//------------------------------// // The Price of Power // Story: The Path of Lore and Kings // by PassionQuill //------------------------------// Chapter 11: The Price of Power The music from The Thirsty Cello could still be faintly heard from inside Charlatan’s extravagant apartment. The place had more art decorations than a museum, was more spacious than a mansion, and was stained with the personal touch of somepony living a life constantly on the go. There was nothing warm or homely about the place and every single item had been purposefully put on display so anypony allowed inside could see how ‘successful’ he was. Taking in the sight of paintings, sculptures, and exotic… things, that not even Loré could understand, was all very exciting to Namworth. It was more than enough to take the reason for why they were waiting in the apartment off his mind. Loré on the other hoof paced back and forth among the pedestals displaying small pony busts from a time Loré could accurately date to be pre-Equestrian. “Where is he!? How long could it possibly take to talk to a few ponies or call in a favor or two, or whatever it is that sleezebag is doing,” growled Loré, kicking one of the pedestals in frustration. “Loré, he’s only been gone for two hours. You should really just calm down. What’s the worst that can happen if we have to wait till tomorrow to do this plan?” Although Namworth was visually taken up by one of the exotic things, which he tried his darndest to figure out what was, his mind was still free to take care of Loré’s anguish. “I’m annoyed because it’s already dark outside, Namworth!” yelled Loré while pointing accusingly at a window showing her statement to be very true. “It’ll only be a matter of hours before it’ll be too late to pull of any kind of heist. I just know it…” The thought of waiting another day was something that caused her stomach to churn. She could feel her chance for glory slipping right out of her hooves and it could be she wasn’t even aware of it. No, something inside her screamed as loudly as it could that Namworth was right. Another day couldn’t possibly mean she’d lose her chance at inheriting Sombra’s powers. Though, she could only muster one kind of response to Namworth. “I can’t wait another day, Namworth. You simply don’t understand how time sensitive our mission is. We have to get to the Crystal Empire as quickly as possible.” “Why?” Her last statement was so perplexing to Namworth that it actually caused him to take his eyes off the strange thing he had so carefully been examining. “Why is it so time sensitive, Loré? Are his powers disappearing or is somepony else going to find it before we do? Is there something you haven’t told me yet?” Namworth’s questions hit too close to Loré’s heart. The careless way he approached her while awaiting an answer only added to her agitation and defensive nature. “Maybe there is! I hardly think it’s any of your business to know these things…” she halted on her words as she noticed the strange look Namworth gave her. A rush of an unfamiliar feeling surged through her very core as an inflection of disappointment and hurt took up Namworth’s eyes. “I’m sorry, Namworth. Friends…” Despite her best efforts, the word did not leave her mouth without a hint of sarcasm. “don’t hide things from each other. Or at least I think they don’t.” She quickly looked over at Namworth for confirmation, who in turn nodded. “I need to get there as soon as I can because...” Loré once again stopped mid-sentence as every fiber in her body fought against telling Namworth the truth. A lie would serve her better. She’d be less vulnerable if he turned out to not be her friend. It was the only logical choice for her to do. “Because… I won’t be able to absorb his powers if we get there too late,” she lied. “Hhmmm… How long do we have?” Despite the suspicion in Namworth’s voice, he decided to give her the benefit of the doubt. “About a month… maybe less,” mumbled Loré. “I know the Crystal Empire is far from here, but I think a month is more than enough time for us to wait a day or two.” “Not if we get caught during this. We won’t be able to take a train or any other form for transportation, Namworth. We’ll have to move on hoof to the Crystal Empire.” Loré rolled her eyes at his optimism. “Have you thought about that scenario. Have you now?” Namworth slowly shook his head while his ears fell low. “It’s better to plan for the worst case scenario. I’ve always done it that way, and it’s served me well.” Loré smirked confidently. “There are other things which could ultimately go wrong during this endeavor. I don’t know which dangers lie ahead of us in the Crystal Empire, or if the ponies there will try to stop me.” “They’ll definitely try to stop me if we get caught here,” growled Loré while glaring at Namworth, having preemptively answered the question he was just about to ask. The two had no more time to exchange thoughts and ideas for what could be in their imminent future, as the imminent future itself came rushing in through the elegantly carved apartment doors. Charlatan only panted a bit as he carried inside a backpack with long rolls of paper and a few other things hidden beneath them. “Finally! What took you so long?!” scolded Loré. “As everything else that’s good in this world, this takes time, Grumpy,” teased Charlatan while placing