Cobalt idly twirled a pencil nearby as the others were discussing what they were going to do about their current predicament. It was his house, after all. What were they going to do to him? Kick him out?
"Look, I simply feel as if this is one big trap. Crion is being talked to by Rosanna at the doors, but I doubt that any conversation will be effective there. They're both far too sarcastic," Crystal offered, still irritated at being woke up late.
"I feel as if we all agree with you, but what are we going to do at this point? There's not much we can do at the moment. We're pressed for time, because the shades aren't," Blaze replied.
"We should probably go with it for now, but Crion should not be allowed anywhere near a Rune. Even if we feel as if we can trust him, he's been gone for too long. Not to mention he was captured by shades," Fallen added.
"Yes, but what of Cobalt, he's not exactly the most trustworthy at this point. He looks like he's been through a lot of fighting," Redshield contributed. Onyx noticed he got a glare from his sister after he said that.
"Yes, yes, we know who isn't suspicious. Can we just go already?" Sharp whined.
After Sharp finished, Crion was shoved into the room by Rosanna. "I've got my eye on you, Lightweight," she warned him.
Crion gulped before speaking. "H.. Hey guys."
"Why are you here? You're supposed to be captured or dead, not... here," Prim coldly stated.
"Yeah, about that. I convinced them to let me go. I, uh, told them that I would give them cupcakes and they let me go," Crion unconvincingly explained.
"Well, works for me," Bluesteel commented.
A few of the ponies looked back at Bluesteel with a look of confusion in their eyes, but didn't further question her. After all, who would want to get into a fight with someone that could literally kill you before you drew your weapon?
"Well, Fallen, where are we going next? We have a Rune to find and I'd rather not waste time standing here," Onyx asked the Rune.
"Well, just give me a sec.... Where's the map?" Fallen questioned, panicking a little.
"Don't worry Fallen, I got it. Which one are we looking for again?" Crion practically shouted, drawing an angry glance from Cobalt.
Fallen sighed, but answered him. "The one that looks like a black stone."
Crion looked over the map for a bit before saying anything. "Ah ha! It shows that he's in Ghastly Gorge."
Blaze, Onyx, Crystal, and Rosanna all had doubtful looks, but kept quiet.
"Well, off to Ghastly Gorge with us. We'll leave in a few minutes. Everypony get ready," Bluesteel ordered, one of her daggers drawn.
The group dispersed to get ready, all except Cobalt, Crion, and Bluesteel. "Crion, may I speak to you for a moment. In private?" Bluesteel asked, glaring at Cobalt.
"Fine then, I'll just leave a room in my own house. So bossy, aren't you?" Cobalt remarked before walking out the front door.
"What kind of pitiful excuse was that? I'm blowing my cover here so that you don't get killed before you get them into that gorge. Don't expect any more help from me, you're on your own until you can learn how to make good excuses for showing up," Bluesteel snapped, leaving as quick as a hawk chasing a mouse.
* * *
"You're not going to buy this, are you? We let somepony who showed up at our front door with no good explanation lead us into a seemingly random area," Rosanna asked Fallen.
"Look, I don't trust it either. Bluesteel stuck up for him rather quickly, so I'm still conflicted about what I should think," Fallen replied.
The large group continued forwards, with Crion taking point and Prim bringing up the rear. The group made idle chatter as they trotted along, until Onyx raised his hoof in warning. They had reached the entrance to Ghastly Gorge.
"Hold on. Anyone else hear that?" He whispered, barely loud enough for Prim to make out what he said.
"Hear what?" Redshield whispered back.
"There was some kind of... popping noise," Onyx returned, still whispering.
"Why are we whispering?" Sharp inquired, not whispering.
Onyx gave him a glare, which quickly melted into alertness. The popping sound came again, and everypony heard it this time. Crion, however, kept going and motioned for the others to do the same. Blaze drew his dagger, motioning behind Crion.
"What?" Crion protested, before the shaft from an arrow poked through his left hind leg.
