The Well of Shade, a large underground reservoir built deep beneath the isolated town of Hollow Shades ages ago and the supposed site of Stygian's fall to the otherworldly powers that be. It was here that the Pillars, myself and my friends quite literally pulled the corrupt stallion from the shadow that had taken hold of him, or so I thought. Evidently our triumph against the Pony of Shadows was not so cut-and-dry, and there was far more to the stallion and his motives than even Star Swirl could have guessed.
As Stygian led me deeper into the massive cistern below the pungent marshes of Hollow Shades and further into parts yet unknown to me, he spoke belatedly of events soon to come now that I was here—events that evidently been thousands of years in the making. That he didn't seem at all bothered by my increasingly alien appearance didn't escape my notice. If anything, he seemed more intrigued by my no doubt hideous transformation. I was certain my body had undergone yet more disturbing changes, but I'd gone far beyond the point of worrying over such things given everything else that was at stake. Upon asking the stallion of his intentions and about my current predicament in general, his response was a soft chuckle and a slightly wistful gaze, his eyes fixed on the damp ceiling and his mind going someplace far from here.
"I've no doubt that by now, you've heard of them, haven't you? The Cult of the Hidden Ones? Well, I have quite an involved history with them. Suffice it to say that my worship of the Dark Silent One runs in the family..." his wistful expression suddenly twisted into a dark scowl as he continued, "...and that I had much more reason to despise Star Swirl the Bearded than I initially let on. I know what you've done, and you have my thanks for doing what I could not, Princess. You've done me and my family a great service by having rid the world of that stallion."
I was unsure of how to respond to Stygian's gratitude, so I simply chose to say nothing in turn. He didn't seem to mind and continued on nonetheless, explaining himself and his intentions as we made our way through a twisting corridor and down a dark, damp, and rather steep and winding stairwell. The lanky stallion told me of his father who—through a 'gift' granted by the leader of the cult and the eldritch powers of their death god—had been given a life extended far beyond that of a normal pony. This 'gift' unfortunately had also corrupted his physical form, much like the other cult members, Chrysalis, and myself. During the purge spearheaded by Star Swirl and his 'daughter', the stallion had managed to escape the slaughter of his corrupted kin and went into hiding for several years.
During that time he hid his involvement with the Hidden Ones along with his true appearance using similar methods as I had previously. He'd even gone so far as to settle down, marrying a mare he met some years later and having a foal, that foal being none other than Stygian. Several more years went by and to hear Stygian tell of it, it was only after he'd left home to seek his own destiny that Star Swirl had finally tracked down his father, killing the stallion on the spot and permanently wiping away all memories surrounding the cultist from his mother, and that included any memory of Stygian himself. The then young stallion had come home after several months to find a long dead father and a missing mother, with the culprit nowhere to be seen.
Unaware of the culprit's identity, Stygian set off to look for him and his mother, finding out in time that his mother had moved from their isolated home to a distant village with no recollection of her son or husband. He recognized that a spell had been cast on the mare, but even with such knowledge, Stygian was no learned mage. The stallion had no talent for advanced magic, and Star Swirl's was of the highest caliber. He could not reverse the effects of the spell, and so he had no choice but leave his mother as she was for the time being. What followed was a classic story of revenge as Stygian vowed to seek out the stallion that tore his family apart. It was early in his investigation that Stygian discovered the terrible secrets of his father's past.
Within his foalhood home, hidden well away from prying eyes inside his father's study, Stygian stumbled upon a hoof written letter along with a tightly sealed black box. The only thing written in the letter addressed to Stygian himself was vague directions the young stallion was to follow should his father perish suddenly. Try as he might, Stygian was unable to open the box, and so with no other leads, he set out to follow the instructions given to him by his dead father, taking the sealed black box with him and hoping all would be revealed in time, and in time they were. Following the path his father had set for him, Stygian eventually learned of the Hidden Ones. He learned of his father's role within the esoteric cult, he learned of their downfall at the hooves of Luce Prima and of his father's murderer.
The trail of answers led him from one horrifying truth to another, and at the end of that hideous path full of dead ends and hardship, he found a certain tome written by the Wandering Prophet. Its title was written in a language unknown to the young stallion, but within the book itself were words whose meaning he could not understand, not at first. Stygian's voice grew weary as he told me of the countless days and nights he spent poring over the tome's contents until finally, one day he discovered that the book held within its pages the story of events that would come to pass as written by the Wandering Prophet and as prophesized not by the Wandering Prophet himself, but another pony entirely—a mare who'd received a vision of the future bestowed upon her by the death god his father had worshipped so long ago.
"Imagine my surprise to find that my own name had been written in that book," Stygian continued with a small chuckle of amusement, "to discover that long before I was born I already had a role to play in the grand scheme of things—and quite a prominent role at that," a brief moment of silence passed between us as he led me down a darkened stone pathway built over a large underground channel. By the looks of it, this channel had been built ages ago and it was positively labyrinthine in its construction, but Stygian pressed forward as deftly and as confidently as though he'd lived here his entire life. Eventually, he spoke his next words, his tone growing wistful and reverent as he continued, "It was around the time I finally began to understand just what it is I'd come across that the Old Night called to me.
"When I discovered the meaning behind those cryptic words I was more than a bit skeptical, to say the least, but as I read more of the book I started to doubt myself and my sanity. When I began to hear voices whispering in my mind, however, I was convinced my tireless efforts had finally driven me mad. That was until the voices showed me a vision—a vivid dream of Star Swirl's fall brought about by a mare wielding a power unlike any I'd ever seen. Upon waking I scoured the book until I came across a passage that described the very event I'd seen the night before. That went a long way in convincing me that perhaps this wasn't all my imagination after all.
