Chapter 10

Veil took a long time calming down, which was understandable. After all, she had just received a large adrenaline shot. Half an hour later, the poor pony was still shaking like a leaf. Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy crowded around her, trying to comfort Veil the best they could. But how does one comfort a pony that has lost everything she ever knew?

Finally, the black pegasus began to stop crying, but did not loosen her hold on Twilight's body, clinging onto the unicorn as though she were the only lifeline in a stormy sea. Veil looked into Twilight's eyes, then around the room slowly. She froze.

"Whe-where are we?" she whispered fearfully. "This isn't my house…am I dead?"

Fluttershy put a hoof on Veil's unhurt foreleg. "No, you're not dead. You're safe now, at Ponyville Urgent Care hospital."

"What? How did I get here? I've never been here before; did you take me here?" Veil demanded.

"Yeah. I'm sorry, but after you passed out, you started to scream and thrash around like you were being tortured. We couldn't think of anyplace else to take you." Said Rainbow Dash. "Are you mad?" she added cautiously.

Veil looked unsure of what to say.

"I'm…outside?" she finally said.

The three other ponies nodded.

"I'm…alive?"

Another nod.

Twilight, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash suddenly found themselves wrapped in a hug by Veil, who had a huge grateful smile on her face.

"Thank you."

Once again, the mark progresses upon the road to recovery, and our retrieval task is set back another step.

The manor was filled with dark smoke as a set of teeth made their way through the various rooms, ranting about its current status.

And to make matters even more inconvenient, the mark has left our area of direct influence. Without a direct link, the mark will be free from our presence during its waking hours. We can only communicate when it sleeps.

The smoke settled back in the room in which bones littered the floor. A draconic skull sat in the center, buzzing with blue sparks, slowly levitating itself up to the teeth's height. The jaw opened with a creak. In the half-light of the sparks, the skull looked demonically alive, yet long dead at the same time.

"Don't be too disappointed. The safeguard put in place by the contract are still burning into her. If she wishes to stop the pain, she will have to return eventually. Do not worry. We still have time to complete the retrieval."

The teeth in the smoke gnashed at the skull, which floated smartly back to avoid the blow.

There will be time for nothing if we fail. Notify our associate of this dilemma. I am the superior here, and he will cooperate, as will you.

The draconic skull tilted in submission.

"As you command. The board is yours."

"I don't understand. Why did I turn up in your library? I've never even been there, how could I have known where to teleport to?" Veil asked.

The injured pegasus was back in bed, with Twilight and her friends recounting the events of the previous nights to her. With sunrise only three hours away, everypony was understandably drowsy, but the curious series of last night demanded explanation, namely how three pegasi had teleported from one spot to another spot dozens of miles away with no unicorn.

"You said that 'every time it got worse' when you showed up, then you fainted." Twilight said. "What did you mean?"

Veil looked stricken. She would have gone pale, but her body color prevented such a change from being visible.

"I really said that?" she asked.

"Yes, you did."

For the first time, Veil noticed her missing bracer and wing blades, a look of terror spreading on her face.

"My armor." She gasped. "Where is it?" Veil clambered out of bed and made for the door, only to stumble and fall after putting too much weight on her wound.

Twilight levitated the ebony pegasus back into the bed.

"It's back at the library," Fluttershy said reassuringly. "You need to rest, you know. We can get it tomorrow-"

"No!" Veil shrieked. "Please, no." she said in a calmer tone. Veil glanced at the window. It was still dark, but the clock showed that there were but a few hours left until Celestia's sun lit up Equestria for the day.

"I know you need your bracer to walk, but the nurse said you need to stay here tomorrow night as well, so we can collect it and bring it tomorrow afternoon," Twilight reasoned.

Veil leaned out of bed and grabbed Twilight again, only this time, Twilight thought she saw an edge of madness in the mare's yellow eyes.

"It's not just that I need my bracer to walk, it helps with other things too." Veil hissed. "If I don't have it back by sunrise, I will be dead."

Rainbow Dash was disturbed by all the mystery and hysteria.

"Fine, I'll go get it, but you have to tell us why when I get back okay?" said Ponyville's brash weather pony.

Veil nodded vigorously. "Just hurry, please."

Rainbow Dash smirked. "Ten seconds flat." She crowed, and then she was gone, leaving a streak of multicolored light behind.

Thirty-two seconds later, Rainbow Dash reappeared, holding a clanking bag between her teeth.

"Mmbaak!" she said.

"What?" inquired Twilight.

Rainbow Dash set the bag on the floor. "I'm back!" she repeated.

"Is it all there?" Veil asked feverishly from the bed. "The bracer and wing guards?"

Rainbow Dash opened the bag and pulled out the items, careful not to cut herself on any of the numerous sharp edges that covered the bracer and wing guards. Veil took them from Rainbow with a silent look of gratitude, and swiftly snapped them into place, using smooth well-practiced movements that spoke of countless repetitions. Veil folded and unfurled her wings a few times, ensuring the mechanisms opened and closed properly. Finally, the clawed bracer, now encasing Veil's right foreleg, was tightened to make sure it wouldn't slip off mid-step. Her preparations complete, Veil smiled and leaned back.

"I suppose I owe you some real answers then?" the black mare said, more relaxed now that she had her gear back. "Fair enough."

"The reason I wasn't straight with you ponies before was, well, I was scared. In that manor, everything I do is being watched. All the pictures…they follow me. I know I'm not alone in there, even when there's nopony else with me." Veil shuddered at the memory of her story. "That's why I'm so happy you took me outside. For the first time in…forever, I felt…free. Nothing was watching me for once. It felt so good…but I can't stay outside after sunrise. I told you that, didn't I?"

