Occultus Canonicus- Book One: Honesty

by Blackbriar

Blood is thicker than water

"While little documentation remains form that era, we can safely confirm that one, and only one pony could traverse the Realm of Dreams. And while She remains trapped on the Moon, all the little fillies and colts can sleep safe knowing their time spent in bed will be safe, sound, and restful."
-A Foals guide to the Post Banishment Era

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“Ahm sorry, didja say Night Court in Everfree Castle?” Applejack sputtered.

“Well, at least ah think I was. Minds all fuzzy, like I’ve had a few too many Apple Ciders. Haven’t lost this much time since we brewed the batch with the charred Timber Wolves barrels. Ah tell ya, them varmints are nasty critters, but it’s on par with any Dragon Whisky or Diamond Dog Vodka,” the strange stallion mused, “When ah woke up all ah had was mah coat and a right nasty headache like somepony’s been tap dancing on mah skull. So ah wander around for a spell, Castle ain’t in sight and ah come across this trail. Figure that’s gotta lead some where so I start on my way.

Anywho, here I ahm in some sorta town ah don’t reckon but bits are still good so ah figured ah’d get some grub. But now that ah’ve met ya ah know ah don’t need ta. This is clearly some sorta dream or daze from one of Swirl’s tinker’n. Ah swear, that blasted unicorn’ll be the death of us all, or Princess Luna strike me dead! Kinda strange though, ah usually dream about feasts and harvest season on the Hidden Acres. Not cute little fillies that can’t be alive yet let alone with thar own farmstead. So as this is a dream would it be too forward of me to ask ya out on a date their hot stuff?”

While Applejack was admitted not the most learned of ponies she could tell easy enough that somepony wasn’t bucking their whole orchard. And after shaking the grinding gears noise out of her head she squinted at the newcomer with a little sympathy.

“Whoa nelly thar pardner, ah’m rightly sure that what ah said is real as mah hoof and yer the one that’s a might bit confused. Ya hit yer head or something feller? Cause while ah’m flattered, in a sorta creeped out way, if’n what ya said is true than that’d make us family and thar's more than enough of that sort of gossip going round with out somepony getting ideas that it’s true.”

“But we can’t be family, mah little sister just got married to some big feller by tha name of Mallus Apple last fall and thar first foal tain’t expected till a little after the Summer Sun Festival. Ah did tha cater’n myself for their wedding at the Hidden Acres Chapel. And while ah did give’em a huge parcel of land north of tha Everfree which if mah sense of direction ain’t all screwy from this weird dream then ah’d still be over 100 years old. An as you can see ahm not.”

“Sugar cube, we can settle this right easy, tell me what year it is.”

“Why, it’s the Year 576, in four more years we’ll be celebrating the 580th anniversary the Regal Alicorn Sisters sealed The Chaos Bringer Discord in Stone. Ah hear the Crystal Empire gets the honor of hosting. Much as ah hate to travel that Princess Melodius is a right fit filly if ya don’t mind me say’n,” the stallion wiggled his eyebrows.

“Oh brother, well take a gander at this here newspaper and ya tell me what ya see about the date at the top,” the farm pony pitied.

Moving on to the newsstand and picking up a copy of the Ponyville Express Applejack pointed to the date and was assured of her victory.

“Wut’s a newspaper, this here thing?” Blackbriar continues to read taking more in, “Special on the return of the Crystal Empire. . .Equestrian Games successful held. . .Changeling Spell taught in schools. . .Monday the 10 of July . . .TWO THOUSAND TWENTY FIVE?!!?”

The bustling market place screeches to a halt at the exclamation, native Ponyvillians have learned when somepony starts screaming it usually means one of Twilight’s friends are about to do something dangerous or some other disaster has befallen the town yet again. After nothing more happens other than a strange stallion starts hyperventilating and smacking himself in the muzzle they go about their business as usual.

“This can’t be, it just can’t be. Over ah thousand years. But there’s the paper, and there’s you, and ah hit on you, and that’s wrong, and there’s the paper, and ah can feel pain, and Princess Melodius has a fine flank, and then there’s you, and the usual mud wrestling fillies from the dream haven’t shown up yet, and this town is here, and, and, and oh look the ground. . .”

Face planted firmly in the dirt back leg twitching Applejack sprang into action. Whistling loudly at a near by cloud bank as familiar rainbow colored mane sticks out over the edge.

“Ugh, what is it AJ, can’t a filly get her afternoon nap in with out somepony having a breakdown in the center of town?”

