//------------------------------// // Chapter Nine // Story: Fire of Passion // by Zachurra //------------------------------// To say that the Everfree Castle, or "Castle of the Two Sisters" as it had apparently been dubbed at some point, was an intimidating sight during the starlit hours would certainly not go unrecognized. During daylight hours, on the other hand, it had a certain intrigue to it. The castle, as well as the city itself, was left relatively untouched by all but time itself. Even the animals seemed to stray away from the city, leaving only dust in the vacant streets. "Hey, Dawn? Y'alright?" Mercy was snapped out of his train of thought by the southern mare's hushed voice. The others were up ahead of the two and looking back at him with general looks of concern. How long had he been standing there, just looking down the street? "Yes, I'm fine." He said, followed by a brief sigh. He quickly trotted back to the others and continued leading them through the silent ruins. "Does... Does it hurt?" Twilight asked as she approached his right side. "Seeing it all like this, I mean... This was your home, after all." Mercy said nothing at first, simply continuing on quietly. His eyes went from one building to the next, remembering it all just as it had once been. "Twilight, let me ask you something. If you were to go, say, out to the country for just a few days, and then you came back to find your town looking like this," He gestured to a small home to his left. The window was covered in dust, the door was slightly ajar and a patch of the roof had caved in. Like the rest of the city, it almost seemed generally devoid of color. "Would it hurt?" The young colt wasn't expecting an answer, and he honestly didn't want the mare to give him one. Instead he simply turned and gently nudged the door open and stepped inside. As expected, it was completely empty. Not a chair or desk or table to be found and the walls were utterly barren. "Well, this is certainly... homey." Rainbow Dash commented upon looking around as the mares followed the colt into the house. "This is my home." Mercy replied with apathy. "Oh..." Rainbow Dash chuckled nervously before getting slapped upside the head by an orange hoof. Whether or not Mercy cared for her comment wasn't to be seen. He didn't seem heartbroken or upset by anything he was seeing, he just seemed... almost neutral. The mares could hear the twinge of sadness in his voice when he spoke, but whether or not he himself was conscious of that was unknown to them. "Oh Dawn, I'm so sorry..." Twilight said softly while Pinkie quietly made her way to his side and pulled him into a tight hug. He gently patted the pink pony, "It's alright. I already knew the town was like this, I just... hadn't seen it up close yet." The sound of a pony failing in an attempt to quiet her hushed sobs broke the silence of the little house. Despite her attempts at hiding the noise, all eyes turned to Fluttershy who was sitting in the corner of the room with hot tears running down her cheeks. Upon seeing that she was noticed, she allowed herself to be a little louder and reached out for the comforting hooves of the nearest friend, being Rarity, and held to them tightly. "I... I just d-don't know what I-I'd do if I ever c-c-came home to find everything s-so... so..." Her voice was drowned out by another sobbing fit. When she opened her eyes again, they were met by Mercy's, who had quickly closed the distance between them. For a moment, the two simply looked at each other. Then the young colt held out his hooves for the mare, who quickly grabbed him and nearly squeezed the life out of him. Most ponies would probably be trying to gasp for breath in such a situation, but Mercy merely held onto her just as she held onto him. Soon every other mare in the room would be joining in the embrace, with the little colt and timid Pegasus right in the middle of it all. -------------- "I don't think I've ever been in this part of the castle..." Twilight thought aloud as the group of seven made their way through a ballroom. It was almost as big as the one located in Canterlot castle. The group entered via a doorway that resided atop a flight of stairs that overlooked the main floor. Immediately to their left and right were a pair of balconies that, together, must have covered nearly half of the floor if one were to look down upon the room from the ceiling. Twin sets of spiral staircases resided beneath both balconies to provide access to the upper floor. On the far side of the room was a raised stage where a band would likely perform during special occasions, and directly behind that was a massive and grand stained glass window. Sadly it would appear, however, that at some point in time the glass was vandalized by something or another as it now stood as only half of the window it once was. "I say, are those buckets?" Rarity asked, breaking the silence that had arisen. The other ponies all followed the Unicorn's gaze upwards towards the dusty golden railing on the edges of the balconies. Seeing this, Rainbow Dash took it upon herself to be the first to investigate. She took to the air and hovered up by the railing and peered inside the metal container to find... "They're just a bunch of buckets of water!" She called down to her friends. She went from bucket to bucket, and all contained the same clear liquid. Somehow, they had been placed in such a way that the objects were perfectly balanced on the railing, and it was likely that the slightest touch could cause one to tip over and scatter it's contents all across the main floor. It almost seemed like that was their intended purpose, as a long, single piece of rope stretched from one balcony to another and ended in a loose hanging piece on the far side of the room. "Water!?" Pinkie exclaimed, bouncing in place impatiently as she had been for the past ten minutes of their journey. "Don't tell me thaaaat! I really need to go to the bathrooooom!" "Ah told ya to go before we even came here!" Applejack told the pink mare, a soft glare in her eyes. "But I didn't have to go theeeen!" Pinkie