//------------------------------// // Last Spark of Hope, Part Seven: Losing track of time. // Story: A New Tale In Equestria. // by Sylif Daring Doo //------------------------------// ____*Unknown Place, unknown time.*____ Fang opened his eyes to an unfamiliar sight, sounds and sights went on around him as he stood dumbfounded, he also saw that he was holding a strange sword, he was extremely perplexed as he grasped the sword, he looked it over and saw that it was a faded green in color, with black lining it in a wavelike pattern, and a strange white rune in the center on both sides. "What the?" He asked quietly. Something else he noticed was that he was armored, from his feet to his shoulders, the armor had a similar color to the sword, the pattern was different through, on the leg armor it was a mountainous pattern, while on the upper body it shifted to a fiery pattern, the one thing he noticed was that the armor had similar runes to the ones on the sword, he also noted that the armor was practically weightless. 'What's going on?' He wondered. He looked forward and saw Lyaroa with both blades drawn, looking incredibly pissed off, he noticed Shade looking torn up beyond belief with Golden mending him, Roxanne was off to the side, fighting off what seemed to be a lot of Pegasi and Unicorns by herself. 'What the hell did I miss?' He wondered in confusion. As he attempted to make sense of the situation, he heard a commanding voice somewhere behind him. "I order you to destroy them all!" The voice boomed. Fang felt a presence try enter his mind, he quickly shook his head while scrambling his thoughts, erasing it from his mind. 'I've already been controlled by a literal God, not much that will do now.' He thought to himself as he took a closer look at his surroundings. The room they were in was large and very similar to the room they fought Jandoka in, the walls were black but with a strange red energy running along it, he looked to the floor and ceiling, seeing the strange pattern on the floor, he couldn't help but feel a strange sense of nostalgia because of everything going on. Fang finally looked to Lyaroa again, seeing that she readied herself for combat, Fang decided it was time for some answers. "What the hell is going on?" He asked. Lyaroa seemed to be confused at the question, but did not lower her guard. "I'm not falling for that." She said easily. Fang wasn't surprised, he didn't expect his question to get him anywhere, so he did the next best thing, he raised his sword and looked the Sentinel in the eye. "Your an all powerful being yet you can't tell when someone is genuinely confused?.....something doesn't strike me as right here." He pointed out as he threw the sword to the ground and crossed his arms. Lyaroa didn't move as she watched the wolf. "Your point?" She asked. Fang blinked. "I don't know what the hell is going on, furthermore, I would appreciate it if you explained something, or is that to much to ask from you?" He wondered. Lyaroa seemed to pause for a slight second, she then eased off. "You better make this good." She replied. Fang chuckled. "And HOW am I going to do that?....when I don't even remember any of this!" He joked as he picked the sword back up and sheathed it. Lyaroa shook her head then sheathed Soul and Spirit. "First things first, help us clear these guys out, then we can talk." She stated firmly. Fang didn't object, he then followed Lyoara as she moved to assist Roxanne. As Fang neared, he noticed Roxanne glance behind herself, and for a split second, he could have sworn she smiled before defending against a strike from a Unicorns blade. With Fang and Lyaroa assisting Roxanne, the assaulting soldiers were quickly dispatched, afterwards, Fang explained his situation to the best of his ability, he also made sure he was a decent distance away from Golden specifically, as he seemed to be the most pissed off. "So, you really don't remember anything?" Roxanne asked curiously, thankfully, Life and Death were sheathed. Fang nodded. "All I remember is jumping down that hole, then opening my eyes to all of this." He gestured to the room around them. Shade grumbled as he stood up slowly, Golden's healing clearly helping. "Regardless of what you remember, your back, that's what matters." He said as he held his side. Fang glanced to Shade's side, which seemed to be covered in blood, not counting the stains. "What happened to you?" He asked. "You don't want to know." Lyaroa stated quickly. Golden had his arms crossed and looked directly at Fang. "As usual, I'm going to be the one to mention that we should get moving, before more shit comes after us." He added in his usual quiet voice. Fang looked around and sighed, he then walked over to a nearby step and sat down. "You all can decide what to do from now on." He said as he began to take the armor off, starting from the chest to the legs. Lyaroa looked back at one of the entrances, they had entered from there, she then looked and saw another entrance to the side, she blinked. "Alright, it looks like we can get through where those guys showed up from." She said as she looked at the group. Shade shook his head as he checked his wound. "Let's just get this over with." He answered