//------------------------------// // The Plague Doctor // Story: Will of The Shadow Monarch // by Silvermyr //------------------------------// ”Oh, Princess Twilight, Prince Shining Armor!” The librarian bowed down respectfully to the both of them behind her counter. ”I’m sorry, but you asked yesterday, my prince, and I have not gotten any new first-time-daddy books since then. I have sent a request to Canterlot, but it will take them some time.” ”I’m not here for that right now,” Shining Armor said maturely. ”This is a more… delicate matter.” The librarian got a sly glint in her spectacles. ”Well, if you are still looking for the Poni Sutra…” The librarian lowered her voice in a conspiratorial whisper. ”West wing, on the highest shelf.” ”N-no! I’m not…” Shining Armor threw a quick look at his little sister. Twilight was not sure why he looked so flustered, but decided to help him out of what seemed like an uncomfortable subject. ”Miss, we are not interested in… what did you call it? The Poni Sutra,” Twilight said and made a mental note to look into that book. She knew her brother had an excellent taste in books. ”Actually, we were looking for information about… the same pony I asked about last time, if you recall?” Twilight asked silently as to not alarm the few other crystal ponies milling about the library. The elderly librarian swallowed and looked about warily, as if she expected the ancient king to pounce from a corner. ”I see… well, perhaps you would come with me into my office and we could talk in private.” The librarian nodded nervously and put up a small ”on lunch” sign on her desk. Twilight and Shining Armor followed her into her office. The three ponies sat down on chairs around a crystal table. ”Right, so you need information about Sombra? I won’t say I know him any better than any other pony though, just so you know.” ”Actually,” Shining Armor began, ”it’s not exactly Sombra we are interested in this time. We think, at least.” ”This might be a strange question, but… did Sombra have any ponies loyal to him? We are thinking about… maybe twelve ponies.” ”And they were probably mages,” Shining Armor filled in. ”Does this tell you anything, miss Manesbury?” ”How did you learn about this?” The librarian, evidently named Manesbury, asked silently. ”M-my prince, please don’t be angry but… we crystal ponies wanted to forget them. I thought about telling you, but they are all gone for sure. We… we didn’t want to open old wounds; thought we could just let sleeping dogs lie.” ”Miss Manesbury, I’m afraid I don’t follow,” Shining Armor said in a soothing, calming voice. ”What did you want to forget? I fear there might still be some relevance still to this… legend, if you will, and my sister and I really need to know.” Manesbury bit her lip. ”Well… I really don’t think so… I mean, they are dead by now. It’s better to look to the now instead of dredging a past that is better undisturbed.” ”But you can’t just… refuse to think about something that scares you like this!” Twilight exclaimed. ”That way you never conquer your fears!” In a sudden burst of inspiration, she continued. ”You are still afraid of Sombra, right? Well, then you need to start talking about him, start showing one another that you can stand up to that fear. He will never come back, so you can’t let fear control your lives. If you do, if you spend your life looking over your shoulder, then he still wins, dead or not.” Manesbury sat silent. ”Please,” Shining Armor begged. ”This… might be crucial for the birth of mine and Cadence’s foal… we are looking for a way to end the stillbirths.” ”Alright,” Manesbury whispered. ”I will help, but don’t talk about this around others, please.” She cleared her throat. ”Well… I know of the twelve you are talking about, though I did not think they were that many. I think you’re referring to The Pale Knights.” ”Pale Knights?” Twilight repeated. Yet another element in this empire’s history she had never heard of. Manesbury nodded. ”They were Sombra’s closest ponies and the officers of his guard, I think. While the normal guard wore black armor with eerie, glowing eyes, The Pale Knights instead were dressed in white robes with hoods and masks. They were Sombra’s eyes and hooves among his subjects…” Manesbury started shaking slightly. ”They used to patrol the streets sometimes. Ponies stayed inside then, but they could still come and confront you about something you had said alone in your home months ago. It is said they could kill and torture with mere a whisper and that their very shadows were poisonous. If… one ever said something that could be considered rebellious, then you… vanished. When I was walking home once with my friend I looked away for a moment. Then she