To Earn One’s Wings
Chapter three: The Sage
Thunderbolt motioned for silence as he pushed open the large front doors of the cathedral. The hinges’ screeching echoed through the cavernous cathedral. Thunderbolt covered his head with his hood and slipped through the yawning doors, Aurum not far behind him. The door closed behind them with a resounding bang.
The cathedral itself was deathly still. The white tiles were stained by the colours of the stained glass windows as soft moonlight filtered through them. A small candle stand with a small bucket of candles stood just left of the door. Two candles flickered forlornly within. Thunderbolt lifted a candle with his magic. It hung in the air before him. A small flame sparked to life on the wick. With a deep breath, the unicorn slotted the candle into the stand.
Thunderbolt looked at the pews stretching before him in the deafening silence of the cathedral. Even Aurum decided to land lest she disturbs the peace. The pair moved through the sea of pews toward a lone figure kneeling in front of a bas relief. The relief was of a set of people around a table. An Alicorn stallion with a halo of light around his head was in the middle of the scene. A total of twelve others spread out to his sides in pairs. A pair of unicorns. A pair of pegasi. A pair of earth ponies. A pair of griffons. A pair of dragons. Even a pair of black changelings, pony/insect-like shapeshifters, was present. Moonlight filtered through the canopy of cloud seats floating over the pews surrounding them with small rainbows. A figure sat at the far side of the sea. Its robe was like darkness made fabric and shadows seemed darker around it. At the sound of hooves, it turned its head. A bandaged muzzle was all that was visible. Something about him felt familiar to Thunderbolt.
“Are you the couriers?” the gravelly voice had a quiet authority to it.
“You are not our contact,” Thunderbolt answered. His eyes scanned the room. He took a step back. “Who are you?”
“Calm down, Courier. Mister Diamond is a bit tied up, so to speak. I am his superior. You may call me The Sage.”
Thunderbolt licked his lip. “And what exactly are you picking up for mister Diamond?”
The Sage did not answer immediately. A green glow emanated from under the hood. A cigarette and match floated from under the cloak. A stray shadow seemed to meander toward the pair of ponies from beneath his cloak. The stallion cleared his throat and the shadow shot back underneath the cloak. He sucked on the now lit cigarette. Its point glowed in the increasing darkness.
“Thunderbolt,” Aurum whispered. “That’s the stallion that sent the gem.”
“I don’t like this,” Thunderbolt whispered. “Rosie, get ready to get out of here the moment I tell you.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’ll explain later. Just go when I tell you to.”
The Sage blew out a cloud of smoke. “You are carrying a tome. An ancient one. It is covered in blue leather and is written in an unintelligible language.” The cigarette’s tip glowed. Another cloud of smoke was breathed into the cathedral. “I believe it makes the reader feel an intense feeling of dread.”
Dryness crawled up Thunderbolt’s throat. His eyes darted across the room. His ears cocked in different directions. “How exactly do you know about this tome?” he asked, tail flicking nervously.
“Simple. I ordered Mr Diamond to retrieve the tome. I expected him to do so himself, but I seem to have underestimated him. A pity, really. He had so much potential.”
“I see,” Thunderbolt took a step back, his eyes on the unnaturally moving shadows at The Sage’s hooves. “Well, Mr Sage, I assume that since you are Mr Diamond’s boss you know about our agreement.” The Sage nodded. “Unless you want to renegotiate we can take our bits and leave,” Thunderbolt continued. “Let you get on with your business.”
“Ah, yes. Payment,” the smoking pony mused. “Mercenary individuals like you would be expecting compensation,” he took a deep tug and blew out the smoke. “I’m afraid that I would like to renegotiate.” Shadows burst from under the cloak. They wrapped themselves around Thunderbolt and Aurum before they could react. They struggled against their bonds as The Sage continued. “I can’t allow you to leave.” A shadow dug into Thunderbolt’s saddlebag. It pulled out both the tome and the green gem and transported it to The Sage, who took it in his green magical grip. “You are loose ends that I would like to have tied up. Besides,” he smirked, touching Thunderbolt’s face with a hoof. Thunderbolt’s eyes widened in recognition. “I can’t let my best experiment get away from me again, can I? My mind is buzzing with curiosity to see how your improvised field test affected your wings.” Thunderbolt lit his horn to summon lightning. It only sparked and fizzled.
