There was a commotion from inside the hut. There were sounds of rattling, of clattering, pottery, pots, pans and all other things. Desrium was sitting outside with his back against the old tree because the door to the zebra’s home was much too small for him to pass through without him breaking something. Occasionally he would shift over to the circular window and look inside, but all he would be able to see was Zecora speedily pacing around the interior with items in her mouth. In one instance, it was a book. In another, it was a potion bottle. In time, Desrium stopped looking inside. Zecora told him she would explain things along the way, but there hadn’t been much explaining done at all ever since she entered the hut. Apparently there were a lot of things she had to gather for the trip into this “Ponyville”. He was anxious for understanding of the situation he found himself in and his only source of answers was currently too busy to talk to him.
”Patience,” he told himself. Zecora needed time to get herself sorted and he needed to accept that she was not at his beck and call. But still, he found himself restless waiting for her. For every moment he wasn’t spending hunting the demon lord, the armored being felt he was letting it get even farther away from him. It got so bad that he decided that the wisest thing to do was to consult his spiritual guide to receive words of wisdom and insight. Desrium crossed his legs underneath him and rested the Lance of the Justicar over his lap. He braced his fists against each other and began to meditate. The brightness of his eyes dimmed considerably until they barely flickered at all. He sat there, unmoving and unblinking, a statue in front of the zebra’s home.
The world inside the mind of the Justicar was an offbeat expanse that was always changing from one state to the next depending on his mood. He looked around the crimson sea from the platform of white, glassy light he stood on, suspended in infinity without his wings extended. The “sky” above him was the image his eyes were seeing as he sat staring blankly into the Everfree forest beyond Zecora’s door. He saw tree trunks covered in vines and moss ahead of him, along with small plants and bushes. They were all plastered above the robed figure in the sea of crimson, dyed a red tinge as well. Desrium stepped forward and a tile of light formed underneath his boot seconds before it touched down. The one he was standing on before vanished. He took another step and another tile of light appeared, while the previous one faded away into the scarlet surroundings. This repeated with every step he took, walking along a disintegrating path floating in empty, red space. He looked from side to side as structures began to assemble on either side of the path, materials rising upwards from the bottomless drop and arching downwards to fall on phantom foundations. There were buildings being made out of rough stones that stacked on top of each other, growing larger and larger into monolithic constructs. There were dark brown bricks that rained down in sequence which quickly formed walls and grew into rustic-looking buildings, dwarfed by the ziggurats and temples that the stones created.
The cause was something Desrium did not spend any time thinking about. The purpose of the structures was meaningless. He accepted the occurrence as any other and walked on. He paid no mind to the buildings as they began to drift about the red space, clouds of brick and stone. A few of them began to lean and roll as they went and a couple crashed into each other, crumbling into dust and debris that lazily hung around the impact zone. Desrium raised his hands to stop a cracked stone block that floated over to him and then hopped up to sit on the hovering block, his legs dangling off the edge.
“Inarius?” he asked, surveying the area around him, which was no longer as sparse as it once was thanks to the buildings drifting by. There was a warm light behind him that grew, casting him into shadow before dissipating, though not completely.
“It is a strange predicament you have found yourself in, brother,” said Inarius. The tall figure clad in masterfully crafted golden armor and bearing wings of light of his own stood on the other side of the stone block behind Desrium.
“It is indeed,” Desrium replied. He swung his legs up as he turned himself around and then stood up to face the Justicar who preceded him. Inarius did not have glowing eyes. Through the spaces in the visor of his helm, there was only an unliftable veil of darkness despite the warrior’s nature steeped in light.
“Have you any similar experiences?” he asked the presence in the Lance.
“No, I cannot say that I have.”
Desrium hummed thoughtfully. “What about the Justicar before you?”
Inarius shook his head.
“And the one before they?”
“It hasn’t happened before in our line, brother. You are the first.”
“I see,” said Desrium. “Do you have any idea how this may have come about? Why the portal brought us here?”
Inarius folded his arms and looked downwards for a moment as he delegated himself to deep thought about the question. When he was done, he looked at Desrium and replied, “Closing the portal the way you did might have had an effect, but I do not know why we were brought to this realm in particular.”
Desrium was silent for a short while before he inquired: “Do you believe that there is a way to return?”
“I’m afraid I don’t have the answer to that.”
