Midnight Begins: Chapter 12
Midnight’s Shadow
Midnight Begins: Chapter 12
It felt like I was on fire as I ran along the cracked stone and overgrown hallways of the fortress. My guardians’ advice to train my body seemed all the wiser as my chest heaved to take in more air. Shame there was little to be done about it at this late hour. The long corridors and flights of stairs had done no favor to my injured knee, either. By the time I had reached the desired floor of the structure, I was reduced to hobbling on three legs.
Working off my mental map of the building, I forced my poor body to run down the final hallway. Ahead of me, Red Steel was bucking at the door that led into the room that held Grandmother Carrot. As I dragged myself the final few steps I saw that the door was in much better shape than the rest of the building, looking relatively new and reinforced with iron bands. Likely Grandmother Carrot or one of her ilk had installed it.
Red Steel ceased her bucking to face me. She craned her head to look behind me. "Where are the others?" she demanded.
I attempted to answer her but I was overwhelmed by a cough that denied me of speech. I fell to my rear as I struggled to catch my breath. Of all the things that had tried to kill me the past couple of days, I wondered for a few moments if it would be running that would be my doom. That would not be my preferred way to die.
“Take a moment to catch your breath. You will do nopony any good if you are about to fall over.” She scowled at me after a moment had passed and I was still breathing heavily. “Well? Grandmother Carrot is not going to wait forever for us to slay her.”
“I-I know ... that...” I wheezed out. “Others ... trapped behind ... unlikely ... make it ... in time.” There were other ways up to this level of the structure, but it would be the long way around. It was not helped that the others did not even know the way here. Not to mention they had still been fighting the golems downstairs and ‘twould only be a matter of time until the hags’ reinforcements broke through the gate to add their numbers to the fight. I could also feel magical energies moving about us as the hags’ ritual continued moving towards its evil goal. Our companions might arrive in time if we waited long enough, or we might damn our cause by delaying.
“Great, just great.” I swore I could hear Red Steel grinding her teeth in frustration. “Ancestors damn it all.” She reared back and bucked the door again. “I will kill them all myself if I have to.” It seemed Red Steel was making the decision for us on whether to wait or not.
At least there was some good news. The door Red Steel was assaulting was most likely not magically trapped. If it had been, she would probably would have been reduced to a bloody smear upon the opposite wall. That was good, that meant I would not have to enter into this fight alone, or go through the painful experience of disabling another ward.
Deciding not to waste my precious breath on words, I stumbled to my hooves and took position by the door while Red Steel continued to batter away at it. My horn glew as I carefully drew upon my wellspring of magic. In my tired state, I would have to make every mote of energy count. Grandmother Carrot and Carrot Slice must have used at least some of their own magic to enact the ritual, counter my own efforts to stop them, and control their servants, but I was willing to bet they were still fresher than myself. I would have to strike them down quickly if I wanted victory.
With a final buck, the hinges of the door gave way and it fell to the floor with a loud crash. Red Steel whirled around, readying her warhammer as she darted into the room. I more cautiously peered my head around the doorway to take in the environment.
Inside was a large chamber that took up most of the upper section of the fortress. All about the room were the instruments of a magical workroom—though most of the equipment looked like it belonged to a primitive hedge-mage. Shelves lined the walls covered with jars, herbs, and the remains of a variety of creatures. A rune-engraved copper circle laid in one corner of the room while a cauldron predominated another, and a trio of tables with a variety of crude magical tools sat about the room.
The tree that had grown up through the structure dominated the center. Starlight coming in through the punctured ceiling helped light the room. The tree itself was an ancient thing, gnarled with age, and bramble vines ran along its length. Various gems, small idols, and items whose immediate purposes were not readily apparent to me hung from the branches with string. Numerous runes had been carved into the tree’s bark, all interwoven and laid out in a complex pattern that would have required study on my part to understand. Green lines of energy ran through those runes. Following the flow of the energy, I saw that they concentrated at one point: a black gem set in an indentation carved into the tree.
The gem was so dark that it seemed to suck the very light out of the air. It was held in place by brambles, quiet but creating a sense of foreboding that defied its outward tranquility. An aura of magic drifted around it, and it thrummed with energy like a beating heart as it absorbed the life energy being fed into it. I recognized it for what it was.
The hags’ third eye.
In the tomes I had read, some of which were within the Sealed Repository itself, it was written that a coven of hags could create a special gem that amplified their power and granted abilities far beyond what any one of them could do alone. The exact powers granted by a third eye are a topic of speculation by magi and scholars, ranging from clairvoyance and the ability to possess animals, to the power to contact forbidden entities. All that was agreed upon was that it was indeed an object of dire power, and feeling the terrible magical energies coming off of it myself, I agreed.
And the hags were feeding it the life energy of an entire village of ponies. Were they using the life energies of the ponies ensnared by their ritual to empower their third eye? That seemed like the most likely answer, given the circumstances.
