The Shadows Saga

by Tagshadow

Shadows Ch. 19 The Meeting

Tor suddenly felt something against his back, he opened his eyes and realized the he was lying in what appeared to be a cot in a small white room. He tried to get up but his flank was bandaged heavily right beside Torais and pained him when he tried to move. He fell back into his lying position and looked around the room; there was a table covered in surgical tools beside the bed and a door beside a window on the far side of the room, other wise there was no furniture. Tor closed his eyes again.

Silver? Are you there? He asked.

Yes. He replied dully. Tor cringed at the sound of his friend.

Are you going to be okay? Tor asked.

Yes, just… give me some time to collect my thoughts.

Right. Tor thought and looked out the window; it appeared to look into an adjacent hallway. Tor looked back at the ceiling. I suppose I could count the tiles until somepony comes in here… He trailed off and began to count.

Tor had reached one hundred before a nurse came to check on him.

“You’re awake!” She said happily.

“Yep.” Tor said. “How long was I out?”

“Only an afternoon, we didn’t think that you’d wake up until tomorrow.” She explained as she trotted over to him. “How are you feeling right now?”

“I feel perfectly fine, except when I try to move my flank hurts.” Tor said. The nurse examined his flank.

“I’m going to poke it to see if it hurts, okay? I need to make sure there is feeling in your flank.” Tor nodded and she poked the bandage, Tor grimaced as a slight pain went through his body. The nurse saw his reaction and withdrew her hoof. “That’s a good thing, means there’s still feeling.” She said.

“What now then?” Tor asked.

“You’re going to have to stay in bed for the next few days.” She said. Tor shook his head.

“I can’t stay in bed! Tag could be here any day!” He exclaimed. The nurse gave him a surprised look.

“Tag? Isn’t he the one that everypony’s afraid of?” She asked him curiously.

“Yes, he’s my brother and I need to be there when he gets back.” Tor explained. The nurse thought for a moment.

“I’ll see if I can get Twilight Sparkle, she’s very knowledgeable about all kinds of magic.” She said and trotted out of the room. Tor lay back down and resumed counting the ceiling tiles.

Tor had reached three hundred total when Twilight Sparkle opened the door. She smiled when she saw that he was mostly uninjured.

“Thank Celestia you’re alright Tor! It looked much worse back in the library.” She said examining the bandage.

“Indeed, but I can’t move. That could pose a problem if Tag comes in the next few days.” Tor sighed. “Do you think you can fix it?” He asked.

“I would have to see the current state before I can say.” Twilight said. “Should I unwrap it?”

“If you don’t then I might not be up in time to welcome Tag to the castle.” Tor said dryly.

“I’ll take that as a yes then.” Twilight said and used her magic to unravel the bandage. Tor twisted his head to get a better look. “That looks evil.” Twilight said as she placed the bandage aside. The cut was long a deep; the flesh around it had turned dark red to contrast with Tor’s white coat and some hair had been torn off revealing his pink skin.

“But you can fix it, right?” He asked pleadingly. Twilight looked at the wound closely examining it every which way.

“I don’t think so.” She said simply. “But I have an idea, didn’t Open Book heal Tag’s broken leg back in the hospital? Do you think that Silver could do that to this wound?” Tor held up his hoof.

Silver? Tor asked hesitantly.

Wha? Silver startled.

Do you think that you could heal this injury? Tor asked.

Yes, but I won’t be able to heal it fully, I don’t have enough phantasma to do that. Silver explained

Phantasma? Tor asked.

The energy that I drained from the ant lion you killed in the tunnel; that is what I would use. Open Book used the soul of the manticore to heal Tag and a manticore soul has more energy then an ant lion soul. Silver explained.

I think I know what you mean, but you could heal enough that I would be able to walk, right?

Probably, but not enough to run or even jog. Silver warned.

“Silver says that he can partially heal it, enough that I can walk.” Tor said to Twilight who was waiting patiently.

“Partially?” She asked.

“I’ll explain it to you later.” Tor said.

