Upheaval: Reckoning
Chapter 18: The Crystal Grave
"Unicorns, enchantments!"
Vanguard called that out as soon as the first swing of his two-bladed sword went right through one of the shadowy unicorns coming at him. He didn't know if anypony heard him through the din, especially as he had shouted while still biting into his weapon's hilt. He took a few steps back and ducked a swing from his frontal attacker. Behind him, the rest of the combined Special Operations and Royal Guard ponies were dodging desperately as well. Their enemies were numerous and were coming at them from every angle, including directly beneath them.
Captain Bad Arc of Special Operations First Squad looked to his unicorn mage and then fired his crossbow at a nearby shadow. The bolt struck a crystal formation a good distance behind his target instead. "Enchantments!" he shouted. "Move it, Moontail!"
One shade plunged a hoof into a royal guard's armored chest, the blackness simply passing through the metal plating as if it wasn't there. The royal guard dropped to the ground, shivering violently and his eyes constricting. His attacker simply disappeared into the ground to attack another target. A second guard dropped next to him, also shivering.
"Stand next to me!" Moontail shouted. His horn already glowed with magic while the others desperately tried to get to him with all the shadows flitting about.
Shining Armor wasn't to be left out. Once he rallied the royal guards to him, his horn flashed purple, enveloping their weapons and armor. Several feet away, Moontail had done the same.
His two-bladed sword now sheathed in magical energy, Vanguard took another swing at one of the shadowy unicorns. This time he felt some resistance, as if he was cutting through felt. His foe let out a furious wail and retreated into the floor. He turned around in time to jump out of the way as a two more of them emerged from the ground to grab him. "Fall back!" he called out. Even with the ability to strike at these things, they were still surrounded by enemies that could literally attack from anywhere.
Shining Armor struck another shadow with a bolt of magic, sending it hurtling back. His fellow guards fought back valiantly, but it was clear to Vanguard Clash that they were looking to back away. He spotted one guard, Gold Leaf, about to be overwhelmed by a couple of shadows. Before he could be struck, however, he was encapsulated in a spherical barrier of Shining Armor's magic, forcing his assailants to seek other targets. The barrier disappeared after a second more, allowing Gold Leaf to stumble towards his fellows.
"Riot!" one of the shadows wailed. "The new slaves are rebelling! Call the forepony!"
With shadows still closing in, Vanguard turned towards Moontail and spat out his weapon onto his hooves. "We need a spell that can sweep groups of them," he said.
"Not really my forte, Vanguard Clash," Moontail said as he blasted another shadow that was flying towards him. "Although, I've got a fire spell that could work reasonably well."
'Fire,' Vanguard thought. He didn't know how well it would even work. These things seemed to be made of nothing but darkness and cold. Perhaps a blast of heat and light could take them out. Or the flames could simply pass through them. "Do it," he said. "Aim for that cluster that's closing in on Shining Armor's group." He grabbed his weapon with his mouth again.
Moontail pointed his horn at the targets Vanguard pointed out and a stream of flame poured out towards them. It wasn't a particularly impressive spell, but the shadows shrieked at the sight and dispersed towards different directions before it could even touch them. With a break between the attacks, Shining Armor and his guards quickly regrouped. Without another word, Vanguard ran towards them.
Free of having to watch out for the other guards, Shining Armor concentrated on another spell. He focused on the ground beneath them, creating a shimmering cover over it. Vanguard silently agreed with the idea, it didn't take much to surmise that their biggest problem was surprise attacks coming out of the ground. They needed a way to force their attackers to use more conventional directions. One shadow emerged from the ceiling and descended Shining Armor only to be cut down by an enormous two-bladed sword.
"I'll watch your back, Captain Shining Armor!" Vanguard said as he positioned himself next to the unicorn. "Concentrate on that barrier of yours and get the nearby walls!" Two more shadows flew towards Shining Armor, but Vanguard kept them at bay. The shimmering barrier continued to extend from the unicorn and then began to coat the nearby walls, forcing the shadows to attack only from the ceiling.
With their targets being funneled into a single direction, the group of ponies began to drive the shadows back. Moontail fired another stream of flame at the ceiling, this time striking a pair of shadows. They wailed and then dispersed. The others phased through the stone and didn't appear again.
A tense minute passed as the group waited for the attack to resume. Most of them were panting with exertion. The other royal guards checked on their fallen comrade only to find that the poor stallion had stopped breathing. His body was cold and rigid, as if he had been dead for days instead of just a couple of minutes ago.
