With the group right on her heels was Twilight making her way through the vegetation of the forest. She ran and ran as fast as she could. Branch and root were avoided by like they were nothing. It almost seemed in the eyes of the chasing group that she exactly knew where to be going. Which was a thing that was in their personal disadvantage. There were Twilight seemed to be going both swift and agile, they were slow.
The soothsayer gained more and more ground ahead of them while Applejack wanted to call out to her. “Twilight, where are ya going to?!” she yelled on the top of her lungs. The admiral was having it the most difficult than any of the others. The uneven ground under her metal hoof wasn’t something she liked or preferred. Not to mention the speed in which she had to run. It must have been actually years ago that she ever had run as fast as she did that very day.
The rest of the company didn’t hear any response from Twilight. The realization kicked in slow. The realization of them not being able to catch up with the mare. Rainbow is the first one to do what everypony else is thinking. For she is the one that pulls on the breaks just like that. The others soon followed suit and all of their eyes looked into the direction the soothsayer had run into.
All four of the remaining members were panting deep to themselves. They laid their bodies against the trunks of the trees. Applejack allowed her body to slide all the way down to the ground before she pulled up her metal leg. “Outch, bloody hell!” she muttered to herself after just barely touching the casing.
Fluttershy’s ears perked themselves straight away. They also caught the hissing sound that could be heard for just a fraction of a second. She thought to know what was wrong with it yet her energy to look at it hadn’t returned yet. The doctor just stood panting against a tree like the others.
Seconds had gone by when most of them had returned to their normal breathing and began to look around. “What could have triggered her, to dart away like she did?” Rarity thought aloud. She wanted to make some form of sense out of the situation. Yet in the corner of her eye did she noticed how Rainbow already sheathed her flintlocks again.
“Don’t do that yet, dear, we might still get some company. Would be a shame if you wouldn’t be prepared,” she replied to the action with almost a bit of a tease in her tone. Something that didn’t fell in the right throat hole for Rainbow Dash. The pegasus turned herself around towards the pirate captain with a gaze of thunder within her eyes.
She then walked over to the ivory skinned mare and pressed her forehead against that of Rarity. “And I don’t need a filthy pirate to tell me what to do. Has anypony ever told you that can be an extreme pain in the butt?” she hissed through her teeth. The words could only be heard by the unicorn who narrowed her eyes.
Yet as her eyes were narrowed, the lips turned themselves over into a little bit of a grin. A smirk perhaps. “Oh trust me, major, I have been told that a long time actually But…” Out of nowhere was there the sound of a flintlock being cocked and Rainbow could feel the cold steel of it resting against the bottom of her mouth. “I always am prepared, whatever the situation asks from me.”
Rarity then gave her a wink and before Rainbow could even react had she given a kiss upon the nose of the pegasus. “Ciao.” The flintlock was removed from her body as Rarity then just walked away as if nothing had ever happened.
Rainbow Dash kept on standing there with a baffled expression in her eyes. Words couldn’t even be released by her as she literally had no idea what had happened, or perhaps why it had happened. In the meantime had Fluttershy gone over to Applejack and was attending to the leg to the best of her abilities.
“I, I would throw a couple of cold water towels over it, but everything is in that storage. I’m afraid we have to wait until it’s cooled down by itself,” said Fluttershy to the admiral. A hand was held upon the earth anthrony’s shoulder. The admiral could understand the words and becoming angry wouldn’t have helped their situation at all.
“Hey Shy, still thanks,” she replied with a weak smile going across her face.
“It’s nothing, though I may think what the problem is.”
“Oh trust me, I know who the problem is,” the voice of Rainbow Dash suddenly spoke up. The heads of the other two mares turned over to the direction and saw the mare hovering in the air. “Rarity’s the problem. She’s just, just crazy! She kissed me! Me out of all of us!”
