Lines and Webs

by Airstream

Of Currents and Conundrums

Twilight woke to the comforting presence of Morning Star next to her. He was still asleep, his breathing deep and regular. She lay there for a moment, relishing the warmth and comfort he provided. It was a rare moment of peace for her, just the two of them lying together, completely platonic and yet at the same time more in sync than any other pony she had had romantic feelings for before. She found herself wondering about why she felt so attracted to him. There was the obvious, of course. He was attractive, polite, and intelligent. They had a lot in common, to the point where she had found it a bit frightening how well she knew this colt, and he seemed to know her. They had saved each other’s lives, back at that tower. But none of that pointed toward anything more than a strong friendship, so why did she consider him as more than that? Was it the fact that none of her friends were male? She knew they would have done the same for her, as they had in the past. But it was because of the friendship they shared, not because of any romantic attraction. It seemed to Twilight that she had had feelings for this colt before she even knew his name. She thought back to one of her earliest friendship reports, a service she still performed for the Princess. One in particular stood out, after she had first heard Rainbow Dash tell the story of how she had earned her Cutie Mark. "Everypony, everywhere, has a special magical connection with her friends, maybe before she's even met them..." Was this a case of predetermined love? Had she finally found the special somepony she was destined to spend her life with?

She decided it didn't matter. Once they got back to Ponyville, she would have plenty of time to figure out these feelings. Right now, she knew that she loved Morning Star, and he loved her back, and that was enough. Sighing in contentment, she relaxed again, feeling her pulse beat against his. They were almost in sync. She felt him shift a bit in his sleep, almost waking up. Twilight lay perfectly still, waiting to see if he did.

He shifted again, coming slowly awake. "G'mornin..." he mumbled, rolling over to face her. "You're up early."

She turned to face him, gazing into his deep green eyes. "Good morning yourself. How'd you sleep?"

"Pretty well. Dreamed of you." he replied, drawing her into a hug. "A good dream, as far as dreams go. Yourself?"

"Don't recall much of what I dreamed. You were in it, though." Twilight replied, kissing him gently.

They lay there for a moment, lost in each other. The magelight had gone out, but the first golden rays of sunshine were creeping through the windows at the top of the ballroom, illuminating motes of dust falling through their beams. Morning Star and Twilight watched as the waltz of the morning was performed. A hole in one of the windows provided enough of a breeze that the dust spun and danced hypnotically through the air, meeting and leaving others in a beautifully chaotic pattern. The moment was perfect, seemingly eternal. However, like all such moments, it ended too soon. In this case, the disturbance was Twilight's stomach, which rumbled in distress. Smiling at each other, the two unicorns got to their hooves, trotting over to the saddlebags and pulling out food and water for the morning. As they ate, quiet conversation and laughter echoed around the high-arched hall, lending life to the ancient structure once more.

________________________________________

The bags were packed, the rubbings secure and sealed. It was time to leave the castle. They elected to do so by Twilight's route, so as to avoid setting off any more traps. As they left the ballroom, they discussed how they were going to leave the castle.

"I think there had to have been some sort of control room for the drawbridge." Morning Star said, as they rounded a corner into a smaller corridor.

"I agree, but I didn't see a gatehouse or anything similar as we went over." Twilight said. "There had to have been a way to raise and lower it, but it would probably have been somewhere inside the castle, that way nopony could open it without taking the keep, instead of just the walls."

"Where would it be?" Morning Star asked, as they entered the room containing the many different staircases and doors. "Most of the places I saw on the way to the throne room had been captured by Lunar forces. If they had captured the control room, the bridge would have been open!"

"Only one way to find out." Twilight said. "Start opening doors."

