Rainbow Connection

by ahilty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty One

Three of the most powerful unicorns in Canterlot (whose names didn’t happen to Twilight Sparkle or Shining Armor, or hell even Trixie), stood in an semi circle around Celestia, who had lowered her head to give them better access to her still non-functioning horn. One of them, a red fellow with a curly white mane, and an absurdly frilly jacket and an opera cape that covered his Cutie Mark, hummed to himself. Celestia couldn’t help but wonder about the odd getup, even though he did look rather dashing. The other two hadn’t bothered with elaborate costumes. For some reason Celestia couldn’t quite place the costumed unicorn at all. Maybe she needed to drop by the academy more often?

After a quick request to the guard for someone to take a look at her horn, these three had shown up at the castle. They had talked some time about the ring around Celestia’s horn, before theorizing that enough positive energy might overload it. There was a chance that it would explode, but Celestia’s horn could stand up to dragon fire, repeated slams with a sword, an overpowered Changeling Queen, and the Frog Incident, then she doubted a small explosion would do much to it.

One by one the three unicorns blasted the ring with their magic, and Celestia braced herself as the ring grew hot. She grunted as it began to glow white, then yelped as a loud boom echoed through the room, and the ring exploded. Celesta shouted and closed her eyes as the ring’s dust fell into her eyes. She rubbed them, then blinked. One of the unicorns lifted a mirror to her. She eyed the base of her horn. A little blackened, but otherwise it seemed fine.

She was just turning her head to thank the three unicorns when the costumed one spun around and, rather briskly, said something about a large lizard and dashed off. Celestia blinked.

“Who was that?” She asked the remaining two.

One of the remaining unicorns shrugged. “He just sort of turned up and started ordering us around. Rather rude, but he seems to know what he’s doing.”

Celestia watched the stranger stop at the huge doors. A pale grey, almost white, mare with a brown mane nudged the doors open from the other side and spoke frantically to the strange unicorn. The unicorn nodded in an almost dismissive way and pushed past her. The mare turned a bit and snorted at him in clear exasperation. Celestia just managed to see the mare’s Cutie Mark (a camera), before the two dashed down the hall.

Celestia was about to order the guards to bring them back, there was something a little off about that unicorn, when Luna burst through the golden doors and landed in front of her. Celestia looked at her.

“Those two ponies you just past in the hall-“

“Twilight Sparkle wants us to free Rath!”

Celestia blinked at her sister. Luna stared at her.

“…what about those ponies?”

“Never mind.” Celestia decided an eccentric and his friend were a bit less concerning then this bit of news. “Rath? Are you serious, Luna?”

Luna nodded and proceeded to explain the situation to Celestia. Celestia nodded.

“I don’t like it, but it does make sense. And we did manage to get Discord on our side. We should try it.”

Luna nodded. “I shall get the transport chariot ready. Can you get the…statue?”

Celestia smiled. “Of course. I’ll meet you there.”

Celestia turned to the hedge maze out back and spread her wings, choosing to leave via the window instead of using doors. It was true that half the statues out in the gardens were indeed criminals and villains of various types. A few were ponies. For a moment Celestia thought back to when Twilight Sparkle had been a young filly.

“Princess, I read in one of your books that these statues are…” Celestia could almost hear her student’s hesitant, young voice. She should have known Twilight would find all sorts of books, even the ones that children shouldn’t read.

“Yes, a few of them are living beings, or were.”

“But some of them are ponies!”

“Twilight…let me show you something….”

In the present Celestia briefly glanced at one of the pony statues. It was of a rearing mare, with a huge smile on her face. Closer inspection would show that the smile was a bit too wide, and the eyes a bit to large.

“Twilight, this statue was indeed a pony at one point. She had to be turned to stone.”

“But why?”

Celestia had sighed sadly. “Because she killed other ponies. Five foster families, as well as her own parents, were killed by her hooves. We tried to rehabilitate her. We tried everything, but in the end nopony could help her. We turned her to stone in the hopes that one day we might lean more about how the mind works to be able to help her. I don’t believe in the death penalty, Twilight, and while turning to stone may not be the best fate, sometimes it’s the only choice.”

“Can they still…feel?”

Celestia shook her head. “Only a being of great power can remain conscious in stone.”

Celestia shook her head and moved on. Discord could remain aware…and perhaps Rath was as well, but she was fairly certain the murderous mare she had just turned away from was fast asleep. She hoped so. Would a fate trapped in stone be worse then death? At least stone was reversible, but at the same time…she still didn’t know the answer to this question. It always made her heart ache a bit when she walked through here. All the ponies and creatures she couldn’t help…

But if Luna was right maybe there was one more she could help.

