Grogar, Nihilus, Nightmare, Shadow and Chrysalis walked along the path that lead them to Tartarus. The very plants around the old goat's green fire-wreath hooves wilted and decayed to dust as if the very life force was ripped from them. The very shadows reached out to Shadow and Nightmare as if they were enthusiastic serfs trying to touch their master. With each step, the grass near Nihilus' hooves twisted and warped as if the very magic coming off her transformed them into twisted mockeries of life. Among this fell band, Chrysalis felt very self-conscious and under-powered, her ability to die and be reborn made her feel like an ant standing before an elephant in the presence of these almost god-like beings.
Reaching the gates of Tartarus, the two massive imposing barriers of the blackest adamant meant to imprison the worst there was in the world, the fell party stopped. A twisted smirk spread across Empress Nihilus' lips as she remembered her short time being held here as a filly. Raising a hoof she began chanting ancient ancient esoteric words. Grogar, Shadow and Nightmare joined in next, each raising a hoof. Though none broke their gaze from the gates, Chrysalis knew that her four companions were waiting on her. Raising a hoof, the Chrysalis added her chanting to the spell. The two massive black adamant doors opened slowly with a low grinding sound, as the dark ritual forced them apart. With a deep hollow thump, the doors were fully flung open, the smell of smoke and brimstone filled the air.
Six eyes gleamed in the darkness as Cerberus, the massive three-headed guard dog stalked forward, growls from three throats filed the air. The fell party did not quail as the massive dog barreled forward in a symphony of angry barks. A blast of dark magic lanced forth from Gorgar's horns, impacting on the dog's shoulder, leaving a burnt patch of fur. Two of Cerberus' heads yelped in shock and pain as the third growled in anger. The ancient, nigh-immortal guard dog of Tartarus loped forward. Surrounding her horn in a field that seemed to steal away the light, Empress Nihilus grabbed the guard dog of Tartarus and hurled him out of Tartarus. When the three-headed dog hit the ground, Nihilus lit her horn again and hurled Cerberus high in the air.
With nary a word spared, the fell party trod their way into the depths of of the most ancient and terrible prison.
Roused from his slumber by the sounds of visitors, the ancient centaur, Lord Tirek, raised his weary head and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. He allowed his gaze to drift across the cage holding him, then his visitors, before rising to his hooves and bowing. "Ah, Lord Grogar! So good to see you! And you've brought friends with you." He studied the other four. "Cozy Glow! You have grown in both stature and power! Chrysalis! It's good to see you've come up in the world. Pray tell, whom are your two other companions?"
"Cozy Glow is no more!", Nihilus exclaimed in a voice that seemed to come from all places at once and robbed the very warmth from the air, "I am Empress Nihilus, heir of Emperor Nihil."
Tirek's eyes widened in surprise at the proclamation at the former pegasus filly whom he had helped steal all of Equestria's magic once and bowed low. Looking up, he locked eyes with her, staring into the two pitch black orbs. "Many apologies my Empress! If I had known of your ancestry all those years ago, I would have shown you more respect back then."
Nihilus sneered at the ancient centaur. "Perhaps, perhaps not. But that is no matter now, I have use of you." With a flick of her head, the bars of the cage shattered and the shackled on Tirek's wrists and hooves decayed into rust. "An ancient enemy, who has allied themselves with clan Invictus walks the land again."
"Uprights!", Tirek snarled, "I would have thought their kind would have went extinct long ago."
"It would appear not, Tirek.", Nightmare said.
Tirek stroked his scraggly beard in thought. "Something I've always wanted to ask, are these uprights related to..."
"DO NOT SAY HER NAME!", Grogar bellowed. The fires writhed and flared around his bones at the very thought of that most ancient of enemies. After a few seconds he got his emotions under control. "No, she came from far outside the wheel and other than being two-legged, her kind shares nothing similar with the uprights of this world."
Tirek wiggled a pinkie in his ear for a few seconds. "No need to get testy. She defeated me first. Robbed me of my power long before clan Invictus strode along the great spokes and swam the river."
Chrysalis tipped her head in confusion. "Who or what are you two talking about exactly?"
