Making my Mark

by Firestar463

Chapter 8

It seemed that my questions were going to have to wait.

For the first time since I had arrived, I was the first one to make it down to the dining hall. I took my normal seat, on the northern side of the table, third seat down from the far end. I wasn’t left alone long. It couldn’t have been more than five minutes before Celestia and Luna both walked in through the same door I had entered in. I flashed them both a smile as they approached.

A smile that quickly faded as I saw the expressions on their faces.

“Is everything alright?” I asked as they took their normal seats - Luna next to me, and Celestia across from Luna.

“Mother and Father will not be joining us for breakfast today,” Celestia replied. The tension in her voice was clearly audible. “Something’s happened. Something big.”

“We don’t know what,” Luna continued before I could speak. She picked up the plate of bread rolls and put one on her plate, along with a small bowl of honey.” But they’re meeting with all their top advisors right now. And that’s not a good sign. The last time this happened, the Minotaurs were marching into the city by nightfall.”

“Another crisis. Lovely,” I muttered under my breath as I took the plate from Luna and added a roll to my own plate. “And what about you all?” I asked, passing the plate over to Celestia and reaching for the fried eggs. “Are you going to be joining them?”

Luna shook her head. “No. We’re involved in many of the day-to-day operations, but something like this… This is beyond us.”

“And since Starswirl is one of their top advisors, it seems that our lessons for today have been cancelled,” Celestia continued. She picked up her fork and jammed it into a chunk of cantaloupe, with enough force that I was certain the plate would shatter. Thankfully, it seemed to be made of sturdier stuff, for it resisted the blow. “I feel so helpless…” she muttered, raising the fork to her mouth.

A strained silence descended over the table as we settled into our breakfast. It was the standard fare - mostly fruits and grains, with a plate of eggs and a small amount of meat for me. Ham today. But the food was muted. It didn’t taste the same. My mouth was dry, my stomach twisted in knots. I couldn’t finish more than half of my plate, and a glance around the table told me that Celestia and Luna had also lost their appetites.

“So… what now?” That had been Celestia who had spoken, looking across the table at both Luna and me.

“Well… I usually head up to the library at this point,” I suggested. “Do some reading. It’s a good way to kill time, if nothing else.”

“Unless you have a better idea, Celestia?” Luna asked.

Celestia shook her head. “I don’t. I don’t know what to do, honestly. The library seems like the best place to go, for now anyway.”

In unison, the three of us rose from our seats and abandoned our half-finished meals. We exited through the door closest to us, turning right and following the path up the spiral staircase to the third floor, towards the library.

We took our time in getting settled in. Celestia and I went in the same direction, towards the history section of the library in one of the corners of the first floor. I picked out a book on the Minotaurs before making my way to one of the couches in the middle of the library. Celestia took a bit longer than me, returning with a book not on history, but on legends - specifically, to do with the Crystal Empire. Luna was the last to arrive, carrying with her a thick spellbook with several illegible runes on the front cover. We all settled in and tried to lose ourselves in our chosen tomes.

But I found that I couldn’t. The words didn’t hold my attention. My mind kept drifting away, to my own thoughts. Towards Serenity and Solaris, and their room full of advisors somewhere in the castle. To the crisis they were dealing with. To my own… powerlessness. Celestia had put it perfectly. I felt helpless, powerless. A crisis was building, or had already broken, and while I had my own suspicions, I still didn’t know what was going on, how to deal with it… once again, it felt like my fate was out of my control.

It didn’t help that I still had plenty of questions for Serenity about last night.

The princesses didn’t seem to be faring much better. Celestia kept readjusting herself in her armchair, at first sitting up straight, then leaning over with the book on the table, and even moving over to another couch to lie down. It seemed as though she just couldn’t get comfortable. Luna, meanwhile, kept looking up from her book and glancing between Celestia and me. It seemed that, like me, her book could not hold her attention.

Finally, Luna gave up. She slammed her book closed and let it fall to the table with a loud thud that echoed through the library. “It’s useless,” she groaned, rubbing her temples.

“You too?” I asked, closing my own book and laying it down on the table next to Luna’s. Across the table, I saw Celestia sit back up and similarly discard her own book. In response, Luna merely shook her head. For a long moment, the three of us just sat in silence, stewing in our own thoughts, our own doubts and worries and fears. The tension was thick enough to cut with a knife, and only growing thicker and more oppressive by the second.

