Published September 1st, 2013
Chapter Twenty-Three: Ancient Legacy
"We found him down in one of the cells. The door was covered in chains, and had about ten locks on it. Whoever he is, he was important, and someone didn't want him going anywhere for a long time. He fainted as soon as I started trying to ask him anything." Cadence and Shining Armor studied the unicorn Dark Lance and Skybreaker had found. They had deposited him on a couch from one of the other rooms, and he now slumbered in relative peace. He was obviously old, with a graying reddish coat and gray mane and tail. His fetlocks were long and slightly matted, and his hooves were a solid white, but his cutie mark seemed strange; it was of a crystal trapped inside what appeared to be a metal ring. But the most surprising part about him was that he appeared to be a crystal pony, even though he had a horn. He was as dulled as the rest, but since the rest of the city had come out from hiding, they hadn't seen a single one with a horn or wings. Cadence took a step forward, and lifted one of his forelegs, peering underneath as the others looked on curiously. Shining came up next to her to try and see what she was looking for.
"What is it, Cadence? Do you know who he could be?" She put down the old pony's hoof and nodded.
"It's him. It's my grandfather, Crystal Spark." The others gasped, except for Dark Lance, who found something about the name bothering him. He couldn't quite place what it was, though. Any further thoughts from those present were interrupted by a groan from the unicorn. They all turned to see him moving slightly, coughing as he struggled to get up. Cadence quickly set a gentle hoof on his shoulders, and pushed him back down as she spoke in a soothing tone.
"Easy, easy. You were in the dungeon for a very long time. You need to rest, still. We'll get you some food and water, just stay put." The unicorn grumbled something that sounded like affirmation, and returned to sleep as Dark Lance walked over.
"So how do you know that this is Crystal Spark? The pieces fit, but there were probably plenty of others that could warrant this kind of treatment."
"My mother's favorite story was of how he once defended the capital from a great dragon, leading his troops from the front line. He eventually had to fight the dragon himself, and although he drove it off, he suffered a great wound across his chest. This unicorn has the same scar my mother described to me; a large, three-pointed mark on the left side. He can't be anyone else." Dark Lance nodded, and turned back to Skybreaker.
"If you need us, we'll be down in the dungeon again. There's still plenty of space down there we haven't gone through yet, and there may be others still trapped in their cells. Oh, and here." He extracted a communicator from behind his ear and turned back to them. "If you need us, just go down to the entrance and use this. Even if we can't hear everything you say, we'll still pick up the signal." He gave it to Shining, and then left with Skybreaker. As the door closed behind them, the guard captain turned to his wife.
"So, what do we do now? I can't hold up this shield spell much longer, and we don't even know how to get rid of that cloud outside. Should we contact Celestia?" Cadence sighed again. There had been a lot of sighing today.
"I suppose so. But first, let's exhaust our other options, and I'll take over powering the shield spell." Shining shook his head at the thought of putting that kind of strain on her.
"No. I'm the guard captain, it's my job to keep everypony safe. You should go try to get the ponies outside to talk. You're better at that than I am, and technically, you're their leader, so they would probably be more receptive to anything you say than whatever I could talk to them about." He was making stuff up as he went, and he knew it had almost zero chance of working, but he tried to make it sound convincing anyway. Judging by the unamused stare he was getting from his wife, though, it wasn't convincing enough.
"First of all, the primary job of any leader is to keep their subjects safe. Secondly, there are still plenty of other places in the palace to check for information, so we don't even have to leave. Lastly, you're my husband, which means you are just as much these ponies' leader as I am. Now stop being stubborn. I have much larger power reserves than you do, so I'll be able to keep the shield up for much longer." Shining Armor bowed his head in defeat.
"Yes, ma'am."
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Meanwhile, far to the south, above the Changeling hive....
