Titanium had carried the weakened stallion without as much as a grunt through the entire trek across the swamp. Tron, in his odd, outgoing fashion, had made the stallion comfortable enough to divulge his name (Wet Patch), his job (red swampfern agriculture), and even his favorite food (roasted daisies). So he was reasonably comfortable when they stumbled into Bluegrass Town as dusk began to set in.
Bluegrass Town was a little bit bigger than Gator Bog Village, and substantially clearer. Clear enough to see greenish ponies shambling about with flowers upon their heads. While some were wandering aimlessly through the town without a clear purpose, the majority were coalesced at the center of the town, seemingly trying to get in the run-down building. The entire town was eerily silent, with only a sparse moan here and there. Team Barcrawl, for the first time, w stunned into silence. Stealthily, they tip-hoofed back into the dense underbrush.
“Okay, we need a plan.” Hawk Eye stated. “I’m thinking we get a distraction and lure the majority of the ‘zomponies’ towards the bait. Then we’ll flank them from the sides and burn off the flowers. Thoughts?”
“Whoever the bait will be will have to be able to defend themselves, or else we’d just funnel the zomponies towards them.” Lake Lily noted, tapping a hoof on her muzzle.
“Can we use lightning?” Thunder Strike asked. Hawk and Lake simultaneously shook their heads.
“Most of them are earth ponies; we might actually hurt the hosts too much, since they don’t have any pegasus or gryphon magic.” Hawk said. “And even if you do manage to hit the few batponies and pegasi in the crowd, the lighnting will spread to those nearby.”
“But just in case they do fly, zap them.” Lake added. “But I doubt it will be necessary. The townsfolk that seem capable of flying don’t seem to be doing so. Maybe they’re not coordinated enough?”
“Then why have the pegasi been infected? They could have just flown up and rested on the clouds.” Thunder snorted.
“Dimwit!” Midnight Azalea interjected. “We’re in the Hayseed swamps! Cloudsdale doesn’t send clouds here because we’re surrounded by chaotic magic. The clouds would either lose their magic or go rogue.” Thunder scowled and opened his mouth to argue, but was interrupted.
“Simmer down, both of you!” Hawk Eye barked. “Midnight, you may be right, but that’s no reason for insults. Thunder, don’t be a condescending pellet.” Hawk Eye took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of his beak. “Obviously, Red will be one of those flanking while Thunder and I watch from above. Strong Recovery, do you know any good fire spells?” The unicorn shook his head.
“Nothing large scale. Only a cauterizing spell.”
“I may have a flammable venom on me.” Midnight said. “I’m reasonably sure wyrm poison is flammable, and if I time it right with Strong, we can get rid of a lot of those flowers.”
“Good.” The gryphon scratched his chin. “Now all we need is a good distraction.”
All eyes turned to Tron, who had been eating a gyro he had somehow procured.
“Mwaht?” Tron swallowed the last of his meal. “You want me to be the distraction?”
“Mmmh hmmm.” Hawk Eye affirmed.
“Hmmm hmmm.” Tron repeated. He blinked at looked directly at each of them in turn. “HMMM HMMM!?”
“Tron,” Hawk raised a claw to stop his impending rant, “I know you’re upset. But you have to admit, you’re the most distracting one here, and you know enough spells to defend yourself.”
There was a chorus of nods and agreements from the rest of the team. Even Titanium gave an affirmative ‘yes’ in his rumbling tone. But Tron turned his muzzle up and crossed his forelegs.
“I don’t wanna.”
“You owe me for the bar incident with Shining Armor.”
Tron groaned, but sat up and began combing his mane, shooting angry glares at Hawk Eye.
“What are you doing, Tron?” The lieutenant asked in deadpan.
“Just because I’m doomed doesn’t mean I can’t be beautiful.”
Hawk Eye just shook his head and prepared himself for the attack.
