//------------------------------// // Chapter 8 // Story: Order-naries // by CTVulpin //------------------------------// "Ok, question time," Soul Mage said. The group had arrived at a rope-and-plank bridge spanning a deep chasm and Twilight Sparkle was checking its ability to take weight. "Still in good shape," she said, "come on." Rarity, Ashen Blaze, Gale, and finally Soul Mage followed her as she crossed while the two pegasi flew alongside them. "What's your question Soul?" Twilight asked. "You, Rarity, and Fluttershy are all familiar with this part of the Everfree forest," Soul said, "and yet Fluttershy tried to warn us against coming in here earlier today. What would cause you three, along with AJ, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie, to come so far into the forest if you fear it so much?" "We needed to come here to find the Elements of Harmony," Twilight said, "My research had told me they were hidden away in the old castle, which is where we're going right…" Her voice trailed off as she came to a stop, staring at the sight that had just become visible through the last of the trees. The ancient Castle of the Princesses was before them, and was engulfed in a thick shell of water shaped roughly like a fortress covered in spikes and crowed with two horn-like towers. A river of water flowed through the air into the side of the fortress, obviously stolen from the sea serpent's river. "Oo-wee," Ash said, "That's got Tau'rin written all over it." "Already?" Gale exclaimed, "but, there should only be one Gem here, right?" "There is," Ash said, pulling the Ruby out of his bag, "Looks like we stumbled upon his hide-out early. He's only got the Sapphire to work with, hence all the water." He smiled triumphantly as the Ruby began to glow in his magic grip. "This is an opportunity we can't miss." "We've only got two Gems ourselves," Gale pointed out, "One of which isn't the best for attacking, and I have nothing." "Here," Ash said, pulling out the Diamond and flinging it at the brown earth pony, "Improvise; it's what you're good at, right?" "Yes sir," Gale said sarcastically, trying to figure out how to carry the Gem. Soul extended his magic tendril and put it on Gale's back. "Thanks," she said. "So, is this it?" Twilight asked, "The big fight you've been worried about?" "Not exactly," Soul said, "not all of the Gems are here, so there won't be any reality breaking or world-hopping involved." "There will be a fight though," Ash said, "So if you three want to stay out of it, don't follow us inside." He turned his gaze to the in-flowing water and tilted his head to tap the Ruby with his horn. Several thin streams of red light shot out of the gem and struck the river in several places, causing it to tremble and then collapse, spilling out onto the ground. Ash turned toward the fortress and sent out more light, which began dismantling the walls of water blocking access to the ruins. As the water fell and flowed away, a cry of surprise and rage rose up from inside. "Now that he knows we're here," Ash said, "Let's go say hello. Order-naries forward!" He and his team reared up and began to charge forward, only to skid to a stop as a large creature vaguely resembling a winged bull straight out of a nightmare with a large sapphire embedded in its forehead, came running at them from the ruins entrance. "Order-naires!" it bellowed, "You'll regret finding me! Die!" The Order-naries, Twilight, Rarity, and Fluttershy dodged as the beast thundered past them. It skid to a stop and spun around, steam blowing out of its nostrils as it glared at the ponies. "Tau'rin?" Heart asked, incredulous, "That's… a new look." "It is an inconvenience," Tau'rin snarled, "I'd gladly destroy this world just to be rid of this body. Your forms look even less useful; surely you agree it would be better if we left?" "Not at your price," Soul retorted, extending his magic toward Heart. The tendril wrapped around the pegasus's midsection and the two golden-yellow ponies became covered in ethereal flames. Heart took to the air and brought her front hooves close together as a disc of energy began to build between them. Tau'rin's Sapphire began to glow, and two tentacles of water shot out of the fortress to knock the linked pair down. "Skvetch," Ash muttered, glancing between the demon in front and the water behind him, "We're surrounded." "What should we do?" Twilight asked. "The Sapphire's not much use without a lot of water around," the ash-grey unicorn said, "I can take out this supply he's built up, but not if he's trying to stop me." He shoved Twilight aside and blasted the water tentacle Tau'rin had decided to send at her, canceling the magic out with the fire element. "Help Soul and Heart," he said, "keep Tau'rin distracted. Either that or try to find a way to get to safety." "Don't waste your time," Tau'rin said, "I can just draw the water out of the ground if you break down my construction. Behold." The blue gem glowed as water rose out of the ground around him, beginning to form into a ring above his head. Gale charged forward, the Diamond on her back aglow with power. Tau'rin sneered at her and tried to hit her with a lash of