Chapters Sunlit Hearth looked up in awe at the tower. It was carved from a huge projection of dark gray-black stone, and reached from the ground almost 200 hooves and seemed to merge with the stone ceiling. It was like a pillar had remained to support the mountainside while the rest crumbled away. There was no mistaking the basalt spire.
Gulping worriedly, he slowly circled the 50 hoof wide monolith, looking for the door. He reminded himself once more that he had to follow this, his only lead. As he reached the inner side, his back to the mountain, he found the door.
it didn't live up to expectations. It was a regular sized, unassuming slab of mahogany, and while sturdy, was rather disappointing. The tower's facade implied a huge, portcullised black gate, but instead the entry seemed incongruous.
Shaking himself out of his thoughts, Sunlit took a deep breath, and knocked.
After a full minute without response, he knocked again, this time loud enough to actually be heard. After repeating this several times, he reached out and opened the door, then froze.
It was pitch black in the tower, as if someone had hung black velvet drapes around the one pitiful ray of sun which intruded.
The forest floor was dark from the thick canopy, but the ray of light which fell through the doorframe still did not illuminate enough. It was as though the darkness which pervaded the inside of the tower was holding the light at bay, allowing only that which the sun shined directly upon to be visible; the world was reduced to an arch of light on glassy smooth black stone.
Hesitantly, Sunlit stepped in. The gloom seemed almost solid. He tried his best light cantrip, admittedly a novice feat, but the shadow itself seemed to snap up the glowing orb as soon as he pushed it forward.
Suddenly the door turned black and slammed shut with an ominous click, plunging Sunlit into total pitch dark. As he frantically tried to pull open the heavy locked door, he heard something that made his blood run cold: a growl of anger, almost not pony, and brimming with wrath.
"Who, I wonder, could be so stupid as to disturb MY slumber without so much as a warning?" Came a voice from the darkness, gravelly from disuse and seething with annoyance.
Sunlit looked around, but could perceive nothing through the thick, inky black around him. "I'm Sunlit Hearth," he said hesitantly,"I was looking for a friend of mine."
Suddenly he felt something grab his rear leg and hoist him abruptly off his hooves and into the air. It didn't feel like magic, or jaws or a rope. It felt distinctly like...talons.
Sunlit's eyes went wide."Oh sweet Celestia, you're a griffin, please don't eat me I'm not worth it!" He babbled, panicking instantly.
He heard a rough laugh from the dark. "Now why would I do that? I assume pony is stringy and gamy, and it is known to be bad manners to eat someone without serious provocation. Also, I'm not a griffin." The hidden figure's voice was growing clearer with every word, and Sunlit realized he was addressing a female pony. "I suppose you must fear griffins," she continued. "This spell takes the form of the fears of its target."
He started breathing easier, knowing he was not about to be a snack for a large creature with razor claws and vicious beak, but gasped sharply when she prodded him in several spots while turning him around, most painfully on his his left side, right in his still-healing wound. "Ow! Stop, that hurts!" He yelped, as she turned him over in several directions, looking at him. Suddenly he wondered if he would have been better off griffin food.
"Now tell me, why are you really here?" She asked. Her voice had gone from slightly curious to cold and calculated in a heartbeat. Sunlit was rather frightened by this pony who seemed to cast aside usual rules of conversation like an old toy. "That bit about a friend was an obvious lie. This time be honest, or I'll throw you out and let a shadehound chase you off for me."
Sunlit gulped, wondering what a shadehound was. "I-I was looking for a relative. I heard that Shadestar might be here. She's my cousin." He said hopefully, worrying that he wouldn't be believed.
At the word cousin, Sunlit suddenly toppled to the floor as the magic grip holding him up released. The blackness around him faded from opaque to just dim. He was still unsettled by the way the blackness seemed to writhe. As he focused on the direction of the voice, he could then make out a faint pattern of silvery lines and a silver mane, not five feet from him.
"Are you one of the old Obsidians? No, no, you have a white coat. The old Obsidians all dyed theirs black.... Anyway, Sunlit was it? You need look no further, for you have found Shadestar Obsidian." Her voice had allowed a slight hint of panic in, before her control forcefully reasserted itself.
A candle on the far side of the room lit, revealing a lean, jet black mare with a long silver mane and a silver pentagram cutie mark. She was wearing a pair of goggles, and an amulet around her neck.
Sunlit was stunned. This couldn't be the same mare who'd lived in Ponyville for a few months thirty years ago. She had to be her daughter. Had she lived alone in this tower for years? It was too much to take in.
Shadestar looked at him appraisingly. "Why did you seek me out?"
Sunlit furrowed his brow in slight confusion. He'd thought his purpose would be obvious. "I want to find out more about my family." He answered.
Shadestar looked grim. "You may soon find out all too much."
Shadestar began weaving a spell in the dimly lit room, her silver aura blindingly brilliant. "Just an illusion to make explaining this easier. It should show you my thoughts." she said in response to Sunlit's worried look.
The room flashed silver bright, then faded to black.
Sunlit heard his cousin's voice in his mind. "Many thousands of years ago, the first of clan Obsidian was born. He was a vicious and ill tempered unicorn, who started duels at the faintest perceived slight. Through the fights he started, he became extremely good at injuring and killing other ponies. His reputation became widespread, and Obsidian was soon hired for his talents."
As Shadestar spoke, her words played on the wall in silver light and ebony black, acting out a macabre shadow puppet dance to her story.
"Too clever for a simple thug, he quickly found a niche as a clandestine killer. He was soon a master assassin, and he had no shortage of targets when every noble held a grudge against each other. He found a mare who shared his love for spilling pony blood, and married her. Their foals were the first generation of the Obsidian Clan.
"The clan used the cover of night to commit their vile murders, and began to worship Princess Luna. They were fanatical, though, and believed in a strong, cold mistress of the night, not her true self, the loving, quiet alicorn we know. When they realized this, they decided to use their assassinations as a tool, to sculpt her into their god of shadow.
