//------------------------------//
// Set In Motion 
// Story: The Darkest Hour 
// by Anemptyshell 
//------------------------------//

"So, you believe this missing city could stop Nightmare Moon?" Shining asked. We'd only finished summarizing each of our last few weeks. It went well, all things considered. That was right up and until Blueblood and I started explaining our plans for the city in the north. Even now, Shining seemed less than convinced. Solemn was still iffy on the plan as well. That was understandable. When your dreams are based on folklore and strange visions, you'd be perfectly within reason to think the speaker is mad. Yet, I was unfettered, and Shining response seemed to drive Blueblood all the more readily into the plan. It was a spite world-saving adventure. A weird flex if you asked me, but who am I to judge.

"I do, sir, I really do," I said firmly. 

"Was Nightmare Moon not a story a decade ago? It would be remiss of us to simply wave such stories away as of now. The world will only change if somepony moves to change it. Isn't that right, Captain?" Blueblood asked before Shining had a chance to reply.

"That's fair. I can't just wave away anything as of late. Nightmare Moon was a foals tale. The changelings were rumors. Tirek was a walking monument to ponykind, pretending everything was perfect and harmless. The fight between him and Nightmare was an awakening if nothing else."

"Who?" I asked.

"Tirek, a massive, crazy magic-eating centaur. Nightmare and he fought a while back. Too bad Nightmare caught him early on. He hadn't regained all his power yet." Bright added.

"It wasn't pretty." Sabre agreed. 

"So, back on the subject. What do we know about this supposed city in the snow?" 

Shining looked tired. The overworked rebel leader seemed to be shaking off the fatigue the longer we went. It was almost funny how alike he and Blue looked when they were thrown into their element. 

"Not much. We know its supposed location. I had visions of crystals, glowing ones. Crystals that held back an all-consuming shadow. A shadow that had a spark in it. I thought I heard a voice at some point, but I have no idea what it said."

That last part was more literal than I liked. Unfortunately, we had only the barest hopes of this city even existing. If it did, we had no way of telling if the city actually had the weapon, tool, or magic power to beat Nightmare Moon and save the day. 

Shining nodded. "I'm not surprised. Nightmare has methodically destroyed all references to not only Celestia but anything from over a thousand years ago as well."

I scoff and wave dismissively.   

"Trust me, I'm well aware."

"Sir, if there's a chance?" Thorax said from his spot to Shining's right. 

"Maybe we put a pin in this planning thing and get some rest. All of you seem dead on your hooves. It's not like this hidden city is going anywhere."

Spade looked about the group with a placid serenity. Of all those present, he's the only one who seems fit and ready. Sabre and Shining were just trotting through it, and Thorax was emotionally spent, if nothing else. 

"He has a point, Shining. Perhaps we should rest while we have the chance."

Solemn looked ready to collapse. He eagerly smiled at his commanding officer with the piteous plea of a politician that had spent way too long pretending everything was acceptable. I could certainly use the sleep. 

Shining inhaled, closing his eyes for a moment before letting the air back out. He nodded slowly. "That might be for the best. If nothing else, you've all had a busy day. Some time to reflect and catch your breath can't hurt."

The visible slump of the group was unmissable. Everypony whose name wasn't based on digging implements all but managed to keep themselves standing. Even Shining seemed to relax back in his seat atop the dais. 

"Thorax, would you mind finding our guests some free rooms. After that, you're dismissed for the night, Captain."

The title had Thorax shake on his hooves. The emotions were hidden behind a clearly forced nonchalance. A cracked mask, held together by sheer will. The changeling was ready and willing to cry in Solomon's hooves but stalwart and disciplined in front of his king? If Shining was with Chrysalis, he'd be a king or consort or whatever term the changelings preferred. 

"Yes, sir."

Thorax marched past my group and trotted off toward the closed doors. That was to say, everypony but Solomon. The old thestral didn't move from his spot before the ancient throne. I gave him a quizzical look, one he answered with a tired smile. 

"Go ahead. I already have lodgings and still had a few things to discuss with our dear Commander. I'll make my own way shortly."

