The Rebirth of The Sun

Rough followed Dust through the camp, and into the forest to the south. As, they walked Rough asked the cinnamon colored pegasus about what exactly it was that had happened. “Well chief, the way I heard it from Autumn is that when he and Blossom were out looking for firewood they came across some kind of ruin.” Here Dust hesitated, and Rough guessed at what he was unable to say.

“Some of them went in to investigate didn’t they? Without waiting for me, like they were supposed to.” He asked softly. When Dust nodded, Rough sighed and shook his head. “Let me guess, they thought they were going to rush in there and rescue Rain? Or at the very least find out what happened to Lightning, right?” Again Dust nodded, while Rough muttered curses under his breath at his crew’s foolhardiness.

“T-They were just trying to help.” The cinnamon colored pegasus explained quietly, head lowered.

“That’s exactly what I was worried about. Did they take any unicorns with them at least? Maybe Dancer or Moonlight? They are the best shield experts we’ve got.” A look that might’ve been fear passed across Dust’s face, “No, they took Stormy. They figured he’d be the better choice as he’s talented in battle magic. With what happened to Lightning they weren’t sure what they’d find in the ruins. Was that not a good idea?” the pegasus asked unsure.

Rough began to swear aloud as he picked up speed, nearly cantering as he spotted a small group of ponies standing near the end of the trail up ahead. As he entered what looked to be a small clearing Rough’s eyes were immediately drawn to what looked like an ancient, overgrown castle. Tearing his eyes away from the strange sight Rough looked over the few ponies that stood in the clearing. “What are you lot doing? Why are you just standing around?” Rough demanded of the ponies. They all jumped, their attention diverting to Rough. Several of them looked away, worry and shame in their eyes.

Rough looked around doing a quick headcount. “How many went into the ruin with Blossom, Autumn, and Storm?” he asked, rushing through to the other side of the group.

A citrine coated unicorn approached him uncertainly, “Five other ponies went with them chief, two pegasi, and three earth ponies; Boulder, Peach, Fire, Cloud and Sunny. The rest of us wanted to wait for you before we did anything. We tried to stop them chief, but they were so determined...” At this she started to sob. Rough threw a hoof around her and started to console her. “C’mon Shimmer, it’s alright; You need to pull yourself together. We need someone to go back to camp and grab Dancer and Moonlight. We’ve already lost Rain inside the ruin. I’m not taking any chances with the rest of you.”

The group was suddenly cut off by the sound of screaming coming from the ruins. Several ponies jumped, and one even took off running towards camp. “We need the mages from camp now!” screamed Rough. “Don’t come back without them!” He quickly looked at the ruin and started giving out orders. “I need someone to show me the way into the ruins. Shimmer, you stay here and let the others know where we’ve gone. The rest of you, move out!.”

They all galloped across the clearing, the ruined castle looming above them. All too soon it seemed the small group had reached the crumbling archway that formed the entrance to the castle. Slowing down the group entered the castle making their way carefully around the large chunks of masonry that lay scattered everywhere. The flagstones of the floor were chipped, and cracked. What may have been carvings on the walls were broken and crumbling. They passed many large, empty corridors some of which were filled part way with rubble. Others had walls that leaned precariously and a few were even covered with scorch marks and piles of stone dust. The further they traveled inwards the worse the condition of the castle seemed to get. Large cracks started appearing in the walls and floors; the piles of rubble became more and more common, slowing Rough’s party down immensely. Blade, a unicorn his coat a forest green, had noticed that as they headed deeper into the castle a powerful magical aura was starting to build. Just as he was going to mention this to Rough a flicker of movement caught his eye, he turned swiftly but only found himself staring down yet another empty hallway. Oddly enough at the end of this hallway stood a large, onyx alicorn statue that seemed to glitter in the dim light cast by the glow of his horn.

“Blade, what in the hay are you doing?” Rough’s voice startled the forest green unicorn, and he looked back seeing that the rest of the group were staring at him worriedly. “Sorry, I’ve just never seen a statue like that before is all.” He explained rubbing his neck sheepishly.

Rough shot Blade a strange look, “What statue?” Sure enough, when Blade turned around again all he saw was an empty hallway. “B-But, it was there I swear it was!” he cried, looking at each of his comrades in turn trying to get somepony to meet his gaze.

Rough finally interrupted Blade, “Take it easy there. You probably just saw a similar hallway earlier that had a statue in it and then thought that’s what you saw here. It’s no big deal, this place is pretty spooky. Now we need to get a move on, they’re ponies somewhere in this castle who need our help.”

