S1 Episode 5: The Screams
Deep in an underground cave in the lands to the far south, groups of zebras gathered around a giant flame chanting to a single zebra covered in light blue royal robes with an exposed chest and a silver and blue crown over his brow. He walked up to the flame and pulled out two things; a bar of metal that was covered in a strange powder and a spitting cobra.
He held the metal bar up and the chanting zebras' echoes matched the swings it made. Once the chanting was at its highest, he brought it down and held a part of it in the flame. The chanting stopped and turned into a small hymn. He smiled at the sounds and took the spitting cobra and beat it over the metal bar.
The metal bar changed shape, it became longer and thinner; a sharp tip formed on it that tore through the flesh of the cobra. Much to the surprise of the chanters, it didn't bleed at all. The beating continued until the cobra was nothing but a shredded piece of meat. Once finished, he threw it to the ground and held the newly formed sword up high as he turned to pose proudly. The flames on his back gave him an almost ethereal look.
"Praise our great lord for another victory!" shouted a random zebra.
"Where shall we attack next?" one of the zebra questions.
"Yes, we should make another move against them," another urged.
"That blasphemous Gevind Clan shall suffer your hammer for following such evil beings," one boasted.
"Alicorns could never take the place of our mighty god!"
The head zebra held up his hand and calmed his followers. "Oh, loyal Nie Verlore clan. We serve Sanity, the great god of darkness and space, without faltering. Be patient, my children. We will make another move soon. There is another reason I have called you all here." On that, he pulled out a scroll with the symbol of a red snowflake on it. "This is from somepony who shares our hatred of the alicorn--"
"Ogun!!" a weakened zebra ran in through the entrance, making the chanters disperse.
The head zebra stopped his words and put the scroll away. He walked over to the weakened zebra. "What is it, my child?"
"The alicorn's weapon..." His voice went shallow as he struggled to stand. Despite his will, his legs gave out, blood pouring from them like a fountain.
One chanter moved in and caught the loyal zebra. "What happened? What weapon?" He looked at the wounds and was filled with confusion. They didn't have any cut marks at all, yet the zebra was bleeding.
"Ahh!!!" the zebra screamed aloud and scratched at the spot where the blood was coming from. "Make it stop, make it stop. Please..." He scratched hard until actual cuts finally appeared. Despite this, the pain never stopped.
"Make what stop--" The chanter stopped and dropped the wounded zebra and moved back, screaming filling his voice as well. He grabbed his fingers and scratched at them. "It hurts! Something is hurting me!"
Seeing how two of his followers were in great pain made the head zebra go pale. His feet shook, and he crawled back. "No... What is happening?"
"Father, father. He is here!" another zebra ran in and fell to the ground covered in scratches and blood. The head zebra was brought out of his fear by the voice.
"Who?" He rushed over and grabbed the hand of the weakening zebra. "Who, my child? Who did this?"
"Ogun listen... He is... Blood..." His voice weakened as red-filled puss poured from his mouth. "Blood... Blood..." His voice faded as his eyes dulled.
Ogun's eyes shook uncontrollably. He squeezed the zebra's hand tightly, yet there was no returning grip. Without warning, painful stings filled his hand as well. He lost his grip and pulled his hand away as the pain became too much.
Ogun jumped back and looked at his hand. Again, nothing could be seen, yet the pain felt as if something was digging deep into his flesh. He swung his hand about as he fought the urge to scratch.
However, he swung slower and found that a shine on his hand could be seen in the flame's light. He walked closer to the flames. His followers were filled with perplexity at his movement and didn't remove their eyes from him, despite more zebras stumbling in with the same pains.
Ogun got as close to the flame as he could, stopping as the shine got brighter. Now seeing what was causing the shine made everything clear. "Blood... Blood... Blood diamonds..."
In those last words, swarms of giant crystal shards shot out from the grounds of the cave. Ogun looked at his newly formed sword with rage and turned to the shards. He charged forward, swinging, ready for a battle.
Red poured over the ground and quickly flooded the cave floor. Echoes of metal followed suit as the red got thicker and thicker. The echoes slowly turned to screams.
The screams... The screams...
******
Soft screams tore through the empty roads back in the village. A swing-set tattered in the wind in front of the first lights of the Moon. The beating against some metal mimicking screams all too well.
Nothing was on it or even near it. However, someone was watching it. Soft winter blue eyes watched each swing it made. Sitting on a roof of a nearby building, he took in cold air with great solace. A soft frown was on his face. It wasn't sad or filled with anger, but more of a complacent mindset. Like he was in another world yet was still enjoying the soft touch of the snowflakes.
His ears pitched up at a disturbance. He looked down from his perch and saw Twilight kicking at the snow in front of her. A frown of anger covered her face. His complacency faded at the sight of her. "What is she doing up this late?" He pulled his legs off the edge and stood up. His snow-white cape flowed by his feet.
His ear tattered back and forth, and his gaze deepened. “So... it has begun.”
Down below Twilight shivered and huffed as her eye watched the same swing-set fallback and forth. She sat there at the same table as before, lightly kicking at the snow in front of her. Her head was lying on its side with her arms haphazardly held around it. She wasn't crying, more like she was annoyed at herself.
"Why did I let my temper get the better of me? Starlight didn't deserve that rage." Her thoughts rumbled on these words for far too long than needed.
“Puh, rage. It wasn't much of a rage,” she lied to herself again for the second time tonight. She rolled her eye around. She needed some time to herself, she guessed.
