//------------------------------// // Chapter 22 // Story: Friendship is Scaleless // by Limescale //------------------------------// “Shiny, seriously, I know you have an image to maintain. As my BBBFF, as the captain of the Royal Guard and now as the joint ruler of this place you can’t appear weak or easily hobbled.” Twilight sighed. “But when the doctors told you to take it easy and NOT put your legs through too much work they didn’t mean it as a challenge!” Stepping out of the carriage, Shining Armor very lightly set his cast encased limbs on the ground, easing a little bit of weight onto them, then a little bit more, testing how much they could support. “And as one who’s previously been brainwashed by Chrysalis, had my horn corrupted by Sombra, my body warped by Discord and my powers stolen by Tirek and used against me, I was making no idle boast when I said this was nothing by comparison.” The unicorn soothed as he leaned on his crutches and took a very ginger step forward. “Seriously, it’s a couple of fractures and a few skin grafts. I’ve risked worse happening on many of our…ahem…more energetic nights.” Twilight looked to Princess Cadence who was making a deliberate effort to stare at anything besides her companions, a feat made only more difficult when her husband leaned over to nuzzle her lovingly. “Many of your more energetic…whaaaat?” The lavender alicorn bleated. The Princess of Love turned as red as a rose. “Ask no questions, Twilight, otherwise I’ll be forced to tell you no lies.” She giggled while stepping out after Shining. “Eugh…right…just please be careful.” Twilight said while making a face. “I would agree you don’t need to again prove how manly you are though, Shiny. Those same nights you speak of have already convinced me.” Cadence added, making the lavender alicorn beside her look even more disturbed. “Fine, if I fall over you both have my permission to laugh and sing ‘I told you so.’” Shining Armor grinned while hobbling forward on his crutches. “Now come on, it’s been too long since I last got to enjoy a stroll through this place with the ones I love.” The troupe made their way through the pristine streets of the Crystal Empire, Spike, Celestia and Seath bringing up the rear as ponies waved and greeted their rulers’ return. They also made note to cheer Spike upon catching sight of him, making mention of his role in saving the empire and making it possible for all to live in peace. None of this escaped Seath’s notice as he silently surveyed this wholly alien and yet so eerily familiar domain. “Thine reputation precedes thee here, Spike. As with I, it seems the wonders made possible by crystal owe their existence in part to a dragon…” He mused. Spike rubbed his head awkwardly. “Well I don’t know about that. All I did was help Twilight liberate the Crystal Heart, then transport it to the palace when Sombra captured her. Didn’t seem like that great a feat….” The purple drake blushed as a camera flash caught him for somepony’s photo album. “Then again, it is kind of nice that my efforts were appreciated.” Seath rolled his eyes and returned to his studies. After reading through Twilight’s literature on the empire he had a fairly good idea of what to expect, yet as always, pictures and words on a page could never quite express the same majesty of something as seeing it in real life. The white drake wrung his hands around his catalyst as an endless number of clear, crystalline equines looked up to him and bowed respectfully. Even as one who had mastered the art of living crystal and created an army of beings such as the ones walking the streets around him, the drake still felt in awe at what had been made possible here. The ponies inhabiting this place were no mere mindless golems given life, they bore themselves as a sentient fusion of organic flesh and clean, flawless quartz; an evolution the white dragon had never even considered, let alone tried to create. Seath looked to the buildings, the guard towers, the palace that loomed up ahead. Everything reflected perfection back at him, a paradise that positively shamed his crude attempts with the crystal cave beneath his archives. The further the entourage walked, the more Seath found himself feeling paradoxically at home, yet also a trespasser in a land he had no right to exist in. “So, what do you think so far?” Seath jerked his head over to see Celestia staring at him expectantly. “You’ve gone awfully quiet. Has the majesty of the empire taken your breath away?” She asked. Seath pushed his glasses back up and snorted softly. “That and more. An essence radiates from every nook and corner of this place, a memory I hath not recalled for centuries….” He shook his head and concentrated on the sensation. Celestia stared in intrigue. “Could you possibly expand on that a bit more for me?” She asked. Seath looked to a crystal