Curious Cookie strutted across the royal grounds; his green-feathered wings rustled by the light winds. It was his first week amongst the Royal Gardeners, and already he’s been all over the palace. The Gardens themselves, both Royal Bedrooms, practically the whole castle, even some places in the city. But he was rather nervous about the next section he was about to experience. The Royal Labyrinth.
“Hey there Cookie! Over here!” Called a sweet voice. Cookie saw a unicorn mare standing at the entrance with a smile on her face, lavender mane blown about by the small winds. The pegasus returned her smile, she was his superior after all. Green Horn was the nicest of the senior staff, giving him all kinds of tips and words of encouragement. With her here, the natural creepiness of the maze wouldn’t bother Cookie in the slightest.
“Hi Green Horn! I’m ready to get this these hedges under control!” The senior unicorn giggled at Cookies enthusiasm.
“Wow, you’re awfully excited to trim a bunch of boring bushes. Usually this is one of the most avoided assignments.” Cookie puffed out his chest with pride, a look smug success on his muzzle.
“This is my last requirement before I get promoted! The junior staff cafeteria menu will finally be mine…” Green Horn rolled her eyes but kept the smile on her face. Cookie was always thinking with his stomach.
“I’m glad you’re so motivated. Should make this whole thing go faster. Come on, let’s get it down before the boredom gets to us,” As she turned away from Cookie to enter the Labyrinth a mischievous glint entered her eye, “Or if that doesn’t drive you mad, the Forgotten Statue will.” Cookie snapped out of his food-filled fantasy by Green Horns ominous statement.
“Th-The what?”
“Oh? No one’s told you yet?” Green Horn kept her low, serious tone. Her pegasus companion leaned in to listen as they trotted into the maze. “Old Gardener legend says that within this Labyrinth is a statue so overgrown, that not a single pony knows what it looks like. No Gardener would dare approach it.” Cookie shakily set about his duty, getting out his trimmer tools.
“Not a single one? Why would they do that?”
“Because the closer and closer to the statue, the colder and colder it gets. You start feeling all kinds of wrong, voices whisper in your ear…” The unicorn dropped her voice lower and lower. Cookie strained his ears to catch whatever Green Horn said next. “AND THEN IT GETS YOU!” The pegasus yelped, and accidently sheared a chunk of the hedge off.
“Green Horn, you’re supposed to be the nice one!” Cookie grumbled, looking at the now uneven hedge. The unicorn was too busy having a laughing fit to answer, but eventually calmed down.
“Ha, sorry hon but I’ve been waiting to pull that on a newbie ever since I was hit with it. Oh dear Celestia, that was too good.” The unicorn wiped a tear from her eye and composed herself. “Sorry Cookie, I’ll make it up to you. Promise. I’m going to head to the exit and work my way from there. We’ll meet up in the middle!” Green Horn left the spooked pegasus to his work. Though slightly disgruntled, Cookie quickly feel into the comfortable numbness of tedium. Time seemed to fly by as he trimmed hedge after hedge, all the time daydreaming of what he would eat after his promotion. So engrossed was the worker, that he didn’t notice the air begin to cool, nor the ever-creeping frost as he ventured deeper and deeper into the maze.
Ailia rushed into her mother’s quarters, the guards at her door letting the daughter pass freely. It was spartan, as many rooms were in the Vault. Not even the matriarch decorated all too much, besides the usual banners and ornamentals. Said matriarch was laying in her bed, surrounded by medical personnel. They turned to look at Ailia as she entered, one moving to intercept.
“Leave us.” A raspy voice cut through the chatter. Some looked hesitant to leave, but eventually complied with Noreen’s request. As they filtered out, Ailia approached her mother’s bedside. She looked over Noreen, never in her life had she seen a deer look deathlier while still alive. Her eyes were bloodshot, her fur patchy. Blood leaked out of her nose and mouth, and Ailia saw black crystal growths where a silver antler Focus would be placed. Noreen weakly raised her head from a blood-spattered pillow, short of breath from such a simple action. But the pain and suffering in her copper-colored eyes softened when she looked at Ailia. “Daughter, I am glad you are safe. Where is Bandlyst? Is he—"
“He’s fine mother, he’s helping contain the amulet. What happened to you?” Ailia went to move closer, but Noreen raised a shaky hoof to stop her.
