Guardians of Light: A Shadow Forms
Chapter 39-Contingency Plans
-Catacombs entrance, Canterlot Castle-
Princesses Luna and Celestia stared blankly at the wall, its somewhat faded white paint supposedly concealing a secret passageway that neither of them had ever explored before. Hanging from the wall was a portrait, the pony in the painting staring back at the royal pair.
I'd almost forgotten what he'd looked like. Luna thought as her eyes turned up to see the painting of Starswirl the Bearded. His midnight blue fur, the moon grey mane and beard, and of course the bell-adorned hat and robe he wore at all times. Even thought it had been a little more than a thousand years since Luna had seen the wizard alive, the realism of the portrait refreshed her memory of the unicorn magician. I hope that whatever's in his journal can help us in the days ahead.
"And you're sure that this is where the catacomb entrance is, Discord?" Celestia piped up, her unsure tone revealing her thoughts on what was going on.
"Of course it is." Discord declared proudly, turning his head towards the questioning princess, a golden halo popping into existence above his head. "Would I lie to you?"
At this both sisters turned their heads to face Discord and gave the draconequus a pair of displeased looks.
With a roll of his eyes and a sigh, Discord gave the princesses a disappointed look. "Trust certainly is a hard thing to obtain with you two, isn't it?" Discord said, the halo disappearing from above the trickster with a poof.
"It is not so much a matter of telling the truth as it is who is giving said 'truth'." Celestia replied flatly.
Discord turned his snout up indignantly at the doubtful princess. "Oh the consequences of not having absolute honesty with my motives in the past. Maybe I should ask Applejack for some tips."
"So how does the entrance open up?" Luna asked, returning her gaze to the wall in front of her.
Discord's eyes lit up. "Well, Princess, it is a two-step process. I'm going to assume that one or both of you knows how to perform a de-cloaking spell." Both princesses nodded in reply. The draconequus clapped his hands together in anticipation. "Excellent! Now if one of you two could be so kind as to perform said spell on the wall." He said, motioning with his eagle-clawed hand towards the seemingly innocent mixture of brick and mortar that stood before them.
Celestia lowered her head, her horn glowing a bright yellow. A sudden burst of light shot from her horn, striking the wall. Glowing yellow cracks began forming on the wall from where the horn blast connected with the wall. The cracks stretched like spider webs across the wall until the outline of a door could be made out.
Luna and Discord watched as the white wall fell away in shambles, revealing a massive brown door. Luna's eyes scanned the newfound door, finding that it looked like it had been put up no more than a week ago. The paint on the door appeared freshly dried, the brass door handle showed no blemishes or rust marks, hay, even the keyhole seemed like it had never been used. That's probably because it hasn't. She figured.
"Ah the wonders of a cloaking spell. Not only does it hide that which it is cast upon, but it also preserves the object." Discord proclaimed in admiration.
Celestia looked up from her work to see the door looming in front of her. How could I have not known about this for so long? She wondered as she looked over the door.
"Do we have the key to get in?" Luna implored, pointing a silver-plated hoof at the door's jagged keyhole.
Discord perked up. "Ooh. I'm sure I have it somewhere in here." He said with a snap of his fingers. A small burst of light and a poof, and a key ring appeared in his lion paw, the dozens of keys jingling against the ring. Going key by key, Discord began searching for the desired one. "Janitor's closet? No. Armory? No. Royal rump cleaning supplies? No."
Both princesses' eyes widened at hearing that one.
"Ah! Here it is." Discord said, selecting an ancient-looking key. The rhombus-shaped bow led to a long gilded shaft, at the end of which was a key blade in the shape of a three stars in a line. Bending down in front of the door, Discord inserted the key, the clicking of the door's locks sounding off as he pushed the key farther in.
"Almost got it." Discord notified, Celestia and Luna waiting patiently as the draconequus worked.
No sooner had the words left his lips did Discord let out a sudden shriek.
"AAAHH! DID SOMEPONY TURN OFF THE LIGHTS?!" He shouted, letting go of the key and began waving his arms around.
"Discord, what are you- holy Tartarus!" Luna cried, seeing Discord's eyes. The pupils of his eyes were a pale grey, the irises retaining their usual red.
"He's blind!" Celestia shouted, seeing the chaos spirit's eyes as well.
"Blind!" Discord cried out in despair. "No, I can't be blind! There's so much to see! Like chocolate rain pouring heavenly clouds of pink cotton candy!"
"Is the door cursed or something?" Luna asked as she ducked from one of Discord's flailing arms.