obelisk standing in the middle of a small square ahead. The entourage approached and he took a moment to stop and touch its smooth, immaculate surface. “This dominion did previously stand as one with the rest of thine kingdom. Now that it stands once again dost thou not feel as a stranger returning to a place that both is and is not their home? As if every wall, street and soul here were built for thee, yet thou still is without a right to claim it as their own?” Celestia furrowed her brow and pursed her lips. “Somewhat. I never really considered this place ‘home’ in the same way I see Canterlot as ‘home’. It’s a territory that was made for ponies to prosper in, just like the rest of Equestria.” She replied, while smiling in an oddly curious manner. “Are you saying that YOU feel that way?” Seath looked to the ponies around him, then back to the obelisk. Everything stirred the same feelings in him that Twilght’s castle originally had, only far stronger. “I am beset by a sense of…eternity. As back in mine own caverns, there is naught to tarnish the majesty here, nor a hopeless sense that time will eventually put end to all. It is as comforting as it is troubling. As if I am wrong to feel as one with here….” He commented, eyes closed in deep contemplation. Celestia’s smile grew brighter as she coaxed the dragon to follow her. “Good, then our visit is already yielding new clues.” *** “So rather than smithing via the normal means, you etch these titanite shards onto your armor and weapons to make them more powerful and durable?” A guard asked as he studied the smooth black ingot in his hoof. “Yes, for standard equipment at least. It’s a bit of a matching game since items with magical properties can only be improved with titanite imbued with the same attributes.” The Chosen Undead explained, gesturing to several piles of other ingots she’d brought with her, all of which were either colored differently, or twinkled with some otherworldly nature. “Huh, umm…while I don’t wish to offend in asking this…do you mind me making use of one of these smaller shards? Smithing is what I did for a living before joining the guards and I still like to tinker with various metals and ore on my days off.” The sentry asked. The human glanced to his flank, which had a cutie mark of an anvil and hammer. “Many of those I have met do attest that it’s good for soothing ones nerves.” She shrugged. “So long as it is indeed one of the smaller shards, you may. They are not easy to find but I do suppose one has to see their abilities to believe them.” Like a foal who’d just been handed an ice cream sundae, the sentry smiled in gratitude and trotted away clutching his new treasure closely to his chest. “If possible, could you try etching a bit of it onto one of those steel plates you keep in the palace shop, Armored Core? I’m keen to see if this blade’s sharpness is affected at all by materials from its own world.” Luna raised the Moonlight Greatsword in her magic and brought it down through a stack of metal bars. She promptly stumbled upon encountering almost no resistance, the glowing weapon instead cutting through the steel like it was butter. She promptly dropped the sword and caught her breath while the Chosen Undead watched in curiosity. “Well, at least you seem to be having better luck with that blade.” She replied. Luna sat back on her haunches and just stared in awe at the weapon. “As an alicorn I am more attuned to using magical artifacts. I wonder if perhaps it can sense that.” She hefted the sword again and cocked her head. “Incredible, despite its size it feels like it has almost no weight. And while honing light to an edge that can cut like this is nothing new to me, I’ve never heard of being able to do without the use of one’s horn.” The moon princess exclaimed. “Where did you say you found this again, Miss Aurelia?” The Chosen Undead looked uncertain of how to respond. “Inside Seath’s tail, literally nestled within the muscle and flesh. I was told it’s one of the many odd phenomenons around Lordran; that certain beings have a blade or some other weapon magically implanted in their bodies to bolster their combat prowress. After finding these other two weapons from cutting the tails off two other dragon like beasts I got into the habit of checking every creature for similar loot.” From her belongings the undead picked up a curved sword that resembled a bone spike, and another craggy greatsword that glowed as if it were made of molten rock. Luna’s curiosity grew as she resumed studying the Moonlight Greatsword. “Most interesting…and in his dream, I saw another human wielding a blade that looked exactly like this…a human that killed Seath and was then addressed by the same name he mentioned when comparing your own skill with this weapon: Austin Lyle Forester.” The human first looked dubious, but then a more