(7)
Zack lay motionless in his bed, eyes open and having a difficult time falling asleep. He had awoken sometime during the night and refused to look at the clock on his wall to see what time it was. He couldn’t seem to silence his mind and get any sleep at all; his imagination was running rampant and his thoughts made him restless. His eyes were fixed upon the door to his room. Staring came quite easy to him as he watched the knob of his bedroom door like a predator watching its prey. Another long night was ahead for Zack as he repositioned himself under the covers, still carefully watching the door. The silence of the castle gave a cold quiver down Zachary’s spine and the darkness of the room wasn’t helping his nerves. The only light source around came from underneath the door, from a candle that was lit in the hall beyond his room. The flickering and wavering of the light could been seen from Zack’s position. The stillness of everything around him however gave him an unfamiliar dose of fright that the night usually doesn’t give him.
A creak was heard and before Zack could analyze where it had came from, he sat up out of bed alert. His lower body remained underneath the warm blankets still as he rapidly studied the room around him. His eyes met back towards the door he was staring at, which was now strangely cracked open. He remained still and terrified at the sight, not wanting to look away. He didn’t want to look anywhere else in his room, for he knew something had just snuck in he didn’t want to encounter.
“Whatever it is," Zack mentally assured himself, "it’s only my mind playing tricks on me again. But why can’t I just relax at that thought? What’s driving this irrational fear through me that even I can’t rest on? This is–"
The door gently closed as if a breeze pushed it and the closing mechanism in the hinge secured the door shut with a, ‘click'. Zack tensed up in shock, with his heart racing and his eyes fastened wide open. Adrenaline perked his senses like a high of a drug and now he was being fueled by that inner energy. He uncovered himself and grabbed the Prevailer by his bedside. With only his sleeping pants on and his sword in his hand, he exited his room swiftly.
He entered the hallway outside of his chambers and realized the light from the candle hall had been snuffed out. From the wick, a thin trail of silver smoke danced faintly in the moonlight and towards the dark ceilings. Knowing that something had extinguished the candle's flame recently, he began running down the hall to try and meet up with this intruder in the castle. With each turn through the corridors, he made no attempt to watch his surroundings around the shadowy corners. It seemed like each room or hall he entered, the candle in it was blown out. This feature of each room was the only hunch he had to following this unknown threat. He finally made it to a main chamber hallway and stopped to look down both ends. At one end he spotted two royal guards stationed on both sides of the throne room chamber doors. They had nodded off from a lack of sleep, and Zack was sure they had missed spotting the intruder.
He raced over to them and alerted, “Guards! Guards! There’s an intruder in the ca–”
He stopped when realizing the state of the soldiers. Both had darts pierced in the side of their necks and both were leaning against the wall, appearing to be semiconscious and standing from afar. Zack stepped away from guards as a sudden realization came upon him.
"The intruder must be heading towards Celestia’s chambers! She’s going to be assassinated if I don’t do something!"
With all of his might, he burst through each chamber door as fast as he could. He tried to make his way over to the tower where Celestia’s bedroom was, which was on the far end of the castle. Sprinting through the halls, he made his way to a small, circular ballroom, the room before entering the stairwell to Celestia’s bedroom. As he dashed towards the entrance to the stairs, the doors in front of him slammed shut. He ran into them and bounced off, abruptly landing on the cold, marble floor. The back of his head banged against the hard tile, but the exuberance of adrenaline that was pumping throughout his system ignored the injury at the moment. He quickly got up and raced towards one of the other three open doorways in the ballroom. As he approached each one, they all closed magically in front of him. He tried ramming his shoulder into one of the doors to see if he could open one, but they were all fastened tightly and he appeared to be trapped inside the chamber.
He looked around for a window or an another escape route, but there was none and he found himself alone. He gripped the Prevailer with both hands and raised it up to his chest, ready for any attack. He oscillated his body, trying to watch every angle of the room for a coming strike. The adrenaline that gave him that spurt of waking energy was coming to an abrupt halt as he now tried to regain his breath. Sweat was beginning to form on his skin as his body tried to cool itself down from the exhilaration of the event. Zack lowered his blade and shut his eyes. He leaned against a curved wall in the chamber; he was exhausted and felt weary. The injury he received when he fell to the ground a moment ago resurfaced and he held the back of his head. Zack felt a knot forming on the back of his head as he rubbed the bruise tenderly.
A sudden feeling overcame Zack, which heightened his senses once again. Zack felt the subconscious feeling of being observed. That unearthly suspicion he dreaded crept upon him and he knew he had to turn around and see what was there. He slowly did so to find that indeed someone was watching him from across the room. He did not attack the creature, but merely examined it from afar. He knew not what the creature was; it was neither equine, nor griffin, nor even human.
