It paced around in the cave, in a ruthless fury. The sun had risen. Against all its preparations and countermeasures it had still risen. Neither princess alone could have had enough magic to do so. Could they? Now was not the time to question things, now was the time to act. The black mark spread further across it's body every time it tried to access the dark magic, so it decided that such spells were only to be used in dire need. It had more to fear from that mark than the ponies it used such magic on. Its only hope to reverse such a curse was the creator of the magic himself. But even that was being threatened, as the approaching ponies would not just turn around. Something drastic needed to be done to stop, or at least delay, the relentless ponies. And something had to be done about that sun. But what?
The thoughts that traveled through it's mind were broken by the shouts of another pony nearby
"WEEEEEE! We're here!"
It turned around to see a pink pony bouncing towards the cave. They were here faster than expected. The sun must have also dispelled the magical fog, and every other curse it had placed around that forest. Everything was falling apart. No, get yourself together. The stone prison is still weakening, and with minimal use of magic the curse too would be delayed. Slipping through the blackness of the cave, it hid in one of the nearby side passages.
"Alrigh, we made it this far, and saved a ton of time to boot. This 'ere compass sure knows the way!"
The leader came into view, carrying the compass. It was working for her? Of course it was, or else the princesses would have never chosen such a troupe for this expedition. Following behind were the two pegasi, the cyan one prompting the yellow one to follow.
"Cummon Fluttershy, what are you waiting for?"
The timid yellow pegasus entered the cave. A perfect subject to bring about some chaos with. It glanced down at the black lines, just reaching it's flank. A single spell wouldn't cost too much magic.
As the pegasus stepped into the cave, walking blindly past the passage where It was waiting. A loud CRACK emminated from across the hallway.
The startled pegasus jumped in fear, bolting away from the sound and into the closest side-passage; directly into the black spike It wielded. It quickly placed a black prism around her, feeling a shock of fear as the black curse devoured the energy it placed into the spell, spreading onto its flank and down its leg. But such a cost was necessary - if things went according to plan than It would be the only one leaving this cave. It turned around
Into the cave, stepped Fluttershy
.........
The sound of hoofsteps echoed for miles through the cave, waves of sound disappearing into the faint light and returning to each ponies ears, amplified by the steps of the others. As the sounds mixed together, it gave an ominous feel to the cave; the faint glow emanating from enchanted gemstones in the wall completed the effect. Each pony felt as if they were walking into an abyss, so large that it would swallow them in its giant mouth, never to allow them to escape. The only sense of security available were the mine-cart tracks, long ago used to transport gemstones, now in a state of disrepair, and the presence of the other ponies around them.
The mine cart track travel straight into the cave, unimpeded by the tentativeness that even Applejack showed as she led the way. As the track approached an open pit, it turned to the side, while Rainbow Dash and Pinkie continued to go straight, walking fearlessly up to the pit. While the massive cave was threatening, nothing could prepare the ponies for the immense size. It was a crevice opening from the ground, extending to near infinity.
"Whoa" said Applejack as she walked up to the edge. The monstrous size left even Dash at a loss for words, landing beside her friend.
Pinkie walked up to the edge and looked directly into the pit
"Be careful Pinkie, it's a long way down." said Dash
"It's a long long long LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG way down. I wounder how far down it is?" she replied, kicking a rock into the pit.
The echo's from the falling rock continued to reverberate for a good minute, and nopony could tell when the rock stopped falling and the echos kept coming.
"It's dangerous that close Pinkie" said AJ
"Danger? I laugh in the face of danger. Or was that fear? Either way, it still works!" Pinkie said, letting out a joyous laugh.
The walls of the cave bounced the sound back, perverting it to a malicious, evil sound. The effects of the cave seemed to mesmerize the ponies that stood perilously close to the edge, as if they tempted death itself. In this trance, the three ponies seemed to forget about their timid shy companion.
Giving the perfect opportunity to more direct action into the downfall of the ponies. Fluttershy walked silently up behind the ponies, creeping to the edge of the pit still unseen by the others. Bracing her back legs on the ground, she lifted up her fore-hooves and brought them to right behind the pink ponies back. With one violent action, she pushed.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"
The blood curdling scream bounced off the walls of the cave, filling the ears of the ponies with a terrifying sound.
"PINKIE!" Applejack shouted, lunging to grab one of the flailing hooves before it was too far away. Unfortunately she was not fast enough, almost losing her balance.
"Don't worry" shouted Rainbow Dash, pushing AJ back from the edge with her hooves and launching herself towards her falling friend. Spikes of rock stuck out from the uneven wall, threatening to impale her wings as she stretched them as wide as she could to achieve maximum speed. Each flap of the wings brought her closer to her friend, but closer to death
"Stop flailing and spread your hooves out wide!"
"But.."
"Do you want to have another party? Than listen to me!"
The frightened pony closed her mouth, and followed Dash's directions.