The statue of Rath stood in a dark corner of the garden, mostly out of courtesy. Celestia didn’t think that Rath could be bothered by sunlight as stone but she felt it had been better safe then sorry. He stood at the base of a large arch built into the wall, providing shade for him through most of the day. Celestia paused and stared at him.

The fact that the man’s face was complete and utterly gone, leaving only a bare skull behind, had probably contributed to the fact that Celestia to this day still couldn’t tell if Rath was holding out his hand in a plea or a threat. It was a stone, bare grinning skull, and even in stone it looked terrifying to a pony. Most ponies avoided this corner of the garden for Rath alone, and many stewards had asked Celestia to remove him. Celestia didn’t, and this part of the garden had been left abandoned. Discord, while terrifying alive, was only an odd looking thing while stoned, but there wasn’t much you could do to make an armored skeleton seem less scary. Though the armor was primitive, barely a mail shirt and some odd fixture of leather around the legs, years of being in stone had preserved it. Celestia studied the skull face, but no sign of what Rath could possibly be thinking, if he was aware, could been seen.

“Now Rath, if you can hear me. I’m going to free you soon. You must be on your best behavior, understand?”

No response. A passing pigeon landed on the skull, and did…what pigeon’s do. Celestia sighed and shooed the bird before cleaning the skull.

“Well, let’s go Rath.” She said as she picked the statue up with her magic.

It didn’t seem to weigh a thing at all.

A few hours later Twilight Sparkle was almost done with inoculating the other ponies against dark magic. Her horn ached from all the dark energy flowing, but she held up against it. She sighed and rubbed the base of her horn. She had only two, Majesty and Ribbon, to go. It was a good thing to. Most of the other ponies were standing or sitting around, shaking their heads and attempting to unscramble their own brains. Twilight hadn’t done anything specific to them, but dark energy could still hurt the unsuspecting mind. It would take them a few moments to recover, but in the end Twilight thought that they would be able to hold up against the mist, at least for longer then they normally would.

“You sure you are going to be okay?” Majesty asked, her muzzle wrinkling in concern. Twilight Sparkle nodded.

“Yeah, yeah…just need a pause and…”

“Look!”

Twilight looked up and smiled. The princesses, both of the, were sitting in a palace chariot, pulled by two rather nervous looking pegasi. In another chariot, pulled by two even more nervous pegasi, was the statue of a rather frightening thing. Twilight Sparkle had seen it a few times when she lived in the palace, and while it fascinated her, it had scared Spike. The thing was a biped, and young Twilight had first assumed it had been a gorilla at some point, or a baboon. Now she was betting on human. The creature was wearing old chain mail, one hand upraised, palm out, fingers pointing to the sky. The other hand was edging close to a long sword at its side. Twilight Sparkle looked at Majesty.

“You should probably send the babies somewhere else.”

“Just what I was thinking. Truly?” Majesty turned to look at the grumpy earth pony, who was already in the process of herding the babies away. Most of them protested, but Truly managed to bully them in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres. Twilight noticed that most of the adults stayed, and were watching the statue with interest. The crowd approached the statue of Rath, eyeing it.

Celestia lifted the statue off the pedestal and walked towards the others. “Twilight, are you prepared in case we need to fight him?”

Twilight nodded. “I am.”

“So are we.” Gusty stepped up next to Twilight, pawing at the ground with her hoof. Majesty, Galaxy, and the rest of the Ponylanders surrounded the statue, as if waiting to charge or prevent the lich from pulling a fast one on them. Celestia and Luna stood facing the statue, Celestia looking calm and serene, while Luna had a stern look. Twilight watched, not sure how they were going to do this without the Elements, and eager to see the spell.

The two Princesses lifted into the air, using the same pose used in the Summer Sun Celebration. Only this time instead of raising the sun only Celestia’s horn began to glow, as did Luna’s. The sun didn’t move, but magic beamed from the two alicorn’s horns, and Twilight studied the spell as best she could for later reference. The two beams of energy circled the state, and cracked began to appear. Rath’s hand twitched, then suddenly slammed closed into a fist. Jerking he drew the arm back, and the rest of the stone prison shattered. Most of the ponies tensed, just in case. The undead skeleton took about two steps back, lowering and shaking his skull, as if disoriented.

Celetsia landed and stared at him, then took one step forwards. “Rath, do you know where you are?”

A long pause, then. “…pigeons.”

“…what?” Luna blinked.

“Fucking…PIGEONS!” Rath suddenly jerked his skull forwards and Twilight could see that instead of eyes the lich instead had two glowing red lights in his eye sockets, as well as red light emanating from somewhere in his chest that shone from the back of his throat. The light in his throat blinked every time he spoke. “It’s bad enough I had to sit through fucking YEARS of watching your damn IVY growing on your FUCKING WHITE FRILLY CASTLE, but the bloody PIDGEONS and their FUCKING SHIT ALL OVER MY HEAD, YOU WRETCHED LITTLE HOOVED BEASTS!”

