Chapter 8 ~ Treasured Tombs

It took her only one more week until she could get farther than just the restroom.  Every part of her body was aching but Stardust had been lucky that only her ribs had been broken. She felt pain throughout her body every time she stood up and it would take weeks until she could carry her armor again. So for now she had taken one of the woolen coats that the strawhat pony kept in her wardrobe. Even after all this, she had tried her best to cover up her Cutie Mark. Tradition was always there with her.

The green pony helped her walk, showing her around her place. The house the strawhat lived in creaked beneath every step and the windows probably never had had glass. There was little to no noise in the house, if not for the gramophone, which constantly moved. Stardust figured it was one of the very, very old magical artifacts that had been crafted by the great wizards of the first days of darkness. How one such gramophone would be here, she didn't know.  Still, it was good to have a bit of noise. Although with what had happened to her caravan, which had certainly been louder than one meazly gramophone, she wasn't quite sure about it being safe. She had never heard of a lost pony remaining in one place once her memories were gone but if this was the place, did it have any meaning?

The fence which surrounded the house and the trees marked the end to that world of the earth pony, or so she had told Stardust. She hardly ever ventured beyond, said she didn't fancy a walk through complete blackness and not finding her way home later. Stardust then considered herself lucky for once. It was wooden fence, painted white, that surrounded the house. That was painted in the color red. "Red like an apple", the green pony always said. "Found it like that an' Ahm happy with it, too. Ah like the color."

She lived in a red house and before it stood apple trees and quite a few of them, too. Everything was surrounded by a fence which in return was surrounded by complete and utter blackness. Hardly any light pierced through that. When one would go to the trees they'd lighten a lamp by the side of the house and take a lantern with them. At the farthest point away from the home, one wouldn't even have seen the lamp if there hadn't been any trees. It scared both of them.

There was a path that lead to an exit and another to a smaller wooden structures of which neither had any idea what purpose they served. They had  very small entrances and their interior was covered with hay.

"Maybe a foodstorage," Stardust guessed when she had taken a first look. Also, one of the paths lead to the side of the mansion, but there were only two rocks there with lines carved into them, or so the earth pony told her.

"No idea who thought that up but Ah figure it's a landmark or som'thing. Maybe somepony thought that he'd use them stones to explain something or show something. If they did, Ah'm not seeing it and Ah leave them rocks alone," the strawhat said. Stardust would have been interested in them if there had been something written on them or a map or something. 'Lines' wouldn't help her orientation.

There wasn't much entertainment to be had. Stardust often sat by the front door in the old rocking chair that stood there, almost like a throne from which she could overlook the trees when she tried to figure out what to do.The straw-hat had explained to her that she had explored all possibilities.

"Ah went to the small houses with the hay, which wasn't even remotely entertaining. Ah actually used it for a small experiment. Ah found a small box inside my house a while back and didn't know what to do with it. Ah could open it and there were small sticks inside. Pull these things fast by the side of the box and you've got fire," she explained and Stardust stated that these sticks were called matches where she came from. "Anyway, them matches were really glowy and very hot. Nearly burned mah hoof, then tried it out on one of them houses. It met the hay and there was a bigger fire."

Stardust looked gazed over to these houses, two stood there and now she had found out that once there had been three.

"The thing burned down and Ah never touched these sticks again. Now there's only the apple trees and they're only good for harvesting. The other thing is the stuff inside my house. There's some leatherbound things with paper inside 'em, can't do much with them and they don't taste like usable rations."

"You...ate...You ate the books?" Stardust inquired.

"Yes, if that's what they're called. Ah try at least taking a bite of the stuff I find. It's important to know what you can eat and what not," the straw-hat admitted with some pride, although Stardust’s amused giggling drowned some of that pride and the straw-hat meekly added,  "Just in case."

The unicorn thought the innocent honesty amusing and the straw-hat seemed happy to entertain a guest. Stardust never got the courage up to tell her about the whole guard thing and the stranger didn't seem to bother. The unicorn thanked her for it, although it felt wrong to repay such honesty as the earth pony's with nothing but silence.

