A Pact to Live

by OblivionShadow

15: Behind the Doors...

Phoenix tried not to be terrified as the great gates opened and a dragon walked through. He was not sure exactly who it was but based on their appearance he could guess easily enough. A dragon close to Mitsu’s size walked into the room. His scales were blue and they seemed to be covered in a layer of water. His head was broader than Mitsu's and his stride was fluid as he seemed to flow over the floor. He came further into the room and sat off to the side. So far he seemed to either be ignoring the random pony or he had not noticed. Nix wasn’t sure which he preferred but so far there had been no reaction.

He looked back to the doors as a new dragon walked in. He figured that this was Suki judging by the thick fur that sprouted around each scale and seemed to move with the wind as he walked. The fur was only a few inches long but it gave off the appearance of being in a wind storm and was a stark white in color. His scales were close to white and nearly translucent. Depending on the angle his scales were different colors. He had to admit that next to them Kahl was pretty plain in terms of design.

“Thank you for that.” Kahl argued. “I keep the flames that cover my form in check to avoid burning things thank you very much.”

“Sorry.” Nix replied and tried not to laugh.

Suki sat down opposite of them and seemed to be the first to spot the pony. His head tilted to the side for a moment before his bright eyes went to the mud scaled dragon.

“Mitsu? What possessed you to get a pet when you live here?” The Air Dragon said.

“PET!?” Nix yelled. He looked up at Mitsu who was biting back a laugh.

“Light your horn with our magic.” Kahl instructed. “That will give them a taste of my power in use.”

His horn lit as instructed as all three dragons looked to him in unison. Ice’s bright blue eyes were wide as Nix extinguished his horn and waited for them to speak up. Suki got to his paws and a snarl broke from him. Nix stood up and began to back up as Mitsu put a paw in front of the pony to protect him.

“Calm yourself Suki,” Mitsu said to him. “Kahl is still among us.”

Suki's eyes darted to the other dragon and he slowly sat down once more. “You will forgive me if I find that hard to believe.”

“If you would not mind Kahl?” Mitsu said and Nix nodded as he understood what he meant.

---

Kahl took over their form and he sat down and pushed Mitsu’s paw out of his face. “Calm down Suki. I am still among you.” He said to them.

Both of them looked at him as his voice rang out from the pony’s throat. Flame flowed over his body, swirling and crackling. The other dragons finally seemed to calm at the sight of the flames and the pony that now stood among them.

“How did you end up this way, Kahlem?” Ice asked him.

“Allow me to explain.” He began.

---

“Nix?”

Nix startled and his mind seemed to wake up from the fog and he gave a mental shake of his head before replying. “Yeah. I’m here.” Nix replied to the voice from the dragon. “Everything going okay?”

“It’s fine. Do you wish to be in control once more?”

“I’m fine. If you need to talk to them more then I’m okay with that.” Nix assured him. “Do they understand what happened?”

“They do but they are having trouble understanding why I did not fight for my own form and leave you the way you were.” Kahl admitted and Nix cringed. “Neither of them are very sympathetic to other beings admittedly.”

“Geez. It makes me glad you were in the area and not them.” Nix growled.

Kahl chuckled and Nix opened his eyes as they swapped places once more. Above him, the two dragons were arguing with Mitsu and now Nix found himself lost among them. He tried to look up at them and found they had moved closer to him and he backed up a few feet to avoid being directly at their feet. He looked up as Mitsu heaved a great sigh and looked down at the pony.

“Can you show them the Tears?” The dragon asked and Nix nodded.

His horn lit and he pulled the box from his saddlebags once more. The midnight stallion set them in front of him and opened the box. Both dragons went silent and looked down at the box. Nix looked at both of them as Kahl chuckled in the back of his mind.

“That shut them both up.” He quipped and Nix had to fight not to nod in agreement.

Suki lowered his head and he looked down at the Tears in their velvet casing. He looked at Nix and back to the box.

“Tell them who they belong to,” Mitsu said to him.

Nix opened his mouth as Suki pulled his head back to listen. “There are eighteen of them. Seven came from Mitsu, three from Ice, six from Suki, one from Joren, and one from Lomen.”

“As you can see we have been robbed,” Mitsu said to them.

Ice snarled and his eyes looked at the pony. “How did you get past our guards to take them?”

“Excuse me?” Nix barked. “I got them from Princess Luna in Canterlot. She thought they would help me with a project and Kahl informed me what they were. I haven’t touched them since finding out who they belonged to. Why would I bring them in front of you if I had taken them? Think about that for a second.”

Kahl barked out a loud laugh and Nix realized he had just sassed a dragon that wasn’t the one he was attached to. He gulped and looked at Mitsu who was chuckling quietly. Both of them were silent and Suki seemed to agree with him and a sigh escaped the dragon.

