//------------------------------// // Chapter II — The Ambassadors of Chaos // Story: Hell's Angels // by Zamoonda //------------------------------// The elite division of the Equestrian army, known as the Eighth Legion, stood ready in front of the Everfree Forest. Ranks upon ranks of pegasi, unicorns and earth ponies alike filled the entire plain lands, their shining golden armor dazzling due to the light that came from the center — where the princess of Equestria, Celestia, stood solemnly. Rarity found herself standing beside the princess — Celestia was grim, never taking her eyes off the Everfree Forest. If only Rarity could share her ruler’s confidence in this expedition. Inwardly though, Rarity shook at the very thought of what would happen in the next few minutes. “What’s wrong, Twilight?” Celestia asked her. Rarity was unable to respond, and felt tears swelling up in her foreign eyes. To her shock, the princess smiled. “Don’t worry, my faithful student. Nopony you see here will come to harm today,” she stated with complete certainty, looking upwards towards the mass of pegasi flying towards the Everfree Forest. “Nopony that I see?” she asked, her shock fading into curiosity and suspicion. “Yes. We will return to Canterlot within the hour.” The princess closed her eyes, her wings folding back to her sides, and resumed her grim expression, before whispering to her. “But somepony will have to make a decision.” Rarity looked up at the ruler of Equestria from the eyes of Twilight, a silent question upon her lips. What is she thinking? Rarity thought, but before she could contemplate it any further, Celestia appeared to have already realized what the question was, and answered: “Yes.” * * * The scene changed rather quickly. Rarity found herself in a realm between what existed and what did not. Darkness engulfed her very form, but in her mind’s eye, she could still make out Celestia’s faint murmuring of concerns, the shouts of Captain Vanrick, and the clanging of the royal army’s armor. She was with every passing moment closer to disconnecting with her ability to discern what was reality and what was not. She had to see what was going to happen. She had to, for secrets still lay within the Elements of Harmony. * * * “Your Highness!” shouted one of the Royal Guards next to her. “The pegasi are retreating!” Rarity did not even need to concentrate on the poor soldier to see that he was doing his best to cover his concern, for the Eighth Legion were instructed that their ace was a small squadron heading to the Everfree Forest. “We shan’t retreat as well, soldier,” Celestia calmly commanded. “Captain!” Captain Vanrick galloped to Celestia and stood at attention. “Yes, Your Majesty?” “Order the units to stay at attention,” Celestia ordered. “The Wonderbolts are retreating, but we are uncertain as to why. Send a small squad of your own to find and question them at once!” “As you command, Your Majesty!” the captain said, and immediately rushed off to do his ruler’s bidding. Celestia fixed her gaze to the squad, and after a few moments, smiled sadly. “Why do you think they’re fleeing, Celestia?” Twilight asked the princess, her gaze drifting to the fleeing pegasi. “Do you think they fell under—“ Rarity felt Twilight freezing. She stood very, very still. She had spotted something among the pegasi. Or failed to? she thought. “Cel-Celestia?” Twilight asked her teacher. “Where... where is Rainbow Dash? She’s … she’s not there. There’s only … nine of them …” Celestia closed her eyes, and softly stated. “I know.” That cold, tingling sensation once again resumed engulfing Rarity. Or was it Twilight? “Where is she? Did you … did you tell her something?" Twilight asked, and her eyes narrowed. "How did you know? What did you tell her?!” How did she learn of an apparent conversation with Rainbow Dash? Rarity thought. Why did the Element of Magic fail to show it to me if it was so important? Was it even important? “Nothing more than she needed to know,” Celestia said, breaking through Rarity’s chain of thought. The ruler gave herself a confident smile, as if pleased with her handiwork. Rarity felt shock building up inside of Twilight. Without sparing another second, the lavender unicorn galloped to the Everfree Forest. Celestia’s eyes snapped open, her horn bursting into golden light. “Twilight, get back!” A Sonic Rainboom soared through the skies above her. The Sonic Raindome is already starting, she thought. Another Sonic Rainboom — another, and another, and another, she thought. Why is Twilight still running towards it? How is Rainbow Dash doing so many Sonic Rainbooms? And with a deafening shriek, the Everfree Forest exploded with light. The