Both Applejack and Fluttershy just rolled their eyes a little bit. Though the admiral released a light chuckle. “She only kissed ya because ya were stupid enough to fall into her bait. She’s a strategist, a damn fine one at that. But she’s lost her mind since she deserted, she ain’t the same one. Tries to be, but just doesn’t. The sea does strange things with ya, major Dash.”
Those words were comforting for Rainbow, albeit it being just a little bit. The excuse of Rarity being insane was actually enough for her to know that the kiss wasn’t something that was meant as an act of love. Or anything else for that matter. A gentle sigh of relief was released through the mouth of the mare as she then glanced over to the forest. “You have any idea where exactly we are, or where Twilight could have been gone off to?”
The question was something that neither of the mares could answer. Though Applejack may have been the only one that was able to give some enlightenment on the case. “Ah don’t think she’s gone rogue. Ah have heard stories about soothsayers deserting the castle like that, to become what they call a ‘dark witch’, but if Twilight would become one, we would have seen it. Ah mean, it ain’t from one day to the next that such insanity strikes.”
Fluttershy nodded to the words whereas Rainbow only gave a shrug in response. Rainbow was a pegasus, most of her mind would be filled with nothing but air. That was actually where the two pegasi of the group differed. Rainbow was an airhead who always wanted to go to the extreme of things and make her city proud. Fluttershy on the other end had spent most of her life on the ground while taking care of both animal and anthrony. Cloudsdale could be left cold for all she knew as her pride. Her own pride was pretty much nonexistent anymore.
“Hey, anypony seen where she went off, I mean Rarity this time,” the major asked out of the blue. The words got the eyes of the other mare to look around their locations with a confused gaze. The pirate captain was nowhere to be seen, or heard. Applejack wanted to get a higher view and she tried her best to stand up.
It was a thing that only resulted in the fact that her leg seemed to be jamming up for the first time in a long time. Fluttershy’s attention shifted at the snap of a finger. The admiral was pushed down to the ground. The two looked into each other’s eyes for just a fraction of a second. Only to then quickly glance the other way again.
“Rainbow, can you inspect the near direct area for her? I need to attend to Applejack’s leg before anything else,” the timid pegasus spoke with a unseen amount of certainty to her voice. It was something that had always amazed the admiral every single time she saw it. That sheer determination whenever there was a medical issue at hand. Yet that shy, quiet and timed anthrony around pretty much everything else.
“You know how that leg works?” asked Rainbow in response. The mare just wanted to be sure. The last thing they needed was the leg to be blown to bits and pieces. Yet the answer to that question wasn’t one she had actually been preparing herself for.
“I’m the one who placed it there, of course I know how it works. Now go!” Fluttershy said in return before she shooed the major away. The strange day had become a whole lot more stranger in Rainbow’s eyes.
Though she quickly took off and flew away from the remaining two mares. Yet in the corner of her eye did she always kept the one spot of where they were. The search for Rarity wasn’t something that was easily done. And she was literally a white blob in a black forest.
In the timespan of minutes was the pegasus just busy in the attempt to find the missing mare. Something that both gave her time to think about the words previously said against her, as well as thinking about where she could be going. Or what she could be doing.
"Come on, come on, where are you?” she spoke aloud to herself. Her magenta red eyes shifted at a constant rate from right to left. The pegasus had flown in circles around the location of Applejack and Fluttershy. She had hoped to find the mare somewhere. Yet with each minute that passed by, the chances seemed to have been looking to that Rarity had also deserted on them.
In the end did she came by a small opening in the forest. A small opening that carried the reddish light of the evening sun. And there, in the middle of that tiny little opening did she found the white blob she had set out to find. The feelings of the relief that went through the pegasus weren’t matched by a lot in world.
When she looked closer to the scene, she could see that the horn was charged up and the arms were placed upon the lower belly of the mare. Rainbow had only a view of the backside of Rarity but could see literally everything that could be going on there. She had to know what the pirate was doing in that clearing.
