//------------------------------// // Chapter 23, Ambush // Story: Darkness Rising // by SkyHighFlyer //------------------------------// While Rainbow would spend the remainder of the day under the care of Silver Wing, Twilight was on a train, partway to Fillydelphia. Mythic Dusk had issued a request for assistance on something, although exactly what remained unspecified, as the letter was written in Equestrian. While they were together they could hopefully find time to bring up the fact that by Twilight’s order, under Silver Wing’s advice, all communications were, until the order was repealed, to be written in ancient vampire and destroyed after being read or when no longer needed. With her were Shadowfall and Fluttershy. The request for assistance was delivered directly to Shadowfall, with instructions to bring at least one other if possible. Since Silver Wing was available, Twilight volunteered, and Fluttershy offered to come with her. The train was crowded, as it usually was during the day, leaving them surrounded by ponies. Fluttershy, for most of the time, sat in boredom as Twilight and Shadowfall conversed quietly in ancient vampire, an action that drew some strange looks from the other ponies in the car. Fluttershy was actually glad that they had been instructed by Twilight to be disguised at all times, an action that Shadowfall had no objections to. The stares didn’t bother her as much when she was a different pony. Twilight and Shadowfall were unfazed by the strange looks however, and continued speaking quietly, Twilight for the most part understanding everything, only occasionally coming across a word that she didn’t understand, which she would request that Shadowfall explain the meaning of. Fluttershy could only pick out a few words the entire time, mostly just simple, common ones. When they got off the train they went to a predetermined meeting point that was in the request from Mythic Dusk. They maintained their disguises once they got there, but Mythic didn’t have any trouble recognizing them, and as they approached he said, “Glad to see you could make it. I wasn’t quite expecting you two though.” “You really need to find a way to get more news, a lot has happened since last time we spoke,” Twilight said, giving him a smile. “Well I’m afraid that will have to wait,” he said, “We need get going, I’m making a trade, and we need to get to the location in about ten minutes.” “We’re just making a trade,” Shadowfall said curiously, “I thought you said you needed our help?” “I can make the trade myself,” Mythic said, “The problem is that I think there’s something wrong here. Something’s off about this whole deal.” “What do you think’s wrong?” Fluttershy asked as they went off the path into a thick wooded area, one that was very difficult to navigate in, the perfect place for a secret meeting. “Beside the fact that texts written in ancient vampire rarely ever show up on the market at all, something just seems off, about the location, the time, the whole thing feels wrong to me,” Mythic said. “I might just be being paranoid, but I wanted to get some extra protection for this particular deal.” Twilight looked around at the almost black forest, and even she couldn’t overcome an ominous feeling. One thing was for certain, the location was definitely far out of the way. “What exactly is it we’re buying?” Twilight asked, staying close to Fluttershy and putting one of her wings over her back, trying to comfort her. “That the other odd thing,” Mythic replied, “it’s a completely intact text, written in ancient vampire, exact age uncertain. It came into the possession of a pony I trade with in ancient artifacts, who realized that the characters in the book matched the several I gave him as a sample for unknown languages I would be interested in procuring. I’d be more suspicious about that, but he sent me an excerpt and it was definitely legitimate.” “What are you expecting?” Shadowfall asked, her own apprehension about the situation growing. “I’ve got no idea, I’ve just got a really bad feeling.” They walked silently for nearly five more minutes before stopping. Mythic dusk took off his saddlebags and set them down. “Alright, the trade is going to happen in a clearing just a little further, I want you three to take positions up in the trees, stay out of sight and just watch, make sure nothing goes wrong.” He opened his saddlebags and gave them each a small object, the size and shape of which implied it was meant to be worn over a pony’s hoof. Shadowfall took hers immediately, putting it on and scrutinizing it closely. Twilight took hers hesitantly, and Fluttershy took hers with a confused expression. Seeing the look on her face, Mythic asked, “Do you know how to use this.” Fluttershy shook her head, and Twilight stepped over to help her, “Just put it on your hoof. It’s a sword, standard issue for Equestrian military during times of war or unrest. The spears the guard uses aren’t actually meant to be used as weapons, their just for intimidation. “The blade is designed to be efficient and easy to use in battle. It’ll extend or retract based on the users will. Just will it to come out, and the blade will come out, do the same to put it away.” Curiously, and somewhat nervously, Fluttershy put it on and tried. Without even needing to think it followed her wishes. Looking over the bladed weapon it her hooves, she felt frightened, fearing that she would need to use it. She put the blade away and asked Twilight, “Have you ever used one of these before?” Twilight nodded. “Celestia taught me how to use it briefly. She didn’t actually plan for me to ever be in battle, but she wanted me to know how in case I was. That was around the time when she was teaching me to kill vampires, she wanted me to know how to fight.” At that point Mythic Dusk interrupted “Alright, I don’t mean to cut you short, but it’s time, go out and take