"They began to target those around her, trying to harden her and twist her personality. She lost many friends to the Obsidians. After one particularly close friend was targeted, Luna vowed to protect him personally. Even she never saw the black-garbed devils in time. She managed to capture one of them, and through Duskmantle Obsidian she cursed the clan that they would never again work any normal magic with the night's aid, for the moon would reveal them, and the stars devour their luck and fate.
"For a time this worked. The clan was not seen for over a century. Then, one hundred and one years later, to the day, a target received the customary Mourning Token, an obsidian coin meant to tell a target to cherish their last week alive. One week later, along their rules of 'civilized' murder, the great-great grandfoal of Duskmantle's target, barely twelve years old, was found dead, his home reeking of fell ritual magic. Princess Luna's curse had not stopped the clan, only weakened it.
"The curse nearly worked, though. If any fewer of the Obsidians were naturally able to channel ritual magic, the clan would likely have faded away. Even still, they found it too constraining. As they looked for alternative methods to eliminate targets, one member found the Dreaming. The Obsidians immediately saw the appeal it held. They could see into the thoughts of their targets with little practice necessary. Only a choice few could manipulate it well, but anything helped bolster their ranks. The trainees practiced stealth in each others minds, until even Luna had difficulty finding them in the dreamscape. Then, when the concept of nightmares was considered as a tool, a new horror arose.
"After only a few generations, the Obsidians had carefully pruned and prepared nightmares which could scare a pony to death. They had created a true ultimate weapon, one which could slay any target without trace or risk to the assassins. As they began their campaign of bloodshed once more, they also worked on a dream-construct of their idealized, idolized version of Luna. It was not a true Nightmare, but it would possess Luna and make her the dark god they wished for if ever it came in contact with her.
"Finally moved by their attacks beyond thoughts of the repercussions, Luna battled the clan in the dreamscape of her guard captain. She was on her way toward victory, but then they released their possession spirit. Worse, the fighting in the Dreaming had released one of the Obsidians' lethal Nightmares. The nightmare and the dark goddess attacked Luna at the same time, but she nearly fended them off.
"However, Luna could not ward her mind properly, overcome with grief and loathing of the Obsidians. Caught off guard, she was possessed by both, and their combined effects left only one part of the original Luna unchanged: her seething hatred for the Obsidian Clan. Nightmare Moon, as their ideal now called herself, showed no mercy, and slaughtered every member of the clan she could find, before turning her eye to the rest of Equestria. She restrained the specters and returned to her home, but the forces which had taken root could not be so easily held down. She soon lost control entirely, and Celestia was forced to banish her.
"Only a few survived, and those few went deep undercover. Even when Nightmare Moon was banished, they decided to bide their time and restore their strength. Now, only thirty years ago, a young mare left the clan to raise a family. She left for the wilderness and carved a tower in which to live. She raised her foal with love, and passed in her sleep four years ago. And ever since I have learned of my family's past, I believe that mare, my mother, was murdered by the same clan she left."
The spell ended and the dim tower came into view again. Shadestar trembled visibly, though whether with rage, grief, or exhaustion eluded a certain stunned white unicorn.
Sunlit was shell shocked. He couldn't accept this, how could he be related to a clan which had nearly destroyed Equestria? More importantly, did he have any family left?
"Who were my parents?" asked Sunlit. "The spell the librarian cast showed a stallion with a crimson mane, and a cutie mark of a domino mask."
At this news, Shadestar looked grim. "I do not know precisely. If the ancestry spell worked for you, and the mark was correct, I am sorry. It was likely my uncle, Rogue Glint Obsidian, and his wife. They were the other two who helped my mother escape. They left too, she with a newborn foal, but were never heard from again after their escape from the Clan. They were well known, and they would have been hunted down soon after."
Sunlit felt his last wisp of hope slowly wither away. So he was alone.
Noting Sunlit's crushed expression, Shadestar decided to console her new found cousin as best she could. "Sunlit, " she said, getting his attention,"I don't intend to let our family go unavenged."
Sunlit started. Was it really his job to avenge somepony he had never known? Nopony could hold him responsible for honoring their names, but...somewhere within him a voice cried out for justice. Not only for his parents and Shadestar's mother, but for the atrocities this Obsidian Clan had caused princess Luna to commit. He did not have to help her, but somehow he knew he would never be able to live with himself unless he did.
Sunlit looked up, steely-eyed. "Where do we start?"
Author's Note
Whew, so much exposition! And what will Sunlit do from here? Dun dun dunnnnn!
Study, with a side of target practice
Shadestar gestured to the staircase. "For the combat training you'll need, we'll want to go outside. The stone circle at the top of the tor should be a perfect practice area."
Following the long spiral staircase up the center of the peak, Sunlit asked how high up they would be.
"Oh, we'll be about three hundred hooves above the base of the tor. The peak itself is measured at about fifteen hundred hooves above sea level, but the valley floor where Ponyville is measures roughly eight hundred hooves above sea level. All in all, you'll see the ground about three hundred hooves below, but you'll have a great view of the valley." Shadestar explained in a somewhat roundabout manner.
Sunlit gulped. He'd learned his lesson from the incident on his roof; he would stay well away from the edge this time.
As if noticing his unease, Shadestar remarked without turning around "Don't worry, there's a rail."
As they reached the top, the claustrophobic stairway opened into a small chamber. Several racks lined the rough black walls, though in the dim illumination Sunlit could not make out their contents. Shadestar sighed.
"I hate this part. Still, if you're going to be trained to face the Obsidians, then we have to start right away, even if it's still daytime."
Confused, Sunlit asked, "What's wrong with daytime?"
Shadestar turned around, her goggles making her expression inscrutable. "Have you noticed that the tower is dark? Unlike some ponies, I'm nocturnal. These goggles help me see in my chosen environment just as well as you do in yours."
