Glow soared over the Forgotten City in search of the giant squid named Kana. With Hoopoe being Apep's lunch, the skies were free of its silent terror, but it wouldn't be long before other creatures would realize the giant raven's disappearance and become bold to venture out. Even with her promise to find the creature called Kana, Glow was having serious trouble finding anything within the Forgotten City below.
Any real landmarks were no more than destroyed buildings, demolished roads, and debris littered everywhere. Hardly anything seemed remotely different, the ruins of the city seemed to blend making it seem like she was flying in circles. From her height, she could not see any sort of creature in the darkness below, forcing her to fly lower to get a closer look. Diving low over the city, Glow flared her mane casting light all over the streets she flew past; looking for any sign of Kana.
"If there was ever a time for a large squid to show itself…" Glow mumbled, feeling she had bitten off more than she could deliver on this promise to Mira.
Mira's desperation was so apparent to her, the same feelings she had used to convince her to go to the Forgotten City in the first place; it was the sense of losing some pony you loved. Glow couldn't stand to see it; she couldn't bear it knowing that Mira's friend would die all because of her insistence of finding Scorch. It seemed like every time she tried to reach out to Scorch, the more trouble it seemed to cause every pony. Everything had happened so quickly, the giant bird, the enormous snake, the massive wolf; all these creatures dwarfed not only her but more so Mira who had explored these ruins long before she had arrived.
The light being cast from Glow's flames chased the shadows from every dark corner, at times it was actual creatures fleeing the light, but not the creature she sought. Gliding around the bend of a street, Mira happened upon a small group of rather tall creatures draped in long robes with piercing yellow eyes. Glow recognized them as the Void Walkers from Mira's own description of them, trying to remember if they were dangerous or not.
There were seven among them; the Void Walkers crouched over a trail of black ink that was very familiar to Glow. It was Kana's slime. Floating down several feet away from the group, Glow lowered the flaring of her flame as the Void Walkers turned to look at her. In their hands they carried large stone jars, the edge of the jars dripping with the acidic ink of Kana's trail. Rising to their feet, the Void Walkers piercing yellow eyes stared at her unblinking.
"Hi." Glow said, trying to be friendly.
The Void Walkers remained silent.
"I'm Glow." She continued.
"Hello… Glow." The closest Void Walker whispered.
"I-I was wondering if you could help me?" Glow asked hopefully.
The Void Walker that had spoken to her slowly lifted the jar filled with the acidic ink towards her as if inferring that she was after it as well.
"No, no thank you. I'm actually looking for the creature that left it." Glow stated.
"Why do you seek Kana?" The Void Walker asked.
It was impossible to see any facial cues from them. With their raspy whispering voices, it made it sound sinister when they spoke, even if the words were unthreatening.
"The wolf, Rok, was bit by the snake, Apep, and I'm looking for Kana to retrieve some of her goo to heal it. Mira says that it is the-"
"The Arcana?" The Void Walker asked, interrupting her.
"Well… yes, I believe that is what she said she was." Glow replied slowly.
"The Arcana is a monster. Do not trust it." The Void Walker hissed.
"What do you mean?" Glow asked, stepping forward.
The Void Walkers seemed down with the conversation, turning away from her, they carried their stone jars down the street without another word.
"Wait! Please, I must know where to find this creature!" Glow shouted after them, with a little lift from her wings she glided past them to land in front of them once more.
"The Arcana will betray you, it has betrayed us, hide like the rest of us, or be consumed by the storm." Another Void Walker spoke up.
There were a lot of questions running through Glow's mind, many of which didn't seem like Void Walker's wanted to talk about but with each passing minute the wolf was coming closer to death.
"Please, if you know where the creature Kana is, tell me." Glow insisted, almost pleadingly.
The Void Walkers turned to one another, there wasn't any words spoken between them, but after a few moments they turned back to her.
"Kana makes her home underground. You will find one of her holes further down this road." The Void Walker replied, pointing down the street to its left.
"Thank you." Glow replied, quickly bowing her head and fanning out her wings to take flight.
"Kill the Arcana." The Void Walker spoke once more.
"What?" Glow asked in surprise.
