Enemy of my Enemy
“Sombra, wake up you drunkard!” Starswirl shouted.
Sombra quickly raised his head off the wooden table he’d been resting on. At this point Starswirl had covered it with books and scrolls filled with all manner of magical nonsense; or at least that is how Sombra saw it. He always thought the scholars like Starswirl were wasting their time reading worn out texts about outdated spells. If they were worth anything, they’d already know about it and wouldn’t have to waste their time reading about it.
“What!?” Sombra cried out from his nap.
“Why do you have such an issue with what we’re doing here? You are the one who invited us into this mess in the first place after all,” Starswirl questioned.
“I believe it was the drink that put me under, it’s not something I come across too often these days. Most ponies would consider this a waste,” Sombra painstakingly replied.
“They do, and for good reason. It’s a waste of resources and drowns workers. No one makes the stuff anymore. So where did it come from?” Starswirl asked.
“You know the hair under your muzzle has been bare for days, and nothing’s grown back. Sooner or later like a uh, bush, no a tree is just going to pop out!” Sombra said jokingly.
“That’s not even relevant to my question Sombra. No, it came from a book,” Starswirl said.
Sombra made a popping sound with his mouth and began laughing hysterically. Starswirl glaring back at him knowing Sombra was potentially visualizing a tree instantaneously growing out of his face. Thankfully Basil and Regina returned through the hall.
“Do you see this? I find something important and he laughs at me,” Starswirl said, pointing over at Sombra across the table.
“We’re leaving,” Basil said as he quickly walked in.
“Leaving why? I just moved my things in from the keep, I can’t leave my research. I just discovered something called a spark that could make nearly all of my spell theories a reality!” Starswirl said pleadingly.
“Is our fellow companion Orion alive Basil?” Sombra asked after taking a deep breath to regain his composure.
“I don’t know yet, but I am sure that our host is out to get us killed,” Basil said seriously.
“I had my suspicions on that, especially after I had discovered here in this journal with cursed artifacts. One of which is a book with the power to change ordinary or terrible things and make them extraordinary. Like turning a basket of rotting potatoes into fresh produce the size of your head, even a barrel of ice water into the finest liquor,” Starswirl explained.
“Any mention of a cursed dagger of envy?” Basil asked.
“There is, how did you know?” Starswirl replied.
“It drove Erik mad, he murdered Silence Sweets and tried to kill Orion and died for it,” Basil explained.
“So Orion did the sensible thing putting our most generous host under suspicion, turned tail and ran,” Sombra added, receiving a menacing scold from Basil.
Basil took Sombra by the shoulders and slammed him into the nearest bookcase.
“Don’t you dare consider Orion a coward you pig! You’re the one that talked us into this mess in the first place,” Basil said, anger in his eyes.
“You may be right about that Basil I did ask for your help, I asked all of you. So then, seeing as how there is a brute with powerful weapons at his disposal planning to kill us off; what’s our next step?” Sombra asked.
“There isn’t one,” Marcus said from the hall.
“Shit,” Regina said just before a bright flash of magic blinded them all.
In the woods outside the guild village Orion, Dusk, and the team of unicorn soldiers walked onward through the snow. The walk there was a silent one, Orion understood Dusk had his reasons, but it wasn’t Dusk he was concerned with. He was more concerned with the four other soldiers that have been on edge since receiving their orders to work with him.
“What’s the plan Orion?” Dusk asked as they walked through a now abandoned village.
“I’m working on it,” Orion said as they proceeded.
“Sir, this village is empty. They knew we were coming,” one of the soldiers said.
“Orion it’s not as though they’re just going to let us walk right through their front door,” Dusk said as they approached the doors of the castle.
Orion promptly pushed open the doors of the castle and walked in.
“Well I’ll be damned,” Dusk said as he followed Orion in, accompanied by his soldiers.
“This castle is a treasure trove!” a soldier said out loud.
“He said you’d come back,” a mare said as she stepped out with her twin into the castle foyer.
“Hey look, it’s you two…” Orion said vaguely.
“I’m insulted you don’t even remember our names,” the other mare said drawing her katana in sync with her twin.
“Where is Marcus?” Dusk asked.
“Where are my friends?!” Orion demanded.
“What do you intend to do, kill us to find out?” one of the mares asked.
“Damn right!” Orion snarled as he unsheathed the sword of wrath.
Orion’s blood began pumping with adrenaline as the blade instructed him to kill. His vision broadened and his movements became faster as he approached the mares. He engaged the left one first. She appeared surprised as their blades clashed. He forced her back, before she was fully confident in her skill with her sword but that confidence was broken by the ferocity of this black stallion’s aggression.
The other mare fought with Dusk and the four other soldiers. They would choose to help their officer and let Orion fight alone, expecting him to die and take the glory for their selves. However the mares were far more skilled and fought in a style unknown to the unicorns. She would dodge their magic like an acrobat but swiftly be upon them before they could charge another spell. They could barely avoid the incredibly sharp katana blade before their ally could fire another spell.
