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Post by Becka on Jan 7, 2013 22:58:14 GMT -5
[46th of Summer, cont. from Refuge]
Kail slept so hard she didn't dream, and when the knock came at her door it took a long moment to come up from sleep. When she did, she wished she could sleep forever.
Her stomach flipped over as she sat up and she put a hoof to her mouth. She was really not used to this feeling sick thing, and dreading the talk with the Queen. If it caused as much pain as it had last time Kail would have no choice but to leave. She couldn't help a pony she couldn't be in the same room with.
The knock sounded again. "I'm coming!" she called back. She ran a hoof through her hair so it wouldn't look quite so 'I fought pirates, nearly drowned in a shipwreck, came through a Rift in time, and was nearly killed by dark pain before my nap' and then opened the door to find the small stallion with the pendant around his neck.
"Hello, Knight Shade." Her eyes travelled to the pendant. "How does that work, exactly? Why does it drive the monsters away?"
If she needed to steal it for Whisp and run, she better know how to use it.
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Post by Nightbow on Jan 9, 2013 3:39:58 GMT -5
Knight Shade greeted the pegasus again. He was just about to ask if she had slept well when he saw that she had even worse of a bed head than before - not certain that the nap had helped cure her nausea.
"Um, I'm sure you have a lot on your mind. Queen Eclipse will see you in the throne room now." He angled himself in the direction of Whisp's room, offering to lead the way.
"How does that work, exactly? Why does it drive the monsters away?"
"Huh? This?" The stallion looked down at his own chest, examining the silvery token. "The Queen gave me this before she sent me out into the woods," he explained. "I'm not sure how it works, but when pressed it activates and emits pulses that imitates those of an earthquake." He padded up to a door across the hall and knocked loudly. "Apparently the stonebacks are terrified by it!"
The teenage unicorn grunted, refusing to get fully awake. Surely she could have used a couple of more hours in bed. She kicked the covers off of herself, feeling terrifyingly disoriented for a moment. When she stared across the now dusky room she remembered, but not with a pleasant feeling. Whisper Wind got out of bed and stumbled towards the door while yawning widely. She opened the door, absent-mindedly bidding the duo outside; "Good morning."
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Post by Becka on Jan 9, 2013 9:40:08 GMT -5
Kail nodded and followed him to Whisp's door as he explained what little he knew about the pendant. "Earthquake pulses, impressive. She must trust you very much to give you such a gift."
Unconsciously, Kail's hoof touched the compass around her neck, just to be sure it was still there. It didn't do anything - she'd never opened it - but it was the only thing she had from home, aside from Whisp.
"Morning," she said to the unicorn. "Ready to speak to the Queen?"
Kail wasn't sure she was ready herself, but throne rooms were usually large. As long as the Queen stayed on her throne, the peg could stay far enough away to not be affected by her presence too much.
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Post by Nightbow on Jan 10, 2013 22:13:39 GMT -5
"Ah-hh suppose so," Whisper Wind replied, failing to repress another yawn as she did so. She rubbed herself in the eye, taking to opportunity to not-so discreetly wipe some drool out of the corner of her mouth. Realizing her improper mannerisms, she blushed slightly and cleared her throat. "I'm ready. Lead on, please," she begged, mentally adding a 'go on' while trying to divert attention from herself.
Knight Shade cast a quick glance in Kailani's direction, mainly because it felt improper to stare into Whisp's wide-open muzzle, but also to signal that he too was ready to go.
The white stallion felt awkward to say the least, leading around these mares. He was the one used to being led around, for as glamorous as the life of a rock star might sound, no pony was free under the management of Erebus. Since all those events Knight Shade had been forced to stand on his own. Not even the fillies of his former band were around, having been under contract. When it all came down to it, the little Greyvale pony did not feel that taking on the role of a hero or even a castle steward suited him.
They passed the landing off he stairwell to the downstairs and followed the corridor in the opposite direction, until they reached its end. Huge doors of marble met them, and Knight Shade pushed them open.
Whisper Wind was taken aback by the sight of Queen Eclipse's throne room. It had huge beautiful windows on both sides, but the light was dimmed by heavy drapery that covered most of them. Marvellous jewelled floor chandeliers substituted as source of light. The unicorn couldn't help but feel uneasy when she realized the probable reason why the room was kept so dark.