“…he’s grumpy in the morning.” Surprise smiled.

“Oh I am bloody beyond grumpy!” Twilight noticed that the creature kept waving its skeletal arms and gesturing a lot, as if he was making up for his lack of facial features by theatrical opera hand waves. She wouldn’t be surprised if this was the case. Despite the fact that he was currently cussing at all of them about pigeons Twilight was mildly fascinated by all of this.

“Ummm, hi.” Twilight Sparkle walked forwards. “Ummm, we need your help and-“

“Not interested.” Rath turned away and folded his arms with a slight creak of bone. Twilight blinked.

“Look, I know what happened a thousand years ago w-“

“You have no idea, alicorn.” Rath turned and glared at Twilight. “It’s to late, fool. She’s dead, they’re probably dead, and its all the fault of those two self righteous twats!” Rath pointed at Celestia and Luna, who glared at him.

“I saw your kin eat my friends. And Clover was in your lair-“

“You idiots. She was trying to help me cure my daughters!” Rath snarled.

“Of what?” Majesty asked. “Please, for the sake of your descendant if nothing else.”

Rath paused and turned his skull towards Majesty. He leaned closer towards Majesty, who to her credit didn’t flinch. “What do you mean? It’s far to late to cure them now. That is what me and Clover were doing, you know? No, they didn’t bother to give me the chance to explain. My daughters played with powers they could not control, and they were infected by it. I was developing a rune sequence to cure them, but its to late now. Any of my ‘descendants’ as you call them will have had the evil breed into their blood. There is no hope to cleanse them. If I had cured my daughters a thousand years ago they wouldn’t have passed the evil to whatever children they had…as it is now…” Rath shook his head. “There is no way I can help them now.” He suddenly straightened and gripped the hilt of his ancient sword. “Why should I even attempt to help you now, when there is no hope for my family?”

Megan suddenly pushed gently past Gusty and Galaxy and stepped closer to Majesty. “Wait! You’re wrong about them. They aren’t all evil.”

“She’s right.” Paradise stepped forwards. “I studied the Gloom Clan as best I could, and there’s a pattern. It’s true that stories from your day speak of great evil, but going forwards through the years you’ll find your clan becoming less and less evil. Whatever your daughters infected themselves with, it must be wearing out as the years go by.”

Rath blinked. “Clover didn’t say that.”

“Even brilliant ponies can be wrong sometimes.” Twilight admitted. “I’ve seen one of your grandchildren myself, and she’s not evil.”

“She does have a few darker quirks, but she’s our friend.” Gusty maintained,

Rath’s jaw rattled. “Then where is she?”

“That is the problem we have, Rath.” Celestia sat down and took a deep breath and explained.

Hydia felt the situation slipping further and further from her control, and frankly that rankled. It had seemed so simple at the start when she had found that mirror to another world. All she had to do was zap it with a little magic, and she had found herself in the Everfree. It was there she had met that damned Pony of Shadows, who had been waiting and scheming itself. At first the idea of allying with it had been obvious. It had led her the Changelings, formed the plan but…

But once again she hadn’t suspected how fast the newborn Tirac would take over the minds of the ponies, nor did she expect her daughter to still be so unbelievably stupid! How could she still side with them after all of this!

The girl’s continued resistance to tradition and breeding had been a source of anger for Hydia every since the damned boar. Hydia didn’t’ blame herself for kicking Draggle out, even though the idea kept flitting through her mind like a stray Flutter Pony, unwelcome and unneeded and unwanted. It wasn’t her fault! She had only done what generations of her ancestors had done for centuries. It was all the ponies fault. That damn blue bitch had brainwashed Draggle, and…maybe it was Hydia’s fault a little bit. She hadn’t wanted to go down and get her own child out of danger. Was that where she had gone wrong…had that pony been right? No. It couldn’t be…but…but if she had gone to that Estate…no they would just have attacked her and Reeka. And Draggle was mad at her for that! Couldn’t she see that the ponies were using her? They weren’t family, how could they care for her?

If only she could get Draggle back to the Volcano, there had to be some spell that could cure the brainwashing. If only Hydia could find the right spell…

Most ponies would have been surprised to know that, out of all the Elements of Harmony, even the witches believed in one. Loyalty. It was only loyalty towards themselves and their clan, but it was loyalty nonetheless. And Draggle, in Hydia’s eyes, had betrayed that. And the old witch couldn’t for the life of her figure out why. But if she could get Draggle home and work with her for a few days…or weeks…maybe months. Surely it wouldn’t take years to get her daughter back…could it?

“When will we get out of here. I can’t stand the ponies, evil or no.” Reeka grumbled.

“Wait. I’m not leaving without your sister. We’ll wait till their guard is down, then take her.”