Desrium’s eyes flared at that. He shook his head and said to Inarius, “Then I will devise my own means to return to Tyrbenetus.”
“That is a good outlook to have in this situation, brother,” Inarius replied with a nod. He looked upwards and then added, “It seems you are needed.”
Desrium looked up as well, seeing a gigantic Zecora in the red sky. She was waving her bamboo staff in front of his eyes and looked very confused. “Thank you for your time, Inarius,” he said to his guide. He looked down to him and bowed his head. In response, the golden warrior cupped a gauntlet in the palm of his other hand and also bowed his helm. The scarlet dreamscape began to dissolve around Desrium then, colors fading away, the structures of stone and brick falling to pieces.
Zecora jumped backwards when the armored being’s eyes ignited abruptly, the light spilling out of his helm washing across a wide area around her. She held her staff defensively in front of her as he stood up, his spear in hand. He looked to the side of her when he was back on his feet and commented: “I trust you have gathered all that you needed?”
There was a fairly large sack next to a small blue two-wheeled wagon filled to the brim with all sorts of archaic objects and instruments. Zecora glanced over to her belongings before her eyes shot back to the Justicar, anger in her gaze. “All through the night you creep, but you think now is the time to sleep?”
“I do not sleep,” Desrium corrected her.
“You could have fooled I, the way you motionlessly lie!” Zecora shot back.
“I apologize.” Desrium bowed his head respectably. Zecora gave him a bemused look before shaking her head.
“We have no time to argue and berate. We must hurry, Ponyville waits!” She hurried over to the wagon, sticking her staff into it and propping it up onto herself. She then turned to the sack and began hoisting it onto her back with visible strain, her eyes closed as she pulled the fabric with her mouth. Desrium cocked his head and walked over to her side, sliding the Lance down a sleeve. The weapon disappeared into his robe.
“Perhaps I can be of assistance?” he asked. Without waiting for a reply, he took hold of the sack with one hand and lifted. Zecora was surprised at the sudden lack of resistance and let go as she opened her eyes. She saw the Justicar swing the heavy bag over his shoulder and onto his back without even flinching. She had a shocked expression on her face at first, but it was soon replaced by a smug smirk.
“What a surprise, there is something useful about your large size!” she said. She proceeded to walk off into the forest without waiting for what Desrium had to say, not inclined to waste any more time with banter. Not that Desrium had any witty reply anyway; his reply was the one he made in his head.
”I am not large. Septimus is large. Many things are larger than him. I am not large at all.”
He followed her closely through the forest, shedding light on the path they walked until the sky began to brighten, visible through the leaves overhead. He dimmed his eyes and retracted the wings of light, finding that the sun rose incredibly fast over this new world. In just a minute or so, sunlight had spread across the land in full.
After another stretch of time walking, the two reached the edge of the Everfree forest. Desrium laid eyes on the buildings in the distance, cottages with thatch roofing, a few buildings with shingles and a couple with spires on top of them. A surge of anticipation washed over him then. He looked down to Zecora and asked, “Is that Ponyville?”
Zecora nodded. “We must make haste; Twilight needs to know of the danger before the whole town wakes.”
“Who is Twilight?” Desrium asked as they walked towards a bridge in the distance. “Is Twilight one of those friends you mentioned earlier?”
She nodded once more. “Who better to lend aid with this than an alicorn princess?”
“I would not know. I am not aware of what alicorns are.”
Zecora raised a brow at him. “There are no alicorns where you are from? Who, then, raises your moon and your sun?”
“They rise on their own accord,” Desrium answered. “The Dawnmother, Moria, is closely associated with their affairs, but she does not control them.”
Zecora looked somewhat bewildered at this, as if the notion of the heavens acting independently was far too preposterous to take seriously. She was able to compose herself by telling herself that the very presence of the Justicar behind her was preposterous in of itself. He undoubtedly came from a strange world, from a strange land far removed from Equestria.
“But what are alicorns?” Desrium asked. He was beginning to become self-conscious of his many queries, but it was difficult to contain his curiosity. He wondered if, after he defeated the demon lord, he would be able to learn more about this world before leaving it. It was a small desire compared to his duty he knew, but the opportunity to do so seemed like a grand and worthwhile undertaking to him.
“In simplest terms,” Zecora began to say, “they are powerful things, ponies with both a unicorn’s horn and a pegasus’ wings.”
