//------------------------------// // The 5th Session: Back to Celestia // Story: The Elements of Tyranny // by Wings of Black Glass //------------------------------// Everyone wakes up sore and stiff, but refreshed and ready. At last, the sky above gave up the snow, and the sun shines down on the town of Shine Shire. A commotion in the center of town draws them out of the inn and they find the townsponies all standing around the Naga corpse. The creature remains pinned to the ground, immobile, and thankfully still dead. “Good morning.” Rampart Rock, finally allowed up by the doctor, steps up beside them and eyes the monster. “Seems like you four had fun.” It’s quite clear he is being sarcastic. “That is not the phrase I would use to describe what happened.” Eclipse glances over at the smith’s workshop, where they can see the cage wagon still being assembled. “We’ve still got some time before they finish the cage.” “What do we do now?” “We should talk to the mayor, and then head back to the lair to properly dispose of that laboratory.” “And the box of silver, don’t forget about the box of silver.” Tiny nearly salivates over the thought of all that wealth. “Remember, we are going to donate that wealth to the town.” Red chastises him. “Not with my share you’re not.” “Nor with Yak’s.” “I suspect there is plenty of wealth in there to spread it around quite fairly. First, we need to retrieve it before we can decide where it all goes.” Eclipse looks over at Rampart Rock, who had emerged from the doctor’s clinic. “How is Breezy Winter?” “Not well.” Rampart shakes his head. “The poor Pegasus will never fly again. He’ll be lucky if he can walk properly at all after the torture he went through. The mental trauma is just as bad, if not worse. He woke, screaming, several times.” Rampart turns away and leads them all back to the town hall, where they find mayor Fluffy Ribbon and commander Dusty Badge discussing the Naga body. “We can’t just leave it there to rot, we should burn it.” Dusty finishes speaking and spots them arrive out the corner of his eye. “Ah, the town’s saviors wake.” “Good morning.” Fluffy welcomes them in with an honest smile. “Burning it would be a terrible idea,” Red speaks first. “We didn’t tell you last night because I didn’t want to worry you, but in time the Naga will revive.” “Wait… so it’s not dead?” Fluffy’s earlier good mood vanishes instantly. “It is, for the moment. At some point in the next few days, it will reanimate itself.” “You just left it in the middle of town without warning us?!” “That’s why we speared it so thoroughly, to keep it as dead as possible and unable to move should it wake in the night.” “Wouldn’t destroying the body prevent that?” “I doubt it, if it can restore itself even from death then I wouldn’t be surprised if it generates a new body in the process if the original one is reduced to ash or otherwise destroyed.” Eclipse nods as he speculates. “We are going to need powerful magic to prevent it from recovering. A magic far beyond anything any of us here are capable of.” “Then, what do we do?” Red starts to pace, deep in thought. “We need to take it to Princess Celestia.” “She would be the most likely to have the power needed, or at least the resources to handle the Naga on a permanent basis. I concur.” “When faced with a particularly heinous crime I have seen her banish the perpetrator to Tartarus, a prison tailor-made to handle the absolute worst and most dangerous. It wouldn’t be a poor choice.” Rampart nods. “We promised her we would return to her once we handled the situation here, we might as well take the monster with us.” “Yak has no objection.” “Then it is decided.” Eclipse nods when none of the others have any complaints. “As soon as the cage is complete we will set out south.” Now he turns towards the mayor. “I will gladly deliver any missives you wish me to bring to Celestia or the Geode family along with our own report.” “I’ll have to think about what to say, but that would be quite helpful.” “It will still be a few more hours before the cage is ready, what do we do until then?” “We still have a few loose ends I want to tie up before we leave. We’re going back to the Naga’s lair.” “I’ll remain here, in case the Naga reanimates.” Rampart volunteers. “You four are clearly capable of handling yourselves.” He salutes them as they walk off. “I almost wish the stupid snake had its lair a bit closer to the town,” Tiny complains as they reach the ancient prison. “I’m sick of this long walk back and forth already.” “Then you’ll be pleased to note we aren’t coming back here again after today. I’ll be down in that lab, examining the alchemical supplies.” “Hold up, Eclipse, are you sure you want to do that?” “I agree that the lab itself needs to be destroyed, but we should see if the Naga left notes or details about its processes.” “We went over this yesterday, that knowledge is evil.” “I don’t want to use it, I want to hand it over to Celestia’s wizards, in case they can figure out some way to undo the transformation. Or maybe they can at least be on alert in case someone tries to get the required materials to make Hell horses of their own.” “Yak has no need of strange things. Ormr will gather the treasure from the nest.” “Yeah, I’ll go with the big guy and clean up.” Tiny rolls his eyes when Eclipse is about to speak. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to grab those books, and make sure we get any letters or scrolls or whatever else might tell us what’s was going on here.” So they split up, Red and Eclipse to the lab room, and Tiny and Ormr go to the Naga’s resting chamber. “Where do we even start?” Red sighs as she looks at the lab full of horrors. “Let me see if I can identify some of these chemicals.” “Tiny was concerned they might explode or be poisonous if lit on fire.” “That’s a valid concern.” Eclipse lifts one vial and looks at it closely. “This is pretty toxic if inhaled.” He spends a few more minutes looking over some of the supplies, growing increasingly disgusted as he does. “I’ve had it. Almost everything here is dangerous to even touch, let alone ingest or be injected with.” “So we can burn it now?” “Absolutely.” Red conjures a flame over her horn. “But… we should carry it all outside first, in an enclosed space like this we’ll all suffocate in the fumes.” Meanwhile, over in the nest room, Ormr and Tiny are tossing everything that seems remotely valuable into saddlebags or into the box of silver. “Books, what would a Naga want with books?” Tiny pulls down the books Eclipse wanted, the ones about arcane magic, and slips them into his saddlebag. “Yak doesn’t know. Why would Naga want desk?” “To keep organized, I guess. Might as well just grab everything from it, Eclipse will want to look through whatever we find anyway, no reason to sort it out here.” Ormr yanks open the drawers, inside most are pouches of platinum coins. The topmost one contains a strange piece of metal; it looks to him like a decorative badge or something like one, a black disk with a red slash that resembles a sword. Underneath it, he finds a folded piece of paper. Both objects he throws into his bags along with the coin pouches. Tiny has to stand on his rear hooves to reach the top of the bookshelf, where he finds a few curiosities. “Here, this seems worth something.” He passes the Yak a small bronze crown probably stolen from some old princedom, a golden bracelet, an ivory sculpture of a large snake, and a small box full of turquoise animals. “No idea why it would want any of this stuff either. Did you find anything interesting in the desk?” “Yak finds more coins, papers, and metal thing.” “Alright. Let's get that chest of coins and get out of here.” It takes them some effort to get the heavy chest onto Ormr’s back and strapped on. “Box almost as heavy as snake.” Ormr grunts. “Well, it’s completely full of money, that doesn’t surprise me a bit.” “Yak doesn’t think money joke was funny.” “Grumpy, the lot of you, no sense of fun.” Tiny snorts. They head back up to the surface, meeting up with Eclipse and Red going up as well, bags full of the strange chemicals from the lab. “Did you find anything interesting?” “Only if you think a small fortune is interesting. No, I didn’t find anything explaining what it was doing here.” “That’s unfortunate.” “So we’re taking the lab crap with us after all?” “Just outside, and then I’m torching it. This is our second load, that thing had enough of this foul stuff to poison a small army.” Once outside they find