//------------------------------// // Berry 1 - Crystal Life // Story: Lost in a New World // by KingBrony //------------------------------// "But I want to see him!" Berry Bunches put her hoof down as she spoke to Princess Twilight. The filly wanted to go down and see the Sleipnir - her curiosity had gotten the better of her. However, Twilight remained firm in her decision. "It is too dangerous for a filly. We don't know what he might be capable of. I just want to keep you safe. You understand, right?" Twilight had a smile on her face, but Berry knew the princess was not happy. "I guess..." Berry sighed. "Did you make any progress with your flight?" Twilight asked, changing the subject. Berry smiled. "I can fly for two whole seconds now! I am able to get pretty high off of the ground, too!" The filly's wing began to flutter, raising her up a few feet into the air. She could hear Twilight's praise as she began to fly forward. "That is amazing!" Twilight exclaimed. "Maybe I don't have to keep looking into a wing repair spell, after all!" The filly landed safely on the ground. "Well, it might be a little easier if my wing were working again." She sheepishly said. Ever since arriving in the Crystal Empire, many unicorns and other ponies took a look at Berry's bad wing. The damage done to it was irreversible with normal medical procedures - and magic didn't seem to do anything to it besides remove the pain. Twilight has been looking into a spell of some sort to fix it, giving the pegasus temporary wings to hold her over. Berry eventually learned to fly using just her good wing. She was much slower, but she could move around. Even then, she longed to have both of her wings working again, so she could fly as high in the sky as she could. The Crystal Empire had become much calmer in recent weeks. Some wandering ponies would arrive at the gate to seek refuge. The snows outside the kingdom boundaries lessened as well, leaving an easier route for the weak through the tundra. Whatever remained of Equestria was right here - the last standing reminder of the old world. Twilight and Cadence were very busy with day-to-day tasks and other formalities. Each day the princesses attempt to move the sun and moon from their stranded positions, but there was no luck. Because of how busy Twilight was, Berry started to see less and less of her, soon growing alone within the castle walls. It wasn't that Berry was lonely - there were plenty of other fillies and colts around for her to play with. And she did play with them: running through the streets, exploring every nook and cranny, and playing games. The problem was that Berry knew of the dangerous world outside of the kingdom, and worried that their time like this might be cut short. And she knew Fluttershy was alive somewhere out there in it all. Every day, she would head to the edge of the kingdom, near the guard towers, to sit and watch for anypony who entered the kingdom. Mares, stallions, and fillies would come in, but none of them were Fluttershy. And this life style repeated for a long time; Berry would always lose track of how much time has passed. She sat one day in the field, looking up into the sky. The sun and moon sat opposite each other, as if waiting for the other to make a move first. They were trapped in limbo, unable to return the world to its former state. As she stared, she began to see the moon twitch. It moved about a centimeter before stopping once more. Berry's eyes grew wide as she turned to look at the castle. In the distance, on one of the towers, Berry could see a bright pink light: Twilight had managed to move the moon! Even if it was just a small distance, Berry knew there was hope. The filly made her way back to the castle, eager to talk to Twilight. She passed through crowds of ponies; they were all chattering about how the moon moved. They noticed Princess Twilight's feat as well. Berry broke into a trot, entering through the front doors, making her way up the stairs. With each step, she grew even more confident in Twilight's ability. She knew the princesses would be able to return the sun and moon to their correct places, making it the first step towards rebuilding the world. At the balcony, both princesses stood together. Twilight had her focus on the moon as Cadence began to channel her own magic towards the sun. Two bright beams of light shot up into the sky, surrounding the sun and moon that sat in the distance. The filly tried to follow the beam, but her eyes began to hurt as she stared at the sun. As she shut her eyes, she could hear a small cheer from princess Cadence. "Did you see it move!? We might be able to restore balance to the sun and moon, after all!" The two looked very tired, however. It seemed to Berry that moving the sun and moon required a vast amount of magical power. While both Princesses were strong in their own right, they need to work much harder to reach the potential of Princess Celestia and Luna. Berry slowly left the room, not wanting to bother the princesses. As she walked down the steps, Berry wondered what she should do next. Immediately, she remembered the Sleipnir in the dungeon and decided to head there. Twilight should be busy with moving the moon, she thought to herself. She might not notice if I just slip down there to see him for a few minutes. The door to the dungeon was not guarded, so Berry managed to get inside quickly. At the bottom of the stairs, she looked around the corner to find the guard situated near the cells. Just as she thought, there was one guard standing guard next to an iron door. Beyond that door was the cell containing the Sleipnir. Not knowing what to do, the filly simply made herself visible and approached the guard. "What are you doing down here?" The guard asked, bending down to reach Berry's level. "Princess Twilight sent me," Berry lied. "She said that while she is trying to