Chapter One
The black ballpoint pen softly clattered to the floor. With a sigh, Nathan leant over his desk, grasping down just short of the utensil. He frowned down at the pen as if his disappointment with how the laws of physics had just played out would somehow convince it to rescind its decision. The pen remained still, however, refusing to perform the miracle Nathan somehow hoped would occur. With a sigh, he stood up from his chair, leaning around the desk, scooping the pen up and setting it down forcefully back in its previous location. Then, with a huff, Nathan sat back down, straightening out his papers, aligning them to his liking before continuing.
As he reached for his now reacquired writing instrument, a soft buzzing sound echoed from his jeans’ pocket. His head drifted down to the desk with an audible thump, making no attempts to hide his chagrin from the rest of the empty room. Without lifting his head, he reached for his cell phone, pulling it out and swiping the answer call button using sheer muscle memory. “Hello?” He said, muffled by the desktop.
“It’s Ian, we need to talk.” The voice on the other end of the phone was stern but concerned. Nathan shifted in his seat, lifting his head slowly, a slightly dazed look still lingered in his eyes. “Right, right. I know, I’m working on it now. I’m motivated, you don’t need to worry about me,” Nathan answered quickly, and groggily.
“You don’t sound it, but if you say so. I’d still like to talk, it’s been a while. We haven’t really spoken since you left the car place-” Ian’s voice was cut abruptly short by Nathan’s exasperated sighing.
“I’ll talk to him, alright? I’ve gotta go back there to get my computer anyway, school is hard enough without it,” Nathan propped his head up with his knuckle, resting his elbow down on the desk. The look on his face one of lazy desperation, like he wanted nothing more than to get off the phone that instant, but didn’t have the energy to say or actively do anything about it.
“That’s good. I hope you two can talk when you do. He’s taken it all rather hard, maybe not personally, but hard. I’m thinking about filling in for you while he finds someone new,” Ian’s voice trailed off.
“No, don’t do that,” Nathan massaged the bridge of his nose, “I’ll… I’ll offer to fill in ‘till he can find someone else. Look, I left because I wanted to focus on school, you’re in the same boat. You would just be put in the same position I was, it wouldn’t make any sense.”
“I’m more than capable of doing both,” Ian stopped himself, realizing what he had implied. “Sorry, I didn’t mean that you aren’t. I know that your plate is full, I’m just trying to help.”
“I know, and I appreciate it, but it’s fine. I’ll figure it out.”
“I’m happy to hear that. If you need anything just send me a text,” Ian responded.
“Will do. Talk to you later,” Nathan tapped the sleep button on his phone, laying it on his desk next to a rather lengthy college essay stacked neatly in its centre. Nathan eyed the heap of paper wearily for a moment, before getting up from his seat and stretching, letting out an exaggerated yawn. He trudged over to the counter, treading over some dirty clothes and other miscellaneous clutter strewn across his small apartment floor, grabbing his keys before making for the door.
Stepping outside, and breathing in a great deal of cool autumn air, Nathan made his way down the street towards the local auto shop he had previously, and recently, been employed at. His friend, Joseph, had started it up only several months ago, buying the garage and single-handedly cleaning it up, making it ready for business. Quickly realizing he needed more able bodies, he began reaching out to his friends for help at the shop, and Nathan just happened to be decent with computers. Nathan needed money, so he accepted, and began helping with anything and everything PC related, helping with their new website, with e-mails, with balancing the business's bank account, and so on. Being a brand new, practically nameless body shop meant that the pay was ‘whatever Joseph could afford at the time’, which usually meant below minimum wage. This was fine, for a while, until Nathan’s time started becoming more and more valuable, and scarce.
Nathan’s friend, Ian, had begun attending college, a good one at that, and had recommended it to Nathan, offering to put in a good word with the board, which would no doubt carry some weight. Ian being as intelligent as he was, was already acing things at an incredible rate and was on his way to impressing some rather important people. The school was fairly prestigious, making Nathan doubt his chances of getting in, but he simultaneously wanted desperately to go somewhere, anywhere. He was tired of life as it was, ‘a change is as good as a rest’ he was always told, and this sounded as good a way as any to find his calling.
Nathan was athletic, smart, liked to think of himself as good-looking, though he internally questioned this from time to time, but most of all, he was restless. Nathan had taken the job at the auto shop for these exact reasons, but this just hadn’t been enough to cure it. His appetite for change had become a voracious one. He still couldn’t shake the guilt of leaving Joseph high and dry like he did though.
Joseph had not had an easy time growing up. His parents had been verbally abusive practically his whole life. The moment he turned eighteen they kicked him out the door, and he had to bunk with friends for a few months to get things straightened out. Taking a job at a nearby car repair shop, he quickly learned the skillset he then later applied to the new shop he had started.
