Trading Pains

by DJSaltine

The Alter of Arachlath

Twilight got back to Sugarcube Corner with Pinkie Pie when they both viewed a miracle. Mrs. Cake was up and well, taking care of the two foals.

“Mrs. Cake? What’re you doing up?” Pinkie Pie began, everypony knowing that she would continue. “Are you feeling better like Twilight is, or maybe you just got up and didn’t know you were actually better, but really you need…”

“Pinkie,” Mrs. Cake began motherly. “I’m fine.”

Twilight smiled caringly. “Did a zebra come in and cure you?”

“Why, yes, dear.” Mrs. Cake smiled, burping Pound. “He had strange markings on his face.”

Pinkie was still talking, even though Mrs. Cake and Twilight were continuing their conversation. “… and she was sooooo scared. I never meant…” she rambled on.

“Sounds like Zeke,” Twilight continued. She smiled, watching as Mrs. Cake took Pound and placed him next to Pumpkin, as Mrs. Cake picked her up for burping. “Maybe I should check on the other ponies, just to see if any other of the sick ponies have been cured, that is, if you don’t need any help here?”

“Oh, don’t worry about me, dear,” Mrs. Cake replied, still burping the foal in her hooves. “I can take care of these two by myself.”

Twilight began walking towards the door. “If you’re sure…”

“It’s fine. They may be wild, they can be tamed,” she winked, slyly. She took her two foals to the back room, readying them for a nap.

Twilight smiled and she began to see the rest of Ponyville.

Pinkie Pie, on the other hoof, was still talking. “… and she made a face like…” She blinked one eye and stuck her tongue, making a growling noise, “Grawww.” She relaxed her face muscles back to ease, only to start giggling. “I could never get that face out of my head!” She stopped and looked around for Twilight and Mrs. Cake. “Where is everypony?”

* * * * * * * *

Twilight met up with Rainbow Dash and Applejack, happy to see them just as well as her. Of course, her conversations were cut short due to the sun soon to set. When she got back to her home, it was just as dirty as it was when she left a few hours before. “Spike?” she called out, slowly walking inside.

The door to Twilight’s bed slowly creaked open, allowing a sliver of light to grow, engrossing the room in golden light from the lamps. Inside, Twilight could easily see Spike’s outline on her bed, still in the position she left him in.

“Wow…” Twilight whispered to herself, careful not to awaken the young dragon. “He must’ve been up all night last night.” She quietly closed the door, only having a thin sliver of light. “I hope it doesn’t affect his sleep cycle…” She yawned and laid on the guest bed, quick to doze off into dreamworld.

* * * * * * * *

Twilight was in complete darkness. She looked around, but couldn’t find anything. No ponies, no buildings, no grass, nothing. Just then, a slow piano riff played out, its haunting melody surrounding Twilight. She looked behind, hoping to see the pony playing. When she turned her head forward, she saw a cave. It looked like the cave that they went into to stop the sleeping dragon from leaving Ponyville in smoke a while ago.

She slowly approached the cave, the piano riff getting louder. Her left eyebrow rose in confusion, she entered the cave to see candles scattered about. Masks of ponies’ faces frozen in horror were hung on the walls of the cave, their shadows dancing as the flames crackled on the wick.

The cave’s mouth grew to a crescendo as it opened to reveal a large, circular hole, obviously the place where the dragon had once slept. Inside, tables cluttered full of many different animal skulls and candles, smaller than those closer to the mouth as the wax gathered below hauntingly surrounded an alter. The alter was covered in a golden cloth and had four candles set perfectly on top. Behind the alter, a golden statue of an eight-hooved pony held a thick tome with two of its hooves while the other six were resting at different angles. It stared maliciously with its eight eyes, two strings about an inch thick of a possible moustache hanging over its mouth, and a mane that stood up as if underwater. In its upper chest where the heart would be, appeared to be a wooden stake jutting out.

Twilight walked closer to the strange-looking book, noticing a tiled floor only around the alter. She felt her hooves clop on the more solid ground, the noise getting a bit louder from the soft puffs of dust to a solid clunk with each step. The music that played was getting louder, near crescendo, as her eyes looked over the book. Only one word was on the page that she knew how to pronounce. “Arachlath?”

The piano stopped. A hiss echoed from the statue, its nostrils producing a thick, white fog. The statue’s eyes, though distant, started to glow red. All the candles, excluding the alter’s candles extinguished, darkening all but Twilight, the alter, and the strange statue.

The two strings of the mustache starting twitching, first slowly, but then, extraordinarily violent. Twilight backed up a bit, her head being lowered in fear, never taking her eyes off of the statue.

A new hissing sound emanated from the golden statue. This one sounded like that of the hiss from before, but was an undeniable ‘Yessssss?’

Twilight backed up back on to the dirt ground. As all four hooves hit the dirt, she felt the ground just give out, and she fell through utter darkness. She screamed as she fell, the music picking up into a loud beat. Quickly thinking, she opened her wings and fluttered a bit in the air, her feet hanging lightly below her.

As she hovered, a pair of glowing eyes appeared from behind her. The music quieted down, letting the vocals take over. “What have we here, this strange new meat? A certain dish, a tasty treat. You’re flesh looks tender, it’ll cook so nice. I’ll serve you up with a side of rice. My lord is famished, so you should do.”

Twilight had enough of this. “Celestia will hear about this!”

