Cobalt Rising.

by Cpt_Cutter

Chapter 5: Deep Secrets and old enemies.

Chapter 5
Deep secrets and old enemies.

The train ride back to Ponyville dragged on long into the night. When we had left the Palace, sneaking past Shining Armour, we had gone back toward the airfield to catch a balloon ride to Ponyville.

The balloon pilots, however, had adamantly refused to let me near them, and I didn’t want to fly back with Rainbow Dash and abandon Twilight, Pinkie and Spike. As a Compromise, we settled for the tediously long train ride to Ponyville.

When we arrived back, after a near silent ride, I realised that we had another dilemma; I had nowhere to sleep. “You could stay with me...” Rainbow Said as we stepped onto the platform. “I wouldn’t want to be a bother” I replied. “No no, it’s no trouble at all” she said with a wink.

I wasn’t sure how to feel about Rainbow Dash. We were similar, and she was energetic, but that couldn’t overpower the feeling I got when I was around Twilight. It was like we were the only people on earth. “Its fine Cobalt, I’ll do some study and get back to you tomorrow, you should get some sleep”. Twilight said, with genuine concern in her voice.

I would have protested, and asked to help, but I realised that I was tired. I said with a yawn “Okay Twilight, I’ll see you in the morning”. As we started to walk off toward Rainbow Dash’s house, I turned and walked back to Twilight.

I said nervously, “Oh, and Twilight? Thank you for helping me. Most would have just slammed their doors. I can’t remember anything, but even if I could, I doubt I would have known anyone as nice as you”. She blushed and said “Thank you, Cobalt, what can I say, you seem... Different. Special. Plus, I like a challenge”. With that, I spread my wings and took off toward the waiting Cyan mare.

I woke slowly, and took a few moments to remember where I was. I looked around the cloudy room and noticed the little details that made it feel homely: A potted plant on the windowsill, a framed photograph on the dresser. I got out of bed and fixed the sheets, then walked to the window and opened it wide.

I breathed in the fresh morning air and saw from the position of the sun in the sky that it was about 10 o’clock in the morning. I walked through the door and descended the staircase. When I neared the bottom I called out “Rainbow? Hello?” to no answer. I surveyed the room and saw that somepony had been here, there was a mug of drink on the table and a magazine about some group called the “Wonderbolts”.

I walked toward the door, still drowsy from sleep, but blinked the dust out of my eyes. A note was on the cabinet by the door. I levitated it to my face and recognised Rainbow Dash’s writing: “Went to Sugarcube Corner. Come when you wake up”.

After freshening up, and spending 20 minutes walking around, searching, a nearby sign post pointed me to the door of Sugarcube corner. Even though it was late morning, the Establishment was nearly empty, except for a booth at the back and the counter, which had a short brown pony behind it. I approached hesitantly, not knowing if they were the right group.

I grew more confident when I saw the rainbow mane of the Pegasus who had let me stay. I walked up and saw that there were six ponies and a dragon sitting in the circular booth. From the left, they were: Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, A white Unicorn with a purple mane whom I didn’t know, Twilight Sparkle, Spike, A light yellow Pegasus mare with a pink mane, and a vaguely familiar light orange earth pony with a Cowcolt hat. Rainbow looked up at me from the table, which seemed to be dominated by plates stacked in front of Spike.

“Hey, I was wondering when you’d show up” She said with a grin. “Some directions might have sped me up” I replied jokingly. Twilight seemed happy to see me. “Hi Cobalt, how was your sleep?” she said while grinning at Rainbow. I knew that they must have been talking about me, but it didn’t surprise me really. Not much seemed to happen around here.

Twilight motioned at the pony on her left. “This is Rarity” The white unicorn said “Charmed” in a posh voice. “And that's Fluttershy”, to which the Yellow mare replied “Oh...um....H-Hi” in a voice so soft I barely heard it. I said “Hi” while she slinked into her seat. I looked to Twilight unsure if I had scared her. Twilight said “She does that to everypony who’s new” which relieved me.

