//------------------------------// // 36: Search... // Story: An Equestrian Witcher // by OblivionShadow //------------------------------// Twilight looked out the window as the train barreled over the landscape. She glanced at her friends as they all sat close by. Spike sat beside her, reading a comic book. Rarity sat across from her and regarded the other Unicorn quietly. On the opposite side of the aisle, Applejack and Rainbow were arguing about some contest or other. The purple Unicorn wasn’t listening to them. “Twilight?” Rarity reached out and prodded the other Unicorn as she spoke. “Yes? Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention.” “Did Princess Celestia say what it was she needed us for?” “No. The letter just said that she needs to talk to all of us. She didn’t specify anything. That’s what has me worrying.” Twilight replied and admitted her concerns to the other mare. “It’ll be fine, Twi.” Applejack said to her, having given up on arguing with Rainbow and looked to her friend. “I know. But I can’t help but be concerned.” She replied. “It’ll be no problem,” Rainbow said aloud. Twilight tried to look assured, but her smile faded as she looked back out the window. Celestia looked up as Shining Armor trotted into the room, Blue Blood on his heels with Sasa. He paused and bowed to the Sun Princess. “Thank you for coming quickly, Captain.” She said to him. “Of course, Princess. Blue Blood said that it was urgent, but impressed that we needed to be subtle about hurrying back here.” He began and Celestia silenced him with a hoof. The Princess looked up and waved for the guards at the doors to leave and close the door behind them. Shining watched and waited patiently as the door clicked. “Captain. Have you had any contact with Oblivion Shadow recently?” Shining shook his head. “No. Not since I got those files for him. Why? Does he need help?” Celestia shook her head. “That is the problem, Captain. We have had no contact with him since a few days ago. Blue Blood and my sister have tried to send a letter to him and it was returned. The spell that is used to send the letters comes from him. Blue Blood, if you don’t mind?” Blue Blood nodded and picked up a scroll and quill. He wrote a few words and showed it to Shining Armor. The Captain watched as Blue rolled the paper and focused on the spell. The scroll vanished and a few seconds later it returned and dropped to the floor. The Prince picked it up and opened the scroll. He turned it to Shining and found that it was still blank of any kind of reply. “Either he is sending them all back, which I doubt, or he’s not getting them at all.” Blue Blood explained. “Aunt Luna tried to send one and it bounced back as well. Oblivion always replies, it might take a bit but he doesn’t send back with no reply. According to Sasa, she can’t sense him either. While he did block her from finding him when he left she should be able to at least reach out to him. She isn’t finding him.” “Sasa had mentioned that he is still alive due to her still being alive as well. She is connected to him and his magic. So we know that he is alive for the moment.” Celestia explained. “So at this point, all we know is that he is missing.” Shining Armor looked concerned as he thought over what he had heard. “So has anypony had any contact with him since he left?” “No,” Celestia said to him. Shining looked to her, alarm spreading over his features. “And the Element?” “Is also missing. He has it with him at all times.” Blue Blood replied. Shining stared at them for a moment before he pulled in a deep breath and pursed his lips before speaking. “That’s…not a good sign. Oblivion is an Element Bearer. While he stays to the shadows, ponies know that it exists and that it’s there to protect ponies. Does anypony else know?” “No. My sister and I, Blue Blood and Sasa. So far we are the only ones aware of his disappearance. I also tried to send him a letter and was met with silence. I had written that Canterlot was burning to the ground and that got no response.” Beside Blue Blood, Sasa snorted a laugh. “That would have gotten his attention. There is no way he would not have responded to a message like that.” Sasa said to Blue Blood who spoke for her. “Precisely. So now we must face the fact that he is missing and adjust to it. Captain, I hope that I can ask you to take a couple of the guards that went with Oblivion on his last mission. Perhaps he went back there and then moved on. He’s not an easy pony to miss. A stallion taller than Luna would stand out.” Celestia said to the Captain, who nodded. “And these guards are…” He paused as the doors opened and four guards galloped into the room, followed by Luna. The group slid to a stop and saluted Shining Armor before bowing to Princess Celestia. “These are the guards that were with Oblivion. Luna, did you tell them anything?” The Moon Princess shook her head. “No. We did not mention anything. We thought it would be easier if thou spoke to all of them.” “Thank you Luna. Now.” She looked to the guards and breathed in before speaking. “All of you are well acquainted with Oblivion Shadow, Element of Spirit?” They nodded. “Yes, Princess. He trained us to help bring the mare back here. Has something happened?” Silver stepped forward and addressed the Sun Princess. “Yes. No doubt you are aware of him being able to send letters through his magic and that Sasa has a direct connection to him through magic as well.” They all nodded to her. “Well. We attempted to reach him through a letter and it…bounced back I suppose is