“No,” he lamented under his breath. “Don’t conk out now…” The Sage simply chuckled.
“My shadows drained you of your magic,” he explained. “It is useful when restraining interlopers and escaped experiments.”
Aurum whimpered behind them. He turned to her. An idea sparked in his green eyes. He plastered a reassuring smile onto his face.
“Do not worry child, your death will be painful,” he assured her. “And when Celestia raises the sun,” he paused. His smile grew into a sadistic grin. “Your body will be found in this very cathedral as part of a ritualistic mass suicide.”
The Sage turned and walked to a door on the left side of the room. Behind it was a set of spiralling stairs leading upward to higher levels of the cathedral. The shadows peeled themselves from the floor and carried Thunderbolt and Aurum as they followed The Sage.
They ascended the steps in near silence. Aurum’s whimpers seemed to echo in Thunderbolt’s ears. He looked back at her. Her eyes were like two large windows into her mind. A pit of fear loomed there and she was being dragged in by her own shadow. He didn’t blame her for being afraid. Only fools face death without some sort of fear. Even he had some trepidation as The Sage stopped at the top of the stairs. Before them was a squat wooden door. Cracks and stains covered it. A red glow leaked from under it.
“Sage,” Thunderbolt called. “What are your plans?”
“Oh, you will see soon enough. Suffice it to say that you will bear witness to Equestria’s death knell,” The Sage answered as he pushed open the door.
The crimson glow flooded the staircase. Beyond the door silhouettes of ponies chanted.
“Blood of the innocent and blood of the damned
Mix together in time’s sand.
Blood of the innocent and blood of the damned
Stain these hallowed sands.
Blood of the innocent and blood of the damned
Sever the ponies from their creator’s hand.”
The Sage led his prisoners through the open door as the silhouettes chanted over and over. On the far side of the room was a stained glass window depicting an empty crucifix. As they approached the silhouettes they morphed into twelve ponies of the various pony tribes. Unicorns, pegasi and earth ponies stood in a circle comprised of glowing magical runes. In the middle of the circle hung an earth pony stallion with red fur. A coin pouch was etched on his rump. He hung by his hind legs. His forelegs were tied to his sides.
“Please Sir,” he begged when he saw The Sage enter. Thunderbolt recognised the stallion’s voice as Rough Diamond, the pony who hired him to get the tome. “You don’t need to do this. I’ve learned my lesson. I’ll-”
“No, you won’t,” The Sage cut him off. “Ponies do not learn their lessons and they do not change. I have no use for you if you cannot obey a simple command. You were to retrieve the tome and you passed it along to some mercenary. Your only saving grace is that the mercenary was an experiment that escaped,” The Sage paused. “Under your watch, if I remember correctly. Thus you have squandered your second chance.”
As they talked the shadows tossed Thunderbolt into a corner and started tying him up with a rope laying in the room. Aurum was lifted into the centre of the circle and tied up in a similar fashion as Rough Diamond. The shadows placed the blue tome in the centre of the circle. The Sage took position underneath the window. He joined in the chant.
Without a word a pegasus mare with blue fur lifted a knife and slashed her own throat. The circle’s glow intensified. Its colour changed into a deep crimson as the blood hit the floor. A crack seemed to appear in the fabric of reality above the circle. A sliver of golden light spilt through it, mingling with the crimson glow. The pony next to her, a grey unicorn, did the same. The circle’s glow brightened again.
“I’m so sorry miss,” Rough Diamond tried to apologize to the whimpering Aurum. A purple earth pony stallion picked up his knife. “I never meant -”
“Shut up,” Thunderbolt cut him off as the glow intensified again. The stallion’s body hit the floor with a dull thud. “It doesn’t matter what you meant to happen.” A fourth pony lifted a knife to her throat. “What matters is that we are in a mess and we need to get out.” The mare slit her throat. The crack widened. A shadow could be seen through it. Thunderbolt felt a slight tingling sensation form in his wing joints.
