//------------------------------// // Chapter XIX: Hotbeat, the Volcanic Venture // Story: A Purple Pony Princess's Problems on Planet Popstar // by ANerdWithASwitch //------------------------------// Once again, Discord’s living room was terribly, awfully, un-chaotically quiet. Nopony dared say a thing, lest they call attention to what had just played out on screen. Oh, and Fluttershy was still cowering behind her mane. He could not let this injustice stand. “Well,” Discord said as mockingly as possible, “that just happened.” At the very least, his horrid cliché shocked everypony else into actually speaking. Or growling, in Applejack’s case. “So the varmint is hiding something! That ain’t shyness!” “I am inclined to agree,” Rarity added. “Marx’s actions have been highly suspect.” “Maybe he’s just…saving them for a surprise…?” Pinkie tried, but she sounded entirely unsure of herself. “You’ve gotta face it, Pinkie,” Rainbow said. “Trusting Marx looks like it’s a mistake.” “Which seems rather strange that it happened to begin with,” Luna threw in her two bits. “I did not take Miss Shimmer to be the trusting type.” Celestia, who had recovered from the minor anxiety attack Sunset’s unconsciousness had given her, frowned. “She isn’t. This seems almost unlike her.” Discord popped a clawful of popcorn in his mouth and chewed loudly. “Well, I didn’t record that conversation, but Marx does seem to have built up a rapport with her!” he mentioned. “How so?” Celestia asked. “Oh, well it’s rather simple!” Discord elaborated, “He’s homeless, she was homeless for the better part of a decade, and he played right into those pity points!” Celestia winced at the mention of Sunset’s living situation, but Sunburst spoke before she could. “Sunset always did have a soft spot for those scorned by society.” Rainbow scoffed. “Color me doubtful on that one.” “No, She really did,” Starlight affirmed. “Hay, her feeling bad for me is the whole reason Sunburst and I met!” “Well, it quite sounds like there’s a story there,” Rarity noted. Starlight shrugged. “I mean, it isn’t that riveting of a story,” she said. “Sunset just found me sulking in the corner of the library when I was around four or five and apparently decided that Sunburst needed a reading buddy his own age.” She paused. “Though, thinking of that, she might’ve just been trying to get out of watching him.” Sunburst shook his head. “No, I really think it was just that; she really loved cultivating my love of reading,” he rebutted, his gaze seeming to unfocus from the screen. He smiled a bit wistfully. “I remember once, when I was six, she let me read a YA novel series she’d just finished since I’d read pretty much everything the library had in my age range.” He chuckled. “My parents were not fans of that when they found out, since the content was quite a bit too mature for a six-year-old to read.” Celestia joined him in wistful thoughts of the past. “Understanding what exactly counted as appropriate reading material never was one of Sunset’s strong suits. The number of times I caught her sneaking into the Royal Archives…” Sunburst sniffled a bit. “She used to read to me all the time when I was little, too,” he added. “She started isolating herself more when our grandmother died, though.” Everypony stayed silent for a bit, not entirely sure how to respond to that, though Starlight did place a comforting foreleg around Sunburst’s shoulders. Applejack opened her mouth, eventually–probably to relate–but was interrupted. Loudly, Discord clapped. “Well, I think that’s enough sap for today!” he declared, reaching down into his popcorn bag, pulling out a donut, and taking a bite out of it that crunched like a chip. “Looks like the two of them are getting to their next planet, and my word that is a lot of lava!” “You said this place was called Hotbeat?” Sunset asked as they approached their next planet. “Yep!” Marx declared. Even from this distance, they could see the volcanic activity, a solid fifth of the planet’s surface covered in an ocean of lava. “A fitting name, right?” More than anything else, it reminded Sunset of the pictures humans had taken of Io, albeit quite a bit smaller–Hotbeat couldn’t have been much larger than Ceres. The planet’s surface that wasn’t covered in lava was a sulfur yellow, pocked with volcanic craters. Other than the massive lava lake, there were numerous rivers of molten rock criss-crossing the surface and a single giant dome volcano around the size of Olympus Mons, if Sunset was judging the sizes and distances right. Unlike the Martian