//------------------------------// // Timestop - Part I: The Alicorn Amulet // Story: Dawn Of The Silver Sun // by Nameless Narrator //------------------------------// The heavy door quietly shut behind them, dousing princess Twilight's leaving hoofsteps. "So, since we're not stuck in a state of unconscious timelessness, what's the plan?" Leo asked as the group fell into a steady pace of walking through the endless tunnel. "I'm going first, Straw's got the back," Connie stated simply and Straw shuffled behind Fortune, "I'd like Fortune behind me, shotgun ready. She'll be much more useful in close quarters than my oversized sword." "Speaking of oversized swords," Fortune snickered, moving behind her, "Your Bad Griffon package arrived two days ago, I hijacked it to blackmail you later." "Dead... you're so dead," Connie whispered, not even trying to deny anything, "Not simply waking up one morning tied up in the basement. Acid... acid everywhere, steel baseball bats, nipple clamps, spikes." Her mumbling escalated quickly and strangely. "What's a Bad-?" Straw began. "Tread lightly, friend, tread lightly," Leo stopped the question. Leo and Fortune quite openly drew amusement from Straw's confusion and Connie's angry ramblings, but at least neither of them was being slammed into the ceiling repeatedly. After about fifteen minutes of walking, they passed a place where the bricks on the wall seemed slightly out of place, as if somepony built that part later than the rest of the tunnel. "The barred entrance to the mountain mines?" Straw hazarded a guess. "Likely," Connie nodded. AN entrance, as it turned out quite soon. The barred places grew in number, and the group knew they had to be getting near the castle itself. "-" "Hmm?" Straw's ears twitched as they passed another mine entrance, "Did you hear anything?" They all stopped, letting the sounds of hooves on stone fade away. "-me!" Hearing the high-pitched voice, they didn't dare breathe. "Is anypony there?" it grew louder and clearly female, "Help me, please!" Without thinking, Straw charged the weak-looking wall. He barely made it few inches before being stopped. A faint white shimmer around his body was the answer to his sudden lack of movement. "No," said Connie with deathly seriousness, "We can't afford to waste time." "Somepony is trapped there!" Straw rebutted, still frozen by her telekinesis. "According to princess Sparkle, nopony should be there and there should be no way of getting inside the mountain anymore." "I can hear you, please answer me!" the desperate voice cried again. "How did you get inside?" Straw yelled loudly. "I don't know! Just come here, please! It's so cold and dark," the voice was getting closer, "I'm lonely... and hungry." "Nope nope nope nope," Connie stepped away from the wall, not letting Straw go. "Hey, Nightmare!" the hippogriff resorted to asking an unlikely ally, "You're a god, right? What's on the other side of the wall?" "Heh," a much harsher voice left his throat, "Does blood magic ring a bell, little foals? The last wish of a dying soul to get its revenge? What could have possibly happened down there to make the high-ups run away from the mines mid-shift and bar the entrances with magic, imprisoning the miners forever? With Void locked in Tartatus for millenia, there was nothing protecting the poor souls from their own fear and from falling into wrong hooves. Who knows? Something might have listened to their wishes while they ate one another to survive, changed them into a much more suitable form for living in the endless darkness," a throaty laugh punctuated Nightmare's monologue, "Or maybe I'm just messing with you, and if you leave you'll let a poor adventurous filly who may have wandered there by mistake starve to death while cursing the name of those unwilling to save her. Take your pick, my little ponies." "I hate doing this," Straw shook his head and coughed, "My throat always hurts. Still, that wasn't as helpful as I hoped it would be." "Nightmare not helpful? Color me surprised," Fortune sneered. Flay her, slave! How about no? How about I eat your foals one day? "Yes, having a god inside me isn't as cool as it sounds at first." "Back to the matter at hoof," Connie stopped their banter, ignoring the quiet crying and begging coming from behind the wall, "My order is to continue with the mission, but since I can't really afford to cut your legs off and carry you in my bag so I'm putting this up to vote and there will be no arguing with the result. Break the wall or go on?" "Wall!" Straw said immediately. "Castle," Fortune said with lack of interest. "Castle," Connie nodded. "You know, how was this supposed to work since there's four of us?" Leo snickered when Connie facehoofed, "but yeah, we can send somepony here later or do something on the way back. Right now I think we should get the amulet." Grinding his teeth, Straw leaned towards the shifty wall. "I'm sorry, but if you stay here we'll send somepony to get you soon. Promise me you'll stay here, please!" "Help!" the