//------------------------------// // And the Order of the Princesses. // Story: The Warlock // by JediWyrm //------------------------------// Princess Celestia was sitting in the throne room enjoying a brief respite from from day court. She lifted her tea cup and took a drink to wash down her afternoon snack of finger sandwiches. "Tia. Look at this." Luna burst into the room waving a card in the air. When she got over to her sister the glow around the card switched colours and Celestia brought it over to get a look at it. "'Glad you were reunited with you sister.' They really do make cards for every occasion, so what about it has gotten you up in a dander?" She said. "It's not the card, it's the signet seal." Luna replied as she swung a book around. "It looked familiar to me so I looked it up." Celestia leafed through the book before finding the signet. "Hearts Shadow. Rings a bell. Wait, was he that warlock we fought 12 to 13 hundred years ago?" "Yeah. The Warlock of the High Order. The Duke of Darkness." Luna started. "The Baron of Blight." Celestia finished. "You scramble the guards to search for him. I'll send for Twilight." Twilight rushed into the conference room for her meeting with both princesses. She had teleported to Canterlot to save as much time. "So whats the emergency you sent me for? Chrysalis come back? Encroaching army? Did I fail a test?" She stammered out as quickly as she could. "No, No, and No. A very powerful warlock has escaped his prison. We have the guard searching for him but it took both Luna and me to defeat him. We barely managed to imprison him." Celestia said. "We want you to do recon for us. My sister and I have gotten stronger over the years, and we want to know if he has gotten any stronger." Luna continued. "Okay, but what makes him so much of a threat?" Twilight asked? "He created and released the blight. He is a very strong user of Dark magic. If you were to compare Nightmare Moon's skill in it to his, it would be like comparing you to Celestia." "What do you mean by the blight?" "Take the worst drought, pestilence, and famine you've ever heard about and roll them into one. The blight spread mercilessly killing all the plants wherever it was, and because of it's effect on the land any earth pony that was in the area got sick as well. It had affected a few towns by the time we were able to find a way to halt it's spreading. We were able to track it to the source which lead us to Hearts Shadow." Celestia explained. "Twas a glorious battle. Though the research afterwards to find a way to counteract the blight was a bit dull in comparison. For the matter at hand, he needs to be found and dealt with before he can release it once more. Who knows what evil he is up to at this moment." Not at this moment, but earlier in the day. Hearts Shadow walked down the street admiring the architecture of Las Pegasus. He was wearing one of the very few pieces of clothes he had due to his dresser having been stuck in a rock wall. It was a very stately long coat, going from his neck with a fair length collar all the way back and covering his cutie mark. The buttons on it were done up to resemble roses and the colour scheme was a lovely dark blue, darker than his coat so as to help accentuate it. "OH Darling. That is just a wonderful coat you have. Has a bit of that olde tyme flair to it." A dazzling white unicorn with a perfectly coifed purple mane stated as she practically materialized next to him. "I have a taste for the old styles. The name is Hearts Shadow, might I be granted the pleasure of knowing yours?" "I'm Rarity. So nice to meet a gentlecolt such as yourself. I do have to ask. I don't quite get the idea behind the little skull-shaped accessory on your head." She said with the hint of a question. "I ain't no accessory too-" Beaky started before a dark yellow glow wrapped around his beak silencing him. "I beg pardon for him. He usually doesn't speak to others so his manners are a bit rusty, especially in regards to ladies." "It talks." Rarity stated, taken aback at the sight she just bore witness to. "Yes, I used a variation on a golem creation spell. Have you ever found yourself 3 days into a 2 hour job, and caught you talking to yourself? I don't mean just thinking out loud, but holding an actual conversation?" "Well, maybe once or twice when I have gotten so taken by the muses." "I made Beaky here so I would have someone else to talk to. Solely so I wouldn't stray too far down the path of insanity during those moments. The skull itself was merely representative of the first, and so far only, success I've had with a rather difficult ongoing project." He said. "Huh, well be careful. You never can know what the nobility over in Canterlot will take to as the next fad. Speaking of fashion, I passed by this lovely little store that might have something you can modernize your look with, and keep to the olde tyme style you like." She said turning around to lead the way. Giggling a little as she imagined the noble walking around with decorative skulls on their heads. Hearts Shadow quickly caught up to her side so as to act as her escort. A short time later found him trying on several different jackets while chatting politely with Rarity about various topics. During