We all turned in for the night not long after reading the princes journal. Me and twilight shared the guest room which was much more comfortable than the inn we stayed in the night before. As we went to sleep and our heads filled with dreams morning quickly arose bringing a deep somber air over the whole city. I slowly woke up and opened my eyes. I looked through the dimly lit room to see sun cutting through the curtains and into the room. I let out a mighty yawn and started becoming more aware. I could feel something behind me, pressing on my back. I looked back to see that twilight was resting up against me back to back. She was fast asleep and didn't look like she was going to get up any time soon. I smiled and turned back around. As my eyes began glancing across the room I noticed a little white envelope resting on the ground by the door, it looked like somepony had slipped it under the door.
I slowly started to get out of the bed as I slowly slipped out from under the blankets and smoothly got out of the bed so that it doesn't wake up twilight. I got to the floor with all hooves and started to walk over to the small letter on the ground. It was too early in the morning for me to do any physical work like bend down and pick it up, so I used my magic to slowly levitate the letter over to me. I looked at it but there wasn't really anything on it. The envelope was blank. I quietly opened it up and took out the letter inside. It wasn't much of a letter, just like a paragraph long. And I was somewhat surprised to see that it had been rune star who had placed this letter under the door. I placed my eyes at the top and started to read the letter wondering what it could possibly be.
"Dear crimson," read the letter. "I don't mean to disturb your sleep, but we must speak immediately, please head over to my study in the tower. You may have questions about the journal... And I'll have the answers for you, come to my study and bring the journal."
It took me a second but I figured that It was a good idea to probably go and see rune star. I used my magic to levitate my bags over to me which held the journal in them. i strapped the bag on and I was starting to wake up a bit more now and I slowly made my way over to the door of the room and quietly opened it up and walked outside of the room. I quietly close the door behind me and started to make my way through the hallways of the north palace wing. It was very early in the morning, a bit too early. Normally there are tons of guards or Templars walking around or just hanging around, but only stationed guards were in the halls. They were patrolling the halls and guarding important rooms. I didn't let them bother me and moved my way through the whole north wing. It wasn't long until I got to the central chambers where the base of the spire rested. I circled around the spire and eventually found the door. Those two ponies from before we're there still guarding the door, I don't think I like them too much, they creep me out.
I walked up to them and they looked back at me, then they stepped aside without saying anything and used their magic to open the doors. I nodded at them and made my way into the spire. The doors closed behind me and I kept looking around the base room of the spire, there was nopony here. Runs star must be in his study at the very top, it's a good thing he did decide on a portal to the top because its way to early to go up those stairs again. I walked over to where the teleporter laid and I stepped onto it. It started to glow and hum until there was a bright flash and suddenly I was at the top of the tower. I stepped off the other teleporter and walked forward a bit. It only took a second for me to balance myself out and was walking straight in no time. I looked around and saw that rune star was on a sofa by the fireplace which held a roaring fire.
"Ah good, you got my letter... Did you bring the princes journal?" He asked,
"I did." I said walking over as I used my magic to levitate the journal out of my bag. I lazily waved over to where rune star was sitting and sat down on the leather chair next to the sofa he sat down on. He was using his magic to levitate a cup of tea in front of him and he stared off seeming rather distant. "Why didn't you show us this before?" I asked.
"Because I made a promise." Said rune star. "The prince made me promise not to show this to anypony else unless certain conditions were met."
"And what are those conditions?" I asked.
"First of all, he said that if he wasn't back, or if the problem hasn't corrected itself in two months time then I should look for somepony who is worthy of carrying on in his place." He said. "Then if I do find somepony then they have to meet certain conditions... He gave me a list of them."
"What conditions are those... Did you give this to me because you thought that I could handle carrying on the princes quest?"
"Yes, crimson I believe that you can finish what the prince had started." He said. "You're strong, smart, you can think your way through any situation and you have a pure heart and soul...so I gave the journal to you."he said. "Has it helped you whatsoever?"
"Have you not read it?" I asked.
"No...he made me promise not to look through it until I found somepony else or if he had solved the problem already." He said.
"Well, it did help... But it doesn't give me much to lead off of." I said. "The last paragraph of the journal tells us that if we want to know the truth then we should look to the gate."
"The gate... Yes, I think I know now." Said rune star. "The prince went out to the gate and bravely checked to see what was happening there. I know... I was watching him the whole time, I thought he wouldn't return... But he did, and it was a miracle... Or so I thought."
" why do you say that? Did something happen to him?" I asked.
"Yes, when he came back he pretended as if he saw nothing, but he soon became obsessed." He said. "He spent every waking hour in my study looking through old equestrian history books and city logs. He was seen less and I and everypony else in the whole kingdom could tell that he was starting to fit all the pieces together... We just couldn't see the puzzle. Is there anything in the journal that tells you what he might have been finding?
"Not really, everything that's readable just tells us things we already knew, but there is a good portion of the book that seems top be missing, or is blacked out and scribbled over." I said.
"That's... Very unfortunate."
"In one of the scribbled out pages I did manage to work out a few words, and a name too." I said.
"A name...what name?" Asked rune star now becoming very interested.
"I could work out the name 'Mara'... And the word 'apprentice' not long before it."I said.
"Are... Are you sure?" Asked rune star seeming rather troubled at the sound of it all.
"Yes..." I said.
"The name in that journal was Mara... M-a-r-a, Mara...?" He asked again being sure that I was correct.
