Chapter Four: A Downpour of Darkness and Dragons

"Could this be…Dream Castle?" Sweet Stuff whispered.

"What?" Shady, Gusty, and Fizzy all said at once.

"It's Northstar's tapestry," Sweet Stuff said with a nod to the antique.

"Maybe she gave it to the Grundles," Fizzy suggested. "Maybe they forgot to take it with them. If Dream Castle is in trouble, I bet they would go to Paradise Estate for help."

"There's one way we might find out," I said. "We should look for Paradise Estate."

The others exchanged nervous looks. These ruins of what might have been Dream Castle were spooky, but the unknown terrors of the still-dark countryside made them as reluctant to leave as I was.

Finally we mustered our courage, though it must be said that Galaxy helped by reminding us that we should hurry before the rains returned.

"I don't like this," Galaxy told me after we had traveled an hour from Dream Castle. "The sun should have been up by now."

"Why does the rain have you so afraid?" I asked her.

Galaxy closed her eyes for a moment. "I don't know," she said. "But when it was falling and we were vulnerable under the sky, it was as though a Troggle were coming toward me with a flaming brand."

I didn't understand her analogy then; however, I could sense her fear as strongly as though it originated in my own body.

We traveled down an empty path that led past scraggly bushes and more trees stooped with suffering.

"They're dying from the lack of sunlight," Galaxy said.

In that moment, I understood Gusty's frequent frustration with Galaxy's intuition. The pink unicorn's observation played tricks on my eyes for miles; I kept seeing the limp, starving leaves lean toward the light of Gusty's horn like reaching hands. Whenever I stared directly at them, however, they remained motionless.

Eventually we came to a jagged cliff edge. Other smaller cliffs with sharp points rose from the bottom. These I explored with the aid of Gusty's light, searching for any signs of life on the canyon floor. Fizzy, Galaxy, and the earth ponies, meanwhile, investigated the area near the edge as best as they could. To my disappointment, the canyon seemed as devoid of life as the other parts of this strange Ponyland. Then, to make matters worse, Gusty's light went out. "Gusty," I called. "I need that light!" I thought, naively, that something had distracted her, perhaps the others' search. Then I dared to hope that the five of them had found someone who could help us. Pony, bushwoolie, anyone! Cautiously, I flew back to the summit, using the rock face as a guide. Vague recollections came to mind, of my mother warning me the dangers of night flight. Until now, I had never undertaken the challenge, and my slowness set my teeth on edge.

Before I could reach the top, screams broke the oppressive silence. As if to mock my inability to rush to their aid, the cries echoed off the rock faces. Terrified for my friends, of what I would find at the top, I flew a short distance from the cliff, then shot straight upward, all the while searching desperately for the lights which would show me where solid ground was. All was shadow and blackness below. Trembling, I shut my eyes, determined that the sounds would guide me to whatever horrors awaited.

As I floundered about, disoriented by noises wholly unhelpful and their echoes, a great wind rushed toward me. I opened my eyes just in time to see an immense flying creature hurtling straight for me. I made a desperate dive but still struck its scaled belly. A roar reverberated through my ears as I plummeted into a crash landing. For several minutes, I lay there staring dazedly at four winking lights in pink, white, green, and lavender. At first I thought they would fade when the pain in my stomach and legs had subsided, when the grip upon my lungs had relaxed. However, when the air returned with stinging sweetness, they still shone with a faint glitter I recognized: unicorn light. I galloped after them on foot so I would not risk going over the edge.

"Paradise!" came Sweet Stuff's whisper. "Over here!"

I found her huddled in a stony ditch.

"They're circling above the clouds," said a voice near me. "Keep as still as stone." I thought it was Galaxy's, but the more I listened the more certain I became that I had never heard it before.

"What about Apple Jack?" Another voice I did not recognize. "She's still out there."

"There's nothing you can do for her." A third voice! Despite our immediate danger, my heart dared to hope. The other ponies had found help. Perhaps when the creatures in the sky had gone, they could tell us what had happened to Ponyland.

"Look! That dragon is carrying a pony away!" Without a doubt, it was Fizzy. Before she finished her sentence, the lightning that had allowed her to see the gruesome sight flickered out.

"It's horrible," Sweet Stuff whispered.

"It's life," the third voice declared. "You must be a very ignorant little pony to have been unaware of the stratodons' doings."

"No! That's Apple Jack!" The second voice. "I should have made certain she was behind us."

"The are stratodons are fighting among themselves." The first voice again. "I think it's safe now to go back to our cave. They won't notice now they have their prey."

"You mean they eat ponies?" Shady sounded panicked.

My throat clenched, and my heart struggled like a small animal in a trap. How near my blind flight had brought me to being eaten, myself!

"If they're hungry, they will eat her. Often they drag ponies off for sport," the third pony said.

Gusty lit her horn. By its light, I saw that the third speaker was a blue earth pony with draggled and dirty yellow ribbons tied in her tangled pink hair. Her face, thin from hardship, made her already wild eyes seem about to leap from their sockets.

"Who are you?" Gusty said. "I've never seen you at Paradise Estate."

"My name is Bowtie. And you six are strangers here. Where is this 'Paradise Estate'?"

"There is no time for this!" Soft lavender light engulfed the speaker, who I saw was a pale pink unicorn. "We must hurry back underground!"

"Can we come with you?" Sweet Stuff said.

A look flashed between Bowtie and the strange unicorn. I wondered if enduring long in dangerous times had given the earth pony and the unicorn the ability to communicate without words, an ability I understood to exist between unicorns alone.

"I don't know if we can trust you," Bowtie said. "What if you are one of Tirek's tricks?"

"'Tirek?'" Shady said. "Is he the reason Dream Castle is in ruins?"

"How do you know about Dream Castle?" Bowtie demanded.

"I smell rain," said a pink pegasus with a wild blue mane and tail. "Twilight, Bowtie, I trust them. Even if they don't know anything about the Night that Never Ends. They cared about Apple Jack and Dream Castle. Please consider them my friends."

I smiled gratefully her. "Thank you," I said. "My name is Paradise."

"Mine's Firefly," she said. "We can introduce the others later. We need to leave. That rain's coming!" As she turned, I saw by the light of four unicorn horns that one of her wings was shriveled and burned. My own ached in sympathy. She would never fly again . How, I wondered, had it happened? Perhaps she had been in a fight with the dragons. I resigned myself to yet another mystery, since it would be rude to ask her about the injury.

"Firefly…" Bowtie whispered. "You always were the daredevil of Dream Valley."

"But her intuition is strong. Perhaps from all those foolish chances she takes." Twilight winked at the pink pegasus pony. "Follow me. There is a series of caves near here where we hide. I have enchanted their openings to look exactly like the neighboring rock."

"Then that's why we didn't find anything," Fizzy and I said at the same time. The green unicorn and I laughed together. Things did not seem so bleak now that we had found these other ponies.

I fell into step beside Firefly. When she spoke, her eyes and voice were far far away. "Applejack…" she murmured. "How she loved her apples. After the sun set for the last time, she continued looking for them. I hope wherever she has gone, the powers are kind and grant her an entire orchard."