Chapter 5
Silverstar lied there in the darkness for some time. The cave in had been a serious blow and took some time to recover from. Her entire body ached, but she was lucky to be alive.
Or was she?
It began to sink in that Silverstar had just been buried alive. She couldn’t see a thing. She couldn’t move! Silverstar kicked and struggled with every body part but was unable to budge an inch. There was nowhere to budge to.
Next she tried screaming for help, but that didn’t do anything either. Even if somepony was standing directly over the spot where she was buried they wouldn’t hear her.
Silverstar felt her heart beat harder and harder until she could feel it hitting against the stones. She began to panic, and continued to kick and scream with all her strength. She was going to starve. No, she would suffocate first. She had only a few inches of space where air could be. It wouldn’t be long until she ran out. Silverstar would never see her family again.
No. Silverstar wasn’t going to give up until the very end. The situation wasn’t entirely hopeless. The elder had told her that if she was ever trapped by a cave in the thing to do was calm down to conserve air, go to sleep and use the dreamscape to seek help.
Silverstar tried to calm slow her breathing, even going as far as trying to hold her breath, but found herself unable to slow her heart rate. This plan wasn’t going to work. There was just too little air down here, she’d suffocate before she could get to sleep and even if she did get to sleep it would be hours before somepony could dig her out. And that was being optimistic.
There had to be some other way. She still had her bags. She had several tools, but not enough room to do anything with them, a moonflower, but nothing to see, and a few potions.
That was it! The dream walker poison! Drinking it slowed the heart rate to a beat every other minute. Ponies under its influence breathed so slowly that they were hard to distinguish from the dead.
If she drank the poison she could last days with almost no air at all, and she would be unconscious the whole time too. The poison induced sleep would actually make it easier to access the dreamscape than normal, at least for a few hours. She’d be able to ask for help and survive long enough for it to come.
If nothing else it would make her end painless.
Silverstar tried to reach for her bag but her legs were completely immobilized by the fallen rocks. She tried using her wing instead and found more success with that. Using the digit on her left wing, she was able to open her bag. It took some time but she was able to shift through the bag and take out the smallest vial, the on she knew contained the dream walker’s poison.
Silverstar nudged the vial along the wall and towards her head very slowly and gently. If the vial cracked before reaching her then she was s good as dead. She somehow managed to grab the tiny vial, open the cap and tilt it until it poured into her mouth.
It didn’t take long for the poison to have its effects. Numbness quickly spread throughout Silverstar’s body. Her heartbeat slowed dramatically, breathing became hard, thinking became hard.
Silverstar had never drunk this stuff in such a high dose before and hadn’t been expecting it to lower her awareness so much so fast. She was close enough to sleep to enter the dreamscape now, but had little time to do it before losing consciousness entirely.
Silverstar focused her mind and searched for the dreamscape and the silver lights of sleeping minds. The streams of silver light soon broke the darkness, and Silverstar regained a certain level of consciousness. She had managed to get to the dreamscape, but Silverstar could already feel her mind slipping, she would have to be quick.
Silverstar looked over the silver lights. She wasn’t sure if somepony from her clan could help, but theirs would be the easiest dreams to enter. The brightest lights would be the ones of the thestrals from her clan. She didn’t have time to choose anypony specifically, so she simply charged into the first dream she could.
It was Nightshade’s. When she woke his conscious mind, he turned to her with a look of elated relief.
“Silverstar?” Nightshade said. “I’m glad you’re safe. We heard what happened to the Crescent clan and we feared the worst. Where are you now?”
“I’m not safe,” said Silverstar. “I got buried alive in one of the pits on the western edge of the Blackstone clan’s territory.”
“What?”
“Please, you have to help!” Silverstar begged. “I drugged myself so I should be to survive for a while, but I can’t get out by myself.”
“Were I able I would rush over there immediately,” said Nightshade. “Unfortunately, I am stuck here in chains. Everypony in our clan is.”
Silverstar lowered her head. It made sense that her clan wouldn’t be able to help.
“I’ll tell as many ponies as I can about you, though,” said Nightshade. “And ask those who cannot help to send the message to more. Soon every thestral in the caverns will know of your plight. Surely one of them will be able to help.”
