They Never Knew

by SilverEyedWolf

The Preparation

I winced as we walked through the door into the room Celestia used as an office. She usually kept the room hotter than the rest of the castle, and the warm air made the still bare skin of my chest prickle uncomfortably.

Extending her wand towards the ceiling, Celestia wound her hand in a counter-clockwise motion. A cool breeze seemed to drift through the room, and the heat lessened.

Luna pulled two seats from two of the seven desks littering the room and pulled them in front of the center desk.

Taking a seat, I looked around at the other desks. Besides Celestia’s, only two other places had nameplates, reading Silver Scribe and Golden Quill.

Glancing back at Celestia’s much larger desk, I strained to see any of the desk’s surface beneath what seemed to be a landslide of paper. I didn't have to try for long, as Celestia herself walked up to the desk with a large box and swept the entire mess into it, revealing a runed surface.

“Most of this is just trash,” Luna told me, gesturing at the box thrown beside the desk. “Hides the runes, and it helps Celestia look busy.”

Giving Luna a look, Celestia huffed to herself before picking up the desk by an edge, shifting the contents inside. Sighing, she dropped the desk and kicked at it furiously. Waving her hands at my bewildered face, Celestia once again picked up on the edge of her workspace.

This time, however, there was a click of a latch releasing, and she was able to pull up the entire top of the desk and flip it, setting the wood platform back on the rest of the desk. Instead of the runes, there was a multitude of papers pinned to the underside, all formed around a large symbol in the middle. The symbol matched the one on the scroll Celestia had dismissed earlier.

“Luna, I’m sure you remember Sombra.” Luna nodded, tilting her head to the side.

“Of course Celestia, but I thought we…?”

“We didn't,” Celestia interrupted. “I didn't discover it until well into…” She hesitated here, looking away. “About five hundred years ago.” She shook her head and pointed to a certain paper near the middle, yellowed and dusty.

“This was my first report of the Shade. It was a small thing, an outpost near our most northern border. Regular, ordinary correspondence for years. Peaceful talks with the Crystal Folken on the border, everyone’s happy. I’m sending them items to trade with, and they're sending us literature and the history of the folken. Then, one last piece of correspondence.”

She pointed to the paper and read from it, trailing the words with a finger.

“A man has wandered into the walls. He is bleeding and frostbitten. He cries of shadows, and a Shade of the night, bearing reddened teeth and eyes. He begs us to send for help, for a Sorcerer. The men scream in their sleep and awake as if dead. Please Celestia, send aid.”

She looked up, wiping a few tears from her eyes. “By the time my people reached the outpost, it was almost deserted. They found only one thing; a corpse, throat torn out and face twisted with a smile.”

Luna was sitting in her chair, pale and leaning back, as if away from her sister’s story. I leaned forward, planting my elbows on my knees.

“Vampire?” I asked.

Celestia shook her head. “A Hemovore would have sucked the corpse dry, not filled the corpse with black slime. When the doctor I sent cut into the corpse for an autopsy, his reports claim that most of the organ had liquefied, and had a stench so foul that the entire camp refused to work until the corpse was removed. They ended up burning it, making sure that is was well away from the camp on a still day.”

I raised a hand and an eyebrow. “Mostly liquefied? What wasn’t?”

Celestia frowned, but a masculine, musical voice from the doorway answered before she could.

“His heart.” Dawnbreak walked between us, smiling at Luna as he set a hand on her shoulder. Luna smiled up at him, leaving her seat to hug him tenderly, before pushing away to look worriedly at his singed white shirt and dirty gray pants. I looked beyond the two and waved at Shadowfall, the female assassin standing in the doorway. Her black clothes were also covered in dust and tears, some of her many pockets completely torn away from her clothes.

“Hullo all,” she called in cheerily. “I didn't know those two were privy.”

Celestia leaned across her desk to kiss Dawnbreak’s cheek, motioning Shadowfall to come in. “They weren’t. And still aren't quite caught up.”

