Arc 6 – Emergence Chapter 3 – Eclipse

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As an earth-bound pony, Tin Flower had a very difficult time appreciating a bird’s eyes view of Equestria’s long-suffering landscape; nonetheless, the scenery rapidly changing too far below the tense mare didn’t unnerve her as deeply as the uneven beat of the rotten wings carrying her across the firmament. The dominating and maddening quality of Flower’s life—being at Nightmare’s mercy—culminated at this very moment, when everything depended on Luna being able to withstand the consequences of her mistake clawing at her sanity and keep soaring towards the dissolution of her consciousness. Clutched by dread as she was, Flower couldn’t ignore the irony—regardless of Nightmare infesting her in the same fashion as it preyed on the alicorn, it captivated her mind either way. Nightmare had become one of the so very few things she cared about, enslaving her as effectively as it did the fallen triarch—she depended on it; a mortal earth pony had no chance to get even remotely close to her goals without favours from an otherworldly force.

Void of both the yawning heavens and Nightmare stirring within Luna assaulted Flower with cold; nor did it help how the desert changed first into desolated fields, once ravaged by Canterlot’s heavy poisonous respirations and now coated in hoarfrost by its dying breath. Presently, the desecrated nature seamlessly ceded its white veil to the eternal winter’s gown knitted by the exact seamsters. Her sides ached from greedily inhaling tenuous air and from the grasp of hooves, too disturbingly sharp. With jaws clenched so hard her teeth hurt, she powered through the horror she brought upon herself; her resolve fueled by desperate hope—of having a chance not to just aid Luna, but fix her own mistake.

Doubt in the success of her endeavour spiked sharply, blossoming into stifling regret as the ground abruptly began to approach them with a promise of shattering impact. In the very nick of time, Luna flapped her wings, exploding the snowdrift and Flower awkwardly landed into the stinging flurry, absolved of an injury by the merit of sinking deep into the snow. When the profusely cursing mare finally dug herself out of the white bank, she found Luna sprawled on the snow; it seemed as if Nightmare’s centuries-long subjugation attempt finally yielded results.

“Forgive me,” Luna croaked, still prostrate on the ground. “Time takes its tithe and it has been a long time since I spread my wings to fly.”

“We both know what’s taking a toll on you,” Flower dryly retorted, futilely trying to shake off the clinging snow. “Can you fly again or is it over?”

Luna glared daggers at her, rasping, “Do not give up on me yet.”

Witnessing the alicorn ooze darkness on the snow rendered that request nearly impossible to comply with. Even if Luna had been injured by the rough ‘landing’, Flower wouldn’t be able to tell—so marred with black that mare was. Could Luna even bleed at this point, or Nightmare infused her flesh so thoroughly? Observing Luna’s progressive degradation over the years suggested an unpleasant answer. Those memories, however, couldn’t solve the riddle of Nightmare; if it was but an uncareful thought as Luna claimed, then what Flower was looking at? A physical manifestation of something far beyond sanity or… was it Luna’s true self revealed by the darkness?

Flower raised a hoof to peer at it—darkened by that she hoped to be just a mix of dirt and machine oil. Her grease-stained mane hung limp, but as the wicked winds raked her muzzle with icy claws, the stuck-together hairs answered the call. Yearning for violence and destruction infested the mare’s mind like rats lavishing at a garbage dump. She dreaded taking a look at her reflection.

Knowing the futility of her question—the blood-chilling riddle she had tried to tackle so many times—she demanded, staring into the slitted irises, “How would I know you are not in my head?”

Luna replied to her instead, “You’ve got your answer many times already.”

Flower pointed an accusing hoof at the baleful eyes in Luna’s mane and spat and, “If Nightmare is ‘providence’, then that is that?”

“Do you want to know?”

Already prey to the merciless cold, Flower shuddered—Luna had never offered her an answer; the temptation to finally learn Nightmare’s secret momentarily overwhelmed Flower; she then remembered how Luna warned her every time—there would be no way to forget the truth.

“Shut up,” Flower barked at the body she hoped to still have enough Luna in it. “You need to rest.”

As winter steadily wormed itself under Flower’s skin, she had no choice but to let Nightmare carry her and Luna forth. The alicorn soared under the clouds even more steadily than before and Flower couldn’t forebear wondering—what propelled Luna forward? Where did she find the grim determination to press forward and was it even Luna holding the reins?

“Flower, could you promise me something?” the former Princess startled her.