“I have met unicorns before,” Desrium replied. “I have not met a pegasus, unfortunately.”
Zecora looked at him, mouth agape. She resisted the urge to voice her disbelief and explained, “They are flying ponies with wings a-feather, ponies that live in the clouds and control the weather.”
“Ah. Radamand would find them interesting. Or not. He is angry a lot.” Desrium said.
“Radamand?” Zecora asked.
“The Steward of Storms, servant of Soel, as I am the Justicar, a servant of Moria.”
The zebra nodded despite not quite understanding everything Desrium told her. She had a feeling that to ask for clarification would entail having the Justicar regale her with stories from his home realm and there was simply no time for such elaborate tale-sharing. They passed over the bridge, the Justicar’s metal boots thunking against it as he crossed. Once on the other side, Zecora sped up her pace to a trot and Desrium jogged behind her, the items in the sack jangling against his back. A few ponies opened their windows and stuck their heads out to see the two down the street, the cloaked zebra and the robed figure.
Zecora knocked against the sturdy wooden door to Golden Oaks library. She backed up from it and waited tensely for it to open. Desrium stood in front of the sign a few feet away regarding the book icon with his unreadable gaze. A couple of minutes later, the door swung inwards. The armored being looked over and saw that it was not some strange horned and winged pony that greeted him and Zecora, but a small purple dragon with blunt green dorsal spines.
“Hello to you, Spike. Could you please go bring Twilight?” Zecora said to Spike.
“Zecora? But… wh—who… wha?” the baby dragon stammered, thrown for a loop by the zebra’s unannounced appearance so early in the morning. Usually Twilight and his friends were the ones to go to her, not the other way around, even with Twilight being a princess now. When he caught sight of the specter standing not far away, his eyes widened.
“T-T-TWILIGHT!”
The dragon bolted into the library, leaving the door open. Whether it was the fear or the fact she was standing in front of it and Spike did not want to slam the door on a friend, Zecora could not tell. She looked over to Desrium.
“I did not mean to scare the whelp,” he said simply.
“His behavior might have been crude, but you do not have to be rude,” Zecora chided him.
“Very young dragons are known as such where I am from, but I will refrain from referring to him as a whelp if it is offensive here.”
“Please, refrain,” Zecora replied. “To Twilight, I have so much to explain…”
A few minutes passed before the purple alicorn appeared at the door with a puzzled expression on her face. Spike, shaken, hesitantly followed her. “Zecora, what happened?” Twilight asked. She looked over to the armored being and asked warily “Who… what is that?”
“I will tell you this in short time, but I would feel most comfortable if we were let inside,” Zecora responded.
“Of course, of course…” Twilight said uneasily and stepped out of the doorway. Zecora flicked her tail at Desrium and he wordlessly followed her lead into the library. He had to duck down some ways to get past the door but once on the other side he found that he had ample space to stand up straight again. He saw rows upon rows of books when he did, though. Books in shelves carved into the very wood of the tree. He saw some stairs and wondered if there were more book alcoves on the next level.
”Septimus would have liked this place,” the Justicar thought.
“This is Desrium,” he heard Zecora say and he was pulled from his musings. She was pointing a hoof at him as she spoke to Twilight. “Another world is where he is from.”
“Hello,” said Desrium to Twilight and Spike. They stiffly waved at him.
“He comes bearing tidings of danger, a dark force with evils much stranger. It has managed to evade him and he wishes to find it before it begins its grievous sins!”
Twilight gasped but hardened her gaze right after. “How do you know he isn’t lying to you? We should have him sent to Canterlot to be watched by princess Celestia while the others and I go searching for this ‘dark force’!”
Spike voiced his approval with: “Yeah, princess Celestia would know what to do!”
“If he wanted to harm me, he could have done so easily. I too have considered this, but he has pledged his honesty.”
“Please, princess Twilight,” Desrium spoke, “you do not know what it is you are up against. The fight against this demon is my fight alone. I will not involve others any more than I utterly need to in this battle that I have unwittingly brought here.”
Twilight eyed the armored being with uncertainty. Desrium kneeled before the alicorn and bowed his helm to her. “I vow that I will leave you be after the fiend is vanquished. If I cannot return to my world then I will leave this place – leave Ponyville – forever. I will be nothing but a memory.”
Twilight glanced over to Zecora, as if silently asking the zebra for help. Zecora only nodded to her. She looked backwards at Spike and the bewildered dragon shrugged his small shoulders. Twilight swallowed hard, took a deep breath and asked, “So what would you like me to do?”
