Chapter Three: A New Light
Equestria, Crystal Empire, 05-27-1005 A.N.M., Sunrise(After Nightmare Moon)
A hoof to her lower back brought Twilight out of one of the best rests she had had in the longest time. Groggily, Twilight wiggled a bit, trying to get more comfortable. The hoof dug in further. Turning to see whose hoof it was, Twilight’s sleepy gaze fell on the smiling face of the newest alicorn. Princess Rainbow Dash looked at her, her cute face framed with a long, cyan addition that only added to her beauty.
Suddenly, the hoof that had woke her up pushed itself into her belly, eliciting a huge laugh from her. Giggling, Rainbow tickled her a couple more times before rolling out of the sleeping bag they shared.
“Rainbow, how long have you been watching me?” she asked the former pegasus.
Rainbow blushed a bit as she replied. “Oh, about the last few minutes or so. You’re so cute when you first start waking up.”
“Yeah, I’m sure, with my unruly bed mane.” Twilight grumbled. Rainbow just chuckled.
What had happened almost five days ago was very much on both Twilight and Rainbow’s minds as they set about their first morning routine; reaffirming a bond that was so new, yet older than both Solaris and Selene themselves. When the Aurora itself opened, and took the love of her life away, Twilight had thought she had lost her. Only the steady beating of Loyalty in her heart let her know that Rainbow was still alive.
Rainbow was still unwilling to tell her exactly what went on, only saying that the story needed to wait until they got to Ponyville.
“So, what’s on the agenda for today Twi?” The lavender alicorn looked up, then looked around the plateau that was incongruently located at the summit of Mount Everfest. Her gaze traveled to where an altar that had featured so prominently in her and Rainbow’s lives recently stood before it traveled back to the eyes of the mare next to her.
“Well, first, we need to get down. Shouldn’t be too hard, the storm has finally quieted down. Odd, that; this storm has raged for centuries, ever since Sombra was sealed away. Anyway, once we get down, we need to head the the Crystal Palace.”
Twilight looked up to see an almost scared-looking expression on Dash’s face. “Um, Twi, we kinda can’t let anypony besides you know I’m an alicorn and princess until we get to Ponyville, remember? Is there any way we can avoid the palace?”
Becoming more frightened by the minute, Rainbow looked at Twilight, only to jump up out of real fright as Twilight’s wings disappeared inside her barrel, lavender sparks of magic floating off of them as they disappeared. Smirking, Twilight pointed at Rainbow’s fairly new horn, then told her the most incongruent thing she could have said. “Just hide it Dashie; you’ll just look like you always did.”
After the last three weeks she had had, Rainbow was pretty certain that the universe was just TRYING to find ways to scare the horseapples out of her. Seeing her lovers’ wings disappear like that was simply the scariest thing she could think of. “Twilight, what kind of spell was THAT?!” she squeaked, sounding more like Fluttershy than Rainbow Dash.
“Rainbow, it’s not a spell; alicorns don’t need spells to disguise themselves as pegasi or earth ponies. All you have to do is will your body to change, and it will change. It’s fairly simple.” Twilight then proceeded to reverse the process; not only did her wings return, her height did as well.
Rainbow was starting to get confused. How was she supposed to cast a spell that didn’t involve direct control of her magic? She was about to ask Twilight what would sound like a really stupid question, but stopped herself when she remembered that there was someone else she could ask; Serenity.
Perhaps the most confusing, yet wonderful thing to happen to Rainbow was the fact that she now had a connection to a deep presence that had existed since the beginning of time. A presence that had waited for someone like her since the dark forces had first started gathering. This being, for lack of a better term, was the living embodiment of her realm. Serenity, as she preferred to be called, had been the guide for this whole hair-brained scheme, and if there was anything she had learned, it was that she could ask that gentle, yet fierce soul anything and not get rebuffed. <Serenity, can you please explain what she did? It’s confusing me.>
Within a few moments, the gentle presence in her heart guided her to the answer. Alicorns were able, by their deep connection to the very magic they were made up of, to make themselves look like ordinary pegasi or earth ponies, by willingly suppressing the ambient magics connected to the natures they wanted to hide. Well, she told me that outside of our realm, I wouldn’t be able to hear her voice until it was time for the big reveal. Sighing, Rainbow concentrated on the task at hand. Focusing on the ambient magic within her, she willed her Unicorn and earth pony magics to go deeper into her frame. Within a few moments, she felt like she had weeks earlier, though she could still sense the new mana that was within her.
