The Masked Face of Fear

by rikusorasephiroth

Clearing headspace

I continued to stare at the reflective surface, thinking of the allies and associates I have come across, both past and present.

Turning away and walking out of the room, I began contemplating my next move.

Celestia couldn't attack me, because she didn't know how to operate the Cullis Gates. Chrysalis and her kind only knew how to do so because they were zealots devoted to me. Luna...

'She could prove useful, provided I can get here alone.'

I'd called back Twilight and her friends after three days of them patrolling the old castle and was now listening as they each gave a statement on what had happened.

Five accounts and I was beginning to feel like my worries were over nothing and that the spell preserving the town hall in Border-Town had simply worn off.

Then I noticed Fluttershy.

She was nervous, or rather more nervous than she usually was in my presence.

Slowly approaching, I lowered myself to her level and asked, "What's the matter?"

I had my hand on the 'forehead' of my mask in the universal sign of frustration at stupidity.
...
Not my own, you cockbite.

No, about twenty minutes ago, I had left my home and started wandering out of boredom, eventually came across a seemingly abandoned quarry before finally meeting the cause of my rising headache.

Diamond Dogs.

They were idiots a thousand years ago, and they're idiots today.

Some things just don't change.

I mean, really, it takes a moron to go up to an armed and armoured being, literally pulsing with power and demand they work as slaves, but even sentient cactus wouldn't manage to impale itself on the being's sword while it was being pointed at it.

Shifting from a face palm, to just rubbing my closed eyes, I sighed and looked at the pitiful creature.
...
'It's still alive,' I thought as I watched it cough up blood and try to push itself off the Sword of Aeons. 'How is it still alive'

Looking past it, I noted its companions were equally frustrated at the stupidity shown, if their slowly shaking heads were anything to go by.
Turning my attention back to the should-be-dead, I narrowed my eyes and sent a pulse of Will through the blade, but never expected the end result.

I expected it to electrocute the dog, or burn it or something along those lines.
But for it to pop? No.

As the energy went through the blade, the dogs face twisted in pain for a few seconds, then it topped bleeding and a half-second later it went boom-splat.
That was actually the sound it made, 'boom-splat'.
Just picture the sound of a balloon popping and in the nano-second that follows the sound of a watermelon exploding.

Yet, I was more surprised none of the... I would say the only applicable term is 'matter', touched me.
There was a three-hundred and fifteen degree 'blast zone' with me in the tiny clean space.

With the poor sod's friends mimicking stunned mullets, I turned to leave, when I felt something give slightly under my foot.

Checking, it turned out to be an eye.

How did I know it was an eye? Because it still had a tendon connected to the OTHER eye, which was identifiable by the small patch of white and iris.

Scraping it off on a rock, I continued along my original path, despite the sound of more fluid hitting the groud. I think it was the other dogs vomiting, but I can't say for sure.

Before long, a small town came into view, one I was not familiar with.

I know I'd seen it while watching Sun-bitch's student through the Mind-scape, but I was never aware of its position, size or anything really until now.

The crystalline structure in the middle of town was definitely familiar.

Not daring show myself before possessing my full arsenal and power, I moved into the shade of the everfree and found a secluded spot, out of view if on looked from beyond the edge of the forest.

Rolling my shoulders to loosen them, I reversed my grip on the Sword of Aeons and put my other hand on the hilt before placing the tips of the blade on the ground.

In a manner similar to my attack, I pushed the blade into the ground while channelling Will through it, albeit much slower.

When the guard was level with my waist, I stopped and the ground started rumbling as stone columns rose up about three feet way from me in a slightly curving shape.

When they reached roughly eight feet in height, I started pulling the sword out and as the tips left the ground, a large golden disk appeared, completing the new Cullis Gate.

It was a relatively calm day in Ponyville, all things considered.