lavender unicorn shrieked from the top of her lungs: "RAINBOW DA—“ The explosion knocked Twilight off her feet, sending her flying backwards and into a nearby rock. She blinked for but a moment at the array of colors and the magnificent dome that was appearing over the Everfree Forest. The rainbow dome was expanding. And fast. The light reached them. The army’s scream of shock and— Chapter II: The Ambassadors of Chaos Rarity’s eyes snapped open from her vision. The blue, glowing runes on the ground around her faded further with every passing second. After a few moments, when she was certain they had completely faded, she pulled herself to her hooves and examined the Merrymaker. Nothing changed since her vision. The Element of Magic lay next to her where she left it. Theranius was slumbering on one of the tables where she left him, the bracer that stopped magic, yet still allowed the enchantment and runeworks, remained on her leg, and all the chairs and tables remained upturned as though somepony went insane before they perished. All the chairs and tables lay strewn about the hotel as if somepony had gone insane before they perished. With a sigh, she picked up the Element of Magic. Curiously, there was light now emitting from the star-shaped gem on it. She contemplated wearing it for a few moments, but decided to put it in her backpack instead. It wasn’t her Element to bear. Before she could tie the straps, she heard a commotion out in the streets. Cautiously, she crept up to the doorway and peered out into the street. “So tell me while we head over to my office, sir,” a black pegasus — who from a small, silver medal, appeared to be a captain — muttered to an aging, brown earth pony. “What do you know about the griffin who burned down your tavern?” The brown pony paused. He raised his hoof to his chin as though conflicted, murmured something too quiet for Rarity to hear, and took a glance a small glance at the two pegasi in the air above them. “Aah, I see,” the captain said in an understanding tone. “Do you even want to find this griffin then, sir? You did after all file the report.” “Yes, but…” the earth pony muttered, before sighing. “No, no I don’t. Sorry fer yer troubles, officer. I’ll be on my way.” “Actually,” the captain calmly corrected him. The earth pony froze. “You know, we’ve had a few… wanted criminals nearby, and three crime lords have arrived last week. We’d like to ask you a few questions — nothing too lengthy.” “I understand your need to find criminals, sir…” Halfgrin slowly said, peering at the black pegasus and the two flying above him. “But I really must get going. My wife, Rose, is waiting for me in my—” “Mister Davenport,” the captain sadly muttered. “Your wife has been dead for over a decade.” Halfgrin, or rather Davenport, hastily turned around and galloped as fast as he could from the pegasi. After a few seconds, a loud crash emitted throughout the cold streets. Rarity peered to the skies from her hiding spot and saw both of the flying pegasi had immediately flown down and caught Halfgrin, who seemed to be unconscious. The captain looked in a satisfactory manner at his two companions, before signalling them to follow him. “Bring him to the castle!” he yelled, and flew off towards the capitol. A claw suddenly grabbed her by the shoulder, and, before she could scream, another one covered her mouth and suppressed it. Theranius looked extremely tired, and peered out of the side of the door. “What’s going on? What were you looking at?” he asked after releasing her, and heavily sat down next to her. “The barman from the Roseluck. I knew him!” she said. “He was from Ponyville, and his name was Davenport, but he seemed to be known as Halfgrin around here. Three black-coated pegasi just took him to the capitol.” “Halfgrin?” the prince blurted, trying to search for the pegasi. “They took Halfgrin? Blast them all, why did he have to contact the Ambassadors of Chaos, of all the security forces here?” “The ‘Ambassadors of Choas’?” she asked as she sat down next to him. “Who’re they?” “They are the current rulers of several cities in Equestria. They are led by what is said to be an alicorn named Akarian, and are well known for their oppressive regimes within Canterlot, Manehattan, Stalliongrad and Maremill. While there are other significant powers within Equestria — such as myself and several wolf clans — they are the most well known and powerful. “They put a bounty on the head of Princess Luna and Princess Cadence. The Ambassadors of Chaos care about neither that husband of Cadence nor that arrogant nephew of Celestia, Prince Blueblood, because they do not control any of the celestial objects — nor are they alicorns. The