//------------------------------// // Bastion // Story: And Hell Followed // by BaeroRemedy //------------------------------// Cheerilee groaned as she awoke from her slumber. After almost two years of being sober, it made her forget just how much of a lightweight she was when it came to drinking. She wasn’t hungover, thankfully, but she had fallen asleep at the table at some point. The mare sat up, her back popping audibly in several places as she straightened out. A groan escaped her lips and she rubbed a hoof on her back. It was going to take a lot more than stretching and water to fix that. “Getting old sucks…” She concluded to herself as she looked around the dining room. She was the only one here, the others presumably in their rooms. Her lips came together and she blew a long and drawn out raspberry as she looked at the clock on the wall. Three forty-five in the morning. “Should go check on Scootaloo…” Cheerilee rose to her hooves slowly. Her knees struggled to unlock and the awkward position she had been sleeping in had made her joints stiff and unresponsive. She had to stretch and shake her extremities before she got full feeling back in them. The mare trudged from the dining hall and into the main room of the castle. She was headed towards the staircase when the sound of the front door opening made her freeze in her tracks. The sleep fogging her mind dissipated in an instant as she spun on her hooves, prepared for only the worst. A familiar aquamarine head poked out and looked around. When Elytra saw Cheerilee standing there, she froze. Both creatures stared at each other for a few moments before the changeling stepped in and shut the door behind her. “It’s like four in the morning, what are you doing up?” Cheerilee blinked at the bug. She wasn’t expecting to be the one questioned here, in fact she felt like her own actions were of the least concern. “I could ask the same of you…?” Cheerilee asked. “What were you doing outside? Call me crazy, but I don’t feel like it’s a good idea to be out there alone.” Alarm bells sounded inside of the teacher’s head. Elytra had been absent more than a few times in the last few days, but Cheerilee had dismissed it as the changeling taking time to repair her shell or just get some simple alone time. “I...uh…” Elytra shifted on her hooves as that familiar buzz came from beneath her carapace as her wings beat against it. “I…” Elytra shook her head and sighed. “Alright, yeah. I was outside. Doing stuff.” “I expected a changeling to be better at lying.” She remarked, still eyeing up her supposed friend. It was an odd feeling in her stomach, she had to admit. She trusted Elytra and was convinced that the changeling was a good creature, but this was challenging that. “Doing what?” “I’m working on something, okay? It’s...well it’s a surprise.” Elytra still wouldn’t meet Cheerilee’s eyes, despite the pony’s curious emerald gaze remaining focused on her. “If I could tell you right now, I would. You just have to trust me and...keep this between us? Please?” “Alright.” Despite her head yelling that this was a bad idea, her heart was convinced to trust the shapeshifter for a little bit longer. “I won’t tell.” Elytra bounced on her hooves and grinned from ear to ear. “But please, please, don’t make me regret this.” “You won’t! Trust me!” Before she knew what was happening, Cheerilee was enveloped in a hug. Those warm chitinous hooves were wrapped around her and squeezed her as tight as they could. “Just like a day or two more, okay?” “Alright…” The guilt tugged at Cheerilee’s conscience as Elytra let her go and quite literally flew up the stairs. She was followed by the distant sound of a door slamming shut upstairs. “I really hope I don’t regret that.” Knowing that was going to be on her mind for the rest of the day she trotted upstairs to her room. Inside Scootaloo was sleeping. The little pegasus was on her good side and snoring loudly into the empty room. Cheerilee sighed happily and smiled at the scene before climbing up into the bed to get a little more shut eye. ---- “Okay, what did you want, Sunburst?” Applejack was annoyed, her voice and body language exuded that simple fact. Everypony was crammed into Sunburst’s corner of the library. He had requested them as soon as everypony was up and around, but they had collectively waited until after breakfast to indulge the, quite frankly, madpony. “I have it figured out.” Sunburst paced in front of his black board as much as the crowd around it let him. “I think, at least.” A collective groan went up from the group which only drew an irritated look from the scholar. “Hey hey, knock it off! I’m trying, alright?” “What have you figured out exactly, darling?” Rarity’s honey coated words floated through the air. Everypony was thankful too, because there was a sense that if she didn’t Sunburst would’ve gone off on a tangent. “I think I figured out how this castle works, and if I’m right…” Sunburst trailed off as his eyes lit up with excitement. “We’ll get to that. Anyway.” He flipped the board over to reveal a simple circle drawn on it, nothing else. “This was in Twilight’s notes regarding the castle, a page with just this on it. Nothing else. It meant something, I wasn’t sure, but I think I get it now.” “She was practicing her shapes?” Bon Bon quipped from the crowd, drawing a few chuckles. “No.” Sunburst hissed. “She was trying to get something across, an idea of what the castle is.” Everypony looked at him with only mild curiosity. “Take away the actual structures and leave only the crystal intact and what does the castle look like?” The crowd all hummed as they tried to envision their