“I heard,” Shadowfall giggled, pulling two more chairs over to Celestia’s desk. “When you start at the beginning, you go all the way. It takes a couple hundred more years to get really fun.”

Dawnbreak tugged on her pants, already sitting in one of the chairs. She sighed and sat in the one next to him, the only open one. She started rustling through her pockets, pulling out a short metal bar and starting to twirl it. Dawnbreak pulled out his crystal ball, setting it in his lap and holding his hands over it.

I shivered, looking into its depths. I started to look away, but paused. “Dawnbreak, has that thing gotten… bigger?”

He smiled and held a finger to his lips, before pointing the same finger to Celestia.

She smiled slightly, then shook her head. “Uhm… Right, his heart. The heart was the only organ still in his chest cavity, but it was far from undamaged. The doctor said that the heart seemed crystallized, and was brittle enough to turn into dust at the touch.”

“This being seconds before the tossing out, and the burning,” Shadowfall said, eyes wandering as her fingers spun the bit of metal. “Did you tell them about how the body killed the grass beneath it as it burned?”

Celestia shook her head. “More than killed the grass, it scorched the earth itself. Out of curiosity, and because of recent movements throughout the northern bits of Equestria, I sent a group back into the outpost.”

“It hasn’t grown back,” Shadowfall reported. “The fort is still abandoned, but for the carrion birds and wolves. The walls themselves have a sort of gray dust covering, and the animals are more hostile than usual, although they show no signs of starvation. We didn't spend the night, but we were close enough to note that the temperature dropped way below normal at nightfall.”

She tugged a small glass vial out of a pocket and set it on Celestia’s desk. “That’s a scraping from the wall. Also the third glass it’s been contained in.”

Celestia picked up the sample and shook it gently, the dust whispering over the glass.

Twitching, I winced and dug my nails into my chest, scratching madly. Looking away from the vial, I felt my hand being pulled away from my chest, now bloody. Panting, I looked up into Luna’s eyes and smiled.

“Hey, I think that dust may be connected to the spell used on me,” I said.

After glancing to my left side, Luna nodded to me, and I returned my eyes to Celestia, glass vial now hidden from sight. Still, the itch returned to my chest, and I sighed as I turned my chair to face Luna.

I heard Celestia sigh before she continued.

“I’ll have the dust analyzed later. Right now, I'll keep it short. We have every reason to believe that the Shade spoken of is the remnants of King Sombra, a ruler of the Crystal Folken in the north who went mad shortly after the assassination of his wife.

“He studied deep into necromancy, and even discovered that the crystal composition of his people’s bodies could be used to amplify spells. Unsatisfied, he had them digging deep into the earth for large deposits of crystal and gems, killing thousands and experiments on hundreds.”

Luna shuddered, and the two Darklighters adopted grim expressions; Shadowfall even stopped fidgeting.

“Maybe twenty years before the curse of Nightmare Moon, Luna and I decided to end the tyrant’s reign. For years we were ignorant of Sombra’s actions against his own people, and for years after that we attempted peaceful negotiations, then not so peaceful. We even went as far as inciting riots among the people. We didn't think…”

I heard Celestia’s breathe hitch.

“I had thought that Sombra was still above murdering his own people. He went in himself, and burned the rioters alive. The few that managed to escape the fire were executed, then reanimated.”

Luna trembled again. Dawnbreak stared into the crystal in his hands, black smoke swirling throughout the inside. Shadowfall merely looked away.

“We stepped in ourselves. With a small force of fifty Darklighters, Luna and I cut a swathe across the northern country, burning our way through undead and other monsters. Sombra was apparently unhappy with just reanimating corpses, and he sewed together creatures… unimaginable to any besides him.”

“The giants were the worst,” Luna spoke up. “Massive towers of flesh, sewn together from hundreds of people and given a heart made of fire, and death, and steel.”

I chanced a glance at Celestia, who nodded.

“We had to literally burn our way through the country,” Luna continued. “Fire seemed to be the only thing that touched them, they were encased in a sort of magical ice that rebuked all blades, and most spells.”

