Endless Sky

by Algorhythm

Chapter 5

-5-

The halls of the royal palace shook from each bout of thunder. The rain hammered down on the stone over and over again. The freak storm was causing all kinds of trouble for the staff, who ran frantically to fix any of the electrical upgrades – namely the new lighting. Guards on patrol re-lit the torches in the hall as they passed by.

They had long since repaired the hallway that lead to the underground archives room when Princess Celestia passed through the door, locking it firmly behind her. It wasn’t the comforting lighting she was hoping for, but she was simply too tired to complain. It took every bit of composure she had just to stifle the joy of her revenge.

Her hoof steps echoed throughout the hall as she passed the same historical tapestries for the final time that week. She paid no mind to the torchlight, as it seemed to bow in fear as she passed.

She reached the main hall in a few minutes, only to be overwhelmed by the noises of frantic castle workers sprinting through the main hall. Each of them paid their respects as they passed her, some nearly falling over from the sudden stop to bow.

On the other hoof, her personal guards still stood stoically outside the doors of the throne room. They were unmoved by the storm and continued watching the room for any sign of trouble. Celestia strode up the stairs to the doors.

One of the guards turned to her, bowing lightly. “Excuse me, your highness. Headmaster Bright Light is requesting an audience with you.”

Celestia looked the guard over. His name was Granite: a strong pegasus who she had handpicked to serve as one of her personal guard. Despite his bright white coat, he was a smith by trade. Raised in the castle all his life, he had spent much of his time crafting armor for new guards until she had selected him for the job. His coat still gave off the smell of the forge.

“Is it about the storm?” Celestia asked.

Granite nodded.

She sighed. Keeping up appearances was more important than reveling in her victory. Though admittedly, it was quite difficult. She gave him a warm smile, "Alright. Give me a moment to settle in and then you may send him here."

He bowed, "Yes, your highness."

She watched the pegasus take to the air and dart down the opposite hallway. A curt nod to the other guard had him accompanying her into the throne room.

It was quiet for a while. She knew the trip to the school would be more complicated with the storm. But... there was always this apprehension whenever one of the guards took a while. It was why she always had at least one with her.

That other guard was Nightwind. He was a quiet pegasus, more so than the other denizens of the castle, including the elusive gardener. Many of the staff were wary of approaching him and fewer still had ever heard him utter a single word. Nevertheless Princess Celestia had taken time in making her choice. She always had somepony vouch for her wardens. With Granite, his upbringing in the castle and his sabotage of Starfall, before joining Stormbreaker in Manehatten, spoke volumes of his trustworthiness. Careful observation of Nightwind and his work, and a confirmation of trust from Bright Light’s magic was all she needed to be sure.

A gentle breeze flowed through the room, sending ripples across the carpet before a light pop announced her new guest. He was a tan pony with a grey mane and tail that settled as the breeze died down. Water dripped from his coat, which was thoroughly soaked. Celestia giggled to herself - Bright Light hated wearing clothing. He was always particularly quirky about it, preferring to fully experience the wrath of nature - for science, of course.

“Good evening, Bright Light,” she said. “I see that the rain hasn’t been particularly kind to you this evening.”

“Not in particular,” he responded. He bowed in respect as his horn brimmed with magic. The water sizzled from his coat and evaporated into the air. “We at the School weren’t aware that a storm was planed for this evening.”

“I was under the impression that it would be clear skies.”

Bright light nodded. His hazel eyes brimmed with knowledge, “Ah. Well, of course we assumed as such. You always keep us well informed.” He walked closer to the throne, before taking a small area in front of it to pace. “We did take the initiative to find out where it came from. In the meantime, I suppose you would like to know that we have begun to dissipate the storm. It is slow going however.”

She nodded once, “How slowly?”

“Quite. It seems that was the intention of the particular craft of storm. That’s not all.”

Celestia shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

“It seems as though it corresponded with a mistimed lunar eclipse. Perhaps these are connected?”

She raised an eyebrow, “Perhaps it was my sister?”

“We have no reason to believe that she would able to do that without coordination. It does require your sun to perform, in addition to her moon.”

An awkward silence passed between them. Celestia looked to her guard, “Nightwind, please leave us.”

The white pegasus nodded, flying across the room and exiting through the doors.

“What are you suggesting, Bright Light?”

He looked at her, genuinely concerned. His former confidence deflated, “I... don’t know. It’s quite odd, in fact rather disturbing. The kind of magic it suggests is quite...” The headmaster swallowed hard, “...dark. Even a large group of unicorns would have trouble with such a spell.”

