Chapters A lavender filly stalked nervously through the Everfree Forest, the noon sun did little to illuminate her way. Everfree Forest had haunted her dreams for years. It had been no small trick to get away from her parents. They would be furious with her for having run away, let alone venturing into the dangerous forest, but this was something she had to do.
Twilight Sparkle paused and looked around. She was deep into the forest and had no idea where she was or where she was going, but her bones ached to go further. There was something calling to her from the depths of the Everfree. Maybe, if she was lucky, she would even earn her cutie mark. A small compensation for the trouble she would be in.
Her pulse quickened when she spotted an old rope bridge. She was getting close. Her books had told her about a mighty castle town that had once existed here, before the forest had gone mad. The castle had been the home of two sister that had ruled Equestria. It was said that they were goddesses and their rule had lasted a thousand years, but that was legend. A fable to explain away the rise and fall of unified Equestria.
Twilight scurried across the bridge and through the clearing on the other side. Slowing down she saw a crumbled stone wall, then a pillar. She was at the outer wall of the city. The legends were true. Or, at least this much. But, she knew all stories started somewhere. Climbing the collapsed wall Twilight found a perch above the shrub line. She could see lines that had been roads, and piles of rubble that had been houses and shops. It was all overgrown now, but she could see where the city had been. A few sparse trees blocked her sight of the town center. The castle would be there, her every fiber demanded that she go to it.
The overgrown streets were thick with bramble and briar. While the stone work had hindered the growth of trees it had provided a haven for the thornier growth. It made her progress slow and painful and the crumbling ruins cast a haunted air that made her wish she could move faster all the more.
When the old castle’s turrets finally showed themselves they were a beacon to her. Ignoring the pain of the briers, she pushed through them till the rest of the castle came into view. Compared to the other buildings she had seen, it was in good shape. Doors were missing and windows grimed over, where they weren’t broken, but the stone was still standing and the roof almost looked new. The invading plant life seemed repelled by some virtue of the structure that forbade the wilderness to spoil it. Emerging from the bush, she found herself near the grand stairway. The keep’s open doors demanded her to go inside, it was a call she didn’t even try to resist.
Twilight found the ruined interior held little to look at. Even by the poor light provided by the grimy windows, it was obvious that the contents had been hauled off long ago. The throne room proved more creepy than interesting, its massive space badly damaged, the stone charred and broken by some powerful outburst.
When she found a stairwell her gut prodded her to continue her search on the upper floors. While the ground floor had been a series of huge rooms and courtyards, the upper floors were a honeycomb of normal-sized rooms and long hallways. It was a vapid complex that did nothing to sate her desire to explore the palace.
The fifth and final floor broke the pattern, here the rooms were larger, the hallways wide, and the roof eves allowed for much higher and elegant ceilings. These were the private rooms for those god-princesses so long ago. These walls would have hidden the mortal lives of the rulers of unified Equestria. In the dim light she almost missed a double door of dark wood and banded iron. It was remarkable for being the only door still intact. Examining it by the light of her horn, she found figures of the sun and moon embossed where a handle should have been.
Twilight leaned against the door hard, but it held fast. Appraising the symbols where a latch would normally be, Twilight recognized them as a magic lock. Placing the tip of her horn against it she willed arcane energy into her horn. Her magic was advanced for her age, but she was still very young to be trying to force a warded door open. The door thudded when the lavender spark jumped from her horn to the lock. Twilight jumped back in surprise as the door creaked open to reveal a large antechamber.
Standing in the doorway, Twilight winced at the light coming from a still intact and crystal clean floor-to-ceiling window; the tops of trees could just be seen through its shimmering glass. Letting her eyes adjust, she looked around at the fine tapestries and furniture that adorned the room. Marveling at the room spared from time and looters alike, she stepped through the threshold and onto the lush carpet. Once in the room, she could see in the recesses of the antechamber, two doors opposite each other. One door was of marble and gold, and the other of ebony and silver.
Delicately, the filly investigated the room, carefully not touching anything. It was a motif of contrasting day and night theme. Gold and silver gilded everything in the room. In it’s center, between the black and white doors, stood a short pedestal. It was relatively unadorned, holding only a large green and white egg-looking object. Whatever it was, it had to be priceless to earn the status of centerpiece for such a decadent room.
She turned to the ebony door and pressed against it, only to find it locked. Her horn still ached from the last one. She would try rattling the other door first.
Heaving into the cold marble door she found it locked solid as well. Curiosity overcoming fatigue: she pressed her horn to the golden sun and tried to manipulate the lock. But, the little spark did nothing to this door. Twilight sat down and breathed. She was so close. Her destiny was behind these doors, she just knew it.
Again she touched the pad, and again she concentrated, letting her magic feel out the spells on the door. They were more powerful than anything she had ever felt before. Taking a deep breath she put everything she had into unraveling the locking wards. Her head spun from the output of magic. But, she kept at it, pouring more and more of herself into the door’s wards till her magic was so intertwined with it she started to lose track of where she ended and the door began.
Twilight pressed her magic to its very end, she had found the bottom of her reserve; or so she thought. Then the sky exploded. The blue sky became ribbons of color. The magnifying effect of the window turned the room into a spinning kyleidoscope. The floor rumbled and the door shook. Her ears rang from the deafening boom. The sudden shock and sensory overload pushed her magic just a little harder. Something inside her mind broke.
The world went white. Twilight’s magic surged into the door and beyond, every inch of the castle was known to her. She could see everything, every when. Flashes and lurches of memory poured into her. Twilight now knew that the gods were real as echoes of their laughter filled her ears. Luna and Celestia had been alicorn goddesses. They had ruled Equestria for a thousand years. The sisters ruled a golden age from this castle. They laughed, played and cried in these halls.
Her body shook as her magic tore away the castle’s memories. The vast knowledge threatened to split her, but she could not stop it. Then a shrill crying rang her ears. It was a painful sound that did what her will could not.
Twilight gasped, thrown back into her body she stumbled forward and pushed the marble door open. Her mind raced to understand where she was. The memories of the thousand years were receding and clouding. She tried to hold onto them, but they were too many. The crying sound still ring in her ears. Turning she saw the ebony door ajar and the egg on the pedestal had been replaced with a crying dragon whelpling.
“Shh...” Twilight whispered. Picking up the little hatchling, she comforted it best she could. After a moment in her arms it looked up and became silent.
“Well now, who are you?” she asked the little one. It’s only response was to clutch to her neck and go to sleep.
Twilight blinked and looked around the familiar room. Her head ached and the events of the day were fogy in her mind. With practiced ease she commanded the magical fireplace to lite and sat in it’s warmth.
Running a hoof down the back of the sleeping dragon, she felt its predominant vertebral scales. “I guess I should give you a name,” she mused. The green scales jutted straight from the spine. They were soft now, but she imagined soon they would be hard and spiky. “Spike. I’ll call you Spike,” she told the sleeping hatchling. “I hope you’re a boy dragon,” she chuckled.
The shaking laughter aroused Spike just long enough for Twilight to look into his emerald eyes. The sleepy face touched a maternal instinct within Twilight and she gave him a coo. “Hi Spike,” she said. “My name is...” Twilight's eyes went wide in surprise. Her memory was shattered, her own name would not come to her lips.
Suppressing panic, Twilight forced herself to stay calm. Letting her mind go blank she took a breath and allowed words to come out without thought, “My name is Twilight...” She couldn’t find the second word. It hung in the air, but she could not voice it. At least her first name had come out.
Again she cleared her mind, “My name is Twilight, and I live in the Everfree castle.” No, that wasn’t right. She had not lived her before today. Yet, everything was so familiar. Try as she might she could not trace back her steps from a time before she had seen the castle turret.
Laying her head on the carpet she cradled the little dragon, and closed her eyes. Tired, mind and body, she let the comfort of the room wash over her. A nap would clear her mind. She could figure out what to do after that.
