The Heart's Promise

by MyHobby

The Indwelling

Fluttershy ached all over. She could feel loamy soil beneath her body, with dirt caking into her coat and mane. She spat earth from her mouth and attempted to blink her eyes open. Despite the darkness, a faint light gleamed from overhead and illuminated the trees that surrounded her. Stars? Was it still nighttime? It had been evening when she went to visit Merry. What happened after that?

She sat up and rubbed her face with a grimy hoof. A bruise on her fetlock made itself known. As did several other bruises across her body. She had fought. With what? Or whom? Perhaps she had merely been battered unconscious. She reached up to her ear and felt the familiar sting of a chip that had been carved into it on a particularly-rough adventure. The adventure she had taken with Discord—and the Cake Twins—to find a golden apple to keep Discord’s memory preserved. Alas, the Garden of Elysium had been destroyed by time and disuse, and the great Tree of Life had been demolished by the Unseelie Court.

So it came as a great surprise to her when she looked up into the tree and beheld a new, young, fresh, ripe golden apple.

Her neck hairs stood on end as she leaped to her hooves and trotted the short distance to the gleaming fruit. Many more could be found in the branches of the tree, as well as the trees that surrounded it. Everywhere she looked, the promise of eternal youth resounded like the rat-a-tat-tat of a marching drum. Unignorable, undeniable. She only needed one of these apples to restore Discord’s health to full, to allow him to inhabit Equestria once again, free of the fear of harming his friends or losing himself.

Her hoof paused centimeters from the apple. A shiver went up and down her spine as her stomach churned. The elation that had flared up so readily turned to apprehension in an instant. It was too easy. What had brought her to this place that held such precious treasures? Why was the life-giving fruit so abundant? When she had sought for it, fought for it, it had seemed so far away. Yet here it seemed endless.

The apple gleamed with a light of its own, inviting her to pluck it. She stared at her reflection on the golden surface. The Fluttershy who stared back looked like she had been run over by a carriage, nothing but black and blue and cuts and scrapes. Whenever she tried to remember anything after arriving at Merry’s house, her head ached with a splitting shock of fear. She decided not to touch the apple until she figured out where she was and what brought her there.

“The golden apples are the secret.”

She turned her head. The voice was deep, rumbling. Vaguely familiar, though she could not place it. She had heard it at least once in her life, and it was a very important voice. Any more than that, she could not say. She decided to go towards the voice, keeping her head low.

“They’re the secret. The key, the key, the key. All this time, they were here all along.”

Fluttershy frowned. As she grew closer, the voice became more clear. At the same time, it didn’t seem to grow any louder in her ears. In fact, if she really concentrated, swiveling her ears towards the voice, it seemed to fade. It was only when she emptied her mind of thoughts that the voice formed real words.

“It was hidden from me, yes. Hidden all this time. Golden apples, yes, golden apples from the Tree of Life…”

The churning in Fluttershy’s stomach grew more intense. She wanted to turn tail and run as far away from the voice as possible. And yet, she could not. Her legs marched as curiosity overpowered her survival instincts. A face appeared in her mind’s eye, one that the voice matched perfectly. It was a handsome stallion, black of mane and gray of coat, who wore armor of iron and whose horn was as sharp as a sword. A master of dark magic. The Slaver King Sombra.

He had been dead for nearly a decade.

She clung to a tree and eased her way around its gold-lined trunk. She hoped to stay out of sight. One eye peered into the gloom. The eye that stared back was milky white.

He was gaunt, mere skin clinging to bone. His mane was matted and thin, matching his tail. His hooves were chipped. His mouth hung open limply; when he spoke, it with jerking movements not unlike a marionette. He stared at nothing, and his rat-eaten ears did not flick at any sound. His rib cage gaped open, revealing the maw of an empty abyss.

Worst of all, Fluttershy could see through his transparent body.

“The golden apples are the secret,” he said, “the secret to alicorns. The key, the key. I will live. I will live. I will live. Golden apples are the secret.”

Fluttershy clamped a hoof over her mouth to hold back the scream and the bile. She backpedaled away as fast as she dared, keeping silent. She dared not attract his… its attention. She didn’t see the root that stood in her way, couldn’t stop herself from tumbling head-over-tail backwards.

“Twilight…” Another voice, this one younger than Sombra’s, came from just above her head. “Twilight, don’t go… Don’t leave me.”

She didn’t want to open her eyes. She wanted to shut them tight and wake from this nightmare, but she knew she couldn’t avoid it. She had to run, and running blind would lead to her death. She parted her eyelids with a start and stared upward at the pony who was speaking.

He had been a handsome young stallion, the same age as Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash. Purple of mane, pink of coat, with a smartly-trimmed goatee and a ponytail just the right length. He had been a rising star in the political arena, a viscount to the Blueblood estate. He had also been conducting horrific experiments beneath Canterlot, attempting to become an alicorn through harvesting the fairy strings of other ponies. He had attempted to court Twilight Sparkle…

Now, all Fluttershy could see of the proud Viscount Hammer Dulcimer was a gaunt face, its teeth kicked in and a spike of crystal jutting from the side of its head. Skin hung from the stallion’s jaw as he limped through the forest on mishappen hooves, while a single malformed, skeletal wing dragged along the ground beside him.

“Twilight, I’m sorry. Twilight I love you. We can be together. Twilight stay with me. I had to do it. Please don’t leave me.”

Fluttershy rolled to her hooves and bolted through the forest, not daring to look back at the two specters she was sure were following her. Her legs felt weak and shaky, and she was sure she would vomit if she spent even a moment longer in the forest. If she so much as heard the wailing voices again. If she even thought about the wraithlike appearance of two of the most evil beings who had ever walked the earth.

She dug her hooves into the dirt to keep herself from running into a third figure. This one once had a blue coat and mane, whose air of frivolity hid a menacing, manipulative mind. Six bleeding wounds were in the mare’s chest, and her elderly features clashed with her youthful voice. Unlike the others, who walked without destination, paying her no mind, this one turned to her with a grin frozen in place for eternity.

“I watched them cut into my body on the examiner’s table,” Sonata Dusk said. “They pulled the bullets from my lungs and cast aside my shattered heart. I watched my skin turn to charcoal as they burned my body and shoveled me into an urn. And everybody was glad. Everybody was so, so glad I was finally dead!”

