Requiem of Obscuration
Chapter One: Hardly a Challenge.
The land is in dismay. Now most everyplace that resided in this irenic Equestria has been tainted with either war or some kind of conflict. At this very hour, the vigorous armada of the Empire of the Shrouded Crescent clashes against the unyielding force behind the Consortium of Light. Due to this, the country has become almost separated at the waist, with both armies holding equal amounts of land and military might. Unless this changes soon, the once beautiful country of Equestria will become darkened to its very core with violence.
Celestia, the leader of the Consortium of Light and Nightfall, the Queen of the Empire, both know this fact to be true. Nether the less, they still fight for power and land, and their rival’s armadas are not the only force they need to consort with. For a new power has awoken in the North, and Twilight Sparkle may be the only one who can stop it.
--Canterlot, The Royal Castle—
The inner workings of the castle were perfect, in size, width, a landmark of architectural genius.
Celestia’s chamber was almost bright white, the walls seemed to look like clouds, so vibrant with life, but so confined in this small space. A single chandelier hung from the ceiling, it was gold plated, but it was old. Even as gold being very unreactive, it was easy to note this was near the end of its time.
Celestia stood near the balcony of her room; it was large, huge even, but almost seemed compact, like it was made specifically for her size, and no one else’s. Twilight was dead centre of the room, looking confused and quite interested why the Princess had summoned her.
Celestia held her head down briefly, Twilight could sense the distraught on her face, even as a goddess, she still held the emotions of a mortal.
“I am so very sorry” Celestia stated grievously, she began to walk slowly from side to side, like an impatient colt waiting for a new toy.
“The Circumstances have changed and for the worse I’m afraid. Twilight, I need to ask for your service, to stop a great evil.” Twilight noticed the neglected eye contact, her face became saddened by this effect and she felt as she did during magic kinder garden, all alone. Twilight hated that feeling, and it had been clawing and scraping its way into her mind ever since this conflict begun, but only now had it started to be taking on a worse effect. She shook her head gracefully, and proceeded to speak in a tone that almost rejected all emotion to her voice.
“I am up to any test! You name it!”
Celestia turned to her, and stared deeply into Twilights eyes. Twilight felt this wash of bleakness enter her eyes and settle.
“Is this Twilight I speak to, or some kind of machine? This is serious Twi, I need to know if you can do it.”
“Twi?” Twilight thought, “The Princess has never called me that before, or… a machine…” Twilight stepped back, feeling insulted by the Goddess, but she knew why, this WAS serious business.
“I… Still want to accept!” Twilight put more life into that statement; she needed the Princess to believe that she could do it. Pride was visible everywhere on Twilights body.
“Well, alright.” Celestia murmured. Then she turned to face the balcony, and begun to look over the landscape. A storm was moving in from the east, lightning racked through the skyline, and with Thunders roar it boasted fear into everything that heard it. But not Celestia, she had listened to its cries all her life, they were meaningless. Celestia knew this would be the precipice of events that would unfold.
“Twilight, this new evil...” Celestia said, trying desperately to invoke the fear she held to transverse into Twilight, so she could stop worrying about her Pride. It was unsuccessful.
“This new Evil, calls itself… The Illusion, my scouts around the region say that the power this creature commands is enormous. This is the evil I need you to battle Twilight. But you will not be alone in this stru-“ Celestia ‘s statement was cut off from Twilight facial expression. It seemed to mimic that of a duck that had been struck by some kind of wooden bat.
“Wait… If this new evil commands enormous power, then… why can’t you fight it?” Twilight asked, her brain still trying to remove thoughts of Magic Kinder Garden.
“I have to combat the armies of the Shrouded Cresent; I will be leaving tomorrow for Oasis, our foothold against the Empire.” Celestia replied. Although, she herself knew this, but unlike Twilight, she had confidence that Twilight can and will overcome this obstacle.
“I... You said I would be travelling with my friends?” Twilight muttered, almost timidly. Her hooves slowly slid across the floor of the room, she was anxious, and scared.
“Not all of your friends, Twilight. For some are needed in food and production to arm our armies in Oasis. I am sorry.”
There was silence. Twilight was dumbstruck. She wouldn’t be able to use the most powerful spell ever, the elements of harmony. She thought to herself briefly, “But then… How will I defeat it? I won’t be able to do this on my own!” Twilight’s face became saddened. Celestia noticed this, and spoke calmly to her. She needed her to feel strong.
“Apple Jack and Rainbow Dash will be accompanying you. Also, I have found a guide who will help you cross the planes to help combat this foe.”
Twilight was trying as much as she could to intake this information; she needed to memorize it all. She needed to know how and where to go. She needed… her friends.
