Myth Chaser and the Secret of Starswirl

by Myth Chaser

Chapter Ten

The sound of two voices talking stirred Myth awake from his sleep the next morning. He had slept on the dirt that night rather than in a sleeping bag. He'd been too tired to unroll it by the time he was ready to sleep. He sat up and yawned, rubbing at his eyes. Sleepily looking around the campsite, he found that the tent had already been taken down and Snapshot and Jewel were packing the parts away back where they belonged.

“Morning, sunshine,” Snapshot said when she noticed Myth was awake. “Have a good sleep?”

“Yeah,” Myth answered with a tired smile, running a hoof through his mane to fix it up the best he could for now. He then got up and started packing what was left. “How'd you sleep, Jewel?”

“Good,” Jewel answered simply with a blush spreading over her cheeks.

“Very good, I'd say,” Snapshot said with a chuckle. “She was mumbling something about you in her sleep, Myth. I think she was dreaming about you.”

Jewel's blush grew brighter as Snapshot said that. “After last night, how could I not?”

“What happened last night?” Snapshot asked. “You two were already asleep by the time I got back.”

Myth and Jewel were both blushing as they thought back to last night, remembering their first kiss by the campfire. Their hearts started racing again just thinking about it.

“Details, you two,” Snapshot said, eager to find out what she missed.

The two glanced at each other. They figured they should say something now before the pegasus starts to assume something more adult happened.

“We kissed,” Myth finally said.

“Aww,” Snapshot exclaimed. “So are you two a thing now? Boyfriend and girlfriend, or what?”

“Oh, um...” Myth looked to Jewel for an answer. Were they? They didn't even have a date yet, unless last night counted... What should they think of each other as?

“I'd... like to think so,” Jewel answered hesitantly, looking back to him.

Myth smiled softly, and put a hoof around the unicorn, pulling her in against his side. She slid her hooves around him in a hug, smiling back.

“Aww, you two look so cute together,” Snapshot said with a sweet smile. “Anyways, are you two ready to go? I bet you two are more excited than I am about what's waiting for us.”

“Of course!” Jewel exclaimed excitedly. “I've been hearing stories about Starswirl's secret since I was a little filly. I'm dying to know what's really going on.”

“We better get going then. Shouldn't be too much farther,” Myth said, looking around the campsite. “We have everything?”

The tent was down and packed away, the fire was put out, the sleeping bags rolled back up and put in their bags...

“Seems like it,” Jewel answered.

With that, Myth pulled their map out of his bag and started leading the way. It was still early in the day, with the coolness of night still left over and the sun just barely beginning to warm them up. They left the campsite, the logs surrounding the fire pit.

---

Several times, the three had to stop so Myth could figure out exactly where they were going. He was good with reading maps, but in an area that was all trees and rocks, he had to keep making sure they didn't take a wrong turn or end up walking in circles. All three ponies were glad nobody else complained about their hiking, even as the day slowly grew hotter. They made small talk as they walked.

They had learned that Jewel was used to hiking and nature walks, as she went out searching for gems of all kinds all the time. She was pretty comfortable with being in deep, dark caves. With Myth being the adventurous stallion he is, he and Jewel would probably wind up being in caves often anyways, whether it's looking for gems or artifacts, or some other thing.

After several hours of hiking through the wilderness, Snapshot was ready to ask for a break. She wasn't as used to walking as much as they were, since she normally was able to fly. With her wing broken though, that wasn't an option. She'd been holding back complaints, but now her hooves were really starting to ache and she wasn't sure how much longer she could go.

“Almost there,” Myth spoke up. “Should be just around here...”

He led the two mares through a thick area of trees, finally arriving to a small clearing. It was a fairly small area, no bigger than their campsite had been.

To their left was a cliff side, and to the right, the opening of a cave. The three ponies stopped in the clearing and Myth checked their location on the map, lining up the coordinates where they were, with the coordinates he had memorized from Starswirl's journal.

“We're here,” he said, with a big smile, and looked back up to see the large cave entrance.

“How in the hay did Starswirl and Luna make it from Canterlot to here and back every night...?” Snapshot asked, a little out of breath as she made her way to the edge of the cliff, curiously taking a look down to see that Canterlot was far below them at the bottom of the mountain. It was practically a dot with how far up they were. It would be a long way to go to get back down once they were done here.

“They teleported,” Myth answered simply, joining Snapshot at the cliff to check out the view. “That's my best guess, anyways. No way they could hike up this far and go all the way back down every night.”

“Wish I could teleport,” Snapshot said, her heart aching at the thought that they'd have to be hiking the whole way back down the mountain later. Surely they'd camp out again on the way, which could be fun, but she was already dying for a shower and a comfy bed to sleep in.

“Found something,” Jewel said, her voice echoing out from the cave.

The siblings both turned to look, finding that Jewel had already entered into the dark cave, holding a lit flashlight in her magic. Even with the midday sunlight, it was difficult to see very far in. The two joined her in the cave, turning on their own flashlights to look around.