“Oh wow, Rainbow, you caught onto that real quick!! Feels weird though, doesn’t it?”
“Heh, yeah, you get used to things as an alicorn a lot faster than I would’ve thought.” Rainbow looked on as Twilight levitated the saddlebags that she had brought on their trip through the Caves of Memory.
Learning how to use magic was still something of a chore for Rainbow. If she didn’t have Twilight for a tutor, who was able to use Rainbow’s depth-perception method of learning to great effect, she would have been lost when all the craziness started. She didn’t think those that were destined for alicornhood had trouble with their magic, until she remembered how much trouble Twilight had learning to fly. She had been getting better though, and had even learned to do a few of the more basic tricks over the last few months. “Hey Twi, um, don’t take this the wrong way, but why did you have problems learning how to fly? I thought flying came naturally to all alicorns.”
Twilight looked at Rainbow, then looked down, her ears flattening on her head. “Well, at the time, I didn’t want to be a princess. That translated to not wanting my wings. It wasn’t until I started helping you study for the Wonderbolt Reserve exam that I really became committed to being an alicorn, though I was still unsure about my role as a princess.”
Rainbow remembered that her flying did get better after that.. “Yeah, it did, though you were still a rookie,” she teased, hoping to cheer her love up.
Twilight bumped up against her side, then said in a mock-serious tone, “Oh, laugh it up, miss Best Young Flier. Not everypony has the time to lay about like you do.” They both laughed; this sort of teasing had become a way for them to relieve the stress during their journey. Now though, it was just one more link in the chain that bonded two very different souls together.
Twilight reached over and kissed her mare. Sighing, Rainbow lost herself in the feel of her lover's’ lips on hers. They stood like that for a few moments, basking in each other’s presence. Breaking off the kiss, Twilight looked at her and said, “Come on Rainbow, we got a long trek ahead of us.”
Leaving the summit of Mount Everfest, the two made their journey down the mountain, eager to rejoin civilization after so long an absence.
Crystal Empire, 05-29-1005, A.N.M. (After Nightmare Moon)
The two days that it took them to climb down the summit were brighter than either Rainbow Dash or Twilight were expecting. When they made it to the base of the mountain in the late afternoon, they had been expecting snow. What they found was a land in the throes of early spring. Virtually all the snow that they had slogged through after coming out of the caves had melted. It seemed that the last vestiges of the curse Sombra cast on these lands was finally gone.
The atmosphere around them served to lighten the spirit of the two mares further, eliminating the last vestiges of stress they had carried throughout their journey. With an unspoken accord, the two decided to take a slower time returning to the Crystal Empire, in order to fully enjoy a freed land. Nopony was expecting them, since they had told their friends that their task would likely take a few months to complete.
Though they had been wanting to make their way back to the Crystal Empire as soon as they could, Twilight and Rainbow realized that there was no rush; nopony was expecting them back any time soon, since such a journey would normally take several months. So, the two decided to extend their journey for a few days. This was also a great time for Rainbow to get used to other aspects of her new magic, particularly that of her Earth Pony magic.
The next couple of days were spent in bliss. There was fresh crystal berries on the tundra, and plenty of fresh water. The nights were balmier than the northern territories should be, proving that the protection provided by the Crystal Heart extended far further than originally thought. This made Twilight happy, knowing that her sister-in-laws’ kingdom was so much larger than that tiny Kingdom.
Twilight and Rainbow spent the balmy nights exploring the love that had become so precious to them in such a short time. Since there was nopony around to see them, Rainbow dropped her disguise at night, to better share these precious moments. Truly, she was the most blessed of mares to have such a lovely partner all to herself.
For Twilight, learning everything she could that she never knew about Rainbow was such a novel experience. She learned that her life partner was far more girly than she let on. Rainbow confessed that much of her tomboyishness was a result of wanting to impress her miserable excuse for a father, who wanted sons instead of daughters, and had left after the last of his and her mother’s four children was born a filly. Last she had heard, Rainbow’s father was living in Las Pegasus, working as a bar hop in the casinos there.
