Wallflower sat in her quiet damp cell all by herself. She wanted to sift through the crest memories her father had given her but the shackles on her wrists were made of a special mana absorbing material. Any attempt she would make at magic would instantly be stored in the shackles, memories included. What memories did her father want her to see? No doubt she'd be able to see what he learned from the Greater Magic. But that couldn't possibly be the plan he was referring too.
She had a week until her trial. But she knew it would be nothing but a kangaroo court. They'd remove the crest by force and take her life in the next instance. The King had been envious of her dad's ability to commune with the Greater Magic and his reluctance to share what he'd learned angered him. As far as Tirek was concerned, she was just an unneeded risk, likely to seek revenge on her father's murder. Tirek may be unrivaled in strength, but he was incredibly cautious and calculating. As strong as he was, he wouldn't risk the potential for someone to grow stronger than he. Wallflower began to hear footsteps coming down the hall. It was a visitor, an important one at that. The man stood in front of her cell and bowed.
"Pleasure to make your acquaintance." he said in a regal and formal tone
She scoffed
"What does the king's oldest son, Shinning Armor, want with the daughter of a traitor?"
"Nothing in particular. I just want to offer a deal."
"Any deal you could make with me is bound to come with a whole host of drawbacks."
"I assure you, you have naught but to gain." he said "Marry me."
"Marry you!?"
"Yes. Marry me and we can use your family crest as leverage in the court. See talk is quite rife at the moment. It seems your father communicated with the Greater Magic more than once."
"He what?"
"Indeed. Whatever information is stored in that crest may be just the information needed to freely exchange with it while keeping one's mind. You, of course, are the only one with the ability to access it at the present time."
"Why would you tell me all this? Why not just trick me and take the crest for yourself?"
"Because my darling."
Shining Armor knelt down
"From the moment I laid eyes on you I was in love. I wish to take you as my queen." he said "With the power of your crest we can remove Tirek from the throne and together rule as true head's of state should."
"I don't buy it." she said "You never seemed to show interest in me before."
"I was waiting for my time. And the time is ripe."
"No." she said "I refuse."
"Suit yourself. You have a week to change your answer. Or, of course, you could just hand your crest over to Tirek and be executed promptly after. The choice is yours."
Wallflower heard his footsteps slowly fade down the stone path that led to the exit. Could he really have meant all that? Out of all the King's children, Shinning by far was the most moral of the bunch. That wasn't saying much of course. But she did hold the power in this situation. And Shinning didn't actually ask the crest be given to him in exchange for her freedom. She looked up at the ceiling. It's not like her alternative was much better.
Back in the alternate world, Anon and the others were making steady progress. The beasts had yet to take notice to their approach. As they neared the courtyard entrance, they could see the beasts in better detail. They were in a frenzy alright. They were bashing themselves against the wall, biting and gnawing at the dirt and even trying to take pieces out of one another. The yard was littered with corpses, both mage and monster.
"Why are they ignoring us?" Anon asked
"The shield I'm using doesn't allow mana to emanate outside. Normally this wouldn't be enough to hide our presence for monsters such as these. But they've been whipped into such a frenzy from the mana the sword is exuding they can barely notice us." Flitter explained "So long as we don't cause too much of a stir or use an excess of magic we shouldn't alert them at all."
All of a sudden, Rarity put her hand over Anon's eyes
"Everyone close your eyes! It's a memory eye!"
Anon closed his eyes before removing Rarity's hand from his face
"What is a memory eye?"
"A beast that can cause insanity just by looking at it. Thankfully it wasn't looking directly at me or else I'd have been drive mad."
"Where is it?" Cloud Chaser asked
"The far end of the right wall."
"So we just don't look over there?"
"It's not that simple. These things are quite fast. If it changes it's position we'll be in trouble. We'll have to make our way blind."
"Don't worry. I have a spell that can guide us." Lyra said
"Don't!" Rarity whispered loudly "If we use more mana than what we're using we'll alert the monsters."
"Anyone know how to get there then?" Anon asked
"Yes. I think I can get us there" Redheart replied
Redheart moved to the front and everyone grabbed the shoulder of the person ahead of them. They inched forward slowly but surely. Sure enough, Redheart got them to the tower doors. Once inside they opened their eyes, breathing a sigh of relief.