price on the heads of the two Princesses is astounding. Hell, the reward could last generations of your kin. It is riches beyond your wildest dreams. They can simply conjure the money into existence,” he said as he sat up and spotted Grelok, who was eavesdropping on the conversation. “I see. I’ve been gone a long time then,” Rarity muttered. She sat up and walked to her circle of power, took from the bag the Element of Harmony, and resumed inspecting the curious glow from the Element’s gemstone. “What were you trying to do there, anyway?” the prince asked while taking out an apple from his pouch and taking a bite off it, for he had missed dinner. “Well,” she began after placing the Element of Magic back on the floor, “the reason I need the Elements of Harmony is because I can tap into their… urngh! How do I explain this?” The lavender unicorn brought her hooves together in a thoughtful gesture. “They basically store things that were either really important or really emotional to their respective wielders. You could, say, live their memories chronologically, but … some of them you just might want to skip,” she said with an uncomfortable smile. The prince raised an eyebrow. He was about to ask ‘What do you mean?’ before realization dawned upon him. He let out a long laugh, shaking his head with amusement as he took another bite from the apple. “I see,” he said uncomfortably. “So what are you hoping to find with these things?” “I… I don’t know,” she murmured. “I was in Canterlot, in this very hotel, during the explosion. I don’t know anything about what happened other than Rainbow Dash had an important task by Celestia, Twilight was personally accompanying Celestia out of Canterlot, Applejack and Pinkie Pie were … I don’t even remember! And Fluttershy…” her voice trailed off. “Fluttershy…” she repeated in thought, more to herself. The griffin cocked an eyebrow. “Flttershy was the Element of Kindness, yes?” he asked. Nothing more was needed to be said – he did not know if something happened to her, or perhaps they shared a greater relationship, or Celestia-knows-what. “Fluttershy … she died, before the rest of us did,” she muttered. He raised a claw to ask further on the matter, but his face fell, and said no more. The white unicorn continued: “I was … on my way to Ponyville from my … trip to Canterlot, yes, when it happened. Twilight said that both Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were gone for an absurd amount of time, and when Twilight went to check in on Fluttershy at her cottage, she realized Fluttershy wasn’t even home. She gathered the local guards and went into the Everfree Forest, where she found Rainbow Dash crying over Fluttershy. The inspectors that came along with Twilight informed us that they found a bloodied spear near the pool, and a corpse of a black alicorn the size of a regular earth pony lying on the shore of the pond.” “I’m sorry,” Theranius quietly muttered. “Though, there are barely any truly black ponies in the world — and an alicorn, of all creatures. Have you ever considered that he could’ve been part of the Ambassadors of Chaos?” “Maybe,” she quietly muttered as she rose from the ground and approached the window. “Maybe the Ambassadors are the remnants of the army Celestia wanted to fight. The reason Celestia was in the Everfree Forest was because she was about to attack an army that was assembling from the heart of the forest. Rainbow Dash was given a very important mission by her, and I remember Twilight was to accompany her, and so was I, but… I never made it there.” “You never made it there?” he asked while swallowing the rest of his steak. “How so?” “I don’t even remember,” she muttered. “I was about to join them in the hall, but beyond that, I don’t recall anything. Sometimes I recall a few steps I’ve taken while following Twilight, but… when I woke up, I felt like I was drunk and I could barely focus. I was standing right in front of the Merrymaker in the dead of night, and I just… went in here. The tavernkeep greeted me, but he was concerned. I don’t remember what he asked or what I told him, but moments later we saw a horrifying explosion from the South — from Everfree Forest. After that, that I… just so many insane things happened at once. But after everything settled... the sun never rose up.” “Whelp,” Theranius said with an uneasy chuckle. “Now I have a new story to tell to my old pals. Few ponies I met seem to have sighted the explosion or been awake, so we knew little of the event,” he said, stretching his arms wide and leaping to his feet. “We should really get going, though. Do you know where the other Elements are?” he inquired. “There are five other Elements I require