“Come on, Princess, focus.” Sunset Shimmer admonished her young student.
“I told you not to call me that.” The younger unicorn spat back in a huff of frustration.
“Sorry… Starlight.” Sunset relented with only a hint of sarcasm. “We’ve gone over the fundamentals of this spell a dozen times, it should be second nature for you by now.”
Starlight trotted over to one of the many chairs and couches in one of the many spacious rooms in the Equestrian Royal Palace and sat, blowing an errant lock of her mane out of her eye. She looked up at the portrait of her parents, King Firelight and Queen Nova Aurora, meeting their imaginary judgmental gaze for only a moment before turning away. Seeing this, Starlight soon found herself with company on the couch.
“Now, Princess Starlight,” Sunset said with a serious tone to her voice. Before Starlight could protest, she found a cookie with an opal aura surrounding it between her lips. “You know how rare it is for unicorns such as us to have the magical talent that we do.” Sunset continued with nothing to interrupt her other than a quiet sound of chewing. “It’s our duty to master it and be of service to the Kingdom, and for you, it goes without saying that that’s doubly important. It’ll be your duty one day to protect your people as Queen.”
“I never asked for this,” Starlight countered after swallowing. “Why couldn’t I have just been born in a normal family?”
“That’s not how life works, sweetie,” Sunset explained. “I’m a farmer’s daughter, I never asked for my lot in life, but I set my mother’s hair on fire by accident when I was half your age, and here I am teaching you some of the most important lessons that could very well save her life.”
That last statement caught Starlight off guard and gave her pause.
“What do you mean by that.”
Sunset exhaled and muttered. “I said too much… Look, your father felt that causing you to worry was too high a price for telling you the truth, but seeing as I just let the cat out of the bag, here goes.” She explained. “Things aren’t as peaceful as you’ve been told. Civil war is brewing and,”
“And that’s why you’ve been drilling me on offensive and defensive spells.”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Months, a year I hope,” Sunset said flatly. “There’s no avoiding it I fear.”
Starlight responded to this news by summoning over two cookies from the table across the room, and for a few peaceful moments, the two sat and enjoyed them.
“Alright, let’s try this again,” Sunset said, getting up and Starlight following her. “Picture the spell matrix in your mind and channel your thaum.” She explained. “Good, good. Now say the keyword, and remember, enunciate.”
“Kamvoi!” Starlight exclaimed in old Eqqish, literally meaning silence, causing the room to fill with the sound of rushing air like it was filling a void.
Starlight looked around for a moment and looked at her teacher, her mouth moving but no sound left her lips.
“Yes, Starlight, you did it! I’m so proud of you!”
Starlight looked at her with a puzzled gaze, and Sunset shook her head, remembering that the Silence spell was double-edged. While it made the caster completely silent to the world, it also rendered them deaf. Sunset closed her eyes for a moment before her horn surrounded itself in an opal aura.
“Zev.” Sunset spoke, activating the counterspell, noisy being the literal translation, and sent the spell right at her pupil. To Starlight, the world seemed to come rushing in all at once and it left her slightly dazed.
Sunset rushed forward and pulled Starlight into a hug, pulling her out of her daze. For a moment, Starlight didn’t know what to do, she couldn’t remember the last time she had been hugged. All she knew is that wasn’t her parents who embraced her last.
So she did the only thing that seemed right and returned the hug just as tight.
It had been several hours since her lesson had come to an end, and her bed called her name.
Pulling her blanket closer to her chest, she went over the spells she had learned, kamvoi, zev, and the most fun of them all, thúb.
Meaning ‘change’ in old Eqqish, the spell let its user change the colour of their hair and coat for a short time. They had spent the better part of an hour laughing at the absurd colours they experimented with.
But like all things, the fun came to an end when the sun set and dinner was called.
The meal was a typical, boring affair. Even though this was in private, relatively speaking with the palace staff present, her parents insisted on protocol and tradition. Everything in its place, and at the appointed time.
Father yattered about something in court, mother nattered about the new set of gowns she had ordered, neither had even bothered to take notice that the highlight in their daughter’s mane was blue.
