Footsteps echoed through the long stairway as three ponies went down to the sub-basement. The stairway was dark, yet the way wasn’t entirely pitch black. The walls were covered in the faint glow of stones that gave off enough light to see where they were stepping, but not enough to see the end.
They came upon a wall blocking their path. Like the first wall, this one had a gem on it, it was a unique design. Topaz Silk placed her hand over the picture and the gem in the picture glowed brightly. The centipede symbol on her hand followed. The wall opened to reveal a room full of machinery that seemed far too advanced for this time.
The three walked over to a table, and only Topaz Silk took a seat. “Well, was Golden Williams' intel correct?”
Rex made sure no snowflakes had followed them. He reached into his pocket. “Indeed. But I still don’t know why he wants them so badly.” He placed the purple agate on the table.
Topaz Silk's reaction was instant as her chair veered back by a few feet and her eyes shrank. “I had hoped he was wrong... Where exactly did you find it?”
“Behind a dark magic wall hidden inside Cassandra's Castle.” Clover walked closer to the table and placed her hand on it and pushed it to the alicorn. “It seems to grow in power from fear.” She indicated the small glow the closer it came to the alicorn.
Topaz Silk grabbed her gut and exhaled deeply. The more she calmed her fear away, the more the gem’s glow faded. “The Wave of Nightmares is one of the legendary Alathar. It can tap into one's greatest fears.”
Rex’s eyes narrowed. “What does he want with it? You told us he was gathering the Alathar, but not why, nor where they were being held. And because of that, we spent five months on a wild goose chase.”
“It is far too early to know what the wendigo's true plan is. The Alathar are all-powerful relics that can amplify any form of magic, but most of all, they each have their magic within them that can’t be matched… especially when brought together.”
“Okay, then can we at least guess what he has planned?” Clover pulled the gem away from Topaz Silk and moved it to Rex. "We need some sort of path to move. We can't stand still."
“No, no, no more wild theories. Where are the other Alathar?” Rex slammed his hand down.
“Unfortunately, I don’t know.” Topaz Silk got up and walked around the table to some machines. “However, I have a vague idea.” She stopped and reached into a machine in front of her. She twisted a lever and a wall nearby opened up. Beyond the opening was another wall filled with holes. In each a long scroll with color handles. “Grab the maroon one.”
Clover walked over and pulled out the scroll with the maroon handles while Rex grabbed the gem and put it back up. She brought it over and unrolled it over the table. It was a turquoise-colored map with eight maroon marks on it. One mark was darker than the rest. “Is this a map for each of the Alathar?”
“Yes and no,” Topaz Silk walked back to the table. “Long ago, an alliance of eight mortal families was made that would hide the Alathar. And that only the families’ strongest lines would know where they were. These families were called the Limbs of the Broken One.” She reached out her hand and pointed to the darkest mark. “It is powered by dark magic. The brighter the maroon, the greater the chance the family and that guard still live.”
“Hmm, so if we find these families or monuments connected to them in these areas, we could get closer to finding the alathar before the wendigo.” Rex grabbed the maroon handles of the scroll and rolled it back up. “Thank you. We have all we need now.” He held up the maroon scroll to an opening in one scarf on his arm and it disappeared into the shadow.
Topaz Silk blocked them. “You are not going alone this time. I don't have any immortals on hand, I have some mortal allies you can take with you.”
Rex’s eyes narrowed and his arms moved around into a stance. “What allies? We've seen enough death.”
Topaz Silk smiled at him. “Strange, you seemed like you wanted allies earlier." She stepped forward and reached out to Rex, placing her hand on the Dark Alicorn Amulet. “Or maybe what you said earlier was advice about something else and you've changed your mind."
Rex stopped at those words and pulled away from her grip. His face was covered with sweat, and he placed his hand on the Dark Alicorn Amulet. "No, I changed my mind of my accord. He had nothing to do with it."
Topaz Silk let out a small giggle at his words. "You change your mind, fine. Then tell me why you wish for no more allies?"
Rex backtracked, only to find Clover now standing behind him with as much, if not more, curiosity. He gritted his teeth. "I have my reasons."
Clover raced around until she was in front of him. "Stop lying. You wanted allies before because the choices before were immortal ones, weren't they?"
Rex refused to answer her, so Clover walked closer to him. She stopped once she saw his look had not changed. Her eyes narrowed, and she slapped him across the face.
“I’ll give you two a moment.” Topaz Silk walked out of the room and up the stairway.
