//------------------------------// // CH.8. Unforgiving Sun // Story: The Kingdom Of Darkness // by Dragon-In-Black //------------------------------// When Meadowbrook had finished a few of her potions and Twilight had finished some reading and grabbed a few scrolls she had found in the restricted section of the library in the basement, Somnambula found herself walking to the train station. There wasn’t any chatter when they entered the train station other than a few curious stares from the town's ponies and travellers. The orange-coated pegasus was still fascinated by the new times and the modern buildings she had never seen before even back in ancient times. She’d learned that the Apple family were the founders of Ponyville and had existed for roughly a hundred years and had expanded over the years, multiple ponies from all walks of life moving into the town and creating businesses, houses and apartments. It also helped that the element bearers and a Princess lived in the town. Somnambula chuckled as she thought about an old friend of her’s that was also royalty. Prince Hisan had been the ruler she had once followed, but he was now long gone. The Prince and Somnambula had become close after the pegasus defeated the sphinx, occasionally going out for formal dinners and sharing drinks. However, it wasn’t romantic like many ponies believed. It was just two friends having fun and sharing memories. Besides, her heart belonged to somepony else. Looking at Twilight, Somnambula couldn’t help but wonder what it was like being royalty. Not that she was interested in becoming a princess, but she was curious about what it was like dealing with high-end politics that looked so long, boring and tedious. ‘Hmm, I wonder if Stygian is dealing with snobbish nobles?’ She thought to herself just as Twilight walked up to the ticket booth and bought tickets for the Element Bearers, Pillars, and Spike. “So, we have everything we need?” Twilight looked over at Starswirl who nodded. “On my end, I have everything,” he replied and the Pillars nodded together. The Element Bearers gave the same response. “Alright, there isn’t a train that takes us directly to the Badlands, but there is a train that will take us as far as Appleloosa, after that we need to walk for a few days,” Twilight explained, handing out the tickets. “Right, but how come? Badlands not that bad—no pun intended,” Magnus asked confusedly as did the other Pillars. “I will admit, that bandits can be tedious and violent, but they have never attacked trains to my knowledge,” Somnambula spoke while looking at her ticket. Starswirl sighed with a heavy look. “That’s… because the bandits became more… aggressive over the years. A few hundred years ago, King Sombra worshippers hijacked a train and killed every pony, filly and colt in sight, they spared no creature,” The Element Beares—including Twilight—gasped, horrified by what the old wizard revealed. Even Twilight had no idea why the Badlands had been considered ‘bad’ apart from ponies and other creatures who were banished there for committing heinous crimes. But, that did explain at least why there were no train tracks leading there, or at least a train that took that route. “Holy smokes… why did they do that for?!” Magnus and Rainbow asked with rage in their eyes. Starswirl shook his head. “Rumours have it that the followers were Crystal Ponies that agreed with King Sombra’s tyranny and were unhappy with the alicorn sisters. In response to King Sombra and the Crystal Empire’s banishment, they murdered every pony there on the train, knowing that the Badlands were outside of Equestria jurisdictions.” The ponies and dragon looked disgusted. How can some ponies be so… evil? “That’s disgusting,” Spike said, his face scrounged up as if he was smelling something horrible. They agreed. “Yes, that is why no trains enter Badlands and is advised that no pony or any other creature enter such lands. Being banished to the Badlands is worse than death in many ways, especially considering King Sombra worshippers are still around…” The old wizard didn’t finish his thought. “We’re going to have to be extra careful in the lands,” Twilight spoke with a little panic that Spike picked up on. “Starswirl, how… ‘safe’ is the wrong word for it, but… how exactly is it?” “I understand what you mean. I would say that if we stick together we’ll be protected, so no splitting up, whatever you do. However, even if we walk in a pack, we have to be careful because every creature there has committed one crime even if it was just once in their life,” Starswirl explained. “And I’m not talking about stealing from candy stores,” They shuddered at the thought of what he insinuated. Somnambula remained silent as their train came to a stop in front of them. The doors to the different carriages opened, allowing the ponies inside to walk out. The conductor instructed ponies on both ends to either step on board or step off if this was their stop. The ponies and dragon stepped on the train and took their seats. Somnambula shared a seat with the little purple-scaled dragon who opened an illustration book with characters inside it and began to watch…read? She shook her head and looked out the window and saw her friends and Element Bearers take their seats with one another while chatting about different things, trying to lighten the mood from the depressing topic from before. Starswirl pulled out a heavy book and began to read through it while chatting with Twilight about something the orange-coated pegasus couldn’t quite hear. The Applefarmer, Party planner and dressmaker sat together while doing different things like eating cupcakes, looking out the window and polishing hooves and checking mane and tail. Meadowbrook and Rockhoof were sitting behind Somnambula, the former being worried for her pegasus friend along with the latter who was equally worried. The Pegasus could only assume that it was their way to show that they cared. The Pillar of Hope spotted the animal caretaker, Fluttershy alongside Mistmane, Magnus and Rainbow Dash, sitting in one spot. The yellow-coated