Captain Spitfire sat looking over a stack of papers. Boarder reports had been pleasantly dull and so had the domestic reports, till she got to the Everfree flyover. Patrols had been reporting lights at the castle for over a year now. She could ignore lights, they didn’t really mean anything. Now they were reporting windows and doors appearing where none had been weeks before. This wasn’t a squatter, this was somepony claiming the place.
They could have the god forsaken castle and its land for all she cared. But, that castle had been the capital of Equestria once, and many ponies believe their gods lived in those walls. Anypony that claimed that castle, claimed the authority that came with it. That, was dangerous and even worse, political.
The pegasus tribe knew its place, it was not in religion or politics. ‘Free to serve, bound to protect, never to own land, forever to have the sky ’ were the words of the rite. Spitfire was more than happy to keep her clan out of the tangled web that earth and unicorn ponies loved to entwine themselves in. She would send a letter to King Blueblood, tell him of the squatter and offer two escorts from Cloudsdale.
True, Baron Velvet lived closer to the castle, it would be more convenient for her to investigate. But, she was the political powerhouse of Equestria, loved by earth ponies and respected by pegasus. The authority of religion had to be kept from her. Even if it was forced upon her against her will, it could potentially unbalance the covenant.
No, Blueblood was the pony for this job.
Twilight browsed the personal library of the moon god. For three years now she had plumbed the depths of its magical treatises. The first two years she had spent mostly in Celestia’s library, its books on gardening and food storage had made the winters survivable. The first one had almost killed her, dry grass only goes so far for nourishment.
Pulling down one of Luna’s history books she carried it into the antechamber and took up her favorite reading spot by the little fireplace. She had just gotten settled in, when the patter of Spike’s feet echoed out in the hallway, a hurried rhythm that she knew would end in-
“Mom!”
Twilight sighed and laid her book down. “Yes Spike?”
“There’s a bunch of critters in the front courtyard,” Spike said,pointing towards the front of the castle.
Twilight stood and raised an eyebrow, “What kind of critters ?" Twilight asked as she started down the hallway.
"I don't know," Spike whined.
Reaching the balcony that overlooked the front of the castle, she heard murmuring of voices and the clatter of equipment. Peering through the stained-glass doors she saw a host of ponies below.
“What are they?” Spike asked.
“Ponies... like me,” Twilight said. Anxiety crept over her, she wanted to burst into the crowd and ask them questions, and she wanted to lock herself in the warded room and wait for them to leave. “Spike, go lock yourself in the sitting room. Do not open it for anyone. Not even me.”
“But-”
“I can open it myself. I’ll come get you when it’s safe.”
“Ok,” Spike moaned before sulking back to the room.
Twilight watched Spike, till she heard the bolts of the sitting room slam home. Opening the door just enough to slip through, she closed it behind her and stepped onto the balcony. This had been the perch from which the sisters address the masses. There was far more engineering in it that was plain to see. It was an acoustic horn of immense size, every part of the balcony and the castle wall behind her was designed to project sound.
With easy steps Twilight settled herself into the focus of the device. “Who are you?” she spoke as clear and loud as her adolescent voice would allow.
Silence fell over the camp below.
“Why are you here?” she added.
“I am King Blueblood. I have come to see who has claimed our goddesses' estate,” a nasal voice answered from below.
“This castle belongs to no pony. It is held in their memory and for their eventual return,” Twilight said.
"By what right do you claim the role of steward?" Blueblood asked.
Twilight didn't have an answer to that. The castle had felt like a home from the moment she awoke to find Spike, it was the only home she had ever known.
An awkward silence held before Twilight spoke up again. "This is my home," was the best answer she had.
"And by what right have you calmed this as your home!?" Blueblood said.
Blueblood looked up at the balcony, trying to see who he was speaking to. The larger-than-life voice had a diction that did not match it's power. "Show yourself," he commanded.
A moment later a whiplash of a young unicorn filly appeared at the edge of the balcony. "Why are you here?" She asked again.
"I am a leader of the rite, King of the Crystal mountain, and watcher of the sleeping windigos. It is my duty to see that none upset the covenant of the tribes. Your actions here threaten us all. More importantly foal, who are you and who else is living here?”
Twilight fidgeted, her bravado wearing thin. Looking past the angry stallion, she examined the others in the group. There were two pegasus in formal guard’s armor, standing apart from the rest of the crowd; disinterested in the unfolding drama.
The others were a mixed half-dozen, of unicorns and earth ponies, gathered around a pile of saddlebags and camping gear, each of them wore a robe of either black or white.
“I’m the only one that lives here,” Twilight said.
Blueblood scowled, “This is no place for an orphan. Come down here foal and we will take you somewhere you can get food and an education.”
“I am not an orphan!” she barked. “I am the keeper of the secrets!”
“Blasphemy!” Blueblood cried.
Twilight chewed her words for a moment, what had she just said? She had never called herself that before, but she knew it had come from somewhere.
“Drag her out of there,” the stallion ordered to the robed ponies behind him. They looked amongst each other for a moment without moving. “Fine! I’ll get her,” he huffed.
Blueblood’s resolve spurred the robed ponies to follow him, though the pegasus remained where they were.
Twilight flinched at the sound of the grand doors slamming open. Panic stirred within her, but she centered herself. She was a self-taught unicorn. But, self-taught from the secret library of Sisters, and she knew this castle like one that had liver here for a millennium, all it’s magic was at her command.
Gathering magic around her she teleported into the keep.
Blueblood cantered down the hallway, the sound of hooves fell behind him, the motley band had decided to help him after all. Passing the smaller rooms he delved deeper into the castle till he came to a set of massive doors. Pushing them open, his eyes went wide in wonder at the site of the throne room. The gilding was long gone, but it’s splendor remained. The room showed sign of recent care, the floor clean and clear of dust, braziers along the wall flickered with magic fire.
Easing through the doors, he lead his group to its center and paused. Here ponies had come to seek the counsel of his goddesses. The dual thrones before him had held Luna and Celestia for a millennium.
Blueblood and his entourage jumped when a thud and crack sounded behind them. He swirled around to see the doors shut and barred by magic animation. A cascade of slams singled every other door in the room being locked in turn. Blueblood’s heart sank, trapped by a force he had underestimated, then the lights went out. The stained-glass window stood as the last source of light, giving the room a wicked air. Looking for any escape he braced himself for charging the glass, but that too was sealed by shutters from the outside.
The unicorns tried to light their horns, but ancient wards extinguished their magic before it could come to light. Now in utter blackness the seven ponies lost composure. Murmurs turned to yelling, yelling became screaming as their imprisonment dawned on the. Wading blindly through the utter darkness, they searched for any clue on how to escape.
Lavender flashed from atop one of the thrones and a dull purple light cooled the room. The singular point of light brought stark silence back to the room for a moment before Blueblood shattered it. “You!” he shouted.
He willed magic into his horn again, and again he was rewarded with nothing but pathetic sparks and searing pain. “What have you done to me!” he roared.
With cold eyes the filly looked at him from across the room. The hazy aura around her flashed white hot and the the room again fell into blackness. The other ponies mumbled in fright, but Blueblood held his breath.
“I did nothing,” a voice whispered in his ear, so close he could feel hot breath. His shrill scream sent the others back into shouts of terror.
“This is a holy place. Our gods walked these halls,” boomed a voice, drowning out the pandemonium. “Leave!”
Two thuds sounded and the dark was broken by the doors opening again. The light of the hallway was all the invitation the seven needed to stampeded out.
Running out of the castle they stopped only once clear of it’s shadow. “I will not allow you to desecrate these walls again,” Commanded the voice from above them.
Looking back to the balcony Blueblood saw the filly standing at its edge. “Who, are you?” he asked.
“I am Twilight. I have seen the histories, I have read the goddesses books. I keep this castle in their memory”
Twilight’s magic embraced a pile of broken glass, the shards lifted from the snow dusted stone floor and joined together. Slowly a broken window became whole again. A line of restored glass marked her steady progress. But, a latticework of broken windows ran both before and above her.
