Beneath the Surface

by Racingwolf

Chapter 9 – Restless Night

Beneath the Surface

Chapter 9 – Restless Night

Twilight wasn’t sure how long she and Spike waited in the small room with Thorax, while her friends, the castle guards, and other volunteers rounded up everypony currently in the empire. She knew that they probably hadn’t been waiting long, but her growing anxiety and the distant sounds of spells clashing with the magical shield that surrounded the crystal city made it seem like an eternity. Would the protection spell hold out long enough? Would they be safe in the castle? Would…Thorax be okay?

Thorax was still lying on the couch, barely moving, but he had become more alert and able to follow Twilight and Spike’s conversations easier. Twilight had been quietly talking with Spike when the door to the room opened and Sunburst appeared.

He gave them a hopeful smile, but they could still see his unease. “Twilight?” he said urgently. “Starlight just came to talk to me, and she said that the ponies from the hospital are all here. They’ve set up a place in the dining room for anypony who’s sick or injured. Starlight had to go help move some more supplies into the castle, but I told the doctors about Thorax and we can take him there now.”

“The dining room, right,” Twilight said, relieved that they could finally bring Thorax to ponies who would know what to do for him. She had recovered enough strength that teleporting was going to be easy, so she checked that Thorax was ready as she lit her horn.

“Starlight wanted me to help her,” Sunburst explained. “If you need any help, though, you can send somepony to find us.”

Twilight nodded and then teleported herself, Thorax and Spike to the dining room, taking care that the trip was as smooth as possible for the changeling.

The castle’s dining room had been cleared of all its tables and chairs, and a sort of makeshift infirmary had been set up in their place. The room was large, wide, and would usually have plenty of space, but all the beds, equipment and ponies made it seemed cramped. A few guards were helping to carry beds into the room while the doctor and nurse ponies checked on the patients. The ones that did not seem to have any serious illness or injury were waiting on one side of the room. They seemed quite confused about the sudden decision to move everypony from the hospital, if their worried whispers to each other were anything to go by.

A group of waiting patients stopped talking when they noticed Twilight, taking in the princess’s dirty and exhausted form with looks of horrified surprise. A couple of them noticed Thorax and stiffened. “What’s…going on?” a crystal mare asked. “Everypony’s been saying different things, and now Twilight-”

“I’m sorry, we can’t explain right now,” Twilight said, waving a hoof toward one of the nurse ponies, who quickly noticed her. The nurse called out to another crystal pony who was talking to a foal lying on one of the smaller beds. It suddenly occurred to Twilight that the Crystal Empire had reappeared after a thousand years, and they’d only had a relatively short amount of time to catch up with the rest of Equestria in medical technology. She told herself that it had still been a while; they had to have learned a lot from the ponies of modern Equestria, but what if…?

Her thoughts were interrupted as a light green crystal pony wearing a doctor’s lab coat rushed over to them. Just then, Twilight noticed that Thorax was shaking, his eyes wide in fear.

Twilight then realized that he’d probably never been to a pony doctor before. And with what she knew of the changelings before Chrysalis was overthrown, she imagined that being treated for injuries in the hive had been anything but pleasant. “Don’t worry,” she told Thorax, trying to disguise any anxiety in her own voice. “They’ll know what to do.” To her dismay, Thorax didn’t seem reassured, and just continued staring straight ahead and trembling.

The doctor glanced back at the nurses moving between the beds, and then back at Twilight and her two friends. “Sorry, there aren’t any beds left, but ponies are working to bring in more from around the castle. We’ll get one for him soon, but we need to take care of him now.” She took a blanket offered to her by a nearby volunteer pony and spread it on the floor near the wall, out of the way of most of the bustling ponies in the room.

Thinking it was the safest option, Twilight lifted Thorax onto the blanket with her magic, but he still gave a small cry of pain when he was set down. Twilight quickly apologized as Spike walked over and sat down on the edge of the blanket close to Thorax.

The crystal pony doctor began looking the changeling over as he lay on his uninjured side. Spike and Twilight waited anxiously, trying to drown out the chaotic noise of the other ponies moving around them. The bleeding from the cracks in Thorax’s chitin had slowed down, so the doctor wasn’t overly concerned with that at the moment, being focused on the more serious burns. Thorax watched the crystal mare warily, unable to quell his anxiety.

