The Tower: Part 2
The Tower Part 2:
Ancient Evils
There was a sudden surge of bubbles in the lowest depths of the tower. In an ancient chamber carved from stone with an equally ancient pool in the center. Soon the bubbles shot up into a spire, throwing the Elements of Harmony and Faust into the air. The ponies with wings floated down, while Faust grasped the others in her crimson magic. The seven ponies soon landed on their hooves. They took a moment to take stock of themselves, and then looked around. Faust heaved a relieved sigh, she hadn't been certain that the ancient chamber hadn't collapsed.
Mostly because she hadn't exactly kept every part of the tower maintained over the millenia.
"Oh thank you sweet Celestia, dry land at last!" Applejack crowed as she hugged the ground. Literally, hugged the ground and nuzzled it as if it'd leave her. Her friends tried desperately not to laugh at her, well, most of them did anyways. Faust couldn't stop a giggle as she watched the earth-pony. Pinkie however laughed outright at the orange apple-mare's expense.
"Geez AJ, I don't think the ground is going anywhere," Rainbow noted with a snort. Said apple-mare glared at her and then rolled her eyes.
"I don' like water," the apple-mare grumbled irritably. Her friends snickers continued, yet Faust turned to the door and pushed it open.
"Alright, that's enough making fun of Jackie, we've still got to find Celestia and Luna after all," the ivory alicorn reminded and the other ponies nodded. Faust then turned to the pool of water where RC and her fellow guards were and smiled kindly. "You girls will be alright while we're gone, right?" the alicorn questioned worriedly. Not that she wasn't certain they would be fine mind you. She just tended to worry for every pony.
"We'll be fine miss, we'll wait here until further notice," RC replied simply. Her fellow guards nodded their heads in agreement at her side. Faust smiled and turned to the door to open it with her magic. She idly hoped that the three Sea-Ponies wouldn't get too bored while they went after Celestia and Luna. While it was clear that RC and the guards were a fair bit more mature than the Sea-Ponies of her youth, she had a feeling they could still be energetic and playful. Regardless the ancient alicorn marched into the tower with the elements hot on her heels.
"How do you plan to find the princesses?" Twilight questioned worriedly. Faust hummed lightly and closed her eyes in thought. The tower was nigh impossible to navigate for a normal pony. They could potentially be lost inside of it for weeks or even months. She had a moderate level of control of the tower, enough to force it to take her where she wanted, but that was all. She could navigate it, but more often than not she'd prefer to see where it would take her. After all, that was how she'd discovered some of the more interesting rooms in the tower.
"I suppose I'll have to force the tower to put us on the most direct route to them," Faust finally admitted. Twilight blinked and looked to the older pony with a confused frown.
"Why would you have to force the tower to do something?" the little lavender mare questioned curiously. Faust had already explained how the tower was 'alive' for lack of a better term. Twilight was honestly curious about that, but had decided that she would rather not question it. Said ivory alicorn mentally sighed at her question and looked to the younger pony with a frown.
"The tower has a habit of leading you on an endless wild goose chase. It considers it a game, a way to have fun with anyone inside of the tower. Thus the only way I can actually find what I want is to magically assert my control over it," Faust explained. It also didn't hurt that that would be the quickest way to finding Celestia and Luna. Well, unless the tower had decided to play a game with them.
"Does any pony else feel like these halls are unnaturally big?" Rarity suddenly questioned. Faust blinked then looked up and around. Her brows shot up as she saw the sheer size of the halls had grown from normal, and now towered over them.
"That can't be right," she mumbled quietly to herself, "the tower only shifts it's shape when something big is inside," she noted and then flicked her ears all around. She could hear sounds coming from deep within the tower. The sounds were too light for her to properly understand, but they were there. A frown marred the ancient alicorn's features and her eyes narrowed. She turned back to the elements with a grave expression. "Girls, I suggest putting on your elements and staying alert, something is wrong here," Faust ordered gravely.
The six ponies nodded and did as bade. Twilight quickly used her magic to float each necklace to it's owner while she kept the tiara in her saddlebags. Unlike the others with their necklaces, she was certain that the tiara would be completely impractical for running. Each pony put their necklace on, just below their chokers from the Sea-Ponies, and looked to Faust as she stole a glance at her own saddlebags. The ancient alicorn frowned and considered using a few of the relics she'd gotten from Mort to bolster her powers. Sadly, more than a few of them were cursed or outright evil in nature.
'I can't risk being corrupted, I'm older than any other Alicorn, if I lose control of myself...' Faust thought and then trailed off. It wasn't her power she was afraid of. Faust was perhaps the single most experienced Alicorn in terms of combat. Mort had always been a supplementary combatant, preferring to bolster his army's skills. Celestia and Luna always had magic. Cadence was a lover, not a fighter. Clockwork was an inventor, not a destroyer, his realm over time also didn't help matters as he could simply vanish without having to fight. Even Riptide, err, 'Aquaria' wasn't a fighter, she was a stunt pony at best.
Faust had no such stigma on her in her youth. Unlike Celestia and Luna, she had been without her magic when she was young. However loath as she was to admit it, she would have the easiest time defeating the two alicorns. Not because she was more powerful, but because Luna wouldn't be able to fight her. Even though she had honestly tried not to let the girls get too attached to her, Luna had. As a result, Luna would be unable to fight her, and without Luna, Celestia would be little better than a sitting duck.
Mort was a pony who would openly appose her should she be corrupted. Whether it was out of the desire to protect others, or something else, she didn't know. He would try to defeat her, but due to the fact he was a supplementary mage at his best, he would still fall. True, she couldn't bolster others like Mort did, her early magics with charms had been immature at best. Most of which had been simple attempts to use the skills other ponies had. But she had an edge in her illusions, Mort was also blind and cutting him off from the spirit world would leave him completely at her mercy.
Unlike Cadence she was not afforded a time of peace and thus was forced to be a fighter rather than a lover. Her pegasus friend Heartthrob had been allowed the chance to be a lover and was strangely similar to Cadence in that she understood the ins and outs of love. The only reason she hadn't ascended herself was because she had been a hopeless romantic who believed in the perfect fairy tail ending. However that was of little consequence and so Faust returned to her earlier train of thought.
Last would be Riptide, the undersea Alicorn and queen of the Sea-Ponies. While she knew little of her current abilities, she knew that Riptide had always been reckless. She was quick to anger, not to mention a dare-devil, and had very little in the ways of diplomacy. Clearly a few thousand years had been good to her, teaching her patience and perhaps tempering her anger, but that would matter little. In a fight Faust was methodical, much like with Mortis, she would only attack when she was ready, and the strike would be quick and surgical. There would be no time for Riptide or any pony to fight back.
Unless Clockwork Gears, the 'alicorn' of Time and Machines became involved, and she only called him an Alicorn by proxy. War-Helm was another combatant although 'False' alicorn, close as he was to true ascension he was still a ways off from it. Unfortunately, War-Helm was even easier to anger than Riptide had been in her youth. He was not only reckless, but potentially suicidal in his tactics. And of course, the crazed flaming pony would be easily subdued by her if she were to be corrupted. Mostly because she'd managed to subdue him when she wasn't corrupted.