They came to Jewel's side, finding that she was running her flashlight over a white stone-like wall, with a crack running down the middle, making them assume it was a large set of doors. In the crack, at about head height, was circle inset. The same size as the magic lock, Myth noticed.

“Perfect,” a feminine voice said from behind them.

Surprised, the three ponies turned to see who had joined them. The three were met with Askari and Star Gaze, with the dark gray, charcoal-colored unicorn mare in between them. The zebra mare and blue unicorn stallion each held up their own guns, pointed at the three ponies, stopping them from moving. The dark mare in the middle let her horn glow brightly, flooding the cave with light.

“Gun,” Askari said, glancing down to the holster on Myth's hip. “Hand it over.”

“Don't try anything,” Star Gaze said, keeping his own pistol aimed at Jewel, keeping the magic user as his priority.

Myth slowly reached back to his gun, pulling it free of its holster and setting it on the ground, kicking it over. The dark gray mare took it and put it in her bag.

“How'd you find us?” Myth asked, his eyes locked on the mare.

The unicorn smiled and approached him, getting just as close as she had been before, when she'd had the knife to his throat. She brought her hoof up to the ring on his necklace. “I put a tracking spell on your dear father's necklace last time I saw you.” She then let it fall and moved his chin to make him look into her purple eyes. “I saw it in your eyes back then. You knew more than what you were telling me.”

“Darn,” Myth said. “And here I thought I was a good actor.”

“Not quite good enough,” she replied, giving his cheek a playful little pat. “You're pretty good at figuring stuff out though. Askari's had the journal for a couple days and didn't find the coordinates that you managed to find in a few hours.” She then looked back to the zebra with a little glare.

Askari looked away from her, seemingly ashamed that she couldn't get work done as fast as her leader had hoped for. “I'm sorry, ma'am.”

The unicorn mare sighed, rolling her eyes. “I know. You've said it a dozen times.” She then looked over to Jewel and smiled. “Good to see you, again, Jewel. I wasn't aware you'd be with these two.”

“What do you mean again?” Jewel asked. “I've never met you.”

The unicorn chuckled. “Silly me. I forgot you might not recognize your own mother after all these years.”

Myth and Snapshot gasped, looking over to Jewel in surprise. Jewel just shook her head. “You're not my mother. My mother's dead.”

“Dead?” the unicorn asked, laughing again. Her horn gave a purple glow as she opened her bag with her magic, pulling out a picture. She moved it over to her Jewel. “Take a look.”

Jewel looked at her curiously for a moment and turned her attention to the picture when it was given to her. She saw her two unicorn parents standing beside each other, hooves around each other in a hug as they smiled for the camera. Her father was blue with green eyes and the same blonde mane and tail that she had. Her mother was gold-coated just like her, with blue eyes and a blue mane tail.

She shrugged and looked back up to the dark gray coated, purple-eyed mare with the purple mane and tail. “So what? It's my mom and dad. I've seen this picture hundreds of times.”

“Look at the cutie mark,” the unicorn replied simply.

Jewel rolled her eyes and looked back to the picture, gazing at the cutie mark on her mother's flank. A blue magic swirl with a darker blue star and a little white twinkle at the bottom. She looked back to the dark gray unicorn mare who was now showing her own flank. She had the same cutie mark, only the magic swirl and star were now purple shades rather than blue.

“Believe it now, my little gem?” the mare asked.

With a gasp at the last part, Jewel looked up to the unicorn. “What did you say?”

“My little gem,” the mare said with a smile.

“Does that mean anything?” Myth asked, looking to Jewel.

“That's what my dad used to call me all the time,” she answered.

“So... She really is your mother?” Snapshot asked, coming over to her side to take a look at the picture she still held.

“No,” Jewel said. She let Snapshot take the picture as she locked eyes with the unicorn mare. “I don't consider you my mother anymore, Gem Shine.”

The unicorn took a step back in surprise at being called Gem Shine. She hadn't heard that name in a while. “I go by Moon Shine now.”

“Either way, you left your family,” Jewel said. “You're not my mother. A mother is supposed to take care of her family. Raise her child, love her husband, help keep a roof over our heads... You left just after I was born. We struggled to keep our house. Dad was working two jobs every day to make up for you being gone. He was never home. He was breaking his back for us, and you just ran off and let it happen.”

Moon Shine gave a little sigh. “You could never understand how difficult it was for me to have made that decision to leave you. But I had to.”

“Why?” Jewel asked, taking a step forward, looking at the mare angrily. “What could possibly have been more important to you than your own family?”

“Nightmare Moon,” Moon Shine answered.

There was a moment of silence after that answer. Jewel was looking at Moon Shine, confused. Myth and Snapshot exchanged glances, standing back and letting the conversation continue.

“Nightmare Moon?” Jewel asked. “She hasn't been around for over a thousand years. What does she have to do with anything?”

Moon Shine sat herself down. “It's not about what she used to be. It's about her group of followers that are still around today. Us,” she said, gesturing to Askari and Star Gaze behind her. “Bringing her back with the crystal.”

“Crystal?” Myth asked curiously.

