Moon's Blade and the Crystals of Chaos

Chapter 11:
Desire

It was dark outside. It was the midst of the night, but nonetheless there were still some ponies awake. An unicorn ran through the forest, running away in fear. She was followed silently by another, a pegasus. The unicorn did not seem to notice she was being followed. She was too distracted with fear. Fear for the death.

The unicorn arrived at an open spot in the forest. She fell down and started to cry. "No!" she cried, "No! This is not what I want! This is not what I am!"

The pegasus, who hid herself in the bushes, shed a tear.

"I don't want to do this!" the unicorn continued, "B-but if I don't...".

The pegasus slowly came out of the bushes and slowly approached the unicorn.

"Stay away from me!" the unicorn yelled and backed off.

"I don't want to harm you..." the pegasus responded quietly.

The unicorn calmed down a little, but was still anxious.

"Do you care, uhm, explaining yourself?" the pegasus asked hesitantly.

The unicorn sat down and started to talk.

"I am but a monster," she said, "I've been selfish. I've sacrificed innocent ponies, but for what? Only to know the truth." She bursted out in tears again.

"What truth?" the pegasus asked surprised.

The unicorn looked up. "D-do you really care?" she asked, "I mean, about me?"

The pegasus nodded. "I do, and if I could understand you I can help you."

The unicorn hesitated for a moment, then started to explain.

"I want to know the truth," she said, "The truth about myself. Who I am and why I am here."

The pegasus seemed worried about the unicorn and came closer and comforted her. "What do you mean?" she asked, "Don't you know who you are?"

The unicorn nodded. "The first thing I can remember is that I awoke in a shed, on a desk," the unicorn explained, "Next to me was a book about seven crystals that were spread across these lands. I recognized the drawings of those crystals."

She sighed and continued. "I assumed that if I'd find them all I'd know who I am and why I am here. I remembered nothing, but how to use the crystals. After that, I came in this village. I asked people about what they knew about these crystals, but they all claimed not to know anything about it, until I asked this lavender unicorn."

The pegasus shuddered. "Twilight?" she spoke out loud and astonished, then lowered the volume of her voice. "I mean, you mean Twilight?"

The unicorn nodded. "She told me to follow her to her library, where she searched for a book that could help me."

The unicorn continued explaining, "She borrowed me the book. Back at the shed I studied the book for days. I were obsessed with getting to know the truth, so I hired a group of adventurers to go search for the crystal that could power the others. I realised that they'd die in the process, which would feed the crystal and activate the other crystals. That way, it would be easier for me to find those others." She sighed and looked away. "But the way I tried to get them..."

The unicorn started to cry even more. The pegasus tried hard to comfort her, and eventually the unicorn could speak again.

"The way I tried to get them," she continued, "It was just terrible. I were so obsessed by them that I ignored the feelings of others, even their lives were worth nothing compared to the knowledge I could obtain."

She looked down. "I shouldn't have been in this world at all. I even tried to kill your friend."

The pegasus looked at the moon, then back to the unicorn.

"I-I'll help you!" She said, slightly doubting but filled with courage.

"What?"

"You heard me! I'll help you, but only if you promise not to harm anypony ever again!"

The unicorn seemed slightly confused, but then she stopped crying and smiled.

"Thank you."

"Come, we'll have to search the remaining crystals. Which ones do you already have?"

"All of them. I stole them before I attacked your friend."

"Let's go."

"Do you even know where the crystals may be?"

"No," the pegasus answered. She closed her eyes for a moment, then spoke again.

"But I do have an idea where one or more of them may be."

The unicorn looked up to her.

"Have you ever been to the mountains, in the far North-West of Equestria?"

The unicorn shook her head.

"Let's go there." The pegasus said and the unicorn agreed. Together they went towards the mountains.

After several days of walking the two arrived at the foot of a huge mountain. Probably the hugest mountain in Equestria. A small, dark bubble was on the top of that mountain.

"T-That's it!" the unicorn shouted out loud, "That's where two of the remaining crystals must be!"

"How do you know?" the pegasus asked surprised.

"Two of the three remaining crystals are also know as the distortion twin crystals," the unicorn explained, "They are always together. They work together to cause distortion in time and space."

"Sounds like they're friends."

"Yes... It does..." The unicorn shook her head and smiled to the pegasus. "I guess it doesn't matter what or who you are, you can always be friends, regardless if you're alive or dead."

The pegasus smiled.

The unicorn suddenly seemed worried.

"What's the matter?" the pegasus asked worried as well, "You seem worried about something..."

"The crystals are working, so that means..." The unicorn shuddered. "So that means that the blood crystal must have been fed with death."

"It doesn't matter," the pegasus said, "Nothing lives forever. Everything has to die sometime, and there's nothing we can do against it."

The unicorn smiled again.

"We need to make our lives the best we can, so that we can die peacefully and have wonderful memories."

The unicorn smiled and the two kept on walking up the mountain.

A dragon flew away from the mountain as the two were climbing the mountain. The dark bubble on top of the mountain grew bigger. The two kept looking at the dragon until it disappeared at the horizon.

"There's no time to lose," the unicorn said, "That field of distortion is expanding as we speak, and it might consume the whole mountain soon."

The two looked at each other and as if it encouraged them to climb on they proceeded up the mountain. It became darker and the field of distortion neared them.

"Do not fear," the unicorn said, "It will not hurt us. It will be weird inside it, but it's the only way to get to the crystal."

The pegasus nodded and climbed on.