Feeling silly for not noticing before, Sunlit looked down, ashamed. "Sorry, I guess I wasn't that attentive. I was a little distracted."
Shadestar smiled a little, her seriousness lightening somewhat. "Well, in any case, I've become accustomed to the dark. This light is entirely for your convenience. The goggles and cloak I keep up here make daylight more bearable to someone it would otherwise almost blind."
She swapped her goggles for a much darker-lensed pair, and donned a long black cloak. Satisfied, she turned to Sunlit and gestured to the stairs in the far wall which led up to a trap door.
As Sunlit climbed out into the brilliant sunlight, he was awestruck by the carved top of the tor. The tor obviously tapered toward the top, meaning this level was only about 150 hooves across. Twenty massive trilithons were arranged perfectly equidistant around the circle, each roughly thirty hooves high, with each megalith about five hooves wide, looking like Stonehenge, except they were all carved from the top of the tor. As he looked around, he noticed the shoulder-height wall about ten hooves out from the stone circle. He assumed that it was the 'rail' Shadestar had spoken of, and resolved to stay back from it. As he adjusted to the awe of the massive structure, he began to notice the fantastic view. He could see all the way to Las Pegasus on one side, Canterlot in the distance on the other.
Shadestar watched him, unsure if it would be rude to disrupt his stunned awe. After about five minutes, Sunlit began to shake off the stupor, looking over to Shadestar. "The view is incredible".
Shadestar smiled and said "The view is impressive, but not the reason we're here. Extend your magical awareness."
Focusing hard, Sunlit extended his mental perceptions to sense...nothing. Less than nothing...only he and Shadestar could be felt, all the background magic he normally felt was gone. He had a feeling in his magical sense like ringing ears. He turned to Shadestar in confusion.
She chuckled at his bewildered expression. "This was the section my mother carved for meditation. The stones are engraved with runes to dampen and absorb magic, especially the subtle magical reverberations from all the magic constantly being cast in Equestria. In this stone circle, you can think more clearly than anywhere else not similarly shielded. More importantly, they absorb all magic used near them, making this a perfect place to practice combat magic. Even a master level Disintegrate won't scratch these stones while the runes remain intact. They'll catch any stray spells before they can damage the tor or something beyond. Now, let us begin lesson one."
Shadestar walked into the shadow of one of the pillars, and it turned inky black, hiding her. The other pillars' shadows darkened as well, and her voice came from all of them at once.
"Sunlit, you first need to learn to use your magical senses as naturally as you breathe. When I step out of one of these shadows, you need to cast a Light in my direction before I can Shadowstep to another."
Sunlit smiled. "Is that all?"
He heard a snicker from behind him, but halfway through it was to his left, then his right. "No. If you cannot find me quickly enough, I will hit you with a very weak Sting. It won't cause any injury, but it will hurt a bit. Ready, go."
Pushing his sight beyond his eyes, he began scanning the shadows around him. As he caught sight of Shadestar's magical signature and prepared his Light, she stepped through the shadow and vanished. Frantically he spun his sensor around sighting her again. He wasted no time, firing the arrow-quick Light into that shadow. Turning to look triumphantly at her, he was surprised to see the light illuminating a pillar with no black mare in sight.
Confused, he took a step forward, then yelped as something stung his rump. Spinning wildly, he saw nopony, before feeling his Light get snuffed out by the pillars' magic. He opened his mind again, hoping to glimpse her. As he methodically checked stone after stone, he heard Shadestar laugh again.
"Being methodical is a luxury, Sunlit. One you will not have when you face the Obsidians. You must learn to trust your instincts, and to use them." She punctuated her sentence with a sharp sting to his right foreleg.
Annoyed, Sunlit focused again, trying to zero in on this fleeting ghost who danced around him. Several shocks and teleports later, he finally got a perfect line of sight. Without hesitating, he flung a Light, and caught Shadestar. He also got the satisfaction of watching her try to walk through a suddenly-illuminated pillar. Without shade to move through, she smacked her muzzle against the basalt.
She smiled and stepped forward as the stone extinguished the light. The stones' shadows faded to normal tones, and Shadestar walked up to Sunlit in the center of the circle.
"Well done, Sunlit. You caught me quite faster than I expected. Still, your record can easily be improved upon. Catching me once after taking twenty-eight stinging charms is hardly perfect."
Sunlit looked at her proudly. "Well, I caught you, which is more than I thought I'd be able to do toward the end. So how about combat magic?"
Shadestar fixed him with an amused expression. "When you can catch me without me even stinging you once, I'll start teaching you combat magic. The most important parts of a battle are reflexes and perception, which is what this little exercise trains. Oh, and by the way, round two."
He looked up to see her sprint toward another pillar, darkening the shadows to hide in. Sunlit had a feeling this would be a long afternoon.
Author's Note
To those geology nerds out there, yes I know a tor isn't usually that big or solid. I have two things to say to that. 1: that is only the case on Earth. 2: THIS. IS. EQUESTRIA!!!!!!!!!!!
Couldn't help it. Homage to Leonidas had to be made.
Practice and Preparations
Panting, Sunlit spun to fire three light spheres in quick succession, tracking just behind Shadestar's erratic path. This was the fifth round in a row, and he couldn't keep going much longer. Shadestar was gaining more and more advantage as the sun sank lower and the shadows lengthened. Her advantage was almost matched by his quickly improving skill, but not quite.
Sunlit felt his eighteenth Sting of the match on his neck. He was getting very tired from the continuous spinning and spell casting. He knew he couldn't keep at this much longer, but he was determined to learn combat magic.
Angrily, he focused through the blurring headache to find Shadestar. His sensor finally found her, and guessing her pattern, he fired behind and to the right of himself.
Shadestar released the shadows again and stepped forward. "Well done, Sunlit. You've improved since this morning."
