Amber Ashes

by GMBlackjack

Beneath the Waves

Quasar flew above the deserts of the Crystal Sea, beating his wings heavily. Even though the ground was far below, his monstrous wings produced enough wind to kick up sandstorms. As he passed overhead, the few settlements that existed screamed in terror. A few tried to shoot arrows at him, but that was truly pointless.

But no matter how much he searched, he saw no sign of Scarcity. He and his teams had been scouring the planet thoroughly with advanced sensors and spells, finding nothing Starcross aside from their ruined ship.

Naturally, the bulk of the teams had now launched into space and were checking the local solar system for any signs of space travel, turning up an equal amount of nothing. There was talk of widening the search to other universes, but if Scarcity had truly fled realms they would probably never find her.

But Quasar had a feeling – call it intuition – he was sure she was still on the desert planet. Scarcity was not the type to leave her job unfinished if she could help it. Quasar had no basis for this judgment but he held to it like a torch on a moonless night.

“The scans would pick up any large sources of magic,” his teams had said. “There’s nothing anywhere on this planet. She must be offworld.”

A reasonable deduction. But not reasonable enough for his tastes. Who knew what sort of tricks Scarcity could pull to hide herself? Scans weren’t perfect, and Starcross may have unknown spells at their disposal.

He flew past the sands and to the one area of the world not stuck in endless dust: the edge of the ocean. From orbit, the ocean was pathetically tiny and was clearly clinging on to life by little more than a thread. But up close, it extended all the way to the horizon. There was some vegetation near the edge of the waters, but nowhere near as much as there should have been.

Quasar took a breath and dove into the water of the ocean, sending out an immense growl. There was life in the ocean, life that understood what a predator was and fled. However, the growl’s purpose was not to terrify the fish. It was to see. Water clouded vision, but sound could go as far as Quasar wanted, painting a brilliant picture of the depths through the echoes.

As with most of the world, the sea was filled with sand and the occasional Rune, though there was plenty of aquatic life down here living off the salts and photosynthetic plankton. The ground sloped sharply downward, deep into the ocean. He followed this descent, more than a little pleased that his dragon form could hold enough air for hours.

He continued down, down, down until his eyes were almost useless – relying entirely on sound.

To his shock, it was not the sound that found his destination. For what the echolocation had seen as nothing more than a chasm filling up with sand, he saw as a glowing slit at the bottom of the ocean.

An exposed part of the Runic crust.

He twisted his wings and plunged downward, through the chasm and into an immense cavern made entirely of Runic materials, shrouding his immense form in amber light. It went on for some distance – further down, down, into the water. The pressure was immense… but he was a dragon. The dragon. It would not deter him.

He went down… until he came across a barrier. Magic, forceful enough to keep all the water out while letting solid things – like unfortunate deep-sea fish – fall through. He carefully angled his wings before descending through the barrier, arriving in an equally large cavern that split off into several smaller paths. He quickly saw several different colors of Runes strewn about, and a few dozen cloudy soldiers.

He grinned. “I found you.”

“Yes, it appears you have,” Scarcity said, walking out of one of the smaller tunnels. “Quasar, correct?”

“That is correct.” He performed a cursory examination of her forces. “You do not have much here.”

“True. It would be easy for you to smash us, though don’t be so arrogant to think you would get out unharmed.”

“I am no fool, I know of hidden power.” He leaned his head down, fixing Scarcity between his immense eyes. “But you have already lost. Surrender, and none of you will be harmed.”

“I’ll consider it,” Scarcity said. “Do you mind if we have a chat first?”

“Not at all.”

“No doubt you have discovered the existence of Rx’len.”

“The monstrosity sleeps beneath our very feet, devouring this planet with its eldritch power.”

Scarcity nodded. “This beast is going to take the power of the Rune for itself and use it to twist the realms around it to its will – and that includes your universe.”

“And Twilight Sparkle is already working on a way to defeat it.”

“As are we,” Scarcity said, gesturing around her. “We don’t have much, but we have the know-how. We’re drilling a small hole all the way to the hollow center where we will drop an explosive that will destroy the whole planet. Ponies will be lost, yes, but universes will be saved.”

Quasar frowned. “You are attempting to sway me to your side.”

