At The Museum Of Madness
Fzzt.
“Try Celesti’Os now! Free crown replica with every purchase!”
“No.”
Fzzt.
“The Transformers will return after these messages.”
“Bah. Just missed it...”
In the Castle of the Two Sisters, after enjoying some relaxing and some would say needed, R&R after another job well done, Cozy Glow lounged on her comfortable little bean bag. She sank deep into its crevices as she idly flicked through the television’s channels, lamenting the fact that ‘nothing’ showing was worth watching. Tirek sat behind her, often huffing and sighing and lamenting his own life choices, occasionally wondering if being target practice for pigeons would be more enjoyable than listen to Cozy rant and rave about something so minuscule.
He didn’t know where the others were, nor did he particularly care, as he was not the caretaker--despite how often as he got stuck babysitting Cozy Glow. “Just pick something,” he snapped irritably, growing weary of her constant channel surfing.
Fzzt.
“Oh my alicorn! Another interception by Rainbow Dash of the Wonder-”
Fzzt.
“Have you suffered an accident at work lately?”
Fzzt.
“We now return to... Serpientes Largas: Bodas Y Traiciones.”
Cozy suddenly bolted upright with a wide smile, and practically glued her eyes to the screen.
“Oh finally!” she cried, and fumbled around for her bag of popcorn as the episode began to play.
The scene shown was a colourful villa with sweeping angles and dramatic turns around a couple of characters: a dark coated stallion with a jet black mane and the light traces of salt and pepper stubble on his chin, and opposite him a mare of extraordinary beauty, wearing a stunning white dress bedazzled with rubies, sapphires and emeralds. It appeared to be some sort of wedding, what with the large crowd seated behind the couple, and an official looking pony wearing dark robes standing between them.
Behind her, Tirek snorted and lazily rested his head against his palm, thoroughly bored and clearly not enjoying Cozy’s turn for the remote. Alas, that was the democracy he must now obey. How he hated it.
“A soap opera? Really?” he grunted. “You know these things are as fictional as they come, right?”
“Shush!” she snapped, with a wave of her hoof towards. “It’s no different than that ‘Thrones’ thing you watch.”
Tirek folded his arms and slumped back in his seat with a bitter pout on his face. “Ugh. Fine. Do you even know what they’re saying?”
Cozy readied her box of popcorn and began stuffing her face. “Uh yeah? How else would I know what’s going on?” she asked, looking at him like he had just asked her if the sky was blue, or the sun was yellow.
Tirek blinked and looked down at her pointedly. “I didn’t know you spoke that dialect of Equestrian.”
“Sí, por supuesto.” The filly grinned at his bewildered expression before turning back to the television. “Now shush. Pay attention. You might learn something.”
The dark coated stallion cupped the mare’s face in his hoof and smiled. Between them, the pony wearing white robes with a gold cross around his neck beamed at them both and cleared his throat to address the room. “Y ahora...” he began with a wide smile. “Si alguno de ustedes tiene alguna razón para evitar este matrimonio, hable ahora o guarde silencio para siempre-”
“¡Me opongo!” came a loud, raspy voice from behind the crowd. All the heads in the room turned, including the bride and groom-to-be, and promptly let out shocked gasps--as did Cozy.
“Oh my gosh--what?!” she hissed, and pressed her hooves into her cheeks. “Wha--noooo, he’s supposed to be... what?!”
The corner of Tirek’s upper lip raised as if tugged by an invisible piece of string and his brow furrowed in mild interest and confusion both as he looked at the newcomer pony; a stallion remarkably similar to the groom, save for a bedraggled mane and dishevelled coat, who raised his hoof at the groom and scowled. “¡Hermano mío, intentaste matarme!” he cried in a deep and hoarse voice, radiating with charisma despite his bedraggled state. “¡Y llévate a mi esposa!”
The bride gasped and pulled her hoof away from the groom in horror. “Mi amor eres tu?” she cried with tears quickly forming in her eyes. The crowd gathered gasped again and began murmuring among themselves, and Cozy raised her hooves to her head in shock.
“What?! No way!”
“What? What’s happening?” the centaur asked with a tilt of his head.
“That’s her ex-husband,” Cozy explained quickly as she refused to take her eyes of the screen, enthralled by the drama unfolding before her. “He fell--or maybe I guess he was pushed--into a volcano like four episodes ago and was presumed dead, and Señorita Bejewellica over there had to marry somepony or else the dinosaurs would come down from the mountain and eat everypony, so she’s marrying his brother. Oh good gosh this is good television!”
“Fell into--What? Dinosaurs? That doesn’t even make sense.”
“It does if you know the story. Oh! Don’t lemme forget to tell you about the aliens too! Gangly pink things with two arms and two legs, hehe... they look so weird! I wonder how they made them...”
“Aliens?!” Tirek scratched his head and frowned. “What sort of show is this?” he muttered in utter bewilderment.
“Really, really good,” Cozy replied with a grin, and popped another kernel of popcorn into her mouth.
Back on screen and in the world of drama, there was a heated exchange occurring. The bride slapped the false groom across the face, leaving a dark mark against his cheek. She started screaming at him and hitched up her dress enough to run into the open hooves of her returned-from-the-dead lover. The reunited couple embraced and kissed passionately to several ‘awwws’ from the crowd, but the would-be-murderer began to scowl. He reached into the coat of his tuxedo to draw a weapon--a gun! He pointed it at them and squeezed the trigger. There was a flash, and a single gunshot rang out...
And then the screen went black.
Cozy’s eyes shrunk after a few seconds of confusion. “NoooooooOOOOOO!”
She spun around to face the culprit, and locked eyes with Tempest Shadow, who, without a care, casually dropped the remote and jutted her head towards the door. They locked eyes and for a second it looked like the filly was ready to go hoof to hoof with the commander in a battle to the death.
“Get dressed and meet in the main hall,” barked Tempest, quickly putting an end to any of the aforementioned imagery. “We have work to do.”
Cozy trembled and glowered with the fury of a thousand suns. “¡Te maldigo!” she growled.
Tempest raised an eyebrow at her. “Guarda tu energía, pequeño,” she replied with a wink, and gestured towards the door. “That’s an order, Knights. Double time!”
Tirek smirked as the filly jumped up and sheepishly hurried to obey, eager to not incur the wrath of Tempest Shadow any more than she had already. The centaur himself rose up from his seat and stretched, cracking his back and his shoulders as he moved. He paused as he reached the stairs, and glanced back towards the television set with a frown on his face, wondering exactly how Serpientes Largas: Bodas Y Traiciones would end.
To his disgust he found himself ensnared by it, and dragged his hand down his face in despair. “You’ve got to be joking me...” he grumbled before setting off down the stairs to re-join his comrades.
***
The Nightmare Knights stood side by side, flank to flank, each wearing their crisp and clean uniform; a statement to how far they had come under Tempest’s training and stern but fair, she thought, guidance. Tempest stalked back and forth like a tiger in a cage with her brow furrowed. Chrysalis yawned lazily, looking as bored as ever, and Cozy continued to mutter under her breath about missing her favourite show as she hovered beside her teammate.
Meanwhile, Tirek adjusted the lengths of his vest ever so slightly and glanced over to the secretary as Jackdaw Inkwell readjusted her glasses and cleared her throat.
“Ahem. Boss you want me to start, or?” she asked, looking up at the commander. She flicked through her notes and pressed her teeth into her lower lip.
“We’re ready, Jack,” Tempest replied quietly. Her words hung heavy in the air, and even Cozy could tell something was bothering her. She came to a halt and inhaled deeply. “Go ahead.”
The secretary furrowed her brow and cleared her throat again. “Alright so some big shot from the Manehattan Museum of Natural History has requested the Nightmare Knights to investigate a theft of a priceless artifact and return it to the museum.”
Tirek frowned while Chrysalis scoffed. “That’s it?” the latter snarled. “Return a worthless trinket to its owner? Surely even Cozy Glow should be able to do this one on her own?”
Cozy folded her hooves in a huff and flapped her small wings. “I’m missing some juicy drama for this?”
“Read the next part,” Tempest growled, and fixed the pair of them with a glare that would turn the risen dead back to their graves.
Jack swallowed and squinted at her own notes. “Uhh let’s see. The Necro-nom-icon Ex Mortis has--am I saying that right? Has the potential to be-”
She didn’t get a chance to finish speaking. Tirek suddenly lurched forwards and swiped her notes from her, looking over them. As his black eyes finished tracing the words written in her hoofwriting his red visage paled slightly. “Impossible...” he whispered. “It cannot be...”
Cozy furrowed her brow and clicked her tongue while Chrysalis fell into a stunned silence, ears suddenly pricking up and her eyes shrinking into vertical slits. “The Necrowhaticon Ex What?” the filly asked with a tilt of her head.