Teaching Rainbow Dash magic had been particularly taxing for Twilight. The relaxed atmosphere gave her a chance for her to do some practical testing of Rainbow’s skills, which had improved by leaps and bounds since their journey began. She was able to spend time, in a relaxed setting, to improve on her lover’s knowledge of magic, though Rainbow still had trouble sitting still when reading the few dry spellbooks she had. All in all, though, this was a relaxing time for the pair of them. A vacation of sorts, since once they got back to Ponyville, things were going to get real busy.
Little did either mare know, that their idyllic vacation was about to get far more exciting than either expected.
Crystal Empire, 06-03-1005, A.N.M., 10:22 A.M. (After Nightmare Moon)
Stalwart Beauty, a Crystal Unicorn that had been living north of the palace when Sombra first cursed these lands, was in the field harvesting the hardly crystal berries, intending to take them to the village market. She was interrupted by her little filly, Radiant Belle, calling for her. “Mama, come see, come see, there’s a princess on the path here!!”
“Oh Belle, how many times must I tell you; the Crystal Princess lives in the palace, and is far too busy with all of the newly freed Crystal Ponies to come here.” Not satisfied with her answer, little Radiant proceeded to jump up and start bouncing on her mother’s back. Groaning exasperatedly, Beauty turned her head to deal with her daughter, knowing she wouldn’t get any work done until she did.
“But mama, this one is purple, not pink,” the little filly said.
“Oh all right, I’m coming, I’m coming!!” Setting the baskets that she had been levitating down, Beauty followed her daughter to the path that led to what served as a road, only to stop in shock. Walking down the path were two ponies that she had never seen before; a purple alicorn, and a cyan pegasus. She, however, knew who the alicorn was, having seen her face in a vision last evening; Her Royal Highness, Princess Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship.
“Oh, Your Highness, you’re early! We weren’t expecting you until later today. Please, come with me, you and your friend; the Mayor has been waiting for you to begin the festivities.” Twilight looked at Rainbow Dash. Neither of them had suspected that there were crystal ponies living outside of the palace lands themselves. Nor were they expecting to find a Crystal Unicorn of all things; no one had been aware that any of them had survived, as Sombra had been fond of sawing off their horns to prevent rebellion.
For her part, Rainbow was far more interested in the little filly that was using her back as a trampoline. The youngster was all kinds of cute, and reminded Dash of a mixture of Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. “Oh please, can I ride on your back miss pegasus? Your wings are so soft!”
“Belle, will you please leave the nice pegasus alone?” the fillies’ mother asked. “I’m sure she doesn’t need extra weight on her back like that.”
Belle looked at her mother, then at Rainbow Dash. Rainbow winked, and bent her head to whisper into the little foal’s ear. “As long as you settle down a little, you can ride squirt. I don’t mind.”
Belle nodded, then curled up on Rainbow’s withers. Turning to the fillies’ mother, she said, “Oh, she’s not hurting me there; I kinda like it when cute fillies and colts ride on my back. Reminds me of when I used to ride on the back of my eldest sister.” Rolling her eyes, Twilight just kept walking, following Beauty to the center of the little settlement of Crystal Ponies.
“So, miss, you said you were expecting me?” she asked the unicorn mare. “Did Princess Cadenza manage to get a message to you?”
Belle turned to Twilight, confused for a moment. “Are you speaking of the Crystal Princess?” she asked Twilight. Twilight nodded. “Well, she did send word that you were in the area, though she thought it would be a couple more days. I assume that the pegasus is Miss Rainbow Dash?” Rainbow looked up and nodded, then turned and smirked at the little filly on her withers.
“Yes, that’s right. I imagine that this has been a shock for you. I wasn’t aware that any Crystal Unicorns survived…,” Twilight broke off, swallowing a lump that had suddenly lodged itself in her throat. Looking at Stalwart Beauty, she was surprised to see a satisfied smirk on the unicorn’s muzzle.
“You mean all of the stories about Sombra sawing off our horns, right?” She asked. Twilight nodded cautiously. Smirking even more, Beauty huffed a little. “Can’t believe that one-trick pony managed to convince others that he actually did that. I mean, sure, he enslaved us, but seriously, sawing off our horns? Yeah, he would have been fat out of luck if he did that.”