"Before it kills you." The Void Walker finished speaking.
The Void Walkers continued on their way. Glow watched them as they blended almost seamlessly into the darkness after a time. Their words troubled her dearly, wondering what sort of secrets Mira has been keeping from her, wondering how something so small could pose such a threat when compared to the other creatures here. Deciding that it would be more fruitful to ask Mira directly, Glow took flight once more to finish what she had promised to do. Leaping once more into the air, Glow glided down the road looking for any sign of the hole the Void Walker's had spoken of.
From a collapsed wall of a half toppled building, Glow's eyes spotted a sudden gleam from the debris that made her hover in the air for a moment. The gleam looked to be trace amounts of the ink liquid she had seen near the Void Walkers and it was a good sign for her as the ink seemed to be still fresh. Slowly entering the ruins of the building, it was clear that Kana had been here, for every inch of the area was covered in a thin dried film of ink. From the light of her flames Glow could see a large opening leading underground, beneath the ruins of the building. She deducted that this was the hole she was told of.
"Great…" Glow mumbled to herself, not liking the idea of going back underground; especially with something that big waiting.
Flapping her wings several times to psych herself up, Glow cautiously approached the opening of the tunnel leading into the underground caves below. The walls were slicked with dry ink, making it nearly impossible to see anything other than blackness, even with her light. All it did was dimly reflected the light that she casted, giving her small glimpses of the edges of the cave around her.
"It smells like old fish down here." Glow whispered to herself, feeling very ill.
The cave was very roomy, due to Glow's size, when compared to Kana's. It needed to be rather large or spacious due to Kana's size to allow it to slide herself through, but it only added to her nerves when she would eventually find the creature. The sound of Glow's hoof steps echoed off the walls of the cave. The tunnel seemed to go on for miles upon miles. Glow was starting to have a bad feeling about her journey underground, the possibility of getting lost was one of her gripes but it was also being a giant target for anything else that happened to live down here. Her thoughts trailed back to Mira and the promise she had made her, causing her trot faster.
With a sudden hoof step, her foreleg suddenly broke the surface of the ground in front of her. Falling forward, Gleam flapped her wings hard, thrusting herself upwards. In so doing, the hole she nearly fell into suddenly snapped closed with a vicious bite. Glow watched as a cart sized worm slowly wiggled its way from the floor, several orifices opening closing, each one with a set of razor sharp teeth chewing the air. Its putrid pale skin was only out classed by the black ink that trailed from its many mouths as it seemed to feed on Kana's ilk. Landing several feet away, gazing at the monstrosity before her, a sudden explosion from the rock wall beside her made her jump away. Another worm with jaws wide open sprung from the wall, snapping wildly at her, its many other mouths biting at the air.
The ground beneath her started to shake, the two giant worms thrashing about, as if attracted to the heat of her flames. With the sudden explosion of two more areas of the rock wall revealing these worms, Glow was racing deeper into the cave, trying to stay ahead of these creatures.
"Ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew!" Glow hissed to herself, watching the maggoty bodies squirm up from the ground below.
The cave seemed to have no end, the black ink walls stretched on and on with the worms writhing their way out of the ground. It wasn't long before a worm shot up from the ground before Glow, swinging its body towards her trying to bite her with its toothy mouth. Startled by its emergence, Glow didn't hesitate to spray a torrent of fire its way out of fear. The worm hissed and sizzled, its pale skin blistering from the flames, body blackening as it thrashed around in pain. Glow watched as the worm slammed against the ground, twitching from its burns, its flesh sizzling loudly. Much to her horror, several more worms exploded from the ground around the felled worm and began to consume it piece by piece.
"Sweet Cel-" Glow stopped short of hurling, quickly sprinting away with her eyes shut tight from the appalling sight.
Racing deeper into the tunnel Glow found the ground beneath her end, falling into the abyss before her. Fanning out her wings, she caught herself, allowing a slow descent into the darkness below. Eventually the tunnel let out into an expanse that left her like a star in the blackness, a light glowing in the matte of darkness around her. Deciding to flare her mane once more, Glow increased the intensity of her flames. With it, a monstrous tentacle jutted from the darkness towards her.
