//------------------------------// // Chapter 13 // Story: After the Nightmare // by CORACK //------------------------------// For the next two weeks, Selene kept pestering Luna about going back to the cave. Luna however, kept insisting that Selene needed more time to recover. Ever since Luna had used the life drain spell, Selene had been plagued with random headaches and dizzy spells. Luna wasn't sure why this was happening, but she could detect residual magic in Selene's body that might be the source. Thankfully as time passed, Selene seemed to have fewer and fewer issues, though the remaining magic had not yet subsided. After the long distance teleport and healing Selene, Luna had felt quite drained. However, she noticed that she was regaining her strength much faster than when she had been imprisoned on the moon. It had taken her years to cast even the simplest of attack spells to try to weaken her prison. The only thing she could think of is that this had something to do with the magical bonds that had held her in place last time. She could sense no similar restraints holding back her magic when she arrived on this world, and as such her powers did not have to fight both magical exhaustion and the seals put in place by the Elements. Luna knew Selene was going to ask about going back to the cave again. She had spent a great deal of time thinking about the magical energy that powered the crystal golem. It had felt strangely familiar when she first sensed it, but it took a while to place it. Thousands of years ago, long before her fall, there was a small kingdom north of Equestria called the Crystal Empire. Celestia had been in talks with the ruling council, they were to decide on whether or not to become an official province of Equestria or remain independent. After much deliberation, the council decided to take a vote. The decision was unanimous save for one member. Lord Sombra had been campaigning to have himself elected as high chancellor, a position that had not been filled in over a thousand years. As high chancellor, Sombra would have the ability to overrule, but when the Crystal Empire joined Equestria the position would no longer exist. Sombra swore revenge and on both the council, Luna and Celestia. He vanished, only to return 10 years later, wielding a dark and powerful magic. He quickly enslaved the entire Crystal Empire and proclaimed himself king. He had grown so powerful, Celestia decided to deal with him herself. Luna had joined in and the two sisters used their great power to banish him. But Sombra had placed a powerful curse on the Empire. When he fell, the capital city vanished, along with all the ponies who lived there. Long ago, Luna had created spells that were far more effective against Sombra's dark magic. It was likely that these spells would work better against the crystal golems better than standard offensive magic. It had been thousands of years she had last used these spells, so for the last two weeks when Selene slept, Luna practiced. Defensive spells, offensive spells, she went through everything she could remember. Until she had regained her true power, she would have to be wary of her limits. Selene was going to rely on her and she would not let her friend down. Luna made her way to Selene's room. She knew the girl would be waking up soon. As she got to the door, it opened revealing a yawning girl. "Morning Luna, sleep well?" Selene asked as she stretched her arms out. Luna nodded, she didn't feel like explaining that as she grew stronger, she had moved passed the need for sleep. She still hadn't revealed her immortality to Selene, she wasn't sure if the human would be frightened or simply not believe her. Luna had mentioned Celestia's control of the sun and Selene had laughed it off. She still didn't know that Celestia was the very sister that Luna had betrayed. Without Celestia's sun, all of Equestria and the rest of the planet would have slowly frozen to death in the cold dark of space. How would Selene react if she found out that Luna almost doomed an entire world? "Before you even ask, I know that you've been wanting to go back to the cave and investigate that door. I wanted to wait until you had recovered completely, I have also been practicing spells that should be useful should we run into any more of those golems. If you still desire to go back, then I want to make sure we plan ahead to reduce any risk," Luna said as the pair headed to the garden to get breakfast. "Yippee!" Selene shouted, jumping up with a big smile on her face. "Seriously though, I'm fine with whatever precautions you want to take, I did almost die and that isn't something I want to happen again." "Well, the first thing I want to do is see your rifle. I can enchant it to do more damage if we run into another one of those constructs. In addition, I will put a sound dampening spell on it, my ears were ringing for an hour after you fired it in the cave." "Yeah, sorry about that, the helmet has built in hearing protection, I meant to warn you, but the rampaging rock monster had me pretty off my game." Luna shrugged. "Do not worry about it, there was no permanent damage," she said. "Anything else?" Selene asked. She stopped and opened the door to the garden. "I'm going to cast a location spell on you, if we get separated, it should allow me to teleport directly to you." "Um, what happens if you teleport to me and there isn't enough room, like what if I was crawling though a narrow tunnel in the cave, would you end up in the wall?" "No, in a normal teleport the matter around the target location is displaced which is why you hear a small popping sound, it's the air being pushed outward by the caster reemerging. This displacement effect tends to cause solid matter to violently explode. Because of this, most teleportation spells have built in safeties to prevent reemergence into a solid. Even if you did force the location inside something, say the wall of a house, the wall