Chapter Five: Project 57R-BR57
Chapter Five: Project 57R-BR57
The sight of the house always sent a shiver through Flash’s body. It did not matter that some of his closest friends resided in relative comfort beyond its entrance. He noticed not the sheer beauty of its exterior, which always gleamed in full sunlight and spread its glass-reflected radiance down over the valley below. Neither did the rooftop’s six gleaming crystals—different colours that bounced off one another in prismatic harmony at noon—bring a smile to his face.
He approached the building, noting as always the point where concrete walls and glass panels met with natural stone and granite, and how the house seemed to protrude out from Mount Canterlot itself. His hoofsteps took him along the southern edge of Canterlot’s rim, where masonry greeted natural foundation—and where a careless pony could meet with a terrifying drop.
Flash approached the sealed entrance and halted just before a brass bell as tall as himself. Taking a breath, he struck the bell once, immediately grabbing it afterward with two hooves to silence the loud, high-pitched gong. He stepped back, shaking his head quickly at the discomforting sound.
From a window above the door, a white hoof swept a curtain aside, allowing two green eyes to peer down at him. As soon as the eyes met his, the hoof withdrew and the eyes closed. A pale green aura enveloped the horn above them, and a moment later, a flash signaled their disappearance. Barely three seconds later, the muffled rattle of latches being undone and bolts being withdrawn came from behind the door; another three seconds passed, and the door swung open.
“Greetings, My Prince,” the unicorn said with a bow.
Her coat, while still white as a fresh cirrus cloud, bore a small amount of fine wrinkles. Although most of it was restrained in a long ponytail, shorter strands of her ever-curly pink mane fell about her face. What few thin streaks of grey adorning her mane did nothing to detract from the beauty and poise in her matured face.
“Good morning, Sweetie Belle,” Flash said, offering his own bow in return. “I trust you are well?”
“More or less,” Sweetie said as she stood and held the door back. “Please, come in. I’ll put some tea on if you like—or perhaps something a bit stronger?”
“Just tea, thanks.”
Flash stepped into the cool interior. He looked around at the pictures lining the shale entrance hall—pictures he’d seen time and again. His eyes fell upon an image of Sweetie, accompanied by a tall dark-brown Earth pony and a tiny silver, peach-maned filly in their hooves. The filly was frozen in some kind of ecstatic, jubilant scream as her parents held her in midair together.
“How’s Liberty? Progressing well with her studies?” Flash asked when the rattling of locks and barricades had subsided.
“Oh, yes,” Sweetie replied. “She’s such a smart little filly. Of course, having a teacher like Queen Twilight, how could she not be?”
“Hmmm.” Flash turned away from the picture and fell into step beside Sweetie. “And what of Button? Have you heard from him lately?”
As they rounded a corner into a spotless kitchen—alight via the skylight in the ceiling—Sweetie nodded. She touched a small crystal sitting on a granite-topped bench against the side wall and then lit her horn. The crystal glowed green briefly, and faded; Sweetie then took a kettle from the benchtop in her magic, and proceeded to pour the boiling water into a leaf-filled ceramic pot.
“Button seldom finds the time to write to us,” Sweetie said, tipping over the pot with a sigh. “He works very hard. He’s a good stallion. I only wish there were somepony else capable of doing his job, so he could come back for holidays more often.”
She finished pouring the pot into two cups, set them both on a smooth, varnished jarrah table, and motioned for Flash to sit.
“Thank you, Sweetie. Serra Grey blend?”
“Only the best tea for His Highness, of course.”
No more words were said as Flash gently sipped his tea, stared through the wall-to-wall window at the southeast fields. From where he sat, he could just make out Baltimare in the far east—about seventy kilometres from their position—over the tops of the permanently snowcapped Foal Mountain range.
Baltimare, Fillydelphia, Manehattan… all under threat from the rising ocean levels. If those walls aren’t built high enough…
“Prince Sentry?”
“Wha…? Oh, Sweetie.” Flash shook his head. “I’m sorry—I must have zoned out.”
“No need to apologise, My Prince,” Sweetie said. “I know you have… well, a lot on your mind to be worried about.”
She set her cup down, having already finished her tea. She idly swirled the dregs around while Flash continued sipping his beverage.
“Liberty left for Ponyville this morning,” Sweetie whispered.
Flash froze in the act of raising his cup, then set it back down slowly. The saucer clinked.
“She’ll be okay, Sweetie,” he said. “Twilight promised she would return completely whole and unscathed.”