a saddlebag on a small round table near the entrance. “It took me a while to get all the things I needed for my, if I’d say so, brilliant plant.” “Which is?” asked Loré impatiently. “Let me explain and show you!” sounded his voice in an almost singing fashion as he rolled out a few of the papers, revealing them to be maps of the Castle, most of them being of the east wing. “I had more than one thing to get. It wasn’t just these plans for the castle, but also a few things for our break in. We’ll first start off with going through a hidden tunnel on the east side of the castle. The tunnel will take us over to that room.” Charlatan traced a hoof across a map outlining the first and second floor as he underlined the route they were taking once inside the place. “You and Namworth will be getting in there, and then go through there, there, and there till you get to those stairs. From the stairs you go up through those hallways and then into that room. Make sure to routinely check for guards on your way through the rooms, there should only be a few patrolling there, but one could be one too many. Anyway, what I need for you two to do is make a hole in the floor once you get to your destination. The hole also needs to be large enough for the two of you to get through it.” “Wait, a hole, what for?” asked Loré. “Are we drilling into the vault?” asked Namworth. “Of course not,” scoffed Loré while rolling her eyes. “There is no way for us to drill through a magically sealed vault. Besides, the room we’ll drill in is not above the vault, it’s right outside of it.” Loré pointed to the rooms on the floors to show their alignment to each other. “Loré is correct, Namworth. You won’t drill into the vault, but right outside of it. This will allow you quick access through the doors once they’re opened.” Charlatan smirked widely as he went further into the details of his plan. “A little talk with one of my close friends-“ “You bribed somepony, didn’t you?” “Details, Loré!” chuckled Charlatan. “I talked to one of my friends, and he told me that the vault is routinely checked every morning, afternoon, and one last time at midnight.” “Checked? Are you saying the vault is opened?” “Yes, that is precisely what I’m saying my dear.” Charlatan once more pointed towards the vault’s entrance on the map. “My plan is to make a big distraction once the vault is almost done being checked for break-ins. I’ll pull all the guards from the place, even the ones who were checking the insides. This should allow you two to sneak in if you can come in from above. Nopony will even notice you drop down and inside the vault, at least not till it’s too late to do anything about it.” “I’ve also gotten the both of you this.” Charlatan fished out a potion from his stuffed saddlebags. “This potion should make your descent from the ceiling a lot slower. They call it a ‘Featherweight Potion’ for a reason.” “Even if it didn’t work, I’m sure a bit of my magic would suffice. I could cast a slow fall spell or something of that nature,” bragged Loré, though her bragging was only met with nervous looks from both Namworth and Charlatan. “Moving on! How will we make a hole big enough for us to get through?” asked Loré in an annoyed tone. “Well, I thought of that as well. Behold!” Charlatan pulled out another item from his bag of tricks. This time it was a strange holster for what the both of them could only assume was made for a horn. “This is a cutting amplifier.” “A what now?” questioned both Namworth and Loré simultaneously. “Unicorns use this device to help with cutting iron. It both serves to protect the horn of the unicorn and to make an extra strong spark. It might be a bit tough for you, Loré, but I think you can cut through the stone floor with this thing. So, what do you both say to that?” “I do believe I can pull that off easily if you ask me.” Loré smirked confidently for a second, but her mind soon enough drifted to another question. “But, how do you plan on distracting the guards? I imagine it would take quite a lot to pull away all of them from that area.” “Why of course it will. I’m so glad you asked, Grumpy.” Charlatan once again pulled out another thing from his saddlebag. This time it was a very large vial of a strange looking red liquid. “This, my two friends, is called ‘Bottled Fury’, and it is highly explosive when ignited by magic. My plan is to blow up a chunk of the castle. Don’t worry, I won’t blow up anypony, I’ll make sure the area is clear before it goes boom. Though, I will warn you now, I’m going to slink out of the castle the second the explosion goes off. You two will have to find your own way out after I’ve left.” Loré and Namworth both pulled away from the table to more intimately talk to each other with their backs turned to Charlatan. “I don’t know, Loré. This sounds awfully risky to me. Don’t you think there’s another way to get inside?” asked Namworth nervously. “Also, how will we get out? What if somepony sees us, or what if they close the vault with us inside it?” “Nonsense! There shouldn’t be any problems with this. Charlatan, despite his arrogance and annoying behavior, is good at what he does. I believe his plan will work if we just do exactly what he told us to do.” Loré placed a reassuring hoof on Namworth’s shoulder, staring deeply into his eyes with feigned empathy. “I will get my hooves