//------------------------------// // Part IV - Chapter 7: A Flash Of Insight // Story: Alicornae: The Legend of Starlit Sky // by PortalJumper //------------------------------// Alicornae: The Legend of Starlit Sky Part IV - Chapter 7: A Flash Of Insight * * * "How do you kill one of these things!?" Sun yelled to Agateous, desperately trying to be heard over the crashing and roaring of the worm behind them. "You don't! You either get away or get eaten!" "You've been living down here for centuries and you never figured out how to stop one of these monsters!?" "We have the matriarch for that, what do you want fro— duck!" Without a moment's warning Agateous dragged Sun's head down by his collar, just in time to prevent a chunk of ice about the size of his torso from decapitating him. "They can spit up ice chunks that they eat!" Agateous clarified as he directed Sun down a small side tunnel. "Thanks for the warning, but we can't outrun this thing!" Sun replied. "I have to find Starlit and Rainbow Dash, and to do that this thing has to die!" "I'm open to suggestions!" Agateous answered back. More running, more screaming, and the hot, acrid stench of the frost worm's breath beating against Sun's back were not making for the best thinking environment, and the dim lighting from the enchanted ice walls were playing hell with his sense of direction. However, it did finally bring two ideas together in his head, and if he was right it might just save them. "Agateous, how does this thing see?" Sun asked. "Is it blind?" "Not really, but it has an incredible sense for sounds and vibrations. Why?" "Finally, I catch a break," Sun thought to himself. "Okay, I need you to trust me here; when I say so I need you to stop running and go silent, I have a plan." "Does it involve us turning into that thing's dinner, because that sounds like what you're going for!" Agateous replied, skittering across the ice as they rounded a corner. "I just need you to trust me, can you do that?" "Fine, but give me some warning before you do it!" Together they ran from the worm for another minute, winding through corridors and cracks in the wall as the worm behind them tore through with nary a care other than for the meal that it was trying to get. Only when they came to another large chamber did Sun turn on his heels and stand his ground, facing down the worm as it barreled toward him. "Now!" Sun screamed as a massive, blinding flare of grey light erupted from his horn. The worm howled in anguish as its atrophied eyes were seared by the light, and it thrashed and squirmed horribly against the floor in random directions. Agateous and Sun stopped moving entirely, waiting for an agonizing moment to see if the worm would renew the chase. "What now?" Agateous whispered to Sun, who quickly motioned for him to stop talking. Slowly, gingerly, Sun started moving over to the furthest wall away from where they were standing, his hoof steps muffled by his boots. Agateous had an expression of utter terror as Sun moved, but Sun kept a hoof up to gesture for him to stay silent. The roaring, pained worm seemed to finally be regaining some faculties as Sun finished his maneuver, but it still whipped its face around to try and locate its quarry with its blinded eyes. "This is the single stupidest thing I have ever done," Sun thought, his heart beating wildly and sweat beading up on his forehead. Taking in a large breath, Sun let out a guttural howl, as close as he could get to a wounded animal, and the worm immediately whipped around to strike at its prey. Sun quickly leapt out of the way as the worm bored its pointed head and needle-fanged maw at the wall, devouring it and tunneling into the ice in search of a quarry that was no longer there. As the tremors and roars of the worm faded into the ice Sun carefully got up and sidled back towards Agateous, taking care not to make any excess noise as he approached the dumbstruck pony. "We need to keep as quiet as possible, but I think it's going to be occupied for a while with its blindness," Sun stated in a low whisper. "I have boots to mask my hoof steps, but I need you to get on my back so you don't make any excess noise." With a quick nod Agateous climbed up onto Sun, nestling between his shoulder blades and holding onto Sun's chest with his front hooves. Agateous was surprisingly light, and slowly Sun backed out of the chamber and towards the tunnel at the opposite side of the cavern. "How did you know that would work?" Agateous asked quietly. "Surprisingly, this isn't my first time dealing with monsters and magical nonsense," Sun answered. "Though this was definitely a first." "Well, if you decide to stick