Gliding closer to the pony, she extended her hooves and wrapped them around the falling friend, and pushed her wings as far as they would go. A pure pain surged through her body, wind whipping through her wings as she tried to support the weight of two ponies. The ground appeared through the darkness rushing up to meet them.
"We can make it." she said, more to give herself courage than to re-assure her friend. With a monumental effort that made her wings feel like they would snap, she pushed with all her muscles downwards against gravity to re-direct their movement and turn skyward. The ground kept on approaching, but at a lesser rate. Another flap of the wings, and the ground all but seemed to stop below them. Pushing with all her might, it disappeared back into the darkness as they began their ascent.
"I can do this!" Dash said, flapping her wings again. The momentum from their re-directed velocity kept them moving upwards, but they were slowing.
"I can do this" she said, straining with every flap. The muscles screamed for a release from the pain, but she would not give it to them.
"I can't do this." Her wings gave out from under her, and they started falling.
"DASH!" shouted the frightened passenger.
The sound of a friend in need caused her wings to snap open again. Try as she might, there was no way she could lift both their weights.
"Is... there anything.... you can do.... to lose.... some weight." Dash panted. "Ditch.... some stuff.... from that.... bag"
Pinkie turned to the saddle bag she was carrying and reached deep into the pockets. She pulled out a handful of balloons and a metal cylinder
Dash turned her attention to cliff, the top now invisible because of the distance, and began to fly once more. Closing her eyes, she focused only on the act of flying. Flaping wings. One after the other. Pain was all she felt, but she would not give in. Pain turned to numbness, and the dulling of feelings in her wings made each flap come easier. She opened her eyes to see how much further to the destination, only to have it obscured by a yellow color
"Pinkie?" she said, looking down towards the pink earth pony. There were balloons of all colors tied around her. She looked up, filling the last of the balloons from the metal container she was holding.
"Helium. Lighter than air" she said matter-of-factly, as if she had been planning to float on helium balloons her entire life.
The POP of a balloon brought Rainbow Dash's attention back to the flight. A glance at Pinkie revealed all of the helium to be gone, so as the last echo of the explosion faded into the darkness she directed her wings to give them some distance from the wall. Turning her attention upwards once more, she strained against gravity again. Their combined weight had greatly decreased due to the buoyancy of the balloons, but it made it by no means an easy flight. The edge slowly came into view above them, as Dash struggled to make the last few wing flaps to reach safety. As they got closer, a faint weeping was audible from the ledge
"She's... she's..." came Fluttershy's voice, barely able to talk between sobs. "I wasn't looking... and now... I bumped into her..."
"It'll be alright, Shy" came the comforting voice of AJ "I'm sure Dash and Pinkie will be back here soon."
"No... it's all my fault." she said, sobbing into the earth ponies mane. "Pinkie... she's..."
"I'm what?" Pinkie said, as Dash rose the last few feet to above the cliff.
The two ponies lying on the cliff turned around.
"YOU'RE ALRIGHT!"
"Of course we are. Dash is such a good flyer, she wouldn't let anything happen." Pinkie said
"Nothing" Dash panted, setting Pinkie on the ground, and lying down herself.
"So, how do I look?" Pinkie asked
The three ponies looked at their friend, with the balloons still tied around her waist. Sometimes it was hard to take that poney seriously, and they all burst into laughter.
"Very fitting, Pinkie." said AJ.
Their laughter echoed throughout the cave, bringing a joyous atmosphere to the otherwise frightening situation as the tired ponies rested before continuing.
........
The dining hall was beautiful as ever for the two unicorns that entered it, majestic and powerful. The table was perfectly polished marble that seemed to sparkle in the sunlight. In fact, everything seemed warm and inviting under the light of the sun. The sun I raised thought Twilight. It still didn’t seem real, everything that happened. An event that seemed so unlikely that your mind cannot accept the reality of it. She had to ask, just to make sure
“It’s real, isn’t it?”
“What’s real, darling?” replied Rarity, instantly giving her undivided attention to her friend.
“The sky, the moon, the sun, all of it!” A gesture to the sun revealed what was still lingering in her thoughts.
“Of course it is! You really did lift that massive sentinel of hope burning in the sky.”
“It just seems so... so monumental that it’s doesn’t seem possible it actually happened”
“Well that’s what life is. You’re just going along, until something monumental like this happens. And once it’s done, life continues as it always has, as if nothing even happened at all. Sometimes when you look back, it's hard to know whether it all actually happened, because things start up the exact same as before. Well, not the exact same. We each have a magic-less alicorn to look after.”
Both girls let out a little giggle at the last comment, relieved that they could still find joy amongst such troubles.
“I prefer ‘assist’ to 'look after'.”
Both ponies turned around to see the two princesses entering the hallway
“Oh, Celestia, I didn’t mean any offe-“
“Though 'take care of' is probably the most accurate term.” Celestial grinned at her student, taking a seat at the head of the table, Luna beside her.
