//------------------------------// // Ch. 14 A lot on her Mind // Story: The Brightest Shine // by Cozy Mark IV //------------------------------// The Brightest Shine Written and read by Cozy Mark IV & Jan. McNeville Disclaimer: This is a non-profit fan-made work of prose. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is the property of Hasbro. Please support the official release Chapter Fourteen: A Lot On Her Mind The world swam slowly into focus around her, and Shining groaned as she rolled over on the soft bed, her head still stinging as she rubbed a temple with her right hoof. The large room appeared to be a hospital, various machines and medical tools laying about on the crystal counter by the door. 'Crryysstal...' The room was made of crystal. Her eyes opened wide in shock as she recognized the light blue crystal of the creature's skeleton. In a flash the thin hospital blanket was flung off as she raced to the open window and stared out in disbelief. Outside, shimmering in the moonlight was a city made of crystal! Block after city block of crystal buildings and green plants stretched off into the distance under the dimly shimmering dome that seemed to encompass the whole city. Outside the dome of the sun's influence at the edge of town, a thick blanket of snow lay on the ground, shimmering brightly in the light of the full moon. Her hind legs slumped into a sitting position as she stared open mouthed at the sight before her, idly remembering what Sand Storm had said a few hours ago: “So when we're done, we'll turn this place into a quarry and charge admission. Lucky us.” “Never mind a quarry,” she muttered, “some ponies decided to live in this thing's burned out corpse!” 'Yeessss... Crryysstal ponies...' A closer look at the ponies walking under the street lights below showed the truth of the statement. They were actually translucent, the flickers of the street lights reflected and scattered by their bodies as though by glass. Shining shook her head in disbelief as she turned to look behind her to see who was talking to her. The large room was empty. The hairs on the back of her neck had begun to stand up as the crystal beneath her began to shine with a chilling blue light of its own, the glow seeming to come from the places where her hooves and skin touched it. A deep, resonating call came from the crystal itself as it called to her, the sound echoing in her mind like a lonely wolf howling in the darkness. Shining yelped and jumped a foot in the air when the door across the room suddenly opened with a bang! The doctor burst in and flicked on the lights, drowning out the cold blue light around her as he announced; “Oh good, you're awake! I'm glad to see one of you is doing well.” Shining shook her head, her eyes still wide as she turned to see the brown unicorn. “Who? What?” He smiled apologetic as he walked over to her, and extended a hoof. “Oh, where are my manners? I'm Doctor Pleura. I was assigned to your case after your story started to spread.” Shining was trying to concentrate on what he was saying, “Story?” “Well, of course! The story of Sleeping Beauty and her Prince Charming is as old as these crystal spires, and it isn't every day the kingdom gets to see the real thing.” The crystal beneath her hooves was still calling to her, the sound low but persistent at the back of her mind, making it hard to concentrate. It took real effort to break out of her monosyllable replies, but she managed to compose herself enough to ask the obvious questions. “Hold on. Stop. What empire?” “Why, the Crystal Empire of course!” his face lit up as he realized what her ignorance implied. “My goodness! You mean to say you've been frozen since the before the founding of the empire?!” A moment later his face fell as the other, morbid implications of that statement caught up with him. Shining's face was a study in shock and loss as she worked through to the same conclusions. With trepidation, Dr. Pleura gave the present date and year, cringing as Shining's mouth fell open. Centuries. She had been frozen for hundreds and hundreds of years! Shining swayed on her hooves as the obvious implications caught up with her. Everyone she had ever known: Dead. All her life experience and trade skills: suddenly useless and laughably outdated... she hoped. The only alternative was even scarier. She sat down hard on the smooth crystal floor, and immediately the call of the crystal increased in volume, the long low howl making her hair stand on end as something in her mind that wasn't her translated the message: 'Home! Come home!' With a yelp, Shining leapt back to her hooves, staring around wide eyed as the call diminished again. Ignorant of what was happening, the doctor sighed sadly and slid a hoof under her shoulder. “Maybe I should help you back into bed.” With his help, she climbed back onto the fluffy mattress, and as soon as the last of her hooves left the floor, the call of the crystal diminished to a whisper, her mind clearing somewhat. “Thank you...” she said shakily as she lay back again. “Of course. It's