The room went quiet. The only noise that could be heard was the echoes of the alicorn’s footsteps. The narrow look in Clover’s eyes faded and a bit of her mane fell in front of them. She stepped a little closer, and he took a step back. “Rex? Are you afraid?”
Rex’s face fell, and he took another, much slower step back. “No, why would I ever be afraid?” He grabbed tightly onto the Dark Alicorn Amulet under the scarf. “There is no point in talking about this.”
“Yes, there is a point!” Her voice raised as she stepped closer. “You... You haven't shed a single tear for him. " She stopped her words as tears formed in her eyes.
He turned away from her. "I can change no one creature's fate, no matter how many I face."
She grabbed him by one of his scarves to stop his retreating. “I know you can see their futures, but that doesn't mean you can't change them. It doesn't mean you can't save--”
"I can only protect them." He attempted to swat her hand away. "With this power around my chest."
She gripped tighter and reached around his body with her other hand, placing it on the Dark Alicorn Amulet. "Yes, he gives you power, but you can't rely on immortal power alone."
He exhaled slowly before answering her with a lower tone. “As an immortal... I must rely on immortals.” He pulled away completely.
“I… I see.” Clover's arms dropped as a single tear fell to the ground.
******
Tumbles of pony movement waved through the village. Joyousness filled their minds this Sunday afternoon. Many of them wanted to enjoy this day as much as they could before it could end. Over at a small outside diner, some ponies were even on dates. Some looked thrilled. Unfortunately, one was not.
“Curse that student of mine!” a loud yell filled the area as Twilight slammed her book.
“I assume you done reading. I’m sure… she will be back.” Crimson twisted in his chair, unable to stand still.
“It’s been two full hours. Plus, I've read this book one-hundred-twenty-six times now.” Twilight leaned over the table and gestured her hand into a number. “She is up to something.” She threw her arms up in distress.
However, she retracted them as the faces of ponies around filled with glares. She took a deep breath and spoke silently, “Sorry,” and straightened herself in the chair. She looked at Crimson, who was now playing with his food.
Crimson had not even noticed the glares. Instead, he listened to each of her words carefully, as always. She put on a brave smile and straightened herself. “Okay, sorry I got sidetracked. You were asking about Ponyville this time, right?”
"Yes," his ears went up. "I mean... unless you are more curious about Starlight."
Twilight smiled and reached over with her hand. “Look, I don’t mind talking about my homeland while reading. We needed somewhere to sit while waiting.”
He smiled at that answer and his shyness weakened as well as he turned to face her. “Okay, you were talking about how your castle formed?” He faced her properly, and she pulled her hand away.
“Oh, yeah. It happened through a ridiculous fight with a centaur and the crazy use of a box that popped out of the Tree of Harmony.” Twilight seemed to skim through details rather fast today. "Really... What proved to be the biggest moment of this was that I came to understand the ideals of friendship better than I ever thought."
“Really?” His eyes wandered to his bowtie for a rather long moment. He exhaled deeply and looked back up at Twilight and slowly reached over with his hand. “Yeah, such an idea has its power--”
Twilight jumped back inadvertently and interrupted him. “Yet not strong enough to stop Starlight from…” She stopped and huffed before crossing her arms and sitting back. “Hmp, I may push her training harder tomorrow.”
“Hmm... why do you train her, anyway?" His voice dropped the moment Twilight's hand went out of reach. "It’s… not like you two… are soldiers. Besides, this village is so peaceful… to get involved in the battles Princess Platinum is currently having.”
“True, and the only ones that even know we do our training are you, Granny Apple, Silver Pear, and a few of the regulars.”
“You mean like… Lighttone.” A smile grew on Crimson's face.
“Yeah, him.”
“You know I would like to meet him one day. I mean, if that isn’t a problem.” His voice seemed slightly off at that, almost joyful and with very little shyness at all.
“Hmm, how about you come over tonight? He usually shows up to look at the weekly orders to see what he might want.” Twilight finally scooped up some of the food in front of her and put it into her mouth.
“Really?” Joyfulness intensified in his voice. “Wait… tonight at the… the bar… the tavern you work at.” Instantly his shyness returned tenfold.
Twilight raised a slightly annoyed eyebrow at this and swallowed her meal, clearing her throat. She reached out and grabbed his hand again. “Okay, is something wrong?” She questioned with a weakened smile at the blush that was now very clear on his face.
Crimson took his hand back. “No, nothing is wrong...” He stopped and turned to the side of his chair and looked up to the sky, “The truth is… I used to know him. We… were friends.”
