//------------------------------// // 28-1: Northern front // Story: Imbalanced: Legacy of Light // by Nameless Narrator //------------------------------// As Cromach reappeared on the surface following the unidentified scream, his jaw dropped. He didn’t even complain to himself about turning into a draconequus without wanting to, because his mind raced when faced with the sight in front of him. “WHERE IS HE?!” a hissing scream cut through the air like powerful acid melting an iron bar. He was floating in the air a short distance away from a thick pillar of tentacles holding Heavy Hoof in the air by his barrel and shaking him violently. The voice had come from what had to be a Corrupted alicorn mare, tall, black, and with gleaming red eyes focused solely on Heavy. “YOU KNOW WHERE HE IS!” the voice followed, this time turning into a high-pitched screech. The tentacles raised Heavy higher into the air, and then slammed him against the ground with such force that it made a crater, the impact showering Cromach with dirt and finally bringing him out of his stunned stupor. The Corrupted was crying, black tears constantly flowing from her eyes and turning the ground even darker.  Heavy must have been equally as shocked as Cromach, because he wasn’t even trying to resist as the tentacles sprouted from the ground again, this time grabbing him by his forelegs. Thankfully, blunt trauma was pretty much irrelevant to Corrupted, so Heavy couldn’t have been hurt by the groundbreaking impact to any major degree.  Black, alicorn mare with red eyes, bat wings, and just the slightest tint of dark red to her oily tail and mane. “Nightmare, you absolute monster...” whispered Cromach. “WHEREEEEEEEEEEEEE?” screamed corrupted Joy, dangling Heavy in the air. “I don’t-” was all Heavy could say before being slammed into the ground again. Cromach snapped his clawed arm, just for a change of pace from his taloned one. The tentacles currently dragging Heavy back up disappeared with a black splash. Heavy dropped, and jumped back on all fours, looking around until he noticed Cromach and nodded at him. “Don’t blow her up! It’s Joy,” Heavy called out. “Youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!” Joy noticed Cromach, although he knew she couldn’t have identified him. On some level, she probably thought he was Discord. He wasn’t expecting much brain activity from her at the moment. “You need to get away, Heavy!” Cromach flew a pony height above ground for mobility, dodging clumps of tentacles sprouting underneath him in an attempt to tie him up.  “Try-iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinggg!” Heavy jumped away, quickly rolling afterwards as more tentacles moved in to grab him. “How about a tactical retreat?” Cromach summoned his axe, and cut down a freshly spawned clump of tendrils with a casual swing. “SHE PULLED ME OUT OF THAT BUCKING TUNNEL, DUMBASS!” Heavy yelled back, “If I could run I would.” “No need to get snappy,” Cromach rolled his eyes, “I was just asking.” With a fleshy squelch, Heavy pulled out Bucket’s bladed staff out of his barrel, and slashed a tentacle approaching him in half. Too bad there were four more bunched up there as well, so he had to jump to the side. Now that the original shock of seeing Joy technically alive was wearing off, Heavy began analyzing the situation for a way out. Joy was a Corruptor, that much was clear to him, otherwise she wouldn’t have so much control over the surrounding soil to keep spawning grasping tentacles from all sides. Her control over his own body was irritating as well, since he had to fight for his own ability to move away while his body wanted to get caught. As for actually fighting Joy, he didn’t actually want to do it. After all, Cromach had been brought back from corruption before, who was to say it wouldn’t be possible with Joy? Cromach snapped his talons. Yes, talons again. The familiarity helped him focus his power, and Joy’s legs disappeared.  “Whuh?” Heavy hacked at a clump of tentacles, which proved that while he was exceedingly strong, the edge of the metal weapon simply wasn’t enough to get through so much Corrupted flesh at once. Oily tendrils raised Joy’s barrel from the ground, quickly shifting raw biomass into legs. “Okay, take two,” Cromach furrowed his brows, “This time the whole corrupted alicorn, please.” *Snap!* Joy’s suddenly disembodied head fell on the black grass as the rest of her body disappeared in a surge of green lightning. The head snarled at Cromach quickly flying over to it, liquified, and drained into the ground. Everything went quiet. A crucial thought made its way to the forefront of Cromach’s mind, and he snapped his talons again while yelling: “Down, Heavy!” In a flash, they both disappeared. That exceedingly important thought was that Heavy must have been following the dwarves, the scream must have been his, and that he had heard One and Two’s story about Brauheim without putting on the istrium bracelets.  While his teleportation had clearly worked on both of them, Cromach found himself in an unpleasantly familiar situation.  “Why only me?!” he grumbled, up to his neck in the floor of the secret tunnel. Heavy was standing above him, completely fine.  