"Yes, I'm sure that the name was Mara." I said.
"This... Explains a lot." He said leaning back on the couch and pondering for a moment. "Now I understand why the prince didn't want anypony to know, why he kept it all a secret... He's hiding the past." Whispered rune star under his breath, it was loud enough for me to hear.
"What do you mean... Who is Mara?" I asked.
"Get comfortable crimson.. Because its story time." Said runs estar in a serious tone. "I assume that you are well aware of the battle between the two brothers of Equestria one thousand years ago." He said.
"Yes, prince moon and prince solar fought and prince moon was imprisoned on the moon." I said.
"It goes much deeper than that." He said. "Crimson, what I'm about to tell you does not ever leave this room. The battle you know of is only a fraction of what really happened, the reason I know this is only because my old master starswirl the bearded was there when it all came crashing down. This was happening the same time as it did in our world...tv he story you are about to hear is the same in both worlds... Neither one is pretty."
So rune star started telling the story. A long time ago, before the fight between the brothers, or the sisters in the case of our world, both sides were at their ends. Prince solar and prince moon bickered around every turn. Prince moon almost never visited the world below, he kept to himself on his lunar kingdom on the surface of the moon. Both brothers were at odds and the arival of star swirl did not help matters in the case. Starswirl had come to this world for research on cross dimensionalism. He had asked prince solar to take him under as an apprentice so he could learn under him. When the prince accepted this made prince moon even more angry.
So up on his lunar kingdom the prince of night looked for an apprentice of his own, whom he would teach his ways. Nopony would expect who he found one day, and the power that would be inside of them. It was just an average night, and the prince was walking down the streets of his lunar kingdom when a peculiar sight had caught his eye. To his left, in an alleyway sat a little Philly,she was a moon pony, she had cat like eyes and bat like ears. She also had a horn resting on her head. She sat there in the alleyway eating a loaf of bread. She was dirty and cut up, but the more peculiar sight was what was behind her. Behind the little Philly were carcasses or freshly slaughtered pony's. each had been torn apart and their blood was used to repaint the walls. When the prince walked over to her she remained indifferent. She looked up at him with her cold purple eyes and they both stared at each other.
The prince asked the little Philly what happened, he asked if she knew where the pony went that had killed the others behind here. She stayed silent and kept eating the bread she was holding in her little hooves. She couldn't have been more then seven years if age, yet she sits in front of an uncountable mess of bodies and liters of blood. The prince asked again if there was a pony who ran through here and killed these ponies behind her, and still she remained silent. The prince was confused, he knew that if he could find whoever did this then they would make the perfect apprentice. Instead of asking the same question he asked a different one, to warm up the filly into talking with him. He asked the little filly her name to which she replied "Mara". He then asked her how she got that loaf of bread. She stayed silent and the prince thought it didn't work, but she pulled the loaf from her mouth and spoke to the prince.
"I was hungry..." She said. "So I went to find food. I found food here, the ponies had it. I asked them if I could have it but they said no and made me cry. I was very hungry... And they wouldn't give me their food, so I had to take it from them." She said. The king was somewhat surprised at what she said. He asked her how she got the bread from the ponies, And she replied to him. "My friends got it for me." She said. The prince became interested in the little filly even more now.
"Where did your friends go?" He asked.
"They went back home..." She said.
"And where do they live." Asked the prince to which there was silence once again as the little pony put the bread back to her mouth and started to nibble on it. She pulled the bread away from her mouth and swallowed her food and then replied back to the prince with a very curious remark.
"The shadows..." She said. The prince was very confused with the little filly, he couldn't figure her out, she was very mysterious. He looked down at the little filly, still very confused, as she sat there nibbling on a loaf of bread. The prince then asked the little filly if she would like to come with him, to stay in the palace. The little filly remained silent for a while, but eventually she said yes. She the prince took her into his care and brought her back to the palace and made her an apprentice. He gave her a place to sleep, food to eat, and a roof over her head. And every day and every night they would train, developing her powers.
At first it took some time to find out her power, but when she finally showed her true colors, the prince became very impressed. She had an unusual control over shadows, it was almost involuntary. Whenever she was in harms way, or if she needed something, it was like dark lifelike beings would leap from the shadows to her aid. The prince even saw her walking around the castle, with her own shadow standing beside her. She could speak and communicate with the shadows, and they protected her, kept her safe, brought her whatever she needed. Often the prince got word that a tall shadowy figure would take food from the kitchen and bring it to Mara in her room.
As Mara began to grow over the years so did her powers. She soon realized that she could control the shadows, and use them to harm whoever stopped her from getting what she wants. As she changed so did the shadows she controlled. Before the ponies in the palace tolerated her shadows. The cooks let them take a bit of food from the kitchen if she was hungry, and she still kept talking to her own shadow which was now more of a manifestation of her own self. The shadows started changing, becoming more twisted and vile. Whenever somepony tried to stop the shadowy figured from getting what they want they would often harm or even kill anypony that stood in their way. Soon Mara's shadows became feared and known throughout the kingdom. The prince, however, was growing impressed with Mara and her progress. She was becoming very powerful.
