Will of The Shadow Monarch

by Silvermyr

Where Worlds Overlap

”Just a word of warning,” Golden Heart said as he levitated a dozen or so dossiers onto the desk in his office. ”There are some… rather detailed descriptions in these. I don’t know if that is good or bad, but for the untrained eye they probably come off as… well, morbid. Just thought you should know.”

Twilight nodded, swallowed and magicked over the first of the eleven dossiers. She had decided just to sift through them briefly. They did not have the time to read everything closely, and for that matter they were looking for some connection between the deaths, not the details of each individual case.

She made it through four and a half before she had to stop. Twilight loved to read more than any other pony, but not even her interest for just about any subject could harden her heart so much as to endure the lengthy descriptions of small foals with misshapen, sometimes partially decayed hearts. Whenever she read another word of the horrifying descriptions her mind turned to the poor mother whose happiest day suddenly turned to the greatest tragedy of all. She interrupted her horrible thoughts before they got any further.

”You don’t state any medical reason in any of there reports, do you?” Twilight asked Golden Heart, who read through some other papers. ”You basically just confirm the cause of death without stating a conclusion as to why those causes were present in the first place?”

”Sad but true,” Golden Heart answered. ”As I said, I can’t find any medical reason for this to happen at all.”

”Well, then if we work from the idea of the magical feedback causing this somehow, do you have anything to back that theory? Have you checked if there is any out-of-place magic? On the mothers or in the room where you operate?”

”Uh…” Golden Heart said sheepishly. ”No, that I have not checked. Look, I’m a doctor, not a magical theoretician! I have no clue how to do something like that.”

”Why didn’t you ask for help with it then?” Shining Armor snapped. ”Do you think Cadence or I would have spared any expenses to solve this?”

”I did not realize magic could be a factor in the first place. And, apparently, neither did you or anypony else!” Golden Heart replied impatiently. ”I had no clue magical feedback even existed until a minute ago, much less was dangerous.”

”Stop this, it doesn’t help,” Twilight interrupted Shining Armor’s answer.

The white stallion shut his mouth. It did not take long for his face to fall. ”I’m sorry, Golden Heart. I’m just so…”

”Stressed? I forgive you,” the blue unicorn said with a shrug. ”You have a good reason, after all. Now, Princess Twilight Sparkle, what do you propose? How do we investigate your feedback theory?”

”We need to measure the magical field around the affected ponies,” Twilight said. ”That would be the mothers…”

”What about the foals?” Golden Heart asked. ”Shouldn’t they be affected too?”

”Well…” Twilight cringed inwardly. ”I suppose… if their…” she fought down a pang of queasiness ”if their bodies are still intact…”

”That should not be a problem,” Golden Heart said. ”In this empire the dead are not cremated, as in the rest of Equestria, but embalmed and entombed in what we call the Crystal Vault. Even if the embalming process disturbs your whatever method you use for measuring, I think Rose Quartz’s foal should still be intact.”

”We would need Rose Quartz’s permission before we do something like that though,” Shining Armor pointed out.

Twilight swallowed. She did not want to do that. She had never seen a dead pony before. In fact, the only dead creature she had ever seen was the frog she had to dissect once in her biology class. It was worth mentioning that her report on that assignment had been an all-time low; she only got an A minus. She couldn’t help it; she could not concentrate on anything aside from the horrible fact that she was supposed to be cutting up something once alive.

Luckily for her grades if not for Twilight herself, Minuette had loved that assignment and gleefully hacked the poor frog to mincemeat.

Something told Twilight that seeing and performing magic on a dead foal was going to be much worse than a dead frog. Still, if that was the way to get clarity in this, then that was the way she had to go. She performed Cadence’s breathing exercise. ”Right. Then we go to Rose Quartz and ask her permission. But first…” Twilight turned to Golden Heart. ”I would like to measure you too.”

”Certainly. Why?” Golden Heart asked curiously.

