For the next few chapters they are all going to take place through the view of different characters. this part of the story is the most important and the views of all other characters help solidify the point im making in these few chapters. this is the brink of everything. everything that happened to crimson ultimately lead up to this point in time.
-the following chapter is shown through the eyes of TWILIGHT SPARKLE-
I don't know what to think... I really don't. I'm worried about crimson. He is the greatest friend I've ever had, but he always seems so troubled. I know he only does it for our own good, but I. Think he's too protective of us, he doesn't understand that he has to trust us as his friends. Yesterday, yesterday was something new... I've never seen him get like that. He has been angry before and it's always something of a shock, to know that side of him could exist... But this time was different. I was terrified... I though he was actually going to hurt us... But I knew he never would.
Whatever his secret is, we must have been pulling some very tight strings on the subject for him to get so worked up like that... We haven't seen him since then. It's currently morning now and the king advised us that he would still try and push us through to the other side of the mountain... He said that his Mage had created an emblem that keeps the hatred of the spear from overtaking him... So he can use it. But still... I worry about crimson.
I woke up that morning opinion the bed and I put a smile on my face only to I have it vanish when I remembered that he wasn't there sleeping on the floor when I awoke, just sprite and shadow tail. I was secretly hoping that he would return that night, but I can see it was just a wonton hope. I lazily picked myself out of bed and started getting ready... The king said that he wanted to move us to the war base outside of the caves early in the morning. So I got up and naturally i started getting ready to leave.
I walked out into the main room and I had waken up sprite and shadow tail. They followed me in and when I got there I saw the others in their gear and eating food. I smiled faintly and walked over as they smiled back. We had cleaned up the mess that crimson had made yesterday... But we couldn't fix the lingering air of regret wallowing in the room... It was obvious enough from every pony no matter how hard they tried to cover it up.
" good morning twilight." Said thunder rush.
" good morning thunder... Nightflame... Miska, hrothar." I said saying good morning to everypony. I took my seat and began eating breakfast while I levitated my bags over to my side and placed them down.
" are you ready twilight?" Asked Nightflame. " the convoy of guards and the king should be here any minute... Have you got your staff?"
" yes... I do." I said. Once we were done eating I got all my stuff together. Put my robes on and grabbed my staff. Since I didn't bring my bags in the first place and crimson forgot him here I grabbed his stuff and put it on my back. And soon enough there was a knock on the door. Nightflame answered it and just as I thought, it was the king and his convoy of guards. He looked a bit sullen too. But he held the spear in his wing he talked about. It looked incredible.
" are the three of you ready?" He asked.
" yes we are ready." I said walking forward. We all want outside and we joined a large group of soldiers in large sapphire encrusted armor. They all healed huge spears like the kings but not quite the same. Hrothar and miska walked out too and smiled. Goodbye hrothar and miska... I wish crimson was here to say the same." I said regretfully.
" don't worry yourself, miss sparkle." Said hrothar. " crimson is a strong lad, whatever he's going through right now might be bad... But he'll pull through... I'd bet my life on it. He said making smile slightly, the others smiled too.
" it was wonderful meeting you three." Said miska smiling.
" aye... She's right." Added hrothar. " you three are a great bunch, I hope you find what your looking for and I hope that when crimson returns to you that you'll tell him I said... Well... Tell him I said that I wish him good luck." He said. I smiled and Nightflame grabbed our luggage still sitting there in the wagon now covered in snow. We had put that large chest crimson brought home onto the wagon and only added more weight.
With a deep sigh the king told the soldiers to march onward and we began our trip. I waved goodbye to miska and hrothar and they waved back until we were out of sight. As we marched through all the ponies in the city smiled and cheered us on, like a crusade to victory. The king smiled and waved at the ponies, but he was hiding his true feelings. I didn't bother much with what was happening around me mostly because i kept my head down and didn't see anything around me.
We had been walking silently for a while now and when I looked up I saw we were leaving through the western exit of the city instead of the front most gate. As we passed by the large exit we walked out into a snowy hoof beaten path covered by the forest. Soon the hustle and bustle of the city faded and all was left was the forest. The clanging of the soldiers metal armor with every step they took became a more prominent sound as it soon became the only audible one. They were drowning out the sound of my own hooves hitting the ground, I could even tell if I was walking on the ground.
It wasn't too long before the forest began thinning out as a large mountainous crevice soon became our terrain. There were two large stone walls on either side of us, and It seemed to go on this way for miles and miles. But it must have been some kind of trick because only after a few hours did the mountains begin the change... The first immediate change was a large gateway. We stopped in front of it. I couldn't take my eyes off of it. It was two large statues of dwarves holding up mighty hammers. They were in armor and much taller than any stature I've seen. I was shock to see the camp laying right across the way from us, only a minute of walking would put us there.
I had been looking at the ground for the entire time I never even saw what was in front of me. I sometimes make it a bad habit of doing that. The king smiled slightly and we started to walk forward again. The king had said something but I quickly forgot what he said. I was too busy looking at the camp. Across the camp was a large door... Much larger than the gateway. Past the gateway was an opening where the camp was, then the large doorway into the ruins. It was big enough to fit several dragons through to at the same time. As we got to the camp everypony y was greeting the king, even all the commanders and officers. Ten the king turned to us and he had a serious look on his face. I didn't like it very much.
