A Journey Through Ice And Fire

by KRissCHu573

Chapter 6: Unveiling the truth

A Journey Through Ice and Fire

Chapter 6: Unveiling the truth

Several roosters proclaimed the arrival of the dawn throughout Solitude. Twilight frowned as she stirred awake in her bed. Sitting up she let out a sigh as she opened her bloodshot eyes.

"Note to self, try to learn how to read in the local language and not empy up my magic reserves for a translation spell on an all night read." She muttered out, immediately after which Pinkie Pie jumped next to her and loudly greeted. "Good morning Twilight!"

The former unicorn gritted her teeth, jumping back, her head now ringing like the bells throughout Canterlot. "Pinkie! Not so loud!"

"Oops, sorry Twi." The pink haired girl sheepishly returned, chuckling. "But you shouldn't overuse your magic and stay up so late. Not to mention reading for too long on a dim light is bad for your eyes."

"I already noted that Pinkie." Twilight groggily returned. "You go ahead and meet with the others, I'll need a few more minutes to clear my head."

"Okie-dokie-lokie~." Pinkie happily returned as she pranced out of the room.

With a blisful sigh, Twilight fell backwards onto the bed and closed her eyes. Giving her eyes a quick rub as she heard voices outside in the corridor, indicating that Pinkie had gathered everyone. Yawning in defeat, the former unicorn pulled away the covers under which she slept...a great amount of unease washing over her as she only now noticed that it was some kind of animal's fur. The prospect of reading the books in the room, along with her full stomach had completely tuned her out of the details of her surroundings the previous night.

Gulping she pushed the disturbing thought aside and got up, and walked up to the door of the room. However, once she opened the door and stepped out, she was surprised to see all of her friends, the exceptions being Rainbow Dash and Rarkath, were huddled together, staring at a something.

"Good morning guys. What's up?" Twilight asked.

"Rainbow and Rar are gone. No one has seen them leave the tavern." Applejack explained, worry obvious in her tone. "We just found this note in Rar's room, but we have no idea what it says." She finished, handing over a piece of paper to Twilight.

"Oh, I hope they're okay." Fluttershy whimpered out.

"Don't worry dear, I am certain that both of them are fine." Rarity tenderly said, putting a hand on her timid friend's shoulder and smiled at her in an attempt to comfort her.

"Twilight, you spent half the night reading books, I'm pretty sure you managed to get the hang of your translation spell. Can you read what it says on the note?" Spike addressed the former unicorn.

The information had left Twilight rather dumbstruck, but the dragon's words got her out of her "frozen" state.

"Uh, yeah. I think." She returned as she shook her head and then took the paper in her hand. Twilight held it in front of herself, raising her other hand with which she performed the translation spell. A couple of moments later the letters began to shift and alter themselves before the former unicorn's gaze, until they resembled equestrian words.

"Well Twi, what's it say?" Applejack asked.

"Ladies,..." Twilight began reading. "...last night before entering my room I was approached by a messenger, who informed me that something of immense importance required my immediate intervention. I apologize that this letter is the only notice I left, but I had to depart as quickly as possible. I will be gone for several weeks at least, but I have left you enough finances to last in the drawer under this letter."

"Oh, so that's what these are for." Pinkie interupted, holding up a large purse filled to the brim with gold coints.

"Pinkie, why did you take money that isn't yours?!" Rarity exclaimed, failing to believe that one of her friends would do such a thing.

"I thought he had forgotten them, and that if we went to find him I could return them to him." The pink haired maiden explained calmly.

"Oh. Well...that actually does make sense." The fashionista noted.

"Guys, there's a bit more." Twilight cut in, after which she continued reading. "Until I return, feel free to explore the city. If you get into any sort of trouble call to the city guard. Fare well." She finished.

Several silent moments followed, which Spike broke. "Wait, that's it?"

"Doesn't it say anything about Rainbow?" Fluttershy worriedly added.

"No. He doesn't mention her at all." Twilight replied.

Pinkie Pie grabbed her head with both hands and gasped, after which she exclaimed. "OH NO! SHE'S GONE AND NO ONE KNOWS WHERE SHE IS!"

That made all of her friends, except fluttershy, look at her with an incredibly small hint of bemusement. "I think we already had that cleared dear." Rarity spoke. "We should calm down and try looking for her." To that everyone nodded.

"So, where should we start first Twilight?" Applejack turned towards her friend.

Twilight brought a finger to her chin as she thought about it for a moment, after which said. "We aren't familiar with this place, so I suppose our best course of action would be to follow Rarkath's advice and ask the ciry guard to help up."

"Alright! Let's go!" Pinkie proclaimed, after which the group made their way out of the tavern.

Strangely enough, just as they made it into the main hall of the building, a guard entered through the door, muttering. "Ugh, night shifts become more and more boring."

Barely making two steps inside, the ladies and dragon blocked his way. "Excuse us, but our friend is missing and we're not from around here." Twilight spoke.

Blinking a couple of times under his helmet, the guard sighed and then asked. "What does your friend look like?"

"She's about as tall as me, an' her m-..hair is colored like a rainbow." Applejack gave him a quick description.