different positions along the edge of the clearing.” Shadowfall jumped up, using her wings to keep balanced as she move along the branches to the edge of the clearing almost like a squirrel. Twilight and Fluttershy parted ways, each going in the opposite directions. Fluttershy got up to the top of a tree, almost the opposite end of the clearing, and assessed the area. Twilight wasn’t actually that far from Shadowfall, barely a quarter of the clearing, making Fluttershy very far away from them. By the time she took position the meeting was already taking place. Fluttershy kept watch, and for some time nothing happened. Unfortunately, she realized that Mythic Dusk may have been right when she caught sight of ponies moving around in the foliage near the other edge of the clearing, she tried waving a hoof, but Twilight and Shadowfall’s attention was not on her, rather on the meeting and on a very select area on her side of the tree line, which as far as she could tell was completely devoid of any ponies. She tried to avoid taking any desperate action, hoping that she could get Twilight’s attention, but when she saw that the ponies in the foliage were armed and preparing to attack she had no other option, and as loud as she could she yelled, “AMBUSH!” Her timing was perfect, as the moment she yelled Mythic jumped and turned to face her direction, hoping to get some clue as to where the ambush actually was, and by doing so he narrowly avoided a spear as it cut through the air where his head was only a moment ago. And that was when chaos broke out. Fluttershy was too afraid to do anything as the attackers leapt out into the clearing. Mythic Dusk turned and prepared to fight. The pony making the trade tried to run, but Shadowfall stuck him with her blade as she leapt down from the tree, killing him without mercy and not even looking back as she charged into the battle before her. Twilight did the same after making several magical attacks, none of which actually hit their targets but forced them to take action to avoid the deadly black bolts of magic. Fluttershy wanted to help, but couldn't bring herself to join the violence happening below her, and was only able to watch as Twilight danced around the battlefield with extraordinary precision, killing just as many of the attackers with her magic as she did with her sword. Shadowfall didn't do much differently, gracefully moving below and taking on as many as four ponies at once, dodging and blocking their attacks with amazing speed and precision while still finding space to make her own attacks, always hitting her mark and crippling her targets if she didn't kill them outright. After the fighting went on for a few minutes, Fluttershy finally had enough courage to jump down from the tree she was now hiding in and approach the fight, though she was sure to keep her distance. She waited, trying to collect herself enough to get into the fighting, but the though of killing somepony, even if they were trying to kill her, was horrifying. So she watched the fight, staying on the edge of the battleground and watching with a mixture of disgust and curiosity as her companions killed pony after pony, as more and more bodies piled up on the scene. There had to have been at least twenty ponies in the fight, and Fluttershy didn't contribute to the fight in any way at all. Even though she knew that Twilight wouldn't hold it against her, she felt bad for not at least helping, until the end that is. When the battle was dieing down, and the other two were fighting off the last few attackers, Fluttershy saw a pony sneaking up behind Twilight while she was engaged in battle with another in front of her. Seeing an opportunity to help, she sprinted from her hiding place and tackled the pony. She thought that if she just incapacitated him, the others might not kill him outright, maybe interrogating him for more information on the attack, or doing something more merciful. That hope was lost in a moment however, because when she knocked the pony to the ground she made a lot of noise, and as soon as she heard that Twilight exploited the momentary lapse in concentration caused to the pony she was fighting to deliver a killing blow, and then whipped around and fire a jagged, black bolt of dark magic the cleanly hit the pony she had pinned to the ground in the chest, killing him instantly as it pierced his heart. Fluttershy tried not to seem too disappointed, but was noticeably distressed. “Nice of you to finally join in,” Twilight said, assuming that her discomfort was more general than the death of one pony. Fluttershy looked back down on the pony, standing up and backing away. She may not have killed him outright, but she was indirectly responsible for his death. But she had no feelings of guilt or remorse. She could see plainly that if it wasn't him, it would have been Twilight. “Over here,” Shadowfall called out, and for a moment Fluttershy thought their might have been a survivor, but what she found was much more horrifying. Mythic Dusk was dead. Everything seemed to stop for Fluttershy as Twilight knelt down beside him, and examined the wounds from the battle. The one that killed him was clearly the one that pierced his side, the rest being too shallow to do that much real damage. “How could this have happened,” Shadowfall said in anger, turning and looking away from the scene. Twilight meanwhile picked up a broken spearhead off the ground and ran her hoof across it, and then walked up to Shadowfall and ran it across her back resulting in a flinch, a small cry of pain, and a minor burn mark that did not heal immediately. “What was that for?” she said, again in anger, and this time also surprise. Twilight offered a sheepish smile. “Sorry, just checking, it wouldn't have affected me.” Shadowfall growled at her slightly, and then said, “Mythic Dusk is dead, why would you think these weapons aren't