//------------------------------// // Chapter 42 // Story: A New Dragon in the Crystal Empire // by Vedues //------------------------------// Talon and Tornado landed in a dark forest. Theoretically, they were out on patrol. The truth wasn’t nearly so innocent. In fact, Talon was fairly certain that, one way or another, she’d die for what she was about to do. “Tornado,” she said quietly, “do you trust me?” “With my life,” he said without hesitation. “Then stay here.” She turned to him and bit down on the inside of her cheek, fighting down her nerves. “If- if I’m not back by tomorrow morning, go back to the Alliance and tell them that you had no idea what I was doing.” Tornado’s wings fluttered nervously. “What are you doing?” He took a step toward her. “Are you okay? You are shaking.” He pressed against her side, supporting her weight. “I’m fine.” Talon soaked in his welcome heat for a moment, then she steeled herself and pulled away. “Stay here.” She turned and walked away. Tornado called out to her, but he didn’t follow, and Talon ignored his voice until it faded away, replaced by the sounds of the forest. She didn’t have to go far. In less than a half hour, the trees rolled back, revealing a small Equestrian community. Talon took a deep breath and kept walking, silently praying to the Ancestors that they wouldn’t kill her on sight. “Excuse me,” a high-pitched voice said, “you’re a wyvern, aren’t you?” Talon turned and found the end of a cannon less than a foot from her face. Behind it stood a bright pink pony. Instincts kicked in, and Talon jumped back, spreading her wings for takeoff. “You sure look like a wyvern,” the pink pony continued. “I just want to know because they say some wyverns want to kill all ponies, and I really don’t want you to kill anyone here, ponies or dragons.” “I,” Talon forced her wings to fold at her sides, “yes, I’m a wyvern, but I don’t want to kill anyone. I need to talk with Princess Twilight Sparkle. This is Everfree Village, right?” “Yuppers, this is Everfree Village alright, and it’s really good that you don’t want to hurt anyone.” She grabbed the cannon, there was a blur of movement, and suddenly the cannon was gone. It wasn’t behind her, or nearby; it was just gone. “That means I get to make a new friend!” Another blur, and Talon found herself accepting a small, gem-encrusted cake of some kind. “I’m Pinkie Pie,” the pony continued. “What’s your name?” “Talon, and I really need to talk to Princess Twilight.” “Oh, she’s in Canterlot right now,” Pinkie said. “Why don’t you just come into the Castle for a welcome party? You can talk to her when she gets back.” Talon shook her head. “No. No one can know that I’m here.” Two of the Alliance’s spies had escaped when Chrysalis betrayed them. The Hurricanes would certainly hear about it if Equestria learned that a wyvern was trying to help them. Talon might have been willing to accept it if only her life was at stake, but all of Squad Four and every worker in IHQ would become suspects if she were identified as the betrayer. The Hurricanes would torture all of them for answers. “Please,” she begged, “you can’t tell anyone about me other than Princess Twilight.” Pinkie gave her an appraising look. “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye. I won’t tell anyone.” Talon sighed in relief and took a few steps back toward the trees, just in case someone was looking her way. “Will you give Princess Twilight a message for me as soon as she gets back? The fate of Equestria could depend on it.” “What’s the message?” Pinkie asked. “The Hurricanes got desperate.” Talon shifted her weight nervously. “They … they decided to let something out of Tartarus, and Heart Echo and Silver Tail couldn’t overturn the rest of the Council. They’re probably setting them loose as we speak.” She shook her head. This pony didn’t need to know the inner workings of the Alliance. “Just tell Princess Twilight that Equestria needs to ready their armies, the Immortal Sisters, the Elements of Harmony, and anything else they can possibly use, because you’ll all get wiped out if you don’t.” Pinkie’s curly mane suddenly fell straight and bits of real worry entered her eyes. “What are they setting free?” -_-_-_-_-_- A diamond dog poked its head out of the tunnel entrance in the canyon wall. Dirt, rocks, and bits of plant material cascaded down around it, but the furry creature barely seemed to notice. “We founds the cave. Big cave. Down very deep. But no gray dragon in it. Many other creatures, but no gray dragon.” Silence fell over the small group of about a hundred dragons. Silver Tail’s head lowered slightly at the news. “Good job anyway. Bring up the others. Our backup plan is going to be dangerous.” That was an understatement if Heart had ever heard one. She fought