So high in the tree branches she took place without making any sound. Not even the leaves rustled more than they should have been doing. Her breath became almost minimal as she began to spy upon the other mare. “What are you up to?” she mumbled to herself without a sound. The eyes primed against the mare, leaving every other thing behind her.
The horn of Rarity finally discharged itself as the hands fell down to her sides. The head rose itself upwards to the skies while a deep inhale of air was taken. Only to be followed by perhaps an even deeper exhale.
Rainbow Dash had no idea what to think of the matter. All that she had seen were the actions from behind. Actions that were unknown yet didn’t seem to be all too harmful. Rarity was a pirate and not a witch. That conclusion was made pretty much instantly and seemed to be stupid the more the major thought about it.
Yet something still didn’t seem to be all too right with her. Perhaps time would tell the story of the pirate, as time would do for them all in the end. Rarity then gently turned herself around before she began to once again just wander. Wander straight to the tree in which Rainbow laid spying.
The pupils of the pegasus became as small as possible when she realized just what was going to happen. She could only hope from that moment onwards that she wouldn’t actually be caught by the unicorn. Being caught by the pirate, would perhaps do a lot more than just dent her pride.
Closer and closer did Rarity came. The unicorn’s eyes were kept straight forward. Almost had she passed the tree where Rainbow had hidden in. The pegasus dared to look down from her branch and got pretty much the scare of her life. The unicorn was right below her. Something had caused her to stop dead in her tracks and to look around.
Rainbow’s heart began to pump faster and faster. The hopes on not being spotted only grew higher and higher. One look up and everything would just be done for the rest. The eyes were firmly shut as she continued to speak the hopes out in her mind time and time again.
Nothing. Complete and utter nothing was the thing that happened to Rainbow. No zap of magic was shot up or did words came from the pirate captain. Just the silence of the forest that came over them could be heard. The very next thing that Rainbow could hear were the hoofsteps of Rarity. The hoofsteps of a Rarity that was continuing on her way back to their location that was.
Only when the steps were silenced did the pegasus even dare to open up her eyes. A deep sigh was released through her nostrils. She was genuinely relieved that she hadn’t been discovered by the other anthrony. Luck was actually upon her side for a change of pace.
Though she still had to go down to the site as well. The pegasus just shrugged a little bit to herself before she dropped herself down from the tree. If she was going to be the last one to come back, but not being spotted by Rarity, it would have been worth it in her eyes.
~~~~
Finally had even Rainbow Dash made it back to the camp and all of them looked to each other. Fluttershy had done a great job with the leg of the admiral in the meantime. She had figured out just what the problem was. The overheating of the leg was caused by a clog in one of the systems. A temporal fix had been made that should have kept the thing running for a day or two, at max. They couldn’t do anything without Twilight, for she held of course the only key to the void storage their stuff was placed in.
“So,” the admiral said when she placed her hands behind her back. With her eyes did she look into those of the others with a serious gaze. “What’s the plan going to be? Ah mean, we need to find Twilight obviously. But where do you think we can find her?”
“Uhm, didn’t, didn’t she…” Fluttershy began suddenly. She gained all of the eyes of the other anthronies and gulped deep. The levels of attention given to her made her a whole lot more nervous than she originally had thought it would. A gentle yelp was being released her as the wings actually stayed in place for a change.
“Go on, please,” said Rarity then. Her hand slowly gestured that she had to hurry up. Rainbow Dash just crossed her arms over each other, quietly waiting for the words to come.
“Didn’t Twilight say something, that we had to listen?” Those words were the giant breakthrough in the problems that needed to be solved. Though there was still more to the theory of the mare. “If, if we listen, and follow the sounds, we might end up by Twilight.”
“We might?” exclaimed Rainbow. She then uncrossed her arms and set them in her sides. She didn’t really buy into it yet wanted to know more about it. “What are you thinking here, doctor?”
