Dusk Falls

by NorrisThePony

Blame It On the Eldritch Demon (X)

Author's Note:

Those of you seeing this in your Feed.... nothing to see here folks. Just me splitting that beast of an 18,000 word chapter into two separate ones.

i

The sun I rose late set the sky on fire in wild shades of the darkest red. With the old sailor’s idiom dancing in my mind, I took the sky as a warning, one which signaled something large, perhaps not just in the weather but amongst the ponies squabbling about underneath the cosmic crimson ceiling. Somewhere perhaps, a family would rise and realize they were one short...whoever that poor mare was who had been murdered merely for a demonstration, I’d be sure to send my sympathies to her family.

Red sky for mourning, and a subtle eldritch warning. I smiled darkly and sipped my tea, looking out at the still waves disturbingly evocative of the apocalyptic ocean in my nightmare hours earlier, wondering what lurked below the freezing black waters.

I’d promised her she would regret provoking me. I had no intention of disappointing her expectations.

I’d also promised Luna I was remaining idle no longer, but after her emotionless response to my apology I found myself uncaring how she responded to my success. It was likely she wouldn’t care either. I’d probably get a letter that said something like: “Congratulations, sister. You were successful against a glob of featureless black sludge.”

I took my tea to the table and opened the manila envelope with a flourish, letting the contents fan out. Between sips of my tea I read them all over, taking note of the dates on each. They stretched back through more than six decades, and yet much of the information echoed eerily through the years.

And there was only one name. One name across so many years. Only the number beside it seemed to change, but it would seem that Dusk Falls had been ruled by Kleos’ family three generations over, without interruption. If I’d cared to actually ask, I would have found out that Mayor Kleos was in actuality the third in line, his father and grandfather before him had ruled the town also.

At least that’s what the papers said.

There were no photos, but I found it oddly suspicious nonetheless. No records of any spousal relationship or family inheritance existed, not that it would have been information I would have been able to find from the library. Nonetheless, my suspicion on those matters would be confirmed by genealogical records I had ordered unearthed the moment I finished my tea. My guards had managed to turn them up, presenting to me without a doubt that there were no recorded death certificates for any of his relatives, nor birth certificates for any but the eldest.

This meant two things; for sixty years mayoral elections in the town had been fraudulent, and in the eyes of recorded history there had only ever been one mayor of Dusk Falls across those years.

I was almost unsurprised.

Longevity is...disturbingly possible to achieve through dark magic, something I knew existed in the town’s underground in spades. And in my dream the unicorn creature had implied Kleos had been helping her. Which meant she could easily have been keeping him alive to…

To what? I still had no answer to that question.

Then again, the cult in Dusk Falls was certainly one of ponies keen on assisting in bringing this creature to power, as well as bringing some armageddon by way of the Smooze. Such a cult would need a leader, a figurehead, and I already knew that quite a significant portion of the town was not at all what they seemed.

It made sense, but it was still an insane theory without evidential merit. Still, I had enough controversial information to bring it to the Mayor’s attention and ask him to explain himself. But I would do it later, presently I was quite keen to investigate the site of the Sisyphys, and without having to read about it in any books or consult anypony for information, I knew exactly where I would find it.

When I left to find the ship, I did not leave alone. I’d told at least a dozen guards and investigators where I was going and what I was searching for, and they had been more than keen to help. The ones who could not fly behind me were trudging their way down the beach towards Harmony Bay before I had even set out.

The blossoming plumes of blood fog had been in one place over Harmony Bay, and it had been this bay that the ship had sunk in. I easily decided there was no way this was a mere coincidence. Into the cool morning sky I flew, flapping my wings gently and relishing in the comforting early spring air even with urgency of my mission quite clear.

The spell for separating water was so familiar to me at that point that I did not even need the book to cast it. The water split with considerably lesser effort than it had the first two times, in the precise spot I’d memorized from seeing the red luminescent fog on so many midnight mornings. The ocean gave way, and I breathed a sigh of amazement at what lay on the sand’s surface.

I had no reason to be surprised, I’d known it would be there, but the sight of the ship lying on the ocean floor was amazing nonetheless.

