//------------------------------// // The Musical Cave // Story: The Light Kingdom // by Rakoon1 //------------------------------// As they had been assigned, and to great Rarity’s disappointment, she and Pinkie Pie went to Vanhoover to try to get the orange star seed, General of Music’s star seed. They then disembarked on Vanhoover train station, with Pinkie Pie talking while hooping, following Rarity to the mountains near the village which was where the orange star seed’s sign was: "Oh, this is going to be so exciting! We're searching for a star seed and is General of Music’s. How do you think it's going to be when we find it? Will there be music? Of course there will be music, after all we are talking about the General of Music. Oh, I love music!" Rarity progressed, trying to ignore Pinkie Pie’s prate, but it was becoming a little difficult. Pinkie Pie had the talent to get into the head of anypony. "Hey, Rarity, what kind of music you think we’ll hear when we find the star seed?" Pinkie Pie asked. "I don't know, Pinkie" Rarity replied. "Oh, I hope it will be an animated song" Pinkie said. "I love animated songs." Rarity was still advancing, trying to ignore Pinkie, when suddenly she noticed something. "Pinkie, hide" she said. The two hided in some bushes nearby and started to lurk. "What is it?" Pinkie Pie asked. "Shut up and listen" Rarity replied. The two looked and then saw an earth pony appear, but completely different from a normal pony. He had dark tones, fangs and red eyes. It was then that what appeared to be a pegasus, similar to the first pony, appeared and stopped in front of the first pony, remaining in the air. "I still haven't found anything" the first pony said. "Wherever the cave is, it is very well hidden. Retrieving the orange star seed to the master can be a most difficult task to solve." Rarity and Pinkie Pie exchanged a stunned look when they heard that. Those ponies were also looking for the orange star seed. They referred a "master". They wondered if they were talking about the Lord of Chaos. If that were the case, they would have to retrieve the star seed before them. "That's bad news" the second pony said. "Luckily, I think our companions found the cave. It is on the other side of this mountain, on the base. It is in a fairly remote area, very hard to find." "You could have said that when you arrived here, don't you think?" the first pony replied gruffly. The second pony shrugged and walked away quickly. So the first pony started moving away too, starting to follow the path that would lead him to the other side of the mountain and to the base of it. Rarity and Pinkie Pie came out of their hiding and the white unicorn asked: "Did you hear what they said?" "Of course" Pinkie Pie replied. “That pegasus should have said first his news." "Pinkie!" Rarity exclaimed. "They are undoubtedly Lord of Chaos’ followers and they found the star seed that we're looking for." "Oh, yeah" Pinkie Pie said. "So what do we do?" "What do you think?" Rarity asked rhetorically. "Follow that pony. He will lead us to the star seed’s location. Then, we observe the situation. We need to know what are the star seed's defenses to try to figure out a way to get it and we can only pray that they won't be able to get it." "Good plan" Pinkie Pie said. "It can work." "So, come on, before we lose him" Rarity said, beginning to move down the same path that the pony. "And no singing and hooping up and down so he won't hear us." "Okie dokie lokie" Pinkie replied, following Rarity with her lively step. The two managed to get the pony and followed him discreetly, making sure he wouldn’t notice them. They followed him for some time, while he came down and headed to the other side of the mountain. So, they arrived to an area where there were many more ponies like him and the other pony. They hided and watched. They saw a small cave, where the entrance was, counting with the two ponies that they had seen, about half a dozen ponies. "The orange star seed must be in there" Rarity concluded. "For them to stand here, it’s because those should be guards, which means there's at least one more in there." "Rarity, you know that I like to see the positive side of things and that all" Pinkie Pie said. "But how will we pass all those ponies?" "That's a good question" Rarity agreed. "Yeah, I mean, it's not that the answer will appear out of nowhere" Pinky Pie said. "Hello, ladies" a voice greeted. That made the two ponies almost give a cry of fright, but they managed to contain themselves and turned to see a magic ball floating, where there was Heartbeat. “Okay, that was scary” Pinkie Pie said. "Heartbeat?" Rarity asked. "But what are you doing here?" "Technically, I'm not there" she replied. "I'm still in the Mirrored Library, but I'm monitoring your missions... And, Pinkie, stop with that!" Pinkie Pie had been passing her hoof through the bubble that was made of light. She then stopped. "How are the things?" Heartbeat asked. "Bad" Rarity replied. "I think we found the star seed, but the place is guarded by ponies that seem to be Lord of Chaos’ followers." "What ponies?" Heartbeat asked. Rarity showed the ponies to Heartbeat and then she said, in a serious tone: "Those are not regular ponies. They are dark ponies." "Dark ponies?" Rarity and Pinkie Pie repeated in unison. "They are ponies whose star seeds lost their light and were filled with darkness" Heartbeat replied. "They're like dark versions of ponies. They are cruel and ruthless, but a little stupid and naive." "Okay, so how do we beat them?" Rarity asked. "I repeat, they are stupid and naive" Heartbeat repeated. Then Rarity had an idea. "I think I know how to pass them" he said. "So good luck" Heartbeat wished. And, having said this, she disappeared. "Okay, what's the plan?" Pinkie Pie asked. "A distraction" Rarity replied. "Oh, I love distractions!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed. "Can I be the one to distract them? Can I? Can I? Can I?" "I think not, Pinkie" Rarity said. "I have a better idea." It was then that there was an explosion of orange light coming from the cave and two dark ponies were thrown out of the cave. It was then that something happened to the ponies. Dark roots involved them, but then they disappeared, showing the ponies that had returned to normal. Their star seeds turned from black to translucent with a slight white light within them, returning then to the inside of the flower which closed and disappeared. "Whoa!