Rainbow hadn’t been paying much attention to the conversation, until something the last shade of Sombra she 86’ed clicked with what Beauty had just said. The shade had claimed that his master was the lord of shadows and darkness, and as long as those forces existed, then Sombra would be able to escape Tartarus. Yet, her conjured crystal blade was able to sap said powers easily. So Sombra had no ability to find real crystal. This means that he would have had to have help in sealing the Crystal Heart. Or maybe, he didn’t seal it at all, instead using what was already in place.
“Huh, so you mean to tell me that all of the crystal he mined was found by others?” Rainbow Dash asked the unicorn.
Turning to the pegasus, Beauty nodded. “He wanted enough to ensure that nopony could break into the vault where the Crystal Heart was kept in times of war, or when it wasn’t being charged. Mayor Dawn was one of the few who warned the Steward to not trust Sombra. All of us Crystal Unicorns knew that it was a bad idea to trust such an important position to an outcast, but we’ve always been ruled by a pony that wasn’t themselves a Crystal Pony.”
“Steward? Wait, an outcast? Did this pony have a name?” Twilight asked. She looked hard at Beauty. “Please, I need to know; did said outcast have a name?”
Beauty frowned. “Yes, the traitor did. Darkhoof.”
Twilight gasped, then scowled. Her expression darkened further, until she huffed out an exasperated snort. “I cannot BELIEVE those imbeciles would stoop that low.” Turning to Stalwart Beauty, she gave her a sad frown. “Darkhoof was a disgraced noble of Equestria. On the request of the Council, he was sent by Princess Celestia to oversee relations between our two kingdoms. He and another noble were exiles from Unicornia; they were the only two that supported Platinum’s wish to create a new kingdom. ”
Rainbow looked at Twilight. “Twi, you’re not serious, are you? That took place centuries before the first Hearth’s Warming!!”
Twilight looked at her in confusion, before facehoofing. That’s right, she doesn’t know. Nopony does except the Princesses. Turning to Rainbow, Twilight then said, “The Shanksmare play we all starred in all those years ago was a fabrication. One of my Professors at Celestia’s school actually told me that the original version had changed several times, since many of the historical records were lost to a fire that occurred in the Equestrian Royal Archives in 290 A.D. Shanksmare didn’t have a lot to go on, so she did the best she could.”
“Twilight, that one article that claimed that the First Hearth’s Warming play was a near complete fabrication was true, wasn’t it?” Rainbow asked her marefriend.
“Yes Rainbow, it was. The names were the only things that were accurate, as well as the depiction of the spell they all cast. Even the songs came later, during the celebration that took place over the days after all of the Windigos fled. Everything else was ‘poetic license’ by Shanksmare. Also, the common practice of having mares play the roles of stallions didn’t help. I’ve been lobbying to get the more accurate version out, but the Equestrian School Board won’t change their curriculum, stating that there’s no proof that the records I found at the Castle of the Two pony Sister’s are accurate.”
“Um Twilight, that fire was set deliberately by the Council, wasn’t it?” Rainbow asked.
Twilight hesitated before replying. “Well, Luna seemed to think so, but there was no way to prove that at the time, since she had no real authority over the Council.” Her expression turned dark. “It was that same Council that started pressuring ponies to ‘fear the night’.”
“Okay, this is confusing. Twi, this all implies that this Darkhoof and Sombra were sent by the Council years before it disappeared. Did something else happen between those two points in time?”
“Yes, though what did happen is not something I can freely discuss unless in the presence of the Princess,” Twilight said in reply. “All I can really say is that Darkhoof was personally responsible for the original fall of the Crystal Empire, since he was the one that enabled Sombra to get to the Crystal Heart. At the time they were first sent, neither Celestia or Luna knew much about this Empire, aside from the legends concerning the Crystal Princess. I just hope everypony was able to recover from what Darkhoof did. He truly was Sombra’s puppet.”
Stalwart Beauty looked at the three ponies walking back to the settlement with her. I don’t know if I should tell them or not, but I can’t leave them in the dark. He’s changed, he really has, and I can only hope they’ll see that… forgive me papa. Sighing, Beauty proceeded to figuratively throw her father to the hounds.
