Chapter I - Awakening

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2FrBAE0-2s

A warm breeze hit him. The first one in what seemed like an eternity. He slowly opened his eyes, midday light stinging them. His eyelids clamped shut from the light, spots burnt in his vision. He opened them again, not stopping at any capacity of light. Once his eyes were open, everything was a blur. He lied on a sludge of green, and a smudge of brown was not distant from him. Above, there was a painfully light blue, light from the sun hitting his eyes, making it harder to see.

A moment later, a different color stood out from the background of brown, a blotch of yellow coming from it. The blotch of color came closer to him, at a more accelerated pace as it got closer. The color was almost among him when he tried to get to his feet. Yet, he had no strength. A surging pain filled his shoulder blades as he tried to stand. He could barely keep his eyes open when the blotch of color was among him.

A feminine figure stood on all fours in front of him, all limbs at full extent. The yellow color of her coat, even though in shadow above him, was still bright to the eyes. He glanced upward to see the head of the creature above his. Her eyes were large and blue, the very cuteness of them nulling his pain. Her nostrils flared and retracted on a small muzzle, sniffing him. Her eyes were scanning his helpless body, making him a tad uncomfortable as she surveyed his underbelly. She turned her head, revealing small white swirls on her cheek. The color spread to her chest and broadened there, going under her barrel. He looked up to the top her neck. Her mane was essentially the same color as her coat, just a tad bit more green. The color darkened as it reached the peak of the mane.

"Grandiur..." His voice rasped. He wondered what he just said, as it meant no meaning to him. The creature glanced back to his eyes, nodding in acknowledgement.

His vision lost focus. His head felt light. He felt as nauseous as a drunken sailor during a violent storm on sea. His strength entirely left him. As his vision faded, the figure sprinted away, yelling muffled cries as he slipped into unconsciousness once again.

---

He woke in a shaded area. Woven curtains surrounded him at either side, not translucent in any form. A curtain in front of him had been left open, retracted to the left, swaying ever so slightly. It was held up by a metal frame, resting on the ground for stability. A slightly translucent material was above him, allowing sunlight to illuminate the area. The wall far front of him was made of the same material, translucent enough if one would put their eye to it, they could see in.

He closed his eyes, savoring the darkness it provided. He was in no condition of any effort. He needed rest. As the warm fingers of sleep took his mind, a loud noise startled him. He sat up swiftly, searching for the source of the noise. After failing to seek the source of the noise, he rubbed his eyes with the side of his hooves.

As he drew them away, he spotted the yellow mare at the foot of the bed. She lightly smiled at him, sighing for relief. He was unsure of how to greet this lady, as he was a little shy of her.

"H-h-hi..." He stammered, sure as day he was making a fool of himself.

"Hello." She replied, rubbing one front hoof over the other ankle. Her eyes were low, studying the ground.

"So, w-what's your n-ame?" He didn't know why he couldn't stop stuttering.

"My name? It's -"

"Is this our newest patient?" A voice interrupted, the source of it appearing from behind the furled curtain. Her coat was purple, with swirls of a darker shade of grey swerving down her hind legs. Her eyes were a dark blue, almost the color of night. A blue horn pointed out from her forehead, parting a mane of the mixture of dark blue and grey from her face. The mane fell beautifully on her neck, swaying slowly as she walked toward him.

"Yes, Dr. Nightshade," The yellow mare answered, "He was deserted in the Forbidden Plains. He was barely hanging onto consciousness when me and my friends retrieved him."

Nightshade's eyes narrowed with interest. "Well, shall I ask why you were there in the first place, Ms. Radi?"

Radi looked down, rubbing her front hoof against her other leg in wider strokes. "Well... I..."

"Hadn't she come, I would've died in the... Forgotten Plains?" His mouth moved before he'd ever thought of this action.

"The Forbidden Plains," she corrected in an insulted tone.

"The Forbidden Plains, excuse me. She saved me from certain death. Of course that would drop any charges against her?"

"Drop any charges?" She laughed. "Don't you know politics?"

He ground his teeth together. He knew politics... but nothing came to mind. "Fine then," he muttered.

She laughed again, "Don't worry Mr. Grandiur, you're 'friend' here won't face any charges."

... Mr. Grandiur? Grandiur? He looked around. Nightshade couldn't have been referring to him... could she...?

"That's... that's not my name..."

"Okay then, what is it?" She raised an eyebrow at him, expecting an answer almost immediately.

But it didn't come. He hesitated. What was his name? Why couldn't he remember his own name? "I... I don't... know..."

Nightshade raised her eyebrows. She narrowed them back down, keeping her gaze on him. "Do you remember any past events?" She asked slowly.

"... No, I do not," he replied.

"Do you remember any other pony, dragon, cat, dog, et cetre, that have a connection to you?"

"I don't even remember if any other creature had a connection to me."

"Have you ever had a connection with any type of weaponry?"

"No!" He snapped. He was getting quickly stressed. Why couldn't he remember these things?

"Then why did you say 'Grandiur' before you fell unconscious again?"

"I... I don't..." He held his head in his hooves, fighting his stress.

Nightshade narrowed her eyes. "Look at me." - The colt did so reluctantly "Are you telling the truth?"

"Yes," He nodded along with the confirmation. She was silent, levitating a clipboard and a pen surrounded by a dark blue aura. She mouthed to herself, writing down the statistics. Hesitating, she announced to him, "Mr. Grandiur --and you will now be known by that name-- you have amnesia.

"You have lost memories, Mr. Grandiur, that you may not ever get back. Not even the darkest magic can repair it. I can help you no further." She looked at him confidently. "Well then, can you stand?"

"I don't think I ca -"

"Don't think, do."

Grandiur slowly scooted his way off the stretcher. He drifted one hind leg off the edge, then the other. He gradually hoisted himself on his hind legs, shaky from sudden exertion. Soon after, his front legs joined them.

"Good, now, can you walk?"

He put one hoof in front of the other at a slow cruising pace. He was surprised at his balance, but it wasn't perfect. He swayed to one side too far. Radi caught him before he hit the ground. Mumbling a slight, "Thanks," when he was back to his feet, he walked to Nightshade, unsteadiness diminishing by the second.

Nightshade's eyes were following him, but not looking at his legs or face. She was studying his flank. Grandiur wondered what would make her look there. A gaping wound? he thought, She looks pretty surprised. What is up back there? He took a look back to his hind. Nothing was out of the usual. Just a blank blue coat. His light red and blue tail swayed gently side to side behind him as he studied it.

"No cutie mark, I see..." Nightshade studied his figure. "You look about 16... yet no cutie mark..."

Grandiur was confused. "What is a cutie mark, might I ask?"

Radi blinked. "How -" she must have forgotten he had amnesia for a moment. "A cutie mark is a design that tells you your destiny. Which ever way you interpret it is up to you." She turned to show her flank to him, a reddish sun with orange rays flicking from it. Grandiur nodded. "I see."

"My name is Radi. It is short for 'Radiant Beam', the name I was given," She turned to face him. "My duty is to uplift people's moods, to put light in their hearts."

Grandiur nodded again. Her name fit so well with her cutie mark, he wondered what a 'Grandiur' would look like.

"So," Nightshade said, "You need to set up shelter. Conveniently, I had bought unused ground near the north side of camp. You may build there. I would wait until tomorrow though, so you have your maximum strength. Radi?"

"Yes, Dr. Nightshade?" She responded.

"Would you be so kind to shelter Grandiur for tonight? It would be unkind of us to have him sleep out in the wilderness."

Radi glanced at Grandiur, smiling lightly. "It would be my pleasure."

"Good." Nightshade looked toward Grandiur. "It doesn't seem like you have any serious injury. In fact, I would say that your condition is not too shabby. Just grab some grub and rest, and you'll be in top condition tomorrow."

Grandiur nodded once again. "Thank you for your services, Dr. Nightshade." He said.

"Don't mention it. Tomorrow I will escort you to your property. Plan for me to come at dawn."

"Okay. I will make sure to remember."

As they exited the infirmary, Grandiur took a gander around him, taking in what the village had to offer. They were standing on a vantage point of a green hill, extending down quite a ways before flattening. Slightly to the right was the village. Looking down on it from the hill, it seemed to be entirely tents. No buildings were in sight. The tents circulated around a statue of a mare with a long horn and wings. On the statue's flank was a set of diamond shapes. The statue faced toward the setting sun, as twilight fell on the camp. It was rearing slightly on its back legs, wings extended as if taking off, and its front legs were hovering off the ground, still looking as if it was running. Something about that statue reminded him of something.

"Grandiur, are you going to become a statue yourself, or come along?" Radi's voice broke him out of his trance.

"Oh! Yeah, I'll be down there!" Grandiur turned and trotted toward her.

"Could you make it fast? We don't want to be out past sunset." She was already down on the foot of the hill.

"As you wi-IIIIIISSSSHHH!" He had stumbled and fell on the steep hill, barrel rolling down it. Faster and faster the ground became the sky, and the sky became the ground. He'd tried to stop himself multiple times, digging dirt up with his hooves. He then would start somersaulting down it, and trying to stop again would only make him fly and barrel roll again. He hung on to his nonexistent lunch as he spun away, hoping it would soon stop. A moment later, the rolling slowed, and his brain detached itself from the side of his head. He came to a gradual stop, landing on his back, belly up, legs sprawled as the rolling came to an end. He could barely focus on Radi's face, she snickering at his clumsiness. He rolled carelessly on his belly, almost turning 360 degrees.