One day she felt both strong enough to start wearing her armor again and to take a walk on her own but her new friend told her that she might keep the steel in her room for some time. It wasn’t needed anyway and a simple dress made her feel fine enough. Guards didn’t possess much clothing, so what the stranger gave her was quiet nice. A dark green dress with bright leaves on it. The steel, she didn’t simply leave it in the room but hid it beneath the bed. She had spent quite enough time moping around so when she moved once more, she thought that maybe she could even forget it. Probably even start a new life with the pony with the hat of straw. Right now, it didn’t seem so hard, although she had needed the help of her friend to get back on her hooves again.

When she went outside, the mare looked at the black world around her with a smile. It felt good not needing anypony to carry ones weight although she felt still a bit of a sting  She moved forward, listening to the faint sound of music.

The Straw-hat Pony, she had decided that was the most appropriate nickname for her friend, was standing by the trees, a grin on her face.

“Ah thought that maybe today, y’all could help me with these,” she knocked against an apple tree.

Stardust moved closer, looking at the trees. They were probably the remnants of a once proud orchard. She had heard that there had been a fairly famous one up in the north, although she didn’t remember it’s name. Besides, there were far too few trees here to be considered one of the richer orchards.

Still, they were good apples. Although one tree in the middle of them all always stood empty. Neither Straw-hat nor Stardust knew what to do with it. The unicorn felt something magical about it, so they left it alone.

“We’re gonna do some buckin’. Think you’re up to it?” the earth pony asked.

Moving closer, Stardust felt her energy getting drained from her. The trees seemed so imposing to her and she wasn’t even that good at kicking things. Her legs were made for running and not much else. She gulped as she halted before it, which was answered with a chuckle from Strawhat.

“Dont’cha worry now. The worst them trees can do is let apples fall on yer head.”

“They don’t weigh much, right?”

“Ah doubt ya can get hurt.”

“I just got the bandage off, what if the wounds on my head open again and I bleed out? What if I die here!” Now she started panicking and stared at Strawhat, who simply raised an eyebrow, her expression alone asking: What the hay?

“Listen, sugarcube,” she started, unused to that kind of panicky reaction,  “they’re jus’ apples. They can’t hurt you. Just come here, let me show you where to put yourself to buck ‘em just right,” she said, actually moving a  bit to show her the spot, “If you kick the tree from here nothing bad’s gonna happ’n. There ain’t even apples to fall on ya.”

Stardust looked up. At this position there would be no danger from that at least. The white unicorn still had to admit that it felt weird standing beneath the apple tree. A strange, ominous feeling surrounded her, as if something was amiss. She didn’t even know what exactly it was that she felt but it was bad. Ultimately it would always be bad.

“Ya can do it,” the straw-hat cheered. She actually encouraged Stardust. The unicorn took a deep breath and kicked the tree hard, shaking it thoroughly. First the trunk but then it also extended to the branches, the leaves and the fruits. For a moment, the entire tree shook and a second later three of the small, red apples fell towards the ground, landing rough on the ground.

She took a moment to look at the fallen fruits and the smile grew back on her face. There was only a little pain remaining in her haunches and the pony knew that was a good sign. She moved towards the apples and picked them up, throwing them into the one basket that the earth pony had placed there. .

“I’m all for applause,” she grinned.

“Yer hardly did anything. Ya didn’t even kick all them apples down,” came the answer and the Strawhat pointed at the tree. She was right, there was still a bunch of apples up there. Now that she looked, quite a few of the trees still had a lot of apples on them. She figured that neither one nor two ponies would be able to eat all of them too quickly.

Still, they wanted to fill up that basket, “Well, let me just handle this. I’m at the top of my game right now,” Stardust declared. Almost bravely, she thought to herself, too.

What followed was lifting the haunches and kicking a tree. Straw-hat seemed almost amazed at how few apples fell down and that sunk Stardust’s spirits. It made her remember the guards even though she had decided to forget. That made her kick the tree harder until most of the apples were down and she stood there, breathing heavily.