Fluttershy backpedaled. She wanted more than anything to launch herself skyward and flee into the night, but her wings clamped against her sides and left her shaking. She turned from the deceased Siren and scanned the woods for other escape routes. There were none.

More ghastly shadows wandered the trees, their mournful wails as varied and diverse as their species and shapes. Ponies, griffons, changelings, minotaurs…

A griffon approached her, its empty eye sockets drawing her in to a chilling, quiet emptiness. “Fire, fire, so much fire. Burning, blazing, breaking, blistering fire.”

“L—” She wanted to shout at them, to scare them away as if they were mere forest animals with out-of-control appetites. Her throat constricted as if the griffon’s talons were grasping her neck with a death grip.

“Please,” Dulcimer’s voice said behind her. “It’s so cold.”

She spun and found herself eye-to-milky-eye with the viscount. He reached a chipped hoof towards her and groaned.

“All I want… is to touch warmth again… Just one more time…” Her eyes kept drifting to the crystal spike wedged in his temporal lobe. “Just the faintest hint of life… Just once… Please help me…”

With that, something in Fluttershy’s heart twinged. That was right; whatever they were now, they were still people. What’s more, they were people who were obviously suffering. Physical damage, psychological trauma, an empty grove, no one to help… Of course they just wanted the suffering to stop. Just a touch?

If it was all she could do to ease his pain, she was willing. No matter what the consequences would be. She could fulfil this poor pony’s last request. She rooted her feet to the loamy soil and reached a hoof out to the shambling viscount.

His hoof passed right through hers, never making contact. He raised his foot to try again and received failure doubly-so. Had he breath, he would have gasped in despair. As it was, his wail echoed throughout the forest. He was soon joined in by a chorus of other voices, wordlessly calling to whomever could hear it.

Fluttershy nearly leapt out of her skin when a physical, tangible hoof grasped her shoulder and pulled her away from the growing mob of ghastly creatures. “Fluttershy! Move!”

The owner of the hoof was covered from head-to-tail in a dark green robe. She dragged Fluttershy along beside her, making a beeline through the thinnest portion of wailing faces. They both tripped over branches and roots, ignoring the glimmer of golden apples on the branches as they headed toward a new light source. She could see stallions waiting for them beyond the tree line.

Her heart sank. Memories poured into her mind. She had seen these stallions before. She had seen them when Merry had first brought her to this forest. She had tried to escape, and the stallions had pursued her. They had then proceeded to beat her unconscious and left her in the middle of the apple trees. Now, the hooded figure was leading her right back to them.

Maybe she should have taken her chances with the ghosts.

“Stand aside!” the hooded pony said, and Fluttershy’s stomach churned when she realized it was Merry. “No one is to touch her!”

She was led into a clearing in the midst of the forest. A large bonfire burned in the center, and the wood appeared to come from the golden apple trees. The fire was brilliant gold, as if it was made from liquid metal. It would be a sight to warm the heart with the light of life itself, if not for the other surroundings. The stallions stood at attention at the edge of the tree line. Their coats were pale and faded, and each one had a black hood covering their head. Each one was physically strong, but barely reacted to anything around them unless they were directly addressed.

Merry Mare removed the green hood from her head. She scowled at Fluttershy and dragged her towards a fallen log that served as a chair. “This is why you shouldn’t run off alone! These woods are full of the dead and worse.”

“I…” She wasn’t sure if she really believed what she was saying, but still felt the need to say it. “They wouldn’t have hurt me. They are frightening, but they’re scared, too.”

“It’s that very part of them that is harmful.” Merry paced in front of the bonfire, out of breath and shaking. “They speak truths mortal creatures are not prepared to hear.”

“What are you saying?” Fluttershy moved to rise, but Merry pushed her back onto the seat. “Truths? They barely remember their own name! They’re suffering, Merry.”

“That’s what death is, Fluttershy!” Merry’s cloak swirled as she turned towards the forest and its inhabitants. “That’s what separation from the body and mind does to the spirit! They can never experience, only exist. They can never eat, only hunger. They can never feel, aside from lack. They will suffer until the end of time, and then only if time has an end.”

Fluttershy gaped at Merry, tears pouring from the corners of her eyes. She stood up, and this time Merry allowed it. “No, Merry! Happy told me death was the same as birth: just a transition into the next stage of life. He and many others are safe in Dreamland, living and dancing and singing. Free and alive, the same as you or me—”

“That was a hallucination!” Merry pointed an accusatory hoof at Fluttershy’s chest. “You were in the throes of Discord’s chaos magic! Your mind was gone! You can’t trust anything you saw, because you only saw what you wanted to see! See now, see here, see what the evidence of your eyes and ears tells you! Death is loss! Death is destruction! Death is pain!” She lowered her hoof to the dirt and let her shoulders slump. Her face lost its fierceness as she drew closer to Fluttershy. She spoke softly, in her most motherly voice. “This is what Happy is going through at this very moment. This is what I want to save him from. I want to return him to life, to the happiness that is his namesake.”

She waved a hoof at the woods that surrounded them, the skin around her eyes growing tight. “Here, in the Grove of Golden Apples, we have secured as many lost souls as we could gather, to keep them out of the hands of the Seelie Court and its heartless Lord. We keep them safe and sound, until the day when death is finally defeated, and life is no longer measured in hours.”

Fluttershy lowered her ears as she took a seat on the log. She stared at the massive mindless stallions that boxed her in. She looked beyond to the forest full of wailing ghosts. Merry’s words had brought something horrible to mind; a thought so hideous that she at first rejected any hint of it. Only a few hours ago, she would never have thought Merry capable of it, but now… “You said you’re against the Seelie Court. Does that mean you’re working with the Unseelie Fae?”

Merry tilted her head down. “Fluttershy…”

“Does that mean, all this time…” Fluttershy shook her head and stared into the gilded flames. “You’ve been helping them destroy everything you say you care about?”

“Fluttershy, listen to me.” Merry sat in front of Fluttershy and pulled her cloak aside, revealing the yellow gemstone around her neck. She touched it gently, as if it were an egg that could crack at any moment. “I joined a group of individuals called the Sirens, a group of mares that has worked tirelessly throughout the ages in the pursuit of eternal life.”