"So how do we find it?" Lyra asked
"Easy. I'm pretty mana sensitive. I'll just go to were the source is strongest and-"
In a matter of moments Redheart was turned into solid stone.
"What happened!?" Anon cried
"Don't panic." Rarity said "She just trigged a trap."
She pointed down to Redheart's foot. It was standing on an intricate glowing circle.
"It's a rune, likely placed here by Clover to prevent people from entering."
"Can we reverse it?"
"Yes. Just give me a second."
Rarity pulled out her wand and placed it against her shoulder
"Holy Magic: Curse Removal."
The stone cracked and broke away, returning Redheart to her former glory. She fell to the ground gasping for air.
"Thank you for that Rarity." she panted and coughed "Sorry about that. I got careless."
"It's alright. Flitter. Anything you can do to help detect traps?"
"Yes. But I'd have to take down the shield. That means no magic from here on. Else we'll have a hoard of angry demons on us."
"Do it. It's the risk we'll have to run."
Flitter lowered the barrier. In its place rose a wide circle of green light at chest level.
"Now don't let your guard down. There could still be physical traps like tripwires and such. Keep your eyes peeled. Redheart, lead the way."
Anon was impressed by Rarity's natural born leadership. She took the reins of this operation like a pro. The crew ventured further on down the hallway, their eyes scanning above and below for any physical traps. Every time a magic trap was found the circle would suddenly flash red, alerting them to the threat. After about an hour of walking they came across a door that was sealed tight. As they got closer, Clover's crest began to shine brightly. So hot his hand felt like it was going to burn.
"You're up, Anon." Lyra said
Anon nodded and put his hand to the door. The door flashed green and opened up wide to a staircase leading down into a basement. Rarity was the first to try to step through, only to come into what felt like an invisible wall.
"What is this?" she asked annoyed "Anon can you get rid of it?"
"I can try."
Anon passed the threshold with no issue whatsoever. The girls, on the other hand, all kept hitting the same invisible wall.
"It seems you'll have to go it alone from here." Rarity said
"Go it alone!? But there's no way I'll make it!"
"Don't worry." Flitter said "I figured something like this might happen. So I came prepared."
Flitter handed her satchel over to Anon
"Inside my satchel you'll find four crystal sculptures. Each one is a familiar. If you find an enemy you can't defeat simply smash it against the floor and it will come to your aid. The red one is a fire ape, the blue one a water fairy that can heal wounds, the yellow a lightning snake, and the white a holy horse. Each familiar can only be summoned once for ten minutes so use them wisely."
"I will."
"Good luck, Anon. Don't do anything rash ok?" Rarity asked
"I won't."
Anon filed down the stairs, the door closing behind him. Just as he went out of earshot, more visitors arrived.
"Well this is an unfortunate turn of events." a woman's voice chuckled "I wonder if greenhorn down there will survive the horrors inside that crypt."
Nightmare Moon walked up to meet them with two hooded figures by her side.
"Oh he'll survive. I know he will." Rarity said
"I'm sure he will." she said "And when he comes back he'll have us to greet him. Flim, Flam. Take care of our guests please. All except for Rarity. I've got special plans for her."
The figure to the right removed his entire robe and bit his thumb. He then transformed into a large white wolf, three times the size of a black bear and twice as vicious. The one to the left let out a his, revealing two long fangs from his mouth.
"Rarity. You and I will take the vampire. Flitter and Cloud Chaser, the werewolf." Lyra said "Redheart, watch our backs."
"Got it." Redheart said, wand at the ready
Anon slowly made his way down into a crypt lined with countless bones and coffins. Luckily it was a straight path so far. As he made his way down the bones began to rattle, almost in unison. Anon put his hand on the red statue, ready to throw it at a moments notice.
To his relief it the crypt was calm and quiet, even if it was quite dark. He could hardly see two footsteps in front of him. How in the world was he to find a legendary artifact in this darkness? He put his hand on the side well and inched forward. His hand felt the old musty coffins and a bone here and there. All of a sudden, the torches on the wall began to light one by one. He look around nervously. Down the hall he could hear footsteps. They were slow, heavy foot steps. Stranger still, after every forth step he heard the sound of chimes, like those used by priests during ceremony.
