The Pillars of Equestria: The Temple of Enyalius

by Wise Cracker

The Fallen Apple

“You know, in hindsight, following the giant flying snake into a black hole may have been a bad idea.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Stygian,” Star Swirl replied. “That wasn’t a black hole at all. It was very, very dark blue.”

“More of a muddy brown to me,” said Meadowbrook.

“I thought it looked a bit greenish myself,” Rockhoof remarked. “Then again, I was looking more at the shrine. I’m surprised she didn’t thrash it on her way in.”

“Me too,” Flash Magnus added, rubbing his wings against his sides. “Odd construction, too, I didn’t recognise the pillar style. Wasn’t built by anything from Epona.”

“Nor any desert ponies,” Somnanbula added. “The design looked familiar, though, I’m sure our scholars would know what it is. Oh, and I saw it more as a dark red, actually. Perhaps it looks different depending on the observer?”

“It’s possible.” Mistmane hmm-ed for a moment, ever the expert on matters of colour. “To say nothing of its texture. Black holes don’t have that smoothness about them.”

Stygian sighed. “Alright, so it was not a black hole. Still, pursuing the thing this far was not a clever move. Does anyone know where we are?”

The seven ponies looked around. The place they were in was dark, and judging from how his companions' voices and the bells on his hat resonated with the place, Star Swirl estimated it was vast. He took a deep breath in through his nose, and felt how the air seemed distant, somehow, reminding him of the early days of Canterlot, when he could look out of his library tower and see nothing but wilderness before him. Looking down, he found that light didn’t work the way it should in here: there were circles of brightness on the ground where their shadows should have been, and the room offered perfect visibility despite having no visible light source anywhere, nothing powerful, at least.

“Let’s see if we can shed some light on the situation,” Star Swirl said.

All at once, the wall before them was revealed, and Star Swirl’s gaze fell upon an alcove littered with floating statues, a three-dimensional mural of sorts depicting a whole host of animals locked in combat. A herd of deer butted heads with a crash of rhinos, a pride of lions swiped up at a flock of eagles that was harassing them with their claws, bats and birds were sprinkled about, it looked like the record of a battle, to be sure, but none Star Swirl could recall happening.

The wall the scene had been placed in was high enough and wide enough to suggest a chamber fit for a dragon.

As soon as his brain registered that fact, he also realised he hadn’t actually gotten around to casting any spell. Something else had turned the lights on for them.

“Ahem,” a voice boomed from behind them. “I believe you’re looking for this?”

The seven ponies turned as one, and Star Swirl’s heart sank. Before him, floating in a shimmering bubble of energy, hung the creature they’d been hunting: Ouro, a giant blue snake and a conjurer of remarkable power, as evidenced by her ethereal tailtip seemingly fading into a transparent night sky, marking her as a spawn of Aurelion the Night Serpent, according to Stygian. Ouro and her brother had been ravaging pony settlements for months, summoning elemental horrors to level towns and threaten ponies into submission. The brother, Boros, had fallen before them a week earlier, thanks to some judicious application of transmutation magic from both Meadowbrook and Star Swirl as well as some quick thinking and an impressive curved shield toss from Flash Magnus.

Clearly the magic hadn’t quite taken full effect, though, because Boros was also present, and hanging in the same sort of bubble his sister was. That was the second thing Star Swirl noticed.

The third thing he noticed was the golden apple between them: about fifty staves in diameter, if he had to guess, making it larger than the two half-ethereal snakes it, presumably, held in its magic. In the center, there was a simple engraving: a capital ‘Q’, in Arcane Ponish, a glyph that could mean anything from 'infinity' to 'the void,' depending on which scholar one asked. There was a yellow halo around the apple, that grew and shrank like ripples on water when it spoke.

“Well, this is certainly a surprise,” it said. “First these two interlopers come crashing into my domain, hoping for a taste of my power, then the fourteen of you come barging in right after.”

“Oh, Sun, Moon, and Stars, we’ve really done it now,” Stygian swore. “We ran right into Mount Enyalius!”

