"Well, how are you feeling?" Moonlight Raven asked the gryphoness before her.
Giselle shifted uncomfortably in the hospital bed, flexing out her single wing. "I- I don't know. I'm glad to have been patched up, but I just can't believe I'll never fly again. Racing has always been my life. And now, now I feel so lost."
After being brought to the hospital, and taken immediately into emergency care, the doctors had frantically examined and sown up the gryphoness. They determined that she was suffering from internal bleeding, a minor concussion, and a couple of broken ribs. But they had ultimately decided that her wing was un-salvageable. It would have been dead weight if she had kept it; they even feared that by potentially keeping it, the feathered appendage would have died and slowly infected her healthy body. And so, they had decided on emergency amputation.
Arachne walked in, carrying in her lime-green magic two glasses of water. Trailing behind the changeling were two ponies, the first was Lock Down and the second a dandelion-yellow mare with a cutiemark of a blank sketchpad and a blue pencil.
"Giselle," Lock Down addressed the bird as she approached, gesturing to the mare next to her. "this is Quick Sketch. She's part of the forensic team, she's a composite artist and is here to draw the monster that attacked you."
"Hi there!" Quick Sketch greeted in a bubbly voice. "Please, describe what you saw to me whenever you are ready."
"Ooh! And I can help!" Arachne buzzed out. "I'll transform into what you saw as Quick Sketch draws!"
"That's a great idea!" Quick Sketch agreed.
Giselle took a sip of the water the changeling had brought her before beginning. "Okay, let's see it looked like a yellow pony and it had a horn."
Aracne transformed herself into a yellow unicorn mare, not at all unlike the composite artist in front of her. "Like this?"
"No, that's not right at all." The gryphoness stated. "It was a pale shade of yellow, more of a bleached color. And it was taller too, like Celestia."
The changeling cast her horn again, this time changing into a yellow version of Celestia with the exception of the flowing mane and a pair of wings. "Is this better?"
"Still not right. Taller. Make your legs longer and more bony, bend your hind legs backwards like a cricket's if you can. And elongate your body, thin it out more. Make it look like you were starving." Giselle cocked her head and squinted at Arachne. "Now make your neck longer. No! Not that long! Just a few feet shorter. Good, that's more like it. Umm, make your horn longer too. Kind of like a javelin."
"Something like this?" The awkward looking changeling inquired, having to hunch over to fit into the room.
"Not quite. You need to lose the mane. No, don't lose it completely!" Giselle exclaimed when Arachne made herself bald. "Make it patchy, and turn it white. Okay, now just make it longer and more scraggly. Yeah, like that. Now make your hooves cloven. You know, like a goat's? And extend the tips out, make them more claw like. Can you make your teeth longer and sharper too? Uh, antlers. You need antlers."
"Umm, how's this?" Came Arachne's strained voice as she struggled to stay on her hooves.
"Almost there." Giselle assured. "You need to have spikes coming out of your sides. Three of them pointing upward on either side, and shaped more like boar tusks. Your eyes are all wrong. Change your pupils to red, and get rid of your irises. Now make them black, no white at all. And add a red spiral behind your pupil. Okay, now just cover the right side of your face in black tree bark and have more wood growing randomly from your body. There! That's what it looked like!"
Lock Down and Moonlight stared up at the disguised changeling in horror, the pegasus mare actually gulped and had to steady her knees.
"Are- are you sure that's what you saw?!" Lock Down stuttered out.
"Yeah, at least it looked pretty similar to that." Giselle shuddered. "It's giving me goosebumps just looking at it. And I'm feeling one of those phantom pain phenomenons, my wing actually aches."
Quick Sketch finished with a huge exhale of breath. "How does this look?"
She held up the picture for the gryphoness to see. It was of the monster she had described from a side portfolio. Giselle could almost feel its eyes eating away at her soul, and she swore she saw its hoof move. She quickly smacked it away.
"Y- yeah." She panted out. "That's it alright."
Suddenly a white-coated nurse with a light-pink mane trot into the room. Upon entering and seeing the monster standing between her and her patient- and obscuring the room's three other occupants from her sight- the mare grit her teeth and pawed at the ground.
"Oh no you don't!" She angrily shouted. "I don't care how big and bad you think you are, you leave my patient the buck alone!"
"No wait!" Arachne cried out, but it was too late.
The earth pony fearlessly threw herself upon Arachne with an enraged scream, beginning to beat the poor chitinous equine senseless.
***
The Tree of Chaos rose up from the pit like a great and ancient monolith, a testament to the evil that lurked deep within Equestria's heart and flowed through its veins just as easily as did its rivers and lakes. The hellish glow of purple did little to offer any comfort, instead it generated a ghastly light that only heightened the sharpness of the tree's surroundings. From the wretched bark and malformed crystal radiated a coldness, the kind that left one's very bones chilled and one's flesh frostbitten. Roots of which obviously belonged to the tree sprang up and plummeted back down, like the humps of a Sea Leviathan's ridged back. They coiled around each other, snaked along the walls and floor, spreading out like a gruesome infection into the surrounding caverns in search of more fertile land.
Hidden in a connecting tunnel behind one such clump of roots lie two ponies, one zebra, and one dragoness. They pressed themselves against the bulbous bark, and- having shed their own white lights- took refuge in the reassuring plum glow of Vinyl's own. The Vanished, a monster far larger than the last- sporting veins the size of a few of the roads in Ponyville- shambled slowly past them with a rumbling thump of its hooves. The ground below it quaked furiously, a rumbling that violently shook the loose pebbles below. Circling around the living mountain, a swarm of gryphon Vanished patrolled the area; splitting off into pairs before rejoining the group. Like ants, hundreds of other Vanished stampeded around the massive beast; the hive was definitely on high-alert now. The stench of rot coming from every possible direction was unbearable, but by now the four companions could at least tolerate it if only just barely.
