//------------------------------// // The Pillars' Outing: Part 2 // Story: So You Escaped From Limbo // by Maran //------------------------------// As soon as Crystal Clear opened the doors to the lecture hall, the shouts and squeals of foals came through – which demonstrated excellent soundproofing if nothing else. Stygian guessed that the school was built more for function than style, and likely had various protections in place to cut down on distractions both ordinary and magical. Crystal Clear cast a voice amplifying spell and said, “Students, please welcome the last Pillar, Mage Meadowbrook, and the founder of the Pillars, Stygian. They possess brimstone charms to block teleportation spells – and other magic, for that matter.” The foals stomped their hooves in applause, more dutiful than excited. Stygian estimated a crowd size of about a hundred, including the teachers. The other Pillars stood in dramatic poses in the center of the floor. Flash Magnus fitted his shield into its holster on his back. “Way to ruin our big entrance. Just had to make it about yourselves, didn't you?” He grinned to show that his tongue was firmly planted in his cheek. “Au contraire, mon frere,” Meadowbrook said with an easy smile, “We are only here for the students.” “Yes, I was thinking you could all answer the foals' questions,” said the headmistress. Star Swirl nodded. “Excellent. Who would like to ask the first question?” The foals began shouting queries all at once. “Why are you wearing clothes? Are you cold?” “Meadowbrook's mask is kinda scary.” “Can we see your cutie marks?” “Are you a princess?” “Are the Founders still alive too?” “Children!” The headmistress held up her foreleg and spoke, her voice still amplified. “Raise your hooves and wait to be called on. We are in school, after all.” The fillies and colts quieted as Somnambula flew toward the seats. “I believe I can answer your questions, children.” She turned to each foal who had shouted a question and began rattling off the answers. “No, we are not cold; everypony wore clothes where we came from. I do not think that was a question, but Meadowbrook's mask is supposed to be intimidating. Yes, you can see that my mark is a crescent with pearls above it; I'm certain that the others will show you theirs as well. None of us are princesses. The Founders were gone long before my time.” Stygian was impressed with the pegasus' clear communication of separate answers, although he wasn't too eager to lift up his cloak and show off his mark to so many unfamiliar ponies. Not everypony was as body-confident as his pegasus friend. While Somnambula spoke, Meadowbrook pushed up her mask and looked at the seated foals. About a third of the students held their forelegs high. “Thank you, Somnambula,” said Star Swirl. “Now, we'll take questions one at a time.” He pointed to a silver-maned colt and nodded. “Yes, you in the front. What's your question?” The colt lowered his foreleg. “Are you really the Pillars of Light?” “Of course we are.” Star Swirl pointed his hoof at Mistmane. “Nopony else has a mane and tail quite like Mistmane's, and it would be difficult for an impostor to maintain the illusion for long, believe me.” “A changeling might be able to keep it up,” said Flash. Rockhoof frowned at him. “Have you not heard, Flash? The changelings have reformed just as Stygian has.” “That is true,” said Stygian. “Spike told me about how he became friends with King Thorax when he was just a drone. Spike helped him discover that changelings didn't have to steal love to eat, which began the path toward the metamorphosis of their entire hive. I'd like to talk with King Thorax sometime and find out how his hive have adjusted to the change.” “I should like to meet the new changeling ruler as well.” Star Swirl stroked his beard. “I have so many questions I would like to ask him.” “So do we all!” agreed Somnambula. “Like, is he father to all of the changeling nymphs? Will he need a new queen, or can all of the female drones lay eggs?” The headmistress cleared her throat, amplified with her magic. “I was not prepared for the session to go in this direction. I'm afraid we'll need to ask permission from the students' parents and guardians before we can discuss changeling reproduction. Besides, so much of this is speculation,” she finished with a pointed look at Somnambula. The pegasus mare shrugged. “It is only part of the circle of life. But there is not much that I could tell the foals about changeling birth.” “The foals want to learn about us at the moment, Somnambula,” Mistmane gently reminded her. “But that colt asked about changelings,” said the pegasus, twitching one ear to the side, “and I don't know how to prove to him that we are, in fact, ponies.” “Listen, Princess Twilight vouched for all of you. That's good enough