“How did this happen?” the doctor asked him.

“I…was hit by a spell,” Thorax said quietly.

“It was Scarlet who did it,” Spike blurted out.

“Scarlet’s the leader of the unicorns that attacked Canterlot last night,” Twilight added, not sure if it was a detailed enough explanation, but knowing that a full one would take too long.

“Was the spell the only thing that caused these injuries?” the mare asked Thorax, not asking Twilight for more clarification.

“I…I think so,” Thorax replied.

“I saw what happened,” Spike said, looking away from Thorax’s wounds and down at his own claws. “It was definitely the spell. He was fine right before. And other than it knocking him to the ground, I can’t think of anything else that would have caused this.”

The doctor nodded to him. “How long ago did this happen?” she asked Thorax.

“I don’t know,” he mumbled.

“It was…” Twilight trailed off, realizing that even she couldn’t be certain of what events had happened at what time while in the cave. “It couldn’t have been more than an hour or two, I don’t think. Spike, how long were you two there after…”

“It seemed longer than that,” Spike replied, but it was clear that he didn’t know either.

“Okay,” the doctor replied. She turned again to Thorax, who still looked terrified. “You may be my first changeling patient,” she said reassuringly, “but I’ve treated griffins, yaks, and dragons as well as ponies. So don’t worry. We’ll take good care of you.”

Thorax looked surprised by her words, and he relaxed a bit. “All right.”

The mare then began to ask him a series of questions to assess his injuries. Twilight and Spike watched as she questioned Thorax on where the worst of the pain was, then asked him to move his leg, wings, and other parts of his body. She would ask Thorax how severe the pain was during each portion of the examination. As she watched, it concerned Twilight that Thorax wasn’t able to move his right wing or foreleg very well or without pain.

Afterward, the doctor looked to the three of them. “On my initial assessment, the wings themselves look fine, but it looks like the internal wing muscles are damaged. There is a similar problem with the right foreleg muscles. It looks like the most damage occurred on the right side where the spell struck him. He obviously has internal injuries, and we need to do more tests to assess the severity and to see how best we can help.”

“Can you give him something for the pain?” Spike asked.

“I was just going to talk about that,” the crystal pony replied. “We’ve never treated a changeling before. And we’re not sure how pony medicine would affect him.”

Twilight looked at a loss for what to say, suddenly wondering if there had been some book back in her library that would have helped with such a thing, when Spike cried, “You have to do something!” Twilight opened her mouth to say something to the dragon, but it was clear he wasn’t paying any attention to her.

The pony doctor, however, turned to Thorax reassuringly. “While we may not know how regular pony medicines work on changelings, we do have some that are known to work well not only on ponies, but on other species such as griffins and dragons. Those would be less risky, and more likely to work. We can start by giving you a low dose of pain medicine and antibiotics. We’ll keep checking on you and watch for any signs of side effects.”

Twilight looked to Thorax, suddenly wondering, “What do changelings do for things like this? Whether it’s caused by a spell or not?”

“I don’t know,” Thorax replied wearily. “I’m not a healer.”

‘Right,’ Twilight thought to herself sadly, knowing that there was no way for the changelings or anypony working with them to safely send any supplies or changeling remedies to the Crystal Empire. Not with the blizzards and the small army of powerful magic users approaching.

The crystal pony doctor then interrupted to tell them she would be right back, and left to get the supplies she needed.

“They…the changeling healers…don’t have the skills in healing that ponies seem to,” Thorax rasped. “Or at least they didn’t when I left. Not like all this.” He moved his head a bit to look toward a place off to the side of the room where hospital equipment had recently been brought in. “Or at least I never saw anything like it. The healing chambers weren’t nearly as clean and organized.”

Twilight looked at him in disbelief; the dining room was currently the opposite of organized, but before she could reply, the doctor arrived with a case of supplies.

The crystal mare carefully poured a thick liquid from a bottle into a small cup and held it out to the changeling. “Drink this, it will help with the pain.”

Thorax did so, and then he made a face, his forked tongue flicking out in disgust. “Sorry,” the doctor told him, “I know it tastes bad. But it’ll help.”

She then began sorting through her supplies. “First, we need to clean you up, especially the wounds. Otherwise, they could easily get infected. I’ll try to be as gentle as I can, but I have to warn you that it will still hurt.”