to obtain,” she began. “Fluttershy’s and mine should be the simplest. I already have Twilight’s, which I found after I went to investigate the Everfree Crater in the ruined battlefield. Rainbow Dash’s Element is the key, however. It was, presumably, she who was in the Castle of the Two Pony Sisters, and it was she who caused the Sonic Raindome that blew up Everfree Forest. If I can only see what happened there, then maybe … maybe I can finally …” The griffin suppressed an eyeroll from his complete bewilderment. “Why would you even want to understand?” he asked. “I get it that you were bullshitting me when you said you could change anything, but the Elements of Harmony could be used for many things — perhaps even restoring the sun, so I felt it was necessary to help you out in this. Honestly, what do you even want to do with them? Remember and feel the deaths of every one of your friends?” “No, of course not!” she returned. “I don’t want to feel all of my friends dying — that would be preposterous! What I want to do… is... listen,” she muttered. “You clearly said you realize you don’t care about the rewards; just help me find the Elements. Then you can be on your— Boom. “—way?” she said, feeling a tiny shudder. “If I wanted to leave your company, Miss Rarity, I would have left long—“ Rarity’s hoof swiftly covered his mouth to interrupt his sentence. “Shh! Do you hear that?” “Hear—“ Boom. The prince shuddered, and the unicorn gave him a concerned look. “You are the one that lives here! What is that?” The prince put a claw to his chin. “The patrols I talked about belong to, as you might imagine, the Ambassadors of Chaos. They only recently managed to buy off Canterlot from the two ruling wolf clans — or rather, buy the wolf clans. Anyone who ever began working for them eventually sold their people off to them — you sell it to them either by the tip of a sword or by your own greed. I would assume this means the Ambassadors are trying to breach the main gate of Canterlot. Perhaps to gain easier access to the capitol—“ Boom. “Yes?” the unicorn asked, still not quite certain as to how this was relevant. “You’re saying this noise is coming from the Ambassadors of Chaos trying to blow up the front gate? Why don’t they just use the lever?” “I’m not at all sure,” he muttered. “They might not be blowing up the gate, but rather one of the forts near it. The forts have been sealed shut for two decades.” Rarity nodded, and took another look through the door. “Okay, let us meanwhile get back to—“ Boom. “—our rooms,” she muttered. “You’re right,” the prince nodded, replacing his belt pouch back in its place, “Once there, we may be able—“ CRASH. “Everywhere!” shrieked the wolf as he came running down the stairs hazardously. “They—“ Rarity quickly threw a rock at Grelok's chest before he could give away their position, knocking the air from his lungs with a satisfactory "OOF!" “Get down!” she insisted quietly. He did as she told him, and they all lay flat down behind the wall that separated the door and the windows. Curiosity overcoming her, Rarity took a peak from the doorway.Black pegasi and unicorns marched across the burnt roads of Canterlot. “Forward — march!” a one-eyed, black pegasus screamed hoarsely from the outside. “Get going to the capitol! Now!” “I thought there were no other unicorns left?” Rarity muttered to Theranius, observing the black horns on the skulls of the equines. “The Ambassadors of Chaos are not your everyday ponies, to be frank. Some took to calling them horses. They may resemble ponies, but they are definitely not ponies. They are all black, and there appears to be no earth ponies among their ranks, and there were at least nine sightings of alicorns among them,” he concluded. “But that crash!” Grelok whispered to Theranius, interrupting him from his eavesdropping. “Big badda boom! It comes from the East!” The griffin let out an amused chuckle. “You’re losing your charm, Grelok, but yes. We heard. I wonder where it came from.” “The East!” Grelok answered, on the verge of screaming. “No shit, Grelok!” the prince shot back. “I’m asking what made the crash! Did they tear down the capitol or something?” * * * The prince was more amused than he should have been as they reached the rooftop of the Merrymaker. He corrected himself: he should not have been amused at all. His earlier statements weren’t all that far from the truth, after all. The main gates of Canterlot were in splintered pieces; for some reason, they didn’t hear that crash. The marching ponies seemed to have arrived upon its collapse. How did they get from the entrance of Canterlot all the way to the royal palace in a matter of moments? We saw them passing by