The snow had been light so far this winter. With a little luck, she would have the room restored before the first hard snow. This wing had once been a beautiful arboretum, the walls more glass than stone; carefully tended plants everywhere. She could remember how they had once looked. While she would never know how much of the vision she had forgotten, much of it was still in the recess of her mind.
It was going to take her a good month to get this presentable. She would rather focus her energies elsewhere. But, she needed a central gathering point for her visitors. The matched pair of life-sized statues of Luna and Celestia made this room ideal. Not to mention it was just impressive. Or, rather it had been. She hoped to get it half as pretty again.
She had been here eight years now. The first five, her only company had been her adopted child Spike: the little dragon’s company had kept her sane. Then the visitors started showing up.
Rumors of lights inside the castle spread fast. When a few pegasi reported doors and windows back in place, the first pilgrims had ventured out on the dangerous trek. The child keeper had seemed a joke at first, a blasphemous squatter on holy ground; the faithful scorned her. When a group decided to chase her out of the castle, they became the first to call her Priestess. The stone walls listened to the young mare. The castle itself obeyed her.
“This is a holy place. Our gods walked these halls,” they were told. The filly mastered them, cornered and captured them. Then, she showed compassion and knowledge. The young mare answered their questions and offered guidance, she knew the histories better than the oldest of them. She became their Priestess in that moment. Priestess of day and night: her name was Twilight.
“Twilight!” Spike yelled walking into the arboretum. “Another pony wants to see you.”
Twilight sighed. The visitors were getting more frequent. They had been novel at one time. But, now she was getting tired of their constant interruption. Yet, they were her duty to counsel. She would be glad when she had this room setup for worship; then she could have a schedule.
Imagining the arboretum packed with devout ponies, Twilight pondered the great glass room. It would be the perfect place to hold the summer sun and winter moon celebrations. Far better that the merger ones that she had held in the ballroom. The large room, with its massive east-facing windows, had worked at the time. But, every solstice more ponies had shown up. The last Summer Sun celebration had almost overloaded the room; a larger venue was required. The arboretum was three times bigger. She could make a fine homage to the gods here.
Twilight sighed at the thought of how much labor this one room would take - perhaps she could talk some of the supplicants into helping her clean and fix the place. They had already taken up the practice of gifting her food. She had encouraged that idea. While she had learned to forage the local plants and grow a small garden, the food the pilgrims brought both tasted better and saved her the time of foraging.
“She’s over there,” Spike sad.
With the clop of hooves approaching and the flap of Spike’s claws receding. Twilight finished one last window before turning to her guest. She had expected to see a pony wearing the all black or white robe of the pilgrim. Instead, she found a stallion in the sharp formal clothing of a young noblepony.
They both regarded each other for a moment, before the stallion spoke up. “Twilight? is that really you?” he asked.
Her murky, over-complicated memory stirred for a moment. The handsome white unicorn with a blue mane looked into her eyes. “Twi-lii?” he asked again.
“Shining!” she squealed. Lunging forward she wrapped her hooves around his neck.
Falling to his haunches he returned her embrace. “We thought you were dead,” his voice hitched.
Twilight pulled back in shame. Her mother, father, and brother; she had forgotten them. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.
Her brother pulled her back to his chest and held her there for a long while. “How did you find me,” Twilight finally broke the silence.
“We never stopped looking,” he answered. “When rumors started about a filly named Twilight, living in the old Everfree castle, I came to see if it was you.”
Twilight startled at the idea - rumors of her spreading across Equestria. She didn’t know what that meant for her. “They chose me. I’m the keeper of the castle now. I know their secrets.”
“Who did?” he asked
“The goddesses. They let me into their history and allowed me to open doors. I even got my cutie mark!”
Shining craned his neck to see his sister’s mark. “You’re telling me you can’t come home. Aren’t you?”
Twilight nodded with a sad smile.
Shining stood with a heavy sigh, and looked about the ruin. “So. They were real?”
“Are real.” Twilight corrected. Walking towards the statue of Luna, she idly started cleared away the wild brush around it.
“Then, where are they now? Are they really the mares in the moon?”
“I don’t know,” she admitted “Whatever happened after they left the castle... I don’t know”.
Shining pondered the statue for a moment, before helping his sister clear its base. They had cleared most of the weeds when his hoof hit something hard and heavy. Cutting down the grass with his magic, he found two more just like it, three stone spheres with runes carved into them arranged evenly around the statue. “What are these?” he asked.
His little sister walk up and examine one of them. “I’ve never-” Her words froze along with the rest of her when she placed a hoof on one. Magic crackle through the air, he had to look away when her eyes lit up like burning phosphor.
His sister’s voice came out of every stone, “The stars are aligning. The cycle is almost complete. On the longest day of the thousandth year of exile, two gods will fight for the throne of Equestria. Only the Elements of Harmony can erase the stains of hate and bring the new golden age-”
Twilight staggered back from the orb. Her vision cleared, she saw her brother looking at her in slack-jawed awe. He rushed to her side and helped her sit down. “Are you alright?” he asked her.
Spike voice echoed through the chamber “Twilight! Twilight, what was that?” The little dragon ran full speed to her. Stopping just an arm span away from the two ponies. He eyed Shining with an unvoiced accusation. Spike started to speak, but Twilight stopped him.
“It’s alright Spike. This is my brother... From before I came here,” Twilight said. Looking between the two for a moment she smiled, “I guess I should introduce you. Spike, this is my big brother, Shining Armor. Shining, this is Spike.”
Shining gave the little dragon a polite bow, which Spike returned. “So, how did you two meet?” Shining asked.
“She’s my Mom,” Spike answered, leaning into Twilight.
Twilight couldn’t help but snicker at the expression that came over her brother. “He hatched when I found the Sister’s bedrooms,” she giggled. “I’ve raised him like a son though.”
She threw a foreleg around Spike and hugged him, before getting to her hooves and examined the three spheres again. This time careful not to touch them. “I think, I know these,” she said. Trotting across the room she leveled the weeds around Celestia’s statue, with a few well-aimed whips of magic.
Shining found her looking at two similar orbs. He noticed the each of the five had their own rune engraved on them. “Well...” he asked.
Twilight scowled at the two spheres. “I need to go up to the bedrooms.”
Spike hopped on her back as if her statement had been a command for him to do that very action. Before Shining could ask anything, Twilight leaned against him and he felt her magic surround them. The world shifted and with a pop of light and sound, and he found himself in a lavish room. “Where are we?” he gasped. Taking a few steps away from his sister he examined the furnishing. Even growing up in a nobel’s household he had never seen craftsponyship of this level.
“This was the waiting room for the princesses bedrooms. You can’t come into their rooms. So, wait here.”
Looking to Twilight, he saw her command a marble door to open and disappear behind it, with the dragon still on her back. A moment later she emerged with a stack of books in her levitation. Dropped them at his hooves, she crossing the chamber and vanished into the room with the ebony door. Shining smiled, she was still the same old Twilight.
He had just started to examine the books when she returned. Sitting besides him as she added several scrolls to the pile. “Ok Spike. Lay out those star charts if you would,” Twilight said.
The little dragon jumped down and dutifully unrolled the scrolls, pinning down their corners with little gold and silver weights. “I’m going to go take a nap,” he mumbled before lazily wandering out of the room and into the halls of the castle. “Night Mom, night Uncle Shining,” the little voice echoed.
Pushing one book toward her brother, its pages came to life under her power, eventually coming to rest on an illustrated page. “The Elements of Harmony,” she said, pointing to the entry below the image. “The sisters used them to defeat Discord.”
“Discord was real too!?”
”Yea, he’s turned to stone now. He’s in the side courtyard.”
Shining again found himself lost for words. Looking closely he noticed the depiction of the Elements, looked like those stone spheres from earlier. “Then, could those statues actually be Celestia and Luna turned to stone.” It was as good a theory as any. If one god you be turned to stone, so could another.
