//------------------------------// // 3 - Old Friends and New // Story: The Ninth Enchantment of Mage Meadowbrook // by Thornwing //------------------------------// The three ponies formed a single file line descending the steps into the bowels of Canterlot Castle. Starswirl led the way. The clip of their hooves against the worn stone echoed down into the chambers below as well as back up the path they came. The way grew darker the further they went, torches not being tended to or lit regularly this deep in the dungeons. Rats, bats, and other denizens of the dark scurried into the cracks in the stone and bricks with their hornlight guiding passage. “Ah, here it is,” Starswirl said, coming to a stop in front of a small wooden door at the end of a long cobweb filled tunnel lined with rusted out, barred stalls. He blew a thick layer of dust off an oversize lock connecting three lengths of chain crisscrossing the doorway, uncovering an elaborate seal emblazoned with a depiction of an alicorn, but not one that Twilight could identify as being similar to the type of Celestia or Luna’s typical crest. There seemed to be no keyhole in the lock, potentially ensuring that the door had not been opened in quite some time and also owing to the amount of dust and cobweb that covered the ancient contraption and the passageway leading up to it. “What is that?” Twilight asked. “A door,” Starswirl replied in his casually flippant tone. “Isn’t it obvious?” Starswirl reached into his side pouch and picked out the old tome. He flipped to somewhere in the middle and consulted an inscription beneath a drawing of a similar glyph. Glancing back at the lock, he quickly packed the book away and motioned for Twilight and Starlight to give him some space. Twilight inched closer and pressed herself against the damp, grime encrusted wall to keep a close watch. Starlight drew back and raised the intensity of her hornglow to compensate for the distance and reduced light throw from Starswirl’s horn. “Obumbratio lucem et viam reseret!” Starswirl’s horn lit with a strange, green glow. Responding in kind, the alicorn’s horn from the emblem on the lock lit as well, spreading the magical glow down its spine and across the body all the way to the edge and around the ring encircling the pony design. The pairing glow pulsed three times, and the chains suddenly fell away. The lock shrunk and vanished into thin air. Finally, the door swung inward on its creaking hinges making all three ponies cover their ears from the grating sound of rusted metal twisting in on itself. A musty rush of wind from behind the door hit the ponies straight away. “Ahh-choo! Are you sure this is where we should be going?” Twilight asked through a sneeze. “You can trust me,” Starswirl replied. “I’ve been here before.” He relit his horn and proceeded through the opening into the dark passage beyond. Twilight flicked her wings to toss off the filth that had blown through her mane. “I’ve never been down this far beneath the castle - not even when Chrysalis invaded Canterlot and took Princess Cadance and me hostage,” she said. “I didn’t know it went any deeper.” Starlight crept up closer to the doorway. “We’d better stick together. I have a bad feeling about this.” The two mares huddled close together and followed Starswirl through the opening only a few steps behind. The cavern passage quickly transitioned from the standard stone and foundational structures of the castle. Slick rock and settled earth laid the way before them. A slight wind rose from the depths and blew past the ponies and up through the open gateway above. Further and further, deeper and deeper they went, winding through the tunnels and open cave spaces that alternated along the not-so-obvious path forward. Starswirl kept his eyes darting around the space as they walked, intently watching for some sort of unmarked signs along the way. The howl of the wind grew the deeper they went. Starlight shivered in the growing cold. Twilight did her best to match pace with the old wizard, keeping a million questions at bay as she struggled to maintain her balance against the slick rock path beneath her hooves. “Hold your places.” Starswirl came to a sudden stop and held up his hoof. The path ahead looked clear with the group’s hornlight throwing down the narrow passage for as far as the magical light would carry. He pointed to the side of the tunnel indicating an even smaller fissure in the wall barely wide enough to fit a pony. “Let me handle this.” Twilight and Starlight simply exchanged curious glances and shrugged back at the old wizard. Starswirl approached the crack. A sudden gust of wind tore through the tunnel nearly knocking the ponies off their hooves. Starswirl almost lost his balance, but Starlight helped to steady him with a quick touch of levitation magic. The glare he shot back took her by surprise. “I appreciate your help, young lady, but please refrain from using magic in this place. We can’t afford to anger the spirits that dwell here.” Starswirl adjusted his hat and turned back to face the crack in the tunnel wall. Starlight took a step back. Like an echo from the past, he whinnied and neighed following the ancient words he had once uttered in this same spot. The finishing touch to his penitent plea ending in, “Cor meum ad vide!” The howling wind subsided, and the air