<><><>
It was just another night in the zompony-infested town. The moon was high in the sky. The crickets were chirping. Green ponies shambled about, led by the flowers planted atop their heads. A dozen ponies were muffling their sobs from inside their homes as the infected banged on their doors.
And then the savior came.
A gray unicorn with a neatly combed black mane and chinstrap beard trotted out of the trees and made himself known to the monsters that had taken over the town.
“OI! GREENIE MEENIE WEENIES!” He bellowed eloquently. All of the zomponies stopped in their tracks. In unison, the sunflowers atop their heads turned towards the unicorn. The stallion turned around and slapped his flank a few times, letting the force ripple across his body. “COME GET SOME!”
The zomponies began blundering towards him, slowly gaining speed at the prospect of n easy target. As they were about to reach him, there was a purple blur in the sky and a foul liquid began to drizzle from the sky. Two more unicorns jumped out from the sides of the horde, and something flew from their horns. The first unicorn prepared his own spell, and the world was consumed by fire. A raging inferno blazed over the heads of the ponies, incinerating manes and flowers alike. In one fell swoop, team Barcrawl had ended the Bluegrass Town infestation.
“Report!” Hawk Eye yelled as he landed.
“Most, if not all, of the civilians are unconscious,” Strong Recovery said as he waded through the mass of unconscious bodies, “a few have burns, and all are showing the same signs of exhaustion that Wet Patch had.”
“Sir, it’d be best if Thunder and I searched for stragglers.” Red saluted.
“Good idea, Red.” Hawk nodded. “We’ll do a buddy system to be safe. Titanium and Strong can escort the injured to a building so they can protect them and tend to their wounds. Midnight and I will be the eyes in the sky, and Lake and Tron will try to coax the non-infected out of their homes.”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Lake Lily asked, violet eyes flashing towards the unicorn, who was doing an odd victory dance in the prodigious pony pile. The gryphon nodded.
“They’ll be so confused, they’d forget suspicion completely.”
It was surprisingly easy to get the ponies out of their homes to help the injured. While the majority of their troubles were over, there was still an air of fear that saturated the swamp town. Ponies milled about, blank eyes, filling their necessary duties. There was no laughter, no heartsongs of hard work and unity. Just an oppressive atmosphere, hushed speech and murmers the only sound in the night. They all knew the perpetrator was still out there, lurking in the shadows.
He could strike at any moment with an army of zomponies.
But the night dragged on, and despite the watchful eye of the eight of the guard there, they could find no sign of the blue unicorn.
Until midnight.
Everypony was in their homes for the night, doors barred far more than they used to be, when three silhouettes snuck into the village. Had it not been for Midnight Azalea’s vision, they would have completed whatever nefarious plot.
The fact the unicorn was screaming in anger did not help him either.
It took less than a minute for the team to wake up and surround the stallion, the unicorns providing light and those that were capable of flight covered him from the top. It was as Wet Patch had said: a blue unicorn stallion with a black mane and demented red eyes. But he neglected to mention the strange creatures at his sides. They seemed to be canine in form, but with a rather boxy head compared to most dogs. But rather than being made of living flesh and bones, or even wood and leaves like the Timberwolves, they seemed to be comprised mostly of white bones that had been broken into shrapnel and shaped to make a body, with a few bits of rotting flesh sticking in between each of the fragments. Their eyes glowed with a dreadful red light, and putrid drool constantly dribbled from their maws.
“Where is my Legion?!” The unicorn hollered. “I sent one here to convert this village, yet none comes to my call! What is the meaning of this?!”
“By Her Royal Majesty’s decree, you are under arrest ̶ ” Red began before he was interrupted.
“That imposter?” The unicorn growled. “I will reclaim my rightful place on the throne after generations of the lies that usurper has fed the world. My Legion will crush the Guard, and all will bow! She holds no power over me!” A blue aura surrounded the crazed stallion and lifted him in the air. Immediately, he began screeching incoherently, moving his legs uselessly in the air. The two canines just stared up to him.