"Are you all right?" Radi asked, trying to keep back her laughter.

"Just took a little tumble. I'm alright." Grandiur stood, swaying to and fro.

"You took a graceful fall there," said a masculine voice to his left, "What's your name, Westley?"

"No," Grandiur answered, looking toward the source of the noise, "It's Grandiur."

He chuckled. "Well, Grandiur, nice to meet you. We saw Radi -" he gestured toward her with his head, "- and her gang haul you in. So, what's up with you?"

"Amnesia," Radi pitched in, "He was in the Forbidden Plains when I found him. He had no strength at all."

The stallion nodded, red mane bobbing as he did. "The Forbidden Plains, huh? What business had you there?"

"I'd prefer not to talk about it." Her voice cracked at the end of the statement.

"Sure you wouldn't," He responded, flipping his head to reposition his mane. "After all, didn't Teal -"

"Shut up!" Her voice blazed, the amplitude searing Grandiur's ears with pain. The stallion stepped back, intimidated by this sudden blaring noise. Surprised civilians poked their heads out of their tents, muttering amongst themselves.

"W-well..." The stallion stuttered, "I guess I-I have no business h-here, th-then." He immediately fled into camp.

Grandiur was blown away. That escalated quickly, he thought in awe, Better not bring up this subject.

Radi turned toward him. "Well, then," Her voice quivered, "Shall we move on?"

Grandiur looked toward the west, a sliver of the sun barely showing over the horizon. "Yeah, let's go."

Chapter II - The Creatures of the Night

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Grandiur, ears still screeching after the volume of Radi's voice, followed her through the square. She'd been silent, walking slowly, looking down at the stone beneath her feet. Sometimes she would mumble an inaudible melody to herself, the rest of the time quiet. She must have been recounting what happened? Grandiur figured, Should I ask? After he kept reminding himself that it was a horrible idea, the thought recurred to him. Curiosity slowly gnawed at his mind as he strode along. No, I shouldn't, he reassured himself, remembering her temper minutes ago.

As the sky darkened further and further, more civilians trotted into their tents. A mother called after her children to come inside, mixed with the sound of fearful talking. "Will they come?" "How will we protect ourselves?" Grandiur was offset, wondering what entities laid in the night.

The wind blew gently, rustling leaves of nearby trees, swaying grass ever so lightly. Light overcast gathered in the sky as the sun faded, the moon climbing, showing through the mist. Crickets' chirping filled the cool night air. Everything was seemingly peaceful, except for the restless civilians.

Radi's pace hastened, trotting to the east to a smaller tent. This tent was angular like a dome, only rising about 6-7 feet. The wind lightly pushed the flaps of the tent open, revealing a mahogany bookshelf filled with books horizontal and vertical, angled slightly and some barely fitting on the shelf. The spines of them were girded with different color and design, ranging from beautiful vine work to straight lines, reds to blues and grays.

Radi, having been there far before Grandiur, opened the flap hastily. She glanced over to him. "Grandiur, stop daydreaming and hurry!" she hissed. Grandiur snapped out of another trance, and trotted over to her. She rolled her eyes at him as she and Grandiur entered the tent.

Bookshelves littered the right side of the tent with books pouring out of them. A mysterious object was on top of them, probably a weapon. To the left was a hay bed, a mirror, and a couple of pantries.

On an oak nightstand were two horseshoes. One was a lighter smooth material, one of darker rough material. Radi equipped the horseshoes and walked toward a mounted torch atop a stone in the center. She rested her front hooves on a ring above, and struck them together. Sparks exploded from the strike, landing at the bottom of the torch. It ignited immediately, filling up a glass bowl, the area illuminating with light. She slipped off the horseshoes on the nightstand. "Flint and steel," she said, "Gotta love it."

Freckles danced in Grandiur's vision. "It's-" he blinked "- really effective."

Radi nodded. "It's really useful."

"I'd imagine." He shuffled his hooves. "So, why are the civilians afraid of staying out in the night?"

Radi looked at Grandiur oddly for a second. She assumed a grim facial expression. "The creatures of the night."

Grandiur tilted his head a little. "The creatures of the night are pure dark essence," Radi continued, "they appeared when the Elements of Harmony were set off balance.

"Ten years ago, there were six mares. These mares were Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Applejack. They each represented one of the six Elements of Harmony.

"The day came when the first of them turned into an Alicorn, Twilight Sparkle. She achieved this form by using the Elements to return cutie marks to their owners. Next was Fluttershy, who gathered the courage to speak in public, inspiring many through dark times. After came Rarity, reassuring her and many others that true beauty is not in the looks, but in the heart. Pinkie Pie was the second to last, learning to control her hyperactivity, and be more respectful toward others. Last came Rainbow Dash, shredding every inch of selfishness off her, doing selfless acts.

"Applejack almost made it. She was sweltered in jealousy of her friends, and wanted to change just for the reward of becoming an Alicorn. Celestia saw this desire, and postponed the time of her transformation, hoping she would leave this desire behind. In anger of this, she rebelled, her element being removed from her by the Princess. Her anger had taken over her, dishonesty ruling over her heart, becoming a dark abyss within.

"Two years later, she led an uprising against us. Applejack had accumulated an army of many, and they invaded Ponyville. The five friends battled against this threat, winning over the effort of their ex-friend. She was tried, and ultimately was banished from this continent to a deserted island. Ever since then, nothing was heard from her. But, since one pillar in sustaining harmony had fallen, the Essence of Darkness arose once again.

"The Essence of Darkness began creating creatures of pure dark, unbeatable by those who stood against them. Only the ones who possessed the elements could rid them, but they were not invincible. With the help of her sister Luna, Celestia put a barrier on the boarders of every trace of civilization, a barrier that repelled the creatures.

"But they wore off. Over the span of five years, they need to be recast. They have expired about a month ago."

Grandiur digested the information little by little. "What do you guys do then, if you can't combat them?"

"We hide in the light," Radi answered, "It's the closest thing we have to a shield."

Grandiur nodded. The people are afraid of these creatures for good reason. Then, something clicked, a concern that chilled his bones. "What repelled the creatures, exactly?"

"Light," Radi answered. "The radiance of many suns. Why?"

It was just as he feared. "What's to stop them from coming into dim torchlight?"

As he spoke, he felt something coil around his back hoof. A millisecond later, he was on his belly, being dragged into the darkness of the night. He scrambled about to no avail. Flipping himself over, he kicked at his hoof, dark fluid spurting from the beast. He continued kicking until the fiend grew limp. He kicked the body of the creature off him, and swiftly gathered himself to his hooves. "You too?!" shouted a voice off to the side. From the dim lights of the tents, he could see a red-maned stallion to his right. The same one he encountered minutes ago. "Grab a weapon if you can, we have to protect the camp!"

Grandiur remembered a detail he had disregarded. It seemed that there was a sword atop the bookshelves in Radi's tent. He galloped back to her tent. Wind ripped at his ears as the dome tent zoomed closer.

Why could he fight them off? Was Radi just overstating the power of the beasts? Most likely. But "You too?", he thought, Is there a group of people outside of the six that can stand against them?

Grandiur burst through the flaps, skidding to a stop. Radi was backed up against the side of the tent, petrified as a cat-like shadow approached her. Without hesitation, Grandiur stood upon his hinds and landed his front ones on a shelf. The cross guards of a weapon were in sight, just barely out of his reach. He couldn't knock the shelf over if he wanted to; it weighed a ton. His mind was getting blanker as the entity approached Radi.

Instinct kicked in, and his vision blanked. A sudden screech and the sharp sound of the sword stabbing into the ground reoriented him. The blade struck into the ground through the head of the night-like creature, dark crimson pooling around the carcass. Radi was frozen in place. "How did you - you have amnesia - yet how?"

Grandiur shook his head. "I don't know." He yanked the sword from its place and galloped out of the tent to the square.

He dragged the sword to the side, the weight not helping him keep his head straight. The sword was a little front heavy, causing the slight unbalance. The broad blade flickered as he sped past, going through each enemy that came to flank him on his right side. None came to the left, however, as the ginger-haired stallion hacked away at them. "Make sure none of the varmints invade the tents!" his muffled voice ordered. Grandiur nodded and circled around the camp with blade in mouth, killing any of the creatures near the tents.

With every strike, energy was sapped more and more from him, until he struggled to raise the sword again. The fiery haired colt let up from time to time, the shadows passing his watch, only to be brutally slaughtered. Grandiur's heart drummed and head pounded as he dealt another blow. The living darkness was closing in on him. He couldn't lift his sword again. His knees buckled, his head fell, dropping the sword. The beings jumped on him, weightless darkness chewing at him. Grandiur barrel rolled, squishing it from under him, exposing his underbelly, unable to flip back over. More and more piled on top of him, clawing at him.

