Part 2: Chapter 14 ~ And Then A Night Will Come, Long And Dark And Without The Stars To Guide Us Pt. 2
Spiraling around her, there was a darkness unending and claws tried to strike at her. That was what she dreamed. Tendril-like appendages tried to grab her legs, tried to take a hold of her body, or so she thought. Quickly, she moved closer to the princess, but as dark thing should have touched her, its essence went through her without leaving a mark.
Two orbs of glowing red stared at her, but then she realized that whatever they gazed at was far behind her, because in that thing's eyes, she wasn't even there.
The princess' voice struck through the silence with a calmness like a warm summer night.
“I believe that our world was never supposed to harbor any force beyond the natural. It was meant to be a world without magic, one which should have grown by mere chance and without the intervention of things divine or supernatural.”
Her eyes turned to Trixie. “But it took notice. From whence it came, we can only speculate, but it came to our world, gripping it with its claws, baring its fangs at the denizens, hoping to achieve a goal that has long eluded me.”
Trixie dared to look closer at the orbs, those distant things. They were perfectly round, but within them was a swirl of violent colors, red and shades of it, some darker, some brighter. Cracks of white appeared for split-seconds, only to break away again, while shards of black tried to crack the brutal sea open, only to fade into obscurity again.
The filly could feel her brain start to hurt, the longer she looked.
“You should start to listen, Trixie Lulamoon. When I said that you should not stare for too long, I meant it,” the princess commented dryly. “There are greater things to see in this realm than Magia its madness.”
With that, the princess turned around and Trixie followed suit. It happened as she turned, the swirls of shapeless claws and virulent blackness dissipated, making way for a new scenery.
The two stood on a field of grass, green and untouched. It went on for a while, but in the dark of night, Trixie couldn't make out just how far. A full moon rose up in the sky and the stars shared what little light they could give. Trixie looked up at the moon, it was white like snow.
“There is what I want to show you, the discovery I made shortly after I started my work on the Lunarium,” Luna said and pointed forward.
Trixie's eyes followed where the princess pointed at and she raised an eyebrow at the sight. There were shapes lying amidst the grass, all huddled up, with none looking up. The filly took a step forward, hoping to get a better look, while Luna merely stood there and watched.
“Ponies,” Trixie said aloud as she saw what these things were.
“Yes,” Luna answered.
It was an entire herd, fast asleep. None had horns or wings, they were all earth ponies, as normal as they could be. Their colors ranged from black to brown, without a single deviation. It wasn't the sight Trixie had expected, but somehow it felt like something was amiss.
They were sleeping without fire or houses, they weren't living in tents nor was there any sign of civilization. That made Trixie frown and she looked around, hoping to find an answer. Only grass was there and so she turned back to the princess, hoping she might be able to fill her in on what was going on.
She merely gave a nod in the direction of the herd and Trixie turned around again, rolling her eyes as she did. Yet, as she looked back at them, a shiver went down her spine. Tendrils moved up from the dark beneath and black claws enveloped the ponies. They caressed the bodies softly.
The way they moved could've been likened to a mother stroking her child's mane, ready to kiss the forehead of her beloved. It made Trixie feel all fuzzy and warm, and at the same time, she was sickened and horrified by the sight. It was just like seeing a saw cutting into living flesh.
There was something inherently wrong about the way the tendrils moved atop the ponies' bodies and then the animals began to stir in their sleep. First, one's nostrils flared up, another's tail whipped across the ground.
Legs started to move, kicking against ground that wasn't there and soon everypony in the herd was moving without waking, whinnying and flailing around. They kicked each other, some hoofs met heads and jaws, chins and backs. Soon bones began to crack and blood spilled onto the ground.
She couldn't take her eyes off it as the ponies' lives ended beneath a starry sky. “What is this?” she whispered.
“This is what the dawn of magic looked like,” Luna said, trying her best to keep her voice firm.
“But magic's the thing that'll save us,” Trixie said hurriedly, turning around to Luna. “Can't you save them?”
Luna shook her head and used the chance to look at the ground. “This but a memory of someone else, someone who watched the scene unfold. It might have been the first incident or just one of many. Magia, it came with ill intent to this world. Mind you, it was not an invasion, not truly. However, its reasons do not matter, for its mere presence,” she lifted her hoof up to point at something at Trixie's side, “changed everything.”
A lizard lay in the grass, looking wide-eyed at the sight that presented itself before it. Luna noticed that its green color shifted and it, too, shook. Not just from fear, but from something else, too.