volcano, though, this was clearly active and feeding into the planet’s lava lake. Their Warp Star protected them as they entered the atmosphere, as usual, but Sunset had to apply an additional cooling charm as they approached. The surface was so unbearably hot that even a few kilometers up and with the Warp Star’s protection, additional cooling was necessary. “We’re gonna have to be as careful as possible to stay on the Warp Star,” she said. “If this thing breaks the air’s gonna boil us alive.” “You can’t counter that?” Marx asked. Sunset gave him a flat look. “Fresh lava is usually upwards of a thousand degrees, and there’s a lot of it down there. I can put as much power into a cooling charm as I want, but that energy is going to diffuse into the charm faster than I can chuck it out unless we have the Warp Star’s additional protections.” Marx glanced at the yellow ground. “So, we’ve gotta hope that the Fountain isn’t in a cave or something?” Sunset pursed her lips and looked pointedly at the giant mountain they were approaching. “Yeah. Except knowing our luck, it’s either in that volcano or under the lava lake.” “Can’t you do that thing with the field lines to locate it?” Marx asked. Sunset shook her head. “That only works if it’s close by and the strongest magic source in the area; if I cast that spell here it’d probably just pick up on mine or the Warp Star’s field lines.” “Damn,” Marx said. “I guess the easy solution’s out.” “Unfortunately,” Sunset agreed. “But logically, whoever made the Fountain would want to be able to access it, right?” Marx shrugged as much as something without arms could. Which was to say, he bobbed up and down a bit. “Probably. Popstar’s and Floria’s were out in the open, they had a whole city by Aquarius’s, and Skyhigh’s was the only one that was really guarded.” Sunset nodded. “Right, and Skyhigh probably isn’t natural, anyway, so those protections were definitely on purpose.” She grinned. “So they probably didn’t put Hotbeat’s Fountain under half a kilometer of lava.” “That does mean that we need to navigate a Warp Star through a cave, though,” Marx pointed out. Sunset sighed. “Better that than diving through molten rock.” It took a bit more scouting around on the Warp Star, but near the summit they found exactly what they were looking for: a large cavernous opening in the side of the mountain. Marx, rather unlike him, actually looked concerned. “You sure we can make it through?” he asked. “Your landings on Floria and Aquarius haven’t exactly instilled me with the most confidence.” Sunset took a deep breath and focused. “I can do this,” she said. She was among the best mages of her generation. She had survived eight years on Earth with nothing to her name but the clothes the Mirror had placed on her back. She had lived through two different fights with Kirby, and faced a being straight out of a nightmare. She had survived everything this crazy-ass universe had thrown at her so far, and she wasn’t about to be stopped by a cave. Furrowing her brow, Sunset steeled her expression. “I can do this,” she repeated. Their Warp Star launched forward, and they plunged into darkness. Unfortunately, the initial wideness of the cave’s mouth did not last for very long. Only a scant few hundred meters in, and the cave had closed to being only a few meters wide, forcing Sunset to take it very slow on her maneuvering. On top of that, the cave generally had been curving downward, blocking off light from the outside and making the Warp Star their only source of illumination. Of course, it wasn’t all bad–the Fountain was stored deep within the volcano, Sunset was sure. Unfortunately, the deeper in the mountain they ventured, the hotter it got and the more energy Sunset had to expend on a cooling charm. It was still uncomfortably warm, though; Sunset could only do so much, even with the Warp Star’s own protections. It was annoying, but she knew if she took it any faster they’d slam into the cave wall and meet a rather grisly end. So, slow it was. They inched ever forward, what meager light the Warp Star provided enough to barely see that they weren’t about to slam into something. After a few minutes of that mindlessly meandering forward, however, they came across an actual split in the path. One cave, to the left, had a soft glow emanating from further down. On the right, the cave seemed to sharply curve downward, deeper into the mountain. “So, left or right?” Sunset wondered aloud. “The left path looks shorter,” Marx pointed out. “Or at least it has something in it if it’s glowing. Want to check that