Tempest gave the centaur a wary look as he rounded on her with trembling hands. He quickly and quietly straightened himself up and looked her in the eye.
“I will leave at once, Commander,” he stated and lowered Jack’s notepad, ignoring the hearts she had in her eyes as she sat at this close proximity to him. “I will need no equipment, and can move faster on my own-”
The commander allowed herself to smile at him, and held up a hoof to silence him. “Tirek, the agreement of the Knights that you signed was that we all work together. Besides I don’t need to tell you how dangerous this thing is. We go together.”
The changeling roused herself and spoke up. “Are we certain it is the real Necronomicon?” she whispered. “And when we have retrieved it are we to just leave it unguarded in a museum of all places? Perhaps we should bring it back here for... safe study.”
“You think I would allow you to even hold that particular tome?” Tirek snorted viciously at her. “Forgive me, your majesty, but I would sooner deliver it into the vaults of Tartarus than let your devious mind pour over the cursed knowledge inside of it.”
Chrysalis curled her lip upwards at him and bared her fangs at him. “We are on the same side, Tirek,” she hissed, “I merely suggest that it remain in our capable hooves instead of being left in the care of some nameless fool in Manehattan.”
Tempest cleared her throat and eyed them both sternly. “That’s enough you two,” she warned.
Cozy put her hoof up and waved it around, feeling rather ignored and growing increasingly bitter. “Hello? Guys? What’s the Necro... whatever?” she repeated her question, only growing more irate as it once again went unanswered as Tirek waved a hand.
“I sincerely hope it is a forgery,” he grumbled, “for I have no desire to see the Necronomicon Ex Mortis on Equestrian soil.” Upon the raised eyebrows and sceptical look both Tempest and Chrysalis gave him, he placed a hand on his chest. “Centaur’s honour, I am reformed now if you will remember?”
Tempest couldn’t help but feel a small sense of pride at his words, even if Chrysalis snorted and snickered behind her hoof at him.
Cozy Glow, meanwhile, looked around at all of the adults with a frown and raised her voice. “Hey so... for those of us who don’t know what’s going on...” She cupped her mouth with her hooves and bellowed as loud as she could, which wasn’t much for a pony of her size but still got the point across well enough. “What. Are. You. Talking. About?!”
They all turned to look at her almost apologetically. Chrysalis cleared her throat and was the first to speak. “Allow me to clarify, would you kindly, my Lord Tirek?” she questioned the centaur as he folded his arms and snorted. “The Necronomicon Ex Mortis, Cozy Glow... is the single most dangerous and powerful spell book known to any kingdom on Equus,” she said with grave intensity. “Countless copies and forgeries have been made in search of it, so in short, should it indeed be the real Necronomicon that has been stolen Manehattan, then the world is not safe.”
The changeling pulled herself up and looked to the commander, then at Tirek. “I assume you both know of its importance, but I will explain in detail for our youngest member.” She glanced back down at Cozy with concern laden eyes as they nodded at her to continue. “The Necronomicon Ex Mortis, or as it may be known, the Book of the Dead, was originally constructed by the mad Saddle Arabian Alhazhoof in the death throes of an ancient empire. Through it, Alhazhoof sought to commune with a race of beings known as the Great Old Ones.”
Cozy nodded, listening intently on the edge of her proverbial seat. “Who’re they?”
“Ancient and powerful cosmic entities once worshipped from a time before time like gods, with goals far beyond our understanding. Alhazhoof went mad in search of them, driven to the brink of insanity as he scoured the heart of the Saddle Arabian desert for the Nameless City. The legends state that the book was buried with him when it died, only for his sarcophagus to vanish like a cloud on the wind. Poof.”
She waved her hoof through the air. Tirek mirrored her action by waving his own fingers and echoed her words. “Poof.”
“Centuries passed until it was next found, at the earliest site of Equestria’s recorded history.”
“Which was when, Chrysalis?” Tempest asked calmly.
The changeling inhaled sharply between her teeth and narrowed her eyes. “When Grogar wielded it to create his monsters.”
Silence fell upon the room. Jack paused in the filing of her hoof to cock an ear out and listen intently, feeling her own heart increase in its palpitations upon the former queen’s words.
Cozy cleared her throat and bit her lip. “So what’s it doing in Manehattan?” she mumbled.
“That is precisely what we are going to find out,” Tempest answered. “Providing it is the real book and not a fake, I suspect it’s copyright page alone has far more dark magic in it than anything found even in Celestia’s private collection, and we must retrieve it as soon and as safely as we can.” She stamped her hoof twice, signalling them to get ready to move out. “C’mon. Let’s get this over with. With a little luck, we’ll be home before sundown.”
Chrysalis poked around the inside of her mouth with her tongue and let out a hollow laugh as they moved towards the door to begin their newest mission. “In my experience, Commander, there is no such thing as luck.”
***
Manehattan was unusually dark for this time of day. The dark storm clouds that had gathered above held a sense of dread about them, mirrored perhaps by the group of creatures standing in front of the Manehattan Museum of Natural History. Its door was locked shut and its windows shuttered. A few Manehattanite police officers stood on the perimeter waving some passers-by along, and warily eyed the Knights as they did so.
Tempest Shadow tapped her hoof impatiently as thunder rumbled through the skies overhead, staring up at the closed doors and dimly lit building. “Maybe everypony’s gone home?” Cozy unhelpfully put forwards.
“Officer?” the commander said, and stepped forwards the stallion standing in front of them. He bristled and straightened up.
“What is it?” he gruffly barked in an accent similar to Jack’s back home.
Tempest wrinkled the end of her nose and sighed. Typically, local law enforcement didn’t enjoy the Knights’ company, and they often butted heads together. “We’re expected up there,” she stated, and pointed up at the museum. “So can you let us pass?”
“No,” the officer grunted. He sighed and scowled at her as she stood there silently. “Listen lady, I’m here ta do my job, a’ight? Now it beats me what business you got in there, but this is a crime scene.” He stuck his chest out in front of her and looked down at her. “So I’m gonna have ta ask ya to move along, an’ take your freaky friends with you.”
Just as Tempest began to curl her lip and puff her own chest out, trying very hard not to hit a police officer, the door to the museum creaked open, and a dishevelled looking unicorn stallion stepped forwards. He spotted them and waved them over, signalling to the surly officer to let them approach. He begrudgingly stepped aside and avoided their eyes as they stooped underneath the line of tape and hopped up the stairs, muttering under his breath about the state Equestria was in.
Chrysalis flashed him a wicked smile and flicked her tail in his face as she strode past him and up the stairs with the rest of her teammates.
The pony from the museum quickly ushered them in and shut the door behind them. Just in time too, as more thunder broke and the heavy downpour of rain crashed down onto the roof, echoing throughout the big, otherwise empty building.
“You must be the Nightmare Knights,” the unicorn murmured, looking at them all--Chrysalis in particular--carefully. “Tempest Shadow, Tirek, Cozy Glow and Chrysalis.” His cyan mane bobbed and weaved as he nodded to each of them in turn, and what they could see of his pale purple coat shimmered in the dim light of a nearby lamp. He wore a finely pressed jacket, likely owing to one of his station.
“Your deduction skills are impressive,” the changeling retorted. Her eyes flashed and reflected the lightning cracking the sky outside.
He swallowed and bowed his head. “My name is Amethyst Veil. I am the curator of this museum.” He pulled himself up and wrung his hooves together. “I am afraid this is a matter most urgent, Knights.”
Tempest nodded. “When you rang ahead you told our secretary that you had the Necronomicon here? And that it was what was stolen?”
“Indeed I did, and yes it is,” Amethyst Veil nodded glumly and gestured for them to follow him. “My office is this way. If you’ll kindly follow me, I will explain on the way there. That... wretched thing arrived three days ago, and since then strange things have been happening,” he said as they started off through the museum. “Staff and visitors alike have been hearing whispers in the dark, experiencing strange phenomena the longer they were in the presence of the book.” He shivered and shuddered. “I took it upon myself to remain behind while I sent most of the other staff home. Unlike most in Manehattan I care for my employees, and will not have them needlessly put in harms way if it can be avoided.”
“How noble of you,” muttered Tirek as he trailed behind the group, examining various paintings and a series of sacred stones from an ancient Equestrian time.
Tempest cocked her head sideways as they followed the curator to his office. “So who was here at the time of the break-in?” she asked.
Veil swallowed, perhaps sensing her accusatory and suspicious tone. “Only myself and the janitor. A fellow called Wash Bucket, he’s a good friend of mine.”
The commander nodded understandingly, although she felt it odd there were no security guards present.
