• Published 25th Feb 2012
  • 10,902 Views, 312 Comments

Star Gazing - Konseiga

  • ...
18
 312
 10,902

Mercy?

Ponyville had recently found two things to talk about, as Cheerilee soon discovered. She was sitting with her friend Roseluck, enjoying her mid afternoon tea (a delicious ginger peach blend she had obtained from Twilight) when she heard the news.

“So a lot of ponies have been talking about the disturbances earlier today,” Roseluck said, sipping some water.

“Hmm? What disturbances?” Cheerilee peeked at her friend over the top of her glass.

“You haven’t heard?” Roseluck said excitedly. “There was a HUGE commotion at the library earlier! Apparently, there was a lot of shouting and a rather sinister light show!”

“Twilight won’t be happy about that,” Cheerilee mused. “She likes to keep the library somewhat quiet.”

“Ah,” Roseluck waggled her eyebrows. “But rumor has it that Twilight herself was the one causing the commotion.”

“Who, Twilight?” Cheerilee snorted, half-amused. “Twilight wouldn’t keep that contained in her library. She’d bring it out to the streets, and THEN she’d explode. She wouldn’t want to hurt the books.”

Both ponies burst out into laughter, but Roseluck still had more to say. “Well, have you heard the latest rumor about Miss Twilight?”

“Oh, yeah, that she’s ‘romantically linked’ with some noble or another.”

“Not just any noble,” Roseluck paused for dramatic effect, beckoning for Cheerilee to lean closer. “I heard she was seeing Princess Luna.” She nodded seriously.

Cheerilee gasped in fake surprise. “You don’t say!”

Roseluck struggled to keep her face straight, corners of her mouth twitching. She couldn’t hold it, though, and her composure dissolved into a fit of giggles. Cheerilee rolled her eyes, sipping at her tea again. “You really should stop goss-“

She stopped mid sentence, goggling at a particular pony that was passing by. Roseluck immediately swept into a low bow, and Cheerilee did the same, muttering softly, “Hail.”

Luna didn’t even notice them as she walked by. Her eyes were focused straight ahead as she walked slowly, a dozen roses in her mouth. She had managed to replicate Twilight’s spell, but instead of a midnight blue, the roses were a soft lavender color.

She ignored the residents of Ponyville as she walked down the street, even though she knew that she was an odd sight to behold. She had doffed her necklace, and her mane and tail were a soft blue. She had no royal escort, no herald, and no royal procession.

Let them talk about this. I do not mind, she thought to herself. She quickened her pace as her destination came into view: Twilight’s library.

Luna’s heart pounded in her chest as she approached the door to the library. Last time I was here, we were walking home from that party… It seems like so long ago now. Luna tried to iron out her apology. Somehow, she wanted to convey how sorry she was for leaving like that, how much of a fool she was, and how cowardly she felt. Head sunk low to the ground, she raised a hoof and knocked quietly.

“Applejack, get the door, will you?”

Applejack?

Luna raised her head in confusion as it swung open, revealing Twilight’s orange friend.

“P-princess Luna!” Applejack wore a look of surprise on her face. Her face which, on Luna’s closer inspection, sported a few cuts and bruises. “Er, what are ya doin’ here?”

“I cam to apologize to Twilight,” Luna said softly.

A look of worry crossed Applejack’s face. “Well, I guess ya better come on in…”

Princess Luna had gotten no more than a foot inside the door when a scream pierced the air, “THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!”

Flinching at the sound, Luna wheeled around to see Rarity and Fluttershy holding down a very angry looking Rainbow Dash. The rainbow pegasus’s left wing was wrapped against her body, and her face sported bruises much like those of Applejack’s.

“Wh-what happened?” Luna asked, a sense of dread creeping over her.

“I’ll tell you what happened!” Rainbow Dash shrieked. “You went and pulled your little disappearing act and crushed one of my best friends, who decided to come home and take it out on everypony, and now she won’t wake up!” By the time Rainbow Dash was finished, tears were freely running down her face. Regardless, she glared right at Luna and repeated, “AND IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT!”

“That’s enough outta ya, RD,” Applejack muttered, walking over and nuzzling her marefriend. “Come on; let’s cool ya off for a bit.”