Dropping her wings, Glow fell underneath the reach of the tentacle, listening to the wet slick goo that squelched with every bend. Thrusting out her wings, Glow sailed through the air, watching the tentacle whipped towards her once more. Beating her wings hard Glow rose out of the reach of the tentacle as the passing wind of its swipe fanned her flames. Being out of reach, Glow could hear the sloshing of Kana in the darkness, moving itself, and trying to get closer to her.
"Hello?" Glow called out; half hoping that the creature would try to communicate in some way.
A volley of tentacles cut through the air towards her. With a flash of her horn, Glow created a magical barrier around her as the tentacles impacted the sphere; slamming it straight down.
The barrier hit the ground hard, but leaving Glow just a bit shaken. Looking up, Glow saw the tentacles striking down towards her. Almost like a drum the tentacles bashed against her magical barrier, each hit creating another crack in her sphere.
"At least I found the bottom." Glow mumbled to herself, struggling to maintain her barrier.
With the tentacles rising to strike at her once more, Glow dropped into her Flash Step, dispelling her barrier as she took off in a flash. A deafening crash exploded behind her, the tentacles breaking apart the ground with their massive force as a trail of fire was left in her sprint. Glow spewed fire against the ground around her, flaring her wings to throw her flames further out, revealing Kana a bit more with each breath.
The creature Kana became illuminated from the fire, its gelatinous mass slightly visible from its deep black color, the light barely tracing the creature hidden within the shadows.
With sickening glops Kana slid itself towards the dashing Glow, tentacles slicing through the air, thunderously pounding the ground where Glow once stood as she narrowly evaded. There were only two questions that ran through Glow's mind while racing around through the darkness from the persistent tentacles. How was she going to get close to the creature, and how was she going to carry the promised goo back?
With the possibility of Kana's ink being used as a weapon, Glow kept her distance to minimize the threat of having Kana spray her acidic black ilk through the darkness.
The walls of the cavern echoed a mucky garbled cry, Kana's tentacles reaching high overhead towards the ceiling; Glow still prancing about trying to keep one step ahead of it. The giant mass of squid rose up from its perch, lifting itself with the tentacles stuck to the roof, and swinging its massive size towards Glow to crush it.
The sheer size of Kana, not to mention its jarring speed, had left Glow with few options. Sliding to a stop, her horn already shining brightly, Glow magically blinked out of sight. The squelching of Kana's body echoed across the cavern, the impact shook the world around her, a bubbling and drowning sort of cry escaped from the creature. Reappearing several feet in the air, Glow phased out of her Flash Step, having exerted too much energy in such a short period of time.
A sudden shadow passed dangerously close to Glow, causing her to jerk away from it. With a loud thud echoing from the bottom of the floor, along with many others, Glow flared her mane a bit more to see bits of the rock from the ceiling cascading. Having no better option of fighting Kana in the dark, Glow soared higher into the air to get closer to the ceiling. Glob and squelching sounds could be heard striking hard against the side of the cavern, almost spider like did Kana ascend the wall to try and reach her.
"Spell, spell, what was the spell?" Glow asked herself, trying hard to remember.
With her flames illuminating the ceiling she approached, Glow glanced down to see the tentacles of Kana nearly upon her. Unable to remember a spell that would cleave rock with ease, Glow decided some improvisation would be required if she was going to make it out of this with her life. Kana's tentacle whipped towards her, striking mostly the ceiling, swiping a mass of rock from the roof. Glow nimbly danced away, standing upside down upon the ceiling looking down at Kana that burped a sickening sound her way.
Witnessing four tentacles rearing back to strike, Glow dug her hooves in, ready to make her move, awaiting the perfect moment to strike. Kana's tentacles swung back towards Glow trying to scrape her from the ceiling. Kicking off the ceiling, Glow weaved herself through the swinging tentacles, free falling towards Kana's gelatinous mass. Kana lifted its body revealing a putrid, slime covered, fanged mouth beneath her body, opening wide in the attempt to swallow her whole. Opening her wings, Glow caught the updraft of wind, throwing her clear of the mouth, rolling over top of Kana, feeling the goo drape over her.