"Are they gone?" Scarlet asked. He kept his crossbow pointed at the ceiling.
"For now," Vanguard replied. "Keep your guards up."
"Did we kill some of them?" Bad Arc asked.
"How do you kill something that's dead to start with?" Moontail asked. "No. At best, we disrupted their physical forms so it will take them time to be able to attack us."
"Perhaps we should get some backup," Shining Armor suggested. He looked up at the scorch marks on the ceiling. "Some more fire would help."
"Sounds good," Vanguard said. He looked to some of the guards and one of the ponies from First Squad. The shadows managed to graze them with their freezing incorporeal touch and they complained of pain and itchiness. Having spent most of his life in the Northern Barrier Land, he knew frost nip when he saw it. These ponies were lucky that what they got was the equivalent of a minor scratch from their ghostly enemies.
"Bad time to lose Third Squad's unicorn mage then," Bad Arc said. He stretched out his wings while they continued to watch for a sudden return. "Just as when we need a fire specialist, the best one in the entire Legion dies."
The rest of the squad glanced at Bad Arc and then at Vanguard nervously, but he didn't as much as flinch. "I'm sure Pyre Valor regrets that her being incinerated inconveniences you, Captain Bad Arc," he replied.
Bad Arc didn't seem aware that he might be treading on a sensitive subject or he simply didn't care as he went on. After a couple more minutes without any sign of the enemy passed by, he spoke again. "Wasn't Third Squad going to get Twilight Sparkle as its new unicorn mage? I've seen her fire spells. Even she would be a boon to this mission."
Shining Armor stopped, his eyes widening. "Twilight Sparkle?" he asked. "What's this about Twilight Sparkle?" He turned towards Vanguard who gave him a stern look in return. Without saying a word, Vanguard Clash delivered his message: mission first.
The whole group began to head back and Vanguard Clash found Shining Armor walking beside him The unicorn's reaction to Twilight's name was intriguing. He wanted to know how the two were related, but he had a mission to deal with first. Fortunately enough, Shining Armor matched his professionalism.
Before the group could continue ascending the slope they had taken, a cold draft suddenly blew from deeper into the mine. Vanguard pulled out his two-bladed sword. "Fenrir's hide," he growled. "Looks like they're not done yet!"
Shining Armor raised his barrier again, this time covering all sides of the tunnel to make sure that their enemies came at the front. Vanguard considered asking for individual shields, but he doubted Shining Armor's ability to maintain so many as well as the shielded pony's ability to move once inside those things. Even what they were doing now was a flawed defense. These things could go under the ground and then emerge from behind them where Shining Armor's barrier didn't cover. He hoped that the enemy wasn't particularly good with strategy or adapting.
The cold intensified as the wind picked up. An eerie, high-pitched howl assaulted the groups ears, leaving them wondering if it came from the ghosts or merely the distorted sound of the wind passing through the mine's tunnels.
Then they came.
First was the same swarm of shadowy ghosts that they had thought they had driven back. This time, the shadows didn't attack. They swarmed about in front of the group like a black cloud of angry bees. Everypony raised their weapons and the unicorns refreshed their enchantments. That there seemed to be even more of the things was not lost on them.
"This rebellion ends here!"
The voice boomed from the far end of the tunnels, shaking the entire tunnel. Bits of dust from the ceiling fell on Vanguard Clash. He didn't have time to pay too much attention, however. He could see something approaching. The lights from the crystals at the far end seemed to be extinguishing themselves at first until he realized that it wasn't the crystals. A great darkness was heading for them.
"Forepony!" one of the shadows wailed.
The blackness seemed to coat the sides of the tunnel at first. Then it extended like living ink, coalescing right in the middle of the swarming ghosts. A second later, an enormous shadowy unicorn filled the tunnel. This was no mere shadow, however. It erupted into a blaze of black fire. Even from a distance, Vanguard could feel the cold radiating from the thing. Also, unlike the smaller versions, this one had a pair of "eyes". Two orbs of blue flame shone from its head. "The forepony," he muttered. "Maybe if we take it down, the others will scatter for good."
"Or we could get ourselves surrounded and killed while committing to that attack," Shining Armor replied. He watched as Moontail cast his fire spell at the enormous shadow. The stream of flame struck true, but barely seemed to hurt its target, quashing any notion of defeating the thing head on. In response, the giant shadow let out a ferocious wail that sent the walls shaking. More bits of dust fell on them from the ceiling. "We have to get out of here!" he said. "It's going to collapse this tunnel over us!"
