Fifty years ago…
Each hooffall kicked up a small dust storm of sand in this blasted land, each step causing its own disturbance and sending golden grains of scorched earth flying. The ground was cracked and sharded like a jigsaw puzzle, and Celestia’s sun beat down mercilessly onto the baked earth below, with what little precious cool shade could be purchased underneath a palm tree or a nomad’s tent.
Through this two figures in armor walked, ignoring the tan stains the dust left upon their surcoats. Despite the heavy metal of their armor and gear, they were not too uncomfortable, as their equipment was ensorcelled; and even if it wasn’t they were long trained to withstand such ordeals.
Of course, that didn’t mean they enjoyed it.
“Mistress,” the younger mare whined, her horn glowing a brilliant lavender hue. “How much longer?” Sweat stained her pink coat and her perspiration-soaked cream-and-red mane hung down around her face like tattered banners. She looked at her mentor with eyes filled with exhaustion. “How much longer until we arrive?”
Walking slightly before the young unicorn, the Sunlit Blade scanned the horizon. No longer the flighty mare of youth, her face bore the lines of a hardworn life. Small wrinkles showed through her facial fur, and her mane was tied back in a severe bun. “We are nearly there,” she said, her hard eyes scanning the horizon. “At last, our quarry will no longer run from us.”
“But why here? Mareocco is in the middle of nowhere!”
“Yes, all the better to hide,” the Blade responded. “Our quarry knows that we are in pursuit and will do anything to stay free of our grasp. But he will end in failure – there is nowhere left he can hide.”
“Who?” the Squire asked. “We left our garrison four months ago and have been on the road without you so much as telling me a thing, Mistress! I have fought alongside you against wyverns and changelings, against griffon warlords and diamond dog brigands.”
The Blade turned and looked at her Squire with a smile. “Yes and you have performed marvelously, child. I have no doubt that when the day comes, you will be as thorough and honorable a warrior as you can be. You have proven to be a truest Celestine in word and deed.” The Blade looked at the younger mare with a maternal pride. “You are the closest thing I have had to a daughter of my own and I could not be prouder of your accomplishments.”
“Then why won’t you tell me about what we are chasing! You told me about Chrysalis, Grogar and Chayos the Smiling Dog, and I have faced them alongside you and fought along with you. But I don’t understand why you will not tell me anything about this newest threat!”
The Blade sighed. “I have hunted this monster since I was your age, my child. I was responsible for its escape ages ago, because I did not believe the words of my elders. It lies – it is the very form and nature of lies itself! – and I wish to spare you the ordeal. When it comes time, I will tell you all so that you may gird yourself, but until that moment I wish for you to feel no doubt. You must trust me.” The Blade kissed the younger mare on the forehead in a maternal gesture. “We do this in Her Divine Majesty’s name.”
“You make it sound as though we are fighting the very mare in the moon herself,” the Squire commented.
“Someday you just might,” the mare said enigmatically.
The two crossed over a hill and saw a series of gaily-colored tents fluttering in a slight breeze. This was the desert town of Mareocco and this was where they would face the ancient enemy, vanquishing it for once and for all.
The Sunlit Blade looked at the barren room. It was essentially a penitent’s chambers, devoid of all but two beds. The sole accommodation to the material world was an armoire against the far wall.
“Thank you, Sister Claramunt, this will do,” the warrior stated.
“I live but to serve,” an aged earth mare said, bowing before the Sunlit Blade. “But are you sure I cannot dissuade you from staying in this room? You are the finest of the Order’s warriors,” Claramunt stated. “The regional governor has heard of your arrival and she has offered to billet you in her mansion for the duration of your stay. Surely you would be more comfortable there.”
“That would be grand,” the Squire said, picturing soft beds and warm baths.
However, the Blade would have none of it. “This will suffice,” she said simply. “It is well-defended and close enough to the port. In several days a ship will be coming from Luna Bay, ready to take the heinous beast into custody once we capture him. From there, he will be taken to Coral Island, one of the gateways to Tartarus, which will be his final destination.”
“Tartarus?” Claramunt said, astonished. “The place truly exists? I thought it was but a legend!”
“No. It is real and it is filled with the worst of the worst. And it has room for one more,” the Blade told her. “And by this time tomorrow night, we will make sure that vacancy will be filled.” The look in the warrior’s eyes was one of baleful determination, enough so that Claramunt took a step back in shock.
That night, the Squire sat in contemplation while preparing her weapons. She knew her mistress to be a hard one, but she loved her dearly. And yet, and yet….
Something troubled her. Since the first day of her apprenticeship, the Squire’s mistress had always been harsh but fair, and had always let her into the order’s deepest mysteries. The fact was, she had to – the duties they served for the Celestines meant hunting the monsters out there that could not be merely taken care of by the EUP or any of Her Divine Majesty’s independent agents. Together they had faced horrors immeasurable, things that crept in the night and hit ponies hard – and the Squire and her mistress were the ones that hit back and hit harder. And through it all, they’d shared everything together, the good times and the bad. It was fair to say that ever since she’d been saved from the brothel that she’d been born in, the Squire and her mistress were like daughter and mother, and the former suspected if life had been different it, they may have actually been so.