probably my fault anyway for pushing so much on you all at once,” he added apologetically as he pulled a clip board and pencil from his lab coat. “Now, if you don't object, I'd like to examine you. I've never seen a pony who's been frozen in crystal, so it's only prudent to make sure you're recovering well.” Shining nodded absent mindedly, and the unicorn began to poke and probe her with his stethoscope, pausing now and then to ask questions and jot things down. After nearly half an hour of this, her addled mind brought up that which should have her first thought, and she sat bolt upright as the question came out in a shout. “Steady?!” The doctor paused to rub his ears where the stethoscope had jabbed him. “Ow! What now?” “Steady! Where's Steady Hoof?!” His puzzled expression resolved into a grimace of concern as he figured it out. “Is that the name of the stallion you were found with?” Her expression was enough and he continued, “Your Prince Charming didn't fare quite as well as you did. He's in the intensive care wing of the hospital; stable, but not yet awake.” Shining's mind was still swimming as she tried to process everything. 'How was that not my first thought!? What's wrong with me? It feels like I can't think straight...' “I want to see him.” The doctor looked at her critically, but eventually nodded and offered his hoof to help her back out of bed. As soon as her hoof touched the floor however, the call of the crystal was back, howling in the back of her mind, and she jumped and whisked her hoof off the floor as though burned. “Uh... doctor? Do you think you can find me some shoes?” … Everything was wrong. Darkness was but a fraction of it's former size, it's mind shattered, broken and forced into this tiny shell, competing for resources with this being of living fire. It's memory, once spanning the birth and death of stars was mostly gone, along with large portions of its mind and personality. Darkness had no choice. It adapted. The missing portions of its mind and personality were transcribed and modified as much as possible from the mind it found itself sharing, and gradually, thought became possible once more. The living fire it rode in walked through the inferno at the bottom of this fire ocean as naturally as Darkness had once navigated between the stars. Its' odd blob shape that had so mystified it before made sense now, not just through observation, but through long memory. Darkness remembered what legs and hooves were, what a mouth was, a tail, a nose. And as it remembered these fresh experiences, it took in it's new surroundings. All that remained of it's old body was the heat-resistant superconducting crystal of its skeleton, but now, at this hellish temperature, even the indomitable crystal was a superconductor no more. The fire creatures had carved it, tunneling and boring through it like... insects... The memory of roaches in a bathroom came to mind, familiar and foreign all at once, and for the first time, Darkness knew revulsion. Bulges that had once supported memory nodes and through processing were eroded and broken, their edges and connections all broken off and their cores hollowed out to serve as dwellings for the burning creatures . A reflection in a nearby structure showed the hospital its new body walked through, and it recognized the heat dump and metabolism center that once served as its... heart... Large parts had been torn away, and grotesque bulbous additions made around the base, all carved full of holes and tunnels. For the second time in five minutes, and the second time in millions of years, Darkness experienced a new feeling. The memory of it was scattered throughout the fire creature's short existence, but it stood out, clear and blood red: hatred. Darkness hated these creatures. Shining began to fall behind Dr. Pleura as her eyes flickered and began to change, the white of her eye turning green as the iris became blood red. Images of horror flashed before her eyes as her mouth opened in shock; her own body, immersed in an ocean of boiling water, screaming as her flesh turned to pulp and sloughed of in chunks, the fat liquefying and floating upwards. The outer skin lasted a bit longer than her internal organs, but soon, as her innards began to boil out through her eye sockets, her flesh too tore apart and floated off on the current. As her skeleton collapsed in on itself, tiny crabs and sea creatures began to move in, rearranging her bones and boring holes in them to suit their needs. Shining started screaming. It took Darkness a moment to realize what was happening; it's own thoughts and anger were apparently perceptible to the fire life that carried it, and if its' memory of this high pitched sound was correct, Darkness's thoughts were causing it distress. Another new feeling; satisfaction... … “Ma'am? Miss Mind?!” The doctor had turned about and grabbed her firmly by the shoulders to shake her, and this seemed to break the spell. Her eyes returned to their normal color, the green disappearing in a few blinks as the real world around her came back into