Courage Unknown

by jillswift

The Dusk

Twilight Sparkle was a bundle of nervous energy, barely suppressed.

She rode with both of the Princesses of Equestria aboard the large, gold and gem encrusted Sun Chariot, pulled through the air by four powerful armored pegasuses. They were guarded by two well armored and armed pegasuses on each side, forward, left, right, rear, top and bottom.

The sisters chatted quietly about something to do with some other matter of state, leaving Twilight with her thoughts.

Twilight had been to the research facility many times, as a student, an assistant, and later as a researcher. That wasn't the cause for her anxiety.

This time she was along as an official, royal adviser on a mission of inspection.

She was utterly terrified of making a hash of things right in front of not only the Princess of the Moon - whom Twilight respected and was (sadly) still a bit frightened of - but also the Princess of the Sun, her mentor, teacher, friend...

And that she'd have influence of the judgment of a real researcher's work - someone who had spent longer on this line of inquiry than Twilight had lived.

She had to get this exactly perfect.

She stepped over to the edge of the chariot, hoping that watching the landscape would relax her. She recognized it all, of course, having watched it go by under her hooves each trip to the facility - similarly to relax.

She saw they were close to their destination, the land rising up on either side to form the towering mountains that bordered the vale where the research center sat. She looked forward toward the center.

Her head tilted, eyes squinting in concentration. Something was very different. She leaned into the air and let her sharp mind work out what it was.

"Oh, my Celestia." she whispered - the prayer instantly focused the attention of her mentor and teacher on what Twilight saw. "It's gone!"

Luna startled and barked orders to their guard. Their escort closed their formation as the chariot built speed and banked hard toward their new destination, the housing village that stood on the opposite ridge from the research facility.

The turn gave Twilight a clear view of the place where the facility once stood. In its place, a semi-spherical crater gaped before her.

Luna cane to stand by Twilight, also surveying the damage.

"This isn't from the ley-center. Not like Long Hoof Ravine." Twilight observed, speaking up over the rush of air. "This is far too organized."

"I agree." Luna said. "Cast thine eyes to the center of the sphere."

Twilight shifted her focus. It was barely visible to a regular unicorn's eyes - only an alicorn was likely to notice it at this distance. A tiny, dim sparkle of red-orange light.

Luna put a protective wing around Twilight. "Brace thyself. We make a military landing."

Before Twilight had a chance to ask what that meant, the chariot slammed into the ground, it's wheels and axle creaking under the stress. The pegasuses transitioned instantly from flight to a gallop toward the border of the village.

The crater was obscured by rapidly passing trees. With nothing to observe, Twilight's mind was free to fully cognate the gravity of what she had just seen.

An icy shiver ran down her spine, and fear wrapped its cold fingers about her heart.

Had this been an annihilation event? Could it happen again? She drew a sharp breath: Was the gateway still a threat?

Twilight Sparkle's horn glowed with her lavender magic. She reached out cautiously toward the center of the sphere. She could feel it was still charged with magic - but a very alien magic. That magic intensified as her senses approached what she hoped wasn't a portal.

As her senses stretched toward the tiny glimmer, it became obvious that it was, indeed, a portal. She could see the otherworldly landscape through it. She curiously crept up on the portal...

"No!"

Luna's Canterlot Voice command broke her spell, snapping her awareness back to the chariot.

"We can not afford to risk you!" The Princess of the Moon chided her sister's pupil.

"But..." Twilight stammered.

"My sister is right." Celestia said in her most gentle voice. "Until we understand what has happened here, the bearer of the Element of Magic must be protected."

"I..." Twilight's thought went unvoiced, interrupted by a call from the point guards, the chariot slowed and stopped.

"Luna, I think you and Twi' need to inspect the crater. I will go see if Raik and his assistant survived." She brought her head level with her beloved student's "Be so very careful, my Twilight. Do as Luna says. Take no risks."

"Yes, Princess. " Twilight said, simultaneously frightened, proud, and touched.

