Amethyst Star Isn't Prepared For This

by MagicS

Delusions of Grandeur III

Amethyst Star hunkered down low as she walked through the hedge right behind Daylight Gleam, the two of them using it to stealthily traverse through the garden unseen. Apparently all of the hedges were grown so they had a space inside that could be used like this. Whether this was the intended purpose or not, Amethyst Star had no idea. But here she was anyways inside it at the request of this new pony. Perhaps she believed and listened to this pony too easily, but being told you’re in danger and then shown a secret passage? That sounded like the start to an adventure that Amethyst Star really wanted and had been anticipating happening in Diminuendo. And it really made her feel special to be called on like this.

“So what kind of danger am I in?” Amethyst Star asked her new companion.

“Shh, not now. You’ll be filled in when we get back to safety and reach everybody else,” Daylight responded.

Contrary to what one might think this didn’t worry or bother Amethyst Star at all. Instead she felt giddy thinking about how there was some big secret and they couldn’t safely talk outside like this. She wasn’t apprehensive at all about how this might be a trick either, so caught up in her adventure fantasies. She wondered where they needed to go and who that “everybody else” was. If she had a little more sense she’d understand that she should be taking this seriously and not just see it as another adventure or quest for her. Obviously something important and big was going on but the only thing she was doing was smiling about it.

This hedge went for a while and ended up connecting directly with one of the walls leading back into the large keep. Amethyst Star raised an eyebrow in confusion as she looked over Daylight Gleam’s shoulder, wondering where they were going after hitting this dead end. Daylight Gleam didn’t seem to think it was a problem though, she walked right up to the stone wall and stopped, checking back to see that Amethyst Star was still right behind her.

“Keep quiet, okay?” The white unicorn said to the pink one.

She then pressed one of the stones on the wall and the part that was concealed by the hedge depressed inwards before sliding away, revealing a secret passage that led back into the castle.

Amethyst Star’s jaw dropped. “Woah, awesome.” She said as quietly as possible.

“Come on, these passages are built throughout the entire castle, we can get almost anywhere by going through them,” Daylight Gleam beckoned to her and walked in.

Amethyst Star certainly didn’t need to be told twice. A secret door? A hidden passage? This just got better and better! What kinds of awesome things were hidden in this castle? And what was Daylight Gleam and the others she was working with doing that they needed to travel around in secret like this? She really couldn’t wait to find out. The passage itself was dark with a meager amount of light shining in from small holes along the sides and top of it but aside from that there was nothing to see anyways. Obviously these were built with function over form in mind and they probably needed to be as narrow and practical as possible to keep them fully hidden.

“How’d you find out about all of this?” Amethyst Star asked her.

“Our leader discovered them ages ago. You’ll understand when you meet him and the others,” Daylight enigmatically replied to her. “Until then you should still keep your voice low, there are places in the walls where you can be heard from the outside and we don’t want anybody else discovering these passages. It’s not as dangerous as speaking outside but we could still get caught.”

The unicorn from Ponyville decided she might as well clam up for now. She had a ton more questions but obviously they would soon get somewhere where she could ask this apparent leader. Of course one of her questions was who that was to begin with. But whatever, she slowly walked behind Daylight Gleam as they both made sure to keep at a pace that wouldn’t make the sound of their hooves on the stone floor reverberate throughout the passage. They had to make several turns as they followed the way the walls in the castle were built, it ended up being too much for Amethyst Star to keep track of and she quickly lost all sense of direction. They could be anywhere inside the castle now.

It still didn’t register to her that this could easily be a trap or something very bad, she did really want to ask how much longer it would take to get to their destination though.

That at least turned out to not be too long. Slightly ahead of them in the tunnel now Amethyst Star could see a wooden door. Daylight Gleam walked right up to it and gently knocked three times. In just a second the door was pulled open and Daylight walked inside, waving for Amethyst Star to come in too.

It was a dimly lit room that reminded her of a dungeon… or someone’s poorly kept basement. The floor was nothing but dirt and much like the tunnels there was only a dim amount of light coming from some narrow slits in the low ceiling. In the center of the room was a banged up wooden table with a few stools scattered around it. Not exactly much of a home base if this was it. On several of those stools though sat three ponies, they stood up upon Daylight and Amethyst Star coming in and along with the fourth pony who opened up the door they formed up in front of her while Daylight Gleam stood off to the side.

