Return of the Mare

by Victoria

Part I - Chapter 3: The Revelation

Chapter 3: The Revelation.

“We should do something…” Fields mumbled.

“What can we do?” Sundae snapped at him. “We don’t even know if she’s alive at that point!”

Fields sat on the floor and rubbed his temples. The pony probably felt partly responsible for encouraging Rose to jump. Sundae wanted to scream at him in anger, but it wouldn’t achieve anything, so she didn’t. Field’s assistant tried to reassure him, but he waved her off.

“This can’t be right,” Fields denied without much conviction. “She’ll be back at any second now.”

“It’s all my fault,” Ruby said all of a sudden. Sundae switched her attention to her friend in surprise. Ruby’s eyes were getting wet and she looked like she was about to cry. Sundae hugged her tightly in an attempt to calm her down.

“No, it’s not,” Sunny gently told her. Before she could say more, however, she felt a magical surge coming from the mirror. She felt each and every hair on her coat stand on end.

The others felt it too, because everypony suddenly tensed up and turn their gaze on the artefact. The mirror started to vibrate with a low hum. Even Ruby stopped her self-blaming and watched the portal with renewed hope.

“Perhaps, we’d better step back a little,” Sundae rushed back in a hurry. The others followed her example. The whole group had been standing by the door, when the mirror finally burst with sparks and somethingtumbled through onto the stone floor.

Sundae and Ruby were the first to approach the squirming thing. They gasped in horror when they saw something resembling a pony lying there in a twisted, crooked shape. The form was constantly surging and changing, as if it was trying to reassemble itself. A foreleg appeared on its back, then reshaped on the other side. Even though the pegasus looked nothing like her former self, Sunny was sure it was her.

“Sweet Celestia…” whispered somepony.

That shook Sundae out of her stupor. It wasn’t time for panic – it was time for action. She sharply turned around and ordered somepony to find Bright and bring him here. Fields and Breeze ran for it at once. Then Sundae cast her magic vision spell to see what was happening with Rose.

“What…” Ruby wanted to ask, but Sunny interrupted her with a sharp hoof gesture. She didn’t need a distraction right now.

Sunny’s horn glowed with magic, providing the unicorn with a disturbing picture. Instead of the harmonic flow of energy of a healthy pony, Rose’s was a complete mess. And it was changing itself without a pattern. Sundae wanted to help, but she had no idea what to do. Manipulating the energy flow on such a level was far beyond her ability. Hopefully, Bright would be able to do something…

The door opened and the pony in question galloped into the room, stopping before Rose’s body. On Bright’s usually indifferent face appeared a stunned expression. Even he wasn’t expecting to see something like this. But to give him his due, Bright quickly collected himself and immediately concentrated on saving the poor mare’s life.

The Doctor, however, wasn’t nearly as collected as his young protégé. He trotted in a few moments later and addressed everypony without skipping a beat:

“You’re darn idiots!”

Fields looked down in shame, having taken the insult close to heart. The rest of the group were just nervously glancing between the enraged Doctor and Bright, who was standing over Rose with a brightly lit horn. Ruby was just sitting on the floor, sobbing quietly.

“Get out of here!” Shade bellowed at the ponies.

They took off running, like a spooked bunny herd. The room became empty, except for Ruby, Bright, Sundae and Professor Fields. Fields decided to stay because he felt responsible for encouraging Rose to use the portal, just as Sundae did for failing to stop her.

The Doctor’s furious stare fell on both of them. She could almost physically feel his hostility towards her now. Sundae tried not to tremble from it.

“I expected better from you, Sundae,” the Doctor growled through his teeth. “And you, Fields, how did you let this happen?”

Fields chose to remain silent, having nothing to say in response. Sundae opened her mouth to say something in her defense, but couldn’t think of anything either. She had failed. If Rose didn’t make it, her death would be on Sundae’s hooves.

Then Sundae started to get mad. While she admitted her responsibility for what had happened, Shade didn’t have the moral high ground here. The Doctor had been talking about the importance of safety all morning but then he just let them freely explore the dangerous artefacts. And now he was trying to blame them for what had happened!

“Look!” Ruby suddenly exclaimed, just as Sundae was about to explode at the Doctor.

She looked to see that Rose, who had been embraced by a red magic aura, was slowly but steadily returning to her original shape. With sickening clicks and pops, her body reassembled itself. Bright’s horn stopped glowing and he sighed heavily, wiping the sweat off his forehead. He was barely standing on his hooves, but the result of his work was clearly visible.

“Good job, Morning Bright!” Shade praised him. The unicorn just nodded slightly in response.