“They were evil, Merry!” Fluttershy looked back at the forest and could almost pick out the callous grimace of Sonata Dusk. “Don’t you remember what they tried to do to Sunset? Even just a couple years ago! And before that, at the high school! I’ve only heard stories, but I know enough—”

“I’m not just talking about the Dazzlings. There is more to the Sirens than their mistakes.” Merry Mare cupped Fluttershy’s cheek with the side of her hoof. “You only know what you’ve been told, by Celestia and her cronies. I promise, once you see what we are building, you’ll understand that it’s all been worth it.” Merry smiled, and it was a cold, unwelcoming thing. “When Happy returns to us, you’ll finally understand.”

Fluttershy jerked her face away from Merry’s touch. Her eyes caught something beyond the fire. There was a tree on the far side of the clearing. It was titanic in proportions, as big around as a house and taller than Fluttershy could see. If she squinted, it almost seemed to scrape against the sky. Near the ground, where a pony could easily see into it, a plain mirror was embedded into the trunk. The bark around the mirror was blackened and rotted, as if the mirror was a bitter poison to the tree. Rather than reflect the firelight, the mirror swirled with gray clouds and uncertain shapes.

Out of the mirk, for a brief moment, she saw a face that was plain and unmemorable. Yet the expression scoured her very nightmares. It looked like a gray stallion, but the appearance no longer fooled Fluttershy. He smiled at her with eyes that looked ready to devour her whole.

“Jeuk…”

Merry glanced back for a moment. “Ignore him. His power here is minimal.”

“But he is welcome here.” Fluttershy set her jaw and looked Merry right in the eye. “If he is welcome, then I want nothing to do with you ever again.”

Merry shook her head, and all Fluttershy heard her say was a muted “You’ll understand.”

---

Pumpkin Cake sprinted underfoot as activity in the marketplace picked up. She hoped she could catch up to her target before she started working… if only because the smell was unbearable. She caught a glimpse of a distinct set of denim overalls overloaded with tools of the trade. The trade in question being “plumber.” She lit her horn and turned herself intangible, walking through a wooden cart as it rolled down the busy street.

The plumber was named Ribbon Wishes, a unicorn mare with a pink coat and curly purple mane. She trotted to work with a whistle on her lips and a spring in her step. Pumpkin matched pace with her and tapped her on the shoulder. “What’s up, Fairy, Fairy Quite Contrary?”

Pumpkin didn’t know it was possible for a mood to sour as quickly as Ribbon’s did. It was as if she had become a completely different person, the way her smile faded to a snarl and her ears laid flat against her curls. She spoke through gritted teeth. “Pumpkin. To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“Had a little bit of old business come up.” Pumpkin made no move to quiet her voice, speaking loud enough for people to hear, if they bothered to listen. Most didn’t. “Thought you might be in on it.”

Ribbon Wishes took a sharp right down an alleyway. She knelt beside a dumpster and bowed her head to Pumpkin’s level. She took a moment to make sure they were out of earshot. “What are you talking about?”

“Fluttershy.” Pumpkin narrowed her eyes and hunched her shoulders. “Last time something bad happened to her, you seemed to have a vested interest in it.”

“Using the ten-bit words today, are we?” Ribbon Wishes shut her eyes with a sigh. She leaned against the wall and stared at the cloudless sky. “Honestly, I figured you’d show up sooner or later.”

Pumpkin’s heart skipped a beat, but she refused to show it on her face. “So you do know what’s going on.”

“More than most, unfortunately.” Ribbon nibbled her lower lip, eyeing Pumpkin with a wary, weary look. “I’m not sure how much to tell you.”

“Everything! Or tell Princess Twilight!” Pumpkin Cake prodded the plumber in the chest. “It’s the Unseelie Court again, isn’t it? They want their revenge against Fluttershy, don’t they?”

“Yes and no…” Ribbon Wishes brushed the hoof away. She did so gently, to Pumpkin’s surprise. “I lost sight of her after Mayor Mare pushed her through the mirror portal. The princess knows this much already.”

Pumpkin rolled her eye. “So? What’s stopping you from charging right into the enemy camp, volleyguns blazing? You scared?”

“Scared?” Ribbon’s eyes flashed, and for the briefest of moments, Pumpkin could see the titanic power held beneath the facade of a plumber. Even so, her next words stood at odds with what seemed to be limitless strength. “Last time I fought against the Unseelie, just one of them, I got my tail kicked up and down the length of the Undiscovered West. The Sirens and their allies have access to an entire fortress’ worth of Dark Fae. Everyone who rebelled during the destruction of Elysium and everyone who defected afterwards. Most of the Seelie Court is holed up in Dreamland, Pumpkin Cake; defending the souls of your people. Here on terra firma, you only get three.” She lowered her head, the fire gone from her eyes and her voice. Her words crackled like dying coals. “Yes, I’m scared. And you should be, too. There is no natural way that any of us get through this unscathed.”

The expression sent a chill down Pumpkin’s spine. She stumbled a step back as if she’d been hit. The contrast between the steadfast declarations made by Button and his friends and the mournful proclamation of Ribbon Wishes tore her in two different directions. Which was right? The optimistic, or the pessimistic? Her stomach swam as she realized that they were not mutually exclusive. Some would see adventure in the comings days, while others would see disaster.

Or maybe all would see both.

Pumpkin frowned up at Ponyville’s plumber. “So what do we do?”

“Nothing.” Ribbon Wishes clicked her tongue at Pumpkin’s nasty look. “Alright, not nothing, but there’s nothing we can do for Fluttershy right this second. Keep the people around you safe. Keep yourself wary. Don’t go into the darkness alone. Just… trust me that Fluttershy is alive.”

“Do you know that for sure?” Pumpkin narrowed her eyes and flicked her tail imperiously. Or as imperiously as a blank-flanked little filly could. “Do you really know she’s still alive?”

“I do.” Ribbon Wishes stood up and looked to the sky. The sun was still rising, but even so, it seemed like the plumber could see through the blinding light to the twinkling stars beyond. Seeing things as they were, not as they appeared. “I am the Seelie Court’s psychopomp. Some of your kind might call me a death god, or a grim reaper… I know everyone who dies; I feel it in my very core. My job is to carry those departed souls to safety in Dreamland.” She furrowed her brow as her ears lowered. “But only if the souls allow me to. Only if they are willing to go.”