________________________________________

The search was long and arduous. Most doors led to kitchens, closets, or privys. A lot of the stairs led to bedrooms or parlors. Several were apparently trick doors, opening onto stone walls. Twilight spent ten minutes walking along a hallway, looking for doors, only to come out of a tunnel directly next to the one she had just entered. She began to suspect that the castle was toying with her. The search was beginning to infuriate her. All of the leads came up dead. She ran into Morning Star several times, who was having about the same luck. At last, they were out of options. Twilight and Morning Star sat on the ground, dejected and out of ideas.

"This doesn't make any sense!" Morning Star said. "There is literally no way to lower the drawbridge!"

Twilight nodded. "This whole area is screwy. Some of these doors and hallways don't even go anywhere, they just turn into walls or loop you back around."

Morning Star reared in frustration. "We make it all the way here, get what we came for, and now we can't leave? This is unbelievable!" He turned, kicking out behind him. One of his hooves impacted the wall. With a groaning noise, it swung open.

Twilight and Morning Star stared at it in shock. "Oh, come on. A secret passage? Really?" Twilight said, trotting forward.

"Hey, if it gets us somewhere, I won't complain." Morning Star said, following. The wall behind them creaked shut, and once again the halls of the Ancient Castle fell silent.

Behind the wall, Twilight and Morning Star found themselves in a passage that was not only chilly, but also damp and somewhat moldy. Moisture hung heavy in the air, and the sound of running water could be heard in the distance. "Why would there be water in here?" Twilight asked, lighting her horn up. Morning Star did likewise.

"I really have no idea. This sounds like the castle sewers to me. That's where we seem to be headed, anyway." he replied, noticing the downward slant of the floor. The tunnel echoed loudly, amplifying and distorting their voices strangely. As they progressed downward, the chill and damp increased, and Twilight could almost see her breath in front of her face. Abruptly, the tunnel turned to the left. After some time, it swung around in a U-turn, sending them downward and parallel to the previous tunnel.

"There's no way this is a sewer." Morning Star said. "It's too far down. Which begs the question, what is this place?"

"I don't know, but I think we're about to find out." Twilight said, as the tunnel began to widen at the sides. A glimmer of cold blue light was ahead, and the sound of water was now clear and distinct. Turning one final corner, the two unicorns stood in shock.

A cavern, vast and dark, stretched into the distance before them. A set of crudely cut stairs were chiseled into the rock, leading down to what appeared to be a vast river, stretching into the darkness of the cave and disappearing into the black. Twilight was uncomfortably reminded of the crystal cave she had temporarily been imprisoned in during the Royal Wedding. The stone had a curious property, being vaguely luminescent. The effect was obviously magical, as Twilight had never heard of a rock with the ability to glow. What was most interesting, however, was what was chained to the dock.

A small boat, made of some dark wood, rode high on the water. It was very small, designed to hold four or five ponies, and no more. A small mast was fastened to the middle of it, though the sail had long since rotted away, and the prow had been carved into the shape of an Alicorn head. The wood appeared to be untouched, and as they approached, Twilight noticed small runes similar to the ones she used to strengthen the wood of her library carved into the sides of the craft.

"What is this?" Twilight asked Morning Star, examining the carvings.

"I'm not sure," he replied, looking into the boat. "But I think it might have been an escape craft, in case of attack. This one was too late, though." His theory might have been valid. Huddled in the fore of the boat were two Pegasi foals, wings tucked tightly to their sides in fear. Their mother had one wing arched over them protectively, as though attempting to cover them. All of them were, of course, turned to stone.

It was clear that this would be their way out, but first they needed to evacuate the petrified ponies, and find a place where they would be safe. After all, there was always the chance that the spell might break. Working together, the two unicorns carefully levitated the mother out of the craft, setting her down gently by the steps, away from the water. The same was done with each of the foals, who were arranged in more or less the same fashion as they were found in the boat. Twilight couldn't stop staring at them. She hadn't seen any foals or noncombatants in the castle, so she had assumed that they had all been evacuated. This was proof, however, that this was not the case. How many abandoned rooms, silent and dusty, were host to these statues of frightened, fleeing ponies who weren't fast enough? How many were foals, or frightened servants?

