“I say, were you all just biding your time waiting for us to let our guard down? Rather unsporting behavior, don’t you think?” Siegmeyer said while whipping out his zweihander. More arrows perforated the trees and the earth around him as another soul spear shot out and clipped the side of his helmet. He wisely backed away as the Forest Hunters closed in.
“The Lady Alvina has decreed only the one whom she personally contacted is permitted in these woods. You are not welcome!” One of the knights decreed. Discord paid them an annoyed grimace as he picked the shards from his exploded wine glass out of his face.
“Yes, so we were told… how lovely for you all to demonstrate Aurelia wasn’t exaggerating.” He muttered sarcastically. Getting the rest of the glass out, Discord pressed his hands to his face and molded his features like they were putty to press out all the bleeding cuts. Beside him, Applejack moved to stay close to her friends.
“Look, we understand y’all ain’t partial to visitors, but this is a matter of utmost importance to us! Miss Aurelia said there’s something in yer neck of these woods we need apparently. Something related to traversin’ a place known as the Abyss?” The farm mare said.
The glow of another sorcery spell shone brightly from the trees. Squinting, Discord made out the almost non-existent outline of a body dressed in typical mage robes being illuminated by it.
“So you admit you come as all trespassers come! To steal the gifts of Darkroot and misuse them for your own nefarious ends!” The bandit scowled as he raised his dagger. “Mark our words, strange equine, this course of action will only end in your death!”
Applejack flapped her mouth in shock then sneered at the insinuation of the hunters.
“Now jest hold on a second! We ain’t got no quarrel with you, nor are we thieves! We need help unravellin’ some deep mystery that’s affectin’ both our worlds, and Miss Aurelia thought that help could be found here. If that ain’t the case, fine, then, we’ll leave, but we’re waitin’ for a definite answer first.”
The hunters looked to each other, their expressions remaining suspicious.
“When last one came to speak with the Lady Alvina, she came alone. Now she returns in force with many beings of unknown origin and unknown abilities. Do you expect us to believe you are her friends?”
“They are.”
Everyone turned to see the Chosen Undead coming back the way she came, sounding not at all pleased at the hunters of waiting for her to separate so they could attack the party without her interference. “They mean no harm provided you enact no harm to them. You say I am expected by your leader, then you know I can be trusted.”
The hunters looked to her, then to the rest of the party, their body language indicating they were a bit stumped on how to resolve this. One of the knights jabbed his sword at the ponies. “One from lands as distant as that they hail from has already betrayed us for his own ends. We cannot risk even her lady’s trust when more that are even stranger do follow in your wake.”
Discord scoffed. “Typical, no one ever wants to welcome that which breaks the norm. And Celestia wonders why I consider so much of Equestria to be a bore.”
Pinkie scratched her head and her eyes lit up.
“Maybe we can show them we’re totally cool with a little dance number!”
She stepped out and clapped her hooves, triggering a jaunty tune to start playing from seemingly nowhere.
“Discord, can I have some lights please?”
“Gladly!” The chaos god snapped his tail and the forest was suddenly awash in neon lights blinking on and off in sync with the music. “Maybe a ball to go with them?”
A mirrored disco ball lowered itself down from the trees, bringing the bewildered hunters to stare up and stammer meaninglessly as they tried to make sense of what was happening.
“Come on everyone! Let’s do the Pony Pokey! You put your left hoof in, you put your left hoof out, you put your left in and…”
SMASH!
The disco ball was promptly blasted to smithereens by another soul arrow, raining slivers of mirrored glass down on the party.
“Enough! Your attempts to confuse us with corruptions of the sacred sorceries will NOT be tolerated!” One of the hunters declared as Applejack and Trixie shielded themselves from the falling fragment while Pinkie let herself be adorned in sparkling humiliation.
“Wha? But I was just…” The pink pony meeped as swords and daggers were aimed at her. “Geez and I thought the buffalo were a tough crowd!”
Groaning, Discord dusted himself off and drew himself up to his full height.
“At least this explains why Seath is such a dullard. You’d think in a place as mystically enchanting as this, the inhabitants would have a bit more personality.” He said. The hunters promptly stepped back as if shocked, while the unseen member of their party promptly lit the forest up with a flurry of soul masses.
“Seath? You speak of our fallen founder with such familiarity? How is such possible?” The sorcerer asked. Discord shrugged.
“Some generous benefactor saw fit to take him from your world and relocate him to ours, which, ironically, is what kicked off this whole mess in the first place. These ponies, for better or worse, tried to be hospitable while he was with us.” He said, feeling his fur bristle as the hunters drew back further, their armor clanking and their arms shaking. He pondered if that was due to the awe that he and the ponies had been rubbing shoulders with one of the big cheeses of Lordran…
The sorcerer promptly hurling the soul masses at him dictated it was not.
“They are in league with he that snatches our families and visits death upon Lordran! Kill them all!” Came the cry as blades, arrows, and magical spells fell upon the party in droves. Applejack promptly ran with Trixie for the cover of a nearby rock, the Chosen Undead drew her own weapon and charged the hunters from behind, Siegmeyer provided defense while Discord politely scooped Pinkie and Fluttershy up in his arms and summoned the shell of a giant painted turtle onto his back to protect them from the projectiles.