Zecora's hoof suddenly slipped, causing a loud thump as it smacked against a large root.
Like a well-oiled machine, each of the flying monsters and the others below all stopped and turned their heads in the direction of the noise; only the lumbering giant simply continued its awkward and stumbling gait. The eternally spiraling swirls of their eyes scanned the darkness in patient observation as they glided in the air or stood rigid on the ground. It was suddenly so quiet that one could have heard a pegasus's feather drop. The four travelers stopped breathing, terrified that the wild thudding of their frantic hearts would give them away. The horrible silence continued. Whether it was a blessing or a curse was anypony's guess.
A single drawn-out second passed. And then another, and then another. The Vanished swarming the area slowly turned their attention away one-by-one, almost effortlessly falling back into their previous activities. The three mares and reptile waited until the trembling of the ground faded away into a distance before sucking in the sweet- yet sour- air.
"What the buck was that?!" Vinyl Scratch suddenly hissed. "It was almost the size of Tirek!"
"Of that I have no idea, although faintly equine in looks it does remind me of a creature from my travels in Abyssinia. Although those creatures were not carnivorous. For now let us call it, Colossus." Zecora rhymed out. "Of course even those in the desert weren't so large, even the sphinxes were not so grotesquely enlarged."
"Are your rhymes always that lazy?" Vinyl suddenly inquired, the music-indulged side of her bothered by the poor excuse for the zebra's limerick.
"Of rhyming do I try, of that I can't deny." Zecora stated. "But to have always have a proper rhyme, it isn't easy to do all the time."
"Oh. Ha, my bad." Vinyl sheepishly laughed, shying away from the zebra's annoyed glare.
"We can discuss my pattern of speech another day, now is not the time talk in the center of this fray." The assassin promised, still scowling at the unicorn mare.
Sound-Off opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by loud screech. Old One-Eye, the gryphon Vanished, had yet again found them. Well, not really. The monster limped past them- forcing the quartet to press themselves practically into the tangle of roots- and towing behind it the other two Vanished from the river. One of the unicorns bumped into One-Eye's rump.
One-Eye let out an outraged growl, suddenly turning on its unicorn comrade- the one that had jumped after Scarlet and Vinyl into the river- and tore open its neck. The horned Vanished began to scream in agony, attempting to push the much larger gryphon off. Its cry was cut off by the ripping of flesh and a sputtering gurgle as the feathered monster viciously sliced its jugular before splitting the smaller equine beast's head from its neck. The body crashed against the cavern floor, and the gryphon Vanished tossed the bleeding head aside.
It then snarled at the remaining monster, who stepped back and bowed its head down in respect and fear. Predator and prey, it seemed that concept still existed even within the Vanished hive. But Faust had blessed the three mares and dragoness, the other Vanished did not notice them. The gryphon was far too enraged, and the unicorn's observant eyes were sown to the ground beneath it. The two soon limped off into the ever-expanding darkness.
"Hmm, it appears that an opportunity has struck. Something to get us past these monsters running amuck!" Zecora suddenly piped. "Although you my friends will not be happy, but we have no better choice sadly."
"Are you implying what I think you're implying?" Scarlet Thorn squeaked out.
The zebra's dagger clicked into place as she held her hoof in the air. "I'm afraid it is exactly as you think, but to survive the Vanished we must hoodwink. Besides it is not at all different from the masks, never what it was made from did you ask."
Sound-Off and Scarlet both began to dry heave, gagging at the implication. Vinyl, meanwhile, just cocked her head in confusion.
"Masks?" The unicorn inquired.
"Masks from my home country with great and mysterious power," Zecora sliced open the corpse's belly, gutting it as easily as a fish. The still warm, half-rotted, slightly blackened intestines spilled out onto the ground. "which can change one's form but only in appearance outer. But much to my dismay, the masks I had did break."
"Actually," Scarlet apologetically interrupted. "I lost mine when I fell into the cavern."
"Still, no longer these masks do I have. Our best tactic now is to evade the Vanished by one of them dressing as." Zecora stated, pulling organs out of the cadaver with the aid of her trusty blade. "Vinyl, would you be as kind as to assist? To lift this corpse in your magic would be helpful I admit."
"Oh. Oh! You mean, we're going to use that, like that?!" Vinyl suddenly exclaimed, finally realizing the zebra's intent.
"I'm afraid you're a little slow." Zecora smugly stated, giving the insult a moment to sink in before continuing. "My apologies, but that was payback for your earlier blow."
"Yeah, I deserved that." Vinyl admitted before turning to the problem in front of her, or rather, on her head. "I don't think I can lift it. My magic is already weak enough as it is. I can barely keep this illumination spell going, and even then I'm running on fumes!"
"Please just give it your best shot, a moment is all that is sought." The striped mare pleaded.
Vinyl frowned, but firmly nodded her head. "Okay, I'll give it what little I got!"
The unicorn's cracked horn brightened in intensity, sparking fiercely as she fought to lift the dead Vanished with her telekinesis. Vinyl began to feel an intense pressure on her horn,as if she were balancing one-thousand pounds of weight on the pointed tip. She began to sweat from the exertion. Zecora, in the mean time, had turned into a living blender blade. She spun around on nimble hooves, separating chunks of flesh and fat from the ragged skin. Finally, the blue-maned mare gasped in pain before collapsing to the ground; her horn went cold. The corpse, no more than a rug now, fell atop the zebra.