“I know… but… I mean, without Button here, and now Liberty…” Sweetie lowered her gaze to the floor next to her. “I can’t help but worry. She may be a gifted filly, but Liberty is still young. And we all know what horrors lie in the Everfree—Queen Twilight especially.”
“Exactly,” Flash said as he took another sip. A small amount of leaves caught in his throat, causing him to splutter.
“Are you okay?” Sweetie asked, already at his side.
“Oh, excuse me again. Wrong pipe,” he choked out, thumping his barrel with a hoof. “Gah… well, yes, to address your concerns, it is because Twilight knows the danger that she has taken serious measures to ensure everypony’s safety. Trust me—” he coughed again and hit his barrel a final time “—the forest might as well be completely uninhabited.”
“It’s not the wildlife I worry about.”
They fell silent again.
“Well, let’s put worries and fears aside for the time being,” Flash said. He stood from his seat. “Twilight asked me to check on you, to see if you were doing okay. You seem to be holding up well, at least?”
Sweetie nodded slightly, her horn glowing again. Flash watched his cup and saucer join Sweetie’s before they all fell gently together into the sink. With a yawn, he stretched his withered wings and relished in the resultant popping. He then moved his neck from side to side, cracking once for each direction.
“Do be careful, My Prince,” Sweetie said. “I would prefer not explaining to Queen Twilight that her Prince-consort paralysed himself in my presence.”
“Just some harmless stretching, Sweetie. These old bones aren’t what they used to be.” Flash ceased the motions and dropped to his hooves. He spread his wings a final time, then folded them in. “Is there anything else you wish to share with me?”
Sweetie shook her head.
“All right, then. I suppose I had better check up on…” Flash cleared his throat a second time. “Yes, let’s go.”
He vacated the kitchen and headed down the hall, further into the mountain. No matter how many times he made his way through the house, he marveled at the architecture of it all. Skylights in every room allowed plenty of illumination throughout the interior, despite it being literally inside the mountain. Wooden supports lined the stone walls in uniform, structural precision; awash with colour, the hallway depicted various murals, commissioned by Twilight to add to the house’s welcoming feel.
Yet there were other walls that bore simpler murals. Flash and Sweetie passed by the living area—the entire south wall a thick sheet of glass—which sported a crudely painted image of three ponies on the left entrance wall. They were of three different colours: one white, one brown, and one silver. Continuing on, they passed a light-brown door with a less-childish piece of calligraphy carved into it that read: Freedom’s Rest.
At the end of the hall, a spiral staircase descended further into the mountain. Sweetie stepped forward first, placing her hooves carefully upon the winding steps. The steady clop of her hooves quietened as the mountain absorbed her, leaving Flash standing alone at the top.
“Prince Sentry? Are you not coming?”
Flash looked down as Sweetie’s voice wafted back up. He lifted a hoof… and set it back down.
“Give me a moment, please.”
SIlence passed. Eventually, Flash raised his hoof in front of him, took a deep breath, released it, and placed his hoof down on the top step. He walked slowly forward, breathing deeply.
I will see the sun again. This will not be my tomb. The ceiling is not falling, and the walls are not closing in. Breathe in, breathe out.
He opened his eyes only when he felt his next hoofstep not leading him further down. On level ground, he looked ahead at Sweetie, who stood before an enormous door with many grooves around its edges. Emblazoned on the front of the two-metre-tall, circular granite door was a six-pointed purple star on the left, and a blue kiteshield covered with a yellow bolt of lightning on the right.
Between the two larger marks… a smaller orange-and-violet heart.
“If you wish, My Prince, I could simply enter and give you a report when I re-emerge?”
Flash shook his head. “No. I need to see.”
“As you wish.”
Sweetie approached the door and placed her horn inside a small hole in the heart’s centre. As her aura poured into the cistern, it spread along the edge of each giant cutie mark. The grooves around the perimeter glowed bright green, then connected in a circle encompassing the whole thing.
She retreated as the door vibrated, and the green grooves shined with enough intensity to warrant the pair shielding their faces. The grating sound of stone on stone filled the small chamber as the door swiveled on the spot, then came to rest facing perpendicular to the newly divided walls.
They stepped through the gap on either side of the open door. After their tails passed over the threshold, the door swiveled back again, sealing them inside with a crash. A myriad of different colours shone from further down the darkened area.
Sweetie charged up her horn. Flash watched as she concentrated upon converging her magic into a single, brilliant green ball of energy. She strained, eyes scrunched tight and sweat pouring down her face.
