Part V - Chapter 9: Dreamwalkers
Alicornae: The Legend of Starlit Sky
Part V - Chapter 9: Dreamwalkers
* * *
"Sun, wait up!" Fluttershy called as Sun marched further into the bog. He still walked with heavy, trudging hoofsteps, and Fluttershy was starting to worry that he was going to hurt himself even more.
Fluttershy eventually decided to simply fly above the water's surface to catch up to him, the wind from her wings blowing away the small floating lights that got close to her.
"Sun, wait, we need to talk about what just happened," Fluttershy said as she caught up.
"We can walk and talk," Sun curtly replied.
"What do you think Chrysalis meant when she said you were 'cursed'?" Fluttershy asked, dropping back into the water.
"It sounded pretty self-explanatory, didn't it? Twilight Sparkle did something to the ponies back in Equestria that stole their magic, stole all the magic in the land," Sun replied, his voice growing hard. "She caused the very crisis that she dragooned Starlit and I into solving!"
"But why? Why go to all that trouble, why cause so much devastation? What could she possibly have to gain from killing her kingdom?"
"I don't know, and right now I really don't care," Sun cut in. "I have to get word of this to Starlit, she has to be told the exact level of evil and power she's going to be facing."
Fluttershy saw Sun's face fall, if only for a moment, losing its steely glare and gaining a weariness that Fluttershy had never seen before.
"I just hope it isn't too late," Sun continued, before shaking his head and resuming the march.
The pair of them walked in silence for a long while, only interrupted by Fluttershy reorienting them to keep heading south. The environment was far less varied than her home swamp, and the bobbing lights casting stark shadows through the trees weren't helping with her pathfinding skills.
"Sun, what does Starlit Sky mean to you?" Fluttershy asked out of the blue, not catching what she had said until after she had said it.
Sun's head perked up at the question and slowly turned to look at Fluttershy. She instinctively took a step away.
"I'm sorry, was that too personal?" Fluttershy hastily apologized. "Did I cross a boundary?"
"No, no, I just… wasn't expecting that," Sun replied, turning back to the endless swamp ahead of them.
A long, awkward pause hung in the air between the two of them, with the pit in Fluttershy's stomach growing heavier and heavier until it was lifted when Sun broke the deafening silence.
"If I had to put a label to it, I guess she's like the mother I wish I still had," Sun said, eyes cast down to the clear water.
"You don't have a mother?" Fluttershy asked, keeping her voice as demure as possible.
"She died when I was little," Sun answered. "My father too. I practically had to raise myself from the age of eight, even though the other ponies in town helped out a lot."
"That's so sad," Fluttershy consoled, rubbing one of her wings on Sun's back. It felt awkward to her, but it was the best she could do.
"When I first met Starlit we didn't get along much at all. She was abrasive, condescending, and didn't trust me as far as she could throw me. To her credit, though, I was whiny, naive, and too curious for my own good. You couldn't have asked for two more different ponies to try and save the world together, but she needed me and I needed her."
"Well, you certainly seem to think pretty well of her now," Fluttershy quietly interjected. "What changed?"
"A few near death experiences, a lot of shared trauma, and being more or less attached at the hip for about a month will do that to two ponies, but I think it's more than that now," Sun continued. "Her abrasiveness showed her conviction in what she thought was right. Her condescension was because she is wiser than me, even if I am more intelligent than her, and she needed to reign in my worse habits to keep us both alive. Even her untrusting side was because she's been hurt too many times, and she just wants to protect the ponies that she cares about. I guess she showed me that, even through the hardships of life, there is a capacity to rise above it when you learn how to deal with it."
"She taught you how to be better than what you are," Fluttershy summarized. "That sure sounds like what a mother would do."
"It does, doesn't it?" Sun replied, lifting his head and turning to look at Fluttershy. "I guess that's why I have the drive to find Chrysalis that I do now; Starlit's done so much for me, helped me become a better stallion, and now it's high time that I returned that favor."