Twilight’s eye went wide at that word ‘friend’.
“Friendship.” A random word she had used all the time, but hearing it from somepony else threw something inside her completely off. She froze in place.
Crimson raised an eyebrow and slowly reached over. He shook her shoulder and then jolted away, hoping for some sort of reaction. Nothing happened for several moments.
Truthfully, Twilight didn't even notice as rambles of voices swirled through her head. Six distinct voices. Slowly the voices stopped, and she swung her head back and forth fast once like she was knocking something away from her head. She stopped afterward and didn’t give a single reaction for several moments.
It brought a lot of concern to Crimson. “Twilight…”
Hearing her name finally made her answer, “Yeah… friendsh--”
“Hey, look at the sky.” A random voice behind Twilight broke her words.
“What is that?” Another voice spoke even louder.
Twilight raised both her eyebrows at them but tried to ignore them. However, Crimson looked up as well and a great shadow quickly covered the ground, tables, and soon even the building as everything shook. Twilight dropped her food and stood right up. “Crimson, what is it?”
“It’s… a giant gem.”
Twilight turned around at those words and looked at what all were seeing. The second she laid her eye upon it, they went wide. It was indeed a giant ruby gem, larger than the buildings around them.
Suddenly, the gem sent off a strange, loud buzzing sound. It was so loud that every pony within even a small distance away had to cover their ears in strain, yet any pony nearest fell to the ground in absolute pain.
Twilight did whatever she could to stand her ground, yet it was quickly becoming hard as blood was now pouring from her ears. Her leg dropped once and her eye winced. Things got worse as the wound under her eyepatch burned and... glowed. At that exact moment, though, the sound stopped. “Why is my wound reacting to it?”
A bright light shot out of the gem and an image formed within it. The image was of a lone pony chained up in what appeared to be the center of a giant stadium. “Ponies of the Unicorn Providence.” A voice filled with royalty and vast age spoke from somewhere outside of the sight of the image.
“Your princess has seen fit to resist my armies for long enough. This is King Emerald Teal of the Crystal Empire and I declare a full-scale war with you all.” On that, a crystal blade shot outside of the image's scope and cleaved the prisoner's head clean off.
Many of the ponies watching gasped at these actions. Some even turned away as the pony’s blood poured across the ground. Meanwhile, species like griffin and hippogriff backed away in disdain. All while, Twilight couldn’t help but ignore the sight of it, as the pain in her eye was getting worse.
Finally, the image vanished, and the gem’s light dissipated. Strangely enough, so did the pain in Twilight’s wound. She stood up and rubbed her eye a little and turned to Crimson, only to find him gone. She looked at the table and saw a note saying that he would show up tonight… maybe.
Of course, there was nothing to be concerned about. Twilight turned back around to face the gem as it drifted away from the village. “This wasn't part of the history books?”
******
In a far-off land, miles deep underground, there stood a pale white fortress covered in endless light. There was not a single shadow that could touch it. Within this fortress were many empty rooms with lights of varying levels of brightness.
However, in the brightest room at the center sat six creatures around a rectangular table. One black batpony at the far end, one gray griffin and one gold siren on the left side, one white changeling and one white ifrit on the right side, and one pale crystal pony at the front end. Each had its group of guards standing around them.
They were all staring at the white ifrit with great annoyance. “So you want to tell us how he found one of the Alathar?”
“I don’t know what you mean.” the white ifrit tried to push away the idea.
“Why do you think we called this meeting?” the gray griffin spoke up.
“I thought it was because of the attacks that Indigo Frost orchestrated,” the white ifrit waved his arms over them.
“Not that. It seems he almost claimed one of the Alathar!” rage-filled the pale crystal pony’s mouth.
“Who is this wendigo, anyway?” the white changeling mare twisted her fingers through her mane.
“Some crazy fool claiming to be the original king.” the gold siren leaned back unfazed by their words. “He is nothing to us but a faker. What matters now is that the Wave of Nightmares is in the hands of Rex Moba.”
An air of uneasiness filled the steel cold room as some of them twisted around in their chairs at that name.
“Damn it, we can’t keep being afraid of some umbrum who for all we know doesn’t know we exist.” The black batpony stood up. “We should be more worried about these attacks.”
“Yes, but if he finds more--”
“He won’t.” On that, the black batpony pulled out a green lapis lazuri rod. “As you can see, I have already taken precautions.”