home as only the crystal. Cheerilee had the distinction click almost immediately. The talk she had with Sunburst the other day had laid the groundwork for this and now it all made sense. “A tree.” The obvious answer came from Diamond Tiara, but Sunburst wasn’t looking for the obvious answer. “It’s just a crystal tree.” “No.” Cheerilee spoke next. “Not a tree, veins.” As soon as she said it the biggest smile she had seen in weeks erupted across Sunburst’s face. “Are you...saying…?” She could hardly believe this train of thought, it was so out there. “The castle-” Sunburst threw his hooves into the air and laughed, a hint of sleep deprivation and madness in his eyes. “-is one giant vertical leyline!” Sounds of disbelief and incredulity rippled through the crowd from the ponies who knew what that was. “Think about it: how is this place protecting us? How is it keeping Rarity from changing?” The ponies and changeling all looked at one another and shrugged. None of them had any idea, hell it was only Sunburst, Rarity, and thanks to a little crash course in it, Cheerilee who had a working knowledge of how magic even worked. “Because it’s not connected to the main system of leylines!” He exclaimed. Sunburst grabbed the eraser from the base of the board in his mouth and erased the circle he had drawn with a single swipe before dropping the eraser. The now-impotent unicorn picked up the chalk in his mouth and drew eight meandering lines that exploded out from one center point. He added little branches from them to give some detail. To top it off he drew a line not connected to any of the others and put a circle around it. “Rarity! Sapphires, what do you know about them?” The stallion pointed a hoof at the seamstress. To her credit, Rarity didn’t sweat the sudden spotlight one little bit. The sole adult unicorn left cleared her throat and straightened her posture. “Oh good, something I actually know about.” Rarity grinned and shifted excitedly on her hooves. “Well, they’re a fantastic gemstone. Usually blue but can also come in yellow, green, purple and orange. They’re remarkably hard, I believe top three in terms of…” Rarity trailed off before catching her train of thought again. “Oh yes, they’re also wonderful for enchanting. Just put a few sapphires in the neckline and you can do almost anything! Make it sparkle! Make the fabric change colors!” Rarity put a hoof to her chest and nearly swooned thinking about her profession. “Oh, just a tremendously unique gem.” “Highly conducive to magic.” Sunburst reiterated the point he had been fishing for. “The crystal of this castle is closely related to sapphire. Different and even more able to hold and radiate a magic charge.” Sunburst began to pace again. Every eye in the room was fixated on the stallion as he went. There was a sense as he went on that he wasn’t crazy. He was onto something and that was more than a little exciting. “The other day when I had to use a thaumometer for-” His eyes locked with Applejack’s for a split-second before he looked away. -things. It read a full charge on the air. This place is humming with magic. How? Rarity has been using hers for a month straight now. Flurry Heart has been using some too, so how was there a full charge? It should’ve diminished because whatever magic was in the castle had been pulled in, used, and rendered ‘dead’. So how?” He turned to face the whole group again. “Because...there’s a mana pool here. I don’t know where and I have no earthly idea how it ended up here, but that’s the one explanation! The roots of the castle start in a mana pool and the raw magic is carried through the crystal and it resonates throughout everything! Dead magic is absorbed into the walls and taken back down to the pool to be re-energized.” “Why isn’t Dashie getting better then?” Pinkie spoke slowly, her icy blue gaze focusing on the stallion at the front of the crowd. “You said her magic was drained. If it’s all over in here, why isn’t she getting better?” There were rumblings amongst the group over the implications of that statement. Rainbow wasn’t getting better, Applejack had said that. She had also neglected to mention the extent of the Element’s ailment. “How would she absorb it?” Sunburst retorted. “She’s not a unicorn, she has no horn.” That did nothing to embolden Pinkie, just deflated her further. “It’s why we age, it’s why we die. Our magic slowly drains and we grow weaker and weaker until we hit empty.” Sunburst spoke like he was rattling off simple facts and not a cold reality. “Unicorns typically live longer because we can supplant our natural battery with magic from the earth. You guys, though? Once you’re done, you’re done.” The heartbreak on Pinkie Pie’s face was enough to break anypony. It was clear and harsh and defeated. A hint of scorn was mixed in, an angry and selfish glint in her eyes at the cruelty of it all. It was the pain of losing somepony close far before their time. “There has to be a way!” Pinkie shouted back at the pony heading the group. There was more emotion in that single statement than the mare had shown since she and Cheerilee had gone to the schoolhouse to ring the bell. It was full of anger and spite. “Please.” The passion died all at once and left only a quiet sadness. “There has to be something…” “I’m really sorry, Pinkie.” Sunburst did his best to sound authentic and caring, but his apology rang hollow. “Like I said: make her comfortable. Take care of her while you can.” That was the last straw for the somber party pony, as she trudged out of the room with tears in her eyes. An uncomfortable silence descended over the room and settled on the ponies inside like