“Oh, you do know where you are, goodie!” the voice called out. “That’ll save us so much time. Not that time is of any concern here, of course. Neither is space, incidentally, so leave direction and sense at the door, please, if you can find the door, that is. I’m sure there is one, somewhere.”

Star Swirl’s brow furrowed.

“What do you mean, fourteen? There’s only seven of us!” Star Swirl called out.

That is to say, Star Swirl heard his voice calling it out. He couldn’t remember calling it out, but he had to admit, he had a good point in bringing up the apple’s apparent lack of basic mathematical skills. Then he looked to his left, only to find himself looking right back.

Shadows parted like mist, more of that confounding lightless visibility flowed into space that wasn’t there a few seconds ago, and the seven ponies were faced with another party of seven. Star Swirl recognised his own eyes immediately, as well as the grey pattern of his mane and tail, even if the mane had been cut short and the tail had been shaven bald for all but the tip, giving the Unicorn more of a lion’s aspect. He did not, however, recognise the hard, toned musculature of his counterpart, or the red snake tattoos marking the arms and legs, or the brown tortoise shell pattern painted on the back, and he certainly didn’t recognise the grey feather pattern over the top of the neck. All of it was exposed, too, since he only wore a wide scarf around his neck, golden and dotted with symbols. The tattoos almost appeared to be a cutie mark that covered the whole body. This other Star Swirl lacked a cutie mark on the thighs, it was certainly possible.

He tried to remember what that kind of pattern resembled, there was some symbolism about tortoise shells combined with lion's tails he'd read about a while ago, but he couldn't place it.

Taking in the situation, he noticed his companions were faced with similar mirror images. Mistmane was met with a Unicorn who matched her magical aura and the wavy motion of her mane, but who still had all the features of a beautiful Unicorn mare in her prime. Rockhoof found himself staring at a stallion as gigantic as himself, but covered head to hoof in all-obscuring plate armour, as well as being blessed with a set of wings and a horn, likewise covered in shiny metal. Meadowbrook looked over to a mare who was her body double save that she kept her mane much shorter, almost in a military fashion, and she dressed differently, with bandages around her lower limbs and no skirt. She also conspicuously lacked a herb pouch, instead carrying what looked like a set of a knitting needles in two little packs strapped to her sides. Somnanbula’s counterpart, aside from being perhaps a lighter shade of pink, seemed to differ only in that she carried a lute on her back. Stygian saw that his counterpart was even smaller and meeker than he was, and that the little thing stayed completely hidden under a long white cloak with green trimmings. Star Swirl thought he caught the glint of gold under there. Flash Magnus, finally, stood face to face with his twin, if said twin had been given a bit more cash to splurge on ornate jewelled armour, short-sleeved but not all-encompassing. The Unicorn could sense the faint throb of magic in those gems, even from afar, but when he extended his senses further he couldn’t detect any source of magic in them, meaning whatever charge they held came from elsewhere. This twin also did not carry Flash’s iconic shield.

“Who are you?” asked Star Swirl.

“I am Star Swirl the Shaven,” said the other Star Swirl. “These are my companions: Mistmane, Tumbleweed, Rockhoof, Sir Flash Magnus, Stygian, and Somnanbula. We are the Pillars of Equestria. Our home continent was frozen over, cursed by monsters, so our people moved in great numbers to this new land. But as we settled we have been met by… new abominations, awoken by our presence. And yourself?”

“I am Star Swirl the Bearded. That little one over there is Stygian,” he pointed to the smaller Unicorn. “The rest of us, also, call ourselves the Pillars of Equestria. Our story is identical to yours, I’d say. Our names are, except for Tumbleweed. Our healer is named Meadowbrook.”

The other Star Swirl looked over to Meadowbrook and smiled. “Ah, yes, I recognise the dress, I think I see what’s going on. Well, interesting as it is, this complicates things. I take it you were chasing the female serpent?”

“We were. We dispatched some of her wisps, but she managed to get in here before we could pin her down.”

“And her brother?”

“Taken care of a week or two ago. We were hoping to take at least one alive, to extract some arcane secrets and aid us in our, shall we say, enduring predicament. I’m assuming it is the other way around with you?”