The impact upon the ceiling from Kana's tentacles had weakened the structure of the cavern's ceiling, causing it to collapse upon the creature. Heavy stone, massive boulders peppered Kana as the hole from the ceiling grew wider, dragging in the building from up above in the Forgotten City down into the darkness. Trying desperately to free herself of the goo that was keeping her wings from opening, Glow repeatedly tried to ignite her flames, slowly burning away the goo that layered her.
"Just spark will you!" Glow screamed in frustration as the ground was quickly growing closer.
With seconds to spare Glow's Flash Step once more ignited, vaporizing the goo from her body, allowing her wings to unfold and soften her landing. Once on the ground, Glow looked up to see Kana falling along with an avalanche of ground chasing after it. Leaping back, Glow's horn flashed a white light as the impact of Kana and the dirt kicked up a storm of dust and sand.
Within the clouds of dust, Glow stood within a protective sphere of magic, layered thickly with dirt, fanning out her wings the sphere popped outwards tossing the dirt from her. Glow covered her mouth with her hoof trying her best not to breathe in the dust. Lying before her was the creature Kana, pinned beneath dirt, stone, and debris of the Forgotten City and the cavern walls.
If nothing else, Kana was still very much alive, possibly dazed, or too hurt to move for the moment. Finding this to be her best chance of acquiring the goo in a more productive manner, Glow magically elevated a decent sized rock from the ground and started to cleaved bits of it away. Stone cutting was not something she prided herself on, most Flame Ponies at one point or another has to cut stone, but she didn't need anything fancy; just something practical.
Having sheered the rock away, gutting a pit into it, Glow had made a rather rectangular jar similar to the ones Mira had in her cave. Cautiously approaching Kana, Glow spied a bare spot upon her body with some lightly dusted goo. Using her magic, Glow scraped the side of the stone jar against Kana's body, gathering up a generous portion of goo before lidding it shut. Stepping back from the creature, Glow looked up to the hole in the cavern ceiling, a bit less darker then within cave, proving it to be the black sky over head.
"Sorry for burying you." Glow remarked, sounding sincere. "But you were being rather difficult."
Leaping into the air, the stone jar clutched in her arm, Glow flew towards the opening in the ceiling. Only having flown halfway, Glow could tell she was very much exhausted for her bout with the creature Kana. With the hopes of not running into anymore creatures within the Forgotten City, Glow neared the edge of the hole, allowing her wings to take a break while she climbed the rest of the way up the lip of the pit.
With her breath labored, Glow stepped out onto the solid flat ground of the road that had not given way to the sudden sink hole they had caused. Looking up, Glow found herself staring at the one creature she would not have thought of seeing; Scorch.
Scorch stood several yards away. Flames still dangerously and violently whipping off his mane, his body not yet the scabbed and legion ridden husk of his hide, but very much a colt with a deep red flame that burned bitterly. Having forgotten the words she had been practicing on reciting to him to convince him to come back, the speech of forgiveness and understanding she wanted him to hear, Glow stared quietly at him unsure of what would happen next.
"I have been looking for you." Scorch said aloud, his voice sharp and vicious.
"Really?" Glow asked in surprise.
"I thought you were dead, seeing as I had left you alone to die during our last meeting." Scorch remarked beginning to stride towards her.
"Scorch, I wanted to tell you that I can look past this and-"Glow began, feeling a sense of urgency to have him hear all that she wanted to say.
"The mirror's magic is far more powerful than even I could have anticipated." Scorch cut her off, still striding closer.
"Mirror?" Glow asked, her train of thought being derailed.
"The Void Mirror you had used to come here. I attempted to step back through it but found it to be blocked with magic more powerful then I." Scorch stated.
"The mirror is only meant to go one way-" Glow began again.
"This is why I require your power to help me overcome this minor annoyance so that I may return to Equestria and make Celestia pay for challenging me." Scorch explained, cutting her off once more.
"Celestia banished you for that very reason Scorch! You challenged the peace and happiness of Equestria with this stupid war of yours!" Glow shouted, feeling a swell of anger and annoyance over his persistence.