“No.”

The winds whipping at the two of them couldn’t deafen the sigh escaping Luna’s lungs; she continued, “Don’t do anything you will regret.”

The distance separating Flower from the ground robbed her of any mirth, otherwise, she wouldn’t have at least darkly chuckled at the irony in Luna’s words; instead, she noted, “The whole purpose of going to the Crystal Empire is to put an end to our regrets.”

“Just promise me,” pleaded the alicorn.

Unable or, rather, unwilling to look her in the eye, Flower hissed, “I’m making no promises to Nightmare.”

A few moments passed before a hopeful voice cut through the wailing of turbulence, “Would you have promised that to Luna?”

Flower hesitated with her answer, but eventually, it came, barely audible, “Maybe.”

“It’s better than nothing, I suppose…” Luna’s words rang with relief; then dripped with soft sadness, “Thank you, Flower—”

The mare in question sharply cut her off, “Keep your farewells to yourself until we get there.” Squinting in the distance, she demanded, “How far is it, anyway?”

Whatever fueled Luna’s flight brought no change to the frailty of her ancient frame; those desiccated muscles and skeletal wings would bring the two of them only so far.

“You can see it already,” Luna stated, much to Flower’s joy.

“That snowstorm, isn’t it?”

The flames erupted across the sky before the alicorn had a chance to confirm her guess. Flower cringed away from the blinding halo; her sudden ministrations nearly caused Luna’s hooves to lose grasp of her and a few moments of frantic adjustments managed to even draw their attention from the heavens catching on fire. By the moment Luna and Flower regained their precarious balance in the air, the conflagration had lost its initial ardour, letting them bear witness to the radiance consuming the immortal Windigos.

“I kept wondering when they would figure it out,” the former Princess mused aloud.

Luna’s knowledge about the source of inexorable death and how to cut it off gave rise to at least two questions in Flower’s mind; one answer she could figure out herself and the other didn’t matter. Instead, she only acidly commented, “Why am I not surprised you knew the whole time but not bothered to tell us how to defeat something killing so many people.”

“Well, I…” Luna tried to defend herself, “Only facing Sunset’s wrath imparted me with—”

But Flower didn’t care to learn that either. “I’ve got a better question. Is the Crystal Empire supposed to look like that?”

The blizzard melted by the mysterious radiance only hastened the alicorn’s flight; perhaps, even without her noticing. The coveted city drew closer at lightning speed, but it failed to match the tales Luna used to tell Flower years ago.

“No,” Luna replied in dismay.

The last wisps of shimmering mists fled away from the Crystal Empire and, this close, Flower started to discern the finer details of the legend came true—she tensed, paralysed by horror. The mare desperately wanted to believe Nightmare had finally got the best of her, poisoning her eyesight with a vision tailored specifically to torture her—the realm of machines, the future she had created and now wanted to thwart.

A choked whisper came from above her, “It’s not what Celestia died for.”

Hypnotised by the terror-inducing sight, Flower barely paid attention to her words, absentmindedly correcting, “Wasn’t it Mi Amore Whatever?”

No answer came; the air grew colder.

“Luna?”

Hearing only silence once more, Flower tried to turn around to get a look at her—without slipping from the alicorn’s grasp; she failed either way, as the hold of bony hooves grew weaker till it was no more. Plummeting into the nightmare of a city, Flower caught a glimpse of darkness swelling in the air like a cloud pregnant with a calamitous thunderstorm.

“Luna!”

Despite the Sun blasting the dunes with all its might, the golden rays failed to banish the darkness clinging to Luna. However, that inky spot marring the landscape facilitated keeping track of Ash’s ‘destination’. If only she didn’t have to cross the desert again. Her hooves ached just from the thought of the treacherous sand barring her way; the seemingly endless vastitude vehemently resisted any attempts to brave it. And Luna bordered the limit of Ash’s vision, more sensed than seen.

The white alicorn spread her wings in a futile wish, yet… warm breeze touched her pinions, letting them slice the current and deliver force under her feathered limbs—promising to lift her off, were she to contribute some effort. Ash just had to flap her wings in a certain way and then keep beating them, correctly angled and with a frequency depending on—

She snapped her head at Nameless. “What have you done to me?”

Given skulls had a tendency to grin all the time, Ash had no chance to tell if her companion smiled in response. Somewhat creeped out but nevertheless exalted at the same time, the alicorn tried to use the preternaturally gained knowledge only for it to bitterly suggest—she sorely lacked in the development of her muscles; whilst it could be possible to utilise her wings to some extent, presently they could offer her very little help.