freaked expression overcame her as she recalled what else Seath had said to her back in the market place, how apparently his legacy extended beyond even the first days of the Age of Ancients, and apparently he’d had to deal with others trying to do the same as she in that time before time. “You’re inferring that my efforts to kill him were merely a case of history repeating itself?” She asked. Luna smiled with a tinge of shame. “It…seems to be that way. Certainly would explain why his dreams are so haunted by visions of his demise, and why he would take measures to ensure this sword couldn’t harm him again…if indeed this is the same sword that killed him the first time around…” Luna winced as she saw she had completely lost the Chosen Undead. “I’m sorry if that makes no sense. Honestly it sounds crazy to me too.” The human perched her chin in her hands and chewed the idea over. “No crazier than the fact that time doesn’t flow in a linear fashion in Lordran so what you speak of is not an impossibility either…Seath is an undead so, like me, he would have to have been alive and died at some point previously, which he confirmed did happen….” The human pinched the bridge of her nose and tried to ignore the pain from trying to logically process such insane thoughts. Being stuck in a repeating set of events was horrendous enough, but knowing you were going to die at the end of each loop... dear Gwyn, suddenly she could see why Seath was so obsessed with fate and trying to avoid whatever it had planned! “This is a very disturbing possibility. I considered it would be a mercy to Lordran if Seath could torment it no longer with his creations, but if I was in fact merely carrying out the will of some higher power that sought to torment him…like a puppet being guided to commit some terrible deed at the demand of the one pulling its strings…” She hugged herself and shivered terribly. "Was I really doing the right thing?" Luna snorted in sympathy. “To an extent, yes you were. I believe this sword may be another clue to what’s going on, so you did us a service in obtaining it.” She smiled. The Chosen Undead placed a hand on her breast and sighed as she felt the phantom pain of where she’d been gored with the aforementioned weapon. “Well, considering I’d never have met you nor found out about this bigger picture had I succeeded, it is perhaps a second blessing that someone stopped me…which ironically means I now owe that mysterious someone my thanks as well as my ire.” She sighed and chuckled morosely. Luna put the sword down and trotted over to sit beside her guest. “It seems we still have much to discuss, though this cluttered mess hardly makes for an ideal setting. What say we retire to the kitchen for some snacks and some more story swapping while the guards finish re-packing all your possessions?” The Chosen Undead arched an amused eyebrow. “From what Seath has told us about what life is like for one such as yourself, you probably could do with a little fattening up.” The alicorn winked while sniffing the air. “Not to mention I can tell Pinkie Pie is already working on more treats for everyone, which will only go to waste as my sister isn’t here to scoff them all down.” Deciding to not question such generosity, the undead rose and followed the moon princess through the castle to where the doors of the kitchen stood firmly shut. Despite this a myriad of sweet and warm aromas oozed freely out through the cracks to tickle the noses of the two and set their mouths to water. “Smells like she’s really busy in there. Pinkie?” Luna pushed the door open, revealing a table piled with enough baked goods to feed at least five legions of ponies. Behind it the oven was glowing hot with the silhouettes of several racks of more treats baking away, and the stove was spewing fire like a volcano underneath several sizzling broiling pans that were melting chocolate and sugar. “My…Faust.” Luna stopped dead in her tracks and gaped. “Pinkie?” A maniacal giggling came from the supply closet. “In here…hee hee hee. Grab a plate and get to eating! I’m just…hee hee hee hee…getting more ingredients.” Luna furrowed her brow at the way Pinkie’s voice sounded, however, the smell of all the delicious snacks quickly settled that worry and she duly grabbed a plate and began loading it up. “We shall…umm…shall we tell everyone else you’ve got food available in here?” She asked. “Please…hee hee hee…please do. I thought to send one of the guards, but he’s…hee hee hee…got his hooves full helping me.” Came the reply as several bags of flour were tossed out of the supply closet. “Alright. Thank you for doing this.” Luna replied. “Think…hee hee hee…think nothing of it! Please, eat, eat! One must always keep their sun fuelled you know! Hee hee hee! That’s what Rocky says!” Luna cast another glance at the supply closet as several boxes of