A deafening sound filled the air, a sonic boom that ruffled the trees around him. Grandiur had only time to look up to see a blinding collage of colored light explode out toward him, knocking the beasts off. They flew into trees, tumbling head over toe across the field of green. Some launched in midair to greet the ground in a sickening crunch. Snow-blinded, Grandiur stood, wondering what had happened. A cloud of dust surrounded the source, a silhouette of a taller pony in the thick. As the dust cleared, it became apparent that it had a horn, and strange lumps of wings to its side. The dust cleared swiftly, revealing a feminine figure with a cyan coat, and a rainbow colored tail and mane.

The ginger stallion propped himself to his feet, then realizing the figure in front of him. "P-Princess Rainbow Dash!" He bowed, shooting Grandiur a look for him to do the same. He bowed to the supposed princess, familiarity hitting again, this time stronger. I know I don't know her... but why do I think this? he thought, stress forming once again in his amnesiac mind.

The princess stood regally in place for a moment, as if to give an important messa-

"Dude! That was so awesome!" She pulled the red stallion to stand, giving him some air time. "I've been waiting to do that since the longest time!" She enthusiastically trotted over to Grandiur, pulling him up, lifting off at least a foot from the ground before landing on his hooves. He stood still for a moment. She is a princess? he thought, Well, I guess anybody can be themselves...

She tilted her head at him. "So, who might... you be...?" She looked confused.

They exchanged the confused look with each other for a split second, until Grandiur broke the gaze. "Grandiur... I guess..."

She nodded. "You must be the amnesiac that was taken in today."

He raised an eyebrow. "How do you know?"

"Why, Spike! You don't know -" She cut herself off before she finished the question.

Grandiur facehoofed. Every time he'd met someone, they'd suddenly forget first hand that he doesn't remember anything.

"Sorry about that. But, Spike is the messenger for Princess Celestia. She's actually quite open about this stuff, especially... we'll have an eye on you."

Naturally, Grandiur felt uncomfortable at this statement, and was wondering whether or not to flee from the place. He kept his composure, knowing that the civilians would probably mistake him for a fugitive if he did so. "Milady, if I may ask… why?”

She gestured to the statue. "See for yourself."

Grandiur tentatively strolled to the statue. What connection would his current situation have with this marble image? He circled to the front, and he saw it. Around the neck of the Alicorn statue was a necklace holding a diamond-shaped jewel. It was transparent, dark as the night sky. But as he closed in at the front, the jewel started to glow a teal light, pulsating dimly. What does this mean? he thought.

"That is the statue of Princess Rarity." Grandiur turned to realize Princess Rainbow Dash had walked to his side, a couple feet from him. "This was built when she transformed into an Alicorn." She glanced at Grandiur. "Do you see that jewel?"

Grandiur nodded and replied, "Yes."

"You have to activate it by using magic." She gestured to his horn.

Grandiur glanced around, seeing villagers exiting their tents, bowing to the princess. He sighed. "I don't know how to use it."

Rainbow Dash was only more excited after that statement. "Don't worry, just close your eyes and visualize."

Grandiur wondered if this rhyme was intentional. Even so, he did as she told him. She did posses magic too, after all.

"Now, visualize the area around you."

Grandiur pictured the statue of Rarity, along with the area between him and it. He nodded, waiting for Rainbow Dash's next instruction.

"Picture a sort of electricity emitting off your horn. Not too much - Not too much! There we go... now imagine that magic spark flowing toward the amulet - Whoa! You missed. Okay, just picture it going toward the amulet; don't think about aiming. That's it! You got it!"

Grandiur opened one eye tentatively, then the other. Behind the statue, a stallion and a mare carried a stretcher with a small colt on board, mane singed. Grandiur laughed nervously, knowing that he probably shocked the guy.

He gave his heed to the necklace, and the jewel glowed brightly, energy pulsating around it. The energy pulsed faster and faster until a beam of light shot from it into the west. The beam was a bright blue color, stretching on for miles.

"What does this mean?" Grandiur asked, slightly blinded by the beam.

"This is the new shield. It was built by one of your kind, Grandiur. She integrated the system into the statue. I would tell you a name, but her name is a secret to everybody." Rainbow Dash admired the statue again, and turned to face Grandiur. "Your job is to activate all six statues. The mare I previously mentioned knows the locations of all. She resides in the north, not far from here."

He nodded. "So, anything in specific I need to look for?"

Rainbow Dash nodded. "She lives in a wide clearance of the wood. Near that area is a tall rock slab, sticking straight up into the air. Around it are smaller stones indicating time."

"So the thing I'm looking for is a sun dial?"

"Yes." Rainbow Dash seemed impressed. "If you continue north from there, you'll definitely run into the clearance."

Grandiur acknowledged this with a nod. "Okay. I've got it."

"Good," Rainbow Dash responded, "While you're there, I recommend asking her for basic magic lessons. Seeing how fast you picked up on the spell you cast just now, it won't take long."

"Alright, I'll look in to it."

"Great. You'll need more ponies to trek with, though. The quest you are embarking on is not easy, and you'll have to rely on each other."

"Count me in," volunteered the fiery-maned colt, "Knowing his performance today with swordplay, he earned an ounce of respect from me."

"Me too," said a feminine voice from one side, a voice he recognized as Radi, "I owe him. He saved my life tonight."

I wasn't expecting people to join this quickly, Grandiur thought, Oh well. I guess it's better than none.

"It's settled then. Crimson, Radi, Grandiur, I wish you luck." Rainbow Dash extended her wings as she started galloping, and flew in the air at an astonishing speed.

Grandiur looked at the stallion. "Crimson, huh?"

"Yep, Crimson Blade," Crimson responded. He picked his weapon up, staggering under the weight of it. He cruised slowly to a tent from the left side of the statue.

Grandiur looked back at Radi. "So, has Crimson always been insensitive like he has tonight?"

Radi frowned and shook her head. "No, not always; he was probably saying that because of his friends. They're idiots."

"I'd imagine. But I was just wondering because we're going all over the place with the guy."

"Don't worry about him. He's pretty loyal to his friends."

"Are you friends?"

"We barely know each other. I guess not."

"Well I'd imagine that Teal -" Grandiur stopped himself. Gah... I dropped the ball, he thought, preparing for another snap.

This time, she kept her sanity. "Yeah, he and Teal are friends. He wouldn't have known or cared otherwise." Her voice quivered slightly at the name, but was steady for the rest of the statement.

Grandiur heard a whoosh of air above him. Rainbow Dash was flying high above them, dissolving clouds as she rushed by. The sky cleared and the moon showed its white face. The clouds dissipated after what seemed like ten seconds.

"Of course!" Radi mumbled, just barely audible, "Clearing the sky in ten seconds is a thing with her."

"Oh," Grandiur responded, "Well, it's quick and consistent."

"True, true."

They spent a couple moments in silence, watching the sky above them. "Well," Radi's voice shattered the silence like a broken plate. "We'd better get some rest, and you need to wash up tomorrow morning." She gestured to his blue coat, dirt and dried blood clung on to it. Grandiur nodded in agreement, following her back to her tent.

---

Darkness came, yet he could not sleep. Burning questions plagued his mind. How did the Essence of Darkness come to be? Why am I able to defeat the entities that it produces? Does Applejack have anything to do with it? The more he thought the night's events, the more questions he had. Probably Radi has books on the subject. He squinted at the bookshelf. Not tonight, I'll research it tomorrow.

He looked up at the tent ceiling, comprehending what had happened before he arrived at camp. It was all a blur. He remembered seeing Radi, the mare that discovered him. But something was off about the memory. He remembered seeing another figure off in the distance. A voice had whispered to him. He couldn't make sense of it until just seconds later.

"Welcome back," said Death.

---

Darkness absorbed the memory. He looked left and right, but no light was found. Not a single color was present…

Until he looked behind him. There was a window, outside it, events from the night before replayed before him. But it was distorted. There were more dark beings than had been in real life. He and Crimson were outnumbered a thousand to two. They had ran out of strength, and were down on the ground, not able to stand. The dark beings pounced on top of the both of them, ripping them apart. Grandiur tried to look away, but he couldn't, watching the horrible scene as it transpired in real time.

After the dark beings had devoured the both of them, they looked through the window, gray eyes looking straight toward the real Grandiur. He was able to move again, and galloped in the opposite direction as the beings disappeared in the darkness. Seconds later he was overrun, the beast carrying him atop their cold bodies. He toppled off a ledge, landing flat on his back at the bottom.

He stood once again, shaking his head back and forth to clear his mind. He looked around him. Darkness claimed everything around him, except below him. On the ground was a figure of an 'X'. A red droplet diagonally from top to bottom, left to right. Below the droplet was a bright colored streak of some kind, the droplet intersecting it. Could it be a comet, perhaps? Upon closer inspection, he realized the head of the streak was shaped like a diamond. Would it be a tip of a sword? Grandiur tilted his head, wondering what this symbol was.

Shortly after this discovery, the sound of scurrying emitted behind him.

They're here.

Grandiur ran from the sound, getting louder and louder even as he did. Voices blared out of nowhere. "Will they come? How will we protect ourselves?"

"You too? Grab a weapon if you can..."

"... didn't you and Teal...?"

"SHUT UP!!"

"Grandiur."

"You have to activate all statues..."

"Grandiur!"