Onyx blindly fired back, getting a few more arrows shot at them in return. "We're outnumbered, see if we can get out of here!" He shouted, before he was grabbed from behind by Bluesteel, a dagger at his throat.
"Don't try anything stupid. We need you alive, and I've sacrificed too much to get in this position," she whispered in his ear.
Onyx knew he couldn't break from the hold of an expert assassin, nor yell out to alert the now occupied group. Blaze turned back to see Onyx be taken into the position, and rushed towards them.
"Not another move, Tralm," Bluesteel shouted at him, causing Blaze to tense up.
"I no longer go by that name. I am giving you one chance to release him, and I'd advise you to do it quickly," he yelled back.
"Your advice is no longer of use to me. Also, I'd advise you to deal with more pressing matters," Bluesteel returned.
Blaze opened his mouth to reply, but was tackled by a dark figure.
"Well, this has been fun, but Dark needs her bloodline. Have fun," she commented, before darting into and up the gorge.
Blaze was grappling with the shade that tackled him from behind, finally getting the lethal blow to the heart with his dagger. "Everypony fall back! They got Onyx!" He yelled to the group.
"One cannot fall back if they are surrounded, Shade-Kin," an ironically heroic voice sounded behind him.
Blaze landed and pointed his dagger threateningly at the newcomer. The newcomer simply raised a hoof, signaling that he meant no harm.
"I am not here to hurt you. I would have done that long ago. After all, an army is only as good as its leader," the newcomer explained.
"Tell me why you're here and I might consider not driving this dagger into your skull," Blaze offered.
The masculine voice simply chuckled at Blaze and pulled a piece of parchment from his cloak, holding it out to Blaze.
"A missive, I suggest you read it. I cannot stay here much longer. If I do, I may not be able to offer you further aid." With that, the mysterious figure left as suddenly as it has appeared.
* * *
"Get your flank up there and fight, Sharp!" Rosanna yelled at the soldier.
"Nah, I'm good," Sharp replied, causing Rosanna to smack him rather hard on the head.
Sharp growled, reaching for his spear. He never even touched it. Rosanna kicked it out of the way before he grabbed it and kicked him in his now exposed stomach. Sharp took a swing at the guard, but his hoof was hit out of the way, leaving him fazed. Rosanna kicked at his side with the bionic leg, causing an audible crack to sound across the rocky landscape. Rosanna left him there and rushed to Crystal's aid.
Crystal was being attacked by 3 shades. Normally, this wouldn't be a problem for her. However, this was not a normal circumstance. She had already been hit with a crude club on her back legs when she wasn't paying attention and now she was suffering for it.
Her hammer was proving to be ineffective against the shades, as the hammer took a while to swing and the shades were too fast. Just as she thought she was going to be overwhelmed, Rosanna threw one of the shades to the side and stabbed through its torso with Sharp's dagger, not caring if she hit the heart or not. That distraction proved just enough for Crystal to hammer one of the shades to the side, knocking into the other one when it went flying.
"Thanks, Rosanna," Crystal thanked, breathless.
"No problem, but don't get sappy on me. We have to get the others out of here while those two are still dazed," Rosanna ordered. Crystal nodded and went to help Fallen.
* * *
Fallen and Redshield had been fighting back to back since the shades had decided to leave the shadows and start attacking them. Fallen was using a shortsword while Redshield had a mace and a shield that was, well, red, but not with pigment.
"Doing all right, old timer?" Redshield called to Fallen, driving his shield spike through a shade.
"I'll have you know I'm only half as old as Sunset," Fallen returned, deflecting a slash that was meant for his chest.
When Fallen thought that he was going to be killed by the onslaught of shades, the kick of Rosanna's bionic leg saved him from the cleave of an axe as he was preoccupied parrying a blade coming for his throat, which was then hammered by Crystal and finished off by Fallen.
"We need to get out of here before they get more shades to attack us. Fall back to Blaze. He said he has something to explain," Cobalt ordered, grinding his pickaxe against a whetstone.
"What about Crion?" Fallen asked.