A red carpet led up a broad set of stairs at the far end of the room and atop them, situated upon a white marble throne, was Eclipse. At least Whisp sensed she was there - couldn't really tell, eyes still being used to the more well-illuminated corridors.
The darkness was dense around her. Almost one with it, Eclipse made little effort to revert back to her fully physical forme. Straying in the corners outside the newcomers' quarters had taking its toll on her, tiny spaces of shadow barely sufficing as hiding space, and she had very much needed the rest in her personal, pitch-black chambers. She wished intently that the entire castle could have been kept as dark, but knew that however painful it was, she needed to get used to light should she conquer it.
Queen Eclipse stretched her wings out as if in a gesture of a warm embrace, announcing: "Welcome back, little ponies. I do so hope that thou are well-fed and rested."
"Yes, your majesty," answered the youth with a light bow of the neck, quick to adapt to the green pegs mannerisms around royalty. But Whisp would of course have preferred to stay in bed. Eclipse looked pleased.
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Post by Becka on Jan 10, 2013 22:35:46 GMT -5
Thank the Rainbows for the size of the room. It wasn't nearly as large as the Coursian throne room, or even the Dream Valley throne room, but this was a castle in the middle of nowhere, in need of repair. Kail's stomach remained flighty, but not painful.
"Welcome back, little ponies. I do so hope that thou are well-fed and rested."
Whisper Wind replied for them both, so Kailani merely bowed, head down and wings straight up in salute. The compass around her neck nearly touched the floor before she straightened upright again.
It was improper to question royalty before being addressed in a manner that would allow you, so Kail stood still as a post, stomach flipping in sommersaults that she refused to acknowledge. Her shoulders were back, wings pinned to her sides, ears forward, ready for whatever the Queen might say.
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Post by Nightbow on Jan 11, 2013 8:30:31 GMT -5
"Good," Queen Eclipse mused while neatly tucking her wings back to her sides. "Now to the matter at hoof," she continued. "I trust that now that thou hast been given time, thou understand why thou are here in Equestria?"
Whisp could merely nod in response, confirming. She really didn't want to think about it, and kept reminding herself that at least Kail was here.
The great white winged unicorn turned her internal grin into a smile of condolence. "Fret not, for there is a solution to thine problem!" She assured them. "I have experienced an eternity in a realm of darkness, and I saw the Rift thorn in our existence. I know of the spells that opened them, and they are of the same kind." Well, that was only half the truth. The Rift had been opened when Twilight Sparkle attempted to send her back to the Opaque - essentially, it was the same spell.
"Its effect can be reversed. The Dark Veil can become thine way back home, to thine original time. I know this because it was in the very same way that I escaped my imprisonment. But ..." Here came the catch. Eclipse changed gears and switched her positive aura for a melancholy one, seemingly carrying the nature of a threat.
"... Alas," she lamented with a voice that dripped with darkness, "I am not yet strong enough. With my evil sisters soaring the skies by day and by night, I dare not leave the ruins of my castle."
"Which is why, in order for me to help thou, thou must help me - to regain my full strength. Whilst thou humble yourself before me, the rightful Queen of Equestria, and aid me in my quest?" Queen Eclipse demanded, voice once again booming.
From Knight Shade, who had been silent all the while, the response was immediate. "Yes, my Queen!"
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Post by Becka on Jan 15, 2013 10:43:47 GMT -5
Why and How were two different things. Kail vaguely understood how they arrived in the future of Equestria, but why the two of them were brought through the Rift while Razz and the others were left behind wasn’t yet clear. Still, she only nodded at the Queen. Getting in an existential argument with a mare who could hurt her by doing no more than taking a step forward was not high on Kail’s list of things she wanted to do today.
She listened, ears attentive, stomach rolling like an angry animal, as the Queen explained both the good and the bad news. The good was that they could return home through the Rift. The bad was that the Queen was basically holding them hostage until she came into her full power. And once she did? Would Kail even be able to stand this close to her without writhing in pain on the floor? Or would her regained power drown the darkness that had settled within her? Because Kail didn’t like the idea of a pony with so much darkness becoming the ruler of Equestria.
