Chapter 7: Shadows of the Past
The scene at the Northern Winds motel wasn’t exactly what Ice had expected when she had gone to speak with Lug Nut. A black chariot with a white snowflake emblazoned on the side sat just outside the door to the motel, pulled by a single pegasus clad in matching black armor who was distractedly staring into the distance as he waited for…whatever it was he was waiting for. The blue unicorn stopped across the street, waiting to see what was going on before she made up her mind on whether or not to continue over to the hotel.
After a few minutes of waiting, a cluster of ponies fully coated in black armor similar to that of the chariot pulling pegasus stepped out the front door. A lash of worry spread through Ice as she began to wonder what could have brought that many officers to the motel. Behind them trailed an officer she recognized, and the unicorn grew more worried from the frown on Goldenhoof’s face. Ice hadn’t seen the mare in a while, mostly because of the amount of work she did with the police, and partly because she tended to be on edge almost every time they talked. The unicorn knew that it was probably due to her work with the station, but it still made their meetings uncomfortable.
Whatever the team of armored ponies had been sent to the motel for, they apparently hadn’t found it, because no other ponies followed them out in chains to be taken away to the station. Goldenhoof stopped just outside the hotel and lifted her nose as she took a deep breath, shaking her head slowly and seeming to mumble something. Another flashed image and Goldenhoof was looking over to Ice, and then she was trotting across the street to her. The detective’s expression had softened, but she still didn’t look anything better than ‘mildly upset’.
“Good morning Cryssy,” the officer told her warmly, wrapping the unicorn into a hug.
Ice happily returned the hug, glad to see Goldenhoof could at least sound happier than she looked. “Good morning Gold,” she returned the introduction before breaking the hug. “Crazy day?” she asked with a wave to the motel.
“You could say that,” the officer answered with a sigh. “And from what I’ve heard, you had quite the day yesterday,” she suggested, apparently in no mood for pleasantries.
Ice frowned at the mention of her day, and was pretty sure she knew what Goldenhoof was doing at the motel. “You already talked with Lug Nut then?” she asked, hoping that it had gone well.
“Yes,” the officer replied flatly. “But I wish I didn’t.”
“Why’s that?” Ice asked with a raised brow.
“You tell me.” Goldenhoof stared at Ice with sad eyes, hoping the blind unicorn could still tell what her expression was begging for.
Ice sighed and lowered her gaze, shuddering inside at the thought of what had almost happened the day before. “He saved me yesterday…from those other two bucks,” she explained what Goldenhoof already knew. The officer had wanted it to be true, partly anyways. Part of her wanted to believe the blue mare had never been through such a thing, not after what she’d already gone through. Still, she took some confidence from the fact that she’d been spared what would have followed if Lug hadn’t been there.
“That’s…good,” Goldenhoof finally said, uncertain if it was what she should have told Ice.
“What’s wrong?”
The detective sighed, keeping her gaze away from Ice’s eyes as she tried to explain her new situation. “I’m glad he saved you, it’s amazing that a stranger would do that.” She paused, trying to think of the best way to word the rest of her decision. “But, that doesn’t completely clear him for murder. If he had just knocked out Sweep, it wouldn’t matter. I would smack him on the hooves and tell him ‘don’t hit ponies with pipes anymore’, but that’s not what happened. A pony died Ice,” the detective looked like she was about to fall in two pieces from her conflicting thoughts. On the one side, she didn’t think Lug had done anything wrong; anypony that planned to do that to a mare deserved death. But, on the other, the law didn’t see it that way. “I still have to take him in until we can get all of this sorted out.”
A frown curled onto Ice’s muzzle at the notion of Lug being imprisoned just because he saved her life, and from the sound of Gold’s voice, the detective wasn’t too pleased about it either. She considered trying to talk her out of it, but she’d heard the detective complaining about similar situations before. The law said what it said, and as a member of the Snowhoof Police Department she was obligated to enforce it to a tee. If whoever was in charge of the final decision ruled that the one charged was an acceptable exception to the law, then they could be released. Unfortunately, Goldenhoof was not that pony.
“Sorry Ice, I guess I better go explain everything to him,” the officer said in an irritated tone, turning away to face the motel once again. She sighed heavily before starting back across the street, trotting back into the motel without the other officers. Ice wanted to smile at the fact that her friend was comfortable enough to believe that Lug would come peacefully to leave her team downstairs, but she couldn’t.
Instead, the mare turned back the way she had come, a frown still dragging her face down as she slowly made her way back home for the night.
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Luna didn’t understand why it was taking so long for the odd mare to look through the last of her scrolls. She’d promised it would take only a few hours, yet almost half a day later she was still searching, and the Princess was growing impatient. She had already exhausted a sudden nap which overtook her while she waited, burning about four hours from her waiting, and hoping to awake with Ink Blot standing over her with the information she needed. Instead, her guards informed her that Ink was still digging through scrolls, appearing to be going over the entire collection a second time.