the rest of the alchemical supplies in a stack in the center of the old prison courtyard, Eclipse, and Red dump the rest of the nasty chemical vials in the pile with the rest. Red prepares to set fire to the pile when Eclipse stops her. “What is it this time?” she sighs. “We have one more thing we have to decide what to do about. The other eight Pegasus bodies.” “Oh…” “Should we bury them? Or burn them?” “Yaks of Yakyaksgard burn honored dead in sacred circles.” “Neither, I think.” “You want us to just leave them here?!” “Wow, Eclipse, I didn’t think you were that heartless.” “You misunderstand, again. I mean, we should let the townsponies come and collect their dead. It would give their families some closure, at least.” “I agree with Eclipse, it’s the right thing to do.” Red nods. “I’m going to guess you don’t want us to do it because it would mean more time spent walking back and forth and not watching the Naga.” “We have to keep our priorities straight, and the dead aren’t going anywhere. It would only delay us longer.” “Am I the only one who just remembered Knight Harrow?” “We’ll let them know where the bodies are before we go.” Eclipse pulls them all away from the chemicals. “Have at it Red, I know you’ve been looking forward to this.” Red nods, but can’t bring herself to smile. Standing a safe distance away, she concentrates and then hurls a fireball at the vile vials. The collection erupts in a multicolored cloud, greens and reds and purples, so toxic and corrosive that the stone in the vicinity hisses and sputters as the various chemicals eat through the stone. “We may want to back up some more…” Tiny hurries away from the foul-looking vapors as they drift towards them. “Yak not afraid of color-cloud.” Ormr braces his legs, as if to take a stand. “Ormr, buddy, there’s nothing to prove here.” Tiny rolls his eyes. “Come on big guy.” It takes all three of them to forcibly pull him away from the toxic smoke. Burdened down by the chest of silver as they are, it takes longer to get back to town than it did to get out to the ruins. They find Rampart wearing his armor again, pacing in circles around the Naga corpse. A fully assembled wagon with a built-in iron cage waits nearby. “Good, you’re back.” Rampart nods. “As you can see, we’re all ready to go here.” “We can leave as soon as we get this sorted out.” Red gestures to the chest on Ormr’s back. Rampart glances at it and nods again before returning to his patrol around the Naga body. Eclipse waves down Dusty Badge and then heads towards town hall with the others in tow. They find mayor Fluffy Ribbon on the way out, a letter in her grasp. “Ah, mayor Ribbon, I was hoping you would be here. We have some things for the town.” “What might that be?” She tilts her head. “Ormr?” The big Yak shrugs off the Chest, and it tumbles to the floor, spilling silver coins across the wooden slats. Both Fluffy and Dusty stare in awe. What the companions stare at are the gold coins which were hidden beneath all the silver, hundreds of them. “That’s… a lot more bits.” Tiny whistles appreciatively again. “We cannot replace those friends you have lost, but we can provide assistance to the town as a whole.” “This much? I don’t know what to say.” “Well, not all of it.” Red glares at Ormr and Tiny, who pretends not to notice. “They insist on keeping their share.” “There’s enough bits here to keep the entire town afloat for months, even if the Geode family cuts off our funding entirely.” “How much is even here?” “We haven’t had time to count it yet.” Eclipse pulls a substantial stack towards himself and immediately starts dividing it into easily managed stacks. Red and Tiny follow suit, the mayor also joins in and Dusty heads back outside. After several long and mostly silent minutes, aside from the clinking of coins, Ormr gets bored of waiting and wanders off. With all four of them, it still takes far too long to count them all. When all of them report their totals Eclipse adds it all in his head. “I count nearly seven thousand silver. Another twelve hundred gold bits. That’s not counting the value of the books and other potential valuables we pulled out of the Naga’s lair.” “So many bits… The circus didn’t bring this kind of wealth in months.” “I couldn’t even begin to guess how much would be fair.” Fluffy shakes her head, still somewhat overwhelmed. “How did the Naga amass such wealth? What would it need this all for?” “To buy stuff, obviously. There’s no way it found all those chemicals on its own out in the wild. It would need to purchase equipment and supplies from someone.” “That explains the purpose of the wealth, but not its origin. Given the size of that construction, it would have needed workers and porters to bring in all that gear as well.” “Someone was working with it?” Near terror flashes on Fluffy Ribbon’s face. “Possibly. Unfortunately, that is a mystery for another time, right now we need to divide this up in some equitable manner and get the Naga body away from here before it reanimates.” It takes a few more minutes of haggling and arguing before they settle on what sounds like a fair number for each of the companions. When they inform Ormr and Rampart of the decision the other two agree. “I don’t really feel like I deserve this.” Rampart, when he arrives in the town hall, looks at the stack of coins intended for him. “I didn’t even manage to do anything to help with the Naga or the Nightmares. Here,” he passes a significant percentage of his share over to the mayor, “Shine Shire needs this more than I do.” “Bravo, Rampart.” Then Red follows suit. Even Eclipse passes a sizable section of his pile to the mayor. Tiny gives him a curious glance. “I neither need the extra wealth all that much nor do I need to appear greedy. The town can have that, and my goodwill.” “If you say so.” “Yak takes his share.” Ormr shovels his coins back into one of his bags and then stomps out of the room. Red glances after him. “Something wrong?” “Just a feeling, I’ll be right back.” She follows the Yak out into the town proper, and then easily spots him entering the doctor’s clinic. Curious, she slips in behind him. “Yak brings gift for wounded Pony.” Ormr sets a pouch of coins, full from the look of it, on the bed beside Breezy Winter. “You will need ancestor’s aid in life now, this is start.” The badly damaged Pegasus looks up at the Yak, tears in his eyes. “Thank you.” Ormr nods once and turns around, finding Red Haze right behind him. He snorts once and glares at her, but says nothing. “Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me.” Then Ormr pushes past her to get back outside. “Is it really so bad that we know you care?” “What Pony knows is not Yak concern.” Red pauses as the Yak returns to the town hall. She spots a younger looking militia member eying the Naga corpse with some concern. “What’s your name.” The young Earth pony stallion startles when she approaches and asks. “Sunshine… sir… ma’am.” “You don’t need to be formal with me, Sunshine. My name is Red Haze. You also don’t need to worry about the Naga, I’ll be taking the body away shortly. Did you know any of the Pegasus it killed?” “In a town this size, everpony knows everypony else. Yeah, White Whistles was my friend.” His eyes drop to the ground. Red inwardly suspects the Pegasus was more than just his friend. “Please, tell me she wasn’t turned into one of those things the commander was talking about.” “Breezy Winter was able to identify the…” she stops herself from calling them monsters, “transformed ponies… She wasn’t one of them.” Sunshine sighs heavily. “Thank you, for letting me know.” “I know it hurts, but keep the faith, life goes on.” She looks back to her own pack and pulls out a few gold coins of her own. “Here. Take this.” “So much?!” His eyes go wide, he has probably never seen so many gold bits in his life. “What will I do with all this?” “Spend it, save it, whatever you want.” She pushes the gold into his hooves and then pats him on the shoulder. “It’s a chance to get a leg up in a harsh world. Take whatever you can get.” “I’ll remember that. Thank you.” Sunshine stares at the wealth now in his grasp as Red heads back inside the town hall. “Are we all ready to go?” Eclipse looks up from the map he was looking at with the guard commander when she enters. “Just about.” He nods and turns back to Dusty Badge. “It’ll be easy to spot. We destroyed the chemicals in the courtyard, the resulting cloud of acid made quite the mess.” “The bodies are in stored in the last room on the