"Vinyl!" Scarlet exclaimed, trotting over to her friend and helping her onto her hooves.
"I'm- I'm fine." Vinyl insisted, although she was swaying and barely able to stand. "Just got a little dizzy there."
No more than three minutes later the pelt suddenly shifted towards them, and the zebra mare lifted it up so that she was partially visible. "Our disguise is ready! This should help the Vanished act a little more friendly!"
Sound-Off, who hadn't been able to find the right words until now, finally spoke, "Oh Zirnitra's black scales! We're actually going to wear that thing like a Nightmare Night costume?! That's fine, it's all fine! How is it any different than anything else we've done today?!"
Vinyl- still using Scarlet as a crutch- suddenly whacked the dragoness on the back of her head. "Better?"
"I needed that." Sound-Off grunted as she rubbed the spot where the mare's hoof hit.
"Come, let our journey commence! And please try not to be so tense, or we just may end up as chum!" Zecora held her hoof high, so that her companions could join her underneath the Vanished pelt.
Sound-Off and Scarlet looked at each other in concern and regret before accepting the assassin's offer, Vinyl followed behind them. All three gasped as they entered the corpse. Zecora had completely hollowed out the Vanished, leaving nothing but skin on bones. The barrel of the monster had been converted into a sort of cockpit. The zebra had somehow managed to take the discarded bone fragments from the rib cage and turned the pieces into three separate swings for the ponies to sit upon. And she had taken the previously discarded intestines and transformed them into grotesque puppet strings that would pilot the corpse around.
"Okay, wow. You have just a little too much experience in this." Vinyl Scratch noted.
Sound-Off frowned. "Where am I supposed to sit?"
"I figured you could sit with Scarlet, there was not enough room for another seat in this carcass." Zecora stated, heaving herself up into the 'pilot's' seat. "Please sit, stalling we must quit."
Vinyl did as she was told, plopping onto the seat behind the striped mare. "Huh, it's actually pretty comfortable. Not bad at all."
"Wish I could say the same thing about the smell." Sound-Off grumbled, taking her place in front of the pegasus. "Stupid overly sensitive dragon nose."
"Oh yeah, it smells something awful. Even after a week down here, I haven't been able to get used to it. It's a little ripe if you ask me, but its still nothing compared to that aftertaste of a shot of straight fermented Yakyakistan vodka." The half-blind mare stated. "Oye, I could actually really go for some good-old fashioned throat scorching vodka right now."
"I may not have vodka but I do have whiskey, you may have that for now unless you are picky." Zecora stated, handing Vinyl the flask which she took from her bag.
"Shoot, whiskey, vodka, or even cheap cider, I'll take whatever I can get." Vinyl stated, downing the entire flask with a satisfied, "Ah. That hits the spot!"
Scarlet spoke up next, "Just how exactly do you plan on getting this thing to move Zecora?"
"I am glad that you asked, it is no easy task. But it will be much easier to show, than to explain what I know." Zecora suddenly yanked on the intestines wrapped around her fore-hooves, and the meat-puppet jerked to life.
The Vanished stumbled onto its clawed hooves, drunkenly staggering from one side to the next until it found its balance. With clunky robotic movements it began to walk forward, its gait becoming more natural- as natural as it could be for the monster's elongated limbs- as it continued on. Its head- which had been reattached to its body and shoved on a bone pivot- remained stationary until needed. From an almost unnoticeable slit in the Vanished's neck, a pair of blue eyes scanned the area ahead them.
Soon enough- far too soon in fact- the hollow Vanished had joined the herd. The hundreds of Vanished flowed through the tunnels and into the ever-changing hoard like an intersection in Manehattan during rush hour. However, each moved with purpose; a clear destination in mind, and a specific job to do. All but one. Zecora yanked one pair of intestines after the other. Right front hoof, back left hoof. Left front hoof, back right hoof. Right front hoof, back left hoof. Left front hoof, back right hoof. Turn the head by moving her own; the pivot was attached to a makeshift yoke around her neck. Right front hoof, back left hoof. Left front hoof, back right hoof. The process was almost mind-numbing, but the precision was essential. The hollow Vanished then followed the majority of the herd out of the tunnel and towards the Tree of Chaos.
Vinyl gulped when she saw the gigantic tree towering high above from the incision Zecora had made. Every instinct in her body screamed at her to run; run anywhere, because anywhere else was safer than being near this tree. Her horn began to ache something fierce, creating a pounding headache that brought tears to her eyes. The unicorn grit her teeth and forced her tears to remain back.
"Vinyl, are you okay?" Scarlet whispered, placing a calming hoof on the other pony's trembling withers. "I know this is the tree from your nightmares. It exists in this pit. I don't want to go back there either, but know that you're safe! You're with friends."
The unicorn did her best to find comfort in the pegasus's words. "Y- yeah. Sa- safe."
Vinyl felt like such a liar. She didn't feel safe at all. In fact, there was nothing more she wanted to do then to gallop back into her little cavern- far away from the tree- and hide there for the rest of eternity. Just seeing the tree made her already ice-bristled fur stand on end, and her very being quake. But she did take solace in her friend's warm hoof, a reminder that she wasn't alone in this nightmare made reality.
"Just take a deep breath, okay?" Scarlet softly ordered in a motherly tone.
"Okay." Vinyl whispered, attempting to reclaim her tranquility.
"Why are we going towards the tree at all?" Sound-Off suddenly inquired, just as unhappy with their destination as the unicorn.
The zebra's hooves continued to jerk the puppet's strings around in a never-ending loop. "Upon my escape I noticed something strange, something out of place to these caverns so deranged. A hole at the base of this evil tree, there all of our answers to questions will be. I know I don't sound very convincing, just call it shaman's instinct."