That was encouraging. Maybe Silverstar could reach all the lights after all. If she told a few of them, and they passed the message onto ponies who passed it on to even more ponies, then soon all of the sleeping thestrals would be alerted. There were tens of thousands of them in total, one would have to be able to help.
“Thank you, Nightshade,” said Silverstar. “I feel a little better now. I have to go find more ponies, though.”
Nightshade nodded. “Have no fear. Even if you die, you will be with Luna soon.”
That last comment didn’t make Silverstar feel any better.
She went to three more dreams and found three more thestrals who were unable to come to her aid, but would pass along the message. The fourth thestral she encountered was a member of the Blackstone clan. He had been horrified at the fact that she had been buried alive and vowed to try and break away from his clan and dig her out. Unfortunately he wasn’t sure how soon he’d be able to come.
There was some hope now, but Silverstar didn’t want to rely entirely on him. She went to another dream after that and got the same, familiar result. By this time her mind was clearly slipping. Her vision of other ponies and their dreams began to blur and dull. The silver lights were fading.
Silverstar forced herself to push on into one last dream. She couldn’t make out the pony or its dream at all, but she did manage to blurt out a few words, though she wasn’t sure how coherent the message was. She had just barely managed to get the attention of the pony’s conscious mind before her own slipped off into oblivion.
________________________________________________________________________________
Silverstar was slowly moving up and down. She was too weak to move and her entire body was numb, save her eyes which stung.
She tried opening her eyes only to be bombarded with the brightest light she had ever seen. Everything was bathed in light, glowing in it. She could barely make out any of the objects around her; everything appeared as nothing more than black outlines.
This was it. Silverstar was dead. She must have displeased Luna and now her soul had been banished to the sun. And she deserved it too.
She had just enough time to notice something shape like a pony moving towards her before the pain forced her to shut her eyes again.
“Ah!” said a female voice. “She’s awake! You have to tell me everything. What’s your name? Is your talent drinking green stuff? Do you want to be friends?”
Apparently being burned in the light for all eternity wasn’t punishment enough, and Luna had sent somepony to annoy her on top of it. Silverstar was too tired to reply.
“Lyra, calm down,” said a male voice. “She’s too weak to talk to you right now.”
“Yeah, you’re right,” the female, presumably “Lyra”, said. “Why is she taking this light so much worse than you are?”
“This is probably the first time she’s ever been on the surface during the day for one,” a second male voice came in, “and second she’s still under the influence of that poison I told you about. It’s probably making her eyes more sensitive.”
Did he say she was on the surface? That was slightly better than the sun. Silverstar tried to open her eyes for another look, but all she could see was pain.
“Whoa,” said Lyra. “Her pupils are huge. They’re like her entire eyes!”
“Maybe this will help,” said one of the male voices.
Silverstar felt somepony wrap a piece of cloth around her head, and the world became comfortably dark. It was at this point that Silverstar realized that she was being carried on somepony’s back. She had been rescued, but she had no idea where she was or who she was on top of.
Silverstar tried to think but couldn’t manage. She didn’t know if it was the poison, or her bruises, or the blinding light, or the stress, or the annoying pony, but something was giving her a terrible headache. Trying to think was just too painful. She cleared her mind and let herself drift back into sleep.
________________________________________________________________________________
Silverstar woke again, this time into darkness instead of light. There was just enough light to see, but it was still a little painful.
Silverstar was lying down in a bed, a very comfortable one at that, possibly the softest thing she had ever been on. She was also covered in blankets that must have been made of silk or velvet or some other fine material. On the far side of the bed was a small pile of stuffed animals, or perhaps stuffed monsters would be more accurate. Most of them were strangely shaped creatures covered with fangs and claws and other dangerous looking appendages.
Silverstar surveyed the rest of the room. It was cramped and filled with small chests, but other than that there wasn’t much to see.
Clearly she had been taken out of the hole and brought here, but outside of that she knew nothing. She tried to remember what she had seen in the blinding light. She must have been rescued by ponies, one named Lyra.
She heard talking outside the door, but couldn’t make out the words, not that she had much time to. A thestral stallion entered the room.
