Chapter 43 - Contact and Conflict
Paralyzed, scared and lost. All alone in a world that was dark and grim, Starlight's eyes snapped open wide and alert as she took in her new surroundings. Slowly and cautiously, she lifted herself off the cold ground, keeping her breathing steady while surveying the landscape, confused about where she was. Immediately, she noticed how everything she saw was made out of crystals. The ground that her hooves made contact with, it was all crystal. Abnormal shards and fragments stuck out from the crystal ground, but they didn't shine or offer any colour. They were dim, dark and depressing to look at.
Whirling her head left and right, she looked around and saw that she was lost in a crystal word. A world that lacked any light, only mist and darkness.
"Hello!" Starlight called out. "Is anypony here?'
Sadly, the unicorn failed to receive a response, but maybe that was for the best. After all, it was unknown what type of creature lurked around in this area. Starlight pushed out a sigh and did her best to recall what happened or how she ended up in this strange location, pressing a hoof up to her head.
Fragments and pieces of her memories flowed back into her mind, remembering The Hunter's attack, saving Flurry Heart and being taken, but that was it. She looked hurt upon remembering, scared of where she had been taken to. But then, something else clicked. However, before she could go on, her wild pondering and careful recollecting of memories were disconnected from her concentration. Starlight's ears flinched when hearing a ghastly growl.
Quickly, she whirled herself around and took notice of the darkness, the pitch black that consumed the rest of the world. Fear was held in her eyes and as she hesitated to speak, wanting to sound fearless, but her voice came across as a whimper.
"Who's there?"
After a few seconds of hearing her own voice, Starlight continued to stare off into the distance. Creepily, the mist grew stronger and the darkness felt like it was closing in on her. What she saw next was enough to pierce her soul.
Emerging from the darkness was a mask. The pale, emotionless, skull-looking mask with lifeless eyes, thirsty for vengeance.
Starlight's face dropped with horror, realising the darkness was staring back at her. The creature that abducted her, The Hunter... Ready to attack.
With her breathing growing erratic, scared for her life, the unicorn took off, running.
Starlight ran, her hooves pressing against the murky, crystal ground. She tried to keep her breathing steady but knowing that she was being chased didn't help, not one bit. Scared, she looked back which was a horrible mistake.
Swiftly, the mask of The Hunter was right on her tail, hunting her down. When the mask crept behind her, the mist and darkness followed, consuming everything in its path.
Her blood ran cold when the lifeless mask hovered with the darkness accompanying it. Terrified, the unicorn wanted to freeze and hide, but her body wouldn't allow it and it was for the best.
Swiftly, she travelled through the unknown, crystal land, evading the dark shards and spires that tried to block her path. Coming into sight, she noticed a wall forming, much like the terrain, it was crafted from the same miserable and dark crystals, blocking her path.
"No, no, no," Starlight gasped, scraping her hooves and coming to a halt. "No!" She yelled in frustration.
With great might, concentrating on all of her magic, she tried, but couldn't perform a single spell, not even a teleportation one. She looked up to her horn to see it was still cursed, corrupted by The Hunter. Making an escape would be hopeless. Whirling herself around, she watched as the floating, daunting mask that was advancing towards her, dagger-like claws forming from the mist as it was ready to attack. Inches away from its prey, the darkness followed, soon to consume her.
Scared, the unicorn flinched and closed her eyes, slouching against the dark, crystal wall that blocked her path. Frozen in fear, Starlight clenched her teeth in agony, tightening her eyes shut, away from the nightmarish creature.
Ghastly whispers and eerie shrieks filled the unicorn's ears until a loud, booming voice roared throughout the land. It didn't scare her, because it sounded familiar.
"PERISH FOUL CREATURE!"
Starlight promptly opened her eyes as the Princess of the Night crashed down in front of her, landing perfectly and standing her ground. Brightly, through the darkness, the alicorn's horn illuminated brightly, ridding the darkness away from them both.
Just as the masked creature was inches away from both of them, the pale mask fractured upon making contact with the light glowing against Luna's horn. Instantly, the mask shattered into a thousand pieces and vanquishing the darkness away, crumbling the crystals the two ponies stood on.
Like a painting being washed away, the world Starlight was placed in faded into nothingness, just a white terrain as if she had been drawn onto a piece of paper. It was bright and clean, free from the horrible, gloomy world she was in before.
