Dawn of Crystal Empire

by TopWanted

Luna/Javelin - Chapter 19

Luna sipped from her glass of water as she placed it next to her bedside table. The sun had set long ago and after finally raising the moon to its zenith she was ready to begin her meditations. Luna did not truly sleep, at least during the night. Long ago she had learned to manifest a form of waking sleep that would help keep her concentration on the task of guarding the night while also allowing her to guard that other realm she held sacred, the world of dreams. Luna sat on her bed, aligning her body into a comfortable position, and closed her eyes. When she opened them everything appeared the same, only Luna could tell the difference.

The dream world existed much like the real one, everything was like a mirror reflection of Equestria. On the edges of her vision Luna could see the faint auras and trails of dreams ponies were having throughout the castle. If she wandered closer to these colorful strands she could be able to see the personal dreams of these ponies, however that was an ability she saved for only the most dire situation or for most trusted subjects.

While it was night in the real world, the sky outside in the world of dreams did not have a day or night. The sky, for all intents and purposes, was actually a mass collection of every loose strand of dream or emotion that the sleeping ponies of Equestria had. After a night of dreaming the ponies’ reveries would float into the sky and become a part of something beautiful. Thus the color of the sky was indicative of the emotions of Equestria. Luna smiled as she looked out the window. Far on the outer reaches of the sky where Canterlot stood she could still see pink above. However directly above her sat an ominous cloud of purple, the color of melancholy, of uncertainty.

The Crystal Empire was worried. It had almost been a full week since the festival and things seemed to be going from bad to worse. Crystal ponies were now locking themselves up in their homes, afraid to walk the streets. The issue with the doctor did not make Luna feel any better. The pony’s petrification shared many traits with that of the Crystal Heart’s. Luna was unable to help in any way. However, here in the dream world she could investigate just a little further.

“Let us see just what our young doctor is thinking,” Luna whispered to herself.

The Princess of the night passed many rooms on her way through the halls. The sound of ponies dreams echoing out the doors of their rooms as she passed. This was background noise she had heard many times before in the world of dreams, however something strange caught her ear. For a brief second she swore she could hear the sound of crying. A young filly’s cry echoed through the corridor for a moment and then was gone. Luna stopped and strained her ears to hear it again but no sound came. “Curious,” she stated.

Luna made her way into the infirmary where two dreams were playing out. One was the young dragon Spike’s who slept curled in a ball at the end of the beds by the window. She could see into his dreamscape that he was basking in a luscious lagoon made of what appeared to be soda and candy. The dragon looked perfectly content. “No problems there it seems,” Luna noted with a smirk.

The other was a dream from the orange stallion who had been injured during the earthquake. Luna only stole a glance into the stallion’s dream but it looked like he sat at a table in some restaurant, Princess Twilight and the Element of Generosity on either side of him. They appeared to be having a double date without the second stallion. Luna turned from the dream, her face blushing red, when the stallion leaned over to kiss one of the ponies. “Perhaps I’ve seen too much,” she chided herself.

Finally she came to the doctor who stood frozen in the corner. Luna frowned as she looked for the aura or strand that would lead her to the mare’s dream, but there was none. “That’s impossible,” she uttered. “That would mean that her mind is gone. No petrification spell could do that, there is always a cure for every poison.” Luna furrowed her brow in thought as she contemplated this new situation. Suddenly the cry from before echoed through the halls again, this time louder.

Luna shot her head up and looked to the door of the infirmary. Her mouth fell agape. A ghostly image of a filly stuck its head around the corner and watched Luna with curious yet sad blank eyes. It noticed Luna had caught sight of it and disappeared. “Wait!” Luna called and ran from the room. “What are you doing here?” She took a quick accounting of her surroundings but found nothing, then a flash of white passed the hall a few meters away. Luna sprinted after it and followed the winding path it took. The ghostly figure moved with speed Luna had never seen. Though she was the guardian of dreams, Luna was still bound by the restrictions of her physical body here. She could not go through walls and she could not go faster than normal. She could however use magic.

The filly turned another corner and Luna summoned her magic creating a barrier in front of the ghostly white filly. It stopped dead in its tracks and huddled to the ground, crying. Luna approached slowly. “Please. I don’t mean to harm you. I simply wish to know how you came to be here.” There were creatures that could live in the dream world; spirits, celestials, even demons. She needed to determine just what this creature was.

“I… I don’t know.” The voice was small and choked with fear. It was a young voice as one would expect from a filly, but Luna recognized that that didn’t mean much. The creature could be some kind of shapeshifter. “I woke up and I was here.”

