Second Movement: Part 4- Can You Hear the Starsong?
Can You Hear the Starsong?
There was surprisingly little for a pegasus to do aboard the griffon frigate. The upper decks were off-limits until the storm broke up, the lower decks smelled like buffalo fodder, and the mess hall made her queasy. Rainbow Dash could handle carnivores just fine, but an entire ship-full of them gnawing down barrels of jerky made her a little uneasy.
Maybe it had more to do with the back-and-forth motion of the waves.
There was also the matter of Lord Gilded Wing, who was under very loose house arrest. Rainbow Dash wanted to stay as far away from that crazy griffon as possible. She felt moderately safe within her private bunk, so she spent most of her time there.
Within her nook was a small library of griffon, zebra, and pony literature. Since most of the griffon books were written in the language of the land, and she didn’t really care much for poetry, the blue pegasus ended up reading a lot of pony.
A knock on the door signified her only visitor, Martial Paw. He had been bringing her limes and oranges, pretty much the only thing fit for an herbivore on board the ship. She was honestly getting really, really hungry for a nice, big salad. “C’mon in.”
He opened the door slowly, careful not to drop a single morsel of food onto the damp floor. With practiced ease, he slid around continuous drips coming from the upper decks. The drops flew down and plunked methodically into buckets full of pure rainwater. He set the plate in front of the reading pegasus, before plopping down on a barrel beside her. “So, what’s the novel today?”
“Death of a Salespony,” she said between bites. “Spoiler alert: the main character dies at the end. What a maroon.”
“I remember that one; he was just trying to help his family…” He consulted his memory briefly. “In his own misguided way.”
“He was selfish, that’s what he was.” She closed the book with a bang, and tossed it back onto the shelf. “Nopony who’s really loyal would leave his family behind like that.”
She flopped down on the cot and watched the water droplets fall to the floor. “Doesn’t the captain have any fun books on board? Like, with actual good guys and bad guys and stuff?”
“Well, the ambassador library is mostly for show…” Martial smirked. “Not a fan of those kinds of stories?”
Rainbow Dash shook her head. “I didn’t get into reading to listen to a stuffy old stallion whine about how much life sucks, you know?” She pulled a new book from the shelves. “I like adventure, excitement, danger…”
She tossed the book back on the shelves and rolled onto her belly. “And I really don’t think I’m gonna find it in Little Mares.”
“You might like that one,” he said, a grin spreading across his face. “It’s actually pretty good.”
“Oh, go soak your head in grog.” She ate the last of the limes, puckering up as it passed between her lips. “What is grog, anyhow? It tastes nasty.”
He let out a low chuckle. “Well, it’s barley brew…”
“Yuck. Strike one.”
“…Watered down…”
“Strike two.”
“…With rainwater if you’re lucky, and seawater if you’re not.”
“Steeerike three!”
“And when it doesn’t rain,” he continued unabated, “It’s all that sailors have to drink.”
Rainbow Dash snorted. “And they wonder why their teeth rot out of their heads.”
“Noah teeth in a griffon mouth, lass!” A boisterous voice interrupted. “But y’see many a cracked beak on these waters.”
The captain poked a pudgy head inside Rainbow Dash’s quarters, pipe firmly secured in his mouth. “We’ll be hitting the shore more’r’less in two days time, best get yerself ready fer th’ capital.”
Rainbow Dash nodded in affirmation, and the captain ambled off. She turned to Martial Paw with an eyebrow raised. “Sooo, anything I ought to know about griffon customs?”
Martial raised an eyebrow in return. “Why? Not much experience being an ambassador?”
The pegasus rubbed her forehead, eyes shut in disbelief. “I was an ambassador to the flipping Crystal Empire, the Equestrian protect-protector- eh, province. A pony province.” She glared at him with lidded eyes. “I’ve never set foot in another country before, and I wasn’t really planning on it.”
Martial sat very still for several moments. “Oh. Oh.”
Rainbow Dash continued to stare him down. “’Oh,’ what? What’s up?”
“The words ‘culture shock’ come to mind.” He pinched the bridge of his beak with a talon. “No wonder you were confused about Gilded’s house arrest. Ponies are all equal under the law.”
“And griffons aren’t?” She mulled over the implications. “Look, I’m not much of a politician. Heck, that’s the last thing I wanna be.” She ran her hooves through her hair; bunching it up at the top of her head before letting it flow back down. “I shouldn’t even be in this position.”
“I’m sorry,” Martial sighed. “It wasn’t our intention. We were going to quietly leave once we got the relic.” He fiddled with Rainbow Dash’s plate, not meeting her eyes. “Things changed when Gilded… You know.”
