Unity: A Tale of Arcadia

by Kieva Lynn

Book One: Chapter Ten

When the last of the Gumm-Gumm soldiers fell, the point team was quick to meet up at the door to Trollmarket. Twilight was there, along with Rainbow Dash and Midnight Steel. "Just because I can't fly right now doesn't mean I'm not fast." The pegasus had insisted.

With them were the Trollhunters, their troll mentor Blinky, and Gandalf who had insisted he would be needed. Bert Gumbal and Sheriff Tucker would be leading the back up teams that cleared the rest of the market while the point team handled Queen Usurna.

Twilight looked back and forth along the canal. In the distance to the south, the freed trolls' brethren were filling them in on what had happened. A faint breeze passed under the bridge, stirring a vague scent of lime from the concrete walls and floor. She shook her head to focus. "Okay everyone! Once we're in, we'll head down the stairs and straight for the heartstone. Usurna is most likely inside, correct?"

"Yes, that is correct." Blinky confirmed.

"Just remember, safety first. The last thing we need is someone getting turned to stone."

From his position at the head of the secondary team, Bert asked "How are we gonna handle things if she's ran for it like Blinky thought she might?"

"A valid question." The troll replied. "There is no other way out of Trollmarket, with the gyre tunnels now cut off. If Usurna cannot be found, I will be very nervous about moving back in... She could be hiding anywhere in that case after all."

"Well our search will be thorough."

"I sincerely hope so." Blinky said.

Twilight turned to the wall of the canal, thinking to herself how impressive the troll's magic doors were: If she hadn't known there was a hidden entrance here, she never would have suspected. It looked no different from any of the other concrete panels lining the walls. She breathed out in a huff and nodded to Claire who again opened the door. The circular crystal staircase looked as it had that morning, and with Jim in his armor in the lead they descended.

It was surprising just how far down the stairs went. Twilight had known Trollmarket was deep, but it hadn't dawned on her that it would be more than a quarter-mile down. At last they reached the bottom, and a short narrow passage led into the vast cavern where Trollmarket was built. A wide rocky path led from the stairs halfway across the floor of the cave and up a set of switchbacks to the center, where the massive yellow-orange glowing heartstone rose from the floor to the ceiling.

"That's it." Claire said. "She's probably in there. Especially considering the two guards on the door."

"They look different from the soldiers." Twilight observed, examining the guards.

"Yes, they are of Usurna's tribe." Blinky explained. "They've never been controlled by Gunmar, but they are fiercely loyal to their Queen."

"You mean they'll put up a fight." Midnight said.

"Let 'em!" Dash said. "I'm grounded but I can still fight!" Her eyebrows went flat as she quoted "I know kung-fu."

"I thought 'Broken Wing' style was built around flying." Midnight asked.

"It is, but that's not the only martial art I know! There's also-"

"-Please don't say 'Krav Mare-Ga.'" Toby interrupted.

"Why not? It's awesome." Rainbow answered, head cocked.

"Riiiiight... Let's just do this."

They ascended the switchbacks and approached the heartstone. As they drew near, the guards rose taller and crossed their spears in front of the door. "By order of Queen Usurna, none shall enter!" They announced together.

"Stand down good fellows, you've lost!" Blinky pleaded.

"Yes, I know you are loyal to Usurna, but make the choice that at least keeps her alive." Twilight added.

The guards momentarily exchanged a look at each other. "We... Thank you for the opportunity... But our task is clear. Our loyalty cannot be divided." And with that they charged. Jim and Claire met the first, trading blows, while Twilight and MIdnight had to create magic shields to block the attacks of the second. Rainbow Dash looked for an opening to attack, but could find none. Being Rainbow Dash, she analyzed the odds of an attack working without a good opening versus the odds of proceeding being incredibly stupid, then went ahead anyway. She jumped hard at the backside of the troll attacking Twilight kicking at the back of it's knee, hoping to make the joint crumple. Of course, on a target made of living stone this was less effective than a flyswatter on an elephant. The troll didn't even seem to notice as it pressed it's attack on her friend.