“Wow, shucks...you’ve got no feeling for this. Don’tcha?” Strawhat asked.

“Feeling? What’re you talking about, isn’t it just kicking the tree hard enough?”

To that, the earth pony laughed. “No, no, no,” she started, “It’s more than that. Y’all need to feel the tree. Stand at the right point, kick ‘em with the right strength. Ya don’t want to fell it, ya want to get the apples.”

Stardust looked at her with one lifted eyebrow. That was typical earth pony talk. She had seen unicorns with a special talent for plants-related stuff but even they couldn’t compete with earth ponies.

“I’m no good at that. Here,” she pointed at her horn, “I do magic. You earth ponies are better with anything that relates to the ground.”

“Now you’re just giving up,” Straw-hat answered and she had the truth of it. Stardust didn’t think she’d ever be able to do that right. She never did anything right.

The unicorn sighed and looked down to the ground, just to get something bumped against her head. She looked up and saw that the blonde pony held an apple towards her.

“For your hard work. Apples taste best when they’re well earned.”

Stardust Arrow nodded and levitated the apple out of her friends hoof and towards her mouth. She took a bite and after doing that bit of work, the apple tasted even better than usual. That was when she knew that she could probably live forever amidst these orchards. There in the house that smelled of apples with the pony without a name.

She could start anew.

blonde mane, extremely well cared for.

White coat, so wonderful to look at.

No Cute Mark.

He has no name so we call him the Captain. Yet I’m the only one who seems to have realized the truth, even though I don’t want to admit it. He joined the caravan with his charges a few days before we come to it and he took charge of the guards.

When we first see him he looks at Limelight and asks him if he’s a guardpony. Limelight answers: “Yes.”

The tone in Limelight’s voice, the look of the Captain, they scare me, so I hide away. As the Captain sees me he gives a laugh. He later teaches me about bravery, I listen, I am even brave a few times. Ponies die when I’m brave, fewer ponies die when I run.

With every day training in the guard he notices it more and more. With every day we leave behind he urges me to stop. For some reason I don’t. No, I promised myself to be brave. I’ll be a good guard. I’ll be a good guard.

“When it comes down to it, you’re bright as a star and quick as an arrow. The thing is, you use these qualities to run away and not help defend us. You endanger others when it comes down to it. At heart you’re brave, I see that,” he tells me one day, “but when it comes down to it, you just run. Stardust...I don’t think you can be as brave as you want to be and you should stop.”

I look at him and after some minutes pass I shake my head, “I’ll be brave.”

Later he tells me about them. “They’re called the Lost, Seeing told me. Ponies who forgot everything, down to their own special talent. They’re taken by the dark and the silence is burned into their mind, yet they live. He told me it’s the willpower of these ponies. A reason to keep on.”

His reason are the fillies and the colts he brought with him and then the caravan becomes his reason. Day in and day out I hear that green-maned unicorn called Sunset Dale moan about him but we all know that he is our Captain. Sometimes he makes mistakes, but he does them in the hope of protecting all of us in the long run.

I ran, I didn’t protect him. He was right. I ran and now there remains only the dream of a memory I want to forget.

And remembering hurts.

The same week, Stardust decided that she wanted to see those two stones. When she had woken up one day, she had started feeling uneasy about the thought of them. It was like something she had tried to push back into her mind kept creeping up. A thought of something. She wanted Straw-hat to show her what they were.

The earth pony obliged and lit the lantern up. “Maybe y’all can see something in ‘em I can’t.”

Stardust, for some reason, hoped not but answered: “Maybe.”

When they stepped outside the unicorn felt the unease rise up. Though she didn’t know why exactly, she felt like turning around. Leaving the whole endeavour behind but the earth pony dragged on.

“If they’re nothing maybe we could plant them somewhere, where we could look at ‘em better. I mean, they’re quite nice to look at.”

Stardust was too afraid to ask to return inside the house. There was the feeling that something would go horribly wrong. She had ignored the stones as best as she could over her time spent here. She had checked everything else out but  those two stones which stood a bit away from the house,  left alone in the darkness with only a never-lit lantern.