“Hello, Miss Amethyst Star. It’s a pleasure to meet you,” a young stallion said to her. He was a light green, almost white, unicorn with a dusty gray bowl cut for a mane and a Cutie Mark of sheet music. “I am Periwinkle, Prince of Diminuendo.”

Amethyst Star gaped in dumbstruck surprise at him. “You’re the missing Prince?!”

“So you have heard about my disappearance, good. I was hoping we wouldn’t have to prove that I am who I say I am to you,” he smiled.

“I heard it from someone in the city and then I saw your chair in the throne room,” Amethyst Star shrugged. “Kind of surprised your dad and mom didn’t mention anything about it to be honest.”

The mood immediately darkened after she said that, Amethyst Star glanced around at the sour looks on the other ponies faces and wondered if she accidentally just stepped on a landmine.

“There is a reason for that,” Periwinkle slowly said. “And it’s the reason we brought you here.”

“Okay, yeah, I could use an explanation or two cause I’m kind of confused right now,” Amethyst Star rubbed her forehead.

“Sit with us,” Periwinkle said and then walked back with the others to sit at their shoddy table. Amethyst Star doing as she was asked and taking up the last stool so all six of them had a seat.

She looked at the other three ponies she hadn’t been introduced to yet. One was a very old unicorn wearing a flowing red robe and wizard’s cap, despite his obvious age his eyes were still sharp and he moved without a sign of discomfort, a wispy white beard trailing under his chin. Another was a middle-aged yellow earth pony mare in a maid’s uniform with square-rim glasses and her black mane done up in a tight bun. The last, and the one that had opened the door, was an earth pony stallion in a guard’s uniform, his pumpkin orange coat reminding her of Birdseed. This guard had a light lilac colored mane and tail cut short.

“So you already know who I am?” Amethyst Star asked.

Periwinkle nodded. “We watched you from behind the walls in the throne room as you spoke to my father and mother. And met with the Songstresses.”

“Oh, little bit creepy but alright,” Amethyst Star grimaced.

“Sorry, but we’ve been forced to use these measures. It’s the only way for us to safely travel through the castle now,” Periwinkle apologized to her. “Thankfully the secret passages have been forgotten to time by most ponies, Brilliant Sky and I uncovered them a few years ago just for fun one summer.” Periwinkle looked over at the old unicorn.

The wizard nodded, a thin smirk on his face. “They’re the gift that keeps on giving.”

“I think she’d rather be told what’s going on here than hear about your childish adventures,” the maid reproachfully said, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her muzzle.

“Right, sorry,” Periwinkle agreed with the maid and then turned to Amethyst Star again. “In short, the five Songstresses you met have magically enslaved my father and mother.”

Amethyst Star blinked and tilted her head to the side. “What?”

Daylight Gleam sighed. “I told you she was going to be confused...”

The Prince cleared his throat. “Yes, well, the fact of the matter is that those Songstresses are why I’m in hiding. What did you think about them when you met them, Miss Amethyst Star?”

“Uh, I dunno, they seemed alright? Some of them were kind of skittish though,” she shrugged.

“Did you notice those red crystals they have around their necks?” Brilliant Sky asked her.

Amethyst Star nodded. “Yeah, I did. Thought it was just jewelry.

“Hardly,” Periwinkle frowned. “We don’t know how they got a hold of them but those are magical crystals that give the Songstresses the power to manipulate hearts and minds with their singing.”

Again, Amethyst Star was a bit surprised. “What?”

“Allow me to explain,” Brilliant Sky raised a hoof. “You see, those crystals are just like ones that were used by terrible monsters called Sirens years ago. These Sirens lived back in the age of Starswirl the Bearded and they terrorized the land until Starswirl and his friends banished them to another world. We don’t know how the Royal Songstresses got ahold of their own crystals but they’ve been using them the same way.”

“Wait, so are they Sirens too?” Amethyst Star asked.

“No, they are completely normal ponies,” Daylight Gleam shook her head.

“It was only a few weeks ago that they came to Diminuendo,” Periwinkle said. “We didn’t know about the danger at first until...” He trailed off as he glanced at Daylight Gleam.

She picked up right where he left off. “I had been tracking the five of them for a while, but by the time I got here it was too late. They had already taken up the guise of the Royal Songstresses and put the King, Queen, and most of the castle under their control. I was able to warn the Prince and we made a sneaky escape into these tunnels, and we’ve been hiding out in here and planning our next move ever since.”

