//------------------------------// // Chapter I: Eternal - Part I // Story: The Sun Whispers Your Name // by Mystic //------------------------------// The Sun Whispers Your Name by Mystic Chapter One – Eternal Part One With a last, flickering glow of orange light, Princess Celestia watched the sun dip below the horizon. She instantly relaxed the mystical bond anchoring her subconscious, her presence, her power, to the golden disc. The link wavered for a moment and then dissipated into nothing, disappearing like smoke in the wind. Celestia gasped as a wave of fatigue swept through her, sending her vision reeling. She stumbled backwards like a newborn foal from the balcony and into her chamber. Her legs, legs that had once been strong and unyielding, shook underneath her, trembling as if the very earth itself were moving. Her horn flared briefly, and several candles spluttered into life, casting a weak amber glow around the room.   The Princess attempted to levitate several scrolls onto her desk in an act of denial. The magic shimmered into existence, and the parchment began its short journey over to the alicorn. She held it for a fraction, before the spell slipped from her gasp, nearly taking her consciousness with it. The Princess fell to her knees, feeling the power ebb and flow, but always leaving. Always leaving. Not now. I thought I had more time! I need just a little bit longer. Celestia shuddered, unable to control the forces pulling on her. She was thin, stretched mentally out further than she, nor anypony, had ever thought possible. The power… the responsibility… it had taken so much. Demanded everything. And now she was paying the price for her work, for controlling what was not hers. She was finally being forced to stop. “Luna...” she whispered, her vision almost completed gone. “Luna…” The complete silence of her chambers echoed back at the alicorn. It reverberated off of the ornate stone walls, soaked into the luxurious cream-coloured carpet. The drapes and curtains framing the windows shook gently as it passed by. Her strength. Her power. It was slipping from between her hooves, dancing away almost gleefully. Princess Celestia raised her head as the darkness ebbed in from the edge of the world. She couldn’t fight. She couldn’t plan. She had to accept. The sun would rise again. Luna… would... Luna could… Luna… The Princess tried to summon forth the strength to compose a letter. She felt the energy flow to her horn, where it pooled just inside her subconscious. She could feel it waiting… but there it failed. The power marshalled, only to slip away before she could cast it outwards. “Luna…” the Princess whispered again. “Learn… Sister… forgive.” Celestia let her head fall back down, her mane settling itself around her like a pool of light. Rather than fight the darkness, she let it in now, closing her eyes to hasten its progress. Rest. Sleep. Respite. The Goddess of the Sun drifted away, her mind falling into a place that was not of this world. With a flash of purple energy, the unicorn materialised outside of the palace gates. The night sky transformed the world into one of constant shadow, washed with blue and purple tones. She shook her head briefly in an attempt to clear it as a bead of sweat coursed down her brow agonisingly slowly. Her gaze snapped towards to the sight of four royal guards walking purposefully towards her, each dressed in golden armour that shone despite the lack of any real light. “Twilight Sparkle,” the elder one in front said, wasting no time with any sort of greeting. “You have been summoned by her Royal Majesty, Princess Luna. Immediately.” Twilight frowned. “Well, I know that. After all, her letter got me to teleport from Ponyville to here in the dead of night.” She stopped, appraising each of the guards carefully. “Do… do you know why?” she asked much more quietly. Twilight watched as one of the guards near the back flinched. “I am afraid we do not,” the captain said. “The Princess insisted that she speak with you first.” “What about Princess Celestia? Why did Luna summon me and not her?” Another flicker of emotion crossed the guards’ faces. Twilight knew that look. That was the look Fluttershy had gotten in front of the dragon’s lair… before she had learned to overcome her fears. “I… what happened?” Twilight said. Her voice suddenly sounded so very small. “If you would please come with us,” the guard said again, his voice wavering ever so slightly beneath the surface. “I… right away. Of course.” The guards immediately took to each of Twilight’s corners, forming a protective square around the unicorn. She followed as they walked in perfect synchronisation towards the castle.  