Silverstar let out a sigh of relief. She was back with her own kind, she was safe.
The stallion smiled at her. “I see you’re awake. Try to relax, you’re pretty beat up and shouldn’t be moving around.”
Silverstar took his advice, placing her head down on the soft pillow. Sadly, the poison was beginning to wear off, and pain and stiffness were beginning to take hold.
“Do you feel alright?” asked the stallion.
“No.”
“Well we looked you over and you don’t have anything worse then a few sprains. Physically, that is,” said the stallion. “You’re more then welcome to rest her as long as you need to. I’ll get you something to eat.”
“Wait,” said Silverstar. “Who are you? Are you from the Blackstone clan?”
“No,” said the stallion. “And my name is Midnight.”
Silverstar glanced at him. He didn’t look like a member of the Blackstone clan. They were usually a slightly darker shade of gray than normal. The opposite was true of this thestral’s coat. It was almost white and his hair was a strange, dark purple color.
“Wait!” Silverstar said, pushing herself up. “Wait! I remember you. You’re that guy who worships Celestia. Where the hay are we?”
“First of all, I don’t worship Celestia,” said Midnight, “and we are currently on the surface.”
“The surface?!”
Silverstar felt her heartbeat climb, sending a wave of pain through her body with each beat. She wanted to get up but quickly became woozy and was forced to lie back down.
“Don’t worry. I promise you that you’re perfectly safe,” said Midnight. “In fact, we’re probably safer up here right now. We’re just above the caves, too, so you can go back in any time you want.”
Silverstar looked him over, remembering the conversation she had overheard. Things were beginning to make sense now.
“Your companions,” Silverstar said, “they’re ponies of light, aren’t they?”
His hesitation was enough of a yes for Silverstar. He realized this and stumbled to salvage the situation. “Yes, one of them is a unicorn, but she’s the one who rescued you! She practically dragged the rest of us down there, despite how dangerous it was, and pulled you out of there herself. Were it not for her magic there would have been no way to dig you out in time. You at least owe her a chance.”
Silverstar groaned. She had concluded that there were probably a few unicorns that weren’t evil, and there was no reason this Lyra couldn’t be one. She still wasn’t thrilled about it, though.
“Fine,” said Silverstar. “But if she tries to light me on fire-”
“-I promise you I’d stop her,” Midnight finished her sentence.
The door creaked open slightly and Silverstar heard a female voice whisper to Midnight in Equine. “Is it okay for me to come in yet?
Midnight nodded, and the door flung wide open. A unicorn leapt into the room.
Silverstar had thought that Midnight looked strange with his odd shade of grey, but the unicorn was simply bizarre. Silverstar had always though that the ponies of light were brown or white or some reasonable color, but the unicorn was green.
A second pony of light, a white pegasus, entered the room as well. This one didn’t seem nearly as interested in Silverstar.
The two of them both had the same creepy eyes. The glow, the spark of life, that most creatures had was absent from them. They were the eyes of a dead pony, and they made Silverstar a little uneasy.
To Silverstar’s surprise, the unicorn introduced herself in Thestrali. “The moon is hello, and I am Lyra.”
Or at least she tried to. “What?”
“Name is Lyra,” said Lyra. She stopped to think before continuing. “What is your name? Also, is friendship everlasting?”
Lyra shot Silverstar a hopeful smile. Silverstar decided to answer her in Equine. “My name is Silverstar, and I can speak Equine just fine.”
“Ah, but I wanted to talk to you in your own language!” Lyra said. “Was my Thestrali any good?”
“No.”
“Well I’ll get better,” Lyra promised. “Anyway, my name is Lyra and we’re friends now. Can I ask you hundreds, if not thousands of questions?”
Lyra didn’t wait for Silverstar to answer. She leapt onto the bed, putting herself an inch away from Silverstar. Silverstar pushed herself up against the wall, as far from the unicorn as possible. Lyra’s horn glowed and Silverstar felt a pull on her wing, one that forced it to unfurl.
Lyra looked over her wing in amazement. “Wow! The structure of your wing is a little different from Midnight’s, but is it because you’re a mare or because you’re from the east?”
Silverstar pulled her wing back hard. “Don’t touch me!”