"In for a bit, in for a bar." Dash thought to herself, and jumped harder, landing atop the troll's head and covering it's eyes with her forehooves. This forced him to let go of his spear with one hand, to try to swat her off. Rainbow held on tight, sliding left and right to avoid the swiping hand. Then, suddenly, she felt something whizz past her at high speed. It took a single feather with it, and embedded in a nearby wall. Where the feather it took turned to stone.

"Usurna!" Blinky exclaimed.

Several more of the stone-poisoned feathers flew, just missing Dash and the others, but striking the guards who froze into solid stone in moments. "What are you doing!?" Twilight yelled, angry, "Those were your own guards!"

Usurna slowly stepped into view, out of the room within the hollow heartstone. She moved slowly, jerkily, and her eyes glowed. "That... Isn't Usurna." Blinky gasped.

"It is Usurna... But it is also our enemy." Gandalf whispered.

"What!?" Dash asked.

"I thought you said it couldn't get here!" Twilight exclaimed.

"The enemy itself, no. But it's tendrils reach far and wide... Commanding any who give themselves to darkness."

Then with a pleading cry of terror, Usurna grabbed more feathers from her collar and threw them in a wide spray...

"Clear!" Bert shouted as she stepped out the door of yet another building. The process of sweeping Trollmarket to ensure there were no more Gumm-Gumms or Gremlins laying in wait was going well. Already they had checked out perhaps a tenth of the cavern's many buildings, and as the sweep proceeded a small number of trolls were trickling back down to stand guard over the cleared zone and begin the task of reclaiming their home. Bert knew, from what Blinky had said, that many trolls were mistrusting of humans, yet they were genuinely grateful for the assistance and it seemed reasonable to hope that here, perhaps, was another successful first contact.

Other voices rang out "Clear! Clear! Clear!" and Bert was joined by Sheriff Tucker and the two elder Apple siblings. "At this rate we'll be done well before dawn." The Sheriff said.

"Don't go jinxin' it now." Applejack said with a grin, "Though ah reckon yer right."

"Who woulda thought though?" Tucker said, looking around the vast cavern. "Kinda makes me wonder if there's a Trollmarket underneath Arcadia in our own world."

"Ah'm sure they'll be checkin'. Probably already are." Macintosh replied.

"Yeah probably." Tucker agreed.

Bert said "Still... I get 'to each his own.' But living underground like this, permanently..."

Applejack said "No different than Dwarves buildin' their cities in mines. Except, accordin' 't Blinky, that heartstone thing acts kinda like a sun 't the trolls. Dwarves don't even got that."

"I suppose." Bert mused, "Though I still wonder-" He was interrupted by a scream and they looked to see Lyra and the deputy Virgil come tearing out of a structure with a neon sign of a beer glass over it's door, a dozen Gremlins on their tail.

"Not Clear! Not Clear!!" Lyra shouted as she saw the quartet and galloped towards them.

"Virgil! Lyra! Duck!" Bert shouted, and fired over their heads. One Gremlin was hit but the rest kept coming. Bert pumped another round into his weapon, but before he could shoot Applejack and Macintosh were in the fray, bucking the creatures away from their intended prey. No longer massively outnumbered, Lyra turned and started to join in the fight, only to notice that Applejack and Macintosh had already finished off the Gremlins, when she suddenly looked up and gasped.

"Bert look out!" She exclaimed, and fired a blast of magic straight up, taking out the Gremlin that had been leaping for him.

"Thanks." Bert nodded to Lyra. "Now let's-" He was cut off as, suddenly, something small and moving very fast flew through the air and embedded itself into his gun. "A feather?" He wondered.

"Look!" Macintosh pointed towards the heartstone, where another battle was under way...

Twilight discovered, almost too late, that something about the feathers made them impervious to her shields. The stone curse enchanted plumage passed right through like the defenses weren't even there. She tried to go on the offensive, but Usurna was built as tough as any other Troll and just shrugged off the magic blasts.