A small ball of ice seemed to have formed within her stomach, and it jolted uncomfortably with each step. They entered the palace swiftly, not pausing as the great wooden doors swung inwards to let them in. The great hall was filled with dozens of ponies. Most of them were aristocrats or nobles, clothed in ridiculous examples of Canterlot fashion that only Rarity would have been able to appreciate. Some were guards, standing at attention by all of the entrances and exits. Everypony who was not clad in enchanted armour was whispering, falling silent the second Twilight entered the room. Twilight shifted uncomfortably under the intensive stares of everypony assembled. A few started to murmur again, casting furtive glances in her direction. The whispers floated around the room like ghosts. Princess… Luna… Night… Gone… Twilight gulped. They passed through the hall and into an adjoining hallway. Lanterns hung from the walls bathing the masonry in a golden light. Doors led off on both sides, and Twilight could hear voices whispering dully from inside them. Some were fast, anxious, agitated. Others were angry. Some were scared. They entered another corridor, moving swiftly past the semi-circular pillars lining the walls, framed by hanging white flowers. Twilight knew where they were going; they were headed to the Princess' private wing. With her escort, they ascended a short staircase and turned another corner before Celestia’s office door came into view. The door was open, and silver light spilled out into the corridor. Voices drifted out, low and nervous. Twilight couldn’t help but notice that they sounded exactly the same as the ones in the rooms behind her. “I would ask you to hold your tongue! Such words are not fit for these walls, Top Hat.” “With all due respect… Princess, the palace is terrified. What is wrong with her? Can we get her back? Is she going to be ok?” “I do not know!” Luna shouted, her voice cracking. “Twilight Sparkle should be here in a moment. I-” “I’m here, Princess,” Twilight said as she entered the room. Everypony stopped and stared. There was a small collection of castle officials, dressed in the traditional finery of the palace. They looked tired; bags hung under their eyes, manes were unkempt and ties were loose and too long. “Twilight!” Luna cried out. Suddenly, everypony’s gaze switched back to her, and her eyes darted subtly. “It is a relief to see you here, Twilight,” the Princess said again, this time much more levelly. “What… happened, Princess?” Luna regarded her carefully. “My faithful subjects, would you do us the pleasure of leaving, so I may speak with my sister’s faithful student alone?” Her voice was calm, but there was an edge of ice to it that made Twilight’s skin crawl. One by one, everypony in the room glanced between Twilight and the Princess before nodding, murmuring their assent and leaving. Each one threw one last anxious glance over their shoulders as they left. When they were alone, Luna again faced the purple unicorn. “Twilight,” she said, staring at her with large, sapphire eyes. “I... do not know what… I do not understand…” She looked away. “You are the only pony who can help me, Twilight.” “What happened, Princess? Where is Celestia? Why did you ask me to come alone?” Luna inhaled deeply, trying to calm herself. She took a moment before finally replying. "Twilight, my sister is unconscious. The serving staff found her soon after sunset when they came to bring her dinner." Twilight felt like the world disappeared away from beneath her hooves, sucked into a whirlpool of horror. "What?! How? What caused it? Is she sick? Have we been attacked?!" Her voice was louder than a shout at the end, but she did not care. "Please, Twilight, listen to me!" Luna said, her eyes large and pleading. Twilight stared back at her. A moment passed between them. "O-ok. What happened? What do we know?" She tried to keep her voice calm, level. She was not sure she succeeded. "Almost nothing," Luna admitted painfully. "We have been unable to discern what has happened to her. There is no magical residue. There are no signs of physical harm. There are no traces of physical poisons or toxins." "That doesn't make sense!" Luna bit her lower lip. "I know, Twilight. All we know is that she appears to be... trapped within her own mind." "What?" was Twilight's eloquent response. "She..." Luna stopped, thinking to herself. "Do you know anything of the dreamscape, Twilight?" "Dreamscape?" "I feared as much," Luna said. She took a deep breath, collecting her thoughts. "The dreamscape is a place of pure magic, Twilight. It is a plane of existence that exists in all of us, binding our subconscious to magic." Twilight blinked. "That's incredible... I... I haven't heard anything about it before..." "Yes," Luna agreed. "Nopony really did know about it even before my exile. Since returning, I