Ruby jumped towards him and embraced him in a rib-crushing hug. She was out of herself with happiness. Bright stoically accepted it and even patted her on the back a few times.

“What the hay has happened to her?” Fields cocked his head at Rose, confusion and relief mixed on his face.

“A powerful transfiguration spell gone wrong,” explained Bright to the Professor, carefully getting out of Ruby’s grip, “I was able to fix it, of course, but I don’t know if there is any permanent damage.”

Sunny listened with fascination. She was a little envious of Bright’s ability to identify and fix such a complicated spell on his own. She promised herself to hit the books on the subject as soon as she returned from the expedition. At least, now it looked like Rose was recovering.

“We should get her to the camp and let her rest,” Fields suggested.

“Of course,” the Doctor agreed. “Ruby, carry her to her tent and see to her recovery.”

“Me?” Ruby was surprised. “Not that I’m refusing, of course…”

“I can help—” Sundae tried to offer, but was interrupted by the doctor’s intense stare.

“You’ve already ‘helped’ enough,” Shade frowned. Sundae’s tail wagged angrily from side to side and she felt her cheeks burning red. She was already feeling guilty without his constant jabs!

“Hey, you can’t blame her for what happened!” Ruby defended her friend, moving to stand closely by her side. “She tried to stop Rose. If anything, it’s my fault!”

Sundae was touched by seeing her friend try to take her blame. She gave her a nuzzle to show her gratitude, which Ruby returned. But while Sundae was thankful for the support, she wanted to set things straight.

“Don’t blame yourself, please,” Sundae shook her head sadly. “I’m supposed to be in charge when it comes to dealing with magical dangers.”

“You and Bright both,” added Fields, pointing his hoof accusingly at the white unicorn: “You knew the artefact was dangerous. What were you doing out there with Shade?”

“This is none of your concern, Professor,” answered the Doctor, annoyed, while Bright just stood there wearing a blank expression. “Besides, he told you it wasn’t working.”

“You, as you have pointed out just recently, are in charge here,” Fields looked at the Doctor. “You can’t blame us for your failings as a leader.”

Sundae silently agreed with him, but decided not to voice it out loud. She had already managed to get her emotions under control. There was no need to make the relationship with the Doctor any worse than it was. But, of course, there was no denying that Fields had a pretty good point.

Their leader’s desire to search the building alone – not counting his loyal supporter – was strange. He had claimed that he was concerned the ponies could be hurt by potential traps Starswirl allegedly set up, which was a ridiculous notion on its own, while completely ignoring the dangers of the artefact his own protégé declared as faulty and unstable. Sundae couldn’t help but wonder: what was he really up to?

“Let’s not waste time on arguments now,” she said instead. “Rose needs our help.”

“Of course, Sunny,” Ruby agreed with her friend.

They walked up to the pegasus, who had now returned to her natural form, and inspected her condition more thoroughly. Sunny gasped in surprise: Rose’s cutie mark of a red flower had vanished! Her flank was completely bare as if she was a little filly, who had yet to discover her talent.

“What’s wrong?” Fields asked, drooping his ears. He shifted anxiously, fearing the worst.

“Her cutie mark is gone,” Bright told them before Sunny could explain, “I noticed that as soon as I got here.”

“Losing one’s cutie mark is better than losing one’s life, I suppose,” Fields commented with a sigh of relief. Sundae shuddered inside – in her opinion losing your talent was the worst possible thing that could happen to a pony – but she kept a calm expression for the others.

“Perhaps,” Sunny simply said, “We’ll figure it out later.”

She levitated Rose off the ground and, grunting, heaved her onto Ruby’s back. Ruby took the weight easily. She was quite strong for her size. After all, being an earth pony had its advantages.

“Can you carry her to the camp?” Sundae asked the mare just in case.

“Sure I can,” Ruby reassured her.

With that issue settled, the ponies finally moved out of the chamber, leaving the accursed artefact behind them. The group walked through the dark corridor in silence. Their hoofsteps were the only sound disturbing the place.

Sundae was trotting behind Ruby, supporting the pegasus on her back with magic to keep her from falling off. She could also feel her breathing through the magic field, which meant Rose was still alive despite what she’d been through today.

The unicorn’s magical field was quite sensitive. Sundae was able to feel the object’s shape or even temperature in her grip. It was much easier for handling things with precision than a hoof or mouth.

Replaying the recent events in her mind, Sundae had decided that she couldn’t blame herself for what had happened. Or, at least, not only herself. Rose’s foolish act put her own life in danger. It was a very dumb move, in Sunny’s opinion.

She could only hope that Ruby would come to the same conclusion because her friend seemed like she was blaming herself too. Sundae made a note in her memory to bring up the issue as soon as they were alone.