voice just repeated over and over. "I'm really sorry." I love seeing my hosts broken and obedient. Shut up! Heh heh heh. Straw spent the rest of the way arguing with himself, but ultimately he knew it was pointless. Logically, one lost pony wasn't as important as what could happen in the castle if they failed but... ...it didn't help his conscience the slightest. Lit only by the glow of two unicorn horns, the group went on through the long tunnel until a door adorned with ornamental sun blocked their path. There was a hole in the middle into which Connie inserted princess Sparkle's wand. The door opened without issue. "At least she was right about the vault being protected," Connie commented as they walked inside, "So, an amulet depicting an alicorn head and wings. Let's do this quickly and go back ot the embassy." It didn't take long. Among pedestals with various oddities on them, ones glowing with immense amounts of magic according to Leo and Connie, there was one holding the necklace in question. Strange bead curtain hung from above it. Straw looked up. How about we go back and deal with the hungry amalgamation of the miners' souls first? Then we can tackle this... preferrably with purple smart herself here as well. The vault was a big circular room. The bead curtain above the alicorn amulet pillar shifted slightly. The beads led up to the ceiling. Towards the mouth of the biggest observer Straw had ever seen. Hanging like a grey spider, with eight legs spread along the wall of the vault, its mouth was right above Fortune, tentacles forming the 'bead curtain'. Straw reacted instinctively. "FORTUNE, GET AWAY FROM THERE!" Not a smart thing, considering the observer now knew they were able to see it. A large leg immediately stomped the floor where Straw had stood a moment ago, remains of shattered floor tiles rocketing everywhere. "W-wha?" Fortune focused on the damage, gradually gaining enough knowledge to see the leg... ...the spindly, grey body... ...the tube serving as a neck... ...the tentacles coming out of the neckhole... "DON'T LOOK INSIDE!" Too late. The brown satyr's mouth flopped open, eyes widened, and her breathing slowed into a crawl. Like a statue, she just stood there. Fortunately, the observer's attention was on Straw. Nightmare, you willing to help? What menial tasks wouldn't I do to ensure my continued survival... Give me the chance to damage it! The mass of tentacles coming from the observer's mouth scattered like an exploding can of worms when Straw's sword cleaved through them. Knowing what would come if he looked inside, he closed his eyes and blindly jumped to the side. Jumped about five meters to the side, kicked by the observer's leg. Instead of him splattering all over the vault wall, the blow was softened by golden aura. "Gotcha!" Leo mumbled, focused on the erratic movement of the eight spider legs, slowing and preventing their movement by cleverly placed shields. Connie was blinking, coming to terms with the monstrosity all around her. However, when she comprehended what the enemy was and how it looked, she didn't wait long and her sword whistled through the air. The screeching of steel on whatever material the observer was made of sent shivers through Leo and Straw, but one observer's leg, held in place by Leo's barriers, split messily away from the body. The roar deafened them completely, leaving their ears ringing and their balance completely shattered. Leo couldn't focus and his magic faded. Connie couldn't stay on her legs. Fortune... was mentally gone. Straw, trying to get back on all fours, knew what she was going through, though, and knew that if they survived this they could help her. The IF was becoming an issue. Another observer's leg swung through the air and slammed Leo against the wall. With the way the unicorn collapsed and groaned in pain, Straw knew some ribs had to be broken. It's just an observer! Why can't we deal with this? We made many creatures in the beginning of time, some of them reached levels of power dangerous even to us. Take Void for example. This one, though, would not be an issue if I wasn't in such diminished state. Straw made a very dangerous choice. Alright, protect me with everything you've got! Interesting. Dodging and weaving between regrowing tentacles and legs, Straw zig-zagged towards the pillar holding the alicorn amulet and, praying to whomever could be listening, put it on. As if he ate too much icecream at once, drank too much soda or alcohol, his head burst with cold pain while his body was seemingly on fire surging through every vein. The world aside from him stopped. First, he hacked away all the observer's legs, then he split the body into pieces, and finally he carried all squad members to the vault entrance. With this power he could make Blinding Light pay for killing Three and Heavy Hoof, he could make everything right. Even purging Nightmare out of himself seemed possible. He smiled. The smile faded quickly. Revered as a deity, losing everypony out of their fear, distanced