Aurora shifted Spectrum on her back, trying to keep from jostling him too much. The pegasus had held up for at least a mile, but after that it was clear the pain was too great for him to go much further. Ladybird had fussed over him a good ten minutes before finally allowing Aurora to carry him.
"Ladybird?" Luna asked, trotting with red pegasus, "What's your special talent? I mean, I know you have three ladybirds for your Cutie Mark, but I don't think I've ever seen a peagsus living on the ground before."
"Well, Princess, I never felt at home in the clouds. I always felt restless and anxious. It wasn't that I didn't love it there, but I just felt out of place. Most pegasi have weather related Cutie Marks. Spectrum, while being a fast flyer, is also head of the main weather team for Equestria, for example.
"But I never liked kicking clouds or inspecting snowflakes. It was just too tiring for me. And I couldn't see my efforts being rewarded. That was what frustrated me the most. I'd do all this work, and I could never see the results it caused. Not the results you'd expect, Princess. I wanted to see the ponies' faces when the snow came, or when it rained for the first time in spring. The only thing I liked about living in the clouds was the friends I made. I often go visit Cloudsdale and I have to spend at least a week visiting so I can see everypony.
"I knew I'd never get my Cutie Mark if I stayed in the clouds, so I came down to the forest. The forest is so different from any of the other forests in Equestria. It's alive, wild, and it just felt like the perfect place for me. I made friends with all sorts of creatures, and then one day I realized that I was supposed to do this. I was supposed to be a connection between ponies and all other creatures. And that's when my Cutie Mark appeared."
"Wow!" Luna rose a few inches off the ground, a genuine smile of awe across her face. "That's a wonderful story!"
"Kindness always has its reward, Princess. Remember to be kind, and you'll always see the good in other ponies."
Aurora had had a pressing issue to bring up with Ladybird, but now she almost couldn't bear to bring it up. She didn't want to sound mean or ungrateful, but Spectrum was getting heavy, and she wasn't sure how much longer he would be able to stay conscious. She thought over her words carefully before speaking. "Ladybird, how much farther to Sunvale? I've never heard of it before, and I'm excited to meet the ponies there."
Ladybird flew into the air and lazily twisted around. "Oh, there's no ponies in Sunvale. It's a griffin colony."
"Griffins?" She did her best to mask her worry. She had never met a griffin before. A pony, she could handle, easily. A griffin?
"They're quite nice once you get to know them, but they're very prideful. So treat them with respect, and they'll do the same to you, usually. There are a few who just can't be nice to ponies, but those don't live in Sunvale. They live on their own."
Wonderful. Prideful creatures who weren't ponies. Would they even recognize Aurora and Luna as the new heirs to the throne? She wondered if her parents knew of Sunvale, though they hadn't mentioned it before.
Ladybird parted a pair of large evergreen shrubs and the little town of Sunvale was revealed. There were several thatched roof cottages lined in rows. A young griffin, looking like a bald eagle in coloration, stopped his happy frolicking and caught sight of Ladybird. His face visibly brightened and he began hovering a few inches off the ground.
"Ladybird! You're back!" he cried.
"Of course I'm back, Gerome. Like I could stay away from some of my favorite griffins!" Ladybird ruffled the crown of his head, a few feathers flying loose.
"We there yet?" Spectrum mumbled, barely coherent.
Ladybird's playful attitude was replaced with a more serious one, one Gerome the griffin took seriously because he snapped to attention as she spoke. "We need a healer, do you know if Grizabella-?"
"Say no more, Ladybird!" the griffin saluted. "I'll go get her right away." And he took off, leaving a few wisps of dust behind him.
"Princess, if you would be so kind to put Spectrum down here, it'll make it easier for Grizabella to get a good look at him."
Aurora felt her knees start to buckle under her. She caught Luna's concerned gaze. "Sister, will you help me?"
Luna nodded. Their magic lighting up the dark, and creating a pink and lavender haze around the injured pegasus, the sisters lowered him to the ground as gently as they could.
"Why couldn't you have carried me like that the whole way here?" Spectrum said as he coughed slightly. "Would have been a lot easier for you."
"I could have for a little while," Aurora admitted, "but I want to save my energy for whatever comes."
"So you waste it on carrying an injured pegasus?"
"I-"
"I'm kidding. Sheesh. Just trying to make this less stressful for you."
Spectrum had unintentionally struck a nerve. With every passing minute Aurora became more and more tense, perhaps stemming from the fact that the longer she and Luna took, the more in control Discord became, and it would be that much harder to wrest control from him and take back Equestria.
A grey griffin came up the long pathway between the cottages, with several griffins poking their heads out of their windows and doors. Gerome lead on, unaware of the worried faces that followed his procession. Grizabella glanced at Spectrum for a single second before looking at Ladybird.
Ladybird bowed at the neck, and gestured to the Princesses with her hoof. "Grizabella, may I introduce the young Princesses? I would give you their names, but I'm afraid a curse has been placed upon them, forcing Discord, a terrible creature with great power, to appear, and he will wreak more chaos upon us if we speak their names."