“Here is my office,” the curator mumbled before she could query it, and fished round for some keys in the pocket of his finely pressed jacket. “I have dared not leave any door unlocked in case the thieves return, although with their prize acquired I suspect they wouldn’t dare to do so at all.”
The flash of lightning streaking across the sky illuminated the surprisingly dark room as they entered. Veil quickly stepped towards a lamp and lit it with his magic. “May I offer any of you a glass of sherry?” he mumbled, and procured a small bottle and some glasses from a drawer of his desk. “It’s just about the only thing kept me going since this mess started.”
“Not on duty,” Tempest snapped as Chrysalis licked her dry lips, and shot her a look. The scarred unicorn cleared her throat as Veil poured himself a small glass and lifted it to his mouth. “So what can you tell me about the theft, Mr. Veil?”
“Not much I am afraid,” Veil replied sadly after taking a sip. “I do not know where the culprits came from, nor do I know where they went.” He took another sip and gazed out the window at the darkened skies and torrential rain. “I suspect, however, that their intentions are not good.”
“If I may make a suggestion?” Chrysalis murmured quietly as thunder rumbled outside. The sound of rain hitting the roof continued to echo around them, even in this relatively small office. She flicked her mane dismissively and glowered at the unicorn librarian suspiciously. Her eyes drifted over to is desk, and a coy spread over her face. “Perhaps Mr. Veil himself is the thief he so vilifies?”
Her words seemed to light a small fire in Veil, and he rounded on her with frustration on his face and eyes that glinted and gleamed with indignity. The glass he held in his magic trembled slightly as he set it down on his desk. “I take my duties extremely seriously here as curator for the exhibits I have been placed in charge of,” he rasped, “I assure you, Chrysalis, that I would never even imagine stealing one of them for myself!” He quickly began to grow flustered. “These are priceless artifacts from all corners of the globe that belong here, so that we may learn and benefit all of ponydom. The cheek you must have to dare accuse me! Why it’s inconceivable!”
The changeling’s face twitched into a cruel smile. “Wonderfully and so eloquently put, curator,” she sneered, “but perhaps if you have such a care for these objects, and are not in fact the culprit, then will you so kindly inform us of how the most dangerous book in existence slipped through your iron-like grasp?”
Veil’s ears flattened and the bridge of his nose turned slightly pink. His jaw flapped open and close a few times until he fell silent.
Tempest stamped her hoof and shot Chrysalis a look, although she agreed with her and nodded. “She’s right, Mr. Veil. As far as we know everypony who works in the museum is a suspect, including you. And with just you and one other, our suspect list is quite short.”
The curator wrenched his gaze away from the sweetly smiling former queen and turned to look at the dark mare with a humble bow. “Be that as it may, Miss Shadow, you must believe me. I wish only to share what we have acquired here for the benefit of all ponykind, and to our friends in the neighbouring regions of course.” He lowered his head respectfully towards them. “I wish to aid in any way I can in recovering this priceless, dangerous artifact. If... if there is anything at all you can ask of me that would be of assistance, please don’t hesitate to do so.”
“Can I use the bathroom?”
All eyes shifted towards the filly at the centre of the room as a deathly silence descended on them. She looked around at them and shrugged. “What? Rain makes me need to go.”
Tirek grumbled under his breath and scuffed the back of her head. “Shut up,” he growled at her as Veil silently raised a bewildered and shaking hoof and pointed out the door.
“D...down the hall... third... door on the right.”
Cozy beamed at him and flitted through the air, cheerfully and blissfully ignoring the stern look from the commander. “Thanks. Oh!” She clapped a hoof to her head and turned with an embarrassed smile. “Didn’t you say you locked everything?”
Tempest ground her teeth together and shot Tirek a pointed look as Veil levitated his keys towards them. Cozy snatched them out of the air and beamed happily as she floated away. The centaur sighed and started after the child, quietly bemoaning his situation as the one closest to her and therefore forced to babysit her yet again. Chrysalis held a hoof to her mouth to hide her grin at his displeasure as the commander looked back at Veil.
“So, Mr. Veil. Where is this janitor? May we speak with him?”
Amethyst Veil returned to his drink and slung it back. Afterward he smacked his lips together nervously. “Wash Bucket? He’s... he’s, um... occupied.”
“With what, Mr. Veil? With such an important matter as this, I’d like to ask all the suspects questions. So far that’s you, and Wash Bucket.”
The irritation in Tempest’s voice was as clear as day, so much so that even Chrysalis sensed it.
The curator furrowed his brow and coughed. “I’m terribly sorry, Miss Shadow, but I do not know where she is,” he stated firmly.
Chrysalis cocked her head and a small smile appeared on her lips. “She? Just moments ago you claimed you didn’t know where he was.”
The unicorn’s eyes widened and he shuffled on the spot. “Ah... m-my mistake, it must have been a slip of my tongue,” he quickly answered.
“Funny that, how one’s tongue can slip up under duress. In any case, I’d like to ask you some questions, curator...” the former queen continued, and began circling the room as Tempest fixed her eyes on her “That picture on your desk for instance... am I correct in thinking it is of you and your pretty wife?”
Veil’s eyes darted to the picture on his desk, of himself as a younger unicorn sitting beside a pegasus mare wearing a grin as wide as her wingspan on her face. A bead of sweat ran down the side of his head. “Indeed it is, yes. What does this have to do with-”
“What’s her name? Your pretty wife?”
Tempest frowned and tapped the ground, drawing her teammate’s attention. “Chrysalis...” She gave the expression on the changeling’s face a curious look, wondering what she had uncovered. If there was any sign of deception in their current occupation, Chrysalis would be the one to find it. She was, after all, a master of disguise and deceit. Her eyes flashed like a dragon’s and her upper lip pulled back to reveal her fangs in a menacing grin.
She glanced toward the commander and held her head up high with an unblinking stare. The dark mare turned back to look at Veil.
The curator’s eyes flitted between them, and he nervously began to stammer. “I, um... I fail to see what th-that has to do with anything. The... the Necronomicon needs to be-”
“Answer the question, Veil,” the commander growled and took a heavy step forwards. Her single hoofstep perforated the silence that quickly fell upon them.
Chrysalis continued to circle the room, coming to a halt in front of a large cupboard. She rested a hoof against it and smiled slyly to herself. “Don’t you think it’s strange, Commander? A museum like this, the most famous museum in the world perhaps, and no security guards? Especially after such a high profile theft? Yes there were some police officers outside, but I wonder how much of the truth do they really know. Curious. Also...” She turned, and fixed the curator with a questioning and suspicious gaze. “He cannot remember his pretty wife’s name.”
“N-now hold on one second,” Veil stammered defensively. He tugged at his collar and swallowed hard. “I must apologise--my mind, you see, it... it has been frazzled by the events of the past few days. Of course... of course I know my wife’s name. it’s... um, it’s...”
Thunder and lightning crashed and roared outside, so much so that it almost sounded like an animal howling. The rain’s intensity seemed to thicken as well, drenching any misbegotten creature caught outside at this time.
“You love her, don’t you, curator?” Chrysalis crooned as she stepped away from the cupboard. She moved slowly, one hoof in front of the other, walking like a cat stalking a mouse. “Your wife, whose name you do not remember?”
The unicorn backed up and looked around the room. “Of c-course I do!” he snapped. The cupboard bumped and rustled with sudden movement, from something inside of it. Tempest stepped closer to it and prepared herself, watching it carefully. She swore she could hear a soft whimper from inside of it and rested her hoof on the latch.
“But how could you love her ‘Amethyst Veil’. If you’ve never met her?”
With a yelp Amethyst Veil found himself lifted up into the air within the queen’s magical grasp. She stood stock still, glaring up at him with narrowed slits for pupils. “I caught your stink the moment I laid eyes on you,” she snarled, dropping all pretence of niceties. “Reveal yourself to me, worm. Your true self, as wretched as it may be.”
The curator squeezed his eyes tight shut, and as a light blue flame sprung up around him, Tempest shielded her eyes for a moment. When she lowered her hoof, she saw that instead of a pony being held in Chrysalis’ magic, there was a changeling being held. A light purple, bright eyed changeling with translucent wings, who winced and grimaced as his former queen held him.
“Tempest,” Chrysalis growled, referring to the cupboard she stood beside. As she spoke, she let her forked tongue slither out from behind a set of razor sharp teeth.
The cupboard beside Tempest rustled once more as she flicked the latch open. From it spilled out a similarly looking changeling, a smaller, lime green female with big, bright luminescent opal coloured eyes who cowered and grovelled before the Knights. The commander looked down at her, then at the male, and then at Chrysalis, and winced at her furious expression.
“You had better start explaining,” she said slowly, not taking her eyes off of her teammate. “And for your sakes, do it quickly. Who are you?”