Shaking her head left and right, trying to steady her breathing, she looked around, "What- I- What was-" Putting a stop to her incoherent mumbling, she took a deep breath in and exhaled, looking upon the Princess of the Night.
"Princess Luna." She began to talk again, her voice no longer rattled or shaken, but it did carry confusion. "How did you... Wait... Is this a-"
"A dream." The alicorn finished, looking relieved. "I have been searching for your mind since I learnt of The Hunter's attack on the Crystal Empire. We worry for you, Starlight. Where are you? The Hunter, has he hurt you?"
"No, I'm fine," Starlight assured. "I... I'm not sure where I am." She stated with a worried look.
"Our time is brief," Luna breathed, her eyes showing distress. "Twilight is worried sick about you, we are all worried."
"What about Cadence and Flurry Heart, are they..."
"Thanks to you, they're safe." The Princess of the Night said with the nod of her head. "What you did was very noble, but we must know, where are you? Where did The Hunter take you?"
It hurt the unicorn to remember, to think back. She held her hooves to her head and looked deep into her memories, searching for the answer the princess sought.
"It's all fuzzy, I can only remember pieces." Suddenly, Starlight's eyes widened. "Wait! I... I remember an airship, it was dark and changelings were swarming around as if it was their hive."
Averting her gaze away from the unicorn, Luna whispered, "Chrysalis' airship." This left the alicorn slightly troubled more than it did satisfied. "Do you know where they are heading, where they last where?"
"We weren't far from the Crystal Empire and then everything went black and cold... That's all I remember before seeing the airship," Starlight confessed. "The Hunter, he's done something my horn, I can't use my magic."
"Do not fear, Starlight," Luna comforted, lifting a hoof to the unicorn's chin. "We will find you. Twilight is determined to get you back, we all are. Just hold out a little longer, we will find you and stop this madness."
Before Twilight's apprentice could speak, the world around them began to ripple.
"What's happening?" Starlight questioned, frightened as she looked at the world erasing from her sight.
"You're waking," Luna answered, she, too was fading away from the unicorn's sight. "Don't lose hope, we will find you soon."
"Princess Luna, wait!" The unicorn threw a hoof towards the alicorn, hoping she would stay a little longer.
Sadly, everything around Starlight faded into darkness, the dream she was began to deteriorate. She was waking up.
"And that's all I could gather from her," Luna told, opening her eyes to the six ponies that stood before her. "It took a while to detect her dream and I wish I could have collected more information, but not even Starlight knows much about her location. Only that she's being held in Chrysalis' airship."
As time melted away, Twilight and her friends found themselves in the throne room of the Royal Palace. It was impossible to deny the nobility the area held. The anxiety that rattled the alicorn failed to depart from her body, but once she heard the news of Luna making contact with Starlight, she thought she'd feel relieved, but it didn't do much to ease the worries that revolved around her brain.
Princess Celestia descended from her throne and approached the six ponies, standing next to her sister.
"So she doesn't know whereabouts in Equestria she is?" Twilight asked with a worried expression. "Doesn't she at least know where they're heading?"
"I'm afraid not," Luna said with the shake of her head. "When I found your apprentice, she seemed to only remember pieces of where The Hunter had taken her."
"If they're constantly on the move then they could be anywhere!" Rainbow Dash interjected.
"Isn't that technically a good thing," Pinkie Pie joined, her voice riddled with uncertainty. "If they're travelling around Equestria then surely someone's gonna spot them. Someone from the Crystal Empire, Yakyakistan, Fillydelphia, Baltimare, Los Pegasus, Girffonstone, Vanhoo-"
"We get it, Pinkie," Applejack said, placing her hoof over the pink pony's mouth.
"She does have a point," Rarity commented as she looked at her friends. "If they're traversing the land then someone's bound to lay eyes upon their vessel."
"But they could be heading anywhere!" Twilight exclaimed. "We can't just wait, we need to find them as soon as possible!"
"What about Discord?" Fluttershy inquired as she stepped forth, curiosity dwelling in her eyes. "By any chance did you come across his dream?"
"Apologies, dear Fluttershy. I have failed to locate Discord's dream in quite some time." The alicorn answered.