All and all, should she ever be corrupted, she was of the mind her fellow Alicorns wouldn't stand a chance. Even being 'immortal' wouldn't really save them, they would be decimated. Unless they tried to fight and defeat her with sheer numbers there would be no contest. True, Faust hadn't been in a fight in some thousand years now, but she had managed to subdue War-Helm. That had been no small feat either. War-Helm was disturbingly close to becoming an Alicorn himself, an alicorn of war, destruction, violence, and bloodshed, but still an alicorn.
"Are you alright there, Faustie?" Pinkie questioned suddenly. The voice of the pink party pony snapped Faust from her thoughts. She blinked for a moment, shook her head, and then nodded to the younger pony silently. "Oh okay, just making sure nothing was wrong, you had this really pensive look on your face," the pink party pony stated with a nod of her head. Faust rolled her eyes and turned away from the energetic pony, as well as her own thoughts. Much as she didn't want to admit it, she had a bad habit of thinking only the worst would happen.
"Girls stick together, if we don't wander off the tower has to take us to Celestia and Luna," Faust ordered the elements. She also focused on her magic and narrowed her eyes. The tower gave a groan of annoyance in her head, but complied as the halls changed into a long stretch for them to follow. The ancient alicorn trotted forward with the six elements following behind her. She idly glanced here and there, a frown formed across her lips when she saw burning tracks had been left in the floors, alongside claw marks.
"Just what kind of trouble did you two get into this time girls?" Faust questioned with a frown as she and the elements continued into the depths of the tower. Her 'daughters' had once been much like the notorious Cutie-Mark crusaders in their youth. Often getting into trouble and causing mayhem wherever they went. It was a wonder that Discord hadn't taken a shine to them with how often they got into mischief. Thankfully, a few thousand years had finally managed to calm the two down to more manageable levels. For the most part at least.
Back behind the other elements and Faust, Fluttershy stopped at a strange sound and turned. Nothing was there save for a large door with a depiction of a tree on its front. The butter yellow mare frowned and tilted her head, the tree shaped depiction seemed so familiar to her. She approached it and then looked it over more seriously, idly noting that words had actually made up the entire depiction. It was not a picture, but some kind of spell that formed a massive tree. She wondered what it was for a moment, then yelped as a hoof touched her withers.
"Honestly darling," Rarity stated with a shake of her head, "you shouldn't be so jumpy," she chastised playfully, then frowned, "nor should you wander off when Faust asked us to stick together!" The said butter yellow pegasus winced.
"I-I'm so sorry, b-but I thought I h-heard something," the willowy mare replied. Rarity sighed and then looked at the door that her friends had found so interesting. Her eyes widened as she saw the depiction of a tree on the front. She felt that the depiction was familiar, however put that at the back of her mind.
"Be that as it may, we should return to Faust before," the marshmallow unicorn began only to halt when she realized they were alone. "Oh dear, well, perhaps we should wait inside then," Rarity murmured quietly. She was not about to go wandering around the tower aimlessly after all. Not only would that be murder on her hooves, but she remembered how Faust had told them the tower was alive. Judging by Fluttershy's expression she was of the same mind, both mares made their way into room.
Both mares were thus surprised and awed by the sight of a massive room filled with plants of all shapes and sizes. Some of which neither of them had ever seen before. "It's beautiful," Fluttershy whispered quietly and looked up to find a blue sky with clouds and a sun.
"Indeed," Rarity admitted, then looked up, "though I wonder how that sky is there," she wondered curiously. After all, they were still inside of the tower, and the door they opened certainly hadn't been the 'solid iron door' Faust had said led outside. Fluttershy didn't really question it, instead happily trotting into the room to smell some nearby flowers. Rarity followed behind her, idly making a note of several of the different flowers appearances. If for no other reason then because she could potentially use them in some of her designs back in Ponyville.
However a sudden rustling caught the attention of both mares. They turned to the side where a bush was shaking. The two ponies cautiously approached the shivering bush. They glanced at one another from the corner of their eyes, then turned back to the bush. Fluttershy gulped, her ears splayed back on her head a moment before something jumped out at them. The butter yellow mare was knocked onto her back while Rarity jumped to the side with a yelp. She then blinked and raised a brow as Fluttershy giggled while a strange dog licked her face.
"Oh, it's just an adorable little puppy," Fluttershy declared while raising a hoof to pat the dogs head.
"Err, do excuse me Darling, but I don't think that's a puppy, most assuredly not adorable, and it's also almost as large as we are," Rarity noted cautiously while Fluttershy struggled to push the animal from her person. Once she was finally free, the little butter yellow mare got back to her hooves and smiled to the fashionista.
"Oh but Rarity, just look at him," the butter yellow pony declared happily, said 'dog' giving a small bark, "he's so adorable," the mare gushed happily. Rarity however frowned as she cast a glance at the strange creature. Said 'dog' could only loosely be called that. It was rather large, albeit a bit stocky, with a short tail, made from a plethora of rocks and stone, had large eyes and sharp looking fangs. The strangest thing about it was a crimson collar around it's neck with a name on it. The name seemed strange to Fluttershy though, since she couldn't imagine naming any creature something like 'Crunch'.
War-Helm found this tower to be increasingly annoying. Mostly because of how large the damnable place was. He'd turned down dozens of corridors, he'd tried hundreds of rooms, and he'd traversed millions of halls. Yet he was still unable to find Celestia or Luna! His mind raged as he tried to think of how they continued to evade him. Even if the tower was far larger than he'd anticipated, he still should've encountered them by now! The averages were on his side! Even if they were moving he still should've met up with them by this point!
But instead, he'd been wandering around this sun-forsaken tower for what felt like days. If he'd literally be galloping around the place for days, some pony was going to die! His voice echoed in a low growl within the depths of his helm. The metallic ring accompanying it echoing out across the halls of the tower. The metallic stallion had long stopped galloping, preferring to move at a brisk trot instead. It was better that he conserve his energy for Celestia and Luna, oh, and Faust. Which meant his flaming mane was smaller than normal, as was his tail, and his wings were folded into metal plates at his sides.
His hooves had cooled as well, and no longer left burning hoof-prints in his wake. His crimson eyes had also cooled, now showing the slitted pupils within the field of red. His inner voices still echoed, but now they were growing increasingly aggressive. Every moment he spent just wandering the nigh endless corridors of this tower caused the voices to become just a bit more enraged. The one voice at the back of his mind, soft and gentle as it was, was oddly quiet. Perhaps it was content with how little was happening around him.
War-Helm himself, or at least the persona conjured by the 'collective' thoughts of his inner voices, was feeling more and more angry. Admittedly, he was a being of fire, thereby rage passion and destruction, so that wasn't really too surprising. He also felt like he had to force his flames to remain cooled at this point, otherwise he'd go into a psychotic rage. His main desire at this point was to find Celestia or Luna and then burn them alive. If he found Faust or that 'Daring' pony before one of them, he'd try to burn them alive instead.