“When we reached the castle of Sombra, there were only eight of us,” Celestia continued. “Six of my bravest, and us two. Sombra had left almost all of the castle open. No traps, just…”

“People,” Dawnbreak spoke up. “There were people everywhere, frozen to the walls, the floor…”

Luna nodded, and I heard Celestia almost whimpering. Luna took over the story for her.

“We walked the castle, looking for the king,” Luna started, leaning forward onto her knees. “Everywhere we sensed him, in the very walls themselves. We avoided the doors to his throne room, for there was a deathly miasma seeping from the ice over it. We looked even in his bedchambers, and there discovered…”

Luna paused, and Celestia retook the story.

“We knew he was behind those doors, covered in black ice, but we had to be sure… We prayed we were wrong, that it would be just a little easier… When we walked into the king’s bedchambers, we found only one th-thing. Sombra’s skin, still clothed in his bed. There was a massive split down the front of his chest, and the bed was covered in blood… We thought it harmless…”

“It was not,” Luna picked up. “We rummaged through the room, looking for anything we could use. Our Darklighters did, anyhow. Celestia and I stayed outside, keeping an eye on the hallways. We sensed evil everywhere, and could not tell that in the room, it was much thicker.”

“The doors closed on us, and we heard his laughter everywhere,” Luna said, dry mouth swallowing nothing. “Five of our remaining team… Their voices…”

“They screamed,” Dawnbreak stated. “They screamed as he ripped them apart, and shoved their corpses into the cavity of his chest. That limp bag of skin and muscle pulled them apart, and ate them as I watched.”

Luna reached out to take his hand, Shadowfall putting her arm around his shoulder.

“When the Princesses finally burst through the door, I was sat in a corner, useless sword pointing at the skin of the monster. It kept laughing, even as its head was removed and the body set aflame…”

“He only stopped when I pushed my sword through the top of the scalp,” Celestia said. “It was bathed in the outer layers of the sun, and very effective against the armies of the dead.”

“Still keep that thing locked away?” Shadowfall asked.

Celestia chuckled, a little watery. “I would display it, but for that fact that it shines anywhere near anyone with sins on their mind…”

I chuckled a bit, earning a collectively raised eyebrow from the group. “Luna’s not allowed near the sword, is she?” I asked with a smirk.

The sisters chuckled, while the Darklighters shared a confused look.

“Anyhow, the room behind the ice,” I prompted, looking between the three survivors.

Celestia sighed, sitting back in her chair. “We broke through the ice with a bit of work, and a lot of fire. The entire room was thick with ice, and we basically had to burn our way through the doors because they refused to open.”

“The Lich was sitting on hat had been his throne,” Luna said. “Blue fire holding up a skull, thick black furs wrapping the rest of his bones, red eyes, the whole shtick. Even had a massive sword made of crystal and ice; it was a horrible, gaudy thing.”

“Also locked away?” I asked.

“Melted when we dispatched Sombra,” Luna said.

“I could make it sound like a great story,” Celestia said. “Really, the only thing that happened was Dawnbreak enchanted most of his clothes with fire, and all three of us ganged up on him. My sword and shield, Dawnbreak’s fists, and Luna’s ridiculous weapon,” Celestia said, rolling her eyes.

“Hey, my hammer worked just fine for me, thanks,” Luna said snippily.

“Yeah, swing and pray works wonders,” Celestia snarked back.

“So, smash and slash worked on a Lich?” I asked quickly.

“Yeah,” Dawnbreak said. “Luna and I would pummel the ice it pulled up as a shield, and Celestia would duck in and slash at the magic holding everything together before it could recall the ice.”

“It seemed like hours, but I've been told we only fought for ten minutes. Finally Sombra ran out of magic power, so drained that his body was left behind,” Celestia gestured at the air, mimicking a floating skull as best she could.

“Still managed to swing that stupid sword of his,” Luna said, rubbing at her arm.