Pumpkin jerked her head back. “Why wouldn’t they be willing? What’s the alternative?”

“If they do not trust a Seelie fairy, why would they go? But if Fluttershy did not trust me, she would have trusted Happy.” For the first time since the conversation started, Ribbon’s voice was clear and certain, unfettered by doubt. “If she had died, I would have guided her soul to Dreamland myself. And none of the Unseelie Fae would have been able to stop me.”

Still, the doubt returned, stronger than ever. Ribbon hunched over and prowled her way down the alley, leaving Pumpkin behind before the questions could continue. She vanished as if into thin air, though Pumpkin suspected she had merely ducked into a doorway once she reached the house where she was going to be working. Pumpkin stared after her for a good long while, unsure of how she should process the odd interaction with the disguised fairy.

“Only three,” she had said, which to Pumpkin’s mind said there were two other Seelie fairies in hiding around town. Or, she thought with a shudder, only three in the whole of Equestria. That meant in order to combat the Unseelie Fae, other methods besides divine intervention were going to be required. Divinity would be in play, for sure, but no small amount of blood, sweat, and tears would be spilt along the road.

Still, she remembered the last time she’d encountered an Unseelie fairy; Jeuk, one of the most devious. While Ribbon’s encounter with him had ended with her being beaten to a pulp, Pumpkin’s encounter had ended with the evil fairy defeated, his teeth knocked out by Pound Cake, and his sinister self suspended in the empty Abyss by Discord’s magic. The Unseelie Fae could be defeated. With or without good fairies.

At least, they could be harassed. Jeuk was just one of an entire army of the freaks…

Pumpkin decided she had too much to think about and not a whole lot she could do about any of it. She decided to do some research into the Wishes family. If Ribbon Wishes had parents, or siblings, or even cousins, they were most likely not of this world. She headed for the mayor’s office, intent on getting as deep into paperwork as she could before she was either kicked out or arrested.

---

Fluttershy had grown to realize that night in the Grove of Golden Apples was no different from day. They were deep underground, in a hollowed-out mountain, where the only light came from the glistening bark of the trees themselves. The golden apple trees were granted nutrition from a vast network of tunnels burrowed into the mountaintop, which collected rainwater and seeded the soil with minerals. Since no sunlight could be found down below, the roots of the trees clawed upwards through the stone until they reached the surface. Then, as if the trees were built upside down, the roots feasted on the sunlight and pulled it into the vast cavern. That was what lent the cavern roof its glittering, almost starlit quality. Various tunnels in the mountain also sucked air from outside to allow the leaves to feast on the life-giving wind.

The entire mountain had been carved and chiseled in order to create the perfect environment for the golden apple trees to thrive. It was not unlike a gemstone being carved to channel magic, if the thought about it.

She sat on the same felled log, in front of the same bonfire, several hours after Merry had simultaneously rescued and kidnapped her. It was the dead of night now, when even the nocturnal animals were loath to make their way through the moonless darkness. She might have needed sleep, but the constant shrieks and moans of the ghosts kept her from lying down. And yet, more chilling than that were the flitting shadows that lurked in the woods, which even the phantoms shied away from. Whenever one of them stopped long enough for Fluttershy to get a glimpse, she could only see glowing eyes that gleamed with hate. Glimmering teeth that gnashed with glee. Gnarled claws that grasped to be bathed in crimson.

The Grove of Golden Apples teemed with Unseelie Fae. Perhaps, Fluttershy thought, this was the very seat of its court.

A clatter of hooves and armor heralded the arrival of several dozen ponies. Many were the black-hooded servants of the Sirens, but most seemed to be normal ponies. Ponies with personalities and lives and laughter on their lips. There was a tremor of excitement in the air, and talks of a coming battle with a certain victory. Fluttershy winced when she heard one of them talk about Princess Celestia as “the heartless wench” who would “get what was coming to her.”

At the lead of the procession was Silver Spoon, who wore a green cloak, silver-rimmed glasses, and a blue gemstone necklace. She gestured to one side, and a small group of three ponies, a displacer beast and a—oh, was it a fourth pony? It had looked strange for a moment—took a seat close to the largest apple tree, within throwing distance of the diseased mirror.

The displacer beast she recognized as one of those arrested following Jeuk’s attack on Las Pegasus. The fourth pony was one of Merry’s friends, who had been arrested when he’d been discovered to be a cannibalistic wight in disguise. She didn’t really recognize either of the two other stallion, one young and the other older than Fluttershy. The single mare among them, however, looked familiar in a way Fluttershy couldn’t place.

At the rear of the procession of chattering ponies, an old mare with a graying orange mane hunched her way through the orchard, sending glances at the woods and frowning deeper with every ghost she spied. She moved through the clearing to stand in front of the mirror, and was quickly joined by both Merry Mare and Silver Spoon. The three of them faced the crowd, who quieted down after a moment’s murmur.

Two full-length mirrors were also brought into the clearing. These appeared to be two-way enchanted mirrors, projecting a picture across the world so that both parties could see each other. In one, Fluttershy could see a griffon male with a beak made of metal. Rivers of darker color flowed through the silvery material, which Fluttershy knew the griffons called Wootz. The griffon narrowed his eyes as he surveyed the clearing, and cawed out in the griffon tongue. Fluttershy couldn’t understand more than a few words Rainbow Dash had taught her.

“Krevatch! Vreen chakii karaw shreet!”

Fluttershy blushed. The first word was a very vulgar cuss, not one to make in polite society. “Chakii” meant “return,” so maybe the Sirens had taken too long for his taste to begin the meeting.

The second mirror had a handsome-looking stallion. He was not a pony, but a pale-blue Arabian Horse, whose stature would make him seem like a giant even compared to Celestia herself. A glistening gold crown sat on his head, and his short, squared-off beard was clasped with gem-studded bands. “We must be polite, Lord Gildwing. We are in the house of our Equestrian allies, and so we should speak Equestrian, no?”

Lord Gildwing glared across the grove, as well as several miles from Felaccia to Saddle Arabia, and growled at the Arabian Stallion. “Pony… word thick. Beak make sound not! Silence Alazṓn!”

