Chapter 14: "Digging Deeper."
"The greatest lie a person can tell, is that there is nothing left to learn from."
- The Goddess
Magnus Family Crypt (10:35 am)
I was back in the crypt, and for a moment, time was standing still. The zombies were still here, shuffling towards us. Karosta had picked up a large stone pole that had broken off from one of the mausoleums, and was having the time of her life beating the hell out of zombies left and right. Pensipony had strange voodoo marks all over her face and body, and her irises glowed red, as she moved from zombie to zombie, turning them to ash with a single touch. Sweat beaded on her forehead as she had to be using a lot of her energy to do so. But she was determined to protect her friends.
I sat up and got back to my feet, as I looked for Carlsen. But he was nowhere to be seen, probably having used the moment to escape. But there was no time for that now. I knew how we could get out of this place.
I raced over to the nearby wall, and got to work, tapping each and every stone that made up the wall, till I found one that was loose.
Karosta looked over at me."Meir? Hey, what are you doing!? We need to-
Pensipony shushed her. "Let her work." she said, her irises still glowing like fire, as yet another zombie turned to ash at her hoof. Karosta shrugged and laughed as she sent a zombie's head flying from its neck. It hit the wall with a sickening crunch.
As I poked at the wall, I found more and more loose stones. As I pushed them in, the wall began to shake and buckle. Finally as I pushed the last one in, the entire wall descended into the ground, flooding the room with sunlight, as we all ran out of there as fast as we could.
As I looked back, I saw the wall suddenly slam back into place trapping the zombies (All, I think....3 of them? Karosta and Pensipony had pretty much killed all the others) in the crypt. We took a minute to catch our breath as Karosta slammed me hard on the back with her hoof. "Good eye, there Meir!" she acknowledged.
"Heh, thanks....and also, Ow!" I said rubbing my now sore back.
Pensipony's eyes returned to normal, as the strange voodoo markings slithered and slid over her body, till they were gone from view. She wiped sweat from her brow, as she collapsed to the ground, much more winded than either of us. She looked up at me and smiled as I gave her a concerned look. "Don't worry about me, Meir. I've gone up against worse." she assured me.
"How much worse is worse then zombie ponies?" I asked, genuinely curious.
She got off the ground and dusted herself off, before straightening out her suit and tie. "Story for another day, perhaps."
Karosta scratched the back of her head as she looked back at the crypt. "But how did you know about that secret exit, Meir?" she asked.
"Huh? Oh that wasn't a secret exit. It was the front entrance."
Karosta blinked. "Come again?"
I had remembered seeing Carlsen's eyes shifting around, trying to make it look like he was insane. But in reality he was scanning the wall for the right bricks to push, which would open the real front entrance to the crypt. The crypt had been purposely built backwards, as I could tell from the direction Mage Meadowbrook's statue faced. From her front, you could see the names on the front of every crypt, and the gates leading in. But when I saw her statue, I saw the name of the Magnus Crypt, despite the fact I was facing the back of her statue. This meant that the Magnus Family Crypt had been built, facing the wrong direction. Instead of forward, it faced backwards. We entered from the back thinking it was the front, making it easy for Carlsen to trap us in there, while he escaped out the real entrance. The entrance that had been concealed with an elaborate false wall, that only Carlsen would know about.
Karosta looked bewildered as she stared at me. "Geez, Meir. You really are The Smartest Pony In The World." she said, utterly lost for words.
Pensipony nodded in agreement, before turning to Karosta. "I believe we have our man now, Chief." she elaborated, pushing her glasses up on her muzzle.
Karosta smiled at her. "Damn right we do!" She exclaimed. "Once we get back to the station, we'll-
"Um....about the station. We can't go back there, cause everyone there has basically been turned into zombies...uh, the non-dead kind." I explained quickly.
Karosta closed her eyes. "Really?" she asked, sounding annoyed.
"Really." Me and Pensipony both said in unison.
Karosta sighed, before yelling out in anger, then calming down, after bucking a tombstone in half. "Great." she said finally. "So now where can we go."