***

The rest of the day wasn’t as exciting as its start, a fact which Sundae was grateful for at the moment. All the talk in the camp was obviously about the mirror. Even though everypony saw what had happened with their own eyes, they still managed to disagree on the interpretation of the story.

Somepony blamed Rose herself for her ordeal, while the others, like Fields, thought the Doctor shouldn’t have left them alone. Sundae found herself partly agreeing with both positions.

It was the evening already, but Rose still hadn’t woken up. Her cutie mark hadn’t returned either. Bright insisted that she was perfectly healthy physically and the group’s medic confirmed it. She even looked younger after her unfortunate experience.

Sundae was sitting by the bonfire, looking mindlessly into the dancing flames. Her friend was doing the same nearby. They had been with Rosy since she was brought to the tent, and were just relaxing now.

Sundae brought up her suspicions about the Doctor while they had been alone and Ruby agreed with them. When they had just started the expedition a month ago, Nightfall Shade was acting like a calm and rational leader. But the closer they were getting to Starswirl’s lab, the more relentless the Doctor was becoming.

The friends had come to a decision earlier – they were going to confront the Doctor about his true motives tomorrow in the morning. With Fields on their side, the rest of the group were going to support them, for sure.

Right now, Fields and his assistant were studying the rest of the small artefacts found in the portal’s chamber. The ponies had learned their lesson and were approaching each object with an utmost care and only after Bright had confirmed its safety. They didn’t want to end up like Rose.

“It’s getting late,” said Ruby. “We should get some sleep.”

“Yep,” Sundae nodded.

She suddenly remembered that she hadn’t set up her own tent yet. Last night they slept together in Ruby’s. There wasn’t much room inside and Sundae felt bad for her friend’s inconvenience. But she had fallen asleep before she was able to do something about that yesterday.

Sundae frowned, perplexed, as she thought about that. Ruby had been able to set up Sunny’s tent just fine yesterday. Why would her friend choose to bring her into her own? It was too small for two grown ponies, in Sundae’s opinion.

“I should set up my tent,” she said, grabbing her big saddlebags still lying on stone plates, where they had been left the evening before.

“Don’t bother,” a tiny smile appeared on Ruby’s face. “I’m totally fine with you staying in mine for one more night.”

“Really?” Sundae raised her eyebrows. “But it’s so small...I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

“Ah, Sunny,” Ruby’s smile grew bigger, “I can’t possibly be uncomfortable. After all, you’re the most comfy pillow I’ve ever had!”

“Oh?” Sundae blushed heavily when she got what her friend was talking about. “Emm, thanks. For the offer, I mean. But there’s no need, I’ll…sleep alone today. Not that we slept together…Ah, you know what I mean…”

Ruby smirked at Sunny’s reaction to her little joke. She liked to tease her that way from time to time. Then she observed Sundae levitating the tent’s frame out of the bag and quickly assembling it. Must be nice to use magic instead of your own hooves and mouth, thought Ruby at the display. As soon as it was done, Sundae crawled inside, wishing her friend goodnight.

Ruby sighed, watching her posterior vanishing behind the curtain. The tent really was small for two ponies, reflected Ruby, although she wouldn’t mind spending one more night with that pony inside. In fact, the lack of space was an advantage. She let out another sigh, regretting a wasted opportunity, and went to sleep alone.

***

The sun had already set a few hours ago, but Sundae was still awake. She was turning from side to side, hoping to get comfortable enough to fall asleep, but to no avail. Disturbing thoughts invaded her head. Right now, she was worried about Rose. The mare hadn’t woken up yet. Hopefully, she would in the morning.

Sundae also kept thinking about the mirror-portal and what they should do with it. Obviously, it was too dangerous to use, but it was working to some extent. Rose proved it with her crazy dash through it and relatively successful return. Successful, if you don’t count her transformation gone bad.

The mirror should be brought to Canterlot for a more serious study, decided Sundae. The College had ponies and resources for it. She or even Bright weren’t qualified enough to do it here in the wilderness…

Her ears picked up a sound. They swiveled automatically to a source outside the tent – it was the sound of hoofsteps. Actually, she distinguished the hoofsteps of two ponies walking together. What were they doing being up at that time? Sundae felt the need to check it out.

She carefully moved the curtain and peeked outside. A bright moonlight was illuminating the yard. In it, she clearly recognized the two ponies walking towards the building. They were none other than Doctor Shade and Bright.

Sundae decided to follow them and try to eavesdrop on them. It was the perfect opportunity to learn more about what they were up to. She waited a little until the ponies vanished from her view and then went outside. The night’s air was chilly, but Sundae dismissed the idea of wearing a cape. It would only get in the way once she was inside the building.