the best way to say it. It never reached him. The spell he created for it does work and takes the letter but moments later it returns unseen. We have even sent letters to him with dire emergencies detailed and we get no reply.” “That’s… Not like him.” Striker spoke up as they listened. “He isn’t one to ignore dire circumstances.” “We agree. So I would ask that a couple of you go with Captain Shining Armor back to the town that you just returned from. I am hoping that he went back there and was seen. While he is easily able to avoid detection we can only hope he was seen anyways.” Celestia said to them. “I’ll go.” Striker said and stepped forward. “Me too.” Vantage spoke up and stepped up with the Pegasus. Shining Armor nodded to them. “You know the locations of where he might have gone then?” “I know the one we got back from. And I have a rough idea of where he was going to need to go for the other monsters.” Striker replied. “Perfect. We will set off as quickly as possible. We can’t waste any time in finding him.” Shining replied. “What about the Element?” Cross asked, his voice quiet. Luna looked at her sister. “It is also missing.” Striker looked to the others. “That…Is not a good thing. Without it, the others can’t function.” “True. So time is of the essence.” Celestia admitted to them. “Let’s go. We need to hurry. Are you all right with flying in the dark?” Shining asked the Solar guard. “Sir. Oblivion wouldn’t abandon us due it being dark so I’ll do what I can. Besides, Vantage is a Thestral. I may not see great in the dark, but I know I can depend on him to watch out for me if I get off course.” Striker admitted. “I will take the other two then if that is all right?” Blue Blood spoke up, Silver and Cross nodded to him. “We will begin to scan the city and surrounding territory for him. If we are lucky he did not go very far. While that is incredibly unlikely, it is still worth checking into.” “Sounds like a good start. Thank you.” Celestia said to them. Shining bowed to the Princesses and turned to leave with the guards on his heels. Blue Blood was on his heels. He paused as he realized Sasa was not with him. “Sasa?” “I will stay. Twilight may need help as well.” She replied to him and sat down beside the Princesses. “She cannot speak to me as you can, but I will make do. Good luck.” “Good luck to you as well, Sasa,” Blue said to her as he left the room behind Shining and his guards. Luna waited till the door closed once more and looked to her elder sister. “Sister.” Celestia looked at her. “We must find him. Without Spirit, the Elements cannot function. Not only that but he is a dear friend to many ponies.” “I know, Luna. We will do everything we can to find him. We need to keep it quiet for now. We will search for him in the shadows. That is where he stays normally, so he may be doing that now as well.” Luna shook her head. “The Element is secondary now, Sister. If he is not replying to letters he has disappeared. We must be ready to act if is in need.” Luna's voice held a promise of action. Celestia nodded. “Your right. I just hope its nothing to serious. For the sake of those who care for him.” She began to say more as the doors opened and Twilight and her friends trotted in. “Here we go,” Celestia whispered and Luna jumped to sit beside her. Sasa trotted away from the Alicorn’s and down to the group of young mares. “Princess Celestia, Princess Luna,” Twilight said to them and bowed with her friends and Spike. She hugged Sasa as she went by to greet the others. “Why is Sasa…?” She shook her head to focus on what her mentor was saying. “Twilight. It’s good to see all of you. Thank you for coming so promptly.” Celestia addressed them. “What is going on, Princess?” Spike asked. Celestia paused and Luna gave her a gentle nudge with her shoulder. “Twilight can you send a letter to Oblivion?” “Yes. He taught me how just before he left. Spike.” She looked to the dragon as he pulled out a scroll and quill and looked to her. “Oblivion, I hope your hunt is going well. Let us know. Twilight.” Spike nodded, rolled up the scroll, and gave it to her. Twilight’s magic sent the letter and her eyes widened when it reappeared and landed at her hooves. She blinked as she and the others all stared at it. “That was quick.” Twilight said aloud, nervousness in her voice. Her magenta aura picked up the scroll and opened it. Her eyes widened when she saw that there was no response from the stallion. She looked at it and rolled it up again, her magic sending it to the Black Unicorn. It fell to the floor again and she looked to the Princesses. “None of us are able to reach him. I and others have tried to reach him to no avail. So far it appears that…That he is actually missing.” Celestia said to them. “Missin’?” Applejack piped up and came forward. “What ya mean missin’?” Celestia sighed and looked at them. “So far no pony has been able to reach him. According to Sasa, she cannot reach him either. While that can mean many things she did point out that he has not passed on. She informed us that had he fallen she would have as well. So we are certain that his life is not in any danger." Applejack looked to the floor and then to the she-cat. “Why are ya here, kitten?” The farm mare asked her. “Oblivion left her here. I will explain. He went to dispatch the monsters and was successful with the largest of the group. During that hunt, he came across a young mare that was able to summon portals that could bring forth the monsters. While he did not explain the exact usage he had determined that