I galloped as quickly as I could down the passageway, turning corners with the greatest haste as I scrambled for the exit. The mass was materialising behind me, I could hear it. It persisted as I ran, stalking me as I threw open the door and slammed it shut, wincing at the harsh report it made. A mere second later, the wood of the door disappeared under the grey goop as it solidified, sealing me inside the stone corridor into which I had fled to escape it. Quickly, however, the noise faded away, the matter not extending beyond the door. It seemed to be toying with me.
I had progressed through the refinery with little difficulty, although terror had held me firmly in its grip the entire way, each step causing my nerves to scream at me in protest, certain that the shape I had seen would appear around the corner. Luckily, I didn't hear from it as I moved shaking from room to room, trudging my way across the dirt floor and scavenging what little I felt confident enough to go near. I had refilled my lantern from a firelight barrel and found additional bottles to stow away, as well as two discarded diary entries from my journal, now stowed safely away in the little book. Standing on the remotely blood-stained soil, I had read them, shedding some light on my ordeal after returning from the Zebra Lands.
Diamond's Diary - Return (Entry 1)
22nd of the 6th Moon, 1839 S.E.E.
It's been more than a Moon since my last entry. After the event inside the underground chamber in the Zebra Lands, professor Scraper insisted I return to Equestria. He said he didn't want to risk forfeiting the entire expedition lest I took a turn for the worse. An excessive decision in retrospect, but I'm glad it turned out that way.
I found my journal this morning in the haphazard collection of things brought home from the Zebra Lands. Next to it lay the broken stone orb wrapped in cloth. I tried to assemble it, but I couldn't. The pieces wouldn't fit together, as if they weren't from the same object. Could I have imagined it all? Was there ever a complete orb?
Diamond's Diary - Return (Entry 2)
25th of the 6th Moon, 1839 S.E.E.
I feel the need to continue this journal, even though it was intended for my journey in the Zebra Lands. This must be something very important, I just know it. I've taken it upon myself to piece the orb back together, but it's been more difficult than one might think. The pieces are behaving strangely. They seem to change color, shape and texture, but ever so slightly.
Yesterday I took careful measurements and notated any significant markings. Today, I confirmed my suspicions. They were changing. I was terrified and rushed off to see the finest geologist in Trottingham, Sire Weather Stone. I approached the subject with care, and we discussed how rocks change form. He told me about the nature of glass, how it eventually collapses on itself, like ice slowly melting over the course of centuries.
Stone eased my mind a bit, but I can't escape the feeling that these shards have otherworldly properties.
After searching the rooms for a way out, I had encountered a locked door and found a small hole big enough to squeeze through in the wall, and soon stumbled across a trapdoor with a pulley system. After unjamming it, I had opened up the trapdoor and jumped down. The Shadow made its presence aware soon after, its sickly mass chasing me down the short passageway. Now the way behind me was sealed, leaving only the corridor ahead as a viable direction.
My first step sounded with a splash, and looking down I found myself knee deep in water. Since when had the corridor been flooded? Had I missed that when running in here in my panic? Why didn't it spill out when I opened the door? Or...had it just appeared now? Surely it couldn't have; I hadn't heard it or felt it up until now, so...where did it come from? I lifted my leg apprehensively as I wondered about the water's sudden appearance, or perhaps my lapse in consciousness. Both were terrifying possibilities.
The water itself was cold and numbed my legs, but it looked clear and clean, and I became aware of how thirsty I was. My reflection looked back up at me, gauging my reaction as I contemplated drinking. The dark green coat was diminished to almost a grim brown, bristled and coarse, matted with dirt and dust and the sticky remains of viscera. An unkempt brown mane clung fiercely to a firm, young face, the darkened eyes staring sullenly forward, partly unfocused. There should have been a glimmer or a spark it seemed, but it was absent, the brown glassy orbs resting lethargically in their sunken sockets.
My image dispersed in ripples when my muzzle connected with the surface and I supped and swallowed the cool liquid. It irrigated my coarse throat and cracking lips, returning moisture to my pining tongue. It was painfully and unexpectedly refreshing, the cold biting at my withered and exhausted organs and returning them to proper functionality, like waking a sleeper with a sharp slap. Having guzzled my fill, I unbuckled my saddlebags and placed them on a nearby box, taking my first opportunity of being unencumbered to collapse into the water, letting it wash over me. It bit harshly, nipping at my skin underneath my coat, but gradually began to massage my tired and sore muscles. I felt the grime leaving me, the gunk that had pervasively stuck to me pulled away as I rolled and rubbed myself over. I felt as though I were lighter, like the excess grit was weighing me down. The water worked its magic inside and outside me, and I felt more at peace.
