//------------------------------// // Trust In Me // Story: Never Forgiven // by DragonassasslnGR //------------------------------// Luna stormed into the throne room and made her way to Celestia. She stopped when she saw Constance singing with Sereen as Celestia watched intently on her throne. The yellow unicorn had her leg and part of her chest in bandages, but she seemed to stand just fine from a far. Luna slowly approached as the two were finishing their song. "All the days wither into night.", Constance sang. "And moon with be your light!" Sereen finished. Both Celestia and Luna clapped their hooves together. Constance and Sereen looked to Luna while Celestia turned her head and gave her a warm smile. Constance slowly walked over to the princess of the night, with Sereen following beside her. Both of them shared a very sad look that made Luna feel uncomfortable. Sereen stepped in front of Constance, "I'm sorry mommy, this is my fault. If I didn't read the book, Cassius would still be in the castle with us and Constance wouldn't have been attacked." She started to cry but Constance rubbed her back with a hoof, "She has been like this ever since I came back from the hospital. I have spent all my day trying to cheer her up." Luna gave Sereen a hug and whispered to her, "It isn't your fault my dear. Don't blame yourself for any of this." Luna looked to Constance and Celestia while still holding Sereen in her hooves. "I found him in the dream realm today." Celestia got out of her chair, taking a step closer as Sereen looked into Luna's eyes with a gleam of joy in her own. "Well? How is he doing?" Constance said with excitement at the great news. Luna's gaze drifted as she thought of a way to tell them, "He is being taken care of. From what he told me, he is sanctuary having fun with some pegasus pony named Lizzy and a Fire red unicorn called Flamearch." - Constance looked down in anger as she gently rubbed her foreleg in the wrappings. - "Lizzy is taking very good care of Cassius and even reads to him when he is ready to go to sleep for the day. Flamearch plays games with him and makes some of his meals before the teaches him some of his magic and Flamearch teaches Cassius magic from his home." Celestia closed her eyes, "We need to get to him before it is too late. We need to give Twilight and Shadowheart a location. Luna do you know where he is?" "Fort Faithless. Tia, I have never heard of such a place but Cassius said it looked like it was in the badlands." Luna said slowly releasing Sereen who had stopped crying. Opening her eyes Celesta took a step closer, "Luna, now we have a a general area to look in. I will send a message to Twilight and tell her she needs to go to the badlands and look for this, Fort Faithless." The goddess of the sun walked off to her study. Luna looked to Constance with a smile at her pleasant and unexpected return to the castle. Constance looked to Sereen whose muzzle burst with a large grin at the thought of her sons return. ***************************************************** Liz had spent the night with Flamearch in their chamber together. She couldn't remember the last time they did that together, because the last few months she had been staying up late into the night with her work while Flamearch trained his men. Liz was the first of the two to get up and begin the preparations for what he had planned. She looked to the bed to see her lover still asleep in the blankets. "When your are ready Flamearch, I will have everypony gathered in the courtyard. You may sleep as long as you need to." She whispered to him before kissing his forehead. Liz donned her glasses and lab coat before leaving the room and headed to what was once the library, but was converted slightly to house Cassius. She knocked on the door and heard a reply," Come in." Liz opened the door and found the same guard from last night playing a game with Cassius as they sat on the floor. Both of them looked tired. From what she saw the guard would have to guess what Cassius was thinking and if he got it right Cassius would use his magic to bring it to life for a moment using shadows. Liz was amazed at his talent and skill used to manipulate the shadows around the room. The guard looked over to Liz and shot up and saluted, "Liz, What are you doing here?" Liz spoke with a playful smile, "I'm here to give you leave, go to bed if you need to. I will take it from here." The guard nodded and walked out of the room leaving Liz with Cassius who was resting with the journal on a bed that was placed in the library which was also Liz's lab. She walked over to Cassius and sat in front of him looking at the page in the journal he was reading to give him ideas for his game. The entry was one of the last in the book. In fact it was the last entry in old Equestrian. Liz knew the next page would tell him everything about his past and that would be devastating for him and Flamearch if he found out about the Dark Libra events. Liz pulled the journal away from him causing Cassius to groan in a mixture of disappointment