The Elements of Tyranny

by Wings of Black Glass

The 1st Session: Awakenings

The sun sets in the west, and a moment later the moon rises. As the bright light of day fades and the quiet glow of the night covers the world a horn blows in the distance. Deep in the forest, they stir, armor straps checked, weapons are unsheathed, and the army moves out from beneath the cover the canopy provided. The drums beat beneath flags bearing a red blade atop a circle of black. They march in formation, heading deeper into the woods. Their destination is an ancient tree, standing tall and wide over the forest beneath its great eaves.

They come to claim the power within its roots, but they are resisted. A leather-winged figure, a small dragon with red scales, soars over the advancing line, and from the creature a great bout of flame emerges. An entire regiment is incinerated. Crossbows return fire on the draconic figure, deflected by the magical wind that the dragon’s bracers create, and it disappears into the shadows. Still, the army presses on, despite the losses. Many more soldiers stand ready to replace those slain.

A sword glints in the dark, flashing with prismatic color. Pickets and scouts disappear as they are cut down by the ever-shifting blade. Lightning flashes and ice cracks where the blade strikes true, bodies dissolve and turn to dust beneath its magical edge. No counterattack can reach the master with the blade before he darts away.

The force of soldiers slows as they approach the base of the tree. Here, a circle of monolithic standing stones surrounds a lone white unicorn. She waits for them in an arc of moonlight, a silver tiara on her head. The army surrounds her and the circle of stone, wary of the seemingly unarmored and unarmed mare. Her eyes flash, and the front lines are engulfed by a brilliant wall of light, the soldiers too slow to escape exploding in radiant bursts.

At her side the scarlet dragon lands, bringing with him the Earth pony stallion wielding the strange ever-changing longsword. Despite the incredible powers they possess they are still horribly outnumbered, and they stand alone against the black host. From beyond the gleaming wall of light crossbows are fired, but as the archers are unable to see the three standing in the circle most of the shots fly wide. Those few which threaten the defenders are deflected by a shimmering barrier conjured into being by the unicorn.

She nods to her fellows, and they ready themselves for the attack. The wall of light fades, and for an instant, the entire army is revealed. Ranks upon ranks they stand, like an ocean of black steel spear-points. The drums beat, and the assault commences. The Earth pony with the magic blade darts and dances, slashing throats and cutting through battlelines with ease. Fire erupts from the dragon, an entire flank of black armored soldiers disappear into ash. The unicorn lances out bright beams, scything deep scars through the army’s formations.

There are too many, even for them. For every ten soldiers that fall or crossbow bolt that misses, one comes close enough to cause harm. The tide is endless, and their madness drives them on regardless of fear or pain. Before they are overwhelmed, the trio retreats through a stone doorway at the roots of the great tree.

Within the tunnels, they make their second stand. Here the great numbers of the horde are no advantage, and the blade wielder is able to face foes one by one. The tight corridors prevent any of the encroaching fighters the needed room to avoid the flames of the dragon, or the gleaming beams of light of the unicorn sorceress. However, each blow stuck takes its toll, and their stamina and strength wane as the battle drags on. They continue to fall back. As they go they release the triggers on the traps set, swinging logs and spiked pits cost the advancing army yet more soldiers. The swarm is forced to advance slowly as the heroes pull back to the innermost sanctum of the ancient temple and seal the heavy door between them and the invaders.

The only remaining chamber is a shrine, a crystalline goblet stands atop a plinth at the far end of the room. It is the goal of the invading force, and their leader will sacrifice as many as he needs to reach it. The screams of the army grow louder as they draw ever closer to this last stand. The stone door shudders as it is struck by a heavy ram. It will not hold for long. The three friends look to each other and nod, they know there is nowhere left to run. They will stand here, together. The drums beat and the door cracks under the assault, another blow, and the door crumbles apart.

Through the dust steps a huge pony. He stands as tall as the Princess of the Sun and is built like a mountain. His powerful muscles are girded by a hulking suit of heavy plate armor. On his breastplate is the symbol born by the standards of the army. In his jaw the hilt of an immense greatsword which glows an ominous red, its blade longer than even the monstrous pony himself. His eyes glower at the three, full of anger and ambition, and he advances…

---

Eclipse Corona wakes, drenched in sweat. That’s the third time this week alone he’s had this dream. Always the same, and always it ends just as the final battle begins. His hooves still shake with the terror of facing that dreadnought of a pony. He glances outside the hotel window, the moon still hangs in the sky. There are many more hours before dawn. If this experience is anything like the previous ones, he won’t be able to sleep again.

He sighs and picks himself out of bed. Fortunately, he had never felt uncomfortable outside at night, and what a lovely night it is to walk a moonlit field. Naturally, the hotel is quiet, every other pony is sleeping at this time, and so he softly steps outside. As he walks through the village he considers what brought him here.

His father sent him here, to this small town to the north of Canterlot, to be his family’s representative during the Summer Sun Celebration. It’s the first time his father has entrusted him with any sort of responsibility, and he doesn’t want to disappoint the patriarch. The celebration is tomorrow morning, and he arrived early.

Atop a hill just outside the town of Trotton he pauses and looks up at the moon. The dark spots on the surface are often called the mare in the moon, an accurate name. The moon is the prison of Princess Luna, more commonly known as Nightmare Moon. According to the legends, the princess of the night could walk through the dreams of others and would guide and protect the sleeping citizens of Equestria. What would she have to tell him of the visions?

He takes a deep breath as the soft breeze ruffles his mane, long has he felt at peace in the starlight and moonglow. Although he is a unicorn, for a moment he can almost imagine what it might be like to let the wind blow through feathers on wings in the night.

---

Red Haze shudders, stirring from her sleep. The dream had come again. It has plagued her mind often lately. She stands and stretches as she leaves her tent. The forest is quiet in the hours before dawn. She frowns, it’s still too early to be up. But she still has a long way to go, so she might as well get an early start. It doesn’t take her long to clean her campsite, telekinetic magic was always easy for her. With her gear stored she turns west and continues along animal trails through the woods.

Long ago, she left home to search for answers to a vision in which she saw a great tree engulfed by flames. It could have been just a passing dream, but she saw herself standing atop a mountain, laughing as the tree fell and the world became consumed by a fire that burned even stone. Somehow, she knew that fire was her own, and the thought terrified her. So she fled, to seek that tree and the answers it would hold. For good or ill, she had to know.

In her wanderings, she heard a tale of a mighty tree, almost as high as a mountain, that resides somewhere in the forest to the north of Canterlot. It might well be the tree from her vision. She hopes to find it before the Summer Sun Celebration is over.

As she walks the sky begins to brighten in the east and she stops to watch the sunrise. Its warmth bathes over her and she smiles. Silently she offers a prayer for Celestia’s light to guide her to the truth.

---

Tiny Hooves opens his eyes. The interior of his wagon is dark, no surprise considering he always keeps the windows shut as he sleeps. He yawns and sits up, scratching at his furry side, always a little surprised at the sensation. The light of day seeps through the crack under his door, he must have overslept. That dream was intense, he’s a little surprised it didn’t wake him earlier.

Once he steps outside he finds the circus in a flurry of activity. They arrived in Trotton only last night, and the rest of the carnys have already begun setting up the attractions for the Summer Sun Celebration. Colorful tents and stands spring up rapidly, and he smiles.

When he first set out he was determined to find the pony who killed his brother, but during his travels, he has come to love this land and its people. Ponies never let life get them down, and he wouldn’t have it any other way. Hopefully he’ll bring that scoundrel to Justice, but for now, he’s content to simply exist among them.

He joined this traveling circus only a month ago and found he fit right in. The performers found him a pleasant addition to the show, although they have no special place for him. He can fling a knife into a spinning target, impress with card tricks and stage magic, play games of chance as long as you don’t mind the chances being manipulated, in a pinch he can even serve as a dancer or acrobat. He has enough skills to fit in wherever he is needed, trickster that he is. But his favorite is the swordfight, the play of strike and counterstrike, using blunted swords of course.

