XCOM: Ranger

by Wanderer D

Chapter 79: Mox

Celestia gasped, rearing up in her bed, eyes wild. Her soft bed sheets slid off of her body as she struggled to get up, unable to remember her dream.

Had it been a dream? Or a vision?

"Luna!" she called out.

It had been about Sunset. She was… she was… what? In danger?

"Luna! Sister, I need you!"

She sensed the magic just before the other alicorn appeared. Luna looked around, eyes narrowed for any sign of danger, but, upon finding none, turned her gaze to Celestia.

"Sister, I have arrived." Luna studied her with worry, then approached, sitting next to her on the bed. "It… is unusual for you to call me like this… what has occurred?"

"It's…" Celestia's breathing was calmer now. It seemed so silly now that she wasn't fighting off the last emotional vestiges of the dream. it was probably just a dream. Not a vision. Not… not real. "I'm sorry, Luna… I seem to have had a nightmare…"

Luna nodded, wrapping a wing around her. "Would you like to share this nightmare with me, sister?"

"N-no, I think I'm fine now an—"

"Celestia," Luna said, giving her a knowing look, "you would never call me unless it was more than just a simple nightmare. What did you see?"

Celestia looked down, not willing to admit it that her… nightmare… might be more than that. Not to herself, or to her sister. Because that would mean that her Little Sun was in danger.

"Need I peek into your dreams, sister, to witness this fearful vision of yours?"

"Please, Luna, there is no need… it was just a dream."

Luna snorted. "A dream, you say? Since when has a simple dream been so terrible for you, sister? A simple nightmare would not bother you so. Nay, you would not deny me the amusement of hearing it. By your persistence I can sense that it goes far beyond that."

She made herself comfortable. "Come, tell me your vision, sister, and together we shall interpret it and make sure that only good comes out of it."

Celestia sighed. There would be no chasing Luna away now. Not after she had cried for her sister's assistance.

Not after she had been unable to convince her that it was just a dream.

Certainly not after Luna had snuggled into the soft mattress.

She allowed herself a small smile before her vision crept once more into her memory. She turned away from Luna, resting instead her eyes on the stars outside her window.

"It was Sunset… I saw her fall into darkness. I saw blood and demons. I saw pain and guilt… and a desire for death."

Luna blinked. "You don't think your daughter would harm herself…"

Celestia shook her head. "No… not… that kind of desire for death, but rather the relief of not having to struggle more."

Luna grimaced, and Celestia knew what she was thinking. It was similar to her own wish to be acknowledged; to relinquish the tight control she had over her wishes and darker desires and simply become that which she had—up until she became Nightmare Moon—not allowed herself to be.

She hadn't looked for it. But there had come a point, where allowing herself to be evil, to release her hate and anger and frustration had been all too appealing. But unlike Luna's wish to be free of all social constraints, of all morality and order… Sunset's wish, in her vision, had been to simply be free of it all.

"But there was more." It was a statement, not a question.

Celestia nodded at her sister's intuition. "Yes… I felt my Little Sun fall into icy death. I felt her soul scream. Her mind overpowered with pain."

She sniffled, trying not to let Luna see. But of course Luna knew.

"We know not if this is something that has taken place sister…"

"I hate that I can't be there for my daughter!" Celestia cried, big tears piling and overflowing her cheeks. She sobbed. "I hate that I'm here and my student is gone! I hate that I had to lose you for a thousand years! Why must I remain! Why must all those I love suffer while I am safe?"

Luna wrapped both her wings and forelegs around her, pulling in close. "Hush, sister, you suffer just as much as any of us have… if not more."

"It's not fair, Luna… I want them back…"

"Sister… if Sunset were to return... " Luna sighed, sinking her face into her sisters mane. "You know the terrible price that would cost her."

Celestia bawled into her sister's shoulder. "I know! I know! She… can't come back! I loved her so, Luna! My Little Sun that I never had the courage to tell so to her face! That I haven't been able to apologize to! That-that I'll never see! Because I put her on the road of madness! I know."

Celestia's body shook. "I know."

"All is not lost, sister," Luna said, running her hoof gently down Celestia's mane. "We have the means to check on her, and she has good, trustworthy friends with her who would watch over Sunset with as much zealousness as Twilight Sparkle's own friends would over her."

Celestia chuckled, sniffing and wiping tears. "That too, I know… I will write to her now…"

"Hark, sister," Luna grimaced, then took a deep breath. "She is not the only one that suffers there… your student is going through much as well… of all things, I believe she is jealous of Sunset, and combined that insecurity with her recent losses, I fear she too needs assurance."

"Why would Twilight ever be jealous of Sunset?" Celestia wondered, straightening up and wiping her nose with a handkerchief she levitated from a nearby table.

Luna shrugged. "I have my theories sister, but she is the one that has to really figure it out."

Celestia nodded, levitating the diary and bringing to her bed. "Perhaps she will open up with quill and paper."

