Unpredictable: Journey of a Thousand Miles

by Grendeer

The Elements have Company

Chapter 2: The Elements Have Company

The next morning I awoke to, screaming!? Bolting from my bed, I found Twilight backed against her bed’s headboard. Her panicked body language, and the shallow, rapid breaths running from her frame trigger my fight or flight instincts. Slowly, with my senses firing on overdrive, I enter her room.

Twilight looks like she’s ready to bolt, and I, not yet seeing the problem, stop and contemplate what to do. Knowing that she won’t volunteer the information I need to understand what is going on, I ask, “Twilight, what’s wrong?”

“He was just here and then gone. I saw him disappear right in front of me!” She nearly screams at me.

“Was there a flash or did he just vanish?”

“He just faded from sight!”

They’re here. I’m too late. Damn them to Tartarus. These monsters will not claim this kingdom nor this young dragon. I’ll not have it.

Stirred into wakefulness by my righteous fury, a new form begins to emerge, my eyes glow red with the heat of my wrath. Twilight stops panicking and gawks as my body changes before her. My voice goes from calm and collected to thundering and bone chilling. My body flashes from pale cyan into a blistering orange. My wings appear and flash the same color as my body, but the tips are gently burning in the same way as my hair. My irises change from chocolate brown to blazing white and the whites spark into flame. My glasses have disappeared, and my vest as well. My mane and tail now move like Princess Celestia’s, but this movement is much more violent, and they are now flames. My hair has shifted from locks of plain dirty blonde into raging fires white hot at the base and merging into violent, writhing greens and blues all the way to their tips. This form is only assumed when I am consumed by a burning anger kindled by actions of pure evil. With the transformation complete I turn to Twilight and say, “They have come, and they shall die this day!”

She gulps, “Who?” Quivering, her eyes dilate, she flinches when I gesture with a hoof my burning wings revealing themselves as they flare out.

“Them!”

With a bone-shaking boom five creatures shriek as they are forced to reveal themselves. These creatures of the shadows have no real form until they have stolen one from another. And the one they steal nothing but an empty husk unless the intruder is expelled and the mind and spirit returned to their rightful place.

The five beasts before me all shudder as I bellow, “You have two options, cretins. Release her friend willingly and die with no pain. Or refuse him his freedom and die slowly and agonizingly as I strip his location from your shriveled husks!”

These five Shadow, as my people call them, simultaneously attack. Their soul rending shrieks having no effect on me other than to enrage me further. Twilight cowers on her bed, her hooves covering both her eyes and ears as I do battle with these viscous spirits.

As promised, the beasts died slowly. They move too quickly for me to strike them fatally at first. Instead, I wound them, as they wound me, until they begin to feel their unholy strength beginning to fade. In desperation they withdraw and charge. Clipping the first with a mighty left hook the creature shrieks and hisses as my flaming form sprawls him. The second is a bit wiser. He charges me from above, but all that the maneuver accomplishes for him is to be skewered by my sword. I created a spell several years ago that allows the transportation of several items without their physical presence. As the second Shadow cried out his death, the rest drew their own blades. They all attack as one. The strikes come from different directions all at the same time. This tactic forces me to determine which blades are most dangerous and deflect them. Gritting my teeth, I parry two blows going for my core, while absorbing two strikes on by shoulder and flank, as the first Shadow has recovered from my blow (they are quite resilient). Now I unleash a fire bolt from my horn that blasts through the Shadow’s chest directly in front of me. The other three press the attack as another of them falls. These three were woefully unprepared. With three quick swipes I behead one and cut another in two. The last is disarmed, and wisely chooses to give me what I want.

As he lies before me, badly wounded gasps out, “The Hive will never release her prey. You have lost him.” He cackles triumphantly as my horn sends a spectral dart through his skull.

His dying laugh fades on the winds now blowing through the shattered windows and the holes in the walls of the library. Although this was a minor scuffle, quite a few spells had been used before the swords were drawn. My vision begins to blur as the backlash from assuming “Indictment” rolls through me. I can’t maintain my footing as I fall to the floor exhausted. I try to stand but cry out in agony as my body erupts in pain. It feels like I’ve been dipped in boiling oil, and now I foam at the mouth and writhe on the floor. All I can do is scream as my mind ejects.

