//------------------------------// // That Eternal Profession // Story: Darkest Shadows // by FireOfTheNorth //------------------------------// “Is somepony there?” the unicorn asked fearfully as she swept her flashlight across the graveyard. Canterlot was a usually fairly safe city, but odd disappearances of many ponies without explanation over the past several months had made some suspect that everything was not as it seemed. The Ministry was busier than ever, spring bringing yet another spike in monster activity, yet this simple caretaker couldn’t know that. All she knew was that she’d heard a noise in the graveyard she was supposed to be watching over, and it was her job to investigate. She hoped that it was just some foals up to mischief that she could scare off with her presence; if it was anything else, then she’d run as fast as she could to the nearest police station. The mare jumped in fright as a crash came from within the graveyard, and she swung the flashlight around to where it had come from. She slowly advanced toward where the sound had originated, the back of the morgue, while keeping an eye on her escape route. The graveyard was divided into several sections, with iron fences running between them. In each of these fences were several gates, and the mare became more uneasy when she saw that something had smashed the locks on one gate in each fence, creating a path toward where she’d heard the crash. At least now she didn’t need to fish out her keys, but she’d definitely be speaking to the Canterlot Police Department about this property damage once she tracked down the culprit. It was easy enough to locate the source of the crash; the doors to the morgue had been smashed in. The uneasy feeling in the mare’s stomach continued to grow as she illuminated the damage with her flashlight, but she continued on. What was she going to tell the police, that something had smashed the locks and door to the morgue, but she didn’t know what? She followed the shuffling sounds to the room where bodies were kept as they awaited burial, and she spotted the culprit. One body had been removed from its cooler, and a gangly figure was hunched over it, barely visible in the dim light provided by gas lamps on the walls. The creature stood on two legs, arms ending in claws extended over its prey, though it did not sink them into the dead body. A pale, bluish mist floated up from the corpse into the creature’s mouth as it drained the pony’s soul. The graveyard caretaker shook as she turned her flashlight on the monster, drawing its attention. Its form was feline, with a coat black as pitch but for a white diamond in the center of its chest. As it turned toward the caretaker, ethereal remnants dripped down from its mouth and whiskers. The mare screamed and backpedaled as the creature lunged toward her, but it was too late. Her flashlight bounced off the ground as she fell with deep punctures in her neck and side. The monster waited for her to die before partaking of her soul as well. It didn’t have to wait long. Darkest Shadows Part the Seventh: That Eternal Profession *** Beryl looked with concern at the Ministry’s status board as she entered their secret base within Canterlot Mountain. The Ministry was facing an historic number of monster attacks, and they were stretching thin. Attacks were especially bad around Canterlot and within Equestria proper, and agents from the more distant Equestrian territories were being reshuffled to face the threat. Some of the Ministry’s bureaucrats had gone to the trouble of digging up the old records and confirmed that things hadn’t been this bad in five hundred years. The Ministry had been much smaller then, and Beryl tried to fathom how they’d been able to cope with so many monsters on a regular basis. Then again, ponies had been more used to monster attacks back then; the Ministry’s ceaseless efforts to eradicate all beastly threats to Equestria had made its citizens too comfortable. Even so, they couldn’t allow things to return to the way they’d been centuries prior; that would be disastrous, especially with the thousandth summer sun celebration coming up, and ponies calling it the beginning of a new Equestrian golden age. They couldn’t know how close the nation really was to slipping into chaos. “Hey, Berry!” Rolling Thunder greeted the senior agent, practically dive-bombing her, and she rolled her eyes, “Better find an assignment before all the good ones are taken.” “I don’t think there’s much chance of that,” Beryl replied, looking again at the threat board. “That’s true, that’s true,” Rolling Thunder laughed, “Though I wouldn’t mind if things died down a bit. Well, I’m off to hunt down a cockatrice in the sewers, so I’ll see you around.” “I’m sure I will,” Beryl replied begrudgingly, but the pegasus had already taken off.Why does he think I’m his friend? Agents were running around all over the place frantically, many of them casting worried glances at the status board. Beryl made her way through the chaos, eventually reaching her office. She didn’t have a chance to sit down, though, for a note had been left on her desk requesting her presence in Siren’s Song’s office the moment she got in. Dropping off her saddlebags, she complied and headed straight to the deputy director’s office. She was let in immediately, and was surprisingly not the only pony who’d been summoned. Adamant was there as well, the first Knight of Dawn she’d met, causing Berry to wonder what Siren’s Song was up to. She got her answer soon enough, as Siren’s Song placed an anti-eavesdropping talisman on his desk the moment the door shut behind her. “Sorry about the short notice, but I have an urgent job for the two of you,” the deputy director began, taking a seat behind his desk and magically closing the curtains over the windows overlooking the Ministry’s foyer, “Officially you’ll be on this job as agents of the Ministry, but unofficially you’ll also need to report what you find to the Knights of Dawn. The Black Briar contacted me this morning. Something very dangerous is in Canterlot, hidden beneath all the other monster attacks drawing our attention, and he’s given me enough information to pinpoint a case that will put the two of you in a position to investigate.” “Are two of us necessary?” Adamant asked, giving voice to the question Beryl had but hadn’t wanted to say, “We’re both solo operators, usually.” “The Black Briar insisted,” Siren’s Song said with authority, “He stressed that this was a threat that required