//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 // Story: The Spark to Light a Candle // by SPark //------------------------------// "You're really, totally, completely, cray-zee," said Pinkie Pie in an exaggerated whisper. "I'm not crazy," said Twilight somewhat absently as she peered through the dead branches and down into a small clearing at the base of the hill. In the center of the clearing a yellow pegasus was grazing on mushrooms. She was thinner than the Fluttershy Twilight knew, and the ever-present moonlight clearly showed her matted, dreadlocked mane. Her coat was grungy and grimy, and all in all she looked more like a wild animal than a civilized, intelligent pony. But it was unmistakably Fluttershy. "We need Fluttershy if we're going to defeat Nightmare Moon. I managed to find the right thing to say to you. I think I can find something to say to Fluttershy too." "I hope so," said Pinkie Pie. Twilight and Pinkie crept backwards out of the bush to where the others were waiting. All thirteen of Pinkie Pie's rebels, plus Luna and Dale were there. "All right. Everybody got the plan down?" "Eyup," said big Mac. "Ya'll are goin' down thar to get that crazy critter-wrangler to join this here rebellion. Yer goin' to go in by yerself first so as not to scare her any. If any critters attack, ya'll want us to deal with 'em, but we ain't supposed to hurt 'em any, an' as usual the unicorns cain't use magic t' do it. I think Pinkie Pie is right, ya'll are plumb crazy. But we're willin' to try it." "Thank you," said Luna, looking around at the gathered ponies. She hadn't intended to end up part of a larger rebellion, she knew that Twilight had planned for them to just recruit the other Elements of Harmony, but she was already realizing how very helpful these other ponies could prove to be. "Thank you all." "We wouldn't be doing this if we didn't know Fluttershy's creatures won't chase us very far if we run," chimed in ex-mayor Marie Mare. "We've had accidental run-ins with them before." "Just don't be too quick to retreat if things get tough. I don't want anypony hurt, but we really need Fluttershy," said Twilight. There were nods of agreement all around. These ponies were the bravest and toughest, the ones who'd survived and stuck with their small rebellion for all this time. Luna couldn't help but smile at them; they'd come through a great deal, and they were still willing to go through even more. "Let's go!" said Pinkie Pie. "Quietly, remember," whispered Twilight, with a hint of exasperation. She was already wondering how the pink and energetic mare had managed to run anything that required not being heard or seen for so long and expected that she'd wonder for a long time. "Right," whispered Pinkie. She started tip-hoofing from tree to tree, and the others followed in her wake. They managed somehow to read the edge of the clearing without alerting Fluttershy to their presence. Twilight stepped clear of the bushes and cleared her throat. Fluttershy whirled around to face her, and her eyes went wide with terror. "It's okay Fluttershy," said Twilight. "I'm a friend." She didn't get any farther, because Fluttershy instantly spun around and bolted from the clearing. "Horseapples," muttered Twilight, and ran after her. The others broke free from hiding and followed. "Ouch!" Something small and hard hit Luna on the head. She heard the chattering scolding of a squirrel, and there was a chorus of pained cries all around her as a hail of acorns came from the trees above. "Run faster!" said Pinkie Pie. They dashed on, and eventually the hail of nuts ceased. Ahead was another clearing, and Luna caught a glimpse of yellow. Fluttershy was there. "Please listen, Fluttershy!" cried Twilight. "This is important!" Fluttershy backed away from Twilight several steps, fixing her with a terrified stare as she spoke, barely above a whisper. "Go away! Please!" Twilight took one step forward, opening her mouth to entreat Fluttershy to listen, but that was apparently one step too far for the yellow pegasus. Fluttershy reared, spun on her hoof, and sprinted off again, dashing among the trees. Twilight muttered another curse and resumed the chase. Luna took to the air, trying to see where Fluttershy was headed from above. Suddenly a cloud of birds came whirring up from the forest canopy. She found herself being pecked, clawed, and harassed by a dozen, including several large black crows whose powerful beaks could do her real damage. She dodged and wove through the air, but moving away from one attack often just put her in the path of another, and even the largest birds were much more maneuverable than she was. Cries from below indicated that the ground-bound ponies were being attacked as well, but so many birds were swarming in the open air above the forest that Luna was forced to the ground with them. She and the others ran frantically, more concerned with fleeing the attacking avians than with following Fluttershy. After what seemed like an eternity of chaos, the birds finally slackened their attack, and as