Desrium stood up and swung the sack of items around. He put it down on the ground in front of him and said to the princess, “Zecora said that the help of friends can aid me in finding the demon. If this is true, then I would deeply appreciate it.”
“Wait a minute!” Spike interjected. He hopped out from behind Twilight and pointed a claw accusingly at the robed figure. “Why is it that you have to be the one to fight it? Twilight here and her friends have taken care of their own share of enemies, I’ll have you know!”
Desrium swung an arm around, a move that made Spike tense and made Twilight take on a wide stance, lowering her head to point her horn at the armored being. Out from his sleeve and into his waiting grip came the Lance. He twirled it around in his fingers before putting its end down on the floor, the double prongs proudly pointed to the ceiling. From his back came the tendrils of light, wriggling and undulating weightlessly.
“I am the Justicar, servant of Moria, champion of peace and justice. Along with my battle brothers of the Dawnmother’s Order, I fight the heartless horde, the scourge of Tyrbenetus. To combat them at every step is my duty and I will not have any other put their selves in danger in my stead. I simply refuse to allow anyone to suffer for my mistake.”
Spike blinked a few times before recoiling sheepishly. Chuckling weakly, he said, “Well… I guess that is a good reason… heh.” He stepped behind a more relaxed Twilight, peeking out from her flank.
Desrium turned his attention to Twilight and asked, “Do I have your support, princess?”
Twilight looked pensive for a moment more before her countenance became more ridged and resolute. With a stern nod she said, “Yes you do, Justicar. I will need to gather my friends and then we will come up with a plan—“
“There he is!” shouted an ecstatic voice from outside.
“Uhhh…” Twilight droned, shifting her head slightly to look around the armored being.
Following her line of sight, Desrium turned around and saw the pink pony scrunched up against the glass of the window near the still-open door. Zecora was looking at her too, one brow raised higher than the other.
“Hi!” said the pony, her voice muffled against the window. “My name’s Pinkie Pie, what’s yours!?”
“I am Desrium,” the armored being replied as if the appearance of the newcomer was the most normal thing in the world.
Pinkie Pie pried herself from the window and scooted around to enter through the door. She jumped up onto his shoulders and threw her forelegs around his hood. “I knew it, I knew it!” she exclaimed happily. “Last night I was thrown out of bed with one mean shudder and I knew my Pinkie Sense was acting up again! But I didn’t know why because when I shudder that means something I never would have expected was gonna happen and it was a mean shudder so I knew it was gonna be a doozy’s doozy!”
She rubbed her cheek against Desrium’s hood as she continued, “After that my back got really itchy and the last time I itched so bad was when I was so lucky I made a new friend! It was really hard to get back to sleep because my rump hurt from falling out of bed, my back was itchy and I was so excited!”
She pulled off the Justicar’s hood, revealing to the shock of all except the bubbly pony that he was wearing a hat on his helm all along, one that was blue and floppy with a gold trim around its flat rim and constellations as decoration. Pinkie Pie arched herself over Desrium’s head to look him in the eyes upside down and asked: “Will you be my friend!?”
“Alright,” said Desrium simply. The whole time he was completely still for her sake.
Pinkie smiled broadly and practically flew off of him, confetti flying and small firecrackers going off as she flipped through the air. She landed next to Twilight with her face close to the ground and her tail waving back and forth before her joints locked up abruptly. Her pink coat was slowly turning a pale blue as her teeth chattered. She tackled the pony princess to the side without warning. “Brrr, you’re pretty cold, mister metal bro!” she said, hugging an exasperated Twilight for warmth.
“I am sorry, friend,” Desrium replied as he pulled his hood back over his helmet. “I should have told you something.”
“No sweat!” Pinkie began snickering at her little joke.
“Pinkie!” Twilight cried out, spreading a wing and dislodging the hyperactive pony from herself.
“Oh, sorry Twilight, I should have asked first, huh?” Pinkie asked, lying on her back. She started chortling and kicking her hooves out.
“Pinkie, we’ve got some serious trouble on our hooves,” Twilight said to her. Pinkie froze again, her eyes wide. Just as quickly, her body language changed, becoming gravely serious on the drop of a hat. She flipped over onto her legs and stood upright, awaiting explanation.
“Trouble?”