yeast joined the flour. “She does these things?” The moon princess looked down to see the Chosen Undead humorously balancing two plates stacked with a small mountain of delicacies, eyeing them up with the type of hunger that could only come from not having had a decent meal in years. “All the time.” Luna snickered and shrugged, before catching sight of several chocolate confections on the edge of the table. “Oooh, she even made some moon pies too! Mmm, seems almost like she makes it her duty to spoil everypony rotten!” The pies made their way to Luna’s plate and the two left to find somewhere nice and private to consume their feast. Behind them Pinkie stepped out of the supply closet grinning insanely with the glowing body of the Sunlight Maggot still perched on her head. “Yep, that’s me. Spoil, spoil, spoil! Fatten everypony up so their suns can burn!” She held up a large rock speckled with red liquid and kissed it. “My thanks to you, Rocky, for the idea, and helping me convince the sentries to help.” An armored stallion’s unconscious body was dragged out of the supply closet, his helmet missing and his mane sticky from a huge bleeding gash in his scalp. “This is going to be the best damn sun rise ever!” *** Even though she felt somewhat dirty for acting like a voyeur, Celestia couldn’t help fawning over how cute Twilight looked as she scrutinized the remains of the annals. Her face twisted and her eyes narrowed as she analyzed and memorized each word on the parchments, studied the artistic borders, appreciated the penmanship and the masterful quality of the research. It was everything that made her the adorable bookworm everypony loved. Well…maybe some more than others…in a stronger sense than might be expected. Celestia sighed. She had no real purpose being here. She already knew every word on each of the parchment scraps by heart. There was nothing new she could add. Yet she remained seated by Twilight’s side, staring at the lavender alicorn and feeling a familiar sense of peace in her mind…laced with perhaps just a hint of selfish satisfaction that Seath was elsewhere. “So, what do you think?” She asked after Twilight had strategically spread all the parchments across the floor like a detective might do with a series of photos or case files. Celestia remembered the lavender alicorn used to do that during joint projects when she’d originally been her student…and then remembered how much she missed that sort of playful interaction. It seemed like she was doing that a lot as of late…ever since she’d deemed that she could teach Twilight nothing more and sent her to Ponyville. Just like Luna stated. The white alicorn recalled with a sharp twinge of shame. “It just doesn’t seem fair.” Celestia snapped out of her own lament. “Twilight?” “The possibilities these scraps hint at, the aggravation that I may never know what else was contained in their words. I hate feeling like I’m being denied the ability to learn more!” She sighed. A small ember of pride slowly burned Celestia’s lament away. “You’ve always been like that. I’d be more concerned if showing you these DIDN’T trigger that reaction.” The white alicorn smiled. Twilight dipped her nose and blushed. “Any thoughts on the information that IS available here?” Twilight nodded and reclined against her teacher’s body. Celestia felt her heart grow warmer. “You stated in your story that this Solaire believed meeting Star Swirl was not by chance, so if we take that as a basis, it would suggest one of two possibilities: we were either meant to receive these annals in any case, or we would have happened upon the same knowledge eventually and all this did was speed up our own learning. Thus the first part of the mystery here is did we get a gift from another civilization, or did another civilization get a gift from us?” Celestia got a funny sort of smile on her face. Twilight held up a hoof. “Okay let me back up actually: Star Swirl observed Solaire, but Solaire sensed he was being watched and apparently figured out how to track Star Swirl back to Equestria. If that much is possible to the souls of Lordran who’s to say they couldn’t also have been observing us? Or other civilizations? And since we know from Seath’s Repair spell that time works differently in Lordran than it does here, who’s to say they couldn’t have seen more than just the immediate present of our history? Maybe they saw what we later accomplished in our own magical studies and adapted it for their own ends, then when they realized we needed that knowledge sooner than expected they made use of the opportunity to hand it to us!” Twilight paused and looked up at her fellow princess. Celestia’s brow had furrowed and her smile had grown larger, as if she was trying not to laugh at her former student’s ranting. “Uh…feel free to stop me if you think I’m talking crazy?” The lavender