It was draped in a long, white veil, hiding its identity. The white canopy around itself covered it like a cape. Upon closer inspection, he made out that the shape was indeed a pony’s, but of what gender, he couldn’t identify as well. Upon its shoulders, knees and hooves were large plates of thick, cream-colored armor. A thin band of metal in the shape of a halo curved around its forehead in an elegant design of craftsmanship. There were open spots in the armor and white cloth which revealed a strange mesh of the blackest chain mail. Spots such as the ears and some joints revealed the dark coat underneath the cloak and armor. Zack couldn’t identify any facial features, for it too was covered by a veil of white. The entirety of the creature’s looks had Zack baffled by what it could be. It was an impressive and very daunting appearance which kept Zack at bay. Zack, however, had completely forgotten about the issues at hand when identifying the pony and quickly raised his sword back up, ready to battle.
The pony spoke softly and sternly in an androgynous voice, “Halt, Zachary.”
Zachary intensely demanded, “Who are you? Why are you here?”
“Lower the Prevailer, so that we may speak.” Zack determined that if it knew his name and about the artifact he was wielding, that it wasn’t just a simple intruder. He did indeed lower his weapon, but was still ready for any offense it was to throw at him.
The pony spoke again, as sternly and as official as it did before, “‘We' have no name. And 'we' have been here long before you have arrived.”
Zack asked, “We? Who’s, 'we'?”
“We are no one. We are few. We have watched this world mature and blossom into what it is today. There is no individual, for we are one entity. A collection of chosen few created by the laws of which no one and everyone follows by. We are the Ivory Guard, and we have been watching you.”
Zack pointed at the pony and stated with new found intelligence, “You were the ones who left that note on my balcony... Weren’t you?”
“True. That is our crest. The markings of the six elements of harmony and the sun and moon. We have been watching you, and you are our tool.”
“That’s not going to happen.”
“You do not quite understand. We have already been using you. You have set the key in motion towards oncoming events that you haven’t been very quiet about. We have been covering your trail so that no other outside enemy would follow you back to Equestria. We were there in Appleloosa, during the Canterlot Siege of Starswirl, and even with you in the Icicle Mountains.”
Zack raised the Prevailer and affirmed, “I don’t care if you are trying to help me or not; you’ve broken into the castle and attacked those guards in the hall.”
“We only used sleeping darts on them. We needed to be with you alone so that we may talk with you.” Zack lowered his weapon. The pony continued anew, “Zachary... the lonely human... oh, how you have matured. From a simple man to the hero of Equestria, yet you deal with an inner crisis, no?”
“Tell me,” Zack said, now accepting that this pony seemed no threat to him or anyone else, “Tell me what is happening to me since you know so much about me.”
“Believe it or not, you are not the first inter-dimensional being we’ve encountered, though it has been certainly a long while since we’ve encountered your type. You see, The Ivory Guard was created by a certain mare before Canterlot came to power over Equestria. We were created by one who is, in fact, still alive. No, she is not immortal and no she is not of royal blood nor alicorn. She is lost, and lost by means of time and space itself. She was the first, to our knowledge, to travel beyond and across the dimensions, bending time and space to her request. Though her quest as we know of has ended, we follow in her Ballad to plot out and silently protect Equestria and beyond. We have no leader, but we all function as one like we have said. The Princess’ have no power over us.”
“If you know all of this, and have all of this power and secrecy, what do you need me for?”
“Such a folly question to ask, but we need you to go somewhere. You are experiencing what is known as a void tear, where one dimensional being overlaps into a foreign dimension’s space. The time it takes for a certain object or being to dissipate differs from what we have experienced ourselves. You have been the longest recorded inter-dimensional being to exist in our world, though this is not something to congratulate you on. You are now beginning to experience the effects of the void tear.”
Zachary butted in, “What has happened to these other beings who have experienced void tearing before me?”
“They simply ebb out of our universe. The universe deems them unfit for any dimension, so they are trapped in the void between dimensions. None, Zachary, have ever escaped the void to our knowledge. No time or space or light or matter exists in the void, and you will remain their beyond eternity.” He pressed his rising fear back and hid it from the Ivory Guardian.
The guard continued, “There is a way to stop this from happening however, but none have ever accomplished it alive, nor do we know it will work entirely. You must find the Catalyst Stone which resides in Equadeus Arx, in Firelight Woods. The sooner you retrieve this artifact, the better your chances are of living to see another day.”
