Alicornae: The Legend of Starlit Sky
Interlude - A Tense Debriefing
* * *
After a brief introduction between Sun and Twilight and a cursory explanation of who the Princess was, Starlit pulled Twilight aside to leave Sun to a much deserved bit of sleep. He was anxious to explore the Oak in full, but the night's events had left him taxed.
Quickly Starlit trotted down the stairs to Twilight's underground lab, the sleep deprived mare being in no mood for pleasantries. Twilight followed behind, the sound of her hoofsteps sluggish against the wood. Starlit shut and locked the door to the lab once Twilight was through.
"Starlit, something is troubling you," Twilight said. "Did something happen with Celestia? I didn't expect you to be back so soon."
"Oh, a great many things happened between Celestia and I," Starlit venomously answered, "but her fate is low on my list of priorities at the moment."
Turning to face her employer, Starlit tore the black amulet from her neck and tossed it to the floor in front of Twilight with a dull thunk. It slid to a halt just in front of Twilight's hooves and, apprehensively, she stepped back.
"You are going to tell me exactly what this thing is, where you got it, and how it works," Starlit demanded.
"…I take it that you know what the stone does?" Twilight asked, more of a statement than a question.
"I've been made aware. I died twice, and both times I found that stone emitting grey magic before bringing me back to life some time later, and when Sun tried to figure out where it came from it shot the sum total of Equestrian history into his head. What did you give me, Twilight?"
Starlit's question hung in the air, but Twilight seemed less concerned with Starlit's demand and more concerned with what had happened to Sun if her change of expression was anything to judge by.
"What spell did Sun use?" Twilight asked, looking down at the necklace with a keen eye.
"How should I know? You're going to give me a straight answer either way, so cut the shit and talk!"
"I'll have to tend to him later then," Twilight mused before turning her attention back to Starlit. "You said you died twice? Were there any periods of time that you don't recall other than your deaths? Fuzzy patches or places where your thoughts get jumbled?"
Starlit could feel the fur on her neck stand up. Twilight's incessant questions were grating on her nerves and before she could think to stop herself she marched forward and rammed Twilight against one of her work desks. The various devices on it toppled over and a few books were sent to the floor as it scraped against the stone.
"You aren't getting another word out of me until you tell me what that thing is, or so help me I will snap your horn off and stab you with it," Starlit growled through gritted teeth.
Whatever expression Starlit had on her face obviously showed how serious she felt, as Twilight quickly used her magic to throw Starlit off. The spell was forceful, but not so much that it knocked her over.
"Very well; since you are so insistent, I'll elucidate the matter for you," Twilight replied, readjusting the table with her magic as she did. "It is a geomantic binding to an crystalline arcane catalyst that, when put under specific stressors and conditions such as imminent death, causes a cascading magical reaction that puts the electrochemical signaling network of the nervous and arcanum systems into a state of heightened activity to resuscitate and heal the body from grievous or mortal injury."
Starlit stared at Twilight, sure that she had heard what was said but having trouble working out the details.
"Or was that too high-minded for you?" Twilight asked with a snide tone to her voice.
"A little dumbing down wouldn't hurt," Starlit answered tersely
"Then, if we are done with the histrionics, let me ask my pertinant questions that I only asked so that I could judge whether or not you or Sun require further study and observation, if you would be ever so kind. Now, you said you died twice, correct?"
"Yes, once from Celestia and once from a pack of thestrals," Starlit answered.
"I see," Twilight answered as she used her magic to retrieve a few scrolls from across the room. "Were the methods of your deaths particularly violent?"
"I'd… I'd rather not say for the thestrals. Celestia ran me through with a flaming sword," Starlit answered. She could feel a phantom ache from her left eye.
"Starlit, I need to know this to determine what to do with you. What happened with the thestrals?"
Starlit stood in resolute silence, giving all the answer that Twilight was going to get. With a snort Twilight turned to her scrolls and began reading through their contents.
"Alright, I'll settle for 'too horrible to be described,'" Twilight replied. "Have you felt any particular after effects? Any lingering pains, feelings of enhanced magical ability or soreness in your horn?"
"Nothing like that, no," Starlit answered as she walked to where Twilight stood, hunkered over the work desk. There were a few anatomical drawings of unicorns among the scrolls, but predominantly they were nothing but jargon that Starlit couldn't make sense of, if she could even read it. A few parts were written in what she assumed was Twilight and Celestia's mother tongue.
"Fascinating, isn't it?" Twilight asked as she unfurled another scroll.