As Applejack led the distraught pegasus out of the main room in the library, Rarity turned to Luna. “I do apologize for our friend, Princess,” Rarity said sincerely. “Everypony’s just been a little on edge since Twilight came home. Out of all of us, Rainbow Dash took it the hardest.”

Luna nodded, a sad expression creeping over her face. “What happened?”

“Actually, Princess,” Applejack said, then paused. “Fluttershy, can ya go take care of RD? She agi-… irri-… gosh darn it, she messed up her wing again.”

Fluttershy nodded and vanished into the next room. “Any how,” Applejack resumed. “I’d like ta hear what happened between ya’ll durin’ yer date yesterday.”

“Applejack, she is a pri-“ Rarity began, but Luna held up a hoof, silencing the white unicorn.

“No, she has a right to know,” Luna muttered. Applejack nodded. “We had just gotten home from the party, you see…”

And Princess Luna recalled all the events that happened between then and lunch at the lake, skillfully ‘forgetting’ to mention some of the more personal things.

“… and we were about a half an hour into meditating when she suddenly screamed. I’ve never heard a pony scream like that before, and I’ve lived long enough to hear more than my fair share. It was like something was being ripped right out of her.” Princess Luna shuddered at the memory.

“So I doused her with some water, and she woke up, seemingly just fine. We sat down and ate our sandwiches and started talking. But the things she said were… off. Cruel, even.”

Applejack flicked her ears. “Did she, uh, sound any different? Like, really, really cold?”

Luna nodded. “And she ended up yelling at me. It was like she had turned all of her fury against me.” Tears welled up in her eyes. “So, like the coward I am, I invented some weak excuse and flew off, refusing to believe that Twilight, patient, adoring, kind Twilight, could say things like that.”

Rarity moved to comfort the Princess, but Applejack got there first. Setting a hoof on Luna’s shoulder, Applejack said, with all the kindness in the world, “T’ain’t yer fault, Princess. Don’t beat yerself up about it. We’ll get this all sorted out, ya just wait.”

Luna sniffed, wiped the tears from her eyes, and nodded. “So, what happened to you all?”

“Shucks, me and RD got the worst of it,” Applejack chuckled humorlessly, and recounted the events of the previous afternoon. Luna’s eyes widened in horror as she listened to Applejack’s rendition.

“Her magic was tinged with black?”

“Uh-huh. And her eyes had lost all their glow, see. It was like…” Applejack struggled to find an appropriate metaphor. “It was like she was awake, right, but she wasn’t.”

Rarity scoffed. “What she means, Princess, is Twilight didn’t seem herself. Almost as if she was in a dream-like state.”

“That’s what Ah said…”

“And after that, she passed out,” Rarity finished. “She hasn’t moved since yesterday, save the occasional spark of magic from her horn.”

Luna just stared at Twilight’s two friends. If what they say is true…

“Yeah, and look at what we found, Princess,” Applejack held up a piece of parchment for Luna to see. It looked like it had been crumpled and smoothed back out. “I reckon Twilight burned most o’ these in her little spat,” Applejack mused. “But there was one left.”

It was Twilight’s rendition of Luna’s sky. The alicorn gasped a little as she took in the precision that went into drawing it, and the beautiful recreation of the cutie marks of her five friends.

“Applejack…” Princess Luna began.

“Yeah?”

“Can I hang onto this?” she asked, wrapping the parchment in the soft glow of her magic.

“Er, sure, Ah guess,” Applejack replied with a measure of confusion.

“Thank you. Where is Twilight now?”

“She’s upstairs in her room. Pinkie Pie and Spike are with her.” Applejack sighed. “Ah was kinda afraid that Pinkie’d would fall back inta some old habits. But that party pony prob’ly took it the best outta all o’ us.”

Princess Luna nodded, tucking the scroll away.

~*~*~*~*~

“I knew it wasn’t Twilight,” Pinkie Pie sniffed, sitting at her bed. Princess Luna hadn’t made a sound, but Pinkie knew she was there anyway. “It looked like Twilight, but she didn’t sound right. She didn’t feel right. And Twilight wouldn’t say those horrible things, not to her friends.” The pink pony turned to look at Luna, tears in her eyes. “Would she?

“Not our Twilight,” the Princess murmured in response. Spike was sitting on a pillow next to Twilight’s head, gingerly stroking her mane. He stopped for a minute, giving a sad smile and salute to Luna, before resuming.

