Bringing Balance

by Shumiry

Chapter 2

The pony slipped through the shadows of the massive city. Why am I still here? it wondered, as it continued its journey through Canterlot. Twists and turns, alleys and streets, it knew nothing of the layout or its purpose, and yet it moved, driven by the will of another. As it watched through its own eyes, it saw, in the distance, a building it did recognize. The Royal Palace.
If it had been able to, it would have felt a cold chill at the sight. The nonpony was beginning to understand its master's purpose. No! it cried, futilely struggling against the prison its mind had become. Not the Princesses! It had no idea if it would, or even could succeed in what it thought to be its mission. It was just a simple earth pony.
No... it thought, I was just a simple earth pony. How had it come to this? That purple mare... He would've blushed at the memory, had he been in control. Embarrassment and shame welled up within him as he recalled her flirtatious smile. The way the light had sparkled through her black mane, giving the illusion of stars in the night sky. He was nopony, just a simple farmer in the market to sell some corn.
At first he'd assumed she'd wanted a discount, but it soon became clear she had no interest in his wares. A few honeyed words had gotten him to leave his cart behind with a sign up saying he'd “Be Back in Five Minutes”. At first he'd felt a little insulted by the time, but the mare had assured him, “It's all the time we're gonna need...” as she lasciviously licked her lips, her silver eyes consuming him. Once they were secluded in a dark alley, everything had gone horribly, horribly wrong.
He recalled the other pony, a brown unicorn with a white mane and brilliant orange eyes, stepping from the darkness, seeming to materialize from nowhere. He remembered the black glow of the magic surrounding the knife, hints of blue buried within it, like the color had been leeched out over time, leaving the blackness of the void. The tug, as it slid across his throat. It was in that moment he was actually glad he'd never had children. The thought of leaving them behind like this would have been unbearable. As darkness clouded his vision, he bravely faced the transition into the next life.
Things were never so simple.
Now he stood inside the castle, having snuck past the guards and excited onlookers, waiting for the Princess' address, through a maintenance gate to a side garden. He'd utilized some set of tools he'd never seen before with a deftness of hooves so far beyond his own skill it was ludicrous. The experience of seeing himself performing these feats was surreal, like some crazy dream.
But he knew it was not his imagination. He remembered being yanked back from the passage to death, his soul snared by ethereal chains, roped into his body and imprisoned there. The two ponies had muttered in a strange language, the words themselves painful to hear, though he could no longer experience any sensation through his body. When they finished, his corpse stood, and began its quest, as he helplessly looked on. With his goal so near, he prayed that Celestia and Luna would take pity on him. Would know he never intended any of this. That he wasn't in control.
He continued to bypass all defenses with ease, some sense guiding his hooves, until he was in the room accompanying the balcony overlooking the gathered crowd. Guards were checking the area, ensuring nopony was hidden within, while he shadowed their steps, silently sneaking past them, and secreted himself away in a large vase. There he waited, his body twisted up like one of the contortionist showponies he'd seen at the circus, amazed, even as he was terrified, by his newfound flexibility.
Celestia waited in her room, serene, as hoofmaids brushed her already perfect mane and tail, groomed her already perfect coat, and adorned her with various jewels and insignia, before taking them all off in favor of the simple necklace she always wore.
Sometimes she wondered why they even bothered.
Finally, preparations complete, though her appearance hadn't changed at all, they all left, and Celestia was free to move once more. Even when she'd been paralyzed, she'd had more freedom than when those ponies were fussing over her. At least then she'd been able to move her mouth and eyes!
With a chuckle, she rose to her hooves and left the room behind, making her way to the balcony beneath which her subjects gathered. It was important to set their minds at ease by returning things to the way they'd been, maintaining order and a sense of structure. Thus, her State of Affairs address needed to be given today, as it had been every year before.
A bloom of happiness grew in her heart as she thought again of her beloved sister. This would be the first time in one thousand years she'd get to make the address with Luna beside her. She hadn't been able to convince the mare to take part in the speech, the night time alicorn still lacking confidence in her speaking abilities, and not wanting to look a foal in front of the whole city, but she had consented to at least appear before them. It was more than Celestia had dared to hope for.
Quickening her pace a little, she trotted up the stairs, hoping her sister might have arrived early, and they could speak before the address needed to be made.