"We're going inside the tree?!" All three of her companion exclaimed at once, although still in hushed tones.
Before the zebra could answer, the ground began to rumble violently underneath them once more. Zecora was forced to tug on all of the puppet's strings at once to keep their puppet from falling limp; it jolted to a stiff halt. The Vanished began to smash into each other, their single stop creating a massive traffic jam. A Vanished crashed into them from the front. It growled out its displeasure and rage, but before the Vanished could take out that anger on their puppet a gigantic hoof suddenly squished it flat.
The unlucky Vanished was crushed beneath the pillar that was the Colossus's hoof. The broken monster's limbs flew upwards before hitting the ground with the splatter of rotten blood, legs twitching like an insects before slowly falling limp. The titan only raised its hoof again. Chunks of flattened flesh either fell to the ground below, or remained caught in the crook of its hoof.
Zecora quickly picked back up the pace; right front hoof, back left hoof. Left front hoof, back right hoof. However in her haste she failed to notice their puppet's side scrape against a sharp crystal, causing the hide to rip with an audible tearing sound. Luckily, Vinyl's magic had just recovered enough to where she was able to quickly seize the heavy hide in her magic to keep up their monstrous disguise; the mare's face was scrunched in strain.
"Zecora, she can't keep this up for much longer!" Scarlet warned in the focused unicorn's stead.
"What are we going to do?!" Sound-Off demanded, chewing on the tips of her claws.
The assassin turned her head towards the Colossus; the puppet did the same. "Luckily a back-up plan did I make, though I hope it works for all of our sakes."
"How come I get the feeling that this new plan is somehow worse than this one?" Sound-Off moaned.
Vinyl's horn began to flicker. The pegasus mare hissed out, "Hurry!"
Zecora nodded her head, and began to work the puppet's strings triple-time. The hollow Vanished shot diagonally across the traffic- which by then had picked back up- before suddenly jerking left and following the path of the Colossus from alongside the cavern wall.
***
Celestia stepped out of the town hall with tired and slightly irritated eyes. Still, she managed to keep a smile upon her face as the nobles chatted amongst each other.
"Oh my, I'm so sorry that I made such a big deal about my roses growing into your yard Lyrica Lilac." An orange mare with a strawberry mane chuckled haughtily.
"Really, it's my bad Big Wig." The purplish-grey mare insisted. "I should have told you that I was allergic to them in the first place!"
"Yes, yes." Celestia agreed, struggling to keep her eye from twitching. "And it only took six hours to reach a conclusion that worked out for the both of you."
"Who would have thought to shift my gardener's schedule around but you princess!" Big Wig stated. "It will be much more efficient for him to prune my rose bushes three times a week, and while I'm at it I might as well have him put a few extra hours into my hedges. Wouldn't want nasty little things like spiders and slugs making their homes in my bushes."
Celestia couldn't tell if she felt worse for the overworked gardener or for all those poor homeless bugs. Still, the alicorn only smiled. "No, wouldn't want that would we? And I'm just glad I could help."
"Help?" Lilac scoffed. "You're keeping this mare from having an allergy attack!"
The solar princess couldn't help but to look around for a vase of roses to throw at the mare. When there wasn't a rose petal to be found, she pushed that dark thought aside. "Of course my little pony. All of my subjects are important to me."
"How generous of you princess." Big Wig stated.
"Indeed." Lilac agreed. "Accepting even all those backwater ruffians, like those mangy Ponyville folk? And above all accepting all those ugly and vicious gryphons, diamond dogs, minotaurs, and even those destructive dragons! What senseless beasts they all are! Bringing in their disgusting meat-eating restaurants and filthy primitive cultures! You should really do something about that princess! Ponies are getting uncomfortable!"
Before Celestia got a chance to respond, Big Wig spoke up. "And don't even get me started on those ghastly changelings! How utterly vile! Giant bugs?! Flies are bad enough, but a pony-sized monstrosity like that? Reformed or not, I wouldn't want one in my house. I don't even want them in Canterlot! How can you accept them into Equestria after what they did to Princess Cadence your majesty?"
Celestia thanked Faust that they had reached the doors leading out of the castle. "Oh dear, it looks like we've reached the door. Do get home safe you two."
"But what about the changelings?!" Big Wig protested.
"And those slaughter houses the meat-eaters call restaurants?!" Lilac piped. "What will the foals think?!"
"Town hall is over, come again tomorrow." Celestia quickly said, ushering the two mares out with her wings.
"But-" Lilac and Big Wig both began.
The white alicorn slammed the castle doors in her magic behind her. She nearly collapsed then and there. Couldn't these ponies think for themselves? She remembered back in the days before Nightmare Moon when the ponies were a powerful and independent race fully capable of taking care of themselves and making their own decisions. Perhaps she had been pampering them too much; the scare of war might just be exactly what her helpless citizens needed to whip themselves back into shape. Maybe she could release another prisoner from Tartarus; Tirek had been more than willing to help the last time- in exchange for more comfortable accommodations and an enchanted never-ending movie supply- but freeing the centaur again would be just too suspicious.
She then remembered the rumors of a 'Storm King' she had yet to dispel, and wondered if there was a way she could grab his attention. Maybe a powerful magical artifact would do it? And of course there was the matter of Discord and Thorax to consider, who would no doubt interfere if their friends were in danger. But she was sure that was nothing the royal treatment and a few thousand bits couldn't fix. As long as she assured no harm came to Fluttershy, Discord would not intervene. And she was sure she could find... other ways, to persuade Thorax. Changelings still fed on love after all, and who's love was greater for her citizens than Celestia's love itself? And she knew it was nothing Twilight couldn't handle; too many times had the purple mare taken down each villain Celestia had threw at her. It was a teacher's job to let their student grow, and the best way to do that was through experience.
