//------------------------------// // The Immortal Mistress // Story: The Crystal Vizier // by Lich-Lord Krosis //------------------------------// “Children, where are you going?” Celestia chuckled, the foals atop her back hopping down to join their siblings in their run towards the end of the crypt. “Mistress Yao wants to meet you, Auntie Tia! Come on!” an energetic pegasus colt named Proud Spire shouted, flapping his shadowy wings with glee as he galloped off after his siblings. Celestia giggled at the colt’s adorable behavior, looking up from the colt to see... to see... “Why are you all so... dark?” Gone were the vibrant, happy colors of her little foals. In their place, inky, shadowy blackness issued forth from their little forms. Celestia’s millennia old heart dropped. Just like Nightmare Moon... Panic overtook the solar goddess at even the mere thought of Nightmare Moon. As her mind attempted to comprehend this, the foals continued onward... Straight through the carved stone wall at the end of the crypt corridor. “Children! Wait!” Celestia scrambled away from the others, their shocked expressions betraying their thoughts. “What’s wrong with them?!” Cadence shrieked, looking up to her vizier. “Why are they so... dark now?!” Kel’Thuzad frowned with concern, looking down at his queen. Had she not been able to see them for what they really look like? “They... they’re cursed, my queen.” the lich admitted. Cadence gasped, rushing over to her foster mother, attempting as well to stop the children. Twilight, to her credit, attempted several times to grab them herself, but all of her attempts were curiously unsuccessful in even hitting the foals. It was almost as if they weren’t solid anymore. Celestia’s failed attempts to grab the smoke-like forms of her foals with her magic were beginning to be accompanied by shrieks of panic, as the last few foals approached the wall, seemingly unaware of their ‘Auntie Tia’. “NO!” Celestia cried out, watching the last of her children gallop cheerfully through the solid stone wall before them, ignoring her desperate pleas as if they didn’t even hear her. Her mind fizzled as the immense backlash of losing sight of the foals, even for a moment, wracked her brain. “Come back! PLEASE!” Celestia wailed, her centuries of experience with loss forgotten in an instant as she reared back, slamming her hooves into the... unnaturally stout stone wall with a crack of enchanted gold on rock. Even with her monumental alicorn strength, the surprisingly sturdy wall only cracked slightly. After several more increasingly weak blows, the alicorn slumped to the floor, her form shaking uncontrollably as her despair built. Was it all a dream? Did she just imagine them? It had been nearly a thousand years since she had last seen them... She... she didn’t want to lose them again... She WON’T lose them again... ......... “Auntie! It’s ok! We’ll get them back!” Cadence shouted, attempting to get through to the inconsolable princess, her hooves hugged tightly around the solar goddess. Twilight joined her, attempting to soothe the crying monarch with her own caresses. Celestia’s cries shook the crypt, chunks of crumbling, millennia old pieces of stone falling from the surrounding walls. The Royal Canterlot voice echoed horrifically in the relatively small space, paining the organic ears of anyone who had them. Anub’arak looked to his king for orders, his hooves pawing at the ground before him as the solar alicorn made him flinch from the volume of her cries. Shining just stood in disbelief, staring at the wall at the end of the crypt that the foals had disappeared through, his mind’s gears clearly grinding away to think of some explanation. Amnennar, curiously, was consoling the crying goddess along with Twilight and Cadence. Kel’Thuzad was just annoyed. Ignoring the distressed cries of his master’s fellow alicorn, he attempted to map the area around them with a quick series of spells. As usual, the crystals around them blinded his scrying efforts temporarily from the arcane feedback rebounding into him. While the refined crystals that made up the buildings and palace of the Crystal Empire were easily subjected to magical use, be it scrying or otherwise, the unrefined minerals below the surface were quite the opposite. The crystals that made up the majority of the ground below the empire were remarkably resilient to magical scrying, something that Kel’Thuzad found rather fascinating when he had decided to study the strange mineral one sleepless night. It’s natural makeup was unlike any material the seasoned archmage was familiar with, it’s properties quite