and minor annoyance. "Oh don't be so sad Cassius. Did he read to you?" Liz asked. With a yawn Cassius replied, "He tried, but he couldn't understand the words so I read to him." Liz raised an eyebrow, "What did you read?" The little unicorn jumped up with excitement, "It was the story of when my mommy and the other Cassius played a game of hide and seek. It was a long game that ended a year before I was born. My mom finally won, but he died after the game. Or that is what mommy told me." Liz flinched at the thought of what the entry might have said. Last night she was visited by Princess Luna herself in what the journal called the dream realm. At first the princess of the night was angry about them taking Cassius away and demanded the location of the fort. Liz told her she didn't know the exact location herself and after a while of convincing she eventually believed Liz's lie. They had talked for a few hours in her dream and Luna had made her promise to keep Cassius from reading the last entries in the journal. She warned her that if he read them, if Cassius didn't kill her Luna would. The entry was the trigger for the memory Locks that Queen Rosetta herself had placed. This was the most powerful of magic in existence and with that trigger it would unleash either the caring Nocturnal Guardian or the destructive force of Cassius Nightshade. Liz would try and keep this promise for as long as possible. He life depended on it. Liz was about to speak when Flamearch entered the room. With a smile he spoke, "Its time to get to work my dear. Cassius would you mind coming with me for a little bit? I have a fun new game for you that I'm just dying to play." Flamearch walked out as he let out a little chuckle. Liz had a worried look on her muzzle. She had never seen Flamearch act this way unless somepony was going to die by Ragnarok's blaze. Cassius trotted past her and followed him out. Liz quickly grabbed the journal and flew after the two. ********************************************************** Flamearch had gathered everypony in the fort outside in the courtyard at the training platform. They crowded around as Cassius and Flamearch stood in the center of the ring of living ponies. Liz flew up and hovered just above them to get a good look at what he was planning. Flamearch paced around addressing his followers, " Everypony! Cassius and I are going to play a little game! We are going to see which one of us is the most skilled in magic! We will try to outdo each other using any of the spells we know!" - He turned to Cassius. -"Are you ready little one?"- Cassius nodded. -"Good, now a few rules, One, no attack spells on each other. We will have dummies for that. Two, if you lose control of a spell it doesn't count. Three, we go one at a time."- Cassius nodded in confirmation. "Good. Liz, Take notes will you!" Shouted Flamearch. "Can I go first?" Cassius asked. "Be my guest." Replied the fire red unicorn. Cassius jumped up and began to concentrate on a spell. His horn began to glow a dark blue and in the blink of an eye he used a chain teleportation spell. He disappeared and reappeared repetitively until he was a few feet in front of Flamearch. The red unicorn smiled and stepped back. With a flash of his horn, he burst into flames. Cassius jumped back from the sudden temperature change. Flamearch trotted around with his head held high as he gloated. Cassius's horn glowed again as he stared at Flamearch in annoyance. The flames around Flamearch began to distort. They turned black and flew to Cassius forming a ball above his head. The shadow flame swirled around in the air for a moment before Cassius lowered them and rested on the ground next to him. Flamearch looked on expecting more before Cassius spoke, "It's your turn." Flamearch was taken back for a moment but eventually took his turn anyway. He lifted his hoof and slammed it on the ground. The stone of the platform cracked and chipped around him giving way to small eruptions of fire that blasted it's way up into the open air. The fire formed a dome and engulfed Flamearch. After a minute a barrier of red magic formed and covered the explosion of flames that came from the detonation of his fire barrier. The blast shattered the magical wall into a fine dust that faded in the light as a shock wave that pushed everypony back and almost knocked Liz out of the sky. The crowd stood, awestruck at the sight. From the epicenter stood Flamearch grinning on scorched glass. Cassius just looked on as he wiped some dust from his muzzle. The ball of shadows began to slowly move toward the crowd of ponies. Onlookers watched as it rolled around the circle before jumping into the air. The ball grew twice it's previous size and slammed into Cassius shattering the stone. Everypony leaned in and waited for what they thought would be a pool of blood. Even Liz tried to fly in to help in any way she could but a massive barrier of gold magic stopped her. Everypony looked to a silver unicorn that sat on the wall watching the game. "Crystal Glare!?" Flamearch shouted giving a