I thought of one place that guaranteed all of us protection and shelter while we formulated how to take down Carlsen for good.
"Well..." Everyone turned to look at me as I smiled. "I know this tailor shop..."
(The Golden Circle Tailor Shop, 10:46 am)
We were all welcomed into The Golden Circle with open arms by Gertrude, as Gold Digger, Goldbloom, Karosta, Pensipony and me, were all led to the lounge where various refreshments awaited us. Nair stood proudly behind the counter, waiting only for me.
She smiled as I went up to her. "So...how was she?" she asked, with a clever grin.
"She was...incredible. I wish I could've talked to her more."
Nair nodded. "We all do." she got out from behind the counter and put a hoof to my shoulder. "But now, I'd say it's time." she said mysteriously.
"Um...time for what?"
Nair pointed to my cutie mark, specifically the various pink and purple stars that still glowed with a faint aura. "First off, you learn how to use that gift you've been given. And then..." she smiled broadly as she locked eyes with mine, determination in her gaze. "We're going to save this city!"
Golden Circle Training Room (11:00 am)
In the Golden Circle Training Room, the walls were taller then tall, and made of fine wood, polished to a shine, as well was the floor, which gleamed as my reflection looked back at me from it. A massive circle of gold was emblazoned onto it's wooden surface.
Nair watched me intently from a balcony high above me.
For a minute I stood there wondering if this was part of the training. Then I heard the sound of machinery and wood on wood, as a mirror rose up from a door on the floor and stood in front of me. "Begin." Nair's voice called. "Use your newfound magic to change your appearance in some way. It doesn't matter how, so feel free to try whatever you wish. And nothing drastic either."
I had seen magic countless times, but I was NOT a unicorn, and knew nothing of how to actually call to it. To make it manifest and create from my will alone. But that's what I was here to learn. And it couldn't be too hard, right?
It would be amazing to use magic, so I decided to give it a shot. I sat down in front of the mirror, and squeezed my eyes shut, trying to come up with a medium to focus the magic on. I thought of The Goddess. I concentrated hard on her kind, motherly spirit. I pictured her smiling, impossibly beautiful face.
Something was happening. I could feel my cutie mark trying as hard as I was. It pulsed and grew warmer, till it burned with energy. A few times, I even felt like I was getting somewhere; I could feel electricity in the air as magic gathered around the room.
I could feel the magic inside myself. I could practically see it sparking from a non-existent horn on my head. I needed to channel it.
I kept my eyes closed as I reached up and touched my swirly, teal colored mane, and imagined the magic working on it. I imagined it changing colors, flipping through all the different possibilities the rainbow had to offer until I landed on the most beautiful color I could: The fiery radiance of The Goddess's deep red mane.
And when I saw myself staring back from the mirror, a swirl of my mane, stood out beneath my left ear, and it was even redder then I had hoped.
I had done it. I had performed real magic, despite not being a unicorn! If I could change the color of my mane, I could learn to do other things too....with practice of course. Looking back at my mane I decided that I liked it the way it was before, and changed it back to normal with a thought.
Nair's voice was heard above me, higher and more cheerful then I had ever heard her. "Well done, Miss Meir! Well done indeed!"
She came down from her balcony and wrapped me in a tight hug, as she beamed proudly at me. "It'll take practice, but I know you will be able to do amazing things with this gift. I'm proud of you."
"Thank you. I'm...actually proud of myself, too!" I laughed. "So what now?"
Nair grinned as she led the way back to the shop lobby. "Oh, I think you know."
And I did.
Golden Circle Conference Room
As we sat in the wide and incredibly regal looking trophy/ Conference room on the top floor of The Golden Circle, Karosta led our efforts to come up with a plan to beat The Cartel."Okay...so, how are we gonna beat these bastards?" she asked the room. "We know whose behind all of it, so all we gotta do is find him and the rest of them and take em down for good. And we can't count on my police department for any help."
Pensipony adjusted her glasses as she spoke up with her opinion. "I would say our solution on how we beat them is simple: Fight fire with fire."
