- Chapter Six -
The Voice
In the universe, there are forces behind every action, every reason, and every event that occurs across time and space. They are not gods; gods are depicted to have preferences, holding reasons and goals of their own. These forces do not have such things, as They would be distracted from Their purposes, from the reasons They exist.
How did these forces come to be? What created Them? We call it Fate. Fate controls all, in Its own purpose to make sure that what is supposed to occur, happens. It cannot do this on Its own, being only all-knowing; and thus, Fate created these forces, each unique, and yet each from the basic, general energies of the universe: the energy of light, and the energy of darkness. These forces create pawns of Their own across worlds, across dimensions, to help perform the tasks of the forces, who together, carry out the tasks of Fate.
There is, perhaps, one catch to this perfect system: the forces of Fate know not always what the task of Fate is, nor do They always know what the task before Them is. To mortals, and even some immortals, it would seem like freedom; but Fate controls with a silent voice, directs without being seen.
And Fate does not make mistakes.
Princess Luna soared across the dreaming plane, gazing below at the twinkling lights that filled the otherwise dark and space-like void. One might have thought that each was star, which was an easy thing to mistake them for if one had never seen the expanse of the dreaming plane before. But to Luna, who was familiar with this place, knew that each was a pony’s dream. And as the princess of the night, it was her responsibility for the well-being of Equestria’s subjects as they slept, even within their own dreams.
At that moment, she noticed something, a small change in the calm of the plane, though certainly nothing unfamiliar. Focusing her mind, the alicorn princess dropped lower, passing many dreams filled with happiness and laughter, nothing to be a disturbance. No, what she sensed was fear; somepony was having a bad dream. An unusually strong one as dreams go, seeing as she had noticed it so quickly. Looking around, Luna searched out for the source, and soon came upon it; but with it, there was something she hadn’t expected.
The dream floated there, its light tinted with black wisps of fear, and floating next to it was a black shape, almost like a pony; though, it looked more like black cloud of fog, or mist. The cloud was stretched outwards, silently tearing away little bits of black, which immediately disappeared into the darkness of its shape. It paid no attention to Luna, if it even had the sentience to do so, seeming focused on its task.
“I know not what you are, or what you are doing,” spoke the princess, partially to herself, though loud enough in case it could hear her. “But you are causing unrest in this pony’s mind, and as their princess and protector, I am afraid I cannot let you proceed. Begone!” Her horn glowed, a blast of blue magic flying at the cloud. However, a wisp of black flew from the cloud, touching to the alicorn’s horn.
“I know you’re still jealous of her.”
Luna’s eyes grew wide, her magic flickering before fading away. The voice sounded close, as if right next to her, whispering in her ear. She turned, only to see nothing but the expanse of the dreaming plane. Looking forward again, she put her focus upon the black cloud, which still remained. “I-I do not know what you are talking about!” she spoke, trying to maintain dominance despite the strange sense of fear the voice filled her with. “I am jealous of no pony!”
“Why do you lie to yourself, Luna? So naive, just as you were a thousand years ago.” The voice seemed to move around her, whispering into the other ear. “But you can’t lie to me...I know it’s still there. That little spot in the back of your mind, full of anger, resentment, sorrow--”
“SILENCE!!” the alicorn interrupted in sudden anger, the sound of her traditional Royal Canterlot Voice booming across the void. Three blasts of her magic flew from her horn, passing harmlessly through the black cloud. “YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT ME! I CHANGED! THE ELEMENTS OF HARMONY CHANGED--”
“The Elements of Harmony suppressed you,” the voice spoke out, seeming to come from every direction, thundering over the princess like a terrible storm. “You forget the true purpose of harmony, just like your sister and every other mortal. Harmony is to have peace between darkness and light, allowing them to coexist and maintain balance. That is what the Elements do.” The thundering faded away, leaving Luna floating there in silence before hearing the voice again, once again a whisper. “As for you, little Luna, the more you try to hide from your feelings, the more you become unbalanced. Eventually, there must be some ‘compensation’...and you know what that was like, don’t you?”
The sound of menacing laughter began to ring in Luna’s ears, the cloud taking shape of a tall, black figure with piercing eyes, wearing an alicorn’s battle helmet. The princess closed her eyes, the laughter everywhere in her mind, memories of a barren wasteland and loneliness making her stomach turn. “P-Please, no..not again..” she whispered, unable to think through unbearable sound.