on something powerful once we’re inside the vault, Namworth. There’ll be endless possibilities for us to get out once I’m powerful. Don’t worry about our escape, we’ll figure it out then.” “You can do this, Namworth. I can do this as well. I might not be the strongest unicorn in Equestria, but I know I can do this much,” was the cherry on top which swayed Namworth’s confidence in the plan. “Okay, we can do this, Loré… as long as you promise me that nopony will get hurt during this,” said Namworth. “I promise you, Namworth. I won’t hurt anypony, and nothing bad will come of this,” sighed Loré. Namworth nodded once as he gave his final consent to the plan “We’ve come to an agreement,” said Loré after both her and Namworth had turned around to face Charlatan again. “We’re going to do your plan, and we are fine with figuring out our own escape.” “Splendid! Now, do you both know what to do once we get inside the castle?” asked Charlatan while pacing back and forth in front of the two, acting like a military pony both with his posture and his voice. “It will be tough, it will be brutal, and we will all fail if anypony here messes up! There is a precise timing to follow. The explosion will happen precisely one minute after midnight. If you miss your cue, you will fail!” “We’re only two ponies… and the plan is fairly simple. There’s no need for this whole act, Charlie,” grumbled Loré. Her unamused stare had no effect on Charlatan and his fun. “You still didn’t answer my question, maggot!” scowled Charlatan. “Namworth and I will make our way from the main dining hall of the east wing, through the assembly hall, small ballroom, corridors, and then upstairs to the Administrative Study Room. We’ll make a hole in time for your distraction, drink our potion and fall down to finally enter the vault. There, happy now?” “Do you need to see the layout once more?” he asked mockingly while holding up the map. “You know I don’t,” grumbled Loré. “Just making sure,” chuckled Charlatan. “You can really remember the layout of both floors, Loré?” asked Namworth while looking mildly impressed. “I’ll answer that one for you, Grumpy. Yes, she can pretty much remember most things she reads. Reading a map is a kind of reading, so I think it applies to that as well,” clarified Charlatan. Loré didn’t add anything further to the answer except for a slow nod, followed by her turning around so she could head for the door. “Wait!” yelled Charlatan. “Just making extra sure you know everything. Do you also remember when to do your part?” “Of course I do! We wait for your distraction. We’ll have the hole drilled and be ready by midnight.” Loré rolled her eyes and sighed in frustration. “Can we just get moving already? There’s only a few hours till midnight…” The three of them wore the night like a cloak of concealment, and although it was cool, the fact that they were practically invisible in the unlit mountainous area next to the castle, gave them a warm sense of comfort. It was there among the jagged rocks, a bit off from the private train tracks to the castle that the secret entrance supposedly existed. “Just come this way you two,” whispered Charlatan in hushed tones. “What way!? I can’t see a darn thing out here,” snarled Loré as quietly as she could. “I keep on forgetting that not everypony knows how to use magic for brilliant things such as night vision.” Charlatan chuckled quietly. “Just hold on to my tail or back and I’ll be our guide. Namworth, you hold on to Loré.” “Aye, captain!” he exclaimed quietly in response to Charlatan. Namworth blindly wiggled his right front hoof around in the dark air, trying to find Loré. He could hear her, she was very close, and definitely in front of him. As quiet as they tried to be, gravel and rocks did make a fair amount of sound when hooves walked on them. “There you are,” chirped Namworth as he got a hoof-full of very plush coat and plump meat. “Ow!” cried Namworth. His face was instantly slapped by Loré’s tail. “What was that for?!” “That was not my back you moron! Just grab my tail.” Loré kept on brushing her tail in front of his face, so there would be no mistakes in grabbing it. “O-oh… Sorry about that, Loré.” Loré had absolutely no intention of giving the little incident any more attention. She was far too focused on walking on the rather difficult terrain of the mountain ledge to give it any more thought than a quick punishment for Namworth. “Are we there yet?” asked Loré. “Actually, we’re there right now,” replied Charlatan. “Really?” asked Loré quizzically. A long-drawn shriek of metal echoed through the night as Charlatan pulled open a sort of chute into the mountain side. “Yes, really. Now get inside you two,” said Charlatan while dropping into the secret room. “Great, it’s just as dark in here as it is outside, maybe even darker,” complained Loré. “LUMOS!” was all Charlatan had to yell for the room to light up like their own little sun had risen from the dark. “Huh? Is that all you need to do to light up this place?” asked Loré. “Naah, there is actually a little switch at each end of the tunnel, see.” Charlatan demonstrated it a few times by turning the light on and off with the button on the wall next to him. Two rows of strangely looking pots stretched out in a seemingly infinite length through the tunnel. Each pot served as a home for the blue flames