With a final flash, the ball shot into the air above them and separated into six smaller orbs, each of which raced toward a different point. They found homes inside six divots in the perimeter walls, glowing gently and flooding the place with light. Slick limestone and crystalline outcrops burst into visibility.
Flash looked at Sweetie and nodded. When she returned the nod, both approached a nearby violet crystal. Flash struck the crystal with a hoof, which illuminated another one nearby that shined with a cerulean glow. He repeated the process, and crystals of pink, green, orange, and red also shined in the new light. Sweetie charged up her horn again and shot another six-pointed beam of light at the crystals. The light filled each for a brief moment, then converged into a rainbow-hued ball upon a far wall.
The rock slid into the ground, revealing yet another small chamber. Inside…
Flash swallowed.
“Shall I leave you alone, My Prince?”
Flash looked at Sweetie and opened his mouth, but no words emerged. He raised a hoof to his mouth and cleared his throat. “Yes, I’ll be fine,” he said. “It’s been far too long since I visited anyway.”
“As you wish,” Sweetie said with a bow. “When you need me, you can find me close by.”
She turned on her heels and walked back to the entrance; she changed direction near the door and approached a long, wooden-topped concrete slab covered in parchment, blueprints, and diagrams. She faced Flash again, smiled, then lit a lamp on the bench and began poring over her work.
Flash took a deep breath and passed into the chamber. Though it was large enough for a pony to walk through, the opening led right to a giant azure crystal that filled the room from ground to ceiling.
As he stared into the heart of the crystal, Flash took a moment to think about irony. Two of Equestria’s greatest, most historically infamous foes had unwittingly led to the discovery of, and subsequent research into, the incredible properties of crystal. During a changeling queen’s attempt to overthrow Canterlot at the wedding of Prince Shining Armor and the late Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, she had imprisoned Twilight in these very caves, long thought by all to have disappeared.
Then, after a thousand years, a seal had expired that contained the ruthless, cruel King Sombra, as well as the Crystal Empire he had once ruled over with an iron hoof. While it was the changeling queen who sparked the rediscovery of the caves, Sombra had been the key to Twilight’s hypothesis that a being could be imprisoned in crystal for an indefinite period of petrification, in much the same way as Discord has once been cast in stone by the Elements of Harmony.
Speaking of…
Six small gem shards around the giant crystal’s base lay with a dull hue. At least, five of them did. The sixth—a purple amethyst—shined in the gloom. Far brighter than the others, it added its own tinge to one end of the crystal.
Flash stared long and hard at the lone gem, his heart racing like he’d run from end to end of Equestria in one attempt.
The generosity shard is alight… it has begun. The question is, who?
He closed his eyes and slowed his breathing. When his heart had stopped threatening to burst out of his chest, he smiled, reared up, and pressed his forehead against the crystal.
Filling his vision, a newborn filly hung suspended behind a foot of crystal. She was curled up in a sleeping position, as if cuddling an imaginary soft toy. Her orange coat was vastly at odds with her short mane and tail of royal velvet, magenta, and electric blue. A pair of overlarge, imperial pegasus wings were tightly tucked into her sides.
“After all these years… should I dare to hope?” Flash stepped back, but left a hoof on the face of the crystal. “The Elements are being reactivated, my love. They will return with new life, and save you from your curse. I swear before you now, I will do everything in my power to help them succeed. No matter the cost, you will live the life you deserve.
“There is hope for you yet… our little Starburst.”
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And the cast grows! Eagerly awaiting more.
Holy crappppp...... *du du dunnnnnnn*
/moar please! :)
Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat!?
Yeah, that's all I got.
Will the demon form make an appearance in this story? It'd be interesting to see Twilight get so desperate, she resorts to using the demon form that Sunset Shimmer used. Granted, how she'd obtain(no Elements) is a conondrum, but still
5111775
As long as Twilight is still Twilight, and she retains some semblance of self, the world has a thread of hope... Could you imagine how thoroughly terrifying it would be if some, er, cataclysmic event were to send her over the edge of sanity?
...
Speculation, of course.
5111828 Well, the demon form doesn't really make the person using it insane. What it does is turn them into what they really are on the inside(so I suppose each one would look different and you could theoretically get an angel form). It also apparently lets someone get a perspective on what they look like to others.
In the case of Twilight, it would make her more dangerous though, lol
5112283
Her? Or someone(thing) else?
