A millennium in but a day
The silence that fell on the ponies was almost palpable, like a heavy wet cloth had been dumped on the assembly. None dared to speak, lest the last words spoken by the fiery unicorn turned true. Rainbow Dash was the last one to understand what had been said, but she was the first one to act, and true to her nature, did the worst possible thing.
She charged Inferno and punched her straight in the muzzle, making the unicorn topple to the ground with a whinny.
"How can you say that and be cool with it!?"
Applejack was already on her, pushing her to the ground by the pegasus' neck. Rainbow Dash kept squirming from the grapple while still shouting at the downed unicorn, her voice breaking childishly.
"You... " she started, searching for more words to hurl at her prey. "You just sit there and... and tell us that ALL THIS TIME we've been chatting here in this... whatever you call this tent thing and you've been using up Twilight's LIFE!?"
Even the earth pony holding her down gave a violent glare to the ashen unicorn who was only now slowly getting up from the carpet. She held a forehoof to her cheek and wiped a small rivulet of blood that seeped from between her lips. With a confused stare, she only looked at the crimson stain on her pale hoof.
"What's that!?" the pale blue pegasus kept shouting. "Can't even speak for yourself!? I could—" The rest of her tirade was cut off as a blue sliver of magic curled around her muzzle, allowing only short grunts to escape for her mouth.
"Desist from your folly, you foal of a pegasus," Princess Luna said in a commanding, and for the first time that day, angry voice. "You have just struck down one of my closest friends for over a thousand years. In ages gone I would have exiled you on the spot to somewhere where nopony even knew what a pegasus was."
"No... pleash my Prinhesh," Inferno said while swallowing a mouthful of spit and blood. "I was just taken aback by the feeling of pain for the first time in aeons. Now... I ask you to release the pegasus, and allow me to talk with her."
"She will just assault you again. Why would I endanger you?" The Princess of the Night asked, looking in turn to the prone pegasus mare, and the unicorn standing tall above her.
"She will not. Because she will now have had time to think, and knows that she would only be hurting her friend's body and gain nothing from it but regret and shame."
Applejack looked at Princess Luna, and after the monarch gave her a nod, released Rainbow Dash from underneath her. The pegasus quickly pounced up and took wing, hovering a few inches off the ground as she once again flew towards the flame-maned unicorn, only to stop before actually making contact. Her face was was criss-crossed with angry lines, but her eyes betrayed a conflict in her mind.
The blazing unicorn took a careful step back, and lowered her head down in a submissive gesture. "Before you start shouting at me again, Miss Rainbow Dash, allow me to explain. I am not uncaring, or emotionless in this matter. Quite the contrary, I feel great worry for the well-being of my gracious host, Twilight Sparkle. But please understand that any overt show of emotion, any act of magic, any strenuous activity, will only work to diminish the limited supply of energy I have."
Her every word seemed to hammer all the anger and hatred from the blue pegasus and replace them with doubt and fear. When Inferno fell silent again, Rainbow Dash was sitting on the ground again. After a short silence, she finally found herself able to talk again: "So... you're actually... trying to protect her? And you're not just trying to act high and mighty?"
She got a nod from the pale unicorn in response.
"I... uh... well..." Rainbow Dash moved her forehoof behind her head. "I'm... youknow sorry for hitting you and all... It's just—"
"You have no reason to apologise or explain your actions." Inferno managed to smile with her swollen cheek. "Twilight Sparkle has good friends, even though they may be a bit short-tempered." She walked a few steps to gain a better view of the rest of the group. Their expressions ranged from shock to disappointment to outright fear as they watched their friend move and talk with an alien mind. "Miss Dash is correct in the fact that we have little time to lose. We should begin our search of the perpetrators at once, and to cover more ground, I suggest we split up. As a pegasus you must know the terrain best, Miss Dash, so could you direct the search?"
"Huh? I mean... of course! Team! This is what we're gonna do..."
The five ponies, one zebra and a baby dragon spread out to their designated search areas, ranging from the edge of the Everfree Forest all the way to Ponyville River and the dam site and to the woods behind Sweet Apple Acres. It was a large area, and the falling night would be a great hindrance to their efforts, but they did not hesitate for a moment.
Princess Luna and Inferno were left alone in the pavilion, looking after the receding forms of Twilight Sparkle's closest friends.