the skills of multiple ponies. Unfortunately, with the heightened threat the Ministry is facing, Director Thistleback isn’t keen to allow the formation of teams, at least not until the threat is identified and she's giver her approval that multiple ponies are required, but I’ll try to keep things quiet. Good luck, you two. Given the importance of this, I’d come along too, but my absence wouldn’t go unnoticed. Make your fellow knights proud.” *** As so often happened, the Canterlot Police Department had gotten to the scene of the attack first. As the number of monster attacks grew, this was also becoming more common, and the Ministry was investing nearly as much time keeping things hushed up within the CPD as they did actually tracking down monsters. There was no crowd here, at least; ponies would gather in hordes if part of a street were barricaded off, but nopony had the inclination to break into a graveyard to see why there was a police wagon parked outside. Beryl and Adamant flashed their badges to the officer waiting at the gate to the graveyard and made their way to the morgue, where a familiar grizzled stallion waited. “Agent Berry, a pleasure to be working with you again,” Grey Wind greeted her as she and Adamant reached the scene of the attack. “What can you tell us, Grey Wind?” Beryl asked as she examined the scene visually and Adamant trotted into it to get a better look. “Not much, I’m afraid,” the police officer admitted, “We’ve got one new stiff with eight puncture wounds, but there’s none of the usual gnawing or mutilation you’d expect to see if it was really a case for you and your friend. If it weren’t for those wounds, I’d have considered it a normal murder and not gotten you involved.” “She’s awfully cold, isn’t she,” Berry said as she bent over the body lying in the hallway. “Is she? I suppose, but no more than usual for somepony who lost her life several hours ago,” Grey Wind said. “Was there something on this table that your officers have moved?” Adamant asked. The cold Beryl had sensed was a magical void that she hadn’t recognized as such, but her comments had reminded Adamant of the sensation she’d felt in her wandering investigation. As an earth pony, of course Grey Wind wouldn't have sensed anything, but unicorns like Beryl and Adamant could detect what he couldn’t. “Yes, there was a body on the table, but he’d been dead for days,” Grey Wind said, “They returned him to his cooler without my permission.” “Thank you, Grey Wind. I think we have enough at the moment for our investigation. If you’d excuse us,” Beryl said, and the police officer headed outside without question, “This mare was just a caretaker; she wouldn’t have been working on a body, especially not so late.” “Indeed,” concurred Adamant, “Which means whatever fiend we’re looking for has an interest in bodies that are already dead, though not in eating them, apparently, unless it was scared off.” “Odd that it would go to the trouble of breaking into the morgue instead of taking advantage of all the graves just outside,” Beryl commented. “Something interested in reasonably fresh dead bodies, then,” Adamant thought out loud. So, back to the Ministry, then?” Beryl asked. “Yes, both of us may have chosen to operate outside of its bounds, but we’re still drawn back,” Adamant said with a snort, “Despite its flaws, it’s still the greatest repository of knowledge on monsters we have.” *** That night saw Adamant and Beryl back at the graveyard, staking out the morgue. Their search for information at the Ministry had proven fruitless, even after accessing the Deep Archives. Director Thistleback had also taken notice of their unauthorized team-up despite Siren’s Song’s best efforts, and had given the case to another agent, so neither of them were here on legitimate business. As such, they'd both discarded their Ministry uniforms for their hodgepodge outfits as Knights of Dawn, which had turned out remarkably similar. Beryl had hoped to have a chance to get away to Rosethorn Hall and pore through Shadowmere’s books, but there hadn’t been an opportunity; she’d also have no explanation if she suddenly came back with new information, so they were in the dark about what they were facing. She nudged Adamant to draw her attention as a non-pony figure appeared outside the graveyard. They were cloaked under several spells and hidden in the doorway of an overgrown mausoleum, so the two mares shouldn’t have been worried about being detected, yet even from here, it seemed the creature knew something was amiss and was hesitant to enter. Eventually, the biped overcame its hesitancy and attacked the chain holding the outer gate closed. It made its way through the graveyard, following the same path as before until it reached the morgue. Once more, it looked about suspiciously before tearing down the police canvas over the broken door and entering the morgue. Adamant and Berry slowly emerged from their hiding place and advanced toward the morgue, weapons at the ready. Silently, they made their way down to where it had killed the night before.The creature had pulled another body out by the time they arrived and was preparing to feast. As it leaned over the corpse, Berry let loose a crossbow bolt. The feline’s ears picked up the sound of the crossbow firing, and it spun with lightning-fast reflexes. The bolt sunk into its shoulder, but missed any vital organs, and the beast stared back at Berry balefully. Adamant charged into the room, her rapier cloaked in magical fire. With a growl, the monster overturned the preparation table, launching it and the corpse at her. Her sword spun out of her magical grip, and she was thrown back as she was struck. Berry fired another crossbow bolt at the beast, but it managed to dodge it completely this time, and the bolt bounced off the far wall. Hissing, the monster charged Berry and knocked her to the ground with a swipe of its paw, its claws cutting her outfit but leaving her flesh unharmed. Instead of finishing her off, the monster charged off down the hallway, though not in the direction of the morgue’s exit. Berry was still trying to get up when Adamant leaped over her and galloped after the monster. Once back on her hooves, Berry pursued them through the morgue, keeping a map of the place in her head. There was one other way the monster could get out of here than the way it’d entered, and she maneuvered to cut off its escape. Taking up a position, she leveled her crossbow at the hallway the monster would come down, and