Luna approached a little more slowly, finally getting a good look at the filly. Its coat and mane were marble white, the color of precious stone. “Do you know where you are?” she asked calmly. The filly raised its head from the huddle and shook it. Its eyes were blank with no irises or pupils, the same color as the rest of its body. Its lips trembled as it began to cry again.

Luna panicked as the filly’s cry turned into a bawl. “It’s okay. It’s okay. Just… um… just calm down.”

“But I don’t know where I am!” the filly cried profusely yet no tears came out. A full look at the creature before her almost gave the impression that it was a moving statue cut from marble.

Luna furrowed her brow trying to think of a way to calm it. “What’s your name?” she asked kindly.

The filly stopped its cry as it got back onto all fours. It rubbed its nose and sniffled before furrowing its own brow in thought. “I… don’t remember.”

“You don’t remember your name?” Luna asked sympathetically. The filly shook its head.

Luna considered what this could mean. Perhaps this was a lost spirit. The soul of a pony that had died but never found its way to the heavens. It was rare to see such cases in the dream world but it did happen. Before her long imprisonment in the moon and the nightmare that arose from that Luna had helped guide many like this from the dream world to the beyond. There were not as many today though.

Luna smiled. If this was a lost spirit she wanted to help in any way she could. She leaned down so she could speak eye to eye with the filly. “Just what is the last thing you remember?” she asked with an affectionate smile.

The filly seemed to have calmed down and took a deep breath. It closed its eyes in concentration and then opened them excitedly. “I remember everything going dark. Rocks and dirt and earth falling all over me.” The filly put a hoof to its chest as it continued with a grim expression. “I remember being buried alive. By the stars, I remember being buried alive!”

The tears threatened to come again but Luna wrapped a hoof around the filly and brought it into a close hug. “It’s alright. You don’t have to relive something like that. It’s alright.” Luna felt the filly shiver in her grasp. In the dream world spirits had just as much substance as the living. Luna could feel the cold radiating off of the filly. It felt like ice, but Luna kept it close nonetheless until its shaking stopped. Luna leaned back and placed her hooves on its shoulders to look at it directly. “I will not ask you to recount such a grim memory. However, we should find some way to help you move on.”

“How?” the filly asked.

“We find your closure,” Luna replied with a smile. Granted it was going to be hard without a name or a face, but Luna needed to do this. This was the first time in a long time that anypony needed her. She was the only one who could help and it gave her heart warmth to be needed again.

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“I do not appreciate ponies going above my head, mother superior.”

Javelin sat at an impromptu desk in town hall, having confiscated it for this meeting. A few hours ago the “Angel in White” and her guardian had arrived in Crystal Falls. Deliberately breaking protocol they went ahead to the hospital without him to see what the hospital staff had been calling the “Stone Garden.” Now the supposed healer from Canterlot and her guardian, an old purple unicorn stood before him. It was night so town hall had been emptied. Javelin sat across from the two in one of desks that accounted for the many rows on the main floor. Two chairs had been pulled up for his guests.

Javelin sighed, pushing a hoof through his dark mane. “I thought we had agreed that you would see me when you arrive and then we would introduce you to the ‘Garden.’”

The Old Mare merely shrugged. “Your letters seemed quite desperate, commander. I thought it best to skip etiquette and tackle the problem directly.”

“Why haven’t you told anypony about this?” The pure white mare spoke up, a look of indignation in her face.

Javelin leaned against the desk as he scanned the earth pony. She truly was as beautiful as the ponies from Canterlot said. She certainly earned her monicker of “Angel.” However, the mare’s actions were brazen and could have disrupted everything he had worked for.

“Miss Pristine,” he replied coolly, his dark eyes never wavering. “Bringing this news to the public at such a time would cause mass panic. Crystal Falls and the surrounding settlements are in a state of change right now and things could not be more fragile.” He crossed his hooves in front of him to accentuate the importance of his statement. “You are here to deal with this problem as quietly as possible. If you cannot accomplish that then there are other roads we can take.”

Pristine pursed her lips in frustration but slid back into her seat. Javelin grinned. “I’m glad you understand. And I’m glad you made it here safely. It truly must have been a scare losing your security detail.”

“We certainly were lucky,” the Old Mare replied. “If it weren’t for your stallions, my ward would have died.”

