Stargazer

by StrawberryGamer

Chapter 4: Hollow Shades

Hollow Shades was not like a lot of the other Equestrian towns and cities that stood the test of time over the centuries. Above ground, it looked much like any small town on the outskirts of Equestria. But unlike cities such as Manehatten or Ponyville, which expanded out and up, forming sprawling metropolises of blinding lights and polished manasteel, Hollow Shades expanded down into a series of tunnels and vast underground complexes.

And what crazy ponies would want to live in an underground city? Approximately sixty-eight percent of Equestria’s thestral population and pretty much all of the diamond dogs, that’s what. Including Corona during her fillyhood years. So of course as soon as they got off the overnight train, the thestral of the group immediately began giving the other two a tour of the part of the city that was above ground.

“There’s the local history museum. When I was eight, I visited the museum with my dad and we got to see some crazy dog try and steal the museum’s pickaxe collection,” Corona said as they passed by an old-looking stone building, “in broad moonlight no less! And over here is where they connect the city to-”

“You know, this tour is great and all,” Amethyst interrupted, “but we didn’t come here to play tourist.” They had all brought luggage, but they were empty, meant for storing whatever they found in the secret cave without attracting suspicion.

“Ah, come on! I haven’t been back here in years!”

Amethyst and Summer looked at each other for a moment. Summer eventually relented with a sigh. “Aright, fine. You can spend a couple hours looking around. We’ll be… somewhere around here.”

“Sweet, thanks!” Corona then flew off, leaving Amethyst and Summer alone.

“So…” Amethyst started to say.

“No,” Summer interrupted, “we’re not gonna follow her.”

“Spoilsport.”

---

Corona quickly found the central lift that goes down into the main city. It was just coming up with a group of schoolponies. The teacher, a brown thestral mare, waved at Corona as she approached. “Hey Moonlight, welcome back!”

Corona trotted up to the thestral and gave her a hoofbump. “‘Sup, Cinnamon? These anklebiters all yours?”

She giggled. “No, dear. I’m a teacher now. This is my class. I’m taking them on a field trip to the history museum.”

“So do I gotta call you Ms. Sugar now?” Corona asked. “Should I bring you a mango for your desk?”

Cinnamon shook her head. “No, you’re good. Though I did miss breakfast today…”

“Well too bad I already ate, or I’d share some,” Corona said with a shrug, “have fun with your field trip. I’m heading down, maybe gonna find some other friends to catch up with.”

“Well you can start with Old Granite. He’s still down in the mines.”

“I’ll do that. Thanks Cinnamon.”

Cinnamon paused to herd her class off the lift. “How long are you gonna be in town? Maybe I could join you after work.”

“Only a couple hours, just passing through, unfortunately.”

“Oh,” Cinnamon deflated a bit, but tried to perk back up, “where are you going? Fillydelphia?”

“Can’t say. Top secret,” Corona said with a grin. When Cinnamon had moved on with her class, she took the lift down, watching the various tunnels and underground lights pass by. She passed brightly lit, shining floors where the wealthier ponies lived, floors that stretched on for miles where most of the regular citizens lived, vast caverns where the diamond dogs liked to live, and floors that housed various industrial facilities and mines.

It eventually stopped at one of the lower levels, where the lights were either dim or broken and not many ponies were walking down the unpaved tunnels. The ponies that did wander around in these levels wore heavy-duty work clothes. Her Gear also told her there was no Net connection down here.

A quick walk brought Corona to a run down stone structure that was carved from the surrounding cavern. Above the door was no sign, but just a flickering neon bottle and glass. Standing in front of the door was a bulky-looking Equidroid, but the markings on his side and the blank dead-ahead stare he had signified him as a Gen One model. He turned to her as she approached, giving her an up and down look. “You may enter,” he said in a gruff monotone, stepping aside.

The door automatically slid open for Corona, letting her inside. The inside was a very dimly-lit bar. Tables and chairs roughly carved from the same stone as the rest of the building sat around the walls. An old VR station was set up in the corner, and an ancient antique jukebox sat next to the stone bar counter, playing some sort of generic soft jazz tune. Behind the counter was an older thestral stallion, his coat as gray as the stone around him. “Well I’ll be,” he said upon seeing Corona, “little Moonlight, all grown up.”

