Chapter 25: Stratospheric Basketweaving.
The six of us - Trixie, Twilight Sparkle, Shining Armor, Princess Celestia, Spike, and myself - walk along a hall of stained glass windows. Twilight, in her efforts to break the silence, begins explaining different images she finds noteworthy - how each signifies a hallmark event in Equestrian history. I nod absentmindedly as we walk, not really focusing on what she's saying, the attention I would usually reserve for trying to understand her information dumps taken up by my turning over what the Princess intends to speak of.
It feels like we've walked through the castle for ages by the time we reach what appears to be our destination - two large doors emblazoned with Celestia's symbol of the sun, flanked by guards on either end. With a few words from the Princess and Shining Armor, the two guards leave and the latter timidly opens the doors with his magic, revealing a large room with a massive poster-bed. Along a wall are ponnequins adorned with a mix of armor, dresses, and other Celestia-sized regal attire. A corner houses a desk and a stocked bookcase. On the far wall is a massive, again Celestia-sized set of draped windows that reach down to the floor, essentially like glass doors that lead to a balcony with a telescope.
"My personal quarters." Celestia states, in case anyone is still questioning it. "The best place for us to find privacy from everyone in the castle, save my dear sister."
"But why bring us here?" Shining Armor asks, looking around uncomfortably. "Wouldn't the throne room be better?"
"Perhaps." She replies, turning around and giving him a smirk. "But then I wouldn't get to see you fidget like this, would I?" Her question is punctuated with a disarming, playful giggle.
He locks eyes with her, his expression changing from uncomfortable to unapproving. "I thought this was serious, Princess."
"It is." She replies, the playful demeanor making way for a serious one. "And we are here for a reason." She walks toward the window-door-thing, pulling the curtains wide open. "Come here, everyone." She waits for us all to approach as instructed, stepping out into the balcony before continuing. "As I said before, it should be common knowledge to all here that the sky is blue and not green." Princess Celestia then turns to me. "Might you inform us the name those of your world give the green mist across our skies, Cloud?"
"I don't know what you're talking about." I reply quickly.
Celestia sighs and shakes her head. "My sister and I do communicate, Cloud. I already said that I do not intend to incriminate you."
"..." I take a minute to look up at the sky, debating my options. "From what I remember, it's called the Lifestream. The essence of the planet - all the souls of once-living things waiting to be reborn - coalesced into a stream that flows deep under the surface of the planet. Hence the name."
"So it's from your world then, Cloud?" Twilight asks, looking up at the out-of-place Lifestream in the sky from our place on the balcony.
"Not quite, my Student." Celestia replies. "Equestria, and all other life-bearing planets, have their own 'Lifestream'." Celestia pauses for a moment, giving a small sigh as she seems to get lost in an old memory. "Long ago, we had our own names for it, that would change with the ages, but the knowledge of its existence for most eventually became lost to history. Our world is special though, my dear Twilight." She then turns to me before continuing. "To you, Cloud, the ability of my sister and I to move celestial bodies like the sun and moon across the skies must seem impossible."
"You're... not wrong." I reply, wondering where this is going.
"And you'd be correct, as we don't perform such feats." She turns her head back to the sky. "At least, not in the way you must believe we do. Surely you have noticed it at night, where you can look directly at my sister's moon."
"You mean how the Lifestream wraps behind the moon and stars instead of in front of them?"
"Yes." She nods, as everyone's eyes turn to her. "As I said, our world is special, as far as my attempts to research have found." Celestia turns to address everyone. "As Cloud said, his world - and most others - bear their 'Lifestream' beneath the surface of their planet. Our planet, however, is far smaller than most, yet still has its own Lifestream. So, our Lifestream instead wrapped our planet, much like a blanket or a cocoon, insulating it from the universe outside as it brought life into being. That life, in turn, used its unusual connection to its Lifestream to create a facimile of the outside world - a sun, a moon, the stars in the sky, and the many other things needed to maintain life. This is what Luna and I, as well as those who came before and those who will come after, manipulate. It is how we appear to move the celestia bodies across the sky, and create what we consider to be beautiful skies for everyone living below. Those things are merely projections cast on the Lifestream, or, as I was taught to call it, the Weave, as in its natural state, it appears like an embroidery across the sky for us to embellish as we wish."
I shoot her a sideways look and turn back to the sky again, my mind still attempting to process the strange mechanics of this world. "So, you're not an all-powerful god-pony that throws the sun around like a soccer ball?"
