//------------------------------// // Ch.13: True chaos (Part 1) // Story: A bard's tale // by Brotato //------------------------------// Chapter 13 True Chaos "Okay, okay, how about..." Deekin began in a sing-song voice while sitting on the small ledge beside the river of sewage. "With great vigor he charged, toppling his quarry. Show mercy and in return discovered more of our quest." Deekin had a grin on his face as he expected good input from his two... What's the word? Allies? Buddies? Chums? Colleagues? Companions? "Focus, Deekin," Twilight groaned, causing the inspired bard to wilt a little. She had taken a seat beside the kobold while Hidden had to take care of a single patrol. "I hope your 'quarry' is worth the trouble, Hidden. Somepony probably heard his yelling." "Yes. We're lucky this one overheard the password for the doorway," ignoring Twilight's warning that others might have heard. "Apparently today's passwords is... uhm" he took a moment to clear his throat in disbelief. "Password." Twilight stared at him as if his coat had turned checkerboard. He returned the stare with a small shrug. "At least it's in our favor that they poorly control such information in their ranks." Twilight shook her head. "Well, we got this far. If they do have who you're looking for at their base. Barging in directly wouldn't go well." Twilight rubbed a hoof against her cheek in thought as she further considered how to continue. "I shouldn't have any trouble entering their base, but yes, walking off with their hostage wouldn't go well. How about we wait to see what we'll be expecting before jumping to conclusions, hm?" Recieving only a nod in agreement from Twilight, they both clambered back on him and he continued through the sewers. One thing he noticed differently from where they started and now was how much bigger the tunnels were the closer they reached the castle. At the start, the sewers were so small that only a single pony could move through in comfort. Now Twilight could easily walk beside him, and allow some room for personal space. That was, if she wasn't so comfortable sitting on his back. Besides the slosh of water and occasional jump from Deekin every time a rat surprised him, the entire rest of the trek was quiet. Hidden knew where to go thanks to 'asking for directions' from the pony he had come across earlier. So after taking a left turn did they finally find their destination; guarded by two very bored looking ponies. The door itself only consisted of several boards of wood with thick cloth draped around the sides to cover any small openings. Wooden boards also lifted the floor up above the sewage into a makeshift catwlk; allowing the guards at least the comfort of having dry hooves. "Both of you stay here for a moment. I'll take care of the guards." Deekin and Twilight nodded and found a spot near the left turn so they could watch. Hidden meanwhile took the form of the female unicorn he had incapacitated not too long ago. With his disguise complete, he stepped around the turn at a brisk trot. The guards took little time to rid themselves of their tired looks. "Halt! who go-" the guard on the left began as he charged his horn to fire a bolt of magic. His horn winked out soon afterwards as he realized who it was and he quickly stood at attention; a look on his face like he had just bitten his tongue. "Sorry ma'am! can never be too careful." "Of course," Star Song commented nonchalantly as she approached with intent. If this was going to work without anypony on the other side of the door from hearing, neither of them needed to make a sound. The act of life draining was a lengthy one; leaving enough time for his target to at least yell or scream for help. There was a simple solution to this: You cant scream if you are without oxygen in your lungs. "Can the both of you do something for me? It's quite simple really." The two guards only gave limp salutes as a response. "I want you both to take a deep breath for me, then exhale slowly until you're ready to take another deep breath. Easy, right?" "That's all?" The guard to her right asked. Seeing her nod, he shrugged in confusion. "Alright, orders are orders I suppose." Both guards breathed in through their mouths for several seconds. As they began to reach the end of their exhale, Star Song stuck a forehoof out to each of them. The only sound they were able to choke out was the mix of a weak cry of pain and a whimper before collapsing on the wood floor. With the coast clear, Star Song returned to his normal form and waved Twilight and Deekin over. "I have to say it: I cant believe that actually worked." Twilight said with a hint of surprise while prodding one of the now pale guards with a hoof. Hidden only nodded and approached the wooden door; lifting one of the cloths to peek on the other side. Hidden blinked in surprise and whispered. "This is unexpected." Twilight joined him by lifting a piece of cloth to peek through as well while Deekin climbed on Hidden's back to peer through Hidden's. The room itself was big enough length-wise for somepony to yell if another stood on each end, while in width one could easily walk across in several seconds. It was dressed in strange tapestries depicting a golden bi-pedal frog-like creature standing over a crowd. Although it was hard to tell if the creature was standing over them in benevolence or tyranny. In-between each draping cloths were archways that possibly lead to