“Luckily, Dawnbreak managed to drop its shields just as Luna was queuing up a swing.” Celestia smiled at her sister.

“Smashed that skull so hard it rebounded off the ceiling,” Luna said, smug smile draped on her face.

“Shattered?” I asked, scratching again at my chest.

“Sort of,” Luna said, reaching over and pulling at my arm. “The magic encasing it did, and the thing just kind of bounced off the floor before the eyes went out.”

“Dawnbreak took care of the disposal after that,” Celestia sighed.

“You mean he stomped the thing to dust, then set the dust on fire,” Luna giggled.

Dawnbreak nodded, adopting his signature serene smile.

“We thought it was over then,” Celestia said, running her eyes over the desk, before waving her hand over the stacks of paper. “These say otherwise. We believe that the soul of the Lich escaped before Dawnbreak could destroy the skull, and it hid in some of the crystals gathered around the kingdom, gathering magic. The outpost was the next time we heard from this Shade, but we didn't make any connection to Sombra until later, when we met with one of the Crystal folk, alive and breathing.”

“See, we thought that the community in the far south of Sombra’s old empire were the only survivors,” Celestia said, now excited. “But then, a hundred or so years later, here was another survivor, speaking of a city full of sleeping Folken!”

“He was frostbitten, and deathly ill, but not delirious,” Dawnbreak spoke up. “He claimed that Sombra had gathered most of the living nation into his capital, and killed well over half of them to fuel his dead armies.”

“However, he also claimed that the other half were laid to rest beneath the city, in the sprawling mines they had themselves dug,” Celestia said, unfolding an old map across the top of her desk. Tracing several lines, she ran her finger over the map.

“Before the survivor died, he said that the only reason he had escaped was because there had been a cave-in in one of the shafts, blocking part of the sleeping spell that covers the mines. He and a few others we revived, and started digging out the rest of the city. However, before they could make any headway, he claimed that a dark shadow possessed one of the group, and obliterated all but two.”

She picked up a small drawing of a lovely woman. “He says that this one accompanied him for a while, but the snow and the shadow eventually killed her. When he finished his tale, he said… He said that he was happy to have been warm one last time, and then he…”

“Passed away,” I finished, leaning back in my chair. My hand twitched upwards, but I stopped it and returned it to my lap. “What happened to the city?”

“Still there,” Shadowfall reported. “And while it was covered in the same strange dust, it could still be livable, with a warmth spell or two in the winters. We also found the entrance to the mine, but…”

Celestia leaned forward in her chair, eyebrow raised.

Dawnbreak continued, “It’s been blocked off. That same black ice as before.”

Celestia visibly tensed, before slumping back into her chair. “That settles it,” she said, smiling a bit. “He’s alive, or at least around.”

Luna grinned, small and mischievous. “Ah, sister, am I thinking what you just thought?”

Dawnbreak looked between the sisters, and I felt a chill creeping up my back.

“No no no…” I started, before being forced to a halt.

“Yes,” Celestia said, smiling fiercely.

“I’ll go grab Eclipse,” Luna said, leaping from her chair.

Dawnbreak took his own feet, followed quickly by a grinning Shadowfall. He looked over his clothes, then hers, then stalked from the room, leaving me with Celestia.

“You’re not really…?”

Celestia nodded, digging through her desk before pulling out a blank piece of parchment. Placing her wand-tip on the paper, she released it as it began scribing letters as it danced across the sheet.

“But, who’s going to…?”

Celestia pointed to the two other desks in the room.

“It’ll be dangerous…”

Celestia raised her eyebrows at me, lowering her eyelids.

I sighed. “I’m coming along.”

Her eyebrows fell, but I held up my hand, palm outward.

“You can’t stop me, and we both know it. I’m going to help you this time.”

She huffed, then nodded. Looking down at the paper, she let the wand finish before snagging it out of the air, tripling it and send two pieces onto either desk, the third disappearing into the air.

“We may be gone for some time. You should let Ditzy know,” Celestia said, flipping the top of her desk back over and carefully replacing the debris she’d scooped into the box.