down a shudder as she imagined what they were about to unleash on the world. “Do you think that Yol Toor would approve of this?” Heart asked. “We both know he wouldn’t,” Silver Tail said, “but I promised to uphold the will of the Council, not just when it happens to agree with me.” At least it was a nice day out, which helped with her bluff. Down here in central Equestria, the temperature was pleasantly warm, green grass covered the hills, and a cheerful stream ran along the bottom of the canyon where they were standing, as though nature itself was playing along with the lie. Nothing to see here. Just a peaceful canyon in the middle of nowhere. Moments later, three diamond dogs emerged from the tunnel widening it enough that a thinking-form drake could fit comfortably inside. “The passage is ready, my king,” a dog said. “Be careful. Something smells wrong, very wrong, in the cave.” “No surprise there,” Silver Tail muttered. He stepped forward, pausing at the entrance to the dark tunnel. “If we’re not back in two hours, then we’re probably dead. Send in the second team and hope for better luck.” Heart hurried after Silver Tail before he could disappear completely into the tunnel’s depths. It was a little hard to walk on the loose dirt and rocks of the slanted tunnel, especially in near total darkness. Heart cast a spell to make her body glow, which at least took care of one problem. “Silver, can we talk about this?” “What’s to talk about?” Silver Tail asked. “Disobeying the Council and waiting for Cliff to finish the gem-creation rune.” He shook his head. “I promised to obey the Council, Heart. You know drakes can't break promises.” He did a good job of hiding it, but Heart could pick up faint signs of hesitation in his voice and mannerisms. He was worried, and Heart couldn’t blame him. She was downright terrified. “They’re supposed to go after ponies and leave everything else alone. We can hold them at the Shattered Mountain Cave and threaten to turn them loose unless Celestia and Luna stop their attacks. With any luck, we’ll never have to unleash them on ponies at all.” “I hope so,” Heart said. “Things would be so much easier if Yol Toor had been here.” “Yeah …” Silver Tail shook his head slowly. “I know you’re the diplomat, but try to stay behind me once we get there. If these things turn violent, run and don’t look back.” “I’ll do what I can to make sure it doesn’t come to that,” Heart said. They walked the rest of the way in silence, broken only by the shifting of dirt and stones beneath them. After what felt like hours, the tunnel expanded into a massive cavern. Heart had to stare at the immensity of it. They were on a small ledge, with dozens of faintly glowing blue circles in the distance. Thanks to their feeble light, Heart could see the cavern stretching out almost endlessly before her. The ceiling was lost in the dimness above their heads, and she couldn’t see the floor when she looked over the ledge either. Narrow walkways rose out of the depths, splitting and zigzagging all over the cavern like some kind of twisted spider web. Those walkways seemed to be the only path one could take to reach the glowing circles that had first drawn Heart’s attention. Now that she was looking more closely, Heart could see that each circle sat near the top of a jagged peak, with thin spires of rock rising around it, almost like grasping claws. “Welcome to Tartarus,” Silver Tail whispered. His voice sounded oddly muffled, like the cave around them was somehow enforcing silence. Heart shivered, and not just from the icy cold air that filled her lungs. She activated a spell to improve her eyesight. Creatures of all sorts filled the glowing blue circles around them, but for the most part it was one captive per circle. What she needed to find was … there. Eight bipedal shapes, partially obscured by darkness. “I found them.” She pointed. Silver Tail knelt down and exposed his back so that she could climb on. “I don’t sense Cerberus nearby, but let’s be careful anyway.” Heart gripped onto her friend’s shoulders as he took off. As they neared their goal, Heart felt herself starting to breathe more heavily, like the air wasn’t giving her what she needed from it. By the time they landed, she was starting to feel lightheaded as well. Most of the platform was taken up by the glowing circle, but resting against one of the spires to Heart’s right was a massive and ornately engraved metal chest with a heavy padlock. She only glanced at it, though, because they had finally reached the captives that they had come to free. Within the circle’s dim light, eight bipedal forms sat or stood. Golden metal covered all of them except one, who was coated in dark silver, but regardless of color, none of the metal reflected any light. Instead, it seemed to