"While I would have liked to have confronted the stallion directly—to have caused his end with my own hooves—I hadn't the power to do so, not on my own. The entity whispering in my mind called itself Zulchequon, and it promised me that if I were to do as the book dictated, if I were to mold this possible future into a reality—to create this self-fulfilling prophecy if you will—then I would at least have a hoof in Star Swirl's eventual demise."
And so, with the voice of Zushakon guiding him, Stygian agreed and faithfully carried out his role. Using only a sliver of the Dark Silent One's power to slow his aging long enough to carry out his duties, the stallion set the events that would ultimately lead me here into motion. I admit I was surprised to find that, among many other coincidental happenings, it was Stygian who guided the two would-be Princesses to Star Swirl's doorstep. Knowing Star Swirl would pick up on any overt evidence of Zushakon's influence, Stygian was careful to avoid any use of the eldritch power at his disposal, save for the bare minimum needed to fulfill his role.
That and the sight of the other Pillars he'd gathered were sufficient to fool the old stallion despite his slight wariness of Stygian. Though Stygian never fully gained Star Swirl's trust and was ousted from the Pillar's inner circle, that was precisely what he'd been counting on, and it was only then that he fully gave himself over to the Old Night, mixing his alien power with the magic of our own world to create the façade of a creature born of dark magic, the Pony of Shadows. All played out exactly as it was meant to, and the Pillars along with my friends and I were none the wiser. It was so absurd it was almost laughable; his desire for revenge would help shape Equestria into what it was today, and his continuing devotion to the eldritch deity his father had worshiped before him would see the end of that very nation along with everything else, and I was the pawn in an ancient game I hadn't even known was being played.
Alas, what was done could not be undone, and so despite this new knowledge, my goal remained unchanged. Where I thought there would be bitterness and betrayal, I found that no such sentiments clouded my mind. I'd known through Shining Dawn that Stygian had been involved in some way, but this was beyond what I could have ever expected from the stallion—so far beyond what I expected in fact that I couldn't help but be impressed by the stallion's dedication. It was enough to motivate me to pursue my own goals with even more fervor than before, and if working with Stygian hastened the process, then all the better for me.
Still, as always, there were questions that still needed answering, such as where Stygian had been after his 'reformation', what he'd been doing since, what he planned to do now, and what had become of this tome of prophecies and that sealed box. Most important of all, what had happened to the amulet that was supposed to be sealed within Star Swirl's vault? Out of the two ponies I suspected to have stolen it away, it was beginning to look like Stygian was the more likely culprit.
"All good and fair questions, Princess," the stallion replied as he telekinetically pulled an old and slightly rusted lever mounted on a nearby wall. At the flip of the lever, there came a loud click and the large bronze sluice gate that barred our way forward slowly raised with a mechanical groan that was practically deafening in the relative silence of the underground channel, "I've been busy making preparations for this day as you can no doubt imagine. I've gathered the minimum number of followers necessary to carry out a certain ritual that will give you the answers you seek and allow you to confront, unchallenged, those who would stand in your path. Unfortunately, I don't hold the amulet you seek, but it will be bequeathed to you once the time comes. As for the box and tome..."
The stallion trailed off and stepped passed the open gateway, motioning for me to follow in the process. Beyond the gate, I could see what looked to be a massive chamber. Within the chamber itself, the channel beneath the stone walkway deepened into a wide basin, at the center of which was a large raised stone platform. The maze-like channel that had been built most likely ages before the cistern above had long since been abandoned, and what little rancid water that remained had gathered within the basin. The circular chamber connected not just this channel, but three others, all of which were closed off by different sluice gates. By the looks of it, there'd once been four stone bridges connecting the various walkways directly to the central platform, but all save the one before me had crumbled away with time.
Though it wasn't pitch black and oozing with nearly as much malevolence, the chamber reminded me to no small degree of the cathedral below the temple, and I suspected that wasn't mere coincidence. There were no pews to speak of and no sacrificial altar on which to place a victim, and in place of said altar was a single wide stone pedestal with a small rectangular object placed atop it. The pedestal stood in the center of the platform surrounded by yet another complex sigil consisting of a series of interwoven runes and pentagrams painstakingly etched upon the floor in what may have been blood by the look and smell of it. The metallic stench was thick enough to cut through the myriad of other foul scents that permeated the chamber. Although it also may have been the metal sluice gates blocking access to the other channels, I had a strong feeling that wasn't the case.
More intriguing was the appearance of three other cloaked and hooded figures standing on either side of and behind the pillar, all of them clearly ponies, or at least equine in some shape or form. To my further surprise and curiosity, one of the figures was markedly smaller than the rest and I couldn't help but wonder just who these creatures actually were. Each of them stood on the platform looking just as Stygian did when I first saw him. They all stood rigid as statues and were just as quiet, all their gazes seemingly fixed on the object sitting on the pedestal.
As Stygian moved into the chamber I noticed each of them stir and turn to us, though none of them spoke a word and I still couldn't make out their features from beneath their hoods. After a moment of contemplation, I turned to the cloaked pony that had led me here for an explanation. Seeing my questioning look, Stygian turned and nodded toward the platform ahead of us, his somewhat jovial expression gone, replaced with an oddly subdued smile. A strange gleam entered his dull azure eyes as he spoke, a gleam much like the one Star Swirl wore at the end of his tale. Though he spoke to me, his voice was far away, as if speaking to something or somepony distant and intangible.
"...Everything is exactly where it needs to be, Princess. You and I, the tome and the box, Chrysalis and your friends, the Harbinger, the Tree, and so much more besides... every piece in its place, just as He wills it. And soon... very soon... the Old Night will rise... and by its power, you will begin your second ascension..."