Grizabella looked at both Princesses. Aurora bowed in a similar fashion to what Ladybird had done, with Luna mimicking the pegasus as well. "Thank you for coming to help our friend," Aurora said.
Grizabella's voice was old, and it reminded her of sand and cracked earth in the summer when the summer storms were sent elsewhere in Equestria. "What happened to him?"
"Spectrum was trying to save us, and trying to get rid of Discord's hold on the sun and moon," Luna said, popping up. "We had no idea Discord would do this to somepony."
"A less valiant pony would have succumbed to cowardice. He has great loyalty for you. Follow me to my cottage. I have a bed there where I can better examine him."
Aurora picked up the wounded pegasus again with her magic. Ladybird trotted beside Spectrum, her golden eyes filled with worry. Though she did not voice it, Aurora was having a harder time holding him up with her magic. She began to walk a little faster, spurred by panic. If she couldn't even hold up a pegasus, what else would happen as she continued to grow weaker? Luna came up beside her sister, and she too lifted Spectrum with magic, causing the aura around him to change from pink to lavender. With her sister's help, Aurora felt the weight lift from her mind.
Grizabella's cottage smelled of dust and various herbs, the strongest being rosemary. She pulled a tattered blue curtain back, a lonely lantern the only thing illuminating the room, and gestured to the Princesses to put Spectrum on the bed that lay within. Luna alone trotted over, holding the white pegasus and gently lowering him to the bed. It took a moment for Aurora to realize that Luna had been holding up Spectrum all on her own. Of course, she reasoned to herself. It's because it's nighttime. She's always stronger at night. A flash of red tossed the blue curtain upward as Ladybird nestled herself on a stool on the far side of the room. Grizabella came back holding several jars of salve and bandages.
She began examining Spectrum's wings, causing him to wince in pain as her talons moved up and down the bones. "Yes, these have been broken. But worry not. They will heal. It's as if he had a poor landing of a fast flight."
"Good," Spectrum groaned. "How long do you think it's going to take?"
"I'm afraid you're going to be trapped down here for quite a while."
"Seriously?"
Ladybird came up to the side of wounded pegasus, gently taking his hoof in hers. "The ground isn't so bad Spectrum."
Sighing and shaking his head, he turned to look at Ladybird. "It's not that. I wanted to escort the Princesses to make sure they stay safe."
The elder griffon uncapped one of the jars, a smell that burned the nostrils filling the room. She took a large clawful of the stuff and rubbed it up and down Spectrum's wings, staining his white feathers a shade of brownish-green. Grizabella cleared her throat. "Sorry about the smell, but this will help ease the pain and speed up the healing. Ladybird, would you bandage him up for me? I'd do it myself but-" she waggled her talons in the air "—these aren't meant for pony wings. Your wings are much more sensitive than griffons'. I don't want to injure him more."
Ladybird blushed as she took the bandages. She gave a quick sigh before she began wrapping the wing closest to her. "Try…Try not to move. I don't want to cause you any pain."
The wounded pegasus let out a quick laugh as he began to fall asleep. "You? Cause pain? Your touch is too gentle for that."
As Ladybird seemed to go redder, several beams of harsh sunlight illuminated the cottage, causing everyone to flinch at the sunlight, except Spectrum, who was now in a deep sleep. Luna kept blinking, as if something had landed in her eye. Before Aurora could ask what was wrong, her sister collapsed.
Grizabella was at the Princess's side immediately. "What's wrong with her?"
Aurora stared at her sister's sleeping body. Her mouth hung open, waiting for the right words to come out, the words to assure everyone that everything was all right.
Ladybird pointed her hoof at Luna. "Everypony, look!"
Luna was groaning, though her eyes were closed, her face furrowed in fear. She began twitching, first in her hooves. As Ladybird gasped, now hovering over the scene. "They're…they're…"
Spectrum was twitching as well, moving exactly as Luna was. Aurora stared at them both. They were both asleep, yet they were moving in perfect harmony, as if doing some choreographed dance. As Spectrum tried to move his wing, Luna did the same, her wing flinching as if she too was in pain.
"What's going on?" Grizabella asked, backing away. "Why are they acting like this?"
Finally, Aurora found her voice. "I don't know…but I'm going to try something."
As the pink aura formed around her horn, she focused her feelings on gently waking her sister up. She lowered her horn down to Luna's. The moment they touched, Aurora backed away as Luna bolted upright, gasping as though she had been drowning. Tears formed in her eyes and she hid her head.
"It's alright, little sister," Aurora said, taking her sister under her wing. "It was just a dream."
"It wasn't my dream…it wasn't my dream…" Luna kept saying, shaking now. "There were so many and I was in them all…I was lost in the woods, and trees wanted to eat me, but my wings were broken and I was too small to do anything, but stand there because he was coming! And then he-!"
"It was just a-"
"I know it was a dream!" Luna's eyes were red and swollen. Her voice cracked. "I went into somepony else's dream!"
Ladybird landed lightly, raising a consoling hoof. "You did what?" The pegasus's voice wasn't accusing, but concerned.
"I went into somepony else's dream. No, wait…not their dreams…their nightmares."