Chapter 8: Redshift
Waning’s head was sticking out of the compartment window as the train chugged towards Canterlot. She looked up at the darkening sky as the roaring cloud formations spread and blanketed the surrounding area in an oppressive covering while the clouds finished Morning’s announcement. “Well, this is not good!” She sighed, slipped back into the compartment, sat back on the bunk and pressed her face into her hooves. “It is all falling apart, is it not?” she moaned. Her ears folded tight against her head, her usually impeccable mane had become damp with sweat, and strands were falling out of place.
“Do not fear!” said Crescent as she lifted a hoof. “We will overcome!” She gazed down at the foal, letting her see that her face was set with determination.
Waning lifted her head. “Forgive me if I do not share your enthusiasm. Things have been one disaster after another today with no sign of improvement. This is a catastrophe of mythic proportions. If my last major failure was a fiasco, then this blows it out of the water! The last time Morning was around, he conquered the planet— and he is building up steam for round two!”
“Everypony makes mistakes,” said Crescent. “We have weathered worse and will do so in the future. We are more prepared for Morning than our ancestors were.”
“I only hope that you are right,” replied Waning.
(/)
The train pulled into Canterlot station and the passengers disembarked. “Do not run any faster than a trot,” said Sunny. “We do not want to be any more noticeable than usual. There’s a reason that we are not walking around as alicorns.”
“I would hope that your education plan is not so poor that they do not get this by now,” said Waning as she rolled her eyes.
Sunny smiled. “Well, let it never be said that I do not hope to continue to improve in that area.”
Waning rolled her eyes.
As they walked through the streets of Canterlot, they darted their eyes around to take in the sites. The sky was black with smog and the streets were bathed in shadow. Most of the populace was hiding in their houses, some staring at the passerbies through cracks in their windows. Those outside were mostly divided into those darting between buildings, those gawking at the sky with open mouths and those snapping the latter out of it. Even the guards stood staring helplessly at the sky. Sunny flicked her head to redirect them through the less travelled alleyways thrice to avoid any less than dedicated tails during the trip, but other than that, they walked steadily towards the palace.
The group eventually slowed as they approached the palace. “So, where is this forcefie—ow!?” asked Twilight as she bumped her muzzle on an invisible wall.
“That would be it,” said Waning.
They looked up at the castle which now clearly dominated their view as they had moved away from the residential and business areas which still held visible ponies.
“Well then, Fluttershy!” said Rarity as she lifted her muzzle. “It’s time to dress in the proper attire!” She levitated a black outfit with fluffy, blue rabbit ears and paws out of her saddlebag.
“Shadowsilk? Nice!” said Waning. “Though I must question the rabbit-based accessories.”
Rarity lifted a hoof to her chest. “Having a practical purpose is no reason for an outfit to ignore aesthetics, darling.”
Fluttershy changed into the outfit, placing her Element around her neck, and slowly lifted a hoof before gently pressing it through the barrier. Considering the fact that there was no resistance, she stepped through the barrier. After walking through, she turned around. “Don’t worry ... Waning. I’ll find Cerberus for you. She faced forward once more and walked into the distance.
(/)
A flash of light and a crack announced new arrivals at the palace. Discord, Morning Star, Right, First and Solemn all appeared within the throne room. Morning Star turned towards the other undead and said, “We suggest that you continue looking after the vampire! We have OTHER business to attend to!”
Right, First and Solemn bowed and headed for the stairs while Discord continued to float above Morning.
“Discord,” said Morning. “What do you think of the current holder of the seat of Venus?”
“Why are you worried about her, Fluttershy?” asked Discord.
“I’m not worried. I’m just interested. I want to know more about her.”
Discord raised an eyebrow and snapped his talons. He was instantly dressed in a graduation cap and cape while a blackboard with a labelled drawing of Cadance appeared. He pointed at it with a white stick. “What do you want to know?”
Morning grinned. “Everything!”
“Well, she’s very pink. Would it kill her to add a bit more variety to her palate? Sure, she has the purpler feathers and her mane isn’t completely monotone, but still. Speaking of variety, as amusing as her dance she shares with Twilight is,” The image on the board began to dance. “It gets a bit boring without an expanded repertoire. Now, it seems that she’s a lot less stuck-up than Twilight is or that Celestia’s become in more recent centuries, which is a plus, probably as she’s the princess of kinkiness, or whatever that is, but she’s still a little too quiet. Then again, that works for some ponies, case in point.” He waved his talon. A tiara appeared on his head. “Now, her obsession with tiaras is admittedly amusing, but ...”