for me, and it should be good enough for everypony here,” Crystal Clear said loudly. “Next question?” Then she sighed as the silver-maned colt raised his hoof once more. “What about Mage Meadowbrook?” he asked. “Where's her horn?” Gasps swept through the lecture hall. One of the teachers smacked her forehead with her hoof. Stygian was equal parts angry and aghast. How could the students be so ignorant of who Mage Meadowbrook was? Meadowbrook held her head high. “Askin' an earth pony where her horn is be like askin' a leopard where its stripes are. Never had one, never needed one.” “Yeah, come on, Draconic. I can't believe you didn't know Mage Meadowlark was an earth pony,” said a freckled colt who was sitting behind him. “Her name is Meadowbrook, Bilious,” said the colt called Draconic, his voice dripping with contempt. “What unfortunate names,” muttered Stygian, twitching his tail. “And yet, so fitting.” “And besides,” continued Draconic, apparently not hearing Stygian's comment, “how can Meadowbrook be a real mage if she's not a unicorn? Only unicorns can cast spells. We learned that on day one!” Stygian could no longer stand there muttering under his breath while this ignorant fool continued to babble. He took a few steps toward Draconic. “Listen, you little brat!” He raised his voice, giving it a dangerous edge. “My friend here has more magic than you can imagine! And there's more to spell work than chanting and visualizing and charging up your horn! Just because you don't understand it doesn't mean it isn't true!” “Well, that escalated quickly!” Somnambula forced a wide grin that was close to a grimace. Rockhoof stared at Stygian, ears forward to offer his full attention. “Actually, Stygian is showing great restraint, for him.” “Watch his eyes,” said Flash out of the corner of his mouth. Meadowbrook gave Stygian a little smile and put her hoof on the front of his foreleg. “But we learned about Meadowbrook in our class about Eastern unicorns,” argued Draconic, although he sounded less scornful than he had before. “I could've sworn Professor Polish told us that she was a unicorn too,” he added, furrowing his brow. “I said nothing of the sort!” said the nearest professor, a mare with an apple on her flank, thus making her the unicorn who was the most likely to understand earth magic. “If you'd been paying closer attention, you'd know that the unicorns of Hayseed Swamp studied Meadowbrook's methods of crafting enchanted items. Mage Meadowbrook's influence spread to the far East, and unicorns came from there to learn from her and record her discoveries.” Stygian's burning anger cooled somewhat. The teachers did educate their students about Meadowbrook, but they couldn't make all of them retain that knowledge. “Yeah, it's first grade, Draconic!” “Oh, put a cork in it, Bilious,” said Polish. The headmistress held up her foreleg to quiet the ponies. “Mage Meadowbrook is amazingly accomplished, not just for an earth pony, but for anypony. I'm sure there is much she could teach even me.” Meadowbrook grinned. “I'm flattered, Crystal Clear, but I already got an apprentice.” “I didn't mean . . .” A faint blush crept over the headmistress's cheeks. “Oh, never mind.” A filly with a bushy mane raised her foreleg. “Could I say something?” “Yes, Miney,” said the headmistress. “And please wait to be called on from now on, children.” Miney lowered her foreleg and squared her weight on all four hooves. “Well, I just wanted to say that it shouldn't be surprising that Mage Meadowbrook is an earth pony. Her magic uses physical substances that can channel magic in different ways. A unicorn mage wouldn't require as many different enchanted items, because one kind of item is usually sufficient to boost the power of a spell channeled through a horn.” Meadowbrook smiled at the filly. “Very good, cher. You'll be a great mage yourself someday.” Her eyes shimmered as she blinked quickly. Stygian wondered if she was thinking of her daughter. He placed a comforting hoof on her shoulder. Beaming, Miney replied, “Thank you, Mage Meadowbrook! But I what I really want is to run for mayor when I grow up.” Meadowbrook burst into laughter. “Why does everypony always laugh when I tell them that?” asked the filly, sticking out her lower lip. Mistmane spoke up. “Meadowbrook was not laughing at you, dear. She was laughing because you surprised her. Isn't that right, Meadowbrook?” “Oui,” the earth mare quickly agreed. “I wasn't laughin' at you, cher. You follow your dream.” Miney gave her a mollified smile. “Now then, does anypony have a question that couldn't be looked up in a textbook?” asked the headmistress, lowering her eyebrows. Bilious elbowed a black-maned colt sitting next to him. “Hairy here has a question, don't you, Hairy?” “Bilious!” “Sorry, I'm raising my hoof now, see?” Star