" there's something I must tell you..." He said.
" what is it?" Asked thunder.
" I lied to you..." He said.
" about what...?" I asked getting tense.
" about the spear... We can't use it to win this war... Releasing the serpent would only prove to destroy us as well... But I am keeping my a promise to get you across." He said.
" but... You can't just lie like that... You need to change the tides of this war today." Said Nightflame.
" maybe... Or maybe not... But I owe crimson blast my life on several occasions..." Said the king. " if anything I owe him this... Please understand."
" I understand..." I said solemnly.
" I... I guess you're right." Said Nightflame.
"Uhh... As much as I hate to go out like this... I guess... I guess there's no other option." Said Derek. " but I feel bad about not being able to help you in any way."
" crimson has already helped me in more ways than I asked..." Said the king. " besides I have one last ditch attempt before this is over..." He said.
" what's that..." I asked in curiosity. I noticed the king was smiling, and he meant it this time.
"If this battle does not gone well then I'll have the soldiers retreat... Once they're all out of the ruins... We'll blow entrance." He said smiling.
" what..." I said in shock. The others seemed a bit aghast too.
" what do you mean... Blow the entrance?" Asked Nightflame.
" I've got all the highest mages here ready to bring the entrance down and make the ruins impassible... There are only two exits... This one and the one on the other side of the mountain range."
" why would you do that... These ruins are sacred." Said Derek.
" I know... That's why I hesitated to execute this plan. This was brought to my attention a long time ago, but now that the kingdom is in real danger i have no other option."
" this isn't going to stop the scarlet armies..." I said trying to talk him out of it.
" it wasn't meant to... It will buy us time and give us an advantage. It will force them around into the cold forests of the mountains and the frozen tundra... They'll be at a disadvantage and our cold blooded soldiers will have to problem treading through the snow and firing in the cold." Said the king.
" why are you so sure about them in the snow." Asked Nightflame.
" it's always cold here... Even in the summer. Only one month has decent weather and that's in mid summer... It's the dead of winter... They won't survive the cold. My soldiers have been in the cold all their lives... They wouldn't even need armor to keep them cold. In fact..." Said the king smiling. " captain frost..." Yelled the king into a tent nearby.
" yes your highness." Said a frigid but powerful voice nearby.
" present yourself and your men..." He said.
" yes your highness... You heard him boys... Lets go." He said from the tent. As the flaps opened five warriors walked out of the tent... They were... Terrifying to say the least. They all had light blue, almost white manes and a slightly darker blue coat. They wore blue ice like armor with fur inside for warmth... But that wasn't the scariest part. They're eyes... They... They glowed bright blue. Every time he spoke of took a breath frost would exit from his mouth. As he walked the ground froze underneath him, and same for the others. They held huge axes that had bright blue glowing cracks in them. It was like theses is were made of ice.
" sir..." Said the five ponies standing at attention.
" twilight, Nightflame, and thunder rush... Meat the fiercest warriors the sapphire empire has to offer... Captain frost and his four warriors snow, hail, ice, and glaze. These five have been gifted with unique magical powers at birth... A phenomenon that only happens five times every thousand years."
" that's... That's incredible.
" at birth we were all gifted with the spirits of ancient wendigos." Said frost.
" magical winter spirits... They feed off of hatred and anger." I replied adding some information.
" you can only imagine for that reason, why we are such skilled and feared warriors." Said frost.
" why haven't you used them yet?" Asked thunder rush.
" inside that mountain our skills are limited..." Said one of the other warriors, snow I think. " but in the cold and snow, we are a force to be reckoned with."
" I see..." I said, before I could say anything else a great roar emerged from out of nowhere. It was emanating from the ruins, and it startled everypony. We all looked towards the entrance to the cave. It sounded like a large horn of some kind.
" what the..." Said Derek.
" that's our cue... The horns of battle." Said the king. " quickly we must go... There is a secret path on our side of the cave... It should be able to bring you out to the other side of the mountain and far enough away from the scarlet camp.
" why haven't you used this to your advantaged?" Asked Nightflame.
" it's too narrow... Not nearly big enough to fit an army through quickly enough, it would take days to get the whole army through that passage way." He said. " quickly we must go... The battle is about to start... Quickly, follow me." He said walking off. Two guards were following us. We stayed behind the king and he lead us through. As we inched our way closer to the large gates to the ruins they seemed to grow larger and larger.
Once we were right in front of them I had to look straight up to see the top of them. Why on earth would dwarves need such large doors. Finally we took our first steps into the cave and we looked around. There were columns of stone propped up everywhere. There were decorations all along the walls and ceiling. The huge hall seemed to lead on forever, but out of the darkness I saw a large door at the end of the hall. As we took our steps forward suddenly a bright light flashed in the corners of the room.
And down along the walls flowed lava... Tons on it. Rot I between the columns lava fell down from the ceiling. Naturally me and the others were scared a bit, but the kings calm demeanor as well as the guards meant it wasn't any trouble. As the lava approached the ground, the floor opened up and the lava fell in and seemed to fall down these huge crevices into the center of the earth. The lava did a good job of lighting up the cave and everything was much more clearer. The light showed us the door at the end of the hall and it was a huge iron door.