(/)
As they approached the staircase, Right and Solemn closed their eyes and shook their heads repeatedly. Solemn sighed while Right shuddered. “Realising what he’s doing to us gets more revolting as we learn more. I look forward to hurting him. I am not getting used to this,” said Right.
“Hopefully we won’t have to get used to it,” said Solemn. They turned to look at First who was still staring dreamily into space. Solemn rolled her eyes, grabbed his skull and shook it. “Wake up!” she said. “Morning Star is using us!”
The points of light in First’s eye sockets brightened. “Of course! But how do we defy him?”
“We’ve been working on a plan,” said Solemn.
“It’s not going to get either of you killed, is it?” asked First.
Right cocked an eyebrow. “You’re one to talk! Or did you forget how we became friends in the first place?”
“My memory’s fine,” replied First, lifting his muzzle into the air, “and you were the one that got herself killed first.”
“Things were different then.” Right sighed. “Protecting Equestria’s borders from our enemies during the war was simpler.”
“Only because that’s what you’d trained for,” replied Solemn.
“It doesn’t matter,” said Right as she shook her head. “What is important is that we need Star and to get away, under the cover of darkness, while Morning’s distracted.”
“What’s the plan?” asked First. He tilted his skull.
“We’re finding the Elements of Harmony, and then Morning’s getting added to our list of things we need to blast,” replied Right. “Our victory will be glorious! It was a mistake to bring in Morning. We’ll solve this ourselves.”
“With the help of a new Laughter Bearer and possibly a new Generosity Bearer,” added Solemn.
Right bowed her head. “Of course.”
They trotted down the stairs and onto the lowest floor once again.
“Oh, I’ve missed you,” said First as he rubbed his skull against the nearest surgical table. The orbs of light in his eye sockets narrowed and he lifted his skull. “This place could use some more blood splatters. And rust.”
Solemn half-lidded her eyes. “Let’s worry about that later,” she said. “For now, we need Star.”
She walked over to the mound of earth sitting on top of the centre bed. “How do we wake him up?”
“Watch,” said First. He walked up to the mound and pressed a hoof against it. “Oh, Luna, Binger of the Comforting Darkness, please energise your servant!” First intoned.
Tendrils of darkness spread from his hoof and slithered into the soil. The dirt crumbled away as Star got up, lifted his forehooves to the air, stretching them, and yawned. “Is it nightfall already?” he asked.
“Just about,” relied Solemn. “We need to speak to you before we head up though.”
“We need you to get the Elements of Harmony back,” said Right. “Then we can vanquish Morning Star and reclaim our position as glorious heroes!”
“As much as I’m eager for that,” replied Star as he crawled out of bed, “It won’t be easy. Even my magic can’t just solve all our problems by itself. I could probably track the Element of Magic’s signature to wherever it spends a lot of time, but if it’s hidden or being carried by somepony, I’m not going to find it unless it’s actually shown to me and I don’t know who to convince. I don’t even know what these new bearers look like.”
“We’ve discovered a stained glass window which shows what they look like,” said Solemn.
Star’s eyebrows rose. “Now, that would be helpful!”
Star gazed upon the decorations to take in all he had missed as they climbed the stairs and made their way through to the passage of stained glass. Star narrowed his eyes and placed his hoof on the purple unicorn’s flank. “The symbol of magic,” he whispered. “No wonder she ended up with my Element. What must a pony be like for that to be their cutie mark?”
“We had no records of a pony with a cutie mark like that,” Solemn replied. “It’s possible that the cutie mark is symbolic of something less obvious.” She shrugged.
“Possible,” admitted Star as he lowered his head in acknowledgement.“In any event, it’s time to to discover exactly what these mares look like.I have a plan to get the Elements after that.” His horn glowed and a beam of pink light spread over the window. Images of light, matching the pictures of the ponies within the window were pulled out of the glass and floated before them. Star’s eyes widened and shone with white light. The images bulked up until they were three-dimensional. A secondary aura enveloped his first and ground his teeth as tears collected in his eyes. The image smoothed until they were realistic holograms of the Mane Six. He panted three times before straightening up. “That’s step one. We now know exactly what they look like. We’ll need to know that later. Now to find where they’ve been keeping my Element.” He shut his eyes again and the light intensity built back up. A transparent image of an Equestrian, photorealistic map formed below the floating ponies. A third layer grew around his horn and a red beam of light connected his heart to a spot on the map. The light disappeared and Star Swirl dropped to his rump, exhaling. “Okay. Got it. I’ve pinpointed where they’ve been keeping my Element. It’s in the same village where we commandeered the cart. They keep the Elements there.”
