//------------------------------// // Chapter 116 - Even // Story: Quest For Harmony // by destinedjagold //------------------------------// Chilly winds flew pass a slumbering purple baby dragon. He groaned, and shivered slightly. Just then, a thick and maroon piece of cloth, wrapped in a magical aura, blanketed the sleeping dragon. While Apple Bloom smiled at the gesture, Scootaloo rolled her eyes in disgust. Sweetie Belle ignored her two friends however, as she settled on a sitting position right next to Spike as they rode the air chariot, driven by four pegasus pony stallions. They weren't sure how long they were unconscious, but after half an hour after the three mares recovered their consciousness, they saw, from the horizon, the chariot. The ponies bravely fought through the raging blizzard in the mountain range. Sweetie Belle signaled their whereabouts through firing a harmless bolt of lightning up in the air, and it worked. The stallions, upon arrival, informed them that they were sent by Twilight Sparkle herself, after she learned from her brother about Spike's adventure. The Cutie Mark Crusaders pulled Spike and the Crystal Heart on the chariot. Before they left however, the three young mares wondered about the thick black crystals that covered the area of the floor where the pedestal was. What is more, the alicorn was nowhere to be found, and strangely, she left the heart. They were flying towards the blizzard now, and Sweetie Belle took a breath before summoning a large barrier, surrounding the entire chariot. The stallions stared at the barrier forming around them, and doubted if it could help them fly through the storm in ease. They had no time to test however, as the barrier-protected chariot flew straight into the raging blizzard. A powerful whine of a horse echoed in the dark city, cutting through the noise of explosions, gun fire, and screams. A dark crystal spike rose from the ground near the docks, where on top, a dark equine cried mightily as it towered everything in the vicinity. The equine's white and evil toothy grin sent shivers to the two-legged creatures who were fleeing from him. Slowly, while ignoring the chaos down below, it turned towards the bridge, and its smile vanished as it thought of how slow its dark mists are crawling towards the city. No matter, it thought. It jumped off towards the concrete road. Upon it's landing, it flared it's horn with a dark purplish aura, and quickly let out a powerful wave of darkness around it, throwing the nearby soldiers away from it. Then, the dark equine began to ran towards the edge of the city, creating black crystals from its wake. Each growing crystals are slowly rising, threatening to go even beyond the tallest building in the city of Rentelbud. Since the mists are crawling ever slowly, Sombra decided to cover the edges of this grand city with crystal walls, to negate the possibility of the two-legged creatures the ability to escape. He thought about them fleeing through the air, but the crystal dragon is handling that problem perfectly. “You did WHAT!?” Kronz's voice boomed from the small cellular phone that Xilfer held a few meters away from his ear. He anticipated such a reaction from his nerdy younger brother, so he took extra precaution. And then, as Xilfer guessed, Kronz began to babble things he didn't care about. Also, he was sure that he heard Claire's voice over his bro's loud nonsense mumbles. After minutes of loud voices coming out from his phone, he heard Kronz's heavy breathing replaced his earlier babbling. “Are you done?” Xilfer asked in a bored tone after he pulled his phone to his ear. “I have something to ask of you.” “Big bro...ugh...” Kronz sighed. “This is the first time in forever that you called me, and you kidnapped Claire's sister!?” “You have your laptop with you, yes?” “Don't ignore me!” Another sigh. “Yes, I have it. And no, I won't let you laptop-nap it!” Xilfer arched an eyebrow as he walked towards the edge of the roof of the three storey building where his comrades are currently occupying. He stared at the crowded road, where cars are on a stand-still, and huge numbers of people are panicking away from the chaos. He eyed the police officers, who were having a difficult time controlling the crowd. “Is the power there back?” Xilfer asked. “Wha? N-no. Not yet... Why do y—wait... You're behind the black out, too!?” Xilfer smiled. “Was that a clever conclusion, or a clever guess?” “Xilfer...” Kronz groaned. Xilfer took a breath and sighed. “Look, here's what we're going to do.” “Wait what!? No! I won't work with you!” “Look, you don—” Xilfer paused after he heard a faint sob from the phone. He guessed that it must be from Claire. He sighed quietly. “Look, I know who's behind all of this chaos.” “It's Claire's father, yes we know... And oh, to add more impact, I'm giving you a deadpan look right now.” “He was used.” “Whu—?” “They got the power to open portals and call out these weird creatures,” Xilfer explained, “but of course, you already knew that. I also knew that you're busy trying to save Jay, so I went out to dig up more info about the goings on.” He took a breath and sighed. “Look, Claire's dad, Cortes, is also capable of closing it and returning these monsters back.” “A-are you saying he chose that he didn't because...” Xilfer nodded. “He's being threatened by the government.” “What? B-but that doesn't make sense! Why would the queen want the capital city to be attacked?” “That is why I'm calling you... I don't know...” With his free hand, he pulled his rectangular voice recorder out from his pocket. “I have the evidence of Cortes' confession. We could use this to blackmail the queen and the government.” “Wait, no,” Kronz blurted out, “no, we're getting off the road here... First, let's talk about Claire's sister. What wi—” “She's unharmed and she will be released—both alive and unharmed—after all of this is settled.” Xilfer turned his back from the scenes below him. “Cortes has our brother, so I am just making things even. If he's...if he's a good father, then he'll know the right thing to do...” Silence... Kronz then asked with a low voice, “w-what if he won't...?”