was gone… disappeared in a flash of darkness. I never saw her again… just gone without a peep.” ”Damn you, Sombra,” Shining Armor mumbled darkly. ”So these Pale Knights, do you know anything more? Would you or anypony else recognize one today?” Manesbury shook her head. ”They always wore masks, horrible masks, and their voices were contorted.” Twilight nodded. ”I know this might be a strange question, but… do you know anything about Sombra’s journal?” The librarian looked like she had been struck by lightning. Immediately she sat up, stiff as a stick. Her glasses fell of from the jerky motion, but she did not care about picking them up. ”How did you know about his journal? He kept those a secret… a well guarded secret.” ”We think we found one,” Shining Armor said. ”Or part of one, at least. But if he kept them a secret, how do you know about them?” It was not lost on Twilight that her brother had tensed up slightly and his eyes radiated just a little suspicion. Manesbury lowered her head. ”Once, when Sombra’s bookkeeper was gone for some reason, he commanded me to… to the castle to sort through his library and find something… a book of some sort. I found the book quickly and went to tell Sombra so I could leave. I saw…” She sniffled. ”Sorry, I still have nightmares about this…” She hiccuped once and swallowed. ”Sombra was in his study and… and had a crystal pony there, chained by the desk. He was writing something… the pony by the desk was crying. Sombra… laid down the pencil and… and took the hoof of the pony. I don’t know what, but… he mumbled something and placed the hoof on the page he had just written and…” Manesbury closed her eyes and a shudder ran through her body. ”I still hear his scream. The pony screamed like he was being torn apart, and blood washed over the page, filling the letters written there. It just lasted for a few seconds, but… I can’t forget it!” ”Did the journal look like this?” Shining Armor asked carefully and produced the book from earlier. Manesbury eyed it warily. ”It might be… I didn’t see it very well that time, but the size looks about right.” ”And if you are right, then it can be… activated by some spell and by placing a hoof on it?” Twilight asked. ”DON’T!” Manesbury exclaimed shrilly. ”You did not see him; he screamed as loud as he could! You can’t touch that!” ”I will,” Twilight said with conviction. ”I’m an alicorn, and we need the answers in this book. This will solve the cipher in the spell book, and once I know how the killing spell works, I can figure out a counterspell.” ”Well… that I can help with,” Manesbury said slowly. ”Not the spells, but I think I know how Sombra encrypted his spell book… maybe.” ”What? How?” both Twilight and Shining Armor asked in chorus. ”He used the same system on all his texts, and some of those are here in this library. And crosswords and codes just so happens to be a hobby of mine. His code system was actually quite simple, yet very hard to crack. You see, for each letter-” ”Lancea Obscura!” The strange, bone-chilling cry bounced around the office, startling both Twilight and Shining Armor who were immediately on their hooves. Manesbury however, sat still on her chair. She coughed weakly once and the slumped forward. Twilight looked, horror and confusion fighting for supremacy in her head. The shadow Manesbury cast on the floor under her has somehow twisted itself, left the two dimensions where it by all right should be and shot out of the ground like a spear, impaling the librarian. ”AMETHYST!” Shining Armor screamed and dashed to her side. The aged mare was breathing shallow and fast, blood gushing out from the hole in her chest. Twilight watched as if nailed to the chair, unable to comprehend what she saw. A pony was dying in front of her. The thought hammered inside her head, but she was unable to grasp it. Ponies did not die like this! She could not accept it! It was impossible! Yet her eyes kept feeding her horrible picture after horrible picture, each one hacking away the idea of it being impossible. ”AMETHYST, CAN YOU HEAR ME!?” ”No. She hear only His Majesty’s whispers now.” The unnatural coldness to the voice was enough to snap Twilight from her stunned terror. She whirled around the where the sound came from. There was nopony there, only the crystal wall and humble door out to the library. Without thinking, she put up a shield around her brother and the librarian. Her heart thumped painfully hard in her chest and ever fiber of hair on her coat stood up. Where was the sound coming from? Who was doing this? ”A shield…? I come here expecting a challenge, yet all I find is this…?” Twilight did not answer, but instead willed more power into her shield. This was the kind of magic that