//------------------------------// // Chapter 6 - Enter Rosseth // Story: The Lunar Chalice // by Spirals95 //------------------------------// Chapter 6 A gray-feathered griffon stood outside of the velvet colored doors of the duke's estate. Garth was a strong guard for the wealthy ruler, and tall and imposing griffin with a bandolier full of throwing darts strapped to his front. Such a setup made him look strange, but no pony or griffon had tried to enter his master's estate, so his job was clearly getting done. The duke's home was a large mansion, roofed in red tiles atop whitewashed walls that contrasted with the cheaper thatch roofs of the other homes in the area. Each of the twelve distinct segments of the estate were connected to the central courtyard Garth was protecting, the rose garden the duke loved so much beginning to look even more beautiful as the petals of the roses detached from their blooms and sank to the floor. Garth leaned up against the door, his front arms crossed over him, and looked up as he heard steps taken in the garden. Typesetter, the local book merchant, had arrived with a stack of books to deliver to the duke's library, as had been expecting. But Garth was curious about another set of ponies following close behind Typesetter. There were four of them, and they were dressed in overalls, dark shirts, and black caps. One of them had a fluffy dark brush held in some sort of mechanical assistance tool that resembled a set of arms, probably some kind of unicorn novelty. No matter how strange they looked, Garth knew they weren't invited and would need to get rid of them. “So, you're Typesetter then with the duke's books?” he grunted, keeping calm about the unexpected guests. “That's me,” answered the pegasus, smiling, “I've got the ones he asked for, and I'll stock them in the library for him like always. Is he in today?” “Yeah, but he's still taking no guests,” sighed Garth, “now who are these clowns? They look stupid.” “We're chimney sweeps, sir!” explained Techorse, holding up the fluffy brush, “We're here to take the soot out of the main fireplace like the duke asked for a few weeks ago.” Garth didn't believe the duke had asked for chimney sweeps to clean out of any of the fireplaces, but also figured it would be better to just let them clean than to risk them running off and telling the townsfolk the duke wasn't even accepting basic services anymore. “Ok, get up there and clean out the stack,” he growled, pointing to the brick chimney in the middle of the home, “and don't spill any ash into the house.” “Great, thanks!” said Techorse, “Let's get to work guys!” “Grab a ladder and get up there, ponies,” instructed Garth, pointing to a nearby gardening ladder laying on the ground near a rose bush with shriveled leaves, “I want to see you go in, and come back out.” They obeyed the griffon's instructions, setting up the ladder against the side of the building and climbing up to the tile roof, then again scaling a drain pipe until they reached the large chimney's opening. Shadow Breeze peered down the filthy passage and coughed, “Do we have to do this, Techorse?” “It's the only way we were going to get in,” confirmed his friend, “once we're inside, we'll figure out where the duke is and get the chalice back.” “Don't you think he's gonna be upset we broke into his house?” asked Flaming Ivory, raising an eyebrow, “Hard to trust a guy breaking and entering.” “I've got good reason to think the duke is having problems with his life right now,” Techorse explained, a stern tone to his voice, “we need to find him and help him out, whatever is wrong.” “Techorse has a point,” said Midnight, “his sudden stop of letting guests in is really bothersome, and since we're on a diplomatic mission from Princess Luna, it's our job to settle problems with Equestria's allies.” “We'd better get cracking then,” nodded Flaming Ivory, “after you, Tech.” Techorse climbed up to the mouth of the chimney, and undoing a rope at his side, lowered the twine into the wide rectangle lined with soot. After securing the climbing rope to the brick, he grabbed the edges with his mechanical arms still outside of his saddle concealed by the coat of the costume, and slid down. His friends followed him one at a time, until all four ponies were lost in the darkness below. “Crud, we're stuck on something,” grumbled Flaming Ivory, his horn and eyes glowing orange as he lit up the inside of the chimney. “No we're not, we're sitting on the smoke shelf,” said Midnight Blaze, pointing at a metal flap in front of them, “that's the damper of the chimney, we're shut inside.” “Can we open it?” asked Shadow Breeze, tapping on the closed metal plate. “Not from this angle,” sighed Midnight Blaze, “should I teleport us in?” “I think you might need your energy, moving four ponies in would be a problem,” answered Techorse, “I'll drill through the damper using my laser cannons.” “You're going to shoot it? Come on Techorse, we're already invading a house,” whined Shadow Breeze, “now we have to cause property damage?” “I'll pay the duke back for the damper later,” comforted the inventor, smiling gently, “we really need to be able to get in.” The robotic arms snaked back into the disguise, and Techorse removed the coat before drawing