The most interesting occurrences for the past week have been the former bearers of the Elements of Harmony rushing off to meet with Princess Celestia, them rushing to the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters and this morning, when Discord started using magic in his sleep and woke up wrapped around on of Rarity's ponnequins with a cupcake impaled on his deer horn while hanging upside-down from the bottom of Rainbow Dash's house.

That said, the ground suddenly vibrating beneath their hooves for just over a minute was cause for little more than confusion and mild annoyance.

As I re-entered my home, I was immediately approached by Chrysalis, who in her excitement, tripped over her own legs when she saw me.

"What is it?" I asked as she came to a stop in front of me.

"We've found one," she answered.

Slightly taken aback, I demanded, "Which one, and where?"

"One of the small hooks. It was found in a small town, not much larger than Ponyville, a fair way out from the capitol."

I began planning my next move and gestured for Chrysalis to follow, as I headed towards the Bronze Gate.

Near half-way there, I asked, "How many Changelings are under your command?"

Frowning in confusion, she said, A little under a thousand."

"And how many can fight?"

Her frown shifted to concern. "Around four hundred."

"And how many do you think would be needed to raid this town?"

"No more than a hundred or two."

It wasn't much longer before we reached the Bronze Gate

I chuckled darkly and told her, "Send all the fighters. Bring my weapon back and level the town, but try to keep casualties low. We're going to send Celestia a message and the residents will be the messengers."

With that I went through, began meditating and entered the mindscape.

I was galloping through the halls, leaving almost immediately after hearing Fluttershy's account of what happened, with Twilight flying behind me, desperately asking what was wrong.

Slowing down I eventually arrived at my destination, an old wooden door set in a frame marked with so many runes it appeared as nothing more than intricate carvings of fancy swirls.

Before I could open the door, Twilight finally caught up and begged me, "Princess Celestia, please. Tell me what's wrong."

With a heavy sigh, I turned to her and asked, "Twilight, do you remember when I took you to Border-town a few years ago?"

I couldn't see her confusion as she answered, "Yes."

"Do you remember what I told you about it?"

"It was a symbolic town, signifying the union between Ponies, Griffons and Minotaur, bringing together some of the best aspects of each culture to a single place, so it could be shared. It was almost a hundred years old when it was destroyed, which was just after you had to banish Nightmare Moon."

"What did I say about how it was destroyed?"

Her worry soon surpassed her confusion. "It was done by an individual. But Princess, the only ones with enough power to do that are you, Princess Luna, who was banished, and Discord and Tirek who were both imprisoned."

Looking back at the door, I said, barely audibly, "His name is Jack."

And the confusion return, "Jack?"

"Jack of Blades appeared to us not long before Tirek and his brother set their sights on Equestria."

"But I always thought Jack of Blades was just a story told to foals to make them be good, like the boogeymare and such."

"No Twilight. Like Nightmare Moon, Jack of Blades is very much real. At first he seemed nice enough, despite holding less than no regard for the lives of those who attacked him, but before long, he revealed his true nature.
He said he came from the Void."

"But that's impossible!" Twilight blurted out, before regaining her composure.

"At first we didn't believe him either, thinking it was mere bravado and embellishment, but when he'd vanished before our eyes and summoned others like him, we knew he was serious.
But his true nature came to light when a pony attacked him out of fear. Jack showed no mercy or pity and when we confronted him, we realised he saw us all as little more than pieces on a board, and himself as the one with the dice.
Eventually, he forged himself a new identity from a wayward traveller, to an icon of fear.
He, himself once said that he would ensure he would always be remembered, and he was right.
He'll always be remembered as the face of fear."

I looked back to see Twilight stunned silent, so I gestured with a wing for her to come closer, almost surprising me when she did.

Lighting my horn, the door opened, some of the runes around it glowing, and we walked into the room beyond to see its content.

Twilight approached it, saying, "I've seen one of these before, near Border-town, only it wasn't glowing. Princess Celestia, what are these things?"

It was a few seconds before I could answer her. "They are called Cullis Gates, Twilight, and they are how Jack can teleport anywhere in the land. They glow with mist like that when active."