Blade sighed, and nodded dropping the uncomfortable subject as he followed Rough deeper into the castle. Shortly after the ponies in the group felt a strange sensation wrap around them, and it wasn’t until one of them stumbled into a rock, knocking it against a wall with a dull thud that Rough realized just how quiet it had gotten. The russet coated unicorn froze in place, his ears up as he listened intently. Rough muttered a curse under his breath, berating himself for being so intent on their safe journey into the castle that he hadn’t noticed that the screaming had stopped. Rough turned back to the group, and seeing their worried gazes he knew that they had come to the same realization as he.

Now, this whole time Blade had been unable to stop thinking about that statue, and how he was going to prove to his comrades that it did in fact exist. He was so involved in his mental imaginings of him dragging the group back to that hallway, and showing them that the statue was there that he hadn’t noticed the group had stopped. This led to him bumping into Ink, an earth pony whose coat was a very dark shade of grey, Ink turned to Blade to ask him just what in the hay he thought he was doing, but stopped at the look of horror on the forest green unicorn’s face. Ink opened his mouth to ask Blade what was wrong, but was interrupted by the unicorn’s horn lighting with an ominous bright green light. Before anypony could react or even cry out in warning a bolt of energy shot from Blade’s horn, and flew through the air above Rough’s shoulder narrowly missing the russet coated unicorn. The green aura around Blade’s horn gleamed once more as if he was going to try again, but Ink and the other member of their party, an earth pony mare called Leaf, tackled him to the ground. Blade struggled against the two earth ponies rambling about the onyx statue, and how it was alive and that it was going to kill them all. His cries were brought to an abrupt halt as Rough knocked him out with a swift kick to the head. Ink and Leaf shot him looks mixed with confusion and horror, “It had to be done, I just knocked him out so relax. The magical energies of this place have driven him mad, now I need you two to get him out of here. Keep an eye out for Shimmer and our reinforcements, it shouldn’t take them long to catch up with me. I’m not arguing with you two about this, now go!” Ink and Leaf tried to argue, but under the force of his gaze they caved. They carefully picked up Blade between them, and once they’d secured his weight across their backs they began heading back down the hallway towards the exit. Rough sighed and watched them go for a short time to be sure they followed his orders before heading deeper into the castle in search for his missing crew. If Rough had stood there for just a moment longer he might have seen the slightest bit of movement, which if you stared at it directly would look like an onyx alicorn statue sparkling in the dark green light of his horn.

<<<<<<<<<<<<

As Rough and his group began their journey into the ancient castle Daisy, the earth pony who had run back to the camp when the screaming started, had finally managed to locate Dancer and Moonlight. These three had then made their way back to the clearing where Daisy had left the others.

“Where did everypony go?” Daisy asked Shimmer looking around the nearly empty clearing.

“Chief took everypony who was left with him into the ruins to look for Blossom, Autumn and Storm. He asked me to stay behind to let you know what was going on, and then he wanted us to head in after him.” Shimmer explained.

Dancer and Moonlight nodded, Daisy however felt her legs begin to shake as she looked over the massive, crumbling form of the ancient castle. “W-We have to go in there?” she asked her voice trembling.

Sharing a look Dancer gestured to Moonlight, a midnight blue unicorn mare, indicating that she should be the one to reassure Daisy. Sighing softly, Moonlight pressed a hoof against Daisy’s shoulder, “Take it easy there Daisy, everything’s going to be okay. We’ve explored ruins that were way spookier than this one before. Dancer and I’ll keep you safe so don’t worry.”

The soft yellow earth pony nodded sniffling as she dried her tears, “O-Okay.”

Shimmer waved her hoof, catching the other three mares’ attention “Hey, I understand that you mares are worried and all, but the racket coming from inside there really wears on a pony. So, I’d like to head in there and catch up with the chief as soon as possible, okay?”

The other three ponies jumped slightly as they realized that the plaintive moaning sounds they had assumed was the wind were in fact being made by ponies they had known and worked with.

Nodding in silent agreement the four mares made their way through the ruined arch and into the castle. Shimmer took the lead, her horn glowing with a pale lavender light as she looked for signs of Rough’s group’s passage. It only took them a few moments to come across several sets of hoofprints that they assumed belonged either to Rough’s group or Autumn’s. They had been traveling for quite some time when something seemed to change in the once still air of the castle. It seemed to the four mares that the darkness pressed close around the edges of the light emanating from Shimmer’s horn. “Wait..” Daisy called softly, “The screams...They’ve stopped..” As Daisy spoke the four mares shared uneasy glances with one another before heading deeper into the castle once more. By an unspoken agreement the group of mares began to move through the hallway at a trot; wanting to find Rough and the others as soon as possible so they could get the hay out of there. Even as they trotted through the ruined hallway being careful not to trip over the ruined flagstones or ever present piles of rubble; the sense of being watched, and that the shadows that swirled around them held whispers of a dark, malevolent power only seemed to intensify. It didn’t take the long before the frightened mares were all but sprinting through the hall hoping beyond hope that they could leave whatever lurked in the shadows behind. The glow of Shimmer’s horn became erratic as she ran, beginning to flicker oddly as she struggled to run and control her magic at the same time. As a result she failed to see the strange lump sitting in the middle of the hallway, and so she tripped and fell tumbling into the wall, her horn winking out leaving them all in darkness.