“Grandmother Carrot!” Red Steel roared.
The shout pulled me away from my speculations. I had become so enraptured by its magnificence that I had lost sense of what was about me. I carefully trotted into the room to stand behind Red Steel, granting me better sight of what lay on the other side of the room. Much of the far wall had collapsed, leaving a large gap that was only blocked by crumpling stone and a railing that had been installed after the degradation.
There sat Grandmother Carrot on a cushion, her back to us as she looked out at the fog-shrouded valley. On one of her flanks stood Carrot Slice, glowering at the two of us as she stood watch over her matriarch. Standing at her other flank was something else entirely: a golem. One made of clay, with patches of rune-engraved bark dotting its surface, and bramble vines running throughout its body. It vaguely held the shape of a pony, as though a young child’s creation, but was half again as large as any stallion I had ever seen.
I see why Red Steel had stopped her charge. The golem itself was something to consider carefully, much less its masters. It was good to see her thinking the situation through, mayhaps buying herself time to come up with a tactic to win the day.
Grandmother Carrot turned her head to look at the two of us out of the corner of her eye. Her mouth creased into a mocking smile. “Yes, dearie?”
Red Steel’s muscles tensed, making her look like she would run forward at a moment’s notice. “Stand up and face me so that I can bash your skull in like a warrior!”
Or mayhaps Red Steel was far too honorable with a wholly dishonorable enemy. Troubling. I worked to analyze the situation, seeking the best options available. The golem was an unwelcome complication to dealing with the hags. They needed to die first, for their spells could easily be our doom. It was a shame that the golem was probably going to charge us the second we attacked. It seemed I would have to trust in Red Steel to stop the golem long enough for me to deal with Grandmother Carrot and Carrot Slice.
Grandmother Carrot chuckled, a low, condescending sound. “You were always such an angry little thing, Red. ‘Tis almost endearing, in a way.”
Red Steel grasped her warhammer all the harder. “See how endearing my hammer is!” She dashed forward, readying her warhammer to swing.
Sensing something wrong as the hags’ smile grew all the wider, I attempted to warn her. “Red, no! Stop!”
Red Steel swung her warhammer at the golem’s head, but instead of smashing the thing’s head to pieces, it passed through effortlessly, only creating ripples as though she were running her warhammer through water. Stumbling forward due to the lack of contact, Red Steel tried to regain her balance as the illusion dissipated around her. Then the world turned white as an overwhelming wave of pain struck me.
I found myself on the floor when I regained my senses. My ears rang with pain, and I hastily tried to blink the spots out of my vision. Through my dulled senses, I saw Red Steel was also lying on the floor. I tried to collect myself to do ... something. I was still in danger, but I could not recall from where or only vaguely against what. What had struck me down? I did not feel injured, but the pain I had felt should only have come from a grievous injury.
The ringing in my ears abated, and I heard Grandmother Carrot’s menacing chuckles. Turning my head, I saw the veil around Grandmother Carrot and her companions fade. She was holding up a hoof which crackled with magic. It must have been a pain spell she had cast upon us, an echo in the back of my mind realized. Grandmother Carrot had laid a simple trap for us, and in our haste we had fallen into it.
Knowing I was in mortal peril, I fought against the pain to stand and defend myself.
I was woefully slow in doing so. The golem charged me as soon as I was halfway to my hooves. A half-formed spell was cut off when the golem slammed into me like a battering ram. Its unyielding mass easily picked me off my hooves and sent me flying. I hit the stone floor a couple seconds later with a painful jolt and was sent rolling.
All I could do was lie there and gasp for breath. I knew I needed to get up, defend myself, fight for my very life—but my whole body was a cacophony of pain. Everything was screaming for my attention but only served to paralyze me in place.
I only vaguely noticed the golem's heavy hoofsteps approaching me. It leant down to place a foreleg against the base of my neck and then pushed my head roughly against the floor—resulting in more stars filling my vision. I felt the golem's other foreleg press painfully against my ribs to pin me in place.
Pure primal instinct drove me to draw upon my magic. Grandmother Carrot stepped up to me and kicked my horn, causing another spasm of pain as the magical backlash ran through me like a lightning bolt.
"None of that now," the hag chided. "You have lost. Accept it already." Seeing that I was safely pinned to the floor and unable to fight back, she waved at Red Steel. “Slice, hold our dear blacksmith down."
Carrot Slice held up a hoof and black bars of energy appeared to hold Red Steel down. "We should go ahead and kill them," she said without a hint of pity her in voice. "We do not need them."
"Slice, you need to learn how to not waste perfectly good opportunities," Grandmother Carrot chided. "No need to kill either of them quite yet. ‘Twould be a shame to waste Red's perfectly good ephor’s blood.” She licked her lips. “Aye, I can think of many uses for such a thing.”