The earthpony Corrupted collapsed and re-absorbed his staff, and smiled at Cromach. “Good thinking, but unnecessary,” Heavy pushed several pieces of crystalline istrium lining the walls of the tunnel out of his neck, “I heard everything, and I can do better than the jewels. I could use some background, though, because I had no idea you were involved with any changelings or Silversmiths.” “Long story,” Cromach frowned, and teleported himself into the tunnel properly, “Speaking of which, how did you know it really was me?” he patted himself off despite his white coat being pristine. “I had a chat with Harriet back in Manehattan, and Bucket told me about you,” said Heavy, “What are you doing here, though? I’m investigating a lot of missing Silver Sun money.” “I know, I talked to Bucket too,” Cromach smirked, “Unfortunately, you might not know this, but there’s news about who is in charge of the zebra army-” “They presume it’s Mistake. Yes, I heard,” Heavy scowled, “Trust me, I would want nothing more than to head off to Zebrica, but I already told Bucket I was going to follow the money. I’m pretty certain has to be connected with Flow somehow, and so are those changelings of yours.” “That sense of duty is something I’ve always admired about you, Heavy,” Cromach chuckled, “Because when Bucket told me, I tried to get to Mistake, but since we were talking about you as well, I guess I wasn’t disciplined enough and focused on you instead while teleporting. It took me a moment to realize why I landed neck deep in the wall.”  “We have a lot of catching up to do,” Heavy’s back tentacle patted Cromach floating in the center of the tunnel, “Namely why are you a draconequus, and why is Joy a Corrupted? I have this annoying feeling that those two are connected.” “How can you be so hot, smart, and dutiful at the same time?” Cromach shook his head, “I feel like that’s cheating.” “Don’t avoid the subject. We’ve got too much of a mystery to figure out,” Heavy jabbed him in the noodle. Cromach shrugged. “Look, Nightmare did this to me shortly after… after she killed Blaze, and I would assume she did that to Joy too. Why? My best guess is sadistic amusement.” “That would be like her, true. It does seem like oversight on her part, though, considering that we’ve managed to cure you of corruption. Plus, you know, Celestia is okay, Nightshade is the big Corrupted boss, and everyone is sane.” “I can’t help feeling Nightmare is couting on that, that it’s just another of her plots to make us fail and break down,” Cromach sighed, “And even if it wasn’t, you just saw Joy. Sure, she does seem to remember something, but how do you get that to sit down on a couch and tell you about its day?” For the first time in maybe ever, Cromach saw Heavy sit down, shoulders slumped. For the first time, even Heavy Hoof looked his age. “I don’t know, Cromach...” he sighed, “Mistake… Joy… we’re losing everywhere. I’m just hoping to find something, anything that would help even in the slightest, but I have no plan.” That moment of visible defeat broke through to Cromach. Thankfully, he had tons of experience with depressed ponies. The key was to start small and keep moving. “Alright then. Do we start with Desert Shade, Joy, or Brauheim?” he floated over and patted Heavy’s head, “I’m leaving the decision to the brains of the operation - you.” Heavy rubbed his temples, and stood up with renewed determination in his face. “Joy used to be a friend, but from what I heard this is bigger than all of us. So what is this Brauheim and how does it fit into all this? Your conversation I overheard didn’t get any background.” “Ooookay, where to even start?” Cromach scratched his head, “They’ve been working for me for… well, since shortly after we kicked Harmony’s ass for the first time. They’re ruled by a changeling king who, let’s say, owes me a little. Most of the Silver Sun tech is based on theirs.” “This is going to be a long story, isn’t it?” “Yep, walk and talk. I don’t dare try teleporting the two of us somewhere I’ve been only few times myself. Luckily, this tunnel is supposed to lead right there.” “Can we catch up to the changelings and dwarves?” Heavy raised an eyebrow. “Eeeeh,” Cromach smirked at him, “Let’s give ourselves some space without constant oversight for now. Once we know how things really are, we can always pop out for a chat.” *** One would have expected that the general hospital in Zem would be filled to the brim after Celestia’s failed tactical spell strike, but the problem was exactly the opposite. The spell had been too successful. Despite its massively extended range, its effectiveness hadn’t diminished, and there were almost no wounded, only those turned into ash instantly. This had a small and morbid plus, which was that each of the burned patients currently being treated in the official headquarters of the Northern Coalition war council had their own bed. Those special patients were Magpie, Pack Rat, and Starry Night, currently without supervision for the first time in three days. There wasn’t just the problem with burns, which were easy enough for magic to heal, but also the strain on organism caused by the amount and combination of Gem’s makeshift potions. However, they would be okay, and it would be soon. Gem was sitting in an armchair appropriated from the council outside their room, pondering in the morning light whether or not to go to sleep. She was exhausted, having had no way to regain love or the time to do so. Maybe she could opt for a roll in the hay with Promi? It wouldn’t be much, but it might stave off the worst of her hunger. With a sigh, she opted against it. Promi needed sleep as well, because she was the one tasked with explaining everything that had happened since the two of them left Canterlot. Of course, they would eventually get to Gem and her changeling memory for details, but Prominence’s testimony had to suffice for now. “Hmm?” her head