“Lunch is ready!” came the call, as Spike walked out of the kitchen balancing 4 daffodil sandwiches. “Unfortunately the normal servers still think it’s night time, so you’ll have to excuse the reach of my tail.” The plates were placed on the table and Spike took a seat next to Rarity.
“Finally, something that doesn’t involve magic to eat” Rarity said, breathing a sigh of relief. “I was starting to get annoyed with all of the soups and such made for unicorns. Not that I’m complaining about helping, but it’s nice to finally sit back and enjoy a meal for once.”
"What's this, your first time relaxing in a week?" Twilight teased, before realizing just how close to the truth those words were.
“I shall make sure that sandwiches become a more common item." Celestia said "Rosemary probably doesn’t realise all the trouble that her meals are causing.”
As the ponies started to eat their sandwiches, Twilight noticed there were only three of them. Luna had silently picked up her sandwich and was retreating down the hallway.
“Do you mind if I take this with me? I just don’t feel that hungry at the moment.”
Noticing the distressed look on her friends face Rarity asked “is everything all right?”
“it’s fine, just could you ‘assist’ Celestia for the rest of the day? There’s something that I need to do.”
“Of course.” Rarity decided sometimes it was best not to pry into a friends thoughts.
Twilight grabbed her sandwich off the plate and started to walk down the hallway, following the path she had seen Luna take just a few moments ago.
"Luna, wait up!"
The deep blue allicorn turned her head to see who was calling, carrying a plate with a daffodil sandwich in her mouth. Her head wasn't held as high as normal, and there was a gloomy look in her eye.
"Hey Twilight."
The purple unicorn walked over and magically lifted the plate from her mouth, more as a reflex trying to be helpful than a conscious gesture
"I really wanted to apologize for suspecting you for ... this whole ordeal." Twilight said, gesturing to the sun above them. "It's been bugging me ever since that first day"
"It's OK Twilight. I'm used to it."
"That's no excuse. It was still wrong of me, and I know that your a better alicorn than I gave you credit for back then. I'm sorry."
"Really Twilight, it's alright."
She looked around the room. Their feet had taken them to the observatory. The sun shone down through the multitude of windows, glistening on the many instruments and reflecting off the walls. The entire room was bathed in a bright and blinding light, that gave Twilight a comforting feel about the place
"The observatory" she said. "It's nice in the sun, even though it's not really useful during the day"
"It's a nice place to come. I always make my way up here when I'm troubled to look at the stars."
Together they walked to the window, almost blinded by the bright sun.
"What's troubling you Luna?"
"It's ... nothing really."
"No, I wan't to help"
"Twilight, please."
"Alright."
Twilight looked at the princess, and then up towards the sky. What she really needed right now was a friends, someone she could count on no matter what the circumstances, someone to be there for her without needing to pry into her problems, but just to help wherever they could. But Luna never really had anypony since her return. She could be that pony. Placing the sandwiches she had been carrying on the ground Twilight gazed towards the sun. She knew what she had to do.
Twilight reached into her well of magic once more, gathering up every ounce of power she could. Stretching it towards the sky, she glanced down at Luna. The alicorn gave a questioning look to her, which she replied to with a smile. Returning her mind to the sun, she narrowed her focus and concentrated her magic on the sun. Weaving a field of magic, she pushed all of her power into the spell
The light reaching the observatory was immediately cut to near-nothing. Twilight opened an eye to look at the sky, but it was still a mid-blue, the type of sky that you saw at twilight except without all the colors that bathed the world in a mysterious glow. Closing her eyes once more she focused solely on the magic. All she felt was the spell, and the physical and mental strain that it caused as she pushed the field to be even larger. She could not open her eyes, not even for a second to see if she was successful, for fear of losing her concentration
Luna looked over at the unicorn, surrounded by a harsh purple glow that she channeled through her horn. The light darkened another magnitude, and she turned her head back to the sky. There was a single strip of midnight blue, and shining through the sky were three faint stars. A tear came to the alicorn's eye. Here was a unicorn that would go to such lengths to help her, with no gain for herself. A unicorn she would be glad to call a friend. The three faintly twinkling lights put her heart at ease.
"Thank you Twilight" she whispered.
The unicorn could only hold such an extensive spell for a few seconds. When the magic started to slip, there was nothing she could do to force it to remain. Letting the last of her power slip from her grasp, she collapsed upon the floor, now bright again in the sunshine. She looked over to see Luna lying on the ground beside her, still staring at the sky. Luna turned back towards the exhausted unicorn.
"Thank you."
.........