The creature creeped closer step by step until it was finally within view. The hairs on the back of Anon's neck stood on end. It was a person or, more accurately, a corpse. It had gray, dried out skin and was dressed in an ancient and ripped ceremonial dress. Its face was covered in bandages, all except for a completely vacant left eye socket. In its right hand it held a large silver thurible lined with chimes, while in its left it held a long golden staff with a clover at the top. It slowly turned its head towards him, as if it could see with its eye socket. It began to shake and shutter violently before lifting the thurible up and ringing it loudly, spraying ash all over the tomb.
As the ash flooded the tomb the bones inside the coffins began to rattle. The dead beat against their coffins loudly like a symphony of evil drums. Anon reached inside his satchel and grabbed the red statue. His mind was racing. It was everything he could not to turn tail and run. The coffins began to break and dried out, well preserved corpses began to drop to the cold sandy floor. Anon threw the statue down and in a large flash of light a gorilla with fire for fur appeared. It let out a loud roar and began to charge the dead.
The beast made quick work of the corpses, punching through in them like a hole puncher does paper. But it was too little effect. As soon as most of the dead had been slain, the beast slammed its staff against the floor three times and they rose once again, their wounds sealed up as if nothing had happened. He'd have to take care of that beast while the ape distracted the corpses.
He slowly got closer to the demon using the ape as cover. When enough dead had been defeated he charged right for the demon. It took its staff and jabbed him right in the gut. As he staggered back he looked around. The dead hadn't risen again. That was it. He just had to prevent it from tapping its staff against the ground and it'd be all but powerless. He fought through the pain and grabbed its staff arm and looked at the ape.
"Now!"
The ape ran for the demon at breakneck speed. The demon began to shake and shutter again. It lifted its thurible once again and shook it forcefully. Hot ash spilled out, blinding both him and his familiar. Before he knew it, it was gone. The ash slowly dissipated, pointing his path forward. Unfortunately for him, however, it was the same place that demon was heading. He could clearly make out the footprints in the stand.
He kept going further into the crypt until he came to a large door covered with plant life. It was stunning, as if an experienced gardener had been taking care of it for years. Anon touched the door and got a shock to his system. It was a memory again.
Clover was walking with a great bearded man. He could feel an intense sadness coming from her.
"Damn him!" Clover yelled "Damn him to hell!"
"Clover." the bearded man said "Please."
"No! I can't stand this!"
Clover hit the wall and great vines and large flowers sprung forth. The man grabbed her shoulder and embraced her.
"There was nothing we could have done. All we can do now is making her sacrifice meaningful. No one will be able to harness this power for evil ever again."
"I'm sorry..." she whimpered "I-I'm... I'm sorry."
Clover began to sob
"Come. Let's lay this curse to rest. Once and for all."
When Anon came to the door was open, the plants dead. The ape was no were to be found. He steeled himself and move deeper within. After a small walk the crypt entered into a large circular room. The walls were lined with coffins and water poured from holes in the ceiling into the large well below. The only thing connecting his side to the other was a thin stone bridge. At its center was a rather ornate coffin. That had to be it.
He walked to the bridge but stoped just before touching it. At the long side of the bridge was the demon, standing perfectly still. It was just watching, observing his movements. He slowly made his way out onto the bridge and to the coffin. The demon didn't move at all.
"What are you?" he called out
It didn't answer.
"Do you work for Clover?"
No answer. Anon lifted up his hand, showing the crest.
"I'm Clover's successor. I mean no harm. Nightmare Moon is back. And I need to use king Arthur's sword to defeat her, hopefully forever. Can you help me?"
The demon turned slightly and pointed further inside.
"Are you trying to tell me Excalibur is further inside? What's in this coffin here?"
It didn't move a muscle, simply standing and pointing. His burning curiosity wouldn't allow him not to check however, especially after the welcome it gave. For all he knew this could be some trick. He touched the coffin and once again was pulled inside a memory.
Clover and the bearded man stood over the coffin. Inside was a woman with long red hair.
"Oh Meadowbrook." the man said sadly "Your father would be so proud."
Clover had tears rolling down her face. She knelt down and placed what appeared to be a sword wrapped in tarp inside the coffin.
"I may not have ever been a good child," she whimpered "But you were the best mother I could ask for."
The memory faded again. Bingo. This had to be the place. Anon reached out to put his right hand on the coffin to remove the top. The was one problem however: it was missing, replaced with nothing but a stump gushing blood.