cannot find any mention of it whatsoever in academia, only in myths and legends." "But what is it? This dreamscape? What does it do?" A flicker of emotion crossed the Princess' face. It was a distant expression, remembering some sort of vague memory. "It builds dreams for us, Twilight. It constructs worlds for us when we sleep so that we can escape the trials of the day." "So are you saying that the Princess is trapped in a... dream?" Luna frowned. "Not quite, but I do not know how else to describe it. The dreamscape builds dreams for us, but it is not the dream itself." Twilight sat down heavily, trying to work through the issue in her head. "But if she's trapped inside of this 'dreamworld', how do we get her out?" 'Well, as you might have guessed, we cannot just wake her up. I have tried, but the root of her condition lies not in her physical being." "But what can we do?! Somepony has to rule; Equestria has to have the Princess." Twilight froze, realizing her words. Her eyes went as wide as dinner plates. "You have to rule, Princess! You have to rule Equestria!" "No!" Luna's voice cried out, echoing loudly in the chamber. "No," she said, much quieter when Twilight flinched. "I cannot, not alone." Twilight was about to ask why not, but the Princess had already guessed her question. "The sun, Twilight. I cannot raise the sun. I have tried to reach it, but it eludes my grasp. I... I cannot touch it." She hung her head, suddenly looking so much smaller, a nervous foal like in the Everfree Castle so many months ago. Twilight felt a rush of sympathy, as well as a burning desire to look away. She didn't want to see the Princess like this, not so defeated and so unsure. Even though she knew next to nothing about magical dreamworlds, she did know when a friend needed her help. She walked up and wrapped a foreleg around Luna's shoulders, hugging her gently. The Princess stiffened a little at first, but soon relaxed into the embrace. "So what do we do, Princess? How do we get her back?" Twilight asked, trying her best to remain calm. Luna took a deep breath, breaking the hug and taking a step back to look Twilight in the eyes. "Well, we have to enter her mind and return her to the waking world." "We... we can do that?" "At the very least we should be able to interact with her, when we find her, that is. We should be able to at least find out what happened, and how we can go about fixing it." Twilight nodded, thinking hard. "Then we go in, together, and we find the Princess and we bring her home." Luna smiled. "Thank you, Twilight. Your... your offer means a lot to me. I do not ask such a burden upon you lightly; I would not were there any other options." "I wouldn't have it any other way, Princess. I'm glad you called me. We can fix this together." She paused, deciding to ask the question. "But why me, Princess? Why did you ask for my help?" "Because of the bond you share with my sister," Luna replied, her voice strained. "The dreamscape recognises those who enter it, and I believe that having you as well as me might make our task easier in finding her and getting her to respond." Twilight nodded, and smiled at the Princess. "Don't worry; we will find her and bring her home. You'll see." The Goddess of the Night took a deep breath, a grateful smile resting on the edges of her lips. “Well then, if we are to go in and find Sister before dawn…” She cast a glance out of the window, staring up at the midnight-blue night sky. “We must leave soon.” “Do we tell the nobles? Let them know what we’re doing?” Luna thought for a moment, her lips pressed together tightly. “Hmm. Yes. I believe that you are probably correct. We need to establish some sort of order before we leave.” The Princess’ horn burst into light and a bell suddenly chimed sweetly through the air. Within seconds, the door to her chambers slid open and an elderly earth pony mare entered. “Yes, Your Majesty?” “Summon the inner circle. We have business that needs attending to immediately.” “Yes, Your Majesty,” the pony repeated before stepping out of the room with a small bow. “We have a plan,” Luna said softly, seemingly to herself. When the officials had arrived, Twilight watched as Luna did her best to establish some kind of caretaker system. Nopony seemed to know what to do. It had never really been considered; the thought of not having a Princess with things under control was alien to most of these ponies. Twilight did her best to help, suggesting strategies to keep the court organised, or to pronounce a holiday for Luna’s return, one that deserved an extended night – anything, really, that would keep calm throughout the nation. With a makeshift council assembled, one that would keep the nobles in check for as long as possible, Luna dismissed them again to