one first?” Sunset shrugged. “Good enough for me. Plus, just in case, you know what they say about mazes!” “Stick to the left wall?” Marx asked. “Yep!” Sunset confirmed, piloting their ride down the left path. “That only works for mazes that don’t have loops in them, though,” Marx retorted. “Sure, but this is a cave,” Sunset fired back. “Probably an old lava tube, at that. Even if it splits off from the main branch, the chances of a flow like that recombining before it breaches the surface are pretty slim.” “Fair enough,” Marx admitted, glancing around. The glow seemed to have been from some magma that had forced its way into the cave, and Sunset’s horn glowed a bit brighter at the increased heat. Sunset frowned a bit as the magma’s glow got bright enough to see by–this path seemed to simply end in a pretty sizable pool of the stuff. This volcano was clearly active; they had seen that much from the outside. So why was there so much still magma in here, a presumably exhausted lava tube? “Hey, Sunset?” Marx asked, his voice tinged with sudden concern. “You said lava flows don’t usually reconnect, right?” “Yeah,” Sunset replied. “What of it?” “So why did the cave only have one exit?” There was a beat of silence as both of them realized the implications of that. “Skyhigh’s Fountain was well-protected…” Sunset realized. The ground rumbling cut off further conversation, as the pool of magma suddenly erupted into a geyser. It spiraled around, coalescing into an indistinct blob that still managed to hold itself upright. An arm of molten rock shot out of it, impacting the cave’s wall with a thud. “It’s a lava golem!” Marx shouted. “Think we could take it?” Sunset winced as she felt the pressure on her horn increase as the temperature spiked. She opened her mouth to answer, but was interrupted by a terrible shattering sound as the golem tore a boulder from the wall, preparing to hurl it in their general direction. Both Sunset’s and Marx’s eyes widened. “All in favor of retreating?” Sunset asked. “Aye,” Marx confirmed. “Aye,” Sunset repeated. The lava monster roared in defiance, and another geyser of magma exploded out of the pool, the level of which was very quickly rising. “The ayes have it,” Sunset declared. She whirled the Warp Star around and, as fast as she could manage without slamming into the wall, sped down the way they’d come. The golem was after them, Sunset could tell without even looking back. The temperature was still unnaturally high. Marx, it seemed, was looking back. “It’s gaining on us!” he shouted in alarm. “Can you do anything to slow it down?” The cave itself shuddered under the strain of so much new magma pouring through it, some even rushing ahead of the Warp Star across the floor. Sunset could hear even more rock torn from the walls, and could only be thankful that the golem’s shots were going wide, rocks pelting the ground in front of them. That gave her an idea, though, and she focused on where the cave split off in front of them. Mentally pushing the Warp Star even faster, Sunset grit her teeth and turned their stellar vehicle on a dime as soon as they were back in the main cave. She paled at the sight. The lava golem was close now, only a few dozen meters away and approaching rapidly. Magma swirled around it and almost filled the entire cave wall-to-wall, with solid chunks mixed into the mass of semi-liquid rock. “It’s about to get hot,” Sunset plainly warned, splitting her attention between their cooling charm and what she was about to do. The temperature effects were immediate. Before, her charm had kept the Warp Star feeling like an annoying summer day. Hot, sure, but nothing totally intolerable. Now, though, she could feel herself sweating, and not just from the exertion. The air around them felt like a damn forge, and she vaguely recalled a time from her youth that she’d snuck down to the castle armory and smithy, both to watch how weapons were constructed and see the fires dance. Now wasn’t the time for fond recollection of her youth, however; she had a golem to contain. Her corona flared even brighter as she grasped the roof of the left path in her telekinesis, braced herself, and pulled. In a terrible cacophony, the cave’s ceiling came crashing down in just the right way to prevent a total cave-in. The dust prevented Sunset from properly viewing it, but she couldn’t afford to wait for it to clear to enact the next stage of her plan. Summoning her magical might, she directed another cooling charm at the rocks just as she heard the golem impact her impromptu wall. As soon as