Reeka glared and shook her head. “Centaur will call us traitors then.”

Hydia snarled, the damn Changeling’s words bashing around her head like small hammers. “Let him.”

Celestia, Twilight, Majesty, Galaxy and Gusty each took turns to tell the story. Galaxy and Gusty gave a brief explanation of the boar incident, and then Celestia and Twilight finished with the current crises. Twilight had no idea if they were getting through to the lich. All Rath did was stand there; he might as well have been stone again, staring at them with his creepy red eye lights. Of course he had no expression, and Twilight couldn’t tell what was going through his mind.

Finally Rath looked at Gusty. “My descendant, one of you? Is that really how you feel?”

Gusty nodded. “Yeah. She’s annoying, but so is half my family.”

“…you can’t imagine how angry that makes me. One of –you-.” He spat the world, red eye lights dimming and shaking his head. “…I’ll have to have a talk with the mother…in the meantime…” He looked up at the other ponies. “Very well. I’m willing to use my runes to help you cleanse that Heart. However, I’m not going back into that stone. You are going to let me back to Dream Valley. I’m taking my clan back, and you aren’t going to stop me.” He glared at Celestia. “I have no interest in your damn ponies, and when I get my Volcano back, you are going to leave me and those girls the hell alone. Got it?”

Majesty stepped forwards. “You mean Reeka and Hydia?”

“And the third.”

“No. Not unless she agrees.” Majesty stamped.

Rath fixed his glare at her. “You are going to force her to stay.”

“She’s had opportunities to go back to Hydia before, and she never took them. You can talk to her, try to convince her, but if she says no we aren’t letting you kidnap her.” Megan said with finality. The Ponylander’s nodded. Even the Flutter Ponies were nodding in agreement.

Rath sighed. “Well…damn…very well. At least you are letting me have the chance. Unlike some alicorns.” He looked at Celestia and Luna. “I am not working with you.” He pointed a bony finger at Twilight Sparkle. “I will work with her.”

Luna looked like she was about to explode, but Celestia lay a wing over her back. Celestia nodded to Rath. “Our thanks.”

Rath looked at Twilight. “So, how much do you know about Runecasting.”

“Nothing.” Twilight admitted. “But I’m ready to learn.”

“Well…I can show you what Clover and I did. I’m sure a pony that listens.” More glaring at the royal sisters. “Will be a nice change.”

Luna snorted at him, but didn’t object. She tossed her head. “I will take over the inoculations while you work with the lich.”

Rath seemed to be glaring some more at Luna, and Twilight didn’t think it was a great idea to keep them in the same vicinity for to long. So, she put a wing on the lich’s shoulder and teleported them both back to her library before he could say something else rude to Celestia and Luna. As soon as they were there Rath jerked back and made a cutting motion with his arms.

“Don’t do that! Ask before you touch!”

Twilight shrugged apologetically. “I’m sorry, its just that we don’t have much time, and I really don’t think its going to get us anywhere if you keep arguing with the Princesses.” Twilight determinedly ignored the skeleton’s repeated grumblings as she took out a rather large notebook and quill with her magic. “We don’t have that much time, and I don’t know the first thing about runes.”

“Of course you don’t damn young mages these days. Put that shit away. Books have nothing to do with runes.”

Twilight frowned. “But-“

“If you can’t memorize three runes you’re useless to me and everyone you care about. Besides that, as a hornhead you won’t have to do much. Fortunately, for you, you’re naturally magic. If you were human this would take years. Still going to have make sure you’re flowing right.”

Twilight blinked. “I don’t think I get-“

“How do you normally cast spells?”

“Well, I channel energy through my horn and I think of the words I read beforehand, as well as the intent of the spell.”

“Runes don’t work that way. Anyone can use em. It’s like storing magic in a scroll, only less safe. See, back in the old days and fuck me you’re writing again in that book aren’t you?”

“Oh stop complaining, you’re giving me valuable information. I won’t use it for the runes themselves!”

Rath sighed. “Okay, fine. Where was I…”

“Runic history.” Twilight tried to ignore the Dashlike voice in her head that grumbled about old people ranting about going to school uphill in the snow back in their day.

“Right, anyway. You know about true names, right?”

“Right, speak the true name of the thing and you have power over it…that’s what runes are?” Twilight asked.

“Basically, yes. Words have power, or at least they can be. I’ve heard some foreign people use other things, but that’s not here nor there, at least not for us. Even today with all these books around you, its true. Words have power, that’s why you’re keeping them trapped here. Runes are unfiltered words. Like this’un.” Rath pulled out a small flat, smooth circular pebble from somewhere about his person and held it up. There was a symbol on it, three straight lines pointing upwards. “What do you think this is?”

“Ummmm.”

“Fire. It’s fire. Guess what I can use it for?”

