//------------------------------// // Part III - Chapter 10: Nightfall // Story: Alicornae: The Legend of Starlit Sky // by PortalJumper //------------------------------// Alicornae: The Legend of Starlit Sky Part III - Chapter 10: Nightfall * * * The sun was riding low on the western horizon, its last beams of light casting long shadows on the empty cobblestone streets as Starlit Sky and Setting Sun ran as fast as their hooves would carry them towards the palace. Chirox had burst into Redheart's clinic just as Starlit was going over the plan with Sun, and seeing the bat-pony so flustered immediately alerted them. She had good reason to be, and after explaining the situation to them Chirox took back off into the sky, leaving Starlit and Sun to collect their things and run. The silence on the streets was eerie, but not quite so eerie as the rising roar of a crowd as the palace grew ever closer. The sun had fully set and the moon shone bright and full above Starlit and Sun when they arrived at the outer edge of the palace grounds, or the crowd that had taken over the outer edge of the palace grounds to be more accurate. "I guess we know where everypony in town went," Sun remarked, "but how do we get through all of this?" "I doubt shoving is going to work," Starlit replied, gesturing to the line of machine-ponies that dotted the edge of the crowd. "Why do you think they're all here? It's not like these ponies to congregate like this, they're far too skittish." A shimmer in the air in front of her drew Starlit's attention, and just inside the crowd she saw a familiar set of piercing yellow eyes. Chirox gestured the pair of them over, making sure that the machines weren't watching them. "What is this?" Starlit whispered. "Was it like this when you left to come get us?" "There were fewer, but only slightly," Chirox answered. "I need to find a safe spot where I can shift back and get back inside, but in the meantime you two need to find a way back into the palace." "Chirox, I barely remember the way Pinkie and I took to get out, and it's not like we can go past the cave-in. There has to be something you can do to help." "I would, truly I would, but I need to get inside and hold off the interloper's machine as much as possible. I fear direct sabotage is out of the question since Rarity and Pinkie Pie's lives are at stake, but there are some techniques my people used to maintain the crystal in times of peril." With that Chirox surreptitiously darted out of the crowd, leaving a spot big enough for Starlit and Sun to squeeze into. "You must be careful, and you must be quick," Chirox added. "I fear that the interloper meddles in powers she doesn't understand, but I fear far worse that she meddles in powers she completely understands." With another shimmer of the air Chirox faded away, looking for all the world like a barely present wisp of the sky as she rocketed upward and out of sight. The crowd jostled and pushed against Starlit and Sun, the writhing mass of their bodies and stifling heat threatening to close in and crush them. Starlit felt her heart beat twice as fast as normal, and her breathing was growing short and rapid. "Starlit, there's no way that we're going to get through this with just force," Sun said as he shoved away one pony only for another to collide with him from behind. Starlit couldn't answer, only try and desperately hold her ground against the wave of flesh. She had never seen so many ponies in one place before, and the effect was nauseating. So much noise, so much cacophony, all of it pressing on her mind and threatening to send her spiraling into a nervous breakdown. "Starlit, any ideas?!" Sun yelled over the din. He was starting to get pulled away into the crowd as he tried to make his way through it, and Starlit only barely managed to pull him out before he was swept away. "We just keep going forward," Starlit answered, holding him tight. Together the two of them pressed forward, trying to maintain their heading towards the western side of the crowd, trying to get closer to the mines. Even if they couldn't get in through the mines themselves, any place where the crowd thinned out would be welcome. They managed to press forward for a few yards at a time before getting swallowed up again, and Starlit's nerves were growing more frayed by the minute. Sun kept trudging forward, pulling Starlit along as they went ever deeper but the heat and the noise was growing insurmountable. "Sun, stop," Starlit ordered. "We're going to be at this all night at this rate. I want to try something." "What something?" Sun asked. Again Starlit didn't answer, but this time it was so she could focus. She knew enough about magic from Twilight and enough about wards from her experience at home that she felt confident enough to try making a spell. Focus every bit of energy that she could to her horn, she thought hard about the spell. She wanted to feel the warmth of it cascade over herself, hear the satisfying hum of it