The Sanctuary of Lights

by SapphireStarlightPony

The Stalwart Defender

Chapter 8
The Stalwart Defender

Stardust had been leading the three of them through the catacombs for hours with no end in sight. Lyric still hung back, avoiding Stardust's judgmental gaze. The dragonized pegasus was tireless. Even Emberwind seemed wearied by the march.

Sapphire was first to break the silence. “Are you sure this is the fastest way out?”

“It is neither fastest nor the shortest,” Stardust answered with a snort. “Wrath's stench is weakest. Learn it, it may serve to save your life.”

“Right...” Sapphire said, considering this new wisdom.

“You've been through here a lot?” Emberwind asked. She, like Sapphire, was beginning to question Stardust's expertise, as it were, on the Sanctuary's layout.

“There's another sanctuary on the other side,” Stardust explained. “In the Nightmare Realm.”

“So that's where you've been for all these years,” Sapphire said.

“600 years,” Stardust amended curtly.

“What was that like?” Emberwind asked. Sheer morbid curiosity, Sapphire assumed.

“It was dark and cool, the sun never rose, the moon never more than a sliver in the sky. You can see the real world echoing around you. Faint displays of the important events flickering through. No one can see you. No one can hear you. After a while you watch every soul that ever knew you age, and succumb to the years. It's not long until there's no one left that's ever heard your name. Then there's nothing, just the dark. And the hunger. You learn to appreciate the hunger...”

“Uh yeah, I'll... I'll remember that,” Emberwind groped about for an appropriate response.

“Do. Not. Eat the food. In the Nightmare,” Stardust growled, flicking the tips of her hybrid wings. “It's bitter at first, but it doesn't take much.”

“Is that how.. the uh... scales?” Lyric asked.

The spines along Stardust's mane bristled. Lyric melted away beneath the hate-filled glare that turned toward her. An unnatural sound rumbled in the hybrid's chest.

“Why don't we take a short break,” Sapphire said, stepping up to get the dragon-pony's attention. Her legs ached for a long rest.

“We're almost to the center, we'll rest there,” said Stardust, leading down yet another corridor. It emptied out into a large, domed room. It was freezing cold, and the night sky was visible through a little hole in the roof. Light shone out through it from a stone in the middle of the room. It was raised up on a pedestal. Each facet seemed to shine with moonlight from within.

Standing guard was a single earth pony. He was little more than a faint image made of light. On each shoulder was a sword, and he was clad in ancient armor. To Sapphire he looked like a general out of an old history book.

“This must be Brazen,” she said.

“He lives, but only within the Lunar Stone.” Stardust sat in front of him with her snout just inches from Brazen's muzzle. The earth pony did not flinch or respond. His tireless gaze seemed to look right through her, miles into the distance. “I don't know if he can hear us or see us. I've spoke to him countless times and he's never moved. I like to think that he can hear me.”

“I don't... I don't understand,” Sapphire said. Emberwind shook her head in tandem with the unicorn. “What is it he's doing here?”

“Insomnia is held here by the pure light the stone casts off,” Stardust said. “The moonlight was corrupted and so the stone's power was corrupted. She knew how it worked. Celestia would not let her sister languish in darkness forever. So she took advantage of that window, and tried to destroy the stone. Brazen would not have it. In the eleventh hour he threw himself on the stone and became trapped inside. Now his very life purifies the light.”

“But even noble Brazen cannot last forever, not with Insomnia's power increasing,” Lyric added. She'd caught the scent of the story she'd been following not so long ago. “This must be made known. Everypony must learn of his great sacrifice.”

This, Stardust didn't seem to mind. Lyric's quill whistled across the pages. Sapphire was more interested in the stone itself. Just looking at it there was no way to tell that somewhere in there, somehow, was an earth pony.

“We have to help him,” she said at length. “I don't know how, but there must be a way to free him from the stone, surely he doesn't have to stay.”

“His task will only end when the dragon lies dead,” Stardust snarled. “Mercy was a mistake.”

“Lyric, didn't you say the stone was cracked?” Sapphire asked.

“Yes, it was badly damaged,” she answered without looking up.

“The crack is gone...” Emberwind said, circling the stone.

“Brazen has had a long time to repair the damage. Part of his effort to resist Insomnia's attacks. Every day she returns to this chamber and assaults him with all of her might. I have been unable to intervene until today.”

“Woah wait, what are you planning?” Sapphire asked.

“We stand. Here,” Stardust stomped her one hoof. She pawed at the ground like a bull readying to charge. “When the dragon comes, we fix the mistake our ancestors made.”

“Stardust this is not the time for vengeance,” Sapphire cautioned.

“Vengeance? You think this is about revenge?” Stardust snarled. A growl cut through her voice. “This is justice! The end of a thousand years of horror.”

“We need a plan,” Sapphire said. “Look, we can see out from here. I can warp us out. There are allies waiting just outside. Another unicorn is with them. Light's Hope. He's good with crystal magic. He set Lyric free. He can save Brazen. But he won't know Brazen's down here if we don't go get him.”

Stardust seemed to be considering Sapphire's words. Sapphire could see the war brewing in the pegasus's mind. There was justice in killing Insomnia, but on some level Stardust knew she wanted vengeance. It was the bloodlust that gave her pause, though she knew Sapphire was right, leaving was the best option. Still her claws scratched at the ground. Insomnia was an itch in want of scratching.