“It’s, it’s just a theory!” the other pegasus quickly returned in a high raised voice of fright which went accompanied with a yelp.
“But an interesting one at that,” added Rarity into the mix. “It’s worth a shot now, isn’t it? I mean, Twilight is still out there, counting on us to come and get her. Fluttershy, would you be doing the honors?”
With those words did she even gain the genuine attention of Applejack. Even though the admiral hated the pirate’s guts, she still managed to surprise her. Fluttershy herself knew exactly what needed to be done as she gulped a little bit. Then she closed her eyes and perked her ears to get every sound in the woods.
All of the others were as silent as the grave. The time to find their soothsayer had come. They had to hear what kind of secrets the forest were holding from them.
“Come, come closer. I’m waiting for you,” a voice whispered within the rolling winds. The voice a mare that was both sick and twisted. Yet eerily welcoming at the same time. The eyes of the doctor suddenly widened themselves just before she took a step or two backwards. Which resulted in her almost falling against a tree.
“It’s, it’s there. A, a voice. From there!” She then pointed in the general direction from which the tones came. Rainbow quickly noticed how it was from where the wind came from, making her even more suspicious about the matter. There was no other way, they had to follow the creepy voice in the wind to find the anthrony they were looking for.
Whether they would be on time was something that remained to be seen. “Let’s go everypony and keep yar eyes and ears open,” said Applejack. The company of four set out once more. Whatever they would find, they wouldn’t think of that just yet.
Sentence after sentence had they heard being spoken in the wing. The group followed it. Their pace was slow, they didn’t wanted to trip over anything or bash into something. Not to mention the fact that Applejack’s very leg couldn’t run anymore. The fix made allowed it to work, but run it couldn’t do anymore until it was done properly.
Each of them had their weapons primed as both Rainbow and Rarity formed the rear guard with their flintlocks. Applejack walked in front with her sword drawn and ready as Fluttershy once again stood in the middle of everything. Whether or not she was actually happy about the matter was something that remained to be seen.
They travelled for what seemed to be half of the forest as shimmers of shadows were seen in the still setting sun. It was something that troubled the lot of them, within minutes they would be out of daylight. Haste was of the essence but they just couldn’t make it.
The voice continued to taunt them to follow it, which they heeded pretty much down to the very letter of everything. They answered the call. The call of coming closer, and closer, and closer until they arrived just there.
They finally were on the location that they needed to be. The one place where the sounds from the winds seemed to be originated from. The one place where they possibly could be finding Twilight Sparkle. At least that was the hope for them.
For before them it stood, still mighty after all the years of beating it took. An ancient looking castle which was covered in moss and battered down by the weather of centuries. Towers half standing and sides riddled with holes. It was actually a drastic sight, especially when they all imagined how it would have looked in its prime days.
“So, she’s in there?” Rainbow asked with a curious gaze being irradiated from her eyes. Nopony could truly be answering that question but the odds seemed to have been heavily against them. Rarity was the only one who gave some sort of a response. Which only was just a nod that went accompanied with a massive exhale.
Fluttershy gulped a little bit, she still heard the serpents tone within her ears. Calling her in to come closer whether she wanted it or not. It almost seemed to have drove her crazy as her head was being shook from left to right. “No, no, no, get, get out of my head!” she whispered before she pulled her ears down with her hands. The tears were almost flowing out of her eyes again as she was truly terrified.
Applejack then turned the mare quickly towards her and forced her to look deeply in her eyes. “Listen, listen!” she said in a raised voice after having forcefully removed Fluttershy’s hands from her ears. “We have to go inside if we want to find Twilight, the voices are carried inside of the wind, inside is no wind. We are actually the safest, inside of that infernal place.”
Without any more sympathy shown to the pegasus, she let her go and took the first step. “Let’s go.” All that the others could be doing was to follow the admiral suit. Whether they liked it or not.