Swirl nodded at Hairy. “What's your question, young sir?” Hairy gave Bilious a playful shove before straightening and looking at Star Swirl. “Well, sir, Miney thinks this is crazy because it's not in any of the books . . .” “I never said . . .” Talking over Miney, Hairy continued, “But I think Stygian looks like he could be your son.” Star Swirl's eyes widened as he turned to look at Stygian, who stared back at him in surprise. The older unicorn turned back to the colt. “Why in the world would you think that?” “Sorry, I should have said grandson.” “Really?” Stygian's eyebrows shot up as he eyed the foal. “I suppose I should be flattered that you think I'm related to Star Swirl, but he'd be much older than my granddad, considering the difference in our ages. Besides, I don't think I look like him at all.” “Sure you do,” countered Hairy. “You're both the same gray color with blue eyes, and you have sort of the same build. Are you sure you're not related?” Stygian suddenly realized that the other Pillars were scrutinizing the two of them, as if meeting them for the first time. “Now that the lad mentions it, I do see the resemblance.” Rockhoof rubbed his whiskered chin. “I always thought they looked alike, but I never said anything because I didn't want to be accused of thinking that all unicorns looked the same,” said Flash. Rockhoof snorted. “You did not seem worried about being called a tribalist when we first met. What was it you called us? Land ponies?” “Earthbound ponies,” Flash corrected before raising his forelegs in an exaggerated shrug. “I meant it as a compliment.” “It did not sound complimentary at the time,” groused Rockhoof. Star Swirl walked closer to Stygian, looking him over. “It's true that our coat and eye colors are similar, but my hair used to be dark gray before it started to turn white. Besides, I had no surviving relatives even before we sent ourselves to Limbo. If we are related, it would have to be distantly.” “If you're not related, how do you know each other?” asked Hairy. This query offered the ideal opportunity to launch into the story of how Stygian and the other Pillars had come to Star Swirl to ask for his help with their fight against the sirens. Stygian took over much of the tale, since he had been involved from the beginning. By the time they got to tricking the sirens into going through the interdimensional portal, the fillies and colts were restless. They began to wiggle and whisper to one another. Horns lit up all over the room. “Forge, get your stinking magic field out of my mane!” yelled Bilious. “You don't now it's me!” shouted a slightly older colt from a few seats over. “Do you know how many unicorns have a blue aura?” “Your horn's glowing and you're the only pony in range with a blue aura!” Bilious ignited his own horn with a deeper blue light and pushed his aura back against Forge. One of the professors sidled up to the headmistress. “I fear we're losing the battle to keep the students under control,” he said in a low voice. “How about we let them go to lunch early?” Crystal Clear glanced at the clock in the back of the room. “Well . . . It is only ten minutes until lunch time. Very well, I'll allow it.” She raised her voice and said, “It's time for lunch, children. Please give the Pillars a round of applause.” The sound of hoof stomps reverberated throughout the lecture hall. Stygian suspected that they were more excited about lunch than the stories from centuries past. One of the colts was so thrilled that he shot out a beam of magic that exploded in sparks near the ceiling. “Forge!” snapped Crystal Clear. “No pyrokinesis inside!” “It's not pyrokinesis, it's a simple light and sound projection!” said Forge. “Besides, that could've been anypony!” The foals galloped out the doorway, but Miney lingered, gazing up at the Pillars. “Are you going to come back soon so you can finish the story? I want to know where the sirens went. And how did you discover the other dimension in the first place?” Star Swirl smiled at her. “Princess Twilight could answer your first question better than I could, since she has been to that other dimension and I have not.” “You could write her and ask her what it's like.” Somnambula winked. “Really?” asked the filly. “Would she write back to a nobody like me?” “You never know until you try, Miney,” said Mistmane with a kind smile. “Each of us started out as ordinary ponies, and now look at us!” She held out her foreleg toward her companions. “Ja, and you said that you wanted to become mayor of this great city one day,” Rockhoof told the filly. “You should start trying to get to know important ponies.” “Rockhoof is right,” said Somnambula. “The worst that can happen is that Princess Twilight will ignore you. Not that I know what it's like to be ignored.” Something about the