the ponies once more broke into a clearing in the forest the birds vanished back among the trees. Everypony was scratched and bleeding, though there seemed to be no serious injuries. Without being asked, Luna once again took to the air, scanning the forest below for a glimpse of yellow and pink. For a stomach-sinking minute she saw nothing at all, then, in the distance, a flash of color. It was just within the forest, near the fringes where Everfree bordered on a swamp. "That way," she called out, and pointed. "Let's go!" said Twilight, and the ponies below broke into a run once again. This time they didn't even catch sight of their quarry before encountering resistance. And it was much more formidable than squirrels or birds. Their only warning was a rustle in the underbrush and a low growl, and suddenly there were wolves and other larger creatures everywhere. A manticore led the charge, its mouth open wide in a deafening roar, fangs dripping. Twilight faltered, and the running ponies behind her slowed, but then Pinkie Pie shouted "Charge!" and Big Macintosh took the lead. He slammed into the manticore with an audible thud, and to Twilight's shock he bowled the larger creature completely off its feet. It let out a startled yelp. The ponies formed a wedge by instinct, driving through the gap left by the manticore and pushing the wolves aside as they thundered past. Twilight rammed her shoulder into a wolf nearly as big as she was, not realizing what she was doing until the creature was already stumbling away and falling behind. Terror washed back over her as the analytical part of her mind automatically listed off half a dozen ways that shoulder-checking a wolf could have—should have!—gone horribly, messily wrong, and it sent her heart racing faster than any run ever had, but she wasn't going to stop now. Behind them the scattered, bruised predators were getting to their feet and re-grouping, but the ponies were running flat out now, and none of their attackers seemed eager to continue the conflict. They were soon left behind. Luna continued to fly overhead, directing the running ponies towards the occasionally glimpsed flash of yellow. Fluttershy was clear of the forest now, and Luna saw her take wing, then land on a hummock just inside the swamp. Soon Twilight and the others broke free of the forest. They skidded to a halt at the edge of the swamp. "Fluttershy!" called out Twilight. "Will you please listen to us? We're trying to stop Nightmare Moon, and make this whole world a better place for ponies and for other creatures. But we need your help. Please, Fluttershy..." Fluttershy glared at Twilight across the stretch of muddy water that lay between them. "Leave me alone!" she said, managing much more volume than she had previously. "But Fluttershy..." Twilight stopped, and her eyes went wide. Behind Fluttershy a huge triangular head covered in pus-yellow scales had risen from the swamp. "F-Fluttershy! Watch out!" A second head rose next to it, then a third, and a fourth. All the ponies were staring up in horror as the hydra loomed over the tiny yellow pony. It stepped out of the water, its enormous feet landing on either side of the frail pegasus. "Fluttershy! It's a hydra! Run!" But Fluttershy simply stood where she was. Her eyes narrowed as she spread her hooves and dug them into the dirt, looking straight at Twilight, who took a half-step back. "Leave me...” "ALONE!" Twilight quailed at the combined power of that gaze and shout, falling back onto her hindquarters. Then the hydra lowered all four heads, hiding her view of the pegasus they had come seeking. Four mouths opened, showing four sets of formidable fangs, and the hydra roared. And then, stepping carefully over Fluttershy, it started forward. "Run!" yelled Luna, and nobody below needed any further encouragement. Ditzy Doo took to the air beside Luna, while the others galloped back the way they'd come. They darted in between the tree trunks, and Luna hoped that the dense forest would stop the hydra, but it didn't even hesitate, it just plowed into the dead trees with a thunderous crash. Branches splintered, smaller trees toppled, and the hydra didn't even seem to notice any of it. "Horseapples! Keep running, everypony," she called out. She looked back at the hydra. It wasn't all that fast, but it was going in a straight line, just plowing through everything in its path. The ponies were weaving and dodging among the trees and undergrowth. The hydra was going to catch up. If she could use her magic she could stop it easily, but that would alert Nightmare Moon. What am I going to do? Ditzy bobbed irregularly through the air next to her, and the two other pegasi in the group were airborne now too, but the rest of the ponies were earthbound. How could they escape? She looked around frantically for some idea. They she saw what had once been a huge open meadow a little ways off. Surely without having to dodge and weave through brush and trees the ponies would be able to outdistance their pursuer? She swooped lower, calling out, "This way!" and