//------------------------------// // Part III - Chapter 4: Terram Crepitus // Story: Alicornae: The Legend of Starlit Sky // by PortalJumper //------------------------------// Alicornae: The Legend of Starlit Sky Part III - Chapter 4: Terram Crepitus * * * Starlit was already awake when Rarity began to stir. They had each taken turns on watch, and Starlit's had come up last. She didn't much mind, as it gave her the time she needed to think and the pale blue sky of the early morning was calming. Rarity only stumbled once as she climbed out of the pit where they had made camp, and she settled in next to Starlit as they watched the sun come up. The moon had been exceptionally bright the previous night, and for the first time in her life it had glided across the sky in a smooth rhythm rather than the jittering trail it typically left. "You're up early," Starlit said, breaking the idle stillness. "I had a hard time sleeping," Rarity replied. "I'm not used to roughing it quite as much as Pinkie Pie or you and Sun are." "What makes you think I 'rough it' a lot?" Starlit asked playfully. "Nothing at all!" Rarity spluttered. "It's just that you're so serious and hard-nosed, and you know how to stitch up a wound an—" "Rarity, I'm messing with you," Starlit said with a sly glance. "In truth I do quite a bit of roughing it back at home. Plus, you deal with the dead; are you trying to say you don't know how to stitch a cut up?" Rarity's face flushed red with embarrassment, only slightly hidden behind her bandages. Starlit couldn't suppress a giggle through her tiredness. "For serious?" Starlit asked. "You've been working in a morgue for two years and you never learned how to stitch something up?" "I… I don't typically deal with the bodies that come in," Rarity admitted. "I'm really just a secretary. I make sure all the scrolls and accoutrement are in order for the actual morticians." "In that case you are in desperate need of teaching," Starlit announced as she rooted through her saddlebags. Quickly she pulled out a spool of thread and a needle, along with a tattered piece of cloth. "Oh, please, you don't have to," Rarity gently protested. "I insist, as thanks for getting me out of the morgue yesterday," Starlit replied. Carefully she held the needle and thread up in front of the two of them with her magic. Whether it was due to her proximity to Luna or Twilight's instruction she couldn't say, but Starlit found her magic to be quite strong. "Now, while it still won't be a breeze, threading a needle is easier for us because of our magic," Starlit continued. "A very wise pony told me that all you need to do is visualize what you want to do. Make the picture real in your mind and it will become reality. Here, take it." Hesitantly Rarity lit her horn, the magic the same pale blue as her eyes. It faltered for a moment, flickering in and out as she got used to the weight of the objects, but eventually it held still. "Good, you've got levitation down," Starlit said. "That's more than I could say for myself a month ago." "Starlit, this is really unnecessary," Rarity replied. "I'm never going to need to know this." "Really?" Starlit asked. "Tell me, have you ever needed to patch up a hole in a sheet so that it would keep the draft out? Or maybe your sister's favorite toy got a tear in it and she was inconsolable over it?" "There… was this one time where Sweetie Belle needed a good dress but all the ones we had were torn at the hem," Rarity answered, her tone wistful. "Then you can't say you'll never need this skill," Starlit replied. "Go ahead, give it a try, I won't judge." With a slow intake of breath Rarity focused her eyes on the spool of thread and needle. The small glow around the tip of her horn was gradually spreading to the rest of it, and a sweat began to bead on her forehead. It was an expression Starlit was all too familiar with. With stuttering speed the needle started to wiggle in Rarity's magic, and a tiny bit of thread began to unspool and hover like a single strand of hair caught in the wind. Rarity's face was screwed up in a look of pure frustration, her cheeks and forehead reddening with every passing second. Just as she looked ready to pass out the thread went through the needle's eye and looped around to form a tight knot. "Excellent!" Starlit commended. "On your first try, no less! It took me a solid two months of training to get at that level." "It sure… feels like I… went through two months of… effort," Rarity replied, gasping for breath and wiping sweat off of her brow. "Here, give me back the thread, you need to