Starlight simply rolled her eyes and quietly ate. She almost burst out laughing in the final course when she noticed the head Hoofcolt’s, Apple Split was his name, eyes bulged, his smile giving away that he was trying not to laugh when he noticed her hair. Starlight smiled and shrugged at him as she finished the last of her cake.
As loyal as the palace staff were to the crown, nearly every one of them held a special spot for the princess. Helping let a little bit of rebelliousness go unnoticed was one of the ways they showed they cared for their princess.
With a smile, Starlight drifted off to sleep.
“Starlight!”
What is it… she thought, as her eyes fluttered open to see that it was still night.
“Starlight, get up!”
Her eyes fully open now, she noticed that while it was still night, it wasn’t dark. Eerie orange light came in through the window, and in the distance, she could hear the cracks of rifle fire and glass breaking.
And screams.
Starlight shot straight up in bed, the sudden adrenaline that came with fear waking her fully.
Standing at the side of her bed with a look of worry on her face was Sunset. At her door was Apple Split in his nightclothes keeping an eye out.
“Remember what we talked about this afternoon?” Starlight asked. Starlight nodded. “It’s started, I need you to come with me. Do exactly what I say and stay quiet.”
As soon as she said that, a unicorn maid in her nightgown that Starlight couldn’t name came in with a book that she instantly recognized as Sunset’s grimoire.
“Thank you, Tealove,” Sunset said, taking the book and placing it in her saddlebag.
“The hall’s clear, Mistress Shimmer, head to the servant’s quarters, it’s the farthest away from where they broke into the palace grounds,” Apple told them. “When you get through the door, under the third light fixture on the left side is a moon carved into the moulding of the wall casing, press it and a hidden door will open, it’ll lead out into the palace gardens.”
“I can’t thank you enough, Apple, you two need to get out of here now,” Sunset told them.
“Not until we know the young miss is safe, Mistress Shimmer.” Tealove countered with her voice equally determined and full of fear. Apple’s expression mirrored that of the maid.
“Very well…” Sunset said with regret coming through her voice. “Good luck,” she said quietly. “Starlight let’s go.”
They made their way through the long corridors of the palace, the horrific sounds going on around them seemed to fade.
What could only be described as a sickeningly wet ‘pop’ followed by a horrific scream that could only come from Tealove made the two of them stop in their tracks. Sunset knew only one spell that could make that sound. Rɔipɔɔ. Crush. When they heard the same sound again a short while later only confirmed her suspicions and one name came to mind.
Night Light.
“Starlight… Run.”
Now racing through the halls as fast she could, Starlight could see her destination. Sunset reached out with her magic and tried to work the door handle, but the lock wouldn’t give.
Without slowing down, she ran headlong at the door, spinning around on her front hooves at the last second, throwing her weight into bucking the door as hard as he could and sending it off his hinges and splintering the wood around the door jamb.
Stopping to catch their breath, Sunset looked around, counted the light fixtures on the ceiling and just as Apple had said, there under the third one was a moon carved into the wall casing.
Placing her hoof on it, she gave it a press, and part of the wall next to it clicked and popped open slightly.
Pulling it open, both ponies entered the dark corridor within and pulled the door closed behind them.
“Apú,” Starlight spoke, casting the illuminate spell and forming a white orb on the tip of her horn.
The corridor was made of stone, much like the exterior walls of the palace grounds and likely just as old. Cobwebs hung from the ceiling, which sent shivers down Starlight’s spine.
“We gotta keep going,” Sunset said, her fear showing through her voice.
“What happened to Apple and Tealove?” Starlight asked.
Sunset thought about telling her what spell was used but thought better of it.
“They’re dead.” She said flatly. The silence that followed was deafening. “Look, I’m sorry, but we need to keep our wits about us,” Sunset spoke, stopping to turn to her young charge, finding the young mare on the verge of tears.
“I know, it hurts, but we need to focus on the here and now. They gave their lives to make sure we had a chance to escape, we can’t let that be in vain. We can grieve later.” Sunset said, forcing a reassuring smile.
“Ok.” Starlight said weakly and followed after Sunset.
For another five minutes, they wandered the corridor as it snaked around what Starlight could only imagine was between various rooms in the palace before it came to a dead end.
“What now?” Starlight asked.
“I don’t know, there’s no door,” Sunset responded, looking around for something similar to the button that originally got them in here in the first place.