The prince and Mara trained and practiced every day and he taught her everything he knows and she soon became a savant at shadow magic. Mara soon had made a name for herself in the kingdom. She was known as the queen of shadows. All this time Mara had never left the safety of the castle, she stayed within its walls, because that is what the prince wished. It was becoming clear that Mara was starting to see the prince as something more than a mentor. She would long for him whenever he went back down to Equestria for a royal meeting or an event. Whenever the prince would return he would tell Mara how much he hated his brother, and so Mara began to hate the other prince as well. It was becoming increasingly obvious that the princes hatred for his brother started to twist at his mind and he started to become something else. He began acting more cruel. More sick and twisted, but he always kept Mara at his side.
It wasn't long before great battle between the two brothers that prince moon was called down to Equestria for an important meeting with the other neighboring countries. Whenever the prince went there each of the other rulers had brought with them an apprentice or some kind of assistant with them, even solar had starswirl with him. This time prince moon decided to bring Mara with him, and she was excited to go with her master. The entire world was unaware of Mara's existence so they were all shocked to see her when they had arrived. It was her first time outside of the lunar palace. She stayed by the side of the prince at all times. Dressed in a black gown with dark metal pads with spikes on them. The outfit she wore was like an armored dress with a hood.
The prince and Mara were invited to stay an entire week at canterlot, so they did. The day they arrived Mara didn't waste time in striking fear into the hearts of anypony who saw her, she didn't even have to do anything. The first day they were there palace guards made reports about seeing large lumbering shadowy figures roaming the halls and taking food from the kitchen. The prince made Mara promise not to hurt anypony, and she obeyed the prince. One of the cooks in the kitchen tried stopping one of maras shadows from stealing a loaf of bread. On the lunar kingdom the cook would have been slaughtered on the spot, but instead the shadow picked the pony up and tossed him to the other side of the room and went on its business.
Lots of ponies also saw Mara walking and speaking with her own shadow beside her. Nopony knew if she was mentally insane or if she could really communicate with the shadows. She never told anypony, so nopony knew. Prince solar didn't like Mara being in the castle, so he asked prince moon to bring her back to the lunar kingdom, but the prince refused. Prince solar argued time and time again that she couldn't stay here, until the lunar prince said this one phrase.
"Every ruler is entitled an apprentice, the rulers from all the other countries have one, even you... If you don't like it then do something about it." Said prince moon. "I can't help the fact that Mara is a stronger apprentice than yours or anypony else's." with that the prince walked off and solar left him alone. By the time the meeting was called into order everypony in the castle was already terrified of Mara. Once all the rulers from the other countries were seated at the round table the meeting began. Mara stayed by the side of prince moon the whole time and kept her eyes forward obediently. The meeting started and it dragged on for the entire day.
The two brothers would argue at every corner and point that was put across. The objective of the meeting was to instill peace between the nations but that wasn't easy when two brothers that rule the same nation are bickering and arguing at every turn. Each side tried to justify their own actions and arguments, but neither one of the brothers was right. It was a pointless argument and the others said it would eventually lead to the destruction of the whole nation of Equestria. The other rulers cut off all ties with Equestria until the two brothers could learn to live peacefully with each other. They said that if two brothers could live peacefully then they aren't in any condition to instill peace with other countries. Since they shared the same country, the two brothers took this as a huge blow to their ego's. this of course only made things much much worse. That same night the two brothers had a fight that nopony would ever forget.
"Damnit solar... Why can't you just listen to me, look at what you've done." Shouted moon.
"ME!?" Asked solar. "This is all your fault. I've told you before that you can't just leave Equestria and expect ponies to still follow you."
"The only reason ponies look up to you is because you bring up the fucking sun every day. All the ponies relish in the joy of the day and nopony respects what I do, I run the country just as well as you do, if not better, so tell me why I can't speak with the ponies of Equestria, tell me why I can't bother?"
"Because you don't truly understand..." Said solar. "I know you may be angry, but I can't let you make all the decisions of the country when it's night."
"You do so during the day."
"Because you're off to your lunar kingdom, you're never here that's why mother..."
"Choose your next words carefully brother..." Said prince moon cutting off his brother. Prince solar stopped for a second but then spoke up.
"That's why mother entrusted me to look after the palace... And not you, she said you weren't ready, she told me this might happen." Said solar. The two brothers stared at each other for a while. Prince moon stared at solar with absolute hatred in his eyes now. At that moment a spark burst within the young prince that would cause him to change into a beast of nightmares and fear.
"Fine then brother..." Said prince moon. "IF YOU WANT THE GOD DAMN KINGDOM SO BAD THEN YOU CAN HAVE IT!" He shouted. "As of this day we are no longer brothers, you and I are nothing."
"Now moon, wait..." Pleaded the king.
"NO, I'm sick of your fucking games, you think that you're more privileged because you are the older brother." Hosted prince moon. "One day Solar, one day this world of yours will come crumbling down, and I'll be watching from the moon as you sit there in the ashes of failure." And with that the prince had stormed out of the castle. He took with him his apprentice Mara and they both left together, heading back to the moon. With that prince moon had ultimately cut off all relationship with his brother, not even recognizing him as family anymore. And so the prince was never heard from for three years. He never showed up to an invited even and he never came down for his monthly visit. What ended in utter hatred, was now nothing but silence.
Prince moon wanted nothing but the destruction of Equestria now. His anger had changed him now, mentally and physically into a creature of terror and nightmares. Instead of waiting for Equestria to destroy itself he wanted to take action. To show his brother who the better ruler was. Though ponies looked up at the moon and heard only silence, it was not so silent there. On the surface of the moon the prince began to moralize an army of lunar ponies. He planned to storm the castle, and with him every step if the way was his apprentice Mara. In the three years of silence the relationship between prince moon and Mara had broadened.