Celestia lets out a small chuckle. "Make no mistake, Cloud, what we do still requires immense power." She pauses for a moment, thinking before speaking again. "Can you show me the weapon you had out back in the courtyard?"
I give her a nod as Shining Armor's eyes dart from between myself and Celestia, his body tensing the slightest bit. "Very well." I say and draw the weapon and rest it against the balcony railing, allowing the Princess to get a good look at it.
She moves in, lowering her head to examine the row of Materia shining along the blade, her brow scrunching in thought for a moment before she pulls back. "As I thought when I saw the weapon before. These gemstones along the blade, they appear modified, but at their core, they are crystalized pieces of 'Lifestream' from your planet, are they not?"
I nod affirmatively. "They're called Materia." I reply. "Processed Lifestream that allows their owner to access lost knowledge from the past and utilize it as what my world refers to as 'magic'."
Celestia lets out a sad sign as I explain the origin of Materia to her, her eyes scanning back and forth along the row of gems. "Processed... your world isn't a pleasant place, is it?"
"Can't say." I reply honestly, as many pieces are still lost to me.
After a small, silent moment, Celestia continues. "The fact that the Weave wraps our planet in such a way is why magic is commonplace, be it among ponies or any number of other creatures. We are able to create a stronger connection to the essence behind the planet, allowing even raw emotions, such as Laughter or Loyalty, to become power."
"You mean, the Elements of Harmony?" Twilight asks, looking up at her teacher.
"Yes, Twilight." Celestia nods. "Any emotion, when strong enough and pure enough, can bear power, such as when my sister became the jealousy-fueled Nightmare Moon." Nightmare Moon? "But the emotions that fuel friendship - no, fuel Harmony - are the strongest, as they resonate and easily gain power from the hearts of many."
"But... if that's the case, why have the Elements of Harmony at all?" Twilight tilts her head slightly, clearly trying to answer the question in her mind for herself before Celestia's even attempted an answer.
"Because, my dear student..." Celestia closes her eyes, thinking. "The easiest way to explain it, is to compare it to Cloud's 'Materia'. The emotions - the feelings, thoughts, and dreams that power Harmony - they have power, but the gems that make up the Elements of Harmony draw them out, make them greater. It wouldn't be entirely wrong to say the Elements draw out pure feelings, and turn them into miracles." Turn feelings... into miracles? Could something like that actually exist?
Twilight merely nods, her face clearing displaying her mulling the new information over in her brain.
"But, Princess Celestia," Trixie starts, after being unusually silent for so long, "why is Trixie able to see this 'Lifestream' or 'Weave' or whatever it is in the sky the last couple days, but not before then?"
"An excellent question, little one." Celestia gives her a small smile before turning back to the sky. "And one not as easily answered. Normally, only those able to manipulate the Weave are able to perceive its existence as part of the projection that displays our skies. This is a safety measure devised far before my time in order to inhibit those who may utilize it for harm. Some beings, such as Discord, are able to perceive and access its power despite this, but for most it is an effective safeguard." She then takes a minute and turns to me. "However, these last few days, this safeguard is becoming quickly eroded, despite the efforts of both Luna and myself to counteract this damage. This is where I believe Cloud factors in." I turn to say something, but she catches me with a glance of her own. "Not like that, as I've said."
"Then what is it, already?" I ask, beginning to get irritated.
"I'm... not entirely sure." The Princess admits. "The odd behaviours that have resulted in the sky's current state and the nightly monster attacks occurring across Equestria do both coincide with your arrival here. However..." She turns away from the balcony and begins walking back into her chambers. "As should be obvious to you by now, you are not the only new entity within Equestria's borders. The other presence, the one which my dear sister combats during her normally peaceful nights, appears to be inextricably linked to you in some way."
I give her another sideways glare as I lean against the balcony's railing. "Is this the part where you tell me to shove my forehead against Twilight's horn and let her use magic to fiddle around with my brain?"
The Princess merely turns to me and laughs. "That's certainly one way of putting things." She says, before becoming serious once more. "But, yes. We don't know whether your missing memories contain anything we may use to fight Equestria's current threat. Nor do we know if you will even continue to remain our ally as more of those memories return... or become a threat in your own right."
"Dusk is no threat to Equestria!" Trixie bursts in reply, moving to place herself between myself and the Princess. "He's Trixie's friend!" Despite a pair of dumb-looking smirks from the Princess and Twilight and a snigger from Spike, however, she holds her ground.