“You dare bring an Alathar here.” The pale crystal pony stood up. “Remove it at once. We are their sacred guardians. You know how dangerous it is to remove one of the Alathar from their holding.”
“Yeah, this is madness,” the white changeling scooted back. However, she stopped upon crashing into somepony behind her.
“And here I thought Frost was supposed to be madder than you all.” They stopped at that voice. The room went so quiet that the only noise that could be heard was their breaths. All of them moved their eyes around until they finally stopped at the intruder in the room.
Standing behind the changeling was a strange-looking wrinkly stallion with dark mold green flesh in a blackened gray cloak.
“No, you…?” the white ifrit trembled in confusion as his flames dimmed.
“You… who are you?” the gray griffin questioned. He looked at the white ifrit. “Sage, do you know him?”
The white ifrit refused to answer as he scooted back; a blanket of fear covering his form from head to toe. The intruder strolled around the room.
Each creature kept its guard around him, not showing any sign of weakness. Yet they couldn't hide the reaction to the stink that filled the room with each step he took. His breath stank of... corpses. Soon he arrived back near the spot, he appeared and smiled as he looked over all.
“I don’t care who he is.” The black batpony gestured to his guards to surround him.
“Really?” The intruder pulled at his collar. “You are the Limbs of the Broken One. Hiders of his greatest power and servants of his might.” His hands raised to them all before letting them fall into his tattered cloak.
The black batpony huffed at his words. “Give me a reason, why my friends shouldn’t kill you right now.”
“Because I’m here on a promise.” He held his hands together in a grasp and leaned his head over them in a pleading motion. The intruder’s words and actions fell on deaf ears as the guard walked over.
However, the intruder couldn't help but smile at this. “Look, all he wants is the Alathar for--” He was interrupted as the guard tried to punch him.
Much to everypony shock though, the fist tore through the flesh like paper. The guard himself wasn't filled with shock, but disgust as he could feel the bones of the jawline and even the crack-covered teeth rub against his knuckles. "What is thi--" The guard tried to question the feeling before pain raced through his hand as something grabbed hold.
The guard pulled back with all his might only to reveal his hand being held in place by tentacles. These less dark mold green color flesh ligaments were crawling over the guard’s hand, leaving a circular bite mark with each movement.
Once they found a suitable spot, the tentacles pressed down with a force and twirled the guard's arms until the bones tore out. The guard's eyes filled with tears and he almost pleaded with him to stop twisting. The intruder raised his hands to the guard's head. "Oh, fine.” His smile turned to a frown as he released his grip.
All of them gasped at this. However, he quickly followed this by digging his fingers into the guard’s throat, and with very little effort, he ripped the guard’s head clean off his shoulders. "Hmm, fool."
“Enough of this!” The pale crystal pony sent all of his guards over to the intruder. “You will have none of the Alathar at all. Now leave.”
More guards charged at the intruder. He ducked and grabbed the first one by the leg, yanking him to the ground. Meanwhile, he flipped his body into the air and threw his foot toward another; the flesh of his bare foot ripped open and more tentacles tore through the second one’s chest. Blood spewed into the eyes of the others, blinding them. The intruder pulled the first one over and tentacles from his mouth forced it open so wide that flesh ripped from cheek to ear. Soon a giant beak shot out of his mouth and bit down into the first one’s stomach, slurping up his wormy intrels before the stallion could barely struggle. The third and fourth ones charged in, only to be fought off as more tentacles ripped out of his lower extremities while he continued to feast.
The second one fell to the ground as his chest kept gushing out blood. The intruder finished feasting on the first one and jumped upward with one hand and landed on the table, licking his beak of all the blood before pulling it back into his mouth. The two remaining guards moved back in shock.
A weak movement filled their eyes, yet they couldn't give up. They charged right at him. He smiled at this as tentacles from his mouth wiped over his lips and sealed the wound around his mouth.
“Enough Star Stone,” the white changeling spoke up, stopping the guards in advance. “I want to hear what he is offering.” She gestured for her guard to push over a chair for the intruder.
The intruder smiled at her action, got off the table, and sat down. He watched the guards walk back to their leader as he grabbed out a napkin while his tentacles reseeded and the flesh resealed, leaving a strange burnt smell in their wake. He wiped his face and hand clean of the blood before placing it back up.
