Equestrian Darkness: Friendship’s Requiem
Chapter 3: Cursed Cutie Marks
Twilight was shuffling randomly through the papers when she came across an envelope. She carefully withdrew the paper within, and to her surprise, the paper was covered in runes, not like the ones that were arranged in circles and patterns, this piece of paper had runes conveniently arranged in a list. With each rune, vague information was written next to it. The rune on the top of the list had a foreign word written next to it followed by what Twilight assumed was a definition.
“Santak. Target self.” She looked at the rune below that one. “Redgormor. Target area.” She quickly scanned the sheet with her eyes. She suspected that the runes were glyphic in nature and meant a specific word, kind of like the pictographs ponies use. Could these runes really be the key to unlocking the power of the Ancients?
Setting the list of runes aside, she snuffed out the candles and left the secret room.
“Spike, where are you?”
Spike suddenly appeared beside her. “Yes, Twilight.”
“I need you to send this to the Princess.” She telekinetically handed to Spike a roll of paper tied with a bow.
“What is it?”
“It’s a summation of my findings.”
Spike took the piece of paper and exhaled a burst of green flame. The parchment dissolved into smoke and floated away out the window.
“Spike, I need you to look after the library for me this morning. I have to leave to the City Hall. Hopefully I can find some more information on Dr. Lionheart. Will you be okay?”
“You can count on me.”
“I won’t be gone long.” With an appreciative smile, Twilight casually left the library.
Free of Twilight and with no chores to do, he withdrew a comic book off the shelves (Spider-Mare #386 to be exact) and casually read through its pages. Without any other soul in the library, it was silent to the point where even the flip of pages seemed amplified.
Interrupting the silence was a sudden crack that echoed throughout the library.
Fearing something had fallen over, Spike sprinted down the stairs into the main part of the library. As he skidded to a halt, he saw the front door torn from its hinges and the door discarded to the side. As Spike glared in disbelief and anger, he noticed a lone stallion tossing books off the shelves.
“Hey, what do you think you’re doing?” Spike stormed toward the pony, but he hesitated when he saw the pony’s eyes.
The stallion stared at Spike with large white eyes, causing Spike to retreat a few steps. The stallion’s large size and skull shaped helmet was intimidating enough, but the pony had this unearthly persona to him. Looking into those cold eyes was like staring into hell itself.
“Uh, w-what are you doing here?” Spike held his ground despite every instinct urging him to escape. “You can’t just break into the library like that.”
The stallion stood there in quiet contemplation, pausing for a few tense seconds before responding. “Pity.”
“Pity?”
“It’s a pity that ponies seem to have lost respect for the divine.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. Who are you?”
The pony let out a low growl. “I’m Abdullah, and you will respect me because when my master brings the Eternal Darkness, only the faithful will be spared damnation.”
“Eternal Darkness?” Despite his fear, Spike eyed Abdullah as if he was looking at a lunatic. “You’re crazy. There’s no such thing.”
“Then perhaps a sample of my master’s power will convince you.” Abdullah raised one hoof and slammed it down. With that simple act, three runes suddenly appeared on the floor around him. The runes glowed red with demonic energy as an incantation was spoken by a monstrously humanoid voice.
Antorbok...Redgormor...Chattur’gha.
Before Spike could react, a bolt of magical energy struck him at full force, knocking him onto his back. Spike writhed painfully on the floor, screaming as every nerve in his body came alive in agony. By the time the spell passed, Spike was covered in seared lacerations. Before he could get up, Abdullah pounced onto Spike, applying force onto the dragon’s chest, making it hard for him to breath.
“No, please stop.”
“Then tell me, where is it?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Abdullah slugged Spike in the abdomen with a kick of his hoof.
Spike clutched his bruised stomach in agony.
“Where is it? Where is the Essence of Mantarok?”
Spike was sobbing with pain and fright. “I’m telling you, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Abdulla let out a monstrous roar. “If you don’t talk, you will suffer.”
Meanwhile, far away from Ponyville, there was a veil, but not a physical one. This was a nightmare made manifest into an invisible cage. Although it could not be seen, if any pony were to walk into it, they would die from horrific visions. However, despite the unnatural influx of dreams and insanity, there was one living occupant trapped inside.
The celestial magic came down upon the veil in a glow of yellow light, and like a breeze clearing away the fog, it removed the veil.
As it dematerialized, a unicorn stallion appeared. He opened his eyes, brushing off the terrors he was exposed to like any ordinary dream.
