//------------------------------// // Chapter 8: The Translation // Story: Chimes In the Dark // by Faindragon //------------------------------// Chimes In the Dark - Chapter 8: The Translation NOTE: Grammar not corrected The chime echoed through the statue, magically making its way to the twin part of the sculptured masterpiece. The sound reached the mare standing at the statue, starring into the deepest part of the clear moon it represented. The black mare released the magic she had held up for some time, laughing to herself. Had Notharam understood what she meant? Had he even heard her speaking the name of the one that did it all to them, giving him her own name? Notharam was a fool, the inside of that thick skull of his was as empty as her heart was after Notharam’s betrayal. She slowly made her way back to the throne, lying down with her wing carefully folded next to her, she had started to get more used to it by the hour, but it would be some time before she would be able to use it efficient. The quill was once again lifted with her magic, making the sixth line on the paper in front of her. The sixth chime had passed, and it was soon time for her to make her move. The move that would be the beginning of the end of this nightmare. ^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^ Notharam lay on the cold floor, his brain working at its limit, tears still dripping from his muzzle, eyes still staring into the pale sun statue. That voice, he knew it. He had the name on the tip of his tongue, but it slipped away all the time. He knew that if the ponies he had seen in the statue had talked would he have found the owner of the voice, he would have recognized it! It was somepony of them, he just knew it. But who was it and what had he done to her? And then the voice had said something; giving him a name, a name that had been drenched in Emerald’s voice when he said that the translation was finished. He couldn’t let the others know. They wouldn’t believe him, they would think he was insane, that this place had drained the sanity out of him already. No, he would have to keep this to himself, at least for the moment. He couldn’t believe that the rest hadn’t reacted when the clock had chimed, he had lain there through three chimes, that had to be three hours. Wait, three chimes? That meant that it would have been six hours since Celestia had raised the moon! It was only one hour left, they would only need to survive one more hour. With renewed hope rushing through his body did he try to stand up; only to feel how his leg yielded from the weight of his body. He felt the pain struck though him as his muzzle hit the cold floor, felt the vibration diffuse through his cranium. “Are you okay? Did you hurt yourself?” he heard Mistrunner call to him while she trotted over to him. ‘Mistrunner, here because of me, here because of that she loved me.’ He thought, holding back the tears that formed in his eyes. “I’m okay Mistrunner, I only feel a little dizzy, I must have fallen asleep.” He said to the grey earth pony, his voice not as steady as he wished. He tried to stand up again, this time with a better result; mainly because of Mistrunner who stood and supported him when he was close to fall. He turned his head, ready to thank her, but she was looking the other way, looking straight at Zinky. The little filly had fallen asleep on the floor, her sides heaved as she breathed. “I think its best that we wait to awake her until it is time for us to leave. I think she needs to sleep, she is after all only a filly.” Mistrunner said, concern filling her voice. ‘My filly, here only because of the fact that she shares my blood; on the fact that she is a filly spawned from the love between me and Silverstar.’ He slowly trotted towards Emerald, Mistrunner following him, supporting him although he didn’t need it anymore. He didn’t complain, not after what he had seen, how would he be able to do it? He looked up at Emerald, who stood still and looked down at the parchment in front of him. ‘Emerald, here as a sacrifice only because that I saved his daughter and gave them more time with each other.’ “Ah, Notharam, look at this! The translation is finished, although I don’t know if it help us much, if at all.” Emerald called out, back still against them. Notharam took the last few steps towards the table where Emerald stood. Mistrunner started to trot towards Zinky, leaving Emerald and Notharam alone. “What does it say, Emerald? Is it anything that can help us? Anything that can cast new light over the dark situation we have found ourselves in?” Notharam asked. “We only have one hour left in this dark hell hole, and I’m afraid it is now the maniac mare will make her move.” “I’m afraid we have more than an hour left, but that is nothing we need to care about now, in worst case we will have to care about it in an hour. As of the translation, I’m not sure we can use it, but I finally know who the other pony is, and I bet you will be as surprised as I was. Just listen” Emerald said, before he cleared his throat, starting to recite what he had written. “In the beginning of time was Equestria ruled by the two sister goddesses, Celestia and Luna. The two sisters upheld harmony in life and death, day and night. And ruled together, side by side, for nearly two thousand years. But Luna, riser of the moon and goddess of the dead, became corrupted in heart. She believed the tale of a since long defeated enemy, a tale about how the ponies of Equestria feared her and only loved her sister. She felt towards bitterness and hate, hate against the ponies who she thought only loved her sister. Celestia had seen what started to happen to her sister, but what could she do against the sister she loved? She tried to talk to her, showed the ponies the wonders of the night. But the ponies were a hardworking people, who used the light of the day to grow their food. At the night they were asleep, only a few of the younger were up to praise the moon.” “This wasn’t enough for Luna, she wanted it all. The power should be hers, the night should last forever, she was the one who would be praised by the ponies of Equestria.” Emerald stopped to take a breath, and Notharam was over him directly with questions.