Finally, I could stand it no longer. “I…” I began, noticing how sharply my voice cut into the silence. “I suppose… I could continue the story.” Together, Luna and Celestia’s ears both perked up, and they looked over towards me. “The one I was telling you last night.”

“That… would be nice,” Celestia smiled weakly.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, feeling the stares of both princesses upon me. “So, the last thing that happened was that our heroes received medals for their courage, and Darth Vader was sent hurtling into space. Our story picks up three years later, on the frozen world of Hoth…”

---

The rest of the day seemed to fly by. Luna and Celestia seemed to instantly forget their worries, if the enraptured expressions on their face were any indication. They sat on the couch opposite me, at times leaning back calmly in their chairs, at other times leaning forward expectantly. I must have seen every expression possible cross their faces at some point, from excitement during the chase through the asteroid field, to horror as Darth Vader made his big reveal, to terror as the Emperor assaulted Luke with lightning, to bittersweet pity as Darth Vader finally died.

The retelling was a nice distraction for me as well. If nothing else, coming up with appropriate descriptions kept my mind from drifting towards the looming crisis. And it was fun seeing their reactions as the events of the movies unfolded. I only wished that I had been able to show them the actual films, rather than simply describing them. Who knows… maybe it would have even lasted a little longer.

None of us were hungry as lunch rolled around. Maybe it was just me, but I couldn’t stomach the thought of walking back into that dining hall and seeing Serenity and Solaris missing again, and being reminded of the crisis every time I looked towards their empty seats. So instead, we elected to simply remain in the library and continue the story. It was preferable for me, and Celestia and Luna seemed to agree that they didn’t want to interrupt the story.

But all good things must eventually come to an end.

“...And with the ghosts of Ben Kenobi, Yoda, and Anakin Skywalker looking on, the rebels celebrated the destruction of the second Death Star, and the Death of the Emperor. Though the war was far from over, a terrible blow had been struck against the Empire. One that would eventually lead to its collapse, and the establishment of a New Republic.” I took a brief pause to take a breath and let out a large sigh. “That’s the end of the story… that I know of, anyway.”

Across the table, Luna raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“Well, there was another part of the story that was going to be released,” I explained. “Set thirty years after the end that I just told you. But I wound up here before the next part could be released.” Indeed, I noted with no small amount of regret that Episode Seven would be releasing… what, a month from now? It would have been coming out two months after I came to Equestria, and I’d been here for just over a month…

A twinge of discomfort shot through my abdomen, drawing from my thoughts. I looked down as the twinge repeated itself, before glancing across the table to the princesses. “Either of you know what time it is?” I asked, to which I received a pair of shaking heads. “Feels like it’s gotta be close to dinner time.”

“I am getting hungry…” Luna agreed.

“Maybe mother and father will be there?” Celestia suggested. “I mean… they have to eat at some point too…”

“And we could maybe get some answers,” I finished.

The three of us rose and turned towards the door of the library. I paused and cracked my neck, stiff from sitting in one spot for so long, as the princesses took the lead. Together, the three of us made our way out of the library, towards the stairwell, down to the first floor, and to the left, towards the dining hall.

Already, I could tell something was different. Whereas before there had normally been only a pair of guards standing watch outside the dining hall, now a half-dozen flanked the double doors. Just in front of me, Celestia and Luna exchanged a glance before moving towards the door. The three guards on the side closest to us inclined their heads as the princesses passed and pulled the doors open, raising them to glance at me as I followed. “Bullslayer, I heard one of them murmur as I stepped through the open door, letting it swing closed behind me.

Sure enough, we were not the first ones to arrive for dinner. Serenity and Solaris were already sitting at the end closest to us. And they were not alone. Surrounding them on either side were nearly a dozen mares and stallions, pouring over documents and speaking amongst themselves in hushed whispers. Starswirl was among them, clad in his usual robes, as was Colonel Firefly in her standard military uniform. I didn’t recognize any of the other faces in the crowd, though it didn’t take much guesswork to realize that these were the top advisors to the crown.