focus. “What... What happened?” She asked in bewilderment as the hospital staff looked on in worry. “I don't know, you just stopped walking and stood there. I was about to ask if you were okay, but then you started screaming! What in the world is the matter?” “I... I don't know...” Shining stated in shock, “That's never happened to me before...” The doctor looked her over with obvious concern. “Maybe we should take you back to your room...” That brought her back to the present enough to act. “No. You told me you found a stallion with me, and I want to see him.” She smoothed her ruffled mane down as best she could and stood up straighter. “I'm sorry for whatever just happened, but I assure you, I am fine. Please lead the way.” The doctor eventually conceded, and turned once more, leading the way to the intensive care ward. As they made their way through the big hospital, something obvious nagged at her mind, but it wasn't until they had found the wide, opulent spiral staircase that she got up the nerve to ask. “Doctor? Where are all the earth ponies? We've passed wards of beds and dozens of nurses, but I haven't seen any earth ponies at all...” The doctor paused on the stairs to give her an indulgent smile. “Well of course you haven't. This hospital is strictly for those of the upper classes such as yourself. The charity hospital is on the opposite side of the city.” 'Charity hospital...' They hadn't learned anything! She was about to lash out at him, but before she could speak, a thought occurred to her that stopped her half way up the steps. “Wait a moment... I know... knew, an earth pony who could shape and form crystal with her magic... The shape of this building, the perfection of the stairs and doors... earth ponies built this city, didn't they?!” Dr. Pleura shrugged with disinterest. “Well, yes; Eps grow our crops, cook our food, and last night I called one in to unclog the toilet in the master bath, what of it?” There was real anger in her voice as she advanced up the stairs. “Earth ponies built this city, and you just swooped in and stole it from them?!” To her surprise, he actually laughed. “Hardly. The empire's defenses are quite effective at keeping invaders out. The Crystal Heart is triggered by our light and love, and draws its power from some power source that burns deep within the crystal. In hundreds of years, we have never suffered an invasion.” Shining's face registered confusion as the doctor turned and continued up the stairs. “But... if the unicorn kingdom didn't invade...” From somewhere above her she heard him scoff. “Unicorn kingdom? They haven't had an real power for hundreds of years now. No, Ms. Mind, the unicorns that rule this city, and the pegasi that defend it are the native born elite. We make up but one pony in twenty, and our rarity is simply further proof of our strength, wisdom, and inherent right to rule. Not like those hippies in the southern kingdoms...” He added darkly. Shining felt like she had been slapped. 'Their own children!' The doctor continued on obliviously as Shining hurried to keep up, “It's true what you say; Eps did build this city. Our oldest founders fled the aftermath of the great freeze, leaving the warm southern lands behind and striking out boldly into the north in search of a new home. They built this place from nothing, and founded an empire so we, their rightful rulers, could appear to lead them to greatness.” Shining had to fight down some unusually specific violent thoughts that welled up unbidden from the back of her mind as she struggled to keep up in the new shoes the doctor had found for her. They didn't completely silence the calling of the crystals, but it at least they kept the floors from shining whenever the lights were out. So far it had only happened while she was alone, but she had no interest in showing anypony else what was happening until she had time to figure it out herself. The two of them emerged onto the wide upper floor a moment later, and the doctor escorted her to another large private room where a familiar stallion lay on a bed by the window hooked up to an IV and several monitors. “Steady!” The doctor raised an eyebrow as she ran to his side. “His name is 'Steady'?” Shining took his hoof in hers as she watched him breathing slowly, his eyes still closed. When she finally replied, her voice threatened to crack. “His name is Steady Hoof, he was one of the top officers in Commander Hurricane's force, and he... he saved all our lives.” The doctor scoffed once more, “Yours perhaps. Whatever he did centuries ago will be of interest to historians, but it hardly matters today.” As he rambled on, he failed to notice the green cast of Shining's eyes as her rage built behind gritted teeth. “He's still out but should come around in a day or two. For such a burly stallion, it doesn't seem to take much to bring him down.” He never saw the red magic lash out and grab him, turning his blue eyes a bright green as some of what Shining had been through played out behind his eyes. - He was standing exposed on a small hill near the edge of the city, but it was a city no more. A huge mountain towered into the sky where the city he grew up should be, pulsing with light and power in the total silence. The doctor tried to gasp, but no air would come in the vacuum and he frantically clawed at his throat as he stumbled around, his body collapsing into a shallow puddle of liquid nitrogen that hissed and steamed as his flesh froze and he tried to scream. 