Chapter Twelve: Guiding Lights

Alloy helped the twins get familiar with the odd properties of the spring and the plant life that grew within it. A particular blue tree was heavy with a bloated lemon-shaped violet fruit. When picked and squeezed it foamed like body wash. When it came in contact with the minerals of the water the violet foam began to glow with a pink light. The natural magic purified all it touched, even mended superficial wounds and relaxed strained muscles.

The underground complex was virtually silent by the time they were done with their bath. A few patrols here and there, a few dedicated sentinels including the gold clad soldiers that never left their reinforced door.

Alloy guided the twins into a long chamber lined with rustic looking bunk beds. Faint indigo crystals in wall sconces lined the room. Bless's gift identified them with a mute spell, the stones nullifying all noise from traveling through the walls. Soldiers and dragons snored, purred, and whinnied in their sleep without a peep of sound. Not even the beating of their own hearts could be heard.

Alloy's bed was marked with a steamer chest directly in front of it, her name etched by claw in the top. She dressed down to a breast wrap and panties before slipping under purple covers, perhaps donated by the royal palace itself.

The twins paused before Alloy motioned them to join. It would be a snug fit, but a welcome one. Arcane, both sides of her, felt something curious. It worried Bless and intrigued Hex. There was a hard to quality feeling when next to Alloy. Perhaps it was just chemical, or some other trick of their minds. It was something one never noticed until it happened. She was, they were, unconditionally comfortable with the dragon between her forms. Maybe it was love, maybe it wasn't. Whatever it was, she didn't want it to end.

-

"Hexxed Gears"

The incense stung her nose and made her eyes water, but at least she got what she wanted without needing to explain why.

Arcane entered the tiny hut of an old Mundane mare by the name of ClearWater. Normally it was new parents and children that visited the elderly Fateseer, but tonight it was a teenage mare with five hundred bits and a 'bet'.

"Congratulations", Arcane said as she dropped a bag of coins into the lap of the older mare sitting cross legged on her straw floor.

The old one let out a laugh that devolved into a hacking cough. "You admit a FateSeer can see one's fate, yet you honestly think we can be fooled? This was no bet for me to guess your name, filly, you were searching for one that fits you as you are now. You're right, 'Arcane Gears' does not fit you in this form. You are only half of what the Arcane holds. You lack Blessings."

"How did you know.", She took a step forward as the old mare fell silent, her face motionless. "FateSeer? Mrs Clearwater?"

"Hex…"

A whisper outside. It was so faint, yet somehow it pierced the ramshackle walls of this hut.

The door was smaller than she remembered, then again, she was a fifteen year old runaway in this memory. She pushed it open and didn't see the swampy borderland between Everfree and Everfield where Clearwater lived. What she saw confirmed this was a dream. Beyond the cabin was dark water and an endless sky of deep indigo and shades of bruised violets.

She walked out with a scripted certainty the water was solid, and so it was. Her hooves didn't penetrate what looked like an endless abyss, the placid surface as steady as solid ground.

In the distance a dark figure stood with their back to Hex. She took a single step and within dream logic was now right beside the other.

Queen Luna looked into stars connected by thin lines, constellations which drew out images of fallen heroes and legends long since forgotten by most. She looked up with nostalgia and longing, with a heavy burden in her eyes.

"I wasn't the popular princess, you know. My parents saw me as a backup and little more, and even as I grew into a filly they and my people paid me little mind. I don't blame them, though. At least not anymore.

I was the pragmatic one, the untrusting one. I didn't do parties or grand adventures like my sister. I was quiet, observing, and more than happy serving my people through their dreams. I was there for the unpleasant work, the less glamorous tasks that require a… reserved hand."

Hex gave a weak smile. She could sympathize with so much of that, at least in her own manner.

"Call me what you want, just not 'pragmatic'. I sleep around, I work as a bounty hunter. I even ran away from home."

"You only took the jobs you could handle. The promiscuity was a large risk, but hardly random. As for running away, you didn't exactly do that for your own sake."

The stars began to move in the night sky from west to east. Time was regressing. The deep reds and oranges of a sunset rose over the horizon. From the abyss rose cobblestones and famillair cottage style buildings. She was back here now, back into the home she destroyed.

"No."

Luna didn't look in her direction or answer. Her blue eyes were focused on a much smaller version of Arcane. Her fragile form was made of exposed bone and white flames splotched with black. Her skeletal mouth was open in a silent scream as her hands struggled with the chain of a collar. Before her was the skeletal dragon that collared her.