Carrot Slice narrowed her eyes but finally nodded. “Aye, Grandmother.” Red Steel started to groan and shifted to struggle against her bonds, though it was a sluggish movement. She must have taken more of the brunt of the hags’ assault than I had, or my training to fight such spells left me in a better position to recover. Either way, she did not seem like she was ready for a fight.
Grandmother Carrot turned back to me. "Now then, that leaves the question of what to do with you, Magus."
I narrowed my eyes at her as best I could from my current position. "I believe the normal custom of warlocks such as yourself is to ritually sacrifice any magi you happen to capture." The situation had become most dire. Both Red Steel and I were now at the hags' mercy, of which there was none, and our options were few. Our best hope was that our compatriots would come and save us or wait for some opportunity to make itself available. I needed to keep Grandmother Carrot talking. Words were a poor weapon against an enemy such as this, but they were the only one I currently possessed.
Grandmother Carrot smiled, looking pleased with herself. "That is one option, but not my first choice. Neigh, Ah have a better idea." She walked over to a spot where I could more easily see her. "Instead of dying in some backwoods town, how about you join mah coven?"
That caused me to blink in surprise. "I am thine enemy. Why wouldst thou offer such a thing?"
Red Steel struggled vigorously against her bonds. “Tell that whorse she can shove her—” Grandmother Carrot made a casual wave of her hoof and a silence spell descended over Red Steel. It seemed she wanted to keep this discussion between the two of us.
Grandmother Carrot gave me a vicious grin. "In case you have not noticed, my coven is a bit thinner than when we started this little dance. With Butter and Juice dead, we can no longer use our third eye at its full power. Which is a shame, considering Ah am about to sacrifice the entire town here in a little bit to give my third eye more power than it has ever had before." She tsked as she shook her head. "So if Ah am going to make all this worthwhile, Ah am going need a third member to my coven, and you would serve very nicely. Ah would not have to train you how to use your magic, and you have more potential than you have even begun to realize.”
“And then what?” I asked, trying to keep her talking as I desperately tried to think what options might be available to me. “After what thou hast done here, the Royal Guard will hunt thee down and anyone working with thee.”
Grandmother Carrot chuckled. “Oh, but Ah doubt they will ever find me. Ah hardly plan on staying in Appleton after Ah have consumed everypony. Neigh, Ah think ‘tis time for me to take my show on the road. Ah was thinking of going to Manehattan or Fillydelphia, or maybe even Baltimare. Ah hear that city is growing, and nopony would take note of a nice, elderly mare joining their number.” She grinned, and I saw nothing but evil intentions behind it. “With the new power granted to mah third eye, there are no limits to what we could do. Ah could do what Ah have done in Appleton on a much grander scale, and nopony would suspect a thing.”
Her grin became all the wider. "And you could be a part of it. You could do whatever you wanted without anypony telling you no. No more restrictions, no more laws, you would be above all of that. If you want something, you just take it. 'Tis quite liberating, Ah assure you."
“Looking for your own manor?” I asked in a mocking tone, ignoring her temptations. Such things held little power over me considering I already possessed much of the wealth and comforts I desired. (1)
1. It is certainly true that Midnight was quite affluent by the standards of her days. Due to her stipend as a magus and the investments of her mother over the years, Midnight had an income short only that of wealthy nobles and the most affluent merchants.
“Among other things,” she acknowledged. “And there are so many opportunities in a big city that you would not have in a small place like Appleton. Here ponies notice if somepony goes missing and make a big hoopla ‘bout it. But in a big place like Manehattan where everypony barely knows one another? Well...” she trailed off, letting more than one vile idea hang in the air.
I could well imagine the evils she could commit in one of the great cities of Equestria. With the ability to shift her form among the masses and even greater black magic at her disposal, she would become a nightmare for anypony seeking justice to find and stop her. Who could say how many would die before it came to an end?
But what could I do? Die pointlessly right here? With every passing moment that seemed like the most likely thing to happen. Unless I took her offer...
Could I do such a thing? I did not wish to die. There was so much I wanted to do with my life. What purpose would dying here serve? None that I could see other than to serve lofty things like principles and morals—things that would serve me little good when I was being served out of Grandmother Carrot’s cooking pot. Granted, there would be the problem that I knew Grandmother Carrot and her fellow hags were untrustworthy allies at best, and most likely outright treacherous.
Then inspiration hit me—a small light of hope in the darkness, and I seized it for all it was worth lest I lose it. “I see a problem with thy proposal,” I told Grandmother Carrot.
“Oh?” Grandmother Carrot’s smile lost its mirth.
I carefully weighed my words. “For one, I cannot help but think that thou didst send Apple Butter and Carrot Juice to their deaths. Thou couldst have sent more of your number to hunt me and my companions or harbored thy strength here where thou wert performing thy ritual. We would have had to come here to stop thee, and thou wert planning on leaving Appleton anyway once done. But thou didst only send Apple Butter.”
