The Light Within Us

by theOwtcast

Fading Magic

Doing four presentations in the same day turned out to be more exhausting than I expected. The last group had looked worn out by the long wait as well, judging by how they’d dragged their hooves along, but if that had discouraged them from asking questions, I couldn’t imagine what their session would have looked like had they been fully rested! They’d wanted to know everything just like every other group before them, if not more! On the other hoof, could their enthusiasm have been fueled by the desire for the long wait to have paid off? Either way, we were finally done, and Fine Line bid me an exhausted goodbye before dragging herself out of the museum. She probably couldn’t wait to collapse into bed! I was going to collapse too, just as soon as I found a seat on the last train of the day! I’d have to hurry, though; it was getting late. Good thing my company of changelings was still vigilant enough to at least not need an explanation of the fact that we were leaving.

Or maybe I’d spoken too soon. A lone stallion was sitting in the entrance hall, opposite from the ticket booth which was now closed and abandoned, and he stood up and approached me as I walked out of the gallery.

“I’m sorry,” I said, “if you’re waiting for another presentation, I’m afraid we’re done for today-”

“I know, I was in the last group,” he interjected. “I can see you’re tired, and I won’t hold you up forever, but there’s something I need to ask and didn’t think it was… well, appropriate… to ask in the crowd.”

“If you’re trying something fishy…” one of my guards growled, but the pony held up a hoof.

“I promise I have no ulterior motives nor indecent questions,” he said. “Your Highness, you mentioned in the presentation that a visit to the museum inspired you to take up painting. May I ask which artist, or which painting, is to be thanked?”

“Pablo Pegaso,” I said, unsure of why this question had to wait until everypony else had gone. “I liked most of his work, but it might have remained at that if a friend hadn’t explained the meaning of Chaotica, thanks to which I realized art is a statement as much as a source of beauty, if not more.”

“So that’s why Fine Line invited me…” he mused. Catching my puzzled glare, he continued, “She wrote me a letter a few days ago, begging me to be here and apologizing if that would wreck any preexisting arrangements I might have, but she swore on the name of all the Princesses that it would be worth it… Good thing I didn’t have any plans for today or I doubt I would have shown up for such a vague reason… Anyway. I’m Pablo Pegaso. Pleased to meet you, Your Highness!”

My jaw dropped. “I- uh- well- um- Really?” I stammered. “Should I have recognized you? Is it rude that I never bothered to check what you look like? Sorry!”

“I bet nine out of ten ponies who heard of me didn’t,” he said, laughing. “I don’t mind! It’s more important to me that they like my paintings. Not being recognized everywhere I go has its benefits, as I’m sure you yourself noticed if you’ve ever been undisguised in public.”

“Yeah, especially in the old days! It’s not nearly as bad anymore, but I still get self-conscious about being bowed to and called high titles and-”

“Oh, I didn’t realize I shouldn’t have addressed you as ‘Your Highness’ earlier!”

“It’s alright, I’ve kind of gotten used to it by now-” More like learned to put up with it, but no need to get nitpicky about it in the company of somepony I’d only just met. “-which isn’t to say that I don’t miss the days when people routinely called me just Thorax and I didn’t carry the fate of the whole hive on my back…”

“Are you sure you didn’t?”

“What do you mean?”

“Unless I got half your presentation wrong, you never agreed with how Chrysalis handled things and went actively searching for a better way despite the threat of punishment looming over you, and then actively preaching that better way through your paintings once you found it. Sounds to me like you were preparing the grounds for carrying the fate of the hive on your back, even if you didn’t know yet that you’d live to carry that fate.”

“Well, when you put it that way…”

He smirked.

“May I ask how you liked the exhibition? I know I’m nowhere near your skill level, but I hope you weren’t too disappointed…”

“Nah, I was actually impressed. It took you only a couple of months to reach the skill level shown in Dream of a Dream? Yes, alright, it’s not exactly a Nickerangelo masterpiece, but most artists I know needed years of practice before producing something like that!” He smiled awkwardly. “Alright, I’m flattered that my piece inspired you to paint, too. Your subjects’ art wasn’t half bad, either. You said there’s a whole organized activity group?”