"So... Inny, " The Princess of the Moon and Stars said.
"Yes, Lulu?" answered the the burning unicorn from ages past, with a hint of emotion and warmth creeping into her voice.
"What didn't you tell them?"
"I... have no idea what... " One look at the frown on the monarch's face told her that lying was not an option. "You always know, don't you?"
"I know you must have had a good reason, but this is me, Inny. Just tell me."
The flame-maned unicorn stood up and motioned towards the library, and started walking there with the Princess trailing after her. Without a sound they made their way into the hollow oak and to the door of the cellar. "I shouldn't, so please?" the white unicorn said, pointing a hoof at the lock of the door. Luna looked at her with another frown, but her horn started to glow with the familiar blue glow of the falling night. Her eyes opened up in surprise as the complexity of the locking spell was revealed to her, and it took her several minutes to work her way through the different layers of the spell. It was apparently activated with a thought or an emotion, but without knowing which one, she had to brute-force her way through them. Dispelling every enchantment one at a time made beads of sweat appear on her forehead, but finally a small click and the barely audible screech of the door hinge told her that the spell was undone.
"That is a very powerful spell to use for just a normal door. I'm not going to like what I see downstairs, I gather?"
The pale unicorn looked at her with a sad expression and nodded before starting down the stairs to the cellar where they had met last time. As Luna lit her horn up so she wouldn't stumble on her way down the broken stairs, she had to inhale deeply from surprise. Every surface of the room was covered in enormous and complex runes, each of them consisting of concentric circles, expanding from the tiniest and most delicate ones in the middle to extend several feet in every direction. They were all done in what appeared to be chalk, but there was a small silvery glitter to all the lines in the gloom. The only other objects in the room were a large messy pile of books near the stairs, and two full-body mirrors facing each other in opposite corners of the room. The mirrors had a polished silvery sheen to them, and as Luna walked to stand between them, she could see hundreds of smaller and smaller images of herself spanning into infinity in her reflection.
"What... what is this?" she asked, the unfamiliar tremor in her voice mirrored by the slight quiver of her chin on her reflection.
"Magic. Old magic. Not the gentle type that unicorns have used for ages with their own power, but far older. Far more powerful. This is the magic that doesn't come from within, but from without. It calls on the forces of land to coalesce into one place and trap it inside to accumulate."
"You knew this... but didn't tell anypone outside?"
"They were worried as is. And they will find out eventually. But right now they need to be able to alleviate their worries in some way, and only adding to their confusion would not help us solve this riddle."
Princess Luna walked around the small cellar room with the glassy walls that Inferno's fire had melted and fused together previously. They looked slick as glass, and even in the low light, a dark and twisted reflection of her face gazed back at her. She pulled back with a start, surprised by the visage in the wall, before assuming her royal habitus anew. "What was Twilight Sparkle doing here?" she asked out loud.
"I must confess that I have no idea." Inferno was still standing at the bottom of the broken stairs, looking around the room with appraising eyes.
"Didn't you say you were more awake after the last incident? More aware of your surroundings?" The Princess turned to look at her old friend. She had forgotten for a moment that she would not see the familiar face of her old friend, but the gentle and sad face of the young mare instead. Even that small part of reality returning to her made her cringe.
"Yes. For the most part. But whenever she came down here, I could not follow. I believe it had something to do with either the locking spell on the door, or these glyphs here. Whatever the case, whenever she came here, everything went black for me, and only returned when Twilight Sparkle was back upstairs. The only time I have been here was today, when I woke up on the floor."
"So everything you told the others was a lie?" The Princess sounded a bit surprised, and disappointed at the same time.
"Not all of it. The sickness, the nausea, they all followed Twilight Sparkle since morning. But she did not collapse on the floor of the library, but came here even though she still felt ill. And that is when I found myself prone on the runic surface, not feeling her presence in my mind anymore. It was all I could do to not just teleport to Canterlot, understanding that I was spending somepony else's life every minute." She looked to Princess Luna, her face downcast in sorrow. "The wait alone made me almost go insane. And I couldn't stop the magic pouring out of me. I couldn't stop the fire! I tried!" Her voice rose higher and the words she spoke came out as mere parts and stutters. "I... never wanted... I... You... So long, and still... "
Luna walked to her side and covered her with a wing, but her words felt cold and distant to her old friend. "I missed you too. But right now we cannot afford to reminisce. You must regain composure. Immediately!" Her last word came out more as a command, and the unicorn reaching barely her shoulder in height perked up in shock. A small fire burned in Inferno's eyes, but it soon faded as the meaning of the words seemed to reach her brain.