fired a bolt when it appeared. It dodged it, but had second thoughts about continuing toward Berry, especially after she conjured up her magic sword. Adamant was close behind it, but it jumped into the air as she swung her rapier at it, and landed with one foot on her back, sinking its claws in. As the monster descended, it sank a foreclaw into the trunk of Adamant’s body, wounding her enough that she dropped her rapier entirely and tried to strike the beast with her hooves. Berry charged toward the monster, determined to kill it before it could kill Adamant off, or at least distract it long enough for her to get free. Fear flashed in the beast’s slitted eyes, and it pressed its free paw against its chest before touching the wall next to it with that same paw. A portal the same shape as the diamond on its chest appeared on the wall, and it threw Adamant through. Berry swung her sword at the monster, but it was too quick, and her blade only sliced off the tip of its tail as it fled. Berry pounded on the wall as the portal slammed shut. She could sense neither Adamant or the beast anywhere nearby. For all she knew, they weren’t in Equestria anymore; teleportation rules that constrained unicorns often didn’t apply to monsters, and they had no idea what this beast was. Adamant would have to fight it on her own now, assuming it had teleported them to the same location. At least she had its tail, so there might be some way to track the beast’s whereabouts. First, she had to know what she was dealing with, though. It was time to see Shadowmere. *** “A cat sith,” Shadowmere said after Berry finished explaining the creature, “They sneak into mortuaries to steal the souls of the dead before they are buried. It’s fortunate that there are so few of them.” “So, have you faced them in the past, then?” Berry asked. “Once or twice. I haven’t seen one in centuries, though that means nothing for them,” Shadowmere said with a snort. “Why is that? Do they have incredibly long lifespans?” “Quite the opposite, in fact,” Shadowmere explained as he pulled down a bestiary on obscure creatures from the bookshelf, “They only live for two decades or so, but they can travel through time, so it makes it difficult to trace them and know if they’ve really been eradicated.” “Travel through time?” Berry asked, thinking about the portal it’d opened in the morgue. “Yes, nine times in their life they can open a portal to another time and step through,” Shadowmere said, dropping the heavy bestiary onto a table, the pages settling on an illustration and description of the monster, “It makes hunting them extremely hard, since if they’re cornered, they’ll use the ability to escape.” “Hmm, we may be in trouble, then,” Berry said with a frown. “It went through a portal?” Shadowmere asked, already knowing the answer. “Yes, and that’s not all,” Berry replied, “Before it jumped through, it sent a Knight of Dawn through with it.” “Oh,” said Shadowmere. That would make this a sticky situation. Shadowmere had been surprised to hear of the existence of the Knights of Dawn from Berry when he’d returned from investigating the lobgoblin and the Nocte Corporation, but he had nothing against them. As rogue Ministry agents, they weren’t amateurs more likely to get themselves hurt or make things worse than do good. The world could always use more monster hunters, especially with the recent catastrophic rise of monsters in Equestria. However, they were led by a pony who not only claimed to be him, but also looked almost exactly like him. Shadowmere was a very unique pony, so there was little chance that this was a coincidence. That brought up the question of who knew him well enough to impersonate him and was still around. The question gnawed at the back of his mind and refused to let go. “Well, I suppose we must go after them, then,” Shadowmere said after a long and thoughtful silence, “It’s a good thing you managed to cut off some of the cat sith’s flesh. We may be able to determine its position in place and time.” “And travel there?” Berry asked incredulously, “I thought time travel was impossible, except over short spans of time for a short duration.” “Without a stabilizing element, like an Equine Scroll, yes, but we’re not going to find any of those. With unicorn magic, time travel is incredibly limited, but it’s not a unicorn that’s going to allow us to follow the cat sith,” Shadowmere said, and he flashed a wicked smile with too many teeth, “Pack your things, we’re going on a trip outside of our world.” *** For all the time that Berry had spent with Shadowmere in the passages, she assumed that no supernatural realm could surprise her, but she was wrong. They had traveled to a realm far older than the passages, a realm that had stood unchanged while the Beyond and Aetherius had collapsed into the passages. This was the Soul Cairn, and it was unlike anything Berry had seen before. Hills and mountains of ash stretched out in all directions, bones and crystalline formations poking out in places. The sky was a roiling mass of purple energy from which lighting strikes came down from time to time. Buildings of black stone sprouted from the ground in places, worn and weathered by ash blown about on the constant wind that howled through the realm, or lay tumbled in heaps like a giant’s discarded toy blocks. It hadn’t been easy to get here, but time was of the essence; Adamant had been wounded, and even if she’d managed to escape the cat sith after being thrown through time, she was still in danger. They had traveled through several passages filled with horrors (Shadowmere’s relatively safe one no longer available) and popped in and out of Equestria before reaching a ruined shrine in the Frozen North. A complicated ritual was required to open the way to the Soul Cairn, Shadowmere had explained, before bypassing it with a far easier ritual that used his own blood. The portal had opened, and the two ponies had stepped down into another world. The Ideal Masters were their goal, and they were the rulers of this realm, powerful and ancient. They’d also taken notice of Shadowmere’s unorthodox method of opening a way in and were waiting for them, as eagerly as beings that had lived thousands of years could. Berry had been warned about them, and yet they still took her breath away as they came into view when she and Shadowmere ascended an ancient obsidian podium to speak to them. They were enormous, easily the size of any of the Soul Cairn’s mountains, and seemed lofty even from the