could resist even Starlight’s attacks. ”Not enough. There are many ways to negate a shield… Gressus Obscura! Especially when you are already behind it. Lancea Obscura!” Twilight looked behind her, afraid of what she would see. Amethyst Manesbury laid dead before Shining Armor, definitively killed by a deep cut in the throat. ”Nopony can escape His reach. Wherever there is shadow, there is a little bit of Him. He is everywhere, a force as omnipresent as time itself.” ”WHERE ARE YOU!? COME OUT OF HIDING, COWARD!” Shining Armor screamed. Twilight instinctively flicked her ears backwards in submission to her older sibling. Alicorn or no, as with any little sister, an enraged older brother was among the most terrifying things there was. And Shining Armor was beyond enraged. He looked positively insane. ”What are you so upset about? This slave was His Majesty’s property, as are all ponies in this miserable little parish. Their lives are His for the taking.” The voice turned sweet, like poisoned honey. ”You and your mare included… and the little foal in her womb.” ”You… you wouldn’t dare…” Shining Armor stammered, suddenly very pale. ”You won’t touch her… YOU WON’T LAY A HOOF ON CADENCE! YOU HEAR ME!?” ”King Sombra has need of her… she should be honored. To serve His Majesty is the greatest gift a pony can receive in this world.” Twilight ignited her horn and readied a teleportation spell. They could not stay here; Cadence was in danger. ”Cornu Ignis.” Twilight screamed and put her front hooves on her horn as if to snuff out an invisible fire. It felt like when she had touched the dark magic in the dead foal, only a hundred times worse. It was like her horn was burning from the inside out. She slumped forward and was left lying on the floor as excruciating pain ransacked the most sensitive part of her body. She scraped with her hooves on her horn in a futile attempt to get to the pain and sooth it somehow. When it did not work she retorted to simply jerk her head violently in powerlessness. Then, as sudden at is had come, the torture stopped. Twilight looked up, quivering and teary-eyed. Shining Armor stood beside her, horn blazing and a soft purple force field around them. At his silent command, the force filed expanded and filled the whole room. A heavy thump sounded from ahead of them as a formerly invisible pony slammed into it and fell down on the floor. Twilight barely had the time to see his long white robes before the furious Shining Armor rushed at him. The alien pony looked up just a moment before Shining Armor brought all of his body weight to bear on the other pony who meekly tried to raise his hooves in futile protection. ”Regis Mandatum!” The alien pony choked forth as Shining Armor half crushed him against the wall. Twilight saw the unmistakable sheen of dark magic shine under the white hood. Twilight finally caught up to the situation and shook her head to get rid of the residue tears. She carefully willed the magic back in her horn, afraid that the pain would return. It did not, and Twilight unleashed her freezing spell, catching both the unknown pony and her brother. Now Twilight could get a good look at the assailant. He wore long white robes with small, sharp silver ornaments set at various long ends that did not seem to serve any purpose, and a disturbing, featureless mask of gray steel over his face. There were only two eyeholes, grey eyes behind them and nothing else but a smooth surface where there should be a face. ”Okay, now you are going to answer for your crimes!” Shining Armor growled once he had been let down, his eyes looking like they might plop out of their sockets. ”What have you done to my wife!?” ”You are too late,” the other pony answered calmly. ”The others were but the preparation for the ritual. One to breach the wall between this world and the next.” While the face was hidden behind the mask, there was no mistaking the smile. ”You are too late, the final ritual has already begun. Hail to His Majesty Sombra! Impetus!” Twilight stumbled and lost concentration when a pair of hooves groped for her throat from behind her. She flapped her wings instinctively, but only managed to twist herself halfway around so that she fell to the ground on her side. Still, it was enough to see the face of her attacker. Manesbury’s crystal coat was awash in blood from the wound in her throat and chest, but nevertheless she grappled blindly after Twilight, her eyes black as pitch. A wheezing sound oozed from her mouth. ”Twilight!” Shining Armor let go of the Pale Knight and sent Manesbury flying with a powerful kick. The mare rose up like nothing and swung a clumsy flail in Shining’s direction. ”Tenebris Captionem!” The Pale Knight called. ”Hope you enjoy