He smiled through a haze of pain. "Are we finished? I think I've been overexerting my horn today."
Shadestar looked worried. "Sunlit, you know that you won't get a chance to rest in real combat. you have to keep at it and build endurance. Oh, don't look like that. You'll be fine. After round six."
The pale unicorn whirled, only to find the shadows darkened again. He scowled. "No, I'm done for today. I've had enough."
Shadestar's voice floated out from a shadow, along with a painful sting. "Are you now? I think otherwise." she said teasingly.
Rage boiled within him. "I said, ENOUGH!" he shouted, and channeled his rage into his magic. His normally pale yellow aura took on a slight reddish cast as he flung a solid ring of Light spells in every direction.
Suddenly illuminated, Shadestar smiled, and stepped forward. "I was wondering how long I would have to run you ragged before you realized that."
"What? I... I'm too tired...what just happened?" asked Sunlit, his fury forgotten in the wake of a splitting exhaustion headache. Out of nowhere, he had gone from tired to completely exhausted.
Shadestar grinned. "In real combat, you won't have the luxury of playing by the rules. While I did teach you to rely on your magical senses, that comes naturally to any unicorn with a little practice. The real goal was to goad you into breaking the rules to succeed."
Sunlit smiled at this, but then frowned. Tired as he was, that last spell had proved far more taxing than it should have been. He was having trouble staying on his hooves, and the tower seemed to be swaying under him. "Shadestar, why am I this tired? And why did my last spell turn reddish?"
Shadestar, who had been walking to the trapdoor, stopped cold. She turned around slowly and calmly asked "Sunlit, were you focusing your magic through your emotions when you cast that?"
Confused, Sunlit thought hard to pierce the veil of pain obscuring his thoughts. "I...yes, I was angry that you wouldn't stop. I was really angry at the shadows, though. I just wanted them to go away so you'd stop pushing me so hard."
Shadestar looked at him, suddenly very serious. "You should be glad you vented at the shadow rather than at me. I think you had the smallest instant of contact with a Nexus, one of the six sources of magic. I think you touched the Rage Nexus. If you had focused it against me, I might have been seriously injured. More interestingly, when you linked you used a relatively weak emotional force, and even weaker magic. Even the most powerful unicorns in Equestria rarely ever link to a Nexus, and even then only in the most powerfully emotional times. How did you do that?"
Sunlit looked confused. "i don't really know. I just cast my magic like I always do. I drew the magic from my core, channeled it through my mind, focused it with my emotions, and shaped it with my horn." He recited this pattern like a well-known mantra.
The black unicorn's jaw dropped. "Wait, are you saying that you always lens your magic with your emotions? Most unicorns use their logical minds to focus, where did you learn that?"
He shrugged. "I grew up with earth pony parents. I had to teach magic to myself, mostly, and this just came to me. I've always used magic this way."
Shadestar was awed. "But that means...you might be able to access the Nexuses far more easily than any other pony. You could wield tremendous power!"
Sunlit staggered. "Right now, all I want is a soft bed. If Nexus links are this taxing, I'm not sure I want to use them."
His silver maned cousin smiled knowingly. "I'm impressed by your stamina. I expected you to try to give up after round three. Believe it or not, I've been fighting fatigue a bit too. Come on, there's a couch you can have."
Sunlit was only too happy to follow. Falling down the stairs once or twice was worth the effort as he drifted off a few minutes later.
Shadestar, however, was not asleep. She was used to staying up for more than 48 hours straight chasing a new rune to perfect a ritual circle, or finding a new nuance of a spell. She quietly crept to the spire's basement and her enchanting and alchemy laboratory.
She approached the circle in the center of the room, fifteen hooves across with a pentagram in the center of its ornate carvings.
Sitting down in its center, she relaxed her mind, focused, and looked into the aura of her sleeping cousin. Her scry was well hidden, to make sure not to wake him. As she puzzled over his magical center's intricacies, she found something - or rather a lack of something - that stunned her.
"He has no natural limit," she said quietly to herself. "He can link to Nexuses as often as he wants, and he's so practiced at emotional lensing, he could channel power to overcome all the princesses at once."
After a moment, Shadestar smiled. "Well, at least he has a strong and moral heart; combine that with how rarely he allows himself to really get angry, and Equestria should have nothing to fear from him." Her thoughts darkened as they turned to the few other ponies who had ever been like Sunlit. "For now."
Deciding her worry worth acting on, Shadestar channeled magic through herself and the circle, activating one rune carved into the far wall. She could not keep Sunlit's potential a secret from the ones who had the most to fear from it.
As a chill wind swept around her and a deep blue glow suffused the room, Shadestar hoped she was making the right choice.
Author's Note
Attention, readers: please comment, tell me what's good and what needs changing, I really need input.
'Malfunction, need input'
I write with constant revision, and I don't know where to go without a little feedback.
As the blue glow diminished and the form within it solidified, Shadestar stood and bowed low.
"Welcome to my home, Princess Luna."
Luna smiled. "I thank you for the hospitality. However, I am troubled as to why you have summoned me."
Shadestar rose and looked at Luna. "Well, I have discovered something which could be very dangerous to Equestria. There is other news as well, but whether it is good or bad is still for Fate to decide."
Troubled at the mention of danger, the midnight blue alicorn looked grim. "What, pray tell, could disturb my best shadowmage enough to summon me? And what is this undecided news you refer to?"
Shadestar tried to phrase it as well as she could. "I met my cousin, Sunlit Hearth. He told me information which has confirmed my fears: clan Obsidian is returning."
Luna went rigid. "I have lost too many friends to those monsters, but I must not risk combat with them again. I cannot allow Equestria to be ravaged by Nightmare Moon again." She shook with rage and grief for a moment before continuing. "If they have indeed returned, and they make themselves known, my sister and I shall rally all the forces of Equestria and the Dreaming to defeat them, but I doubt they will be anything but invisible."