They moved past the side of the house and for a moment Stardust felt like she saw something different than the shades of red on the wall. She stopped only to find that her eyes had betrayed. Shaking it off she followed the earth pony once more. It would’ve been a quiet moment but in the distance, an old song played. Stardust didn’t know how old really but the voice of the singer was something she hadn’t heard before, even though she couldn’t make out the words, the power and the emotions were carried right through. She had never heard something like this. The unicorn would’ve gladly run back and listened closer to the music but as the song appeared they were already there.

She saw Straw-hat fumbling around with both lanterns, lighting the one by the stones up and as she moved aside, Stardust braced herself, before she moved towards them.

Somehow she knew, the river had once run by here, a long, long time ago and the field they were now standing on had been green. Now it was but dry soil with cracks in it and some rocks. Nothing special aside from the two stones that stood there solemnly. Stardust looked at them and felt a lump in her throat.

She had already figured out what these stones had been before she had come here. She hadn’t wanted to see them because of what they were. What they reminded her of. The unicorn just gazed at them for a few moments.

“Everything alright, sugarcube” the last word resounded in a different voice, an echo carried over the fields. Stardust understood now.

She opened her mouth and started talking in a hushed voice, “Remember when I called you lost?”

“Yeah...I kinda figured what you meant, so-”

“It means you’ve been taken by the silence and the dark but somehow managed to escape. A pony robbed of everything but one singular thing,” Stardust continued, her eyes fixed on the stones.

“What’d that be?” Strawhat asked, suddenly excited. Stardust knew why, this was great news for her, wasn’t it? At least it must’ve seemed that way.

“The orchards,” she said, her voice cracking, remembering.

She couldn’t start new here. “One of the members of our caravan had a farm and orchards, too. They all burned down,” she spoke, remembering Garden Tool and his distanced demeanour.

The strawhat looked at her for a moment, before she moved in to comfort her, “We should go back.”

Stardust looked at her, too scared to move, and locked the green pony in an embrace.

She had known this place and understood it’s magic from the moment she had seen the tombstones. Everything about the lost soul in front of her was clear now. Everypony knew the stories, everypony knew the legends. One of the bravest pony families to ever exist.

They hugged each other and in the background the music sounded but this time the singer came through, the sweetest of voices singing her farewell.

We met with our flanks bare

Singing and laughing our lives away

Crusading with no care

But far away

they would go

Now lost to me

these ponies of my dreams

“I’m sorry,” Stardust said, too afraid to lie, “You’re the last of them. These are the Sweet Apple Acres and you’re...” she couldn’t finish it but from the silence she got that the straw-hat understood.

“What’s it say on the left stone?” Straw-hat asked.

Stardust thought it’d be a kind gesture to read it and looked at the epitaph.

“Here lie the apples that grew on the field

Strong Ponies, never forgotten

Strong hearts, always remembered”

The straw-hat stroked through her mane, “Ah lost mah memories but really.  Ah think it’s just a daft tale back there. Ah don’t live for the orchards, Stardust. Ah live to help ponies who need help,” she said and Stardust saw her smile.

“An’...ya don’t need to worry anymore. Ah can live a life without a story but y’all should remember yer roots.”

Roots. The laughter of ponies surrounded this place, it was what they had left behind or maybe the spirits were actually still here. Anyway, Stardust felt weird. A good kind of weird, since now she hugged someone who needed a hug and she herself got the same in return. It was mutual and mutual was good.

They remained by the tombstones for a while longer and while Straw-hat seemed to try to figure out her connection to the place, Stardust thought she could maybe do something else. She had experienced the honesty at the strangers hearth and the kindness of her, too. She had experienced those things in the past, too and in the end it had all come crashing down. Somehow she felt as if there was meaning behind all this. She didn’t remember how they both spent the rest of their day but somehow she found herself abed, looking at the ceiling like the first time she had woken in there and then she drifted into darkness.