"Oh..." The pegasus glumly uttered, averting her gaze from the princess as she looked down in dejection.
"Why's that?" Pinkie Pie asked. "Hasn't he been sleeping?"
"Unlikely, but he is the Lord of Chaos, with his magic, he can choose to remain undisturbed. However, I will keep trying."
"We don't know when we'll make contact with Discord, I propose we track down their airship ourselves!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.
"Without Discord, tracking them will be hard," Princess Celestia informed. "However, I believe a certain ally could help us."
"Oh! Oh!" The pink pony raised her hoof, hopping up and down. "I love Twenty questions!"
"Not now, Pinkie!" Her friends cried in unison causing the pink pony to retract a little with a sheepish smile.
Placing her focus back on the tall alicorn, Twilight paced through her memories, thinking of her allies until she ran out of ideas, "Princess Celestia, who are you talking about?" She quizzed.
The graceful alicorn simply answered with a slight smile that glittered over her face, "Thorax."
"Thorax," Applejack repeated in a tone of confusion.
"He knows Chrysalis better than anypony," Celestia stated. "He and his reformed changelings might be aware of their former queen's hideouts."
"Do you think he'll help?" Fluttershy asked.
"Yeah, Thorax isn't really the warrior-type," Rainbow Dash commented.
"Just because he chooses to be more gentle than audacious doesn't mean he can't be any help to us, Rainbow Dash," Rarity disputed. "Let's not forget that he is a king as well."
"Although it isn't in Thorax's nature to fight, I'm sure he'll do what he can to protect his friends and subjects from danger," Celestia assured. "He may know where Chrysalis is hiding or how to track her." Gently, the Princess placed a hoof under Twilight's chin, fixing her gaze directly at her, "Tomorrow, we'll seek out the changeling hive and find Thorax. I have a feeling he'll know something about Chrysalis' hideouts." She motioned her gaze towards lavender alicorn and smiled. "I know he'll help us Twilight. We will find Starlight."
Briefly, Twilight pushed a smile through her anxiety as she looked up at the tall alicorn, hope slightly building back up into her system.
"You can count us in too!" Rainbow Dash chimed in, followed by her friends approving. "I'm hoping to get a rematch against that hunter!"
Instantly, the lavender alicorn's ears flinched and her eyes widened at the idea as she quickly whirled back to all of her friends and denied with a shout, "No!" Just by her expression, panic washed over her.
The way Twilight was quick to deny the pegasus' request startled her friends, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie even flinched. Applejack and Rarity traded looks of concern while Rainbow Dash floated back down to the floor. Even Celestia along with Luna looked puzzled.
"Twilight," Celestia softly reached to the younger alicorn.
Clearing her throat, she lowered her voice, "I mean no. You can't," Twilight said. "None of you are coming with me."
"What?" Her friends responded in disbelief.
"Twilight, ya can't be serious," Applejack brooded.
"We can't let you go without us," Pinkie Pie backed up, her eyes tight and worried.
"You can." The Princess declared, looking for no argument. "You're all better off here than out there. I'm sorry, but this is for the best."
"But why?" Fluttershy wistfully asked.
"Darling, we can understand your trepidation," Rarity cooed. "But we're your friends."
"Don't you get it?" Twilight questioned, pointing both hooves to her. "They're doing this to get to me, all of this!"
"Now Twilight-" Before Applejack could fully step into the conversation, the alicorn was quick to resume.
"We all saw what happened back at Tartarus. Chrysalis, Fright... The Hunter. They won't stop until they get what they want." Afraid, her words beginning to halt, Twilight did her best to keep herself from crumbling into the hands of anxiety. "They'll target everyone close to me just so they can make me scared! That's what happened with Spike and now Starlight."
"You can't just push us away," Rainbow Dash stammered. "We're a team."
Twilight's breathing looked unstable. With whatever strength she had, she did her best to maintain her calmness, although, her expression only conveyed discomfort, "We all saw the announcement... We all saw what Fright did to Spike. They're hurting those who are close to me. I've already lost Spike and now I've lost Starlight. I'm not losing anyone else to them." Frustration took over as her right-wing unfolded from her side, bringing it to her head. "I'm not losing anyone else." Upset, the alicorn gritted her teeth as dismay took over.