“Who is this Princess Luna?” He asked.

“She is the sister of Princess Celestia.” Mitsu supplied. “She raises the moon at night and only recently returned to her kingdom.”

“I see,” Suki said quietly.

“Then we need to bring her before us and find out what she knows. Then we can judge her accordingly.” Ice went on.

“Hah!” Nix barked out a laugh. All three dragons looked down at him and he covered his mouth for a moment. “You really think she would come here willingly and explain where she got them? You’re…delusional. There is no way she would agree to that. And you know it.”

Ice blinked at the dark pony as Suki sighed once more and nodded. “He is right. The odds of a foreign Princess agreeing to come to us is foolish. At the least, we need to go to her. We have met their rulers once but it was a thousand years ago or more.” The Air dragon said to them.

“He’s right.” Kahl said and Nix nodded.

Ice growled under his breath at the others but settled down and nodded. Nix looked at the three dragons with him and then down to the Tears at his hooves. He knew that they could no longer be put back since they had been stolen but he still felt bad for them and those connected to them.

“What do we do now?” He asked the fire dragon.

“I am not sure. We must find out how they were stolen and if possible when. The trouble is going to be getting all of us to work as one. We have never needed to.” Kahl admitted.

“Great. So I have to be the pony in the middle?”

“Pretty much. Mitsu I have no doubt will help but it will be trying for all of us.”

“Just great.”

“How long have you had them?” Suki asked suddenly after a period of time.

“I’ve had them for a few weeks.” He admitted and quickly went on at the stunned look from the dragons. “I didn’t know I had them until later. I didn’t check the boxes I had been sent until a later time and found them then.”

Suki sighed and looked down at the Tears. “It is a problem that none of us knew they were gone. I have said many times we should put guards within the catacombs. But the rest of you disagreed.”

“Here we go.” Kahl groaned.

Nix looked at the other dragons as Mitsu closed his eyes and Ice rolled his eyes to the ceiling. “Yes, yes I was wondering when you were going to bring that up.” Ice growled.

“It never occurred to any of us, you included Suki, that anyone would have the courage to rob us,” Mitsu said as he looked at the others.

“It should have. We live in a time where things that are not kept…”

“The doors are locked!” Kahl complained and Nix acted as his voice.

The dragons looked down at the pony and an annoyed expression crossed Suki’s face as he regarded him. Nix gave a nervous smile and looked away from them.

“We should still have placed them under guard. We place far too much trust in our names alone.” Suki began.

Kahl groaned again and Nix remained quiet this time. “No dragon would break in here without knowing it would meet us.” He grumbled. Nix opened his mouth to speak but then shut his mouth as Ice looked down to him.

“Our names do not hold the same weight as they once did,” Suki said to them. “We have faded into the background. Your death shows that Kahlem.” He said and looked at the pony.

“Pardon?” Nix said to him. “How does the attack on Kahl have anything to do with us? I was told the dragons that did the attack were a radical group.”

“While that MIGHT be true it still proves my point. In times past they would not have dared to fight one of us.” Suki said.

“He’s lucky I’m not in your place or I’d have slapped him to the ground.” Kahl growled.

Nix didn’t speak as Suki went on.

“Now we are little more than a warning. We used to hold power in our names alone. Now we must act and the theft of the Dragons Tears proves it.” Suki said with a stamp of one paw.

Nix staggered under the vibration and sat down to avoid falling over. “Is he saying that you guys should be a little more violent?”

“Kind of.” Kahl admitted. “Suki has always been either over cautious or militant. While he is normally cautious and reserved there are times where he recalls the past more than the present.”

“Great. Just beautiful.” Nix replied.

“Suki, are you asking us to be more aggressive in our interactions?” Ice growled. “While normally I agree with that notion being aggressive to our own is not going to end well. They do not go against us normally. What happened to Kahlem aside.”

“What I am saying is that we do not have the luxury of expecting anyone to be driven away from acting against us by doing nothing. We do not have that luxury anymore. We have grown complacent and lazy.” Suki went on. “If we must use our place to remind those around us of who we are then perhaps we can avoid more thefts.”

“You are asking us to use their world against them?” Mitsu asked, his voice louder than normal.

“Yes,” Suki said to them.

Nix blinked and looked around him for a moment before his magic picked up the Tears and placed them back in his saddlebags. The conversation had changed and they were no longer focused on the Tears and their thefts. It had become a discussion about using the Elements themselves against everypony.

“Kahl?”

“I admit I am stunned.” He replied. “I never once thought of using the world’s flames to intimidate others. I…have thought of it but never have I thought to use them against other living beings.”

“We can’t let him do that.”

