Burning down Neverland, scatter the ashes
White lines, black tar, the matches
Is this another death by misadventure?
Tell me what you’ve got, what you’ve really got
When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” And out came another horse, bright red.
Revelation 6:3-4
Whether or not to burn your hometown to the ground is one of the most important choices a young mare can make. I know what Twilight’s decision would have been. I also know that I am not Twilight.
One of my least favorite words when I was young - younger - was conflagration. It represented an unreachable goal. I could strive all I wanted to start even the smallest fire and all I would end up with was a few sparks that would have made a party sparkler feel pity. I knew how, knowledge wasn’t the problem. The problem was my special talent.
Fire, you see, is not a defense. Not really. It provides warmth and light, which can aid in defense, but, at the end of the day, fire is a violent reaction, and has always been a frustrating reminder of my limitations.
So the story of how I became this frightening, glorious, burning monstrosity is quite a tale to hear.
Up until a few years ago, Princess Celestia had, for the most part, been Equestria’s main line of defense. While both she and the wielders of the elements of harmony were around, the country was safe from all but the most powerful of foes.
Of course, nothing lasts forever. Applejack died, the first of the six to do so, and the power of the elements of harmony was lost.
When seven unicorns rose up and declared that either Celestia had to face them in battle on Mount Starbright or they would lay waste to Equestria, the sun rose to the task. It was obviously a trap; Celestia just didn’t know how deadly of a trap it was. At the most heated point in the battle, when the unicorns launched a combined attack as Celestia brought to life a dwarf star in their midst, terror incarnate made his appearance.
A red alicorn with a mane and tail of flame attacked Celestia from behind and became the second creature in history to score a blow against her. She wasn’t killed, but she was no longer alive, exactly. Since then, Celestia has had to channel the vast majority of her magic into the act of living. Each second is another falling grain of sand in the hourglass, and the princess is no longer an infinite beach.
The knowledge that one of the royal sisters had lost their immortality was shocking at first, but time has a way of turning even shocking news into just another part of the universal subconscious. Of course, nothing lasts forever.
e q u i n O x
Chapter 1
“Noxxy!” my brother yelled as he opened the door.
“Hi Blue Moon!” I replied with a grin. My younger brother, a white-coated, light-blue-maned bundle of nervous energy, was about three-quarters of the reason I bothered coming to Canterlot. I could have been back in Ponyville with Twilight. My mentor, old as she was, had insisted that she would be fine on her own for a while, and after much thought I decided that a trip to see Blue Moon was worth seeing my parents as well.
My brother stepped closer so he could whisper in my ear. “Mom and dad wouldn’t let me come visit you. It’s so unfair.” My heart went out for him.
“Don’t worry,” I whispered back, “you’ll be able to move out soon. Maybe you could come live with me in Ponyville when you do?” His eyes lit up at this. “As long as you do all the housework.”
“Mom, dad, I’m here!” I called inside. The fireplace on the wall to the right of the door was making the house marginally more inviting than the chilly air outside, and I stepped in.
“Equinox, do come inside,” my mother, Sunset Gleam, said from behind the kitchen wall. “Close the door behind you, the cold weather is just terrible for your ucipital mapillary.” Blue Moon and I shared a glance and he started to mouth something, but my father stepped out of the kitchen.
My father, Moneyshower, had on a fancy suit. He always insisted on overdressing for his birthday parties. It went perfectly with his brown coat and black mane, and I immediately knew he had gotten it custom-made from the Carousel Boutique chain – that knowledge a sad side effect of having grown up in the city of style. “How’s my little filly do… oh my.” He stopped mid-stride, only a few tails out of the kitchen. “Equinox, your mane…”
“What?” I inspected it. Still cerulean and violet, still mane-y. “It’s how it always is.”
“Yes, well, I guess it’s to be expected, you living in Ponyville and all.”
I was indeed back in Canterlot. “Happy birthday, dad.”