“Setting things on fire?”

“Is that what you’d want to do in a library?”

“NO!”

“And that’s the kicker. What your books do is they define. You have a spell for say, lighting a lamp or a candle, right?”

“Yes.”

“And it uses different words then a fireball spell meant to roast your enemies, right?”

“Naturally.”

“Now with a rune it’s just fire. If you don’t have the right intent, the right mindset, you can end up either with a small light for a candle or an inferno, if you aren’t careful. Since runes are one of the earliest forms of magic they are naturally raw and unfocused. Powerful, but unfocused. They use the closest thing we have to true names to define themselves. The focus has to come from you. So, I can’t just give you the three runes you’ll need for this purification thing. If you just tried to channel magic through it you could end up exploding or something. Until you get the intent of what you are doing in your head, you’ll get nowhere.”

“So, in order to help the others I don’t just have to know the spell, I have to make sure my mind is in the right place when I do it.” Twilight said thoughtfully. “Can…we start with something a bit less volatile then fire?”

Rath shrugged and looked outside. “That forest…would be good for making them. It’s the only thing that’s natural I can sense.”

“What are you talking about! There’s nothing natural about the Everfree!” Twilight protested.

Rath seemed to chuckle, and Twilight imagined him smirking. “Hooved beasts…always such fools…”

About ten minutes into the siege Scorpan wasn’t sure about the reliability of this ‘Discord’ creature. For one thing it didn’t help that he kept looking at the corrupted Dream Valley citizens and giggling like a mad jester. The evil grinning didn’t help either. Also, when someone identified themselves as the ‘spirit of disharmony and chaos, well that was cause for some concern. Still, for the moment the creature was their ally, and while Scorpan suspected the thing had the maturity and personality of a particularly spoiled five year old, he wasn’t going to insult Discord and have the thing turn on him.

And, Discord was useful, even if he had an air unreliability. In order to get the strange giggly creature away from his men (who were increasingly edgy in Discord’s presence, Scorpan had asked Discord if there was any other ways he could help. With a few mocking comments that Scorpan blatantly ignored, Discord eventually agreed and poofed away, a large fishbowl over his head to keep out the mist. Scorpan wondered if he would do that for the rest of them, and how much dignity would be lost as a result of it. But regardless, Scorpan soon noticed several…oddities coming from the Bright Valley citizen, such as sudden bouts of chocolate milk rain, a horde of dancing singing frogs that boogied their way around the army, a small flood of turtles that swam upside down over ponies heads, and a cactus. A cactus with eyes. That stared. It was damn creepy. IT didn’t do much other then annoy the corrupted ponies, but hopefully it would be enough…

And then Discord produced a large device that looked a bit like the boombox that Danny had once showed Scorpan. Unfortunately, instead of the ‘Bowy’ songs that Danny had played, what came from this overly large boombox was a howling thumping stream of noise that nearly broke Scorpan’s ear drums and sent several elves and other sharp eared creature down to the basements to get away from it. Discord called it dubstep. Scorpan called it the Death of Bards. Thankfully the ponies seemed to dislike it as much as he did. Scorpan almost felt sorry for them as they covered their ears and cowared.

“Prince, there’s a Sea Pony at the underground pool!”

Scorpan turned to the messenger, thankful for the interruption. Sea Ponies saved the day again. If he was talking to them he wouldn’t have to listen to more ‘wubs’. Or whatever the discombobulated creature called that trash.
A while back, in redesigning the fort, Scorpan decided it would be good to have a pool similar to the one at the Estate. A section of the fort’s cellar floor had been hollowed out, filled with water, and a small passage had been drilled from the cellar to the river. Sea ponies could swim in and out of the passage at any time, making it easier to talk to them. Scorpan smiled. Finally some good news. Apparently someone had told Catrina about this as well…either that or she had come here to escape the thumping as well. Scorpan suspected the second, as her ears were laying flat and she kept grinding her teeth.

“I hate that…that…chimera thing.” She hissed.

“Is that’s what making that noise?” The Sea Pony asked.

“It is. I think it’s an ally. Just not a nice one.” Scorpan said.

“We got a problem. The ponies fled to the other world. We got the gems that will activate the mirror.” The Sea Pony nodded to another, who bobbed up and spat out some gems. “The Estate’s crawling with corrupted ponies, and they’re guarding the mirror. It’s the only way we can reconnect with our friends.”

“Well, at least we have the gems. They can’t use it either, right?” Catrina said as she scooped up the gems.

“If you could only breath underwater maybe we could take back the mirror…” The Sea Pony sighed. “But the octopi are getting bad down here. There isn’t much we can do to help more. If we don’t take care of the issue down here we won’t have the sea anymore.”

“Is there anything we can do? There has to be a spell…” Scorpan looked at Catrina.