his weapons so as to not tear it. Twin metal tubes backed with small cylindrical power converters emerged and aimed for the metal plate. Techorse's saddle read his thoughts, and aimed the lasers for the plate, emitting two bright yellow beams, which slagged the metal where it hit in an orange glow of melted steel. Moving around carefully, Techorse cut out the damper from its base, creating a large hole that filled the chimney with light. Each of the ponies dropped through the rapidly cooling hole into the fireplace area, clean and swept out of all the ash and wood chips. They had a look around the room of the mansion, a grand central living room area filled with expensive pieces of furniture from various griffon artisans, featuring a distinct floral print. A fancy glass coffee table sat in the center of the room, flowers set in a vase that seemed to need more water. There were also many paintings of famous griffons, including one of the duke and his wife hanging above the grand fireplace, slightly crooked. “Let's ditch these costumes,” suggested Flaming Ivory, beginning to take the clothing off, “these itch like crazy.” “Agreed,” said Shadow Breeze, discarding the chimney sweep disguise to the floor as his friends did the same. “Let's find the duke's throne room and confront him about these bans,” ordered Techorse, pointing ahead with his hoof. Duke Gavin sat on his throne, bored out of his mind with being a leader of an isolated mountain community. His white-feathered head and light brown body plumage gave him eagle-like qualities, but his blue betrayed some kind of feeling of dread. To his right was his beautiful wife Grace, turquoise feathered with a beautiful tiara of silver and ruby on her head. The throne room was an open area with large, rounded windows illuminating the tall structure held up with a few columns. Tapestries depicting the roses outside in the gardens hung on the walls between the windows, and a circular blue carpet surrounded the throne in a ring. Behind the throne was the centerpiece of the room, and a clear indicator of the royal family's oddities, a large aquarium filled with a single species of fish, a stubby brown fish with an under biting jaw and small, sharp teeth. The door to the throne room swung open suddenly, having been bashed open by Flaming Ivory in a dramatic entry. Gavin and Grace shot up from their thrones, surprised that they were being confronted by ponies they could have sworn were banned from their home. “What is the meaning of this?” demanded the duke angrily as he stood up from his throne, “None of you are allowed to be here!” “Yeah well, we're here now, and we want some answers,” snarked Flaming Ivory, stepping forward with his friends. Techorse watched as the duke seemed to hesitate for a moment before sitting back down on his wooden and velvet throne. “I suppose if you went to the trouble to violate the law to see me, it must be something important,” he agreed reluctantly, “ask your questions and leave.” Shadow Breeze bravely stepped forward, being the diplomat of the party, “Sir, we've been sent by princess Luna, she wants to negotiate a trade for her chalice that's in your possession.” “So this is about the chalice then?” asked Grace. “Grace, my wife, please,” interrupted Gavin. “Gavin, we must explain ourselves or they won't leave,” continued his wife assertively. “Fine,” he responded, grunting before turning back to the ponies, “the chalice is not for trade, it belongs to Stargazer's Peak now.” “We're prepared to offer 25 thousand bits in exchange for the chalice,” said Techorse, “payable immediately with no questions asked.” “Twenty five thousand?” choked Gavin, his beak dropping open, “What an offer...” “So you'll think about it?” asked Shadow Breeze eagerly. Gavin noticed out of the corner of his eye that Garth and Gina, his guards, had entered the room quietly and were slowly approaching his guests. All he had to do was keep the ponies talking for just a little while longer. “Think about it? I've already made up my mind no matter what offer gets made,” said the Duke, chuckling to himself. “Princess Luna has requested the cup back herself,” Midnight Blaze countered, “she might be willing to go higher if you really want it.” Duke Gavin stood up and pointed down at Midnight, a haughty look on his face, “That silly moon exile can have her chalice when she pries it from my talons!” The others were taken aback by his mean insult, except for Techorse, who stood there dumbfounded by the duke's comment. Eventually, his anger overcame him, and he stepped forward to speak. “You're not the duke,” said Techorse angrily, “you're an imposter!” The couple on the throne seemed to jolt at Techorse's accusation, and his friends gave him strange looks. “How dare you accuse me of such a thing!” growled Grace, hoping her guards would hurry up without being spotted or heard, “What grounds do you have for such an accusation?” “Our friend Typesetter told us Princess Luna was the benefactor of this town and its best friend,” explained Techorse, the doors to his mechanical saddle opening, “not only did you insult her, you also haven't tended to your rose garden, your personal joy.” “Hey that’s right, when we got here, all the flowers were starting to die of