The beige pony In front of me said “Ah’m Applejack. Nice ta meet yah Mr. Cobalt” In a heavy country accent. I remembered why she looked so familiar. “Wait, you were at the farm Sweet Apple Acres yesterday, weren’t you?”
“Ma’h Family owns tha place. Wait-a-minute, Ah remember you. You walked past yesterday morning didn’t yah?”
“Yes I did. Apple Bloom’s your sister isn’t she?” I asked, seeing a family resemblance.
“Yessiree she is, Mr Cobalt”.
“Cobalt is fine, Applejack” I replied, Finding the formality unsettling.
“Ok Cobalt” She replied.

Twilight broke in, pointing at a map on the table. “I’ve found quite a few Places that castles have been in Equestria, but there are a few problems”.
I leaned toward the table expectantly “Which are?”
“The only castles inhabited in Equestria are Canterlot castle and The Star haven, which is Princess Luna’s private domain”.
“Can’t we go there?”

The sighed and looked down at her notes. “It’s not that simple unfortunately. Nopony knows how, outside of the princesses, and I don’t think Celestia will be much help”.
“What’s the other problem?” I asked, dreading what I was about to hear.
“Cobalt... I don’t know how to tell you this, but... You might be a little bit older than you look.”

I raised my eyebrows, wanting to know what she was about to say. “There hasn’t been a missing pony report filed about an alicorn in hundreds of years.... If you are as old as you look, No one has missed you.......”

Twilight looked like just saying the sentence had hurt. She had no idea how much it hurt me. I realised that the warm feelings I had had about the mysterious statue outside of town may be irrelevant now. The person the statue was modelled after may be long dead. I realised I still hadn’t asked who it was.

“There’s a statue outside of town: Big, stone monolith. Who’s it modelled off of?”
Twilight and the other Ponies around the table looked at me with open mouths. Rarity looked sideways at Twilight and said “He Is actually telling the truth. I take it back”.
Twilight glanced at Rarity angrily, and then looked to me. “Cobalt, That statue is of Nightmare Moon. Remember the one Princess Luna talked about?” I did remember, It was only yesterday.
“Where was her castle? Did she have one?”

Twilight looked down at her notes, in between what were once a stack of pancakes and a plate of crusts. “Yes, she did actually: In the Everfree forest, just north of the lake”. I was bouncing up and down like an excited puppy. “Can we go? Can we? Can we?”
Applejack said “Ah have some chores ta do, but I'm sure ah could do ‘em later”
I looked hopefully at the others. Rainbow said “I'm free today” and the others begrudgingly agreed to tag along. Twilight sent a letter to her brother in Canterlot asking for a few guards in case anything went wrong, and we set out.

************************

The Everfree forest spread out in front of us was darker and more hostile than the name suggested. The trees covered the path to form a tunnel, which hardly any natural light passed through. Twilight looked down at her map, which she hovered in front of her. “This is definitely the way... Unfortunately”.

“R-Really? A-Are you sure?” Fluttershy asked from the back of the group.
“Come on then, let’s go!!” Rainbow Dash shouted from above us, doing aerial tricks.
“Ah’m Sure we’ll be fine, isn’t that right Twilight?” Applejack asked with a hint of nervousness in her voice.

“Applejack’s right Fluttershy, nothing in this forest is dumb enough to attack such a large group, plus an alicorn”. To prove her point, I used my magic to fire a newly discovered bolt of energy through a tree. “We are going to be fine. Let’s get going.” I said calmly.

The forest was cold and dark, even during the height of day. It felt eerie and sad, but strangely familiar. It was the familiarity that put me on edge. I pulled back to the rear of the group where rainbow, forced to land or get lost above the forest, tagged along. I said to her out of the corner of my mouth “What would you say if I said this forest makes me feel sad?”