“This world, these ponies and everything from the heart of the world to the stars above, all things woke up from their natural slumber.”
Trixie looked back at Luna. “What do you mean?”
“I'll show you.”
With that, the princess' horn began to glow ever so slightly and around it, the world shifted. Trixie's vision blurred for a second, leaving her to blink and then, everything was different.
No longer were they on a field of grass, but rather they stood amidst crystals and trees and mushrooms and flying squirrels.
“Wha–“ was Trixie's vocalization of her feelings.
They stood in what might've been a cave or a canyon, she didn't know. Crystals grew from the ground and mushrooms grew from the crystals. From them, twines, flowers and bushes spread out. There were branches of wood and crystal growing all around them, with animals running across them. Squirrels with wings like birds, a squid with a moustache and many other things.
She looked around, turned around, tried to grasp what in Tartarus' name she was looking at. Only Luna stepping forward brought her back to reality, or whatever this was.
The princess moved forward, clearly relaxing just looking at the color of this place. No, not just that. The chirping of birds, the squeaking of small mammals and so many other sounds mixed themselves together to a symphony, both ponies welcomed readily.
They walked through branches and leaves, ignoring the laws of physics. Luna led them towards a light, it seemed. A strange glow of as many colors as the rainbow. Trixie almost didn't want to go. With what little experience she had gathered, she pretty much knew that the peace of this place couldn't last.
And then they reached a glade.
Or something like that.
Trixie's eyes widened as she looked upon the center of this strange place. A river was flowing through it, lifting itself up into the air right in the middle. It parted itself into shapes and figures, several tracks with loops and an upside-down miniature waterfall, before going back into its normal shape as it left the glade.
Fireflies of many colors flew through the tracks and glowing fish raced across them. There was fire, dancing around the water and the animals, following the rhythm of the world around it.
At the very center, there was a being. It stood there, lifting its arms in strange motions, its eyes following the many things around it. With each motion, the path of the water changed, another branch would grow, an animal would change. A fish got pelt, a lizard started to tap-dance. The thing laughed at what happened around. It sounded so happy and so mad.
The magician looked as strange as his surroundings.
His head was like a horse's, with a mane like one, too. An antler and a horn rose from his head.
Then, there were his eyes. They also looked weird, for the pupils had different sizes. The creature's mouth possessed one long fang along with a snake's tongue, and a goat's beard grew from his chin.
Arms and legs belonged to different animals. The right arm was a lion's paw, the right an eagle's claw. The scaled leg of a lizard and the furry goat's hoof were crossed over one another atop one of the tree branches.
And to all of that, the creature also had wings, one like a bat's, one like a pegasus'. His tail was like a dragonesque snake's tail with a white tuft.
Trixie had but one thing on her mind. What am I even looking at?
If she wasn't sure to be dead, her breath would've certainly stopped at one point or another.
The creature itself stared at its hands like they belonged to somebody else. He seemed as astounded by himself as Trixie was. Then he tried to stroke his beard. The attempt was slow, as if touching it would result in an uncomfortably long lasting sequence of stabby pains or something.
Trixie quickly found herself cheering him on as he learned how his own limbs worked.
“Magia spread out fear through the Night Terrors and with the fear, a madness came onto the creatures. Some turned insane in their minds, others were twisted by the new influence. They learned of emotions like they had not known before, so strong that they could shape their very surroundings with them. Creatures who could do that became the first true magic users and we called them the dragonequui.”
Trixie looked at the princess, who smiled at her.
“They were good?” Trixie asked, thinking it fun to look at this one.
“They were born from fear and insanity and thus became avatars of chaos. They spread their new gift around the world, the five of them, and each defined the beings around it with how it saw magic and the world. Whether they were truly good or bad is lost to the ages, for as I and Celestia came upon this world, all but one were gone.”
The dragonequus lifted his claw and snapped his fingers. A cloud appeared above him and suddenly it started raining frogs. They fell to the ground and then jumped away as quickly as they could, utterly perplexed at how they had come to be here. Some clung to branches, others croaked angrily at the beast that had summoned them. He just laughed in amusement.
“We called him Discord and he used the influence of Magia for his own gain. He was a person who thought everything a joke and he took over our Equestria with that sort of mindset. Well, he had good intentions, but many bad people do. In the beginning, he only used his gift to spread magic itself, however.”
Trixie frowned. “So, he was one of the first magicians?”