Light filled his vision, blinding him.

---

Grandiur scurried to his hooves, alert as a frightened chipmunk. Nightshade stepped back, eyes wide, startled at this sudden action. "Let's go," she said, looking at him oddly, "The earlier we start this, the better."

Chapter III - The Sorceress

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Hour after hour they traveled through the wilderness. The lush trees and undergrowth faded into a dark color, sprawling in weird shapes and direction. The air filled with muck, the smell of rotting wood flooding into their nostrils. Through it, the trees looked ghoulish, the whole atmosphere unsettling. Complete silence surrounded them, the only thing breaking it was the muffled clopping on the ground. The air cooled as they progressed, a gentle chilly breeze hitting them. Every other set of paces the ground squished, unbalancing the trio, sending them scrambling for footing. The thick air wore them down, making them stop to rest more often.

Only during the brief breaks, they broke the silence. Crimson rambled on about his swordplay practices, how he defeated many-a-'foe', and how he was nearly defeated himself. "The guy was relentless," he would say, "Every sword collision, sparks would fly." It was definitely an exaggeration, but Grandiur and Radi played along, as if giving invested interest to his fables. Radi would eventually tell stories of how often she would escape her home to explore, but never to here. She was a resident of a town called 'Ponyville', and had to evacuate because of the invasion. Whenever Grandiur would ask for more detail, she would just say she was uncomfortable elaborating detail. He respected her decision, but as the curious colt he was, the questions pestered him.

As they continued on, the stories got deeper and deeper. Crimson explained that his father died protecting him from the creatures of the night, his mother dying of grief soon after. At the age of ten, he travelled to the newly founded camp, being one of the first residents. He choked up a little at the subject of his parents, but survived telling the story without shedding a tear. Radi explained that her mother died at childbirth, her father taking care of her until the invasion, trying to protect everypony from the raid. "I don't know if he's alive or not," she explained, "He probably is, though." She almost touched on the subject on her relationship with Teal, but stopped herself before she could.

Grandiur felt sorry for the both of them. They both had came from a tragic past, and he wished he could relate. But amnesia veiled his mind, the past 48 hours being his only memories.

Their next stop was atop a cliff, looking down into more of the forest. Grandiur's depth perception flattened as he looked down on the trees. That would be a dreadful drop, he thought. The trees seemed more lively and welcoming than the dead, twisted marsh trees behind him. "Crimson, have you ever been down here before?" Grandiur asked.

Crimson hesitated, then slowly nodded. "I only scraped the borders," he answered, "I haven't been farther than that."

"Well, I can see why," Grandiur gestured to the environment of the marshy wood behind them.

"It was meant to look like this; to deter wanderers."

"So, we're trespassing. What ground here makes the forest important?"

"Ruins," Radi pitched in, "The very ruins that the Elements of Harmony were hidden in when the six retrieved them."

"By retrieved, they're not here?"

"Yes, but the place is still sacred ground."

"The start of their adventures," Crimson added.

"They've made a big difference, have they?" Grandiur asked.

"For sure! They've saved Equestria multiple times. Without them, we'd be all enslaved, living in the darkness."

"And here we are, trying to make a difference ourselves."

"Yes," Radi said, "We are going to make one hell of a difference."

---

The remaining daylight didn't last as long as the trio originally thought. As they catered through the wood, night took the sky, blue fading to purple in the east. It grew increasingly hard to see as the light faded, the muck thickening as twilight came among them. Once they reached a tall jagged rock, they could see only a few yards in front of them. Grandiur clumsily tripped on a smaller stone, almost ramming head first into the towering stone.

They studied the set of rocks, fifteen smaller ones surrounding the one at the origin. "Now this," Crimson said, "is a sun dial."

"Great!" Radi exclaimed, "So the clearance shouldn't be much further ahead?"

"No, it shouldn't."

Unexpectedly, the leaves of the brush and trees ruffled violently. Grandiur jumped back. "Don't tell me it's them again!"

"Well, we're not going to wait around and see," Radi proposed, "Go!"

They galloped northward, the living darkness on their six. The darkness jumped between trees and stormed through bushes, relentlessly chasing them. "Crimson, tell me you brought weapons?" Grandiur asked.

"No, I didn't think we needed them," Crimson replied, chuckling nervously.

"What kind of swordscolt doesn't bring his sword with him?"

"Just keep moving!"

Adrenaline pumping through their veins, they were determined to outrun the creatures, meandering through obstacles. The creatures had almost caught up, one missing jumping on Grandiur's back by a hare, slowing the others down. He glanced behind him as the shadows trampled over their comrade. He switched his gaze forward again, the darkness appearing in his peripheral vision. They scaled the trees, looking for an opening to strike. Grandiur cursed, breath heavy. He galloped faster, pushing his body to the limit, heart pumping frantically.
Before he knew it, he was on the ground. He shot his vision around. He was no longer in the wood. He had landed in a grass field, his chin digging into the ground. He gathered himself to his hooves, scrambling away from the wooded area behind. The darkness was swarming toward the trio, only to suddenly smoosh against ripples in the air. Grandiur studied the shield, visible only when the creatures came in contact, bright ripples rebounding them yards away from the mystery material.

"Is everypony alright?" Radi panted.

"Yeah," Grandiur and Crimson confirmed simultaneously.

"Just wait until the adrenaline wears off," Crimson stated, "We'll be out as hard as a rock."

"Well, before we pass out," Grandiur gestured to the cottage meters ahead, "Let's have the owner know we're here."

The cottage was fair, two stories, as suggested by an upper row of windows, all lit, some dimmer than others. A thick, steep straw roof laid atop the crests of the triangular structure above the second story. A rectangular portion was extruded from the wall behind, a door and stairs lying on the bottom, a larger circular window near the triangular point of the roof. The stairs were decorated with banisters fanning out to either side with the stairs, beams twisted and straight in a respective pattern. To the left side of the extrusion and in front of the house was a garden strip, erotic species of flowers growing from it.

The trio continued to the cottage, bumping Grandiur along. Why build a house in the middle of a murky wood? Grandiur thought, complying to his friends' message. As the cottage loomed up upon them, Grandiur's mind went blank. What should I say? He sorted through different greetings in his head as they mounted the stairs. The stairs were more narrow at the top; only two of them could fit without squeezing on the top step uncomfortably. They pushed Grandiur ahead of them. "You're the guy who can activate the statues," Radi explained before Grandiur could even open his mouth, "She'll probably recognize out of all of us."

Since Grandiur couldn't counter the argument, he knocked on the door, the solid clunk assuring him the door wasn't delicate. It opened away from him a few seconds later, revealing a mare with a light blue coat. The unicorn's mane was an orange with one or two red orange stripes flowing down a semi-straight mane. She managed a small smile. "Hello. Who might you be?" She asked, sounding surprised at their presence.

Grandiur took a glance back at his friends. They ushered him on with their hooves, giving 'encouraging' half smiles. "My name is Grandiur," he introduced, "and these are my two friends, Crimson and Radi. We were sent on a quest by Princess Rainbow Dash to activate the shield. We heard that you had the locations?"

She nodded, "Yes, I do have them. Come inside." She stepped aside to allow the trio to enter the household. "I received a letter concerning your arrival just this morning. With the Essence's creatures running amok, I knew that someone would have to activate them. It seems like you're the right pony to do that, Grandiur."

Grandiur insisted that he shut the door behind them. "So, about the statues, can they be activated by anyone?"

The mare shook her head, "No. Only a select few people can do that. People of your birthplace."

Grandiur was immediately interested. "Explain?"

"Six years ago, I created the statues to represent the six. Each can be activated by one with the key. This key was bestowed by me to your people, for they were faithful guards on the border. If the Essence broke out, they would immediately venture out to activate the statues. That way, the new shield would be deployed. But when that fateful day came, the creatures would be too strong for them.

"A month ago, the shield deactivated, allowing the living darkness to spread among their land. They were stronger than ever before, eliminating the armies that stood against them. At this time, most of the residents fled from the place as the darkness claimed it. Some died, most survived. But the ones who held the keys were vanquished, except for one. This one key was missing until recently."

They had settled in her study while she was explaining. Candles stood on the desk around a piece of parchment, quill and ink set beside it. There were a set of seats inside, all of which were taken by the trio.

Grandiur stared at the hardwood floor, taking in the information. At this news, he was glad he had amnesia. He would be exponentially more traumatized by this news. The other unicorn searched drawers in her desk, and pulled out a map of Equestria.

"These are the locations of the six statues. One, the one you've already activated, is in Camp Ricordo. The beam is pointing west, so your next destination is in the desert."

"What are we looking for?" Grandiur asked.

"There is an aqueduct you should follow. This will take you to the village in the desert. But all the five statues go in clockwise order. Which means after the desert, you'd go to Cloudsdale, and so on. Once you have activated the five border statues, you have to go to the ruins of Ponyville to deploy the shield; the final statue lies there."

Grandiur nodded. "Thank you, Ms. ...?"

"Ink Drop," she said, "Just 'Inky' would do. And, you're welcome."

Grandiur studied the map over and over. The distance between the points of interest was staggering. After moving through the desert, they would have to walk to the other side of the continent to reach their next destination. Well, he thought, Nobody said this quest was going to be easy.