"Thank you," she whispered. After taking a deep breath, she was able to speak out loud again. "I... needed that."
"So... the runes? Are you familiar with any of them?" Luna turned away from the white unicorn. When she was sure her friend was looking at the wall, she quickly wiped the tears that had started to gather in her eyes before coughing to keep up her own appearance as well.
"They are not drawn on the surface of the stone, but carved."
"Carved? into this surface? With such detail?" Princess Luna leaned forward to look at one of the edges of the patterns. The mark was clearly carved, as Inferno had said, the line etched maybe a tenth of an inch into the stone. "That must have taken ages."
"No. Only a few hours every day for a few weeks. During the night when the dragon in her charge was asleep. Only to return to bed before he could notice."
"That shouldn't be possible."
"Magic?" There was no sign of sarcasm in the borrowed voice of Twilight Sparkle.
"Could be. I knew she was powerful, but I don't think even Tia knows how powerful."
"I could feel a strong will and much power inside her. Nothing to rival the unicorns of old. At least not yet."
"Unicorns of old... Like you?"
"She is but a child compared to me, yes. But she is still training and growing. Twilight Sparkle will overtake my skills in the years to come, but not yet."
"Such modesty," Princess Luna said with a mock cheer in her voice.
"I am stating a fact. You chose me as your apprentice for that reason. You chose me to do all your magics so you could play around with your smithing and... toys."
"Toys!" The Princess of the Night huffed in mock disgrace. "We will have you know that these items you dare call mere toys were works of art and ingenuity! They were constructed for the good of all ponykind. Even after a thousand years, only a scant few engineers in this era can even imagine the concepts that we established! The flying machines! The subterranean transit systems! The—"
"The video games and disco balls?" The friendly quip died in Inferno's throat as she turned to look in horror at her former teacher.
"Oh? Did we just maybe utter something we shouldn't have?" The Princess' voice had a prowling undertone, as if her words had become a giant cat stalking its prey through the darkest of shadows.
"My Princess... don't go there—" The mare's eyes had shot open wide, and she backed away from the advancing monarch.
"You remember my toys, but I remember a certain young mare coming to a certain place that was playing a certain kind of music with certain paraphemalia as decoration that might have made that same mare to lose her self-control and dance the night away..."
"Lulu... please—"
"And maybe, just maybe, getting a certain piece of decoration to adorn the side of her bum for the rest of her years as a Cutie Mark..."
"You PROMISED not to talk about that after I died! Wasn't one lifetime of shame enough for you?" The unicorn's voice no longer felt detached, as the indignation in her words was only slightly marred by the silly grin spreading on her face.
"And having a certain Princess pay testament to the whole event and naming the piece of decoration after her future favourite student?"
"STOP IT!" Inferno shouted amidst giggles.
"Whatever you say... Di—"
The smaller unicorn quickly closed the gap between the two ponies and they both soon fell on the floor into a giggling mess of tickles and undignified snorts and chortles.
Their shared joy was cut short as they both noticed how Inferno's mane and tail had started to glow a brighter hue of yellow, lighting the dark chamber with its glow. In horror, they both backed away from each other, Princess Luna colliding with the rune-covered wall behind her, and the white unicorn sitting down with her back turned to her friend..
"We... we shouldn't have done that," the pale mare said, her voice filled with dread.
"No. I... we..." The Princess stuttered out.
Inferno got up and walked to the wall, not even turning to look at the blue alicorn. "We are wasting time. Our stupidity can wait until it will not endanger an innocent pony."
"Agreed," Luna said and started to examine the items in the room again. "So we have a room full of runes to capture something. What exactly?"
"I believe some form of earth energy or dragon-line. I used to research such matters in the days of old, but you told me it was a frivolous waste of time." She traced the lines on the wall with her hoof. "Is there any reason for Twilight Sparkle to know of such forbidden magic?"