Several hours later, I assume by the dark sky outside the window, I wake up in a mineral bath. My body cool and unblemished. My wings, wait, MY WINGS!! Jerking forward in the water, splashing a good amount on the bathroom floor, I accidently wake Twilight. She had been napping on the windowsill, and I assume she has been keeping watch. Turning to me, she asks (with a tear streaked face), “Can you get Spike back?” Her voice is about to break as if she dreads the answer.

Slowly, I pull myself from the bath. My glasses vanish, and my irises become a pale golden brown. I unfurl my wings and opening my eyes I look at her, nay, I look into her soul. I respond with determination in my voice, “I will not stop until Spike is safe. I will not give any quarter neither ask for any until he and all others they have imprisoned are safe!” I raise my left hoof to eye level, and a dagger appears in it. Placing the blade against my upper leg I look at Twilight and say (as the blade cuts a shallow gash in my leg), “So swear I, Lightning Quill, Prince of the Sovereign Family of Foorren!”

Twilight just stares in a mixture of horror and fascination as the blood glows a bright golden red. The glow vanishes and a dimly pulsing, almost invisible, golden rune appears where the cut was. Twilight stares, unable to comprehend what she has just witnessed.

I see her confusion and say, “Twilight, my people have a special oath. Not surprisingly, it is called the ‘Blood Oath’. Blood Oath’s are eternally binding, and they cannot be forgotten until they have been fulfilled.”

“How can they be so binding? It’s just a cut with an arcane symbol.”

“Because, the rune burns like magma when the oath is forgotten. If the oath is broken then the cut returns as a bright red scar that never fully heals. Depending upon the circumstances of the broken oath, the pain can be quite severe.”

I close my left eye and release the camouflage spell being held there. The eye itself is undamaged, but a bright red scar starts three inches above the center of my eyebrow and ends two inches to the left and up from the left corner of my mouth. It is a perfectly straight line. Opening my eye, I look at her with a mixture of long felt sorrow and a desire for someone to understand. Twilight stands up and timidly, shakily touches the scar. She touches the bottom and her eyes dilate as she gasps in surprise.

Her vision swirls through the scar and she sees blurry pony forms frolicking through a gorgeous field being views through a window. A beautiful unicorn, bright tan with a grassy green mane and tail, lies on her side in a pool of blood. The thorny spear piercing her heart clearly tells what happened. Twilight hears weeping as cyan hoofs come into view from the bottom. They are coated in blood. Twilight feels sick. Then the weeping breaks through as the images fade away. They are the broken, heart-pierced cries of a stallion filled with incredible, unknowable suffering. Lightning Quill’s voice speaks softly, echoing gently in Twilight’s mind, “That was the day my wife died. She was killed by Shadow. Through her death, my marriage vows were broken. Because she died by the hands of others in my sight, my eye was burned, but only lightly. Fortunately, the scar created is not nearly as severe as others I’ve seen.”

“What was her name?” Twilight meekly asked.

“She was Crystal Bolt. A powerful magi like yourself. She was kind, warm, and beautiful to even the harshest critic. Now she’s gone, and I have a scar to remind me every day of my mission to stop the Shadow and save our world.”

“Do you fight alone?”

“No, usually there are others who help as best they can, but I am the only one who can fight them alone. I came here looking for a powerful magi to help me craft a spell that will allow others to assume, ‘Indictment’ and the other Dueler forms. I have other objectives, but they can wait for now.”

The mournful eyes of Lightning Quill appear as Twilight returns to her own body. She now understands my display of hatred toward the Shadow that invaded her home. She also fully understands the gravity of the Blood Oath, but she can’t decide whether to be honored or worried by how readily I made it. I can see all this in her body language and the way her eyes have a reflecting look in them.

Twilight looks at me and says, “We should contact Princess Celestia. She’ll know what to do.”

“No! We cannot involve the Princess, yet. If she knows and tells anypony else, eventually, everypony will know. Fear will rule your cities, and Shadow thrive on fear. There are two things that draw Shadow out: fear and malevolence. They are blinded by benevolence and hope. If you wish to be invisible to them, then fill yourself with hope and be kind to as many as you can.”