right, at the other end of the chamber with the cages in it.” “What about the Hell Horse bodies? Are they in there too?” “No. Unfortunately, there is nothing to recover. Upon being killed the Nightmares burned themselves to ash.” “Cloudburst, Rainyday, and West Wind.” Red looks up in the direction of the sun and closes her eyes, praying silently for the three who cannot be recovered. “Those were the ones Breezy recognized, the ones the Naga transformed.” “When you go, make sure to take only those who you think can stomach particularly horrible sights. It was quite gruesome in there.” “I’ll bring my most experienced with me. We’ve seen battle before.” Dusty sighs. “I was really hoping this was going to be a quiet assignment.” “Hopefully things will calm down out here now the Naga is out of the picture.” Red gathers her share of the coins and notes that everyone else seems ready to leave. “Here, it would be ever so helpful if you could have this message delivered to the Geode Family.” Mayor Fluffy Ribbon gives Eclipse a sealed scroll. “It’s a request for a new weather team. As well as a report about the Naga and what it did here.” “I’ll make sure they receive it.” Eclipse sets the letter in his bag and nods. “Thank you, again, for all you’ve done for us. We won’t forget you.” Eclipse Corona, Red Haze, Tiny hooves, Rampart Rock, and Ormr, all gather their last belongings and meet by the Naga’s impaled body. With some effort they stuff the corpse into the cage, Tiny ties the various spears still lanced through it to the cage. Eclipse decides muzzling the corpse is a sound precaution, and ties a rope tightly around its mouth. There is little fanfare when they leave, the town still in mourning over their lost friends, but most watch as they leave Shine Shire behind. “It’s two days, at least, until we get back to Equestria proper. And depending on the route we take another two or three to get to Canterlot.” Eclipse is showing them the available ways south on the map he brought with him while they rest for a few minutes. “Most visitors travel up through the mountain passes to reach the city. The roads that all lead that way are all on the south and east sides of the mountain. However, there is an alternative.” He taps the map just below the Canterlot mark. “It’s officially part of Canterlot, but most treat it as its own town, ‘The Landing’ is what they call it.” “I’ve never heard of it.” “As Eclipse said, it’s officially part of Canterlot itself,” Rampart speaks. “Large or unusually heavy cargo cannot safely make it up the mountain, so it’s brought up by a hot-air balloon lift. We can bring the Naga up to the city that way. For our purposes, the advantage is that The Landing itself is on the northwestern side of the mountain, directly beneath the city. We can reach it a full day sooner than traveling up the mountain on hoof.” “Then why are we even discussing this? That’s obviously what we should do.” “That is why I brought it up. I wanted everyone’s opinion before making a decision which might mean days more travel.” “Well, I agree with Tiny.” The disguised changeling looks at Red in surprise. “We should head for The Landing. The sooner we get there the better, it’s already been more than a day since we killed the Naga, I’m surprised it’s not up and trying to kill us already.” “Alright then, we can keep moving.” Eclipse folds his map and puts it away, the group continues on their way. After a while Tiny approaches Ormr, who is pulling the wagon. “What were those things you conjured up in those fights? I didn’t think Yaks had wizards.” “Not magic, Yak need no magic. Spirits of Yak ancestors come to aid Ormr in battle. Ancestors guide and protect Yak, and Yak protects Pony. Pony doesn’t need to be afraid in battle, ancestors protect Pony too.” “Well, that’s convenient.” Tiny rolls his eyes, but the sarcasm seems to be lost on the big Yak. “So what’s the story with you again? You said your ancestors sent you a warning of some sort right?” “Pony is right. Yak sent here to save Yakyaksgard from bad things.” “You’re not going to tell us anything more than that? Why are you sticking with us anyway?” “Yak not sure. Vision was of serpent that would bring doom. Ormr sent to stop serpent.” “Well, you’ve done that.” “Yak is not convinced prophecy has been disrupted. Magic Snake died too easy.” “Let me get this straight.” Rampart calls from ahead. “Because the fight was too easy, you are going to follow us around? Am I correct in understanding you?” Ormr tilts his head for a moment, and then nods. “Pony is correct.” “Fantastic.” The sarcasm in Rampart’s voice is thick enough to be cut with a knife. Later, when the road turns eastward, Red stops for a moment and looks at the horizon. “Something wrong, Red?” Tiny stops beside her. “We could save time by leaving the road.” “I… don’t think that’s normally true.” “Eclipse, let me see the map for a moment.” The other unicorn pauses and looks back at them when she calls up to him. He glances at the wagon, but it’s going slow enough that he spare a few moments. Wordlessly he passes her the map, and she inspects it for a moment. “Yes, the road heads east here, but it doesn’t turn south for many more miles. We should turn south here instead of following the road.” “Won’t the wagon get stuck?” “I don’t think so. The ground out here is quite hard, even considering the recent rains. It’ll be fine.” “Tiny, what do you think?” Eclipse faces the Changeling. “Well… The circus never strayed off the main roads.” He shakes his head. “She could be right. It would shave a few hours off unless we run into some insurmountable obstacle.” “We’re past the Crystal Empire lands, there shouldn’t be any pits or curses left over from the war this far south.” “Alright.” Eclipse nods. “We’ll do it your way this time. Rampart, Ormr, your attention please!” The other two halt and look back. “Red is taking us off-road.” He points south, over the wilderness. “Is that wise?” Rampart shouts back, the wagon was out of convenient speaking range. Eclipse and the others catch up after a moment. “I trust her judgment.” Rampart turns his gaze from Eclipse to Red, and then he nods. “Very well. Ormr?” “Yak doesn’t know way to Pony city. Ormr will follow.” Then Red takes the lead and guides Ormr and the wagon across the wilderness. It is easier going than Eclipse or Rampart would have expected, and Red guides them south without running into anything worse than a momentary delay. Once they finally rejoin the road and check the map again Eclipse concludes they have saved more than enough time to justify the detour. “It would seem your shortcut did not make for a long delay. Well done.” Rampart gives her a respectful salute. They continue at a decent pace until nearly dark, when they decide to rest for the night. Once the campsite is set up along the roadside and everyone has eaten around the campfire Eclipse brings up the topic of the Naga’s belongings. “Now that we’re on the way, I’d like to see what you took from the Naga’s books.” “Sure, hang on.” Tiny gathers his saddlebag and empties the books in a stack for Eclipse to look through. “We also found some artwork, nothing particularly fancy. Plus whatever was in the desk.” “You didn’t look?” “Ormr gathered that stuff. Hey, Yak, mind getting it for us?” “Yak will do this.” Ormr gets his own bag from the wagon and unceremoniously dumps everything out onto the ground. The contents spill out and Eclipse, Red, and Tiny all gasp when they spot the metal badge. “Pony find something wrong?” “You didn’t see this?” Eclipse grabs the symbol out of the pile of coins and directs it towards Tiny, somewhat accusatory. It’s a black disk, with a vertical red blade. “No! I didn’t! Like I said, Ormr was clearing out the desk while I was getting your precious books.” “Do you recognize it?” Rampart takes the symbol from Eclipse, examining it. “Oh yes.” Red shudders. “The Cult of the Red Blade.” Eclipse shakes his head. “I thought we were done with them.” “The who?” “Yak does not know this name.” “They shouldn’t exist anymore. The Cult was supposedly destroyed centuries ago, we ran into their remnants at the Tree of Worlds. Was there anything with this?” “Yak found paper under metal.” Ormr shuffles the coins around until he finds the folded paper he took from the desk, now crumpled from being stuffed into his pack. Eclipse yanks it from him, reading it silently. His face nearly goes white. “This… is not a good sign.” He passes it to Red, who begins to read it aloud for everyone