more rooms, and possibly more enemies. The amount of ponies in the room they were currently watching was expected; at least two dozen. What they weren't expect was the unintelligible chanting they were murmuring. Their bodies slowly swaying as they sat on the make-shift wood floor. Surrounding them and littering the pedestal were dim candles in small bowls, giving the place an eerie flickering glow. "W-What are they doing?" Twilight whispered, clearly disturbed at the sight. Deekin also felt uncomfortable watching the ponies sway back and forth and let out a small whimper. "I'm not entirely sure, but taking such acts in a secluded place like this only means it is frowned upon. Or that somepony doesn't want it to become known." His pupils shrunk as he zoomed his vision to get a clearer view on the far wall; across the crowd of ponies. On a pedestal made from wood with a chunk of stone stab on top was a grey pony with a treble clef on her backside. "Whatever they're doing, it doesn't look like something one would talk over a cup of tea. I'm assuming that's Octavia on the pedestal?" Twilight nodded. "I caught glimpses of her the Grand Galloping Gala and Canterlot in general, but that's about it. What I really want to know is what all these ponies are doing. Does Celestia even know what is going on down here?" "SILENCE!" A voice bellowed out in the back of the room, quieting the murmuring and three unseen eavesdroppers. A pony in ragged brown robes with the hood drawn up walked out from one of the archways near the pedestal. On his back was a jagged piece of stone in the shape of an obelisk with strange markings dug into it. When he made his way over to the pedestal, he hefted the obelisk off his back and carefully placed it beside Octavia as if it were a child. With his burden lessened he faced the crowd of ponies in front of him. "My children! today I have communed with our golden god and he has givens us the means of salvation!" His hoof lightly touched the obelisk as if to comfort it. "The spawning stone is the key. With it we will open a portal to our savior's realm and obtain absolution, but we still need the catalyst. A pony of great magical prowess must be used to allow the rift to become open long enough to allow the great golden one in. Only then will-" His speech stopped and he began to rub his hooves together while speaking to a pony who wasn't there. After nodding his head in a frantic motion, he turned his attention back to the crowd. "Our savior has proven his greatness once more. His vision has shown that spies are among us!" His hooves pointed over the stone slab and directly at the door. "Seize the spies, your prophet commands it!" Deekin let out a wail of terror as the entire crowd turned around to look at the door. "D-Deekin wants to leave now. Too much adventuring for today he has!" "Alright, stay close to me," Twilight instructed. Her horn started to glow for a teleport spell. However before she could finish it, the purple glow of her horn turned into a dark-green. Followed by any trace of magic going out with a fizzle. Twilight's eyes widened in shock. "Ah! How the hay are they able to counter-spell without direct sight?" Hidden put a hoof on her shoulder and lightly pushed her back towards the tunnels, and shifting Deekin off his back. "Get back both of you. I promised you and Deekin would get out of here safely and I intend to do so." "Hidden, behind us!" Several unicorns had teleported into the tunnel behind them and were preparing their own spells. Before the nearest one could fire his off, a tan blur slammed into him, knocking the unicorn unconscious. "Keep that door closed until I can deal with these unicorns!" he shouted towards twilight, who nodded and kept the gate shut with her magic. "Just hurry up, I don't know how long until they try to counter-spell again." The door began to shudder as ponies on the other side began to attempt to buck it open. Hidden meanwhile checked another unicorn against the sewer wall who had her horn pointed towards Twilight, cracking the stone slab she had slammed into. Another attempted to knock him out with a sleep spell, but couldn't understand why it wasn't working. By the time he had knocked out the third unicorn, the others had retreated in fear as to why Hidden wasn't begin affected by their spells. "The unicorns have been dealt with, Twilight. Release the door." "Gladly." Twilight was already starting to sweat from the amount of kicks the door was recieving. Her eyes were in fierce concentration just to keep it from flying off the hinges; which it did so once her magic stopped channeling. Hidden ducked as the door flew over his head and tumbled down the tunnel. "Bring them before your prophet!" the robed pony yelled over the gathered group outside the door. They charged through the gap to follow their leader's order, feeling confident with their overwhelming numbers. When they were about to charge straight into Hidden, his brow furrowed in concentration for only a second. What happened next surprised Twilight, and sent the entire group reeling with fear. "Where the hay did that come from?" "Get that thing away from me!" "Prophet save us!" The front of the group fell into a jumbled pile of pony parts while the back of the group had enough time to retreat back to the main room. While the ponies left behind cowered in fear, Hidden easily lead them into unconsciousness; leaving the other half to flee for