It was nothing personal with Daring, he was just furious.
A snort passed through his helm, his eyes glared here and there and he continued on his way. His body was tense and his flames flickered angrily. However as he continued to trot through the tower, he soon came to a halt. A new voice invaded his thoughts, old and furious. His hooves moved of their own accord and led him through the tower. He approached a door and pushed it open silently. Within were a plethora of old crystals. The largest of them seemed to call out to him, draw him forth to it. The voice grew stronger within his mind, a deep terrible rumble echoing within the depths of his helm.
The crystals intrigued and terrified him. The voices inside of his helm became quiet as the new voice rumbled. He slowly approached the crystals, his eyes and flames dimming. He shook his head and pressed a hoof onto the crystal, it shifted and briefly there was a passing of flames. The fire surged forth from his helm's eye-holes and surged out into the crystal. War-Helm immediately backed away from the crystal, shook his head and glared at the rock furiously. Within the crystal a flame formed, and then seemed to melt the crystal, creating a captured mass of lava.
War-Helm stared at the crystal for several long moments. The voices in his head all agreed, even the weak and gentle one, that he should leave the crystal and go. He glared at the crystal for only a moment longer, his eyes narrowed onto it dangerously. He then turned with a snort and resisted the sudden urge to smash the crystal. It was not his own thought, no, something else wanted him to smash it. He would not obey, instead he trotted out of the room and away from the strange crystal. A horrible scream of fury echoed in the depths of his helm as he trotted away.
Within the room, the crystal say, the mass of lava twisted and convulsed. A single yellow eye opened in its depths to peer out at the world around it. It did so silently, and then narrowed dangerously as it looked to War-Helms retreating form. The being struggled within the crystal a moment longer before falling still and silent. A name echoed out, from the crystal and into War-Helm's mind. The metallic pony halted for only a moment. His eyes narrowed as the name echoed in the depths of his mind. The name belonged to no pony, that he knew, for no pony had ever been named 'Lavan'.
Rainbow Dash wasn't really sure how she and Pinkie Pie had gotten lost. She remembered chasing her friend, then tried to turn to tell the others, but they were just gone. In fact, it'd been eerily quiet since then, only Pinkie humming a strange tune breaking the silence. She wasn't sure if she liked this or not, but at the moment, she didn't have much of a choice. The cyan pegasus was as such notably annoyed with Pinkie as she happily bounced about. The prismatic pegasus had to wonder where the pink party pony got all her energy. Even she could tire out long before Pinkie Pie was even winded for pony's sake!
"Pinkie, why are you bouncing around like that?" Rainbow questioned with a frown, "we're kind of lost in here," the cyan mare grumbled irritably. The pink party pony merely grinned as she continued to bounce through the halls. She understood that they were lost and why her friend was being so grumpy. But then again, the pink party pony was hardly worried. The tower would eventually lead them somewhere. It couldn't just keep them trotting around aimlessly forever. As such she just continued to hum her little song and bounce on her hooves.
'I feel like great grandpa Belmane when he used to travel to old castles!' the pink party pony thought to herself. Her great grandpa Belmane had been a fairly well known 'Vampony Hunter' in his youth. He even told her and her siblings stories of the castles he'd searched through. 'And boy, did great grandpa and uncle Mort not get along,' she added with a mental grimace. From what her parents were willing to say on the matter, her great grandfather had not be fond of the undead. He was even less fond of Mort for some reason, though it supposed had something to do with a vampony.
"What are you humming?" Rainbow suddenly questioned. The pink party pony was instantly brought out of her memories of the fight between her grandpa and surrogate uncle. She then craned her head back and grinned to her friend.
"Vampony Killer," she responded, then returned to her humming. The answer was clearly not what Rainbow had been expecting and it showed on her face. The fact that the tune was rather 'upbeat' made it hard to believe that such a song was named 'Vampony Killer'. Admittedly she was learning new things about her pink friend more and more recently. Then again the fact that Pinkies tastes were rather dark was a clear sign of just how wrong she'd been. Pinkie was, at her best, always surprising. That had at least prepared her for that, but now Rainbow was trying to wrap her mind around it.
Pinkie had always come off as a clown, she'd equally expected the pink party pony to like comedy and such. Instead, she liked horror. Her room was bright pink and girly, at least to Rainbow, but she kept an alligator as a pet. True it was toothless, but it was still an alligator. Her favorite holiday was Nightmare Night, a day that was all but dedicated to fear and terror. Admittedly the Candy was probably a factor, but Pinkie always really got into being scared. Lastly, the pink party pony was friends with Death itself. Not only that, but she considered him her 'uncle' and was related to his servants!
"Uh, Pinkie, do you mind if I ask you a question," Rainbow asked and the pony in question grinned.
"You just did," she noted cheerfully. The cyan mare gave her friend a bland look in response. "But you can ask me another question if you want," she responded with a smile. Rainbow frowned and gave her friend a look, then let out a sigh as they continued through the tower.
"I was wondering how you can always be so happy," the prismatic pegasus admitted. Pinkie blinked then looked to the other mare with a raised brow. "I mean, you like all kinds of really... well, creepy stuff, yet you're always laughing and smiling. I'm just wondering how that even works?" the cyan mare asked her friend honestly. Pinkie tilted her head with an amused smirk on her face and then shook her head.
"Just cause I like dark and creepy stuff doesn't mean I have to be dark and creepy too," she began with a grin, "it just means I like dark and creepy stuff!" the pink party pony declared with a bounce. "Yes, I like Nightmare Night, yes, I enjoy a good horror story every now and again, yes, my favorite uncle is Death himself, yes, I have relatives who were servants to death, yes, I feed the bats and spiders who live in the old Ponyville clock-tower, yes, I have an old collection of bones stashed in the basement of Sugarcube Corner for safe keeping," she started which caused Rainbow's eyes to bold open.
"Wait, what!?" the prismatic pegasus demanded in alarm. However Pinkie mentally laughed and grinned wider still. It was just so easy to mess with her friend sometimes! The pink party pony had to put her hooves over her muzzle for a moment, just to keep from laughing at Dash's expense. Quickly regaining her composure, the pink party pony brought a forelimb around her friends withers.
"But that doesn't mean I can't be happy or playful or silly or even a little random!" Pinkie declared with a nod. "My favorite color is pink, and I don't care that it's not a slimy color or dark. I have a pet alligator, I'm not sure if that's creepy or not either but whatever! My favorite pass-time is throwing parties for my friends and other ponies, and I love baking! Just cause I like a few creepy things doesn't change who I am!" The pink party pony declared with a hoof pointed to the sky. Rainbow raised a brow and then rolled her eyes with a smirk.
"You know that speech would've been a whole lot more impressive if you weren't grinning through most of it," the prismatic pegasus noted dryly. Pinkie merely snickered and then rolled her eyes in response.