”Because I want to have something to compare to,” Twilight lied. ”The magical feedback could take any shape, as I don’t know how the original spell worked. You have not been affected by that spell, nor faced any of Sombra’s magic, like me and my brother have, so you will be a completely clean reference point.”

”If you need to, then fire away,” Golden Heart said resolutely. ”Uh… will this hurt?”

”Might tickle a little,” Twilight said, willed her magic into her horn and let it engulf Golden Heart. Twilight blinked in surprise. His magical field was surprisingly strong, almost like her brother’s, and he was the captain of the royal guard. But then again, if he had been a medic for twenty-five years, that might not be so strange after all. Anyway, he was entirely clean. There was no indication of him having used dark magic. ”Thank you, Golden Heart. Let’s go to Rose Quartz’s.”

”Do I need to come?” Golden Heart asked. ”I still have other patients to care for, and I could go to The Crystal Vaults to make sure Anubrisk does not touch the foal’s body.”

”Anubrisk?” Twilight asked.

”The embalmer,” Golden Heart elaborated. ”He prepares the bodies of the deceased for their blessed sleep. Though just between the three of us, I don’t think it’s healthy to spend more time with the dead than the living. He is somewhat… unhinged.”

Twilight looked to her brother, who confirmed with a nod. ”He is a bit strange, but most ponies consider him kind still. He always has some free gem berries outside his home for foals to eat off, for example.”

”Oookay…?” Twilight said, uncertain what she should do with that information. ”Well, you go to him then. We will go to Rose.”

Golden Heart nodded. ”You be sure to tell me if there is anything more I can do. Good luck to you both.”

Shining Armor nodded and took the lead to Rose Quartz, as Twilight did not know where to go. ”I see you are astute as always, little sis,” Shining Armor said with a wry smile. ”Didn’t think you had it in you.”

”We can’t afford to take any chances,” Twilight defended bashfully. ”I had to scan him; if there was any pony who could have done this, then it was him. You heard him yourself, he was present when most of the deaths happened.”

”I’m not reproaching you, Twi, I’m just surprised.”

”Do you think he realized?” Twilight asked. She folded her ears back in embarrassment.

”I don’t think so,” Shining Armor said, enjoying his sister’s mortification more than he should.

*****

Entry nr. 134

I think I have attacked my query from the wrong angle. I can’t find any answers from my studies. No matter how many subjects I vivisect, the true nature of life itself continue to mock me. I sense something elusive here; a potent power I cannot identify. Or rather… couldn’t Identify.

Yet again I find the answers are hidden in plain sight, so obvious they were cloaked. So vast I overlooked them. The answers lie in my magic. Life and magic must be connected. Just as magic takes infinite forms, so does life.

Life and magic… in the end, they are one and the same.

*****

Twilight had never seen anything remotely similar to this. Now she understood what it truly meant for a pony to be broken. She and Shining Armor sat in Rose Quartz’s living room with the heartbroken mare. The walls were made from a dark red crystal and now recently decorated thoroughly in black, just as the mare in front of them.

Rose Quartz’s eyes were red and puffy from crying, and her mane wore signs of having been torn into. Since Twilight and Shining Armor came into the house she had not said any coherent words, just cried and wailed in sorrow greater than Twilight could understand. They had gently coaxed her to sit down and then waited patiently for her to gather her bearings enough to speak.

Twilight loathed this. She did not want to ask her this favor. How could she remind yet again that Rose’s foal was gone? ”But there is no choice,” The pragmatical side of her mind told her. ”Nothing more can be done for her foal, but if another tragedy like this can be avoided, then it has not been all in vain. We need this information.”

Rose Quartz let out another heart wrenching wail and then hiccuped silently, her whole body shaking and tears running from her eyes. With a jerky, erratic motion she sat up from her slumped over stance and looked at her guests. Since that was the first time she seemed to recognize their existence, Twilight prepared for the inevitable.