“Data transfer: success,” Nameless commented with satisfaction on Ash’s awkward motions; when the alicorn gave her wings a meaningful look, they added, “Consequences of tissue modification: unpredictable.”

Shivering as she tried to imagine how painful that might be, if gaining something intangible brought so much agony, Ash reconciled with her ability to fly being yet to be gained; she had already got more than she could hope for. “It’s alright. And thank you.” She then perked up at the sudden thought manifesting in her mind; in a voice full of hope, Ash wondered, “Have you put anything else in my head?” The prospect of becoming smarter thrilled her as potently as finally exercising her birthright as a part pegasus.

“Evaluation: Ash’s intelligence is sufficient for survival.”

“Got it,” Ash bitterly muttered. “Not being too stupid to die is enough.”

Only an unreadable stare of Celestia’s empty eye sockets answered her complaint, and the alicorn couldn’t withhold a sigh—she desperately wanted to find some way to get closer to Luna other than by hoof.

“Maybe an advice on—”

Words died on her lips as the black blot rose into the sky and dissolved into the blue.

“That’s bad,” Ash whimpered. “Very bad.”

Perhaps, her body being tampered with by Nameless wouldn’t be that excruciating this time; not like she had any chance to catch up with Luna relying only on her hooves now.

“Analysing…” Nameless fell silent, but announced mere moments later, “Result: motion vector supplemented by available data suggests the Crystal Empire as Luna’s destination.”

“Where the Crystal Heart is…” Ash thoughtfully recalled the name she had heard at the meeting; that concluded the depth of her knowledge. Warily, she made an effort to expand it. “How far is it?”

“Estimation: between two and four weeks of travelling on hoof.”

Ash’s eyes bulged out. “Just kill me right here and right now,” she groaned; giving her situation some thought only rendered it more desperate. “By the time we get there, Luna will be gone!”

After another pause dedicated to mute consideration, Nameless spoke, “Solution: teleportation.”

“I’m not sure of my ability to pull off throwing a spear and you suggest casting a spell I don’t even know?” Receiving an unimpressed stare from her companion brought some clarity to Ash’s mind. “Oh, wait. Right.”

Nothing followed that exchange; almost a minute had passed with Nameless only staring at the horizon, where Luna disappeared. When Ash started to worry and almost decided to find out what was wrong, Nameless explained their silence, “Warning: Nightmare compromises calculation. Probability of the Crystal Empire being the final destination: less than acceptable. New course: follow Luna.”

“Alright, then.” Ash nodded; for once, she understood what Nameless meant—not the implications, however. “Does that—”

Ash couldn’t tell what helped her to avoid falling muzzle first into the sand when she abruptly rematerialised in the middle of the desert; perhaps, sheer luck, though, she liked to believe the newly obtained knowledge bore fruit—the alicorn flapped her wings a lot to prevent the embarrassment of self. As she finally regained both her balance and her breath, Ash grumbled, shooting Nameless a dirty look, “Warn me next time, would you?”

Despite the Sun yet to melt the patch of ice left in Luna’s wake, the madness-ravaged alicorn had already covered enough distance to be but a dark speck in the sky. Squinting at the silhouette standing out against fluffy clouds, Ash managed to discern a suggestion of a mare hanging precariously from Luna’s hooves. A protest rose in her throat—why did they have to miss them? But, in a quick retrospect, Ash realised she knew not what to say to the sombre mare yet. And, since the Crystal Heart played a pivotal role in the Machine Goddess’ plan, it would be wise to get there either way… though that part was up to debate. Ultimately, Ash decided to trust her friend’s wisdom; questionable as it might be at times, it still amounted to much more than she could offer.

“What now?”

It also made sense to trail far enough behind Luna to not draw any attention; even Ash could figure as much, thanks to her experiences in Canterlot. She hoped, however, it entailed more than flattening the sand with their rumps till it was safe to close upon the former Princess again.

“Current task: be on standby.”

As expected, even covering the distance worth hours of trudging through the barely negotiable sands in a mere blink of an eye failed to bring any significant change to the desert. Luna and Tin Flower didn’t even leave coals to sift through—only hoofprints being effaced by the unceasing winds, and rime rapidly thawing, now when the black alicorn took away its abhorrent source.