"Oh Dashie, can you honestly see me saying all that with a straight face?" the pink pony questioned playfully. Rainbow shook her head and then glanced around the hall they had been trotting through. It was, like all the halls in the tower, large and extraordinarily long considering it was supposed to be inside of a building. Considering that it was supposed to be a tower and not a castle, Rainbow was understandably surprised by the sheer size of the place. However a nearby door with a lightning bolt carved into it suddenly caught the prismatic pegasus eye.
"What the...," the mare mumbled and approached the door. Pinkie noticed it as well, however frowned when she noticed something off about it. Her Pinkie-Sense was going off, her hooves itched, her tail twitched, and her teeth shook. 'A combo, but I don't think I've had that one before,' the pink party pony noted to herself. She then frowned and rubbed her chin while Rainbow opened the door to find a large circular room with an ivory pedestal in the center.
All around the room were dozens of musical instruments on large shelves, from drums to symbols and beyond. The roof on the other hoof seemed to be made up entirely of dark thunderclouds. The clouds twisted and turned in a circle around the ceiling of the room, bolts of lighting arching down around the pedestal. They bolts turned around the pedestal forming bars of some kind as if to keep the pedestal contained. Upon the pedestal rested a strange bottle, within which was another mass of storm clouds. However the clouds within the bottle were significantly darker than those at the ceiling.
Rainbow frowned as she trotted into the room and looked around curiously. The thunderbolt on the door and the number of storm clouds had led her to believe that it the room had something to do with Pegasi. However the number of musical instruments was a little confusing to the cyan mare.
"Oh cool! These are old storm instruments," Pinkie noted as she bounded into the room with a smile.
"Storm instruments?" Rainbow questioned while turning to her friend. The pink party pony nodded her head and trotted around the room.
"Yeppers, these are instruments that Pegasi used back before they could physically move clouds and cause storms. Back then they actually had to use music and dance to call storms to start," Pinkie explained and tapped an old drum with a smile.
"Why wouldn't Pegasi be able to move clouds?" Rainbow asked with a frown, "that's what makes a pegasus a pegasus!" the cyan mare exclaimed. The pink pony merely giggled and then turned to face the prismatic pegasus.
"Well, according to Uncle Mort, pegasi didn't always have the ability to move clouds and cause rain or storms on their own. They actually used to use music and dance to call storms, and you'd often find Pegasi with musical talents or dancing talents instead of weather talents," the pink party pony explained with a smile. Rainbow on the other hand blinked and then tilted her head slightly in confusion. Far as she knew there were few, if any, pegasi with a talent in music. The only one she could recall was 'Wooden Toaster' but Toaster was a cousin of Vinyl Scratch, a unicorn DJ.
"So when and why did we start moving 'em the modern way?" the prismatic pegasus questioned curiously. Normally, history bored the buck out of her, but this was actually interesting. Pinkie hummed and thought back for a moment, only to frown as she realized she didn't know. While she loved hearing stories from her uncle Mort, she had actually preferred the interesting stories to 'boring' ones.
"Uh, maybe we could ask Faustie about that, it never seemed interesting enough to ask about," Pinkie suggested with a nervous grin. Rainbow idly nodded her head in agreement with the other mare. She knew that her friend wouldn't know everything about this particular subject. Especially since Pinkie wasn't even a Pegasus, thus likely uninterested in their history. The prismatic pegasus admitted that she typically wouldn't care, but then again this was actually interesting. Especially since most 'musical' ponies in the modern era were either earth-ponies or unicorns.
"Yeah, speaking of we better head out and find her," Rainbow suggested with a nod to the door. Pinkie merely grinned and bounced out of the room. The cyan mare rolled her eyes and followed behind her, only to stop and stare back into the music room. Something about the room, something inside of it, called to her and echoed in her head. She didn't know what it was, but she knew she didn't like it. A frown slipped across her muzzle as she wandered away, a name echoing in the back of her mind as a pair of glowing yellow eyes watched her leave from within the bottle in the room... 'Arabus'.
Celestia, Luna, and Daring had long exited the Hall of Echoes. They had passed through it some time ago, and wandered back into the tower halls. At this point they had come to the unanimous decision that they hated the halls with a passion. It was mostly for the fact that they seemed to go on forever. Unfortunately, such thoughts had long fallen to the wayside. Celestia had been watching Daring with increasing worry since leaving the Hall of Echoes. The khaki mare looked more and more drained with each passing second.
"Are you sure you're alright Daring?" Celestia questioned with concern. Said khaki mare tried her best to appear fine, however it was made less believable by the fact she was literally several shades paler.
"I'm fine, jus-just a little tired," the explorer pony insisted with a stumble. She shook her head and tried to focus on the task at hand. Finding the Golden Door should have been easy, she'd found Dream Castle in a day after all. Yet the explorer pony couldn't help but feel like she'd forgotten something about the door.
"Falsities truly do not suit thee," Luna noted quite plainly. While not fond of the explorer, even Luna could tell that something was wrong with her. She also had a sneaking suspicion that it had something to do with how she was from the Golden Door.
"I'm t-tellin' ya, I'm perfectly alrigh'," Daring slurred though struggled to remain on her hooves as she did. The explorer pony groaned and brought a hoof to her head. Her mind felt so fuzzy, it was almost like she was loosing herself or something. "Gah, why does it feel like I'm forgettin' somethin' important?" the pony demanded out loud. Both Celestia and Luna looked at the explorer pony with worry. The solar diarch more than her sister, though even Luna felt worry for the little khaki pegasus mare.
"Daring, perhaps it would be best if one of us carried you, you really don't look well," the solar diarch told the younger mare kindly. The explorer pony tried to wave her concern off, however instantly lost her balance and fell to the ground when she did. An instant later Celestia and Luna tried to get her back onto her hooves. The solar diarch more and more concerned by Daring's failing health. In the span of a few hours her coat had lost it's luster, her eyes had dulled, and if possible her mane seemed to darken even more. Far more troubling was the fact that her cutie-mark seemed almost transparent.
"Ugh... okay, maybe I'm a little out of sorts," Daring murmured pitifully. The two alicorns could only agree, though were unsure of what was happening to her.
"Tia, what is wrong with her?" Luna asked her sister worriedly. The solar diarch shook her head, completely stumped by what was happening. However she mentally shook her head and went over the symptoms. Daring was losing color, her cutie-mark was vanishing, she was getting weaker, it was almost as if Discord had somehow cursed her. However Discord hadn't been in the tower for some time, that she knew, and his curses never caused this kind of physical weakness. The only other possibility was that something was eating away her magic. But what?
Her eyes then strayed to the golden horseshoes that Daring wore and frowned deeply. The Horseshoes were enchanted and ancient. The only ponies she knew had worn them were Majesty herself, and perhaps Faust at some point. Both ponies were absurdly powerful by unicorn standards. If the horseshoes required large quantities of magic to work, that would mean they would drain a normal pony in seconds. However that theory was illogical as Daring didn't even know how to use the horseshoes, and hadn't been invisible even once!