His coat was a hauntingly beautiful sapphire color. His eyes were the deepest blue to match the rest of him. What stood him apart, aside from his Cutie Mark, was his odd mane. Rather than hair, his mane and tail was made of dancing blue smoke, not unlike Nightmare Moon.
The stallion suddenly shook with pleasure as his senses came alive again. Everywhere around him, he could feel the power of magic, the spiritual energy that powered all life. Every time a unicorn casted a spell, or a pegasus walked on clouds, or even an earth pony using her loving energies to tend to the earth, the magic of Equestria was everywhere, an open book to his senses.
Like a spotlight in the darkness, he felt something interesting. Someone was using the magic of the gods.
“Abdullah, are you that reckless?” With a flash of blue light from his horn, he teleported away.
Spike was shaking with fright. He ran his sharp claws against Abdullah’s leg, but it was like trying to scratch solid stone.
“You dare defy me.”
Spike blew fire into Abdullah’s face, but the red stallion did not flinch, nor was his face harmed in any way.
“Please,” Spike was sobbing hysterically, “let me go.”
Abdullah did not relent. He kept one hoof against Spike’s chest, threatening to smash his ribcage like an egg.
“Resorting to violence again, Abdullah?”
Abdullah flinched in surprise, taking his hoof off of Spike, allowing the dragon to breath again. Abdullah stood his ground, his ears and eyes searching for the intruder. His senses made it impossible for any mere mortal to sneak up on him. However, there was one who could do it. “Tarik, where are you?”
“It seems that after 5,000 years, you haven’t forgotten me.” The voice seemed to echo along the walls without a definite origin.
“I know it’s you, Tarik. Show yourself, you coward.”
With a flash of light, Tarik materialized before Abdullah. The unicorn lay on one of the tables as if he was making himself comfortable in a guest home.
Abdullah turned to face Tarik, and as he did, Spike got a close look at his Cutie Mark. On Abdullah’s flank was a rune, a rune not unlike the ones Twilight had been studying. Curious, Spike dragged himself over, and noticed a different rune on Tarik’s flank.
“What are you doing here?” demanded Abdullah.
Tarik rolled off the table and back onto his hooves. “The same reason why you are here. Of course, I already know the Essence of Mantarok is not in this library.”
“Even if that were true, I won’t let you find it before me.” Abdullah charged toward Tarik at full gallop.
Tarik’s horn glowed as a blue force field appeared, repelling Abdullah upon crashing into it.
“You are nothing more than an uncivilized barbarian,” said Tarik, dispelling the force field. “Your strength is useless against the power of magic.” Tarik’s horn glowed a bright blue as he built up his energies. With his magic, he conjured five runes onto the floor around him. Each rune glowed a mystical blue as a soothingly evil voice from an unseen specter recited the incantation.
Antorbok...Pargon...Redgormor...
Abdullah charged toward Tarik, but Tarik easily teleported away. Even though Tarik left the circle of runes, the spell continued
Ulyaoth...Pargon.
Abdullah cried out in pain as a blue magical energy coursed through his body, burning his flesh. Despite his pain, Abdullah kicked wildly in the air, unable to sense Tarik’s presence. “Come back and fight me.”
“Oh, must it all end in violence,” said Tarik as he materialized in front of Abdullah.
Abdullah swung a hoof toward Tarik, but Tarik easily grabbed him telekinetically and tossed Abdullah across the room, smashing a bookcase to pieces.
Abdullah quickly pulled himself onto his hooves. “This isn’t over yet.” Abdullah blasted his way through the wall, shredding a pony-sized hole into it, and ran full force out of Ponyville.
With Abdullah gone, Tarik was left alone. He searched the library with his eyes, but Spike was nowhere in sight. He teleported away, off to find the Essence.
When Twilight returned home, she was surprised to see a group of ponies gathered outside her door, drawn by the commotion from earlier. She was even more surprised to see a gaping hole in her wall. She muscled her way through the crowd, entering through the broken door.
“SPIKE!” Twilight gasped in horror when she saw the inside of her library in shambles. “Spike, where are you?” She dug through ruined books and shatter furniture, desperate to find little assistant. As she looked through the room, she found shallow hoof imprints on the floor as if some gargantuan pony had been stomping his way inside. As she telekinetically moved a broken table, she saw a trail of red staining the floor. She followed the trail up the stairs, noticing faint dragon footprints. Quickening her pace, she climbed to the top of the stairs and into her bedroom. The blood led her down into blackness of the secret room.
“Spike, are you in here?” She waited in silence, hoping for some sign of life.
From within the darkness, a dim glow appeared as a lantern was lit by fiery breath.
Twilight could see Spike, holding the lantern aloft and dripping from his drying injuries.