Instead of bowing as she should, Kail finally spoke. “What would you have us do to help you?” Argumentative, curious, helpful – let the Queen take that however she would.
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Post by Nightbow on Jan 15, 2013 14:12:55 GMT -5
A minor setback. The green one was not as naïve as the purple nor as gullible as the white. Nothing to get agitated over, though. Eclipse needed the green pegasus, and she would give her what she wanted. She did not take Kail's disobedience well, but Queen Eclipse could not afford to loose her face in front of either of these ponies - not before she was certain that she had gained their trust.
"You will serve as the extended hooves of your Queen. You will bring me the tools that I require to revert the Dark Veil. You may be sent out on a quest to rescue ponies who fumble in the dark," Eclipse nodded towards Knight Shade, "or in parties to seek and investigate any words spoken about my power. You will not need to worry, for my magic will protect you on your way."
Eclipse had been so devastated by the news of her Dark Rainbow getting thorn into shreds that she had not been able to carry on with her eavesdropping from the shadows outside of Kailani's room. She could only hope that she had provoked them into submitting their knowledge. Her eyes glistened like the last sun ray upon a black forest pond; the young unicorn's gaze had betrayed her. There was something on her mind, but her eyes remained fixed upon the pegasus.
[Stopped using 'thou' since I'm pretty sure its a singular "you". Sorry.]
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Post by Becka on Jan 15, 2013 14:31:35 GMT -5
At the very least, it sounded like helping the Queen would require a lot of being not-in-the-castle, which Kail certainly would prefer at this moment. And she had to admit - if Eclipse had sent Knight Shade to rescue them, and told them of the Rift and what it meant, she couldn't be that evil. Perhaps it was only the absence of the green stripe that was making the peg's stomach do flip flops.
The tension in her shoulders eased and Kail bowed her head. "I would be happy to investigate for you, Queen Eclipse."
If nothing else, it would get Kail out of the castle and give her some idea of what was going on in this future Equestria.
[Gah, sorry. I know Kail's not acting herself. I can't help it - she's still broken.]
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Post by Nightbow on Jan 18, 2013 16:56:27 GMT -5
Whisper Wind was mildly shocked at Kailani's response. They would help Eclipse regain her power, and that way they could go home. "At your service," the youth copied, bowing properly this time around. So it was decided then. She was so relieved she didn't contemplate for a minute the possibility that the green peg might simply be playing ball.
The Dark Rainbow was dangerous, she knew that much, but if Kail said it was okay to join forces with Eclipse, then it should be safe. Then she must trust the Queen with that power. She probably saw things clearer now that she wasn't under her aura's influence. . . .Maybe it wan't actually the doing of the Rainbow of Darkness at all? What if it was just the Opaque, and Kailani was prone to it's effects? She couldn't be certain. She decided to get it off her chest.
"Forgive me your Highness," the purple pony said apologizing for the question she was about to pose, hesitating for a minute as her voice broke the silence and ebony eyes gripped her from across the room, "this power of yours . . ." she decided in the last moment not to mention the Dark Rainbow after all, ". . .what kind of power is it?"
Queen Eclipse was well prepared for this. "My dear sisters currently wield the power that power that is mine," she explained, oblivious to the millennia of war that had waged around the stripes. "The power of light, manifested as the Rainbow. They do, as did they when the Earth was new, use their privilege wrongfully - they are tyrants. The only way to bring them to their knees and make them give back what they owe, is to thwart them with its opposite force."
It was true! "The Rainbow of Darkness?" Gasped Whisp aloud. She regretted it a second later as she felt all eyes in the room turn to gaze upon her. Nausea pricked her stomach and she felt ashamed, as though she had uttered a particularity obscene swear word.
Queen Eclipse's response was short and factual. "Yes."
Whisper Wind felt herself trembling inside her mind, stumbling over the imagery that had sprung to life as Kailani told her stories of Dark forces, but they where merely that - images. "But . . . with all due respect, my Queen . . . the Dark Rainbow . . . it's . . . it's evil!" Her voice had begun high pitched and exasperated to, in the last words of her sentence, die like a last desperate whisper. Whisper Wind felt cold sweat trickle in her neck like deadly points of arrow heads. If Queen Eclipse was indeed evil, well, then she might as well be dead about now.
