Celestia stared blankly at Saregos for a moment, trying to wrap her head around his statement. She had heard him clearly, but she was having trouble understanding him. "Make our lives a living hell?" She repeated in her mind. That doesn't make sense.
"I'm afraid I don't quite understand."
Saregos glanced outside the cave before speaking. "It makes them stronger." Celestia's ears twitched slightly, remembering her encounter with the changelings. "They thrive around negative feelings, its a food and a drug for them. But that isn't what makes them dangerous." Her expression turned more and more into horror as Saregos continued his explanation. "The only reason they have lived for as long as they have is because of their ability to sense just where they need to hit you to bring out the emotions they want. Fear, depression, hopelessness, anxiety, regret, grief, they know how to drag it all out."
"But why come to Equestria? This is a place of peace and harmony. Granted, not all ponies are model citizens, but almost none of them dwell in such emotions consistently. Almost all of my little ponies remain happy throughout their lifetimes."
Saregos' expression grew even more grim, but he said nothing, letting her statement hang in the air. Celestia's eyes widened in realization. "They've never experienced intense pain or sadness..." she whispered. Saregos nodded. "Almost none have ever had to deal with watching someone die horribly before their eyes, see their home burn down, lose what is most precious to them, or take a life. They don't know how to live with it, how to deal with it. Unlike most other worlds, yours is without war, strife..." The rest of his words were ignored as the gears in Celestia's mind started to turn, realizing just what it was that those horrid creatures intended on. She her mind flashed to an image of her world in flames, her subjects, her student, her sister...
"They are beyond your grade of dangerous. Which is why I want you to stay here while I go handle it."
Celestia snapped out of her thoughts after that comment. "What?! Who are you to make that decision?" Celestia got up to her hooves. "I am a ruler of Equestria! The princess of the sun! I have lived for over a thousand years, protecting my kingdom from all threats, no matter what it cost me. I will not–" "And yet I found you bleeding and broken in the snow, after a single confrontation with just one of them." Saregos raised his voice slightly. He didn't yell, but it was as if his voice carried a power with it, a power which silenced Celestia. She tried to summon a rebuttal, but Saregos spoke first while holding up a hand.
"I mean you no disrespect princess. I am fully aware of your position and capabilities, but your power has dwindled tremendously. I doubt I even need to put up a powerful barrier to keep you in here. And even if you were at your full power, we've already seen how you stand compared to them."
Celestia's head lowered at that, a defeated expression on her face. I was like a foal to them. She didn't say anything for a while. Then, after a few moments, she lifted her gaze to the being before her to find him staring back with an unreadable expression. They sat there for a few moments more, neither looking away from each other's eyes as both tried to figure out what the other was thinking.
To display such a presence that to even affect me. Then for him to tell me to stay here, and silence me how he did... just who or what is this stallion sitting before me? She continued to stare into is slightly glowing eyes, into his pitch black pupils. She realized she couldn't even see her reflection in them, almost like she was looking into two pitch-black holes. Finally, he spoke.
"Very well. I will allow you to come with me." Celestia was taken back slightly, this was not the response she was expecting. But nevertheless, she was please to hear it and smiled slightly. "However, you must follow my orders exactly." Celestia's smile disappeared immediately. "I know the enemy and I can guarantee I have more experience fighting them than you do." One of Celestia's eyebrows rose. "Tell me, are you always this high-strung?"
Saregos then did something that the Princess did not expect. He began to laugh. "Only when the situation calls for it. I don't like being serious when I don't have to." He smiled at her, showing some abnormally sharp teeth. "Now then." Saregos got up and walked over to the glowing blade encased within the ground. He grabbed the grip and pulled it out of the ground with ease. The sword's glow began to fade, and within a moment it ceased completely. "Why don't we go save your friends?"