“No. I remember them being carved.” Twilight closed her eyes and searched her strange memory. It had taken a few years for the statues to be carved. The blocks brought in before the walls had been finished. But the spheres... She had only the vaguest memory of them. She had seen them moved. They had been important. There had been six of them.
Shining Armor sat on the bed prepared for him, his mind raced with the events of the day. The room was bare, but not uncomfortable. Tomorrow he would start the trip back to his parent's estate. He had hoped to bring his sister back with him. But, he knew she had to stay here; this was her place now. He would return in a few weeks and actually spend some time with her.
At least he had good news for his parents. Now his mother could see about making Twilight’s life more comfortable. She would send guards and food. Perhaps in time they could even build a proper road.
He imagined the road would come sooner rather than later. Ponyville would stand to gain much from being the last town before the somber march to the castle. Inns and restaurants would flourish. The influx of tax bits would go far to grow the little town. With luck, they could even put in the irrigation network that the Apple family had been asking for - every day, for twenty years.
Then there was the matter of helping his sister with her quest for the missing Element. After what he had seen today he had no choice but to believe her every word. The star charts had told her they were near the final year of the millennium. Winter solstice was soon, that left only six months to prepare for whatever was going to happen.
But, all that started tomorrow. Tonight he would sleep in his sisters castle, in the bed she had prepared for him.
Twilight woke in the early morning hours. The window of her room told her the sun had not yet risen. Easing to her hooves he looked to Spike’s bed, but found it already empty. With a smile she gathered her magic and teleported herself down to the kitchen.
“Morning Twilight,” Spike said. “Looks like you have a crowd out there today. I counted twenty” Spike handed her a plate with a rather lush looking omelet. “Coffees done too.”
Twilight kissed Spike on the top of his head before taking the plate. “What’s with the fancy food?”
“Got more donations yesterday. Might as well use them while they're fresh,” Spike shrugged as he sat across from her and started in on his own meal, a slightly plainer omelet with a shimmer of crushed gemstones. “I’ll make Uncle Shining one when he wakes up,” he said between bites.
“Thank you Spike”
Twilight made slow work of the meal. Fresh, hot food was a luxury. Spike had it far easier than she did when it came to food. Her divine gift had also led her to the treasury in the basement; it too sealed beyond the looter’s reach. There was enough gems there to feed Spike well into his third century. She could have bought a kingdom with it, but it was not hers to use. The meager stipend she took was largely for the benefit of Spike.
Washing down the last bite with coffee, “I’m going to go watch the dawn with the visitors,” Twilight said. Taking her coffee with her, she walked through the great halls till she came to the grand entrance.
Leaving her cup inside the doorway, she stepped out on the formal landing of the castle. The stairway landing had become a sort of stage for her. The front courtyard taken back from the wilderness years ago. The pilgrims had cleared the ground and erected a wooden palisade that incorporated the front of the castle. The reclaimed hectare was now the camping grounds for all the wished to visit their gods old home and speak with the Priestess.
Even in the rosy pre-dawn hour there were ponies stirring about. Those that came with a black robe would dance under the midnight moon. Those that came with a white robe would meditate as the sun rose. Not that the color of your cloths would prevent you from joining either celebration. Over the years Twilight had noticed that Luna, the god of change tended to attract more unicorns. While Celestia, the god of life attracted more earth ponies. Pegasi fell about even between the two.
Surveying the morning’s crowd she found the reason for the sudden influx. Her Mother’s banned flew over a large tent. A single guard stood at its front; a young and fidgety pegasus mare. The gleam of brass on her chest told Twilight that she had earned recognitions. She was curious if she would recognize anypony in the tent. But, the thought was cut short, when the presence of a crowd staring at her snapped her out of her musings.
Clearing her throat and addressing the supplicants, Twilight spoke. “Soon the sun rises. Celestia’s will continues without her. Every year, on the longest day, it is every unicorn’s duty to give a part of themselves to set the sun on its path for another year. Just as they do for the moon on the shortest day.” Twilight paused and let the statement set. She was addressing mostly earth ponies. Their toil was every day, a thing that could not be forgotten. Yet they did not have to hand over a slice of their soul to the rite twice a year. Perhaps unicorns lived a softer life, but they died decades younger that an earth pony.
“We have lived for a thousand years without our gods,” Twilight paused again. She surveyed the crowd and singled out a massive red stallion. Pointing a hoof at him she continued. “I ask now for the help of the strong and the talented, to rebuild the sister’s home.” She cast her hoof behind her to the castle. “For we will not go another year without our gods. The Sisters will return on the Summer Sun.” Twilight left out the fighting gods part of the vision. She needed excited ponies willing to help, not panic-stricken ponies.
Twilight cast the vision spell that allowed all the gathered ponies to see the horizon, as if there was no forest or castle between them and the rising sun. She had good timing this day, only seconds after she had the spell cast the corona of the sun poked above the world. Despite the shocking announcement the devout stayed calm and happily watched the sunrise, with only a minimal amount of murmuring.
///
McIntosh Apple pondered the little mare that had singled him out. After the sun had risen above the horizon, she had dismissed the magic that allowed him to see it, and ventured down the steeps. The crowd rushed to gather around and berate her with questions, but he preferred to go back to his own tent. He had not like the idea of coming out here to begin with. Granny Smith had insisted he go. As the oldest, it was his duty to make the trip for the family, bring Celestia’s favor to the farm. Sure, like almost every earth pony he started the day with a little prayer to the gold disk that represented Celestia’s sun. It was just for good luck though.
Mac rolled his eyes to himself. He knew how this was going to go - he would end up working for free. The Apple family spoke for all the earth ponies in Ponyville; they had to maintain a certain image. Not that he wouldn’t drop everything to help a friend or a stranger in distress, but this religious cook was neither. Telling all these poor ponies that their beloved god would again walk the earth in just a few months. He didn’t know who to feel worse for. At least it was the winter, there was no work to be done on the farm and working here would keep him busy. ‘Heck ,’ he thought. ‘I might even get a few good stories out of this .’
///
Twilight answered questions the best she could. Several from the crowd had volunteered to help her. Others said they knew talented ponies that would be interested in volunteering. But, soon the press became too much for her. She had spent too many years alone to be comfortable in a crowd. Excusing herself, she scurried away from the clump of ponies and started to climb the steps back to her quiet castle. Halfway up, Shining emerge from the castle.
“Oh, there you are,” he smiled. Walking down to meet her, he gave her a hug. “Your.. Spike makes a wonderful breakfast.” he said. Looking over her head he spotted the camp his guards had set up. “Follow me, I’d like to introduce you to some of my friends.”
Twilight winced at the thought of wading back into the camp. But, old-happy memories of following her big brother around outstripped her trepidation. A content smile crossed her face as she followed him; allowing herself to simply be somepony’s little sister, instead of keeper of the castle or the Priestess of the faithful.
The combined gravitas of the siblings was palpable. Ponies moved aside and none intruded on the two-pony precession as they walked the fifty meters from the castle to the little camp. As they approached the camp Twilight got a better look at the guard from earlier. Atop her colorful caparison rested wings of a sky blue, and shocks of multicolored mane stuck out from every direction of her helm. She was an inattentive guard, instead of watching for any danger, she was trying to balance her spear on her nose; and doing a good job of it.
The guard obliviousness was not lost on her brother. When the mare continued her balancing act he turned to Twilight with a sly smile and gave her a, “Shh”.
Following her brother’s lead, she imitated his slow movements till they came up just behind her.
“Lieutenant Dash!” he barked.
To her credit the lieutenant did not so much as flinch. Instead she rolled her head just enough that she could look at them with one eye; the spear still standing on end upon her nose.
“I was watching you since you walked out the castle,” the lieutenant said.
Shining kept his stern look in spite of the mare’s blase. “I don’t think that counts as keeping your weapon at the ready. What would you do is a timberwolf jumped the wall?”