"I-I honestly don't know," Celestia finally admitted.
"Then what do we do?" Luna asked urgently. Daring grunted and looked up at the two alicorns. Her head was fuzzy, but she still had enough presence of mind to know what was going on.
"W-would you two stop talkin' so loud, y-you're givin' me a headache," the khaki mare moaned tiredly. Her entire body was tired, and not the exhausted kind of tired. No, she felt as if all the energy in her body had been suddenly sucked from her entire being. "Now, s-somepony help me up, we's got to get to the Golden Door," Daring insisted as she tried to get back to her hooves. However a bout of nausea hit and caused her to fall back down. A moment before she would've hit the floor, a golden aura formed around her body.
"No, I'll be carrying you Daring, whatever is happening has already left you far too weak to move," Celestia insisted, much to the explorer pony's chagrin. While she understood why the elder alicorn was worried for her, she wasn't the type to accept help from any pony. Call her stubborn, call her prideful, but that was just how she was. However, the lurching of her stomach made it really hard to be stubborn or prideful.
"Fine..." the khaki mare groaned out. Celestia and Luna looked to one another and gave a quick nod. The two alicorns quickly galloped into the tower to find the Golden Door. Behind them, Nightmare Moon trotted out from behind a corner and frowned deeply.
"Golden Door, could it be the same from whence we came?" the dark alicorn questioned with a frown. "If so, we should learn of what ails the pegasus, t'would be most unseemly for one of our power to be done in by a door's curse," the dark alicorn decided. With a nod of her head the armored alicorn followed behind Celestia and Luna. Clearly there was much that she still didn't know about this strange place.
The library of Faust's towers had once had stories dedicated merely to it. It had once been the center of learning for all of pony kind. It had been a place for scholars from all around to come to pursue further knowledge in their chosen fields. Yet, in more recent ages it was merely a place for books to be stored. To Faust it was merely another part of the tower she took care of. To Celestia and Luna, it was a place of memories of their youth. To Mort, it was a reminder of that which he'd helped destroy. To Twilight Sparkle, it was a literal dream come true.
Thus why the little lavender mare had actually squealed with total and complete joy when she found it.
Currently the purple pony was bouncing around the library, a stack of books encased in her magic. Every few seconds the little lavender mare seemed to find some new book to add to her growing collection of literature. She knew she was getting very side-tracked. She knew she was supposed to be looking for Celestia and Luna. But honestly, who could blame her for getting side-tracked. The library she was in was so massive it could fit her entire tree-library into it multiple times! It was so massive she could literally make a full sized and functional fort out of books!
The little lavender pony hated to admit it, but she'd been so tempted to make that fort too. It was only through sheer will power that she'd restrained herself. Instead she had started to collect books to read and bounce around the place like a happy filly. She hummed a silly tune to herself as she picked up book after book. Her magic pulled several from the shelves and she trotted on them as if they were stairs. The books returned to the places on the shelves as Twilight stepped onto the upper floor of the library and onto the top floor.
She looked here and there and found that these shelves were mostly filled with spell-books. The little lavender pony still couldn't get over just how many books were in the library. She wondered how many books a pony could possibly collect, even with how old Faust was.Then she remembered that Faust had every book ever written. It was in that moment that Twilight decided that she had somehow trotted into a dream. If it was a dream, then she honestly didn't want any pony to wake her up.
The purple pony briefly took a moment to look at her ever growing stack of books. By this point it was more a small tower of books she wanted to read. Much as she wanted too, even her magic had it's limits and she was not damaging a single book in this place! Some of them were likely hundreds of times older than she was for bucks sake! So she carefully placed her selection of literature at a table and bench to the side and began searching through the spell books. Much like the other books in the library, the selection was all encompassing, every kind of magic and every spell-caster who had ever written a spell book was here.
Twilight had to resist pinching herself for the thousandth time, and only managed because if this was a dream she wanted to stay asleep! "Lets see now, read it, read it, read it, read it," the pony muttered as she trotted down the long line of books. She came to a stop at a book that was blue with stars and moons on the cover. "Hmm, I saw that one in the restricted section of the Canterlot library," she mumbled then ignored it and continued through the long line of books. Her eyes scanned across each spine and title.
As she did her ears flicked to the side at the sound of incoming hooves. The little lavender mare turned just in time to see an off-pink alicorn with a pink mane and sun cutie-mark carrying Daring Do on her back, with Luna at her side. For a moment Twilight was silent, until the three ponies saw her and their own eyes widened. "P-Princess Celestia?" the purple pony questioned shakily. The off-pink mare widened her eyes and then shook her head.
"Twilight, what are you doing here?" she questioned with obvious surprise. Although Twilight noticed that her voice actually seemed much younger than normal. 'It must have something to do with her reduced size,' the little lavender pony mentally decided as she stared at her teacher.
"Actually, Faust brought us to find you," Twilight admitted and trotted over to the two.
"M-Mother is here?" Luna asked with wide eyes.
"Yeah, she's the one who lead us in here to find you," Twilight replied with a frown. She then watched both Celestia and Luna pale and start to shake.
"Mother is going to be furious when she sees that dragon, isn't she?" Luna questioned of Celestia.
"Dragon, what dragon?" Twilight inquired of the two. However she was promptly ignored as the solar diarch grimaced further.
"I'm more worried about how she'll react to Daring here," Celestia replied with a glance back to the sickly pegasus. Twilight followed her teachers gaze to the pegasus on her teachers back and felt her jaw gape.
"W-wait, Is t-that really Daring Do?" she questioned quietly. Luna snorted and nodded her head with a smirk. "B-but how is she here? Is she a real pony who just has Daring's name and looks? Is she a changeling? Are the Daring Do books based on actual events and Daring just has them made out as fiction for her privacy?" the little lavender mare quickly questioned of her teacher.
"Actually, she's the real Daring Do from the books, and she walked out of the Golden Door," Celestia replied honestly. Twilight looked from Daring to her teacher with a hopelessly confused expression.
"How does that explain," she tried to ask but was interrupted by Daring herself.
"Ugh, w-would you ponies quiet d-down, my head still h-hurts," the khaki mare groaned out as her entire body lost another shade of color. Celestia's eyes widened when she saw the pegasus literally lose another shade of color. Worse was that her eyes were becoming duller, and had started to form dark bags. All and all the explorer pony was looking worse and worse the more time went by. A frown crossed the princesses features for only a moment before she smiled to her faithful student.
"Now while I would love to answer your questions Twilight, I'm afraid we really must be going," Celestia said urgently, then trotted off with Luna at her side. Twilight quickly followed after the two, though she took only one last longing glance at the books she had been collecting. She then tore her eyes away, groaned in her throat, and quickly galloped after the two. She really hoped that Faust would let her stay and read some of the books in her library after they fixed everything...