Sun let out a sharp gasp of pain, bending his head down to bring a hoof to his forehead just at the base of his horn.
"I just wish that this weren't handicapping my ability to live up to her example," Sun curtly added, shaking his head to disperse the pain.
"I did the best I could, but it was in three pieces," Fluttershy apologized. "My medicines can only do so much."
"I know, and I'm not blaming you for this," Sun replied. "It's just another chasm to jump over."
"Then it's a good thing I have wings, I guess," Fluttershy replied. Sun let out a quick snort of laughter, and Fluttershy couldn't help but join in with a snicker.
* * *
The further south they traveled the more Sun felt a pressure starting to weigh down his mind. Whether it was due to nerves or something more he couldn't say, but the slight sense of dread he'd been coping with since arriving here was more prominent. He and Fluttershy had been making idle talk as they ventured south, mostly commenting on the environment, but the last while had been in near abject silence.
"How're you feeling?" Fluttershy asked quietly. "Is your horn giving you problems?"
"Not for a bit, no," Sun replied as he stepped around a large patch of cattails.
"Then how're you feeling?"
"I'll be fine," Sun answered, more curt than he had intended. "Thank you for asking."
Another long stretch of walking passed in silence, until Sun glanced around and noticed that the bobbing silver lights weren't hovering around anymore. He'd gotten so used to their presence that he'd been mentally blocking them out, but now the world was growing darker and he was forced to take notice.
"Hey Fluttershy, have you noticed how dark it is?" Sun asked.
Nopony replied, and when Sun turned back around to ask again there was nopony standing behind him. Another whirl around to try and scan the immediate area and the plant life had vanished, followed with each revolution by the water, then the ground, until there was nothing save for deep, cloying, endless darkness.
"Fluttershy!" Sun called out. "Fluttershy, are you there?!"
A soft echo of his own voice was the only response he received, and Sun felt his pulse quicken as he tried to orient himself in the nothingness. Sun couldn't even tell if he was standing on ground anymore; he didn't feel water around his fetlocks, but without any visible landmarks to orient himself to he started to feel dizzy.
"Chrysalis, what is this?!" Sun cried out, hoping that the Changeling Queen would hear him and answer. "What did you do?! Where am I?!"
Again nothing answered save for a soft breeze and a distant echo. Hyperventilating now, Sun sat down on the nothingness below him, holding a hoof to his chest to try and calm himself down.
"Okay, okay, let's think this through," Sun said to himself. "Chrysalis said we needed to find the place with no light. Obviously she meant that a bit more literally than I had imagined, but this has to be what she meant. I'm not in any danger, this is what she intended."
Taking another glance around and being met with even more nothingness than he thought was possible to be presented with, Sun got back up, picked a direction and started walking.
"I'm just gonna pick a direction and go, and if I wander back out of this then I'll just find south again, walk back in, and keep moving," Sun declared to nopony and nothing.
Sun's hoofsteps made no sound as he walked, even though he could feel an odd, smooth surface beneath them. It was hard like stone but cold and smooth like glass, and the closest thing he had ever felt to it was Starlit's necklace. Distance and time were both hard to tell without anything to compare it to, so Sun was immediately put on edge when he noticed a shimmering light coming towards him.
Sun reflexively tried to light his horn up, only for a lance of pain to shoot through his forehead. Without any sort of magical recourse for what was about to happen, Sun simply got down in a low stance and prepared for whatever was coming. He might not have cut the most intimidating silhouette, but he wasn't going to be taken without a fight if it came to that.
As the light got closer and closer colors showed through the nimbus of silver light, and those colors slowly but surely resolved into an image, or rather a few images. As though it were a framed portrait Sun saw a glimpse of Appleoosa. He saw the orchards, now green and lush, as Applejack tended to the trees. Her little sister was following after, talking excitedly as she pointed up at all of the newly-enriched trees.