astounding. Every single sample the archlich could find of the seemingly ordinary mineral was naturally warded against magics of any kind. Try as he might, the archlich had not been able to come up with a solid explanation for the phenomena, but he had theories. One, whatever Sombra had done to the Crystal Empire to banish it from existence for a thousand years had left some sort of arcane residue on the crystals around and beneath it. A spell of that magnitude, regardless of the skill of the mage, would have some side effects. Two, it was a result of the Crystal Heart’s... aura, for lack of a better word. The artifact seemed to resonate with some type of powerful arcane energy that Kel’Thuzad, for the unlife of him, could not identify. Cadence had suspected what he was detecting was ‘Love’, which would make sense, given that his queen, his king, and the artifact were clearly linked magically. However, if the Crystal Heart was emitting an obscene amount of... ‘Love’, that would fall under the Equestrian magical school of Illusion, as it would clearly manipulate emotions in it’s vicinity. Which it did not. At least not his. Kel’Thuzad winced as he continued his searching, the echoing wails of Celestia making his head shake, his scrying efforts interrupted once again as the crystals behind the wall crackled and ground together from the volume of her cries. Wait... I wonder... Kel’Thuzad placed a single claw to the stone wall before him, a muttering whisper exiting his maw as he cast another spell. The arcane pulse rushed from his palm, impacting the wall before him with a resounding ‘pop’. The echoing cacophony of crystals and stones sang through his head, before they stopped dead at an arcane barrier, about three feet through the wall. Resonance... of course! Kel’Thuzad smirked, the surprisingly weak illusory wall crumbling before him as his magic grasped a piece of the arcane lattice , and pulled. The wall collapsed quickly, some of the group yelping as the stone and crystal fell before them, the magically constructed faux-material crumbling to wisps of arcane smoke, before ceasing to exist entirely. Kel’Thuzad looked back to the shocked group, a smirk present on his face. “Come along, princess, your foals await.” the lich spoke, his form already turning to follow the pitch black path before him. As he turned, the air grew heavy with... fog? With a sweeping, yet eerily calm wind, white filled his vision. An intense mist, akin to what someone would expect on a dreary day at a dock, filled the room, his vision obscured greatly almost immediately. Kel’Thuzad summoned up his magic, a blistering wind of his own blowing the offending mist away from himself, clearing the surrounding... soil? He swiftly turned around, only to find his companions had vanished from sight, even though they were only several feet away from him at the time of the wall collapsing. The archlich narrowed his eye sockets, turning back around. Something was playing with them... ......... Shining stood stock-still in the mist, his eyes darting around, looking for any sign of his comrades amongst the mist that swallowed the group just after his archmage tore down the false wall. He felt soft soil beneath his hooves, but other than that, there were no landmarks to be seen within the mists. An illusion no doubt, but easily the most impressive one the seasoned battlemage had ever seen. Narrowing his eyes as he sat down upon the soil below him, he cleared his throat. “Hello?” Silence. “Miss Yao?” Silence. Sighing in frustration after several more minutes of silent waiting, the alicorn closed his eyes. ’Kel?’ ’Master! Where are you?’ ’Inside some kind of illusion, I think. Easily the most impressive I’ve seen.’ ’Mist everywhere? Soil beneath your hooves?’ ’Yes. I take it you’re in the same situation?’ ’Yes, my king. Something is toying with us.’ Shining sighed aloud once again, opening his eyes to look around again. While he wasn’t expecting a blade to be pressed to his throat, he must admit he reacted much more quickly than he thought he would. The alicorn jumped back, using his magic to push the blade away. A singing swipe from the curved, slender blade swung past his face, the edge just barely missing the end of his muzzle. The prince growled as he flared his wings to their fullest extent. With a flap of the massive appendages, the surrounding area was cleared of mist. She was tall for a mare, about the size of Cadence, a long, spiraling horn protruding from her forehead. The conical spike poked through a dense sea of oily black mane, the texture seeming almost saturated. It was done up in a loose ponytail, but