From the opposite direction, Jim was trying to reach the Queen, batting cursed feather out of the air with his sword as he drew closer, but Usurna suddenly spun about to face him, and he was saved from the sudden barrage solely by Claire opening a portal to catch the feathers. Twilight had lost sight of Toby, until remembering the gravity-altering properties of the warhammer. She looked up just in time to see him diving down straight for Usurna's head. The odd angle of attack worked: he struck the first blow to actually land, the queen stumbling back but not losing her footing. Toby ran before she could recover, and then Twilight and Midnight were firing magic blasts together, trying to capitalize on the moment.

Usurna stumbled further back, and might have continued to stay upright had it not been for Rainbow Dash creeping in behind to trip her. She went down on her back hard, and scrambled to grab for more feathers from her collar. Only to see it, dangling from a staff held by- Usurna's eyes glowed brighter as she spoke in a voice not her own, "Gandalf Stormcrow..."

"Um, should we be concerned that she knows who he is?" Toby asked.

Cackling laughter erupted, not only from Usurna but out of the thin air all around. "She does not..."

"Who are you!?" Twilight demanded, while all around her everyone else had fallen into combat-ready positions, backs to each other, ready for whatever might attack next.

"I am --------. Servant of the Quiet Darkness..."

"The quiet..." Twilight shook her head. "What are you talking about!?"

"Caution Twilight Sparkle." Gandalf advised. "Only dismay can come of speaking too much with this foe."

"Stormcrow speaks true... Come, let us discuss it at length." The voice laughed again. "Oh, but I am called back... Come along then Usurna."

What happened next would play in the nightmares of many present for some days to come: Screaming, pleading, begging and grovelling, Usurna burst into flames that rapidly ate away at her form until nothing was left, not even ashes. "It... It burned her alive..." Dash gasped.

Gandalf shook his head. "Not so. It took her."

Twilight's horn lit up as she cast a scanning spell. "I'm... Not detecting any signs of teleport spells as Equestrian thaumaturgy understands them. But there's also no sign of any extraneous mass or energy left behind, which there would have to be if Usurna had simply been burned up. I'm sure Gandalf is right."

"But, took her where?" Claire asked.

"She has fallen into darkness. You do not want to know the specifics." Gandalf said.

"But what was this about?" Midnight wondered.

Gandalf motioned towards the door. "I have a suspicion. Come, let us see."

They entered the heartstone. Inside, there was a large wooden desk and worktable, cluttered with books and scrolls as well as a grinding stone and many cut gems. Standing behind the table- "Vendel!?" Blinky and the Trollhunters ran to what looked like a statue of a troll but which Twilight knew had to be a living troll turned to stone. "I can't believe Usurna left him intact!" Jim said.

"A joyous discovery indeed." Blinky said. "If we can find the right ingredients, he can be restored."

"Yes. But this is not what we are here to see." Gandalf said. "Come." The old wizard walked to the back of the chamber. to what appeared to be just another solid wall of heartstone crystal. He tapped the wall with his staff in what appeared to be a coded sequence, and a hidden door opened. As Blinky stuttered over this, they walked through into another chamber. This one was circular, and the walls arched up in a dome, though at the very center, descending from the roof, was a shard of crystal, a portion of which had been shattered to reveal a small hollow within. "Yes. As I suspected." Gandalf said.

"What? Gandalf, what is this?" Twilight asked.

"This was Morgana's prison." Gandalf answered, to gasps from Blinky and the Trollhunters. "Our enemy has conscripted her as well."

"Well that's... Bad." Jim said.

"Crazy bad." Claire agreed, and at Twilight's look of confusion she explained "We're talking about someone who can equal Gandalf or Merlin's power and isn't under orders to limit her overt uses of that power."

Twilight laid her ears back. "That is bad. Like, Nightmare Moon/Discord bad. And we don't have the elements. And even if we did, the thing that's that bad is now being forced to work for something else even worse..."

As the unicorn began to gasp for air, Gandalf knelt down and placed a hand on her back. "Have faith. There is a plan in place. But we need Merlin and Starswirl."

Regaining control of herself, Twilight nodded. "Okay. How do we start?"