Able to now see the blade clearly, Celestia saw the white surface did indeed have light blue runes engraved on it. Then, in an instant, the blade disappeared in a flash of purple dust and white light. Saregos turned on his heels and began to walk out of the cave. Celestia quickly followed after him and kept his pace. The blizzard was even worse than before. Ice had already began to reform where it had melted earlier. Saregos stepped out into the incredible winds and intense snowfall, then turned to the princess.
"You wont be able to survive the walk back in this storm in your current condition."
As much as Celestia hated to admit it, he was right. She no longer had the eternal warmth of the sun burning inside her. Even her mane no longer flowed as it used to.
"You mentioned creating a barrier before, can you use magic to protect us?" The tall hunter shook his head. "They would sense my energy. All I can do is block their sensors from detecting us. We'll have to use the old fashion way." Saregos walked over to the princess and put his hands under her sides. "Wait, you're not going to–YELP" In one fluid motion, he picked up the large alicorn and turned her over on her back and into his arms.
Blushing madly, Celestia immediately made her opinion known. "What do you think you're doing?!"
Saregos turned toward her with a blank expression and calmly replied, "Keeping you warm."
Celestia began to speak up once more until she began to feel an intense heat enveloping her, as if they no longer sat in a frozen tundra, but on a beach on summer's day.
"I can raise my body temperature to emanate that of my core temperature. We may have some steam surrounding us, but the blizzard should keep us covered so long as I don't increase the range."
Celestia contemplated this for a moment. "Alright, but please warn me before you do something like that."
"Sorry, I have a problem of forgetting such things." Saregos began to walk deeper into the blizzard with celestia still in his arms, when a question formed inside of the alicorn's mind.
"If you can generate this much heat, why not give me your jacket? Why wear a jacket at all even?"
Without glancing away from his path, Saregos responded. "My clothes are not meant to keep me warm or safe. They're meant to make me stronger. Each article of clothing I wear is enchanted to weigh enormous amounts to any living being. 'Weighted training gear,' if you will. If I were to give you even my shirt, it may very well crush you."
Celestia's eyes widened at this new information. "How much do they even weigh with these enchantments?"
Saregos chuckled slightly as he continued his pace through the thick snow. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."
Celestia decided to not question him further, but instead test it for herself. Pulling back her left foreleg slightly, she slipped her hoof gently inside a crevice between Saregos' jacket and his shirt, then tried to pull out the jacket. To her surprise, the seemingly normal fabric didn't even twitch. She put more pressure against the jacket in another attempt, but found it still immobile. Looking up, she saw that Saregos wasn't showing the slightest bit of interest in what she was doing. He simply kept walking forward, staring out into the blizzard.
Just who in all of creation is he?
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After about an hour of trekking through the vast world snow and ice, the two finally reached their destination: the outskirts of the Crystal Empire. Stepping out of the cover of the storm, Saregos stopped behind a snowbank a few dozen meters outside of the city and let Celestia down. She peaked over the side of the bank towards her niece's home, her eyes searching the city.
"Something's not right. Nopony's here, not even the creatures." Her eyes turned toward the sky. "And the portal is gone too." Saregos popped his head out beside Celestia's, his brow furrowed. "You're right. Ordinarily they would be dragging them out of their homes, torturing them in the streets, making displays out of them, causing chaos." Celestia resisted the urge to gag. "But this... this goes against their very nature. I can't even sense them."
"Could they have moved the population? Is that possible for them?"
Saregos shook his head. "No way. They may be strong, but there's too few of them to move an entire city in less than twenty-four hours."
Celestia looked up at him. "Then what could they of done with them?"
"Not sure. But we should head in, carefully. Just because I can't sense them, doesn't mean were safe."
"You think it might be a trap?"
"Maybe. They shouldn't know I'm here, but they might think you're still alive. Let's move in quickly and quietly. See if we can't find out what they're up to."