”H-hello…” Rose said meekly. ”C-can I help you?”

”I… think so,” Twilight began tentatively. There was no gentle way to ask what they needed to ask, but she still hesitated. Her brother came to her rescue.

”Rose Quartz,” he said with the soft, caring voice Twilight recognized from when they were younger and he helped her when she had hurt herself. His voice was rich and smooth; there was something with it that instantly conveyed a sense of trustworthiness and calm. Rose’s expression seemed to clear slightly when she heard him, like his melodious voice was able to penetrate her sorrow and reach out to her. ”I am so, so sorry to ask you this, but… but we need your help.”

Rose Quartz nodded, causing a few tears to drop from her crystalline cheeks.

Shining Armor continued. ”We… we need to visit the Crystal Vault and investigate… some circumstances about your daughter’s…” he trailed off. Rose begun to tear up again, but the only sound that left her throat was a small whimper, like her tears had run out.

She nodded. ”I-if it helps other m-mothers…” she breathed in choppily, each hiccup sending a spasm through her body. ”Okay,” she whispered.

”Thank you, Rose,” Shining armor whispered without breaking eye contact. ”You have no idea how important this can be. You truly are a strong mare. I am sorry we can’t stay any longer, but know that if there is anything Cadence and I can do to help you, you have but to ask.”

”I know,” Rose mumbled. Then she sat silent and stared down on her floor. Twilight and Shining Armor both came to the silent conclusion that she needed to be alone more than she needed them to stay with her, and silently left the sorrowful mare.

”You were fantastic, big brother,” Twilight said with as much enthusiasm that could be found after such a meeting. ”You got her to listen without breaking her heart. That was… very good of you.”

”I wish I didn’t have to comfort her,” Shining Armor said silently, sadness all to evident in his voice and expression. ”This was supposed to be her happiest day…” Twilight pretended not to hear her big brother’s sniffle. Instead she lifted her eyes from the street and looked forward, towards the pyramid shaped building a little distance outside the town that housed the ancient burial chambers of the Crystal Empire, The Crystal Vaults.

It really was a strange building. Not only was the pyramid shape completely unique in the empire, but the location too was strange. A good ten minutes brisk trot out of the empire proper stood the sky-blue pyramid alone on a beautiful green field. The pyramid apex was covered in gold, but aside from that there was no decorations whatsoever. Just the glossy, completely smooth crystal surface.

”What is this place, exactly?” Twilight asked, happy to talk about something else.

”This is… where life and death collide… where two worlds overlap…” somepony said from behind them in a slow, cryptic mumble.

Twilight yelped in surprise and spun around, wings flared in an instinctive reaction to make her look bigger. Shining Armor turned in a much more controlled manner. ”Embalmer Anubrisk,” he said calmly to the pony in front of him. ”Perfect, we were just looking for you. Has Golden Heart told you why?”

Twilight hardly heard her brother; she was fully occupied with looking over the pony in front of her. For a moment, just a moment, she even managed to forget why she was here. Her analytical mind latched onto the pony in front of her, trying to figure his strange outfit out.

Despite the pleasant weather, Anubrisk was dressed in a heavy wool robe, one side cream white and the other black as coal. The rim of the elaborate robes had a lustrous gleam of gold that ran uninterrupted between the two colors. The opulent clothing stood in great contrast to the pony wearing them, as Anubrisk’s face looked strangely thin, almost malnourished. His coat was pale yellow, further adding to his seedy appearance.

Strangely, he was not a crystal pony either, as he clearly had a coat of fur. Twilight looked to his forehead, but could not see a horn under his hood, so she concluded he was an earth pony, as no pegasus would ever walk around in something that so hindered their flight.

”Golden Heart spoke… you wish to see, yes? You seek council with the departed?”

”Uh… yes?” Twilight said though it sounded more like a question than a confirmation. ”We need to examine Rose Quartz’s foal,” she added for clarity.