"Hang on!" Discord said, instantly calming himself and squeezing his eyes shut. Opening his eyes again, Celestia and Luna were relieved to see that Discord's eyes were no longer in their blind state. "I can see again! Oh what a glorious day!"
"So is the door cursed to where we can't turn the key without getting stricken by something?" Celestia asked, eyeing the door cautiously.
A stupid grin broke out on Discord's face. "Nah. The door's fine."
Luna blinked. "So… were you messing with us?"
At this Discord began doubled over in laughter. "Yep! And boy you should have seen the looks on your faces!" After the few minutes it took for Discord's laughter to subside, he turned to see both princesses with less-than-amused looks on their faces. "Oh come on, you gotta admit it was kind of funny." He implored, his smile fading a bit.
"Now is not the time for jokes, Discord." Celestia said, barely containing her frustration with the draconequus. "Now open. The door."
With a roll of his eyes, Discord turned back to the door. "Alright, alright. Fine." He said, turning the key and pushing the door open, a chilled wind rushing past the opening. "Satisfied, my dear?"
"Very much so." Celestia responded as she advanced towards the now open door. Peering inside, she slowly made her way into the catacombs.
Luna cast a glance at Discord and then back at the door. "And you'll be right there with us, right?"
"Of course I would, Lulu. Now get in there. Your sister can't take all the glory on this one." He said, gesturing an arm towards the opening.
Luna gave a chuckle as she approached the door, stopping at the door to lean in towards Discord. "Between you and me, that blind trick was somewhat humorous." With that, the princess of the night entered the tunnel behind her sister.
Discord shrugged as he went in behind Luna. "I knew you'd be one to appreciate a little comedy relief in these types of situations." He said, the door shutting behind him.
The trio walked down the corridor, ready to navigate through the catacombs.
-Sky-Shield residence, Western Griffon Kingdom-
All was still in the Sky-Shield home, aside from the crackling of the fire inside the hearth in the atrium. The shadows of three griffons flickered on the floor as the their owners sat in contemplative silence.
Cloudius took the initiative and broke the silence. "In regards to the rapidly developing situation between the Griffon Kingdoms, I may have to fall back on a contingency plan that I hoped I'd never have to carry out."
"But surely there must be something that can be done to maintain the peace a bit longer." Avia spoke up, concern lacing her words. "And you're sure you've tried everything in the council?"
Cloudius's grimace told his wife all she needed to know. "Even if I had the chance to sit every single councilor down and talk about why we should not go to war, I fear that only a few would agree with my sentiments."
"So does that… mean that… you'd have to… go and… fight?" Hawkeye fought to speak.
"Being the general of his Majesty's armies, yes. I would have to go and fight even if I didn't want to."
Avia gave a laugh in disbelief. "Have those featherbrains learned nothing from when the East split off the main kingdom? Goading each other into a fight isn't going to solve anything."
"Well it's all those 'featherbrains' seem to be content doing at the moment."
"So what are we… gonna do?"
Cloudius turned to stare into his son's eyes. "Hawk, despite being the son of a military member like myself, I have yet to train you in the art of combat." He said, pretending to ignore the worrisome look Avia was shooting him.
Hawkeye cocked an eyebrow at his father. "What are you… saying, dad?"
"I'm saying that I will be teaching you how to fight, should the situation demand that you have to in the near future." Cloudius replied gravely.
Hawkeye found a sudden interest in the floor patter beneath his paws. "So… there's gonna be a war… soon?"
Cloudius mustered up whatever determination he had in his soul as he spoke. "I fear that may be the case. Which is why tomorrow morning, I want you to get up at first light and come with me to my old training grounds outside Dayguard. From there, our lessons will begin."
"But our son does not have a weapon, Cloudius." Avia pointed out. "How can he fight if he doesn't have anything to fight with?"
"We will come to that matter at a later time, Avia. In the mean time, I need you to trust me on this." Cloudius said, his tone almost pleading for her to go along with his plan.
Avia simply nodded in reply.
Cloudius turned back to face Hawkeye. "So you understand, son?"
"I do." Hawkeye responded.
A faint smile tugged at the corner of Cloudius's beak. "Good. Then go on and get to bed. We have a long day tomorrow."
With a nod, Hawkeye spun around and walked out of the atrium and up the staircase that led to his bedroom.
Upon hearing the click of the door being shut, Avia turned to her husband. "Are you sure about this, Cloudius?"
"Avia, I know that this is going to be a difficult next few months, but we will make it through this."
"How can we, though?" The exasperation in Avia's words was almost tangible to Cloudius's ears as he listened. "I support your decisions, Cloudius, but please promise me one thing."