The four ponies walked swiftly through the cave, because nopony wanting to spend more time than necessarily in the mines. Every minute in the damp underground passages let more moisture condensate on their skin, providing an irritating itch that ran deep into their bones
Rainbow Dash looked around at the walls of the tunnel they walked through. Embedded with gemstones, the faint light faintly lit up the passage. The walls themselves seemed too close together, an illusion of the mind that seemed all to real. Dash picked up the pace, something matched by the ponies around her. The only thing she wanted more than to leave this mine and never return, was to leave the very tunnel they were in. Relief came in the form of another open pit before them, and while she would not stretch her wings and leave her friends side, the simple knowledge that she could was reassuring. She walked towards the winding path that followed the cliff, the only way around the canyon. The mine cart tracks had long since disappeared, and they were traveling with only the compass for directions
"Whoa there Dash. Let's just slow down a bit." said Applejack, putting a comforting hoof on her shoulder. "No need to rush towards a perilous cliff."
"Ya Dashy, just cause all these mining type ponies like big scary dangerous drops and tiny winding paths and nopony really wants to be here very long doesn't mean we can't just slow down a bit." said Pinkie, surprisingly still with breath to spare. "Actually, I really really really don't want to be here, so that's enough reason to barrel on." With that, the pink pony took the lead, bouncing perilously close to the cliff, while never even slipping up on the narrow path.
"I don't know" said Fluttershy, looking at the path
"Than jus' fly around" said AJ over her shoulder
"Oh, right"
"Cummon Shy" shouted Dash, already having taken to the sky and halfway across the pit.
"I'm gonna beat you to the other side, Dashy"
"Oh, no you don't"
With a blur of rainbow light, distorted from the light of the crystals, she dashed towards the far side, arriving seconds before a pink blur rushed past her
"Alright you two, enough foalish behavior, it's time to focus on the search. We're getting closer" AJ said, walking past them and staring down at the compass in her hooves.
The other side of the path was another long, narrow tunnel. AJ walked into it without even filching. The only difference about this one were the mine cart tracks had returned, and the railroad once used to transport diamonds now gave a nice break from the uneven rocky ground.
Great. More narrow tunnels Dash thought to herself, watching Pinkie enter the long tunnel ahead of her. She stared down the passage, trying to work up the courage to enter. The only break from the oppressive walls was the occasional side passage along the wall. Taking a deep breath, she took her first step towards the passage, only to have her legs freeze up. Stretching her wings out, she let out sigh of relief to see the few feet of leeway on each side. As long as she avoided the stalactites, flying was possible. A soon as her feet left the ground, the fear seemed to melt away. It's not quite the freedom of the skies, but it'll do for now. She would never admit to anypony how hard that was. The great Rainbow Dash afraid of caves? A title she could go without. As always, Fluttershy was the last to follow
Fluttershy quickly glanced up and down the tunnel they were entering. Time was running short, and she could not allow them to proceed. But their loyalty to each other knew no bounds, and they had proved they would risk their lives for each other. Risk their lives... a plan started to formulate in it's mind. A black line of magic traveled up the tunnel, in the opposite direction from the ponies and found it's target. A black shot of magic launched out through the darkness. For a split second, overwhelming fear returned, unable to be kept at bay by It's mind, paralyzing it until it could force the emotions back down. A loud noise reverberated through the passage.
"Wha's that?" said Applejack, turning around. Fluttershy slowly covered the distance between them, as the other ponies waited, listening.
"I don't hear anything." she said as she approached her friends.
"It's probably nothing, just a falling rock" Rainbow Dash said, still floating in the air and continuing through the passage
"Ya, nothin."
The four ponies kept on walking, A bit uneasy about the current situation. The lights seemed to flicker, even though the magic enchantments had been stable for hundreds of years; the ground itself seemed to shake and rumble beneath their feet. Nothing seemed safe.
"Something feels off." Applejack said
"Does the ground feel all rumbly grumbly to you too?" Pinkie asked.
AJ stopped in the middle of the track. The shaking was intensifying, and a sound was growing from nothing, reverberating down the hallways. A clickity clack, like metal striking metal repeatedly. She turned around, and only then realized the source of the sound.
"MINE CART! RUN!"
Barreling along at an already ridiculous speed, a solid steel cart was shooting straight for them. The closer it got, the more deafening the sound.
Pinkie Pie turned tail and fled down the pathway, overtaking Applejack and Rainbow Dash within a second. A passage was coming up at the side of the tunnel a little ways away. At this rate they would make it. Dash turned around to check on the cart, only to see their oversight
"Fluttershy, run faster."
"I'm trying."
"FLY!"
Fluttershy launched herself into the air, spreading her wings wide. The sound of the cart was so deafening by now it threatened to block out all thought. She glanced behind her to see the cart. A fatal mistake. At once her wings locked up, freezing at her side. Dropping out of the sky, she face planted in the ground, directly in the path of the incoming cart,
"FLUTTERSHY!"
