//------------------------------//
// Chapter 9 
// Story: My Little Countries: Magic of the Stars 
// by BlondeSky 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 9


There, in the center of the clearing, stood the statue of a mare. It was at least twice the height of all of the ponies looking on and an alicorn as well. It wore armor that covered almost its whole body and looked to be ready for war. Her expression was serious and a little sad, but it was relaxed as if she was okay with the fact that she was upset. Her whole stature radiated an aura of status, magic, and power that was fairly intimidating. Despite how long it must have been down there all by itself and wearing away it looked to be brand new. Every single detail, excepting color, had been preserved as they all admired it from afar seeing as none particularly wanted to approach it.

The beautiful, but fearsome spectacle stood raised up on a grey stone dais that had been adorned with carvings of music notes. The idea of music being played down there however was a strange thought. It was clear, now that they were standing before it, what the all-consuming silence had been radiating from. The aura that was coming from the statue was overwhelming and washed over them in staggering waves. There was an unmistakable presence about it that felt so real, like it was sentient the same way that they were. Looking into its lifeless eyes made the thought all the more uncomfortable. None knew quite how to respond to the discovery that they had made.

“What are we supposed to do?” Zone asked in a quiet whisper tone, but in the horrible silence it sounded out like a magnanimous bellow. Suddenly the statue emitted a ferociously bright glow causing them all to jump. It lasted only for a few moments before it faded away however.

“What was that?” Kara questioned astonished and a little worried in the same tone, but her attempt at quiet was, just as before, in vain. Also the same as before a sudden glow came from the statue that only lasted for a few seconds.

“What’s going on?” Ink muttered worriedly with the same larger than life volume resulting. Then just as each question before it the statue gave off an outreaching radiance.

“Is it responding to the noise?” Diplo wondered aloud and then came the amplified din and the light from the stone figure. As they all pulled back again in surprise Spot stepped forward and put up a hoof asking them to stop.

Now standing slightly in front of the rest he sang out a soft tune.

The statue repeated it back, but instead of with noise with light as it brightened and dimmed in beat with what he had sung. Their eyes grew wide as it repeated the tune back to him with its glow.

Spot took another step forward now fully separated from the group and standing completely inside the circle outlined in the rock. He hummed out a significantly more lengthy rhythm to the statue as he faced it. It repeated it back to him with a light show the same as the time before. “That light’s not ferocious,” he told them looking quizzically at the stone figure, “it’s warm. It’s not fighting us, it’s reaching out. The reason it forced us down here was so that we would find it.”

The statue let off a light and complacent glow in reply to his statement.

“I don’t know. This all feels a little dodgy to me. It might not have hurt anypony, but it sure did come close. There are much kinder methods it could’ve used to get us down here.” Kara replied.

“I can feel it too.” Astro offered speaking for the first time since they had gotten down there, “It’s hard to explain, but it just feels lonely. It doesn’t like that horrible silence any more than we do.” She then took a few steps forward so that she stood next to Spot. “I can believe that it didn’t mean any harm, it was just trying to get us down here the only way it knew how.”

“I’m going to have to agree with Kara on this one.” Zone argued warily, “I can’t say that I really want, or feel comfortable enough with it, to trust it.”

Astro looked over at Spot and their eyes met each other’s. They nodded together before they turned forward in unison. Spot took a deep breath before starting to hum out a musical phrase. It took a moment before the statue joined in with him. It started out repeating the beat just as he finished it, but soon it started to catch on. Soon it was on pace with him and matching every last note with its glow. As the moments passed it broke off and started putting on a light show that, while not to quite the same tune, complemented his own sound tremendously. All of the ponies watched as the two worked flawlessly in unison in a routine that looked to have been planned out exceedingly carefully and practiced countless times before. They danced around each other’s rhythm in a breathtakingly beautiful and extremely skillful manner. Soon the bright blue stone carved into the ground took up the song as the statue gave off a solid and steady radiance.

The tempo picked up as each side started to work harder at putting on their show. Spot proceeded forward grinning as he really started to sing. He was in his element as he sang out, performing was what he did and right there he was putting on the performance of his life. Both parts of the equation were doing their best to keep up their end of the unspoken deal as they melted together in perfect harmony. The light from the statue grew ever brighter as the entrancing presentation went on and on. Still all of the onlookers watched in their soundless captivation. No words could truly describe their wonder as the humble pegasus pony and the being of The Abyss flowed in a bond of perfect song, the language that all things understand. As their performance reached its climax the impossibly joyful light became blinding. Spot’s own chest was heaving from the effort as his smile of elation reached from ear to ear and the song wound its way towards its inevitable closing. As the final notes rang out stone shards shot from where the statue, now completely incased in a brilliant sphere of light, had stood.