The crystal pony pulled out a clean cloth from the case of supplies, poured some antiseptic solution on it and began using it to carefully clean the changeling’s wounds. Thorax gritted his teeth, turning his head away when his eyes started to water.

Twilight was about to say something to him, but before she could, she was interrupted by a new commotion as a group of ponies suddenly entered the room, some of them with visible injuries. One of the nurses spotted Twilight and Spike and went over to them, quickly realizing that they had no wounds needing medical care.

“I’m sorry, but you two need to leave,” she told them. “We have lots of ponies that need help, and there’s hardly enough room as it is. We need all the space we can to take care of our patients.”

“No, we need to stay here!” Spike protested.

“Sorry, but you need to leave now,” the nurse told him. “You can come back as soon as things calm down.”

“Spike, I think we have to,” Twilight said reluctantly.

“It’s…it’s fine,” Thorax said. “I’ll be alright.”

Twilight and Spike gave him a quick goodbye. Then they stood up and headed toward one of the doors, glancing behind them at Thorax before a group of ponies blocked their view.

As they made their way back into the castle hallways, trying to stay out of the way of any ponies rushing by, they noticed from a window up ahead that it was getting darker outside. Twilight knew that the sun would probably be setting now, but she also realized that most of the darkness came from the storm clouds moving over the empire.

Twilight then noticed that many of the crystal ponies – and other ponies who had been visiting for the faire – were all looking to her and Spike hopefully as they walked by. It was like they expected them to have answers, and Twilight found herself worrying that her failure to destroy the artifact had only made things worse. She avoided their gazes, and without really meaning to, her hoofsteps had soon led her to the room where she and Spike had been staying at the start of the Crystal Faire. Yesterday. It had only been yesterday.

Quietly, they both slipped inside. Twilight noticed that while all her belongings were still there, the bed had already been moved to the makeshift hospital. She didn’t mind at all. She sat down on a rug in the center of the floor, thinking over everything that had happened. As Spike sat down beside her, Twilight looked to him to see that he had tears in his eyes. “Spike?” she asked. “Are you-”

“Everypony here is in danger now,” he said, not taking his eyes off the floor. “And I don’t think they know if Thorax is gonna be okay. It sounded like-”

“Thorax is in good hooves now,” Twilight told him. “They’ll do all they can, and we can go see him as soon as they let us.”

“Who would make a spell like that?” Spike said, slamming his fist against the floor. “I mean, what kind of horrible creature would you have to be to do…something like that?” Though he didn’t say anything more, Twilight knew he was remembering the moment Scarlet had attacked Thorax.

Twilight opened her mouth to say something, but a knock on the door interrupted her. Wondering if it might be Cadance or her brother, she stood up and walked over to the door, opening it.

Rarity stood in the doorway. She was exhausted, her mane and coat disheveled, but her eyes looked to Twilight kindly. “Twilight, I was just coming up here to take your things to the throne room with the rest of our luggage.”

“The throne room?” Twilight asked, Rarity’s words registering far slower than they should have.

“Yes,” Rarity said, nodding. “All of us – well, our group – will be staying there. Cadance thought it would be best. She and your brother – and Flurry of course – will be there too. Cadance wanted all the alicorns in one place, I believe so that they can be more easily protected. And, also, Cadance and Shining Armor wish to speak with us.”

“Oh. Right,” said Twilight, realizing that they each still needed to tell their story of what happened in the cave. She turned to look back into the room. “Spike?”

“I’ll go,” Spike said, slowly rising to his feet and heading out the door beside Rarity, who looked down at him in concern.

Rarity then went inside the room to retrieve Twilight’s possessions, and a thought suddenly came through to Twilight. She turned to Spike. “Spike…Luna and Celestia didn’t realize the unicorns from the cave were after any alicorn. We need to tell them.”

As soon as Rarity returned, Twilight looked through her bags until she found a pencil and some paper, scribbling down a quick note for Celestia on what they had learned. She was sure it sounded disjointed and rushed, but at the moment, she couldn’t care. She then handed it off to Spike, who blew a stream of green dragonfire on it and watched as the letter disappeared in a plume of smoke.

Rarity then led the two of them through the hallways, which had become a bit quieter in spite of some ponies still rushing back and forth. Twilight noticed that the air had become much colder, even in the short time she had been in her room. Perhaps she simply hadn’t noticed before, but now the first effects of the north blizzards were impossible to ignore.