around for a while then you'll probably get used to it," Agateous replied as he pointed towards a tunnel on the right. "This way." * * * Another hour, maybe two, Sun and Agateous spent in abject silence, giving Sun some time to nurse his head wound as Agateous pointed out various different directions. Sun had long since given up trying to ask exactly how Agateous knew where they were going since the only answer he would get was some variation of his guide's "gut feelings." As they rounded around yet another seemingly identical corridor Sun finally found his patience wear thin enough that he would risk another frost worm just to get some answers. "Agateous, get off of me, we have to talk," Sun demanded, keeping his voice low and kneeling down to let Agateous off. To the gem-pony's credit he complied, but seemed nonplussed about the situation. "We still have to find your friends, we can't stop now," Agateous replied, finally breaking the last nerve in Sun's brain. "You've been saying that for hours, and yet all we've done is get chased down by a titanic worm and wander in these caverns!" Sun said as emphatically as he could while still staying quiet. "What aren't you telling me? Why are you giving me the run-around?" "There's no run-around, this is just the path that we have to take," Agateous replied with a matter-of-fact tone that really grated on Sun's nerves. "Why? Why this path and not any of the innumerable other paths that are carved out down here? There has to be more to this, and I'm not moving another inch until you come clean with me." "But your frien—" "At this point they've both either figured a way out of here or they're both dead with as much screwing around as I've been doing," Sun interjected. "Start talking, or you're on your own." Agateous looked up at Sun, an expression of confusion, then sadness, and then finally resignation dancing across his crystalline face. The dim light of the walls reflected off of his odd eyes as he scanned the room, obviously looking for the words to explain. "I'm a crystal pony, as I'm sure you've figured out," Agateous began. "Pretty obvious with your skin and eyes being the way they are," Sun replied, "but that doesn't answer my question." "But that is the answer," Agateous corrected. "We crystal ponies were created by the Princess of the Empire to be her subjects, ever loyal and ever gifted with happiness and love, and she used the crystals of her homeland, of the ancient home of the alicorns, to give us the gift of foresight." "So you can see the future?" Sun asked, cocking an eyebrow. "Why couldn't you just tell me that, that would've been immensely useful to know before now." "It's not so much that we can see the future, it's that we can see possibilities," Agateous corrected again. "We can see the choices that will be lain out before they happen and can plan for the eventualities that come so they create the most happiness for the most ponies." "Then why haven't we found Starlit Sky and Rainbow Dash yet? If we don't find them and get Cadance to return to Canterlot then the world is going to be destroyed." Agateous opened his mouth to speak but closed it just as quickly. He cast his eyes down to his broken hooves, brow furrowed in thought. "How much do you know about her? The one you call Starlit Sky?" The question caught Sun off guard, which given the events of the last few weeks of his life was getting harder and harder to do. "She's smart, confident, she's saved my life on more than one occasion, and she's trying to save the world. What more is there to know?" There is far more to know than just that, Setting Sun, even more than you could imagine. She is unique, a special one, selected for a special purpose that I fear even she is unaware of." "Then spill it," Sun countered. "What do you know about this pony that you've never met before?" "There is a darkness that lurks inside of all ponies, Setting Sun," Agateous continued. "It is in you, in me, in the matriarch, in all of us. It is with us from the moment that we're born and stays with us until we die or waste away into nothing. But Starlit Sky does not have this darkness within her." Unconsciously Sun rubbed the back of his head, right around the spot where Silence used to reside. A chill ran down his spine, one unrelated to the cold. "I see that you are familiar with your darkness," Agateous continued. "That's how I was able to find you initially; your curse has a name, a will of its own, and it resides within you even in this place." "You don't know that," Sun spat back. "But I do, because the matriarch knows it. The tides of your fate and Starlit Sky's are intertwined very tightly, but it will