“That remains to be seen. But do not feel so alone; another is learning how powerful pain can make her. She’s just like you, too...so young, so very afraid. Do you think she’ll crumble like you, too~?”
And then, it all stopped. The princess looked up hesitantly, afraid that it would still be there. But all that was before her was the single dream, its light glowing peacefully as its owner slept. The cloud and that voice were gone, their only trace being the laughter that echoed in Luna’s mind.
The next morning, as Princess Celestia sat in her private lounge enjoying a breakfast of buckwheat pancakes, there came a knock at the door. Before she even had a chance to ask who it was, the door opened, with Princess Luna stepping inside. The blue alicorn looked drained, her usual flowing, starry mane having reverted to its short, light-blue physical appearance, which typically occurred when her magic was nearly spent.
“Sister, we need to speak. Now.”
“You’re absolutely sure it was the same voice as before?”
Celestia’s horn glowed, a cup of tea brought by the castle staff hovering towards the darker alicorn, whose own horn glowed as she accepted the drink. At least an hour had passed since Luna had entered, in which she explained the previous night’s strange encounter to her older sister.
“I don’t think such can be said. My memories before my...transformation, are clouded,” replied the moon princess. “But its voice is familiar, and it acted as if it knew me. And the laughter...I may not remember much from before, but I still recall that laugh.” She closed her eyes to sip her tea; when she opened them, Celestia had left the small table, now standing at her bookshelf. Her golden magic glowed around a black leather-bound book, which she gazed at for a moment before tucking it beneath her wing.
“Whether we are sure of what it is or not, it is best to assume that it is both powerful as well as dangerous,” she finally spoke, looking back at her younger sister. “This morning, an anonymous letter was received that stated a threat against Canterlot; it would not surprise me if whoever, or whatever you encountered had some connection to it. While we can take some defensive measures to protect the city, we need to know what exactly what we’re facing.”
“Sister, what of the other it mentioned?” Luna asked. “If you are right, that these are connected, maybe this other could be able to provide us with insight?”
“That is a good thought, Luna, but we don’t know who or where we could--”
Celestia was cut off by the sound of the lounge’s door opening, her Captain of the Guard hastily entering the room, stopping a few steps in as he noticed that both princesses were present.
“Your highnesses!” he exclaimed, removing his helmet and bowing before both. “I’m sorry for interrupting, but two class three reports just came in from the south. I thought to notify you immediately..”
The sun princess turned to her sister, who gave her the same look: surprise. Of five classes, a class three was serious (to put it into perspective, the situation of Discord’s escape was labeled a class two, and could have been a class one if the Elements had failed to stop him). Turning back to the Captain, Celestia raised her hoof, allowing him to rise. “No need to apologize, Shining Armor. What is the situation?”
“I’m not that sure, your highness,” the stallion replied as he stood. “One claims that the Friendship Express was hijacked last night by four unknown ponies while on its way to Fillydelphia, and that they used a hallucination spell on the passengers to disorient them. Supposedly one turned on them, using the spell to make the other three attack each other while the fourth escaped. The other report, however, said only three ponies hijacked the train. It gave no details like the first, only claiming that unknown magic was used. And, this seemed to be a mistake, but it identified a pegasus as the one that used magic. That said, I thought you should be notified.”
With this said, the room fell quiet. Uncomfortably quiet. It stayed this way for a minute, before Shining realized that Princess Celestia was staring off into space. And while the princess was known for having a calm look in every situation, the stallion couldn’t help feeling like she was concerned.
“Thank you, Captain,” she finally said, her eyes focusing on Shining. “It seems some investigation will be needed. Have four guards fly out to Fillydelphia and gather what information they can; we need to know what actually happened down there.” The stallion nodded, placing his helmet back onto his head before leaving the room.
“Celestia, what is wrong?” her sister asked once the doors were closed again, having sensed her sister’s concern.
“I’m not sure I know yet,” the white alicorn replied, using her magic to lift the book up from beneath her wing. “But I fear there may be more to this than I suspected, more than I think I even understand. And so--” The book floated over, settling next to Luna. “--I shall leave you in charge of learning what you can about this voice you met. I think you may find answers in that book, or may at least better understand the text than I. Meanwhile, I shall see to the protection of Canterlot, as well as the planning of the upcoming wedding...”
With this, Princess Celestia began to make her way for the door. Princess Luna looked down at the book’s cover, reading its silver letters: Black Magic: Spells of Destruction, by Starswirl the Bearded.