suddenly fell still. A warming light grew from somewhere beyond the crack in the wall, beaconing the ponies like guests to a hearthswarming fire. “Follow me, and stay close. Whatever you do, don’t touch anything.” Starswirl punctuated the last few words by alternating his gaze between the young mares with every word he emphatically spoke. Starlight and Twilight both nodded. Owing to the unfamiliarity of the entire experience, they both thought it wise to listen to Starswirl’s counsel given their current situation. Twilight still had a millions questions to ask about where they where, where they were going, or why they were down in the caverns below the castle in the first place. She wasn’t sure that Starswirl knew how to deal with a real friendship problem, and the idea that their mission could be solved deep in a cave under Canterlot became harder and harder to swallow with every step she took. The dark cavern tunnel opened up into a glowing passageway of light. Crystals of every shape and size, and in every color of the rainbow lined the walls. Starswirl kept a steady pace, and the girls had to move extra fast to keep up, as well as take in the sight all around them. “Well, I guess we know why it’s called the Cavern of Crystal Lights now,” Starlight whispered over to Twilight. “Yeah, but what was with all that chanting, and the spell to even open the door into the tunnels?” Twilight replied in a hushed tone, a little scared, unsure, and amazed all in the same breath. “I’ve never read of or heard anything like it before, and I’ve studied a lot of ancient history books.” “The chanting is from the language of the first tongue. It comes from a time before ponies had a voice. The final part was in the tongue of the Goddess. It’s all described very plainly in the book I showed you earlier.” Starswirl never stopped moving, his words echoing down the chamber from up ahead. “And you really shouldn’t whisper in here. The acoustics are amazing in and amongst all this rainbow crystal.” “That’s great,” Twilight said. “So, can you tell us why we’re even down here? What’s in that book and how is it supposed to help us solve this friendship problem?” She broke into a slow trot to catch up with the wizard, a little annoyed that he wouldn’t even slow down to fill her in on the details. Starlight hung back for a moment taking in the view of the strange formation of what she could only suppose were magically infused crystal foci. Some of the crystals looked very similar to ones she had used in her studies in school - six sided, clear or light pastel colors. Others looked like they belonged in a dark wizard’s lab - dark red to black with a strange green aura surrounding them. For the most part, the crystals covered the gamut of colors one might find lining the shelves of elaborately decorated pastries in Sugarcube Corner. It was the occasional dark formation that seemed to be spreading with a localized influence to the surrounding crystals that mainly drew her attention. The further she walked down the hallway, the more of the dark type she saw, to the point where the glow of the light colored ones couldn’t brighten the space near as well as they had further back along the path. “A little patience goes a long way,” Starswirl said from as far down the tunnel as Starlight could see before it bent around a curve, “but we don’t have all day!” Starlight rubbed her chin and debated taking a sample of the crystals to stash in her bag. She reached out as if being drawn to a particularly dark purple stone that lay only inches from her hoof. The urge to discover what sort of power was contained within the foci behind the odd lights coaxed at her thoughts. Take one now while nopony is watching. You can study it later and nopony will ever know. The thought repeated in her head, and in her own voice no less. She was telling herself to obey, but something else held her hoof back. You like purple. It’s your favorite color. Her hoof inched forward. It’s power is all for you. “Come on, Starlight! Hurry up!” Twilight’s call barreled down the tunnel and hit Starlight so hard it snapped her out of her trance. Starlight shook her head, and gingerly retracted her hoof. Looking around and regaining her bearings, she replied, “I’m coming!” Without looking back, she broke off at a gallop down the tunnel to rejoin her friends. Starswirl and Twilight neared the end of the crystal passage just as Starlight caught up. The trio passed the last of the glowing crystals and crossed the threshold into a large chamber beyond, all bunched up together. “Behold!” Starswirl said, braziers situated all around the circular room lighting as if at the command of his voice, “The Altar of Magic!” He stuck his hoof in the air and turned to strike up a pose as if somepony would be taking a picture to memorialize the moment. The entire room lit up. A trio of gigantic outer statues hung over a center dais with a pony sized altar in the middle. Twilight and Starlight took in the space all at once noting the three pony races displayed by each of the monstrous frameworks. The chamber seemed to rise beyond the ability to see how far up it went. At the center of it all, a roiling cloud of shadows and random sparks of light hovered over the altar. “We must be near the core of the mountain with how far down and around we’ve come,” Twilight mused. ”It