Twilight herself was a mess. Black sparks of energy ran through her mane and her coat, and she would occasionally mutter something incoherent as she twitched in her sleep.

“Fluttershy said she was in some sort of a ‘coma’,” Spike said quietly, as if to not wake Twilight up. “What’s a ‘coma’, Princess Luna?”

“It’s when a pony falls asleep, but has trouble waking up,” Luna whispered, walking over to the bed.

“Will she ever wake up?”

Luna closed her eyes. “I don’t know.”

Pinkie Pie had started crying softly, her sniffs occasionally breaking the silence that pervaded the air. Luna laid her head on the blankets next to one of Twilight’s hooves.

“Twilight, come back to us soon.”

~*~*~*~*~

All things considered, Twilight was in a jovial mood. She had taken to just ignoring the little voice screaming at her that she should feel guilty (killing ponies is wrong!), and had quashed it in a small corner of her mind. She continued along her path, illuminated brightly by spell fire.

Somewhere along the line, she had relaxed, and let most of her worries float away. She had powerful magic at her disposal, wasn’t growing hungry or thirsty, and already had three out of the five keys that she needed.

Twilight was humming happily when she bumped into something large and hard.

“Ouch!”

Twilight had run horn-first into a giant rock, sitting in the middle of the hallway. What the hay? It didn’t block enough of the hallway to be a serious obstacle, so Twilight skirted around it, only to be tripped by other, smaller rocks.

What in Equestria is going on?

A huge, gaping hole had been dug out of the side of the labyrinth. It was pitch black inside the hole, and Twilight had no way of determining how deep it was. The spell fire that she had dabbed on the wall only penetrated the darkness a few feet, and there was no visible end in sight. Curiosity getting the better of her, she floated up a small rock and chucked it into the hole.

Clack. Clack. Clack clack. Clack clack clack. Clack clack…

The rock kept bouncing, sending back sounds until it got so deep that Twilight couldn’t hear them anymore.

Well, I can’t risk missing something. Taking a gulp, Twilight took a tentative step forward into the hole, putting a dab of spell fire on the wall.

As she descended, Twilight determined that she was inside of a mine shaft. The tunnel looked hoof-dug, and there were large gaps in the wall at irregular intervals. One of the gaps looked suspiciously able to fit a large, hallway-blocking rock into it. At least I know where that rock came from.

Twilight kept walking, putting occasional dabs of spell fire along the walls. It gave the entire shaft a sickly purple hue, and gave Twilight the shivers. Something is wrong about this place. The thought had no sooner crossed Twilight’s mind when she chuckled. Of course, that’s what I originally thought about the maze.

When she finally made it to the bottom, Twilight had expected something… more. This is it? There was nothing spectacular about the bottom of the shaft, other than it was slightly wider and there was no way to continue down. There were only two objects in the cave. One was a very peculiar looking rock with purple moss growing on it, another was a stone chest.

Twilight shrugged, floating the lid of the stone box off. Peeking inside, her face lit up. There, resting within the confines of the stone chest was a marvelous diamond that shone with a blinding radiance.

“What. Are. You. Doing?”

Twilight jumped, skin crawling. The voice that now echoed off the walls of the cave was dusty, as if it hadn’t been used in a while, and incredibly scratchy.

“That is MINE! I did NOT say that YOU could TOUCH IT!”

Twilight looked around desperately, trying to find the source of the voice. What she had originally thought was a rock was now moving with an incredible slowness.

It’s a pony!

The pony had twisted its head around to gaze directly at Twilight. Its body was hunched over, and Twilight now realized that it wasn’t grey, but white. What looked like years of dirt and grime had marred the once beautiful coat, and what Twilight had originally thought was moss was actually the pony’s mane. The pony’s horn had been chipped and cracked, as if it had been used for digging and excavating.

Most sickeningly of all, though, were the pony’s eyes. They had become milky, and unfocused, and its gaze was not actually centered on Twilight, but a little to the left and up.

The pony had gone blind.

“You…” the pony sniffed the air, creeping towards Twilight with her belly on the ground. “You have MORE gems! Give them to me. GIVE THEM TO ME!!!”

And with that shriek, the pony lunged at Twilight with blinding speed, aiming straight for her bag. Twilight ducked out of the way, and the white unicorn collided against the wall with a sickening crunch. Twilight hurriedly floated the diamond into her bag and began galloping back towards the entrance to the mine shaft.