pegasus was looking through an animal magazine while Magnus and Rainbow Dash discussed military fighting while Mistmane kept looking at Magnus with a look she couldn’t quite catch. The train started to move and before long, the Friendship Express was moving at a high speed heading to the next town over which was Appleloosa. Somnambula looked out the window as the scenery changed from a green plain to a more yellowish plain, filled with sand, stone, cactuses and even a skull from a buffalo laying in the middle of nowhere but close enough to the train track to see what it was. The pegasus cringed. She did have a friend from long ago that belonged to a buffalo tribe until he was banished for killing a fellow tribe member for forcing himself on another buffalo. Luckily, her friend was there to stop it, but there was no evidence of it happening. Sadly, the female buffalo didn’t have a say because it was a patriarchal society back then, and without evidence of the attempted assault taking place, her friend was kicked to the curb and banished from the tribe. Before her banishment, she met him one last time and had been happy to see that he met a dragoness that had taken an interest in him and if she remembered correctly, was pregnant with their first child. The train ride continued onward with a few small bumps on the way along with a snoring Rainbow Dash that had fallen asleep a few hours into the ride. The others were quiet and did their own thing. Somnambula would have meditated, but she was afraid that she would see the distorted image of Stygian again. Eventually, they made it to the train station where there were many ponies and other creatures that were mingling about, chatting and doing their daily errands. The train stopped at the station and they all got out off the train. Applejack would have visited her family, but they were in a rush and they all agreed that they couldn’t make any detours. They needed to get to Kludgetown. “Okay, we’re here, Ya’ll know which direction we’re going?” Applejack asked Twilight and Starswirl who were reading the map together. “Yeah, from our location we gotta go south,” Twilight replied and put the map in her saddle bag and they began to walk at a small pace. The ponies and other creatures didn’t pay them much mind and they were lucky to not run into Braeburn who no doubt would have made them stay for lunch and at the moment—at least for Somnambula—was the last thing they needed. They walked through the town without any form of disturbance and continued into the desert that had no creature out there except for criminals and buffalo tribes that were scattered all over the place. They held together in a formation while looking out for anything suspicious or dangerous that could await them. ***The Kingdom Of Darkness*** After walking for several hours, most ponies were tired and couldn’t handle the heat apart from Somnambula and Spike who didn’t even react to it. Spike didn’t react because he was a dragon and bathed in lava, Somnambula came from a kingdom where the heat is the only thing they have apart from the random downpour that happens now and again. “Heh, lassies and lads, we need to set up camp soon!” Rockhoof groaned while carrying his fiancé on his back. Not used to the heat, she had collapsed along the way and was dizzy from all the walking and unforgiving sun. Rockhoof, who was used to such an environment after years of harsh training lasted far longer than the others who were panting like dogs and sweating buckets. “But we haven’t even walked that far?” Somnambula said, looking at Rockhoof who stared back at her as if she had grown a second head. “What?” “Darling… we… have walked… for… six hours…” Mistmane spoke with shaky hooves. She wasn’t the only one tired. Magnus, who was also trained under extreme circumstances couldn’t handle the far distance and heat that was getting to them. Rainbow Dash stopped flying two hours ago and was panting. “What?” Somnambula looked behind her and there was nothing in sight other than cactuses, sand, and a few buffalo’s walking. “Oh,” “Alright, we’ll find a secluded spot and get some food and sleep,” Starswirl said while looking around for any caves or places that aren’t easily spotted. Somnambula decided to use her wings to fly and flew as high as possible trying to find any place they could get some rest which proved to be difficult when all there was were sand, cactuses and a lot of caves… “Caves!” She shouted to herself and flew back down to her friends that had stopped to see what she was up to. “I found caves not far from here, maybe a five-minute walk,” she said and guided them to a cave she had seen. The cave she had spotted had a large entrance, was red-orange coloured and was dark inside like most caves. The location belonged to a large mountain that not many ponies or other creatures would care enough about to look into unless they were explorers. When they saw it, they felt relief. “The dark shadows should be good to cool off in,” Twilight observed and urged everypony and dragon to follow her inside. True to her observation, the darkness was cold in a pleasant way. The effect was immediate, and they all moaned in delight to finally be out from the unforgiving sunshine. Twilight and Starswirl lit their horns that shined brightly throughout the cave, showing that it had once been a mining place with gems and holes filling the walls and roof. There were wooden walls and a ‘roof’ holding everything in place every hundred hoof steps or so. There was even an old mining cart pushed to the side with a railway for the cart to be pushed through. “Huh, an old mining place,” Starswirl muttered to himself with small fascination. “OH! Look at these gems!” Rarity said with stars in her eyes and almost floated to them until Applejack knocked her head with her hoof, forcing Rarity out of her state. “Sorry, Rarity, but we got things to do, we can come back for them another day,” Applejack spoke as she left the marshmallow-coated mare by the side of the cart track. “Hehe…” Rarity nervously laughed and followed the others further into