Arc III - Chapter II - The Little House at the End of the River

An explosion was heard a time ago in a small town of ponies. Once all of them went outside their homes to look at what happened, they saw a big red cloud fading out of the sky.

They had no idea of what that was, and that's why several stallions decided to take a look. The town went into a meltdown, trying not to let the bravest stallions on the town to investigate, in case that explosion was caused by something evil, but some stallions decided to walk out anyway.

There are five enormous, robust earth colts trotting to the Empire, surrounded by a small red smoke and a really hot temperature.

"Yes," he says. "Rocky Plate and I went hunting and we caught a chimaera. Cooked it for the town... it had the same smell like this..."

"And it's getting... I just... I'm confused," says one of the stallions. "Don't you feel cold on the inside?"

"How weird... it's getting colder... but the air... just smells like burnt meat..."

One of the stallions points out at something flying in the sky. The five stallions look at it, and find out it is not flying... but falling. "IT'S FALLING! FALLING DOWN!"

And suddenly, crash. The mysterious thing crashes and gets stomped against the ground, letting everyone around hear the most awful, obnoxious sound ever made:

The five stallions remain silent, observing the mysterious object which turns out to be pink... the mysterious object whose sound while falling reminded them of...

"Broken bones?" two stallions approach the boney object and suddenly find out hair is covering its face. Once they get the hair off, they find out the absolute horror...

The five stallions found her. Her throat looks like it's been smashed and her bloodshot eyes are looking at nowhere. One of the stallions recognises her on the first second of them all: "PRINCESS CADENCE!"

"PRINCESS CADENCE!"

Miles away from the tragedy, a journalist is looking at the city of Manehattan through his window. Tabloid has been looking at the streets getting emptier due to fear and uncertainty about Tenebris the Night Ram, but his mind is not so focused on that now. He looks at a big building far away from where he lives and observes the big, metal pickaxe on the skyscraper's top. It's Shiny Picks Gem Company.

"How long have you been trying to write that article?" asks Blister, the small orange dragon, while entering the room.

"I don't know," he replies. "I just... don't know how to start... where to start... firstly, how did they disappear?"

"Yes... I don't understand, Blist... they were at the top of the building, completely surrounded and unable to get out... if they got their heads out of the room for just a bit of time, they would have been eaten in a few seconds. How did they get out... and no one could see them?"

Tabloid shakes his head. "They were earth ponies..." Now the journalist opens his eyes widely now and looks at his dragon. "Unless..."

"It can be possible, although..." whispers Tabloid. "I think I've found a way to confront my stupid writer's block... Thanks, Blister."

And then suddenly, both can hear how someone is trying to open the door... but it doesn't look like he is OK. It is not calm. It's desperately trying to open the door. They share a short look of confusion right before the dragon comes out and grabs a key.

Once Blister opens the door, to find out what's happening on the outside, Ink Pot, the second journalist in the house, enters the place like a cannonball. He quickly passes by Tabloid's room door, almost crashing it and breaking it into pieces, and stays in silence, breathing.

"What the..." says Blister, confused. "What's wrong, Ink Pot?... You... Are you... Are you OK?"

Tabloid doesn't even say a word. He only turns around and looks at his pupil in silence. At that right moment, Ink Pot takes a long breath and looks at both friends: "You remember Wheat Stack, don't you?"

"It's not my homework," says Ink Pot, furiously. "It's a friend I made during my first articles. I often write essays and he collaborates with me..."

"Do you remember he had several cousins and relatives in that little town near the Crystal Empire? A camping family... do you remember?"

Tabloid and Blister look at each other again, surprised. "Um..." says the old unicorn. "Er... I, I don't remember it so well... but I think he mentioned something about it... what's the matter, then? Why you entered like a...?"

Tabloid closes his eyes while Blister slowly closes the room's door, having his mouth completely closed. "And..."

"And how... do you know this is real...?" whispers Tabloid, looking at the city, breathing slowly, trying not to pass out. "Or... a lie?"

"He... he showed me a card... he received from his cousin... I think he also has a dragon..."

"Wheat Stack? He has a dragon?" asks Tabloid, grabbing his head and taking off his glasses with his magic.

"I'm not so sure but..." says Ink Pot, unstoppably blinking. "If this card is true and he has a dragon... then..."

"This is a bomb," says Blister. "But we can't drop it if we don't know anything... oh, gosh... Cadence..."

Tabloid turns around and swallows saliva. "Damn," he says. "I'm getting nervous over a rumour but... if what Wheat Stack says it's true..."

"Yes... yes... and what about the Crystal Heart..." says Tabloid. "This doesn't sound good...."

Meanwhile, Black Magic LaCrowley is inside a small wooden hut filled with books and papers, reading a small book while having Poofy Lantern next to him. Iron Pick is outside the hut, turning his head around, not looking at the wizard in his eyes. Suddenly, Galloway the Griffon, along with Cheesecake, LaCrowley's assistant, enter the hut. However, Iron Pick interferes on the entrance and Galloway can't enter, due to lack of space.