“I-I’m Ambrosia, and this is Nectar,” the young female stammered without looking up at either of them. “W-we, we... um...”
Chrysalis fixed her with a hate-filled glare and grabbed her with her magic as well, hoisting her up beside the creature formerly known as Amethyst Veil. “I do not care what the names of the treasonous balls of pus before me are!” she raged, partially at them and partially at the commander. “Tell me why you’re here in Manehattan, impersonating a pony, at the scene of a break-in and theft of a woefully dangerous artifact. I would suspect your precious king has not sanctioned your visit, nor your deception?”
Nectar swallowed and wriggled in her grasp. “N...no... Thorax doesn’t know we’re here,” he confessed. “We came here ourselves, just the two of us.”
Tempest narrowed her eyes at him and stepped to stand side by side with her teammate. “To do what exactly?” she growled.
Ambrosia blinked her large, shining eyes at the unicorn and the corners of her mouth twisted into a sneer. “W-we were looking for the Necronomicon. We heard it was being kept here and knew how dangerous it was.” She swallowed nervously. “W-we were told to only secure it with a spell, but something went wrong... and then...”
The room, the entire building in fact, seemed to shake and rumble as something howled and shrieked with an awful, unholy sound. Tempest noticed the ground beneath her hooves tremble, and recoiled as the sound reached her ears. The wind and rain battered and lashed against the window, growing in intensity to match the roar of whatever had shrieked.
The former queen dropped her ex-subjects in an instant, where they quickly grasped one another and huddled close, utterly petrified of the changeling queen’s wrath and whatever it was that was rapidly approaching them.
“You idiots,” Chrysalis rasped. Her pupils were so finely cut slits they were practically invisible as she quaked with rage. “You... insignificant... insipid little slugs, what have you-”
The door suddenly crashed open with Tirek and Cozy Glow bursting back into the room, looking haggard and frightened. They slammed the door behind them and looked around at the scene before them. A few seconds of silence passed between all parties until Tempest stepped forwards.
“Report, Tirek,” she snapped not unkindly, but professionally as a series of wet thumping sounds came from behind the door. “What is that?”
Tirek looked deep into her eyes and uttered a single word, one that sent chills down all of their spines as something massive crashed against the door behind him.
“Shoggoth.”
***
Cozy hummed a small tune to herself as she trotted out of the bathroom with a contented look on her face. Tirek scowled when he saw her and pushed himself away from the wall he was leaning against. “Finally we can leave,” he growled, and pointed back towards where the curator’s office was. “Perhaps the commander has learned something by now and I won’t have to babysit you anymore.”
The filly wrinkled her nose and drifted through the air in the exact wrong direction he was pointing. “Babysit? I resent that. Besides, you don’t wanna have a li’l look around?” she cooed and twirled the keys around on her hoof with a sly grin. “Here I was thinking you would jump at the chance to learn a thing or two, Terry.”
Tirek clenched his jaw and shook his head, once again finding himself bemused and amazed by the filly’s deviousness. “Of course I would,” he chortled, “but you should know as well as I that that doesn’t mean we are given free reign to do as we please. Having said that, Mr. Veil was kind enough to give us the keys, and I’m certain the commander would appreciate us investigating the area unhindered.”
“Golly what a good idea! You sure are smart, Tirek,” Cozy jokingly laughed and flapped through the air with a wide grin.
They wandered off down the corridor together, stopping occasionally to look at some of the exhibits. Cozy soon and bitterly realised that Tirek was using their little incursion to actually just visit the otherwise empty museum, and judging from the intrigued expressions he was giving some of the museum pieces, he was enjoying himself. Of course that didn’t stop her from yawning and slumping down where she hovered.
“Ugh, museums are so boooring,” she whined. “It’s just a bunch of old stuff nopony cares about anymore... Where’s the excitement?”
“Be careful what you wish for,” Tirek snorted as he traced his eyes over an old painting from fifth century Equestria. “If you hate museums so much why did you want to look around? Besides, if I had to sit through your insufferable dramas, then you should do the same for my interests. After all, isn’t that what friends do?”
Instead of any argument Cozy instead blew him a raspberry and pretended to press against an ornate vase, threatening to topple it over.
“Don’t touch anything if you can’t respect-” The centaur paused scolding her mid sentence and froze where he stood.
His ear twitched. A strange scent drifted past his nostrils at that moment. His black eyes narrowed and he inhaled deeply. An itch set in the back of his mind and made his tongue feel fuzzy almost instantaneously. Without a word, he started off down the corridor, occasionally sniffing the air. Cozy grinned mischievously to herself as she flitted after him.
“Finally! What is it? Whatcha smell, boy?” she giggled.
He scowled and paused as they came to a T-junction. “A faint trace of... something,” he murmured. He looked left down the corridor, then to the right and took another sniff. “Something resonating with intensely powerful magic. This way.” He set off again, following the scent.
“I don’t smell anything,” Cozy commented idly as she too sniffed the air.
“You wouldn’t. You aren’t trained to absorb and eat magic. To me, all magic has a scent, and to be more precise, a taste. The purer the magic the better it smells and tastes. I would liken a unicorn’s magic to sweet pancakes,” he added with a smirk as her eyes went wide. “Whereas the fouler the magic, the stronger it smells... And this... this is particularly foul magic.”
It was hard for Tirek to place his finger on what exactly the smell was, but something about it set his teeth on edge and his mind abuzz with questions. The eternal burning desire for knowledge that he once felt as a child burned within him once more, and as a Knight of Equestria he found himself with a seemingly renewed purpose. Perhaps this was his destiny after all, he wondered. Not... what fate had originally planned for him.
They came to a halt after about five minutes of walking outside a locked set of double doors covered in strange clear green goo. A sign above the doorway read Mysteries of the Unknown World, and he quickly deduced that this was where the book was being held before it was stolen. The scent of whatever it was was stronger now, stronger than it had ever been, and his hooves began to tingle in anticipation.
“Help me,” he told Cozy as he started to pull away the strands of slime.
“Doesn’t this stuff look kinda familiar?” Cozy asked as they quietly ripped and tore at the strands of hardening goop. “You know, like that... ‘stuff’ Chrysalis puts out when she... uh you know?” She mimed the act of vomiting followed by slurping.
Tirek agreed with her. “It does resemble changeling secretion, but... it takes days for it to form like this. It begs the question of why is it here? What purpose could it be blocking this door off from the rest of the museum?”
The centaur and the filly ripped and tore the last of the strands of slime away from the door until they could comfortably walk through it. Tirek grasped the handle and turned it, only for it to be locked. Cozy coughed and jingled the keys at him, to which he rolled his eyes and took them from her. After the fifth one, the lock clicked, and he pushed the set of doors open with a wide swing. The stink of raw, twisted magic assaulted his nostrils, making him pinch his nose and grimace.
The large, mostly empty room had a few vases, paintings and artifacts lining the walls--exhibits to be gawked at by paying customers no doubt. Some ancient tribal masks and weapons from Farasi, a well worn scratching post from Abyssinia, a tennis ball--a tennis ball? According to the plaque beside it, it appeared to be some sort of religious artifact from the diamond dog homeland, Canida, first thrown by the so called ‘Master’. Amongst these objects was quite the menagerie of collected relics from across the world; each as old and mysterious as the last...
But there, at the centre of the room, and what drew his eye the most and made his heart leap into his throat and a cold sweat form on his brow, was a pedestal holding an open book. Not just any book, but the Necronomicon Ex Mortis itself. He recognised it from the ancient drawings and depictions of it he had once chased. The cursed and legendary tome written by the mad Saddle Arabian, bound in equine skin and inked with the blood of living creatures. What was worse, though, was the trail of black, iridescent slime that spewed forth from its cursed pages.
Shapeless congeries of protoplasmic bubbles formed and popped as the mass began to grow, disturbed by their presence, spilling out over the pedestal and onto the floor.
“What the bleep...” Cozy whispered beside him, gaping in a mix of curious wonder and fear at the black sludge.
As they moved forwards into the room some more Tirek’s hooves suddenly squelched under something gross and sticky and he looked down, grimacing at the thin trail of the same slime that had trickled towards him. He quickly stepped away and scraped it off of his hoof. Cozy pulled a face and stuck her tongue out as she looked down at it. “Eugh!” She grimaced and gagged. “It looks like the same stuff that comes outta ghosts. What is it?”
As the amoeba-like gelatinous slime began making a series of disgusting squelching and popping noises at the Knights, Cozy suddenly clutched at her head and groaned. Her wings faltered and began to flap unevenly, and she dropped to the ground. Tirek quickly caught her and lifted her up like a teddy bear, tucking her to his chest and letting her hang loosely in his arms. “Careful. Do not touch it,” he told her gently.