A group of mares passes him, in tight acrobat outfits, and they wave and smile as they head off to practice. They giggle as he winks back. That’s another perk of the circus, there’s always plenty of attractive mares around.

---

Fortunately, Eclipse was able to take a short nap before noon and examined himself in the mirror once he woke again. As he napped he had managed to tangle his blue and teal mane, the bright colors above his dark coat always reminded him of an aurora. He, personally, didn’t mind if his midnight blue fur or his mane were a little on the fussy side, but a stallion of his lineage must always present a clean face and body, and he had to clean himself up with a simple cantrip before leaving the hotel.

He managed in time to arrive at the town square just before the Princesses royal guard. At the center of the town, the stage for tomorrow was nearly done being assembled, and the town was being decorated by the locals. It was there he found the captain of her Majesty's guard. The paladin stood tall and proud, her rose-tinted skin glittered in the bright sunlight almost as brightly as her polished armor. Few of the Crystal Ponies survived the ancient war with the Crystal Empire, most of the rest scattered across Equestria and mingled with the populace until the breed had all but disappeared. She was escorted by an entire regiment of the royal guard, Eclipse presumed they were here ahead of the princess herself to ensure the town was secure. Also alongside her is a grey Earth Pony soldier of impressive build. Eclipse had planned to introduce himself to them, but they both appear to be quite busy with securing the town.

There will be time enough for pleasantries and introductions at the town-wide party tonight, and then the official celebration in the morning. Always time to make a good impression with the locals. Eclipse ambles throughout the town center making pleasant small talk with whoever will speak with him. Most of the townsponies are understandably excited to be hosting this year's Summer Sun Celebration, it’s an honor bestowed only once a year after all. When the music from the nearby circus starts to play most of the locals not working on setting up more decorations head out towards the entertainment.

Eclipse follows the crowd, both curious as to what the circus had to offer, and because he has no other obligations at this time. He gets exactly what he expected from the wandering carnival. Hastily assembled tents and concession stands, games of luck almost certainly rigged in the house’s favor, and a bevy of entertainers doing everything they can to separate Ponies from their well earned wealth. Its nothing special to him, but the townsponies are enjoying themselves and he saw no reason to ruin their fun. At least the acrobats are good, and not to mention pretty.

A few of the performers have some minor magical ability and demonstrate a few basic spells to entertain the crowds. Eclipse can see through most of the outright illusions, so it’s the slight-of-hoof which impresses him most. Even knowing it’s all trick and misdirection it’s still fun to try and figure out exactly what they are doing.

One pony among the carnies does draw his attention, not for any particular skill or ability, but because he wears a longsword at his side. Certainly unusual, and he made note that he was not the only one to eye the armed entertainer. A number of the guards are watching him carefully as well. More curiously, the armed individual seemed to be aware he was being watched but made no attempt to dissuade or evade such monitoring. As he watched the stranger, Eclipse noted one more oddity about the greenish pony, the stallion’s mane appeared to shift in hue as he moved through the circus, changing from black to green to red or yellow as he moved from shadow to light. Surely it was simply a trick of the light, or perhaps the entertainer uses an unusual oil to give it the effect. After a short while, the armed pony seems to grow tired of being observed and makes it clear why exactly he wears the blade.

“Come now, who would like to test their skill?” The entertainer leaps onto a small stage, waving one hoof at the crowd. “If you can strike me three times before I deliver three to you, you will win a fabulous prize!” He presents a bag, assumed to be full of coins. “But I have to warn you, it will be no easy feat!” He flips over backward, and the blade sails into the air, he catches the hilt with his teeth as it falls. The crowd applauds his trick, and Eclipse has to admit it was well performed.

One foolhardy young stallion steps up, egged on by the mare at his side. The entertainer passes a wooden sword to the Pony, who fumbles with it as the crowd laughs. Eclipse shakes his head, it’s quite clear the boy has no chance. To his credit, the boy seems to know this himself, and although he tries to put up a good fight it’s over all too soon. Several more of the townsponies give it a try, but none can land even more than a token blow on the performer, not even the Pegasus who try their wing at it.

“Can no one defeat Tiny Hooves?” He flourishes his blade again and then spots Eclipse in the crowd. “How about you, young noble unicorn? Care to give me a try?” Eclipse smiles up at the swordpony.

“Unfortunately, I am no fighter. I fear you would find me poor sport. But if you wish, I will embarrass myself for the town’s enjoyment!” The crowd seems up for it, cheering him on. Ah, good, and now he has to compliment me or risk looking overly arrogant and alienating his crowd.

“Truly, there is a pony who knows how to have fun! Come up then, and let’s have a go!” The entertainer, who identified himself as Tiny hooves, throws him one of the wooden swords, and Eclipse catches it neatly with his magic, his aura glowing a pale white. The crowd murmurs now, none of the other contenders had been a unicorn. Even an unskilled unicorn fighter is an entirely different beast to face compared to an Earth pony or Pegasus.

Eclipse faces the Swordpony from the opposite end of the stage, acutely aware that his performance would be delivered back to his father. He knew he would either have to win or give it a good enough show to not be humiliated. He stood in the stance his fencing instructor had long tried to drill into him, he was sure he was still holding the sword in the wrong position.

Tiny Hooves saluted flamboyantly and lunges suddenly. Eclipse was too slow to avoid the first strike and cringed as he felt the blunted steel slap his side. That was going to sting more once he was back home. Tiny Hooves backed away for a second round. This time Eclipse attacked first, and Tiny didn’t even try to avoid or deflect it. So that’s the game, is it? Eclipse cringes again, being obviously let to win would be even more embarrassing than losing badly. Time to take this game to the next level.

The two stand apart one more time. Tiny lunges again, and Eclipse whispers a word. His body disappears in a flash of silvery mist, and the crowd gasps as he reappears behind the swordspony. Caught completely off guard, Tiny doesn’t have the chance to even turn around before the unicorn pokes the wooden sword into the rump of the entertainer. There we go. This makes him the only contestant to land a second blow on the swordpony. Tiny backs away, startled, and stands where Eclipse had started. The crowd cheers.

This time the other pony is more cautious, both their reputations on the line. Eclipse silently promises the other fighter he won’t do that again, winning a friendly contest by such unfair tactics would be poor sportsmanship. He only needs one more lucky hit to win now, although a defeat at this point would still be socially acceptable provided he doesn’t simply throw the fight. As far as he is concerned, he’s won already, the rest of the match is simply frosting on the cake.

They close slowly, Eclipse uses his advantage of natural range using his magic to poke at Tiny’s defenses, and the experienced pony leaps about the stage to keep his distance. Now it’s clear that the swordspony is done underestimating him. The entertainer watches the blade in the air carefully, trying to judge how Eclipse will move it. The crowd watches with bated breath, and Eclipse takes a quick step forward. That’s when Tiny darts in, getting in low below the hovering blade and raking his dulled blade across the unicorn’s legs. Eclipse yelps, and nearly falls over. Now the score is tied.

One the final time the two square off at a respectable distance. Tiny waves his sword from side to side, but never wavers far from a striking position. Eclipse counters by rapidly spinning his wooden sword in place, in a real fight this would be foolish, but the crowd loves it. He sends the wooden sword in to strike, and Tiny bats it away. Eclipse continues the aggressive stance, forcing the other pony to keep his distance.

Then he overreaches, and Tiny kicks the sword out of his grasp. Whoops. The unicorn is no match for the swordspony without a means to fairly defend himself, and Tiny knocks him off his feet with a dashing slash. Eclipse blinks and looks up to see Tiny pointing the blunted sword at his face. The crowd applauds, disappointed that the unicorn lost the match, but entertained nonetheless. Tiny sheathes his blade and helps Eclipse back to his feet.

“Give a hoof to my friendly competitor, such a good sport!” The entertainer gives Eclipse a shallow bow, and Eclipse returns the gesture with a nod as the crowd kicks up a small dust cloud with all the applause. The unicorn drops off the stage, rubbing at his shins. Tiny didn’t have to hit quite so hard on that last blow. “That’s all for today, folks. You can try your luck against me again tomorrow!”

