The Emperor Preserves

by Centurion Pike-Wall

32~Night Eternal (PT. 3)

Author's Note:

Imperial Thought of the Day: If a job's worth doing it's worth dying for!

They all scrambled to their hooves, a sudden urgency back in their faces and postures. Anton began to move through the trees, heading towards the sounds of rushing water. As he did, he creased his eyebrows, his ears flicking of their own accord.

"What is it?", Twilight asked.

Anton replied, "This is a calm section of the river. It shouldn't be that loud."

Anton motioned for the others to stay put, before walking around a small cluster of trees. Ahead of him, the river was a rolling mass. The banks had been almost completely flooded, while the mass of water hissed and rolled like a Warp Storm. Anton walked over to the new shore of the river, the others following after him.

"Great", Rainbow Dash said. "Now what?"

"Is there another place we can ford the river?", Applejack asked.

Anton gestured to the near-impassable mass of bubbling water. "This was the place we were supposed to ford. Anything downriver of hear is in a similar position, most likely." Anton looked over the bank, studying a few trees that stood in a small clump, close to the bank. "AJ. Rainbow. With me. I think we can collapse a few of the trees to form a-"

He was cut off by Rarity, who held up a hoof and shushed him. "Do you hear that?"

Anton stopped, turning his head upward. Sure enough, a loud noise pierced the bubbling of the river; was that wailing? Pinkie zipped over to a bush, the others following after her.

In a wider section of the river, a large, thin purple form rolled and twisted around, kicking up waves and causing the water to swirl together. It raised its hands in the air, slamming them down in a large splash as it bellowed, "What a world! What a world!", before devolving into unintelligible sobs. With a start, Anton realized that he recognized this creature.

"Wait", he said, grabbing ahold of Rarities tail as she was emerging from the bush. "Me and Applejack have met this thing before. We don't know if it's hostile."

"Darling", Rarity said. "I get this place warrants a healthy amount of paranoia, but this creature is obviously in distress. As it is also making it impossible to cross the river with its thrashing, helping it gets us across." With that, she gave a mighty tug, emerging from the bush and onto the bank.

Anton blinked, almost stunned at the surprisingly tactical assessment that Rarity gave. Watching as the others emerged from the bushes, Anton sighed and followed them, keeping in the back to avoid any potential incident with this creature.

"Excuse me", Twilight said. "Why are you upset?"

"Well, I don't know!", it bellowed, rolling about, before looking at them. More specifically, at Anton. "You!"

All of them turned to Anton, while Anton just looked up. "Evidently."

"And just what are you doing here!?", he yelled, lowering down to the riverbed. "Following after that tacky cloud of smoke that sheered off my beloved Mustache off, and plan on blowing another hole in my hair!? Do you know how much work and how much time it took for it to look even somewhat presentable again!?"

"No", Anton said.

"Well, I never!", Rarity cut in. "Shame on you, Aquila. How could you be so insensitive?"

"Ta be fair, he did startle us", Applejack cut in.

The Serpent replied, "And I am sorry for that. But that doesn't mean that I can't be upset!"

"Indeed", Rarity said, now smiling. "Why, you certainly do look magnificent. Why, I could hardly tell that your magnificent coiffed hair was ever marred at all!"

"Oh, thank you", the Serpent said, puffing out its chest and splaying its fingers.

"And with those shiny, smooth scales and that wonderful manicure! Why, you're simply magnificent!", Rarity said, before tapping a hoof against her chin. "Though, it is all ruined without your mustache."

The creature did a complete one-eighty in terms of mood, once again sobbing and crying, "It's true! I'm hideous!". It slammed into the bank, tears welling up in its eyes.

Rarity's eyes, meanwhile, narrowed. "I simply cannot let such a crime against fabulosity go uncorrected. Aquila! Knife!"

Anton rolled his eyes, pulling the simple blade from its scabbard. He held the handle towards Rarity, who took the blade in her teeth. "What are you-"

Anton stopped, his eyes going wide at what Rarity had just done; the shocked gasps around him indicated that the others were doing the same. In one swift motion, Rarity had swung the knife in an upward arc, slicing off a massive portion of her tail. She jerked her head to the side, chucking the knife hilt-deep in the mud, before grabbing the clump of hair in her magic. The hair met with the shaved-off stub of the mustache, before twisting together in some sort of power Anton didn't want to think about. When the light faded, the purple hair had merged onto the creature's face, forming an even, if unsymmetrical, mustache.

"Oh-ho-ho!", it bellowed, giddy excitement in its voice, like a child on Feast of the Emperor's Ascension. "My mustache! How marvelous!"

"You certainly look smashing!", Rarity replied, giving the Serpent a playful wink.

