//------------------------------// // 2. Heart of the Earth // Story: Garden of Shadows // by Night_Shine //------------------------------// Uuuggggghhh... The first thing that Applejack heard was a low moan in her voice echoing out into the wide halls of a cave. A throbbing headache pounded against her skull as she hesitantly stretched her eyes open, only to find a room consumed by darkness. Darkness...except for the soft light reflecting off of the two golden eyes staring straight at her. "Aaah!" Applejack jerked in shock and immediately backpedaled, colliding with a cave wall. The figure floating upside down in the darkness had to stifle a giggle. "Why hello there. I have not seen a pony like you before..." said the golden eyed mare as she rolled over in the air and landed rightside-up on the cold stone ground. A pair of jet-black bat wings folded neatly against her sides. Her ashen-gray coat blended almost perfectly into the darkness, only visible when the mare moved. "Um...hi. What's your name?" "I'm Starlight. And yours?" she asked, a warm mirth in her golden eyes. "...Applejack." "Well, Applejack, what are you doing out here by the river alone? It can get very cold here in the eternal nighttime of the caves." She looked shrewdly at the bat-pony, still confused. "Me and my friend Twilight were explorin' these here caves when we...uh...fell off a ledge, but this isn't where we fell...speakin' of which, wouldja happen to know where in tarnation we are right now?" Applejack responded, still taking in the strangeness of the whole situation. Fuzzy gray blobs started to take shape in her vision as her eyes adjusted to the darkness. The mare blinked, temporarily cutting off the only light in the entire room. "Well, where were you before you fell of of the ledge? Where are you from?" she asked, noticeably hesitant to divulge their location. "I'm from Ponyville." Starlight gave Applejack a blank look. "Y'know, just west of Canterlot in Equestria?" At the word Equestria she flinched and drew back, her friendly gaze shifting to a hostile glare. Her tone dropped to a low growl as she said, "Oh. In that case you had better come with me." " 'Scuse me? What if I don't want to?" Applejack said, her eyes narrowing. In response, Starlight opened her mouth the tiniest smidgen and glanced down the corridor. Suddenly a rush of air swept past Applejack's head and she instinctively ducked. A huge shadow soared past her and slammed into the ground ahead, right behind Starlight. Another pair of glowing eyes flickered in the shadows. Applejack charged toward them. With choreographed precision the eyes both disappeared as their owners shot up into the spacious cavern, and Applejack heard the rattling of hooves against stone as her new adversaries landed on the ceiling. Frustrated, Applejack looked around for something to throw at them, still nearly blinded by the shadows of the cave. Unfortunately she didn't get the chance, though, as a rush of air swept by her for the second time and did not miss. A heavy weight smashed into her side, sending her tumbling into the murmuring waters of an underground river below them. Applejack splashed to the surface, gasping for air, when all of a sudden something grabbed her from behind and hoisted her up to the roof of the cavern. A pair of golden eyes appeared in front of her, and Applejack glared at them as her hooves dangled above the jagged walls of stone. She heard Starlight's voice, startlingly cold and commanding, snapping an order to the pony whose hooves dug into Applejack's legs: "According to this one, there is another pony somewhere wandering around by the shore. I will find her and bring her in. Take this one back and put her in the Cells...and tell Lord Duskfall and the Council that we have a couple of Sunlovers to be dealt with." The cool moist air of the cave relaxed Starlight as it flowed gently over her wings. Scanning the cave floor way beneath her, she found her thoughts drifting to the mare they had captured earlier. I wonder what it would be like for her to live out in the sunlight. It'd probably hurt your eyes a lot...and how could you possibly blend in with a bright-orange coat like that? It'd be impossible to avoid predators, which makes no sense since the outside forests are teeming with them. Maybe they have some kind of magical protection... Suddenly a loud echoing voice snapped her deifting thoughts to attention. Her ears pricked up, swiveling to the source of the noise. Still floating through the air, Starlight closed her eyes and opened her mouth, flying by echolocation