Quickly the image shifted to another part of the town that he recognized as Cherry Blossom's bar. It was more full than he remembered, and a few of the ponies inside chatting, drinking, and generally enjoying themselves were some of the ones from Sunspire that he and Starlit had rescued. The scene was lively, far more lively than he had ever seen it, and the energy inside was triumphant rather than dejected. A deep, aching cut of nostalgia, of loneliness, gripped Sun's heart as he looked at the merriment before him.
The image then shifted once more, showing his own home; his knick-knacks, his notes and books, the delightfully organized chaos of his life that was gathering dust waiting for his return. With a creak his door opened, and he saw Applejack again, standing in the door frame with an inquisitive expression.
"She's taking care of my place," Sun said to himself, touched at her gesture.
Applejack's expression fell as she moved through the clutter of his life, tidying something here and dusting something there but generally leaving the home in the same condition she found it in. As she opened the door back out to return to her own life, Applejack sighed, then turned and closed the door with a soft creak.
"What is this?" Sun asked himself, noticing the tear sliding down his cheek as the image resolved into an overhead view of the entire town.
"A choice," a voice in his head, tinny and demure, answered. "Those who you love and who love you miss you terribly. You matter far more to them than you know, Setting Sun. With but a word you could return to them, to comfort, to peace, to safety."
Sun turned about to try and find a source for the words in his head, but was greeted only by the endless void and a soft pulse in the back of his head instead.
"I can't go back, not yet," Sun replied to the voice. "I have to be here, I have a duty."
"Why do you have to be here?" the voice asked. "Do you even know? Or do you just follow the voices in your head?"
Sun took a step back from the scene in front of him, the voice's question ringing in his head before he shook it clear. He didn't have time to be conflicted.
"Whatever reason it's for, I have to be here," Sun affirmed. "Home can wait."
"Confidence fitting of your trials, Setting Sun," the voice replied. "We will see you soon."
With the last word the image in front of Sun faded away, leaving only the blackness and the beat in the back of his head. He stood, a bit taken aback at this sudden test of his will, before pressing forward into the darkness.
* * *
Fluttershy had had many nightmares in her life; dreams of death, of loneliness, of heartache and hurt. Never in her life did she think she'd be living through one of them.
All around Fluttershy the world was an infinite field of blackness. Even the ground she was standing on, if she could even call it that, was as black as the darkest insect carapace she'd ever seen, and even that comparison paled to just how crushingly, cloyingly black everything around her was.
Tears streamed down her eyes as she wandered aimlessly through the void, wondering where Sun had gone or if he was even still alive. Her breaths came in hiccuping sobs and her heart hammered so fiercely she was afraid it would give out entirely.
"Sun… are you there?" Fluttershy called out plaintively, knowing that it wouldn't elicit a response. "Are you okay?"
A fresh stream of tears fell down her face as her own voice softly echoed back in the endless void. Her hooves finally failing her, Fluttershy fell back to sit down, letting her fear and terror finally overwhelm her.
"I-I can't… I c-can't keep this u-up any more," Fluttershy sobbed, holding her hooves to her eyes. "I just w-want to g-go home."
"Why?" a voice asked back, one that seemed to echo from everywhere and nowhere all at once. Fluttershy shrieked, her sobbing turning into wailing as she fell over and frantically searched for the speaker.
"Wh-who are you?!" Fluttershy asked. "Leave m-me al-alone, please!"
"Why do you want to go home?" the voice clarified. It was low and deeply masculine, but soft rather than harsh.
Fluttershy curled into herself, closing her eyes as tight as they would go to try and will the voice away. Her whole body shook with terror as she tried to reckon with what was happening, only for the voice to chime in again.
"Are you afraid, Fluttershy?" the voice asked.
"Yes," Fluttershy answered with a quivering voice, "I'm t-terrified, or couldn't y-you tell?"
