//------------------------------// // Luminous // Story: Bright Darkness // by Rattus and The Victor //------------------------------// Sunlight had just begun to bleed through the Empire when she arrived. Celestia coolly strode through the archaic building, wisps of dirt floating upwards with each step. She remembered a time when the Crystal Empire wasn't so crystally. In fact it had only been around the time when the discovery the Dragon Heart (Overtime it just became known as the crystal heart, clouding its origin) and His hoard did the ponies begin to use the minerals in their structures. As they ventured farther they soon found even more building materials. She allowed herself to fall into a meditative reflection of time long passed. Past ponies who had survived up this far in the Frozen North evolved in a peculiar and rapid way that she still did not understand. The first time she had seen ponies with crystalline coats she could hardly believe her eyes. It wasn't only not a possibility, but surely that condition would bring about death. The Heart had already been radiating its power for a few generations by then. Though obscurely, she could remember when both Luna and herself discovered the literal underground society. Her magic hadn't been so worn then, she still had her fiery lust for exploration and overflowing vigor. She had shielded them with radiant yellow sphere from the howling wind and stinging sleet with ease. Thick black clouds blocked out the sky overhead. They rolled and twisted unlike any clouds they had seen-writhing like live worms. Luna had been anxiously glancing around, her horn firing up at even the thought of seeing something aberrant. "I don't think they have survived." Luna said tiredly. "They would have been here. I knew it was foolish to allow them to stay behind. The North has been uninhabitable for hundreds of moons now." "They will have found a way." Celestia said, though the tone she carried it in didn't sound very convinced. "Give it up sister," Luna spat, "It is clear they have perished. There is no way that they could have survived." Celestia did not reply to this. Her eyes continued to be set forward, their gaze never wavering. "Your tenacity can be unbearable, sister." Luna dryly said, then continued to eye the place with dagger-eyes. "To think that this was once a large portion of the Dragon lands, I wouldn't believe it myself. Wh-where do you think they went?" There was an odd undertone of sorrow Celestia detected in her sisters words. Celestia numbly looked around herself, saddened at the thought. This area in particular held host to dragons of many different elemental varieties. Most were not very aggressive, in fact they had an enlightened diplomacy in the way they handled disputes and their communities. Their social structures were impressive in equality and equity, Celestia only wish they hadn't been so sequestered from the rest of the developing world as to study this further. "Sister?" "Oh, I don't know Luna." Only just a bit further ahead would they discover the cavernous stone bowels that was indicative kind of nest for mineral consuming dragons. Luna was devoured by fascination as she scanned them with her eyes. "They were passive," Luna said, prodding her sister. "And if we were to find one-" "We already are on a different mission to locate a lost colony of ponies, the dragons can handle themselves out here or wherever they are." Luna held a sour expression for a few moments. Her hooves still on the edge of the swooping entrance, staring deeply into it. "Time is of the essence, Luna." Celetia sternly grumbled, "We need to get-" Luna's eyes widened, "Sister what if...?" They spared no time for idle words as they tore through the underground, both feeling foolish for not realizing it earlier. Forget-Me-Not blue poured from Luna's horn, crawling up the rough walls and jagged ceiling. With their surroundings illuminated, they both relaxed a little. Celestia still maintained the protective elemental barrier for neither alicorn's could withstand such brutal cold. Blood surged through their bodies like fire as they charged through the tunnels. Both of their chests heaved and their opulent armored hoove's clicking against the ground, eyes darting around every surface. Until predictably, they found them. Coats and expressions dull, manes limp as was their gaunt, tight skin from malnutrition. Over a series of days the ponies recalled the tale of how their city had been capsized by snow shortly before a mass dragon migration. At first it sounded like it had been a awe inspiring sight, the dragons sailing through the sky, each scale glistening off of the sun- until the clouds came. They were not taken as anything particularly unusual, it was monsoon season in the land afterall. It had been in the middle of one of the more pleasant summers they had seen in recent years. It had been around that time when an orphaned foal had been found. What struck them all odd immediately was his coloration- very much unlike any colors found in the community. A dark, black coat with matching hair and lambent orange eyes. He could have only been a moon old, though it was hard to tell as he had been left out for the sun to ravage his defenseless body for days and his growth could have been stunted from starvation. His muzzle had been burnt by the sun badly. His mouth was open to cry, though no sound came out. Infanticide was a barbaric concept to this community and general mistrust brewed between none mother for years. Though perhaps most surprising of all was that the whelp was a unicorn- in a community exclusively made up of earth pony genealogy for many generations. He had been adopted in by a family who had just recently lost a young filly who had been felled by being captured by a trap meant to keep out larger, aggressive creatures in the farmlands. Its silver teeth had broken through her leg and she was left to both starve and bleed to death- being discovered about a week later. Her hind leg shredded from trying to fight through its grasp. Only a meter away from her did radiant red strawberries bloomed. He had been named Luminous, after his brilliantly colored magic that shined bright as the sun- and had also been an alternative name they had pondered through having foals. He had grown up with two other siblings- and older sister and brother close to his age. He had been a shy, but sweet personality, the pursuit of academia becoming his driving force. From fall to spring as he grew older they had even allowed him to study afar in a boarding school also focusing on magic in early Canterlot, though they visited often. The foal grew into a compassionate stallion, even as the land began to change for the worse around him. An intellect of his time, he had devised the plan to colonize the abandoned tunnels the dragons left behind. The clouds had begun to rob the land of sunlight most days and much of their vegetation had laid to waste. Teams of ponies were sent out to central Equestria asking for help, but neither made it back to them. Hoping to wade out the fiercest storm that had come yet, they waited in the caves. They had pulled whatever resources they could down with them, though soon came the concern of what would be done without food. Luminous