Twilight and the other two pegasi nodded, remembering how Veil had told them that she had to be back before the sun rose.

"I was so absorbed in finding out my past that I forgot to tell you why. You say I started having a fit yesterday morning? Let me put it this way: can you imagine being slowly ripped apart by a thousand white-hot needles from the inside out?"

"Oh dear, no."Fluttershy squeaked, shocked by the sudden use of imagery.

"It was that bad?" asked Rainbow Dash in an awed tone.

Veil shook her head.

"No, it was worse, but that's the most painful thing I can think of right now. That's how I was feeling that morning. If I'm not back in the manor when the sun rises, I'll continue to suffer like that, until I pass out or die."

"That's horrible!"

"I guess you could say that, but I'm grateful for the ability to feel anything at all, really. It's just…that's why I needed my armor back. When I wear it, it helps to…dull the pain a bit. It keeps me from feeling the full force of the daytime effect until I can get back to the manor…" she choked back a sob. "Oh, Celestia, I don't want to go back!"

Twilight put a reassuring hoof on Veil's shoulder.

"Shhh. There, there. Nopony's making you go back." Twilight decided to turn the conversation away from the distressing subject of the manor and ask something she'd meant to ask a while back.

"Veil, when you, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash appeared in the library, you also took all the yearbooks with you."

"We did?"

"Um, yeah. They sort of softened the floor for us to land on…thanks." Fluttershy said meekly.

"I almost forgot about the yearbooks. Did you find anything?"

Twilight shook her head. "We tried, Veil, but you told us that you look nothing like you did before, and even your name was different." Veil's ears drooped at that. "But we were wondering if you could identify any of the ponies in the yearbooks. If you can recognize them, then we can narrow things down a bit."

Veil's ears perked up, and she sat up a bit straighter in bed. "Can we start now?" she asked eagerly. "I think I still remember some ponies if I think hard enough-"

"Sorry to um…interrupt, but…well, you haven't eaten anything in almost two days. You need to eat something." Fluttershy advised.

"I don't need to." mumbled Veil automatically. The pegasus threw off the sheets anyway and got out of bed. However, she was seized by a slight trembling in her legs.

"What's happened to me? There's a terrible pain in my gut…" She winced. "I feel so...tired. Am I hurt worse than before?" Veil's stomach growled loudly, causing her to jump, wings flaring out with shock. "What was that?" Twilight, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash began to smile, their emotions fledging into a full blown laugh.

"No, really, what's going on? Is there something you're not telling me?"

Rainbow Dash got up off the floor, wiping her eyes with mirth. She clapped Veil on the back.

"Come on. It seems like Fluttershy was right. You do need to eat."

Veil tried to shrug the cyan pony off. "I haven't eaten in months. I don't see why I should start now-"

Rainbow Dash was a pony used to having her way. It didn't take much effort for her to drape the protesting Veil across her back and fly toward Sugarcube Corner, still grinning from ear to ear. No small feat for a creature whose ears were on top of its head.

"We have arrived."

In the manor, a painting erupted into black flames, and out of them emerged two tall forms. Shrouded in smoke and shadows, they slithered and drifted into the room containing the remnants of Veil's armor. The black creature waiting within acknowledged them with a nod and opened its teeth wide, briefing them.

This mission has been a miserable failure from the start, It spat brutally. Not a single moment of amusement to be had, and if we do not return with results, it is unlikely we will be let out again.

The two others waited patiently, ready for their orders. Their superior suddenly turned to them.

I know that before and after this is done, we shall be equals once more. However, for this moment, I expect you to obey my commands as I tell you.

As the speech went on, the shadows and smoke began to clear away from the audience. In the gloom, a skeletal bladed tail twitched, a cruelly sharpened horn glinted.

You will leave this structure and use any means you wish to draw the target back here.

A slightly bemused reptilian voice, higher in register, responded.

"I have already visited our straying companion in her dreams. Besides, the enchantments placed on her will-"

A third voice, melodious yet carrying an ominous undertone interrupted.

"You already told us this. She hasn't come back. That's why we need to get out there and bring her back, or our souls are forfeit."

The superior nodded.

As much amusement as it would have caused to slowly bring the mark back around, alas, we have no time for such intricacies. No authorization. Thus, I order you, as those with a tangible form, to complete your task.

By this time, the black smog was almost completely gone, revealing the some of the two members of the audience at last.

The first was a skeletal dragon, a predatory lich with pale green light shining from its ancient skull. Its bony wings stretched to the ceiling, and it rested upon its extensive coiled up tail. A tall, double-edged sword, glowing electric blue and surrounded with several small floating luminous orbs, levitated at its side. It cocked its skull to the side and hissed.

The second was less impressive to look at. It appeared to be a dark entity wreathed in blackest shadow, bright blue sparks skipping along its length. Here and there the cloak of darkness would give way, showing a needlepoint horn or a sinister clawed hand that grasped at the air, trying to squeeze the life out of it.

The dracolich and its cohort nodded at their superior, and made for the door. Just before they passed through, the shadowy one turned around and asked one last question.

"Is our target meant to be brought back alone, or can we bring back extras?"

It makes no difference to me.The black creature waved its hand at them as it turned away and dived into a nearby picture.

Now go, Mauraxus, Sirmyurin, and do your duty.

Author's Notes

There. A longer chapter to make up for the pitifully short previous one.

Finally, we get to know the identities of two of Veil's associates from her previous life! Yay, now things can finally get more fun. Maybe…*sniff*…maybe.