I felt like something was coming.
I pulled my head above the water, pushing my dripping mane out of the way of my eyes. It was too dark to make out anything clearly, but I could see the direction of the corridor and the lonely boxes bobbing up ahead. I turned my ears up, turning to listen more intently for any sound that indicated that something was approaching me. They flicked as I caught onto a sound, the repetition of the heavy splash unmissable in the water, and unmistakable as something walk clumsily in loping steps along the corridor. My heart pulsed rapidly and I felt myself grow cold in dread, a thousand heartbeats passing by for every step that drew that little bit closer.
There was no way I could get through the door behind me, sealed over as it was. It had taken an acid to burn through it before, and I had no such chemical on me now. As far as I could see, the corridor had no rooms or side passages to it, and lead to the right up ahead of me. I couldn't go that way; that was where it was approaching from. Ducking behind the box holding my saddlebags, I leaned out just far enough to hold an eye on the corner, waiting for the creature to appear. The splashes grew louder and my heart reciprocated, beating so furiously in my chest that I feared that whatever was here with me would hear it. It was nearly here.
My breath caught in my throat as the steps rounded into the stretch of corridor I was in, spouts of water thrown up from the heavy plodding. A shape moved into view, but it was indistinguishable in the low light. It seemed to blend in with the corridor, so all I could manage to see was the movement. It drew closer and closer, and still I couldn't make it out, but that was not the primary concern on my mind. I heard what sounded like a deep sniff, followed by an ominous snarl, and its pace markedly increased. With a frightened yelp, I leaped on top of the box, standing over my saddlebags, watching the unidentifiable thing stalk towards me. I whimpered, drawing back as much as I could.
And then it stopped. Suddenly, without warning, the splashes ceased, and the shape halted before the box. In the silence, I heard it sniff again. It emitted a low gargle and shifted its weight, but otherwise remained silent and stationary, watching me and waiting for me to move or slip or...
I shuddered, dreading to think what it could be waiting for. Why hadn't it attacked me? Could it be that it didn't know where I was? As much as I wanted to believe that, it had stopped in front of the box I was standing on, and had settled down like a predator waiting for a prey to emerge, and that suggested that it found it difficult to reach me. With no small amount of reluctance, I peered at it, barely moving as I tried to make out its seemingly amorphous form. What was it? The dim gloom prevented my eyes from making any sense of what it was meant to be, its shape lacking a distinct identity. It was like a blur or a smear rather than a creature in its own right.
I wrenched my gaze away from the sinister thing and looked around, hoping for a way out. The entire corridor was flooded, the door behind me was welded shut by the grey mass, and there was a formless creature stalking me. Needless to say my options weren't great, other than staying in place on the box and praying that my adversary starved before I did.
Wait.
My eyes picked out shapes, actual shapes, in the water; sturdy wooden boxes, gathered in groups of two or three along the wall. I looked at the closest batch and thought about the possibilities. I could jump from here to there. The creature stalking me only seemed to be able to travel in the water, so as long as I travelled along the boxes, I should be able to remain out of its grasp. Steeling myself, I tensed my legs, trying to determine their strength. The water-dweller burbled as though it had deduced my intention, and its core-chilling rumble lent me more determination to make the jump. Kicking out my back legs, I pushed forward.
The flight through the air felt longer than it probably was. My heart thudded a hundred times over from the moment I left the box, my stomach chilling into a cold lump of lead, my mind screaming at me to stop, until I landed safely on the target box. I felt a jolt of exhilaration as all four hooves touched down, avoiding the water sloshing around me.
SPLASH
SPLASH
My ears pricked in horror as the water stalker suddenly lurched back into life, taking familiar loping steps towards my new area of habitation and stopping in front of it as it had before. I swallowed and stepped onto the next box and the one after that, my safe path ending with a small stretch of water, and then another collection of boxes. It had worked before, I told myself, taking a couple of steps backwards before running and leaping, landing safely. Yet again, the sploshes followed my progress.
