//------------------------------// // Chapter One: Calling of the Night // Story: I Shall Sleep Until You Call // by Zong The Nefarious //------------------------------// Chapter One: Calling of the Night The Rebel Princess stood alone There among the moss and stone In her desperation she did plea For someone to stand there with she Her cries were heard by earth below And from the stones so did it grow A soul with whom she was one But all was cast away with the rising sun --Excerpt from Quill Scratch's collection of poems, named "Royalty Lost" *** ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *** The night air was cool and a gentle breeze rolled over the small community of Ponyville. Despite the darkness around them, ponies trotted back and forth between the houses which were all brightly lit and filled with friendly, laughing ponies glad to be in the company of good friends. The library around the edge of town seemed to be the epicenter of elation and hosted a constant stream of ponies moving in and out. It was the night before the Summer Sun Celebration and the town hosting the event was none other than the little community. None wanted to miss out on such an important event and many had decided to push through the night to see the glorious Princess of the Sun lift her beautiful heavenly body across the sky for the first time that summer. None of them, except for perhaps a Miss Twilight Sparkle, would guess that the event would be put on hold for the arrival of an ancient legend that dated back to a thousand years ago. This night was the night of Nightmare Moon’s return. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Even at night, the Everfree forest buzzed with life. Many creatures were, by this time, very much asleep within their dens. Those proud creatures of the night however, were more active than ever. Above the treetops flew chirping bats while down below a chorus of crickets chirped, filling the air with a symphony of the night. The music mixed with the sound of a stream as water slapped against its banks and stones that called the freezing water home. The stream itself sloped downwards, feeding into the river running through Ponyville. The steam’s source was a little pool no more than a few feet deep. It was situated between two large oak trees that had been there longer than anypony could remember. In the center of the pool there was a ring of moss covered rocks that sat at an angle. They looked as if they could have been the stones of a well, but beneath the surface of the water was a ring of dark blue gem, embedded in the rock. It even glimmered against the moonlight in spite of the thin layer of algae coating the pond’s surface. This little outcropping of dark gray stone held a strange beauty, enhanced only by the moon as it peaked in the sky. It was a shame that no pony had ever stumbled upon this little shrine of natural beauty. Suddenly, there was a change in the air. It was not a change in temperature or even in the passing of the breeze. It was as if some overbearing presence had taken hold of the forest with no intent of letting go. A feeling of anxiousness, excitement, even a small twinge of fear filled the air around the pond. The little minnows of the stream were swimming back and forth in sharp patterns while the chorus of crickets sang out louder than they had before now being backed by an owl’s hoot. And while the sounds made by the creatures of the night were indeed impressive, they paled in comparison to the reaction of the ring of stones at the pool’s center. A rich, dark blue shone from beneath the water. The gem circle at the ring’s center began to move back and forth ever so slightly, sending ripples through the water to smack against the pool’s bank. After a few moments of this, the stones stopped swaying and instead started to sink down into the pool. They soon disappeared from view and all became very still. The chirping stopped, the hoots were silenced, and the streamed dared not babble. The stillness was shattered as a huge stone pillar burst out from the pool. It sent the small amount of water the pool had up into the air, only to come splashing down into the surrounding foliage. This stone pillar was remarkable. It had small carvings of unknown meaning etched into its body and several more gem circles mirroring the one from the ring of stones running along its length. Towards the end of the pillar was another circle of midnight blue gem, situated upon an elevated slab. At the very end were long digits that much resembled the talons of a dragon. And they were moving. The digits flexed into the night air, sending specs of mud flying with each movement. The pillar stayed that way for a moment but with remarkable speed, the pillar-like arm bent and brought its strange hand down to the solid earth. The stony limb shook with effort and, as it pressed downward into the ground, started to slowly rise. The ring of stone was the first thing to re-appear and not only did it have a swath of hanging moss but a generous helping of mud too. If the digits were a hand of some sort, and the pillar an arm, then the ring was most clearly a shoulder. The arm and shoulder alone filled what was once a pool of water, meaning that the rest of the strange creature’s body had to break