After searching through his memory for a moment, the guard said. "Yes, I've seen her. Last night she exited the city, following the thane. You shouldn't worry. I'm sure that she's with him, and that she's alright."

"The thane?" They all asked, before recalling that that was Rarkath. Once the realization graced them they made it noticeable. "Thank you very much good sir." Rarity said, after which they let the man pass and he made his way towards the bar, leaving the ladies behind.

Now, slighly calmer about the situation, they moved aside from the door and sat around one of the tables. "Rainbow is with Rarkath? I find that hard to believe." Rarity said.

"Why so?" Applejack asked, a smirk coloring her face, after which she added teasingly. "Are you being jealous that she gets to spend time with him, and ya don't?"

"I..I have no idea what you're talking about!" Rarity protested, after which she turned her head around in an attempt to hide her now reddened cheeks.

That made her friends chuckle, with the exception of Spike, who bore a bemused expression as he muttered. "Ha, ha. Very funny guys."

Stifling the next wave of chuckling, Fluttershy spoke up. "At least we shouldn't be worried about Rainbow. I'm sure that she'll be safe with Rarkath."

"Yeah, but it's kind of bizare that she didn't tell us anything and just went along with him." Twilight noted.

"Well...we did kind of give her a hard time." Applejack added, her face turning into a faint sad frown. "Perhaps she felt that she needed a little time to get over it."

Her reaction quickly spread among the rest of the company, who then hesitantly nodded in agreement. "We could have tried talking things over with her, but that really isn't Rainbow Dash's way of doing things. Now that she can't even fly I suppose that a little exploring along with someone who can bring her back to us will do her good." Rarity spoke.

Silence hung over them, before Pinkie jumped onto the table and stated. "Come on guys. We did act a bit mean, but when she comes back we'll make it up to Rainbow with a party! Until then we should do some exploring of our own! We can't let Rainbow be the only one with interesting things to tell on the party!"

Falling victim to the pink haired girl's upbeat attitude, her friends shared a short laugh. "You have a point Pinkie." Twilight said, after which she looked out one of the windowns. "But I'm still curious about where they have gone to."

---

"I would like to welcome Rainbow Dash to the stage." Princess Celestia announced, followed by a loud roar of cheers and applause.

Along with them the mare in question walked over to the Princess and in front of a gigantic crowd of ponies. On her right were the Princesses and her friends, and on her left stood the Wonderbolts. A wide smile colored the pegasus's face as she basked in the glory of the spotlight.

"Rainbow Dash." Celestia began, causing the surrounding noise to cease. The Princess continued after Rainbow turned to face her. "For being both the fastest flier and the awesomest pony in all of Equestria, it is my great pleasure to announce..." The alicorn's horn lit up in a golden hue. The very next moment a Wonderbolt uniform appeared on Rainbow Dash. "...that you are officially the newest member and co-captain of the Wonderbolts!"

The groud's cheers boomed even louder than before as a comically wide grinning Rainbow turned to face them. The cyan pegasus grinned widely as she basked in the warmth of both Celestia's sun and the love of the croud.

However, all of a sudden the sky got darkened by immense black clouds, causing everypony to gasp in surprize. A mere heartbeat later large ice spikes began raining down and impaling everyone that had gathered. The air was now filled with screams of panic, everypony running around looking for cover, but there was none.

Rainbow Dash turned around, hoping that the princesses and Twilight could do something, but she screamed in terror, to see all of them had been torn appart by three giant ice monsters, which looked a lot like... The realisation hit her just as the monsters stepped away, making way for the elf she had killed, who had a gaping hole in his chest. She tried to fly away, but for some reason her entire body refused to move.

He pointed his finger and barked out. "You will pay!" The next moment an ice spike flew right at her, causing her to scream again.

---

Rainbow Dash awoke with a gasp, which turned into hyperventilating as she sat up. *three weeks after leaving Solitude* She was drowning in sweat, but it was quickly sucked up by the fur she was wearing. In a moment she looked down to see her milky skin covered hands, realising that what she had experienced was a dream.

"You alright back there?" The voice of the carrige driver made her turn around.

Shaking her head to regain her composure she replied. "Uh, yeah. Everything's fine. Just had a bad dream."

"Well, I hope you slep well, because I'm dropping you off. Your friend is about to enter Dawnstar and it's not a good place for me to be in." The driver explained.

Nodding, Rainbow Dash took the coin purse she carried and handed it to the man. "Thanks for the ride." After saying that she got off the carrige.

The man turned it around and drove off, leaving Rainbow Dash to follow Rarkath and Shadowmere on foot. To her immense surprise the two had narrowed their brisk pace to a trot. That along with the thick snow veil that blazed around them made her sneaking very easy. About half an hour later she managed to make out the shaped of buildings in the distance.

Rarkath had almost entered the Dawnstar premices when two guards stopped him.

"Halt. What business do you have here?" One asked.

Looking down at the man, the Dragonborn replied in a cold manner. "I'm here to visit the museum."

The mention of that foul place made the guards rather uneasy. The two stepped to the side, one saying. "Move along." While making a motion with one hand.