I rolled my eyes and followed the others. The workers, the ones still filing and organizing the various files and documents, had stopped briefly as we passed. No doubt, they'd heard at least some of our conversations with both Chrysalis and Shining. That being the case, the silent, heavy stares did little to satiate the worries that lay bare in the back of my mind. Nightmare, the crystal city, everything in between. 

Their judgment, no matter how unfounded, had me recall Ponyville. The thoroughly ingrained disgust and hatred. The thestrals had done most if not every pony and changeling I passed wrong. Nightmare ruled through fear, but pushing someone too far into fear leads to either rage or despair. In this case, it might be a little of both. 

I tried not to look, but I could still feel their eyes. I could feel the shadows, too. They crept in at the edge of my vision. A shiver ran up my spine as I hastened my pace. The others waited at the throne room doors. They'd already been opened, and the guards on duty looked in, watching my every move. My head was throbbing by the time I joined the rest of my friends.

"You okay, sir?" Sabre asked. 

I tsked, "I'll live."

"Course you will. None of us are gonna let you die," Bright said, stepping up beside me and dramatically throwing a hoof over my withers. "So, don't go trying, okay?"

I had to restrain a humorless chuckle and instead nodded. "Okay, Bright, whatever you say. You damnable optimist, you.”

"Good."

That was that, and Bright would hear nothing else on the matter. So we followed Thorax through the castle interior. It was nearly universal, the stares and whispers. The way the guards shifted in place and gripped their weapons all the tighter. We weren't welcome. Shining had been right on that matter. We'd have to prove useful before any of the rebels and vagabonds even give us the time of night. The refugees, the ones outside, might still throw us to the wolves even if we did prove helpful. It was damned if you do, damned if you don't. They could just toss us out and let Nightmare do the rest.

"Pay them no heed, Star. It is unbecoming to let their ire sink so deep," Blueblood stood tall, head held high as we passed another group of rebels. It was almost laughable. The way Blue of all ponies could throw on a noble's mask after the way he was back in the Everfree. I suppose the nostalgia might have gotten to him. This had been his home, after all.

"If you say so."

Sabre hip-checked me. His gaze was not a pleased one. I offered a shrug, and he bumped me again. "What?"

"Blueblood is right, sir. You're dwelling on it. You shouldn't."

"Are they wrong, though, wrong to stare?" I asked. 

"No, no, they aren't."

I bumped Sabre this time. "Gee, thanks."

"Please, give your bodyguard some credit. Let them stare, let them tense and whisper. I've dealt with that for as long as I can recall. But who was it that was so willing to pull me from my own seclusion? What daft, obnoxious, overbearing, and preachy bat sought to will me back from the metaphorical edge?"

Blueblood had pulled alongside me on the side opposite Sabre. The two boxed me in and stared me down harder than any rebel had. Blue was right, well, as right as he can be. I was many things, but preachy, really, me? I didn't have a response, not the one they wanted. I didn't even have the one I needed at the moment. The dress had finally caught up to me. The last few weeks had been a daze. The repercussions are a future me problem. Well, here I was, the future me doing just that and failing spectacularly.

"That was all, Sabre. I just followed his lead."

That earned a double side swipe from my so-called friends. Why was everypony on the hit Stargazer train as of late? I'd have bruises by the time I woke at this rate. I had managed a small smile all the same. 

"Thanks, guys, really."

Blue huffed and threw his nose to the sky. "That's what friends do, correct?"

"We do, yes," Sabre answered. 

"Speaking of, we really need to talk about you and Shining at some point. You two seemed ready to kill each other back there."

The look on Blue's face as he tripped over himself was a spirit lifter. It was almost like he thought we'd forget or something.

The cartographer quickly rose and glared at me. "That is none of your concern. My past is not the subject that matters right now. We have a quest beholden to us at the moment."

"So, a friend asks about these things, right?" I turned to Sabre and nudged him. 