5112309 ....Is one of her enemies going to use it out of desperation to try and beat her and end up making a third faction?
Great, the world is falling into misery, everypony's scared to death of her and now we find that Twilight's daughter is in a state of suspended animation due to some 'curse' or, perhaps, illness. This just keeps getting rosier by the chapter.
Glad to finally see what Sweetie's been up to. Y'know, when this chapter started, I presumed all the locks on the house were intended as a sort of mental placebo against Twilight's visits. It still amazes me that she works for Twilight at all, but I'm sure she has her reasons (possibly including not wanting to be vaporized for saying 'no').
Any significance to the project code?
5113984
No real significance, except for the fact that Starburst is a very popular OC. Although not known to the same level as Nyx, kilala's "Next Generation" OCs are among the more popular fandom OCs, especially in the art community. I felt that actually naming the chapter "Project Starburst" would spoil her surprise cameo for the majority of my readers.
Sweetie's connection to Twilight serves many purposes, one not so light reason being sanity retention. While Twilight may be treated with (fear-struck) reverence by most of Equestria's population, she has an incredibly small amount of actual "friendly acquaintances" left. It's lonely at the top, and while one may argue that she has her Prince-Consort, the more ponies there are on good terms with her, the better condition her mental state will remain in.
save for this: now you know what's in the secret lair, the locks should be self-explanatory. And the fact it's built into the mountain. And utilises concrete and granite as part of its foundations...
Of course, that's not the only role Sweetie plays... Though I think I've said enough now.
5114071
It's not as blatant as you might think. Enough to conjure ideas, surely, but not enough to provide a concrete certainty.
Y'know, there's one thing I keep wondering over and over again: why has nopony investigated... Tartarus?
The way "the late" is not appended to Shining Armor's name makes me think that he's still alive. Will we see what's become of him?
Also, holy crap, Twilight imprisoned her own daughter?!
5114131
You know, I was just wondering when someone would pick up on that.
He has an important role, definitely... but not for a while off. Patience?
5114091
Would you willingly walk into the equivalent of Pony Hell with no way to defend yourself from what might lie within? Particularly after the way you've portrayed the place?
5114155
I don't assume that the TvE variant of Tartarus is the same as anyone else's – heck, I imagine it's different from the Tartarus my other AUs, should I decide to investigate it in them. Besides, if Twilight could get Cerberus to go back to his little nook of the place by herself before she got OPed, there's bound to be someone else – or a group of someone elses – who can do a little exploration.
5114155
I wonder if he knows the truth about his wife. Yeesh, I feel for the guy. Must be rough losing your wife and simultaneously having your cute LSBFF turn into a power mad tyrant.
I'm not really clear on why Twilight decided to crystalize her daughter. Did she think she was a threat?
5114259
What truth would that be, exactly?
...
5114274
Well, in the first story, Twilight announces that:
As of the "present", all three are still missing.
So, I see one of three options:
1. Twilight knowingly left the princesses to rot in Tartarus.
2. Twilight murdered the princesses herself (as implied by "the late" Princess Cadence).
3. Twilight is using them for some horrible magical experiment.
In any event, the truth I'm referring to would be that "my sister either killed or permanently imprisoned my wife".
Oh my, is that really THE Starburst? Like, Next Generation Flash x Twilight's daughter?
http://www.fimfiction.net/group/198813/tyrant-sparkle/thread/135119/twyrants-kingdom-results
Starburst! How are the chances we see Starfall? He would be an awesome rebel officer! And you could do many philosophical things with the story makeing Stafall good first and Starburst evil to be reformed! Like Zuko in Awatar! Or you could kill them at the end! In lawa! As lovers ripped appart by destiny! Or something!
5286227
I'm not ruling anything out. The journey has only just begun, after all.
5286338 I'm a far seer. But admit it - this would be incredibly cool!
i.imgur.com/6MrWqNZ.png
5295827
Oooo, shiny!
Thank you, Mayhem!
next chapter
CAN"T WAIT
So are the Princesses actually dead, or are they just presumed as such?
5781049 I think I did read Chapter 5 but I forgot to post a comment on it at the time. Interesting plot twist at the end there. And I like your headcanon about the crystal being used to imprison ponies.
I will definitely re-read the chapters that you have previously posted, just because it's been a few months since I read it last and I need a refresher on all the characters. And I would be happy to be your pre-reader. Add me on skype, username CartsBeforeHorses. I think you might already have me added, but I don't remember. That, or we can communicate over PMs.