Six crystal candles

by SaltWriter the leviapony

Ch. 7

Ch. 7

The gates of the moonlight city stood silent and dark. Two bat ponies in violet armor stood on guard for anyone attempting entrance or escape. The sharp eyes of the two guards covered any angle of the road and air that may try to enter, not that air entrance would be possible. The many horsewolves would make sure of it with arrows.

A carrage rode down the road towards the gate, turning off into the forest nearby. Neither guard could see it, but the sound was unmistakable. The guards prepped the spears they carried, cross bolts hidden under their fur as the sound died away. They stared to the wood, patient and unmoving, for what was to come.

A minute later, three figures came out of the carrage. One was a griffion, with dark black feathers on the front and silver eye shadow. She carried a bruised and beaten earth pony with her, his face turned down as they stopped at the gate. Behind her was a gruff Pegasus, her fur a dark blue with a set of violent eyes. The guards said nothing as they approached, wondering what it was about.

"Hail the moon queen. I come bearing a prisoner of the sun wench, and wish to bring them in for further information." The guards shared a look, and gave a half smile, signaling to the workers of the door. It slowly opened, the griffion giving a hard smack to the back of the earth pony to usher them through the gate. It then closed behind them, leaving the three to their own devices.

Maria let out a mental sigh as they traveled through the moonlit city, inktip following close behind as they went through the streets. Several ponies and creatures went around the city, gathering gear and food in case of a coming attack. The three went on as a few guards nodded and stared at their travel. Inktip walked closer to Maria, whispering in her ear.

"I don't think they're buying the disguises. Should we just bolt for the castle?"

"No, we need to go by the guard house to get access to the castle. We can't bring a earth pony through the city just like that." She turned back ahead, giving a smack to Duelbloods body to turn him down another street. They then found a building which showed the royal symbols on them, which they turned into.

It was a simple setup, with a desk which closed off the back rooms and cells. They walked in, Maria giving a nod to Duelblood which notified the guard of what they were here for. The batpony walked and opened a door, the three heading back to the room with the cells.

The batpony opened the door, gesturing for the pony to enter. But before they could do anything, two wolfponies leapt out from behind the door, throwing the three into the cell and locking up the door. Maria stood up, leaping to the door and staring back.

"What is the meaning of this?! I am a officer of the moon queen, and you lock me up like some kind of prisoner?" The batpony snickered, the wolves walking out of the room as it walked to the door with them

"Sure griffion, you're an officer who came back when we received no letters. Arriving in a carrage broke the image I believe, so don't expect to leave till the queen returns from war." They closed the door with a wing, Maria slamming a claw into the door.

"What now?" Inktips words cut into Maria, and she let out a long sigh. She slid down the bars, laying on the floor.

"I don't know."

In the mountains near the town, hornet stepped through the darken halls of a castle. His green aura making the glass windows shine out in the darkened area. Pupter and Marinette followed behind, with the unicorn gazing in amazement at the various images described.

Pupter tapped hornet on the shoulder, nodding to a set of large doors. He nodded, taking Marinette to the side and putting up a shield. Pupter changed to the dragon mask, whick allowed him to push open the heavy doors what normally require magic. After which, he placed back on his white mask and motioned the two to follow.

Inside was another set of stained glass windows, all leading to a thrown. The carpet and padding of the room still seemed in good condition, most likely not being touched till they arrived here. Pupter quickly went for the thrown, Marinette glancing at the windows and smiling.

"The mask is in this room, I know it. They most likely left it here in the scuffle to move out of here." Pupters voice echoed in the room, with hornet realizing the ceiling of the castle was broken and open. Marinette took hornets hoof and brought him to one particular window, which held that of six mares fighting a strange creature with artifacts.

This is the one who made pupter. He's one of many things I found in the chaos world when I went there. Hornet nodded, this time only needing her to repeat once to get everything.

"The chaos world? You actually went there and made it out alive?" A quick nod from the unicorn confirmed this. He looked back to the window, frowning at the other ponies.

"That purple one was responsible for casting away the old queen's plans at the crystal wedding. If I recall the real cadence ended up getting rid of her." Marinette nodded, glancing over to pupter as he began pushing the thrown from it's original spot. A wind blew in from under it, which hornet looked down into for what it was.

The two stepped over to the thrown, where pupter was already stepping down into the darkness. Hornet followed behind with marinette, using his horn to light the small corridor.

"A passage like this must be for a emergency, or as a way to secretly access other parts of the castle. I can sense the mask in here, so that means it was used after the chaos blast." The zebra stepped to the bottom of the passage, and moved through it to find a modest sized hall.

As hornets light came into the room, the hall was filled with toys and food scattered about. Parts of clothhes and bags laid around as well, the bones of ponies in armor leaned against the wall half covered in stone. Marinette clung close to hornet at the sight of them, the zebra crushing a toy train as he approached one pony at the end of the room.

The light of hornets horn showed that the next stairs well was only partially covered in the enchanted stone, as if the mask exploded. The mask itself was a dull grey, with pink crystals sticking out of the ends like small blades. A parasael next to the pony showing it was indeed a mare.

"She must have panicked, making the mask recoil with a petrification spell. Normally this effect is reserved for when I do a part in one of my forced plays." Pupter shuddered at the memory, having to hold down his hoof to prevent posing. Marinette stepped ahead and used her magic to remove the mask, needing a few pulls before breaking it free of the mare.

The mask glowed, and the items around them began to turn into dust. The rock began fading and blowing away from the air that flowed from the mountains natural height. Hornet held up a shield to prevent inhaling it, with marinette doing the same to help pupter.

The zebra smiled, then placed the mask onto his own face. A violet glow began to spread in the room, with marinette stepping beside hornet as it continued. When the light faded, the two looked over to pupters new form, still glowing slightly. He had become a slender unicorn, fur a royal purple which was etched with silver and gold lines.

The unicorn laughed, a strangely firm and feminine voice from the once stallion. A bronze aura flowed from where the mane and tail once stood, the strange markings which flowed all around her body shifting in color from dark blue, to gold, to silver, and back to white before repeating with her invisible heartbeat. Her eyes looked down on the two, one pupil silver and the other gold as pink crystals began to form around her head.

"Surprised by my appearence? This was one I used for mare roles. Seemed whoever took my mask thought as much from it too. This will make our work easier, let us continued." She let out a giggle, before stepping down the hall and deeper into the tunnel, hornet and Marinette following with confused stares.

Author's Note:

Geez, this took longer then I had hoped. But, its finally done.