magma pushed its way through the cracks, it froze. Within a few moments, the golem’s portion of the cave had been completely sealed off. She waited a few more moments with bated breath until she heard the golem stop pounding on the wall and the magma’s bubbling ceased. As soon as she was certain it was safe, she relinquished her cooling charm on the caved-in rock and reapplied it to their Warp Star, much to both her and Marx’s relief. They took a few seconds to recover their breath and get their wits about them as the temperature cooled from unbearable to merely sweltering. As they did, though, Sunset noted that that took far more mana than it should’ve, but she ignored it for the time being. “Right path?” she asked. “Right path,” Marx affirmed. “That. Was. AWESOME!” Rainbow Dash loudly declared, much to the chagrin of everypony else in the room’s ears. Applejack sighed. Dash’s declarations of awesomeness at most of the action taking place was starting to get a bit grating, but she couldn’t much fault the mare’s excitement. She wasn’t nearly as much of a thrill seeker, per se, as Rainbow was, but Applejack knew how good an adrenaline rush could feel. It didn’t stop her concern, however. She also knew how dangerous rocks could be. Very personally. It served as a bit of a wake-up call, Applejack supposed. It wasn’t the first time that Sunset and Marx had been near death on their adventure, nor had it even been the closest they’d been. And Applejack wasn’t naïve enough to think that this would be the last, either. But something about this near-death experience in particular had shaken the group to their cores. Besides Dash and Discord, at least. Rarity was staring wide-eyed at the screen, Pinkie’s ears were tilted backward a bit, and Fluttershy had hid behind her bangs again. They really did need to work on that mare’s self-confidence. Princess Celestia also seemed incredibly anxious for her former student, breathing rather deeply and with a hoof over her chest. Softly, Princess Luna wrapped a wing around her elder sister. “Sunset can make it through this, I am certain of it,” she whispered, though it was loud enough for the rest of the room to hear, too. Discord rolled his eyes, which had transformed into a pair of seven-sided dice. Applejack wasn’t the best at mathematics, but she at least knew that that shouldn’t be possible. “Oh, puh-lease,” he groused. “Shimmy Sham there will be just fine. Don’t you ponies face great adversity and impossible odds and come out on top all the time?” Most of the room shot him a glare, and he at least had the decency to look confused. “What, did I say something wrong?” “Not everypony comes out on top,” Applejack grumbled. Sunburst audibly sniffled, and Starlight was very visibly confused when he grasped her in a hug and started crying a bit. Celestia looked at the two with a pitying stare, her eyes indicating that there was a secret there that she was privy to. “No, not everypony does,” she whispered sadly. Applejack glanced back at Fluttershy, who had leveled her own planning stare at Discord. “We, um, might have to talk about when it’s a good idea to have some tact, soon,” she said. “So, care to explain whatever the fuck that was?” Sunset asked as she piloted their Warp Star down the cave. Marx looked at her confusedly. “What is there to explain?” he asked. “It was a lava golem. Seems pretty straightforward.” Sunset raised an eyebrow. “I’m not sure if the naming conventions are different here, but golems in Equestria generally have to be made. That seemed pretty natural.” Marx frowned. “Well, golems can show up naturally here, at least from what I know of magic. If you get a big enough clump of magic it’ll start bending the world around it and can form it into a pseudo-living thing. That’s actually one of the theories of where Kracko comes from!” He paused to think for a moment. “Though, that can’t really be the case, since Kracko’s clearly intelligent.” He blinked. “And I’m not sure why there’d be enough magic in a random lava pool to form a golem out of.” Sunset’s train of thought suddenly clicked onto another rail. “What if they’re artificial?” she asked. “Huh?” “Here me out,” she continued. “If we’re on the right path here, both Kracko and that lava golem were protecting a Fountain, and meant as traps or trials or something for whoever was going towards one.” “I’m following,” Marx said, prompting her to continue. “So what if whoever made the Fountains made them, too!” Sunset exclaimed. “And Kracko was given some kind of AI that developed into full sapience over