the door behind her. The grey pegasus jumped, too absorbed in the book in front of her to notice the door opening.

“Sol?” she said turning. “What... what are you doing here?” Clover scanned the round room, just in case, then looked out the door making sure. “You're not supposed to be here, I could get in a lot of trouble. Only a week and I'm breaking The Discipline. 'Clover, you're not disciplined enough',” she said in a mock voice. “You want me living in a cardboard box don't you Sol, real good friend you are.”

“Nice to see you too,” Sol answered sarcastically only to find Clover's hooves around her.

“Of course I missed you,” Clover said. “It's so... Ugh here.” She was unable to find the right words. “I mean, I'm honored of course but they have me categorizing and archiving the bibliographies for the historical section. Supposed to help me get comfortable with the archives or something,” she said closing a book. “Because yeah, I can totally just memorize the locations of thousands of books, I'm a mental machine I am.”

“Well I have something I need you to look at, a map,” Sol said pulling the folded roll out of her saddlebag.

“Me, why are you asking me?” Clover asked.

“Because you're crazy smart of course,” Sol replied.

“Well, yeah, I guess I am pretty amazing,” she said and they both laughed like they'd been apart for years. “So what is it?” she asked as Sol pulled it open. “Oh, it's an old battle-map, complete with topography. This is rare, I've never seen a topographical map for outside the city that's this old,” Clover said leaning so far over she had to use her wings to stabilize herself before setting down. “Where... where did you get this?” she asked.

“Some secrete guardian-only section of the library,” she said touting herself.

“You passed?!” Clover asked.

While pushing dust on the ground Sol replied, “Well, no, not really, but I guess no one does, it's sorta a guardian thing, I think, I guess. But that's beside the point, what do all these lines mean?” she asked flipping the conversation.

“This isn't fair, I'm supposed to be the one with access to secret rooms,” she scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Oh well, better educate my heathen of a guardian friend,” she said trying to make her failure feel better.

“Educate me oh great one,” Sol said bowing and Clover laughed.

“Well that's better.”

“So, what are these lines here?” Sol asked trying to straighten the conversation.

“Well all these show the rise and dips, elevation and depression, and these-”

“I know that, I mean what does it all mean Ms. Super brain.”

“That's what I'm trying to figure out, it's different from the ones I've seen. In those other then the Highlands and Dragon Peaks there's nothing significant. I suppose there's Drake's Range where the Changelings are, but that's pretty much it. This though, look at this,” Clover said pointing to a section. There was a line drawn around a long canal. “These slopes, the movement of the advance, why didn't they cross it?” Sol didn't bother her friend who now practically absorbed the map. Her face was so close Sol didn't know how she focused and gave her more light. “Thanks,” Clover said returning to the map. “See, it's almost as if there was... a river here.” She was elated to have used that word, reading the dictionary like a nerd seemed to pay off.

“What's a river?” Sol asked.

“A long stretch of water,” Clover answered. “I always wondered why we had a word for that...” she said trailing off. “Oh, and this, see this!” Clover wanted to pull another map, the recent ones (that dated back one hundred years), but there was only history texts around her now. “See how this land is different from the rest, how it changes drastically here?”

“So, why is that important?” Sol asked.

“Well it wouldn't be if the battle lines weren't here, you can see how they moved around this formation, right at the edge. What's interesting is how the main battlegroup moved on the flanks here, while very small divisions were sent through the middle. This gives indication that the ground was difficult to traverse,” Clover said, the excitement in her voice a building paramount that Sol worried would explode.

“You're way too damn smart yanno,” Sol said. “So what does that mean?” But Clover only shrugged.

“Not sure, but something was there and it wasn't just sand. It follows the river too...” she said, lost.

When the door snapped open they both nearly collapsed. Panic filled Sol and she cursed.

“What's going on acolyte Clover?” he boomed.

“I'm sorry sir, it was my fault,” Sol butted in. “See my mom... She... well recently she passed and I didn't have anyone to talk to, because Clover was here, and, and,” she said half acting as emotions threatened to return and mix among those she felt now.

She sighed and relaxed. Clover flinched behind her, and Sol hoped she wouldn't break their cover. “I never saw either of you, but when I return in two minutes...” he said pulling the door closed.

When they were alone Clover snapped to Sol. “Why didn't you tell me? Oh Sol, I'm so sorry!” she said.

“It's okay, it's... life,” she said trying not to bring it up, unsure if she could push the tears back down another time. With deep breaths she said, “I should go, Clover, thank you.” She threw herself into her friends arms and squeezed tight.

“Stay safe,” Clover said. “Come visit me again okay, whether I'm allowed or not.”

Sol nodded. “Of course,” she said departing, both of them tearful once again.

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Impertinence

“Rise Matriarch Valor,” the queen said. “I see you have brought a gift for me?”

“Yes your majesty, this is their leader, it's a broodmother,” Valor said. Coal squinted trying to make sense of the scene before her.

'Something... isn't... Isn't what?' Coal thought struggling to fish out words as if they were being washed away. 'I should... be...'

“I understand my city remains infected with their kind though,” the queen said, any hint of praise disappearing from her voice.

“They won't be able to operate without their leader,” Valor lied, “and soon we'll track them down, and kill them.”

“Perhaps next time you should come to me when you've completed your duty as matriarch and not before.”

“Yes your majesty, the threat will be taken care of soon. What would you have me do with it?” Valor asked pulling on the chain.

This was insulting, here she had found and defeated their leader, brought one of their others to heel, and fractured them. The only true invasion and threat they had in two hundred years, ones that slipped past the guards and killed their commander, and she had brought them to heel within a day. Yet there was no praise here, no recognition, what did she expect? Instead of seeing her name raise with the other matriarch’s she would be marred with this, as unsuccessfully dealing with the threat. How dare they when her predecessors had to merely had to make sure the tenders kept watering The Tree! The Queen was as ignorant as the rest. 'Solar will come to understand,' she thought. The feeling of having control over her successor eased the pain.

“I don't care, dispose of it,' the queen said with a wave of her hoof.

“As you will Your Majesty,” Valor said bowing.

As the doors opened they all turned. A guardian came rushing in, sweat pouring from under his ill-fitting helmet.

“Matriarch!” he said running up. “We found the other one he-” yet as soon as he got close his scales shifted, and his disguise faded. Didn't matter, he was close enough. With a lunge he brought down one of the guardians. Valor missed as he rolled between her and another. He lunged forward, missing her, but grabbing the chain, it skidded along the floor with him.

The marble floor incinerated as Fang was sent against the far wall, he heard the glass cracking behind him. “Lady!” he yelled. Yet she only stood, dazed.

They surrounded him, magic at the ready, even the air rippled as they restrained under Valor's order. She could feel the queen's gaze, her furrowed brow, the hot breath as it spilled from her disapproval. 'I'll kill them all,' Valor thought, 'I'll make them suffer for this!'

“Kill it!” Valor ordered.

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Surface Air

The sands, of time tailing like her own twisted brood. Of caves that were filled with her own, the smiles of her sister as she returned from the outside. She could see Scar as he slept in the mouth of the cave in his small tent, of his curious ways, and how he was afraid of the confined spaces that lurked below in their caverns.

She had marveled at how one could prefer the sand, the poison, the danger, the mutated creatures, over the comfort of the caves, over their home. Yet once she was no longer useful as a broodmother and Scar took her into the sands the stars told her she was home here. Lights of a million lanterns guiding her, it was her own fractured memory, countless moments in time that seemed to connect in a way only she could unravel. They told her everything, time, direction, temperature, weather. The sky warned her when a storm was coming, and reminded her what she was fighting for. As they walked toward the city she would look to them for their guidance, and because she did, she was always home, among the sand.

And those memories, they were filled with those she had walked the sands with and those the sands had claimed. The broodlings that endured more then their own share, she thought of Scar, of Bute and Yoke, of Grave and Fury . How many had she left behind, had fallen along the way, or died during their hunts? Every one of them had taken a part of her with them and now she feared there was nothing left.

Fang stood, resolute as they hovered around him, waiting to strike. His words sinking into even the stone walls, “Lady!” She tried to focus on him, of his image, a dark blob that was about to die. She looked up and through the air dust formed. It danced on the currents the battle had created, it reminded her of the stars.

'No more,' Coal thought, the words coming into her head as if from an external source. The echos of his voice still resonated inside her, and she forced herself on those syllables. Scar's voice came back to her, “The sand will break even the brave, it will take the strong and the unstoppable. If you do nothing else Coal, know that you should never surrender.”

“Kill it!”

“No.” A saturated white light consumed them all, the bulbs attached to her collar popped and the chain shattered. The guardians staggered and twisted their heads trying to push the ringing from their ears. Valor staggered for only a second, then purged the room. As she did the glass pushed from its frame and shattered. Coal held fang as she dove out and plummeted toward the ground. The last thing Coal heard was the string of profanity from Valor, it made her smile.

She closed her eyes and dust formed around them along with the glow of her horn. The explosion poured dirt and broken cobblestone into the street.

“Lady!” his voice rocked through the darkness, pain lurched into her body. “Get up!” She wanted to lie here forever, to just continue sleeping. “Sister Coal, get up now!” She opened her eyes to see Fang, and pegasi screaming down.

She pushed him aside as spears dug into the soft compacted crater she now laid in. When she turned to face them on feeble legs Fang disapproved and told her to run, she did, the chain trailing behind.

“Lady this way,” another voice rang out, and they both knew it. She had such reliable underlings. They followed his voice, their winged pursuers above. Coal directed them into a crowd where they mingled seamlessly. If not for Fang to occasionally lean on however she would probably collapsed. Her muscles already begged to let loose as her disguise faltered, yet through fevered trembling she continued. Whatever event was going on gave them more then enough cover. Their movements were muffled and she had to tilt her head. When they paused she prodded her right ear and found that she had, indeed, lost hearing there. One ear and one eye down, she still had lots left.

“Lady, thank the stars I found you, come,” Claw said.

He directed them through a back alley that looped and rebounded, it dizzied Coal but she was unseen. It was good, it meant she could drop disguise. When her leg buckled Fang was there to push her back up, to tell her to continue. Small vocal flinches of pain came from her mouth no matter how hard she held it shut. She would have died long ago without them.

“Stop,” Coal said leaning against the wall. Her sickly frame still shaking. Fang came over to help.

“We have to keep going,” Claw said, agitated.

“Son Claw come here,” she ordered and he did.

“Yes Lad-” his neck twisted and he fell limp on the ground. She collapsed next to him, tears welling. Claw's form shifted back into that of Lance as Fang looked on.

“Am I to assume I don't know my own underlings?” she asked.

“We have to go Lady,” Fang said helping her up. In the sands she would have been left for dead, too weak to continue on. Frang practically drug her now.

“Where's the spear?” she asked as she limped forward.

“Safe,” he replied. They heard fliers overhead, passing them and knew the direction of the trap, they walked the other way.

“I ordered no going back for prisoners,” she said trying to stave off the darkness that constantly ebbed at the sides of her vision. How long had she spent at death's door?

“Screw orders,” he told her with a smile.

Chapter Twenty-Nine: What the Archives Don't Know Won't Hurt Them

“Solar, hey, psst, Solar!” Clover said hovering outside her window. Sol ran and threw open the glass to let her friend in.

“What in the... what are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be in the archives?” Sol asked, her friend just laughed.

