To Earn One's Wings

by HollowPony

Chapter 12: The Castle of the Two Sisters

To Earn One’s Wings

Chapter 12: The Castle of the Two Sisters

Thunderbolt awoke in a forest clearing. Lonely wisps of mist curled around his legs as a familiar feeling of wrongness settled into the back of his mind. Something lurked in his peripheral vision. He resisted the urge to try and find it. Some gut feeling told him that he wouldn’t find anything. Instead, he tried scanning the treeline. A thick fog covered the forest floor, wrapping itself around the tree trunks. He seemed to be the only thing in the area. Not even the trees were moved by the lonely wind that howled in his ears. He heard something groan behind him. Thunderbolt glanced back. Aurum was shaking her head.

“Where am I?” the pegasus mare asked.

“Some sort of forest.”

“Forest?” Aurum’s eyes widened. “You don’t think it’s that forest?”

“It might be. A lot quieter though. Nothing seems to be trying to eat us yet.” Thunderbolt chuckled. “Keep your eyes peeled.”

“Where do you think that they all went?”

“I don’t know. Maybe they are having a big monster bash and our invitations got lost in the mail.” Thunderbolt’s eyes widened as he spied a tiny forest path. He beckoned Aurum along with a shake of his head. “Come on, let’s see if we can’t find a way out of this place.”

“But what if there isn’t a way out.”

“We got in here somehow. That means that there is some way in and out of here.”

“But what if-”

“But what if what?” Thunderbolt spun around to face Aurum. He was met with empty air. “Rosie?” he cried. “Where are you? Rosie!” A sharp pain exploded in his stomach and everything went black.

Thunderbolt awoke to pain radiating from his stomach. He felt the cold sting of a stone floor and the pinpricks of rocks scattered beneath him. Opening his eyes he saw only a grey blur. He shook his head.

“Where am I?”

More pain exploded from his stomach. A gravelly voice told him to get up. Thunderbolt pushed himself off of the ground. He looked around him. The floor was, as his side testified, cold and barren stone. Similarly, the walls that surrounded him was stone, neatly stacked and ordered, save for the opening in front of him, which was covered in cast iron bars. A thin streak of sunlight filtered in through a small barred window at the top of the cell’s back wall. In the centre of the room, a grey Earth pony stallion stood, his face as hard as the stones that surrounded him. One of his eyes was a chip of blue ice, the other was milky white.

“Where am I?” Thunderbolt wheezed.

“The Castle ruins in the forest.” Milky Eye seemed to draw out the ‘a’ of ‘castle’. “You’re friends are in the courtyard. Don’t waste whatever time they have left by exploring your cell.” The stallion turned around and walked away. With a shake of his head and a sigh, Thunderbolt followed Milky Eye. Outside of his cell, a long, dank corridor stretched on into the darkness. At the end was a short spiral staircase. At the top Thunderbolt had to blink as he emerged into the courtyard. In the back of his mind, he noted that the sky had turned a magnificent mix of red and orange. The day was almost over. Thunderbolt’s ear twitched. He could hear voices.

“Contact Black Spot and Viper. Between the two of them, they should be able to locate the foal.” The gravelly voice had a familiar authority to it.

“And once they locate the child?” A nasally voice asked. “What then?”

“They are to bring the foal to me. Obviously.”

Thunderbolt rounded the corner and entered a courtyard. Ponies were lazily patrolling around it. At the centre was his friends, their legs bound and their backs to him. Char was hanging upside down from a stake that was shoved into the ground. Above them was a crack in reality much like the one back at the Cathedral in Canterlot. A white wisp squeezed out of it and floated into the Everfree forest. No one seemed to pay it any notice. Milky Eye looked back at Thunderbolt and jerked his head in the direction of his friends. Thunderbolt nodded. As he approached the crack he felt a tingling sensation in his wings.