“I will,” I said, moving from the room. “Don’t leave without me. I’ll follow you, and get lost, and you will have to explain why I’m burning down the eastern woods.”

She sighed and waved her hand, still locking up her desk and messing with the paperwork on it.

………………………………………………………………….

I slipped into Luna’s chambers, hoping to find Ditzy still asleep. Instead, I was greeted by a nude Luna, followed quickly by a shirt to the face.

“You’re going with them, aren't you?”

I pulled the shirt over myself, covering my chest swiftly. Ditzy was looking at me, face frowning and sad.

“Luna’s given me a rundown,” she huffed. “You’re going off on this ‘Quest’ as well, aren't you?”

Smiling nervously, I nodded. She sighed, then patted the bed near her. Walking over, I’d barely sat down before she wrapped her arms around me. I hugged her back, running my hands over her smooth back.

“You all better come back safe,” she huffed into my shoulder.

“You know we will,” I told her, smiling. Leaning back, I caught her gaze. Half her gaze. “It’s not like it’s just me and Luna. Celestia’s coming as well, and two senior Darklighters…”

She smiled and nodded, then pushed me off the bed. “Pack warmly,” she muttered, before tossing the blankets over her head and rolling back into the bed.

Chuckling, I kissed her forehead, receiving a ruffle of my hair in return. Turning, I saw Luna, significantly more dressed now, digging through her wardrobe.

I walked over, taking in her thick wool pants and dark sweater, before joining her in her closet. With a little help, we found her enough thick clothing for a few days, along with thick winter boots and scarf.

“I’ll be right…” I trailed off, sighing deeply. “Twilight and Rarity are still in our old room, aren’t they?”

Luna nodded, giggling. “You’ll have to take some things of mine, then.”

Digging a bit further, we packed away the least feminine attire I could find, giving up on shoes but finding a couple of thick knit caps.

Looking over, I could help myself, letting out a quiet chuckle. “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”

Luna nodded, pulling her cap over her ears, just above her eyes. “It’s a lot more like old times. I get tired of paperwork,” she admitted.

I nodded. “Let’s get to the armory then. I need boots, and I’m sure we’ll need armor.”

“Oh, I think we’ll let my sister worry about our armor, especially if she’s going after her sword,” Luna grinned.

I glanced over at her, nervous for some reason.

………………………………………………………………….

“By your wings,” I breathed, taking in Celestia’s battle gear.

Laughing, she twirled, showing off the gleaming silver plates spaced over her body. Instead of a layering of plates, her armor had few large plates pieced together by thick leather, covered with mail. It was seemingly just steel reinforced leather.

“I’m quick, so a ton of metal would just end up hurting me,” Celestia said, picking at some of the mail. “This was made to cover my vital spots, but still be as flexible as possible. Luna’s, however…”

“Is more traditional,” the woman in question called, appearing in the door to the vault. While hers shined just as much as Celestia’s, the steel was much darker, almost smoky. She had been completely honest about her suit as well, the dark steel covering most of her body except her head, and the joints of her legs and arms.

And while this would have been impressive alone, I was ignoring it for Luna’s weapon, a hammer with a steel shaft as tall as she was, the head as large as her torso with a wicked, curving spike falling from the back.

“Good goddess, Luna,” I said, laughing as I ran my hand over the smooth surface of her hammer. “I’d love to see you swing this…”

Her face contorted into an angry frown, hand gripping the hammer tightly.

“Do you think that I cannot swing Eclipse? That I’ve gone soft over the years? That….”

She was forced to trail off as I held a finger to her lips, shaking my head.

“Luna, I know you can swing it. I want to see you do it…”

She blushed, fierce grin covering her face.

Celestia sighed and grumbled to herself, pushing past us and into the vault. Curious, I peeked past Luna and watched as Celestia pulled down a large shield and a sheathed, thin sword, longer than I expected. Holding it straight out at chest level, it came close to Celestia’s toes, and she was taller than Luna.