“It hurts to look at...” she mumbled blearily and shook her head. “Feels like I’m... flyyying... Whoooaaa...”
“We must inform Commander Tempest...” mumbled the centaur as he too began to feel the effects of the wretched slime poke and prod his mind.
It did indeed resemble the ectoplasmic gak left behind after a ghost’s appearance, but he knew this was something far more ancient and powerful. As the Necronomicon was clearly its source, he correctly assumed that the reason for them being there was a ruse, and this was no theft. He came to the conclusion that perhaps somepony had meddled in affairs far greater than themselves or anything in this world.
But who? And why? Questions that sorely needed answering would have to wait.
The living sludge, for it was indeed alive, popped and squelched again until a myriad of faintly luminous temporary eyes began forming and un-forming, fixing both the Knights present with the animalistic, hateful gaze of a creature born from the void. Some of them were lizard like, sporting vertical slits. Some held horizontal pupils like a goat’s, and some were round like a pony’s. All of them practically oozed malice as the beast began to grow, pulsing and swelling until it towered over even the centaur.
Tirek did a quick calculation in his head at how large he would have guessed it was. Roughly fifteen feet across and some twenty feet high, somehow it had been trapped in this room until they had opened the door. He surmised that whoever left it here and sealed the door shut had an inkling of what they were doing.
As the creature heaved and shifted towards them, Tirek jumped backwards extraordinarily quickly for someone of his size. Spurred perhaps by the innate desire to live that resided in all things, he hugged Cozy tight to his chest and slammed the doors shut as a gaping maw formed the foul creature’s mouth to reveal thousands upon thousands of razor sharp needle-like teeth. It lunged forwards, shrieking a dreadful cry of a nonsense language.
“Tekeli-li! Tekeli-li!”
He released Cozy from his protective grasp and looked her in the eye as he pressed his shoulder into the door, just in time to prevent it from escaping. Thankfully, the filly’s wings regained their uses as she couldn’t see the beast any longer, and she rubbed her head in confusion. “Cozy!” he barked at her. She looked at him dumbfoundedly as the creature thumped against the wooden door, cracking and splintering it. “Run!”
The filly snapped herself out of her dazed state and beat her wings furiously as she turned tail, only to pause and look back at him in concern. “You’re coming too, right?”
“Obviously,” he grunted at her and waved her away. “Go. Now!” He pushed himself away and began to gallop, with the filly tearing through the air beside him. The door, having nothing blocking it now, shattered and ripped its poor hinges away from the frame, and with another terrible shriek the beast charged after them, knocking paintings off of walls and scorching the ground beneath its wretched, malformed body.
“Tekeli-li! Tekeli-li!”
“What is this thing?!” Cozy howled as they thundered down the corridor, back towards their comrades.
Tirek panted and thrust a pillar holding up a no doubt ridiculously expensive vase--as fate would have it, the same one he had scolded Cozy for messing about with--down onto the beast’s path, hoping to slow it down. “An abomination!” he yelled as it moved over the pillar unfazed, crashing into a wall as they rounded a corner. “Mindless beasts bred to destroy and consume all in their path-”
The creature roared and slathered over the ground towards them, ripping through another exhibit and sending shards of debris through the air. Cozy tumbled through the air with the force of the shockwave until Tirek caught her. Together, they ran, until they spotted the curator’s office, and burst through the closed door.
The strange sight in front of him made a dozen questions appear in Tirek’s mind, as he saw Tempest and Chrysalis standing in front of and--probably--interrogating two reformed changelings, with the former queen positively quaking with rage at them. He made a mental note to learn what had transpired in his and the filly’s absence.
The centaur gasped for air and braced his back against the door as he heard the beast quickly approach, it’s murderous wet thumping sounds growing increasingly frantic and unruly. Cozy dove into the room and crashed against the table, panting and gasping for air as her small body quivered and shook.
“Report, Tirek,” Tempest Shadow barked, standing up straight and looking him in the eye.
“Shoggoth,” he breathed. “The Necronomicon Ex Mortis is still here. It was never stolen. Instead someone, intentionally or not, summoned a shoggoth.” He jerked forwards as the foul entity behind him crashed its massive body against the door.
The commander quickly sprung into action and joined him in barring the door as best they could. “Chrysalis, put the civilians somewhere safe,” she ordered, gesturing to the pair of young changelings.
The queen gladly obeyed with a cruel sneer, and started towards them. Her horn ignited and lifted the table up, overturning it to create a makeshift shield, and she grabbed her former subjects to angrily thrust them down and plant them behind it where they sat like children after being put on the naughty step.
Tirek jammed his shoulder against the door and snarled as a slithering tentacle wormed its way through a crack between his legs, only to be stamped on by the commander. It recoiled and a short shriek followed after it.
“Tekeli-li! Tekeli-li!” it wailed.
“Cozy, stay back,” Tempest grunted as it thumped against the door again. “Make sure they don’t interfere, and keep an eye on them.”
Cozy quickly saluted and flew over towards the pair of changelings as Chrysalis finally wrenched her hateful gaze away from them. The former queen cracked her neck and stood opposite Tirek and Tempest with a grimace on her face. “Stand aside,” she told them in a low growl as her form began to change. Green fire sprung up around her as it always did, and in her place a mighty ursa major stood, its size taking up a majority of the office space.
Tirek and Tempest glanced at one another before quickly diving out of the way. Chrysalis hurled her new massive body against the door. From the other side they could hear some wet slapping noises and another awful shriek. The shoggoth appeared stunned, confused almost by the sudden burst of strength railing against it, until it shrieked again and redoubled its efforts.
“Tekeli-li! Tekeli-li!”
The commander rounded on Tirek. “What do we do?” she asked him. “What’s a shoggoth, and how do we beat one?”
Tirek shook his head and looked around the room. “I’d be happier to explain more in detail when it is dead, although I’m not certain we can defeat it in physical or magical combat,” he confessed. “I believe it would take nothing short of a bolt of pure lightning, or perhaps even the Elements of Harmony themselves, to destroy one for good.” He hesitated and thought for a moment as he remembered what he saw. “Unless...”
“Unless?” Tempest queried, looking at the door as the wall shook and began to crack.
Tirek dragged a hand down his face and tapped his chin with his finger. “It was spawned from the Necronomicon, and is still connected to it. If we can close the book and cut it off from its source... maybe. Maybe...” He tapped his chin and continued to think.
Chrysalis growled and shifted her hulking body as the shoggoth continued to pound against the door. The wall above both her and it continued to crack, and a dozen black, slimy tentacles began to break through.
Tempest took aim and fired up at them, singing and severing them where she could, to which Cozy then jumped up and down and stamped on the ones that continued to wriggle on the ground before she darted back behind cover.
Tirek looked over at the pair of changelings, at their wide eyes watching him from behind the overturned table. “We need a distraction,” Cozy murmured with a glint in her eye, seemingly pondering what he was pondering. She leered towards them. “Something to lure it away while we can get to that book.”
The commander turned to look at them, and then at the changelings. She pursed her lips and jutted her head from side to side. “No. Absolutely not. I’ll lure it away, you get to that book,” she snapped at the pegasus. “We don’t use civilians as live bait, Cozy Glow.”
“I wasn’t-”
Cozy balked and glanced at Tirek, who simply raised a finger to his lips. “The bear and I will keep the civilians from getting in the way,” he said.
“Good,” Tempest replied with a respectful nod. She looked around the room and frowned. “First I need a way around the blasted thing though,” she murmured.
“Um... Miss Shadow?” came a shy, tentative voice. One of the changelings, the light purple one, raised his head gingerly over the upturned table as he stood with trembling legs. The Knights all turned to look at him expectantly and disdainfully. Civilians never fared very well in these types of situations. “Th-there’s a small ledge outside the window,” he said, and looked towards the large window of the office. “You can use it to come around to another office and slip past the thing there.”
Tempest followed his gaze and nodded. “That’ll do,” she grumbled. “Tirek give me a hand.”
Tirek stepped closer towards the window and helped her pull it open. It stuck for a moment, but with a short heave and a sharp tug it came free. A gale of wind and rain billowed into the room, quickly drenching them and forming a small puddle on the floor.
Chrysalis snorted and looked away as her body heaved forwards again. If ursa majors could speak, Tirek thought, then no doubt her royal majesty would be cursing their situation and call the changelings worms, slugs or some combination of the two, and bemoan them for unleashing a shoggoth. He suspected that they were the ones who gooed up the door, and possibly knew something about the shoggoth, or even the Necronomicon itself. As the curator of the museum was nowhere in sight, he also suspected one of the changelings to be him. Most likely the purple one, although one could never be too sure with changelings--reformed or not.
Any train of thought he might have had was interrupted by a loud screeching sound on the other side of the door.