led the ponies in the direction of the meadow. They galloped after her, with Twilight Sparkle panting heavily and bringing up the rear. Luna very soon broke out into the meadow with the others just behind her. They raced across the mushroom-laden field where once rich green grass had grown and, moments later, the hydra broke through the last of the trees and joined them. It roared with all four heads and to Luna's dismay it was still gaining on the running ponies. The hydra lowered one of its heads, curling that neck like a snake to allow it to strike, and that's when Luna saw Twilight. Tiring rapidly, the purple unicorn had lagged far behind the rest of the herd. "No!" The shout was ragged, hurled automatically out of Luna's mouth; the only thing she could possibly do in time. She was too far away to race a hydra's strike and win! She might as well have been still on the moon for all the help she would be able to give Twilight. There was simply no way! For the third time in her life, Luna knew the despair of complete helplessness; it felt like the bottom had dropped out of her stomach, and like her heart had simultaneously shot up into her throat. But she tried. She raced toward Twilight on powerful wingbeats, straining every muscle. She cried out Twilight's name at the top of her lungs as the Hydra's head shot forward. Twilight stumbled when she heard it, falling face-first into the ground. The hydra plowed open-mouthed into the dirt scant feet in front of her, and Luna's heart leapt with renewed hope. Sometimes fate smiles on a pony who tries. She gritted her teeth and folded her wings, arrowing down towards the hydra. She zipped brazenly in front of its heads, banking and twisting, weaving back and forth in mid-air to try to confuse and distract it. For a moment it worked; the hydra halted, and two of the heads knocked into each other. As Luna exalted in her moment of triumph, a third shot out and hit her with stunning force. She cried out as she tumbled from the sky. When she lifted her head, she saw the head that had downed her looming over her, mouth gaping, sharp fangs glinting in the moonlight. Then a pair of powerful hooves lashed out and slammed into the hydra, striking it directly on its nose. It shrieked, and the other three heads shrieked as well. A second head dipped down menacingly, and once again the pony standing over Luna lashed out with strength and speed, bucking the hydra's head so hard this time that there was an audible crunch of breaking bone. This time it didn't shriek so much as wail, the heads all thrown back to keen at the sky. And then, amazingly, miraculously, it had had enough. It turned and retreated the way it had come. One of the uninjured heads peered back hungrily at them, but apparently it was out-voted by the other heads, for it swiftly vanished behind the trees and soon Luna couldn't even hear its footfalls. She looked up to find Big Macintosh standing over her, looking down with an expression of concern. "Are you all right, ma'am?" Luna got shakily to her feet. She felt like one big bruise, but nothing seemed to be broken. "I think so, yes. Alicorns are tough. Although apparently you are tougher." She smiled at him, and somewhat to her surprise he blushed. "T'weren't nothin', ma'am," he said, and ducked his head. "Wow! That was super-scary!" said Pinkie Pie, bouncing over. "You can say that again," said Twilight. She shuddered. "Wow! That was super-scary!" Luna giggled, a little hysterically; she was still feeling the shaky adrenaline aftermath of the fight. "So what now?" Twilight sighed. "I guess we try to figure out a plan B. Because talking to Fluttershy definitely isn't working." "Fluttershy takes 'never talk to strangers' to heart," said Pinkie Pie cheerfully. "That is probably the real problem. Back in my world Fluttershy and I are friends, but when I first met her she wouldn't talk to me there either. It took her seeing Spike..." Twilight trailed off. Spike here was dead. A pang of homesickness went through her. She missed Spike already. She missed the sun. She missed her friends! She shook her head, trying to shake off the sadness. "Well... anyway, this Fluttershy doesn't know me at all. But if we could get somepony that she knows to talk to her--" "She knows Dashie! You want to rescue her anyway, right?" "Right! That's right! That's a very good idea. I should have remembered that Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash grew up together. I'm sure Rainbow Dash would be able to talk to her!" "We should go back to home base," said Pinkie Pie. "It's getting late. We can plot plotting plotty plots to procure penned up ponies tomorrow." Twilight looked at the moon, still nearly overhead, where it had been all this time. As far as she could tell it was fixed directly over Canterlot. "How can you tell how late it is?" "By the stars, silly." Twilight facehoofed. "Right. Of course. I should have realized. I think it's definitely time to rest, I can't think straight." "We all could use some rest," said Luna. "Follow the leader!" exclaimed