---

Red haze jumps down from the tree she had climbed, where she was looking over the canopy trying to find the great tree. She’s been searching all day, and there has been no sign of the giant tree she heard the story of. If the tales were true it should have been easy to locate. Another false lead, such a waste of time. She takes stock of her supplies, she’s starting to run low on food. If she needs to she can survive by foraging, but the search has drained her enthusiasm.

For a while, she takes a break from walking, consulting her map of the area. She had stopped by at a major city before venturing into the forest, and the qualities of maps this close to Canterlot are better than anything she could have found back east.

If she can’t find the tree today she should head west, to the town of Trotton. In the last city she had been to she was told that was where the next Summer Sun Celebration was being held. If she’s lucky she might be able to score an audience with the princess before the Alicorn heads back to Canterlot. Such a wise being would surely be able to answer her questions regarding the vision.

Something shudders the leaves on the branch above her and she looks up, expecting to see a squirrel or other small critter. Instead, she finds something altogether more interesting. In the upper branches, largely hidden, is a red creature. She can’t quite tell what is it, but she can see its eyes, watching her. The yellow irises have a reptilian gleam to them.

Cautious, she puts her map away and steps back from the tree, she doesn’t want to irritate some dangerous thing. The forests are not always safe. For a moment she holds her breath, trying to watch the animal out the corner of her vision. If it’s a cockatrice looking it head-on would be suicide. When the creature does not attack she moves on, giving the tree the animal was in a wide berth.

She listens carefully as she walks, wary of the sounds of the forest other than her own soft hoofsteps. Everything sounds normal. That’s good, if it were too quiet it would indicate a nearby threat. She sighs, relieved, and continues on her way at a slightly more rapid pace.

Then her hairs stand on end, Red suddenly has the impression that something is watching her again. She glances over her shoulder, and the tip of a red spiked tail disappears behind a bush. The creature is following her. Her pulse rises as she tries to remember which reptiles have both red scales and spiked tails. The list is short, and among the most dangerous at the top of that list is Dragons.

She bolts. Perhaps she can lose the creature in the forest depths. Over a log, across a stream, through the brush, she runs with near abandon. Red Haze is no stranger to danger and combat, but a Dragon is more than she could take in a fight. She halts to catch her breath for a moment in a small clearing, watching her surroundings carefully. Hopefully, the Dragon wasn’t able to keep up with her, she doesn’t see it anywhere.

A small pond nearby provides a refreshing drink, and she considers her situation as she watches her reflection. Her very pale yellow fur combined with her red and orange mane gave her a fiery appearance. She long ago realized that her appearance was connected to her powers, flame magic is even easier for her than telekinesis. So easy that sometimes she uses it without even thinking when somepony angers her. Her temper has gotten her in trouble more than once, and more than a few taverns have demanded she never come back.

A shadow flits over the pond, a small red Dragon reflected on the surface for an instant as it passed overhead. She freezes in place, her blood starting to boil within her as she reflexively calls up her magic. Slowly she looks up and finds that although the Dragon is standing at the treeline and is clearly visible, that she cannot clearly see it. Somehow, its body is translucent, as if it were not truly there. It’s taller than most ponies, standing on its hind legs, but not by all that much. It must be relatively young, she had heard that Dragons can reach the size of a barn.

The red Dragon watches her silently, its eyes burn internally, a fire she knows. She glances back at her cutie-mark, a flame in front of an eye, and then back to the Dragon’s face. It’s the same eye. What an impossible coincidence.

It lifts one ethereal claw, a pair of bracers upon its arms, and points north-west. When she glances that way, there’s nothing she can see but more forest. Looking back, the dragon has vanished.

Still, it must be some kind of sign. At this point, there’s no reason not to follow the indicated direction. Before she sets out she looks to the sun first. It has started its descent for the night. If she doesn’t find whatever the Dragon wished her to see before long, she will have to stop for the night. It looks like I’ll have to miss the Summer Sun Celebration after all.

Hopeful, but wary, she enters the shadows under the leaves one more time. This time her travels are not accosted by strange spectral creatures. Across small streams and fallen trees, she goes, and the wild animals of the forest go about their business and ignore her. Occasionally the sun peeks through the canopy and the trees as it drops lower and lower on the horizon. When the topmost edge of the solar disk finally sinks out of view she decides she has had enough for one day and begins looking for a suitable place to rest.

The ground here is rough, unsuitable for camping, and she presses on in hopes of finding a slightly more open space. As she looks about something glistens in the dark. Curious, she heads that way. It could be a will’o’wisp, she should be wary of stumbling into a marsh. Ahead of her the trees thin, and she emerges from beneath the canopy.

In a circle at the center of the clearing are six massive standing stones, each ten times as tall as she. Could this be what the dragon wished me to see? She draws closer to the stones, and notes there are engravings on their surface. This is no natural formation. The light is too dim to see details, but that is no problem for long. She ignites a tiny floating flame before her and holds it aloft to better see the stones. The engravings are runes, and they shimmer in her spell’s glow.

As she steps inside the standing stone circle the sound of her hoofstep changes. Looking down reveals a worked marble tile, cracked and damaged. There are more adjacent to it, and she follows the arc they make. It’s a smaller circle set inside the henge. This place is special and ancient. She places her pack just outside the larger circle and begins to more closely examine the runes.

---

The Carnival is going well, everyone is having a grand time. Tiny Hooves has been helping out with various entertainers and performers all day. He’s had to substitute for one the acrobats after the mare took a bad fall, she’s resting in her wagon with an injured leg but she’ll be fine. Then after that, he ran one of the game stalls for a while and took in a good haul from overeager party-goers. For his part of the main attraction he was throwing knives at a spinning target with one of the dancers strapped to it, fortunately, he has good aim.

All in all, it’s been a blast, aside from that one unicorn who nearly beat him on the stage earlier. It’s a good thing he hadn’t teleported again, or Tiny might have had to resort to less savory tactics to win. His ‘fabulous prize’ had been nothing more than a bag of sweets. He should have known the unicorn was good with magic, his cutie-mark had been a strange black circle surrounded by a white ring and what looked like abstract wings sticking out the side, the ones with the inscrutable marks are always spellcasters.

Right now Tiny is taking a break out past the back edge of the circus, he’s been on his hooves all day and needs a few minutes of rest before going back out into the party. What a party it is, the whole town is out and enjoying the music and dancing. The nobles who came to attend the Summer Sun Celebration are all holed up inside town hall, feasting on wine and ‘refined tastes’ while the rest of the populace has to settle for mead and bonfire and the carnival’s musicians. Frankly, we are having more fun, they have no idea what they are missing.

A couple giggling young ponies dart past him to be alone behind the main circus tent. He smiles and turns away to go back to the party himself, and to give them more privacy, they hadn’t seen him. That’s when he saw the stranger with the sword heading away from the town.

In the darkness he couldn’t make out the stallion’s colors, he was too far away to see clearly, but he saw the strange longsword on the stranger’s side clear as day. Even from a distance, he could tell it was unique. It called to him, both the promise of the interesting challenge the stranger presents and the lure of the special weapon. He glances down at his dulled longsword he uses for stage fights and frowns, he’d never win a real fight with it if it came to one.

So he smiles to himself and sticks the stage blade in the ground as he draws his other blade. With a dark whisper, it materializes in the air before him and he grabs hold of the hilt. The weapon is a non-reflective black edge, of the same length and design of the dull metal stage sword, but far more lethal. If he had been using this during the match with the unicorn on the stage the unfortunate noble would have left the match in pieces. He slips the black blade into the sheath of the prop sword and follows the stranger towards the trees.

He meant to stroll right up to the stallion's side and say hello, but the stranger reached the trees first and nearly disappeared into the darkness. Tiny hesitates a moment, the forest at night can be a dangerous thing, there are dark and foul things out there that no pony would want to meet alone. But still, that sword… he had to see it again, up close and personal. So he follows again, looking for the stranger in the woods.