“Yes, I will explain after everyone is all here. Could you—“
“Get the others!? In a jiffy!” Pinkie turned and shot off through the library door, a pink blur that left confetti in her wake.
“Her speed is great, so we are fortunate,” Zecora commented after she sped off. “Because she was drawn to the one with the spear, it will not be long before the five others are here.”
“Well, let’s just hope that our luck holds up, huh?” Spike said, walking over to lend Twilight a hand with standing back up.
“Mm,” Desrium hummed as he looked out into the town. He knew it would take a lot more than luck to slay the demon. “Princess,” he began as he returned the gold and silver spear into his sleeve. “Would you mind if I took a look inside one of your books?”
“Uh… no, go right ahead,” Twilight replied. She did not expect the warrior made out of metal to be the type to find value in reading, but she had learned the hard way a long time ago not to jump to conclusions about others.
Desrium said his thanks and wandered over to one of the many bookshelves. He pulled a book out at random, making sure to note where he got it from before opening to the first page and reading the text lay out across it.
Pinkie Pie made good on her promise. Zecora saw her bouncing towards the library from the window. She had shut the door after Desrium went to read, so she opened it again for the pink pony and her entourage. Desrium looked back at the door when he heard it open and knew that the time of truth was almost upon him. He put the book back in its slot in the shelf and made his way to the library lobby. He had barely gotten more than a third through the book before Pinkie appeared with four other ponies. Twilight was beside him and welcomed her dear friends when they entered, Pinkie Pie throwing herself through the door while the others walked in with the exception of Rainbow Dash, who chose to fly.
“So you’re the one causing all of the commotion, huh bub?” the cyan pegasus said to Desrium, getting as much in his face as she could off the bat.
“You are the first pegasus I’ve ever encountered. Hello, what is your name?” Desrium responded.
Rainbow Dash cocked her head and raised an eyebrow. She looked over to Pinkie Pie and asked, “So this creepy thing is your friend?”
“Yeppers!” Pinkie replied with much delight.
“Oh please, Rainbow Dash, could you possibly have worse manners?” Rarity asked from behind the pegasus, swaying from side to side to add emphasis to her words. She trotted forwards up to the Justicar and put a hoof to her chest. “I am Rarity and I am very pleased to meet you mister… um, Desrium. Pinkie Pie was talking about you all the way back to the library! Not that she had much to say, mind you, but still… I do say that is a marvelous robe you have on, where did you get it?”
“My friend, Jiier, gave it to me a long time ago. I do not know where he acquired it, but he had it in his hoard when I met him.”
“His hoard?” Rarity replied curiously.
“In his cave,” Desrium answered.
“Cave?”
“Jiier was a dragon, miss Rarity.”
“Oh heavens!”
At the back of the assembly of ponies, there was a whimper.
“Whoa, you are friends with a dragon where you come from?” Spike asked. “Like… a big grownup dragon?”
“That… is actually pretty awesome,” Rainbow Dash said, nodding. “I guess the freaky light-things coming out of your back are pretty cool too, but not like being friends with a big monster dragon!”
“Jiier was not a monster,” Desrium said plainly.
“Psh.” Rainbow Dash waved a hoof dismissively.
Applejack rubbed her chin and tilted her head off to one side. “Pardon the blunt question, mister, but why is it that ya’ll keep sayin’ things in the past tense? I know you’ve got yerself in a bit of tight spot here in Equestria but don’t let yerself get all bent out of shape!” When she realized what she said she blushed with embarrassment. “That weren’t no joke about you being all metal and stuff, honest.”
“Thank you for the kind words,” Desrium replied. He decided that to tell them about Jiier’s fate would be grossly unfitting now of all times. The story about the blood dragon was one the Justicar felt deserved retelling for generations, but not everyone needed to hear it. Especially not these small equines in their separate reality, blissfully unaware of the terrors that existed elsewhere. “And your name is?” he asked the orange pony.
“My name’s Applejack and I’m darn tootin’ pleased to meet you, Desrium!” She rushed over to him and held a hoof out for him to shake. Desrium looked at it, hesitating. Applejack reached out harder. “In case ya’ll don’t do this where you come from, you’re supposed to shake it!” she whispered, winking.
“I believe engaging in this gesture would be most discomforting for you,” Desrium warned her.
“Aw phooey, it’d take more than a hoofshake to make any earth pony worth their salt feel any sort of way!” Applejack insisted.