Nathan rubbed the back of his head, quietly thinking to himself. He didn’t mean anything by it, by leaving, he was just tired of waiting for something to happen. He wanted to happen to life, not the other way around, it was time to take action, and so he had. It may have been a bit rash, “but Joseph is a smart guy, he’ll survive, right?” Nathan thought to himself.
Nathan stopped just in front of the auto shop, nervously tapping his toe to the ground. After a moment, poising himself, he pushed open the door, strolling casually into the lobby.
“Hi, do you have an appointme-” a young man, no older than Nathan stood up from behind the counter, a large wad of cables in one hand, and a soldering iron in the other. The smell of smouldering plastic and melted metal was pungent. Joseph, or “Joe” as Nathan knew him, gave Nathan a strange look, as if half happy to see him, and half wanting to throttle him.
“Hey,” Joseph bent back down, setting the clutter down on the floor before standing back up. Brushing some bits of plastic off his oil-stained t-shirt, he stepped around the counter and began making his way into the garage. Nathan quickly followed, trying to think of something to say that wasn’t “oh hey, sorry about leaving right after you set off on your own to start a business when you probably needed me most! Won’t happen again, I promise!” Nathan glared angrily up at the ceiling, upset with his conscience, and simultaneously trying to muzzle his inner monologue.
“Hey, I’m just here to pick up my laptop, I won’t be in your way for long,” Nathan stopped just short of slapping himself, somehow he had managed to come off as even more heartless than his previous actions had made him out to be.
“It’s under the front counter, along with the register, since I won’t be needing one of those anymore,” Joseph’s footsteps were becoming louder, his movements quick and with purpose. Nathan could read his temper fairly easily at this point.
“I also wanted to say that I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have jumped ship like that, if Ian hadn’t- wait, won’t be needing a register?” Nathan was taken aback only for a moment, before realizing what was going on.
“Oh no no no… he was closing shop, all because you couldn’t just help a friend out, way to go,”Nathan thought as he began to sweat. A variety of other disparaging thoughts ran through Nathan’s head before Joseph replied.
“Closing shop. Going to start job hunting tomorrow.”
Nathan started to panic inwardly.
Joseph wasn’t even nineteen yet and he had started his own business, hired his own workers. Sure, he hadn’t been making a fortune off of it all, but still, it was more than Nathan could say about himself.
“If you still need a tech guy, I can stay on. I shouldn’t have left on such short notice to begin with, it’s my fault,” Nathan offered.
“Juan and Bill left last night. I can’t do everything myself, and I can’t afford this garage with what I’m making right now. I have to eat, and I need money to do that,” Joseph replied bitterly. He continued to avoid making eye contact with Nathan, moving parts and tools around, and stacking some oil stained cardboard boxes.
“Oh, I didn’t know that… still, sorry, I shouldn’t have bailed on you,” Nathan rubbed his arm sheepishly, wanting nothing more at that very moment than to grab his laptop and go home.
“Don’t worry about it,” Joseph said, so quickly he almost cut Nathan off. “I’ll just pack up and see if Mr Hainz will take me back at his shop.”
Nathan felt a bit of relief, he wasn’t going to be the cause of Joseph’s homelessness, or worse. Nathan afforded himself a weak smile, still feeling immensely awkward. Joseph looked back for the first time since Nathan had walked in, giving him a blank stare for a second, before going back to his busywork. The moment he looked away, Nathan let the smile disappear, slowly turning to go and fetch his laptop. Nathan hoped Joseph was busy enough to let that be the end of it.
Nathan pushed the door back into the lobby, which, strangely, didn’t budge. Nathan did everything but slam headfirst into the painted metal, staggering back several steps. He spun on his heel, looking back to see if Joseph had noticed, trying to play it off as if nothing happened. Joseph appeared focused on trying to fit a particularly large piece of equipment into a box, not noticing the incident.
Nathan turned back to the door, frowning. He pushed again, but the door didn’t give. He pushed it harder, still nothing. Stroking his chin, Nathan looked around to see if Joseph had left the keys nearby. He stopped, hands just short of the handle to try again, as he realized that this door had no lock. Only the garage doors and the front entrance had locks. “Silly me,” Nathan thought, letting out a weak, raspy chuckle, before shouldering the door firmly. The door seemed to move about the same amount it had before: not at all.
Starting to become annoyed, and a bit perplexed, Nathan turned back to Joseph, “hey, this door is stuck, could you give me a hand?” Nathan raised his voice, trying to be heard over the clanking and clattering of spare engine parts.