one of the pauses as they checked the look of a jacket she brought up the question of his cuite mark. "Ah yes, it's an old glyph that stands for 'Dark.'" He said. "Oh, so I have here a Tall, Handsome, and 'Dark' stallion. Maybe I can get you to escort me to the fashion show tonight." "While spending an evening with you would be enchanting, I must sadly proffer a rain check. It's been ages since I've been out this way and I only have a short time to take in the changes to the sights before I must move on. So I shall owe you one evening of elegance sometime in the hopefully near future." Hearts Shadow said, bowing low. "I will definitely hold you to that. Ahah! Try this jacket on." She said producing an almost black dark blue, with silver buttons and a trim of dark green. Changing into the coat showed that it followed near the same cut as his original jacket but had the modern seams that gave it a whole new look. "This is absolutely perfect, and I give you my word on that evening." He said as he produced the bits to pay for his new look. Even Beaky looked impressed at it, though the ribbon that had been tied around him prevented any actual comment. "I wish you enjoyment of you event tonight." He continued as they left the store, holding up his hoof towards Rarity. "I most certainly will, even if I don't have a gentlecolt such as you with me." She said placing her hoof on his, giggling a little as he proceed to plant a small farewell kiss on it. She also admired the fit of his new jacket as he walked away prior to heading off to do some shopping. "Okay. I think I might be able to use a spell in conjunction with the cutie map to trace any major dark magic surges. That should let me track him whenever he uses it. You said his cutie mark was a glyph?" Twilight said, holding up a notepad jotting down notes and magical notations. "It looked like this" Luna said, using on hoof to draw a vertical line in the air, her other hoof then drew a bowl shaped line intersecting the first, then she used both hooves to put a pair of dots just below the bowl. "It stands for 'Dark' and signifies his talent in dark magic." "It might take a couple days for me to fine tune the spells but we'll find him and put a stop to any nefarious plans he has." Twilight stated before getting up to leave and head back to Ponyville. A week later. Hearts Shadow was walking along pulling his wagon behind him. A travel cloak covered his body and a hood pulled up help keep the sun out of his eyes. Beaky was sitting on top of the wagon. "Hey, why can't I have a hood? Or at least ride inside the wagon, the sun'll bleach me if I don't get out of it soon." "You should have thought about that before making that comment and spooking the nice young filly. She was merely curious about what kind of creature you used to be. There was no need to be rude." "She called me a chicken hawk. She was rude first!" Hearts Shadow sighed, knowing that trying to teach Beaky some sort of manners was a battle of attrition he just would not win. He had to try anyways, even if it was pointless. "We've got company incoming." Beaky said causing him to look up and see the six figures up ahead. Once he got closer to them the one in the lead position called out. "Warlock, cease! We're here to put an end to your malicious scheme." A purple alicorn, likely the Princess Twilight he read about in the papers, said with authority. "And what, pray tell, is the scheme your stopping?" He said calmly. "Yer planning on releasing that blight of yours once more. We're here ta stop you." Said one of the others. "How exactly are you planning on stopping me?" "By kicking your flank and throwing you back in your prison." Said a rainbow-maned blue pegasus, just before she shot towards him to make words into action. A light sigh escaped him as he sent a gust of wind to alter her course enough to avoid the attack. Then having to greatly increase the strength when she was able to handle the first sudden gust. The stronger one managed to send her crashing into the grass along side his wagon. Noticing Twilight power up her horn and sending a blast of magic at him, a black field surrounded his horn and a similarly coloured streak appeared in the air. The streak intercepted the blast and diverted it straight into the ground. "You're going to need power far greater than that to match me. I fought off both Celestia and Luna." "Come on girls, lets hit him with the power of harmony." Twilight called out, before the mares were enveloped by a rainbow coloured power. The power itself cause Hearts Shadow to raise an eyebrow, before he noticed that it was coalescing into a beam headed his way. A smirk showed up on his face as the black magic covered his horn once more. After a few seconds of firing the beam at the warlock, Twilight and her friends let up on the power. As it dissipated they noticed two things. First was a long trench dug into the ground by the beam, that ended at the second thing. A giant black shield which vanished shortly after the beam. Then they saw that the warlock was gone. Scanning the area Twilight was able to detect the remnants of a teleport spell, but was unable to trace it. Her friends having headed back to Ponyville to watch the map to see if they could