"Come on!" Bad Arc shouted. The others made a run for it while he and Scarlet Rabbit fired their enchanted bolts at the shadows. Shining Armor dismissed his barrier and started to retreat as well. The enormous blazing shadow took in the bolts fired at it as if the pegasi had been firing at a pool of ink. It wailed again, shaking the tunnel some more.
"Look out!" Vanguard shouted. A large section of the ceiling broke loose and threatened to drop right on top of Shining Armor. He dove for it and pushed the unicorn out of the way. The chunk of rubble broke through the floor leaving behind a gaping crevice as it continued to fall. A network of cracks quickly spread from the initial hole.
"Captain!" Scarlet rabbit shouted. He was about to fly forward when Bad Arc held him back. The giant shadow had grown tired of the two of them shooting at it and was heading their way. They had no choice but to fly back and join the rest of the group.
Both Vanguard and Shining Armor got to their hooves. Fortunately for them, the other shadows were still swirling about, seemingly uncaring about anything other than watching the giant one attack. Vanguard was about to take step forward when he looked to the ground. There were cracks all over the place. Suddenly, he found himself in one of the rare moments in his life when he cursed at his armor's weight. Though the two of them stood still in desperation, the cracks started spreading rapidly.
Sure enough, the entire floor around them gave way, sending the two plummeting into the chasm beneath.
"Damn it!" Scarlet Rabbit shouted as they continued to run back up the tunnel. Behind them, the giant blazing shadow continued to give chase leaving him no chances at even looking back to see what had happened to Vanguard Clash and Shining Armor.
The group galloped in a panic while shadows dogged their heels. Bits of barding clattered to the ground as some of the guards tried to make themselves lighter as they ran. One guard cried out as a shadowy hoof brushed against his hind leg. He kept running nonetheless. To slow down was to die. Everypony knew that.
By the time they were running closer to the entrance, their lungs and legs were burning from exertion. The sight of sunlight streaming in from the opening caused the shadows to turn back with one final wail of frustration. Nearly every pony in the group collapsed at the all clear.
"Damn!" Scarlet shouted again. He slammed his front hooves against the ground, sending pebbles scattering. "Damn shadows! Damn falling roof! Just damn!"
"Calm down," Bad Arc said. "We don't know if those two died. The ghosts ignored them remember?"
"Of course they're not dead!" Scarlet said. "The Captain can't die from random encounters." He looked wistfully down the tunnel. "He and that Shining Armor fellow are probably having an adventure this very instant!"
Bad Arc raised an eyebrow. 'Interesting subordinate, Clash,' he muttered. "Right, let's get reinforced and then get back there for them."
With a groan, Vanguard Clash opened his eyes. At once, he felt around his body to make sure that he was still in one piece. His right shoulder ached badly. He recalled banging it against a ledge while he was falling. The pain was nothing compared to the ache all over his left side. He looked up, trying to find the hole he and Shining Armor had fallen through. He couldn't and that was a bad thing indeed. 'Come on, Clash, time to get a move on,' he told himself.
A groan just a few feet away caught Vanguard's attention. He stood up shakily, glad to know that all four legs were still reliable after that banging he took. "Shining Armor?" he called out. He had caught a brief glimpse of the unicorn guard captain falling with him when the floor gave way.
"Here," Shining Armor replied with another groan. Vanguard walked over to find the unicorn lying on his left side. A chunk of rubble pinned his upper half to the stone floor.
"Hold still," Vanguard said as he set to work on the chunk of rubble. With a grunt, he shoved it aside.
Shining Armor tried to rise as well, only to stumble when he put some weight on his left foreleg. His face crumpled in pain as he dropped to his knees. "I think it's broken," he said almost apologetically.
Vanguard touched the injured leg gingerly. He could still feel the bone as a whole. "Probably just a fracture," he said. "Come on." He offered a shoulder and helped the unicorn stand.
"We're deep in the bowels of a long-abadoned mine, I'm injured, and there's a swarm of pony ghosts still lurking about," Shining Armor said wistfully. "Any ideas, Captain Vanguard Clash?"
"Let's go look for that Crystal Grave," Vanguard replied without missing a step. He continued to support the injured leg as he walked next to the unicorn. "We should try to secure it at least. With any luck, it might be the key to completely defeating those ghosts."