alicorn cautiously asked. Now Celestia did have to laugh, loud and uproariously. She was quick to gesture that it was not at Twilight’s expense, however. “Oh not at all! Honestly I just…oooh…I forgot how much fun it is watching your mind work away at a problem. Ahhh, I always did enjoy setting you the most complicated test questions then sitting back while you refused to discard any possible line of thought in solving them.” Celestia replied while wiping her eyes. Twilight giggled with embarrassment. “Ah right…yeah…well, to your credit you were kind enough to not call me out when I got really stuck into bizarre ponderings like this. Honestly, I forgot how nice it is to have a pony who’d just listen and accept what they hear.” A mischievous glint crossed Twilight’s eyes. “What happened at my brother’s wedding notwithstanding of course.” Celestia’s smile promptly vanished and was replaced by a mock expression of hurt. “Are you STILL holding that against me, Twi? I said I was sorry!” She protested. Twilight now held the funny smile firmly on her lips as her former teacher turned and made an exaggerated show of sticking her nose in the air. “A chance to prove that for once the mighty immortal sun goddess made a mistake? Of course I’m going to hang onto that! With all four hooves!” She teased. “Mainly because afterwards I realized you’re not some perfect being who I could never hope to match, you’re just a pony like everyone else. Perhaps more powerful and sophisticated yes, but I like a little bit of normalcy still.” Celestia felt her body growing even warmer as she looked back at Twilight, seeing that same sort of affection she secretly harbored in return. “So you indicate, by repeatedly telling everyone to ignore your new status. Hmph, praise a pony with one side of the mouth, insult them with the other. I’ve taught you far too well.” The solar diarch sighed. She draped a wing over Twilight and let another moment pass of them just enjoying each other’s presence. “Yes, that you have.” Twilight proudly said, her blush returning as she leaned up closer to her fellow princess’ muzzle. Another silence descended as the two alternately debated on whether to just cherish this time for what it was, or perhaps take the advice all their friends had been giving and perhaps see if they’d been holding off on something more. It might have been wrong for a teacher and student to feel this way about each other, but then again, knowing they technically weren’t of that status to each other now had changed things. They had nothing holding them back from exploring how deep had their feelings gone…save for…for… Celestia pulled back as she felt her feathers scrape against one of the parchment scraps. Remembering they actually had a more serious reason for being there made her feel wrong for distracting her student. To her increasing sadness, Twilight almost looked relieved that the moment was now passed. “Anyway, we’re getting off on a tangent here. Laying aside my theories, there’s still nothing here to explain why Solaire felt he wasn’t worthy to hold onto these, or why he felt we had to gain this knowledge ahead of schedule.” Twilight rearranged a few of the parchment scraps and studied them for a moment. “Also, if Sombra indeed was responsible for destroying the rest of the Annals why would he hold onto a few meager sections? There’s nothing significant in any of these that would warrant keeping them intact while destroying the rest…” Twilight groaned as she sensed she was getting too wrapped up in her own thoughts again. “I think we need Seath here. An eye witness account would probably help.” “Indeed, let’s see where he’s gotten to.” Celestia replied as she rose and stretched. *** “And so after Celestia bet me that she was still the braver of us two, I read her the story I found in our mother’s library. It was quite possibly the most bittersweet victory of my life as she didn’t come out from under her bed for a whole two days. Mother eventually had to crawl underneath and spend several hours coaxing her out, while I was banned from reading anything from her library for a month.” Luna sighed and felt a guilty snicker rumble in her throat. “Was still worth it to see them both emerge from our room covered in dust and cobwebs.” The Chosen Undead smiled as she helped herself to another delicious fruit tart. Her own guilt at pigging out on all the baked treats was mitigated only by the knowledge that she probably wasn’t going to eat as well as this again for a long time, nor be able to for once enjoy the company of another kindred soul without worrying about how long it’d be before they were next attacked. “Hardly any worse than what I did during my youth. At the start of the cold season we have an occasion known as ‘Night of the Dead’ where we leave chestnuts and offerings to Gravelord Nito and the souls of our