"The book she read that eventually brought you here contained a slew of knowledge about the subject, and Tia in her wisdom decided it better to allow her to study more of it instead of telling her student to forget all about it as I suggested. She said it would only make Twilight Sparkle more curious about the subject, and that she'd find out eventually on her own." The Princess picked up a few tomes from the pile and looked at their covers. "She can be quite persistent when the need arises."
"The word you are looking for is 'obsessed', Lulu," the unicorn said with a chuckle.
"In...ferno. Stop that. You must stay neutral. You must contain yourself. No jokes, no personal comments. Nothing."
"I know!" the white mare said in a stern voice. "I know I should remain detached to preserve my hosts energy. But... " Her shoulders slumped. "it's getting harder by the moment! All those memories and feelings are coming back. You... can't imagine what it feels like not to even be able to talk for a thousand years! To not be inside your own body! To only wait...wait to..." Her mouth fell agape as she saw the look on her teacher's face. She didn't see anger in her expression, only deep, unfathomable sadness. "I didn't mean... that is—"
"Be quiet for once," came the cold reply from The Princess. "There are some wounds best left to heal in solitude. If you cannot regain your composure, I will have to seclude you from any contact with others to protect the life you hold in your hooves."
"Lulu... I... "
The Princess of the Moon turned away to once again study the tomes she had dropped on the floor.
After a few minutes she remembered a certain responsibility, and she absentmindedly lobbed a few hundred trillion pounds of stone to soar through the sky before returning to her search for clues.
"Not like anypony would even notice. It's new moon tonight," she muttered to herself, unheard by the white unicorn staring in the mirror on the other side of the room.
Rainbow Dash certainly didn't notice the dark moon rise against the stars. Her mind was wandering in several directions, none of the concerning astrology.
"Stupid, stupid stupid!" She hoofed herself on the side of her head and dipped dangerously close to the ground in doing so.
"Twilight! Out of all ponies!" She spread her wings and glided close to the ground, her night-vision having returned after the lights of Ponyville.
"She's like... the friendliest pony I know." She moved silently as a bat, her muzzle occasionally brushing against tall plants and weeds that still carried the last scent of summer dew. The first frost had yet to fall, and nature was almost anticipating winter, trying to give its last effort before resting for the cold months to come. The majesty of the natural world surrounding the pegasus was completely lost on her, as she once more beat her wings to gain altitude. "Rainbow Dash, the coolest pony in Ponyville. What a laugh."
Her muscles already felt sore from the time searching, but she tried to ignore them. "What would my fans think of me? Hay. I don't think I could look Scoots in the eyes right now."
She completed a loop-de-loop, dodging a few branches of the high trees marking the edge of Everfree Forest. She missed one, and the wet leaves clipped her on the side of her face, but she hardly noticed. "BUCK! I'm SO gonna make it up to Twi when she gets back."
The pegasus landed on a high treetop, standing on it like she weighed nothing at all as she surveyed the surrounding lands for any signs of life or movement. "Maybe I'll take her to a Wonderbolts show or something. Or buy her dinner. Or both. For a month."
Rainbow Dash stretched her wings to get her blood flowing again, and once more jumped into the cold air. She struggled to gain altitude, no longer finding the warm updrafts she'd grown used to during the summer. "So uncool, Dash. So uncool. Hitting your best friend in the face. So... uncool."
Even in the cold wind she was flying against, she could feel her cheeks grow hot from shame. "I'm so STUPID!" she shouted, already running out of breath from the short distance she'd flown from her last stop. The pegasus gently landed on the rooftop of the belltower near Fluttershy's cottage. Panting, she looked around once more, not seeing anything out of the ordinary, which only served to worsen her demeanour.
"Hey, Dash. I'm in a really tight spot, so be a good friend and beat me up!" She chimed in a high-pitched voice and once again gave herself a painful facehoof. Her gaze fell on the tiny cottage nearby. It was unsettling to see the lights still out inside, her timid friend usually lighting every possible lamp inside for fear of the darkness outside. Even from here she could hear the animals inside the various coops and shacks surrounding the house make tiny rustling noises, preparing to turn in for the night. Even through her self-loathing, Rainbow Dash couldn't help but yawn after the adrenaline for the exercise earlier started leaving her muscles.