"Take the map," Inky offered, rolling the parchment up with her magic. Grandiur grabbed it with his mouth and put it in his saddle bag. "Thanks again," he said.

"You're welcome," Inky responded.

"Oh! Inky, I was wondering if you could teach me the basics of magic?"

She smiled and nodded. "It would be my pleasure. Come outside." She opened the door for Grandiur.

---

The cool evening breeze met the both of them as they stepped outside. The clean air was a blessing to Grandiur. Suffocating in the muck of the forest was not his favorite thing. After speaking to his friends before she closed the door, Inky caught up to him a couple yards away from the cottage.

"The first thing you need to know is that the key to magic is visualization," she stated, "Even though it sounds easy, the process needs all your focus. Forcing your mind to focus on one thing is tough, and channeling that focus into a form of magic takes effort. Before we start on our first lesson, you must know not to physically exert yourself. This is the mind's job, not the body's job. Just focus on that one thing you want to do, and your mind will do the rest.

"For our first lesson of the day, even though you have already cast magic, we're toning things down a little. We're going to light our horns. It takes a lot of exertion of mind to do it the first time, but once you practice, you'll be able to do this without breaking a sweat. To start, close your eyes." Grandiur did as she said, waiting for the next instruction.

"Now, visualize your horn lighting, just enough to light the area around you."

Grandiur visualized it, noticing no effort was involved.

"You've got to really focus on it. If you're just picturing it happening, it won't happen. Focus."

He poured his mind into focusing on getting his visualization to reality. He noticed a sudden effort, an effort that strained his brain. His legs locked and he breathed hard. Pouring every bit of his concentration into the act, he noticed his eyelids started to light. In excitement, he lost focus, and the light went out almost immediately.

"Don't lose focus; still pour your focus into it. If you let it go, that will happen again."

Once again, he strained his mind to achieve his goal. In same condition, he managed to light it again, this time, keeping focus on it. In his mind's eye, he was lighting the horn. In reality, this happened as well.

"Good. Now, open your eyes, and still keep focus on the light."

He slowly opened to eyes to find that indeed light was emitting from his horn. He could see a meter in front of him under this created light. He cheered to himself in his mind over this accomplishment.

"Great! You're doing -"

The light left his horn and shot out, ricocheting off of trees and her house, zooming back and knocking Grandiur off his hooves.

She grimaced. " - Well."

---

"Alright," Inky said, "Let's move on to picking up objects. Visualize it and put in all of your focus."

Grandiur spotted a rock he could levitate. He went through the same routine; close eyes, visualize, focus. After the first second, he realized that this was more difficult to do than light a horn. He poured all of his focus into lifting the rock, clenching his teeth at the exertion it took. His head pounded as he finally lifted the rock.

"Awesome!! Look at the results!"

He opened his eyes to see that the rock was hovering a couple feet off the ground. He laughed and grunted as the exertion weighed down his mind. Now to put it down gently, he thought.

Clunk!

The rock fell heavy on the ground, kicking up dirt, sound pounding on his eardrums. He looked toward his tutor, realizing she was the recipient of all the flying material. Scowling, she cleared herself off. Grandiur laughed nervously. She was not pleased at all.

---

"Okay, now to send the energy off your horn," Inky said, "Like so." She first lighted her horn, then removed the light from it, forming an orb. The next moment, she discarded the energy, disappearing completely. "Your turn."

Close eyes, visualize, focus. These steps were hardwired to his brain. He lit his horn with a little less effort this time, but separating the energy from it to the air was harder than expected. He knew he did this unintentionally before, but intentionally seemed to be harder. He visualized the energy leaving his horn, and going in front of him. After a couple repetitions of this visualization and more invested focus, he finally achieved his goal. Except the orb of light energy was too close to his face. He expelled the energy, blinking. Through his temporary blindness, he looked toward Inky. She gave an approving nod.

"Of course, there's a vast variety of magic you can cast, but now that you know the basics, you can go from there," Inky smiled, "Keep practicing though. Practice makes permanent."

"Right," Grandiur acknowledged, "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Inky responded, raising one of her front legs, hoof facing towards him. Grandiur didn't know what this meant, but copied her movement. She bumped her hoof against his.

---

Crimson hung his hoof over the edge of the bed, swinging it back and forth. It had been an hour and a half since Inky and Grandiur went to do basic magic. Does it really take this long? he thought. He wasn't known for his patience. When he was a little colt, he was as impatient as the Cutie Mark Crusaders were when they were awaiting their cutie mark. He recalled all the mischief he'd created when he was that age. Back then, he called it fun. Right now, however, he facehoofs every time he thinks about it. Was I really that stupid? he'd think, laughing at himself. Well, at least I've learned a tad bit more respect since then.

He had fond memories of his childhood. He remembered when he finally got his cutie mark at age nine. Even though it was late, he'd finally found his talent, and that was all that mattered to him. He looked back at his flank, seeing the sword with the red blade. The red never represented bloodshed, it represented the flame of determination in his heart. If there was a goal in sight, he would accomplish it, even if it was the smallest one. With every friend he made, he always had one pertinent goal. Stay loyal to them. It was a goal he happily followed. He could never seek happiness in disloyalty.

As he reflected upon his childhood, he skipped thinking about the death of his parents. I will not think about that, he assured himself, I can't linger on it any longer. He sorted through his memory banks, smiling at all the good memories. But as he reflected and reflected, getting closer to present, he remembered what Teal had said to him once. "Crimson, you're the most determined pony I've ever met. Just stop trying to pursue negating goals." Crimson had been an emotional wreck at the time. He couldn't pursue one goal he wanted very much. Only after Teal had said that, he realized that he never wanted that goal. Teal, he thought, You're a good friend, but why have you turned into such an idiot?

Grandiur entered the room, the exhausted colt flopping onto the bed closest to the door. "So, how was your magic introduction?" Crimson asked, flipping himself towards him.

"Exhausting," he replied, "This is the most I've worked myself."

"... and you trekked a long distance."

"No, I was doing fine before. The magic really strains your brain."

"Hm. Well, I can't say I know what it feels like to cast magic, so I'll take your word for it."

After a brief silence, Grandiur asked, "Where's Radi?"

"Doing female stuff, I guess," Crimson answered.

"Yeah, probably."

Another silence fell between them. They could not hold up a conversation more than three seconds. Radi entered in the room moments after. "Wow," she said, "I figured you'd guys would be talking more."

"Well, with a guy who doesn't remember anything of his past," Grandiur pointed to himself, "there's nothing to really talk about,"

"I guess."

"Well," Crimson yawned, "It's that time of the night again."

"Indeed it is," Grandiur said, rolling into his bedsheets, "I'm going to get some shut-eye."

Radi tucked herself in the bed, "Well, goodnight then," she bid Grandiur, giving her a small "Goodnight," in return. She blew out the light next to her.

Crimson shifted in his bed. "Radi?" he called softly.

"Hm?"

"Sorry about the way I treated you back at camp. I was -"

"You're still worrying about that?"

"Well, I guess."

"I accept your apology, Crimson, but it was a small mistake. You shouldn't linger on these small things. Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Radi." Crimson blew out his candle, readjusting himself to be on his side, subconsciousness taking over minutes after he closed his eyes.

Chapter IV - "This Is My Destiny?"

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"Thank you, Inky, for your hospitality." Grandiur fastened his saddlebags.

"Don't mention it," Inky responded, "Good luck."

Grandiur nodded. "I hope so. Goodbye."

The rest of the trio bid their farewells to Inky. They met up with Grandiur near the entrance to the wood.

"Well, shall we get going?" Crimson asked, putting on a poorly done British accent.

"How about you lead the way, Mr. Gentlecolt?" Grandiur joked.

"I thought you'd never ask."

---

As the three comrades trekked through the fog, Grandiur attempted time after time to acquire his map from his saddlebag. Focusing, he visualized the saddlebag opening, the map floating to his front, and unraveling. He couldn't count how many times he attempted to how many successes, which was the uncountable number of zero. He'd stop and focus all the brainpower he had to retrieve the map, but still, nothing had happened. Or at least, he thought. On his side, he realized minutes later, the saddlebag was opening, the map quivering in place as the faint blue aura wrapped around it. The parchment was just barely lifted.

So he tried doing it step by step. First he opened his saddlebag, and rested the flap on his back. Next, he lifted the map from its place in the saddlebag and unraveled it in front of him. Sweat on his brow and almost bouncing in excitement, he studied it.

Camp Ricordo was straight south of a location called Apple Loosa. To the left of a set of train tracks, this small marker was east of San Palomino Desert, more specifically at the foot of a mountain in the middle of it. If the statue of Rarity was facing dead west, the beam would point to that area. Since there was an aqueduct running through the desert, there would have to be a settlement there, otherwise why carry water to a dead area?

Based on where they traveled, they were in Bogg, an area in or south of the Everfree forest. They were heading back south, meaning if they wanted to get to that point of the desert the fastest, they needed to follow Ghastly Gorge. When it levels out, they would need to cross the river. There, they would be able to cross to the foot of the mountain straight on. But the river was most likely too wide to cross. They could trek west to avoid the river, and follow the gorge on that side. Grandiur was leaning toward the latter route. He told the game plan to Radi and Crimson. Once they agreed to it, they traveled toward the gorge.