"The traitor can die in Tartarus for all I care. He led us straight to this ambush. He still has the map, I suppose you could go get that," Cobalt suggested, inspecting the sharpened pickaxe.
"Wow, you jump to conclusions real quick, don't you?" Fallen observed.
"It all adds up. He randomly shows up, takes the map before you can look at it, then insists to lead as he still holds on to the map. Besides, he was hit by a shade in the leg. Shades don't hit targets they can easily kill in nonlethal areas. Look, just go get the map and let's get out of here," Cobalt finished, trotting back to where Blaze was standing.
"Go get the map, we'll need it. We'll be waiting on you," Redshield advised, trotting over to the group.
* * *
"Prim, you doing alright?" Blaze asked, examining the large gash in her fore hoof.
"Yeah, nothing a little time won't fix," she insisted, wincing as she wrapped it with some badages from Fallen's saddlebag.
"Okay, I'm here. What's this about?" Fallen inquired, trotting up to the group.
"There was some kind of... figure that arrived after the shades did. He gave me this note, said it was a missive. I figured we should take a look at it together," Blaze elaborated.
Rosanna looked doubtful. "A note given to you by an unknown figure during a fight with shades? Sounds completely legit," she sarcastically commented.
"Look, we're out of ideas and down 2 ponies. We should probably take a look at it," Fallen offered.
"Two? I thought only Sharp was dead," Crystal informed them.
"Crion was dead when I took the map from him. The arrow had some kind of poison," Fallen informed them, causing a wide range of reactions. Prim's face fell instantly, as did Rosanna's. Blaze had a near neutral expression, as did Crystal. Redshield was the only one who looked the way Cobalt did.
"Then he died a traitor's death," Cobalt smirked.
"Cobalt, he wasn't lying," Fallen stated.
"What?" Cobalt asked, rushing over to look at the map. Sure enough, the Rune of Chaos was shown to be in Ghastly Gorge.
"Look, we need to address the fact that Onyx was taken. If he is turned into a shade by our mother, we may not stand a chance. Onyx knew our plans, our strategy, and us. If she gets that information, there's not telling what kind of force she could put on us," Blaze commented.
"Taken? By whom?" Rosanna asked, eyebrow raised.
"Bluesteel," Blaze answered.
"You dare accuse my sister of being in league with them?" Redshield spat out, before he went silent and gave a slow nod. "I suppose that it would make sense, with her acceptance of Crion's plan."
"Look, we need to get some sleep. I'll take first watch," Blaze offered, meeting no opposition.
After he was sure everypony was asleep, Blaze opened the letter the figure had given him. It read:
The office of Whitehoof, adviser to Dark Storm
Written on the 5th day of 1297 PSR
Blaze,
I am well aware that your brother is going to be taken, as is stated by the plan that Dark has set up for this world. There is nothing I can do to prevent this event, but I can ensure that you know who you will have to fight when the times comes. Now, why should you trust a shade? A valid question, but one I do not have the time to detail in this missive. If you can place your trust in me, I assure you that I am a pony that you have to place your trust in to succeed.
I regret to be the one to inform you, but chasing the Runes will only end in disaster. Brave Steel was killed trying to help Onyx rebuild the group, which is now down four members. I will not stop you from chasing them, but know that Dark will always be a step ahead of you. How? She has a secret weapon. Her name is Eldritch Dream, a Hajlító, or Bender. If you believe something to be the way it is, you may want to check again with her around.
Blaze, I beg of you to not do anything stupid. There are few that know of the shades' existence, and even fewer that have the will to fight them. I took a risk writing this, and I will have taken a no doubt bigger one getting this message to you. I will do what I can to get Onyx out of becoming a shade if I can. I cannot give you any advice about Dark, as I have none to give. She does not reveal her weaknesses easily.
Hang in there Blaze, the fight will not last forever.
The missive ended there, leaving Blaze confused and intrigued at the same time. If there was a chance that he could believe this Whitehoof guy, he supposed that he'd better take it while most of his friends were still alive. He would inform them in the morning. For now, he had a shift to finish and some sleep to grab.