Crouching down to roll the stallion on his side to avoid him swallowing his tongue incase he has a seizure she growls at the Pegasus making her way down to the ground.

“Jokes later action now Rainbow, we need to get this feller to the hospital quick, dunno what’s wrong with him but he was acting mighty peculiar right before he bit the dust. Ah need you to get Nurse Redheart as quick as you can, after that swing by the farm and let Granny Smith know we got something right strange going on that might involve the family. After the paramedics get him taken care of ah’m going to head to the post office and send a unicorn message to Twilight. Ah know she’s going to be miffed that we’re cutting her vacation short but ah gotta nasty feeling in my gut we’re going to need her magic and know how ta get to the bottom of this.”

Giving a quick salute Rainbow Dash revs up her wings and gets ready to bolt toward the hospital, “You got it AJ, and I’ll get there in ten seconds flat!” A technicolor wake is left behind as the eager weather mare makes her way to help while Applejack looks down at the twitching chef stallion in the dirt.

“Just who in tarnation are you?”

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If the lock on the door didn’t give it away the gnarled black crystal ornamenting the walls and nooks of the passageway leading down into the depths of the Crystal Empire Library confirmed Twilights suspicion that this was the personal library of King Sombra. Only he was so well known for his love of the hideous looking rock formations. She wondered idly how this part of the Empire had remained in tact when the rest of the metropolis had been cleansed the of vile King’s influence when the Crystal Ponies ran their own brand of Earth Magic through the Crystal Heart. After a thorough investigation with her BBBFF and the freshly appointed castle guard they had found no trace of the fell monarch’s touch anywhere he’d held sway before. Trotting with care her caution turned to annoyance as flight after flight fell way beneath her hooves.

“Sombra MUST have been a proficient Teleport Spell user, as I can’t imagine anyone would willing traverse THIS many stairs to get to a place you’d visit often. What is it with this guy and stairs?!?”

A simple spell reverse summoned her hoof regalia as she finished the trek down to the bottom. While she was more comfortable in her role as a Princess the shoes were going to take some getting used to after a life time of walking everywhere bare hoofed. All her walking had yielded results though as she was a rewarded with the secret laboratory of a mad king banished from the Material Plane. The layout and composition reminded her of her own basement lab only furnished with the payroll of a king and not a librarian. While ancient and antique in terms of how out of date everything was the room was still immaculate and expensive just by a quick glance. Beakers and alchemy sets with various experiments in different stages of analysis. Shelf upon shelf of books lined the walls not filled up with cabinets holding how ever many years of study.

After a quick circuit the whole lab was about the size of a hoof ball field, though a larger part of it seemed sealed off with wards that not even her extensive knowledge knew what they would do. Caution being the better part of valor Twilight opted to continue exploring the more lived in sections. At last she found what she was searching for, every good scientist no matter how evil kept a log of what they were doing for future reference and on an ornate stand that appeared to be carved to look like it was held up by the backs of chained Crystal Ponies the Princess found it.

Making a moue of disgust Twilight tested for traps and having found none she began to skim the pages.

“. . .finally installed the security spell on the doorway down here. Wouldn’t want ‘my liege’ to find out what I’m planning until she can’t stop me. .

“Well, that would explain why no one’s found this place yet, if it was strong enough to be hidden from a Princess then no wonder the head librarian didn’t find it after all this time!”

. . .the experiments go well so far, the Umbra Crystal Spell leeches the vitality out of any rock substance it can get near, targeting crystals especially, going to need more Sea Pony Ink if I want to make it a sustainable essence for my broach. . .

“Oh? I thought it was just a spell that made the crystals grow like that, I mean, Princess Celestia and I can make them grow at will so long as we have a host crystal from the Empire to start with. Maybe Sombra did something to the crystals here that allow that spell to work. . that would explain why his crystals never left the boundaries of the Empire and infect into Central Equestria.”

. . .The Alicorn sisters visited today, I can tell the Elder one doesn’t care for me. Almost like she knows what I have in mind but she can’t! There’s no way she could know. The Younger one likes me well enough. Princess Luna and Princess Melodius’ guards aside I was able to pretend to have a good time out on the town drinking with them. Ugh, I don’t care if Minuette is a direct descendant of Queen Platinum; she’s just a unicorn like me. And one day soon the strongest shall rule. Power over Blood! Though the whole evening wasn't a wash, that Luna is something else, she’s got this depth to her that I can’t grasp, like some dark well of knowing that I couldn’t plumb the depths of for a thousand years. Not a bad flank on her either, though the size difference could be a problem. . . .

