//------------------------------// // Chapter 12-The Sea Flame // Story: Dismay Turned Discord // by Reedling //------------------------------// *Knock-Knock* “Dame Eventide, It is me Omen Harbinger. We need to talk.” The wooden door creaked slowly as an aged elder pony moved her head into view. “It’s not even rooster hour!” Her raspy voice grunted. “With reason Dame Eventide. There is trouble at the castle, and The Solus Heirs require Sirius’ help.” “How dare you ask me to throw my grandson to those monsters again! Get off of my grounds before I show you some of the Dusk family magic!” Her words were hot in rage, as she readied to slam the door. “Nebula! Please his so-” “By Aethere! Get in, now!” She barked to him, locking the door as he entered. “My grandcolt has a son?! Why is this news to me? I should’ve already known!” Her body dissolved in a fine mist. “Dame?!” “You didn’t think in times like these I’d show up to the door, did ya Omen?” He gave a warm chuckle as she rocked in a worn out chair by the fireplace. “I thought you were more trusting of your neighbors.” He asked plainly ,as he trotted to a seat next to her. “My neighbors are fine. It’s the other, younger ones I don’t trust dear Omen. Do you remember when we were enemies?” “...That’s an odd request. Why would you want to remember back then?” “Because everyone understood themselves back then. We all had our heritage. And with our heritage bloomed our pride! It just feels like Equestria is a fire that has spent too long alive with the aid of a bellow.” “Bellows, huh... I would say that it is the citizens of Equestria that keep the fire alive.” “Then their breaths are losing air! Because I can feel the world around us. It’s growing up but where are we? Stuck in the dark ages with no heritage to hold onto!” “Dame Eventide, I feel you’re using the word heritage to imply something else. The world around us is fine, but change is a part of life. Change can influence our culture.” Eventide Nebula’s body shook as if she was overcome with a draft of polar breeze. “Change has made us weak my old enemy. Now you are a treasured friend and I fear the sands of the Savannah will sweep across our sanctuary.” Omen moved closer to Eventide resting a knee to the warm stone of the fireplace. “I’ve heard The Dusk’s do not look into the cosmos, but the world around them. Is this true my lady?” “It’s nonsense dear Harbinger. The lies ponies will spit to feel proud of their castes!” She huffed. Her head turned quickly to the fire beside her. A beautiful blue and aqua flame entranced Omen as he left Dame Eventide’s gaze. “It’s a special blend of minerals and magic called Sea Flame. When The Unicorn King still believed we were soldiers and not magic users. There was a wizard that made this color fire a symbol of pride and magic prowess. That wizard was the only one known to make the Sea Flame with pure magic. Since back in the day they had no knowledge of said minerals.” “That wizard sounds quite powerful. Did anyone end up figuring out their name?” “No one cared to ask. It was around the time when Magic users were still considered dangerous. Most magic users felt a strange calling to the fire. Fillies started to disappear and only a handful of them had been found in good health...” “Is-is there a point to this story?...” Omen gave a few beads of sweat. He hated ghost stories. “Yes...yes..There is always a point to my stories dear friend. The other fillies who had been found had only chanted a few sayings....others were transformed into pure gemstone statues...It’s was then that The Unicorn King realized the winged unicorn named Crystalline was no myth. ” “Crystalline! But she was cast away-” “ ‘Into the sands with no time’ Yes, I’m aware of how the fable goes. But that fable does not know everything. I was one of the fillies Crystalline liked. She talked to me, taught me magic...She told me The Unicorn King let her take us!” “Nebula!” A dark voice growled. A band of red magic covered her muzzle that tried to yell. “It has been too long Omen. Tell me why I should not throw you out off my grounds.” “My apologies Sir Polaris. The Solus heirs would like Siri-” “Never. Now get out of my observatory and do not rest a hoof on any land owned by the Dusk family.” “Then I am ordered by the Solus heirs’ decree that in state of crisis or war you and your family are hereby called to the castle at once!” “On what grounds!?” “Sirius may be the only one who knows their whereabouts of his son!” “My grandson has never given an heir!” “He has a son from the Savannah.” “THE SAND IT IS BLOWING!” Eventide screamed breaking through Polaris’ magic. She gasped to breath through her muzzle and noise. Polaris looked to his somepony worried that he had covered her nose. It so hard to see with such little light in the room. He quickly glanced at the fireplace. All that remained was an amber glowing log. “Calm yourself dear, these are merely your dreams...they aren’t real.” Polaris turned to his somepony rubbing a hoof to her feverish forehead. “She’s not