their lives from a terror that lived only in their minds. Deekin scratched his head while hiding behind Twilight. "D-Deekin doesn't understand. Why did they cower like how Deekin does?" Hidden glanced back at Deekin before returning towards the doorway. "I understand how fear affects your kind," he answered simply. "You should teleport out of here while you have the chance." Twilight nodded as Deekin hopped on her back. Her horn started to glow once more, but for some reason it fizzled once more. "I dont get it," Twilight shouted in frustration. I can feel the magic coming together, but as soon as it's about to finish it slips from my hooves. Something else is going on. If the other ponies are able to use theirs, somepony is keeping me from using mine, but it isn't a counter-spell." "Alright, but stay close to me at all times. I dont know how long until they realize it was a trick of the mind." With that said, he peered inside the room before cautiously entering. After the frenzied retreat the candles that littered the floor had been knocked over as the pools of wax slowly began to harden. Several of the wooden boards were already trailing wisps of smoke; warning of a soon-to-be fire hazard. Getting a closer look at the hanging tapestries, the ponies underneath the frog creature seemed to have their hooves raised in praise. Their so-called 'god' didn't look familiar to any gods he had seen or heard of. Though he knew religion and beliefs were known to reach such extremes; to the point of hurting one-self or others to appease their god. Seeing Octavia about to become one of their new, whatever they were going to do to her, helped confirm such thoughts. Twilight ran up to Octavia when Hidden made sure nopony else was in the room. The pony only had several bruises from possibly being knocked out when she was captured. Other than that, she seemed perfectly fine. "Can you carry her on your back, Twilight? I would, but I cant risk it if they attack again." "Sure. Deekin, can you roll her off the slab? I'll catch her as she falls off." Deekin nodded meekly while watching the archways for any other ponies to attack. Climbing on top of the slab, he put his bony fingers under the unconcious pony's body and slowly rolled her over; landing awkwardly on Twilight. "Ack!" After shifting her to a more comfortable position near the middle, she did her best to smile under their current situation. "Okay we have her. Can we please get out of here now?" "I... can't let you, ugh, leave." Everypony turned to find the robed pony stumbling in the room, his dust-colored coat and yellow mane revealed without the hood. One of his forehooves held his stomach as if he was sick. "You're not in fit condition to stop us," Hidden observed. "You're right, but also... wrong." He gasped, looking as if he would vomit at a moments notice. "I have seen him. I have heard his voice. He... He will be here soon. To punish you for your actions." Twilight raised a brow. "That doesn't even make sense. You obviously needed me or another unicorn with lots of magic. You have no way of summoning whatever 'he' is here." The prophet let out a low chuckle then groaned in pain. "I'll admit: This is a less favorable option, but this act of sacrifice can easily replace you." His legs buckled and hit the ground with a dull thud as his voice started to waver and fade. "Ssendam... he will be here... shortly... Deekin wrung his long hands together nervously. "Alright. Bad pony gone and we have other pony to rescue." A small whine left his throat. "Can we go now?" "Hm." Hidden studied the pony's body only to find no wounds of any sort. Why he acted in such a way before dying eluded him. Possibly a poison of some sort, he concluded. As he took a step over the body, a sudden twitch in one of its back legs caused him to jump back to Twilight and Deekin's side. Shortly afterwards the pony's twitching turned to complete shaking and shuddering as if experiencing a seizure. When it ended, the pony's eyes shot open, revealing bright-gold irises. The same color of the creature depicted on the tapestries. He slowly stood up and looked at his surroundings before focusing his gaze at the group before him. Mostly keeping his gaze on Hidden. "Interesting. What is a lone inevitable doing so far away from its home. Are you lost, being made of stone and steel?" The being's voice echoing in all three of their minds. Hidden immediately went into a defensive stance as he glared at the resurrected pony. "Who are you, being? You reek of chaos." Seeing the pony eye Twilight and Deekin, he shifted his body to put himself in the way. The being found this amusing. "An inevitable becoming attached to another? That's quite a first sight. Even for one as old as me." He walked towards one of the tapestries and admired it for a bit before looking back at the group. "As for who I am, I find such names so tiresome. I despise law and order, but I'm stuck having to deal with it from time to time so I'll make this brief. In my lifetime I was called many things, but for you? I am Ssendam. Lord of Insanity." With a flick of his eyes, Hidden flew across the room and impacted the wall with such force cracks etched across the entire span of it as debris rained down on the entire room. He shortly fell to the ground with his disguise gone and wasn't moving. Ssendam took a step towards Twilight while glaring at her. "And now that I am here. This orderly world... is MINE."