“Granite,” she said with a wave, “it’s been, what, fifteen years? And I see nothing’s changed, aside from the extra help out front. Where’d you even get the bits for a Gen One anyway?”

“Local construction colts who went out of business sold him to me for a good price. And what about you? Haven’t seen you since you were a little pup.”

“Been living in Ponyville. Just moved out of Dad’s shadow too. I’m fully independent now. How are things with you?”

“Hollow’s not quite been the same since the Exodus. The new Council hasn’t found any reason to support further expansion, so the lower levels have been left to rot.” The stallion slammed his hoof on the counter. “But this is my home, dammit! I refuse to leave!”

“I can see that. You still in touch with Mom?” Corona took a seat at the counter.

Granite nodded, turning to look through a cabinet. “Yeah, of course. She stops by every night, after work. Sometimes I swear she’s the only reason I’m still in business.” He pulled out a bottle and poured himself a glass. “Can I get you anything?”

She took a moment to think it over. “Cider please.”

“Hard cider? You’re finally old enough for it. Enjoy yourself a little.” Granite said with a chuckle, setting down the bottle on the counter.

Corona shook her head. “Sorry, not tonight. I’m just passing through, and my friends would really not appreciate it if I came back to them drunk.”

The old stallion nodded, replacing the bottle with a different one. “Alright then, you want me to let your mother know you’re here?”

She hesitated a moment. “You know what, yeah. Let her know. She’d probably kill me if I came back without saying hi.”

Granite put on a helmet, much to Corona’s confusion. It wasn’t until she saw the ArcanaTech logo on the side that she realized it was a VGear. After a few moments, the visor on the helmet flipped up. “Alright, she’s on her way.”

“Thanks. That, uh…” she pointed at the helmet, “that one of the older models?”

“Of course it is,” he said as he took it off, “an antique made a good hundred-fifty years or so ago. Found it in a swap meet in Rainbow Falls. Still works great. ArcanaTech built their toys to last.”

Corona simply nodded in recognition as she found her thoughts drifting back to her mother. Would she remember her daughter? Would she approve of Corona’s life choices? Heck, what would be the first thing she says to her? They hadn’t spoken in… at least a decade. Was that her fault? Was it Dad’s? Or did she simply stop caring about her?

Corona was jolted from her thoughts by Granite’s hoof nudging her. She looked up at him, and he merely tilted his head towards the door. She turned and there she was. Standing at the doorway was an older midnight blue thestral mare. Her long black mane was slightly disheveled, she wore a flowing black dress that was slightly torn in the back, and she panted heavily. Her eyes met Corona’s, both the same shade of blue. She took a step forward.

Corona stood up off the stool to face her mother. Before she knew it, the mare had crossed the distance between them and embraced her in a hug. “My little Moonlight… It’s been so long…”

Corona returned the embrace. “Sorry I took so long, Mom. Dad never gave me your contact info.”

She momentarily broke the hug. “No need to apologize, sweetie. You’re here now, that’s all that matters.”

“We have a lot to catch up on. Wanna head up to your place?” Corona asked, grabbing the bottle from the counter.

“Yeah, sure,” her mom answered, pulling her back into the hug, “I can’t believe it. My little filly, all grown up.”

“Mom?”

“I’m sorry, I’m just having a hard time believing you’re really here. And you’ve really blossomed into a beautiful young mare. My boss would love to meet you.”

“Maybe another time. My friends and I are just passing through.”

“Your friends?!” She was practically ready to jump for joy, which made Corona a bit nervous. “Oh, forget my house, I must see the friends you made.”

---

“You sure about this Summer?” Amethyst asked. The two had moved to the edge of town by the Everfree and were sitting on a bench.

Summer was browsing news articles, as the media had finally figured out that the Griffon’s Eye had disappeared. They hadn’t quite figured out about the Equidroid that fell from the same spot the star once sat in the sky, for which Summer was thankful. “Positive. There is absolutely a connection between the star disappearing and the Equidroid. She has to know something about it, but we gotta fix her up before we can ask.”

“You think she’s responsible for it?”

Summer shook her head. “No. Maybe whoever made her sent her to investigate, and she malfunctioned. Point is that she knows something.”

Amethyst opened her mouth to argue, but closed it again. “You know what, I got no other ideas.”

“...and that’s great sweetie. I’m happy for you,” came a mare’s voice from behind them, “but you know my doors are always open for you.”