Ash’s mind returned to probing the idea of the mysterious Crystal Heart; even being acutely self-aware of her ignorance in arcane matters, she couldn’t imagine an object able to do what the Machine Goddess had proposed. The whole notion seemed profoundly absurd and it put a strain on everything the equinoid sovereign told them; Nameless doubting the plan considerably undermined its verity. On the other hoof, Nameless showed to have a very ‘interesting’ way to formulate their statements. Since they had to burn daylight anyway, Ash dared to pry her silent and motionless companion for clarification.

“Do you think Harmony isn’t at risk?”

Simultaneously disappointingly and satisfyingly true to her guess, Nameless replied, “Harmony status: integrity compromised. Cause: repeated ley line damage and intrusion attempts.”

“Last night you said the Machine Goddess’ prediction was false.”

“Affirmative,” Nameless readily stated, causing Ash’s forehead to crease with an annoyed frown.

“You contradict yourself,” the alicorn accused them.

The statue-like equine answered without missing a beat, “The complexity of Harmony prevents any precise attempts to calculate the consequences of it being damaged.”

Ash rolled her eyes. “So, nothing happens?”

“Nameless: unable to answer.”

“Great,” she deadpanned, giving up on figuring out if the Machine Goddess’s warning had any truth to it, but continued to try her luck, “What is Harmony, anyway?”

“Designation: a vast artificial self-developing spell managing the core’s output through collection and analysis of data, causing cutie mark manifestation as a result.”

Straining her brain till her head started to ache, ultimately let Ash comprehend the explanation given her… or the alicorn hoped she understood it correctly. Still dazed from wrecking her mind and continuing to ruminate on the source of her cutie mark, she absentmindedly noted, “Sounds almost like you…”

“Ash’s observation: nonsensical.”

“Until you met me, hoarding knowledge was all you did,” Ash objected to Nameless’ retort with a shrug; glancing over her shoulder, she could find nothing blemishing the perfectly azure firmament and commented on that, “Shouldn’t we teleport again?”

The next spot brought novelty to the scenery, but Ash had found a hard time appreciating it; the monotony of the desert suddenly gained allure and the fringes of the snowstorm unnerved her much more than she dared to admit to even herself. Seeking to distract herself from the worries, she bothered Nameless with another question, hoping to receive an answer that wouldn’t demand more mental prowess than she possessed, “What’s the Crystal Empire like?”

“Effective data: missing,” Nameless dejectedly reported. “Available data: describes a facility to harvest Crystal Ponies’ biomaterial.”

“Do you mean..?” Ash gaped at her friend in disbelief; though the alicorn tried to come up with a less gruesome explanation, the memory of cannibals infesting Canterlot’s ruins refused to let anything else appear in her mind. She all but demanded, “Why?”

“Crystal Pony biomaterial exhibits properties inherent to gemstones used in arcane devices.”

Ash would have acidly commented on how disgusting she found it, but recalling her past also brought one more memory—how dangerously close she had come to feast on the flesh of her kind; not waiting for the ponies to die first would have been her next and inevitable step in her degeneration.

“I pity those poor ponies,” she whispered.

The Machine Goddess hadn’t mentioned any of that; she just wanted to grab the Crystal Empire’s treasure and use it for her ridiculous plan. Before Ash could get mad because of that revelation, Nameless reacted to her words, “Request: clarification.”

Already strung up, the alicorn glowered at them, her eyes flaring up with anger; it died almost instantly—Nameless simply didn’t know better. They needed the right ‘data’ to be put in their head, not be admonished for the lack of it. As before, the responsibility for teaching a ‘god’ something wrong pressed heavily on Ash’s shoulders, but with the Sun already resting on her withers, it felt a bit easier; nor would it be the first time, and so far her attempts hadn’t resulted in a catastrophe.

After exercising her meagre wisdom for a few silent moments, Ash had some idea of what to say; she began with, “You care about designations a lot, right?”

“Designation: the key value of a living organism,” Nameless eagerly agreed.

“What would you…” the alicorn hesitated, but then decided to go for it, “...feel about ponies being denied to fulfil their purpose in life?”

“Unacceptable waste of resources.”

A grimace screwed up Ash’s features—such logic sounded in tone with what must have led to the Crystal Empire becoming a slaughterhouse. If before she had allowed herself to ignore Nameless’ overly practical approach to ‘life forms’, hearing the consequences of following that path left her no other choice but to oppose her friend.

“We are not just resources, Nameless,” she firmly objected. “All living beings deserve to live.”