“And what are your weapons named?” I called, startling Celestia.

“Uhm… Sol and… Texentium…”

I paused, translating in my head. “You named your set Sunbeam?”

She blushed and looked away. “At least it’s not Eclipse…”

Luna and I laughed, Celestia eventually joining in.

“Does that thing still shine when you unsheathe it?” Luna asked eventually, nodding at Beam.

“I think so,” Celestia said, setting Sol on a hook hanging at her hip before slowly revealing her sword. It matched her armor in shine, and its surface seemed to have been polished to a mirror sheen.

“Hmm… It probably will again, after it’s been exposed to the sunlight again.” She clipped the scabbard to her other hip and set Beam back into it.

Slowly, I walked into the room, one of the few I’d not been allowed into when Twilight and I had lived here before. Celestia gave me a strange look, then gestured me further in, nodding.

Looking around, I noticed that the vaulted room was not only smaller, but also a bit barer than I thought it’d be. Looking around, I noted a few glass cases, a few chests… and many, many weapons.

“This is pretty much the armory we use, when we need to,” Celestia instructed. “The chests mostly contain dangerous books and scrolls, some enchanted armors we simply prefer not to display.”

I walked over to a small glass case containing a dagger made of some strange, green metal. There were intricate swirls all over the weapon, laced with gold-leaf.

“Some are gifts,” she said, waving towards some large sword made seemingly of rubies and sapphires, “While most are simply what they appear to be; tools of war.”

“I’ll assume you know how to use all of these?” I asked, running my hand over the hilt of a sword made of obsidian.

“Of course we do. Obviously there are favorites, but we both are trained in battle using every single item here.”

“This is why I wasn’t allowed in here before?”

Celestia looked down and away, out the door. “I… I don’t like anyone thinking about our past selves. We both started off as warriors, not Princesses, but we’re the only one who need to remember that…” She smiled, tight-lipped. “Us, and our enemies.”

“The Gryph people still have terrible paintings of us, and a few ambassadors have openly admitted to being told monster stories about us by their parents,” Luna said absently, looking at a long, thick sword seemingly made of bone.

“We work hard to present a better face to other nations, though,” Celestia sighed, frowning.

“Well, let’s go show those faces to the Crystal Folken, eh?” came a feminine voice, announcing at least Shadowfall.

She stood in the door, wearing a clean set of her original clothes. Dawnbreak stood behind her, and had added mail over his own set of clean clothes, as well as a small dagger and pair of gauntlets at his waist.

Looking around, I took in the armor again. “We’re not… travelling like this, are we?”

Celestia laughed and shook her head, as she and her sister snapped simultaneously. Both sets of armor disappeared, revealing Luna’s heavy clothes and Celestia’s mostly matching set.

“That shirt’s tailored for wings, right?” Shadowfall asked, pulling at the back of the heavy fabric covering me.

“Uhm…” I slowly stretched my wings out, pushing them through the hidden exits to the sweater. Shaking the leathery appendages, I let my shoulder blades pop slightly before pulling the wings back to my side.

“Celestia, Luna?”

They both nodded.

“What about you, Shadowfall?” Celestia asked. “I thought you were unaligned?”

Shadowfall grinned and elbowed Dawnbreak. “Dawn here’s pretty good at carrying me around. We usually cover a few hundred miles a day, think you lot can keep up?”

Grinning, the Princesses flexed their shoulders, unfurling their large wings, massive primaries almost trailing the ground as the tips stretched easily to either side of the room.

Shadowfall gulped noisily before grinning. “Well then, let’s set off.

Author's Note:

Everybody liking the Wednesday updates? Everybody liking the updates themselves?

Comments

[DARKPHANTOM13]

I am and great chapter. I would think that Spike would at least borrow some armor and/or get a cool sword or something.

[SilverEyedWolf]

5261578

Spike got his own cool sword way back in chapter 4, remember XD He keeps it shrunk on his wrist.

[DARKPHANTOM13]

5261685 Oh right, but he'll probably need armor for the trip though.