to hear. “It’s a letter. Great Silas’phet, You have proven a useful ally in the past, and now I request your assistance once again. I require a force of Nightmares, and I know you are capable of creating the creatures. Do this for us, and you will be rewarded with dominion over the city of ‘Shine Shire’ upon delivery of at least a dozen such creatures. Provide a battalion or more and the entire region is yours. When you are ready to deliver, leave this symbol with our contact, she will know what to do. This initial payment will cover the material costs of the project, use at your discretion. Within the Crystal Empire ruins to the east of the town there are is space aplenty for your work. Be aware, the Empowered will arrive shortly after the ponies celebrate the rising of the summer sun, prepare accordingly. Despite your prodigious powers, they will be a threat, do not underestimate them.” She looks up from the letter. “It’s signed, ‘Dreadcaster.’” “Someone thinks a bit much of themselves.” Tiny huffs. “So the Naga was working with someone. Has anyone heard that name before?” “Yak has not.” “I assume it’s a codename, in case the letter was intercepted or found.” “Princess Celestia was right, there are dark powers at work in Equestria. I can’t believe anypony would condone that kind of evil.” “Let me see that again.” Red passes the Letter back to Eclipse, who inspects the paper closely. “My question is, when was this sent?” “It had to have been months ago, the Pegasus started disappearing just after Winter Wrap Up.” Tiny explains the obvious. “Exactly. Then how did they know we were coming?” “What do you mean?” “Look, the message says that ‘the empowered’ would arrive shortly after the summer sun celebration.” “Err, yes?” “We drank the sap of the tree of worlds, and we know we have each gained strange new powers out of it. What would you call that, other than empowered?” Eclipse lets that sink in for a moment. “The Summer Sun Celebration was less than a week ago, then we arrived in Shine Shire. This Naga was warned about our coming, months ago. Before we even became empowered.” “You think this ‘Dreadcaster’ can see the future?” “If they can, we have a significant enemy on our hooves.” Rampart shakes his head. “Not even the Princess of the Sun can foresee the future so accurately, or so far in advance.” “The other concern is who this contact is, and what they have to do with the Cult of the Red Blade.” “Our only clue to their identity is that it’s a female. ‘She will know what to do.’ I am forced to assume the Naga knows who she is already.” “Should be head back to Shine Shire and interrogate all the mares there?” suggests Tiny. “No.” Red stamps a hoof. “The current threat the Naga poses is more important than some nebulous old cult.” “I agree with Red.” Eclipse nods. “Besides, the Naga may have been elsewhere when it first received the message. This contact may be in an entirely different province from Shine Shire.” “Without more information, there isn’t much we can do other than alert Princess Celestia to this threat.” “If we’re lucky the Naga will reveal what it knows upon interrogation.” “And if we’re not we’ll end up in the middle of the Bone Dry Desert looking for a Yeti.” Tiny rolls his eyes and points at the cage. “This thing isn’t going to talk and you know it.” “That depends on how loyal it is to the other conspirators.” “Speculation will get us nowhere.” Eclipse cuts the conversation short. “We still have a long way to go, we should rest and save our strength for the trip south.” “Yeah, you’re right.” Red sighs. “I’ll see you all in the morning.” They divide up the night for watch shifts, making sure to keep a close eye on the Naga body. The night passes without incident, which itself starts to make Red nervous, as she expects the Naga to revive without even a moments notice. Once on the way she consults the map again. “Hmm… I think we can save more time by cutting across the wild ahead of us.” “It worked last time. I say we go for it.” Tiny nods in approval. “I think there’s a river blocking our way, we should stick to the road this time. We’ll need the bridge to cross.” “At this time of year the river’s water level should be low, we can ford it.” Red stands tall, certain she’s right. Eclipse wavers. “Well, you saved us a lot of time yesterday. If you think we can make it across, then you can take the lead again.” Neither Ormr or Rampart have any complaint, and when they near the turn she noticed on the map she turns them south over the wilderness again. Things go well for a while until they reach the river. “Well, this didn’t work.” Tiny stands at the edge of the gorge, looking far down at the river below them. “I didn’t know the river ate into the landscape like this, I’m sorry.” Red looks both directions, there isn’t an easy way to cross the fissure in view. “We’ll have to head west until we reach the bridge. That will cost us more time.” “Can’t win ‘em all.” Tiny pats her shoulder apologetically and they turn away. Whatever time they had gained the day before is lost as they are forced to backtrack today. Still, even by that evening, when they finally reach the first town on their chosen road south, the Naga remains thankfully dead. “Well, we can rest here tonight.” Eclipse makes towards the town, but Rampart and Red hold him and the others back. “I don’t think we should enter the town with the Naga.” “And we can’t leave it undefended,” Rampart explains further. “We’re finally back in civilized lands and you want to avoid civilization?” “Makes sense to me.” Tiny shrugs. “This way it’ll be harder for any Cult spies to report on our progress.” “If they have a clairvoyant it won’t matter in the slightest.” “And if they don’t? We still know next to nothing about the Dreadcaster. No reason to make it easy on them.” “Outnumbered…” Eclipse sighs. “What about you Ormr, what do you think?” “Yak has no opinion on this matter.” “Aren’t you the helpful one. Fine then, we will avoid the towns on the way to The Landing. Although if the goal here is to keep the Naga secret, then I’m going to make a stop here tonight and get some sheets or tarps to cover the cage with.” “This is an acceptable compromise.” Red nods. “We’ll set up a campsite not far away.” Eclipse nods and heads into the town as the others get comfortable behind a nearby hill. It isn’t long before the midnight blue unicorn returns, bearing a large canvas sheet and a few more days worth of food and water. They fling the canvas over the cage and tie it securely shut before resting for the night. The next two days of travel are easy ones. By some minor miracle, the Naga remains dead, although the delay in revival leaves Red somewhat skittish and anxious. By keeping away from the towns on the way south they encounter only a few travelers on the roads, mostly merchants peddling wares. Although they do run into a few patrols belonging to the nobles who own the provinces they travel through, who give Ormr ugly glances, they are left alone when the soldiers take note of Rampart Rock’s royal guard armor. Fortunately, none ask about the canvas covered cage in the wagon, presumably due to the Naga being concealed by the canvas tarp. It’s not long after dawn on the fifth day after they left Shine Shire that they finally arrive at The Landing. As they approach they can easily see the lift, an immense triangular metal platform held in the air by a trio of hot-air balloons. It crawls slowly up the mountainside, following a very long chain that guides its ascent and descent. A number of Pegasus can be seen flying around it as it carries its load of cargo up to the city proper, watching for falling cargo or passengers. The township below it resembles a port town, the structures are primarily warehouses and support buildings for various businesses. Porters and cargo loaders move about in droves, taking in arriving convoys from other towns and organizing the goods for later deliver up the mountain. The outer edges of the township are dominated by various craftsponies workshops of various kinds. Metalworkers, Stonemasons, a few sculptors, and other heavy goods where it’s easier to come down the mountain to work with than to bring the goods up to the city. The other side of the Landing is a wide area set up for large-scale food deliveries, massive stacks of hay and baskets of fresh fruits from the outlying towns. “Finally!” sighs Tiny. “I was beginning to think we would never make it here with this stupid snake still dead.” “Pony city is