“I’m technically not touching you,” said Lyra. “Hmm.”
The unicorn turned her attention to Silverstar’s flank. The second Silverstar felt a tug on her rear leg she pulled back hard and hissed as loud as she could in the unicorn’s face.
It didn’t have the intended affect. Lyra squealed in delight and pranced in place, a massive smile on her face. “You’re hiss is even cuter than Midnight’s! You’re officially the most adorable thing I’ve ever seen! Do it again?”
Silverstar had no idea if that was an insult. She couldn’t even think of a way to react to this situation. She just sat there staring at the bizarre pony.
“Great, now you’ve broken her,” said Midnight. “Let’s try to calm down, okay Lyra? This pony’s been through a lot.”
“Oh, right,” said Lyra. “Sorry.”
Lyra took one step back and continued to stare at Silverstar.
“Are all unicorns are like?” Silverstar asked.
“No,” Midnight said flatly.
“Most unicorns are boring and stupid,” said Lyra. “Not like you. You’re cool.”
Lyra nuzzled Silverstar warmly. She had given up on trying to resist, but not on being annoyed.
The pegasus cleared his throat and spoke. “Excuse me, but I had a question about this group of diamond dogs that’s running around down there. Do you know where they came from exactly?”
“No. All I can tell you is that they‘re lead by a changeling named Onyx,” Silverstar said. “Why?”
“There‘s been a huge surge in diamond dog raids,” said the pegasus. “It could be that this is the group behind them. I’ll probably have to tell the army about this.”
“Ah!” Lyra said. “I have a great idea. This guy is our enemy too, so why not go to Equestria for help? Celestia said that she wanted to talk to any thestrals that I brought back, so you’d get an audience with her right away. Just come back to Canterlot with me.”
Onyx did have a few powerful enemies to be sure. Judging by that first changeling’s actions, not only Celestia but Chrysalis as well would have a bone to pick with him. Silverstar didn’t think it would be a good idea to rely on either of them. Either one could easily defeat Onyx, but they would only replace his tyrannical rule with their own.
“Then we’d just be occupied by her,” said Silverstar. “I’m not going to ask Celestia for help.”
“You do realize that I still have to tell Celestia about this situation, yes?” the pegasus asked.
“Do whatever you want. I’m leaving.”
Silverstar pushed herself out of bed and landed on the floor with a burst of pain in each leg. Every step was painful, but she managed to push on to the door.
“What?! No!” Lyra said. “You can’t leave! Why not stay a while longer?”
“No,” said Silverstar. “My clan is in trouble. I have to do something to help them.”
“But where are you going to go?” Lyra asked.
Silverstar frowned. That was a good question. At this point all of the eastern clans would have been defeated. If Silverstar went back underground she would be in constant danger of being caught and killed by Onyx. Silverstar imagined the changeling giving that half smile of his, and she felt a burst of anger.
“I’ll find somewhere!” said Silverstar. “There are other clans out there.”
Silverstar threw open the door to leave, but Lyra called out to her. “You’re going to look for the other great clans? Like the Eclipse clan or the Shadow clan?”
That was enough stop Silverstar in her tracks. “What? How do you know about them?”
Silverstar glanced at Midnight. Right.
“A thousand years ago, the four original clans split in four directions to make it harder for Celestia to get them all,” Lyra recited. “The Crescent clan went east and hid in the deep caves under these wastelands. The Shadow clan went west to the Hadrian Mountains. The Eclipse clan went south, past the changeling hives. The Aurora clan went north and hid in the artic mountains. I know all about each of them! Are you impressed?”
Silverstar was a little impressed. Lyra trotted to her side and grabbed her yet again.
“You know, I can take you to them,” said Lyra. “I’ve been leading expeditions to try and make contact with them. If you go alone you’ll have a long, hard trip. But, if you come with me, you’ll get there easily.”
That might actually be a good idea.
“You’re from one of the northern clans, right?” Silverstar asked Midnight. “How many thestrals are in the northern clans?”
“If you’re looking for help, then I’d advise looking elsewhere,” said Midnight. “Getting the northern clans to help you would be nearly impossible.”
“But why? Wouldn’t they be eager to help the other children of Luna?”