They were now becoming intimate with each other. The shared a bedroom with each other and wherever prince moon went, Mara followed. She became very protective of him, and would mercilessly slaughter whoever dared to defy either of them. She too was beginning to change, change into something dire. And with change taking over he body, so too did her magic grow, it grew violently strong, stronger than anypony had ever seen, and prince moon was excited about this. Wherever she went the shadows of building leaned closer to her and cringed to her own shadow. The shadows of ponies walking on the streets would leave their host and make the journey to her. Before long, she had her own army of shadows.
After the three years of silence was up, came that fateful day that would shape the history of Equestria, and mark the dawn of a new age, and age that was yet to be decided. In the very middle of the day. Around noon, prince moon descended from his lunar kingdom to the steps of the canterlot palace. When prince solar went to see him, he could barely recognize his own brother. His own brother, now adorned in armor as black as the night sky, with hatred in his eyes and razor sharp fangs, stood before him and snarled at his own brother.
"Brother, what are you doing here, what has happened to you?" Asked solar.
"Silence fool..." Shouted prince moon who ushered a wave of darkness with every word. "It's time that we settle this battle, I will show you that you are not the rightful ruler of this country. I will put an end to the sun, and in its wake will be darkness... Never more will the sun rise, AND THE NIGHT... WILL LAST...FOREVER!" Shouted the prince as he had risen the moon over the whole land as it blocked out the sun creating darkness and night in the middle of the day. And from the moon in the sky descended the army that prince moon and spent three years constructing. Along with them came Mara, who swept in by the side of her new king.
The lunar army stormed all of canterlot and slew anypony in their path. The palace guards were no match for the fully trained army, and the lunar forces began to cleave their way through the city. If not for starswirl's assistance then the whole city would have fallen within the hour. Starswirl had predicted this event, and had called upon his own army of familiars. The familiars he summoned from the fade held off the lunar forces, but Mara was there too. She knew about starswirl, and she attacked them. They fought and fought while in the palace raged a different battle.
In the throne room of canterlot palace fought the two brothers. Prince moon had grown much stronger than he thought, and overpowered prince solar. Prince solar pleaded pleaded with his brother to stop this madness, but prince moon would not listen. He fought on, throwing his brother to the ground and laughing at his weakness. Prince moon would have slain prince solar right then and there, if not for one thing...Mara. Outside, on the battlefield that used to be canterlot Mara and starswirl clashed and collided with every attack. Mara began to grow angry, the hatred in her started to swell until she performed a magical feat that was thought to be impossible.
She erupted with energy, enough energy to belittle star swirl himself. Then across the land of Equestria she pulled towards her the shadows from every pony, structure, or crack in the ground. She pulled all of the darkness to her and constructed a mighty Titan of shadows. It rose from the ground, towering almost as tall as the mountain that the city stood on. The Titan had destroyed more than half the city and stood at the base of the mountain and still looked down at the pathetic city. Mara, standing on the shoulder of the beast began to laugh maniacally.
Hearing the noise prince moon directed his attention to the outside world. When he and his brother saw the beast they were in shock. Mara invited her master onto the shoulder of the Titan and he gladly accepted. Now at the shoulder of this Titan prince moon swore to use this giant to destroy all of Equestria. Though he didn't count on one thing, he had not been the only one preparing for a war. Here on the earth the prince had created an all powerful weapon of peace, the elements of harmony. These elements, embedded with powerful magics, the likes of which cannot be compared to, would be the downfall of not only the prince, but Mara and her Titan.
Prince solar used the elements of harmony on his brother ultimately banishing him to the core of the moon for 1000 years. The elements power was even stronger than that of the Titan, but it was not enough to destroy the great Titan. Instead it was locked away, in a single point in time, never to escape and never to move onward in space, frozen in time in place that nopony will find it. And Mara, she escaped the blast of the elements, but she was devestated. She swore her revenge on prince solar and all of Equestria. She swore that one day she would reawaken the shadow Titan and use it to destroy all of Equestria and on top of the ashes she would erect a lunar kingdom, and she and prince moon would rule together, as king and queen. With that said she vanished, and was never heard from ever again.
With her powers she could easily live beyond the age of 1000 years. Openly ever heard or spoke to her ever again. With the disaster over,vequestria was forced to rebuild, it took time, but Equestria regret and became stronge. The canterlot city was restructured and the nation reestablished peace with neighboring countries. But the true story of what happened that day was never told, never recorded, and Mara and the Titan were never remembered in history. Nopony ever wanted to remember that horrid day, so over a hundred years of silence and denial ponies eventually grew up not knowing about what really happened, and instead an old mares tale was created, about the two princes, but even then ponies started to doubt the existence of the second prince as well. So the true story was forgotten, lost forever in the folds of time.
"So you understand now crimson?" Asked rune star.
"I... I think I do." I said. It took me a minute to adjust to everything I had just heard. It does make sense though, I always thought that those stories were a little too romantic. So if that is true of this world, then it must be true of our own world, at least I know the truth now, and it's making the matter even more unsettling.
