Seeking Secrets

by Shumiry

Chapter 9

The five ponies huddled together, consumed by grief. Fluttershy and Rarity bawled openly, wet rivers pouring from their eyes. Applejack and Pinkie stood stoically, silent streams flowing down their cheeks, dripping to the carpet. Twilight lay on the ground, forehooves clasped over her head, shaking with her sobs. Luna walked up beside them.
“Come my little ponies. There will be time later to grieve, but we haven't won yet.” The mares looked up at her, incredulous. Hadn't won yet? Impossible. Luna explained,
“My sister has not yet been returned to us. Whatever sorcery he used to ensnare her is still active, still being fed by his will, so his bond has not been totally broken.”
As if on cue, the Infinigon burst.
The creature stood before them, smoke rising from wicked burns in his skin. His breathing was labored, and all but one rune circle had been broken. Only the receiver remained intact, and, to Luna's eyes, it burned with activity. She reacted instinctively.
In her thousand year imprisonment, she had trained extensively for the battle between her and her sister that would inevitably occur upon her return. Her reflexes were honed to a warrior's edge, and she could sniff out weakness a mile away. She, of course, hadn't had much use for those skills since her return, but now? Perhaps her banishment wasn't such a horrible thing after all.
The golem was weakened, but replenishing its power from the receiver. Replenishing itself with her sister's power. She vanished in a dark puff of smoke, an identical one forming behind the beast. It spun to meet her, and found itself facing empty air. As Luna's horn pierced the creature's back, she gathered her power, and cast the spell she had learned all those long years ago.
Twilight had been right, there were two souls in the golem. One a sickly, blackish green, like a bruise gone septic, she recognized immediately as belonging to the Necroequicon. The other was a gorgeous sky blue, and was only a tiny fraction the size of the other. Though she was tempted to throw everything she had at the other soul, she very much doubted she could destroy it, or even seriously harm it. She knew little and less about necromancy and soul-to-soul magic, but she knew how to send a leyline pulse, and grabbed the sky blue soul fragment in her will.
With a shot like lightning dancing through the clouds, her message was off, tracing the soul fragment's tendrils back to its owner. Luna heard a snap, like a tree branch breaking, and came back to reality to see the creature fading into the distance, some black rod clutched in his grasp, as she flew across the room. She flapped her wings a few times, stopping her flight, and landed on the carpet. The princess reached for her magic to launch another volley at the human. She just needed to buy some time...
A wave of vertigo hit her, and she fell to her knees. Something was horribly wrong. The omnipresent sense of the magic in her horn was glaringly absent. Shaking, she raised her hoof to her head, feeling the tiny stump where her horn used to be. Her eyes welled with tears.
It was too much.
Luna slumped to the ground, one hoof still on her head, as she watched the ponies' futile attempt to fight the golem. Applejack was swept aside, another gash appearing along her ribs. Pinkie was sitting against the wall, struggling to remain conscious. Twilight hadn't moved, and still lay on the carpet, hooves over her head. Rarity and Fluttershy were still in motion, but she could see the monster was toying with them. It was only a matter of time.
“I'm so sorry dear sister,” Luna wept, her vision blurred by tears, “I've not only failed you, but doomed the bearers of the Elements as well.” In her mind, she tried to remember Celestia's laughter, but the sound was more like a rusty wheel, grating against itself. As the noise grew louder, she shut her eyes, squeezing them tight. The horrid squeal rose to a crescendo. Then, the entire room exploded.
A man stood in the center of the blast. None of the ponies seemed to have been affected, but the walls of the royal bedroom were scorched, and the entire wall where the balcony had been was obliterated, open to the night sky. Chunks of smoldering stone rolled across the floor, large bricks coming to rest before their smaller counterparts. The golem was embedded in the rock, seemingly unhurt, but temporarily dazed.
The ponies were enveloped in a blue glow, and levitated across the room to Luna. As they were moved, their wounds began to heal, and, by the time they were deposited on the soft carpet, they were all looking around as if with new eyes. Eventually, their gazes all turned to this new creature, identical in appearance to the other one, and yet... somehow completely different.