ultimately be her who sees this task through to its end because the darkness within all ponies is not in her. She is immune to this curse we are all saddled with." "What curse?! Stop speaking in riddles and talk to me!" Sun demanded. "What does any of this mean?!" "I'm afraid I don't know more than that," Agateous answered, "but the matriarch does. I just worry that your curse will leach into her, drive her from her duty as it saps at her strength like it saps at yours. I will help you find her, but know that when the time comes, she has to be the one that survives. Only she can right the wrongs of the Princesses." Agateous's last sentence hung in the air like steam, suffusing they room and settling thickly onto Sun's mind. The back of his head throbbed, angrily and vividly, for the first time in days, and for the first time since he had felt the sensation he was scared of it. "Come along," Agateous said, drawing a hoof along one of the cavern walls and making another illusory opening in it. "They're close by, I promise." * * * Consciousness finally found Starlit Sky when a cold blast of air hit her face, whipping at her head wrap and rousing her. Her chest still stung and pinched uncomfortably as she rose up to find Rainbow Dash hovering a foot off of the ground, gently flapping her crystal-embedded wings to keep aloft. "How's your leg?" Starlit asked as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes and pulled the blanket back. "Still sucks," Rainbow answered. "I can't feel my thigh, my cutie mark's destroyed, and I can't keep weight on it for more than a minute without collapsing. I'm just glad I have the energy to stay in the air, that's going to make travel a lot easier." "Here, have a drink," Starlit said as she offered up her water pouch. "You did lose a lot of blood." Rainbow gently alighted back to the ground, adding in a sitting position with a hiss of pain. She drank long and deep from the pouch, obviously more thirsty than she probably thought she was. "The one benefit of being in the tundra is that we're never going to be wanting for water," Starlit mused. "The last time Sun and I found ourselves in a wasteland like this it was a desert." "Not much of a difference, if you ask me," Rainbow replied, wiping her mouth and handing the pouch back. "Ones just freezing and the other always hot. They'll both kill you just as easily." "You've been to the desert?" Starlit asked. "I thought you'd lived up here your whole life." "What, I can't know things?" Rainbow retorted, more playfully than usual. "It just strikes me as odd, that's all. Everywhere I've been ponies only knew what was right outside their front door, not taking the time to dream about places beyond the familiar. If I'm going to be frank, you don't really strike me as the learned type." "And now your calling me dumb," Rainbow retorted again. "What? No, I'm not calling you that, I'm just maki—" "Relax, I'm messing with you," Rainbow interjected. "Jeez, learn to take a joke, lady. Yeah, I don't really have what you'd call 'book smarts', but I do have some smart hobbies." "I didn't have much time to cultivate hobbies back home," Starlit replied, taking a swig of water as she did. "Most of my upbringing was spent just trying to survive as a dirt farmer. I didn't get any more education than what my grandmother taught me, and she's long dead." "Well, when all you really do is guard a wall and wait for thestrals or bandits to come knocking at your door you do stuff to keep the boredom away," Rainbow said. "I come up with stories in my spare time about a heroic adventurer who dives into dungeons, fights monsters, collects treasure, stuff like that. I call her Daring Do, and sometimes I have one of our town scribes write her stories down." "No kidding? I used to make up stories to tell my daughter to help her get to sleep. You'll have to show me some of these when we get out of this mess." "Ah, they're just foal stuff, nothing great," Rainbow replied nervously. "You wouldn't like them, trust me." "Well you must tell them to somepony; otherwise why would you keep making them up?" Starlit asked. Rainbow looked up at the cavern ceiling with a wistful expression, and for just a moment Starlit thought that she could see a tear or two roll down her cheeks before she tilted her head back down. "There's this filly in town, her name's Scootaloo," Rainbow admitted. "She's got a condition with her wings, something that keeps them from growing right, and all the other children would make fun of her for it. One day I saw her down an alley crying about it, and I just sort of… started telling one of my stories to her. I didn't think much of it at