casting. She needed to picture every little bit of this spell, and her horn started to glow brighter and brighter as she did. With a burst of light, a small dome of magic encased Starlit and Sun. It was barely wide enough for the both of them to share, but its shimmering blue surface coated in the glyphs of her home wards was the second most beautiful thing she'd ever seen after her husband and daughter. "This something," Starlit answered, a wide smile on her face. "C'mon, let's go before I run out of magic." Sun could only look around himself, gobsmacked at the feat of magic Starlit had just performed. She had to jostle him to get him to move, and their trek through the crowd was now much more smooth. Ponies that had once pressed on them oppressively now either got out of the way when they saw Starlit and Sun coming or bounced off of the shield with a dull thump. "This would've helped a lot in Sunspire," Sun said. "Your shields did help, and they're helping out now," Starlit replied. "They're half of the inspiration for this spell." "You're just saying that to make up for how bitterly you complained about them, aren't you?" "Perhaps I am, but those two things aren't mutually exclusive," Starlit answered. The glow from Starlit's shield was starting to attract attention, and she and Sun adjusted their speed accordingly. Discretion would be nice, but right now they needed swiftness. Just as they got to the other end of the crowd and Starlit dissipated her shield, a booming voice cascaded over the crowd, calling down from seemingly the palace itself, and it was a voice that Starlit was all too familiar with. "Fillies and gentlecolts!" Starlight Glimmer pronounced. "Tonight is a night that will go down in history as the beginning of our resurgence!" Starlit and Sun both turned back to face the palace, the roar of the crowd punctuating Starlight's exclamation. A large stage and podium had been erected on the front steps of the palace, and Starlight stood tall. A selection of other mares and stallions were standing behind her, and all were flanked by more of the automatons. "This city has long been reliant on a dwindling resource, one that we for generations believed would never fail us," Starlight continued. "We focused too long on New Selene, and now it is time for us to look beyond the city, to the great world beyond our walls!" Starlit and Sun exchanged looks, hers worried and his terrified. The crowd continued to cheer, as if they didn't understand what was being proposed but were too focused on the fervor of the rally. "Equestria is a vast land, with riches and bounty unspoiled by the centuries of decay in this city. We must expand if we are to survive, and it is time that we all stood together as one and made this dream a reality." "Together with the other members of the Council," Starlight continued, her voice raising and falling dramatically with every word, "I have created a new line of our automated soldiers that we can use to take this world for our own, with help from our very own Lady of the Night, Queen Luna!" An awed hush fell over everypony save for Sun and Starlit. She seethed at Starlight's lies, and quickly turned toward the western edge of the palace. "C'mon Sun. Time's wasting," Starlit said, her voice resolute. Sun hurried after her, leaving the crowd behind them to revel in their delusion. The pair searched around the outer walls of the palace for some sort of entrance or hidden opening in the wall, and were eventually rewarded when they saw a small terrace that led to a massive set of black wood doors. The entrance was guarded by a pair of the automatons, their cold teal eyes fixed forever forward. "You have any way to deal with that?" Sun asked. "Even if I did, I think I burned out most of magic on that shield," Starlit answered. Starlit tapped her hoof against the ground in consternation, only for Sun to beat her to the punch and step forward. "Sun, what are you doing?" Starlit whispered forcefully. "Hoping that Silence can make good on a promise," Sun answered cryptically. He stepped into the line of sight of the automatons, whose eyes immediately switched over to yellow and stared down at him. Sun muttered something to himself as the machines approached, then drew in a deep breath and closed his eyes. Faster than Starlit could blink she was stunned by a flash of green light. When her vision cleared she saw Sun, with a beam of grey and green energy erupting from his horn and neatly slicing through the two automatons like a hot knife through butter. The pair erupted into blue flame as a stench of heated metal and, oddly, seared flesh rose into the air. Sun staggered forward as the spell faded, collapsing to one knee as whisks of smoke rose off of his horn. Starlit helped him back to his hooves to find that he was grinning from ear to ear. "That was fantastic!" Sun exclaimed, just shy of jumping for joy. "What happened? Just this morning you were barely able to levitate my amulet, now you're slicing