"Tell me again, Chrysalis, why such a simple task is taking so long?" Fireburst paced back and forth across the throne room in his beast mode, waiting for the construction teams to finally finish what would have normally taken half the time they had already spent to get three quarters of the way through the project. Chrysalis swallowed the fear-induced lump in her throat.
"Because, they are not builders. We have never built anything larger than two stories, and never more than three nests in any direction from the center. The only reason the throne room exists is because the column itself was made of harder rock than the rest of the cavern. And the sheer size of this thing is making it difficult to keep it standing." She heard him come up next to her as they both regarded the tower that her hive was building.
It was a massive thing, easily larger than Canterlot Castle, or any other pony-made structure. With Fireburst's technology, they had used metal ore deposits that the Changelings had previously thought worthless and made massive beams, then used their magic to weld them together, and kept them upright by leaning them against the side of the mountain they were on. It was rickety and unstable by any standard, but it didn't need to last long. Fireburst had already brought and prepared everything he needed from the Darksword in order to send out the two signals that would set in motion the defeat of the Autobots. All this tower had to do was stay up long enough to get the signals out.
"Well then," he growled, making the Changeling Queen shiver with the fear of knowing that you are not at the top of the food chain, "maybe your workers should try a little harder to keep it stable, hmm?"
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Beneath the Crystal Palace
"So, how big do you think this place is, boss?" Skybreaker looked around at the tunnel walls, noting the differences in design from the previous tunnels they had gone through. Ahead of him, Dark Lance shone a light into each cell, swiftly checking for any signs of life.
"I don't know, but this area was obviously designed by someone different from the designer of the area we found Crystal Spark in. These edges are much more curved. For all we know, these dungeons are as big as the city above us. Possibly even bigger." Skybreaker's response was cut off by a signal from the communicator they had left behind. The voice of Shining Armor came through, distant and full of static, but still sufficiently audible for them to understand him.
"Dark Lance, the king woke up. He started asking where you went, and as soon as he found out you were down there, he took off, saying something about tracking and darkness. He already went into the tunnels themselves, and I'm not willing to risk getting lost down here." Dark Lance turned around, intending to wait for the unicorn who seemed to have been desperate to find them.
"Good call. This place is a labyrinth, and I'm not sure we could find you down here if you did lose your way. We'll stay put, and see what our new friend has to say when he gets here." The channel went quiet, and not long after, the two Autobots could hear hoofbeats echoing through the tunnels. The sounds got louder, and the crystal unicorn's appearance was briefly preceded by a dull white glow on the walls. He came sliding around the corner, and immediately lunged at Dark Lance, knocking him over and pinning him to the ground.
"Go no further! Go no further! The Dark is there, waiting for you!" Dark Lance stayed still, deciding that the unicorn on top of him had no true ill intent.
"What do you mean? What 'Dark'?" The unicorn brought his face close to Lance's, almost until his nose was against the Autobot's faceplate.
"The Dark! The one that took Sombra, the one that eats all, the Dark that searches for us now!" Dark Lance thought over the words for a moment before it clicked.
^The one that eats all... Unicron.^
"You're talking about Dark Energon, aren't you?" The king's eyes widened.
"How you know Energon?" He suddenly looked down at Lance's body, as if seeing it for the first time, before looking up again with his eyes much more focused than before. "You Autobot?" Skybreaker looked down to try and gauge his commander's reaction, but Lance seemed unfazed.
"Yes, we are Autobots. How do you know of us?" The king backed off of Dark Lance, and shook his head a bit. He suddenly turned towards the wall, and vomited a black bile that grew dark crystals where it touched. Lance stood up, and scanned the puddle to find that it was mostly comprised of low-density Dark Energon. He turned his attention back to the king, who now stood much more strongly, and seemed far more aware of his surroundings. When he spoke, it was now with the regal air one would expect of a king.
"My apologies. While Sombra was in power, he frequently used me to experiment on, and it infected me with that infernal substance to the point of madness. My name is Crystal Spark, former king of what was once the Crystal Empire, and guardian of what lies below." He gave a small bow to the Autobots, which they returned.