Twilight pushed the thoughts from her mind. There was no way to help these ponies now. Right now, she needed to focus on the task at hand, which was getting the boat moving. "Do you know how to steer this thing?" she asked Morning Star, levitating her bags into the bottom.

"Haven't the foggiest. Kinda thought I'd make it up as it I go, the river is wide enough." he replied, doing the same to his bags. He jumped into the boat, offering a hoof to Twilight, who accepted it, landing in the bottom gracefully.

"Fair enough. Looks like there's a rudder, anyway." she said. "Are you ready to go?"

Morning Star moved to the back of the boat, resting on the rudder. "Yep. I can't see the water from here, so you'll have to call direction for me." he said, settling onto the bench nearby.

Twilight severed the chain from the boat, listening to the clatter of the links as they hit the water. Calling directions to Morning Star, she maneuvered to the center of the river, calling forth light from her horn. She brightened it, and soon a bright white glow illuminated the way ahead. "Swing left!" she called, spying a pillar of rock jutting from the river. Morning Star complied. "Good, now take us right a bit! That's good, keep her steady...ok, hard right!" Morning Star swung left. "Right! Right! Right!" Twilight shouted, as they rapidly approached the riverbank. Morning Star hauled hard on the tiller, and the boat just barely missed running aground.

"Sorry!" he said, straightening them out again. "Won't happen again, I promise!" He looked up towards Twilight, who was resting her hooves on the bow, staring out ahead, spray from the river wetting her mane. "Twilight? You ok?" he asked, peering forward. Twilight didn't respond. "Twilight? Twi?" She turned around, panic in her eyes.

"Get on the rudder, and be ready to move it fast." she said. Morning Star couldn't see it, but the river was becoming considerably narrower, entering a tunnel hewn into the rock. A roar of swiftly moving water emanated from the mouth, and the small section Twilight could see looked extremely foreboding. The small craft approached the tunnel, slowly picking up speed. With a sudden jerk of current, they entered the tunnel.

Twilight shouted directions over the roar of the current. "Left! Left! Right! Left! Right! Dammit, left a bit!" The boat slammed into the side of the tunnel, almost tipping over. Morning Star pushed and pulled, using his magic to turn harder when his body could not. The rapidly alternating waves threatened to swamp the boat, coming up almost to the edge, and retreating just as swiftly. Suddenly, the tunnel slanted downward, creating a natural flume for the boat to travel down. It curved slightly to one side, and the water foamed and frothed madly as it rushed past.

Morning Star waited for directions. "Twilight? What's next?" he called.

"Hold on!" she shouted, ducking her head and curling into a ball. Morning Star did likewise, letting the tiller swing free. Moments later, the flume angled sharply downward, and there was a sudden increase in light.

The boat burst out of the caves, following the flume, which extended across the chasm they had crossed together into the castle. With a mighty splash, the boat landed in another river, flowing along the bottom of the crevice. Rounding a corner, Morning Star lifted his head, as did Twilight. There in front of them, glimmering in the daylight, was the river they had crossed, flowing lazily into the distance. They had made it out of the cave, and they were finally on their way back to Ponyville.

________________________________________

Twilight deduced they had left via a secret exit on the north side of the castle. How the builders had managed to conceal such a feat of engineering was beyond her, but the results were undeniable. The river was flowing faster than they could have ever walked, and it would eventually empty into Froggy Bottom bog, before reconstituting itself and heading for the sea. From the bog, it was a few hours' walk back to town. They'd be back tomorrow afternoon, right on time. As for now, the river was wide and shallow, barely deep enough for the keel of the boat, which they had christened "Pipsqueak", after a foal Twilight had known back in Ponyville who was obsessed with pirates and the sea. Pipsqueak was fully stocked for a long voyage, including a locker full of (spoiled) food, a spare (somewhat ragged) sail, and several extremely inaccurate and tattered charts of the surrounding area. The sail was dutifully hoisted, after Twilight and Morning Star had performed a rudimentary patch job, and it did a fair job of catching an afternoon breeze, speeding them along fairly well. Twilight took the liberty of fashioning a crude flag from leftover patches of cloth, which Morning Star affixed to the top of the mast proudly. Thus prepared, the rest of the afternoon was spent coasting down the river. One of the advantages afforded by the shallow water was the inability to harbor monsters such as serpents or other denizens of the water with too many teeth and claws.

