The Betrayed

by Thadius0

Chapter the Twenty-first - The Vault

Balanced Books stood in the entryway of his home with a shocked expression on his face.
Completely understandable, considering that Celestia, Luna, and Twilight were on his lawn.
Even more understandable considering what they had just asked.
"Come again?"
"I would appreciate it if you would show us around your Vault, Abel."
Books groaned and rolled his eyes. "And WHY do you need to see it now?"
"Because if you have anything stored in there that could be a danger to Equestria, I need to know."
Books looked off into the distance for a moment, tapping the ground with one of his hooves. Finally shaking his head, he fixed his gaze on each of the mares in turn.
"Fine. I can show you around. But let me make this perfectly clear. There is one artifact in there that I know you will react to. One that I know will cause a scene. If ANY of you are incapable of controlling yourselves and react excessively to it, I will escort you from my home immediately and never invite you back in. Do you understand?"
The three mares seemed taken aback for a moment, but then each of them nodded.
"Very well. Celestia, Luna, Twilight, please come in."
-----
Abel looked at the cave entrance before him, glaring slightly. Motioning to the mares to wait a moment, Abel charged his horn and swung it at the opening. A curtain of red shimmered into existence, covering the opening.
"Security protocol Gamma, password seven, five, three, two."
Biometrics confirmed. Welcome, Abel and guests.
The curtain peeled back, and Abel walked into the cave, closely followed by the three mares.
Abel sighed. "Might as well get this over with. Nocturnus Requiem, come forth!"
"Mmmm...morning Abel...oh, and who is this? How very...interesting."
"Nocturnus, this is the acid test. If they can't stand you, then they don't get to see the rest of the Vault."
"Isn't that cruel to at least one of them? I mean, after all..."
The dark blue mist seeped out from deeper in the cave and formed into the rough shape of a pony. The slitted cyan eyes opened on it again, and it smiled a wicked smile.
"One of them is my better half, and the others fought against me."
And the mares were stunned speechless. Abel rushed to fill in the gap.
"Yes, this is the same spirit that once possessed Luna. However, I've been putting her through rehab for the last two years. She's gotten better, and even requested a new name. The Nightmare really doesn't fit anymore, so I named her Nocturnus Requiem."
Celestia recovered. "You...took the Nightmare?"
Abel nodded. "Wasn't easy."
Twilight croaked out a question. "Rehabilitation?"
"Also not easy."
And finally Luna found her voice again. "Why? How?"
Abel grinned. "And therein lies a tale. The day after the fight against Nightmare Moon, I went out to the Castle of the Two Sisters..."
-----
Huh. Interesting. All this armor seems to be slightly mag- did it just move?
Abel was in the room where Nightmare Moon had been turned back to Luna. It amazed him how some ponies could just forget things. Like the armor she had been wearing, which was now scattered around the room.
I must be seeing th- nope! It definitely moved! Okay...plan...
Carefully moving one piece at a time, Abel put the armor plates in the main hallway of the royal castle. Plan...plan...plan...okay, I'll need a ponyquinn and sapphire from Rarity, along with two large chunks of quartz. Maybe she can tell me where those are as well.
-----
The night had fallen, and Books had dragged the ponyquinn out to the castle. Making sure nobody was around, Books peeled off his disguise and his saddlebags, then situated the ponyquinn in the middle of the hall. Taking note that the armor pieces had, in fact, moved closer together, Abel nodded to himself, and put the back and chest armor on it.
And that was freaky. It was like all the other pieces rotated to follow it...
Placing the helmet on the ponyquinn next, Abel wasn't the least surprised when the hoof coverings flew from their corners and attached themselves as well.
"Foolish pony! You have placed the armor of the Nightmare upon yourself! You will be mine for all et- this isn't a pony."
Abel cracked a grin. "Well hello there Nightmare, I have a proposition for you." Charging his horn, Abel began to carefully sculpt the sapphire into a miniature alicorn.
"Is this your doing? Release me!"
Abel mock-pondered the question as he continued the sculpting. "Hmmm...let a dark spirit take over my body and gain absolutely nothing in exchange. Lemme think about that..."
"Oh, is it gain you desire? My powers are vast. I can enhance your attributes tenfold!"
Abel sighed and shook his head as he put the sapphire alicorn down. "I doubt that."
He'd only just begun working on the quartz when the voice of the spirit interrupted. "Oh, do not doubt yourself. No matter the pony, the Nightmare is capable. Why, I could enhance even an Earth Pony's strength. Such a pony could buck entire buildings down!"