“Oh, and Luna?” Celestia spoke, pausing briefly, looking back at her sister. “A personal request...your Night Guards are excellent at tracking. Have one fly down to Ponyville and track down a dark grey pegasus...”
Six hours earlier...
Night Wisp turned, looking back towards the train as the lonely sound of its whistle echoed through the night sky, signaling all within earshot that it was going to continue on its journey. It had felt like only a few minutes, and already the train tracks looked so far away.
After Chrome had ended the confrontation between herself and Myst, things were still chaotic. For one thing, Night’s left wing was broken in about five places, according to Chrome, who simply bandaged it up. It was here that reality had become serious for the pegasus, and yet, at the same time it was all very surreal. The two pegasi who attacked her lay dead; two robust stallions with obvious strength, with their bodies practically crushed. Crushed, somehow, by her.
No passenger thanked her as they were untied, many of them not even straying within a hoof’s reach of her. She would occasionally see their eyes shortly before they would look away. And each look she saw would further divide her, between the surreal feeling that she wasn’t herself, that they were looking at something else, and the harsh reality that these ponies were all afraid of her, too scared to even meet her gaze.
There were those who did attempt to talk with her. Sunrise Flare had come up next to her at one point, asking if if she was alright. With no reply from Night, Sunrise simply nodded and moved away to help with untying passengers. Steel Strings was the next to come to her, excitedly asking her about giant black tendrils and babbling about how awesome it all looked, until receiving a knock behind the head from Forté. Again, the grey mare had only replied with silence.
Chrome even came to her, though, the older unicorn came at a time when the pegasus wished she wouldn’t be noticed. In her silent thoughts she had made a decision for herself, the fearful looks of the other passengers lurking in her mind as she’d turned and begun to wander towards the back of the train.
“Goin’ somewhere?” she’d heard him ask, his gruff voice impossible to mistake for anypony else. Night stopped where she was, but didn’t turn; after a minute of silence, the stallion gave a sigh.
“Just gonna wander off, then? Vanish under cover of night, never to be seen again? And all because a few ponies lose their spines over somethin’ they don’t understand,” he said, the tone of his voice solemn, as if remembering something else. There was then a pause, followed by another sigh, this one sounding annoyed. “Well, newsflash for you, lass: as smart as you think this is, it’s stupid. You’re not gonna go wanderin’ off alone. You can make whatever kind of excuse you like, but your little display back there isn’t going to go unnoticed. And with that broken wing, you’re at a disadvantage. So consider yourself stuck with me.”
It was strange to hear the older stallion like this, though it was hard to say whether he was doing this out of kindness, or out of pity. At the time, it hardly mattered to her. She had set her mind on leaving, and nothing would deter her; not even when Dawn Chaser noticed her and Chrome and alerted his sister.
So now, here they all were, leaving the train tracks and heading eastward. Chrome had taken the lead of the group, to no argument of anypony else (despite the fact that the stallion still wore his blindfold), with Sunrise and Dawn following close behind, and Night following them a few hoofsteps back. Nopony spoke a word; a solemn silence hung over them all, the occasional wind blowing through the grass being the only sound around them. Questions began to trickle through Night’s mind, thinking about the fear she’d seen from the passengers.
What could have made them so afraid? I mean, it was me, but...what did they see? she wondered. That unicorn, Myst...he said something about tentacles, and constricting those stallions’ bodies. Did...did that idea I had go wrong? Like with Elmwood..? The event of the carpenter and the train, together, began to form an idea in the mare’s mind, coupled with what Celestia told her about shadowmancing. This must be what Celestia meant about black magic being unstable. It does what you want, but then it gets out of control. So...I guess the only way to avoid it is to not use shadowmancing. This thought seemed logical, and gave her some resolve, or at least enough to let the matters rest. And speaking of, she was growing tired.
“Um, hey? Chrome?” Night asked. The silence broken, Chrome paused and glanced back, as did Sunrise and Dawn. The grey pegasus stiffened up, feeling oddly uncomfortable all of a sudden, but continued. “It’s, um...it’s pretty late. How much farther are we going..?”
The red unicorn looked forward, remaining quiet for a few minutes. The singular question came to mind, in each of the ponys’ heads: How can a blind stallion know where’s he’s going? Steel had said he was blind, but Chrome’s ability to function so flawlessly with his eyes covered made this statement hard to believe. Granted, the stallion never said where they were going; but the way he confidently moved forward, and how he looked out in front of them now, made him seem the very opposite of blind.