Every head swiveled towards us as the princesses and I stepped into the room. Just as quickly, however, the group returned to its hushed conversation. The princesses and I shared another look as we moved past the group. Our normal seats were occupied, and so we found ourselves sitting at the far end of the table, away from the rest of the Ponies in the room.

Dinner was a quiet affair on both ends of the table. Serenity, Solaris, and their advisors were speaking amongst each other, but I couldn’t make out anything other than a low hissing sound from their whispers. The princesses and I, meanwhile, ate in absolute silence, hardly willing to even make eye contact with each other. At least for myself, I felt all the weight of this morning’s fears and worries washing over myself. I couldn’t bring myself to give these thoughts a voice, and if they were feeling the same, it seemed that Celestia and Luna couldn’t either. The tension across the table was oppressive, stifling all thoughts of casual conversation.

Mercifully, dinner was also a short affair. The princesses and I finished only moments before Serenity and Solaris and their group of advisors. As soon as we heard the sound of chairs moving from the other end of the table, the three of us rose from our own chairs. Normally, we would have made our way to the other end of the table and out the door, with Luna and I heading back to the Library for magic training while Celestia would, presumably, go to her room. But with the gaggle of Ponies crowding the far end of the table, we silently decided to simply wait for them to leave first.

As the first of the advisors began to leave, Solaris turned his head towards us. Though he’d regained a lot of the body mass that he’d lost during his imprisonment, his face was still lean and gaunt, almost boney. His brow furrowed as his gaze passed over me, but his focus seemed to be his daughters as he moved down the table towards us. Serenity, meanwhile, remained at the far end of the table. Unlike Solaris, her gaze fixated onto me and stayed there. I locked eyes with her for a moment, and she motioned for me to join her.

I glanced sideways across the table towards the approaching Solaris as I made my way to the other side of the dining hall. Solaris had diverted his eyes away from the princesses, towards me. Our eyes met for a split-second. Distrust was still present on his face, maybe even a hint of anger, but it was nearly completely masked by… something else. Fear? Perhaps. But fear of what? Me? Or whatever this crisis was that he’d been dealing with? Both? I couldn’t tell, and was afforded no more time to think about it as we passed each other.

Serenity nodded in my direction as I stopped a couple of paces away from her. “Chris,” She greeted me.

“Queen Serenity,” I inclined my head slightly.

“I am sorry that I was not present this morning to answer your questions, as I promised -”

I held up a hand, cutting off Serenity’s apologies. “I understand,” I replied. “Something big has happened, if I’m understanding things correctly.”

Serenity closed her eyes and let out a large sigh. “Indeed. But not something that you need worry about… yet. Rest assured,” she continued, cutting off the beginnings of my protest, “that if and when that time should come, you shall know about it. But for now, you have your own problems to deal with. I believe I promised you an explanation.”

“The creature we observed last night in your dreams… it is far more than a mere beast.” Serenity paused to close her eyes and rub them. “It is known simply as The Nightmare. A malevolent… thing… that has existed since time immemorial. It exists within the Dreamscape, where all dreams originate and reside. Gathering information on the Nightmare is difficult, to say the least, but we have been able to make a few observations.”

“Firstly, we believe that The Nightmare… feeds, for lack of a better word. It feeds off the fear of others. When encountering another dream within the Dreamscape, it will maliciously influence and corrupt that dream to turn it into one of fear and darkness. If left unchecked, it can keep its victims locked in an unending slumber, trapped within an eternal nightmare. Thus, this… thing… can feed off the fear it generates, and grow in power.”

“Second, we know that the Nightmare seeks to escape the Dreamscape. It has made several escape attempts since we first discovered it, each one with disastrous consequences for the waking world. One of our most well-known legends, the tale of Hearth’s Warming, is no legend at all, but a factual retelling of the effects of one of these attempted breakouts.”

“Should the Nightmare ever escape the Dreamscape, the horrors it would inflict upon Gaia would be unthinkable. The Dreamwalkers recognize this threat, and were founded to stop such an event from occurring. We monitor the Dreamscape, driving back the Nightmare and breaking its influence on whatever dreams it may corrupt. I have faced this monster several times before, and I do not doubt that I will face it again. But last night…” A shudder ran down Serenity’s body. “Last night was unlike anything I’ve seen before. The Nightmare was far more powerful than I’ve ever seen it. Even with Starswirl, I doubt I could have driven it back. Hence, our need for a swift retreat.”