the time, but that filly is my world now. She's brave, and funny, and she tries so hard…" More tears started to flow down Rainbow's cheeks, and when she finally found her voice again it was heavy with fear and regret. Another pain went through Starlit's chest, one unrelated to her broken bones. "I just worry so much about her, you know?" Rainbow continued, fighting to get her words out through the tears. "She's so awesome in so many ways, and if I can't be there to protect her then who will? I'm gonna die in this hole, and she's never gonna see me again, and… and…" Starlit sidled up next to Rainbow Dash and laid her foreleg around the back of her neck. Without really meaning to Rainbow fell into Starlit's chest, sending a shock of pain through her as Rainbow wept. Minutes passed as Rainbow sobbed until finally the well of tears dried up. Slowly she sat upright, wiping her nose on her sleeve and drying her eyes with the corner of her cloak. "Sorry about that," Rainbow apologized, voice still thick. "You must think I'm some kind of crybaby now, huh?" "Not at all," Starlit answered, wiping a tear out of her own eye. "I guess I'm just happy that some pony else knows what I've been feeling for so long." "You mean your husband that snores?" Rainbow asked. "Mm-hm," Starlit murmured. "Stalwart Warden, and our daughter White Eclipse. They're the light of my life; he provides security and stability, a shoulder to lean on when things seem overwhelming, and my little filly is such a spark of joy in a world that seems so determined to snuff it out." Now it was Starlit's turn for her emotions to start getting the better of her, and as the tears flowed down her face Rainbow laid a hoof across her back. "I've been away from home for so long now, I'm starting to forget what they look like," Starlit admitted. "I'm trying to save the world, make it safe for them, but I'm so worried that I won't be the pony they remember when I come home." "What do they look like?" Rainbow Dash asked. Starlit looked at Rainbow Dash, the pegasus's dark magenta eyes slightly bloodshot but kind and concerned. It was the most earnest expression Starlit had seen from her in the few days that they'd known each other, and it was the exact sort of look she could see Stalwart giving her. "Well, they're both unicorns like me," Starlit said through a few sniffles. "Warden is a few years my elder, and Eclipse is only seven years old. Warden is a unicorn, but I swear he must have had an earth pony in his family tree somewhere because he's built for working with his hooves. His coat is a light grey color like morning fog, and he has eyes the color of a cloudless noon sky. That's where White Eclipse gets her eyes from I suppose, but hers are more teal than blue, like mine. Eclipse's coat is white like fresh snow, and both of them have vivid blonde hair." "Is your husband handsome, because he sure sounds like it." Rainbow Dash asked. "Oh, they're both beautiful, especially when Eclipse smiles. She has this way that her cheeks pull up when she smiles that makes her whole face just shine. Stalwart's jawline could cut glass, and has a full beard that he keeps well-trimmed that really helps frame his face." As Starlit kept describing her family, every inch of them that she could recall, she felt a weight lift off of her shoulders. She could feel a heaviness in her heart grow light and blow away like snow in the breeze, and for the first time in a long time she smiled, truly and genuinely. "Sounds to me like you remember them plenty," Rainbow Dash said as Starlit composed herself. "I guess I do," Starlit admitted. "You're a good pony, Rainbow Dash, no matter what our first meeting may have been like." "So are you, Starlit," Rainbow replied. "And that's saying a lot, because it takes a lot for me to trust ponies. But you care, care enough about the ponies that you love that you're putting yourself through this hell to try and do good for them. If there's one thing I can always respect, it's loyalty; to a cause, to the ponies you love, whatever. Staying loyal, sticking by the ones you love when the going gets rough, and getting the job done no matter the cost to you, that's what matters." "Then what say we start working to get the job done?" Starlit asked. "I'll help carry you if you need me to, but we have to find Sun and get out of this place." "I can glide for a while, but I'll let you know when I need help," Rainbow Dash answered. "Let's get out of here before we both freeze to death." With a nod of agreement, Starlit got up to her hooves as fast as her aching chest would allow for. Rainbow carefully flapped her wings and got some air, letting her injured