“Good job, Tron.” Red nodded to the gray stallion as Hawk Eye stared into the madcolt’s eyes. “I do believe we’ve caught Lucid.”
“I don’t think so.” Hawk Eye shook his head. “I’ve read the reports on Lucid that Luna wrote. This one may be mentally unstable, like Lucid, but that may be the only similarity. Lucid was well-mannered enough until Luna began asking questions. And when he struck her, it wasn’t with magic, but with words aimed directly at Luna, preying on her own doubts and insecurities. This one just doesn’t seem that intelligent.”
“WHAT?!” The suspended unicorn roared.
“Additionally,” Hawk Eye continued unabashedly, “Lucid didn’t seem the type to use an army. It just doesn’t conform to what we know of its moral standpoint of Harmony. One thing that gets me is that Lucid seemed to care for species other than ponies. So either it isn’t a pony, or has had relations with a non-pony. This guy ̶ ” He waved a claw towards the pouting pony, “ ̶ doesn’t seem to be like that.”
“I suppose it’s a good thing Luna found Lucid.” Lake Lily mused. “Or else this madcolt could have caused a bit of trouble.”
“ENOUGH!” The unicorn bellowed. “The mighty Rising Dark will not be treated as such!” He clenched his eyes shut and his horn glowed a bright red before he disappeared in a flash.
“I did not factor in the warp ability!” Tron exclaimed as Rising reappeared at the edge of the town.
“Rottwilders!” The nefarious unicorn yelled. “Tear them apart!” Rising Dark ran into the swamp as a dozen more bone canines rushed out of the trees, snarling.
The dogs, apparently called rottwilders, charged towards the team and they were forced to separate to escape from the two dogs they had surrounded along with the twelve other dogs converging on them. Titanium picked up Strong Recovery and threw him on his back before gaining distance on the rotting creatures. Red backpedaled at a ridiculous speed while letting loose jets of flame that rolled over the monsters without affecting them. Lake Lily, Hawk Eye, and Tron stood their ground while Midnight and Thunder took to the skies. Lake Lily stood on her back legs, caught a lunging rottwilder, and redirected it so it spent all of its force burying its head into the ground. Hawk waited until the right moment before unsheathing his sword and slicing clean through the neck of a rottwilder, then jabbing another directly in the eye, before punching his free claw through the other eye and tearing apart its head from the inside. Hawk Eye flinched, feeling bits of rotten flesh and sharp bone touching his claws before wiping his claw on his satchel. Tron was having the time of his life, having grabbed a vine and used it as a muzzle before hopping on the back of a dog and using it as a steed as he sent magical blasts into the crowd of rottwilders.
Thunder dive bombed the creatures with his hoof-claws left and right, slicing to and fro, whereas Midnight swooped in and used her knife to quickly slice joints and sometimes necks, weakening them enough for another member of the team to pick them off. Everything changed when Titanium had gained enough distance.
“Buff me.” He told the unicorn riding his back.
“Well…” Strong smiled sheepishly. “If you insist.” Strong cast a spell that would reduce the amount of damage the earth pony would take for a time. “Now if you could let me off before you do what you’re about to ̶ aaaaand we’re running.”
Titanium began at a trot, then a gallop, then a full on charge towards the largest concentration of rottwilders, all while Strong Recovery held on for dear life. With a force of a runaway train, the monstrous earth pony barreled through five rottwilders before slowing down. Even slowed, he managed to deliver punches that passed clean through the creatures, leaving prize-cantaloupe sized holes in them. When the dust settled, there were only bits of bone and decaying flesh left.
“Well, this went south.” Thunder noted.
“We underestimated him. It won’t happen again.” Hawk Eye clenched a claw. “We’ll track him to his base and free those he’s taken. I’m thinking that Team A, led by myself, should go after him directly, while team B splits into two groups and takes care of the zomponies and the rottwilders.”