small bow. "What are you doing here now?" "Waiting to see the real winner of your game." He replied crossing his forelegs as they dangled over the wall edge. Flamearch quickly looked at the impact area of the black ball. The orb was standing still in the small crater it made, the shadows still moving inside the ball. Liz looked on from her point in the sky. The orb of shadows receded and the shape of a large unicorn began to stand inside of it. The shadows clung to its flesh as a large pair of wings spread from its body. Flamearch took a step back as multi colored eyes stared into his soul. "You fear me?" it spoke in a low raspy voice. "I can see it in you eyes. Do you think I will harm you? Flamearch was suddenly unable to move. He figured it's stare must have been holding him in place. The remaining shadows vanished revealing Cassius had taken the form of the Nocturnal Guardian. In his panic Flamearch's horn began to glow and he fired off a spell that created a tornado of pure fire around Cassius. With quick thinking Cassius slammed a hoof in the ground and a wall of black shadows erupted from the earth creating a dome that sealed the tornado and Cassius inside. Flamearch was able to move his body again with the eye contact broken. He fell on his flank and gasped for air. Liz flew to his side and wrapped her forelegs around him then kissed him. "Don't scare me like that again." she said hugging him tightly. Flamearch kept his eyes on the dome as it swayed with the tornado. To his horror it began to crack and flames vented out of every passage they could. Flamearch wished he didn't use the spell because he no longer had control of it. All he could do was protect himself and hopefully Liz from the flames if the tornado didn't die inside the dome. There was a cry of pain from inside the massive barrier as the shadows began to fade like steam. In an instant the dome detonated sending everypony in all directions. Smoke and bits of earth and glass were sent flying as the ground shook from the force of the contained explosion. Crystal Glare was knocked over and fell on his back on the stone walkway of the wall. He heard a scream underneath him. Liz was pulling on Flamearch who was laying limp with part of what was once a wagon stinking threw his chest, left leg, and neck. Crystal looked through the smoke to the remains of the dome to see Cassius regenerating his damaged body but as his unicorn form an not the Nocturnal Guardian. With a flash of his magic, the young unicorn teleported to them and Crystal Glare jumped off of the wall. He landed next to them and with a sigh used his magic to remove the objects from Flamearch. "Cassius." he said as he placed the barely breathing Flamearch on the ground. "You need to give him your gifts. If you don't, he will die." Liz lost her composure and she buried her face into his coat. Flamearch looked at Cassius with his eyes starting to glaze over and a thin trail of blood sliding out of his mouth. For once in his life Flamearch felt regret and was truly scared of death. ************************************************************** Shadowheart was back at Fire Hearts house. He had tied Sparky to a chair and broke his wings against Twilight's wishes. He hoped she would understand his actions and forgive him. Fire Heart stood over the broken pegasus. Sparky had been sitting there for hours as they tried to get any information they could. Breaking his wings were the first of the many forms of torture the two used. Shadowheart made sure Twilight wasn't there for any of it. He asked her to look after the pegasus Crystal Glare had left behind. Shadowheart refocused his thoughts and to the pony in the chair down inside Fire Heart’s basement. Fire heart had placed rubber gloves on Sparky's hooves so he couldn't use his electric attacks. "I will ask again" Fire Heart said. "Where is Cassius?" Sparky swayed from dizziness, "Probably being drained of any magic he has that belonged to the Nocturnal Guardian. Flamearch is obsessed with it, I doubt he will give up a living artifact." "Where is he?" Fire heart asked twisting a broken wing. Sparky let out a howl of pain that was quickly muffled by a floating cloth that was shoved into his mouth by Shadowheart. After he stopped screaming Shadowheart removed the cloth and walked to him. "Last chance. If you don't give us the answer we want, then I go looking in your mind for it. Trust me when I tell you, this will be like lobotomizing you." He said as calmly as ever. Sparky's eyes went wide behind his broken glasses. He tried to see if the white unicorn was bluffing, but only saw the face of a pony that could care less if he lived or died. It reminded him of Flamearch in a way. Struggling to get his thoughts in order, Sparky finally spoke, "Fort Faithless, it's in the badlands about thirty miles from due North-West of Appaloosa." "Thank you." Shadowheart spoke as he raised Dragonslayer. Sparky closed his eyes tightly, The sword came down and severed the bonds that held him. With his magic he removed the remains of the bonds and