“Hrmm...we’re still a good distance from the forest,” the unicorn finally answered, turning to face the other three ponies. “I’d say maybe even a day’s journey, by a rough guess. In another mile, we can set up until tomorrow.” Without even asking for anypony’s opinion, he turned and began to move forward again, leaving the rest to follow, if only so that they wouldn’t be left behind.
Never before had one mile felt so long to Night, trudging over the gentle hills under the light of the moon, down through the small dips in between, only to go over yet another. Not that this was a difficult thing to do, but the pegasus could feel her body steadily growing heavier, her legs wearier with every step. It progressed to her head, and soon things were becoming fuzzy, her eyes desperately wanting to close, even succeeding in this for a few seconds before she was able to shake herself awake. The more she remained awake, though, the worse she began to feel. She heard Sunrise say something to her, but a sense of dizziness came over, sending her reeling. A minute later, and for the third time in the past two days, Night Wisp slipped into unconsciousness.
The dreaming plane is a constantly changing place, as it conforms to the mind of the dreamer, and the mind is always changing its thoughts. It is fairly rare, then, for the plane to take shape of a setting previously used. But for the second time in one night, Night found herself standing in the world of black and white. She turned out of memory, finding the tall pony figure standing behind her like before, still shrouded by wisps of black.
“Fascinating,” a voice whispered, as if hovering just behind the pegasus. “And really, that is a compliment; it is not often I am fascinated by a mortal. I do admire my own work, of course, but never before has such an imperfection been so interesting.”
As creepy as it was to have a weird voice floating around her head, the mare had the oddest sense that she’d been insulted. “Imperfection? Who are you to say that?!” she replied hastily.
“Ooh, touchy. I like that,” it continued. “Here I was afraid you’d be all scared and innocent, all emotionally distraught over possessing black magic and being shunned by others. A relief.” It paused, as if finished, but then picked up again. “Ah, but I distract myself. Do not get so upset, mortal. To be an imperfection, to be my imperfection, is yet another compliment. You should be honored. If you knew who I was, that is.”
“Then why not have a proper introduction? I always wanted to meet a creepy figure of my imagination...” Night responded sarcastically, looking back to try and catch a glimpse of the voice. But as quickly as she did this, it was behind her again.
“You will come to know me with time, believe me, but I am no figment of your creation. But I know who you are, Night Wisp. In the three seconds you took to say that, I took a little peek at...well, just your entire life, to the present. It’s funny, how an imperfection like you must think yourself as a perfect mistake. You possess Shadowmancing, but you lack the corruption of heart, the desire for power. In fact, I sense that you want to be rid of the gift of darkness--” Another pause, then a chuckle. “Alas, your mind is fading. Seems someone wants you to wake up. We’ll meet again, soon~..”
Sure enough, everything was fading; the same slipping feeling was all around the pegasus, and she was unable to struggle against it. With a last attempt, she threw herself at the figure, determined to see him, her, it. What she saw, briefly before it all left her, was a pair of red and green eyes, a purple haze glowing around the edges. Harsh, unforgiving eyes. A gaze that made her afraid.
“Aaaand, there she is! Told you, little guy, I know what I’m doing.”
The light of day felt overwhelming as Night opened her eyes, coughing away the scent of some powerful smelling salts. Groaning, she used a hoof to block the light above her. “Wait..above me..?” she murmured to herself. “How long have I been sleeping..?”
“Oh, don’t worry. It’s only midday,” replied a stallion’s voice, which she immediately noticed wasn’t familiar by its somewhat younger tone, in comparison to Chrome. “But you might’ve been asleep a lot longer if I hadn’t caught up when I did. Granted, you weren’t that hard to find..”
Peeking out from under her hoof, Night was met with blinding sunlight, until a small shift moved the sun behind a head. As the colors balanced out, she could see a dark blue mane with lighter streaks, brushed back over the head, and a face with a dark color of grey-purple, except for the white muzzle. Its eyes were an orange-yellow, the pupils black slits; a pair of small canine teeth poked out from its mouth, and there were soft little tufts of fur on the eartips. Despite having never met one personally before, it was clear that the pony above her was a male bat pony, maybe only a few years older than her. And, as a small observation of the pegasus, a rather handsome one.
“Odd, her face is growing red,” the stallion remarked, lifting the small vial of salts and peering at it. “I hope I didn’t use too strong of a salt, or she’ll go into a sneezi--”
And then Chrome, who had just returned to see an unknown figure standing over Night, knocked the bat pony unconscious.