My mother stepped out of the kitchen, sunset-pink coat indeed gleaming, mane and tail done up in what must have been cutting-edge fashion judging by their hideousness. She was wearing horseshoes – really, mom? – that added several inches to her height, while her hooves themselves had been dyed a disgustingly bright shade of lime. “Let’s be on our way, then,” she chimed, “don’t want to miss our reservation!”
Back onto the street it was. The pegasi were moving away the clouds and it was starting to feel like midday. Most of Canterlot was emerging with the sun, and the city’s usual cacophony was building as friends, and friends-for-the-sake-of-appearance, came within chatting distance of each other.
“Did you hear about Glitz Glamour's new sweater? What a scandal.”
“The races get worse each time – I don’t know why I bother attending nowadays.”
“Why no, I didn’t realize she was still performing. Who else was there?”
Amidst the babble, a soft noise I couldn’t quite put a hoof on was growing. I looked around. The noise was confirmed to be not just in my head when I noticed a few of the ponies unencumbered by conversation scanning the area as well. One of them looked up. I followed suit.
A tiny black shape was growing slightly larger with the passing seconds. It was difficult to see, the sun behind it discouraging all but darting, squinted glances. The din was dropping below the usual level as more and more pointed their eyes to the sky.
It was definitely a whooshing noise, it wasn’t quite as soft any more. The shape had grown from a dark dot to a small black blob. I wondered if Luna was returning from something. That didn’t make much sense, though. Any travel outside of Canterlot would have been a huge risk for her with her sister out of commission.
The blob was growing exponentially larger now as it neared the city. Suddenly it became recognizable.
“DRAGON!” someone shouted. Canterlot immediately burst into panic. Screams filled the air. Ponies ran into each other at full gallop as they desperately tried to get away. Friendship and even family – my parents had fled at the shout – disappeared.
Blue Moon and I seemed to be the only ponies standing still. Soon none but the stragglers, us, and the guards were left. The guards stationed throughout the city had formed a line on Mane Street and were trotting swiftly toward the city’s east – the royal palace. I nudged Blue Moon and pointed my horn at them. He nodded, eyes wide, and we ran.
There was a thunderous smash and a massive roar from far behind us as the dragon crashed into the city. I looked back. Its head, black as tar yet as shining as much as any gem, was visible just over the industrial sector’s skyline. Two blue horns spiraled up from the reptilian crown. The dragon blasted a spray of red liquid into the air, which exploded into flame with an incredibly loud hissing noise a moment later.
I turned back to where my hooves were carrying me. The palace was getting bigger. Luna stood on the steps, flanked by her personal bodyguards, giving orders to each group that approached her. The one I was following was the last to arrive, and the princess of the moon turned to us as we neared.
“Unicorns and earth ponies, circle around the city and approach the dragon from the north,” Luna said “When I give the order, we attack. Pegasi, stay with me.” The guards split up as ordered. I watched the earths and unicorns recede from the courtyard, then turned back to Luna.
Much to my surprise, the princess was staring right at me, a quizzical expression on her face. She raised a hoof and beckoned. I swallowed, nodded at Blue Moon, and trotted over. We both knelt when we reached her.
“There’s no need for formalities right now,” Luna said. I looked up. She was wearing a half-smile. “Who are you? Everyone else seems to have fled the city.”
“I’m Equinox. This is Blue Moon. I’m sorry, princess, but the guards seemed like good ponies to be near with a dragon attacking.”
“Don’t be sorry,” Luna replied, “that was wise.” She looked over my shoulder. “You should stay here.” Her large wings unfurled, and with a powerful down-stroke she lifted into the air. “This shouldn’t take long.” She winked and took off, the pegasi in tow.
“She-” Blue Moon’s voice cracked and he cleared his throat. “She seemed really confident about beating that huge dragon.”
“You’ve heard the story of Nightmare Moon, right?”
Blue Moon nodded.
My thoughts drifted from Luna’s power to my own. It was during training with Twilight Sparkle that my cutie mark had appeared. I was able to protect myself in the mock fights when I was still in magic schooling, but I didn’t know about a dragon. Scratch that. I did know how it would end.