" stop here." Said the king... " over this way." He said quickly after turning to the right. We walked over and got closer to the crevice I between the columns. I was confused as to what we were doing here. As the king took a single step at the edge of the crevice a fridge of stone instantly shot out from the edge and made a walkway over the pit. We continued along and I started crossing the bridge not long after. I walked by a pillar of stone and a pillar of lava. As we all passed over the bridge it receded back and we were in a small sliver of land between the walls and the crevice of lava.
" now where is it?" Said the king looking over the wall intently. He searched high and low. " ah..." He exclaimed as his face lit up brightly. But then something stopped him from smiling... Stopped all of us... I felt something, strange... Some kind of great power. Suddenly the whole cavern behind us turned blue. A bright blue light flashed through the whole length of the cavern... We all looked back as the natural light from the outer world soon became less and less... The entrance was closing. Naturally I was worried and so were the others. And soon enough, with a large crash a large rock in the shape of the entrance rose from the ground and closed shut, our way back should this go wrong.
" uh... That's new..." Said one of the guards.
" just my luck." Said another one.
" it's fine... We still have our way out of here." Said the king. I turned back and was surprised to see a doorway now opened up in front of us. I was too distracted by the light and the rock raising from the ground. " quickly, we must press onward." Said the king. So we did we slowly entered the narrow passage and walked forward for a bit.
We walked through a large cave with little to no sign of an end... But suddenly cracks in the rock of the walls became luminescent and started glowing red. They lit up the way and pointed out the cave wasn't so straight as we thought. It curved to the left and then started rising. So we followed through the cave, I had to use my magic to help keep the cart moving forward. We kept pressing forward, silently. Then through the hall we heard an abrupt roar of a horn. It echoed through the cave we were in and scared me slightly.
" that's the second horn... The battle is about to begin... Hopefully we will cross before it starts... Hopefully." Said the guard next to me.
" yes... We must move quickly..." Said the king. We kept going forward. And soon, only after a few minutes, did a second horn sound off in a lower pitch. We ran and ran through the tunnels and there was a faint light at the end. Along with the horn, was another roar... A different kind of roar. It sounded like the shouting of... Ponies? We kept moving forward and forward until finally, we breached the light... And all my questions were answered.
All of a sudden everypony stopped and we looked over. We were on a huge high-rise, only a few yards from the ceiling of a cave. The cave which we were in was easily three times the size of canterlot. I stared in shock and awe. Crystals poking from all around e cave gave it light... And at the floor of the cave... Was an army. Two armies actually, one red and one blue... There was much space in the middle for battle but both sides spanned on for what seemed like miles. The sea of red soldiers was easily larger than the blue army.
" oh my god..." Said thunder rush.
" yes... This is the big battle we were not supposed to see." Said the king.
" not once in the entire war has there been one of its size." Said a guard to the side.
" this battle could take out almost the entire army... We would have to start drafting hunters and ponies from the city... Even the inner city." Said the king.
" what, how could something like this happen... I've heard of war before, but never have I seen it." I said.
" then you would be smart not to look miss twilight." Said the king. And just then the sound of two horns fired off from both sides of the cave followed by the roar of soldiers. I could feel they're anger from here. And then without hesitation, they began to run. They ran, and they ran and the space between them grew smaller and smaller as the two colors began to pull closer and closer, I tried to close my eyes, or even look away... But I couldn't. Soon the armies grew close to each other, mere seconds away from each other... And then, they clashed.
But something was wrong... The two armies met each other, but never mixed. There was a blue flash in the center between them and there was nothing else. The was silence. The armies tried again but only another flash of blue light flashed up. I couldn't figure out what was happening. Then, a bright blue flash sparked in the middle of the field, the two armies backed away. It spread across the length of the cave and started to rise into the air... And it began to reveal a shield of some kind. A bright bright blue shield from top to bottom of the came.
" what the hell is that?" Said one of the guards... I didn't know myself.
" who put this shield up... It wasn't there before." Said the king.
" look." Said another guard. " it's cutting off our path to the way out." He said pointing to the blue shield overlapping our passage up ahead. Then suddenly there was a blue light. A whisks of blue energy began flying from the walls and the ground, all heading towards the center of the cave. They started swirling and concentrating in one solid location and began forming a ball of bright blue lit. As the last whisk entered the ball the ground started to shake and rumble and the ball solidified and became one solid light source... And soon it began to expand until the whole cave was blinded by the bright light. I put my hoof over my eyes and looked away, once it was gone I looked back, and I couldn't believe my eyes.
Standing there was now a solid figure of blue light with energy swirling around it. It was in the shape on an alicorn and was just solid light. It had pure white for its eyes so there was a way to distinguish it, but whoever it was, they were huge, at least twice the size of crimson, they were a giant. I don't think I like the feel of this. Needless to say both armies backed away. Except for one pony on each side... It was probably the commander of each army, they slowly approached, I used a spell to listen in on the conversation.
" who... Who are you." Said the sapphire general.
"What is the meaning of delaying this battle." Said the scarlet general.