Abel nodded absently. One side down... "You don't say. What about a Pegasus?"
"Fast? They'd be faster than before! I could even help them channel their weather manipulation magic to do all sorts of highly unbelievable things!"
Both sides down, begin infusing spells into quartz... "And I suppose one wouldn't even have to ask what you would be able to do for a unicorn."
"Their magic would be neigh unstoppable! Anypony can benefit! All you would have to do is release me!"
Aaaaand done. Time to make the offer. "That's all well and good. But I have a counter-proposal. Well. More like a barrage of information to dump on you."
"Let me hear it, insect."
Abel grinned at that. "Oh you do not know how correct you are. But I digress. You're stuck on a ponyquinn. You're going nowhere. Eventually the magics binding you to this realm will dissipate. Either because the armor will rust, or due to the passage of time. Meanwhile, Celestia and Luna are in Canterlot, spreading propaganda about how it was all YOUR fault that Luna was corrupted. They're even making a foal's tale version. In short, you're bucked. You're royally bucked. But I can offer you...an escape."
"...I'm listening."
"I'm skilled in the manipulation of spirits and magical energies. I can unbind your focus from that armor to this gemstone I just carved and enchanted. Granted, I'd still take the armor back with me. But you, m'dear. I can help you. There will be rules. Stipulations. But I can get you out of this castle. You have until sunrise to answer me."
-----
Abel pointed his horn at the ceiling of the cave, and small red lights ignited in a pattern, casting an unearthly glow onto the pedestals below. Abel led the mares to one in particular, upon which rested the Nightmare's prison.
It was a simple enough looking thing. Two chunks of quartz that were both flat on one side, said flat sides facing each other. Upon the bottom rested the sapphire alicorn figurine. Abel tapped the bottom chunk of quartz, and a diagram briefly lit up. A circle surrounding the figurine, with six highly familiar marks placed equidistant from each other on it.
"The prison," Abel explained, "Is slightly physical, in that it is bound to the quartz here. However, it's mostly magical. I gathered up what lingering essence of Harmony I thought the quartz could stand, a little from each element, and made it the bars of her prison. Every day I test her on something different. The more she exemplifies that particular Element, the more freedom she has. When the day comes that not even all the bars can keep her here, then she is no longer the Nightmare, but truly Nocturnus Requiem."
"I have to admit, it works. And I've mostly dropped my grudge against him for it."
Abel smiled and touched his horn to the top piece of quartz. "I think today, I'll test you on Honesty."
"More for your benefit than mine, I assure you. I've mostly mastered that lesson."
With a shunk, a pillar protruded from the bottom piece of quartz and struck the top, the mark of an apple on it glowing orange and bathing the sapphire alicorn in its light.
Abel turned to the gathered mares. "Now, on with the tour!"
-----
Abel stopped in front of a podium that had a ruby resting atop it. "Ah, I remember this one. This was my first foray into enchanting gemstones."
Twilight moved forward to inspect it, but was stopped by Abel's hoof. "I wouldn't. I can get close cause my energy is kept on lockdown, but you..."
Abel motion to a circle on the floor that gave the podium three feet of space in every direction. "Getting closer than that is liable to be unpleasant."
"Abel, what is this gem meant to do?"
Abel grinned, moved closer, and picked it up. "I tried to imbue a changeling's feeding ability into a gem, to try and see if there were a better way for changelings to gain the magical energy they needed. I accidentally imbued my feeding ability into it, so this gem devours nearby magic."
At this, the eyes of the princesses widened. "But since there is magic in everything, especially us..."
Abel nodded and put the ruby back on the podium. "Yeah. Kind of a failure, that one. We didn't have any way to regulate the amount it took in. That's why it's down here. Not taking something that dangerous to the outside world. We're working on it."
-----
Twilight pointed to a necklace a few minutes later. "What's that one do?"
Abel pulled it up and smiled. "Ah, this one. This was our prototype communication device for ponies. Didn't work. It allows you to communicate with others, yes..."
Abel slipped it over Twilight's neck, and her eyes widened. "Oh, Princess Celestia, it's actually safe."
Celestia blinked once. "What."
"Yes, it's actually a safe device. And Princess Luna, I'm sure he wouldn't have that spirit around if he didn't trust it."