“Yeah I am,” she said, “but forget that, listen.” Clover went over to the table and emptied her saddlebag. Then she looked around. “Where's your dad?” she asked in a whisper.

“Out,” Sol answered. “So what's so important you're willing to get yourself kicked out of the archives?”

“Okay, so that map you brought me right, it got me thinking. I asked the other scholars if they knew where I could find similar source material, but all I found along the same lines were zoning maps, and old surveys, though the zoning maps gave me some interesting stuff, but that's something else. Look, so,” she tried to frame her words, and tried to get past the excitement.

“Breath,” Sol told her.

“So I started to wonder why there wasn't more resource materiel. I looked up tons of old archival notes, scrolls, books but all the historical ones were all minus BL.”

“So everything was after the war started,” Sol said.

“Yeah, exactly, essentially, weird right? I mean how much other stuff do they keep in the library there in that little room? Maybe all the other old stuff, but why? The archives hold on and preserve tons of old art, great fiction, poetry, some dating back way before the last age. Anyway it happened that I stumbled upon an old botanical reference manual, the kind of thing they give new gardeners assigned to a plot of land.” She pulled a torn and taped book from the pile and opened it. “See right here!”

“Thornberry,” Sol read.

“Yeah, exactly!” Clover exclaimed.

“What's a thornberry?” clover asked.

“It's poisonous,” she said, her voice filling with awe and excitement again. Sol just looked at her, a blank slate. “Why would we garden a poisonous berry? Now look this book dates back to the beginning of the war, about five years after the first declaration, not important, but what is important are the zoning references I pulled up. Well it turns out that a crop of thornberry was given three plots of land, even their own zone, that's huge for a berry we can't eat, and why a separate zone code?” she said. Sol shook her head, dizzied.

“Right, right, so why would we grow them in the city? Well, not inside the city as we know it now, the boarders were actually pretty far out according to this,” she said pulling another scroll apart. It was filled with even more jargon and lines Sol didn't understand. “But get this, old population estimates put us past our current population. I thought maybe we're just smaller now but no.” Again another scroll was loosed on the table. “Look at this,” she said.

“Old blueprints?” Sol said. “Wow, the houses are huge.” Clover pulled another one. “Hey it's an apartment,” she laughed when she read the planned occupancy of ten families. Now their apartments were long, and at least four stories high.

“See what I mean? If you relate this to the zoning plans you can see there isn't enough zoning allotted for enough houses to fill that kind of population, so where are all the others? On top of that, there's this reissue I've found that remaps the zoning structure of the city. Here,” she pointed to somewhere near the skirt of District five, next to the clifftop the castle sat on. “Why was it just empty I wondered? It must have been kept empty for a reason because I can't find any city plans, or permits relating to that area.”

“Well I'm sure other city areas are like that,” Sol said.

“There are large gaps missing, and there was a lot that slipped through the cracks during the war, but then why is this all zoned off? Because somebody was there and using that land and whoever they were, there was a lot of them, and they ate poisonous berries.”

“That doesn't make sense,” Sol said. “It's probably something simple that they don't have the documents for, I think you're over thinking this.”

“Don't believe me?” she asked. “Then common, follow me.”

The trolly was empty when they left it, this part of the city being too quiet for normal traffic. Houses lined the edges, no lawn, they exited right into the street. 'I hate this part of the city,' Sol thought and was thankful there was no one else around. The sun seemed to touch everywhere but this place, and it stuck Solar as not only odd, but creepy. If there were monsters hiding about, they would be here she thought. The shadow from the cliffside seeped into her bones.

“Clover, we shouldn't be here, I hate this place,” she said.

“Maybe it was made District five for a reason?” Clover said and fluttered ahead, Sol followed until they reached the rock wall.

“See?” Clover said, but Sol saw nothing. Only the small cliff side with a patchwork house that seemed almost stuck to the side.

“See what?” Sol asked.

“Didn't you notice? The depressions, and they're not on any topo map.”

Sol looked down at the rock under her hooves, there was no cobblestone out here and only now noticed how she walked in a large dip. The rocks seemed to pool in here, the larger ones at the bottom. Clearly something had been here before. It was almost as if a house had been drug through the ground. Sol wondered how deep it originally was.

“What made this?” Sol asked.

“Collapsed tunnels,” Clover said. “At least, it makes sense right, look at the patterns, look at the cliff face, and why is there one house just right there?”

“You mean from when they tried to burrow into the city? I can't see that. I mean it's a cliff face, it's solid rock. Besides this dip ends way over there. Clover these can't be collapsed tunnels. Besides the texts say they tried digging to The Tree, not the castle. And these don't even come from the outside, they start at the castle. That can't be right,” Sol said.

“It's not,” Clover said. “Maybe they weren't trying to invade the city?” she asked inquisitively, drawing Solar out.

“Then what were they doing? Why were...” Sol's eyes lit up, and Clover smiled. “They were already here, the berries, the city zoning! But that's...” She paused and looked around. “That's impossible, how, they would have had to be-”

“Allies?” Clover cut her off. She opened her saddle bag and threw a piece of parchment at Sol, who caught it and floated it toward her. She unrolled it and looked over the old words, written with a style she didn't recognize. “The Cantolise Pact,” Sol read. “These are outlines for the rules of war,” she said reading over the treatment of POV's. “These symbols,” she said pointing out the sun that made up the seal of The Queen. Clover hovered over Sol. “The flame must be the dragons then, the claw the grif-” Her eyes sunk into the page and ran over the crossing lines, the ones that looked like snakes. “The changelings,” she said under her breath. “Eternity!” she screamed and Clover had to hush her.

“Now you know why I snuck out,” Clover said taking the scroll back.

“But that's impossible, it doesn't make sense, none of this makes sense. They tried to invade the city, they tried to kill The Tree.” Clover nodded to her words. “Why then, why did they betray us? If they lived in the city they lived under the barrier, why would they want to destroy that?”

“Maybe they wanted the city for themselves?” Clover said with a shrug.

“If that was the case wouldn't they want The Tree alive? Without the barrier we would have been slaughtered, they would have too. This doesn't make sense,” Sol said again.

“Well you've got that right.”

A bell struck in the distance making Clover jump.

“Oh no, no, no, I uh-” she looked around, then to Sol. “I gotta go, I'm so sorry, bye!” Sol didn't even have time to say goodbye. Her friend dove into the air with lightning ferocity leaving Sol behind in the wake of her own questions.

Chapter Thirty-One: Why

Previous planning had been their friend, Scar had taught her well. The house had been empty, cleared by Claw who had been waiting. She had to lift his guilt after he was told what happened. There was praise for him however, he had followed orders and returned to the rendezvous site and waited. It was the kind of thing that made her fell slightly better, like plans hadn't utterly gone to the moon quite yet.

With careful movements she shifted through the crowds who were moving to another district, to celebrate apparently. The sun was still high in the air, but the night would be approaching soon enough. She wasn't sure if time was, or was not on her side and decided to be thankful they had a few hours to rest. It was rest they would desperately need for the final push. The plan was rather simple, get as close as possible, create a diversion, dive through and kill The Tree. She only needed to get close, if she had the strength the spear could be hurled from quite far, so long as she didn't miss that was. If they killed her afterward, well it didn't really matter much did it?

They talked among themselves, and lovers walked together. She watched as old friends reunited for the festival and talked about the future. A filly passed her, she butted a ball down the street laughing without a care in the land. 'They'll be the first to die,' Coal thought as the cobblestone under her hooves echoed a subtle kind of sorrow back. Why was it her that was chosen to be the Grim Reaper? 'How much is sacrifice worth?' she wondered.

Coal's scales shifted, darkened then returned to their normal color after the door closed behind her. It was difficult holding an appearance for so long but she recovered quickly. Fang greeted her.

“We have to move.” She nodded and pulled open the pantry. The food lined there amazed her, it was so easy, all she had to do was reach out and grab it. There was no traveling for weeks in the sand, no luring a beast out, no battle, and no carrying separated limbs back. There was no poison that needed to be drained from the food, and no curing. It made her realize just how fragile they were.

“They're all going to die if the barrier breaks,” she said.

“Once the barrier breaks,” Fang corrected. “They'll adapt, just as we had to.”

“It was different for us, our kind had time to adapt slowly, to learn as the land died. But them...” she trailed off.

“Do you pity them?” he asked.

“I don't know,” she answered.

“Life finds a way Lady,” Fang said securing the grounds one last time, making ready to depart. He handed her the tube they had recovered from its hiding place. She strapped it back to her leg.

“Thanks,” she said. “Fang, why are you doing this?” she asked. He paused, suddenly thrown off balance by her question.

“For you Lady,” he answered instinctively. She lowered her eyes dissatisfied with his answer.

“We've been together too long for that garbage Fang,” she said.

“I know,” he replied. “I guess, I guess I'm doing it for a better tomorrow.”

“What useless sentiment, you and I both know neither of us will ever see that tomorrow.”

“No, but someone will,” he said. “I know how you feel, seeing them out there like that, it's... it almost reminds me of home. I'm sorry Lady.”

“Don't be, there is a time to feel and a time to shut out such thoughts,” she told him.

He nodded. “Then why are you doing this?” he asked her.

“So no one else has to,” she answered. They left the building.

Chapter Thirty-Two: Martial Law

Valor broke down the door after one knock went unanswered. “Search the entire building!” she ordered. The guardians scoured the rooms, sped up the stairs and started tearing the building apart. It wasn't long until one ran back up to her.

“Matriarch we found three bodies in the cellar, fang marks in two, broken neck for the other,” he said with haste. She was glad despite the tragedy, it was something.

“They were here recently,” said another as she scanned the room with her horn. “Very.”

“Look at the faces downstairs then spread out, two to a team, they couldn't have gone far!” Val commanded.

She tore through the small crowd, her eyes flicking to each then back. She mapped the faces looking for duplicates and looked for those of the dead family. She could hear the trolley slide behind her, the voices of others going to and from the social gathering. She cursed the festival and the extra activity. If this was a normal work day her life would have been made much easier. Again she swore under her breath, time was running out.

As she scanned the crowd she locked eyes with a tall mare across the street. They both paused and looked at each other, muscles tense. For a moment her eyes shifted, a reptilian green. Valor's horn glowed ready and the trolley slid past her. When it passed only the mingling bodies were there. She rushed in, her horn attempting to reveal the spy. Gone.

The grating of her teeth could be heard down the street and she hardly contained her rage. The guardian second in command ran up to her and scanned the street.

“Did you see something Matriarch?” he asked.

“Initiate martial law, lock down District Two,” she commanded. He packed back, startled.

“Matriarch?”

“Do it!” she ordered.

“But the queen, she-”

“Buck the queen, you let me deal with her, now go!” she ordered and the guardian sped off. “I have you now,” she said.

Chapter Thirty-Three: Off with her head!

“Bring me the matriarch!” the queen's voice filled the hall as she looked out the balcony. A councilor bowed and sped off. Under the over-watch of the castle she could see guards scurry about as they funneled from the walls to District Two, as her tranquil city turned into chaos, as all she worked for descended into a restless form of discord.