much of it also lazily hung from the front of her head. Her fur was an incredibly light blue, nearly white, and like her mane, was glossed over and seemingly wet. Her eyes shone with a scarlet hue, a stark contrast to her rather light coat. Wrapped around her form was the loose form of a light grey kimono, tied off near the center of her torso with a simple white obi sash. Her expression was one of seriousness, but not necessarily hatred. “Speak your intent, alicorn.” she spoke with a thick neighponese accent, her curved steel sword leveling itself into a battle stance before her. Putting aside his anger at being attacked, Shining spoke, his webbed wings folding themselves at his sides. “Miss Yao, I presume?” The mare paused, her form relaxing somewhat. “Yes... Yao Finhoof, of the Neighponese Isles.” Yao spoke, her blade lowering even further as she spoke, her guard seeming to lower. “Prince Shining Armor.” he spoke, holding out a hoof the size of a dinner plate. Yao’s muzzle dropped in shock, a small squeak issuing forth from her muzzle as she threw herself to the ground before the alicorn of death. “I apologize profusely for my aggressive behavior, your majesty. It has been a long time since I have had visitors, and I mistook you for somepony else.” Yao spoke, her sword clattering to the rocky soil below them as she let it go from her grasp. Shining chuckled awkwardly, lowering his hoof. “There is no reason to apologize, Miss Yao.” Shining’s remarked, the situation going a turn he did not anticipate. “I am the one who intruded upon your home, and for that, I apologize.” Yao looked up, shaking her head vigorously in disagreement. “No your majesty!” she exclaimed. “I am the one who has intruded upon yours!” Shining opened his mouth to respond, but decided to let the matter go. “How did you get down here?” Shining asked, offering a hoof to the neighponese unicorn. She hesitated, but eventually accepted the large appendage, a nod of thanks accompanying the gesture. “I... how long has it been since Sombra banished the empire?” Shining, without skipping a beat, responded. “One thousand and two years.” “Then I have been down here for just about that long.” Yao explained. Shining gawked slightly, but closed his muzzle and nodded. Weirder things had happened lately. “Forgive me for asking, but... how are you...” “Alive?” Yao giggled. Shining nodded, sheepishly pawing at the soil below him. “I am one of the few on this world cursed to never grow old, your majesty.” she chuckled, the mists around them clearing slightly more as she sat down. “I am, for the most part, immortal.” Shining nodded, her scarlet red eyes seeming far more logical now, as no pony he had ever seen had naturally red eyes. “I came here following a group of foals wreathed in shadow.” Shining Armor spoke. “Have you been watching them for somepony?” “Ah... the little ones are to blame, then.” she smiled, turning her head as she got up, retrieving her blade as she walked to her left. The mists parted for her, revealing a small cottage, built into the side of a cliff, the peak of which extended far into the mists above. A large, gnarled tree with flowering buds hung over the simple home, showering the area around it with light pink flower petals. “I was tasked with watching the little ones by my former master, your highness.” Yao explained, gently pushing open the swinging wooden door to reveal the inside of the cottage. Inside, wrapped in blankets of varying size, were the foals as Shining had seen them without the curse. They slept peacefully upon small wooden bunks, even though their little bodies should have died long ago from the injuries currently ailing them. “How... how are they still alive?” “They... they are cursed as I am, but to a greater extent.” Yao admitted, her form growing tense as she nuzzle one of the small ponies, their rustling soothed by their caretaker’s touch. “As long as they slumber, they live.” Yao explained, inverting her sword to sheathe it quietly at her side with her magic. “So the foals I saw...” “You saw them as they should be.” Yao motioned to a small alcove of the hut, a simple table flanked by sitting pillows her destination. “The curse... the curse on them was placed to save their lives, your highness.” Yao spoke, gently sitting down upon the pillow before her, the prince following suit on the opposite side of the table. “It allows their dreams to become physical, to an extent.” Yao explained. “By whom, might I ask?” Shining inquired, the mare across from him levitating her sword over to a rack near the door. “Nightmare Moon.” the mare stated, rather plainly. ......... “What?”