“None of this makes any sense,” Cloudlight growled. The pegasus paced back and forth across the ancient palace room, a scowl on his face and his sapphire eyes narrowed in fierce pondering. Just as with the magical alarm, everything Twilight had said was recreated as fragments, waiting to be fit together into a whole understanding. However, there was simply not enough pieces. There were too many holes and not enough information to solve the conundrum. It irritated Cloudlight immensely, as if the missing pieces were jeering at his incompetence. “Why!? Just...” He let out a frustrated growl. “Why in the names of Sun and Stars would there be a spell simply to, what, create us from midair? What’s the purpose to us? What’s the motive!?”
“Cloudlight, calm yourself,” Rowan urged. “We are all perplexed by this. Being worked up is not going to help matters.” After the ordeal with the alarm, he had joined the group at the top of the palace to hear Twilight’s explanation as well. While he had been fascinated by the information, he remained silent for the bulk of it, watching Twilight’s eyes. For some odd reason, he felt as if he knew that she was telling the truth just by peering through her pupils and into her mind.
“Well I can’t help it!” exclaimed Cloudlight. “Do you realize how much these empty gaps are going to itch?”
Rowan blinked at Cloudlight’s word choice. “Beg pardo--?”
“It’s better than nothing,” Blaze abruptly interrupted. “There’s a lot we still don’t know, but at least we know what caused our awakening.” The diminutive unicorn looked to Twilight. He found it mildly annoying that even she stood half a hoof taller than him.
Twilight shook her head. “Still, Cloudlight has a point...” she sighed, looking down at Starswirl’s spellbook, open to the page with the offending spell on it. The three swords glared back at her. “Whoever made this spell, however many centuries ago, must have had some kind of purpose behind it. What I don’t understand is how simple the spell actually is to have caused you three to appear. It would take a much more complex matrix and an immeasurable amount of magic to create ponies from nothing. I doubt even Princess Celestia or even Discord could manage something like that.”
“You lost me at ‘complex,’” Cloudlight deadpanned.
“Really?” Twilight questioned. “With what you showed of your understanding of magic, that would have been a synch.”
“You had to open your mouth, huh?” Blaze sighed to Cloudlight across the link. “If I may, Twilight,” the unicorn stallion spoke aloud, “perhaps the spell was not a conjuration, but a reversal intricacy matrix for a banishment spell.”
“What?” Rowan and Coudlight looked at Blaze, confused looks on their faces.
“A banishment spell?” Twilight asked. “Cast on...the three of you?”
“The mana requirement for such a spell would be next to insignificant, as it would function much like a simple key to a banishment cage, such as the floor of the tomb,” continued the ashen pony. “It may be that the three of us were sealed there for some reason or another.”
Cloudlight shook his head. “No, hold on. Why would we be need to be banished?”
“We don’t remember who we were or what we did,” Blaze pointed out. “Maybe we were once criminals in some past life.”
“But why would you put the key-spell to unlocking a banishment on the actual banishment site? While it is a plausible theory, it would mean your jailors were not very sensible,” Twilight argued. He said mana...just like Cloudlight. Usage of ancient magic units.
“It also does not explain our telepathy with each other,” Rowan also observed, though silently. They had agreed to keep the Link a secret from Twilight, at least for now, on Blaze’s insistence that the unknown unicorn was still not deserving of complete trust. For now, the unicorn simply nodded subtlely up at Rowan in response.
Suddenly, a monstrous growl rumbled through the room, startling them all. Twilight glanced around frantically, wondering if they had accidentally triggered another magical alarm or something of more malignant nature. When another growl followed, her ears swiveled on her head to triangulate the source of the noise.
“...I sincerely apologize for that,” Rowan said with an ashamed blush, rubbing at his noisy stomach. “We still have not found anything to eat.”
On cue, another quieter rumble came from Cloudlight’s midsection. “Ugh, don’t remind me,” the pegasus grumbled. “All this flying, panicking, and pondering is making me ravenous.”
That was also when Twilight realized she was feeling a little peckish herself. All she had eaten for breakfast had been a sandwich and a few granola bars before venturing into the Everfree Forest. “Um...maybe we can take a break for now and head back to my place,” she suggested. “It’s getting late anyway, and I don’t want to be in this forest after dark.”
“Why?” Cloudlight asked. “What’s so bad about it?”
“Let’s just say that manticores would be the least of our worries after sunset.”