The Sisyphys was by no means an impressive ship, especially in its partially decomposed state. It was a simple schooner meant for delivery purposes, the sort of ship that had room only for cargo and a crew of a dozen, at least half of whom would have been slaves. This I noted with relief, it would mean I would not have to scour much and indeed would not have to wait long for something to be found.

The moment the water was parted the dozen or so ponies who had accompanied me were trudging through the near-freezing water, bracing themselves as they leapt through the held waves towering upwards. In minutes the ship was crawling with ponies, and I did little more than watch and maintain the spell while they searched for the mirror.

It was found after less than an hour.

I was lounging against a frozen palm, waiting, when a joyous cry resounded from the direction of the ship and I straightened up, taking flight immediately to check as to why. A group of five or six ponies were stumbling onto the flimsy, hole-ridden deck of the ship, holding triumphantly a shard of glass about the size of a dinner plate. All around it was a magical aura, not red like I’d been expecting but a sickly green. They were holding it on a detached board, and I saw that a pony was nursing a burned hoof in the cold salt water. Even when I grasped it in my magic (taking care not to let the other spell I was holding collapse) it felt uncomfortable, but nonetheless I brought it close to analyze it.

I could see myself reflected in it clearly, as if it were an ordinary mirror, but there was no questioning the magic around it.

“Good work, everypony,” I said. “Thank you very much for your help.”

I took it back onto the beach, still cautiously holding it in my magic, and once everypony was clear of the ship I let the waves fall back down, returning the Sisyphys to its undersea grave. How absurdly simple it had been, finding this bit of mirror, I couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity. To think, if I would have heeded the Mayor’s advice so many months ago, I could have…

Located a bit of glowing mirror. In retrospect, I realized that I would not have had enough information to put any stock in the glass shard, and I probably would not have even removed it from its berth under the waves.

ii

On my request, a small group of ponies versed in dark magic and occult research had arrived and were promptly dragging advanced looking magical equipment onto my front lawn, taking care to keep it covered from the freshly falling rain and snow. I had told them about the mirror shard, and now it was sitting alone on a table directly in the middle of the lawn while an array of strange devices were placed at almost-comically far distances all around it.

The first thing I needed to know was whether or not this shard would be enough to access whatever realm it bled into. I suspected I was not the first to uncover the mirror, and the shard I’d found was a fortunate oversight from whoever had last plundered the unsullied walls of the sunken ship. It was a small portion, after all, and somewhere I imagined a much larger, much more powerful bit of the magical device was still lying in wait, ready to be activated to allow extraordinary horror into our peaceful world.

I had simply stood on my porch watching while countless ponies mulled over it, prodding it with crystal-tipped devices, taking notes on endless pads of paper, or shooting beams of magic at it from great, controlled distances to see what would happen. While I waited, I wrote a letter to the Everfree Castle, not intended for Luna but instead intended for the Captain of the Royal Guard, asking him to please meet me in Dusk Falls as swiftly as he could. I also asked one of the guards who I thought not to be busy to please run into town to purchase a set of journals from the general store. It was not until long past midday that any sort of verdict was presented to me by the occult investigators milling about, but it was exactly the verdict I had been waiting for.

“It’s dark magic, alright,” A bespectacled, middle-aged unicorn told me, nervously toying with the collar of his winter jacket. “Very, very similar to the sort we’ve observed from ancient research of King Sombra’s age.”

He proceeded to give me a brief description of its nature, one which lined up quite well from what I already knew myself.

“So I figured,” I raised a hoof to stop him once the information began looping. “It’s only a small section though, correct?” I asked.

“It is,” he nodded. “But still one of immense power.”

“Enough for a gateway to be opened?”

My request was met with stunned silence. Even ponies who had not been directly involved with the conversation turned to look with widened eyes.

“Possibly, if we use crystallized magic to make up for the lack of an energy base,” he said, biting his lip nervously. “But, Your Majesty, aren’t we trying to seal the gateway?”