His Majesty’s teleportation trap, Sparkle! I understand you are familiar with it!” He bolted for the door. ”No you don’t!” Twilight yelled and leaped after him. She did not want to use her magic if he attempted to use the torture spell again. ”Fumus…” The pony shifted, and Twilight flew straight through him. She grappled as best she could, but her hooves had nothing but smoke to grip. She regained her balance and looked back to see the enemy dodge Shining Armor as well. ”Imperceptus…” and he was gone. Twilight, stopped and looked around, dumbfounded. She knew there was invisibility spells, but she had not expected to face them here. The door slammed shut to her side and she could hear the key klick in the lock. Twilight flew at it, but she already knew it was locked. She teleported, but the moment she was out it felt like gravity began pulling her tail and hind legs, sucking her back into the room again. ”Twilight, What’s happened?” Shining Armor, asked the moment she came into the room again. His hooves were bloody after the wrestling match with Manesbury’s now unmoving corpse. ”Why didn’t it work?” ”Sombra’s spell,” Twilight answered. ”I faced it when trying to find the Crystal Heart. It’s some kind of trap that stops you from teleporting.” ”Then stand back,” Shining Armor said and ignited his horn. A pink beam of energy shoot to the door, bounced off an invisible barrier and back at the two siblings. Twilight protected them with a shield. ”Oh no! This is bad!” Twilight squeaked when her analytical mind caught up. ”We don’t have time to be locked in, Cadence is in danger! We have to get out!” ”Don’t you think I already know that!?” Shining armor spat angrily. ”Come on, help me blast through this shield! He is only one pony, and you are an alicorn!” ”But he is one strangely powerful pony,” Twilight thought glumly and began the tiresome work of chipping away at the barrier. ***** Entry nr. 657 My studies are proceeding at ever-greater pace. My apprentices are performing beyond my wildest imaginations. Such a thirst for knowledge, such a vision to create! And such a daring to unleash their creations. Together, the very foundations of this world will quake and roil at our hooves! All the while, my own studies have moved in a strange, new direction. It seems like… there is a stable axis around which death itself revolves. I have yet to decipher the meaning, but it seems like there is a physical reality of… nothing but death. A plane, if you will, not unlike the known elemental planes. The plane of death. If it exists, I must find my way there. ***** ”That would be all for now, yes?” Golden Heart asked as he closed up his bag. ”Or is there anything else you would like to ask? After all, you won’t see me again until tomorrow.” The small gibe was not lost on Cadence. After all, she too could understand that Golden Heart must be bored with coming to her this often. This was the third time today. ”No, that would be all. Is everything alright?” ”About the same as when you asked last time, fifteen minutes ago,” Golden Heart replied dryly. ”Your foal is just fine.” Cadence bit back the request for him to elaborate. She would not get any information she did not already have, and she could not justify keeping the doctor any longer. If his good mood was anything to go by, he had something enjoyable waiting back at home. ”You seem happy, Golden. May I ask why?” ”No reason, really,” Golden replied merrily. ”Just a special day is all. But I’m sure you know that too. You are just much better at hiding it than me. Do you have any plans for tonight?” ”I’m afraid I don’t quite understand what you mean. Is today a holiday of some kind?” Cadence tried to recall, but she could not for the life of her remember anything like that. She always kept careful track of her calendar, as a princess she had to, but there was nothing written today, she was sure. She knew she had been a bit unfocused on her duties lately with her pregnancy and never-ending worry for her foal, but she still doubted she would have missed any holiday. ”Not exactly a holiday, but a special day for sure. Today it is exactly one year and forty-three days since the fall of His Majesty, or thirteen months and thirteen days. A moment, if you will.” The doctor turned around and started digging in his bag, while Cadence was still stunned from the fact that Golden Heart had referred to King Sombra as ”His Majesty”. It was not unheard of, as a few ponies still believed Sombra could hear them and were afraid of his punishment, but Golden Heart was not even a crystal pony. How did that make sense? ”There, done.” Golden Heart turned around to face her again. Cadence gasped and stood up quickly. Golden Heart had changed his doctor’s