Luna paced the room adjoining the balcony, her horn, now back to its full size, glowing her signature midnight blue. Her spells revealed nothing, and yet she still felt unease in her gut. There's something here... she thought, but couldn't seem to find what. She jumped slightly when the door opened, admitting her sister, and blushed at the look on Celestia's face. Lips pursed, cheeks puffed out as she exaggerated her efforts to withhold her laughter.
Luna shook her head at her sister's antics. A thousand years had done little and less to change Celestia's love of pranks. In fact, it had seemed to have made it worse, and Luna was starting to understand why.
“Honestly sister,” she said, “one would think you spent all day surrounded by stuffy colts and fillies who had nothing better to do than vie for your royal attention via an intricate system of veiled threats and implied slights.” Celestia raised one eyebrow at her sister's eloquent prose.
“And you thought you weren't ready to make a speech to the public?” she said sarcastically. Luna gave her a mischievous grin.
“Well I know how much you love all the attention. All those young stallions making, dare I say, moony eyes at you. Taking mental snapshots for later...”
“Enough Luna.” Celestia cut her off, imposing her best regal tone on her voice. Unfortunately, her sister wasn't deceived. If anything, Luna's grin widened. As their conversation drifted onto other topics, Celestia fought down tears of joy. How she had missed these moments with her sister! She'd need to organize a new holiday to celebrate the day the Elements of Harmony had reunited them...
Too soon, Day Planner, Celestia's personal assistant, entered the room and moved towards the balcony.
“All prepared Princess...es?” he corrected, still getting used to Luna's return. The two nodded, and stood just beyond sight at the balcony, while the unicorn stepped up to the railing.
“Mares and gentlecolts,” he bellowed, his small frame belying the powerful voice belting from him, “it is my great privilege and honor to present to you, Princesses Celestia and Luna!” He stepped back as the two Princesses moved to the railing, the crowd stamping their hooves in applause. But only Luna appeared before them.
Glancing to her right, she became suddenly aware of her sister's absence.
“Celestia!” she hissed, trying to move her mouth as little as possible to maintain her smile, “this is no time for games...” Her voice trailed off as she felt a wave of panic come through their bond. Not just panic, she realized, terror. Turning, she saw Celestia standing stock still, not a muscle twitching, eyes frozen in a look of shock.
Heart pounding, Luna watched as a human emerged from the vase in the corner of the room. Impossible! she screamed in her mind, I scanned thoroughly... Her thoughts trailed off as she realized that, even now, with the creature standing before her, she could not sense its presence. With a jolt, she recognized the being.
“Seeker?” she breathed, incredulous. It couldn't be! This had to be some trick of the Necroequicon. But that's impossible! We sealed it in the Chamber, no influence can escape. The Chamber had been designed as a mimic of a black hole, albeit an imperfect one. Even Luna and Celestia couldn't appear or vanish from within unless the doors were opened, breaking the seal. Only the Ur-dragon had that kind of power. Which means this is something else... Somepony's trick to throw us off...
Tears welled in her eyes at the sacrilege. Secret Seeker had been beautiful. The Necrogolem may have been a monster, but the man himself had been a hero. To see his image abused in such a fashion... Her eyes faded to white as righteous wrath consumed her. Throwing a barrier around her sister, she channeled the rest of her power into a snare, designed to freeze the monster in place.
It moved. Way too fast. As the barrier materialized around Celestia, it dove through the air, a vibration humming in the space the shield converged upon, slowing its formation. Luna dispelled the ward, but a circle of runes flared to life on the carpet within the area of effect, erecting a new one even as the other fell.
Furious, Luna changed the nature of the spell she was channeling, and unleashed a blast at the wall of magical power. Too slow. Much too slow. She watched as the netherblade appeared, crackling with black lightning. Watched as the blade came up, to cut through Celestia's underbelly, and shatter her soul. Even through the shield, Luna could sense the power of the weapon. The way little spinning blades of magic would be unleashed when it cut, shredding the spirit of its victim.
She could only stare in horror as time slowed to a crawl. Her sister was going to die, and there was nopony who could save her.
Luna shook her head, trying to clear the stars she was seeing. She tried to move, but was stuck in something. With a lurch, she freed herself from whatever had been holding her, and fell to her hooves. What the buck? Looking behind her, she saw the remarkably alicorn-shaped indentation in the wall. Guess that explains that... Turning back to the room, she saw something else she did not expect.
The barrier was gone, and a pony's corpse lay on the ground beside Celestia, who was, Luna noted with a massive sigh of relief, remarkably unharmed. The pony had a cutie mark of a storm cloud, a small clear spot in the middle framing the outline of a question mark. Somehow, it seemed familiar...