Twilight was surprised to find Celestia placed a quick but tender kiss on her cheek before leaping gracefully over the edge of the chariot and starting a powerful gallop toward the village - four pegasus guards flying after her.

"Come, young wizard." Luna said to Twilight. "We have work needs attending."

Being referred to as a wizard gave Twilights pride another boost. She followed at the Princess' easy trot toward the crater, surrounded by the watchful eyes of their own royal guard.

---

Celestia galloped along the gravel road toward the house that Raik Leeves had been assigned. As she and her escort approached the edge of the village, they slowed and approached a sky blue maned, sea green young and small mare unicorn who stood in the middle of the road.

Two of the royal guard landed near the unicorn. Celestia saw they seemed startled - looking at the unicorn, then one another, then giving a glance back to their Princess before returning their attention to their duty.

Celestia approached cautiously.

"What is your name, dear?"

The horned pony stayed as still as when she first saw her. Celestia took several more steps forward. She could make out the poor thing was shivering. Dark streaks flowed down from her eyes.

"Why are you crying, my beloved citizen?"

Celestia grew nearer - and startled. The mare was not crying - her eyes were missing, the dark streaks was her blood.

"Who has done this to you?"

No reply was made - she simply stood and shivered.

Celestia 's horn began to glow with a soft golden light, which reached out and stroked the young unicorn's face. Celestia's consciousness stood at the edge of the mare's. She gently urged she be let in. Even on this level, there was only stillness.

Celestia, worried ever more for this young unicorn, chose to push a bit, set aside the rudeness and terribleness of invading her mind. A crack opened, stuttered then widened. Celestia peered in.

Chaos. "NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!" repeated in the unicorn's own voice. Fear. Denial. Insistence on impossibility. No other thoughts were there. No images, no memories. This insanity had pushed everything else out.

Celestia released the link with the unicorn's mind, deeply unsettled.

"Leave her for now." She instructed. "I fear for the rest of the researchers."

Her escort took to the air again as she passed the ruined, shivering unicorn.

As they crested the last ridge and the village proper spread out before them, Celestia's fears were confirmed.

Ponies were strewn about yards and roads. Some lacked eyes, some had slit their own throats. Some appeared to have died while fighting another pony. They were bloodied, many had been brutally dismembered. There were a few still living, shivering in silence as the mare on the road.

Two of her escort landed near her. "I don't feel this is safe for you, your highness." The lieutenant said, eyes scanning their surroundings.

"No doubt it isn't." the alicorn replied "We press on." She ordered.

They made their way to Raik Leeves home, their path strewn with the the dead and dying.

The lieutenant insisted he be the one to search the house, and Celestia agreed. While he entered, she magicked a piece of parchment from her torque and wrote orders for medical assistance and a small garrison of soldiers to guard the crater. The parchment vanished in a flash of her golden magic.

"The home is empty and undamaged." The lieutenant said, emerging from the house.

Celestia sighed. "To his assistant's, then."

The two royal guards in flight headed down the small road. Celestia trotted after, flanked by her Lieutenant and his colleague. As they moved further from the crater, there were fewer ponies in the street. They rounded a corner, now in sight of the young apprentice's home, Celestia's heart jumped with hope.

A small gathering of unicorn ponies stood in the yard, alert.

"Oh! Thank Celestia!" one cried out without really realizing the irony. The crowd surged toward her - stopped when two guards made a hard landing intended to be intimidating.

It took a moment, but once the crowd all started to bow, the familiar protocol seemed to help them gather their wits.

"I am seeking the apprentice of Raik Leeves." Celestia said, using a gentle but clear voice.

"That would be me." a very young brown-pelted red-maned unicorn stallion said, standing.

"Come to me, please."

The young unicorn suddenly looked nervous, despite having met the Princess before. He walked to her, and she led him a few more steps away from the others.

"Lieutenant? Please see if you can get some idea of what happened here from the citizens?" The pegasus nodded his order and trotted to the crowd.