“Yes,” Luna said, “and probably the first to teach others how to actively use magic, though everyone forgot about that, just as they forgot the other dragonequui. He did not have an interest in telling others about his story, either, because everything was one huge joke to be exploited. As a joke, he taught rabbits a language they could call their own and tried to make a hamster archmage.”
Luna giggled and shook her head. “He was weird, and that hamster archmage project failed, but with every spell he and his ilk cast, the power we call magic solidified more and more in this world.”
“And Magia didn't care?” Trixie asked.
“I do not know, but it did not do anything against the dragonequui. I assume it was because magic was Magia's own power, so it grew stronger the more creatures were touched by it. Maybe it thought that everything went well and its own plan could be fulfilled with the aid of some foolish pawns.”
The horn started to glow and Trixie's sight became blurry once more.
“Well, Magia did become more entwined with the world, but then something happened in another herd of ponies.”
They stood on the water of a lake in the middle of a forest. The horizon was brightened up by the rising sun, while most of the sky still remained dark. Shadows stalked between the trees and then a mare came forth from the dark. She was looking horrified and stopped by the water, mumbling to herself as she looked at her own reflection. She had a white coat with a green tint to it and her mane was green as grass.
Trixie noticed the horn immediately.
“What is going on?” The pony suddenly said, the words strangely intoned, the pronounciation off.
It was like she didn't know what was coming out of her mouth, like she didn't understand her own words.
Luna got down to Trixie's height and told her with a smile; “This is the first unicorn pony, Trixie Lulamoon. The first equine like you and me.”
Trixie's eyes widened as she looked at this pony who didn't know what was happening to her.
“They later called her Dreamcatcher and from what I learned, she convinced the dragonequui to help her banish Magia from this realm. There are no memories in the world of the event itself, so I do not have any imagery I could conjure up.”
Trixie seized the chance to ask the question that'd been bugging her now. “How do you know all this?”
The princess ignored the question, much to Trixie's dismay. “She and the five dragonequui shared a bond, apparently, and that bond became strengthened though magic. It was a bond given shape in the form of a tree, one from which I and my sister would smith the Elements of Harmony and use them against Discord.”
Then came a pause.
“They banished Magia, but we misused their legacy and killed this world. Magic vanished and the decay began.”
“What do you mean?”
“Magic as we know it was born from insanity and fear, which were gateways for emotions, emotions which helped the dragonequui to shape the reality around themselves. The dragonequui spread their way and we learned to harness the good in us to use magic. The Tree of Harmony was the very center of that, and we forged it into the Elements, destroying the tree in the process. When we destroyed Discord, we effectively ended the last thing that had kept the tree alive. All the positive energy started to fade and the wall that barred Magia from entering this realm crumbled. What good there was in the world started to vanish and the original force behind our magic began to grow stronger. Malice and discontent, alongside fear and madness started to rule the world.”
Trixie was happy that she was a spirit here, otherwise her head would've probably started to hurt by now. All of this was a tad-bit too complicated for a little filly like her.
“But Magia's back now,” she heard herself say. That meant the fear came back and maybe all the good things, too.
“Yes,” Luna answered, smiling bitterly. “And this time it will end the world. Its force was twisted and used against it, banishing it for a while. It would have come back eventually, but I and my sister foolishly ended Discord prematurely and thusly would drive this world faster towards its doom. However, in my long life I learned one thing about Magia.”
“What did you learn?”
“Magia's defeat back then allowed something new to be born. I found that piece of information amidst the thousands of memories this world harbors. Trixie, this might be the most important piece of information, the one why I told you everything I know.”
Trixie stared right into those eyes, those old, sad eyes. Then, Luna moved her hoof a bit and Trixie turned her gaze.
There was a light and suddenly a crowd of hundreds of thousands erupted in jubilee and five dragonequui far above them cheered loudly as they all looked at a gate of marble stone, opening far. The light itself came not from the sun, but rather from a balcony everypony was looking at.
Trixie used the chance to orientate herself. It looked like a palace, the architecture, however, was strange, without walls or pegasi towers.
Then she heard something and looked at the balcony, as a large silhouette stepped out into the open. A shiver ran down her spine as even the memory of that pony held a presence like none other.
Trixie couldn't make out much, naught but that she was an alicorn. There was a strand of red hair and a smile like the dawn of a new day.
“This is what I wanted to show you. An alicorn is always something new and first came Magia's defeat and the hope that the world would grow restful. Warmth filled the day after Magia's defeat, but like any dream, all days end and then comes a darkness, so scary and with a cold much like a blazing flame.”