All three stallions stared blankly at her. Cloudlight scratched his head with the joint of his wing in puzzlement. “What the Sun and Stars is a manticore?”
“...and though chimaera are a relatively new family of magical creatures, there are veiled references of other specimens as the result of experiments with forbidden magics dating back to before the era of Discord’s--”
“Okay! Enough! You answered the question already!” Cloudlight exclaimed. “I did not ask for an entire damned lecture on freakish patchwork animals!”
Rowan sent a mental reprimand toward Cloudlight in the form of a mild headache. “There is no need for such vulgarity.”
“Ow! You know, someday I’m going to figure out how to do that too, and you’ll regret it.”
Blaze simply allowed himself a private smile of amusement at Cloudlight’s discomfort as he looked at the castle ruins around them. Twilight’s lengthy and detailed explanation of a manticore had lasted the entire walk down to the palace’s ground floor and out into the courtyard. Since their ordeal with the alarm spell, the unicorn found the crumbling city to be much less threatening than it once had been. Less of a trap-ridden mystery, it had become more of an echo of a past long ago disrupted.
“Hey, Twilight?” Cloudlight inquired suddenly. A pensive look on his face, Cloudlight had stopped and was staring up at the large statue of the two alicorns in the center of the courtyard. Across the Link, Blaze could feel something stirring in the cloudy-white pegasus head. “This...might be an odd question, but do you know who these ponies are?”
“Hmm?” Twilight turned to glance at the stallion, then followed his gaze to the two majestic alicorns. “I’m a little surprised that you don’t know this, but then again, we don’t know the extent of your current memories...or lack thereof,” she answered. “That’s Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, the immortal diarchs of Equestria. They have ruled for several centuries, since the establishment of--”
“Luna...” interrupted Cloudlight. “I...I think I know that name...” As he dwelt on the name, Cloudlight’s sapphire eyes became glazed and distant, as if focusing on something very far off. “Luna,” he breathed again. “I recognize--no... I remember that name.”
Suddenly, Cloudlight found himself plunged into a torrent of color and light, something coming alive in the depths of his mind.
“We have a...dilemma we wish to discuss with you, our friend.”
Cloudlight was taken aback by Luna’s sudden request. Nervously, he glanced around the extravagantly-decorated office. Outside the balcony, the trade district of Everfree Castle stretched out beneath, bustling with the activity of commerce and merchandising that came from being the capital of such a prosperous nation as Equestria. “I... I am always at your disposal, Princess,” Cloudlight stammered. “What would you ask of a humble Angel such as me?”
“Please, Cloudlight, do not think that we are so above thee that formalities may overtake our long companionship,” the midnight alicorn urged the pegasus with an amiable smile. “Princess we may be, but you remain our equal, if not in rank then in fellowship.”
“My apologies then, Luna,” Cloudlight replied with a smile, if still a little nervous. “A dilemma, you say?”
Luna nodded thoughtfully. “Many times thy talent for understanding has advised our rule well, and we call upon it again now,” she informed, then took a moment’s pause to sip her tea. As he watched, Cloudlight realized that the Lunar Princess looked very troubled. Her astral mane waved less fluidly than usual, and her expression looked slightly somber. “But this is not a matter of state, more of a personal request for the council of a trusted friend.”
“Of course,” Cloudlight said with a sympathetic nod. “What dilemma does weigh upon your mind, Luna?”
“One of belief, our friend,” Luna said, turning to look outside at the city. Sunset had fallen, bathing the spires of Everfree in a warm, orange glow. Below, the citizens were beginning their daily routine of gradually packing in their things, preparing to retreat into their homes as night began to fall. “Tell us, Cloudlight, what is the worth of one’s beliefs?”
“I...” Cloudlight began, a little puzzled by the question. “Perhaps this would be a better question for your sister? Princess Celestia is quite wise and--”
“No,” Luna insisted sharply. “For all her wisdom, she might misunderstand our phrasing. If you would please, the question.”
“Well, I suppose it has to do with how much worth you put in these beliefs,” the pegasus answered. “In my personal opinion, Luna, if you feel what you believe in is worth the effort of defending and standing up for, then perhaps that is what would best satisfy your heart. ‘Better to regret your misguidance than your inaction,’ my father always did say. A wise stallion, my father was.”
Luna took this in, silently contemplating this. “So you think that fighting for what you believe is right is the best course of action?” she asked.