Whatever urgency they had only doubled when they heard the scraping of metal on stone. Sunset instantly recognizing it as someone was scraping a blade on the wall, something that her former mentor Night Light Sparkle did to intimidate her during their advanced duels near the end of their training. She still had the small scar just under her jawline where his sword that he expertly wielded with his telekinetics had cut her ‘accidentally’.
“Buck it…” Sunset exclaimed. “Starlight, cover your ears.” She ordered then focused her thaum. “Káf!” She screamed, and the wall exploded into dust before her.
As the dust settled, as well as the ringing in their ears, Sunset could see the trees that filled the palace gardens, and beyond that, she knew was the fast-moving Everfree river and their best hope.
“There you are, Sunset, I would recognize that káf spell anywhere.”
Without thinking, Sunset picked Starlight up and slung her across her back and ran into the trees. Starlight looked behind them to find a blue unicorn running after them, a large sword held aloft in a pale blue aura.
But he wasn’t alone, behind him was a younger unicorn, this one had a white coat and blue mane.
All their running came to an end, however when they reached the edge of the gardens and its hedgerows of trees that they had somehow used for cover from their pursuers. Before them was the Everfree river, its rushing waters over two dozen feet below, which served as a natural barrier.
Frantically looking back, she could see trees starting to fall, likely Night Light’s doing, he was always quick to break things when he was frustrated.
With only a few moments left, Sunset made her choice and turned to Starlight, who looked at her in complete dread.
“Starlight, I’m sorry,” She told her princess, as she took off her saddlebag and put it on Starlight.
“Shɜɜw avɔɔ,” Sunset spoke, picked Starlight with her telekinesis and threw her into the river, then turned towards where her pursuers were coming.
“Kamvoi,” Sunset said finally, accepting her fate, and sat on the ground, exhausted.
Then she waited.
“You gave us quite the chase,” the young unicorn Sunset knew was Night Light’s son, Shining Armor. “Where’s the princess?”
Night Light strode up next to his son. “She’s not here is she?” Night Light asked.
Sunset simply stared at him with pure, spiteful, contempt.
“Enough of this, if you won’t talk, I’ll force it out of you.” Night Light said grimly, raised his sword and brought it down towards her head, cleaving her horn in two in one clean stroke.
Opal sparks and crimson blood flowed from the wound as Sunset screamed silently.
“Oh, I see now, clever girl,” Night Light laughed. “Zev.”
Sunset’s screams weren’t silent any longer.
Starlight tumbled in the water, trying to keep her head above water. She was a poor swimmer and that only served to fill her mind with panic. When she took a lung full of water she thought she was done for, but the pain never came, she never drowned.
It was then she realized that the words Sunset spoke were Eqqish for ‘fish lung’. She cast a water-breathing spell!
No longer panicking, Starlight focused on looking for a place on the shore where she could get out of the water.
After what seemed like ages, she finally found a relatively rock-free shore on the left-hand bank and she pulled herself out of the water…
Only to find herself unable to breathe. Instead of panicking, she remembered what Sunset had taught her that spells were often double-edged, like the silence spell making you deaf as well as totally silent. She grabbed her teacher’s grimoire out of her bag and thankfully found it no worse for wear after her trip through the river.
She flipped through the pages until she found the counter-spell.
“Kazha jɔɔy” Starlight managed to gurgle out, immediately thankful when her magic expelled all the water from her lungs and that properly enunciating Eqqish for ‘breathe deep’ wasn’t needed, leaving her a coughing mess. Rolling onto her back, she laid there, taking in deep breaths.
Then she started to laugh.
And cried.
Then wept.
When tears no longer came, she steeled herself, remembering what Sunset had told her: focus on the here and now, grieve later.
Remembering attending Confederation Day celebrations when she was little in a small hamlet downriver from the Palace, she started walking and kept walking, unsure of what was coming next.
Author's Note
I don't know what it is with me and writing late at night (it's nearly 5 am), but here I am...
This is my second attempt at writing this story (the first one I cancelled and deleted from my account), and I hope you enjoy it.
To say that this story's world is drastically different from the MLP canon is an understatement, it is what one would call a 'dark timeline', a truest Alt Universe if there ever was one.
