//------------------------------// // Prologue. // Story: Consequences // by Naren //------------------------------// The sky was dark, gray and black clouds blotting out the moon. The wind whipped at his cloak, the bells on his hat rattling fiercely. Starswirl, Element of Sorcery, stood over the burning corpse of a once great city. Combat still raged throughout the streets, but the fate of the battle was set in stone. The forces of good, of Harmony, had won this day. Yet the sky was still dark, and the fires still raged. Victory was a hollow thing to those who wouldn’t see it.  As Starwswirl swept his gaze over the battlefield, his eyes landed at a most horrific sight indeed. A pony, who was just a foal, was surrounded by a dozen others. They wore robes and hoods, all colored black and dark purple. One of them, the leader most likely, raised a dagger high into the air.  Starwirl acted quickly, and efficiently. Gray light crackled around his horn, causing a bolt of lightning to come hurtling from the heavens. It struck the knife, vaporizing it and the pony holding it. The cultists closest to their leader shared his fate, being atomized by a billion volts of energy. The rest of them cried out, looking for the pony that had killed their comrades. Starwirl strode towards them, magic swirling around him. It formed into a ball above him, crackling with power. The back of the ball was pulled until it resembled a spike, or an arrow. With a flash from his horn, he unleashed the spell.  The bolt of gray light shot forward, faster than any archer could shoot a bow. It slammed into one of the cultists, piercing the pony’s head and continuing until it hit the next one. Four cultists had been sent to the grave with one spell, and Starswirl wouldn’t, couldn’t, stop now. The only way evil could be stopped was through total annihilation.  It was a lesson he hadn’t taught the sisters yet, for good reason. It was a horrible, but necessary truth. They two alicorns were still young, barely older than the foal he was trying to save. There was a reason he hadn’t brought them to this battle.  The Cultists finally noticed the approaching unicorn, crying out and readying for battle. With a flick of his horn, the Element of Sorcery grabbed their robes in a telekinetic grip. With a surge of magic, he threw all in different directions. There were still six cultists, but they were isolated.  One of them recovered faster than the others, and with a yell, she rushed towards Starswirl. Her charge was met with a wall of gray fire. She died screaming. Another, a Unicorn, began to prepare a spell. Starswirl acted quicker, creating a blade of his gray magic above the unicorn’s head. The Unicorn never got to finish his spell-his head was cleanly separated from his body. As Starswirl killed another cultist with his magic, one of the two remaining cultists tried to flee. He was a Pegasus, trying to fly away as quickly as possible. Starswirl surrounded his horn with magic and cast another spell. Ice formed on the Pegasus’s wings, causing the Cultist to be too heavy to fly. He screamed as he fell to his death. There was one cultist left, but instead of trying to fight or run, he chose a third option. He pulled a dagger and grabbed the foal. The cultist held the knife against the foal’s throat, an obvious attempt at securing a hostage. Starswirl paused. Any magic collecting around his horn would signal that he was about to cast a spell and cause the foal to die. He would have to act fast-or he would have. The problem was solved by the dark gray blade sticking out of the cultists throat. The pony behind the cultist pulled the blade out with crimson magic, swirling the sword in the air to rid it of the blood. The foal had been saved, and the last cultist drowned in his own blood. Starswirl looked towards the Stallion that had saved the kid and prepared his thanks. “Thank you, King Sombra. That cultist had created a challenging issue.” The King of the Crystal Kingdom looked towards him in appreciation. The gray unicorn was wearing dark gray armor, most likely the same material as his sword. A red cape covered most of his armor, the crimson matching his eyes and magic. The magic swirled around his straight and sharp horn, bathing the King in a red light.  “And I thank you for asking for my aid. These atrocities have to be stopped.” The Crystal King said. It was true, Starswirl had indeed sent for aid from the Crystal Kingdom. While it was true that there were rumors about the Crystal Kingdom and its King; that the King practiced dark magic; He was one of the only ones Starswirl trusted to do the right thing. After all, these atrocities, this evil, had to be stopped. At any cost.  Starswirl looked towards the foal, and saw that while he had passed out, he was still breathing. The Sorcerer cast a ball of magic into the air, which began to shine with a green and red light. A beacon, marking wounded. Sure enough, within minutes ponies came, to recover the foal and ensure he had suffered no injuries. This area was thoroughly clear of Cultists, but the main temple was not. The Sorcerer and King moved as a pair, striking towards the last place the enemy still held. They crossed the streets as a team, slaughtering any cultist they came across. Sombra’s Sword combined with Starswirl's Sorcery made them nigh unbeatable. Together, they carved a path straight towards the enemy stronghold. It was a massive pyramid, horrific monsters posing as gargoyles adorning its steps. At the very top of the structure was an obelisk, extending high into the dark sky. It seemed to pulse, causing the very fabric of reality to ripple. It was…it seemed to eat away at his mind. Starswirl averted his gaze, banishing the feeling. He looked at the gray King next to him and saw that he too was staring at the obelisk. With a gentle nudge of his magic, he moved Sombra’s head.  