which kept the entire tunnel bright and clear. The exit room, or in their case, entrance room, was also lit with the same blue flames, but they didn’t have much room to admire the intricate care put into the room, as it could barely accommodate three ponies being inside it at the same time. The cramped space was further made worse by how damp it was, and three ponies breathing in close quarters surely didn’t do anything to relieve that issue either. “ Could somepony move into the tunnel already!?” snarled Loré, already shoving at Charlatan to get a move on. “Easy, easy now, we are going already, Loré,” he chuckled and led the way, Loré following afterwards and Namworth at the rear. The tunnel went a bit up and down as it snaked around inside the mountain. The three ponies walked for almost a mile before they reached their destination underneath the marble stone floor of the dining hall. Charlatan pushed a stone button as they came to what had otherwise looked like a dead-end to their tunnel. It in turn caused the ceiling to slide open, revealing their exit was indeed inside the dining hall, and to add to that it was underneath a long, neatly-polished oak table. “Wow, we actually made it into the east wing, just like that.” Namworth giggled excitedly. The plan had gone more smoothly than he had imagined. It was all very reassuring to him, especially when thinking about what was to come next. They pulled themselves up into the room one by one before splitting up. Charlatan went out through the southern door in the room, while Namworth and Loré had to go out through the northern door. Loré stuck like glue to the walls of the room as she went to the door. Namworth mimicked her to a T, though staying a few feet behind her as they snuck out of the room and into the first hallway. So far so good, thought Loré to herself. There were no guards out there, or anypony else for that matter. The next room proved to be as desolated as the one before it, and so did the next one, and the next one. It all beckoned the question of why the two Princesses needed so much space and so many fancy looking rooms if they were barely ever used. The dining hall, the assembly, the ballroom, and the corridors were all as elaborately decorated and designed as they could be. They had the finest drapes, furniture, carpets, and wall decorations that money could buy, but with nopony around to appreciate any of it. It only took Loré and Namworth a little while to sneak over to the corridor leading to the stairs. It, like anything before it, was as barren and devoid of life as the previous sections of the castle. Even though their journey through the place had been quick and easy, time was quickly running out for them. There was only half an hour left before the signal, and in that time they had to get into place, drill a hole large enough for them to fit through, and be ready to jump. “Come on, Loré, we have to get into position or we won’t get in!” yelled Namworth after having taken the complete lack of guards to heart. He was now racing down the hallway which to anypony new to the place, looked just like any of the hundreds of other corridors in the place. Loré had in turn taken up a spot behind him as she paced herself. Half an hour was plenty of time for her to make the hole, there was no need for them to rush like that. A stray thought had also given her another reason for letting him take the lead. She figured he would be the first pony spotted if they ran into a guard, and with that she could get away safely. Though, something about that thought made her stomach turn. “We just have to head up those stairs to the upper level,” panted Namworth and pointed with a hoof as he had come to a complete stop in front of them. “Once we’re upstairs, we have to find the Administrative Study Room, make a hole in the floor, and wait for Charlatan’s distraction.” It was first when Namworth had taken his first step onto the stairs that he noticed Loré not being right behind him anymore. In fact, she was nowhere near him. “Loré? This isn’t the time to run off somewhere!” whimpered Namworth. A minute of backtracking revealed Loré standing almost in a daze with her side turned towards the staircase they needed to ascend. Her eyes were fixated on the golden arches and half-closed dark brown wooden doors leading into a room lined with desks. “There you are, Loré. Come on, we gotta hurry!.. Loré?” Namworth’s eagerness dissipated as soon as he realized Loré wasn’t listening to a word he had said. The slight urgency she had felt just moments ago all seemed so distant now when coming face to face with this one particular room. It wasn’t a place she had been before, or a place she had avoided in the castle on purpose. But, it was a place she knew intimately despite it being her first time there. Above the golden arches were, in similarly arched manner as the door, cursive letters with as many loopy decorative strokes as the archway design. The words above the door read, ‘Celestia’s School For Gifted Unicorns’. “Loré, are you alright?” asked Namworth while slowly following her through the doors and into the room. No response came from Loré. Her mind was completely lost in thought as her body wadded through a mixture of fantasy and memories. Her eyes travelled across the surfaces of every book, desk, chair, and decorative wall