She started to move carefully, trying to make as little sound as possible, but it was difficult with her horseshoes clopping on the stone plates. Once she had reached the stairs to the entrance, Sundae looked back.

The camp was quiet. As a rule, somepony would keep watch so that they could raise the alarm in case of trouble, but she didn’t see anyone. Usually, it was either Soft Breeze or his colleague, who were brought in with the expedition for that kind of thing. If it was Soft Breeze’s turn, he was probably observing from the clouds.

Sundae looked up, but the sky was clear. The moon, with a dark silhouette of a unicorn’s head on it, was its only feature. Sunny had studied history, so she knew it wasn’t actually a unicorn, but an alicorn, just like Celestia herself. She was known to ponydom as Nightmare Moon.

But now was not the time to think about some old mare’s tales. She had more pressing matters to attend to, like figuring out what their leader was up to. So the pony tore her gaze away from the moon and ascended the stairs of the building.

Once Sundae got inside, she could barely see past her snout. The light from the outside didn’t reach past the first few meters from the entrance, but she was reluctant to use an illumination spell. It would definitely catch the attention of the ponies she was trying to spy on.

She couldn’t see them anywhere now, but she didn’t want to risk it anyway. Taking one small step after the other, Sundae was slowly moving forward. Those damn horseshoes were clicking awfully loudly on the stone in the empty corridor. She stopped to quickly remove them and leave them by the wall. Without them, Sundae would have a much easier time keeping quiet. In hindsight, it would have been better to take the horseshoes off before coming here in the first place.

The pony stood still for a few moments, swiveling her ears back and forth, trying to hear anything. She thought she had heard some muffled voices up ahead.

Since there was no one here, she lit up her horn very dimly. Its light barely allowed her to see the wall’s outlines. Sundae crept forward until she got to the end of the corridor.

There was a room with some doors and a stairwell. All of them were closed, but the ponies she was looking for could be behind any of them. Or they could be down below - Sundae deduced that after hearing a strange, loud sound from the stairs’ direction. It reminded her of a giant bubble being burst. She wondered about its origin.

The only way to find out was to go and see for herself. Sundae walked down the stairs to find herself in yet another corridor. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw the ponies ahead. The Doctor was here! She turned off the glow from her horn and dashed behind a wall.

Sunny carefully looked out from it – no one had seen her, thankfully. The Doctor and Bright were standing just a dozen meters from her in a large chamber. The unicorn’s horn was glowing brightly, so she could easily see everything. The chamber was full of bookshelves and tables with some stuff on it. Sundae couldn’t distinguish them from a distance.

It was the lab, she realized. They had found it! Sundae would be bouncing up and down in happiness if she weren’t hiding from the Doctor. Why didn’t he tell anypony that he had found the lab? She didn’t want to jump to conclusions, but his actions were pretty suspicious.

Sundae refused to believe it yet, despite the circumstances. The Doctor Shade she knew at the College would never stoop down to the level of some kind of artefact smuggler. Sundae still thought of him as a good pony, even though he treated her poorly. For all she knew, they had just found the lab and hadn’t had the time to reveal it yet.

Sundae pulled back and tried to remember one useful spell she had learned a long time ago. The spell would allow her to hear everything the Doctor and Bright were discussing in the room. “Enhanced Hearing Spell” it was called in the book, if she remembered correctly. Sundae cast it on herself and waited to see if it works.

“–notes should be here,” Shade’s voice right in her ear almost made her yelp in fright. But he wasn’t here, of course. The spell was working as intended, it seems. Sundae calmed down and kept listening.

“I agree. If they do exist, it’s the only place he would have left them,” Morning Bright said. There was a rustling sound and everything went quiet for a minute.

“Look at this shelf,” Bright said. “It’s full of written scrolls. They’re in old Ponish. I can’t read it.”

“Wonderful!” the Doctor’s voice sounded excited. “I hope it’s what we’re looking for.”

Sundae heard a number of hoofsteps. The Doctor probably went to check out the scrolls.

“It says something about Tartarus!” he exclaimed suddenly. Sundae had never heard him sound so elated before. “I think this is definitely it, though I need some time to translate it properly, but just looking at the text I can already see that I was right. Starswirl created Tartarus!”