“Right, okay, so Seath creates the means for the inhabitants of his world to use magic like we do, and those that thus make use of said magic see that as reason to want him and all who associate with him dead. Normally I’d applaud such insane troll logic, except being among those they want dead kinda spoils the mood.” He sighed then grunted as a soul spear exploded against his shell. “Alright fine, if they want to be unfair to us, I can respond in kind!”
He snapped his tail and the lights flashing around the woods bloomed in intensity, brightening till the ‘dark’ part of Darkroot Garden ceased to apply.
“One contemplates many things while turned to stone. One of those was how tragic it must be to be a mole, or bat, or some other animal that spends 90% of its life in the dark, and if I ever was returned to my handsome self I’d personally visit every mole hill and cave and turn them into brilliantly lit accommodations so their residents could see what they’ve been missing all this time. Unfortunately, dear Fluttershy convinced me that’d be more harmful than good, so I guess I should thank you for letting me finally indulge myself in seeing what would happen.” Discord smirked as the hunters hid their faces and stumbled about blinded by the light. “It’s good for a laugh, if nothing else!”
“Hmph, not as laugh worthy as this!” Pinkie hopped out of the draconequus’ arms and retrieved her party cannon. The hunters were duly sent tumbling as paintballs splattered all over their clothes.
“Hee hee, a splash of color and everything becomes funny!” The pink pony giggled, right before another soul arrow impacted against her shoulder armor, followed by a real arrow through her leg. The cannon fell from her hooves as she fell and tumbled from the force of the projectiles. Beside her the faint outline of the sorcerer emerged from the trees.
“Your mockery and feeble attempts at mimicking our arts may have bested my colleagues, but a true practitioner of sorcery is not so easily cowed.” It said while summoning more arrows. “Die, charlatan!”
Pinkie’s eyes widened in fear as numerous jagged bolts of blue mana formed above the ghostly being, all of them aimed at her. Time seemed to slow as the spell was cast and serenely glowing death descended upon her…only to explode harmlessly against a barrier that was hastily thrown up.
“No.” Trixie stated plainly as she galloped to stand in front of the mare. “The Great and Powerful Trixie has already seen this one suffer death before. She’d rather not have the tragedy repeat itself!”
The sorcerer cocked his almost non-existent head at the sight of the barrier. Then he promptly cast a heavier version of the soul arrow and smashed through it, sending Trixie to join Pinkie on the ground.
“Then you are more the fool. For allowing an undead in your presence and humiliating yourself with such poor efforts to replicate the arts!” He critiqued. The knights, having somewhat adapted to the bright light, shaded their eyes with one hand and raised their swords to cleave the ponies in twain with the other. Siegmeyer barely managed to get his own blade in position to parry the dual assault.
“Oh my! Dearest Aurelia, might I request you make haste to Alvina and ask if she’d be so kind as to call off her covenant? It’s getting a bit hairy here!” The onion headed knight commented as he carefully stepped around Pinkie and Trixie to fight off their assailants. Grumbling as she sliced the thief on his arm, the Chosen Undead turned and ran like hell for the ruined building on the horizon. One of the knights turned to pursue, but Siegmeyer convinced him otherwise with a sharp conk on the helmet with his shield.
“Pinkie!” Fluttershy hopped to the ground and ran over as the pink mare shakily got to her hooves. “Are you okay?”
The pink mare looked to the black shaft sticking through her leg and chuckled weakly.
“I suppose that depends on your definition of ‘okay’. Previously I’d probably be worried, but after learning first-hoof what it feels like to be a roasted marshmallow this is actually kind of anticlimactic.” She grimaced as Fluttershy slowly broke the exposed shaft off and then very carefully eased out the part that had penetrated Pinkie’s flesh. “Think I’m more disappointed that I can’t do an ‘arrow to the knee’ joke ‘cause it didn’t hit me in that area.”
“All the better. I should be able to patch this up fairly easily.” The yellow pegasus soothed as she fished out bandages and ointment from her saddle bags. More soul arrows careened towards her but Discord promptly leapt into the line of fire and let his turtle shell take the blows.
“Permit me to give you some breathing room then.” Discord said with a sinister tint to his voice. He summoned a boxing glove onto his lion paw and drove it into the sorcerer’s gut, smiling maliciously as the magic user promptly fell arse over tea kettle to the ground. “Count yourself lucky you missed, punk. Any harm comes to my darling Fluttershy and you’ll be getting worse than four horseshoes.”
Discord pulled the boxing glove off and shook out the four metal shoes inside it as a demonstration. The sorcerer sputtered and hacked raggedly as he tried to force air back into his bruised lungs.
“Such…*cough* power… never have we encountered unknown forces of this caliber.”
Slowly rising to her hooves, Trixie scornfully stared at the sorcerer and reached for her saddlebags.
“The Great and Powerful Trixie is happy to introduce you to something more familiar then. At least, she was told this should be familiar.” She glowered while withdrawing a small bag filled with greenish black powder. The sorcerer tried to get up and return to the battle. Trixie duly pulled the bag open and blew some of the powder in his face.
“Aghhh…*cough*…pine resin…*cough*…poison….uuughhhhh…” The poor human groaned before collapsing into unconsciousness. Trixie sighed in relief.
“Trixie’s magic may be more focused on spectacle than power, but that doesn’t mean she can’t pull a surprise trick via other means.” She said as both Discord and Siegmeyer looked at her in amazement.
“Well, somepony has been making good use of their time as of late.” The chaos god complimented.
“Indeed. However did you learn the basics of making pine resin?” Siegmeyer queried before backhanding the other knight with his shield. Trixie furrowed her brow and reached for her saddlebags again.