Tirek turned t face Chrysalis. "Me--URK!"
"I...said...do...not...say...her...name!", Grogar growled, clenching his flaming jaw bones together tightly as he gripped Tirek's neck in his magic.
"Enough!", Nihilus snapped spreading her wings, "I neither care nor wish to care about some creature that is far beyond this world. Grogar! Release him!"
Releasing the old centaur from his magic, Grogar turned away and muttered, "You will care if the river, the wheel and the tree unblock the passage for her again."
Nihilus walked over to Grogar and turned his flame-wreathed skull to face her. "I promise you that you shall have your vengeance against this creature that has wounded you, its skull shall be the crown you wear and its burnt world shall be your prized jewel." After the flame-wreathed skeletal goat nodded, she continued, "But not until you help me make this world my charnel throne."
Grogar turned the gaze of his empty sockets to Nihilus. "What is thy command my master?"
With a wicked smile, Nihilus turned to face Tirek. "Lord Tirek! No longer shall thee be remembered as the thief who stole magic. Kneel and be baptized anew!"
As Tirek lowered himself to the floor, Nihilus' horn blazed with anti-light. The old centaur felt youth and vitality return to his body. His horns grew grew till they nearly met above his head before curving out again. His height increased until he was the size of a mighty tree. Muscles rippled as they grew and bulked up. His skin became like unto blackened clay, hardened in a great kiln. The sclera of his eyes became red like fire, his irises and pupils became black, like the heart of a dead star. A sphere of magic roared to life between his horns like a star, shifting from a blazing sphere of yellow and orange, to a pulsing sphere of deepest black, wreathed in a red aura. The light seemed to bend away from his fur. Claws grew from the ends of fingers and teeth became serrated fangs. The very ground cracked under his hooves, which took on the appearance of bronze in a furnace. "ARISE LORD TIREK THE DESTROYER OF ALL!", Nihilus shouted in a voice that seemed to echo from the very depths of Tartarus itself.
Tirek opened his eyes and snorted out sulfurous vapors.
Empress Nihilus cackled in wicked glee. "Come Lord Tirek, destroyer of all! Join your fellow regents, Lord Grogar, feaster of souls and master of terror, Lords Nightmare and Shadow, lords of true darkness and Queen Chrysalis the undying, feaster of flesh and suffering! Let us plan out overthrow of this world!" Dark laughter poured from Nihuls as she lit her horn in pitch black anti-light. In a flash of pure blackness, the six vanished.
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Twilight and Luna stood in an empty field. She puffed her cheeks and blew out, buzzing her lips as Luna started teaching her how to change her forms. "It's simple little sister, just envision the form you want to take and allow your magic to change you." Twilight still hadn't gotten used to being called little sister. Placing a hoof to her chest, she took a breath and let it out while simultaneously extending her foreleg. There was a time when she thought that having alicorn magic was odd, but now this was a whole new layer. Everywhere she could feel the silvery river that made and unmade all things, it was a part of her and separate from her at the same time, it flowed into her and from her, she was both its head waters and tributary.
Opening her eyes, Twilight focused her mind on a single form. The wind gently blew, making the dust swirl and the grass ripple. Energy crackled across her body as it slowly transformed. Lifting up a hoof, she stared at it, her very body had been transformed into autumn leaves, all shades of red, orange, brown and gold, they seemed to effortlessly glide past one another as she moved.
Luna clopped her hooves together in joy and applause as Twilight looked on in confusion. "Huzzah! Little sister, thou art the mistress of the autumnal equinox!"
"W-w-wait...wh-what?!" Twilight quickly covered her mouth in surprise. Her voice didn't sound right, it sounded like chilly winds lowing over leaves.
Luna smiled knowingly at Twilight and then focused, transforming her body into a form that appeared like frost-covered soil. "After we swim the great river, our first form is that of which season we govern over." She transformed again, her coat taking on the gently silvery regolith of the full moon, her mane and tail became like a clear starry sky. "Now let's see if you govern any celestial objects."