"I can see that quite plainly, my little pony." Celestia replies after a moment. "However, this is a situation that requires the utmost in both caution and haste, so please understand. There is a reason beyond the activities my sister tries so desperately to thwart that demand us to vanquish this other presence from our planet."
Trixie shudders. "What could be worse than the abominable cloaked creatures and demonic chupacabra creatures that Trixie has already endured?"
Celestia's gaze turns up, back out the window and toward the sky. "The reason that the Weave has become visible is because of whatever creature lurks out there. Since its arrival, its somehow been pulling energy from the Weave down from the sky and consuming it. Each day it becomes stronger and consumes more, making the delicate fabric that wraps around our planet ever more unstable. Plus, as Cloud said... the Weave is essentially the life-force of the planet and all the creatures on it awaiting reincarnation, so the more it eats, the more once-departed souls may never again be reborn to walk our planet. And once it eats enough, our planet will simply... die."
When put that way, even I gave a small shudder. Whatever this other creature is - it's essentially plucking creatures out of the afterlife and eating them to become stronger. A pretty gruesome thought...
"It still seems to be weak at this stage." Celestia continues, after giving everyone a moment to process this information. "If we move quickly enough, the damage should be minimal, and it should be easy to destroy or seal away. If we wait too long, however..."
The eyes of both Celestia and Twilight quickly fall on me as I turn away from their gaze, the gaze that implores me to do what they've constantly been trying to get me to do in light of this new information. I close my eyes to think for a moment, and a quick flash of memory comes to mind. It's a gruesome memory - the memory of a giant snake, easily a hundred feet long or more, skewered bloodily and effortlessly to the trunk of a dead tree. The memory gives me a shudder, but the gore isn't what's important. Below the snake's body is a geyser - a geyser of Mako, of the Lifestream, bubbling to the surface and forming...
"The Crystal Caves." I finally return my gaze to the waiting alicorn and unicorn, only to see everyone else in the room is now looking at me as well.
Celestia's eyebrow raises. "What about them?"
"Twilight mentioned them while talking about the history of Canterlot on our way to the castle. She said a long time ago, the crystals inside the caves were used by unicorns seeking to amplify their magical power." I take a moment to pick my sword up from where it's resting against the balcony, holding it such to draw their eyes to the line of Materia along its blade. "I can vaguely remember... on my world, sometimes the Lifestream would bubble to the surface, forming crystals. In some of those cases, those crystals would be something we called 'Natural Materia'. It was crystalized Lifestream directly from the planet, with the necessary shape and composition to be used in the same way as the processed Materia we used commonly. However, as it contained undiluted knowledge, the magic that could be pulled from them was often far more dangerous."
"Do you think we can find something like that inside the Crystal Caves, Cloud?" Twilight asks, a bit of her lavender color disappearing at the mention of those caves for some reason. "Equestrian Materia?"
"It's not impossible." I reply as I sheathe my sword. "It was exceedingly rare for these events to occur on my planet, so we may find nothing at all. But if the caves are right here, there's no reason not to seek any advantage we can get."
"It's not a bad idea." The Princess nods slowly. "I can bring us down there and give us temporary access."
"Wait, hold on." Shining Armor interjects, his silence up until now making me nearly forget he's here. "You want to go down into those caves where that bug held Twily and Cadance and hunt for small shiny rocks in what's essentially a field of giant shiny rocks?"
I raise an eyebrow as he protests, hoping for some better context without needing to ask.
"It'll be fine, Shining Armor." Celestia assures him. "The mines are devoid of Changelings and whatever else may want to roam its walls, and I'll be with them. Everyone will be safe."
"That's not the problem, Princess." He argues. "As the Captain of the Royal Guard in Canterlot, those mines are perfectly safe for any approved castle resident to explore as long as they follow proper safety procedures." He moves, getting closer to Twilight as he talks. "But as Twily's big brother, I don't want her being forced to go back in that cave."
"It's fine, Shining Armor." Twilight replies, taking a deep breath. "Like both you and Celestia said, the caves are perfectly safe. It'll be good for me to go down there and assure my subsconscious there's nothing wrong."
"Twily..." Shining Armor turns to face her. "It's okay to be scared sometimes, y'know. Things are pretty bad right now from the sounds of it, but you don't need to act strong all the time."
She smiles. "It's okay, Shiny. Thank you, but I'll be fine, don't worry!"