“Let’s look back around five thousand years, back when Indigo Frost's family tree was a member of this group.” His claims angered Star Stone, but the intruder gave little care to the crystal pony’s reactions. “Your leader, Dracos, was on the run for deeds he claimed he didn't commit, and the nine founding families of this group were still here. Soon though, two families left to join him in hiding and the wendigo's family was already pushing themselves more and more away from this group to watch over his kingdom… And try to make new allies.” His voice slowed at that last part before resuming its natural flow. “Things seemed fine, heck even after the wendigo kingdom fell apart, the group stayed strong.” On that last word, he held out his hand as the flesh opened up. Tentacles spewed out, holding a red horn.
All of them gave the same reaction of disgust and shock upon seeing the red horn. “That is until twenty-four hundred years back when Carmilla Darkest was killed and this group slowly devolved into a hiding spot for cowards.” The intruder couldn’t help but let a small snicker loose at the sweat growing on their faces. “I mean, I know at least three reasons to worry. She was the last founder to die, was the Broken One’s most trusted ally, and the queen of the umbrums.” He removed the piece, and an air of relief filled the room. “But what I find most sickening is you all would rather turn tail and run rather than take revenge on the very stallion behind the deed!”
The black batpony twisted the Alathar in his hand. “So, he is offering us the head of her grandson, Rex Moba.”
“Yes, the lapdog of the alicorns on a silver platter.”
“Well, no thanks.” The black batpony put the Alathar in his coat and stood up. “We are not afraid of anypony at all. And certainly not some psycho fake king--”
Instantly he was stopped as a thin, bony-like wing rose from under the table with no warning and tore through his skull. The Alathar dropped out of his coat and rolled over to the intruder’s hand.
He smiled and retracted the wing from under the table and back to his shoulder blade. There it went back into the flesh as if it was never there. “Thank you, but I said from the beginning that he will have the Alathar.” Looking over them all as his hand opened up, and the tentacle took the Alathar into his flesh. “And since you won’t accept his deal, you all will be forced to tell him where the others are.”
“We will not give in to your demand--” Star Stone was stopped as figures appeared behind them all. All the figures looked like wendigoes, yet they seemed different; almost fake in form. “How? This room is full of light magic.” He was stopped again as the figures grabbed them all.
"Exactly, but he didn't form these... lovely sculptures." The intruder rose from his chair and walked over to Star Stone. "I did." He reached out to Star Stone and slid his fingers through the side of his mane. “With this much light here you are out of the reach of Rex, Indigo Frost, and even your long-dead god; but not from me.”
“Your master will fail. We won’t give in to his demands, even if you torture us.” Star Stone knocked the hand away, stood true and strong despite the grip of the figures getting stronger.
“Oh, poor little colt. You know nothing of what you are saying, not understanding what he is planning.” He grabbed him by the face, pressing his thumb tightly on the cheek. “He is doing this as a kindness.” He leaned his face in close enough that his terrible breath smelled like poison. “Maybe once we are done, you will believe in the ways of the monster.” On that, he dropped his hands and punched him in the gut.
Star Stone felt bile rising from his stomach. However, it stopped as his eyes became too heavy to hold. As his eyes waned, he looked to the intruder once more, then his mouth fell and drool gave way. “What are you?”
"I am the one who gives knowledge to the ignorant. The light in his darkness. I am Thule."
******
The Sun lowered from the afternoon to evening causing the light to dim in the village as Twilight was walking down the road to the tavern. Steams of anger covered her face as the icy winds and clear skies cleanly showed off her breath like fumes of fire.
Eventually, she found the tavern. She knew she couldn’t walk in angrily. Starlight maybe had been distracted by the message. Twilight wasn't sure which possibility it was.
“Come on, Twilight. You can’t stay angry.” She exhaled and walked forward and reached for the door. But she stopped as something crawled over the doorknob. It was a spider.
Unknown to her, this was the same brown spider that had been watching them yesterday. “Wait a minute,” Twilight held out her hand. “You're Starlight’s pet spider… Gáidaros.”
The spider slowly crawled into her hand. “What are you doing out here? This weather is too cold for you.” Twilight opened the door.
Inside, the place was filled with the smell of cleaning tools. Starlight was moving them around in her magic. She jumped at the sound of the doorbell, smiled at Twilight, and put down the stuff. “Teacher, you’re back. I thought you would spend more time with Crimson.” She walked over and greeted her, only to be stopped by Twilight holding out her hand.
“I did until he vanished on me!” Twilight’s voice raised while holding out the spider. “By the way, your spider was outside.”
“Gáidaros?” Starlight picked up the spider in her magic. “Hmm, strange that you could even pick him up. He usually doesn't trust angry ponies.”