She looked up at Shadestar. "I hold still for those vile murderers the hate I felt a thousand years ago. I would hunt them down myself, but my exile served its purpose. I will not risk myself and Equestria for a personal vendetta." The princess thought a moment, pacing. "Yet, you would not call me to tell me bare facts. I assume you have a plan to help defeat or reduce this threat?"
Shadestar nodded. "I have some ideas, but I need your help. My scrying attempts could never breach the Obsidians' hiding places. I must know that they are back, not just chase shadows, and I will need solid information if they are. If you scry for them, and tell me what you find, I could make a plan of attack. Other than that, you must protect the Dreaming. If we can force them to attack in the flesh, we will have proof to rally all of Equestria against them."
The silver maned unicorn cleared her throat and spoke again. "There is one other matter. I have found a pony who could be Equestria's savior, and who possesses the motivation and potential to defeat the Obsidians."
Luna was surprised. "Yet before you said you were unsure as to whether the others were good or ill tidings. How could this be bad, especially judged against the dark news mentioned afore?"
"My cousin possesses unparalleled potential. He can generate very little magic himself, but his mind and body could channel limitless amounts of energy without fear of harm. Princess, I have found this generation's perfect conduit. If the Obsidians could turn him, or if he lost control of himself fully, he could pose a threat to the entire planet, no matter how many mages stood in his way."
The worry coming off the midnight alicorn was palpable. "Can he be trusted?"
"Yes."
"Can he learn control from you?"
"Yes."
Luna spoke her last question barely above a whisper. "Is his link strong?"
"The strongest I've ever seen before. With nothing more than annoyance, and a spell incapable of doing more than illuminating, he accessed the Rage Nexus today."
Luna nodded, accepting potentially world shattering news. "If he cannot control himself once he has melded with the Nexuses, may Faust help us all. I expect you to help him ease into his newfound abilities, Shadestar. His self-control must be developed through your teaching."
Shadestar paled to a shale gray. "Are you sure I am the best choice? Couldn't your sister teach him more effectively?"
Luna raised an eyebrow. "My esteemed shadowmage, you sell yourself short. You are the single best versed mage in magical control I have ever had the pleasure of knowing, in all my years. Indeed, you held fast and kept Darkstar under control for six years before I helped you to strand her in the Dreaming. Also, as you may have noticed from your scrying, my sister has a student who takes quite a bit of her time already."
Shadestar twitched at Darkstar's mention. "Please, princess, do not speak of her. You do not look fondly on your time possessed, neither did I enjoy six long years of rigid, absolute mental control to prevent a similar disaster. You may be the only pony in Equestria who knows just what that was like, having to consciously put down the half of myself which continually told me to kill, to make blood spill and pool and dry. I fought a battle with her every second of those years. I would have lost that fight eventually without your help, and if that psychopath were not trapped in the deepest layers of the Dreaming, I would likely be with the Obsidians slaking her thirst for blood now."
The lunar princess hung her head slightly. "Forgive me, Shadestar...I do understand. I forget how well we know one another's challenges. Still, I see this as the ultimate testament to your will and mastery of yourself. Your cousin must learn how to properly guide the energies he will be using. Can you instruct him, or must I search elsewhere? I ask not as a superior, but honestly. Do you wish to?"
Shadestar nodded. "I will teach Sunlit control, Princess."
Luna remarked, "Well, at least I know that Equestria's future is in capable hooves. I must return to Canterlot now. Fare thee well, Shadestar Obsidian."
Shadestar bowed again, holding low until the near-ultraviolet glow had faded from the room once again. Exhausted from the long day, she climbed the stairs past her fitfully sleeping cousin to her room to catch a few blissful hours of sleep.
Shadestar closed her eyes, drifted off, and got tackled by Sunlit Hearth.
"Look out! Fireball!" he shouted as he bodily shoved her out of the path of a huge blast of flame. Hastily, he dragged her behind a nearby outcropping of stone.
"What is going on, Sunlit?!" the shadowmage cried indignantly.
He looked over the ledge he had taken cover behind, only to duck a throwing knife. "Long story short, bad ponies trying to kill us. I think this is a dream, but I'm not chancing it."
Shadestar looked around for the first time, and immediately noticed that they were not in the tower. They were in a large, rough floored crater, almost like a volcano caldera, with a multitude of channels, trenches, and chasms cracking the ground into a huge field of elevated platforms and recessed trenches. The noon sun blazed, and several black pegasi were circling overhead, mostly just watching but still occasionally flicking a throwing knife or shuriken toward them. Peeking over their cover, She noticed three unicorns, one matte black, one slate grey, and one a shiny blue-black like a beetle.
Quickly ducking to dodge a magic missile, Shadestar began formulating a plan.
"Sunlit, we need to draw them into the channels. The overhangs will block the line of sight to the pegasi, and they'll have to fan out, where we can ambush them."
The white unicorn nodded. "On three. One, two, THREE!"
Both leapt for the nearest crevice, hugging tight against the walls. The chunks overhung the trenches slightly, granting them tunnels roughly four hooves across to work with, even though the opening above was barely one and a half wide.
Grinning at the cries of frustration they heard from the ponies above, the cousins began running along the paths, following a serpentine and unpredictable path.
"So, this is a dream? How are you sure?" Shadestar asked.
Sunlit answered quickly, "Well, I fell asleep and found myself here. I tend to have some weird dreams, but the eight black ponies climbing over the caldera wall was really weird. I figured out that I should run when a throwing knife cut my shoulder and hurt. I don't feel pain in my dreams. By the way, where have you been the past ten minutes?!"
Shadestar grinned fiercely, ignoring his question. "Idiots! They invaded your dream pocket, rather than luring you out to the hub! Well, we can reflect on their mistake while we beat the hay out of them." Abruptly stopping and turning around, the shadowmage looked Sunlit in the eye. He noticed that her goggles were gone despite the glaring sun, and her eyes were a piercing silver-blue.