Dash’s eyes looked back to the log wall, while the rest of her kept the balance. “Third knot from the bottom,” was the only warning before the guard rolled her neck, allowing the spear to fall like a tree; the butt still in contact with her nose. Her whole body blurred in a whipping motion that started at her tail and ended in her muzzle. The flick sent the spear whistling a dozen meters before it sank deep into a knot on the palisade wall.
Twilight’s jaw hung slack and the maneuver. Looking from Dash to her brother she saw his gruff demeanor melt.
“One day. One day Rainbow, I’m going to catch you off guard,” Shining chuckled.
“Phfft. Good luck,” Rainbow Dash smirked as she rubbed a hoof against her caparison and then examined its polish.
Shining laughed and rolled his eyes. “Twilight, I’d like you to meet our newest Lieutenant, Rainbow Dash.”
“Winner of Cloudsdale’s best young flyers competition” Dash added.
“I’m impressed” Twilight said, looking back at the spear in the wall.
Shining’s voice had roused the half-dozen ponies that had been asleep in the tent. The lot of them slowly emerged in various states of dress and now stood in a half circle. They all directed curious looks between Twilight and Shining. The air hung with anticipation for him to say whether or not this Twilight was in fact the long-lost daughter of Baron Twilight Velvet.
Shining took joy in stretching out the moment. Turning back to look at Twilight one more time before addressing the group. “And everypony, I’d like you to meet my sister.”
The line crushed forward with whoops and cheers as they traded hugs and congratulations with Shining. Each of them took turn introducing themselves to Twilight. The faces were strange, but friendly to her. Though, a few names she felt like she remembered.
“We can head home now right?” one of them said. “I’ll be glad to get out of this creepy forest.”
“Well... That’s where it get’s complicated,” Shining said. “We are heading home as soon as we break camp. But, Twilight tells me she has to stay here; for now at least.”
Groans of disappointment echoed around the circle of ponies.
Shining cleared his throat to quiet the disappointed ponies. “And Dash. I want you to stay here with my sister. I trust you. You’re about the same age, I think you two could get along.”
Dash grinned and nodded in agreement. Special assignment, and to guard the Baron’s daughter no less.
Twilight sighed. She had been fine with just Spike all these years. But, if it made her brother feel better about leaving her...
“We’re leaving all the food and medicine we brought too” He continued. “Twilight will tell you where to take it.”
The gathered ponies jumped as his command and descended on their camp like ants. In the span of an hour the camp was dismantled. Somewhere amidst the breakdown of camp and the hauling of supplies into the keep, Dash had flown off to “Survey her new assignment”. It looked more like she was just flying tricks around the castle grounds to Twilight..
With his companions loaded and waiting for him by the gate, Shining embraced his sister one more time. “I’ll be back soon, we’ll catch up more. I’m sure Mother and Father will come too.”
“I’ll let you know what I find out about the Elements and the missing one.” Twilight said before pulling away from her brother. She was going to miss him, it was a long forgotten emotion. Her old life had been washed away by the thousand-year dream. The memories of her family were more distant than those of the castle. Still, the thought of her parents and her old home called to her. It was a sense of duty that kept her from following her brother home, not lack of want. “After the winter moon festival, I’ll come back with you to visit mother and father.”
“Is that a promise?” Shining asked.
Twilight nodded, looking more the filly than the Priestess..
With a smile, Shining turned away from her and joined his band at the gate. The gates were opened by the pilgrims just long enough for them to pass, then shut again. While the castle grounds were tamed, the Everfree Forest was still a dangerous place.
With a sight Twilight made her way back to the castle. Spike had almost exploded with glee at all the supplies her brother had left. She needed to go help him sort and store everything. It would take him a week to do it himself.
“So, There’s supposed to be six of these?” Dash asked over the bustle of working ponies.
“Yea,” Twilight answered staring at the three orbs around Luna’s statue. With all the construction going on, Twilight feared the Elements could get damaged or misplaced. She was already down one. She didn’t need to have the problem of another going missing.
How to move them was the big question. Shining had touched one without consequence, but she did not want to take chances. Twilight turned to look at the work materials that had been brought, to see if she could build something to pick them up with. “Maybe we could make a-”
“”So where do you want me to take these?” Dash asked. Picking up one of the orbs.
Twilight winced, but nothing happened. “Oh. Well, I guess that makes that easier. Take them to the top of the east tower,” Twilight pointed to the castle turret visible through the glass ceiling. She had expected her to whine about the seven-story climb. But, she just gripped the stone ball between her wings and headed off in a trot.
Rainbow Dash had been far more help than she had thought. She was lazy and cocky, but when she took something seriously she was unstoppable. Though, her habit of using the castle spires as racing pylons still bothered Twilight. More than one window had become victim to a ‘misjudged turn’.
Slowly pacing the arboretum Twilight inspected the work of the dozen ponies that had volunteered. She was watching a pony repair a damaged section of stone when a somepony cleared their throat behind her.
“Pardon me Priestess. But, I’m here to replace the tapestries. Where my I find a room to store my fabric and work?”
Twilight turned to the voice a found a white unicorn with a purple mane. “Oh, thanks,” Twilight said. “Spike!” she called. Looking around for her little dragon, she saw Dash heading out with another stone on her back; lathered in sweat, but grinning.
“Spike!” she called again. She knew she had just seen him.
“Coming,” Spikes voice echoed from the far end of the room.
Spike scurried across the room, stopping a few meters from Twilight and the new mare, who had a coat of alabaster and hair of amethyst. Her every motion was controlled and her gaze was searching. His heart made strange thumps in his chest and his head swam. “Gerr, waa. Ugh, Hi.”
“Spike this is... I’m sorry I forgot to ask your name.”
“Rarity. It’s a pleasure to meet you both,” she said with a slight bow.
“This is Rarity she will be making us curtains. Thank you for offering your help by the way,” Twilight said. “Spike will you help her find a room on the third floor. Whichever room works best.”
“I’ll help carry her bags up too!”
“OK,” Twilight laughed.
As the two walked away a rainbow streak caught Twilight’s eye. Dash had flown out the window of the east tower and was flying around to the side entrance of the arboretum. It was a bitterly cold day. She wondered how the pegasus took the chill so casually.
“Woo! Feels good!” Dash shouted as the side door flung open. “Those steps are the best cardio I’ve had in months.” Closing the door she strode past Twilight, towards the statues and the remaining orbs in the center of the room. “What ya want me to do after this?”
“Shining had your personal trunk delivered this morning. You should take the rest of the day to set up your room.”
“Sweet,” Dash said, lifting the next element unto her back. With it nestled between her wings, she began her trot back to the tower.
Twilight walked over to check on the earth ponies that had volunteered to help replant the flora in the arboretum. A stallion named Mac had been voted forpony over the project by the other earth ponies. She found him currently struggling with a mass of old roots that he was tearing out. “How’s the clearing going?” she asked.
Letting go of the roots, “Slow,” he said. The laconic pony chewed his tongue for a moment, Twilight thought he would expand his report, but before he had spoken a shadow rolled across the room.
Everypony looked up in unison at the disturbance, gasps and shrieks soon followed. Above the glass roof, a white figure circle. Looking down at the gathered ponies it regarded them with hungry eyes. “Windigo,” Mac mumbled.
Twilight shivered, she had chased off mantacors and timberwolfs as a matter of course, but this was the first windigo she had ever seen. She had read enough to know this was not a creature that could simple be scared away. Neither wholly physical or ethereal, they fed on pony’s souls. “Everypony find a room to lock yourselves in, get out of here!” she yelled.
Snapped from their stupor, panic found the ponies as they scrambled to get into the castle proper. “Go, go, go!” Mac yelled over the din. Herding the fleeing ponies to the door, he ushered them away from the danger, doing his best to keep the panic from descending into all-out riot.
