Darkness in the North

by Commissar Rarity

Of Prescience

The door to the apothecary opened with the jingle of the bell and Augur followed the bell’s announcement. Like all the buildings in Bastion, the apothecary was small in a homey, pleasant way and not cramped at all.

The owner, a pale, creamy white unicorn with the unlikely name of “Allie Horn” popped up from behind the counter, adjusting his prince-nez with a spark of silver magic. “Friend Augur!” His voice was rough and cracked from age. “In need of something? Manticore stinger? Harpy tail feather? Recently got fresh shipment in.”

Augur nodded, eyes scouring the shelves for what he needed. Long ago he had ordered an antique grimoire and poured over its yellowed fragile leaves. One of the many spells he had learned was an ancient alicorn ritual of instantaneous transportation. To ensure the success of this complex incantation, he required some very rare ingredients he could only get at Allie’s Apothecary. “Quite a few things,” he said, pushing his shopping list towards the unicorn with his nose.

Allie browsed the list, brow furrowing as he did so. “Rather unusual, this list of yours. Planning some sort of teleportation spell?”

“Something like that,” the druid muttered. “You have what I need?”

“Hah! What kind of alchemist would I be if I didn’t? Most of it is in the rare stocks, I’m afraid. Will take time, stocks in basement. Wait here?”

Augur nodded without a word. Things were about to get hard… Just how hard, he had no way of knowing.

---

The two thin, hooked rods slipped into the lock, slowly fiddling up and down. The lock clicked several times before a final definite clack sounded. A blue hoof reached up and pushed the door open with a creak. Trixie entered the oracle’s small hut, pointed cap brushing and bending on the door frame. Behind her came the three mare-friends from Ponyville.

“This don’t seem exactly, uh, legal,” Applejack said.

“It isn’t,” Trixie prodded a glass orb.

“Oh.”

Rainbow flicked around the room, taking in all the strange devices and the hanging charms and poppets scattered about. “This is like Zecora’s place, except creepier. Which is something I never thought I’d say.”

Twilight flipped open a book sitting on a table, squinting to make out the squiggly scrawls. “I don’t think he’s here… This is an old alicorn spellbook and it’s bookmarked to a page on teleportation rituals. I don’t see any of the required ingredients here and I don’t think he’d leave without his instructions.”

The stage magician-cum-spy shrugged, replacing the orb to its shelf. “Then we wait for him to return.”

“Wait? Ugh, sounds boring.”

Applejack shushed Dash, and the hut fell into silence. And so they waited.

---

Allie had barely counted the bits when Augur exited the apothecary at a rapid trot. The alchemist slipped the bits into his register, watching the younger pony carefully. When he had gone out of sight, Allie closed the window’s shutters, and flipped the open sign around. He pulled out a dark sheet of fabric from beneath the counter.

Gathering the druid’s robes around him, he magicked open a trapdoor hidden beneath one of the several rugs he had covering the hardwood floors. He trotted quickly down the stair case, shutting the door behind him.

“When a brother betrays a brother, vengeance must be taken,” Moon’s Omen said to himself grimly.

---

With a sigh, Augur unlatched the door and trotted into his house, satchel bags full of the materials he needed. He levitated the bags, gold aura shimmering around them, deforming as they were set on the table. Augur’s ear twitched slightly, he had a slight stab of pain behind his right eye, and he paused in his canter. His prescience was warning him of something.

Prescience is a controversial subject among the Philosoponies and scientists alike. It’s common enough for unicorns to have foresight, but only after much practise. But an earth pony who could soothsay? The very idea excites and enrages the community. Not even Twilight Sparkle’s essay on “Pinkie Sense” could bring them to an impasse (though a research team was sent to follow Pinkie Pie around for a week. Their report consisted of the following: “Her cupcakes are very good. Recommend she be hired as official pastry chef of the Philosoponies Institute.”).

But Augur… Augur always had prescience, even as a foal. When playing Pegasi and Griffins in the abandoned quarry with his best friend (he was the pegasus, his friend the griffin), his ear began to twitch and he had a pain behind that right eye. He thought nothing of it, and continued playing. The quarry had never been stable to begin with. In fact, that was the very reason it was abandoned.

As it happened, the slow erosion of years and the quarry’s innate weakness chose that moment to combine forces. The cliffs began to collapse. Augur and his friend couldn’t possibly escape. The only thing the poor pony remembered of that was a horrible feeling that wasn’t a feeling – the pull of gravity, the gaping maw of the quarry, the wind pushing him –

Then all was darkness.

When the two friends never returned from the quarry, a search party was gathered. After hours of searching past the twilight into the forlorn darkness of night, the foals were found. The fate of his friend was a sad one, a life cut short. The only solace one could find was that her death had been quick.

Augur clutched to life, like the knights of old clutched the banners of Celestia against the biting winds. He was trapped in the cold grasp of sleep, in such a deep coma the doctor had simply shook his head. His parents were of a different mind. They sat with him, day after day, week after week. These weeks stretched into months, months into a year.