“Yes, the drones love it, and almost everyling drops by from time to time! You’re welcome to visit and join us whenever you feel like it; I’m sure everyling will be thrilled!”

“You know, I think I will! But I’ve been holding you up long enough, and I think I caught a glimpse of somepony else waiting for you. So, goodnight, and keep an easel warm for me!”

He trotted out into the street, and I saw Cadance and Sunburst waiting outside.

“Marvelous exhibition!” Sunburst said as I joined them. “Of course, I already saw your art before and know the history of most paintings, but that didn’t stop me from enjoying it!”

“Thanks! But why didn’t I see you inside? And when did you get here? I thought you were assisting Starswirl!”

“I was; I only got back here in time for the last group. You probably didn’t notice us because we hung back so the others could see better, which didn’t stop us from hearing what was being said.”

“Oh. Right… well, I appreciate it, but you could have at least waved me a quick hello?”

“Wouldn’t it have broken your focus?” Cadance asked.

“...maybe… So how was Tartarus? Deciphered anything yet?”

“We have some preliminary interpretations, yes. Why don’t I tell you about them over dinner?”

“I’d love to stay, but I really have to catch the train home or Pharynx will have a fit-”

“The last train left almost an hour ago, Thorax,” Cadance said.

“The presentations took that long?! I don’t believe it… guess I don’t really have a choice now, do I?”

At least they didn’t mind accommodating myself and my entire entourage; apparently the castle had enough guest rooms for all of us with a few to spare, and the kitchen staff wasn’t going to be burdened with an unexpectedly increased workload, as all of us had declined Cadance’s offer to sample the Crystal Empire’s cuisine. I used the time while the others were being shown to their guest rooms to set up the communicator and inform Pharynx about the delay, which he was less than pleased about, but at least I managed to convince him to tone down the growling, lest the ponies get the impression the Empire was under attack.

With that out of the way, I headed to the dining room, where the ponies were already helping themselves to the salad.

“Sorry I’m late,” I said, grinning awkwardly.

“No problem, we’ve only just started,” Shining said. “Cady and Sunburst tell me you’ve had a grand time, huh?”

“You could say that,” I shrugged.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t be there. Had to supervise the security.” He chuckled. “Your brother would skin me alive if something had happened even if you wouldn’t have been involved in any way!”

“As much as I hate to admit it, you’re probably right… nothing did happen, I hope?”

“No incidents whatsoever, but I still had to be there.”

“I know. Maybe this’ll be over soon enough for you to watch the next presentation whenever we schedule it? Assuming you’ll want to, of course!”

“Are you kidding? I would have jumped at the chance to be there today! But, much like Pharynx, I’d rather miss the presentation than see you injured or killed when my presence at my post could have made a difference-”

Flurry stirred in his lap. “Dada, is Tora gonna be hurt?”

“No, sweetie, he won’t. Daddy is making sure of it!”

“I don wanna Tora be hurt!”

“Don’t worry, Flurry, I’ll be fine! See? Nothing is happening!”

She didn’t look convinced in the slightest but didn’t press further, opting instead to fly over the table and snuggle up to me. I returned the embrace and stroked her mane, hoping it would soothe her. I wanted to ask Sunburst about his findings in Chrysalis’ lair, but was this the right time with Flurry so worried about me? What if the discussion scared her even more? Maybe I would do better to catch him after dinner-

“I’m not sure if we can count on it being over soon,” Sunburst said hesitantly.

“What do you mean?”

“The runes Starswirl and I deciphered. We’re not completely done but it looks like she’s been developing a spell. There wasn’t anything combat-related as far as we’ve pieced together, and most of the writings look like the research and refinement process of the spell matrix and ways to perfect it…”

“Any idea what it does?”

“It basically looks like a transfiguration spell, only it involves several objects, and it looks like they’re meant to merge into one resulting object, and some iterations of the spell suggest that the resulting object might be intended to be alive-”

“What?!” Shining barked. “Are you trying to say she’s creating some kind of an army?”