“You need to take care of Tirac. But-“

There was a small rumble about five feet away. Scorpan turned and tensed, only to relax again as an armadillo like head poked out of the earth. IT’s eyes were normal, and the Stoneback looked normal. The creature grunted and yanked itself out of the hole.

“Ah, a Stoneback.” Catrina smiled. “Wait…can that mist go into the earth?” She asked.

The Stoneback smiled and shook his head. He rumbled over and scratched at the dirt. Scorpan started to smile as well as the Stoneback drew a crude map, showing their fort, then the estate, and a tunnel between the two. Scorpan nodded.

“Very convenient…seems to happen a lot these days.” He mused.

“Karma.” Catrina muttered.

“Eh?”

“Karma. Put good into the world and the world gives you good back. It’s my theory for why the decent people always get ahead. They’re so good that the forces of the world throw them help once in a while. Only explanation. Other then inept help.”

Scorpan, who had once been ‘inept help’ chuckled. He looked at the Sea Pony. “How many corrupted ponies are at the Estate?”

“About five. I’m pretty sure I spotted Shady, but a few of them are the bobble heads. I am not sure who they are.”

“Alright, we should be able to take the mirror without to much trouble.” Scorpan said.

“Maybe you shouldn’t go, you’re kinda important.” Catrina said.

“You and I are the most resistant to dark energy. Unless you don’t want to go?” Scorpan asked.

“Oh don’t be stupid. Let’s go.” Catrina growled and approached the tunnel. “Think we need to bring any troops?”

“No, I don’t want to risk them.” Scorpan looked to the messenger that had first contacted the Sea Pony. “Tell the others where we’re going. If we aren’t back in by tomorrow, then seal up this tunnel.” The messenger gulped, but nodded as Scorpan checked his sword to make sure it was ready, then leaped down the hole. He was followed by the Stoneback and Catrina. There were five more Stonebacks, who grunted at him and started down the tunnel. Scorpan followed.

On a normal day the trip from Scorpan’s fort to the Estate took a few hours. It was just the same underground as it was on the surface, save for the fact that Scorpan thought it was a bit more direct this way. He couldn’t help but wonder how many tunnels the Stonebacks had made, and if they ran all under Ponyland. It was very possible. Still, the tunnels helped them avoid obstacles like lakes and forests and large mountains. Not to mention predators. So it wasn’t that long before the Stonebacks were tunneling them upwards. Though a few more gestures and grunts Scorpan guessed that they were below the Estate. The Stonebacks claws scraped on tile, and several of them stood on each other’s backs. The bottommost Stoneback looked at Scorpan and waved its claw up and down.

Scorpan nodded and climbed the Stoneback ladder until he was face to the face with the topmost one. The top Stoneback stood on his hind legs and started to tunnel through the tile. With a few strong strikes the Stoneback’s claw burst through the tile, and the creature offered its claw to give Scorpan a boost up. Scorpan scrambled upwards, drawing his sword as soon as he emerged in the pony kitchen. Thankfully there was no mist around them. He wondered what the range on that stuff was. No matter. He poked his head down the hallway, looking from the right to the left. He almost jumped as a hand landed on his shoulder. He looked over and nodded at Catrina. “Any idea where they would put the mirror?” He asked.

“No clue. Let’s search the rooms. Maybe they put it with Magic Star. She is their researcher.”

“Please tell me you know your way around this place, it’s bigger then it looks on the outside.” Scorpan said.

“I know.” Catrina said. “I’ve been here trying to teach Draggle enough times.”

“I remember. She’s coming along well.”

“She’s slow, but she learns eventually. Hope she made to the other world with the others.”

“We won’t learn that by standing her. Lead the way.”

Catrina nodded and slunk down the hall. Scorpan tried to mimic the movements and keep silent, but he wasn’t a cat. And he was wearing armor. Still, he didn’t think he was being too loud as he followed Catrina up a flight of stairs. The cat witch turned to a door and opened it. Scorpan couldn’t help but think this was to easy, but he didn’t want to vocalize this for fear of tempting fate.

He blinked as he entered the room. It was almost completely trashed. Magic Star’s books on magic, artifacts and other magical paraphernalia were scattered across the room. Scorpan noticed a few mirrors, but he didn’t know if they were the right ones. He took a step in, only to have Catrina place a claw on his shoulder again.

“Lot of this stuff is cursed. She usually kept it all in a special place, but it looks like someone broke into it.”

“Great.”

“It’s nothing to dangerous unless you have certain components, like blood or certain herbs, but don’t poke either way. Give me a second.” Catrina walked in and started to paw cautiously through the fallen items. Occasionally she would pick up something and pocket it, but Scorpan didn’t once think that she was taking something evil for her own use. After a few years he trusted her. Still…

“What are you taking?”