It was a year and a half to the day when Augur opened his eyes again. It was another month before he could walk, and a month more before his speech was understandable. Of his dexterity, it remained crippled; he was never as active as he once was. His writing took a significant turn to the worse. He had a dream once, of being a painter, crafting art from the unique landscapes of the Hinterlands. But the injuries he sustained crushed any hope of that.

You lived for a purpose, his mother would say. Celestia spared you. Your fate is something greater than you or I can comprehend. If Celestia had truly spared him, why did he fall to begin with? He would not dare say these things to her, though he thought them every day.

He wandered, lost for many years. Until one day, his ears twitched once more, the back of his eye pained him, and a druidic praise book fell into his hooves. A grove member had lost it from their robe after a moot, by chance or by design, it could not be said.

The book opened Augur’s mind to a possibility he had never once considered: the druidic gods had guided his life, from the accident forth. He read and understood their sermons; he recognised his prescience as a gift from them. He wanted most of all to serve.

And serve he did.

---

We come again to prescience. His ear twitch was a violent one. His eye felt as though it would fall out. Prescience. Augur could not discern – not without his tools – what his ear was detecting, only that he needed to be careful. He slowly stepped through the beaded curtain from his workplace to his living quarters, and there saw what his ears and eye had seen: Company.

Four mares, either sitting on his chairs or the floor. Two unicorns, one purple, one blue seated in his rocking chairs. An earth pony with a ridiculous hat lounged by the fireplace, an apple stuck in her mouth as she froze. A pegasus stopped in her toying with one of his hanging charms.

“I wondered what happened to Rocky when he didn’t show up the other night,” Augur said. “Was the package worth your time?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about and I don’t care. You’re a druid, aren’t you?” The blue unicorn flipped her mane haughtily, glaring at the pony.

“Yes, I am. Though honestly you could’ve found that out from anypony in town.”

“First hand sources are better than second hand.” That was the purple unicorn.

“Very well. That package was nothing. Just some ingredients and a spellbook. Rocky wasn’t the brightest and he always assumed it was something important.”

“What about your grove?” Trixie interrogated. “What’s their plan?”

Augur blinked. She was forward, wasn’t she? He opened his mouth to send a barb at her when he froze. He had already cast his lot against his grove – why should he stay loyal to them now.

Sighing, he looked down. He was so confused. His mind raced as he tried to process the new events. Then he closed his eyes and told them everything.

---

The direwolf growled, emanating from the depths of its bowels. Its mates lowered themselves on their haunches, preparing to spring. Moon’s Omen magicked open the gate and jumped back. The direwolves sprang out, fire licking at their lips. Growling, the pack leader whipped its head around towards the unicorn. A glow surrounded the direwolves’ heads, and they turned with one mind, and sprinted off towards their destination.

---

“How?” Twilight Sparkle asked. The druid shook his head.

“I don’t know, exactly. All I’ve been told is it involves the Obelisk.”

“The what?” Applejack scratched her head, and Rainbow looked about as lost as her.

“The Obelisk, you morons. It’s an ancient construct of unknown purpose,” Trixie exposited in a huff. “If they think they can use the Obelisk as a catalyst, who knows what could happen?”

“No doubt something terrible. Augur, we need to go to the Obelisk and look around. Can you take us there?”

He nodded. “But first I want to get Day-”

The window suddenly shattered, and a black snarling mass of fur and flame vaulted in. A direwolf. Sheathed in flame, the hellbeast snapped its slavering jaws, peering out through white eyes at them. This beast was a direct descendant of the monsters that plagued the Bastion Expedition.

“Aw horseapples!” Applejack dove off her chair, rolling into a defencive position. Her hat bounced into a corner.

Steaming droplets of drool fell to the floor, eating through the floorboards with a hiss of steam. The direwolf began to strafe to its right, keeping Augur locked in its sight at all times. It tensed in the back and leapt at the druid in the blink of an eye.

A prismatic streak slammed into the leaping direwolf, sending it flying across the room. It struck the fireplace hard. Rainbow Dash hovered where she had intercepted the beast with a smirk on his faster.

“Maybe I should change my name to Rainbow Smash!” Rainbow beamed at her success.

The direwolf sprang back to its feet and let out an unearthly howl that vibrated the very soul. It snapped its head back to gaze at Rainbow Dash, and began to strafe again, keeping her in sight. The wolf stopped abruptly and reared its head back. There was a great inhalation, and then it snapped its head back, emitting a gout of flame from its mouth.

Dash juked out of the way with a muffled swear, cracking her head on a beam. Woozily, she crashed to the floor. Her head throbbed, and her vision was beginning to get blurry.

She felt something hot and sharp sink into her leg. Her vision cleared in a snap, and she saw the direwolf biting her leg. She tried to beat it off but the beast just shrugged the blows off. Her leg was burning with pain and blood was dripping on the floor from the wolf’s fangs. It started to drag her towards the shattered window. Now Dash really started to panic.

“AJ! AJ! HELP!”

With the speed and power that had won her the gold medal in applebucking three years straight, Applejack leapt to her friend’s rescue, kicking the wolf as hard as possible with her hind legs. There was a sickening crack, and the wolf tumbled over onto its back.