Twilight closed her eyes and reached out with her magic to feel the great river flowing into, out of and through all things. Slowly her flesh transformed into a semi-transparent deep purple construct, mane and tail were barely visible wisps of undulating energy. Looking around, she could see through the planet to the very stars. There billions upon billions of them, all gathered like unto a great wheel, the outer rim glowed brightly, the spokes were made of thin filaments of stars, the very planet itself sat on the very hub of the great wheel of stars. Looking around she could see dozens of worlds connected to this world. Her attention slowly drifted to a very familiar world on the rim of the starry wheel connected by a familiar portal. Her breath(or at least what felt like her breath), hitched in her throat as she could perceive untold numbers of worlds on the great starry wheel, all connected to this world by their own portals. Everywhere she could feel smaller versions of the great wheel turning, constantly driving the cycle of birth, growth, death and renewal in all things. Beyond the rim she could perceive untold ancient paths leading to unknown worlds beyond, most of which were blocked by unfathomable darkness.
Luna took a moment to see what Twilight was looking at. "Beautiful, isn't it?" Twilight nodded. "Don't stare too deeply into the dark parts or the void that lives beyond all things and drives you into madness." Luna's tone carried knowledge and deep sadness.
Twilight blinked, her form returning to a flesh and blood pony. "Luna? Is that what drove you to becoming Nightmare Moon?"
"Aye and nay. The great void between all things didst drive us into madness, but the fell things that live in the void feed on a beings worst feelings until they finally corrupt it fully. It wast our jealously, anger and rage that gave the nightmare a banquet to grow strong until it could manifest in this world, then it used our strength and madness to try and unbalance the wheel."
Twilight swallowed. "Does the nightmare still exist?"
"Aye. Though we suspect it's greatly diminished. The fell things that live in the void are like all energy, magic and matter, they can neither be made nor unmade."
Twilight rolled the words in her mind. "Could the nightmare be what drove Sombra and Chrysalis."
Luna let her gaze drift as she thought. "Mayhaps. But there are things even worse than what comes from the void."
"Such as?"
"One had its name erased, its body burned and its very soul ripped apart. The other, though much older, had its body destroyed by a great warrior, though a single indestructible artifact remained that has been sealed away."
"The second one was Grogar wasn't it?"
"Guard your thoughts well, little sister.", Luna warned, "Though that old goat was destroyed, he's not gone."
"Didn't gusty the great defeat him?"
"Aye, but she wasn't alone."
"Of course, she had her unicorn warriors with her and the pegasi from Cloudsdale joined her."
"That is only partially true, Twilight." Luna sighed. "Reach out with thy magic and feel for Harald. When you find him, follow his ancestry."
Twilight closed her eyes and reached out. She easily followed the weirding to find Harald, but she also felt other uprights as well, some near, others far. She began following the uprights ancestry, untold faces flew past in seconds as they slowly took on heavier and more hunched over stances. Her breath caught in surprise when eon ago the uprights ancient ancestors faces elongated into more pony-like faces and they walked around on all fours, legs ending a three-toed split hooves. Gasping, she fell back onto her haunches in surprise. "I didn't know. Their most ancient ancestors were..."
"Aye. They share similar ancestors to our little ponies. That's why they wield their own magics."
"So who was it that helped Gusty the Great defeat Grogar?"
"Someone whom Celestia and I haven't seen since we were foals. The only reason she hasn't returned is because the path to her world is blocked." Luna's expression became sad and withdrawn for a few moments. "Come, let's return to the castle."
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Asahina Hunsunohana held a pair of shears in her hand as she knelt before a small shrub in Canterlot gardens, meditating. She slowly and gently moved her hands as she envisioned how she wanted to trim the shrub. Opening her eyes, she began to delicately snip away at the shrub.
Fizzlepop Berrytwist walked around a row of bushes and stopped. "Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't know there was anycreature else here." Her orchid coat bristled slightly at the sight of the upright kneeling, in front of a shrub trimming it, the short, gracefully curved sword at her waist and the longer, equally gracefully curved sword laid on the ground at her side.
Hunsunohana adjusted her kimono slightly as she continued to trim the shrub. "You have caused no harm or committed no foul. Please, feel free to join me if you so choose."