Then the scene changed again. A house flew past them, upside down and then the earth shifted and divided. It rained chocolate frogs and fire was kindled with water. Chaos ruled and Trixie looked upon a world without sense or reason.
“Even before the old Empire in the north fell, Discord remained as the last dragonequus, as I already told you. He was a mad demi-god whose thoughts of mischief had ultimately turned him back to his originaly madness and his actions sent an entire continent down in madness.”
She saw him amidst it all, cackling like the devil, roaring with laughter as the cascade of destruction spread all around him.
Then it was all gone and she was in the middle of nowhere, her gaze locked onto Luna's.
“You defeated him with the Elements, forged from the Tree of Harmony. The tree which grew thanks to him and his friends, right?” Trixie asked. “That's rather sad.”
“Trixie?”
The tiny filly looked up at the giant of a princess, the grass plain all around them again. Dark clouds were gathering above them and she felt the first drops of rain touching her head.
“Yeah?”
“Me and my sister, Discord, the first alicorn, the dawn of magic, they are all linked to one being.”
“Magia,” Trixie answered immediately, remembering the rainbow-colored grass and how the world had tumbled down all around her.
“Discord and the rest of the dragonequui were the first who could make use of how Magia's arrival shifted reality. As such, their abilities were part of the King of the Night Terrors. Discord spread it across the world and used his abilities to teach others magic. He may even have been in involved in Dreamcatcher learning her own magic. Even if not, her powers can be traced back to the arrival of the Night Terrors, too.”
Trixie wondered where she was going with this, her mind thinking about everything she had just been told. The dragonequus had waved with his hand at the world had bowed to his will.
Her eyes widened. “Wait! Are you saying that magic doesn't just come from Magia, it IS Magia?”
“The beast itself cannot do the same things we can. It cannot bring forth light, it cannot create things the way dragonequui or unicorns could. It is a singular-minded husk of power, like a cloud of rain falling down on everypony, drenching them with water. That is how it does things. It pours down, seeps into your being and when it is done, it drowns you.”
“For what purpose?”
The rain went down, heavier and heavier by the second.
“Maybe for its own amusement, maybe it tries to wake The Silence And The Dark, a beast much older than Magia. I dare not tread the paths I need to tread in order to understand what it wants to do, because all I ever saw was it corrupting my home from the beginning of history. Many things happened, some good, some bad, but this story is a tragedy written by the feather of Magia.”
“What happens at the end?” Trixie was afraid of the question, but asked it nonetheless.
“Twilight Sparkle will fail and the darkness will envelop the world. Then a night will come, long and dark, and without the stars to guide us. Everything will die a slow, agonizing death, filled with the worst horrors they can imagine. Magia has no need of a link anymore. It is powerful enough to manifest a large portion of itself in our world and soon it will wreck everything we know.”
Trixie felt cold, felt the water go through her every bone, like a fire made of ice. She smiled nonetheless. “It's fine then,” she said, “That I'm gone, I mean.”
Luna shook her head. “No,” she told the filly. “No, because if you do leave now, then you can't see it, the dawn of a new age. The age of my little ponies, of a new magic.”
The alicorn looked at Trixie and there was small glimmer in her eyes, a small hope, strengthening her enough to suddenly smile. The filly wondered what she meant with those words, but lucky for her, Luna decided to stop speaking too complicated gibberish at that point.
“I waited for one thousand years. I worked on it, I guarded it, protected it. Now there is need for a pony who can make the Lunarium work. Trixie, I might be the princess of night and dreams, but I couldn't do it. The Lunarium is magic and what I need are ponies with a talent for it. You, Twilight, Lyra, Octavia, Derpy and Firefly all carry a gift you cannot even begin to imagine. Even if its not obvious at first, all of you carry the flame of magic within you and the unyielding will to better this world. I know of your doubts and you may have them, but they do not change that all of of them, and especially you, you dream of a world filled with magic.”
Eyes, old and tired looked at Trixie, but in that very moment, Luna looked so alive and so young.
Then, Luna looked up and Trixie noticed how wet she felt. Only then did she notice that the water was up to her neck. She didn't even react, instead her eyes remained on the alicorn.
Luna, calm as ever, turned towards her again. “It appears the time has come. You have two possibilities. You know them both, but remember well, an alicorn is always something new. You can do it. I trust you.”
Then there was nothing except the water that slowly rose and the rain that relentlessly struck at her from above.