the mare, Winter Snow, was able to summon these portals by using a gemstone of unknown origin. After discovering her Oblivion put a plan to capture her and get rid of the monster at the same time. Clearly, the plan worked and he took possession of the mare and the gemstone she used. She was brought here for sentencing and Oblivion was able to find out who she was working with. He received more information from her and chose to follow a lead on his own. None of us could stop him when he chose to leave Sasa with us and follow the information given to him.” Celestia gave them the short version and hoped that was enough. “So he went off on his own?” Applejack spoke up and Luna nodded. “Ah’m gonna tan his hide fer this.” Applejack vowed to the amusement of her friends. “We need to find him for you to do that, dear.” Rarity said to her. “So what do we do?” Rainbow asked. “What about the mare that gave him the information? Can we ask her what she told him?” Twilight asked. Celestia and Luna paused and shook their heads. “No. Unfortunately, we cannot ask her anything. She…” “She chose to die for her crimes,” Luna told them. “What?” Fluttershy squeaked out at the information. “Oblivion is the better option to ask about why, but she chose it.” “I have never heard of the execution or anything?” “There was no execution. Winter Snow asked that Oblivion be the one to end her life.” Luna informed them. "She said that he was the only one who understood her and that was her choice.” “Understood her?” Applejack questioned. “Yes. I’m not certain of her exact meaning but, Oblivion seemed to know what she meant. But now we need to find him.” Celestia admitted to them. “She’s right. Then we can have a party for him!” Pinkie said aloud, her excitement obvious. “He doesn’t like parties, Pinkie.” Applejack pointed out. Pinkie paused for a moment. “Oh well. I’ll still throw one for him. Just all of us, then.” She said her smile wide. Twilight rolled her eyes, but Pinkies' antics had brought a smile to the rest of them. She looked back at Celestia. “Okay, where do we look?” “Actually, I was going to see if any of you have any idea where he might have gone. It is also possible he could still be in the area. We have kept his disappearance quiet. The news that the Element of Spirit has vanished could make ponies very nervous. So at this time, I am hoping you all might have more of an idea where he might be. Or anywhere he might have needed to go alone.” “Sasa?” Twilight looked to the feline. Luna’s magic created a box of sand for the cat to write her own replies. She yowled her thanks and sat beside the box, using one paw to write. “I do not know either.” She wrote. “So no idea why he left ya?” Applejack asked her. Sasa rubbed out the prior message. “No. He seemed to be in a hurry, but I did not get a chance to argue with him.” “He just left?” Fluttershy asked her. “Yes. Walked out the door and teleported.” She replied. “But you can find him?” Rainbow asked her. “He blocked me out.” She replied. “That’s a problem then.” Twilight replied and Sasa nodded. “So we should check around Ponyville at least. He runs through the Everfree so we can’t rule it out as well. If he was checking on those portals then we should look closer to home. He seemed to be checking on those. Some were close to home.” The mares all nodded as Sasa moved to gain their attention. “He had put a hold on hunting the other monsters. He focused on searching for the mare that had partnered with Winter Snow. Asmara is the mare’s name.” “Asmara? Never heard of her.” Rainbow said aloud as she read the message. “None have. The gem that Winter used to summon the portals was loaned to her from Asmara. It can open the portals to allow the monster to come through, but she couldn’t control what came through. So she ended up with that bit of variety of monsters.” Sasa explained. “All right. So we need to hunt for Asmara?” Pinkie asked. Sasa tilted her head. “Why?” “She might know where he is.” She reasoned and bounced in place for a moment. “Not that the idea doesn’t have merit but, I don’t think it wise to go after her.” Sasa replied. “If he found her then he would have brought her back here. We have reached out to her grandmother, the relative that raised her after the death of her parents. She has an investigator searching for her as well. So if they had found her, we would know.” Rainbow leaned back on her haunches and scrubbed her face for a moment. “We need to get him a book on how to stay out of trouble.” “Yeah. He‘s worse than you.” Applejack shot back to her. Rainbow scowled at the orange mare. “But ya got a point. He seems ta attract it.” “Maybe. But we still need him back safe and sound. He informed us that he had dismissed another monster several days earlier, but nothing since.” Celestia broke in. Twilight nodded. “Okay girls. We should head back and start searching as well. I know the Everfree Forest will wait for us to go into till tomorrow. So we need to catch the train and head back. Princess?” She looked to her mentor who nodded with a smile. “Okay let’s go. We’ll keep silent about it as well. Thank you for letting us know.” She said and the group raced for the doors. Luna was quiet as the doors closed once more and she sighed. “It is late sister. We will take over the night.” “Thank you, Luna. We’ll find him. Or he’ll show up and wonder why all of us are frantically searching for him.” Celestia joked to her sister. “That is more likely, we think.” Luna admitted with a chuckle. Equestria startled and reached out to the world