robots in half with concentrated rays of pure energy?" "Silence, that's what happened," Sun answered. "She said she could help counterbalance my weakening magic, but this is completely above and beyond anything I was imagining!" Sun winced slightly, rubbing the back of his head idly. "Are you alright?" Starlit asked. "Fine, just a little headache. Probably from having all that magic go through me at once, since my arcane system isn't used to it." Starlit buried the small twinge of worry growing in her mind, shifting it down to go over later. "Just don't overexert yourself, alright? We still don't know how your new friend works, so try to keep her at foreleg's length." Satisfied with Sun's nod, Starlit walked up the steps towards the palace, stepping past the automatons and the many scorch marks from Sun's spell as she did. The smell of metal and burnt skin stung her nostrils, and left her perplexed. "Sun, do you smell charred flesh?" Starlit asked, taking a closer look at the automatons. "Now that you mention it, yeah," Sun answered. He kicked one of the machines onto its side so that it faced him, taking a few paces back when he caught sight of its neatly cleaved torso. "Starlit, you might not want to look at this," Sun added. "Why? What did you find?" "These machines, they're more than just metal and magic. There are bodies inside these things." Taking a hesitant look down at the automaton at her hooves, Starlit rotated it gingerly with her magic until its neck stump faced her. She saw melted bits of metal intermingled with what was distinctly a fleshy neck and a spine, and had to fight the urge to vomit. "What kind of monster would do this?" Starlit asked, horror and revulsion in her voice. "Somepony looking for a cheap power source that nopony would care about," Sun answered. "Look here at this one." Starlit carefully stepped past the automaton in front of her and joined Sun next to his. It had been sliced in half at the chest, taking away everything upwards and giving a clear look into its torso. The stench was overwhelming, and Starlit found her need to vomit satisfied. "Notice something about the torso cavity?" Sun asked. Starlit hazarded a look inside, and found that the interior was very near hollow. The only thing that lined its chest and abdomen walls were innumerable bisected and scorched tubes of meat. "These were thestrals," Sun continued, pointing out the tubes. "This was the same as the one I found in Sunspire; no internal organs, and swollen veins and nerves from the arcane and cardiovascular systems." "Whoever makes these things found a perfect way to combat their thestral problem," Starlit commented. "You corral them to a place where you can safely kill them, then pry them apart and intertwine their magic with machinery to make them perfectly loyal soldiers." "You sound impressed," Sun said, casting a gaze at Starlit. "In a sick sort of way I am. Imagine if you had been the pony that found the perfect way to deal with the loss of magic, the loss of hope? To give these poor wretches a function again after losing their own will and motivation?" Starlit and Sun looked back at the thestral, the former with cold pragmatism in her heart and the latter with worry on his face. "This feels wrong," Sun replied. "These ponies didn't deserve this." "They aren't ponies, Sun, they're thestrals," Starlit corrected. "Whatever they were before is gone. At least now they're useful." Starlit walked towards the black doors, Sun trotting to keep up with her. The doors opened wide with no apparent input from either of them, giving her more reason to believe that they were on the right trail. * * * Sun found himself darting at shadows and checking behind him at near every turn through the cavernous palace. Starlit was navigating by way of her pendant, which had started going off when they entered the building. The sureness of her direction did little to calm Sun's mind. "You like the light show?" Silence asked, her pressure on his brain jolting him to attention. "I haven't had to use offensive magic like that for a long while, but I'd say I'm still a fair hoof at it." "It was definitely impressive, but I have some concerns about it," Sun replied. "Oh really? Because if I'm not mistaken your exact words were 'that was fantastic'. Your words, not mine." "The two states of mind aren't mutually exclusive." "Fair enough," Silence replied. "What's your worry?" "The magic itself wasn't entirely my color, and when it ended I felt… weird, for lack of a better term. The back of my head hurt, and the only time it's ever hurt like that was when you were trying to heal me." "It's just a side effect of how this arrangement works," Silence replied, her tone casual. "After all, if you got water from two different streams you wouldn't expect them to taste the exact same. The pain is just from taxing your arcane system a bit too much." "But why grey?" Sun pressed. "Only Starlit's amulet gives off grey magic that I've seen. That strikes