Magia would end this world, and they were merely six fillies who stood against it. Any idiot could see that she should just close her eyes and start to leave.
The cold burned within her, the water reached her chin, bits of it got into her mouth. The taste woke memories within her, but not a single one of them fond. She had been insulted, beaten and violated. Her mother had died and her father had taken his own life, worse yet, she had been useless thereafter.
She had achieved nothing and wouldn't achieve anything, she was sure of that. Trixie found herself reaching a conclusion and then the filly closed her eyes, finally.
“I‘ve seen you a few times is the truth,” she had said, “and you‘re always looking off into the distance. I don‘t think you‘ve seen much, if anything of Canterlot. So, I want to take you somewhere wonderful and maybe show you a thing or two. I‘ll even bring you back whenever you want, okay?”
What the hay am I doing? She asked herself.
And then she decided again, this time, against the odds. She opened her mouth and started to breathe in the air that wasn't there. She threw open her eyes and looked towards a light that didn't exist and didn't matter. Water was all around her, a black swirl that threatened to take her into a deep, unending darkness. A cold flame was burning in her body and she couldn't feel anything anymore.
She didn't care about that anymore, because she needed to go against the stream. Trixie would fulfill the promise she had made, even if it wouldn't bring her parents back.
She was drowning and kicking and screaming and swimming, but the strength left her all too quickly.
No, she screamed in her mind. No, no, no, no, no!
Her left front hoof rose up, to where she thought the surface to be, and maybe she even cried a tear into the water. Trixie didn't want to die, she wanted to fight and live. She tried one last stroke, but her legs didn't move anymore. Losing what little hope she had mustered up, she didn't know what to do anymore.
Then she felt something grabbing her hoof. In the darkness was a small figure, winged and with a horn. A single, glowing green eye stared at her, but she could only make it out for a second, because then her sight faded. The last thing she felt was an embrace and before the blackness came onto her, she firmly decided not to die.
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If I put this story in my "tracking" section, will I know when there is an update? I've never tried for chapters that are being edited rather than freshly uploaded.
5974935
Tramp reloads the chaps, so yeah they will.
Whoo, this story is happening again! I'm going to take a stab at guessing the winged and horned, green-eyed figure at the end there was a changeling. Even though I don't think a Changeling could survive in this largely loveless world you've painted, unless that "Lunarium-water" is made of love or something.
I should have known you wouldn't kill off the main characters. Please have a happy ending! *Crosses fingers
And then immediately surprise cave-in. Everyone died, the end.
just kidding xD
Awesometastic story. Love it a "so many truckloads filled with love" lot!
5988681 Really? Blame Germanic and Nordic languages. for cross cajoodling!
I still think they got killed off too abruptly. Should have done it earlier in the story if it was going to be that easy. But as leery as I am of the progression at this point, I still remain cautiously optimistic that it won't go full retard like alex warlorn's did.
I was reading the chapter when I realized that you put Firefly instead of Raindrops, was that intentional?
6324101 Well yeah, but I want to know the specifics. What is the disease Twilight has, And why is her family disfunctional.
I feel like this story has some great potential. But it's missing some things. As to what they might be, I can't really say exactly. Just that there seems to be a lot of Deus ex machina, what with Raindrop's shenanigans, Derpy suddenly being healed, Trixie not dying from that fall. I mean, if it's so easy to kill off characters (*cough *cough Lyra & Octavia *cough) and revive them, what will come next will hardly be a surprise.
In addition, the narrative sometimes seems to wander around, off on unnescessary tangents for the sake of them. Some of the flashbacks start to become long and redundant. As far as characters go, I feel that some thoughts/actions stretch it a bit, and sometimes they sound same/act the same, but I can't really say much. Who can say what a child might think or feel in such circumstances? Reminds me very much of His Dark Materials; the way you write the charaters makes me think of how Lyra and Will are written. Anyways, as far as descriptions go, 
you need far, FAR more details, and the ones you do have written are so god-awful that I'll spontaneously combust if I keep reading-they're great! I think you've hit the nail on the head with all the cavern scenery, to say the least. (It's a shame all the statues haven't withstood the test of time, though.) Great descriptions. Nuff said.More.
7527036 I'll try to get back to this story once my situation has calmed down to the point where I can get creative again. I hope I reach that point soon-ish.
Thanks for reading until this point.
7530227 what's happening?
7530227
The wait is almost unbearable!!!!! I've been waiting two years for the next chapter to come out please continue it I can't leave storys unfinished it drives me nuts!!!