twitched suddenly, and she realized she’d dozed off. Had someone just talked to her? “How are you feeling?” said a warm and quiet female voice of princess Celestia. Gem yawned. “Not great, not terrible,” she said, “I’d give it a three point six.” “Do you have a minute?” “Is there anything Promi’s mind didn’t already tell you?” Celestia sighed and sat down next to Gem. “I must admit I need explanations more than raw information. Possibly a point of view I missed.” “I wish I could help you, I really do. I was turning it over inside my head all the time while I was treating the others, and I don’t have anything to tell you. I don’t know why, but the army was supposed to be blown up. I’m sure Promi told you that. I don’t know what the ‘grand spectacle’, what the ‘right eyes’ the unicorn meant might be. Starry’s vision is the only thing we’ve got, and it’s sending us to the north… it’s sending me home. I’m scared, princess. I’m trying to control everyone around me, I’m trying to control myself, but I can’t keep leading them forward if I’m so terrified myself. The place Starry described is near my hive. It might not be directly above it or anything, but it’s close enough, and it means Flow will be there, Mistake will be there, and that monstrosity Starry described will be there.” Celestia wrapped a wing around Gem.  Holes, she is so warm… “I know this won’t be enough to put your worries to rest, but thanks to you and princess Twilight, we’re in a much better shape than a month ago. We’re investigating why the tactical strike ritual went wrong. Thankfully, king Beard sent his best wizard to assist us, and only due to his help the spell didn’t burn everything, because the unicorns collapsed halfway through. His magic knowledge and instincts are unparalelled,” Celestia lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper, “Just don’t tell Twilight I said that.” “Seven is here?” Gem perked up. Celestia shook his head. “Not anymore. He took the first ship back to Equestria after he helped us stabilize the situation after the ritual, saying he needed to inform ‘the boss’ about what happened.” “Awww, holes...” Gem frowned. “As I said, you don’t need to worry too much at the moment. The army is gone, and what its destruction led to is another of my many burdens,” Celestia went quiet for a moment, looking at the floor, “Many, many burdens. However, humanitarian crisis still isn’t as unstoppable as the army was.” “Mistake is alive, though,” objected Gem, “And he has the Soulstealer which clearly was made for him. Princess, we tried to fight him. He is unstoppable. I know it might seem like an overreaction from someone… like me, but he can do anything, and I think he is using necromancy fueled by souls of those his army massacred. The Soulstealer was a tool he used to drain the souls of the army you blew up. That’s why I hoped Seven was still here. He would be able to make something out of what we saw.”  “I know necromancy, Gem,” Celestia chuckled, “Oh don’t look at me like that. The fact that I can’t use complex magic doesn’t mean I don’t know it. I’ve been drained or have exhausted my divine powers often enough, and only then I’m able to get to real spellcasting. I’m no expert like Luna, Twilight, or heavens forbid Magnus, but I know the rules. You can’t just keep enslaving unwilling souls. No matter how powerful you think you may be, they will rip your own into pieces sooner or later. Even if the sword was just some kind of masterful storage device, Mistake wouldn’t be able to use the amount of power corresponding to the absorbed souls. That’s one reason not to worry too much, although there is still enough to worry about.” “Honestly, right now I need a lot more than what can quite likely be underestimating an opponent.” “Alright,” Celestia smiled at her. To an infiltrator like Gem it was clearly forced, but not completely. The princess had to be fighting against black depression eating her inside from the unprecedented murder, but she had something good to show for it, “Flow tried to steal another seal key, but Cadance managed to send him to another dimension with only two access points from our own. We destroyed both.” “Are you sure there are only two-” Gem’s question was interrupted by the soft touch of Celestia’s hoof on her mouth. “We are. We have explored the other world before, and we’ve known about these access point for a long time. We also know how to make more. Whether or not Flow knows it is debatable. No matter what, we bought ourselves time.” “Now we just need to figure out how to fight him before he releases the monster. Starry said there were two sets of the keys to the seal, but that Flow would have both in the end.” “Starry can’t see the future, Gem. What he can see is the potential outcome of the intentions of those who activate his power. Yes, to achieve his goal, Flow would need to activate the gate in both this world and the mirror world, but at this point in time we don’t know if he even has any idea there is another set of seals, much less where it is.” “Underestimating an opponent again, princess.” “Not at all,” Celestia shook her head, “All I’m saying is that if you presume the enemy already has everything he needs in his hooves and that he has already won, then you’ll act differently than if you analyze the situation properly. We have no proof of Flow having the other seals, and we are also far from assuming he doesn’t have them. That’s why I’ll be leaving the mess here to the diplomats and heading north. There must be a reason we’re paying them. I’ve sent orders to all