neglect,” said Midnight, catching on, “you haven't just gotten rid of pony guests, you've also fired all of your employees.” “Things have been tough recently, you buffoons,” he growled, nearly foaming at the beak, “all of these things you are saying are filthy slander! I should have you thrown off the cliff side. I'm Duke Gavin, ruler of Stargazer's Peak!” The ponies would not give up, they pushed forward towards the duke with intent to overpower him. Shadow Breeze also added into the conversation, “That's another thing, Gavin. When we met some griffons from around here, their names did not start with G. Only griffons from Griffonstone really like to name themselves that way.” “Yeah, and you look nothing like your portrait,” scoffed Flaming in regards to the painting over their fireplace. The “duke” and his wife looked at each other, then shrugged. “Ok, well, you found us out,” said Gavin, “I'm not really the duke, and she's not really the duchess. But you'll never get word out about it.” Garth and Gina jumped on top of Flaming Ivory and Shadow Breeze, knocking them to the floor suddenly. Gavin and Grace grabbed a pair of daggers from underneath their thrones and walked towards Techorse and Midnight. “Hey get off!” grunted Flaming Ivory. “You should have turned back when we took down your train,” said Garth, “but you ponies never listen.” Techorse wanted to attack, but the griffons already had a hold of his friends, and they seemed more than likely to be trained with the knives they held or had at their sides. “Put them in the detention room with the others,” ordered Gavin, “we'll keep them quiet.” The four were taken down into the dark wine cellar of the estate, which had been hastily converted into a prison by the four griffons who had taken over. A barred gate sat over an archway in the cellar, a single wine room being partitioned off to hold the prisoners. Techorse and his friends were shoved into the room, Techorse's saddle was taken from him and thrown outside the cage. “Let's tell our employer we've been found out,” said Gavin to Garth, “once he gets away with the chalice we'll probably be clear to let these losers go.” The griffons locked the barred gate shut and left the ponies trapped inside. Turning around, they finally got to meet the real duke and duchess of Stargazer's Peak, along with six other griffons who were likely the custodians of the estate, and poor Typesetter, who was sitting next to them with a sad look on his face. A silent griffon chick, held snugly in her mother's arms, cooed softly and reached up for her mother, who tried to rock her baby gently and keep her calm. “Oh, hey guys,” he said glumly, “the second you left... Garth knocked me over the head and put me in here.” “Don't worry about it Typesetter, we wouldn't have even made it inside without you,” assured Techorse, who then looked up at the real royal couple. They were both golden plumed with soft brown head feathers, the duke was a bit portly and appeared to have a set of feathers on his chin that almost gave him a goatee'd appearance, while his wife, similarly larger, stayed close to her husband. Each of them had been stripped of their royal garments to be worn by the rogues, and they both relaxed their worried faces to talk to the new ponies in their cell. “Are you the real duke and duchess of Stargazer's Peak?” asked Techorse. “Yes of course, and staff!” he answered in a friendly, but hasty voice, “One minute we're all having tea before going out to work on the roses, and then next we know we're being stuffed into a cell by those Ironbeak mercenaries!” “They jailed a hatchling,” sobbed one of the gardeners, “a hatchling!” “Ironbeak Mercenaries?” asked Midnight Blaze curiously. “Yes,” said the duchess, “those griffons were hired from a notorious mercenary agency to lock us up so that their boss could steal the chalice. Ironbeak members are wanted criminals and are not welcome in griffon towns, but they tend to pop up from time to time when they want something, especially something expensive and rare like Luna's chalice.” “But how did they figure out you had it?” asked Shadow Breeze, “Princess Luna told us she'd only been talking with you.” “When I found Princess Luna's cup in my grandfather's old trunk, I penned a letter to Princess Luna right away, she's a celebrity around here ya know, and helping her out is a top priority of mine,” explained the duke sheepishly, “but it looks like I forgot to put my royal seal on it and the letter got read by someone else too... whoops!” The infant turned its small beaked head to face Shadow Breeze, and giggled before reaching out with a talon and beginning to play with the amulet around his neck, melting the pegasus's heart. The duchess added, “At least they promised they would let us go once they get the cup. A shame Princess Luna has to lose it though.” “We can't let that chalice fall into the wrong hooves,” Midnight cautioned, “it's got magical powers that could easily get abused. We need to get you out of here and back on your throne.” “Oh I do hope we can stop them,” sighed the duke, “but we'd need to get out of here first.” “Well luckily those guys happened to lock up two unicorns,” snickered Flaming Ivory, moving over to the locked door, “lemme just melt this