fulfil their duties. Twilight watched as each one left the room, some glancing back, their faces torn between emotions. Still, they all left. They had a job to do. When they were alone, Luna turned to Twilight again, her expression grave, but her wide eyes betraying her real emotion. “Follow me, Twilight Sparkle. I shall take you to her.” Together, they left Celestia’s office. Four guards immediately snapped to attention, trailing them with discipline and focus, their hooves ringing loudly in the hallways. Too loudly, Twilight thought. They wound their way through the convoluted system of corridors that formed the multi-faceted system of rooms throughout the higher levels of the palace. A silence rested between them like a fog, the absence of words stifling rather than revealing. There was a tension around them that chilled the air to where the unicorn couldn’t help but shiver. Celestia was being kept in her chambers, far away from any prying eyes. Four guards waited at attention outside her door, watching the pair and their escort approach with visible caution. “Your Majesty,” one of the guards said, snapping his wing in salute. “Do you wish to enter?” “Yes, thank you.” The guard nodded and turned to his companions, who were already moving to open the door. Twilight and Luna entered, the former full of apprehension. The unicorn gasped as she stepped into the room. Princess Celestia lay on the elegant bed, her wings trapped tightly against her sides. Her mane had lost all of its previous ethereal nature and was lying around her like bright-pink pool of liquid. Her coat lacked its usual shine, a flat white rather than the luminescent glow it had possessed before. “Princess…” Twilight murmured, rushing to her side. “Luna… we have to help her!” She looked up at the Princess of the Night, her expression imploring. “I… I know, Twilight Sparkle,” Luna replied softly, her gaze fixed on her older sister. “And we shall.” She held Twilight’s gaze for a moment before looking away, her eyes flickering shut. Twilight looked to the Princess with expectation. She didn’t want to rush her, but she was burning with nervousness. The Princess could be danger, and they weren’t doing anything to help her. “What now?” was all she said. “Well… are you sure you wish to embark on this quest with me, Twilight?” Twilight nodded quickly. “Then it is simple. But I must warn you, Twilight, the dreamscape will be unlike anything you have ever encountered before. In there, everything will have meaning, everything will have a purpose. It is all constructed by the pony, after all. Be on the lookout, and do not discount anything.” Twilight nodded, taking a short breath. “Ok, I understand.” “Then let us be off.” Luna inhaled deeply, her horn suddenly glowing, encased in a shimmering blue light. She walked over to Celestia and touched her horn with the sleeping alicorn’s. Immediately, a bright flash engulfed the room, and Twilight blinked several times to clear the spots still lingering in her vision. “I would ask that you relax… this may feel a little… strange.” Luna lowered her still-glowing horn to Twilight’s. The unicorn closed her eyes when she felt contact, sucking in one last deep breath. She was dimly aware of a blinding flash just outside the protective shell of her eyelids, and then suddenly, her body was pulled away, straight into darkness. Twilight was vaguely aware of the sensation that she was moving… and fast. Nothing and everything seemed to fly past her, embracing her, pulling her, pressing down on her on all sides. She tried to get a hold of her magic, but she did so in vain. She knew where it was meant to be, and what she wanted to happen, but nothing did. She was useless, unable to see, feel, or use spells. She didn’t even have a body in this void. Suddenly, the pulling sensation began to grow worse. She wanted to whimper as the forces coercing her on all sides started to squeeze her mind, testing its strength, placing it under pressure.  A high-pitched whine suddenly filled her non-existent ears, growing louder with each passing second. Another sound entered the void. The sound of voices. They were whispering, laughing, screaming. Twilight felt like she should be shuddering in fear, but there was nothing to move with. She was forced to listen to the cacophony slowly building within her mind. Twilight was suddenly filled with the feeling that something, somewhere, had gone terribly, terribly wrong. The darkness was everywhere. It was everywhere, and Twilight couldn’t feel a thing. She wanted to scream. She wanted to scream to drown out the sounds, to suppress the feelings eating at her mind like little insects. Then, suddenly, almost as if it had never happened, everything stopped. Twilight felt herself seemingly materialise