Anton just sighed, rubbing his temples. This night was trying his patience and his resolve more than he thought. What was going on? "What about your beautiful tail?", Twilight asked, throwing him from his thoughts.

"Oh, it's fine darling", Rarity said. "Short tails are in this season. Besides... it'll grow back."

"So would the mustache", Rainbow groused, with Anton nodding in agreement.

Twilight ignored them, before perking up at the sight of the now calm river. "We can cross now! Come one!"

She began to wade through the water, reaching a short distance in, before the water around her once again began to churn. As opposed to the chaotic lashing of before, this time it was more localized and smaller. She rose from the water, standing upon a coil of muscle and scales. The Serpent emerged from the water, giving a wide flourish and declaring, "Allow me!"

He dove into the water, allowing them to pass over. The others cleared it, with Anton bringing up the rear. As he was reaching the final coil, it suddenly jerked away. Though he tried to right himself and land on his hooves, he still got a face full of mud as he landed on the bank, his cap flying free of his head. "Consider us even, sir", the Serpent said, before ducking under the surface and disappearing. Anton could only groan.

+++++~+++++

Anton pushed aside a cluster of low-hanging vines, stepping to the side to allow the others to pass. "There it is", he said.

The group passed through his opened-up corridor, stepping onto a clearing just before the bridge. Just on the other side, the ruin stuck up from the surrounding forest, like rotten teeth sticking out of a diseased mouth. The others were brimming with excitement, beginning to rush forward just as he joined them.

"We're almost there!", Twilight said, before suddenly grinding to a halt. Anton took a few steps forward, eyes widening at Twilight's predicament.

The rope bridge had collapsed, one end spilling into a mist-filled void. Twilight flailed madly, trying to prevent herself from spilling over the edge. Anton grabbed ahold of her tail, yanking her back. She landed firmly on her back, groaning slightly.

"How're we gonna get across this?", Pinkie asked.

Rainbow Dash stepped up, shaking her wings and saying, "Duh."

"Oh yeah", Pinkie said as Rainbow took off, flying down into the mist. She looped up, clutching the rope of the bridge in her mouth, before vanishing into the mist on the other side.

Anton fell back on his haunches, reaching into his shirt. He removed his Aquila necklace, swinging it to wrap the chain around one of his hooves. It fell just above the part where his clasped together limbs met, the twin-headed eagle facing the others. He closed his eyes, though he could still feel their eyes upon him.

"What's he doing?", he heard Twilight ask. He tried to tune them out, focus merely on his recitement of the few proper litanies he remembered.

"Prayin'", Applejack said.

Twilight replied, "Praying? Is that what all the weird dogma is about?"

"I guess", Applejack said. "Ah'll admit, he's a mite unusual sometimes, but he's a good pony. Just..."

"Intense?", Fluttershy suggested.

"Over the top and flippant", Rarity said.

"Shoots at me a lot!", Pinkie said.

"Just because I supplicant myself before the Emperor, does not mean I can't hear you", Anton said. He opened his eyes, looking at each of them in turn. He stood, sliding the necklace back on, giving the Aquila a kiss before sliding it back into his shirt. "Where's Rainbow?"

The others took their attention off of him, turning towards the bridge. One side of it had been tied up to the post opposite the gorge, allowing the bridge to hang limply in front of them. The other side, however, was still dangling into the mist, preventing them from crossing it safely. The mist that covered the other side was slowly dissipating, revealing Rainbow Dash, facing away from them and, at least apparently, talking to something.

"Rainbow! What's taking so long?!", Twilight yelled, before giving a small gasp. Anton saw them a split second later as the mist cleared more: Three figures, two males and a female if Anton was right. They wore dark-colored jumpsuits, as well as slant-framed goggles and face masks. All that could be visible of their bodies were some slicked-back blue manes and small amounts of grey fur around their mouths and ears.

The lead one of the strangers, the female, looked at them, eyes flashing. Anton raised his laspistol, but it was too late. More clouds swept over the clearing, completely obscuring them from sight. "Don't listen to them!", Twilight yelled just as the mist closed over them completely.

"I don't have a shot", Anton said, lowering the pistol.

"Now what?", Rarity said.

"Come on, everypony!", Pinkie said. "This is Dashie we're talking about. She won't let us down! She can't..."

"Give her five minutes", Anton said. "If she doesn't get the bridge up, then I can get and get some rope for us to-"

He hadn't even had the chance to finish when the bridge righted itself, once again upright and secured. Rainbow sailed out of the mist, landing on the bridge, her front hooves wheeling in the air. The rest of the mist above the chasm cleared, with no sign of the dark figures visible. The others cheered, and began to cross the bridge.

"Where'd they go?", Anton asked, still scanning for any sign of the trio.

"They said I could be their Captain if I abandoned you", Rainbow said. "When I said no, I guess they left. I'd never leave a friend hanging!"