He wandered into a misty realm. Entering this place was harder than he liked. Majesty and Faust had managed to concoct a method of completely separating The Realm of Darkness from their world. They did so by creating a magical veil between the realms. The magic that created and maintained the veil could not be destroyed, and he knew that. The only way into the realm of darkness since Majesty and Faust's time was a single crack in the veil separating it from their world. The crack was a sort of release valve, allowing a small bit of the dark magic beyond it to escape rather than shatter the veil.
Regardless, reaching that crack was a chore. He was a shadow however, which made it much more simple than it would be for a pony. He searched through the tower and found the crack in the veil before using it. Of course Majesty would put her tower right on top of that crack. It was a perfect way to ensure that nothing would leave this realm again. Fortunately she had not anticipated a being such as he trying to enter the realm instead of leave it. Which is why he was able to slip by the veil and take note of where the crack was located on the other side.
He then looked around and felt a shudder. The stories had been wrong about this place. It was nothing like the tales had always painted it. Or perhaps he'd merely never thought of it in this way before. Tambelon, the name of a city lost to the powerful mage known as 'Grogar'. He'd heard tales of him as far as his city in his time. A Ram with more magic than any unicorn. He'd always assumed the tales were just that, tales, stories to scare foals. Yet now he was in the darkened city, irrefutable proof of the validity of Grogar's existence.
The world was dark and cold. It was massive and spacious, seemingly reaching out into infinity. Yet surrounding him were tall buildings. Each one was more twisted and crooked than the last. None of them had ever been a thing of beauty. No. This was a city that had always been dark and dreary. It was not built like any city he knew of either. Instead it was like endless walls and spires, a massive fortress or castle the size of a great city. A quiet eerie mist traveled down abandoned streets and through empty homes. Yet most prominently, all was shrouded in shadow.
He shook his head of his fear and continued forward. The place was dark, it was utterly silent. Grogar's army the 'Troggles' had abandoned him and the city in ages passed. Faust and Majesty had found a place for them to live in peace. None had been heard from since then. They had kept to themselves, out of Pony business. He wasn't sure if that was out of gratitude or fear. Faust had always been a good pony, she never tried to hurt anyone unless they left her no choice. Majesty had always been far less kind and forgiving. Hurting her ponies was the fastest route to inciting her wrath.
He had a feeling that the Troggles had been terrified of retribution from Majesty.
Regardless of that, the shadow made its way to the central tower of the city. His eyes darted here and there as sounds echoed in his ears. He saw no pony, no thing around him, and yet the noises persisted. Had Tambelon always been so horribly eerie? He didn't really know, he only knew that he was ill at ease in this place. His body twisted and turned and soon pulled it's way to the central tower. He entered and then found himself before a massive doorway. He glanced around and halted. There was the skeleton of a donkey nearby, a spear wedged through his ribcage...
The shadow shuddered and considered his actions once more. He knew this being was powerful, but until now he'd always assumed the tales had been exaggerated. He was starting to realize there had been no exaggeration. If anything the stories had downplayed his power. Before he could convince himself to turn back, there was a heavy creak as the ancient doorway opened.
"Enter," a dark and terrible voice uttered. The shadow was briefly surprised, but made his way inside of the room all the same. His eyes looked around to find numerous torches lit around him. They cast prominent shadows all around. The throne-room also contained a large ornate golden clock to the side. The ticking from the clock echoed out across the large throne-room. His eyes then found their way to the throne itself, made from gold and inset with gemstones. It had depictions of skulls and monsters, spikes poking off of it here and there.
However all of that paled in comparison to Grogar himself.
In the stories, Grogar was a blue Ram, tall and broad shouldered with blackened cloven hooves and large dark blue horns that curled around his head to point forward. A mouth filled with dagger like teeth that were uneven and crooked. His body was said to be strong and sturdy, as he was both a mage as well as a powerful warrior. He was said to wear a prominent collar, from it hanging a single ivory bell which was the source of his powers. Finally where his eyes, glowing an ominous red as if they were made from hellfire. The reality of what Grogar looked like was different than the stories had made out.
The reality was still a Ram but had a darkened midnight colored coat that was dull and listless. He had a long grey beard hanging from his chin and long hanging grey eyebrows. His horns were dark grey and curved out and forward around his head. He had black cloven hooves that were hard and cracked. His body was hunched over from age, and his physique had suffered from his many years within the realm of darkness. No longer strong and sturdy, he was now an old goat. His collar was real and admittedly ornate and strangely silver collar, the bell hanging from it onyx rather than ivory.
"What do you want here?" Grogar, the ancient terrible mage demanded. His eyes remained closed the whole time, never once opening.
The shadow mentally snorted and glared at the ancient goat that rested before him. He had expected a being of power and malice, not a washed up old goat. However his complaints died in his throat a mere moment later. The shadow felt fear retake him as he saw the one part of the legends that were not exaggerated. However his eyes did not truly glow, no, they did the opposite of glow. The orbs within the head of this old goat were red, but they almost seemed to suck in all the light around them. They were made even more prominent as a result, and brought all attention to them.
"Do not waste my time whelp," the ancient ram stated simply. "I do not take well to peons wasting my time," the old goat growled darkly. The shadow fought a shudder as he looked at the old goat warily. Had he been a much smarter creature he would flee this place. But he was never considered the smartest being to exist.
"I wish for your aide, in destroying the pony named Faust," the whispered voice came. Grogar arched a brow and raised a cloven hoof to his beard. He stroked it for a moment, stared at the shadow, and then lowered it soundlessly. He then closed his eyes and leaned back in his throne.
"No," Grogar's terrible voice stated resolutely.
"But, I can offer you anything you desire," the shadow tried to coerce. However Grogar's lips slid open to reveal the sharpened teeth mentioned in the stories. A sinister chuckle echoed from his throat and caused a shudder to run down the length of the shadows spine.
"You think me a fool?" the ancient goat questioned darkly. His lips curled in distaste as his fang like teeth began to rise over his upper lip. "I have seen the pitiable fate of which you suffer whelp," the Ram lord of Tambelon noted and then smirked darkly once more. "I know who you are, Lord Umbra, father of Mortis the Black, first of the Sinisteeds," Grogar stated and another mirthless chuckle escaped from his throat. "Ancestor, to King Sombra, a worthless unicorn wretch who sought to match my greatness," the old ram stated with a shake of his head.
"Y-Yes, I am indeed Lord Umbra," the shadow admitted warily. The old mage knew far too much about him. He wondered how he could learn such things. But then again, this was also one of the few beings who could potentially match an alicorn in terms of raw power. "But I can still aide you, Grogar, ask any task of me and it shall be fulfilled," the shadow offered. "In return, I ask only to be given the power I seek!" Grogar listened to the request, his eyes hardened and he snorted.