certainly is amazing,” Starlight added, still unnerved by the draw of the crystals in the nearby passage. They each took a few steps forward, enough to pass Starswirl who held his pose a little longer than he should have. Reaching the edge of the dais, they stopped to take in the view of the statues above. “What in the name of the Goddess!?” Starswirl burst past them both, nearly knocking over Starlight. “It cannot be!” He raced to the foot of the altar and reached up toward the cloud. Suddenly, the earth shook. All three ponies lost their footing and tumbled to the ground. A bolt of lighting cracked the air, struck the altar, and temporarily blinded them all. Starswirl was thrown clear of the dais. He landed at the foot of the unicorn statue, hitting his head, instantly knocked out cold. “Ahhhh!” Starlight squealed as if crying out for help against some surprise assailant while batting her hooves in the air in an automatic fight-or-flight response. Twilight quickly teleported to her hooves and raised a defensive magic bubble. As her vision cleared, her horn ignited with all the power she could muster in her and her friend’s defense. “Who dares invade my holy sanctum?” A new voice called out, booming from all parts of the chamber and echoing back on itself. Twilight backed away from the altar where a silver coated unicorn with a sparkling golden mane had just materialized. Slowly coming into focus, she could see the strange new mare’s eyes glowed white, but seemed empty without a speck of pupil in the center. Pure magical energy coursed through her mane and tail, riding the ridge of her backbone and sparking off her hooves which hovered a few inches in the air above and in front of the altar. Starlight’s vision slowly came back into focus, and she scooted herself away from the new addition as fast as her hooves would allow for plowing at the ground in reverse while still lying on her back. Twilight quickly circled back around to join up with Starlight, never once dropping her line of sight from the strange pony assailant. “Speak! I can hear your movement!” The voice of the silver pony boomed as loud as Luna’s Canterlot voice could ever muster. Twilight searched across the space for any sign of Starswirl’s movement. He lay motionless on the ground where he had been thrown, on the far side of the room from where she stood. In a panic, she fought to catch her breath and steady her nerves. She didn’t want to have to fight, but she prepared for the worst while channeling her magic through her overglowing and pulsating horn which sputtered in an unsteady rhythm. “Say something, Twilight,” Starlight motioned toward the altar, shrugging a shoulder. “This could be our friendship problem.” Twilight’s heart skipped a beat, and she began to settle her escalating panic. Starswirl had said that he’d been here before. Unfortunately, he was in no shape to respond at the moment. What Starlight proposed could very well be the case. If she had learned anything from the encounter with the Pony of Shadows, it was to see beyond the immediate danger and let the magic of friendship find a way to help. She stepped forward, not yet dropping the defensive shield, but lowering her channeled magic to a cautiously optimistic level, and spoke. “I am Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship. I’m not sure why we’re here, but my friend that guided us, Starswirl the Bearded, is…” She debated making any assumptions about the current state of Starswirl. “Maybe you know him?” The pony hovering above the altar turned in her general direction. “I am familiar with the pony of whom you speak, and I know you as well, Twilight Sparkle, fifth of your kind, and newly crowned Princess of Friendship. Now, where is the other you have brought into my domain? She does not belong here!” Twilight glanced over her shoulder at Starlight. Starlight shook her head and shrugged her shoulders. Twilight motioned her forward. Starlight shook her head again and mouthed the words No! Are you crazy?. “You thought you could come here and steal my crystals - a prize for your master, hmm?” The mare’s eyes glowed with a new intensity, beaming across the room, but never focusing directly on Starlight. “Come out and answer for your crimes before I hunt you down from the stench of my sister’s musk that you absolutely reek of, traitor!” She lifted her snout and sniffed at the air, turning in several directions to repeat the same. Starlight froze in place unable to even move a muscle or light up her horn in her current state of panic. Twilight thought for a moment. The glowing mare’s gaze darted from corner to corner, statue to statue in search of a target. In a moment of inspiration, Twilight pulled up a small stone from the floor and quickly tossed it back across the chamber to the far wall opposite where they entered. The mare swiftly turned toward the spot where it fell, the rock clacking against the crystal stone wall. Her horn lit up and she lowered her head, generally aiming in the direction of the noise. Before she could fire, Twilight yelled, “Stop!” The mare raised her head, but left her horn alight with a magic that seemed to burn instead of glow along her elongated hornshaft. “And why is that? Haven’t you brought me the traitor so that I can dispose of her in my own appointed way?” “Uhh, No?” Twilight replied, a