from friends, target of everypony wanting power or fame. In the end, the face of one exhausted, world-weary, and sad alicorn came up. There was no way to inspire others by having superpowers, he just had to be himself and do what he could with his own strength. Straw took the alicorn amulet off. The flow of time returned and the observer's remains dispersed into nothing. "Wh-whe-wha?" Connie blinked, "I just saw a blur, and then... eeeh." "I had to use this," Straw said meekly, "I hope I didn't break it or spent all its power or something." "You used it... and then took it off... by yourself..." Connie tried to comprehend what had just happened. "We were losing really bad. Sorry?" "You took it off..." "Eeerm." Connie raised her hoof. "One moment!" She walked over to Fortune, stood up on her hind legs... ...and punched with all her power. "SNAP OUT OF IT, YOU DUMB HALF-MINOTAUR!" she yelled. The satyr's groaning and slow reactions showed she was waking up. Connie examined her hoofprint on Fortune's face. "That felt goooooooooooood..." she moaned and shuddered all over, and Straw heard something drip on the floor, "Now, Straw, you are supposed to drown in desire for power and go berserk when you put that thing on." "Well, as far as power goes, I've literally got a primal god of destruction inside me, I'm not sure a NECKLACE could tempt me, although it tried. Also, Nightmare slipped up and said what the voice in the tunnel really was. I propose we go back to the embassy, and do it very quietly. Leo, can you walk?" "Walk yes, breathe... not so much. Don't think anything is broken, though," he groaned. "Good," Connie switched back to her official voice. She smiled softly at Leo though, "Let's slowly head back, no need to be in bad shape when facing Blinding Light." After a short treatment at the embassy, princess Twilight got ready to cast a spell allowing them entrance to the castle. Unfortunately, the princess didn't want to use the amulet's full power in fear of losing control of herself, which meant she couldn't safely protect an additional squad of guards. As such, it was only Twilight herself and the Hoof of Fate walking through the marble halls of Canterlot castle. The eerie feel of nopony around moving gave way to chills going up everypony's spine as they reached princess Luna's quarters. The door to the royal's residence was closed, the hallway was empty at this time of day - well, the point of time when the freeze had happened -, and there were only three figures around. Choking Darkness, with all her silly red and black color scheme, about to lunge at Blinding Light with blades sticking out of her horseshoes. Cromach, just two pony lengths away, running towards them on three legs with his mechanical one reaching to the harness with giant battleaxe on his back. And Blinding Light, smiling as if everything was going according to his plan, with horn glowing green in sync with the amulet on his neck. "So, what now, your Highness?" asked Connie as the designated leader of the operation. Twilight circled Blinding several times, clicking her teeth in complete and utter dissatisfaction. "I have no idea what the magic he's about to use is or even the barest grasp of how it works." "It looks like the explosion he summoned at the warehouse. It burned Blaze quite severely." "If there isn't an additional component, which there surely is, we could contain it simply by a strong enough barrier," Twilight slipped into a teacher's voice, "HOWEVER, since the effect should resemble one enough we should be able to at least mitigate it. So, you two unicorns, how good are you with barriers?" "Getting better," Leo took several deep breaths in preparation. "I can't use complex magic at all," Connie shook her head, "but I could create enough telekinetic pressure all around him to counter the spread of the explosion." "I guess that since we don't have the time and ponypower to build real barricades it's the best we can do for now. Now, I will start weaving the spell which will take several minutes. In case I start acting strange due to the amulet just bash me over the head and we'll try again. I haven't done anything like this before, so I probably won't be able to help you as soon as time starts moving. Don't be afraid to unleash everything you've got against Blinding. He's already a convicted murderer, so while I would prefer making him see the error of his ways we might not have the opportunity. Anything else?" The group shared glances, and Straw was the one opening his mouth first. "What if we're not enough?" he asked. Twilight, on the other hoof, looked confident. "The princesses will wake up when the stasis ends. No matter who is behind Blinding, two elder alicorns should be more than enough to stop him. Nothing else? Good. Get ready." She put the amulet on and the usually purple light of her horn took on a red hue. Fortune aimed her rifle from a distance while Straw took his place in front of Leo and Connie. The final fight was here, and the odds seemed greatly in their favor.