“I am saying that we know what we’re doing. I don’t expect you to like it, but I expect you to know that your friends will never accept that sort of thing. Do you think they’ll let a planet with so many ponies on it be sacrificed?”

“No. But it may not need to be.”

“If they find a better solution, great for them,” Scarcity waved a hoof dismissively. “But if their plan fails, we’ll need this one, or else Rx’len will unleash a reign of terror on the multiverse.”

“How can he do that with just a magic Rune? It’s just one world!”

“It’s so much more than that,” Scarcity said, frowning. “We believe this rune to be Capella, the corpse of a legendary Star known in some circles as the Mad Scientist. Stars often think themselves perfect, but she was one of the few who decided to augment herself with everything she could think of. The overall effects of this are unknown, but it gave her a more unified power that, upon death, became one Rune.” She gestured at the amber all around them. “This Rune. A Rune that Rx’len has been absorbing into himself for millennia. Even in its weakened state, it is strong enough to destroy universes were all of its power to be used at once. The only reason we can live so close to Rx’len is because it is limited by the Rune during the absorption process.”

“And what of the Merodi?”

“Those idiots cannot help with Rx’len’s quarantine,” Scarcity hissed. “We cannot rely on assistance from outside. We have what we have. The original plan was just to drain all magic from the world at once, taking Rx’len with it, but that’s no longer an option.”

Quasar nodded. “You seem reasonable. But I fear what giving a mare like you complete control of the situation will do. Your society can squash us like fleas once you destroy Rx’len.”

“The Starcross Society will do whatever you wish. We can bring your universe to our lands and keep it protected from the evils of the multiverse, as is smart, or we can leave you to explore the multiverse. I recommend the former option, but so, so many choose the latter.”

“Most don’t get a choice.”

“Your world doesn’t have Runes embedded in it, right? The Star contamination is minimal, we can afford to leave you.”

“Hmm…” Quasar scratched his chin. “Let’s say I agreed that you should have the right to try. I cannot hide you if I return to the Unity Helix. That machine will be able to tell I’m lying the instant I open my mouth.”

“Then stay here, mysteriously vanish.”

“They will look for me.”

“It’s a risk. But it’s a risk I’m willing to take.” Scarcity paused for a moment. “So, what say you?”

“Twilight Sparkle and the Unity Helix are soft. They have led a peaceful unification well, but they do not fully understand the risks. I will remain, keep your secret.” He sat down coiling up. “I will help you in no other way. If others find you, I will stand back.”

“Thank you, Quasar,” Scarcity said with a bow. “You do not know what this means to us.”

Comments

[FanOfMostEverything]

Rarities do have a certain way about them when dragons are involved.

Of course, I can't help but notice that we never got a good sense of what Quasar was thinking. And who knows what manner of surveillance Unity's established around the Crystal Sea?

[Neece]

9897160
As far as we know he might've been in contact with Unity the whole time. Or maybe not, who knows? Twiggles' going to get mighty pissed once she finds out though.

[guldringr]

I think scarcity you might be one of your most fascinating characters which is saying something

[sporklasagna]

I'm glad I started reading this story. I've never read Songs of the Spheres and I don't think I will – I've never cared much for multi-franchise megacrossovers – but I love AU crossovers and alternate Mane Six stories, and this story is one of the best of those I've seen. If the whole universe is as well-written as this, no wonder it's so popular. Can't wait to see how this fic ends!

[Blackdust]

This is an amazing series, and I can't wait to read more. If I'm right about what world AJ is based on, from here, then they just need to find someone able to hear all the gears at once.

[Quinch]

“Thank you, Quasar,” Scarcity said with a bow. “You do not know what this means to us.”

You know, that sentence set off so many alarm bells. The proper response would be "No, I don't, and that's why you're going to tell me."

[GeorgeOfTheJungle]

9897163
He seemed to be swayed far too easily. He'd already agreed to the plan Twilight was implementing, and even commanded the force that attacked the Society. To be convinced of such a massive change of plans in minutes makes it seem like he's got cards to play still.

[RoboRed]

Quasar's too ancient and powerful to be swayed so easily like that, imo. I think there's something larger at play here than this "betrayal"...