"My magic is based on darkness. While I can be helpful down here, I can't take the fight to them with the sun up. They're partially controlling this dream, but I doubt they'll have thought of that! Can you change the dream for me?"
Sunlit smiled. "I can change it a little. This was just a hardpan when I got here, the channels were just to trip up that hulking earth pony they had with them. He fell into the big chasm. Hold on, night coming right up."
The sun began quickly sinking, casting long shadows as it fell to the horizon. As night fell in ten seconds flat, Shadestar smiled gleefully. She reached out to the darkness, feeling its welcoming embrace, and blackened it to solidity. Reaching out further, she formed a sphere around herself roughly fifty hooves in diameter of solid black, then lifted herself and Sunlit out of the trench. Closing her eyes, she instead relied on the bat wing amulet around her neck; the ultrasonic pulses it sent out were interpreted by her magic into a three dimensional image of the battlefield, in which she identified the three ponies left standing.
Deciding to show these neophyte trainees their mistake, Shadestar sculpted a dozen copies of herself from the inky black. Each began striking and vanishing, keeping the novice mages off guard. She felt a few light cantrips being cast, and snickered. Only the sun or a physical lantern could illuminate the shadows she wielded, and these fools would soon find that out the hard way.
Reaching out again, she wrapped tendrils of void around each of the mages, playing on their distraction. Each began slowly squeezing until she felt each unicorn discorporate and vanish.
With a pleased smile, Shadestar released her control of the night air around her, allowing the starlight in once again. She turned to Sunlit with a cocky expression, but a sudden doppler-shifted sonar ping made her aware of her mistake as a shale grey pegasus with a brown mane body slammed her at a full dive-bomb.
Stunned, Shadestar blinked once or twice before trying to get up. A hoof on her windpipe stopped that.
"You know, I was going to make this fast and decent," said the pegasus, vicious hate and anguish filling her voice, "but then you killed them. They were the only ponies I knew, no matter how much I hated them, and you killed them. Now, you get the slow way."
Shadetar was roughly yanked off the ground into a painful hold. She charged a spell and turned her head, only to receive a sharp crack to the horn with the flat of a knife. Searing pain shattered her concentration, and her spell with it.
She looked up, about to cast through the pain when she stopped cold. The other two grey pegasi held Sunlit in a splayed position, while a black one poised a knife above his gut.
She thought frantically for a solution, her heart beating wildly. She thought of the grey pegasus' words earlier. Stalling them was the only option.
"Wait! They're not dead!"
The pegasus holding her faltered for a moment. "What? I saw you crush them! How could they be alive?"
Shadestar groaned. "Do you know anything about the Dreaming? I'm only on the first level, I can't kill somepony here. When I did that, all I did was return them to their bodies in the real world."
She was abruptly cast to the rough stony ground. A knife pressed against her throat.
"Nopony lies to me. Now, look me in the eye and tell me that again."
The black pegasus snorted. "Silent, you really care too much. We'll find out anyway; we have orders, so just kill her already."
"Shut your mouth, Tailspin. I care because I want to know just how bad this should hurt. Now," she said, adjusting her grip on Shadestar, "Say it again."
Shadestar repeated herself, trying to use honesty to gain an advantage. Maybe, just maybe, if she could get this pegasus off guard...
Silent Lightning stared into Shadestar's eyes, her glare radiating pure malice. "Alright, I believe you. Congrats, bitch, now you die fast and painful, instead of slowly and agonizing."
Shadestar smirked. Her gambit had worked. "Actually, see you later." she said in a pleasant tone. BAMF!
The assassins were staggered by a sudden magical discharge as Shadestar teleported herself and Sunlit. As they popped out of her portal fifty hooves away, the shadowmage saw Silent Lightning swing her blade through the air her throat had occupied an instant ago.
Conjuring a spectral rope, the onyx unicorn lassoed the nearest pegasus and smashed him into Silent Lightning. The crack of breaking bones sounded loudly, and both faded out of existence. As she turned to focus on the other two, the channels between the pillars suddenly glowed dull orange before filling with magma.
Shadestar turned in shock to Sunlit, who was focused on adjusting his dreamscape. As he melted the pillar on which his enemies stood, the pegasi took to the air, only to be buffeted by sudden chaotic thermals from the lava. Careening through the aerial maze, neither could dodge the large bursts of fire which Sunlit began throwing from the volcanic floor, and both were quickly hit and faded.
Sunlit turned to Shadestar with a proud smile. "I didn't want to do that before, but now that I knew I wouldn't kill anypony..." he trailed off, not needing to say more.
Shadestar smiled in return. "Well done. I'm impressed with your control of your dreams. Also, I don't believe you were introduced to them properly. You have just won your first victory against Clan Obsidian."
She smirked even more as Sunlit's jaw dropped.
Sunlit Hearth tossed his mane out of his eyes and looked up at the slightly run-down house. He knew it was the only house that had been for sale in Ponyville, but he couldn't help but be a little annoyed at its condition. He had the bits for the repairs, but not enough to have them done by somepony else. He had hoped to be able to move things in and just call it home, but it seemed that step would have to wait a while longer while he got the place back up to liveable levels.
As he got to work, he mentally thanked fate for his upbringing. Rather than trying to move the fallen rafter by magic and hurting himself, he put his back into it and dragged the beam out by hoof. He smirked. Working with his adoptive father had certainly paid off.
It was going to rain again soon, so Sunlit decided the roof was the most immediate concern. He retrieved the spare shingles and ladder and set to work. Once again Sunlit wished he was better at magic. If he could just figure it out, he wouldn't even have to climb up, just focus and put the roof back together by horn. As his body worked at the repetitive task, his mind began to roam.