the years!” She cut herself off. “How old are those legends, anyway–you said around two thousand years? And do you know who built the Fountains?” “No one does,” Marx replied. “And no one knows exactly how old the legends are, either. Recorded history on Popstar only goes back around two thousand years, and we know that the legends are older than that. And whoever built the Fountains left the system a while ago–archeologists are still digging up some of their stuff, but what they can figure out about them doesn’t match any creature in the known universe.” “Well that’s ominous,” Sunset commented. Before she could consider that further, a glow from something besides their Warp Star caught her eye. Glancing upward, her eyes widened in surprise. Mounted onto the wall of the cave was a torch, burning brightly. Excitedly, she sped up the Warp Star a bit. Soon, they passed a second torch, then a third. Within a minute, they’d left their cramped little cave behind and entered a massive, brightly-lit cavern. A river of magma flowed through the back of it, illuminating a series of crude shacks made of rock. On one of the walls stood a door–also made of rock–and the other seemed dug out. Multiple tunnels poked out from it, and it had clearly been mined out; snaking across the rock was an empty portion that definitely once held a vein of ore. The pickaxe embedded into the wall was a dead giveaway, too. Its head was some purplish metal that Sunset couldn’t identify, and whoever had left it there had clearly left in a hurry. It didn’t seem to be too far stuck in the rock, and the pile of other rocks besides it indicated that the user hadn’t cleaned up. There was no way of telling how long it had been there, though. Normally a geologically active region like this would wipe away any traces left there very quickly, but this universe had already defied her expectations countless times. For all she knew, that pickaxe could’ve been there for dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of years. Marx even seemed rather confused as well. “An abandoned mine?” he asked. A chuckle from behind them caused Sunset to launch their Warp Star a good half a meter upward in surprise. “Abandoned?” an older, feminine voice asked. Sunset spun their vehicle around to face the newcomer, revealing a Burning Leo. “Well, I don’t use it as a mine, but I do live here!” She said with a laugh. Both Sunset and Marx were at a bit of a loss for words. “Uh…hi?” Sunset tried. “Hi to you too,” the Burning Leo replied, clearly amused. “I don’t get many visitors down here. What’s brought a couple of young Dreamlanders up to Hotbeat? And into my volcano, at that?” “We’re looking for Hotbeat’s Fountain of Dreams,” Marx explained. “Do you know where it is?” The Burning Leo gave a hearty laugh and pointed at the door. “Why, it’s right through there and down the hallway.” Sunset grinned. “Thanks, we’ll be right on our way and-” The Burning Leo held up a hand. “Now I’ll stop you right there, Missy. Y’see, I’ve got the key to the Fountain room.” To emphasize her point, she held up the key in question. “And I don’t want anyone to just waltz in and leave the door open.” “So what, you want us to prove ourselves or something?” Sunset asked, rolling her eyes. “Need us to dive into the lava river?” The Burning Leo chuckled again. “Hah, no, nothing that’d be certain death,” she responded. “I do kind of live in the wall between here and the Fountain, though.” Her expression darkened a bit. “And there’s a Chameleo Arm that’s decided to make himself my roommate without my permission. Think you could get him out?” Sunset frowned in concentration. Chameleo Arms, from what she recalled of their Bandee-translated library binge session, were essentially just giant chameleons with absurdly stretchy arms. This shouldn't be too bad. “Sure,” she said with a shrug. “We can do that.” The Burning Leo smiled. “Thank you. Follow me.” Turning, she started making her way towards the door. “Oh, and you can call me Bridget, by the way.” Sunset nodded, though her thought process was elsewhere at this point as they lazily followed behind Bridget on their Warp Star. “Say, if the Fountain is this close, why can’t I feel its magic?” Bridget looked back, her eyes wide. “You can feel Fountain magic?” “...Yeah?” Sunset replied. “Is that strange? I’d think anyone powerful enough would be able to feel it.” “Power’s got nothing to do with it,” Bridget explained. “There’re just a scant few creatures that’re really able to feel the Fountains.” She shook her head to clear it. “But anyway, to