rest," Starlit said, taking the thread back into her magic. Rarity flopped gratefully onto her back, her breath coming in huge huffs and puffs. Starlit looked over the needle and thread with a critical eye; the knot work was simple, as was to be expected from a rank amateur, but it was serviceable and tight. Too much of the thread wasn't tied up in the knot as well, leaving more for the stitching. "This is a really good job, Rarity. Do you want me to show you the basics of stitching now, or later? I can show you how to do it by hoof if that would work better for you." "I think I'll take my leave for now," Rarity answered, regaining her composure. "If it matters at all to you, I'm going to get some more sleep. That's more magic used in two minutes than I've used in the last two months." Rarity turned around and slid back down the pit, but for a moment Starlit saw a smile cross her face. It was bright like a new coin, and so much like White Eclipse's that it hurt. * * * "Where did they all go?" Pinkie Pie asked. Despite the obvious nature of the question, Starlit found it digging at the back of her mind as well as she looked towards the abandoned mine. Where once there had been work lights and ponies scurrying about, there now was just a hollow breeze and vast, grey emptiness as far as the eye could see. The only sign that anypony had been at the mine the previous night was the shallow tracks their equipment had made in the dirt. "Maybe the place really is abandoned," Sun suggested. "Then what would those ponies have been doing here if it was?" Starlit asked. "They looked official, like they were supposed to be here." "It could've been a clean-up crew," Rarity said. "When the vein started leaking there was a veritable legion of workers and machines that were sent in to contain it. Maybe they're still working it over." Starlit ran through the possibilities in her head; if there was still gas leaking then they'd need to take care with every step, but they'd at least know what the threat was. If the gas was cleared out then the immediate danger was averted but it still left the mystery of why the ponies had been at the mine the previous night. "Alright, whatever the situation is we need to get down there," Starlit said. "Sun, you stay with me while Pinkie and Rarity bring up the rear." Without prompting Pinkie Pie's hoof shot in the air. She wiggled and jittered in place, waiting to be called on with the sort of childish impatience expected from a schoolfilly. "Yes Pinkie? Do you have something to contribute?" Starlit asked wearily. "I think it'd be a better idea for me to stay ahead of the three of you," Pinkie answered. "I refine the gas from the veins so it can be used, and I know what it looks like when it's in the air and what it smells like before processing. See?" Quickly Pinkie turned to the side and showed the group her cutie mark. It was a trio of shapes, ovular at the top and with curling lines stretching down off of them, with one in yellow and two in a pastel blue. "What does your cutie mark have to do with this?" Starlit asked, her confusion shared by Sun but not so much by Rarity. "They're balloons, silly!" Pinkie answered, as if that were an adequate response to Starlit's question. "I'm still confused," Sun admitted. "You don't know what a balloon is!?" Pinkie asked, a look of pure horror on her face. "Land's sakes, how do you live without balloons? Balloons are big rubber sacs of light-gas that float and when they pop they make a big noise and a lot of pretty lights!" "If I remember the story correctly," Rarity continued, "Pinkie got her cutie mark after seeing a passing stage show where they used them as part of the act, and she's been obsessed with light-gas ever since." "Yep! It's how I got my job and how I've kept my bosses happy! I refine the gas for them, and they give me a little bit to take home and make balloons with!" With lighting speed Pinkie pulled a small piece of rubber from her travel sack and blew into it, inflating it into a large red sphere. Starlit looked over it with amusement, but felt that it was an astonishing waste of rubber for something so frivolous. "And that's how you know so much about light-gas?" Sun asked incredulously. "I guess it's not the craziest thing I've ever heard." "It's useful, and right now that's all that matters," Starlit added. "Pinkie, you'll be our vanguard; if you see or smell any gas you tell us when so we can make the necessary precautions." "You got it, ma'am!" Pinkie replied with a stiff salute. With no further prompting she descended down the hill, heading