"And where's Flutters? She had a lot shorter route to check." The usually many-coloured pegasus was only a shadow on top of the tower, a mere ghost stalking the night. "Gah. She's probably found some sick animal or stopped to make sure some hidey-hole is ready for some creepy snakes to crawl into for the winter."
That is when she heard the scream coming from somewhere to her side. She took wing and headed for the distressed pony, easily recognising the voice to belong to her yellow pegasus friend. "Is she hurt? She sounds really scared." The Element of Loyalty made good of her name as she dashed to the small copse of trees where the howls were coming from and landed with a thud on the dirt. At first she couldn't even understand what she was seeing; In the middle of the copse was a small flat light-gray stone. Against it was the small screaming and sobbing form of Fluttershy curled in a ball.
"Shy! I'm here! You're safe! What's going on?" Rainbow Dash ran to her friend's side.
"T-the monsters! They... they... " came the hoarse answer.
"What! Tell me!" Dash looked around in case the monsters were still around. "Did somepony hurt you?"
No answer came, only more sobbing.
She was not going to get anything else from the panicked pegasus. Instead she looked around, trying to make sense of what was happening. Then her eyes picked up on the markings on the stone slab. The circles and twisted letters scrawled around its surface with something dark. And the tiny form laid in the middle. The tiny form that had once been alive. Dash's stomach felt like it was going to empty itself then and there.
"They killed her! They killed her!" Fluttershy kept shouting.
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Phew. Been a while since I updated since. I promise to keep a bit better schedule in the future. This chapter finally starts unraveling the things that have been happening, but of course all that the answers bring are more questions.
My stories are like ogres. They have layers and make you cry.
So her name is Disco Inferno? Lol!
Now what's this about ritual sacrifices? I doubt it's a pony, probably one of Flutt's chickens, but still...
1752919 Yeah, it was the big surprise about the name. Cos it just had to be done. 70's will NEVER fade away!
1752940
fimfiction-static.net/images/avatars/36259_64.jpg
great chapter!
i feel sorry for DISCO inferno (no, not her name...seriously, i don't feel bad for her about her name...iambrony.steeph.tp-radio.de/mlp/gif/mlfw4606.gif ); knowing that every emotion you show shortens the life of the individual you're trying to save, that has to be quite depressing.
one thing that always bothers me; when ppl downplay twi's magical prowess, sure, you didn't really do that, she's merely not quite there yet but most certainly has the potential, but stilldl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_unsuresweetie_flip.png . btw; now im interested in what she was doing, this is really shaping up into quite the mystery.
and the sacrifice; i wonder if it's a child, more likely that it's an animal though; like angel or something absolutely random.
duh
RD, always quite to act, never the one to think first.
is this ever gonna be back in production?
3029608 Yes.
I'm going to regret it because this hasn't been updated since 2012, but down the rabbit hole of reading I go! I'll simply spend the rest of the night staring at the ceiling coming up with my own ending!
Oh, dear. Please tell me it was an animal they killed? Dear Luna don't let it be a filly!
Honestly when Inferno was holding something back from the others I thought she was going to say that Twilight had attempted suicide or something. My mind is dark like that sometimes.
And 'Disco Inferno'? Wow, that song is older than I am! Not to mention its freaking catchy!
5444140 Well I intend to return to this fic... maybe... someday. Right now it's a testament to my inability to finish planning a story fully beforehand and just trying to make it up as I go. I wrote myself into a dark corner with this fic so I had to cut my losses and concentrate on other writing. I think I'm done with "Dark" tagged stories for the time being.
http://www.quickmeme.com/img/a9/a960a0ac740d9b1e1a6250ec130b3ea4a7c0f2a79de6a058feb55eeaded97408.jpg
More please.
9270823 It's on a permanent hiatus, would need a full rewrite if I kept it going. Sorry for being such a slacker.
9272082
I still would like more.
Honestly, Inferno's and Twilight's thing would be a hot story idea by itself. Just remove all the grimdark stuff. No I'm not sorry about that pun.
9517056
If I ever continue this fic, it will be far softer and more introspective. Also after seeing Daybreaker that gave me a lot of more silly ideas.
Seeing as you don't give any crap whatsoever about this story anymore (shame on you by the way for letting such a good story idea with Twilight and Inferno's thing die like this), why not give it to someone else?
Or restart the whole thing from the beginning?