Artemis Sparkshower

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‘This really doesn’t seem like a good idea.’

Following the blind Balladeer of Ghosts through the Rookery's dark tunnels would be questionable, even if the whole quaternion and Specialist Artemis Sparkshower’s VIP were with them. But she was doing it with just her unicorn comrade Lily, split up from Honour, Anonymous, and most importantly, Purity, who at least knew the place -- and could see where she was going in the darkness far better than Artemis could.

Although, Ignacio appeared to 'see' the path pretty clearly using his 'magic-sense,' or whatever it was. He did say it was a lot easier with familiar places; maybe he was taking them to one such familiar place?

She trotted forwards a bit to come up beside him.

"Mister Blazon, sir?"

The batpony continued to hobble forward, walking his staccato four-hooves-and-one-crutch beat.

"Jes?"

"I was just wondering, sir: this place you're taking us, does it have a name?"

Artemis saw his brow shift underneath his red-fringed black blindfold.

"Mi casa."

Lily piped up behind him. "What kind of a name for a place is 'mikasa'?"

Ignacio chuckled. "Heh, it is a joke. I am taking jou to my house: mi casa..."

He sniffled deeply, thrusting his crutch forward in another step. "...It has no name, it is simply my home. We of the Eclipse Phase dwell not on the symbolism and the pageantry as do the Lunars. They are the ones who love the names mystical and fantastic, not us."

There was more than a hint of disdain in his words. Artemis felt she was starting to understand why Sergeant Ebonshield expected him to be grouchy last time. And why she was so surprised when he was pleasant and cordial to all of them instead.

Lily trotted up beside him as well, apparently no longer content to just follow from behind. "You're moving along pretty confidently. I guess the route to your home must be pretty familiar to you, in terms of your magic-sense?"

The Balladeer of Ghosts grinned. "Jes, this is so. But also I have confidence in the two young Equestrians with the eyesight proper and functioning to warn me if I am about to bump into someone or something, no?"

Lily snorted and shook her head. It may have been a joke, but he wasn’t wrong; Artemis would have spoken up if somepony crossed their paths. Yet, so far the route had taken them down empty hallways and vacant tunnels, though the pegasus could hear voices and activity behind some of the curtained doorways. Sounds and smells of cooking, mostly.

It was almost 'lunchtime' down there, she supposed.

The current tunnel, already fairly dimly lit by just the occasional hanging lamp, suddenly opened up into a larger chamber with a high ceiling and a bright light. Beyond that forty-square-hoof room, the line Artemis was following continued straight ahead, but it looked to be completely unlit. And, more importantly, there was a large symbol painted on the floor, there. A twenty-hoof, black-filled circle with a half-hoof-thick red outline.

Lily stopped to shoot Artemis a concerned glance, and the pegasus stopped to whisper back. "Isn't this the symbol of the Eclipse?"

She nodded, and turned forward again as Ignacio toddled right over the circle. "Mister Blazon, didn't you just tell us the Eclipse weren't big into symbols and the like?"

Without so much as breaking his odd-numbered step, he tapped his crutch against the drawing and continued on. "This painting on the floor is not for my Phase. This is for everypony else, to warn them to keep out."

That answer resulted in another exchange of concerned looks between Artemis and Lily.

Artemis watched as her unicorn buddy took a half step forward, before she swallowed and spoke up. "Why do they need to keep out?"

Ignacio paused at the entrance to the pitch-black tunnel. Leaning over his shoulder, he whispered. "Because past this room, there is a maze confusing, and also there is no light -- only shadows."

There was a certain, unusual emphasis on that last word which made Artemis’ coat stand on end. After a momentary pause, he turned forward again, waving his crutch aimlessly in the air before proceeding.

"... Jou may use a little of jour magic to illuminate the way, unicornio. But not too much, or the buzzing may make me lose my way. Though, this is unlikely, since I know the path well. And keep close, both of jou!"

That was hardly reassuring. Artemis felt worse than ever about the whole setup, and she leaned over towards her comrade.

"Are you still sure about this, Lily?"

Sucking in her lips, Glamerspear inhaled through her nose, then nodded. "I am, yeah..."

Stepping forward, she surrounded her horn with a teal-tinted white glow, then turned back to the pegasus.

"... Artemis, are you ever afraid to fly?"

Sparkshower scrunched up her brow. "I mean, almost every baby pegasus is afraid the first few times... But if you mean as an adult..."

She took a deep breath, then looked over at the darkness that even now was swallowing up their guide-pony. "...I guess sometimes, during really bad storms and the like, it can be scary, even terrifying. It's a fear of the unknown, I guess, since we try to avoid flying during awful weather, though AWACS ponies sometimes have to."

Lily took another couple of steps forward, so that her light kept Ignacio visible, and Artemis followed along. "...Or when there's fighting involved. I was afraid of flying against Joker, at the bridge. You remember. The Royal Engineer helped me overcome that fear; I don't think I'd be afraid of him again. But it could happen with somepony else, maybe. Or in a different situation. There's always the danger of falling to the ground."