"Maybe we should sit here and wait for the others," Shining Armor suggested. "We might just get hopelessly lost or outmatched if we keep going."
"We're more likely to be cornered by ghosts if we stay in one spot. We should also consider that the others may believe we're dead and reinforcements won't be sent anytime soon."
Shining Armor smiled wryly and limped on.
The two of them looked around. The floor was littered with bones, fragments of barding, ancient mining equipment, and rubble from the ceiling above. Vanguard inspected one of the broken picks. The handle had shattered and the sharp point was discolored by what was likely dried blood. It was no difficult guess to say that this tool had not been used for mining in its last moments. As before, crystals embedded into the rock walls provided them with a reliable light source. Unfortunately for the two, they had fallen into a chamber with multiple tunnels leading out of it.
"We should keep descending," Vanguard said. "If Princess Platinum hid something valuable in this wretched mine of hers, she most likely hid it in the deepest parts."
Shining Armor nodded. The two of them agreed on a tunnel to take and began to walk. Progress was painfully slow as well as outright painful for Shining Armor. Though Vanguard did his best, each stepped jarred him ever so slightly and that wasn't even counting what was likely the pain of suddenly being a burden.
After what seemed like an hour of following a steadily descending tunnel, Vanguard suddenly stopped. "Let's take a rest," he said.
"I can still go on," Shining Armor said defensively.
"It's not a matter of being able to go on. It's a matter of being ready if something is waiting for us at the end of this tunnel. You're sweating from exertion and, to be honest, I'm tiring myself."
"Fine. A quick break then."
The two of them sat with their backs against the cool, stone walls. Fortunately for them, both their water canteens survived the fall. As they took their mouthfuls, they also had to consider that they only had a limited amount of time to spend in this place before thirst became a serious issue.
"So," Shining Armor said after swallowing a mouthful of water and replacing his canteen's cap. "How do you know Twilight Sparkle?"
"We've worked together," Vanguard replied.
That answer alone seemed to gnaw at Shining Armor. Vanguard wondered if the unicorn didn't like the idea of Twilight working with legionnaires. He had to have expected it since she had been banished and was probably making the best out of a very bad situation. Still, the question made Vanguard wonder how Twilight and the other had been received back in the Heartland. Was there a joyous reunion or were they considered tainted ponies?
"Is she Special Operations like you?" Shining Armor asked.
"No. Well…" Vanguard recalled Twilight's request back in FangBreaker Fortress. He may have painted himself to a corner. If Twilight still insisted in joining, he would be hard pressed to say no, especially with the pressure on him to get his squad back to full strength.
"Well…what?"
"It's nothing. You seem particularly concerned about her. How do you know Twilight Sparkle?"
"She's my younger sister."
It was Vanguard's turn to be a bit disturbed. "Twilight never told me that she had a brother."
Shining Armor snorted in amusement. "Don't take it badly," he said. "She didn't tell her best friends about me until I invited them to my wedding. Anyway, how did you meet her?"
"She fell out of the sky and landed on my vice captain."
Shining Armor chuckled a bit. "Thank you," he said. "That means you were among the first ponies she met when she went to that place and she's managed to make it back safely."
"Save your thanks for until you've heard the whole truth, Captain Shining Armor," Vanguard replied. Shining Armor looked at him questioningly, but he refused to pursue that thread of conversation for now. "She's a good pony, your sister."
"Tell me something I don't know."
Vanguard avoided looking at Shining Armor. He did have some things to say that the unicorn probably didn't know, but he didn't bother saying it. Shining Armor likely wouldn't believe him anyway. After several more minutes, he helped the unicorn stand up. "Let's keep going," he said.
The tunnel began to descend sharply, forcing them to go even slower just to make sure that they didn't lose their footing. It was noticeably getting colder as they descended as well. They tensed as they kept walking, expecting the giant shadowy unicorn to emerge as they went on. It seemed like an unwarranted fear, however. After what felt like a couple of hours of navigating the tunnels, nothing had shown up. They had continued descending and they were instinctively following the cold. When they took one side tunnel and felt it becoming warmer, they double backed and took another one.
After what felt like another hour, they noticed another thing. The narrow passages were getting wider. As they continued to follow the passageway, they noticed an eerie grayish-blue light shining from the end of it. Vanguard's weapon was firmly clamped in his jaws and Shining Armor's horn was aglow as the light came closer. When they reached the end of the passageway, however, the both of them stopped in awe.