“I didn’t think anything of their crystals when I first saw them, I thought they were jewelry just like you did,” Brilliant Sky shrugged. “But when Daylight Gleam came and told us of the danger I was able to put two and two together thanks to having read about the Sirens in the past. We were able to bring along the Prince’s personal maid and guard as well before they fell victim to the Songstresses mind control.”

“Tasky,” the maid said to Amethyst Star with nothing more than a blink for hello.

“Gilded Shield,” the guard bowed his head slightly to her.

“Hi, nice to meet you,” Amethyst Star waved to the two of them. She then looked at Periwinkle. “So, like, what’s going on now? Do you have some sort of plan for stopping them? And not that I’m not grateful but why’d you bother with rescuing me from them? If this is about Diminuendo then would they even care about me?”

“We decided to bring you into our fold for several reasons,” Periwinkle said. “First off, yes, they would brainwash you anyways. They want as many under their control as possible. And secondly we’re not actually sure why they’re doing all of this. We don’t know what their real objective is, for now it just seems like they want to take over Diminuendo but I doubt that’s all or that they really even planned that in the first place.”

“I believe they mostly just stumbled upon Diminuendo and made things up as they went along,” Daylight Gleam said. “Judging from the path they took I think this is the first place they found after acquiring their crystals and chose it for no reason other than convenience. Their true goal lies elsewhere.”

Amethyst Star nodded along. “Alright, well thanks for telling me about this before they brainwashed me.”

“We definitely didn’t want them to get control over someone as important as you, who personally knows one of Equestria’s Princesses and is on an important mission right now,” Brilliant Sky said.

“Uh, yeah. Right,” Amethyst Star did her best not to sweat. “So what’s the plan for defeating the Songstresses?” The unicorn really wanted to get this awesome adventure started, she was pretty eager for anything that might be action-packed.

“We have a few steps to take,” Periwinkle said. He looked over at the old wizard once more. “Sky? The earplugs?”

Brilliant Sky nodded and reached into his robe pulling out a rectangular box and placing it onto the table. Opening it up Amethyst Star saw about a dozen sets of tiny green earplugs inside it.

“Earplugs?” She raised an eyebrow at the others.

“Magic earplugs. My own creation,” Brilliant Sky elaborated.

“These will block the magical powers of the Songstresses while still allowing you to hear normally otherwise,” Periwinkle said as he held up a pair. “Or at least that’s what they’re supposed to do. For obvious reasons we’ve been unable to test them. Which brings us to another reason as to why we’ve contacted you...”

Amethyst Star blinked a few times as her mind slowly processed what had just been said. “Wait...”

“To put it simply, we need you to test to make sure these earplugs work,” Daylight Gleam told her.

“Uhh, that sounds kind of dangerous if the whole magically brainwashing thing is true,” Amethyst Star was not behind this one-hundred percent.

“I’m sorry but they know all of us, you’re the only one who can do this. They’re definitely going to try and turn you soon no matter what anyways,” Periwinkle said. “This is really the best option for you as well. We know that my father is going to hold a feast tomorrow where you and a number of other important and influential ponies from Diminuendo will be attending. At that feast my father will “ask” the Songstresses to perform and they’ll put everyone there under their control all at once.”

“We’ve been spying on the Songstresses as well,” Gilded Shield told her.

“Okay well that’s all well and good but then what am I supposed to do even if these work and I’m not brainwashed? Won’t they notice?” Amethyst Star threw out.

“You’ll just have to act like the brainwashing worked,” Periwinkle shrugged.

“Well… I mean I guess I don’t know what else we could do. But then what about after that? Like how are we supposed to actually stop them and rescue everyone from their control?” The pink and purple unicorn asked.

Periwinkle and Daylight Gleam shared an uncertain look with each other before the Prince responded to her question. “We feel it’s best not to tell you any of our other plans in case you’re compromised.

“Oh. Okay,” Amethyst Star flatly stared at them.

“Sorry, it’s just a precaution. This is too important,” Periwinkle frowned apologetically and shook his head. “As a measure of trust and friendship though, I will tell you that our plan will be sprung into action when the Songstresses perform their concert in a few days. And if everything goes well you will be playing an important part in it.”

