//------------------------------// // Chapter 6: Preparations // Story: Return of the Ancient Mage // by Zoshe //------------------------------// Random, Cloud Kicker, and Blossomforth were definitely getting a workout this morning. How? Well... When you're chasing a fairy through rows upon rows of shelves and when no matter how fast you gallop, climb, fly, or teleport and you seem no closer to catching her, you start to get tired pretty quick. "Give it up you guys," giggled Whisper as she dodged yet another diving pegasus. "You'll never catch me." She ducked around another corner just as Random blinked into existence right in front of her. She gave a small snicker and vanished just in time to dodge the two pegasus that leapt at her. This resulted in a mass of fur and feathers piling up on the ground as Whisper reappeared on a nearby shelf. "You're so slow. At this rate it'll take you another hundred years to catch me." She chuckled as she flitted off the shelf and sailed up and out of sight. "Well that was fun while it lasted," said Random as he extricated himself from the pile. "How is she so fast?" Blossomforth said between gasps of air. "Seriously," said Cloud Kicker, equally out of breath. "I don't even think Rainbow Dash would be able to catch her with the way she zips around." "We're probably wasting our time," said Random as he brushed himself off. "I've been dealing with her shenanigans for years and I've never once caught her once she gets going." "Why do you keep trying then?" Blossomforth asked as she dug herself out of the pile of books that had fallen on them in the hustle. "Because it makes her happy," he said with a smile as he made his way back towards the stairs. "Come on," he said beckoning them to follow. "You don't want to get lost down here." "What exactly is all of this?" Cloud Kicker looked up at the high ceiling in wonder as they caught up to the grey unicorn. "My personal collection. I'm ashamed to admit I might've become something of a bibliophile some years back." He admitted sheepishly. "That's still an absurd number of books though. I mean, how many years we talking?" Cloudkicker said as she inspected him. "I mean, you don't seem much older than twenty-five." "I'm much older than I look," Random said, not really answering the question. Cloud Kicker rushed up and pressed up alongside him, her feathers brushing along his side. "Well regardless of age, something about you gets me all charged up. If you ever think about settling down or maybe even starting a herd, you keep the two of us in mind. What do you think Blossomforth? Is he a keeper?" "Oh definitely," said Blossomforth as she pressed in against the other side. "Even if he was a bit out of it last night, I don't think I've ever seen a pony with that much stamina, especially from a unicorn." "Wait..." He said, the color draining out of him. "So Whisper wasn't making that all up?" "Hmmm..." Cloud Kicker thought aloud. "I don't know, Blossomforth. Was she making that up?" Blossomforth playfully nuzzled the side of his neck, "I think that would be telling." They both seemed contented for the moment as they rubbed up against him. Random seemingly dumbfounded into silence by their advances. Whisper reappeared in front of him and poked at his nose, getting no response. "I think you girls broke him," she giggled. They continued nuzzling up against the quiet stallion, enjoying his scent even as he started shaking. "...Get back," they suddenly heard him say under his breath. That was an unusual thing to say, they both thought as they looked up at him. The tender moment was quickly replaced with confusion as they saw purple smoke leaking off the corner of his eyes. The confusion made way for terror as a sinister dark shadow began to creep up his face and mask his features. The mirthful voice of Whisper broke as she practically screamed at them, "get away from him! Now!" They pushed themselves away in a desperate bid to do as they were told. The two mares only made it a couple of feet before they found themselves lifted off the ground by a shadowy appendage and thrown against the nearby shelves. "Are you two alright?!" She shouted to the mess they found themselves buried in. Small shadows leaked off their bodies as they laid there, but they didn't seem to do much more than that. "What's happening?!" Whisper shouted at Random. "It's never got this bad before!" Random desperate expression was just barely visible through the mask of shadows that covered him. "Fine," she said as she started to glow so bright that you couldn't make out her body anymore. "But you and I are going to have a serious talk once this is over." The fairy's glow illuminated the surroundings, causing life to pour into the wood and earth surrounding them. The ground cracked as vegetation pushed its way through the stone. Vines began to climb the shelves as they reached for the erratic unicorn. Random's body thrashed, the shadows around him slashing at the vines as they grew ever closer. Whisper's magic forced the vines ever closer as they gradually overcame the shadows pouring from the pony. Once they were close enough to reach his limbs, they began to climb up his legs. As they tightened and dug into his fur, a sound akin to shattering glass was heard as his enchantment broke. Grey fur made way for gold as the vines climbed up and around his torso. "What's happening to him?!" Came a voice from behind the fairy. Whisper glanced back for a moment to see the two girls had climbed back out of the pile they had landed in. The shadows surrounding them had vanished as they stared up at the bound unicorn. "You need to get out of here!" Whisper shouted at them. "But what about him?" Asked a concerned Blossomforth. "Go! Now! And Tell nopony!" Demanded the fairy. Cloud Kicker was the first to move as she beat a hasty retreat, flying up the stairs instead of running up them. Blossomforth took one last moment to look at the golden unicorn before chasing after Cloud Kicker. The vines creeped up around his neck and begun to constrict, reducing his ability to breathe. As he continued to thrash against his restraints with a demonic fury, thorns began to sprout from the vines and dig into his flesh. His blood sizzled and popped as it came into contact with the outside air. A few more moments of struggle passed before he