When they reached the throne room, Twilight almost didn’t recognize it. The darkness brought on by the storm and the setting sun made the place look gloomy; ponies had only kept on some smaller lights. The entire floor was covered with makeshift sleeping areas made out of blankets and pillows. Twilight then noticed the area close to the throne itself where her friends had set up their own. Not far away, Shining Armor and Cadance were sitting with Flurry Heart in their own pile of blankets.

Twilight allowed Rarity to move her belongings over by those of her friends. She stepped around the blankets and the anxious ponies resting, making her way to Shining.

“Twily, I know you’re exhausted,” Shining Armor said sadly, giving her and Spike and apologetic look. “But we need to know what happened, and as much about those unicorns as you could find out.”

“It’s okay, I understand,” Twilight said. She glanced at his and Cadance’s sleeping area. “You’re really staying here?” she asked.

“We wanted to stay where Flurry Heart could be more protected, and where we could best protect more of our subjects,” Shining replied. “Most of the guards are elsewhere in the castle looking over other groups, but we wanted to be here to help you and Flurry if needed. And with your friends having the rest of the Elements of Harmony, they can also help us.”

“But first, let’s go to a quieter place so you can explain things,” Cadance said. “Then we can come back here and rest.”

As they walked over to Twilight’s Ponyville friends, Twilight looked out a window and noticed that the shimmering magical barrier that had protected the empire was now much closer, encasing only the castle itself. She knew that the smaller barrier would be stronger, and it helped her relax a bit.

When the group was gathered together, Cadance left Flurry Heart with Sunburst. Then she led the group out of the throne room, a short way down a hallway, and into a fairly quiet room. Nopony else was in there, as it was mostly taken up by supplies brought in by the crystal ponies just an hour or so ago.

“I know you all have been through a lot,” Cadance told the group. “But please, tell us what happened.” Beside her, Shining gave them an encouraging smile.

None of them were keen to be the first to speak, but in the end, Twilight started. One by one, each of them recounted the events they had experienced underground. When it came to Spike’s turn, he felt odd explaining what he’d seen happen, knowing that there was a big chunk missing that Thorax wasn’t there to elaborate on. He tried to piece together what he’d overheard the cave ponies say in that room with the large crystal ball, but he couldn’t be sure he had heard everything. He could only explain as much as he could remember.

When everypony had finished their explanations, they sat in silence for a few moments. For the first time each of them understood the whole picture, or at least as close to it as they could get in the current circumstances, of what had happened after they’d entered the cave and their group had been split up.

After a bit more silence had passed, Rainbow Dash stamped her hoof on the ground. “They think they need an alicorn. Doesn’t matter which one. And these guys are even willing to take Flurry Heart if nothing else works out good enough for them. As soon as their ‘window of opportunity’ is over and their magic or whatever runs out, I’ll…”

Twilight felt another twinge of fear at Rainbow’s words. Something that had been at the back of her mind ever since they were forced to flee was surfacing, and she felt tears coming to her eyes. “I…failed. I’m so sorry. I put the whole empire in danger, and even Flurry-”

“What?” Rarity gasped. “Twilight, nopony blames you.”

“If we’re blaming anypony, it should be Scarlet and whoever else follows her orders,” Rainbow added.

As the rest of her friends joined in reassuring her, Twilight knew deep down that they were right, but still couldn’t help feeling at least somewhat responsible. The cave unicorns had come to the Crystal Empire when they wouldn’t have known about any alicorns there had she and her friends not…

“We…should have been more prepared,” Twilight said. “Thorax paid the price for that. And Cadance and Flurry Heart and are danger…when they wouldn’t have been if I had just been able to-”

“Come on, now,” Applejack said, coming to stand next to her. “That ain’t true. We all chose to go with you. An’ Thorax chose to put himself in danger to help you. I mean, I sure felt bad when they made me give up the empire’s secrets. But we all did the best we could. It ain’t nopony’s fault they had the advantage.”

“I…I know,” Twilight said. “But I thought I could do this. I should have tried harder to find out more. I shouldn't have-”

“Twilight, listen to me,” Applejack continued. “Nopony's blamin' you. And you shouldn't blame yourself. Besides, you’re the one who got most of us outta there.”

