The first to wake was Captain Swift, who blinked and coughed as he rose. The unicorn felt his lungs full of... or something, Swift coughed again as he took a look around. Fire, embers and stone surrounded him, Swift stumbled forward with blurry vision.
"Any... is anypony there?" Swift called as he bumped into a stone wall, finally registering in his mind. "W-where am I?" The unicorn mumbled and looked back, behind him was a large stone wall with no fire. "What in Tartarus?" Swift looked forwards and found a red pegasus staring at him, their gaze blank. Then the pegasus slowly faded as a thick Fog rolled in and made Swift's head throbbed, the unicorn took another step forward before falling flat on his face. Swift stood up and looked ahead, a familiar face was staring back with a long coiled sword in his hands.
"Did you miss me?" The Legate of Glory asked with a smug tone as he marched forward, Swift back-pedalled and quickly spun around, to find the far wall closer than before. "Thought you could run?" The Legate taunted as Swift turned around to face the familiar foe, who's faceplate suddenly cracked and exploded open, revealing a reflection of Swift's terrified face.
Captain Shining and Captain Violet wake up next to each other, startling both out of their groggy states. The area they woke up in was a round plaza, empty except for a large charred bonfire, long since burnt out.
"Alright, where are we?" Violet asked bluntly as she stood and trotted around.
"I... have no clue, but looks like we're stuck down here." Shining stated but Violet laughed.
"You're stuck, but I got wings!" Violet demonstrated by hovering in the air. "I'll go over the top and scout out the area." Violet said and flew directly over one of the walls of the plaza, disappearing into the Fog. Only to appear a moment later, coming back the way she came.
"Back already?" Shining asked and Violet looked scared.
"B-but I just left?" Violet said with uncertainty, Shining narrowed his eyes and looked around. "Wait, wasn't there a bonfire there before?" Violet pointed at the bonfire, now a strange statue of a knight. A familiar knight.
"That's one of those Brass Knights!" Shining stated as he took a step away from the kneeling stone knight, the statue's hands were held together in prayer above its head.
"Yeah, no duh, but what is it doing here? Wherever here is." Violet asked as she hovered down and looked under the statue's arms and at its face, the stone faceplate of the knight was blank like its brass brethren, except for a small cracked hole in the middle of its face. Violet peered closer, then the statue's face snapped towards her. "Holy..!" Violet yelled as she threw herself away from the very much alive knight. The batpony stood besides Shining Armor and watched as the stone knight slowed split his stiff arms and raised them to the sky in a wide embrace, then it froze, returning back to its death like stillness.
Silence reigned, but then a heavy, disgusting smell filled the air. Violet gasped as a thick sludge touched her hoof, she and Shining gaped at the sight of a black muck surrounding their hooves. Then a large shape emerged from the muk, a few feet away, its form was covered in black sludge but it slowly dripped from the shape. Revealing... The Captain, his cloak and lower legs were melted into the muck, his upper body, however, had patches of black muck stuck to it. But his eye, the once golden and proud eye was now a tiny red pinprick.
"W-William?" Both Violet and Shining asked at the same time, the Captain didn't answer as he pulled a long, notched sword from the sludge, then slowly marched through the muck towards the confused and startled pony Captains. His eye aglow with madness and insane joy.
Twilight and her friends awoke in a similar area, a wide plaza with a small patch of grass and a tree in the middle, and quickly noticed a griffin and a pegasus sitting against the tree. While Twilight looked at the pair with suspicion, Dash was more upfront in her suspicion.
"Who are you? Did you drag us here? Who do you work for?" Rainbow asked in quick succession to the pair, who looked quite crestfallen.
"W-w-what? I-I c-can't... rem-m-member." The pegasus stammered as the griffin held her head.
"We've been here for... for... how long have we been here?" The griffin muttered and the pegasus shook her head.
"F-f-five, no! S-six or maybe s-s-six-sev-seven! S-seven m-months, or years?" The pegasus mare murmured quickly and looked up at the hovering cyan pegasus. "W-we... we..." The mare trailed off.
"We were brought here, by... by a... I can't remember, but I think we served a Captain." The griffin supplied.
Twilight and the rest of the group trotted closer, Dash slowly dropped to the stone path.
"Where are we?" Applejack asks the strange pair, they look at her with blank eyes.
"Griffinstone." The griffin answers, causing the group to gasp. "You gotta get out of here, if you stay, you forget."
"B-but the F-Fog doesn't like letting its prey l-leave." The pegasus says meekly. "T-t-the p-pillars give t-the Fog strength, destroying them will p-probably make the Fog weaker and l-let you go."
"Pillars?" Twilight asked sceptically.
"Not stone pillars, powerful guardians. There are only two, unfortunately I can't remember their names. Though you sound find your friend first, the Captain." The griffin states then, before anypony could say anything more, loud hoofsteps caused the large group to turn. Striding towards them was Luna, whose eyes were wide with confusion.
"Princess!" The Elements yelled and the alicorn looked at them.
"I was just... with... you?" Luna trailed off, then shook her head. "We need to find the rest of our group, my sister and the Captains." Luna stated, then she noticed the two crestfallen souls. "Who are you?"
"A pair of lonely souls, ripe for the Fog." A voice answered from above, the large group looked up to see a beaked figure staring at them from the edge of a shadowy building, their body wrapped in the Fog. "And of course you little ponies, will be next. The Fog welcomes you, you just need to embrace it!" The figure barked with laughter and disappeared from view.
"Who-" Luna began.
"T-the Bloody Crow, that was o-one of the g-guardians. H-he never l-l-leaves the old r-residential district." The crestfallen pegasus answered quickly, then she looked up confused at the group. "W-who are..?" The pegasus groans and looks away.
"You better leave, the Fog is growing hungry, run while you still can!" The griffin said quickly and pointed a talon towards an open archway, which seemed to appear from the Fog. "We won't meet again, if we do, then make our end quick." The griffin stated then looked down. The Elements and Luna looked conflicted, but soon quickly made their way throught the arch. Not noticing the griffin and pegasus fade into the Fog, a pair of red feathers in their place
Swift scrambled back with a loud cry as the Legate smashed his sword into the ground, then the unicorn found himself falling. Swift grunted as he landed on his back, then he looked around in surprise. He was in a large pool of muck, but he wasn't alone.
"W-William?" A pair of voices asked at the same time, Swift saw it was Shining Armor and Violet. Both looked scared, but their gazes were locked on nothing.
"Hey!" Swift yelled out, startling the pair, who blinked in confusion.
"S-Swift?" Shining asked as he trotted closer. "Where did you come from?"
"An alley, I was about to get cut down by the Legate." Swift responded.
"The Legate? But he's dead!" Violet stated.
"Aye, but he wasn't normal, his face shattered and revealed a mirror." Swift shivered. "Wasn't right, even if it was him."
"T-then... we just saw William, he's rig- where is he?" Shining asked as he turned to gaze at nothing.
"We need to get out of here, find the others and make a plan." Violet says and she looks for an exit.
"There!" Swift says as he spots an open arch, a thick Fog swirling within. "Come on!" The three Captains rush through the muck and charge through the Fog, the large statue behind them slightly looked up before emitting a low laugh. Then a dark figure appeared next to the statue, its body covered in a cloak, it turned to the statue, its single eye narrowing as it pulled a large sword from his back and smashed the statue. Then the Captain quickly leapt over the wall, ignoring the archway, and his former friends.