“I’m sorry,” Zack spoke up. “I’m so confused. How am I suppose to–” Zack then remembered hearing about Firelight Woods before. He read it back when reading through Starswirl the Bearded’s journal. That’s where Starswirl met the Star Maidens, Celestia and Luna. The journey there from what he remembered reading took years to travel. The Firelight Woods is at the edge of the world and is the farthest known location on this planet. How would he get there in time if his condition was worsening by the day? The Ivory Guard took a step forward, which startled Zack a bit, but for what reason, he did not know.
The Ivory Guard assured him, “The Panexus. Once it was connected to others like itself. Through meditation, and with the help of the Prevailer, you will find a gateway through the artifact.” Its voice changed to a more somber and grave tone, “But be wary, human, that traveling to such a place will test every fiber of your courage, strength and determination. The Firelight Woods is the oldest of places in this universe and was where harmony... and chaos came into existence. Not much is known about the land and only a few have ever tread its ground to come back to tell of it. The last secrets of the world remain in the ancient forest you travel to. The Equadeus Arx, the citadel which lies atop of the only mount in the sea of woods, holds the Catalyst Stone.” The pony looked around and sighed. Zack couldn’t identify why it was distressed all of the sudden. Zack was as clueless it seems now than he was when trying to comprehend what Om was telling him those many years ago.
It continued saying, “We do not have much time, so we shall speak swiftly as we can. We will not answer many questions for you, but we will try. The Catalyst Stone is a meteorite which fell to this planet along with the Prince, the Queen and the King. This jewel from the heavens contained powers beyond which we can understand, but the Princess’ carved six other jewels from it known as the Elements of Harmony. We believe if you acquire this stone, you too will be apart of this world permanently and the void tear within you will be closed forever. However, the stone was guarded by the Ballad Composure, our founder known only as Moonsinger. She has commanded an entity to protect the stone, an entity to challenge even the mightiest of warriors. You must retrieve this device at all cost and must return safely, for we fear a storm is coming.”
“A storm,” Zack wondered aloud
“Listen.” The two fell silent. Zack couldn’t hear anything from the norm of the castle.
Zack pressed the Ivory Guard with urgency, “Please, I don’t understand!” The Ivory guard sailed over to Zack’s location as if he was floating. It moved like a spirit over the marble floors without a single hoof beat heard. It raced over and placed a hoof on his shoulder while leaning close to him. Still, even at this very close distance, Zack couldn’t even tell the gender of the pony, but was very much more afraid by its presence.
It whispered in an assuring, but still very cold tone, “The Catalyst Stone is harmony’s essence. Legends of its greatness are whispered through the winds of time. Many creatures of this world and others have tried to obtain the stone, but he, the guardian of the artifact, has kept it safely for millenniums. The eldest of the Ivory Guardians, with their vast power and wisdom tell of a prophecy. One may only acquire the stone and will be allowed to pass to it alive. The entity that guards it is a god killer they speak of, a beast that cannot be killed. A beast that is said to have been on this planet beyond time itself. Though our master, Moonsinger, was able to communicate with it and use it to protect this artifact. For the fate of Equestria and yourself, you must sacrifice yourself in order to retrieve it.”
“That name,” Zack spoke up, “Moonsinger... I’ve heard that name spoken before by Celestia. So she created the Ivory Guard... Why is she so important and yet such a well kept secret?” The pony stepped back and looked away for a moment to try and think of a correct response.
It turned back towards Zack and replied, “It is not our place nor time to tell you of our master, though we can tell you this: She was the first Protégé in Celestia’s court. Celestia ordered her and a few chosen others to venture out through the Panexus to the darkest reaches of the world when the world was young.”
Zack interrupted, “I thought Karnaval the Saint was the first Protégé? That’s what it says in the History books.”
The Ivory Pony leaned forward and coldly implied, “The History books lie.” The pony turned briskly, its cape flapping behind it as it turned.
While facing away from Zack, it spoke once again, “Before we depart, we must assure you know what you are about to step into. The quest to the Catalyst Stone is nothing you can prepare for, but you still must prepare yourself. It will test your strength, your courage, and your wisdom. Great and ancient evils lurk in the Firelight Woods, and even greater threats sleep in Equadeus Arx. The hour grows near and we must depart.”
Though Zack had many questions, more than he previously had when he began to talk with the pony, he remained silent. The doors around the ballroom unfastened; and when Zack looked for a mere second to see that the doors had opened and turned back towards the Ivory Guard, it was gone. It was still late in the night from the looks of it. He had the slightest doubts that this was merely another hallucination, but it felt too real for it be one. His body felt as if it had been zapped by electricity and was stupefied from the experience he had just been apart of. Though in a daze like trance, the rush of energy began to drain from his body. Like water draining into a sink. His state of mind began to ease and he returned to his bedroom.