But suddenly, some of the wooden planks next to the door get off and disappear magically. LaCrowley thinks about something, fearfully, while Galloway now enters the hut with no problems. "No time for fights, my children," says LaCrowley, closing the book. Poofy Lantern takes advantage of this and reads the name on the cover.

"SOUKLAT UNÁE: AN EXPLANATION OF SOUL-UNITED CREATURES"

"Cheesecake," he says, while touching his white beard with a bony, trembling hoof. "What about the father of the filly? How is he doing?"

"Light Eater is now with him in the hut. He has several bruises on his loin after what you did to him last night. He also says his back hooves are tingling and he can't move..."

"What a coward," says Galloway, laughing. "His hooves are just tingling and he says he can't move?"

The griffon laughs and realizes another laugh can be heard besides hers. She turns around and finds out Iron Pick is also laughing at the same while looking outside. Galloway growls at him but Iron Pick decides not to do anything.

To calm the waters, Cheesecake asks: "And is there any news about what you felt?"

"Yes," also says Poofy Lantern. "I've been here for two minutes waiting for your answer."

Black Magic LaCrowley looks at Stone Chisel's mother. "What?" he says, confused. "You asked me a question?"

"Ok..." says LaCrowley, grabbing the book with his magic and putting it back on its shelf. "What I felt... uh... about what happened this morning?"

"Yes," replies Cheesecake. "It's the first time in years you wake up so nervously... what happened?"

LaCrowley shakes his head. "I felt..." he says, stuttering. "I... I always use my chaos magic... you know, Cheesecake, but... when I woke up... I used it to put the lamp away from me... and when I did it... it felt..."

LaCrowley stays in silence, still shaking his head. "Felt what?" asks Poofy Lantern.

"Different," he replies. "I never felt in that way while using my magic... I experienced something else..."

"Can you describe it, Mr LaCrowley?" asks Galloway, while Iron Pick slowly turns his head to look on the inside.

"Yes," says LaCrowley. "I felt... as if my body was freezing on the inside. It was the first time in my whole life I experienced that... and when I took out those planks to let Galloway enter... I felt the same chill in my stomach."

"Come on," says Iron Pick, interrupting the scene's thrilling tension. "Are you sure you didn't catch the flu?"

Cheesecake angrily gives Iron Pick a menacing look, while Poofy Lantern sighs. Galloway angrily takes out a plank from the floor to hit him... but suddenly her face turns blank. Her claws get clenched and she closes her pick. She feels something.

Iron Pick covers his face, but once he finds out what happened, he gets inside the house in silence. "What?" asks Poofy Lantern, surprised.

Galloway leaves the plank on the floor and turns around and looks at LaCrowley. "I feel cold on the inside," she says.

Cheesecake now gets more nervous. She decides to grab the same plank Galloway took with her magic and suddenly she throws it away... "I feel the same."

"It's not the flu, fool," says LaCrowley, this time angrily. "Something has changed in Chaos. The way we feel our magic is now different from the one we felt before. Cold... chill... what does this remind me of?"

Cheesecake and Galloway look at each other, having no idea of what they should answer. The wizard, on the other side, sighs. "There's one-way chaos can change... and it's literally changing its source."

"Or maybe something else changed Discord," replies LaCrowley, while getting outside. Some of the lost creatures he is helping and raising are still sleeping. He goes outside and that chill on the inside gets warmer under the rising sun. "Cold... chill... cold..."

Then, out of nowhere, the book which was being read by LaCrowley suddenly gets out of its shelf on its own and goes to LaCrowley. He uses his magic to open it, and reads a couple of pages until finding the one.

"CHAPTER VI: NIGHT RAMS AND ITS SOUL UNION"

"Night Rams were sedentary creatures who live in a very closed community, officially considered extinct due to a battle..."

"... were characterized by their dark blue fur and big, light blue irises..."

"... their skin naturally felt cold and chill while touching it, making them feel slightly warm thanks to its long fur and nature's weather..."

"Cold and chill," says LaCrowley, closing the book, growling. "Son of a buck... did he do it for real?"

"If I told you..." LaCrowley gets inside, putting the book back on its shelf. He lies on the floor, closing his eyes. "If I told you... you won't ever sleep again."

LaCrowley shakes his head. "I don't know if what I found it's true but... cold and chill, cold and chill... what I know is something happened to Discord... and you know what reminds me of cold and chill..."

"Stone Chisel... he's in grave danger, maybe... I don't know but... he may die on the way."

Poofy Lantern doesn't say anything and turns around, closing her eyes. Cheesecake and Galloway go to help her, looking at her eyes slowly getting wet because of her tears. "Gosh..." she whispers. "I feel so guilty... no..."

Iron Pick, on the other hand, doesn't turn around. He's still looking outside, taking a long breath, but the thing that calls his wife's attention is that he is saying nothing. Nothing...