Queen Eclipse's eyes had been wide during the unicorn's speech, mouth strained and expression dangerously wild under the accusations that lay hidden in her words. But when Whisp finished speaking, her eyes were calmly shut, and her features mellowed. "Ah, child," she chimed calmly. "There is no such thing as good and evil."
Queen Eclipse surprisingly enough got up from her throne and took a few steps forward, to wide stairs. She paced to the left and then to the right, balancing on its edge for a moment. "As most Equestrian ponies would have you believe, this world is in balance. There is the regal sister of the Day, Celestia, who raises the sun . . ." Eclipse walked up to one of the windows and lifted the curtain away with her horn, evening sun painting her face a shade of burning orange. ". . .And there is the youngest, Princess Luna of the moon, who brings forth the night. Darkness and Light, as one. Two sides of the same coin; one cannot exist without the other. Where there is light, there will always fall a shadow."
Even if her statement made sense, it did not sit well with Whisp. Up until then she had been admiring the white and black winged unicorn, amazed by her sharp features and smitten with the truthful yet melancholy look in her eyes. There was an acceptance in their black deeps that calmed the youth. Always a shadow? That wasn't the truth. Light would ward off the darkness. If every pony in the world had goodness in their hearts, they would shine like beacons through . . . well, through the opaque darkness.
"Darkness and light . . . good and evil . . . they may be counterparts, but they are not necessarily connected. Today sits two sisters upon the throne of this world. They rule over day and night, and they rule over the hearts of their subjects. It was their request to eliminate me that resulted in the Rift. What the world now lacks is proper balance."
Queen Eclipse stepped away from the window. "When I rule light and darkness, the balance will once again be restored to our world."
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Post by Becka on Jan 20, 2013 12:16:05 GMT -5
The Rainbow of Darkness. The Queen wanted to use the Dark Rainbow against her sisters. Even if her sister's deserved such a fate for trapping Eclipse in the Opaque there was no way to control the Dark Rainbow. The last pony Kail knew of who tried died on her mother's sword.
Kail wanted to fly away right then, but she couldn't leave Whisp behind, so she stood silent and listened to the mad ramblings of the Queen. She almost flinched away as Eclipse stood, but the Queen didn't move closer and Kail's stomach flipped but didn't pain her. When the Queen was finished Kail finally spoke.
"Queen Eclipse, I am very familiar with the Dark Rainbow, as well as the Light, and I can tell you it will be nearly impossible to control it. It is chaos, plain and simple. Even amoungst themselves the dark stripes did not take kindly to being told what to do. You can't know if it will do as you wish, or turn on you."
Not to mention, no pony actually knew where the Rainbow of Light had taken the popsicle, nor where the Orange had got off to after the War of the Gods.
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Post by Nightbow on Jan 23, 2013 16:03:55 GMT -5
Foolishness. Incompetence. Defiance!
Still my heart. Eclipse was still breathing steadily, a smirk adorning her maw. "Little pony," said the Queen simply, having none of it,"you must trust that I can handle the Rainbow. I was there when it was born." Her gaze grew distant. Dreamy, almost.
"Now do tell me Kailani, in what ways are you familiar with the Rainbow of Darkness?" There was a hint of exasperation in her otherwise musing voice. It could only be taken for a challenge.
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Post by Becka on Jan 24, 2013 12:25:37 GMT -5
"I was there when it was born."
"Born?" It was no more than a whisper, and Kail couldn't help it. How could the Rainbows - either Rainbow - be born? They were the Rainbows. They were the creators of Ponyland. They had always been and would always been until the end of time.
Kail touched the second symbol on her chest as the Queen asked her question. She didn't like the sound of the Queen's voice as she asked, and didn't like the idea of telling Eclipse too much. She looked at Whisper Wind for a brief second before turning her lavender eyes back to the Queen.
"I've fought the Dark Rainbow on a number of occasions. First in Course, when Glasya the Pretender tried to use the Rainbow of Darkness to destroy Queen Luna and Princess Celeste. With the help of the Rainbow of Light, Princess Celeste cut the Dark Rainbow into it's stripes and scattered them across Ponyland."