off towards the mine. "Rarity, you still bring up the rear, and let us know if anypony is coming up behind us," Starlit ordered. With a deft flick of her horn Starlit popped one of her saddlebags open and pulled out a pair of small ivory sticks on a pair of strings. Both had intricate runes carved onto their surfaces, and she handed one over to Rarity. "These are communication rods," Starlit explained. "They're bound together by magic so that when one is moved deliberately the other makes the same motion." Starlit took hers in her hoof and pulled it towards her chest. The rod's sibling, which Rarity already had around her neck, pushed into Rarity's chest in the same rhythm. Rarity made a nervous squeak as it nestled into her fur before Starlit put hers on and the pressure abated. "This way, if you see anything, you can tell us without having to speak and potentially give away our position," Starlit continued. "I have another set that I'm going to pair to Pinkie and Sun in case she finds a gas pocket. You won't get any signals back from Sun and I unless we need to turn or something has gone wrong." "And if I do find something?" Rarity asked, a hint of worry edging into her voice. "Tug downward once if its an object, twice if it's a creature, and three times if it's a pony or machine." With an experimental pull Rarity yanked down on the rod with her hoof, and the reciprocated reaction from Starlit's sent the twine digging into her neck. Satisfied with her discovery, Rarity trotted off after Pinkie Pie, casting a nervous glance towards Sun as she did. "Are you sure about this, Starlit?" Sun asked. "Twilight said these are irreplaceable." "So were the two swords, set of throwing knives, and entire suit of armor she loaned me," Starlit countered. "At least these will see some actual use before I inevitably lose or destroy them." "Fair enough, I suppose," Sun replied as he made his way down the slope, his and Pinkie's rods jostling on his neck. Starlit stopped him with a hoof on the shoulder. "Hmm? What is it?" Sun asked. Starlit had so many questions she wanted to ask, assurances she wanted about how he'd acted yesterday and affirmations that he had just lost his temper. Seeing Rarity so nervous around him worried her, for her sake, his, and the mission's. So many things to say, but only one way to say it. "You'll handle this," Starlit said, her words warm as a summer breeze. Sun gave a nod before he pulled away and continued down the slope. Starlit wasn't sure if her meaning had come across or not, but just saying something gave her peace of mind. * * * While the mouth of the cave that led down into the mine had been relatively placid, the further Sun went in the more and more trapped he felt. Not even the trip to Undersand had set him on edge like this, and that had been under threat of death. The ceiling was just low enough to feel like it could collapse on his head at any second, while the majority of the tunnels they traveled through were cramped and narrow with brief respites in large hub rooms. In the distance his lantern light glinted off of gems, but outside of a fifteen foot radius he was essentially blind without it. The reflecting gemstones combined with the inky blackness gave the impression that he was walking through the void of space itself. Sun's heart skipped a beat when his communication rod jerked to the left, indicating that they would need to turn soon. "Tell Rarity we're going to turn left," Sun relayed to Starlit. Starlit disinterestedly pulled her rod to the left, sending the message down the line. Thus far the mine had held precious few secrets or apparent dangers. Aside from some loose equipment left when it was abandoned there was nothing to be found but the crypt-like stillness and the sounds of their own hoofsteps on the worn down stone. "Are you sure you trust Pinkie Pie with being up front?" Sun asked. "You said it yourself, she has a good sense of direction, and she can tell where the gas is," Starlit replied matter-of-factly. "But this was Rarity's mine, maybe sh—" "Sun, I know you're just talking so you can do something," Starlit interjected. "My daughter is the exact same way; she always needs something to do or she'll just chat your ear off. Just stay focused until we're out of here, alright?" "Smooth," Silence quipped inside his mind. "You have any other witty ice-breakers?" "Not now, and Starlit's right," Sun retorted. "I'm just nervous, what with the ever looming threat of death by explosion. Why aren't you helping out with this? You've been quiet all day." "I'm not your servant, Sun. I