The countries have awoken in a strange world inhabited by candy colored ponies and find that they're ponies themselves. How did they get there, why are they there, and can they get back? (This is a Hetalia and MLP crossover story)
The countries have awoken in a strange world inhabited by candy colored ponies and find that they're ponies themselves. How did they get there, why are they there, and can they get back? It doesn't take long for them to get caught up in the quest to fix the problem. (This is a Hetalia and MLP crossover story)
She was flying as fast as she could. She was almost late to a competition she was performing in and had no intention of being tardy. Her long pitch black mane and tail were blown back by the oncoming wind. The purple ball cap with a gold star on the front which she always wore was almost blown off by the breeze. She was a small pegasus with a pure white coat and bright blue eyes. Astro Color was her name and she had a talent for art depicted in her cutie mark by a circle of seven stars each a different color of the spectrum. She descended and skidded to halt in front of the amphitheater where her friend was waiting and her mane flew forward into her face with the sudden halt in momentum.
"Astro! You had me worried. I almost thought you weren't coming." her friend Spot Light teased her as she came in through the doors. He was a stocky and well built pegasus with a short and messy brown mane and tail. His coat was white with brown spots and his were a golden yellow honey like color. His cutie mark was a single gold star which was representative for his talent with performing.
"I'm so sorry! I got lost in my sketchbook and the time just sort of… got away from me." she apologized.
"It's fine, you're here now. We've still got a good amount of time to practice before we're up." he promised turning to walk inside with her.
The two walked into a back room where several pairs of dancers were practicing their own routines. Each of the groups were deeply concentrated on what they were doing. This was a national level competition, there was no room for error. Astro and Spot began running through their own routine alongside the others. He didn't speak as they moved, he was nervous as was to be expected, she knew however that the second they stepped on stage he would be fine. It seemed to have a calming effect for him being out there. She was anxious too, but he did a better job of hiding it than she did.
"We'll do great, promise." he told her with a reassuring smile. She smiled back, but it was less confident.
The minutes passed as the various performers were all called up on stage to be judged. They continued to run through their own routine hoping to be as ready as was possible when they were inevitably called up. She was certain that they would do well if not perfect and as was he, but that confidence didn't make the experience all the less nerve racking. The tension only seemed to build as the minutes ticked past and more and more ponies left the room for the stage. She tried to avoid paying attention to them as they came back and seeing how they seemed to feel about their own performance, but it was hard to do knowing that she would eventually be one of them. Still in the back of her mind she couldn't help thinking about what they would look like coming back.
She realized she was about to find out as the moment came when they were called to the stage. Pausing she looked over at him eyes a little wide and he gave her a reassuring smile in return. She took off her cap and set it down on a nearby chair and gave him the same smile with a nod. "We'll do great." she promised just like he had earlier, but it was more to calm herself than him.
The two walked out onto the stage together and as soon as she set hoof on it she felt her heart flutter. She looked over at him a good bit less confident than before. If he was feeling any extra nervousness or anxiety however he wasn't showing it. He still wore the same smile that he had been previously as the two performers took their places waiting for the music to start.
As the music started to play both of the dancers started to move with it. In her mind she did her best to block out the crowd and focus on the task in front of her. Her heart was beating out of her chest for the fear of missing a step, but she couldn't help but smile from the exhilaration of it all. It was a feeling that she was sure she would never get used to. Still that was a good thing because if she ever did then the excitement of it all would fade. She continued to count the steps in her head maintaining concentration as they neared the end of the song. When they struck the final pose together she could hear her breathing and feel the adrenaline.
The crowd gave a hearty applause and after they had quieted down the dancers received some comments, and their score from the judges. After being dismissed they headed backstage more than happy with their performance. Astro let out a happy sigh of relief all of the apprehension gone. They had the second highest score at the moment, but there were still others who still had yet to go up. "I told you we'd do great." Spot teased her.
She smiled, "Yeah, I know. I just wasn't sure I believed it."
The two walked back towards where the crowd was to watch the final few performers do their routines. On their way back however they were greeted by their friends who had come to cheer them on. Farthest to the left stood Ink Well. She was an orange unicorn with a teal colored and curly mane and tail, deep blue eyes, and a cutie mark which depicted a quill in an ink bottle. On her right stood Kara Tay, a light green unicorn with a long and straight orange mane and tail, violet eyes, and a cutie mark of a black belt which she was in multiple different forms of martial arts. Next to her was Zone Flare who was an orange pegasus with a spiky yellow mane and tail, a spiraling wind cutie mark, and silver eyes. Then finally to the right of him stood Diplo Change. He was a grey colored unicorn with dark green eyes, a scroll as his cutie mark, and a wavy golden mane and tail.
"You guys did great!" Ink said excitedly.
"Yeah! That was amazing!" Zone agreed.
"Second place, not half bad." Diplo added.
"Thanks." Astro replied still a little out of breath.
"There's still a few more to go though." Spot reasoned.
"Don't be so down! You two were smiling the whole time you were up there!" Kara scolded him.
"I'm not saying it wasn't fun, I'm just saying we don't know the final scores yet, that's all." he answered.
"Don't count your chickens before they hatch." Diplo agreed.
"I suppose." Ink admitted sounding slightly downtrodden. Zone frowned, but didn't say anything.
"Oh c'mon guys!" Kara began exasperatedly, "Weren't we all just saying that they did great? Didn't you just say you had fun? What's with the pessimism?" she finished rolling her eyes.
"Yeah, second's nothing to sneeze at, and that was pretty exciting too." Astro said.
"I was just saying we don't know the final score. That's all." Spot defended himself, "I'm not upset."
"And he is right." Diplo supported him.
Their conversation was interrupted by the next groups score coming out on the loudspeaker.
"Still in second!" Ink exclaimed happily after hearing the score.
"Let's go watch the rest of the performers routines." Spot said before heading over to the crowd the others following.
The other competitors continued to go up and dance for the crowd and the judges before receiving their score and exiting the stage. As the last pair went up only one other had beaten them with an almost perfect score earning first. As the awards were presented they received the third place trophy. The both of them were beaming as they were presented with it more than happy with what they had gotten.
As they exited the building Kara piped up, "Whaddaya say we head down to the beach to celebrate?" she suggested.
"Sounds good to me." Astro replied happily. With that the group of friends took off for the beach.
The six ponies had reached the beach after stopping to drop off the trophy. The sand gleamed under the sun beating down on them and it was a beautiful day to be out. The ponies were more than ready to enjoy a blissful afternoon of relaxation on the beach. However their vacation from the world around them was interrupted by the sound of shouting coming from down the coast. They paused their own conversation and exchanged confused glances before trying to make out what was being said.
“You know what!? I bet this is your fault with your stupid magic!” a stallion’s voice shouted. “My fault!? How could you be sure it’s not yours!? You certainly are stupid enough!” another stallion retorted with a proper sounding accent.
“How about the both of you shut up until we figure out what the hell is going on!” interrupted a deeper voice with a rougher sounding accent.
There was a short silence as the ponies all exchanged slightly worried expressions. Looking down the beach they saw a quartet of ponies arguing with each other. “Um… you guys think we should head down that way a bit?” Zone asked the group pointing in the opposite direction of the shouting ponies.