Checkpoints had been set up hastily, the entire district was closed off, the guardians ran from gate to gate. Others corralled the crowd scanning them, funneling them into squares so they could be cleared. Her citizens were in panic, disorder, and the festival was in chaos. This wasn't what she ordered, in fact she had ordered quite the opposite. Her citizens were being treated like beasts, their dignity immediately striped. She watched as guards tore through houses belonging even to the chancellors, they were thrown out on the street while soldiers ransacked their houses without regard for privacy or respect for status.

The grand doors opened and a tall guardian entered. She wore full battle regalia, her silver armor reflecting the colors of the stained glass windows. “Your majesty I-”

“What is this Valor?! I thought I ordered the guards to the outside wall, I thought I said that my citizens would not to know of this. What about the festival, what about order Valor! You are failing as your duty as matriarch,” she said with scorn.

“I've only failed if The Tree dies your majesty, and not before,” she said with steeled resolve. “I don't think you understand the severity of the mat-”

“I don't think you understand the importance of order Valor. You've failed me too many times Valor, first you let them through the barrier, then into my city, then even out my windows. This chaos will only hide them, we know what they want. All orders of this magnitude are to go through me,” she said.

“We've no time for bureaucracy your majesty,” she answered.

“I'll ignore that foolish statement Valor,” she said. “I want you to withdraw both the guards and the guardians and post them around The Tree. If that's what they're after then it would stan-”

“With all due respect your majesty, leave the tactics to me.” The queen attempted to bore holes in her with her gaze but Valor stood her ground. “Posting guards at The Tree would only fail, if they've gotten past the wall then they'll get past there, guard accountability is too difficult in such a large cluster, they would slip past easily. The grove is best guarded by my own elite units and by barricading the district this gives us the opportunity to erect multiple fronts, clean out the district, and filter them out in an isolated environment. We can fight them on our own terms and wipe them from the map.”

“The order has already been given apparently, I expect you to clean up this mess as quickly as possible,” the queen said. “I assure you Valor, I will accept no measure of further faliure from you.”

“Of course your majesty, we're screening the current residents and sending them to District Six to partake in festivities, and I've arranged for lodgings and essential services for those without access to their homes. It will all be taken care of Your Majesty, and after tonight we'll never have to worry about this again.”

“I hope not Valor, for both our sakes.”

Chapter Thirty-Five: Lockdown?

As Solar hit the district guards stood before her. “What's going on?” she asked.

“Matriarch Valor has ordered martial law and full lockdown of the district,” he said.

“But... Dad is in here!” she told him.

“Everything will be fine, don't panic. Return to District Six, that's where we're sending those scanned,” the other told her.

“What happened, who's in there, what's going on?” she asked.

“We have everything under control, return to District Six,” he said again.

She made to turn, to comply with their orders when she thought back to that cage below the wall. When she thought back to Valor's words, “They've passed the first wall and have killed Commander Bright and ten others.” Fear rose up and threatened to engulf her. Her dad was in there, with them. That's what it was, they broke through the wall and now there were here, in her district!

“Okay,” she said then twisted and pushed past them. He turned to make after her when the other stopped him.

“Let her go, she'll just be checked with the others,” he said then nodded to a pegasi to his side. “Alert the others we have a runner, she's clear.”

She rushed through the streets, now eerily quiet, past the overturned wagons and festival stands. As the light began to fade she ran harder. She caught the attention of the guards but when they saw she ran in they dismissed her. They were not to scatter, they had a mission and it was performed pace by pace.

When she found her house the door had been left open. It swayed on the hinges as if unsure whether to close or stay open. With frantic steps she pushed in and scoured the house.

“Dad, dad!” she called without answer. Panic filled her again and she sped out calling for him.

A body contacted her and a hoof was laid sternly on her shoulders.

“With the others come on,” he said pushing her into a large crowd. He nodded to his left. “Right side clear,” he said as she merged into the large blob of District Two bodies.

Chapter Thrity-Seven: Go

Sol's legs couldn't take her away fast enough. The image of teeth sinking into a guard still imprinted in her eyes like a photograph. Her heart was a frantic mess. They were there, they were beside here. She watched him die and could do nothing.

With frenzied steps she crossed the streets now afraid for her own life with the clattering hooves of others. Now she just wanted to get out, to run and hide.

She found the narrow alcove of a basement window and curled up inside it. She had been beside demons, how close she was herself to death.

She hid there for as long as possible but soon she was swarmed with guards who pulled her out without delicacy. They pushed her along the streets when battlecries were let loose. They scrambled through the alley, two were left with her as the rest disappeared.

“What's going on?” she asked.

“Just stay still, with us,” he said somehow now less stiff and yet twice as nervous.

Chapter Thirty-Eight: Distractions

The small group at the head rushed in, her horn glowing but she made the mistake of moving into the crowd. It took a frightened glance of another guard and she spun, to late. Fangs sunk into her neck, the figure rolled and shifted. A yell, “That one!” A stream of guards set off toward a dashing figure who only moved faster now that he was being chased.

Coal panted heavily as they wove through the alley. “Down,” Fang said and they ducked behind a small shed.

“This way!” a voice called and they rushed past the alley. A figure paused and looked into the darkness that the encroaching twilight caused. He made a stifled cry as his body crumpled and was pulled in.

A guard called back, “See something?”

“They went down there, go, I'll flank them!” Fang said and darted into the alley ditching his cover. “Too close,” he said and looked to Coal. 'What next?' he seemed to ask.

The truth was she didn't know. The night was creeping among them, and nothing was to plan. How could she have been so foolish. If she didn't pause for just that second they could have already broken through the glade. They could have moved with the guardians, even a simple diversion would have given her enough time...

A distraction.

All she needed to do was escape the district, yet she still didn't know the security around The Tree. They had to try. At this rate it was only a matter of time, and after the moon sunk over the horizon The Tree would being to gain strength once again, her window would be gone. Sadly it had come to this, but she had no other options. They were still frantically looking for them but outside that chaos their boarder continued to close. She knew the guards were moving up their gates, their boundries, and knew it was only a matter of time until this alley was searched, or the next home. They could wait until the guards entered a house and take them out, but what would happen if they didn't return, or didn't return with the same numbers? It was useless, she watched as they scanned their own ranks, as every time they gathered together again a detector was there waiting. They needed something big, something that would draw the guards out, an event that made them all think they had won.

“We're going to create a diversion,” she said. “Come, to the edge.”

They moved silently up the street, through the houses and out windows. She kept her eyes to the sky as pegasi with golden armor scanned the ground. They kept their distance from the checkpoints. Each overlapping with the rest, each secured against their attack. There was no taking all of them, even if they tried it would be a matter of seconds before the rest of the guard was on them. Their little stunt had spared her a few seconds, but nothing more. Already guards spread out from the attack's epicenter. Only their inexperience allowed her and her underlings to live. If they had been real guards or sandwalkers she would have been dead long ago.

Her breath was pulled in suddenly when a scouting party passed them and halted. She held her hoof up and they pulled themselves against a wall. There was no way to hide here, if they decided to look around they were caught. They changed their color to match the stone behind them and made ready to fight, a fight that would be their last. Her memories traced lines like a maze mapping out possible escape routes, but nothing came out clear. There were no more crowds to hide in, this was the area no one was supposed to be in, this was kill on contact. Her lungs screamed, her legs wanted to run but Scar had trained her better then that. She had been trained when to trust instinct and when to fight it.

“Matriarch Valor,” the lead Guardian said dipping her head. Coal's heart spiked up, then back down. She could rush out and make the kill now, but then it would all be over. They would be swarmed and lucky to draw another breath. 'Hold still,' Coal told herself. 'Valor,' Coal ran the name in her head. It had taken all the resolve she had not to leap out now and kill her.

“The lockdown is going as you planned, we had an incident and we've narrowed our search. We believe we know where they are,” she said.

“You don't,” Valor corrected. “Make no changes, they are slippery, they could be among you now, have you checked your own?” Surprise and fear lit up in her eyes.

“Uh no, I...”

“You don't know do you? Don't make assumptions, don't narrow the window. You close it as planned, back to your posts, now!” she ordered. They all complied.

Coal waited, the matriarch was alone, their backs to her. She made to move when the wind carried a trailing noise. She looked up to catch the departing figure of a pegasi and when she looked back Valor was gone. 'Better this way, stick to the plan Coal,” she told herself.

The box was closing further, already they needed to double back three times, and each time came closer to the mass of corralled District Two citizens. Each guarded heavily, more so now, and each was systematically scanned. The crowds were starting to dissipate, and their box was getting narrower by the second.

The barricade leapfrogged forward as an order was given. A wall of guards advanced down the line, and she heard, “Street clear!” to her right. They had closed another street, which left three.

Her heart ran again, they had made no progress, and it was now or never. They hid inside a building, five houses down from those that were being searched, five houses down from the edge of their box. It had been her turn to underestimate them. What they lacked in experience they made up in numbers and as the box closed they only closed together and sped up the process. Why didn't she make a move when she had the chance, why had she been so stupid? A curse slipped from her lips. 'Stick to the plan Coal,' she told herself.

“Fang, take this,” she said unstrapping the steel tube. “They want me right? The two of us will create a diversion while you escape, get to The Tree somehow, and kill it. They shouldn't know our numbers, lay as lo-”

“No lady,” he said cutting her off.

“I'm giving you an order Brother Fang,” she said using rank.

“And I'm rejecting it Lady,” he said. She gritted her teeth.

“What else would you have us do!” she yelled then held her breath. Now was not the time to lose her nerve or temper.

Fang twisted his neck, seemed to grow, and shifted his scales. He took her appearance, slightly shorter, but he could pass. “This will serve well enough,” he said in her voice and pushed the tube back to her. “You have served us well Lady, now allow us to serve you.”

The silence hung as she tried to swallow, as she tried to hold back tears. No, she had to be strong, for them. “Go,” she ordered, “and do us proud.”

As the door opened a faux Coal turned with a surprised look. The mass of guards stopped, stuck in the confusion of Valor's orders when finally a voice filled the air.

“You two, after her!” Warrant Fire ordered picking two from each search party. “You three, flank left. You...”

Her voice faded as Coal left from the back and crept along the darkness, her chest burned as her heart died.

Chapter Thirty-Nine: Battle is Chaos

Fang wove through the bodies like fluent water, his image shifting each second, as he twisted a guard came down with him. He rushed out, spun and tumbled with a guard. The guard rolled away panting. “Kill it!” he screamed. Bolts of lighting flicked into the body on the ground. It took only another second before Fang shifted, took down the caster and thrust himself into a group of six. As they regained their footing they looked to each face trying to find the imposter.

Claw ran toward them disrupting their attention under a diving pegasus. Two guards dropped under Fang as he rolled out and caught the dipping pagasus. Their bodies mingling on the ground. A guardian planted her hooves as armor streamed past her. She lit a star, held her head back and went to thrust it forward. As she did a hoof slammed into her skull sending her errant bolt into a crowd of guards. The explosion shattered ears. Their bodies flew until contacting the far wall, helmets and armor now melted into their cracking flesh.

The two of them battled an army, and they were holding. Lightning trailed off the ground as the guards tried to distance themselves. The melee fighters pulling behind the casters, but it was with no avail as the lightning caster fell, blood spouting from her throat. The chaos caused them to scan their own ranks. Fang and Lance closed the distance under the hail of bolts and thunder.

“Their leader is in the building, bring it down!” one seemed to call. Fang was glad they were so stupid.