The 'Old Eqqish' used in this story is a 'Conlang' (constructed language) using a language generator. It is a complete language with syntax, pronunciation and everything. There will be a second one used when the humans come into the picture.
Next chapter will have the human side of the story, I look forward to writing that, expect that in a week or two, I hope.
“Jasmine, are you sure that there’s nothing I can say to get you to change your mind?” Mark asked through the small hard-light screen of her hand-terminal.
“You think I wanted to up and pull roots again?” Jasmine countered. “I just spent the last two days trying to get my damage deposit back after breaking a two-year lease I was four months into,” she continued, pausing to push a lock of jet black hair behind her ear. “I’m sorry to do this, but my Mom got me a test pilot billot,”
“On Earth,” He interrupted. Her childhood best friend, brother-in-arms, wingman, and more recently band-mate in the cover group they started with two other war-buddies when they mustered out at the end of the war, looked at her with equal parts disappointment and that ‘what the fuck do I do now’ stare.
“On Earth,” Jasmine said matter-of-factly. “That’s where the work is Marko.” She continued, leaning back in her mono-rail seat. Looking out the window, the plains of Isidis Planitia sped by as the sunset in a blue haze. “I don’t know if you’ve looked around here lately, but there’s not much work going around, and short of selling out to Earth for handouts, our gigs aren’t cutting it anymore.”
For the last four years after the war, they had started a cover-band and played small gigs in bars across Mars, they mostly played classic rock and metal songs from Earth’s late 20th and early 21st, but they had some original songs that were met with middling reception from crowds but saw little income from self-pub on the ‘net. The money wasn’t great, but it made ends meet, and it let Jasmine actually do something she loved.
“Where am I going to find a new drummer?”
“There’s Eris,” Jasmine responded, bringing up her old classmate and ‘rival’.
“Oh fuck no, one, she hates the classics, two, she still hates the fact you’re better than her,” He countered with a less than subtle eye roll. “You two are the only classically trained musicians I know,” He said, thinking out loud, referring to her time at Musica Universalis, Mars’ premiere music academy where she studied music theory and honed her skills as a percussionist. Not good enough to graduate or get on with a symphony, though, much to her mother’s disappointment.
“Have you asked her?”
“No,”
“I’m texting her right now,” Jasmine said, pulling up Eris’ contact and firing off a quick message.
“No, don’t!”
“Too late,”
“Great,”
“You might be surprised at her response,” She told him. “You know she’s been carrying a torch for you since grade school, right?”
“What?” He said, his expression going blank.
“You heard me,” Jasmine said with a laugh. “Why do you think she hates me?” She continued, remembering that night at college after a few too many when she spilled her guts. Sure Eris made a show of it that she hated her, but they had an understanding from then on.
There was an audible ding on Mark’s end that broke him out of his stupor.
“Oh,”
“Oh.”
“Now arriving at Daedalus Spaceport, please collect all belongings when you exit the car, as all misplaced baggage will be considered abandoned and subject to search and seizure. Mind the gap.”
“That’s my stop,” Jasmine said in response to the announcement. “I’ll send you a message once I’m back on the ‘net.”
“Safe journey, Jaz.”
Flicking her hand-terminal off, Jasmine stood up and grabbed her duffle bag from the overhead rack and waited her turn to get out of the car.
The crowded concourse that led out of mono-rail station was lined on either side by closed-down shops and going-out-of-business signs that were starting to become all too common on Mars the last few years.
Despite assurances from the Earth Parliament at the end of the war to devote resources to get Mars’ economy on its feet again, reality was much different. Instead, the whole planet was still under military occupation. Food and water were still under rationing, although water rationing is showing signs of easing as critical infrastructure is finally being replaced after it had been targeted as a ‘legitimate target of war’ at the beginning. Never mind the fact that water reclamation made up a third of the planet’s oxygen generation.
Footage of suffocated children in their beds had served as good motivation for the troops.
Earth wondered why it took the use of nuclear weapons to finally force capitulation.
The thought of it still angers her to this day, but she was quick to hide her expression as she passed by an EDF soldier who eyed her up and down.
“Fucking scar,” he muttered.
This garnered a few looks from those around Jasmine who now abandoned all pretenses of hiding her anger. If looks could kill, this man’s head would be on fire.