“What the hell-” he mumbled.
“How in the hell do you expect to get out?” Rough Diamond cut him off with a yell. as a fifth pony slit his throat.
“I’m working on it!” Thunderbolt yelled back. “Think, think think think…” he muttered. A knife fell not far from him as a sixth pony slit her throat. The crack in reality widened further. The shadowy figure could now be identified as a pony. The tingling in Thunderbolt’s wings turned into a burning sensation. He grit his teeth as he concentrated what little magic he could muster on the knife’s handle. A silver-blue aura formed around the handle. Thunderbolt pulled the knife toward him. The seventh pony slit her throat. The crack widened again. The shadowy spiral of a horn could be seen protruding from the shadow pony’s forehead. The burning sensation intensified in Thunderbolt’s wing joints. He pushed through the pain as he started cutting the ropes tying his wings and forelegs together. He glanced towards Aurum. She started thrashing about in her bonds.
Good, Thunderbolt thought, she’s fighting back.
He stretched his wings as he cut the first set of ropes. The ninth throat was slit as Thunderbolt started to cut the ropes around his hind legs. The burning in his wing joints spread to the rest of his wings. It caused Thunderbolt to lose his magical grip on the knife. It fell between his hind legs. He could feel the warmth of the wet blood on the knife seeping into his hind leg. Before he could pick the knife up again he felt something watching him. He looked up to see glowing eyes peering out from the crack in reality. The shadow pony was glaring at him. The tenth body dropped to the floor. Thunderbolt watched as the crack widened. Shadowy dings could be seen flanking the shadow pony’s head. The burning in Thunderbolt’s wings caused them to start cramping up. Gritting his teeth he tore his eyes away from the shadow pony and picked up the knife that fell between his hind legs. He tore through the last of the ropes and started toward the two hanging ponies. He stepped over the bodies and around pools of congealing blood. He glanced over at The Sage. The unicorn seemed completely focused on the ritual.
Then the eleventh pony slit her throat. Thunderbolt’s wings started cramping again. It caused him to lose his balance and took a step to the side and slipped on a spot of half congealed blood. With a grunt, he lifted himself from the pool. His entire left side was covered in blood.
“Aurum, hold still,” he urged the thrashing mare as he approached her. Using a bloody hoof to hold her steady he started sawing at the rope around her hind legs. Just before he was done a shadow slapped him across the room. The shadows then wrapped themselves around Thunderbolt.
“I won’t let you interrupt a ritual years in the making,” The Sage said as Aurum started to thrash around again. “Be assured that were you not still of use to me I would squeeze the life from you. Now be still,” he commanded.
The twelfth pony in the ritual circle was a blue unicorn. He lifted the knife to his throat with a purple aura. He hesitated. He glanced at Thunderbolt who was snorting as he struggled against his shadow prison.
“Come now Cup,” The Sage encouraged him with a paternal voice. “You were so full of zeal for our cause a few hours ago. What has changed?”
“Master Sage,” Cup whispered. “You never said that anyone would get hurt. You said that we would be saving ponies”
“We are saving ponies,” The Sage nodded wisely. “But saving ponies require sacrifice. A sacrifice your friends have made. If you stop now it will have been in vain.”
Cup looked around him. He took in the bodies of his friends. He saw the ropes around Aurum’s hind legs broke and she fell headfirst on the bloody floor. Her eyes rolled back in her head. She was unconscious. Cup looked at Thunderbolt. His struggling intensified at the sight of Aurum’s unconscious body. He drops the knife and takes a step back.
“Master, I don’t think that I can,” he is cut off when the knife he dropped is shoved into his throat.
“I do not remember giving you a choice, Cup,” The Sage hissed. Cup fell to the floor. His body writhed as he choked on his own blood. The Sage pulled the knife from Cup’s neck with his magic. Blood started spurting from the hole like water from a cracked dam. When it hit the magic circle it started to shine with a blinding white light. The crack in the fabric of reality burst open. The window behind The Sage burst from the force.
