She led us to a shattered tree house.
“Here’s where it happened, gentlecolts.” Rarity said.
“Thank you young mare, we’ll take it from here.” I said.
“Well this looks pretty open and shut.” Derek said, looking through the rubble. “Yep, this thing was brought down by somepony, or someTHING.”
“But, who would want to harm three little fillies like that?” Rarity asked.
“Well, because this is VERY convenient, I believe we know exactly who is at fault.” I said.
“It’s glaringly obvious.” Derek said. “He’s not very subtle is he now?”
“Not at all.” I replied.
Rarity was obviously confused. “What in Celestia’s name are you two talking about?”
By now, a small crowd had formed behind us. They were obviously caught between wondering who the heck we were, and staring at the gnarled mess that used to be a tree house.
Derek was looking through the rubble when I spotted something out of the corner of my eye. A small carriage being hauled by two pegasi at top speed. Atop the carriage sat the worst possible pony we could have hoped for.
Princess Celestia.
“Derek.” I said.
“Yes?” He asked, still looking for clues.
“Heads up. We got ROYAL company!”
He flinched. “Son of a..”
By now the crowd had caught on to Celestias grand entrance. I spotted Twilight, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie joining the crowd.
“Why now?” Derek spat.
“Maybe Orobas was being so flamboyant to draw her out, stay sharp!” I said.
The carriage landed and the crowd parted for her. She stepped off, her mane flowing in the the absence of a breeze. Her eyes fixed on me. I saw her mutter to herself.
“Celestia.” I said.
“Enough.” She cut me off. “Don’t think I haven’t noticed you talking to Twilight. You’ve been filling her head with...” She stopped herself from saying something less than friendly with other ponies around. “...creative stories. I suggest you leave now, Majora.”
A few ponies in the crowd gasped, muttering things like “Isn’t he dead?” and “What the buck?”.
Celestia turned to Derek.
“Ah, another one of my students.” She said.
Derek stuck his tongue out at her. “I’ve become more powerful without your help then I ever would have with it.”
“ENOUGH!” Celestia snapped. “Leave, before I bring you down myself.” She stepped toward us. “You cling to the ways of old by reading those silly prophecies, and then throwing the land into danger with your crude tactics and unconventional methods.”
“Really now?” I said. “It was those silly prophecies that foretold the return of your sister, remember? ‘The stars will aid her escape’? That ring a bell?”
Celestia winced at the mention of Luna.
“Me and Derek are the only ones who even care to stop evil from breaking free. Night Mare and Discord are PERFECT examples of what happens when we let things go.” I said, beginning to loose my patience.
“SILENCE!” Celestia demanded.
Derek spat on the ground in front of her. “Screw you.” He said.
I glared at him. “Derek, shu-”
A bright laser struck the ground in front of us, knocking us back. The crowd gasped.
“I will not allow such insubordination to go unpunished.” Celestia said gravely.
A few guards took stance next to her. She nodded to them, and they darted toward us. Derek’s eyes glowed along with his horn. He flashed a wicked smile. A large shield flew up and the guards smacked into it.
“YOU SHOULDN’T HAVE DONE THAT!” Derek said, but it wasn’t just his voice. His voice was mixed with another familiar voice. It sounded like-
“DISCORD!?” Celestia shrieked.
Derek was having an episode. I sighed and stepped back, she had this coming. Derek shot a red beam from his horn, it hit Celestia square in the chest plate, knocking her back. The crowd gasped some more. Celestia glared at Derek. Her horn lit up brightly, lightning shot in Derek’s direction. In the blink of an eye, Derek side stepped it without a moment's reflection.
“Nice try, Celestia,” Derek said in his distorted voice. “You missed.”
“Discord! Stay out of this!” Celestia demanded.
I glared at Derek, his eyes still glowing red. Was he really being.... possessed this time?
“Oh Celestia, you kidder.” He replied.
Yep, this time Derek’s mind was gone.
Celestia flinched. “What are you planning Discord?”
Derek, or Discord in this case, laughed. “Nothing, yet, my dear Celestia.” He hovered over to Celestia, meeting her at eye level. “I’m here to warn you.”
Celestia narrowed her eyes. “Warn me?”
DisDerek laughed. “You would be wise to trust these fools.” He said. “I have felt the disturbances myself. Don’t hide it Celestia, I know you have too. He’s angry, at you.”
Celestia looked away.
DisDerek just laughed. “Fine, be that way. But Orobas will come for you first.”
A lightning storm was beginning to rage, the sound of thunder and loud muttering from the crowd had became deafening.
Celestia fired a beam at DisDerek, that was absorbed by a red aura. DisDerek shot a fireball back at her. It hit her sending her arcing through the air for what seemed like a whole minute, before finally crashing into a house, leaving a pile of rubble in her wake.