“Few things that might be useful in a fight. And I don’t see anything that would match these gems.” Catrina took the gems out of the pouch she had put them in and studied them. “Not a matching mirror in sight. Most of the ones I see here are hand mirrors anyway, and I’m not sure if they are magical or not.”

“Hmmm…I really can’t tell either-“

“Because you’re stupid, Scorpan. Most of you are. Did you really think you could come here and we wouldn’t notice? Stupid. You’re all doomed. All of you. Especially you two. Just like Draggle.”

Scorpan turned. “Shady. I remember you. Don’t make me fight you.”

The corrupted pony smiled and walked forwards. “The darkness is started to turn you again, isn’t it. Maybe we should help it along? I’ve known from the start that this whole goodness and light thing was stupid. I always knew we were doomed in the end. Now I’ve been proven right. It’s actually kinda fun. At least I’m not scared anymore.”

Scorpan kept his blade low as Shady inched closer, then he moved. Shady’s eyes widened and she yelped, but Scorpan wasn’t going to kill her unless he had no choice. Shady attempted to pull her head back, but the flat of Scorpan’s sword struck her on the shoulder, making her yelp and jump back. Scorpan turned, trusting Catrina to follow him out the door. He slammed the door behind them, and Catrina pointed at finger at the lock. Scorpan watched as the lock melted.

“You don’t have a lock spell yet do you?”

“I’m working on it! Move, princy.”

Scorpan sighed and followed her down the hall. He scowled as he heard some hoof clatter coming towards them. The rounded the hall to face a pack (herd?) of three bobble head unicorns. Catrina, showing a surprising level of strength, grabbed a large painting off the wall and slammed in on a unicorn’s head. Scorpan instead sheathed his sword and grabbed his own painted, swinging it at a unicorn’s chest. The poor thing oofed and was swatted into a wall. The first faired worse, as Catrina kicked him away, leaving behind a few scratches from her hind claws. Scorpan guess she wasn’t wearing shoes for this little adventure. Maybe it was because most of her shoes had heels. Either way, she kicked the first unicorn into the other wall, ignoring his dazed expression as the picture hung from his horn. She then grabbed the third unicorn, who hadn’t expected this at all and was trying to run away, but the horn and hind leg, and tossed him out the window.

“…is he going to be okay?” Scorpan blinked.

“I tossed him in the pool, he’ll be fine. Now lets go. If they didn’t notice us before they will when they find one of them trying to learn to fly.”

Scorpan sighed and once again followed his temperamental castle witch. He couldn’t help but wonder why all the witches he knew, good and evil, were always so damn moody.

After a leap down the stairs, Catrina took a turn towards the next hallway. She stuck her head through a door and head to duck from a bobble head pegasus wielding a spear in his wing. Scorpan wondered how the hell the creature did that with his wing. Either way Scorpan lunged forwards. It was his turn to pick up a pony and toss him back into the room. Catrina pointed and sealed that door as well.

This proceeded for the next two rooms as well. The next had no ponies, but no mirror either. The second had two normal earth ponies, and Scorpan had to dispatch them with a well placed grandfather clock.

“We are going to owe the ponies so much for interior decorating.” Scorpan groaned as Catrina sealed this door as well.

“I’ll give Galaxy an IOU.” Catrina snorted. “Come on, living room is next.” She opened the door to the living room and grinned. “I do think this is it.” She smirked and approached the rather large mirror before her. “Look, it even has missing sockets where these gems go.”

“Great…it was only one room away from us and we wasted all that time…”

“Oh stop complaining and help me pick it up.” Catrina scolded as she tried to hold the mirror sideways as she tramped into the hallway. “Oh…no. Scorpan run!”

Scorpan turned as the mist he saw before started to flow into the living room from the opposite window. He was nearly knocked to his feet as Catrina began to blow at the mist, but he knew that spell was not as powerful as it had been. He backed away, but a tendril curled around and flicked at his leg. Scropan yelped and fell back, and the stuff started to cover him. There was way to much for the wind to carry away…but…

He covered his ears. He could feel it. Simmering under him. He ddn’t want to…but…

It was the only way. Either it was the mist that was brining the beast to the surface or his own desire to not be controlled, he could feel the tan hair sprouting over his body like unwelcome weeds. His nails lengthened and sharpened to harsh points, as were his teeth. They were fangs now, and his mouth was shaping into a much longer muzzle to accommodate them. There was a sharp pain in his back as his spine grew an extra pair of limbs, two bat like wings.

He remembered how to use them too . He could still feel Catrina frantically casting her wind spell, and he thought he could help it along. He spread his wings and flapped. The broad sweeps of the wings lifted him away from the mist, and spread it back as well. He landed near Catrina, who was staring at him in shock.

“…so this is what you looked like before.”