the Merrymaker after the crash, not before. So who were the pegasi that were marching through the streets? The palace’s southern wall was a mess – A big mess. Unicorns and pegasi alike were galloping across the breach, dragging war machines through the collapsed southern wall of the palace. “Why did they break the wall when they could’ve just stepped in through the front gates? The palace is in ruins!” the lavender unicorn asked, her brow furrowing as she contemplated the issue. Theranius took this time to study his lavender companion. He still wasn’t quite sure what to make of her — she was powerful in her own way, she would truly be respected among the griffin. Yet calm and not as emotional, as he remembered many of the upstart female ponies to be. Lavender coat, dark blue hair and a pink strip in her mane. I wonder if she once had a husband. He was probably one lucky bastard— “Theranius?” Rarity’s voice cut through his thoughts. He realized he’s been staring at her for almost half a minute. “Yeah,” he swiftly answered. “We need to… enter the palace,” he explained. Rarity raised an eyebrow. “Why? Their entire army is marching in there! It’s not like if Luna’s there we can rescue her.” “You said the Elem—err, Fluttershy, died before the Incineration, yes?” he asked the unicorn. “Well, yes, but—“ “Then either her Element is in whatever tomb she has, or it’s safely guarded within Canterlot! But in the Griffin Empire, we usually bury the passing griffin’s most prized possessions with them. Where is Fluttershy buried?” “No, it’s nothing like that here,” she swiftly clarified. “We don’t bury stuff with our ponies; I think the Element should be in the vault where Celestia stored the Elements.” “Excellent!” the former prince exclaimed. Only four Elements left to uncover— Rarity suddenly interrupted his train of thought. “But Celestia used her horn to open the vault! Unless we have it as well — are you really planning on going to the ruined battlefield and plucking Celestia’s horn from her skull? — then we have no chance in entering the vault!” The griffin’s hopes shattered. “Am I planning? You’re—“ He silenced himself and let out a deep sigh as he leaned on one of the short walls on the rooftop. “You’re right.” “Finally,” she said. “Somebody has the humility to accept being wrong. You’re quite an exception to your kind, Theran.” He was stunned, but he was spared the need to respond. Something sharp prodded his back. It pained him the instant it touched his skin, and it was poking slightly harder with every passing instant, as though ready to run him through. It drew blood upon touch. The prince froze at once. Five black pegasi, with black-purple garbs along with blades attached to their wings, were pointing the aforementioned wingblades to the backs of the trio. “An earth unicorn!” exclaimed the first, the one behind the griffin. “This doesn’t look like the princess of the moon,” pointed out the second one, standing in between Grelok and Rarity. “Yeah,” the one behind Grelok pointed to his companion. “Her mane’s supposed to flow! And where’s the wings?” The pegasus behind Rarity withdrew, frowning. “She’s not princess. She’s regular unicorn. So much for rumours.” The prince silently entertained himself with the thought that the pegasus was brain damaged from his broken sentences. “We take them to the palace,” continued the pegasus, “we inspect. We find who they are. If they not with us …” The pegasus grinned his mouth towards the griffin for the first time, showing rows of razor-sharp teeth. The griffin restrained a whimper as his amusement was stolen from him in an instant. “Then we dine.” * * * “We’re here!” The lead pegasus yelled as the pegasi and their prisoners landed in a balcony within the capitol. The two pegasi that didn’t carry them, in addition to Grelok’s captor, proceeded to take hold of the trio and shove them through the balcony that they arrived upon. The moment they entered the main hallway and turned left, Rarity recognized that this was a very, very private hallway. The carpet below them was red and tarnished. Portraits were held on the walls, and every single one of the ponies in them seemed to be unicorns, rather than alicorns or even pegasi. They saw two black unicorns standing firm and still as stone on each side of a large, ruined entryway, and the door was on the floor between them. Within the chamber, Rarity noted a large red bed, a window, tapestries, and several other pieces of furniture. Though her captors gave her no time to appreciate them fully. They passed through several other doorways – a ruined kitchen, another bedroom, one enormous bedroom with around a dozen beds, and an armory. The hallway ended, and