small.” Comments the Yak. “Ormr, look up. This isn’t Canterlot.” Eclipse points up the cliff face, drawing Red’s and Ormr’s attention. From down here the city is hard to see in detail, being nearly directly above them. “The city is above us. You’ll be able to see it better once we take the Lift up.” Then Eclipse takes the lead as they approach the gate surrounding the stone wall around the Landing. A few guardsponies are managing all the arriving goods and one approaches with a clipboard. “Name and cargo.” He sounds utterly disinterested. “Eclipse Corona and companions, we’re not on any scheduled convoy.” “Sure, whatever, I just need to know what you’re hauling.” “Dead magic snake.” Ormr blurts it out. “A… what?” The guard blinks and suddenly pays them more attention. He gawks at the Yak for a moment before he shocks himself back to composure. “You’ll have to explain that to me.” “We need to be on the next lift up to the city, it’s important.” Rampart steps forward to deal with the soldier. The guards watching the exchange snap to attention when they see his armor. “I’m sorry sir, that’s not my call. I just keep track of the arrivals.” “I need you to let us through, regardless, and call for your commander.” “Yes, sir!” The soldier waves them through the gate and immediately sends off one of the other guards. “If you’ll just wait here, the commander will be here shortly.” He has them park the wagon just off the side of the road so they won’t be in the way. Ormr continues to draw lots of attention. “Ponies never see Yak before?” “That would be correct, Ormr. Most ponies south of the northern provinces have never seen Yaks before. Few of your kind bother to come down to Equestria, and fewer still to the capital. I don’t even remember the last time I saw one of your kind here before.” It isn’t long before the guard commander for the Landing, and the forepony for the Lift both arrive to see them. “Sir.” The guard commander salutes Rampart. “I’m told you need priority on the next lift?” “Correct. My companions and I are returning from a mission given by the Princess. We need to report to her as soon as we can.” “That will be a while, we just sent the Lift up a little while ago, it will be hours before it gets unloaded and sent back down.” The forepony explains. “We can’t wait that long!” Red shouts, her mane flicking like fire for an instant. “It could revive at any moment!” the guard commander narrows his eyes at her. “What might do what now? What’s under the canvas?” “We have time-sensitive materials here which we need to get up to Canterlot as soon as we can.” Eclipse tries to cover for Red. “Not until you explain what’s going on.” “Bureaucrats.” Tiny growls. “Fine, we’ve captured a horrible monster and we need to get it secured before it can get loose and ruins your day, and by extension everypony else's.” “This is royal guard business.” Rampart is still trying to pull rank on the commander. “Alright, we’ll put you at the front of the line.” The forepony at least understands the urgency. “And I’m sending a message up to the top, if this thing needs to be secured properly then the Captain needs to be there when you arrive.” Rampart nods to the guard commander. “I was about to suggest the same thing. Get moving, commander.” The head guard gallops off, and the forepony leads them through the Landing, to the very base of the chain that leads up the cliff-side. He parks them just off the side of the way, leaving enough room for anything coming off the ramp once the Lift returns. Some of the other merchants waiting in line complain loudly at their preferential treatment, but a glare from Ormr shuts them up. A few moments later and a Pegasus wearing soldier armor zips up towards the city above them, presumably the messenger. Less than an hour later they spot the same Pegasus on a return flight, dropping down from above with nearly reckless speed. It’s shortly after that the guard commander finds them, with an upset forepony alongside him. “You lot must have some clout, the Lift is being sent down ahead of schedule, with a squad of royal guard aboard. I’ve got orders not to leave your side until they arrive.” “That would be a wise precaution.” “They didn’t even manage to unload a fraction of the cargo up there! This is going to throw the whole day behind schedule! Your captive had better be important!” Some of the nearby merchants overheard the commander and the forepony and have begun to complain loudly again. “Great, now you’ve gone and upset all the others, just fantastic. I’ve got damage control to manage.” The forepony moves away to deal with the crowd of angry travelers. Eventually, the Lift returns to the Landing, its mass blocking out the sun for several minutes as it draws near the ground. No less than twelve royal guard unicorn soldiers, as well as Rose Given herself, get off the platform and immediately surround the wagon when she points at them. “Well, you lot are making a habit of getting into trouble, aren’t you?” “Rose Given, it’s good to see you again.” Eclipse nods towards her with a friendly smile. “Save it for later.” She dismisses his welcome with a wave. “You have more explaining to do. Get it on the Lift, we’re already delaying everything enough as is.” “Alright, Ormr, get it moving.” The Yak snorts and then pulls the wagon onto the lift platform. The twelve unicorns form a circle around it, every other one facing inward while the others face out. Only a few other cargo shipments, all with their own wagons, are let onboard the platform before the Forepony sends it up, still scowling at them. “We’ve got a while before the Lift reaches the top, you might want to explain what’s going on now.” Rose affixes commanding eyes on them all. “I am sorry about the disruption, but this is a fairly urgent matter. We’ve managed to capture a Naga.” “Alive?” “It’s more complex than that. They can be hard to kill.” Red takes over the debriefing. “Which we did.” Tiny deadpans. “And they revive after a few days.” “Which it’s been.” He deadpans again. “I’m amazed it hasn’t revived yet. We killed it nearly six days ago.” “This was the cause of the weather team’s poor performance?” “This was the cause of the weather team’s death.” Rose blinks, surprised at Eclipse’s bluntness. “It was transforming the local Pegasus into Hell Horses.” Rose closes her eyes for a moment and looks away, silently praying for the dead. “It managed to kill eleven and permanently main another before we arrived and brought it down.” “I see. Yes, this is worthy of our immediate attention.” She turns her gaze on Ormr. “And the Yak?” “This is Ormr, of Yakyaksgard. We ran into him on the way north when we were attacked by a Griffon hunting party.” Tiny introduces him. Ormr says nothing. “Does he speak?” Ormr’s only response to her question is to grunt and glare. “My guess is he doesn’t think you are Yak enough to answer.” Tiny shrugs. “Yeah, we haven’t quite figured him out either.” “He’s honest, and a strong fighter too. We wouldn’t be here without his help.” “The Naga nearly killed the lot of us.” During the long ride up to the city, they tell Rose Given the story of how they found the Naga and the surviving Pegasus in its lab. They just finished telling her about how they hunted it down when the Lift reaches the top. “Ah, the rest of the story will have to wait.” Eclipse gestures out at the city. “Welcome to Canterlot.” Red had expected something quite different than what she sees. She had thought the city was one of spires of marble and streets paved with smooth granite. Certainly, there are a couple of such towers visible, over at the Palace and one or two higher up into the mountain, but most of the city is built from timber logs and whitewashed wooden planks. Few of the structures reach over three stories high. The streets are compacted gravel, aside from the main thoroughfare up to the palace, which is the famed granite roadway. She had heard that every citizen wore fabulous clothes, but the citizens on the streets are indistinguishable from the everyday ponies she has seen in every other city she has visited. It’s a perfectly comfortable town but does not exactly project power and wealth the way she had expected. “This? This is the center of power in Equestria?” Tiny sounds outright disappointed. “Yak not impressed with Pony city.” “But… where are the marble towers? The stained glass windows? I was told that Canterlot was the grandest and most beautiful city in the world.” “Ah, that is something of a misunderstanding. Most