“And once you have the foal?” the nasally voice asked. Beneath the crack stood the crimson unicorn that captured him in the Everfree forest. He stood next to a pony wearing a cloak made of fabric darkness. The Sage.

“Nothing. The foal would merely be a deterrent. What would you propose we do with the foal, Callous?”

“Do we even need the foal? Aren’t we in a position to overthrow Celestia’s government and take control of Equestria?”

“A coup is certainly feasible, but we would be unable to maintain our hold on Equestria. Celestia will undoubtedly attempt to form a resistance, and considering the loyalty that she inspires in her subjects, she will be able to take back her throne.”

“So you would rather kidnap a foal? What are you planning to do with it?”

“If Celestia knows that we have her foal it will make her hesitate, giving us time to prepare a response for any action that she attempts.”

“Why don’t we just kill it? The loss of a foal can cripple a mother with grief.” A cruel smile formed on Callous’s lips. “I’d like to see her crumble with grief and heartache.”

“Do you know what will happen if we kill Celestia’s only child, especially if we take credit for it? She will aim all her pain and anger and grief at us and we are not in a position to survive the wrath of a demigod that controls the sun.” The Sage sighed. “Callous, do you know why I wish to overthrow Celestia’s government?”

Callous hesitated. “Uh… because you view Equestria as weak and unable to properly defend itself from the wolves that would devour it?”

“Exactly. It seems that your memory is of some worth, at least. I believe that Equestria is too weak to defend itself. Celestia is too much of a pacifist, relying on diplomacy and treaties to avoid conflict. Understand, Callous, that my plans are not motivated by malice against Equestria or Celestia herself. She is an amicable individual. This is not personal. It is merely politics. If you kill her child, you will make it personal to her, which pollutes the impersonal politics I aim to work in. Besides, only the weakest of stallions kill those who cannot fight back. Are you a weak stallion, Callous?”

Callous lowered his head. “You shame me, sir.”

“No, you shame yourself.” The Sage smiled paternally. “But there is still potential in you. I chose you as my lieutenant, didn't I? Have you ever known me to be wrong?”

“Uh, no sir.”

“Exactly.” The Sage turned to Milky Eye. “Now, Commander, what do we have here?”

While The Sage and Callous were talking Thunderbolt had, under Milky Eyes’s watch, made his way to his friends. There his hooves were tied and he was forced to kneel next to Magnum. They nodded a greeting to each other. Milky Eye placed his hoof on Thunderbolt’s shoulder.

“These are intruders we caught in the forest earlier today.”

“Hmm... I have been running low on subjects… those changelings are surprisingly fragile… wait… Thunderbolt?” The Sage rushed over and cradled Thunderbolt’s face in his hooves. “Oh yes, it is you. I expected you dead or incarcerated right now. I am so glad you found your way back to me.” He looked at the group. “And you brought friends. How thoughtful of you.

Thunderbolt straightened his back. “Don’t get too excited. We’ll escape.”

“Oh yes, part of me hopes you do. I’ve always admired that part of you, that resilience, that ability to bounce back.” The Sage made a small bouncing motion. His face dropped. A frown formed. “Of course, some part of me believes that I should kill you now and get it over with. The events in Canterlot proved that you may be more trouble than you are worth.”

“But then you won’t be able to use me as a test subject in future experiments.”

The Sage’s face brightened. “Exactly. There is so much more you can do with a live subject as opposed to a dead one. And since you are back in my possession I just have to utilize this opportunity.” He rubbed his bandaged hooves together. “I have so many fun things planned. Just you wait. I-” The air next to The Sage rippled and two figures appeared next to him. It was as if they had been in his shadow the entire time. One was Dominus, as large and as black as back in the Cathedral. The other was a beige unicorn mare with a black mane and tail. Bandages covered her throat and her glassy green eyes seemed to look at nothing in particular.

“Captain…” Thunderbolt breathed. Magnum started struggling with his bonds and calling out “Flare”. The mare didn’t seem to notice. Instead, she leaned into The Sage and whispered something into his ear.