I’d remained silent up to this point. Not that I’d have been able to speak if I’d wanted to, I don’t think. My mind was still reeling at the horror Serenity’s revelation. That something like this could actually exist… Ponies, Minotaurs, Griffons, even Dragons, that was fine. I could handle that. But a creature that essentially amounted to an eldritch abomination, feeding off the fear of others? Drawing its victims into eternal nightmare? And it wasn’t just a myth or a fantasy - it was a real thing. I’d starred it in the eyes. It had held me in its grasp…

“But… why?” I began. “Why… why is it going after me? And how did it get so powerful?”

Serenity merely shook her head. “I wish I knew why it was so interested in you,” she sighed. “As to how it accumulated so much strength… I have no answers, only guesses. Perhaps our vigilance has been insufficient. Perhaps it fed on the fear that flowed through all Equestria during the Minotaur’s invasion. Perhaps it has found another source of power that we are unaware of. Perhaps it is all of these things, or none. We simply do not know…”

“And now,” Serenity continued, “I have told you everything I know about this… beast. This monster. I wish there was more I could tell you, but we simply do not know anything else. Until we do, we will continue to do what we can to keep you safe. I will join you in your dreams again tonight, while Starswirl investigates the Dreamscape itself for any clues as to how to drive the Nightmare back again.”

Serenity peered past me towards the other end of the dining hall. Turning my head to follow her gaze, I noticed Solaris standing at the far end, holding the door open and staring directly at us. “For now, I must go,” Serenity continued. “My day is not yet finished. And neither is yours. I believe Luna is waiting for you.”

Oh yeah. Right. In all the stress through the day, and the weirdness from last night, I’d almost forgotten that I was still meeting with Luna in the library. I opened my mouth to bid Serenity farewell, but she was already gone, walking down the length of the table towards Solaris. She didn’t look back towards me at any point, so I decided to take my leave and exit through the door closest to me.

A few moments later, I pushed the door to the library open. The warm glow inside was welcoming as ever, and I gladly stepped into it, out of the torch-lit corridors outside. I spotted Luna almost immediately, sitting on the same couch that I had been sitting on earlier that day. I made my way over to the couch and plopped down next to her. “Hey.”

“Hi, Chris,” Luna nodded as I sat down. “What did mother want? Did she tell you what was going on today?”

I shook my head. “No. It was… something else.” There was a pause as Luna cocked her head to the side. “Something… personal.”

“Ah. I see…” Another pause as Luna glanced around the room. “So… are you ready to begin?”

“Yep,” I nodded. “Let’s do this.”

The two of us turned so that we were facing each other on the couch, cross-legged. Luna’s hands came together in front of her and she closed her eyes. Her horn began to glow, becoming surrounded by her magical aura. A crackle of electricity sparked to life between her hands, which quickly expanded to become the orb of energy that I had become familiar with over the past few evenings. A faint hum pulsed through the room as the ball of energy stopped expanding, stabilizing at about the size of a basketball.

Luna’s eyes snapped open, and she looked towards me. “Whenever you’re ready.”

I took a deep breath, tried to clear my mind, and braced myself as best I could. This was always the worst bit. I reached out with my right hand and placed it upon the orb. Instantly, I felt electricity running up my arm, and it was all I could do to stop from pulling back. I forced myself to close my eyes and clear my mind as best I could - no easy feat when your hand is going numb from electrical shock.

As soon as I felt the sensation of electricity fade, I opened my eyes. There I was, again, upon a bridge of light above the bottomless void. At the far end was that same solid-iron door. Already, one flickering ball of light was zig-zagging this way and that across the track.

I didn’t pause to take in these surroundings though. Taking the time to make these observations would have merely created more images to distract me. Instead, I started running. Sprinting, as fast as I could. My eyes glanced towards the ball of light as I approached. As I weaved past it, another one flared to life, directly in front of me. I had to duck under it to get past, but in that time, two more had spawned, already swarming towards me. One missed badly, but the other slammed into my knee.

I let out a hiss of pain as I nearly fell to the ground. It was like getting hit by one of those rubber kickballs from elementary school… if it had been fired out of a cannon. Yet another ball flew over my head as I ducked down, fighting past the lingering ache in my knee. I pushed myself back to my feet and continued my run.