“Who?” it responded. Although it had no mouth, Twilight could tell that whatever this was was smiling. “A princess is nice, nevertheless, but wars always leave a horrible mess. No, she won’t guess, she’ll never know; that her precious ponies will be beaten so low. We eventually shall strike, don’t get me wrong; she’s reigned over us for far too long. We must wait, we’ll attack from inside. She may run, but she’ll never hide!”

Twilight’s face scowled in uncontrollable rage; she didn’t want to hear Celestia being talked down to. “How dare you! You shall never beat Celestia! She’ll hear of this and when she does, she’ll stop you. You and… you and…”

“Me and who?” it laughed. “You’ve no idea against whom you fight. Similar to Nightmare Moon, we shall bring eternal night.”

Twilight’s eyes widened in fear. Quickly flying back up to the alter from which she had previously fallen, the eyes followed her, moving the same speed as Twilight. As she rose, she scowled and glared at the following eyes. “And like Nightmare Moon, we’ll defeat you!”

A bass guitar lick began playing. Twilight came closer to the platform from which she had been dropped from. Suddenly, while she was near the alter, she dropped. She flapped as hard as she could, but no matter how fast her wings moved, she still fell. She looked down, trying to understand why she was falling. Nothing was present that could explain her predicament. Even the eyes just stared down at her as she fell, staying at her maximum height in which she flew to.

“You will fail, you know it shall be!” the eyes sang again, watching her and laughing as she fell. “You’re our victim, your friends can’t flee.”

Twilight saw a bit of light below and pony overlooking a bubbling pot with a strange, green liquid boiling inside. The pony was cloaked with a brown robe, covering any form of identification. Twilight noticed that nothing else was down there besides the pony and its pot, a strange sight in all fashions. She also noticed something else a bit more horrifying: Her speed wasn’t decreasing during her frantic flapping, and the ground didn’t appear to be soft…

She lifted her hooves to her face, bracing for impact. Her eyes shut tight; she fell into blackness as stars swirled around under her eyelids. The music came to an abrupt stop, signaling the end of the song.

* * * * * * * *

Twilight groggily stood up, her head aching. She moaned in pain as she slowly opened her eyes. She was still behind the strange pony and its potion and could hear it talking to itself. “Lord Arachlath, hear this verse, protect my tribe and activate your curse. Subject one town to eternal sleep, so your protection we may keep.” It sounded like Zecora’s voice. “Stew’s bubbling, potions brew, we shall create pain anew.”
Twilight’s eyes widened when hearing Zecora say this.

“Hatred lives, it closes my eyes; fires burn into the night skies. Hatred set, the fun’s begun; pain shall set under Celestia’s sun. Evil soul, let me loose, hang thine foes from set noose.”
Twilight felt her legs tremble beneath her heavenly form. She saw Zecora lift her hoof and throw a pile of dust over the brew. The dust incinerated into colorful bursts of light.

“Awaken, dear Arachlath, awake. From your heart, I release the stake. Take our pains, infuse them with this town, and, with your power, take the sun-riser down.”

Twilight thought back to the floating eyes and to what they said. Could they have been Zecora’s?

“Have the sun set just once more.”
Twilight lifted her royal hoof to place it on Zecora’s shoulder.
“Only to rise…” She turned around, only revealing it truly was Zecora. Her eyes glowed an ominous yellow. “…nevermore.”
Twilight blacked out, hearing Zecora’s words echo through her head.

* * * * * * * *

Twilight’s head jumped off of her pillow, sweat flying onto her blankets from her moist forehead. All around her, everything seemed the same as when she drifted off. Her library felt more alive now that morning was here and that her nightmare was over. She yawned, stretching her hooves and hopping out of bed, prepared to see Zecora today, wanting to confront her about the suspicions.

She looked to the bed where Spike was still asleep in. “Alright, sleepy head, time to start the day!” She walked up him and nudged at his side. He hardly stirred. A little annoyed, Twilight lifted him up with her magic, taking him straight out of bed and standing him upright on the floor. His eyes opened partially. “Spike?”

“Hmmpft?” he moaned, sounding like he had been up all night and had just got a few seconds of rest.

“Time to wake up.” Twilight released her magic, hoping he’d take to standing tall, but instead, as soon as the glow disappeared from his sides, he slumped to the ground. More annoyed, she again lifted him up with her magic and set him downstairs. “It’s a new day.”

He didn’t move too much, just a little twitching of his arms as he tried to do something, it appeared. Quietly, he mumbled something.

Twilight was now fully annoyed. In her anger, she grabbed an alarm clock with her magic and placed it by the couch. Setting Spike on the couch, she tilted the clock to five minutes. She started walking away. “Only five more minutes Spike, then get back to work.” She opened the door with her magic. “I’ve got some errands to run.” She took off to the Everfree Forest, preparing to face Zecora.

Author's Note:

Sorry for that terribly long time it took to get this chapter out, it's just that, well, I've been pretty down. Realization is setting in for me and I, quite frankly, don't know how to deal with it. Also, I have depression, so that doesn't really help.

Anyhoof, I hope you enjoy this third part of my story. The final piece is in place, I just need to press a little harder with my thumb to get it complete.

I'm not the best when it came to the song, but I did my best, so I hope it came out okay. Also, if anypony thinks I should take out the description of the music in the background, let me know.