All right, let’s do this. Tor thought. Torais’s teeth detached and Tor used his magic to place it gingerly on his flank. He at once felt the teeth dig in; Tor seized up and gritted his teeth trying to fight through the pain. Twilight looked at him helplessly as he started to feel the energy start to flow into his body. The pain started to recede slowly but surely until Tor couldn’t feel it anymore; he felt Torais’s teeth come out and he readjusted the band.

“How do you feel now?” Twilight asked as Tor sat up.

“I feel much better, a little sore though.” He said as he slowly slid of off the bed and onto his hooves, he felt a slight pain in his flank but he ignored it. “Shall we go tell the others about my miraculous recovery?” He asked and Twilight smiled.

“Good idea. And on the way perhaps you can explain to me why Silver could only partially heal you.” She said and opened the door as he slowly stepped down the hallway.

----

“So the things that are killed with Tagia and Torais have their phantasma absorbed?” Twilight asked as they rounded another corner.

“Essentially. It’s then up to us for what happens to it.” Tor said. Twilight looked reflective for a moment.

“But what about the creatures? Isn’t it bad that their souls are being stolen?” She asked pensively.

“I don’t know off hoof…” Tor trailed.

“Can’t you ask Silver?” Twilight asked casting a glance at Torais. Tor looked at Torais too.

“I don’t want to bother Silver, he’s got a lot on his mind right now.” Tor said. Twilight gave him a look.

“Is it… a personal thing?” She asked. Tor shook his head.

“Parts of it are but it is also important that I tell you about it, I’ll tell everypony about it at the same time.” He explained. Twilight gazed at him with eyes full of curiosity but nodded in understanding. “Now perhaps you could tell me what’s been going on while I was out.” They continued on in silence while Twilight gathered her thoughts.

“After we brought to the medical ward and made sure that you were okay Rarity and I brought the scrolls to the attention of Princess Celestia and Tac. Tac was grateful for the new information, but Princess Celestia scolded us about going into the vault without at least a guard. Tac, Tome, Iron Hoof and I were going through the scrolls when the nurse asked for me.” Twilight summed. Tor felt a twinge of unease at Iron Hoof’s name.

“Are you sure it’s wise for Iron Hoof to everything that we know?” Tor asked.

“It is necessary if he’s going to trust us, besides, most of what we found was useless, but there was a map that had the location of Discord’s base of operations during the Chaos War.” Twilight explained. “Tac is going to put Iron Hoof under surveillance to make sure that he doesn’t get word out.” She finished.

“And what about everypony else? How did the others react to my hospitalization?”

“Fluttershy felt sad because you killed the ant lion, she was worried to I guess. Rainbow Dash was angry that she wasn’t there and flew off. Applejack had to go after her to make sure she didn’t do anything bad. Pinkie was slightly upset and decided that she would bake you a get-well cake. And Spike was… Spike’s been upset about something recently and didn’t react at all.” Twilight explained. Tor thought for a moment before replying.

“Is the cake done yet?” Twilight punched his shoulder lightly.

“Hey! We were all seriously worried!” She said. Tor grinned sheepishly.

“Sorry, I’m getting kind of hungry.” He mumbled. They stood in front of the door to the war room.

“There will be time for food later, we need to discuss plans.” She said and pushed open the door. Iron Hoof was sitting at the table beside Tac and Tome, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy sat on the opposite side.

“Tor! So good to see that you’re alright!” Rarity exclaimed.

“It certainly is, we need your input for what’s going to happen next.” Tac agreed. Everypony in the room murmured in agreement except Iron Hoof who just snorted.

“Not completely alright, I’ll be taking it easy for the next while.” Tor said. He limped over to a seat beside Tac and Twilight joined him.

“Let’s just do this.” Iron Hoof said impatiently. Tac glared at him.

“Yes, well after examining all of the scrolls bravely acquired by Tor, Rarity and Twilight we have found little to go on. It is mostly observations of Discord’s Chaos and weaknesses of his shadow army. There was mention of a griffin named Madwes and a list of ingredients for some unknown potion. Then there is the map.” All eyes fell onto the frayed piece of parchment.

“This is where Discord was hiding out, right?” Rainbow Dash asked looking directly at the X in the middle.

“We believe so, but there is not much that can be done about it until the crisis with Tag has been averted.” Tome said.