Cloudius gave a small nod, the look in his eyes saying Whatever it is, I will promise it.
"I want you to promise me that Hawkeye will not see combat. That the fighting will be as far away from this place as possible."
Except that. Cloudius thought as he rubbed the back of his head. "Avia, you know I can't make a promise like that. I of all griffons know war is unpredictable. What if our house is targeted for a demoralization raid or you two are caught in an ambush? I will do what I can to keep our son from the fighting, but I cannot give you a guarantee."
Avia's misty eyes glinted in the firelight. "I don't want to lose both my men at the same time."
Cloudius approached his wife and laid a claw on her shoulder. "You won't, Avia. I can promise that."
With a swift motion, Avia pulled Cloudius in for a hug. Cloudius gently stroked the feathers on her head as she cried softly into his shoulder.
-Concordia, Eastern Griffon Kingdom-
Thwump.
The sound bounced around the small second-floor workshop, the indication of success bringing joy to the pair of experimenting griffons in the room.
"Let's try that again." Gastra said, readjusting her stance as she pulled the bolt back on the invention. With a clik, the string locked into place behind the revolving nut, the next one-shot volley ready to fire.
Heron adjusted his claws around the quill against the already filled-out scroll, ready to take down the results of the experiment. "Okay. So this is test number fourteen, linen string at fifteen feet. Fire when ready, Gastra."
Looking down the sights, Gastra matched the front and rear sights, a slim triangular piece of wood sticking up ahead of the circular sight. Lining up the shot, Gastra pulled the trigger.
Thwump.
"Another bulls-eye." Gastra beamed, a smile stretching across her beak.
After marking off the results on the scroll, Heron looked up at his partner. "Well I guess that target I made earlier was good for something after all, huh?"
"Yeah it seems so." Gastra replied, looking down at the small hole to see if an arrow was still in the chamber. Not seeing one, she pressed down on a small lever on the side of the device. A small popping sound made itself heard from underneath the weapon as the arrow magazine became detached, Gastra being quick to grab the now empty box and taking it away from the invention's feeding chamber.
"You having any problems with the firing position?" Heron asked as Gastra landed back on her front two paws. "It looks kind of weird having to shoot that thing while standing on your rear pair of feet."
"I suppose it'll take some getting used to." Gastra admitted. The first couple attempts she tried standing on her back legs ended with her getting a face full of wooden floor, almost destroying the invention in the process. With some practice, however, she was able to overcome that difficulty. Gastra's eyes wandered to the target she'd been firing the weapon at. Out of fourteen arrows fired, ten had stuck in the target, three of which were embedded in the big red dot in the middle. We still need some more tests.
"So, uh, you think it's ready to be presented yet?" Heron asked as he set his quill and scroll on the sawdust and splinter-ridden workbench beside him.
"Not quite. I think it still needs some longer distance accuracy tests. Tomorrow we head for the Frostlands, set up the target and continue with the tests."
"But wouldn't there be a lot of wind interference with that location? Not to mention the fact that we would be freezing up there."
"Well we can't just test the weapon in this room." Gastra pointed out, casting a look around the workshop. "Sure it's prime conditions for it, but the only way to find out its versatility would be to test it in multiple locations. Besides, we'd be able to get a distance test of more than just fifteen feet outside."
Heron nodded in agreement. "Alrighty then. So shall we call it a night?"
Gastra looked up at the clock on the wall, the skinny hands reading 11:30. "Meh it's not that late. We could clean this place up a bit and then we can get some shut-eye."
"Sounds like a plan to me." Heron strolled toward the target, the arrows jutting out of the wood at him. Grabbing one arrow in his claw, he proceeded to try yanking the arrows out of the wood, grunting in effort as he tried to reclaim the projectiles.
Heron picked up the weapon off the ground and set it on the workbench. Sure there was still work to be done, but she could tell that they were so close to completion.
Just a few more tests, and this baby'll be presentable for the king. She thought, a spark of anticipation flashing in her eyes. Once the king approves the weapon for military usage, there'd be no end to what Heron and I can do. But before we present it, though, what should I call the weapon? Gastra pondered, her eyes falling upon the weapon again. It's kind of like a bow, but in the shape of a T. With a 'hmm' and a shrug, Gastra turned back to cleaning the floor of the various wood pieces that lay scattered on the floor. Meh. I'll come up with something later.
-Mountain Cave, Northern Equestria-
Today is the day. The Shadow thought, his yellow eyes gleaming with barely restrained joy. The moon was still in the sky, but the Shadow could sense that midnight had passed. He'd had thousands of years to prepare. Thousands of years to grow stronger in his magic. Thousands of years of waiting. Today, those thousands of years would pay off.