However, upon Gáidaros being removed, Twilight's anger shined in full force. “Well, maybe I wouldn't be angry if you hadn't disappeared on me, especially with what happened today.”
“What do you mean?” Starlight placed Gáidaros on the table. “The day hasn’t even arrived.” Starlight’s words slipped before she could stop them.
"What are you even talking about? Today, the alicorns declared a full-scale war on this country!” Twilight threw up her hands in annoyance, as Silver Pear walked in from behind her.
“What?” Starlight’s eyes widened. “Why?”
“I don’t know. But it looks like we will have to be ready for anything now. Tomorrow's training will be doubled.” Twilight walked around the tables and grabbed a cup, using her magic to fill it with some cider.
“No, we can’t rush into this." Starlight waved her hands in dismissal. "Besides, this village lies on the outskirts of the country. Maybe it will miss us--”
“It won’t.” Silver Pear interrupted her. “I came back from the mayor’s office. He wants all able bodies to be ready for when our princess calls on us.”
Starlight was completely gasping at this. "What... No... Why?!" She tried to speak, but her words kept escaping her.
“What's going on?” Granny Apple asked as she entered from the back.
“War is happening.” Twilight gulped down the entire cup of cider in one go. “And what worse…” Twilight stopped for a moment and placed the cup down before finally finishing. “I received another warning that a great evil will soon appear as well.”
“Where from?” Silver Pear questioned.
“A dream, or should I say, a nightmare. It happened this morning. I wanted to ignore it, but after what happened today...”
Starlight was in complete shock at hearing their words. She didn’t know how to even react to Twilight, let alone Silver Pear. He knew what day Starlight had been talking about, and Twilight had completely forgotten. Finally, Starlight’s mouth stopped stuttering, and she articulated. “We can get through this. Nothing will stop the big day's events from happening.”
Twilight glared at Starlight. “Events, what by Celestia's good graces could you possibly be planning? That's not as important as what I and Silver pear told you!”
“Look, Twilight, that's taking it a little too far.” Silver Pear intruded on her words. “I’m sure we will find some way.”
“Of course, you take your ‘Lovely’s side’.” Twilight swung her cup around in anger. Not looking where she was swinging it, it sent shattering sounds into the air. Twilight winced in pain and grabbed her hand as blood spilled.
“Oh, poor dear.” Granny Apple walked over and pulled out a cloth.
Twilight opened her eyes and took the cloth in her magic. She wrapped it over her hand and walked back over to the door. Pushing Silver Pear out of the way, she stomped outside.
“Twilight, stop…” Starlight tried to speak.
Twilight took a shallow breath to hide the tear that was now falling. “Look, I already knew what day my student has been going on about.”
“You did.”
“I will never forget that horrible day.” That was the last word she spoke before slamming the door shut.
The door’s vibrations did little to break the shock Starlight had for Twilight’s last words. It wasn’t until a small tear fell from her own eyes did she finally break from the shock and fell into a nearby chair.
“Should I go after her?” Silver Pear faced the door.
“No, leave her be.” Granny Apple turned to Starlight with a sad look. “It seems they both need more time.”
Granny Apple kneeled and picked up the pieces of the broken cup. She stopped before reaching for the trash. “Hmm, cider shouldn’t be this color.” In the end, she gave little care to the bold maroon red and threw the pieces into the trash with a crash.
******
The sounds of the doors from the cathedral opening echoed down through the plaza as evening services ended for the day. Ponies shuffled down the road, leaving for their homes. The movement kept until there were none left. A swift emptiness tore through the door. Soon, though, Rex and Clover walked out. The two were silent.
Clover let her eyes wander away from Rex as much as she could. Suddenly, her eyes caught the glimpse of the tan colt she saw before. She smiled at the sight of the child running around its parents.
Rex noticed her halt and stopped as well. He looked at what she saw. A heavy breath expelled from his lungs. “Look, Clover, I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay, I… I understand.” She turned away and walked ahead of him.
“No.” His breath hid his ultimate words from her. His eyes winced as he turned and followed her.
“Well, isn’t this a sight?” an old voice caught their attention. They turned to the voice, and Clover’s eyes lit up at the sight of two stallions.
The older one that spoke up was a gray unicorn wizard with yellow eyes and a long white mane with an overly curly long white beard in a golden star-covered dark blue pointy hat and a golden star-covered dark blue cloak over a light blue and light gray tunic and light gray slacks with a pair of light blue pointy overshoes.