"You are a fool," he stated plainly, "and all you shall ever be, is a fool." His cloven hooves idly reached up and he stroked his beard once more. "I have no use for you, nor do I desire to grant you any power worm," the old ram growled irritably. His hoof soon stopped stroking his beard and he grinned toothily towards the shadow. His horns, much like his eyes, did not 'glow' red as he channeled his magic. Instead they pulled in light at their tips and made a shadowy crimson shroud around them. "So you can leave now, with your life, or continue to annoy me," the old ram stated, his eyes trained upon the shadow.
"W-wait! I can show you a way out!" the shadow assured. The old ram merely frowned and his power continued to gather at the tips of his horns.
"I already know from whence your entered this realm, you worthless peon," the old goat grumbled. He was seeing more and more of the coward in 'Lord Umbra'. Then again, Unicorns had never been very well known for their bravery. Faust not withstanding as she had never been much of a unicorn. She was more of an Earth-Pony in his eyes, having originally lived without any magic. He was actually quite impressed with how she had grown, not to say he liked her, but her death would be quick once he was freed of this prison.
"Th-the Smooze," the shadow stated randomly. That broke Grogar's concentration and interested him. What would this worthless peon know of the Devourer? It was sealed away after the ponies had managed to best him. It was a creature that was actually worthy of respect. Unlike a vast majority of the worthless ants he was forced to deal with.
"What?" the old goat questioned flatly.
"The Smooze, it lives within Faust's tower, trapped in a jar like Arabus," the shadow explained quickly. It shifted and waited as Grogar began to stroke his beard once more, the crimson shroud around his horns dying down. The shadow breathed a sigh of relief as the ancient goat suddenly chuckled and looked at him. His lower teeth rose over his upper lip prominently, a twisted smile stretched across his withered face. Oh that information was amusing, if nothing else, and he had an idea for his own plans...
"I see then, I suppose you might actually have some use to me," the old goat admitted and grinned darkly. "Awaken the Smooze, release him upon her tower, and you shall no longer be a mere shadow," Grogar promised.
"How do I know you can give me what I desire?" the shadow demanded of the old goat. Grogar frowned and arched a brow for only a moment. A dark smirk then crossed his lips as a second later power gathered at his horns and shot at the wraith like being. It twisted and swirled around his body, undoing the magic Mort had performed in ages passed and returned him to his true self. A charcoal colored unicorn stallion with long black mane and tail and a blade shaped horn. His green eyes widened as he looked at his hooves again for the first time in millennia.
Only to revert back to a shadow a moment later.
"No!" he cried and Grogar chuckled darkly.
"Do you think me a fool, Lord Umbra?" the old goat questioned plainly. The shadow moved around, clearly agitated, but then settled down. It glared at him for a moment, and then shot away from Grogar. The old goat chuckled darkly as he leaned back into his throne. Yes, the peon known as Umbra was a fool, and would only ever be a fool. He would soon be free of his shadowy form, but it would not be in the way he desired. The Smooze was an unstoppable, uncontrollable devourer, it would ensure that Lord Umbra would not return.
And it would also keep Faust and the other little ponies properly, distracted...
On any other day, Faust was a very patient mare. However the last few days had been far more than she could stand. Her daughters were in her tower unsupervised, that alone was terrifying. Some pony had unleashed untold evil within her tower. And finally, the elements of harmony had somehow managed to get lost while following her. She'd actually told them to follow her so it was no surprise that she was more than a little perturbed. Case in point...
"I cannot believe them!" the ivory alicorn exclaimed loudly, "all they had to do was stay by me, and they couldn't even get that bucking right!" the ancient mare continued as she stomped through the tower. Applejack remained at the mare's side, however looked noticeably nervous as the ivory alicorn became more and more annoyed. Not that any pony could possibly blame her for that. Alicorns were known for their immortality, their wisdom, their beauty, but most importantly the sheer level of magic they had access too. Faust was no exception as she was disturbingly powerful.
Not to mention that since she was a muse, she was also technically a goddess.
"Well in their defense, y'all know yer tower is kind'a big and the halls are all twisty," the apple mare reminded the ivory alicorn seriously. Faust rolled her eyes and glanced around at the halls of her tower. Their size of the halls suggested that something really big was somewhere in her tower. She also noticed very few were as 'twisty' as they normally were suggesting it was long as well. That meant that her friend from the castle had finally woken up from his nap. It also meant that if she didn't have to find her 'daughters' and fix whatever they had unleashed, she'd be happy to know he was awake.
"Jackie, I told them to stay by me, and they still wandered off," Faust replied to the mare with a frown. The orange apple-mare winced and nodded her head. Much as she hated to admit it, the ancient alicorn had a right to be mad. From what she'd gleamed from the ancient alicorn, the tower was filled the most ancient knowledge in the world. True, knowledge alone wasn't bad, but if some pony played with it without knowing what they were doing...
"A'ight, y'all got a point there," the orange mare admitted then looked at the older mare sternly. "But you being angry don't help us find the princesses any faster," Applejack replied in kind. Faust snorted and grumbled under her breath. She was actually far more worried than she was angry. While Celestia and Luna were full grown, she still considered them her little ponies, and the things that dwelt in her tower would probably eat them both alive. Even if they were truly immortal, she doubted living in a monsters stomach would be very fun.
"I'm not angry Jackie, I'm worried," Faust finally replied. "My tower is home to things that would make Discord cringe," the mare stated seriously. The apple-mare blinked but didn't reply as she watched the ancient alicorn sigh. "Not only do I have some of the worlds most dangerous magics locked away. I also have some of the worlds most dangerous objects and creatures as well," Faust intoned seriously. Applejack shifted nervously at her side, even as they wandered into the main entry-hall / portrait area of the tower.
"Like what?" the orange apple-mare questioned quietly. A look crossed Faust's features, her eyes became hard, her lips turned into a frown, and her ears fell back against her head.
"The lava beast turned crystal titan, Lavan. The rock dog with a 'stone touch', Crunch. The shadow consuming storm demon, Arabus. The dark and terrible ram wizard, Grogar. The living book powered by a thousand lost souls, the Necronomicon. The flaming and furious false alicorn, War-Helm," the ancient alicorn intoned with a seriousness that made the apple-mare shudder. "But all of them pale in comparison to perhaps the most devastating monster Pony-Kind has ever known," Faust stated as her frown deepened.
"The great devourer who was all but completely unstoppable, the Smooze," Faust finished with a sudden shudder. "I've faced each of them in the past Jackie, none of them are to be trifled with. Unlike Discord they don't play games, you either serve them or they destroy you. Some didn't even care about ruling, some of them just wanted to destroy ponies for the sake of destroying ponies. There was no rhyme nor reason, just destruction for the sake of destruction," Faust explained and then let out a tired sigh.
"So your not only an archivist, but a jailer?" Applejack questioned cautiously of the ancient mare. Faust sighed and then looked around at the portraits around the room.
"I didn't want to be, but I couldn't just let them walk around unchecked," the ivory alicorn whispered quietly. Her eyes fell and Applejack could swear that she saw her age by at least a thousand years. Not literally of course, but the ancient mare looked significantly older for a moment. "I just didn't want them to hurt my little ponies ever again, what else could I do?" the ancient alicorn questioned tiredly. Applejack opened and closed her mouth several times, then looked down and scuffed a hoof against the floor.