With a sigh, the alicorn slumped over a little, "Chrysalis was right, Spike suffered because of me." It pained her to say it, that the treacherous queen was right, it stung her heart and left nothing but a burning sensation. "I don't want anyone to suffer the same way he did, no one deserves that kind of pain, not him, not Starlight and not any of you." Weakly, she raised a hoof to her friends.
Her friends, they could see the stress, the worriment and fear brewing in the alicorn. All they could do was just look at her in sorrow.
"Oh, Twilight-" Just like Applejack, before Rarity could aid her scared friend or even speak, she was quickly denied.
"Please!" The Princess of Friendship desperately pleaded. "Just... please. Stay here where it's safe, that's all I'm asking. I don't want to lose any more friends. I refuse to lose anyone else to Chrysalis, to Fright and this Hunter."
Silence, it brushed over them softly, much different than the eerie stillness back at Tartarus. Her friends wanted to object to the alicorn's request but arguing would take them nowhere. They were quiet. They all took in the stress and paranoia Twilight carried. Concerned, they wanted to say something, anything to help free her friend break free from the chains of despair.
Softly, a wing brushed around the distressed pony's shoulder, causing Twilight to look up to the heavenly and elegant alicorn, her colourful hair flowing and waving like a gentle stream. Celestia's voice lightly reached out to secure the young princess in a world of comfort as her violet eyes cushioned her away from anxiety and paranoia's claws.
"Twilight, may I speak with you alone," Celestia requested tenderly.
She didn't need to respond, Twilight raised herself up a little and walked alongside her predecessor, leaving the throne room. Her friends watched the two alicorns left, only to feel weighted with anxiety themselves. The way her friend just crumbled down in apprehension was enough for them to feel empty of words.
"What are we going to do?" Rainbow Dash queried. "We can't just let her leave without us? What if she ends up getting captured?"
"She's frightened," Luna clarified calmly, motioning her head a little to the ponies that stood before her. "Her fears are driving her to push the closest ones away. She's not doing it in an act of selfishness, she's just scared."
"With all due respect, Princess," Applejack said, taking off her hat and bringing it close to her chest. "We're all a little on edge."
"Then you should know the feeling consuming Twilight," Luna deflected smoothly. "She needs to understand that what happened to Spike and Starlight wasn't her fault."
With a sigh, Rarity diverted her sight to one of the glass stained windows with drained eyes, "I hope the poor darling's doing okay. I hate to imagine what she's facing right now."
"Starlight's strong," Fluttershy commented. "If anypony knows how to deal with the changelings, it's her."
"I hope you're right, Flutters," Pinkie Pie nodded. "But how are we going to convince Twilight to let us join her."
"I'm going no matter what she says," Rainbow Dash declared, shooting herself up into the air, her wings battling against the air.
"Do you think it's a good idea if we accompany her?" Rarity asked the Princess of the Night. "She was rather distraught about it."
"With Spike and Starlight in the grasp of our enemies, Twilight fears for you all. She thinks that distancing herself will help, but that's only because trepidation plagues her mind. She does not know that this is what Fright wants," Luna breathed. "In time, she'll discover that she'll need her friends by her side now more than ever."
"Ah hope ya right, Princess," Applejack mused, placing her hat back on. "Ever since last night, things have been difficult."
"But we can't make this difficult anymore," The cyan pegasus urged. "If we're going to save Starlight, then Twilight's going to need all of us by her side. It's how we've done it in the past and it's how we can still do it now. We can't let her be afraid of what could happen instead of what has happened."
"Starlight needs us... All of us."
Shedding away the sleep from her brain, Starlight opened her eyes, taking a while for the blurriness to clear and wait for her vision to restore. Cold and slightly aching, the unicorn's back was slouched against a chilling surface that irked her. Waves of memories pushed deep into her brain as she collected Princess Luna's words from her dream.
Finally, her sight cleared and her eyes widened in fear, horror grasping her breath. Starlight didn't get to investigate the room she was in, she could only witness the sinister pair of green eyes piercing her soul and the unpleasant, sharp teeth grinning at her. The tall-looking changeling had waited for her to wake up, ready to begin her torment.
"Wakey, wakey..." Chrysalis whispered with a crazed hiss.
Please read!