Lily nodded, continuing forwards. "Unicorn magic can be like that, too. Learning your first real spell is dangerous and scary, even if afterwards casting it under normal circumstances is trivial. Learning greater magic after that can be just as harrowing."

Sighing, she shook her head. "I dunno where I was going with this, exactly. I guess all I meant is that I think this is one of those situations? Where it's scary and it feels dangerous, but that's just because it's an unknown, ya know?"

Artemis nodded, and Lily exhaled dismissively. “I mean, creepy blind mage, pitch-black maze, huge 'keep out' sign painted on the floor... Yeah no kidding it's scary at first, right? But it is his home, and I bet the next time we come here we'll just stroll right in, laughing about how scared we were the first time."

Artemis couldn't help but think of a different alternative.

"If we make it out again."

Glamerspear shot her a glare, and the pegasus forced out an insincere chuckle.

"Heh, I'm just joking, Lily..."

The faux sincerity quickly dissipated.

"...Mostly."

Boldly, Lily pressed forwards. "We can handle this, okay, Sparks? I've got enough power in my horn to light these tunnels up so bright that they'll be able to see them from Cloudsdale. If you want to stay here or head back, I won't blame you. This is more about me than it is about you, after all. But if the Royal Engineer and the Corporal can fearlessly walk right into the 'Lunar Sanctuary,' I think we can both follow a blind batpony who doesn't need light -- which, duh, is why they didn't bother installing any in here -- into his home."

Swallowing, but encouraged by her little pep-talk, Artemis followed along. "Okay. You're right. We can do this."

Within moments, they both caught up right behind Ignacio, following him side-by-side in the dim light of Glamerspear's globe of illumination. The new tunnel shaft was small, with a low ceiling and rougher walls than elsewhere in the Rookery, but the ground had still been beaten or blasted into a flat path. After a while, Artemis looked back, and saw the circle of light to the entryway grow smaller and fade.

Then, she followed Ignacio around a corner and it disappeared entirely.

---

Suggested background music: Jerry Goldsmith - 'The Passage', from 'Alien' [1979]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hh9M1EE-pm8

---

Hoofsteps -- Artemis’ own, presumably -- echoed off in the distance as the tunnel walls closed in uncomfortably, and forced her and Lily to walk muzzle-to-tail behind their guide, with the unicorn in the middle so as to maintain the light on his backside.

The pace was comfortably slow, and Artemis tried to keep her focus on her partner-pony in front of her, but with each step, as Lily bobbed her head -- and therefore her mane and horn as well -- the light source bobbed and weaved, casting shadows that flickered and danced along the walls surrounding her. These sensations became routine after a while, and the pegasus started to settle down into a rhythm, but then all of a sudden both of the walls beside her disappeared to reveal an alternative path, and what were short shadows and shallow echoes instead became voluminous and reverberant, hinting at things unseen in the distance.

The moment passed, and the walls returned, but the hint of terror remained. And those walls which at first which were uncomfortably close were now a friendly relief from the terror of an open, empty space.

‘A space that might hide anything in its darkness.’

That was an unsettling thought. Artemis couldn't help but look back occasionally, wondering if anything was now behind her.

Then, at just one of those rearguard-checking moments, it happened again -- first the left wall, and then the right. That was another two entry points for somepony trying to flank her.

Or some-thing.

‘Thundershowers, there's a reason most pegasi don't like tight corridors -- and I’m one of those pegasi!’

The hallways in the Rookery had been manageable, but this was on a whole different level.

Wait, was that a hole in the ceiling that they just walked past, too?!

Stifling a gasp, Artemis turned forwards again, resolving herself not to look back any more.

‘Just, put one hoof in front of the other and press on.’ Ignacio knows where he was going. And he'd get her there safe and sound, as long as she just followed him.

The light in front of her flickered again, and Lily turned her head to glance back at the pegasus.

"Are you okay, Sparks? You're breathing awful hard on my tail."

Artemis nodded, her helmet scraping against her gorget. "I'm fine. It's just more cramped than I expected, that's all."

With a cocked eyebrow that made it unclear if she bought the pegasus’ lie, Lily turned forward again. "Is it much further, Mister Blazon?"

It was so constrained there that Lily’s own body muffled her voice. And she heard the echoes come chasing back up behind her...

"... much further ... much further ... much further ..."

Ignacio's reply sounded even more distant. "No, not much further. Dim jour light more, if jou can. I do not wish to disturb the others."

‘Others??’

‘What others??’

Artemis opened her eyes wide in a state of semi-panic, and, defying her earlier pledge, checked behind herself once more as Lily further dimmed her globe of illumination.

"Is this okay? Artemis, you can still see me, right?"

She didn’t need to see her -- the pegasus had pushed up so close that some of Lily’s tail-hairs were poking through her open visor and brushing her cheeks.

It was whatever might be following that worried her.