That was more than enough to make Amethyst Star smiled widely. People weren’t underestimating her! They were even relying on her! Sure it might’ve partially been because of her lies but that didn’t change the fact that these ponies needed her. And the more they talked about all of this the more it became apparent that this was the first time she was someplace where the kind of major adventure was going on that she had wanted to participate in from the start of her journey. The quest was right in front of her and all she needed to do was accept! Things were coming up Amethyst Star!

“You know what? I’ll do it. If you guys really need my help then I can’t refuse, can I?” She smugly smiled at the other ponies.

“Thank you, we’re really counting on you at this point,” Periwinkle let out a relieved sigh and slumped over on his stool.

Daylight Gleam was still regarding her a little suspiciously but she didn’t say anything. Whatever thoughts were going through the white unicorn’s head she kept them to herself.

“I guess I’ll try these on,” Amethyst Star said as she reached into the box of earplugs and pulled out a pair, quickly pushing them into her ears. “They aren’t noticeable are they? This whole thing would go down in flames pretty quickly if they can just see me wearing these.”

“Don’t worry, they aren’t noticeable at all,” Brilliant Sky reassured her.

Amethyst Star’s ears perked up and she grinned, turning to face the old unicorn. “Hey! I heard that! Well they at least let me hear stuff normally just fine so we know that half is working.” They started feeling a little itchy and uncomfortable in her ears though, she brought up a hoof and started scratching and poking at them. “Ugh, they don’t feel very pleasant.”

“Stop that, you might knock them out!” Brilliant Sky frowned at her and pulled down her hoof.

“Right, right, I won’t,” Amethyst Star winced and wiggled her ears a few times to try and make them feel okay.

“You should head back to your room now so no one notices you’re missing,” Daylight Gleam said. “I can take you right back to the gardens.”

“Awesome,” Amethyst Star looked over at Periwinkle. “Don’t worry about anything, I’ll make sure to succeed on this quest.”

Periwinkle furrowed his brow and for the first time he looked a little put off at her. “Quest? What do you mean, quest? This isn’t some charade, this is serious.”

Amethyst Star realized she might have said something a little dumb, out of the corner of her eye she could also see Daylight looking at her oddly too, as if she was beginning to suspect that maybe Amethyst Star wasn’t all she said to be. If they were listening in the throne room she had painted quite the exuberant picture of herself, so if she didn’t act the part of a veteran and serious explorer who was undertaking a mission for Princess Twilight the five of them might realize that she hadn’t quite been speaking the truth.

“Uh, yeah, ehem,” she cleared her throat. “I know. I just don’t like to get too serious you know? Gotta stay calm in situations like this.” She attempted to explain, rubbing the back of her neck and averting her gaze, hoping that didn’t also make her too obvious.

The others were silent for a moment and Amethyst Star worried that they weren’t going to buy it and everything was going to fall apart right here.

But then Periwinkle stiffly nodded. “Right. Well, you should get some rest now. We won’t be able to watch over you tomorrow at the feast, we can’t take the risk of the Songstress’s magic affecting us.”

“It would be best if you waited in your room until the steward comes back for you,” Brilliant Sky said.

Amethyst Star fervently nodded and stood up. “Yep, that sounds good! I’ll do that.” She looked over at Daylight Gleam. “So back to the gardens?”

The white unicorn blankly stared at her for a moment before nodding and beginning her walk back to the door they came in from. Amethyst Star mentally wiped the sweat from her brow, happy that she was able to keep that bomb from going off. She was sure they probably didn’t really expect anything. And even if they did Amethyst Star was going to make sure nothing got in the way of this awesome adventure that had unfolded for her in Diminuendo.

Comments

[Dashie04]

How come the best arcs always happen when I put off the story for an extended period of time?

Also, the story I was reading that made me put this off was called Fallout Equestria: Commonwealth, and there was a Periwinkle in that story, too. Except she went by Peri and was a very different character.

So this is cool.

[RoboRed]

Ah, so they're not Sirens, but the magic going on is linked.

Daylight Gleam was still regarding her a little suspiciously but she didn’t say anything. Whatever thoughts were going through the white unicorn’s head she kept them to herself.

Amethyst Star realized she might have said something a little dumb, out of the corner of her eye she could also see Daylight looking at her oddly too, as if she was beginning to suspect that maybe Amethyst Star wasn’t all she said to be.

Daylight be all like: "Yeah I've seen this song and dance routine before and there's already enough bad songs floating around right now I don't have time for this crud"