Sabre rolled his eyes and sped up, leaving me and a still glaring Blueblood in the dust. The rest of the walk was a stale experience. Several more minutes of passing shattered stained glass windows and dust-covered carpets. The moon beamed down in rays of white light. An ominous gaze sent shivers down my back. 

When we arrived at a quartet of accessible rooms, Thorax left us to divvy who would be where. Sabre and I took one. The others each got a space of their own. That settled, Thorax excused himself and our party made their own means of rest. 

"How bad?" Sabre asked after closing the door to the guest room. 

The room itself was in good condition. This far in, everything was musty but ultimately perfectly serviceable. A pair of beds, a bathroom, and a window looking into the central courtyard. It reminded me somewhat of my room back in Nightmare's castle. I doubted Nightmare's first desire was to trash every empty, unused space in the castle. 

"Hmm?" I asked.

"You've been a mess since we left the throne room. How bad is it, sir?"

I rolled my eyes and pulled my pack onto the floor beside one of the beds. "I'll live."

Sabre gave me a long chilling stare before moving to the free bed and almost robotically removing and checking his gear. A soldier through and through. I flopped onto my chosen bed and let the mattress pull all the stress away. The bed was quality, the type that conformed to your body and left you all the cozier.

"Living and being alive is not the same thing, sir."

Sabre laid the sir thing on thick. We'd run from Nightmare and joined a rebellion, yet, sir this and sir that. It might have been ingrained harder than his military training. I chose to leave it be. I did not have the energy for an argument right now. 

"What if we're wrong. What happens if we look for the city of crystal and find nothing. What then?" I asked. 

I was asking myself more than anything. A question that hung in the air. I hadn't given it much thought before now. Another future issue. I would have doomed everyone else for my mad ramblings if we were wrong.

"Then we move on. We find another way. We never stop fighting."

Sabre's answer wasn't targetted either. It was just two stallions talking to themselves. There wasn't a conversation in sight, no heart to hearts here, no siree. Sabre was a soldier. He was bred for battle. I was, well, I wasn't sure. I had random trivia and a mad case of Nyctophobia. If this all went belly up, I doubted there would be a second chance. I couldn't put it into words, but the shadows, the ones that crawled across my vision. They were almost comforting in a way. When I saw them, it only redoubled my belief that my dreams weren't just dreams. It was believed or accepted that I was a complete loon. I wasn't a fan of the latter. 

"I won't die a slave. I made up my mind on that long ago. When the sunset for the last time. When the night came, when the world fell to Nightmare, I wasn't ready. I surrendered, like the rest. That was one of my many, many regrets. I won't regret this. I won't regret finding you in the forest, not ever, Star. I've made up my mind."

That said, his things were packed away. Sabre climbed into bed, and that was that. So it was as he said, that was that. I was lucky. I had friends like Sabre. I don't know if I deserved them, but here they were. They followed me to what could be their deaths. That feeling had my gut twist as I closed my eyes and buried my face into a pillow. My head was still pounding as I tried my best to fall asleep. I had more future problems to do with when I awoke, so until then, I wanted to sleep. 

So, that is precisely what I did. The shadows drew in, and I disappeared into the dark. The all-consuming darkness was the first thing I saw when I wound up here in Equestria. My past was a ripped-up portrait. A puzzle where none of the pieces had rhyme or reason. I couldn't speak to any of that, to who that I was. However, this me had a purpose, which was something the dark couldn't take.

"Soon." A voice said in the dark. That wasn't my voice. I tossed about in the darkness. 

"Who, what?" I asked.

"Crystals, soon."

"What?" I was lost in the dark. The voice was coming from everywhere at the same time. I could hear my heart beating in my chest. My head throbbed harder. I yelled into the dark. The voice didn't answer. I was alone, or so I hoped. The last time I thought I'd heard a voice, it certainly hadn't been the one from just now. The first had been a feminine voice. This one was much deeper and held a certain sorrowful cadence. 

So much for the future me. Present me wasn't having any better luck on the things to worry about list. If the voices in my head wanted crystals, I might need to rethink my discovery of the lost city in the far north. I might also need a therapist when this was all said and done.