"My banishment may have been by Celestia's hoof, but it would not have happened if you had not betrayed me!" Scorch cried angrily, his mane flaring wildly; searing the edges of the buildings he strode by.
"I did it to save every pony from this madness!" Glow shouted back.
"ENOUGH!" Scorch cried, stomping his hoof down and shaking the street beneath him.
There was a long silence between the two of them. Scorch's eyes were still burning the deep red hate that had consumed him these last few years, and it pained Glow to see her special somepony so twisted by his own hate to live like this.
"You have paid for your treasonous actions when I left you to die, but I have since forgiven you for what you have done. You will come with me and help me reverse the power of this mirror and return me to Equestria." Scorch stated, malice hidden within his cold tone.
"Forgiven me?" Glow asked, sounding rather hurtfully surprised.
"Be it that you are the Queen I am well within my rights to-" Scorch started.
"You forgive me?" Glow cut him short, her mane flaring in anger.
"Do not raise your flames to your King!" Scorch cried angrily.
"I don't… I don't even know you anymore. Is there anything left of that little colt that came to visit me every day?" Glow asked, almost moved to tears.
"Glow you listen to-" Scorch began, taking a step forward, but watching Glow take a step back.
Scorch stopped abruptly seeing this. There was a genuine sense of fear about him now, realizing that Glow was no longer listening to his commands. There was a noticeable decrease in Scorch's flames, as if trying to appeal to her with a less intimidating appearance.
"Glow…" Scorch began. "Sweetheart... it's me. Your King… your husband."
"You were once." Glow said somberly. "You were everything to me."
"I'm still here, Glow, I am not gone." Scorch hissed, his anger rising once more.
"I thought that if any pony could save you, it would be me. I see now I was just fooling myself, and I just couldn't accept it." Glow said, taking another step back.
"You can still save me, Glow, but you just need to come with me." Scorch hissed again, reaching out his hoof towards her.
Scorch started to breathe irregularly, a mixture of panic and anger swelling inside him. Knowing that Glow was not going to come willingly if he could not convince her otherwise, and it would mark his stay in this place for the rest of his days.
"We can go back... to… to our children." Scorch whispered to her.
This had Glow freeze up.
"We cannot leave them to grow up without their mother or… father." Scorch appealed to her. "Come with me, and we will return to Equestria and be reunited with them."
"What is your son's name?" Glow asked him.
"What?" Scorch asked.
"What is yours son's name?" Glow asked again but more aggressively this time.
"It's… Wick and Pyre!" Scorch shouted back, pausing for a moment to think.
"And?" Glow asked accusingly.
"And what?" Scorch asked, sounding irritated.
Scorch watched as Glow's face screwed up in disgust and anger. Realizing that he had fathered yet another son, but had completely ignored him since his birth. His flames once more returning to a violent flourish, his heat from his mane burning the ground around him, while Scorch struggled to remember the name of his son. Snorting angrily, it was apparent that Scorch could not fathom the name of his last son, knowing that he had lost his chance of having Glow come willingly.
"I have seen all manner of creatures here, Scorch," Glow said, sounding very hurt. "But none disgust me more then you."
Scorch let loose a blast of fire that encompassed the whole of the street, burning everything in its path, melting rock and turning the dirt to glass. A white light cut through the torrent of fire, striking Scorch in the chest, knocking him back hard onto the ground. Glow stood with the residue of Scorch's flames resting around her, her magical barrier having protected her and countering with a blast of magic of her own. Rising to his hooves, relatively unscathed from her attack, Scorch flared his mane ready to fight once more.
"Don't try it." Glow stated threateningly.
"I am the King!" Scorch cried angrily.
Scorch's horn erupted with magical power, sending streams of energy in all directions, cleaving the buildings around him and tearing up the ground beneath him. Leaning his head towards Glow, the power collecting within his horn exploded her way, a beam of red energy screeching her way.
Glow's eyes turned a bright white, her horn shining with light, Scorch's attack impacted a wall of magic conjured by her. The energy from his attack suddenly locked off into a sphere of white light, Scorch stepped back in utter shock of this. With a deft motion of her head the sphere went sailing back at Scorch, flaring out his wings in front of him, the sphere shattered sending all his energy right back at him.
