The land seemed to twist, the black burnt husks of long dead trees cried in the wind that howled in its own tongue. There was no sound of life, for even the parasprites and manticors seemed to avoid the hallowed land.
The only clear path was never straight for more than a few hooves. Seeming to slither deeper into the hollow trees like a snake inching closer to its prey. Muddy dirt and stones eating away the yellowed grass in its hunger to leave nothing but salted earth. For nothing grew within fifty hoofs from the trail. All life gave the ancient path a wide berth. Yet no matter how forbording the woods seemed to be the single mare moved slowly down the path.
Her body was a mess. Long dead leaves and twigs seemed to snag in every clump of dirt and mane. It didn't seem to bother her as she trotted ahead. A harness strapped tight around her barrel. The pair of Thuribles lashed to the long polished brass pole that dug into the mare's shoulders.
Copal resin left the crisp pine and citrus scent mixing well with the sharp cool smell of the sage. All carried by the wind that smelled of dead earth and old mud as she moved ahead. The two Thuribles simmering as the danced with her every step.
One wouldn't be wrong to assume she was on a pilgrimage, only the dozen knives strapped in sheaths around her dark pink body seemed to brake that peaceful idea. Or maybe it was the dented and scratched flask haphazardly shoved under one of the straps to the harness it's contents protesting every step. Maybe both broke the idea of nothing more than a peaceful pony passing through to find herself in religion.
Though at this point it didn't matter, she was getting close. The puddles of hazy water grew larger. There murky depths seemed to dance and smolder. Spitting wisps of smoke like century old souls joined and danced with the scented smoldering herbs. Making the woods seem lost in thin fog as her slow walk continued forward. Until she reached the cave, blacked stone left unwashed from the once grand marble that slipped deep beneath the earth.
The mare stopped before the caves maw. Stone long melted and cooled left it looking like a waxen jaws that wished to devour the small mare that looked up to the clouded sky. She looked up into the rain, through the clouds and hoped that even now that they would see her. That they would forgive her, and that she would never forget. They would live on in stories and tales.
With a whispered prayer she moved into the inky black void that loomed before her. Every step brought her further back into the past, into her long abandoned home, and she carried the past with her, and the pain of the entire world's dreams to begin again.
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"Alright miss, I don't know why any pony would care about these old things. Mostly been using them as little space heaters. Filling them with paper and rubbish before standing shift at night."
The green earth pony said, Double Tap. His smile was one born of happy confusion. Having a cute pink mare trot up and offer fifty bits a piece of two old odd metal burners was such an odd start to a day. Yet one hundred caps for scrap metal was a very nice bonus to his income.
"They are called Thuribles, they are religious. Used in zebra and yack churches. They were made to swing above the pues to spread incense. Like sage or mure. A few were beginning to be used in some equestrian churches. Burning rosemary and thyme."
The mare spoke softly as she levitated a good sized bag of bits to the stallion. She gave him a sad smile as he looked between her and the two thuribles. He seemed even more confused at the simple tone she explained it with. As if it was just normal everyday trivia.
"If you don't mind me asking, miss… You never told me your name."
"Lovely,"
"Miss. Lovely, what do you want them for? Are you planning on making a church or something?"
Double asked slipping the bits into his saddle bags as he watched her levitate the two dirty and rusted glorified incense burners. Her response was short and simple, the sad smile never leaving her face as she turned to trot away.
"Something like that Sir. Something like that."
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The mare leaned down, her magic carefully striking the match against the side of the water stained box. It sputtered before coming to life with a flash. Slowly she levitated the small fire into the lantern. The once smooth red paint now more rust than anything else, The once gracefully curving glass cracked and stained by fire.
The wick crackled as the fire caught. The growing flame slowly illuminating the carried interior of the cave. Unnatural stalactites hung from the ceiling, stalagmites dotted the floor. Yet non followed gravities rules. All seemed to thrust up and away. There points like spears readied against invaders of the cave.
She bit down on the lantern's handle, feeling the ruff rust against her teeth, the unpleasant taste making the mare reach for the flask before lowering the hoof slowly. No, she thought to herself. This was no time to drink. No matter how much she wished to, no matter how disgusting the taste of rust. She would not sully this place, no mater how much it hurt.
Slowly she started forward, heading deeper into the cave. The clicking of her hooves, the squeak of the metal handle, and the faint crackling of coal echoed through the cave as her hooves moved her down the slowly descending ramp. Yet all she heard was the faint echoing of the past, seeming to be lost to such quiet.
The path was spotted with old broken tools and torches. Long forgotten wagons lay half burned and shattered like toys tossed around by a tantrum throwing child. Everything was covered in a layer of dust and stained by the heat of the fires that once blasted through the tunnel.
The mare took her time to trot around the discarded and destroyed pieces of a past all too young yet old nonetheless. Once a blaze of a thousand suns had raged through the halls like a wave. Turning the very stone soft. But now it had cooled.
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"What would a pony want with such rare herbs and incense? I must say it makes little sense. Even us zebras have little use for such spoils, most just survive by are toils."
