Princess Celestia didn't like sentences that started with her name. This dislike stemmed partially from the absurd frequency at which she had encountered such sentences in her multi-millennia reign, and also because such sentences were usually ghostwritten on her behalf at the start of invitations to some royal event or goings-on. One of the greatest mysteries of the universe, the Princess thought, was why the pre-Equestrian unicorns and the pre-Princess Equestrians had invented so many events, galas, expositions, and other pretentious shenanigans. (was 'shenanigans' still a word? The immortal monarch made a mental note to make sure it was in the newest edition of the Modern Equestrian Dictionary. They kept trying to take words out, no matter how many times she told them not to.) A small portion of her fertile mind was already considering schemes by which she could spend the next Grand Galloping Gala at the Crystal Palace, or maybe Twilight's library, with as few ponies as possible aware of her location. The difficult part was that if fewer than about two hundred ponies knew where she was at any one time, malaise, economic depression, and the threat of outright anarchy tended to overcome the principality. She thought that Luna might be willing to provide an appropriate distraction, pushing to the back of the populace's mind the thought that their precious sun princess was briefly not available, and made another mental note to discuss the idea with her sister later.
Sentences starting with 'Dear Princess Celestia,' on the other hoof, were a delight, as they usually formed the beginning of one of the many letters she received from Twilight Sparkle and her friends. Twilight's friends were always entertaining, even (especially) when they wrote to tell her they'd learned nothing at all about friendship. She made yet another mental note, this one to re-read some of those letters when she had some spare time.
The fragment of her mind still focused on ghostwritten invitations pondered the results of adopting a much more casual style of communication. She elected to one day send Twilight a note that read simply, 'Hey, Twi, what's up?' and gauge the reaction. Her faithful, loyal, and (sometimes unintentionally) amusing student would prove an acceptable test subject for a potential relaxation of royal protocol, once she returned from her mysterious and increasingly-lengthy disappearance into the Thornwood. The Princess refused to speculate on this, knowing full well that there was nothing she could do but hope for the best. She did make a mental note to request another update from Cadance and Shining Armor. She was sure that she was pestering them, but she couldn't help it. She was also sure they understood.
Celestia turned her attention away from mail and malaise in order to focus on her destination. Her squad of pegasus ponies was pulling her royal chariot towards the woods at the base of the Foal Mountains. Below them marched a mixed company of earth ponies and unicorns. The earth ponies pulled a set of reinforced, roofless wagons carrying a trio of warjacks, along with barrels of water and coal. They were traveling to visit a group of Circle Orboros druids who had set up shop in a clearing in that forest. She had first been contacted regarding the Circle by Fluttershy, and her previous interactions with them had been carried out using the yellow pegasus as an intermediary -the Circle seemed slow to trust strangers. Celestia had been considering just barging in unannounced, as the druids were in fact on Equestrian land and therefore subject to having the royalty wander into open forest clearings at random, but was concerned that they might react violently. Celestia didn't want yet another enemy if she could avoid it. The issue was rendered moot when Fluttershy arrived in Canterlot with a letter from a druid called Mohsar the Desertwalker, asking the Princess to visit. Celestia had sent Fluttershy back with the message that the Princess would be arriving shortly with the traditional cadre of bodyguards. Admittedly, the company of ponies below her numbered much more than her traditional bodyguard count -not to mention the three heavy warjacks- but she wasn't about to walk into a potential trap without a significant fighting force. Fluttershy said there were only a few druids present, but they all wielded potent nature magic and had tamed many wild beasts for use in battle. The pegasus had even mentioned giants made of stone and wood, which Mohsar seemed to be able to control without words. Celestia presumed that these were some manner of druidic warjack-equivalent.
All the possibilities had been considered, the wisdom of the most ancient and powerful being available had been consulted, a decision had been made. All that remained was to inform the ponies, and secure their cooperation, if possible. Two of the three Omnipotents of the Circle Orboros -namely Lortus the Watcher and Dahlekov the Scouring Wind- had departed to prepare their parts of the undertaking, bringing their various warbeasts and subordinate druids with them. Even Kaya the Moonhunter had left, to Fluttershy's disappointment. Mohsar the Desertwalker and Cassius the Oathkeeper remained, along with a pair of Celestial Fulcrums and their attendant blackclad druids. Mohsar was eager to take his wolds, man-made warbeasts of stone and wood, and return with them to the Bloodstone Marches that were his territory, but he had inadvertently found himself the unofficial middleman between the Circle and the Equestrians. Cassius had positioned himself in a purely advisory role, although his advice was more proactive than the previous Oathkeeper.