Her eye stopped moving as the sounds of the swing set vanished. Her chill wasn't gone, but the winds had calmed. Her eye wandered to anything to find more sounds to watch and listen to. Her sight stopped at a shadow behind her. Her breath went shallow at the shape.
"Is my eye playing tricks on me?" Her light whispers were the only thing that stopped the shadow's movement.
Soon enough, though, the movement continued. She gripped her shoulders and hugged her head inward at the sight of what looked like horns on the head of the shadow. "Back off!"
“Who are you talking to?”
Her head jumped at that tattered voice that couldn't dare belong to anypony she was suspecting at all. She turned to see Crimson standing a few feet away. “Oh, it's you.” Her shallow breath vanished. A sigh of relief blanketed her. "What are you doing here? I thought you had to be somewhere?”
“Well, it turns out I didn't.” He walked over and pulled out a chair. “I’m right where I need to be.”
She turned away from him and put her head down. “Leave me alone.”
“It’s not best to sulk alone.”
“Shut up. I’m not sulking.” Twilight’s yell pushed him back, and she retracted her words. “Sorry, Crimson.” She bit her lip and scooted up in her chair, but still kept her face away from him.
He stopped his retreat and sat down in the chair. He took a deep breath and looked around before leaning his head down as well. His eyes lowered to Twilight's eye, reaching out for a response. She gave him none, so he decided not to wait. “Why did you yell at her?”
The air was like acid now. Twilight’s eye went wide at his words. "You saw me yell at Starlight.”
“Yeah…” He looked away. “I showed up at the tavern but didn't walk in because you were yelling.”
“I didn't mean to.” Twilight’s hand raised to her eyepatch. “It’s ..."
"You could try to forgive h--"
"What?!" Twilight's eye went wide, and Crimson's voice went silent. Everything seemed to stop at her interruption. Even the snowflakes seemed to have stopped falling. The acidity was more like poison now, nowhere near as toxic as her voice. "Should I forgive my student for putting me through this hell?!?!"
Crimson's face went pale as he scooted away. "This world is like hell to you?--"
"Of course, it is. This is not the world I grew up in! This is not the world I lived in!"
"But--"
"My world was peaceful. Not on the brink of war, not filled with vicious wendigoes that feast on us or tyrannical gods that want war the second they get the chance!!" Twilight finally stopped her yelling when she noticed herself standing over Crimson.
Crimson's arms reacted back with him and his body moved like a scared creature. He could barely keep his focus. Her shadow stood over him much like the wendigoes she feared. Ready to feast on him without a second notice.
Seeing this all, Twilight's rage faded as she retracted herself completely, falling back into her chair. "I'm sorry... It's that you wouldn't understand." She scooted closer to him and moved her hand out away from the eyepatch and over to Crimson's hand. She puffed out some air and leaned her head toward him before facing downward.
"But she is your friend--"
"She is not..." She stopped herself again, only now realizing what she just said. "No... She is my friend..."
"Then help me understand." He loosened his guard and even his shy voice more and returned the grip she was giving. "She isn't just your student, so show me the friendship that you share with her..."
A small icy tear tore through the eye patch as Twilight breathed heavily. "Fine, it happened two years ago, and yet two days from now." The story rolled out as her sight wandered over to the coolness of the Moon's light. It felt good but did little to hide the screams echoing in the back of her mind from this distance yet still very fresh memories.
******
The heat of the Sun's light beat down on the morning bliss as the screams of a blue train with twisting engines damped in force as the mighty machine came to a halt at a station near the Everfree Forest.
Granny Apple and Silver Pear stepped out once the smoke from the twisting chimneys cleared. They walked over to the checkout station. They grabbed their tickets and handed them to the clerk.
"Oh, you're here to see the Everfree Forest?" the clerk questioned as he punched the hole. "Strange isn't it? Business is booming since the forest appeared without warning, ten years ago this very day."
"Yeah, yeah, we don't need the brochure description," Granny Apple grumbled.
"Has the tour already left?" Silver Pear took the tickets back.
The clerk rubbed his head in sweat and confusion. "I don't know how to tell you this, but our ten-year celebration tour has been shut down for the day because of the sighting of a wendigo."
"Really? I know it's winter, but I didn't think they would ever come out during such a scorching morning." Silver Pear wiped the sweat off his head.
"Well, we will have to go out on our own." Granny Apple huffed a little as she walked over to the entrance. The doors made a creaking sound before opening on their own.
"Maam, it's rather dangerous out there. I already told another pair of ponies it was a bad idea to go out there and they haven't come back--" The clerk stopped his sentence when Silver Pear pulled out a massive claymore with a silver handle, bronze guard, and lime green blade that stretched to the ground.
"Well, it's a good thing I always come prepared." Silver Pear followed Granny Apple.
They entered the forest and Silver Pear swung his green claymore several times, cutting through tough branches as they walked off the arranged path. They trekked through nearly a mile until they came upon a clearing. Granny Apple held up her hand in a halting motion before he could enter through.
"What is it, mom?" he questioned with a whisper as he leaned down to meet her height.
"I think I hear a cockatrice." She held her hand up to her ear as she ducked down and listened more closely.
"I hear nothing-" He stopped and ducked for cover as a two-meter-long cockatrice walked into the opening.
"This is a good size." She pulled up her old rifle into position. "Lighttone has been asking for the sour, slimy taste of cockatrice meat and there have been a few recipes I want to try for him." She lined her sight like a pro and pulled the trigger without a single breath of hesitation. Her movement gave the sign of expertise that she had gained over the many years of her former poacher life.