“With all due respect sir, you’re still underestimating him.” Red said. The team turned to look at him. “I’ve noticed a few key things about those creatures. For one, they are relatively immune to fire. But mostly, they are only a small part unicorn magic.” Hawk eye cocked a brow, but waved a claw for him to continue. Red whipped back his immaculate crimson mane before continuing. “I believe that their creation was aided by Rising Dark, but did not originate from him. It is likely he’s harnessing the chaotic energies of Hayseed Swamp and maybe even the nearby Badlands to create them. Which means that not only does he have an immobile base of operations with a runic array matrix, but he has the means of creating more than just rottwilders and flowers. Furthermore, the proximity to the array would allow the rottwilders to act more like timberwolves: they would be able to regenerate due to the nearby complimentary magic.”
“That’s a valid point.” Hawk Eye nodded. “But we don’t know for sure. In case you’re right, we’ll revert to plan B, which would be Team A taking care of whatever he summons, while Tron and Lily disable Rising to destroy the rottwilders and Thunder goes with Red to get the flowers off the heads of the victims.” He stared into the eyes of each member of the team. Lake Lily and Red had looks of steely dedication, Thunder seemed raring to go, Strong Recovery had his head held high, but the slight flicking of his ears betrayed his nervousness. Titanium was, at first glance, as dispassionate as always, but the fire in his onyx eyes told another story. Tron was hopping about on his back legs, throwing punches at an imaginary opponent with a giddy smile on his face.
“Let’s do this.” Hawk Eye grinned.
<><><>
Oftentimes in tales of old, when the villain escapes, the heroes have to go on a long journey, one full of danger, intrigue, betrayal, and maybe even a few romantic elements to tie together the character development. They would probably have to find some ancient relic (or six) that would allow them to defeat the evil lord, but only after they went on another long journey to either find the hiding antagonist or to smuggle themselves into the dark lair. However, those few tales that were not notoriously over exaggerated were simply blatantly false. Evil villains rarely found themselves in a stable position for long in Equestria, and the few that cropped up in the magical land were often revealed, captured, and counseled within the month. Not necessarily in that order. The scarce few that did not follow this pattern were mostly irredeemable, and sent to Tartarus, along with all the other captured evils of the Known world, under the watchful eyes of Bi’an of the Nine.
Suffice to say that Rising Dark may have been a very low-tier villain. It took less than an hour for Lake Lily and Hawk Eye to track him back to a sunken ruin deep in the swamp. All that was left was a two crooked stone towers peeking out of the bog, a mere shadow of what might have once been a mighty castle. What was once a window had been widened, revealing a staircase that spiraled into the darkness. Even from where they stood, the team could smell decay with a hint of raspberry emanating from the deep. Written of the wall of the tower in a murky brown, partially obscured by growing moss, was a single word.
“Der?” Tron broke the silence. “That’s not scary.” Hawk inched forwards and wiped the moss off with a claw, revealing the rest of the word.
MURDER.
“Ooooh!"Tron jumped back, covering his mouth. "There it is!” Hawk Eye stepped in front of the entrance, facing his team.
“A few of you may be thinking we’re in way over our head.” The gryphon closed his eyes and shook his head. “We’re not. We are the best of the best.” His golden eyes flashed and he pointed to each of the members in turn. “We are all different, from all walks of life, but here we stand. Together, on the precipice of darkness.” Hawk turned and pointed down the stairs. “We know who waits for us down there. We know what he has done. And we know what he intends to do. We are all that stands between what is right ̶ ” Hawk waved a claw in the direction of Bluegrass town. “ ̶ and what is wrong.” Hawk Eye turned to face the darkness. “We may be different. But we all stand for the same thing. We all wake up in the morning for the same purpose. We all train, we all sweat, we all breathe, and we all bleed so that the citizens of Equestria see the morning, laugh, talk, fall in love, and even make pluckin’ fantastic sandwiches without a smidgeon of fear in their hearts. And so I ask,” Hawk Eye turned his head sideways to look at them, his eyes filled with a blazing fire that made what they had done earlier look like a mere candle. “Will you come put a light in the dark with me?”