“The guide name is The Operative. Be wary around him twilight, my guards tell me he is crazy. That he speaks in a foreign tongue sometimes and that he constantly holds some kind of magical trinket. This is why I cannot bring him here to greet you in the palace.”
“Why could he not come here?” Twilight said, she did not understand why a trinket meant denying access to the palace.
“Because Twilight, when the guards tried to remove this trinket, he lashed out, knocking both of them out relatively quickly. However, the second guard team sent said that he co-operated fully, but he would not remove his trinket.”
Twilights face became slightly confused, she did not know how someone could lash out over a little piece of rock or whatever it was. Her face practically showed confusion, which Celestia picked up on, but did not mention.
“The others are waiting for you downstairs, but you must ask them if they wish to join this mission. I need to know that they are doing this themselves, and not just because I asked them too.” The emphasis on Celestia’s “I” was visible to Twilight. She needed to make sure that they wanted to embark on this mission themselves, and not just because a Princess asked them too.
“Yes Princess!” There was a pause as Twilight spoke… She wanted to feel less informal. “And by the way, good luck in Oasis.”
“Thank you Twilight, and good luck with your mission, I know you will do well.”
Zap. With that the Princess dashed off out the room’s door, which slammed against the walls with force. Twilight soon followed, she hurried downstairs, to ask the others if they would like to embark on this journey into the great unknown, and also, to meet this “Operative” as Celestia called him. There was no time to dally.
Chapter 2: All against one
--Canterlot Castle, Lobby--
The lobby area looked like a landfill site. Not in the sense that it looked disgusting, but the amount of ponies and gear that was situated around there was enough for one to question where they really were. The lobby of the castle had the same basic principles of Celestia’s room, however, it was much, much bigger and there was no chandelier. Instead, there were two almost parallel looking fireplaces, both ablaze, looking out into this abyss of material. There was a single staircase, which almost seemed to blend in with the walls; it was quite hard to spot at first glance. However, the door to the lobby was huge, and seemed to stick out like a sore hoof. It looked like pure gold; it was beautiful to look at. Although it seemed very unlikely for anypony to actually spot the various pieces of architectural brilliance located here, anyhow. Not because of the gear, mind you, but of the spinning light blue Pegasus that seemed never to stop moving.
Rainbow Dash flew impatiently around the lobby area of the castle, still anxious about the conversation that had happened between Twilight and Celestia. Her feathers and mane seemed to become more wind swept with the more emotion she portrayed, although no one in the lobby could really notice it, she was doing what she was best at, and that was flying at near next the speed of sound.
Applejack was surprised how she could move at that speed, and not crash into any of the walls and or ponies. Although, Applejack knew not to question her anyhow, it was none of her business why she was flying at that speed. She knew why, but it didn’t mean she had to explain it to her.
“Urrgh, where is she?!” Rainbow Dash shouted, or well, Applejack thought she shouted. Moving at that speed and speaking seemed to create a ripple effect on the room, she found it quite astonishing, really.
“She’s fine, I bet her an’ Princess Celestia are just talkin’, like they always do. Still, I ain’t got any of the faintest ideas why’d she send for me.” Applejack said, trying not to antagonise Rainbow Dash any further. Knowing her, she’d probably shout the whole city down with too much waiting. It was her… Thing.
“Well I know why she sent for ME! You can’t just have Twilight! There needs to be some balance!” Rainbow Dash shouted, again, it could have just been the echoing.
“And what’s ya’ll explanation to this here predicament?” Applejack responded, hoping to stop her pride from getting the most of her.
It didn’t seem to work.
“Well-“ Rainbow Dash stated, her voice seemed to lower, and she begun to slow down, quite rapidly in fact, and then land perfectly on the ground, giving her mane and feathers a quick shake to remove their scruffy appearance. Her voice seemed to be at a more reasonable level now; Applejack didn’t feel as intimidated by the guards, who had been giving her some quite evil stares when Rainbow Dash was flying around, mainly because most were passing out after trying to follow her with their eyes.
“-You can’t just have all Egghead, you need some Awesomeness in there to create some kind of Nerd-Swag Balance!”
Applejack… Didn’t really want to respond to that one, she instead insisted to putting her hoof over her face, carefully trying not to knock her hat off her head, at complete disapproval at what she had just said.
Suddenly there was a sound coming from the stairs, Rainbow Dashes head seemed to almost seamlessly levitate from the ground, and her wings began to rise, she was excited to see Twilight. Applejack’s head seemed to turn in motion with Rainbow Dashes; her eyes began to almost sparkle, which is quite ironic. She was also excited; she never had really been summoned to the castle before, unless there was some evil attacking it.
Twilight seemed to be able to float down the stairs, her hooves moving incredibly fast down the steps. It was almost like a cartwheel spinning, there was only a blurring motion.