That's when she noticed what she should have seen to start with. Secret Seeker lay on the ground, twin blades of eerie green lightning poised over his throat. It appeared to float from either side of the being's hand, shaped almost like an inverted omega symbol, but with the top elongated instead of flaring sideways. Hand!?
She finally took in the entire scene. Secret Seeker stood over the mockery, like the soul image she'd seen before, only this time he was the greenish-black color of the manifested Necroequicon spirit. If she hadn't been able to feel the love and wrath radiating from him, she might have thought it was another trick, but there was no denying that this was, somehow, the real deal.
“You're alive?” she sputtered, unable to believe, unwilling, lest this all turn out to be some mad dream and she wake up in a cold sweat in her bed. With one hoof, she stepped on her other, wincing in pain. This was no dream.
He ignored her, focused completely on the thing under his blade.
“The ignorance of my enemies has ever been their downfall,” he said, the merciless cold in his voice sending a chill down Luna's spine. With a flex of his waist, he bent forward, plunging the twin blades through the neck of the creature.
“You are no exception.” When he withdrew the weapon, it held two massive spheres on the end, one of a black color, with slight hints of blue, the other a rich brownish orange, like an autumn leaf.
Reaching up, he pulled the beach-ball sized black orb from the blade, his fingers combining into three massive onyx claws that could encase the thing, and squeezed, causing it to burst into a thousand wisps of black fire. Celestia gasped as control was returned to her. The claws vanished, once again becoming fingers, as he gingerly twisted a strand of the black stuff between two of them. As Luna looked on, the thread wove its way into his chest, stretching from his stomach up over his right shoulder, fusing there. Becoming part of him.
When he'd removed the two orbs, the body had begun to change, the power for the enchantment having been dislodged, and now it shifted back into a brown-coated earth pony, with a wicked gash across his throat. Seeker considered the other orb for a moment, then plucked it from the blade as well, letting the weapon vanish. Carefully, he extended his arm, dropping the sphere.
In the split-second that it fell, it changed, turning into a translucent replica of the dead pony, which immediately fell to its knees, weeping.
“Please!” it cried, a southern accent in its voice, “Ah never meant for any uh this! Ah wasn't in control! They made me do it! Ah'd never...” Seeker had knelt before the pony, and placed a calming hand on the poor thing's shoulder, stopping its stream of apology.
“I know, my friend,” he said, that same genuine warmth Luna remembered in his voice, “I know.” The pony looked up at him, seeming to recognize him for the first time.
“You're tha one, aintcha? That one that saved the Princesses before, that they made that statue of?” His gaze roamed over the two pairs of wings, which were slowly folding back down, making the man appear much less imposing.
“Yes, and it seems I may have saved them again, though not without Celestia's help.” He nodded in the alicorn's direction, who had turned to watch the spectacle.
“Thank you! Thank you!” the poor farm pony spouted, grabbing his hand in its hooves and planting kisses on it. Seeker gently extracted his limb, and stood, turning to face the two alicorns.
“What shall become of this one?” he said, gesturing to the still kneeling pony, whose gaze was darting between the three beings. Celestia stared at the creature for a while.
“Did anypony see you die?”
“No my Princess.”
“Who is waiting for you?”
“Nopony my Princess, ah live alone. Ah work a small farm between Ponyville and Manehatten, growing corn to sell, and a hoofful o' other things for m'self.” Celestia sighed and turned her gaze on the human.
“The words he speaks are true to the best of his knowledge. As far as he knows, nopony knows of his death but those responsible.” Secret Seeker nodded,
“Then I'd like to resurrect him, seeing as I am responsible for the release of the ones that did this to him.” Celestia's eyes narrowed slightly at this. She had recognized the signature of the magic that had bound her as belonging to Mephistopheles, but couldn't begin to puzzle out how it was the creature had escaped. Hopefully, if the stars are good, he will be alone. She gave her ascent, and Secret Seeker returned the spirit to its shell, repairing the damage. Before the stallion departed, he was strongly cautioned against speaking to anypony about what had happened here.
When the door closed behind the fleeing earth pony, Secret Seeker walked back over to the inert form on the floor, and green tendrils of his being stretched out, pulling him back where he belonged. Once he had completely merged with his body, Celestia closed the gateway she'd been using to funnel her power into him, and felt her strength return.
For a time, none of them spoke. Then, without a word of warning, both sisters rushed the startled pony, crushing him in their enthusiastic embrace.