Fizzlepop trotted over and sat on her haunches, watching the upright's hands gracefully glide over the shrub as the shears snipped small branches away. "If you don't mind me asking, what are you doing?"
"Trimming a shrub." Hunsunohana smiled slightly.
"No,*sigh* what I mean is, you're a trained warrior. If rumor is to be believed, you slew five diamond dog bandits without any effort. Why are you doing gardener work? Surely there are much more well trained ponies and other creatures here that can do much better work."
Hunsunohana looked up from the shrub and over to the orchid unicorn mare with the dark rose mane and tail, taking in her broken horn, the scar across one eye, they way the muscles moved under her coat and the way her gaze seemed to take everything in. "You are a trained warrior too, no?"
Fizzlepop thought back to her time when she served in the Storm King's army and became his number one commander and most feared soldier. How she was also known by another name that struck fear into all who faced her, and even after she had left that life behind, sometimes when it was required for her to take to the field to defend Equestria, she would slip that name and persona back on as easily as she slipped on her armor. "Yes, I am one of the best trained warriors there is, at least until Harald Irontoothson marched across the frozen tundra far to the north into the Crystal Empire to take up his ancestral title and defend Equestria."
Hunsonohana placed the shears on her lap. Though she had never heard the name 'Harald Irontoothson' before, she still understood the naming conventions of the Rimewalkers, she knew of them, though mostly their long ships stayed far out to sea hunting whale and walrus, there were stories during times of famine when their ship would beach themselves to raid villages and towns.
"You didn't answer my question. There are other creatures who are better gardeners, why don't you let them tend to this shrub and you train our warriors how to fight as effortless as you?", Fizzlepop asked.
Standing up, Hunsonohana brushed off her kimono, picking up her katana, she slipped it into her sash. "Follow me.", she said gesturing to the unicorn mare. They walked over to look at a billy goat gardener was trimming a large shrubbery sculpture. "When you see him, what do you think he would do if I drew my sword on him?"
"He'd probably run away screaming bloody murder."
"Precisely." Hunsonohana took a few steps back and placed her hand to her katana. In one swift and smooth moment, she drew the sword, stopping a hair's breadth from the unicorn mare's cheek. Leaping up, Fizzlepop Berrytwist back-flipped away and slipped into the Tempest Shadow persona, taking up a fighting stance. With a flick of her wrist, the woman returned the katana to its scabbard as Fizzlepop slipped out of Tempest. "A gardener can only ever be a gardener, even on the battlefield, a warrior is always a warrior, even in a garden."
"So you're saying it's better to be a warrior in a garden than a gardener in a battlefield?"
"Precisely."
"So why not use your sword to trim shrubbery then?"
"The same reason I wouldn't use a hammer to paint a house. Yes the hammer can smear paint, but a brush works much better. I could use my sword to trim the shrub and use the shears to slay an enemy, but both are much easier when you use the proper tool."
"So why do you trim a shrub?"
"It focuses the mind and trains my hand to go where my mind wants it."
Fizzlepop mused for a moment. "So it's a training exercise?"
"Yes." Hunsunohana gestured. "Come. I shall teach you how to focus your mind so your can put your...uh...hooves exactly where you want them." Walking back to the small shrub with the mare following her, she pulled the katana from her sash, knelt down and gently laid the weapon gently on the ground, like one would lay a child in a crib. Picking up the shears, she passed them to Fizzlepop, who took them in her mouth. "Close your eyes and only think about the shrub. Envision it and what shape you want it to be. Once you have it in your mind, think about how best to shape it one piece at a time. Take your time, slowly move your hooves and head in the patterns you need to properly take each piece away that's not part of the shape."
Fizzlepop closed here eyes and thought about the shrub. In her mind it took the shape of a soda bottle, she could see which pieces weren't part of the shape. She slowly waved her head and hooves until she had the patterns she needed. Opening her eyes, she began to trim the shrub.