“Twilight!” Rainbow Dash and Applejack shouted in glee, they felt relieved. They hoped they could get some information off Twilight, as to why they were summoned. Rainbow Dash could barely contain herself; she was so bored waiting here in the lobby.
“So what is this about, Twilight? Huh? Why did the Princess summon us?” Rainbow Dashes words rolled off her tongue, like she had been rehearsing that one line the whole time, which she probably was.
“Well girls, Princess Celestia has instructed me with a very special quest, and she told me that you should be accompanying me. That is, if you wish too.” Twilight replied, trying to seem like she knew exactly what she was doing, when in reality, she didn’t have the faintest clue. Her right eye twitched slightly, she did not like the idea of not being informed.
“So what’s this here entire quest about, Twi?” Asked Applejack, her head seemed to caress slightly to the left, trying to portray that she was at a loss in what to do.
Twilight was about to speak, when a mysterious voice echoed throughout the room.
“It’s an important mission.”
The ponies all looked at each other, confounded by the voice; it was not familiar to them. When suddenly a stallion, or what appeared to be a stallion, seemed to emerge from the stairs, he walked slowly, like he was unaware of his surroundings. He wore clothing over most all of his body. The clothing was long and quite thick, it was a very opaque red and black mixture, and also, it seemed to show that he had wings. However, these were covered in think cloth, which confounded Rainbow Dash, because to her, wings for a Pegasus were like books to Twilight. Only his tail and head held no cloth, and even then the mane styling did not seem to jog any memories of who this was. His mane was almost dark blue, with bright yellow tips at the end of each strip of hair. Although his hair was short, it did not seem to shake the attraction it seemed to bring. He also had a pair of very bright emerald eyes, which seemed to go well with his grey-ish coat. His tail was no different, however, it almost mimicked Rainbow Dashes tail, but instead of there being a rainbow of colours, there was blue and yellow stripes going through it, they were all equally separated from each other, the ponies had never seen anything like it before.
As he walked closer his voice became quieter, like he almost did not want to raise his voice to the 3. He spoke softly, like a child to a teacher.
“I am your guide, you may call me The Operative.”
“Hold on now… me and Rainbow still ain’t got a faint clue what we are even here to do! Why don’tcha all explain it to us, then we can get on with our here littl’ greeting.” Applejack said, Rainbow Dash nodded in accordance with her sentence, she wanted to know why they were summoned too.
“Very well…” Twilight said, The Operative seemed to close in more on the group, wanting to hear the tale Celestia had spun to Twilight.
He already knew the story, of course.
He just wanted to know the bits Celestia lied to her about.
Chapter 3: Monoliths Mercy
--Canterlot Train Station—
It was almost night time at the train station. The four had walked a great distance from the tower. Not uttering a word. There was nothing to say really, Twilight had done a great job in telling them the quest at hand, somehow spinning and changing the words so that it made the story seem like a life and death situation. The Operative was unchanged though. Celestia hadn’t said a fair few things that would also prove a challenge to the four, but he did not mention it to the group afterwards. He wanted to watch the ponies play and adapt to their roles. To him, it was all just a test to see if they could handle what the Illusionist would throw at them.
The train station was very built up. It seemed to mimic the overall theme that Canterlot had displayed to its visitors. The walls, even darkened by the time of day, still showed an almost un-canning resemblance to the castle, they all looked like clouds. However, the thatched roof over the main station was very hard to spot, the tiles seemed to merge with the darkness of the sky. The main platform of the station however, was quite different. The white granite-looking floor was almost luminescent in the darkness. It had to be, for safety reasons.
As the ponies all stood on the platform, a thought arose from Twilight’s mind;
“Where are we heading to, Operative?” Twilight voice seemed to gain a few decimals with the word Operative. She thought that the name was silly, how could someone want to disguise his or her name? Especially in meeting with the princess.
The Operative’s response lacked much detail; he did not want to give out much information as it is.
“Everfree” He said, his own voice was quite heavy now, like was almost angry a something. Only Twilight however, seemed to notice the change in tune, Applejack and Rainbow Dash were to fixated with the task at hand. Until a few thoughts grew and grew from Applejacks mind, until it erupted in the form of a single question.
“Hold on’now… How are we supposed to stop an incredibly powerful foe?”
Applejack stated; her voice was quite soft. Rainbow Dash soon followed her in questioning.
“Yeah! Now I’m all for adventure, but fighting an extremely powerful guy? This is just the dragon story all over again! I mean we aren’t figh-“
Her voice was cut off sharply from The Operative.
“The train is here, we best continue.” The group stood there, puzzled. There was no train. There was no sound of a train, or no sight of one. Twilight looked at The Operative awkwardly, trying to get him to describe what he meant by “train.”
He, however, was not taking any notice in any of the group. His eyes were closed completely. Also his is ears were dropped and seemed to almost be pressed next to his head. How he could have heard or saw anything was a mystery.