"If Mara is behind this, then it could spell disaster." He said. "If she does resurrect the Titan, it could be the end of everything we know. She'll destroy all of Equestria, and even the world if she wishes... There would be no stopping it without the elements of harmony, and they aren't with us. They're back at Equestria, and without a Way to contact the prince there won't be enough time, the Titan will swoop in and stomp Equestria off the map before they could assemble the elements... It's vital that she be stopped before she resurrects the Titan." Said rune star.
"I understand..." I said. "But if what you said from the story is all true, then do you believe that Mara would have killed the prince?" I asked.
"No, there's no way she could have."
"Alright, so there's a chance that he still may be alive." I said.
"Yes, unless he has fallen to something else in the wastes." Said rune star. "But that is not likely." He paused for a second and looked at the journal which I had handed him not too long ago. "Crimson... Promise me something."
"What is it?" I asked.
"Promise... Promise that you will never speak a word of what I just told you. Not to anypony... Alright?" He asked. "History had forgotten all about this, and anything lost in history should remain lost, you cannot speak a word of what I've just told you." He said.
"I promise, I won't speak of this ever, and not to anypony." I said.
"Thank you crimson." He said.
"What are you going to do in the meantime?" I asked.
"I'm going to make a plan... While I do that I want you to go see Merideth down in her quarters, I know that it's early, but she usually gets up early for her morning routine." He said.
"Alright, I'll go and speak with her." I said.
"While you're doing that I'm going to have a word with miss sparkle, we have something important that needs discussing. Something very important indeed, in spite of recent events."
"Is it anything I should know?" I asked.
"Well I assume it might be, but I'm not going to be telling you,cat least not yet... But I'm sure you'll figure it out eventually." He said.
"Alright then... I guess, I'll go now." I said making my way away from him and moving towards the teleporter.
"Tell Merideth I said good morning." He said as I placed one hoof on the teleporter and then another. I stood completely on the machine and a flash of white light carried me from the top, all the way back to the bottom. Once the light faded I started making my way across the bottom level over to the doorway. I used my magic to force the doors open and walked out of the spire back into the castle. I closed the doors behind me with my magic and started making my way around to the west side of the castle. There were many more ponies out now as the day had began, but it was still a bit early. The only ponies I saw walking around were guards, and very few important looking ponies. I started making my way to the west wing and as I opened the door and walked into the west wing a accidentally bumped into a pony in fancy cloth clothing.
"Oh, sorry..." I said apologetically.
"Watch where you're walking buddy, I'll have you know that I've got friends in high places." He said.
"Like I said... Sorry." I said.
"I don't need your apologies, I'll have you know that I've made council with many representatives in this castle. And they've all seen the knight commander, the castle Mage, and even the king... Personally." He said. "I don't even know where trash like you got into this palace in the first place, you have to be somepony to even look at this place, where did you even come from... The slums?" He asked. I really wanted to punch this guy in the face, but I can't do that.
"Oh me, nowhere special... I was just having a chat with rune star, you know... The castle Mage, all the way up in his private study, now I'm going to go meet the knight commander. If you don't believe me then maybe you can ask one of your friends to ask for you... But I'm busy, so have a good day." I said walking off and leaving the pony there speechless. He stood there as I made my way down the corridor and he even watched as the two guards at the doorway of the knight commanders office nodded at me and let me pass through. It was kinda funny but I tried not to laugh. As I entered knight commander merideths office a foul smell passed over my nose and caused me to dry heave.
"Huh, oh crimson... It's you, welcome." Said the knight commander poking her head out of the other room.
"What in gods holy name is that smell?" I said using a hoof to cover my snout which helped only a little.
"Apologies, but it appears that somepony was brave enough to sneak into the palace ground last night and left a stink bomb in my office, we caught the culprit swiftly after the bomb was placed." She said.
"A stink bomb?" I said still covering my snout. "Are you alright?"
"Yes I'm fine, it wasn't a deadly bomb, and it wasn't full of toxic chemicals, if so I'd be dead already... No it was just a stink bomb, from what I can tell it was made with sulfur and sea skunk oil...foul stuff." She said.
"Well, who's the pony that did this?" It asked.
"Some punk from the shadow cult." She said.
"Shadow cult?" I questioned.
"Don't worry about it." She said. "It's just a group or freaks that rose up not long after the third horn vanished. They think that this is a series of occurrences that will bring forth some kind of dark mistress... Or some shit." She said. Her speaking about a dark mistress was kinda funny, considering what rune star had just told me, but I can't tell her about that stuff, but I'm curious now about this cult.
"Are they dangerous, they seem to be able to get into the castle, they could have left a real bomb in your room and killed you." I said.
"They don't pose much of a threat to the castle, but they've been terrorizing the docks for months now, they've taken up refuge in the gallows and rule over the place with an iron hoof. It may not seem like it, but they are quite dangerous." She said. "That little gift from last night might have just been a warning sign, I fear they might be on the move." She said. " but anyway... What brings you here?" She asked.
"There's been a slight change of plans." I said. "Once my friends get here tomorrow, were going to head out immediately, we got our hooves on the princes journal, and we found some good leads in it." I said.
"That's amazing, finally I can start mobilizing my forces." She said. "You just let me know what you need and where we're going and ill take care of the rest."
"We don't need a whole army, maybe three or four guards or Templars, me and my friends will be going as well as the kings daughter and rune star." I said. "Once we head out we're going to be heading out to the gap where the third horn used to be." I said.
"Uhm.. Oh... Okay...the third horn, but... There's nothing there." She said.