have a life too." "Then why take up residence in my brain if you're so concerned with whatever it is you have to do? You could've just stayed in Starlit's necklace and taken care of whatever it is that brain-ghosts do." "Observation is a big part of what I do, and you are a pony worth observing," Silence answered. "I mostly help you out so that I can keep observing you, that's all." "How noble," Sun replied, feeling a little bit of pressure on the back of his head. "I'd say it is a bit, yes. By the way, Rarity's about to tug on her necklace and Starlit's going to jump because of it. Be forewarned." No sooner had the last word echoed in Sun's mind did Starlit yelp in surprise and nearly buck Sun in the chest. He dodged just in time to miss her hoof, but it still caught on his cloak and tore part of the hem. "Was it Rarity?" Sun asked. He knew that appearances would be necessary until it came time to reveal Silence's existence. "Yeah, and it felt pretty strong. It was two tugs as well." "Do you want me to go check on her?" Sun asked, hoping that the answer would be yes. "Do you really want to after yesterday?" Starlit replied. "I'd say your relationship is frosty, but that would be giving it too much credit." "It'll give me a chance to bury the hatchet, apologize for my behavior. You go catch up with Pinkie and tell her to hold up, I'll be back soon." Sun took off back the way he'd come, the oppressive loneliness only exacerbated when Starlit fell out of his lantern's faint nimbus of light. His hoofsteps were hesitant, taking care to go over the exact route he'd taken before so he wouldn't get lost. It was a careful few minutes of walking, but his patience was rewarded when Rarity fell into his view. She was sat on the ground and staring at a pile of boulders that must've only recently come down. Rarity turned to face Sun as she noticed his light, not to say that she was particularly pleased to see him. "Where's Starlit?" Rarity asked. "Is she alright?" "She's fine, she's just telling Pinkie to stop until we all get moving again. What happened here?" Sun asked, gesturing to the rocks. "Why don't you go around to the other side and see for yourself?" Rarity curtly replied. With a resigned sigh Sun sat down a few feet from Rarity, ready to finally get what he needed to say off of his chest. "Rarity, I'm sorry about yesterday," Sun said, his eyes fixed on hers. "I wasn't in my right mind and you didn't deserve all the things I said to you." "I should say so," Rarity replied with a haughty tone. Sun could feel the pressure rise at the back of his skull, but he fought it back down. Blowing up again wouldn't help. "As you can guess, this… thing that Starlit and I are doing is pretty stressful, and I guess some of that stress just got to me. I'm not asking for your forgiveness because, as it stands, I don't think I deserve it, but I just want you to know that I'm sorry. I'm sorry, and it won't happen again." Sun didn't wait for her reply before he stood up and walked to the other side of the rocks to see what had gotten Rarity so spooked. He wished that he hadn't as soon as he saw it. With the back half of its body crushed underneath the stone, a pegasus thestral weakly thrashed as soon as Sun got close enough to see it. Its pale grey eyes were even more glassy than normal and thick blood leaked out of its gnashing mouth. It would almost be pitiable if it weren't so horrifying to look at. "Rarity, it's probably for the best that I came," Sun called to her. "You work at a morgue, I assume you know what thestrals are?" "I know more about those things than I care to admit," Rarity answered as she joined Sun. "I'm just thankful I don't have to work on them like the morticians do." "The morticians work on these things?" Sun asked, more curious than disgusted. "They come in fairly frequently, mostly from the lower districts and the slums. The get dissected and autopsied, and then their bodies are taken away, separate from the bodies that we bury. I assume they're cremated or dumped in some mass grave somewhere." "Do you think they might've been the cause of your gas leak two years ago?" "Heavens no!" Rarity retorted. "If anything the leak might've attracted them after the fact. This mine was pristine when it was functional, as far as mines go, but there are the occasional crop-ups of them in some of the cheaper ones on the other side of the palace." "But if this mine was pristine, then how did this thestral get trapped? These boulders weren't here when Starlit and I passed through, so they must've fallen before you came through