“Spike, what happened?” Twilight grabbed a first aid kit from her saddlebags and began telekinetically wrapping up Spike’s injuries.
“There were these two stallions...they broke into the library and attacked me.”
“But what did they want?”
“There was this really big earth pony who kept asking about something called the Essence of Mantarok.”
By the time Twilight was done treating Spike’s injuries, he looked like a badly wrapped piñata.
“The Essence of Mantarok? What does that mean?”
“I don’t know. The really big pony said his name was Abdullah. Then there was this unicorn who showed up named Tarik. The two fought each other and I escaped.”
“Is there anything else you could tell me?”
“Well...I did see Abdullah use magic.”
“I thought you said Abdullah was an earth pony.”
“He was, but he somehow cast a spell using these glowing runes.”
“Runes?” Twilight telekinetically gave Spike the sheet of paper with the runes listed on it. “Did those runes look anything like this?”
Spike grabbed the paper, examining it in the dim lantern light. “Yes, actually. He created these three runes on the floor and cast a spell. Tarik used magic the same way.”
“But...that would mean...” Twilight’s mind began to race. She remembered what Princess Celestia told her about the runes and spell casting. Was it possible someone had that power? Once again, her skeptical mind tried to force a logical explanation into the situation, but the sight of Spike covered in cuts and hearing his explanation was starting to wear on Twilight’s skepticism.
Spike gawked at the paper, his mouth agape with shock. “Twilight, look at this.” He pointed his finger at a rune near the bottom of the paper. “Abdullah, his Cutie Mark looked exactly like this rune.”
Twilight examined the paper. Like all the runes, the one Spike pointed at also had a foreign word and a definition. As she tried to read it, she felt a chill run down her spine as if she was invoking a terrible evil. “Chattur’gha. The embodiment of strength. Spike, are you sure Abdullah had this rune for a Cutie Mark?”
“Positive, and Tarik...his Cutie Mark looked like this rune.” Spike pointed to the rune below Chattur’gha.
“Ulyaoth. The embodiment of magic.”
“What could it mean?”
“I don’t know.” Twilight leaned over and read the third rune under Ulyaoth. “Xel’lotath. The embodiment of the mind.” She looked at the final rune and gasped. “Spike, what did you say Abdullah was after?”
“He said he wanted the Essence of Mantarok. Why do you ask?”
Twilight used her horn to point at the rune at the bottom of the page. “Mantarok. The embodiment of death. I think these four are the names of the gods the Princess was telling me about.”
“But why would Abdullah and Tarik have these symbols for Cutie Marks?”
Twilight’s skeptical mind again tried to reach for a comforting and familiar explanation, but the reality of the situation reduced it to a mere whisper. “I don’t know, but I suspect the Princesses are in danger. Come on.” She telekinetically lifted Spike onto her back and carried him to her writing desk.
With all due haste, she got Spike to write a message to Princess Celestia and he sent it away.
As the letter flew off in the form of a flaming mist, Twilight caught sight of a rainbow speeding across the sky. She and Spike stepped away from the open window as they watched the rainbow make a hard turn. As they expected, Rainbow Dash came to an abrupt landing through their window.
“Hey Twilight, why is there a huge hole in your library?”
“Thank Celestia you’re here. I need you to take Spike to the hospital.”
When Rainbow caught sight of Spike, she flew up to him, examining his injuries. “What happened?”
“Spike was attacked by an intruder. I need you to take him to the hospital right away. He’ll explain what’s going on. Once you’ve done that, I need you to find Pinkie Pie and Rarity and tell them what happened. I’ll find Fluttershy and Applejack.”
“Got it.”
Rainbow scooped up Spike with one hoof and tossed him onto her back.
“Ow, careful,” whined Spike. Despite the pain, he grabbed onto Rainbow’s side for dear life as Rainbow sped off toward the hospital in a flash of rainbow light.
With Spike in safe hands, Twilight began to concentrate, focusing her energies toward Sweet Apple Acres. In a flash, she teleported.
When she opened her eyes, she did not see the Apple Family home like she was suppose to. Instead, she was in the woods miles out of Ponyville.
“Wait, this doesn’t look like Sweet Apple Acres,” said Twilight as she examined her surroundings. As she tried to get her bearings, she heard an unearthly voice chanting behind her.
Bankorok...Pargon...Aretak...Ulyaoth...Pargon.
Twilight felt her muscles tauten, leaving her as stiff as a statue. She tried to teleport away, but the spell that held her disabled her magic.
Like a phantom, Tarik materialized before her. “Such incredible power for a mortal. I think my master will enjoy consuming your energy.”