"I know, but the princes journal said that we should go there, I don't know what's there, but after reading the journal, I think I've started to fit the pieces together as well. I can't really say for sure, but I think this might run a little deeper than we expected... And that's all I can say really." I said, which was a lie considering I know almost exactly what's going on here.
"Ha, this is getting exciting..." She said. "With a large city that's got impenetrable walls, nothing exciting happens,city's been a while since I've got to have some real fun. It's not like I can go out and fight criminals all day, I've got too much paperwork to do, but finally I get to actually do something." She said becoming quite excited.
"Alright, calm down... We haven't gone just yet." I said. "That's pretty much all I have to say." I said. "Actually... Could you tell me more about this shadow cult?" I asked.
"The shadow cult? Sure..." She agreed. "They're just a bunch of dumb ponies who think that they can take over the town. They disguise themselves pretty well and they're into some really sick shit." She said. "We've got reports of ponies being sacrificed or something. We know that they're hideout is in the gallows, but we can't get to them, they are very strong and there are many of them." She said. "They work mainly at night, and they have a sacrificial pattern that they follow, they kill one pony at least every night. We usually find the victims a day later tied up with their stomachs cut open and strange symbols painted around them in their own blood."
"You were right, that is pretty sick." I said.
"You know... Now that you've brought it up I think I could use your help." She said. "I've figured that its about time to clean up these streets, we can't afford to keep losing ponies every night, so I want you to come with me, together I'm sure we can wipe them off the streets." She said.
"You want me to come along?" I asked.
"Of course, you're a very talented pony, plus you can use magic, which never really hurts in a fight... Except for the other pony... I was going to leave today to fight them off with just a small company of Templars, but I think it would be better if you came instead so the guards can keep their watch on the palace and we keep security tight around here." She said.
"Uh... Sure, I'll come along... If it helps the country then I'll be more than happy to assist you, that is why I'm here after all, I guess." I said.
"Great... Follow me." She said walking past me and opening up the door to her office. We both walked out and the two guards closed the door behind us. It was such a reliefs to get a breath of fresh air, the smell in there was literally the worst smell I've ever smelt in my life probably. We started walking down the hallway and we made it down further than I've been so far. Soon we came to the end of the hallway where there were two guards positioned in front of a large iron door. They opened up the door for Merideth and we both walked through. On the other side of the door were stairs that went straight down. We walked down the stairs and entered a dimly lit dungeon. We walked through the wide corridors until we came to a room.
"Where are we?" I asked. She opened the door and we walked in.
"This is the interrogation room." She said. Once we got in she closed the door and I had a look around. In the center of the room was a pony strapped to a chair who looked like he had been beaten up and tortured, probably because he has. All around were various...tools, hanging off of the walls mostly covered in suspicious stains. We walked closer towards the pony and he stared back at us. "This isn't the most glamorous part of the job, I generally have the interrogator do this kind of stuff, but despite all of his work we still couldn't get much information out of him." She said. "So I need your help to get him to spill the beans before we head out, so we have a better ground once we get to the gallows."
"Ha... Yeah right, you won't survive there, my brothers and sisters will tear the organs from your bodies and offer them up to the mistress of shadows." Teased the pony bound and beaten in a chair. I walked over to him and he spite blood into my face. I took a deep breath in and out and closed my eyes, then I reopened them. I brought my head up and headbutt the pony right in the face. His head whipped back and then it went limp and fell forward facing the ground.
"Good, now that he's unconscious we can begin." I said. "I don't necessarily agree with torture as a method of getting information... I'm sure you feel the same way." I said, Merideth just nodded. "So I've got other methods. Now I could have just used a trick to make him tell us everything, but that's not any fun, I think... It's better to experience it myself." I said.
"You've got some kind of trick up your sleeve don't you?" She inquired.
"I always have a trick up my sleeve." I said. I placed my hoof on the forehead of the unconscious pony and lifted his head up. I focused my magic and my hoof started glowing a faint blue. Not long after the ponies eyes opened and started glowing blue. Suddenly beams of faint light projected from his eyes all around the room. Out of the blue light started to appear a figure of a pony. It was like a magical hologram of a pony. "I'm focusing my magic to project his memories." I said.
"Nice trick." She said.
"Shhh... Listen." I said. We waited for a second and the pony in his memories started to become clearer until we could begin to make him out. He was a rather tall and skinny pony. We couldn't see most of his face since he was wearing robes with a hood that covered up most of his upper face, but we could see his muzzle. His snout was wrinkled which gave the impression that he was an older colt.
"Now my loyal brother, you understand what must be done?" He asked in an old scratchy voice.
"Yes master." Said the memory of the pony we were interrogating. He wasn't in view since it was his memory, but we could hear his voice.
"Remember... Place the bomb in the knight commanders bedroom, this will be the marker for our next attack." He said. "What may seem like an innocent prank will be her undoing."
"And what if I should inhale this gas... Master?" The dark hooded pony paused for a brief moment.
"Fear not my brother, it is not poison, nor will it bring death... It is simply a marker for the attack on the castle." He said.
"What is this attack you keep speaking of master?" Asked the pony.
"Dietus, you have been a very obedient follower, I believe that I can trust you with this." Said the hooded pony. "The bomb is a conction of sea skunk oil and sulfur...as you already know, but there is a third ingredient." He said. "Bolima..." He said.
"Bolima...? But, why Bolima, master?" Asked the pony.