“She came across this during her travels and put its writings to good use. Where it came from, she cannot say, but it apparently is just one more part of this confounding puzzle since it speaks at length of practices from this world.” She explained, pulling the tome out and flipping it open to show everyone the page detailing how to create the toxic mix that could be used to poison a being in many unpleasant ways.
“Hmmm…how fascinating. Perhaps when we have another quiet moment I should like to take a look at that.” The knight commented before sidestepping another sword swing. “In the meantime, might I make use of a handful of your stock to help…eep…calm these bounders down?”
Trixie pushed the bag over and Siegmeyer duly scooped some of the resin up and spread it across the blade of his zweihander. A sickly green glow enveloped the weapon, giving the knight’s assailants fresh cause to back away as he switched to a two handed stance and stood ready for another round.
“Come on now good sirs and madams, I trust none of you wish to experience the slow agony as this stuff works its way through your flesh. Not at all a pleasant experience so I’m told.” Siegmeyer stated calmly but with just a hint of disappointment as his opponents kept their weapons aimed at him. “Please, surely we can reach some sort of understanding?”
The knights looked at each other, seemingly contemplating Siegmeyer's most generous and diplomatic offer.
They then promptly dropped to their knees as an arrow sailed over their heads and found the perfect spot between Siegmeyer’s chest plate and shoulder pauldron to immerse itself in his blood.
“Urk…okay I shall presume that to mean no. Oooogh, that’s going to hurt in a moment!” The knight bleated as his sword fell and he grabbed for the exposed shaft of the arrow. The knights looked up then bowed their heads, allowing their thief colleague to use them as a platform to leap and tackle Siegmeyer to the ground, giving him a second problem by stabbing him in the jugular with his knife.
“Aghhh….well that’s probably going to hurt even more. Maybe….Think I’m feeling more lightheaded than anything else…” The knight intoned dreamily as the thief yanked out his blade and let Siegmeyer’s blood splash all over the ground. With victory in his grasp, the hooded assailant raised his dagger in preparation to prevent yet another vile intruder from doing any more harm to Darkroot.
Discord promptly showed him why raising a long metal object over your head was a bad idea, summoning a lightning bolt to hit the thief’s weapon and send a few million volts through his body.
“Okay, granted that’s not Flutters, but at the same time you’re making more work for her, AND I’m running short on willingness to keep playing nice. Back off!” The chaos god threatened as Applejack ran over and bucked the jittering, blackened thief off Siegmeyer.
“Starry Apples, Fluttershy, Sieg here is gonna need medical attention fast!”
“Right, just a moment.” The yellow pegasus applied the last dressing to Pinkie’s leg then raced to the aid of the knight. “Get his helmet off, I need to apply pressure to the wound before he bleeds to death!”
Applejack promptly grabbed Seigmeyer’s circular dome and leaned her weight back, using her earth pony strength to keep a firm grip till it slid off the knight’s head. Fluttershy quickly snatched a folded pad of gauze and pressed it to the gushing hole in her friend’s neck.
“Mr. Siegmeyer, I need you to keep still. I’m going to apply something to stop the bleeding then bandage you up. Please, don’t move.” The pegasus pleaded as she kept pressing the gauze and tried to ignore the sticky sensation of blood soaking through onto her hooves.
“*cough*….ah there’s no…*cough*…no need for that good lay-lady. A swig…*cough*…estus and I’ll…be…fiiiinneee…” Siegmeyer’s voice grew quieter. Fluttershy hastily searched her saddlebags for the herbal ointment she typically used for whenever her animals got a cut or other form of injury.
Yet another arrow pinning her bags to the ground, shattering several vials inside them in the process, stated the hunters would not stand for that.
“Okay, seriously! Are any of you listening? Discord’s got a mind to make you all sorry for tryin’ to kill us, and frankly, Ah ain’t far behind him in wantin’ to do the same! Leave us alone, let us tend to our wounded and we’ll leave you be! Please!” Applejack pleaded, while Discord snapped his tail and made the sky overhead sizzle with electricity.
The hunters wasted no time in giving an answer; which took the form of an arrow spearing through Applejack’s hat, pulling it off her head and nailing it into the ground.
“Lady Alvina’s words are law here! Trespassers are to be executed without delay!” Came another voice from deeper into the woods. Applejack turned to stare in shock at her skewered Stetson, then turned back to fix the offending party with a look of pure cyanide.
“Discord…be a dear and clear me a path. These fools jest made things personal!”
The knights stood ready for another fight, but the chaos god merely pointed skywards as rain began to fall on Darkroot. Rich, thick, creamy chocolate rain. Again the hunters had to pause in order to make sense of this latest bewildering development, giving Applejack a golden opportunity to introduce her hooves to their legs.
“Ah can tolerate a lotta disobedience, but if you knew what that hat means ta me, you’d know you jest made a serious mistake!” She said in a bitterly cold voice as the knights buckled then fell as their legs were almost snapped in half from the force of the buck.
“We will not be swayed by your efforts to resist us… owwwww…” One of the knights groaned as he hit the ground like a sack of bricks.
“Actually, yes, thou shalt.”
As Applejack ran off to find the bothersome archer that had shot her hat off, the rest of the gathered turned to see a huge grey cat ambling up, with the Chosen Undead behind her.