They didn’t get a chance however as one of the stallions noticed their group and called out to them. “Hey! Over there! Wait up!” the first one yelled over to them. They watched cautiously as a red coated pegasus cantered clumsily in their direction across the sand. He stopped and smiled as he reached them. His mane and tail were both rather messy and white and blue. “Guys! C’mon!” he called back at the other three trailing after him before turning again to the ponies before him. “Hi, name’s America.” he told them holding out a hoof and nearly falling over. “Sorry, this is still pretty weird. So, um, where exactly is this?” he asked the group. Nopony took his hoof or answered the question as they were all taken a little aback.
As he finished the three other pegasi came up next to him. One that looked rather alike to him except for the fact that he was slightly smaller, and two others that were slightly more contrasting. The first of these two had a black coat, a rather sturdy build, and a well-kept yellow and red mane and tail. Then the last of the quartet of pegasi had a white coat, and a tidy red mane and tail. They were slightly concerned about the demeanor of the ponies before them. The first stallion who had said his name was America had a sort of absent minded grin on his face, the one with the similar appearance to his own was glaring at him, the black pegasus had a thoroughly annoyed look on his face, and the final pegasus stallion betrayed no emotion in his expression.
Spot was the first to recover from the awkward and slightly tense atmosphere. “This is Pegasus Beach.” he answered simply.
“Right, uh, Pegasus Beach.” America answered uncertainly.
“I’m afraid we’re a little lost. Pegasus Beach where exactly?” the other red pegasus queried.
“Pegasus Beach, Unisus Isle.” Astro offered.
“Unfortunately we need even more information than that.” the black pegasus replied begrudgingly.
“Unisus Isle, Unisus. It is sort of the capitol of the country.” Kara answered giving the mysterious group questioning looks.
“Actually we sorta didn’t know.” America responded smiling awkwardly.
“Oh great, now we look like complete idiots. You know they didn’t need to know that!” the second red pegasus retorted.
He shrugged, “It’s true.” The still unnamed red pegasus just glared as the black one rolled his eyes in frustration.
“Do you even know what planet you’re on?” Zone questioned concerned.
“Sadly, no.” the red pegasus admitted with a sigh.
“Now who’s making us look stupid.” America muttered just loud enough for him to hear.
“I wouldn’t have said it if you hadn’t already ruined it!” he retorted.
“I didn’t ruin anything!” he argued.
“Why don’t the both of you shut up?” the black pegasus interjected. The two red pegasi fell silent, but continued to glare at each other. “Now,” he began turning to the group of the six rather concerned ponies, “I’m afraid we just woke up on this beach and are suffering from a slight memory lapse. If you could inform us that would be great.” he told them never breaking from the serious tone of voice. “I’m Germany, that’s England,” he gestured to the previously unnamed red pegasus, “and that’s Japan.” he finished pointing to the still expressionless white pegasus.
“Right, well the planet you’re on is Equis and this is the country Unisus. This is Pegasus Beach which is on the coast of Unisus Island, or Unisus Isle. It’s an island city, and the country it’s a part of is a small group of islands is just off the coast of Equestria.” Astro offered cautiously. They nodded, but nothing seemed to quite click.
She had opened her mouth to continue, but was interrupted by a loud zing noise. It came from behind the quartet of amnesiac ponies and she craned her neck to see behind them. A sterile white coated earth pony stallion stood behind them who wasn’t there before. He had an electric blue mane, tail, eyes, and five pointed star on either shoulder. His expression was blank and completely bare of having ever held any form of emotion. Two more zing noises rang out as two more ponies of almost the exact same appearance came into existence on either side of him. The only distinguishing factor was that one was a mare, but you’d be hard pressed to tell the two stallions apart. When the one in the middle spoke his voice was almost scarily monotone and robotic. “Targets located. Targets will remain in place. Targets will not resist capture.” he commanded. His ears started to twitch about as he finished speaking.
There was a moment of tense silence between the ponies before Astro broke it crying, “Run.” Her own group of six wasted no time taking off down the beach and the group of four weighed their own options only for a split second before following after them. The trio of captors then took off in hot pursuit.
“Follow us!” Zone called out taking the lead of the group as more zings were heard signaling the arrival of more of the ponies. It wasn’t long before they all saw what they were being led towards. There was an entrance to a cavern cut into the sheer Cliffside surrounding the beach. They all picked up the pace in that direction as their steadily multiplying pursuers gained. Still they weren’t far from it and held the lead. As they dashed inside Kara skidded to a halt and made an about face as the friendly ponies streaked past her. As soon as they were all past her she fired a beam of magic up at the ceiling of the cavern entrance causing it to start to fall. Rocks soon covered the entrance keeping their pursuers out, but locking them in.
The group of ten ponies was breathing heavily in the darkness of the now sealed cave. “How long do we have before they teleport in here?” Diplo asked still out of breath from the mad dash.
“Can’t.” Astro replied in the same state, “They can only teleport somewhere if there’s enough natural light around. Magical light doesn’t count.”
With that the three unicorns that they had with them illuminated their horns. “Fantastic, but who the bloody hell were they!?” England exclaimed.
“Star ponies. I’ve… uh… done a good bit of research on them.” she answered. “That ear twitching you saw, that’s what happens when they send telepathic messages to each other.”
“What does that have to do with us? I mean what’s with the ‘targets located’ business?” America asked them.
“You aren’t amnesiacs are you?” she questioned concerned. The four exchanged glances before shaking their heads. “The star ponies have been looking for something for quite a while. It was only a matter of time before they started to go to more extreme measures. You’re not even from this world are you?” she inquired. Again they shook their heads. “They probably decided to start looking in other worlds and you all fell through. They were trying to round you up before you could cause trouble would be my guess.”
“What do we do now?” Japan queried speaking for the first time.
“Well, if we just follow this tunnel we’ll make it back to the city. That’s why it’s here after all. Since the beach is at the bottom of the Cliffside originally only pegasi could get down there. That’s how it got the name. There’s a whole system of tunnels leading from different points in the city to the beach. You can see the lights from the torches not too far that way.” Ink answered.
“Does fire count as natural light?” Zone asked nervously.
“Yes, it does.” Astro affirmed voice cracking slightly.
Tense silence fell over the cavern as all ten ponies didn’t even dare to breathe. This sudden quietness was soon broken by a zing noise coming from down the tunnel. “You said it’s a whole system of tunnels yeah?” America asked looking over at Ink. She nodded in response. “Then maybe we can lose them in it.” he finished taking off down the tunnel. The others followed closely behind and the group raced down the hallways taking every fork that led them away from the noises of teleportation. The chase went on for a while before America made a sudden turn before they heard a loud crash and he disappeared from sight. The tunnel which he had gone into had been blocked off until he had kicked it in. On either side of the tunnel they currently in were tunnels off in either direction both, at one point, blocked off. “This way!” he called back to them.
“Doesn’t the fact that it’s blocked off mean we shouldn’t go in there?” Ink asked apprehensively.
“Yeah, and it also means that there probably won’t be any torches that way.” Zone answered continuing into the off limits tunnel.
“But what if there’s a dead end, which there probably is?” Kara questioned.
“Then we have more time to come up with a plan.” Germany replied entering it as well.
“It’s better to keep moving than to wait here to be caught.” England agreed following behind them.
Although some slightly begrudgingly soon all of the ponies were on the other side of the now nonexistent block and racing down the tunnel. They were right about there being no torches, the only light illuminating the hallway was coming from the unicorns magic. “So now the only question is about why it was blocked off.” Diplo stated as they ran onwards.
“Hopefully nothing too major, it doesn’t look particularly dangerous.” Astro offered up hopefully.
“That’s what’s worrying me.” he replied gravely. With that silence fell as they all barreled down the tunnel hoping to get as far as they could from their pursuers.