the mine. It didn’t take long for Starswirl and Twilight to find a resting place. They had found a large resting place that must have been used for the miners when it was still in use. There were old rusty bunk beds that aligned with the mine walls with bedsheets and pillows that had lost their colour and had started to mould, which earned a horrified shriek from Rarity. “This is an atrocity!” The unicorn cried as she levitated the pillows away from the bunk beds and cast a spell that lit them ablaze and placed them in the middle that had black scorch marks, showing that it was here the ponies from a forgotten past had made their food and kept them warm. “Was that necessary, Rares?” Rainbow asked with her hooves crossed, hovering in the air while raising a brow at the fashionista. “No… but now we have a fire at least,” she spoke with pink cheeks after she realised she had nothing to be worried about. The others rolled their eyes while silently appreciating the small fire despite still being quite warm, but the fire wasn’t scorching hot as they feared when they saw the unicorn set ablaze on the pillows. The rest of the small area had a tool kit filled with old rusty tools used for mining. Rockhoof was quickly taken by some of the items that he hadn’t seen before, amazed by their appearance and wondered how they were used. There wasn’t any documentation there that they could read, but at least they had each other and a small fire that made them see better in the dark and keep them warm when they would sleep later. Everypony and dragon began to set up their tents. Spike had opted to sleep alone, so he brought his own tent he used whenever the girls threw slumber parties and he needed to have someplace to sleep. He showed his expertise by building up his tent in two minutes. He rolled out a small mattress made for camping and lay on it with a happy smile on his face. Fluttershy and Rarity shared a tent and Spike went over to help them build make their tent which he did with the same speed. Their tent was twice as large, but that was because it was made to fit two ponies. Rainbow Dash and Applejack decided to share and the farmer had no qualms about setting up a tent. Twilight and Pinkie had no trouble sharing a tent. Pinkie managed to make the tent at a speed that not even Discord could match, leaving Twilight stunned but shrugged it off quickly. Somnambula had the tent that she had bought and set it up with some difficulty, not used to camping. Magnus helped her, having been trained to set up camp. She decided to be alone so she could be with her thoughts while Mistmane and Magnus shared a tent. Rockhoof and Meadowbrook shared their tent and before everypony and dragon knew it, it was time to eat. Pinkie and Applejack had two saddle bags worth of food so it could last and Rockhoof had taken a note from them and had cooking utensils and food that was canned. The fire that Rarity had started earlier proved to be a useful tool. They hurdled in one large circle while Rockhoof boiled vegetables and a fish he had collected before they left Ponyville. The water made sounds as it boiled at the crackling fire that echoed in the old dusty mine that soothed their nerves. “How much farther until we reach Kludgetown?” Mistmane asked while rubbing her hooves that were sore from all the walking. “Not much farther, it’s about another three-hour walk, but it will be quicker than today,” Starswirl replied trying to soothe his own hooves that were sore and ached. “I must admit, I need to strengthen my walking distance,” “Well, at least it isn’t very far away,” Spike comforted. “But, when we get there, who can give us reliable information? It’s not as if we can get it for free,” Starswirl hummed. “True… the best place to get information would be a pub, but that has downsides because most of the pubs I was in had very dangerous criminals, the type that make Nightmare Moon look like an angsty teen throwing a temper-tantrum,” The Element Bearers were wide-eyed. “WHAT?” Rainbow shouted, her jaw reaching the ground with a thud. Starswirl sighed. “Yes, I know and understand that my statement is extreme, but believe me, I have come across criminals there that are far worse than the likes of Nightmare Moon and even King Sombra. Some of them have done things that… I am too afraid to even speak of it,” “You shouldn’t, otherwise this fanfiction would be M rated!” Pinkie Pie spoke cheerfully, mouth full of marshmallows. “Ugh! Pinkie, darling, please don’t speak with your mouth full,” Rarity said with her face wrinkled in disgust. Pinkie swallowed the marshmallows and shrugged. “If that’s true, Starswirl, then why go there at all? Isn’t it then… too dangerous for us to go there?” Twilight asked with a little fear in her tone. The thought that there are creatures more dangerous than Nightmare Moon and King Sombra terrified her. “Ah agree with Twi, shouldn’t we just use a map and go to places we’ve never been to and hope that the Kingdom is there but is unexplored?” Applejack asked with a raised brow. “AJ, this isn’t a vacation, we need to look for Stygian,” Rainbow spoke with her hooves crossed while looking at the mare with an odd look. “Ah’m just saying, it could be more productive,” the farmer defended with a roll of her eyes. “Well,” the old wizard replied before the farmer and pegasus could have a verbal altercation. “I wouldn’t normally have gone there, but if you know where to search, you can find an invaluable amount of information on many different topics. There’s a library of sorts that holds a great deal of information and is the only place that has never had theft,” Twilight looked excited at the prospect of seeing a library while the others simply nodded their heads in agreement with the plan. They finished their food and cleaned up before going to their tents and getting ready to sleep, doing their regular nightly activities before going to sleep. Somnambula looked at the roof of her tent with something stirring in her stomach. ‘Why do I get the feeling we will see something terrible tomorrow?’ She thought before drifting to sleep.