Darkness is no stranger to Tiny, and he makes his way through the roots and trees with ease, but he never seems to gain ground on the other pony. He frowns, no Earth pony should be able to move in the dark as easily as he. Each time he considers turning back he spies the stranger again, always just ahead, always almost out of sight.

So focused is on the pursuit that he didn’t even notice he was lost until he saw a flickering light through the trees ahead of him and realized he had no idea which way town was anymore. Still, he had to have that sword, and the light seemed to be in the direction the stranger went. He followed the flickering light into a clearing, with a massive stone henge at its center. He spotted a pack full of supplies against one of the stones and realized now that the light he saw before was torchlight from some of other pony. A glance around confirmed that the stranger had well and fully vanished, Tiny frowned. Maybe this other pony saw him.

“Hello there!” He called out happily as he approached the light, which was coming from inside the henge. A voice yelped, a mare’s voice, and she spun towards him. Well, hello indeed. She was ragged and wild, her unkempt red-orange mane and matching tail made it almost look as if she was on fire. Not the prettiest of faces, but there’s a certain appeal to the fiery ones too. He didn’t see a torch, but rather a flame hovering just beside the mare’s horn. Wonderful, another unicorn.

“Who are you? What do you want?” She backs away, keeping as much distance as she could as she narrows her eyes at him.

“Relax, I’m just looking for someone.” He gives her his most disarming smile, and ambles around the outside edge of the henge, making sure to keep his black blade out of view. No reason to upset the mare unnecessarily. “And what might you be doing out here, all alone, in the dark?”

“Stay back, I’m warning you.” Her magic aura grows in vibrancy, and suddenly that little flame seems quite a bit more dangerous.

“Whoa, I didn’t mean to startle you.” He steps fully into the light, his last statement may have come across as a bit threatening. She backs away, trying to keep one of the monoliths between the two of them. “My name is Tiny Hooves, I’m just a traveling circus performer. What’s yours?”

“…Red Haze.”

“Well then, Red Haze, I’m sorry about scaring you. I was looking for a stallion who went this way. He has something that belongs to me and I need to get it back.” Not, strictly speaking, true. Not yet.

“Then you had better keep looking, you’re the first pony I’ve seen in days.” She visibly relaxes somewhat, and Tiny nods. “You should be on your way.” Clearly, this mare wants to be left alone.

“Ah well, thank you for the conversation.” Tiny shrugs. “The Circus will be in Trotton for a few more days, come and enjoy the festivities after the Summer Sun Celebration. I can show you all the fun things to do.” He winks at her and turns away, still carefully keeping the black blade out of her sight.

Something growls out in the dark. Tiny’s smile vanishes. Something darts through the trees at the clearing’s edge, he couldn’t see it well enough to identify it. Whatever it was was easily as tall as he is.

“Tiny… get back to the light.” Red heard it too, and she tenses again. “It’s not safe out there.” Her little flame grows brighter and stronger, illuminating the entire stone circle now.

“You know what that is?”

“Timberwolves. If we’re lucky, it will be alone, or it will wander away without attacking.”

“And if we’re not?”

“Then it’ll be a big one.”

“If you’re scared, I can guide us back to town.”

“Not a chance.” She laughs. “I can take care of myself.” Tiny rolled his eyes at the cliche, although judging from that summoned flame, she’s probably right. A second growl from the treeline and he returns his attention to the threat. “Are you armed?”

“As you said, I can handle myself.” With that, he slides his weapon from the sheath. More movement in the trees. “Feeling lucky?”

“Not particularly.” Several pairs of green eyes gleam at them from the darkness.

“Then this will be more fun!” Four of the monsters charge from the woods. The creature’s bodies are constructed entirely of logs and twigs, their mundane appearance belies just how dangerous they can be.

Red’s torch-like flame shoots out and collides with the first beast, and it bursts into pieces.

Two of the timberwolves close on Tiny, but instead of waiting for them, he slides between the two, slashing as he goes. His black blade meets resistance but cuts through the wooden body regardless. The monster howls in pain and falls to its side, both its left legs removed. The second of the wolves snaps at his heels as he dances out of its reach.

The final timberwolf leaps on Red, snapping its jaw at her neck. She bucks and rolls, slamming the monster on the ground beneath her, causing it to lose its grip, before jumping back and igniting the wolf by creating a bonfire beneath it. Red cooks the beast alive while Tiny pounces over the remaining wolf and drives his black blade into its wooden skull. The fire crackles as tiny dispatches the remaining wounded monster with a quick slash.

“Not much of a fight.” Tiny frowns as he sheathes the sword again, he had expected more. He turns away from the dead log-like creatures to face Red Haze. She isn’t hurt from the timberwolf that jumped on her. “So you can, indeed, take care of yourself.” He offers her a friendly smile. Red eyes the black blade as her magic fire fades. Then she glares at him, taking a few steps back.

“I know what you are.” Tiny’s smile fades again, and he backpedals as well. That’s not good. His teeth clench. I don’t want to have to hurt her. “You’re a warlock.” He blinks and then laughs. Well, nevermind.

“Ah, so my secret is revealed. You are correct, my lady. I have, in fact, bound myself to the black blade.”

“You do know how dangerous pacts like that can be, don’t you?”

“Yes, I am aware of the risks. But I required this power to seek my justice.”

“Justice? For what?” He was about to answer her when something new stumbles loudly through the trees, drawing both their attention. Whatever it is makes no attempt to hide itself, and somepony is shouting. It’s coming this way.

“Another time.” He smirks. “Still feeling unlucky?” Red returns his smile with a toothy grin.

“Always.”

---

“Because his voice was a little horse!” Eclipse laughs at the Duke of Vanhoover’s joke along with the others, despite the fact it wasn’t funny. The older stallion has obviously had a drink or two too many, and Eclipse judges his own sobriety in comparison. Better not have any more wine. The evening party has been going since before dusk, and Eclipse has been socializing with the other nobility.

All the major families have sent at least one representative to the Summer Sun Celebration, and most of the lesser ones as well. The room is full of baronesses and dukes and viscountesses, as well a number of knights and nobles without grander titles. He recognizes most of the ponies here, by reputation if not by face. About not quite half are Unicorns, the rest are mostly evenly split between Earth pony and Pegasus. Although there is a pair of Bat ponies from Manehatten, twins, from the look of them.

Then there is the captain of the royal guard, the only Crystal pony in the room. She has eschewed her armor in favor of something more appropriate for a social gathering, a long green dress with a leaf motif. She also wears a pair of earrings which happen to match her dress. Although she is not escorted by the large stallion which was with her before, there are still a number of other royal guards stationed around the outside edge of the room. Undoubtedly, there are more outside or out of view.

Time for an introduction. Eclipse excuses himself from the small gathering about the Duke and works his way slowly across the room, trying to avoid entangling himself in any of the conversations he passes. The exact value of cotton trade imports into Cloudsdale does not concern him or his family. Neither does the activities of the thieves guilds in Balitmare. Once he finally managed to cross the room, he raises his glass to salute the mare.

“Are you enjoying the party?”

“The conversation and company are pleasant.” Her voice is clear and authoritative, as befitting one in a position of command. “I do not believe we’ve had the pleasure of an introduction yet. Rose Given, captain of the royal guard.”

“Forgive me, I am Eclipse Corona.” He gives her a respectful bow, however shallow. Despite the fact that the mare does not have a noble title, her position is worthy of respect.

“Of the Astral family, yes? The second son of Dusk Light and Crystal Clear?”

“That is correct, my lady. I am surprised you know of me.”

“I have seen your father at the palace several times. It is my duty to be aware of the possible threats to the princess.”

“I find it hard to believe you could consider me a threat.”

“Not directly, no, especially after your performance up on that stage.” She saw that? How mildly unfortunate. “But if someone were to threaten you to get to your father to perform actions against her majesty, then that could be considered a danger.”

“I commend you for thinking so far ahead. I can see you deserve your reputation.”

“I would hope so. I earned my rank through perseverance and capability.”

“As it should be.” She blinks, Eclipse’s response seemingly surprising her.