The gryphon walked down the stairs. And the soldiers followed.
The stairs seemed to go on forever. It was only by the light of the unicorns present did the team, namely Tron, did not tumble down the stairs in an avalanche of mismatched limbs. The tower seemed to stretch on forever, until a red light was seen, reflected off the walls. The unicorns cut the glow off of their horns and the team slunk around the corner. The room they found almost took away their breath. It rivalled the Canterlot castle’s throne room in size, even in its derelict state. The main room was as long as a hoofball field and nearly twice as wide, and overhanging at the end was a large balcony where a broken throne lay on its side, battered by time. The ceiling was arrayed with cracks that constantly dripped foul swamp water. The entire room was lit up by flickering torches set up on the walls.
But it was moved in the room that nearly made Strong Recovery squawk, were it not for Midnight, Lily, and Red’s hooves. Despite all of the movement of the zomponies in the room, or the malicious circle of glowing runes right below the balcony, one could still hear Rising Dark whispering on his balcony holding a black book telekinetically, surrounded by a pack of rottwilders. The red glow on his horn flowed to the dogs and to the runes, and some of the glow flowed from the runes to the dogs. To those that had studied powerful magic, they would have recognized a runic array doubling as a summoning circle and a magical construct essence generator. Unstable, but very effective. If Rising Dark had been smarter, or even a bit stealthier, legends of team barcrawl would have been passed on and exaggerated in tales of their own right, except without any mention of military training, Hawk Eye’s and Tron’s positions would be reversed, and Lake Lily would slowly warm up to the protagonist and fall in love with him. Luckily for Hawk Eye, Lake Lily, and Tron’s dignity, Rising was a C-grade villain with extraordinary assets, not worth writing a ballad for an hour-long journey.
Hawk Eye looked about the place and used the designated Guard sign language to communicate with swings of his head and waves of his legs.
‘Plan B. Tron Lake take target. Team A take potential monster. Thunder Red distract hostages far away. Guerilla tactics. Careful. Go in thirty. Others hide there.' Hawk pointed to a collapsed pillar only a few meters away.
“Used, uoy nommus I nahc-ergo. Akab! htarw-ibihc ruoy esaeler dna su otnu emoc esaelp, iapnes-iiawak emosdnah, ho.” Rising’s incantation grew louder.
‘Fifteen’ Hawk Eye signed. The team, save Thunder and Red, snuck behind the collapsed column, hiding them from view of the zomponies and the chosen distractions. Midnight prepared a vial and her knife, Hawk unsheathed his blade, and Lake tightened the straps of her steel horseshoes.
“Ecneserp ruoy rof sksa nuk-oobaeew ythgim eht, I!”
‘Go go go.’ Thunder leapt out from the stairway and began shouting.
“Hey, chompers!” He waved. The sunflowers pivoted on the heads of their hosts while Rising continued chanting. “Over here!”
“Yes,” Red daintily stepped out behind cover. “You will find no better hosts than us.” The zomponies began jogging towards them. “I suppose it is normal they’d be faster here.” Red noted as he began to run up the steps.
“You couldn’t have told us earlier?!” Thunder glared and threw up his forelegs before following him up to the surface, followed by the entire horde of zomponies. Rising Dark did nothing but continue chanting.
“Now!” Commanded the lieutenant. Tron and Lake began racing towards the stairs leading up the balcony while Midnight, Hawk, Strong, and Titanium charged to the rune circle.
“Iogus-esaelp!”