“Gentle creatures,” Merry Mare said with a low, even voice, “must we squabble on the eve of our triumph?” With a pointed look at the griffon, she added, “Perhaps Lord Aquilla Gildwing would prefer the use of a translator?”

“He understands Equestrian well enough,” the old Siren said with a sneer. “He’s just being butthurt. Ain’t that right buddy?”

Aquila’s answering expression reminded Fluttershy of a pot boiling over. Silver Spoon snickered.

Before anyone else could speak, either to smooth things over or rile them up, the mirror behind the Sirens groaned. The swirling clouds parted, revealing their depths to be filled with countless glowing eyes, of every color of the rainbow and more besides. At the forefront was the very fairy who Fluttershy most feared; Princeling Jeuk. He removed his black boater hat with a flourish. “Friends of the Unseelie Court, how please I am to see you all gathered here. And making such good company.” He sent a pointed look at Aquilla, who ruffled his feathers and looked away. “Amusing. Most very amusing.” He gestured to the old Siren and gave her an expectant smile. “You have the device ready, Adagio.” It was a question phrased as a command.

Fluttershy’s eye widened. Adagio Dazzle? Who Twilight had been working tirelessly with in order to combat the Sirens? Twilight at the least had through she left her villainous ways behind, but all the while she was merely a spy?

Adagio’s sour expression hadn’t changed. She reached into the folds of her cloak, past the red gemstone hung about her neck. She produced another gemstone, one that had been polished to an impossible degree. Even at her distance, Fluttershy could still see everyone’s faces reflected on its many surfaces.

“I’ve spent the last few years studying the mirror portals found around the world.” She hefted the large stone aloft and made sure everybody got a good look at it. “From the ancient portals in the Beefland Barrows, to the natural mirror pools in Equestria, to Starswirl’s own magical devices. This gem is the secret to visiting other worlds, other realities, other planes of existence. Just as one could step through a mirror to the Grove of Golden Apples, soon we shall be able to step into other phases of life. The realm of dreams—” at this, the Grove chorused with boos and jeers. “—and the depths of the forsaken Abyss!”

The cheer rose, but it did not seem cheerful to Fluttershy’s ears. It was the shout of fairies and rabble rousers, intent to bring harm to those around them. The triumph of darkness over light. The glee of violence made manifest.

Adagio turned towards the diseased mirror and frowned at Jeuk’s smiling face. “Though free travel has not been achieved, tonight, we have the power to break down the barrier just long enough to set these prisoners free, for the first time since River Cicada banished them two-thousand years ago!”

She sang out a low note. Merry Mare added a midrange to the chord. Silver Spoon lent her high-pitched voice. The three of them continued on this single note, growing in volume, until the very grove seemed to tremble with power. The gem in Adagio’s hoof glowed with power, sucking in ambient magic from around it, sparking with electric energy.

Cracks appeared on the surface of the diseased mirror. Jeuk took a step back and became one of the faceless army that awaited freedom. Magic poured from the cracks, and the giant apple tree groaned in pain. The faint light above flickered as the sunlight was stolen from the trees and pressed into the depths of the Abyss. The laughter of the Unseelie Court and the cries of fear among the ghosts rose in intensity alongside the Sirens’ unbroken chord. A hideous tearing sound rent across the clearing as the glass surface of the mirror collapsed in on itself, leaving a gaping hole in reality.

Wind rushed into the emptiness. The bonfire crackled as its flames were pulled towards the Abyss, nearly burning Merry before she was able to leap out of the way. The Sirens’ chord stopped, but the gemstone itself hummed louder and louder as the spell neared completion. Shadows burst from the gap in the air, pouring themselves from the metaphysical to the tangible. Ghastly shades, some like Jeuk, some like Windigos, some like the nightmares that haunted her dreams, all free from their confines and ready to wreak havoc across Equestria and beyond.

The flames parted, and Jeuk stood in their midst, his gray, colorless eyes focused entirely on Fluttershy.

The hum faded. The portal vanished. The mirror had shattered, and its fragments were strewn across the clearing. All that remained of it was the dark patch in the core of the great golden apple tree’s trunk, which looked even more like an uncured wound.

Merry looked around at the army of fairies, her evident confusion growing by the moment. She looked to Jeuk with an accusing glare. “Jeuk! You said the Master would be freed! Where is he? What lies have you spun this time?”

“I… don’t… lie.” Jeuk smiled at her, though it was not a friendly smile. It was the smile of a large animal about to slaughter a smaller one. “Silence, Merry, and you may learn something.”

“Our patience wears thin, Princeling…” A cloud of smoke surrounded the clearing, and a hideous snakelike fairy formed from the mist. He hissed at Jeuk with a trail of smoke approximating a tongue. “If the Master was not freed, our plans shall lie unfulfilled.”

A windigo descended from above the trees, snowflakes trailing in her wake. “The Master was the only one who could move the sun and moon. You would make a poor replacement, Major Domo Jeuk.”

Jeuk smiled at the cloud. “Princeling Bête Noire.” He turned to the windigo. “Princeling Bean Sidhe.” He grinned at Fluttetrshy. “Honored guest, Lady Fluttershy… listen to my tale.”

Fluttershy found herself surrounded by shadows, clawing and scraping at her. She pulled her wings close to her sides and huddled down, hoping against hope that the pain might be over soon.

Jeuk spread his forelegs and spoke loudly, so that all in the Grove could hear. “Two-thousand years ago, the fairies of the Unseelie Court were imprisoned in the Abyss with the power of the Elements of Harmony! Six individuals, six vile changelings, joined together to liberate the Sapients who had escaped the slaughter of Elysium. They lead the people to the creation of a vast empire, where power was great and corruption festered. Soon their queen, River Cicada, turned to slavery and brutality to keep her subjects in line. She used the power of the Elements of Harmony to craft wicked instruments, tools designed to harvest hearts and power her cities. She grew jealous of any who stood apart from her, and feared an uprising. She destroyed the Elements of Harmony to keep them out of the hands of her enemies… and killed the Tree of Harmony!”

