The Neo-Equestrian Chronicles

by The Sorrow Of Joy

Chapter 4: Awakening

From experience, Victoria knew how quick the press could be.

When she was part of the newspaper, she and her team would almost always be the first on the scene, even before the authorities arrived. As time dragged on, though, she grew weary of this pattern. Arriving first meant seeing everything down to the last bloody detail. It was something meant for only those with nerves of steel and a gut of iron, something meant for an ace reporter. Something not meant for Victoria. So she left, but left with a long-lasting respect for the trade.

But as she sat in the Emergency ward, swamped with fifty different reporters from fifty different news stations, her regard for the journalist quickly dropped.

“Ms. Raines, a question! What happened? Is your sister alright? Who were those two other girls with her? Hey, stop shoving! I got here first! Hey!”

The crowd’s shouts all mixed and melted together to form an immense roar that resonated down the halls. Nurses and patients alike were pouring out of the rooms, confused and upset at the impressive boom of the crowd. Victoria sat amidst this crowd, Jessica at her side, and Laura propped in front of the two in an attempt to hold of the horde.

“For the last time, I don’t want to answer any questions! I have no idea what’s going on, or why you’re even here!” Victoria cried. “Just leave us alone!”

“Ya’ll stay back, now! You heard her! She doesn’t wanna answer none your darn questions! Hey! Watch where you’re putting your hand, buddy!” Laura yelled as she attempted to push the crowd back. Luckily, they were all Spellweavers and Cloudwalkers, making them slightly easier to push back, but the mob’s net force was still threatening to overpower the single Earthmover.

“What could your sister have done to have caused such a ruckus?” Jessica asked Victoria, moving in close so that she could hear.

“How am I supposed to know? She’s always getting herself into trouble. Oh, Elizabeth…” Victoria let her head fall into her hands. A muffled groan followed.

Jessica put her hand on her friend’s shoulder. Victoria lifted her head back up and nodded to her friend in acceptance of the gesture, then let herself sink into the seat, but was by no means able to relax. She had heard no word from the doctors since they arrived half an hour ago and even now, all sorts of medical personnel were running in and out Elizabeth’s room. Just what was happening in that room?

“I wonder how long we’re gonna be here? I better call Donny and tell him I’m going to be late,” Jessica said as she reached into her purse for her phone. She flipped open the device and navigated through its menus until she reached Spike’s number, which she proceeded to dial. As she did so, she saw a doctor emerge from behind the front desk.

“All right, that’s enough! I’m going to have to ask you all to leave. It’s late at the patients need their rest,” he said to the crowd. They resisted at first, but when he threatened to call the police, it was as though a fire had just started in the building. They bolted, and when the lobby was clear and silent once more, the doctor disappeared behind the desk as quickly as he had appeared.

“Hello? Jessica? Where are you guys?” Donny’s voice sounded through the phone’s speaker.

“At the hospital with Victoria and Laura,” Jessica said. “What are you doing?

“Nothing. Just watching T.V,” he said, boredom quite evident in his voice. Jessica wasn’t surprised to hear his lack of concern as to why they were at the hospital.

“I don’t know when I’ll be getting home, so just lock up when you go to bed,” Jessica said into the phone. A man dressed in scrubs had tapped Victoria on the shoulder and was asking her to come with him. “I have to go now. Bye, Spike.”

“See you later. Tell Victoria I said hi, by the way,” Donny said before Jessica shut the phone with a snap.

Elizabeth was lying in a bed in the very center of the hospital room, surrounded by an array of machines that were all hooked up to her. She had fallen asleep to the sounds of whirs and beeps, the cold and stingy smell of a sanitized room in her nostrils. When she heard people walking into the room, she awoke from her sleepless slumber, and turned her head slowly towards the door.

“Oh, Elizabeth!” Victoria said dramatically as she took up Elizabeth in a gentle hug. “How are you? What happened?”

“Hi, sis,” the young Spellweaver said weakly. Her head pounded terribly and wasn’t able to formulate the response to her sister’s questions. “Hi, Jessica.”

“It’s hard to say what happened to your sister,” the doctor said as he approached the bed with a clipboard in hand. “Physically, she’s fine, but we can’t pick up any sort of radiant energy on any of the scans.”

“What does that mean?” Victoria asked the doctor as she stepped back from the bed.