Shimmer groaned, rubbing her head where it had hit the wall. As she moved to stand up her hooves felt something strange and almost soft move away from her hooves. Thinking it was one of her comrades who had tripped and injured themselves she swiftly relit her horn, and promptly started screaming. Her other three companions had tripped into one another when her horn had gone out; leaving them struggling to free themselves in the dark. Then, the light flickers back on and the three mares manage to disentangle themselves from one another. Just as they begin heading towards where the light is coming from, somepony starts screaming. Dancer and Moonlight bolt ahead of Daisy, squinting as their eyes adjust to the brightness of Shimmer’s horn. When they are finally able to see again both mares are stunned into silence at the sight before them. There on the ground lay the corpse of an aged pony, who looked vaguely familiar. Daisy walked up behind them just then, “Hey, what’s going on?” she asked confused; from where she stood she couldn’t quite see the corpse that lay on the ground. The sound of Daisy’s voice broke her friends from their stupor, and seemed to wake Shimmer, who had gone silent as Moonlight and Dancer approached. Shimmer opened her mouth again as if to start screaming, but Dancer bolted over to her and muffled her with a forehoof. As Dancer murmured reassurances to the distraught Shimmer, Daisy and Moonlight carefully looked over the strange corpse. After a long moment of silence Moonlight spoke, “I-I just can’t believe it...I saw him earlier today...T-This can’t be happening...” Her voice trailed off as she looked at the others with tears in her eyes.

“We should check and see if we can find anypony else nearby; some of the others might still be alive.” Dancer responds firmly.

“W-We can’t just leave him here like this!” Daisy cries, looking between Dancer and Moonlight unbelieving.

“There may be other ponies that need our help Daisy. We’ll come back for him later so we can make sure the body gets home to his family.” Dancer explains gently, holding the pale yellow earth pony’s gaze. Finally getting a morose nod from Daisy the four mares begin searching the nearby alleyways for other ponies. Their search only reveals the bodies of Ink and Leaf, who had been aged nearly beyond recognition like Blade. Exhausted by their search the small group decides to split up; Daisy and Shimmer take the three bodies and begin the long walk back to camp while Dancer and Moonlight continue their journey deeper into the ruins in search of Rough.

While the four mares had been making their way towards Rough; the russet coated unicorn had been struggling to find Autumn, Blossom and the rest of their group. Unfortunately, a large rubble pile had blocked the main corridor; diverting him onto a series of smaller side corridors in the hope that he could rediscover the main path. After he’s wasted who knows how long wandering around the empty halls, and getting himself more and more lost a scream interrupts his litany of curses about empty hallways.  Galloping towards the sound of screaming Rough manages to find his way back into the main hallway, but before he can figure out which direction the screaming is originating from the noise stops. Rough waits for a long moment hoping for any sign of who was screaming or where they were, before he finally decides to continue down the hallway in what he hopes is the right direction. Not long after rediscovering the main path Rough notices that the latent magic in the ruins seems to be increasing; using this as a sign that he’s heading the right way his pace increases to a gallop. Shadows seem to close in around him, as unseen voices taunt him from all sides; he is close so close and just as the darkness seems to swallow him a bright light shines at the end of the tunnel. Rough gives a small burst of energy tearing himself free of the shadow’s grip as he stumbles into the large, brightly lit room.

Rough drags himself to his hooves, doing his best to shake off the exhaustion that threatens to overwhelm him. The room he now finds himself in is massive with a high vaulted ceiling, and the remains of large columns running down its center. The empty frames of what he can only assume were stained glass windows run down either side, and the russet coated unicorn can’t help but wonder why he hasn’t seen any sign of vegetation in this ruined old castle. However, as he heads towards the large glowing light in the center of the room it becomes quite apparent what has been keeping all the plant growth at bay; at least on the inside of the ruin. A large glowing crystal sits in the middle of the floor here radiating a brilliant yellow light that stretches the length of the room. It is not the crystal however that holds Rough’s attention and causes him to cry out in despair. For there lying on the ground around the glowing crystal are the bodies of Autumn and the rest of the team who had so foolishly rushed into the ruins. As Rough bolts towards the bodies, Dancer and Moonlight finally manage to find their own way into this large hall and the three unicorns begin to tend to their fallen friends.