“You would be amazed at how many seem to think I achieved my rank by batting pretty eyelashes at the generals.”

“Although, they are quite pretty.”

“Well, Eclipse Corona, are you trying to butter me up with sweet words?”

“Not at all. Merely making an observation.” Although, if Father were here, he would certainly approve of the match. He would probably even encourage me to pursue it.

“I appreciate your candor. You may want to watch yourself around the other young and eligible noble stallions, several of them have already made attempts to woo me tonight.” She gestures to a small group of such individuals across the room, watching their conversation with interest. “I don’t think they appreciate the perceived competition.”

“If they cannot stand the thought of you making a friend, then that is their problem.”

“I do not believe we share much in common.”

“Isn’t that the point of an introduction, to find out? I’m rather fond of chess.”

“I happen to be quite the player myself.”

“Indeed? Then perhaps we can discuss whatever else we might share in common over a game?”

“Perhaps we might, but not tonight.”

“Then I will take my leave, and see you again another time.” He raises his glass again, she nods farewell, and then he steps well aside. I think that went well. Not spectacular, but well enough. He watches the party for a while longer as he considers exactly what his father had told him to do here. The only explicit instructions were to not embarrass the family and to foster whatever contacts he could make among the other families. Implied in that second command was for Eclipse to begin searching for potential mates among the other noble families, that was an instruction he had no intent to follow. Whoever he finds for himself will have to be someone worth spending the time with, not some simple bargaining chip in outdated politics. Eclipse was sure his performance was being watched by his father’s agents, whoever or wherever they might be.

His own interest in Rose Given is less contrived, he has heard much about her and was curious what kind of pony she is. She is an interesting Mare, to have risen so quickly through the ranks to become the captain at a fairly young age. Such an individual is worth having as a friend or baring that at least a friendly acquaintance.

He lets his eyes wander across the assembled ponies until they settle on somepony he hadn’t noticed before. A tall and elegant white unicorn mare with an equally white mane, strikingly beautiful in a silver gown. How had I missed her? Eclipse blanks on identifying her, he knows of no noble who matches her description. She, curiously, stands alone nearby the front door. He would have thought such a beauty would be surrounded by ambitious young stallions, but none appear to have noticed her.

Curiosity overcomes him and he works his way around the edge of the party towards her. Before he can reach her she slips outside. Eclipse sets his glass on one of the tables before following her.

The party outside is quite a bit more energetic than the one inside. Ponies dance around several bonfires, and many of the musicians from the circus are playing off to one side. Joyful laughter and drunken revelry fill the air, the dancing will probably go on for a few more hours.

The white unicorn is easy to spot, weaving through the crowd effortlessly. No pony pays her any attention. Eclipse has to skirt the edges of the gathering, keeping one eye on the mysterious mare. She’s heading out of town, towards the circus. Is she one of the performers? An actress? Once she has passed the main crowd, she turns east, now moving towards the forest. She still hasn’t looked back to see Eclipse following.

“Hello?” he calls after her. “May I speak with you?” She doesn’t respond. Eclipse hurries his pace, but he doesn’t close the distance despite her calm and steady stride. The white unicorn reaches the edge of the treeline and disappears into the woods. “You shouldn’t go out there alone, it’s not safe!” Now Ecplise breaks out into a run, but she stays too far ahead to reach. How can she move that fast with that dress? Without even running?

Twigs snap under his hooves and he stumbles through the brush. He’s used to the city and towns, not the forests and woods of Equestria. For an instant, he loses sight of her, and he considers turning back, but she’s alone out here, and who knows what terrible things lurk in the darkness. Despite being normally comfortable out at night, deep in the woods is another thing entirely, and fear settles on Eclipse. Maybe this wasn’t a good idea.

Then he spots her again, far ahead, still walking with that elegant and calm stride. Now both curious and confused, Eclipse continues to follow. No matter how hard he runs or loudly he calls after her she does not turn to face him or slow her pace. She disappears out of view again, and this time he spots flashes of spellfire through the trees.

“Wait! You shouldn’t be out here alone! Slow down!” He bursts out of the trees into a clearing and stumbles on a root, tumbling to the ground. He blinks, stunned, and looks up to see two other ponies standing beside a monolithic stone circle. One of them is the performer from before, a strange black sword in his jaw. The other is a pale yellow unicorn he doesn’t recognize, a flame hovering in the air beside her. They seem surprised to see him, judging from their combat stances they expected to see something a bit more threatening. He climbs back to his feet. “Hello there. I don’t suppose either of you have seen a beautiful white unicorn coming this way?”

“What are you even doing out here?” This from the performer, Tiny Hooves, as he sheathes his black blade. “This place isn’t safe for pampered little nobles like you. There are timberwolves about.”

“I’m not as fragile as I look.” Eclipse cleans himself off and takes another look around. There are a few scattered piles of wood and timber scattered about, some smoldering. The body of a largely intact timberwolf lies immobile next to Tiny.

“Who are you?” The pale yellow unicorn, with a fiery red mane, makes it a demand.

“I apologize for my sudden arrival. I am Eclipse Corona.”

“If you're looking for somepony, you better keep moving. Other than this fool,” she jerks her head towards Tiny, “I’ve not seen any pony for days.” Eclipse looks around, there’s no sign of the white unicorn, and he sighs.

“It would seem she vanished. If you don’t mind, may I have your name?”

“Red Haze.”

“Pleased to meet you.”

“Yes yes, we’re all acquainted now. Now would you two please leave already? I have work to get to.”

“Work on what, so far from town?”

“Until you two stumbled on me, I was trying to decipher these old runes.” She points a hoof at the standing stones, and Eclipse turns his attention to them. He steps over to one of the monoliths and shines his own magic light on it to see what she indicated. Etched into the surface are tiny swirling runes, they shimmer just a tiny bit as his light reflects off them.

“Interesting. I know a bit about magic, do you require assistance?” Red Haze narrows her eyes when he offers, but says nothing. Eclipse takes this as permission and walks around the large stone. The runes go all the way to the top of each stone, and he spots a number of marble slabs on the ground beneath a thin layer of dirt and leaves. He conjures a wind to disperse the detritus, revealing faintly glowing runes on each of them. A few of the marble slabs are cracked or missing from the circle.

“Can you read them?” Red steps inside the marble circle and looks down at the runes, frowning.

“No, they aren’t in poneish. I’m not even sure they are a language.”

“Wonderful, two magic nerds.” Tiny rolls his eyes. “You two have fun, I’m going…” Something big moves through the trees and growls. “…to back slowly away from the twenty-foot high timberwolf.”

“You mean, timberwolves.” Red glares in the opposite direction, where more glowing eyes peer at them through the brush. Eclipse glances around, there are more creatures arriving from other directions.

“There are too many to fight.” They are surrounded.

“Any useful ideas?” Each of the three ponies back into the center of the standing stone circle, facing the gaps between the huge stones. “We could run back towards the town, but I doubt we’d all make it.”

“None of us would. I’ve seen timberwolves take apart larger prey than us.” The timberwolves start to close on the circle, Red flings her flare towards one, it howls as it starts to burn and runs off. “One down.”

“The pack remains. This is not how I thought this evening would end.”

“You and me both.” Tiny smirks. “Here they come!” The three ponies brace as the pack steps closer. Red flares her magic, Eclipse readies his own spell, and Tiny brandishes his black blade. The runes on the marble stones begin to glow. “What’s going on?” A wave of energy surrounds the ponies, radiating out until it crashes against the larger stones. The swirling etching on the monoliths shine.

“I don’t know!” I didn’t think we had triggered anything odd about the stone circle! The energy wave rebounds, and flows upwards until it crests over the top of the henge and rushes back towards the ponies. Magic crashes down on them and explodes out in every direction. All vision is lost, all sense of place replaced with the sensation of falling.

---

The flash fades. And each pony blinks as they try to clear their heads. They are still standing within the henge, but the timberwolves have disappeared.

“What was that?” Tiny looks back at the other two, both alright.

“It felt like a teleport to me.” Then Eclipse turns and looks up, and up, and up.