around her consciousness as her body fell down onto the cool grass beneath her. Her stomach rolled turbulently, threatening to empty itself. She inhaled deeply, relishing in the feeling of her lungs expanding with air. Wait… grass? Twilight opened her eyes. She was laying on wide open pasture coloured the deepest shade of steel blue. It stretched out as far as she could see, rolling over a gently undulating landscape. There was not a tree in sight. The land was completely empty. “Lu- Luna?” Twilight whispered, finding her voice incredibly hoarse, almost if she herself had been the one screaming. There was no reply. “Luna?” Twilight called out again, this time louder. “Luna?! Are you there?!” A gentle breeze caressed her, flattening the grass around her with a quiet rush of noise. Twilight got to her hooves, looking desperately around her to the horizons as panic hissed and burned at her stomach like acid. Luna was nowhere to be seen. There was nothing except for an endless stretch of steel blue grass. Except… Slowly, Twilight turned around and gasped. A city. A gigantic metropolis sprawled out in front of her, tall, regal towers, sprawling plazas, elegant manors and great halls, all inter-connected by a labyrinth of roads, highways and streets, some of which had been suspended high above the buildings, mighty highways linking the towers together. A great wall ringed the metropolis, standing high and mighty in a proud gesture of strength. From the back, looking reminiscent of Canterlot with its marble walls and multi-towered structure glistening in the sunlight, a gigantic palace rose up with a great golden domed ceiling. Almost every building was decorated with silver or golden lining that swept along the marble like vines. Atop of the tallest towers, Twilight could see banners fluttering gently in a wind that she couldn’t feel. The city was majestic, ornate and beautiful, yet it was deathly silent. The streets were empty, and no sound echoed forth from its stony walls. Behind the city, a great mountain soared into the sky, a tower of earth and stone. Twilight craned her neck back squinting hard, but she could not make out the summit. “Where am I…?” Twilight said to nopony. The silence that followed her voice sent the acid in her stomach churning violently. Another gust of wind pressed at her from behind, pushing her towards the city with gentle reassurance. Twilight gulped, her mind reeling. She was in Celestia’s mind, that much she knew, but this… how could this be anypony’s mind, let alone Celestia’s? It looked so real, so majestic, dwarfing even Canterlot with its scale and ambition of design. It was a masterpiece of marble and metal, organic and elegant, shining against the rocky backdrop behind it. Twilight took a deep breath to calm the fear burning in her stomach. She couldn’t panic, not here, not now. She had to stay focused, stay on target. Celestia needed their help, and the only way to do that was to find Luna and re-group... and fast. Who knew how time passed when inside this dreamscape, and the Princess had said they had to be out come the dawn back in Equestria. Perhaps they had only been separated, Twilight thought, and that Luna was trying to find her right now even as she stood here. With a weak sense of hope, Twilight latched onto that idea tightly. Luna would come to her! She waited a few minutes, standing still in the knee high grass, scanning the sky for any sign of the midnight alicorn. The sky was a brilliant shade of cyan, devoid of even a single cloud. The sun was larger here than in Equestria. Twilight watched as flares and plumes of solar fire seemed to explode outwards from its surface, visible despite the incredible distance. Five minutes passed, and there was no sign of Luna. The world was unchanging. The occasional gust of wind nudging her toward the city and the sun were the only things that moved. The Princess wasn’t coming to find her. That either meant one of two things: Luna wasn’t here, or she was trapped inside somewhere in the city. Either way, that left her only one possible location she could go in an attempt to find a way out. There was only one way home. Biting her lip, trying to stay brave, Twilight set out for the only landmark she could see. The wind simply pushed her along. As always, my eternal gratitude to my editor, Sessalisk, without whom this story would be a bigger mess than what it already is. Also, a special thank you to Sparkle for his help with this chapter. It helped a lot! A thank you to xX-Mr-No-Name-Xx for the incredibly awesome artwork! Be sure to check out his DA and check out his other cool artwork! And finally, a massive and sincere thank you to everyone for reading! Let's go a on a little adventure with this, shall we? It should be good fun.