Birds in the nearby trees dispersed as the gunshot echoed throughout the forest. The cockatrice went down with a quick thud and brief fight.
Granny Apple got up from her hiding spot and walked over to finish the job while her son cheered. She arrived at the body and saw the blood bubbling out of the wound as it continued to slowly breathe. "You were a fine hunt." She bowed her head in honor of the creature.
She pulled out her knife to end its pain when she paused upon the entire forest going completely silent around them. Silver Pear noticed too but assumed it was from the gunshot.
Granny Apple held up her hand and gestured to her son to keep his guard up. She knew much better than him. They were being watched. She swung her eyes left and right without moving her head at all.
She slowly turned toward her son while continuing to scan everything around her. She sighed in relief to see nothing was by him. "If not there, then where? Was there one?" She whispered, half assuming it was another cockatrice.
Her breath stopped once her eyes fell upon glowing red irises shining in the shadows a few meters to the north from the opening they had shot from.
Her heartbeat went shallow the second her mind realized it. The form of these eyes could only belong to one creature. "I know you are there. Come out now." She tried to keep her composure.
The unknown beast didn't seem to listen, so she tried something else. "I heard stories of wendigoes once having normal lives like other ponies and even living in small packs of families." Playing on old stories from Lighttone, she hoped to access a calming side of the beast.
"You seem to know so little, yet more than most," the wendigo finally answered as he stepped out of the forest and into the opening. He stood nearly twice as tall as Silver Pear and was icy blue, with a shredded blonde mane in ragged clothes. "How do you know of such things?"
"I have a customer who has been around for a very long time." She lowered her gun slightly in a show of trust. "Lighttone loves telling stories about all kinds of things. He never mentioned wendigoes knowing any of common ponies' languages."
"Most of us don't care to speak our reasoning, our actions do that for us." He charged right at her with his long razor claws.
His movement was too fast for Silver Pear to stop him. Meanwhile, Granny Apple closed her eyes. She knew from the very beginning at this range she had no time to stop the attack of a wendigo.
The wendigo edged closer, yet his great speed seemed too dull. Granny Apple's reaction speed slowed as well. Silver Pear was swinging his claymore but also seemed to reduce in movement. The leaves in the distance decreased in their descent to the ground and even the chirps of the birds had downed tempo.
Soon everything came to a halt. This was not because of some sort of extreme focus, or pulsing toward death. Everything had stopped in place. Time had stopped.
A crooked old vulture landed in a tree standing over the sight. He seemed utterly untouched by the deceleration of everything. He raised his wing to his chin and pondered aloud, "Who dares trample on my domain?”
A loud bang broke his train of thought. The sound came from a crack that appeared from nowhere. The crooked old vulture flew down and landed on Granny Apple’s shoulder to get a closer look at the anomaly. “It’s a tear in time.” The bird’s narrowing soon turned into a big smile. “I see, that old wizard spell to tame my realm was a success.” On that, he jumped back in the air and landed back in the tree where he was before. “Or at least it will be.”
The crack burst open with a massive surge of light magic shooting outward to the sky.
All of the time resumed, and the wendigo stopped in his tracks and jumped back quickly in confusion. Two mares fell out of the crack and landed with a hard thud on the ground as the light magic around them slowly vanished. The mares were followed by a giant crystal table with a small brown spider holding onto it. It landed with a louder thud as it trenched itself into the ground.
Starlight grabbed her rear as it ached. “That hurt.”
Meanwhile, Twilight landed with more of a roll and a bit more grace. “Madness told you to roll as we landed.”
“Like I had time to hear that crooked vulture, or you while time was standing still,” Starlight sassed back as she stood up and dusted herself off.
“What? I will not take sass from my new student.” Twilight narrowed her eyes at her.
“Like I want to have you as a teacher, too. Sure, that crooked old vulture gave us a mission. That doesn't mean I have to follow it.”
“So you were listening.” Twilight dropped her anger and snarked back.
Starlight backtracked her thoughts.
Granny Apple and the wendigo were understandably at a loss, with these two mares standing between them. Luckily, the old mare caught onto an idea and pulled up her old rifle. She had no time to aim properly, so she closed her eyes, pulled the trigger, and hoped for the best. However, there was no bang. She opened her eyes and saw ice covering the old rifle.
Twilight and Starlight saw the attack and went to Granny Apple's defense with no hesitation. Twilight grabbed out her kopises and swung out the magic that made the wendigo jump back.
As he got far from them, he filled his hand with masses of ice magic and touched the ground, quickly covering it in a sheet of ice. Seeing the ice head toward them, Starlight jumped in front of Twilight and filled her horn with magic, shooting it outward toward the ground, stopping the movement in its tracks.
The wendigo winced his eyes at them upon being stopped. He held out his hand and formed shards over his claws and quickly jumped right at them.
Starlight pulled up her arms in defense and hoped for the best as she was currently unarmed. The attack was stopped by the sounds of ice on metal. Starlight looked up to see the wendigo's attack was stopped in midair as Silver Pear stepped in quickly enough to catch the monster's claws with his claymore.
"Thanks," Starlight smirked at the stallion standing mere inches in front of her.
"No problem Lovely." He pushed the wendigo back with one hand.
"What did you call me?!" Starlight shrieked at the soft touch on her rear.