Her sister had been more than too easy to fool into believing the stars had guided her back home; after all, who had controlled those stars in Luna's stead? Discord was more than willing to help, jumping at the chance to impress his old crush so long as she swore to have the Elements of Harmony release him within the next few seasons. Queen Chrysalis only needed a little tip from an 'anonymous source' that there was a secret passageway up to the castle through the crystal tunnels, and then a little false bravado after a show of her oh-so-unbeatable power. Sombra just did his own thing, as he always had done, but a little help from a certain white-coated princess hiding the Crystal Heart had helped with that. And finally, Tirek just had wanted a comfortable couch, a modern restroom, and something to do for the next few thousands years until everypony but the alicorns themselves had forgotten about his existence and Celestia could make another deal with him. The centaur was really interested in the 'Daring Do' and 'Harry Trotter' series after all, maybe the solar princess would even be nice and send him the complete set for his birthday.
Celestia shook that thought from her head, she'd have to come up with a plan involving this 'Storm King' within the next moon. For now, she had something else to worry about.
"Luna!" Celestia called out over their telepathic bond.
To her surprise, she found that Luna had blocked off their link. That could mean only two things. Either Luna was plotting something behind her back again, or she had discovered more of those dirty magazines the staff kept 'accidentally' leaving out in the halls frequented by the lunar princess. Celestia prayed it was the former.
The regal pony trot down the corridor to Luna's room, thinking of her nefarious schemes to strengthen her little ponies. The strange thing was, Celestia didn't feel guilty at all. And why should she? She was the literal embodiment of the sun itself; the very heavens obeyed her command. She had seen plenty of deities come and go, they were little more comparable to the falling and regrowth of leaves to the likes of her. And not a single one of them had ever been anywhere near powerful enough to beat the solar princess. Only Faust herself could pose such a threat, and she had disappeared long before Celestia had ever risen to power. There simply wasn't a being in existence that could threaten her kingdom- with the exception of the lunar princess herself- many that had tried to conquer her before quickly learned that lesson. And those that didn't? Well, a little magical rainbow blast had always put them in their place.
She suddenly reached Luna's door. Making sure to knock loudly and make her presence known, Celestia announced herself. "Luna? Luna, it's your favorite sister!"
Celestia waited for Luna's ritualistic, "You're my only sister".
When it did not come the older alicorn frowned. "Lulu, we need to talk. You promised."
She was met by only silence. The solar princess began to grow agitated. With a glow from her horn she cast a heat detection spell over the room, only to find it absent of any heat signature other than Luna's pet opossum, Tiberius. Celestia narrowed her eyes and with a focused magic blast forced her way into her sister's room.
The solar princess could take on any villain. She could handle countless hours of bureaucracy. She could put up with snobby nobles. She could even smile for days on end; she had once gotten her face stuck in a grin. But there was one thing that Celestia could not and would not tolerate, her beloved little sister lying to her.
Celestia raced into Luna's room on wings of flame; literally, her wings and mane were actually on fire. She practically slammed Tiberius against the wall in her magic.
"Where. Is. She?" The borderline Daybreaker demanded of the terrified rodent.
Tiberius pointed at the incantation circle and mountain of books behind her with a shaky claw.
Celestia gently pat the opossum on his head, and let her magic carry him over to his bed. She then popped in a piece of cake in front of him as both an apology and a thank you. She then walked over to the incantation circle, which even at a distance she could make out as Draconian magic. The solar princess stepped over a puddle of long-since dried spilled ink and a few broken quills along her way. Really, Luna was over a five-thousand years old. Surely at some point she should have learned to pick up after herself.
The older alicorn picked up a few of the books in her magic and scanned over the titles; 'Draconian for Dummies', 'Texts and Translations', 'A History of Dragon Culture; as told from the perspective of a dragon', 'You Can Read; Draconian, volume one'.
Celestia raised an eyebrow in confusion. Now why would Luna be so interested in learning the Draconian language? Perhaps it was to further Equestria's trade and friendship with the Dragon Lands, but that still wouldn't explain why she was missing. Then the older princess caught sight of a book set apart from the others, she had to translate the title from old-ponish to new-ponish, which she quickly pulled over to her; 'Dragicae; the complete old-ponish translation of all known dragon spells, incantations, and magic crafts. By Star Swirl the Bearded & Dragon Lord Belserion'. Celestia frowned. Her sister reading one of their old mentor's books; just what exactly was that pony up to? The alicorn lit her horn up, attempting to cast a memory spell that would show her just exactly what had went on in her sister's room starting with this morning; but her magic failed.
The regal pony cursed. Luna had no doubt cast a time-lapse blockage spell over the area. Well, there went that idea. She could cast an animal-speech spell on Tiberius, but she rather despised having conversations with rodents. They were so, one-sided. Celestia sighed and began to shuffle through the books and notes, looking for more clues. She recognized the sloppy horn-writing of her sister anywhere; and assumed the much neater, more cursive, horn-writing belonged to her apprentice.
The solar princess plopped down onto Luna's plush bed- it was definitely softer than hers, and she would have to have Raven take note to order the older alicorn a new one- and began to sort through the plethora of parchments. Although, she couldn't help but to feel as if she was forgetting something important. Something, to do with the gryphons. Something, family related. Celestia shook her head and deleted that thought from her mind. Half of her was focused on the task ahead of her, and the other half planning out the scolding lecture she was going to give Luna when she saw her next.