Sundae listened to all of this with her mouth agape. Starswirl was the one who created Tartarus, the most ancient and secure prison in Equestria? It seemed unbelievable at first glance. On the other hoof, if somepony were to do such a thing, Starswirl would have the skill to pull it off…

If Doctor Shade’s goal was to discover some knowledge about Tartarus, it’s no wonder he preferred to do this in secret. Any information about the prison had been declared a state secret by Celestia’s decree a few centuries ago. Most ponies even denied its existence, considering it to be just a myth. But Sundae had found out the truth when she tried to study that “myth” herself in her early college years. If the Doctor was planning to keep his discovery a secret, he would be considered a criminal.

“I should start the translation–,” Shade was interrupted mid-sentence. Sundae wondered briefly about the reason, but was startled when her magic abruptly stopped. It felt like she had gone deaf.

Suspecting that she’d been discovered somehow, Sundae rose sharply and rushed up the stairs. She was halfway there when some force suddenly threw her backwards. She landed roughly on her back with a squeak, hitting her head on the hard stone. The pony tried to turn over but the same force lifted her up into the air and kept her floating upside down.

“What are you doing here, Sundae?” Morning Bright appeared in her view. His horn was glowing in the same red aura that was holding her.

Sundae couldn’t really answer right now and all she managed was a painful moan. She felt really dizzy from the hit. Hopefully, it wasn’t a concussion.

“Sundae!” the enraged doctor jumped at her in fury. “Just when I’d finally had a moment of triumph, you’ve managed to ruin it!”

“She’s probably heard everything,” Bright noticed calmly. “We can’t just let her get away.”

Sundae’s mind cleared fast after hearing thoseominous words. She stared at him in shock. Of course, trying to hide the important information about Tartarus was illegal, but Sundae was sure that whatever Bright had been suggesting was even more so!

“You’re right,” Shade nodded, calming down a little. “She knows everything now and I just cannot allow it.”

“What are you planning to do?” Sundae asked in a trembling voice, feeling a real fear starting to grow inside her. Whatever these two were up to, it wasn’t good.

“Shut up, I’m thinking…” Shade flicked her horn with a hoof, which sent an unpleasant tingling sensation through Sunny’s head. Even Bright frowned at that rude display.

The Doctor thought for a few seconds and seemingly came to a decision. His mouth formed a menacing grin. Sundae felt her hooves go cold just from looking at it. Or perhaps, it was because she was still upside down.

“Can you do that memory wipe spell?” he addressed Bright.

“It is pretty advanced,” Bright answered, slightly surprised, “But I’m sure that I can repeat it if that’s what you want.”

“It is,” the Doctor confirmed. “Let’s bring her upstairs, into the room with that messed-up portal.”

Sundae head was spinning and not from just an injury. She was terrified at what was about to happen. The pony didn’t expect things to become so serious. The Doctor had been acting strangely lately, but Sundae couldn’t imagine him actually hurting somepony on purpose!

She should try something. Escape back to the camp somehow and warn the others. Sundae still had her magic and it was her only chance. She prepared an attack spell in her head to use as soon as they got upstairs.

But as it turned out, Bright was ready for something like that. Sundae’s magical blast was easily deflected by his shield and hit a wall instead, leaving a tiny burn mark.

“Your tricks won’t help you,” Bright warned her and levitated her to the portal’s chamber.

The mirror was standing on the same spot as before. Nopony had dared to move it after the earlier events. Sundae looked at it, trembling; the realization of what was happening suddenly hitting her.

“You’re not going to throw me into that thing, are you?” she asked the two ponies.

“That’s exactly right,” Shade confirmed her guess. “But unlike that dumb pegasus, you will not return.”

“Why would you do that to me?” Sundae felt tears well up in her eyes.

“You should have joined me when you had the chance, Sundae,” Shade sighed. “You had potential.”

“You’re doing it because I refused to be your protégé?”

“Don’t play me for a fool, Sundae,” the Doctor stomped his hoof in anger. “You’ve heard everything!”

“I’ve heard nothing!” cried Sundae.

Shade ignored her desperate plea. He looked at Bright and gave him a nod.

“Do it.”

“As you wish.”

The unicorn closed his eyes to concentrate and cast the spell. Sundae felt like something punched her head from the inside. A few moments of extreme pain and it was done. Her fear was completely gone. She wondered why she had been afraid at all.

“Now toss her through it and destroy the mirror,” a voice ordered.

She didn’t recognize it. The pony opened her eyes to look at the voice’s owner, but instead she saw some old mirror which she was about to collide with. The last thing she remembered is that the mirror had no reflection.

Comments

[PurpleSmart2]

And thus the prologue comes to a conclusion! And I'm left at the edge of my seat, wondering what's going to happen next...

[Marble Unicorn]

I couldn't stop till I'd finished reading this prologue, Katie

[Victoria]

I had to change the original name of the character to Sundae.

[ferret]

“Her cutie mark is gone,”

That's not Rose