Celestia felt that same pressure pushing on the back of her mind. Feelings of panic and joy flooded her mind. On the one hand, there would be too many questions about the incident and her planned excuses were looking flimsy with the storm. On the other hand, she was filled with glee that everypony who found out would fear her unrivaled power to revive the dead.

However, her face showed no evidence of this internal conflict. She simply frowned in concern, “That is deeply troubling. I will have to think about this. It will likely mean that you will need to reconvene with more of your colleagues. I would like you to send a letter as soon as you can. I have a few specific names for your list…” Her speech quickly droned into a list of contacts to cover up her charade.

“Princess?”

Celestia looked up. Bright Light had calmly taken a seat on the floor where previously he had been pacing, “Yes Bright Light?”

“Did you leave her enough air?”

Celestia blinked at the question, completely confused. She failed to recover her thoughts in time as stone spikes rose from the floor and jutted out from the ceiling, trapping her within. A thick piece of iron dropped from the ceiling and clamped down on her horn, eliciting screams of pain from the white alicorn. The stone ceiling became more malleable as she struggled in vain to fly away from the stone spikes that surrounded her. It wrapped around her torso locking her wings to her side as it slowly encompassed her lower body.

Bright Light smiled wickedly as a pair of wings slowly pulled themselves from under his coat. The bones slid back into place popping and cracking as he flexed his new appendages. His new form forced a stifled scream from the princess.

“YOU!” She yelled.

“Yes?”

“It… can’t be... You should still be locked in stone! You and all of Discord’s mad assistants!”

The other pony laughed. He now stood a full couple of inches taller than Celestia. His coat had dulled to a light grey and his mane to a stark, bone white. He flapped his wings a few times, letting them stretch to their full length. “Nightmare had Starfall loosen my bonds a little – something about ‘starting over her reign’. I figured that I’d at least humor her delusions.”

“How long...” she stammered. Everything but her head was now fully encased in stone. Her breathing came in short rasps. “How long have you been Bright Light?”

“I waited a year before I became him. I needed some way to earn your trust, other than being some nopony watching every move your precious subjects have made. Watching you was the important part.” Magic poured from his horn once more and the stone spikes melted back into the floor and ceiling. He repaired the damage to anything else he had broken as an afterthought. “You’ve been quite the busy mare, Celestia.”

“Princess Celestia to you, Cunning.”

He considered her words for a moment, “How did you get a hold of such a rare book? Was the library insufficient? Perhaps my school is too good at archeology.”

She gawked at him.

“Yes, Celeste. I ‘found’ the book for the dragons. Your young dragon sure has some gusto giving away his precious childhood. What was his name? Spike, was it?”

Celestia broke one of her hooves free of the stone. He responded by creating a thicker layer. She was livid, struggling as hard as she could to get free.

“You didn’t think I had a hand in returning your faithful student? I almost forgot the best part!” His eyes glowed a deep red, the colors slowly spinning into the center of his eyes, “That spell requires a certain kind of darkness: Nightmare’s darkness, no… MY darkness.”

Sudden realization made Celestia sick and her heart dropped into the pit of her stomach. “You did this... you did that to Nightmare! YOU CORRUPTED DISCORD!” Old wounds bled together, pushing those feelings of vengeance to the front of her mind. She tried desperately to push back.

“It wasn’t hard. You did break their hearts: one after the other. I consider myself a teacher. If you hadn’t been so close to Discord, I would’ve controlled everything. Your half-sister Nightmare gave me two chances to fix that.”

Celestia’s eyes started changing color once more. She started crying, unable to restrain the wild emotions any longer. She was losing control, and there was nothing she could do about it, “You stupid blank-flank... why... jealousy?” Her words slipped away into incoherent babbling, before tapering off into silence.

Cunning growled at her commentary. Indeed, his flank was blank. It had always been. He had no true special talent in the world. All he could do was take somepony else’s... by becoming them. He had a talent for lies, deceit, and for being someone he was not. But it all paid off today.

“Celestia?”

She let out another burst of strength cracking the stone in several places. Magic shimmered at the end of his horn. The stone seemed to stretch and ripple as she howled in pain. The screaming died to whimpers before she went silent once more. He waited a moment, ensuring she was completely subdued.

“Celestia.” Magic covered his horn once more, evaporating her stone prison. She stood, her red, dragon-like eyes staring blankly back, “Be a dear and go sit down. You look terrible.”
She followed the command obediently, walking back to her seat and lowering herself onto the cushions.

“Now, you and I will talk every once in a while. I will leave the sound nullification magic intact, just for those times. Do you understand?”