As he walked towards them, his face remained placid. He didn't smile, but there was no harshness to his features either. He moved with an effortless grace, using careful steps and just the right amount of sway in his balance. Genuine, Luna thought, where the other is a mockery, he is the embodiment.
He knelt before the inert form of Rainbow Dash, and placed his hands on her. The soft blue glow emanated from her, seeming like an extension of her coat, and her wounds closed. The spilled blood was pulled up from the floor, returning where it belonged. He placed his hands over her heart. Her body jerked as they heard the sizzle of electricity. When she stilled, he waited a few seconds, then did it again.
After the fourth try, he lowered his head, placing his ear against her chest. With his eyes closed, he listened. Whump-whump, whump-whump, whump-whump. A smile crept onto his face, and he opened his eyes as he straightened, effortlessly lifting Rainbow's limp form in his arms. With the same measured, careful steps he strode to the ponies, and gently set the pegasus on the ground.
Luna stared in disbelief. The others were watching the slow rise and fall of R.D.'s breath, wearing broad smiles as silent tears rolled down their faces.
“Who are you?” Luna asked the man, her voice barely more than a whisper. His gaze flicked to hers, and she was struck by an intense sense of love and devotion. The similarity to Celestia was uncanny, and the sudden reminder made tears well in her eyes again. He gave her a soft smile,
“I am Secret Seeker. I'm here to protect you.” Without another word he turned as he rose to his feet, and strolled across the room. The Necrogolem had extricated itself from the wall, and stood facing this new opponent. The two humans stared at each other for a moment, then charged.
A long, thin sword fashioned of green-black lightning appeared in the hands of the golem, while shorter, thicker sky blue blades appeared for Seeker. Where the weapons clashed, sparks flew, and tiny bolts of electricity danced through the air. The battle was unlike anything Luna had ever witnessed.
As it progressed, the weapons changed. Swords to hammers. Hammers to bows. Bows to crossbows. Then much stranger things. Longer, more slender versions of Pinkie Pie's party cannon that they held in their hands, firing balls of lightning. Then smaller versions, held in one hand. Then back to the longer version, but this time firing a scattering of projectiles. Soon, all weapons had been abandoned, and the battle became an exchange of punches and kicks.
Whichever arm or leg they were using to attack or block would flare up with their respective lightning, seemingly signifying that they couldn't just coat themselves in it perpetually. Luna couldn't tell what the lightning was, or why it would pose a threat to the seemingly invincible titans, until Secret Seeker made a clever move.
When their arms met in another clash, at the moment of impact, Secret Seeker reached his other hand forward to grab the golem's throat. However, when the golem reached up to grab the advancing limb, its hand passed right through it. The move had been a mirage. Too late it realized its mistake, as Seeker's lightning fist slammed into its gut.
Literally.
Where it should have hit flesh for a meaty impact, instead it vanished through the skin, leaving him up to his wrist in the golem's stomach. When he jerked his fist back, it was encased in a swirling, black-green glow. Clever, thought Luna, he pulled out a piece... He opened his hand, and the glow pooled in his palm where, when his fingers closed upon it, it burst into wisps and vanished.
Luna went cold. She hadn't just seen that. Couldn't have just seen that. It was impossible. Even Discord in his heyday couldn't destroy a soul. Yet, if there had been any doubt, it vanished when she heard the blood-curdling roar of the golem. Later it would haunt her, but for that brief moment, Luna reveled in the creature's suffering. For all it had done, it deserved no better. She remembered her sister's scream.
The shriek had another effect. Rainbow groaned, and opened her ruby eyes. She found herself surrounded by her friends, tears welling as they smiled down at her. With a cry, Fluttershy threw her forelegs around the pegasus, squeezing her tight. Too tight. Cursing her blue coat for hiding the signs of her strangulation, she tried to signal the others to her plight. Fortunately, Applejack caught her meaning, and placed a calming hoof on Fluttershy's shoulder.