"We don't mean to frighten. You made a statement, and we wanted to know more. We're sorry if this is distressing to you."
Opening her eyes just a crack, Fluttershy looked around. There was still nopony around, and when she fully sat up there was still nothing in the void.
"Why do you c-care?" Fluttershy asked back, wiping her eyes.
"We don't have a reason, really," the voice answered back. "We were just curious. Why do you want to go home?"
"Because I'm scared, and alone, and I never wanted any of this!" Fluttershy snapped back.
"You were scared and alone before now, why is this any different?"
Fluttershy was about to answer back before she felt the voice's response cut to the her core. Her mouth hung open for a moment before closing as she looked down into the infinite black below her.
"You chose to live separate from others," the voice continued. "You chose a life of solitude because you know that you cannot relate to others in a meaningful manner. You don't think like they do, and rather than have to do the work of making them relate to you, you abandoned them for the animals who harbor no preconceptions. You have always been alone, you only realize it now that you have made a connection and you are terrified to lose it."
Fluttershy said nothing, for there was nothing she could. Whatever this thing was, it was right, and the fact that it was so completely right hurt more keenly than any physical pain she had ever felt.
"There is no shame in admitting your faults, Fluttershy," the voice continued. "Far from it, there is strength in knowing that you are weak, for in the knowing there is room for growth and development. Setting Sun is being put through a similar trial even as you are being put through yours."
"He's okay?" Fluttershy asked, snapping back to attention at confirmation that Sun was still alive.
"Relatively speaking, he is. He is still as physically frail as any other pony, but he has a strength of character that speaks volumes about his ordained purpose."
"Can you bring him to me, or me to him?" Fluttershy asked, a flutter of hope building in her heart.
"No, I cannot," the voice answered, its slow, deep tone growing morose. "You each have a path to walk before meeting with us, and it is in the path that you will see what your purpose to come is. This is the way it must be."
The faint glimmer of hope in Fluttershy's heart withered at the voice's answer, and she felt on the verge of collapse again until a new sensation spread through her. She got up, standing to her shaking legs until she stood tall for an audience of herself. With a sniff as she wiped the last of the tears from her cheeks, Fluttershy started on the path forward.
"Then show me my path," Fluttershy stated, her voice still thick with emotion but with a hint of force behind it. "I have a job to finish."
* * *
Sun couldn't tell how long it had been since the first vision he had been show of Appleoosa, but the further he walked the more it seemed like he was being led on by something. His logical mind knew that Chrysalis had a reason for him to be here so he wasn't too worried, but getting separated from Fluttershy along with the aimless wandering was starting to set off his finely-honed fight-or-flight response.
He had paused to rest his hooves when, out of the corner of his eye, he saw another vision approaching in a nimbus of silver light. It was still distant, but approaching more rapidly than the last one had.
"Once more unto the breach," Sun muttered to himself.
"Your words are more appropriate than you would think," a voice replied, this one in a lower register than the last but unmistakably feminine.
As the image finally got close enough that Sun could make it out he saw a place that he didn't recognize, but that he could make an educated guess as to its identity. An expanse of open ground with the rubble and wreckage of war and death surrounded the walls of a massive castle built into a cliff side, its immaculate surface and glittering ornamentation a stark contrast to the field of carnage and destruction that encapsulated it.
"Is this Canterlot?" Sun asked. There was no response as the viewpoint quickly shifted, flying towards the open balcony on the castle's central spire.
The quick flying of the perspective in the vision was slightly nauseating, but not nearly as much compared to where it landed when it stopped. He appeared to be inside the throne room of the palace, where placed upon three of the five assembled thrones were Celestia, Luna, and Cadance, all entombed in solid hunks of crystal. Above the central throne beat a large crystalline heart, and beneath its polished translucent surface a core of magenta magic pulsed violently.
"What happened!?" Sun asked, hoping that the voice would reply to him this time. "What did Twilight do to them?"