'Self would have spared your lives,' breathed a menacing voice. As his lungs burned and his body spasmed and thrashed on the hard ground, his eyes fixated on something in the crystal before him; a brown pegasus frozen into the blue crystal, its body sheared into slices revealing its bones and internal organs. Slowly, ever so slowly, it's one good eye rotated to look at him. - Doctor Pleura began screaming. In a flash he turned and ran into the wall, stumbled back and fled down the corridor, knocking into alarmed nurses and patients as his eyes flickered between green and blue. It took a moment for Shining's own eyes to return to their normal color, leaving her feeling angry and confused, her memory of what had just happened far from clear. She slowly lifted her front hooves to her face. 'What was that?! What's happening to me?!' Without really thinking, she took one shoe off her front hoof and placed the bare flesh against the crystal wall, watching as bands of cold blue light began to flow through the crystal where she touched it. The low, howling call was back once more, tugging at her mind; 'Home! Come home!' Slowly, and with mounting horror, all the pieces clicked into place. This crystal bone yard had never been her home, but there was one who had lived here... Darkness hadn't died... It was still here... in her head! 'Yeesss...' Shining yanked her hoof away from the wall and staggered backwards, her head whipping right and left trying to see something that had no substance; “What... What do you want!?” Her eyes flashed green once more as an image of Darkness's former glory towered into the black vacuum that suddenly surrounded her. 'The night... to last... forever!' Shining was panting in terror as her heart raced, but help came from an unexpected source. The vision of cold and dark was suddenly pierced by the light of the morning sun, and as her eyes returned to their normal color, she turned to find the same morning sun shining in through the window of the hospital room. For the first time in a long time, hope fought with fear in her heart. “You can't, Darkness. You've lost!” A vicious anger wrenched at her soul as her eyes, still staring into the sunrise, flashed green once more. As Shining watched, the moon raced across the sky and eclipsed the sun, a dusk beginning to fall across the landscape outside as a horrible cracking, grinding sound of stone splitting seemed to come from the growing moon. 'The lights that stopped me will turn to stone!' A complicated equation flashed before her eyes, and with a sinking dread Shining recognized its' relation to lunar mechanics. She had no idea how it intended to use it, but it was clear this was no idle threat. The breaking of rock and splintering boulders became deafening as the ring around the moon grew thicker and darker, the sun fading out as the sky turning black while it bellowed; 'The lights that stopped me will turn to stone!' Shining was done talking. Summoning up all her strength, she poured all her magical energy inward, forcing the Darkness inside her down and down until she could think clearly again. Here eyes returned to normal once more as she gasped, and reaching out, she pulled a chair over to Steady's bedside, being careful not to brush up against the crystal with her magic as she collapsed into it, panting. She didn't know how long it would last, but at least it would buy her some time. Moments latter, a unicorn nurse stuck her head in the door, “Are you okay, ma'am? I thought I heard shouting in here.” Shining forced a smile as she looked up, never letting go of Steady's hoof. “Oh, we're okay. Sorry to bother you.” The nurse nodded uncertainly, and was about to leave, but she seemed to find her courage as she addressed Shining once more, “Oh, and I don't know what you did to Dr. Pleura, but thank you. He's had that coming for a long time.” As the door closed once more, Shining couldn't help but smile as two voices joined in the nurse's laughter. … The hours passed slowly in the large empty hospital room as the sun climbed up the dome of the sky. From time to time, Steady seemed to stir, but he never quite woke completely, and the the nurses chided her to let him sleep, so she sat still by his side, holding on to his hoof and waiting. The call of the crystal was still dimly audible in the back of her mind, but with shoes to separate her body from direct contact with the crystal, she was able to block it out. Darkness, however, had only been banished for a few hours, but its' return was more subtle this time. Shining's eyes flickered green, and outside the sun grew dim once more as the grinding of stones rumbled in the distance. It's tone actually felt conciliatory as Shining saw her body frozen in a crystal block, while her consciousness roamed free in the vast expanses of darkness's mind as it had just before the sun had ignited. 