deceased relatives that now live under his reign. For so many years I enjoyed swapping terrifying stories of what the Gravelord and his servants do to unruly children….and now…” The Chosen Undead sighed as she felt an uncomfortable heat in her bosom. “Now I’ve not only met Nito but also killed him for his Lord Soul. Somehow I feel like I’ve ruined the whole mystique by revealing a lord god of my homeland was nothing more than another being who just happened to wield immense power.” Luna nodded softly. “I thought the same too, for a time even after I was restored from being Nightmare Moon. I thought ponies would respect me if I ascribed to the old ways, maintaining my mythos as a force of nature rather than a physical being.” The moon princess took another moon pie in her mouth, and then shamelessly scoffed it down, scattering crumbs everywhere. “Then I bore witness to my first ‘Nightmare Night,’ a holiday apparently founded to build upon that same mythos, and keep everypony’s fear of me strong.” The Chosen Undead paused in her munching upon catching how regretful Luna sounded. “Honestly, that was quite an eye opener. Even if it meant my mystique had to take a hit, I decided afterwards I didn’t want that anymore. It makes me happier being treated like a normal pony, appreciated for just being me rather than a power of the land.” The human reached for her tea and drank slowly, letting the smells of spice and jasmine stir her thoughts. “The humility you all display, despite your status as similarly god like beings is…well, as alien as it strikes me, it seems to have done more good for your people than how the Great Lord and his pantheon governed Lordran.” She commented, sounding as entranced by her observation as she did saddened at the realization it brought. Again Luna tsked and smiled. “Well, I’d prefer not to judge just yet, having not physically seen your world for myself.” She said with a hint of trepidation. “Though depending on what Twilight and Seath find, I may have to soon…” The Chosen Undead shared the apprehension as she fidgeted with her teacup. “Do you…really think she can find a cure for the Dark Sign curse?” She asked. Luna bit her lip, not wanting to instill false hope. “Considering what I’ve seen of her track record…if there is any in Equestria who can accomplish the impossible, Twilight Sparkle would be my first pick.” She stated, firmly yet gently. The human nodded and let these words soothe her nerves. “In the mean time, our plates are getting pretty empty. What say we check that the guards have gotten all your equipment secured then hit the kitchen for seconds?” The Chosen Undead happily rose and followed the moon princess out into the hallway. The clicks of hooves and boots against crystal echoed across the still walls as the two made their way through the noticeably silent castle, coming to the grand dining room and finding it deserted save for the still present mess of armor and weapons. “Huh…strange. Not like the guards to just leave a task half finished like this…” Luna commented as she paused. The Chosen Undead felt her nerves tingle in caution, but brushed it off as a jerk reaction. “Well, considering your Miss Pinkie Pie is such an exquisite cook…” She offered. Luna thought about it and nodded. “True, they must all be downstairs enjoying her wares. Might as well join the party.” Luna replied as she picked her way across the litany of armaments. Her guest looked over her supplies as she followed, debating on whether to grab one of the smaller daggers she’d acquired, just in case. Again, considering how she’d yet to be shown any aggression by the ponies, she decided against her judgment. The two continued through the eerily silent domain, hearing not even a whisper of life from any other soul. A very unsettling contrast, considering the ear rattling sounds of their footsteps foretold of how well sound carried amidst the castle’s crystal interiors. “Pinkie Pie? Applejack? Rarity? Where is everypony?” Luna queried as she came to the kitchen door. “Perhaps they all stepped out for some air or…” Luna halted as she pushed the door open and beheld several guards lying on the kitchen floor, all out cold and bleeding from various concussive blows to their heads. The moon princess only had a moment to ponder this very disturbing scene before she felt herself be subjected to a live demonstration of how it had come about, in the form of a heavy cast iron pot being smashed into her skull. “Oops, sorry!” The Chosen Undead ran to aid her host as she tumbled to the floor. Unfortunately this put her in the perfect position to receive a second demonstration as the pot made friends with her face. “Sorry again! Hee hee hee hee!” With her thoughts now swirling around in a whirlpool of pain, the Chosen Undead clasped one hand to her cranium with the other igniting in preparation