"A betrayal most grievous, to be sure," the voice answered, "but such is the way of ponies, and alicorns specifically. They were doomed as soon as Starlit Sky convinced them to return to their ancient thrones, though you did not know at the time."
The view shifted again, speeding out of the throne room and out towards a large pillar that it had passed on the way in. There was rubble strewn about it that Sun could barely register before the view began to rocket down a long empty shaft in the center of the pillar. Teal lights whipped past in the vision, and Sun found himself having to avert his eyes as he felt a headache coming on.
When the flickering of teal light ceased its rapidity Sun looked back up to see a scene that sent a shock arcing down his spine and his heart into his throat. Standing in the middle of a workshop in a large cavern was Twilight Sparkle, looking as aghast as Sun as they both stared up at a massive black heart radiating silver light that lit up the entire cavern.
"That's the Heart of Fate, isn't it?" Sun asked.
"Indeed," the voice answered, venom heavy in its voice.
"But if the Heart of Fate and the Crystal Heart are in Canterlot, then what does Chrysalis have?"
"A shard, much like the one bound to your mind and the minds of so many other ponies in this world," the voice replied. "Chrysalis watches over us, and we still have power enough to show those who would entreat upon her territory visions such as these to deter them from intrusion, but we are a pale shade of the mighty artifact we once were, and the alicorns are to blame."
"The alicorns? You mean not just Twilight?" Sun asked, trying to make sense of what he was being told as he watched Twilight lay waste to the workshop in a whirlwind of rage.
"We are the progenitor of ponies," the voice answered. "We gave unthinking animals life and thought, gave the world magic in the ages long past, and graced a select few ponies with power above others to act as sentinels and guardians for those below them. Your world exists because we willed it to be so, and the alicorns we created to guide you instead chose to rule you as first as tyrants, then as lords, and then finally as princesses."
"But I thought the Crystal Heart is what gave the alicorns their abilities," Sun countered. "Cadance told us as much, that taking power from the Crystal Heart is what allowed alicorns to be created."
A sharp, ringing peal of laughter from seemingly a chorus of voices echoed throughout the space around him, long enough and loud enough that Sun thought the very darkness itself was going to shatter from the sonic assault. He was forced to put his hooves over his ears just to block out the worst of it.
"Their profane Crystal Heart was created in a mocking imitation of us," the singular voice answered back, hard and venomous. "They stole the very magic that we had given to them, drained it from nature itself, and bound it up inside of that bauble so that they might control that which was our domain by right."
Sun looked back to the scene playing out in front of him, of Twilight throwing an almighty tantrum in front of an object, a being, of such titanic power that Sun only now realized made her look like an ant trying to fight a dust storm.
"Really helps put things into perspective, doesn't it?" Sun asked to nopony in particular, suddenly feeling the weight of his own insignificance.
"The sins of her ancestors must be paid back in full, Setting Sun," the voice said. "They have done indelible damage to this world that can never be truly healed. All the remains is retribution."
Sun continued to stare at the vision until it faded entirely, leaving the afterimage of Twilight, the Heart, and a ruined cavern as the final punctuation on all he had just been told.
"How do I fix this?" Sun asked as he began his walk again, more purposefully than before.
"Obey, Setting Sun, and accept Chrysalis's offer. You will be the instrument of our revenge against the powers that be, and it will be quite glorious indeed when retribution rains down on the alicorn's head."
* * *
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I....really don't like where this is going. Nothing about this seems like it's going to end well.
Oh yeah, retribution is all that matters for the fallen titan, isn't it. And the whole world, or what remains of it, is likely expendable for that purpose. Good times.
This comment contains lots of useless emotions.
You know, it feels like you lied to me about no romance in this story. May be it's me or just the way you write it, but then a girl insistenly asks you about other women beings in your life, (
and
) then there is certainly something fishy going on. How can I not feel snowball shipping then there are so many clues? It's like, I'm hearing my neighbors dancing to hardbass, but you say to me that it's not hardbass, it's nightcore Beethoven virus. By coincidence, beats are similar and so the dance of my neighbors.