“By Celestia’s holy light!” Red follows his gaze, staring slack-jawed at the sight above them.

A truly immense tree, unlike anything any of them have seen, looms over them. The trunk of the great flora might be as much as a hundred feet across or more. Its branches reach so far out the ponies below can barely see the horizon. Whatever it has for leaves are so far away and so numerous they might as well be clouds. This is an ancient tree, possibly even the oldest living thing in Equestria, it has seen all the ages of Equus come and pass beneath it. A tree of worlds.

Although he is too impressed to respond, Tiny knows he will never see anything quite like this again.

Although he is too stunned to speak, Eclipse Corona can feel its great age and power.

Although she is too awestruck to say anything, this is a tree Red Haze recognizes.

The three ponies can only stare at it for several long moments before Tiny shakes himself out of the reverie.

“That is certainly impressive.”

“Only the most ancient and powerful magics could keep something like this standing. I doubt even Princess Celestia herself has this kind of strength.”

“Watch your tongue.” Red snaps at him.

“Do we have any idea where we are?” All of them are still looking up at the great tree.

“I have no idea, a tree of this magnitude should be visible from nearly anywhere. We may not be in Equestria anymore, or even on the same physical plane of existence.” Eclipse forces his attention away from the tree and looks around. The hair on his neck stands on end. “We are not the first ponies to be here.” At this, the other two finally pull themselves away from the tree and take a look.

“What happened here?” They are surrounded by equine corpses. Dessicated skeletons and ancient rusted armor and weapons litter the area. Dozens, possibly hundreds, of the dead. Tiny pokes at some of the skeletons, they all appear to be Earth pony in origin, although they could also be Zebra or Crystal pony. “Some of these were killed by weaponry, others burned.”

“Magic killed this lot.” Eclipse gestures to long scars in the ground, there are some bones scattered about the edges of the blast marks. “Powerful magic at that.” He turns back to the henge of stones, examining the runes again.

“Look, there’s a doorway at the base of the tree.” Red points at the tree’s roots, to a large stone archway nearly overgrown by roots. There are more dead ponies around the gateway, which seems to lead underground.

“Oh yes, let’s go into the corpse-filled tunnel. That sounds like a great idea.”

“We may have to. I don’t see any means of reactivating the spell that brought us here.”

“And we don’t know how we got here in the first place.”

“Is my pack there? I left it on the other side of that monolith.” Eclipse is closest to the indicated stone, but he shakes his head when he looks around it.

“I don’t see it.”

“In that case, we had better find a way back soon, that pack had all my supplies and neither of you brought any food or water. Depending on where we are I might be able to forage up enough to keep us alive, but we should really get back to civilization.”

“In that case, I suggest we take the only obvious course of action.” With that Eclipse gestures to the gateway. “There may be answers within.”

“So who wants to go first?” Neither Red nor Eclipse answers Tiny, and he sighs. “Fine.” He steps over the bones in the way and looks inside. “There are stairs leading down, but the passage is clear of obstacles.”

“You can see that?” Red peers into the darkness, unable to see what Tiny described.

“I can see in the dark to some extent. My mother was a Bat pony.” Eclipse eyes Tiny suspiciously but says nothing. With that Tiny heads down the stairway, Eclipse goes second, and Red takes up the rear. Both unicorns create a light to see by. More bodies litter the stairway, along with long activated traps. There are some old spears sticking out from the wall, a scything blade from the ceiling, a sudden drop onto spikes. The defenses have long since been rendered useless by age or encroaching roots from the mighty tree. “There’s a chamber ahead.”

They emerge into the open space, a vast hall of some sort. Their small lights only illuminate the immediate area, even Tiny cannot see the distant walls. As the stairway and the henge before, the area is littered with the dead.

“What do you think this place was?”

“Some sort of temple or shine, I think.”

“Hold up.” Tiny inspects one of the corpses, the rust and decay on the armor isn’t as advanced as those outside. “They’re all wearing the same armor.” He pulls the breastplate off one skeleton, its lower half crushed by an old rotting log, to take a better look. The front is painted with a black circle and a red vertical slash. “I don’t recognize the symbol.”

“Let me see it.” Eclipse takes the aged armor from Tiny and cleans it with a cantrip. “If I’m right, this is the mark of the Cult of the Red Blade.”

“I’ve never heard of it.”

“That wouldn’t surprise me, they disappeared some three centuries ago. At the time they were quite the threat to Celestia’s reign.”

“It looks like we found out what happened to them. Was this their base?”

“I don’t think so.” Tiny looks around again. “They’re all facing inward, further into the temple. I think they were the ones attacking.”

“Whoever was defending must have been incredibly powerful to face this many.”

“But how did the assault end?”

“Only one way to find out. Come on.” Tiny starts to head further in, following the line of bodies.

“Wait a moment.” Eclipse searches briefly for an intact breastplate among the skeletal ponies.

“What are you doing?”

“There might still be traps still active. I’d rather not end up like these poor fools if I can avoid it.” He finds one, and after cleaning it off, straps it on with some difficulty.

“You know what, I think I’ll do that too.” Tiny finds an armor for himself and Eclipse helps him don it. Red declines when they offer her one. “You don’t want it?”

“It’s not like their armor did much for them.” Red scoffs at him. “It won’t do me any good.”

“If that is your decision.” Eclipse shrugs. “We should keep moving.” The three ponies follow the corpses through this main hall. Their hoofsteps echo into the distance, the air is still and humid. In places, they have to climb over the great tree’s roots where they have grown into the temple. In others, they have to duck under fallen stone pillars. Always they watch for traps, and although there are many, they have all long been triggered or rendered harmless. Until at last the three come upon a second stone gateway.

“Hold up.” Tiny stops at the entry, looking at the rubble. There’s a heavy iron-tipped battering ram lying on the floor. “This next chamber was sealed, whatever was in there must have been important.” Eclipse and Red stay by the door as Tiny cautiously enters the room, strangely devoid of the great tree’s roots. “There was a battle here. The walls are scorched and blasted.” Then he whistles, impressed. “You two should see this.” The other two follow him in, their floating lights revealing what amazed Tiny so.

In the center of the chamber is the splayed out skeletal body of a huge pony. Easily as tall as Celestia, and bones as thick as the leg of a normal pony. It wears a suit of impressively thick full plate armor. The dead pony has been pinned to the ground by an immense greatsword, tinted red, driven right through its back and into the floor. The weapon itself is badly rusted, but would once have been quite the monstrous sword.

“I’ve seen him before,” Red whispers it aloud. Eclipse blinks, recalling the dream.

“So have I, in a dream.”

“Wait, you mean we’ve all had the same dream?” Tiny turns to face them, all equally confused.

“You too?”

“That was clearly no simple dream then. I’m starting to think our meeting was no simple accident. Red, what brought you to the stone circle?”

“I stumbled on it by accident.” She does not say she was looking for this very tree.

“Did you?”

“Wait… no, I was pointed that way by a dragon. What about you, Tiny?”

“I was pursuing a pony, who led me there.”

“It was the same for me.” Eclipse nods. “A white unicorn. Now that I think about it, she reminds me of one of the figures from the dream.”

“She was a sorceress. There was another pony as well, wielding a strange color-changing sword.” This from Red.

“And a small red dragon.” Tiny nods as well. “They were defending this place, weren’t they?”

“From him, Knight Harrow,” Eclipse points at the huge pony corpse, “and the rest of the Cult of the Red Blade.”

“What was the Cult after?” Slowly Tiny faces the back of the room, and the others both look as well, each somehow knowing the answer. In the very back of the shrine sits a crystal goblet atop a plinth. Tiny steps over the Cult leader’s dead arm to approach the goblet.

“No, it’s mine.” Pale light flickers from within the eyes of the skeleton. Tiny spins to face it as the body stirs.

“Oh… yak shit.” Each of the three ponies back away as Tiny swears. The skeleton gathers its legs under itself and pushes against the floor, the red sword tearing through the plate armor and bone as the skeleton stands. Once the monster is standing at full height it rips its body free of the hilt of the sword that had impaled it to the floor. Then it clamps it’s jaw on the blade and pulls, the rusted metal snaps off at the ground. The undead pony stumbles slightly and then glares at Tiny with points of vile light for eyes as it readjusts its grip on the greatsword.