find him that way, Twilight headed to Canterlot to report on the attack to Celestia. "That was why we only wanted to observe him. He obviously has gotten more powerful as well. It'll probably take all three of us, though we should bring in Cadance as well just to have a fourth, to be able to beat him." The Solar Diarch said once her student had finished explaining about the brief battle. She looked over to her sister, who was catching a quick nap due to having been woken once the warlock had been found. Before she could say much more a soft knock on the door drew their attention. "Come in." "Your highness, we have a report on the whereabouts of the warlock." The guard who poked his head in the door said, not letting a hint of the nervousness he was feeling show on his face or in his voice. "Very good, where is he?" Celestia said, glancing at Twilight to keep her student from trying to run off for a rematch while deciding if she should prod her sister awake or not. "He's um... he was seen at the city gates. He'll be at the castle entrance shortly and he's requesting an audience with you and your sister." He stated, looking at the sleeping form of the Lunar Diarch. The two awake princesses stood still momentarily. Twilight was sorting through defense plans and strategies while Celestia was thinking about what tea would suit the situation best. It didn't even take a full second. "Let the guards know to let him in. Have him escorted to the Mountain Falls Tearoom and let the Royal Tea Stewardess know that I would like a Yerba Mate tea to be prepared." Celestia said, cutting off her students thoughts on a full out attack. She then walked over and gently lifted her sister up in her magical field. The guard left to go about his orders, ignoring the sudden splash and yelp of one of the rooms occupants with a practiced skill. Hearts Shadow opened the door to the room he was lead to. Entering it gave him the sight of three princesses sitting before him. Two of them sitting just as regally as they would at a parade, or in court, while the third tried to hide the glower she was giving him. Looking about the room saw a beautiful mural of a mountain scene with a waterfall along one edge that was both paint and actual. Sitting at the table he said "It's lovely to be able to be face to face with a princess without a barrage of spells inbetwixt us." "Yes well, a formal request for an audience is a much better way to arrange a meeting than causing an Equestria wide disaster." Tittered Celestia. "Though I felt a more informal setting would be more apropos." "To put some issues at ease, I am not here to give some list of demands or anything of such. I am merely here to request my families title and estate. Although the original land belonging to them is being put to use by a lovely little group of poines, I would be willing to accept a land grant so that they might continue to operate without any major upheavals." "What do you mean family title?" Twilight asked. "I am the sole heir to the Earl of Bridle Valley." Hearts Shadow stated as he pulled out his signet and showing it to them. "That would be one of the heirless estates the Department of Royal Regalia keeps track of. How can you prove you are the rightful heir?" "A simple lineage tracking spell would prove so." "So you're not planning on releasing your blight again?" Twilight asked, rather bluntly. Earning a tiny side-glance from her mentor. "I never intended to release it the first time. I was in the middle of an experiment on a plant when it became very aggressive, carnivorous, with a lightning quick growth. I was forced to used the blight to contain it. My work on the plant was due to having hit a wall in my research into a counter agent for the blight. My containment spell for it ended up suffering a cascade failure which allowed it to spread." Hearts Shadow explained. "So what, your just a misunderstood researcher?" "By no means. I am a master of the dark arts. There just no reason I have to be evil to be such. I'm no teenager rebelling against their parents or a psychopath bent on world domination or total destruction. Quite the opposite as my primary goal is to actually create a whole new species. Thought that is for another discussion." "Well, I am wondering how you managed to block the harmony blast Twilight and her friends launched at you." Celestia stated, and then questioned. "It's was a void shield. Takes the raw magical energy hitting it, absorbs it and uses it to strengthen itself. The stronger the magical attack, the stronger the shield, and it would always be exactly as strong at the attack. Very useful, very tricky to get right. A slight error in the casting can make the shield to weak, or to strong. A weak shield would break, and a strong shield would suck in the energy in a more direct manner, and if not dispelled, it would quickly become a thaumaturgical black hole. That was actually the first time I got to really test it." "Okay, why don't you tell me about yourself. It'll take some time to get the lineage spell ready and for it to do it's job. I do recall your parents, both earth ponies. I believe the died defending their town during a war." Celestia started, writing down a list of things and sending it off to her steward.