His mind drifted. Without realizing, he put a little magic into his daydream and focused it. Never having had any training, he had learned to use his magic in odd ways. He looked at the landscape of his mind. At the moment, it seemed a bit bare. He remembered the book he had just finished, and, as an exercise, summoned the imagery to his mind's eye. The writer really was brilliant. He had imagined new uses for relatively new technologies, possibilities of combining magic with computers, even digital universes; the only unbelievable part was the cheesy jumpsuits.
As Sunlit focused, the foggy distances crystallized into blocky, faceted mountains. The ground smoothed, and a grid appeared on it. Sketching in more detail, he placed cities, towers, strange vehicles, and arenas full of futuristic sports, all with a few strokes of his mind. The world of the novel faded into existence, and he watched its events again. His daydream sharpened, yet he continued his monotonous task in outside his mind.
He was caught up enough that he didn't hear the pink pony bouncing up the path.
"Hello, new neighbor! " Pinkie Pie shouted
Sunlit jolted and dropped the hammer and shingles, his concentration broken. His mind went blank, and he returned to the real world. He looked over the edge of the roof at the energetic pony bouncing in place.
"Hi," he said, still shaken,"my name's Sunlit Hearth. What's yours?"
"I'm Pinkie Pie," she said, grinning."I heard somepony new was in town, so I came to meet you. I always say I know everypony in Ponyville, and so I have to keep up with new arrivals."
He smiled, and leaned over to see her better. "Well, maybe you're just the pony to acquaint me with the rest of Ponyville, can you give me a tour-whoa! Aaaaaahh!!" He screamed as he lost his balance and fell. Sunlit landed on his side with an "Oof!" and a sickening crack.
Dazed, he looked up at the suddenly worried pony. "Are you okay? What hurts?" She asked. He felt a twinge in his ankle and worried about a broken joint through a fuzzy mind. It was only when he inhaled to reply that the sharp agony in his ribcage made itself apparent.
"I'm not too bad......Pinkie, why are there two of you ..." Sunlit trailed off as he passed out, lapsing into blissfully pain-free unconsciousness.
Sunlit woke groggily. First he was confused by how soft the ground was, before he slowly realized that he was in a bed. As his surroundings gradually came into focus, he figured out that he was in the hospital. And that noise....somepony was talking to him.
"Sunny, you're awake! I was worried you'd be out another hour, and I'd miss lunch."
Sunlit gritted his teeth in concentration, trying to remember through a painkiller haze who the talkative, pony-shaped mass of pink energy standing over him was. Suddenly the dam broke and he remembered meeting Pinkie, talking to her, falling...
"Pinkie, what happened? Wait, miss lunch? Oh, no! How long was I out? Did I keep you here?"
She just smiled."You fell off your roof, silly. It's not that bad, you've only been out a couple hours. The doctor said you needed to rest while the healing spell took effect, so they gave you a sleeping medicine."
As if on cue, the doctor entered. He looked at Sunlit for a moment, then spoke.
"You seem to have responded well to the spell, Mr. Hearth, but I feel I should warn you that you'll be very sore where your rib fracture compounded for several days. It's a good thing miss Pinkie was there. If you'd had to come here yourself, you might have had serious complications."
Sunlit blinked at several unexpected facts, but filed away his less important questions for later. "I thought I broke my ankle. It hurt, last thing I remember." He lifted his left forehoof in illustration, but realized there was only a slight, dull ache.
"Actually, you only bruised it. You should be able to walk just fine, but watch that left side. The rib may be intact again, but it will be quite fragile and tender for a few weeks. You may go whenever you're ready, please stop at the desk to pick up your pain medication." The doctor turned and left to continue his rounds.
Sunlit wasn't quite satisfied. "Pinkie," he asked, "how did you carry me here? I'm a full grown unicorn, and even though I have great respect for earth pony strength, it seems ... a bit much."
Pinkie grinned. "Silly, do you ask a fish how it swims?"
He looked at her, confused. "It uses its fins, right?"
She continued regardless."Or a bird how it flies?"
"It flaps its wings?"
She frowned, somewhat annoyed at his reasoned answers to rhetorical questions, before her iconic smile sprang back into place. "Well, my point is don't ask a Pinkie how she Pinkies."
If anything more confused, Sunlit decided he'd ask someone who knew Pinkie later. He got up and made his way to the front desk. The nurse handed him a few papers to sign, and then asked him, "Does anypony in your immediate family have any history of responding badly to this medication?"
Sunlit began to answer no, before pausing. The loving, caring pair of earth ponies who'd raised him were not his true parents, though he always had to remind himself of that. After a moment, he said "I don't know."
The nurse accepted his answer and informed him to come back as soon as possible if he noticed any side effects not listed. He thanked her and began to leave, but he was acting on autopilot. Sunlit's thoughts were a churning jumble. For some reason, the nurse's simple question had affected him profoundly. He truly had no idea who his parents, or family at all, actually were. He decided he'd rest, then visit Ponyville's library tomorrow to research genealogies. Perhaps a more recent one would hold a clue as to his family history.
Author's Note
Finally finished chapter 1! Now if only my muse could show me chapter two.
Sunlit woke late, and immediately sprang into action. He finished bringing in his things, chastising himself for not finishing after taking in his bed last night. Finishing up, he checked the lawn sundial to find it to be eleven A.M.
Satisfied that he would not be too early, he headed into Ponyville proper and towards the library.
Passing through the market, he realized that he hadn't had breakfast yet, and purchased an apple pastry from a friendly looking orange mare in a stetson.
A few minutes later, he approached the library tree and knocked gently.
Moments later, the door was opened by, of all things, a small dragon! Sunlit was stunned, he'd never even seen a dragon before.
Spike waved a claw in front of the stallion's eyes. "Hello? Can I help you?" he asked, trying to be polite with this obvious newcomer.
Sunlit gave an embarrassed smile, realizing he had been staring, and cleared his throat. "I was looking for the Ponyville library. This is it, right?"