Mohsar felt a growing sense of immense sorcerous power approaching. It was a raw and ancient magic, carrying the gentle warmth and searing heat of a distant sun, not even slightly weakened by the distance between that star and its living avatar. The last time he'd sensed such raw power was during the dragon attack he'd witnessed at the Castle of the Keys. The Desertwalker was feeling an emotion that was alien to him. Searching deep into his memories, recalling his early days as a mere wilder, not yet having earned even his black cloak, much less his current rank, Mohsar realized that what he felt was awe. Nearly completely hidden by this overwhelming power was a sense of many lesser magical entities, and what felt like the arcane magics of warjack cortexes.
Princess Celestia was coming, and she was prepared for the impending meeting to turn very bad. Mohsar felt sure that the Princess would find the Circle's plans agreeable, and that violence could be avoided. He didn't like Equestria's reliance on warjacks and other mechanika. They were, in his mind, yet another group of aggressive fools unwittingly increasing the odds of the Devourer Wurm taking an interest in mortal affairs. Too much technological advancement would draw the Wurm to Caen, spreading horrific death and destruction as it viciously re-balanced the scales of man and nature. Mohsar set these thoughts aside as ponies started to arrive in the clearing. He turned to face the approaching Princess.
The pony Princess stood at the forefront of her cadre, which Mohsar took to indicate that she was confident in her abilities. Instead of announcing her presence formally, as he expected, she brushed past the blackclad and went straight for Fluttershy, who had busied herself looking after the health of Cassius's warbeasts, a mixed company of argus, warpwolves, and satyrs. The pack started to circle protectively around Fluttershy as Celestia approached, but calmed down with a few words from the pegasus. Mohsar had struggled to apprehend Fluttershy's connection to living creatures, as had Kaya the Moonwalker. Within the Circle, no one but warlocks -who could bond their minds and spirits to their warbeasts- could control such creatures as easily and completely as Fluttershy did with nothing but words. The Desertwalker knew blackclads who would kill for a wilder apprentice who could control satyrs as easily as Fluttershy.
Mohsar allowed the two ponies to converse while he observed the soldiers who had accompanied the Princess. While Fluttershy seemed to believe that only unicorn ponies could use magic, Mohsar had already realized that Fluttershy herself had innate power, and it was clear to him now that so did earth ponies and other pegasi. Fluttershy had demonstrated her ability to manipulate weather, a power she used apparently by instinct. The earth ponies, Mohsar realized, had a deep, sorcerous connection to the world around them. This underlying power, as far as the Desertwalker could determine, was not viewed as magic by ponies, but rather natural properties of their being. While the ponies believed that only their unicorns could use magic, the truth seemed to be that only unicorns did so consciously. The earth ponies particularly interested Mohsar, for he knew that an innate connection to one's surroundings was a source of great power.
After a short conversation, Celestia sent Fluttershy to join the Royal Guard, a squad of which would escort her to Canterlot. With the yellow pegasus on her way, the Princess turned her attention to Mohsar.
"Heat, wind, sand, and rock," Celestia said, approaching the druid, "I take it you are Mohsar the Desertwalker?"
"You are correct, and you must be Princess Celestia," Moshar replied.
The Princess turned to face Cassius, "and you, with your soul as ancient as mine, what would your name be?"
"I am Cassius, the Oathkeeper-"
"I'm willing to believe the empty husk bound in your roots was once called 'Cassius'," Celestia interrupted, "but he is merely a puppet, and I am asking the name of the puppeteer."
Suddenly, yet as if it'd been there the whole time, Wurmwood appeared at Cassius' side. The ancient, leafless tree appeared to be dead, and had the only features making it visibly different from a normal tree were the skeletons hanging from its branches.
"You speak to Wurmwood, Tree of Fate," Cassius stated with great formality.
"A carnivorous tree." Celestia observed. Mohsar realized that he did not know how the pony had recognized the natures of Cassius and Wurmwood. He was sure that no one had told Fluttershy. "I will be honest, you're not what I would consider an ideal ally, but if you can help my ponies, I would be grateful. Now, Fluttershy informed me that you have a plan for sending Equestria home. Would you care to explain it to me?"
"Yes, the plan," Mohsar said, motioning towards one of the Celestial Fulcrums. "Please come this way, we will explain it in full."
A Celestial Fulcrum, according to Fluttershy's description, was a stone sphere slightly larger than a pony, made of curved, carved stone slabs, with two smooth gemstones set into opposite hemispheres. This sphere was orbited by a stone ring, and carried three mounts upon which wooden poles were attached sideways, each of which held a smaller sphere with a single gem each, which could rotate freely to virtually any position. Every inch of stone was covered in druidic runes, and the whole thing levitated over a ring of uncarved stones. It was possible to levitate this ring of stone as well, though it normally remained stationary, and the rest of the fulcrum would maintain its position above, allowing druids with particular power over stone to move the construct with relative ease. Having now seen one up close, Princess Celestia found this description accurate. The three druids standing on the ring of stones and balancing the fulcrum's energies greeted Mohsar respectfully as the Desertwalker tapped into the power moving the construct.