" SILENCE..." Boomed the huge figure. I didn't need magic to hear him from here. The voice echoed clearly through the cave for all to hear. And just as he had asked, there was silence. " YOUR WAR HAS RAVAGED THE LAND OF ITS PEACE AND INTEGRITY, IT IS MEANINGLESS AND NULL... BACK DOWN AND I WILL SHOW MERCY..." Commanded the voice... The sapphire general backed away and bowed his head, probably agreeing.
" y-yes... The sapphire army will retreat."
" no you won't..." Boomed the scarlet general. " stand and fight. We have come so close, we cannot let this slip away now."
" SILENCE..." Boomed the larger being of light... Somehow I felt like there was hope, I looked down and saw the king smiling... I instantly knew what this was... And I smiled too, everypony had smiled now. I could even feel happiness coming from the blue army.
" you be silent..." Said the scarlet general. "This land rightfully belongs to the scarlet empire... We will take what is ours and rid this world of these blue demons..." He said.
"THE SAPPHIRE KINGDOM HAS STOOD HERE FOR CENTURIES AT A TIME... THEY LIVED IN PEACE, BUT YOU CAME AND BROUGHT WAR, YOU BURNED THE LAND, RAVAGED THE CITIZENS, AND BROUGHT SUFFERING TO THIS PLACE. YOUR ACTS ARE UNFORGIVABLE AND REQUIRE SWIFT, SOVEREIGN JUSTICE... I WILL UPHOLD THE PEACE OF THIS LAND." Said the voice, I could feel that the general of the scarlet army was really steamed now.
" who are you to keep the peace... You are not god." He said.
" that is where you are wrong..." Said the pony, his voice still reached every part of the cave even though he wasn't shouting. It was like his voice could travel onwards infinitely. " I am the god of balance and order... You may refer to me as crimson." He said... Wait what,
" did he just say..." Asked Nightflame.
" that can't be crimson..." Said Derek .
" what did he mean by god of balance and order... He's not a god... But... Oh shit." I said. It makes so much sense now. At that very moment all the pieces of the puzzle clicked together inside of my head and inside the heads of Derek and Nightflame.
" retreat now... Or suffer the consequences." Said crimson lowering his shield and opening up the area for attack. " attack, no you will be destroyed..." He said, he glowed even more brightly than he was already and like that he was gone... Only a large space between the two armies.
" grr... CHARGE." Ordered the general of the scarlet army... Oh no that's not good. I thought for a second they would charge but they did anyway. The sapphire army started running back in retreat but the scarlet army ran after them. They began catching up and closing the gap until a large wall of crystal blue spikes shot up from the ground along the length of the cave and skewered the entire front line of the scarlet army... Needless to say they stopped. Soon a pillar of light rose up, with crimson on top of it, still glowing blue.
" you have been warned... Now... Suffer." He said glaring and now glowing a deep deep black. The spikes turned black and dark energy start raising up from the ground all around the red army. They were scared of the black energy. Crimson shot his wings out from his side and they let out a flurry of dark red embers as the symbols on his body and his eyes began glowing a sort of magma red. He flapped his wings once and dove up a few feet into the air.
He flew up a bit more and quickly began falling to the ground. A ring of energy began forming around him as he fell faster and faster. And in an instant he broke the sound barrier causing an explosion of black smoke all around. At the same time he hit the ground with a mighty crack and a rift opened up from him to the other end of the cave. The soldiers unfortunate enough to be standing there at the time fell in and hurled into the pit.
I couldn't look away... I was horrified but amazed. It was so obvious the whole time, how could I not see this coming. I knew he was powerful, but ascending to the title of a god is unheard of... That may be why I didn't think of it. I only realized now how much more interested I am in crimson... But I can't say that. Every time he shows up its something new with him... I can't really think of anypony more deserving of his place however. It's hard to believe that my best friend is a god... And a god of balance at that... I can barely remember when he was a normal pony.
" RRRRAAAGGHHHHH!" Crimson shouted in a mighty voice causing a wall of lava to jet up from the crevice in front of him. Lava flooded out over the field and rained down on the ponies... The air was filled with the screaming of ponies in pain and the shouts of agony. The soldiers ran for their lives and quickly fled back out through the cave. He didn't do anything else... I suppose he didn't need to. In one fell swing he eliminated at least half the army and the rest are dying as I watch him now. He closed his eyes let out a deep sigh, and as he did the lava receded back into the pit. Once it was all gone the rift closed and the wall of spikes behind him collapsed down . The last of the scarlet army was now fleeing back out of the cave.
Slowly and surely his black exterior and red glowing aura faded into the purest of whites and his body itself stopped glowing and he was now recognizable again. He was in his magical armor with his flowing mane, which was now black. I remember it up being golden blonde. His fur was still pure white and his armor was slightly golden and covered in all manners of different things now. Symbols and marking spread across it, each one glowing a faint black, like ink. He was still about seven feet tall, like a giant. I could hear the sapphire army cheering behind him, so were me, Derek, Nightflame, the guards and king sapphire... But he didn't seem happy, which made me stop cheering. He had a solemn look on his face.