Silver Pear pulled his hand away and gave Starlight a slight wink. "Well, I don't know your name yet, so Lovely will have to do it."
"Not now, son." Granny Apple raised her hand to her face.
Starlight didn't know how to react to Silver Pear's actions. The only thing that came to her mind was hiding her blush.
"Well,-- Look out!" Her blush instantly vanished as she saw the wendigo lunge back in.
Silver Pear swung forward but a little too slowly as the wendigo's teeth struck into his arm and bit down hard. Ice quickly spread out from the monster's teeth.
Seeing no other choice, Twilight pulled out her wings and quickly flew over all of them, leaving the two in shock to find that she was an alicorn. She spun as she flew and tore one of her kopises into the wendigo's back.
The wendigo winced in pain and let go of Silver Pear. Twilight then pulled her kopises free and flipped backward, landing between them.
The wendigo jumped forward with rage burning in his eyes. Twilight went to meet his attack. The clashing magics sent out a small shockwave. The earth ponies looked on in awe, while Starlight only smiled at her teacher's power. The blasts of magic were at a standstill, yet with the little knowledge Twilight had against this new enemy, let alone wendigoes in general, her magic seemed to be enough to hold the beast at bay.
The crooked old vulture watched the battle with intrigue. He had no reason to be there any longer since his domain wasn't being trampled on, yet he felt a familiarity in the battle. “This is rare, their magic mesh so well, almost too well. This is the first time these two beings have met and yet. It’s as if… Could it be?” He stopped his train of thought at the sight of something bubbling forth in Twilight’s eyes.
The clash finally broke with another shockwave that sent both of them back. Twilight gave little reaction to the wave and stood strong with her kopises ready, aiming them back at the beast.
“Back... off from my friends.” In those words, the bubbling took the form of maroon smoke. It puffed out of her eyes and into the air.
“Friend... Friendship..." The wendigo twitched at the pillars and crawled back. “Dark... magic? Impossible?” His eyes strained at finally seeing her face. "You... You look just like..."
Twilight stopped once she realized it and tried to calm herself. The smoke reseeded, and she looked toward Starlight while keeping her kopises still aimed at the wendigo. “Starlight, is the earth pony okay?”
Starlight looked over Silver Pear’s wound and smiled. “He’ll be fine. I hope..." Her horn glowed and wrapped it in her magic. Her eyes went to Twilight. “Looks like it might be— Wait Twilight look out!!”
Twilight turned too slowly as the wendigo rushed forward with his claws and sliced at her left eye. The alicorn’s screams filled the air as she fell to the side. The wendigo jumped toward Starlight now that things were in the clear.
However, before it could get to her, Silver Pear dropped his claymore into his free hand and rushed forward, cutting off the wendigo's right arm.
Starlight moved on instinct as she turned and jumped right up, punching the wendigo in the gut. Black and white magic pulsed outward from her fist and launched the wendigo high into the air and landed him somewhere else in the forest.
Silver Pear fell to the ground as the pain became too much.
“What is happening to them?” Granny Apple ran over to her son.
Starlight turned back around and looked to Silver Pear, and then to Twilight. Her jaw dropped at the sight of black ice forming on their wounds.
“Oh no,” Her face went white. “That damn monster used a form of powerful ice magic on them.” She pointed to the quickly darkening skin. “This is a major problem.”
“How?”
Starlight’s eyes strained, “I only have a limited time before those wounds become unrepairable.” She looked back and forth between the wounds of Twilight and Silver Pear. The black ice on Silver Pear was moving much faster than the black ice on Twilight. “I... I... can’t save them both.” A tear bubbled in her sight.
Granny Apple stopped and looked back and forth between her son and Twilight. “You mean... but my son--”
“Your son won’t be losing his arm.” Starlight winced away from the tear and enveloped Silver Pear’s wound in indigo blue magic. She winced her eyes harder at the sound of Twilight's screams getting louder behind her. “I’m sorry Twilight. I know you would do the same.”
“Careful, Lo…” Silver Pear winced in pain.
“The name is Starlight!” Her hands squeezed down on the wound as she continued to do her best to heal and get past the screams of her teacher.
The screams... The screams...
******
The screams did little to fade away from Starlight's mind as she wandered around the tavern’s tables.
Before, they were always at the back of her mind, hidden under daily work and training. Even when pondering the coming anniversary, they were minor pebbles bouncing around her head. Now, though, they were loud as that day was, raging through her mind and every part of her thoughts.
"Damn it." She stopped cleaning and lowered her head. She slammed her hand on the table. “Why did I think I could make things better?”
“You can't change what happened.” Granny Apple gripped Starlight’s hand. “All you can do is keep moving.”
“But…” The tears stopped Starlight from getting any words out.
“Don’t.” Granny Apple placed her hand over the unicorn’s mouth. “Life will find a way. Time will move forward.”
“How?” Starlight pulled away. “War is on the horizon. Soon there won’t be time for sorry and forgiveness.”
“Really? You want that?”
“Of course, not?” Starlight looked back at her questioning tone.
“Oh, you poor mare. Twilight isn’t looking for a sorry.” Granny Apple placed her hand on Starlight’s cheek and wiped away a tear. “No teacher ever wants to hear you tell them such a thing.”
“What are we talking about?”
“You can’t simply tell a teacher you're sorry. They want you to commit to that forgiveness.” Granny Apple pulled Starlight into a soft hug.
“How? Why?”
“Because earning their forgiveness through your actions shows you can grow… even when they're not there.” She pulled out of the hug and kissed Starlight’s forehead. “And how? That you have to figure out on your own.”