“Yeah, but I’ve got my friends in Ponyville now. I don’t want to leave them.” The two finally turned around and saw Corona approaching with a black thestral mare who looked like she just fled a fancy party. “Speaking of which, here they are. Mom, this is Summer Star and Amethyst Pitch. Girls, this is my mom, Obsidian Dream.”

“Nice to meet you,” Summer said with a wave, “I’m Summer.”

“And I’m Amethyst,” she said, then leaned towards Summer and whispered, “Corona never told us her mother was hot.”

Summer playfully shoved her away. “I wasn’t aware you even still had a mother, Corona. You never really talked about her.”

Corona shrugged. “Yeah, I pretty much lost all contact with her after I moved to Ponyville. Dad made sure of that. But I’m independent now, and we were passing through anyway, so I figured I’d try and find her. Wasn’t hard.”

“Well congrats. But she’s not coming with us right? It’s still a top secret mission.” Amethyst stood up and grabbed her suitcase, Summer followed suit.

“Top secret, eh?” Obsidian asked, giving her daughter a teasing nudge. “Alright, have fun sweetie, and don’t forget to come back some time. I’d still love to introduce you to Ms. Figure.”

“Yeah yeah, I know. See ya, Mom,” Corona said, giving Obsidian one more hug watching her fly back into town. When she was gone, Corona turned back to her friends. “So! Figure out where we’re going?”

“Yeah, Mt. Archive is right over there,” Summer pointed at a mountain poking out over the trees in the distance, “we should be there before moonfall.”

“Sweet, let’s go.”

“Hey, what was your mom going on about?” Amethyst asked.

“Oh, I think she was trying to get me to go into modeling with her.” Corona answered.

“Well why not? Could be a good way to make some easy money.”

Corona fidgeted with her wings. “I just don’t like the idea of showing off my body for others.”

“Don’t you do that in your streams?” Summer questioned, “I’ve seen them, don’t lie to me. You have tried to use your body to get more donations.”

“Okay, but that’s different. I don’t have to look at the ponies that are staring at me.”

“Fine, but give it a chance sometime. For her.”

“I…” Corona hesitated, “fine, after all this is over, I’ll give it a shot. Now let’s go.”

---

It took a while for Summer to pinpoint the exact area where the cave they were looking for resided. There were apparently a number of caves all around the mountain, and the image she was given did not give her a very good look of what the actual cave they were looking for looked like. The fact that there were plenty of trees in the way also did not help things.

“If there weren’t so many trees, we’d be able to get a better pegasus-eye view.” Amethyst grumbled.

“Do you think Part3Pon3 was wrong?” Summer asked.

“I dunno. Corona seemed pretty confident in her, but it’s super strange that there’d be some sort of secret facility out here that manufactures parts for Equidroids.”

“Hey,” Corona shouted from above, “hey girls! I found something super weird! I think it might be the cave we’re looking for!”

“Well don’t just hover there,” Amethyst shouted back, “show us!”

Corona nodded and flew off, Amethyst and Summer in pursuit. When they caught up, they found a clearing in the trees. The ground in this clearing was unusually flat compared to the surrounding area, and at one side of the learning was a steep cliff with a square cave opening in it.

“Yeah,” Summer said, staring at the cave opening, “I think that might be what we’re looking for.”

Summer led the way inside, her horn aglow in a light spell. The floor and walls of the cave were unnaturally smooth, and the dimensions of the cave were unchanging the entire way through, never changing.

“This is the strangest cave I’ve ever seen,” Corona whispered, “nothing about this feels right.”

The others nodded their agreement as they found the end of the cave. Sure enough, there was an odd looking symbol etched on the wall. It was a circle with various intersecting lines and triangles, all surrounding a six-pointed star. Summer pulled up the spell matrix she was given and studied it closely. She didn’t quite understand how it was supposed to open some passage, but she didn’t need to understand it, just cast it.

Summer lit up her horn and channeled her mana into the necessary shapes in her mind. It was an old form of spellcasting, older than even the Princess, maybe. However, it responded to her nonetheless, and she focused the spell onto the wall in front of her. Normally a unicorn casting a spell they didn’t understand meant the spell fizzled out, but apparently ancient spells were different. The symbol on the wall glowed in response, and the wall split open.