Twilight sighed. “I was right there. Right where the cursed artifact was. I just wonder if things might have been different…if I’d just stayed a bit longer. Maybe tried more spells. I might have destroyed it.”

“You were focused on getting us all out safely,” Fluttershy said. “That was more important.”

“And what’s important now is to figure out how to move forward,” Cadance added.

Twilight tried to push the sadness and guilt to the back of her mind, to focus on something more productive, at least. “You’re right. I guess, in the meantime, we should try to figure out whatever we can about those unicorns. In case…” She trailed off, wondering how they would learn more while only being able to observe their enemies from inside the magic sphere surrounding the castle. Even if they could get to the Crystal Empire’s library, there would be nothing there about a curse that happened only a few decades ago.

“We could…try talking to them,” Starlight said. “Safely, I mean. Maybe there’s a chance that-”

“Celestia tried, and look where that got her,” Rainbow interrupted. “I don’t think these guys can be reasoned with.”

“Luna did say that they tried,” Twilight added, her already low hopes fading.

“Of course we will try to talk to them,” Shining Armor told the group. “But tonight, we first need to focus on keeping everypony as safe as possible. Cadance and I will be taking turns powering the protection spell around the castle.”

“I gotta admit, I don’t have much hope that they’re gonna listen to us,” Applejack sighed.

Several members of the group also began to express their doubts. Starlight watched them, at a loss for words. She didn’t want to believe them, remembering how she was once a pony they likely also believed couldn’t be reasoned with. However, though she didn’t want to admit it, she had her own doubts about the situation. Suddenly she wanted to be anywhere but there.

“I…think I should go back to the throne room,” Starlight said. “It’s getting late, so I’ll go make sure all our sleeping places are ready.”

“Oh, all right,” Twilight said, looking over to her. Starlight, however, had already left the room.

Pinkie Pie tilted her head at the still-open door. “I…thought we all set up our blankets and stuff already.”

In the hallway, Starlight could still hear some ponies moving about in the dimly lit castle, but she hardly paid attention. Most of them were probably getting to sleep, and she hoped she would also be able to. When she made it back to the throne room, she could see that the windows were dark. At least Luna could still raise the moon.

As she made her way toward the sleeping area that she and her friends had set up, she noticed something else in the windows. Flurries of snow were blowing past, far too close to the window to be behind the magical shield. ‘Right,’ she thought. ‘It keeps magic and enemies out, not the weather. That’s the crystal heart’s job.’ The crystal heart that was now in the possession of their foe, she grimly remembered.

It certainly felt far colder than it had the previous night, when she and her friends had been sleeping soundly in their rooms, before Twilight had had the dream and woken them all up. She knew that the longer the crystal heart was away, the worse the storms would get. She suddenly wasn’t sure if they were prepared enough.

She shook her head. She wasn’t going to think about that now. Instead, she continued walking through the nearly-dark room toward where she and her friends had set up their belongings. As she got closer, she realized that they were already neatly lined up and there wasn’t much for her to do. It had been a stupid excuse, but maybe she could at least make it look like she had improved something.

Then she noticed that another small sleeping area had been set up next to their group’s. At first she didn’t think anything of it, but then she realized that there wasn’t a pony there; instead, Thorax rested on the blanket.

Forgetting about reorganizing her friends’ sleeping areas, she walked over to his instead. He didn’t look up as she approached, his eyes focused down on the blanket underneath him. She could see that his wounds had been treated and bandaged, but she wasn’t sure what he was doing there. He was only lying on one blanket, a few others folded up to the side. Wasn’t he cold?

When she had almost reached his blanket, Thorax jerked his head up in surprise. She could see the grimace in his face after he did so, and when he realized it was only her, he relaxed and lowered his head again to stare down at the blanket. The dim light from the crystals around the room caught on his wings, which still looked so shiny, beautiful and surprisingly undamaged. It was a sharp contrast to how defeated and hopeless he looked as he lay there in obvious pain.

“Thorax?” she asked, keeping her voice down so as not to attract the attention of any of the resting ponies around them. “What are you doing here?”

“I…wanted to stay with Spike and you guys,” Thorax mumbled, his voice barely audible. “If that’s okay.”