"That's one word for it. What is all of this?"
"Old medical notes that date back to Canterlot, and a little bit before," Twilight answered. "There are a few references to the types of enchantments that are on that piece of crystal and what to do about side effects to their power."
"And what is that power, in simpler terms?" Starlit asked pointedly.
Twilight rolled her scrolls back up and set them on the shelf where she'd gotten them. With another beam of magic she picked the necklace up off of the floor and held it aloft in front of her. Starlit cast a worried glance at Twilight, as the last time it had had magic used on it it looked like Celestia was about to shatter it.
"This stone, to put it simply, has abilities that affect the fabric of life and death," Twilight stated.
"I beg your pardon?" Starlit asked. "That's impossible, no such power exists."
"Really now?" Twilight asked with a mischievous tone. "Tell me, you remember the old story of the Princesses; it's the one you tell your daughter every night, if I'm not mistaken. Remind me, what was Chrysalis' domain of rule?"
Starlit felt a twinge of nostalgia for the time when that story had just been a story, but she knew what Twilight was driving at. That twinge clutched her heart when she thought about how short a time it had been when she'd last read that story, and how quickly she'd forgotten parts of it.
"Life and death," Starlit replied.
"Precisely. Now, Chrysalis more dealt with the death side of things given her precise abilities, but the nature of her magic remains the same as this stone. Life and death are an inextricable magical process that even I don't fully understand, but I understand quite a lot of it, hence this necklace."
"So you created this stone as a way to bring ponies back to life?" Starlit asked. The question didn't sit well on her mind, like it was a phrase that shouldn't be uttered.
"Yes, in a manner of speaking," Twilight answered with pride. "And this wasn't the only one; every member of my army, my guard, and even select members of my court had one of these, and it made taking my castle nigh impossible during the war. After all, how do you stop an army you cannot kill?"
Starlit's fur bristled at Twilight's proclamation. Her amulet had given Starlit nothing but confusion and fear, and the very thought of thousands of them existing at any given time was a bridge too far for her.
"You can't be serious?" Starlit accused. "Every pony in your employ had one of these? This thing is a perversion of nature! How could you possibly convince thousands of ponies to take one of these?"
"You don't 'convince' ponies when you rule over them, Starlit," Twilight answered. "You've seen the results yourself; were it not for this perversion, as you so indelicately put it, you'd be dead right now and I'd be searching for another champion. How can you doubt my means when the effects are so readily apparent?"
"I don't doubt your means, I doubt the mindset behind them. You don't go making a cure for death without seeing some very dangerous things, I'm sure."
Twilight sighed and dropped the necklace down to the table, giving Starlit her full attention.
"Starlit, I was charged with the protection of all Equestria, and that is a duty I take very seriously. I did everything I could for our government and our subjects, and that dogged determination is why I've been searching for so long to find somepony to help me save this land. It's why I found you, and I couldn't be more proud of your achievements thus far."
Starlit felt her face flush with embarrassment. While she had succeeded in getting Celestia to see the light, Starlit wouldn't have called what she did an 'achievement' by any definition.
"If I'm being honest, I mostly bumbled and smooth-talked my way through most of my time finding Celestia, and even then I was a nervous wreck half of the time. I managed to lose all of the equipment you sent me out there with, to boot."
"Starlit, a lost set of armor, a few weapons, and some saddlebags are the least of my worries," Twilight answered with a sly smile. "You managed to keep the one thing that is literally irreplaceable, so I'd say all's well that ends well."
"It is quite clingy, I'll give it that," Starlit replied. "I tore it off of my neck more times than I can remember."
"An interesting bit of magic that I wove into it," Twilight said. "It imprints on the first pony to wear it, and it stays tied to them for as long as that pony lives. If it's lost it will come back and if it's torn off it will fix itself. I've kept that particular one aside for the pony who would be my champion."
"I don't particularly care for that part of the deal," Starlit retorted. "How do I rid myself of it when we're done together?"
"I can undo that enchantment easily enough, but I would ask that you keep a close eye on it all the same. It wouldn't do well for one of the Princesses to sever its bind to you and steal it, after all."
"Right," Starlit answered, remembering how Celestia nearly destroyed it. "If it's all the same to you, I think I'm going to go find somewhere to sleep. I've had about four hours in the last day and in my experience that's not a good thing."
"Are you sure there's no other deep, personal question that you wish to ask me?" Twilight jokingly asked. "Any dark secrets of mine to dredge up?"
"I'd say I've gotten enough of those in the last week to last a lifetime. I'll come find you when I wake up."