My ear twitched. The back of my neck tingled. Something was wrong. I spun around. At the top of the steps, a hooded figure was stepping through the palace doorway. The door had been closed moments ago. There was a soft thump as it closed once again.
“Guard!” I yelled, before it hit me that Blue Moon and I were quite alone. No guards. No citizens. Cold, dark dread was building in me. I spun to face my brother. “Did you see that?” I asked, trying not to make my panic obvious.
“I-I just saw the door close.”
Fantastic. I wasn’t crazy. But there was still the problem of something creeping into the palace. “I can’t just stand here. Something just went into the palace. Something just snuck into the palace.”
“You can’t go after it! You have no idea what it was! It could be dangerous…” Blue Moon was starting to whimper.
“I have to. I can’t wait until Luna comes back, it might be too late by then.”
“Too late for what?! You don’t know what’s going on in there, Noxxy.”
“Exactly.” I started walking toward the doors.
“Wait,” called Blue Moon. “I’m coming with you.”
I was about to tell him no, but I couldn’t just leave him outside. I let him follow me.
What am I doing? I thought. No. No, I can’t just stand by, can I? Not when I’m the only one around.
The palace doors were every bit as heavy as they looked. Whatever had just snuck inside was a lot stronger that I was. With a large heave, I got one of them to move enough for Blue Moon and I to step in.
I scanned the room. The palace atrium was certainly fancy, but not overly so. Light passing through the stained-glass windows seemed to pool on the floor. Somepony could go from purple to green to orange in the space of a few steps. Aside from the windows, though, there wasn’t much about the atrium that screamed “royalty.” In fact, given who resided here, it seemed somewhat bare.
In the relative emptiness, everything echoed. Including steps coming from the hallway to the right. My eyes were wide, and I could see Blue Moon’s were as well. I drew an imaginary zipper across my mouth and pointed at him. Then I pointed at him again, and down at space where he stood. He shook his head. I nodded back vigorously. He pouted.
I took a few steps toward the hallway.. I looked back. Satisfied that my brother wasn’t following me, I continued forward. The hallway curved ninety degrees at the end of the atrium and from there ran into the inside of the palace – the royal sisters’ quarters.
My breaths were coming hard and fast, and I was struggling to keep them inaudible. My heart was in my mouth. I took a moment to collect myself before looking around the corner.
The figure was walking down the hallway toward a set of doors. I couldn’t make it out, its cloak concealed it well, but it seemed to be carrying something in its mouth that was softly bumping against it with each step. Furthermore, the steps didn’t sound like clops. They were all wrong. They sounded more like… claws. It stepped into the light coming in from one of the windows and whatever it was carrying threw multicolored sparkles against the wall.
I gathered a massive amount of courage and stepped into the hallway. “Hey!” I shouted. It was exactly the wrong thing to do.
The figure jumped about a tail in the air, then spun around. A gryphon! It held the handle of an ornately decorated box in its beak. After glancing at the window beside it, it flung the box out of the palace with a toss of its head.
The gryphon spun itself back around to face the doors and sprinted forward.
I galloped after it. My hooves sounded incredibly on the floor, echoing all the way down the hallway and back.
The gryphon reached the doors. It pulled on them furiously, but to no avail. It went into a panic, turning left to right. There was no way it could fit through the window, and the wall was made of solid marble.
I stopped galloping, maybe forty tails away.
The gryphon turned around. It crouched, then leapt into the air and sped back down the hallway.
My instincts kicked in. The world around me acquired an extrasensory feel to it as I dove into my magic. My horn started to glow. I caused a layer of air surrounding me, a tail away on each side, to condense – creating a very strong bubble. The gryphon wasn’t flying at me, though.
It passed over me and continued barreling down the hallway. Toward the palace doors. Toward Blue Moon.
“Stop!” I heard my brother yell. Then a scream and a thud.
My adrenaline surged. I teleported back into the atrium. When my head cleared, the gryphon had just started opening the door. Blue Moon lay on the ground, a pool of blood forming around his head.