whined. "Oh, just quit your fussing and go already dear." Rarity replied as she took a position by Applejack's side. "We'll wait for you here until you get back." Before Mercy could turn and explain how letting her go on her own would more than likely prove to be a very bad idea, the pink mare was already gone in a puff of smoke with nothing more than an, "Okay!" Quite surprised at her sudden burst of speed, the colt couldn't help but seek answers from the lavender mare just next to him. "She hasn't drank the blood of any creatures too, has she?" "No, that's just Pinkie being, well... Pinkie." She replied with a playful roll of her eyes. As he was about to question the subject further, Mercy's attention was suddenly captured by something else entirely. A gentle and distant sound that was slowly approaching. While the dragon's blood may not have changed him in a physical fashion as it had for the others, it certainly raised the colt's senses above those of the others, as they didn't notice the sound until it was much, much closer. By then, Mercy could hear something else alongside the hoofsteps... the swishing of water? All eyes turned towards the open doorway where the sound was coming from. A few moments later the source of the sound revealed itself in the form of a peach colored stallion with a jet black mane. He was trotting along rather casually with the handle of a full bucket of water in his mouth. His large third eye was open while his normal eyes were closed, and it was the first to notice that he was not alone in the room like he had expected to be. Relinquish's eyes opened to meet these newcomers. He didn't looked shocked, by any means, but the slight way in which his eyes opened wider was enough to show that he was surprised by their presence. Carefully, he set the bucket down and let thin metal handle fall to the side with a ping. "Well, you certainly arrived sooner than I expected." He spoke casually like a pony who had been waiting at a street corner for his companions to show up. While some of the mares, name Fluttershy and Rarity, were absolutely disturbed by the large eye on the former Unicorn's forehead that stared at them, the rest took a defensive stance to his presence. "We're here to bring Princess Luna back home!" Twilight responded with hostility to the stallion, which he merely shrugged off. "She will be returned once she has returned to normal." "'Normal'? She was already normal before y'all foalnapped her!" Applejack replied in the same manner as Twilight. "Foalnapped? Please. I was under the impression that my Queen was old enough and powerful enough to release herself from any such situation." "Awestruck, please!" Mercy cried out as he stepped forward into full view. If Relinquish's eyes had merely seemed apathetic before, now they formed the glare that the mares had expected of such a villain. "Mercy," He said quietly in response to the colt's outburst, "So that's how they arrived here so soon." "Please, this isn't right and you know it!" Mercy ignored his old friend's remark and simply continued, "We've been away for a very long time... Can't you see that maybe she's chang-" Suddenly Relinquish's form became that of a deep black cloud of smoke that raced toward the six before returning back to that of an altered pony just mere inches from Mercy. His eyes were filled with raging anger as he looked down at the colt. Mercy could say nothing, for an invisible force seemed to be lifting him off the ground by his neck. The colt struggled and thrashed his legs about while his forelegs held to his neck in some vain attempt at holding back the restricting force. "You," Relinquish's words dripped with a sudden newfound hatred, "Would actually ally yourself with these mares... THE ONES WHO KILLED SILENCE!... Rather than the ones you swore to stand by no matter what...?" The former Unicorn's sudden outburst caused some of the mares to take a step back in shock despite Mercy's condition. Suddenly the colt was dropped like a sack of rocks. Twilight raced to his side as he lay there choking and gasping for the air that had suddenly forsaken him, while Relinquish turned away and began walking back towards where he had stood just moments ago. "I had hoped that maybe, should we all encounter each other once again, that we would be able to see eye-to-eye on the matter." Relinquish took the end of the rope that hung freely from the balcony in his mouth and returned his gaze to the others. "It would appear that I was wrong." "Please... Don't do it..." Mercy's voice was but a whimper as he looked to the stallion with pleading eyes. "One does not kill one of the Queen's chosen without facing punishment!" He gave the rope a hard tug, causing every bucket to fall and spill water all over the floor and absolutely soak the six ponies that stood below them. The girls let out a shout due to the coldness of the water. "That was your big plan!?" Rainbow Dash shouted at the stallion after pushing her now drenched mane from her eyes. "Only a means of getting you out of my sight." Before any could question as to just what he meant, the pool of water they all stood in seemed to suddenly explode outward. Those who were able to turn around in time were able to catch a glimpse of a dull orange mare in a raincoat jump up from what should have been very shallow water. With her were large tendrils made of the same water that each grabbed a different pony, save the mare herself who grabbed one with her own hooves. Just as quickly as the mare had arrived, all of them had vanished beneath the water. All was silent in the ballroom save for the breathing of the single stallion that was left alone. Relinquish spat the rope from his mouth and turned to walk away, leaving the room just as quietly as he had entered. Only a few moments later did the entrance way open up once again by none other than a certain pink pony. "Hey girls, I'm back!" She exclaimed, happy to have found a proper room to relieve herself in. However, she was expecting a room full of mares and a little colt, not an empty room with a puddle of water. "Girls?"