height of the podium. The four Ideal Masters were seated in a semicircle facing the podium, looking like gigantic ponies taking up the posture of wise sphinxes. Though their bodies were pony-shaped, their flesh was not flesh at all. One was composed entirely of ice, another of stone, a third of fire, and the last of storm clouds and lightning. The elements of which they were made constantly shifted, even as the Ideal Masters themselves remained completely still and silent. “I see you’ve changed your forms again!” Shadowmere was the first to speak. “WHY SHOULDN’T WE?” the stone Master asked, boulders rolling off its face as its jaw moved, “THE TIME OF OUR PROPHESIED COMING DRAWS EVER NEARER. WE OUGHT TO LOOK THE PART WHEN WE FULFILL OUR ROLES.” “You seem eager to get to it!” Shadowmere commented, “I’d be careful if I were you! Prophecies have a tendency to go awry!” “ENOUGH OF THIS!” the flaming Master demanded, heat radiating from it and causing the obsidian structures nearby to glow, “SURELY YOU, SHADOWMERE, DID NOT COME HERE TO COMMENT ON OUR APPEARANCE OR PROPHECY! WHAT IS THE TRUE PURPOSE FOR YOUR VISIT?” “My friend and I are tracking a cat sith that has jumped across time!” Shadowmere came to his point, “Knowing that you have certain powers across time, I need you to open a way for us to travel to that time and back!” “YOUWOULDMAKEDEMANDSOFUS!” the storm Master said incredibly quickly as lightning pulsed, “YOUKNOWHOWTHINGSWORKINTHESOULCAIRN! EVERYTHINGHASIT’SPRICE!” “I know that you all owe my master several favors!” Shadowmere said boldly, “And I know that you will become his servant as well before your prophesy can come true! You will give us a way to track this cat sith and return!” Berry watched in awe as the Ideal Masters visibly recoiled from Shadowmere’s words, especially the one made of ice who he’d pointed out. For a moment, they seemed less amazing than before, but they returned to their majesty after a moment of recovery. It was a subdued power, though, as they all now seemed resigned to doing what Shadowmere had asked. “VERY WELL, WE SHALL DO AS YOU ASK,” the ice Master said as a blizzard swirled around it, “SURELY YOU WERE NOT FOOLISH ENOUGH TO TRAVEL ALL THE WAY HERE TO ASK THE IMPOSSIBLE, SO LET US SEE WHAT YOU HAVE OF THIS CAT SITH.” Berry produced the tip of the cat sith’s tail, and she felt a strange presence envelop her as it was snatched from her magic and floated out into the expanse between the ponies and the Ideal Masters. It dwindled as it passed into the distance and was consumed by the flames of the fire Master. Two disks of stone covered in strange runes hovered out from the stone Master after a moment, coming to rest on the podium in front of the ponies. “THE CAT SITH HAS FLED TWENTY-NINE CENTURIES BACK FROM YOUR TIME!” the flame Master spoke, “WE WILL MAKE A WAY TO THIS TIME. WHEN YOU WISH TO RETURN TO YOUR OWN TIME, PLACE A FOREHOOF ON EACH SIDE OF THE DISK!” “We need a third disk! There’s somepony else we need to bring back!” Berry spoke up, and the stone Master frowned, sending avalanches down its face, but a third disk was provided. “NOW, BE GONE WITH YOU!” the ice Master demanded as a swirling portal opened up over the edge of the podium, “WE DO NOT WISH TO SEE YOU AGAIN!” “Thank you for your help!I will be sure to tell my master of your hospitality!” Shadowmere said, and the Ideal Masters grumbled as he and Berry stepped over the podium’s edge and fell into the portal. Lights flashed around them as they plummeted through the tunnel, traveling backwards in time nearly three millennia. Gradually, the feeling of falling shifted to one of horizontal travel, until the end of the portal was in sight. Shadowmere and Berry flew through the air before rolling across grassy hills and among numerous pines. They were in the mountains, and the incline was steep, but they eventually came to a stop just off a path. As Berry stood and brushed herself off, she realized that this place was strangely familiar to her. She had traveled back centuries in time, and everything looked very different, but the shape of the landscape was pretty much the same now as it would be in her time. She could see Canterlot Mountain above the trees, though there was no city perched on the edge of it yet. These forests were still untouched, and the valley below was filled with fields, though there was no Ponyville among them. “Yes, strange, isn’t it, to see a place so different, and yet so the same from what you remember,” Shadowmere commented as he trotted up next to Berry. “That would be a common occurrence for you, wouldn’t it,” Berry said, wondering again just how old the ancient stallion was, “Is there any chance we’ll run into you here?” “No, I was on another continent at this time,” Shadowmere said as he rooted around in his saddlebags, “Here, drink this.” “What is it?” Berry asked as she took the phial from him and examined it. “A potion that will allow you to speak and hear the language of those from this time,” he explained as he produced a second phial for himself. “Why do you need one? Don’t you speak the language?” Berry asked as he downed his potion. “Yes, but the problem with languages is that they’re constantly changing, something you notice when you’ve been around as long as I have,” Shadowmere said, “The grammar and pronunciation of my Old Ponish would probably be several centuries too early or too late if I tried to speak it.” Berry shrugged and drank her potion, feeling a tightness in her throat and ears as it took effect. Prepared now to communicate with the locals, she followed Shadowmere down the path. As they trotted along, she tried to place herself in time. Twenty-nine centuries back from her present would mean the current year was around 1600 BC (Before Celestia). It was the third century of the Equestrian Age, the era that had begun with Hearth’s Warming and the unification of the three pony tribes into a single nation. The history of the First Equestrian Nation hadn’t been terribly important to her studies, so she wasn’t sure exactly what the current affairs were. Hopefully this wasn’t a plague year, which hadn’t been uncommon in this age. Shouts and the sound of a struggle came from up ahead, and Berry and Shadowmere rushed down the path, in case it was the cat sith. The source of the noise came into view as they emerged from the trees. A cockatrice squawked as it flapped around. The monster was pinned in by four ponies in armor with tall, pointed helms and flowing maroon capes. Two unicorn