“True, Ah could have.” Grandmother Carrot made an indifferent shrug. “But Butter was proving too much hassle to manage. Always such a firebrand. She would have been nothing but trouble when we went to the city. I had hoped, though, she would have killed more of you, if not all of you.”
I had enough insight into her thinking to be able to understand her tactics. “Thou didst plan on killing the victor of that battle either way, much like how you planned on slaying whoever survived the fight between me and Carrot Juice. Either we would kill a threat to your leadership, or she would exhaust herself in the effort. No matter the outcome, you would be the winner.”
That comment caused Carrot Slice to scowl at her grandmother. Good, she did not enjoy the knowledge that her mother had been sent to her death.
Grandmother Carrot hummed to herself. “That is true.” She let out an annoyed huff. “Juice was too ambitious for her own good. She had so much power and potential, but she sought to overthrow me once she had learned enough. Ah could see the jealousy in her eyes. Really, Ah had no other choice but to kill her. At least this way her death did at least a little bit of good.”
I noted Carrot Slice as she ground one of her hooves against the floor.
Grandmother Carrot stroked my mane in a loving manner, and I had to bring my will to bear not to flinch at the touch. “But that hardly needs to happen to you, my dear. You be loyal to me, and Ah will be the same with you. We could rule a city together. You have the talent, but you need a bit of seasoning and teaching, is all. And Ah will not be around forever. Someone will need to take over after Ah have passed.”
I doubted Grandmother Carrot had any intention of passing away anytime soon. Hags had been reported to live for hundreds of years. (2) She was probably telling a bold faced lie to prod me to take her foul offer. An easy thing to do with a pony under pressure, such as myself.
2. This is still believed to be true by experts today, though we still aren’t exactly certain. Scholars have argued anything from three to five centuries, with Greensight the Eternal reportedly having lived for eight—though some have speculated that Greensight was in fact a series of hags all with the same name over a length of time. The issue is further complicated by the fact we don’t have much in the way of evidence of natural deaths for hags, considering 97% of recorded incidents of hags’ demises involve something like ‘killed by adventurers’ or ‘betrayed and eaten by their coven.’
I squirmed under the golem, working to try and find some wiggle room under the construct’s bulk. “That is one of my problems. I severely doubt thou wouldst ever willingly step down from thy position of leadership. In fact, thou hast done nothing but slay thy fellow hags whenever thou felt threatened by them.” I managed to shift my head enough so that I could meet Carrot Slice’s gaze. “Thou murdered thy master, slew thy sisters and consumed them, and I would bet every bit within my bank account that thou didst much the same with all thy previous disciples.” I looked into Carrot Slice’s orbs as she stared down at me, hanging onto my words. “Apple Butter and Carrot Juice were slain by thy design, and thou wouldst do the same to me. Just like how someday thou wilt someday slay thy own granddaughter, Carrot Slice.”
More than mere words passed between me and Carrot Slice as we stared into one another’s gazes, and I saw as realization dawn within her. Her eyes widened as she came to know within the very depths of her soul that her grandmother would try and kill her when she became a threat to her. I saw her mind work as that epiphany hit her, and her eyes narrowed as she discerned what she needed to do to preserve her own life.
That is the issue with true evil: it is inherently selfish, it cannot trust, and it seeks to dominate all around it. The desire for control so that one can benefit at the expense of others can only lead to conflict, especially when those others are of a similar mindset as you. Add in the willingness to kill in order to secure one’s position, and you have a poisonous relationship.
In such an environment, betrayal is almost inevitable.
Grandmother Carrot pursed her lips as she watched me staring at Carrot Slice, and then her eyes widened as she realized the true audience for my speech. She spun to face her granddaughter and started to raise her hoof as she brought her magic to bear.
Shame for Grandmother Carrot that Slice was already in the process of attacking while her back was turned. Green lightning struck out from Slice’s hoof and hit her grandmother square in the chest. She let out a howl of pain as she went into convulsions and fell to the ground.
Slice was upon her grandmother before she could recover from the attack, striking with a hoof that collided with Grandmother Carrot’s jaw and set her head colliding with the floor. Out for blood, Slice climbed on top of her and rained down a flurry of blows, screaming in rage the entire time. She knew that only doom awaited her should she fail to kill her grandmother, so she attacked with a relentless fury. The violence of the act did not even give Grandmother Carrot the opportunity to defend herself.
I had to wonder if Slice’s rage was at least partially driven by the death of her mother, or if her heart was too black for such things.
Either way, I did not have time to muse. With the hags distracted, I had bought myself a precious few moments by which to act. The binding spell holding Red down had been a sloppy thing, sufficient in strength to do as it was intended but bearing the marks of someone inexperienced in spellcraft. Compared to Grandmother Carrot's work, it was a trifle to rend the spell apart as I lashed out against it with my magic.
