Chapter 2
The Price of Power
Trixie shivered as she stared out of the bushes that she was currently concealed in, it had been a bad night, the rain had come down in a constant and steady stream for hours. If she had been a pegasus then she may have felt some small amount of admiration for the weather, ponies who had created it, since rain like that was just right for making sure that the ground got just the right amount of water that was needed for plants to flourish and grow, was hard to create since you had to get the cloud’s consistency just right; in fact even the simple act of moving cloud’s was a difficult job and every pegasus appreciated the work that they did.Trixie however, was not pegasus she was a unicorn and therefore she did not appreciate the skill needed to create good rain; instead as she lay trying unsuccessfully to gain some sleep, she had just wished that the rain would end and the day would begin so that she could finally end it. She didn’t even consider the possibility that something would happen that would prevent her from gaining her revenge. In the same way that she did not consider how she would take her revenge, or even what would happen to her afterwards; she was completely focused revenge.
So she crouched in bushes on the outskirts of Ponyville watching and waiting for any sign of the lavender unicorn. She did not have to wait long before she was rewarded as she saw the lavender mare exit a large tree not too far away. Her gaze was so captured by the lavender mare that had ruined her life, that it took her a few moments to see the small purple and green creature that had also stepped out into the street; when she did notice it, she instantly recognized it as the baby dragon that had been with the unicorn most of the time whilst she had been in Ponyville. From the looks of things the dragon and the unicorn seemed to live together but that didn’t really matter, although it did mean that she would have to be careful since to the best of her knowledge the dragon seemed to be with her all the time. She watched from the bushes as the unicorn and dragon talked for a few moments, then the dragon climbede atop the unicorns back and the pair began to head in the general direction of the village centre.
She waited for a few minutes before she began move she moved backwards away from the village, then she circled around the outside of the village until she was directly behind the tree. She slowly approached it until she was directly behind, she looked cautiously around. It didn't seem to have a back entrance, so she slowly circled round the front, luckily it was still fairly early so she managed to get inside the tree without any real difficulty, the door wasn't even locked! It always surprised her how different life was in some areas of Equestria, in the place where she had been born any unlocked building was an instant target for thieves, yet this village seemed to be crime free.
Once inside she took moment to look around a library. The pony that had designed this place must’ve been mad, the risk of fire must be huge. What type of pony even lives in a library, let alone a library that could be burned down so easily; of course the pony that lived there was a powerful unicorn, capable of vanquishing an Ursa Minor, but the idea still seemed ridiculous to her. She sighed and decided to search for a place to hide, she managed to find a cupboard within the cellar, she used her magic to close the door behind herself. There was barely any space to maneuver within the cupboard, so she ended up sitting awkwardly, with many household implements sticking into her at various angles. She was actually glad about the pain she felt from all the implements sticking into her, since she guessed that it was a help in keeping her awake and alert for when the lavender pony returned. But it obviously didn’t help since within minutes of entering the cupboard, she fell asleep.
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Mist noticed that he was shaking as he trotted through the tree’s, not good, definitely not good, he was utterly and completely terrified. You have to do this Mist, you need to be more powerful well maybe not need, but it will be extremely helpful if you had some more power, and this is the one place in all of Equestria that can give you what you need. Just remember how much power the first one gave you, your magical energy was barely above average, but now? Now you must be one of the most powerful ponies in the whole of Equestria! But the price, remember the price, the lives of three ponies, even though they deserved it, and someday it’ll be Blueblood’s turn.
Of course it’s not Blueblood’s fate which bothers me, but what I did to those three and the fact that it was actually, kind of fun, ha! That is what has me worried! I always knew that I was sort of a crazy after what happened…but to do what I did to those three and actually enjoy it, and not feel any guilt at all? My psychosis must be worse than I thought, mum and dad would be horrified. He snorted, I should be bucking horrified.
He sighed as he continued to move through the trees, it was getting dark fast, that in his opinion, was quite possibly the most annoying part of winter, the darkness may make some activities easier, but on the whole, the speed with which the sun dropped beneath the horizon hindered rather than aided him. He had better hurry up or Cloudy would start worrying his twin was even more nervous than he was, which was actually pretty impressive given the fact that even talking to another pony that he was not familiar with, was enough to make him stutter and feel light-headed.