of those stories are derived from the Royal Palace.” Eclipse tries to explain. “And Noble’s mansions.” Rose counters him. “True enough.” Eclipse nods. “Move the Naga out, I don’t want it on the city streets any longer than necessary.” Rose has the force of Unicorn guards ferry the canvas covered wagon off the Lift and escort it up on a path directly towards the palace. As they move the contingent of royal guards draws very little attention. The heavily armored ponies are not an unusual sight in the city the same way they are outside of the capital. Even Ormr draws less attention than he did below. When they arrive at the palace, the awe they should have experienced upon seeing the city finally reaches them. The entire structure is made from marble, and every window is either perfectly clear glass or stained glass artwork. The courtyard is made from immense fitted slabs of polished multicolored granite, set in place like a gigantic mosaic. Even the roof tiles seem to be crystal as they shimmer in the sun, and every spire flies a flag made of silk. “Now I can see where it gets the reputation.” Rose ignores Tiny and leads them inside. Eclipse notes a tingle of magic as they cross the threshold into the palace courtyard, presumably some defensive spell set in place to block scrying or teleportation. The Princess’s throne room is a long chamber with marble pillars holding up a high vaulted ceiling. Immense stained glass windows line each wall depict moments in Equestria’s history. A long red carpet leads to high-backed throne atop a platform at the far end of the chamber, upon which Princess Celestia waits for them with a regal smile. “Princess, I have brought your agents. They have captured the individual responsible for the disruption in Shine Shire, and bring dire news.” Celestia’s smile fades as Rose reports. She eyes Ormr curiously for a moment but is not distracted by him, before her gaze swerves to the cage in the wagon. “Tell me, my friends. What happened there?” “Your majesty.” Red bows first, followed closely by Eclipse, and more reluctantly by Tiny. Ormr watches them, and dips his head, but does not bow. “I regret to inform you that the weather disruption in Shine Shire was no accident or mere delay. Shortly after Winter Wrap Up the Pegasus in the town began to disappear, taken captive by the creature we have apprehended.” Eclipse unties the rope holding the canvas closed and pulls it off, revealing the corpse of the Naga. Some of the administrators present in the room gasp, having never seen such a monster, the guards remain stoic. Celestia’s eyes twinge, but she contains her surprise. “This Naga was transforming its captives into Hell Horses. It was successful with three such attempts.” “With eight others it failed.” Red continues. “In all, eleven Pegasus are dead because of it. We were able to rescue only a single badly maimed member of the weather team. The local doctor did what he could, but the damage to his wings is permanent. He will never fly again.” “You say this began just after Winter Wrap up? Where were the Geode family soldiers?” “It seems that the Geodes weren’t in a helpful mood.” Tiny sees no reason to be diplomatic. “The only help they had was the local garrison.” “Mayor Fluffy Ribbon gave me this missive to bring to them.” Eclipse retrieves the message the mayor gave him and passes it up to Celestia. “It details the events from her perspective and reports on the situation. The town is in dire need, the poor weather has killed most of their crops, and the loss of the weather team has left them shorthoofed. She suspects that without additional aid they will be forced to evacuate south and abandon the town by early next year.” “Please, your majesty, you have to send additional help.” Red nearly loses her cool. “I don’t want to see your dream of a restored land wither.” “Thank you for bringing this to me.” Celestia frowns. “I had expected more of the Geodes than this. I will deal with them as soon as our business here is complete.” She turns her eyes to the Naga again. “You can stop pretending now. I know you can hear us.” Something laughs, muffled, as the Naga’s eyes open. It raises its head as much it can in the cramped cage and glares at the empowered companions with malefic eyes before locking them on the white Alicorn. The spears which had been impaling it slide out of the body and clatter to the floor, not even bringing blood with them. Fortunately, the rope muzzling it that Eclipse put there holds its mouth shut. “Holy flames! When did it revive?!” Red jumps back from the cage, already willing to ignite the monster again. “Naga, you stand accused of kidnapping, of torture, and of murder. What do you have to say for yourself?” The Naga tilts its head and gives the Princess a sarcastic glance. “Remove the rope.” “That’s not a good idea.” Tiny doesn’t hesitate to reprimand her, drawing a hiss from Red. “We are quite safe here. Remove the rope.” Red hesitates, glancing from Naga to Celestia, but obeys. Each of the surrounding Unicorn guards readies themselves in case it makes aggressive moves. “Stupid ponies.” The Naga stretches its jaw, revealing massive fangs. “You have nothing to say in your own defense?” “I have no need!” It laughs at her. “Yes, I killed your little feathered friends.” The administrators who gasped earlier do so again. The Naga sweeps its eyes over them. “Would you like to see how? I would be happy to demonstrate if you let me out.” Celestia observes the creature for a moment longer as it locks malevolent eyes on her. “I have seen and heard all I need to. For the crimes you are accused of I find you guilty. Your sentence is imprisonment within Tartarus. For each life you have taken, you will spend one lifetime within the prison.” Celestia nods to a nearby wizard, who disappears down a nearby hallway. “So little a price to pay?” It laughs again. “I have watched older and more powerful empires than yours rise and fall. A paltry few hundred years means nothing to me.” Now it swivels its eyes to Eclipse. “Make no mistake, Unicorn foal, I will remember your bloodline. What those stupid pegasus suffered will be nothing compared to what I will do to your descendants.” Then it smiles, revealing its long fangs once again. “Or perhaps, if I am lucky, I will have my revenge on you… more presently.” Eclipse snaps to action as the Naga casts, he was ready this time. Two of the other wizards in the room join in the effort to break the Naga’s spell. Magic flashes between them and some of the present non-combatants scream. The lightning bolt barely has a chance to form before Eclipse and the others snap the spell like a twig. The magic cancels out, leaving only a low boom behind. Celestia glares at the Naga, unperturbed by its aggression. The massive serpent howls with laughter. “See how easy it is to cow them? They run and hide even when safe beyond measure. It will be easy for this land to fall before them.” The Naga laughs again as the wizard sent away returns bearing with him several white staffs. The wizard glances about, curious as to the screaming and the boom before he passes some of the staffs to other wizards. They surround the cage, at a safe distance, and each point one of the staffs at the Naga. It’s not clear exactly what is going to happen, but it’s obvious the empowered companions do not want to be next to the wagon. They all step far away, outside the ring of wizards. “Take a final look at the sun, monster, for it is the last you will see of it in a very long time.” Celestia takes a step forward and then begins to cast a spell. Yellow magic flows from her to each of the staffs held by the wizards and then irises shut on the Naga. It glows for a moment, and then disappears in a flash, its serpentine eyes never leaving Eclipse’s face until the teleport finishes. When the spell fades the wagon remains, empty. Celestia looks down to Eclipse. “Do not fear, Eclipse Corona, your family is in no danger. He will remain in Tartarus for over nine hundred years. When his sentence is over, I will ensure the safety of whatever descendants you have.” She speaks as if the events will transpire only next week. The casual reminder of the Princess’s immortality is striking. “Thank you, your majesty.” “Is that the extent of your report?” “No, it is not.” “You can say that again.” Tiny rolls his eyes. “What else we have to say is not for public ears.” “Very well, you may join me in my library when we are done here.” Celestia now turns her attention to Ormr. “First