As they continued along the route, the musty smells intensified, the ground becoming softer. Mosquitoes hovered above shallow greenish water, frogs' croaks were heard sparsely. Crimson's hoof slid into a murky pool. "A bog. Grandiur's led us to a swamp!" He exclaimed in surprise.

"Of course," Grandiur responded, "the place is called Bogg, you know, what else would you expect?"

"That we would evade this part completely?"

"Sorry to get your hooves dirty, but this is the fastest route to our next destination."

"And the most dangerous," Radi said, scanning her surroundings anxiously.

Grandiur raised an eyebrow. "How come?"

"In Friendship is Magic, the six encountered a hydra here. Need any further explanation?"

"No." Grandiur vaguely knew what a hydra was, and despite any missing information, he could equate 'danger' to 'hydra'.

They continued on, keeping a look out for any possible dangers. While slithering snakes and sudden squeaks startled them, nothing stood out to them as an immediate threat. Crimson was the jumpiest, claiming he saw something huge moving along with them. The other two investigated his point of interest, yet only a small critter would show. After reassuring him that nothing was stalking them, they continued, Crimson still too wary of his surroundings.

As the ground became more solid and the moist air began to dry, they encountered the Ghastly Gorge. At the bottom, a river slightly meandered, flowing southwest with the gorge. "Well, we've found our gorge," Grandiur said, looking back to his friends, "Now to follow it."

"Hold on there, Heman," Crimson panted, "Radi and I are exhausted. You push us farther and our guts will pop."

When they all caught their breathes and were hydrated, they continued on, the forest thinning as they continued along the lip of the canyon. The ground continued to solidify, and the air began to clear, fresh air slowly filling their lungs. Trees straightened out and dispersed as they cantered, the light of noon pouring between trees and leaves.

They stopped outside the border, Grandiur taking a few sips of water. "Well, at least we're out of the muck," he said, breath heavier.

Radi looked about nervously. "Not all of us. Crimson's gone!"

"What?" Grandiur studied the area around him only to confirm Radi's statement as fact. "Damn it," he muttered, glancing toward the forest. Without a second thought, he darted back into the forest, wind roaring in his ears. As the forest thickened again, he slowed his pace to dodge trees and other obstacles. "Crimson?" he yelled, in hopes he would show up unscathed. It didn't seem to matter how loud or how frequently he yelled his name; he didn't respond. Grandiur turned around to see Radi right behind him, skidding to a stop before crashing into him. He surveyed the area, failing to spot any sign of Crimson. "Stay close, Radi," Grandiur requested.

Grandiur found their previous hoof prints as they came out of the forest. Twelve hoofprints lied in rows where he was looking. He followed the hoofprints, studying them closely, when one set stopped completely. He trotted back to the ending, seeing drag marks on the ground, getting shallower until they stopped.

"You're really slow at investigating, Sherlock Holmes!" said a voice above him. Grandiur backed up and looked toward the voice. Crimson was dangling in a tree by his hooves.

"Crimson! How in the name of Celestia -"

"Didn't you hear me? Come on, that was loud enough to wake a bear from hibernation."

"Well, apparently we didn't."

"Oh, well. But before all the blood in my body rushes to my head, how about you go ahead and loose me, here?"

"I'm on it." Grandiur searched around the tree for any stakes or tightened ropes that supported the trap. Abruptly, there was a reptilian-like screech in the distance, thuds on the ground increasing in volume.

"That's your cue to hurry, Grandiur!" Crimson's voice cracked as the victim started to squirm in the ropes he was bound.

This squirming gave away the position of a smaller wire near the tree, something that would have been invisible hadn't Crimson started to panic. Grandiur followed the wire to the ground, and to no surprise, there was a stake attaching it to the ground. It was too deep to kick out, so Grandiur used his inexperienced magic to yank it out of the ground. The thuds grew closer, making it difficult for him to concentrate.

Thud, thud, thud, thud.

Grandiur disregarded the noise as a blue aura surrounded his horn.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

Grandiur gritted his teeth as the stress on his mind built.

THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD!

Grandiur, desperation filling his mind, yanked out the stake, easing the wire up hastily. Once he was sure Crimson would be a safer distance from the ground, he let go of the wire, a smaller thunk! coming from the opposite side of the tree. Just seconds after, Radi and Crimson bolted past, the mare saying, "Grandiur, come on!" He didn't need any further persuasion to evacuate the area as the four-headed hydra stomped after them.

While it was true that some larger threats move slower, the hydra was an exception. Its long strides and its fast speed matched their pace, but just a little faster. It took only moments for the hydra to catch up to Grandiur's six, his legs frantically pumping for more speed. He only was able to get a little more ahead before the speed left him. The hydra was gaining on him again.

There had to be a way to stall it. It has multiple heads, Grandiur thought, maybe I can disembody one of them. He focused, visualizing a disk of energy whirling around his horn, spinning faster and faster. He whipped his head toward the hydra, and launched the disk at one of the beast's necks. As expected, the disk cut straight through the neck, severing the head. But the hydra didn't slow down. Instead, it continued on, lumps growing from the stump of the neck, lined with a sort of mucus. Unexpectedly, two heads burst from the stump as if the first one had never gone. The five-headed hydra continued, more aggravated.

That did not work, Grandiur thought in awe, how else can I stall it? Fire? No, even though our situation is dire, I'd be screwing us over even more. But maybe, he remembered the mucus lining atop the growing heads, maybe I can burn that protective mucus, so nothing will grow from the stump. He conjured up another spinning disk, this time, fire flickered from it, the heat pushing against his face. He quickly flung his head over to the hydra again, the disk cutting through the neck of the rightmost hydra head. Flame burst from the stump as the head flew off, staggering the enemy.

Yes, that worked! Grandiur thought as the two extra heads of the hydra failed to spawn. They broke to the border of the forest, the hydra still tailing them. Still? It's already outside its habitat!

"Crimson! Radi!" Grandiur called to his friends, "I'm going to finish off the hydra!"

"Grandiur," Radi called back to him, "it's too dangerous! You're the only one who can activate the statues. What if we lose you?"

"Trust me, you won't!" He skidded to a stop, conjuring up a strong force. "Fus..." he grunted.

He let the force loose, sound waves visible as it knocked the multiple-headed creature back. It landed on its back, a nice, solid thunk emitted from collision. The beast flipped onto his feet slowly. Grandiur prepared for the worst.

The creature snapped at him, each one of its heads going in for the kill. He jumped on one's head as he conjured a flaming beam from his horn. The next head struck, this time managing to catch him. The sharp, slimy teeth wrapped around his barrel, slowly piercing into his skin. He let loose a jaw-shattering force from his horn to knock him loose. The jaw popped open, leaving him in free fall meters above the ground. Using the acceleration of his fall, Grandiur conjured his flaming beam again to sever another neck below him. He met the ground hard, barrel rolling to avoid any further injury. Sweat covered his face as he stood again. Two down, three to go.

The hydra once again struck with one of its remaining heads, Grandiur this time jumping to the side. The other one struck to catch him off guard, but this time, Grandiur summoned a flaming ring aroud him to behead the one that was coming.

The fourth head was not that subtle in its attacks. All of them were predictable, although fast. Grandiur jumped back and forth away from strikes, finally landing one on it, ichor spewing from the wound.

As the fourth head fell to the ground, the final one drew back, noticing its comrades were no more. Still relentless, it struck Grandiur, knocking him back onto his side. He collected himself to his hooves in time to dodge another bite, the teeth of the final head lodged into the ground. Grandiur backed up and swept the ground with his hooves, ready to charge. He burst toward the neck of the beast, flame wrapping around him as he charged, running through the neck as if it was butter. The final head disembodied, the headless body fell to the ground, life leaving it once and for all.

Grandiur gathered himself to his hooves, looking upon the defeat of the monster. He only spent one moment in victory, the others, he was on the ground, all strength leaving him. His barrel was covered with his own blood, the deeper tooth marks still bleeding. He felt faint, the line between reality and unconsciousness blurring. His vision darkened as his eyelids fell shut.

---

"You've come a long way, haven't you?"

"What?" Grandiur asked, the mystery voice the only trace of interaction. "No, I don't know..."

"You have, you just don't know it."

"I know I don't know-"

"Are you ready to know your destiny?"

"I-"

"Are you ready, or not?"

"... Yes..."

A mark filled his vision, the same mark he'd seen two nights ago. A drop of red liquid falling from left to right, and a comet-like streak falling from right to left, passing under the red drop.

"What does this mean to you?" asked the mysterious voice.

"... The red drop above the comet... it can't be causing the red drop... it's blocking it... like it's preventing bloodshed..."

"Where there is bloodshed, there will always be bloodshed."

"Bloodshed will befall the comet?"

"Replace 'comet' with 'person'. What do you have there?"

"... This particular person will prevent bloodshed... but take it upon himself."

"What have you done to protect your friends?"

"I prevented their bloodshed... yet..."