would explode outward and the caster would be OK. Well until the damaged wall collapsed on top of them. The teleport spell I will use seeks out the closest available space that I can fit into." "Someday you are going to have to sit down and give me magic lessons or something," Selene said. "I can certainly discuss magical theory with you in the future, but I'm afraid you would not be able to use any of it, the spell I used to check your body for damage after the fight revealed that you have no magical potential." "Magical potential?" Selene asked. "A rough way of gauging the amount of magic a pony, or any really any species, can use. For example, even the weakest of unicorns can levitate small objects," Luna said, plucking an apple off of the branch of the tree in front of her. "Strong ones can move mountains." She took a bite out of the apple and continued. "It is only a rough estimate, a skilled unicorn with the proper spells can accomplish more than a stronger unicorn using naught but raw power, but in order to use magic you must have at least some potential. You are the first being I've ever come across that has none, I do not know if this is typical for humans or you are unique." Luna floated another apple over to Selene who gladly accepted it. "Oh, so I could still learn about magic, but I could never actually use it?" "That is correct," Luna said with a nod. With some apples in tow, Luna and Selene headed back down the main corridor. "That sucks, still I'd like to learn what I can, maybe someday if you have time and wouldn't mind?" "Of course, I would be glad to," Luna replied. Selene finished munching on her apple and then looked up to Luna. "We should get going, I've got to pack," she said. ##### Luna and Selene packed enough supplies for a few days, while Selene was recovering, Luna had converted Selene's backpack into a saddlebag. It allowed her to carry the bag without expending the minor amount of concentration that was needed to maintain the spell. Although Selene was feeling better, Luna still didn't want to force her to carry the supplies. The girl still had the occasional dizzy spell and the backpack would only be an unnecessary burden. After that they prepared to set out on their journey back to the cave. Luna watched Selene put on her gear. She was looking much better than she had in months. The rest of the past few weeks along with the now plentiful food had been doing wonders for the girl. She was no longer looking malnourished and she seemed to have far more energy. With Selene's increased stamina the return trip to the cavern went far quicker. The pair arrived at the cave in the late afternoon. They climbed down into the cavern depths and made their way to the large room where the battle had been fought before. Looking down into the hole they could clearly see the massive door built into the wall. There was a pathway cut into the rock leading up to the door, but most of it was blocked by rubble from the cave in so they were unable to check where it led. The door itself was quite large, standing almost three times as high as Luna. Selene walked up to the door and brushed away some of the dust that had built up on its surface. A dull grey metal surface was revealed, she continued to clean off as much as she could reach but as far as she could tell It lacked any identifying markings, nor was there a clear way of opening it. "We have two choices, I can clear the rubble from this path and we can see where it leads, or I can try to open the door," Luna said, looking at Selene. "With the exception of the path, this room looks pretty much like a natural cave, I'm hoping this is the outside of the door and opening it will lead inside... something. If that ends up being true, I think we should look in before we look out," Selene said. She knocked on the door, which hurt her knuckles a bit, whatever metal it was made out of, it felt pretty solid. Luna concentrated for a moment, looking at the door. Her horn lit up and a matching blue field shimmered around the door itself. "There is a magical seal on this door. It is very weak, almost completely degraded. It feels... old," she said. "Can you open it?" Selene asked. "Yes, give me a moment." Breaking the seal required a trivial amount of magic. She followed that up with an opening spell on the door. A loud grinding noise filled the cavern room, the door shuddered for a moment and then slowly slid open. It was immediately apparent that they were on the outside looking in, the room beyond the door was dimly lit, but it was clearly not naturally formed. Inside the door, the floor transitioned from smooth rock to a tiled concrete. Pipes lined the smooth walls, small drops of a clear liquid occasionally leaking out of them. Selene stepped forward as she went to enter the room. Luna raised her wing to block the girl's path. "One moment," she said. There was an ambient background magic that she was unable to feel until the door had opened. The magic felt as old as the seal on the door, except unlike the seal, it had not degraded with age. As far as she could tell, the spell was designed to cloak the interior of the of the room while also hiding its own presence. The fact that she was just now detecting it was a testament to the skill of whoever had created the spell. It was in Luna's experience that nopony went through such great lengths to hide something, unless it was meant to stay hidden. Whatever was contained within these walls could still be dangerous. "This place, whatever it is, is old, ancient even. However, unlike the seal on the door, the magic inside does not seem to have weakened with age. It seems to have been designed to hide this room from detection, which could indicate danger. We should proceed with caution." Luna raised a shield around the two and they slowly walked through the door. As soon as they stepped over the threshold, the room seemed to detect their entry. Lights up above flickered for a moment