“You okay there?” Emberwind asked.

Stardust stared into the eyes of the fiery-maned pegasus. Emberwind met Stardust's gaze without flinching, her head held high and proud. In those amber eyes Stardust could see the steady confidence of a sound mind. Emberwind was beautiful, healthy and whole. Just as Stardust had been so long ago before the Nightmare had changed her, twisted her into the unnatural form of fur and scales now surveying Emberwind with such envious eyes. She longed for her life before Insomnia, the life she'd once had. She would never have it back. Normalcy... peace... clarity... all a faded dream made dim by the cold light of another starless night in the Nightmare.

Stardust looked down at her front claw, the first step in her grim metamorphosis. It had been so hideous at first, the horrifying aftereffect of the hybrid's first meal within the gloom. She could still remember the first time she'd eaten of those grim fruits. The ripple of change corrupting her appearance. The talons spreading beneath the weight of her hoof. The birth of an unending numbness that had long ago devoured any sense of compassion and mercy she'd ever had. Scales and spikes soon followed. Every meal cost her more, until so little seemed to remain and she'd grown complacent to the effects. Her wings, her tail, nothing was left pure. Day by day the hunger seemed to grow. The insatiable hunger for more of the dark fruits, and for revenge...

Her lips tugged back into a cold grin, revealing subtly sharpened teeth. “One learns to appreciate the hunger...”

Her new companions all took a step back.

“That's a 'no',” Emberwind whispered to Sapphire.

“Stardust,” she said. “Do you understand? We can not stay.”

“We can save Brazen?”

Sapphire looked the hybrid straight in the eye. “If Light cannot then I will find a way myself.”

“Swear it.”

“I swear,” Sapphire said, head lifted high.

It was nearly an hour circling the perimeter of the compound before Brindolar flagged them down. Autumn stood beside him, shivering in the cold. Neither looked particularly happy to see them.

“You're all alright. That is good,” Brindolar said stiffly.

“This is Lyric, and that's Stardust. She's a pegasus,” Sapphire explained. “They helped us escape. Especially Stardust. She knows the layout very well.” The unicorn bit her lip, immediately wishing she'd left out that part about Stardust being a pegasus.

“Right, good,” Brindolar said. Sapphire noticed Autumn was avoiding eye contact.

“Is everything okay...?” Sapphire asked, her voice losing momentum. She knew the answer. It was written on Autumn's face in the uncharacteristic way she shied away. It was the explanation Sapphire didn't want to hear.

“Where are the others? Where is Dawn Chaser?” Emberwind demanded.

“No, everything is not okay.” Autumn looked away. Her face twisted up and her eyes pinched shut. Her whole body wobbled on unsteady hooves.

“Autumn?” Sapphire felt her blood run cold. “Autumn where are the others? Was somepony hurt?”

“It's Light!” Autumn sobbed out. “He's... hurt. There was so much... so much blood... Dawn and Ironfeather are taking him to Glendale. We... we couldn't get to him!”

Sapphire's jaw was working, but the words didn't come. She couldn't breathe. It felt as though the frost had finally got to her lungs, freezing them shut. Desperately, she looked up at Emberwind but the pegasus seemed as lost as she was.

“Is... is he...?” Emberwind asked, hurrying to the white unicorn's side.

“He... He's gonna die,” Autumn sobbed, choking out the words before falling apart completely.

“L-light?” Sapphire squeaked out. It was all she could think to say. She stared numbly at the ground in front of her, trying to will away the words she was hearing. Dizziness and nausea washed over her. The unicorn wobbled unsteadily and the ground rushed up at her.

Emberwind curled a leg across Sapphire's shoulders and held her tight. “Take deep breaths Sapphire... deep breaths...”

For a moment there was just silence, save for the ragged sound of Sapphire struggling to breathe.

“Brindolar,” Emberwind said quietly, “What happened to Light's Hope?”

“The dragon found us. Light did something to her, some spell. I don't think it worked right. Insomnia became furious and separated us with a wall of ice. She fell upon Light before we could break through.”

“I tried, Sapphire, I tried...” Autumn whimpered. She bore the bruises to prove it.

“How bad?” Emberwind asked softly. Brindolar just grimaced and shook his head.

For a moment the devastated ponies were oblivious to the commotion going on behind them. Lyric's shrill cries for help finally got Emberwind's attention. She turned to see Stardust looming over Lyric.

The hybrid bore down on the struggling unicorn with all her weight, crushing the air from her lungs. Lyric's pupils had shrunk to little pinholes. She struggled, squeaking out desperate pleas as she attempted to placate the impassioned hybrid. One heavy claw caressed the beige mare's chest almost lovingly. Lyric squealed in distress as Stardust's claws traced lightly through her fur.

“I, am going to rip your chest open,” cried Stardust, her voice starting out soft and raising to a roar, “just to see if you have a heart!”

“Stardust! Stop!” Emberwind shouted. The hybrid didn't flinch. Her eyes were locked on her prey.

“She was writing in that book!” Stardust shouted. The spines along her mane were standing rigid, cruel knife edges tearing at the sky.

“This is not the time!” Emberwind snapped. “We're going back to Glendale. We need to regroup. No questions, no debates, we're leaving. Now!”