“Please understand that we’ve been separated for some time,” Midnight explained. “Our culture is different from yours. The northern clans fight amongst themselves constantly. The Aurora clan has been fighting the Snow clan for over a century and wouldn’t come to your age until their endless war was over. Not only that, but they see themselves as individuals first and clans second. My people are willful and unruly, with no respect for authority. Luna herself would have trouble uniting them.”
Silverstar frowned. “Well, even if that’s the case there’s still the other two. We could go to the Hadrian Mountains and look for the Shadow clan.”
“About that,” Lyra said. “We already went to the Hadrian Mountains, actually. There was nopony there.”
“What do you mean?”
“I had over a hundred ponies scour the mountains and Midnight over here searched all over the dreamscape for thestrals, but we didn’t find anything. Well, we found a few artifacts that suggest there were ponies living there long ago, but we didn’t find any thestrals.”
“What?! What happened to them? Did Celestia get them?”
“No idea. This doesn’t mean that they died out, though. They may have just gone somewhere else, or they could be really good at hiding. I’m definitely going to find out eventually!”
Silverstar slunk down into a sitting position. Things were looking bad for her race. The eastern clans were enslaved, the western clans were potential dead and the northern clans were fighting amongst themselves.
“I was really disappointed too,” said Lyra. “I mean when I heard of the ‘Shadow clan’ I got so excited. To think I was this close to hanging out with ninja vamponies!”
“Well there’s still the south,” said Silverstar. “Do you know anything about the Eclipse clan?”
“Haven’t been there yet,” Lyra said matter-of-factly. “They’re supposed to be south of the changeling hives, so it’d be dangerous to get there. I do intend to go there soon, however.”
Lyra thrust her face in front of Silverstar and met her with a massive, toothy grin. Here eyes were opened wide and sparkled with hope and insanity.
“Do you want to come with me?” she asked.
Silverstar stared Lyra in the eyes. This was seriously her best hope. “Maybe.”
“Yes!” Lyra shouted as she leapt up in glee. Lyra twirled around the caravan shouting with glee, until she accidentally slammed into the wall.
“Um, yeah,” Silverstar said. “So when exactly do we leave? I don‘t suppose we could go now?”
Crashing into a wall didn’t stop Lyra from celebrating, but this did. The unicorn froze in her tracks and looked at Silverstar nervously. “Oh, well. We’re leaving in, um, you know.”
“No. No I don’t know.”
Midnight watched the two mares star each other down for a few seconds before answering Silverstar’s question. “Going to the south clans isn’t going to be a simple expedition; we need a long time to prepare. It’s going to be at least a year, maybe even two or three, before we’re ready to go.”
“Years?!”
“But you can stay with me in the mean time!” Lyra answered almost immediately.
The unicorn grabbed Silverstar and gestured to the horizon.
“You don’t have anywhere to stay right now, but you’re more than welcome to come live with me in my mansion,” Lyra continued. “The guest room you’ll get is bigger than some pony’s houses! Not only that, but you’ll get food prepared by my gourmet chefs, you’ll be waited on by my servants, and I’ll take you all over the city and buy you all sorts of things. All you have to do in exchange is agree o be my best friend forever.”
Silverstar didn’t like the way she said “forever”. She wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to agree to something so ominous.
“I appreciate the offer, but I can’t accept,” said Silverstar. “I can’t live in luxury for years while my clan suffers. I have to go now, even if it‘s by myself.”
“It would be a dangerous trip, Silverstar,” said Midnight.
“Yes!” Lyra eagerly agreed. “It’d be insanely dangerous! Going through the changeling hives is impossible. You’d need to sail around them with a ship. A ship like mine, for example.”
Silverstar was beginning to realize how stupid her plan was. She’d have to risk her life and travel hundreds of miles just to talk to the southern clans. Then she’d have to unite them, and then she would have to find a way to get them all the way back north. Even if Silverstar did all that she’d still have all the work of fighting Onyx ahead of her, and she’d still have no way of dealing with the poison gas.
Onyx was going to win. His face flashed in Silverstar mind, filling her with anger.
“I’m sure we’ll figure this out,” Lyra said cheerfully. “Just go back to bed and rest for a while.”