Stardust’s eyes opened and somehow she just felt like it was morning. Even if it wasn’t that dream had certainly left her wide awake. She rubbed her eyes with her hooves and then climbed out of bed. As she dressed she mused to thank the straw-hat for helping her to bed. It hadn’t been the best display but she felt better now, even though she didn’t quite know what to do now with herself. She could stay, sure, but her life had been a string of misfortunes which would probably continue.

Plus, she didn’t know how the straw-hat’s mood was. The only other lost pony she had ever known had been the Captain and he never had been confronted with the whys and hows of his existence. As she magicked the comb through her hair she yawned. Apparently contemplating was a thing now.

She moved through the house, looking for the Straw-hat. She found her on the rocking chair, overlooking the Sweet Apple Acres, like so many generations of Apple ponies had done before her. As Stardust saw that sight she somehow felt like that chair was pretty impressive and it was only an old, creaking rocking chair.

Stardust moved beside her friend and sat on the wooden floor, looking at the orchards, too. So they spent a few moments in complete quiet, Stardust trying to figure out what her friend was thinking about but she didn’t ask.

“Y’know...Ah thought of this place as home but...it just feels different now. Like there’s something missing. Ah jus’ don’t get it,” the earth pony said after a while.

“Yeah, on my side, it’s feeling like there’s something missing,too,” Stardust admitted. “It’s not the first time I saw my family die, it was the second actually. Normally, ponies can sit there and just forget certain things, certain names, places, parts of their story they never want to remember. I’d like to do that, too.”

A moment later Stardust cursed herself. Straw-hat only looked at her, not saying anything. She hadn’t wanted to admit that but maybe...maybe the Straw-hat would understand...

“You don’t want to...Beneath those graves, maybe there’s family members Ah knew before whatever happened. That’s something important. It’s the thing with the roots, All them ponies got them but Ah sit in mah home and don’t feel that. Ah don’t have history ,family. There’s no happiness or sadness, no experience...Ah feel empty.

“Ah know the smell is important, Ah know the apples are very important but that doesn’t mean Ah feel a connection to this place. It feels like Ah’m missing something here.”

Stardust remembered, “Did you hear the laughter?”

“The what now?”

“There are six Elements of Harmony and laughter is the one that prevails, so I have been told. Laughter carries on long after the Element is gone from a place and it’s kept by the people who remain. The Laughter in this place was so strong it got imprinted here not too long ago,” Stardust explained.

“What’cha mean?”

“Before that ‘whatever’ this place was filled with laughter, by you, by your ancestors and I’ve found the root for it already.”

Straw-hat smiled a sad smile, “An’ now you’re better connected to this place than Ah am.”

Stardust had always run away but now, this was safe...wasn’t it?

“I can show you.”

The pony with the large straw hat turned her head, “What?”

“Come, I’ll show you,” she said and jumped up, showing the pony through the darkness. She knew it was safe, the laughter would keep them safe, because that’s how it always was. The one element,  the strongest in times of darkness.

Giggling at the ghosties.

They stopped before the wall of the house on the way to the tombstones. Stardust looked at it. “Okay, I’ve never done this before, but I’ll try anyway,” she said.

Straw-hat looked at her, then at the wall, then back at her. She seemed to wonder what was going on and that made Stardust smile a bit. She felt the magic of this place, she felt closer to it than yesterday, before she had visited the graves.

“Just stand there and be amazed.”

She closed her eyes and focused on the laughter. The lines of magic formed around her in all the shapes and colors that she could imagine and even more. She stood amidst a finely crafted artistic work, filled with the joy and happiness of centuries. She didn’t need to change anything. She just needed to expand her own field of vision. The unicorn concentrated heavily, took deep breathes and focused. Her magic worked and the she felt a surge of power. She imagined the Straw-hat with her and suddenly, with a *plop* she was there.

“What--”

Then, something happened.

They stood before the same house, no, a barn. An orange pony was trying to paint it and failing hard. On her head rested a cowboy hat, she had a blonde mane and three apples as Cutie Mark. She looked at the barn with a face that said she thought she’d never finish the wall. Until a pink, singing ‘thing’ appeared. Jumping and laughing.