answer your question, it’s probably the mithril in the walls blocking it.” Marx choked, and Sunset raised an eyebrow. “Mithril is a real thing, here?” “Well, it’s what that pick over there is made of, and I’m pretty sure it’s what they were mining here,” Bridget offered. “I thought mithril was a myth,” Marx added. “There’s been speculation that it’s what the Fountains and Star Rods are made of, but no one’s been able to replicate it to know for sure.” “So what exactly is mithril, then?” Sunset asked. “I assume it’s magical?” “Intensely so,” Bridget confirmed. By this point, they’d reached the door and she’d inserted the key. “Mithril is packed full of magic, so much that it actively deflects magical fields with its own.” “Is that how Nightmare was contained, then?” Sunset pondered aloud. “The Fountain being mithril blocked his magic?” Carefully, Sunset maneuvered the Warp Star through the now-open door as Marx thought about that. She frowned as she felt the magic around them twist and turn–it seemed Bridget was right about mithril interfering with magical fields. “Probably,” Marx eventually answered. “But mithril is supposed to be insanely difficult to deform. I have to wonder how they even made the Fountains out of it–or that pickaxe, for that matter.” “Maybe an alloy?” Sunset wondered. “Combining it with something like gold could help with the malleability.” “Maybe,” Marx conceded. “This is all fascinating,” Bridget cut in, “but we’re here and you’ve got a chameleon to deal with.” Sunset looked around. The room they were in was noticeably cooler, but still hot enough that the Warp Star shattering would render her useless in a fight. It was also designed like a temple of some sort, glyphs decorating the walls. It was well-lit, at least; torches covered much of the wall space, brightening the area up enough to see. On the far side was a second door, clearly the way to the Fountain. Sunset glanced around, looking for the Chameleo Arm. They could render themselves nearly invisible, so she’d need to be constantly vigila- She quickly spun their Warp Star out of the way as an invisible arm rushed past them, slamming into the ground hard enough to crack it. She had just barely seen it from the light refracting through, but that hard of a hit would’ve completely shattered their ride if it connected. With a shimmer, the Chameleo Arm made itself visible. It was currently an orangish color and sticking to the ceiling, clearly content to take potshots using its arm. Its eyes looked in two different directions, one focusing on Sunset and Marx, while the other looked at Bridget. He retracted his arm, shimmered back into invisibility, and dodged Sunset’s retaliatory strike of magic. She silently cursed at that. One good hit would probably take it out, sure, but the same was true for them. If the Warp Star shattered, they were done for. Fortunately, the Chameleo Arm was having just as much trouble hitting them as they were hitting it. It had invisibly struck back twice now, and both times Sunset had dodged. The first she saw again because of the light refraction, but the second just barely missed because of Marx calling it out. Sunset frowned. This stalemate really did not work for any of them. But with so much space for the Chameleo Arm to run around on, she didn’t see it ending anytime soon unless they could manage to flush it out. Well, she considered, that could work. “Bridget, would you mind providing some extra fire?” Sunset asked, moving their Warp Star a bit to the left to dodge a third strike. Bridget shrugged. “Sure,” she answered simply, spewing out a flame that Sunset grabbed ahold of in her magic. Using both a pyrokinetic and cryokinetic spell simultaneously would feel oxymoronic to most novice spellcasters. After all, controlling ice and fire at the same time seems impossible! Of course, a slightly more educated view reveals the truth: pyrokinesis and cryokinesis are really just extensions of the more general thermokinesis, the art of taking energy and moving it somewhere else. Cryokinesis was more crude, selecting an area and just diverting energy away from it. That, though, meant that it took less energy to maintain a spell over long periods of time. Pyrokinesis, on the other hoof, required more energy to do consistently, but was far flashier and able to get results quite a bit faster. Sunset was personally better at the latter, but she could do both just fine. So, using both simultaneously was only as difficult as using any two spells at once. For Sunset, that made it nearly as easy as breathing. She