With that, Saregos started to make his way to the city, Celestia walking beside him. They kept a quick but silent pace. Celestia had some difficulty with keeping quiet with her hooves while keeping pace with her companion. Meanwhile, Saregos wasn't making any noise at all. It was almost as if he wasn't even there. Celestia made a mental note to ask him about that later.
As they reached deeper into the city, Saregos seemed to get more and more tense. Celestia felt it too. The entire city was silent, deserted. But that wasn't all. There wasn't any nagging feeling, no screaming instinct, no creeping sensation that they were being watched. It was as if they were truly alone. It wasn't right.
The pair stopped at the foot of the castle that sat in the middle of the city, and took one more look around. Still nothing. Absolutely nothing. Saregos turned toward the princess, his expression one of concentration. "I still can't sense anything. Is there anyplace they might take them that's nearby? " Celestia turned away from the man. "There's one place. Underneath the castle there's a large cavern that acts as the dungeons, magically sealed with advanced spells to be undetectable." Saregos raised an eyebrow at the princess. "Don't look at me. It was the previous owner's idea. He wasn't the... nicest pony." Saregos chuckled slightly. "Guess 'Sombra' wasn't just a name." Saregos caught the her glance, replying with a smirk. "You think I don't do my homework? Now, how do we get in?"
Celestia walked over to one of the pillars at the base of the castle and placed her horn on the corner. She re-angled her horn slightly, then in one swift motion, swiftly slid her horn down the pillar. A few sparks flew and a section of the ground phased out of existence, revealing a flight of spiral stairs. Celestia walked back over to Saregos, who was staring down into the passage. "That's definitely some strong magic. I sense a couple hundred, no, couple thousand living things down there. But none of the shyeluks, that's not good." With that, Saregos rushed down the stairs before Celestia could even comment.
Within a few seconds, the stairwell opened up, revealing an immense, coliseum-like room. Over a dozen floors with over a hundred barred cells lining the walls on each one. Upon reaching the bottom of the stairwell, Saregos ran over to one of the cells. "No. No, no, no." Celestia came up behind him and peered inside. There were two crystal mares chained to the wall. The windowless cell was dark and made the mares seem almost colorless, but Celestia could make out ruined mascara running down the side of their cheeks. But it seemed as if no harm had been done to them. They were both breathing steadily, as if they were asleep.
"What's wrong with them?"
"Not entirely sure, but hopefully not what I'm thinking."
"And if it is what you're thinking?"
Saregos looked directly into her eyes for a moment, and for the first time since meeting him, she saw fear in them. "Let's... not get into that."
Celestia looked back at him, her expression now one of concern. "They are my subjects. My little ponies. I deserve to know what's wrong with them." It was more of a plea than a statement.
Saregos stared back at her for a few moments, then sighed. "There's been rumors that the shyeluks have been... evolving. There's been reports that they have been relating to their namesake more and more. Leaving victims in a comatose-like state, but dreaming. Constantly living horrible visions in their minds. Extremely realistic visions. Probably to provide a constant flow of food their assailants. But every recorded case has ended in the same way. Eventually, the sheer amount of deep psychological scarring causes their brains to go into a deep form of shock. This shock prevents the dreams from forming for a while. But after it wears off, the cycle starts up again, this time the shock stage coming much sooner. After about a month, the victim's mind is broken to the point where it can no longer perform bodily functions, and they die. So far, no one who has examined them has figured a way to get them out."
Celestia's eyes widened, but Saregos spoke again quickly, as if trying to calm her. "But I myself have never examined them. I should be able to look deeper into this than those who did the original examinations."
Celestia turned away from the bars, sighing. "That's going to be difficult. These walls are made of swirlprism and enchanted with heaven-grade protection spells. It would take my full strength to have even a hope of breaking through. We need to find the–" SNAP
Celestia whipped around to see the barred door torn off the wall and Saregos was looking back at her sheepishly. "Looks like they haven't been very well maintained over these last thousand years."