pegasus' words and her flippant tone made Stygian's ire rise. “Why don't you try it sometime and get back to us?” he fired at her. “Well, I suppose if I . . . oh.” Her eyes widened as her ears drooped. “I'm sorry, Stygian. I know you were hurt when we ignored you. I only meant that it would not be so terrible to be ignored by somepony you don't know well,” she finished with an apologetic smile. Stygian's anger abated as he saw that his friend hadn't intended any offense. “All right. Apology accepted. And you're right that it's not so bad when a stranger ignores you.” “That's true,” said Miney. “And all of you took the time to answer my questions. Maybe Princess Twilight will, too!” she finished, her brown eyes sparkling. “That's the spirit, filly!” said Flash. “Thank you, Mr. Flash!” Miney then bade the Pillars a polite farewell before cantering off to eat lunch. “I could eat,” said Meadowbrook, patting her belly, “but I want somethin' a bit more savory than cafeteria food.” “I know just the place to eat. Yesterday, Rarity and I went to an establishment called the Tasty Treat.” Mistmane's eyes lost their focus, as if she were too preoccupied with thoughts of the restaurant to see anything in the lecture hall. “They have some spicy foods that I think you'd appreciate, Meadowbrook.” “Yes! No!” exclaimed Somnambula. “Pinkie Pie took me to the Tasty Treat, also.” “Oh, we must have just missed each other.” “Yes, I suppose so, and the food was excellent, but I am not leaving this school until I find a secret passage!” She flew ahead of the group. “That could take a long time,” said Star Swirl as he and the others followed her into the hallway. “Perhaps you could return and continue your search another time.” “But I'm this close!” Somnambula turned in midair to face the unicorn and held her front hooves muzzle-width apart. “It's got to be on the upper level. I'll check and be back before you know it.” Suddenly there was a loud boom that probably would have sent the teachers running if it hadn't been for the sound-proofed walls. Somnambula was gone, leaving behind a metallic blue contrail. Flash raised his eyebrows. “Did she just . . .” Before he finished his sentence, another blue contrail shot out from the stairway, solidifying into a pink pegasus with a windswept blue mane. “I...f o u n d...a...s e c r e t...p a s s a g e...u p s t a i r s...o n...t h e...l e f t.” She spoke and moved at a sloth's pace, flapping her wings as if underwater. Star Swirl rolled his eyes. “Was it really necessary to use your Tempus Objectus spell on yourself to find a secret passage, Somnambula?” After three full seconds, his pegasus friend gave him a nod. Stygian knew what had happened. The spell made time flow faster for the object – namely Somnambula – so that a few seconds of “standard time” felt like a few minutes to her. But immediately afterward, the effects reversed. This counterweight helped preserve the integrity of the time stream. Mistmane chuckled. “Let her have her fun, Star Swirl. We got to show off our teleportation already, and Meadowbrook and Stygian used the brimstone charms.” “C o m e...o n!” Somnambula said impatiently. “T a k e...m e...u p s t a i r s...I...w i l l...s h o w...y o u...” She pointed at the stairs. Star Swirl wrapped her in his thaumic field and walked toward the staircase, pulling her along. The other Pillars followed them up the steps and down the corridor at the top. “F a s t e r!” said the pegasus mare. “I t 's...a...” “Painting of different creatures dancin'?” asked Meadowbrook as they turned a corner. The painting was taller than Stygian, and featured a lion, dragon, eagle, deer, and unicorn frolicking in a circle. “Y e s...h o w...d i d...y o u...k n o w?” “You don't get too far in our line o' work unless you pay attention to details,” replied the earth mare. “This is the only painting we've seen that isn't a portrait of one of the past headmasters and headmistresses,” observed Flash, tapping his chin. “It wouldn't surprise me if the colts and fillies already know that this picture is the entrance to a secret passage.” Star Swirl encased his aura round the frame, but nothing happened, even as he began to show strain on his face, his forehead wrinkling. “No, twist it!” Somnambula moved almost at her regular speed as she grasped the top right corner of the painting. With only slight resistance, the painting pivoted upward until it was just shy of a ninety degree angle. Beyond the frame was a narrow tunnel that bent a few pony lengths inward, so that the end couldn't be seen. Each facet was a different color, as if the walls were made entirely out of stained glass. The Pillars stared into the tunnel. “Well, come on everypony!” Somnambula hopped inside the passage and glanced over her shoulder at them. “Let's see what's inside!”