“Tekeli-li! Tekeli-li!”
“Ugh why does it keep screaming that?” Cozy grumbled as she covered her ears up. “Boy, shoggoths sure do make a lot of noise don’t they?”
Tempest stepped closer to the window, ignoring her attempt at a light-hearted comment. “Cozy, get ready to move. You remember the way?”
“Uh huh,” Cozy groaned as she removed her hooves from her ears.
“Good. As soon as the door’s clear, run. Find the book and lets send this thing back to where it came from.”
The filly swallowed and bristled her wings. “Sure, Tempy. Leave it to me.” She spoke with clear determination and focus, a contrast to her usual casualness and joking, carefree attitude.
Tirek placed a hand gently on her head for some reassurance he thought she needed, and looked down at her as he rubbed one of her ears between his finger and thumb in a rare show of affection, however small it may have been.
“Thanks, big guy,” she mumbled, and patted his hand.
Tempest observed them quietly, and none of them noticed a small smile appear on her face. “When you’re ready, Tirek. Give me a boost.”
He removed his hand from the child’s head and lifted up the commander to help her onto the window’s ledge. With the rain and wind coming down hard, and amidst the unnatural greyness of the world, Tempest was all but invisible save for the light blue stripes of her uniform. Very quickly she was taking on the appearance of a drowned rat as well as her mane clung to her scalp and her neck. “You were right after all, Chrysalis,” she murmured. “There is no such thing as luck...” She disappeared into the rain, inching towards her goal.
“One more thing before you go, Cozy,” he said to the filly as they all turned to the door and waited. “When you reach the book, before you even touch it, recite these words. Listen very carefully, and pay attention. Klaatu, verata, nikto. It is vitally important that you say those words. Who knows what could happen otherwise.”
Cozy waved a hoof at him. She pressed her teeth into her lower lip as the shoggoth roared again. “Yeah, yeah, yeah, I got it,” she said without looking. “You guys worry about yourselves, alright? I got this.”
A flash of lightning appeared in the cracks, followed shortly by shriek. The wet thumping sounds that the shoggoth made faded away as it tore after the commander, no doubt who of which was giving it a world of trouble. Cozy glanced back to look at his face.
“Hey?” she murmured. “Don’t die today, alright? It’d kinda suck.”
Tirek chortled and glanced over at the ursine major and shared a knowing look with her as her form began to change. Chrysalis took a few ragged breaths, exhausted from having to keep a shoggoth at bay on her own. Her wings fluttered weakly, and one of them was bent into a distorted angle, making her wince and grunt in pain as she corrected it with a quiet snap. “What, do you want a goodbye kiss?” she rasped before slumping to the ground and panting for air. “Hurry up you dull creature, before it comes back and has its way with us all.”
Turning back to the small pegasus, his first friend in the world, Tirek looked her in the eye and said, “I suspect we shall be fine, Cozy Glow. Go.”
***
Cozy floated over the wreckage that was the once locked door to the Mysteries of the Unknown exhibits and winced. “Geez that thing really did a number on this place, huh?” she mumbled to herself. Several of the rare artifacts had been smashed, and the Abyssinian scratching post had been coated in vile sludge. “Oof, that’s gonna be expensive...”
She pretended to push up her non existent sleeves and licked her lips as she drifted towards her target, the cursed book open. “Alright, book,” she growled at the Necronomicon, “get ready for the closing of a lifetime.” Taking care to avoid looking directly at the trail of black slime left behind by the beast, she reached out to the pedestal, only to stop and catch herself.
“Whoa... hold on a moment. Tirek’s words, right. The magic words.”
She quickly cleared her throat and spoke as loudly as she could. “Klaatu... verata... N... hmm...” She paused, and her eyes widened. Her eyebrows scrunched together slightly and she looked back down at the book. “Ah geez, necktie... nickel... nectar... agh!” She thrust her hooves up in frustration and tapped her chin.
She could hear them all now, everyone she ever knew. Mocking her. Berating her. Cozy never listens. Cozy’s just a child, what does she know? Cozy Glow, the only pegasus in a family of unicorns, what a disappointment. Why doesn’t she listen? Why can’t she do anything right? Why was she ever-
“Shut up! I’m trying!” Cozy yelled to the empty room as a fresh tears formed in her eyes. She quickly rubbed them and placed her hooves on either side of her head. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “C’mon, Terry. Mind meld with me... Think, Cozy... think!”
She squeezed her eyes shut, willing the right word to come to her. A vein in her forehead popped out. Her face began turning purple with strain, and the word, that single, solitary word continued to elude her despite it teetering on the edge of her memory.
“Nicole, kneecap, knickers, knickerbocker... ugh it sounded like tick-tack-toe didn’t it? Knack... knick... toe?”
There it was. She kissed her hooves and waved them in the air. “Ha! Told you I could do it!” she cheerfully cried and looked back down at the book as the roar of the shoggoth sounded through the entire museum. She heard the crack of lightning followed by the zap of magic as Tempest fought the wretched monster.
“Oh, right, yeah. Ahem. Ahhhheeemmm.”
She held both hooves out either side of the book and spoke loudly, calmly and clearly. “Klaatu, verata, nikto!”
She slammed the book shut triumphantly, and waited for something to happen. The trail of sludge pouring out of the book snapped, severed at the base like a docked tail, and it dropped to the ground with a wet plop, making her grimace and pull a face in disgust.
“Ew.”
Cozy bit her lip again and continued to wait.
And then...
At first it started with a rumble, like an earthquake, picking up until the entire room shook. As she was floating and flapping her wings, the filly remained unmoved by the rumbling, and could only wince as several relics toppled over and crashed onto the ground, probably costing somepony thousands of bits. The rumbling stopped, and next came the howl and shriek of a large creature in intense pain. The book began to tremble and wrenched itself free of her grasp, where she floated backwards and looked up at it. The slime trail leading out of the room began to recede, to dissolve into nothing--following an almighty shriek and one final gargled cry of the shoggoth as it slugged its way into view.
“Tek... eli-liii! Teeekkk... eli-liiiii...”
The shoggoth reached out, grasping with failing tendrils of living slime as it began to dissolve and fade away, leaving only scorch marks where it once rested, and then...
Silence.
The book stopped trembling and dropped to the ground. Cozy grabbed one of the Farasi tribal sticks that had spilled out onto the floor and poked it a few times to make sure it wasn’t going to eat her or anything. Confident--fairly confident--it in fact wouldn’t eat her, she set the stick down and gingerly picked up the book.
Now she got a good look a it, it looked like it had a face on the cover, contorted and twisted into a mask of hate and pain, and felt strangely fuzzy. It was surprisingly warm, too. Like touching another pony. She swore she felt it rise and fall for a brief moment as she held it, like it was breathing.
“Weird...” she mumbled.
The sound of movement and a few ragged breaths behind her made her spin around and breathe a sigh of relief. “Oh it’s you, Tempy,” she chortled nervously upon spotting the commander. She waved the book in the air. “I did it. Oh... are you hurt?”
Tempest had a thin scorch mark on her face, no doubt where the shoggoth had slapped her at some point and held one leg above the ground. Her uniform was ripped and torn, and she had several bruises showing on what parts of her body weren’t covered up. She rasped deep, raggedy breaths and pulled her head up. “I’m fine,” she said stubbornly, and nodded to the book. “Is that it, then?”
Cozy shrugged and looked at it in her hooves. “Think so. It’s not doing anything else, so...”
The commander nodded firmly and turned to leave.
The pegasus quickly flew over to her and clutched at the dangerous book. Even so, she still extended a hoof and tried to help the unicorn as best she could.
“Thanks. Good job, Cozy,” Tempest said to her quietly, and smiled at her as she took the outstretched hoof and hobbled away. “You did good here. I’m proud of you.”
Cozy felt a sense of pride and self-worth swell within her. Nopony had ever said they were proud of her before, and she felt a newfound respect for the commander begin to form.
“Ugh let’s take the day off tomorrow,” Tempest grumbled as they turned to leave, making Cozy rouse out of her own thoughts and snicker out loud. The unicorn hobbled with the aid of the filly, muttering and cursing under her breath. “Call in sick or something...”
“You wanna get some pancakes?” the filly asked with a grin. “I saw a place on our way in but, I, uh... didn’t want to say anyth-”
“You know I could kill for some sugar right now?” the dark unicorn chuckled, earning a wide smile from the little pegasus. “But we need to deal with those two first,” she said, pointing towards where the curator’s office was.
Cozy nodded, her smile fading as she suddenly remembered the changelings. “Yeah what gives? Who were they? Where’s that curator guy?”
“We’re about to find out. C’mon.”
***
Heavy was the mind burdened with knowledge.
