//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: Trixie's Requiem // by theseventhdoctor //------------------------------// Trixie was running, her breaths coming in painful gasps. She wanted to stop, wanted to rest but she knew that if she did they would reach her. With their empty eyes and rotted flesh and cracked teeth, if they caught her they would kill her and eat her, so she kept running through the blackness. Just when it seemed like her heart would give out and her lungs collapse Trixie saw a faint blue light in the distance, with the new found hope rejuvenating her tired body she ran towards it to find an old wooden cabin, sanctuary! As soon as she entered the cabin through it’s front door she quickly closed and barred said door and all but flew around the one room building looking for some tool of salvation but all she found was an old and rusted fireplace poker plucked near a roaring fire. With her weapon held tightly in her magic she waited,ready to do battle against these...things and as the began to beat at the walls and door of the cabin and smash the windows in the light of the fire Trixie could finally see her pursuers clearly and by Faust she wished she hadn’t. All of them were ponies once but now they were a twisted mockery of life, some were a brilliant scarlet because what ever force reanimated them took their skin but left the muscle, others were bloated and blue as if drowned in ice water and more still were wrapped in bandages that mold long since took over turning them wholly a ghastly green. Just as they were about done breaking in several bright blue motes of light swirled about and in a tone of pure authority said “Begone Shades!”, from those motes a pulsing wave of energy was emitted destroying the zombies, before Trixie could comprehend what had happened the lights swirled again to form the image of an older unicorn, his mane grey and receded with age wearing a sweater vest with the a cutie mark that was a star and moon on a book. “Hello Trixie, Remember me?” The apparition asked. “Of course I remember you Grampa,” Trixie answered smiling at her grandfather but before she could say anything more the pounding that she thought was the zombies grew louder and in an instant the world fell away. ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Trixie sat up quickly in the bed of her traveling wagon, trying to shake the sleep away as she got up to deal with who ever thought waking her at this ungodly hour was a good idea. she read her clock on her way to open the door and asked without looking at who was there, “What reason do you have for waking me at 3:33 in the bucking morning?!?!?” She looked at who she just yelled that to only to feel her ears pin to her head and her mouth to smile sheepishly as she recognised the uniform of the royal guard, but before she could stumble out an apology the stern looking guard said, “Sorry for the hour Ms. Lulamoon, But there has been an incident involving your grandfather,” His features softened as he continued, “I’m to escort you to his home in Hollow Shades and I am sorry for your loss.” Trixie was stunned into silence and could only nod numbly as the guard began giving her instructions and only dimly did she notice when a chariot the guard must of lead he too, took off and began flying towards Hollow Shades and as it did fly Trixie felt alone with a wound that never healed, a filly’s pain that she had since the Canterlot Express derailed some time ago. ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// When they landed in front of the mansion some time later, Trixie found her mind and body working again and quickly began asking any pony she saw “What Happened?” and after a few baffled responses, one of the guards pointed her towards an overweight earth pony in a long coat that covered his cutie mark,standing in front of a doorway shaking his head. “Are you in charge here?” Trixie asked, her patience thin. The pony turned to her, sympathy in his eyes, “Yeah I am, Detective Legrass of the Hollow Shades guards.” he stated plainly. “Well than Legrass, What Happened? Where’s my grandfather?” She demanded. Without saying anything Legrass turned and gestured to some ponies beyond the doorway and in short order brought out something on a gurney that was covered in a bloody sheet. “Um, Brace yourself Ms. Lulamoon” Legrass said but Trixie only heard him briefly before all of her senses were focused on the sight before her. The corpse of an elderly stallion in a sweater vest now horribly stained with the cutie mark of a star and moon on a book. As her eyes began to venture farther than the vest and ornate necklace tied to the vest, she braced herself to see the vacant eyes of the corpse but where should be was only a jagged and bloody stump. “Whaaa…” Was all she could say before her emotions flooded her. Legrass made another gesture and the ponies there returned the sheet to the corpse began rolling it out, and as he moved to put a comforting hoof on Trixie’s shoulder she slapped him and with tears in her eyes said, “What was that about? Why did you show me that?” Rubbing his now sore check Legrass sighed and said, “I’m sorry but it’s my job and as the only living relative you had to ID the body. Was it him? Was it Star Tome?” Regaining some composure she answered, “Yes it was, that was our family crest on that necklace.” She was silent a moment before asking, “What did that to him?” “I wish I knew,” He closed his eyes and sighed before continuing, “None of this makes any sense, all the doors and windows were locked and it was something strong to rip his head off but there’s no evidence of anypony being here but your grandfather and us after the fact but I promise you will get who ever did this to him!” He finished with enough steel in his tone that Trixie guessed meant that whoever did do this might not see a courtroom and she was fine with that, Blood is repaid with blood after all. ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Two weeks,one wagon delivery, a funeral, will reading and no clues later, Trixie stood in the foyer of her ancestral home in her usual dress and looking at the grand staircase before her that leads to the second floor along with the doors on the first floor but she had the second floor key held firmly in her magic and was determined to succeed where the investigators failed. She looked around the foyer and made note of all the family portraits of Lulamoons past and as she studied them there was something about each that unnerved her as if their gaze saw more than painted canvas should or maybe it was a look as if they knew something of what was going on but didn’t feel inclined to tell. Either way Trixie decided that musing on paintings won't answer a thing and thought that a good place to start was her grandfather’s bedroom or study. SO she reached into her hat to pluck out the key that opened the second floor and began to ascend the stairs. As she approached the solid oak double doors that lead to the second floor and by extension the bedrooms and bathrooms, she placed the old silver key into the lock and turned it but instead of hearing the turning of tumblers she heard a short metallic whine and pulled back the key to find that it had broken and that she had only half of it. It took a few minutes of fishing to get the half with the teeth out and even with her magic she couldn’t keep the key solid enough to turn the tumblers and in her frustration turned and kicked the doors with both of her rear legs. There was a solid whomp of impact but the doors did not give. “Great now I have to call a locksmith to get in my own second floor!” Trixie put the broken key in a pouch in her hat and after a failed attempt to pick the lock which Trixie is sure it is enchanted to prevent such things, she walked down the stairs and through the doorway to the kitchen to grab something to eat and plan her next move. The kitchen of the Lulamoon mansion was just as she remembered it, boxes bags and cans of non perishables, a stove and a table set for one with enough dust on it to make her think that it had been much longer than two weeks since her grandfather Star Tome Lulamoon had used it and the stack of take out boxes near the trash can confirmed the suspicion. Trixie shook her head smiling sadly and said to herself, “Oh grandpa, you can find your way around an ancient necropolis in Prance but utterly lost and confused in your own kitchen.” Soon the amusing mental image faded and Trixie felt once more sad and alone and in need of spirits, “Grandpa kept the good wine in the pantry.” She mused to herself as she went to the pantry and turned the handle, only to find it wouldn't budge, frustrated Trixie prepared a magic strike and unleashed at the stubborn door only to see her magic diffuse and a plaque appear with a some rune on it and what looked like a sword beneath it. Frustrated again Trixie couldn’t help but scream, “WHO MAGICALLY LOCKS A PANTRY!!!” , after fuming for a bit Trixie thought sullenly, “Maybe there is some madeira wine in the music room.” After filling a bowl with some dry cereal and beginning to munch on it she made her way out of the kitchen to the music room to find some wine but as she entered the old room her hope for the sweet libation died as she saw the state of the room with much of it’s furniture covered in sheets with a sprinkling of dust and cobwebs with the exception of the old grand piano,”Well” She thought to herself,”Grampa was never much of a musician.” She sat down on the bench in front of the piano and tried to play only to hear the striking of out of tune wires and to kick up a cloud of dust. After coughing on the dust Trixie retreated covering her cereal to leave but stopped as she saw a picture above the old fireplace that was of three sigils of different colors in some cyclic relation to one another along with a fourth one in the center of the three. With the hopes of wine now firmly dashed Trixie decided to head to the library to perhaps find a spell of mending for the key or at least a couch to stretch out on till morning when she could call a locksmith. As she entered the library and cast a simple spell to light the fire she was faced with the old room and the smell of old books. Her gaze wandered around the room and it’s shelves filled with lore, history and even the stories starring her favorite book hero of Darren Do from when she was a filly. Eventually her gaze went to where she had seen the guard wheeling out her grandfather’s corpse and couldn’t find a trace of the horrid affair in the library. “Wow, the guards do a decent clean up job,” Trixie mused looking around the room, “Can’t even tell he died here,” Looking down for a bit she noticed a book that fell of a shelf, the book was called The Golden Bough and as she picked up the tome a piece of paper fell out that read in a shaky penmanship 3:33 is the key. Trixie felt her brow arch as she looked at the paper, “Well isnt that helpful,” she said sarcastically as she walked towards the rear of the library towards her grandfather’s writing desk she felt cool air come from a bookcase to the left of the desk. Putting down the cereal she started searching through and around the bookshelf but couldn’t find why air was coming from this shelf as she turned to look at the desk again she saw an old grandfather clock that while ticking the hands weren’t moving, “Could it be that simple?” she asked herself as her magic moved the hands to 3:33 and as her grip left the hands, she heard gears whirring to life behind the wall and soon the bookshelf receded enough to allow her passage through the hidden hall. She walked through the hidden hallway to the secret room and as she entered it she dropped the bowl in shock as she saw what was there, from a diagram of some evil pillar, to a giant stone head, a