“Excellent!” Right exclaimed as she raised a hoof. “Now we can charge into that village and pillage them of what’s rightfully ours!”
“We need to be careful,” Solemn insisted. “Charging in isn’t likely to help.”
“I could disguise myself,” suggested Star.
“You can do that?” asked First. The lights in his eye sockets widened.
“I’m not a changeling,” said Star. “It has limitations. So, it would have to be another unicorn, but yes. That’s another trick that Luna’s gift has given me.”
“You can turn into another unicorn, a bat, a swarm of bats, a swarm of spiders and a cloud of gas, but an earth pony’s too hard for you?” asked First.
“Each of those is a different ability,” replied Star. “They each have their own limitations.”
Right scowled. “I don’t like this trickery.”
“We have to stop Discord, Celestia and Morning Star,” said Solemn. “If we have to be a little sneaky to do it, then that’s what we have to do!”
“Fine,” said Right. “We’ll do it your way now, and if it doesn’t work, we’ll do it my way.”
“Agreed,” said Solemn.
“I will need some help,” said Star. “This is not something that I have a lot of experience with.” His bones began to shift and crack into more feminine curves. His legs and horn shortened and his coat lightened. His mane darkened and a white mare with a purple mane and a pained expression stood before the other three. “This is not pleasant,” Star Swirl announced.
“Your mane’s not curly enough,” said First.
“And your voice still sounds too masculine,” added Solemn.
Star’s mane curled. “How’s this?” Right’s voice spilled from his lips.
First snorted. “No offence, but a mare that looks like that doesn’t sound like Right.”
Right rolled her eyes.
“I’d suggest faking being sick,” said Solemn. “After all, we don’t know what she sounds like.”
“Fine,” Star rasped before coughing twice. He then resumed curling his mane.
Morning strode in, looked at Star and raised an eyebrow. “We applaud your efforts to make yourself less of an eyesore to Us! Keep trying! You might make time we spend together less of an act of pity!”
Star pressed his face to the ground. “I’m sorry that my efforts have been so inadequate, your Magnificence!”
“Well, now that you know the problem, you can work on rectifying it!” said Morning. He raised his eyes to the stained glass windows. “Attempting to copy that mare’s appearance!? So, that is why you needed these windows! We suppose that you COULD have chosen a worse subject!” He narrowed his eyes and placed a hoof on the image of a yellow pegasus with a pink mane and his frown deepened. He placed his hoof back on the floor. “In any case, you have seen it! We have fulfilled Our end of that bargain! Now, by Our generosity, you may see a greater beauty that’s worthy of being admired!” His horn lit and the windows reshaped to detail images of Morning Star. The images showed him standing regally, soaring through the sky, sitting on a throne, performing magic, standing on the backs of slaves, being fawned over by nondescript ponies, lifting the planet with his hoof and gazing at it with contempt and other such poses. “A MUCH better view, wouldn’t you say!?”
“Of course, your Magnificence,” replied Solemn. “To gaze on your image is the truest form of happiness.”
“The honour of viewing it is like being given a reason to exist,” added First.
“What greater glory can there be?” asked Right.
“All else pales in comparison,” murmured Star.
“That it does!” said Morning. “That said, We wish to meet our newest aspect. As a side benefit, We can see how We’ll deign to let the crystal ponies serve Us! We’ll be off now! We’ll return to continue progress after satisfying Our curiosity for a while! For now, feel free to occupy yourselves with further devotion as you see fit!” He turned and walked off as they gazed wistfully at him.
One-by-one, they shook their heads to clear their minds until only First was left grinning. Right leaned over to approximately where his ear would be and yelled, “Wake up!”
First shook his skull and turned towards Right. “Sorry.”
“It’s not your fault,” said Solemn. “It’s Morning’s. But if he’s not going to be here, we need to get the Elements tonight.”
“Tonight, we will earn our glory back.” Right nodded.
Star narrowed his eyes. “Let’s begin.” There was a flash of light, and they were gone.
(/)
Fluttershy clenched her teeth as she crept across the grass and towards the palace, one step at a time. She squealed and jumped into the bushes as a pyrrippus guard approached. She shivered and the guard twitched his ear towards the rustling leaves. Fluttershy squealed again as he dug his muzzle into the bush. He lifted her out of the bush by her mane with his teeth before letting go. “Oy! What you doin’ so near the palace?” He frowned as Fluttershy crouched to the ground and covered her head with her hooves. “Do I know you? You seem familiar.” He scratched his chin with his hoof for a bit and smiled. “Yeah! Weren’t you a model?”
“Um ... Yes?” squeaked Fluttershy.
“I knew it!” The guard grinned, showing off his fangs. Then he frowned again. “But why’re you here?”