With thoughts turned towards home, they began to discuss how they would handle their relationship back in Ponyville. Neither of them wanted to abandon the goals they had worked so hard to achieve. Twilight couldn't imagine life without her friends and library, and Morning Star had a promising career in the Archives, especially after he added the rubbings to the collection.

"What if you put in for a position at the Academy as a teacher?" Morning Star asked. "They'd love to have you, you could commute up during the day and come back at night."

"I'd like that," Twilight replied. "But the whole reason I turned down a request from the Academy was so that I could stay in Ponyville and publish independently in the library. And the only reason they want me up at the Academy is so they can have an opportunity to study Spike without my consent. I know that the Archive offers positions in nearby towns as incentive for residents to donate to the collections. You could take a job in Ponyville, it's right by the Everfree, so you'd be able to go on expeditions more frequently."

"I could do that," Morning Star said, "But I need to complete my apprenticeship in the Archives and earn the title before I can be assigned. I don't think it will take long, but I need to be in the Archives, in Canterlot, otherwise I'll never earn the position."

The discussion wore back and forth along the same lines for the rest of the afternoon. Neither pony could come up with an adequate solution. Twilight couldn't leave Ponyville, and Morning Star couldn't abandon Canterlot.

"What about a long-distance relationship?" Morning Star asked. "We could work our respective jobs, and we could spend weekends together, either in Canterlot or in Ponyville. Once I get my position as an Archivist, I could request assignment to Ponyville. We could be together, and all it would take is a bit of effort from us to make it work for a while."

Twilight considered the prospect. It certainly wasn't perfect, but it certainly seemed to be the only logical option that did not involve a lot of long-distance teleportation. With the rubbings in his bag, Morning Star would be guaranteed a top slot for promotion to Archivist. Twilight, meanwhile, could continue her independent existence in the library, and still see Morning Star fairly often. When he got his position, they could truly be together.

"Yes, that seems like it's our best option." Twilight said, leaning into Morning Star.

"It's settled then," Morning Star said. "We are officially a long-distance couple."

The boat drifted down the river, following the lazy current into the star-filled black. Tomorrow morning they would arrive in the bog, and tomorrow afternoon they would be at home. Luna's moon kept watchful eye on the travelers, guarding them against the darkness, as it had since time eternal.

Comments

[khatre]

This may be the most gentel clifhanger i have ever seen.
It is almost like a horror movie where you just KNOW that around the corner is ther psycho with the bloody axe.
Poor Twily. There is nothing you can do to stop it now. Celestia is Very good at making plans and whatever it is ... well its definitely going to happen.

[Tyek]

Interesting that he was the one to suggest a long distance relationship. I cannot work out Celestia's motives.

[Darkswirl]

The boat scene reminded me from the scene in The Three Musketeers. Was this a reference, or was this stuff just common in dark midevil movies/books and I just haven't seen them?

[Stiggerzz]

this story has taken hold of me...i.....must....continue...
l.wigflip.com/xkp4TT1A/roflbot.jpg

also, am i the only one who LOVES the way each chapter begins with "of"?
sometimes repetitivness CAN be good

[Circuit Link]

Ok this is starting to get creepy i am getting worried about twilight. She should have trusted spike when he sensed a lie, or at least have kept it in consideration instead of completely forgetting about it.

[The_Foreman]

1043197 as someone who accidentally read the sequel before realizing it even WAS a sequel, yes. also pulling some necromacy on your post