The room seemed different – bathed in the ethereal light that seemed to shine from everywhere. Everything seemed less solid. Less real. Right outside the now smashed window, an ethereal landscape extended past it. A pony with a tattered black cloak stood there. It had a skeletal foreleg wrapped around an old, but gleaming scythe. Behind him stood the twelve ponies who had performed the ritual. Some were scared. Others sobbed. One purple stallion looked at through the smashed window with dawning horror on his face.
Inside the room, Thunderbolt felt a burst of magic inside of him. It felt like he was closer to the source of magic than he ever was before. He looked up to fling a lightning bolt into The Sage when he locked eyes with the shadow pony that was in the crack. He towered above Thunderbolt. Unlike the rest of the room, he seemed far more solid than before, but shadowy wisps still trailed off of him like early morning mist.
“You have my wings,” the shadow pony accused. His voice was deep and regal, like that of a king. He was also becoming more solid by the second.
“I didn’t ask for them,” Thunderbolt deflected through gritted teeth. The burning in his wings made him want to tear them off.
“And yet you have them,” the shadow pony argued. He stepped closer to Thunderbolt. “It does not matter whether you asked for them or not. I want them -”
Something cut him off. The shadow pony fell to his knees. Thunderbolt could see ethereal chains wrap themselves around him. A gurgling noise came from the centre of the magic circle. The Sage’s voice joined the sound. He was chanting in an unintelligible tongue. Thunderbolt tore his eyes from the shadow to look at the source of the sound. He saw a waterfall of blood streaming from Rough Diamond’s neck. It splashed onto the blue tome; soaking its yellowed pages with blood. Next to the body hanging like a slaughtered lamb, The Sage stood. The bloody knife that he used to cut Rough Diamond’s throat hung next to him in a green aura of magic.
“I missed you Dominus, old friend,” The Sage said nonchalantly to the shadow pony. “How long has it been since I locked you into that book? 1000 years? 2000?”
Dominus glared at the Sage. At this point, almost no more wisps of shadow could be seen around his body save for his wings were. Those had remained a set of shadowy impressions.
“You’re a demon,” he spat.
“Is that any way to treat an old friend?” The Sage said with mock injury. “I’ve been experimenting while you were gone. Mind manipulation and mind control. I’ve even dabbled in surgery and as you can see,” he gestured with the knife in Thunderbolt’s direction. “It was a flying success.”
“You wouldn’t drag me back just to brag about your achievements,” he hissed.
“You’re right,” The Sage admitted. “I did call you back for a very specific reason. You see I felt that it was a waste to simply lock you into the spirit realm, but I couldn’t just let you go. I couldn’t kill you, but you really want to end my life. Thus I thought that the best solution would be to take your mind and make it my own,” The Sage gestured to the bloody scene around them. “That is why I arranged all of this. In the process, I would cripple the rulers of this land by cutting them off from their god and I would gain you as my servant. There is just one problem now,” he pointed the knife in Dominus’s direction. “You still have some free will. Some control over your actions. This simply won’t do,” The Sage lifted Aurum by one of her hind legs. She dangled limply in the air. He brought the knife close to her throat. The tip bit into her neck, drawing blood. It stained her golden coat crimson.
“Protect her,” an authoritative voice rang in Thunderbolt’s head. Thunderbolt looked around in confusion.
“What?” Thunderbolt asked loudly. Dominus and The Sage looked at him.
“Protect her,” the voice repeated.
“Who are you? Where are you?”
“Stop looking around and protect her,” the voice commanded.
“How in the hell am I supposed to do that?” Thunderbolt asked aloud.
“Who are you talking to?” The Sage demanded. Thunderbolt ignored him.
“You know how,” the voice assured him. “You just need to think. How do you stop a spell in progress?”
He was wracking his brain for an answer to the voice’s question.