And yet there were still more, popping up every so often in front of me. When I would dodge around one, another would pop up. And the ones behind me weren’t done with me, it would seem. They chased behind, a swarming mass of flickering images and light. My stomach began to clinch into a tight knot. If this kept up…

And suddenly, I was free.

There were no more lights. No more distractions in front of me. Just a straight shot to the door. I knew the lights behind me were still coming, but I didn’t care. I didn’t stop to wonder why they’d stopped forming in front of me. I just ran, as fast as I could. The door drew steadily closer. Every so often, one of the lights from behind me would hit me in the back, in the shoulder, on the arm, but never with the same force as that first one. They couldn’t stop me. Not this time.

And just like that, I was there.

Normally, I would have taken the time to stare at this door. To examine it, to take in the moment. After all, I knew what was coming… Or at least, I had an idea of what was probably going to happen. And I would have wanted to relish it. But I knew those lights behind me were still after me. There was no time to savor this victory. So, I reached out. I grabbed the handle. Pulled it down.

And heaved the door open.

A blast of light erupted from the newly-opened door, blinding me. An instant later, some force launched me from my feet and send me flying backwards. I landed hard upon some solid surface - I assume it was the bridge. It was kind of hard to tell, with my eyes still screaming in protest at the sudden influx of light. And the heat. Oh God, the heat. Like the inside of an oven. And only getting hotter. I tried to get up, but another wave of force washed over me, knocking me to the ground again. And again. And again. I curled up in a ball, trying to ride it out…

“Chris! Chris!”

My eyes snapped open.

The first thing I noticed was that I was no longer on the couch. Instead, I was on the floor, staring up at the large crystal that lit up the library. Or, rather, I would have been staring at it, had Luna’s face not been in the way. She was kneeling over me, and judging by her expression, she was on the verge of panic. Sweat lined my forehead, soaked into the collar around my neck, into the back of my shirt. My right arm was still numb, though feeling was already beginning to return to my fingers.

As soon as my eyes opened, Luna let out a large sigh. “Oh, sweet Faust, Chris… Don’t do that!”

“Eh?” I asked. I waved her back as I sat up, rubbing the back of my head where it had hit the floor. The rug beneath me had cushioned the blow, but I could still feel where I’d landed. “What happened?”

“You went into a seizure!” Luna exclaimed. “You fell into the floor and started convulsing! I thought you were dying!”

“Well… uh…” I struggled for words as I dragged myself back up onto the couch, leaning back into its cushiony recess. Finally, I shrugged. “Sorry?”

Luna took a deep breath and closed her eyes, letting the breath out slowly as she pulled herself off the floor and onto the couch as well. “Are you feeling well, Chris?” she asked. “I mean… that wasn’t a small seizure either…”

“Yeah… I feel fine,” I replied. And I did feel fine. More than fine. As the feeling returned to my arm, I felt… something. Something else. Some other… feeling… that hadn’t been there in my arm before. A feel of warmth. Like a warm blanket on a cold night, only… inside.

I held up a hand to cut Luna off as she opened her mouth to speak. “Hold on,” I murmured. I paid close attention as the minutes passed, as full feeling returned to my arm. And that… something else… that other warmth now filled my entire arm.

And it didn’t stop there. It crept past my shoulder towards my neck and down my chest. Not quickly - it had been at least five minutes since I’d settled back into the couch by now - but quick enough. This comfortable warmth was spreading across my body, and I couldn’t help but close my eyes and smile.

“Are… are you okay?” I heard Luna ask again.

I nodded in response. “I’m fine,” I repeated. I opened my eyes to look at Luna as the warmth kept spreading, now to my stomach and my left shoulder. “I reached the door.”

Instantly, Luna’s eyes snapped wide open. “Wha… that’s great, Chris!” She exclaimed. “And what happened then?”

“Well… it was blinding,” I began. “And I got knocked to the ground and couldn’t get back up. And it was hot. Very hot.” I gave a small shrug. “And then I woke up. And now there’s this… warm… something or other… spreading across my body.”

Luna rapidly bobbed her head up and down. “That’s the feeling of mana seeping into your body. You’ve been closed off to its flow, but now that you’ve been opened up, it will begin to fill you. It’ll take a few hours to fully charge, but when you do, we can begin your actual training.”