enchanted with magic that could kill us?” “Like I said, just checking.” Shadowfall grumbled at this, but didn't argue. Twilight's resistance to light magic and unique capability to cast it wasn't outright revered, but it was admired amongst other vampires. It was a sign of strength, and rendered even otherwise deadly weapons harmless. Though this resistance wasn’t very strong, most weapons enchanted with light magic wouldn’t harm her, even as identical weapons would kill those around her. Contrary to Fluttershy's belief, she was never really in any danger. The wounds inflicted on her, while painful, would have been no more deadly than those of any conventional weapon. “What about the book?” Fluttershy asked, trying to take her mind off the fight by distracting herself with other things. With a look of revelation, Twilight teleported over to the dead trader, not even bothering to walk. A brief search later, she pulled out the book. As soon as it was moved the blood covering it ran off like water. The book wasn't damaged in any way, and a quick check with her own magic revealed that their was active rune magic holding it together, hidden beneath layers of covering that kept it from sight. She leafed through the book quickly, confirming that the entire book was legitimate, filled with spell diagrams and outlines of magic in numerous forms laid out in such a way that when cast, would work in harmony with each other to great effect. The whole thing was amazing to her, and it took much of her willpower and a gentle nudge from Fluttershy to remind her that they had more important things to do than reading the book right now. The reminder of what had happened had been a solemn sign of all that needed to be done. Now that they had lost one of their own, they had to begin tying up loose ends. They couldn't afford these kinds of losses, especially not these days. “What about his daughter?” Fluttershy asked as they made their way back over to his body. Shadowfall was examining the bodies of the ponies they had slain, searching for signs that could identify them, or whatever pony or organization had put them up to the ambush. “I don't see any other option than move her in with somepony else,” Twilight said, “she can't live alone. She can stay with me if she needs to.” Not pausing her examination of the bodies, Shadowfall replied, “That would probably be best, you're the only one who can actually take care of her and keep her out of danger at the same time. I just hope you have the necessary parenting skills for this.” Twilight gave a small laugh at that, but it wasn't enough to cover up the sadness she was feeling. She may not have know Mythic Dusk very well, but vampires were like family, and even though she was just starting to get to know them and learn her way around her own nature she still felt that familial connection to them. “Alright, so what should we do with his body?” asked Twilight, feeling that she should know the answer already. “We’ll perform a burial,” said Shadowfall, “We’ll make a grave, out by his house. It was where his wife was buried, after she died. It seems like that’s where he would want it.” Twilight nodded, and then Shadowfall asked, “You don’t need me in Ponyville anymore, do you?” Twilight shook her head. “No, Silver Wing is helping watch Rainbow right now, and then Fluttershy and I are going to take over once we get back, why?” She flipped one of the dead ponies over, much to Fluttershy’s disgust, and showed them the bottom of one of his front hooves. There was a symbol on the bottom of his hoof, engraved into the skin by way of a method that Twilight imagined would be quite painful unless done under the influence of numbing spells. She didn’t recognize it, but it obviously had some kind of meaning. “Found it on every one of them, including the trader,” Shadowfall said. “It looks like some kind of kind of identification, probably for an organization.” Twilight frowned. “So more than just a lucky band of vampire hunters. You’re saying that this was part of an organized movement?” “Maybe,” Shadowfall replied. “Anyway, since I’m not needed in Ponyville anymore I plan to find out. I’ll get my things and head out, get a few more vampires and start a more thorough investigation. I plan to find out who did this.” That was the first positive thing Twilight heard since the fight, and she was confident that it would turn out well. For a moment she toyed with the thought of applying her authority to the situation, allocating more of their accumulated resources. After all, it was more than just the death of one of their own, it was still a threat to be dealt with. She filed the thought away, making a mental note to look into the possibility later, along with a reminder to check on what resources they actually had. “While we’re here, we should take the chance to feed. It isn’t always this easy to find blood,” Twilight said, a little hesitation and reluctance in her voice. Shadowfall wasted no time following her advice, biting into the body of the closest pony with remarkable speed, eagerly consuming whatever blood was still left in the body. Twilight wasn’t as vigorous, and took her time and fed slowly and calmly. Fluttershy only joined in because she knew she needed to. Living a calm lifestyle helped, and she tried to spend as much time as she could sleeping, but she still went through the energy she got from Morning Daisy’s blood as time went on, and she was getting close to the point where she would have to feed again, regardless of whether or not she wanted to. It felt wrong to her, but she stopped hesitating and started feeding on one of the corpses. Though it made her feel terrible, the blood tasted amazing, though it didn’t have the same euphoric effect as last time, only giving her slight cravings for more. She moved on to another body when she was done, and another after that before she started