Celestia nodded, “Yes, Cunning.”

“Good. You will not remember this conversation, nor be aware of my presence. This disturbance is likely the work of Nightmare’s minions. You will probably have to scour the world for them. Am I right?”

“Of course.” Her voice was flat, without a single emotion behind it.

“You will remember nothing of trying to resurrect your most precious student. Those memories were spent mourning in the basement. However... if she returns to this world, you’ll know that it was at the hands of Starfall’s followers. She must be sent to the dragons. They will be able to remove any taint from her. After all, Spike was sent there just for this very real possibility.”

She hesitated on this. A burst of magic surrounded her head. She twitched for a few moments, before she gave a submissive nod.

“Split up the twins if she comes back. Dusk is quite the asset to the family but Dawn needs some time abroad. It’ll be just like Nightmare’s time abroad. Though I sincerely hope something doesn’t come between the two of them,” he chuckled. “Besides, Rainbow Dash can keep her and Twilight Sparkle in line.”

She nodded once more, “How?”

He raised an eyebrow. “You’re a smart girl. You can figure it out. Besides, do you really want to let her have any idea of what you’ve actually been doing?”

She shook her head.

“Good.” A few moments longer and he returned to his form as Bright Light. Cunning closed his eyes, melding back into character, “You may resume your duties at the end of three clicks.”

Click. Click. Click.

“Princess?”

She looked up alarmed by the sound of another voice in the room. Her mind eased at the sight of the headmaster’s concerned face.

“Are you alright? You nodded off for a moment there,” Bright Light said.

Celestia could distinctly remember the list of people she had to contact to figure out what was going on. A freaky storm? A blood red moon? What did it all mean? Something in the back of her mind hovered around Starfall’s followers. Surely they hadn’t been acting up again? She tried to recall the last time this had happened but... it was a little hazy. She could only truly remember the attacks on Dusk and Dawn.

“I... I’m fine. Perhaps I’ve spent too long in the basement again.”

Bright Light raised an eyebrow, “About the storm...?”

“I trust that you can break it up. I have a feeling this won’t be the last time I’ll need to call on your help.”

“Of course, your majesty. I am always here to assist you,” he bowed. He looked up into her now normal eyes, “If you’ll excuse me. There is work to be done.”

“Thank you, Bright Light.”

He turned away from her, a maniacal grin spreading over his face before vanishing with a light popping noise. She lifted herself from her throne, putting a hoof to her head.

I’ve gotten too used to sleeping these nights, she thought. Her wings propelled her to the throne room doors, and she exited for the night.

--*--

The rain whipped at Rainbow and Applejack as they tried to power their way through the storm. Not even a minute after they had left the library, Rainbow was sent hurtling out of control.

“AJ!” She yelled. The wind sent her flying sideways, tumbling through the air. She fought hard to stay airborne, careening through an alleyway just to get back on track.

Applejack was struggling to stay upright in the gale force wind, let alone try to run through town in it. She looked around frantically for a way to bring Rainbow to the ground while trying to follow her erratic flight pattern.

“Dang it, Rainbow,” she cursed under her breath. Panic was starting to settle in, as she started to fly ever closer to the buildings. Another strike of lightning narrowly missed the pegasus, slamming into a nearby tree. The branch came crashing down in front of AJ, forcing her into a full stop.

It was helpful, however. Right outside one of the stores was a cart tied to the side. In moments, she found herself undoing the rope as quickly as she could, whipping her head up every few moments to check on Rainbow. Even so, there was no way to tell how well she was holding up.

“Cuhm uhn,” she said with the rope firmly between her teeth. The knots were really tight, and the water was not helping her predicament.

Up above, Rainbow was losing energy. The buckets of rain and biting wind were making her very, very cold. Every muscle in her body was telling her to stop fighting and get to the ground. But her mind was alive with adrenaline, focusing on getting to the center of town. She was losing that fight and eventually the wind started to take control.

Thunder pierced through the sounds of the storm, shaking the ground below Applejack’s feet. She had the rope tied off in a lasso, spinning it furiously with her tail. Her panic deepened when she saw Rainbow suddenly and sharply drop in height. The wind launched Rainbow over her head like a rag doll, sending her in a direct collision course with a nearby building. Applejack took good aim: she only had one shot at this.

Rainbow gave a scream as she spun closer to the building. Applejack let the rope go.

Rainbow felt a sharp stop just inches from her collision course as the rope tightened around her waist. With the wind under her wings, she was nothing more than a kite. A grateful, panicked kite. Applejack heaved, pulling her down bit-by-bit, trying not to let the wind take her into any other precarious obstacle.

