//------------------------------// // 13: The Aether Stone // Story: Blackened Night // by ZeirMakavar //------------------------------// Chapter 13 The Aether Stone Sunny Meadow sat down observing the opening to the maze as ponies shuffled in and out of it, now that the pixie had finally removed her barrier on it. Sunny didn't know what to say however as she observed the worker ponies going about their day. It had been several weeks since the Highlands Pixie first showed up, and everyone was taking to it with a passion. Especially the unicorn and pegasi ponies there. Such a creature capable of magic and flight was something to applaud after all. But, more importantly, was the pixie's story. It made both Sunny herself, and Luna frightened. If it was true, then they needed to find out the mystery of the maze and the crypt as soon as possible. To find out how the ancient Ravenwood empire trapped the Soul Eater inside, so that no pony would be able to fall victim to it, before something disastrous happened. She then slowly shook her head again, as she got up, heading towards the city, as Sylph, which was the pixie's name as she had come to know, flew over to greet her. "Hiya miss Meadow!" Sylph said, smiling at her, as she landed on her mane. "The townsfolk gave me something amazing! They called it apple cider!" She started rambling off, in her excited tone that she always seemed to have. "We didn't have Apple Cider back when I was born! It taste amazing! Granted, we didn't have a lot of things back then that you do now so I suppose that's a plus, but still... Apple Cider!" she continued, about to speak even more. "Now, hold up Sylph." Sunny said, chuckling softly. "Don't forget to breath little one." she added, as Sylph took a deep breath, having said all that in a single breath. "There you go." Sunny continued, smiling. "Now then, I know you're still excited to see what you'd consider the future, but I need you to understand, a lot of the ponies here have jobs to do, okay?" "Okay..." "And you're telling me, what exactly?" Raging asked the pony before him. One of the geomancers who were in charge of exploring The Crypt, and of excavating mines for the minerals that resided in the rest of the valley. To his immediate right, stood Sunny Meadow, with Sylph resting atop her mane, as the Pixie tended to do. "Ah, I'm not sure exactly sir, but..." The Unicorn before Raging Night said, his words rushed and breath heavy. It seemed like the Geomancer had ran to his office as soon as he could. "I... I'm not entirely sure how to put this. But, one of the Mines, on the far end of the valley, it's... we... Found an ore. At least... we think it's an ore." "You.... think?" Sunny spoke up, interjecting before Raging could speak. "What do you mean you think? How can you not be sure if a rock, is an ore or not? Is that not what Geomancers are for?" She then asked, glancing from the Geomancer, to Raging, a full confused look on her face. "Right?" "Yes, Miss Meadow, normally, us Geomancers have the purpose of digging out any ruins found in Equestrian lands, as well as surveying the land for any useful ores. It was us, who found the gold and silver mines that supply the currency production." The unicorn said, nodding in approval, as he frowned. "But, this.... rock that we found. A vein of it was found deep in one of the mines. We could not identify what, if any use the mineral could have as there is no other known source of it in records." "And so, you came to us for.... why?" Raging asked, tapping is hoof on the desk, a mildly annoyed look on his face as he spoke. "Well, you see, Sir Knight," The Geomancer now said, turning to face him once again. "We sent a few samples of the mineral to the forges, to see if it had any viable metals within. And... well..." The unicorn then said, before using his horn to magic a large rock out of his bag and place it on the desk. The rock had a soft sheen to it's dark colour, it's midnight blue shade seemed to suck up any light near it. Lastly, the rock seemed to have only partially melted, and had since cooled back to a rock. "It, the forges.... could not get hot enough to fully melt the mineral down. What ever it is made of, will need something..." "I know what that is." Sylph suddenly spoke up, fluttering from atop Sunny's mane, down to atop the stone. "I know what this is. We used it in a lot of things. It isn't really viable for weapons, but it works wonders for structures. Especially ones that need to be sturdy." "And... what did your people call it, Sylph?" Sunny asked the pixie, a look of bewilderment on her face, as she looked down at the mineral, while Sylph sat upon it. "You, had to have had a name for it, if it was that valuable.... right?" "We did!" Sylph would soon reply, scratching her chin, as the pixie sat upon the stone cross-legged. "Um... we... Aether! Aether is what we called the metal, I remember that much..." "Aether? As in one of the three lost metals of the Ravenwood Empire?" both Sunny and Raging asked the pixie, a confused on Sunny's face when she glanced at him. "What, we've already established that I have a good knowledge of History Sunny Meadow." Raging then said, a soft chuckle escaping him, as she frowned at him, shaking her head. "I... I know I just... sometimes you surprise me just how knowledgeable of history you are." Sunny said, retorting back at him, chuckling as well. "Sometimes, you make it seem more like you're a dumb guard, just like the Solar Guards." "And so you forget that I am a Lunarian under Princess Luna, not a day pony, like you." Raging responded, an almost flirty tone to his voice.