Rainbow Dash turned around and sped towards her friend. Applejack turned her head and immediately knew Dash wasn't going to be fast enough. But the loyal friend would not give up, and would get crushed herself trying to save Shy. Two lives were at risk, stressing her brain even more trying to find a way to help. She planted her front hooves in the ground for support. Digging her back hooves under a railroad tie, she pushed with all her might. Even for such a powerful pony, she still strained under the pressure, but was eventually able to send the tie flying. It launched through the air, crashing into a stalactite hanging from the ceiling. The stone spike fell crashing to the ground, landing directly between the barreling cart and unprotected friend
The cart crashed into the spike, sending rock fragments flying through the air. The cart didn't stop, but lost a significant amount of speed. Rainbow Dash dodged her way through the flying debris and towards Fluttershy. Landing by the pony, she wrapped her hooves around the frightened pegasus and launched herself back down the tunnel, mere inches before the cart crushed the ground behind them. Throwing Shy forward, she landed on AJ's back as the pony turned tail and fled from the approaching cart. Flying right above AJ, the heroic duo dodged into the side passage where Pinkie was waiting for them. The mine cart sped past them, the rumbling of the ground lessening and the deafening sound disappearing into the distance
"You ponies are AWESOME! I can't believe so just ran back in there and smashed that cart and saved Fluttershy and you didn't even break a sweat!" Pinkie said
"You... you saved me?" Fluttershy said, still in shock and astonishment at her rescue
"Shy, I'd never let anything happen to you. You don't have to worry while I'm around." Dash said, sincerity in her voice.
"Everypony, I think y'all best come over here." came Applejack's voice from down the passage. She was staring at the wall, the compass resting in her hoof
"What is it, AJ? said Pinkie, walking up to the earth pony.
That's when she saw it. Glistening in the faint light of the cave, wedged inside of a crevice, was a chalice made entirely of diamond.
"That's amazing!" Pinkie walked towards the crack and just stared at it
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get it!" Dash ran towards the crack, shoving her forehoof in to try an reach the cup. Coming back empty hooved she shoved her wing in to try and hook the handle on it's tip, but to no avail. Disappointed, she puled back, but her wing was stuck. Immediately fear began to course through her veins, as she struggled to free herself.
"Dash, calm down." Applejack walked closer and laid a hoof on her friends shoulder, but that did nothing to lessen her struggles. Dash look down at her wing, and a fresh wave of fright coursed through her veins. It was not a fear of caves, not before and not now. No, now she realized her only fear was losing the freedom her wings gave her. The thought of never flying again flashed through her mind, overlapped with the idea that she might never leave the cave, trapped never to see her beloved open sky again. Her mind worked itself into s frenzy to try and slip free of the rocks
"Dash, you're gonna break somethin, stop." Logic could not break through the fear the clouded her mind. Looking into her friends eyes, she saw her taken back to a frightening memory. Feathers started to pull out of her wing as she strained to remove it from the crevice.
"DASH."
She pushed her friend up against the wall, the physical action eliciting a response from her pony friend.
"What?"
"You need to calm down. Panic will get you nowhere. Alright?"
Their eyes met, and in a split second her fear disappeared into the deep eyes of a friendly face. A friend that was there to help fight away her fears.
"Alright AJ. I'm calm. Now get me out."
Reaching a hoof into the crack, she gently unhooked the wing from the rough edge it was stuck on, and guided it out.
"Better?"
"Better."
"Now, how do we get that there chalice out here?" Applejack sat down on by the edge of the crack, thinking. They were so close, yet it seemed miles away from them. "If only we had a unicorn here."
"Did somepony call for a unicorn?" said Pinkie, bouncing up to her friends. She put her head into her saddlebags, and removed it with a party hat on her head like a horn
"Pinkie, tha's not what I meant."
"What, is it not looooooooong enough?"
The only response Applejack could give was to bury her face in her hoof.
"Magic wouldn't work on it anyway, remember." Dash, said, sitting beside her friend
"Ooh, how about now, how about now?" Pinkie said, jumping up and down with 6 hats stacked on her head. She shoved her head into the crevice
"Pinkie, that's NOT GOING TO WORK." Rainbow Dash shouted, visibly annoyed with the ridiculous schemes of their pink friend.
Pinkie removed her head from the crevice, the handle of the chalice hooked on the end of her party hats. "What did you say? I couldn't hear you with my head in the big crack in the wall."
"Nothing."
"Great job, Pinkie" Applejack said, taking the chalice off of her horn.
Suddenly, the cave was plunged into pitch blackness. The glow from the gemstones disappeared, like a dark veil had fallen over the ponies and bathed the cave in the darkness of a midnight without a moon. In such a darkness, nopony noticed it when a black flash teleported the real Fluttershy into the area; nopony noticed when a dark spark transferred fake memories to the pony. It's time for me to go It thought to itself. This would buy the time it needed, It doubted they would be able to escape. Nopony noticed when It's fake equine form melted around it, as It disappeared with a black flash into darkness and fear.
.........
Twilight opened her eyes and tried to shake the sleep away from them, yet a weight pressed down upon her eyelids and tempted her away from reality. Lying there, she simply stared into the deep blueness and hoped to awaken her mind by counting the infinite stars that dotted the night sky. Her eyes darted around the glowing night, identifying Canis major, Canis minor, and Orion, her favorite constellations. Slowly the mental activity woke her mind from the slumber, and slowly doubts started to cross her mind. Isn't the sun supposed to be up?