she embodied. She gasped at the sudden feeling of loss. “What has happened?” She whispered aloud as she began to gallop through the world itself, her form immaterial as she ran. As she ran the world fell away as she searched for what had brought the feeling onto her. She reached out further and a hard gasp sounded from her as she plunged to a stop. “Oblivion.” She whispered as she realized the black stallion was gone from her side. “No, no, no.” She plunged ahead once more, searching for the signature that he gave off. Anxiety bit at her mind as she realized that she could not find him. As she plunged ahead she reached out to the world and she could feel that it was slowly going out of balance. With the power of the world Spirit now missing there was no pony to protect it. She reached out to it to try to command it again but yelped as it pushed her back. It no longer recognized her as the one who ruled over it. Only its wielder could call upon it. “Without him, the ponies will begin to falter. Those that he protects are in danger of being hurt. There must be a way to find him.” She plunged ahead once more, her body slipping through space to the Conjunction cavern. She slipped within it and calmed herself. She reached out to it and yelped at the sudden attack from it. The ground shuddered and it concaved as a monster pulled from the earth itself. She recalled Oblivion mentioning an Elemental protected the cavern. It turned to her and made to attack her. She cried out and fled as fast as her hooves could carry her and spun once she was away from the cavern. “Oh no. Oblivion still has the gem from within it.” She spun slowly as she tried to think of another way to find him. The black stallion was needed. The Spirit of the world needed to be balanced. Oblivion didn’t have to act to keep it balanced. Simply by being, he created the balance that was needed. She calmed herself and stopped spinning and breathed deeply. She glanced at the cavern and chose not to approach it again. She was not sure why it had attacked her, but she had a feeling that the missing gem was the true culprit. “Okay. Let’s see.” She began to pace as she thought over what she knew. She had not been able to command the World Spirit due to it now having its master, Oblivion. “Okay, He can’t be dead, that’s impossible. That Elemental acted to protect that cavern from me. Though I do not understand why. I have gone there many times and even stayed within it. Oblivion is still alive but his location is unknown to me.” She snarled in frustration as she realized that there was nothing she could do. A hard stomp of her hoof sent a tremor through the surrounding area. Equestria was quiet as she sat down, realizing that there was nothing she could do to help or find him. Her head hung as she tried to think of anything that could be done. Upon finding no options obvious to her, she felt despair biting at her. She knew that he was more than capable of taking care of himself but that did not stop her from worrying. She stood up and snorted. “I’ll check on those close to him. They might know something that I do not.” The mare reared to her hooves and tore over the ground. Her strides were ground eating and she reached Canterlot in moments. She paused and reached out to the ponies that were closest to the Black Unicorn. She felt Luna and focused on her. She watched as Luna jumped from dream to dream, searching. “They have lost him as well.” She whispered aloud and reached out to the other Elements of Harmony. She found them to be traveling and reached out to them. She galloped after the train and galloped alongside it, listening as they discussed where to look for their missing friend. She slowed to a stop and paused. “Dammit.” She cursed quietly under her breath and looked out of the lush landscape. “Oblivion.” Oblivion groaned and opened one eye. His body felt heavy and stiff. The black Unicorn slowly raised his head to look around him. His mind clicked into place and he slowly got to his hooves. He expected to wake up in a different part of the ruins. But now as he looked around him all he could see were trees and endless green. His ears flicked as the sounds of the forest washed over him. He looked back to his body and shook himself to remove the leaves and dirt from his body. His hooves danced on the mossy grass under him for a moment before he focused his attention. The heat washed over him and he looked to the cloth still wrapped around his body. He focused on the cloth and startled when his magic did not activate at his command. “What in the?” He looked up and his curved horn was still in place and didn’t appear to be damaged. He snorted and tried again, still nothing. “This is a problem.” He muttered and looked over the rest of his form. He sat down and pulled the boots off his hooves and set them on the ground in front of him. He reached back and began to pull the smooth cloth off his body and folded it as best he could with claws. He opened his saddlebag and set both the boots and cloth into the bag at his side. “All right. Now to see what is wrong.” The black stallion stood on and walked slowly forward. His hooves silent on the spongy ground as he moved. His ears flicked as he moved past the ring of trees around where he had awoken. He stopped at the sound of voices ahead of him. He paused and waited as the sound approached him. His eyes widened at the sight of humans on horseback. He pushed himself back and stayed as hidden as possible. As they passed him he watched from the shadows of the trees. “Oh, Gods.”