“Princess Twilight? I think there’s something I should tell you.” Twilight looked at her with a question in her eyes. “The former Steward hasn’t gone by the name Darkhoof since his ‘associate’ betrayed him and the rest of us. He even willingly went through the crystallization process to become one of us, and married a fellow Crystal Unicorn. He was the one that convinced us to just work with Sombra, knowing that the Princesses wouldn’t hesitate to take the tyrant down.” She smiled, a little sadly. “Growing up, I had it hard, being constantly looked down by what my father did. It was only later that I found out just what he sacrificed to save us. Sombra wasn’t pleased with his agent, but there was little he could do. Even one dead unicorn would have been the end of all of his plans, since all of us had memorized a memory purging spell.” Shocked, Twilight looked at the unicorn, then at the filly riding on Rainbow’s withers. “Yes Princess; my mother, who is our Mayor, myself, and my father are devotees of the Aurora. Our kind were created to power and protect the Crystal Heart. Papa willingly became one of us to repair the damage he had done by following Sombra’s plans.” She then snorted. “Not that any of the Crystal Ponies and the Crystal Pegasi will ever accept him, even as one of us. That’s why we’re still here; not only to watch over these Crystal Berry fields, but so we don’t have to deal with those high-and-mighty ponies that can’t let the past stay in the past.”
For her part, Rainbow was tuning most of what Stalwart Beauty and Twilight were discussing, after getting over the fact that the only play she really enjoyed wasn’t fully true. She was far more concerned with walking as softly as she could, so she wouldn’t disturb the now-napping filly on her back. She heard the little unicorn sigh. Must be dreaming, the cute dear. She’s such a darling, I wonder why she wasn’t shy around me? I mean, I’m a complete stranger to her. Suddenly, the little filly opened her eyes, sleepily blinking at the ‘pegasus’ that she was riding on. Moving so that she could wrap her front hooves around Rainbow’s neck, she leaned in to whisper into her ears; “I love you, Princess.” She then slid down, sleepily trotting to climb on her mother’s back.
Rainbow was nonplussed. This was the first time that anypony besides Twilight had called her Princess. Though she was comfortable in the role, she wasn’t ready for the adoration that came with it. She was growing a little concerned, until she saw the cutie mark that adorned Radiant Belle’s tiny flank; a crystal heart made up of all the colors of the rainbow, with a sunburst around it. An image flashed in her mind, and she smiled. One of the true Faithful, huh? I don’t envy her parents, not at all.
One might think that adoration would be something she would search for; however, this was all kinds of different. Being worshiped because she was the Best Young Flyer, or because she was a Wonderbolt was one thing. Those things were based on her accomplishments. However, being adored because of her nature, even if it was her own actions that brought it about, was simply not something she was at all comfortable with. Is this how Twilight feels all the time? Huh, no wonder she goes out of her way to avoid accolades. It's not just that she's almost as shy as Flutters, but that she really feels that she shouldn't get praised for doing what was necessary. Or for getting all of the credit when there were others that helped too.
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The plot is moving on very nicely, good job! I like how you came up with some history for some characters- Sombra, Luna and so forth on!
6044116
Well thank you. Expect more with Sombra; he's not quite finished yet. Though for details, you're prolly gonna have to wait for the companion/prequel fic, once I get the first chapter done.
Good plot, and you did clear up a few things, but... I'm still a bit lost. When did Rainbow almost bite it? What of the others?
Well, TwiDash was unexpected, and not a ship I agree with, but I won't let that deter me from reading a story with a promising concept. Never been a fan of all-powerful voices, though. Let's see where this is headed
Sombra is a bit Sauron-y in his approach here. Infiltrate the higher levels of government, become a personal advisor the the regent, and then lure them to their own defeat. Just like the fall of Númenor.
Your dates don't match up between this and the prequel... Shouldn't everything have been ALF up until the Main 6 defeated Nightmare Moon and then it becomes ANM? Why is it that the prequel has everything as 05 ANM and this has it as 1005 ANM? Should it have been 1005 ANM in the prequel as well and you just shortened it? But hasn't it only been 5 years since the return of Luna? So it seems like the 05 in the prequel is correct while the 1005 in this is not correct...unless the calendar switched from ALF to ANM at a different point in history....
9578670
No, because the first two chapters are prehistory; they took place well before anything in LRSF and PSDAL.