"Simple young brother..."said the hooded pony. "Bolima is a rare agent that attracts giant ice serpents..." He said. "With the Bolima hidden in the horrible stench of the bomb the ponies will not notice it, but a giant ice serpent can smell Bolima from the other side of Neverspring, the whole city will be over run by ice serpents, there will be no stopping it, not even the walls will keep them back."
"I understand master... It will be done." Said the pony before the memory faded and my magic no longer had any effect. I let go of the ponies head and it dropped back down as he sat there tied to the chair, still unconscious. I could see a fierce look in the knight commanders eyes. I looked over to her and she took a deep breath.
"It seems that we might have some trouble." She said. "The town is protected by large stone walls and magical barriers, but that won't be able to stop a giant ice snake."
"What should we do?" I asked.
"Well... Now that we know we can make a counter attack. If we set of another bomb, in my quarters where the original bomb was set off we can fill it with thistleten." She said.
"Make another stink bomb?" I questioned.
"No... Thistleten is actually a lovely smelling fragrance, it also is poisonous... In its original form, that is." She said. " pif we can set one off then the scent will drive away all of the giant ice snakes. They'll smell the poison in the air and run away." Said Merideth.
"Where are we going to get thistleten?" I asked.
"That's easy, it's a very common fragrance in most neverspring perfumes." She said. "I've got a bottle of it in my room, but we're going to need more than that, and its going to have to be concentrated."
"And then made into a bomb." I said adding onto her sentence. "Are you sure this is going to work... You do know how ridiculous this sounds... Right?" I asked. "I'm even skeptical as to the fact that giant snakes are going to show up here anyway... If they're so attracted to the stuff then they should have been here by now." I said.
"Knight commander Merideth...! knight commander Merideth!" Shouted a voice echoing through the halls of dungeon.
"I'm in here." Shouted the knight commander. Soon the loud thudding of hooves could be heard as a guard quickly bolted into the room and looked at us like he had just seen a ghost.
"Knight commander... S-snakes... Giant ice snakes are swarming the outside walls... Come quickly." He said. He quickly bolted out of the room and we quickly ran after him. As we started to run down the halls I could hear the faint sound of a bell coming from above. We soon arrived to the stairs and started sprinting up them. The sound of the bell grew louder and louder until we burst through the dungeon doors to see the whole palace was in a total panic and the sound of the bell was even louder now. Guards and Templars were rushing in and out of the armory. We sprinted down the hall and eventually out of the west wing where we saw twilight and rune star standing by the base of the spire.
"Ah... So you've heard." Said rune star. "It appears that we've got a bit of a pest problem, no doubts from the Bolima in that bomb planted in the castle... If I had to guess, there must be at least five out there, big ones too... Come to find food for their young... Nasty business."
"Crimson what should we do?" Asked twilight.
"I think we have a plan." I said.
"It wouldn't happen to involve thistleten... Would it?" Asked rune star. "Because I just so happen to have a few concentrated samples in my study... It might take time to make that into a fragrance bomb... But I'm sure our good friend crimson can hold them off until then." Said rune star patting me in the back.
"Uh... Yeah. I can do that." I said.
"Good, knight commander, you go with crimson... Snowbelle is already on the east wall making sure that they don't try and burst through... You should go help her." He said.
"Right... Lets go." Said knight commander Merideth running off. I stayed behind for a second.
"Try and hurry." I said.
"Don't worry crimson, me and rune star will... Well, I don't know what were going to do... I'm not really sure what's going on anymore... But we'll do something." She said. "Just don't do anything stupid." She said giving me a smile. I returned the smile and quickly ran off. I bolted through the central castle and over to the outlying pathways. Once I was clear of those and in the harder I spread my wings and went from the ground to the air in only seconds. Other Pegasus guards and Templars were swarming in the air all converging on the walls. I quickly turned left and soared over to the east wall. As I sky rocketed over the town I could see the ponies were all in mass panic.
I glided through the air and as I got closer to the wall I could start to see over it, and what I saw was not a pretty sight. Just over the wall laid five giant ice snakes. They were at least a good 600 meters long... Each. And they weren't named ice snakes just because they lived in the arctic tundra, they were literally made of ice. They were ice covered snake skeletons, you could see their bones through the ice. They had glowing blue eyes and were slithering over each other just outside the wall. As I inched closer I saw snowbelle on top of the wall surrounded by guards who were all ready to fight off the snakes. I quickly swooped in and landed right by her. She looked over to me and I gave her a smile.
"Need any help?" I asked.
"We could use all the help in the world right about now." She said. "That one there, it's getting really close to the walls." She said pointing out a snake who was slithering close to the walls and departing from the clustered group of snakes. It Ickes it's head up and stood itself up so that it was at eye level with us. It's head was huge and spanned a good distance from the wall. It hissed and flicked its tongue at us. It slowly opened its mouth to show its giant fangs and its chilling breath passed over us.
"This doesn't look good." I said.
"If there was ever a time to show off what you've got, it would be now." Said snowbelle who had her sword in her jaw. Without hesitating I took in a deep breath and exhaled a torrent of burning flames right into the face of the snake. The snake pulled its head back and hissed as it collapsed to the ground. It squirmed a bit but repositioned itself and looked back up to the wall. It hissed at us showing its fangs over again and it started to cock it's head backwards. It lunged forward up the wall for an attack. Before it could reach us an invisible force stopped the snake and it bashed its head. It had just headbutt the force field over the city, but the barrier wasn't holding up well. When the snake slithered back shaking its head I could see large cracks in the shield. The magic around the cracks started to destabilize and the barrier became visible.