DisDerek took notice of the crowd. “WHAT ARE YOU ALL LOOKING AT!?” He yelled.
The crowd backed away. DisDereks horn began to charge.
My time to shine. I took out a tranquilizer dart, loaded it into a pipe, and shot it at Derek’s flank.
He wobbled a few times. “I’ll... k-kill...” He said, before dropping to the ground, fast asleep. The glowing of his horn dissipated. The storm had stopped.
I walked over and hoisted him onto my back, and looked around, the crowd had grown two times bigger then when we began. I sighed.
The broken house Celestia ran into shuffled, and the princess rose from the rubble. She stood up, and collected herself. “Don’t think this means I owe you anything.” She said darkly.
“Of course not.” I said mockingly.
Her eyes widened again, but she did nothing. She got back up on her carriage. “To the castle.” she said.
The two pegasi beat their wings, pulling her into the air. I watched her until she disappeared. Then, I turned to the crowd, who stared back at me.
“What are you looking at?” I asked.
They all muttered to themselves and walked off. All except Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie.
I sighed. “I’m glad to see you’re all still alive. When Derek has an episode, we usually have some fatalities.” I said. “It’s a drawback of Derek’s study. In short, stay away from dark magic.”
“You... monsters.” Rarity said.
I sighed.
“You know you could’ve put him t’ sleep a bit sooner?” Applejack said.
“I suppose.” I replied. I would never tell them I actually enjoyed watching that.
“Wow that was SO scary I can't believe somepony could stand up to the PRINCESS, I mean she IS the PRINCESS after all!!!!!” Pinkie Pie shrieked.
I turned to go home, when Twilight spoke up.
“What about Derek? It looks like he’s in really bad shape after all that.” She said with genuine concern.
I looked back at her a bit confused. “Uh, no. Ol’ Derek has seen far worse.” I turned and continued to walk home.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Twilight was still shocked at what she had just witnessed. They way they treated Celestia, Derek being possessed. It was all so hard to process. Discord himself just said that he agreed with Majora and Derek’s claims. Orobas, just the name was frightening. Twilight turned to her books.
“Spike, bring me the book on Demonology.” Twilight said.
“Wha-?” Spike asked confused.
“The big purple one.” Twilight clarified.
“Oh, THAT one.” Spike said, walking to the shelf and grabbing the book.
He brought it over to Twilight.
“Ok,” She said, “just who is this mystery demon?”
She began flipping through the pages and found it.
Orobas.
The page looked as if it had been rebound multiple times. The picture showed the skeleton of an alicorn, stained black by the fire that surrounded it. Its’ horn extended into a fine point. It says Orobas was the Prince of Darkness, and ruler of Tartarus. He is the father of dark magic, and devours the souls of the living. It says that in his love for another, rejection drove him to madness. The fire that surrounds him reflects his mood. Below was the prophecy, verbatim to what Derek said before.
Into darkness I shall cast all.
With a small show of strength, three shall fall.
And with my mighty scythe, I shall rend,
the land into bitter end.
The words echoed in her mind. but she still had, one last question. Where is Orobas?
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I was reading up on Orobas when Derek walked in.
“What... happened?” He asked, still drowsy.
“You had another episode.” I said, flipping pages. “You attacked Celestia.”
“Sweet, wish I could’ve seen her face.” He said, smiling.
“I fear she will be more tenacious in hunting us then ever before.” I said gravely.
“Fine, I’ll just conjure up a shei-” he said , but I cut him off.
“No, we have to find the throne of Orobas. Now. Then after we finish him, we’re fleeing the country.” I said. “I have gathered all the intel we need. We must break into Canterlot Castle. The throne of Orobas rests in the catacombs of the mountain.”
“Alright.” Derek sighed, “Should we grab only what we need?”
“Yes.” I replied. “We need to make it look like we still live here.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It was about 1AM when Twilight was awakened by the sound of knocking on her door. She got up and walked to the door. When she opened it, she saw Majora in full armor, once again without his helmet and Derek with a stuffed saddle bag.
“Evening, mare.” Majora said.
“Evening? It’s one in the morning.” Twilight complained. “What do you want?”
“We need you to sneak us into Canterlot. They have some heavy protection out there, and we think you could get us in easy.” Derek said.
Majora moved Twilight out of the way and entered, Derek following close behind.
“Our plan is that Derek will use a short term invisibility spell on us. You will walk into the Castle, nonchalantly, and make your way to the throne room. In the throne room there is a locked hallway that leads to the catacombs of the mountain.” Majora explained.
Twilight rolled her eyes. “Can’t this wait until dawn?” She asked.
“But of course.” Majora replied. “We just need a safe house for the night.”
“Fine.” Twilight sighed.
“You will be leading the way. The fate of Equestria now rests on you, too. Welcome to the team!” Derek said, mockingly.
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