He nods in reply. "Alright, sis. I'll need to get back to my duties after this though, so it'll just be the five of you down there." He gives me a sideways look, sizing me up one final time. "I'm seeing my tagging along any further is a bit unnecessary."
"Alright." Twilight replies as she pulls her brother in for a short hug. After a moment, her face becomes curious and she turns to Spike, whose been silent besides his one snigger at Trixie. "Hey, Spike? Is everything all right? You've been... quiet."
"Yeah, Twi, I'm fine." Spike assures her. "A lot of this stuff is just over my head so I didn't want to interrupt." He rubs the back of his head as he replies.
Twilight gives her assistant a smile, then turns to her brother once more. "Hey, Shiny?" She asks. "Would it be okay if you took Spike with you while we were down there? He's been really looking forward to hanging out with you, if you won't be too busy."
Shining Armor looks from Twilight to Spike and back again, and Spike's eyes light up at the thought. "Yeah, that'd be pretty cool, if you're not too busy that is, Shining Armor..."
"Yeah, it'll be fine, Twily." Shining Armor replies after a moment, motioning for Spike to follow him as he turns to leave the room. "Let's get going, little man, I'm sure I can find us some cool stuff to do in between Captain duties."
"All right!" Spike fist-pumps the air as he follows after Shining Armor, the latter pulling the large doors to Celestia's chambers open and motioning Spike to exit first, following close behind him.
As the door shuts, Twilight lets out a small, relieved sigh.
"Is everything alright, Sparkle?" Trixie asks, walking up to Twilight. "I take it from the bits your brother said, the stories Trixie heard about that wedding's... eventfulness, were less exaggerated than she believed."
"It was... an experience." Twilight gives Trixie a small smile as if to say everything's fine. "It'll just be easier going back down there without Shiny or Spike. I love them to death, but... you know..." Twilight trails off.
"But first," Celestia turns to me, "Cloud, have you reconsidered allowing my Faithful Student to turn your brain into scrambled eggs?" She already knows the answer, if she's asking like that.
"Well, when you put it that way, it's tempting, but... let's go with 'no' for now." I reply, moving in from the balcony and shutting the glass window-door-thing behind me as Celestia's magic draws the curtains.
"I joke, Cloud, but I do ask you to consider our plight more seriously." Celestia says, switching again from playful to serious with a practiced precision I can only assume is meant for disarming political opponents. "If we allow things to progress too far, it's possible not even the power of the Pony Sisters or the Elements of Harmony will be enough. A threat that directly consumes the Weave is... it would be best to act quickly so we can deal with any situation that may arrive from your full memory returning then face the creature."
"I get it." I give her a nod as I head to the door. Even in Equestrian terms, I can imagine such a threat lacks precedent. "So whose ready for another hike? I assume this cave is at the bottom of the castle, being its a cave and all."
"A fair deduction, Cloud." Celestia replies with a friendly smile as her and Twilight file in not far behind me, the former's magic pushing the doors open.
"Wait..." Trixie stops us, causing us all to turn back to her. "We need to hike the entire way across the castle again? Trixie's hooves will fall off!"
"Technically..." Celestia turns her head up to the hall ceiling, thinking. "The trip from my quarters to the Crystal Caves is actually a bit longer than the trip from the entrance."
"You're kidding..." Trixie groans and collapses onto the floor.
"Nope! Lived here a thousand years, got the routes memorized!" Celestia replies playfully.
"Only one choice then..." Trixie groans as she gets back to her hooves. I turn to begin walking down the hall and quickly realize my mistake as a weight collides into my back, a pair of azure hooves wrapping around my neck while two more wrap around my waist. "Assistant! You must carry Trixie!"
"Really?" I turn my head over my shoulder to meet hers and glare. "How many times do I need to tell you I'm not carrying you?"
"But, Trrrrrrixie's hooves hurrrrrt!" She complains obnoxiously into my ear.
"Fine! But I'm never doing this again." I hook my hands under her back legs and shift my arms under her to support her weight better. "You know, maybe we should skip that trip to Donut Joe's on the way back... you're heavier than I remember."
I feel the tie of my cowboy hat tighten around my neck as Trixie leans her face in first, giving me one of her own glares. "Consider your next words carefully, Dusk." I shift my neck a bit so I can breathe again as her glare only intensifies. "Nopony gets between Trixie and Donut Joe's and lives to tell the tale."