"I don't understand. Why are you showing me this", Hex's voice quivered only once as she spoke, but something inside her was coming loose. Hex couldn't feel the emotion of dread, or perhaps she didn't understand it. All she knew is she wanted to look away and yet couldn't find the Will to listen to her own body.

"I said I was practical. I never said anything about being kind.", Luna said soft yet stern.

Hex felt emotion stir inside. That faint hint of emotion burst from ember to pyre. Her head couldn't move from the sight, but she still had control of her mouth.

"Bless is going to see this. You have no idea what it's like for her. How could you? You were born Ascended. This shit is your fucking birthright. Do you know what it was to us? It was a nightmare we want to forget!"

"It was a nightmare you want to forget. You are Bless, Bless is you."

Luna corrected calmly.

"Fine! Fucking fine! She twisted my gift and made it more powerful than it was ever meant to be. It ripped apart reality for me and showed me everything, forcing me to feel EVERYTHING. Hate, love, loyalty, rebellion, all memories, all sensations, every concept birthed within a living mind all at once.

It broke me in half."

She began to hyperventilate. She was growing numb from the neck down. Her legs failed and knees struck the cobblestones. The pain wasn't even a distraction.

Her younger self screamed in two voices as she rythed in place. An explosion of raw power spread in white and black flame. It consumed everything, even the bones of that damned dragon. It ate away at houses, blasted cobblestones into the nearby sea. It burnt away the collar and her connection to an unseen master. When it was over she was left with the dying sunset and the embers only her gift could see. The parting souls of everyone she just killed took to the sky like fireflies.

Hex cupped her own face and gripped tight. For all the effort she could muster there was no holding it back. Tears leaked from between her fingers and dripped down her arms.

Luna slid down and wrapped arms around her. The armor Hex first saw her in was now gone and replaced by a blue silken dress. Her short hair was again long and flowing. Hex screamed into Luna's chest until she was left drained of the unwelcomed sadness and rage that possessed her. She wasn't numb again, this was something new. Release, perhaps.

The light dimmed as the terrible memory faded. All that remained was that endless sea of stars, Hex, and the queen.

"Why?", Hex asked with a weakened voice, not bothering to look up.

"When a bone sets badly the only thing one can do is break it again so it can be set right. You've resisted the dark for so long, Hex, but you did so by locking it inside you. How do you expect to be your whole self?

Remember when I said the dark isn't evil? Well, it isn't. Not so long as you're in control, and it not in control of you."

Hex looked up. A slow realization came over her as eyes grew practically into circles. Queen Luna never said that, but…

"Angel?"

Luna gave a grin and kissed Hex on the nose.

"Wait! You… we… I fucked…"

-

A vague sense of anguish forced Bless's eyes open, and like so many dreams, the details faded from her waking mind faster than they could be recalled. This was fine. The emotions of the dream were enough, whatever it was, the subconscious could have it.

She remained in bed and closed her eyes to no avail. Not even the soft warm body of Alloy was enough to lull her back into sleep. There was something more, something that felt like the emotional equivalent of a child tugging at your clothing for attention.

She slid out of bed clumsily and silently thanked the magic in this room which nullified sound. She didn't have to make an effort to leave without rousing anyone, she simply dressed in her borrowed clothing and walked into the corridor.

The echoing click of her hooves returned the moment she left the barracks. Even without the enchantment things were oddly quiet. Only the distant clicks of a few hooves and talons, guards on their nightly patrols.

Curiosity and that insistent pull made her walk in a particular and famillair direction. There was no way she memorized these winding tunnels so quickly and yet everything felt so sure, so easily navigated. Ahead of her came the lab, but that silent urge wanted her to turn left.

Golden spears crossed before a reinforced door. The ones that held the staves were also dressed in gold, their eyes stern and faces white.

"Halt, go no further", they spoke sternly and in unison.

Bless opened her mouth to speak but found her words seized in her throat. She didn't know why she was doing this or where this door led. How in Hades could she explain herself to two soldiers that looked not at all hesitant to run her through? Each had that odd thousand-yard stare, one only veterans in war had. One that suggested the war never left them.

The door took on a gold glimmer as clanks and whirring gears turned. The many locking mechanisms of the door undid themselves and hinges creaked as it slowly swayed open. From the room beyond a matronly voice spoke.

"Let her pass, FastWind, BlueSky. She is a friend."