The direwolf’s legs kicked pathetically, and a whimper escaped its lips. The fires on its fur and in its mouth died as it kicked one final time, arcing its back in a horrible rictus of death.

The beads swung. The breeze blew in from the remains of the window. Dash propped herself against a wall to allow Applejack to inspect her wounds. The small flames left by the direwolf’s passing died out.

Augur prodded the corpse with a hoof. “Odd timing, that. Attacked by a beast that’s supposed to extinct as I meet with agents of the Princess.”

“You think somepony’s trying to kill us?” Twilight asked.

“I don’t think. I know. Somepony in the grove knows I’ve betrayed them somehow.” His eyes widened. “Daydancer!” He spun around to face the two magicians. “We need to find Daydancer! If they know I’ve betrayed them they’ll know she has too! We need to get her out of here!”

“Wrong,” Trixie snapped. “We need to go to the Obelisk! Stopping a ritual that means the end of Equestria as we know it is far more important than saving your special somepony!”

“No, we need a doctor,” Applejack butted in. “I don’t like the way Dash’s leg looks. I think that wolf had somethin’ awful in its mouth.”

“For Celestia’s sake!” A vein on Twilight’s face was standing out. “Trixie, the ritual’s waited a while it can wait a while longer. We’ll go get this Daydancer and hide her then we’ll head out to the Obelisk. Applejack, you take Rainbow Dash to the nearest doctor. No complaints, let’s go!”

The door slammed shut. There was silence in the house. The wind continued to blow.

A shadow moved over the corpse of the direwolf. The pack leader sniffed its fallen companion. It laid down next to the corpse, and buried its muzzle in the gaping jaw of the other. A spark of flame passed between them.

The leader stepped away, staring at the corpse. With the crack of bones setting, the formerly dead direwolf rose again, flames returning to its hide and breath. A glimmer of communication passed between the two, and they howled their soul-piercing howl.

They’d have to work for their meals this time.

---

Augur ran, following the magic ripples left in Daydancer’s wake. They were all through town, but strongest in the direction he was going. He could feel, in the back of his mind, that she lived somewhere nearby.

His heart pounded, he could hear blood rushing in his ears. Had a direwolf reached her before him? Was she still safe? He quickened his pace. He couldn’t feel the ripples of Trixie and Twilight behind him. He must have outpaced them long ago.

As he turned the corner, he felt the core of Daydancer’s ripples. Everything flowed from here, it had to be her house, it must be!

He banged into the door, sending it flying open. An elderly mare behind the counter dove for cover. She lived in an apartment, he realised.

“Where does Daydancer live?” he asked, out of breath and panting heavily.

“Room 14,” the landmare squeaked, trembling.

Augur burst into a run again, galloping at full pace down the hall. His hooves made no sound on the carpet, thin as it was. Room 11… Room 12… Room 14! He jiggled the handle. Locked. He threw his full strength to bear as he slammed into the door, again and again and again.

Finally, the latch gave and the wood around it splintered. He fell in, unbalanced by the sudden opening. Lifting himself up, he glanced hurriedly around the room. The room was empty, but he still felt strong echoes of her presence in the magic vibrations.

His eyes fell on something that chilled him to the bone. The window was shattered, wall forced inward. Glass was strewn on the carpet, and a trail of blood led up the wall and out the window. Burn marks scarred the carpet, and a table was overturned.

“No! No! NO!” Augur fell to his knees, head swimming. Disbelief flooded his mind. She couldn’t possibly be gone, she’d fought off the direwolf and escaped. She couldn’t be gone. She wasn’t gone.

Something struck his head from behind. The sudden blow unbalanced him further, causing him to fall to side, hitting the wall with his shoulder. The pain jolted him back from his despair.

“Get up!” Trixie barked. “Your stupid marefriend means nothing to me! The only thing that matters is stopping the ritual!” She smacked Augur again. “Man up! Are you a stallion or a mouse? Get off your flank and do what’s important. Do the right thing.” Her eyes were filled with fire, her voice livid. Augur shivered with rage, jaw trembling.

Then… he shut his eyes and took in a deep breath. “Y- you’re right. If she’s still alive she’ll more than likely be near the Obelisk.”

A keening note pierced the air, reverberating in the ponies’ skulls. The two unicorns threw their hooves to their horns, and Augur clutched his head. As quick as it came, the note ended, an unfinished cry still echoing.

“What was that?” Twilight gasped.

“What do you think?” Trixie’s face grew grim. “They’ve started.”

---

Daydancer woke to a terrible cacophony – the wailing of pony voices, the basso rumble of the great black Thing and a keening sound that seemed to stab into her very soul. The hurtful sound stopped abruptly as Moon’s Omen appeared in her vision, a wraith floating in the darkness. He stood above her, looking down. His wet purple gaze ran down her body, making her feel unclean.

“Welcome back,” he breathed. “Shame you made such poor decisions, my dear. You could’ve had a place in our new world. But fret not. By your blood, the new world will begin.” His mouth stretched in a mocking rictus of a grin.