The Shadow's glowing yellow orbs travelled to the pair of changelings that lay no more than five yards away from him. From what he could tell, Queen Chrysalis was already fast asleep. However, two wary blue eyes penetrated the darkness, staring right back at him.
Not feeling tired, Raspian? The Shadow asked.
I've gone multiple days without sleep while on watch. What's one more night? Raspian replied.
Impressive. And such loyal dedication to your queen. It makes me wish that those around me had similar character.
Raspian's eyebrow arched. What makes you say that?
The Shadow closed his eyes in memory. You ever hear of Great Malakh War?
Can't say I have.
I expected you wouldn't. Its origins predate much of creation itself. The Shadow responded.
What happened? Raspian asked, taking a sudden curiosity in what the Shadow was saying.
The Shadow's eyes fell to the cave floor in reminiscing. It was a crusade waged in the name of freedom. What some called freedom, others called rebellion.
What caused the war? Raspian asked.
A tyrant's rule. He is one that rules all of creation, everything supposedly working according how he wills it. One day, some of my colleagues and I decided that free will was a much better option than simply going along with the tyrant's rule. Imagine it, Raspian. Never doing what you wanted to do, but what was expected of you, all day, every day for millenia.
A ponderous look crossed Raspian's visage as he resumed listening.
So there were three of us: Siphon, who was my advisor at the time, Fortis, one of the gnerals in the tyrant's forces, and myself. The three of us began gathering followers, convincing others of the opportunities they were missing under the thumb of the tyrant. Slowly but surely, our numbers grew. We met in our houses, conducting secret meetings about how we could escape the unjust rule of the tyrant. Eventually, a total of almost a third of the Malakh kingship joined into our ranks. Word, however, got out that we were growing to such a great degree and conducting the meetings. Feeling threatened, the tyrant ordered his armies to eliminate us to the last one.
The Shadow paused, waiting to see if Raspian had any remarks on the story thus far. Hearing none, he continued.
The armies of the tyrant pursued us for more than a year. We won some battles, but they won more. It got to the point where our troops were becoming tired and desperate. After consulting my colleagues, we decided to strike the capital city of the Malakh kingdom. Sure it was a daring move, but high risk often yields high reward. We took that risk and ended up losing. The armies of the tyrant were waiting for us, outnumbering us seven to one. Siphon, Fortis, and I were the only ones that were spared. We were brought before the tyrant for trial. It was during that trial that Fortis, my trusted right-hand man, testified that he had informed one of the tyrant's commanders that we were going to attack the capital, that he should not have the same degree of punishment that I or Siphon would have. The tyrant ignored his pleas and gave him a sentence similar to my own. I knew my sentence before the trial had even begun. Imprisonment in the mortal universe. Again, imagine it, Raspian. You are immortal, all-powerful, and are immune to any kind of illness or disability. Then you are placed in a world where nothing is immortal or all-powerful. You are in a world that is constantly moving, always being born, and always dying. Like putting a saltwater fish in a freshwater lake, I am just not meant for this place.
So is that why you're here? In this cave, I mean. Raspian asked.
Yes, captain. I have been stuck in this cave for the better part of three years, but I have broken out before with the help of others like you and your queen.
But…?
The tyrant saw it fit that I would not simply roam free in the mortal world, so he gave me a prison guard. That guard was to be an old friend of mine named Keeper. Once a friend, he is now my warden. As for those that helped free me, they died soon after and I was placed back in this cell.
Raspian's gaze hardened at the yellow eyes in front of him. And you didn't mention this risk to either of us earlier. That we'd be flying in the face of a group of vengeful immortals for you? Why reveal this to me now?
An unseen smirk graced the Shadow's lips. Because this time will be different, Raspian. I realize that bringing freedom to the Malakh kingdom is out of my reach, but bringing freedom to this world? That is very within the bounds of realism. You and your queen will help me usher in a new era of peace the world has never seen before, and you two will be celebrated because of it. By liberating ourselves of the tyrant's will, we can become our own entities. Choose what we want to be, do what we want to do without answering to anyone. And all I need to make that happen, is one more day of faith in my word. The Shadow responded, his eyes showing his thankfulness to the changeling captain.
Well come tomorrow morning we'll see how well you do on your word to bring the world that peace. Raspian said, laying his head down and closed his eyes, the pair of blue orbs disappearing into the dark.
Until then, captain. The Shadow said.
Yep. Good night, Lodestar. Raspian replied, the Shadow sensing his conscience slipping into sleep.
A fanged smile grew across the Shadow's lips. Good night, Raspian.