//------------------------------// // Twelve // Story: The War for the Sun & Moon // by Maxes Altho //------------------------------// Chryssid, I know you of all beings have no reason to trust me, but the situation is about to turn most dire. By my calculations, this letter will only appear in the journal after the Empress’s flow of magic has been cut off and Shining Star summons this journal (for the first time) after telling of the first nightmare by Lady Sweetie Belle. Given how I know my body and your reading speed, you have about two minutes before Shining Star stumbles into whatever room you are using in a drunken stupor, since he cannot come to terms yet with what the Lady did to him, and cannot hold liquor very well. Contained within these pages which you now hold are my writings of the five days I was in control of Shining Star. Hide this away, and do not speak of it until you have finished retelling the War. If Shining Star knew of this, he would most likely destroy it, and by extension, Equestria. Keep it secret; keep it safe. From one Prince to another, Shining Resolve What does he—? The door crashes open. “Hey, C. Wha-what’re ya doin in here? The party’sh all outshide!” Shining Star, are you drunk? “What’re you talkin aboot, you shquishy little bug? I-I jusht helped muhshelf to shome of, of thoshe bottlesh in the bashement, ya know, the one my mother told me not to go in? Thish shtuff ish, li-like, the besht evar! Woooo!” A thump, probably Shining hitting the floor. He will be alright. I am probably the best candidate for describing his rescue anyways; he was not all there, if I am using the phrasing correctly. ---------- Quick Writ, the Pegasus we rescued from Fillydelphia (through rabid flesh-eating parasprite infested sewer tunnels, no less), turned out to be quite the scholar. He was able to identify a structural anomaly in the castle foundation on a map, one that Dig and Dug could break without causing a catastrophic failure. We, that is Pulse, Tread, Scout, and I, made our way into the castle through a cellar built into the mountain. Everything started feeling like a trap though. Why did we see no servant ponies, or guards? As we moved deeper into the castle, we continued to see noling at all. Then we came to an intersection of hallways, and there we found him. ----- “C? Guys? What are you doing here?” His voice sounds a tiny bit different, but I chalk that up to being around noble ponies so much, he started imitating them. “We’ve come to rescue you, man! Didn’t you get the message?” “No, I didn’t! The infiltrator I knew got found out, and they took her to the dungeons! We need to get her out. Follow me, I know the best way.” He darts off, causing us to follow. If we were to rescue an incarcerated Warrior, that is one less mind they will break to find information. We end up at a set of large doors, and that is where my danger sense starts going crazy. “Shining, are you sure this is the right place?” “Sure it is, I just need to step inside real quick. Come on!” He opens the door, and we enter… Right into the throne room. Waiting at the other end is the Empress, and no guards. Before we can turn tail, black curtains of magic slam down on all the windows and the door, trapping us. We look, and Shining Star is the one with the lit horn. Pulse steps toward him. “Shining, what’re you doing? Shining Star, please!” He slowly, no, regally steps to the middle of the hall. “Oh, there is no more Shining Star, isn’t that right, Mother?” The Empress smirks. “You are somewhat correct, Shining Resolve. Star is… around. He loves making new friends though. Do you think he would want to make four more, Shining Resolve?” “I am sure he would adore you very much.” “Then, Shining Star, would you kindly come out and play?” Immediately, the pony I used to know falls to the ground. He gets up a second later completely changed. His ears are drooped, his eyes are wild, his posture unbalanced. He looks at the Empress with big eyes. “You wanted to see me, Momma?” “Yes, Shiny. You see those four over there? The ones Shining Resolve told us about? Don’t you want to be friends with them?” “Oh boy, do I!” He turns around and stops. “Wait, do I know these ponies, Momma?” “Yes, I think you do, Shiny. You know what to do.” Suddenly, he pounces on Pulse. “Did it hurt?” He asks her. “Did what hurt?” She looks scared, trying to throw him off of her. “When I tore your angelic wings off and fed them to Cerberus. I last saw you as an alicorn, and now you’re a unicorn! I ripped your wings off so I could know you better. Did it work?” “No, it didn’t. I don’t know you any more, Shining.” “Aww, that’s too bad. What are you guys doing here? Didn’t I kill you? Like, several times?” I am appalled. “Shining, you have been trapped here for five weeks. This is the closest we have gotten to you in that time. How could you have killed us, or even attempted to?” “Oh, it was simple! I saw you guys in the dungeon, and Momma said I could do anything I wanted. So I got to thinking, ‘what does the inside of a bug look like?’ so I ripped open your shell and drank your gooey insides.” He mimics doing so. “Then I wanted to see how many ways a wing could break, how long a stallion could live without a thingy, and if a unicorn could still do magic without a horn.” I hear someling, probably Scout, throwing up. “Then Momma let me come back, and you guys