'You will be-' it struggled through her memory, looking for a word to describe this state of frozen existence 'dreaming... when they are gone.' The sun outside crumbled and turned to stone as Darkness repeated again, trying to convince her, 'you will be dreaming when they are gone.' She didn't turn or move, simply holding on to Steady's hoof as she stated, “No.” The word was said with finality, and while she felt its' burning anger within her, it seemed to retreat again, her eyes changing back as the late afternoon sun reflected in through the open window behind her. “Shining?” The sound was so soft that for a moment she wasn't sure she had heard it, but as she raised her head, she saw Steady's eyes beginning to flicker open. “Steady!” The stallion blinked as he brought a hoof up to rub his head. “Oh, OW! Did somepony drop a mountain on me?” She couldn't contain her smile as she leaned in and kissed him on the forehead. “More or less. Oh, Steady, I'm so glad you're back!” He squinted in the reflected orange light of the sunset. “Glad to be back here... I think.” He sat up groggily and took in the crystal room around them. “Where is here anyway? It doesn't look like we left at all...” Her smile faltered as she looked sadly down at him. “We didn't. Something went wrong, and we were both frozen when the sun lit up. We've been out for a long time...” Steady finally got his eyes to focus properly, and she watched sadly as they went wide as he took in the city outside their window. “A very, very long time...” There was silence for several minutes as he took it all in. “They're all gone, aren't they... Verdant and Squall and everypony... Even if they got out, they're all gone by now...” He turned slowly and looked at her, “Did they learn anything? Has anything changed?” She bit her lip, not having the heart to tell him her suspicions. “I... I don't know. I've only been awake a single day myself, and most of that at your bedside.” “Oh, Shining!” Steady reached out and pulled her close, patting her back as she shuddered. “It's okay, whatever happened, we still have each other.” He chuckled a little as he added, “If you think you can lose me by freezing yourself in crystal for a hundred years, you don't know me very well.” She couldn't help but laugh at that as a tear ran down her cheek. “All the same though, let's let somepony else handle the next alien ice monster, okay?” Shining suddenly grimaced, her expression invisible to him as they held each other, but whatever she was about to say was cut off as the door opened to reveal a nurse escorting a very official looking guard pegasus. “Good evening! I'm glad to find you both awake and well.” The pegasus in fancy armor said quickly, stepping past the nurse without a backward glance. “I come with a message from the Queen; You are both invited to attend the the annual Ceremony of the Crystal Heart tomorrow as honored guests of her Majesty.” He passed them each a fancy invitation written in gold ink, before pausing to look critically at them down his nose. “I would suggest you show up at least an hour early so the Queen's attendants can find suitable clothes for you.” The stallion turned on his heel and was gone without another word as the two of them stared first at each other, then at the nurse still standing in the doorway. “The Queen wants to see us?” This seemed to finally break the nurse out of her trance, and she shook her head with a sigh. “Princess Fabulosity has been making some unpopular decisions over the last few years and support for her is at an all time low. A few weeks ago she declared herself Queen, thinking the change in title would somehow solve all her problems, and from what the papers say, she's been getting more and more ticky about everyone using her 'correct' title.” Steady and Shining looked at each other uncertainly, then back to the nurse. “What sort of decisions?” The nurse stared at them for a moment, then sighed again, reaching up to a small jewel tucked unobtrusively into the neat bun of her mane under her cap. With a swift jerk, the jewel came loose, and a flash of white light erupted around the nurse as a miniature tornado of wind sent every lose object in the room flying. When the light faded a moment later, the mare before them was sporting a towering hair style that sparkled with dozens of jewels and ribbons, while her face was perfectly made up in the latest style. There was a long, strained silence as the two ponies stared in disbelief at the sparkling crystal pony before them while various round objects that had been sent flying slowly rolled to a stop on the crystal floor. Eventually Steady spoke up in confusion; “The Queen is a professional hooker?” It had been a long time since either one of them had seen a pony laugh that hard. “Oh my goodness, you're really not from here are you?” She finally managed as