Sunset opened her eyes.

There was no sudden jerk of her body, nor did she sit up, breathing hard and panicking. She simply was now awake, lying flat on her back and staring at rocks above her.

Next to her a small campfire had been lit up, and her armor was propped against a wall. She was wearing only her underarmor, and her head was resting on something softer than rock. Her backpack, most likely.

A faint sound… a waterfall, was somewhere nearby, not too close, but not too far.

She took stock of her situation. Her right arm hurt, but she couldn't move it. She looked down. it was firmly wrapped with bandages. A splint? She studied as best as she could the rest of her body. She seemed to be okay—if sore all over—other than that.

She blinked, trying to remember what had happened, looking up at the rock ceiling. The flames and shadows gave the illusion of moving people and demons and aliens to her, dancing and fighting.

She shook her head.

Slowly, things came back to her. The chryssalids exploding out from under the rocks. The plaza collapsing, tons of rocks raining around them.

She had seen Angel move out of the way, but there had been little time to act. She was falling into the darkness. She had… she had tried to use her grappling hook…

She remembered trying to get her bearings, to turn her body around in mid air and spy a place where she could shoot it.

But it was all so chaotic. Chryssalids closer to the edge had landed hard on the edges, only to be crushed to death by the rocks that used to be the plaza's floor. She remembered shooting her grappling hook at a wall when they had gone past the first level.

The image became fuzzy then. It had… reached the wall, but just as it pulled her towards it, a larger rock had collapsed, snagging the metallic rope with the edge, strumming it like a guitar, snapping it, and throwing her off. She had smashed against the wall, her arm was pulled… there was a cracking sound and pain had exploded from her elbow up.

She had landed hard on the rocky edge, and more rocks had landed on her forearm, smashing onto the device once, in an instant, before the impact threw her off the edge… then… water? A splash of cold ice on top of the pain. She had been too stunned, with too much weight to even think of swimming.

She remembered heavy, cold darkness all around her, except for the occasional splash of large rocks around her that let her saw a second of white bubbles.

And then… nothing.

She heard something then, footsteps.  "Ah," a familiar, if slightly wheezing, voice said. "I see that you have awakened."

"Mox," Sunset said, relieved. "Where are we?"

"I am not exactly sure, in a cavern, obviously, but the current brought us far before I could get us out of the water."

"Ugh," Sunset tried to bring her hand up to massage her forehead, grimacing in pain before remembering it was broken. If she concentrated, now that she was awake, she could feel how her blood magic was already at work, healing her, a process that she couldn't stop even if she wanted, and unfortunately used all of her reserves. "I don't remember much… it was a rush."

"It was," Mox agreed. "When you fell deeper, I almost lost hope… but the water basin at the bottom of the hole, in addition to your grappling attempt, broke your fall enough to prevent you from dying immediately."

Mox sat down next to the fire. "For a moment… you did."

Sunset looked at him with wide eyes.

"When I pulled you to the surface, you were not breathing. The current was too strong to attempt any form of resuscitation, and I estimate it took us down several miles before it came out into a large waterfall.

"I spied a small bay next to it before we were ejected and managed to drag us there with my hook. After lowering us down, I found this small cavern behind the waterfall. By the time I put you down… I thought I had lost you forever, Sunset Shimmer, but fortune smiled on us… somehow, magic, perhaps… you were breathing again.

"I made a small camp, and gathered enough to start the campfire." He coughed onto the back of his hand. "Your arm is broken, clean, as far as could tell… and so I set it and put a splint on it. I made sure you were warm and fed you as best as I could." He motioned to the pile of fruits he had brought. "These, I believe, are all edible."

Sunset smiled, relaxing a little and resting on her back again, staring at the ceiling. 'The sound of the waterfall is really calming.' "Thank you Mox, I don't know what I would do without you."

Mox chuckled, making his way to sit down slowly and rest his back against the wall, facing Sunset. "May we never find out," he said. "At least… at least you will be okay. Gather your strength, Sunset."

Sunset laughed a little, yawning. "I can't believe you managed to survive all that without any injuries."

There was no reply.

"Hey…" Sunset fought off the sleep, turning as best as she could to look at where her oldest friend sat. "You didn't tell me how…" she trailed off, unable to speak.

She felt as if her heart had been suddenly squeezed; her throat was suddenly dry and her eyes stung with forming tears.

"Hey…" she rasped out, trying to think of what to say or do. She couldn't stop her eyes. Tears slowly slid down her cheeks and she drew a shaking ragged breath. She tried to move, but her muscles wouldn't budge. She ordered her magic. Willed it to force her to move... but it was all used up to heal her arm.

"Hey…" she called again, her body was too damaged—too exhausted—and her magic was draining all of her last reserves for her to move and reach him. "Hey… Mox… how come… you didn't get hurt… come on, look up..." she choked out.

Sunset knew.

Mox would not look up.