Alicorn Down

As we walked- I considered smoke, that elusive, often invisible gray that would tendril off into the night born to the wind; that clingy, ilk stuff that stuck to mane and coat, that clung to the throat to make one cough and sneeze and snort.

There were no visions in the smoke… not the same sort as in the fire.

I didn't want to think about fire, or visions, or prophecy, or any variation of what was to come. And I did not want to think about now, the endless prodding of hooves through endless dunes and ruts of ever-tumbling sand. So I contented myself to think of smoke.
But then I wasn't thinking about smoke, was I?

The future was like a smoke growing and hanging, feeding off of what had been, ever phantoms against endless dusk.

Rainbow tripped over the next dune, I winced, it was a hard fall, and I offered her my hoof, steading her to her own.

“What say we rest here? The desert is long and there is no telling when we’ll find kinder ground.”

She grimaced, then nodded consoled, and we settled down for what passed for night.

My sled still lay abandoned in that crumbled cave in the north, but I owed my life to what arcane ability she had been able to muster, so even losing it I was grateful.

We bundled together in the large woolen blanket which she had managed to grab on our way out. Blanket had made it, blanket was safe…

The desert was not cold. But the wind was unforgiving. Was all of Equestria now an unforgiving place? I had seen something about it in my flame but I couldn't bring it to mind, didn't want to bring it to my mind. The future made me sick to the stomach… sick in my very core. And yet.

Then the professor saw him, the kaki stallion in the back of the lectorium, hooves folded over the desk in a manner of ease. Their eyes met, that was the only indication of her notice of him, but it was enough. He nodded and she continued her lecture with which she weaved her way through raised hooves and motes of chalk dust.

“And the matriarch cycles took place at the end of the? That's right the pre-fall erra and before that?- yes the sister cycles which were composed of what three main cantos?- yes the canto of the sun, the canto of the moon, and?- yes the friendship Canto which write this in your notes it will be in your final exam, was never finished.”

Soon the lecture was over, cut quite suddenly to a close by the bell, and the class stampeded out of the room, only the professor and the stranger remained.

I began digging through my saddle bag, hooves trembling, some hey, a bundle of small sticks, some bits of sheded coat, some flint, I started compiling them into a pile such that oxygen could be coxed into the core, but not the wind, but just then. In a single brisk moment, Rainbow swatted my pile away from me, she looked me in the eye ears flat. The message was clear, no fire, not now, not until necessary…. I had fed my addiction enough and she was fed up with it…and she knew very well we could be stuck here for days if I were left to my own devices on that front.

I nodded and moved to gather the scattered bits back into my bag. She was right after all.

She lifted a section of the blanket, offering to go back in sharing in its shelter, but I shook my head, instead electing to sit in the wind, to feel the sand slap up against my side, a sobering realness that I was glad to soak in… I felt that it helped me focus, on what was important.

We sat in silence for a time in the endless dusk, and then I noticed an expression cross her eyes… a memory… a regret… I thought I knew the look well, though I could have been tricking myself.

“Fluttershy is ok… or she will be… I saw her… in my flame, back in the cave… That's part of what had me so enthralled back there. Again, I am sorry… I.. I have a problem… but I did see her. My visions are weird things and often half-truths, so many only glimpses… but she, I saw her…. That had to have been the realest and truest thing I had ever seen, her in that green place, that alive place… and she was, will be alive…. A long time from now… but... It was her, I am sure of it.”

We sat in silence for another moment, and the wind blew on, between us against us, howling echoes of the past. Something had to be said, if just to fill the silence, but no it was more important than that.

“ I saw what happened to Twilight… I.. I am sorry… No pony should lose a friend like that… no pony should have to witness that…”

More silence, Rainbow drew blanket closer and shivered.

“I.. I.. do not know what happened to the others… but I am sure they are ok... I saw other bits, other snippets that wouldn't be possible if they weren't… Pinky Pie makes it to the moon, I think… or something of the like. ” I tried for a reassuring smile, though probably not very effective in the half-light of the fallen celestial bodies. I glanced at the smaller of the two.

It was going to be ok. It had to.

I looked the other way, toward the north.

“ I think we should head north… that’s how the earth ponies have been migrating in’t it, from North to South… I mean to say, we are more likely to find inhabited land if we go toward places that ponies are more likely to inhabit… nopony would be this far into the deadlands.”

There was silence for another moment, then Rainbow Nodded slightly in agreement.

Log Entry 1.73

Twilight Sparkle 8/29

They appeared in the courtyard of Canterlot High, an entire villages worth of people, quickly shoved into vans and to never be heard from again. Any information about the event was quickly covered up, even to the point that a web search of the school will, at the moment at least only:

There are no results for (Canterlot High) check your spelling and try different key words.

I asked the Librarian about it, and she claimed it was just a bug, and was sure it would sort itself out eventually. Even a cursory reading on the topic shows this to be false, see notes on the inner workings and not-workings of computers for more information on this.

They have the courtyard roped off, and there are guards marching about that equine statue of theirs.

I think they are time travelers, after all, the courtyard is covered in snow.

I intend to find out more.