I ran and jumped between the wooden islands, keeping myself off the floor on my way down the corridor and hoping that there was a way out at the end of it all, the incessant splashing behind me motivating me to continue on in spite of anything to suggest that there was any other way out. I leaped a slightly larger distance, stumbling on the landing and scrambling to stop myself from slipping into the water, my heart accelerating to a ludicrous speed, my head feeling a little lighter. Just up ahead, there was another turn, this one to the left, and there was no crate in the water for me to keep me elevated. I paused, running through my options in panic, searching around me for a way to go. Behind me, the splashes trudged closer, and a view of the spouts of water thrown up convinced me to go; I jumped forward. Landing with a sickeningly cold splosh, the gargle-growl behind me urged me on, sending me hurtling around the corner in a flurry of disturbed water.
I thudded into something metallic and cold, managing to turn to avoid the worst of the impact. It was an iron gate, the bars taunting me with a view of the corridor on the other side. I tried lifting it, pushing and straining frantically against the barrier, but it stubbornly refused to yeild. There was little which I could do to grip it, and even when I did make scant progress, it was too heavy to lift, only rising an inch before sliding back down into place. In the corridor behind, the approaching steps had sped up, as if sensing that I was in reach, and I looked around for a way out. There were some books on a ledge to my right, but the ledge was far too low and small for me to clamber atop it for safety. To my left, the wall was just as unhelpful, offering nothing to aid me. It was all just stone, except for the small wheel of metal.
I looked again, shifting hurriedly closer to it and placing my numb hooves on it, twisting in every direction in the hope that it might do what I was sincerely praying it would. With a creak and a squeal, the wheel twisted at my insistence, the gate rising agonisingly slowly in response. I whimpered, pleading with the gate to hurry up, my hooves gripping and twisting the wheel furiously, but it didn't help. The stalker was almost around the corner, and I had no way to stop it, no way to impede its progress. It knew exactly where I was.
Unless...
With a fervent dash over to the ledge, I grab a book, pulling a couple off in my haste. They slapped noisily into the water, drawing a growl from the water beast as it rounded the corner. Resting the tome on my hoof, I sent a prayer to the two sisters, pulled my foreleg back, and hurled the book over thing making terrifyingly quick progress towards me. The impact in the water echoed around the flooded corridor, and the thing stopped, only the waves it had made continuing on towards me. I waited, my breathing quick and shuddering as I tried to remain as silent as I possibly could, wondering if the blasted thing would turn around and investigate the noise further down the corridor or just ignore it and rend me apart.
A gargle later, the splashes restarted, this time moving away from me and back around the corner. I breathed out a jittering sigh of relief, grabbing another book of the ledge as I made my way back to the wheel, resuming my attempt to lift the gate. It had slid down since I moved to distract my pursuer, and was now only about a tenth open, barely above the water level.
A fierce ripping and thrashing sound tore down the corridor, making me flinch and shiver. It was followed by a dissatisfied grumble, and then the familiar splashing plod of the lumbering creature making its way back. I twisted at the wheel, watching the gate amble upwards, nearly at halfway. It would have to do. I threw the second book behind me, watching it splash down and draw the approaching form towards it, and went to move past the gate. It was descending quicker than I had anticipated, and I had to duck a little to get under the sharp prongs that made its bottom, arching my back to get under. My undercarriage dipped into the water, and as soon as I was out from under it, I turned around and tried to pull down on the gate, to get it shut quicker, to seal the beast off from me.
I hadn't heard it, but it had heard me, clearly. The usually loped gait of the amorphous, terrifying predator was charging towards me, the water around it parting as it quickened its pace. I yelped and pulled down harder on the gate, causing the tips of its spikes to fall below the water level, but I was out of time. The thing had reached the gate, and I could see its form trying to get under! I backpedaled, tripping and falling onto my rump. I tried to scrabble away, achieving little but to throw water at the wiggling monstrosity which was pulling itself from under the gate.
Then it yelped. The thrashing in the water become violent, almost panicked, as the creature struggled against something, slowly sinking into the water until its head, or wherever its mouth was, ducked below, muffling its cries to a confused bubbling burble. The thrashing slowed, the disturbance stilling, until at last, everything became tranquil, and I sat very still, apparently alone. I licked my lips and stood up cautiously, peering at the rippling water for any sign of what had happened to the creature. It was only when I saw the yellow ichor seeping into the water from a lump beneath the surface that I realised that it must have become impaled by the gate while trying to reach me. I blanched and turned around, nonetheless thankful that I didn't have to worry about the aquatic hunter any more.