Director Luna looked up the steps to the Manehattan Museum of Natural History with narrowed, piercing eyes. The officers around her watched her quietly and carefully, and kept the crowd off of her as best they could, taking great care not to draw the gaze of either of the massive black stallions on either side of the former princess.
Doom and Gloom, the cheeriest ponies the director knew, snorted like equines of old as they waited for direction. Whether the midnight alicorn was former princess or not, they were her right and left hooves, even more so than the Nightmare Knights, and would accompany her into Tartarus itself if she asked them to.
Speaking of the Nightmare Knights, Luna furrowed her brow and remembered the message she had received. Time was a valuable commodity these days, and she didn’t have any to spare wasting away out here when she was needed in there.
Her horn ignited as she effortlessly ripped away the yellow warding tape obstructing her path and began the ascent. The steps were glistening wet, and a few rays of her sister’s sunlight--no, Twilight’s sunlight, she corrected herself--were shining down over the city. She quickly gathered that the storm that had ended recently had not been a natural one if the remnants of dull grey clouds were anything to go by.
“Doom. Gloom,” she said upon reaching the door. She never needed to say anything more than their names for them to understand what she wanted of them.
The former marched forwards and opened the door while the latter stepped inside and looked around. After a few short minutes he snorted and gave a grunt of approval to his partner, who moved in as silent as the wind despite his size. Luna held her head up high and entered after them, only to immediately step on a piece of rubble and look around at the carnage.
She felt a small headache begin to form on the side of her head. She’d need to get the reconstruction crews down here and compensate the museum for any damages incurred. Thankfully Twilight gave her the budget she needed, so money wouldn’t be an issue, but even so there would need to be a lot of replicas made.
Stepping over an overturned and time-worn column from the early days of Equestria’s first regency, her ear twitched in annoyance as she heard the Knights’ voices drift into earshot. They were arguing. Again. Why were they always arguing? She couldn’t hear precisely what about at this distance, but assumed it was about the reason she had been summoned.
Following their voices she moved through the museum silently, gliding over some of the carnage and wreckage, and as she rounded a corner she spotted a cracked and charred wall. That, coupled with the raised voices and traces of foul eldritch energy in the air, told her that that where where they currently her, no doubt resting after facing down a shoggoth.
Luna paused in her stride and tittered to herself, shaking her head slowly with a small grin on her lips as she listened to the Knights continue to bicker. In a way, they reminded her of how she and her sister used to be, and still were at times; frequently bickering, yet came together when needed. She took a deep breath and her smile faded. She needed to be the their boss now, not their friend, despite how happy it made her to see evidence of them working as one, and how heavy her mind may have been at this current time.
She pressed her hoof against the door at the centre of the scorched wall and pushed it open, where it didn’t open so much as it did fall inwards with a loud clatter.
The Nightmare Knights, plus two uncomfortable looking changelings, turned to look at her and the room fell into a deathly silence as she entered. The director gave all present a courteous nod, noting Tempest Shadow’s torn and tattered uniform, not to mention her injured leg and bruised body. Chrysalis too looked slightly injured, albeit not as much as the commander, while Tirek and Cozy Glow both looked unharmed, with the latter holding onto the Necronomicon Ex Mortis like it would slip out of her grasp given the chance.
Despite her injuries, the commander still stood up straight on three legs and saluted as best as she could in response. “Director,” she said calmly with a wince as she lowered her hoof. “We weren’t expecting to see you here.”
“Commander,” Luna replied with a polite nod. She took a look around the room, then focused her attention at the two changelings with a reserved expression. “I came as soon as I received your message. Report.”
Tempest frowned and glanced sideways to her team, who shrugged and looked just as confused as she did. “I didn’t-”
“I’m sorry, Commander, but she means us,” interrupted one of the changelings in a calm and collected voice. The light purple one, along with his partner, saluted and held up his head high. “Agent Nectar, ma’am, and Agent Ambrosia as requested.”
Luna gave them both a nod of acknowledgement, feeling the temperature of the room increase as tempers began to rise.
“The situation escalated quicker than we had anticipated,” continued Agent Ambrosia to a room of silence and swallowed. She looked around at the Knights and trembled slightly. “The Nightmare Knights had to be called in to assist, and they did not disappoint. The shoggoth has been destroyed and the Necronomicon Ex Mortis has been pacified, but unfortunately we were unable to ascertain who the culprit was for summoning it, or even if they still live.”
Luna could feel the judgement, bitterness and resentment positively radiate from the Knights as she nodded. “I see. Thank you, agents,” she said quietly. With a flap of her wings Doom and Gloom stepped to one side, freeing up the doorway. “When you leave, get the reconstruction team down here ASAP, and if any of the media ask you any questions, tell them the museum is undergoing refurbishment and is closed until further notice.”
The pair of changelings clicked their hooves together and saluted her again. “Yes, ma’am!” they barked in unison, and hurried away to do her bidding with the glares of the Nightmare Knights clinging to them like cobwebs. On his way out, Agent Nectar glanced back at Tempest Shadow, and gave her something of an apologetic, albeit unreciprocated, smile before disappearing from view.
Luna turned to look at the Knights, while Doom and Gloom both bristled behind her and flapped their bat-like wings. Their pale green eyes scanned the room as silently as they always did, and the tension that filled the room fell so heavily it could have been cut with a knife.
“I apologise for the deception, Knights,” the director said. “But in this current climate of ours secrecy is key. The less you know the safer you will be in the long run.”
Chrysalis curled her lip and bared her fangs at her. “Is that all you have to say”? she snarled.
Tirek reached out to prevent her from taking a step forwards. He silently shook his head as she turned to him in fury as he balled his hands into fists, seething with quiet rage, while Cozy Glow folded her hooves and scowled.
Luna pulled her head up and looked them all in the eye one by one. “Again, I can only apologise, but I felt the best course of action was to not involve you unless it was necessary to do so.”
“How is that even remotely true?” Chrysalis growled, pushing past Tirek’s arm and taking a firm step towards the alicorn, who remained unfazed and unflinching in the face of such rage. “Necessary to do so?! You puffed up, ignorant-” She flinched, so overcome with such anger and ferocity that she cut herself off. “And what possible use could you have for those slugs in your employ?” she eventually sneered, jabbing a hoof after Agents Nectar and Ambrosia.
“Who better to move about unseen and gather intelligence than a changeling?” the director fired back with a cocked eyebrow and ears facing forwards. “Surely you of all creatures would know the answer to that, Chrysalis.”
The former queen curled her lip upwards again and opened her mouth to begin berating her until Tempest stamped her hoof, bringing all eyes towards the dark unicorn. She held her head up and took a few steps forwards until she was nose to nose with the director. She ground her jaw, seemingly looking for the right words.
“You disapprove of my methods, Commander?” Luna said, coldly looking ahead as the dark mare remained silent. “Well too bad. We’re in this for the survival of everything we hold dear. This is a bigger operation than you may have thought it was, and sometimes instead of a hammer I need scalpel.”
Instead of retaliation as expected, Tempest simply sighed and narrowed her eyes. “Ambrosia said there was a culprit,” she muttered. Her tone of voice was full of her usual professionalism and stoicism, although her eyes held a raging inferno of restrained fury. “Do we know anything about them? Who they are? What they want?”
Luna felt her resolve wane for a split second, the question posed to her catching her off guard slightly and she looked down at the broken horned unicorn. “Other than they are the enemy, there is very little we have been unable to obtain on them. There are forces greater than anything we have ever seen at work here, Knights,” she added pensively. “More powerful than simple ghosts and spirits.”
Behind the commander, the Knights murmured and grumbled amongst each other before she stamped her hoof again, bringing them into silence once more. “And what do we do about the Necronomicon?” she asked, keeping her attitude calm and stabilized.
“I’ll take it back to Canterlot for safe keeping,” the director replied. “There is room there for such a dangerous artifact.”
Tempest nodded and jerked her head sideways, towards her team. “Cozy.”
Cozy flitted forwards with the book in her hooves. She reluctantly held it out to the alicorn, who took it in her magic gratefully, then flitted backwards to rest on Tirek’s arm.
Luna traced a hoof over its cover, feeling its dark energy course through the air. “I understand that lies and deceptions are unpleasant, Knights,” she said quietly as she tucked the tome under one of her wings. “But even though you may be kept in the dark for now, you are still our brightest beacons, and our first line of defence.”
Sensing the displeasure on the air like the scent of burnt toast despite what she thought were some inspirational words, Luna sighed and turned away. “Return to your home, Knights. You’ve earned some rest.”
“That’s it?” Cozy mumbled sulkily. “Wham, bam, thank you for doing a good job now get outta here?”
Luna turned back to look at her. She poked around among her teeth with her tongue for a moment before adding, “I hear the pancakes at Aunt May’s are the best in Manehattan. I’ve also heard there is a limited time special offer: Free service for saviours of the city.”