(Exhales deeply) Alright, sorry for lashing out on you in such manner, I don't want to offend neither argue with you, but I definitely got some mixed signals. No, i don't think that you lied to me and I believe in your words. To say more, I even think that your take on this "romance" could be a good one. Dialogues between Flyttershy and Sun were good and provided some interesting interactions. I certainly don't mind to see more of them in the future even in "romance" if it comes down to that. And without a doubt I want to see that you've prepared next for this story as a whole.
It was a nice chapter with a good amount of character and plot progression.
P.S. Regarding the flowchart I'm glad that you liked it (it's always nice to know, that i managed to brighten someones mood). Feel no pressure, release chapters as you want (just don't abandon the story, I'm begging you).
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I see what you’re saying, I really do, and to be quite honest I have never been in a committed relationship like that myself so I’m not the most experienced hand at writing that sort of relationship, but I think this comes down to how I have been viewing Fluttershy in my head.
When I first started writing her, my initial idea was that she has a personality disorder akin to antisocial personality disorder. I asked myself the question of why she would take to the swamp, a hostile and frightening environment that would run totally counter to her demure and timid nature, and in my head the most logical choice was that she found living with others to be more uncomfortable. As time has gone on and I’ve gotten more of a bead on writing her, especially after the Changeling attack where Sun healed her head, she’s started to form an attachment to Sun born from both the sheer degree of isolation she’s been under for the last decade as well as unresolved feelings about the conditions under which she left home. She doesn’t know exactly how to handle this connection since it’s a new experience, but she’s going to stand by Sun despite herself because, despite her antisocial tendencies, she sees him as being worth the effort to get to know better. As for bluntly asking about the other people in his life, he’s only ever mentioned Starlit to her, and Fluttershy’s been so out of practice with normal conversation that she just says things that come to mind without heed for greater implications.
That was a long and rambling explanation, but I hope it clears up some of my inner process for how I write her. I honestly enjoy discussing my characters and world like this since it helps to clarify my own thoughts regarding it, so don’t feel bad for supposedly calling me out. It’s valiant readers like you that help keep me on my toes!
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Stay tuned, y’all. We’re closing in on the finale.
Oh, I certainly don't mind long answers. Especially then they are as full and insightful as yours.
Well, if I'll try to look at Fluttershy from your perspective then - yeah, it makes more sense from the angle of socially awkward person. May be she developed habit of blatancy (if it could be called that) after spending so much time with animals - I don't think they were too secretive.
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Yeah, animals are pretty forthright, and that’s honestly why she prefers their company to ponies; there aren’t any tricky social cues to work around with them.
hum, so Twilight Sparkle is a control freak, the rest of the alicorns are not exactly on the up and up either, and a primordial entity claims to have "grievances" with said alicorns, and Starlit and Sun are caught in the middle. I can say that I kinda know how that feels (although to a much much lesser degree) in that my mom sometimes corrals me into helping her do things like taking away my little brother's phone which leads to me feeling like a scummy older brother, and bad feelings all around. Sorry for the irrelevant tangent, but venting helps a little bit.
Anyways, have I said before how much I love your take on Fluttershy? I have read all sorts of stories where she takes part, and tbh, you're not the first story to put steel in her spine or to flesh out why she's so shy in the first place. But you are without a doubt successful, and I loved the little bits of snark and joking that happens between her and Sky like the thing about her having wings in this chapter.
Keep up the excellent work.
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Thank you! Fluttershy was really the one whose personality I wanted to nail, so I'm glad you're enjoying the way I'm writing her! I personally got sick of how often the show would run back her gaining confidence every time they needed a "learn to stand up for yourself" lesson (at least until around season 6 or so), so I wanted to inject some of the canon character growth she got into her here at the start and work from there. Glad to see it's paid off!