A guardian lit up the group, their cover blown and she fabricated bolts that hovered in the air.

“No!” a guard tackled her, stopping her from firing into the group. “Are you mad?” he said looking into the now meshed group of shambling guards.

“All of you, stand apart, you up top get ready!” she said.

Fang cursed under his breath as they spread across the street. One at the far edges approached the buildings, close to a door. “You stop!” a voice called. All attention turned to him.

A guard passed a glance and nodded to Fang.

The body shifted into the appearance of Coal and dove into the building. It was instantly lacerated and filled with streamers of color. Dust billowed from the entrance as the rocks began to yield. Another figure shifted and skillfully closed the gap of the stunned guards who'd spread out. He had taken eight before they even tore their eyes from the collapsing building, the rubble spilled out and buried the guards surrounding it.

Valor pounced into the panicked fray.

“The hay is this?!” she called demanding answers. Warrant Fire was picked from the crowd, they now surrounded Lance, his back to the destroyed building.

“We have them Matriarch,” Fire said. “The large one was in the building when we brought it down, this is the other one.” she said. “Wait.” She looked around and Valor grimaced. “You three scan everything!”

They all looked to each other and made ready, as if their friends could suddenly become their worst enemy. All the guards looked disheveled, nervous, afraid. “The other escaped,” Fire said. “It doesn't make sense they just suddenly attacked. No matter he won't get away,” she said and called the pegisus to begin scanning the district.

“How many did you spot?” Valor asked.

“Two, their leader and this one.”

“Only two?”

Fire paused, and thought, instantly aware of her mistake. “You spread out, you into the skies. You get the injured out of here!”

“Kill it,” Valor said to a guardian. They surrounded him and stuck together. He dove at them but couldn't close the gap. His body rolled against the uprooted cobblestone, dead.

“You two, with me, to The Tree!” Valor ordered and sped off.

As Fire looked at the collapsed building and to the numerous wounded she was filled with a disquieting rage. How had only two of them taken down so many? Were they truly that weak? She watched a guard shamble around the rubble, as if lost. The rocks tumbled loosely as a body underneath tried to get free.

“Are you daft?” she roared, “Get him help!” She whirled around and ordered the rest to begin digging. As soon as they finished scanning the guardians helped as well.

Two pegasi pulled up a body buried under a large rock. “He's alive!” she yelled and he was placed on a stretcher.

Chapter Forty: Press On

The sound of battle came to them both, and they shook. Thunder cracked, and she saw rubble fly into the air, heard it tumble off the clay roofs.

The guard standing beside Sol rushed ahead toward the battle and yelled back, “Don't move!”

At first she didn't, the explosions froze her in place, her legs were unable to even vibrate. 'Get a hold of yourself Solar, you're a guardian, you're a guardian,' she thought. She couldn't stand here and do nothing, yet she couldn't move as the sounds of death kept coming back to her, as the image of the guard being pulled to his death floated before her eyes. As she repeated that mantra strength suddenly seemed to pulse back into her. With a new breath of determination she pushed forward following her previous escort.

An explosion caused her legs to falter and sent her toppling on the ground. She pushed herself up, she had to help, she was one of them. A guardian wasn't to be corralled, a guardian was meant to fight, to protect The Tree, and so she would.

Through the narrow alleys she saw other guards and guardians rushing forward. The bellow of more collapsing stone filled her ears. It was already ringing from the explosion previously, but she pushed on.

Yet as silence filled the air she too was filled with a sullen determination. She meant to follow the guards but became distracted by the blur of Valor rushing by. She pushed out of the alley and made to call after her. “No, she'll only tell me to get out of here,” she thought and ran after her.

They jumped through shortcuts that even Sol didn't know about, and darted through the districts like a map existed in her mind. Likely it did, no one knew these streets better then Valor. She was the matriarch, she had to.

Without pause Sol chased them until they reached the trolly. Valor pushed herself to the top and stood on the canvas, her horn and the trolly glowed.

Sol tried to run quickly and be quiet at the same time. Thankfully the other two guardians were scanning the scene in front of them and she managed to roll onto the back unnoticed. She hid in the lip that was used as a step and the cart lurched into motion. It wasn't long until they began passing through the districts, and the sense of normalcy here almost worried Sol. It was as if they didn't know a war was going on in their home district.

Valor landed in the middle, it shook the cart and almost pushed her off. Yet she learned soon it wasn't the impact. Valor lifted her up, the small unicorn glowing herself. When Valor released her she smacked into the floor and winced from the pain.

“What are you doing here Sol?” she asked, deadly serious.

“I want to help, I'm a guardian too!” she said knowing she wasn't really, not yet.

“There will be a time and a place for that Sol, you need to leave.”

“But I want to help, I can help, you've seen how I can fight,” Sol retorted but Valor would have none of it. She stopped the cart and ordered her off. When Sol wouldn't move Valor moved her personally.

Set sat on the cold cobblestone watching the trolly cut through the districts. The fireworks continued to blossom above her, and the smell of freshly cooked doughnuts filled the air.

“I'm not giving up,” she said.

Chapter Forty-One: Confrontation

Chapter Forty-One: Confrontation

Coal ran up the street as far as she could and held. The guards stationed there only leapfrogged the barriers once more and listened to the sounds of battle, almost nervously. Finally, when she was worried they would never break, she heard “All hooves, advance forward we've got them!” from the air.

They all sped off forward, but someone had commanded a few to remain behind. She cursed.

An explosion from what Coal could only guess was Guardian magic echoed off the walls and rang in her ears. The sounds of metal and magic skidding off stone stacked with the ensuring wind being fabricated. She had left them to die, to be buried under the rubble of her failure.

“What are you doing?” she yelled running up, her left leg uselessly training behind her. Her hair was charred, signs of battle on her face, the helmet scarred. “They need help, they're all in there,” she called then collapsed. They both ran up to help her.

“Are you okay?” he said helping her up being careful not to cause more injury.

“Yeah,” she said spitting blood. She cursed her own stupidity but they didn't notice how it splattered black on the ground. “I just-” her voice shattered in an explosion of coughing.

Another crack made them cringe and they saw the plumes of dust. “They're tearing us apart, there were so many, I... We-” she said holding her side. “Help them.”

Two other guards from the nearby barricade came over and helped her up but she screamed in pain and them dropped her. They all flinched back as she whimpered on the ground then tried to stand.

“I didn't mean to I just, uh...” one stammered as he was passed glances. It was perfect, she had broken their moment of resolve and clarity.

“Get her to medical help, you two with me let's go,” he ordered and they sped off trying to reach the fray in time.

Coal limped with his help past the second line of barricades that now lay deserted She was surprised how serious, and how easily tricked they were. The noises in the background had died, and it worried her, it meant her underlings were dead, or worse, captured. The thought of Lance, of The Tree as she was brought before it filled her with dread. She was would death upon them before she wished that.

'Fang,' she thought. If not for him she would have still been bound chain and collar. It had been him that brought her though so much and now he could lay dead behind her. How much they had to sacrifice.

Before they approached the small barricade where others gathered she dropped the guard helping her. With the deserted streets it was easy, and his lifeless body was slid into an alley. There were a few guards still scattered at the entrance, some wore red markers on their legs designating them as medics, or other specialty services. They all paced around nervously trying to envision the battle as it unfolded. A few pegasi came back to relay information, and one such instance sent a couple running toward the center. There were no other Guardians here, they were all supposed to be forward, catching those the guards corralled.

It was without a second thought she slipped past them with disguise and headed toward the center of all the districts, the glade and it's cloverleaf walls.

It wasn't far, and required only meed subterfuge. She of course stayed hidden, she wouldn't risk disguise alone in case she did run into a detector. Whether it was luck that was on her side she was unsure. A quick glimpse back to the now silent distance told her that a little luck could have gone a long way. 'Luck for them perhaps,' she thought.

She trailed along the buildings noting the guardians that stood there stoically. Two guarded each entrance but she was sure there were more around. If that wasn't the case it was possible they were summoned to the center. It was clear they had no idea of their numbers, how many had been sent for only two of them? She was proud of their abilities, there were few others in history stacked against such odds.

The loop around the glade took more time then she wanted, it wouldn't be long before they noticed she wasn't really there and she had no idea how long Fang and Claw had really stalled them. Soon they would surround The Tree with more soldiers then she could get past. She only needed a few seconds, but still. Perhaps it would be easier with more soldiers, easier to slip into the fray? No, she had wasted time enough already, there would be no more second chances.

As she approached District Six, on the opposite end, explosion and light filled the air. It drove her scales up and she dove into a shadow. Fireworks scattered the night, and she wasn't sure to be thankful of their boisterous cover, or regret their revealing light.

As she reached the far entrance the two guardians stood there, one asleep against the wall. She crept out in Valor's form and thundered, “What are you two doing!?”

They immediately jumped to attention. “Oh, uh, Matriarch,” he said. She approached closer, and made ready to put them both down instantly but held her ground, this was too similar.

With a twist of her head she pulled a shield up. The impact still sent her sliding backward on the slick cobblestone. The dust settled and in the grey green roar of fireworks that painted the light Coal could see the last obstacle standing between her and The Tree. The expression on her face almost seemed to change with the colors, dying again to lamplight before another burst above them.

“You play a terrible me,” Valor said.

The stone felt suddenly hot beneath her and the buildings edged closer, as if to crush her. 'No, focus Coal,' she told herself looking for avenues of escape, methods of deception. But inside those eyes she saw no wavering. If she was going to get through it was going to be head on.

Voices cried in the background, children playing, a few boxes toppling, she didn't flinch once. Both of them stood, ready, eyes locked. Unicorn soldiers advanced toward her, and she instinctively retreated back until she felt the stonework of a building touch her. The cool of the rock sent a shiver through her spine, a warning, a threat of what could come. She was so close! The leaves spread over the wall gently, as if not daring to reach any further outside it's comfortable home. The sweet smell that came from inside the glade washed over her, making her temporarily woozy, sick, excited, and relaxed all at once. She brushed it off easily and flicked her head from soldier to soldier. Each seemed ready to lash out, to strike her down with a nod from the all-mother standing behind them. This was how they had hunted prey when it roamed the sands still. They backed it into a corner, waited until it lunged in attempt to escape, then took its life with a hunters efficiency.

The surrounding area gave her nothing, it held it's secrets and told her lies. 'There's no escape, you're going to die here, Coal, your screwed.'

“Damn,” she cursed under her breath looking for something, anything before the fatal moment when they would wait no longer, when she would deflect the first and maybe the second attack before they ripped her body from her bones.

Chapter Forty-Two: Onlooker

Sol rushed through the crowds toppling boxes and carts as she did so. “I'm sorry,” she yelled back as another stand was sent flying, doughnuts on a stick toppling in the air before kids pounced on them like hungry pack dogs. The fireworks distorted her sense of direction and alley ways kept ending abruptly. Where was the trolly when you needed it?

She cursed herself when she took a wrong turn and made to double back, she had wasted so much time! “No, no more going around,” she said.

With placed and steady hooves she backed up, leaned in and took off running. The building approached her rapidly and she made as if to crush through it. Closing her eyes for only a second her hooves glowed. With a soft bounce she bent her legs and thrust upward. The cobblestone around her cracked and she was sent skyward.

Clay shingles buckled under her impact and she began sliding off before grappling to a smoke stack. They skies were clear of smoke tonight, no one was cooking in their homes with the festival.