robes for another garment she had never seen. It was white and made of wool with long threads and ribbons hanging at random places with a nasty spike at the end of each. What captivated Cadence about it, however, was the mask Golden wore. It was a plague doctor’s mask, fashioned from dark gray steel. ”Your Majesty, hear my prayer.” Golden Heart called loudly. ”Grant me the power I need to do your bidding, and grant me the clarity to never stray from your vision. I pledge my soul to you, now as millennia ago.” Cadence had no words for what she witnessed. She knew Golden Heart. Who was this side of him who called out to King Sombra? Cadence had never seen any of her subject willfully addressing anything related to him, let alone praying to him. Golden Heart stood up again, and focused his eyes on her. ”Guard!” She still did not understand what she was seeing, but she knew she it was not something good. Cadence put up a force field around her at the same time two ponies barged in and placed themselves between her and the doctor. While she was not nearly as good with shields as Shining Armor, she still had a basic grasp on them. Also, her love-based magic had proven effective last time Sombra was involved. She backed away slowly. The guard followed. She had to get away. A shiver wormed its way down her spine. Her foal was in danger, and neither her husband or sister-in-law was here. ”Now don’t be difficult. His Majesty needs you to serve. You should be honored,” Golden Heart smirked and carefully stalked closer. The guards tipped their crystal spears towards him. ”Sombra is no more, Golden,” Cadence said slowly without taking her eyes of the blue pony. The mask unnerved her. ”You don’t have to do whatever he has told you to, not anymore.” She stopped. Now that she had a little distance, she wanted to reason with him. Golden Heart was clearly not himself now, so she had to help him. He was her subject; it was her duty as princess. ”Sombra is everywhere. Dead or alive, he will never truly be gone,” Golden Heart replied coldly. ”Golden Heart,” Cadence said loudly. She straightened herself and fought down the impulse to flare her wings. She could not show any weakness. She fixed a regal gaze on the deranged pony. ”Listen to me. I have felt you. Every day I feel you, and every day I know you are a good pony at heart. Whatever Sombra did to you, or made you do, I absolve you of it now. Sombra is gone, he is but a disease to the joy and good in our empire.” ”Disease…” Golden Heart repeated slowly, as if he was tasting the syllables. ”A fitting choice of words.” He started walking straight towards Cadence without taking his eyes of her, oblivious and uncaring to the guards in his way. Both guards stepped forward, spears still lowered. ”Stop!” one of the guards demanded. ”I command you to stop!” Cadence saw the doctor crack a smile, and she shied back from it. It looked like something a cat might give when it found a litter of mice. A smiled filled to the brim with evil. ”Malleus!” The doctor purred, and the guards both fell on the ground accompanied by a screams in pain and surprise. Cadence paled and involuntarily took a step back. She saw her guards sweat, cough and sneeze mucus and blood, despite having been healthy moments ago. Wounds and swellings started to grow from their hooves and upwards over the span of mere moments, until the guards both laid still. Realization clicked, and she felt her last meal revolt in her stomach. No! She could not vomit now; she had to keep her shield up! She had get away! ”No shield can help against me; my weapon is already within you, Cadenza.” Golden Heart said sadistically. ”Caesar Obscura.” At first, Cadence felt nothing, then there was a small sting, almost like that of a paper cut, on the top of her stomach. She hissed as it became worse. It was like an invisible scalpel slid over her belly. Caesar Obscura. Cesarean section. All rational thought went straight out the window. He had attacked her foal! Cadence screamed out in fear and instinctively shoot off upwards, away from the invisible scalpel. She knew it must be below her, so the only safe direction was up! She found the shield spell in her way. So she lowered it. ”Tetanus!” ***** Entry nr. 699 I need to die. I have come as far as I can in this life. I need a practical experience now to cement and perfect my knowledge. I cannot do that here in the realm of the living. But I know now that there are alternatives. Of course, my sacred mission in this misbegotten world is far from over, so I cannot leave permanently. As a King, I am responsible for this world too. My choice has been made. I need to make suitable preparations, and then I will journey where nopony has gone before.