‘What could stop a spell in progress?’ he thought. ‘Disrupt the circle?’ he glanced over at the glowing circle. It was carved into the floorboards. ‘Destroy the ingredients? No, the only ‘ingredients’ left seemed to be Aurum. That would be the exact opposite of my goal.’ Then a thought struck him. There existed a spell that could be used to counteract magic in progress. It was taught to young unicorns who couldn’t properly control their magic yet. It was a long shot, but it could be used to counteract whatever The Sage had done. Thunderbolt lit his horn. He focused his energy on the magic circle.
“What are you doing?” The Sage screamed.
“I’m stopping you,” Thunderbolt hissed as he released the spell.
A wave of silver-blue energy burst from his horn. The magic circle lost its glow and the crack closed in on itself. Dominus’s wings blew away like ash in the wind leaving a straight scar on either of his flanks in their place. Aurum fell to the floor as The Sage’s magic gave out. The knife embedded itself in the floorboard next to her head. Thunderbolt fell over. The spell had completely drained him. The first thing that he noticed was that his wings no longer burned. The second was that he was no longer restrained by the shadows that The Sage controlled. He unsteadily got to his hooves.
“Do you realize what you have done?” The Sage asked.
“I stopped you,” Thunderbolt answered. “I protected her.”
“And in doing so you ensured Equestria’s doom,” The Sage replied with a sneer. “All for this mare. Doesn’t seem like a fair trade.”
“What do you mean?”
“You can’t just open or close a rift to the spirit realm. It is a delicate process and you just slammed the door shut.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“You didn’t close the rift properly. You left cracks in the metaphysical divide between our realm and the next. These cracks will widen and what you saw tonight will happen all across Equestria,” The Sage sneer grew into a mad grin. “In time it might even happen across the whole world.”
“Equestria will survive it,” Thunderbolt retorted.
“But it will never be the same,” The Sage laughed as he lifted Aurum and the knife again. “I should praise you for what you did, but you disrupted my plans. You need to learn to follow orders.”
“No,” Thunderbolt said as he took an unsteady step forward. “The voice told me to protect her,” he took another step. It was steadier this time.
“I don’t know what voice you are talking about, but you will fail,” The Sage mocked. He put the knife to Aurum’s throat.
“I might be going crazy,” Thunderbolt ignored The Sage and took another step forward. “I might be hearing things,” he took another step. “But whatever it was I agree with it. I must protect Rosie. I want to protect Rosie. She walked into my profession, my world, not knowing what awaited her and I want to deliver her safely back to her own.”
Thunderbolt charged forward. He lowered his horn. It was directed at The Sage’s chest. The Sage dropped the knife and turned to face the charging pony. He smirked. Everything about his stance dared Thunderbolt to succeed. Thunderbolt pushed himself to go faster. Then he felt something wrap itself around his hind legs. It caused him to fall forward, face millimetres from The Sage’s hooves. The thing around Thunderbolt’s hind legs dragged him backwards and lifted him until he was eye level with the Sage.
“You’re not worth the trouble,” The Sage said with disgust. A shadow wrapped itself around one of Thunderbolt’s wings. It squeezed until the bones snapped.
“Go to hell!” Thunderbolt screamed.
“You are not the first to say that to me,” The Sage laughed. “You won’t be the last.”
The thing lifting Thunderbolt moved to dangle Thunderbolt out of the shattered window. The Sage levitated the unconscious Aurum next to Thunderbolt.
“You will die on the steps of this cathedral,” The Sage predicted. “And if you don’t, the blood will ensure that you will be blamed for this,” The Sage swept a hoof over the scene behind him. Then The Sage let Aurum go. A moment later the thing around Thunderbolt’s hind legs let him go as well. The wind whipped in his ears. His broken wing fluttered uselessly at his side. His saddlebags spilt their contents. He tucked his unbroken wing in his side. His hooves stretched in the hopes of catching Aurum. A green gem hit Aurum in the head causing her to veer away from Thunderbolt. Concentrating the last shred of magic in his system Thunderbolt caught one of the ropes around Aurum in his magic aura. He tried pulling her closer to him but she was falling too fast. He decided to direct her descent into a nearby garden hoping that it would be a soft landing. Extending his wing he tried to shift his weight for a softer landing. He lost control and crashed into the Cathedral’s soft earth.