knights herded the cockatrice away from them with blasts of magic and the swing of a halberd. The monster was driven toward the other two knights—an earth pony who crushed a wing and pinned it with a warhammer, and a pegasus who impaled it with thrown lances. “Hello, strangers!” the unicorn with the halberd called out to Berry and Shadowmere as the cockatrice’s movements ceased, “It is safe to approach now. What brings you here?” “We are fellow monster hunters, like yourself,” Shadowmere answered without hesitation as he descended to where the knights were beginning to clean their weapons, “We are tracking a dangerous beast.” “You must have traveled from across the sea; I’ve never seen attire quite like yours,” the pony with the warhammer commented. Berry looked at her clothes.They were out-of-date in the Equestria she knew, but here they were centuries or millennia ahead. At least she wasn’t wearing her Ministry uniform, as that would really have stuck out. “Yes, we have come quite a long way,” Shadowmere said tongue-in-cheek, “We’re tracking a cat sith. Perhaps you’ve seen signs of it around?” “Cat sith?Never heard of it,” the other unicorn said. “Keeper Candlelight might know more,” the pegasus said enthusiastically, and Berry went rigid as she recognized the voice, “We should take them to see her!” It couldn’t be him; Roaring Thunder couldn’t be here. Yet, when he removed his helmet, there was no doubt. That dull blue coat and chestnut mane; that smug, self-assured expression; it was Roaring Thunder for sure. But, how could he have traveled back twenty-nine centuries? He’d said he was going to kill a cockatrice, but surely he didn’t mean this. There was no way for him to be here, and yet here he was.It had to be a coincidence. There was no way every pony throughout history looked unique; Berry could even swear she’d seen duplicates herself in her own time. That had to be it. There was no way that Roaring Thunder could have traveled back in time—it had to be a doppelganger. “Forgive me, my lady, but why do you stare at Sir Roaring Thunder so?” the unicorn with the halberd asked. Even the same name! “Sorry, I thought we’d met before, but I must be mistaken,” Berry apologized while looking uneasily at the confused pegasus. “Surely so,” the unicorn agreed, “However, though our young upstart knight has yet to learn his place, his idea is a wise one. If you can spare the time, we shall escort you to our order’s castle outside of Grinnsbruk.” “Yes, we would appreciate that,” Berry said, still trying to shake the weirdness of encountering another Roaring Thunder. “Excellent. My knights and I are at your service,” the unicorn replied, “I am Paladin Radiant Dawn of the Knights of the Crimson Banner, and this is my cohort: Shining Diadem, Night Trail, and Roaring Thunder.” “I am Beryl Fields,” Berry introduced herself, catching herself before prepending her name with “agent.” “And you may address me as Nightshade,” Shadowmere said, and Berry gave him a look. “A pleasure to make your acquaintance,” Radiant Dawn said as she shifted her halberd on her back, “The sun will set soon; we should get moving.” *** The six ponies traveled together higher into the mountains. Berry tried to keep track of where they were, but while the major landscape features were the same as in the time she knew, the details were completely different, and she had to readjust her mental picture whenever she caught a glimpse of Canterlot Mountain and could reorient herself. She was also distracted by Roaring Thunder, who looked and acted almost exactly like the pony she knew, but was clearly a different pony. He belonged in this era, yet Berry couldn’t shake the feeling that it was the same pony from the Ministry. No matter how she tried to put the idea out of her mind, it continued to return. The knights were greeted cheerfully by the townsponies as they reached Grinnsbruk. It was a small, poor settlement, that would be gone long before Celestia took the throne. The town was also surrounded by a palisade, a trait that had once been common, but was now rare across Equestria, thanks in no small part to the Ministry’s work at exterminating the monsters that ponies had built the walls to keep out. After stopping for a few minutes to speak to the townsponies and give words of encouragement, the knights moved on, trotting down a well-worn path in the forest outside the town. They continued to ascend into the mountains until they reached the castle from which the Knights of the Crimson Banner hailed. Compared to Canterlot Castle, it was unimpressive, but it would do its job. The walls were crude undressed stone, but thick and high, able to keep out most fiends. Atop some of the towers were massive ballistae for taking down flying beasts, and its position in the mountains made approach from all but one direction impossible by land. A drawbridge creaked down over a pony-made chasm whose bottom was lined with spikes, and allowed them to enter the fortress. Night was falling, and the knights wanted to change out of their armor, so some squires showed Shadowmere and Berry to their chambers for the night. The rooms were very plain and primitive, but Berry could at least appreciate the simplicity of how these knights lived. It was not so different from her life as a Ministry agent, except that she had running water and no townsponies praised her for the work she did. Still, she hadn’t forgotten her goal. The cat sith was here somewhere, and so was Adamant. They needed to locate it, and this era’s Roaring Thunder thought that Keeper Candlelight could help them with that. With no idea how to locate this Keeper, they had no choice but to wait for the knights to fetch them. In the meantime, Berry made her way to Shadowmere’s chamber. “Oh, it’s just you,” Shadowmere said as she entered, and he ceased trying to hastily put his sunglasses over his blazing red eyes. “Yes, it’s just me, Nightshade,” Berry said in reply, “How many names do you have?” “Truthfully, I fabricated that one on the spot,” the immortal stallion admitted as he more carefully covered up his supernatural eyes, “I could not use my true name, for there is a chance that in this time the name of Shadowmere is still known, and it is not a name that is spoken with any pleasure. Remember, I have not always been a monster hunter; I was once an assassin.” “Right, of course,” Berry said, snippets of those shared memories from the dreamscape resurfacing momentarily, “You didn’t seem surprised to see Roaring Thunder