The Sage huffed. “Finally!” he exclaimed. “Thunderbolt, I’m afraid that our reunion will be cut short. Come, Callous, we’re off to the Dragon Lands. Brigadier Blitz has finally deigned to grant us a personal audience rather than the terse letters he usually sends.” Callous nodded. The Sage turned to Milkey Eye. “Commander, if the subjects attempt to escape and you determine that recapture is impossible, you may kill them. Just make sure you keep them in one piece. Autopsies are far less informative if we do not have all of the pieces.” He seemed to think to himself for a moment. “One last thing, Commander.” He pointed at Aurum. Thunderbolt could hear Milky Eye swallow. “If in your tiny, brutish mind there even exists the slightest notion of ‘entertaining’ that mare like your predecessor ‘entertained’ my previous female subjects… remember why you now hold his title.” Then he was gone as if swallowed up by his own shadow. Thunderbolt stared at the spot where he had been.

“You heard him!” Milky Eye yelled. “Get some proper cells ready!” He shoved Thunderbolt forward. “Get moving.” As they walked Milky Eye barked orders at whoever was in hearing range. Thunderbolt’s mind started racing.

‘I need to get out of here. We need to get out of here. Therein lies the difficulty. If it was me, I might be able to cause a distraction, maybe kick Milky Eye in the balls, escape into the Everfree and figure out a new plan once I get back into town. But I’m not the only one who needs to get out. Mags and Scales’ll probably be fine. They just need an opportunity. Rosie though… Rosie’s a civilian. She probably won’t know what to do, how to act… she’ll be a liability. I’ll need to hold her ho-’

Thunderbolt’s breath started appearing as white clouds. He stopped in his tracks. He started looking around him. A thick cloud of mist was rolling in from behind.

“Why are you stopping? Keep moving.” Milky Eye ordered. Thunderbolt ignored him. Instead, he turned around. Behind them was an expanding cloud of mist that threatened to cover the entire courtyard. In the centre of the mist was a giant black figure.

“With all due respect, mate, you might want to take cover.” As Thunderbolt said that a dark object flew from the mist and hit the castle’s inner wall with a wet splat. The object fell to the ground in a bloody heap. It was a pony’s bottom half. A picture of a coin purse was visible on its flank. Milky Eye swore and started screaming new orders: Kill the dragon. A beastly roar echoed from the centre of the mist. Seeing an opportunity, Thunderbolt undid the ropes around his legs with his magic. The top half of a torso landed next to him. The neck stump was still spurting blood. Thunderbolt almost gagged at the smell of blood.

“Shit,” he swore. ‘Rosie won’t survive this on her own. I need to find her. And Mags. Before Scales’s rampage gets them killed.’ He dove into the mist. Half a meter in a giant black claw slammed into the ground next to Thunderbolt. The force slammed him off his hooves.

“Does ‘friendly fire’ mean nothing to that asshole!?” he muttered under his breath. He got up and shook his head. The claw was lifted off the ground with a wet squelch. It left a red smear in the dirt. The smell of blood intensified. Thunderbolt started breathing through his mouth. He swore. He had to move quickly. Luckily the mist started clearing and he could make out Magnum’s chestnut form. He rushed toward him, dodging flying bodies and ducking under Char’s swiping tail. He heard a pony scream behind him. He resisted the urge to look back and pressed on. As he approached Magnum the tingling sensation in his wings started to turn into a burning one. He ignored it. A large black stallion blocked his path, dagger clutched between his teeth. The stallion took a step forward. Thunderbolt swore and licked his lips. He didn’t have time for this. He could see Magnum behind the stallion, along with the crack in reality. Was it getting bigger? The stallion charged and thrust the dagger at Thunderbolt. He sidestepped and kicked at the stallion. He felt his hooves make contact and heard the crack of bones breaking. Thunderbolt looked at the stallion. He was laying on his side, gasping for air. His neck looked lumpy and crooked. The dagger was lying a short distance away. Thunderbolt picked it up with his magic. He saw the dagger reflected in the stallion’s eye. The stallion’s breathing grew shallow and desperate. Thunderbolt could see him straining the muscles of his face and neck. He plunged the dagger into the stallion’s neck. A gurgling noise erupted from the stallion’s throat. A thin trail of blood dribbled from his mouth before his eyes became glassy and still. Thunderbolt pulled the dagger from the throat and wiped it off on the stallion’s body. He pressed the stallion’s eyelids closed and rushed to Magnum’s side.