short sword hanging on a wall, a stone fragment and on the desk of this room was a book, with what appeared to be bones used for the books spine and skin for it’s cover. Trixie felt an oily cold presence wash over her from the book and as much as her rational mind wanted to run screaming, it was as if the cold was beckoning to her and against her better judgement she sat down at the desk and opened the book and suddenly her mind was full of images from some great writhing mass of flesh covered in eyes and maws in some great stone complex, a grand cathedral, a stone pillar in a desert and her grandfather in front of a giant worm. Shaken by the thoughts Trixie falls backward and from the floor she saw under the desk a silver flask, after grabbing it and giving it a shake she heard a slushing sound and after opening and giving it a sniff, her mouth began to water at the smell of the wine and after a quick swallow smiled because of the taste of the madeira and with her new fortifying agent she looked at the book and said to it, “Bring it on.” /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// “I had no knowledge of what was to come. Nor did I care. How the knowledge changed me... It will also change you. As you read this, you will come to learn fear as I have. You too, will come to understand, or you will perish. To think that once I could not see beyond the veil of our reality, to see those who dwell behind. My life now has purpose, for I have learned the frailty of flesh and bone. I was once a fool…” Righteous Guard ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// 1000 years before the first Hearth’s Warming, the emperor of the pegasi empire, Kaesar Salade whose dreams were haunted by artifacts of great and terrible power and in desire of said artifacts, sent his soldiers to every corner of the empire, even to the empty quarter of the Saddle Arabian desert. “Congratulations centurion Righteous Guard, your strategy against the bandits was inspired. But I must ask do you believe there is anything out here?" Asked a blue pegasus legionare. “I don’t doubt the emperors faith or his orders. So follow orders,” Replied a tan pegasus in the decorated galea. “Of course sir," answered the legionare striking his chest in salute before departing. “Hold!” The soldier stopped to turn his gaze back towards Righteous, “Make sure everypony has enough water and food, lest we join the sand of this desert.” After the soldier had left Righteous returned to his patrolling of the area. But all at once, on the winds he heard faint words: Righteous. Come to us Righteous, the winds cooed. The centurion drew his sword and held it firmly in his mouth as he tried to trace the words he heard back to a source but as he was searching for the source he stumbled upon a circle of five great standing stones and as he neared the center of the circle yellow energy began to arc back and forth between the stone and before he could sound his surprise the energy lashed out towards him and the world went black. He awoke with his cheek on a cold stone floor as he sat up and opened his eyes he found himself on some dais in a room he’d never seen before, as he looked around he saw his gladius laying next to him and after arming himself he saw a ladder in a pit in the center of the room with no other options available he followed the ladder down to an ancient corridor that had several desiccated corpses in it. “By the Titans,” He swore under his breath as he walked down the corridor. Near the end of the corridor he found a block of polished granite with a glowing sigil on it, as he held it in his hooves to better examine it, the corpses all began to creak and stir and soon stand up to start the shambling towards him. Righteous was stunned but soon military doctrine and battle forged reflexes took over and his gladius went snicker snack and cleaved the animated corpses in twain. With those abominations vanquished, Righteous put the block of granite in his pack and continued on his explorations of the complex and in the next several rooms he found more animated corpses and three more blocks of polished stone but each with a different sigil. As he got to the intersection of a t-shaped hallway he saw the door to his left was blocked by a field of yellow energy, so he went right and through the doorway Righteous entered what he could only describe as a colloseum for that was the only word he could think of to capture the essence of the great chamber and in a nice surprise as he surveyed the room, there seemed to be no corpses here to animate along with four great designs each with a grand rune over them and with a small void near the base of each. On an instinct Righteous put one of his blocks into a space that matched the symbol on the wall and found it slid in easily. Smiling to himself he quickly did that to the other three blocks and as he finished he saw a wave of energy come from the center of the chamber. As he made his way to the exit of the room from the center he suddenly heard in some guttural tongue Chattur’gha Pargon Tier Aretak Pargon and red energy pulsed in the center of the room for only a second before coalescing in the form of a big pony who seemed to have been skinned. Righteous readied his blade and struck true rending the head from the creature and with another pass took the things forelimbs but where that seemed to end the smaller dead this one kept trying to move as it lied on the floor. Righteous felt his ears pin to his head as he watched the flayed corpse suddenly regrow not only it’s limbs but it’s head, feeling panic begin to take him he quickly removed the head and limbs again and this time as it lay on the ground he began to trample it under his hooves and stab it with his sword till it stopped moving. With the thing finally slayed he left the room to find the field that was blocking the other path now gone and as he walked through the doorway