“Thank you.”
Granny Apple grabbed the rag and went over to the sink. “Now, the day is off, get some sleep.”
“Okay, I’ll go to bed soon.”
“Good night.” Granny Apple took her to leave.
The tavern quickly went quiet with only the lone unicorn there. Starlight looked over to the window. The sight of the trees showed the winds were finally clearing.
Her tears had finally faded, and the echoes kept her sad face in form despite hours passing since her teacher's outburst. She took Granny Apple’s words to heart, along with her teacher’s words. All those words swam through her head, hoping that within them, she would dampen the screams.
All she could do now was wait and hope she could fix things. Once more...
The screams continued... louder and louder...
******
The screams of the engine buzzed aloud. The echoes bounced around the navy blue airship as it flew through the sky. Inside, the sounds were less noticeable when compared to the soft chimes of metal bells swaying to the movement. The inside was a wash of green and gold metals with blue lights near the tops of the wall and only a few feet from each other.
At the front of the navy blue airship, Fredricson was at the controls, surrounded by many black buttons and levers. In his hands was the wheel, which he turned every so often. In the room behind the front, Lady Cat was barely putting Adagio Dazzle to bed. most of the bedrooms were near the back of the ship, Adagio wanted to sleep near the front so she could see the Sun rising in the morning.
The rest were in the large meeting area in the middle of the navy-blue airship. The meeting area was seven meters by six meters and had a lush navy-blue carpet and two rectangular green steel tables that were one by one and a half meters on the sides and one round gold table that was at least two full meters in diameter. Each table had a set number of chairs with them, with the green tables having four chairs each and the roundtable having six chairs.
Not much of the sounds from either the engines or the bells reached past the sounds of ceramic hitting glass as chess pieces on one table moved back and forth.
Clover wavered her hands on her black pieces with slow yet jagged movements. Starswirl, however, moved his pieces with a fast yet methodical paste.
Rex was on the other side of the room, trying to read the map. He traced his fingers over a few words. "yjb ealaa almar' albahth lileuthur eal. Ealla." He backtracked his fingers. "albath laliuthur eale— Damn it!" He slammed his hand down.
"Still having a hard time reading it." Clover's eyes wandered over to Rex for only a moment before turning back to the game.
"Darn those Limbs of the Broken One." Rex stretched back in his chair. "Why did they have to write in that language?"
"Because it is the Broken One’s language and the language of the dark alicorns," Starswirl answered Rex's question without looking once away from the board. "And because of that, only dark magic users can read it."
"Maybe we could get Cold Blue to read it?" Clover smiled at the frown from Rex that was out of her sight. "I hear he is as brilliant as you at dark--"
"I will not let that siren aboard this ship." Rex huffed. "Besides, one siren is already too much, even if it's merely a filly."
"You can't make a rule like that." Clover looked at Starswirl, moved another chess piece, and smirked almost evilly. "And check."
"Hmm," Starswirl raised both his eyebrows at her words before moving a piece of his own. "Checkmate."
Clover's eyes shot open, and her jaw dropped. "Wait... Again?!" She leaned over the board and scanned over each piece repeatedly. "But, but... How?"
“This time it was your hesitation that ensured my victory.” Starswirl’s horn glowed, and the pieces moved back to their original spots.
“Darn it. You beat me again, master.” Clover moved back.
“Do you wish to go for another round?”
“Nah, forty-two losses today is enough,” she tilted her head and smiled at Rex. “I’m going to see if I can help him out.”
“Okay, I guess I will be in the library.” Starswirl lifted his left hand into the air and snapped his fingers. He vanished in a puff of pink clouds.
Clover laughed and took a bit of the pink cloud in her hand before all of it could completely disperse. She put the pink cloud in her mouth and bit down, munching on the sweet fluff as she walked over to Rex.
She looked at Rex’s monotone demeanor, as his hands were the only thing holding his head up now. Leaning down, she wrapped a free arm around his shoulder and brought some of the pink clouds over to his face with the other arm. “Mind if we trade?”
“You know I’m not a fan of cotton candy.”
“Oh, come on. I think Master is getting better at this. This one almost tastes like chocolate milk.” Clover leaned in closer to the back of Rex’s head.
“Fine…” Rex leaned over and took a bite. “Hmm, it tastes exactly like chocolate milk.”
Clover grabbed the map and brought it over as she leaned her face over Rex’s shoulder. “yib elem alma, alba.”
“Not quite,” Rex smirked, veered his sight toward her, and laid his head against hers “It’s yjb ealaa almar' albahth, or one must search.”
“Oh, I was close.” Clover placed another bite of pink fluff in her mouth.
“You would be closer to reading it if you could do dark magic.” Rex moved back.
“It’s not my fault I don’t have the blood--” She attempted to get another bite but stopped her movement and words when she saw her hand empty. Soon though, she noticed where the last piece was, in Rex’s mouth. She smiled at this and pushed her mouth forward to undo his thievery.
However, she stopped. Their lips were about to touch. Rex did little to stop Clover’s advance, but she found herself not going in for the prize. She was halted... frozen in place... Lost in her tracks.
Thoughts of Mon's death filled her mind. This was followed by other battles and missions they had had before all of this. Finally, her mind went on to the words Rex said to her in the cathedral.
Before any more movement could be made, Rex vanished into his shadow and reappeared over by the door. “It’s getting late, get some sleep.”