“Princess ... Celestia and Luna sent me.”
The guard raised an eyebrow. “Why you?”
“I ... am here to help Cerberus,” said Fluttershy as she got to her hooves.
The Element of Kindness glimmered.
The guard’s eyes widened. “Wait! You’re in the windows! You’re one of them Element Bearers!”
“Um ... Yes,” said Fluttershy as she looked away.
“Thank the Moon that you’re here!” He pointed towards the castle. “The dude that’s taken over has done something funny. He looks like Princess Luna! You gotta help!”
“We’re still preparing,” said Fluttershy. “Can you take me to Cerberus?”
“Of course.” He bowed his head, grinned and flicked his wings. A mist of deeper darkness surrounded them. “Follow me,” he said as he turned around.
(/)
A flash of light and a buzz heralded the arrival of Discord and Morning Star on the snowy plains outside the Crystal Empire. Morning wore saddlebags and he raised an eyebrow at the barrier. “Localised climate control? And they don’t even have pegasi? Interesting. Discord, break the barrier.”
“I can’t, Fluttershy,” replied Discord.
Morning spun his head rapidly to face Discord as he narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean, you ‘can’t’? Are you questioning the orders of your dear Fluttershy?” His horn began to glow.
“I’ve never been able to get through the Crystal Empire’s barrier,” Discord replied.
Morning’s eyes widened. “You aren’t exactly proving your worth to me, Discord. You are being very disappointing. But fine. Close your eyes.”
Discord complied and Morning’s horn glowed again. A candle formed from the ether and lit itself. It hovered in front of his face. He flapped his wings and the candle’s flame grew into a jet of fire which licked the barrier, yet left it unscorched. Morning cocked an eyebrow and a ball of snow lifted in his aura before slamming against the barrier. The snowball stopped at the barrier and melted through it, like a gentle, localised drizzle.
(/)
The flash heralding new arrivals did not go unnoticed in the Crystal Palace. Cadance walked over to the window of the royal bedroom. “He’s here. That’s him.”
Shining walked over to her and brushed against her side. “He won’t get through the barrier,” he assured her. “The Crystal Fair is going on right now.”
Cadance turned her head to face him. “Maybe that isn’t enough for me.”
“What do you mean?” asked Shining.
“Being locked away where it’s safe is exactly what I don’t want,” replied Cadance as she walked away from the window. “I didn’t agree to become the crystal princess to be kept away from danger, pampered and safe. I did it to explore a new city and its culture, to build it up from the ruins left by its former king and to protect its citizens. Being stuck away from the action is, at times, boring, at other times, frustrating and at times like this, worrying. I am an alicorn! It is my job to protect my citizens and the world balance!” She thrust a hoof towards the window. “He doesn’t just threaten this kingdom, but the whole world! I won’t be satisfied staying safe in a cocoon while I leave the rest of the world to fall. I’m not going to sit and let it happen. If I can make a difference, I need to be out there doing something.”
“This is not a good time to be taking risks, Cadance,” replied Shining. “You aren’t in good shape.”
“I’m never in good shape when stuff like this happens!” said Cadance. “I was exhausted when I helped stop Sombra, I had been abandoned to the empty mine when I helped you fight off Chrysalis and I was an ordinary pegasus filly when I faced Prismia. I succeeded those times and I won’t give up now. Auntie Celestia didn’t raise me that way.”
Shining lifted her chin with his hoof. “At our wedding, I might have lost you. I had already been kept apart from you for far too long. Realising that was scary. And I thought I lost you again during Sombra’s invasion. Do you know what that’s like?”
Cadance thought back to her conversation about life-spans with Celestia on the day they announced their engagement. “Yes. I think I do. But I have to protect Equestria. That’s what led me down the path to becoming a princess. Just like your need to protect it led to you becoming Captain and Commander. I suppose that when you love the type of pony who feels the need to do things that are brave ... and maybe also a little bit stupid, then that is a feeling that you have to get used to.” She gave a small smile.
“I can’t just stay here while you confront a danger like him by yourself,” Shining protested.
“Then you understand how I feel,” said Cadance. “If that’s the case, then why don’t you come with me? I’ll be glad to have you by my side.
(/)
A white unicorn with a purple, curly mane appeared on the edge of Ponyville. Accompanying the unicorn was a lavender skeleton, a pegasus mummy and a haunted set of barding.
“Stay out of sight,” said the unicorn. “I’ll lead the way.” The unicorn trotted ahead, sniffing, while sporting a horn which glowed pink. The unicorn’s face brightened as Golden Oaks Library came into view.