The soldiers stood at attention and uncrossed their spears to let Bless cross. They didn't so much as look back as she walked into a room that couldn't be more different. The walls were made smooth and the corners rounded to look like columns. The upper edges were made to look like Victorian molding with vine-like patterns swirling from wall to wall. The floor was wooden with a thick red carpet covering every inch.

Along one wall was a study made of fine mahogany with an ornate chair to match. Near this was a bay of large machines with tubes and wires snaking from them. Many led into a four-post bed shrouded in silks, and in this bed lay Queen Celestia.

Bless timidly walked to the bedside and looked apon the Queen of Day. Across her face, arms, and peeking from her back were exposed patches of scar tissue, all meticulously inflicted. Her body was emaciated, her cheeks concave and ribs visible under the gossamer sheets that covered her nude form.

"Please, sit." Celestia's finger motioning her closer. At the very same time the chair bent its wooden legs and quite literally galloped closer before becoming nothing more than an unassuming piece of furniture.

Bless did as she was ordered.

"Your Highness, you can still use magic?"

She gave a barely perceptible nod, "Limited magic. My doctor, Miss Alloy, has been a wonderful help. She never ceases to amaze."

She blushed a deep shade of rose at the comment. She could agree, for several reasons.

"Y… yes. She's quite amazing."

Celestia never sat up or even raised her head, in fact, it was only now that Bless realized the Queen wasn't looking directly at her. Those blue eyes were cloudy, perhaps fully blind.

"My sister tells me you're half a soul, that the element you recovered for us divided your body. Though something tells me you were in two places well before this."

Bless bit her bottom lip. She wanted to stand up and walk away yet she was frozen to the spot. This was Queen Celsestia, not some nosy therapist or well meaning stranger.

"Yes." Was her one word answer.

"Nine hundred and eighty four years."

The seemingly random statement made her brow furrow in pure confusion. She wanted to say 'What?' But worried her tone would seem disrespectful. Ultimately, all Bless could do is let out a tiny croak from a dry throat.

"That's how long it took me to find six knights worthy of the Elements. I lost control of them the day I lost my sister, as history books would tell you. From then on, my light was tarnished and they no longer would answer me. Once I-"

Bless found herself leaning in and touching the Queen's thin hand. She grasped back, as much as she could.

"I know, there's no need to revisit it.", Bless said gently. Celestia smiled as a tear welled in the Queen's left eye and ran down her cheek. It wasn't just sorrow, but gratitude she could skip speaking about her greatest sin.

"More time was lost while rebuilding the kingdom, but I hoped that would somehow bring the six forward. Unfortunately, It would be another seven hundred years of fruitless searching.

One day, I decided to take a walk in disguise. Not as queen, but a common Equis far removed from the pressures of my station. I was passing a quarry town when I came across a pink filly with the deepest sorrow. Her's was not the frown of a child, not the frown of one upset by petty things. This was a grown mare's frown, one that reflected my own sorrow back to me. Existential dread etched on the face of one too young.

She smiled the moment she realized I was there. This wasn't a smile for her sake, but for mine. She smiled so I would not feel the depression she knew all too well.

That's when I realized something. I was looking for those whom embody the elements, all the while I should have sought those with long shadows that still manage to shine."

Bless continued to hold the Queen's hand and listened intently. Some of it was never covered by history books, true, but it seemed like such a random subject. Perhaps it was her confession? Her need to tell someone her full story before the inevitable.

"But why do I tell you this, you say?", Celestia said with a smirk. "Bless, you can shine too, but only if you embrace the shadow you too cast. Only then will you be whole."

She felt a chill run up her spine as she heard those words. For moments at a time Bless felt as if she were back there. A child with a collar around her neck, her flesh replaced with fire that churned over her exposed bones. She saw the thirteen veins, the rivers that looked impossibly distant and only centimeters away all at once. They wanted to connect with her, flow through her, whisper and scream inside her all things.

"Your highness… I've known…Hex protects me..f-from... is why. It's why I made her.

Your Highness?"

Celestia's eyes slowly closed and went still. A wave of relief came over Bless. The Queen was now asleep. Perhaps she would avoid the call if it came again. Queen or not, there were some things too painful to speak of.

Her eyes focused on Celestia's chest. The fur on the back of Bless' neck stood up. Celestia's chest wasn't moving.

"Your highness" her hand nudged the Queen's side, "Queen Celestia? Queen Celestia!"