Merry Mare sat beside Fluttershy and put a hoof on her shoulder. Fluttershy’s stomach lurched, and she tried to pull away. Realizing there was nowhere to go, she settled for turning her head away from her former friend and the fairy both. She caught Adagio Dazzle hunched over on the other side of the clearing, her ears lowered, not reacting to anything Jeuk was saying. She looked as though she was in mourning—but why? She had accomplished all this for her cause…

Fluttershy winced; Adagio was an ancient mare, perhaps she had lived through Jeuk’s story personally.

“The destruction of the hated Tree allowed some of our number to escape!” Jeuk pointed at those who had been outside the mirror when the meeting started. “You princelings and you peons! You who have shaped the course of history! And you were not alone.” Jeuk patted his chest, spinning to look each individual in the eye. “A sampling of the Master’s power also escaped. A small portion, no stronger than Princeling Shadowfright, or Bean Sidhe. Just enough… Just so close to enough…” He gestured dismissively at Bête Noire with a limp hoof. “If the princelings knew their Master was in such a weakened state, they might try to usurp him, but he didn’t need to rule them. Not when they were so willing to do as their nature deigned.”

Bête Noire’s mouth fell open, and his eyes darted around the clearing. He had the look of someone who had grasped at great treasure, only to find it nothing more than a mirage. He hissed at Jeuk and lowered his head, skulking away into the darkness, until he blended in with the shadows inhabited by ghosts.

Jeuk turned to look over his shoulder, his gray eyes finding Fluttershy. “And thanks to you Fluttershy… thanks to Pumpkin and Pound and Discord… I was reunited with the core of my power. And thanks to Merry and Adagio and Silver, I am released into the world that scorned… my… wisdom.”

His eyes shifted from colorless gray to glistening, greedy green. His snout grew longer, fangs sprouting from the gums. Feathery wings unfurled from his back as his hooves split into razor-sharp talons. A shadow fell over the clearing even deeper than the Unseelie themselves, as though the fire itself was afraid to outshine the Master of the Unseelie Court. He grasped the fire with his talons, and the fur across his body soaked it in, blazing with a light that brought no warmth. The horns that sprouted from his head curled cruelly towards Fluttershy.

The Lord of the Sky, the Master of the Unseelie Court of Fae, the King of Fairies, Ba’al Zebub, Jeuk himself, stood tall before the assembly, a fiery bull with vast, black-feathered wings and greedy green eyes. “Rejoice! Rejoice now that your Master has returned!”

Strange words pulled from a different time and place echoed across the Grove of Golden Apples as the Unseelie Court cheered. The princelings all offered perfunctory cheers, but the rank and file just seemed glad that their victory was nigh. The ponies who had followed the Sirens looked confused, but joined in with stomping hooves as they looked to their leaders for clarification. Merry had no answer for them, and ignored them wholesale as she stared at Jeuk with wide, uncertain eyes. Adagio herself didn’t move, either to cheer or to deride. Silver Spoon, though, joined wholeheartedly, her cheers overpowering even the most gleeful fairy.

Fluttershy snuck a peak at the communication mirrors, and saw Alazṓn and Aquila Gildwing exchange a glance, neither letting their true feelings show.

“Fluttershy!”

The noise vanished. All eyes fell upon the yellow pegasus from Ponyville. She rose from the stump and backpedaled until she bumped against the chest of a hooded pony. Jeuk pointed to her with a curled talon and beckoned her forward.

“You have a gift from the Unseelie Court.”

Fluttershy shut her eyes tight. She wanted to deny him. To say he tricked her. To say she never wanted it in the first place. But those were lies. She had accepted, and gratefully. She had taken the Unseelie Court’s gift and used it on one of her closest friends. She had stolen Discord’s chaos magic. She had tried to help him, but the cost was a far greater one than Discord was willing to pay.

“The Rainbow of Darkness,” Jeuk said softly through his clenched fangs. “The power to eat the magic of others. With which draconequui were slaughtered. With which Tirek nearly devoured the world. With which you tried and failed to save your friend.” He knelt down and looked her in the eye. “How most very amusing that adventure was, hm?”

Fluttershy huddled against the ground. “What do you want from me?”

“Be at peace, Daughter of the Sky.” Jeuk spoke gently and soothingly, though both sentiments were blistering lies. “I see now that you are unfit to wield this power. I merely wish to pass it to someone more… willing.” He raised a talon and pointed to the fourth pony who had come in with Silver. “Scuttlebutt, come here.”

Scuttlebutt, the wight that had once been Merry’s friend, and who now seemed to Fluttershy to have always been a minion of the Unseelie, strode forward with pride beaming from his face. He shapeshifted into his natural form, that of a white-skinned, black-eyed creature more comfortable in a swamp than a city. He grinned with his fish-like teeth at Fluttershy as his clammy head bobbed close. “Wights have elastic bodies, you see. I might even be able to hold more power than Tirek, if I have the Rainbow of Darkness.” He laughed at Merry, who looked at him with an expression like stone. “To think! You thought me garbage, when I am clearly key to King Jeuk’s whole plan!” He looked up with reverence at the massive fairy, clasping his clawed paws together in a prayer-like stance. “Isn’t that right, Master? It’s finally time for me to take my place at your side!”

Jeuk smiled at the wight. “You see, the power I possess is great, but the power I seek can only be used by mortals. The ability to raise the sun and moon comes at the cost of flesh and bone.” He laughed in the back of his throat. “Go on, take the Rainbow of Darkness!”

Scuttlebutt cackled as he opened his mouth wide. Jeuk gestured, and suddenly the squirming in Fluttershy’s stomach became a turbulent maelstrom. She clamped her jaw tight, but she was not strong enough to fight the will of the Master. The Rainbow of Darkness, with its colors of purple and black, and glimmering flecks of blue and green, poured from her mouth in great waves. She vomited the dark magic up, every last bit of it, until her body was spent and exhausted. Just as it leaped from her body, it pushed its way violently into Scuttlebutt’s mouth, until the wight was knocked off his own feet. He squirmed and writhed on the ground, tears pouring from his eyes as slime leaked from his ear holes.

When it was done, though Fluttershy was overwhelmed with fear and pain, her heart felt lighter. The Rainbow of Darkness was no longer within her, agonizing her with its sheer existence. No longer darkening her every hour with questions of how to get rid of it, or whether she could possibly use it for good. It was just gone, far away as she could possibly get it. She covered her eyes as tears spilled, she felt selfish for being relieved in these circumstances.