for battle. She whirled around and found herself staring at the empty void of the doorway, her attacker having apparently already moved to a new vantage point. A vantage point that thus allowed her to land a third strike with the pot. And when that failed to put the human down for the count, a fourth. And a fifth. “Sorry, sorry, sorry and so on. Hee hee hee. My, you humans really are a durable bunch. Guess Lyra wasn’t kidding when she waxed so poetically about your grandeur.” Pinkie Pie exclaimed as she slammed the pot over and over again against the undead’s skull. Luna groaned as she tried to shake off the wooziness and get back to her hooves. Pinkie Pie giggled and bludgeoned her back into unconsciousness as well. “No, no, no! Can’t have you up and about yet! The sun still has to rise! Hee hee hee hee hee!” Pinkie Pie giggled as the Sunlight Maggot on her head cast its light on her latest captures. She grabbed them both, Luna by her mane and the Chosen Undead by her hair and dragged them out to the backyard, where the rest of the sentries, Rarity, Fluttershy, Trixie and Applejack all lay trussed up by the bonfire. “Oh but it’ll be soon though. A grand, GRAND sunrise! Fuelled by some of the best souls around. Hee hee hee hee hee!” The pink pony grabbed a length of rope in her mouth and set to tying up her friends with gusto. *** “He’s hasn’t moved once this whole time?” Twilight asked. The sentry shrugged as she looked at Seath. “He just touched the Crystal Heart for a moment then stepped back and lapsed into that meditative pose. We thought about asking him to leave, but seeing as he isn’t really doing anything wrong we figured it’d be better to give him the benefit of the doubt.” The armored mare replied. Twilight observed how the white drake stood as still as a statue, his head tucked against his chest while his wings and tentacles remained static as if frozen in their motion. Hoping she wasn’t about to disturb her teacher, the alicorn stepped into the chamber, feeling her coat tingle with that familiar sensation of being in close proximity to that which gave the Crystal Empire its power and its well being. “Uh, Seath?” A small clutter of crystal particles escaped from the dragon’s nostrils. “I’m sorry to interrupt…whatever it is you’re doing…” The lavender alicorn continued. “Fret not. Thou interrupts nothing more than a lingering upon distant memories.” Seath soothed as he slowly pulled himself from his trance. ‘This artifact of thine…it doth imbue me with such fascinating embers…thoughts not of the darkness that did plague my past but the few rays of light which did pierce the shroud…” Twilight looked to the Crystal Heart, feeling herself be filled with a likewise sense of peace and merriment as she took in each angle of its shimmering construction. “It is as its shape indicates. The empire’s previous ruler Sombra had to lock it away due to his...rather accurate fear that its power and the hope it inspires in ponies could be used against him.” She replied. Seath nodded with some cryptic sense of understanding. “To cast away chaos, shatter the grip of tyranny and hatred, and unite the common souls in harmony with the power of belief….just as mine father originally intended.” Twilight perked her ears. “Your father, Seath?” “Yay. When first the world was made, the God King Sylval did send unto it three of his mightiest lords, Vallad, Alphos and Elwin, to shape its lands and birth its races. Though their creations were unmatched in magnificence they were also untamed, yet rather than nurture what they made, Alphos and Elwin tired of their work and departed the world. Thus, with only one to do the work of three, were chaos, corruption and devastation wrought between all.” Seath said. Twilight felt her coat prickle, not from the power of the crystal heart but from a stunning realization. “Just like you said the other gods of Lordran abandoned it when things started getting rough, and thus everything fell apart?” She said. “Yay. In response, Vallad sought to mend the lower souls by creating I and my fellow dragon-god, Guyra, to rule in his stead and instruct our subjects in the ways of faith, hope and order. With the world in our hands, and our minds harmonized, Vallad did trust all would be well.” Twilight drew back slightly with unease. “Except, as you’ve said at length, it wasn’t. What went wrong?” Seath opened his eyes and stared at the Crystal Heart with a sudden sense of weight, as if he felt too impure to be in the presence of such a higher power. “Be it a lacking in Vallad’s craftsmanship, or fate again finding such noble intentions too loathsome to allow, we were not born as our father intended. Rather than strive to work together, Guyra and I harbored a fierce hatred of each other. Instead of uniting the world, we divided it further, allowing the darkness that gripped our