Various explanations crossed her mind. Perhaps the princesses recovered their powers? Or had she simply slept for an extended period of time? Each proceeding explanation seemed less likely than the previous. Then the sky shifted. Was that her imagination? The sky couldn't simply move like that, it just wasn't possible. Her thoughts had already reached the realm of impossibility trying to explain the phenomenon when the sky shifted again, and she realized just what had the capability of moving like that.
Lifting her head, the deep blue star studded sky moved from her vision, and it became obscured by a dark, yet equally deep blue. The softness of the sky brushed against her head. Jumping backwards at the confirmation of her suspicions, she stared at the night-sky blue alicorn lying in front of her, with the star-studded mane.
"Morning Twilight" said Luna in a casual voice
"What. what happened?" she said, not quite having put the previous events back together in her mind.
"You used all of your magic to block the light of the sun and put my soul at ease. After that you simply collapsed and fell asleep."
"Why did you stay? You could have let me just sleep on the floor."
"Because friends are always there for each other. And I would really like to be your friend. That is, if you'll have me." The last statement seemed more like a question, her voice trailing off into the distance.
"Of course! I'd be honored to have you as a friend." Twilight seemed overjoyed, both at having an explanation for why she had woken with a face full of Luna's mane, and at having made a new friend
"I've never had a friend before. Celestia's told me a lot about them, and has urged me to try making some, but until today I never really knew what friendship was like."
"Friendship is magical. The pure joy that friends bring to you is absolutely amazing, it's beyond words to describe"
"You seem to be speaking from experience"
"It wasn't too long ago that I didn't think friends were valuable. But now when I look back, there's nothing I wouldn't give for them."
Twilights thoughts immediately drifted to her friends, miles away from civilization and risking their lives to bring harmony back to Equestria. She wished there was more she could do to help them, but knew that her new friend here needed her more.
Luna's thoughts traveled far and wide at the new revelations on friendship. I finally have a friend. My first real friend in... the thought of how great a period of time stretched out behind her brought a chill back to her spine.
A silence enclosed the room between the two new friends, as their own thoughts stretched out before them. Of new friends, old friends, and lack of friends. The silence brought a new thought to mind, one that Twilight hoped they could share.
"Luna, why did you come up here in the first place? You said that you often came to stare at the stars when you were troubled. What's troubling you?"
Luna just looked at the ground, idly pawing it with a hoof.
"I'd rather not say."
"Friends are ponies who are there to help each other, no matter what. Ponies who you can share your deepest thoughts with, knowing that no matter what you say, they will dedicate themselves to you. Ponies you don't need to hide anything from. I want to help you, with whatever it is that troubles you. Please Luna, won't you tell me? As a friend?"
Knowing that it was futile to try and debate some pony who studied friendship on the subject she knew very little about, she let out a sigh and decided to trust Twilight's experience and share her problems. Gesturing to the ground beside her, her new friend lay back down at her side, triumphant at being a good friend while eager to help more. Luna stared idly at the sky, not really seeing the clouds hanging in front of her.
"I came up here because I was troubled about the events of my past. Because no matter how much I try, those events always come back. The recent night brought that to light. When the moon did not fall, I saw the chaos that came forth. Everypony is still afraid of me, nopony trusts that I've changed. A wedge has fallen between me and the ponies of Equestria, a wedge that threatens to keep us apart. Fissures run deep between me and my sister, on the verge of becoming tears in the fragile balance of our lives. I've tried to fix the problems of the past, tried to make everything right, but no matter what I can't escape the actions of Nightmare Moon. The past is always here, haunting me, and no matter what I do it won't go away."
The pain the memories brought was evident to Twilight as she lay at Luna's side. Pain long since suppressed from a pony who had tried everything to forget it and move past it.
"There is no way to escape the past." Twilight said, weaving her words into Luna's thoughts. "It will always be there. The only thing you can do is learn from it. Every experience in life brings lessons with it. The experiences that hurt the most, that strike you closest to your heart, bring the lessons that you will treasure closest in your soul. There is no pain like that of the past, because there is nothing you can do to change it. But if you have discovered the secrets that it holds, and find yourself a better pony through them, than you will be able to lay the past to rest and move on. Only then will you finally be able to leave it behind you."
Luna turned her head towards her friend, their eyes meeting each others. Though pain was still deep within her eyes, it seemed something greater was coming closer to the surface of her soul; acceptance. However mixed in this acceptance was doubt in what her friend was saying. A doubt she brought forth and let hang in the air, allowing it to be vulnerable and broken.
"Can you truly ever leave the past behind you?" she asked "I've tried to forget, I've tried to move on, but Nightmare's actions comes up. It's a nightmare I cannot wake from, a fear that I cannot just move past, actions that I cannot just erase."