Her senses now recovered, it took but a moment for Red to realize that she was no longer bound, and she quickly rolled to her hooves, scooping up her hammer as she did so. Slice caught the movement out of the corner of her eye. She lifted her hoof as Red ran at her, the distance too great for the militia captain to close before she would get the spell off.
I telekinetically drew my mother's dagger from its sheath and tossed it at Slice. Sadly, the dagger buried itself into her foreleg, rather than her throat. Still, the blow threw off her aim and green lightning shot past Red.
Red let out a battle cry as she slammed her shoulder into Slice. Having all the muscle of a pony who spent long hours by the forge, Red knocked the slim young hag to the ground with a painful thud. Not missing a beat, Red braced herself and swung her warhammer with all her strength. The weapon collided with the golem's chest. Fragments of clay were sent flying from the force of the blow, and the golem was knocked clean off of me.
The golem staggered back as it tried to regain its footing, but Red struck it across the head. More shards of clay went flying as the construct's muzzle was shattered. It stumbled a couple more steps but regained its balance. Red had to cancel a third powerful swing as the golem charged her. She sidestepped the golem and took a swing at its rear leg as it ran past. Another chunk was broken off, but this blow lacked Red's full strength behind it and did not stagger the golem as before.
Against the pained groans of my body, I forced myself to my hooves with the intent of aiding Red. My plan to fight the golem was cut short when I saw Slice grasp my dagger in her teeth and yank it out of her leg. She let out a scream that caused her to drop the dagger into the puddle of her blood on the floor.
Blood poured from the cut, and Slice fixed me with a baleful glare. “Ah am goin’ to kill you!” she screamed at me. She gathered her magic and lashed out at me with more of her green lightning.
I fought through a flash of pain that shot down my horn as I channeled magic through it and threw up a shield in time to intercept the attack. The two magic forces collided and destroyed one another in an explosion of sparks. I began to cast a counter attack when Slice ran through the dissipating sparks and tackled me to the floor.
She landed on top of me, and it was all I could do to put my forelegs up to block the wild punches she threw at me. My legs stung as they were struck repeatedly, and I felt a wetness build on my legs—though if it was from my blood or Slice’s, I could not tell. A couple blows managed to work their way through my guard to strike me on the face, making more stars dance over my vision, but I kept my guard up out of desperation. I struggled to try and move out from under her, but Slice’s fury was once born out of madness. Her face was white with strain as she glared down at me with wide and wild eyes.
Slice forced my legs out of the way and shoved one of her legs against my throat to cut off my airway. I tried to push back against her, but she had leverage against me. I felt panic seize me as my lungs started to burn, causing me to thrash wildly. I struck Slice in the face, splitting her lip, but that only caused her to press harder against my throat. In desperation, I tried to cast a spell, but was stopped when Slice struck my horn, droplets from her wounded leg splashing onto my face.
My lungs felt like they were going to burst as they desperately cried for air, and my head grew fuzzy. I continued to struggle, but it was all in vain. I knew I was going to die as the world started going black, and with my death the hags would likely win the day.
Then the weight against my throat lifted and I felt Carrot Slice fall listlessly to my side. On reflex, I drew in a deep breath of air. The sudden inhalation caused me to cough and I had to take several moments to gather myself before I could take in what happened.
Slice lied next to me, her eyes wide with fear and confusion. A pool of her life’s blood grew where it poured from her leg. “Wh-wha...” She tried to speak but she could not form the words with her mouth.
Examining the sight before me, I guessed the cause of her sudden collapse. “Thou hast kill thyself, warlock,” I rasped, pointing at her wound. “‘Twas a mistake to remove my dagger from thy wound, for the median artery had been cut. ‘Tis only now that thy body realizes that its time has come to an end.”
“N-no...” Slice managed to squeak out. She looked pathetic, I thought, pitiful even. Yet she had aided her kin in the murders that had plagued Appleton. Still, I had to wonder how much choice she had in the matter. Not that it mattered at his juncture.
Her body went into convulsions as it started its death rattle. Her eyes pleaded with me to do something. I did nothing. Then her movements stopped, and I saw the light go out of her eyes.
I had always wondered if that happened when somepony died. Now I knew.
The sound of Red Steel’s warhammer hitting clay drew me out of my reverie. She was still in her battle dance with the golem, constantly circling around the golem to avoid its charges and wide blows and answering back with her own quick strikes that chipped off more chunks of clay. The problem was that none of the quick blows were slowing down the golem or doing enough damage to bring the battle to an end quickly. The golem knew not of fear, pain, or fatigue, while Red was breathing heavily from her constant movements.