---

Grandiur woke, the late afternoon sun stinging his eyes. He squinted, and studied himself. He had a bandage wrapped around his barrel, a large gauze pad under, pressing firmly on his side. Looking around he noticed he was in an identical area, but as he looked around, Bogg was far in the distance. Or, at least, he thought it was Bogg. He stood, pain shooting through his body. He flinched and grunted.

This gave away Grandiur's position. Radi gasped and tackled him with a hug, nuzzling him. "I'm so glad you're okay!" Radi exclaimed, still embracing him.

"Well, I'm glad too, I guess." Grandiur responded, Radi breaking the hug.

Crimson walked up to him. "That's a hell of a thing you did back there," he admitted, "doesn't mean it was any less stupid."

"Hey, if I hadn't done that, he'd be chasing us halfway across Equestria."

"Well, halfway is better than the whole thing." Radi bumped Crimson, knocking him to the side a little. "Hey, what was that for?"

"We're both grateful for what you did, Grandiur," Radi said, "even though this guy -" she gestured to Crimson "- can't say it properly. Thank you."

"Don't mention it," Grandiur replied, "if anything is a threat to my friends, I'll stop it."

A moment later, Grandiur noticed Crimson's eyes were glued to his flank. "Grandiur," Crimson said, "look at your flank."

Curious of what he was staring at, Grandiur heeded his friend's order. Now he saw why his friend was staring at it. On his flank was an 'X' shaped figure, with a red droplet falling from left to right, and a pale yellow streak under it.

The same mark he saw two times now.

I prevented their bloodshed... yet... I've taken it upon myself. Grandiur completed the statement. This is my destiny?

"Congrats," Crimson said, "You've got your cutie mark. It's not so cute, but a mark, indeed."

Chapter V - The Village on the Mountain

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Locating their position on the map, Grandiur announced what they were to encounter. "As we follow the gorge, we will encounter a small wood," he said, "After we travel through it, we have a lot of ground to cover before we reach the edge of the desert. The foot of the mountain-" he gestured toward the peak on the opposite side of the gorge, "- is not too far into it."

"Sorry Grandiur," Crimson said, studying the map, "but this map doesn't have a scale. One inch be 20 miles or 200."

"Well, we did cover a lot of ground between Camp Ricordo and Bogg."

"Yeah, eight days, though. Don't you remember how we almost got lost in Apple Loosa?"

"I was just following you guys. I hadn't a clue where I was going."

"Following us from the front? You were just wandering aimlessly!"

"Hey, at least I was heading north."

"Yeah, at least... not too far north, huh, Rainbow Dash? For you at least..."

They traveled the days by. They drank their water supply sparingly, and lived off of small rations they brought with them. In the forest, they would occasionally stop to gather more rations, Radi's vast knowledge of wild fruit saving them from being poisoned.

A little more than a week passed when they finally traveled out of the forest, the drier climate clearing the trees out. At this point, the trio of troopers were running out of their water supply. They considered travelling to the mountains in the west to hopefully find a source of water, but since they had water supply to last them a little longer, they decided to continue following the gorge. "Besides," Grandiur chimed, "once the gorge levels out, we'll be able to get water from the river. Or maybe we'll run into the aqueduct."

They managed to save their water supply for three days before it ran dry. The gorge was getting shallower, the river becoming closer to the lip. Grandiur tried using magic to levitate the water to their elevation, but right before it was halfway up, he couldn't lift it up any farther. They traveled on, rations running out, dehydrated, and exhausted. By the next day, they were starting to get delusional. Crimson almost fell into the gorge, and Radi 'saw' a lake to their right. Grandiur had his set of mirages, scenes occurring that he hadn't recognized. They still went on, even though their legs were shaking under their own weight.

The following day, they barely had the strength to stand. They could barely walk five minutes without stumbling, the heating air another contributor. At midday, Radi fainted, leaving Crimson to carry her. Grandiur studied the map a few times, vision doubling and blurring. He looked back and forth between the map and the gorge. The depression was shallow enough so possibly, if they were very desperate, could descend the meters left from them to the river.

Crimson fainted only moments later, barrel-rolling into the small depression. "Crimson!" Grandiur rasped, clumsily descending down the side. Sliding and tripping, he made it down to the bottom of the depression, and ran to Crimson's side. Even though he took a clunky tumble down the wall of the shallow gorge, he seemed alright for the most part. Just to make sure, Grandiur summoned more of his magic power to see his bones. Fortunately, none of them were broken. No internal bleeding or anything of the sort. He was just banged up on the outside. Grandiur sighed a sigh of relief, and moved them under the shade of an overhead rock.

Grandiur settled next to his barely-conscious friends. He needed to get them water. It didn't take a fool to realize they had heatstroke. Grandiur looked ahead of him to see the river a couple meters away. He could separate the impurities from the water using magic, but would he be able to conjure any more? He realized he was thinking way too far ahead. I need to cool them down first, he thought. He searched their saddlebags to see if there was any sort of cloth. Radi had the most of the first aid materials. Best he should start the search there.

After raiding her travel saddle's saddlebags, he managed to find at least two small cloths. He proceeded to soak them in the river, wringing out unneeded excess water. He brought the two damp cloths to the two, patting them on their foreheads, careful not to overdo the cooling process. Every now and then he would go to the river and drink the water there in small portions, purifying it before he drank. As his friends slowly regained full consciousness, he brought them water, adjusting the cloths on their heads.

As the sun set on the horizon, he and his friends were back in good condition. Even though they could travel on, after the long day they had, they decided to set up camp in the shallow gorge. They restocked on water and some food found on plants around the river, and rested through the remaining hours of the day. When the sun had finally set, and the other two went to sleep, Grandiur sat by the fire they'd built, unable to sleep. Even though he'd worked himself hard to recuperate his friends, he was restless.

Some time passed before Radi joined him at his side, looking into the fire. They shied from talking, just staring into blank space. Radi would occasionally look at Grandiur, turning her head back to the fire, as if considering an action, but dismissing it. They just sat next to each other, the awkward silence unhindered. Grandiur sorted through subjects in his head, none of which were at all that great. The silence lingered for a little after, but then Radi spoke up.

"I don't know how many times I've said this, but thank you." Radi offered.

Grandiur smiled. "Fifty-four."

"What?"

"You've said 'Thank you,' fifty-four times now."

"You were keeping count?"

"What, I thought it'd be fun to see how many times you said it. The majority of them came from that one minute embrace."

"You were also keeping time of that hug?"

"Hey, a colt's gotta keep himself occupied somehow."

She giggled softly. "But I guess after fifty-four times, I've finally expressed my gratitude." She rested her head on Grandiur's chest, surprising him. His mind went blank for a moment, his peripheral vision blacking out. He could feel his face getting hotter as Radi scooted in, snuggling. His heart rate bounced from normal to as fast as a rabbit's. He couldn't decide whether or not to be comfortable or uncomfortable. But what ever she was feeling, he wasn't exactly feeling back.

"I-I'd better get to... sleep." Grandiur stammered.

Radi smiled lightly. "Okay," She replied. To top it off, she pecked Grandiur on the cheek, throwing him into a daze. "Sweet dreams, Grandiur." Head floating, Grandiur stepped back from the fire's flame to find the Goldilocks point, and laid there. He closed his eyes, stomach fluttering, unable to comprehend what occurred moments before.

---

Dawn broke over the horizon, bringing with it no sound, except for the scurries of small creatures around them. Grandiur woke, fog dispersing in his mind as everything came back to him. He looked about, seeing that his two other friends were still subconscious. He smiled and sighed, sitting up on his haunches, tracing patterns in the dirt. We all had a long day yesterday, he thought, I should give them more time to rest. Without prior thought, Grandiur ended up tracing two hearts, one smaller to the top left, the other bigger below it. The next moment, he was self conscious, flailing his hooves over the ground to clear the image. He sighed for relief. Is my head still in the clouds? He remembered Radi the previous night, snuggling up next to him. This memory retracted most of his alertness as the clopping of multiple hooves came his way.

"Any signs of him?" said a feminine voice with a southern accent.

"None," replied a masculine voice, with an accent aquired in a much more northern area.

"Damn..." groaned the female, "we need another to thwart the Elements of Harmony."

Grandiur's eyes widened. What the hell...? he thought. He hugged the gorge lip, trying to remain out of their sight.

"Have you tried Discord? He is the lord of chaos, after all."

"Discord wouldn't join us. The five have already converted him. He wouldn't leave his friends whatever the cost." The mare said 'friends' and 'five' as if they were a bitter taste in her mouth.

"Well, then, we will keep searching. There is a village nearby. If he came this way, he'd be there."

"Good thinkin'." Trotting on the lip of the gorge continued and moved farther away.

Grandiur sighed for relief as the trotting faded in the distance. They were headed toward a village, most likely the same village they were traveling to. He knew their intentions, but the consequences if they weren't fulfilled were unknown to him. If they intend to overthrow the Elements of Harmony... he thought, perking up his head. They needed to depart now.

After waking his friends, they left at a gallop, following the river. They zipped past obstacles, morning air hitting their faces as they ran. "Grandiur!" Radi called, "You never told us exactly why we're running at ramming speed?"

"I overheard voices up on the lip," Grandiur replied, "they said they were trying to thwart the Elements of Harmony, but they need one more."