Pinke Pie, and she bounced off into the woods, a trail of defeated but still hopeful ponies walking behind her. Back at the ruined castle the ponies settled in for the night, though Twilight found herself wondering what you called the sleeping period when it was night all the time. Calling it "night" seemed very imprecise. She curled up under a tattered blanket, shivering just a bit. It was colder than it should be during a summer night. Though now that she thought about it, it was much warmer than it should be after a year with no sunlight to warm the land. "It's cold," she said to Luna who was trying to get comfortable next to her, "but it's not frozen solid. Without any sunlight, shouldn't it be much colder?" "Well you know the world is flat, right?" Dale's head popped up from Luna's other side. "It's flat?! I thought it was a sphere!" Luna giggled. "If it were a sphere, would not the horizon be curved? And ponies would fall off of it!" "Actually," said Twilight, looking thoughtful, "if it were a big enough sphere you wouldn't see the curve." "True. But what of the falling off?" "Well, obviously gravity would pull towards the center, rather than pulling down. Then you'd stick on even if you were on the bottom. Except really there would be no bottom... That's a fascinating idea, really! I should work out the math..." "You were explaining about the cold?" said Dale to Luna. "Oh, right," said Twilight, looking sheepish. "Well, when the sun is not overhead, 'tis passing underneath. It does still warm the world from below. So it should only be a little bit colder than a normal night. But for summer it does seem rather cool. It feels more like late autumn. We should ask the ponies here what the weather has been like this year. I really do not know what the effects of long-term night would be. I... did not think very much about consequences, back when I was, uh, you know." Twilight nodded. "Well, you were hurting and just wanted to lash out. I think everypony has done that at some point, and it doesn't usually involve thinking anything through." She yawned. "But for now I think it's time for everypony to sleep." "So we are headed to Manehattan?" Luna asked. "Yep!" said Pinkie Pie. "Canterlot is closer, but doing the magic right under Black Snooty's nose is probably a bad idea. So Manehattan is the next place big enough to hide your spell. And who knows, Dashie might be right there!" "I wish I'd taken the time to locate her before we left," said Twilight. "If she's in some other city this is going to take forever!" Pinkie, Luna, Twilight and Dale were making their way to the edge of the forest. The others had stayed behind, since they weren't needed for the scrying spell and hopefully wouldn't be needed for Rainbow Dash's rescue either. Pinkie had insisted on coming along, though, and Twilight hadn't been able to say no. "I had wanted to ask," said Luna as they walked through the woods, "about the temperature. What has the weather been like since Nightmare Moon's return?" "I'll answer you that if you'll tell me your story." She looked around and in a conspiratorial whisper added, "I know who you are, but how come you haven't got a goatee?" "What is it with you and goatees?" asked Twilight in exasperation. "Duh! Everybody knows goatees are eeeeeeeeevil." Twilight gave Pinkie Pie a flat, skeptical stare. Then she sighed. "Right. Of course. Evil." "So tell me your story, and I'll tell you the story of how I got my cutie mark!" Luna chuckled. "I have actually heard that story already, Pinkie. You were going to tell me about the weather, remember?" "Aw, but that's boooring!" "It might be important." "Oh. Okay then! Boring stuff is all right if it's important. Surviving is what matters. And beating Black Snooty. So I'll tell you about the weather. But promise you'll tell me why you're not evil anymore, okay?" "Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye," said Luna, having spent enough time around the Pinkie Pie from her world to know the proper form. "Okie-dokie!" said Pinkie Pie with a gleeful bounce, as if it were perfectly normal for cross-dimensional immortal princesses to know how to Pinkie-Pie-Swear. Maybe it was. "Weather! Right! Well it was pretty normal last summer. Other than being dark all the time, but you know about that. It was just like you'd expect from summer nights though. Warm, sometimes some rain, one good thunderstorm before the pegasus ponies mostly got jailed or killed in the Ponyville rebellion. Then we started getting wild weather from the forest, but it still wasn't anything too weird. But when the leaves were supposed to turn for fall, they were all dead already, because there wasn't any sun. And it didn't get cold, it stayed pretty much just the same. It got a little bit colder during winter, but there was no snow at all. Which I guess was a good thing since there was nopony around to wrap up winter, so it would have just sat there. When spring came it didn't get any warmer, it stayed just a little bit cold. And when summer came, or should have come I guess, it