It would take one of Red’s heavier blows to stand a chance of destroying the golem, but the golem was deceptively fast and always on the attack. Taking the time for such a smite would leave her open, and it would take but one blow from the golem to decide the battle.
Thus it was left to me—wounded, sick, and tired to the bone, my magical reserves near exhausted—to turn the tide. It would have to do.
I pushed myself back to my hooves, staggering in place as my vision swam. I shook my head and concentrated as I took in my environment. I could not fight the golem directly, and I did not have enough magic left to strike it down. I needed another plan.
Grasping one of the shelves with my telekinesis, I picked it up and levitated it next to me. I waited for Red to step dodge aside one of the golem’s blows, before charging the golem with my shelf, yelling. There was a crack of breaking wood when the shelf collided with the golem, and I kept pushing. The golem slid along the floor as I pushed it along towards the large opening in the wall. The golem’s hooves tried to regain their footing, but I had the momentum on my side and the sturdy earth pony shelf held together. My horn screamed in pain and sparked violently, but I kept on the pressure despite it all.
We continued until the golem hit the guard railing. It cracked from the force being applied to it, but did not break. The golem slammed its hooves onto the floor and widened its stance. I pushed with everything I had left, but the golem would not budge. With nothing else left to me, I threw myself against the shelf to add my weight to the push, to little effect.
The golem slowly turned the broken remains of its face towards me, and I had a bad premonition about what was about to happen to me.
“Magus, down!” Red bid me.
I fell to the floor, guessing at her intentions.
Red’s warhammer swung over my head and hit the golem squarely. The railing broke with a crack, and the golem tumbled out into the fog. It fell out of sight, and I heard a dull thud barely a moment later.
I breathed heavily as I used the shelf to help myself up. “I hope that fall destroyed the golem. I do not wish to fight it anew should it get up and make its way back up here.”
Red Steel looked out over the ledge. “I do not think it will be—”
Whatever she said was cut off when my world exploded into pain.
“Midnight!” I heard Red scream, though it felt like a world away.
I was on the floor when I came back to my senses. My whole body felt numb and did not respond to my commands, though if it were due to injury or my body simply being pushed past its limits I could not say. Red was standing protectively over me and was glaring in the direction of the great tree. I followed her gaze and saw a sight that I could only half believe.
Grandmother Carrot was leaning against the tree, her deep breaths ragged as she struggled to remain on her hooves. Her face was a mangled thing; bruised and badly swollen, she could not even see out of one of her eyes. Her scalp had been cut by one of Slice’s blows and had created a crimson mask. She was holding a hoof in our direction and the black orb that was her third eye floated before her.
She must have crawled her way over to the tree while the rest of us had been distracted by the battle. I had been sloppy. My fatigue had caused me to lower my guard and I had not bothered to check on Grandmother Carrot’s condition as soon as the golem had been dealt with. That had been all the opportunity she had needed to strike me down while my back was turned.
Grandmother Carrot wiped at her eyes, smearing the blood covering her face. “You vicious little bitch. Turning mah own granddaughter against me.” She glanced over at Slice’s corpse. “At least she got what she deserved. And soon so will both of you. Ah think Ah am tired of playing games.”
Red Steel stepped out in front of me. “This ends now,” she said, nothing but iron in her voice. “You are not hurting anypony else.”
“Oh, Ah disagree.” Grandmother Carrot leveled the third eye at Red Steel and it cracked with energy. “Ah think Ah am goin’ to hurt you a lot.”
Red Steel charged the hag, but was stopped short when a flash of green lightning struck her. She ground her teeth and gave Grandmother Carrot a savage grin. “That all you have?” She charged again, closing half the distance between them before she was stopped again by more green lightning.
I desired more than anything to aid Red, but I could not. My body would not respond and I could not even raise a hoof in my own defense, much less that of others. The freezing river of magic that was my birthright had also been cut off from me. My horn only ached dully as I tried to cast a spell—any spell that could aid my ally. All I could do was watch on helplessly as the fate of Appleton played out before me.
Grandmother Carrot grit her teeth, strain clear on her face. “Just die already!” She blasted Red with the third eye, but Red held her ground, spreading her stance to stay on her hooves.
When the magical assaulted ended, Red continued forward at a slow, steady pace. “I told you, this ends now, you fiend!”
As Red stalked to within a few paces of her, Grandmother Carrot struck her with another blast of magic. She shrunk back away from Red when that failed to smite her down. “S-stay away from me!” The third eye trembled within her hold as she tried to cast another spell.
“I am a warrior of Pegasopolis!” Red closed the final few steps between her and the warlock, her footing shaky as she did so. “Blood and steel, I will not fall!”
She made a sweeping strike with her hoof and hit the third eye, knocking it from Grandmother Carrot’s magic grip. The third eye smashed into the ground and broke into a dozen shards. The explosion overwhelmed my senses with light and sound. All I could do was close my eyes and cover them with a leg as the blinding light assaulted me.