She looked at me, then back to the undulating path. “I wouldn’t blame you, this place is freaky”.
I nodded. After a few minutes of silence I asked quietly “And what would you say if I said this place felt familiar?”

She stopped, turned, and looked at me with a surprised expression on her face. “Cobalt, I realise you can’t remember anything and I can’t blame you, but this is an evil place. Nothing in this forest with the exception of Zecora is kind to anypony but them. We don’t know anything about your past; you could have been one of the types of people that thrived in a place like this”.

I interrupted “It doesn’t matter who I was, It matters who I am, and I haven’t tried to kill you yet”.
She looked at her hooves and sighed. “Let’s just drop it. Just don’t mention it to anypony else, Ok?”
I nodded, and the rest of the journey was in silence.

************************

The Greying Castle walls rose out of the forest suddenly, twenty meters high, stopping us in our tracks. Spike, who had become tired and who was sat on Twilight’s back got down and walked up to the wall. He hit it with a powerful fist and the ancient marble wavered but did not yield. He looked back and said “No getting through that without an army”.
I nodded and said “Just as it was designed”.

Twilight looked at me and said “Cobalt, if we both try to move the base stone over there, it might collapse the wall enough to allow us through”. I nodded and created a blue aura around the biggest stone a few meters in front of me. Twilight’s Magical aura combined with mine, to create a dark purple cloud, which followed the stone as it slid from the bottom of the wall. I small avalanche of stone flowed through the now open base, creating a hole just big enough to fit through.

We all squeezed through, save for Rainbow, who flew over. On the inside of the perimeter wall, the grass was overgrown but there were no large trees. The castle was massive, stretching along the central axis of the now clearly circular wall. A tall grey tower stretched upwards, covered in vines. We made our way along a dilapidated path to the main doors, one of which had rotted off of its hinges. I flew above it with Rainbow Dash as the others climbed over the rubble.

The room had a large mezzanine overlooking the remains of the door, with an arched roof. The walls were covered in what I could only guess would have been paintings, which were now little more than streaks of colour. I lowered myself to the floor, which was cold to the touch. I looked back at the group, who were standing around the door. Twilight caught my eye and said “Is this place familiar at all?” I glanced at Rainbow, who was flying above the door. She gave me an evil look, and I put on my best poker face, which was hard because I didn’t know if I had any obvious tells when I lied. “No, not at all, Twilight. Maybe we should have a better look”.

I climbed one of the staircases with the rest of the group in a single file line behind me. The corridor at the end of the staircase was filled with the remains of furniture and paintings, with broken or mouldy windows in between. At the end of the corridor there was a large hall, with windows down one side and a large circle carved in the floor. In the centre of the circle was a large glass-like disk, about two meters wide. I walked toward it, led by a faint memory. As I put my hoof over the stone circle, a deep sense of dread flowed through me. I said “No, no this is wrong”, but no one responded. I turned and saw that everypony and Spike in the room besides myself had frozen. They were surrounded in an aura of dark grey smoke. They weren’t even breathing.

A high-pitch cackle erupted from the now smoking glass disk. The smoke began to form into the shape of a leg, with light blue boots that went to the knee and ended in a spike. It was followed by three more. The smoke built up, forming the solid shape of a dark body, with pure black wings, and a necklace that led into a chest plate with a crescent moon in the centre. A cutie mark of a crescent moon formed on a lighter blue patch of the creatures flank. The smoke built up to form a head, then a horn. The eye opened, as the flowing light blue mane dotted with star like objects grew.

The eyes were glowing teal, and immediately focused on me. The now clearly alicorn opened its mouth and spoke loudly in a female voice “Ah, my traitorous youngling, It pleases me to see that you have returned to my side”. I shrunk down as much as I could and said “I-I'm sorry, You must be mistaken... Who are you?” She looked into my eyes and seemed surprised by what she saw. She regained her composure and said “I am Nightmare Moon, Queen of darkness and Rightful ruler of Equestria, but surely you remember your own mother?”