However, whilst Applejack and Rainbow Dash were still looking around for the mystery train, Twilight saw a small, almost glowing trinket around The Operative’s neck. Before she could ask him what it was, her mind suddenly became filled with thoughts of distress.
Magic Kinder Garden. Leaving Canterlot. Leaving her parents.
She closed her eyes firmly, trying to remove any process in her head, which would bring up those memories. However, the longer she tried to fixate on the trinket. The more clearly those thoughts entered her mind. It was almost like the trinket was a wormhole, sucking in all the bad thoughts that she had repressed, and then resurfacing them.
Twilight’s eyes began to softly water; the memories were getting stronger, and more ferocious. Applejack glanced at Twilight, seeing that Twilight was distressed; she nudged her body with her hoof. Twilight’s eyes slowly opened to see Applejack staring blindly into her, their eyes seemed to meet for a second.
“Ya’ll alright there, sugar cube?” Applejack said, her voice was calmer than before. She wanted to make sure Twilight was ok.
“Yeah… I’m fine.” Twilight responded. Suddenly, those thoughts seemed to disperse, and her mind became filled with thoughts of the mission at hand. However, what she had experienced was confusing, but she did not want to linger on it. Twilight was afraid that those thoughts would again reappear.
“WHERES THE TRAIN?! I DON’T SEE ONE ANYWHERE!” Rainbow Dash yelled. She was quite furious at this point, she did not like it that they were lied to about the train.
When suddenly a sharp sounding ‘toot’ was heard in the distance. The train was just about to pull into the station.
“There. On the horizon.” The Operative calmly stated. His voice again lacked any emotion.
“Well… That wasn’t there when I lasted checked.” Rainbow Dash responded.
“That’s because you lack intuition. We are at a train station. One will always arrive.”
The Operative sharply and quickly stated. Rainbow Dash felt speechless, she had never really been insulted before. In small flying comment yes, but not like that.
“Don’tcha think that was a little too much?” Applejack said, her voice seemed a tad more aggressive now. She felt Rainbow Dash had done nothing wrong.
“No.” Responded The Operative, his voice was still deadly calm, and he was still not even looking at the other ponies, it was like he did not even notice they existed.
The train pulled in sharply after The Operative’s response. It seemed normal, multiple colours, and carriages. At least the train was still normal.
However, the ponies, except The Operative of course, seemed to find it strange that no one got off the train. Normally the driver would get off the train and tell the others to board, but no. There was no sound.
“Everpony onboard. There is no time to delay!” Shouted Twilight. Shouting seemed appropriate at this point, since there was no one around and she needed to make Rainbow Dash forget about the little insult she had suffered. Twilight needed everyone to work together.
As the ponies all boarded the train, a soft sound was heard from the main driving carriage. What was strange about this sound is that it seemed to echo throughout the whole train.
“Next stop, the Everfree forest!”
Applejack, Twilight and Rainbow Dash all sat together on one side on the carriage, whilst The Operative sat on the other side. After the insult, strange comments and that trinket. Nopony wanted to be near him. They tried to avoid him like the plague, but they needed him. He, of course, was the guide.
“I’d like to ask you some questions, if I may.” Twilight directed to the lone stallion. His head turned slightly to face Twilight, he wanted to act like he did not care very much about what she had to say, but in reality, he cared very much. She was, after all, the key to stopping and capturing this Illusionist, but his mind acted very differently on the task at hand, he did not want to capture the Illusionist.
He wanted to put him down, for good.
Chapter 4: Many a cloak and dagger
--Canterlot Train Carriage 5—
“So, where are you from exactly?” Twilight asked nervously, after remembering what had happened with the guards, she did not want to be attacked for asking a simple question.
The Operative flexed slowly, he seemed to Twilight to be tense. She wondered if it was to do with that ‘item’ around his neck, although his response was very calm.
“I lived just outside Fillydelphia, only me, my brother, and my father.”
The answer seemed to confuse Twilight; however, it was Applejack who thought of the question before she did.
“Hold on a second now, you didn’t have a mother?”
“I never really saw her; she was always away on trips to Cloudsdale. That’s why I didn’t include her.” The Operative responded, after his attempt to be controlling of the group had in a way excluded him, he wanted to try to open up to them instead. He needed for them to trust him. However, Rainbow Dash held little respect for him now, after his little comment at the train station, she wondered why Twilight even needed him. Or why they couldn’t just maybe, throw him off the train.
Suddenly she glanced down at his neck, and noticed something unusual. The trinket around his neck was glowing a very faint red. Wanting to get back at him so badly, she decided to ask him about it, but she did not register in her mind that it was a ‘trinket’ more so the sense that it was a ‘stupid piece of rock which he liked’
“So, Operative-“She said with a sarcastic tone, “what is that little hunk of ro-“
Twilight interrupted her quickly.