The corner of Tempest’s mouth twitched upwards in what could have been considered a smile for the briefest of seconds, while Cozy Glow’s face lit up like a Hearth’s Warming tree.
“Whoa, really? Terry you hear that?” she whispered excitedly, tugging at the centaur’s arm.
Luna kept her head held up high as she left them to their own machinations once again. The Necronomicon pulsed under her wing, making her head itch and causing her tongue to feel fuzzy. She hoped the pages within it could elucidate some sorely needed answers for her, as cursed and wretched as it was.
A dark shadow had crept up into Equestria, one she was very reluctant to see return. She could sense it even now, gnawing at the back of her mind like a bad headache.
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Another nice chapter. It is nice to see how the world is building up piece by piece
I'm always craving for Chrysalis adventuring kind of fics so thanks for writing it.
You got this Necrominomicon idea from The Evil Dead or just general fanstasy thing?
Isn't Chrysalis going a little over line? I guess since it's on the mission Tempest give her some slack, but I expceted some scolding from captain in this point
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at one point it was even being set in Klugetown and had a whole certain Esoteric Order taking centre stage. 
Funnily enough this chapter started off as an Evil Dead parody. Originally there was going to be an Ash J. Williams type of character in possession of the Necronomicon, which the Knights would learn about, thanks to Cozy's channel surfing, because he was using it to commune with spirits on a talk show, and they'd have to go and retrieve it before something bad happened. But I just couldn't work it out, so I changed it to Cthulhu Mythos stuff instead--and even then it's changed so many names and locales that I don't remember my original notes
Having said that, the Evil Dead franchise is one of my favourites so I'm definitely going to sprinkle in some references here and there.
Considering they were up to some shady shenanigans, I like to think Tempest is willing to overlook how she treats them here.
It wouldn't be that much different if they were ponies after all.
Well, even if it's not the Evil Dead, it should still be interesting.
Huh, I pegged Chryssie for a closet soap opera fan.
I think she's being much too nice to them, they're not even whimpering for their worthless lives like the traitorous vermin they are. :3
'were n the presence' - in
Cozy watching that weird soap opera was cute. I wonder what else she typically watches.
I like how you built up the Necronomicon. Tirek's reaction alone really sold how dangerous it was and seeing the team take on a Shaggoth was a lot of fun as was seeing the character developments of Tirek and Cozy and that bit into Cozy's backstory. I do wonder what Luna's hiding though. I hope that she'll be someday forced to spit it out to the team. They deserve to know everything.
As smart as Cozy is, she's still an easily distracted child, is seems.
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Shady indeed, like a laser grid with no safety switch. Really enjoying all this worldbuilding!
This whole chapter’s giving Night At The Museum vibes. It’s beautiful.
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Wasn't my intention but I love Night at the Museum too so I'll take it 
Really?
I thought the title of the soap opera was a poor translation (in one or both directions), I think it was about the time the volcano was mentioned I realized it may have been ENTIRELY intentional...
Perhaps he sent them home to get some privacy to read it? Could also be the janitor, but I doubt it. Also, the way he talked about its arrival makes it sound like he wasn't expecting it? IF I am not misreading that (and there is a large chance I am misreading it), I wonder if a certain beige and gray Rainbow Dash recolor sent it in as a way of getting rid of it that was so obvious that it wouldn't occur to her enemies?
Smart guess, and narratively, having it spoken aloud st this stage makes it much less likely to be true. Odds increased of "the
butlerjanitor did it" and while it could be someone else (staff or not), this actually makes that slightly LESS likely to me. Still very much possible, but SLIGHTLY less likely.Okay, if he did it, it is almost.certainly out of a misguided belief that at least some of the knowledge in it can be turned to good.... if only via giving insight into how to counter lesser evil spells... he who has devised (but never needed to use) a sound plan of how to kill a rabid lioness has a leg up on how to kill a rabid wolf, to coin a concept.
Possession (without access to the victim's memories) or shapeshifter... Yeah, Chrissy has it covered. Isolating himself from anypony who knows the real curator would be a sensible move for a villain too.
Good way to be sure... I suspect she might even try to feed on him, but in either case will soon declare something along the lines of "How curious then that I find no love in your heart..." perhaps immediately followed by turning into a war-form.
(Will continue this in a separate message later.)
Ah, kept the real curator, or perhaps the janitor alive. If the curator, it might be that, to differentiate this creature's shape shifting from that of a Changeling, you elected to say they need a LIVE subject to copy, probably either within a certain range, or with periodic samples. The social conditions would make it at least somewhat similar to Polyjuice Potion from The Potterverse, but perhaps something more gruesome, for instance, a quarter cup of blood drunk directly, rather than hair put in a potion.
So she was well ahead of things? Interesting. I had no clue. But that makes sense a receiver such as her. She would plausibly not give clues when she is paying attention.
Also "worm" could be at least somewhat literal. The other strong possibility is that she is reading negative love (NOT hate) from him and that that is a property of some sort of super-windigo that can take Pony form.
Was NOT expecting that... cultist seems unlikely since the description SEEMS to be of a "skittle-bug", but it could be another hive if your fanon includes those. Might have stolen the Necronomicon to try to destroy it, knowing the real curator would be unwilling... the bumping from the cupboard could be came because " duh, I trying to be a good thug here, of course I'm not going to kill anypony" or The Necronomicon could have become self-mobile for the moment and be trying to escape.
Again, you surprise me. Maybe she was there to play the role of the janitor, and they didn't think she could pull it off well without the positional authority of "curator" to steer the interrogation a bit. Could even be Ocellus having been talked into using her knowledge of spell craft* to try to destroy the book. Of course, you will probably conic in us to surprise me rather than this guess being correct.
*She studied under Twilight and had/has access to her library.
"woefully" has connotations of inadequacy and/or weakness. You may want another word.
As far as statements that refine my understanding, king informs me there are almost.certainly not multiple hives in this setting, at least not of "skittle-bugs".
"Secure" as in "take", or " secure" as in "magically seal shut"? Probably the former... In addition, I suspect, but am not sure, that they were given a trick spell.
Joke: Meh... just have Discord give the guy a lift home. They live near each other after all...
((Will probably edit in further comments within the next few hours (perhaps more than once), and/or start a new comment tomorrow.))
I found myself wondering the same thing. Guess her "mischief" said something, and her "tactician" aspect never got around to working through the implications? Or she thought that Video would use the excuse more liberally that situation sticking to the stated goal of the excuse?
Interesting point... I really don't get the idea they actually like each other at all on a personal level. They have enough loyalty to try to save each other from danger, but they have no desire for each other's company.
Maybe they are supposed to have hidden depths I am not seeing?
Maybe they are TRYING to like each other because if you have to follow the rules to avoid petrification, why not give the thing that your enemies claimed let you defeat them a shot?
Edit: I am in a slightly poor mood.just at the moment for reasons that have ZERO to do with this story. I may read without commenting for a bit... or I might comment... who knows. As usual comments might or might not be edits instead of a new post.
So he can tell its age? Even if so, his phrasing seems off since Chrysalis had Celestia in pod strong enough to hang her from the ceiling in what was probably less than an hour.
*Snerk*
Oddly enough, NO *snerk*.
Consider "These were quite the menagerie..." or something. The word "amongst" gives.the impression that some of the objects were very boring, even in context. A tennis ball is boring. (A tennis ball displayed in a museum for antiquities is not.)
Bonus points if you manage to work in a reference to the G1 Smooze.
So the slime on the door really IS changeling slime and is separate from the ooze from the book? I might have only missed it because I am tired right now, but a bit more emphasis on the visual differences might (or might not) be indicated.
Must be a VERY small imitation of one since the ursa minor stands about three stories tall, and I doubt the office of a museum curator is palatial large to begin with... I suspect if an ursa major ripped.off the appropriate wall from Canterlot Palace it MIGHT be able to squeeze into the ballroom where the Grand Galloping Gala is held... MAYBE.
Nice "close call" aversion. She's a professional after all, so wasn't going to be as careless as the original. Still might have gone ahead if time got too short...
Again, she demonstrates she is a professional.
Not sure if scaredy-cat, professional, or both? When it comes to powerful evil artifacts that you don't know all the details on (that is Tirek, not her) "properly paranoid" is a good mindset to have.
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Hmmm... I would find Soap!Chrysalis (Soapsalis?) a bit OOC, but that is sorta.the point I think?
But really, people getting seduced into cheating, identical twins, nefarious plots... Sounds like her everyday work back when she was queen... albeit usually at the managerial level, but still... Meh, I guess that could be what make her like them now that I work through it. Vicariously reliving her glory days by rooting for the villains!