Then as a shock to me he turned his head and looked right at me. I was taken back in shock and looked back at him as well, it was hard to make out what he was doing from here, or even to tell he was really looking at me, but I could feel that he was. I stared back at him with confusion and he looked solemnly at me... Then he smiled. It was a sincere friendly smile that only lasted for a few seconds. The a flash of light filled the room and he was gone, leaving only the crater which he had earlier made. The opposite side of the cavern was filled with burnt and destroyed bodies on soldiers, the smell of burnt flesh quickly filled the air, but no pony seemed to mind.
" hahaha..." Said the king. " thank our new god of balance, he saved us today... Maybe now the scarlet army will think twice about messing with us."
" holy shit... That was freaking amazing..." Said Nightflame.
" I never thought crimson could pull off something like that..." Added thunder rush. They were both smiling and celebrating crimsons decisive victory. I couldn't help but smile myself a little bit. " that was amazing..."
" yeah... I guess it was." I said quietly to myself. No pony heard what I said so they didn't comment. After a few minutes of standing there cheering the army started to celebrate on the battlefield and we continued on our way outside. We walked by the whole battlefield, up on our little ledge overlooking everything. We kept talking about how amazing crimson was and how great of a friend he is... Well the others did. When somepony asked me for my opinion I either agreed or just politely brushed them off. I am still a little taken back by this... I don't think the others get it yet... I know the king does, he must have already known. I'm sure that the princess knows too and has sworn secrecy to crimson... I wonder how many other ponies know.
By the time we passed by the entire battlefield it had already been an hour. I don't think the king expected the fight to go so quickly. It was still early in the morning... Well, at least it was early enough. It couldn't be a minute past eleven. As we finally made our way out of the ledge and into the next cave the sight of the battlefield disappeared. The sound of the celebrating army followed us through the cave however. The cave was a straight hallway that glowed all the same as the last. The noise from outside slowly started to die down into a whisper until it was completely gone. Now there was just us. At the end of the cave was a drop, as we approached it we noticed it was just a staircase.
We started making our way down the stairs and I had to levitate the backside of the wagon above the ground so that it would be able to go down the stairs easily. It seemed like forever, but eventually the stairs ended in another straight tunnel and I let the wagon touch back down on the floor. It was pretty heavy, but I've really been getting good at my magical abilities. Also it helps when you wearing magic amplifying robes. At the end of the tunnel we walked through was a solid wall. I was confused at first but I figured it would work like the others and open up to the touch of a hoof or something.
" alright let's see..." Said the king. He started looking up and down all over the wall, there were marking and symbols over the door, but it was hard tell what they were supposed to be, it was kind of dark since the glowing cracks in the wall had stopped a while back. " damn... I can't see anything, does anypony have some kind of light source?" Asked the king.
" here..." I said smiling. " I can help." I said as I focused my energy into an illumination spell. My horn lit up a bright purple and shone light all across the hallway.
" ah perfect... That I you miss twilight." Said the king. He started looking back over the door and his face lit up as he smiled. He pressed his hoof against the wall and the wall sunk back a few inches. The rest of the wall followed and It pushed back a few inches and then opened up to the left. Soon light filled the tunnel and I turned off my illumination spell. We walked out and were greeted by a sudden rush of cold. The light from the new room was blinding and our eyes needed time to adjust, only then did I realize that we were outside.
The snow falling from above, the cold winter breeze, and the crunch of already fallen snow on the ground. Once the light subsided and our eyes finally adjusted I looked around. Seemed like we were on some sort of ledge. It was sitting on the side of the mountain with the peak right behind us. We were up here pretty high.
" well, this is it..." Said king sapphire. " this is as far as I go... I have a kingdom to rule... But I wish you the greatest of luck, and when you see crimson again, tell him I owe him once more..."
" will you be fine on your own...?" I asked, curious as ever.
" oh don't worry... The tides of the war have indeed turned." Said the king. " even though crimson couldn't destroy the whole army, he did much more than that. He boosted the morale of our troops, dropped the morale of the enemy, and also made the ruins off limits to the scarlet army... This will put them on our terrain, where we can easily take on the scarlet armies... He's turned the tides in our favor... We owe him a great deal."
" I hope you fare well in the war... We'll be rooting for you." Said Nightflame.
" yeah... Good luck, and thank you for the help." Said thunder rush.
" no problem... Now hurry, you have a quest to complete." Said the king. We smiled and turned to face a path to the right of us and started walking. The king turned to enter the ruins again but stopped and called out. " oh wait..."
" what?" I asked curiously.
" I almost forgot... When you reach an intersection at the bottom of the mountain, make sure you don't go through razor ridge." He said. " that place is dangerous..."
" thank you, we'll make sure to avoid it." I said smiling. He waved goodbye as the doorway to the ruins slammed shut from the side and he was gone. The slamming door echoed through the mountain for a few seconds and then there was silence, only the whistling of the wind could be heard. We started to slowly make our way down the mountain side, but I could tell that this would take a while. Somehow. The entire time I kept up the hopes that maybe crimson would show up randomly, smiling and glowing like he always is... But it never happened.
" so uhh... When is crimson going to be showing up?" Asked Nightflame.
" I was thinking the same thing." I replied.
" I don't know... He still might be dealing with something, I noticed he didn't seem like himself back there." Said thunder rush.