"They're going to break through the barrier if they keep that up, if they do that then there won't be any hope." Said a guard to the side of us.
"If they break the barrier then they'll be able to burst through the walls with little effort." Said another guard. I took a deep breath again as my body began to glow and the symbols on my body began to reappear, but different this time. They glowed a bright red as well as my eyes. I channeled all of my magic into the element of fire, which would help out tremendously in this battle. I quickly exhaled as I spit out a small bolt of fire towards the snake who was still dazed from hitting its head. The bolt hit the snake right in the face and exploded with great intensity as flame burst out and covered the whole head of the snake. It hissed again and fell, but it didn't stay down for long. It looked back up at us, kissed and then slithered away back into the group of snakes writhing around outside of the walls.
"That was a close one." I said.
"I don't know how were supposed to stop this." Said snowbelle.
"I think I might know." Said a voice beside us. I looked over surprisingly to see rune star he stood there with a bomb levitating beside him.
"Mage..." Said snowbelle.
"Here crimson, just throw this..." He said. "As much fun as it is to throw pot shot fireballs at the snakes, I assure you that this way is much easier... And much more effective." He said.
"What is that smell...?" Asked snowbelle. "Is...is that...thistleten?"
"Indeed it is my dear snowbelle... Indeed it is, very poisonous in nature, the smell is enough to drive away every living creature in a several hundred mile radius." Said rune star. "Here you are crimson, one poisonous but wonderfully smelling bomb... As requested." He said handing the bomb over to me.
"So... I just light the fuse and throw it?"
"Correct, the bomb will explode, but it won't be a spectacular explosion, but the smell will certainly drive them away." He said. I shrugged my shoulder and used a bit of my fire magic to light the fuse on the bomb. I quickly spread my wings and flew out past the wall. I soared over the snakes below as they slithered and writhed on the ground. One shot up at me and tried to snag me out of the air, but I dodged just in time. I let go of the bomb in my hooves and it fell to the ground towards the snakes. It dropped and hit one of the snakes and they didn't even notice it... Until it exploded. There was a very loud boom as the ground below was covered in a flurry of green and purple fumes. The flames even rocketed up and against what I was told, I was soon wrapped in brightly colored flames. The fire was very hot, but I was able to keep a shield around myself. The air was filled with a sweet scent. Once the explosion died down and I was no longer covered in flames I looked down to see the mess that was made.
Three of the snakes had been damaged considerably. The other ones writhed and wriggled around while hissing and burying their faces into the snow. It wasn't much longer before they all decided the squirm away from here and soon they disappeared as they burrowed under the snow and tunneled away. I watched for a moment as they slithered away and then I quickly turned back to the city and started flying my way over there. I flew over and touched down on the wall and folded my wings back to my sides.
"It appears I made a slight miscalculation when it came to the radius of the explosion."
"Doesn't matter, I'm fine, and it seems to have worked considerably well." I said.
"Yeah, and plus…" rune star added leaning over and taking a big whiff of me. "You smell like thistleten now." I leaned over to my shoulder and gave myself a sniff and it was true. I was covered in the scent of sweet and savory thistleten. Twilight, Snowbelle, and even knight commander Meredith came over and started to sniff me.
"He's right, you really do, and it smells kinda nice on you." Said Merideth.
"great." I said sarcastically. "Exactly how long am I going to smell like this?"
"well seeing as how you were caught in that blast, and it was a very concentrated mix, I would say that you'll probably smell like that for a few weeks now." Said rune star. I let out a troublesome sigh and rolled my eyes.
"Fine…" I said. "So what now, the cities safe… do we call it a day?" I asked.
"Not yet, we've still got to nip the problem at the bud." Said meredith.
"What do you mean?" asked snowbelle.
"We're going after the cult of shadows."
-Authors Note: hey guys, shadowsythe here. I've got something important to say, and i hope that you'll all listen cause ive got some pretty awesome news, but before i get to that let me explain the chapter. I've made this a two part chapter since my original plan was going to make the chapter WAY too long, so I've cut it into two parts. also I've made another drastic change to the story. instead of there being five dimensions ive cut it down to only two, this dimension and the human world, so after all this trouble here it's off to the world of humans. I've decided on this because if i did five dimension not only would it seem a bit ridiculous, but ive gotten some complaints that this might be dragging on far too long, and i agree... but the human world isn't going to be any laughing matter and once they get there I'm pulling out all the stops. so hold onto your dicks ladies and gentlemen... cuz shits gonna get fucked up.
on another note, the more interesting one... or equally interesting (you decide), a follower of my stories TheGlitchIntheMatrix recently made a new story called Mash Of The Titans. and holy shit guys, this story is absolutely one of the best stories ive ever made. Glitch had previously asked me for permission to use my characters Crimson and Thunder rush in his story along with several other characters from other stories in a huge mondo massive collision of epic proportions. at first i was somewhat skeptical, i will admit that, but all that changed as i began reading it... honestly... i love it, i really do and i cant wait until he updates it. if you guys dont already know about it then go and read it... seriously, go fucking read that shit. props go out to Glitch for making such an incredible story and i hope that you stick with it, so good on you, and thank you too guys for sticking with me, be sure to go and check out the story and the storied from the other characters involved in the story. until next time guys...
-Stay Shady~