With that, he stepped inside the cell to examine the two mares. While Celestia stood there, dumbfounded. "We just checked the conditions last week." She whispered.
Running inside the cell, she found Saregos kneeling over one of the mares, his eyes staring down intently at her. "Her condition seems similar to that of the reports. Let's see if I can't get a deeper look." Then, placing a hand on her head, he closed his eyes and drew a deep breath. His hair began to flow as if from wind, and Celestia could sense a strong power starting to arise from him.
"It seems the reports were accurate, I can sense her distress. But it isn't a biological condition that's keeping her like this. No, something has latched onto her soul, reapplying a constant spell to it to keep her in this state. But it's a direct connection, so I should be able to trace it back to it's source."
Celestia walked back out and gazed at the immense room, looking at the many cells lined throughout the dungeon. "What could be powerful enough to keep all these ponies in this state?"
Saregos walked out of the cell to her side. "I can think of a few things."
__________________________________________________________
Celestia paced down the rows of cells, looking for any hint of Cadence or Shining Armor. Meanwhile, Saregos sat on the ground floor with his legs crossed. According to him, he was tracing the spell to its source, but there were several wards trying to stop him. "It should only take a few minutes though. I have their scent, so to speak. They can't hide now." It had been about ten minutes, and Celestia had already gone through two rows of cells. She was starting to get worried when he stood up. "I have it. And you'll never guess where." He pointed a finger down at the floor.
Celestia looked towards the man. "Impossible, there's nothing below this cavern besides several feet of swirlprism."
"And after that?"
Celestia thought for a moment. "I'm not sure."
Saregos smiled. "Then I guess we should find out. Stay up there for a moment."
Before Celestia could reply, Saregos jumped the height of two floors, flipped, and brought the heel of his boot down onto to the ground. As soon as his boot made contact, the ground broke easily from the attack, cracking in a large, circular pattern, before collapsing into a smaller hidden cavern below.
Celestia ran over to the newly formed hole, searching for her companion. When the dust cleared, she could see him standing amidst the rubble within, unharmed.
"What happened to being quiet?" She called down.
"There is no one else here, I checked. Besides, we weren't getting down any other way. They moved the source down here through a series of small tunnels that they could morph their bodies through. Too small for us though."
Celestia simply sighed as she used her wings to slowly descend the hole. "Remember what I said about warning me when you take the initiative?"
Saregos smiled at the princess. "My bad."
She simply shook her head. "Where's the source of the spells?"
Saregos pointed over to a small rock formation that resembled a stalagmite cut in half. Sitting there was a red, egg-like device with light-blue symbols dancing along it. It was so small a filly could hold it with one hoof. Saregos walked over to the egg and picked it up, examining it closely. Celestia walked up beside him, leaning her head in for a closer look. She could sense an immense power coming from it, but the power itself wasn't evil. In fact, the power seemed good in nature, protective.
"What is it?"
Saregos rubbed his fingers against its surface, the symbols reacted to his touch. "It's called a soul body. You place a power source inside, then 'program' it to do something for you. Usually it's something small, like create a ward or watchover an area. But if you place something greater in there,"
"It can do much more."
Saregos nodded. "Exactly."
"But what's powering it?" Saregos tapped a few more symbols and they disappeared from the surface. Four sections at the the tip of the egg revealed themselves, then began to split apart, revealing a large, glowing white object inserted inside the egg. Saregos grabbed the tip of the object and pulled it out for a full view.
Celestia eyed the object inquisitively. "A scale?"
Saregos' eyes narrowed. "How did they get this? They don't have the intelligence to create a soul body, nor the abilities to get something like this."
The princess looked at her companion. "What is it?" Saregos turned towards her, silent for a moment. "I'll tell you later. But right now the ponies should be waking up. We should tend to them first."
With that, Saregos jumped out of the hole in a single leap, taking both the scale and the soul body with him.
Celestia stared at the hole, wondering just what was going on that he wasn't telling her.