behind us." "They must've been here before because they were here just now when I came through," Rarity replied. Sun ran through the situation in his head, trying to find a logical way this made sense. There were no boulders when he and Starlit came through, yet there were boulders and a near dead thestral now with no apparent noise. No matter which way he tried to fit the pieces together, it wasn't making sense. "I guess this is just gonna be one of life's little mysteries," Sun quipped. "You might want to step back, I'm gonna put this poor wretch out of its misery." Rarity quickly stepped to the other side of the boulders and then some while Sun worked up some of his dwindling magic. Twilight had taught him some basic offensive spellwork, but warned not to use it unless there was dire need. Given that one thestral typically led to many more following behind it he figured that this qualified as dire. With a murmured incantation that he had been taught he fired a short green bolt from his horn, taking more magic than it had when he had been learning to use it. The spell hit home, burying itself in the thestral's forehead and draining what little life was let in its grey, soulless eyes. He felt queasy at having to put it down, like he had just had some bad food. "Alright, I'm gonna go back to Starlit and tell her the coast is cl—" A horrendous wave of force, heat, and light tore across the entire left side of Sun's body, sending him flying to the other side of the tunnel. He smacked into wall and fell to the ground in a twisted mass of limbs and flesh. Blackness overtook him as he heard Rarity shriek and the tunnel cave in. The black was soothing, comforting to his mangled body. The only sensation he could place at all was a thumping at the back of his head, steady and powerful. * * * Rarity heard the blast before she felt it, as the mound of boulders between herself and the light-gas explosion deflected most of it away from her and towards Sun. Even still, she was thrown a good few feet and was cut by several fragments of hot rock slicing across her body. Fortunately she didn't hit her head and was able to get back up relatively quickly. The tunnel now glowed an iridescent, frantic blue from the burning corpse that had once been the thestral. Sun looked barely better than the thestral, crumpled agains the wall and with flames licking at his cloak. "Sun!" Rarity called as she raced towards him. Just as she made it to his body her horn flared to life, a sign of her geomancy going off. "No, no no no!" Rarity pleaded to no one. The earth above her rumbled and cracked, and she reflexively pulled a small shield over herself and Sun as the roof of the tunnel gave way. A few stones bounced off of it but the majority of them landed where the thestral had been. What was far less fortunate was how effectively the cave-in closed off the tunnel, trapping Starlit and Pinkie on the other side. In the light of her magic Rarity saw that Sun's wounds were far more extensive than hers. The entire left side of his body was burned and slick with blood, his head had sustained a massive blow where he had bounced against the wall that had knocked part of the skull in, and he was bleeding from the mouth. Rarity put an ear up to Sun's blood-blackened chest, trying desperately to listen for a heartbeat. It was faint and irregular, but it was there, and she knew there wouldn't be much time. She tried to reach into his saddlebags to see if he had any medical supplies, but the explosion had fused the clasp shut on one and the other was trapped underneath him. Rarity pulled desperately at the broken latch, tears flowing down her face as she did. Stressful situations had never been her forte, and while she was good at keeping up an act there were times where she had to let it fall. Nopony would die on her watch again because she was trying to keep up an act. "Come on, pull open you piece of shit!" Rarity pleaded through gritted teeth. With one last tug the straps holding the clasp in place finally pulled loose from their stitching, revealing the contents within. She quickly rifled through them, pulling out any useful supplies or medicine she could stabilize Sun with. A low groan filled the tunnel, and Rarity snapped her attention to Sun's chest. The fur still smoked and the burns still shone in the blue flame light, but he was hollow and broken. With much more hesitance than before Rarity put her ear up to Sun's chest, re-wetting the side of her face with his blood. There was no sound, save for the flickering of the fire and Rarity's soft sobbing. * * *