Clover held in her pouting until Rex was out of sight. She wasn’t annoyed at him, but more so herself. Her eyes wandered over to the window.
Taking in a deep breath, she walked over and observed the outside. The sight of Moon caught her attention as thoughts of another mare flew through her mind, “Was I right to choose him... my duty..."
She closed her eyes, and turned away from the window. She placed her head on the wall and listened to the engine scream.
The screams became more erratic...
******
Screams erratically echoed aloud as an argument shot back and forth between prominent leaders. A sole alicorn was sitting in the room with five other chairs. each of the other chairs was empty, and in front of three of them were small crystals. One for each chair and a certain color for each one. The crystals were projecting pictures of other alicorns, and they were the voices barking about the room as the only alicorn physically there could only hold her head down and hoped the screams would soften soon.
"That wendigo is a menace. He needs to be dealt with first," speaking out of the image being projected from a pink crystal, a white alicorn mare with a pink mane stood stern in her beliefs of what needed to be done.
"Oh, sure give concern to him, sister." From a blue crystal, the image of a light blue alicorn mare snarked back at the white alicorn mare, "War is on our doorstep."
"We could always negotiate," posed the image of a pink alicorn stallion with a golden mane projecting from a bronze-colored crystal.
"I'm not here to listen to your politics, Golden Williams." The light blue alicorn mare openly mocked him as she turned away.
"Don't be like that Luna," the white alicorn mare spoke more softly.
"Celestia is right." Finally, the only one who had not spoken throughout the entire argument stood up and made her voice known.
The other three stopped their words and came to attention, especially when her mane flew around them like a fog. A silver fog mane belonging to none other than Topaz Silk herself. "We are the Order of One. We have to handle this carefully. We have helped the mortals from afar for many years. I'm certain if we take things slow we can find out the connection between the strange possibility of my brother declaring war around the same time as this self-proclaimed Indigo Frost making his moves."
"Maybe it would be helpful if your husband was here--" Luna huffed at the older alicorn.
"You know very well that Lord Red is far too busy at this time of the year." Celestia interrupted.
"Okay, okay. Enough." Topaz Silk finally let loose some magic and silence their bickering. "Sorry, we need to look at the problem at hand. The mortals are still very young. They still have many things to learn. These actions--"
"Yes, but have you learned nothing from watching the mortals all these years? We have as much to learn from them as they do of us." A unique tone of voice interrupted the alicorn, a voice filled with raw strictness and eloquence that they all knew too well.
"Wait, I know that voice?" Topaz Silk traced her eyes over every part of the room to find the source but found that the voice belonged to a nopony there. Suddenly a turquoise-colored crystal floated into sight.
"Wait, that's my brother's crystal." Golden Williams smirked.
"Yes, but Lord Blood Diamond is shamefully too preoccupied to talk, so he delegated speaking to you all to me."
"Oh, of course." Topaz Silk slapped her hands together in realization. "Cold Blue, I almost didn't recognize your voice. Are you back from vacation?"
"Indeed, I am. I know we talk little--"
"Talk a lot. You haven't had the chance to speak to me in over two hundred years. You're always so busy." Topaz Silk chuckled.
"My duty is boundless, as it is my loyalty to the crown. But as I was trying to say, mortals like unicorns are not to be taken lightly. Yes, they can be cruel where you are stern, but they can also be kind in place of you... over generousness. My lord sees what I see, which is why he has told me to relay a message."
"Oh, and what does my brother desire?" Golden Williams leaned back.
"Yes... What do our other rarely seen members want to say?" Luna retracted her rage.
"You should leave the concerns of the unicorns to him. Meanwhile, let Rex continue his hunt for this fake king behind a mask of bones. Starswirl will continue his search for the remaining siren sisters. And..." The turquoise crystal floated over to one image, “Luna... you shall head over to the griffin kingdom.”
“And what do the griffins have to do with all of this?”
“Unsure, my lord simply noticed reports of an explosion in that area and suspects it might be another fly on this web.”
“But why me?” Luna poked with a stern glare.
“I don’t know his full reasoning but I suspect my lord, being your former husband, knows how quickly you fly off the handle.”
Luna’s eyes went wide and her mane darkened. “I will rip that alicorn’s flesh--” Her image vanished before her words could be finished as Topaz grabbed the blue crystal in her magic, breaking the signal.
“... Okay. Does my nephew have any other ideas besides torturing his ex?” Topaz Silk sarcastically chuckled.
“Indeed, it’s never wise to prolong the rage of my sister. He should already know this better than anypony.” Celestia, intervene. “And if indeed this explosion is connected, I shall go check on the griffins. I am closer anyway.”
“No, actually you would be better suited somewhere else.” Topaz Silk reentered as she finally remembered something else important. “Your father wants one of you to check out the Everfree Forest.”
“Again! Last time nothing was found,” Celestia almost pouted. "There is nothing strange about that. Forest."
“Yes, but the anniversary of the TDH event is coming up in two days.”
“You are referring to the Time-Dimensional Horizon sighting aren’t you?” Golden Williams interjected. “I would like to accompany Celestia. As a rising master of light magic, I would like to study the source should it be finally found.”
“No, you need to talk with your father, Golden Williams. If anyone is to get answers out of that old brother of mine, it’s his favorite son.” Topaz Silk stood up and bowed to both of them and the turquoise crystal as it took its leave. Celestia and Golden Williams bowed back and their images vanished as all the crystals left the room.