“Well, sure it’s okay, but shouldn’t you be in the infirmary?” Starlight asked. “In a real bed? And they’d probably let you just stay in your room here in the castle if you wanted. It’s got to be better than sleeping on the floor. I mean, there are a lot of ponies here and I’d think you would be more comfortable if-”

Thorax shook his head weakly. “I’d rather stay here. They can use the bed for somepony else. It’s fine, I’m okay with it.”

Starlight used her magic to pull her own blankets closer to his spot. Thorax made no movement as she did so. “Are…you okay?” she asked.

Thorax still didn’t meet her gaze as he quietly said, “No.”

Starlight immediately realized that was a stupid thing to ask. “You know, Twilight and I wouldn't have been able to get everypony out if it weren't for you. If they’d caught Twilight back there, it would’ve been over for us.”

Thorax didn’t reply, and Starlight wondered if he simply didn’t believe her. “I’m not kidding,” she said. “If Twilight hadn’t gotten to that artifact and stopped it for a while, I don’t think any of us would have gotten out of those caves. We all did what we could, and at least we’re back in the empire and alive.” Even though Thorax still did not respond, she continued. “Your shapeshifting abilities have helped others before. You took my place in Chrysalis's hive. Yeah, that ended better, but..." She trailed off, realizing that Thorax didn’t even seem to be listening.

There was silence for a few moments as Starlight wondered whether she was actually helping or just making things worse. Thorax had said that he’d wanted to stay near her and her friends, but she wasn’t sure he had much energy to talk to any of them, and she felt silly for not realizing that. She was about to apologize when Thorax broke down into sobs.

He was quiet enough that Starlight didn’t think anypony else nearby had noticed. His face was buried in his good leg; obviously he was trying not to disturb the ponies around him.

Starlight’s first alarmed thought was that she had just made things worse, somehow worse than they already were. But then she remembered that Thorax hadn’t seemed to have been paying much attention to anything she was saying, and realized that wasn’t it. He had just reached a breaking point after everything that had happened in the cave and the castle, all he had been through. Starlight herself was shaken up by what happened down in the caves, and she hadn’t even seen the worst of it like he and some of the others had.

Thorax had suffered Scarlet’s wrath directly; at least the rest of them had come out of the cave relatively unharmed. “I’m sorry,” she said. “You’ve been through a lot.”

Starlight got down on the floor in front of him, lifting up his chin with her hoof. “Thorax…look at me,” she said, as Thorax’s sobs started to fade.

Starlight wasn’t sure how reassuring she could be, after all they’d been through, and knowing the danger was still there, but she wanted to try. “Look,” she said, “I know that things aren’t great right now…for any of us, really. You especially.” She paused, but this time she could tell he was listening. “But…we’re all in this together. I mean, they’re going to have to get through some powerful spells and then the rest of us before they get to you, or Twilight, or…”

“They…they might break through, though,” Thorax said, his voice shaking.

Starlight pushed back her own anxiety. “If they do, we’ll deal with it. Me, Twilight, and the others. Plus every crystal pony willing to help.”

“I…don’t want any of them to get hurt,” Thorax said quietly.

“No one does. But none of them are going to let anypony force one of the princesses to pour their life force into some long-buried artifact,” Starlight replied. She sighed, glancing toward the windows and the snow billowing outside them. “I mean, they want to protect those they care about, just like you did.”

Thorax pawed at the blanket with his good foreleg. “I’m…not sure I made a difference. I tried, but I didn’t-”

“Are you kidding?” Starlight exclaimed. For the first time since they’d returned from the cave, she was smiling. “I saw you lead those unicorns away from Twilight. I mean, that’s the main reason she was able to get to the artifact powering their spells and stop it for a while. The reason we could all escape. It was thanks to you, and Fluttershy, and Pinkie, and well, I think everypony there played a part. But if you hadn’t sent them on a wild goose chase with your Twilight disguise, that would have been game over right then.”

Thorax’s eyes widened in surprise. “Really?”

“Trust me, we’re lucky to have friends like you and the others,” Starlight said. “You were all willing to put yourselves in danger to help the rest of us. You were all brave.”

“I don’t know,” Thorax responded, wincing as he thought back to the events in the cave. “I didn’t feel brave.”

“But you did it anyway.” Starlight smiled at him again, then looked thoughtful. “I told Cadance and Shining Armor we could try talking to the cave unicorns. I mean, this whole ‘alicorn life force’ thing can’t be the only way to fix their curse. I know that you always believed there was a better way for changelings to live, and you and I inspired most of the changelings to follow your example. Maybe this could be the same way…maybe there won’t have to be any sort of fight.”