-/|\-
“You think the reason they blocked it off is cause they never found the end of this stupid thing?” America complained. They had been following the same tunnel for what felt like eons with no signs of anything at all, which included no signs of pursuit. The entire group had at that point slowed down to a mild trot.
“You’re the one who led us down here.” England remarked.
“You agreed with me!” he retorted.
“A mistake I’ll try not to make again.” he replied simply.
“Refresh my memory, what did I do?”
“Quite a lot actually.”
“Would you two mind not arguing for once?” Germany interjected.
“Well I agree with the fact that they probably closed off this tunnel because it seems to be going nowhere fast.” Kara commented.
“Still, at least it doesn’t look as though there’s anything dangerous.” Astro replied trying to be optimistic.
“Yeah, that is a plus.” Spot agreed.
“Since it looks like we’ve got time, what’s with this other world business?” Diplo inquired.
“Well where we’re from there aren’t exactly any talking ponies. Unicorns and pegasi are just myths and don’t even exist in real life. Also equines can’t exactly be any color of the rainbow.” England explained.
“So how are you all pegasi then?” Ink questioned.
“I’ve been wondering that myself.” he answered.
“And why can’t you get along at all?” she added.
“Do countries in this world get along?” he asked in turn.
“Whaddaya mean?” Kara replied confused.
“I mean do the different countries in your world get along nicely with each other?” he restated.
“They get along well enough, but the relationships are far from perfect.” Astro answered.
“Exactly.”
“How does that prove anything?” Zone asked.
“In our world we’re all… from… different countries and sometimes that can cause conflict.”
“It looks like it runs deeper than that to me.” Diplo replied simply.
“It does.” America replied receiving a glare from England. He just shrugged and kept talking, “Might as well explain. See, you’ve gotta think of it like this. It’s not just two peo- ponies from different countries, cause that doesn’t really matter too much depending on what two countries you’re talking about, but it’s kinda like their life is tied to the country that they’re from. That’s what causes problem.”
“So you’re telling us that your life is linked to the country that you’re from?” Kara questioned skeptically.
“That would explain their cutie marks.” Ink supplied.
“Cutie Marks!?” he exclaimed before starting to laugh.
“What’s so funny about that?” Kara questioned in annoyance.
“Well… it’s simply that… that title… it sounds slightly… silly.” England replied awkwardly.
“It’s not silly! Everypony has one! Even you four! Although yours are a little strange.” she retorted.
“Did you just say everypony?” America asked still snickering.
“Yes, is there something funny about that too?” she snapped in response.
“In our world the term would be everybody, or everyone.” England answered.
“Back to the point: life force tied to country?” Diplo cut off.
“Not exactly, but a good enough explanation.” Germany deadpanned.
“What, you mean each one of you is a country?” Zone questioned skeptically.
“Yes.” Japan affirmed.
“Right, cause that totally makes sense.” he muttered rolling his eyes.
“If it helps each of our… cutie marks… is an image of our flag.” England offered.
“Sure thing.” he replied still not believing them.
“But countries stick around a lot longer than the average pony. How does that work?” Astro inquired confused.
“That’s a factor as well he’s something on the order of 400 and he’s the youngest one here right now.” England answered gesturing to America.
“406, and celebrating 237 years of independence.” he informed her standing up straighter as he said it.
“And he’s the youngest?” she questioned shocked.
“Not the youngest of all of us, just the youngest one here. Also the most immature.” he added.
“Immature is what boring people call fun people.” he retorted.
“How long did it take you to come up with that?” he asked mockingly.
“At least I know how to have a good time.”
“There’s a difference between being reckless and having a good time.”
“How many times am I going to have to interrupt you?” Germany questioned clearly annoyed.
“I dunno how many times is he going to bait me?” America argued.
“I don’t know how many times is he going to say something stupid?” England retorted.
“If the only way you two can stand each other is silent then shut up.” he cut them off stopping and turning to face them. At that all of the ponies fell silent and halted as well. “Thank you.” he muttered before continuing forward. The ponies started onwards again in silence as the two red pegasi continued to glare at each other.
-/|\-
There was a long and silent walk forwards until they finally reached the end of the tunnel. However, it ended in a dead end. “What the hell!? Why would anypony in their right mind make a tunnel this long that leads to nowhere!?” Zone exclaimed staring at the blank wall before them.
“There’s no way I’m going all that way back. Especially cause there’s ponies there waiting to capture us.” America stated defiantly.
“You can just rot here then I suppose.” England told him with a shrug.
“Not likely.” he retorted glaring.
“We’re not going back. I didn’t come this far to be stopped by some stupid wall!” Kara shouted angrily. “Outta the way.” she ordered. All of the ponies made way for her as she lowered her horn to point at the obstacle preventing them from going any further. A large beam of bright purple light burst from her horn and fired at it. As it collided with the wall there was an explosion and when the smoke cleared there was an opening to the sky and thin shards of rock lay strewn about the stone floor. Kara smirked as she raised her head up, “And that, my friends, is how it’s done.”
The group exited the tunnel into the open air and what appeared to be a mountain range. “That’s not possible.” Astro muttered.
“A lot of impossible things have been happening today.” England replied sighing.
“Well, yes, but the only mountain range in Unisus is on the complete other side of the country. It’s on a different island that’s miles away from where we started! It would take at least a full day by boat, there’s no way we could’ve travelled here by hoof in just hours.” she answered.
“We’re clearly here though.” Diplo responded equally stunned.
“It is possible that the tunnel could be enchanted, another reason for it to be blocked off.” Kara offered just as shocked.
America trotted over to the edge of the outcropping. “Pretty long way down.” he commented.
“And there was never that much of a decline or incline in the tunnel either.” Germany remarked.
“It also looks like there’s ponies down there.” America commented looking over his shoulders at the group behind him.
“We should probably get moving, since we are on the opposite side of the country they’re not going to find us right away, but it would be a good idea to try and stay as far from out in the open as possible.” Astro interjected worriedly.
The three pegasi who actually knew how to fly took the short way down as the others had to get down the long way. As they regrouped at the bottom they did indeed see a group of unicorns there as well. “Hey guys!” America called over. They all then turned to face the oncoming crowd.
“Germany!” a smaller white unicorn cried as they walked up. He had a messy red and green mane and tail and ran up to the pegasus excitedly. He started to talk extremely fast to the point where they couldn’t quite understand what he was saying, but as he stopped he was beaming from ear to ear. All of the countries simply rolled their eyes in response.
“Good to see you too Italy.” Germany muttered in thanks.
“So you all as well then?” England asked.
“Unfortunately, yes. We are all stuck here with you.” a blue unicorn with a long red and white mane and tail answered.
“You know it’s not exactly a picnic for us having to be stuck here with you either France.” he retorted.
“Um… if we’re going to have a conversation, can we do it somewhere less open? I mean you guys weren’t there, but we were sort of attacked.” Astro interjected.
“Attacked!?” Italy exclaimed alarmed.
“Yes,” she replied, “so we really should get out of the open.”
With that the group of ponies started to move deeper into the mountain range as it was explained to the newcomers what had happened before they arrived there. As they moved on the trail started to thin out and they had to move so that they were walking single file through the terrain. It took a fair bit of walking until they could find somewhere where they could spread out enough to actually have a proper conversation. “I’m going to fly up and see if there are any proper trails that we can follow.” Astro declared before flying away out of sight.
“You guys gotta teach me how to do that sometime.” America remarked flapping his wings experimentally.
“It’s not as easy as it looks you know.” Spot replied.