"Hmm... You might be right." I said agreeing with thunder. I had noticed the same thing too. No pony commented after I spoke and we walked down the long cliff side road. The snowfall had decreased greatly from the top of the mountain now and it's gotten slightly warmer. We've been walking for about an hour. I can see the evergreen forest down below, filled with large pine trees and spruces. Looking down there was making me nervous of the height since we were on the edge of the cliff. I looked back but it didn't help a bit, but every step closer helped. The cliff was a constant downhill slope. It wasn't too steep but Nightflame needed to be careful pulling the cart so it doesn't fly down the cliff side.
As we kept walking the bitter cold stung my wet hooves and the tips of my ears. Suddenly however, I felt a warmth touch my ear. It was curious, and it felt like somepony was there. For a moment I got excited and looked back to see if maybe, just maybe, crimson was standing there and had brushed my ear. When I turned around there was nothing... Just more snow, but still I felt the warmth on my ear. I looked over to my ear to see a faint glow, I bent my ear down to get a better look and a little firefly was sitting on it smiling. I had completely forgotten about sprite... She must have hid away in crimsons bags. And once more I also noticed shadow tail is missing too.
" hey guys..." I said. " where's shadow tail?" I asked.
" huh... He's right... Over...uhh... Where is her?" Said thunder rush.
" did he even leave with us?" Asked Nightflame.
" I'm not even sure... He was with us this morning in the house... He must have run off when we weren't looking." I said. " I've been so distracted... I didn't even notice sprite here was with us... I honestly just thought it was the three of us."
" I was wondering about that too..." Said Nightflame.
" well shadow tail really seems to favor crimson... I guess he might have run off to go find him..." Said thunder rush.
" I guess that makes sense..." I said. I put my eyes back on the trail and right below I saw a huge rift . Huge walls of stone perturbed from the ground and rose up in spikes around the forest below us. I could see there were two paths. This must be the intersection the king was talking about. I pointed it out to the others. " look... Up ahead." I said.
" huh... Ahh... That must be the intersection the king was talking about." Said thunder rush. We kept walking forward and it soon started to become clearer and clearer. And when we finally stood before the intersection I looked between both ridges. They, were both exactly the same... Which was troubling. Looking down both ridges there didn't seem to be anything wrong with either of them. The rock walls towered above both paths and seemed impossible to climb.
" so the king said to stay away from razor ridge..." Said Nightflame.
" yeah... But which one is razor ridge." I pointed out.
" we'll that's easy it's... Well... Ah crap." He said.
" what the fuck!" Exclaimed thunder rush. " they're exactly the same... How are we supposed to know."
" how come the king didn't give us a direction or be more specific like stay away from the left path... Or something." Said Nightflame.
" I don't think he needed too." I said walking over to a suspicious item of the ground. There was a chunk of wood perturbing from the snowy ground. " look at this." I said pointing to the wooden chunk laying in between the two paths.
" what is it?" Asked thunder.
" it looks like it might have been a sign post... So there was a sign here once." I said pointing it out. " I guess somepony must have taken it down... It probably pointed out the two paths... But now we're clueless."
" whoever did this is an asshole..." Said Nightflame. I didn't really want to say anything but I agree with him. Somepony who would stray wandering ponies down potentially dangerous path must be a real jerk and a horrible pony.
" so... Which way do we go?" Asked thunder rush. We looked between the two paths and sprite just sit curiously on my ear unaware of our predicament. There must be something of a hint as to which one is dangerous... If we knew what was so dangerous about it then maybe we would be able to figure it out better... But I don't think that would help either. Both paths looked pretty much the same. Just a snow covered, hoof beaten path in between two giant walls of stone.
" if crimson was here he would be able to figure it out... Even if he couldn't we wouldn't have to worry... He could handle whatever was in our way." I said letting out a deep sigh. I looked back and forth between the two paths in a desperate attempt to figure out the correct choice... But there still isn't any clear decision. "I... I guess our only hope is... To guess." I said giving up and putting our fate into the hands of luck.
" well which do you think?" Thunder asked looking at me.
" I'm thinking the left one... It only makes sense. We're going west and the left path goes west." Said Nightflame. He had a very good point there.
" yeah... I guess that does make sense." I said.
"Alright... Left it is I guess." Said thunder rush. We started walking and I could feel my tension building with every step we took. I felt like if we had chose wrong the walls would just close on us and crush us in an instant. Nightflame walked in with the cart and then thunder followed. I slowly made my way in next. I took one step past the large walls and slowly walked in. Just then all my anxiety peaked... But when nothing happened I felt relieved almost.
" the walls haven't closed in on us... The ground is still under our feet, and I don't see any signs of terrible creatures dwelling in the shadows... I think we made the right choice." I said bringing light to the situation. The others just looked around cautiously.
" yes, but we just walked in... We have to give it some time." Said thunder rush.
" I guess you're right." I said. I could feel something shaking my ear. I looked over to see sprite shaking and shielding herself with my right ear. I smiled and brought my hoof up to hold her. She was adorable, I have to admit. I guess now I can see why crimson has grown fond of her. Her innocence seems to make everything more... Bearable. " hey hey don't worry." I said to sprite in a low friendly voice as I grabbed her from behind my ear and held her in my hoof. " we're going to be fine... I'm sure that nothing bad is going to happen, I can tell." I said. She seemed to perk up and smile. She jumped around in a small circle in my hoof and I let her fly up back to my ear and sit down on it.