“Alright sugar cube, we just got 'er back, les not strangle 'er to death.” The yellow pegasus gave a small squeak of apology and released her friend, though it was obvious she was fighting the urge to hug her some more.
“What happened?” R.D. asked, “I remember getting hit by that... thing, and I thought I was going to die. Then everything kinda went fuzzy, and dark.” The ponies stared at her in silence, unable to bring themselves to tell her the truth. Twilight was the first to snap out of her daze.
“Did you see a bright light? Or any relatives? What do you remember from the other side?” Dash leaned back from her exuberant friend.
“What are you talking about? I just passed out or something, right?” a slight panic had crept into her voice, but she was managing to hold back the rising front.
“Rainbow, darling, you... you've been... well...” Rarity struggled to say the words, Applejack interposed,
“You died hon. You were gone for a good ten minutes.” Dash stared at them, sure this was some kind of sick joke. But their faces had all turned serious, except Pinkie Pie, who was excitedly talking about throwing a Welcome Back From the Dead Dashie Party, her hair back to its usual poofyness.
She struggled to come to grips with this new development. I died? But I don't remember anything. She racked her brain, trying to recall. I got stabbed by that... whatever it was. Then I started getting really cold. And I said... what did I say? “Don't make me haunt you.” Then there had been darkness. Slowly, she recalled something else.
It was dark. And I was so alone. But then I heard that voice. Or thought it anyways.
“Stay here,” it had said, “stay a while my little pony, your time has not yet come.” It had sounded like...
“Celestia...” she muttered, causing Luna to jerk her head around.
“What? Do you remember something?” she asked, struggling to contain her excitement. Rainbow nodded slowly,
“Uh, yeah, I remember a voice. Or, I think it was a voice, I don't really remember hearing it. It didn't work like that.” She started to get frustrated, unable to express herself properly. I need to read more, she thought, I bet Twilight doesn't have this problem. With a small shake of her head she continued,
“Anyways, it told me to stay and wait, that something was coming to take me back home. I dunno, at the time I didn't notice, but now that I think back on it, it kinda reminded me of Princess Celestia.” Luna breathed a sigh of relief.
“Then she's still alive.” she whispered, a single tear forming in her eye. The others were looking at her now,
“I thought you two were immortal...” Twilight said, concern evident in her tone. Luna nodded,
“While that is true in most senses, we, like any other sentient creature, have a soul that contains the essence of our being. If that is destroyed, we would, presumably, cease to exist.” The others seemed unconvinced,
“But isn't that impossible? I've never heard of anypony destroying a soul.” Luna nodded her head in the direction of the battle, causing Dash to notice for the first time that her horn was broken.
“They can.”
The battle had raged on while the ponies had talked, with neither side landing any more hits. The Necrogolem was becoming concerned. It had stopped paying attention to what Seeker had been doing while it battled the others, and was now regretting that decision, as it wondered where he was drawing his seemingly endless power from.
It had to pace itself. Since Celestia was constantly having to heal, her power generation was limited. Fortunately, it had nearly perfect magic control, wasting no energy in the spells it used. All other things being even, it should have won this battle long ago. But the sheer volume of power Seeker had at his command was causing it to have some considerable difficulty dispatching him. It was becoming annoying.
The golem decided to reduce the frequency of the knife, to give itself a mild boost in energy. It took only a moment, and it had set up a small onslaught to distract Secret Seeker, but to no avail. When it froze for a split-second to make the adjustment, the man pounced. Like a manticore he swiped, two crushing blows across the golem's chest, while a wall of force from behind had appeared, preventing any sort of retreat.
With an unearthly howl, the Necrogolem leapt away. There was no choice now, it would have to drop the knife's spell entirely to fight him. This needed to end.
Power poured into it through the receiver. All of Celestia's strength, a mountain of it, funneled through its tiny frame. A wicked grin stretched across its face. Victory was inevitable. The surging power was so great, it manifested itself as glowing waves of black-green chakra, like an underworld fire radiating from the construct up to the ceiling. It could only imagine how terrifying it must appear, as it snarled in anger. So why was Secret Seeker smiling!?