He shrugged, “I think I can learn.”
“I think we’ve got, it was everybody right?” Zone asked looking over at the countries.
“Or everyone.” England responded.
“Got it. So, I think we’ve got everybody’s name except you two.” he finished looking at the two still unnamed unicorns.
“Russia.” the draught pony unicorn stated. He had a very sturdy build with a thick white coat and a red and blue mane and tail.
“China, aru.” the other yellow unicorn stated. His red mane and tail were both in a ponytail.
“Um… Canada.” All of the ponies were a little shocked as they saw the red unicorn with the white mane and tail for the first time.
“Sorry, we, uh, didn’t see you there.” Spot apologized awkwardly.
“It’s okay, not many people do.” he replied simply.
After this there were several moments of awkward silence until it was broken by the five ponies that they still didn’t know going around and introducing themselves.
“And the pony who flew off to find a path was-
“Astro.” she cut off coming in for a landing. “Alright, so there were two decent paths that I saw. One goes back in the general direction of where we found you all, but then it veers off in another direction. The other goes much deeper into the range, but I can’t say that I’d recommend that route since that’s where The Abyss is.”
“The Abyss?” Germany asked raising an eyebrow.
“On the edge of these mountains there’s a huge ravine that goes down for miles. It’s the most monster infested place on the island, on all of the islands for that matter! This place is second only to the Everfree Forest in the terms of mysterious disappearances! You don’t have any idea how many ponies have disappeared in here because of that! Nopony comes back out!” she informed him slightly panicked.
“No, but it sounds like a fairly decent hiding place to me.” England replied.
“Sounds like a fairly decent suicide mission to me.” Diplo retorted.
“Trust me, if you’d been here as long as we have you wouldn’t want to go in there either. Nopony goes in there.” Ink agreed. “Does that include those star pony guys?” America asked.
“I would assume so.” Astro answered with a frown.
“Bingo! Perfect spot to hang out while we work out a plan!” he responded.
“Minus the monsters.” Ink argued.
“There’s fourteen-”
“Fifteen actually.” Canada said, but was ignored.
“-of us, plus you guys have me.” America replied grinning cockily.
“The point is, it is the best place we’re going to find on such short notice and we’re fairly certain that we can handle whatever you all think is down there.” England told them shooting America a quick glare. “You’ve never been down there so you couldn’t possibly know for sure. Especially if supposedly no one’s come out, someone had to come out to spread these rumors about how terrible it is. All the tales about this ravine are probably just exaggerated. What might have started out as an honest to god accident soon became a story about a cave monster which then continued to escalate.” he reasoned.
“I suppose that does make sense.” Kara admitted.
“No one said that you had to go in, and I doubt that we’ll have to go very deep.” Germany added, “If we have to turn back that’s always an option. If you don’t want to come then don’t.”
There were some mumbles of protest, but in the end they all seemed to agree that the plan was solid enough and not too hard to back out of if necessary. All of the ponies were soon headed in the direction of The Abyss, although some were slightly less sure than others.
Even the ponies who had prompted the trip into The Abyss were having second thoughts as they looked into its depths. They all stood still and silent in awe as it stood in all of its majesty before them. The light coming from the now setting sun only made it look that much more eerie. Nothing was said as they all shared their unease in a tense silence. In the end it was Astro who took the first step onto the pathway heading down into The Abyss. As the group started to descend it was slow and cautious with the silence around them being enveloping. Everyone was on edge and ready to bolt at the slightest sign of danger. There was nothing to indicate that there was even any form of danger around, but an unmistakable eeriness surrounded the calm darkness. The silence felt like an all-consuming beast not to be disturbed. Some even flinched as the clops of their hoof steps shattered it.
They had been working their way slowly and carefully down in such a state of uncomfortable silence until it was broken by a roar from behind them. They all turned shocked to find a manticore directly at their backs. It had reared up on its hind legs and was crying out its call with a ferocious volume. The fifteen ponies took off at full gallop picking their way surefootedly down the side of the ravine. The manticore however gave chase snarling and growling horribly just behind them. The racket it was making felt designed to scare them as much as it could. The sound of its claws scraping against the ground made a terrible grinding noise grating down on their ears. Then however the path down that Astro had always been able to find up to that point stopped and she started skidding to a halt, but couldn’t stop before it ended and opened her wings at the last second.
She looked over her shoulder expecting to see the manticore ready to take the lives of the entirety of the group, but it was gone and the silence had returned. It hadn’t turned back or took to the air it had simply… vanished. She wasn’t the only one looking on in shock as the rest of them were standing completely still on the ledge looking over their own shoulders. They had all heard and seen the beast, it had been right there on all of their tails, but now it was just gone.
Their shocked silence however was broken as a great deal of the path that they had just come down on crumbled and fell away deserting them on the small block of stone that they had. “What are we supposed to do!? I don’t want to die!” Italy cried being the first to break the silence.
“Calm down. I can fix this, I swear. I just need to find a continuation of the path alright.” Astro promised hovering in front of the platform. She was starting to panic slightly and wasn’t doing a very good job of hiding it. She couldn’t help but feel like their current situation was her fault seeing as she had been leading the group.
“I’ll help out.” Zone offered taking to the air as well.
With that the two pegasi began to scan the ravine side for a path down seeing as the entire path that they had come down had just collapsed and fallen into the darkness. “Here!” Zone called just as she was starting to feel the panic really start to get to her. She looked up to see that he had found a ledge a slight bit above the previous one. It was also a few feet forward from the original ledge. It was a good distance to jump, but certainly not an impossible distance to cross. If absolutely necessary some assistance could be offered by pegasi to the ponies that needed it. One plus however was that it wasn’t just another ledge, it continued onto a path. That path though only led deeper into The Abyss.
The ponies that were cramped onto the small rock ledge directed their attention to the newly discovered pathway. After the rather shaking experience everypony had fallen into a tense silence and they held it as they started to carefully move up to the newfound trail. The silence soon returned to its beast like state as it enveloped the entire atmosphere. The only sounds that remained were the sounds of hooves on stone. Nopony spoke for fear of breaking it and the only way any other sound would be made is if something else made it first. This was how they continued on as they slowly worked their way downwards.
As they descended further a thick mist started to settle in around them. Slowly though the mist started to thicken into more of a smoke like consistency. A few small coughs were forced out of some ponies by it as it continued to condense even further. It wasn’t long before all of the ponies had started to cough violently due to the air around them that had started to choke the group. All of their vision had been tinted grey to the point where they could barely see in front of them. A strangled cry of ‘run’ was just choked out by Astro as it became increasingly difficult to breathe.
They didn’t need to be told twice. The group took off still hacking from the strange mist that had descended around them. They didn’t have to run that far however to get past the strange cloud. Looking back they saw that the cloud had been concentrated purely on the point at which they’d been standing and was dissipating quickly now that they were no longer inside it. “Is anypony else getting the feeling that this stupid ravine is going after us on purpose?” Kara asked as they all stood there still coughing slightly and trying to collect themselves.
“Ravines can’t target people.” America retorted, “Ravines can’t think.” As he finished however a wall of rock erupted from the side of said ravine separating the one group into two separate ones.
“On second thought…” America muttered staring at the wall that was now in front of him.
“Are you all alright!?” Astro called from the opposite side of the barrier.
“Yes, it looks like everyone over here is fine.” Germany replied. As they took roll of all of the ponies they found that everypony was accounted. They also discovered that all of the countries had ended up on one side and the ponies on the other.