Javelin grit his teeth. “Yes, my stallions.” None of his soldiers had been in the forest that day. Whoever had rescued the two was not from his battalion nor were they under his command. Moreso these petulant fools had brought them to the “Stone Garden.” Let them see the very secret he tried so hard to maintain. To bring up the fact that those stallions were not his would put him into a compromising position. Javelin’s authority and his capability to protect could be questioned if there was a leak in the system. This was something he’d have to deal with very quietly and most likely personally. “Thank you, mother superior. Miss Pristine. That will be all for the day. I’ve arranged for you to stay in the finest room of the Crystal Falls Mayor’s estate. My stallions outside will escort you there and the mayor will greet you personally. I’m sure you’ll get along splendidly.”

Javelin rose from his seat and nodded a polite goodbye to the two mares. Pristine still looked angry as she proceeded to the door, only for a stallion to open it before they could leave. He was a deep shade of red in both coat and mane. And wore a standard Pegasus uniform with a metal clasp that signified his rank as captain. He held the door open for the two as they walked out. Javelin stayed behind and waited for the Pegasus to close the door behind him.

“And to what do I owe the pleasure, captain?” Javelin grinned as he walked back to his seat.

Gladius’ face did not show any emotion as he placed a rolled up scroll on the desk where he sat. “Reports from my ponies scouting the high north,” he said dryly.

Javelin took the scroll and unrolled it hungrily, taking in every word. He lowered the scroll a little bit so he could look his nephew in the eyes. “Is that all?”

Gladius frowned and scoffed, “What do you mean is that all?”

Javelin slammed the scroll on the desk. “Your pegasi have only scouted thirty miles of tundra in five months! That’s unacceptable!”

“It’s plenty!” Gladius shot back. “Expansion doesn’t mean going to the ends of the earth. That thirty miles is viable land and its safe!”

“This is about more than being safe, boy!” Javelin chided, rising to all fours. “It’s about creating a dynasty. An empire to rival all!”

“Empire?” Gladius asked.

“One that WILL reach to the ends of the earth!” Javelin’s smile grew and he began to stare into space. “I have a vision. A wonderful picture of the world as it will be. And you,” he pointed to Gladius, “and I will stand at its forefront.”

Gladius gritted his teeth. “You’ve really lost it, haven’t you?”

Javelin’s eyes shot open as smacked his hoof across the pegasus’ face, drawing blood. “Bite your tongue, boy! I am your commanding officer and the stallion that raised you. There are many more allies I’ve made that can easily take your place.”

Gladius grimaced as he wiped the blood from his lip. “You don’t scare me anymore,” he grinned. “I’ve got allies now too. The Wonderbolts all respect me. The only other pony they’d probably accept as captain is Lullaby.”

Javelin sneered at that name and turned his back. A small grin forming on his face. “And what if they couldn’t accept you anymore?”

Gladius frowned. “What?”

Javelin turned around to face his nephew once more. “What if everypony found out just what a failure and coward their beloved Captain Gladius truly is?”

Gladius’ grew stiff. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Javelin stepped forward, his face coming close to Gladius’ ear and whispered, “I saw you at the race.”
Javelin pulled back and watched the blood drain from Gladius’ face. “Nopony else noticed those two single racers in that canyon, but I did. I saw you try to help him. Try to pry him from that rock.” The grin grew wider. “And I saw you fly away. Leaving a pony everyone loved to die.”

Gladius looked at the ground and dug his hooves into the wood floor until they cracked underneath. “It wasn’t my fault,” he replied shakily. “He told me to leave. He wanted me to live!”

Javelin’s grin faded and his face grew colder. “Some may believe that. But that little seed of doubt is all you need, don’t you.” He gripped his nephew’s chin in his hoof and pulled his face to look at him eye to eye. “You’re still that little weakling from fifteen years ago.”

Gladius clenched his teeth and pushed away, trembling as he stood in silent contemplation. He took a deep breath. “I’ll tell the scouts to expand the area,” he said solemnly.

Javelin walked up to him and patted his shoulder. “Good boy. Now there’s just one more thing I need from you.”

Gladius scowled but nodded. “What’s that?”

“There’s a leak out there,” Javelin replied. “Two stallions impersonating soldiers. They have… information of vital import. Find them.”

“Anything to go by?” Gladius asked.

“No,” Javelin replied. “But follow that mare that arrived today. She’ll lead you to them.”

“And what will you do when they’re found?”

Javelin grinned again. “We’ll see.”

In the back of the hall, hidden under a desk, a brownish yellow pony with a red mane and green visor sat silently holding his breath. He grinned ear to ear, he had the story of a lifetime. And what was even better was that it wasn’t over yet.