Magnum hadn’t moved since the fight broke out. He was just blindly staring into the distance. It was a miracle he hadn’t been crushed. Thunderbolt started shaking his friend.

“Come on, Mags. We have to get out of here.”

Magnum’s head flopped in Thunderbolt’s direction. “Huh,” he said dumbly.

“Can’t you see what’s going on? We have to get Rosie and get out of here.”

“But Flare…”

“Yeah, the Captain’s alive.” Thunderbolt started cutting the ropes around Magnum’s legs with the dagger. “We can deal with it after we get out of here.”

“But…”

Thunderbolt slapped Magnum. “Snap out of it, Mags. We need to find Rosie and get out of here.”

Magnum shook his head. “Yeah. Sorry about that. Do you know where she could be?”

A high pitched scream split the air. “No, but I think that’s our clue.” Thunderbolt held the dagger hilt first to Magnum. “Let’s go.”

---

Aurum had her back pressed against the rough stone wall of the castle. Two rough-looking stallions were standing over her. She felt a wetness between her hind legs.

“Look, Rags. She pissed herself,” one sneered.

The other one, Rags, glanced back. “Shouldn’t we be helping with the fight?”

The first stallion blew a raspberry. “They’ll be fine. Besides, we’re supposed to prevent escapes. We’re just following orders.” He elbowed Rags in the ribs. “Think the commander will mind if we have a little fun with her first?”

“I don’t know about your commander, but I’ll sure as hell will mind.”

The two stallions spun around. Thunderbolt was approaching from behind. A fiery rage burned in his silver-blue eye and lightning crackled up and down the length of his horn.

“Pitch, that’s the other-” A bolt of lightning hit Rags. He flew back and slammed into the castle wall with a sickening crunch. Pitch’s eyes widened. He charged at Thunderbolt with a cry of anguish. Thunderbolt sidestepped him. Pitch ran into Magnum, who slashed his throat. Thunderbolt rushed over to Aurum and started checking her body for wounds. When he didn’t find any he grabbed her by the shoulders and said:

“Are you ok, Rosie? Are you hurt anywhere?” Aurum shook her head. Thunderbolt looked back at Magnum. “Mags, find Scales and get him to calm down. I’ll try to get Rosie somewhere safe.” Magnum nodded and ran off. Thunderbolt turned back to Aurum. “Can you walk?”

“I… I think so…” Aurum slowly got to her hooves. Her legs were shaking.

“Good… good.” Thunderbolt looked around for an opening. He saw that the gate to the castle was knocked down. The Everfree forest loomed beyond it in the fading light. Thunderbolt swore. The Everfree was far from ideal, but it was better than staying in the castle and Ponyville was just beyond it. Thunderbolt placed his working wing over Aurum’s shoulder and started guiding her to the gate. “Come on. Let’s go.”

They had crossed half the distance to the gate when they heard it: a blast of sound like that of a foghorn. The burning sensation in his wings intensified. It was like white-hot rods were being shoved into his sides. He cried out in pain and tripped over his own legs. Aurum tried to help him up, but he waved her off.

“No, no. Keep going. Get out of here.”

“I’m not leaving you.”

“Just go; don’t worry about me.”

“I’m not-”

“What happened to you Sparks?”