“...it’s one of the possible interpretations, yes,” Sunburst mused, “and not an unlikely one, given who she is and what we believe she’s trying to accomplish… of course, she could have gotten the same result by laying a bunch of eggs and raising her brood with the same indoctrination that was practiced in the old hive, but growing that army would probably take more time than she has the patience for, plus finding a mate would be an issue in her situation, I presume…”

“So transfiguring random stuff into soldiers, or at least into combat-trainable minions, would likely take less time and effort,” Shining nodded. “Assuming we interpreted her intentions correctly, how soon do you think she’ll be able to strike?”

“Are we sure that’s really what she’s been doing?” Cadance interjected. “Couldn’t she have, say, been researching alternate food sources, now that her practice of abducting ponies has been compromised? Not that draining an artificially-created creature would be any less bad than draining a naturally-born one or establishing an army, I mean… but we don’t know for sure how she’s been doing. Maybe war isn’t her highest priority at the moment?”

“I doubt she would have given it up,” Shining scoffed.

“I didn’t mean that. I’m sure she still wants revenge, but how do we know she’s currently in a condition that would allow her to actively plot revenge? She was left suddenly alone and cut off from all the support and logistics that she’d been building for centuries. Wouldn’t she need to reestablish at least some of that before she can devote her time and energy to war efforts?”

“She might be under an impression that it won’t be necessary before she barges in and tries to ki– dethrone me-” I cast a glance at Flurry, satisfied to find that what I’d almost blurted out had apparently sailed right over her head, “-or she might be underestimating my subjects’ satisfaction with the new system and their willingness to defend it, but you have a point, Cadance. Sunburst, do you think we should be worried right now?”

He considered this. “I’m not sure. My gut says no, but Starswirl and I haven’t done a detailed analysis yet, and all the variations of the spell look unfinished at first glance. It’s still possible there’s a finished version somewhere in that mess, so I wouldn’t entirely let my guard down, either.”

Great. Pharynx was going to love the news…

---

“She what?!” Pharynx barked as soon as I told him about Starswirl and Sunburst’s findings upon returning to the hive; by then, a scroll from Starswirl was already waiting for me, with the final findings adding nothing of significance to the preliminary ones I’d heard in the Crystal Empire, and somehow still untouched by the eager hooves of our lead protector. “Thorax, this is serious! We need to put the hive on high alert, set up a perimeter-”

“I know it sounds bad, Pharynx,” I tried to calm him, “but she may not be ready to attack yet - if that’s her goal at all right now - and don’t you think somepony would have noticed something going on? I doubt she’d be able to hide an entire army in Equestria with nopony being the wiser-”

“Except hiding an army all over Equestria, right under the ponies’ snouts, is exactly what we used to do until you tore it down! You’ve seen how many infiltrator records there are! You’ve even been part of the Canterlot attack force and hiding in plain sight in the middle of Equestria with the rest of them! Who’s to say she isn’t hiding them in plain sight again, especially if they’re changelings or some artificial kind of shapeshifters!”

“Still, it could be an awful lot to hide in plain sight…”

“Not if she plans it well, which you know she’s more than capable of. Of course, depending on her strategy, she may not even need a whole army. Our last invasion would have succeeded with only a hoofful of soldiers if you hadn’t turned up, and I’d bet she’s learned from that mistake, not that I expect there to be any loose ends this time to pull tricks in our favor.”

“Well, Ocellus is still away at school-”

“Didn’t you say the school year is ending in a few days?”

“...right. Wow, how time flies… Should we warn her?”

“Might as well, though I don’t see how it’ll make any difference if Chrysalis reclaims the throne and goes berserk on the ponies again, which she most definitely would sooner or later. One nymph less to keep an eye on during battle, though, at least, if she’s away… Alright, tell her to keep away until further notice, and in the meantime, I’ll fortify our positions-” He picked up a spear in his magic, only to let it fall a second later. “What the heck?!”

“What’s wrong?”

“My magic’s acting out!” he snapped; true enough, his horn and antlers were barely flickering despite his obvious strain to keep them lit up. “Can’t… lift… anything… Did that scroll say anything about sabotaging magic?”

“No! I think…”

“You think?!”

I pulled it from under my elytron and started to read it again, only to have it snatched out of my hooves; Pharynx scanned every word, sentence by sentence, until he reached the end and shoved the scroll back at me with a frustrated huff.

“Might have known this was going to be useless,” he spat.