Ash expected her memories to be ‘quoted’—the alicorn killed more rats and crows than she could remember; the defender of life had almost pulled a trigger of a gun aimed at a defenceless pony. But if Nameless had gone through her mind, then they should also know Ash’s regret and the resolve to not let such things happen again. The silence stretched, imbuing Ash with fear of her not being convincing enough.

Nameless finally spoke, “Preservation of life: potentially beneficial due to superior data output. Commence: trial of the new approach.”

The usual dry wording still bothered Ash to a degree, but she did achieve her goal and that mattered more than Nameless’ cold way of expressing themselves.

“It was surprisingly easy to persuade you,” she chucked somewhat nervously, not perfectly sure if it worked indeed.

“Observation: Ash displays unintentional and impossible capability to process data resulting in a valuable input.”

The alicorn scrunched her muzzle digesting that and as the subtle meaning of Nameless’ words dawned on her, she glared at them. “You know what, Nameless? F—”

Abruptly finding herself deep in a pile of snow nearly drove Ash into a state of panic, yet she managed to dig her way out, emerging into a torrent of hail assailing the snowdrifts, which rose and fell into the horizon; she assumed them go that far, since discerning even Nameless hovering above the snow crust not far away presented a problem. However, it didn’t stop Ash from glaring at them; she didn’t comment on Nameless’ teleportation lacking precision—it was well deserved.

Wondering if she somehow ended up in Canterlot—the howling wind sounded suspiciously familiar—Ash looked around again. The blizzard concealed no dark silhouettes belonging to crumbling towers, yet she still couldn’t shake off the sensation of otherworldly presence threatening her flesh with a deadly cold. Ash waded through the snow to implore Nameless to urge on another jump, when the roar too loud for even the most savage of snowstorms shook the alicorn to the core. Snow changed its chaotic direction to blast her side, but, surprisingly, it came along with a wave of heat. Squinting against the stinging ice, Ash bore witness to fire blooming in the sky.

For a moment she mistook it for the Sun—it felt the same in a way she wouldn’t be able to articulate. The blaze neighboured her celestial charge in the rapidly clearing sky and so Ash stared at the unbelievable sight in confusion.

“Observation: dragon fire,” Nameless offered, foreseeing their companion’s curiosity.

Ash worriedly uttered, staring into the raging flames, “I hope Luna wasn’t there.”

“Luna arrived at the Crystal Empire,” Nameless informed her.

The alicorn gave them an even more concerned look, but receiving no reaction, suggested, if reluctantly, “Shouldn’t we teleport to her?”

Despite the radiance giving her a distinct impression of sunlight—Ash could even stare directly into the should-be-blinding effulgence—she would prefer to not come any closer to the flames devouring the spirits that used to torture her for years; nor did she look forward to visiting a place specialising on butchering equines.

To her relief, Nameless opposed the idea, “Next teleportation: not possible.”

“But what about Luna? Is she safe?”

Nameless remained mute for a few long moments, only slightly swivelling their skull-crowned head, as if observing something.

“Luna’s status: critical,” they announced at last.

Glancing betwixt the light finally beginning to dim and the grim equine observing it with what looked like genuine apprehension—an emotion alien for an entity not afraid of anything—Ash started to panic. “What’s wrong?”

“Activity detected: Nightmare.”

“Teleport me to her!” the alicorn demanded.

“Warning—

“I don’t care, Nameless,” Ash yelled at them. “Do it, right now!”

In the brief moment anteceding appearing somewhere else Ash tried to do her best to mentally prepare herself for either severe burns or the sight of ponies being dismembered. What she didn’t anticipate was becoming airborne, with the solid—threateningly solid—ground very, very far below. Even with her heart playing staccato in her chest, it took less than a heartbeat for Ash to become disoriented, with only one thing clear—she was plummeting towards her sure death. All the gifted knowledge ignored, the alicorn frantically flapped her wings in the vain hope to fix anything—and she did.

Ash slammed into something dark, neither soft nor hard, but very bony and similarly overcome with panic; tangled into an inseparable mass of limbs, feathers and fear, none of them had a chance to turn their fall into a flight anymore. Together, they spiralled downwards.

Author's Note

English isn't my native language; though I try my best and use various tools to aid myself, I'm aware that a result is far from perfect. That said, if you notice anything that you think should be fixed—please let me know.

I hope you've enjoyed reading this story so far.
Stay awesome.