Ahead, the corridor was a mess of debris, including pages of books and old segments of scrolls, chairs with their wood rotted through, all floating in the unnatural river that this passage had become. I made my way along it, odd pieces of rubbish rubbing up against my legs, although I paid none of that any heed. It was eerily quiet after the previous encounter, and I found myself checking left, right, and behind myself for any sign of a disturbance, lest the damned beast come return somehow. My thumping, thudding heart forced me to remain suspicious of the calm and tranquility, the water lapping softly against my knees. Ahead, some boxes were stacked in a line, blocking my path, and I pulled myself up onto them, out of the water for a short while. I reflexively hesitated, one hoof poised above the water, my body fearing stepping back into the water after I'd faced such danger before. Forcing myself to be rational, I extended it down, edging slowly towards the water's surface.
I was greeted by nothing by the relaxing touch of the water, feeling a little warmer after its brief absence. I let out a sigh, partly from relief and partly from fatigue. I was tired, more mentally than physically. I was wandering around this castle, chased by creatures and darkness and some arcane spirit, and I didn't understand much of it. It was exhausting my sanity and my rationality, and I didn't know how much longer I could do this. Was staying here, on this box, any worse than the alternatives? It wouldn't require effort, and there was nothing here to hurt me.
As soon as I'd thought that, I felt myself objecting. No, I could not stay here. I would not stay here. Why should I give up? I'd come this far, survived by continuing in spite of the risks, and I apparently had a plan. Granted, I didn't know what that plan was, but I was discovering more about it as I progressed. My situation was dire, but what did I stand to gain by giving up? Absolutely nothing at all. Even if it was only my survival instinct, I felt something pushing me to carry on, scolding me for even considering giving up. If I pulled through, I had a lot to gain; my memories, my freedom, my safety. I refused to stop here, not when I had no adversity to face- if I had time to stop and consider my prospects, I wasn't in enough danger to rightfully do so. Determination set in as my body followed my first forehoof, dropping off the box and into the water with a splash.
I froze in horror as immediately a loud gargling growl sounded from just ahead, and a succession of splashes sped towards me. My nerves screamed at me as I turned and jumped back up onto the box, scrambling up and away from the creature. It was right behind me! I cried out in terror and pain as its teeth grazed my right hindleg, swinging up onto safety just in time for its jaws to clamp shut noisily on thin air. I winced as I looked back at my leg, spotting the hot rivulets of crimson blood rolling out of the gash it had made, staining my coat a murky brown as it settled and matted. The wound was shallow, but when I tried to stand, more blood squeezed out, falling down my saturated coat and dripping onto the crate. Luckily, it wasn't too painful, and I could stand. I just hoped that I could run.
The box I was standing on juddered suddenly, and I yelped in surprise. The water beast gargled in response, and the crate shuddered again, shifting a little. It was trying to knock me off! My breathing sped up, and I looked around me for a solution. There was nowhere to get out of the water in the corridor behind me, and I couldn't move forward while the creature was still there. I gulped, trying to stay calm and to not panic. There were plenty of boxes in this row, maybe I could-
My thought was thrown off as a particularly strong slam unbalanced me, nearly causing me to tumble into the water. It was my best option, I decided, grabbing a box from the left and lifting it with my forelegs. I winced as I put pressure onto my injured leg, looking down into the water to try and find the impatient hunter with the box lifted above my head. It made a movement, catching my eye, and I brought the box down with a yell of fury or fear, I don't know which. The box crunched loudly almost as soon as it had left my hooves, followed by a subsequent growling yelp of pain. Yellow ichor painted a part of the box, and I felt a rush of pride, or something closely related, to know that I had injured it. Leaping from the barricade, I jumped over the monster and splashed down a little way ahead of it, beginning my run without pausing or hesitating.
The water stung as it came into contact with my gash, but it also numbed it, enabling me to gallop as the dazed monster started to give chase, its gait noticeably slower and more laborious. I ran the length of the corridor, turning right at its end, and then on some more, nearly tripping over some steps just before a red door. I tugged it open, looking back to see the splashes gaining momentum as though sensing I was about to escape, and made my way through, heaving it closed behind me. It slammed shut, the judder seeming to reverberate throughout the castle, and when it faded, everything was silent again. I panted heavily, turning to look where I'd ended up.