Spike nodded and let him in. "So, what are you looking for? I can help you find most things, but I'll have to get Twilight for the really tough stuff." He began to walk away, then stopped and facepalmed. "Oh, sorry, I don't know your name yet."
Sunlit smiled at the little dragon's antics. "I'm Sunlit Hearth. I'm looking for the genealogies."
Guiding him to the section in question, Spike asked, "So, what family are you researching? We've got information on most of the families in Ponyville, and the more important ones from Canterlot and elsewhere, but where would you like to start?"
Sunlit started to answer, then realized his mistake. If he didn't know his family name, how could he look it up? "Actually, I don't know. I wanted to find out about my birth parents, but I never knew them. I was found by my adoptive parents in the Whitetail Woods, in the hoofhills of the Unicorn Range. I lived with them, but I don't even know where I came from."
Spike thought for a moment, then snapped his claws with a smile. "I did say I could get Twilight for the hard stuff, didn't I?" he asked. Sunlit waited as he scampered up the stairs.
A moment later a lavender unicorn appeared, looking excited. This must be that pony Twilight that Spike had referred to.
"Hmm, a stallion of mysterious origins? I wonder who you are! It's just like a puzzle, this'll be fun!" She began crafting a spell as Spike sidled up to Sunlit.
"She's a bit high-strung this morning, and anything confusing that she can solve just excites her more. Stay calm, and she'll relax soon." the dragon said in a low voice.
"Okay, hold still," said Twilight. "This spell is just a basic level one, but it should be plenty. It will reveal an image of your father." She began directing the small sphere of energy toward Sunlit, where it circled him once before beginning to take on a new shape and color. A tall, handsome pony with a deep brown coat, a shocking crimson mane and a kind face came slowly into focus. As his hindquarters began to become visible, a black domino mask befitting a masquerade ball was evident on his flank.
Sunlit was staring in awe at the only image of his true father he had ever known. He was startled out of his reverie by the fluttering and flapping of pages turning quickly. He looked over to see Twilight flipping through one book in particular, focusing intently on the image of the ethereal pony before her as her magic sought a similar image within the book she held. When the pages stopped flipping and she allowed the spell to fade, she looked down, but then frowned confused.
"What's wrong?" asked Sunlit.
"This isn't even a family history, just a census. All it gave me was another pony who passed through Ponyville some time back. I know the spell wouldn't have worked at all if she wasn't related to you...she was probably your aunt, or something of that degree. She was here for a few months, just long enough to be included in the town census, before moving on. Her name was Sable Obsidian. The listing includes her date of departure and includes that she was headed west on hoof." She looked puzzled. "You can't reach Las Pegasus on hoof, you have to go by train to get there safely. Unless..." she trailed off.
Sunlit could see she knew something. "Unless what?" he asked.
Twilight looked up at him. "I could be wrong, but that was about twenty nine years ago, which would coincide with the strange lights and sounds in the hills to the west of Ponyville. Some pony even claimed to have seen a basalt tor that had been half carved away with a tower in the side. No one has had the courage to go there and verify his story, and few even believed him." Seeing Sunlit's skeptical look, she shook her head. "It's probably just coincidence though. I'm sorry my spell couldn't find your parents."
Sunlit was confused. "What's a basalt tor?" he asked.
Twilight looked at him oddly. "A tor is a geological formation which is formed when a hill or small mountain with a stone center has the topsoil eroded away, leaving a standing protrusion of rock from the hilltop. In short, a natural stone tower. Anyway, I'm sorry I couldn't track down any direct relatives for you."
Sunlit smiled. "Hey, you did your best, so that's enough for me. I might find some other way. Thank you!" he said, thinking about what supplies he would need for a hiking trip into the Whitetail Woods due west of Ponyville. As he walked home, he figured that settling in to Ponyville could always wait until he knew this wasn't a false lead.
As he reached his house, he knew something was going on. The hole he had left half-patched in the roof was gone, and the whole house looked in slightly better condition. Whatever was going on, he wasn't about to argue with somepony who fixed up for him. He opened the door.
"Surprise!"
Sunlit started, having been expecting anything else. He stood stunned, staring at the unfamiliar ponies there. Before he could say anything, Pinkie Pie bounced up and stuck a party hat on him.
"Happy housewarming party, Sunlit! Don't just stand in the doorway, come on in and have some punch!"
Confused, he stepped inside. As he looked around, he noticed that the furniture had been unpacked, with his things left respectfully to one side, and there were party streamers in the rafters and a punch bowl on the table. He turned to Pinkie. "What... Why... What's this about?"
The orange mare from the market facehoofed. "Pinkie, did'ja throw him his housewarming party without telling him?"
Pinkie smiled. "No, silly, I told him yesterday! Right after he got out of the hospital. You know I wouldn't just have a party without him even knowing, Applejack!"
Applejack took one look at the puzzled expression on Sunlit's face and put two and two together. "Sunlit, right?" He nodded. "I heard what happened with yer roof. Lemme guess, she told ya while ya were loopy from the healin' spell, and ya don't remember?"
He nodded again. "I don't have a problem with it, though. I could use a party to unwind from the stress of moving. Plus, somepony helped with the last few repairs, so it's worth the unexpectedness."
Pinkie smiled even wider. "I'm glad you like it! Let me get you some punch and introduce you to everypony! Now, you've already met Applejack, and this is Rainbow Dash, and this is Rarity..."
As he said the last goodbyes to Pinkie, he looked back at his house. The energetic mare not only knew how to party, she helped clean up, too. The house was spotless, and Sunlit had met several new ponies. The day had turned out very well. As he headed off to bed, he reflected that maybe he ought to stay a little longer before his hiking trip. A few days at home settling in couldn't hurt.
Two Weeks Later
As he crested the fifth ridge that day, Sunlit looked back on the past two days he had spent hiking. He was running low on trail rations, and he hadn't seen a single basalt rock face. Puffing, he looked up the ridge crest, and his jaw dropped.