~~~~
In the time that their little adventure happened, had Twilight reached the castle and she was wandering through it. Signs of the conflicting book being true were seen yet they couldn’t be investigated. Even though Twilight wanted to do it just so much, she couldn’t bring herself. Something had called her to the dreaded location and she wanted to know exactly who it was.
For the voice in the wind was one she seemed to have remembered. Days long gone by, it was impossible, right? It was impossible to hear voices echoing from the past into the present. The world of Equestria was truly a magical place, so who could have proved the other being true?
Too many questions were rolling through the head of the unicorn. She walked through the hallway. A hallway with only two possible ways to leave it. Either at the end of it, or through the one doorway in the middle of it. The unicorn didn’t mind it too much about the one in the wall. For she wanted to reach the opposing doorway.
Not even a glance was given off to the content what could be seen inside of the room, Twilight just deemed it all too tempting in the moment. She didn’t needed any more distractions than there already were for her. The hurricanes of thoughts in her mind were already bad enough as they were, the last thing she needed was a secondary whirlwind inside of her skull.
Though if the unicorn had actually looked inside of the chamber, perhaps the biggest mystery of their age would have been solved. Inside that very room stood an altar. An altar with five arms which each were holding up an orb. Those very arms seemed to have been able to circle around the center piece which on top of it which carried another orb.
Time had made sure the place was unrecognizable yet the hints of the past were everywhere. The alter hidden in the cobwebs was perhaps the biggest discovery that could have ever been made in anthrony history. Not to mention the broken stained glass windows on the opposing sides of the room. Shattered and busted out as if they were nothing.
Yet the images still laid on the stone floor. Burned within the very stone from years of intense light being forced down them. The sun, the moon and two alicorns that stood proudly below it. Two alicorns, with four legs and the body of a pony.
The more Twilight wandered through the castle, the more nervous she actually became. Where did she had to go once inside? Topside, downside? Obviously ground level didn’t hold the answers that she needed. And once again she stood at an impasse that was dictated by something rather simply. A staircase. One staircase was actually enough to throw her off balance more than anything.
On that same staircase she could actually have walked either up to one of the towers, or down into the basement and possible torture pits of the castle. Whose castle it was, why it was built in that place were unknown. Twilight could only speculate about the very purpose of the place. “Perhaps a temple, built for her?” she mumbled to herself. One of her hands touched the cold stone. The stone was from the of the pillar that ran through the center of the spiraling staircase.
Her eyes closed themselves while her horn wanted to charge up. Yet the charge was never completed. A haunting, organ-like tone suddenly pierced through her ears. It was something that of course scared the living daylight out of her, but also began to make her wonder where it came from.
Once she had recovered from the scare and made her heart pump normal again and discovered that the tunes were actually part of a song. A song that didn’t seem sad or dark, just haunting through the nightmares everypony had. “Impossible that it is you. It can’t be you!” Twilight exclaimed in response. She thought of perhaps the one being she had met in her life that could play the massive instrument that well.
No time was wasted as the unicorn soothsayer rushed herself down the stairs. The music came from that direction. That much was something she had figured out easily. Though the fact that she didn’t know was the one that a blast from the past was about to turn its ugly head towards her.
Staircase after staircase was ran down by the unicorn until she finally reached the most bottom floor of the castle. Nothing but darkness surrounded her as not even a single torch was lit. Her eyes weren’t fully adjusted to the lack of light but the sounds definitely came from that very floor. The race was on to confirm the thoughts that she had going within her.
Her horn lit itself up as careful steps forward had been taken. Caution was the thing that was executed more and more by the mare. For if it really was the being she had in her mind, danger was going through the roof. Step after step it became louder, closer and more haunting.
The tunes of the organ that were being sent through the castle had one place of origin, an open doorway at the end of the hall. Twilight’s hooves went as slow and silent as they possibly could. The closer she came to the doorway, the fainter her aura became. Within the mysterious room did the torches burn and light was being created within it. If the being was still oblivious to Twilight’s presence, that could have worked in her advantage.