I slammed the door shut with my magic. “You’re not going anywhere,” I growled.
The gryphon faced me, a look of half hatred and half fear adorning its face. It pounced.
I immediately created another bubble. The gryphon hit it, but as it did I allowed the bubble’s surface to give a little. It sank into the air toward me, close enough for me to touch. I raised a hoof, placed it on the inside of the bubble right in front of the gryphon’s face, and gave it a push with my magic. The bubble-shield immediately sprang back into place, flinging the bewildered gryphon against the wall next to the door. It hit it with a solid thump and slumped to the ground.
I hurried to my brother. He was unconscious, a large scratch running across his face. I prodded his side, but he didn’t stir.
The gryphon rose shakily to its feet, apparently free of any serious injuries besides those to its pride.
The palace door opened. Luna was back. She took a look at Blue Moon and I. “Wha…?” she began, but I pointed at the gryphon. Luna stepped inside to see what I was pointing at.
The gryphon pounced again, this time at Luna. It immediately found itself slammed against the ceiling, then back down onto the floor by her magic. She hadn’t even flinched.
The moon princess’ eyes settled on Blue Moon. She approached and touched him with her horn. There was a midnight blue spark of healing magic, and my brother’s wounds began to mend themselves.
The adrenaline was receding, and the buzz of energy inside my head was being replaced by boiling anger against this gryphon.
Luna turned to her bodyguards, a grey pegasus stallion with a navy blue mane and a magenta unicorn mare with a lavender mane. “Tie the gryphon up. We’ll be taking him to the caves.”
“Did the gryphon say anything?” she asked me. I shook my head.
“Open his beak,” she ordered the bodyguards. They did so, and she peered inside. “A mercenary.” I had a puzzled expression on my face when she turned back to me.
“Mercenaries usually have their tongues voluntarily removed. It makes it harder to get information from them if they are caught.”
I shuddered at the thought of tongue removal and added that to my mental list of things I never wanted to happen to me.
The palace doors suddenly swung open and a guard came galloping in, out of breath. “Princess… Everfree… fire,” he got out, then collapsed, panting.
Luna, the guards, and I rushed outside. Canterlot’s mansions and factories blocked the view of Ponyville and the Everfree Forest, but there was smoke rising from that direction.
“Today keeps getting better,” Luna grumbled. “Alert the weather team,” she ordered a pegasus, “tell them to start a rainstorm.” She turned to her pegasus bodyguard. “Go get Twilight Sparkle.” Both pegasi flew off, and Luna dismissed the rest of the guards.
Soon the princess and I were relatively alone. Luna gave me a long look-over. It had almost gotten to the point of being uncomfortable, when she spoke up. “Twice so far today you have done what most would not have – didn’t do, in fact. You have shown both clear-mindedness in the face of chaos,” a wry smile came over her face at this word, “and your loyalty to my sister and I.”
I blushed a little. “I was just doing what I thought was right.” I meant it, too.
Her smile grew. “Which is exactly why I could use a unicorn like you to call on. You and your brother were the only ones of your kind here in Canterlot not to go running off aimlessly, but instead went directly to those in whose presence you would be safe.”
“I don’t live in Canterlot, princess.”
“Oh?” Luna was surprised.
“I’m from Ponyville. I’m Twilight Sparkle’s apprentice.”
“Even better! You must be skilled in magic, too, then.”
“Not half as much as Twilight.”
“Half as good as her would make you Star Swirl the Bearded, my dear.”
I gave a small smile. My first impression of Luna was a good one. Though I was Twilight’s apprentice, I’d never personally met either of the royal sisters before. Twilight knew how I felt about Canterlot and my family, and I think she simply assumed I wouldn’t want to go with her on her trips here.
“What do you say? I would love to have you as a sort of… vassal, I think would be the closest word for it. There would be no need to move to Canterlot or anything like that, but I would be able to call on you if needed.”
I thought for a moment, then bowed. It was an easy decision. “It would be an honor, princess.”
“It is an honor to be able to depend on you. Stars know I need more like you. And if you are ever in need, know that I will listen.”