Celestia turned her attention to the apprentice. "I apologize, my young unicorn. I do not recall your name."

"Cloudy Dawn, your majesty."

"Cloudy, what do you know of what happened?"

"Your majesty. I really don't know anything - I was inside, playing a game. Professor Leeves sent me home while the inspection took place. First I kind of heard a lot of screaming, like from the other side of the housing village. Then there was this really loud bang - it rattled the windows! That's what made me come outside. Um..."

Celestia waited for the unicorn to gather his thoughts.

"My neighbor. He had been tending his garden." The unicorn's voice was unsteady. "I saw him pluck out his own eyes, and snap his own neck. He just kept screaming 'no'." His voice broke, and he began to weep. "I think everyone who was outside went mad, Princess. I think what they saw was more than they could stand."

Celestia put her wing over his shoulders.

"I am sorry, Cloudy Dawn." Celestia spoke softly. "I have to ask, do you think this happened because of Raik's research?"

He nodded, head held low. "I know it, your majesty. I saw the portal. It's almost exactly as he predicted - down to the cross-universal symmetry." He looked up at the princess suddenly. "I wasn't there! He was going to his office during the stoppage. If I'd been there I could have stopped him..."

"No, dear. No. There is no cause to blame yourself, and no way of really knowing if you could have prevented this."

He simply hung his head low.

Celestia worried for the unicorn for a moment, and caressed his side motherly with her wing.

"Wait here." She said, gently.

The Princess trotted over to her lieutenant.

"I want you and two others to stay here and keep these ponies safe." She ordered. "I also want you in command of the garrison. Here is what I need you to do..."

---

Twilight sparkle ran her hoof over the edge of the crater. It was glassy smooth, as if the crater had been made by perfectly removing the mountainside. Teleportation? She'd seen results like this, albeit on a far smaller scale. But there was no remaining magic. Something this big would have left a magical echo even the least magical pony could sense - but there was simply nothing.

"Pardon me." Twilight idly said as she pushed past her escort. The two burly pegasuses stayed very close to her. They were wound tight, eyes flicking to every sound, and Twilight could not blame them. The massive crater felt as unnatural as it looked, it was oddly upsetting.

Luna had ordered her not to use magic, before she and her guards had flown to inspect the portal. But Twilight felt so blind without it.

Sighing at her own impertinence, Twilight reached out with her magic and explored the crater floor. At the macro level, there was little she didn't already know from looking. It was a clean bowl of rock, broken only by natural fractures. Some water had begun to collect at the bottom.

The closer she looked, and the smaller the scale, the stranger it became. Familiar patterns of matter were... perverted. It was igneous rock, but somehow just a little bit something different. It became increasingly normal the farther from the center she probed, but right at the crater's edge it was so odd.

Twilight expanded her awareness, staying at this microscopic scale. The pattern of this perversion of the rock was not even. There were marks on the bottom. Eight particularly strong marks around the newly forming puddle. They reminded Twilight of goat's hooves, if a goat could stand twenty meters tall. There were similar 'marks", less intense.

Hoof-prints.

Like a giant goat-spider.

Leading toward New Gryphonton.

Twilight reached out for Princess Luna to tell her of her findings... and was shocked out of her magical reverie to find Luna right beside her.

"Princess!" Twilight acknowleged the alicorn with utterly undisguised surprise.

"Twilight Sparkle." Luna said, sounding disappointed. "I ordered that you use no magic."

"I'm sorry." Twilight said in a tiny voice.

"It is for your protection. Please do as I say, Equestria needs you alive and unharmed." The alicorn shook her head as if to shake off a thought. "No use discarding what you have discovered, however. Pray thee tell what you saw?"

Twilight swallowed, and tried to speak clearly. "Something like footprints, Princess. Like the ground itself has been - for want of a better word - perverted a little."

As she described the hoof-prints, Luna's horn glowed with her silvery moonlight magic. Quickly she found what her sister's pupil described.