Another burst above her, this one almost sending her sliding down. It was as if they were deliberately trying to shoot her down, and was reminded of the books about war and things called cannons. With strength back in her legs she set off across the clay pathway skipping from house to house. The jumps got harder the closer she got to the glade, the houses spaced further apart. Amplified jumping took a lot out of her, combined with the pace and her precarious footing. Her lungs heaved and her legs demanded she stop. There was no stopping though, Solar knew what she had to do, where they would be. It was only a matter of time and she had to get there now.

Bodies skirted below, the normal gathering of the festival. “How could they be so naive?” she said. She followed the peakes keeping mind of the gaps as they appeared until she had to use a balcony to descend. No one noticed her, all eyes were at the fireworks, and she was only a dark distraction. One looked casually to her as she landed but didn't seem to care.

It was painful to keep this pace but she did. A group of young ones passed her and she had to weave in and out of them as they dashed around, the one behind blindfolded. “I'll get you!” he yelled as he tried to tag them. It brought a smile to her face and reminded her what she was protecting, why she was willing to die to save all this, and why she must hurry.

She rounded the last corner slowly and ducked into an alley. Only faint trails of the fireworks gave away her position amidst the grocer's boxes and baskets. She watched them corral the demon, back her into a wall, and waited until they finished her off. She wanted to be out there with Valor, to stand beside her, but she knew that jumping out in this situation would only distract a guardian, or even Valor, and she wouldn't give such an advantage to the demon. Solar was smarter then that, she had been trained well. Images danced in her head, of her wearing Valor's armor, of her standing where Valor was right now with the same pride and honor she held. With the control she exerted and the sense of position. How she seemed to command the small battlefield before her as if her will was the only thing holding the scene together, a chess board, pieces for her to move. The guardians fiercely loyal. 'No wonder,' Solar thought and waited for Val to give the order, the words that would finally see them everlasting peace.

Chapter Forty-Three: Conversations with Air

Coal switched her gaze from soldier to soldier. Each equipped with magic that could bring her down. She was stronger then them, smarter then them, more agile then them but she was in no position to use any of it. There was no single move she could make that would get her out, and she could not play the pride of Valor to her advantage as she had the commander. She wouldn't die like this, not here, not while she was so close. No, too many had sacrificed themselves for her to get here. Memories of her underlings flooded her mind. If only...

“How can you defend something so evil?” Coal asked, her muscles bound by their stances, but her words were not. “How can you stand here between us knowing what you're doing?”

A laughter filled the air, it was sweet but carried the undertones of vanity.

“Must you always lie demon? Are you incapable of truth?” Valor asked back. A smile crept along her face, she knew she had won. It was this smile that brought Coal a glimmer of hope, it was a hint of arrogance, of being underestimated. Yet the creature before her was far from a fool, there were steps to be made, for Coal would walk on her namesake.

“We both know what that thing is doing, we both know why I'm here. You call us evil and yet you allow us to die. How convenient, it keeps the blood from your hooves,” Coal said stepping to the side, gauging the soldiers reaction.

“Your kind made your decision,” Valor said.

“We tried to free you, free us!” Coal retorted. “Free the land!”

“The land? Oh how noble. And free us? From what?! Look around you demon, what have we accomplished. I shall tell you what we are free from. We are free from hunger, from disease and illness, we're free from poverty and division of wealth, we're free from political strife, from war. We've cured all these things. Look around you, this is prosperity, this is success, this is freedom. The land is ours, it always has been, and it is ours to take from as we see fit.”

“You're wrong, and until that tree dies we will be at your boarder.”

“It doesn't matter now, after this night is over the barrier will be indestructible, impassable, but you knew that already didn't you, isn't that why you were sent?” She scoffed. “You and your kind will die in the sands, as it should have been. Queen Emerald should have killed you all when she had the chance, you should be thankful she was so merciful.”

“That's mercy?” Coal asked. “Mercy is collapsing our tunnels while our young slept inside, mercy is slaughtering our broodmothers as they tried to flee, mercy is burning our spires and wiping our existence from the land. Mercy is taking all that we helped to create, to build, the gardens we grew, all of it. That's mercy?”

“Yes, and you should be thankful. Your queen lived didn't she, cowering away while the others died? Some queen,” she baited. Coal twitched knowing what it was and held her ground. “She's dead now I'm sure, I know what it must be like out there.”

“You know nothing,” Coal returned.

“I know that soon you're all going to die. I know we'll have a land free of scourge. This land was ours by birthright, and it shall be ours now,” Valor said.

This time it was Coals turn to laugh. “You really are stupid aren't you? What land are you claiming? The sand, the rocky mountains we live under, the small plots of grass in the highlands the griffons hold to? The dead oceans and the dried rivers? There are husks of real trees spread in the far reaches, petrified, a stone graveyard. All markers for what your tree has done. Is that the land you're inheriting?” Coal shook her head. “It's unbecoming of you to make such stupid remarks, we both know the truth.”

Valor said nothing at first and only met Coal's steel gaze. “This land will be pure, and clean, and it will be ours,” she said.

“If only Her Majesty were quicker, if only she saw the blight she helped to create sooner,” Coal said to no one but herself.

“But she wasn't and was intercepted just like you have been. Isn't it ironic? It's almost like playing out that event so many years ago. Only this time it will end with your total eradication.”

The soldiers around her shifted position, the four making ready, they divided up already among them, the plan a passed message between their quick glances. Who would block, who would strike, how, when and why. She was outnumbered but damned if she would go down without a fight. There was no time left and here she would meet finality.

“I haven't come here to lose,” Coal said under her breath. In the corner of her good eye she saw Valor's lips move, saw her giving the order and she turned back to the guards ready for anything. That's when she saw it, that's when she saw five. Pride over anything else burst inside her like the fireworks still raining above. How clever he was, how smart, how dedicated. In that moment, despite the overwhelming odds she found hope. They had underestimated her, underestimated them, and it would be their undoing.

As the soldiers turned to execute their orders, as they made to rid the blight from the land, the blight bit back. The soldier on the far left shifted, dove and cut a guardian down. The rest flinched, twisted, and broke like toppling domino's. In a moment of green magic that split the night Coal sent them skidding along the cobblestone, their armor scraping and ringing with jagged melody.

Fang turned and struck out again, weaving in and out of the magic that now flew toward them both. Coal lowered herself and lit the air above them. A hail of blue shrapnel rained down, blocked by Valor who had dove in and shielded her soldiers. The air burst in front of Coal and she narrowly avoided it. The concussion rocked her and Valor used it. As she slipped on the now liquid cobblestone she saw Fang twist as barbs dove into his body.

Coal landed, rolled and froze the shifting cobblestone. In another instant she was running forward shielding Fang and returning the bolts that continued to fly. Valor flanked and sent Coal toppling through the air. The moment her head hit the stone of a building wall something pierced her wing. She blocked the rest of the projectiles then planted her back legs.

Chapter Forty-Four: Fight, Flight or Freeze

As the battle ensured Sol found herself locked. Suddenly everything seemed to real, the bolts searing through flesh, the impact of magic strong enough to break bones, one small slip and one died. In her moment of courage she was unable to move forward. In her mind she screamed names at herself, and demanded herself to move, to do something, to help Valor. Tears ran from her face and into her mouth through clenched teeth. 'I'm such a coward,' she thought.

Her hoof touched the outside of the alley and magic streaked across it striking her. It ran through her body and out the other end making every nerve in her body light. It brought tears into her eyes from both the pain, and the shame she felt for herself. What was she thinking? There was no way she could match the moves of Valor, of the guardians who fought just inside her view. They danced with the Changeling leader, matching the demon hoof to hoof. Their magic spilled into the night and threatened to overcome the fireworks that burst over head. How painful it was to sit here and watch, but in that moment she realized just how useless she was.

Chapter Forty-Five: Endgame

“Enough,” Coal roared. The wall began to shake and stones rattled like jagged teeth. She bellowed, her voice ripping through the ground, cobblestones shaking as magic ruptured around her, as the air screamed. Her muscles tensed violently and as she lunged forward the house came with her. The rocks wrapping around her hooves tore from their sockets like one plucks a flower. She shifted setting a stage of brief silence before she ripped rock asunder and threw it toward Valor with a thousand pounds of fury. The rock flew obliterating the magic that was hurled at it.

Fang slipped out of the way easily as half boulders slammed into the ground tearing up detailed cobblestone. The rocks flew and skipped off the ground. They broke Valor's first shield like patchwork glass. With a scream the rocks scattered in every direction, an explosion without fire. Yet as the rocks were sent airborne Coal dove from above, taking advantage of the chaos. Valor rocked back, deflected the first bolt, caught Coal, and sent her into the ground behind them. A metallic melody skidded against the ground, Coals ears picked it up instantly, 'The spear!'

Once Valor returned to her feet she dug into the ground with her head and twisted up, clearly in pain. Coal scrambled toward the tube but had to dive back as the ground disintegrated in a line from Valor to her. It was only another second until Coal was blocking rabid attacks. Her feet slid against the ground uprooting cobblestone that had been shaken loose. She was losing. No traction could be found, every step she took forward sent her two back, sparks skipped off her deteriorating shield. Finally it broke and against the sound of ripping flesh she could hear the tearing of her own scales. When she impacted the grove wall silence fell over her. Spikes dug into her body and pain lit through her chest. A blurry image of Valor rapidly approached her. 'Never,' Coal thought. As she took herself from the wall a strength built in her legs. Not strength from magic but from herself. With a twist she avoided streams of lightening, and she watched Valor bring up her shield. 'Not this time.' Instead Coal ran in and landed a hoof in the face of an unsuspecting Valor. It sent her rocking back and she was met with equal resistance.

Their brawling finally distanced Valor, her back to the crumbling building. Her horn glowed but Coal gave her no time as she attacked again landing another blow. Every time Valor pushed and tried to cast Coal filled the void instantly. They grappled hoof to hoof, sweat and blood making patters on the ground.

“Brute,” Valor insulted. Coal wanted to retort but her lungs wouldn't let her. Valor pushed back and Coal let her. As she prepared to land another blow something crushed every rib in her left side. She buckled to the ground.

“Fang,” she called out. He laid, a damaged lump of flesh on the ground, his dull eyes looking at her, his legs still trying to find a way to rise up. Two guardians stood beside Valor, the other two dead. They were all breathing heavy with blood soaked jaws, one was missing an eye.

Coal struggled to find purchase on a ground that now seemed to unstable. She glared at Valor who was apparently trying to adjust her jaw.

“You hit me pretty hard,” she said. “Who fights with their hooves?” she asked.

Coal wasn't done yet. Her eyes licked over the ground and finally found what she was looking for. With quivering legs she half stood before buckling down on a knee.

A grin crawled across Valor's face. “Weren't you going to tower above me?” She laughed as her horn started to glow. “Oh please, spare my life!” Valor mocked.

“No,” Coal returned. With a twist that caused one of Coal's ears to pop the building came crashing down burying an unsuspecting Valor and her two guardians. A moment of silence as Coal waited, nothing.

With trembling legs she stood upright, and retrieved the tube. The grove seemed to grow before her, the entrance a wide split in the stonework. There was no time for deviation but she went to Fang instead. He was hardly alive.

