What we Believed to be Gone

by IGIBAB

Part 1

"Explorer twelve, you're closing in on the target."

"Target in view, Control. Reducing speed."

The gray pegasus grabbed a lever right next to her, lowering it. The big chunk of metal she was in slowed down.

It was the standard model of the scout spaceship class. The Gathered State of Creature, or GSC for short, had only begun to produce them a few years ago, when the spatial exploration had taken off following new discoveries. The ship was small, elongated, made for no more than four crew members. Currently, they were just two inside it. One pegasus and one unicorn. Only the pegasus was standing in the cockpit.

In the ocean of emptiness that was space, they were approaching an island of matter. A planet. or rather, what was left of it. As they got closer, they flew past a few asteroids. A sparse belt had formed around the celestial body, drifting through space.

The sun was barely visible behind them. They were at the utmost limit of their solar system. And here it was. In front of them. The legendary catastrophic planet. What was it doing here? Legends and tales had tried to explain it, all coming from a time when it was much closer to home. It had slowly drifted from its original orbit, over the millennia, against all known physic explanations.

They were still far away. And yet, they could see it. The sphere, two or three thousands kilometers in radius. Its surface was mostly brown, as if covered by some poor quality soil, dry and untouched.

Mostly. Because, on its right hemisphere, something broke the monotony of the surface. Something that dug through the crust and beyond. A crater. Not round, as they could see its edges, two sharp triangular shapes, while it was slowly rotating away from their view.

"Control," the pegasus said. "Visual contact with the target confirmed. For now, the Shattered Sea hasn't been fully observed, but we can confirm its existence. The hypothesis of a magical aberration orbiting the planet and distorting our observations from Weil appears to be disproven."

"Copy that, Explorer twelve. Please, get a clear view of the Shattered Sea."

"Recording started," said another mare on the radio.

"Don't zoom in right away, Donker," the pegasus asked.

"Think it's the first time I'm using a camera?" she replied with a laugh.

"Just saying. A wide shot to start will be better for control."

With one wing, she grabbed the yoke and turned the ship to the right, pushing on the thrusters.

"Entering orbit."

Using the gravitational pull from the planet to gain speed, they circled around it. As they did, through the windows, the crater unveiled itself. Cutting so deep in the crust that it wasn't brown but a silvery color. And the shape was the same as seen in their telescopes, back at home. A six-pointed star, with sharp edges.

"You see that, Schim?" asked Donker on the radio.

"It's real..." the pegasus muttered in disbelief. "And the edges are too clean to be natural. Something or someone made that."

"It's about four thousand kilometers from north to south. And three thousand wide."

"The scanners are detecting magical remnants in the crater," Schim said, looking at her readings before frowning. "There seems to be something in the middle concentrating them."

"I'm trying to zoom in..." Donker added with a focused tone. "Looks quite big. I'd say ten or twelve kilometers in radius."

"Control, authorization to take a closer look?"

"Checking with operation's command," the other voice answered. "Hold on, Explorer."

There was a brief silence, during which Donker and Schim contemplated the position they were in.

"First creatures to be here," said the unicorn with a little snarky tone. "Congratulations to us. That'll make the yaks and the griffons shush a bit."

"This discovery is for all of us," Schim nuanced. "It'll be a bigger deal for ponies, sure, but every creature should celebrate it."

"As if they cared. This will just confirm the legends, and all of them only mention ponies."

"But which ones are true...?"

Schim couldn't stop looking at the crater. That symbol had such an importance in their culture. To find it here, among the stars, so far from home. What did it mean? Did it predate the apparition of this shape in pony folklore? Was it contemporary? Was it the cause? Or a consequence?

"Explorer, this is Control. You have clearance to get closer and land on the planet to instigate the anomaly."

"Copy that," Schim said. "Donker, get in there, I'll need your help for the landing."

"Roger that," the unicorn replied. "I'm locking the camera tracking on the formation."

Another push on the thrusters and the ship was now heading straight towards the center of the crater. No atmosphere to speak of, friction wouldn't be a problem. And the gravity was weaker than on their home planet, Weil.