A loud rumbling was heard as the runes turned a bright red. The team stumbled to a stop to look upon the form that was appearing. It began as a mere shadow. But it began to take shape. Huge arms, stunted legs. A tiny head with eyes filled with hatred. It lacked a bottom jaw and a nose, so yellow spittle flowed down its neck with each breath it took. It rippled with muscles underneath its hairless pale skin. It was shaped like a disproportionate gorilla that had paid too much at the barber shop. But a gorilla that had actually gone to a fantastic tailor. It wore a top hat and monocle, perfectly adorning its molted face, and a beautiful form-fitting suit and tie. Its arm buttons shined as if they were shined specially for the summoning. All in all, the monster was supremely well-dressed for a fight.
Rising Dark shook himself and gave a discordian smile.
“Destroy them!” He ordered, and the creature complied. He turned around to see several piles of what was left of the rottwilders, evidence of Tron and Lily’s actions while the mad unicorn was distracted. “Pull yourselves together and get rid of them!” Rising screeched.
In response, the bone piles reconstructed themselves almost immediately, surrounding the two ponies with snarling rottwilders. Meanwhile, Hawk and Midnight were flying around the monster, slicing where they could while avoiding its wide swipes. It was already limping from the poison the batpony had injected into its leg. Whenever it stood up on its small back legs to try and swat them both, Titanium would rush in and deliver a buck to a knee so it would tumble to the ground. Strong Recovery ran about healing and shielding them when he could, protecting them from glancing blows and even managing to slow down the behemoth a few times. Lake and Tron fought back to back, surrounded by the bone dogs as Rising laughed maniacally.
“Let's do this, Lake, we’ve got th ̶ oof!” Tron was sent flying down the balcony, directly into the hand of the monster, which turned to stare quizzically at the unicorn that had landed in its open palm. “Erm…hello?” The corners of the titan’s mouth turned up in a smile, revealing its sharp teeth. Tron laughed nervously…and was thrown at full speed towards a wall.
“Holy salamander cuttlefish!”
Tron reacted instantly, spawning a blue shield around himself as he broke through the age-weakened wall, and he landed, bounced, and screeched to a halt in what seemed to be a pile of twigs and feathers. The unicorn rose his head up to see a faint blue light leading upwards of the tunnel. An open cave. He blinked a few times to see he wasn’t alone. Tall birds walked about, staring directly at him. Tron stared back towards the dozens of corvi. And they began to steadily walk towards him.
“Come on Tron, think, think, think!” The stallion put his hooves in his hair. “I’ve got it!” He pointed towards a random corvus, which paused and cocked its head. A bright blue flash from his horn, and the corvus was turned into a pig.
“Ham. The harbinger of gout.”
<><><>
Lake Lily was in trouble. After Tron was sent flying through the wall, she couldn’t protect her six as well, and she was eventually grabbed by the leg and thrown over the balcony. She managed to grab onto the ledge as her uninjured back legs tried to scrabble up, knocking dust and rocks onto the glowing circle below. Worst of all, Rising Dark was standing over her…monologuing.
“Do you see the futility of your actions? What loyalty to your false queen has brought you? It is my right, my privilege to rule over Equestria! I am the direct descendent of Princess Platinum’s second born, not her sickly firstborn that had bowed the head to the abominations! Silverblood was never supposed to come to age. I was supposed to rule, I was supposed to lead the ponies under the wisdom of the unicorns!” Lake Lily continued to glare as she sent more stones down trying to climb back up. The rottwilders began to growl, standing closer together. “Look upon your friends. Useless. The ogre is as powerful as he is well-dressed. You will fail.”
Lake Lily resisted the urge to roll her eyes. The others were doing quite well. Any injuries they may have gotten were swiftly healed, and all of the most dangerous blows were either avoided or shielded. In fact, the monster’s left arm was stiff at the joint, evidence of Midnight Azalea’s agility. Lake continued scratching the bottom of the balcony with her uninjured rear hoof, keeping her eyes on the rottwilders as they acted more sporadically, and her ears turned to the blue unicorn as he ranted.