“I agree. He must know that we would not agree to it.” Kahl went on. Something is not right about this. Suki is not normally this way. He’s insufferable at times but never has he brought up using our Elements to bring those around us back to heel. I agree that our names do not hold the same clout that they used to. But that does not mean we should strive for that and take matters into our own paws to attain it.”

Nix got to his hooves and opened his mouth to speak but was drowned out by the now arguing dragons. He moved away from Mitsu’s side and moved off to the side.

“Hey!” He shouted at them and was ignored. “Oh come on.”

“You’re going to need to be louder than that.”

“HEY!” He screamed at them and still, they ignored him.

“Louder.”

“That’s as loud as I get.” Nix groaned. “I don’t have the lungs and voice of a dragon.”

“Yes you do.” Kahl replied. “My body melded into yours and now you hold many of its abilities. Do not doubt what you can and cannot do.”

Nix listened in silence and he breathed deep for a second and focused on his voice. “LISTEN!” He roared out and the room shook with the force behind the sound.

He spread his hooves and tried to keep himself standing as the cavern shook. His eyes were wide as the others stared at him. He breathed out the rest of the breath he held and smoke exhaled from his mouth.

“Look. You can’t use the world to fight the world. That’s not how it works, not then or now. Using your power to bring the world to heel is going to backfire. Celestia carries the power of the sun, Luna carries the moon. Water is impacted by the moon, Ice.”

The Water dragon grimaced and nodded in agreement. “That is true. The tides bend to the will of the lunar cycle.”

“Air is not immune either, don’t look smug Suki,” Nix said as the Air dragon dropped his smug expression. “Kahl could just as easily roast the air and Mitsu could clog it with dust.”

“That’s is true. He has done that before.” Suki admitted with a look at the pony.

“Kahl is not immune either. Fire needs Oxygen, which is air.” Nix pointed out and approached them as his voice grew louder. “If even one of you decides to fight the world then the rest can stop you. I think that is why you have the power you do. If Air loses his mind then the others can subdue him. Same for Kahl or Mitsu or anything.”

“He speaks true,” Mitsu said to them and sat down once more. “Our power is not meant to harm our world. We are meant to protect it and those that call it home.”

“Nix let me talk for a second.” Kahl said to him.

Nix closed his eyes and he felt himself moving for a second and then the eyes opened once more and he was watching and listening.

“If you wish for the world to know us then that can be done, Suki.” Suki looked stunned as Kahl’s voice echoed around them. “But we do not need to be violent to attain that. We are not meant to bring the world to heel at our paws. We are meant to watch over, not lord over.”

Suki stared at the midnight blue stallion and a nod broke form him. “That is true. But it does not change the fact that we are not well respected…”

“That is true. But respect is many things. What you are talking about is fear, not respect. Fear is easy to attain, respect is not. Respect can be gained and lost in an instant and it can linger when we do not. We are meant to use our power for the greater good not the benefit of ourselves.”

“You were destroyed by our own, Kahlem.” Ice said to him.

“That’s true. My body was mutilated by three of our own. I do not regret acting as I did. Ponies do not have a defense against dragons of our size. An entire village was laid to ruin by one fight and many were lost.” Kahl replied. “Our lives are as fragile as any other creature. Our kind does not live forever and we can be killed. I chose not to die that day and instead bound my fate to that of the pony that stands before you. The balance of the Elements must be maintained and we are not meant to be throwing our weight around like some common thugs.”

Mitsui nodded in agreement and Suki lowered his head slightly at the reminder of their place. “You are…bluntly correct Kahlem. But I still think something must be done.”

“I agree,” Kahl said to him. “But murder is not our way.”

Ice nodded at his words. “We are many things, Suki. But we are not normal dragons.”

Mitsu rumbled an agreeing sound. “Our place is to safeguard the Elements and those that live within the world. While we have been wronged we are not meant to take vengeance.”

Nix gave a sigh of relief and waited for what would happen next.

---

Nix looked at the enormous gates before him and he could sense the trepidation of the dragons with him. He and Kahl had led them to the gates of the catacombs where the dead were kept. He had posed a question about them earlier and now they were all standing in front of them to see if they could have been breached at some point. The stallion had learned that the main gates were what connected them. Past those were the inner gates that led to the inner catacombs that held each specific dragon’s line. He had needed to have Kahl explain it to him twice before it sunk in and he admitted that he finally understood it. From what he could tell the gates didn’t show any sign of having been damaged or even messed with.

“They look fine.” He said aloud and the three dragons with him simply nodded as he looked at them each. “Okay, so what about the inner doors?”

Mitsu growled under his breath and walked to the great gates and set his paw against them. Nix backed up a step as a golden glow came off the gates and they creaked open. Dirt and dust coming off of them as they moved for the first time in many years. He could tell that none of them wished to disturb their dead but they had acknowledged, with some help from Kahl and his blunt way of speaking, that they needed to check. He watched as the doors opened enough for all of them to walk in and he led them into the next room.