With the help of her blue unicorn friend, Schim managed to approach the planet. As they got closer, the anomaly appeared clearer than on the camera in front of their eyes.

"Control, we have..." the pegasus hesitated. "A field of crystals. Purple ones."

Ten kilometers outside of the center, it was only sparse formations, here and there. Big hexagonal semi-transparent crystals, probably around ten or twenty meters high, randomly spread, on their own.

But inside the circle, there were real formations. It was like a forest, and the closer to the center, the more dense its trees became. At one point, it was just one big structure.

"Not just purple ones," Donker corrected. "There are a few black and green ones as well."

"Why purple...?" Schim muttered.

That color was always associated with that shape in their folklore. The link was now undeniable. But what was it?

---

The crystals were so densely disposed near the center that the two mares had to land much further away, where they were more sparsely dispersed. Once suit up, the landing platform deployed and the two ponies set foot on the catastrophic planet. Sparkle, as it was still called to this day. As they walked forward, both of them were thinking about common sentences from their world.

"Another step forward, another leap into our future," Donker said to herself.

"Do not go unprepared among the stars, for they are home to the worms, the souls of the brave and death," Schim remembered in a shiver. This crater was a star, in its own way. And no one on Weil knew what the other things were referencing.

The faint light of the sun, unblocked by the lack of an atmosphere, was just enough to make the crystals around them glitter. Although, the star was getting low.

"Night should fall in about an hour," the voice in the radio reminded them. "Communication will be impossible afterwards, for about four hours. Try to be quick."

"Roger."

A hoof on the ground. Then a step. The ground was solid, compressed by whatever had made that crater. As hard as rock or iron.

They walked up to one of the crystals, towering ten meters above them. It was semi-transparent and a deep purple. Donker took some kind of scalpel with her magic and carved out a piece of it. Or at least, tried. The thing was as solid as it gets, even though her tool was made to take samples. She forced a bit, only to give up, talking to her radio, the voice muffled by the suit:

"The crystals aren't natural. Just like the one in the old city of the heart."

"Permission to use your magic on it," Control responded. "Be careful if you touch them."

"There's something inside," Schim muttered, squinting.

"What?" Donker asked, trying to look. "I can't see anything."

She shined some light on the crystal with her magic, but barely saw anything. Schim, with her pegasus eyes, clearly distinguished the fine black line trapped in there. It was like a line of ink, snaking in it, trapped and frozen.

"You're sure there's something?" the unicorn insisted.

"Yeah... It's black. It's not moving. Kinda like... Like this crystal was a prison for it."

"Maybe it got caught during the formation. Is it like an animal or something?"

"Not it's... It doesn't even look real. Like it's not physically there."

Donker raised an eyebrow at her crewmate.

"You're not making sense."

"I know. But it's not my fault."

Something felt off. But she couldn't tell what. Even less so describe it.

"Alright, magical analysis it is!" Donker said.

As quickly as she ended her sentence, she enveloped the crystal with her blue aura. Which she came to regret almost immediately. A pulsation emanated from the crystal, as it glowed briefly, only for Donker's magic to disappear in an instant.

"That thing drained my man-"

The crystal turned bright, blinding them both for a brief moment, and despite the lack of an atmosphere, they both heard the distinct sound of glass shattering. When they opened their eyes a second later, the crystal had disappeared. Small pieces glittering and disintegrating were falling around them. And now, they could see it. The long black ink-like snake, floating in the air. A meter long, maybe two, it was hard to tell, as it undulated in the void, so thin that it sometimes vanished from their view.

It stayed like this for a brief moment, as if stunned by this sudden freedom. Then it became alive, like possessed, slithering away, running from something.

And that something suddenly caught it. Out of nowhere, another snake-like creature, purple this time, swooped down on it, coiling itself around it. The two ponies watched them struggle and fight, unsure of what they were witnessing.

"Control, something is happening..." Schim said with an uncertain voice. "The crystal broke and there are two... creatures fighting."

"The purple one is a magical filament," Donker added, frowning. "This is forbidden magic. I don't know about the black one though."