“Master Starswirl!” She ran over and hugged the old wizard.
“It’s good to see you too, Clover.” He patted her on the head and returned the gesture.
Rex walked over as the two separated and turned to the other stallion. This one was middle-aged and was a yellow earth pony with a brown short ponytail mane under a black pirate’s hat. He wore a green frock coat over a gray vest with a white shirt and a pair of gray pants with one black boot that always seemed to be covered in sand.
“Fredricson,” Rex lowered his head.
“So, my son died protecting Little Miss Clever here.” Fredricson tilted his head toward Clover, with the little nickname he had for her.
“We tried to contact you after we sent his body to his mother, but...”
“The scourge of a storm we were in prevented all messages.” Fredricson interrupted him as he tilted his hat. “It was a fine thing you did, though. Still, his mother isn’t exactly going to let me go see him. A little hissy over a brief fling I had with her sister last month.” He let a smile slip upon mocking his ex, yet Rex could see rage hidden deep within those old gray eyes.
Clover looked at Fredricson, “Well, Rex is sorry, if we had been more prepared this wouldn’t have happened.”
Fredricson looked at her. “Don’t be concerned. Like Rex here, we know the selfishness of the alicorns all too well.” He tapped on his wooden leg and turned away.
“Still, it is my fault, no matter what.” Rex walked a few steps ahead of them before stopping. “I’m assuming Topaz Silk called for you two.”
“Not quite, but it seems we are after the same target now.” Starswirl turned to Rex.
“Fine, where is your ship?”
Fredricson huffed. “Can’t we at least get some rum before we go?”
“No, we will lose too much time.”
“Topaz Silk already told us where the Alathar are, shouldn’t we take a moment before rushing off?” Clover stopped right in front of Rex. “We need to figure out why he is even after them.”
Rex’s eyes rolled his eyes. “I know what Indigo Frost is after. At least I think I do.” Starswirl and Fredricson stopped at his words. “He wants to resurrect the Broken One.” Rex’s hand raised to the Dark Alicorn Amulet and under his breath, he whispered, “I hope I’m wrong.”
Fredricson facepalmed in annoyance. “Don’t rush me.” He chased after Rex before he got too far. “You need to know something before getting to the ship.”
Clover didn't follow. She tried to calm herself, but her mentor could see the fear growing on her face. “What is it, Clover?”
“Master, am I not strong enough?” Her eyes never left Rex.
Starswirl raised his hand and pushed some of her mane away from her face. “I know your feelings for him are. You have felt the same way since you met him as a child. But it will take some time before you can replace her spot in his heart.”
******
As the evening light fully faded away, it gave one final shine over the plains, over the mountains, and finally across the ocean.
Reaching a source of great pain sweeping outward from the prison that the griffins ran. The building shook and cracked as griffins flew out of it as quickly as their wings could take them. Their screams filled the air as two hippogriffs slowly walked out behind them.
“Wow, Night Fiend. You didn’t have to torture so many.” Sting practically jumped in joy upon his freedom as he dropped some dubstep noises.
“Your explosives did most of the work. But, of course, I had to, my brother. They dare hold us captive.” Night Fiend was not only taller than his brother, but he was also much thinner and less healthy. His face was incredibly pale and his voice was very hoarse under the gas mask he was wearing over his mouth. “And will you please stop with the ‘sick’ beats? We are royalty, not gangsters.”
“Yo, you know very well we aren’t anymore. Not since Momma Dear got pissed at us.” Sting nearly laughed aloud from the thoughts.
“Truth be told, what we did to our sister was quite cruel.” Fiend grasped his hands together and popped the bones. "Oh, that reminds me, did you find my gloves?”
“Yo, of course, I did.” Sting pulled out the gloves and gave them to his brother before getting completely out of the way. Searching his pockets, he pulled out the white orb that Indigo Frost had given them to escape.
Fiend pulled the gloves tightly over his hands and stretched them into a perfect fit as the symbols on them glowed. “If the king of snow and ice wants my help, I better make sure my powers haven’t faltered in all these years.” He gestured with his left hand, and Sting tossed the white orb over. Fiend raised his right hand over the prison’s remains and the fallen griffins inside. “Oh, griffins, would you mind helping me out?”
Many of the griffins on the ground twisted and squirmed away at the sight of those gloves. Fear covered their faces like a swarm of diseases. Most of them pushed away from him with enough force to make their limbs bleed.
Fiend frowned at their reaction. “That’s not good enough.”
