Shiver
Moonshine usually liked sunsets. She would paint them as a filly—careful little brushstrokes, trying to capture it as faithfully as possible. The paintings weren’t very good—well, she didn’t think so, anyways. But she liked to paint anyways.
This one was different, though. It felt like the sun had slid almost all the way below the horizon while she wasn’t watching, with none of those slow, graceful gradations of color. The mountain in front of her was almost stained red with the light, a dim crimson that pulsed in and out of her sight.
Moonshine hurried a little, drawing closer to Luna’s side.
Soarin dropped down next to her. “Clear,” he reported. “At least as far as I can tell.”
“As far as you can tell?” The voice came from behind, a sharp snap. Moonshine could almost hear the sneer. Caballeron wouldn’t even bother to hide it.
“Yes,” Soarin said deliberately, “as far as I can tell.”
“Certainty would be appreciated, Mr Soarin,” Caballeron said.
“It’s not possible, Caballeron,” Colgate said. “Soarin knows what he’s doing. Mostly.”
Soarin beamed.
“You should be more thorough.” It was a low voice that Caballeron used, with just the slightest shade of menace to it. Moonshine couldn’t quite place it. Not quite.
But it sounded familiar.
“I was thorough,” Soarin said, raising his voice.
“Somehow I doubt—” Caballeron started.
“Gentlecolts!” Luna said sharply. “Cease your incessant...”
“Squabbling?” Moonshine suggested.
Luna scowled. “Yes. That. Doctor Caballeron, the entrance is on this mountain, correct?”
Caballeron scowled. “Yes,” he said. “I know what I’m doing. Although it seems to me that puts me in a distinct minority.”
Moonshine could see Luna’s jaw set, but the princess didn’t rebuke him. “Very well. Lead on, Doctor.”
They continued up in near-silence, punctuated only by the padding of hooves on dirt and the occasional rattle of gravel sliding down the mountain. The ground felt warm to Moonshine, and oddly giving, soft—like the skin of some enormous animal.
Maybe that was why everypony seemed so quiet. Even Colgate flinched when Soarin said, “So...”
No one responded for a moment.
“Yes, Mr Soarin?” Luna said.
“The sun is setting,” Soarin said, pointing back towards the west. Moonshine stopped in her tracks for just a second, glancing at Luna. “Also, I think the moon’s going up.”
Don’t say anything don’t say anything don’t say anything.
Luna said, “Indeed.”
“Uh. I don’t think I saw you do anything.”
He doesn’t have to know that the princess still can't--
Luna hadn’t said anything. She stared at Soarin, her mouth almost opened. Luna glanced at her assistant—‘What do I do?’
—raise the moon.
“Princess Luna’s duties,” Moonshine said smoothly, “have been taken over by her sister for the duration of this mission.” And who knows how long after that.
Luna smiled just so slightly at her.
Soarin nodded. “Okay.”
But Moonshine caught a look on Caballeron’s face. Calculation, wariness.
He knows.
It lasted just a second though, flickering like a candle being blown out. “We are here,” he said.
“By definition,” Colgate intoned.
“You know perfectly well what I meant,” Caballeron snapped. “We are at the entrance.”
He pointed towards it—a rift in the rock large enough for perhaps six ponies to stand across. It was somehow darker than it should have been. What was it Moonshine’s father had said about the mine if your light went out? “Black like coal at midnight”?
A current of air blew through it, wet and warm and pungent, like breath.
Caballeron pulled a torch from his pack. “Colgate, light,” he mumbled. “If you’re not doing anything more important, naturally.”
Colgate nodded, her horn flaring. She held the lit torch up, staring into the tunnel. It didn’t seem to illuminate more than a few feet in front of her. The walls glimmered with firelight. Moonshine dragged a hoof absentmindedly across the stone. It was wet, and stuck ever-so-slightly to her fur. She grimaced and pulled her hoof away.
Soarin stepped inside, looking around, with a final reproachful glare towards the ceiling. “Spooky,” he said, glancing towards Colgate. “No offense, spook.”
Colgate smacked him. “None taken.”
Soarin rubbed the back of his head. “Ow.”
“You’re not hurt.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Us spooks know everything.”
Behind Moonshine, the sun sunk below the horizon. She shivered, despite the heat.
The air was thick with moisture, a heavy, palpable presence that seemed to press on Moonshine's chest. It was warm, wet, dark, with only the steady glow of the lantern somewhere behind her to light the walls of the chamber. And there was a faint smell in the damp air, a smell like leaves burning on a fall day.
Moonshine's breath clouded the stone in front of her, a perfectly flat night-black surface that reflected the torchlight like a mirror. But the writing carved into it seemed rushed, unsteady, like a foal's writing.
The monolith sat at the bottom of a chamber that rose upwards for what seemed like forever to Moonshine, although the flames of the torches only illuminated it fitfully past the first few dozen feet. It felt like being at the bottom of a very deep well.
"What says the stone, Doctor?" Luna asked. Moonshine glanced back at her.
Caballeron rubbed his face. "Ah. Well, as nearly as I can tell, we're rather close to the inhabited chambers."
Luna didn't respond for a moment. "Were we not close when we reached the last, ah..."