“Don’t!” She yelled. It seemed to startle Applejack and Rainbow Dash, the current facial expression Twilight held didn’t aid her at all, it was one of shear fear.
The Operative looked deeply into Twilight, to the others; it was like he was trying to read her thoughts. He seemed troubled, like something bad had happened.
“Bad dreams huh?” The Operative proclaimed, there was a sudden switch in facial expressions, Twilight started to try to look deep into him.
After a few seconds, she gave up and decided to answer his little question.
“Yeah… Very recently too.”
The Operative looked down at the floor, trying to avoid eye contact. This was very bad, but he wasn’t the only one who knew that. Somehow, they all had that little feeling gnawing at the back of their minds.
The rest of the train journey was in silence. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were slightly confused at Twilights response; they surprisingly both wondered why she never told them about it. Twilight was still staring at The Operative, puzzled by his action. Twilight hated not being fully informed.
Rainbow Dash was just about to muster up a question for him, when a sound blasted through the cabin; it felt like a tidal wave.
“Arriving at the Everfree forest!”
The group, this time including The Operative, seemed to almost sprint off the train. After that disturbing chain of events, none of them wanted to stay.
The train station itself was not a very welcoming site, for it was almost in full disrepair after a majority of the trains stopped directly arriving in Everfree. Twilight thought a bit more about how The Operative knew a train was coming, how could he have known? And especially how could he have known that on the off chance that the train was even going to this area.
The walls and roof seemed to be made of some kind of hollow wood, since it had many holes and broken areas that were very much visible to the naked eye. The platform itself, however, showed no difference with the platform at Canterlot. The moonlight seemed to shimmer of this radiant surface. It was strange, it almost seemed that it was renewed.
Suddenly the wind began to pick up heavily on the group, pushing and fighting the group’s manes to stay in their original positions, during this, Applejacks hat seemed to fly off with almost subsonic speed and smack Rainbow Dash in the face, who incidentally, threw the hat on the floor and begun to try to reposition her mane to its original state. Applejack picked up the hat with ease; it seemed to stick to the ground after it was thrown down, like a heavy weight was placed on the corners of it. “We need to move, now. Follow me.” The Operative proclaimed, running off down a almost invisible path into the Everfree forest. The group, puzzled, look at each other in dismay.
“Hold on now, were going IN to the Everfree forest?!” Rainbow Dash yelled, trying to get The Operatives attention and also trying to battle the wind. It wasn’t that the wind was loud, mind you. It was just her mane kept on blowing in front of her face.
Twilight and Applejack shrugged almost in correlation with each other, they were puzzled themselves, but Twilight saw no alterative, and began to run towards The Operative, who was already almost inside the Everfree forest. Applejack and Rainbow Dash soon followed suite. It was on neither of their minds to be left in a creepy disrepair station in the middle of the night.
As they entered the Everfree forest, the wind seemed to slow down and almost stop, it was strange, but maybe the trees were stopping the wind, acting like a defence against it.
As the group closed in to The Operative, they noticed that some of his clothing was missing, mainly those on his hooves and the cape that shrouded his back. The group were then soon shocked, well… Rainbow Dash was shocked to discover that The Operative had wings. He was a Pegasus.
“Wait wait… You’re a Pegasus?” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, baffled by the fact that someone would want to hide his or her wings.
The Operative didn’t seem to notice her speaking, he continued on, at an almost seemingly faster pace. Rainbow Dash again felt insulted, she was used to everyone talking around her. It was like she was in a different dimension.
“We are not far, come on.” The Operative said, his voice seeming to increase in volume as he got father in front, it reminded Twilight of a book she read on the Red Light shift.
About 5 more minutes of waddling through various pathways and long forgotten roads, they finally came to a clearing in which the trees seemed to encircle a small patch of ground. The ground was flat and hard, and the grass seemed to be cut very smoothly. It was then Twilight wondered why no beats or animals had attacked them whilst going through the forest. She recalled the last time she went there they were attacked by a huge creature that only Fluttershy could tame, why did they not get attacked again?
As the four moved into the centre of this clearing, a faint buzzing sound was heard. It was then when they group mounted in horror as the trees around the clearing began to shape almost into one, cutting them off from all sides. Applejack tried to buck the trees to see if they would fall, it held no fruit. Those trees were as hard a concrete. Applejack didn’t want to say it but actually bucking the trees hurt her hooves a little.
Rainbow Dash also tried to fly over the trees to see if they could escape, but alas, the wind currently was too strong, and seemed to blow her right back to the small clearing. Her eyes started to swell for a moment and then her hooves flew directly on to her head and she swiftly fell to the ground. She said with a very saddened voice; “Oh my Celestia were never getting out of here!”