The healer conveniently left out the part where she helped, and was killed.
"The stripes became ponies and attacked Ponyville while I was living there, so I fought them a second time, as the Green Champion of the Rainbow of Light. This is how I know the Dark Rainbow is chaos - each stripe would not listen to the others, and it was their downfall. They did not even know their true number. They could not feel each other, as the Champions could - they did not communicate - in the end they remained separated and the Rainbow of Light took them to a location not even the Champions know of."
Kail also left out the part where she was the one who came up with the plan to keep the stripes separated in the pony popsicle. And the part where the Orange was later freed, and fought in the War of the False Gods. She didn't need to tell the Queen everything, only that the Dark Rainbow was not whole, and in an unknown location. Unless somepony had found it in the last thousand years.
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Post by Nightbow on Jan 27, 2013 7:36:33 GMT -5
Queen Eclipse listened attentively. So the Dark Stripes where scattered. Suddenly the ramblings on the roof made a little more sense to her - the pegasus going on about the stripes and the unicorn breathing word of a popsicle, and later her tell-tale desire to disclose something, but not daring to do so without the peg's permission. Her precious stripes - could it be? Where they frozen?
Standing in front of a pony who had fought for the light side spooked her a little after all these years, but Kailani shouldn't be able to touch her even if there was a trace of the Rainbow's power inside of her - as "the Green Champion of the Rainbow of Light" the peg apparently was prone to the mere presence of her.
It dawned upon the towering figure of white and black that she needed Kailani. If she wanted to know the whereabouts of her precious stripes, she needed to play the little green one right into her hooves, for even if it was true that even she didn't know where the Rainbow of Light had taken them, she knew the light and she was her closest link to understand its workings. With the power of the Darkness and the Light Eclipse would be the undisputed ruler of the world. She needed them both to bring about balance - at least she hoped that convincing the defiant pegasus so would not prove to be too troublesome.
"Light and Darkness", Eclipse repeated. "Together they make balance. Together they will bring peace. When I possess the Dark Rainbow surely the Rainbow of Light will appear. You will help me on my quest. Encased they will be harmless until the time is right. That, I assure you. You must locate the popsicle!"
"We didn't tell you about the popsicle." The little purple unicorn stood firm, but bewildered, regretting her line the very second she spoke it. Whisper Wind was unaware that Eclipse had overheard her note of the popsicle earlier, and she couldn't tell if Queen Eclipse had put it all together or actually been eavesdropping on them. Her voice was bereft of sceptics, merely stating facts. In any case, she could tell by the look on Eclipse's face that she had not taken kindly to her words.
Whatever information the two possessed, Eclipse could tell the mares did not trust her, and it would not be freely given to her. Having no further use of the subjects if they refused to do her bidding, she acted.
"My Queen!" Yelled Knight Shade in utter horror as a white lightning broke forth from Eclipse and encased the youth in a twitching aura.
Whisp had no time to think. A second after she had spoken and Queen Eclipses eyes had darkened further, a searing pain threatened to split her body in half. She wanted to screech, but her muscles did not obey her.
"TELL ME WHERE IT WAS TAKEN!" Queen Eclipse wailed at Kail.
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Post by Becka on Jan 27, 2013 16:05:13 GMT -5
Oh Whispering Wind. As soon as she mentioned the popsicle Kail knew something would go wrong. But she never imagined how wrong it could go. As the Queen spoke of balancing the Light and Dark the green peg almost wanted to believe her - to believe would be so easy. But then the young unicorn spoke and the Queen showed who she really was.
And the worst part was that Kail could do nothing. She couldn't touch the Queen. Couldn't even get close. If she tried her stomach would turn inside out and she would burn.
"I don't know!" Kail screamed at the Queen. "I don't know where it was taken! But I know how to release it!"
She hoped that was enough to center the Queen's attention on her, instead of Whisp. Lightning wouldn't hurt her - well, it would HURT, but it wouldn't kill her, like it could the unicorn.
"Give us leave to find it, and I can release the Dark Rainbow. Balance will be restored."
Kail hoped that was true. She'd have to scour her memories for a place the Rainbow might have taken it - a place the Orange might have mentioned during their fight - but she'd release the Dark Rainbow if it meant saving Whisper Wind.
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