I tried to hold the scroll in my magic, with no better success than Pharynx and the spear.

“You’re affected too? That does it, I’m gonna find her and-”

“We don’t know for sure that it’s her! Okay, it is suspicious, but maybe it’s some kind of disease, or maybe it’s just something affecting the two of us-”

Before he could retort, probably to lash out at my naivety if his scowl and the rolling of his eyes were any indication, a communicator array lit up, and he went to arrange the scarabs for a transmission. Once done, the face of one of the soldiers from the Tartarus team filled the air in front of us.

Whew, at least this magic is working, I thought to myself. Whatever is happening, how bad can it be?

“This better be urgent, Viper,” Pharynx barked, “and you’d better have a good reason for being out of disguise!”

“That’s just it, Sir!” she said. “The entire team suddenly lost the disguises and we can’t restore them! We can’t even levitate stuff! It’s like something took away our magic!”

“Chrysalis?”

“We don’t know, Sir, but it’s unlikely that she’s behind it if that’s what you mean. She hasn’t come back even once, not even in disguise, and we know because three soldiers are posted inside the lair round the clock just in case she decides to dig her way in to bypass us.”

Pharynx facehoofed. “I thought I made myself very clear about wanting you to not be obvious!”

“We weren’t! We’ve been mice and sparrows the whole time! Until a few minutes ago, that is… but we never once dropped our disguises ever since you left the hive!”

“She could have still snuck up on you.”

“I don’t see how, unless she figured out a way to make herself invisible and completely conceal her aura.”

“And you’re sure you can’t redisguise yourselves?”

“We’re sure. I’ve tried a dozen times during this conversation alone.”

Pharynx groaned quietly, rubbing his temple. “Alright, fine. You’re useless there in your own forms, and she probably ditched that place anyway or at the very least isn’t preparing to return to it anytime soon. Pack up and report back to the hive, you’ll be more useful here.”

With that, Viper saluted and ended the connection.

“You really think it’s her?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” he admitted. “As much as I want to trust your pony friends’ knowledge of magic, how can we be sure they didn’t fail to notice or correctly interpret something that would result in blocking our magic? And even if there was nothing else to be found in that pit, how do we know she hasn’t researched more spells elsewhere?”

“Would she have had the time?”

“She’s got skill and experience. How much time could she need for one spell? I think her biggest limiting factor these days would be the availability of food, and since no ponies have been reported missing, either she’s on a streak of abducting recluses nopony cares about, which aren’t in infinite supply, or has been struggling for scraps. Either way, we can’t risk it. Protest all you want, but if this is her doing, then she’s confident enough about her chances, and I’m not going to test ours by dawdling and theorizing.” He took armor plates from a nearby chest and passed them to me. “Now get suited up, and quick. Can you do it on your own by now or do you need me to help you?”

“You really think it’s necessary?”

“What did I just spend the last half an hour trying to tell you?”

“...fine,” I relented, realizing part of me had known all along it would end like this. I fumbled with the armor plates, actually managed to piece a few together at first, then got stuck about a quarter-way through. “Uh, a little help?”

Meanwhile, Pharynx had already fully armored up, and his boot clanked loudly against his helmet as he facehoofed again. “Why do I even bother?” he groaned, but still came to the rescue.

It took longer than it should have, considering this was the third time I was doing this, but eventually I managed to get armored up, and it still didn’t feel any less strange than the first two times.

“You good now?” Pharynx asked.

No, what kind of a question is that?! I shouldn’t be needing this at all! “Yeah, I guess… So what now?”

“We find Psycho and task him with guarding you while I set up the defense of the rest of the hive.”

---

The full alert lasted way too long. Okay, technically it was only a couple of days, but still it was a couple of days too many. Pharynx’s measures were insane: checkpoints at every corner, inexcusable curfew, random identity checks, confinement of the nymphs and eggs to the nursery, and banning of all non-essential activities, just to name a few, and I didn’t even know which lengths he’d gone to at the actual combative positions! The collective aura was on edge like I’d never seen it before, even more so once I’d remembered we’d forgotten in all the commotion to inform Ocellus not to return until further notice and my attempt to reach Twilight to rectify that mistake only yielded the discovery that the communicators had stopped functioning in the meantime as well. Whether their functionality could eventually be restored was anyling’s guess for the time being, but if something had to be lost, better it be the communicators than any drone.