"An invader." She whispered.

Luna magicked a scroll and quill from her torque. There was a pause as she talked with her sister through that same magic, the conversation complete she quickly wrote orders and teleported the scroll back to Canterlot.

"To the chariot." Luna said, taking off at a canter, twilight taking a brief moment to react and follow.

It wasn't far. Luna announced as they arrived that her sister was near.

---

Galloping through the forest had been one of Cloudy Dawn's favorite pastimes. Any comfort from familiarity was rendered null, though - following her royal highness and flanked by royal guards was alone enough to make the situation surreal and dreamlike, and this situation had so much more to make it feel unreal.

He saw that they approached the Moon Princess and things just seemed even more unreal. Behind her two bat-winged pegasuses brought the infamous Dark Chariot into a gentle landing. A lavender unicorn stepped from behind the Sun Chariot. Cloudy recognized her, twice a hero of Equestria and a legend among young wizards and magic researchers. Cloud could not feel any more out of place, and certainly no more intimidated.

"We must be quick!" Celestia spoke loudly. "Luna! Take Twilight and Cloudy and assemble the Elements. I will see if I can find the invader and slow it or stop it before it gets to New Gryphonton."

"Sister! It is likely hours before the airships arrive."

"I know. But we owe the griffins this much at least."

Twilight seemed to bow her head in unspoken acquiescence. Cloudy had no clue what ponies owed to griffins.

The Sun Princess entered her chariot, and the powerful pegasuses immediately took to the skies.

"Come." Luna commanded and headed for her chariot.

Twilight and Cloudy silently followed and sat behind the Moon Princess.

"Oh!" Twilight exclaimed, wriggling in to the soft red interior of the chariot.

Luna looked at Twilight with obvious curiosity.

"Sorry." Twilight said unnecessarily. "I wasn't expecting it to be so comfortable, with the rest of it being so... well, so pointy."

Luna let go a heartfelt laugh as the two bat-winged pegasuses towed them into the air with astonishing speed.

Cloudy Dawn's ears were plastered tightly to the sides of his head, his expression one of misery.

"What's wrong?" Twilight said, putting a hoof over one of Cloudy's, trying to be comforting.

He startled and withdrew his hoof. "I..." He stammered for a moment. "I don't know what to make of all this. I'm just a pony from a quiet little neighborhood in Manehattan. I'm not built for this."

Twilight smiled. "I know what you're feeling." she admitted "I'm just a bookworm - I pretty much lived in the library in Canterlot. I wasn't at all prepared for - well, adventure, I guess."

Luna chuckled. "You now do live in a library."

Twilight giggled. "The more things change!" she started.

Cloudy found himself smiling.

---

Twilight was happy that she'd be with her friends soon. The gravity of the situation was becoming increasingly real to her, and she knew the mere presence of her five best friends would make her feel ready to face it. Having Spike at her side had already made her feel a bit more at ease.

Cloudy had been very happy to learn he was to stay in Canterlot castle and start working with the wizards there on methods to close the gateway. Twilight saw as he simply dove in to his task, scrawling on the many blackboards the relevant enchantments, wards and grimoire notations from memory. The elder wizards simply draw in to his steady-voiced descriptions, none bothering to try to be more important (something Twilight too often saw among wizards).

The Dark Chariot came to a soft landing in front of the large, rustic red house that was the center of Sweet Apple Acres.

"Hear thee! Hear thee! I call the Element of Honesty to be at mine side!" Luna ordered in that ear-numbing Royal Canterlot Voice.

A large, bright red earth pony's head popped out from a window in the adjacent barn. He almost looked startled before retreating back inside.

"Princess?" Twilight sheepishly said.

"Yes, Twilight?"

"If I might suggest, I can, um... just go knock on my friends doors..."

"Oh." Luna said, a bit surprised by the thought. "I suppose that would be better."

An orange earth pony galloped out of the barn, making short time of the distance to Luna and Twilight. She came to a near-skidding halt and curtsy beside the chariot.