did have to divert her attention three different ways, sure, but controlling the Warp Star and keeping them cool could both be done nearly subconsciously. Most of her focus was on the fire she was controlling, both from Bridget and the room’s many torches. “Close your eyes!” Sunset shouted in warning. She gathered up the energy near the center of the room before it exploded outward. It was an incredibly bright flash, and if it wasn’t for her warning it would’ve temporarily blinded them. Chameleons, though–and Chameleo Arms too–had no eyelids, and one eye had clearly been wide open in the direction of the flash. The Chameleo Arm hissed in pain as he suddenly saw stars in that eye, but Sunset wasn’t quite done yet. Directing the energy into the walls and ceiling, the structure heated up dramatically. This Chameleo Arm in particular had clearly adapted to the heat, but even those adaptations weren’t enough to protect him from the rock suddenly reaching hundreds of degrees. He let out some sort of cry as he fell to the ground, involuntarily relinquishing his grip on the ceiling. He looked around with his good eye before settling on the door and making a mad dash for it, seemingly content to get out of Bridget’s hair. Bridget gave a belly laugh as Sunset refocused on making sure their cooling charm was up to snuff. “Oh, I didn’t think I’d ever be rid of him! This is perfect!” Sunset and Marx both chuckled a bit. “So, the Fountain?” Marx prodded. “Oh, of course!” Bridget exclaimed. Grabbing a second key, she rushed for the far door and unlocked it. As soon as it was open, Sunset could feel the Fountain empowering her. The fights and constantly trying to keep cool had been taking a bit of a toll on her magic, but she breathed in deeply as she felt it replenishing just from proximity to the Fountain. Clearly, she’d need to keep an eye out for more of this mithril stuff if it had such a major effect on magic. “Have a great day!” Sunset called as they passed Bridget. She just responded with a jaunty wave. As they entered the Fountain’s chamber, Sunset made a beeline for it. The Warp Star they got from Skyhigh finally shattered, absorbing itself into her horn just as she and Marx plunged into the Fountain’s waters. It was nice and cool, and before they continued, Sunset just took a moment to relax herself and soak in the magic. Hotbeat’s Fountain felt absolutely ancient in its magic. It felt deep and powerful–not unlike Celestia’s, actually. Sunset surfaced and leapt up to touch the Star Rod before long, though. They’d already spent upwards of six hours on this and still had three planets to go before they could summon Nova. The power coalesced into a new Warp Star, this one another unique color. Hotbeat’s was a deep red, similar to the color of cooling lava. She smiled as she and Marx hopped on. There were a couple close calls, but she did feel that this was her favorite planet so far. “So, how are we gonna get out?” Marx asked. “Do we just carefully go back up the cave?” Sunset grinned and shook her head. The Fountain was right there, and it felt like absorbing Skyhigh’s Warp Star had given her another power boost. Without answering verbally, she lit her horn and they vanished in a flash of light. They reappeared, still floating on their Warp Star, kilometers above the surface again. Marx looked at her incredulously. “And you couldn’t use that to get us to the Fountain because…” “I didn’t know where it was,” Sunset explained. “If I tried to teleport us to it, I’d probably get us stuck inside the rock and we’d suffocate. Here, at least, I knew I could just teleport straight up around thirty kilometers without wasting any energy because of the Fountain.” Marx seemed satisfied with that. “Fair enough.” Before they left Hotbeat behind for good, though, Sunset glanced back down at the volcano. There used to be a whole civilization here. A civilization advanced enough to mine mithril and shape it into the Fountains, to build artificial, intelligent life, and to change the course of history for an entire star system. Clearly they had intended to stick around. So there was just one, very nagging question. Where did they all go? Sunset’s gaze focused on the volcano’s crater. She hadn’t noticed it before, but the shape of the crater was rather odd. It didn’t look so much like it had exploded, but had rather been sliced; the lava was spilling out of a similarly-shaped gash to what she had seen on Aquarius. Her mind flashed back to an image of bloody water surrounding a headless body. Or, she gulped, what killed them?