All of a sudden he stopped dead in his tracks, it was around here that he could feel it, such power! He began to search the area eagerly looking for the entrance; with this much power and the secrets of how to use it he would easily be the third strongest pony in Equestria after the princesses, and it would make putting his plan into motion so much easier. It had already enabled him to take the first few steps down this road with far more ease than it should have taken him, yes, Blueblood and Discord the first two pieces of the puzzle; next would come Fillydelphia, and when he controlled that city's gangs, that was when his plan would begin in earnest.
“Gah! There I go letting my mind run away with me again, and now I’m talking to myself! I really am a mad pony.”
At last he found the entrance, it was a rather plain nondescript door, but it did have one rather interesting feature, and that was the fact that instead of standing upright like most doors this one seemed to just lay of the ground.
Mist used his magic to pull the door open, it opened noiselessly and in the rapidly diminishing daylight Mist could just make out a spiral staircase leading down into the gloom, he lit his horn up with magic and proceeded down through the darkness.
Mist couldn’t be sure how long his descent took, but he was fairly certain that it had been more than ten minutes; upon reaching the bottom he gulped, directly in front of him lit up by his magic was a large door that was completely devoid of anything even a handle in fact the only reason that he knew it was a door, was that he had seen one just like it before; that and the fact that rather than the dull gray of the stairs and walls, the door was a crimson red somehow, that colour reminded him of wine and blood too, he thought to himself.
Mist realised that he was shaking, dammit! He really needed to get a handle on his nervousness, how could he change Equestria if he was a nervous wreck? He steeled himself and walked up to the door, and began to recite the words that had been given to him in preparation for this moment.
"Door oh door, I’ve seen you before
And your strange colour, I could not ignore
Door oh door, you opened before do so again, for I wish for more."
The door swung open both slowly and noiselessly, beyond the door’s threshold there was nothing but darkness not even the bright magical light given of by his horn could illuminate anything. Come on, don’t be afraid! Remember life is just a game, but it’s the hardest game that your likely to play, so you need to take every opportunity to cheat that you can, and that doorway in front of you is merely the greatest cheat ever created. Mist took a deep breath, okay let’s do this; he stepped through the door and as he did so all light vanished and the darkness was complete.
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How could this happen? Why did this happen it doesn’t make any sense! Celestia sighed as she tried to find that ever elusive entity known as sleep, these same thoughts had been running through her head for weeks, ever since Blueblood’s ponyknapping; it was the first time that any pony had done anything this terrible in a long time, in fact it had been hundreds of years since any pony had done anything which even came close to being this terrible
Is it just a coincidence, first the incidents with Nightmare Moon and Discord and now this? Celestia thought to herself, or does it go deeper? I feel as though there is something going on, but I cannot even begin to guess what it is; Equestria’s harmony is failing and I don’t know how to stop it!
And then there’s Blueblood, dammit he was just beginning to change, he tried not to show it, but that incident at the gala was a good starting point, a few more experiences like that and he might’ve begun to change, but now ? Now he’s gone to the opposite extreme, he’s gone from self glorification to self loathing; he just stays in his rooms within the palace all day, and drinks himself into oblivion just to forget what happened.
And then there are the ponies that are responsible for this crime, according to Blueblood there were three of them, but we haven’t been able to find any ponies who match the description that Blueblood gave; of course they may have used magic to drastically alter their appearance, but if they did, why didn’t I feel it? A spell like that should have used a large amount of magical energy, but neither I, nor my sister have felt any large expenditures of magical power, and not only are we the only two ponies that know how to feel a ponies magical energy, we are the only ponies that even know about sensing magical energy.
And then there is the theft of Discords statue, luckily I’ve been able to keep all but a select few from hearing about that, if it became public knowledge that his statue had been stolen, it would be cause mass panic! And although it should be impossible for him to be freed from his stone prison, if there are ponies out there with the ability to perform powerful magic directly beneath mine and Luna’s noses, then might they not also have some way of freeing Discord from his stone prison?
All of these thoughts filled Celestia with a wide range of emotions, horror and anger at how any pony could do such terrible things; confusion as to how they had done it, and why? And lastly, sadness and regret at the fact that this had happened, but also at the memories she had of a certain Draconequus, of the times that they had shared, the life they had led, and the end ...
Dammit! Celestia get a grip, thinking about the past will not change the present, stop these foolish thoughts this instant, and get some sleep, it’ll be another busy day tomorrow.