so she could hear more effectively. There it was again, but clearer. It sounded like a young mare's voice, probably a half-mile upstream. So 'Applejack' wasn't lying about her friend, Starlight mused. Well, hopefully this 'Twilight' will not be too much of a problem. The voice echoed out for a third time, and by now it was clear that it was yelling 'Applejack' repeatedly. Starlight cracked a smile as she swooped down to pass through a small tunnel the river had carved. She cannot be a serious problem if she's spent all of this time calling for help- As she flew out of the tunnel and around a bend in the river, a blinding inferno of light exploded across her vision. She stumbled in mid-air, shielding her eyes with her hooves, screaming as her sensitive eyes stung with throbbing pain. Desperately pressing her hooves against her face, Starlight didn't notice the jagged stalactite until she slammed face-first into it and corscrewed through the air until she smashed into the ground, rolling to a stop in a collapsed heap. She groaned, hearing an unpleasant pop! as she rolled into a slightly less uncomfortable pose. Her eyes open, Starlight noticed one of her wings flopping uselessly at her side, bent at an angle that made her wince. The rapid sound of hooves clapping against rock echoed ever-closer towards her, but it accompanied the deadly-painful light which grew brighter and brighter, forcing her to smother her face with her hooves. The noise slowed to a gentle trot, and then faded into echoes. "Oh my gosh, are you okay?!" Starlight groaned again. "Please...the light..." No response. "TURN OFF THE LIGHT!!!" The inferno of pain faded immediately, melting into the soothing darkness of the caves. "T-thank you," Starlight croaked, following it up with a raspy cough. Her lungs burned with every breath. "How did this happen to you?" asked the voice, spilling over with worry. Starlight mustered the strength to stretch her neck up and glare. Everything she could see was a white blob, but she was pretty sure that she glared at the correct blob. "I was trying to fly and your light blinded me." "Oh no! I'm so, so sorry. I was just trying to find my way out of here, and...!" The voice stumbled over itself as it launched into a rambling apology. Starlight lifted a hoof into the air and waved it dismissively. "No, it is not your fault...for the record, I would have normally announced myself if-" suddenly Starlight cut herself off. A shiver ran up her spine as she realized that, now that she was out of range of the main camp and Moon Beam had already left, convincing this pony—her enemy—to help her was the only option. "If what?" "I, uh," Starlight picked her words carefully as she continued, "I...was on a scouting mission, and I thought you might be a predator." She winced. Why oh why must I be so terrible at lying? Misinterpreting her wince, the pony said, "Are you hurting a lot? Because if you need help, I know a ton of healing spells!" Starlight's ears perked up. Maybe this won't work out too badly after all. "Yes, please. I think my wing is broken." All of a sudden Starlight's blood ran ice-cold as the horrible light burst back to life, and she immediately shielded her eyes. "Ach! Not the light; please, please turn it off!" The light did not die. "Well, I'm sorry, but it will have to stay on in order for my healing magic to work." Starlight whimpered. She sighed. "...Fine," she heard herself say. The inferno of scalding white grew and grew and grew as it flooded over her. Her wing shivered and twitched as it lifted itself off of the floor and shifted around, the thin cartilage rubbing uncomfortably against itself as the unicorn went to work. Click. Streeeeetch. "OW!" "Whoops, sorry, sorry!" Click. All of a sudden the painful light faded and a sense of warmth washed over Starlight's body. "AAAaaahhhhh..." she sighed, stretching and folding her wing. "Now remember, you'll need to stay off of that wing for a couple days in order for it to heal properly," the mare said. "Do you need me to heal anything else?" "Nonono, it's fine; I've had worse crashes," Starlight said quickly. "But...I am going to have to walk?" "...Yeah, I guess. Where are you going?" "Well..." She thought for a moment. Maybe she could bring this mare in willingly, if the Sunlover didn't know that they were enemies. "I am going back to my home camp. Apparently another Sunlo—er—another pony is headed that way by the name of 'Applejack'; do you know her?" Twilight's eyes narrowed as she stared down at the gray mare, thinking hard. Did she almost just call me..."sun