“I’ll check it later, just open the garage door and go back in the front,” Joseph said with little more than a murmur.
“Right,” Nathan walked over to the door controls, hitting one of the pushbuttons. Upon seeing no response, he pressed it again, then again. The doors remained resolutely shut, Nathan frowned in response. Deciding to attempt a more manual approach, he moved over to the left door, grabbing the handle at the bottom and lifting. He strained against the weight of it for a few seconds, before stepping back. His confusion was starting to turn into concern.
“Uh, these won’t open either,” Nathan said, glancing back at Joseph anxiously.
Joseph stood up, making his way over to the door controls. The buttons were still unresponsive. With a hard and final press, Joseph threw the wrench he had been carrying to the ground, stomping over to the garage door itself, and giving it a good kick. He then leant down, pulling upwards, struggling to make it budge even a little. Nothing happened.
A quiet whirring sound began to resonate in the concrete workspace, Nathan sighed with relief. Stepping back, both he and Joseph waited patiently for the doors to slide open, still uneventfully. The noise grew louder, emanating from the centre of the room. They both turned, facing the source of the noise, seemingly coming from nowhere. A series of sparks began to violently explode from the air in front of them, the walls and floor glowing a powerful white. The sound had reached a cacophonous pitch.
Joseph grasped out towards a nearby workbench, pushing it over onto its side. Nathan joined him in hiding behind the newly formed cover, cautiously watching the arcing lightning reach out towards anything metal.
Electricity visibly crawled across the cement, shooting out in random directions, occasionally enveloping a stray tool or part. The sound changed pitch as the miniature lightning storm grew, transitioning from a hum to a deep rumbling. It continued on for another few seconds, then, it stopped. Suddenly and abruptly, the sounds, the sparks, the glow, all vanished, leaving Nathan and Joseph unharmed, but completely stunned. They exchanged a slow, extremely concerned glance as they cautiously stood back up, both garage doors clunking open behind them as if nothing had happened. The familiar street outside would have been a welcome sight, were they not in a state of shock.
“What… was that?” Nathan asked quietly, not entirely sure why he was whispering.
Joseph opened his mouth to reply but found himself unable to think of a reasonable answer to the question. He simply shook his head.
A muffled buzz broke the silence, Nathan quickly reached for his phone, fumbling it out of his pocket and putting it up to his ear, “h- hello?”
“Did you hear that?” Ian’s voice asked, his voice loud enough to be heard by Joseph.
“You’re going to have to be more specific,” Nathan asked, a bit sarcastically. He stepped forward slowly out of the now open garage door, his jaw dropping as he looked up into the sky.
The bright blue dotted with the occasional wisp of a cloud was now gone, replaced with a bright, vivid orange, violent in contrast. The crisp autumn air now stood still, an eery quiet where the normal sounds of city life usually droned on. Nathan could feel a strange electricity in the air around him, the loose bits of his shirt reaching for nearby objects in a desperate static cling.
“Ian. Look up,” Nathan said blankly. A moment passed before a muffled sound of surprise came through.
“Is… That’s not the sun setting, is it?” Ian sputtered, obviously taken aback.
Nathan held the phone out for a moment, before quickly returning it to his ear, “it’s 3:14.”
* * * * *
The air in Celestia’s palace was tense. Silver Shield sat beside a tired, bored, and slightly frustrated Blood Hide. Silver opened his mouth occasionally, attempting to break the silence with conversation, but try as he might, he couldn’t force himself to speak. Recent events had left him speechless, and unable to process everything properly. The initial shock was gone, but the long-lasting sting of loss was not.
Blood Hide glanced over, Silver’s eyes had glazed over, his mouth still slightly ajar. Hide’s hoof came to rest on his shoulder, with a gentle pat, he tried to muster a smile, as odd as it looked with his usual stoic nature. Silver’s heart lifted ever so slightly, shaking him out of his stupor. Silver gave a weak smile in response, immediately draining him of all his energy, and returning him to a near catatonic state.
It had been two days since the incident at Crown Peak, and the death of Silver Shield’s closest friend. The Circle had barely any time to regroup before Celestia had them working overtime trying to uncover the details of the ancient sanctuary’s destruction and the potential side effects.
Two guards stood attentively at their post in front of Celestia’s throne room, its doors shut tight. Celestia and Luna had been in near constant talks and meetings for the past forty-eight hours, there were many important matters to discuss after such a devastating event. And after hours upon hours of waiting, Silver Shield was finally going to be called for an audience.