“Yes. But this is a section of a much larger device,” I pointed out. “We’d be closing our own, but there would still be another that will be opened. Destroying this one would do nothing to deter anyone with access to another..”

“True,” he nodded. “I suppose we could. Is that truly what you want?”

“It is,” I confirmed. “Please do so.”

“We’ll be a few hours…”

“Take your time. I’m waiting on the Captain of the Royal Guard to arrive anyways.”

“You’re...sending ponies in?” he gawked.

I didn’t respond. Instead, I returned into the confines and silence of Pink Sunset while I waited for the rest of my company to show up.

The Captain of the Royal Guard arrived long after the sun had set and darkness had overtaken the sky. Still working on into the night, the ponies had flooded my front lawn with magically powered light vaguely reminiscent of those that had powered the neon lights on the boardwalk. More ponies had arrived to assist with preparing the mirror shard gateway, so that by night’s arrival they had trampled my lawn to such extent that there was no more snow at all and I knew that come summer my grass would probably be hideous and yellow.

Not that, come summer, it would be my house at all.

Several chariots swept down from the night sky, pulled by pegasi much more armed than any of the other guards I’d grown accustomed to seeing around Dusk Falls. They stood straight and saluted, while a unicorn stallion only a little shorter than myself strode forwards, looked me straight in the eyes, and saluted himself.

“Your Majesty Princess Celestia,” he greeted, extending a hoof which I shook.

“Good evening, Captain Solar Flare,” I answered instinctively.

“Once again, I extend my apologies regarding that foolish mare who—”

“Miss Indigo Posy is a good friend of mine, and I fully trust that what she did anyone else from your force would have done so in her place,” I stopped him. The last time we had spoken had been from that infernal apology letter he had sent me. However, I knew that what would happen next would be trying on all our nerves, so I quickly diverted the conversation from judgmental confrontation.

“You certainly rolled in the cavalry at my request,” I said sarcastically.

There were at three chariots at best, although they all seemed to be filled with varying degrees of supplies from weapons to excavating material to what looked like explosives. I hadn’t specified why I had needed his presence, so he seemingly had prepared for whatever option it could have been at once. Still, I had a little under a dozen ponies, many of which did not even look like their roles went too far beyond simply pulling the chariots. As for the guards in Dusk Falls, there was perhaps truth in the patronizing remarks Luna had said, and I did not feel comfortable to have a repeat of what had happened to Deepsy and Indigo. It would seem preparation was not a factor in our favor.

Solar Flare was the stern, sometimes hot-headed Captain of the Royal Guard. While his strict attitude earned him humorously ironic observations of his name, he was Captain of the Guard through a period of peace in Equestria, a period that had remained unbroken since before he had even been born. He more than likely had never seen actual battle in his life, let alone whatever eldritch horror I was about to drag him and his soldiers into.

Regardless, he was the highest ranked guard I had and one of the best unicorns I knew, and if I was forced to place my trust on anypony, I did not feel too uncomfortable placing it on him and his loyal soldiers.

iii

I let everypony introduce themselves on their own accord and the glasses-wearing stallion to explain to Captain Flare what exactly was going on. It was well past sunset, at around ten in the evening, when a pony finally knocked on my door to let me know that the portal was ready to be opened.

The single shard of mirror was levitating by itself in the middle of the enchanted crystals throbbing with energy. It stood motionless, suspended in the air without a single trace of imperfection, as if it were laying on the ground instead of floating above it. It was an admittedly eerie sight, seeing it like this, even if I knew exactly why it was doing so. The crystals fueling it were functioning as they’d intended, and yet there did not seem to be any gateway like I’d been hoping there would be.

When I echoed this concern to Captain Solar Flare, he nodded to show he already knew.

“We have yet to activate it. We’re simply waiting for a unicorn from Canterville to arrive.”

“I can do it,” I offered. “I’m the one going through, after all.”

At least a dozen of the milling guards stopped what they were doing to look at me. Solar Flare blinked in bewilderment.

“With respect, Princess Celestia...this is a new development.”

“It is?” I asked, equally confused. I was left wondering why they had expected I'd asked for the gateway to be opened if they did not suspect I was going to be traveling through. “I thought it was to be expected.”