“Tireless art thine spirits, and honorable is thine will, but too many of our family have we lost already. I shalt not allow thee to cast aside thine lives for they who come to prove their worth as saviors to Lordran.” The cat said, sounding as though she both lamented the carnage before her and loathed to say that it had been wrecked for no gain to either party.
“Mistress Alvina! Come no closer! These abominable souls from distant lands are too powerful even for you to face!” One of the knights pleaded. The cat nodded and continued to approach undaunted.
“And by the sworn word of this noble being they come with no ill intent. Indeed, t’would suit us well to welcome them as friend, not foe.” She replied, much to her subordinate’s horror.
“Mistress, these creatures have felled half our numbers! Sten lies scorched from the effects of Gywn’s own bolts! There lies Arbor, lost to the effects of rotten pine resin!”
A muffled scream could be heard from among the trees.
“And no doubt Alara is now being subjected to the brutality of these beasts! Darkroot is bleached by infernal light, and this…sickly sweet rain! All on their account!”
Alvina looked to the strange syrupy rainfall coming from the rainbow lit sky. She stuck her tongue out and let a few drops fall onto it.
“Strange ones these are indeed. But is it their own malice that visits their aggression upon thee, or because as is my doctrine, thou left them no other choice?” She asked, licking her jagged teeth and enjoying the flavor of the rain. The knight gaped at her while Discord did everyone the service of voicing the party’s communal thought.
“Wait…YOU'RE Alvina? You’re the one leading this bunch of tree hugging sadists?” He said, lost between disbelief and an increasing urge to laugh at the insanity of this new revelation. The cat nodded politely.
“T’is I that commands this clan of brave hunters, and who seeks to see all defilers of the forest graves tracked down and killed. For thine hardship, I am partly to blame, if only for having inspired such undying loyalty in these most honorable souls.” She said with no hint of regret and a very distinct smugness to her voice. Pinkie Pie couldn’t help giggling.
“Hee hee hee, you guys take orders from a kitty? Oh that is adorable! Oh I can’t wait to tell Rarity this! Hee hee hee!” The pink mare chortled. The knights, in spite of their shattered bones, grabbed for their weapons and made to punish her for her mockery. Alvina hissed loudly to show she’d prefer they not do so.
“Stay thine acts my sons and daughters! T’was my own desire that this noble undead return. That she did so in force was unexpected, but not yet a sign of aggression.”
The hunters turned warily to their mistress, then to the Chosen Undead as she held up her hands and showed she stood before them, unarmed, and with no ill intent.
“Please, Mr. Siegmeyer needs help! He’s going to bleed to death if you don’t let me treat him!” Fluttershy pleaded. The Chosen Undead looked and gasped as the sight of her fallen comrade. She looked to Alvina who nodded for her to go and tend to him.
“Quick, get his mouth open.” The warrior ordered as she whipped out her estus flask. “Siegmeyer, here, drink as you let me drink. It’ll stop the bleeding at least.”
She poured the healing flames into the knights throat, clenching her fists as he coughed then jerked his body upwards.
“AYE! Dear me! That was close! Huh, a pity though, dying isn’t quite so bad the second time around.” He said, sounding regretful at being pulled back from the brink. Fluttershy gave him a very disturbed grimace as she pulled out a roll of bandages from her saddlebags.
“Well still, I’d much prefer it if you please didn’t leave us just yet. We need your assistance…and you said there was someone here you were looking for.” The pegasus replied as she finished dressing Siegmeyer’s neck wound. The knight’s attitude promptly changed.
“Oh, yes indeed! How could I forget about my dear Sieglinde! Oh I simply must find and see her safely back to Catarina before my purpose here is fulfilled!” He declared with a smile before flexing his neck to test the quality of the dressings. “Wouldn’t sell yourself too short though, my good pegasus. Your field medic skills are quite exemplary! Indeed, perhaps you might wish to extend some good will by tending to our opponents? Provided of course they’ll agree to a truce.”
Everyone turned to the fallen hunters, who in turn looked to Alvina.
“Mistress?” One of the knights asked.
The feline shrugged.
“My law is clear, but so too is mine confidence these beings did not intend ill will till their hands and hooves were forced. Continue with thine attack if thine loyalty to me demands such, but I wish to grant them my blessing, on two conditions.”
Deeming it best to listen to their leader and matriarch, the knights dropped their weapons again and bowed their heads.
“Thine wisdom again shines through, my sons and daughters. You, healer, please tend to them.” Alvina nodded to Fluttershy who duly grabbed her bags and ran over to treat the hunters’ injuries.
“Ah got one more fer ya, while you’re at it, Flutters.”
Applejack reappeared, dragging the hobbled body of a human female dressed in archery gear.
“Think Ah may have gotten a bit carried away in subduing her, but then again she had it comin!” The orange mare seethed as the archer held her chest, feeling for broken ribs.
“Ughhh…I vanquished Pharis himself, proved I could have stood against the great Hawkeye Gough…how…ngh…how can you have bested me?” She groaned. Applejack snorted and lowered her head.
“Being born and raised on an orchard, Ah know mah way around trees. True, you ain’t half bad with this bow, but you also clearly ain’t never faced the wrath of a ticked off earth mare.” She said while slapping her Stetson back onto her head. “Maybe after you apologise we can see about startin’ over, but till then Ah’m holdin’ onto yer weapons so you can’t shoot any other poor ponies with them.”