“If that is how you want to put it, I suppose that is the essence. There is no greater cause than what you love or believe.”
“What if standing for what you believed was the most drastic of actions?” asked the alicorn, sounding somewhat desperate. “If doing so was to disregard the laws of our nation? To face those you oppose you, even if they were those you loved?”
Cloudlight was stunned by this series of questions. Suddenly, the pegasus found himself in the rare position of being the deciding factor in an inner turmoil with one of the most powerful ponies alive. His answer now could completely alter the way Luna ran her charge of the nation, forever shaping a new path for Equestria. So he took his time, dwelling over the question to form the answer that he believed was best for the sake of the state and its Princess. After all, what did this conversation mean if he did not respond with what he truly believed in?
“Then you would need to make a choice, my friend,” he finally answered. “To stand by, and watch as things remain unchanged; or to stand up, and change the world for what you believe is best.”
After another pensive silence and another sip of tea, Luna nodded. She looked surprisingly calm despite the depth of the discussion. “Many thanks, our dear friend,” she replied, smiling at the white pegasus. “You have lifted an inner burden from our shoulder. Our path is clear now.” The Princess waved a wing toward the door. “That is all for now; it is time for us to raise the moon. We wish you goodnight.”
With a smile at the improved mood of his friend, Cloudlight gave a small bow and turned to exit. “Same to you. I await our next visit.”
As he left, he heard Luna whisper after him: “It may perhaps be sooner than you think.”
As he resurfaced from the memory, Cloudlight gasped and nearly fell over. His legs felt shaky and unstable, still reeling from the sudden jerk back into the waking world. In trying to recover, the pegasus flared his wings out a bit to balance himself, only to accidentally throw himself to the other side. Had Twilight not been there to catch him in her telekinesis, Cloudlight’s face would have met harsh cobblestone.
“Whoa! Easy!” the lavender mare exclaimed, setting him upright.
“Grf...thanks, Twilight,” the pegasus grunted, finding steady purchase on the stony ground. He looked around, still disoriented and confused, and saw Blaze and Rowan blinking and shaking their heads, as if to clear their heads. Whatever Cloudlight had just experienced, they must have as well to a lesser extent. Across the Link, he could sense their puzzling over the scene.
“What in Celestia’s name just happened to you!?” Twilight exclaimed, looking a little frightened. “You just went rigid and your pupils glazed over for a few seconds! Were you having some kind of fit? A seizure?”
Shaking the last of the haze from his startled mind, Cloudlight glanced at the unicorn, then looked back up at the statue of Princess Luna. “I...” As he pondered over what he had seen, his eyes grew wide with realization. “I remember! I remember her!” Cloudlight exclaimed excitedly, a smile crossing his face. With a joyous cry, he pranced over to Rowand and Blaze, hopping up and down energetically. “Guys, I remembered something! I remember!”
“Yes, yes,” grumbled Blaze. “We heard.” Rowan simply gave the euphoric stallion a congratulatory smile.
“That’s exciting isn’t it!?” Cloudlight asked, still bouncing. “It means we’re not just meaningless entities! We were ponies with lives and memories and--”
“Wait!” interrupted Twilight. “Calm down for a second. You said you remembered ‘her.’ Do you mean Princess Luna?”
“Yeah! I mean, it wasn’t much,” admitted Cloudlight, ceasing his bounce. “It was just one conversation with her and it was really confusing, but hey! That’s better than nothing!”
“But what do you remember, exactly?” Twilight continued. “Where were you? What’s the context?”
Cloudlight took a moment to pause and think about this. “I was in her office,” he recounted. “It was in a really tall tower, overlooking the city’s marketplace. Really quite a beautiful city.”
“Do you remember the name of the city?” Twilight asked.
“It was...” The pegasus racked his brain, searching through the memory. “Everfree. Everfree Castle.”
Suddenly, Twilight’s face went from curiosity to wide-eyed shock. It was such a drastic change of mood, it was enough to dampen Cloudlight’s newfound spirit. For a moment, he wondered if he accidentally offended the lavender mare. “That’s...not possible,” Twilight started, her stare turning somber and apologetic. She turned toward the ruins, regarding them as one would a ghost. “These ruins haven’t been called by that name in over a thousand years.”
Cloudlight’s expression fell. “...I’m sorry?”
“This is Everfree Castle.”
End of Part 1: Crossing