Of Iron and Crystal

by King-Mac-13

Revelations

Author's Note:

King: Oh... Wow, It's been a while. You know how it is. Life gets in the way of creating... But enough about that! I'm back now! Show of hands, who missed my sexy voice? Wait... I can't se your hands and you don't know what I sound like... Okay. Imagine Gilbert Gottfried reading lines for the Godfather... Now you have a hilarious image n your head: The Gott-father. Any who, let's get to why your here, shall we? On with the show!

Despite the creature’s exit, Sombra kept his helmet down. He wasn’t about to show anymore weakness to the little prince. After his adrenaline subsided, he was glad he didn’t. His training in Dark magic helped him notice the magic surrounding the Captain. Not a hypnosis… this was a cloak of sorts. This wasn’t the Captain. He turned toward the others to find Grey with a similar look of suspicion. Flash, on the other hoof, hadn’t noticed.

The ‘Captain’ trotted toward the group, “Well?”

Flash answered the question without hesitation, “Sir! After reviewing our findings, we’ve discovered signs of an unknown entity in the prison. We’re not alone here, sir.”

“That could be a problem… Alright. Sweep the area again. We’ll work in teams of two.” The ‘Captain’ pointed a hoof toward Flash, “You’re with me. We’ll search the west area. You two take the East.”

As the ‘Captain’ spoke, Grey’s face changed. His suspicion became confusion, but he saluted none the less. “Understood.”

As Flash the and ‘Captain’ trotted off, Sombra leaned toward Grey, “Something’s wrong. That’s not the Captain.”

“I’m not so sure about that…”

“I thought you were the professional observer. You had to notice the differences.”

“I did. But they all seemed… natural for the Captain. Like it is him, but not.”

“Do you have any idea how…” Sombra stopped before finishing his thought. A look of realization on his face.

“What is it?”

“In the office, did you find a map?”

“Yes.”

“What’s west of this location?”

Grey thought back to the map. “The mess hall, recreation center, yard exit, solitary confinement…”

“There! Let’s move! Keep low and quiet.”

“Hey! Wait!” As Grey chased the Corporal, he had to mine for answers. “Care to explain what’s going on?”

“Whoever that is, they wanted us to head away from something.”

“No duh! Get to the point!”

“I’m not done! If that’s not the Captain, he’s either dead or being held somewhere nearby. The solitary cells would be the best place to stash a prisoner in a prison that you don’t want to be found.”

“Okay… going to be honest, Sombra… you surprise me.”

“How so?”

“I’d heard about your exploits from your ‘return.’ From what I understood, you weren’t anywhere near this intelligent. Shouting out ‘crysstals~” and the like.”

“For now, I’ll take that as a compliment.” He motioned to move down the hallway.

As they entered they entered the hallway, Grey began to observe everything he could. They were surrounded by iron doors, some of which were rusted and broken. The tiles on the floor were relatively unscathed compared to the floors in the prison proper. Still dirty and cracked, but better than the rest of the complex. A few doors showed signs of use. In front of one of the doors, the tile showed signs of traversal (a hoof mark). “There.”

Sombra opened the door using magic to find the Captain chained to the floor. He broke the chains and released the Captain from the spell prevention device on his horn. “There we go.”

The Captain gathered himself and tested his magic, which now worked properly. “Where’s Flash?”

Grey used his wing to help until he was sure Shining Armor could stand on his own, “With your imposter.”

“Then he’s in danger.”

“Flash is a great fighter. I doubt he’s in that much danger.”

“It’s Chrysalis.”

“Oh… that’s bad.”

“Who?” The two turned to Sombra who now had an open face plate on his helmet.

“Chrysalis, former queen of the Changelings. Ousted by a team of four. She swore revenge and has nothing left to lose, making her more dangerous than ever.”

Shining Armor added, “She also has the target.”

“Lovely…”

“We need to get to Flash before something happens. Sombra, go ahead and find Flash. Chrysalis may strike soon, so hurry. Grey will stay with me so you can tell who is who.”

“Got it.” Sombra became a shadow and slinked off into the darkness.

Grey sighed at the situation. “So, we have to deal with a deposed changeling queen, and there’s that big… thing. Whatever it is.”

Shining Armor turned to Grey, “What thing?”

\/

Flash and the fake Captain trotted through the hallways just above the others. So far, all was quiet. Flash was aware something was off, but wasn’t going to make a move yet. He didn’t have Grey’s instant, almost unreasonably accurate powers of deduction, but even he could see something was amiss. The thing that was amiss, however, eluded him. Was the Captain effected by stress? Lack of sleep? Impatience to return to his wife and daughter? All possible and kept him from seeing the ruse for what it was.

Chrysalis, still in the guise of the Captain, trotted slightly behind Flash and smiled to herself. They were far enough away from those other two that she could strike without issue. But her magic isn’t as powerful due to her hunger, and he may attract unwanted attention if she isn’t quick and careful. She had to avoid screams in this place… the echoes are ridiculous.