Starlit ascended the wooden steps out of the basement, acutely aware of how ruinously tired she was. She had barely made it to a reasonably sized pile of pillows in a corner of Twilight's living room when she fell into a heap and passed out.
Her last thought before sleep overcame her was of White Eclipse, and how good it would feel to see her face again.
* * *
Starlit was roused by a metallic clattering sound and a pair of hushed, excited whispers. Flopping over on her pillow pile, she blearily popped an eye open to find the source.
Twilight and Sun were having an animated conversation over the small table that Starlit and the princess had had their first proper conversation at. A small brass bird flew around their heads, delighting Sun to no end as it flitted about the room. Twilight also looked happy, in a motherly way as she saw Sun follow the bird around the room.
Cracking seemingly every joint in her body, Starlit stood up. She nearly slid off of the uneven pillows, and her stumbling sent a stack of books tumbling over in the process.
"Oh, you're awake!" Sun said with a start. "Did you sleep well?"
"Just fine until you two woke me up," Starlit groused.
"Sorry about that, Twilight had some things she wanted to show me. Come here, you have got to see this!"
Starlit trudged over to the table as Sun turned his attention back to the metal bird. It looked like some kind of crow, only much smaller in size and with a pair of shimmering blue jewels for eyes. Starlit had seen one too many of those birds trying to eat her crops that she could recognize them in any form.
Starlit's heart skipped a beat when she remembered the other item with jeweled eyes she'd seen. That stuffed rabbit she'd found was certainly back in the ruins of Sunspire, and her heart sank to think she wouldn't be able to give it to Eclipse.
"Isn't this awesome?" Sun asked. "It's completely constructed, but it flies and acts just like any other bird. What did you say powers it, Twilight?"
"A small piece of crystal holds the magic that keeps it running, and Luna's work pioneering artificing and other forms of enchantment gives it an intellect all its own," Twilight answered with a smile. "Things like this were mostly toys for children, but some of the automata that made up the bulk of Luna's forces before the Unification were a sight to behold. Blisteringly intelligent, capable of reason, and near indestructible to boot."
Starlit watched the bird flit through the air, occasionally landing on the table only to take to the air again with a clatter of metal feathers. It was certainly a masterwork of craftsmanship, but its similarity to actual wildlife unsettled Starlit. It fell just shy of real, and that only made its flaws more glaring to her.
"Does this mean that Luna might have some of these in service when we go to fetch her?" Starlit asked as she pulled her eyes off the crow.
"I would say no, since she was forced to decommission her automated forces as per the Unification Treaty," Twilight answered. "However, it has been centuries since I last saw her and she could've been up to anything in that time."
"So best to err on the side of caution," Starlit replied. "Were there ever any notable weak spots in these machines? I can't rely on my magic since I don't have Celestia's sun constantly bathing me, and Sun is likely to start losing some as well."
"Other than the crystal powering the chassis, they would have the same points of vulnerability that a pony would; most joints, the eyes, anything along the spine, and so on. As for the loss of magic, Sun at least should be able to coast on a lifetime spent basking in Celestia's magical sunlight and having more practice with casting. There will start to be an appreciable difference in power level over the next few weeks, however."
Sun shifted a little on his cushion, causing the crow that had alighted on his shoulder to hop and flutter to the ground.
"Twilight… Your Majesty," Sun said, his voice soft with worry, "is there any way you could prevent that?"
"Sun, if I could figure out a way to restore magic to ponies then we wouldn't be in this predicament. The other Princesses would be superfluous and Starlit would be back home with her family."
"But you're an Alicorn, you've had centuries to figure this out," Sun retorted. "There's really nothing you can do to stop this?"
Without thinking to, Starlit found gently herself rubbing Sun across the back. She felt like she should say something to reassure him, but anything she could sounded hollow and uncaring in her head.
"Sun, I know how much your magic is a part of you," Twilight said. "I'm the one that gave unicorns magic to begin with, or at least the ability to use it functionally. Every unicorn has been hurt by the loss of magic in Equestria, but you can't let that hurt define you."
Sun didn't look particularly encouraged by Twilight, but the Princess did give Starlit a good jumping off point.
"Besides, who else but you would be able to will be able to talk me down from my stupid ideas? Or get ponies to cooperate with us despite my personality?"
"…I did get Cherry Jubilee's help, didn't I?" Sun replied.
"Yes, while I was a catatonic mess during that whole meeting with her because of my thestral problem," Starlit continued. "You have a knack for negotiating that is completely beyond me, and your intellect is nothing to sneeze at either. All of that comes from you, not your magic."