“So the other statue represented Luna? But Celesita is only goddess over night and day, not death and life. And how about….” He was silenced by Emerald, who looked at him with a frown. “Let me finish what I started, Notharam. The translation isn’t finished yet.” He continued without checking if Notharam would remain silent or not. “So Luna challenged her sister. And Equestria trembled at the wrath of their goddesses at war, life and death locked in battle. Celestia, the goddess of life and day, in a battle against the goddess of death and night, Luna. The night silent was interrupted in the middle of the night; the sound of battle reached the ponies on the soil of Equestria. Beam made of the darkest shadows of night hammered against a shield made of the light of the sun. Luna, in a form of the darkest nightmare, tried to hammer Celestia into the very foundation of Equestria. Celestia begged her sister to return to normal, to end this nightmare and let her hate go. But Luna, driven by her nightmare form, refused. This was the time for her to shine, this was the time for all the ponies in Equestria to live under her rule, live under the night.” Emerald took another breath pause. “Celestia gave up the battle to get her sister back and used the Elements of Harmony to imprison her sister in the moon. Worn out after the battle, tired into the bone, Celestia let the sun stay down for a day so that she could rest. After that sunless day has she been raising the sun earlier once a year, to celebrate the victory over the night, to remind everypony about the grieving that still fills her heart. But it is said, that on the longest day on the thousandth year the stars will aid in her escape and bring nighttime eternal. Let us hope that Celestia will be ready to defend Equestria once more when Luna, or Nightmare Moon as she was known as during the war, returns from her imprisonment.” Emerald putted away the parchment, carefully placing it in one of his saddlebags. “This give us the answer who the other alicorn is, so we have solved one of the puzzles. We do however still have one left, what are we doing here? Who is the maniac and why are just we here are the questions, and I’m sure the answer is out there somewhere. We also have a new puzzle to solve, or two really. Why are the two goddesses named as goddesses over life and death, and why aren’t Celestia named as it today, after she banished her sister and took over her duty to raise the moon as well? Where did the prefix goddess of life go and why didn’t she take the prefix of death as well? Don’t misunderstand me, I know that I have said that she might not want to be praised as a goddess; and this cast new light over why. She banished her own sister, whom she ruled together with, while she still loved her.” “According to this text did she let the sun be raised longer once a year to remind the ponies of Equestria about her grieving, her sorrow of losing her sister. Perhaps she didn’t want to be known as a goddess anymore; what kind of goddess did she see herself as when she couldn’t even keep her sister from the black hole of bitterness and hate? Today is it a tradition to celebrate the longest day of the year, I guess the only one who know what they really are celebrating is Celestia. It still hasn’t answered why the suffix ‘of life’ is gone in all books I have read that have taken up the subject that Celestia is our goddess.” ‘And one of those questions would I be able to answer, but you would see me as an insane pony if I did.’ Notharam grimly thought. He knew it was something that the voice had told him that would help them here, but he couldn’t recall what. His mind was still stuck on the thoughts of him being the reason that they were all doomed. Emerald looked around, resting his eyes on Mistrunner, who stood and stared into the statue; who were standing out of earshot. He leaned his muzzle towards Notharam, whispering into his ear. “Notharam, you are hiding something from me. Don’t give me that look, it is pretty plain for me only by looking at your face. And don’t forget that the walls whisper to me, pierce my mind with their needle sharp voices, leaving behind a trail of lose when they aren’t there. They have spoken to me, saying that you have information that you do not share with the rest of us. I can understand why you keep it away from Mistrunner, but if you have any information that can help us solve this problem let me know.” Notharam didn’t know what to say. Had Emerald started to go insane, already speaking about talking with the wall just like that? No he wasn’t, after all Notharam had had a conversation with a statue for the last three chimes. And if he could get information from the statue, even thought it was from the maniac who held them here, then Emerald would be able to get information from the walls. But he didn’t know how Emerald would react, nor if it would help them enough to make a difference. “Emerald, do you have a daughter? Feather Quill?” “I had a daughter with that name, named after the quill that as gracefully as a swan landed on her mere seconds after she was born. However, she is not with us any longer, nor will she be again. She was interred less than a week ago, interred at the hill were she loved to sit in the summer. No, do not worry; she died peacefully in her sleep.” Emerald said, tears filling his eyes, his voice cracking with the sorrow that must surge through the old unicorns’ body. ‘But Celestia wrote her name down on that parchment, I saw it with my own eyes. Feather Quill died in this temple, sacrificed as we are about to be. I can not tell him, I’m not sure that he would believe me or choose not to believe in me…’ Notharam thought, his mind racing. Mistrunner was the one to save him; she trotted over to them and Emerald quickly withdrew his head, giving him a look that screamed out ‘you will tell me everything later’, a look given with eyes still filled with tears. Mistrunner talked in a soft voice, eyes on the still sleepy Zinky. “If what you have said is right then this is the last hour, and the maniac still haven’t done a thing. I’m worried but relieved, this is not a place for anyone of us, least of all the little Zinky. I think it is time we start to move again; this place gives me the chills. But I do not want to awake the small filly. Emerald, can you make place in your saddlebags to carry her around in, only for this last hour?” She turned toward Emerald, imploringly looking at him. Emerald smiled towards Mistrunner, the tears already gone from his eyes. “Of course I can make room for the little filly, I have some things in there that I have meant to get rid of for a long time.” He started to empty his saddlebags, taking out book after book; moving some quills, parchments and ink bottles from one bag to the other. It only took a minute for him to finish emptying one of the saddlebags, and they trotted slowly over to the young filly on the ground. The little filly had to been deep asleep; she only stirred and whimpered once or twice while they carefully moved her to the saddlebags. They gently placed her within the saddle bag, careful not to wake her up. “Well, now that’s done why do you want to go from this place Mistrunner? If we only have this hour left; then I can not see a reason for us to move. No no, do not misunderstand me, I’m still curious over this place; I do however not see a reason for us to leave the safety we have found here.” Emerald said, giving Mistrunner a sidelong glance. Mistrunner didn’t have time to answer; a loud crack followed the sound of Emeralds voice. The sun statue was collapsing, bringing a part of the floor down with it. The impact on the floor must have started a ripple of collapse on the level underneath, the library floor started to collapse downwards. In one second did they stand on the solid stone, the next did they fall down together with the floor. Their screams filled the air as they fell. And the clock chimed.