“’Quietly leave,’ huh?” She rolled over and grabbed a new book. “Because abandonment is so much better than betrayal.”
Martial opened his mouth to protest, but hesitated when he saw the expression on Dash’s face. She was glaring at the book as if she planned to ignite the pages with pure fury. He took the plate in his talon and swiftly exited the room, leaving the pegasus mare alone.
Twilight Sparkle marched into the Crystal Empire library, Lyra Heartstrings close behind. “Miss Spellbinding? Miss Speeeellbindiiiiiing!”
A crystal pony with hair like polished granite trotted into view. “Oh, hello Lady Sparkle. I expected that you would turn up sooner or later.”
Twilight sat down, winded from the fairly short walk from the palace. “Yeah. Can we get every book you have that mentions the Crystal Heart?”
Miss Spellbinding stopped, a smile plastered to her face. “Every book that mentions it, you say?”
Twilight held a damp rag to her forehead to ward off the headache that had been developing, while Lyra offered the librarian a nervous smile. “Right, that’ll do it.”
Spellbinding glanced around the library, her grin faltering as she took in the mountains worth of knowledge. She walked over to a small shelf, newly installed as part of the exchange system, and pulled out a tiny chapter book. She walked back to the waiting unicorns and set it down before them. “Here you go, Angelic Disposition, by Hobby Horse.”
Twilight looked askance. “This is the only book that mentions the Crystal Heart?”
The librarian shook her head. “Oh, my dear Twilight. This is the only book that doesn’t mention it in some way.”
Twilight smiled; it was a nice, friendly, “how are you doing today” smile. She giggled lightly. “I’m sorry, I thought you said that this was the only book that didn’t mention the Crystal Heart.”
“That is what I said.” Spellbinding waved a hoof around the room. “The Crystal Heart is so ingrained into our history that, well, it gets mentioned.”
Lyra leaned in close to whisper to Twilight. “I thought you said it took you all day to figure the heart-happiness thing out.”
Twilight’s smile grew into a grin, and her pupils shrunk slightly. “He he heee. Why yes, Lyra, it did take the better part of the day.” She turned to the emerald mare. “In fact, Sombra almost re-corrupted the kingdom before we could figure out that the Crystal Heart was an actual magic artifact.”
Another giggle escaped her Cheshire-esque smile. “And now, we’ve got an entire library to search for information on the origin and effects of the wonderful, splendorous, pretty, blasted piece of junk!”
Both Lyra and Spellbinding leapt back from the outburst. Twilight fumed for a moment, before collapsing into a chair. Her head pounded like a drum, as if accompanying the warpath she had been scrambling down. She whimpered quietly. “I’m sorry. This is just… too much.”
The bard and the librarian glanced at each other, before Spellbinding spoke up. “Well, only one section of books details the history of the Heart. You could start there; it’s only about a hundred books…”
Lyra nodded. “Twilight, you go and find the comfiest chair in the library, while I grab a few of those books. You’ll be studying in no time!”
Twilight looked up, her appearance adorably pathetic. “Thanks, Lyra.”
Spellbinding led Lyra over to the indicated section and pointed out the more academic books. The unicorn levitated several tomes over to Twilight’s chair, and Celestia’s personal student began to do what she does best: study.
At least, she studied for a while. Before long, the words seemed to slur on the page, and any logic that could be taken from the text flew off into the blue. “Ugh, what’s wrong with me?”
Lyra walked past, carrying another group of books. “Concussion, remember? Debilitating brain injury? Can be healed with lots and lots of rest?”
Oh, aren’t you helpful? Twilight bit down on her tongue to keep the thought from slipping out. “I’m not gonna get anything done like this.”
“So let me handle it,” Lyra replied. “Spellbinding and I were talking, and we could continue the research while you get some sleep.” She levitated the book Twilight was reading out of her hooves. “Really, get some rest. You could seriously hurt yourself if you don’t.”
The musical emerald took out a piece of paper and a quill. “So, what have you learned so far?”
Twilight looked at the pile of books that she had glanced through. She pushed them aside and stood up. “Nothing that we haven’t already found out.”
Lyra watched her go, wishing that she had something smart to say. When the purple unicorn exited the library, the lyrist set about gathering useful information. “The Collected Works of Starswirl the Bearded, Chapter 1: The Heart of a Leader…”
Twilight took a seat before the glowing Crystal Heart, basking in its comforting magic. Crystal ponies milled about, some came to see the heart themselves, and others were just passing by on their way to work. Twilight sipped from a glass of water, examining the relic from a distance. What are you? she wondered. What do you and Sombra’s Crystal Heart have in common? What’s different? How did you come to be?