piece it could find. All of her visuals were nothing compared to the overwhelming backdrop of auditory experiences. “I’ve never seen a unicorn this young learn this many spells before. This is a remarkable feat! You should be very proud of your daughter. She is going to be a very gifted magician. You should consider enrolling her for Advanced Magic School.” “First place winner for the magic competition for foals of three years goes to, Loré Scroll!” Applause and cheer consumed her ears for a moment, causing Loré to shake her head as if something had landed in her mane. “Congratulation, sweetie. You’ve made it into Starswirl’s School for Advanced Magic. Mommy is very proud of her little filly.” The sound of her three-year-old self’s own laughter raced across her eardrum like a taunting remark from one of her happier days as a foal. Memories which had been pushed down for decades but all came racing back into the front of her mind now when presented with this one room. “I don’t know how to tell you this Miss Scroll. Your daughter has fallen behind.” “But I thought you said she was gifted with magic. That she’d do amazingly well in these classes. You told me the classes would foster her talent.” “I was wrong… I mistook her excelled learning of spells as raw talent. She shows difficulties with even the simplest spells for a five year old unicorn. She knows the how-to’s of most spells in the textbooks. She knows more than anypony else really. She just lacks the raw magical potential to actually perform the spells. We have to let her go…” “I’m sorry, mommy. I really tried my best.” An echoing sniffle caused Loré to wobble into a desk. “It’s okay, Loré. I’m still proud of you, no matter what you do in life.” The tantalizing image of her young mother embracing an even younger Loré danced across her pupils as she was like frozen in time, doomed to watch her own past. “There’s always hope, Loré. I know you’re a special pony with an even more special talent. Someday you’ll have an opportunity to shine and show all of Equestria what you’re made of. I know it will come to you, someday, sweetheart.” “You really think so?” sniffled Loré out loud, much to Namworth’s surprise. “There’s always hope. We haven’t received our letter from Princess Celestia’s School For Gifted Unicorns yet.” The words were as warm as the morning sun on a winter day and they had enough pull in them to cause a smile to appear on Loré’s otherwise dim face. Though, this smile was short-lived as the vision before her eyes crumbled away to reveal another memory. The images had changed to that of her mother with a letter in her hoof, reading it aloud to her overly excited filly. “We regret to inform you that Loré does not possess the necessary magical affinity to advance beyond the average magical level of a unicorn. This means she cannot be considered eligible for Princess Celestia’s School For Gifted Unicorns. We suggest applying her natural talents in another field instead.” Loré’s mother did not get a chance to comfort her foal before Loré ran away. “Loré?.. what’s wrong? Why are we stopping here of all places? Did you use to visit here?” asked Namworth while keeping his distance to Loré, finding her strange movements and talking to herself very alarming. “No… I’ve never been here before, Namworth. This place doesn’t have any real value to me. It’s just a place where dreams come to die,” mumbled Loré with her head held down low, lethargically dragging her legs, and subsequently herself past Namworth. “You’re right, we should get going,” mumbled Loré. “We’ve already wasted enough time standing around here. I won’t miss my one chance at this.” The slightly defeated and overwhelmed eyes of Loré had quickly sprung alive once more, now burning with a fiery passion fueled by an undertone of raw anger. The two of them set off once more for the stairs, but this time rushing up to the next level in the castle. Having seen the layout of the floors made it particularly easy for Loré to find the room they were looking for. It was what most would expect for a study room of this caliber. An area for semi-small meetings between officials were in one corner, storage of several law documents in another, and a comfortable section to study and relax in a third one. Loré and Namworth had ,however, not come to this room for the decorative view or the utilities of it. No, they were there to execute the plan Charlatan had derived for them. They could almost feel the guards walking about directly below their hooves. “If the maps were truly accurate, this is the place we need to drill through to be right above the vault entrance, Namworth.” Loré walked in a small circle around where she planned to drill, giving him and then the door a quick glance. “Keep a look out for any possible intruders. I don’t want us to get caught.” It was the last thing Loré added before getting to work on the floor. She pulled out the amplifier from her bag and placed it over her horn. She pressed the tip gently against the floor before concentrating as much as she could to produce the strongest beam of magic. Like a shooting star, an intensely bright flare and fairly loud buzzing sound flared alive from the tip of her horn. The sound didn’t seem to travel that well into the room below them. It did however flow freely into the hallway. Luckily for Loré, Namworth