a thick fog. Scootaloo tugged at Cheerilee’s leg. The filly was looking for comfort, for some sort of assurance that her hero would be okay. Cheerilee had none to give. “Okay but what does this all mean? The castle havin’ it’s own mana thingy, Ah mean.” Applejack, always the pragmatist, pushed forward with the topic at hoof. It was clear she wasn’t happy about Dash’s condition, but she was told there was nothing they could do and she believed it. “No offense, but as fascinatin’ as Ah’m sure this is, how does it help us?” A murmur of agreement went up among the survivors. “It means, if I’m right, we might be able to turn those monsters back to normal.” The shock that statement sent across the room was palpable. It hung in the air until Meriwether spoke up from the back after a solid minute of silence. “If you’re wrong?” “The odds of me being wrong are-” “Answer the question, Sunburst.” Applejack demanded, cowing the stallion as he backed away. “W-well if I’m wrong…” He looked away from the group. “There’s a very very very very small chance that there is no pool and this is all just leftover untainted magic and…” His voice shrunk to a near whisper, causing the group before him to lean in. “...and bringing a unicorn would taint it all, turn Rarity and disable whatever protective qualities the castle has.” A furious roar split the once hopeful atmosphere of the library. The general sentiment was that they couldn’t take that chance and that their lives were more valuable than some experiment. “Listen!” Sunburst shouted back to the group at the top of his lungs. The assertiveness from the usually tame stallion took everypony aback and earned their silence. “The way I see it we have two options. We’re going to run out of food sooner or later, none of you can deny that. We can’t grow any, most of the stuff outside is already rotten, and scavenging is downright dangerous. We can’t leave because either the unicorns or the sun will kill us. So we either bunker down here and slowly starve to death and get picked off one by one by those monsters, or we take a chance.” “What’s to say that even if there is a mana pool that it won’t be tainted and corrupted by one of those unicorns?” Cheerilee asked. She was all for taking a chance in the face of a slow and painful demise, but she needed to know the risks. “Logic.” Sunburst responded flatly. “L-look.” His eyes searched the crowd before they landed on Big Macintosh, who was standing right by Applejack. He reached out and grabbed the other stallion, pulling him to the front of the group. “Let’s pretend Big Mac here is our mana pool. Big, strong, etcetera. This disease, virus, taint, whatever you want to call it, is represented by one filly.” Sunburst dragged Diamond Tiara to the front next and made her stand opposed to Big Mac. “Could you take one filly in a fight?” “Eeyup.” Big Mac responded. “Two? Ten?” Sunburst continued. “Eeyup.” “Two dozen?” The unicorn continued. “Three dozen, I reckon.” Big Mac stated. “I’m not going to argue with you.” Sunburst concluded after a moment of thought and a deep breath. “But that’s what I’m getting at. The Central Pool, the one connected to every major leyline in the world, could handle just cleansing Twilight’s magic. It could handle a hundred ponies, maybe a thousand. But let's just say that there are seventy thousand unicorns in Equestria, all of them now spewing this tainted magic out of their horns. It can’t cleanse that fast. Our little pool can handle one unicorn, I will stand by that.” There was still a general sense of unease in the room, one Sunburst knew he had to rectify. “Okay, a compromise: not an adult unicorn. A filly or colt, one with a relatively low skill in magic.” “Ah...ah know where to find one…” A voice seldom heard was the first to speak after the stallion. Applebloom pushed her way through the crowd and to the front. The youngest Apple’s mane was untamed and frizzy, dark circles under her eyes and a distant look within them. “Ah think.” “Applebloom?” Applejack asked. “How would y’all know where to find that?” “Ah...Ah kinda lied to you, Applejack.” The hurt look on the Apple family’s current matriarch was one of pure hurt for a split-second before the sisterly worry returned. “When this all started and Ah was in the clubhouse with Sweetie...she started to go all crazy like and Ah...Ah used the rope we kept in there to tie her up and Ah ran.” The gasp from Rarity was the only other sound in the room. “The odds of her still being there are...slim.” Sunburst railroaded the conversation and continued his own train of thought. “If she is and is somehow still tied up, she didn’t starve. Those things don’t eat. If they starved to death this problem would’ve solved itself by now.” He stroked his wiry beard as he spoke. “Anything closer? More of a sure bet.” “No.” Rarity retorted. “We’re saving my sister.” Each word was a nail in the coffin of decision. Her voice was hard and flat, unlike her usually soft and melodic voice. It was final and resolute. “Alright, Rares.” Applejack rested a hoof on her comrade’s shoulder. “You’ll get your sister back, Ah promise you.” There was nothing more rock solid than an Apple’s promise, and Rarity knew that. It was one of the few things that felt dependable in these times and Rarity knew that. The two shared a smile and a small hug before parting and looking back to Sunburst. “If we do...and this works…” Sunburst turned back to the board and chewed on his lip. “There’s a chance we can save Twilight too.” A final note of hope rang through the castle and filled the minds and hearts of those inside with renewed purpose and maybe even a way out of this.