I was at the bottom of a stone staircase, the top obscured partly by an overhang, but I could see by the light of torches adorning the walls above the stone banister leading up. It felt like I had just emerged from a bunker or a cellar. The light and heat gave me the strength to continue, and I made my way up, happy to be ascending again, if only such a short distance.
The staircase deposited me from the stone gully into a large hall, not dissimilar from the one I had departed from to enter the refinery. I supposed it was a back hall of sorts, and it contained the same balcony as its counterpart, the same large windows letting in the dim light from outside, and the same pillars stretching up to the same tall ceiling. The most noticeable difference, in fact, was the presence of a fountain in an alcove, where the corridor to the main entrance would have been in the other hall. I stepped towards it, suddenly reminded of my injury. The fountain would be the perfect place to clean it properly, and it seemed like I was in luck- the marble basin contained water, glimmering softly in the wan light provided by the windows.
A wave of lightheadedness passed over me, and I felt fear settle in my stomach as the idea that I'd cut an artery and lost too much blood sprang to mind. It took me a little while to realise that it was just the deja vu settling in. This one felt similar to when I had witnessed the deaths of Grimeye and his henchponies, strangely distant and unfamiliar, rather than a recollection.
"Oh dear sister, I am sorry," a pained female voice uttered. I imagined for some reason a tall, powerful pony rising from the floor, and looking up into a vast collapsed section of the ceiling, through which moonlight poured uninhibited. Looking up, I saw that the ceiling was, while in a state of disrepair, mostly intact, allowing me no view of the sky above. It felt odd to be able to imagine something so vividly as to genuinely expect to see what I had saw in my mind when I looked to check. "But you have given me no choice but to use these."
A mechanical whiring and clinking began, and even while I looked at the fountain, acknowledging it to be real, I envisaged two slabs of stone in the floor parting, allowing a stone column to rise up, surrounded by five smaller rotating pedestals. I could imagine so clearly that upon each pedestal sat a magnificent jewel, containing power far beyond its majestic appearance. As the mare lifted the jewels, a sixth appeared, rising from the column itself- a star glimmering and glittering with internal power.
"Not so fast," another, crueler voice stated, and I heard the first mare cry out in surprise and resistance. "If you think I can be beaten so easily, then you are sorely mistaken."
"Let go of the elements!" the first voice commanded, worry seeping through her authoritative tone. I determined that the newcomer was attempting to wrestle the jewels from the first mare's grip. Somehow, I knew that they were each trying to gain a telekinetic grip, and that if either let the other possess all the gems, they wouldn't be able to defend against what power was contained within.
"I answer to no one!" the newcomer seethed, malice thick in her voice, wrenching hard with her magic. "Not to you, and not to nature's cycle!"
"This is wrong. You can't forego the balance of day and night. How many will suffer under your eternal night?
"As many as needed. They can resist, or they can obey. Their fate is their own, dear sister."
"Please don't do this. You know what the elements can do, you know how much power they contain!"
"I know that you're too weak to use them fully! They contain enough power to craft a new world or to destroy an empire, and we have not seen even a fraction of their potential. Power is the only master in this world, and I am the manifestation of power!"
"I'm not going to let you do this," the first mare asserted. Her tone was firm, unyielding, but I could tell she was tiring. If this battle continued much longer, she'd lose her grip on the jewels and her opponent would win. "If it means binding them...I shall."
"You won't." Her opponent's disbelief was palpable. She seemed to know something about the mare that made her skeptical of the claim. "You know what that would entail, what it would mean, and you could never commit to that. And that is why you do not deserve to rule Equestria!"
"If it's the only alternative, then I shall," the mare stated firmly. "If you would use them as you have claimed, I cannot allow you to have your way." She stopped, grunting from the effort of holding onto the jewels. When she spoke again, her voice was strained from the physical exertion and from the weight of the situation. She couldn't fight much longer. "Please...let them go. Let all of this go."
The response was as swift as it was curt. "Never!" I could almost feel the mare's heart shatter as her opponent spat those words, and I imagined hot tears bubbling at her eyes.
"Then I really, truly am sorry. I have and always will love you, my dear sister. Please know that, Luna."
A thrum built rapidly in volume, energy crackling between the two figures, and with a final, blinding flash, a pulse raced and roared through the world, carrying the scream of disbelief and the sob of sheer grief, the final message of two goddesses for a world they had left to die.