Not a moment after they were done however the ground on the countries’ side started to shake. They all pulled back as the section of the path where they had just ben fell away into the darkness. A new path however shot out of the wall leading down deeper into The Abyss. “This is just getting weird.” America mumbled.
“What was that!? Are you all still there?” Kara asked from behind the wall.
“Yes, we’re fine. A new path has just… er… opened up.” England replied cautiously.
“Alright. There’s no way we’re going to all get over or through this wall. We can all keep heading down and regroup later. Deal?” Zone asked still out of sight behind the barrier.
“Deal.” Germany confirmed.
“See you further down.” he finished. With that the two groups started their way down the two paths eager to get moving.
The countries started slowly and cautiously down the newly formed path still wary of what might lay ahead of them. It seemed that The Abyss had disproved the whole ‘ravines can’t think’ thing and it hadn’t exactly been helpful to the group. They weren’t so sure that taking the path it had offered them was the best decision. Still, seeing as none of them could fly and the path that they had come from had fallen away they had nowhere to go except forward.
As the first few tentative steps were taken the beastly silence returned to them. It seemed that the only time it left was when an event occurred to disrupt it. So they walked on in complete silence carefully treading and hoping not to provoke the wrath of The Abyss. Although it hadn’t physically hurt them it had come incredibly close and wasn’t by any means of the word kind. After what had just happened it felt like it was an actual living being that could breathe and think and feel. No one was happy about the situation and wanted out. The craggy rock that they were walking on only increased this sense of insecurity.
It was quite a surprise, welcome or not they weren’t yet sure, when it started to give way to grass. The change in atmosphere was nice as the ground slowly started to become more colorful. Different colored flowers soon started to sprout along with the luscious green grass. Not much more time had passed before the number of wildflowers outshone the grass on the ground that had previously been entirely grey rock. It looked more like they were in a field than a dark, dank, and dangerous ravine. They were however far too suspecting of the sudden and beautiful change in scenery to particularly enjoy it.
Even if they had actually been calm enough to enjoy the lovely atmosphere it didn’t last all that long. They found that their suspicions of too good to be true to be correct as a pitch black liquid started to spew from the heads of all of the flowers. They all pulled back in shock as this occurred. It started as just a small trickle, but rather suddenly it started to become more of fountain and then sprayed so high that it was raining on top of them. The group took off at full gallop and not a moment too soon as the ground fell away behind them.
Soon they were standing on solid rock again and breathing slightly heavily from the sprint. Each one was soaked from head to hoof in the black liquid that had come from the flowers. “It smells like ink… from a pen or something.” America stated confused.
“It does… but why would flowers spew ink?” England asked equally bewildered.
“That was rather strange, and not very enjoyable.” France responded.
“This whole thing has been strange.” Germany argued, “We’re not getting anything done just standing here and talking about it. If we want to get back to where things make sense then we’ll have to keep moving.” There were some mumbles of agreement and the group started forward once again.
-/|\-
With a small sigh of defeat the six ponies turned to face the path before them. All they could really hope for at that point was that their two paths would cross again. They started forward as the silence returned around them. Before, while it was a constant presence, it wasn’t quite so suppressing. As it returned it was even more consuming than before. They could no longer even hear the sounds of their own hooves on the grey stone beneath them. It now felt like it was a living being surrounding them and watching their every move. Even though it didn’t really change the way they thought of it had making at all the more tense.
They continued onwards not a word being spoken between them just hoping for something else to break the repressive silence keeping them prisoner. They could just talk among themselves, but none wanted to be the one to shatter the horrid quiet. The loudest and most earsplitting silence that they had ever heard remained around them as they walked slowly and solemnly forward. Each pony was on the highest alert waiting, and hoping, for a sound to greet their starved ears.
They all jumped as a sudden whispering shattered the silence in all its glory. An emotion somewhere between relief and apprehension filled them as they started slowly towards the sound. More voices piled on to the first as they crept towards the noise. After the previous silence the whispers were almost deafening. Soon they were amidst where it seemed the voices were coming from although there were no ponies there. “D-do you think it’s The Abyss talking?” Zone asked nervously.
“I doubt that.” Astro answered sounding less certain than she would’ve liked. All of them were glancing around searching for the source of all of the voices, but saw none. Astro listened carefully to the words being whispered trying to understand what was being said. As she finally managed to pick one out it was the voice of a pony that she didn’t want to hear. A pony from her past that she didn’t want to remember. She quickly tried to tune out the voice, but it only seemed to push back harder trying to block out all other noise. “We should get out of here!” she shouted over the growing din of whispers and trying to overbear the one voice nagging at her ear. As she looked back she saw different members of the six eye’s get wide as they discovered a voice of their own. “We should get out of here now!” she called back to the others as she started to trot briskly.
They didn’t need to be told twice as they took off cantering trying to escape the whispers on their tails. Looking back over their shoulders at the path behind them the voices started to fade away slowly. The group put on more speed wanting to leave the voices behind and for once hoped for the silence to return to them. Their progress however was halted as they crashed into another group of ponies. As they rose to their hooves they looked to see the countries in front of them, but clearly something had happened to them as well. All of their coats and manes and tails were stained by a pitch black liquid.
The two groups stood staring at each other slightly stunned before speaking. “Um… hello!” Ink greeted them smiling sheepishly.
“Looks like we weren’t the only ones who ran into trouble.” Diplo commented looking them over.
“If by trouble you mean flowers that spew pen ink, then yes, we ran into trouble.” France replied.
“Right, well… glad you’re okay.” Kara offered.
“You too.” England responded.
“So, everybody’s back together… what now?” America asked.
“I suppose we keep moving before something else strange happens.” Astro answered. They all looked towards the paths leading back up which promptly fell away. “Keep moving downward.” she corrected sighing as their attention now turned to the path leading even further into The Abyss.
Again the silence came about them as they started downwards once more. They were all growing rather tired of the constant antics of The Abyss. The apprehension was still there, but at that point they were much less afraid and a great deal more annoyed by everything that had happened. It seemed to just be toying with them; causing no harm, but certainly jarring them out of any relaxed state they may have found. It forced them forward into whatever new trick lay ahead. Whether it be illusions of manticores, clouds of suffocating grey smoke, ink spurting flowers, or disturbing whispers there was always something. Everything seemed to be deigned to throw them forwards so that it could destroy the path behind them ever funneling them further downwards into the darkness.
As they descended getting farther and farther from the fading daylight above them it became continually darker. That was all that really changed as they continued forward and down continually further into the gloom. The ground didn’t shake, no monsters or shadows came, the atmosphere didn’t differ, and the silence never let up. Maybe now that we’re waiting for something to happen it’s not going to throw anything at us, Astro thought bitterly. She wasn’t about to let her guard down however, that was most definitely out of the question. It appeared that the others were thinking the same way as they all remained on high alert as well. All of them were just too tense to enjoy the sudden lapse in action. None was willing to calm down and risk being caught off guard as something finally happened.
The darkness slowly continued to increase and their vision decreased with it. The sun was starting to set in the west even if they couldn’t see it from how far down they had traveled in the ravine. Add to that little of the fading light actually traveled that far into the chasm. This only heightened the sense of unmistakable tension. A gasp was heard causing everypony to spring into action searching for whatever had caused the gasping pony to do so. Although due to the darkness finding this new development could not be achieved. “Could we get some light please!?” Zone asked directing the question at the unicorns who could very well light up the space with their magic.
