//------------------------------// // Chapter 58: When lies are revealed... // Story: Era of Harmony // by Gambling_Sam //------------------------------// *Nicholas POV* I was never a big fan of cold weather before, but now I think I might never leave my house again during winter season. Why? Because, in the middle of spring no less, it's freezing cold inside the castle! I turned a corner as I shivered, hoping that I was going the right way since I had only been here a couple of times and did NOT have the place memorized. "Well, at least I haven't ran into any trouble yet." I said to myself as I opened a door that led into another hall... ...and was met with one of those blue horse things as it turned and stared at the sudden intruder with suprise, then interest. Crap. I thought as it flew up to me and stared me down, its empty cold eyes looking deep into my very being for what felt like hours. (Though it was probably a couple of seconds.) The things eyes widened suddenly as it flew back a couple of feet before swirling around me almost playfully, causing me to raise an eyebrow in shock. "Uh...hello?" I said waving a hand. The thing rushed forward and nuzzled my hand with its head before flying off through a door straight ahead. After a second, it's head popped through the door and looked at me as if asking 'Hey, come follow me!' I shrugged, honestly having no better idea, and as I began to follow my new ice friend I couldn't help but wonder about the woman from my dreams. Why did she appear in my dreams? And if she is here, what could she be after? ************** Raiden POV ************** So THIS is what Ronin feels like when he swings this thing. I was chipping away at the ice with an enhanced blade that Luna had enchanted to be on fire before deciding to take a couple steps back from me, claiming I might hurt somepony if I wasn't careful. (She had stared at the blade for a while before doing so, but I chalked that up to staring at a weapon that had bloodstains of several colors on it.) "Raiden, may I ask thou a question?" Luna said as I nodded to her, continuing to chip away at the ice. "Go ahead." I stated as she looked me over. "I don't ever recall thou talking about your family much, and We would like to hear about them." She said as I stopped what I was doing and sighed, hating the memeories that were flooding back. I turned to Luna. "There's not much to talk about. My mom was a drunk and my dad was a close-minded asshole. They got into fights and ended up scarring Nicholas with a bottle that was poorly aimed." Luna gasped. "That's horrible! Thou's parents are truly like that?" I nodded as a sad smile graced my lips. "Yeah. Weirdest thing is, they always seemed distant from us. Almost like we were a chore for them to look after." I said as Luna scowled. "That's truly despicable for ones parents to treat thou as such, especially after giving birth to you three." She said as I winced slightly, something that didn't go unnoticed by Luna. "What is wrong, Raiden." I turned back to the ice door, unwilling to look her in the eyes. "Whatever I tell you next doesn't leave this room, alright?" I stated sternly. "Of course." She said as I sighed, really not wanting to say this but at the same time feeling like it had to come out. "Mother didn't give birth to Nicholas...he was dropped off by my grandfather one day." I said, continuing despite the gasp from Luna. "He was just a baby, and grandad said he found him wrapped up in a blue blanket with some sort of crystal heart symbol on it." I didn't see it, but Luna paled significantly at hearing this. "Of course, mom and dad had no choice to take him in, considering that grandad just popped by with him one day and said he was their 'responsibility'...whatever that meant. Though they obviously didn't like the idea, because life got way harder after Nicholas was brought to us." I looked down at the sword I was carrying, reminded of grandfathers actions up until his death. We had never fully bonded, but he seemed especially distant from all three of us when he died, only wanting to see us when he gave Nicholas that necklace... "Raiden, the spell on that sword doesn't last long, thou might wish to hurry." Luna said as I was pulled from my thoughts. I nodded to her before continuing to strike the ice, hoping to break through as quickly as possible. However, even with the coolness of a flaming sword, it was barely chipping the ice. That, and I was getting tired. "Whooo." I gasped, exhausted as I dropped the blade. "Got any ideas, babe?" I turned to see that Luna was now on the bed next to the still resting Fluttershy and had been watching me the whole time from there. She giggled slightly and gave me an amused look. "Thou ARE a dragon, right? Just melt the ice with your fire." She said as I nearly slapped my head off my body with the face-palm I gave myself. Why the hell didn't I think of that? I thought as I turned and breathed deep before breathing out flames on the door. In moments, the thing was melted thoroughly and the door opened. "Huzzah! Now we can...oh dear." Luna said as she and I walked out of the room (Fluttershy would be safer if we left her on the bed.) and looked at the sheer magnitude of all the ice in the hallway. The whole placed was frozen over. Not a single spot, minus where my flames had breached the door, wasn't ice. Even the windows were covered in frost and had those little ice spears hanging off of them. I leaned over to Luna. "I am NOT cleaning this up." She giggled slightly. "We'll just make my sister do it whenever..." She trailed off, her face getting somber at the reminder of Daybreaker. I turned and pulled her into a hug as I felt her