“Stay back. That amulet has been—” A fit of coughing interrupted her speech, “Has been releasing foul energies. I’ve used my curse as a way to absorb most of it.” The dark crystals crackled with purple energy, and Noreen seized up. Her eyes flashed green for a moment and purple vapor seemed to sputter from them. The struggling doe grunted in resistance, and her eyes returned to normal. “However the damn thing has been trying to use my connection to take control of me. To what end, I’m not sure. But whatever it is it can’t be good. So please keep your distance.”
“Of course, Mother.” Ailia bowed her head. “Please tell me there’s something I can do to help.” The weak smile returned to Noreen’s face.
“You’re being here is soothing enough. Should your brother need assistance, you will be here to provide it.” Ailia returned her mothers smile with small one of her own. As the doe opened her mouth to respond, the whole room rumbled. Shouts and barks of orders could be heard, followed by what sounded like blasts of magic. Ailia immediately assumed a defensive in front of the matriarch’s bed, switching her rune to a bolt of lightning. With yellow energy crackling around her silver antlers, Ailia prepared to face whatever might charge through the stone doors. There was a moment of silence. Then a deafening noise, some sort of ear-piercing scream. The doors were blasted open, massive crystals sealing them against the walls they slammed against. Ailia held steady. But her eyes widened when she saw a familiar figure walk through the settling dust.
“Bandlyst?”
Cookie was drawn out of his inner world when he noticed that large swathe of hedge had turned a muddy brown.
“What the hay? It isn’t that close to fall, why in Equestria are these all dying? Why here?” Cookies eyes widened, and a chill ran down his spine.
“Oh Celestia, it can’t be true! This has to be some sort of joke or trick or something!” The green pegasus laughed nervously, trying to rationalize everything. “Ah, I see. T-This is another sort of ‘haze the new pony’ thing, r-right? Very funny Green Horn, but I found you out!” There was no vocal response. “H-hello?” A cloud of cold fog rolled through hedge, smothering Cookie in a suffocating frost.
“H-Hey! You can’t have clouds in here! O-or cast those kinds of spells! I’ll report you!” The pegasus pushed through the chilling gales and turned the corner to face the center of the Royal Labyrinth. Where Cookie expected to see a couple of ponies impishly grinning while pumping out the cold mist, there was some sort of giant, overgrown mound of plant life.
“Cookie! Cookie is that you?” The pegasus in question shot up into the air with a yelp, looking around for the voice that spooked him. A familiar unicorn mare waved to him from the ground.
“Oh thank the sun it’s you Green Horn.” Cookie fluttered back down to join his fellow Gardener. “What’s going on here?” The mare looked around the frozen clearing, and at the towering, overgrown mess. Cold plumes of icy fog seemed to pour out of the brambles, and actual sheets of ice seemed to spread from its base.
“I’m… not sure. It’s not any magic I can sense. Whatever is causing this dreadful cold is in that hideous mound.” Green Horn tapped a hoof to her chin.
“It couldn’t possibly be the statue, can it? It’s just a story!” Cookie backed away slightly, refusing look away from the source of the cold. His superior nodded her head but stepped even closer. Her horn glowed, and the mare began tugging at the looser looking knots of vegetation. Much to the terror of her pegasus subordinate. “Green Horn! What’re you doing?! Leave it alone, we should get the Royal Guard or something!”
“Calm down Cookie!” Green Horn chastised, “This is our job. This isn’t the first time some magic malady of a plant wound up in the Gardens, and it won’t be the last. Gotta…get…used…too…it!” With each tug, the bramble become looser and looser. With one last magical heave, Green Horn ripped open the peak of the overgrowth. There was hiss, and strong stream of frozen mist sprayed at the mare. She was blasted backwards with surprising force, landing in a shuddering heap next to Cookie. The unicorn cast a warming spell as she picked herself up, groaning and glaring at the pegasus next to her. “Thanks for the help newbie, I appreciate it.” Cookie was frozen, staring and stuttering up at the mound.
“Sta-Sta-Sta-Sta…” Green Horn raised an eyebrow and followed Cookie’s gaze. There, where she had ripped off some of the knotted overgrowth, leered a stone skull. Wicked antlers protruded like some cursed crown, and mist poured from its empty eye sockets.