“Just what I was thinking.” Tac agreed. “We should focus all of our efforts on avoiding the crisis at hoof.”

“Well what‘re we supposed to do?” Applejack asked.

“We need you to be ready for when he comes here. If you want to save him using the memory spell then I would have a greater effect if you were all present. This is a warning; we will wake you up when he is spotted and you must be ready. That means that you shouldn’t apply makeup.” Tome said looking right at Rarity.

“How would we restrain him?” Tor asked.

“Twilight and her friends managed to catch Rainbow Dash, it shouldn’t be much harder.” Iron Hoof said.

“But Tag has Tagia…” Fluttershy breathed. Tac looked thoughtful.

“We will get the Unicorn Magic Division to restrain him then.” He said.

“And if it doesn’t work then we will execute him.” Iron declared. The room went dead silent.

“Why do you have to say it so plainly?” Tome asked clearly annoyed. Iron Hoof shrugged.

“It’s the truth; if they are going to be prepared then they have to know the entire plan.” He said.

“It’s okay, I know that it’ll work.” Tor said confidently. Iron Hoof glared at him.

“The battlefield is no place to know things, the tides of battle can switch in the blink of an eye. Beware, confidence can be a killer.” He said. Tor resisted the urge to say something back. Tome seemed to realize it.

“Calm down Tor, Iron Hoof is speaking from experience.” He said.

“Of course.” Tor said through gritted teeth.

“Tor, you said that there was something you needed to tell us? Back in the hall?” She asked desperately trying to change to subject.

“Oh yeah, thanks Twilight.” He said; the rest of the room looked at him expectantly. “While I was unconscious in the medical wing Silver pulled my consciousness into my own mind.” There were looks of surprise around the table but Tor continued. “He brought to a door that led to my memories from the war. The door was chained and padlocked but I was able to open it, Silver went with me and we relived what happened from my creation to me becoming petrified.” The room was dead quiet; everypony wanted to know what happened next.

“It started off in a dark stone room, I could see Discord in front of a table beside a shadowy figure. On the table was Silver and the figure placed Torais on his side, as soon as the teeth had dug in Silver came to life full of rage. His cutie mark morphed into the bow on my flank.” He showed them his cutie mark. “Discord was pleased and shook hands with the figure, a griffin whose name was Madwes. They brought in Open Book, he lost himself when he saw what they had done to Silver and barely protested when Madwes brought him the table. Madwes then proceded to plauck a feather from his side and dip into some sort of potion, he stabbed Open Book with the feather and pulled out what I think was his very soul. Madwes put the soul into a jar and some shadow ponies put Open Book onto the table. Discord brought out Tagia, Madwes… imbued I guess… the soul with Tagia, and then put around Open Book’s neck; he reacted much in the way Silver had, jumping up with eyes full of anger, and his cutie mark morphed into the blade. Madwes told Discord to give them mental commands to ‘make sure the connections are in place’. Discord then ordered Tag to kill Madwes, which he did with cold precision. Discord then gave them our names, Tag and Tor, and ordered us to assassinate the princesses. The rest, I’m sure was told to you by Princess Celestia.” Tor said. Twilight and her friends stared at him with horrified expressions, Tac looked contemplative, Iron Hoof looked bored and Tome had an unreadable expression on his face.

“Tor…” Twilight trailed off. Tome inspected Tor.

“Are you okay? The experience might have had negative effects on you.” He asked but Tor should his head.

“I had long come to terms with the fact that something horrible had happened. Although I was not entirely prepared for… what happened in the stone room, I had been expecting everything else that had happened.” He said. Tac looked to Tome.

“Tome do you think you could look into the things that Tor mentioned?” He asked.

“There is no doubt that I can look into it but whether or not I find something is the question.” Tome replied.

“Needless to say I think that concludes our meeting; we should let Tome work. I would suggest that you all get something to eat and go to bed; you need to be rested should Tag come in the middle of the night.” Tac said to the rest of them. Tor stood up.

“Try not to stay so late yourself Tac, we’ll need you to be at your best too.” He said. Tac nodded in acknowledgment. Tor trotted out into the hallway followed by his friends.