The crystal made soft screams in the winds as they flew out of sight.
The soft screams...
******
The snow-trenched ground softly screamed under the shadow of Twilight's steps as she made her way to the front door of the tavern. She walked up to it and stopped. Her breath went shallow before she reached for the door. Her mind wandered back over everything she had said to Starlight before finally wincing and letting some words loose, "Why do I have to be such a Twinannas?"
Once she felt the doorknob in her hand, she opened her eye. The inside was dark. This was no surprise since it was the middle of the night. Frankly, she was more surprised that the door was still unlocked. Maybe somepony was still up. Her eye winced once more but stopped upon her tripping. She caught herself from falling to the floor by grabbing a chair. She pulled back, and she noticed somepony in the chair.
"In the middle of the dark," her whispers did little to wake the sleeping pony. She lit her horn and her eye went wide to see that it was Starlight. "Were you waiting here for me?" A smile tore through her frown as she leaned over and pulled the blanket back up over Starlight. "Thank you, my little student." She pulled away and turned to the door to lock it. "Maybe Crimson was right--"
She stopped at the sounds clashing. Her eyebrows went up at it as she walked to the source. The noise had come from outside in the back area. Her eye jumped as the sound echoed again. It sounded like metal clashing against metal. It was too soft to be about a fight. It sounded tactical, almost repetitive.
Another sound followed, along with a slight yell. Her iris widened at that voice, "Silver Pear..."
Arriving at the backdoor, she looked through the window to see him with his green claymore. He was swinging at the metal dummy she had set up for her and Starlight. “Is... Is he training?”
Silver Pear struck the dummy once more. Despite the frigid chill in the air, sweat was pouring from his face, yet this sweat wasn’t from working so hard. “Ah,” He grabbed his arm in pain as his green claymore fell to the ground. Pulling away, he pressed tightly on his arm.
“It still hurts, doesn’t it?”
Silver Pear jumped back at Twilight’s voice. “Wow, where did you come from?”
“I got back.” Twilight placed her hand on the old spot on the stallion, scratching it. After a moment, she pulled away and raised her hand to her eyepatch. “How much does it hurt?”
“What? It doesn’t hurt at all.” Silver Pear spoke with more sweat than before.
Twilight huffed, “You are as much of a terrible liar as Applejack.”
“Who?” Silver Pear looked at her words with utter confusion.
“Oh, nopony special.” Twilight tried to hide her mess up with a small chuckle. She leaned down and picked up his green claymore, handing it back to him. “The pain won’t go away if you ignore it.”
“Would you rather I hide my rage instead?” Silver Pear took the claymore back and moved over to the dummy for another strike.
“What? I don’t hide my rage...” Twilight raised her hand to the eyepatch. “It …”
“I ignore it because I don’t hold a grudge.” Silver Pear narrowed his eyes.
“I... I see.” Twilight moved back more. “Look, I don’t resent Starlight for what she did.”
“Well, you certainly act like that sometimes.” He swung once more.
Twilight was about to answer him back but was stopped by his sneers of pain. “I... I’m sorry, we brought this pain on you.”
“And that’s where you are wrong again.” Silver Pear stopped and held the claymore toward the ground. He looked up to the Moon, “Pains we constantly suffer are pains brought on purely by ourselves.”
“What?” Confusion made Twilight lift her head to him.
“It is something more brother Gole would often say.” Silver Pear lifted his claymore once more and aimed it right at Twilight. “I placed this wound upon my arm when I fought that wendigo. as you placed that wound upon your eye when you fought it as well.”
Twilight closed her eye and raised her hand to the blade of the claymore. “Crimson was right. You and he are both right.”
“What?” Silver Pear lowered the claymore.
“I finished talking to Crimson before getting here.” Twilight turned away. “He said I should forgive Starlight for what happened and you say I shouldn’t hold any grudge for something that was... essentially my fault.” Twilight gritted her teeth and hugged her shoulders upward.
“Yeah, sounds like him.” Silver Pear pulled the claymore back completely.
“You sound like you know him more than I do.” Twilight halfway chuckled.
“Well, would you believe me if I told you I and he used to date?”
Twilight’s ear perched up at that and she turned back around slowly. “I did not know he went that way.”
“Well, not completely.” Silver Pear half chuckled. “He never slept with me, if that is what you are asking."
Twilight’s face went pale, and her cheek was rosey red. “No, I wasn’t asking that,” she deadpanned.
Silver Pear laughed, “Well, it was more like he needed somepony to comfort him.”
“Really?” Twilight’s deadpan vanished. “Huh, I didn’t realize he was like that.”
“Yeah, he is not that shy, he always felt so uneasy in this village.” Silver Pear looked at the ground for a moment before looking back at the dummy. “He never told me why.”
“I didn’t know.” Twilight raised her hand to her chin. “I guess I never got to know him that way.”
"You could always try!" His words poked a brighter blush from her face.
"No, no, no!" She stepped back even more.
Silver Pear smirked. “Enough of that. You need to get some rest if you want to be up early enough to make Starlight some breakfast.”
His words completely threw off Twilight. “... Wait, what?! I can’t cook. And why would I do that?”
“So you have a reason to ask for her forgiveness.” Silver Pear threw his claymore over his shoulder and walked to the door. “Besides, it’s getting late for me too.”
“Wait, I can’t cook,” Twilight repeated as she tried to stop him from leaving.
“That’s why you need to wake up early.” Silver Pear opened the door and walked inside.