Anton nodded, though kept his eyes peeled. The feeling that he was being watched was only growing.

As the last of them passed the bridge, there was now nothing blocking them from entering the ruin. Anton pushed his way to the front, examining the several half-crumbled sections of the main building. "What do these Elements of Harmony look like, exactly?", Anton asked, trying to recall what he saw of this place previously.

"They look like Gemstones", Twilight said. "I don't know if this is right, but one rumor about them is that they turned to stone after Celestia used them on Nightmare Moon."

It clicked, and Anton turned towards one of the smaller sub-structures jutting out of the main fortress. "If I'm right, they should be in here."

"You knew about them?", Rarity asked.

Anton said, "No, but the description matches... That." He pointed to the strange monument that dominated the center of the room. Sure enough, the five stone spheres he had first seen when examining it were still there, the symmetrical shapes etched on their surface now having new meaning.

"The Elements!", Twilight said. "We found them!"

Rainbow and Fluttershy both took to the air, removing the stones from their cups one by one. Soon, they were all piled in a loose semi-circle around them. Up close, they didn't seem to be anything special. Simple stone spheres, only marred by those gemstone-shaped indents on their surfaces.

"One, two, three, four", Pinkie counted, frowning as her count came up short. "There's only five."

"Where's the sixth?", Rainbow added, giving another loop around the monument in case she missed something.

Twilight said, "The book said: When the five are present, a spark will cause the Sixth Element to be revealed."

"And that means?", Anton asked.

"I'm not sure", Twilight said, lowering herself down and igniting her horn. "But I have an idea. Stand back; I don't know what will happen."

Anton turned to the others. "Watch the exits. Applejack, Rarity; the way we came in. Pinkie; the door over on the right side. Rainbow, Fluttershy; windows. We don't want any more surprises catching us off guard."

No sooner had he finished saying it than the blue smog shot out of a crumbled section of wall. It lashed out, sending Twilight scrambling backward, before enveloping the Elements in a swirling vortex. Anton pulled his laspistol, firing blindly into the vortex, hoping to hit the beast to no avail. Soon, the form of the elements disappeared in the swirl, before it began to narrow and raise off the ground. Even as more lasbolts sailed through the mist, it shrank and shrank.

"The Elements!", Twilight yelled. She attempted to rush forward and grab them, but she was too slow. Before disappearing entirely, a tendril of the vortex lashed out, wrapping around Antons throat and yanking him in. He tried to continue firing, but with the pressure on his windpipe, he was barely able to keep ahold of the laspistol, let alone aim it properly. Soon, he was sucked forward, and felt... Nothing.

He was temporarily weightless. All around him was a series of swirling, dark red and purple blobs. They overlapped, swirling and mixing together in waves and at the same time, not like waves. Lightning, no; it was cracks, or maybe paths? And just as soon as it had begun, it was gone, and he was within a new section of the ruin, sprawled on his back, laspistol skidding along the stones away from him.

He righted himself, only to be slammed back to the ground by a sudden force. Looking up, he saw a black hoof, shod in a dark blue metal gauntlet, pressing against his chest, pinning him. Further up, the rest of Nightmare Moon revealed herself to him, face contorted in a sneer.

"You've been quite the nuisance, Pathfinder", she said, voice harsh and lacking that earlier haughtiness. "Time I crush you like the bug you are."

Comments

[midnight arrow]

great chapter

[Hazmat Man]

"Your a wizard, Anton!"
"I'm an abomination?!?"

[Bandit1990]

That's, not the cliffhanger I anticipated. Good going.

[SolitariLupus]

11255148
The Emperor's Peace awaits thee!

[Late_Night]

"You've been quite the nuisance, Pathfinder", she said, voice harsh and lacking that earlier haughtiness. "Time I crush you like the bug you are."

idk what this means, exactly, but i can feel the weight behind it

[Mad Maudlin]

So, I'm seeing three possibilities here: Face Shooting, sexy dance and prayer.

One of those will surely save him.

[Talarosesong]

That being just called him a T'au rank... they are not going to survive... if he knew what a T'au was.

[Jarimor]

encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQcp9bsB-9vTxtkfRYJ2agqXqHByiiyh1baeA&usqp=CAU

[FridayPie]

11255148
He's not Magnus :P

He is already aware of his psyker ability, it just doesn't click fully. Empire got psykers but they are regulated because misuse of talent can cause a rift and appearance of a daemon.

[FredMSloniker]

Oh hey, things just went off the rails. (rubs hands gleefully)

[paladinwolf]

I bet he is gonna channel his inner ork...
i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/280/085/1a4.jpg
or somefin lik dat!

great chap :)

[CommanderApplejack]

Fight, fight, fight!

[Joe Toon]

11255923
Ders not enuff Dakka for dis!