"You're not going to say anything, don't you?" says his wife behind him. "Or are you just going to pretend this is not affecting you, huh?" Iron Pick doesn't answer, but his face and his gestures seem different. He is looking to the ground, with his head down. "Our son may be about to die... and you don't say a shit. You fucking prick."

Iron Pick closes his eyes and walks out of the house, not even trying to make a commentary.

Cadence is dead.

He decided to fly away from the town and inform the Princess personally. Those five stallions, friends of his, were trying their best to get the Kingdom's attention as soon as possible, and that's when the dragon decided to go. To fly. To say. And he arrived in the city of Canterlot. Where everyone is right now.

Star Swirl turns around, looking at the room. "And I don't know what would come," he says, "after Luna."

"Wait..." says Twilight Sparkle, raising a hoof. "Don't speak as if this is going to happen soon... Princess, we can dodge this by finding them and working right now... together."

"And where we can find him?" exclaims the yak, Thunderhooves... "Equestria's too big to look for him..."

Rainbow Dash, Ember and Twilight try to say something but get interrupted when something breaks in the castle, crashing one of the windows and making all of the Royal Guards enter the room with their weapons. However, once they realize what did break in, they calm down and help that small dragon get up.

"PRINCESS CADENCE!"

He is now nearer, looking at what's in front of him. The house exists, and there's somepony inside. Slowly walking to it, he finds something covered in several cloths and dirt, almost buried on the ground. He stops to look at what's inside, but, at that same moment, he hears the door being opened.

The voice. Yes. He recognises it, and once he turns his back, looking at that yellow pegasus with brown hair, he feels angrier than ever. The Pegasus, on the other hand, gets silent until he blinks several times...

"You motherfucking asshole," shouts Stone Chisel at that moment. "You motherfucking piece of trash. Son of a motherfucking bitch."

"SHUT THE FUCK UP, STOLEN BAG!" shouts Stone Chisel, much louder, pointing at the pegasus with a hoof. "While I was rotting in Tartarus, you were on holiday on this stupid house... huh? Do you know how it felt at that moment? When I was in the Everfree Forest running away from those stupid guards, waiting for you... and finding out you escaped without me?"

"Sorry?" he shouts. "Is that all you say, son of a bitch? Do you know how many things I've gone through since I escaped from Tartarus? You can apologize to fucking nowhere... fucking Celestia," he says, and punches the mysterious thing buried in the ground. "My god..." he whispers, about to cry. "Goddamnit."

"Hey..." says Stolen Bag. "Your ear... it's... uh... cut... and it's... bleeding..."

"I can't feel the pain, tho," he says, still not looking at his partner. "I can't feel... anything... anymore."

"Wait..." he says. "I haven't read the news for days but... a town near here said you escaped Tartarus with..."

Stone Chisel turns around and approaches his partner. "That... fucker was the worst thing I've done, horsie."

"The worst thing you've done?" Chisel doesn't say anything and goes away. "What do you mean?... Hey, where are you going?"

Now, both colts are on the river. Stone Chisel's cut ear has now a small bandage, although it is not enough for such an injury. Stone Chisel looks at himself on the water. His face is horrifying. The talkative, annoying robber is now a lost, traumatized colt with hopelessness. Stolen Bag, confronting Chisel's grey colour with his yellow skin, appears on the back. "So... that ram thinks you're dead?"

"I hope so," answers Stone Chisel. "He went crazy there... motherfucker... son of a gun... I can't... I can't even talk about it..."

"You weren't there to feel it," he answers. "But I've got to tell you... it was a slaughter, genocide..."

The partner gets silent for a second. "Oh, shit," he exclaims. "Wait... and what about the emperors?"

"I saw Shining Armor getting killed... I don't know about Cadence and that baby but.. that explosion was really huge, guy..."

The pegasus sighs, trying to process everything he has said. "You..." whispers his partner. "Are you... the only survivor for real?"

"WHAT?" he shouts. "Discord?" But... fucking Discord? He can't die. He's chaos!"

Stolen Bag lets a tear roll down one of his eyes. "Holy shit..." he whispers. "And... and what is going to happen?"

"I don't know," replies Stone Chisel. "And I don't even care about it, you know..." He approaches much nearer to look at his face through the water "I don't have the will to live."

The thief gets up and looks at the water. "The Stone Chisel Way," he says, before throwing himself into the river, something which makes Stolen Bag mad.

"You son of a.." he says, and the pegasus also gets in the water while the robber tries to swim to the bottom. Stolen grabs him from behind, almost choking him, and both start fighting underwater. There's a key moment where Stolen hugs his partner and takes him to the surface.

"And what are we going to do, then?" he replies. "Let's see... that fucking horned shit is now the God of Chaos... I've seen him turning Discord into dices... what is up to us?"

But then, out of nowhere.... both stallions hear something strange coming from far away... it sounds like some kind of sob they can't recognize. Both colts look at what's coming and stay in silence, observing that small piece of wood with some pony tied to it.

The Stone Chisel Way

by King Genesis

The Little House at the End of the River