souls to contaminate those we were trusted to better. In the end, Vallad apparently did see but one option to fix such error…” Seath bared his teeth in anger. “He made your subjects rise up and kill you…just like Miss Aurelia was sent to kill you….” Twilight realized, placing a hoof over her mouth. “Great Faust, no wonder you’ve gone to such lengths to try and break free of such a vicious cycle.” Seath turned to stare at his student in anguish. “Yet all mine efforts to do so doth end in failure and the cycle continues to repeat. Pray, what proof is there that e’en my teaching of you will differ in the end?” He said with great self-loathing. Twilight blinked, then glared as if offended. “You'll just have to trust that it will. This isn't Lordran, or Verdite, or whatever, and things have mercifully unfolded differently for us. What's more Celestia’s already taught me the value of knowing when to use power and when to hold back and I…well, I can assure you I've taken that to heart, so that makes me the ideal candidate to properly wield your own knowledge and use it to figure out a solution.” Seath allowed his eyes to widen just a bit at his student’s confidence. “And second…wait…Oh Faust...” Twilight shut her own eyes and slammed her hoof down on the floor as inspiration struck. “Solaire…could he have also been aware of this? Was he likewise trying to help break the cycle?” Seath narrowed his gaze again as his student went from confident to perplexing. “You need to have a look at the annals, Seath! I think someone may have been trying to help you in your efforts!” The white dragon now looked dubious, but as Twilight tugged his tentacle and bade him to follow her he duly turned and departed. Now was not the time to be questioning the same mind who he’d previously lauded as being perhaps more intelligent than his own and able to accomplish what he could not. “Celestia! I think we may be onto something! We gotta get back to the archives room now!” Twilight excitedly exclaimed as they came to the solar diarch standing by a great bay window. “Quick, get the palace scribes! We’ve got work to do! Also, please stop lowering the sun. We’ll need the light for a bit longer.” Celestia smiled as she turned to follow her fellow princess. “I’m glad this little venture is bearing further fruit, Twilight, but it’s only around 4 pm. I’m not due to lower the sun for another few hours.” She gently assured. Twilight gave her a strange look. “Then why is it getting darker in here all of a sudden?” The trio glanced out at the window at the previously sun drenched courtyard, finding that indeed Twilight was right, and the reasons for why were very, very wrong. A black portal had formed in the sky, one that two of the onlookers recognized all too alarmingly well. “Seath…is that the same aperture that…” Twilight never got a chance to finish her question. This time no mere hand appeared to deliver a new surprise. Instead an entire figure descended from the portal to the ground in a ball of pitch black fire, shattering the window and bringing down a fair portion of the wall around it with the force of its impact. On instinct, Celestia leaped to cover Twilight from the explosion. Right behind her Seath raised his catalyst and erected a magical barrier to deflect the incoming hail of broken glass. The force still pushed all three souls back, but they managed to avoid getting knocked off their hooves. Just as well since it quickly proved to only be an introduction to the true terror. As ponies ran in fright, and sentries scrambled to defend their princess, the new arrival dispensed its flames and revealed itself in gory detail. It’s body was a hulking mass of darkness, warped and twisted by the cruelty of whatever force had spawned it. On one side a giant, muscular arm, covered in simian like hair and ugly burns pounded at the ground. On the other a shriveled, scrawny limb clutched what appeared to be either an axe, or a staff, using it to help carry the bulk of its body, and the nightmare-inducing feature that sat upon its summit. Both Twilight and Celestia felt their bodies go cold as they beheld what apparently served as the monster’s head: a pair of curved bony extensions that rose high into the heavens and fanned out to encompass multiple jagged protrusions. From this atrociously corrupted skull a large number of glowing red eyes glared at all who sought to impede its progress. “Seath…is this someone you know?” Celestia whispered as her guards formed a tight circle around her. The creature paused as if realizing it was outnumbered. “Nay…this…abomination I hath never laid eyes upon…” The drake intoned as the black beast promptly raised its massive hand and summoned a number of black orbs to fix the problem of the opposition. “I can only believe it a sign that others hath noted our activities, and found them wanting.”