Scuttlebutt scrambled to his feet, sucking in greedy gulps of air. He tottered, his balance failing him a dozen times in a row. He giggled to himself, rubbing his belly as though preparing himself for a feast. “Yes, yes I can feel it! I can feel it waiting, yearning for magic! My power lies ready to be increased, Master!”

Jeuk shrunk before their eyes, his body reforming into the unassuming pony Fluttershy once knew him as. Still, his eyes shone a piercing green that left her sick to her stomach and caused an itching sensation to spread across her wings. “Then the task before you is simple, Scuttlebutt… devour me.”

Scuttlebutt’s face immediately turned downward. “Master? I don’t understand.”

“I told you. The power to move the sun and moon was stolen from the fairies. It is the task of flesh and bone now. Of mortals.” He leaned close, and goosebumps appeared on Scuttlebutt’s pasty skin. “I have the power, but not the ability. You have the ability, but not the power. Understand now?”

Scuttlebutt shivered from the top of his head to the tip of his short tail. “I… I am not sure I can contain your power without destroying myself, Master Jeuk.”

“If you cannot,” Jeuk said matter-of-factly, “you are useless to me.”

Scuttlebutt nodded quickly, and in the next moment opened his mouth wide. The Rainbow of Darkness seeped out, trailing along the floor towards the Unseelie Lord. It touched his hoof, and a spark flashed, bright enough to blind all who had physical eyes. A good number of the fairies flinched as well, as such light was unfamiliar to those made of shadow.

Fluttershy’s ears rang, and after a moment, she realized it was because Scuttlebutt’s screams were just that loud.

The magic of the Unseelie fairy was so unlike Discord’s. When she had eaten Chaos Magic, she had been overwhelmed with intimate knowledge of the world around her. Sights, smells, sensations; she could feel the very molecules of the air scraping against her skin. When Scuttlebutt soaked up Jeuk, on the other hand, she saw nothing in his eyes but pain. Itching, gnawing, biting, searing, shrieking pain. It was as if the wight was being pulled apart from the inside, growing and snapping as his elastic limbs struggled to reform themselves.

And then, when it seemed he was about to burst, Jeuk ripped Scuttlebutt out of his own body. The ghost scrambled in Jeuk’s grip, writhing and weeping. His translucent limbs grasped for his body, but slipped through unhindered. Jeuk’s fairy form was well equipped to grasp the ghastly spirit and fling it across the clearing, into the depths of the army of Unseelie. The fairies cheered and jeered as they grasped at the ghost, clawing at it, laughing at it, pulling it apart and sticking it back together.

Despite the weariness in her body, Fluttershy leaped after Scuttlebutt’s spirit. She dove into the morass of fairies and drove them away with beating wings, screeching at them. “Leave him alone! Go away! Leave him be!”

Merry grasped Fluttershy’s tail and dragged her out of the melee. “Leave it, Fluttershy! He deserves worse than that!”

“He’s in pain!” Fluttershy wept aloud as she dug her hooves into the loam. “Don’t hurt him anymore! Don’t hurt any of them!”

She was thrown to the ground at the feet of Scuttlebutt’s physical form. The skin was no longer clammy, but had been reshaped to resemble a pony’s coat. His naked body had a gray coloring, and his mane and tail were a stark black. His green eyes peered at her with something resembling sheer childlike mischief, like a colt crushing an anthill, or a little filly dunking her doll’s head in paint.

“The only way to grasp the sun and moon is to take on flesh and bone,” Jeuk said, and for the first time that night, she could hear his voice with her ears rather than her heart. “To gain ultimate power, I needed to become mortal. Amusing. Most very, very amusing.”

His face was handsome, though she hated herself for thinking it. His voice was bold and charismatic. The shaky laughter and his terrible facial expressions were the only things that connected the newborn Sapient to either his plain, unassuming fairy form, or the hulking winged bull she had seen a moment before. Jeuk turned to his Court and thrust a hoof into the air. “I am the first fairy given breath! This is no mere cloak of the skinthief, nor illusion of the nightmares. I hunger! I feel! I age! I am mortal in truth and fairy in truth!” Wide, wild eyes, drunk with power, bored into the souls of his minions. “Unseelie Court, bow before your king!”

The Unseelie fairies paid homage to their Master, while Scuttlebutt’s ghost fled into the darkness of the Grove of Golden Apples.

“And now, my people!” While still addressing his fairies, Jeuk turned to the Sirens. “We will come to the aid of the Sapients who facilitated this very evening! Their hour of darkest struggle approaches, and the new dawn will change their world for the better!”

Merry set her jaw and strode forward. Fluttershy made a grasp for her ankle, but she hadn’t the strength to halt her former friend. Adagio slunked towards the mortal fairy, while Silver Spoon was already by his side. He looped his forelegs over Adagio’s and Silver’s shoulders and held them close. Adagio looked as if she were ready to vomit at his touch, while Silver Spoon flushed bright red.

“These mares,” Jeuk declared, “are the new Queens of Equestria! Mayor Merry Mare shall step into the gap left by Princess Celestia, leading your nation onward to freedom and prosperity free from the alicorns’ stifling, smothering rule!”

The ponies who had arrived with Adagio and Silver let loose an uproarious victory yell, clapping each other on the back for a job well done, even if it was slightly premature. Silver Spoon blew kisses to the crowd, while Merry waved a gentle hoof. Adagio ducked beneath Jeuk’s foreleg and sank into the shadows.

Jeuk moved beside the magic mirror connected to Felaccia. “Behold, the new King of Felaccia, Lord of all Griffons! Aquila Gildwing! He who will reunite Griffonstone with the motherland! He who will conquer the flatlands of Girraffrica! He who will finally heal the sour relations between Felaccia and its neighbor Equestria!”

If Aquila’s beak had not been forged from Wootz, his smile would have been more defined. As it was, to Fluttershy’s eye, it seemed as if a sword had been given breath and speech, yet still only knew how to hew limbs. Andean was scary, but Aquila… Aquila had none of the Griffon King’s gentler side.

Jeuk then moved to the other mirror, the one displaying the Arabian Stallion. “Behold, the Sultan of the Sandidry Desert! Conqueror of the lands of Saddle Arabia. King of the new Babologna Empire! Alazṓn Half-Djinn!”