"Actions can never be erased. And perhaps that's best, for you would be erasing all the lesson they teach. However ever step forwards from the past is a step for yourself." Twilight's voice resonated throughout the building, growing in power and resolve as the unicorn rose to her feet. "You are not Nightmare Moon. You are Luna, princess of the moon. You raise the moon every night and lower it every day. You dedicate your life to giving everything you can for all your subjects, even though they sleep through your beautiful night. You used all your magic and risked your life to bring the day back around. No matter what any pony says, you are amazing. You are a leader whom we should look up to and idolize, one that displays such honorable qualities that is seen only once in a thousand years. And by staying true to yourself, to who you are, you have proven you can overcome your past, defeat the Nightmare that still haunts you and become an admirable pony."
Tears streamed down both ponies faces, sparkling in the sliver of sunlight that penetrated the overcast sky and shone into the observatory. A great burden had lifted from Luna's soul. For the first time in over a millennial, she felt she could breath freely. She no longer feared her past, nor Nightmare Moon herself. She, for the first time in her life, could accept the past and be herself, and nopony else; and it was only because of her friend that she could.
"Thank-you Twilight. For giving me strength and courage to face the past and the future with."
Luna reached up and pull Twilight down to the ground in an embrace. The two ponies lay in silence a while longer, however this was not the awkward silence from before; this was a comfortable silence where both ponies knew what thoughts were running through the others minds, a silence between friends where words need not be spoken to communicate emotion. However words are powerful, and there was a particular word that Luna felt needed to be spoken.
"Twilight" she said, turning her head to face the purple unicorn. Ever since the previous day, there was a burning question that she needed to ask. "Twilight, do you forgive me? For my actions in the past?"
Twilight leaned her head against that of the princess. "I forgave you the day I met you and understood the truth behind your story."
"Thank-you. You have no idea how much this means to me." Yet somehow Luna felt that her friend knew exactly what those words meant.
Twilight's thoughts returned to where she had last heard that phrase. Raising her head, she met the princesses gaze and held it. "However, I feel there is some pony else that needs your forgiveness more.
.........
The mine was pitch black. Darkness was closing in around her. Sight, gone. Shouts of her friends came from all around her, overwhelming her hearing. Her mind couldn't focus in such chaos.
"What happened?"
"Where are you?"
"I can't see!"
"AHHHHH" Fluttershy let out a piercing scream as somepony stepped on her tail in the chaos.
Everything fell silent. Perhaps the oppressing silence was even worse than the chaotic noise, suffocating her in it's emptiness.
"Fluttershy, are you alright?"
"n-n-n-no" she said, cowering underneath a wing.
"Everypony, just stay still." Applejack's confident voice rang clear through the cave, seeming to restore order in an instant.
There was a shuffling noise coming from the same direction the Applejack's voice came from. Rocks clinked against each other, each ringing out with different sound in the cacophony of sounds that reverberated within the cave. Suddenly, a bright light blinded the ponies, forcing them to shield their eyes. By the time anypony could see, the light had already disappeared. As suddenly as it had come the first time, another light appeared, a miniature star piercing the darkness. However this time the sparks came rapidly, long enough for their eyes to adjust to the bright, if unstable, light source.
Rainbow Dash was standing still, a hoof very close to the tail of Fluttershy, who was hiding in her wings. Pinkie appeared to have frozen solid mid-step, two hooves still raised and in a position that appeared uncomfortable. She walked over to the cowering pegasus
"Heya Shy, how ya doin?"
"How am I doing?" she replied slowly, removing her head from under her wing.
"Ya, silly. How are you doing? You look scared, but that's just silly cause were all here and were all safe together, so there's really nothing to be scared of."
"It's a dark, deep, scary cave. There's everything to be scared of."
Applejack just stood back, striking the rocks together to create enough light for them to see each other, and watched in wonder. Normally when Fluttershy was scared, you couldn't get a word out of her. But here she was carrying on a full conversation at the bottom of an ominous mine.
"Aw, you’re still scared? I know what you need!” she said. Her hoof extended towards Fluttershy, carefully balancing a diamond necklace on the end. Each spark reflected a thousand times within the diamond, bathing the two poines in a warm glow. Fluttershy looked up at the diamond, temporarily lost in memories, before slipping the necklace on and embracing the pony.
"Thanks Pinkie."
Applejack stared at the scene, so surprised at just how easily Pinkie could dispel fear that she stopped sparking the stones in her hooves. The image of the two friends together was imprinted in her retina, until she remembered just what situation they were in. Apparently her fear had disappeared enough for the gravity of the situation to slip her mind. Striking the rocks together again, she brought to light the first problem they had to tackle before escaping from the cave.
"Alright everypony, if we're all set than I think we should get movin. Except I kinda - dropped the compass in the panic. Sorry girls."
"Don't you worry, silly filly, no compass can hide from me!" Pinkie said, pressing her nose so close to the ground that she could smell the rocks, and scanning the floor. Applejack struck the rocks with increasing fury, trying to light the ground around them as brightly as she could.