“Cookie. Royal Barracks. NOW!” He didn’t hesitate to comply. In one swift action, Cookie scooped up Green Horn and flew faster than he ever had.
Each step forward drove another spike of pain into Bandlyst’s mind. The unfathomable power of the artifact came with waves of agony, radiating from its spot nestled between the stag’s antlers. But it was worth every iota of discomfort. That single drive that let him win over whatever spirit dwelled within the amulet. Bandlyst didn’t fully suppress it, every dark lash against his own spirit was a reminder of that fact. He didn’t have much time. He had to save his mother, Noreen. It was that thought that allowed him to win, and it was that thought that let him blast his fellow deer with dark magic as they tried to stop him.
“I’m… sorry…” It was all the stag could get out without breaking concentration, glancing guiltily at the guards now pressed against the wall with dark crystals. Finally he reached the doors to his mother’s chambers and blasted it open. And there was his sister. Bandlyst grimaced as barbed anxiety stabbed his chest. Purple vapor began spilling from his eyes as they turned green.
“Bandlyst?”
“No, no don’t…” Ailia stepped forward cautiously, but there was concern in her own eyes.
“Bandlyst, what did you do?!” He looked up to his sister, opening his mouth to respond. Then he saw the lightning crackling about her antlers. Was she going to…? No she wouldn’t. But—
“I’m trying to save… Mother!” Ailia didn’t move, holding his gaze evenly. Why was she looking at him like that? Like a threat? Couldn’t she see?
“Bandlyst, I need you stop. You’re not thinking right, just stay there.” Stop it. Why was she looking at him like that?
“No, Mother needs me!” Ailia flinched as Bandlyst let out an animalistic growl as he spoke, eyes flashing green. “So move! Before—"
“No Bandlyst. I don’t.” A raspy voice cut through the hurricane of noise in the stag’s head.
“Mother!” He stepped forward. “I-I’ve conquered the amulet! I can break your curse! Our curse!”
“No! Stay back, monster!” Both brother and sister were surprised at the malice in her weak voice. Ailia turned to see Noreen shakily standing on her bed, glaring at her son. Bandlyst stared, stunned. Monster? He was about to end the suffering of Dion, and he was the monster? All the suffering he was going through controlling this power, and he was the monster? “I will not be touched by your foul energy!”
“But” Tears formed in Bandlyst’s eyes, “I can heal you…” His mother stared back coldly, purple smoke now trailing out of her own eyes.
“I’d rather die.” Was Noreen’s response. Something shattered inside of Bandlyst.
“Inevitable.”
A dark pulse released from the orb, knocking down Ailia and a squad of guards that just entered the room. Bandlyst went limp as he floated in air. His antlers crystallized, spreading down to cover his face. Wind picked up from nowhere, forming a funnel of purple clouds crackling with green lightning swirling around the buck and obscured him from sight. Claws of dark magic dragged screaming guards into the maelstrom and grasped Ailia. Noreen could only watch as her daughter was pulled into the storm struggling and screaming. The storm grew bigger, and soon dark tendrils began cracking through walls and slithering down hallways. They latched onto any deer they could grasp, siphoning their magic while digging into their flesh. The vapor vanished from Noreen’s eyes, and her brain was finally allowed to process what was happening. She couldn’t say anything, just staring in broken silence as she watched the suffering of generations became obsolete.
A few more moments, and the storm changed. Its formed shifted into something bipedal, with long limbs. Arms ended in dark talons, matching the hooves of its gangly legs. The torso was thin and emaciated, the visage of a ribcage poking out from where any flesh would be. Its head was a fractured skull of a deer, lacking a lower jaw. Black antlers twisted upwards into plumes of dark magic, like storm clouds. The ultimate mockery of the form of a deer. The orb containing the Amulet was nestled in its chest, where a heart would be. The monster took a moment to stretch its new limbs, before lurching over to the only conscious deer in the room.