The muscled Star Swirl nodded. “We were hoping for the same, and for the same reason. Doesn’t take a genius to see what’s going on. We’re on some sort of crossroads for different timelines: same ponies with a different history. The snakes thought they could hide in here, or curry favour with the spirit of the temple, and undo our work, no doubt.”

“Ah, anypony mind explaining what we’re dealing with here? I don’t think I know this one,” Rockhoof said.

The metal-clad Rockhoof on the other team was much better informed on the matter. “This is the Temple of Mount Enyalius. It contains a spirit of change, evolution, one who was ancient when the world was young.”

“Let us out!” The male snake hissed from above, rattling his star-dotted tail in anger. “We will deal with these ponies ourselves.”

“Yesss, brother, all I wanted was to bring you back. Now that you are here, we can return to businesss...” Ouro added, squirming in her bonds.

“Ah ah. My house, my rules,” said the spirit. “I agree with you snakes on one thing: every villain needs a hero to fight, and heroes have eagerly presented themselves to you. Likewise, every hero needs a tragedy, an inciting disaster to define them. I’m glad to see the world still provides as much in my absence. To be totally honest, I’m tempted to let you fight it out as is. But you two snakes are just petulant children, thinking a tantrum will get you everything. Sorry to break it to you, but real power is more than a mere tantrum. Real power is control, absolute and total, like mine.”

Star Swirl’s ears perked when he heard Meadowbrook ask Stygian a question.

“Ah, just outta curiosity, how powerful is the spirit of Inya… Endya...”

“Enyalius,” Star Swirl barked.

“Right. How powerful is it s’posed to be, exactly?”

Stygian gulped, and Star Swirl didn’t blame him.

“Beyond powerful,” Stygian replied. “A force of nature, an entity from a space that cannot be pointed to, a concept given a soul, but trapped by, likewise, conceptual means, high magic. Existing in our world makes it subject to certain rules, rules that can be used against it.”

“Or rules it can use against us.” The other Meadowbrook idly tugged at the bandages on her limbs, tightening them. “Can it break out?”

“Doubtful,” said the armoured Rockhoof. “Mount Enyalius was created by night incarnate, there’s no mortal means to make anything stick here.”

“You are, again, very right, you clever ponies,” said the spirit. “I am a creature of change: I light libraries on fire, I start wars, I cause famines. And as a result, new libraries are built, new ploughshares are forged from the swords, and better crops are discovered. I admit, I was little… overzealous in my charge, and I was put here as punishment. But I have been so, so bored over the centuries, and I've missed so much: plagues, inquisitions, reunions. All I’ve had is that mural to look at. So I’ll tell you what, since this is such an interesting twist of events, let’s have ourselves a little game. You call yourselves Pillars of Equestria, true heroes of a fledgling nation. I want to know if you are worthy of that title, for old times’ sake. I want to know if the heroes of today have become weak without the likes of me to harden them. Show me your worth in a small set of… challenges? Little things, nothing unfair for heroes of your calibre, I promise.”

“We decline,” Somnanbula said.

“I agree,” the other Somnanbula added. “If these are truly different versions of ourselves, then they are as worthy as we are. We cannot abide by having either of these monsters go unchallenged, in our world or theirs, nor can we accept any competition where we might harm our counterparts. We do not leave one another behind.”

“D’oh, wonderful! That’s just the sort of thing I like to hear. But you misunderstand, my dear little ponies, I’m not suggesting a competition. There’s no fun in that for me, you see: a winner for every loser, it’s so predictable and safe. For these games, you don’t need to be the first to cross the finish line, you only need to pass. Everyone can be a winner, and anyone can be a loser. You know: proper entertainment.”

“A tag team with ourselves, then?” Rockhoof said, eyeing his heavily-armoured counterpart. “Not a problem.”

“As long as we can play to our strengths,” said Stygian, looking at the tiny hooded figure next to him. “I don’t think either of my selves could win in a physical contest.”

“We are ready!” Tumbleweed called out. “I ain’t afraid of no snake, bring’em both out already and we’ll be done with it.”