On that last word, he closed his right hand, and the glowing increased in brightness. The white orb in his left hand shook and bounced as it melted. Once it was gone, all the griffins screamed in agony as their bodies glowed and strange orbs ripped from them. All the light surged toward his glove, making it glow brighter. The screams became louder and more twisted as the lights slowly faded away. Once the light vanished, the screaming stopped. A deathly quiet filled the air as the bodies laid frozen in place. Each of them with the same face of fear, only with all eyes turned black.
Fiend brought the glove to his ear and listened. His cheek perked up at the sounds of the screams hidden deep within the glove. “Aw, these souls shall prove most useful. And to think that ice piece had that much magic within it.”
“Indeed. This cuz trust us.”
“Enough of that language, brother. He is our ally and not some gangster you met... in the hood.” Fiend brought the glowing glove to his gas mask. In the center of the glove was a small gem that perfectly fit into the hole in his gas mask. The glowing slowly vanished as his body’s muscles twisted and pulsed. His face grew less pale and his breathing eased. He moved the glove away once the light had completely faded. “Ah, sheer power. He better offers me plenty of souls for this deal.”
“Well, duh. Why wouldn’t he want the greatest necromancer in the land on his side.” Sting turned toward the sky and pulled out his large wings widely.
“Oh, I’m a meager small fry compared to the evil he wants to release.” Fiend turned to the sky as well and pulled out his very thin wings. “Unless he has a different plan."
Both of them took to the sky and flew west as the Moon rose in front of them in the far distance.
******
The Moon’s light shone over the crystal towers as Rex and Fredricson arrived at a large platform. "Okay, whose bright idea was it to park the Titan so far from the cathedral?" Rex questioned as he caught his breath.
"Eye, don't blame me that the falter of followers was so widespread today." Fredricson wiped the sweat off his face. "It is lucky that we found a spot to land at all. We don't have access to instant travel through those dastardly shadows of yours."
"Still, you could have told me where you parked, and I would have teleported over." Rex walked over to the ship on the platform.
The Titan was a small navy blue airship with yellow sails and a single tall gray smoke tower. It was one of the smallest designs, yet no slouch in such ideas. The inside was massive. It had been a long time since Rex had stepped foot in this old airship, yet even now he could still remember his first time getting lost inside.
"I'm almost surprised it still stands." Rex was joking, of course.
"Hey, this beauty of mine can't quit as long as I'm alive--"
"But it would help if you took better care of it." A loud shrewd voice interrupted the earth pony. The distinct voice sent a pale color through his face.
The door to the ship opened and a rather not-so-young batpony mare and a young light orange siren filly walked out of this ship.
The batpony was white with blue eyes and a long curly black mane. Shorter than Fredricson in height, but wide around the chest and hips, thinned around the waist by her black dress, corset combo that barely covered her chest, and went down to her red high heels.
"Wait a minute." Rex raised an eyebrow at the sight of them, particularly the batpony. "Aren't you--" He stopped rather quickly as she threw her cane at him. He jumped over it and the cane fell into his shadows and back out right in front of the old mare.
"Yes, I am, Lady Cat."
Rex facepalmed at that name as he looked at Fredricson. "You brought Mon's aunt with you." He rubbed his eyebrows as the other part of the problem flew through his head. "Wait a minute, this is the one you had an affair with?"
"Eye," Fredricson tried to hide his toothy grin under his fear, it wasn't working very well. "She is quite the mare."
"I think I've heard enough." Rex hid his revulsions and walked past all of them and onto the ship. All without even asking who the siren filly was.
"Wait..." Fredricson stopped and let Rex walk off.
Clover and Starswirl walked up. "Hmm, I see Rex has found out about our current guess." Starswirl stroked his beard as he walked over to the siren filly. "Did the big umbrum scare you?"
The filly slowly nodded and clung tightly to Lady Cat’s leg. The filly was barely tall enough to reach Lady Cat's kneecap. She had a curly orange mane bigger than her head. Wearing a lavender jacket over a purple dress and purple, tall wall boots made her look even cuter.
Clover smiled at the cute little thing and walked right over. "And what is your name?"
"It..." the filly's words practically mumbled at the end.
"Aww, she is such a cutie." Clover couldn't help herself and she picked up the filly and held her in her arms. "Come on, you can trust Aunty Clover. I’ll keep you safe from that rough around the edges, Uncle Rex."
"My name... is Adagio... Adagio Dazzle."
Starswirl smiled. "This is our current mission. The wendigo took her sisters for some unknown reason."
******