through the surrounding top-soil. The arm gave an inward push against the ground, and the earth to its left shifted as something beneath moved. A long ridge of broken stones jaunted up from the ground, shifting as the soil gave in to its demand of freedom. The ridge of stones seemed to be the back and small rings of gem appeared on the other side, followed by yet another pillar. As the other arm broke free, it joined in with the efforts of its sibling extremity and began to push against the ground. As they pushed in unison it could be seen that one of the two oak trees was shuddering. The roots of the oak, which had grown into what had been a water filled pool, started to lift upwards as another body part broke itself free from its earthy prison. The tree gave way and with a thunderous crash, slammed into the forest floor. In its place was what we can assume to be the beast’s head. The head was ugly, bearing long, twisting cracks. Upon its crown came three jaunting ridges while on the lower part of its face was composed from rocks of different kind. It had two beady eyes that rested in deep grooves and shone brightly with the same light as the other gems. After a few more moments, the creature pulled its legs from the muddy ground. The legs themselves were unremarkably damaged and had scarcely anything of interest about them despite the fact that they too had circlets of gem running along their length. And so it stood there in the heavy darkness of the Everfree, coated with mud and moss. The moonlight filtered down through the gaps between the forest’s trees and caused the creature’s dark blue eyes to shimmer and look up. There, in all its glory, stood the relic of a past long forgotten. In the remnants of that little pool stood a golem, answering the lonely call it had heard so long ago. When the commotion ceased, silence returned. Not even the crickets dared to let out a single chirp as the golem stood there swaying its head back and forth, observing the surrounding forest. Confusion, or the equivalence of confusion to a pile of rocks, befell the golem as it was looking around. Its memory, unlike its rocky body, was not a solid thing. It felt as if this was not the same place where it’d been before… before the brightness came. But, as it stared up at the moon it could see that the brightness was gone. All of the dazzling light was gone, and only the moon’s loving embrace was left. Somewhere, in this forest, it could feel her presence. That scared child who’d found it so long ago, and it could feel that she was in trouble once again. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The forest was filled with the sound of wood being torn asunder and the thumping of tree trunks crashing to the ground, and leaves crying out as they were thrown to the forest floor. It was all too apparent that the foliage of the Everfree stood no chance against the beast of stone as it made its trek. Even though the golem could not see the child, it could feel her. Ever since she first came to it, tears in eyes and runny nose, it was linked to her. Her magic flowed through its stones and no matter the distance, it would find her. It was like a heartbeat, pulsing within the golem. Without it, there was nothing, no darkness, no moonlight, nothing and the brightness would the golem to that nothingness if it didn’t hurry. The path it took was becoming more and more chaotic by the moment as it searched for her. At one moment, she was in one spot but then she would suddenly move and throw the beast of stone off course. It took a while but eventually it seemed as though she’d settled down in one general location. And so, the golem set towards this fixed spot with no regard to the surrounding forest, for it was only an obstacle to be overcome. It was not long until the golem came upon a large river. This river was plagued by violent rapids which showed no sign of calming down any time soon. To most creatures this would have put an end to their journey. To the golem, however, the churning water was no more a concern than the trees. The golem stepped over the river’s bank and plummeted down into the hostile water below, sending a good deal of it splashing out onto the shore. This particular section of the river came up to its waist, mainly because its feet had been sucked down into the river’s muddy floor. The surging current of water enveloped the golem, and as it passed the flow took away some of the mud and debris. After a moment or two of struggling against the mud that’d taken hold of its legs, they came free. When the golem was about halfway across, there was a loud cry that came from somewhere down river, and with it the rapids suddenly vanished and the water returned to a smooth, gentle flow. It paid little mind to the river’s change in temperament that’d bothered the golem very little when the flow was raging. The creature of stone reached the opposite bank of the river, grabbed onto the edge and pulled itself up out of the water and started off in the direction that her presence was the strongest. As it strode, the golem entered unto a thick mist that hung idly in the air. The circlets of gem that covered its body started to shine brightly. It gave off a concentrated energy, the very same energy the golem fed off during her