“Pinkie Pie, please,” Desrium said, looking over to her.
“Oh! Right! You’d best watch out Applejack, Desrium is all frosty-frosty!” To reinforce her point, she zipped over to Applejack and waved her front hooves in the hat-wearing pony’s face, blowing on her through puckered lips. “Ooh, frosty,” she whispered.
“Aw shucks, ya’ll are acting like I need to dress up for winter wrap up just to give him a hoofshake!” Applejack countered.
“You kinda do!”
“Would you please just take my hoof and shake it, Desrium?”
“I apologize in advance, Applejack.” Desrium took her hoof in his metal hand and the earth pony became as stiff as a board. He let go and she sheepishly stepped back from him.
“Ah… right…” she said.
Desrium nodded and said no more. He looked to the back of the group when he saw Rainbow Dash fly over there and saw as she began prodding at one partially hidden yellow shape on the library floor. “Rainbow Dash, please!” a delicate voice pleaded.
“It’s not like he tried to gobble her head or anything! Applejack’s fine!” the pegasus said in an attempt to be reassuring, but the mention of heads being gobbled only petrified the yellow pony. She squeaked and somehow managed to squeeze herself into a tiny, shaking ball.
Applejack forced a cough and said with a smile, “And that’s Fluttershy! Ya’ll don’t feel bad about that whole business now; at one point she was afraid of her own shadow! But don’t you get to thinkin’ she’s easy pickin’s, Desrium, she is brave in her own right!”
Desrium nodded and inquired, “What normally makes her feel better when she gets like this?”
“Well… us, for the most part,” said Applejack. She gestured to the others, Twilight, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie, as they converged on the yellow pegasus to offer their support and continued, “We do what we can to help her when she gets all scared like this, but sometimes it’s her animal friends that help her most.”
“I am not good with animals,” Desrium stated. He would have liked to ease Fluttershy’s spirit but he couldn’t think of anything that didn’t have the potential to make things much worse for her. Brightening his eyes, spreading the wings of light and showing her the Lance all had the potential to cause more harm than good.
“How so?” the orange pony asked.
“Most of them flee from me. The more aggressive ones attack me.”
“… Right…”
Applejack looked uneasy, looking from the armored being to her friends, not wanting to leave an acquaintance in any curt manner but also wanting to lend her aid to Fluttershy. Desrium nodded his head and told her, “She needs you more than I.”
“Y’sure?” Applejack asked.
“Time is not a luxury we can afford to waste. She is needed in order to combat the evil that has its sights on your home.”
Applejack nodded at that and joined the huddle of ponies, her voice joining theirs as they spoke words of encouragement to their companion. Desrium mentally said his apologies as he looked on. He didn’t want to scare anyone other than the evils that lurked in the darkest shadows. He had to leave this world for the sake of its wellbeing. He was sure of the fact. Meanwhile, Zecora stood with her eyes closed, looking sage-like as she waited, gathering her thoughts and planning. Soon, the decisive battle between evil and good was to take place.
Later, when Fluttershy was no longer gripped by her crippling anxiety, the zebra had the six ponies gather around her as he went through her stores of ritual items. Twilight explained to her friends the extent of the crisis before letting Zecora take over. She showed them exotic stones and gems, feathers from the plumage of elusive avian creatures, mixtures stored in vials that were all sorts of colors and texture and much, much more. Desrium thought the zebra to be an expert alchemist, with all of these fantastical ingredients and brews.
“It is with much caution that I use this magic,” Zecora told them all, “for unintended results can be very tragic. We will carry out a most risky ceremony, using the elements possessed by you six ponies. With the powers we will be commanding, I commence a vile summoning. In Ghastly Gorge is where the evil will fear the shining retribution of the Justicar’s spear.”
“Why Ghastly Gorge?” Rainbow Dash asked, not having the best memories of the place.
“To keep the danger from everypony else, right Zecora?” Twilight answered, looking to the zebra for confirmation. Zecora nodded.
“If the foe is as powerful as Desrium says then it is best to stage the fight far away, deep in the gorge is where the fury will stay as your magic keeps the innocent at bay. A shield over the gorge will block the sky, forcing the evil to fight inside.”
“Innocent at bay?” asked a puzzled Applejack. “How does that work?”