“Yeah, let’s go.” Scorpan looked behind him and hissed at the mist.

Catrina stared into his eyes for a moment, then turned and nodded. “I got my eye on you.”

“Good. My head’s clear. But if you think I need it you have my permission to hit me over the head.”

Catrina smirked as they burst into the kitchen and jumped down the hole. The Stonebacks took a second to stare at Scorpan in disbelief. He folded his wings.

“It’s still me. We need to hurry, the mist is coming!”

The lead Stoneback nodded and as one he and his kin burked their claws into the sides of the tunnel. With a few grunts, bashes and claws the tunnel collapsed in a well controlled cave in. Catrina didn’t waste any time, just in case the mist could reach through the dirt and rock. She balanced the mirror on two Stonebacks, and the group started to head back. Catrina and several of the Stonebacks still stared at Scorpan, but he tried to ignore it.

Just have to beat him again. I’ll be normal…again. I hate him…hate him so much.

Desperate to turn their attention from himself, Scorpan looked at Catrina. “About what Shady said about the girl.”

Catrina snarled. “It might be a lie…but that beast better not have hurt her. They aren’t keeping anything of mine. Not my student, and not Rep.”

Scorpan winched a bit as she clenched her claws into her palm. He had to remember not to make her mad. She could be damn scary.

Fifteen craters, a small forest fire, and eleven pounds of annoyed fish later, and Twilight couldn’t even pick up the damn stone runes that Rath had given her, much less cast them. Every time she attempted to pick one up with her magic she ended up doing something rather horrible with them. Either an explosion, a way overboard display of magic that she didn’t intend to do, or random fish rain (and Twilight was still unsure how in Equestria failed water runes resulted in raining fish), always happened instead of her gently casting the spell needed.

“I’m starting to think you don’t have the mind for this. You think to big. How…do you normally deal with enemies?” Rath said as he poked a fish with his bony finger.

“…mostly I blast them with the power of Friendship.”

Twilight had the distinct feeling that Rath would have raised an eyebrow if he had one. “…how long have you been a super powered horn head with wings?”

“A few months.”

“That might be the issue as well. Unicpegs have a lot of wild magic. It clashes with rune magic.”

“Do you mean wild magic as in nature magic or magic going wild?” Twilight asked.

“Yes. Now.” Rath placed his hand on his skull forehead and rubbed. “Do you know any other unicorn, or a pegasus, with a nice subtle mind? Someone with attention to detail. Someone who doesn’t use the magical equivalent of bigger hammers to solve their issues?”

Twilight ignored all of the implied, and outright, insults and instead thought. Her eyes widened. She smiled, almost evilly. “I think I have just the pony for you.”

Comments

[fractalman]

AmIright?

[ahilty]

4895425 Spoilers

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

I hope Twilight's got Trixie in mind there, at the end.

Anyway... really not liking you using the whole 'Celestia turned people into statues'. That was a taunt by a chaotically-evil being who loved fucking with people's heads. He didn't turn ponies to stone because that would be boring to him.

Anyway, good chapter otherwise. Nice action. I liked Scorpan and Catrina, there. Badass.

[ahilty]

4979519 Bit of an explanation. I sometimes browse tv tropes, cause its like Pringles. Once you pop you can't stop. Anyway, I forget the link, but I ran across one in the nightmare fuel fan works page that showed Twilight casting a spell on one of the statues and showing it was an actual pony and not a statue. That always annoyed me a bit, cause we know the real Celestia isn't like that. Since I can't remember the name of the artists or the link I didn't directly reference it (and for that I apologize to the artist. I have nothing against anyone personally, the subject matter just irks me), but like corrupted Wind Whistler is kinda a bit like Might Demon Slayer Wind Whistler, that was the reason for that. I probably shouldn't have put it, but I was so irritated at the time I wrote it I just had to as catharsis. Probably will edit it out during...editing. A lot of my stuff I bring to you guys unbetaed, cause I want to be a real writer one day, and I figure the only way I will get better is by getting as much constructive criticism as I can. Working out so far, actually. My early stuff on ff.net is...fairly crappy.

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

4979683 I know the fanart you're talking about.

[ahilty]

4979705 I don't get the whole Tyrant Celestia thing. Unless we are talking a very wacked out au like...well like your Conversion Bureaus crossover it just doesn't fit.

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

4979714 Some of her actions during season three are a bit... shady for me, but she's not a tyrant, no.

[Crazy the Clone]

I wonder of the CMC Will play a part in getting corrupted RD back...eh, I still jave a few chapters to read. Maybe I'll see if they do.

[Leave a Whisper]

I love your Rath! He is so funny and I guess TS isn't used to instinctual magic, I'm glad the mist can't get into the earth or under the water. Catrina and Scorpan to the rescue. Perhaps they can enlist the help if the dell dwellers too?