It's true, some days are dark and lonely

And maybe you feel sad

But Pinkie will be there to show you that it isn't that bad

There's one thing that makes me happy

And makes my whole life worthwhile

And that's when I talk to my friends and get them to smile

With her help, the barn was finished in no time and the pink pony’s bright grin found itself on the barn.

Then the barn was gone, they stood before a large living house, an old pony with a large bow-tie in her hair sat in front of it with a foal on her lap. Around them was darkness but for a few lanterns scattered across the many, many apple trees. The old pony sat in a rocking chair, rocking and rocking. She sang a song to the foal, the same song the pink pony had sung before.

I like to see you grin

I love to see you beam

The corners of your mouth turned up

Is always Pinkie's dream

But if you're kind of worried

And your face has made a frown

I'll work real hard and do my best

To turn that sad frown upside down

The two looked at the scene for a moment, listened, before they stood before three more ponies. A stallion with pale yellow a coat, blue mane and a large straw hat, a mare with a pink mane and a silver coat and a small filly, green coat and blonde hair. They all sang.

Come on everypony smile, smile, smile

Fill my heart up with sunshine, sunshine

All I really need's a smile, smile, smile

From these happy friends of mine!

Then Stardust looked into the eyes of the alicorn, those pleading, hurt eyes. The hooves of the goddess were entwined with roots and her wings were made of leaves and flowers.

“Four...” she said.

Then, they stood before the wall again.

“Those were my parents...those were my ancestors,” the earth pony mumbled, taking her hat into her hooves. “My...parents...”

Stardust looked at her for a moment, then, the earth pony started to weep.

“Oh no,” the unicorn said, knowing full well how this was going to end. She didn’t want one more pony to hate her, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I just thought-”

“Thank you, Stardust.”

She hadn’t been prepared for a hug of such proportions but the earth pony dropped the hat and embraced her friend. “It’s no problem,” the magic user said then and truly, it wasn’t. She had made someone happy with her magic, she had helped another pony.

The unicorn had only now realized it. She had her roots and as long as she didn’t forget she could become braver and stronger. She could help.

Stardust Arrow could help.

“Come on, let’s get us some apples,” the unicorn then said with a bright smile before they went to spend the rest of the day.

Somewhere afar, there was an echo. A song ending in the silence.

Come on and smile

Come on and smile!

Laughter remained.

He never forgave me later on, he thoroughly hated me. Everytime we'd see each other I just wanted to hide away. His eyes were filled with hate and spite, I could see his mood shift. If he hadn't believed in what we are he would've killed me one day for sure. He didn't.

His name was Limelight and my one memory is of me yelling at him to wake up, to run away together. The one brave thing I ever did, the one thing I don’t regret even though he hated me for it. I saved him, after I got everypony to move towards the castles. I saved only him because I was selfish before. It’s a daft tale really. A story best forgotten. The one with me being brave. Only I remember it and maybe I’m lying about it, too.

I hear the silence disperse and hear the roar of a beast. I want to run. I will run. I will always run.

The howl pierced through the darkness and Stardust was wide awake, “What?” she asked loudly. She found a candle burning, the gramophone playing. It was hopefully morning, although she couldn’t be sure. Did she just have a nightmare? She was sure to have heard-

In the distance there was another howl. She immediately jumped out of bed and levitated her armor out of the wardrobe and onto her back before running out into the hallway and to the entrance.

There she found Straw-hat already. She gave her one look to see if she was alright. The green pony had her bed hair and a shocked expression but aside from that everything seemed alright. Stardust stopped, shocked expression? That normally meant nothing good, she took a deep breath and slowly followed the gaze of the other pony.

Behind the many trees where only darkness should be, far away a bright light flickered. It was down the cliffs, Stardust knew immediately. She also knew it was a huge fire and not a normal one either. She felt shaking as another howl pierced the sky.

“What is that?” Straw-hat asked, obviously scared.

“The flames of Tartarus. Cinderwolves are coming.”

VIII

~Treasured Tombs~

End