“That’s just it! My magic isn’t working!” Kara retorted, “I just tried to illuminate my horn, but it didn’t work.” The last phrase was strained with concentration as she once again tried to light up the space with her magic.
“My magic isn’t working either.” Diplo added with a hint of worry in his voice.
“Mine neither.” Ink stated sounding rather anxious. It became clear that they were stuck in the dark in a rather unfriendly location and that was not a pleasant revelation. This new realization settled in and the darkness around them suddenly more sinister. They had no access to light for the immediate future and where they currently were that was a dangerous thing. As the silence descended again it was so tense you could feel it pressing in from around them.
They were moving forward at a slow, creeping, and cautious pace waiting for something to pop out of the darkness. Each and every pony was on their toes waiting for that final moment when the silence would shatter once more. Their ears scanned the space around them waiting for even the smallest differential in anything. That was all they could rely on seeing as they had no vision due to the darkness. It hadn’t seemed quite so dangerous until they were stuck with it, but as they were without capability of sight the danger of it became exponentially more imminent. Each one of the crowd was growing to be increasingly more paranoid as the time passed. As they walked on it felt like time was slowing down only to make them have to wait longer in the gloom. Every single second was laced with the expectation that something would jump out of the darkness.
Then, to their surprise, light was presented to them. Several differently colored orbs of light appeared. The group didn’t trust anything that had been offered up by The Abyss, but couldn’t deny that they were grateful to have their sight back. The different colored orbs of light started to dance around them in a circle casting their glow over the group and the area around them. The brightened atmosphere was nice, they could all agree on that, but just as they had suspected there was sinister side to it as well. As the orbs of light circled them with their friendly glow ugly shadows followed along with them on the wall. The shadows weren’t what worried them, it was the fact that there was nothing casting them as they danced about the concerned group. They weren’t entirely sure if that was the development that they had been waiting for, but they did know that it was a little unsettling.
Slowly the orbs started to contract their circle bringing it closer to the group and bringing the shadows closer as well. Many of the ponies found themselves favoring the darkness over the current display of unknown monsters. The closer the shadows came the more evil their shapes became. They exchanged glances as they pulled back tightening the group. As they retreated the shadows jumped up from the ground and became full size monsters made from the darkness around them. After they had materialized fully they moved to block the path from which the group had come. Knowing that the only way was deeper into The Abyss they took off without hesitation as the light left them again.
They ran for a bit trying to make sure that they were out of the way of the monstrous shadows before slowing. At that point they were fairly certain that as long as they continued downwards whatever was behind them would leave them alone. They didn’t need to be funneled forwards any more, they had no choice to go back so the only way was downwards. The events had started out with the purpose to push them forward, but they didn’t need that motivation any longer. As they had decided that The Abyss was sentient being, they had also decided that it wanted them to reach the bottom. They couldn’t deny it that request seeing as it had the power to control the path the were on. It could change its direction or drop it away or leave something nasty out for them to find. It had complete control over where they were headed.
The group diminished their speed to a slow walk as they got even further from where the shadows had come. The darkness lay around them as, out of their sight, the sun finally disappeared behind the horizon. “Could we get some light now?” Zone asked hoping that the unicorns could again use their magic. Thankfully the space around them glowed with a lovely white light. “Thanks.” he said gratefully.
Astro pulled back as they realized the glow was coming from her own coat, “I-I-I…” she stuttered at a loss for words. There was a sound of stone grinding on stone as walls started closing in around them. She started to back away from the rest, but the wall blocked her path as others rose about them preventing any escape. She looked upwards and the ceiling closed over as well. The stone prison around them was everything but airtight. The white light coming off of her cast a soft glow on the dank gray walls around them. She pulled back until she was pushed up against the wall as all of their startled and confused eyes turned to her. She exhaled audibly as she looked in defeat at the ground beneath her. As she turned her gaze back upwards toward the others she wished only for escape. In the end she realized that the secret was only going to have been kept for so long. “I… I’m a star pony.” she stated as she shrank back, “I ran away when I was young to live in normal pony society. The reason I knew that stuff earlier was because… well… when you’re a star pony that’s all just common knowledge. Still the last time I lived with them was when I was just a foal, I swear!”
She looked to Kara and Spot, the only two who had known of her heritage before that moment. They both moved forward to stand by her and gave her reassuring glances. She stood up a little straighter as she realized that there were ponies who were with her. “The both of us can vouch for her.” Kara declared with confidence, “We’ve known her since we were just foals and we knew about this beforehoof. What you are doesn’t change who you are.” she finished looking back at Astro with a nod and a reassuring smile.
The rest looked astonished and startled, but none particularly upset or angry as she met their eyes. “So those ponies that attacked us when we got here… you’re one of them?” America asked.
“Well… biologically speaking, yes.” she answered sadly.
“Either way you can make sense of their actions, understand them, explain them, or maybe even predict them, yes?” England inquired. “I suppose so.” she responded.
Germany shrugged, “It’s good to have a man on the inside.”
“So… you aren’t mad at me?” she queried surprised.
“No, just a little dumbfounded is all.” Diplo promised being the first of her friends to speak up.
“Same here.” Ink agreed.
“I-I still trust you.” Zone added, but looking fairly shell shocked.
As he finished all of the stone walls contracted back into the walls of the ravine. There were several sighs of relief as the claustrophobic prison opened up. Astro’s however was more due to the fact that she still possessed all of her friends and their trust, along with that of the others. “So… why are you glowing?” America asked confused.
“The moon gives off a magical current that causes star ponies’ coats to glow.” she answered simply.
“Also, can you tell us exactly why they attacked us on the beach?” America inquired.
She nodded feeling significantly more confident, “I’m fairly certain it was them who brought you here from your other world. They were probably trying to round you up before you could cause any trouble in this world.”
“But why bring us here from another world if they don’t want us here in the first place?” England inquired.
“I don’t think they did so on purpose. The star ponies lost something a long long time ago and have been searching for it ever since it was lost. They must have opened a portal to your world, although I don’t know how, hoping to find it there and you all fell through on accident.” she answered.
“What exactly is it that they’re looking for?” France queried.
“Not really an it, a she. There was an old queen, but one day she just disappeared. There were no traces just poof, gone. She’s an alicorn, so it’s fairly unlikely that she just died. They’ve never stopped looking for her since she vanished. They must have found the means to create dimensional portals and tried to find her in other worlds.” she explained.
“So what does that mean for us?” Germany asked.
She frowned, “I really don’t know. Dimensional magic I’d imagine is rather complex and draining. I don’t even know how they could’ve managed to do it. I can’t think of anypony who could get you back except...”
“Except the ponies who got us here.” he replied.
“Unfortunately yes.” she responded.
“Um, I hate to interrupt, but we’ve sort of moved.” Kara interjected looking over the edge of the path.
They could actually see the bottom of The Abyss from where they were, but it was just the same as everything around them before. Dull gray rock covered the ground everywhere they could see. Although the distance which they could see wasn’t very far so that didn’t say much. The only light they had was from the unicorns’ horns and Astro’s coat. Even with that little light however they could just see the bottom of what they though may have been an endless chasm. “Let’s go! We’ve come this far there’s no point in not seeing what’s down there! Maybe it’s whatever’s been messing with us this whole time!” Kara said excitedly. “I’d like to give them a piece of my mind.” America agreed.
After exchanging glances the whole group took off at full canter ready for whatever they might find at the bottom. As they set hoof on the surface of the nethermost section of The Abyss their pace, however, slowed considerably. There was an unmistakable sense of dread about them as they walked forward. Their earlier confidence had left them as they went forth into the darkness unsure of what waited there for them. They had no way of knowing for sure, but chances were that there was something there and it had been what was causing them trouble the whole time that they had been down there.