“NOOOO!!! GIVE ME MY GEM BACK!!!!” Twilight’s skin crawled as she looked over her shoulder and saw the unicorn slithering against the ground, using her legs to propel her towards Twilight. She was gaining with horrifying speed.

“GIVE THEM TO ME!!!!!”

An idea occurred to Twilight. Her horn began to glow as she destabilized the cavern around her. The earth began to shake, and sizable chunks of the ceiling began to fall. Twilight had to be quick on her feet to avoid being crushed.

“COME BACK HERE!!!”

Almost there. Almost there… jump!

And Twilight did, clearing the cave just as it filled with debris from the collapsing mine shaft. Her hind hooves barely avoided being crushed under tons of rock as she landed, panting on the floor of the labyrinth.

“Give…my…gems…” a weak voice sounded from behind her. She turned, terrified, and saw the white unicorn’s front half vainly scrabbling against the ground, trying to propel herself towards Twilight.

The lavender unicorn stood up, brushed herself off, and wrapped the large rock she had run into earlier in her magic. Slowly, she levitated it right above the twisting abomination.

“Give me give me give me GIVE M-“

Twilight let the rock fall. Crunch.

“And greed is served its just desserts.”

~*~*~*~*~

Twilight gleefully listened to the clink as the four keys she had assembled bounced around in her bag. She was so close to freedom, she felt absolutely confident that nothing could stand in her way.

The only one I have left is the thundercloud, she thought contentedly. And that has to be around here somewhere.

She was running out of hallways. At almost every corner she took, purple spell fire winked at her from the halls. Occasionally, she would come to a dark hallway, and her heart rate would pick up. But it was always just a false alarm, as the hallway led back to another lighted area of the labyrinth.

There has to be ONE area I haven’-

Whoosh!

A dull blur of a myriad of colors whizzed past Twilight, ruffling her mane and leaving her disoriented. Shaking off the stars swirling around her head, the lavender unicorn galloped after the blur. Turning a corner, she caught a wink of something shiny before the blur disappeared out of sight.

The last key! There was no doubt in Twilight’s mind. She had seen the thundercloud clenched firmly in the teeth of a pegasus pony, who was dashing away at the speed of rainbow.

Twilight desperately tried to run after the pegasus. It had vanished, and Twilight groaned with disappointment.

Wham!

Something incredibly solid rammed into her, blackening Twilight’s vision for a split second. Recovering, Twilight saw the rainbow blur disappear again down a different hallway.

Wham!

Twilight was bowled over as she was hit again. Moaning in pain, her breathing came labored. The blur was moving too fast for Twilight to try and counter, and she couldn’t hope to try and dodge the next blow.

She doubted she would even last another blow.

Unless…

Twilight quickly cast a spell that let her see through all of the dabs of fire she had put on the walls of the labyrinth. Sure enough, a dull blue pegasus pony with a mane the color of rainbows was speeding through the hallways, circling around for another blow.

I will not let that happen.

Twilight’s horn began to glow, softly at first, and then increasing in luminosity until her horn burned like the sun. All across the labyrinth, her spell fires began to flicker. Then, they began to skitter across the wall, like giant purple spiders. Through her vision spell, Twilight could see the rainbow pegasus’s eyes grow wide as the fire matched her speed.

Now!

The fires nearest to the pegasus flew off the walls, forming into bars mid-flight. They linked with each other, trapping the pegasus in a glowing cage of purple fire. As the rest of the spell fires joined the cage, the bars began to thicken, so the pegasus had to clamp her wings tightly to her sides to avoid being burned.

Twilight calmly trotted over. Despite the sudden absence of light, she found that she had no problems navigating through the now familiar hallways. Humming happily, she came across the cage.

Wrapping the charcoal-colored thundercloud jewel in her magic, Twilight wrenched it out of the mouth of the pegasus. She opened her bag and added the key to the other four, a smile spreading across her face.

Twilight had also been expecting a slew of profanities, insults, and other mindless words to come spewing out of the pegasus’s mouth. Instead, all the light blue pony said was, “Okay, you got what you want. Let me go!”

Twilight blinked. While it was true she had all she needed, she had already been considering how best to dispose of the pegasus.

“Please. Show some mercy.”

Twilight’s nostrils flared as she briskly turned on her hooves and walked the other way. Pausing, she muttered, “Mercy is for the weak.”