For a long moment I worried I had been blinded by the explosion, or even for a fearful second, thought I might have died and been sent to whatever waited in the hereafter. But slowly my vision returned to me, and I blinked to clear my sight.
What lay before me was a scene of ruin. The great tree was now on fire, as red, orange, and green flames licked through the runes carved into the bark and up into its foliage.
Grandmother Carrot lay at the base of the tree. Her body was charred and blackened, and no hair remained on it that I could see. She was not a whole being anymore, having been shredded by the explosion. One of her legs was only attached by the barest strips of flesh.
Red Steel lay a few paces away from the hag, having been blown back by the blast.
She was no longer among the living.
All I could do was stare at the sight before me. Was it over? Just like that, had the struggle for the fate of Appleton come at an end? I was not quite sure what to make of it all.
Then Grandmother Carrot made a ragged gasp. Her eye opened, though it saw nothing.
“How art thou not dead!?” I demanded. What type of evil constitution did this foul creature have? Was she merely too stubborn to let death take her?
The warlock took a few more pained breaths before she finally spoke in a raspy, broken voice. “R-ruined... You ruined... Y-your fault.” The effort caused her to hack and blood frothed onto her lips.
“Wilt thou die already?!” This was becoming a pathetic affair. I could barely even move, while it should not even have been possible for Grandmother Carrot to be alive. “Must I crawl over there and slit thy throat myself? Cut off thy head? Drag thee to a fire to cremate thee and finally put thy evil to an end?”
“A-Ah could have ... could have b-been great.” Grandmother Carrot gasped, struggling to hold onto her tenuous grasp on life. “D-damn you.” She coughed some more before she recomposed herself. “Y-you think y-you have won? A-Ah will h-have something ... you will n-never have.”
I felt her draw forth what remained of her magic—and then more. I felt a void in my stomach as I watched her pour her very lifeforce into her last spell: a death curse. With her last action in this world, she was going to spite me and there was nothing I could do.
Her magic flew forth and washed over me, an oily thing that made my coat stand on end. “May you never dance with the one you love.”
And with her last act being one to bring more pain into the world, she died.
I could not help but stare dumbly at the corpse before me. In that moment of dread I had thought Grandmother Carrot would smite me down, but instead she had taken a different route with her death curse. Maybe she no longer had the power to slay me outright, being as near to death as she must have been. Another possibility is that she had intentionally struck out in a way to wound me for life.
A disquieting thought descended over me as I thought over her words. Had she just cursed me to never find a pony to love? It made a certain sense. Trying to gain the attention of the pony she loved had driven her to walk the dark path she had. For a creature that had fallen so far to make somepony love her, what worse curse could there be than to not have the one you loved?
The chuckle developed in the back of my throat. It built and built as I looked around the room. The bodies of Grandmother Carrot, Carrot Slice, and Red Steel surrounded me, and victory was mine. The chuckle exploded into an uproarious laughter. There was no restraint in the laugh. I was so tired. My throat was raw and tears ran down my cheeks, but I could not stop. All about me was death, fire, blood, and ruin, and I laughed.
I do not know how long I laughed before Gale and Stalwart came flying in through the opening in the wall. Each was pushing along a raincloud they used to put the fires out around me. The fire dealt with, the two of them looked at the scene around them, and then at each other. They silently nodded to one another. Gale lifted me up onto her back while Stalwart did the same with Red Steel’s remains.
They took flight, and we left the fortress. Looking about, I noted that the fog had dissipated. Down below I saw ponies stirring and milling about. The ritual had been disrupted in time and its power over the ponies of Appleton had been broken.
I had obtained victory over the hags, and nothing could have tasted so bitter.
My work done and feeling beyond weary, I let the darkness take me.
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I didn't expect that kind of curse, but thinking of Grandmother Carrot's reasons for hagdom, it actually makes so much sense. I'm really eager to see how poor Mids deals with this.
Also RIP Red Steel. I thought that might happen
Taken literally, that might not be a bad curse. Midnight doesn't strike me as much of a dancer.
That horrible witch! Mah Midnight/Gale shippings, what have you DONE?!
Well, too bad Red Steel died. Unexpected, but predictable in hindsight.
6138167 Judging from Twilight's attempts, the curse persists from generation to generation.
6138563 Does this mean that Twilight's true love was at that Canterlot Garden Party? She seemed to dance OK at Pinkies private parties, and during musical numbers. I have to re-watch the episode, for research.
A-ha!
boardgamegeek.com/camo/430b5702c3cc8fe7b96aaddfa3d25a534600e77a/687474703a2f2f6d656469612e74756d626c722e636f6d2f74756d626c725f6d346f7169704c746d5231716d686530612e676966
Twilight X Dr. Whooves previous incarnation. Or one of the mares, but Twi seems to be straight, so unlikely.