Not waiting for them to change their minds Rarkath continued his trot through. He didn't enjoy going through Stormcloak teritory, especially one with which he had hystory. For some reason he felt slight unease. As if someone was watching him. However, he had more pressing matters on his mind so he shrugged the unpleasant sensation off.

He stopped in front of the Danwstar Museum, got off and headed for the door. Shadowmere simply laid down on his belly and began waiting for Rarkath, who harshly knocked on the wooden door. A couple of heartbeats afterwards a man in a red robe with a sun knitted onto it opened.

"Ah, Dragonborn, it is such an honor to see y-" The man spoke, but was cut off by Rarkath who pushed him aside and barged into the house, saying. "I'm not in the mood for your shit Silus."

"Yes...of course Dragonborn." Silus replied as he closed the door. "What may I help you with this day?"

"I just needed a passage away from prying eyes." Rarkath said harshly, while heading for one of the windows in the back of the house. Before he exited he turned to the robed man and stated. "You have not seen me exit, I have simply come to bring you some manure excuse of an artifact for the museum, are we clear?"

Gulping, Silus smiled nervously as he returned. "Crystal. May the blessings of the nine be with you."

The Dragonborn did not say anything and went out of the window, which Silus closed after him. Next Rarkath made his way over the hill he was now upon, until he reached a large stone door with a giant skull carved out onto it.

When he neared the door, it spoke in a ghostly tone. "What, is life's, greatest, illusion?"

"Innocence, my brother." Rarkath replied, to which the door said. "Welcome, home." And then opened for the man. With two brisc steps he entered and the stone door shut itself after him.

Hiding behind a rock, Rainbow Dash stared wide eyed in the door's direction, failing to comprehend what she had just seen. Her doubts quickly left her as she shook her head. She had made it this far, and she had no intention of backing down now. She got up and walked up to the door.

The empty hollows that resembled the skull's eyes made her incredibly uneasy. Taking a deep breath she said. "Uh...hello."

Reacting to her voice the door asked. "What, is life's, greatest, illusion?"

"Um...innocence,...my brother?" Rainbow hesitantly replied.

Apparently pleased by her response the door greeted her. "Welcome, home." And opened, granting her passage. Gulping, the former pegasus walked in. The sudden slam of the door startled her, but the shock quickly passed and she began decending down a set of stairs.

Shortly after, she began hearing voices.

"But Listener, Cicero was not aware it was you who had completed the contract." Someone whined in the distance.

"And you couldn't send one of the initiates to ask me if it wasn't me, but you could get them to send a threat to members of my party that could have revealed my connection with our family?" Someone angrily returned.

Rainbow's eyes widened upon realising that the second voice was that of Rarkath.

"Come on Rar, don't be so harsh on the fool. It's not like we killed any of them. And apparently they don't know much about us since they haven't even realised the note was from us." A child's voice returned.

It was then when Rainbow made it out of the narrow hallway and appeared on the second floor of a spacious room. A rather foul smell made her turn to her right, only to see a rotten body inside of a large metal coffin. She almost threw up at the sight of it, but put a hand over her mouth and halted herself. Then she squated and quietly moved forward towards a set of barrs which separated the higher from the lower ground of the room.

Looking down she saw Rarkath, with his back towards her, had leaned on a table, which had a bow and some arrows on it. Around the table there was a total of five other people gathered. Three men, one with dark skin, another in a jester outfit and the last one was wearing a cowl, which hid his face. Also present were what appeared to be a woman, who also hid her face like one of the men,...and a little girl.

"Babette you know pretty much better than anyone that we need to keep a low profile when we're out in the open." Rarkath addressed the child.

"That's right,..." The dark skinned person began speaking. "...but that doesn't mean we should freak out about the tiniest things which we're certain have not led to unwanted consequences. N-" He was cut off by Rarkath.

"Shhh!" The Dragonborn let out as he raised one of his hands. Grave silence befel the room for several moments. Unlike back at the door, Rainbow now had a pretty good idea of what she was seeing and, due to her last interactions with Rarkath, she couldn't believe what she was seeing.

Her time for thought however ended when Rarkath grabbed the bow and in one swift motion pulled an arrow on it, turned around and fired it directly at Rainbow Dash. A moment of seering pain washed over her body, a force sending her back for a couple of feet, after which the world vanished into darkness.

Author's Note:

-whew- This one took remaracbly less time compared to the last one. If my laziness doesn't decide to show up, I should have the next chapter within a month tops.

But until then, I hope you liked this one and thank you for sticking around with me.

p.s. How many of you read Cicero's line with Cicero's voice in your heads?

Comments

[Jarimor]

wow, this is gonna be a dark place for a bit.

[mysterioustgexpert]

5633879 It is the Dark Brotherhood, what did you expect, sunshine and rainbow?

[Not so New Brony]

Should have stayed back at the Inn with the others Rainbow but at least this should prove to be an interesting bonding experience for her and Rarkath. Well, provided the Brotherhood don't kill her first for infiltrating their hideout.

Also, spotted a couple of errors:
brisc-brisk
gester-jester

[KRissCHu573]

5634420 Thank you for spotting those. ^^