tears of laughter left ridiculous tracks through her perfect makeup. Shining could only shake her head in disbelief, “No... No, we're really not...” She turned to survey the mess the spell had made of the room, “Is that sort of spell safe?” The nurse's smile vanished and anger dripped from her words as she answered, “The hospital had to craft special high strength gems like this one and add them to the code of uniform after one of the mare's gems fell out while working in the OR a month ago. One pony lost an eye, and they still haven't found all the scalpels yet.” Shining and Steady cringed in sympathy as she continued, “And that's before you get into the sanitation problems, the risk of bits and bobs falling into places they shouldn't or getting caught in things. I'm just lucky I work here and not at one of the factories...” They both continued to stare at her with a mix of interest and foreboding, and after a moment she elaborated. “'Queen' Fabulosity has been tampering with the Crystal Heart that defends the Empire, imbuing it with fashion spells to make all the mares in the empire fit her standards of beauty without ever bothering to ask any pony whether they wanted that. This isn't some amateur spell cast by a little filly on her pet cat that her big sister can undo with a few minutes and scissors, oh no, this spell has power behind it. She's cast it into the most powerful magical artifact we have for crying out loud!” Shining shrugged apologetically, “I'm sorry, I was never one for assaulting small animals with beauty products...” The nurse shook her head, the effect not unlike a miniature brass band turning a corner, banners waving and sparkling all the way. “When a foal does this to a cat, it wears off quickly, and the poor thing can usually get away. This spell can only be countered by gems like this,” she added holding up the small gem from her uniform, “and it changes without warning day and night at her whim. She's been piling on more and more styles for over a year now, and half the mares in the city are ready to strangle her!” Shinning nodded. “I can see why! But didn't you say something about a factory?” The nurse blanched, “Yes. The papers are calling it the Great Ribbon Explosion of Aught Nine. The factory was totally destroyed, several ponies were badly injured, and the owner is suing the Crown for everything she has.” The two stared at her in trepidation until she continued; “One of the earth pony mares working at the cotton processing factory lost her protective jewel at a very bad time, and her massive hairstyle formed part way inside a high powered machine. The thing tore her scalp and mane clean off in an instant and shredded the hairstyle in with the rest of the cotton for processing, but as awful as that was, remember, this spell was cast into the Crystal Heart. The destruction of the hairstyle kept setting off the spell, over and over again until things got totally out of control; half the cotton in the place wound up in buns and bangs exploding out the access panels and equipment, and when it all caught fire, well, Fabulosity had taken the time to ensure her hair styles wouldn't be ruined by a little mistake on the part of the weather team. The sprinklers flooded that factory until ponies were being swept out the second floor windows, but her damn spell kept that abomination of a hair style dry and burning for seven hours until they finally managed to disconnect it from the crystal heart.” There was a long silence as they both mulled that over. “Uh, can I get one of those gems?” Shining asked at last. The nurse gave her a sympathetic look and fished two out of her saddlebags, passing them over with a warning. “It takes a little time to become crystal ponies like the rest of us natives, but as soon as that happens, you'll need to have this in all day, every day. And you too,” she added with a glance at Steady, “she's just gotten into male hair styles in the last couple months. Your gender is no protection anymore, I'm afraid.” Steady nodded in appreciation, as though receiving intelligence at a briefing on enemy strategy. “Thank you, nurse.” She nodded and resumed her well practiced demeanor, taking their vitals and recording the information on the cart at the foot of their bed. In a few minutes she had finished her work and turned for the door. “Well, it was nice to meet the famous Sleeping Beauty and her stallion. You two get some rest tonight; the ceremony is at noon, and after what that guard saw, you'll probably be woken up at the crack of dawn to begin trying on clothes.” The door closed behind her with a soft click, leaving the two of them alone once more in the falling shadows of the evening. The sun had set a few minutes ago, and the hospital lights soon clicked on of their own accord, Steady and Shining staying up well into the night talking of bygones and what they planned to do next. When sleep finally took them, Steady wrapped his hooves around Shining, spooning up against his love in the soft bed until their snores were the only sound to be heard in the room.