do the same. "It's gonna be ok, Luna. We'll find a way to free Celestia, then I'm gonna put my hands on Ronin for causing that issue." I said as Luna let go of me and sighed. "In a way, he had every right to do that." She muttered, though I'm sure I wasn't meant to hear that, So I played coy and didn't respond. Just have to ask about that later. Turns out, I wouldn't have to. A blue spirit horse thing went flying by just as Luna stopped hugging me, causing us both to watch as it flew through the door to the throne room. "Hey! Wait up!" A very familiar voice called out as the doors behind us swung open and Nicholad came through, pausing entirely when he saw us. "Raiden!" He yelled before going to run up to me, but failing to do do as he slipped on the ice. Oddly enough, he managed to slide over to me regardless, though him doing so while sliding on his butt was hilarious. "There you are!" I said happily as I picked him up and gave him a bear hug, which was returned in kind. After dropping him, Nicholas turned to Luna and smiled. "Hi, princess! Did you see a blue horse thing go by?" He asked her as she looked to the throne room door, which was still frozen over, before turning back to Nicholas and nodding. "If you mean the wendigo that flew by, then yes. He went in the throne room." She said as I looked to her suddenly, suprised by what she said. "Wait...Wendigo? That's what that thing was?" I asked as Nicholas frowned. "Aren't Wendigo supposed to be deadly creatures that go after people? The one I've been following has been pretty tame." He said as Luna tilted her head. "Following? You mean it didn't attack you?" She said as I realized it didn't even give us a glance when it had flown by. Nicholas shook his head. "Nope! It's been leading me here." He said as he started walking to the throne room doors, careful not to slip again. "What are you two doing?" I sighed. "We were trying to check up on the progress of the trial before all this ice appeared." I chuckled lightly. "Get this, Luna thinks a human she once knew is doing all of this." Nicholas froze immediately at the mention of the human, causing me to narrow my eyes. "Nicholas...you don't happen to know anything about this, do you?" Almost as if he knew he was caught red-handed, he turned around slowly and gave me a guilty smile. Though by looking into his eyes I could tell whatever this was was affecting him on a deeper level. He sighed, putting his hands into his pockets and shivering slightly. "Ok, I'll tell you everything." ********* Tak POV ********* After splitting up from Nicholas, the guys and I immediately started searching for Larxene. There was no way that, if she was really dead, that I would even think about leaving her body here. She needed a proper buriel and recognition for her heroic actions towards the hive. That, and Axel would probably revolt if we didn't do something along those lines. Even if by helping him seaech for larxene meant opening a million doors. "C'mon, where can she be?" Said changeling groaned as we closed the door to another empty room. He turned to me, allowing me to realize that I was about two heads taller than the average changeling. "Tak, where is she?" I sighed, turning to the next door that for some reason had no frost on it at all compared to the others, and went to open it. "We both know I can't just pinpoint her now that she's disconnected from the hive. Now whether that's because of a fatality or being locked up somewhere is what we need to figure out for certain. Can't rely purely on the hivemind and what it told us." I said as Roxas suddenly went up to the door and leaned in, pressing his head against it sideways. "Guys...listen closely." He whispered as we follwed his lead and listened. "And to think that I was able to trick that human into letting me out by simply pretending to be a victim! And now with all of the royal threats to my power under the same roof, all I have to do now is simply strike when the times right and this whole kingdom will belong to me!" A familiar female voice spoke as Axel frowned. "Who is this joker?" He asked quietly as I narrowed my eyes. "No idea, but she kinda sounds like how Mom used to sound before she met Ronin." I stated as Roxas took some steps back. "Um...guys?" He said, going unnoticed by Axel and myself. "Well, if it is someone like the queen what do we do? Do we fight her?" Axel said as I shook my head. "Guys?!" Roxas said, a tad louder though once again being ignored. "No, we already have a plan of action. Starting anymore fights might make us end up like Larxene, and we are better off alive then dead." I retorted lightly as Roxas walked uo and placed hooves on our heads. "Guys!" He yelled, getting our attention at last. "What?!" Axel and I stated as he turned our heads to face the door. Only, there wasn't a door there anymore. Instead, there was a alicorn with a flaming mane and tail that was currently looking down on us with an amused, yet deadly, expression. You'd think a infiltration species would be smart enough to not talk loudly next to the door of our target we were spying on. The mare tilted her head, though she wore that same expression all the same. "What brings three changelings to my doorstep? Are you looking for your queen?" She asked as Roxas nodded. "We are! How'd you know that?" He exclaimed as Axel jabbed him in the side with a hoof. Dont give away anything, idiot. He told Roxas via hivemind. Said changeking just nodded as Daybreaker chuckled. "Give away what exactly?" She said as we all froze in shock. What? How'd she... She placed a hoof on my shoulder. "I have set up a bond with your king that allows me to hear your mental conversations