little unsure of how better to answer the question of her friend’s extermination. “She happens to be my friend, and we came here together with Starswirl to help solve a friendship problem, not to dispose of her. She was summoned, too. We all were.” The mare held her stance, obviously pondering Twilight’s declaration. “I see,” she said. Her magic fell away, and she drifted down to the altar. The arcs in her mane and tail, along with all the stray magic surrounding her body stopped sparking. “Then where are my manners. I must welcome you to my domain, miss…” She continued to stare toward the back wall where the rock had been thrown. Twilight motioned Starlight forward. Starlight glanced up from her cowering corner looking aghast and continuing to shake her head at the notion. Twilight turned back to the pony and replied, “Her name is Starlight Glimmer, and she’s being a little shy at the moment. But, I didn’t catch your name—?” Starlight mumbled under her breath, “not shy, just trying not to die in some underground cavern at the wrong end of that horn belonging to the, for all I know, mystery pony of magic death.” The pony spun around to face in the direction of Twilight. “You should know very well who I am, Princess Twilight Sparkle. I am Celeste, High Priestess of Power, and keeper of the Altar of Magic. I control the fate of all unicorns and grant unto them the magic which they use in my name, magic which some have brazenly sought to use against me.” She raised her chin and seemed to turn an eye toward the back wall of the chamber. Looking back, she finished her introduction. “You are proudly my third.” Twilight paused. Her view of the situation came sharper into focus the longer she thought. “Please forgive me for not knowing your name. I had no idea this place even existed until just a few minutes ago. Starswirl said that—” “Hold thy tongue for a moment, young one,” Celeste said, feeling out with her forehoof in the place where Starswirl stood only moments before. “Where is my champion? I must see him at once!” “Uhhh, your entrance sort of blasted him across the room,” Starlight said, finally finding her voice after recovering her footing and pacing up next to Twilight’s flank, but still taking care to keep the bulk of Twilight between her and Celeste. She raised a hoof over Twilight’s back, pointing toward the base of the unicorn statue. “He’s not really moving at the moment, and… that could be a problem.” “Oh dear…” Celeste’s tone abruptly changed from her stance of power to one of panic and fear. “Quickly, Princess, bring my Champion to the altar so that I may revive him.” She fumbled her way forward, regaining the edge of the altar with the side of her hoof and bracing against it to orient herself in front. Twilight sighed and lowered her protective shield. Starlight elbowed her in the ribs. “What are you doing?” she whispered in Twilight’s ear. “She’s obviously playing us - keep your shield up and buy us some time so we can figure a way out of here.” Twilight lowered her gaze and put her hoof on Starlight’s shoulder. “Trust me, I know what I’m doing.” “I sure hope you do…” Starlight mumbled to herself once more. Taking another look at Celeste as she fumbled her way toward the altar, she whispered back to Twilight, “Do you think there’s something wrong with her eyesight?” “Just follow my lead,” Twilight replied before stepping forward and lighting up her horn, levitating the still motionless form of Starswirl up onto the altar. “There you go, High Priestess. Please do what you can to help him.” Celeste pawed at the altar and the pony that now lay upon it. “Ahh, good. There is life in him yet. This shouldn’t take long.” Her horn lit up, this time with a silvery glow. The magic flowed down from the tip and spread across Starswirl’s body. His tail twitched, and then his left ear. The bells on his hat jingled ever so slightly as the old wizard raised his head and opened his eyes. Then with a jerk and a thud, he pulled back and rolled off the far side of the altar. This time, he didn’t go so far as to knock himself unconscious. He gathered his legs under him and swiftly rose from the floor. His horn lit up only a split second later with his hooves set in a defensive posture. “Stay back!” He ordered, slowly circling the altar along the edge of the dais toward Twilight. He quickly glanced around the room and back to his target. “Tell me what you have done with the distaff!” “Oh goodness, me! I can see!” Celeste hopped around the platform mimicking a sort of waltz with her rigid, old wizard partner. “Such a difference from gazing through the mind’s eye of the staff for so many centuries.” She paused. “You did bring it with you, didn’t you?” “And how could I have if you were the one to have stolen it in the first place?” Starswirl said, eying up his new adversary and keeping his horn leveled at hers. Celeste tossed her head back with a laugh. “Silly stallion! How could I possibly steal what is rightfully mine?” “Your staff…? Who? Who are you?” “Uhhh…” Twilight cut in, “Starswirl the Bearded, meet Celeste, High Priestess of Power, and keeper of the Altar of Magic. Celeste, Starswirl the Bearded.” Starswirl recoiled from his attack stance, quickly bowed his head and half bent his foreleg at the knee, and replied through a stutter, “M-m-may the Goddess have mercy on us all.”