//------------------------------// // Smoke // Story: The Truth // by Blue Turtle //------------------------------// The Truth Chapter 11 By Blue Turtle Luna felt a pang of guilt as she finished the last line. "Sister. I know you're feel guilty, but we have to do this." Her sister's words rang in her mind as she examined the small piece of chalk that levitated towards her. What if this failed? No. It wouldn't fail. She could do this, it wasn't that hard. Just draw the chalk lines from the book. Simple and easy as that. Magic circles were easy to control, if she was careful. All she had to do was summon some power, and she'd be home free. Luna's wispy silver mane reflected the moonlight like a mirror, giving her almost a faint glow in the dark, besides her eyes of course. The stark white glow made it easy for her to know where she was going. Luna sighed and looked around again, lowering her front wings. "Luna?" Her sister stepped out from behind an old wall. The rest of the structure had crumbled long ago, making and natural skylight that let in the moonlight. Celestia lit up the area around her like a bonfire. Her wings were made out of pure fire, which she could extinguish at will. The dark maroon, almost dark grey. Fractures in between the molten skin coursed with lava, which would occasionally drip down, especially around her hooves. Luna didn't dare look directly at her sister's face, because all it held were two soulless black eyes that seemed to just swallow up any light. Her expression was blank and didn't change. Even when she sobbed uncontrollably her expression didn't change. Lava would just come from those soulless black eyes then be gone. "Sorry, I didn't mean to bother you." Celestia said as she stepped closer to her sister. "No, it's fine. I know you're just worried." She answered back, the chalk bursting into powder. "No evidence left behind." Celestia muttered under her breath. Luna pursed her lip as Celestia turned back, no longer looming over her. "I'm sorry Tia. I really am. But this is something we need to do by ourselves, we can't risk anypony else getting hurt." Luna said quietly, shifting her weight. "I know sister. But I have a feeling that by not being able to tell them our plans they will attempt to stop us." "Damn Aurinko and her lies, she's been toying with this world long enough. She would dead and gone if it weren't for mother and father." Luna said with a bitter taste in her mouth. "With our luck lately I bet they'd come here themselves to stop us. The fools don't even know." Her sister said, Luna could hear the anger and hiss in her sister's voice. "No matter though. Once Aurinko is dead, there will be time to find a way to resume our natural bodies." Luna said with an exasperated sigh. It was bad enough that their time was already short, but with the recent complications she was having serious doubts their plan would work. "If we even get that far." Celestia said glumly. Luna frowned, it broke her heart to see her sister lose hope. It just didn't seem like a thing Celestia could do. "We cannot lose faith. If we screw this up, tragedy will be assured." Luna shook her head. She couldn't give up; Not when everything was riding on this. Celestia looked at her, thinking deeply. It occurred that she couldn't give up. Luna needed her; if she gave up there was no telling what would happen. "I'm sorry Luna. You're right. We can't give up just because of rotten luck." Celestia said, her voice a little bit more hopeful. Luna smiled slightly. "It's understandable Tia. Now, let's secure the other magic circles." ___________________________________________________________________________ Galaxia paced back and forth nervously. Given the time left, she knew it wouldn't be long. With only two and a half weeks left, she knew that they'd have to be tracked down. Nebulis tired to assure her that they would be found, but there was no such luck. They'd run off into the Everfree, and even Levier couldn't track them down. Their energies became jumbled within the flora and fauna, which made any kind of magic search useless. She could feel her life force slowly draining, like it was slowly dripping out of her. Every day becoming slightly fainter. She'd already noticed signs of it; decreased awareness, occasional cold fits followed by energy bursts. She knew she was dying and there wasn't enough time to fix that. If she had a hundred years left in her she might have found a way, but she only had eighteen days at most. As days passed by she felt more and more helpless, like the situation was out of her control. Because it was. She felt useless and weak for not trying hard enough. She showed on the outside she was handling it well, but in secret she'd sob to herself for as long as she could. She didn't want to die. She wanted to hug and kiss her daughters goodnight and help the creatures of the land. she wanted to feel the magic of the stars every night. She wanted to see her precious babies and raise them again; to see them grow up because she left them behind. And then she shouted at them when she came back because they broke the rules, but really she was scared. Scared that they'd fade away like she was going to. She felt like such a fool, and her daughters were in pain again because she was so heartless to them and when they begged and pleaded with her to stop she refused. She'd crushed any chance of getting to see them smile one last time. She knew she couldn't watch them grow up. She left them. She knew she couldn't say goodnight because that was Luna's job now. The job she had to take because her own mother had been blind to Nebulis slowly getting worse and worse until he cracked under the pressure. And then she did it again. She insulted her daughters' pain and made them suffer even more. There wasn't an excuse in the world that could change that. Galaxia choked back a sob