leg hang limp as she carefully maneuvered to a tunnel a few feet to their right. "By the way, you still need to tell me what you're doing up here," Rainbow added. "That I do," Starlit replied. "We'll have time while we navigate, but I expect you to not ridicule me for what I'm about to tell you because it is quite the ridiculous story to tell." * * * Hours passed as Rainbow and Starlit wandered the seemingly endless tunnels of ice, guided only by intuition and the dim blue light that the walls were giving off. Starlit couldn't shake the feeling that they might be magical in some way. She had an uneasy feeling about them, like the walls had eyes and were watching their every movement. "So, what do you think you'll get out of Cadance when all of this is said and done?" Rainbow Dash asked as she gently floated along. "I don't really know, and that's the worrisome part," Starlit replied. "Celestia and Luna were at least in their right minds, but the pony that sent me on this mission seems to think that Cadance is completely unfit." "She froze her entire Empire, I'd say that qualifies as 'unfit,'" Rainbow quipped. "And there is the problem; I need her to be sound of mind if she's going to work with the other Princesses to fix the world, but if my benefactor is to be believed then it's going to take time that we just don't have." "It could be worse, I guess," Rainbow Dash replied. "You could've gotten killed by that windigo." "Small miracles, I suppose," Starlit said back. As the two rounded yet another corner Starlit felt a thump in her chest. It wasn't one of the shots of pain from her ribs, which were thankfully growing fewer and fewer, and it wasn't her heartbeat either. It was deep, resonant, and all too familiar. Carefully Starlit pulled out her black stone necklace, letting it float in her magic as the stone itself pulled forward and a bit to the right, in the direction of another tunnel. "What's that?" Rainbow Dash asked. "That doesn't look like those compass stones you and Sun were using. "It isn't, it's something else," Starlit muttered back. "Hopefully you'll never have to see me use its proper power, but occasionally it gives me these little nudges in the right direction." "Like a good luck charm?" "To be extremely reductive, yes," Starlit answered as she followed where the stone was pulling her, trying to hold in a laugh about how inappropriate that particular moniker was. The stone's pulling didn't get much stronger than it was initially, but the beating emanating from it in her chest was getting stronger and stronger the further she followed it. The sensation that she was being watched also grew more intense as she and Rainbow Dash wound their way through the tunnels and caverns, with Rainbow at times having to struggle to keep up. Just when the beating from the necklace turned into a staccato hammering she could see a light shining in from the tunnel ahead of them, and a gust of fresh wind and snow blew through to greet them both. "Air! Finally, some good news!" Rainbow exclaimed as she flew forward, escaping into the light as Starlit galloped after her. Starlit's eyes adjusted to the light slowly before she felt her hooves fall out from under her, slipping on a shallow slope covered in fresh snow. She felt her sore ribs scream in pain as she slowed to a sliding stop where the slope flattened out. "Are you okay?" Rainbow Dash called out. "My ribs are sore, but that's about it," Starlit answered as she took in her surroundings. She had to pull her snow-blind goggles on just to block out the glare. The entire area she had fallen out into was a massive crater, easily miles wide, containing what once must have been a city, or at least some part of one. Buildings, what few that had withstood the test of time, were covered in snow and frost that bowed inward towards the center like a massive gust of wind had blown from the outside of the crater in. Icicles stood perpendicular to the buildings they were attached to, all drawing ever closer to the centerpiece of this silent grave. In the center of the city was a pillar of light, stretching up into the cloudless sky and forever onward into infinity. It was a pale silver that intermingled and mixed with the colors of everything around it, and at the base of the beacon was a large array of crystals of innumerable different colors. Everything in the city drew inward to the beam, like it had fallen from the heavens and sundered its surroundings with its impact. "Starlit!?" a familiar voice called from a few dozen feet away. Whipping her head around Starlit saw Setting Sun, seemingly no worse for wear and with another, smaller pony riding on his back. * * *