"And just what does lie below, if you don't mind me asking?" The king shook his head.
"I do not, but you should know beforehand that you might not like what you hear." Dark Lance nodded, and Crystal Spark sighed. "Very well, then. Come, I will speak as we go, and you may see for yourselves." He started down the hall at a brisk trot, with Dark Lance and Skybreaker transforming to follow him evenly.
"I was the last in a trio of kings to guard this place. It is an old, dangerous site, and it has been hidden away from the rest of the world since before Luna and Celestia. Even they do not know of its presence." Dark Lance decided to get him to skip to the important part.
"What is it?"
"A ship. Specifically, an Autobot ship." Both Cybertronians halted in their tracks. Skybreaker managed to put his sentence together first.
"But- but how is that possible?! We were the first exploration team to come here, how did we not know about this?"
"Simple. It was not an exploration vessel that crashed here. Before Megatron started his war, he sent various agents to places all over Cybertron. Including the research station that manufactured Dark Energon. While they were there, they managed to steal a ship before the Autobots managed to shoot out their thrusters. They returned fire, and both ships were lost to our world. They crashed here, and the Autobots were able to drive off the Decepticons. They rebuilt their ship into the tower that now serves as a palace, and although a few went to pursue the still-functional Decepticons, most rebuilt themselves to blend in and make this their home. The Dark Energon, however, still remains, locked away in the ship the Decepticons stole. I believe that Sombra, who at one point was my greatest ally, somehow found this place and was exposed to the corrupting influence of the Dark Energon. Whether or not I am right, though, we will find out soon enough. We are here." He stopped in front of what appeared to be a dead end. He pushed a single hoof against one of the bricks on the left wall, and the stones in front of them began moving, shifting and turning as they revealed a metal door behind the stone. "Also, you should know of one other thing, although I must have a vow of secrecy from both of you first." Skybreaker glanced uncertainly at his leader, but Dark Lance stepped forward with an outstretched hoof. The younger scout copied his motion, and the king tapped each of their hooves with his own. "Very well. Step back a bit, I haven't done this in ages." They both put some distance between themselves and the old unicorn, and he strained for a moment before standing up on his hind legs.
His head split down the middle, and folded onto either side as his forelegs bent back to form a collar. His unicorn head refolded itself into arms, and the horn into blades, while his robot head tilted forward into position, the six points above his eyes spreading into a perceptible crown. His hind hooves then opened, allowing the rest of each leg to extend into a pair of powerful bipedal legs. Skybreaker's jaw fell as Dark Lance hummed in thought.
"How-but-you-I mean... WHAT?!" As he stared incredulously at the robot before him.
"Calm yourself, Skybreaker, it's not that big a deal." He looked at Dark Lance like he was crazy. "If he had wanted to harm us, he could have done so some time ago. And either way,there were enough clues to this for me to figure it out before we even got here. His name, first of all, is blatantly obvious; second, from what Shining Armor heard, I guessed that he was tracking us, and I very highly doubt he would have been able to do that as quickly as he did without being able to detect Energon; finally, as soon as I heard him talking about Dark Energon, there was no other logical explanation. Now then," He returned his attention to the king. "I assume this is the Decepticon ship?"
"Yes, and I must once again warn you of the danger here." Dark Lance transformed once more to stand level with Crystal Spark, and nodded.
"I know. But our ship still needs some repairs, and it may be possible for us to salvage parts here." Skybreaker transformed as well, and their guide nodded before opening the door. Another Cybertronian, this one grey and purple with only one arm, began stumbling forward at them as soon as he saw them. He groaned, and the hissing, grinding sound that came with it alerted Dark Lance to the fact that this Decepticon could no longer process reason. He grabbed his sickles, and cut the mindless being into pieces before it could react. The other two took a step back as Dark Lance looked into the dark corridor it had come from.
"It may also be possible we'll have to deal with Dark Energon-infected Decepticons."