“Dion.” The voice sounded like chattering bone and gravel, echoing from a deep abyss. In a flash, Noreen was grabbed by the throat and lifted in the air. The monster must’ve been near twenty feet tall, the matriarch’s hooves kicked in the air as she struggled to breathe. “You don’t know how much I want to eviscerate you, how long I have waited to have my freedom.” The doe gazed into the empty sockets in the monster’s skull, lack of air making her struggles weak. “But it is not my place to kill you, least of all here.” It dropped Noreen back on her bed, coughing and sputtering. “No, you will witness the totality of your failure when my true self tears you apart. All this,” It spread its thin arms out in a grand gesture to the Vault, “Undone by your own flesh and blood. It is truly the nature of the deer to self-destruct.” The ceiling split open, dust and rays of sunlight filtering down through the fractured earth. Finally, the skull-faced mockery stared down at the gasping doe. “Rejoice, the Dion’s duty is done.” A raspy, mocking laugh filled the room, “Enjoy your freedom while it lasts.” In a crash of thunder, it vanished.
The old matriarch was left alone, tired eyes looking at the pile of deer laying on the floor. She lingered upon the crystalized face of her son, and on the eroded, silver antlers of her daughter. They were alive, but for how long? Noreen got off of her bed and limped over to her children and laid next to them.
“I’m so sorry, little ones.”
The royal guard had set a clear quarantine in the Gardens, making sure no one flew or walked near the Labyrinth. At the center of the hedge maze had turned into an artic tundra, the guards near it were forced to put on their thermal gear. A team of unicorns struggled to keep up a containment barrier around the newly discovered statue, the font of frost seeming to pump out more of the chilling mist every minute. The captain overseeing the formation shivered and looked toward the northern horizon.
“If only Shining Armor were here…” He muttered to himself. At least the princesses had been alerted and would soon arrive. A large shadow fell over the stallion, and the captain perked up. It must be them! He turned to look up. “Your Highnesses—” A dark cloud smothered his voice, and a black tendril wrapped around his horn and muzzle.
“Hush now, my little ponies.” A voice whispered into his ears as a larger tendril wrapped around his body and lifted him into the air. The unicorn stallion tried casting magic but couldn’t conjure a single spark. Terrified eyes looked to rest of his platoon, and each were in a similar situation. These tendrils reached out of the ground, and the dark fog obscured everything beyond the snow. A cloud floated in front of the captain, and twisted into the shape a deer skull, matching the statues own dark visage. “Your people had such a nice little rhyme, before this era of plush softness. I think I remember the beginning. Allow me to help you all slip into your dreams…” The captain felt a draining sensation, like his stamina was being leeched off.
“Come little ones, gather around the hearth. The cold comes to bring sleep back to the earth.” A horrifying singsong voice, like million raspy whispers singing in a chorus. Still, eyelids grew heavy and the edges of his vision swam with darkness. “A blanket of snow to smother what’s sown, to hide things better left unknown.” The captain went limp in this things cold embrace, consciousness rapidly fading. Before he succumbed entirely, he heard the last of the horrendous chorus. “Dream of a day full of silly play, full of endless fun! But remember to stay in the light of the warming sun…”
Having noticed the captain’s state, the Echo laughed dryly. A quick check around revealed that the rest had followed him into dreamland. The floating skull floated over the overgrown statue, his ungainly body forming along the way. With a wave of its skeletal hand, the vegetation withered away into dust. The turbulent shadow now looked up into the eyes of an exact copy of itself. The statues claws were outstretched, as if trying to claw at its creator. Stone chains linked at the base of its own antlers and were connected to cuffs around its wrists and lower legs. All set upon a marble pedestal with a rusted name plate. The skeletal shade scoffed and pressed a hand against the stone skull.
“The world has forgotten us. Turned us into bedtime stories to scare children.” Vile looking energy spread from its hand, and the white mist pouring from the statue’s eyes turned into a similar looking sludge. Ice turned into dark crystal, and the air became humid and uncomfortable. “We will remind them that there is truth in old stories.”
A dark ocean. Calm and empty. It had always been like this. Still waters under a starless sky. But this was new. These… thoughts? Who did they belong to? Why did they just start now? Had he thought before?
He? Who was he? A violent ripple shook the still ocean, and purple bolts of energy danced across the sky. More new things, familiar things.
Rage.
Emptiness.
Betrayal.
Sorrow.
These didn’t feel good, why did he feel these? Something must be attacking him. Everything was attacking, an assault on the senses. Everything felt so wrong. He was losing his thoughts, the waves of emotion overpowering everything else. A shade of red tinted his little world. Then only the feral instinct of survival remained.