So the Blade’s refusal to tell her anything about the current mission vexed her greatly. Mareocco was out of the way, a small desert outpost by the sea that didn’t even have a regular EUP garrison. The Celestines kept the peace here, and by all reports, it was ridiculously placid here even by pony standards. By all rights, climate aside, this was an idyll, and it made no sense as to why they were searching for evil in a place where Her Divine Majesty’s rule had created near-utopia.
Of course, she knew her mistress’ words: even in the brightest light, the shadows hide and are that much darker. Yet she saw no darkness, only light. And the Blade’s obsession with whatever was here was troubling.
She was torn, genuinely torn, as she crawled into the bedsheets for an uncomfortable night’s sleep. Perhaps the following day would yield the answers that she so desperately needed.
“OUT OF THE WAY!” a fat, balding Celestine brother screamed, terrified for his life as he waddled down the streets of Mareocco as if his life depended on it. And it likely did.
Racing high above, throwing spear after spear at him as to not hurt the general populace with combat spells, the Sunlit Blade rained down from the heavens like a thunderstorm in midday. Her eyes were filled with righteous rage as she flung javelin after javelin at her quarry. “YOU WILL NOT ESCAPE!”
A series of javelins smashed into a fruit stand, sending the merchant hiding for her life. The brother rushed through as quickly as he could, his glasses falling off, though he didn’t dare try to stop to recover them. “SOMEPONY HELP!” he shouted. “SHE’S A MADMARE!” But despite the situation, none would dare cross the heavily-armed and armored pegasus raining steel from on high.
“SURRENDER!” the Sunlit Blade roared, diving down at a high speed and nearly plowing into the ground. But at the last moment, she swooped away and withdrew her sword, slashing at the fat mendicant. Blood spurted away and the target screamed in pain, making those still within the bazaar recoil at the naked violence before them.
“HELP ME! SOMEPONY! ANYPONY!” the injured stallion cried.
“NOTHING WILL SAVE YOU THIS TIME!” the Blade roared. “YOUR REIGN OF TERROR IS AT AN END, FOUL BEAST!”
A blast of lavender energy snaked out and slammed into the monk’s head, knocking him cold. The Sunlit Blade, furious, turned to see who had done it…and she saw the Squire, standing there, exhausted from having run so far after him.
“We couldn’t risk the threat to the civilians, Mistress,” the Squire stated. “The Grand Master will not be pleased if we did.”
“As you say,” the Blade said gruffly, reaching into a pouch underneath her surcoat and pulling out an old, weathered stone, which she immediately slapped onto the wounded stallion. “Take this varlet into custody.”
“But he needs to see the healer—”
“No – no healer for his ilk. Take him into custody and we will treat this beast as he deserves.”
The Squire did so, casting a capture spell. But as she did, all she could see as the terrified look in the poor monk’s eyes.
“Do you understand now?” the Sunlit Blade said to her Squire, pointing at the Sunstone as it sealed the armoire shut, the muffled screams from within pleading for help. “It took years, blood and treasure, but I have done it! I have captured that which I, in my ignorance, set free so long ago. And lo, he is captured.” She gave an odd smile. “At last, I am set free from my demons.”
Hearing nothing but the crying of a wounded, terrified pony within the armoire, the Squire looked at her mistress, not sure what to believe.
As if to answer an unspoken question, the Blade continued. “You understand now, yes? You understand why you must not, under any circumstances, go near the Sunstone. Do you see how important it is that he stay locked up until we can transport him to Tartarus?”
For the first time in her life, the Squire felt a doubt of the one she cared for so much. “But what if you are wrong?” she ventured. “What if he is naught but an innocent?”
“There is nothing innocent about that beast,” the Blade said sternly. “Do not open it.” The words were harsh enough to make the apprentice slink back from the furniture before her.
With that, the Blade went to the door. “Now, I must go and see if the ship has arrived at the docks. I will return shortly.” She grabbed her sword and throwing knives, then went to the door. But she then turned back to her Squire and fixed a murderous stare at her charge.
“If you value your life,” she said, “you will not open that armoire.” The Blade then departed.
“Please…I’m dying!” the voice from within the armoire whined.
“But can’t you open it?” the Squire asked, unsure of what to believe. Even though the stallion had been injured and was not in the best of health to begin with, the stone sealing the armoire held no powerful magic, save for that of sealing the door. It was a weak enough spell that even a foal could bypass it.
“Too wounded by that madmare,” the voice said woozily. “Please! She is mad from her obsession, whatever it is! I’m just a passing scholar who was on the way to the Somnambula abbey when you two attacked! I am no monster!”
“No. I mustn’t!” the Squire said.
“Then you will be responsible for the death of an innocent,” the voice rasped. “And Her Divine Majesty would never countenance that.”
The care for an innocent won her over; even with his injuries, he could not have been that much of a threat, surely, the Squire thought to herself. Pausing only to grab her short sword, she removed the stone and opened the armoire.