as she looked out the castle window. "Such and idiot..." She muttered under her breath. "Dear?" Nebulis peeked his head out form the throne room door. He immediately knew something was up. "I know something's wrong." He said as he closed the door, walking to up to her. Her mind raced trying to figure out if she should tell him or not. Galaxia dissolved. She told him everything; Her fear of dying and not seeing her daughter again, how she had failed in protecting him. How she should have been a better mother to them and how she should have been more attentive to him. Nebulis listened closely, never taking his eyes off of her face. Galaxia always liked that. The fumbling pegasus was still in him, even if he didn't show it. Nebulis didn't say anything. Either it was because he didn't know what to say or how to say it. "Galaxia..." He started to say something, but but bit his lip instead. Instead her pulled her into an embrace and held her there. At first she was stunned but let herself go. ___________________________________________________________________________ Twilight wheeled around the throne room. It was about midnight but they were dealing with a catastrophe. "I will not believe such a thing!" One of the council members called out. Galaxia and Nebulis sat at the front of the table, without even a hint of worry. "Ah, but it's the truth." Galaxia said calmly, her cold eyes letting her tone sink in. The distressed, horrified expression went through the council like a wave, ponies lifting their hooves to cover their mouths. "I have been with Celestia and Luna for so long, don't they know the consequences?" Inkwell said with utter disbelief. "With the recent events they've become reckless. They're taking more risks, for what reason I do not know." Cadence spoke quietly, though she was right next to Twilight, her eyes stared off into empty space. "The question is what do we do now? Any scouting missions to attempt to locate them have come up empty, and all supposed sightings are erotic and spread over wide distances spanning hundreds of kilometers. Under normal circumstances I'd find this unsurprising, but seeing as their aura's give off such strong energy even a filly could sense them from miles away." The council members talked amongst themselves, the chorus of jumbled mumbling was dull and quiet. "Due to the recent events, I propose we attempt to subdue them before any major harm is done." One council member said, his tone seemed restricted. Twilight felt her heart sink. This wasn't supposed to have had happened. She was supposed to be with her friends, laughing. Not discussing how to capture the two ponies she cared so much about. SHe cursed under her breath. "And what do you mean by subdue? Because no pony could get near them without being mortified." She tried not to sound angry, but by speaking through her teeth it obviously came across. "Ah yes, that's where you and Princess Cadenza come in. You are very close to the Princesses, which means they may be less reluctant to lash out at you, if they do." The stallion shifted his weight. "You're using us?" Twilight couldn't believe this. She opened er mouth to say something, but stopped. She could see that the council was upset, maybe not how she was, but still upset nonetheless. "It's the only way we can think of Princess. There's simply no other way we can think of without hurting them." Twilight shook her head. ' "Fine." She sat back down, staring at her hooves. "We still have to find them, however." One council member said, clearing her throat. ____________________________________________________________________________________ "How cute." Staring into the crystal, It reflected exactly what Celestia wanted back to here; An image of the council meeting. "I find it hardly cute." Luna said as she walked into the dark cave. Besides the faintly glowing crystals on the wall and her own body, the cave was dark. The large jagged rocks jutted out of the walls like perfect perches, while one particularly large crystal was in the center. The crystal glowed a mixture of cyan blue and lime green, in the center however was an image of a large room inside Canterlot castle with dozens of ponies on the seating along the walls, and at the top of the room was a head desk where four alicorns sat. The cave was being used by the sisters for their base, a place where their magic energy had been cloaked by the intense magic of the crystals. "Hm? I suppose so. This is foolery; Them scrambling trying to find us. With so little time left for mother and father i'd think they'd be teaching Cadence and Twilight about alicorn magic and such " She sighed. "Thinking we can't handle this, pfft. Aurinko has been weakened over the countless years inside it's prison. Not to mention the fact it'd escape eventually, so why should we wait? Aurinko would have time to gather up it's forces and wreak havoc" Luna sat beside her sister, tapping on hoof at the base of the crystal. "Aurinko, so confident in her abilities yet so ignorant to our own." She let her words curl and fall out of her mouth. Luna smiled at her, but it wasn't a kind smile. It held a sort of malice to it. Lacking sanity but not quite insane. It was a wicked grin, and Celestia liked it. "So then, time to gather the sacrifices." "They won't be hurt by this, correct?" Luna looked up to Celestia as she gazed into the crystal. "A little shaken up, but no. If my memory serves correctly, then they'll be fine as long as the circles are perfect." She spoke the truth; As long as the circles were not disturbed then everypony involved would be fine. However, if that wasn't the case, the sacrifices would be... used to fix the problem instead. "That's good, I wouldn't want them injured." Luna said sarcastically as she laid her head on the ground. "I suppose it doesn't really matter, but we'll need them after Aurinko is