here.” “Yes, he’s also a Ministry agent in your time, isn’t he?” Shadowmere said thoughtfully, “The one that cleansed Pewter Belle’s remains before we arrived, right?” “Yes, that’s the one.I’ve known him at the Ministry for years, and it’s so odd seeing a pony just like him here of all places,” Berry said. “It’s not as uncommon as you might think,” Shadowmere said, “In fact, I’ve met two other Roaring Thunders than the ones you know.” “What?” Berry said incredulously, “How? Why? He’s just a-a-” “Cocky, self-assured fighter?” Shadowmere finished her sentence for her, “Yes, every Roaring Thunder I’ve known has been the same, no matter what era he was born in.” “Doesn’t that make you at least a little curious as to what’s going on here?” Berry asked, shocked at how calm the stallion seemed. “It used to, but I’ve been around for a long time, and I’ve seen many strange and unbelievable things. When you’ve been around as long as I have, sometimes you just take oddities as they are without looking for a deeper meaning. It’s either that, or make yourself mad searching for the answer, which may very well be out of reach. This is especially true about phenomena that span time, as it’s highly likely that the cause for this duplication of Roaring Thunder is the future, not the past, so the only way to discover the truth is to wait. I’ve gotten quite used to waiting, and it hasn’t failed me yet.” “Would the Ideal Masters know?” Berry asked, unable to shake the matter from her mind despite Shadowmere’s stance on the subject. “Possibly, but the question is, would they answer?” Shadowmere said. Before Berry could reply that it was worth a shot, there was a knock on the chamber’s door. It was Radiant Dawn, here to take them to see Keeper Candlelight at last. As they followed the paladin down the halls of the castle, Berry finally managed to put her questions about Roaring Thunder out of her mind. The mission came first, but this would not be the end of the matter. One would think that the room at the top of the castle’s highest tower would be the abode of the order’s grandmaster, but in reality, it was home to the order’s Keeper. Radiant Dawn explained the Keeper’s purpose to Shadowmere and Berry as they made their way up the tower’s many steps. Her job was to write down and maintain all records of the Knights of the Crimson Banner, so the room was filled with scrolls and books, as expected. She also oversaw the scribes who would replace her one day, who for now were given menial tasks like transcription and balancing budgets, but none of her jobs involving quill and parchment were her most important duty. The greatest task entrusted to her was to care for the Crimson Banner from which the Knights took their name. It was a massive tapestry that once had been carried into battle, but was now too long to be carried by any less than a dozen ponies. Woven into it were illustrations of the order’s history, victories and defeats, life and death, all displayed in carefully designed images. The banner wrapped around the room nearly three times, held up by posts knocked into the walls. “Keeper Candlelight, these are the foreigners I spoke to you about,” Radiant Dawn introduced Berry and Shadowmere as they entered the Keeper’s room. “Nightshade and Beryl Fields, you must be truly dedicated to chase a monster so far from home,” an elderly unicorn mare said as she turned away from her work on the end of the Crimson Banner, “What was the name of the beast you were tracking?” “A cat sith,” Shadowmere answered. “Yes, that was it,” Candlelight said as she pulled down a monstrously large bestiary from its shelf and flipped to a marked page, “Very tricky and dangerous creatures they are, feasting on the souls of the dead and jumping through time to escape. You will need this to make sure it doesn’t get away from you like that.” “So, there is a cat sith around here?” Shadowmere asked as Berry took a satchel of glowing powder from the Keeper. “Yes, using the methods in this bestiary, I was able to confirm the presence of a cat sith nearby,” Candlelight said, and Shadowmere examined the book, “However long you have traveled, your journey is nearly at an end. The cat sith is higher up in the mountains.” “Well, let’s go then. We have no time to lose!” Berry said, thinking about Adamant. “I would urge caution,” Candlelight said, “The cat sith is most alert and powerful in the dark. Judging by the strength of what I sensed, it is likely resting, perhaps from illness or wounds.It will still be there in the morning.” “I agree,” Shadowmere said, surprising Berry that after they’d rushed across twenty-nine centuries, he was content to wait, “We will have a far better chance of besting the beast in the daylight, after some rest.” “You shall not be alone in your task,” Radiant Dawn announced as she stepped forward, “My cohort shall accompany you to slay the cat sith. Greater numbers will give us a better chance. Sleep well, and we shall find victory on the morrow.” *** The Knights of the Crimson Banner departed at dawn the following morning, Shadowmere and Berry in tow. As they made their way through the dense pine forest, Berry began to realize they were headed up the path to Canterlot. Was that where the cat sith was, in the location it had traveled back from? She knew that they could travel anywhere in space in time, but she hadn’t considered before why they were so close positionally to where they’d started. Had the cat sith been so desperate to escape her that it’d only jumped back in time without changing its position in space? If that was the case, it and Adamant would certainly be dead, splattered across the side of Canterlot Mountain. So, if it was still alive (and Keeper Candlelight seemed to think that it was), then it had likely changed position, but only by a short distance. Berry kept her eyes peeled as they continued their trek, slowing as they continued to ascend. She was the first to spot the broken branches high above them. So, it had dropped them, but not from a fatal height. Following the broken limbs, she found claw marks near the base of one of the trees that were the right size and depth for the cat sith. The Knights of the Crimson Banner also spotted the claw marks, and began investigating the area. Roaring Thunder cried out when he discovered something not far off the path, and the others joined him. “There was a struggle here,” Shining Diadem said as he probed the area with magic using a technique similar to the one Berry would learn