pull it in, filling their cell with a kind of darkness that was felt as much as seen. Runes of glowing blue covered each chestplate, with more trailing down the sides of their thick arms and legs. Combined with the unnatural darkness around them, it was almost like staring at bolts of lightning frozen in the middle of a thundercloud. Yet the creatures didn’t even seem to notice Heart and Silver Tail landing nearby. Fighting down her weakness, Heart stepped forward, nearly to the circle’s edge. “Hail, Requiem Guard.” The nearest figure rose to its full height, almost three times the size of Heart. Yet, it wasn’t even facing her. The small tail on the back of the suit hung limply, giving no hint about its owner’s mood. Heart took a breath. “We bring word from King Asterion. He-” The figure turned and violently punched at Heart’s face. She threw herself back, nearly falling off their little platform. There had been no warning or tension of muscles. The attack had come out of nowhere, and if some kind of force-field hadn’t stopped the armored fist from leaving the circle, Heart was sure that it would have shattered the bones in her muzzle. Silver Tail jumped between her and the circle, his wings flared out protectively. “We are messengers from your king,” he spoke each word clearly and loudly. There was a sound like screams carried on the wind, only with a metallic edge to it. Heart didn’t even realize at first that it was the creature talking. “My … oooing toooo …” Heart got back to her feet and walked up beside Silver Tail. Try as she might, she couldn’t keep her limbs from shaking at the deathly rattle that was the creature’s voice. “A babyyyy soooonnnn. I’mmm …” She got her first good look at the creature’s face. Armor covered its entire head, including two massive horns. The only gaps she could see were two slits for its nostrils and two openings for its … Those weren’t eyes. Two orbs of blue light flickered where its eyes should have been. They were the same ocean blue as the runes on its chest and limbs, but they were unsteady, almost like the light from a candle. They didn’t even fill the eye sockets for the armor. Around the edges, Heart could see past the orbs and into the helmet. Stars, watch over us, Heart silently prayed. There was no head in that helmet. She could see clear through to the back. “Beee … an …” The creature tilted its head to one side as those soulless orbs continued to bore into Heart Echo. “… Kkkking?” Then it turned around and walked away. Somewhere, in a part of her mind that wasn’t terrified, Heart felt sorry for these creatures. They were minotaurs, or had been, a very long time ago. Guilty only of loyalty to the rest of their kind, they had been locked in here since the early days of Equestria. Now historians were the only ones that knew of the Requiem Guard. The Guard shook one of its sitting companions and gestured toward Heart and Silver Tail. This new Guard stood and approached them. It was a little taller than the other, and the faint light from its runes and ‘eyes’ was a much lighter shade of blue. Heart stared up at the new Guard. Somehow, its eyes seemed sharper and more penetrating than those of its comrade, but the biggest shock came when it spoke. “Yyou bring word ffrom the king?” Heart cleared her throat. “Y-yes. King Asterion sent us to release you.” The massive suit knelt down so that he was face to face with Heart. “Asterion iss, was a good frriend. I attennded his funeral over thhree hundred and sixty thhousand days ago.” It leaned forward. If it had been possible, Heart was sure it would have been narrowing its eyes at her. “What rreally brings the living here, to converrse with the dead?” It was getting harder and harder to breathe. Heart had to take a step away from the suit before she passed out. This wasn’t right. She shook her head. The Requiem Guard wasn’t supposed to be coherent anymore. They were all supposed to be like that first one, trapped in the past, convinced that their ancient war against Equestria was still being waged. “My name is Silver Tail,” the white drake suddenly spoke up. “I am one of the leaders of the Dragon Alliance, and we are at war with Equestria.” The Guard rose and shifted its unblinking gaze to him. “Providence, Ccaptain of the Requiem Guard, annd why shhould I care about thhe squabbles of dragons and pponies?” “Wyrms and minotaurs were once allies.” Silver Tail gestured to Heart with one wing. “They’re out there fighting and dying against the same foe you fought over nine hundred years ago. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?” There was silence for a few moments, as Providence’s gaze shifted to Heart and then back again. Heart felt a shiver course its way through her. There was nothing natural about those eyes. Even calling them eyes was a stretch. “Yyou think death meanns anything to me, dragonling?” Providence asked. “You doon’t underrsstand the meaning of the word.” It stared down at its thick right gauntlet, clenching it tightly. “This is deathh,” Providence continued in a more somber tone. “The eend of all. Thhe air in yourr lungs. The warrmth on your skiin. Plleasure. Pain. All of itt, gone.” The Guard’s head jerked sharply up to stare at Silver Tail. “We emmbraced death, dragonling. We gave eeverything for Minos. Our lives, our mortallity, even our miinds have slowly crumbled ovver the centuriess. Noww look me in thhe eyes andd tell me that yyou have the right to assk us to giive more!” Heart could feel Silver Tail’s fear, but he kept his voice calm as he answered, “I can give you revenge on Celestia for locking you up in here.” That seemed to catch Providence’s attention. “Ccelestia?” His voice, already the literal combination of wind, metal, and death, grew even harder. “Shhe is dead. Too much tiime has passsed for any ponyy to sstill live.” Silver Tail shook his head. “The Alicorn of the Sun is immortal. For over a thousand years, she has led Equestria.” He hesitated for a moment before adding, “Minos was absorbed by it more than nine hundred years ago.” Darkness seemed to gather around the ancient suit of armor, while the light from his runes grew ever brighter. “No.” Providence took a step back, shaking its head. “You lie! Prrince Ashur …” It pressed one hand over its eyes for a moment. “King Ashur, gave uss to Equestrria in rreturn for peace. Our ssacrifice … savved it …” Even Silver Tail was beginning to feel the weakening effect by now. Heart could sense him fighting to keep his stance firm. “Minos was absorbed by Equestria twenty-two years after your imprisonment, upon the death of King Ashur, son of Asterion. Minos is gone, and today minotaurs are scattered across Equestria, slowly dying out while the ruins of their last great civilization crumble to dust.” Providence’s form was getting hard to see underneath the darkness that surrounded him, but Heart could see enough to know that he threw his head back before letting out a primal roar of loss, denial, and impotent rage. Heart clapped both hands over her ear frills as the unholy metallic scream filled the air. Even the other members of the Requiem Guard took notice. The ones that were sitting slowly rose, and all of them turned to watch their leader. When at last Providence stopped, it lowered its head to face Silver Tail. Those soulless orbs that passed for its eyes burned so brightly that it was hard to see anything else. They stood out against the growing darkness like twin gateways to oblivion. “Whaat price do you assk in return for ourr revenge?” Through sheer force of will, Silver Tail remained firm against the leeching influence. “Do what I cannot; protect the Alliance. If you promise to do that, I will release you.” Providence stepped closer to Silver Tail, towering over the white drake. His voice came out in an ominous whisper, “Sswear that youu will hellp us kill Cellestia.” Silver Tail’s gaze fell slightly. “On my honor as a representative of the Alliance, I swear that, in return for your help and protection, we will do everything reasonably possible to let you take your revenge on Celestia.” “Iff you arre lying abouut Minos, dragonnling, I willl kill your whole aarmy.” Heart gulped. She knew that wasn’t an empty threat even without being able to sense this creature’s emotions. Silver Tail nodded. “I understand.” The massive suit of armor nodded slowly, and the darkness around it began to fade. “Our weaponss and shiields are inside of that chest.” He gestured to the metal chest that Heart had noticed earlier. “Touuch a shield to tthis circle to free us, but ddo not unsheathe anyy of the weapons, orr they may kiill you.” Heart finally worked up the courage to speak, “Thank you.” Providence stood up straight and turned to the rest of the Requiem Guard behind him. All seven of them stared back, unmoving. “Guards,” Providence barked, “attention!” As one, each suit pressed one fist to its chest. The glowing runes in their armor seemed to glow more brightly, while seven sets of fiery orbs stared at Providence. An army of ghosts in the most literal sense. “What doess it mean to be aa Guard?” Providence asked. “Noo resst,” the others intoned. Each one slurred their speech differently, but the otherworldly chant still came through clearly. “Noo merrcy. Noo miinotaur lefft unndeffennded. Noo ponyy lefft allive.” Providence pressed a fist to its own chest before turning back to Silver Tail. “If youu tell the trruth, then I swwear two things, dragons: the Requiem Guard will bbe your ally durring this war, and bbefore it iss over, Celestia will lie dead att my hooves.”