The non-arrival of any threats wasn’t helping, either, contrary to what I’d originally expected. At first I’d dismissed it as Pharynx being overly paranoid, but his paranoia was contagious, apparently, and I often caught myself second-guessing my earlier convictions. If something was so sure to arrive, why wasn’t it arriving? Was it already here, hidden in the shadows or in plain sight until the moment was ready to strike the fatal blow? But couldn’t it have struck already, having had to realize we were getting increasingly strung up by the second? Was it hoping to wear us out, or maybe to wait until we turned on one another or onto ourselves? And what were we even up against? Chrysalis, sure, but could she still shapeshift even when the rest of us couldn’t? Was she alone, or had she brought an army, and what kind of army? Could they shapeshift, or were they something that could blend easily into the hive without even needing to disguise itself? Could they have replaced someling already, maybe even before we’d even realized we had a problem on our hooves?

Gosh, I was worse than Pharynx by now. When was it all going to end?

The worst thing was that I wasn’t the only one losing my senses about the situation: every living soul in the hive seemed to have picked up on my mood and was oscillating between frightened and suspicious. They were trying to hide it in my presence, but I could see it in their eyes and auras, and in what little time I was getting to spend outside of my bedchamber-turned-temporary-throne-room, I felt like I’d walked into something that was a hair’s breadth away from turning into a repeat of the riots we’d had in the first days of my reign whenever there was more than one drone present in the same area, only this time noling knew whether they’d have attacked a friend or a foe, and at times I even wondered whether or not they’d have even cared. How much longer could we keep going like this?

Salvation came at sunset of the third day - the actual sunset, as the sun had stopped moving on the first day, adding to everyling’s concern, because what was so powerful to rid Celestia and Luna of their magic or keep them occupied so intensely that they’d abandon their first duties? - out of the blue, in the form of multicolored ripples dancing through the sky, sinking rapidly lower until each swirl found its way into our horns. Feeling whole again, in a way, I immediately willed a nearby flowerpot into the air, and it obeyed; some of the nearby drones were attempting similar spells or adopting disguises, none of them failing anymore, as if nothing had gone wrong at all! Finally!

My first thought was to find Pharynx, but he could have been anywhere, and he’d probably want to ensure there was indeed no reason for worry anymore before he could begin considering letting the hive return to its normal state, and I’d probably be too much of a distraction. So, instead, I decided to try to do something I should have done way back at the beginning. Goodness, it felt like a lifetime ago…

The communicators were, miraculously, working as intended without needing to be re-enchanted, but it was a while before Ponyville answered.

“Starlight? Uh, sorry, I was kind of expecting Twilight to answer…”

“She’s in Tartarus at the moment. Can I help?”

“Yeah, sure I’m not really looking for her specifically- wait, did you say Tartarus?!”

“Long story,” she sighed.

“Does it have anything to do with magic being gone?”

“You guys lost magic too?! Wow…”

“It just came back, but it gave us all such a scare… we thought Chrysalis was making a move… Was it her?”

“No, it was a filly, one of our students, if you’ll believe it. I still can’t! The school was supposed to prevent these kinds of situations, not cause them!”

“It was that bad?”

“Yes. Look, I can’t wait to tell you about it in detail, but things here are still in chaos, and with Twilight and the others escorting Cozy Glow to Tartarus, I’m pretty much the only one left here to handle the situation, so if there’s no emergencies on your end, I really gotta get back to that…”

“Can you at least check if Ocellus is alright? And tell me immediately if she isn’t?”

“She’s fine, Thorax. A little shaken up after what happened so I advised her to try to get some sleep, but otherwise she’s fine. She and her friends actually helped resolve the situation! And, Thorax…”

“Yes?”

“I think she earned an Element of Harmony in the process.”

Comments

[KaylaBlues]

“I think she earned an Element of Harmony in the process.”

Surprise surprise :0 though it's obviously meant to be expected.

(I was literally gonna get to bed but this decided to pop up in my feed Gonna reread it when daylight hits)