Dusk had stepped back a moment and looked over toward Orion, fighting the other mare on his own. Orion’s aggression was having a clear effect on his opponent. As agile as she was, the mare could only keep up for so long. It was like watching a shadow fight with a sword, his dark blue cloak swaying like a cape with every movement. The mare caught a slash to her front left leg. She lost her balance and allowed Orion to step to one side and drive his blade up through the bottom of her muzzle as she fell into it, killing her instantly.
“No!” the other mare screamed out as the soldiers dragged her to the floor as she watched Orion slide the blade from her sister’s skull.
“Don’t kill her! We need to know where to find Marcus!” Dusk ordered.
“Where are they!?” Orion shouted as he walked over, sword still drawn.
“You monster!” the mare cried out.
“Where are they!?” Orion repeated.
“Knight’s peak, the mountain shaped like a horsehead. That’s where they are and where he’ll kill all of you, but you’ll need the key,” the mare said angrily.
“What key?” Dusk asked.
“A gem one of the unicorns left in a saddlebag in the dining hall. Now just kill me, my sister was everything to me and now I have nothing!” the mare cried.
“No! If my friends are dead then you suffer with me,” Orion said before leaving for the dining hall.
Orion sheathed his sword and walked into the dining hall followed by Dusk. As Orion dug around for the saddlebag Dusk took note of the damage inside this part of the castle.
“What happened in here?” Dusk wondered out loud.
“Marcus happened in here no doubt, seems they put up quite the fight,” Orion said as he lifted a saddlebag containing the large magic gemstone they had gotten from the keep.
“Is that our key?” Dusk inquired.
“It is, a key to walk right into a trap,” Orion said as he walked out with Dusk and the soldiers, past the mare sobbing on the foyer floor.
“You plan to spring this trap? What makes you so sure they’re even there?” Dusk asked walking out of the castle.
“I plan to spring his trap because he’s not expecting me to have this sword. I know he has them held somewhere because he’s waiting for me to come and get them. He also has more of these cursed artifacts your king is so interested in, which is just what he wants,” Orion said.
“Then why give him what he wants?” Dusk asked, knowing this won’t go well.
“Because what Marcus seems to want most is to have his head delivered in a bag to your king,” Orion said with fire in his eyes.
“You are one insane earth pony Orion, but I have my orders, so you have my support,” Dusk said.
“Any idea where Knight’s Peak is?” Orion asked.
“I do know where it is, it’s a carved rock face not too far from here. I’ll take you there, just don’t pull out that blade of yours unless you absolutely have to,” Dusk said.
Orion walked past Dusk and followed a bend through the village on the outside of the castle. Dusk and the guards followed him. They proceeded until Orion suddenly stopped. The guards became shocked at the sight of the iced over corpse of the troll that had fallen from the castle on the hill.
“Are you willing to risk your life to save your friends Orion?” Dusk asked, staring at the massive corpse.
“Would you not do the same if Dawn were in danger,” Orion said.
“That I would Orion, let’s get going then,” Dusk agreed.
As Dusk lead Orion and his soldiers, he became ever more curious about the earth pony. For so long they had battled each other over such meager things, and under any other circumstances they would have killed each other by now. Dawn had told him about a group of earth ponies and unicorns working together. However adding a griffon to the equation made it just another fillytale. Now however, he believes it. Even though Orion had earned some trust from him, it is clear that he is a dangerous pony. With the blade of wrath his king had given Orion Dusk knew that now, in the event Orion wanted to turn against them, they wouldn’t stand a chance.
Elsewhere, Basil awoke on a cold rock surface. He quickly rose to his hooves and cautiously looked around. He was in a great underground chamber, standing alone on a giant rock pedestal surrounded on all sides by a sheer drop that goes as far as the eye could see. There were other pedestals here as well, many had shielded domes of magic covering whatever was inside.
“Oh it’s been a while since I’ve seen anyone new arrive,” A voice called out from a nearby pedestal.
Basil walked over to the edge of his pedestal to look at who called out. He saw through a magic domed shield on a pedestal below his own. Within the dome was a strange mismatched creature with red and yellow eyes staring back at him. The creature was tall with a brown coat, the head of a goat, and a mismatch of claws, hooves, and horns. It somewhat disgusted Basil to look at it but it was the only other living thing here.
“Where am I? There were others with me, did you see them?” Basil asked the creature.
“Why? Don’t you know? You’re in prison. You must’ve done something horrible to be put this deep in Tartarus,” the creature explained.
“How did I get here?” Basil continued.
“Oh there’s many ways in… or out,” the creature said.
“Out! That’s what I need. I need to get out and find my team,” Basil said as he tried harder to see through other pedestal’s domes.
“You still have your weapons, which meant you were put here in a hurry. That allowed me the opportunity to use my magic to sabotage your pedestal’s dome,” the creature said, having already formulated a plan.
“That makes no sense. If you can use magic to help me escape, why not use it for yourself?” Basil asked, pacing back and forth.
“Does everything have to make sense? This dome is just designed to keep me in, now all I need is something heavy to make contact with the outside of it,” the creature said.
“You expect me to jump!?” Basil inquired.
“You’ll just have to trust me,” the creature said, an eerie smile on its face with one large fang sticking out.