Mac looked back, and found the priestess standing in the center of the room, looking up at the monster as if daring it to attack. “Miss you need-” Mac’s shout was cut short by the sound of breaking glass. Drawn by the sudden movement or the smell of fear, the windigo was no longer content to watch from outside. The glass rained down and shattered against a lavender aura that the priestess projected. A quiver in her haunch betrayed her fear, but she stood her ground, even as the monster attacked the magic wall that held it at bay. “Well, I misjudged that one,” he mused, guiding the last few ponies through the door.
A second smashing of glass sounded, and a rainbow streak impacted the windigo, crashing it to the ground. The pegasus guard found her hooves faster than the windigo and jumped back to the priestess’s side. Still facing the downed windigo, Dash looked at him with one eye. “Go see to the others, this is my burden,” she told him. His conscience nagged him for leaving the two alone, but she was right. It was her place to fight, his place to tend.
The thud of the stallion barring the door from the other side, told Twilight they were alone with the monster now. Her mind raced through the spells she knew, looking for something the would help. Offencive magic was something she had yet to dabble in, past the minor spells. Rainbow Dash with neither armor or weapon moved between her and the windigo. “Stand back,” Dash warned just as the windigo scrambled to it’s hooves. In a chromatic blur, Dash bucked the monster in the head, sending it wheeling to the ground again. This time the creature vanished into a plume of fog and ice.
The two mares relaxed with a collective sigh. Dash strode over to the frosted ground that marked the death spot, before looking back to Twilight, “Glad that’s o- shit.”
Twilight followed Dash’s gaze up to the crown of the room, a herd of windigos circled above building’s arches. With one mind the hive drove down upon them, laying waste to the glass that stood in their way. By reflex her magic formed a barrier that encompassed her and Dash, the spell solidifying just before the first windigo smashed against it.
Dash winced when the windigos hit the translucent dome, the abrupt stop doing little to phase them as they immediately took to circling just outside the spell. The windigos thrashed against the magic barrier, swirling above them like a storm. Each assault rang the dome and incited a flinch in the unicorn, Twilight was not going to be able to hold this for long. It didn’t matter anyway, they couldn’t play defensive forever. “Twilight, This is a one-way type shield right?”
Twilight nodded with a grunt, too focused on the spell to talk.
“Whatever you do, don’t drop the spell,” Dash told her before leaping through the maelstrom of windigos.
“No!” Twilight blurted, the spell flickering from the distraction.
“Keep the shield up!” Dash yelled back at her. No sooner had she spoken than she became the center of attention for the windigos.
Dash leapt back from the onslaught, they were a clumsy mass, but they were fast and dangerous. She cursed her laziness, she should have kept her spear with her. One of the windigos lunged forward, its teeth catching her in the shoulder. Numbing frost crept into her veins, but not before the retorted with a blow of her own. Cracking the beast in the jaw it released its grip and flew back into the swirling mass.
Dash again leapt away, putting distance between them. This time landing with a wince, the frost bite had lamed her worse than she thought, she needed a weapon. Looking around the room she found the statue of Luna, and the iron-shafted spear she held. Moving across the room in a rainbow blur, she left the windigos alone and confused.
Landing atop the statue, she grasped the spear and pulled it up through the stony grasp of the goddess. “Sorry Luna, I need this for a bit,” she said as the spear pulled free. She was surprised to find it an actual weapon, expecting nothing more that an spear-shaped iron bar. But, this had a good balance and was made of fine steel. Testing its feel, Dash searched for her foe, the simple minded brutes had returned to thrashing against Twilight’s shield.
“Over here frost brains!” she taunted, leaping to the ground. The wound protested the exertion, but she paid it no mind. “Come get some!” The windigos took the offer and left the shielded unicorn for the pegasus.
Twilight watched the phantom equines again leave off attacking her to torment Rainbow Dash, the wound on her left shoulder was plain even through the rippling shield and distance. The spear flashed as the windigos neared, she could see them reel from the blows, but their ethereal nature protected them from much of the weapons wrath.
Ethereal or not the blur of steel and rainbow was thinning the herd; she had seen a windigo vanish in a puff of frost, but she saw blood too. Dash was in there, taking as much as she was giving, Twilight didn’t know how much more she could take.
Dash rolled the spear around her wings and drove its point into the head of another windigo. The frost of the dispatched beast blinded her for a moment. She tried to pull a clearing flourish, but one of the monsters found an opening. The nip at her wing was answered with a hard buck. That one had been close, any more damage to her wings and she would be grounded till she healed. She shivered at the thought of getting grounded, and Luna must have heard her. High above the cathedral a cloud parted and the full moon shined down on her. Her wings twitched, she could escape this death thrall, fly out the broken window and let the monsters do what they will.
‘No,’ she told herself, ‘I will protect at all coast.’
Something shattered behind Dash in a burst of orange light. She wanted to look back, but that was an amateur's mistake, her enemy was in front of her. Her spear found the chest of a windigo, and she cursed as it slid through the vapor, leaving little trace of its assault. Hooves and magic did more against windigos than spears, at least the spear kept them at a distance.
Twilight dropped the spell, her jaw slack as one of the Elements explode in a ball of light. The stone replaced with an orange gem set in a collar of gold. Animated by it’s own will, the collar launched itself at Rainbow Dash, and attached to her neck. The guard yelped in surprise, faltering for a moment. Twilight winced, expecting the windigos to seize her while she was off guard, yet the monsters were more distressed by the amulet than Dash was. Their disorientation was not lost on Dash, finding her wits she lunged with the spear. The weapon crackled with arcs of orange magic and where it had done little before, it devastated now. Dash’s face went from surprise to a death's-head grin.
8 years earlier.
Ponyville theater, the massive half-circle carved into the side of a hill was the pride of the principality. Able to seat ten thousand ponies, it was the second largest in Equestria. A painful burden for the town to build under her great-grand mother, but it had turned the agricultural powerhouse into a hub of the arts as well.
Baron Velvet looked up at the crowd: every seat taken, and more ponies made seats out of the grassy hillside. Today she was hosting several thousand more ponies than actually lived in ponyville, but one pony was painfully absent.
“She’ll turn up” her husband said, resting a hoof on her shoulder. She wished she had his optimism.
“Thank you,” she whispered back. Giving him a quick kiss, his horn was already glowing with the golden hue of the summer covenant. The rite was beginning, she had to play her part.
Stepping out onto the stage, the crowd hushed. “We are here to make the oath, ” the baron spoke, careful architecture carrying her voice to the far corners of the theater.
Ten thousand hooves stomped the ground to punctuate her sentence.
Looking to her husband and son, she watched them descend the podium and join the ranks of the other unicorns. Her daughter should be standing next to her now. She wondered if she was alive and if she had gotten her mark. With the cutie mark came the pains of the rite.
Two fillies ascended the stage, the Apple daughter, and Commander Loralshy’s daughter. They were both Sparkle’s age. Far too young to take the mantle that had been forced on them. But their youth had not saved them the pain of losing their parents, and it didn’t remove their family’s responsibility ether. Pleasant or not, it was lucky they had gotten their marks before the Summer Sun: choosing a replacement would have been a political firestorm.
The Apple daughter... Applejack—she had to stop thinking of her as Honey’s daughter, she was the family head now, took her place with pride. Another Apple matriarch that wouldn’t back down from a dragon’s breath. She was young and untested, but the Baron had a good feeling about her.
Fluttershy took her place on the stage with shaky, measured steps; a sharp contrast to the stoic Applejack. The poor thing was scared whittles, but she took her spot all the same. Unlike Applejack, she knew Fluttershy. She had grown up alongside her own daughter; Sparkle's honorary little sister. Here too was a filly with more depth than most could see.
“Do not be ashamed of your fear,” The baron said just loud enough for the pegasus to hear, as she lined up besides her. “We are, what we do when we are afraid.”
Fluttershy nodded, the words seeming to ease the stage fright.
“You mother would be proud,” Twilight Velvet whispered in Fluttershy’s ear, before returning her attention to the masses.
She felt bad for welding the specter of the filly's mother like that, but it was true; she would be proud. Loralshy and been as true a friend as one could ever be blessed with: quirky on a good day, but the best at what she did.