Originally, this chapter was meant to be much longer and meant to cover Starlight's predicament along with the villains' side of things, but I'm having some trouble right now. Here's the titles of the upcoming chapters I have brewing:
I've made a drastic change to this story, adding in Thorax and his new hive which means all previous chapters have been fixed up to the changeling's rehabilitation. For example, Starlight being unaware of who Chrysalis was in chapter 6 has now been fixed. The reason behind this is because I plan to make the interaction between Starlight and Chrysalis a little more meaningful.
I know I have a lot of problems when it comes to writing. I'm slow, I tend to be repetitive, I guess I have trouble with pacing and I tend to be repetitive. (Little joke there). But now I've redirected Fear Within's route. Nothing big has changed, I've just decided to bring some parts earlier rather than later. So the storyline hasn't changed, just some events will arrive sooner.
Initially, I was going to bring out chapter 44 today as well, but as I'm going over it, it just doesn't read well. It feels like a chunk of my knowledge for writing has just sunk and left me clueless to continue. I'll do my best to carry on, but right now I feel mindless to proceed.
Thanks for reading!
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Finally, someone besides the audience will know!
Awesome chapter, and I'm so hoping we get to see The Hunter butt heads with Chrysalis at some point
I mean the Hunter did say he wouldn't let either Fright or Chrysalis hurt Starlight so i hope he'll keep his word and possibly protect Starlight from the Changeling Queen's wrath
Behind The Mask? Will this INDICATE that the HUNTER will reveal his TRUE IDENTITY?
At least now we can establish this is all post-season 6.:)
We finally have a hint!
Oh, this ain't gonna go well at all...
The Hunter is Spike, I already knew it.
I know that role play I did before with Thorax was just for fun, but I wonder how the bug is going to take into the fact his best friend’s in the clutch of a homicidal alchemist because of Twilight’s ignorance.And speaking of whom, why couldn’t they get Ember to help? Spike’s a dragon, and she is the Dragon Lord, and Garble’s wrecking Equestria. So it’s appropriate to have a dragon ally for a dragon crisis, such as this.Once again, the waiting....
orig00.deviantart.net/e802/f/2017/106/4/2/aku_is_not_amused_by_gollum123-db63c3p.gif
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I apologise for the waiting, I'm just as frustrated as the next person. As I said before, the base of the next chapter is all written down and the dialogue is what I'm working on the most, that and I'm editing it too. However, I am making progress. Again, sorry for the wait.
9510679
No need for apologies. Take your time. No hurry.
More please
....good. I can just see the look on Rainbow Dash's face when she and everyone see who is behind the mask. And then Rainbow Dash would want to reconsider her initial vendetta towards him.
If Applejack were here, she'd say: "Ten eggs in a chicken coop," that it's about Spike's fear of being forgotten.
"Allow me to make another suggestion. Dragon Lord Ember. She's clearly stronger, and she has a whole army of dragons at her control, and she actually has the power to locate Spike in mere seconds."
Twilight: "We're looking for him!"
"WITH your customary ineptitude, once again your search has been derailed and delayed and marred by your blind trust in your so-called professionals."
Dang you're not in high school or college right? I can't imagine keeping a story alive for almost 3 years
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I've just been very busy with untangling my problems from life, but that doesn't mean I haven't been working on Fear Within. The base of the next chapter is all written down, I'm just trying to improve the dialogue between the characters. In other words, I'm trying my best not to make it anti-climatic, I tend to have a fear of disappointing people. I'm sorry for the wait, but I thank you greatly for your patience.
And how exactly can it not be her fault? Fright's spell and concoctions may have infected Spike. But they have only awakened the powerful entity of hatred and rage spawned with him. Negative emotions that Twilight and the ponies of Ponyville of planted within him. Their inability to sympathize the little dragon's insecurity, their incompetence to recognize the heart he gave for them in exchange for theirs, and their selfish interests to taking his service for granted to satisfy their personal desires, were all the prime ingredients to creating the emotional turmoil within him. Fright's spell and experiment was only the key ingredient needed to brew the final batch.
This tragic fate could've been avoided, had Twilight and the ponies been more considering toward's Spike's well-being, and realized sooner that he was in danger, and continued the search to ensure his safety. But they didn't, and now the damage is done. And now all of Equestria is doomed because of their incompetence!