“We don’t want anyone wandering too close when this all happens,” Twilight replied. “On the down side… it means we’ll have to be inside while Desrium is fighting…”
Of the nine in the room, only three did not react with any form of surprise, and it was no surprise that those three were Zecora, Twilight and Desrium. Fluttershy almost fainted.
“Spike will stay outside with a letter ready for princess Celestia should things go bad,” she continued, looking at her assistant with a nebulous expression. She definitely did not want him stuck in a magical barrier when a monster was going to be locked inside.
“But—“ Spike tried to protest, but the princess shook her head.
“No buts.”
Spike looked crestfallen, but accepted it all the same. It would not be the first time that he had to do something he didn’t want to in order to help his friends save the day.
“I promise not to let harm befall you,” Desrium pledged to them all. “I know, if given the chance, the demon would make you all its targets. Rest assured that I will not give it that chance.”
Zecora nodded. “We go forth in spite of the peril so you can end this enemy most feral. I ask that you attack with all of your might and rid Equestria of this heinous blight!”
Desrium bowed his head. “By my honor as Justicar, I will not fail.” He looked to the ponies and said, “It seems in bad form to ask so much of you so soon, but I thank you for your bravery.”
“You go show that demon a thing or two then give it a wallop and tell it, ‘That one was from Rainbow Dash!” the cyan pegasus exclaimed, shooting up into the air and punching at it.
“Yeah, ya’ll teach it a lesson for thinkin’ it could go against Equestria and win!” Applejack shouted and stamped her hooves.
“Here, here!” Rarity added.
“We’re throwing a party that it definitely didn’t want to be invited to!” Pinkie yelled.
“Make it go… uh… ‘ouch’!” Fluttershy offered quietly.
Twilight looked around the lobby and said, “Then we’re off to Ghastly Gorge to save Equestria!”
Desrium watched as the six friends rejoiced as one, putting their hooves together in the air. Even timid Fluttershy, who not too long ago wanted to roll into a ball and hide. In addition to Zecora’s fighting spirit, he commended the friendship of these ponies. With it, they were stronger than they ever could be alone. The way they were merry with one another reminded him of Septimus and Jiier, and rather than make how much he missed them that much more obvious, it uplifted him. He felt a special kind of magic unlike any he had come across before. No mana well could compare to the joy he felt surrounding him in the lobby of Golden Oaks.
The ponies marched through Ponyville, mares on a mission. Twilight headed the pack, Zecora and Desrium rounded out the back. Zecora pulled her wagon, Desrium hauled the sack. Other ponies stopped and stared at the strange sight as one of their princesses and her friends led the peculiar robed figure through town, past the town hall and over one of the bridges leading out into the wild. They went through the Everfree forest without delay, following the river that would flow into the gorge. They arrived at the scar in the earth before noon and Twilight, with the use of her magic, floated Zecora and the other ponies down into the gray chasm. Desrium’s wings of light manifested and he jumped off of the edge after them, gliding down to the riverside. Spike watched from up top, the failsafe letter to Celestia held firmly in his clawed grasp.
The next span of time was spent preparing the ritual. Zecora chose a point at the riverside where the water meandered a large distance, meaning there was more ground to use. She retrieved white chalk from her wagon and started to draw circles, filling them in with symbols and icons. She then started laying herbs over the runes, dousing them in various potions when she was done. Despite being wetted, the chalk inscriptions were not distorted or washed away. Desrium could feel mystical forces accumulating around the ritual site. What the zebra was doing was without a doubt potent magic.
She started sprinkling powders over the runes and herbs while everyone else watched on, almost entranced by the process. “This magic will seek out the evil source, of the blackest heart, rough and coarse,” she said to them as she worked. When she was nearly finished she instructed the ponies to dawn their elements.
The golden crown went on Twilight’s head while the others put on their necklaces, sporting the marks that were emblazoned on their flanks in the form of jewels.
“Desrium, are you ready?” Zecora asked him. The armored being nodded and swung his arm, drawing the Lance of the Justicar from his sleeve. He stood tall, primed for battle. Zecora looked to the element bearers and asked, “Are you six ready?” They nodded firmly with fierce looks of determination in their eyes. “Then form a circle around the ritual and hold yourselves steady.”