“Is that you Lady?” he asked, his face no more then burnt flesh, his eyelids sealed shut. Blood ran from his ears, he could no longer hear.

“Yes Fang,” she said anyway and rubbed his head. “It's okay.” She wanted to comfort him, ease him. The last of her brood lay before her dying. He was the only one that survived the sands, who was born without mutations and deformations. He lived while the others died. She was an unsuccessful broodmother, and soon after was declared infertile; Fang was the only one. 'What am I supposed to do?' she asked now suddenly unsure. The other broodmothers had raised their own broods, but Coal was considered too young, too inexperienced, too reckless to take on such a task. As they both aged and Fang was handed over to her she raised him the only way she knew how, as a sandwalker. There was no time for bonding, for love or compassion. In the sand one flinched and died.

“I'm sorry I was never a mother to you Fang,” she said, tears now trailing from her eyes. “I'm sorry I brought you here to die.”

“I've always loved you Lady,” he said. “Go.” His voice wasn't even a whisper, she read his lips. With her eyes closed, she couldn't bear to watch, she struck out and returned him to the land. There was nothing left in her to let him suffer.

“I'm going to finish this,” she told him and walked into the grove.

Last Chapter

Coal raised her head, the world a smudged canvas before her. 'Just lie down, just stop,' a voice seemed to tell her. She wanted to, she wanted it to all be over. Every muscle in her body screamed for release, the scales on her left side were completely torn off and the flesh underneath continued to cook. The piercing pain in her chest told her ribs were broken, and the lack of air caused her head to spin further.

Blood distorted her vision as it poured over her face. With a raised hoof that screamed of shattered bones she tried to stop the blood. Her mind still dazed, her focus no better then her body. 'Give up, you can rest now, sleep,' the voices told her again. Oh how she wanted to. 'You're done, you're tired, sleep Coal,' they continued.

“There!” a voice rang out. It snapped her into focus. Her mind slammed into her body and with it all the pain. It overwhelmed her and ordered her to stop, it screamed at her to die.

“No, I'm not done yet,” she said through gritted teeth. She could taste the dull metallic tang of her own blood as it continued to run. Her legs denied her and she toppled forward only catching on her knee. It had taken almost every last ounce in her just to get that far... “I'm not done yet!” she said again, as if ordering her body.

The young mare stood over the rod and as she raised a hoof panic filled Coal's mind. 'Not yet!'

Silence hung in that moment as everything sped before Coal. Her life in the caves, her deformed brood. Miles of dunes ran in front of her from the days as a sandwalker. The same sands that had brought her here, sands that blew in the barrier as she broke it with the strength and life of another. And the lives under the barrier. Those she had taken and those she had met. Like this one. Air filled Coal's lungs as Solar's hoof plummeted down.

“Your mother!” Coal cried. Solar flinched and missed the rod as she turned abruptly to Coal.

“What did you say?” she demanded, the fire being fed fuel. “What do you know about my mother, what would you ever know!”

“I know old age didn't kill her,” Coal said with all the calm her injuries could allow.

Solar scoffed, the rod still under hoof. “Well your wrong, and if that didn't kill her, what did.”

“Look behind you,” Coal told her, though she didn't move.

Now Solar smirked. “A tree killed Mom. The Tree killed Mom,” she said trailing off with a chuckle. “Valor was right, you're nothing but lies. Well, it's all over now.” She turned back to the rod and looked down on it. So frail, so weak, and yet it was designed to kill the most powerful existence in the land.

“You asked why once,” Coal said. “I didn't give you an answer.” Now her voice denied nothing, the pain and suffering behind it amplifying the words and warping them into breathing creations. Solar's face opened and awareness filled her. 'The trolly,' she mouthed.

“The Tree is why. That tree has taken everything from the land, it's taken the very soul of the earth. It has bled every river and every lake, it has dried the oceans and killed the great plains. Mountains have toppled under its sway and the forests have long since withered and died. We've all paid tribute to The Tree,” she said.

“You're lying, The Tree is the keeper of life!”

“Yes, it is the keeper of life. It has bled the land, and those who live within it.”

“Lies, all lies, you wanted the city for yourself, you wanted to take everything!”

“We fought together once, against griffons on one side and dragons on another. We used The Tree's barrier for protection against their spells and against their armies. We ate the fruit that it bared. Yet even we did not understand the cost then, not our Queen tried to kill it,” she said. “Look around you, the barrier, and the life under it. Even magic comes from somewhere, nothing is free. The roots run deep and to the far reaches of the land. It soon will burrow into our tunnels and caves, and into the highlands of the griffons. Soon it will bleed us from the land as well and when we are gone, only you will be left.”

Solar's eyes moved from understanding, to belief, to disbelief then to anger.

“What lies you spew,” she shook her head as she spoke. Her horn glowed threateningly, she wanted to snuff this demon from the world.

“It's already convinced you that life is short, that what lies beyond is unnecessary that the stars are not worth seeing. It is a parasite and we are the host. Have you ever wondered if it's keeping us out, or you in?”

“No, no! Your full of lies, you want us dead, you have to. It can't be true.” Images of Clover flickered in her mind, of the collapsed tunnels, of the pact and of the old map.

“It's been three hundred years since we were expunged from the city. Our kind is weak and dying. Our broods come out twisted and deformed from the sands, we have no strength left. No matter how I return to the land our kind will likely not survive.”

“Then why?” Solar asked.

“This land used to be beautiful, and it used to be home. If we, if I, am to die, I want to know I gave the land hope again. I'd like to think that if we did survive our broodlings would see color again. Could smell the flowers as they grew in the millions. I want them to live a full life without needing to bleed themselves to stave off the sand's poison. Our kind's choose our own champions, our own heroes, but then land has no one. Today I fight for that which cannot fight for itself.”

Solar shook her head. “No, no, no, no!” she cried. “Lies, all lies, stop filling my head with lies. What would we do huh? If you destroyed all this, what then?!” she demanded.

“It would not be easy, and most of you would die. We would offer refuge to those who made it, and together we might survive. I offer it to you if your kind could ever accept. Our kinds will both suffer.”

“Then why? Why?! Do you hate us, do you want us to suffer too?”

“No, I want a world without the need for suffering, a better tomorrow,” Coal said. “For a world that's worth dying for.”

Tears flicked off Solar's face as she shook her head as if to shake the thoughts away. “You're stupid, this is stupid, no,” she said.

“You can choose,” Coal said. “For the first real time in your life, you can choose.”

“What right do you have huh? To just take everything away, we're happy here, like this. You could have been too if you stayed here. But you didn't. Why is it fair to us?” she asked.

“It's not, it's not fair to anyone,” Coal said bluntly.

Solar refused to accept anything yet it was beyond her to crush the spear that rested at her hooves. “I can't,” Solar said. “I can't accept that.” She turned to the spear with renown vigor, and finality. She raised her hoof then twisted her head in surprise. “Valor?”

Coal burst up with strength she didn't know existed. A light pop of magic sent Solar backward, she regained her footing quickly. The spear glowed, lifted and began forward when Coal slammed against The Tree. Her head slammed back and her ears rang. Stars swam in her vision as it shifted from white to black to something in the middle.

Solar made for the spear.

An injured Valor lumbered over the roots with heaving lungs. There was little evidence of her original color. What was not burnt off was covered in dust and dirt. “You... Miserable... Pest...” she said.

She neared Coal, her horn glowing at the ready. “I'm going to kill you,” she paused to breath, “so many ways.”

“The Tree will kill you all in the end,” Coal replied. She didn't know where Valor was, the images danced in front of her.

Solar stood behind Valor, pinning the spear down.

“That may be so,” she said, “but I will kill you first. Then it will kill the rest... of you...” She now stood before Coal. With a faint chuckle she said, “The land belongs to us, as it always did” she paused for air, “we only took what was ours by right.” Her cracked horn glowed then popped and as she pushed forward she flinched back in pain, billowing curses. Coal wanted to move, wanted to strike out but her body would no longer move. There was no feeling below her neck.

“Valor!” Solar cried out and made toward her. Valor raised a hoof keeping her at bay.

“I'll kill you with my bare hooves,” she said spitting blood.

“Do it coward,” Coal replied.

Valor stood on her hind legs her hooves raised high. “You shall never leave this place!”

A faint smile crossed Coal's lips as her horn glowed. “I never meant to.” She pulled every bit of her remaining life into one last pull. The rod rattled on the ground as Valor's hooves came down. Solar dove but the rod thrust forward piercing Valor. It ran through her chest and into the side of Coal's neck.

The tall unicorn staggered back with lifeless eyes, then her body crumpled.

“Valor!” Solar screamed running toward her.

Coal's ears rang, and her vision blotted as it started to fade. Her lungs stopped working, and her heart stilled until the blood stopped pouring from her wounds. She could feel the tree behind her twist and churn as if thousands of worms writhed under the skin of bark. What could only be described as the sounds of death wailed from the grove and roots began cracking. Splinters jut up like splitting earth and leaves began raining with dull brown embers.

Solar turned to Coal, vengeance spilling across her face. Her horn glowed as she approached and made ready to lash out when a crack tore the night apart. A sharp wind gusted in bringing a wicked chill. The fury picked up the leaves as if they were never there leaving only the cobweb of ancient branches. They too were withered and shrunk into themselves. Small fragments of reflective barrier showered down and landed soundlessly on the ground below.

Solar only looked up dumbfounded as the last of the barrier collapsed and the light of the solstice moon poured in.

“It's beautiful isn't it?” Coal asked with blood choked words. Valor turned to her, tears filling her face. Death granted Coal her last words, her heart had long ceased functioning, her lungs ornaments. “It's your land now, take care of it,” she said as her world filled with darkness. She was just happy to see the stars, one last time.

Chapter Six: Battened Dreams

Magma dripped like rain as the leaves fell around her. Their charred edges glowing, throbbing, as if they were fighting a plague. The maelstrom continued despite her cries, her tear streaked face. Wind swooned as she summoned it, and it did naught but fan the flames. All the water she could conjure up only trailed into the air as steam. Laughter filled the grove as a shadow figure+ crept along the ground. The crescent moon in the sky a mocking sneer.

Solar ran toward the tree, toward the burning alter. There was no refuge against the cindering bark but her legs moved themselves. The darkness spread until she was covered, until the tree was covered. The stonework that surrounded the grove crumbled as if it had suddenly just given up. The city followed suit, windows splintering before they fell allowing the fire to dance off the reflections.

Her screams filled the room as she shot awake, sweat drenching her body and bed. She whimpered slightly and shut her eyes as tightly as she could. It did nothing but bring the images back.

“Solar, solar?” A voice cried out. Her father came up the stairs with haste, but respect knowing instantly what had happened. He dropped beside his crying daughter. “It's okay, everything is going to be okay,” he said as he rubbed her head.

“It was horrible dad, they... The Tree, there was...” she trailed off.

“Nightmares happen honey, you're just under a lot of stress, and pressure and...” he too trailed off. “It'll be okay,” he finished.

“I want Mom to come back home,” she said as she buried herself in her father.

“I know honey, me too, me too,” he said laying his head against her. “We'll visit her tomorrow, okay? She'll want to know how your tests go.”

“Yeah,” she responded.

“But for now you need your rest, you have a big day coming up.”

“Dad?” she asked.

“Yes?” he responded.

“Can you sleep with me, just for tonight?”