water, only to be blinded by a sudden blast of focused light in his eyes. The Diamond slid off Gale's back as she spun around to kick the bull-demon in the leg with all her might before retreating to a safe distance. Tau'rin lost control of the water around him as he flinched in pain, shaking his head to try and clear his vision. "Cursed little…" he muttered. "Our turn," Heart said, in the air and charging her attack again. The energy took on the form a disk colored red, blue, yellow, and green, which Heart threw out with a cry of "Element wheel!" The disk spiraled and grew in size as it flew, aiming for Tau'rin's head. The demon recovered just in time to try and dodge, losing a horn as the disk cut through it and dissipated. "Dang it," Heart hissed, beginning to charge another disk. Tau'rin began to prepare another attack of his own, and then noticed the Diamond lying on the ground near him. "Ah, how nice of you to leave this here," he said, creating a claw of water that reached toward the Gem. He paused and blinked in confusion as he suddenly found himself surrounded by colored lights and illusory shapes of all kinds, including a few copies of the Diamond. The real one jumped off the ground and joined the illusions, flying around randomly. "Not so fast you brute," Rarity said. Ash and the others turned to see her glaring at the demon, her horn lit up with intense magic. "You think you deserve such a beautiful thing?" she asked, "Can you even pick out the real one?" Tau'rin snarled at her and began focusing his power through the Sapphire, only to have the bolts of energy he shot out blocked by a red barrier from Ash's Ruby. "No cheating," Ash said in mock severity. Tau'rin growled and turned his attention back to the milling Gems, extremely frustrated now that he'd lost track of the real Diamond in the shuffle. The lights and other illusions from Rarity's spell added to his distraction, and finally he squeezed his eyes shut and lashed out with a hoof, disrupting an illusory diamond. "Sorry, wrong," Rarity said, tilting her head back quickly. The real Diamond flew out of the mess and came to a stop next to the white unicorn. "Why you little-" Tau'rin bellowed, only to be cut off as a fireball struck his face. "Don't finish that sentence," Ash said dangerously, "Now, having lost the game, you forfeit your pretty little Sapphire." "Spare me your humor, little magic pony," Tau'rin said "I'm sorry, was that supposed to be an insult?" Soul quipped, "I think you're just jealous because you're a cow." Tau'rin bellowed and lowered his head in preparation to charge, only to take a glancing blow from Heart's second Element Wheel that left a gash on his forehead and took off his other horn. "You cocky brats," the bull-demon hissed, "This is not over yet. The rest of the Gems are mine, and once I have them, we'll see who- argh!" He recoiled in pain as a white aura surrounded the Sapphire in his forehead. "I won't let you destroy my world," Twilight Sparkle said through gritted teeth, focusing her magic on pulling the blue Gem loose, "So I'm not going to let you keep that gem." As she continued to pull, Tau'rin collapsed to the ground, writhing in agony that seemed to go beyond the pain of the forcible removal of the Sapphire. With a final pull from Twilight, the gem came free with a 'pop' and rocketed over to the ponies. As soon as Twilight brought it to a halt and set it aside, Ash let loose a wave a fire in Tau'rin's direction. He maintained it for several seconds and then forced the flames to die away before any trees caught fire. The spot Tau'rin had occupied was now vacant. "Did that do it?" Gale asked, "Is he finally dead?" "No," Heart said sadly, pointing upward. Everypony looked up and saw a dark figure retreating into the sky, yelling incoherent curses in their direction. "So. Close!" Ash snorted in frustration. His breathing grew heavy and ragged as he stamped the ground, and his mane tail began waving of their own accord. "Is he…?" Twilight asked, backing away. "Losing it again? Yeah," Soul said. Rarity shot the golden-yellow unicorn a concerned look. "Aren't you going to do something?" "He's angry at Tau'rin," Soul said, "I'll let him have this one unless he goes overboard." "Skvetch!" Ash howled. His mane and tail burst into true flames as the Ruby and his horn began glowing with almost blinding red light. He reared up and punched at the air, sending a veritable stream of fireballs after the retreating Tau'rin, all of which fizzled out long before reaching him. Ash unleashed one final blast of fire before coming back onto all fours and dropping the Ruby. His mane and tail returned to normal as he took deep, calming breaths. "You ok?" Heart asked after a minute. "I'm good," Ash said, "Thanks for letting me get that out of my system." He turned to Twilight and smiled. "Good work pulling that Sapphire off of him," he said, "I was starting to worry we'd have to let him keep it." He picked the three Gems up and passed the Sapphire to Soul Mage as he put the Ruby and Diamond into his own saddlebags. "Let's head home everypony." Twilight and Rarity nodded, but then Twilight realized something. "Where's Fluttershy?" she