An easy smile had indeed slid into place on Seeker's visage, his head tilted down, eyes closed. He seemed to be contemplating something. Or rather, he had been, and now had come to a conclusion. As he opened his eyes, he looked up at the Necrogolem, and laughed. A genuine laugh, filled with love and mirth, like a male counterpart to Celestia's own.
As it ended, he shook his head in disbelief, still smiling.
“Of course,” he said, “I'd been trying to figure out how you did it, how you'd moved so well, moved your energy so efficiently.” His hand crackled to life with sky blue lightning, “At first I thought it was just practice, but you don't have much practice, do you? Having been trapped in a book and all.” His smile took on a more sinister edge, morphing into a dark grin. “But I think I figured it out now.” Suddenly the lightning became subdued. It no longer flared and flashed, but stayed close to his skin, like a sheet of writhing power.
“Which is good.” he muttered, though his voice still carried across the room, “because it seems like you've finally dropped the spell on the dagger.” The Necrogolem's eyes went wide. He shouldn't know! He couldn't have been watching! At the flash of panic, Seeker barked a short laugh.
“You foal,” he said, righteous wrath making his voice sound like it was being scraped across rocks, “trapped in a book and you failed to realize that knowledge is power. All that time my mind was open to you, and you never peeked inside, did you? You just looked into my hate, never the waving fields of my love, for if you had, you would've realized you could never have turned me against these ponies.”
He gestured to the huddled group,
“They're the only things I've ever loved! Them! This world!” As his anger grew, the chakra fields he'd been keeping hidden slipped out, becoming visible to those gathered. It looked as if the sky itself emanated from him, roiling waves of power flaring out, filling the space between himself and the wall behind him. Where the two fields of energy touched overhead, they sparked and writhed, green-black and sky blue, warring while their masters spoke.
Tears burned in his eyes as he continued, his voice strengthened by the magic coursing through him,
“You would have seen that I'd rather die than let you set even one blade of grass out of place here!” In a blink, his hand held a long, thin sword. The blade was virtually two-dimensional, so thin that, if you tried to look straight at the edge, it would be invisible.
Dash had risen shakily to her hooves.
“We should help him! Use the Elements, right?” she looked around at her friends. Their eyes were half-lidded, and Twilight seemed incapable of moving. Their wounds had been closed, but their strength hadn't returned. At her words however, they began struggling to stand, all except Twilight.
“We can't,” she murmured, causing the others to turn their heads to her, “you need to have a minimum threshold of strength to utilize them, and with the waves of interference being generated by their battle,” her horn nodded towards the combatants, “that threshold is much higher.” She gestured towards their necks, where the elements had been when they'd arrived, all now absent.
“You can try,” she went on, “but I doubt any of us have the power to recall our Element.”
After a few moments of futile effort, they had to agree. There was indeed something preventing them from manifesting their Elements. Turning back to the battle, they silently prayed for Secret Seeker's success.
The two humans moved. Only Luna was able to follow them, each step hitting the floor with enough force to nearly crack the stone. They met, and the sword arced, bisecting the golem. As the blade passed through, it shrieked, the body crumbling to dust as they saw the telltale wisps of green-black fire dissipate into the air. Secret Seeker straightened, turning to face the ponies. Fluttershy jumped into the air,
“He did it! He did it! Woohoo!!” she yelled, while the others could only stare, slack-jawed. He smiled at them, as a blade burst through his chest.
The cheering stopped.
There were three of him in the room now, the Necrogolem, Secret Seeker, and the light blue image of him that was his soul. The image's eyebrows knit together as it considered the weapon punching through it, mouth hanging open in surprise.
“No...” it whispered, as a pulse of energy went through the blade. A green-black stain spread across his soul, like an ink blot expanding in water. When it encompassed his entire torso, his head came up, and he looked at the group of ponies, a deep sorrow in his eyes. Then he burst into a thousand wisps of sky blue fire.
Secret Seeker had failed. The ponies stared in horror as his body fell lifelessly to the ground. A puppet with no master.
The Necrogolem laughed.