“Your Majesty, we don’t know what lays beyond. It could be incredibly dangerous.”

“Yes indeed,” I nodded. “And it’s trying to claw it’s way into our world. I’m going through to stop it.”

“With respect, Your Majesty...not alone you aren’t,” he shook his head and stood his ground firmly, as if he could have stopped me if I truly had my mind set that I wished to go through. I did not want to provoke a fight anyways

I smiled at his conviction, nodding slowly. Certainly he was right, and I felt a little more comfort delving into the unknown with strong, competent guards on my side.

“Much obliged.” I said. “Gather six of your best guards. Pegasi, earth pony, and unicorn. I trust you’ve briefed them on what we might be dealing with on the other side?”

“I’m afraid I don’t quite understand that myself.”

“No matter,” I said. “I’ll tell them myself whence they’ve arrived. Please gather them swiftly, Captain.”

He saluted and started trotting away, when I called after him.

“On second thought, make that eight guards, please.” I did not know what lay beyond, and while I perhaps could have asked for more, it seemed a better option to have ponies at the ready on the other side just in case.

He assured me he would get them and saluted again. In less than ten minutes time I had before me a small crowd of guards, standing tall with the moonlight reflecting off their armour much stronger than the average affair worn by the guards patrolling the streets or standing outside Pink Sunset. They were not, as Luna had put it, “glorified employees,” they were ponies who were willing to lay their lives to waste to protect Equestria. They were all armed, several with flintlock rifles but most with light and versatile silver sabers. Their behaviour clearly echoed their militaristic nature; they all were looking directly ahead of them, with eyes featureless and expressions stoic. If they had been fearful of the unknown awaiting them, they disguised it professionally.

“Good evening,” I said once they had all arrived, saluted, and stood waiting for my instructions. “I imagine what will be done tonight will be an experience many of you are unfamiliar with, perhaps even frightened of. I do not know what lies beyond the gateway we shall be opening. I do not know if we shall be welcomed or…”

I stumbled a little, not quite wanting to say what the other, much more likely option would be so bluntly.

“Ahem,” I tried again. “How many of you know what the ‘Smooze’ is?”

The word, as perhaps audibly childish as it sounded, registered little reaction from the guards. I hadn’t been expecting it to, but their total lack of both confusion and recognition was still slightly disarming.

“It might not seem like anything that would pose a threat by it’s name, but I assure you it is indeed incredibly dangerous. The Smooze is a sludge-like substance whose instincts are similar to that of a caterpillar. By which I mean it has one purpose and one purpose alone...” I remembered Luna, her metaphor, and the dramatic tone she had spoken in that I had tried my best to emulate. “To feed.”

“To feed on what?” One of the guards from the front row piped up.

“I’m quite glad you asked,” I responded. “It feeds on everything. It will continue to consume everything in sight until there is nothing left. Then, it will consume itself, leaving little to nothing behind.”

The silent night was punctuated by shocked gasps and fearful whispers for but a moment, before the Captain of the Guard narrowed his eyes at them. They instantly fell into militaristic silence, but the fear they’d been so adept at hiding was now plain and evident.

“I feel the need to emphasize,” I carried on. “It consumes everything. It does not destroy it. It literally devours it. One cupful of this stuff is fatally dangerous, and I have reason to believe there is a great multitude of it beyond. I welcome anypony unwilling to accompany me to stay on this side of the gateway. I will not fault any of you for doing so.”

With pride, I watched as none of them broke from their stance. Certainly they had been afraid, but that fear was not giving way to the instinct of flight. Instead, it remained rooted on the urge to defend and to protect the nation we were temporarily leaving behind. I didn’t let my pride in my faithful subjects visibly show, but I felt it plentifully in that moment.

“Are there any questions?” I scanned their eager yet frightened faces.

“What magic do we know affects it?” One called out.

“I have reason to believe…” I paused. The truth of the answer was rather difficult to say aloud after my grim statements moments prior. “I have reason to believe no pony magic has the ability to affect it.”