“There are no signs of the usual magic field that Spellweavers have,” the man said as he did something on a nearby machine. “It shouldn’t be possible, seeing as how a Spellweaver’s life is tied to their magic, but it seems as though she’s completely dry.”

“Is she going to be okay?” the bigger sister asked as she approached the bed again to grip the younger’s hand.

“We have her hooked up to a crystal machine that’s providing an artificial field, so she’s fine at the moment,” the doctor said as he walked to another machine and placed his hand on it, “but unless she somehow restores her original magic field, she’s not going to be able to leave this bed.”

“Oh, dear,” Victoria said as she looked at the occupant on the bed. She was in pitiful condition. Her face was a pale white with dark rings beneath her eyes. Elizabeth’s light purple hair had turned a deep black, an adverse affect of the unusual magic drain. She could barely open her eyes for only a few seconds as well.

“Do you have any idea how something like this could have happened?” Jessica asked as she too took a place bedside.

“No clue. I’ve never seen anything like this in all my years as a doctor,” the man said as he placed the clipboard down on a table next to the wall. He put his hands in his pockets and knelt against said table. “Like I said, something like this shouldn’t even be possible.”

Jessica scratched her head. What could have done this? There were no spells that could directly interact with another person’s magical essence. Or at least, none that she knew of. And neither was there a machine ever constructed that could do such a thing since there wasn’t any reason to take someone else’s magic.

“Visiting hours end in thirty minutes. We’ll let you know if we have any developments,” the doctor said as he walked towards the door. “Good night.”

The two Spellweavers nodded in acknowledgement before turning their attention towards Elizabeth once more. Unsurprisingly, she had drifted off to sleep in the few seconds that the doctor had been talking. Victoria fell back into a nearby chair dramatically.

“What terrible luck,” she said grimly. She began to sob lightly. “What are we going to do, Jessica? What if the doctors can’t find a way to cure her?”

Jessica pulled a chair next to her friend and sat down. She placed her hand on Victoria’s shoulder as she had done in the lobby and gave her a smile.

“Don’t worry. They’ll find something,” Jessica said, words full of earnest hope for the wreck that was in the bed next to them. “They have to.”

“I hope you’re right, Jessica,” Victoria continued to sob. “I really hope you’re right.”

Her quiet tears echoed through the silent hallways.

The moon was high in the sky now, its light bathing the land below. It stretched far and wide, found its way into even the darkest corners of the land. But there was one place that it seemed to ignore, as if it feared to even go near. Here, in the shadow of that dark place, was where a Royal Guard was just beginning his night patrol. Drake hated the night shift, especially when he was sent to guard over some of the creepiest places in Canterlot like the Royal Museum or the Catacombs. But tonight had to be the worst out of any of the places he had been. He swore to himself that he would quit if he was ever assigned to this post, yet here he was, sitting at the foot of the Sacred Grounds with no one around. And what was the deal with that? Royal Guardsmen usually work in tandem with a partner, but tonight he had no one to converse with, no one to take his mind off the work he was doing. Drake shook his head and leaned against the wall of the giant dome behind him, silently cursing his commanding officer and everyone else who recommended the night patrol.

“Oh, Dear Celestia, why me?” Drake lamented. “Why do I always get stuck with the worst posts?”

He reached into his bag that he had brought with him and drew out a newspaper and a cigarette. At least night guards were allowed to carry a bag for food and other items due to how long their shifts were. He ignited the cigarette tip with a spark of magic and had it float into his mouth for a puff. He then conjured an orb of light to illuminate his paper and had it sit just above him. He relaxed a little, comforted by the light and the smoke, and was fully prepared for the long night ahead.

“Now then, let’s see what we got…” Drake said to himself as he examined the newspaper headlines. He skipped the front page and went directly to the sports section. Nothing too interesting, except for maybe the Fillydelphia Griffons finally pulling through and making it to the finals. He perused the rest of the paper, trying to see what story caught his attention, until he finally found himself at the front page again. It was here that he finally found a story that caught his eye.

“Incident at the Royal Gardens? What’s this about?” Drake uttered to himself. He brought the paper in closer. It read something about a girl who had been knocked unconscious after coming into contact with the statue inside the Sacred Grounds during the time people were allowed to enter the place. The dome was sealed off from the public for the rest of the day.