"You mean voodoo? Do you know anything that can beat him?" I asked, looking over at her from my own seat at the table.
"Maybe. But I would need a few days to gather the necessary ingredients." Pensipony explained.
Karosta slammed her hoof on the table. "We don't have a few days, Damn it! We have to take these guys down, and soon. I don't know why, but I got a bad feeling they got something horrible planned for Nightmare Night."
"It would make sense for them to have something planned." Goldbloom elaborated. "But what can we fight them with if not voodoo?"
Then I thought of something. "Maybe we don't."
Everypony looked at me. "What do you mean?" Karosta asked.
"I think I know something better. And we wouldn't even need to fight Carlsen at all.....The Loa." I said with seriousness in my voice. "The Loa are what grants a voodoo practitioner their powers. And we know what Loa is giving Carlsen all this power: Bogun Legba."
Pensipony quickly caught on. "If we can make it so Carlsen can't repay his debt to Legba, then Legba will come and claim him as collateral! Brilliant!" she exclaimed.
Gold Digger scratched her head. "But how do we make it so he can't pay Legba back?" she asked.
Pensipony and me exchanged glances. "The Tattoo." we said in unison. In the crypt, that elaborate tattoo on Carlsen's arm seemed to be his medium for casting his voodoo. And whatever it was, it was powerful enough to reanimate the dead. If we could get rid of the tattoo on Carlsen's arm, then he wouldn't be able to use voodoo to collect souls for Legba, and Legba would take his power and Carlsen back with him.
Karosta sat down with a grin. "Okay, so that's our plan. We find out were they are. Kick their asses. Then find Carlsen and give him some forced tattoo removal, then watch as Legba comes and eats him....or whatever. Sounds good to me!"
Nair stood up from her seat as a map of Nawlans descended from the ceiling on a screen. We all sat and listened. "The Circle's Arcane Detectors have been tracking several powerful signals in the Nawlans area for several days now." A series of bright blue dots pulsated at random around the map. "But with things narrowed down to a Loa imbued Voodoo tattoo, we can pinpoint the source, and therefore the headquarters of the Voodoo cartel....here." a large blue dot, larger than all the others appeared on the map, right near the center of town. In the Nawlans City Stadium.
Karosta looked shocked. "No way....the stadium. I would've never guessed. The city throws a massive party there every year for Nightmare Night."
And then it all came to me. "He's going to announce the cartel's existence to the entire city. Declare himself it's new mayor. The Cartel won't have to hide anymore. Nopony will be able to stop him."
Gold Bloom looked extremely on edge. "This is insane! He can't just do all this and get away with it!" she exclaimed.
"It makes sense when you think about it. They could have all their rituals right beneath the place, and no one would ever hear anything cause of the noise from Buck-ball games and the like. And all those ponies, in one place? Perfect for getting fresh targets." Pensipony elaborated, although she looked sickened by the whole thing. I shared her feelings.
I stood up from my chair and took a breath. "Okay, so we know where to go, and what to do-
Pensipony spoke up. "And I know how we can do it." she said getting out of her own seat. "If voodoo gave him the tattoo, then we can use voodoo to burn it off. But we would need to get close. Very close."
"You mean...all of us disguise ourselves as members of the Cartel, sneak into the stadium during Carlsen's announcement and get close enough to him to burn the tattoo off his arm, and then escape with our lives?" I asked, already knowing the answer.
Pensipony nodded. "Yep" she said simply.
For a moment the room went completely silent. Then Gold Digger raised her hoof and smiled brightly as she said. "I'm in!" she exclaimed.
Then Goldbloom, raised her hoof. "I'm in too!"
Karosta raised hers as well. "You already know I'm in."
Nair looked over at me and gave the slightest of nods, but the warmest of smiles.
With all my friends on board we spent the rest of the day coming up with a plan to beat Carlsen and take down the cartel for good. It was finally time to save Nawlans, and make the cartel pay for everything it's done. I only hoped we could do it in time.
With Nightmare Night closer then ever, I suddenly had a terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach. But I had no idea why. And that was scarier then anything.