"This is a Celestial Fulcrum," Mohsar said.
"Yes, Fluttershy described them to me," Celestia replied, "I believe it represents Caen and its three moons, correct?"
"Indeed, it shows us Caen, as well as Calder, Laris, and Artis. We track their movements with utmost care, as their positions relative to Caen's leylines is of vital importance to our magic. Certain positions of the moons can also portend significant events. Now, then," Mohsar paused as the four stone spheres rotated with surprising speed to a new position, "here are the positions of the moons when Equestria first appeared on Caen. This panel," the runes on one of the central sphere's slabs began to glow more brightly, "represents the region that Equestria appeared in."
Celestia raised an eyebrow, "I see. So, you believe the positions of the moons correlates to my nation being brought here?"
"I know it does," Mohsar assured her, "this formation was not previously believed to have any great significance, but on that night, massive amounts of power coursed through the leylines within this region. While we were not able to determine its source, we have been able to imitate it."
"So when the moons are in the right place, you could send Equestria back?" Celestia asked.
"Yes. What we need is a conjunction of moons that will reverse the power of that magic, causing its target -Equestria- to return from whence it came." Mohsar explained.
"The requisite positions," Cassius entered the conversation, turning the Fulcrum's components to a new position, "are thus. When the moons reach these positions, we can conduct a ritual, synchronized at several places of power, to send you home."
"How long before the moons reach those positions?" Celestia asked, although she thought she already grasped the moons' movements well enough to guess.
"Seven weeks," Cassius replied, "We are already moving to the requisite locations and preparing the ritual."
"So, you're confident enough to assume I would accept your help, then?"
"Whether you accept this is not relevant," Cassius replied, looking Celestia in the eye, "Equestria's presence is not natural. Every day your nation remains here, the risk that Orboros will decide that your violation of its body is unacceptable, and in that case, it will send the Devourer Wurm to the mortal realm. The Devourer leaving Urcaen for the mortal plane would result in disaster beyond mortal imagination."
"It was proposed that simply wiping out all of your population would alleviate the problem, but that was discarded," Mohsar added, "though I must warn you that some rogue druids may attempt it anyway. They will be led by Krueger the Stormlord, if they do act. We will try to control them, but Krueger is difficult to pin down."
"I'll keep that in mind," Celestia said, "now then, you mentioned multiple ritual sites. Where might they be?"
"I will show you." Mohsar produced a map from within his robes, "we have identified a number of locations which are vital to success..."
"I am pleased by thy progress, Twilight Sparkle," Lich Lord Asphyxious stated, his voice as sepulchral as ever. His usage of outdated words and phrases remained enigmatically inconsistent. "The time for learning, however, is at an end. You must now be mobilized." The iron lich unrolled a canvas map of Western Immoren and spread it on a low table. Entrances to the Death Below and the cephalyx cave network were marked, as were a few other locations. Asphyxious pointed to one of the marks. "Lich Lord Venethrax was transporting an item of considerable size and vital importance through the tunnels in this area," Asphyxious explained, "When he suffered a cave-in that destroyed a large area of the network. While Lord Venethrax and the item survived, the item's transport was immobilized and the majority of Venethrax's escort destroyed. He has a great need for reinforcements, which are being sent by many paths to avoid detection. Thou are to be among those reinforcements."
"I understand," Twilight said reluctantly. She knew Venethrax by reputation. He was Cryx's master of dragon lore, and was tasked with locating Toruk's children, learning everything that could be learned about them, and preparing for the eventual war between Cryx and the dragons. While all of the Lich Lords were prone to being untrusting and untrustworthy, Asphyxious and Venethrax cooperated relatively well, mostly by staying out of each others' way. It helped that Venethrax didn't involve himself in the Nightmare Empire's internal power struggles. While others in Cryx's elite were uncomfortable or even outright enraged at the level of control Asphyxious exerted over the mainland necrofactoriums, Venethrax didn't care who ran the Death Below, as long as he had enough warjacks and thralls for his purposes. In return for that indifference, Ashyxious kept Venethrax well supplied. It was a relationship built on mutual lack of hatred, which, as far as Twilight had observed, made it as close to friendship as could exist between two Lich Lords.