actually got colder. It's been slowly getting colder all summer long, in fact." Luna frowned. "That is not good. I can understand the seasons getting disrupted, but it should not be getting colder like that. The sun should still be warming the world from beneath. Without the influence of magic to change the seasons it ought to just stay about the same. It should not get colder." "What... what do you think could be causing it?" Twilight looked as worried as Luna felt. Luna suspect that as intelligent as Twilight was, she already suspected the likely cause of the increasing chill. "I can't say for certain, but... the sun might be growing weaker." "And that means Celestia is growing weaker as well." "Yes." "And if it keeps on... then what?" "Then the world freezes solid. Which I never wanted, but this Nightmare Moon has changed a great deal over the last year. I know a lot about how she thinks, but I do not know everything anymore. She hates Celestia, I know that much, so she may well be the cause of this as well. Or it may be a natural result of Celestia's banishment, I don't know. Living on the moon was lonely, but it did not take much magic to keep me alive. The sun is a lot more hostile to pony life... staying alive may be draining Celestia's magic." "One more reason to defeat Nightmare Moon and set Celestia free then," chimed in Dale. "Yessiree!" said Pinkie, her renewed cheer still completely undampened. "But now that we've talked about the weather, tell me your story!" "Why don't I tell you?" said Dale. "Luna has told it to me many times. She's probably tired of telling it." He smiled at Luna, and she could feel his supportive warmth through their bond. She nearly always cried when talking about the experiences she had gone through. She wasn't ashamed to cry in front of Pinkie Pie, but it was an emotionally draining experience, telling that tale, and she would be just as happy to let Dale tell it for her. Pinkie Pie was apparently just as happy too, for she nodded with enthusiasm and fell in next to Dale, bouncing by his side as the four ponies proceeded on a path that would lead them eventually to the vast metropolis of Manehattan. That left Luna and Twilight together almost alone, with Dale and Pinkie Pie thoroughly distracted. Luna glanced over at Twilight, the purple mare looking pensive in the ever-present moonlight. "Bit for your thoughts?" Twilight shrugged. "Just thinking about everything we've been through. So many adventures in such a short time, my friends and I." "I wish I could have been there for more of them," said Luna. "But it took me a while to be ready to face other ponies, after being alone so long, and then starting things off by... well, starting things off on the wrong hoof, to say the least." "It's okay. I've enjoyed the time I've spent with you," said Twilight. "You're a good friend." "Thank you." A good friend, thought Luna. Something I never really had before. I never let ponies get too close to me. There were so many reasons why books were safer. And there was always Celestia, there when I needed her. Until I wanted something she knew better than to give me, and suddenly I had cut myself off from her, and I was alone. Maybe if I had had just one friend back then things would have been different. But I avoided friends after... "Bit for your thoughts this time?" asked Twilight. "You look sad." Luna heaved a heavy sigh. "Yes. I was remembering." "Remembering Nightmare Moon?" "No. I was remembering before. One of the things that probably led to Nightmare Moon in the end, though at the time I never would have suspected. All I knew then was how hurt I was, and how alone. If Celestia had not been there for me I might have... I donot know. Gone mad, perhaps, although in a different way than Nightmare Moon's madness." "I... I'm afraid you've lost me, Luna. You're not talking about the fight you had with Celestia when you first became Nightmare Moon, are you?" "No. I'm talking about the origin of the royals. Which happened many hundred years before that." "The origin of the royals?" Twilight looked utterly confused. Luna caught herself thinking that she was cute when she was confused. "Yes. Have you ever wondered why Prince Blueblood calls himself Celestia's nephew, when she only has one sister and no brothers?" "I... er... I assumed it was some sort of formality, or an adoption. Do you mean that he... and you... uh..." Luna smiled. Her memories were sad, but Twilight's reaction was amusingly adorable. "He is my many-times-great-grandson." "Oh. I see." "You see some of it, at least. But not all. I was so young then. I had not even taken up my full power. A mere filly of two hundred and fifty years." She chuckled. "Of course that sounds old to most ponies. And if I had had a different upbringing I am certain I would have been mature enough by then, but I was raised by Celestia. She loved me. She loved me very much. And since she would never grow too old to care for me, she saw no reason to hurry me into adulthood and responsibility. She took care of everything for me, saw