Slowly, the cage began to fold in on itself, and Twilight walked away, ignoring the screams of the trapped pony burning alive.

~*~*~*~*~

I did it!

“Well done, Twilight. Bring the keys back to the door, and we’ll be set.”

Twilight trotted happily through the maze, which had straightened itself out and led straight to the large wooden door. The keys chinked at her side, and her horn glowed with happiness.

Arriving at the door, she smiled and thought, alright, what now?

The answer came in a projection that appeared in front of Twilight. It was a midnight blue pony that stood regally in front of her. The pony’s wings extended from its back, and a glowing carpet of stars flowed in her mane and tail. Its horn was long and sharp, and her necklace glowed with the light of the moon.

Twilight gazed at the beautiful pony. Somewhere, something in her mind screamed at her…

Who is this? Twilight wondered.

The pony vanished as soon as it appeared.

~*~*~*~*~

The shadow breathed a sigh of relief. “That was close,” it muttered. Keeping reign on Twilight memories was taxing work, and Twilight’s favorite mental image of Princess Luna had slipped through its clutches, materializing in front of her.

“Thankfully, that pony is so far gone…”

~*~*~*~*~

“Twilight,” the voice wrapped the lavender unicorn in a silky feeling. “All you have to do is insert the keys into the keyholes, and the door will be unlocked.”

Twilight floated out all of the keys. Carefully, she levitated the balloon up to its proper keyhole. Click. Next went the butterfly. Click. Then the apple. Click. The diamond. Click. The thundercloud. Click.

CLICK.

The keys cracked instantly down the middle, and the locks shattered against the door. One by one, the keys fell to the ground, dissolving into dust.

Slowly, the door creaked open.

“Go inside, Twilight.”

Obediently, Twilight padded inside. The room inside was dark, darker than any other part of the labyrinth. No matter how bright Twilight’s horn glowed, she couldn’t manage to reflect any of the light off of the walls.

Hello?

“You did wonderfully, Twilight,” the voice purred. As Twilight watched, the darkness receded from the wall, culminating into a corner. It began to take on an equine shape. Twilight gazed, transfixed, as four legs, a neck, a horn, and a tail formed from the inky blackness.

She was looking at an exact copy of herself.

“Here are some things you… forgot. I’ve been holding onto them for a while.”

Memories slammed back into Twilight. All her friends back in Ponyville. Spike. Her library. Princess Celestia. Pinkie Pie. Fluttershy. Applejack. Rarity. Rainbow Dash.

Princess Luna.

“No,” Twilight whispered aloud, recognition lighting her features. Her eyes began to tear up as she thought of how she made her way through the labyrinth.

“YES!” the shadow yelled gleefully, flinging itself at Twilight. She didn’t even have time to run. The shadow collided with Twilight, and all she knew was blackness.

~*~*~*~*~

“Hey…”

Spike’s voice stirred Luna. She had fallen asleep with her head on Twilight’s bed. Blearily, she rubbed her eyes and looked around. The moonlight streaming through the window revealed that Twilight’s five friends had all dragged in blankets and pillows, and were now all stirring at the sound of Spike’s voice as well.

“It’s Twilight. I think she’s awake!”

Twilight’s body had stopped twitching. Slowly, one of her eyes cracked open.

Luna gasped. She had been expecting to see the unicorn’s gentle purple eyes. Instead, she found herself gazing into eyes that were as black as the night sky.

“Miss me, Luna?”

The voice that came out of Twilight’s mouth sent little flowery explosions off behind Luna’s eyeballs. It had a discordant undertone to it, and the entire voice sounded…

… evil.

“Sweet mother o’ mercy,” Applejack whispered. She had felt it to.

“What, everypony is asleep on my return?” Twilight (?) was suddenly on her feet, gazing around with her pitch black eyes. “I expected so much more from my ‘friends’.”

The last word was said with such biting sarcasm that everypony (and dragon) in the room recoiled away from the lavender unicorn, who merely frowned.

“No, no, no. This won’t do at all!” Twilight-who-was-not-Twilight insisted. “We should be celebrating! This should be a grand occasion! It should be held…” the unicorn grinned devilishly. “In a palace!”

And with those words, the room was filled with black streaked purple magic, and everyone* in the room vanished.

*(Everyone = everypony + dragon)