before they came back on, releasing a steady glow. Deciding there was enough light for Selene to see, Luna dispelled the glowing orb that had been following along. With a loud thud, the door behind them closed. "Did you do that?" Selene asked "I did not," Luna replied. The walls of the room formed a large square. At the other end was an equally massive door that looked exactly the same as the one they had just passed through. Other than that, the room was completely empty. A groaning mechanical noise sprung up in the silence followed by a rushing sound. Luna stopped in her tracks, ears swiveling, trying to pinpoint the sound. "Sounds like a ventilation system," Selene said with a chuckle. "Now that I'm hearing it from in here, It sounds like one of the noises I heard back in the cavern before I found that monster." She looked around until she spotted a grate in the in the upper section on the inside wall and then pointed it out. "See there it is, I bet there's an outlet somewhere in the cave system." Selene then headed across the room to the inner door with Luna following. "Shall we find out what's behind door number two?" she asked. Luna nodded, and cast the opening spell again. This time the door opened smoothly and quietly, revealing a long, well lit, corridor. It was as empty as the room they had just left. Walking to the far end took about five minutes where they found yet another door. This was one much smaller than the previous two. On the wall next to the door was a small pad. "That looks kind of like the keypads for the secure doors on the Ascension," Selene said, pointing it out. She walked forward and touched it. The pad flashed green for a moment the door slid open. She walked forward with Luna following closely behind. "I think you can drop the shield, this place is empty," Selene said, as she stepped into the room. There was a slightly raised platform at the center of the room, a pile of metal boxes were stacked up in the far corner. The rest of the room appeared empty. Luna stepped through right behind Selene. Seconds after she passed the door, it slammed shut. A bright purple light appeared overhead and swept back and forth over the two. Two small hatches in the ceiling opened up and devices lowered from them. Luna wasn't sure what they were, but each device had a barrel that reminded her of the one on Selene's rifle and they were pointing right at them. Each of the devices emitted a high pitched whine, twin bolts of glowing white energy flew out of the barrels and hit Luna's shield. Both bolts bounced off and impacted on the wall, leaving scorch marks in the concrete. Luna tried to back up, but the door behind her was blocking the path. "Luna!" Selene shouted, but Luna didn't hear the rest. She quickly charged her horn and shot out a magical blast at the first device. The beam lanced outward but right before it impacted a shield flashed into existence, blocking the shot. The force of Luna's attack caused the shield to shatter and her second shot punched through the armored shell and exited the far side. The whine from the remaining device increased in volume. Another, even brighter beam, flew out and slammed into Luna's shield, the feedback caused her to stumble, but she recovered quickly and fired back in retaliation. Another shield popped up and blocked the beam, but unlike the first it did not fall apart. Luna noticed Selene had pulled out her rifle and she heard a muffled bang as the weapon fired. A glowing streak zipped across the room, slamming into the force field and punching a small hole in it. Unfortunately even with the enchantments Luna had cast on the gun, the bullet didn't have enough energy to punch through the front armor, it fragmented into small pieces leaving a dent in the plate. Luna fired again, this time adding much more energy to the attack. Aiming directly for the hole left by the bullet, her beam sailed through, and hit the already weakened armor. The device exploded, flaming bits of shrapnel rained down to the ground. Luna dropped her shield, panting slightly. "What in Tartarus were those!?" Luna asked. "I don't know, they looked like some kind of automated sentry turret. I know the navy uses something similar on warships, but these don't look like the pictures I've seen before." "We should leave, I do not want to put you in danger," Luna said, looking at the wreckage of the two turrets. "You're probably right, let me just look around the room." Selene walked over to the stack of crates. There didn't appear to be any way to open it. She tried to lift the smallest one off the top of the stack but it was too heavy to move. Meanwhile Luna turned around, she walked over to the door and put her hoof on the pad on the wall. It flashed blue and the door did not open. "Selene, come here, I can't get the door open." "Coming, maybe it doesn't work with hooves," Selene stopped fiddling with the crates and stared to walk back towards Luna. The only thing else in the room was the platform on the center. It was on her way back, so instead of going around, when she got to it, she climbed the steps to the top. There was dark circle on the floor in the center of the platform. She walked over to the circle. Other than being a different color, it looked the same as the rest of the floor. She shrugged and took a step forward when she felt her head star to spin. She closed her eyes for a moment and stopped moving forward. When she had opened them again, the circle on the ground was glowing red. Luna felt it before she saw it, a large surge of magical energy coming from the center of the room. She spun around and saw Selene standing on the middle of the platform. "Selene, get off of that!" she shouted a warning at the girl. Meanwhile the dizziness had grown worse. Selene started to stumble forward when she collapsed entirely. Before Luna could grab the girl, the glowing circle increased in brightness, there was a brilliant flash of light and Selene vanished.