Step by step she inched closer. Closer towards that open doorway in the hope not to see what she had pictured already a thousand times behind the organ. The soothsayer was so close to finding out the truth, that strains of sweat were going across her forehead. Fear began to fuel her, courage managed to be just dropped down like that. Danger lurked behind the very doorway.
The violet rimmed eyes of the mare tried to peek through the doorway. She was hoping to see any kind of reflection of the being that was playing the organ. But the room was empty. Outside of the torches, organ and its mysterious player was there nothing to be seen. Not to mention the angle in Twilight stood made it impossible to see who it was.
She had to do the one thing she really didn’t wanted to do in order to figure things out. That very thing was to actually go into the room. Twilight had to go in and face perhaps a head-on confrontation with whoever sat there.
A quiet gulp was given off by the mare before she finally dared to make the last couple of steps. The last couple of steps which she may have actually made in her entire life. Or perhaps the last couple of steps before she figured out, somepony had been playing some kind of sick joke.
How much she prayed for the latter one to have been the truth.
On the chair before the organ it sat. Not having changed a bit since their last encounter. The red, yellow and orange beast. Twilight was exposed and unable to move a bit as the fears filled her entire body. It almost seemed as if she had seen a ghost. Which she actually had in perhaps more ways than one.
There was the closing tune of the organ. The tune was made by ten fingers pushing down ten keys at the same time. The door behind Twilight flung back in its lock. The dark, maroon red wings of the beast spread themselves while the tail swayed from side to side. Slowly it stood up and covered its body with its very wings. It took a couple steps sideways, away from the instrument.
The soothsayer wanted to charge up her magic and just zap the beast. But she quickly figured out that her own magic was rendered useless for some reason. Which caused more fear to rush through the unicorn while the beast had turned itself into her direction. With almost graceful steps and the clicking of heels it walked in front of the organ.
Its eyes closed and the wings covering the body it just stood there. Until the time for the massive revelation was there of course. For suddenly did the wings spread themselves once again open to reveal that one sight. That one sight Twilight never had hoped to see again. For before her stood the demoness she had fought once before in her life.
The wings, the tail, the color pattern, it all became obvious for the unicorn instantly. Yet the name was almost impossible to speak out. Yet she somehow managed to gather the strength she needed in order to do just that. “Sunset, Shimmer,” she managed to get over her lips. Her voice trembled with both fear and fright just by speaking that name.
“Exactly,” the demoness returned to her in a tone filled with anger and hatred. Yet her eyes irradiated nothing but insanity. “Everypony pays their dues, Sparkle.”
What happened next all went too quick for Twilight to realize and process. The last thing that she remembered was a devilish laughter taking place. A couple of zaps and then there was the pain going through her body. She didn’t know what exactly caused it but she did have a couple of thoughts about it.
What actually happened was that Sunset Shimmer kept teleporting herself in and out of existence to punch Twilight on various spots on her body. The last teleportation was made and the punch was given which resulted in Twilight falling down to the ground.
Sunset landed back down on her feet where she continued to laugh like a true maniac. The orbs of fire within her hands were almost ready to be cast and Twilight closed her eyes. The battle was one sided once again. Sunset was stronger than the unicorn would ever be able to have been. She feared that her life would have been ended in that very moment.
Yet something unusual then happened. She heard the wings taking off and before she knew it was Twilight pushed against the wall with the talons of Sunset firmly around her neck. Her hooves still touched the ground but only just. The demoness had the soothsayer exactly where she wanted her to be.
The eyes of the mare opened up in a slow manner. She could see the amounts of hatred within those of her enemy. Though that wasn’t the only thing she saw. Though the deeper she looked into those very same eyes. The more she noticed something else. That very something was nothing else but the past.
To be precise: their past. A past which she began to relive from memories of her own.