Red reacts first, flinging her flame at the back of the skeletal monster. The fire flashes against its back, but the creature ignores it, apparently unharmed. Scraping sounds from outside the shrine chamber draws Eclipse’s attention, a number of the dead cultists are also stirring.

“We have more coming!”

“You two seal the door, I’ll hold this thing!” Tiny draws power from his pact, and his body becomes encased in what looks like ice, then he pulls his sword. Red turns towards the doorway and starts to stack the rubble to form a makeshift barrier, Eclipse aids her.

The skeletal Knight steps closer to Tiny, dragging one leg as though it were useless. It sweeps the red greatsword through the air with surprising speed, but the weapon has reduced length from what the skeletal being was used too, and Tiny has no trouble avoiding it. The smaller pony darts in, raking his black blade against the armored side of the undead. Despite his sword cutting into the metal armor, he does no appreciable damage to it.

The first of the skeletal cultists reaches the stacked rubble, thrusting its spear in towards the unicorns. The spearpoint passes by Eclipses head but does not strike home. Eclipse counters with a bright lance of energy and the skeleton bursts apart. More undead advance towards them. Red flings firebolts out into the approaching horde.

Knight harrow attacks Tiny again, this time the red blade lands hard against the pony’s side. The magic ice armor explodes out in a shower of shards, peppering the Knight in revenge as Tiny stumbles to the side, alive but injured. Tiny gets his footing again and lunges in before the lumbering undead can get its own balance back. His black blade sinking deep through a gash in the Knight’s armor, bone snaps within the creature.

“I could use some help here!” Tiny limps further away from Knight Harrow. “This thing won’t go down!”

“Red, hold the gate!” Eclipse spins and concentrates for a moment. A bright star shoots out from his horn and slams into the undead monster. It stumbles, and starlight gleams from a crack on its armor’s side. Tiny recognizes the weakness in the undead and darts in, slamming his sword, point first, into the crack. The creature nearly drops its sword as an unholy howl emits from it.

The skeletons from outside close on the gateway, Red’s firebolts unable to keep them all at bay. She draws in a deep breath and then shouts, red flames erupting from her horn and washing out over the approaching cultists. Most are burned away, their bones crumbling into ashen piles. Two more push through the fire, one thrusting with its spear. The lance sinks deep into Red’s chest, she screams in agony and falls, bleeding onto the stone floor. The second cultist slashes with its own weapon at Eclipse and cuts his flank. The unicorn still standing yelps and retreats as the two skeletons clamber past the makeshift barrier and close on him, ignoring the badly wounded one on the floor.

Knight Harrow slashes powerfully at Tiny, and the greatsword flashes a mere inch before his eyes. He shudders for an instant, startled. Had the sword not been broken, it would have splattered Tiny’s brains all over the stones. The swing was so powerful that the momentum knocked the Knight off his own feet. The undead tumbles and rolls along with the motion until it can climb back to a stand. The shock of the near killing blow prevents Tiny from taking advantage of a chance to strike back.

Eclipse glances past the oncoming skeletons, Red is twitching in pain. He lashes out with a lightning shock on the nearest cultist and it clatters to pieces. He repeats the spell on the second one to reach Red, the skeleton twitches, and falls. She’s badly wounded, bleeding heavily. He tries to staunch the wound, but he’s no medic.

“Red is hurt!”

“Busy!” Tiny is trying to get in close enough to deliver a destructive blow, but the undead Knight Harrow’s sword is too much of a threat, he can’t get close. The greatsword crashes down and cracks the stone as Tiny darts aside, the undead is focused entirely on the pony.

Eclipse glances down at Red Haze again, they need to end this fight before they can help her. He focuses his powers for a second guiding bolt and the bright star blasts into Harrow’s side. A light flashes within the undead skull.

Tiny has only one chance. When the Knight thrusts with the damaged greatsword, Tiny rolls beneath the blade and kicks up, knocking the blade nearly out of the monster’s grasp. Then he completes his roll and jabs his sword into that light before the undead can downswing again. The black blade’s point bursts out the top of the monster’s skull. The baleful lights in the monster’s eyes flicker and fade and the jaw drops its grip on the greatsword. Tiny scrambles out of the way as the rusted metal blade nearly falls on him. With a crash the now destroyed giant undead pony falls to the side. They watch the skeleton carefully for a moment with bated breath, but it does not move again.

Tiny sighs a breath of relief and drops his sword as he runs over to Red and Eclipse. Once out of his possession the black blade dissolves into nothing.

“How bad is she?”

“Bad, the spear went deep.” The only Thing Eclipse can do to help is press the wound closed with his hooves to try to stem the blood flow. “I don’t think she’ll make it without immediate aid.”

“Your magic can’t help?” Tiny reaches for a small necklace he wears, hanging on it is a single tiny glass orb filled with a red liquid.

“I don’t know medical magic.” Tiny removes the necklace and glances at it, then down at Red. For an instant, he hesitates, but then makes up his mind.

“Red, can you hear me?” The unicorn’s eyes flutter, she’s still conscious. “If you can, I need you to swallow this.” He pulls the orb off the necklace and sets it on the injured unicorn’s tongue. She struggles to get it down her throat, nearly retching and gagging. Blood sputters out of her mouth when she finally manages to swallow it.

A red glow emanates from the wound, pulsing in time with her heartbeat. The blood flow stops and the flesh knits itself back together. She retches and vomits up a pool of blood, and the little orb comes up with it, now empty. She gasps for clean breaths, but she’s alive.

“What was that?” She can barely speak, still trying to catch her breath.

“A little bit of healing magic I was saving for an emergency. I figured this counted.”

“Thank you.” Eclipse helps her back to her feet and remains by her side so she doesn’t fall over again. She reaches up to feel the wound, there’s a new scar there. They take a few moments to examine the other injuries they sustained. Tiny has a bad bruise running along his side, but the breastplate and the magic ice had stopped it from being a lethal blow. The cut on Eclipse’s side isn’t too deep, it will heal.

“Now, let’s see what all this pain and death was for.” The three stumble over to the plinth with the crystal goblet. Eclipse leans in to inspect the goblet up close. “It’s beautiful, but I don’t see anything particularly special about it.” Tiny reaches out to take it, but his hoof simply passes through it, the image of the goblet wavers for an instant before reforming.

“What? It’s not even real?” Red seethes, little embers flashing about her as her anger boils. “I almost died… for an illusion!”

“This was all pointless?” Tiny kicks the wall behind the plinth in frustration, and nearly falls over when his hoof passes right through it. They all stare at the apparently solid barrier.

“Maybe not.” Eclipse pokes at the wall, and it ripples like the surface of a pond. He glances at the other two and then steps through it. “I think I know what happened here now. You two should see this.” Red and Tiny follow him.

The space behind the false wall is entirely full of roots, growing towards the center of the chamber. The tree is reaching for a basin in the center of the space; on one edge of which stands a goblet, identical to the one on the other side of the false wall. The shrine is lit by a pale golden glow coming from the basin.

Three more skeletal bodies lie in state before the basin. One is obviously not a pony; bipedal, winged, horned; a draconic corpse, it wears a pair of bronze bracers on its folded arms. Another is Earth pony, lying on its side, and next to it is the strange longsword in its sheath. The final corpse is a unicorn; wearing a silver tiara which spirals around the horn on her head. The two pony’s arms are intertwined.

“They gave their lives to defend this place.” Red steps forward and starts to pray for the dead heroes. Eclipse carefully moves around the bodies to examine the basin and the goblet. Tiny eyes the sword, and then reaches out to take it. Red slaps his hoof away. “Have respect for the dead.”

“They aren’t going to need it anymore.”

“It’s not yours!”

“I think… it might be.” They look up at Eclipse as he interrupts. “We were brought here. By the dream, and by them. They wanted us to be here. To see this.” He gestures down at the basin, indicating they should come over. Tiny steps over the bodies to reach it, Red is more respectful and goes around them.