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed. "Did you see that? Did you? Did you? Did you?" "It seems that the light from the orange star seed returned that ponies to normal" Rarity noted. "The star seed must be protected" one of the ponies said. "And if it manages to reverse them, what are we going to do?" "We will have to contact the master" another replied. It was then that they heard noises coming from the woods along the cave. "Intruders" a dark pony said. "I need you to find them and eliminate them." The dark ponies then began heading to the forest, trying to find the alleged intruders. Then Rarity and Pinkie came out of their hiding place. "Wow, they have really moved away from here" Pinkie Pie said. "As Heartbeat said, they are stupid and naive" Rarity said. "Well, let's go." The two headed to the cave, passing by the unconscious ponies. They entered and were amazed with what they found. The walls of the cave were all made of translucent orange crystal, and there were some coming out form the floor. Pinkie Pie was pretty curious with those crystals, starting to observe them. Finally, they reached the bottom of the cave and there they found a great pillar of the same color as the crystals and, within it, there was the orange star seed. "There it is" Rarity said, approaching. "Though, is a bit too easy." "Maybe, if we try to remove the star seed, we can face the orange light that can throws us out of the cave" Pinkie Pie said, continuing to look for the crystals, concentrating on who were in line near the pillar. "I think you're right, Pinkie" said Rarity. "We should try to find a way to get it out of there." Rarity observed and mulled a way to get the star seed out of there without activating its traps. Pinkie Pie, in turn, continued to observe the crystals with a lot of curiosity, something which irritated Rarity. "Pinkie, can you stop playing with the crystals and help me with the star seed?" she asked. The pink pony snorted and then prepared to head for Rarity when stumbled on one of the crystals. This glowed for a moment with an orange light and a sound was heard, what did the pillar where it was moved slightly down, returning to normal after that. "Pinkie!" Rarity exclaimed, turning to Pinkie. "I haven't done anything wrong!" Pinkie hastened saying, rising up. "I just tripped." "Don't apologize, Pinkie" Rarity said, advancing and giving a hug to Pinkie. "You just solve our problem. These crystals are like piano keys. Each should produce a different musical note that must move the pillar differently. If we play the right melody..." "We can get free the star seed so we can caught it and so we would be one step closer to free the Light Kingdom?" Pinkie Pie asked. "Precisely" Rarity replied. "First, we need to know what notes is that each crystal makes and then we can build the right melody that will make the pillar free star seed long enough to catch it." The two then began to investigate each crystal and, after determining the sound of each crystal, they began to create the right melody. They played each of the crystals, starting to fill the cave with all the sounds they made, that echoed and resonated. The pillar that contained the star seed moved upward and downward with the rhythm of the melody. Pinkie and Rarity were waiting for the right moment, while they were continuing to touch the crystals. It was then that the pillar freed the star seed. "Now, Pinkie!" Rarity exclaimed. Pinkie then went quickly to the pillar while Rarity was trying to hold the note as she could. At the last moment, Pinkie Pie managed to grab the orange star seed before the pillar to hold it again. "You did it, Pinkie!" Rarity exclaimed, going to Pinkie Pie. "Yes, I did" she said. "If I couldn't, I wouldn't have the star seed on my hoof." She handed the star seed to Rarity that put it in her saddlebag and then said: "Well, let's go. We have to get back to the Crystal Empire as soon as possible." They started heading to the exit, but when they got there, they ran into the dark ponies who they had cheated before. "Well, well, well" one of them said. "Our invaders." "You managed to deceive us, but you are now completely trapped" another said. "Oh, no" Pinkie Pie said. "We are so busted." The dark ponies began to approach them. Rarity said nervously: "We cannot settle this civilly. I mean, we're all ponies, dark or not." "Sure" one of the black ponies replied. "Just give us the orange star seed." Rarity and Pinkie Pie began to retreat, fearing what those ponies could do. It was then that an orange light started coming out from Rarity’s saddlebag. Noting the light, Rarity took the star seed out of the saddlebag. Seeing it, the dark ponies became a little intimidated. "Be careful" one of them said. The star seed issued an orange light so strong that blinded everypony. It was then that Rarity and Pinkie Pie heard screams and moans. The light dissipated and they opened their eyes. They then saw all dark ponies on the ground, regaining their original form and with their respective star seeds regaining their lights and returning to the inside of their respective owners. "Wow, that was... amazing!" Pinkie exclaimed. "I'm glad the star seed helped us" Rarity said, looking for the star seed. Heartbeat appeared in her bubble and asked: "So, girls, how are the things?" "See for yourself" Rarity replied, showing her the star seed. "Perfect, we have Melody’s star seed" Heartbeat said. "And we defeated some bad guys" Pinkie Pie said, pointing to the released ponies. "I think it’s better you get back as soon as possible, before there's more followers of the Lord of Chaos trying to retrieve the star seed" Heartbeat advised. "Don't worry, we will deal with it" Rarity said. Heartbeat waved and disappeared. "Well, I think our partnership is over, right?" Pinkie Pie asked. "We're friends, Pinkie" Rarity reminded her. "But it wasn't bad to have you as a partner. If it wasn't for you, we wouldn't retrieve the orange star seed." The two exchanged a smile, until they started hearing the unconscious ponies regaining their senses. After helping them to return home, the two boarded the first train to the Crystal Empire, taking with them the star seed, hoping that their friends were having the same luck as them.