branches of the Guard to mobilize already and head to the Crystal Empire. We’ll have proper fortifications set up there soon.” “Starry told me what happened to your secret yet well-guarded bases. Fortress won’t help.” To her surprise, Celestia’s following smile was genuine, but contined thirst for blood Gem had never seen before from the princess. “Twilight contacted her predecessor, the original alicorn of Magic, and they’ve been working on a way to fight him. The time we gained by stopping the army and sealing Flow away is far from being wasted.” *** This room was larger than Canterlot castle throne room, windowless but with smooth walls of black stone separated into square segments forming its almost circular shape. The same segments formed a dome-like roof, all made with craftsmanship unseen anywhere else in the world, and that wasn’t a hyperbole. From the massive two-winged gate on one side led several shallow semi-circular steps down to the floor, and those in turn were connected to a raised dais in the back part of the room containing a throne with a path carved into the polished black floor containing pictures of changelings akin to the drawings of constellations in the night sky. One standard infiltrator-type changeling whom a non-existent observer might recognize from the path was just walking towards the throne where a different, royal changeling wearing an istrium secondary plating instead of classic changeling belly armor was sitting, head buried in his hooves. “Boss?” asked Seven quietly. The changeling on the throne gave him an exhausted look. “I took a look into your head...” breathed out the boss, “I saw the incinerated hellscape...” he paused and then whispered, “How many?” “The numbers weren’t in when I left-” “How many, Seven?” “The upper limit would be three hundred million casualties, boss,” replied Seven, lowering his head, “It’s going to be less, because other northern states spread the refugee load, and a chunk of those are in camps on the southern coast of Equestria, but the biggest amount were in the states of the war council. Hundred and fifty million dead from the spell would be my more accurate estimate.” Boss closed his eyes and went quiet for a long time. So long that Seven had to continue on his own: “As for the other matter, I have finally figured out the correct shape of the seal. I will start marking the surface in few days.” “Take a short break, Seven, that’s an order.” “Boss?” Seven tilted his head. “You’ve just overwritten a ritual in the heads of the best unicorn wizards in Equestria, and changed the targeting of the power of the alicorn of the Sun. Take a breather, recharge on the old love, and try to forget what you did- what I made you do.” “What you asked me to do, boss. You’ve never forced anyone to do anything.” “Seven, if you declined, I would have forced you this time. I would have had Two make you do it. This wasn’t a situation in which we had a choice,” boss tapped the long scar on his chest. “Are you sure we can’t fight him? We have so much love we don’t know what to do with it, we have the throne mechs, we have some experience with closing void rifts-” “Seven, I tried,” boss gave Seven a resigned look, “He chopped One into pieces when she attacked him the first time. Granted, she’s One and we did have the love, so we put her back together, but...” he sighed, “Look, we know his attacks are in essence quick opening and closing of void rifts in the air, but it’s different from anything we faced before. The rifts are different, and just pouring energy into them like we used to do isn’t enough to close them.” “Then let me have a proper examination of your scar, maybe of your and One’s memory too. If there’s someone who can figure something out then it’s me!” Seven raised his voice. “Soon,” boss nodded, “Just mark the magic circle, and you can do it while we’re waiting for new orders. We haven’t had any contact in a while, but I’m not stupid enough to believe someone might have defeated him in the meantime.” Seven nodded, seeing a little light of hope. If he managed to mark the massive circle quickly enough, he might finally be able to figure out a way to fight this… Flow. The chance was miniscule, but miniscule wasn’t zero. He just needed time. There still was one thing he wanted to know, though. “Boss, you know you could have just escaped with One and wiped your own brain, at least partially. You would be useless to him. Granted, he would probably kill some of us who wouldn’t hide quickly enough, but… you know… in comparison to hundred and fifty million...” he let the the number hang in the air. “Seven, there is zero chance that I would do that,” the boss shook his head immediately, “I don’t know what his ultimate goal is, but I guess I learned something from the dwarves about me over all this time, which is that I would let the whole world burn to protect my hive and all of you. Call it selfish or short-sighted, but I know what I’ve wanted since the beginning.” Seven bowed, turned around, and started walking away. “Oh, and one last thing, Seven,” added boss. “Yes?” “Don’t tell Three. I know he can’t count or even imagine that number, but… just don’t. Please.” Seven chuckled to himself. “You know... for being with him the longest, you sure don’t have much faith in him. He’s a lot stronger than you give him credit for. I firmly believe that instead of breaking down like you think, he would be packing for a trip to hug every single survivor of the explosion so hard they might regret not turning to ash immediately. Just food for thought, boss.”