"Now, then," Asphyxious said, "thou will be transporting a contingent of bonejacks and helljacks, as well as supplies to keep them operational. Come with me, I will show thee the warjacks that thou shall guide." With that, Asphyxious drifted out of the chamber, Twilight following, silently wondering when it was that she last removed her warcaster armor. Asphyxious led her to one of the underground storage rooms, where a large number of warjacks stood idle, with several necrotechs conducting final inspections on them. The room was lit only at the front, leaving the back in darkness, although Twilight thought she saw a faint glow in the shadows. The room carried a strong smell of burning flesh, which Twilight had learned to recognize by the furnaces into which the necrotechs threw useless body parts. Black smoke drifted near the ceiling, although Twilight couldn't see any warjacks producing it.
"Thou will bring all of these warjacks to Venethrax," Asphyxious announced, "six Deathrippers, four Ripjaws, four Slayers, and two Harrowers," the iron lich counted off, "as well as one more."
"The one in the back?" Twilight asked, in spite of herself.
"As thou may have discovered," Asphyxious said, apparently unwilling to answer Twilight directly, "the nature of thy being makes it difficult for Cryxian thralls to recognize thee as one of us." Twilight nodded. Scaverous had made it clear that only her armor caused most thralls to recognize her as an ally, which was why she never removed it. Asphyxious continued, "in order to ensure that thou make no attempts to flee, a warjack has been selected to accompany thee, which shares that deficiency." Asphyxious used a burst of baleful flames to ignite two torches on the back wall, making the last warjack visible. It was massive, over three feet taller than the Slayers, although its chassis was similar. Four tall smokestacks rose from its back, from which smoke poured continually. Its head had a pair of long, curved horns, and massive chains wrapped around its arms which ended in hooks sunk into the earthen wall. The warjack's hull was made of black iron, with the exception of brushed steel skulls on its shoulders.
"What is that?!" Twilight asked, mortified. The machine seemed to radiate hatred, and she noticed that the necrotechs were keeping well away from it.
"It has many names," Asphyxious said, "the Iron Sentinel. The Black Ravager. The Devil in Iron. However, we prefer to call it by its most common title: The Deathjack. It is bound to the service of Cryx, and it will attack any which it sees as not Cryxian. It requires neither water nor fuel, and its powered entirely by the souls of those it has slain."
"Is that why I smell burning flesh?" Twilight asked, wishing she could learn to stop seeking information.
"The scent of souls, burning in the Deathjack's baleful furnace, is similar to that of human or trollkin flesh in more mundane fires," Asphyxious confirmed, "now, the means by which the Deathjack will keep thee honest is simple. Remove thine armor, and it will see thee as prey. Wear thine armor, and I will know always where thou art."
"I understand," Twilight said with a sigh.
"I would have been most frustrated if thou did not," Asphyxious replied. Handing Twilight the map, he added, "thou will leave as soon as these warjacks are ready. Time is of the essence, thou shall not stop before making rendezvous with Lord Venethrax."
Asphyxious had departed, and the necrotechs had started the furnaces of Twilight's warjacks, then left her with them to wait as the horrific machines built steam pressure. The Deathjack demonstrated its readiness to move out by ripping its hooks free of the wall, and spinning the chains around its claws so the ends wouldn't drag on the ground. Twilight wondered why they bothered to secure the hateful machine in the first place. One of the Harrowers snapped its three-pronged perisher claw a few times, apparently testing the arm's pressure. The Ripjaws spun their saws up to full speed, filling the room with a high-pitched wail, then let them spin down to a stop, as the Slayers flexed their claws. Twilight decided she couldn't put off leaving any longer and turned to the door. Before she could open it, however, Lord Exhumator Scaverous pushed it open and stepped into the room.
"Ah, you haven't left yet, good," Scaverous said, "Asphyxious actually took the time to tell me he was taking you off my hands, it was surprisingly considerate of him."
"I was just about to leave," Twilight said glumly, "just waiting for the 'jacks to get to full steam."
"Yes, yes," Scaverous waved a claw dismissively, "tell me of the path you intend to follow." The pony dutifully spread the map out on the floor, and Scaverous leaned forward to look at it.
"I was going to leave through this exit," Twilight said, pointing a hoof at the cave entrance closest to Venethrax's location, "the faster I get to Venethrax, the sooner I can get this over with."
"That won't do," Scaverous said, "try that exit instead." The iron lich pointed to the northern-most exit, which was near Equestria's southern border, "things might go better for you that way."
Twilight looked at Scaverous suspiciously. "Are you... trying to help me?"
"Consider where your loyalties lie," Scaverous interrupted, "this mission to join Venethrax's force is a test of loyalty, but you and Lord Asphyxious don't need to agree on what it means to pass, do you?" Without waiting for a reply, Scaverous left the room. Twilight furrowed her brow, wondering what Scaverous was planning. She decided to take his advice, hoping that it would open up an opportunity for escape.