to feel sick from consuming to much blood. Both Twilight and the books she was given explained that she could only consume so much blood at a time before she couldn’t store any more energy, a capacity that would improve with time, as well as when she consumed large amounts of blood at once. After a few minutes of feeding, all the corpses were drained of blood, and Shadowfall said, “We had better get moving, the sooner we do what we need to, the sooner we can avenge him.” Despite the harsh way she said it, Twilight found herself in complete agreement with Shadowfall’s words. Twilight didn’t share the aggressive views most others did, and she had never once felt contempt or hatred for the normal ponies, nor did she ever wish any violence on them, but this time she felt a violent hate, even if only for a moment and barely noticeable. She did her best not to return to the thought, but it lingered in the back of her mind, telling her to go out and exact vengeance. Shadowfall picked up Mythic’s body, with some help from Twilight, and they made their way out of the clearing. They followed the same path they came in until they could get their bearings, and followed alongside the path, just out of sight in case a pony was wandering around late at night. They circled around at the river and made their way along the banks to the small house, and finally set the body down. Without speaking, Shadowfall got to work, digging the ground with her bare hooves. Twilight and Fluttershy got the hard job, breaking the news to his daughter. The entered the house, and found the young filly sitting around in the same room Twilight had sat in not too long ago to talk to mythic dusk for the first time. When they entered, she looked up at them curiously. For the moment, they just looked at each other, and then Twilight made the first move and said as gently as she could, “Lunar Pearl, your father... he died about a half hour ago. I’m sorry.” ----- As opposed to the vibrant conversation of earlier that day, the return trip was more solemn, almost entirely silent. As was typical of any trip at night, the train was nowhere near capacity, leaving them with and empty car all to themselves. Lunar Pearl had finally managed to fall asleep on Fluttershy’s lap, her fur stained from the hours of crying. When she was told that she needed to come back with them, she hadn’t the strength or the will to do much other than pack a few necessities, mostly just precious items. Twilight assured her they would be able to return for the rest at a later date. With nopony living there for the time they locked the place up and left it. One of the things about the home of a rune magic expert however, was that it was akin to a brilliant inventor. The way rune magic intertwined and mixed, working in harmony with itself, left all but infinite possibilities, and security measures were abundant. It may have been a cottage in the woods, but it was still their home, and they did have years of free time to perfect the design. The place would only open to a vampire, and would be all but impossible to enter for anypony else, save perhaps an alicorn. They remained silent for the most part, not having anything to say. Shadowfall’s plans were clearly outlined, gather her possessions and make her way to Los Pegasus, where she would meet up with two others and they would begin their investigation by returning to Fillydelphia. Twilight had promised that she would allocate any resources she would need. As the other two sat around quietly, Twilight was going through the book they had recovered, the one positive outline of the trip. They had identified it positively as a journal kept by one of the ponies responsible for Twilight’s protective magics when she was young. According to Shadowfall, there were three ponies directly involved in the creation of the magic, two others having been dead for some time, and Mythic Dusk being the last. Of the three, there was Mythic Dusk, who was responsible for the rune magic that was applied in the process, which was mostly what kept the magic running without drawing so much energy that Twilight starved to death, but also was responsible for giving Twilight sensations such as exhaustion and hunger, things she wouldn’t ordinarily experience. The other two were each experts in their own fields. The journal they had belonged to the pony who worked with the dark magic involved, which was the least used of the three fields, only providing miscellaneous effects and providing a framework in addition to suppressing her vampiric abilities. The final and most important of the three was the expert on illusion magic, which was not only the field of magic that hid her appearance, but also what protected her from sunlight. Each field either couldn’t work or would be useless without the other two, making the whole thing a marvel that she could barely believe they pulled off. The effects were amazing, although unfortunately they needed a vampire as a host or they would fail, as was evidenced by the necklace she had acquired from Rarity, which had only taken a few weeks to disintegrate from the time the enchantments were transferred to it. Other than detailed descriptions of how the magic worked, documented so effectively Twilight would be willing to say she could replicate the effect given the resources, it also contained personal notes and a few extra bits that Twilight found very interesting, including an explanation as to why Cadence was an alicorn. Unfortunately what happened to the other two was never discovered, as Mythic Dusk had never told anypony and there was no known record of their fates. Finally, after nearly two hours of silence, Fluttershy asked, “Was it worth it?” Shadowfall looked at her sadly, and Twilight lowered the book and said, “What we got out of this was valuable, that can’t be questioned... but it will never be worth what it cost us.”