Lyra’s cheerfulness only made Silverstar angrier.
“No,” Silverstar spat back at her. “I’ll figure this out myself. I don’t need help from your kind!”
Silverstar stepped out of the door and into the cold night air.
“You can’t leave!” Lyra called after her. “We’re supposed to be friends and go on adventures and stuff!”
Lyra was moving to grab onto Silverstar again. Silverstar wasn’t going to take it this time. She was mad and just wanted to hit something, and Lyra was there.
“Shut up!” she shouted and then kicked Lyra in the face. She didn’t look back to see how much damage she did, but apparently it was enough to shut Lyra up, which was enough for her.
Silverstar began her march forward, her anger enough to dull the pain in her legs.
“That was uncalled for,” she heard Midnight shouting behind her. “Lyra saved your life! You should apologize to her.”
“What is it going to take for you to get the message?!” Silverstar asked. “I don’t want anything to do with you! Leave me alone!”
“Fine,” Midnight said. “Then leave.”
Midnight went back inside. Silverstar let out a slight hiss and moved on.
“Wait, please,” came Lyra’s feeble voice from behind.
Silverstar stopped in her tracks again. Lyra was going to come up with another excuse for her to stay. Silverstar hoped that the unicorn would say something stupid or insensitive; she wanted a reason to hit her again.
“I’m sorry.”
Silverstar turned around. “What?”
“I’m sorry,” said Lyra. “I wasn’t really thinking about you at all. I just saw you as another vampony that I could hang out with, not somepony who had feelings and was hurt. I needed to get kicked in the face before I realized that. I’m so stupid.”
Silverstar looked Lyra over. Her left eye was swollen and bleeding, and she was slumped over in a depression. Silverstar had done that to her, but Lyra was the one apologizing.
“I know you want to leave,” said Lyra. “But you can come back whenever you want. I know how much it hurts to be alone. You don’t have to be alone, okay?”
Silverstar had just smacked Lyra in the face, but Lyra was the one apologizing. Hundreds, if not thousands of thestrals must have known that Silverstar had been buried, but Lyra was the only pony who had com to help.
Silverstar felt her anger slipping away. She felt tears coming to her eyes.
“No,” said Silverstar. “Don’t apologize. You’re one of the nicest ponies I’ve ever met. I was just so angry and scare and… why did this have to happen.
Lyra slowly trotted up to Silverstar. “Listen-”
This time it was Silverstar who grabbed Lyra. She pressed her face into Lyra’s chest and wept. Lyra silently hugged her back.
________________________________________________________________________________
Lyra and Silverstar were lying next to each other on the bed. It was only 4 A.M., but Lyra was fast asleep. Apparently, this was way past bedtime for a unicorn.
Even though it was early sleep was probably a good idea, it would heal her wounds and allow her to tell her family that she wasn’t dead, but it was impossible right now. Silverstar’s mind was still too ablaze with everything that had happened and with the anxiety of what to do next. At least she’d have Lyra now.
The last few days had been making her think. If the rest of Equestria was even half as nice as Lyra or Daring Do, then there wouldn’t be much to worry about from them. It was entirely possible that the majority of them weren’t evil, that it was just Celestia who was driving them to do all the immoral things that they did.
If that was so, maybe going to Equestria to help wouldn’t be such a terrible idea. At the very least, Silverstar wanted to know if that was the case, and there was only one way to do that.
Silverstar snuggled up against her new friend. She had made up her mind. She was going to Canterlot.
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Hadrian Mountains. Where exactly did you get that name?
4021982
Dunno, brah. It just sort of came to me.
I kid, though. It's just a shout out to your story. There's a few references to other bat-pony stories in there. You don't mind, right?
Oh, Lyra.
4083389
Ah! So many comments. Thank you.
That's sort of what I'm going for with the eastern clans, so... hurray?
I know, I was just joking. Unless it turns out that Midnight was lying and she is made of fire!
Spoiler: she isn't
Hopefully it will be that easy. As long as nothing unexpected happens I'm sure they'll be fine.
Thanks again for reading.
4084884
Bugs don't usually do well with fire and, well, Celestia xP
And yeah, i figured that you were going for the Eastern clans being ignorant xP