They complied, falling in line beside Zecora, the eight of them forming a ring around the arrangement. The zebra began chanting as she had when Desrium found her the previous night. But the words she spoke were not to keep evil at bay. They were ominous sounds, strung together in a chilling incantation. Zecora closed her eyes as she sped up the chant, putting more and more emotion into every syllable. Desrium could sense that the aura around the ceremony was quickly darkening. Though the sun was shining brightly overhead and there was nary a shadow in the gorge, it felt as if a great shadow was creeping towards the group.
It was how he knew the zebra’s magic was working. He steeled himself.
There was a tension in the air, the precipice of disaster. It was at this point that Zecora sat on her haunches and blew on her hooves towards the arrangement. The herbs burst into flames then. The ponies gasped as they burned a deep blue, swirling around the chalk runes.
“Now, get back!” she shouted.
The ring scattered outwards as the fire grew. Higher and higher the firespout reached, the gray stones bathed in sapphire light. The twister growled unnaturally, shaped by malice and afflictions of the soul.
“Girls!” Twilight called out to her friends, “prepare the elements!”
The necklaces began to shine, the jewels twinkling. Twilight’s crown joined them in the show of light, taking on a pleasant glow that was fighting against the oppressing atmosphere, containing it at the center of their formation. The ponies left the ground in a field of magic that extended to each one of them, disregarding the distance in between. Two segments of a rainbow emerged from Twilight’s element from either side, sweeping through the air to her friends. The light intensified and the fire snarled in disgust. The flames bulged and writhed as if the presence of the elements was causing it great pain. The twisting fire shrunk more and more, the noises it made becoming more and more desperate as it lost its size. It let out a piercing screech when it became as small as it would, but even then the fires still reached past Desrium’s height.
They were as tall as the demon lord. This was it. The moment the Justicar was waiting for ever since the demon disappeared into the forest. It was finally at hand. The flames took on solid form, a bulky horned shape that stood on two legs. Bands of light started running across the surface. Small stones began to leave the ground. Then the fiery form turned red. It exploded into hellfire, shaking the very ground Desrium and Zecora stood on. The zebra shielded her eyes from the light, feeling the wave of heat rushing at her. Her ears numbed from the noise, the booming that enveloped her sounding more like a distant thumping.
She opened her eyes again when she realized she had not been broiled. To her surprise, she found that she was behind the Justicar, his back to her. He was crouched and his arms were spread so that the cape of his robe was draped out in front of her. The ponies, protected by their elements, showed no signs of being hurt by the surge of flame.
Desrium stood. Smoke rose off of his body. Zecora looked at him, taken aback. He truly meant it when he pledged to protect them all. He walked forwards, holding the spear in his hands, the dual blades pointed ahead of him. Zecora shook her head and pulled herself together. This was no time to be standing around dumbfounded.
The field of magic that surrounded the ponies ballooned upwards, a shimmering barrier comprised of the colors of their coats formed a dome over the gorge and blocked off the two ends of it, trapping the summoned demon inside. Many streaks of color ran along the gleaming wall as the ponies descended to the river side. They looked upon the red creature that stood at the center of a blackened circle.
The demon lord looked around with its yellow blazing eyes. Its lips were pulled back, revealing its teeth and the burning light that came from down its throat. When it saw the Justicar approaching, it slammed its huge hands into the ground and bellowed angrily. Desrium did not react. He continued walking towards it.
“You have a penchant for ruining everything!” it snarled, sidestepping. The Justicar and demon lord started to circle each other, walking along the burned circumference of the scorched ground. “You see,” it continued to say, “I was in the middle of tearing off the head of some insect and claiming her army as my own! But then you –!” He looked at the ponies and the zebra. “… You made friends!”
“Leave them out of this. I am here to finish what we began in Tyrbenetus.”
“Why should I, clearly they are here to help you!” the demon lord replied, chuckling darkly.
“They are to make sure you don’t escape.”
“I can fix that!” The demon fell into a runner’s stance, horns pointed at a pony chosen at random: Applejack. It kicked off, bowling towards the orange pony. Applejack reared up in fright, but then she heard a resounding thud as the Justicar’s metal fist collided with the side of the demon’s head. It tripped over itself and fell opposite to the blow, rolling over several times before stopping near the river on all fours. It snapped itself around to eye its opponent.
“No.” Desrium spaced his boots apart and held up his spear. “Between us, only.”
The lord laughed deeply. “No blue eyes, no magic, no power! You don’t stand a chance, fool!”
“You have had enough time to enjoy your delusions. It is time for me to end them.”