“Move along,” He said forcefully.
Looking up, she saw the signs she needed to follow to get to her gate, and then headed towards customs screening where she was greeted by an older apathetic Earth Navy non-com.
“Place your terminal here,” He instructed, and she did. “Full name?”
“Jasminder Mirai Bhatia,”
“Purpose for travel?”
“Work,”
“Ah, I see, here’s your work visa.” He said reading it, then paused and cocked an eyebrow at her. “Delta-Stellar Dynamics… You’re a pilot?”
“I know my passport has an MCN flag, so I know you know that already,” Jasmine said, starting to lose her patience. “I’ve been called scar once today, so if you’re going to dick me around, at least cut to the chase.” She told him, not breaking eye contact and when she was about to continue, she was halted when the older man held up the back of his hand, which had the same small scars that she had lining her hands and the rest of her body where they surgically grafted a carbon-nanofiber lattice to reenforce her skeleton that was weaker than that of an Earth-born human due to Mars’ lower gravity.
“Osteogenesis imperfecta. Parents couldn’t afford the in utero treatment and I was lucky enough to be spared skeletal defects. Got the implants when I was 19, right around the same time you Martians get theirs, no?” He said as he began typing into his terminal. “That particular epithet always rubbed me the wrong way, and I have a feeling I know who said it, I’ll see to it that he’s properly disciplined. You have my word.”
Jasmine was left speechless, standing there rubbing the back of her hands, which were now itching for no reason.
“Everything seems to be in order, have a good flight, Lieutenant Commander.” He said, handing her back her terminal with a nod.
Before she could respond, the din of the customs concourse fell silent, interrupted by the screaming of a young girl. Both Jasmine and the Sergeant who had just cleared her turned and ran towards the screams.
Quickly, they found a distraught mother kneeling next to her teenage daughter while the father was being restrained by spaceport security. In front of him was a young private on his ass, blood pouring from his nose. A small crowd had gathered, and the Martians among them were starting to call for his head.
Jasmine had seen this before, hell, she’d been through it herself. Not even bothering to reassure the mother, she dropped to her knees and gently grabbed the young woman by the jaw and felt for the small metal disks that were implanted in the mastoid behind the ear.
With a double-tap of her fingers and a long press, the screeching static that was causing the teen so much pain fell away to total silence.
I reset your implant, is that better? Jasmine signed with her hands, before looking up and waving off the medical team that was just now arriving. “Implant malfunction,” she told them, lifting the hair covering her own identical cochlear implants to show them. “I got this,”. They looked to the Sergeant, who nodded that it was ok then turned back to speak with the child’s father.
Yes, thank you.
Explosive decompression? I lost my hearing during a kindergarten field trip, airlock cycled the wrong way.
Bombing during the war.
I’m sorry about that, it was my job to stop that from happening. I failed.
It’s not your fault. The girl signed, then grabbed Jasmine’s hands and held them tight. She then tilted her head and stretched her jaw. “Oh, that’s better.”
“My name’s Jasmine, what’s yours?”
“Amanda,”
“It’s nice to meet you, Amanda. Give me one sec, I need to check something.”
With purpose, she stood up and walked over towards the security console attached to a checkpoint quick-scanner, pushing her way past a few of the spaceport security officers in her way. They attempted to stop her but were waved off by the Sergeant. With a few fast inputs, Jasmine pulled up Amanda’s passport, complete with a flashing red warning exempting her on medical grounds from the quick-scanner, which are known to crash several types of implants.
“You son of a bitch,” Jasmine raged. “What is it, you get kicks torturing kids?!”
“What is it?” The Sergeant asked, walking over to look at the screen, then scowled. “Private, you’re relieved. You, you,” He said, pointing to two guards. “Take him to the holding area and call the Lieutenant, I’ll be there shortly.”
Placing his hands on his hips and sighing, then he turned to the crowd watching. “Ok, everyone. This situation will be dealt with. Please return to your lines. Everyone else, back to work.”
“I never got your name,” Jasmine told him.
“Marcus,” The Sergeant replied.
“Well, Marcus, for an Earthling, you’re not that bad,” Jasmine said, offering her hand.
“You’re not so bad yourself, Martian.” He said, taking her hand and giving a good shake.