Once again they exploded into terrified murmurs. I held a hoof up to silence Captain Flare when I caught him about to chastise them in the corner of my eye. I let them have their fearful discussion for several seconds before clearing my throat. It was a nearly silent sound, but they instantly ceased all the same.

“My offer to stay behind still stands. But this substance is trying to claw it’s way out into Equestria as we speak. We either fight it there,” I motioned at the hovering mirror surrounded by the crystals. “Or we attempt to fight it while it tears our world apart.”

“How are we supposed to fight something we can’t affect?!” Another guard screamed, his voice joined by several more agreeing shouts. Captain Flare’s eyes narrowed, but he said nothing.

“No substance is purely invincible,” I asserted. “We will find a way, even if I have to bring the whole sun down onto it all. Now, are there any other questions?”

Silence.

“Thank you all,” I nodded. “Captain, have you anything to add?”

“I do,” he confirmed. I took a step back while he in turn stepped where I had been to address the gathered guards.

“You all heard the Princess quite clear. What we are dealing with is something we know very little about. Exercise extreme caution, and stay as far back from it as you possibly can at all times. Your priority is protecting Princess Celestia, no matter the personal sacrifice. Understood?”

I found his remarks...oddly patronizing, but I cast the childish emotion away as I watched on. They all saluted, thereby indirectly confirming their unwritten contract that practically stated their lives were potentially forfeitable. I had half a mind to tell them to stay behind, but I knew that even at my order it would not happen anyways.

“Well then. Let us be off,” Solar Flare said, as if he were proposing we all go for ice-cream on the boardwalk. “Private Larkspur, if you would be so inclined.”

The young unicorn stallion in question trotted forwards. I couldn’t see his cutiemark beyond the armour, (I could hardly even see his dark purple coat) but I was willing to bet it was some reflection of his apparently vast intelligence on magical practice. Without hesitation he began casting his magic as soon as he was directly in front of the hovering shard of mirror. The crystals surrounding it began pulsating rapidly, and soon the frequency of their lighting accelerated, thus giving the illusion that they were eternally lit.

Suddenly, each crystal exploded in a beam which struck the mirror. In moments a tear began to form, looking quite like the tears Discord had torn when he had hurled poor, innocent ponies into the chaotic hell that lay on the other side.

I couldn’t see what was on the other side of this tear however, instead it looked like a blinding white plain of nothingness. It continued opening until it was an entrance as thick as the round door of Pink Sunset and as long as the house's ocean-facing wall. It was a huge opening none of us quite wanted to venture through. Nevertheless, I was the first to take a step forward, brushing past the wide-eyed unicorn stallion whose magic was still being cast even though the necessity was apparently over.

I stood before the tear for several seconds, before holding up a hoof to signal for Private Larkspur to stop casting magic. He did, and nothing seemed to happen. The tear remained resolute and unchanged.

“Good work, Private,” I said without turning. “I want you to stay on this side of the tear. Who else amongst you considers yourself magically skilled?”

A pretty young mare with a blue coat and neon yellow mane stepped forward. I analyzed her for several seconds, before motioning to the tear before us.

“Stay on this side of the tear with Private Larkspur, please. If it begins to close, help him keep it opened. Get other unicorns if you have to, but don’t leave this spot. Understood?”

They saluted.

“Thank you. Now then, Captain Flare?”

“Your Majesty?”

I withdrew the two journals I’d purchased from the marketplace earlier. I handed one to Larkspur and the other to him. He looked from the journal to me in bewilderment, not unlike how I’d looked from mine to Luna so long ago.

“Two way journals,” I explained. “What we write in one appears in both. ”

He locked eyes with Larkspur, and then they both looked at me and chuckled in awe-filled admiration.

“Impressive, Your Majesty.” Solar Flare said.

“It’s an idea inherited from the best,” I casually replied. “Now then...”

I diverted my glance back at the tear before us. Without any further hesitation, I began advancing towards it. Into the beyond realm I trotted, the dozen ponies hesitantly right on my hooves as we trotted past the threshold and into whatever hell lay beyond.

Comments

[Muggonny]

Welp, I'm almost done with this story.

finally