“Wait, can’t I do something else.” Twilight ran to the door. "Spike always did all the cooking for me!"
“Hmm, maybe?” Silver Pear let go of the door and stepped inside.
“Silver Pear, I can't cook!” Twilight barely caught the door in the air. She walked inside and she chased after him. Her whimpering screams at him were only dampened by the closing of the door.
The Screams… The whimpering screams...
******
Whimpered screams surrounded the lands farther south. The desert terrain was now covered in thousands of crystal rods. These defiant objects were caked in blood and rotting flesh. Outside of the whimpering screams was a deathly silence.
In the center of this tortured forest were three creatures: a tall calm alicorn with red fur that shined like a diamond, a dark blue stern siren, and a beaten, weak zebra.
The dark blue siren placed down the gem and took a step back as the gem returned to the red alicorn. "Are you sure this is what you desire, Lord Blood Diamond?"
"Yes, we often side with the mortals, a command is still a command. You must be ready no matter what it may be, Cold Blue.” Blood Diamond took back the gem.
"Of course..." Cold Blue narrowed his eyes away from the prince.
"Now where were we?" Blood Diamond held out his arm blade toward the throat of the zebra. "That's right. Ogun was telling us how his magic works."
"Never, I never will."
Blood Diamond cleared his throat. "No, you have it backward. You have been telling us from the very beginning through your actions rather than words." On that, he held out the cobra. "The powder was probably the harder part to figure out."
Ogun smiled at his words. "Ha, you know nothing about my magic!"
Blood Diamond only gave a smile. "Your powder is made of alligator pepper, kola nuts, palm wine, and red palm oil. A very interesting concoction." His words left the zebra in utter loss of thought. "But that wouldn't be enough. The real magic comes from this cobra." turquoise magic covered the cobra before quickly ripping it open, revealing its entire inside to be maroon red. "Dark magic liquid, where did you get this rare item?"
"Never." Pulling on all of his strength, the zebra lifted his blade upward. Despite the blood pouring out of his wounds like a river, he refused to quit moving.
Cold Blue raised his hand to stop him, but Blood Diamond halted his ally's movement. "You will never tell us?" Blood Diamond backed up and narrowed his eyes at Ogun.
The zebra's eyes were unflinching and undaunting. They gave a strength Blood Diamond could only admire. Had this zebra been aligned with the prince, he would have met a much kinder fate.
Blood Diamond retracted his arm blades much to Cold Blue's shock and leaned in closer. Bold in his movement, the prince placed his hands on the hilt of the zebra's sword. "Fine... end it!"
Ogun turned his blade back down and stabbed it right through his own throat. He fell to the ground and his body jolted a few times.
"We almost wondered if he had the guts to do it." Blood Diamond retracted his arms and threw the cobra to the ground.
He turned back to Cold Blue and gave little care to the fear the siren had for his master. He walked ahead of the siren and a few feet before stopping. “Cold Blue?"
"What is it?" Cold Blue cut to attention.
"We believe we have beaten our father's record of criminals slaughtered in a single day." He looked over all the corpses. "Hmm, counting the ones here with the ones from this morning makes the count five hundred and thirty-two."
Cold Blue, eyes widened. "You're right. That's five more than your father's current record."
"Good, that's one thing out of the way." He was about to take a step to leave before holding his hand up when an idea flew forth. "Speaking of father, he has never been the creature to be so open about his plans." He turned back around. "Cold, the places that received the message."
"Them? It seems the message was only delivered to one place. And from there spread like wildfire."
“That is strange. What is the name of this lonely place?”
Cold Blue pulled out the report. “It seems the town is called Gelum Voce Pia,”
“A rare language… The language of the wendigoes if we are not mistaken. The name means ‘the Sweet Angel’.”
“The… Sweet Angel…”
"Indeed,” Blood Diamond turned around, “Cold Blue, we want you to go there and find out why father would ever consider that place so important." On that, a gem flew out of his sleeve and to Cold Blue. "This should make your travel easier."
"Thank you, Lord Blood Diamond." Cold Blue took the gem in his hand. The gem shined brightly over everything before vanishing with Cold Blue in tow.
Blood Diamond took a deep breath once his subordinate was gone. With the screams of the zebra’s dying breaths, the only sounds around him now. He let go of his smile and looked at them all. He looked deep into the terror and the rage they had in their eyes.
He turned back and looked at Ogun. The twitching had long ended, and the body was far from getting pale. Blood Diamond walked over and placed his hand on the zebra’s face, brushing the mane out of the way until the face could be seen clearly. “Such loyal beings should go to meet with Saturn with grace. Never hide your face from the reaper’s hand. And never look away from the ones you send his way.”
The zebra gave what strength he could to smile at the alicorn’s words. Blood Diamond smiled back at the paleness growing on the zebra's face. “That’s better. Greet him with joy, joy as if a son is meeting his father for the first time.”
With the place finally going silent, Blood Diamond let go of Ogun and waved his hands out of the field and the crystals slowly lowered themselves back into the ground, forming graves over each corpse.
Blood Diamond’s eyes changed color and form as his voice took on a different tone. “The joy that your journey has finally ended… and the joy that a new journey has begun…”
******
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9296777
Yeah, original I was going to use Sonata Dusk as the first siren to show up, but then I realized that the earlier scene in the last part of the prologue seemed far too out of character for her and better matched Adagio Dazzle.
Ohh, the title of this chapter gives me the chills and fits perfectly since nearly every scene starts and ends with a scream.