Telling herself to stop did not avail her in the slightest, memories of her past flashed inside of her head as she closed her eyes and tried to once again find sleep; she wished that her memories would stop before they reached their inevitable conclusion, but before she knew it she had already arrived at their last meeting. She now regretted how she had acted that day, but she had been so angry upon discovering that he was not only free but that he apparently had not changed at all during his imprisonment, and did not even seem to regret what he had done, he certainly hadn’t looked very apologetic about what had happened more than a thousand years ago now. It also hadn’t helped to calm her temper, when she discovered that he had stolen the elements. And then before she had the chance to even see him again, he had already been returned to his stone prison by Twilight and her friends. Then after seeing him once more entombed within his stone prison, she had felt an enormous amount of regret; after all, she thought as she finally began to drift off into slumber, its not like what he did to me was any worse than what I did to him.
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Mist didn’t know how long he had been walking through this darkness which surrounded him, but it felt like it had been an eternity. But he could see his destination now in the distance, he should be there soon.
All of a sudden he realized that he was at his destination, which had mere moments ago been nothing but a distant glow. He gazed around the strange place in which he found himself, the area was lit by a red glow that seemed to have no identifiable source. The floor was pitch black, and darkness seemed to surround the glowing area in which he found himself. The area was empty save for a crimson red pony, who sat not 5 hoofsteps from where Mist stood.
Mist looked at the pony in front of him and tried to identify whether it was an earth, pegasus, or unicorn pony. It seemed to change before his very eyes, one moment it appeared to be an earth pony, and then suddenly it was a pegasus, and then it seemed to be a unicorn; and before he could do anything, it was suddenly a unicorn again. But that was not the most disturbing thing about it. The one of these creatures that he’d seen before had been black, so its eyes hadn’t bothered him, he had barely noticed them, he had been too terrified by the creature that was before him and too entranced by what it was offering; but now that he saw this one, he decided that its most disturbing feature was it’s eyes, they were black as coals just like the first one’s eyes must’ve been, and they were the one part of the creatures anatomy that did not seem to be constantly morphing, but most disturbingly, they were watching him, waiting for him to act, he gulped.
“There’s more than one of you?” He asked “The one that I met before was black”
“Oh Mist, of course there is more than one of us, or rather there was.” It said in a voice that seemed to sound both full of joy and full of hate, “We are many, but in direct answer to your question, I am actually the same “one” that you met before, I have merely changed my form a little, I like this colour so much more.”
The harsh tone in which it said “one” somehow reminded Mist of the things that he had done to Blueblood’s friends, it probably wouldn’t be wise to refer to it like that again.
“What shall I call you then?” said Mist as he wrestled to quell his nerves.
“You may call me “Highest” for that is what the name of my race means, when translated into your tongue. Ah, but we waste time Mist. I know why you have come to find me a second time, you wish for more power, and I am the only one that can help you. Do you not you wish to be able to change your land for the better don’t you? And I wish to see the fall of the princesses. So tell me Mist what four things are you willing to pay this time for power? Remember last time you gave the lives of four ponies, and three already dead, one due to suffer guilt and then die by your hand at a later date; and that means that you must give four things of your own this time”
“What! You didn’t mention that I had to give you something of my own?”
“Oh Mist, you didn’t think that you could simply give me other ponies in order to gain this power did you? No, in order to gain truly great power, you must be willing to sacrifice something of your own.”
Mist’s mind worked fast, I did not plan on this dammit! Think Mist, think, there must be some way to use this situation to your advantage. Wait…yes, yes, that’s it.
“I have a question for you Highest, can I pay by using my feelings as the payment?”
“Of course you can Mist, if you couldn’t, then you would not have enough to give.”
Mist smiled he could do this! He was just about to open his mouth, when his doubts began to arise. Is it really worth it? I mean, I don’t even know what this creature is, or if this is its true form. He thought, should I really give up my feelings and emotions just for this creatures simple promises of power? I mean he says that he wants the princesses’ reign to end, but why? And why choose me? Also, its not like I need the power, I can accomplish my plan without it, all this power will do is make the accomplishment of my plan easier? But then, if it is easier, doesn’t that increase the chances of my plan succeeding? I mean, not only is this thing giving me more power, it’s also giving me ways to use that power that not even the princesses know of, that could give me a massive advantage. And in the end what happens to me is irrelevant, it doesn’t really matter, even if I give him my soul, Equestria must be free! I have to do this, for my race, for my family, for revenge.
“Okay then Highest, take from me my kindness, since life has not been kind to me; take away my honesty, for the truth never set me free; and take from me compassion, so that I may keep my passion.”
“Very well” said Highest, “And what of the fourth thing that you are to lose?”