took notice of this and reacted accordingly. He closed the door and kept on peeking out through the keyhole as Loré worked. “Wait, what are we going to do once you’ve made the hole, Loré? Won’t the stone floor just fall down onto the floor of the room below us?” asked Namworth while prying his eyes from the keyhole. His valid question, however, didn’t stop Loré. “Do you really have so little trust in my abilities to think that I can’t magically move a block of stone like the one I’m cutting?” grumbled Loré. “Well, erhm… maybe?” Namworth smiled weakly before he went back to keeping an eye out for passing guards or anypony else who could happen upon them. “I’ll show him,” mumbled Loré. The moment of truth to Namworth’s question was quickly coming closer to them. With the help of the amplifier, cutting through stone became a fairly easy task for Loré. Though some strain was put on her, it wasn’t half as difficult as the spell she had to perform to retrieve information from the diary. But, it was a task which would eventually tax her body if she kept it up for too long. “Loré, you gotta hurry,” whimpered Namworth. “We only have a few more minutes before it’s midnight. The guards are going to lock the vault for the rest of the evening if we don’t hurry up.” An old and impressively carved clock hung from the wall in the study, much to their convenience it gave a clear indicator of how long they had till Charlatan’s distraction. They had maybe five more minutes before the vault was opened up. Then another 10 minutes for the guards to patrol through the room to make sure all the items were in place. Though they had planned for the distraction to occur right after the vault was opened, to make sure even the guards set to patrol it would come over to see what happened. “Almost, there,” said Loré as she rounded the halfway point of her circular cut into the floor. Her breath had become more shallow and panting, and it only got worse the longer she performed the spell. In tandem with the minor exhaustion her body showed, the spell itself had begun to glow less intensely which in turn meant the whole process had slowed down. “Come on, Loré, you can do it!” cheered Namworth as he once again pulled away from the door. He circled around the hole and over to her side. Her body looked so fragile in the pulsating glow of her spell and the light shimmering moonlight dancing across the floor. The mild shaking indicated the obvious to him, he knew she was trying to hide the strain the spell put on her. Namworth gently placed a hoof onto her back and whispered gently into her ear. “You can do it. I believe in you, Loré.” As horribly cheesy as it sounded, even to him, it was all he could do for her. He could only hope that having some faith in his friend would help her overcome the magical strain. “You almost go-!” A shockwave much like a small earthquake roared through the castle. The force of the explosion was more than enough to crack the last bit of floor holding the carved out part in place. Loré’s eyes widened and her face contorted into a voiceless scream as she saw the block slipping quickly out of its place in the floor. All in a blink of an eye came the shocking realization that her journey was coming to an end, all she had sacrificed and done was going to shatter against the floor just like that block. Where Loré failed to act, Namworth stepped right in as he had done in the past. Without a thought for his own wellbeing, he sprung into the hole and grabbed onto the block before it could get far. Though, noble intent could only do so much for the scrawny hippogriff. “LORÉ, HELP!” cried Namworth while sudden jerks kept pulling his body further and further through the hole. Loré didn’t utter a word in return. Her entire focus was brought into one of the simplest spells for unicorns, levitation. Lifting a stone block and a pony-sized hippogriff did however make things a bit more difficult. “Hhhnngg!” huffed and puffed Loré. Strain showed clearly through her curled up lips, lack of breathing, and flickering wide eyes. There was no way she was letting go of the two of them. No way her dream was ending right here and now. She backed off slowly, wiggling her head to one side and then rapidly forward as if she was physically pulling a rope with her mouth. Slowly, but surely, Namworth and the block was fished out of the hole and placed onto the floor next to it. Loré instantly collapsed the second they touched ground. “See… I had it all under control…” A share of mutual admiration lingered between the two of them, Loré for Namworth’s quick reaction, and Namworth for Loré’s performance with magic, despite her disadvantage. And just like their stare being mutual, so was their attempts to almost say something to each other, but holding back on what they wanted to say so the other could go first. “We need more water!” screamed a guard from downstairs. The abrupt yell broke the two of them out of their almost trance-like stare at each other. The plan once again dawned upon Loré as she now stared down through the hole to see what was going on. An even bigger hole had been made at the opposite end of the vault in the great hall underneath them. Roaring flames engulfed more and more of the room and from what the two of them could see, the guards were doing their best to fight off the fire. Charlatan’s