After finally losing any patience which remained, Luna lifted her hoof from the rather impressive drawing she’d made in the dirt and groaned. “What could be taking her so long?” she asked nopony in particular, rising back to her hooves and magically brushing the dirt from her belly. “Do they have no sense of urgency here?”
“Highness, perhaps while we wait you could speak with Praeses further,” one of the guards recommended in an attempt to calm the Princess.
Luna rounded on him, her eyes glaring into him as if he’d done some horrible wrong by suggesting that to her. “He knows nothing of Deimos, he already informed me of that,” she barked.
“But he may know more about how the escape may have occurred,” the guard quickly added, fighting the urge to back away from the princess before she did anything impulsive in her anger. She had not done such a thing recently, but the events of Nightmare Night in Ponyville the year following her return were still a reminder of her rather short temper.
Luna’s glare quickly softened at the recommendation, and she turned away from the nervous guard. “You make a good point, I will ask him more, and you will bring Ink Blot to the Warden’s office when she has finished her search,” she declared, proudly trotting away from the two guards who remained stiff outside of Ink Blot’s shack.
During her time in Tartarus, it became very clear that day and night had almost no difference within the prison. The red glow of Praeses’ shield remained constant with our without light from the sun, casting the entire area into an eerie state of purgatory. She wondered if the guards could even tell if it was day or night outside of the prison, and whether or not they cared one way or the other. She still didn’t quite understand the times of switching out fresh guards for those who grew weary and complacent after a long shift, it almost seemed random to her. One minute a guard would be at his post, and the next he would be replaced, but the guard further down the line would remain unchanged. Were she not at the prison for a specific purpose, Luna may have inquired further on their schedules, but it would have to wait for another time.
The one thing that did seem to remain constant was Praeses. There did not appear to be any form of bed or place to sleep within his office, yet she had never seen him leave. He may have gone off while she slept, but even for an Alicorn such as himself, remaining vigilant as he was must require more than a couple hours of sleep each night. Once again, this was something she would need to discover at a later time, after the business with Deimos had been dealt with.
Luna didn’t bother to knock before entering the office, finding Praeses exactly as he had been before; looking over stacks of paper which had somehow grown since her last visit. The Warden did not look up from his work, and simply acknowledged the Princess’ arrival with a quick, “Yes?”
The lack of proper acknowledgement pricked another hair from Luna’s patience, but for some reason she expected nothing less from the pony she’d only seen once before. “I have a few questions,” she said sternly.
“Ask them,” the other alicorn stated plainly.
A smirk spread across Luna’s muzzle at the Warden’s acceptance, her head hopeful that it wouldn’t end as quickly as it began. “Tell me how you think Deimos escaped.” Not really a question, but Luna didn’t care at the moment, staring at the soot-covered pony in anticipation.
“I don’t have a clue,” Praeses replied without even looking up from his papers.
Luna’s face deadpanned as she stepped closer to the desk. “I asked how you think he escaped, surely you have thought about it?” the Princess prodded.
“I have, but can think of no possibility.” Again with the shortness and the not looking up from his paperwork, seemingly more interested in his usual routine than an escaped evil.
“Well you must not be thinking hard enough,” Luna snapped at him. “Because Deimos did get out somehow!”
“I would appreciate you not shouting Princess.”
The blue alicorn’s face twisted into a scowl as dark clouds began to form within the room. “AND I WOULD APPRECIATE YOU COOPERATING WITH ME!” she shouted, her magic amplifying her voice to a point which caused the papers across Praeses’ desk to fly into the far wall. The Warden finally looked up to her, an expression that screamed ‘are you serious?’ plastered to his face as he rounded his desk.
“Princess, you don’t seem to understand much about Deimos,” he stated plainly, flexing his wings slightly. “He’s smart, much smarter than you or I.”
“Some filthy monster? Smarter than us?” she scoffed, but Praeses’ expression caused her to pause. “I thought you didn’t know anything about him?”
“I had to tell you that, and I’m sure you’ll understand once I explain.” The alicorn seemed in no way worried or stressed, keeping his tone level and soft. “You see, Deimos is…different, than the other prisoners we have here. Most are monsters, beasts so horrific they could send Equestria into chaos just by showing their faces nearby.” The alicorn began to pace in front of the Princess as he spoke. “But, there are some here who aren’t incarnations of death and senseless destruction. Deimos is one of them.
“Deimos was one of the first prisoners of Tartarus, he was here long before you, I, or your sister were even born. That is why Ink Blot has taken so long to find anything about him.”
As if on cue, the door behind them swung open and an even more disheveled Ink stood in the opening. “Princess! I’m so sorry, I looked through it all twice, but there’s nothing! NOTHING!” she whined loudly.
Both of the alicorns looked to the messy unicorn with surprise, waiting to see if she would yell anything else before they looked back to each other. “As I said, there is a reason she couldn’t find anything.”
“You knew?” the mare in the doorway yelped before falling on her chest with an exhausted sigh. “Why didn’t you just tell me I wouldn’t find anything?!”