"Indeed not, Miss Sparkle."
Luna blinked. "But Twilight, we did not-"
Abel held up a hoof. "Nope, neither of you actually said anything. But to Twilight here, she heard your thoughts as clear as day. This is a necklace of mind-reading. Once again, we kinda didn't have a good way to make a filter. Taking this out into a populated area would wreck the mind of the pony wearing it."
Abel carefully lifted the necklace off of Twilight, and she blinked a few times and rubbed her head with a hoof. "Well. That was strange."
-----
"That bracelet seems to exude magic, Abel."
Abel nodded and lifted it off its particular podium. "Failed stealth device. Meant to be a bracelet that would cause other ponies to not notice you. But when it gets put on..."
The bracelet shot across the space between them and fastened itself across Celestia's foreleg.
Instantly, there was chaos in the world.
For a few precious moments, nopony could even remember that there was a Princess Celestia.
Complete. And utter. Madness.
Abel swore he heard somepony scream 'The horror!'
After counting to ten, Abel pulled the bracelet off of Celestia's foreleg, and the world slowly righted itself again.
Celestia shook her head a few times. "What...was that?"
Abel ginned slightly. "When you wear the notice-me-not bracelet, nopony notices you. When you wear this one, nopony remembers you. We mistranslated one of the words. For those ten seconds, none of your ponies remembered you existed, Celestia."
Celestia's eyes widened as she tracked the bracelet back to its podium. "Abel, never use that against us ever again."
Abel's grin increased. "But then how could I prank you?"
-----
"Prithee, what is the point of that cloth sack?"
Abel glanced at it. "Early model bag of holding. We've gotten better about them, and there's only a few kinks left to work out. That one, however, is staying here."
Luna tilted her head to the side. "If it works, then what is the problem with it."
Abel looked at her, then back at it. "The last time it was used, tentacles came out."
-----
"And here we have the creme de la creme. My stolen Chaos Magic."
All the gathered ponies looked at the red orb with wonder. They could feel the raw strength contained in it.
Twilight looked at Abel. "Spill, now. How'd you do it?"
Abel grinned. "The interior was made of the worst sort of gel known to me, and the exterior was made of the best, then hardened. I filled two halves of the orb with the gel, fused it together, and imbued it with the Chaos Magic. It vaporized, was contained, and made a perfect lattice. But even that wasn't enough, no."
Abel ran a hoof along the sphere and sighed wistfully. "I had to lay a spell into the lattice. One to keep the magic contained. It was quite simple. I asked it to calculate an irrational number. I asked it to calculate the precise value of Pi."
"Well that doesn't seem so-"
"In binary strawberry pie."
All the mares blinked, even Nocturnus showed up to blink. "What."
Abel shrugged. "It wasn't going to do anything ordered, you know. I'm not sure it'll ever start. Much less finish."
Abel clapped his forehooves together. "And with that, I think you've seen most of the Vault. Any questions?"
Twilight raised a hoof, and Abel pointed at her. "Yes, the studious unicorn in front."
Twilight pointed at Nocturnus. "Why did you save her? Why did you think she could be redeemed?"
Abel mock-pondered and put a hoof to his chin. "Hmm, ask the magic-eating monster why he saved a dark spirit. Good question. Well, mostly I figured that if I could blend in, live a normal life, then why couldn't she? And frankly, I'm not sure she'll ever fully be redeemed."
"You have such faith in me, Abel."
"Hey! You've learned Honesty, Loyalty, and Kindness, but I've yet to see a lick of true Laughter or Generosity from you, missy!"
Nocturnus sighed. "I AM trying, you know."
Twilight coughed. "Yes, well, I suppose the next question is...what would you do, if she were redeemed?"
Abel shrugged. "At that point in time, she's a free spirit. Doesn't bother me any what she'd choose to do."
Celestia looked around. "There are more podiums here that we did not touch on, Abel."
Abel nodded. "Most of these are variations on one item or another, each one a failure in one aspect or another. Each one with an important lesson behind them, and dangerous enough to warrant their incarceration here."
Luna made a quiet note of something then. "That Quill is not here, we noticed..."
Abel looked at her and nodded once, jerkily. "I know where it is. It is safe. It will not be touched. None besides me can touch it, such are the wards on it. Do not ask for it again."
Celestia cast a gaze to both Luna and Twilight before nodding. "Then I think we're done here for the time being. If you will escort us back up?"
Abel nodded. "But of course, m'ladies!"

