//------------------------------// // Chapter Six // Story: Biomom // by MythrilMoth //------------------------------// The Royal Guards opened the gates to Canterlot Castle for the party of five mares and one dragon. They were swiftly ushered into the throne room, where Princess Celestia and Princess Luna awaited them. Celestia wore a set of sturdy, expensive saddlebags, while Luna wore a pensive frown. "Thank you all for coming so quickly," Celestia said. "What's going on?" Twilight Velvet asked. "What was that light in the sky? Is...is something wrong with Twilight?" Celestia sighed. "It's...difficult to explain," she said. "And I cannot explain the situation fully until we reach our destination." "Beg pardon?" Applejack asked. "The short explanation is that Twilight Sparkle has activated Ponyhenge," Celestia said. "The rest...will have to wait. For now, we must make haste. Something has gone terribly wrong, and we have little time to lose. You are all to accompany me to..." She looked down and cast her eyes away from the group. "To my father's tomb," she finished sadly, her ears folding back. * * * * * Rainbow Dash and Daring Do stood in front of a pile of crumbled, blasted rubble. The debris was so dense that no light shone through the cracks. "So, uhh...any ideas?" Rainbow asked. "With my leg all messed up, I don't think I'll be digging through any rocks," Daring replied. She frowned thoughtfully. "For now, it might be a good idea to at least try to figure out what exactly happened to your friend." Rainbow scratched her head. "Yeah, that sounds good. So...how do we do that exactly?" "There might be some clue in the inscriptions in the Holy Road...but I can't read that language." "Didn't you decipher the ancient ponyglyphs of the—" "Yeah yeah, book two," Daring said dismissively. "It wasn't as easy as I made it sound in the book, kiddo. It actually took six moons." Rainbow's jaw dropped. "WHAT? But...but..." Daring turned to face her. "I take dramatic license sometimes, okay? Truth is..." She sighed. "Truth is, the cool, butt-kicking, tomb-raiding, treasure-hunting stuff in the books is only about ten percent of what I do on these little adventures. The rest of it is travel, research, study, careful excavation..." She frowned. "Washing ticks out of my mane..." She shrugged. "Nopony wants to read about that." Rainbow sagged. "Buuuut," Daring drawled with a smirk, "our air's not gonna hold out that long, and we need to figure out what happened to the princess, find some way to get out of here, kick Dongnocc's butt, get back the prism, and save your friend." She grinned. "So just this once, I'll pull off a miracle. Somehow." She stretched. "Now, get my lantern out of my pack so I can get started." "You got it," Rainbow said. "Mom," she added. Daring facehoofed. * * * * * An exhausted Twilight Sparkle trudged through the door to the small cottage. "I'm back," she called. "Welcome back," Inner Light said. "You were away so long, I was beginning to worry." "Sorry," Twilight said. "I wanted to see some things..." She sighed. "You were mourning the loss of your home and loved ones again," Inner Light said as he stirred the kettle over the fire. "I wasn't..." Twilight began, before stopping herself. Her ears wilted. "I was trying to figure out how far back in time I've gone." "I see. And?" Twilight peered at him. "You still don't believe me, do you?" "What I believe is of no importance. You are free to chase whatever truths you believe to your heart's content. I will welcome your company for as long as you wish to remain." Twilight smiled. "Thank you," she said. "You've been nothing but kind to me this past week." "Think nothing of it," Inner Light replied with a dip of his head as he ladeled two bowls of vegetable soup and floated them to the table. "So, have you any plans to further your quest to return home?" Twilight shook her head. "Until I visit the unicorn tribe, I can't be sure." Inner Light frowned. "I would not advise that," he said. "It is best if the equine tribes remain ignorant of the existence of alicorns." "But..." Twilight frowned. "I don't understand." Inner Light pulled a loaf of bread from a shelf and cut it into thick slices. "My lost brothers and sisters spawned the three tribes centuries ago," he said. "No living memory of our kind remains within the tribes. Even the lorekeepers have been denied knowledge of our existence." Twilight worried at her lip. "I don't understand, but...it doesn't matter. I need access to the unicorns' lore or I'll never find a way back home." Inner Light frowned. "The unicorns will not possess any magic that can return you to your time. Not even we alicorns, gifted with what most would consider immortality, can bend time itself to our will." Twilight sighed. "I don't expect them to," she said. "Even Starswirl the Bearded barely understood time spells, and the only one I was ever able to cast with my own power had a temporal elasticity effect and only took me back in time less than a week for about thirty seconds." Inner Light blinked. "Truly? You have breached time itself?" "Yeah, but like I said, only for thirty seconds and I didn't even go very far," Twilight replied. "Of course, that was back when I was a unicorn..." The piece of bread that was on its way to Inner Light's mouth froze. "I...beg your