emulated the sunlight as best as he could underground, hoping it would be similar enough to work. The earth ponies, with their connection to the earth and plants also gave their all in assisting the plants to grow as best they could. He would sit, pace, or lay down, his light shimmering on their only source of food for most of his day. Had their been another unicorn to assist, it wouldn't have been so grueling, draining him of his energy most of the time. His wife would come to bear their daughter during their time in the caves. She took mostly after her mother, with her powdery red coat though her hair was a darker purple in contrast with her lilac, and her orange eyes were defiantly from her father, as was her svelte horn. She would have her own set of siblings, two sisters, one an earth pony, the other a unicorn, though her father seemed to offer her most of the knowledge he had to give. Now with a few more unicorns, the task of keeping the vegetation alive become exceedingly less daunting. However, many, who had never seen nor heard of a unicorn in their life, thought that some divine, higher power had brought Luminous down, and that he had instilled in him an enlightenment that none had reached before. Many clamored for him to become their monarchical leader- which clashed with their previously established democracy. Luminous was reluctant, however, his eldest daughter was not. His blood flowed through hers, and therefore they considered her equally as worthy. Luminous acted as an advisory of sorts, though with luck she had a benevolent rule, as did those who would follow her. Many teams of ponies left when food still proved to be scarce, claiming they would go to the mountains that kissed the sky. The silent consensus was that it was a suicide mission, though the alternative would be dealing with starvation; their absence making food much more plentiful. Up until the recent rule, when the Luminous descendant had only bore one unicorn child, who had been born very ill. Though the siblings, or "Divine Court," had also bore children, their children did not bear the symbolic horn. With their light source diminished, hunger quickly sat in as much of the vegetation did not get enough light from a team of unicorns. Radiant Luster relayed all of this too Celestia so long ago. She had been a pearly pink mare with autumn-leaf yellow hair and leaf green eyes. She had a tall, willowy figure and was one of the more progressive rulers they had. Allowing much more freedom of thought, speech around royalty, and even abashing the negative stigma surrounding other sexualities. Even encouraging expeditions, though most were thought to lead to failure it was not sure if that was the truth. A few teams had begun to bring precious stones and gems back from expeditions, these were used to decorate much of their home, and it was she who became fascinated by crystals and potential building properties. Though many thought it was asinine, Celestia knew that many kinds of crystals responded well to all kinds of equestrian magic. More expeditions came back successful, and on the day Celestia and Luna had begun to prepare to leave, bringing back the Cave Colony back with them, the descendants of the group who left for the mountains returned- with the Heart. Celestia, Luna, and Radiance were immediately drawn to it, the power reverberating from it could be felt ringing in their horns and bones. It was placed originally as decoration in the middle of the cave as they organized. The joy and gratitude of the ponies felt almost tangible, flickering through the air like infectious spores. Blinding blue light blanketed over them, followed by a deafening boom that shook the caverns. There hadn't been enough time for any of the rulers to react- however what happened next was hard to comprehend. After rising to their hooves, they still felt an overwhelming joy when they should have felt fear. There muscles were relaxed even though their nerves should have been shot. But the most peculiar was as Celestia stared out at the ponied in front of her, their entire bodies scintillated like the crystal heart itself and appeared to have the same texture. She stared in disbelieve at what looked like living statues, all mesmerized themselves with the metamorphosis. They appeared to have been filled with health, it had combated their previous ailments. She tried to shake herself from the toxic elation that had filled her, as it suppressed her ability to logically think. She looked around to find her sister- only to hardly recognized her. Her coat too, sparkled with the light that the crystal and few torches gave off. Staring down at her legs she realized that she had also been affected. The ground beneath their feet, which had previously been rock had been transmuted into crystal of every shade. "Luna!" Celestia gasped, her current thoughts dissolved quickly as voices called for them to hurry outside. Expecting the brutal cold they had encountered, Celestia formed the protective magic barrier around herself and Luna. Only to step out onto damp soil and stare out at a mostly clear sky. An invisible dome seemed to have fallen over this place as it had been completely transformed. The gem colored ponies flooded out of their home to get the first look at open skies, something that had not happened to most for generations. Heads craned up in awe at the sky while others ran through the rich soil, enthralled not to be looking out for walls that limited movement and to allow a gentle breeze to grace their bodies. Over the next few decades a crystal city grew. Ponies from all trots of Equestria came to see it, some even settling there themselves. It began to grow into the Crystal Empire that was depicted in the history books now-a-days, Celestia and Luna assisting in its development and laying the foundation of a healthy relationship between the two lands. Further details of that meeting had been lost to time for Celestia however. She felt a tinge of guilt knowing that a lot of memories that died with in her brain could not be shared by anypony else. After all Luna had been through, she doubted she remembered much more than she did. The voices of the dead continued to bounce around in her head, taunting her for forgetting them. This building she walked in was one of the ones built the earliest, while some emerging architects still clung onto the familiar stone and wood that had been brought down. Celestia took in a deep breath, she needed full composure and sound mindedness to do this. She stared out the window and into the dense farmlands outside. This was one of the few rural parts of the Empire, structures around here along with the ponies carried a utilitarianism with them. A perfect place to heal and let your mind go. She didn't have much more time to bask in that luxury however. She continued on, aligning her mind and enforcing the cool logic she would need for this meeting. Cadence was awaiting her arrival beside the guards in front of the door. She seemed much less bitter today, even offering Celestia a warm, welcoming smile, which she returned. "I have woken him up and made him aware of the situation." Cadence said coolly. "However, I have one request." "Hmm?" Celestia asked, her magic already buzzing forth on the door handle.