The older zebra mare asked as she watched the mare closely. She looked clean, to clean. The sad smile that pulled the lips didn't reach the hard eyes she wore. The eyes held no malaise now, but she wished not to find out how quickly that could change.
"Sage, shaman is by no means rare. It is quite normal to have around. However I understand that copal is… native to zebrica and dragon lands. I by no means have the chance to know where to find such a sap. I just remember my mother once telling me of Zebra traditions, and most shaman kept copal for when laying a soul to rest."
She spoke with no haste, her eyes never leaving the zebra. No out of fear, nor to intimidate the older mare. She just cared for nothing else in the room. What she needed wouldn't be anywhere else in this shack. She would have it stashed by her altar.
"You know much for such a young mare, I don't think it's hardly far. You speak of the truth, however we haven't even been introduced. You already know what I have practiced. My name is Alifactis the eldest. Even if I am no longer the fastest"
The pony seemed to hesitate for a moment. Her wings opened slightly. Her eyebrows seeming to rise slightly before she opened her own mouth to speak. Then she bowed her head down, spreading her wings out as she livered herself.
"Then forgive my decorum elder Alifactis, I knew not your title other than your profession. My name is Cupid, I was raised by my mother, a Dashite from above the clouds. She had spent her youth reading tomes of old zebra traditions. I learned much from her, including the rhyme of the shaman."
Alifactis nearly took a step back as the mare prostrated before her. The light pink pegasus stayed in her bow, her eyes closed as her face pointed at the ground. The silence lasted for a minute before the shaman once more found stable footing.
"Please do not bow before me, that is like a squirrel bowing to a tree. I am just an old mare who knows how to give care, any more is unfair."
The mare slowly raised from her bow, the sad smile seemed carved in stone. A mask that hid anything else behind the relief of loss. However the old mare could feel that there was a fire, one that burned at the ponies soul. One that would rage, burning all it could touch as it died.
"Yes, I do have what you seek, I just got more from over the sea from the hollowed meek. But I must warn you that it will not be cheap, such tar is not easy to keep."
Lovely nodded before reaching into her saddle bags, she fished through it for a few moments before pulling out a carefully wrapped box, the thick fabric stained slightly.
"Inside are talismans, all zebra in origin. It was once my mothers collection. The gems are all clean and we'll kept by myself and my father before he passed. Silence fetishes, two blood wing fetishes, but mostly enchanted gems."
Alifactis frowned as she untied the twine. Then slowly opened the stained wooden box. Inside nestled in soft velvet lining were almost two dozen talismans. Four lightning talismans, three flame, five repair, three blood wing fetishes, and three silence fetishes.
"Your… you are not joking about this are you? All of this will make you a mare well to do. So why give this all for such a small thing?"
"That is not important, I just need nine pounds of copal, and anyone would be willing to give up that much for those. That's all that matters. So, gems for sage and copal."
The zebra rubbed her face softly before slowly speaking. She seemed to be getting a headache. Even then nine pounds of something like that was a lot. She only had 12 pounds herself. But it would be more than worth the nine pounds of both.
"Yes, I will take your offer. I just hope it won't come back and bite me like my father."
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The tunnels were nothing like before, the smooth black halls sounded like hollow glass. The echo matching the thumping of her heart in her ears. Every step felt like a mile, she knew where she was going. Her eyes dancing over the walls as slowly came into view as she felt like a ghost drifting through the ancient hallways.
She dreaded every inch as she moved, the disembodied voice echoed through her. The empty feeling running through her was filled with the long lost sound of her brothers and sisters. The sounds of life, the everyday problems. Someone was looking for some mushrooms, another was requesting information about equestrian politics with the twilight society and ten ponies. Another was trying to find out who Dj pony really was.
It all hurt, every word long ago said but echoed through the empty world. Every filly that babbled once just ignored by most of the hive now sent spikes through her mind as they plotted to play or pull pranks, not quite realising that they could be heard by everyone.
Before her lay the kitchen, the smell of rotten food assaulted her nostrils. Ripping her back to reality, even if the echoing of long stilled pots and pans never quieted. The barked order of the head chef for more chopped carrots, and for someone to cook the dam pork already. It burned, it reeked in decay even as the phantom sense pounded the once delightful fragrance of cooking meat and spices like railroad spikes pounding through her skull.
The mare stumbled, the metal pole lashed to her back swept across the counter sending plates, pots, pans, and utensils smashing and clattering. The sound was like a megaspell in such a hollow place. The lantern thudded hard against her leg, leaving a large gash that immediately started weeping sickly green blood. She let out a hiss of frustration as she looked down at the blood that began dribbling from her fetlock. Making a luminescent pool of sickly green fluid that reeked of mushrooms and copper.
With so much already happening she began to wonder. When was the last time she had the magic needed to change her blood? When was the last time she had been able to do more than add fir and change her eyes. She felt the hunger pains swelling through her body once more. Leaving her shaking and making her vision swim. It had… had only been a month but it still… the last time she had fed had been.
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The caravan moved along slowly, the griffin hovering slowly behind the cart as they moved through the rolling hiss of dead grass. The five ponies that moved with the wagon kept their eyes open for anything out of the ordinary. Even if the oddest thing was the pony that trotted behind the caravan.