Stepping forward, the Barron spoke. “The summer noon comes, the rite will take its share of our lives and the sun will continue for another year. It is ours to give of ourselves. It is ours to guard the covenant. We shepherd our fellow ponies into one herd, for one is stronger than three ”
Some two thousand unicorns stomped their hooves. Their horns involuntary glow redoubled with the pledge.
Stepping back in line, Velvet laid a hoof on Applejack’s withers, with a nod she gave the filly her cue. A nervous fidget played across Applejack’s face before steeling herself and stepped forward.
“The land is ours, never to be taken. With it we feed our families and we feed Equestria. It is ours to succor the hungry. It is ours to strengthen the land. ”
Six thousand hooves stomped the earth. The Earthpony pledge sounded the valley like the mother of all thunder. The rumble fading as the unicorn’s horns brightened again.
Velvet checked the ceremonial sundial as Applejack stepped back, there were only moments left before solar noon. Every principality across Equestria was doing the same thing right now.
Placing a hoof on Fluttershy, she motioned her to step forward, but withdrew her hoof when Fluttershy looked back. Loralshy’s hard glare stared at her from the grave. The filly wore her mother’s eyes with the expression Loralshy was famous, or rather infamous for. With a curt nod, Loralshy’s daughter turned and approached the edge of the stage.
“We are free to serve who we wish, but bound to protect all we see. Ours is to never own land. It is ours to forever have the sky .”
Three thousand pegasi stomp their hooves, and the sun took its zenith. Gold fire consumed every unicorn, dropping many to their knees.
Baron Velvet clenched her jaw and presented the strongest front she could; she had to be strong. At the heart of the covenant was the celestial alignment; the spell that set the sun and moon in motion a year at a time. It took more magic than all the unicorns in Equestria could provide, making the difference out of their very life. It was why few of her tribe saw the age of sixty.
Grandmother Apple would be one hundred eighty this fall, and had a good chance of outliving the her.
With the spell having taken what it needed, the gold fire floated off each unicorn and lifted into the sky, and pain faded quicker than it had come. Taking a deep breath Baron Velvet looked over the crowd of unicorns. The earth ponies and pegasus were pressing into their ranks, helping the weakened to find their hooves, comforting the unicorns still reeling from the ordeal. The neat rows of segregated ponies devolved into a writhing mass.
That was the second half of the rite, the bonding. Part psychological, part magic, the rite mangled the consciousness of the pony race, and glazed it over with a narcotic glow. Herd mentality, fueled with magic blurred the lines of self.
Twilight Velvet's mind began to slip into the chaotic blur of the herd. Centering herself she clung to her sense of self, allowing only an awareness of the others around her. She longed to join the masses, the bonding was the warmest blanket, the safest place, the most loving hug all in one existence. But she was the Baron, she had to keep removed.
The two fillies besides her pressed against her. Looking down she could see they were scared. She gave them a mother’s smile and pulled them close; they were battling the collective conscious for the first time, afraid to let themselves slip into the dream. It was a good sign, weak-minded ponies gave into the call without hesitation. But, this was their first rite, they should know the herd.
“It’s okay,” she cooed. “It’s a safe place, let yourself go.”
Indeed it was a safe place. Dragons and griffons both had learned the hard way to avoid the rite. Even benign-parasite changelings tread softly on the day of the rite.
Twilight Velvet stroked the filly's manes and watched them slip into the herd mind. She expected them to run off and play with abandoned, but instead they pressed harder into her, curling up under her, they clung to her like yearlings. Anypony would assume them her daughters...
The thought hung in her mind a moment with a lump in her throat. Her defense against the herd consciousness weakened, it’s warm embrace called her. Catching the slip she pushed back against it, but not before she felt the minds of the little ones beneath her; they had felt her sadness. It was with the love for a mother that they reached out to sooth her. Her wall cracked, and she gave herself over to the herd. Curling nose to tail she encircled the foals and closed her eyes.
Twilight Velvet skittered across the room, pulling a scroll from its place on a shelf. “I sent our payment to Cloudsdale for next year’s contract. Blueblood starts his winter festival in two weeks, so you shouldn’t hear anything from him.” Leaping to her writing desk, like it might run away, she flung open several drawers and rummaged through them. “Appleoosa is sending a caravan next week, make sure there’s a good place for them to set up for trade. The eastern principality is grumbling about borders again. I don’t want them getting any closer than the ridge, but if you can trade some south east land for north east, go for it. As for-”
“Honey.” Nightlight interrupted his wife’s rambling. “You're only planning on being gone five days.” Walking across the room he laid a hoof on her withers and pulled her to him. “Shining and I will be fine while you’re gone.”
A knock on the office door interrupted the moment. “Enter,” Nightlight called.
The guard opened the door, only so far as to stick his head in. “The Warden is here Baron.”
“Send her in,” Velvet said.
The door opened the rest of the way, admitting a nervous yellow pegasus, large saddlebags hung on her back. She winced at the sound of the door closing behind her, but seemed to relax once alone with Twilight Velvet and her husband. “I’m ready to go when you are Twilight Velvet. No hurry though. I can wait...”
“No, no. Good timing Fluttershy. Velvet just finished her paperwork,” Nightlight said. Kissing his wife on the cheek, he patted her on the back and shooed her towards Fluttershy.
“Fine, fine. I get the hint,” Velvet laughed, planting a kiss on her husband’s lips before trotting over to Fluttershy.
Fluttershy laughed inwardly at the affectionate display. The Baron dropped her guard around few ponies. It was a privilege she treasured more than any other.
“I see you grinning,” Velvet said with a grin, sending the pegasus reeling into her own mane. With a nuzzle Velvet brushed the hair from Fluttershy's face and interrupted whatever apology she was about to mutter. “You have all your critters taken care of?” Velvet asked.
Fluttershy nodded. “Mmm, yes. I hope so anyway.”
“Good,” Twilight Velvet declared. Walking to the door, Twilight Velvet straightened her posture before placing a hoof on the doorknob. Fluttershy always marveled at the instant transformation from Twilight Velvet to the Baron. She couldn’t call them separate personalities, but they were not the same pony ether.
Outside the Baron led her to a waiting herd, two wagons were filled to the brim with supplies and dozen ponies gathered around. Two were guards, but the rest were citizens of Ponyville, like herself. She knew most of them, not the typical lot you take on a journey into the Everfree: masons, surveyors, architects, engineers, and a doctor. The Baron did not do things in half measures. She would tame a stretch of the Everfree, and that started today.
This would be the third envoy the Baron had sent to the castle. The first being Shining’s investigation that discovered Twilight Sparkle, the second a hastily-sent team with food, medicine, and volunteers. A few couriers had come and gone since then, but this was the first organized expedition to start the process of civilizing the old castle grounds. And therein was her official reason for going on the trip. She would see what animals could be civil neighbors, and which she would have to ask to leave.
“Head out ponies!” The Baron shouted from the lead, sending the line of wagons and ponies into motion.
Fluttershy took her place beside the Baron. She hated being in the lead, but it wasn’t so bad as long as Velvet was besides her. The rhythm of hooves on hard road gave way to the muffled crunch of virgin snow being trampled. And all too soon the snow covered trees of the Everfree soon loomed above them. Everypony’s gait changed a little as the dangers of the untamed wild surrounded them. For all her timidness, Fluttershy now moved with more confidence than most. Only the Baron’s head and ears were more forward.
Fluttershy scanned the familiar territory. As warden her duties regularly took her into the fringe of the Everfree, but never as deep as they planned to go today, and even less frequently in the unforgiving winter.
“This place scares me,” Velvet breathed, just loud enough for Fluttershy to hear.
“Yea, it’s a scary place,” Fluttershy said.
“How is that cockatrice problem?”
“I umm... asked them to go deeper into the forest, so ponies wouldn’t run into them.”
“And the ponies that got petrified?” the Baron asked.