“Of course,” he said. She didn't reply and fell asleep under the light of a crescent moon.

Chapter Nine: Dark Forests

“So... why exactly are we out here on not on leave like I'm supposed to be?” Thunder asked.

“Orders,” Top replied.

“Buck orders,” Thunder retorted, “I'm supposed to be drinking and getting with the ladies.”

“Riiight,” Pander said rolling his eyes. Like the time ya' got backhooved at the bar, or when Crimson dumped yer ale on you, or when-”

“Okay, okay I get it, but damn at least I try!” Thunder exclaimed.

“Try and fail,” Top jibed from the side.

“Why I hang out with you guys,” Lightening said, and they all laughed as they continued patrol.

The light made cut-out doodles on the grassy floor through the leaves. Thunder looked up and watched a soft breeze echo in the branches. He always did like this area, it was peaceful and besides one could fall asleep in here and not get caught. The thought brought a grin to his face.

They relaxed around the stone marker engraved with a small, brass plaque. The little ring of trees allowed for a larger plot of grass and still give shade. When on duty together it wasn't uncommon for them to slack off here, though this time they were legitimately waiting.

“What'da you so cheerful about Mr. I-don't-get-leave?” Pander asked.

“Aand happy feelings gone, thanks Mr. I-gotta-remind-everyone-why-their-life-sucks.”

Pander just shrugged. “Makes my life seem better,” he said with a grin.

“Ass,” Thunder jibed back.

Top perked up. “Oh hey it's the other shift, sweet,” he said.

“A' last!” Pander said getting to his hooves.

“I dunno, I was fine relaxing here, I've gotta clean the mess hall now,” Thunder scoffed.

“Wow, dey really did shaft ya eh?” Pander said a mild chuckle in his voice.

“Eyup,” Thunder replied finally getting up.

“Well I'm starving, I don't know 'bout you guys but damn, shift, then inspection. I mean, that sucks. I had duties, sleep for 'bout an hour, then this patrol. Something is def' up, but I don't care, I just want foood,” Top complained.

“Hey hey, if it isn't my favorite group of slackers,” a voice said entering the ring. They stopped leaning against the trees and bounced up.

“Master Corporal Fire,” Top said. “You're taking our shift?”

She chuckled. “Chill boys, I'm a grunt today too apparently, hu-rah eh?” They smiled and loosened up. “Besides I got these two with me, the slacker in them will balance our team out. Isn't that right Private Rock?” she said shoving him with a hoof.

“All that power is going to your head Master Corporal,” Rock said.

“Well yeah, you get to be a jerk when you get this little leaf,” she joked pointing to the rank on her shoulder. “Get outta here boys, get some rest you deserve it.”

“Well I still got stuff to do after thi-”

“Hey who are they?” Rock said getting their attention. They all paused and looked into the trees.

“Hey!” Fire called out, no reply. She nudged one of her companions over. “Go and see who that is Dye, we should be the only shift out here.” As she set out Fire shook her head. “Fua, the shifts have been so mangled since yesterday. They'll be the third I've sent back to sha-” She paused when she saw the three bolt off into the woods. Dye disappeared chasing them.

“You three fan out to our flanks, catch them if they strafe,” she ordered, now suddenly serious. “Rock with me, standard four pace spacing.” They set off with an even canter, a sense of urgency without being frantic.

It wasn't long until they were standing where Dye had been. “Where the buck did that lass go?” she said to herself. “Dye?” she called. “Corporal Dye!” Nothing. “Fan-bucking-tastic, why always me, always bucking me.” She cursed more under her breath as she ordered them again. “Someone is going to be on mess duty for a bucking eternity if this is a joke...”

“Hey Top, yer too far!” She heard Pander call. Now an alarm went off in her head.

“Close your formation, standard treeline patrol drills!” she yelled. 'Yeah and how often do we do these drills?' she asked herself. 'I miss the old days when we did exercises and were prepared for crap like this.' With continued vigilance she scanned the treeline and motioned them forward.

A voice called down, and Rock relayed it to her, “Top buggered off somewhere.”

Fire shook her head. “Keep an eye out,” she called.

It bothered Rock. “Yes,” he said.

“Where are they, they're too far,” she said with gritted teeth. “I said close formation!” she yelled.

Pander came trotting back and she raised a hoof as if asking why he wasn't doing what he was told. “Top's gone,” he said.

“I know,” she replied frustrated. “Hey Thunder see anything?” she called over. Silence. 'He was there two seconds ago,' she thought and ran a string of curses under her breath.

“Stay close,” she ordered and they closed in. “Rock, fly outta here and find Sergeant Lock.” He nodded and ascended.

“Slow and steady,” she said to Pander who was now obviously unnerved. “Watch each others back, stay calm.”

“Yes Master-Corporal,” he replied with a voice that sounded like it had been flattened with a rock.

Her eyes flicked to every tree, every fallen branch and every noise. The soft wind played a melody through the branches and she cursed it. They had nearly been in contact the entire time, but she kept checking over he shoulder to see if Pander was still there. “We're almost out,” she said to him.

She noticed movement in the corner of her eye, turned and bellowed. “Hey you!”

“Master Corporal,” Top called but in the wrong direction. She twisted to see Top trotting toward her. “Sorry I got separated and, hey, where are they?” he asked.

She turned and Pander was gone. Where he used to be was a light trail and at the end of that- She darted toward the image disappearing into the words then realized her folly. Hooves ground in and she twisted meeting the black fury of fangs head on. They toppled and spun. Her hooves dug into his side and she managed to right herself. He wouldn't- it wouldn't get away.

As her enemy made to escape she pounced, coming down on him hard. The feeling of yielding bones under her hooves pleased her and she raised up for the final blow but stars burst before her, the world spun and before she knew it the trees were where the ground should have been. Fang marks marred her lower leg. She wouldn't have known if she didn't see them. Her entire leg was numb, no, it was dead. A bellow exited from her lungs as she forced herself up and evaded quickly. Three legs but she wouldn't go down that easy.

She lowered herself, one to the right, injured, the one in front of her, she readied herself. He lunged toward her and she twisted -they didn't make her hoof to hoof combat instructor for nothing- and jabbed out. He crumpled and before the other could pounce she ducked sending him crashing into the other.

With rage in her eyes she advanced on them again but voices behind caught her off guard.

“There she is!” Rock called.

They swarmed around the three of them. Twelve guards at the ready, Sergeant Lock leading. He took steady and determined steps toward her. “Capture them all, don't kill them, the commander would love to see this.” His sideways glances at her sent chills up Fire's spine.

“Sergeant, thank The Tree you're here, I could on-”

“Save it demon!” he bellowed. “Detain it,” he ordered.

“Sergeant it's me!” she called as they advanced toward her. “It's me! Your birthday was one week ago, your daughter's name is Alice,” she blurted out.

The sergeant twisted to Rock. “I was almost tricked too Sergeant, she almost had me, I...” he shook his head and pointed to a large wound on his side. “See what it did.”. Awareness lit up in her eyes.

“It's him!” she pointed to Rock. He backed away slightly.

“Don't believe her, she's-”

“What's Rock's next duty?” she asked.

He stammered and they turned, ready to pounce. “I, uh, it's at the mess hall,” he said.

“Wrong, you're on duty with me, all day,” she said.

Before the sergeant opened his mouth the other two sprang up. The sergeant crashed to the ground, guards piling on top. The other intercepted the pegasus speeding toward the fake Rock.

“Brother, go!” Grave yelled. “She needs you!”

A blue burst of fire sent Fang wordlessly flying before he crashed against a tree. He lumbered to his feet, armor clad warriors advancing on him. Magic darts filled the air, he blocked his face, piercing blades ripping up his scales. With legs that begged to fall he made ready, his form now broken.

The lead guard spun, fangs sinking into the one to his left. The guard to his right twisting in a mesh of black and white. The two changelings stood their ground, their backs to Brother Fang.

“We can't win, Lady Coal needs you,” he said, concern in his voice.

“Go Fang,” Fury said, “before it's too late.”

“I'll honor your sacrifice's,” he said as guards were already on them.

“We know you will, now get out of here!” he bellowed as bodies twisted around him. Fang ran as quickly as his legs could carry him as the sounds of battle died behind.

Fire sped toward the ensuing battle but those two were either more skilled then she estimated or the guards were horribly incompetent, she guessed the latter. Even with two legs she jumped over the crowd and landed on one of them. More cracking bones under her hooves, good. She landed another in his leg as he pulled it before his face. It twisted back making a sound even the guards heard.

“Get out of my way, after the other one!” she bellowed. Three guards took flight and she squared off. Four other guards flanked her. “Stand down, you'll only get killed like the rest,” she said advancing on the limping black creature before her.

“Here you die,” she said and pounced. He dodged but she was ready for it and slammed her head into his. He staggered back but recovered and dove toward her fangs bared. 'Didn't work last time,' she thought dipping low. As he flew above her she brought every ounce of muscle into her legs and sent him flying. “Won't work this time,” she said with a smile. Without waiting for him to land she closed the distance. As he bounced against the ground she pounced and sent a hoof tearing down. It slammed against his skull with vicious ease. When she pulled it up trails of tar came with it meshing with the other black blood that covered her.

A guard landed beside her. “Master-Corporal, we lost it,” he said. Her namesake suddenly became known as her eyes lit up.

“How the buck did you lose it!” she roared. “It can barley walk, it probably can't shapeshift, and you can bucking fly!” Hot breath and spit flew from her clenched teeth. “Why don't you try kickstarting that crap between your skull, put two and two together and bucking find him.” A shocked look only filled his eyes, and dumbfound amazement. “What, is this all too much for you? Bucking go, now! Like right now, bucking find him or I'll personally rip out every one of your bucking feathers!” she screamed. He turned and sped off without a word.

As she looked around her rage only built. Guards stood around clueless while their friends bodies lay on the ground. “Are you all daft? Get your untrained asses in gear and help them!” She went to put her hooves to her face and only then realized she couldn't move one. “Bucking fan-bucking-tastic,” she cursed as somebody else landed beside her.

“Master-Corporal Fire,” he said.

“What?” she asked back. The newcomers attendant gave her a sharp look. “You think I give a flying buck about rank right now, buck off,” she said as the captain did indeed back off.

The commander took her aside, out of earshot of the other troops. By now the sergeant, who was less of an idiot as the rest of them, took command behind her. “It's alive!” someone called. The captain nodded and departed.

“I think you're due for a promotion and-”

“You had better well bucking get to the point, sir,” she said.

“You're promoted to warrant because I trust you can handle this situation here. I want no word getting out and, let me finish Master-Corporal,” he sound with renewed authority, “you're too oversee these men here. I'm assigning them to you. Now, I have something very important I'm planning, I need names of soldiers who can actually fight.”

“Sir I-”

“I know you want to, but in your condition you'll be more harm then good. All I need are names, then silence, am I understood?” he said sternly.

“Yes sir,” she replied.

“Good.”

Chapter Thirteen- Tiny Hooves

They had traveled to almost the inside of the wall, Lilly sitting on top of the guard after he'd offered to carry her. It was probably less kindness on his part and more impatience at her short pace, not that she minded.

“So where is he?” she asked again.

“Well...” he said hesitantly, “it turns out I kinda overheard some of the others talking. I guess he's got something important at 27B to take care of, but hey your his daughter that kinda trumps a lot. Besides I can't just leave you strolling out on your own right?”