When Rainbow was firmly on the ground, Applejack loosened up the ropes. Rainbow was shivering fiercely even with her wings snapped tight against her sides. Applejack was a little warmer, but she wouldn’t be for much longer.

“Dash! We have to go back!” Even when screaming at the top of her lungs, Applejack’s voice barely registered with the pegasus.

“We can’t! Twilight’s in serious trouble!”

Applejack’s eyes went wide, “Are y’all SERIOUS!?” She felt livid. “You ran out into this storm because of another hallucination? I ain’t said nothin’ to nopony else, but Dash, I think you need serious help!”

Rainbow pleaded with her, “I am serious, AJ! I think she’s alive! I can’t explain it, but I have to check!”

“OUR LIVES ARE AT STAKE HERE!” Applejack was hollering something fierce. Anypony would have backed down from that, but Rainbow stood firm.

“I’m serious AJ! If I’m wrong, I’ll tell everyone what I’ve been seeing. But right now, I have to be sure!”

Applejack stared hard at her friend. Out of all the foolishness she had ever put up with, this was by far the stupidest train of thought she had ever heard come out of the pegasus’ mouth. Dash getting caught in the fall of Cloudsdale was one thing she had no control over. But this? This was suicidal. She seriously thought that Rainbow Dash had gone off of the deep end. It hurt her to know that she was crazy enough to believe Twilight could come back to life. It was impossible.
Even so, her friend was just so sure…

“I’m out of mah mind too,” she muttered to herself. “Where to?” She yelled.

Rainbow smiled, taking off towards the center of Ponyville. They whipped through the side streets to avoid the wind, weaving their way across town. Lighting continued to arc over the town, illuminating the dark streets. They rounded a corner into the main square, where they were immediately assaulted by the wind once more.

There in the center was the statue. Celestia put up the statue to honor Twilight’s sacrifice all those years ago. Rainbow remembered the funeral when Twilight was buried underneath it in a crystal coffin. That was Celestia’s last gift for her - to last forever untouched by time. She dreaded what she would find.

They made it to the statue, where Rainbow immediately put her ear to the bottom of the stone. Nothing.

“Rainbow! There ain’t nothin’ here!” Applejack yelled.

Come on, Rainbow thought. She has to be...

“RAINBOW!” Applejack yelled again.

That’s when she heard it, muffled below. “Help! Somepony please!”

“Help me move this!” Rainbow yelled. She rammed herself up against the statue. It wasn’t budging.

“Nuh-uh sugar cube! We ain’t raiding her grave!” Applejack chomped down on Rainbow’s tail.

Rainbow responded by grabbing the orange pony into a headlock and jamming her ear against the stone, consequently freeing her tail. Applejack struggled against her grip, “DASH LET GO OF-” The farmer pony went pale.

“NOW DO YOU BELIEVE ME?” Dash screamed. She slammed herself against the stone, trying to make it move even an inch. Her eyes winced in pain every time she hit into it. Applejack slowly backed away from the statue.
“AJ! Help me!” Dash was getting sleepier by the second as the cold started to set in again.

Applejack staggered back on her hooves. She was in shock. Rainbow trotted right up to her and brought her hoof across her face. “PLEASE!” Rainbow begged. At this point she was crying from a mix of pain and desperation.

Applejack nodded sheepishly stepping back into a charging position. She put all the speed she could muster behind her and bucked the statue as hard as she could. It slid back a few inches. Rainbow joined her bucking as hard as she could in unison with Applejack. The screams for help got louder as they uncovered the steel grating underneath it. It was as if somepony had planned for there to be some kind of air below it.

“HELP! I’M DOWN HERE!” Twilight’s voice came loud and clear this time.

“Twilight, watch your head!” Rainbow called down. She nodded to Applejack and they kicked at the floor.

Once.

Twice.

On the third kick it gave way, clattering onto the partially melted crystal coffin below. Rainbow dove down into the pit and landed in front of Twilight.

“Rainbow Dash?” She said with a gasp. The ceremonial clothing was strewn about in the coffin. Twilight was breathing heavily. Her coat was pale and she looked sick. Her coat was getting soaked in the rain that fell down the hole. But she was alive.

“Twilight... I... you’re... alive!”

“I just had the strangest dream...” Twilight swayed back and forth. Her legs gave out and she collapsed into Rainbow’s hooves.

“It wasn’t a dream Twilight. It wasn’t a dream.”

Comments

[Sgt. Brony]

What a twist.

[Silverness]

Wow....Cant wait to see more :D

[HeyCheerilee]

MY

BODY

IS

READY