The archer looked offended, but the wrenching pain from her fractured ribs prevented her from voicing any further protest. Satisfied, Applejack slung the quiver of arrows along with the elegant black bow across her back and trotted off, leaving Fluttershy to sigh and start tending to the broken hunters.
“That aside, what are these conditions for your blessing?” The Chosen Undead asked. Alvina licked her paws and murred.
“First, Darkroot shalt be returned to its natural state.” She said.
All eyes turned to Discord who seemed hesitant to undo the ‘improvements’ he’d made to the surrounding area.
“Hmph, fine. Just remember I can do far worse if you leave me no choice.” He snapped his tail and darkness fell again upon the woods while the chocolate rain ceased.
“I shalt not endeavor to provoke thine wrath further, provided thou agrees to my second condition.” Alvina turned back to the Chosen Undead. “Much as I wisheth we were met again under better circumstances, tragedy hath befallen these woods since thou last travelled through them. Shiva, the lad cometh from the East, hath betrayed our trust and abandoned our family. Alas, as I feared, he did use us badly, e’en as on guard we strove to stay. It did seem thine presence drove him to such horrid acts.”
The Chosen Undead cocked her head.
“Yet you sought me out in Oolacile and beckoned me to find you again.” She said. Alvina nodded sadly.
“Tragedy may follow as thine own shadow, yet still I feel some liking for thee. Murmurs did I hear on the wind as to whom thou was in life, of how thou art indeed a special one. I sought thee out through time and darkness to test thee for the truth…thine actions in Oolacile proved I was right.” Alvina sighed and licked her other front paw. “T’is no secret that amidst the graves we guard is one most highly thought of by others and very significant to thee. My advice true would be to forget that which brought thee back here, but t’would seem other powers intend for thee to suffer the truth in spite of what I may say.”
The Chosen Undead looked to her friends then back at Alvina in puzzlement.
“What are you talking about?”
Deeming her paw was clean, Alvina held it up to point at the ruins in the distance. “Join me in mine sanctum, noble undead. Let thine friends tend to the wounded and I shalt reveal what terrible fate lies ahead for thee. Be thou armed, for thou shalt be forced to learn what fairy tales hath been spun to mask the history of those thou holds dear, and thou must face this truth alone. My second condition is thine allies must not join thee!”
***
“Well, again, the view up here ain’t half bad, but someone’s really been slacking on the upkeep of this place.” Rainbow Dash as she hovered over the top of Sen’s fortress. “How exactly is anyone meant to navigate all the broken bridges and huge gaps in the roof? More so considering so few in this world of yours are gifted with the awesomeness of wings?” She said to Seath as he alighted on an unbroken part between the parapets.
“If one seeketh audience with the gods, they would find passage around such obstacles. If they failed, then they were unworthy of the privilege.” Seath replied, noting Rainbow Dash’s disgusted reaction. “The Chosen Undead did once survive this fortress, as did the masters Logan and Griggs. The gods may demand much of those who seek them, but as is proven, a determined soul is not so easily discouraged!”
Rainbow narrowed her eyes as she again counted the number of places where one wrong step would send one hurtling down to a very messy and lethal landing.
“Still seems unjustly cruel.” She muttered while flying to a higher altitude. “Okay, think I see our resident giant. Over there on top of that building!” She jabbed a hoof at a distant silhouette framed against the brilliance of the sun. “What say we have a quick word with him to stop with the boulders? I mean those cretins in the fortress weren’t too tough but this lug is considerably bigger. Not sure I want to tussle with that.”
Seath respectfully looked at the pegasus like she was an idiot.
“I say such action is folly. It hath been condemned to a life without purpose, to serve only as a mere cog and operator of Sen’s machinations for adventurers. There is little beyond death that will convince it to deviate from its present acts.” He replied. Rainbow gave him another disgusted look.
“Yeah? Well just sit back and watch me flex my gift for gab!”
Seath shook his head as Rainbow zipped off to the giant. Leaning on his catalyst staff, he watched as the pegasus set herself down and waved in friendly greeting to the giant, who in turn ignored her completely and kept dropping rocks down the chute. Rainbow tried to initiate conversation, and again her words fell on deaf ears. She moved to a spot where she was directly in the giant’s line of sight. It simply looked straight through her while continuing at its task. Getting a tad annoyed, Rainbow rose from the ground and began flying around the giant’s head, an activity that would normally have at least warranted an annoyed reaction, but in this case produced nothing more than the same result as before. Finally, Rainbow grumbled and just set herself down on the chute, barring the giant from proceeding with its work. This at least gave it reason to pause upon realizing there was something in the way. It looked down at the minute pegasus as she folded her fore legs and asked if they now could please talk.
Its response was to introduce Rainbow to the boulder in its hands, smacking her clean off the top of the building and into a long drop to the ground below. Seath prepared to swoop down to rescue her, but after a moment Rainbow appeared again, clutching her bruised barrel with both hooves and staring with seething anger at the giant. She flew in to try and grab the boulder from its hands. It responded by plucking her off like she was a bit of dirt and throwing her hard against the wall of the adjacent tower. Groggily picking herself up from this, Rainbow switched tactics and flew to wrap her forelegs around the giant’s head, covering his eyes and preventing him from seeing what he was doing. Again the titanic being paused, caught off guard by this new development. It pondered for a second on what to do, then simply raised the boulder it was clutching in preparation to crush the offending pegasus under its weight.