Hunsunohana pulled a small rice paper scroll, a brush and an ink pot out of her kimono. Unrolling the scroll, she uncorked the ink pot, laid the brush on her lap and looked out across the landscape. Dipping the brush in the ink, she started writing a haiku. Bright blue sky above/Oriole lands on a tree/Leaves dance in the wind
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Starlight, Trixie and Orodes Kurgan traveled down the rode, the two mares taking turns pulling Trixie's wagon, while Orodes walked alongside the two.
Starlight paused and held a hoof up to her forehead, shielding her eyes from the middy glare and squinted to better see through the haze at the four figures walking towards them. "Huh, looks like Harald, Fluttershy and their foals are coming to meet us."
Orodes raised a hand, shieding his eyes, peering off into the distance. "Stay behind me.", he said in a cold tone as he stretched out his shoulders and flexed his hands.
"You know he's a friend?", Starlight asked placing a hoof on Orodes' leg.
Orodes' mouth twisted into a half-smile, half-sneer. "That is yet to be seen. First intentions must be determined and ancient rights must be satisfied."
Starlight nodded in silence. "What they hay!", Trixie snapped, "We already told you he's--"
"Do not interfere!", Orodes snapped. He quickened his pace, loosening the belts that held two-handed sword and spear to his back.
With a quick gesture of his hand, Harald silently ordered Fluttershy and their two foals to safety. He quickly unbuckled the belts that held the sword, axe and shield to his waste.
Orodes and Harald quickened their paces until they were a dozen strides apart. Pausing, both made a show of dropping their weapons by the side of the road, then approached each other.
"Look who they let in this land!", Orodes proclaimed in a loud voice, "Tell me Rimewalker, have you bred with any dogs lately?"
"Only your mother." Harald curled back his lips in half-sneer.
"Oooh, a quick retort from a Riewalker who's never seen a bar of soap and only scrubs his arse with ice."
"I'm surprised that ant Steppesrunner even knows what soap is, considering you all marry your sisters."
Orodes and Harald charged at each other, hands balled into fists. Trixie quailed while Fluttershy and Starlight stared on in silence. As the two men neared each other, their fist raised in preparation to rain punches. At the last second, they embraced each other. "So as always the Rimewalkers have to be the first to arrive so they can steal all the glory for themselves.", Orodes joked.
"I seen to recall about twelve summers ago when no Steppesrunner complained when several clans showed up first to fight off those draugr."
Harald and Orodes parted from the embrace. "Speaking of those frozen corpses, we encountered one in a village several leagues back.", Orodes said grimly.
"Months ago my betrothed and I had to slay one.", Harald replied.
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Han Xiangzi walked along the railroad tracks until he came to a lonely stop that was little more than a small shack next to a covered bench. Turning his gaze up to the peaks of peril, he made his way up the path that lead to the base of the cliffs, striking the ground with the butt of the monk's cudgel to allow the small bells hanging from the ornate head jingle.
Reaching the base of the cliffs, Xiangzi gazed along the narrow path that lead up the cliffs. Adjusting the bag on his back, he walked along the narrow path, stopping only to move a snake from his path with the crescent-shaped tines at the base of the weapon or jingle the bells so the wildlife had ample opportunity to clear out ahead of him. Reaching the top of the cliff, he walked into a small clearing, removes the small sack off his back and sat on the ground cross-legged, with the monk's cudgel propped against his shoulder.
Xiangzi open the small sack and pulled out a simple bamboo flute. He played a tune that seemed to seemed to be part of the wind itself, occasionally accentuating the tune with high-pitched staccato notes. He turned his head hearing rustling in the woods of the cliff, a kirin nearly as tall as he walked out, her curling mane flowed gently in the wind.
Sliding the flute in the sleeve of his saffron robes, Xiangzi opened the sack and pulled a scroll in an ancient jade case. Pulling his knees under him, he prostrated himself on the ground, holding the scroll and case on outstretched hands.
A red aura surrounded the tall kirin's curved horn with the small fork near the top as she lit her magic, levitating the scroll case. Popping the cap of the end f the case, she pulled the ancient scroll out, unrolled it and read it. "Welcome honorable monk of the Southern Temple. You may call me Rain Shine. Come! Join us in our village, we have much to discuss."