Was excited to read this chapter when I saw it was out. Now I'm depressed.
That's a good thing though. I like when a story can make me feel like shit. So kudos, and keep up the good work.
i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii98/Dizzysd/sigh.jpg
Poor Swiftwing.
RIP Red Steel.
At least you went out...with a bang.
6141776
Her death was extremely upsetting for me. Also, I wonder what Grandmother Carrot's curse did/will do? I can't help but think it will do something terrible to Gale, but I might let my own shipping of those two be clouding my thoughts.
Aw damnit. I was really hoping that Red powering through Grandmother Carrot's lightning assault was a sign that she was gonna make it through,
Did spot a couple of mistakes on my way through:
Probably "have a poisonous relationship." or something.
Looks like two thoughts got a little crossed at the end there. Maybe "did not stagger the golem as before" or something like that.
Ooooo, so close to victory and Granny Carrot makes the classic mistake of not killing the heroes while she has them helpless.
Evil that feels no loyalty to its own forces, always such a significant and exploitable internal flaw.
Such poor science!
You know, it's good that Midnight has friends with moral compasses. She's just so damn creepy sometimes.
Too bad Slice spared no time for taking a shot at Slice or Granny before engaging the golem, I can't help but imagine that crushing either or both of their heads like a melon with that warhammer of hers might have led to an outcome where she survived.
Interesting route with that death curse. We know Twilight and family exist down the years, so Midnight clearly finds someone, though it could easily end up being a loveless political marriage. On the other hand, maybe this is simply the source Twilight's interesting dancing skills.
6147903
Thanks for catching that, they're fixed up now.
Wrote your story a little recommendation. I think this gem more than deserves a little more love and attention.
6160492
Thanks for that. I've certainly put a lot of work into this story to make it as good as it can be, so it's really nice for it to get attention.
Also, Cloud and Twilight are, very distant, cousins considering the Sparkles and Kickers have interbred now and again over the centuries. Now how far back that goes to the original pair though...
6148381
Oh man, I never considered the Twilight dancing angle. That's just perfect. I would second the motion to make that the case if I wasn't sure Ponibus already has it all planned out
Can't wait for the next chapter.
6216710
It's a bit problematic, and comes out of the fact that the writers don't seem to put a whole lot of thought into how the magic works within the world their building, other than how it happens to convenience the plot of the episode they're currently writing. It comes out of the light hearted nature of the show and not really wanting to think too hard about the consequences of things (being a show intended to sell toys to little girls), where with the Winningverse stories we tend to try and take a more mature-ish tone with the stories and worldbuild based on what we see in the show. So you do have that conflict in tone between Winningverse and Canon.
6217178
I'm not really sure there is a tone conflict between canon and the Winningverse: Certainly, MLP is written in a light-heartened manner, but at times it has delved quite deeply into drama or more mature level of writing. The past two episodes have dealt with things that strike me as being out of the ordinary for a children's cartoon, and not exactly light in any sense. Going back further, we have Tanks for the Memories, which, in a round-about-way deals with death, and going back further we find episodes like Canterlot Wedding which are very dramatic and very adventurous in content. Now, obviously the Winningverse derives much of its content from more mature situations than what's in the canon, (eg. sex) but many of the fics, especially the original are slice of life fics, and not simply because they're labelled as such. I don't think it's groundbreaking to say that FiM is basically Slice of Life as well. So I'm not sure if there's really a tone conflict.
Which is the root of my comment. For the most part, the Winningverse has built on the canon from the show, it nestles itself within the events of the show, and while it might give them deeper context (such as the suggestion that Fluttershy's 'Fluttercruel' behavior is the result of suppressed rage stemming (presumably) from the fact that Rainbow and Cloud tried to killed themselves) yet it doesn't as far as I can tell, contradict the canon. Except in this specific instance, with regards to the Laws of Magic. I mean, its kind of implied that Twilight doesn't even know that time travel spells are possible in About Time, and one would think that she would draw the conclusion that if there was a law against it, it must be possible.
It simply strikes me as a weird convoluted knot in the worldbuilding for the verse; one that might not be so noticeable if the rest of it didn't take care to weave itself into canon events without disrupting them. And breaking the Laws doesn't seem to carry the same weight (to the user) as it does in the Dreadenverse where violating most of the laws tends to corrupt one's soul.
...and the origins of Twily's and Shiny's dancing difficulties is revealed.
The hag made a mistake and simply barred them from dancing. All the fearsome power of the death curse went into a fairly minor effect, so the power spread it down through the generations. I wonder how many millennia it will be before the Sparkle line will finally be able to dance again...
Greater Love have no mare than this; that she shall lay down her life for her loved ones.
Pansy 15:13
Heh, call back to Lunar Rebellion ...
Aw, damn it. I was hoping red would be a reoccurring character
So this is the reason why Twilight can't dance...