After some time, she decided to make her move. She was interrupted by an unnerving sound. It sounded like… breathing? But it hurt to hear. Like someone trying to breathe through a straw filled with milkshake… Something like that. As the sound got closer, a shiver went up her spine. She couldn’t help but turn toward the sound, and she immediately regretted it.

The… thing, standing at the end of the hallway was a broken beast. Its breath was a purple miasma, which matched the vapors emanating from the open wounds spread across its body. Its jaw seemed broken and its coat was matted in dirt and filth. Its eyes were pools of black and its teeth were like razors. A broken horn protruded from its head. The creature seemed to ooze death and decay. Its gaze focused squarely on the ‘Captain.’

Chrysalis leaned toward Flash, “What the hell is that thing?”

“Don’t know.”

The creature started slowly trotting for three steps before breaking out into a mad sprint toward Chrysalis. The disguised queen dodged out of the way, but the creature turned back toward her and charged again.

Chrysalis dodged again and landed next to Flash, “What’s his problem?”

“Don’t know.” Flash got ready for the fight, “But he seems to like you.”

“Is this really the time?!”

The creature roared and charged the false Captain again, narrowly missing its mark. The momentum of this charge sent it flying into the wall, cracking the stone work.

The creature was ignoring Flash, giving him enough time to notice the ‘Captain’ didn’t follow his comment with ‘Doesn’t he know I’m married’ like he always did. The Captain always tries to show off in combat situations with an attitude. It’s not necessarily a show-no-weakness kind of thing. It’s more like… he thinks that a quipping, semi-smug soldier is some kind of ideal. Considering his comic collection, it’s a little understandable. This wasn’t like the Captain.

Fortunately for the disguised Chrysalis, Flash didn’t have the time to confront her as a bolt of red magic flew through the hall. The creature’s focus changed to the bolt, allowing Chrysalis to escape to the rafters and drop her disguise. If that thing was after Shining Armor, she didn’t want to take that face. She watched as the fully armored pony from before made his way to Flash.

“Hey, you alright?” The armored pony moved beside Flash.

“Fine.” Flash looked around for the ‘Captain’, but he was gone. “Guessing the Captain from before was a fake…”

“Yep.”

“Lovely.” Flash motioned toward the creature. “Any idea what that is?”

After a moment, the Corporal responded, “Nope.”

“Great. That’s not good.”

The real Captain and Grey Hat rounded the corner. Shining Armor slid on his hooves to a stop and looked on in horror. “What’s that thing doing here?!”

“You know this thing?”

Sombra dropped into a fighting stance and started to prepare his magic. As his magic started to flare, the creature turned its attention toward him.

“Stop!” Shining Armor rushed over and broke Sombra’s focus and the magic dissipated. “That thing tracks magic.”

“Pardon?” Flash looked over toward the creature; and, sure enough, it seemed like it had lost its target. “Wha…?”

Shining Armor picked up a pebble with his hoof and threw it, ricocheting off the wall and hitting the back of the creature. It quickly turned around and walked off toward the direction it was hit.

Once it was gone, Flash, Grey, and Sombra circled the Captain. Flash was the first to ask, “Okay… What was that thing?”

Shining Armor cleared his throat before answering, “It’s called a Nuckelavee. My sister and I learned about it when we were young. It’s a powerful creature said to have been the cause of famines and spreading some serious diseases.”

“Seriously?”

“According to the old theories, this thing was bad, but not evil. In reality, it’s mindless. It seeks out magic for an unknown reason. Whatever the reason, it persists in its onslaught until the magic disappears, one way or the other.” He emphasized this point by crushing a broken, wooden beam that had likely fallen from the rafters above long before the present.

“Yikes… So, then what do we do about it?”

“Nothing.”

“Nothing? Seriously?”

“There’s nothing we can do. The only way the Nuckelavee was driven away, according to the old accounts, was with the combined might of five extra-ordinarily powerful unicorns. Of which, we have one.”

“Uh… I don’t mean to nitpick the issue, but we have two. Don’t we? Still not enough, but…”

“While I can make decent shields, I’d hardly call myself extra-ordinary in the power department.”

Flash turned took a moment to unpack the statement and turned toward Sombra. “Oh…”

“Yeah. Which still leaves us with four missing powers and no way to fight back against that thing.”

“Then what do we do?”

Sombra finally spoke up, “We leave it alone.”

“Pardon?”

“The prison is surrounded by Dark magic. It’s the same as I was feeling earlier.”

“So, the spell is keeping it in here?”

“It seems.”

Shining Armor looked around, “Let’s get moving. We need to find that crystal and get out of here fast. Plus-side, Chrysalis can’t hide from us with that thing around. Best to remain together just in case, though.”

With that, the group left the area to continue their search.

As they left, the former Changeling Queen dropped down from the rafters. “That is a problem… But I’ll find a way… Make no mistake my little prince.”