Twilight, however, was in the middle of the Clearing with The Operative. They both seemed to just be thinking. Twilight did not know if they were thinking the same thing, but the look on The Operative’s face showed her that he did not expect this.
A few moments later Applejack and Rainbow Dash both walked back to Twilight, both of their efforts being useless, they just proceeded to sit down and think.
Rainbow Dashes mind however was more set on a survival plan, that if all else failed she would proceed and try to convince Twilight to turn The Operative into a tasty meal. She wasn’t serious of course. Or maybe she was, she didn’t like him at all, but she didn’t think she would resort to that. She guessed it was just a bad thought.
Suddenly, a voice was heard almost from nowhere; it seemed to echo around the small circular patch of land.
“So, you want to stop the Illusionist.”
The group looked around suspiciously; unaware of where that sound came from or who it was from. When suddenly a figure began to emerge seamlessly from the air, a few steps in front of the group. By its faint image they could all tell it was a Pegasus, but it was much larger than any Pegasus the group had even seen before. As the figure slowly stepped forward and began to solidify, a faint whisper from The Operative sent all of the ponies into distress, a whisper that Twilight wished she had never heard.
“Queen Nightfall…”
Chapter 5: Overcast
--Lair of The Illusion—
A singular chandelier hung from the ceiling of a crystallised rectangular room, although it seemed to not give off any light at all, the room looked ever luminescent in its glow, it was astonishing. Near the back of the room, a very large chair loomed out of the wall, almost like the room itself had crafted it. Upon the chair was a small damaged and seemingly burnt book. Upon its very opaque exterior, the title that was etched on the front cover seemed to glow with the same luminosity of the room. Like somehow the light from the chandelier was channelling its energies into the book. However, the writing seemed to be of a foreign language and could not be read by anypony within Equestria’s border.
Suddenly, the walls seemed to shift and change violently, they seemed to all move in co-existence with each other, like they were alive and held the able to think.
The chair and the chandelier however, firmly stood still, possibly unaware that the whole room was shaking.
Then, randomly from nowhere, the walls stopped. It was quick, like they sharply ran out of energy. From this, the wall adjacent from the chair began to shift once again, but this time into a shape. It crafted itself to form a rectangular shape, then moulding more over to form what resembled a door. Which then swiftly swung open with the force of a hurricanes wind.
What was behind the door was pitch black. Opaque even. There was no light over the small threshold that separated that doorway from the rectangular room. It was strange, the chandelier light, as bleak as it was, had no effect on the doorway. Like it was almost programmed to only light the room, and nowhere else.
Within a few short seconds, four ponies that wore clothing that almost mimicked The Operatives walked through the threshold. However, all these ponies wore what appeared to be a form of a ski goggle, but even these did not even hint at the eyes behind the four. They were completely black.
Three of the four ponies were stallions; it was easily noticeable due to their height. However the fourth pony was a mare. What was strange about these four was that they were all unicorns, but they wore thin clothing over their horns, like they did not want them to seem present.
The four then shifted as they all passed through the doorway, and suddenly the door slammed back shut, and the wall began to reform into what it was before. Within a few seconds, there was not even the slightest hint that there even was a door. The four ominous ponies stood in a straight line, parallel to the wall in which they passed through. They bowed their heads simultaneously with each other, and spoke with the same tone and speed.
“You called for us, Illusionist?”
Suddenly, a dark shadow was cast over the room, even the chandelier, as powerful as it appeared, could not hold back the darkness, although it seemed to condense in front of the ponies. As it got darker, a pair of blood red eyes began to show, but that was it, whatever this creature was, wanted to keep itself shrouded.
“One of your… indiscriminate team is missing?” The Illusionist said, however, it was not present where the sound actually originated from, it flowed around the room like a river.
As the ponies all rose up their heads, the mare spoke gently to the black shroud.
“The Operative has… betrayed us.”
The Illusionist’s red eyes slowly turned to face the mare, although his face was not visible, his expressions were far from being hidden. Suddenly a boom of sound roared through the room, and seemed to frighten the ponies. They fidgeted in fear.
“You let him leave ALIVE?!”
The farthest stallion spoke hesitantly in response to the question, it was clear he was afraid.
“Sire… It was not our fau-“ His voice was abruptly cut of by a feeling of intense coldness around his hooves. As he looked down, he saw that a dark shroud had begun to climb up his legs, but the darkness did not appear to look like a shadow, but of a giant sharp claw. At the sight of this the other ponies jumped back, terrified and slightly confused by the act. Although they wore heavy clothing, it was apparent that they were becoming very uncomfortable. During this time the dark presence began to move slowly towards the lone stallion, and during this, the room began to become black, but once again it darkness did not seem to represent shadows, but hundreds of small claws slowly slicing and slashing down the walls. The stallion tried to scream, but as he did, he felt a sharp coldness around him mouth, a much darker and lifeless opaque claw had positioned itself over his mouth, stopping any hope of the stallion attracting attention.