well?” “She been ill for many years Omen. Ever since Sirius came back from whatever glory parade your Solus heirs put him through..” “Maybe it’s an illness from earlier in life...Eventide was just telling me that Crystalline-” Polaris flung his pale red hoof into Harbinger’s jaw. “How dare you turn my sick mare’s words into some quest. There is no Crystalline!” Omen felt his heartbeat grow wild. “The King has met her first hoof...he is sick! Your grandson!” Omen took a few deep breaths, he stared into the unicorn’s jaded eyes. “Sirius. His child, he is also sick from her.” “How can that be Pegasus?!..My grandson hasn't left childhood.” “Eve...do you know The Unicorn King is dead?...” “Wha-..When!” Polaris scanned the messenger pony for any inkling of deception. “He fell...to an illness. Most of Equestria was kept out of the dark about it. But I can tell by your tone. You don’t remember when the pony tribes joined as one..do you?” “Do you really think me a mule Omen?” “I don’t Sir....” Omen couldn’t help but look to Polaris and Eventide. They were two of the oldest unicorns in Canterlot. They might be the only remaining that remembered The Unicorn King when he ruled in their old homeland. His muzzle smiled softly to them. “She lurks in the fire of the sea. Her heart lies in everyponies greed. She’s a reflection of our darker dreams, what we crave the most. Crystalline!” Omen hummed as he remembered the poem 'The Diamond that turned Jet'. “ What are you hymning about Pegasus!?” “ Do you see the Sea Flame, Polaris?” “ Neigh...It’s dark as pitch in here.” “ I see in the fireplace; an aqua and emerald flame.” “ You jest! You’re pulling at old straws Pegasus!” The auburn colored unicorn turned his scolding face to Omen. His eyes glowed with the light of the fireplace. “ Ethere-!” Omen’s eyes grew in horror to what he witnessed. Polaris’ coat began to shed to reveal a deformed leg. It was riddled with varying sizes of holes and as black as the void. Omen heard Eventide begin to cry. “Crystalline was once kind and nurturing. She gave the ponies currency and gems...But her sister wanted to keep the pony tribes from falling for gifts of greed. We were her creations, and she wasn’t about to let her sister turn her creations into manipulable toys!” She gasped for air. “Dame Eventide...” “No....Let me finish! Crystalline’s sister gave us her power...Magic. She gave Pegasi the ability to manipulate clouds and Earth ponies their empathetic connection to plants and animals.” “And...the unicorns.” “We were given the strongest dose of magic, but by that time it was too late... Crystalline had moved the unicorn’s favor with the beauty of gold and diamonds. The Unicorn King was given a very special gem. called The Equinus Sugilite.” “What did it do?” “It let The Unicorn King get away with letting countless fillies freely give themselves to Crystalline...That was the deal. She required innocent fillies, and he was desperate for the respect of a king. I spent years with Crystalline, as she pushed her sister’s magic out of me. You were right Omen. I was using heritage wrongly, but what I meant was I do not feel like the rest. I’m not a unicorn.” With her words her guise disappeared. Eventide had changed into a black pony-like creature. Her eyes were as blue as the fire behind them and without irises.“Omen...Crystalline is watching us. She is watching you...I can feel her thoughts ,and she isn’t afraid of Equestria. She glances over our nation as but a blemish to the world!” “Then Crystalline would be wiser than I thought. It suits her well to send pawns and lost causes. Should a truly powerful being Crystalline actually be...I wouldn’t expect her to show her face at all. Could Equestria be so lucky to never hear of her again! May her tales become a blemish in the history of Earth!” Omen bent his legs low to the ground so he could balance himself between the ceiling and floor. He pushed his wings hard to create enough wind force the fire almost blew out. “Pegasus! Your wind can not quiet The Sea Flame!” “Is that so!” Omen flew through the archway and up the stairs. He remembered that the observatory was also their home. He opened his muzzle and held a bucket turning his body to their bath. As he filled the bucket with water he made sure to turn the knob tightly off and returned to the fire place. The two changing unicorn looked in fear at the bucket Omen held. “What if the Sea Flame controls how we change...and we are stuck as monsters forever.” Polaris sighed. “Then you will have to live with your affliction,maybe it will remind you to think twice before treating friends as lowly criminals.”Omen smiled softly to them both. “But I have done nothing to deserve this Omen! I was but a filly!” “And what are you now? I am sorry for the pain that has been caused to you, but you should have warned somepony earlier! Am I the first to see you true form? If so then you and family have been hiding important news. No, life saving information! Please follow me to the castle.” “As you wish dear friend.”