Sun looked to Starlit, his green eyes a little brighter for her efforts.
"You're right, I'm worrying over nothing," Sun replied, giving Starlit a playful punch in the shoulder. "Just try not to get us walking through any more sun-scorched deserts; my shelters were confiscated back in Sunspire."
"I can't make any promises, but I'll try my best," Starlit answered with a chuckle.
"Ah, the blossoming bonds of friendship," Twilight sighed, resting her chin against her hooves. "That's a sight I haven't seen in a while."
"Then maybe Her Majesty needs to get out more, and not just to recruit random dirt-farmers for quests to save the world," Starlit replied.
"Maybe one day, but for now I'm sure you two are famished. I'll get some supper going, so in the meantime feel free to make yourselves at home."
With a pop of magenta light Twilight vanished, followed by another flash of light from the room at the far side of the Oak's common area. Sun visibly jumped when she disappeared, while Starlit merely took note.
"Does she do that a lot?" Sun asked.
"The teleporting or the cryptic statements that don't go anywhere?" Starlit asked back.
"Both, I guess. She is an inscrutable pony, that's for sure."
"I'm sure you would be too if you were potentially millennia old and once ruled a kingdom that then fell apart. What did you two talk about while I was passed out?"
"A little of this, a little of that," Sun answered. "I gave her the debriefing from our encounter with Celestia, told her about Undersand and the illusion Celestia was generating. The relevant stuff, mostly."
Starlit furrowed her brow a bit, and Sun picked up the hint.
"I didn't go too deep into your thestral problem, or my past, or any of the personal stuff, don't worry," Sun said preemptively. "I also didn't say much about Applejack or Shady Grove aside from what needed to be said for context. I also told her about my mishap with your amulet, and she said she'd look into it while we're here."
Starlit breathed a sigh of relief. She was starting to trust Twilight a little more, but a mare still needs some secrets. Spilling her guts to Sun was mostly fueled by her post-death panic, and if she had been more lucid she wouldn't have said as much as she did.
"Anything else?" Starlit asked. "You two seemed like two peas in a pod when I woke up."
"I'd say we are, to some degree. She's a pony of knowledge like I am, and we got onto so many tangets about magical theory and physical sciences and all that sort of stuff. I'm sure it would've bored you to tears to hear it."
"I'm bored to tears just hearing you describe it," Starlit groused facetiously.
"Oh, its not that bad, really," Sun replied. "You just need a certain temperament for that sort of learning, that's all."
"Maybe after all of this gets settled you can teach me, but in exchange I'm going to show you how to plow a field and plant crops."
"Oh, I know all about that," Sun retorted with a certain smugness.
"Really? Have you ever done it?"
Sun stared blankly into space for a moment as he processed Starlit's question, but the silence was all the answer Starlit needed.
"Study all you want, but theory and knowledge only does anypony any good when you apply it. A hard day's work in a field would do you some good, if your complaining when we crossed the desert was anything to judge by."
"If I recall correctly, you did some of the complaining as well," Sun retorted.
"But not as much as you," Starlit replied with a smirk.
Sun looked ready to retort when Twilight came out of the kitchen, a tray of bowls filled with steaming hot stew and a few small loaves of fresh bread floating in her magic. Starlit's stomach growled reflexively at the scent of it, and the tray had barely hit the table before she had pulled a bowl towards her and dug in.
The evening was filled with sounds of dishes clinking, some friendly chit-chat, and a sense of calm that Starlit thought she'd put behind her when she agreed to Twilight's task. Even her time in Appleoosa was filled with an itching sense of dread in the back of her mind. The feeling of true peace and safety after a week without was intoxicating, to say nothing of the meal.
With a satisfied belch, Starlit pushed her polished bowl aside and sat back against a sturdy stack of pillows she'd arranged. She couldn't remember feeling this good in all her life, and her bliss was only heightened when she saw the horrified look on Twilight's face at her abhorrent table manners.
"Pardon me," Starlit said as she threw her head back against the pillows. Twilight had said to make herself at home, after all, and this was just Starlit exercising that right.
Sun nearly choked on a bite of bread from a fit of giggles, and even Twilight couldn't help but chuckle at the sheer audacity of her guest.
"If the fate of Equestria weren't at stake, I'd say that a mare could get used to this," Starlit mused as the sluggishness of a good meal overtook her mind. All five Princesses couldn't have moved her from that spot, such was her contentment.
* * *