wirh the hive, so I can hear EVERYTHING you say to each other." This was bad. Real bad. I could tell we were facing down something far worse than my mother ever was, yet I couldn't figure out how to get out of this mess we were in. Thankfully, I didn't have to. Turns out Roxas was somehow two steps ahead of everyone somehow. "Your princess Celestia, right?" He asked innocently as the sun monarch looked down at him and smiled. "No dearie, but I'm something far stronger." She said as Roxas tilted his head, his orange eyes seemingly staring into the soul of the 'princess'. "Then shouldn't you be attempting to melt the ice that's all over the castle instead of harassing a couple of changelings?" He said in a tone of...mocking? I'd never heard him ever even be SLIGHTLY negative towards anyone, let alone a royal. The princess was caught off guard as well, and it showed in her shocked facial expression, though it faded quickly as she recomposed herself. "You make a good point." She said after a minute of not speaking. "But I will coontinue this conversation with YOU specifically, orange eyes." She said as she walked past us and out the way we came. I turned to Roxas, barely able to keep my voice down. "What in Tartarus did you think you were doing? She could've melted us in seconds!" He shrugged, for once not smiling...and it was honestly creepy. "We need to find Larxene, right? I simply kept the distraction off our backs while helping Nick with the ice issue." He said as Axel chuckled. "Look at that! You've got some brains up there after all!" He said, causing Roxas to chuckle and scratch the back of his head. I rolled my eyes as I turned to one of the bigger doors that were always at the end of the hallways. "Lets continue the search. I have a feeling time isn't on our side." ************* Nicholas POV ************* "And that's the whole story." I said, finished with my explanation of how I knew the ice lady and what had happened to me before in town involving my dreams. Raiden and Luna were silent for a moment, easily floored by the new information that had been given. "Nicholas...Why the heck didn't you tell anyone?!" Raiden demanded as I winced. "I told Fluttershy about it, but that was because..." I trailed off as Raiden saw the look of sadness in my eyes and knelt down in front of me. "Nick...I understand. She's like a mom to you, right?" I nodded at his words. "Still, this big of a threat needs to be handled appropriately, and that means all of us knowing about things from here on out. No point in keeping secrets, alright?" For some reason, Luna flinched at his words, and that's when I saw my moment. Sorry bro, but I have to take her on by myself. You and Ronin have done so much...it's about time I gave back. "Princess Luna...why'd you look so hurt when he said don't keep secrets?" I stated kinda loudly, causing Raiden to frown and turn to her as she had a look of shock, probably not expecting me to call her out like that. "That's a good question. Whats wrong?" He asked her as I walked past them slowly. Thankfully, Luna was preoccupied with Raiden now. "N-Nothing! Your words were simply moving, that's all!" She stated quickly as Raiden frowned and his eyes narrowed. I'm a child, and I know that was a lie. I thought as I went to open the door but realized it was frozen shut. Though before I could react, that Wendigo from before popped its head through the door and looked me in the eyes. "Let me in." I whispered as the thing smiled and nodded. "Ok, that may be your single worst lie you've ever told me." Raiden stated as Luna scoffed. "Tis not, We have told you better lies!" She said, causing Raiden to blink in suprise. "Really? Like what?" He said, slightly angry now. The Wendigo had, without my knowledge, appeared in full beside me and held out a hoof. I reached forward and grabbed it just as Raiden noticed me behind Luna. "Nick, what are you...NICHOLAS!" He yelled as I turned to him as I felt my body start to warp. "I have to do this on my own...I'm sorry." I stated as everything vanished. *************** ??? *************** Back in space, at that same area where Faust monitered all life on Equestria, one very ticked Tartarus subject was ranting about being pulled away from Equestria. "Why the hell did you bring me back?! I thought those humans were pests to you?! I could've killed one!" Tarus stated as Faust shook her head. "It is not time for blood to be spilt by your hands...yet." She said as she turned to her balance, noticing that Laughters symbol was now glowing green. "Now Laughter is having a change in DNA? How far will we venture from the beaten path?" Tarus growled. "Let me go down there and 'balance' things out for ya! Screw your set path, those idiots need to be reeled in before..." He trailed off seeing the look of anger in Fausts eyes. "Shut your mouth! The universe has eyes everywhere. The last thing we need is for somepony down there to find out I, and this whole plane of existence, exists. Imagine if somepony got up here!" Tarus sighed. "Very well, but when that boy powers up and gains control over his magic, he WILL come here. You do know that, right?" Faust turned away, refusing to answer that question. Instead, she had memories come back about the boy in question... ...or his grandfather, in fact. The man had been a great warrior, but due to a couple of incidents that she may or may not have instigated with her magic, he lost everything. Now not only were his descendents here, but Faust could feel his aura somewhere in the kingdom now. Why appear again after eons? And why now? This was the question on her mind as she looked into the depths of space. And that boy...what will he do now?