lover"? And why would Applejack be headed towards their home if she knew I was still out here? Something isn't right here. "Yes, I know her. How do you?" she said, studying the mare's face for her reaction. The mare winced, and her response came cautiously: "Well...I..." she stumbled over her words as she tried to come up with an explanation. "Another scout reported finding a pony like you wandering the shore, and he...escorted her to our camp, so she will be safe from the predators." "You captured her." "Yes." "You were sent here to capture me." "Yes." This new revelation sent Twilight's mind whirling with questions; the first of which escaped her lips before she could stop it: "Why?" The mare suddenly stopped and stood onto her hooves, groaning with the effort. She must have gotten a ton of bruises from that crash... Wobbling uncertainly, the mare gave a poor attempt at an intimidating growl: "I should not have told you that. I must take you now to the Council of the Nocturna Lorem, so that you can be tried for the crimes of your ancestors." She bared her tiny fangs. "What, do you want to fight me? You can't be serious." "Fight me if you dare, Sunlover!" came the reply as the mare tried to steady herself, still dizzy. "Well...okay." Twilight ignited her horn and poured all of her strength into its light. The mare's knees buckled and she fell to the ground, helpless. "AAAH! PLEASEMAKEITSTOP!!!" Twilight immediately extinguished her light, wincing at the sight of the mare cowering at her hooves. "I'll...take that as a surrender. Still, will you take me to my friend without a fight if I promise not do that again?" The mare sighed in defeat. "Fine. Follow me." She turned to walk down the tunnel, and Twilight frowned. "How will you be able to find the way back? I thought my light blinded you..." She felt a twinge of guilt. Pushing the feeling aside, she followed up the awkward question with a much friendlier one. "By the way, I never caught your name. Mine is Twilight Sparkle." "Starlight. The moon shines on our meeting, Twilight Sparkle," she said, quoting what Twilight could only guess was a very curious traditional greeting. "And do not worry about me. My kind have adapted to the darkness of night by developing echolocation." Twilight's heart skipped a beat. "Wow! That's really cool! I mean, it makes sense since you're a...bat pony, but still, how do you do that? Does that mean you have extrasensitive hearing? ...Oh," she paused, and another twinge of guilt pinched her mind, "That probably means I'm talking too loud. Sorry," Twilight finished in a soft whisper. "No; it is fine. That only means my kind can hear higher-pitched noises than yours," she said dismissively. "Oh, okay. So...is everypony living in your camp a bat pony?" Starlight hesitated, obviously wary of giving out too much information to an enemy—though why Starlight thinks of me as an enemy is beyond me. Again speaking with caution, Starlight said, "No. There are ponies kind of like the Sunl—I mean, kind of like you as well, unicorns, earth ponies and the like. However, over the years they have adapted and interbred with us such that they are more than suited to life here under the earth." Twilight nodded, but something that Starlight said had piqued her curiosity yet again. "When you say 'over the years'..." she began, "how long have you been here?" "Tonight is the third night of the fifth month of the one thousand and first year since we moved into the Caves of the Night." The one thousandth year... Suddenly something clicked in Twilight's mind as all of the pieces fell into place. Wait a minute. What was it she said earlier, "pay for the crimes of your ancestors"? And all of the night-themed phrases and names-! Twilight glanced warily at the bat pony, who seemed perfectly comfortable with the silence as the pair walked down the shore of the river. I bet these ponies have something to do with Nightmare Moon. I should probably not tell them that I and my friends defeated her; they hate me enough just for living diurnally in Equestria... Starlight suddenly halted, and Twilight almost bumped into her before she pulled herself out of her wandering thoughts. A huge waterfall poured down ahead of them, off a ridge and into a huge pool of water. If Twilight craned her neck, she could make out the shape of a tall rocky spire rising up out of the water into the high cave ceiling; the waterfall and surrounding lake formed a natural moat. "My home camp is past this waterfall, within that island mountain. Prepare yourself to meet the Children of the Night."