“You should know about it,” Moon Shine said, looking over to him. “You read Starswirl's journal. You know what's in this cave.”

“I don't,” Myth replied. “You stopped me before I could finish the whole thing.”

Moon Shine hesitated. She had thought that he had read the entire journal. Learned about what Starswirl's experiment with Luna in this cave really was. Why he regretted it... Her horn glowed purple again and she opened Myth's bag, retrieving the real copy of Starswirl's artifact, and pressed it to his chest forcefully enough for Myth to grab at it. “Then let's go see it, shall we?”

“Wh- You think I'm going to open the door when this has something to do with bringing back Nightmare Moon?” Myth asked. “No way.”

“I think you're going to open the door because you have guns aimed at you and we'll kill you all if you don't do it,” Moon Shine said.

“You wouldn't get inside if you killed us,” Myth said. “You don't have the combination for the lock.”

Moon Shine smiled. “Oh, yes I do.” She projected light onto the surface of the stone door, drawing all their eyes to it.

Her magic was projecting a sort of video onto the door and everypony watched as a projection showed Myth, Jewel, and Snapshot on the train. Jewel was holding up the artifact surface and Myth held the gem inside with a flashlight shining through, showing the numbers over the runic symbols on the artifact. A recording of Myth's voice sounded throughout the cave, stating clearly, 'That's our combination. Bottom right, top left, right, bottom left, and then the top.' The projection then faded away and the ponies turned back to look at Moon Gaze, who was smiling at them.

“Open it and I'll let all three of you live, and you'll be under my protection. Make me do it...” She gestured a hoof for Askari. The zebra stepped forward, and pressed her gun right up against Snapshot's head, making the pegasus give a scared whimper. “And she dies, right here, right now. Because of you.”

Moon Shine then pointed toward the door, lifting Myth in her magic and turning him around to face the door, directly facing the circular inset where he knew the artifact was meant to go. When Myth glanced back toward his scared sister, the zebra pressed the barrel of her gun more firmly against the side of Snapshot's head, warning that she'd be killed instantly if he made any wrong move.

Myth sighed, defeated. He'd always tried tricks to get out of bad situations. He always had plans... But this time, he was stuck. That gun was fully loaded, and it certainly wouldn't miss with such direct contact. Plus there was the unicorn stallion aiming another gun at Jewel. And Moon Shine had his own gun in her bag. All three of them were armed, meanwhile he, Snapshot, and Jewel were defenseless. He couldn't think of a way out of this. Not without any of them being shot.

He placed the artifact in the circle of the door. “Do the spell,” he said, looking back to Jewel.

Before Jewel could react, Moon Shine cast her own magic into the artifact, performing the spell that Jewel had had to learn. This took Myth by surprise, looking back at Moon Shine. He figured if she had set him up to lead them straight to these coordinates, with the artifact, and the combination, surely she set them up to find the spell. Maybe that was why Snapshot and Jewel had found it so ridiculously easily.

The runes on the artifact began to glow the same faint red as the ruby that was inside the dial. One by one they lit up, until they all shone brightly, indicating it was activated.

Myth turned the dial, pointing the red needle to each needed symbol in the correct order. Bottom right. Top left. Right. Bottom left. Back up to the top. There was a faint click when it came back up to the top, and the light of the symbols died out.

With Moon Shine's horn still illuminating the cave, everyone watched as the crack in the stone wall parted a few inches. Myth gave it a push and the door swung open, revealing a stair case leading downward. As the door opened fully, he saw torches on the walls illuminate on their own, shining brightly to light the way.

“Move,” Moon Shine ordered.

Myth was frozen. As the door opened and the torches lit up, he'd felt a wash of something bad pass over him. Like there was something bad waiting for them at the bottom of the stairs.

Moon Shine grabbed the gun out of her bag, her magic levitating it over to press against the back of Myth's head. “I said move.”

Myth gulped nervously. He was curious what was down there. What was the crystal that Moon Shine had mentioned? But at the same time, he was terrified. Just the bad feeling in the pit of his stomach as soon as he opened the door was telling him they should leave right now and never come back. Especially if this had something to do with the return of the evil Nightmare Moon.

“I have a bad feeling about this...” Myth said with a clear tone of worry in his voice.

Snapshot let out a whimper at that. Her brother had always been the brave one. Even as he jumped from that high cliff to escape Askari, he'd done so with total confidence and joked about it afterward even though he could have died from such a dive. But now he sounded completely terrified.

“Go,” Moon Shine said, more intense.

He did as she said this time and took a step forward. Askari then gestured for Snapshot to move, followed by Jewel.

Myth, Snapshot, and Jewel entered through the large doorway, one by one feeling the intense sensation of something bad as soon as they passed through. They all wanted to run, but they had no choice but to press onward, with Moon Shine, Askari, and Star Gaze following behind them, each keeping guns aimed at the three ponies in front of them.

After several steps downward, the large stone doors closed behind them with a loud bang, the noise echoing ominously through the cramped space as they walked down the very steps that Starswirl and Luna used to take every night... until Starswirl regretted it.