I couldn’t help but smile again as I listened to Luna. I closed my eyes again and allowed my mind to wander. I was going to learn magic. Actual goddamn magic. Man, was I going to have some things to tell everyone back home… Assuming I actually got back home, I noted, my mood turning slightly sour.

But just as quickly, the sourness was gone. I opened my eyes and looked over towards Luna, who was staring at me intently. “So… What now?” I asked.

“Well… We can’t start training right now,” Luna began. “Your body is still filling with mana, and even once it’s done filling, it’ll be at least twelve hours before its stabilized enough to begin practicing safely. So, we’ll begin with that tomorrow. Until then… do you have any questions?”

“Yeah, actually.” I sat up straighter in my seat, popping my neck as I did so. “Are there going to be any… side effects of this?”

“Nothing noticeable, no,” Luna shook her head. “I mean, obviously there’s the warmth you’ve said is flowing through you right now, but once your entire body is filled with that warmth you’ll likely just get used to it. Other than that, the only side effects are the ones that come with being able to manipulate mana. You may be more sensitive to the leylines if you’re physically near one, or be able to sense if somepony around you is using magic. But you won’t be firing off spells at random or anything like that. Anything else?”

I began to shake my head. I really didn’t have any other questions about my new… status. But mid-shake, I froze. “… one more thing,” I began slowly. “Queen Serenity mentioned a legend to me the other day. One I’m not familiar with, one that’s not in one of those books over there.” I gestured towards a corner of the library. “She told me to ask you about it. So... Could you tell me about the Tomb of the Last Alicorn?”

Luna cocked her head to the side. “The Last Alicorn?” she repeated. “Well, I haven’t heard that legend mentioned for a long time… Starswirl was obsessed with that legend, you know. Nearly drove him mad. But I digress… Sure, I can tell you.”

“The legend is neither long, nor specific, but it is wondrous. It tells of a powerful Pony that lived long ago, back even before the legend of Hearth’s Warming, when we still lived in the frozen north. Nopony knows her name. It was said that this Pony was not a Unicorn, nor a Pegasus, nor an Earth Pony, but instead was all three at once. An Alicorn. She had the horn of a Unicorn and was capable of magic. The wings of a Pegasus, which allowed her to fly. And she was stronger than any Earth Pony, with a deep connection to Gaia that we can only dream of.”

“Under her rule, the three tribes were united, and lived in prosperity. And her rule lasted a good long while, too. Some versions of the legend claim she was ageless, existing outside of time and unaffected by its passage. Others claim that she was so powerful, she had managed to best death itself. And still others claim that she had no death-defying powers, but simply happened to live longer than usual. But all versions agree that eventually, one way or another, she did die. In every version, her final words are the same - ‘From darkness, comes light.’”

“So great was the respect she held, that the Ponies constructed a mighty tomb for her atop the nexus, where all the leylines of Gaia converge into a single point. Her death, however, also meant the end of the alliance between the tribes, which would not be restored until the founding of Equestria after the events in the Legend of Hearth’s Warming.”

“Of course, scholars and historians have long sought the Tomb. Starswirl was one such scholar. And one would think that it would be easy to follow the leylines until we reached a point where they all intersected each other. But multiple expeditions towards this location - far to the Frozen North, beyond even the Crystal Empire - have come back empty. So far, we’ve found no evidence that this is anything more than a legend.”

“And that’s all there is to it,” Luna finished with a smile. “I’m not surprised it’s not recorded in those books over there. It’s so old, and with so many conflicting versions, that it’s impossible to tell which one was the original.” There was a brief pause as Luna pushed herself to her hooves. “So… anything else?”

I shook my head as I rose to my feet as well. By now, the warmth had spread halfway down my upper leg, making my feet feel like ice in comparison. “No, I think that’s it.”

“Very well. Good Night, Chris,” Luna smiled as she walked past me towards the door. “I’ll see you back here tomorrow. Same time.”

“And come ready. The first lesson is always the hardest… but also the most fun.”

Comments

[first hand account]

uuuuuh the wait between chapters is too loooong
if only you typed as fast as this story is great....

[carrs88]

excellent job man still like this vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/joke-battles/images/f/fc/Chuck-Norris-Thumbs-Up-Meme-17.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20160328020239