She laughed. “Right,” she said agreeing.

He lit lanterns as he passed, a few of them going out. “That's odd, why are these out?” Now it was her turn to be impatient but she stilled herself.

They heard a crack echo off the walls and twisted around.

“What was that?” Lilly asked almost choking the guard. He loosened her grip.

“I'm sure it was just thunder,” he said looking up. 'Odd though, there aren't any clouds, I wonder what that was?' he thought. The possibility that anything malevolent had happened was far beyond his thinking. How long had it been since anything actually happened? Not during his duty as guard. Sometimes he wished something would happen, stir up some action. They had all whispered the rumors that were now spreading, almost in the hopes they could become real guards and not just armor clad parade figurines. His friend had joked while they stood, waiting for inspection during a long parade. “Think on the bright side Tanon, we're literally getting paid to look good.” He grinned at this and held back a chuckle as he shook his head.

It was a break in his usual routine, and despite it all he was glad to be making the walk. Perhaps delivering the commanders daughter would finally get him noticed. How much extra duties had he done recently? He had taken at least four other shifts in the past two days alone.

They approached 27B, the lanterns around were all snuffed out for some reason. 'I'll get those after I drop her off,' he thought placing her down. The night had been quiet, and there were no other guards around. Then again the commander had said this was really important and not to be bothered. It was easier just to avoid the place.

“Well, let's go, we're here now,” he said to her as he let her down. They made toward the door.

Chapter Twenty-Six: Through Haze and Fog

It was hard to focus on anything, Coal no longer remembered where she was or what she was supposed to be doing. The grey stone that seemed to line each side of her only distorted the foggy image in her mind further. Amber lanterns illuminated the way forward but she saw no light, no direction. The chain on the collar told her which way she needed to go, and how fast, but not why.

'What, am I doing?' the thought began to form. A sharp pain brought that thought to heel and she faded back into the melancholy tranquility. It was easier this way, now nothing hurt, there was no fear, no regret, all she had to do was follow the chain, and the words that were spoken to her.

She nodded as Valor said something, it entered her mind and dissipated into the fog of obedience that now consumed her. “Yes,” she said, the word trailing from her mind as her eyes attempted to focus.

They entered a larger room, this one ordained with velvet carpet, and curtains that hung still in front of the closed windows. Unlit candles complemented the unlit lanterns, they too holding a shimmering silver that covered the guardians. Coal paused and looked around, images creeping in, pictures of caves that filled with a dull light that she was told was called green. The pods of future broodlings she could not call her own, and of her sister who- Pain lit through her and it caused her to grimace.

Valor pulled the chain tighter and brought Coal down. With panting lungs Coal regained the tranquility that had trapped her previously.

“It's easier not to think demon,” Valor said pulling her forward. “Your majesty.” Valor and her guardians bowed. She pulled the chain taunt. Something in Coal told her to resist, and she did, but for only a second until she too bowed.

Chapter Thirty: Chance

Vendors finished setting up their booths, the ribbons and decorations covering the street. District six held the majority of celebrations, but many enjoyed watching the fireworks from their homes and held get-togethers here. In addition to the individual apartments and homes being decorated one could argue district two was even more festive then the main square in six.

The trolly bobbed back and forth as they sped through the streets, everyone clearing a path as they went by. At this time of the year they were always filled, passengers traveling from home, to the festivities, to their friends house then visiting the merchant square for the public market. The day was home to public wares that were sold by those who weren't usually vendors. Necklaces and pottery, novels to shirts, everything was sold there, all handmade. There was even a fortune telling booth set up this year, where a robe clad figure would read your future through a glass ball everyone called crystal. Later in the night, after the fireworks blossomed in the sky a large fire would fill the square. They would surround it without the need for external light and drink ale and wine made from the collected berries and grapes outside the wall. It was common for many to stagger home or even to find some still sleeping, leaned up against some random house because they missed the trolly, or couldn't make it even that far.

This year had a different spin however, guardians were constantly flowing through the crowd, their horns glowing, looking, watching. The demons had to be somewhere, but it was a large city, and there were not enough guardians.

“Matriarch,” he said approaching her.

“Report,” she ordered him.

“The commander reports no activity after the... incident. They've done full accountability on all guards, and have done two complete sweeps of the yard,” he said, “The area is clear and he Distrcits have been swept, but there is simply too much. There's no way to track them,” he said. The vendors talk filled the backdrop to their concern, Valor cursed under her breath. There just wasn't enough around The Tree to keep them out, what else could they do? Valor thought of bringing in stone to wall up the entrances but there wasn't enough time now.

“We'll just have to-” she paused and listened. “You,” she said pointing to a orange mare, “what did you just say?”

“About the apples matriarch?” Val scowled. “I just said I haven't seen Weave, he and his daughters always sell baskets here, they... they go well with the apples,” she said.

Perhaps The Tree had blessed them after all. “Where do they live?” she asked.

Chapter Thirty-Four: Corralled

Chapter Thirty-Four: Corralled

“Damn,” Coal cursed as she ducked into an alleyway. Guards streamed past them, the streamers now lying in the streets flattened by the scattering crowds. Orders were bellowed from between the buildings. A guardian held her horn in the air and allowed a pulse to flow from it. Coal felt her scales shift and her aura fade. “What cursed magic,” she scoffed hidden by the shadows. The guardian looked around, as if uneasy, then sped back down the street.

They'd already attempted to leave the district and had almost got caught. The only way out was past the magic of those foul guardians. Claw shifted uneasily at her side, Fang cleared the other end of the alley.

As they worked their way down the streets and out of eyeshot it became increasingly apparent they were doing something they should not. Every second they went against the crowd only grew suspicion. They could only shift when not being observed, and now eyes were on them from everywhere.

'I don't remember this many guards,' she thought. Yet the outer yard was almost larger then the city itself, and now they were all crammed into one district. Coal grew uneasy, eyes everywhere and little cover. The citizens were being drawn out of their homes, many already departed to District Six for the coming festivities, but the homes were searched regardless. As the guards swept through the district, closing their box of escape, areas were closed off. There were many entrances into the district itself, but there were enough guards to close all those gaps, and options were running out. As they swept the citizens along they would trail behind and clear the buildings, the alleys and any other hiding place. They traveled in large packs, crossing arcs. Even if they managed to take down a group there would only be another dozen on them, then another.

Dusk seemed to loom on the horizon, it hovered there, but never actually came. Coal kept wishing for the darkness that would give them some cover, any cover, but only the sun hung above. It was as if they were running out of time, but time itself wasn't even moving. The notion almost mocked her.

Those that ran or went against the flow were detained, scanned and brought separately outside the district. To where Coal could only guess. Yet every one was collared and cuffed even after being scanned, there would be no chance of escape. The others they could push back into the crowd, they did.

Her eyes trailed with the flowing crowd that had now merged into them, or had they merged into it? Faces, so many faces, and so many guards. The guardians that seemed to be leading the front marched to the flanks, now guiding the crowd toward a common point, toward a box without exits. Toward a killing ground.

Chapter Thirty-Six: Boxed In

They walked toward their own death. Once they were inside that dead end they would all be scanned. The guards lined the balconies and roofs at the end, more to her rear. Once they were found they would be picked apart. They would scan separately, one by one, and if one was found, or she made any attempt to attack, they would strike out all at once.

She weighed her odds, there was a possibility one could escape, if they made a large enough diversion, but there were so many here and she wasn't willing to kill off her own quite yet.

The crowd surged forward, encouraged by the guards in the rear. Each step took Coal closer to death. Her underlings looked to her through their disguises, they asked for answers, for solutions, for salvation but she could give them none.

Coal's heart spun, she thought back to the sands, back to her other battles. Yet all of those were so different, but... hadn't she been in a similar situation? There had been a rock wall, a pack of sand dogs. A circle of death that kept closing, but they were not to be corralled. They had pulled each in with delicate faints then ensnared them and put them down. One by one until there were none. This wasn't the same, yet...

She heard a voice call, “Right side clear.”

“Fang,” she said with loud whisper, he nodded. “You, Claw, flanks, push pull, eyes on me.” With a nod she pulled Claw beside her who acknowledged her order.

As the crowd moved down the street, into a kill box, they moved to the flanks marking a guard each. A small group was gathered at the head of the street, a guardian and others at the ready, a detector. An owl sounded and two guards at each flank were pulled in and dropped. The crowd spread instantly like ants on a damaged nest. The guards flailed around trying to contain them, trying to figure out what was happening, none had even noticed the fallen guards. They scanned the crowd. Three others were pulled in, as if eaten by the mob itself.

Another hoot and the pegisis beside the guard closed in, his neck twisting. She merged back into the crowd and changed. The other guard noted her, caught the look in her eyes and he too went down. Shrill screamed shattered the frail cohesion the guards tried to maintain and the crowd flew apart like a shattering plate. Guards and guardians flew into the fray trying to contain it, trying to gather the crowd back together. Glimpses of what had happened were obvious to them and the detectors lit the crowd up but black bodies mingled with the others, disappeared then reappeared down the street where the mob was now running.

Chapter Forty-Six: Duty

Solar ran out into the stilled battlefield, the fireworks overhead now coming to a close as if to cap the climatic battle. The stamping hooves of applause echoed off the walls and Solar flinched thinking it was raining magic. She rushed toward the pile of collapsed rubble and began flinging stone and mortar away. Then the glade called to her like a guiding wind. The dark figure was inside, she had something, she was going to kill The Tree.

“Valor!,” she called running up to the rubble. “I'm so sorry, I'm such a coward,” tears streamed down her face as she pulled rocks off the pile. Yet something stopped her and she looked back. The dark image walked through the stone archways. “I...” she paused unsure. “No,” she said filling herself. “I'm a guardian, and I have a duty. I'm sorry Valor.” She turned toward the opening, The Tree filling her mind with her duty, of what she must now do. “I'll finish this Valor,” she said.

As she pushed power in her legs and stamped toward the glade the rocks tumbled behind her.

The monster made her way up the gnarled roots crushing the small white flowers that grew from the earthen snakes and approached the trunk. She was no more then forty paces away. Against the massive labyrinth of roots, and the monolithic scale of the trunk she looked no more then an ant, but Solar knew better, she would not underestimate her.

With agile hooves Solar leapt from root to root, from each hoofhold to the next with delicate ease and frenzied speed. As she watched the monster pull something from the tube a fire lit inside her. The spear extended and hung in the air above the monsters head glowing softly with an emerald hue. She made to pierce The Tree but Solar wouldn't let her harm it. This was as far as she would get. As air was exhumed from her lungs, in the form of a battlecry, billows of fire lanced out and a thunderous clap sent the monster spiraling away. Her dull form bounced and twisted on the roots as she tumbled and finally stilled. Smoke trailed off her smoldering body, and Solar could hear the crackling of burning flesh. Flashbacks of the cells under the inner wall came back to her, of Valor towering above the creature as it helplessly squirmed under her gaze. She cleared her head and scanned the ground for the dull metal. “There!” she cried.

With heaving lungs Solar approached the spear, a long silver thing filled with barbs. She could see the red lining underneath, a black liquid seemed to pool there, swimming, as if alive. She placed a hoof on it, keeping it still, and raised the other to smash it. “Never again,” she said, “It ends here.” She thrust down.