The Illusionist was almost directly in front of the stallion now, and as his red eyes fixed their gaze over him, he spoke very softly and calmly.
“Do not question me, slave. Consider this your first and final warning…”
As he said this the claws that had been climbing up his legs dispersed, and any trace of the claws on the walls and floor had disappeared.
The Illusionist seemed to float quickly back to his original position, as he did this, his eyes gave a slight yellow haze. The ponies all bunched together once more, but the lone stallion remained still. Hardly a breath was heard entering or leaving his mouth.
“Now… you four will bring me this traitor, and I shall deal with him personally. Be gone.”
As the Illusionist said this, he began to quickly evaporate, after a few seconds; there was little trace of him anywhere in the room.
The three ponies turned to deadly still stallion, their expressions being one of remorse and sympathy.
The mare once again spoke out. Her voice this time carried force.
“You know better than to question him. Now we have a new assignment. Lets carry it out.”
As she said this, the stallions all slowly turned to her and nodded, even the stallion that was attacked by the darkness. As they began to turn, a small whisper was heard in the background.
“Do not fail me.”
Chapter 6: Legends of Old
--The Everfree Forest--
As Queen Nightfall began to finally solidify, it was now unmistakably clear that she was a Pegasus, although, her height matched that of Princess Celestia. She wore no ornaments, apart from a small gold crown that sat comfortably on her head. Her coat was strangely flat, and held a very dark blue colour that seemed to get less visible the father away you were. As she started to observe the four ponies, Twilight noticed what seemed to be her cutie mark, as she examined it further, she began to become increasingly uncomfortable. This was in fact not due to the Queen herself, but her cutie mark almost resembled Celestias in every way, except for one aspect.
The gold centre of the cutie mark was eclipsed.
Although Twilights thought pattern was cut abruptly when Rainbow Dash shouted “Bring it on!” And began to fly full speed at the Queen. Even though she was very close to the ponies, she did not seem to flinch, and as Rainbow Dash made contact with her, she began to mount in horror as she flew right through her.
Nightfall began to laugh hysterically, amused by the boldness of Rainbow Dash. As she was laughing, Rainbow Dash flew back to the group and landed softly next to Applejack, puzzled by what had just happened.
The Operative placed his hoof over his face. Embarrassed by what had just happened. Although it seemed no one took any notice, they were all baffled by her transparency.
“How… How did you do that? Pegasi cannot do magic!” Twilight yelled; it was really the only think she could do now. The stories she had heard of this Queen were horrifying, so she became desperate.
Nightfall seemed to calm suddenly and began to stare at Twilight, it was then that Twilight noticed the colour of her eyes, they were bright Yellow.
“No. I cannot create magic. Although, you do not need to be magical for a unicorn to cast a spell on you.”
Her response… made sense. Twilight blinked slowly, and realised that she was indeed correct. Unicorns could cast spells on anypony.
Applejack looked broadly at Rainbow Dash, who was frantically looking around for what appeared to be hiding and or escape routes. Slightly concerned by this, she turned to The Queen and asked a simple question.
“Well now, what do ya’ll want with us here normal folk?”
Nightfall slowly stepped back, and glanced at Applejack. She raised her head up slightly, and began to speak without hesitation.
“I have come to offer a warning. The Illusionist himself is not the only force you will be facing.”
The group were slightly confused; Twilight blinked slowly as thoughts began to pile in her mind.
“She… isn’t here to attack us? What is her goal? Why does she want to warn us?”
Before she could ask any of those questions, The Queen began to speak once more.
“The Illusionist holds power over three groups of ponies. The Raiders in The Badlands, The Seekers in Daggerfaull, and finally his own group of assassins… Known as The Echoes.”
Rainbow Dash noticed The Operative, who looked uncomfortable. His wings were unevenly beginning to flex.
“So where are these… Echoes located then, Nightfall?” Her voice seemed to drop on the word Nightfall, almost like she did not want to say it.
Nightfall looked at her slowly, and spoke softly.
“Everywhere and anywhere. I thought you would know, I mean, there is an Echo member here right now.”
The ponies all frantically looked around, until Nightfall began to stare deeply at The Operative, he did not make eye contact. Due to this, the other three ponies of the group began to look at him as well.
“Y-you’re an Echo member? You WORK for the Illusionist?!” Twilight exclaimed, feeling betrayed and used. For all she knew, he could have led us into a trap; it could have all been a ruse.
“No, not anymore.” He replied, staring at the floor in horror, he wondered briefly how she knew about him being an Echo member.