"Yes, Princess Luna?" She said before rising. "Hey there Twi'!" She greeted her friend with a smile.

"Come aboard, dear Applejack." Luna said.

"Oh. Well, Princess, we're spot in the middle of makin' applesauce, Ah really can't leave 'em in the midd..."

"Thou think I act on a lark?" The moon princess said sternly.

"Oh my. No, I'm sorry." Applejack said as she stepped on to the chariot.

"Big Mac!" She yelled over the side, startling Luna. "I gotta go! I'll be back..."

She turned to Twilight "When're we gonna be back?"

"I don't know. This isn't exactly a predictable situation. As usual."

Big Macintosh's head re-appeared in the barn window.

"I dunno when I'll be back. Jus' gotta go!" Applejack shouted.

The big red stallion waved his understanding and good-bye. "Ah understand, sis. Y'all be careful now!"

As the chariot took to the sky again, Twilight found her self amazed - she had no idea that Big Mac could shout.

"What's goin' on, Twi'?"

"Can't really say until we're all together and on our way to Canterlot."

"She wouldn't tell me, either." Spike said with a hint of annoyance.

Applejack sighed, but didn't press.

Fluttershy was happy to see Twilight, but had to be essentially dragged to the chariot when she saw Luna. She only remained aboard after Twilight promised that she had arranged for someone to take care of her critters.

Pinkie Pie was aboard before the chariot landed, more than happy to be off to wherever with her friends.

Rarity caused the longest delay, insisting on packing proper apparel for an adventure - and looking ever so hurt when Luna refused to let her bring her suitcases aboard.

Luna disembarked to knock on Rainbow Dash's door - everyone but Fluttershy would have fallen through the cloud, and she was tucked tightly in between Twilight and Applejack looking quite timid. There was a long pause, and Luna knocked again, more forcefully. A bit later the door flew open, and a disheveled, sleepy Dash stood at the threshold.

"What the buck do you want?" Dash said from behind bleary eyes.

"That the Element of Loyalty be by mine side." Luna said in a warning tone.

Dash looked up and her expression changed in a mighty hurry.

"Uhm! Ohmigawsh! I'm sorry! I... I'm ready to go!..." Rainbow Dash said from behind a very forced smile. "...Princess." She made a half-finished curtsy as an afterthought.

They boarded the chariot and were quickly underway.

"Stay classy there, Dash." Applejack quipped.

"To early for this cra..."

"OK, so let me tell you what's going on." Twilight interrupted.

"Oh!" Pinkie Pie bounced in her seat. "Can I guess? Can I?"

Twilight smiled. "Pretty unlikely that you'd..."

"Is it that some wild experiment went frightfully wrong and now we have to save ponykind from a freaky scary eldritch horror?" Pinkie said rapid-fire.

Twilight looked utterly stunned.

"How... How do you do that?" Twilight muttered, nonplussed.

"The Element of Laughter seems to posses a unique skill." Luna offered.

"Wait. Yer tellin' us that Pinkie's right?" Applejack asked.

Twilight nodded, and proceeded to let her friends know the story as best she knew it.

It was a lot to digest, and so the flight back to Canterlot was almost silent, save for an up-beat pretty little tune hummed by a bouncy pink pony as she watched the landscape pass.

Comments

[Invictus]

Is it forthwith yet? Because I am very excited to see where this goes.

Loving your style. Your OC ponies are believable and relatable... and the concept of cthulu (or something very much like it) in the pony universe is, while not entirely a brand new idea, original and difficult to do well. You have done it well, sir.

Good on you.

[Jake The Army Guy]

Very gripping. I liked the description of the victims. Descriptive without being gratuitous. Just enough details to get us in the right mind set, but not enough to sicken us. Is there a timeline for releases? I'm also excited to keep reading!

[jillswift]

136828 138560

Probably 3-4 more days (from Jan 18).

P.S. "Miss" =^_^=