"Dashie, found anything yet?" the pink pony shouted, bouncing along the cave floor.
"No, not yet." she replied, tentatively. "Pinkie, what's put you in such a happy mood?"
Everypony needed something to cheer them up. I like to cheer pony's up, so here I am!"
"There you are, little compass." The voice was Fluttershy's, more confident and capable in the cave than they had ever seen her before. "Now, can you lead us to safety. Please?" She got a faint yellow glow in response out of the compass, not enough to see anything around her by, but just enough to keep her heart at ease. The needle swung around and pointed back up the tunnel they had entered from.
"Shy's got something!" Dash shouted, rushing to her friends side. "Let's go"
"Hold on. Ah can't spark these rocks and walk."
Fluttershy walked over to Applejack, both Dash and Pinkie close behind her. "Do you trust the compass?"
"Well, of course ah trust it. It lead us to this here chalice, and brought us out of the forest."
"Than trust it to keep us safe."
Applejack's strikes got fewer and further between, until Shy reached out and put a hoof on her friends arms, lowering the rocks to the ground. In truth, that very action frightened Fluttershy to the core; she hated darkness and to be the one to place them in that darkness was almost unthinkable. But something gave her the courage to face that darkness, and even though she couldn't see her friends, she knew they were together. Holding the compass in her mouth, she could just make out the direction the needle pointed.
"Make sure we don't get separated" she said.
"How?" said Applejack
"I know I know!" shouted Pinkie. Even though they couldn't see the pony, they knew she was bouncing. "PARTY CHAIN!"
AJ felt a gentle pair of hooves placed on her flank, and had no way to tell who's hooves they were. But they were all friends, and if this kept them safe than there was no reason to feel ... awkward about such a thing. Following suit, she placed her front hooves on the flank of the pony in front of her, and the chain began to weave it's way to the entrance.
Fluttershy's eyes never left the needle of the compass. The only sound that broke the silence was the breathing of her friends, resonating in the small hallway, and the soft sound of hooves on rock. The rough ground tripped the group up a few times, and judging by the ground that they fell on, they were following the mine tracks. Only once did they topple so greatly that it took a few minutes to reorganize themselves based on sound alone.
The group walked for what seemed like an eternity in the oppressive silence. Rainbow Dash felt that the darkness closing in around her was as bad as the walls of the tunnel. Both prevented her from flying, both stole the freedom of movement that she desperately longed for. But if Fluttershy could stay strong, so could she. She hoped.
Suddenly, the needle took a complete 90 degree turn, pointing directly beside her. "Hold on everypony"
"What is it Shy?" the voice was clearly Applejack's, coming from somewhere behind her.
"The needle. It just turned directly beside me."
"Do you trust the compass?"
"Yes but..."
"Than perhaps were finally getting out of this tunnel." Applejack gulped. "And continuing around the canyon."
A shiver went down Fluttershy's spine, alerting the pony behind her of her fear.
"Don'tcha worry Shy." Clearly it was Pinkie behind her. "There's nothing to fear."
"Nothing to fear. Got it." Following the compass closely with her eyes, accounting for every twitch in the needle, she continued on their journey.
The needle moved more often, forcing the chain to slow to a near crawl. First she felt the wall beside them, and than the edge of the path they walked along, before realizing they were in the middle of winding their way around the canyon. halfway there, its best to just keep going she told herself, glancing down at the where she felt the pendant was for support. A shout came from the back
"WHOA!"
"Dash! You alright." AJ shot out an instinctual hoof, stabilizing the pegasus.
"I'm. I'm fine. Just a loose rock. Let's just keep going."
As they continued, Shy soon discovered that the path continued for much longer than she first thought. What felt like an hour of crawling only seemed to give them an inch more distance along the path. If they gained anything. Every step felt the same and they had no way of knowing just how far or much further they had left. If the wall wasn't moving beside her, she wouldn't be able to tell they were even moving. Wait. She could see the wall. Lifting her head from the compass, she turned the corner and saw the first real light in a long time.
"THE EXIT"
It was hard to tell who made it out the exit first, as every pony dashed forwards at top speed, relieved to finally be out of the cave.
"Thank-you compass! Thank you so much! I never thought we'd see the light of day again!"
"It's alright Shy." said Dash, placing a hoof on the pegasus's shoulder. "We've made it, but only because you were so incredibly brave."
.........
It stood hooves deep in the waters of the spring of magic, gulping down as much water as it could drink. The water had immense energy in it, more energy than It thought possible - energy that it would need for what it tried. As drank down more power, an eerie face stared back through the water. Blackness covered over half its face, and the curse had spread to each of it's hooves. Time was quickly running out. But it needed to do this. For it's master. Nothing else mattered now, when life was balanced so delicately on the edge.
It drank one last gulp of water and turned its face towards the sky.
Time to shatter the harmony of the cosmos.