Upon Silver Shield’s and Blood Hide’s return, some rather bold claims had been made, and now they were expected to back them up. Silver’s claim to the title of Grand Arcanist, Blood Hide’s account of Grey Ties’ motion to spur Equestria’s armies and government into action, and mention of an impossible entity with unimaginable power that no one but them had actually seen (and survived). All incredible claims, with little to no evidence to support them.
The throne room’s doors slowly opened, left ajar just enough for several ponies to step through and be sent on their way. Head held high, one of the guards stepped away from his post and into the Princess's chamber, returning a moment later, he motioned at Blood Hide.
Blood Hide rose to his feet, nudging Silver Shield up off his chair, causing him to stumble slightly before catching himself. They both walked slowly into the spacious throne room. Giant stained glass depictions of Equestria’s greatest victories and triumphs on either side, the significance of such a sight lost on the two ponies in their current mental states.
Silver lifted his head slightly, shifting his gaze from the floor up to the two thrones. A cool and calm pony of brilliant white, busily jotted notes on a long scroll, before rolling it up quickly with her magic and presenting it to a nearby guard. She turned to face her two new guests, briefly adjusting in her throne, shuffling her wings into a more comfortable position.
Silver Shield, even in his current mood, felt an icy cold fear wash over his body. He was now in the presence of the most powerful and prestigious Alicorn in all of Equestria, and the weight of the situation pressed against his chest, making it hard to breathe.
“Your Highness,” Blood Hide said softly, bowing on one front leg. He glanced over to Silver Shield, motioning down to the floor with his muzzle. Silver silently panicked momentarily, bowing a bit too quickly, smacking his knee loudly on the marble floor. The reverberations from the injury echoed for several seconds before dying down, Silver blushed intensely.
Celestia showed no reaction, a cold, yet somehow serene stare met Silver’s eyes. He shuddered, in part because of the hardened look, but also from the dull, lingering pain in his leg. He began to gather up his courage, and steel himself.
Before Silver could open his mouth to speak, Blood Hide stepped forward, “Princess, as I’m sure you’re already aware, Equestria is now in great danger.”
Celestia did not respond immediately. At first, she furrowed her brow, as if deep in thought, then shifted in her throne once again. After a long pause, she answered, “Perhaps. I know that Crown Peak was lost, in totality. But we do not yet know the extent of the threat.”
“We have information that may help clear that up. Both myself, and Silver Shield here were both there when it happened. It is imperative that we begin preparations, precautions must be taken if we are to defend ourselves. Perhaps the Gryphons, or some other allies may be able to…” Blood Hide was stopped short by Celestia’s response.
“I have also been made aware of your claims. Many of my court advisors and best scientific minds are discussing them as we speak. I am sure they will have some invaluable insight on the matter.” Celestia spoke calmly, yet with a firm tone. Her voice filled with finality. Silver could feel the tension rising, as Blood Hide visibly squirmed uncomfortably. Silver could tell that he wanted to respond, to convince the Princess of immediate action, and there was merit to that, though Silver knew that silence was the proper course of action. Spurring on military action without knowing what they were up against would only invite calamity.
Celestia turned her head to face Silver Shield, she spoke calmly, “I have also been told of your claims to the position of Grand Master Arcanist. I know that you were very close friends with Grey Ties. I assure you that we are also considering how to move forward on that front as well.”
“T-thank you, your highness,” Silver stuttered, absentmindedly taking a step backwards, then forwards to take his place next to Blood Hide again. Silver’s head perspired profusely, as he tried desperately to remain calm. A deep breath in, a deep breath out, nothing seemed to work.
“If I may be so bold your highness, in such times leaving a position as important as that one empty might invite disaster. Would it not be wise to expedite such things?” Blood Hide responded, his voice cutting through the thick throne room air.
“You may not be so bold. As I said, such things are being handled, and you will know of the outcome as soon as I do,” Celestia responded, casually, yet coolly.
Blood Hide seemed taken aback, as if he wasn’t happy with the answer, but couldn’t think of a fitting response. Celestia had maintained an intimidating demeanour the entire time, and it was apparent to Silver that it made Blood Hide very uncomfortable.
Silver Shield and Blood Hide left the throne room in silence, heads hanging. Silver’s mind raced, trying to grasp the situation, desperately attempting to make sense of it all. His world had been turned upside down in a single day, and now his only solace had been denied to him. If he were Grand Arcanist, he could begin preparations, inform the ponies that needed to know of the impending threat, help spur on action by Equestrian royalty. So much hinged on it, and he knew it. This denial had only served to shake him to his core once again, and for the second time in only forty-eight hours, Silver Shield found himself in another state of shock. As he fell, and the immaculate tiled floor drew closer to his face, Blood Hide turned, trying to catch his friend, calling out for help, and a doctor.