Faust help that poor mare. Royalty or not, they were still sisters and Celestia would stop at nothing to see her sister safe and punished for her irresponisbility.
***
The Colossus bumbled forward. The other monsters in its path were quick to get out of its way; and those that didn't, met a flat end. The hulking beast paid no attention to its brethren, squashed or otherwise. It simply slowly lumbered on with mindless intent. Never stopping, never diverging from the path.
Its body was a living fortress, a moving castle; walls of pure muscle, skin warped into columns, bone carved out into a tower upon the mountain that was its back, mound upon mound of flesh carefully sculpted into an architectural masterpiece. And like a palace, within its hardened skin lie various corridors that led off into different rooms. It loomed far above the other monsters, who weaved under and around its gargantuan form. From atop a nearby cliff and from behind a cluster of crystals- having discarded their disguise- peeked out four different pairs of eyes; one ruby, one emerald, one sapphire, and one amber.
"Remind me just how exactly you convinced me this was a good idea?!" Sound-Off hissed.
"I thought this would be our best approach, to take to our destination a personal coach." Zecora answered.
"I still say this is crazy!" Vinyl Scratch exclaimed. "This is crazy right?!"
"It's beyond crazy," Scarlet Thorn agreed before continuing with, "but crazy is all we have right now."
"And just what happens to crazy ponies?!" The dragoness demanded. "They get locked up! That is the last thing we want to do right now!"
"No, the last thing we want is to be noticed by our foes. Now prepare yourself for we can't be late, a single mistake can seal our fates. Now do we remember the plan, or should I go over it again?" Zecora asked.
"Yeah, I carry Scarlet and you take Sound-Off, we jump onto that thing's back as it passes by, and then make our way to the top all without being noticed by the other monsters." Vinyl recalled with a roll of her eyes. "What could possibly go wro-"
Sound-Off suddenly clamped her claws over the pony's mouth. "Don't say that! Never say that! You don't tempt fate! You just don't!"
"Well excuse me." Vinyl grumbled, swatting away the reptile's claws.
"Hurry, we have not time for any more queries!" Zecora suddenly interrupted. "We cannot miss our train, or otherwise all will be in vain!"
"This is a really, really, really stupid idea." Scarlet muttered underneath her breath before turning to Vinyl. "Ready?"
"Define ready?" The unicorn huffed out, wincing slightly as she pushed herself up.
The pegasus looked at Vinyl's ankle worriedly. Where the Vanished had bit into her flesh back at the river was a swollen lump of spliced muscles and bloodied skin. It looked incredibly painful, and it was miracle that the blue-maned pony had been able to keep going for so long.
"Are you sure you can support both our weights?" Scarlet inquired. "You're hurt."
Vinyl looked to where her friend was pointing, slowly raising her hind hoof. "Oh buck, I totally forgot about that. Oh sweet Faust that doesn't look good."
"Oh dear, that wound looks like something to fear." Zecora trot over to Vinyl, analyzing her injury with concerned eyes. "Are you sure you are not affected? It appears to be infected."
Not only was the bite still leaking blood, but now it was oozing a seemingly endless amount of puss as well. The wound itself was deep, although the Vanished's deadly bite had just grazed her Achilles tendon. Still, when Vinyl put pressure on it the gash squirted out red and yellow.
"Oh buck!" The unicorn cursed through grit teeth as her hoof touched the ground. "What in Tartarus?! It wasn't this bad a few minutes ago!"
"And it definitely wasn't that bad when you rescued us from the river." Scarlet noted.
"Hmm. It's quite possible that because of the Vanished's rotted bite, an infection had spread unnaturally quick and caused this blight." The striped shaman theorized. "I know of a few Zebrafrican beasts whose fangs and claws will do the same, and the wound must be treated as soon as possible to prevent the limb from becoming lame."
"But what about mom?" Sound-Off piped worriedly. "She was bitten too!"
"Ah, yes. But she was treated immediately so the effect was far less." Zecora explained, reaching into her bag and pulling out a bottle of a thick, olive-green, almost chunky, paste. "Luckily with me I have a healing salve that will do for a quick fix, a special brew and a zebra trick!"
With the skill that only an experienced and respected shaman could have, the zebra quickly cleaned the wound with some water from her flask and an old tattered rag- causing Vinyl to flinch- before applying the salve in one swift swirling motion and then finished with a rapid wrapping of gauze.
Vinyl gave her an impressed whistle. "I've never seen anypony work so fast!"
"Much battle and many wars I have seen, plenty of bloodshed and slaughter for my talents to glean." Zecora stated, a solemn and haunted look in her eyes.
"Sorry I asked." The unicorn murmured, catching sight of the zebra's hollow gaze.
The ground below them suddenly began to quake, the force of the tremors causing the ponies, zebra, and dragoness to fight to keep their balance.
Sound-Off held onto the pegasus mare's leg. "It's here!"
"That would be our cue!" Zecora exclaimed. "It is time to move!"
The behemoth beast had begun its approach. It stumbled towards them, eyes straight ahead and oblivious to their presence. The assassin quickly swooped Sound-Off onto her back, backing down the cliff and preparing for a running jump.
"Are you sure you can do this?!" Scarlet shouted over the intense rumblings.
"Yeah!" Vinyl turned to her with a confident and sincere smile. "I know we've really only just met, but you can trust me!"
The silver-maned pony nodded her head before clambering up onto Vinyl's scarred back. "I trust you!"
"Hey, I've already saved your life twice! You better trust me!" Vinyl laughed out as she turned tail and joined Zecora near the midpoint of the cliff incline.