”It is good… nopony shall have to depart to the hereafter alone…” Anubrisk mumbled. ”Follow me… and be respectful please; these are hallowed grounds.”

”Of course,” Twilight said solemnly. The three ponies went up to the pyramid and into a nearly invisible hallway. Twilight blinked a few times, trying to understand where the entry came from. She realized that the entrance had always been there, only everything was in the same blue crystal so it was nearly impossible to see any contours.

Anubrisk descended on a wide staircase, and Twilight and Shining Armor followed with slight difficulty; even the steps were hard to make out in the flawlessly cut blue crystal. Once down, the three ponies proceeded into a long corridor, uninterrupted for what looked half a mile. A generous amount of fluorescent rocks imbedded in the walls showered the corridor in a comforting blue sheen, and the sound of their hoofsteps echoed hollowly. ”It's like a glacier,” Twilight thought in a fit of philosophic inspiration. ”A cold, eternally still place. No wonder the poor embalmer is like this if he spends all his days down here.”

”Anubrisk?” Twilight asked, silent as to not disturb the peace of their walk. ”May I ask something?”

”Naturally, young one… but remember the generations of ponies who are watching you now…” Anubrisk replied without slowing down.

”Well… why do the crystal ponies embalm their dead?” Twilight asked. ”I mean, the rest of Equestria cremate theirs, so… why don’t you?”

”Why do you cremate yours?” Anubrisk asked stilly.

”I think that is because it was a way for ponies to, metaphorically at least, be touched by Celestia’s sun and thus ascend into her heaven,” Twilight answered.

”Celestia… she betrayed our empire in its hour of need… left us in the clutches of the Shadow Monarch… The Crystal Ponies will not pay her respect…” His voice had hardly changed, yet there was no mistaking the heavy bitterness in it.

”Celestia did all she could,” Twilight replied, doing her best to keep her anger away. ”She liberated you from Sombra in the end.”

”Shh,” Anubrisk whispered. ”The spirits of the deceased are listening to you… be careful what you say around them, for if you linger on death’s door… you risk being invited in…”

”Was that a threat?” Shining Armor asked warningly. Twilight swallowed. She knew she had nothing to fear from this old earth pony, and as she had already confirmed he was not all sane, but still… the conviction with which he spoke and the mysterious voice sent shivers down her spine all the same.

”No… it was but a warning…” Anubrisk said. ”You stand now before the central vault… From here one can visit all the departed in this empire from the last two millennia.”

The ponies came out of the corridor and into a large, circular room with corridors branching out from it. Twilight quickly counted to as much as twelve offshoots, plus the one behind her. In the middle of the room the floor rose up slightly, creating a small platform. Twilight looked into one of the many offshoots and saw beautiful crystal sarcophagi line the wall.

Anubrisk quickly trotted over it and into one of the doorways. Twilight and Shining Armor followed into what evidently was Anubrisk’s private room. It was rather small and completely dominated by the large crystal slab in the middle. Beside it on a table stood some jars filled with something Twilight did not recognize, and beside the jars laid some rather gruesome looking instruments of the embalmer’s trade.

On the stone slab laid a thin, sky blue piece of silk cloth over a small, vague pony shape. Twilight’s breath caught in her throat.

”Can you feel it…? The wall between our world and the other is perilously thin here…” Anubrisk said, which hardly helped Twilight to gather her bearings. It was time.

She performed Cadence’s breathing exercise, felt her big brother’s hoof on her shoulder and then strode forward to perform her study of the body.

*****

Entry nr. 168

Life magic exists.

When I light a candle there is a shadow on the wall. Balance is maintained that way. Whenever I light a candle, there is instantly a shadow. Whenever a pony screams out in pain, another screams in ecstasy, and for every act of good there must be also one of evil. Such is the nature of this world; balance must be maintained.

Life Magic exists. There must be Balance. Where there is life…

There must also be death.