asked in alarm. "Over here," a timid voice said from behind a boulder. Fluttershy stepped out into view and smiled shyly at her friends. "I'm so glad you're all ok," she said. "Same to you," Twilight said, going over to hug the pegasus. She turned back and looked at the ruins, which were still half-covered in a watery shell. "You should probably take that down guys." "The spell's already degrading," Ash said, "That water will be gone in an hour or less. We should probably make sure the river gets back into its old course though." "Well, lead on," Soul said, "I'm starting to get hungry." After restoring the river's flow, and surviving the sea serpent's rib-cracking hug of thanks, Soul Mage and the others made their way back through the Everfree Forest. They stopped by Zecora's hut to find that not only was the zebra at home, but she was willing to share her supper with them. With sated appetites and elation at the successful day, the Order-naries, Twilight, and Rarity bid farewell to Fluttershy at her house and continued on to the library. When they arrived the Order-naries scattered to lounge around in their own fashion while Twilight began another letter to Celestia chronicling the day while Rarity sorted through the mail that had arrived. She found an envelope made of fine parchment with Twilight's name written on it and held closed with the royal seal. "It seems the Princess got your first letter Twilight," she said, floating the envelope over to the lavender unicorn. "Oh, thanks Rarity," Twilight said, taking the envelope and opening it. She pulled out the letter, read it quickly, and then set it aside with a small smile. "Well," she said, "I'm now officially required to follow you four and report what happens." "Great," Ash said with a hint of sarcasm, "It's always nice to be at least somewhat legitimate." He resumed his browsing of the bookshelf, stopping as a particular book caught his eye. He pulled it out and read the title, "The Elements of Harmony. You mentioned this back in the forest Twilight. Didn't you say they were in those ruins?" "They were," Twilight said, "but they haven't been there since last summer. If you're worried that Tau'rin might use them, don't worry; he'd never be able to activate them- especially not by himself." "What are they anyway?" Ash asked. Twilight put down her quill and thought for a few moments. "I can show you," she said, "but first, tell me more about yourself Ashen Blaze." "Excuse me?" "I've seen you 'lose your temper' twice in the three days you've been here," Twilight said, facing the ash-grey unicorn, "both times I've felt a dark power coming from you, and you seem to become an entirely different pony. If there's a story behind that, I'd really like to know it so I can understand you better." Ash looked away and scuffed at the floor with a hoof. "I'd rather not revisit it," he said. "Oh, come on Ash," Soul Mage said, "It's not like you'll summon your old buddies here by talking about them." "Confession's good for the soul," Gold Heart added. "Very well," Ash said with a sigh, "but I'm not going into details." Twilight nodded and produced a fresh sheet of parchment. "I don't know if my temper is part of my basic nature," he said, "or if it's a product of the powers I once wielded. Back home, my earliest memories were of being Meis Thamul, which roughly translates to Greatest Mage, but which really meant I was one of the leaders of an army of darkness. The overlord I served had his sights on ruling multiple planets, and I was one of his best agents for years, harnessing darkness and fire to spread fear and chaos before me. One day, however, I witnessed an assault by one of the resistance groups on my old master's headquarters. He decided to deal with it personally to showcase his power, which was above and beyond my own. The leader of the resistance was quick to realize his assault was doomed to failure, and so he sacrificed his own life to give his soldiers time to retreat. Such respect and love for those of lower positions was unknown to me before that time, and it struck me to the core. Keeping my crisis hidden, I eventually decided that I could not hope to defeat the overlord on my own, and I doubted any of the resistance would welcome me, so I fled to the far side of the galaxy, where the war I'd known had not yet reached. I made a new home on a peaceful-looking planet and swore an oath I would try to protect that peace. A few years later, I met Soul, Heart, and Gale, and we eventually joined forces to become the Order-naries. You know the rest after that." "Oh my," Rarity said quietly. Ash looked over at her, expecting to see shock or horror on her face, and was surprised to see admiration instead. "I'm haunted by the fact that I never worked up the courage to go back and try to right the wrongs I'd committed," he said, turning his face away from everypony. There was an awkward silence for several minutes before Twilight cleared her throat and said, "Well, I guess it's my turn then." Ash remained where he was as the other Order-naries gathered to hear the story of Nightmare Moon, the Elements of Harmony, and how Twilight made her first real friends.