Within the basin is a glowing golden liquid resembling honey, and within it are three tiny diamond lights. Without waiting or asking, Tiny reaches in to grasp one, but it swims out of reach. When he pulls back, the golden fluid flows back into the basin, his arm is dry.

“It’s warm.” A tiny droplet of the fluid drips down from above, and they all look up. Directly above the basin is a gap in the root system. It’s barely over an inch across, and the light doesn’t reach in to illuminate where it leads. All the roots seem to come from this tiny gap.

“I think we’re directly under the core of the great tree.”

“Then what is this? Its sap?”

“Possibly.”

“And what are those lights? Seeds?”

“I couldn’t possibly be sure.” Eclipse ponders something for a moment, glancing at the crystal goblet. “This tree is ancient and magical.” Now he looks back out towards the fake wall and the corpse of Knight Harrow on the other side. “The living sap of such a being might very well be a source of incredible power. This, this pool of sap is what the Cult of the Red Blade was after. Those heroes gave their lives to prevent that. Now they have guided us here.” Eclipse lifts the goblet from where it was sitting, this one is quite physical, and dips it into the fluid. One of the tiny diamond lights flows into the crystal. It quivers slightly at the core of the goblet as he holds it up.

“Eclipse, what are you doing?”

“Testing a theory.” With that the unicorn drinks deeply from the goblet, the diamond light slips down his throat, somehow still visible until it sinks into Eclipse’s core. For a moment nothing happens, and then he drops the goblet. It bounces off the roots but does not break. Light emits from his eyes and he smiles. “Don’t be afraid. The stars are beautiful.” His voice echoes in the tiny chamber. Then he lies down against the wall and lets his eyes close.

“Eclipse? Are you OK?” The unicorn doesn’t respond to Tiny. But he breathes deeply and slowly as if sleeping. The cut on his side seals itself shut without leaving a mark on him. Red looks from the sleeping unicorn to the dead heroes.

“They could have used this to save themselves, but they didn’t. I think he’s right. This was meant for us, for whatever good or ill lies ahead.” She lifts the goblet next and scoops out the second diamond light. She takes a deep breath and drinks the sap and the light, she has just enough place of mind left to set the goblet down. “It tastes like honey. Like lying in the sun.” Then Red goes to the opposite side of the shrine from Eclipse and sets herself down, within a moment she too is sleeping.

“Oh great, sure. Leave me with two crazy ponies and three dead heroes. Just fantastic. Who’s bright idea was this, anyway?” Then tiny picks the goblet off the floor and looks at it. “Well, don’t want to get left behind, now do I?” he is about to fish out the last remaining diamond light before he hesitates. He glances at red, then Eclipse, and then the three dead. Tiny sighs and sets down the goblet.

Then he steps over the arms of the dead and takes up the sword in the sheath by the body of the earth pony. It feels comfortable to him like it belongs to him, and he straps the sheath on. He glances at the objects possessed by the other two heroes. Trying to be as respectful as one can while looting the dead he works off the bracers and the tiara. He drops the bracers next to red, and the Tiara in front of Eclipse, before going back to the basin and the goblet.

“Well then.” He fishes out the last diamond light and holds up the goblet towards the dead and the living in salute. “Thanks, guys. Here’s to you.” With a single swing of his head, he lets the sap slip down his throat. His mind explodes into a spray of psychedelic prismatic light. “Oh, look at the pretty colors.” He giggles as he finds a corner to curl up in.

---

The massive pony gurgles his last, pinned to the floor by his own greatsword, Knight Harrow’s lifeblood pools around him as he struggles towards them, hateful even in death. The three heroes are not faring much better. Their dragon ally is already dead, having been run through by the red blade, his body smolders. The swordpony limps badly and bleeds from deep gashes. The white unicorn can barely stand, coughing up blood and wheezing. What few cultists remained fled when the giant pony fell.

“It’s over.” The swordpony sheathes his shifting blade. “Hate is slain. The Elements are sealed, Equestria is safe at last.” Sadly the two ponies drag the dragon’s body through the false wall, into the basin chamber. They lay their friend to a place of rest, folding his arms over his heart, and dip their heads.

“Such a cost was paid. So many lives lost, cities and forests burned in his mad quest.”

“What do we do with the sap?” The Earth pony gasps, holding his arm over his chest. He pulls his hoof away to find his blood staining it. The white unicorn hasn’t noticed how badly he is wounded.

“I don’t know.” She coughs again, sputtering blood, a gash on her chest bubbles, a lung punctured. “There isn’t enough for both of us.” The swordpony carefully sets his sword on the ground, he can feel his strength fading already. Quietly he sets himself down.

“It’s for you. Go, and live on.” The white unicorn turns to face him, and he smiles one last time as his eyes shut, the last thing he saw the face of his love.

“No! No, don’t go!” She cradles his body, but the pony is already dead. She weeps for a moment, and coughs again, splattering his face with her blood. She won’t last much longer herself.

So she lets him go and stands, limping to the basin of the sap of the tree of worlds. A single diamond light swims within the golden fluid. It would save her life, grant her greater powers than she had ever known. All she has to do is drink it. A single droplet of sap falls out of the heartwood above her, the sap ripples as she looks down at it.

“No. This power is not meant for me. In time Tyranny will rise again, they will need its strength to face him.” When she dies this place will be freely accessible to any who would find the entry, an easy task considering the battle and size of the great tree. “I’m sorry, my love. I cannot even give you a proper funeral. The tree must be protected.”

She pulls herself away from the basin and focuses all her remaining magic, but it's not enough. So she draws everything she can from her casting crown to empower the spell. It’s still not enough, so she steals the potential from other sources; the Dragon’s gauntlets, and the prismatic sword. Still, to shield such a place, it will take even more. There is one place left she can take power, what’s left of her own life. She lets one tear roll down her cheek as she takes it all.

Her magic flows through the roots and branches of the tree, pouring out through the air and stones below. The great tree glows brightly with her power and then vanishes in a flash. Taken away from Equestria to some divine plane where it cannot be reached.

“The tree is safe now; until the time of awakening comes again.” She collapses next to the Earth pony, taking his lifeless hooves with her own. “I’ll… meet you again… my love… in some… other life…” Then the air is still and quiet as she breathes her last.

---

In some dark corner of Equestria, a figure skulks about in silence. It treads down ancient halls towards a distant chamber of power, sure-footed despite the pitch blackness. On a table at the center of the room sits a bowl of bright silver, filled to the brim with clear water. The figure, cloaked from tail to mane, places hooves beside the bowl and whispers words of power.

Reflected in the figure’s eyes are three ponies, sleeping in a chamber filled with roots. The image recedes, to show the tree of worlds as it fades away again. The figure scowls and leaves the bowl aside. It takes quill and paper from a nearby desk and scrawls a quick message upon it. Then it raises the scroll and whispers again. The paper vanishes is a flash of violet fire, but not before the message can be clearly read.

The Empowered have awoken.

Author's Note:

So begins the adventures of the Empowered. This story is based on the D&D game my friends and I are running (using the Planeshift: Equestria homebrew for D&D 5th), each chapter will represent one session of play, more or less. I'll blog about character stats and builds and stuff rather than putting that here.

We're playing once a week, but it will probably take me longer than that to write up each session, given how much I wrote up for the first.

Yes, this was all the first game session. Although I added in most of the stuff before they met up at the standing stone circle to tell a better story.

Comments

[BodhiBRO100]

I like your idea. 😊 A couple enemies and heroes that have their own distinctive and unique premises, and their own styles. Pretty cool. 😄

In my story, Luna has a grandson named Prince Riptide, who becomes Dark Lord Maelstrom, her dark heir after her banishment, and tries to destroy not only Equestria, but the lands beyond as well. And also to kill everypony and everyone that tries to stop him. But his main goal is to rid of Twilight and her friends, and the magic of friendship completely from existence. Crazy stuff XD

But yeah, I like this concept of yours. 😄