" I really wish crimson were here right now..." Said Derek.
" me too..." Is said.
" wait..." Blurted out Nightflame. We all stopped and he put his ear up and looked behind us. We had gone a ways from the entrance but it was still pretty close.
" what is it?" Asked thunder rush.
" do you hear that?"
" hear what?" I asked.
" shhh listen..." He said. We all went quiet. There wasn't any sound that I could really pick up. We listened closely. And soon I heard something... It was so faint I'm not really sure If I did hear something or its just my mind. But I heard it again and again until it grew into on quiet and constant sound. It was like a mix between the rumble of an earthquake and a ghostly moan. Suddenly behind us at the entrance to the ridge a large spike of earth shot up from the ground. Needless to say it scared all three of us. Then another one and another.
" shit.. Run." Said thunder rush. We turned tail and began to sprint. We ran and ran, and spikes of earth just kept shooting up from the ground behind us, growing closer and closer. The spike even shot spikes from them, like a tangle of needles. If we got caught in that we would be ripped to shreds. I don't think we made the rot choice. We ran and yelled and breathed heavily. Me and thunder ran past Nightflame who was still pulling the cart. He lagged behind and I looked back afraid for him. Suddenly a giant spike of earth shot up from right behind him and completely obliterated the cart he was pulling. The contents of everything was thrown everywhere from the tents, to the food, to the gold in crimsons chest... It was everywhere. Luckily with the weight gone he was able to catch up.
We ran as fast as we could but spike flew out from everywhere. From the walls and ground spikes were everywhere. Soon the torrent caught up with us and we had to dodge spike after spike. I looked over to thunder who just dodged left to avoid a spike. I ran to the right and dodged one too. Nightflame went to dodge one and just as he was passing by it, another spike shot from the one he was dodging and I thought it hit him.
" Nightflame...!" I yelled as helmet out a shout of pain. I though he would fall, but thank the gods he didn't. He stumbled a bit but kept running. Soon enough up ahead spikes began to slowly close down and shoot up like teeth from a dragon. They were closing the entrance to some kind of cave. There was a stone bridge overhead. We ran and ran while our only chance of escape was slowly closing on us. I put everything i had into moving forward and so did the others seeing what was up ahead. We came only a few feet from the entrance which was almost completely closed. I made one last ditch attempt of survival and dove for it. Luckily I managed to pass right by the cracks of the stone spikes, as well as the others. We all hit the ground and the spikes closed shut.
The spikes of earth no longer shot up from the ground behind us and everything went silent except for the faint sound of trickling rocks and heavy breathing. I couldn't say anything right now, I needed to catch my breath. But I think we all knew that we had chosen wrong. I was feeling scared. The place we dived into that I though was a cave wasn't a cave, it was still a ridge... Covered in stone spikes. The spikes were razor sharp and all over the place. I slowly pulled myself onto my four hooves and looked around in shock. Rite was trembling behind my ear scared for her life. I patted her and tried to comfort her but she was really scared... I was too.
" oh god... Oh god no." Said thunder. " I was sure we made the right decision... That was too close." He said. After the air was filled with nightflames cries of pain.
" ahh... Crap... Dammit." He said on the ground clutching his wing.
" Nightflame..." I said rushing over to him, under did the same.
" are you alright... Are you hurt badly?" Asked thunder rush
" I... Ahh... I think one of those spikes clipped my wing." He said. " all I can feel from my right wing is pain."
" c'mon... Move your hoof, let us see." Asked thunder.
" hnng... Uhh... Oh god." He said removing his hoof from the wound. His hoof and the feathers of his wing were covered in blood. There was a deep gash on his wing and it had cut rot through the bone. " I... I'm sorry...I ... The supplies... They're gone." He said with sympathy in his voice.
" I know..." I said. " but its better that the supplies got caught in the spikes than you getting caught in them... I'm just glad you're alright. We're all pretty lucky to have just made it out of that... That was scary..." I said.
" I can still feel my heart beating." Said thunder.
" twilight... Do you know any healing spells?" Asked Nightflame.
" yes... They're not great ones though..." I admitted. " I can probably stop the bleeding and close the wound a little... But I can't fully heal you... I'm sorry." I said.
" that's fine just... Please... Do your best." He said. I closed my eyes and focused on a healing spell I learned a while back. My horn began to glow and I brought it close to nightflame's wing. The light from my horn soon started to cover the wounds on his wing and the whole area glowed bright purple. Soon the light subsided and I lifted my horn up. The wound looked much better than it did and wasn't bleeding anymore.
" thank you..." Said Nightflame. Thinking quickly I see my magic to tear off the bottom part of my dress and make it into a length of cloth. I levitated it over to Nightflame and used it to tie his wing down into a makeshift cast. My robes are now a bit shorter and revile my flank, but it was for a good cause. I'm also not sure if the magic enhancement on the robe still works with it torn like this, but if it does I guess Nightflame has some magical enhancement now too. If not then I've still got the staff crimson gave me which... Was... On the cart... Fuck.
" thank you twilight." Said Nightflame.
" can you stand?" I asked.
" yes..." He said turning over and getting up on his hooves. He didn't look hurt other than that.