“I…I hope you’re right,” Thorax replied, wiping a tear from his eye with his uninjured hoof.

Starlight nodded, then pulled him into a hug, careful to avoid touching any of his injuries. Thorax was surprised at the gesture at first, but quickly leaned into the hug. He closed his eyes, letting a few more tears escape. After a few moments, he relaxed.

Starlight let go, helping him to lay back down. “Don’t worry. We’ll all figure this out,” she said. “Somehow.”

“Thank you,” said Thorax gratefully. “And thanks for rescuing me and Spike. He didn’t want to leave me, and I was afraid…”

“Don’t worry about it,” Starlight said, using her magic to levitate one of the thick blankets over Thorax’s back. She then began setting up her own blankets next to his. “We should get some rest. I’ll be right here if you need anything.”

Within minutes, they were both lying quietly under their blankets. They could hear the wind outside, and ponies moving in and out of the room, but they were too exhausted to pay much attention to it, or to whatever might be going on beyond the castle walls.

-ooo-

Twilight and her friends wearily returned to the throne room. They had spent more time than they’d anticipated talking with Cadance and Shining Armor, and they felt more exhausted than ever. Cadance had finally told Twilight and the others that, more than anything, they needed to rest for now, and they could think more about the situation tomorrow. As they stumbled into their sleeping areas, they noticed that Starlight had moved hers next to another.

“Thorax?” Spike asked quietly, realizing that the changeling was lying beneath a nest of blankets, only his head visible. He didn’t react to Spike’s voice, so he figured that Thorax was either asleep or close to it.

Starlight shifted among her own blankets, lifting her head to look tiredly at the group. “He wanted to stay here,” she whispered, a yawn briefly interrupting her. “I think he felt safer with the rest of us. Let him rest right now, we can talk to him more tomorrow.”

“How is he doing?” Spike asked anxiously.

“Well…” Starlight hesitated for a moment. “Better than before.”

“Try not to worry too much,” Twilight whispered to Spike as she led him over to the two blankets laid out at the edge of the group. “The ponies working in the infirmary must have thought he was okay enough to be moved here.” She glanced back at Thorax, thinking again how much she wanted to thank him for that he’d done, but she knew she would have to wait until the morning.

“I…guess so,” Spike said, lying down on his own blanket and pulling a few more over him.

As her friends all settled down to sleep, Twilight lay down on the blanket next to Spike’s, shivering as she used her magic to pull a few more blankets over herself. She certainly felt tired enough to sleep, but her restless thoughts were keeping her awake. She tried to push the events of the day out of her head, but immediately knew that it would be a difficult task.

She lay there thinking, even after she was sure hours had passed. Sometimes she would fall into a light sleep, only to suddenly jerk awake with a feeling of danger to find nothing but the sleeping ponies around her. Eventually she decided to just keep lying still whether she was asleep or not, figuring that was better rest than nothing.

“Twilight?” came Spike’s voice from the near-darkness.

Twilight turned her head toward him. “Yeah, Spike?”

“Celestia never sent a letter back,” the dragon whispered.

Those words sent shivers through Twilight that had nothing to do with the cold. “Spike, I’m sure…Canterlot is still in trouble, so maybe she just...”

She trailed off, realizing that Spike had already started drifting off to sleep again. Wrapping her blankets tighter around her, she closed her eyes.

For the next several hours, Twilight tossed and turned, and it was near morning before she finally fell into a deeper sleep. After a while of slumber, Twilight found herself in another dream, this time in a version of the Crystal Castle filled with twisted dark crystals. Hearing strange voices, she fled down a hallway, only to realize that the hallway seemingly had no end.

Then at once, Luna was standing in front of her, and with a wave of her head, the dark crystals dissipated and faded. Twilight then became aware that she was dreaming. And all at once, her guilt at the failed mission came rushing back.

“Luna, I…I’m sorry. I tried what I could, but I didn’t-”

“No,” Luna said, her voice solemn. “You shouldn’t be sorry. My sister and I…we didn’t know that those unicorns would target any alicorn. They never said that was what they were after. Just Celestia. I don’t think they even saw me before we put up the protection spell, which means they couldn’t have known I’d returned. We should have been more careful. I am sorry, Twilight."