thing and we'll be out of here.” “I didn't know you were into fire spells,” said Midnight, smirking. Flaming Ivory scoffed, “Fire spells? Who said anything about that? Watch this!” After yelling at the top of his lungs, his eyes glowed orange, and a bright beam of energy shot from his horn into the lock, slagging the tumblers and rendering it useless. Once the glow died down, the unicorn casually pushed open the gate. “After you guys,” he said, smiling. “Wow, such a powerful unicorn!” marveled the duke. “He's not powerful, he's just mad a lot,” teased Shadow Breeze, getting an eye roll from the less than amused musician. They all exited the cell quickly, where Techorse put his saddle back on and gathered everyone together for the plan to take back the estate. “What do you want us to do?” asked the duke, “We're all ready to help!” “You've got to get your wife back up to the throne room and start kicking those mercenaries out of your home,” said Techorse, “we'll find where the guy who hired them went and take back the chalice.” “Sir, we'll make sure you get back upstairs,” said one of the gardeners, “I'm up for a little revenge after being locked up, and so are the others.” “Let's go visit the shed outside the cellar stairs,” suggested another one of the groundskeepers, “the gardening tools might help us a bit.” “We'll head back up the other staircase the way we came,” Techorse finished, agreeing with the plan, “and we'll meet in the throne room once we've secured the chalice.” “Right, good luck, and thank you for breaking us out!” said the duke, leading his team up the other staircase to the door outside. The four ponies rushed up the stairs and headed in the opposite direction of the throne room, back past their pile of disguises in the main living area and into a hallway illuminated by side windows. “Who do you think's the leader of those goons, anyways?” asked Flaming Ivory, a bit short of breath, “Another griffon?” “Possibly,” answered Techorse, keeping up a good gallop, “but whoever it is, they're not getting the chalice, right guys?” “Right!” answered Midnight and Shadow together. The door ahead was a wooden, iron gilded entrance, chained shut from the inside. Midnight Blaze pulled ahead of his friends, and charged up a magical attack, sending a wave of light blue energy out to meet the entrance. Arcing magic struck the doorway, knocking away the chains and slamming the door open. The ponies ran inside, finding themselves in a large stone storage room hastily converted into a potion laboratory. In each corner of the cold, scary room was a set of glass pipes, tubes, and beakers, each of them bubbling with multiple colors of liquids. A massive fire was lit in the fireplace at the back of the room, bringing to boil a large cauldron, in front of which was a figure in a blue cape. As soon as he was sure his guests were in the room, the figure turned around. He was a zebra, a handsome specimen of his kind, but something seemed a bit off about him. Instead of the usual pure light gray and black patterns on his coat, his muzzle was darkened with brown, the unusual patch extending down his chin and neck. He had tribal looking markings near his brown eyes, and all along his neck, including one over his nose. The zebra's striped mane was well groomed, only a few notches were cut from it, and a pendant of silver and opal hung around his neck. From the amulet, a narrow band of blue magical energy snaked out, the magical rope wrapped around the Lunar Chalice. The magic cup bobbed and hovered as it was held in place by the zebra's magic pendant. “Why hello,” he said smoothly, giving the team a patronizing smile, “are you looking for this?” “As a matter of fact, we are,” said Techorse sternly, stepping forward, “I don't know who you are, but you'd better make plans to give back Princess Luna's chalice.” “You don't know who I am?” answered the zebra mockingly, placing his front hoof over his heart as if offended, “I'm offended, Techorse, seeing as I know who you and your friends are. Princess Luna was so nice to send the duke another letter telling him you were coming.” “So we can add reading somepony else's mail to the growing list of reasons to beat you up,” laughed Flaming Ivory, “great, keep going pal!” “Ah Flaming Ivory, letting anger control you as usual?” chuckled the zebra back, “It's hard to compose when you keep losing your composure I'd bet.” “All right funny guy, that's enough. Who are you?” demanded Flaming Ivory. “I am Rosseth,” answered the potion maker, smiling and giving a stage bow, “it's nice to finally meet you all.” “I don't like that name, can I call you Ross?” asked the unicorn smugly. The zebra stood up, turning red, “What? No! You can't call me Ross, that's stupid.” “All in favor of calling him Ross?” asked Flaming Ivory, turning around and raising his hoof. Shadow Breeze and Midnight raised their hooves, big grins on their faces, and Techorse raised a mechanical arm out of his saddle. “Well, sorry buddy, you're Ross now,” said Flaming Ivory, turning around, “anyways, why'd ya take the cup, zebra?” “What, you think I'm going to give away what it's for? I'm not that dumb,” he responded, moving the chalice away from view, “besides, it's none of your guys' business.” “Oh yeah it