"Monument, ma'am," Moonshine supplied. "Um, sorry, monolith, I meant monolith."
"Monolith, then," Luna finished. "Does my memory err?"
"Quite possibly," Caballeron said, tracing out a ideogram on the rock. "The script here is obviously distinct from the previous monolith."
Luna raised her eyebrows, but said nothing.
"Hey, doc?" That was Colgate, holding up something. "I found this on the side of the room."
Moonshine peered at it. "Is that one of Soarin's..."
"Energy bars?" Colgate said. "Yeah."
"It's a wrapper, actually," Soarin pointed out.
"Whatever," Colgate said. "I still can't believe how many energy bars you have stuffed in that flight suit."
"You weren't complaining earlier," Soarin said. "You want another?"
"It's squished," Colgate said.
"I think you mean aerodynamic," Soarin said. He grinned, but only for a second.
Colgate shrugged. "Anyways, Caballeron is putting me off my appetite. We were obviously here before."
Luna glanced upwards. Moonshine recognized the gesture—the princess was thinking.
"Caballeron," Luna said deliberately. "I would have you explain yourself."
"I have nothing to explain," Caballeron snapped. "We have not been here before. The wrapper must have been left by Mr Soarin just now—"
"I did not!" Soarin protested.
"Or perhaps it was planted here," Caballeron finished. A faint rattle came from the darkness above.
Moonshine looked up.
"Or perhaps you screwed up and took us in a circle," Colgate said.
"I know a good deal more about the layout of the hive than anyone else here," Caballeron snapped. "Would you like Soarin to take a turn leading us through? Or perhaps Ms Shine has a map on her clipboard?"
Moonshine's hoof went to her clipboard—or, rather, to where her clipboard should be. She had left it on the train. She felt—annoyed at how unreasonable it was—as if she should have it. But Caballeron was only making fun of her, anyways. So she kept her eyes up towards whatever was just beyond the reach of the torchlight and didn't say a word.
"At least they'd be honest about when they have no idea where we are!"
Caballeron was saying something angry, the words passing past Moonshine without even slowing down. "Um, guys?" she said.
Colgate was responding,"Caballeron, how the hell did you even... yes, Moonshine?"
Moonshine pointed upwards. "I thought I saw something, um, something moving up there."
Colgate glanced up. "Huh."
"What did you see?" Luna asked, eyes searching the darkness above.
"I don't know."
Colgate pursed her lips. "Well, given that Caballeron has..."
A gout of emerald light splashed across the spy's face. Colgate dropped without a word, without a sound, and Moonshine recoiled at the sharp stench of magic.
"They found us," she said, too quiet for anyone else to hear.
Luna was readying herself, hooves anchored into the ground, her horn crackling with energy. "Go, all of you," she said.
Another burst of light washed over Caballeron. He dropped to the ground to, with only a soft groan as his body thumped against the ground.
Luna's face hardened, and the magic sparking around her horn flared out and crystallized into a hundred lightning bolts that shot upwards into the dark upper reaches of the chamber. The light lingered for a moment, revealing a flurry of motion, a chaotic swirl of thousands of night-black limbs.
Moonshine gasped, and drew closer to Luna, who pushed her away.
"Princess...?"
"Soarin," Luna said, "take Moonshine and go."
"That's not my..."
"Circumstances have changed. I do order it, Mr Soarin."
Soarin didn't manage to close his mouth. "I mean... you can take them. You can raise the moon, right? This shouldn't..."
Moonshine tapped him on the shoulder. She shook her head. "You heard the princess. Let's go."
"But..." Soarin sighed, and adjusted his goggles. "Right."
They ran. But Moonshine glanced back at Luna. The princess was standing absolutely straight, her eyes fixed on the mass of changelings above, her face set, implacable.
If Moonshine didn't know better, she might have thought she wasn't scared. But she knew better.
And kept running.
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Nah, man, a dead author never did anyone any good.
5327792
It doesn't hurt that I've had parts of the next few chapters written for months. It's just a question of filling in the holes, and that I can do, probably even without dying even a little bit.
5329116 That would be a feat, since most people die a little bit just sitting around doing nothing. Ask Amalthea.
Was there a implication that Luna doesn't actually raise her own moon?
5333461
Any preference as to how coy I am in answering that question?
5333473
Mildly severe vague if you please, with a hint of sarcasm. Should go well with a `74 pinot noir.
This is really intense! I'm already craving for the continuation!
And I love the little banters between Colgate and Soarin! Cute!
...I used only exclamation marks to end my sentences... I really hope no-one feels shouted at...
Anywho, nice chapter!
~Nightjar
5333504
I am not at liberty to discuss that information with anyone without a Top Secret clearance.
But yes.
5336629
Brilliant!
Alright, time to catch up.
Oh lordy, Soarin, there is a time and place for certain questions.
He is such a dork.
Okay, maybe it was a good time for that question.
Two questions:
1. Wasn't Soarin fairly badly hurt at the fight on the train?
2. What did Colgate describes her talent as condensing 3 minutes of her time to one second normal time, so what did she do when she first met Luna that let her disappear for a minute of Luna's time?