at the Ministry centuries later, even though anypony could tell there’d been a struggle just by looking. The undergrowth was trampled, and there were claw and hoof marks in the soil.Blood stained the leaves and ground in patches and drops. Magical aura from both a monster and a unicorn lingered in the air. Hope soared within Berry; Adamant had survived at least this far. “It headed this way,” Shining Diadem announced, pointing farther up the mountain. “Are you coming, Berie?” Roaring Thunder asked as the knights began to resume their trek and the mare hung back. “You go on ahead, I want to do a bit more investigating,” Berry said as she tried to determine which direction Adamant had gone after the fight. The knights seemed reluctant to leave her on her own, but returned to their path anyway. Shadowmere gave her a knowing look before going with them. Once she was alone, Berry returned to investigating the scene of the fight. She managed to sort out the hoof prints, and followed their trail away from the disturbed area, heading farther from the path and deeper into the woods. Eventually, the trail vanished, and the Ministry agent found herself standing alone among the trees. “Adamant,” she called, not wanting to yell too loudly and catch the attention of the knights, “Adamant, are you here?” “Beryl, is that you?” a voice came weakly from nearby. Berry followed the voice to a tree growing on a slope whose roots had been dug out, making a small cave. Adamant revealed herself, lifting her spell of invisibility as Berry drew near. The mare was badly injured; in addition to the marks inflicted in the morgue, her fight with the cat sith had inflicted several new wounds. She’d bound them up as best she could, but losing a lot of blood and spending the previous night in the cold hiding under a tree hadn't left much life in her. “Where-where are we?” Adamant asked in a daze while she shivered, “How did you find me?” “That's not important right now; we need to get you home and healed up,” Berry said as she withdrew the spare disk from the Ideal Masters from her saddlebags, “Here, picture somewhere in Canterlot you can fix yourself up.” Berry moved Adamant’s forelegs for her, and she disappeared the moment both her hooves were on the disk. Berry hoped that she hadn’t just sent Adamant to her death anyway. Ideally, she would have returned to the present with her and made sure her wounds were all treated, but she couldn’t take her with her—it would raise too many questions—and neither could she leave her here and come back later.Hopefully, she’d pictured somewhere another Knight of Dawn would be in case she didn’t feel capable enough to heal herself in her condition. *** It didn’t take Berry long to catch up with the knights after returning Adamant to her own time. The higher they climbed, the less space there was between the mountain’s face and the sheer cliff, so it was less likely she’d miss them. They were climbing up the side of Canterlot Mountain itself now, and eventually their route took them to the ledge that the city of Canterlot would later be built upon. The cat sith’s trail led to triangular doorway in the mountain’s face, the entrance to a cave Berry knew all too well. It was this cave that would later be enlarged to form the Ministry; strange that the cat sith would choose it as its hiding place. The plan had been to face it in the daylight, where it would have less of an advantage, but that wasn’t an option unless they could draw it out of the cave somehow. They couldn’t risk trying that unless they could guarantee it wouldn’t just flee to some other time. Radiant Dawn and Night Trail lit torches, and Shining Diadem and Berry used their magic to illuminate their surroundings as they delved into the cavern. After traveling down a long, twisting tunnel, the ponies came to a small cave from which emanated the sound of heavy breathing. They had to move quickly the moment they were in; the cat sith would know they were there as soon as light appeared. Berry drew the bag of magical powder Keeper Candlelight had given her as they all charged into the cavern. The cat sith was up against the far wall, and turned suddenly at the sound of clanking armor, its feline pupils shrinking as it was exposed to torch and magic light. Adamant had indeed wounded the creature; a deep gash shone on its shoulder, the arm next to it hanging limply. The beast hissed menacingly and clutched at the spot on its chest with its good claw. “No!” yelled Berry as it touched the wall, but no portal opened, and the cat sith stood bewildered. It’s used up its nine teleportations!It cannot run! Dropping the powder, Berry drew her crossbow and fired at the cat sith. At the same time, Roaring Thunder threw a pair of lances at it, and Radiant Dawn and Night Trail charged in with their halberd and warhammer. Realizing that its normal exit strategy was unavailable, the cat sith went on the defensive. It dodged Berry’s bolt and one of Roaring Thunder’s lances, grabbing the other and using it to fend off Night Trail’s warhammer. As Radiant Dawn swung at the monster with her halberd, it jumped and landed on the shaft, using it to jump over the paladin. Shining Diadem never saw it coming as the cat sith landed in front of him and sank its teeth into his neck. He had no time to switch from his illumination spell to a defensive one, and the cat sith tore out his throat. Shadowmere charged in with a sword he’d brought along, and the cat sith threw Shining Diadem’s limp body at him before jumping lithely away. Shadowmere was between the monster and the cave’s exit, so it was forced to dodge around and deal with the other ponies in the chamber. It jumped over another lance from Roaring Thunder, and swiped at Night Trail with its claws.Swinging his warhammer around, Night Trail struck the beast’s hand with the shaft. One of the cat sith’s feet shot out toward the earth pony, and he released his weapon to avoid the talons in his chest. As the warhammer fell to the ground, the cat sith darted forward, but it wasn’t able to reach Night Trail before Shadowmere’s throwing knives buried themselves in its back. As it spun to put Shadowmere back in its sight, Radiant Dawn charged with her halberd, and the cat sith barely managed to dodge her swing in time. It was not a move without sacrifice, for the blade sliced off most of the beast’s tail, this time not cauterizing the wound like Berry’s magic blade had. The cat sith somersaulted over Radiant Dawn, but the paladin quickly