The purple snake made out of mana finally put an end to its foe, strangling it so tight until it simply exploded and shattered, scattering in space before vanishing, as if it had never existed.

Now alone, the filament drifted slightly, turning, looking around to make sure its target had been eliminated. Schim walked forward.

"Hello?" she tried.

Clearly, that thing was somewhat sentient. It had just destroyed something, but Schim didn't like that black inky creature to begin with. It felt wrong. And Donker could protect her anyway.

The purple worm turned to her. It didn't have a face, but it looked surprised, judging by the manner with which it bent.

"What... What's going on here?" the pegasus asked.

Schim jumped back when the worm rushed down to her, only to hit a magical wall that Donker had quickly raised.

"Back off!" the unicorn said, throwing her shield at the worm to repel it.

The purple filament moved back, before flying away without giving them a second look.

"Control! That thing tried to attack Schim! I'm engaging pursuit!"

Donker threw herself after the magical oddity. The pegasus took a bit more time to comprehend what had happened, but rushed after her.

"Wait!"

"I'm not waiting! Whatever was trapped in that crystal, it killed it! I won't wait for it to do the same to us!"

"But it's running away! It doesn't want to attack us!"

"It's just going to gather some strength or something!"

But the gravity was low, the suits were cumbersome, and the filament wasn't even made out of real matter. So, after a few turns, they lost track of it.

"Dammit!" Donker cursed, catching her breath.

"What's even a filament?" Schim asked, joining her.

"Some type of soul magic. It uses the very life essence of someone to make half-sentient puppets. It does not really think on its own, it's not really alive. It only exists through the mana that makes it and the will that brought it here."

"So... Someone used their soul to make it...?"

"Theirs or someone else's," Donker answered through gritted teeth. "That's what most people do. But it's still someone's soul. It can feel, even though it doesn't understand what's happening."

"That type of magic has been forbidden for millennia," the voice on the radio said. "Checking with operation's command right now, but I'll advise you to try and locate that thing and stop it."

"Something doesn't fit," Schim hesitantly pointed out. "I didn't see the filament in the crystal before it broke, but I saw that other thing in it."

"Purple in purple," Donker explained. "That's why you didn't see it. Sorry, Control, but we lost it, and that place is a maze."

Schim thought about it. No. That thing was glittering. She would have spotted it. So, where was that filament coming from?

She looked around. There were other crystals still, more than before. They had progressed towards the center, but were still far away. She walked up to another crystal and, this time, it was easier to spot.

"There's another black thing in this one."

She moved to another nearby.

"In this one too. There's two, even."

All of them. All the purple crystals had at least one of those ink snakes in them. Donker walked up to one of the few black crystals, and Schim joined her.

"There doesn't seem to be anything purple in that one," the unicorn noted, before realizing. "Oh my god..."

Schim's feathers bristled. That crystal wasn't black. It was purple, like the others. But it appeared black because its insides were filled with those ink snakes.

"There's... thousands..." she muttered.

They were clearly different from the filament. They weren't made of magic, but not matter either. It was something else, almost liquid, shining like a well polished rock, but still so dark.

"I... I don't think we should be analyzing anything else," Schim suggested, her guts feeling suddenly oppressed. "If this crystal breaks, all those things will be free."

"I... agree with you on that one," Donker admitted. "I don't like those filaments, but those things... I felt pity for the first one, but they... they terrify me."

"Operation's command asks you to pursue your investigation. Try to learn more, but be careful."

The two ponies looked at each other. They had completely lost track of the filament now, but they had the same idea. Donker grabbed her radio.

"We're going to see what's at the center of all this."

"Copy that."

"Can you teleport us?" Schim asked, nervously looking at the sun slowly going down near the horizon.

"I'd rather not. Those crystals could react to my magic. I could miss the landing and end up frozen in one of those, or worse."

"Then we'll have to hurry."

They both began to run. Towards the epicenter of the crystal fields. Schim regretted that she couldn't fly without an atmosphere. She could have searched for the filament from up high.