night. It would not be long until they would be reunited. Now, while the forest was certainly no challenge towards the creature of stone, the great chasm that faced it now was certainly an issue. The golem paced back and forth along its edge, letting out a small rumble that came from somewhere in its chest. She was close, it knew that it was very close to her, but it couldn’t see a way to get pass the bottomless gorge. And then, without the slightest warning, the mist was lifted away from the surrounding land and with it, the charge of power. The golem could now see that on the other side there lay the ruins of a once proud castle and it could feel her. Now the only question was how to get over the gorge? The stone beast looked around and saw that the chasm became narrower as it went along. In the other direction, the golem could see a small rope bridge connecting the two sides. But what interested it most were the outlines of six ponies going across said bridge towards the castle in which she was residing. The golem quickly walked over to the bridge, only to discover that the flimsy thing could never hold its bulk. So it turned his gaze upon the castle and caught a glimpse of five ponies walking out of the only standing doorway. As the ponies stood outside, the sound of swirling wind erupted from the interior of the ruined keep and each of the five ponies cried something out and ran back inside. The far tower lit up with magic and the golem cringed. A wave of emotions slammed into him and flooded its senses. Anger, frustration, joy, anxiety along with a range of other strange enveloped the creature and did not let up in their relentless assault. As these emotions continued, the golem was overcome with a new sense of urgency. The sheer necessity of this desire became everything. For a short moment, brought about by its desperation, the golem thought that trying to jump over the chasm would be the best way to get across. Thankfully, it reasoned that being at the bottom of a gorge would not help in the slightest. With great haste, the golem began to march along the edge of the canyon. Trees, vines, other rocks, it didn’t matter. Anything that stood in the golem’s path soon found itself being tossed aside, whether that be into the gorge or off into the nearby foliage. Eventually, the two opposing sides of the chasm closed and disappeared underneath a large hill that overlooked the whole of the area. The hill itself was completely bare of trees and other foliage and seemed to have a significant number of boulders and crags. The golem wasted no time with the hill and within moments was shoving its fist in and out of the mound’s side in order to obtain a firm grip as it climbed. Once atop the hill, the ruins of the castle and its surrounding towers were clearly visible thanks to both the elevation and the moonlight that shone down upon it. The golem was just about to go down the hill when a new feeling hit. Surprise, shock, or perhaps worry of some kind? Why? The windows of the bastion shone brightly with a strange multi-colored light that seemed to be swirling around wildly until they all went down on a single location within the tower. And then there was a sudden unsettling snap that rang out, causing the creature of stone to shake violently. The golem couldn’t feel her anymore. For a long while, it just stood there, thinking. Soon enough, it started to feel her again, but it was different now. Where there had been a sure, steady stream of powerful loneliness, this new link…well, it just wasn’t the same. But as the stone beast sat there, a strange light rose over the horizon and embraced the tree line of the Everfree in a warm embrace. This new light caught the golem’s attention immediately and as it saw the light it jerked its head towards the sky and saw that the moon was no longer hanging from above. The golem knew what was happening, the brightness was back. The golem stared directly into that brightness as the far off mountains allowed the garish light to fill the lowlands below them. Without warning, a little blip descended downward from the brightness and headed directly towards the bastion. The golem let out a roar as it saw the oddity heading towards her and started down the side of the hill in a mad dash. As it ran, the canopy of the surrounding forest shook violently and the few birds that had nested in them the night before flew away from the shaking leaves by the dozens. The golem knew that there wasn’t much time left before the brightness pushed it back into the nothingness. It was not long before its gem circlets started to lose hold of the power that they’d collected during the night. The circlets situated on the golem’s arms were the first to become dim, and as this loss of energy occurred, the pillar-like limbs locked up and refused to move. Soon enough, its legs locked up. The beast of stone then stood in a small brook that flowed down from a pool of water that situated itself in a little alcove above the rest of the forest floor. And so, the golem stood there, locked in place, just as it had before. The gems that acted as its eyes dimed as the last remnants of the night poured out. And as it did the golem fell back into the nothingness. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------