“And when Canterlot is in ashes ̶ what’s that sound?” Rising turned his head to the hole Tron had made, where a distinct squealing noise could be heard. And Tron burst forth from the darkness, riding a shrieking pig, followed by a flock of corvi. The pig ran in between the legs of the monster, which tried to swing a meaty fist at the poor animal, only to hit a younger corvus that had been running after it. Immediately, the corvi turned their black eyes to the behemoth and circled it.
“Looks like you’re out to lunch!” Cackled Tron as he trotted over to Hawk Eye.
“What?!” Yelped Rising Dark. “Impossible!”
“Not really.” Lake said, standing behind him. Below, the runic array had been interrupted by a small pile of rocks and dirt that Lake Lily had managed to scrape off of the balcony’s bottom. The rottwilders were in a frenzy, eyes changing all colors of the rainbow as they attacked one another, tearing what was kin to piles of discarded bones. And this time, they did not come back. She cocked a hoof and hit him right below the horn, knocking out the unicorn in a single strike of her iron-shod limb. She pulled him onto her back and watched as the flock of corvi took turns biting and clawing the monster before it finally succumbed to its wounds. She took the black book Rising had been carrying around and brought it to Hawk Eye.
A corvus had pinned down the terrified pig before a blue blast from the stairway turned the pig back into a corvus.
“Be free, my hamma.” Tron whispered as the two birds joined the feast that the dark unicorn had summoned. He walked up the stairs, following the others into the open night.
“We’ve captured what was most likely the magical disturbance, but it wasn’t Lucid.” Midnight stated as they walked back about, trying to find Red and Thunder. “What now?”
In response, Hawk Eye pulled a mithril ring out of his bag and put it on the unconscious unicorn’s horn. He held the black book in front of Tron, who understood the message and lit the evil book on fire.
“The book is probably his notes on dark magic.” Hawk noted. “The ring will create a magic negative feedback loop, nullifying his magic until it crumbles away, which depends on how much magic he pumps through his horn. So minimum, one week until he needs a new one. Right now, we find Red and Thunder Strike, and help them take care of the rest of the zomponies if there are any left.”
“Well, there aren’t.” A voice said from above. The team turned to see the brown pegasus with a satisfied grin on his face. “On the negative side, we owe a dragon a lot of gems.”
Red stumbled out of the trees.
“I apologize sir, it just seemed to be the quickest solution. We planned on ambushing them in a cave, but it was apparently occupied. I managed to convince the dragon to help us, and when he saw their state, he was all too eager to be rid of the flowers. Something along the lines of ‘odd dark magic that just don’t taste right’. We promised gems for his help, and we both swore a Guard’s Oath that he would get his gems within the month.”
“I’m sure the Royal sisters would be happy to reward a dragon that helped us.” Hawk Eye nodded. “It sets a good precedent. Where are the victims now?”
“We got the townsfolk to lend a hoof.” Thunder said.
“Perfect. Let’s go help. Then, we can celebrate.”
<><><>
It could hear the celebration from the depths of the sunken castle. No doubt the Barcrawl team had been accepted by the ponies of Hayseed swamp with open forelegs. But Traveler would not take the guise of a pony to celebrate with them. It has a duty. And this one is far more complicated than usual.
Traveler has encountered weapons from other universes before. Oftentimes they were used for their original purpose. But it was interesting to find civilizations that discovered how it worked and used it for reasons other than killing. It remembers a time a space program was started because a species found a type of gun. Very interesting spaceships.
Living weapons, however few, rarely found themselves outside their own universe. Even then, it was easy for the being to dispatch them; they were born to kill, and they reveled in it. But the creature before it now…it is not a living weapon. The book crawls across the floor using its bookmark tongue, leaving a red streak on the floor. This is not the book Rising Dark had written, the one that Hawk Eye had burned. This is the one Rising learned from. Within the living book lay dark secrets, knowledge that can be used as a weapon. But also knowledge on magic, knowledge on life and death, knowledge that could potentially help millions on the world.