me as a tad coincidental." "Tell me Sun, how many unicorns have you seen with strong enough magic that it has a distinct color?" "Including me? Maybe six," Sun answered sheepishly. "Then maybe it's just happened that you've never met a unicorn with grey magic before now?" Silence replied. "Perhaps you should broaden your horizons a tad." "Trust me, I'm doing just that. I'm just a bit nervous about all of this, and your assurances of my safety have seemed flippant and cryptic at times." "It's all a part of my charm, but you have a point," Silence replied, her voice growing more serious. "So let me completely straight with you; there's nothing to be worried about." The pressure in Sun's mind lifted before he could reply, just another one of the many ways Silence's presence in his life was starting to irk him. "Sun? Are you there?" Starlit asked. "Sorry, sorry," Sun hastily apologized. "Silence had me locked in a battle of the minds." Starlit stopped stock still and turned to face him, her face livid with shock and worry. "It was a joke, she was just talking with me and I spaced out," Sun clarified. "What do you need?" Starlit let out a sharp sigh, more of a snort than anything, and Sun noticed that her amulet was tugging to the left very visibly. "I take it that we're here?" Sun asked, worded more like a statement. "Astute observation for a pony that was just 'locked in a battle of the minds,'" Starlit answered. "We're close, but we don't exactly know what to expect when we get in there." "I put my vote down for more of those abominations in brass," Sun said. "There's no way that Starlight would leave something this important unguarded." "She didn't," a third, familiar voice chimes in from above. Sun and Starlit snapped their heads back to see Chirox hovering above them. "Have you handled it?" Starlit asked. "As much as I could," Chirox answered. "They'll be incapacitated for some time, but there is something about the magic that powers them that resists my sonic attack." "They're made from thestrals, Chirox," Sun stated, his voice oddly dispassionate. "That much I know, as that was how My Lady designed them," Chirox replied, "but these ones are different somehow. I don't know for how long I have stunned them." Sun didn't hear the last part of Chirox's statement. His mind stopped when she said that Luna had designed the automatons like this. All that he could feel was anger, all he could see was red, and the back of his head pounded against his skull. "They're like this on purpose!?" Sun yelled. Starlit and Chirox both stared at Sun like he had grown a third eye. Their faces, incredulous and worried, only threw Sun further down a hole of blinding rage. "Why would she do this?! These ponies need to be put down, not run through a butcher's shop and grafted into a machine!" "Sun, calm down, you're being irrational," Starlit retorted, her worried expression shifting to one of defensiveness. "Oh, I'm being irrational by thinking that we maybe we shouldn't release the pony that cannibalizes other ponies to make her army!" The pounding in Sun's head intensified, and he genuinely believed that he would have to attack Starlit to get her to see reason. He only hesitated by being literally and figuratively shouted down by Chirox's screeching, which set his ears ringing and made the thumping in his head stop. "Enough of this!" Chirox shouted at both Starlit and Sun, in the most brazen display of emotion either of them had seen her give. "Sun, how do you feel?" "Other than the ringing in my ears, better," Sun answered. He felt calmer, more even tempered, and most importantly, didn't want to try and beat Starlit into the floor. "Then my suspicions are confirmed," Chirox replied. Slowly she descended to the floor, coming between Starlit, Sun, and a large black door much like the one from outside. Starlit's amulet was pulling towards it strongly, to the point that it was sticking straight out. "Chirox, what is this?" Starlit asked. "This, Starlit Sky and Setting Sun, is where I put my hoof down," Chirox answered. "I tried to give you two the benefit of the doubt, tried to see your motives as pure and noble, but I cannot allow you to awaken My Lady." "Chirox, we need to get her out of here," Sun replied. "Equestria is dying, and without Luna it will. Even if that weren't at stake, Pinkie Pie and Rarity are still trapped in Starlight's machine that you told us about." "Your friends will be fine, you have my word. Now leave this place, and never return to it. You have been tainted by this 'Silence' entity, and I find Starlit's reasoning flimsy. You cannot awaken My Lady, as I fear your motives would turn her back to wickedness and wrath." "What wrath?" Starlit pointedly asked. "We have come a long way and gone through so much to get to this point alone. Sun and I have both died to get here, I believe that you at least owe us an explanation." The trio stared each other down, each side refusing to move or be moved. The only motion was of