finally went limp in the grasp of the vegetation, all traces of the shadows finally extinguished. The stallion body hung there limply and bleeding profusely as it dangled from the vines. Eventually, pained moans escaped from his destroyed body. "Is it over?" He asked with the small amount of breath his body could summon. "It is," Whisper said while looking him over critically, the glow of her body returning to normal. "You're lucky you're not a normal pony. You'd be dead by now." Random struggled in the vines that wrapped his body. Blood ran down and around the thorns that made it past his fur and pierced his skin. He slowly looked up and gave her a weak smile, "I'm a kabob." "You must be ok if your sense of humor is still working." Whisper shook her head. A pained smile formed on his lips, "eager to be rid of me so soon?" "No, I'm not. Besides, you keep things interesting," she crossed her forelegs as she floated in front of him. "But enough joking around. What in the abyss is going on?!" "Well," he said with some hesitation, earning himself a glare from the annoyed fairy. "My situation may have been getting a bit worse." "How have you not been exposed yet?" Whisper shook her head with a disappointed sigh. "Guess I'm just lucky like that," he said with a shrug from his bound position. "If I could just find that accursed amulet, this would stop being a problem." "Yeah..." Whisper said sheepishly. "About that... I may have an idea of where it may be." The golden unicorn lunged forward, paying no mind to the thorns that dug deeper into his skin with the movement. "You found it?!" He shouted with a manic gleam in his eye. "Where is it?! Can I go get it now?!" "That's going to be a bit tricky," Whisper hesitated while thinking over her answer. "Don't tease me about this!" He demanded vehemently. "You know how long I've been trying to find it?!" "Geez, still as tense as ever I see." She flew in and bopped him on the nose, making him flinch in annoyance. "All I know is that it's somewhere in the Everfree. Some zebra placed it in a warded chest before hiding it. The townsfolk seem pretty content that it stay hidden, too. Seeing the kind of damage the magician cause when she showed up with it, I can't really blame them. Anyway timeout's over." The thorn ridden vines slowly retracted from their snared prize. The golden unicorn fell to the ground with a crash once he was no longer supported by the vines. "Ow!" He exclaimed. "Rub some dirt on it you big baby." The fairy chided him as she watched his wounds begin to rapidly close. "Anyway this plan of yours... I don't see how you're going to get so much done by yourself while keeping that thing at bay. Even with your friend helping," she flew down and poked at his shadow. "Where is he anyway?" "Oh, hehe," he said while brushing the already flaking blood off his fur. "He was getting bored so he went looking for a meal." "Even with all the eye candy that was in that bed last night?" Whisper snickered. "I think you enjoyed your 'special reading' you gave us this morning a bit too much," he jabbed. "How many other ponies in town have you shipped?" "A couple. A girl's gotta have her hobbies," Whisper said playfully before getting a bit more serious. "Have you considered reaching out to either of the sisters for help?" "The last thing I want is to draw the attention of the Canterlot court," Random said sadly. "That part of my life is behind me." "That's gonna be really difficult with the high profile opponent you're dealing with," Whisper observed. "Well that and the fact that you're currently sharing a roof with the youngest of the princesses." "I'll make it work, and I have just the ponies to help me." He gave her a devious smile, "I finally got the spell to work." "Pfff... That doesn't really narrow it down," she dismissed, landing on Random's head just as his disguise finished shimmering back into place. "You've always been working on a dozen spells at any given time. You can't expect me to keep track of everything." Random lit his horn as he stepped into his study. His bags, which had been discarded when Whisper dragged him in here the day before, began to glow with a green aura as the buckle undid itself and three crystals flew out of the bags towards him. "Wait? Are those?" She looked at him inquisitively. "Wait... wait... That spell?! When did you figure out that monster?! You've been working on that one since..." "Yep," he smiled while looking at the red, brown, and blue crystals floating in front of him. "Finally had that breakthrough I'd been looking for. It just took a while." Random floated the three crystals to the wall and settled them into the wood. As he pulled his magic away from them, they started to glow with a soft internal light. "Ooo, pretty," Whisper cooed. "Just wait," he smiled as he floated a quill and rough notebook out of the bag. He opened his notes and flipped through the pages until he seemed satisfied. Random began to trace intricate lines around the crystals set into the wood. As he added symbols along each of the lines, the magic in the air began to feel denser, more focused. He continued to fill the space in and around the crystals with runes for several minutes until he finally stepped away, nodding in contentment at his finished work. "Wow," said Whisper, awed at the way the light from the crystals played across the surface of the wood. "Quite an eye catching piece of work if nothing else." "Yeah, I'll need to put a curtain over it or something." He admitted while looked proudly at his work. "Twilight comes across as the curious type and I don't need to be explaining what this is." "You're right about her on that front," the fairy said while continuing to look at the crystals. "So are you going to activate it?" "Hmmm..." Random thought for a minute while his eyes shot between his choices. His hoof hovered for a moment between the brown and blue crystals before deciding on the blue one. As he pressed his hoof against the smooth surface, magic seemed to lick off his body into little wisps. It gradually flowed down his foreleg and into the crystal beneath his hoof. When he pulled away, the blue crystal separated from the wall and began to spin as it floated there. With a snap, the crystal vanished, leaving only dimming motes of light as evidence that it had ever existed at all.