as he put his hand back over the wound. Golden held his staff over his right shoulder and walked a little bit to the door. "Let's get going then." He said as he continued walking. Roxanne glanced to Fang, who just finished taking the rest of the armor off. "You don't think you should keep it on?" She asked. Fang looked up at Roxanne. "I'm not big on armor, too constricting." He explained. Roxanne rolled her eyes and walked to the entrance that Golden was going through. Fang looked over at the sword from before, he closed his eyes and chuckled a little as he shook his head and stood up, he looked at Shade. "Will you be alright?" He wondered. Shade blinked and shifted a little. "I'll live, it's gonna hurt like hell though." He replied. Lyaroa walked over to Shade and helped him get his arm over her shoulder so he could walk easier, she then looked at Fang. "You better be helping now got it?" She asked that as if Fang had a choice. Fang nodded and walked on ahead of the two as they all made their way through the area, speaking of which, Fang looked back for a moment. "I forgot to ask, where are we?" He wondered. Lyaroa chuckled and looked at Fang. "Oh yea....I forgot to mention that, we have a lot of catching up to do......allow me to welcome you, to Dalcorus." She said calmly. Shade grumbled. "I still think the name is dumb." He added quietly. ____*eight minutes later.*____ Fang looked around the next room, he noticed that it was a strange puzzle just by the layout, he sighed to himself. "Why does almost every single place have puzzles?" He asked quietly. Shade walked over to him, he was now capable of walking on his own, but only if he took it slowly. "Hell if I know, I guess they just wanted to stall for time." He replied. The room itself was of no interest, just the fact that there was a big spiked box off to the side, an area with a strange energy about it, a ledge with a hole that seems to go through to the next area, and the spike floor, that was all that was of interest. Lyaroa looked at the strange energy, it was powerful, powerful enough to be visible to anyone, she looked at Fang. "That field drains magic, it's meant to weaken any being in Equestria, but if one had no magic to speak of, they could go through harmlessly." She said while pointing at a large button in the center of the field. Fang facepalmed and walked through the energy field, the energy harmlessly passing him by, he then stepped on the button, causing the spikes on the box to retract, he saw Roxanne and Golden move over and begin pushing it, the spikes in the floor seemed to slowly rise however, and Fang quickly got off the button. "Well that's just great." He muttered as the spikes on the box soon returned and the floor spikes retracted. Lyaroa crossed her arms and tried to think of something, a few moments later she looked at Fang. "We need to take this slowly, Fang, get back on the button, Roxanne and Golden, get back to pushing when the spikes are far enough back." She instructed. This strategy proved effective as they were able to get the box beneath the ledge in a few short minutes, they then began to climb the box and reached the edge, but they soon realized something. Golden saw the distance that Fang would need to cross in order to begin climbing, but it was impossible as he would need to wait for the floor spikes, and by then the spikes on the box would be back, he looked at Lyaroa. "Either you help, him, or he's going to need great timing for this." He pointed out as he walked on, heading for the next room. Fang blinked and held the button down, a few moments later, when the floor spikes were incredibly tall and at their tallest, he ran forward to the ledge. The spikes soon began to vanish, bit by bit they lowered, but as Fang reached them, he jumped up abnormally high, he was almost impaled on the spikes below, had he not used his feet to latched the sides, he would have been skewered. Lyaroa watched as Fang hopped from spike to spike, making great progress, but he reached the box, Lyaroa worried, as the spikes slowly returned as Fang neared, and these ones couldn't be latched onto like the others, as they all had miniature spikes near the tip. Fang fell down to the spikes at the top of the box, he then quickly moved his hand out and pushed on a bare spot on the spikes, soon, the box.....tipped over? Lyaroa double checked her eyes, making sure they weren't being tricked, but no, it was no trick, the box seemed to just flip over, revealing a bare spot with spikes slowly rising. Fang hopped on the box quickly and jumped up to the ledge, he gripped it as he skowly pulled himself up. "Hey." He looked up at Lyaroa who was offering him a hand. He smiled briefly and took her hand as he eased himself and started walking further into the pathway. "Thanks." He said quietly. ____*one hour of rooms and puzzles later.