Seath, having now grown tired of this ridiculous pantomime, shot the giant in the back with a dark orb, causing it to stumble and allow Rainbow Dash to zip out of harm’s way. As the dark sorcery slowly ate away at the giant’s body, it regained its balance, and returned to dropping boulders down the chute, bearing what had to be increasingly crippling pain with seeming indifference, even as its skin was dissolved to expose the wet muscle and fat underneath to the air. With her mouth hanging open in disbelief, Rainbow moved in for one last attempt as dissuading the giant from bringing any more harm to itself or those inside the fortress.
The giant complied with her request, and instead brought harm to her again instead. It backhanded the poor pegasus and sent her sailing again across the rooftops. She crash landed onto a walkway around the perimeter of the tower she’d initially emerged from, rolling several times before hitting the wall. Shaking his head, Seath charged another dark orb and cast it at the giant before flying over to tend to the downed mare.
“Is this the result thou sought with thine gift?” He asked sarcastically as Rainbow groaned and winced.
“Don’t even…start…I just…he….” She looked over and gaped as the giant resumed its task, paying no heed to the black ichor slowly devouring its flesh. Though its movements grew labored and blood spilled freely as arteries and veins were torn open, it continued to drop boulder after boulder, before finally keeling over onto the roof and dying with little more than a sigh of relief. Rainbow blinked and rubbed her eyes as the body vanished into nothingness and a brilliant white soul flew across the roof to infuse into Seath.
“Okay fine, so I need to pay more respect to just how dead set everything is on the ‘kill or be killed’ motif. Can you blame me? I was doing so well up until now!” The pegasus declared, then cringed as she got back to her hooves and felt her body explode with pain. Mercifully, it didn’t feel like she’d broken anything, but she was going to be sporting some serious bruises for a while.
“Scarcely am I one that blameth others for their mistakes, I only warn thee again that thou will be forced to pay dearly for every wrong step…” Seath replied as he picked up the clanking of an armored individual moving to his position. Looking up he promptly jerked himself out of the way of a steel arrow, then charged up another sorcery as a being dressed in the armor of an elite knight descended the staircase leading to the walkway, a longbow in its hands and a familiar crest etched on its cuirass.
“Course as soon as you say that, this place has to demonstrate it. Who’s this clown?” Rainbow Dash groaned as she backed away from the hollowed knight. It took note of her, then took aim with its longbow. Seath promptly funneled his sorcery into creating a barrier to deflect the bolt, then pulled Rainbow closer to him with his tentacles as their opponent rolled down the remaining stairs and drew out a long gleaming rapier.
“T’is Ricard, the lesser known Prince of Astora. Once a minor noble who came as emissary for his homeland, now no more than another empty shell who fell victim to the fate of the cursed.” The dragon lamented as he picked up on more clanking to his side. “And who comes here to join him?”
A larger human, decked out in heavy black steel armor and clutching a towering shield before its body marched across the walkway.
“Ah, a knight of Berenike, the mightiest of the mighty. How many of thee hath ventured here in search of hope? Dost there exist any of thine order who hath not been lost amidst these lands?” He mused as the knight raised a mace and charged to attack, while Ricard swapped his crossbow for a buckler shield and likewise moved in for the kill.
“I’m guessing there’s no point trying to talk sense with you either?” Rainbow Dash groaned as she forced herself to roll out of the way of Ricard’s blade. Spotting her catchpole where it had fallen off her back, the pegasus nabbed it in her teeth and spread her wings. Flying was going to be murder in her state, but so long as her wings still worked being airborne at least gave her some tactical advantage. Ricard stabbed violently at the air as Dash carefully moved herself out of range. With a very inhuman growl, the prince then leaped at her to correct this. Clenching her teeth around the pole, Dash swung it at her opponent and felt her jaw rattle as it impacted against his helmet and knocked him back onto the walkway. The Berenike knight tried to provide aid by bashing his way through Seath. Seath duly weathered the crushing blows to his body as he drew in air and expelled it back out as crystal. The knight stumbled back as gleaming crystal shards broke out all over his armor, their cursed effect seeping through to touch the flesh underneath. The knight swung his arms about madly to shatter the restrictive shell, only to then get knocked onto its armor plated butt by a heavy soul arrow.
Realizing his current arms were ill suited to continue the battle, Ricard sheathed his rapier and drew out his bow again, making Rainbow curse under her breath as she promptly had to land to avoid the arrows being loosed at her. She jabbed with her catch pole, Richard deflected the swings with his buckler. Breaking the last of the crystals off his armor, the knight resumed his attack on Seath. Seath grabbed its leg with a tentacle and brought the knight to sit down in another humiliatingly painful way.
Backing up against the stairs, Rainbow bit down harder on her weapon. It helped her bear the wrenching ache of her muscles, and stay focused as Ricard again swapped bow for rapier. The giant may have given her quite the pounding, but she couldn’t let that be the end of her, not when she had her friends counting on her. If she was going to die, it sure as hay wasn’t going to be at the hands of some minor twit like the one that was now charging at her.
Feeling her rage numbing away her pain, Rainbow Dash stood her ground till the last second, then leaped for the sky as Ricard slashed at her with his sword. She swung the catch pole downwards, angling it so the claw on the end hit the prince in the back like a hammer, knocking him flat onto the steps. Landing behind him, the pegasus thrust her weapon and snagged the armored nuisance around his neck, pulling him back to his feet, and swinging him to another hard fall onto the ground. The mare’s jaw throbbed from the exertion, reminding her that, while she may have been a top athlete, she didn’t have the strength of an earth pony to fall back on. Fortunately, it didn’t seem like Ricard would be able to exploit this short coming, as he was still reeling from nearly having his head yanked off his shoulders like a champagne cork. Seath took the opportunity to blast the prince with more crystal breath, turning him into a jagged mess of spikes that was easily shattered with one hard smack from the dragon’s tentacles.