is, look at all this potion making equipment,” interrupted Midnight Blaze, pointing at all the glassware, “we know you can corrupt potions with that chalice, and that's why we're here. Princess Luna was afraid something might happen to it.” “She was smart to believe so, but it's too late,” he said. Techorse's saddle doors opened again, and his laser cannons emerged. “That's what you think, Ross,” he grunted. “Ah, the battle saddle,” the zebra sighed sarcastically, “I was hoping I'd get a chance to go up against it.” After setting the chalice on the floor gently using the power of his pendant, Rosseth stepped forward, “Of course, I'd like to warn you that my amulet is a close cousin of Shadow Breeze's there.” “Doesn't matter, it's four against one!” said Shadow Breeze with a hint of uncertainty in his voice. Rosseth tossed away his cape, and laughed as the amulet around his neck glowed, bright light shone from the gemstone as rays generated multiple copies of the zebra in front of him, complete with their own amulets. There were six copies in total, and they all looked at the team of four ponies, who recoiled in shock. “Why'd I have to say something,” cried Shadow, his ears drooping. The squad of clones charged for the ponies, firing blasts of magical energy from their necklaces at the crew. Techorse opened fire with his laser cannons, sending bolts of explosive yellow electromagnetic energy towards the figure on the far left. Alternating shots struck the zebra several times, and the illusion shattered like a pane of glass before disappearing into thin air. The remaining clones turned their energy blasts on Techorse, who stopped shooting and started running as the bolts narrowly missed him, exploding on the wall behind, chunks of stone flying from the walls. Shadow Breeze turned to face a clone who opened fire on him, a blast of energy narrowly missing his head, and flew up into the air before charging an attack from his own amulet. A cluster of shadow energy formed a rounded, cartoon bomb in shape, which launched down at one of the clones, fuse lit. There was a loud blast as the shadow bomb exploded, destroying the illusion and sending another flying into the potion equipment, destroying it in a vapor filled explosion as the room filled with smog and haze from the mixed chemicals. “Yeah!” cheered Shadow Breeze, before his celebration was cut short with a burst of energy to his left wing, making him yelp and fall to the floor helplessly. Three illusions remained, and they all intended to jump upon Shadow Breeze and finish him off. Flaming Ivory gave a shout and bravely charged one of the zebra images, smacking into it with his horn and knocking one out of the way. The stabbed illusion disintegrated, and the others turned their attention to Flaming Ivory. Two energy bolts to his back knocked him down, burning his coat and scorching the back of his mane hair. “Ahhhh!” he shouted in pain, trying not to collapse as the other two approached him. Midnight charged up a shot from his horn, and let loose with another arc of energy in front of him, it cut through the stone floor towards the remaining two enemies. One of them was caught in the wave, bisecting it neatly before it disintegrated. Just one was left, and it turned around and charged Midnight, intent on doing any damage it could. The blue unicorn realized he had to charge another shot quickly, or else the final illusion would be on top of him. He was suddenly struck by another shot, making him wince, and nearly knocking him over. “Come on,” he shouted, hoping to get off his own shot. Just as the clone was about to reach him, a pair of projectiles soared from over his head, and arced down on the hapless illusion, whose eyes grew wide before it disappeared in a fiery pair of blasts as the rockets hit the floor in front of it. When the smoke cleared, Midnight turned around, and saw Techorse, his saddle sporting its missile racks, now smoking from the launch. The pair of launching platforms disappeared back into the device, and pulled out a fresh pair of small red-colored rockets before Techorse stored them again. “Good shot Techorse,” said Midnight gratefully, trying to calm down. “All right Ross, it's over. Your illusions are gone,” said Techorse, stepping through the chemical fog and ignoring Midnight for a moment. Shadow Breeze got up from the floor, and walked over to the mist, flapping his wings to push away the fumes. Rosseth was gone, along with the chalice, having used his magical illusions as a distraction to get away. “Crud, he's run away,” groaned Flaming Ivory, standing up, “who was that guy anyways?” “I don't know,” said Techorse, shaking his head, “but we've got to tell Princess Luna. She needs to know the chalice is in Rosseth's possession. Maybe we can still figure out where he's headed with the chalice.” “Have we already failed Princess Luna?” thought Midnight Blaze, “We've lost the chalice to that guy, and we might not get it back...” Midnight looked at the ground as they exited the room, trying not to think about the fact they had messed up their mission. Just then, as he closed the battered door behind him, he heard the last thing he wanted to. A voice reminded him, “Don't worry, all will work out. Have faith, Midnight Blaze.”