Author's Note:

Aaaaand with this, classes have started back up for me.
Don't be expecting any large amount of chapters from me, y'hear?
At least not during the weekdays.

Comments

[amiamera]

But...but...THE HORROR! No more massive amounts of updates? All because you want to advance your education in order to hopefully obtain a better life rather than give out free writing on a semi-random website. You selfish man! or woman, I don't pay much attention...ooo SHINY! *pounce* MINE!

Sarcasm done: Good luck with the schooling and the learning. I already am unlucky enough to have started already.

[Skalula7]

Prithee, what is the point of that cloth sack?"
Abel glanced at it. "Early model bag of holding. We've gotten better about them, and there's only a few kinks left to work out. That one, however, is staying here."
Luna tilted her head to the side. "If it works, then what is the problem with it."
Abel looked at her, then back at it. "The last time it was used, tentacles came out."

encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQIJ632rrvWtPhUgBkAT8Q_E7fjAZtOjAsbzJIENpSwwez1sUbe

[Skalula7]

3816120

*pounce* MINE!

[Thadius0]

3816120
Well I have a few ideas for the next few chapters.
Methinks another season chapter will show up next.
Possibly with more Cadence. Not decided on that.
After that, though. It's a toss up.
Between 'What Abel does when he has access to crystals' or 'BlueHate.'
I just can't make up my mind!

[Blazing Shadow]

3816172 all is okay as long as you dont turn this into a fuckiiing amnesia oc story!
and the twiligt-ish drama too! fuck that.

[Thadius0]

3816217
Are we talking Twilight the series or Twilight the unicorn?
And as for amnesia, I have no plans for it.
Least, none that I can remember.

[hs0003]

3816172 Get started on BlueHate. He'll need a lot of chapters for rehabilitation if you go along is with my suggestion

[Thadius0]

3816247
Abel DOES seem to be rehabilitating a lot of side characters and villains, doesn't he?

[hs0003]

3816260 I was thinking more of rehabilitation from physical damage, and not so much mental damage.
Although I am sure that BB will get his broken mind fixed at least partially from what we talked about would happen afterwards.

[Thadius0]

3816268
Oh please.
While Abel DOES have a greater understanding of Pony anatomy, and a good bit of magical reserves.
Plus an entire HIVE backing him up.
And wings.
He'd at least try to fight on Blue's level.
I'm not sure he'd go for the lobotomy though.

[Ninjahzzzz]

The Ready willing and Abel rehabilitation center

[Thadius0]

3816922
I only just got that.
You should be thankful I don't have a Bad Pun jar.

[Ninjahzzzz]

3817557 it seems like Abel's kinda joke,maybe for once his patient is ready to leave?

[Thadius0]

3817688
Heh, could work.
Let's see...
Gilda, check. Flim and Flam, check. Nightmare, check.
Oh.
Oh my.
Well besides Blueblood...
Methinks I know the next applicant!

[Ninjahzzzz]

3817741 the great and powerful boaster?

[Thadius0]

3817770
I can't see that episode playing out well for anyone.
And I do mean ANYONE.

[Thadius0]

3819849
Saw that. And I'm trying to tone him down.
...It's not working, I know.
Hmm. Mayhap I'll throw another few weaknesses at him. Maybe that'll help.

[Thadius0]

3820013
Yeah, fulla himself, noticed that as well...
I mean, all of that can be explained, save for the Chryssy bit.
Showing his ability to plot and plan to the sisters and Shining was in an effort to show that he was on their side, but not willing to just roll over and take the punches.
The Chryssy bit, I got nothing. Maybe he was hoping to divert attention away from himself?
He IS an Albino, after all.

[LostArchivist]

I LIKE the OP. There isn't all that much, but he can do some really cool stuff. Keep it!

And seriously, some of those artifacts are hilarious.

[KvAT]

Abel ginned slightly. "When you wear the notice-me-not bracelet, nopony notices you. When you wear this one, nopony remembers you. We mistranslated one of the words. For those ten seconds, none of your ponies remembered you existed, Celestia."

False Hydra bracelet