*____ Roxanne moved quietly to the railing and looked down to the courtyard below, apparently, there was something of a hidden city under the mountain and the ravine, and somehow, there was an artificial sun and moon that provided much needed heat and light for the underground city. The courtyard was filled with soldiers, Earth Ponies, Pegasi and Unicorns, they all wore tough looking armor, and wielded strong weapons, they all saluted as a large Earth Pony stallion marched to the center of the courtyard, Roxanne couldn't make out too much about him, but he had dark gray fur and one dark blue eye. "Soldiers!....Citizens!" The man called in a commanding voice. As more and more people arrived, the stallion approached a young Pegasus stallion who was being held down by restraints and had two guards with swords drawn and ready. The stallion pointed at the prisoner. "This man has been arrested this morning for attempting to murder one of his fellow citizens, the other charges are as follows." He then produced a list and read off the crimes. "Multiple counts of assault, harassment, sexual harassment, robbery, several counts of murder, accessory to murder, rape, convicted arson, traitor, and sabotage!" The stallion finished. Roxanne felt no need to save this man. "While those guys are busy, we can sneak around." She suggested. Shade was the first to object. "What if he can help us?" He wondered. Roxanne gave Shade a deadpan stare. "Listen, as much as I would love the possibility, I'm not releasing a rapist." She replied as she moved around the area, staying out of sight all the while. Fang looked back at Golden as they snuck around. "Are you ever going to tell me what I missed?" He wondered. Golden nodded. "When we have a moment, I'll tell you what I can." He replied. Eventually, the group made it out of the central ring, and they entered what seemed to be a botanical garden, they didn't hear anyone nearby so they stood back up. "This city doesn't make sense." Fang said. Lyaroa looked around at the plants and such growing, she blinked. "Odd, most of these plants went extinct five centuries ago." She muttered as she looked around. The group then split up to cover more ground, Shade went with Golden, while Roxanne went with Lyaroa, leaving Fang alone.....again. "Great, just great." He muttered as he continued moving. Soon, he found a large plant blocking his way, he couldn't see a way to go around it so he was going to go through it. The plant was large and green, it had yellow lines all over it, Fang simply approached and the plant changed, it's vines and roots seperating from the main body and formed a massive arm, the rest of it simply became a powerful and thick wall, the only real difference was that this creature now had a mouth, one that looked like it could fire venomous barbs. "Shit." He complained as he got ready to fight. ____*meanwhile*____ Golden and Shade walked through the garden, they hadn't run into anything, and it was getting boring. "Should we have let him go on his own?" Shade wondered. Golden shrugged. "Fuck it, I don't care, he's strong, he's fast, he can control time to an extent, he'll be fine." He answered. ____*meanwhile.*____ Lyaroa had returned to her childish personality......extremely quickly, like, disturbingly fast, Roxanne found it weird, but chalked it down to, it's just Lyaora being herself. Roxanne kept an eye on things while Lyaroa explored, they had run into a lot of trouble, but the moment they saw Roxanne's flames, they fled, and when a fire-wielding plant showed up, Lyaroa froze it with Soul. Lyaroa blinked as she examined a blue flower, she hadn't seen this kind before, nor heard of it, she grinned and picked one, her skin coming into slight contact with it, she then brought it over to Roxanne. "Here, look at this." She said. Roxanne looked at the flower and a sense of nostalgia hit her, but she couldn't name the flower or its properties, she noticed that Lyaroa was trying to hand it over, she took the flower, her skin also coming into contact with it, she shrugged after a while and gave it back to Lyaroa. Roxanne noticed the slightly hurt but confused Lyaroa. "You may want to put it back, it might be poisonous." She said. Lyaroa nodded and threw it back where she found it. "Oh well, it was worth a shot." She replied as though she failed an attempt to flirt. The two then walked away, not noticing a slightly hidden sign saying. 'Poison Joke, Warning, DO NOT TOUCH!' ____*ten minutes later.*____ The three separate parties approached the exit, the one thing most of them noticed was that Fang was on fire and that he was missing a lot of fur, while Golden and Shade looked just fine. Roxanne and Lyaroa seemed to be perfectly fine, except that one seemed oddly happy.....being the latter of the two. "Fang, what happened?" Shade asked curiously. Fang looked at the Night Wolf. "I killed one of those plant monsters.....and the next thing I know there's twenty more at once, and one breathed fire!" He answered grumpily. [1] Shade blinked and looked away. "Ok then." He said quietly. Lyaroa shrugged. "Ok, let's just get into the next area, and hope that's it's not as bad." She suggested as Roxanne and Golden worked on dousing the fire on Fang. ____*five minutes later.*_____ Fang's right eye twitched, Golden and Shade stifled a laugh, Roxanne was facepalming while Lyaroa sighed. "FUUUUUUCK!" Fang shouted as they all looked on to the next area. "It was fire, and lots of lava.....which meant that Fang would have to wait a while longer for a good rest. "WHY DO THEY EVEN HAVE THIS PLACE!?" He shouted.