They all halted as Astro, who had been leading the group forward with her light, paused looking confused. Her gaze was directed downward at her hooves and they all looked there as well. She had been looking at a line of bright blue crystalline stone embedded in the floor beneath them. “That’s astral stone,” she explained, “I didn’t think that you could find it anywhere but the Astral Plain, where star ponies live. It glows in response to star ponies.” she added moving her hoof forward to touch it. As she did make contact it lit up and so did the rest of it illuminating a large circle at least forty meters in diameter on the ground. There was a gazebo like structure in the very center that was made of the same stone and was glowing as well. In the newly lighted area they all found that they could all see what resided in the heart of The Abyss.
There, in the center of the clearing, stood the statue of a mare. It was at least twice the height of all of the ponies looking on and an alicorn as well. It wore armor that covered almost its whole body and looked to be ready for war. Her expression was serious and a little sad, but it was relaxed as if she was okay with the fact that she was upset. Her whole stature radiated an aura of status, magic, and power that was fairly intimidating. Despite how long it must have been down there all by itself and wearing away it looked to be brand new. Every single detail, excepting color, had been preserved as they all admired it from afar seeing as none particularly wanted to approach it.
The beautiful, but fearsome spectacle stood raised up on a grey stone dais that had been adorned with carvings of music notes. The idea of music being played down there however was a strange thought. It was clear, now that they were standing before it, what the all-consuming silence had been radiating from. The aura that was coming from the statue was overwhelming and washed over them in staggering waves. There was an unmistakable presence about it that felt so real, like it was sentient the same way that they were. Looking into its lifeless eyes made the thought all the more uncomfortable. None knew quite how to respond to the discovery that they had made.
“What are we supposed to do?” Zone asked in a quiet whisper tone, but in the horrible silence it sounded out like a magnanimous bellow. Suddenly the statue emitted a ferociously bright glow causing them all to jump. It lasted only for a few moments before it faded away however.
“What was that?” Kara questioned astonished and a little worried in the same tone, but her attempt at quiet was, just as before, in vain. Also the same as before a sudden glow came from the statue that only lasted for a few seconds.
“What’s going on?” Ink muttered worriedly with the same larger than life volume resulting. Then just as each question before it the statue gave off an outreaching radiance.
“Is it responding to the noise?” Diplo wondered aloud and then came the amplified din and the light from the stone figure. As they all pulled back again in surprise Spot stepped forward and put up a hoof asking them to stop.
Now standing slightly in front of the rest he sang out a soft tune.
The statue repeated it back, but instead of with noise with light as it brightened and dimmed in beat with what he had sung. Their eyes grew wide as it repeated the tune back to him with its glow.
Spot took another step forward now fully separated from the group and standing completely inside the circle outlined in the rock. He hummed out a significantly more lengthy rhythm to the statue as he faced it. It repeated it back to him with a light show the same as the time before. “That light’s not ferocious,” he told them looking quizzically at the stone figure, “it’s warm. It’s not fighting us, it’s reaching out. The reason it forced us down here was so that we would find it.”
The statue let off a light and complacent glow in reply to his statement.
“I don’t know. This all feels a little dodgy to me. It might not have hurt anypony, but it sure did come close. There are much kinder methods it could’ve used to get us down here.” Kara replied.
“I can feel it too.” Astro offered speaking for the first time since they had gotten down there, “It’s hard to explain, but it just feels lonely. It doesn’t like that horrible silence any more than we do.” She then took a few steps forward so that she stood next to Spot. “I can believe that it didn’t mean any harm, it was just trying to get us down here the only way it knew how.”
“I’m going to have to agree with Kara on this one.” Zone argued warily, “I can’t say that I really want, or feel comfortable enough with it, to trust it.”
Astro looked over at Spot and their eyes met each other’s. They nodded together before they turned forward in unison. Spot took a deep breath before starting to hum out a musical phrase. It took a moment before the statue joined in with him. It started out repeating the beat just as he finished it, but soon it started to catch on. Soon it was on pace with him and matching every last note with its glow. As the moments passed it broke off and started putting on a light show that, while not to quite the same tune, complemented his own sound tremendously. All of the ponies watched as the two worked flawlessly in unison in a routine that looked to have been planned out exceedingly carefully and practiced countless times before. They danced around each other’s rhythm in a breathtakingly beautiful and extremely skillful manner. Soon the bright blue stone carved into the ground took up the song as the statue gave off a solid and steady radiance.
The tempo picked up as each side started to work harder at putting on their show. Spot proceeded forward grinning as he really started to sing. He was in his element as he sang out, performing was what he did and right there he was putting on the performance of his life. Both parts of the equation were doing their best to keep up their end of the unspoken deal as they melted together in perfect harmony. The light from the statue grew ever brighter as the entrancing presentation went on and on. Still all of the onlookers watched in their soundless captivation. No words could truly describe their wonder as the humble pegasus pony and the being of The Abyss flowed in a bond of perfect song, the language that all things understand. As their performance reached its climax the impossibly joyful light became blinding. Spot’s own chest was heaving from the effort as his smile of elation reached from ear to ear and the song wound its way towards its inevitable closing. As the final notes rang out stone shards shot from where the statue, now completely incased in a brilliant sphere of light, had stood.
A pure white mare stood before them as the blindingly ferocious light faded. She looked just the same as her statue, but her vibrant colors stood out against the cold grey surroundings. Her coat shone radiantly in the moonlight’s rays even if none of them could be seen that far down in the chasm. She looked weary and dazed as her startling blue eyes searched the group in front of her. Now that she was flesh and bone the armor she wore could be seen to be gold and different colored jewels adorned it. Her mane tail flowed like pitch black voids in the suddenly colorful environment. She stumbled forward slightly, clearly drained, before righting herself. As she did she seemed to really realize what was going on. Her eyes became wide with surprise before narrowing in suspicion. “Who are you that stand before me?” she questioned in a tone that didn’t sound quite as sure as her words. When none responded she repeated herself, “I demand to be told who it is that stands before me.” she commanded sounding significantly more confident as she gained her bearings. Her gaze, tone, and battle armor only increased the formidability of the already daunting mare.
“Miss… um… there’s quite a few of us to introduce, but-” Astro began before being cut off.
“Then I shall be content in knowing your name since you stand before the rest of your brethren.” the mare interrupted stepping off of the dais on which her statue had been standing and directing the statement at Spot. Astro moved to stand next to him, but the mare then turned on her, “You may stand right where you are.” She halted and tried to catch her friend’s eyes, but they were riveted to the arduous mare. “Now, what is your title, pegasus?” she interrogated satisfied with her control over the situation.
“Spot Light.” he answered carefully and appearing calm as ever even if he felt rather different. The mare who had started to pace about before him stumbled and cursed under her breath.
“What have you done to cause my disorientation?” she questioned, “Do not think that it shall stop me from protecting myself should any of you try anything.” she added shooting a glare towards all of them.
“None of us caused it-”
“Then would you care to explain it?” she asked in a warning tone.
“It might have come from the whole statue thing.” he offered not entirely sure what the answer to her question was.
“Statue? I see no statues anywhere in the vicinity. I do not wish to be lied to Spot Light. Consider your answers before you speak.” she argued glaring. All of his companions looked on in fright unsure of how to help without getting them in even more trouble.
“I mean when we came down here you were a statue, but then we freed you. I don’t think turning to and from stone is the easiest thing in the world.” he replied.