Thunderbolt looked past Aurum and saw Magnum with a pony-sized Char in tow. He struggled to his hooves. “Scales, get her out of here.”

“What about you?”

“I’ll figure something out, Scales. Just get her out of here.”

“I’ll wait for you in the forest,” Char said as he grabbed hold of Aurum, spread his wings and flew out of the castle. Thunderbolt glanced at Magnum.

“You go too. I’ll only slow you down.”

“And let you get the glory of telling this story after you get out of here? Sod off. Besides, someone has to drag your corpse back into town.”

Thunderbolt rolled his eyes. “Fine. I’m not going to fight you on this.”

“Good. I wasn’t going to let you. What’s going on?”

“Not a clue. Just heard a sound like a bloody foghorn.” Thunderbolt grunted in pain. “Then I felt this pain in my back. Like rods being shoved in there.”

Magnum pointed to something behind Thunderbolt. “Think it could be connected to that? Because that’s definitely new.”

Thunderbolt followed Magnum’s hoof. What he saw made him swear under his breath. The crack in the courtyard had exploded to a gaping hole the size of a small billboard. As Thunderbolt watched half a dozen wisps flew out of the crack and scattered across the courtyard.

“Do you know what that is?”

“It’s…” Thunderbolt bit his lip. “It’s… I guess the best way to explain it is as a hole between the material world and the spirit realm.”

Magnum raised an eyebrow. “Are you serious?”

“I wish I wasn’t.” Thunderbolt started walking toward the crack. “We should probably try and close it.”

Magnum placed a hoof on his shoulder. “That might be a bit harder said than done, Sparks.” He motioned behind him. Thunderbolt stretched his neck to see around Magnum’s frame. Behind him, two figures were approaching. Thunderbolt recognized them as the ponies who attacked Aurum, Pitch and Rags.

“Didn’t you kill those guys?”

“I did. How the hell did they come back to life?”

“I’m not sure that they are alive,” Magnum mused as Pitch and Rags moaned, groaned and shuffled towards them. “I read that spirits and demons can possess dead bodies. It could be that.”

“Ok… what does that mean?”

“It means that we can’t exactly kill them. Not by any normal means. To top it all off broken bones or missing limbs won’t do much beyond slowing then down.”

“Then how are we supposed to kill them? Lop off their heads like in the stories?”

“That could work. It has worked. But it doesn’t always. The head still tries to chomp you. Nah, the most reliable way would be to cut off their connection to the material world.” Magnum pointed to the crack. “If the demons are coming out of that thing, we should close it.”

Thunderbolt breathed in and out. “How do you know all of this?”

“I was into this goth mare back in college. She was into the occult, so I read up on it.”

“And?”

“Sparks, when it comes to mares, my tastes are quite varied, but I draw the line at living sacrifices. Of course, it didn’t work out.” Magnum slapped Thunderbolt on the shoulder. “Let’s get going.”

There were about half a dozen meters between them and the crack. They had to avoid the living dead littered across the courtyard. It was easy enough, at first. Their slow, shambling gait along with their incessant groaning made it easy to spot their approach. However, as they neared the crack the crowd of bodies grew denser. One managed to knock Thunderbolt over and pinned him down with its weight. It moaned in his face. He smelled a sickening mixture of blood and bile. Magnum shoved the body off of him, breaking its jaw in the process. He pulled Thunderbolt to his hooves and pushed him forward with a cry of ‘come on!’. They pressed forward, breaking jaws and legs and other bones. As they approached the crack Thunderbolt felt his magic strengthening. A small burst of magical force sent a body flying rather than just knocking it down. Thunderbolt took his magic and moulded it into a cone of force that cleared a path to the crack.

Underneath the crack, they saw Milky Eye. He seemed to be shouting orders at what’s left of his troops. When he saw Thunderbolt and Magnum he narrowed his eyes.