he found another dais with three obelisks surrounding it, as he walked on to the dais energy began to arc between the obelisks and he found himself in another room with of all things a statue of himself. Prove your resolve, Righteous, Crush it cooed the voice on the wind again. As he examined the statute of himself with his fore limbs raised as if to tremble some enemy and as he examined it the voices continued, never relenting and in a moment of frustration in a moment of wanting peace he raised his sword and cleaved the statue’s head off before turning around and hitting it’s chest solidly with his rear legs breaking the facsimile wholly. As looked over the rubble a wall in the rear of the room slid down revealing a secondary chamber and in that chamber sitting on a pedestal was a floating crystalline object, reminiscent of a jellyfish but as he motioned out his hoof to grab it blue lightning struck him firmly and in that instant he felt his blood boil and his heart explode but he did not die for soon the power that killed him soon filled him and gave him knowledge of the truth of things and what his purpose truly is and a new form in which to complete it, that of a liche the eternal undead. ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// The return from the ante chamber from the heart of the ancient city was uneventful as any of the constructs of flesh and bone that tried to slow his path quickly met an end from his new arcane powers. Arcing bolts of blue energy would strike them in their chest and they would fall to the ground as ash before the bolt finished passing through a second construct. With every bolt thrown and being of animate flesh and bone destroyed he felt his power grow and the rush of it felt divine. Soon he found himself at the dais where he started his trek, and where apprehension and curiosity was once felt now only knowledge and certainty of purpose existed. As he stood on the center of the dais with a wave of his hoof the energy built up in the design and soon he was back in the desert, standing between the great standing stones. With a smile stretching his now dried lips he made his way to the encampment. As he walked back towards his old tent he could feel the gaze of all present fall on him and he loved it. “Halt!” Came a shaky voice. Righteous swung his gaze till it fell on the tan pegasus he spoke to earlier holding his gladius as if he was ready to strike. “Did you give the ponies extra provisions?” He asked the tan legionare, giving the weapon no mind. “What?” The tan guard asked, confusion easily seen on his features before they hardened again lifting his blade as he demanded, “What are you saying abomination!?!” “Abomination?” Righteous asked with dry amusement in his tone. “ I am you commanding officer son.” “Righteous? Is that you?” The soldier asked, his sword falling to the ground. “Of course! Now gather the guards and workers. I have found the truth.” He answered feeling his lips tighten into a ghastly parody of a smile. “Truth? Was the emperor’s dreams true?” The soldier’s face broke out in a manic grin, “You found it Righteous! Praise the titans!” Just hearing the mention of those being who he once worshipped before he had learned what a true god was caused anger to boil up from his chest as he spat the words: “Forget the Titans and that old fool Kaesar Salade! Ulyaoth is the truth of all things and I shall share his enlightenment with you all.” He said speaking even louder so not only to the soldier in front of him heard but all those around aswell. From all around him he heard the response from his former underlings who answered with cries of Heresy, Blasphemy and Treason! from all those gathered around and in front of him the tan guard had readed his stance again, with blade held high ready to strike and said trying to hide any fear, “Righteous, Surrender the artifact and your end shall be painless” Righteous felt an eyebrow arch and shook his head. With a sigh conjured up the power of his lord and released a corrosive wave of power and he watched as it played out, unmaking those around him leaving only burnt bones, cooked flesh and scorched armor. His gaze fell on the remains of the young pegasus that tried to stop him and could only muse, “You could have held the truth of things,” He looked around to all the remains, “You all could have had the power! But alas only a few of us are blessed to hold and understand the way of things I suppose.” /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// “Aeons have passed since then, and I have learned much. All at once, I understood. The forces of the multiverse all made sense under the transcending power of Ulyaoth. No mountain too high, no city too far. Face me, and you shall surely perish!” Righteous The Liche ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// As she finished reading the last words on the page her mind cleared, “What was that?” She asked herself, “It was as if I was there, as if I was him! Oh grandpa what is happening?” she finished in a half sob and as she sat there still trying to understand what had happened her eyes caught the old sword again. She walked to it and picked it up in her magic and gave it a few swings and did the same with it in her mouth and the weight of the steel in either her magic or mouth was a comfort and as she swung it stances and combat forms entered her body and muscle memory took over and after another minute of practice with it she found a scabbard under the display and strapped it to herself, the feel of it comforting but as she stood there she remembered she had never been trained in the use of a sword at all and the only muscle memory that should return was her old ballroom dance lessons. She shook scared and confused and as she stared at the cursed tome again she felt in heart a dread of inevitability but even so she couldn’t help but ask, “Oh Fuest on high what is happening to me?”