“Well said.” Meadowbrook stepped forward. “There’s no reason for you to be disturbed any further, spirit. We can just step right out of here and be out of your hair. Or stem, I suppose.”

“Disturb me?” The spirit let out a rumbling that Star Swirl could only assume was a laugh. “My dear, dear Meadowbrook, I am always a little bit disturbed. It’s why I was locked in here in the first place, after all. Honestly, you unleash ten plagues and no one bats an eye, but host one little beauty contest… never mind that, you misunderstand. I’m not interested in seeing a quick little brawl between a bunch of ponies and a pair of serpents. Sure, it’s good for a bit of fluff at the end, but there’s no drama to it, no excitement.”

Flash Magnus nudged Star Swirl. “What?”

The other Star Swirl stared up at the apple. “The spirit of Enyalius, what little is known of it, is most often noted for being… theatrical. At least it is in our world, and if we are both able to manifest here-”

“It stands to reason it’s identical for both worlds,” Stygian concluded. “Stars, I hadn’t even noticed there was only one spirit here. Never mind the snakes: if we’re not careful, we could blow a hole through reality itself.”

“Been there, done that,” the spirit joked. “No, the serpents arrived here first, demanding they get their wish, but they declined my offer of proving themselves worthy. I offer the same to you: agree to this small set of trials, indulge my curiosity, and I shall allow you to not only settle your affairs with Ouro and Boros here, but I will grant you one wish, on top of safe passage out, naturally, with no damage done to your world, as stipulated by my bindings to this place. You can even take them alive, if you manage to. What say you, ponies of sibling worlds?”

“May we have a moment to discuss?” Star Swirl asked.

“Of course. I am eternal, after all. It’s you mortals who need to be mindful of time.”

Star Swirl huddled with his companions, and the other group soon joined in. “We should decide quickly, but we’ll need to be certain of what we’re getting into. Can I assume your team is capable of holding their own in combat?”

The other Star Swirl grimaced. “Right now? All except the little one.”

“Same as ours, then. If the spirit does go back on its word and we find ourselves in competition with each other, what then?”

“No pony gets left behind,” said the other Flash Magnus. “From our world or another.”

“And the wish?” asked Mistmane. “You want those snakes alive, still?”

The Star Swirls locked eyes with each other for a few seconds.

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get there,” said the shaven one. “Regardless, none of us should attempt it unprepared: wish magic is highly unstable, an untrained mind can melt merely from attempting it. But myself and my bearded counterpart may be able to work out a solution after we learn all the parameters.”

“So we are in accord, then?” asked Star Swirl.

“For better or worse, I’ll shake on it.”

The Star Swirls shook hooves, and the archmage noticed now that the red snake markings on his counterpart’s arms really were embedded into the fur coat, and thrummed with a peculiar magic he couldn’t place. Star Swirl the Shaven actually did have a cutie mark that covered the whole body, except for the thighs. He might have understood that if the other Mistmane had a similar mark, but she didn’t. It was only the Star Swirl in their group that did, for some reason. Perhaps their Stygian had one, too, and that’s why he stayed hidden.

“Alright, we accept.” Star Swirl stepped forward along with his counterpart. “What are the rules?”

“The rules are simple: succeed in the challenge, entertain me, and you may leave. Fail, and you’ll have proven yourself unworthy of my attention, in which case I’ll have to make you entertaining. So don’t bore me, my little ponies; you wouldn’t like me when I’m bored. Everypony can only partake in one event, but rest assured: I’ll make it interesting for you, too.”

“Very well,” Star Swirl announced. “What is your first trial?”

Author's Note:

Written during a very busy and stressful time. Basic premise should be obvious: Pillars of Equestria, as seen through a D&D lens, meet different class versions of themselves.

As for how and why these are different classes? That's where I got a little... creative.

The basic idea always started with Star Swirl, that's the main interaction this story hinges around, but it's at the end for build-up and framing reasons.

Here's hoping people like it. There's a lot of references in this one, obviously. Not going to spell them all out, but have fun trying to find them all, I say.