With one opponent taken out, Seath turned back to the knight, making short work of parrying his mace, then knocking him back for a third time with a cascade of soul masses. Wagering the warrior’s flank had to be feeling as sore as her own did, Rainbow flinched as the knight shakily forced itself to stand up and backed away. Seath watched it carefully as it held up its shield, daring the dragon to go on the offensive. When Seath failed to comply the knight took a risk: it lowered its shield and pulled out an estus flask, hastily trying to heal the damage done to itself.
Seath wasted no time in showing his prey the fatal mistake it had made in doing so. His tentacles shot up and wrapped around the knights waist, pulling him back towards his opponent as he fashioned a long lance of crystal with his breath. Again the knight tried to raise its shield in defense, but the weight slowed its arm, enough that Seath was able to force the warrior onto his lance, impaling it clear through the chestplate. The estus flask tumbled worthlessly from the knight’s hand as it shivered and died without a peep.
“Wait…so not only can these guys keep coming back no matter how often they die, but they can also heal themselves if you don’t kill them quick enough? Man, that is crossing the line into flat out unfair!” Dash complained as the flask rolled towards her. Despite the pleasant warmth emanating from its smooth consistency she backed away from it in alarm.
“Lordran cares not for fairness, it cares for fortitude. Many is the way in which a soul’s will can be broken, thus is the rarity of one who still stands strong even when all turns against them. This fortress, and all else that dwells within these lands seek to see that such wheat is efficiently separated from the chaff.”
Rainbow narrowed her eyes in disgust. “Is that all this is to you? A test to see who’s fit to survive while you just cast the rest out to expire?”
Seath returned the glare as he picked up Ricard’s dropped rapier.
“Not to me, no. T’is fate that demands this be the way of each cycle. For a time all is good, then time puts end to all, heaping tragedy upon tragedy to ruin all that hath been built, to expose they who art strong enough to brave the peril, and set the cycle turning again.”
Rainbow mouthed Seath’s words to herself, her lips curling and eyes wincing as if she found them unpalatable.
“That is wrong on so many levels!” She exclaimed. Seath pushed his glasses up and stared at her.
“Is it? This is not thine homeland, nor hath it been shaped by thine history or culture. To what end can thou believe thine morals thus apply here, any more than mine did when a guest I was of Equestria?”
Rainbow blinked, then glowered. That, unfortunately, was a valid point…though that didn’t mean she had to like it.
“Doesn’t mean it ain’t still wrong.” She muttered before flopping back onto the ground again. With the adrenaline of the fight wearing off, the soreness of the beating she’d just endured was returning in force. She looked to the discarded estus flask and scrunched her face up in thought. “Urgh…not that I’d normally condone drinking unknown liquids, least if the nights spent with Applejack at the bar have taught me anything, but given I’m not exactly feeling tip top right now do you think a sip of this stuff would help me like it does you?”
Seath looked down at the flask, and gingerly picked it up. “In life t’would be a dangerous undertaking. The purity of Gwyn’s fire taketh a heavy toll on that of flesh which hath yet been touched by the curse. However, if thou seeketh their healing properties there is an alternative.”
Gently, Seath scooped the pegasus up in his hands and flew over to a small balcony below the walkway. Rainbow Dash furrowed her brow in confusion as she spotted a bonfire had been set up there, however as the heat of the flames infused into her skin and eased the pain she deemed it was probably better to not question small mercies.
“Rest here for now. Twilight and the others shall pass by this location shortly, assuming our acts hath eased their ascension through the fortress.”
Rainbow sighed and let herself be bathed in the warmth of the fire as Seath set her beside it. It almost felt like slipping into a steamy bath, just without the getting wet part.
“Thanks…nice to know it’s not all doom and gloom in this place.”
Seath nodded as he found a spot overhead to rest his larger self. “Indeed… and… to further clarify upon thine previous statement, I liketh the state of things here no more than thou. T’was merely that I believed no alternative was there to be explored… till unto thee was I delivered.”
Rainbow chuckled weakly. “It’s funny. Everyone here says you’re meant to be some super evil monster, worse than Tirek, Sombra and Chrysalis combined….yet Twilight still believes there’s good in you, and you likewise haven’t done much worse than what she gets up to during her more ‘investigative’ days.”
Seath tensed and scowled as he leaned down to refill the estus flask. “By and by do her acts bear similarity to mine own, in ways that haunt me as they do intrigue me. Whether she is a greater sage or a greater fool to trust me in spite of mine sins, to not nurture her potential would be unforgivable.”
Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes. “Is that because you see her as a means of making up for what you did?”
The narrowed gaze was returned, with a threatening growl to compliment it.
“Don’t give me that, Seath. I’ve seen how you act around her. It’s similar to how Discord acts around Fluttershy, and he does so partly because she showed him a means of making up for his past transgressions.” The blue pegasus intoned firmly, and without a shred of fear. Streams of crystal breath rose from Seath’s nostrils as he leaned back against the wall of the fortress and let her have her moment of triumph.