“That is completely preposterous! If I were a statue then how would I live and breathe and speak?” she retorted.
“I promise it’s the truth. We came all the way down and we found a statue of your likeness here. It was on that dais with the music notes carved into it. Whenever someone spoke, it… you would respond. I saw the music notes and sang to you and you joined in and to say the least it was quite the duet.” he told her with a small hopeful grin at the end.
She stumbled again and let out a small grunt as she held a hoof up to her head in what appeared to be pain. All of the other ponies watched in confusion as she tensed clearly in a definite state of infinite concentration. None of them knew how to react to the sudden development. She rose after a few moments her eyes glistening with sadness and her eyes wide as saucers. “I… I remember. I remember everything.” she mumbled more to herself, but all could hear it. “There was that horrible silence and I-I couldn’t even cry out and I was all alone, but then I felt this presence. I reached out and as I thought I could remember.”
“Remember what?” Spot prompted carefully.
“The manticore from all of those years ago, my friends falling into a trap all because I wasn’t strong enough to help, that horrible greyness choking the life out of all of them and I didn’t know how to stop it, but not too long after we escaped it we only ended up separated.” she mumbled still just loud enough for them to hear. She was clearly in pain from remembering these things. She had dropped the air of status and confidence around her as she recalled the different memories. They all were shocked as they realized that what they had been seeing had come from her own memories.
“Ink spurting flowers?” America asked a little bewildered as to what that had come from.
“That was a very interesting day for sure.” she replied simply with the smallest of smiles jerking at her lips. She pulled herself to up to her full height with great difficulty as she tried to collect herself. “It is still fuzzy, but I can remember pieces of it, if not details. I do remember your song, yes. I also remember how I found myself down in this dreadful place.” she informed them as she spoke with the same regal tone from before. “I am the whole reason this abyss exists. I had led my ponies well, but they were still being persecuted. I had to do something before full on war broke out as they grew ever more impatient. Then, in the night, they came and ambushed the palace. Unfortunately for them that is when my subjects are their strongest. In order to prevent the two sides from annihilating each other I had to act quickly. I opened a rift, not just in the ground, but between worlds, and took my subjects through. I hoped that in this new world they might find solace, but I never was able to see. All of my power had been drained and then more. This armor that I wear was imbued with magical power and I had to take all of it to perform this spell, but even that was not enough. I had stolen so much from them that they were destroyed. I used my last ounce of energy to leave a path to myself, but I was unable to finish it before my power was completely gone. When a magical artifact is robbed of its power it turns to stone. My armor had been consumed before I could remove it and it took myself with it. I would assume that I’ve been down here ever since.”
Astro took a step toward her and gulped silently, “Miss, who are your subjects?”
The mare gave her a confused glance, “You do not know? I would believe that you would know seeing as you are one of them. I am Light, Queen of the Stars, and the star ponies, such as yourself, are my subjects.”
“If one of my own subjects knows not who I am how long must I have been gone?” she inquired looking for the first time slightly… afraid.
“My best guess would be somewhere around 3,000 years.” Astro responded, “Every star pony knows the story of the lost queen and believes it to be true. Nopony ever stopped looking for you, but you were never found. The Abyss, this place, is generally to considered off limits. Stories were spreading and the belief that everypony who comes in doesn’t come out became commonplace. But that’s beside the point. Unfortunately in this search the star ponies led some have been caused problems.” she replied giving a slight glance to the countries. “I just couldn’t recognize you by your appearance is all.”
“I see,” she replied solemnly, “I suppose it would not do good to keep them waiting any longer. 3,000 years is certainly a long time. I trust that you all might find your way out.”
“Wait! Y-your majesty, um, we have some of the ones that were caused problems right here actually.” Astro told her, “And getting out isn’t quite so easy either.”
She looked over at the countries in the back of the group. “You all are from a different dimension.” she stated simply. Again an exceedingly small smile came to her lips due to their surprise at her knowledge. “I am a kind of expert in these matters. I understand dimensional magic rather well, but performing it is a rather different story I’m afraid. After a good bit of recuperation and rest I would be able to send you all through, but there is more to it than that. This dimension is heavily surrounded by magic that protects it from things it sees as threats. It seems that in order to defeat the threat it saw in you it changed your form to something which it could understand and thus felt more protected from. Still, this magic only works one way and your home dimension possesses no such protection.”
“You would be able to send us back, but we would still look the way we are now.” Germany translated.
“I’m afraid so.” she confirmed apologetically, “I will of course do my best to help you, but transformation magic is extremely difficult especially seeing that there aren’t any of your species here for me to work with. I am aware of what humans look like, but that doesn’t mean I know everything about them. I will do my best of course, but even then it might take a while to develop the spell that you seek. I promise that I will do my utmost to return you to your proper form and home, but until then, unless you wish to return as you look now, you will be stuck here.”
“But there are things going on there that we need to attend to now. We can’t just let the time pass over there without us.” England argued.
“I have seen many dimensions in my time and I am aware of your importance to your own. I can return you not a moment after you left I assure you.”
“What, so you can time travel too?” America asked exasperated.
“Hardly. Different worlds have different timelines. When moving from one to the other it is simply a matter of landing at the right time.” she retorted.
“Either way we’re stuck here until you can make some spell to make us human again?” he questioned.
“Unfortunately so.” she affirmed.
There was a clear aura of disheartenment that came about the countries as they realized that they wouldn’t be going back for a rather long time. “What’re we supposed to do then?” America asked uncertain.
“This is a whole new world for you to explore, it might not be as bad a situation as it seems. In coming here you have discovered and saved myself. I would urge you to use your time here wisely since, although it may last a fair while, it cannot last forever. Still, what you would like to do is your own decision.” she told them, “Now what was this about needing help exiting this place?” she finished looking over at Astro.
“What? Oh! Yes. Well it’s quite a ways down and we were teleported down by… well, you actually, and several parts of the path were destroyed on our way down so we don’t have a way back up and star pony teleportation is only designed to take that pony alone.” Astro responded.
“I could teleport you out, but I’m afraid I don’t know what the location that we’re teleporting to looks like.” she replied.
“I do and I can teleport!” Kara offered, “If you could lend me some magic power I could get us up there.”
The Queen nodded her head and leaned her horn down to Kara’s. Both sparked as the transfer of energy was performed. The group gathered around the unicorn as she closed her eyes and grit her teeth in concentration. There was a flash and when the light faded they were back up by the edge of The Abyss. Kara opened her eyes feebly and mumbled, “Did it.” Not moments after however she collapsed from the exhaustion. Zone caught her and propped her up as she slowly started to recover. She had transported a large number of ponies an even greater distance and teleportation was hard enough without the extra load. Even with the extra magic power it was still just too draining.
The Queen nodded her head to the group before starting to walk away. She halted just a few steps away and with her back to them contemplating. She looked over her shoulder to them and spoke. “Do not think that I shall soon forget what you all have done for me. I do not wish to leave you all so soon, but I have kept my ponies waiting for far too long. We will meet again, but when that will be I cannot be sure. Until that day.” she finished bowing her head to them. With her final farewell she teleported off, a zing noise resounding in her wake.
“So it seems our adventure isn’t over yet.” Germany mumbled.
“Not by a long shot.” England agreed.
“Maybe it’s not so bad, I might be able to get used to this pony thing.” America offered.
“You do realize that ponies are herbivores and what that means food wise right?” England asked him with a questioning look. It took a moment, but then he realized what that meant.