brought her blade back up, the tip scratching the monster’s ribs as it twisted through the air. It landed on Radiant Dawn’s back, its claws tearing her cape, but not punching through the armor underneath. It raised a claw to swipe her head off, but jumped away as Roaring Thunder threw a lance its way. Berry rapidly fired crossbow bolts in the cat sith's direction, keeping it on the move, but there were other ponies in the way, causing her to reposition herself if she wanted to continue to be of use. Night Trail had retrieved his war hammer, and he closed in on the cat sith as Radiant Dawn and Shadowmere continued to force it back. He swung his weapon around, and the cat sith reached out with a foot to hold it back, only partially succeeding. That wasn’t its true goal, however, as it swung its good claw around and sliced one of Night Trail’s forelegs off while he was unable to dodge or block. He released his weapon and jumped back with a scream, clutching at the stump. Favoring the foot that had been struck by the war hammer, the cat sith moved in for a killing blow, but Radiant Dawn charged in to intercept. The cat sith ran from the halberd slash toward Shadowmere, and used three limbs to launch itself over the immortal stallion. His sword cut into its side as it passed over him, but didn’t slow it down. The ceiling was low, and the monster launched itself off it and toward Berry, who was unprepared. Her crossbow twanged as she released the bolt already cocked, but it was only a half-aimed shot and tore through the cat sith’s teeth. Its claws were outstretched as it descended toward her, and there was no time to run or draw or conjure a sword. “Look out!” Roaring Thunder yelled as he darted in front of her, propelled by his wings from across the cave. The cat sith’s claws tore through armor and flesh alike, eviscerating the pegasus. Berry couldn’t believe her eyes; Roaring Thunder had just sacrificed himself to save her, a pony he barely knew. The cat sith was also bewildered by the pegasus’s actions, and wasn’t prepared to take any next steps. It was off balance, its claws were still covered in Roaring Thunder’s internal organs, and it was still falling toward Berry, though now over another pony. The Ministry agent drew her rapier as she backed away from the monster, and it crashed to the ground with Roaring Thunder’s body. As the cat sith looked up, she jammed the blade into its eye and out the back of its head, killing it instantly. Radiant Dawn dropped her halberd and rushed to Night Trail’s aid, and Shadowmere sheathed his sword. The fight was over. Blood sprayed as Berry pulled her sword from the cat sith, and she dropped the rapier as soon as it was free. Using her magic and physical strength, she pushed the cat sith off of Roaring Thunder’s body. There was no doubt that he was dead, with the injuries he had sustained, but his face looked so peaceful. Had he known that Berry would be able to kill it if only she had another second to respond? He’d traded his life for hers, and possibly that of Radiant Dawn as well. He might even have thought his sacrifice would save Shadowmere, not knowing that he couldn’t be killed. Why? Why did it have to be him? Why did he, the identical image of the pony Berry so despised in her own time, have to sacrifice his life to save hers? Even in a completely different century, this stallion was able to put her in his debt. Why? There would be no easy answer for Berry, other than to heed Shadowmere’s advice the night before … and wait. *** “Here, proof that the cat sith is dead,” Berry announced as she poured its head out of a sack onto a low stone table. The Knights of Dawn, including a bandage-covered Adamant, nodded in approval. After returning to the present, she’d received a message from the Black Briar calling the Knights to meet in the tunnels beneath Canterlot, where Berry had first met them. It was the Black Briar who'd first noticed that the cat sith had been in Canterlot, and she’d had the foresight to bring the head back with her to prove that it was dead. She’d been meaning to present it to the Knights of Dawn anyway, so this worked out well for her. “Well done,” Verdant Blades said approvingly, “Not just in killing this fiend, but in saving Adamant.” Adamant inclined her head in appreciation. She apparently had a secret hideout somewhere in Canterlot she’d managed to reach and patched herself up in. Fortunately, she still had no idea that she'd been in the past, having only caught glimpses of the scenery in her fight with the cat sith and struggle to survive. Berry was glad, as this meant she didn’t need to explain how she’d been able to travel back in time. “Cat siths normally jump through time,” the Black Briar said suspiciously, looking at the disembodied head before staring back at Berry with his immobile mask, “Why didn’t this one?” “I don’t know. Maybe it was startled and mixed things up, or only jumped a few minutes,” Berry lied. The Black Briar looked like he still didn’t believe her but wasn’t going to press the matter further. If he could sense the cat sith, had he been able to sense Berry suddenly vanishing from this time as well? If only she could see who was behind the mask, who this imposter was. It didn’t bother her as much as it bothered Shadowmere, but she still felt the dire need to know who was impersonating him, and why. *** Something was wrong. Shadowmere could sense it the moment he entered his chambers beneath Rosethorn Hall. Given the vast number of powerful and dangerous magical artifacts stored here, he could put it off as the strangeness of returning to a place whose magical balance was always in flux. However, he had taken precautions before leaving, given the events of the past nine months. If something truly was amiss, he would know. Various subtle runic traps had been placed around his apartments, and he found that several of them had been triggered. They were still in place, so whoever had tripped them having returned them to how they’d been—or so they thought. Shadowmere had a better nose for this kind of magic than anypony else, and these new runes were definitely not of his doing. Somepony had been in his hideout again. Last time this had happened, a djinn had been released on Canterlot. Though it had been catastrophic, a djinn was not the most dangerous thing that existed here. The days and nights would be long ones for a while, but he could not rest until he found what had been taken; the future of Equestria likely hung in the balance.