“Long have I believed myself beyond forgiveness, yet Twilight still seeks to shoulder the burden of my knowledge so that some manner of my legacy shalt be preserved. Further and further do I doubt my worthiness of such a boon, yet cast it aside, I cannot. A monster may history remember me as, but with thine grace, the art of sorcery shalt not be cast down with my name. Nay, e’en as the darkness grows, Twilight may yet shine as the sole light. Such is her passion and talent.”
Rainbow let the suspicion fade from her face. “You really do believe in her, don’t you?”
Seath sighed and stared up at the sky. “What teacher would be fool enough to not place faith in his student?”
Rainbow nodded and flopped over by the fire, giving herself over to the healing warmth till the sounds of hooves and feet echoed from inside the fortress.
“Ooogh, I knew I should have gone for some shoe protectors before we set out. This blood will take ages to get off my hooves!” Rarity whined as she stepped into view, revealing wet, sticky red stains splashed all over her limbs and the hem of her gown. “Oh this is such a disgrace! I’m literally trodding all over the memory of whatever poor soul died on that elevator! Really, why couldn’t someone check regularly for malfunctions like it not stopping before reaching the top of the shaft?”
Behind her, Twilight stumbled onto the balcony, with several more arrow shafts sticking out of her hide.
“Because I’m pretty sure that was the point, Rarity. Everything else in this place is designed to murder you, so why put an elevator in unless it was also meant to be a death trap?” She complained before sighting her pegasus friend, and the severely bashed up shape she was in. “Dash! Oh holy Faust what happened to you?”
Rainbow glanced at the numerous skewers buried in her friend like a pin cushion and looked suitably sick.
“I could ask the same of you, Twi. Did…did you all make it through in one piece?”
Spike stepped in, looking rather upset at Logan, who in turn betrayed his ire at the dragon with the way he walked over to the farthest part of the balcony and stood deliberately facing away from everyone.
“Yeah…more or less. Had a few more narrow escapes, but it got a lot easier when the boulders stopped falling.” Twilight smiled despite her injured state. “I take it you and Seath managed to handle things up here?”
Rainbow looked over her battered body and blushed.
“Uh… yeah, you could say that. Met a few more friends and took a few more licks. But we managed.”
Twilight lit up her horn and wrapped her friend in her magic.
“Hold still then, let me see if I can heal you up a bit.”
The warmth of the magic melded with the warmth of the bonfire, and Rainbow duly felt more and more like her own self.
“That’s kind of you Twi, but…mmm…shouldn’t you be more worried about yourself? You’re looking quite…umm…perforated?” The pegasus asked awkwardly. Twilight winced as she sat down and felt the arrowheads tear further at her flesh.
“It, uh…it looks worse than it feels. My fault, really, I was trying to slow down the damned elevator so Rarity could get off it before it crushed her against the ceiling, and didn’t think to watch where I stepped. Guess I tripped off another crossbow trap hidden in the walls.” Twilight smiled weakly. “It’s kind of strange, really. Never thought I’d welcome feeling pain, but after a week of being undead, it’s…strangely reassuring to know I’m not… erm… hollow yet.”
Now feeling very worried for the alicorn, Rainbow raised a hoof.
“Twi, look, I applaud your show of toughness, but let’s not try to push ourselves too much.” Dash replied. Twilight nodded and began removing the arrows from her flesh with her magic.
“I know. Believe me, after dying once already, I’m very aware, Rainbow. But so long as I’ve got something that can help us get through this place, I might as well make use of it to try and help my friends.”
Rarity’s face fell in lament as she grabbed a canteen from her saddlebags and used it to wet a cloth.
“No, no, that was as much my bad as it was yours, Twilight. Poor Spikey Wikey was trying so valiantly to hold off that dreadful serpent mage so I could get to safety. I couldn’t just leave him behind when there appeared to be a perfectly good means of quickly getting back onto the lower level and rescuing him!” She mewled while cleaning her hooves. Spike kept glaring at the elder sorcerer.
“I told you I could have handled that! This ring Aurelia gave me was doing a fine job of protecting me!” He declared, showing off the shiny steel plate band around his finger. Logan let his giant hat wilt forward as he silently cursed the folly he was being forced to deal with.
“A ring of steel protection may keep you safe from a physical attack, but it is very enemy specific. Had I not dragged you out of there, you’d have ended up as a charred ashen heap, same as many of the other victims of this fortress!” He replied. Spike scowled as Griggs wearily stepped out, his arms hanging limply and spent with the weight of his catalyst.
“At least we have again bested Sen’s traps. Let us take a moment to recharge, and we can finally put this damned place behind us!” He said. Twilight nodded heavily and fished out her estus flask.
“Indeed, we can’t afford to start arguing now. Not when we’ve managed to make it through one great challenge thanks to us combining our efforts.” She said.
Seath looked down at the assembled party, noting that indeed their greater number had actually made the going easier than the many who’d attempted to face Sen’s Fortress solo.
“Again thou speaks a surprising truth, my student… however, thine words also attest to this as our journey’s first leg. Assuming the demons will accommodate us all, Anor Londo promises many more dangers.”
The flutter of leathery wings drew everyone’s attention. All eyes turned skywards as many pink skinned monstrosities descended from above, alighting upon several pillars at the far end of the roof, eyeing and awaiting the approach of the party.
“Well for better or worse, at least fate seems to intend for us to reach there, finally.” Twilight said as she drank from her flask.