The formerly bright outline of Artemis’ own shadow behind her faded into the darkness around it, but even accounting for the existing flicker caused by Lily's head-movements, she could swear that there was something out there.

Something dark, and evasive.

Her stomach started to turn, and she felt her armor push against her body in strange ways. Pieces of it that should have been properly suspended from straps instead began to resist her normal movements. She even began to feel uncomfortable with her own steps, like she was going to miss-place a hoof and trip over herself at any moment. It was all too reminiscent of how she’d felt during her duel with 'Joker,' or her first armed reconnaissance against the Changeling hordes, or her first flight home in a thunderstorm.

The butterflies of inexperience.

She heard Ignacio speak from up ahead.

"Ah, here we are. Hola, cabrones."

Still looking back, Artemis plowed her right cheek right into Lily's backside as she failed to recognize the halt in time. Receiving nothing more than a silent, incensed scowl, Lily turned back to face the scene before them.

The suffocatingly tight corridor had given way to a large, round room with a domed roof and a bowl-shaped floor. And...

‘There's light here?’

---

Suggested background music: Mark Morgan - 'Mortuary', from 'Planescape: Torment' [1999]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZP3R_T4-1o

---

A smokeless fire pulsed warmly in the center of the room, with a bubbling cauldron hanging over it.

Artemis piped up. "I thought you said there wasn't supposed to be any light in here."

In front, Ignacio turned around, a scowl on his mouth. "Where do jou see light except on the unicornio?"

Hesitantly, she stepped up beside Lily, and pointed a hoof at the center of the room. "That fire; it's casting orange-red light."

He faced the fire himself, appearing confused. "The fire makes the light? Jou do not joke?"

Artemis shook her head. "No, it's really making light."

Even Lily chimed in. "Yeah, and a lot of it, too. I don't think we need this Globe of Illumination any more."

As the light winked out above her head, Ignacio snorted with amusement. "This is funny. That is a small magic which provides heat for cooking. All of us, we are blind, and we never invite anypony in, and we never make this magic outside of the home, so... Nopony has ever seen her to tell us that she makes also the light. Heh, hehe. This alone was worth inviting jou here, ehehehe."

From the left, Artemis heard an elderly mare speak up. "Ignacio, ees that jou?"

Their guidepony turned in her direction. "Sí, Aldonza. And I have brought with me a pegasus and a unicorn."

An old, bearded colt, lying on the floor beside her, cried out in a hoarse and raspy voice. "¿¡Un unicornio!? ¿¡Aquí!? ¡Ándale, ándale, hermanos míos, debemos cargar!"

As the owner of that voice tried to struggle to their hooves, Artemis saw Aldonza lay a reassuring hoof on his shoulder. "No, no, Rocinante, calm jourself. We are all friends, here. Ignacio has only returned for lunch. Eet is safe. Go back to sleep, jes?"

With a series of confused grunts, the shouting batpony went back down again, and Artemis saw his chest heave deeply.

Ignacio sighed, and looked over his shoulder to mutter at Sparkshower and Glamerspear. "This is my family, such as we can say among the Eclipse. We were all born under the same shadowed and red-ringed sky particular, and of the ten children then birthed, there are only we three left. We are the oldest surviving clutch of Eclipse. Aldonza, there, crafted most of the lights magical that jou have seen in the Rookery. Rocinante, beside her, he was also a Balladeer of Ghosts as I am, but now he has almost left us."

With a glum expression, he watched Aldonza soothe the sleeping colt, offering him a bowl of something to drink.

"...He sleeps all the time, and he sees everywhere unicorns that he must charge and duel."

Taking a deep breath, Ignacio sat and gestured his forehooves forwards. "Well, since jou can see, come in, and sit down. 'Mi casa es su casa,' as we say: 'my house is jour house'; make jourselves at home. Are jou hungry? There is soup above the fire, and bowls beside the flame. Help jourselves to as much as jou please."

Still scrutinizing the scene, Lily shook her head. "I'm not hungry, thanks."

Artemis shook hers as well -- maybe unnecessary, since her hosts couldn’t see, but then again, maybe that was something they could make out in the 'magic-sound pattern' that let them perceive her. "Thanks, but I'm just glad to be out of those tunnels."

A shiver went down her spine.

‘Just how long was that trip?’ It was probably just a few minutes, but it sure left an impact. She still felt her stomach was a bit upside-down from the experience.

Spying a nice flat cushion on the floor in front of the fire, she took a step forward to sit herself comfortably down and regain her center of balance. But as Artemis pushed off with her hind legs, she gasped as she found herself floating through the air -- and her wings were still folded tight against her body!

"Huh!?"

While Lily's mouth hung open, Ignacio looked up at the pegasus and grinned. "Oh, jes. I suppose also that I should welcome jou to the Moon. Mind jour step; things and ponies are lighter here."

Next Chapter: Chapter 109 Estimated time remaining: 13 Hours, 47 Minutes