“How can I when Spike has been abducted by these things? How can I have hope when he could be dead or worse?” Twilight starts to weep with fresh tears as the realization of what might be happening to Spike hits her.

I walk up beside her and place a reassuring leg over her shoulders. This isn’t the first time that I’ve comforted a distraught mare, and it is not the first time that I have been a shelter for the heart broken to hide. Gently, I pull her close and she does not resist. Now that my power is unrestricted by camouflage, I stand somewhere between Luna and Celestia in height. I smile lightly, remembering so many times in a former life when Crystal and I would lean against each other and enjoy the company. I silently cry as I relive a distant past and remember the day my beloved died.

* * *

The next morning, I wake up in my bed of cushions, now with a few blankets for added comfort. I hears Twilight slowly walking down the stairs. Her step is heavy and I can feel the sorrow weighing her down. Enough of this! She needs something to help her cope. I think. “Twilight, now would be a good time to get your friends together. You need them.”

She is uncertain how wise this move may be, “How can you be so sure that they can handle the truth? What if one of them tells the Princesses?”

“Luna already knows.” I admit drily, not at all pleased.

“How?”

“She visited me when I dreamed of my former life last night. Her words were, ‘You have lived a long, troubled life. Perhaps I can ease your suffering by helping you to forget and move on.’ My response was, ‘I won’t forget. I must remember because right now, I’m the only one who can do anything about the crisis at hand. You must not tell your sister yet. If the timing is off by only a few hours, then the war-to-be will be lost.’ She looked at me quizzically, and I looked at her resolutely. If only she had stayed I would have explained my plan more, but she shifted my dreams and my focus elsewhere.”

“How can you remember this?”

“Because one of my many gifts is the ability to remember almost any dream so long as it is vivid enough. But now to contacting your friends. They will want to know why you disappeared for a few days. Tell them the truth, if they understand that you have been mourning, then they will almost surely want to help. I’ll explain to them the repairs being down ‘round here, if needed.”

Twilight nods and starts out into town to organize a meeting with her friends. I leave a few minutes later. As I travel, I gathers my strength and prepares to summon “Insight”. Insight is one of six forms that Shadow Duelers learn to use as their skills grow. The six forms are: Indictment, Insight, Empathy, Humor, Allegiance, and Plenty. Each of the six forms serves as a part of the master form, known as Justice. No Shadow Dueler has been able to summon Justice in the entirety of the order’s history. I am currently the leader of the Shadow Duelers. Thus I am responsible for organizing the Duelers so that they may wage a never ending war against the insidious Shadow. I feel my power click into place, a light surrounds me as Insight manifests.

Insight is a tall pony with dark emerald green hair that moves like it is always being blown by a gently breeze. His eyes are the same color as his mane and tail, but his coat is a vibrant earthen brown that is dark, like fertile earth deep beneath the surface. Insight is not a warrior, but rather a thinker. He is capable of seeing through even the most devious of plots and can deduce even the most hidden secrets. His is a tall, medium build Earth pony. Unlike Indictment, which is flaming warrior Alicorn, Insight is a form designed to blend in with normal ponies and help protect them by sleuthing out all the mechanisms the Shadow devise. Despite his more tactical approach, Insight is still a very dangerous opponent when forced to fight.

Insight walks slowly and casually down toward the town market. He hopes to find the mare Applejack there. Twilight will not be due to arrive for several more minutes. Fortunately, Applejack is at her market stall selling away. Sensing his connection with the element of Honesty, and that Applejack is very worried about her friend, Insight approaches her as a customer and asks for seven of her largest red delicious apples. She obliges and he pays with the appropriate bits. After spending a few minutes making small talk he asks, “Applejack, you look worried. Is there something bothering you?”

“Well, yes, I guess thar is. My friend Twilight has been missin’ fur a few days. Ah’m concerned that somethin’ big happ’ned to ‘er.”
“Your concern is well placed. I saw her headed for Fluttershy’s cottage but a few minutes ago. She looked very perplexed. Perhaps you should prepare your stall for closing. Call it an educated guess, but Twilight will be coming along seeking your aid before long.”
“How can you be so sure? Y’all are a newcomer to these parts.”