“So which door belongs to…Oh shit.” He started and he stopped at the sight of the broken doors.

Behind him, he heard a deep intake of breath and he could feel a shudder go through him as Kahl reeled from the sight before them. All four sets of doors were off their hinges. The only one not damaged beyond repair was the farthest from them.

“No,” Mitsu whispered from behind him.

“They’re all…broken,” Suki said aloud.

Nix could hear the sound of disbelief in the dragon's tone as he looked up as their heads towered above him.

“By the flames…” Kahl breathed out to him and Nix could feel the shock that rippled through the dragon.

“What could do this?” Nix asked as Ice stepped over him and went to the nearest set of broken doors.

Nix followed carefully behind the water dragon as he stopped near the broken stone doors. He said nothing and waited for the dragons to break out of their shock and speak to them further. Each dragon went to a separate set of broken doors and Nix went to the ones at the far end. He got close to them and he stopped close by them.

“Are these ones yours?”

“Yes.” Kahl replied. “Only I can get past the magic that is woven into them. Something tore them off the doorway.”

“Is there anything that could do this without alerting each of you it was happening?”

“We do not spend all of our time here but the fact that they got through the Elementals we station here tells me that they were able to get past without being assaulted by those. Whoever it was could get past it all.”

“I can’t even imagine anything getting past those and remaining undetected. Could magic have done this to the doors?”

“I suppose it’s possible. It would have to be a considerable amount of force but I cannot think of anyone besides an Alicorn that would have that kind of magical force.”

“What about a group of Unicorns?”

“I suppose that’s possible…Oh no.”

“What? What is it?”

“I don’t know if the Elementals consider ponies to be a threat.” He replied slowly.

“Tell me you’re kidding.”

“If you were in our paws would you think a pony a threat?!” Kahl snarled.

Nix cringed and then shook his head. “I guess not. But still. Let me ask others.”

Kahl was silent as Nix wheeled about and galloped back to the others. He ran up to Mitsu and began to tap the dragon’s scales with one hoof. The Earth dragon looked down at him and he inhaled to speak.

“Do you consider a pony a threat?” He asked.

“Not really,” Mitsu admitted. “Why do you ask?”

“Kahl pointed out that maybe a group of Unicorns broke down the doors. If they’re not considered a threat by you then why would the Elementals stop them?”

He saw Suki and Ice’s heads snap to look at him, their eyes wide. Mitsu stared and his eyes blinked as he considered what had been said.

“By the Earth…” He whispered and looked at the other two dragons. “I have never thought of them as a threat due to their never being here and we interact with them so little.”

“Their weaker than we are and I never thought…” Suki breathed out and then looked at the pony with them. “Could a pony have done this to our honored dead?”

Nix was quiet as he looked at the dragon. He could see the anger that came from the dragon and one look at the other two told him they were just as angered by the idea. “I don’t think a single Unicorn could do this to these magical doors. A group of them…maybe.” He admitted.

Ice snarled and spun for the front doors. “I will rend every pony I find.”

“No, no hang on.” Nix chased after him and galloped hard to get in front of the enraged dragon. “I agree you have every right to be angry but killing innocents will not fix what has been done.”

“You might have to stop him with force at this point.” Kahl advised.

Nix’s horn charged with their shared magic and he sent a blast of fire laced magic into the Water dragons face. Ice stopped and his eyes went to the pony on the ground. Magic coursed over the Unicorns horn and he waited to see what the dragon would do.

“You can’t blame every pony for the actions of a few. That’s not fair.” Nix hollered to him. “I agree what has happened cannot be allowed to happen again. So now we fix the doors and redo the Elementals. Then…we find out who did it.” He said as his horn went dormant now that he had the dragon's attention.

“He is right, Ice,” Mitsu said as he emerged from the cavern. “We cannot wage war on an entire species. I share your rage but we must protect those that remain and correct our own failings before we can hunt for those that have stolen from us and our descendants.”

Ice’s eyes scanned them and they closed as he inhaled a deep breath and seemed to calm. “Very well. But should we fail our dead once more nothing will stop me from finding those responsible, innocent or not.”

Nix felt a chill go through the air at the dragon's declaration but he nodded none the less.

Author's Note:

Sorry if this was written differently halfway through. Thunder is out of the country and I have temporarily taken it over. I have his outlines for the chapters so I am going by those for now. Thank you for reading!

Comments

[Fireeaters]

Maybe some retarded archeologists thought they were "artifacts" and did some gravero- I mean, ""archeology"" on them.

[OblivionShadow]

10137302
Lol. That's a possibility!

[Mourningmist]

10137302
It’s not a maybe that happened