It was a pretty big event, by the looks of it, but no one had even thought of telling Drake about it.

He balled up the paper angrily and threw it into the air, incinerating it with a bolt of magic as it fell. He instantly regretted it. Losing his only source of entertainment for the night, the guardsman crossed his arms and sucked angrily at his cigarette. When he realized that all that was left was the butt, he spat it out on the ground and stamped it out.

“Great. Freakin’ great,” Drake said loudly. “Now what the heck am I supposed to-!”

He was cut off by what sounded like a large explosion that sounded off behind him, and was thrown to the ground by the resulting shockwave. He picked himself up, confused and panicked, and grabbed his nearby lance. He spun around, trying to find the source of the crash, but saw nothing.

Nothing, save for the light that was now pouring out of the gates to the Sacred Grounds.

Drake gripped his weapon tightly as he ran towards the thick iron gates that were now enveloped by a deep purple light. He stood just outside, debating whether or not to go in. Should he call for help? Was there time? What was even going on? Cautiously, Drake began to open the gates that creaked horribly as they did so. He walked in without even waiting for them to open, his spear pointed forward and ready to thrust. As he walked further and further in, the light became more and more intense. It felt as though it was coming from everywhere, but the dome still remained dark along the outermost rim. He reached the center of the rotunda, where the strange light was at its brightest, and it was here that he stopped cold in his tracks.

In the middle of the light was a writhing, deformed mass of animals and strange creatures.

And at the center of the heap was a man.

He was crouched, obscuring much of his features, but Drake could see that his back was covered in green scales and his arms were thick, muscular, and similarly covered with scales. His hair was an unnatural white and seemed to be as alive as the animals surrounding the man lying on the floor.

“What the hell is this?” Drake said, voice full of fear and panic. He tried to step back, but fear had frozen him in place. And he stood there, helpless, as the crouched figure slowly rose to his feet. As he did so, the mass of creatures began to crawl up his body. Drake watched in horror as they melted into his body, crying and screeching as it happened, replacing the sickly scales with pale white skin. All that remained after the strange and terrifying sight was an enormous man, standing at what must have been at least twelve feet, completely naked standing in the center of the dome. The light had died down, and now the only sources of light were from the plants around the structure and from the unearthly glow of the gigantic man. His gruesome yellow eyes surveyed his enclosure until his gaze fell upon Drake, who stood with his mouth agape in terror.

“Where am I?” the man’s voice boomed. Drake continued to stare at the sight before him in silence.

The tall being laughed loudly.

“You are right to be speechless at my magnificence!” he said. His handsome face twisted into a sinister smile. “And you should feel lucky. You are the first to gaze upon the greatness that is Titanus in over ten thousand years!”

Drake tried to say something, but choked on his words, producing nothing but a stutter. Titanus guffawed and began to walk closer to the hapless guardsman.

“Tell me then. Where am I?” the giant Titanus growled.

“C-Canterlot! The Royal Gardens!” Drake blurted out in a single breath.

“Royal Gardens! She put me in the garden like some sort of ornament?!” the colossus chuckled. “Well, at least she doesn’t have bad taste, eh?”

Drake wasn’t sure whether or not to humor him and instead remained silent.

“Tell me, do you have any idea how boring it is to be trapped inside a statue for ten thousand years?” Titanus asked. “No, I don’t think you would. Well, let me tell you, it is quite boring. So, now that I’m out, how about we play a game?”

“Celestia help me!” Drake cried as he began to sprint towards the exit, regaining control of his body. He wasn’t sure what the Giant was planning but he wasn’t going to stick around to find out.

“Where do you think you’re going? We were going to play a game!” Titanus laughed as he cracked his knuckles.

“Oh well, I still get to have my fun!”

Drake screamed as he felt his body being torn apart.

Hundreds of glittering butterflies flittered where the Royal Guardsman once stood.

One by one, they caught fire and turned to ash, floating gently to the ground without the slightest sound.

Maniacal laughter echoed throughout the dome before silence returned once more.

Author's Note:

This one took me a while! As of now, these are chapters that I had not uploaded to FanFiction.net, so expect a little bit of time between chapters hereafter. Enjoy!

Comments

[Dearbourne]

So, Titanus is freaking cool. That is all.
Can't wait to read the next chapter!!