to my every need, and showered me with love and affection. It was wonderful, to have more than two centuries of being a beloved child, but it also meant that I never had any reason to grow up. So I did not. But of course physically I was a grown mare. And predictably that fact was eventually noticed by a stallion. "I have always been introverted. Even before ponies discovered books I still spent much of my time studying alone. It is just that in those days I studied the world directly. I flew in search of plants and animals, and watched their life cycles, and learned. I once followed and observed a family of wolves for twelve generations. Wolves have complex lives, and I learned much from them. But one day, as I observed the growth of a young tree and considered what I might learn if I could watch it for its entire lifespan, I encountered a stallion. "He said he was a scholar of nature too. I knew nothing of lying in those days. Plants and animals do not lie. He said many things, and I still do not know exactly how he knew so much about me. My sister, also more innocent then than she is now, may well have told him, all unsuspecting. But however he knew, he had just the right words to soothe and charm a wild creature such as myself. It was only later that I learned that he cared nothing for me. He wanted the power that would come with being wedded to one of the ruling princesses. That was all I was to him, a way to power. He was the center of his own universe, and there was no room for any other light there, certainly not for such brilliant lights as love or friendship. "But I did not know that, not then. I loved him. Or I thought I did. I am still not sure. It may have just been infatuation. He was handsome, and witty, and he showered me with attention, praise, and gifts. And, well, eventually things progressed as they are wont to do between stallion and mare, and I found myself pregnant. "That was when I found out what sort of stallion he really was. He did not want the foal. He wanted marriage, and a throne at my side, but children were of no interest to him. He actually tried to make me... to make me get rid of her." Luna was walking more slowly now, her attention turned inward. "I wanted the foal, and wouldn't even consider any other option. So we fought. We argued and debated and screamed, more viciously than any of my later arguments with Celestia. And finally he lost his temper completely and told me how he really felt about me, how he had only been using me to get power. "So that was the end of that. Celestia stepped in and made him vanish. I never knew what she did with him; for all I know she turned him into a frog. I certainly never saw him again. In time, I bore a beautiful little filly. She had my eyes.... but she had her father's coat. And every time I looked at her I hated her just a little, for being part of him. I've never been wise, but I was wise enough to know that a filly should not have to grow up with a mother who hates her. Celestia found a couple who could not have foals, who wanted her very much. They raised her. I very seldom saw her at all. I was too hurt. But she grew up, and had children, whose children had children, and Celestia always took special care of them. All the nobles in the kingdom now are descended from that little filly, but the line of Prince Blueblood is direct, oldest child to oldest child." A faint smile flitted across Luna's face. "And I can not stand that smarmy, selfish cad. He takes after his ancestor far too much. Some days I want to turn him into a frog myself! But Celestia puts up with him, and with the others that have been like him. She told me that... during my banishment they were all she had of me, so she cared for that family as if they really were her direct nieces and nephews, and not a hundred times removed." Luna trailed off, then shook herself before picking the main thread of her tale back up. "But that old hurt is a large part of why I never had any friends. I never let anyone get close to me, after that. Perhaps if I had had a friend I might not have become Nightmare Moon. Celestia was my only confidant, so when I disowned her I was left with nothing but my own anger. A friend might have made all the difference." Luna heaved another deep sigh. "Here Dale was trying to spare me from telling old, sad stories, and I have gone and told one anyway." "I'm sorry," said Twilight. "I didn't mean to pry into your personal life." "No, it is all right." Luna smiled at her. "I don't mind telling you about it. You are my best friend. And anyway it is such an old story. That all happened many hundreds of years before my banishment, so I have had time to heal. Nightmare Moon is a bit more of a recent wound... and sometimes the thought of confronting her here terrifies me, if I am being honest. But I have to do it. I-- just have to." "Well, with any luck at all we'll gather all the Elements before she even knows we're here, and you won't have to do anything but hold her off for a few minutes while we summon their power." "Yes... I hope so."