little distraction had caused more than enough of a commotion for two ponies to sneak into the vault, which was still halfway open despite it being completely unguarded. “Let’s do this.” A wide smirk crept into Loré’s face while she eagerly chucked down half of the potion before hoofing it to Namworth. She didn’t wait for him, she jumped immediately through the hole. Like the name of the potion had suggested, Loré fell towards the floor at the same speed as a feather dancing in the wind would have. Namworth followed quickly after, the both of them landing right outside the beautifully decorated gates leading into the vault. “Huh?” mumbled Honor as he heard a strangely light thud in between the bustling flames and guards rushing around him with water. His eyes squinted, and for a moment he could have sworn he saw somepony familiar disappear into the vault. “Was that… it couldn’t have been her…” “We did it, Namworth! WE DID IT!” joy, pure unadulterated joy rang through Loré’s voice. She was almost in tears as she jumped around the room from one artifact to another while proclaiming her excitement. “Maybe I’ll try this one, or that one! Hhhmm which one would be best suited for a genius like me?” The room was far larger than it had appeared on the outside. It was high up to the ceiling, and there was plenty of room between every one of the artifacts in there. A red velvet carpet with a white brim stretched around the oddly shaped room. There were several offshoots leading into dead ends, making the whole of the vault appear like an excessively complicated puzzle-piece. Most of the artifacts in the room were definitely not for a pony to use. They were too big for anypony to carry around, or too strangely shaped to actually hold it anywhere on her body. Though, there were still several which she could use and carry around easily. The question not only on her mind, but also Namworth’s was however, could she actually wield any of the items in there? While Loré ecstatically pranced around the room to make sure she gave every single artifact a glance, Namworth carefully approached a few, finding the ones he did touch to have a sinister aura about them. He couldn’t help but feel that nothing good could come from using any of these things, and perhaps they had all been taken away from public view for a reason. “Loré, maybe it’s not such a good idea to use any of these,” said Namworth while looking around the room to figure out where Loré had disappeared off to. A response came echoing from an off-shoot in the vault. “Nonsense, Namworth! Trust me, I’m perfectly capable of using any of these fine items. In fact, I believe I’ve found the one I wish to use.” Upon a dark-grey marble pedestal rested a horn-ring. It was duel silver rings intertwined by coiling white gold, an artifact presumably lost in legends among anypony who might have heard of it. The sporadic scratches along the rings and obelisk hue tracing the rims were undeniably from somewhere in the Zebra Empire, giving Loré the final confirmation for what it was. “What’s that?” asked Namworth after having caught up to Loré. He leaned in close to inspect the artifact, but only appeared with confusion. “What’s so special about this one? It looks like plain old silver.” “That is the horn-ring of the great unicorn Lady Quaza, the first unicorn to ever visit the Zebra Empire. It’s said that she was one of the greatest unicorns of her time, and during her many adventures and travels, she acquired three magical items which she forged into one powerful artifact.” A hue of purple shimmered around the ring as it levitated off its rightful place, slowly but surely floating towards Loré who awaited her newfound power with greedy eyes and a smirk more dreadful than Nightmare Moon. “She did great things in her lifetime and even greater things once she created this beautiful ring.” Loré closed her eyes and waited with baited-breath as the feeling of metal scrapped ever so gently against her horn. From the ripples sprung strange tingles throughout her body. An impending sense of power quickly followed suit, jolting new life into the dull mare. “I… I can feel it working!” chuckled Loré. “With this, nopony will be able to stop me from reaching my destiny!” With this her horn finally changed back to its normal two colors. “I have no reason to hide anymore either hehehe…” “What are you two doing in here!?” yelled Honor from around the corner to the off-shoot section Loré and Namworth stood in, hiding himself from their sight in case they meant trouble. “Oh no, oh no, we’ve been caught. What do we do now, Loré?” whimpered Namworth, being much less calm and collective when the opponent wasn’t a mindless monster, but a fellow sentient being like himself. “We leave my dear assistant, we leave.” A sinister smile flared in unison with her eyes glowing in an intense purple color. As if magic was nothing, a bolt of purple energy charged up for a second at the tip of Loré’s horn before blasting away the bit of wall Honor was hiding behind. “I believe that should have taken care of our little problem,” chuckled Loré. Namworth sat in shock and watched with wide eyes as Loré nonchalantly sashayed over towards the rubles and smoke. Small sparks repeatedly flew from her horn and her eyes never released their glow of power. Another ball of energy was quickly formed, but