The passageway opened up to a massive, brightly-lit chamber. The ceiling was nearly high enough not to be seen. Instead of a natural cavern floor, they were faced with a carefully cut and polished gemstone floor. The walls were worked white stone, polished to the point that they felt like glass.
Then there was the gigantic crystal that dominated the cavern.
The two could only stare at the thing: a blue-gray crystal that appeared as a sphere first until they got a better view of the thousands of facets on it. It was a massive object, easily twenty feet in height. It was suspended in mid-air by some sort of magic that also rotated it very slowly. It wasn't the size, beauty or strangeness of the crystal that held the two immobile however. As they continued to stare, they began that there was something inside the crystal, some vaguely familiar shape…
Both Vanguard and Shining Armor tore their eyes away from the crystal long enough to look around for danger. As they had feared, dark shapes began to swirl towards the crystal from the ceiling. Their first reaction was to immediately back down the tunnel to try and hide. One by one, the shadowy unicorns surrounded the thing silently. They had not been noticed it seemed.
"Is that the Crystal Grave?" Shining Armor whispered. "What do you think it has to do with those ghosts?"
"Maybe the name is more literal than we expected," Vanguard whispered back. The hidden archives mentioned that it was a giant mana battery, but he had never seen a mana battery of that appearance. And that thing inside...perhaps there was more to this thing than what had been mentioned.
The giant form of "the forepony" emerged from the ceiling, joining the smaller ones in circling the crystal.
"Any plan on what we do now?" Shining Armor asked.
Vanguard smiled wryly. "Didn't quite expect to make it here without complications," he admitted.
Shining Armor focused on the crystal, likely going through his spells for something useful.
"Shining Armor," Vanguard said.
"Huh?"
"How long can you hold that barrier of yours?"
"Days if I have to."
"Think you can encapsulate that crystal?"
"I could if it doesn't react badly to magic and-!"
Shining Armor quickly silenced himself as one of the shadows swirled nearby. The shape had no visible eyes like the giant one, but both of them could tell that it was looking around. It stopped mid-flight and then slowly hovered towards where they were. Vanguard felt his heart race. This was it. They would be discovered and slain.
"Do it," Vanguard said. With that, he sprang from their hiding place and made a run for the crystal. The ghosts sent up a wail and began to congregate around him. Something must be tying these ghosts here, especially since they were killed so long ago. Something called "Crystal Grave" was a good candidate. That they were constantly swirling around the crystal helped confirm that theory. Behind him, Shining Armor cursed and then hobbled as close as he could get to the crystal.
With the ghosts chasing after Vanguard, Shining Armor began to concentrate on the crystal. The purplish light of his barrier began to surround the thing easily enough. Halfway through the spell, however, the barrier slowed down, as if encountering some invisible resistance.
"Any time now, Shining Armor!" Vanguard shouted. He ran zigzags across the massive cavern with ghosts in hot pursuit. The giant shadow was starting to descend upon him as well.
Three quarters of the spell in, Vanguard took a quick glance at his ally. Shining Armor was sweating profusely despite the cold and was forced to close one eye when a trickle went over it. He looked as if he was trying to push a boulder up an almost vertical slope.
"Shining Armor!" Vanguard yelled again. He was surrounded now and was waving his two-bladed sword desperately to keep his foes at bay.
After what felt like an eternity of struggling, Shining Armor finished his spell. The ghosts gave a long, dolorous wail and then dissipated like smoke.
Panting, Vanguard walked over to Shining Armor. "Cutting it a little close, Unicorn Guard Captain?" he asked.
"You're not a frozen corpse are you?" Shining Armor replied. "That's good enough."
"How are you holding up?"
"It's easier now that I actually completed it. Still, I hope our reinforcements have some willow bark with them." Shining Armor stared at the crystal. "I have to say I'm glad that my wife and my sister hadn't gone deep enough to encounter these things when they were stuck in the mines," he said.
Vanguard didn't reply. That was a curious incident that Shining Armor casually mentioned. Perhaps he could hear more about it once they were safe. Twilight Sparkle wouldn't have been able to proceed deeper anyway. Their group encountered Lexarius's protective seal while they were descending and had to use an incantation to attune themselves to it and pass through.
Without any threats so close, the two of them could now focus on staring at the crystal. Just as they had thought, there was something inside it. They could make out a large, pony-shaped figure. They could see a long horn…wings…