As she expected, no answer came. It was a magic relic, after all, and not capable of rational thought. Twilight leaned back against a castle support pillar and sighed. Oh, Celestia, what I wouldn’t give to speak with you, even if just for a moment.
A woozy feeling covered her consciousness in fuzz, and Twilight felt herself slipping off to sleep. Several crystal ponies stopped to get a glance of the snoring mare, leaning her head back with her mouth wide open. The majority giggled and trotted on.
One blue-maned stallion in full armor sidled up next to her. He flipped her onto his back and entered the castle gates. “C’mon Twilie, let’s get you to bed.”
Twilight Sparkle sat up and found herself in the middle of a castle. It was not the Crystal Palace, nor was it the Canterlot Castle. It was a dank, dungeon-y place, filled with cobwebs, overgrown vines, and crumbling stone walls. Outside of the window, she saw the gnarled trees of the Everfree Forest, looming in their loamy soil. Twilight felt her head, just below the horn, and found that the bumps were still there, though they did not hurt.
“Welcome, Twilight Sparkle,” a voice said, “To the original Palace of the Royal Pony Sisters.”
Twilight spun, coming nose-to-nose with a short, dark-blue mare. The purple unicorn looked down at her, examining her closely. “Do I know you?”
“Yes,” the mare replied. “Though you do not know me as I am now.”
As the mystery pony finished speaking, Twilight got a good look at her crescent moon Cutie Mark. “Princess Luna? Is that you?”
The other pony nodded. “Yes, Twilight. I have come to your dream to tell you something about the relic you were seeking-”
“What happened to you?” Twilight interrupted. “Where’s Celestia? Are you two alright?”
“Please!” Luna held up a hoof to silence the student. “I haven’t much time before Sombra discovers my dream-walking spell!”
Twilight fell silent, even as a deep, rumbling sound began to reverberate throughout the castle. “Twilight, listen to me, Sombra’s relic is a small, crystalline heart. He will come looking for it, and you must not let him get a hold of it.”
Thunder crashed across the skies, making both ponies jump. Luna looked up with trepidation. “He’s here! He’s come into the dream!”
Dark crystals began to grow out of the floor as wind swirled around the chamber. “To fully understand his Crystal Heart, you must study the true one,” The former princess hurriedly explained to Twilight. “He will destroy Equestria as we know it. Do not let him get it!”
“I know!” Twilight yelled. The crystals had reached Luna and started growing up her legs. “I don’t know where to begin! Where do I look? How can I find out about the Heart?”
Luna was encased inside a cocoon of glowing purple evil. She desperately spoke through the single hole separating her from Twilight. “You can find all you need to know if you just look to the Stars-”
Luna exploded in a flash of purple light, sending Twilight Sparkle flying back into the decaying wall. She would have fallen unconscious if she had not been in the middle of a dream. As it was, she could only wish for wakefulness, because out of the residue of the blast came a unicorn stallion. He strutted tall, his muscular body covered in armor and a fur cloak. Iron-shod hoof met cobblestone floor with a clang each time he took a step. He grinned as his horn glowed, and he approached Twilight with malice in his smoky eyes.
Twilight’s mind raced. She knew that she was in a dream, and thus had a certain power over what happened. However, most of that potential power came through magic spells, and her concussion prevented their safe use. At most, she could probably end the dream early, waking up from what had become a nightmare. Try though he might, there’s no way that Sombra can hurt me in here.
“Are you certain of that, Twilight Sparkle?” The Unicorn King licked his teeth, sending shivers down Twilight’s back. “I am the most powerful magic user who ever lived; I know thousands of ways to hurt you.”
The dreaming mare stood firm, even as droplets of nervous sweat rolled down her cheek. “Most powerful magic user? Ha! Don’t make me laugh.” A rattling sound confused her before she realized that it was her own knees knocking together. “I, uh, I’m Celestia’s personally-trained student, you’re out of your league.”
The stallion stood a head taller than her. He glared down, cowing her bravado. “I defeated Celestia not a week ago, foal.” His horn glowed, and the castle crumbled to dust. “Even those two princesses, revered as goddesses in a simpler time, could not stand up to my might.”
He leaned in close enough for Twilight to feel his breath on her muzzle. “I have over a thousand years of magic training under my belt. You have, what? Ten years? Pathetic.”