The ditch carved out by his countered magic was immense, having tattered his wings, and thoroughly damaging his body. Struggling to get back onto his hooves, Scorch looked up to see Glow standing at the edge of the ditch watching him.
"This is goodbye, Scorch. It breaks my heart to see you this way." Glow said somberly.
"Where will you go?" Scorch asked, in a wheeze. "I will find… you... eventually."
"There is some pony that needs my help right now, a little being that is far braver and more deserving then you." Glow stated, turning to leave.
"The Arcana?" Scorch hissed at her.
Glow stopped short, surprised to hear that word come from him.
"You… are with the Arcana?" Scorch asked slowly, groaning from his pain.
"She saved me, after what you had done." Glow replied, coldly.
"Do not trust her!" Scorch cried angrily, trying to force himself up. "Do not go back to her!"
"Why?" Glow asked, feeling that every pony's opinion of her was the same.
"There is… a creature that… commands a storm… of unbelievable power… that devours light… and it uses the Arcana to find new sources of light." Scorch struggled to speak, sitting up.
Glow stared at him, refusing to speak.
"I have seen her sacrifice creatures to it; even her own kind to the storm. What better offering then a creature that can sustain light for years and years? She means to sacrifice you to this storm, if only to spare her own life." Scorch said to her.
Glow turned beginning to stride away from him.
"You cannot go back! She will be your doom, Glow! You will be destroyed!" Scorch shouted to her in anger and hints of fear.
"I came here to save the pony I loved more than myself, and I couldn't even do that much." Glow said remorsefully. "If I can save this little Arcana from the horrors of this place, to give her some semblance of hope… then I guess I won't be such a failure as a Queen, as a mother, and a wife."
"Glow!" Scorch cried in anger, his horn trying to spark magic but failing.
"Your son's name is Smolder, if you even care to know." Glow said sadly.
Amongst the protest and cries of Scorch, Glow leaped into the air, flapping her wings and flew off over the Forgotten City. There was emptiness about her, the sense of loss teaming from her. Still clutching the stone jar under her arm, Glow soared through the air, silently weeping to herself wondering where things had gone so wrong and how things were going to finally end.
Mira knelt beside Rok, gently stroking his snout, whispering a song in the words of the Arcana to him, trying her best to soothe his pain. Black rats of unusual size had come to feast upon the carcasses of the massive scorpions that had been left to rot. Having to hiss and even flourish some of her magic at them to stay away from her dying friend, doing her best to protect him. The rats swarmed the streets, leaving Mira to listen to their screeches and scratches as they scurried about.
"Please… please… please…" Mira whispered to herself, resting her head upon Rok's.
There was a sudden flurry of scratches from the street outside, dozens upon dozens of rats fled back to the shadows of the destroyed buildings. A familiar warmth of light soared down towards the street. Mira floated quickly outside to see Glow, weathered and tired, holding a stone jar with her. Mira could not fathom the words, just staring mystified by her. Mira paused for a moment, not staring at the jar but at her as if unconvinced that she had returned as promised. Very quickly, Mira snatched the stone jar and floated back towards the hole in the wall where Rok lay, taking one of Hoopoe's remaining feathers and draping it over him.
Glow stepped through the hole, her light illuminating the room around them, watching Mira work. Taking a large glob of goo from the jar, Mira smothered the feather with it. The feather itself started to decay, solidifying into black goo that covered a large area of Rok's fur and the fang bite. There was a noticeable difference in the wolf's breathing, no longer short and labored but drawn out; restful. Mira continued to fuss over the wolf, checking its heart rate, opening its eyes, and even going as far as examining its tongue.
Glow lowered herself to the ground, visibly tired from her ordeal, laying her head down to rest. Just as her eyes had shut, she felt Mira tightly hug her around the neck.
"I… I can't… you…" Mira whispered, already moved to tears. "I… won't forget this."
Glow couldn't help but smile. She had made good on her promise, and Mira was obviously grateful for it. Even if what Scorch had said was true, she knew what it was like to live in fear, to be forced to do things, all in the name of those you loved.
"It's cool." Glow whispered, gently nuzzling her.