move the moon, she needs a snack. Since it is almost time for the Sleipnir to eat, I figured you might be able to do both?" The guard looked in disbelief, but smiled. "Sure thing. Come up with me," Berry shook her head. "The princess needs it now. If she runs out of energy, the moon might be stuck where it is for even longer!" "Fine, but don't stay down here too long; it's dangerous for a filly." The guard ran up the stairs, leaving Berry alone in the dungeon. The filly smiled slyly and turned to go through the doorway. Just as she imagined, the Sleipnir lay on the other side of metal bars. He stared at her as she entered, causing the filly to feel slightly uncomfortable. She stood on the other side of the cell for a moment, staring at the prisoner. He looked ragged from not taking a bath in a while, but he was well fed. His living conditions were fine for a prisoner. Berry noticed how much he would shiver, sitting alone in the cell. Berry didn't plan on doing much else, so she decided that it was time to leave. However, when she tried to move, her hooves didn't budge. The Sleipnir began to smile, causing the filly to feel anxious. Suddenly, she took a step, then another, towards the cell. Berry saw that the prisoner had stopped shaking, and the mark on his flank changed. It looked like a mark she had seen on one of the papers princess Twilight had found in the library. The Sleipnir stood up and approached the edge of the cell. As he drew closer, Berry began to whimper. Then, he began to speak. Berry couldn't understand anything that he was saying, but she could see his eyes light up. The walls began to darken, and everything else in the room began to disappear, being replaced by a pure white. The terrified filly closed her eyes, scared of what would happen to her. Suddenly, she heard a thud. The Sleipnir had dropped to the floor, passed out. He began to shiver again, and the mark on his flank went away. Berry's heart was beating faster now as she took deeper breaths. The filly fell backwards, realizing she could move again. Without hesitation, she picked herself up and ran out of the dungeon. The foyer was empty, making Berry's hoofsteps echo as she ran outside. The light from the sun blinded her, making Berry close her eyes in response. As she stood outside, she felt something tingling throughout her body. Opening her eyes again, she could see that her coat was glowing. The glowing increased in intensity, creating a small beam that shot out into the sky - similar to the beams of magic that the Princesses used on the sun and moon. The beam persisted for a few seconds before fading away with the rest of the glow. Before long, Berry felt normal again, but she had a bad feeling about what just happened. Did the Sleipnir do that? She thought to herself. I hope the princesses don't find out about that... The filly ran off into the city, trying to forget what had just happened. Nopony was hurt, so Berry thought that everything was okay - that neither Twilight nor Cadence needed to be bothered with it. Berry heard the ponies whispering and conversing about the beams of magic and how the sun and moon began to move once more. The orange sky remained the same, but it was only a matter of time before day and night is restored to the world. "It was a pretty powerful beam!" "I saw it too." "Could it have been the princesses?" "But, it looked different from the ones before..." "You're right..." "Does the sky look a little different to you now? After that third beam..." After listening to the ponies, Berry became increasingly aware that they were talking about her own beam. If they knew, then... Berry's heart sank, fearing that the princesses saw the third beam as well. Berry finally looked up into the sky; her eyes widened at what she saw. The sky directly above the Crystal Empire looked cloudy. There wouldn't be anything too suspicious about it, except that the clouds were a little pink in color. "Berry?" Twilight's voice broke the filly from her gaze. She turned to see the princess in the middle of the street. The look on her face was a worried one. "Oh, hi!" Berry said sheepishly. "Can you come with me for a moment?" Twilight asked. The tone of her voice was calm, like any other time they had spoken. "Don't you have to continue practicing, for moving the sun?" Berry asked, trying to avoid the topic - she had a good idea that Twilight wanted to talk about the beam. "That can wait." ********* The throne room was empty except for Princess Cadence and the guard Berry had seen in the dungeon. When she saw him, she knew that everypony knew. "Would you mind explaining yourself?" Twilight asked. Berry looked down. "I...I just wanted to see the Sleipnir, that's all!" "And because of that, something happened," Twilight continued. "That beam of light, and those clouds...whatever happened, I'm sure it was because of the Sleipnir. While I'm not sure how it happened...do you know how dangerous this could possibly be for us?" "I'm sorry," Berry began to tear up. What if something bad were to happen because of that? It would have been all Berry's fault. The shock of realizing this made her sink to the ground. "I wasn't thinking...please forgive me!" Cadence approached the filly. "There, there..." She placed a hoof on her shoulder. "It wasn't entirely your fault," The princess gave the guard a look, causing him to give an uneasy laugh. "But you should always be careful when it comes to interacting with prisoners - fillies like yourself should be nowhere near them. We just want to look out for your safety, understand?" Berry nodded. "Princess Twilight! Princess Cadence!" The voice of another guard entering the throne room shifted the mood. He was panting and looked like he ran a good distance to get to the throne room. Cadence turned from the filly and looked at the guard. "What is it?" "There's...there's something you need to see."