“You can’t win, Sombra,” Twilight said. Her head lowered defensively, and she took a step backwards over the rubble of the castle. “You’re fighting against friendship, the most powerful magic in Equestria.”
Sombra opened his mouth, but words failed to follow. He tilted his head as a strange smile grew over his face. Finally, he spoke. “Well, you’re half right, anyway.”
He took a long step forwards, and Twilight matched his pace backwards. She stopped when she felt her back leg encountering nothing but thin air. She was perched on a tall precipice, with no bottom in sight.
The king chuckled. “Friendship can be very powerful, indeed. But only if you have friends to share it.”
Twilight started, almost falling off the edge in shock. “My friends, what have you done to them!?”
Sombra placed a hoof to his mouth as he thought. “Hmm, I’m not sure where Rainbow Dash got to, but I do know that the rest of your pitiful little band is the prey for an entire pack of Timberwolves.”
He moved his hoof to the right in order to catch the wild punch Twilight threw his way. “You monster! If you hurt any one of them-”
“Then I’ll have won,” he finished for her. “And Equestria will belong to me, forever.”
Twilight tried to pull her hoof out of his clutches, but he held firm. He grinned vilely. “Friendship; so powerful, yet so easily broken.”
“You won’t find our friendship easy to break, your highness.” She spat in his face, causing him to flinch.
“Well, let’s see whose spirit breaks first, Twilight Sparkle,” he growled, “Your friends’, or yours!”
With that, he shoved her off of the cliff, sending her tumbling into a dream-ending spiral. As she came to, Sombra’s dark laughter reverberated in her skull. The dream faded, and the king’s voice with it.
Twilight sat up in bed, sweat plastering her hair to her head. Her sheets had been soaked with frightened perspiration. She found herself very thirsty, and got up to get a glass of water.
A glance outside brought the sky into view, and a memory to the forefront. “You can find all you need to know if you just look to the Stars-”
A moment later, Twilight was sitting outside. Her telescope, imported from Equestria, sat tuned to observe the stars that lay in the northern hemisphere. A book detailing the placement of the constellations sat open before her, and she mapped out where she would observe that night.
“Look to the stars, look to the stars.” She flipped through the pages, searching for the current date in her calendar. “But which stars, which constellation?” She looked through the telescope lens to center on the North Star, almost directly overhead. “The North Star? Ursa Minor? Orion’s belt?”
She sighed, lowering the telescope’s view to the horizon. Her forehead rested against the cool metal of the instrument, offering a relief from the constant pain in her head.
“What do you want from me?
What do you want from me?
When will you show me the way?
Why can’t I find what you plainly see?”
Twilight spotted a shooting star, trailing a tail as big as a kite. She swung the telescope to view the ethereal object, and followed it down its path of descent.
“Such amazing stories
Such inspiring glories
Show me the way I must go
Show me the way on to victory”
The trail of light disappeared, and a new star burst into existence. She marked its position on her star-map. Hmm, just outside the Pleiades Cluster, must be a member of Sweetie Drop’s family. I’ll have to send a condolence card.
“You see the beginning
You see the end coming
Impart to me your wisdom
From beyond our short lives of yearning”
The unicorn sighed up at the heavens. The stars were far too numerous to ever hope to count, and the numbers grew nearly every day. Every time a pony dies, their soul must rise.
“You rise into the sky
And as the birds must fly
So you pass unto glory
As everything will pass and die
“All the stars sing a song
But I can’t sing along
I can’t hear what you’re saying
I can’t know when I am doing wrong”
“That’s a pretty damp outlook on life, don’t you think, Twilie?”
Twilight turned to see Shining Armor joining her on the balcony. He was carrying two mugs of hot cocoa in his magic grip.
She took hers gratefully. “Well, you know how it is trying to get a response out of dead ponies.”
“More than you realize,” he sighed. “But enough about death, what’s got you talking to the stars in the first place?”
Twilight gestured up at the sky. “While I was sleeping, I got a message from Princess Luna.”
Shining nodded. “What did she say?”
“She pretty much just confirmed my suspicions,” Twilight replied. “Other than that, she said to look to the stars to learn more about the Crystal Heart.”
“Ah, ergo stargazing.”
“Yup.”
They lay silently, taking in the peaceful night. The stars twinkled overhead, and the moon provided its pale light. If Twilight strained, she thought that she could almost hear the stars singing. Almost, but not quite.
She huffed, taking a small sip of her cocoa. “I feel like I’m just fighting thin air. I charged into a million books without any clue where to begin, and now I’m searching the multitudes for some sign that I’m on the right track.”