Starlit's amulet tugging towards the door. "Do you know why my people sealed her in that tomb?" Chirox asked, her voice suddenly soft and almost mournful. "We saw what she had become. Our Lady had become the very monster that she had gone to war to fight. Her Majesty, Princess Luna of New Selene and Equestria, was a kind and gentle mare warped and twisted by the realities of war." Chirox stood tall as the tears ran down her cheeks, snagging in her thick fur. Sun, for his part, felt appropriately sympathetic, but Starlit still wore a hard expression. "My Lady did so much to protect her people, but war blackened her soul," Chirox continued. "That is why she committed the act she did, what you called the Sundering. She found war disgusting and intriguing and she wanted more of it, so she incited the fighting amongst her citizens. When they realized the source of their warfare and misery, she turned her full might against her people." "So many died on that day, and my people knew we had to do something to stop her. We had sworn an oath to uphold Our Lady's will, but the mare that we made that oath to was not the mare we were presented with. Combining our might we sealed her inside the very crystal she used to create her machines from the thestrals, but it was too much. All but I died in that chamber so long ago, and now I am the only one who stands between New Selene and her wrath." "So please, I beg of you two, leave," Chirox finished, her voice heavy with sadness and her fur stained with tears. Sun's voice caught in his throat as he attempted to reply, and for a moment he seriously considered Chirox and her offer. She spoke with the words of a pony who had had everything taken from her by forces and means unknown, and in that they were quite similar. "Chirox, I can't deny you your pain," Starlit replied, "but you can't deny Equestria its future. Luna needs to be a part of shaping it, for good or ill." Chirox's expression shifted from sadness to shock and, finally, to resolution. It wasn't a furrowed brow and bared teeth, nor was it wide eyes and an agape jaw; it was hardness and determination in its most raw form. The only thing that betrayed her inner turmoil were here eyes, slitted and yellow, that were wide and dewy. "Then perish, Starlit Sky and Setting Sun," Chirox stated, as calmly as one might tell another to fetch a pail of water. "It is my duty to guard My Lady, and I take no pleasure in what must now happen." Chirox gave no quarter and no time to prepare, shooting into the air like a wraith and unleashing a scream unlike anything Starlit or Sun had heard before. The very air rippled with the force of her voice, causing Sun's cloak to whip and twist behind him and blowing Starlit's mane back. Starlit held her ground better than Sun did, but as he looked around he could see her starting to slip across the floor under Chirox's power. Sun had sunk low to the ground, covering his ears in an attempt to preserve his hearing, and Starlit quickly followed suit. "Silence, help!" Sun pleaded. "Do something, anything!" Even through the auditory assault Sun felt the pressure rest down on his head. Silence said nothing, only went straight to work. Sun's horn lit with magic, more grey than green, and a beam of it launched toward Starlit, connecting their horns and enrapturing her in grey light. Starlit jumped when she saw what was happening to her, but when she took her hooves off of her ears she didn't react like she was going deaf. She stood tall, and her ward rose from the floor to meet her. Sun scrambled behind to get underneath it, but found that it was blocking him as well as Chirox's voice. Starlit looked like she was screaming something, but she couldn't be heard over Chirox's voice, which continued even as she circled above them. Sun could feel his bones rattling and his insides jiggling, and he started to panic at the thought that the force and vibrations from her voice were doing more damage than just harming his ears. When her voice stopped Sun was still writhing on the floor, and the reality that she had stopped didn't register until she was upon him, fangs bared and aimed at his neck. Her teeth, razor sharp and driven by malice, slid into his neck like a stone through water, and a scream tore itself from Sun's throat even as Chirox started to drink. A flash of grey and green was followed by a muffled thump on the floor and Starlit rushing to Sun's side. He was dazed and felt light headed, but the stench of seared flesh and fur stung his nose. He slid backward a few feet and felt Chirox's teeth slide out of his neck, her jaw slack and her face passive. A few muffled shouts from Starlit pulled Sun out of his daze, but did little to help his hearing. He looked at where Chirox lay, and saw the effects of his hastily fired spell; one of her eyes was burst and sizzling with heat while smoke wafted up from the underside of her face. Sun saw Chirox, the last of the bat-ponies, dead by his hoof, and he sobbed. * * *