"It hasn't been a good day for me!" Scarlet admitted.
"What are you talking about?!" Vinyl challenged. "You've met me, and by what I can figure out Zecora too! I'd say today is going great!"
"No more time for chatter!" The aforementioned zebra suddenly yelled. "It is time for us to scatter!"
Sound-Off wrapped her arms around Zecora's neck in a choke hold. "This is still a really bad idea! You are all crazy!"
"Well if we weren't, this probably wouldn't work!" The unicorn exclaimed before breaking into a full gallop- at least as fast as she could muster with her injured ankle- and racing towards the bluff's edge.
Zecora shot forward, a bullet on four hooves. The reptile screamed in surprise and fear from the striped rocket's launch.
"JUMP!" Zecora shouted just as the Colossus's flesh citadel towered above and in front of them.
Both the mares suddenly put all of their strength into their back legs, and leapt into the air.
The wind spread underneath of them, cooling their fur- scales in the reptile's case- and drying out their eyes. Time seemed to slow down to impossible lengths. The world around them came to a jolting halt. This was it, do or die. Even when faced with death before, at least then they had the option of fighting back. Here, in the air, nothing to catch them, no guarantees of survival, was both exhilarating and an unrivaled panic.
Zecora suddenly slammed against the titanic monster's flesh. She skidded on the near-polished skin of a flesh-sculpted balcony- complete with a little fence made of bone- and slammed against a pillar; she scrambled up onto her hooves, until she managed to find steady balance in the quaking floor. Sound-Off had been thrown from her back by the impact, and was now lying dazed a few feet away. Vinyl, meanwhile, had mistimed the jump and was now plummeting alongside the monster's massive barrel.
"Hang on!" The unicorn called out to her passenger, struggling to ignite her horn. It flickered on and off, like a dying bulb in a bad flashlight.
"I am, I am!" Scarlet insisted from the mare's back.
The blue-maned mare's horn suddenly lit up with a tremendous flash and popping sparks. The pegasus's body began to feel airy, as if she was a feather caught in the wind. Her eyes were then spontaneously blinded by a magenta flash. When the light died out she and Vinyl had crashed on the balcony of flesh near the assassin and her apprentice.
"That," Vinyl panted. "was close."
"Three times! Three times in one day!" Scarlet exclaimed, sinking into Vinyl's blood-clumped fur.
Sound-Off rubbed her head as she pushed herself up, using the pillar as support. She then gasped. "Um, mom, you might want to see this!"
The three turned to the dragoness, who stood against a grand entryway into the flesh labyrinth. Scarlet picked herself off of Vinyl, and walked over to Sound-Off; her jaw dropped upon joining the reptile. "Oh my."
"What is it that you have discovered? Something vital I wonder?" Zecora inquired, trotting up to the pony and dragoness. She took the remaining Luminous Gem- other than the two around her and Sound-Off's necks, and not including the ones the dragoness had in her quiver- from her saddlebag, holding it high into the air. "Oh my that is definitely of relevance, this is of the greatest concern and most dreadfulness."
Vinyl squinted into the tenebrous yawning orifice in front of her. "Whoa."
In front of them lie a long corridor, not at all dissimilar to the ones in Canterlot Castle, except this one split off into the shape of a T. The quartet walked down the massive hall, hooves and claws clicking against the floor. They were surprised to find that the same roots from outside grew inside of the Colossus's body, forming columns and arching buttresses. Scarlet trot up to a jagged throne at the center of the T; it was easily four times her size in height, and made from bone and crystal growths.
"A seat of spires, crystal, and bone. I am curious to know more about this throne." Zecora versed as she joined the pegasus mare's side. "Luckily for us these halls are empty, I doubt we'd want to meet the throne's occupant and their assembly. Though that does beg the question of where did they go, but it is best that we do not know."
"Hey, look at me!" Vinyl called out, having clambered up onto the throne. "I'm queen of the castle, I'm queen of the castle!"
"What do you think you're doing?!" Sound-Off exclaimed, claws against her head. "Get down from there!"
"Oh come on," Vinyl rolled her eyes. "what's going to happen?"
The crystals on the throne suddenly lit up the same color as Vinyl's magic; glowing veins of magenta rippled from the chair, sending bolts of light throughout every corridor in the Colossus's body. The throne room was soon illuminated in dark-pink. The unicorn herself was suddenly cocooned in an aura of her own magic, the glow as bright as a star. The energy in the air was so thick and powerful that it tore at the zebra's mane and the pegasus's hair and fragile feathers.
"This is why we don't tempt fate!" Sound-Off yelled through her elbow.
All of the light suddenly retracted back to the throne like the rearing head of a startled snake. As the magic flowed back the bolts violently struck Vinyl before the sphere of magic suddenly exploded and dropped the mare to the seat below.
Scarlet moved her hoof away as the light died down, and then she gasped before galloping to the unicorn's side. "Vinyl! Vinyl your horn!"
"My- my wha?" The disorientated mare groaned out.
Zecora's eyes widened and her ears folded back. "Oh dear! That is rather queer! Vinyl your horn has begun to grow in a sickle, and it appears rather quite brickle!"
"My horn?" Vinyl grunted out, her eyes rolling upwards but unable to perceive the bone growth with only half sight.
Sound-Off pushed herself off of the floor, her tired and shaking legs barely able to hold her weight. She sharply inhaled at the sight of Vinyl's horn. "Oh by Dragon Lord Torch's massive rear!"
Vinyl's horn had suddenly sprouted upwards in the shape of a crescent with long jagged cracks; from her forehead sprouted a crown of eight much smaller horns, which encircled the larger one. The horn itself seemed to radiate a powerful magic, crackling frequently from bursts of lightning.