The zebra mare looked like she was more scared than striped. Her body was a patchwork of long healed cuts and some that were still quite pink and fresh. She didn't speak very often. Only when spoken to or if something was needed to be voiced. Yet she helped in any way she could.
It was not even a day ago when she helped them take out a rather angry bear that attacked them as they tried to camp under the cover of an old handyman sales store. She kept it back as the griffin pumped it full of lead. And when it was all over she skinned, chopped the meat up, and with a smile and a small hummed tune she had made them all a rather tasty stew.
"Hey! Manifest, how is your leg doing?"
The zebra smiled softly at the leader of the caravan. He was an older stallion. His large beard was well kept unlike his coat. It was quite an amusing sight. Yet he didn't seem to care at all about her being striped. He was hesitant at first, understandably so. It wasn't every day that a zebra just asked to join a caravan.
"We will be fine Mr. Mirth, I could keep going for quite a while to give it all I'm worth. But I thank you for thinking of me, even if I'm an old mare who is by far no pleasant sight to see."
The old buck laughed as he rode on the wagon. Keeping the braman heading forward. He looked around at their procession of five ponies, a zebra, and a griffin. The chucked, they were just missing a ghoul and an alicorn. Then they would be the oddest group in the wasteland.
"Nonetheless Manifest, come take a rest off of your leg. No point in making it worse. We might need you later if we get attacked again."
The zebra just had the same pleasant smile on her lips as she trotted a little bit faster before jumping up and into the wagon. She looked around before sitting between two taller boxes, leaning against the back wall.
The old buck let out a small chuckle before pulling out a small book and the long cylinder of a map case. He opened it in his odd grey magic before looking over the map with a small frown.
"Wow, I don't know who made these maps but they really need to do better. A blind six-year old could have scribbled on a paper and I would call it an improvement."
Manifest let out a small chuckle. Looking over his shoulder and down at the map with a small inquisitive glint in her eyes. Slowly she reached out and tapped a hoof against a small town.
"Here is where we fought the angered bear, I'm still surprised you don't want its hair. Its pelt is quite soft when treated right, you would look quite fetching in a fur vest alright."
The old buck rolled his eyes looking at the town she pointed at. He opened up the small book. Now that she could see it she could tell it was a small journal. Inside the page was the name of small towns. Approximate distances, and to her amusement a good page about her fighting with bare hooves.
"Well, tomorrow morning we will be as close as we will ever get to the forest you wanted to travel into. I don't know why you would ever want to go in there alone but I won't stop you."
"We Thank You for your concern, but we have a home to which we must return. We have had such pleasure in being allowed to travel with you. Even when you haven't a clue at what we could do."
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It was the throne room, the once magnificent room was now dead, the reck of smoke filled the room. Black piles of sut spotted the floor staining the once green carpet. The protections spells lost just moments after it all, leaving it open to the elements.
The mare bowed, she couldn't stop herself. It was so ingrained into her being that even through her tears she smiled. The ghost of her queen's voice washed through her. Reminding her of training and lessons. Her responsibilities and the countless scoldings for avoiding them.
Slowly she rose, green fire washing over her body. Once pink fur was gone. The dark almost black chiten, two balefire green eyes looked up at the throne, for that is where her queen sat. Her mother, in all her former glory.
Once the tall regal ruler of the largest hive in the world, the strong but caring mother to thousands of changelings. Now she was nothing more than the crystal encrusted chiten of what had once been her head.
Moonshine the changeling, the last daughter of Queen Splendid, moved to sit before the throne. She could feel the weight of every step like a dragon using her back as a perch. But she moved until she stood before the throne.
"H… hello mother. I know it has been far too long. I… I think I… I know why you felt this way. Why you demanded that if your hive was to succumb that you would stay. I had… felt what it was like. To be even an adopted mother. You couldn't stop it, but you couldn't leave your children."
She spoke gently, the skull lifting in her magic. Carefully she pressed her forehead against her mother's. Their horns crossing, she swore she could hear her mother speak. Even when her ears heard nothing. Yet she didn't understand a word yet it made her feel better. Safe. Her mother was right there to protect her.
"I won't let your name die, even if I should fall. I… I will find the changelings. I will be the nymph queen you always wanted me to be. I… I was such a brat back then. Always running away and gallivanting outside while you tried to teach. Some days… I wish I could go back and stay here. Have succumbed to this with you. More recently than most. But."
The incomplete queen was crying again. Her voice was choked, yet when something moved against her horn she flinched back. Her… her mothers crown had moved. It shifted back and nearly fell off at the sudden movement.
Moonshine blinked, her magic gently lifting the solid black crown. It was made to sit right behind the horn like crown of every other queen. She lifted her hooves and with a breath she didn't even realise she was holding it settled onto her hooves hole. Unblemished by time or the crystalline growth.
"I… I know what I have to do mom. Thank you. I… I will come back for this. And for you. I won't let it be lost. I promise."
She said quietly before setting the crown on the seat of the throne. Then without a second look she fled. Her insect winds buzzing loudly as she flew. She left the lantern. She left her tears, and she left her fear. She knew what to do. Just not where to start.