then vaporized once taking notice to there being no pony behind the wall. “W-where did he go!?” stuttered Loré. She barely managed to pull herself back into the cover of the wall before several differently colored energy bolts raced past the spot she had just been standing. From the vault streamed in several guards, both unicorns and pegasi. They took on a defensive formation at the entrance. Nopony was leaving this room, unless it be in hoofcuffs. “Loré, I know it’s you. Take off the artifact and come out so we don’t have to force you.” Honor’s voice was amplified by a spell as he negotiated with Loré. He was standing in the middle of two dozen ponies, fairly bruised up from Loré’s spell, but not enough to deter him from continuing the arrest. Loré could just barely make out where everypony was standing, how many there were, and her only way out was definitely not going to be easy. “Pathetic.” Loré grinned, in odds of everything she grinned like a maniac. “There’s really nothing you guards can do to stop me.” From her cover she sprung out into action, immediately being bombarded with magic used to subdue misbehaving citizens. Though, none of them ever made it through to touch Loré. Each and every one of the magical missiles bounced off a shield which only became visible when touched by anything. “My turn,” mumbled Loré as their fire seized for a second. Every hair on her mane stood up like little antennas which exchanged information in the form of small magical charges. It was combined with her eyes turning completely purple, along with a matching aura emanating from her body in thick puffs. Loré stomped her forehoves into the ground, causing cracks to rush through the floor and underneath the unicorns bombarding her again. Their bodies froze up as purple static sparked off of them, causing them to fall over like all the life had been drained from their bodies. “What are you doing, Loré!?” Namworth watched in horror as Loré turned her attention to the pegasi charging at her. With a flick of her horn, bolas of purple magic launched by the dozen towards each and every one of the pegasi, binding them tightly, and causing them to fall to the ground like ragdolls. Loré had no other reaction than to laugh and smile as she slowly walked towards them, dragging the pegasi around her against the ground with magic. She was convening them all into one big pile in the middle of the room. “Why… why are you doing this, Loré?” asked Honor, fighting his hardest to go against the magic restraining him into an awkward position. “Because I can… Because I want to be as strong as possible. I want to be somepony special, Honor. I want to have power so I can change this horrible world of ours. I want to be more than any of you can imagine, and unlike you, I won’t be forgotten by tomorrow. I have bigger fish to catch than waste my time with this nonsense. The Crystal Empire awaits me, and only one thing awaits you.” “Loré, don’t do this!” yelled Namworth while rushing up to her side. “It’s too late for that kind of thing, Namworth. They know where we are going. They’ll only try to stop us if I don’t nip this problem in the bud right now.” A massive ball of energy began to form at the tip of Loré’s horn, though every time it grew bigger it also shrunk in on itself, becoming a seemingly denser kind of magic. “Goodbye honorable guards, your hearts were in the right place, too bad your talents weren’t.” “NO!” cried Namworth as he intervened. Time slowed down. Every thought, every realization, and every action became an eternity to Loré. In the moment she released the magic towards the guards, it was too late. Namworth had jumped in from the sideline and taken up the path of her bolt. Seeing the ‘end it all’ spell with a course straight for Namworth was enough to rip Loré out of her manic state of mind. The glow of magic faded in her eyes, body and horn. Her face went from a manic smile to a horrified frown. She couldn’t accept this outcome, and so, instinctively, in a fraction of a second, she cast another spell, the forcefield she had used moments ago. But this time, she placed it in front of Namworth. The bolt bashed against the shield with an almost blinding display of light. Though, the amount of magic put into the bolt far exceeded the amount in the shield, and when push came to shove, it showed. A distinctive sound of shattering glass echoed in Loré’s ears the millisecond before impact on Namworth. Too afraid to open her eyes, all she could do was listen. But what followed was not a thud, instead of it came a horrifying scream of agony. A quick sense of relief filled Loré’s heart as her friend hadn’t met his demise by her careless use of magic, but it only lasted for a second as worry kicked in after realizing she had instead badly wounded him. “MY EYE!!!” screamed Namworth while clutching to his right eye socket as blood trickled down his cheek. The word ‘no’ kept on repeating in Loré’s mind as she watched what she had done. Her focus washed away, and with it did her restraints of the guards. She couldn’t do anything for him here and now, but away from this place she could. Loré did what had to be done. She rushed towards her wobbling friend and embraced him tightly. The both of them disappeared in a bright flash of purple light and smoke, leaving only a dark spot behind where they had been.