were all better! So I kept doing things to you guys. I guess Momma’s letting me have another go!” He stalks towards us. “Momma says its okay, since you guys aren’t actually real. She says I can do anything, and it’ll be all okay. You guys make me happy, which makes Momma happy, and she spreads the happy to all the ponies in Ponyland! Then we all laugh and dance and play and have fun except you guys because we’re dancing on your bodies as we turn your blood into fruit juice.” I try to reason with him; maybe I could break him out of the witch’s spell. “Shining, this is not you. Please, you must listen to reason.” “Reason? I’m being perfectly reasonable. I’m just doing what Momma wants me to do!” He gets knocked back a step by a blast from Pulse. It does not do anything but turn his attention back to her. “You know, Pulse, I’ve always thought you had a pretty mane. Do ya think I’ll be pretty if I wear it instead?” Shining begins chasing her around the hall, bringing a laugh from the Empress. “Oh, this is too funny. He will kill all of you, and won’t think anything of it because, to him, you are all just figments of his imagination. However, don’t let it be said I was not a fair ruler. If you manage to knock my little Shining Star out, I will give you a ten second head start before my murderous rage kicks in. I will applaud your valiant effort—” she gawks as Scout comes flying in, breaking his bat upside Shining’s (a metal bat, mind you) head, and sending his victim tumbling. Everyling can literally see the stars circling his head. “Hm, it seems I underestimated you four. Very well. Ten, nine, eight…” Tread gallops over, scoops Shining up, then makes a mad dash for the doors. The rest of us follow, trying to get back to the tunnel before- “Guards! The Warriors have broken into the castle and taken the Crown Prince! Early retirement and promotions to the squad who brings me their heads!” With a roar, Royal Guards start streaming out of nowhere. Scout scoops up Pulse as she starts firing a flurry of magic bolts, turning her into a mobile machine gun. They fly off down a hall, causing half of the guards to give chase, only to be blasted backwards. This causes more guards to go support their comrades, ending in a rinse and repeat scenario. Tread and I make for Dig; Pulse and Scout can get out on their own easily enough. “Wheeeeeeeee.” Shining Star makes random sounds of enjoyment as Tread and I gallop down countless hallways, until we skid to a stop at the cellar door. “Momma, I wan go gain.” He mumbles. “There you are, my little ponies!” zacth. We glance up, and see the Empress descending on us from the rafters. We quickly move inside the door and crash several barrels and crates in front of it, forming a barricade. “Dig! Exit, now!” Wordlessly, he nods, then turns to the earthen wall. Just before he can strike the dirt, however, Shining jumps onto his back. “Hey Dig, long time no see. You know, I had this theory I was working on that an Earth pony’s neck can withstand about five times as much pressure as a horny or flappy pony. Let’s test that, shall we?” Dig tries to buck Shining off as he places both hooves on either side of Dig’s head. “I think I’ll start with thirty pounds of force!” Crack. BOOM! The wall behind them bursts apart as Dug comes, too late, to his brother’s aid. He bucks Shining off his brother, sending the unicorn into a nearby barrel. He quickly lunges over, rearing back to finish the job, when Tread intercepts. “Dug, no! We can’t risk any more lives! We can save him, get him right in the head again!” Dug tries to move around Tread, murder in his eyes, but Tread forces him back towards the hole. “Start digging or else we’re all dead!” As if to accentuate the fact, the barricade begins groaning, and the Empress’s screeches can be heard clearly through the door. “Kill them! I want their bones on a silver platter!” That shocks Dug into action, and he leaps into the hole and starts burrowing. Tread lands Shining on my back, and dons Dig’s earthmovers. I eye him warily. “Are you sure you can use those?” He grunts as he pulls them on; they are fit for slightly smaller hooves. “Yeah, I can. We’re trained to use all equipment. My results just won’t be as finesse as…” he lets the thought die off. We moved into the tunnel, collapsing it behind us. ---------- With no spare ponies, we unfortunately had to leave Dig behind. We never found his body; I assume the Empress locked him away somewhere. We did make it back to the base, though Tread immediately set off for his bunk. I do not blame him; moving that much earth must have been tiring. I got the maximum amount of guards possible to escort Shining to the hospital. Once there, the doctors confirmed our fears: the Empress broke Shining Star’s mind. He woke halfway through their analysis and stabbed a doctor through the shoulder with a scalpel, muttering ‘cupcakes’ the entire time. The doctor’s diagnosis? Throw him into solitary confinement and limit his access to other ponies until the psychologist could make some headway. I was more than happy to comply; his mutterings of how to prepare bug was… unsettling. And so we waited, Tiny, Tread, Scout, Pulse, Dug, Quick Writ, the Griffon Grenda Talonflame, and I. We waited for our friend and comrade to become sane once again; one of us was always nearby in case his stupor broke. Eventually, he called out to us…