The proud stallion bowed at the neck to the mortal fairy. “Lord Jeuk, Amira’s peace of weakness has been completely cleansed from the lands. My army of one-hundred-thousand stallions await your beck and call. We need only King Aquila’s word of safe passage through Felaccia.”

“Safe passage you have,” Aquila Gildwing growled, “when Felaccia I rule!”

Jeuk patted Silver Spoon’s back as he walked past her. He gave the gathered fairies a sharp look and shouted into the darkness. “Shadowfright, come before me!”

A fairy descended from the branches of the trees, appearing as a large bird, raven-like in appearance. He folded his wings and bowed before his Master.

Jeuk smiled at the fairy. He reached out and mimed as if to cup Shadowfright’s chin. “Ah. Shadowfright. Once my second-in-command. How are you?”

Shadowfright chanced a single peek upward. “Humbled by the beauty of your return, Lord of the Sky.”

“Well enough said.” Jeuk lowered his hoof and his voice. “You were the one who failed to destroy Princess Luna, were you not?”

Shadowfright shivered, pulling his wings around himself. “My Lord Jeuk, I and many others sought to corrupt her, pitting her in battle against her sister. Their war was brief, but most legendary—”

“Celestia won, but did not destroy Luna.” Jeuk smirked at the visibly-bigger, yet seemingly-smaller fairy. “You failed once.”

Shadowfright swallowed, but said no more.

“When Nightmare Moon returned, you plotted the destruction of all Equestria.” Jeuk chuckled, a stuttering facsimile of real laughter. “You facilitated Twilight Sparkle and her friends reactivating the Elements of Harmony. You failed a second time.”

Shadowfright began to look for an escape route, but Fluttershy knew he was as much a prisoner as she was.

“You tried to corrupt the new bearers, starting with Nightmare Rarity.” Jeuk guffawed and glanced around at the other fairies. “What happened, my people? Do you know?”

Shadowfright opened his beak wide to caw out. “I’ll not fail you again, Master!”

“Of course you won’t.” Jeuk pointed his hoof to Aquila’s mirror. “You are to go to Felaccia to aid Lord Aquila in whatever he desires. While he slays the royal family, your job is to kill Luna.” He snapped his teeth, and Shadowfright flinched. “If not, you shall join Scuttlebutt among the ghosts of the grove. Understood?”

“Yes, my Lord…” came the weak response.

“Succeed, and you shall once again reign as a Princeling of the Unseelie Court.” Jeuk chuckled and walked away from the shivering nightmare. “I am a fair king, after all.”

He nestled himself in the scarred pit on the greatest golden apple tree, treating it like a throne. He gazed at Merry expectantly, until she hopped into action.

“You all have your assigned duties!” she shouted to the ponies gathered around her. “The night of the ball draws close. The night of our victory draws close.” She raised a hoof. “To life everlasting!”

“To life everlasting!” the crowd replied.

Silver Spoon thrust a hoof into the air, her blue gemstone glimmering with the magic she poured into it. “Youth for the wise!”

“Youth for the wise!”

Silver continued, sowing the mind-altering magic of the Sirens into their army. “Strength for the young!”

“Strength for the young!”

Fluttershy covered her ears as the cheer continued, stabbing her already weary brain to even greater migraines. Her prayers that it would all be over soon went unanswered. Her prayers of rescue never even left her lips.

Silver Spoon led a procession through the grove of golden apples, joined by both the entranced crowd and the hooded stallions. “Freedom for Equestria!”

“Freedom for Equestria!”

A hoof touched Fluttershy’s shoulder, and she flinched away. When she opened her eyes, she was surprised to see not Merry Mare, but Adagio Dazzle. “Hi. I’m Adagio. You probably know me as that one monster who fought Twilight on the other side of the mirror. Sorry.”

Fluttershy shuffled away. “What do you want from me?”

“For now, to keep you alive.” Adagio Dazzle sent a shifty glance towards Jeuk, who had sunken into conversation with his Princelings and Merry. “After that, I don’t think either of us knows for sure.” She reached a wrinkled hoof to Fluttershy and hoisted her up, deceptively strong for her age. “Come on, we can at least get you cleaned up and fed. Nobody sleeps much in the Grove these days.”

“‘These days?’” Fluttershy watched as the ghosts faded into the shadows, leaving the horrific festivities for their endless days of sorrow. “When was this place ever restful?”

“A little over two-thousand years ago,” Adagio whispered, half to herself. “When I planted it.”

Comments

[RadicalDishonesty]

Ah, the villains.

I think I appreciate this framing more, with the reaction from Fluttershy, horrified, and even some of the villains understanding what's going on. I prefer this to the group of them as individual villains, reveling each in their own delusions.

Also it turns out Jeuk was the big bad all along. Lovin' it.

Naturally it's all also very awful, but I'm excited for it too, somehow.

[MyHobby]

11464275

Ah, the villains.

I think I appreciate this framing more, with the reaction from Fluttershy, horrified, and even some of the villains understanding what's going on. I prefer this to the group of them as individual villains, reveling each in their own delusions.

Yeah, me too. It's why Silver Spoon's part of last chapter was spent mostly summarizing, because I really didn't want to spend too long dwelling on their point of view. I also made sure to contrast their scene immediately with Spike and CO.'s basically doing the exact opposite of them, and with full dialogue at that. Overall, I've wanted very much for the heroes to be as interesting as--hopefully more interesting than--the villains. My little personal rebellion against how in media villains are allowed long monologues to show how very well-thought-out and reasonable their wicked deeds are, while heroes don't even get so much as a "No that's wrong and here's why you suck!"

Granted, it's because the villains are generally much more stylish than the heroes, so what can you do?

Also it turns out Jeuk was the big bad all along. Lovin' it.

I hope it was a good twist. I'll admit that in the beginning, I had thought of them as separate characters, but by the time If You Weren't Afraid got rolling, I realized that Jeuk was better as more than just a second-in-command.

Naturally it's all also very awful, but I'm excited for it too, somehow.

It's why villain songs are always the most catchy tune in the soundtrack. it gets you hyped! It gets you pumped! It says that things cannot stay as they are and big changes are coming! It says the table is flipped and the only thing that can stop them is a truly mighty hero (or group of heroes)!