summoned." Celestia sighed and turned away form her sister. "I can't help but feel a pang of guilt. But this is what must be done." Luna said slowly. "I know Luna, but something just feels wrong." She stared into the crystal, watching the meeting. It was like her heart was being torn between two sides; She was angry but she cared so much. _______________________________________________________________________________________ They may have not realized it, but indeed they were being watched. The pony tip toed away, until they thought they were far enough away to gallop. The sharp knocks of their hooves on the cavern floor made their heart beat faster, being more and more terrified if the two heard them. It wanted to stretch out it's wing and soar off, but the cavern was too narrow and they'd banged it against a rock coming in. The cavern seemed to creak and moan just to mess with them, but they knew the truth. The crystals seemed to be the only light source, so when they started to disappear they started to panic. Darkness seemed to snatch any light left until they were in complete darkness. Their nimble movements became slow as they crept through, feeling around carefully. The cavern was twisted and broke off in strange ways, sometimes just dropping straight down into inky darkness. Hope became almost overwhelmed as tiny bits of crystal began to light the way and they began to trot forward in the dim light. c-C-CRACK! The pony stumbled, something underneath them was giving way, threatening to break under their hooves. The pony sprinted forward, extending their wings even though ti hurt, in hopes that they'd reach a safe ledge. Touching down onto the other side of the cave, the pony turned back to see that they'd been on a narrow path, and the tiny crystals they saw were in fact on the cave walls as they descending into darkness. If they hadn't been going in a straight line, they'd dead. The pony shivered in fear, their heart thundering inside their head. They knew they had to keep moving, but their legs felt like lead from fatigue. But there wasn't any time to take a breath and calm down, all the noise they'd been making would surely alert the sisters. The pony took a few steps backwards, then turned and galloped, jumping from rock to rock as crystals became more prominent. Soon the cave was back to full illumination and the pony could here the sharp taps of their hoofs on glowing crystals. The damp heavy air seemed to loosen their grip on their lungs, but they could still taste the moist sweetness in the back of their throats. taking quick breaths the pony slowed down to a quick walk, eyes darting around as their ears swivelled around to pick up any sound. But the moaning and groaning of the cave made it hard for them to focus on one sound. What did I get myself into... The pony took off again, with determination. No, this place, it''s evil. I have to warn everypony. Smoke filled their lungs as they sprinted forward, fighting away tears as the smoke stung their eyes and their nose. It seemed to heighten all their sense as the wild pounding of their hooves on the cave floor became more apparent as well as the beating of their heart. It dried out their throat, distracting them as they continued to gallop onward, trying to look for the landmark they'd place din their head. Where's the spire, c'mon I need ot get out of here! Their mind raced, trying to focus while being alerted by any sounds. tap tap tap tap tap The pony turned back, their eyes wide with terror. No one's there... They sighed with relief and trotted forward, looking around for the crystal spire. The giant crystal stretched up to the cave ceiling, and had a story carved into it. Only know did they realize that the story had been put in place by the sisters. Tiny figures of ponies seemed to dance around two alicorns, smiling, BUt then the two alicorns became monsters, with crooked smiles and venomous eyes. The problem was they didn't see the spire, and they were low on energy. But they had to keep going. Smoke swirled around the pony now, floating above their head. Their nose and lungs felt choked by the terrible smoke, making it harder and harder to breath, but the pony ran. That was all they could do, run. Hope glimmered in the distance, the spire! Standing tall it glowed cyan, creating a soft light that illuminated most of the cave by itself. Their heart raced, but this time with great relief as they ran to the spire, jumping over jagged rocks with increased speed. thwack! They smacked into the ground, almost crying out in pain. Their hoof had caught on a rock, in their haste to get out of their they'd slipped and fell, and now their hoof was bleeding, crimson dripping onto the crystals and rocks.Getting up, they limped as quickly as they could toward the spire. It was the only way out, all they had to do was go left of the spire and they'd be home free. It hurt, walking on what was probably a sprained hoof, but they continued forward, taking more steady breathes. They could feel their senses dulling due to the smoke. They needed more oxygen, which meant they had to take long, deep breathes. Calm began to creep into their body. The adrenaline rush from before was gone now, and they felt every ache and pain. They were cold and drenched in sweat, shivering in the cave. Though the cave was actually quite warm, the reason why made them shiver even more. There was no way to bandage their ankle, so they could only hold their hoof as the bleeding slowed ever so little by little. The cave ceiling was high above, so any smoke coming through the cave opening floated harmlessly up to the top. They knew it could kill them if they stuck around too long. Getting up, they walked down to another narrow opening, relieved to get glimmers of daylight on the cave floor. Something dawned on them however as they eagerly trotted forward. Smoke?