“In a minute dear, I’ll get to it,” the Warden stated with a wave of his hoof. “The reason she wouldn’t find anything is because the ponies who captured him simply imprisoned him here, and left him alone. They didn’t want to go near him, so they didn’t bother to gather any records on him.”
“So…we know nothing about him?” Luna asked with a groan.
“I didn’t say that, I said there are no records.” Praeses quickly corrected the Princess. “The only knowledge of Deimos is within the heads of every guard here, including Ink Blot and myself.”
“Wait, what?” Ink asked quickly from the doorway, not bothering to rise from her chest.
“Most don’t know about it,” the alicorn quickly told her. “It’s very subtle, but Deimos likes to poke around in the mind of everyone who comes here, especially the guards. Usually, he does it in the form of nightmares the first couple of weeks a new guard is here. If they relent and ignore them, then he will stop torturing that particular guard. But if they are affected by the nightmares, Deimos won’t stop until that guard either abandons his post, or jumps into the chasm to end the thoughts.”
Luna gasped at the thought of guards jumping to the beasts waiting below, simply because an ancient monster needed his kicks. “Why would he do that?” she asked angrily.
“Because he needs our fear, he lives off of it,” the Warden explained coldly. “Without it, he would fade into nothing. You see, that’s what he is. Deimos needs us to remember that he is there, to believe in what he is, and he has grown very adept at reminding us here in Tartarus.”
“So, if we could somehow make you all forget, then he would disappear?” Luna asked brightly.
“No.”
Her hope disappeared and the brightness was replaced again by anger. “But, you just said…”
“I said we have to believe in what he is. And that is Fear. As Discord was the spirit of Chaos, Deimos is the spirit of Fear…if not more than that.” The last part of his explanation was a mere mumble, inaudible to Luna and Ink as they continued to stare at Praeses, still waiting to hear more. “That is why none of the ponies who captured him would go near him. He haunted their minds with images of what he could do, what he would do if they tried to study him. It was enough to keep them away.
“But, you probably want to know how I know all of this?” The alicorn looked between the two mares, both nodding briefly before he continued. “Because he told me himself, which leads me to his escape, and why I did not tell you about the lack of records, Ink.” The Warden trotted back behind his desk, his magic lifting the scattered papers back into neat piles. “Deimos began speaking to me soon after he relented in his torture of my mind, coming to me in dreams for simple conversation. He recognized me as the one who held the barrier which kept him and the other prisoners trapped here, and much like himself, not held by the same rules of age as the other guards.
“We talked most nights, most often about his past and how he came to be imprisoned. The story is long, spanning generations before Equestria was even formed, but very…interesting.” The alicorn looked to his two listeners, not surprised to see Ink passed out and snoring softly in the doorway. “When I took a few years to myself, leaving Tartarus for some time back in Equestria at your sister’s request, I ended up getting married to a nice young mare and having a foal. This was just over a decade ago, and I wasn’t too happy that I had to return after beginning such a great life outside of this hell.” A tone that almost sounded like resentment filled his voice and the Warden grit his teeth before returning to his story.
“Upon my return here, I was not graced with the nightmares of Deimos’ game as I had been the first time. Instead, the spirit seemed to completely ignore me, not even speaking to me for years after. I thought he must have found a new conversational partner, or that perhaps he had grown bored of me after so many centuries.
“I was so wrong,” he groaned, lowering his gaze to the ground. “About a week ago, Deimos spoke to me again in my dream, but not after putting me through the worst night of my life. I watched as he slowly tore apart my wife and daughter within my own mind. The bastard…he’d been planning for so long…” Praeses looked back up, his eyes glossed over as he recalled what happened. “He assured me, that he would escape someday, and that when he did he would find my family and destroy them, forcing me to watch as they were slowly torn from this world…unless I allowed him to escape.
“I refused him at first, telling him he would never get out. I didn’t realize how dedicated he could be, how cruel. He bombarded me with nightmares every night, dreams of the hundreds of ways he could escape; followed by the same horrible destruction of my family…I couldn’t take it.”
“You…you let him out?” Luna growled. “YOU LET HIM OUT?!” once again the papers flew across the room, and Ink jumped to her hooves with a start.
“I had to.” Praeses kept his calm demeanor, never averting his eyes from Luna’s. “If you had been in my position, you would have done the same…you can’t imagine what it’s like…to see that over and over again, and believe it is real every time…that’s why I couldn’t tell you…I don’t want to lose my family.”
Luna just stared, her pinprick pupils glaring at the Warden as he explained himself. Not only had he lied to her about knowing, but he had released the personification of fear upon Equestria after he had been imprisoned for longer than anyone could possibly know! She stomped her hoof, sending a bolt of lightning across her mane. “How do we stop him?” she spat.
“I don’t know,” the soot covered alicorn groaned. “But you need to find him.”
“And how do we do that?” Luna asked, her eyes glowing with rage.
Praeses looked into her eyes, a realization dawning on him of just how badly he had messed up. “I…I don’t know.”