it would seem I have a visitor to welcome to Equestria. Yaks are infrequent travelers to these parts. What brings you to Canterlot?” “Yak sent here by Yakyaksgard ancestors to prevent dark future.” Ormr’s lack of etiquette doesn’t seem to bother her in the slightest. “Ormr will not leave until quest is completed.” “A prophecy? Would you tell me of this vision?” “Yak must consult with ancestors, Ormr doesn’t know where quest takes Yak next.” “Very well.” Celestia nods towards him. “You are welcome in Equestria for as long as you obey our laws.” “Ormr not here to pick fight with Pony tribe.” “That is good. Now, Eclipse Corona, Red Haze, and Tiny Hooves, please join me in my library.” “My lady, I feel I should say that Ormr was helpful to us in our fight against the Naga, he should be allowed to speak with you in private as well.” “I appreciate the candor, Red Haze. However, my library is not for the eyes of all. If I can read my Captain’s disapproving eyes correctly, she does not approve of the foreigner allowed such unrestricted access to the Palace. I am sorry, Ormr, but you will have to remain in the courtyard until we are done." Princess Celestia nods and turns away, Rose, Eclipse, Red, and Tiny all follow. Rampart Rock stays behind with Ormr. The Princess leads them out of the Throne room and out across the gardens towards a lone tower on the opposite side of the Palace complex. Along the way, they pass a strange statue of a bipedal creature seemingly composed of a dozen different animals and equines. The discordant sculpture seems particularly out of place among all the other more orderly pieces of art. Red and Tiny glance at it somewhat quizzically, but don’t ask about it. “Rose, I am sorry, but I wish to speak with them alone again.” “You know I disapprove.” “I am aware.” Celestia laughs lightly. “Your only concern is my safety, the actions of my agents are beyond the scope of your purpose.” Rose glares at the trio behind them and frowns. “As you wish.” The Crystal pony takes a place beside the doorway to Celestia’s library. “I will, of course, be right here.” “I understand.” The Celestia gestures into the building for the Empowered to follow her. “Please, come inside.” The entry is a short hallway, with a large stone door at the other end. Once they have all entered Celestia shuts and locks the outermost door, an ordinary wooden thing, and then unseals the stone barrier with a spell. The interior of her library is a cavernous chamber lined with bookshelves, some three or four stories high. A number of driftglobes provide a soft light quite adequate for reading. Celestia moves to the center of the room, where a large circular mahogany table waits, nearly a thick wooden stump covered in open tomes. Eclipse and Red follow, but the moment Tiny steps past the stone door he nearly falls to the ground. He gasps, not quite in pain, as his body visibly wavers. Eclipse glances from Tiny to Celestia, who simply watches the event unfolding before her with curiosity. A moment later and Tiny’s pony body seemingly rips in two and dissolves. Standing where he had been is his changeling form, breathing heavily after the strain of trying to hold his disguise together. “So I was right.” Princess Celestia nods. “I apologize for the deception. Any illusion or shape-shifting magic is instantly dispelled when entering this room. I didn’t want to alarm Rose Given with your true nature. She can sometimes be overzealous with my protection.” The Alicorn takes note of the calm expression on Eclipse’s face and the worry for her friend on Red’s. “I take it you two knew already?” “Princess, we can explain-” She holds up a hoof to silence Red. “No need. I think I understand. The inclination of the changelings to infiltrate and disguise has left most ponies with a natural fear of them. That he would hide his true nature is entirely understandable.” “What are you going to do with me now?” Tiny can’t quite bring himself to meet her eyes. “That depends, entirely, on how honest you have been and where your loyalties lie.” She sweeps her gaze across Eclipse and Red. “I am loyal only to myself, and my friends.” “If it matters, he willingly told us his secret as we set out towards Shine Shire. He swore that the rest of his story is the truth.” “He saved my life, twice. I trust him.” Red nods towards him, he silently thanks her with a smile. “It is good that your friends speak well of you. One’s quality can be discerned by the quality of one’s friends.” Celestia nods again. “To answer your question, I am going to do nothing. Until I learn of any crime you have committed, you are still an agent in my service, and I see no reason to take action against you.” “Thank you.” Tiny bows, more respectfully than he ever has before. “Now, you said you had more to report?” “Yes.” Eclipse begins. “The Naga was not working of its own volition. Someone wanted it there, creating the Hell Horses.” “You have proof of this?” Celestia narrows her eyes. Eclipse draws out the letter they found in the Naga’s desk and sets it on the table for Celestia to see. She takes a moment to read it, her expression hardening into a deep frown. “This is quite grave indeed. I will have to interrogate the Naga directly for information on this Dreadcaster and the identity of the contact.” “There is one more thing.” Red nods towards Eclipse. “The symbol the letter mentions. We found it too.” The midnight blue Unicorn now removes the metal badge that was with the letter and passes it to the Princess. Celestia’s surprise is quite clear. “The Cult of the Red Blade.” She holds up the symbol and starts to pace while she examines it. “This is most concerning.” After a few moments, she sets the symbol atop the letter. “It would seem they are indeed returning. It is time you hear the history behind the Cult and Tyranny.” “When last we spoke you were reluctant to speak of it.” “When last we spoke the cult was not responsible for the deaths of eleven ponies. I will not hide this information from you.” The Princess takes a deep breath before beginning. “Two hundred and seventy years ago, it began small, a single incident of a Unicorn and a Pegasus who killed an Earth pony. It was an accident, emotions ran high and they lost control, but some extremists saw it as oppression. Soon the belief that Earth ponies were somehow inferior began to spread among some of the more… arrogant Unicorn families.” “A belief that is still sometimes expressed among the less polite nobles. It is nonsense, of course.” “In response, many Earth ponies began to band together, at first for their own protection. But then…” The princess lifts one of the books and sets it on the other side of the heavy mahogany table for them to see. “Knight Harrow, brother to the killed pony, his zealotry and hate pushed them into a frenzy.” On the page is an illustration of a massive Pony in heavy armor razing a town to the ground. “That was how the Cult rose to become such a threat. Over the next years, they would appear in a city and drive the Earth ponies to a frenzy until it broke into riots and killings. In time they grew in strength until they could challenge armies, and became a supremacy movement.” “Couldn’t the nobles quench the rebellions?” “Some tried, by guile or by persuasion. Some by force, which only fanned the flames higher. Others took advantage of the situation, fracturing the realm even more. I would have settled the issues with the Cult myself, but my attention was needed elsewhere.” Eclipse turns the page, revealing a depiction of an army of Yaks in the cold snow. “In the north, a Yak warlord named Gunniens grew envious of the fertile lands in Equestria and gathered a warhost to take what lands he could. His forces would sweep down to take spoils of war, goods and Pony slaves.” He turns the page again, and they find the image of a tall changeling queen. “In the south, a new changeling hive was rising, Queen Hemelytra led a campaign of terror, sending infiltrators to every major city and settlement in Equestria. Assaults on random ponies were a daily occurrence, and assassinations of nobles became commonplace.” “I guess that explains the fear and hate for my kind.” “You don’t know your own race’s history?” “We didn’t exactly get much schooling at all. Life in the hive was harsh, the lucky ones got sent out to be spies or thieves, the really lucky ones got to be… poachers.” He doesn’t have to explain what they hunted. “As if those threats were not dire enough,” Celestia continues, “A wizard