Honestly thought Mist to himself, doesn’t this thing appreciate how hard it was for me to talk like that? I mean, they alw s use rhymes and things like that, at this point in a good story. Ha! Mist, you are the only pony I know that would think in such a way under these circumstances.
“You may take from me my left eye for I, may use my magic to spy. But do not take it yet, only when I am no longer under threat.”
“It is done.”
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The pony was gone within moments, drunk upon his new found powers, and Highest wore a satisfied smile, as he used own powers, which he was confident were even greater than those of the two princesses who ruled this land, to reopen the portal back to his own world. As he stepped through he reverted back to his real form; wondering what Mist would do with his new powers, and also how much of this night he would even remember in the morning, drunk on powers as he was, and as for the way that he had spoken, it was hilarious, he thought that he was being poetic, or epic or something like that no doubt. And then there was the eye that had actually been a good idea, but Mist had forgotten to whose perception of threat it was, that he meant as it was Highest didn’t think that Mist was under any threat, after all it wasn’t like Highest was going to bother killing him right now and there weren’t any creatures nearby that could harm Mist, especially not with his new powers. This just went to show that ponies were unsuited to this type of magic, even one that believed himself to be worldly wise, like Mist was; yet he was innocent to the fact that the Highest could take Mist’s eye at anytime he wanted, but he would wait for a short while first. Playing with these ponies, is just so much fun, he thought to himself.
“Highest! Ha! What in the blazes made you come up with that name Denallius?” Said a voice directly in front of him, as he stepped through the portal, “Not even that foolish equine, believed all that mumbo jumbo about revenge on the princesses, ha! Highest indeed, that word does not even begin to describe our power. Talking about power, be sure not to give that creature too much power, this only a test of the princesses after all.”
“Oh Father, do not use my full name please, and anyway, I thought that I did a rather good job of it myself, also it doesn’t really matter if he believes me or not, he took the power and he’ll take it the next time as well. Although I don’t think that I’ll offer him any more after that, after all as you say, this is only a test and I’m sure that his plan is brilliant, he just doesn’t realize what the princesses are capable of, I’ll just give him enough power to make stopping him, test the princesses to their limits. You are also forgetting the elements, this may well test them as well.”
“And what would you suggest son, if that pony should succeed in his plan to overthrow the princesses?”
“You know Father just because I am your heir, that does not mean that you must ask me these questions all the time, it becomes rather annoying after a while.”
“Just answer the question Denallius.”
“I do wish that you would stop calling me that.”
“It’s your name Denallius, now just hurry up and answer the question!”
“Fine, fine, if Mist were to succeed in his plan, then when we invade that world and enslave it’s species. I would destroy Equestria, we do not need slaves from a race with rulers so weak that they cannot stop one of their own, no matter their plans or powers.”
“Very good Denallius, however, you must stop referring to these creatures like that. They are merely potential slaves, and therefore lower life forms. Also are you sure that even if this plan fails, it will still create the correct amount of upheaval to enable us to take Equestria with greater ease?”
“Of course I am sure Father! I have been working on this world and in particular the land of Equestria, since it first caught the eye of The Exalted One more than 200 years ago! I’ve used a lot of subtlety, I have created places of corruption, and dissatisfaction with that land without Celestia, and now even her sister Luna, is hearing rumours about the harsh lives that some of her ponies are forced to lead; there are many ponies in the large cities who are downtrodden, but they will never even begin to think about rebelling against their rulers unless they have some hero or another to follow. Although Mist’s plan, which I’m sure is quite brilliant, will almost certainly fail; I am also sure that in the aftermath, there will be many ponies who will be inspired to rise up against their corrupt oppressors, and the result will be a country in such turmoil that it will take the princesses years regain full control. And the best part is, very few of the ponies, least of all the princesses, will actually be at fault for the corruption, yet the poor and downtrodden ponies will hate them anyway. It’ll be even better if Misty dies as well, because then he will become a martyr and that will ...”
“Yes, yes I get your point! You really do ramble on sometimes Denallius, just make sure that the plan works; if we can subdue and enslave all of the creatures with the minimum of effort, then The Exalted One will be greatly pleased with us; so be sure not to fail, also don’t forget that you are supposed to be dealing with those bird creatures.”
“The Griffons? Yes Father, I have not forgotten.”
“Very well, now I’m going to the land of the dragons, I will see you later Denallius.”
“Ah yes, the war, good luck with that Father, it really is a good idea.”