opened the door. Fire heart starred in admiration of the mercy his friend was still capable of. "You are letting me go? After all of that?" Sparky asked in complete shock. "If you are to attack anypony as you leave I will kill you. Now go." Shadowheart said holding a hoof out and pointing at the open door. Without another word Sparky limped out of the house. Shadowheart waited a few moments then walked out of the room, up the stairs and into the guest bedroom. Twilight sat in the chair sleeping while Xilas laid in the bed covered in a blanket. Shadowheart walked over to Twilight and gently placed a hoof on her shoulder. Her eyes opened quickly and she looked around the room frantically. "Calm down Twilight, It's only me." Shadowheart said softly. "Oh Shadow."- Twilight let a yawn slip past her. -"I was hoping you would be the first person i saw when i woke up." Twilight whispered to herself. "What time is it?" Shadowheart looked to a clock on the dresser, "4:30 in the morning. Um... how do you feel? Do you need anything to keep you awake or go to sleep. I could take your watch if you want." Twilight looked up to him, "Why are you worried about me?" Shadowheart flinched a bit at the question, "N-no...um... a Little. You have been up for two days straight." Twilight got up from the chair, "And you have been up for three. If any pony needs rest its you." "I think you both need rest. Take my room, I just changed the sheets after Shadow...um... never mind, just take my room. I will watch the sleeping pegasus here." Fire Heart said as he leaned in the doorway. Shadowheart went wide eyed at the offer and was about to speak when Twilight beat him to the punch, "That sounds great. Thank you Fire Heart." The dragon pony gave a slight bow, "It is the least i can do your highness. The room is just down the hall. Make yourself at home." Twilight gave a nod and walked out the door. Shadowheart sluggishly began to follow but Fire Heart stopped him at the door with a hoof. "Shadow, you're like a brother to me. I'm doing you a favor by setting you up with her."- Shadow was about to speak again but was cut off. -" She likes you. Now do yourself a favor and pursue you spectral somepony." Fire Heart pushed him out the door before he could interject. The door closed and the sound of the lock tumbler clicking into place told Shadowheart that this was not up for discussion. He looked to the room and saw Twilight's flank as she entered the master bedroom. Maybe this would be a good rest after all. ************************************************ Sparky limped down the street to the train station. He would have killed Shadowheart when he was free if his body wasn't as broken as his smashed glasses. He was still surprised to see Shadowheart's generosity in letting him live. Still he had a mission and Gold had most likely finished the report. No was... "Phase two then?" called a voice. Sparky looked behind him to see a silver unicorn standing under a streetlight on the sidewalk. How classic, Sparky thought as he raised his hoof to fire a bolt of lightning at him. "Now how would Flamearch act if he found out you attacked his oldest family friend. I'm sure you would be a pile of ashes in an instant." He said walking to Sparky. The black pegasus lowered his foreleg and sighed heavily. He took a seat on the ground and looked up to the silver unicorn as he removed his damaged glasses, "So what do you want?" The unicorn stopped in front of him, Well, I'm here to tell you that Flamearch was... speared at the fort. He was taken to his chambers and is being cared for now, but it doesn't look good." Sparky's eyes widened, "Wait, how did this happen? Flamearch is the most powerful unicorn I know, who could have done that?" "It was a combination of Cassius Nightshade and Flamearch. They were having a competition and well it got out of hoof when Flamearch used a fire tornado spell and Cassius contained it to save everypony else. The combination resulted in a detonation that sent everypony flying. I hope you can fill in the blanks yourself." "So what now?" Sparky asked. The unicorn began to walk around Sparky, "Well for the betterment of Equestria..." Sparky felt a sharp pain in his back. He slowly turned to see the unicorn with a golden energy blade that stuck through him. "I am sorry Sparky, but if I let you live to kill Sereen and Xilas then Equestria's civil war will be the destruction of everypony. Now rest and go to the Eternal Herd." Crystal Glare whispered in Sparky's ear. He twisted the blade and the black pegasus turned to beads of light an drifted into the stars of the night sky. Crystal Glare watched with sadness in his heart. In his long life he had only killed five pony's in the name of Mother Mare. Sparky's death marked the sixth, this was one of the signs that marked the countdown to the final war Equestria would ever see with The the Guardians of the balance, Cassius's shadow magic, Sereen's light magic, and the clashing of supreme powers. For once, Crystal didn't know the outcome, and he was worried for the world.