Skipping the next couple of pages with some less than savory drawings Twilight blushes furiously as she flips ahead.

. . .I don’t care how much he’s willing to pay me. I won’t let him have my crystal magic. Can’t let anyone have it! It’s mine! I prayed to the Master of Unmaking for the divine inspiration and it’s mine! I paid the price in blood, bone, and oath! He already has time magic at his beck and call, why does he need my crystals!?!. . .

“Wait, time magic, there sure isn’t many ponies that know that type of magic, especially in that era.”

. . .It worked! The empire is mine! But the secret isn’t safe. I must protect my art, my craft, mine mine mine mine mine mine! Going to have to do something about the unicorns. They could spread the magic; give it to that court fool in the South. . .

“Unicorns? There are no Crystal Pony Unicorns. . only. . .Earth Ponies. . .”

Several pages were torn out, the edges smeared in blood, like someponies hoof was bleeding profusely when they were torn out.

. . .it’s done. It took months, and I had to sacrifice so many to get enough power together to hit the whole kingdom at once. Those fools never expected me to use their own Crystal Heart against them. Melodius put up quite a fight. I don’t know if her foal got away or not, the boat carrying her to the Light Bringer and Dream Dweller was far into the river when my spell bomb went off. But no matter! The act is done, the die is cast! I’ve Horn Gelded an entire kingdom! Now even if those infernal Alicorn Sisters think to rise against me my magic will die with me, my secrets! Mine! Mine! MINE! MINE! MINE!. . .

Twilight got to the bottom of the page and immediately back pedaled into the wall behind her, these were the machinations of a unicorn gone mad. And what was Horn Gelding? She could’ve sworn she’d seen something in a book some where with that phrase before but it was slipping from her mind like sand in a sieve. There wasn’t much of the log left that wasn’t computations and experiment results. In the margin the deranged notes grew worse and more pervasive. Somepony strong in magic to the south was a threat to him, even more so than Regal Alicorn Sisters, if that could be believed! She stopped turning pages with her magic when she got to more personal journal entries.

. . .I’ve heard what the slaves say when they think I’m not in ear shot, I hear all, I hear all! They say I’m a monster. That I’ve created abominations that no pony should meddle with. How little they know! I would not use these soldiers of living crystal and pony blood to attack my neighbors to the south. Nay. Nay I say! I will need a guard, that fool in the south has created REAL monsters. Can’t write his name, he will know I plot against him! Never! Never! I can’t even tell what makes them up, part pony, part monster, and part something else? Alive? Dead? Both? Neither? They’ve crushed the Minotaur Rebellion and the Changelings daren’t cross into the Shadow of Everfree Castle. Any Griffon that enters that forest with out just cause vanishes. What has the Dark Sister unleashed in her Mage?. . .

More paranoid ranting follows, troop movements at the borders and spy reports that a small force is cutting a swath through every form of resistance he can bring to bare on the field of battle.

. . .What are they?!? The Four Stars?!!? What Tartaurus blasted furnace did that fool smelt these equine horrors from. They look mortal enough but their power; Gods do not wield that much power with so little care! They will be at the gates tomorrow if their speed holds. I must go and ready myself, if my kingdom is to fall then I shall take it with me to my grave!. . .

There the journal ends, and Twilight can all too easily imagine Celestia and Luna meeting horns with him on the battlements and in attempting to end his reign of terror loosing the Crystal Empire for a 1000 years. And while a few of her questions were answered many more rose in their wake. Taking the journal with her the Princess of Friendship made it back to the top of the stairs with a few well placed teleports. Sealing the gate behind her she startled the Librarian with her sudden appearance now that the Avoidance Spell was no longer functioning.

“Oh dear me!” the aged book mare grumbled, “Well there you are, I’ve been looking all over for you, your majesty. We just received a message from your home town of Ponyville. Seems there’s somepony there claiming to be 1000 years old?”

Already having resigned herself that her vacation was over Twilight thanked the Librarian for the message and made her way to the Train Depot. Questioning Princess Celestia and Luna would have to wait until this new mystery at home was sorted out.

Author's Note:

Made some edits in Chapter One that I missed when reviewing it.
Thank you for those that are following me. And if you have any questions or critiques feel free to send me a message.

Comments

[Blackbriar]

It's bears mentioning that this story takes place right at the end of Season 3 and before Equestria Girls.