“They’re better.”
The band marched into the forest for some hours before Fluttershy again spoke. Low even for her she walked a little closer to Velvet. “Are you... nervous?” Fluttershy asked.
Twilight Velvet smiled at Fluttershy. “Hmm... No, excited. But not nervous.”
“Me too. Think she’ll remember me?” Fluttershy asked.
“Shining tells me her memory was damaged pretty badly,” Velvet said staring ahead.
“Oh,” Fluttershy sighed. Her head and ears drooping.
Velvet nudged her with a motherly smile. “Don’t take it personally, if it takes her awhile to remember. Shining says she recalls ponies once she starts talking with them. It’s events that are the hardest.”
Fluttershy let her memories stretch back to her youth, before her parents had died. Sparkle had been like a big sister to her... Fluttershy’s ear twitched.
Baron Velvet froze in her tracks, only moving to signal the ponies behind her to halt as well. She watched Fluttershy’s ears track a sound she couldn’t hear. A pony possessed, Fluttershy wandered off the trail and into the snow dusted brush.
The band of ponies held silent at their Baron’s command, allowing the winter silence to consume the forest once more. Velvet’s ears rang from the extraordinary quiet as she watched Fluttershy’s pink mane vanish among the foliage. She marveled at the young mares ability to more without sound even through snow and brush. It was another gift inherited from her mother.
Stark silence hung for a long moment before being shattered by Fluttershy flying like a bolt back to Twilight Velvet. Landing besides her in a puff of snow and twigs, Fluttershy’s eyes were wide with fright. “Windagos!” she cried.
Murmurs rolled through the gathered ponies, some fidgeting, some ready to run.
“Easy,” Baron Velvet said. Her voice stilled the heard, but fear still lingered. “Where?” she asked Fluttershy.
“Circling, beyond the river,” Fluttershy said, pointing towards where she had ventured.
Velvet recalled the forest map she had studied earlier; the castle was just beyond the river. “The castle,” Velvet said “Let’s go!”
“Open those gates!” the Baron roared. The pilgrim's palisade would not slow her down. She brought forth crackling energy that would rend the gate to splinter, she would open it if they did not.
Only silence answered her as she neared. ‘the hard way it is .’
Snow and splinters flew up into the evening sky. Velvet cast a second spell as she passed through where the door had been. A bubble expanded out pushing the still-flying debris out past where it could fall on somepony. Inside the wall, she found campfire’s burning with pots still hanging above them, but no ponies. “Do you see anypony? Any windigos?” she asked.
The guard behind her took the question for the order it was, and flew past her. Flying over the castle, he had just gone out of sight, when he appeared again. “Fighting Baron, on the far side of the castle.”
“Aid them,” she yelled back.
Thunderlane nodded, and looped back towards the fighting. Flashes of magic and sounds of combat echoed from the solarium. Aiming for one of the many broken window he lined up for the dive, but faltered when orange light blinded him. Breaking midair her came to rest on top of the structure, and blinked the stars from his eyes. Below him the din of battle changed. Rubbing his eyes, he willed his vision to clear. What he saw, left him dumbstruck.
Rainbow Dash flurried an orange-plumed spear among a herd of windigos; she was outnumbered, wounded, and surrounded. Her offensive circle was strong despite her condition, and the windagos seemed unwilling to press. Her spear crackle and growled as it passed from hoof, to mouth, to wings. With a roar she lunged, driving the spear deep into one of the monsters; shattering it like glass. Several windigos spooked at the fury of the little pegasus, and turned to flee.
Thunderlane readied himself for an ambush, but a lavender bubble appeared over the battle. The frightened beast pressed against the barrier in vain, only to be dispatched by Rainbow Dash; their reward for taking their eyes off their opponent. Orange light danced among the monsters cleaving limbs from bodies, and sundering beasts to mist. Faster than he could count, she slew the windigos. The herd became a few, then none at all.
The carnage complete, the lavender bubble vanished, and Rainbow Dash scanned the room with her spear ready. A whistle from above told her a fellow guard was there. She whistled back; code for “Is it clear?”
Thunderlane looked around, flying up he scanned the area, but found no other dangers. He called back with a crisp bird sound. “All is clear,” was the message.
A moment later the call for “Help me here.” echoed up to him. Gliding down to the Lieutenant, he found her leaning against the spear. It’s angry-orange plume, now a soothing glow.
“Dash! Are you alright?” A young unicorn asked.
‘That had to be the Baron's daughter ,’ he thought
Flexing her wings, Rainbow Dash winced, but smiled. “I can still fly.”
Behind them a door slammed open. Thunderlane spun to the threat, but relaxed when the Baron charged into the room. “All clear,” he yelled across the solarium, waving to the Baron.
“Sparkle?” a voice cried.
Twilight Sparkle turned around to see a cream and lavender mare cantering towards her. “Mom?” she asked; she hoped. Memories rich in emotion swelled in her mind, but refused to come to the surface.
Velvet tried to speak, but could only nod and answer. Scooping Sparkle into her hooves, she marveled how her little filly had grown. She had missed so much of her daughter’s life. But that stopped today.
Twilight Sparkle gasped at the tight embrace, then melted into it. Her mother’s smell filled her senses.This was the smell of home, of safety.
Dash smiled at the reunion. Hoofing her spear over to Thunderlane, she sat down to examine her wounds.
“Oh goodness. Dash are you ok?” a familiar voice cooed.
“Fluttershy? Why are you here?” Dash asked. Looking around she spotted her old friend. She was amidst a group of ponies that had followed the Baron.
With a meager flap, Fluttershy hopped above the herd, and glided over to her friend. Landing next to Dash, she gave her a hug the moment her hooves touched the ground. “I’m glad you’re safe,” she said quietly.
Dash winced under her hug, but laughed. “Good to see you too.”
Pulling back a bit, Fluttershy looked over her friend’s wounds. “You took a couple bad frost bites. Let’s get the Doctor to have a look at you,” Fluttershy said. Frost bites were insidious wounds. They had a venom to them that would spread if untreated, and its numbing effect lull ponies into thinking their wounds weren’t as bad as they actually were. “I’ll go get him.”
“Already here!” a tenor voice said from a the nearby crowd of ponies.
“Thanks Doctor Time,” Fluttershy said, sliding out of Dash’s hooves, making room for the doctor to examine her. Taking a step backwards she bumped into another pony. “Oops, sorry,” she squeaked.
A soft bump brought Twilight Sparkle out of her warm daze, as some pony mumbled an apology at her. Before she could turn to see the pony, her mother’s voice caught her attention.
“Sparkle, do you remember Fluttershy?,” her mother asked.
Turning in her mother’s embrace, she found a yellow and pink pegasus. The mares expression was a mix of anxiety and joy. Somewhere in the back of her mind the memory of a song stirred. The melody hung in her head, but the words refused to come.
Fluttershy waited for Sparkle to say something, anything. Her honorary big sister stared blankly at her, her head slowly tilting to one side. Sparkle blinked a few times then mumbled something too low for even her to hear. Leaning, she pointed her ears forward in hopes she repeated the words.
Again Sparkle’s lips moved, ever so quietly she mumbled again. This time Fluttershy caught the sounds. “Sunshine, Sunshine...” she said fading into a melodic hum.
Fluttershy nodded and hummed the old melody. Sparkle quickly began to follow her lead. Again Sparkle mumbled the words, “Sunshine, Sunshine.” This time Fluttershy finished the rhyme, “ladybugs awake. Clap your hooves, and do a little shake.”
Twilight Sparkle smiled ear to ear, gently pulling away from the mother, she stepped towards Fluttershy. Again she began the chant.
Velvet smiled at her the two young mares. A daughter by blood, and a daughter by love, she watched them recite their song and dance, then fall each others hooves.
Author's Note
As I have three stories on my block right now, this story is getting slotted as the third priority. Not to say I'm putting it on hold, just that this is what I'll be working on then I'm stuck in on the other stories.