“Oh, it’s just a feeling. Good day to you madam.”

Insight leaves with his apples in a stall bag. He walks toward Sugar Cube Corner. Watching the clouds along the way, Insight spots one that is sagging a bit heavily. He can also see a rainbow tail hanging on the far side of the cloud. Calling up to the Pegasus reclining there, “I’m looking for the local weather mare, you wouldn't happen to know where she is, would you?”

“Know her!? I am her!” Rainbow Dash responds huffily. She is not pleased with having her afternoon nap disturbed, but Insight looks very different from anypony in town. She asks, “Who wants to know?”

“I am Insight. You must be the weather mare, Rainbow Dash. I've heard so much about you.”

“Yea, that’s me. Wait, what have you heard? Who’s been talking about me?”

“Your friend Twilight is looking for you. Perhaps you should meet her at Applejack’s market stall shortly.”

“Uh, sure. Why not? Anything for Twilight.” As she starts to fly off, she stops and turns to ask the stranger what the big deal is, but he’s gone. “What a strange character. I thought Pinkie Pie was weird, but that guy was just off.” Shrugging she resumes her flight.

Insight makes the trip to Rarity’s Boutique but sees her leaving with Twilight and Fluttershy. Twilight is looking a little better, and the other two appear very concerned. He does not reveal his presence to them. Instead he makes his way to Sugar Cube Corner, there Insight purchases seven cupcakes, each frosted with a different color frosting, and he also makes it a point to get Pinkie on her way to the library. Now balancing two bags of food on his back, Insight walks to the back door of the library. He stops just before entering and decides to prepare his snacks now, instead of when the ponies will know he’s there and likely be bombarding him with questions. Insight flickers out of sight and I take his place. Sweating lightly from the exertion of maintaining a form for so long, I lift the cupcakes before me. On each wrapper I imprint a faint symbol matching the intended recipient. I then lace each cupcake’s frosting with a dormant power surge that will allow the consumer to manifest the form within.

I teleport to my room in the library to be greeted by the chatter of six mares in the lobby. Walking out to them, I am greeted with six pairs of curious eyes as Twilight says, “This is my house guest, Lightning Quill. He was here when Spike disappeared and has vowed to do everything he can to return him safely.” Smiling, I quickly think through what to say as I offers the cupcakes and apples. He also prepare to defend himself from the more warrior like forms. The Mane Six, as I like to call them, take the pastries. Twilight is the first to notice something off. She says to me, “What’s in these cupcakes? I feel strange.”

I respond, “I feel fine. Are you sure that it’s not just the stress making you queasy?”

Applejack asks, “I feel a little off kilter too. What’re you up to?”

All six mares begin to glare questioningly at me, but I continue. I tell them, “Nothing evil is going to happen from eating these cupcakes. Besides, I bought them from Sugar Cube Corner.”

Pinkie pipes, “But I don’t remember seeing you.”

I respond, “Oh? But do you remember this?” I shift into Insight before continuing, “Now do you know who I am?” I shift back.
“What the hay?” Rainbow Dash shouts as she jumps into the air. She charges at me, and I merely sigh.

Rainbow Dash abruptly stops, her eyes change color from the bright pink into flaming red and the whites of her eyes glow like coals. She yells sharply as her body is engulfed in strange sensations. She lands on the floor and collapses as the rigors of the transformation take hold. Her body becomes boiling orange, and her wings erupt into flames as does her tail and mane. She says, in a deceptively calm voice, “What have you done?” Her body is tense as she stands.

Simultaneously, all five of the other Mane Six gasp as their bodies go through their own changes. Twilight’s eyes become monocular golden, brightly glowing. Fluttershy has sapphire eyes that spark and sizzle. Rarity has amethyst eyes that are pulsing with an inner light. Applejack has the dark emerald eyes of Insight. Strangely, Pinkie Pie’s eyes only change in that they become more mischievous. They all convulse as the full forms emerge. Applejack assumes Insight, and the form is the same as seen on Lightning Quill, except that the body is a warmer shade of brown instead of the deep subterranean earth of Lightning Quill’s Insight form.