"Don't know, t'aint fair y'all got to do it all alone though," the orange apple-mare replied. Faust scoffed and looked at her with a sad smile. A moment later a deep roar echoed out through the tower, and pulled both mares attention away from their somber thoughts. "Uh, what the buck was that?" Applejack questioned with wide eyes. Faust frowned deeply, her eyes narrowed as she trotted forward with a sigh.
"C'mon Jackie, I have a misbehaving dragon I need to give a stern talking too," the ancient alicorn grumbled as she made her way back into the halls of the tower. Her declaration caused Applejack's eyes to bolt open and look at her incredulously.
"Did you say a dragon?" she demanded of the significantly older mare. However when she received no answer, the orange apple-mare reluctantly chased after the ancient alicorn. Hopefully, this dragon wouldn't be as bad as the last one she met. Then again, that roar had sounded a lot deeper and a lot meaner than the one she had met before.
The Black Forest was truly a dark place. As the stories said it was as if trotting into night itself. The trees were tall and slim, yet their branches were long and reaching. The black leaves of the trees allowed very little light to shine through. What little did was like stars at night, scattered and dim. It was only just barely enough to get by in the day. At night it would be a darkness that could not be navigated. At night, this place would belong to Tree-Mane. The sole being who knew this forest's twists and turns. That horrid being which had taken the lives of any who would harm its forest.
Fortunately, Light-Bringer had that beings aide in reaching Faust's Tower.
The undead stallion shivered slightly as he trotted behind the Tree-Mane silently. He dared not speak to the creature. It was a temperamental thing after all. Instead he allowed his eyes to wander here and there. He examined the darkened forest, and realized it truly was as if it were night. It was a dark and terrible place he trotted through. The griffon he'd seen before had soon been joined by other skeletons. He counted at least four dead griffons, one dressed in what looked like an old straight jacket. Where the one in the straight jacket had come from, he didn't know.
Tree-Mane suddenly stopped. Light Bringer looked to the creature and it tilted its head to the side with a jerk. The undead stallion blinked and looked around. They were still in the forest, no sign of Faust's tower. Why had it stopped? The Tree-Mane suddenly jerked its head down. Light Bringer followed its gaze to see a sapling in front of his hooves. He blinked once more, the sapling was like the trees around him, but somehow still managed to grow. Then he watched as Tree-Mane's head suddenly jerked up to look at him once more.
Light Bringer was confused for only a moment, and then grimaced. The creature wanted him to go around the sapling. Either that or it was waiting for him to crush it. He knew that the latter would likely be his demise. Thus he went with the former and moved around the sapling. The Tree-Mane watched him silently, intently. It was, in all honesty, far more jarring than he liked. Once Light Bringer had moved around the sapling, Tree-Mane's head shot up and it continued on its way. The undead stallion released an uneasy breath, and then followed the creature once more.
Their trek through the dark forest was consumed in silence once more. As the journey continued on, Light Bringer allowed his mind to wander. A question that had always tormented him nagged at his mind. The question of what Tree-Mane had been before it became as it was now. Perhaps a wood-spirit. Perhaps a Timber-Wolf. Perhaps something he had never encountered before. He didn't know, but it worried him that he didn't know. Unlike other wood-spirits it did not fear fire. Unlike a Timber-Wolf it was solid and sturdy. Whatever it had been, he was certain it had fallen very far.
His ears twitched, the silence was starting to get to him. Much as he hated to admit it, even the groans of the undead would be more comforting than the utter silence. At least then he would have something to fight. Against the Tree-Mane he was fairly certain he couldn't win. Even if he managed to harm it, it would likely give far worse than it would endure. Besides that, it was the guardian of this forest, and by proxy, the guardian of Faust's Tower. He wondered briefly about that.
Did Faust truly allow this creature to wander the forest around her home?
The Tree-Mane suddenly halted and Light Bringer looked up once more. They had arrived. The Tower's main doorway stood tall as ever. The tower itself standing far taller, reaching so far into the heavens as to rise above the clouds themselves. The tower was a marvel of construction, the tallest structure of its kind in any age. Even now, he had little doubt that nothing had managed to challenge it. His eyes turned to the side as Tree-Mane trotted to the door, its head twitched from side to side before a hoof was raised.
It knocked upon the door three times. Three loud bangs echoed against the massive iron doors. The bangs echoed out in the quiet of the dark forest. With that done, Light Bringer let out a quiet sigh and sat back on his haunches. Tree-Mane merely stood at the doors, silent and unmoving as always. Now all that remained for them to do, was sit and wait. He sincerely hoped that Faust would hurry and let them in.
TBC...
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Twilight in heaven
Dear Queen Riptide, have you ever experimented with super cavitation?
Anyway good sir thank you for that fine chapter! :mustache: Fine chapter indeed!
I suspected it when you mentioned green, rounded spines on that dragon, but Faust pretty much confirmed it. That's G1 Spike, isn't it?
Sheesh thing's just keep getting worse and worse. Something tell's me by the time all this is over some ancient evil's will be loose on the world again.
Dear Faust
Beside's the Smooze, what enemy from your past do you fear and hate the most?
This is good, the chapters being long means that I'll be very distracted reading when I'm supposed to be paying attention to calculus...
Alright, who's that clueless guy who down voted this story!
Belmane? Tree-Mane that sounds suspiciously like Slender? Wooden Toaster? My God, the references! Where do they end?!
I'm waiting for next chapter.
This is in my opinion the best story with G1 content.
I don't know why this reminds me of Ayreon's The Electric Castle. I imagine the tower as the castle, don't ask me why. Songs from the album are playing in my head while I'm reading this.
This is now in my favorites.
Dear Faust by reading this it seems that your tower defy's some pretty basic laws of physics, the message it's giving me is that ANYTHING is possible in your tower of power is this true or false? If you answer yes or no how is this possible/not possible.
-Flutter Whyyy, Philosopher, Thinker, Dreamer, and whyyy-er
you sure like your evil monsters and mysterious agendas don't you. Which is good and all it will makes for some interesting fight scenes and you took the time to make some interesting back stories about them. I would love to hear Lavan's and War-Helm's stories if you have the time. Mort is an interesting character in that he actually acknowledges his sins and has tried to make up for them. It would be cool to see if War-Helm could be redeemed in the end.
Yeah, drawings!
Haha called it! I just knew you would plug a brony artist in there
2758081 They don't. Remember the Golden Horseshoes? The ones that grant long life and invisibility? They remind me of the One Ring from LoTR.
Loved the story so far, great work.
I suggest a baby leash for them 😂
Honestly, after reading this story twice I have started to suspect that the Tower is leading everyone around so that those threats are dealt with in a more permanent manner.
It's doing this so that Faust can leave whenever she wants too
At least that's what I'm suspecting, given that the Tower is leading everyone to the places it does