“What the hell is going on here?” he shouted. A body leapt onto him before Thunderbolt could answer. After a moment’s struggle, he bucked the body off and kicked it back into the crowd. “You know what? I don’t care. Can you fix this mess?”

“We have an idea.”

“Can you fix it?”

“Maybe.”

Milky Eye swore. “Better than nothing. Just make sure that I can get my guys out of here. Anything else is secondary.”

“What about-” Magnum started.

“Anything. Else. Is. Secondary.”

Magnum nodded and turned his attention to the crack.

“Now, how are we supposed to close this thing?”

“I don’t know. This isn’t like last time.”

“How’s this different?”

Thunderbolt licked his lips. “Dead bodies didn’t start walking around, that’s for sure. It was also more structured. The crack was opened deliberately. I could dispel the ritual that opened the portal. I assume that removed the anchor point for the portal. It’s the exact opposite of this.”

“I don’t know if one unicorn is powerful enough to disrupt a spell that opens a tear in reality.”

“It’s like my magic was amplified, supercharged. Not the point. We’ll have to find a different way to close the crack.”

“Different how?” An indistinct scream echoed in their ears. “We don’t have time for trial and error.”

“I know!” Thunderbolt bit his lip. He stared at the crack. He could see the courtyard through it. It looked hazy and washed out; like he was looking at an old postcard through a dirty window. In the corner of the crack, he could see a skeletal pony in a tattered black cloak with a gleaming scythe. Behind him was a bunch of stallions. Each of them had varying degrees of horror etched onto their faces. Thunderbolt grit his teeth. He needed a way to close this crack.

Thunderbolt glanced back. He saw Magnum fending off a yellow stallion with a bloody hole where his eye should be. The stallion bellowed with an unearthly wail, covering Magnum’s face with spittle. Magnum caught Thunderbolt’s eye.

“Any minute now, Sparks.”

Thunderbolt turned back to the crack. From the corner of his eye, he saw Milky Eye being dragged to the ground by a group of bloody stallions. A moment later he heard a thunderous shout followed by the sound of bodies hitting the ground. Thunderbolt’s head snapped toward the sound. Milky Eye was standing at the centre of a ring of bodies, covered in bite marks.

“Get on with it,” he screamed. “I’ll kill you if you get me killed!”

‘How the fuck am I supposed to close this thing?’ he thought while grinding his teeth.

“Reach out your hoof,” a familiar voice echoed in Thunderbolt’s head.

“What?” Thunderbolt responded dumbly.

“Reach out your hoof,” the voice calmly repeated. “And touch the tear between dimensions?”

Thunderbolt swore under his breath. “You’re the voice from back at the Cathedral, aren’t you?”

“I’m glad your memory is still intact. Now, touch the tear, it’s the only way to close it now.”

“What do you mean ‘the only way’?”

“Do you have the time to ask that question?” The moment the voice said this, Magnum’s voice reached Thunderbolt’s ears.

“Oi, Sparks, what’s going on over there?”

“I guess not,” Thunderbolt whispered. Still, he hesitated. His stomach was tied into a knot.

‘What’s going to happen when I touch this thing?’ he wondered. He shook his head. ‘I don’t have time to wonder about that.’

He lifted his hoof. He reached for the crack, what the voice called ‘a tear’. He felt his heart beat faster. An unpleasant tingle spread from his hoof to his foreleg and into the rest of his body. Magic, his brain translated the feeling, pouring into his body from the tear. As his hoof drew closer to it, the tingle turned into pins and needles and then into stabbing pain. Thunderbolt’s eyes started watering. He grunted. He couldn’t back out now. He didn’t know if there was another option, another plan. Thus, he pressed on, pushing past the pain. After what felt like an eternity, his hoof made contact with the tear. In that instant, his eyes started to glow. He felt the pain reverse course. Rather than magic pouring into him, he felt himself being sucked dry. A flash erupted from the crack and Thunderbolt collapsed like a puppet whose strings had been cut.