they entered the main hallway of the capitol. Dozens of pegasi and earth ponies littered the palace, studying the stained windows, vases, tapestries and skeletons, and the pegasus were ordering the earth ponies to write down what was most probably transcriptions. They saw an enormous doorway, which Theranius assumed leads to the throneroom. Instead, they were shoved down a short staircase and into an extremely small stone room, barely two meters in height and around ten wide. Rarity’s escort shoved her into the wall and held her there, and the same was done with Theranius. Grelok, however, was shoved into the wooden door. His captor joined him, and the door was sealed shut. * * * “What do you mean I’m a liar? I told you everything!” the griffin yelled. Both of his front arms were chained to the back of his chair, and he was forced into an awkward sitting position, which could only be fit for a baboon. Grelok had already been interrogated, and Theranius had been questioned for an hour. “You’re trying to tell me you are Sir Ayotnom Ogini? Either your mother was a cruel ogre, or you’re a liar,” the black pegasus muttered, behind a table which stood in front of Theranius. “Your wolf friend says he met you in the Merrymaker, before you were captured,” said the black pegasus. He calmly sat down on a pile of hay, and leaned on the stone table expectantly. “And?” Theranius muttered. “Is that relevant?” “Yes and no,” answered the pegasus. “The crime lords, Prince Korthar, Prince Theranius and Mistress Starbeam have been sighted a mile from Canterlot four days ago. The first two are in fact griffins, the two brother princes of Aviaria — the Griffin Empire — and the third is a pony. The funny thing is we have barely seen any griffins here in the last two years. However, the late Mr. Davenport has reported, before he was promptly exec—“ “You killed Halfgrin?!” Theranius erupted. The pegasus smiled, and continued, “—executed, that a griffin has burned down his tavern. So from your reaction, that just begs the question: Are you Prince Theranius, or Prince Korthar?” Theranius swallowed, dumbfounded. “I suppose it doesn’t matter, does it?” the pegasus chuckled, arising from his seat. “I’m sure Her Majesty will be skipping from joy to learn that she has her hooves on one of the griffin princes — and possibly even Theranius.” “Son of a bitch,” Theranius growled, grinding his shackles against the stone, silently trying to pull them upwards and out of the chair in order to bring himself free. “I’m sure the Devil himself would be proud to have somepony like you in his collection.” “I’m sure he’d be gladder to have you,” the pegasus chuckled, approaching him. Theranius grinned to himself. Almost free— His world went black. * * * “What the fuck was that for, Parengath?” the black pegasus growled at his companion, who had just smacked Theranius with a bat upon his silent entry into the room. “I was interrogating him!” “He was trying to free ‘imself,” Parengath pointed out. “Besides, I hears you found who he is. I came ‘ere to tell you that Her Majesty demands an audience with these three immediately.” “How does she know that I’ve found his identity?” the interrogator growled. “I hears it and told her. Also, she wants an audience with ‘em,” Parengath finished. “Why you…” the black pegasus growled. “Fine. Round ‘em up and bring them there — oh, and you’re carrying the griffin.” “Wait, why me?!” Parengath yelled. “Because I’m your fucking boss and I’m pissed off at you,” the black pegasus said, “so do it before I decide to make you Urqag’s new playtoy!” * * * Theranius rubbed his head. He could only feel the cold stone floor beneath him. He was in the throne room, he realized. Stained windows were located on either side of the walls. To his left was Grelok, and Rarity stood to the wolf’s left. He realized they were both staring at somepony on the throne in front of them. A towering, black alicorn stood on the throne menacingly. Adorned with midnight blue armor, black wings folded to its sides, and a frighteningly confident grin, this description could fit only one alicorn. It could only have been Nightmare Moon. But it wasn't. That was a relief, he noted. He had never seen the ruler of the Ambassadors of Chaos, but he had definitely heard a lot. The horse was huge and bore midnight blue armor, said to have been forged with his creation. His coat was a perfect black, and his wings were stripped of all of their feathers, and in their stead, razor-sharp blades were embedded on each side of the wings. The thing that horrified him the most, however, was that he remembered him. Or, at least, someone very similar to the alicorn. He knew him. END, CHAPTER II