“You will figure it out, Twilight.” Shining placed a hoof on her back. “You have an amazing mind, and dozens of friends to help you.”
“I know.” She laid her head on her forehooves. “I miss them.”
A sudden twinge of pain shot through her head. “Geeze, I feel like a baby. I can’t do anything without help.”
“Think of it as a growing experience, then,” he smiled softly. “We all need a little humility in our lives, Twilie, especially ponies with all our responsibilities.”
“I am humble,” she responded. “In fact, I’m probably the most humble pony you’ll ever meet.”
The two siblings laughed together, their eyes sparkling like the sky above.
“Twilight!” The voice came from the doorway to the purple unicorn’s bedroom. “Hay, Twilight! You’ve gotta see this!”
Lyra Heartstrings ran breathlessly onto the balcony. Behind her trailed a large, dusty book. “I think I’ve found what we were looking for!”
Twilight took the book in her hooves. “Really? It tells us what we need to know about the Heart?”
Lyra heaved, holding up a hoof to tell Twilight to wait. Several deep breaths later, she was able to answer. “I just… whenever we have history lessons in Equestria… *Wheeze* Starswirl the Bearded usually has a hoof in things.”
Twilight looked over the cover of the book, The Collected Works of Starswirl the Bearded. “Well, you’ve got me there.”
“So a though came to me,” Lyra squeaked out. “When it comes to history, you gotta look to the Stars.”
The purple mare blinked. She looked at the book once more; making note of the pattern of stars embedded into the cover. The very stars that signified Starswirl’s Cutie Mark. “'Look to the Stars,' huh?”
Shining Armor grinned and nudged his sister. “I told you so.”
Twilight Sparkle stood up and giggled. “Yeah, you got me there, Shiny.”
The student clutched the book to her chest and smiled at Lyra. “Thank you for all of your help, Lyra, I really couldn’t have done it without you.”
Lyra smiled back and hugged Twilight. “It’s the least I could do, after having such an amazing adventure!”
Shining smiled as his sister returned the hug. “Why don’t we go inside, girls? Love-spell or no, it can get pretty chilly in the Crystal Empire.”
He sat in the darkness, Sombra on his throne. He was brooding, thinking, plotting…
Worrying.
“If Twilight Sparkle can uncover the secret of the Crystal Heart…” he mumbled.
The moon hung steady in the sky, no longer powered by a vigilant alicorn princess, but by a team of overworked mages. He glared at the orb. “Even with her connection to the moon severed, she still finds ways around me.” He summoned a small glass of aged berry juice and drank it down in a single gulp. “At least Celestia is no longer a problem in that department.”
A knock sounded at the door. “You may enter.”
The doors opened to admit a ragged Diamond Dog, whose only bit of finery was a diamond studded necklace. The Dog pulled at his red vest as he gave a report. “The Fillydelphia rebels are stopped, King. We put the survivors in chains, and they now work in the mines.”
“Excellent work, Rover Redvest.” Sombra sat back in his seat. “I wonder how long it will be before the other cities fall in line…”
The Diamond Dog scratched under his collar. “I dunno, a month maybe?”
The Unicorn King rolled his eyes and growled. “It was not a riddle, Rover! Now get out!”
Rover Redvest yelped and ran out the door. The towering entryway closed up again, leaving Sombra alone.
Alone, save for a faint chuckling that never reached the king’s ears. The head mounted behind Sombra was no longer frozen in fright, but in a leering smile.
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Dabbling in a bit of meta humor, are we?
I really wanted to hug Twilight in this chapter. I really feel bad for her, especially since that accursed Sombra is lying through his teeth. Stay strong, Twi. Celestia knows everypony else is.
Also, quite a shame that the griffons don't know of the awesomeness that is Daring Do. Which is odd when you think about it, seeing as the second book of the series is entitled The Griffon's Goblet.
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Weeeell...
It's not the first time.
(I'm extremely tempted to give Hobby Horse a part in one of my stories, but he'd end up being a blatant Marty Stu. Famous author, millions of fans, funny as all-get-out...)
I'm sure just about everypony wants to hug Twilight at this point. Take a number and get in line.
Hmm, about Sombra and lying...
The elements are on the run from Timberwolves,
Celestia and Luna lie defeated,
He has a thousand years of Magic Studies under his belt,
At which point was he lying?
Well, Martial Paw is a fan, at least.
And really, one office library should not be indicative of an entire population's literary preference.
That said, there's a different reason that griffons may not have heard of Daring Do... But that's spoilers for another time.
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Rereading that section, all I have to say is this:
Touché.