So lay the dilemma: hide the book and allow it to fall into another set of hooves after the Convergence to do as the owner would like, good or evil. Or destroy it now and prevent any chance of splitting into another nearby universe.
“*There you are!*” An odd voice says. “*I’ve been looking all over for you! With the multiverse as it is here, I’m lucky I didn’t lose anything else in the Between.*”
A purple squid with five blue eyes wearing a mismatched outfit scuttled over to the book and picks it up before slapping its tentacles together in happiness. Traveler decides to determine to odd deity’s intentions.
“*Excuse me. Is that your book?*” The entity asks, making itself visible to the cephalopod. “*If so, please remove it from this realm. It may cause a split. As you are aware, a split right now would be troublesome to say the least.*”
The god turned around and its eyes widened.
“*It’s you.*”
The entity rears back. The squid recognizes it? Does that mean it grows careless in the future? Or was it before? Does it know?
“*I have taken the name of Traveler. May I ask who you are and how you recognize me?*”
The squid smiles and bows.
“*I am Reus, Cepha god of minstrels.*” It rises once more to look at Traveler. “*I do remember you. And I fear you for that. I’ve talked to others connected to the multiverse about the event, and only maddest among them realized.*”
Traveler flows around Reus, curious as to what the gods of the multiverse know of it. It already knows of Discord’s opinion, and he was the only thing ever to recognize it before.
“*They said that ‘reading’ the multiverse was like reading a never-ending story. But only the most astute among them would notice a letter missing. The problem is, none could ever guess what letter it was.*”
The entity freezes. They know.
“*I saw what happened to them. I don’t remember them, anything about them. But I know it happened. And others do too.*”
“*I tend to the branches of the multiverse.*” The entity pauses and forms in front of Reus. “*Sometimes that means pruning the more diseased branches if I’ve tried everything else.*”
“*I’m not angry at you.” Reus rose a few tentacles in the air as a sign of surrender. “*I know that sometimes, for the sake of others, awful things must be done. I just didn’t know it was possible…erasing an entire species from Existence.*”
“*The were predisposed to failure. Every time they were given enough time to evolve, they made things that would spell the premature end of their universe, and sometimes even those nearby. So I went in, manipulated events so they would never come about as the primary species, or even as a sapient one. They went extinct before they could form ideas. But sometimes, despite my best efforts, they survived until the verge of their final discovery. Destroying planets would not have been enough. I had to destroy the idea. It took a long time. But the were finally erased, no longer a danger to the multiverse. I hated it. But it was necessary.*”
Reus tires to pet Traveler in a comforting manner, but its tentacle passes right through the being’s essence.
“*Listen Traveler. I do fear you, but I also admire you. Not for your acts of destruction, but for what you’re willing to do to help species that are not even related to you. What you do is thankless, but necessary. I recognize that the reason some of us still exist is because of you.*”
“*Thank you.*”
“*A word of warning though. Other beings have an inkling of what you can do…so they’re doing risky things in the multiverse to get a feeling of danger they would not normally get.*”
“*I suppose there should be rush-addict gods as well. One question before you leave. What is that book?*”
Traveler points a tendril at the bleeding black book.
“*This? I got this from a necromancer some time ago. It’s a parody called the Necronom-nom-nomicon. A weaker version of the incantations, with a hilarious twist. Like disco liches, flowerhead zombies, all that stuff.*”
“*Interesting. Still dangerous, but interesting. You should probably get it out of here before another sapient figures out how to use it.*”
“*You don’t need to tell me twice.*” Reus waves a tentacle before opening a door it had summoned. “*Good job on keeping us stable in the cluster.*” Reus snorted. “*Get it, stable?*”
If Traveler had eyes, it would roll them. But it still feels nice hearing gratitude. After Reus is gone, Traveler brings a tendril to the streaks of red on the floor. It reflects different wavelengths over the liquid to determine its chemical composition. No iron, but magnesium?
Traveler vibrates mirthfully.
Raspberry juice.