Twilight with her golden eyes is wrapped in a flowing suit of golden armor that looks more like a second skin than pieces of plate metal. Her hair becomes living light gently and uniformly undulating down. Her horn turns a snowy white and what of her body is visible under the armor is the same color. The irises and whites of her eyes merge into one brightly glowing mass while her pupils turn opaque white. Twilight has become Allegiance.

Rarity, now manifesting Plenty, is a stout being. She is shorter now but much heavier set. Her deep amethyst eyes are living gems that have jet black centers to represent her pupils. Always her eyes pulse with a hidden light. Her body is dotted with bright specks fused into the wavy white marble pallet of her coat. Her hair has turned into wavy leaf-like locks that are only a few shades lighter than her eyes and cascade like cave formations.

Fluttershy has become Empathy. She now has opaque blue eyes that sizzle and spark with electricity. Her body has become a deep, dark blue color with the appearance of water. Her wings have retained their shape, but now they appear as a dense mist moving at her will with a faint blue tint trailing behind them. Her hair has become a blue-white plasma color that flows like water whenever she moves it.

Pinkie Pie has become a scintillating purple that is constantly shifting into different shades all over her body. Her bouncy curls have become much more defined. Her eyes appear mischievous although their happy blue has only changed slightly into a crafty blue. She moves with a comical jerkiness. She is now Humor.

I stand in awe at the majestic beings now giving me angry, surprised, and disappointed looks. Raising my right foreleg I show them all the Blood Oath. I say, “You all know this symbol. You all know what the terms of this particular oath are. I hope you can understand why I summoned you here.”

Allegiance says, with a kindly voice as her armor retracts from her face, “You needed to show us how we can help you.”
Humor adds, with a contemplative voice, “This was a clever way to reveal our inner power to us and all at the same time too, impressive.”

Plenty says, with a brazen tone, “Surely we did not know of such power being hidden within us. Tell us, how did you know this was possible? How did you accomplish this?”

I respond, “I manifested Insight today and visited three of you. I did so because I knew those three would need to be prepared to leave or would need to travel a short way to meet up with the others. I was able to perform this action by invoking the nature of each of the forms into the appropriate cupcake. Each of you, in essence, consumed a battery that now needs only to be charged in order to summon the being within. These apples will release the forms when you are ready. I guessed at your ability to assume these forms because, as Insight, I sensed a connection with Applejack.”

Empathy asks, “Could you have taught us how to make these batteries?”

I answer, “Not without taking a very long time to teach you how to tap into your unique pony magic. Even with this short cut, there are only a limited number of transformations in the batteries. I must teach you how to summon your forms, and all of the others as well, before the batteries are exhausted. In addition, I must also teach you to fight as a Shadow Duelers.”

Insight asks, “And why should we trust you? You have already pulled tricks on us once.”

“Because, Insight, I told you no evil would come of eating the cupcakes. I wasn’t lying, as I’m sure you all noticed. Your training will need to commence soon, for the clock ticks ever closer to a full scale war. That is something that Equestria and Fooren are not ready for. My kingdom, Fooren, is already taxed enough without having to devote resources to holding off the Shadow while Equestria is gearing for war.”

They look at each other and huddle up. After a few minutes of hurried, energetic discussion, they all turn to me and Allegiance says, “We understand why you did this and will not exact a punishment upon you, but, in return, you must explain your presence in Equestria.”

“I wish this was a simple, happy story. But it is full of woe and pain. Great suffering has been my people’s taskmaster for centuries now. How about this arrangement: I will tell you my story as your training progresses. In exchange for your cooperation, I promise to reveal to you what I am not bound to keep hidden.”

Plenty responds, “Then where do you wish to begin?”

Author's Note:

This chapter was a little more challenging than the last. I am very much enjoying writing this tale.
If you have any suggestions for improvement feel free to leave them in the comments.

Warning:
The next chapter is going to be a very long one. It establishes a truckload of lore as well as serving to
develop Lightning Quill a great deal. It's probably going to be a few weeks before it is ready to publish.