" so we lost the cart... My bags got ripped torn and fell of." Said thunder rush.
" the staff crimson gave me was on that cart. We lost all our food, crimsons chest, my staff, your bags, the tents and all the medical supplies." I said taking inventory of what we lost. " so what have we got?" I asked looking around.
" my uh... My bags were on the cart..." Said Nightflame. I had to take them off to make room for the carts harness..." He said looking a bit bent down about it... I guess at this point it wouldn't matter if we had literally nothing.
" we'll I've got crimsons bags... I think that's all we have now." I said. I guess it's kind of nice that his bags survived out of all the others. It did keep him somewhat close to us.
" well that's must be good..." Said thunder rush. " he must keep a bunch of useful stuff in there determining what his life is like."
" we should check it and see if there's anything of use." Said Nightflame.
" good idea." I said. I sat down and took off the bag and put it in front of me. The others sat around and we made a space in the middle to put his stuff or anything useful. " I know he won't mind, he would understand if he knew what our situation was."
" alright twilight... Open it up and let's see what we have to work with." Said Nightflame. Is nodded in agreement and opened up his left pouch. And to say the least it was filled with tons of junk. How he finds anything in this bag is a mystery. I looked around and started pulling some stuff out. It seemed to keep filling back up with stuff, I guess he likes to use that infinite storage enchantment I put on here for him.
" alright we have...potions... Useful, gauze, a few bottles of water, some gold and gems, scrolls and ink, a book or two on... Gypsy magic... Huh. Lets see what else... Huh... What's this." I said seeing something that caught my eye. It was a bow... How did he fit this in here. I grabbed the bow and pulled it out. It was familiar... I know now. This is that transfusional weapon crimson found in the abandoned mermaid kingdom.
" a bow?" Said thunder. " how does he fit a bow in there?"
" if I'm correct this bow doesn't need arrows. It fires bolts of magic... Anypony good with it?" I asked.
" I'm a good shot, plus I don't have a weapon yet... Or had one." Said Nightflame.
" If I'm right this should also change into a sword and a staff... But I don't know how to make it change. " is said. " plus I lost my staff back in the ridge."
" I've still got my trusty... God dammit." Said thunder rush staring at the torn and shredded holster by his side. His sword must have been torn off and he didn't even notice. " well I guess I don't then..." He said. " perfect."
" alright... Well the weapon is a bow right now and we don't know how to change it... So it's better that Nightflame take the bow." I said passing it over to Nightflame. He grabbed it and looked at it. He strung it over his back and we carried on. " oh and here... This bottle is labeled as a health potion Nightflame... You should probably drink some of it." I said passing over the bottle to Nightflame.
" yeah... That sounds like a good idea." He said uncorking the bottle. He took a small sip of it and wretched. He stuck his tongue out and cringed. He placed the cork back on the vail and shook his head. " holy crap that tastes foul..." He said.
" we'll they're not supposed to taste good... But they help." I said smiling. " now lets see what else." I said looking back in the pouch. I rummaged through it a bit more but couldn't find anything else of much use. I closed it up and checked the second one. I opened it up and stuck gold. It was full of food, water and alcohol. I smiled, not at the alcohol, but the food and water. I never realized how hungry I was before. " oh thank god... There's a bunch of food and drinks in here."
" oh gross... Why does he keep food in there?" Asked thunder rush.
" well from what I can tell... It's all magically sealed, so it should still be fresh." I said. " I wouldn't imagine why it wouldn't be... Plus the alcohol doesn't expire." I said.
" wait... Alcohol..." Said thunder rush.
" uhh..."
" quick let me see." He said snatching the bag.
" hey..."
" jackpot... I could really use a drink." He said grabbing a bottle of scotch. "
" don't go getting drunk... We need our wits about us..." I said.
" don't worry twi... Just a little to drown the nerves."
" here let me get some of that when you done... I need a bit to drown the pain and taste of health potion out of my mouth." Said Nightflame.
" here I'll get us some food too, and some water." I said grabbing something for us to eat." Thunder took a swig of the alcohol and so did Nightflame. I turned away to go through the bag for a bit. When I looked back up the bottle they had was already a third gone. I used my magic and pulled it from their hooves. " alright that's enough..." I said putting the cork back on the bottle and putting it back. I passed them some food and we all choked down. They didn't seem wasted or drunk in the very slightest yet so I guess that's good...but I'll have to watch out for them... There's no telling what's in this ridge. I have a bad feeling that the risky spike death trap we just escaped from isn't the last of our worries... on second though. i quietly grabbed the bottle of scotch from earlier and took a swig while thunder and nightflame weren't looking. i was wrong about it not being strong... because it is.
i figured we should sit here and rest for a while and try and get some strength back up. maybe gather our nerves and figure something out. we need to come up with some kind of plan to get out of here, but with all these razor sharp spikes and the exit now blocked i really don't see any other way out but to push through this pit. nightflame cane fly us out because of his wing, and that will take to long to heal to working condition. so until then we can just sit here in the small and seemingly safe location we landed in. i can't help but feel like we're being watched though. i can feel eyes all over me... waiting... watching. i am genuinely scared and need to get out of here soon... i just hope that crimson comes back to help us out... i hope he isn't gone.
at least, for what its worth, i hope he isn't.