“That Trinke-“ Nightfall quickly stated before being abruptly cut off by Twilight shouting furiously, ”DON’T!”
Nightfall peeked gracefully at Twilight, and began to walk slowly forward towards her, when she was only a few steps away, she whispered calmly to Twilight.
“Bad memories? Not uncommon.”
Twilight slid back, shocked to think the Queen knew about what had happened with her. Even though she was the enemy, Twilight’s thirst for knowledge had to be saturated.
‘You-u… You know what it does..?”
Nightfall nodded slightly, whilst intriguingly The Operative looked oblivious to the statement, almost like… he didn’t know what it could do.
Nightfall turned to look at Rainbow Dash, who was already fuming with anger at The Operative.
“You should not hate him for what The Illusionist did to him.” Nightfall exclaimed, it seemed to take effect, since Rainbow Dash begun to lower her stance.
“What?” The Operative stuttered, staring deeply at Nightfall.
“Remember who you are, Whisper Wind.” Nightfall said, and as she did, it seemed to invoke some kind of response from him, and as he dropped his head slightly, he whispered to himself;
“Whisper… Wind…”
Suddenly he fell to the ground, almost with force. The ponies around him jumped at the sight, except Nightfall, who was now standing over him. Her eyes seemed to glow more luminous now.
“Remember who you are! Your family! Your life!” She exclaimed.
Twilight and the others stared blankly at each other, the turn of events that had just unfolded were strange to say the least. They were each lost in thought, until the trinket The Operative had begun to glow bright white, like a star.
“REMEMBER!” Nightfall shouted. The wind seemed to get stronger the more she yelled. To Twilight, it was… surprising.
The Operative closed his eyes for a few seconds, almost like he was in pain. Then quickly after the trinket around his neck began to shimmer and darken.
“I… My name… Whisper Wind… I remember.” He said quietly, and as he did, the trinket around his neck hummed softly, then exploded.
He opened his eyes once again, confused at the turn of events, yet… Twilight seemed to sense that he was happy about what had transpired.
As he got up off the ground, he spoke calmly to the group of ponies that were staring at him.
“That trinket, what was it?”
Nightfall spoke quickly afterwards, hoping to ease Twilight’s fear.
“It is a work of horrible magic. It is called a requiem, its sole purpose is to corrupt the holders memory. Although, it has another side effect which you had experienced. When thinking about the trinket, it causes a surge of bad memories to position themselves in your mind.”
Twilight seemed happy now her anxiety was cured, but a few questions still remained. Although it was Applejack who asked before Twilight got a chance to speak.
“Now hold on just a minute, on this here train ride, your lil’friend here said he knew about his family. Yet you said it corrupts his here memory?”
Whisper Wind turned slightly to Nightfall, hoping for her to answer the question. Although after a few seconds of silence, he guessed that he needed to answer.
“I guess that it didn’t corrupt that memory. I remember answering that one, but… I don’t remember anything short of a few months.”
He now stared deeply into Nightfall, hoping for his own question to be answered.
However, Nightfall looked up ominously, almost like she was searching for something.
“My time is up, I have to go. Head to Daggerfaull in the south and find a pony named Aries. She will help you fight the Seekers.”
Nightfall exclaimed, the group noticed she was beginning to fade once again.
Twilight realised that she would not get another chance to ask, so she yelled to make sure no one could interrupt her.
“WAIT! Why are you fighting Celestia? Why did you not attack us?”
Nightfall continued to fade, although before she was transparent, she managed to say a quick few words.
“Because you are fighting my greatest opponent, that is why I did not attack you. Also, I did not choose to fight Celestia, but she has forced my hand.”
Twilight looked obliviously at her, she felt like her questions were skimmed.
“What do you mean?” But it was too late, and Nightfall had disappeared, and with her, the spaced between the trees opened up once more and the wind died down. Whatever power the forest once held, it had dispersed with the Queen.
Rainbow Dash spun around cautiously, making sure that they were alone. After which she spoke directly to Whisper Wind.
“So, Guide… Which way to Daggerfaull?”
Whisper Wind looked at the group hesitantly, and began to speak slowly.
“Do you trust me? I mean… I know my way to Daggerfaull. But I need to know if you trust me to get you there safely. “
Applejack and Twilight nodded at him, although Rainbow Dash squinted at him uneasily, but after a firm nudge from Applejack, she nodded as well.
Twilight however was just nodding because they needed to get there. The truth was Twilight didn’t know what to think. Her mortal enemy had just appeared before them, and she was everything she did not expect. Also, The Operative… Or Whisper Wind as Nightfall had claimed… Was it true that his memory had been fading? Or that he was not in control of what he did? There were so many questions Twilight had, and it pained her not to be able to ask them.
“Alright.” Whisper Wind said, “Let us be on our way.”