The pegasi returned a few minutes later. “Princess,” the first one said, “we have the fire under control, but…” he turned his eyes downward. Her bodyguard finished the sentence: “You should see this for yourself.”
Luna nodded and called some of her other guards over. “Ready the chariot.”
“Would you like to come?” she asked me. I nodded.
“Make sure that Blue Moon gets placed in one of the palace suites,” she added to the guards. They saluted and set about their orders.
Luna was silent during the chariot ride to the forest. I guessed she had a lot on her mind.
My own thoughts were in turmoil. I had felt something about the world change that day, something big. Maybe it was the realization that the capital city was susceptible to random attacks, or that there was now proof that other creatures wanted us ponies to fall. I didn’t know.
The chariot touched down at the edge of the Everfree Forest. The usual haze of noise was gone, and an eerie, unnerving quiet, aside from the sound of falling rain farther in, had taken its place.
I’d spent the last few years of my life in Ponyville, within a ten-minute trot of the forest, and, though I had always been cautious of it, at least it had appeared alive. The sight of the forest, something I had come to think of as a living creature from its deepest roots to its thinnest branches making their skyward climb, shrouded in silence, was disturbing – it felt like the forest itself was a ghost.
The first few layers of unharmed trees at the edge of the forest acted as a façade for their charred, broken, and uprooted cousins along the path farther in. It became obvious as we ventured deeper that this was no simple fire. Strong trees had been ripped from the ground and charred, leaving holes dotting the ground where their roots had been. Tail-high piles of ash were scattered along the sides of the path. On the muddy path were long, wide marks where it looked like the dirt itself had been scorched.
Up ahead, several ponies were standing in a circle, talking amongst themselves. “This is a terrible day for us all,” said one. “She was the last of them – what happens now?” asked another. Luna saw them at the same time I did and we both walked toward them. As the princess approached, they moved out of the way. I heard Luna gasp, and she slowly lowered herself onto the forest floor. I stepped around her and froze in disbelief.
“No…” I muttered. “No.” Before me lay the charred remains of a pony, almost nothing left of it to make it identifiable. Almost nothing. A small part of its flank had been relatively lightly burned, and half of a pink star was visible.
I just stared, dumbfounded for a moment. Then I let out a savage wail. I looked around frantically. Everything was spinning. I couldn’t stay there. Everything was spinning and I couldn’t stay there or I would explode, and become just a red and blue stain on some burned dirt.
The path farther into the forest came sharply into view. I galloped as fast as I could. I didn’t know where I was going. I didn’t care about the rain. Tears clouded my vision, and I felt a cold breeze press against me, trying to push me back to the scene of the terrible, terrible crime. I continued through it. The biting cold of the wind and the rain and the sound of my hooves clop-clopping along on the wet dirt in contrast to the silence around me gave me something else to focus on.
I have no idea how much time passed before I suddenly tripped over a stray root and tumbled forward. My head hit the ground and, strangely, my senses returned. I knew I wouldn’t be able to remain out there in the cold much longer or it would get the best of me. I looked up. Before me was a tree much wider and shorter than the others around it.
Is that… Zecora’s house? I thought.
The rhyming zebra apothecary had passed away many, many moons ago, and her house had become somewhat of a local haunt for botanists and healers in Ponyville. I opened the door set into the bark and looked inside. It was dim, but it appeared empty. The shelves lining the hollow inside of the tree were surprisingly neat, though somepony had left a complicated titration setup on the table in the center of the room. The place smelled like tree sap. I stepped outside. The dwelling appeared just a little bit bigger inside than it should have been. I shook my head and walked back in.
The tree-house was much warmer than the forest. I concentrated for a moment, and my horn cast a soft blue light about the space. I needed something to keep my mind off of Twilight’s death. There was no way I could handle that right then. A thick book was resting against the wall on top of one of the shelves, and I levitated it over to me. “The Definitive Guide to Advanced Natural Remedies, Volume One.” I lay down, opened the book, and began to read.