The King snapped his head towards the sorcerer, but instead erupting in an angry tirade, he simply gave a slight nod. It would appear that the King had some experience with dark, or darker, magic. Regardless, they needed to press forward.            The main gates were closed, but they held no chance against the unicorns. The Doors were blasted open, throwing shrapnel into the cultists behind it. The screams that erupted from the attack only highlighted their foolishness.  A wave of magic poured from Starswirl’s horn, transforming into gray fire. It washed into the hallway, burning the cultists alive. Sombra followed directly after the spell, his sword spinning in the air. Anypony that had not been killed by the fire was swiftly dispatched by the Crystal King. They pushed farther into the temple, and they could see the material of the walls shift. It had originally matched the architecture of the city, made of the red brick the area was so renowned for. Now it was gray stone, not bricks but smooth stone. It was as if it was formed naturally, and not pony-made. The material wasn’t the only change. The halls seemed to curve and stretch strangely, and more than once Starswirl swore they had four right turns in a row. Yet the halls continued to twist and turn, and yet Starswirl couldn’t sense any magic that would cause an effect. They encountered a few cultists along the way, but there were very few. It set him on edge, as an ambush in these unfamiliar and twisted tunnels could be very bad for the duo. Then they came across the large, open room.  Starswirl had lied, calling it large was a disservice to the truth. The room was larger than the entire building of the temple, which confirmed his earlier thoughts about the tunnels. Infact, Starswirl could see the night sky. With a chill, he realized that it wasn’t their stars. The constellations were very, very wrong. In the center of the room, nay, the open space was an altar. Surrounding the altar were a series of pits, in which chains seemed to extend from them and connect to the stone altar. With horror, Starswirl watched as a few cultists took an unrobed pony, and threw her into a cage. They attached the cage to one the chains, which then plummeted into the depths. Starswirl could hear her screams increase in pitch and pain, until they suddenly cut out.  The Element of Sorcery saw a wave of light slip up the chain, and into the altar. It flashed, and for a moment he swore he could see a shape in the night sky. Then it was gone, and he had to blink to clear his mind. As much as it could just be his tired mind playing tricks on him, it could have been very real as well. Regardless, he needed to finish this. Striding forward once more, he gathered his magic for a litany of spells. He threw them like there was no tomorrow, gray magic lighting up the dark night. There was nothing in the sky. As the sorcerer cast his spells, Sombra galloped forward, slamming into one the hooded cultist. His blade flew as if it had a mind of its own, cutting apart any cultist not annihilated by Starswirl’s magic. The two of them together were all but unstoppable, their charge not being halted in the slightest. The leader of the cultist turned to look at them, yet all he did was give a smile. It was genuine, not cruel or harsh in the slightest. It sent a chill down his spine, again. Then, in an act neither of them predicted, he threw himself into one of the holes. There was a flash of light, and Starswirl felt his mind pull and push itself. He clutched his head between his hoofs, as the entire room seemed to snap back into reality.  It was much smaller, now only the size of a town square or so. The Night sky was gone, now replaced by a ceiling that only went up for a few stories. The Many holes that circled the altar had disappeared as well, leaving chains half-fused to the stone ground. The only thing that remained the same was that infernal altar. Starswirl stumbled closer to the altar, for a headache was relentlessly assaulting him. He managed to make it to the raised stone, whose proximity to it only worsening the pain in his head. It became apparent why. A mass of roiling light lingered in a depression set in the stone. One shaped like a dagger. Before his eyes, the light seemed to flicker, being replaced by a metal dagger. Then it was light again. The flickering sped up, causing his head to hurt worse and worse. It was unbearable. He sagged on the stone, the light flashing. Back and forth. Dagger and light. Pain… Then abruptly-the light vanished. His headache vanished with it. As he blinked his eyes, clearing his head, he could see that there was nothing in the altar. Just cold, empty stone. He looked back and saw King Sombra standing with officers of both the Royal Legion and the Crystal Guard.  Starswirl, shakingly got to his hooves and trudged to the group of ponies. He looked at Sombra, who returned his gaze, then gave a single order. “Burn it all.” The Temple was sentenced to ash, along with the rest of the city. The knowledge gathered by the Cult of Chaos was burned, and the battle would soon fade into obscurity. By the time that the Element of Sorcery disappeared into Limbo and the Crystal King would fall to his inner darkness, the city had been forgotten. Centuries passed and the ruins became buried by the shifting of land.  But they remain. Scorched and buried, they still remain. Those that wander to close would find themselves driven away by a horrible dread, or thoughts that echoed with other voices. All would steer clear of this accursed ground, all but one. A Unicorn, seething with rage and seeking vengeance, tramples on ground of which no living thing should tread. Now, the city is calling out. The Cult is awaiting their champion. The Tree of Harmony cannot send help this time, for its warriors have been replaced by pacifists. Now, the actions of an Alicorn and a Unicorn will be felt across the world. The Unicorn will ensure that the Alicorn who took everything from her will burn. Whatever the price. Whatever the Consequence.