I knew turned against me. He sought ever greater heights of power and refused to accept that I would not teach him all my most secret spells. He traveled to forgotten places and made pacts with forces both dark and vile.” Again the page turns, and the next image is of a Pegasus in a wizard robe, his eyes bleeding black smoke. “He challenged me, and when I defeated him I exiled him from Equestria. Brightflare showed such promise, if he had been more patient, or less ambitious, I might have shared some of my secrets with him.” “All that, all at once?” Red was unaware of the history. She turns the page one more time, and the image presents a flight of winged creatures in armor. “Equestria’s resources were stretched to the absolute limit. So I called for aid, from both the Griffons and from the Hippogriffs. Their armies gathered in the Griffon lands before crossing the sea, and there the final trap was sprung. The Griffons, led by General Ghrigol, betrayed me and slaughtered the Hippogriffs em mass as they slept. The loss of so many at once, including the crown prince, caused the hippogriffs to withdraw to their mountain entirely and triggered a succession crisis of their own. Under such threat, I almost lost hope.” Celestia looks up and shudders. “That was my darkest hour. Only twice before has Equestria come so close to oblivion, once when my sister and I faced the mad god Discord.” She falls quiet, looking away from the three. Red shuts the book, in the quiet space, the sound is almost a thunderclap. “And the other?” Tiny waits only a few moments before asking. “Nightmare Moon.” Red answers for the Princess, knowing the topic brings her great pain. “I was about to resort to my most powerful and dangerous weapons when I heard the news, the Ponies of Equestria were starting to fight back. The resistance was scattered, leaderless, weak at first. But in small victories my hopes were raised like the sun each dawn. Those with a heroic strength of will and force of arms fought back against the ever-growing tides of darkness.” “Like our predecessors. The forgotten heroes.” “Yes. In all the chaos I never could be certain who they were, they were careful and powerful, and quick. When the fighting stopped I assumed they had disappeared back into the populace or across the sea. I would have rewarded them with noble titles if they had come to me. None had more success against the forces of the Cult or the Changelings than they did.” “Only those? What happened to the other threats?” “I won.” Celestia nods. “Oh, it took decades to bring them all down, but in time I was able to bring a relative peace back to Equestria. General Ghrigol I slew in open combat, and the Griffons withdrew. The Griffon kingdom claimed he was a rogue general and condemned his actions. His family was struck out of the nobility and disappeared, I believe they were hunted down to the last within a few years. The Yaks I fought to a standstill, when Warlord Gunniens fell to an assassin, not one of mine I might add, I was finally able to force a peace with them. My only condition was the return of the enslaved ponies. Queen Hemelytra, threatened by the actions of the heroes, withdrew to her hive and fortified herself there until she came into conflict with a rival Queen and was usurped and killed.” “What of Brightflare?” “I heard little of exactly what happened to him, the Islands he fled to was destroyed in a magical disaster of some sort. I presume he was responsible for the catastrophe and was killed by it. The last I heard of the Cult of the Red Blade was that they were marching to the core of Equestria, I thought they were coming after me, and I fortified myself for the assault which never came. Then the Tree of Worlds vanished, and the Cult’s army simply vanished. Until you three rediscovered the Tree of Worlds I never knew exactly what happened. The remains of the Cult took many years to fully root out. It took me a lifetime to rebuild Equestria back to where it was before the strife.” “I have seen maps from that era, they show a number of cities that do not exist now.” “Yes, I have not rebuilt every settlement and city. A few have been reclaimed by the wilds, some renamed and rebuilt over the ruins. A few others have been simply forgotten.” “Hold a moment, you said this was the History of Tyranny. What did you mean by that?” “At the time, I was unaware of what I am about to tell you. As my agents sought out the leaders of the various forces that had come to bear against me, they discovered something terrifying. The rise of all these threats was not a coincidence. They had not merely been taking advantage of the situation.” Now Celestia clears a space on the middle of the table with a simple wave of her horn. She casts a second spell and a hidden mechanism splits the mahogany table apart at its center, revealing a massive book with an iron lock. Celestia takes the book and pulls the gem from her crown, using it to unlock the seal on the tome. Inside are a number of scrolls. “They were working together.” Eclipse takes the topmost scroll and reads it aloud, the script is an elegant but strict quillwork. “The Queen has abandoned us, she hides in her hive where the Alicorn cannot reach without severe cost she is unwilling to pay. The Alicorn’s forces are moving north to engage you, her forces outnumber you five to one. Do not engage, move into the snowy lands to the northeast and let the winter winds break the ponies for you.” Then he sets that one aside and reads from the next, its scrawl nearly illegible. “Grigor had the gall to try and face a god on his own, the fool. He should have waited for the Demon, under my thrall it would have devoured her whole! With the Griffons routing, I was in no position to finish the spell, and withdrew to more favorable grounds rather than face the entire army on my own. She never knew I was even there. Brightflare.” He quickly reads through a few more. “All of these are similar, a report from one to another of these five threats.” He passes one to Tiny. “See, this one is from Knight Harrow.” “This one is a report about troop movements.” Red reads through more. “A request for help as Celestia’s forces closed on the Changeling hive.” “Yes, I remember that. I was ready to lay siege to the hive, but then the Griffons threatened Cloudsdale and I was forced to withdraw or let the Pegasus capital fall.” “I don’t believe it. How could you possibly have been victorious if they were all sharing information like this?” “I almost did not. Only the rise of those heroic individuals was enough to break the tide.” “Wait a moment…” Eclipse is still reading through the letters. “There is something strange about these…” “Ah, it would appear you have discovered what I meant.” Celestia nods at the unicorn. “Problem, Eclipse?” Red steps to his side to see him organizing the scrolls by order of their apparent intended recipient. Red takes a moment to glance at the stacks, and her eyes go wide. On the heavy mahogany table are six stacks. “I don’t get it.” Tiny glances at the piles, he hasn’t made the connection. “There were not five threats to Celestia. There were six.” “Yes, he was careful to keep his identity a secret, apparently even from his allies. I found a single direct reference to him in all the documents my agents were able to recover. Sovereign, that was what they called him. I do not know who or what he was, or even his fate. When I learned of this sixth threat that I had never know of I began pouring over the records of the wars, looking for a pattern I had only gleaned a tiny part of during the events themselves. The targets they chose were not always ones of tactical value, or even what appeared to be strategic goals. At the time, I thought they were targets of opportunity, but now I believe they were looking for something.” “What could be worth spending the lives of entire armies and the slaughter of entire cities for?” Bile rises in Red’s gut as she considers the sheer loss of life. “A weapon. Lost to history and the ages. Power crystallized into physical form. Something which with one could gain the will to dominate all life. A match in strength to my own greatest tools, or greater even still, I cannot be sure.” Then Celestia casts another spell, and the front cover of the book which had contained all the scrolls opens to reveal a scroll fragment. It’s a partial map of Equestria with a single site circled, and written there on it the name of the tools the threats sought. “The Elements of Tyranny.”