The mare frowned, and moved a hoof over to the growth. "What is it?"
Zecora suddenly pulled out from the depths of her bag a hoof-held mirror, lowering it so Vinyl could see. "Your horn appears to have grown, a trait that is surely shown. Perhaps it is not for me to say, but it isn't normal to have a wreath of horns like a lei. Nor should a unicorn's horn grow curved as a hook, this is the most abnormal of looks."
"What the buck?" Vinyl murmured, gingerly rubbing the bone growth; at least it didn't hurt anymore. "How did- Why- What happened?"
"Never something like this have I seen, and Zecora's eyes are the most keen." The zebra returned the mirror to her bag, and put a hoof up to her chin as she leered at the horn. "The reason why is because of that throne as your magic it did evoke, no other cause comes of the knowledge I can convoke."
"I wonder if Gallant would know about something like this?" Sound-Off wondered aloud, observing the unicorn. "How do you feel Vinyl?"
"Fine, I guess." The blue-maned mare stated in shock, pushing herself up. "I mean, I don't feel any pain. If anything, I actually feel stronger."
"Stronger?" Scarlet inquired, helping the mare up onto her hooves.
"Yeah! Let me try something!" Vinyl suddenly lit up her horn, and a similar magenta aura began to rapidly engulf the silver-maned mare next to her.
The angel-winged pony felt a sudden tingling sensation envelop her body. The warm light began to spread from the tip of her ears to the toe of her hoof. She felt her hooves leave the ground as the magic lifted her into the air. The magic soon faded away, and gently deposited the mare back onto the ground of flesh. Her splint and sling suddenly fell away, hitting the flesh below with a soft thud. All and every sign that she had ever fought against the Vanished were gone- scratches, bruises, gashes, the broken and displaced bones- even her mane and tail had been restored to their original length. The bewildered pegasus then gently lifted her back hoof.
"What?" Scarlet Thorn swiftly circled around. "My leg! It- it doesn't hurt anymore! And my foreleg, look! I can move it!"
Zecora and Sound-Off stared at the white-coated pegasus with mouths agape, but ultimately it was the dragoness who turned to Vinyl. "How did you do that?!"
"I- I don't know!" Vinyl admitted, surprised herself. "I mean, I felt stronger, but not like, too strong. That was really weird! It didn't even feel like a lot of magic! I was just trying out an apprentice-level healing spell, but wow!"
The pegasus suddenly threw herself at the other pony. "That's amazing! Thank you Vinyl! I can actually run now. And if I can run, I can fight!"
Scarlet swung her scythe from her back to out in front of her, quick as a whip. A scarily gleeful look in her eyes warned her companions to keep their distance as she slashed at the air in chaotic strikes. The scorpion had its sting back.
"Okay," Vinyl backed away from the pegasus a good distance. "remind me never to make her angry."
"Hmm, this is quite the anomaly. Your horn and magic reserve itself seems to have been affected by this Vanished colony." Zecora theorized, still entranced with the mare's new horn.
"I've read that few unicorns have ascended into a higher state from the mass magic accretion!" Sound-Off elaborated. "I remember when I was a hatchling, Gallant would read to me from this old book of fairy-tales. There was this story about a colony of unicorns who got trapped in a cave during a winter storm. At the end of the story, the unicorns' magic grew so powerful under the guidance of their powerful and brave leader, Twilight Rosario, that they became something else entirely!"
"Alicorns?" Vinyl enthusiastically asked, excitedly checking her back for a grand pair of wings.
"No, they didn't become alicorns." The reptile responded, feeling guilty upon seeing Vinyl's dejected face. "They just became, stronger."
"I am curious about this tale, would you kindly give me the name of this spell?" Zecora inquired.
"Yeah. It's called, 'The Tale of the Carnes ad Vescendum Conferunt, Midsummer Dream and Morning Star'. It was my favorite story growing up!" Sound-Off exclaimed as she fondly recalled the story.
"I am surprised that this tale you can so clearly recap, your mind must be like a steel trap!" The assassin commended.
Sound-Off put a claw to the back of her head and shyly laughed. "Um, yeah. I have photographic memory, I can remember just about everything since my hatching day."
"Jeez, that's pretty amazing!" Vinyl exclaimed, "I can't even remember much of what happened a year ago! Partially because of too many black-out nights, but still, that's bucking amazing!"
"No, what's amazing is your magic! You healed mom!" Sound-Off pointed out. "The only other pony I know with such powerful healing spells is Gallant, but he's had years of training and experience!"
"But what do we do now?" Vinyl asked, rubbing her horn again. The growth felt alien to her, yet somehow like it should have always been that way as well.
"Now?" Zecora smiled, watching the pegasus go through her practice routine. "We may finally rest as time has allowed. We have a non-the-wiser natural guide, so sit back and enjoy the ride."
***
Outside, the Colossus continued its slow but steady gait towards the Tree of Chaos. Blissfully unaware of the stowaways within its flesh, perhaps even unaware of everything around it.
But one Vanished wasn't so oblivious. It's single eye had seen the flash of magenta light coming from within the titan's hump. From behind, it followed after the Colossus; although it was sure to keep its distance from those careless hooves. Just then, the Vanished stumbled upon a hollowed out corpse of one of its brethren. It sniffed the mangled coat. Pony.
One-Eye narrowed its one eye, a growl forming from deep within its throat. It would find the ponies that did this to it; these ponies that almost killed its mate, and. Make. Them. Pay. The mutated gryphon's eye fell back onto the Colossus, before the monster began to run after it. Even if it had to do it alone.