“Don’t be sorry,” Twilight said, wiping a tear from her eye. “We would have tried to help anyway. I just wish I could have…”

“You’ve done more than enough,” Luna replied. “This is something that may require more discussion and planning. However, your letter to my sister gave us valuable information.”

Twilight suddenly remembered Spike’s words that she’d heard at some point during the night. “Has Celestia…had time to reply?”

Luna looked troubled. “You did not receive a reply?”

“…No,” Twilight said, shivering. “They must have…those unicorns from the caves must have put some sort of magic-blocking spell around the place. Like the one they had in their caves. We could still use magic in the castle, but…”

“Nothing can get in or out?” Luna replied. “I was afraid they would do such a thing. However, it hasn’t stopped me from reaching you in your dreams.”

“Starlight wanted to try and talk to them,” Twilight explained, “and I understand why, that maybe things can work out if we can at least understand each other, but…” She sighed. “I’m not sure they’ll see reason, if Celestia couldn’t convince them. But maybe…maybe if we could find another way to reverse their curse, we can stop this and fix everything.”

“I hope so,” Luna said. “Celestia and I cannot reverse a curse like the one befalling them with our own magic. I suppose for magic to be able to do anything, it would have to be a perfect world. These unicorns believe they need all of an alicorn’s magic – and their life force – along with a second ancient artifact to undo their affliction. Celestia couldn’t convince them otherwise. But maybe you can.”

The vision of Luna and the endless crystal hall began to shimmer and fade around her, and Twilight knew that her time in the world of dreams was almost up. “I…I hope so,” Twilight said.

“I believe in you,” Luna said. “And I regret that you had to put yourself and your friends’ lives in danger on our behalf.” She smiled sadly, although it was hard for Twilight to see through the haze. “I am sorry.”

That was the last Twilight heard before the vision faded and she returned to the waking world.

Comments

[Deergenerate]

This story is criminally underrated.

[Racingwolf]

10458230
Thank you. c:

[Yoshifan30]

After a bit more silence had passed, Rainbow Dash stamped her hoof on the ground. “They think they need an alicorn. Doesn’t matter which one. And these guys are even willing to take Flurry Heart if nothing else works out good enough for them. As soon as their ‘window of opportunity’ is over and their magic or whatever runs out, I’ll…”

Yeah the unicorns in the cave are even desperate enough just to kidnap a kid so they can use her magic for whatever it is even though it's going to kill her those unicorns in the cave or Scarlet is very dangerous and you need to be stopped

[Yoshifan30]

Several members of the group also began to express their doubts. Starlight watched them, at a loss for words. She didn’t want to believe them, remembering how she was once a pony they likely also believed couldn’t be reasoned with. However, though she didn’t want to admit it, she had her own doubts about the situation. Suddenly she wanted to be anywhere but there.

Yeah I did remember how Starlight did felt when Star swirle said about stygian that he was beyond Redemption knowing darn well they can I mean look at discord Princess Luna most of the changeling Trixie fizzlepop Gilda sunset Shimmer garble and yeah I can't say much about the other villains who refused to change like Tirek queen Chrysalis cozy glow king Sombra and the Storm King and yeah it can be very hard to believe in that but it's not impossible they just need to find out why are they doing this

[Yoshifan30]

Okay so nothing happening so far things kind of quiet now so Twilight and spike got thorax to the ponies who can help him to recover so with all the information they got from the cave and told Shining Armor and Cadence about what happened down there later Starlight visit thorax to see if he's okay but unfortunately not only physically was hurts but emotionally poor guy after what he's been through almost getting killed by that crazy unicorn I'm sorry that was damaged anybody but Starlight reassuring that thorex what he did it's very brave for what he did then later on Twilight talks to Luna in the dream about what's going on as well hopefully they will figure out how to stop these guys

[Racingwolf]

10540581
Yep, that would be a last resort but they're willing to capture Flurry if nothing else works.

[Racingwolf]

10540597
Yep, there's a lot of villains that got redeemed and some that different. It's hard for everyone to tell right now, and Scarlet's forces aren't being cooperative.

[Racingwolf]

10540931
Yes, things are fairly calm for now (at least in the sense of danger). Starlight was able to help Thorax, some, though!