pardon?" Twilight blushed. "Oh. Well. I was born a unicorn," she said. "I...I've only been an alicorn a little less than a year." Inner Light's eyebrows climbed his forehead. "Indeed? That...must be quite a tale, Lady Twilight..." * * * * * Daring Do frowned, tapping her muzzle with a hoof, as she studied the same row of ancient script for the fifth time, scrutinizing the illustrations carved above it. "If I only knew the exact relationship between the Unknown Prince and the Royal Pony Sisters, this might be a lot easier to figure out," she said. "What I wanna know is why Twilight's Cutie Mark keeps showin' up," Rainbow Dash said. "I mean, I don't know jack about magic and stuff, but I've seen her Cutie Mark on the Tree of Harmony, and...you gotta admit, that's pretty freakyweird." "The Tree of Harmony?" Daring asked, whipping her head around sharply. "You've seen it?!" "Seen it, saved it, helped Twilight get her sweet new castle from it," Rainbow said. "Her Cutie Mark is on the Tree, same as Luna and Celestia's." Daring scratched her head. "That's interesting," she said. "The references I have on the Tree of Harmony don't say anything about that..." She began to pace. "If the Princesses found the Elements of Harmony in the Tree of Harmony, then..." She turned to Rainbow Dash. "Was that other Cutie Mark on the tree? The one on the obelisk?" "That pearl thing in the tomb? No," Rainbow replied, shaking her head. "Just Twilight's, Celestia's, and Luna's." Daring tilted her head and examined the engravings again. "That's very interesting," she said. "How so?" "Well, for starters, it means Princess Celestia knew your friend was gonna be an alicorn princess," Daring said. She frowned. "But..." She shook her head, brow furrowing. "This tomb is older than Equestria. The Elements of Harmony were first used against Discord..." "Yeah, Twilight said something about seeing a vision of the Princesses finding the Elements," Rainbow said. "After she drank some funky zebra potion when the Everfree Forest tried to eat Ponyville." Daring glanced at her, blinking slowly. "Okay. Seriously. What?" Rainbow laughed. "I'll tell you later. Let's just say sometimes my life is as crazy as yours." Daring rolled her eyes and smirked, then went back to studying the engravings. "Hmm," she muttered. After a long moment, she gasped. "What...?" "What is it?" "Look here," Daring said, pointing with a hoof. Rainbow trotted over and craned her neck to look. An engraving showed two smaller alicorns, one light and one dark, lying at the hooves of a larger alicorn with Twilight Sparkle's Cutie Mark engraved over her head. The two smaller alicorns had the Cutie Marks of Celestia and Luna engraved underneath them. Farther away, an alicorn stallion stood apart from the three, with the marking from the Tomb engraved above him. Rainbow scratched her head. "Okay. I give. What am I lookin' at?" "I don't know," Daring replied softly. "But I'm starting to get a very weird feeling about all this..." * * * * * Twilight Sparkle packed the thick wool cloak into the rough canvas saddlebag Inner Light had given her. "When you reach the unicorn lands, be certain to conceal your wings," Inner Light said. "I will," Twilight agreed. "Will you return to the valley once you have found what you seek?" "Of course," Twilight said. "Then I await your return, Lady Twilight." Inner Light paused, chewing on his lip. "Before you go, however...if I might entreat upon you with a question?" "What is it?" Twilight asked. "The markings on your flanks...forgive me, I do not wish to seem impertinent, but...I have never seen such a thing." Twilight blinked. "You mean my Cutie Mark?" "Cutie Mark," Inner Light repeated with a frown. "Such an odd thing to call it..." "You've...never seen a Cutie Mark before?" "Nay," Inner Light replied. "It is...quite unusual." Twilight's eyes widened. "I've gone so far back in time that...that ponies don't even have Cutie Marks?!" She shook her head. "I can't believe there was a time when...when..." "May I assume this to mean that such markings are commonplace in your land of origin?" "Yes," Twilight said. "A pony's Cutie Mark is a representation of that pony's special talent. It's...it's who you are. Everypony has a Cutie Mark. Not from birth, but...but as soon as a pony discovers that one thing that makes them special, that makes them unique...their Cutie Mark appears." "Appears," Inner Light repeated. "Are you saying this...'Cutie Mark'...is a magical manifestation?" "That's right," Twilight said. "Cutie Marks are the magic that unites all ponies. It doesn't matter if you're a unicorn, a pegasus, an earth pony, or...or an alicorn. Everypony is special. Everypony is unique. And the Cutie Mark is a symbol of that." "Interesting," Inner Light mused. "If you would permit it, I would like to study this magic upon your return." "Of course," Twilight said. She trotted to the door, then hesitated. "You...you could always come with me," she said. "I wouldn't mind the company." Inner Light looked away. "I want nothing to do with the equine tribes," he said. "They are...they are a painful reminder of the folly of my brethren." Twilight's ears drooped. "Oh. Well. Alright then. I...I'll see you later." And with that, she took to the sky. Inner Light trotted outside and watched her go. "Safe travels, strange maiden."