She mouthed to herself, clearly recognizing the cause, but she couldn't match it up to a name. She then nodded to him, acknowledging their haste.

The gorge became shallower and shallower as time went by. Within about half an hour, they could see over the lip, cracked ground appearing on it. The heat intensity grew as they galloped along the river, the desert climate taking the warm morning. Two hours later, the gorge finally leveled out, the ground becoming less dense and sandier. The mountain was now towering over them, the foot of it on a steep incline. They noticed a bridge-like figure in the distance, coming from the north, ending at the foot of the mountain, the connecting part at the stop remaining level the entire way. The aqueduct! At least they were heading the right direction. Unfortunately, so were a group of ponies ahead of them.

"Hold on, Grandiur!" Crimson ordered, skidding to a stop. The other two stopped dead in their tracks as well, walking toward the grey stallion. "First off," he started, "what are we intending to do here? If we're going to confront them, you need to acknowledge that we're clearly out-numbered!"

"We have to do something," Grandiur responded, "What if they harm the villagers?"

"What if they harm you?" Crimson snapped, "Look, Grandiur, you're the only one who can activate the statues. We've almost lost you a couple times before, and you're just asking for it again! Your luck is going to run out, Grandiur, and when it does, Equestria will fall!"

Grandiur sighed, gritting his teeth. He couldn't afford to have those villagers be hurt because he didn't take action. He couldn't bear that burden. He stared at the ground, anger welling in his mind.

"Grandiur," Radi said, "Crimson's right. You're not thinking this through. Just let it go. It's better to sacrifice a pawn than it is to sacrifice a king."

Grandiur glanced behind him. He could see the troop galloping in the distance toward the village. A whirlwind of emotion stirred in his head. He was letting them get away, most likely at the expense of the villagers' safety. All negative emotions filled his mind before rationality flooded in.

"You win," Grandiur sighed, studying his hooves, "now what do we do?"

"We wait," Crimson answered, "we need to make sure that they're out of the village before we come."

They rested for some time, eating rations very sparingly, and drinking sips of their water. While Radi and Crimson talked, Grandiur sulked, feeling as if he failed. By now, they could've laid waste to the village, and they didn't do anything, even though they knew the threat. While his friends reminded him that it was for the better, he didn't feel that same way. Tracing patterns on the ground, his mind slowly detached from what he didn't do. He accepted the fact that this was for the better. After some time, rationality set in his mind again, and he was no longer angry at himself.

He apologized to his friends for his behavior, and naturally, they forgave him. "Just remember to think before you do stuff," Crimson suggested, "It will save a life or a limb." They talked for a while, making fun of the mirages they had, expressed concerns, and had a laugh and a tear. Crimson explained his first friends at the camp, and how they helped him, and times he returned the favor. Radi went on how she uplifted people's moods, even when she was in the dumps. As for Grandiur, he explained his feelings while he was taking care of them while they had heatstroke. This was the first time he'd ever shared anything with his friends that they hadn't known before. Even though it was sort-lived, he felt as if he was a person for the first time, not just an empty husk void of memory.

At late afternoon, they decided to start trekking toward the village on the mountain. Along the way, they shared remarks that kept their minds off the effort, making time fly faster as the foot of the mountain eased closer. They took sparse and brief breaks on their journey, between them the mountain looming up and up, raising their spirits. By sundown, their destination was just kilometers away, the steep incline going meters into the air before flattening.

"This is the foot of the mountain?" Crimson asked, "A better name for it would be 'knee' or 'lap'."

"I would have to agree," Radi said. The 'foot' was a hop, skip, jump, bound, and a tumble away from the ground, a steep switchback going up to an undesirable height. "Well, the mountain's not going to lower for us," Grandiur sighed, "let's get this over with." They hiked up the switchbacks, the incline cramping their sides. Radi was the first to the top, where minutes later, the two colts crawling to the surface. Radi looked back, and the two stood up, chins up nonchalantly, Crimson polishing his hoof on his chest, Grandiur studying his right front ankle as if there was a watch on it. Rolling her eyes, she turned back around, the stallions breaking character immediately after, panting and wheezing.

There were houses and shacks, but nopony in sight. The quiet of the dusk unsettled the trekking trio. Dead silence. Until hoof steps were heard to their right. Crimson simply held out a hoof and clothes lined the oncoming target, the filly landing flat on her back coughing. Crimson chuckled. "You need to think up a less cliche plan of attack," he said.

The filly scrambled back to her hooves. "Who... the hell... are you?" She rasped. Weakly, she swept the ground with her back hoof in a low stance.

Crimson raised a hoof from the ground. "No need to be so hostile, we're not the bad guys here."

"Why should I trust you? You -" she coughed, "-you bucking clothes lined me!"

"Hey, you're not intimidating us with using language. But you were rushing at me with a knife. That was just self defense!" A knife laid on its side under one of his hooves.

"Yeah, right," she said, her sarcasm sounding not that sarcastic.

"As for who we are exactly, these are my two friends, Grandiur and Radiant Beam -" he gestured to them with a hoof, "-and I am Crimson Blade. We are traveling around Equestria to activate statues to deploy of shield that will keep the creatures of the night from entering our borders."

She tilted her head to the side. "The three sent by Princess Rainbow Dash?"

"The one and only trio."

The filly nodded. "Come with me, then. We have something to show you."

Grandiur and Radi glanced at Crimson. He shrugged, and followed the kid, the other two not far behind. They walked through the village, small houses passing at either side. They followed a wide path, dust kicking up behind them.

Grandiur looked to his side to find Radi looking down at the road, eyes low, barely picking up her hooves. Is she alright? he thought, No, stupid question, she isn't. She would occasionally meet eyes with him, only to quickly look down again. He looked away from her, noting her behavior. He would ask her what was wrong at another time. Right now, they needed to aquire as much information as possible.

The filly led them to an infirmary, where it was filled to the brim with ponies shifting uncomfortably in low mattresses. "This is what we need to show you," she confirmed, looking about the room. "Ever since a troop of bad ponies came, many of our civilians have fallen ill." Grandiur studied the occupants, noticing they never opened their eyes. They shifted and stirred and groaned, but never opened their eyes even once. "Stay here," the filly said, passing behind a set of curtains.

The trio studdied the occupants. "What illness spreads in less than eight hours?" Crimson asked, passing by the beds again.

"Not any natural illness, I'll tell you that," Radi said, studying one of the patients. "Look at their breaths."

Crimson and Grandiur studied the patients. "You can see them." Grandiur reported.

"Exactly. Whatever illness they have has depleted their core body temperature drastically."

"That doesn't make any sense though," Crimson chimed in, "wouldn't they be frozen if their body temp was this cold?"

"They would be pony-sicles, that's for sure, but..." Radi put a hoof on a patient's forehead, "...they're burning up."

The filly poked her head from the curtains. "You may enter." She held the curtain open for the trio, the trio uttering thanks to her. Inside were two mares, one with an orange coat, the other with a purple coat. "Grandiur, Radi, Crimson," the orange mare addressed, "are you familiar with the Essence of Darkness?"

"We have encountered it in the form of the creatures of the night, and we know its origin," Radi answered, "well, at least Crimson and I."

"Wait, you guys know about it?" Grandiur asked.

"Yes," Crimson responded.

"Enlighten me."

"Pretty much, long story short, the Essense of Darkness is the physical remains of darkness that once resided in one's heart. This dates all the way back to the defeat of Nightmare Moon, about ten years ago. Upon the six defeating her, the darkness that created her took physical form and lurked in the darkest places of the world. As the six continued extracting the darkness from people's hearts, it grew and grew, the dark powers of a person transferring to it."

"This illness is caused by it," said the purple mare, "We believe it was spread by one of the troop members that passed through hours ago."

"However, none of them had the symptoms that our patients have," continued the orange mare.

"So, the Essence has a client," Crimson proposed.

"Yes," responded the orange mare, "it was spread by one who possesses the power of darkness."

"Do we have any idea of who the client is?" Grandiur asked.

"No," the purple mare answered, "But what we do know is that there was a jailbreak at Mikaz Prison two and a half weeks ago. In order to escape that prison, one must have power that a normal pony doesn't posses. This person must be from that prison."

"Interesting..." Crimson said, "... but what relevance does this information have to us?"

"The relevance is that you need to know a powerful entity is on the loose. You should be wary that on your quest, you should avoid contact with that troop."

Crimson nodded. "Okay. We will stay aware of this entity."

"Good," said the orange mare, "We have contacted Zecora to assist us with creating an antidote for this illness. She will be arriving here tomorrow. We will need you to fetch supplies if needed. As for the statue that needs to be activated, it lies in the heart of the mountain. The entrance is not too far from here. But that's for a later date. Right now, find a place to sleep. You will need your energy for tomorrow."

---

The room was dim, only lit with small candles. On one side of the room, Grandiur lied on a straw mattress, looking across the room to the other light. Radi sat in the bed opposite to him, looking at the wood floor. Her behavior was bothering him. What was bothering her so? Grandiur didn't have the courage to ask her why she was down. He didn't want to stress her out even more. But the question gnawed at his mind and clawed at his tongue. He couldn't simply let this down; he wanted to know. His gut clenched every time he tried to ask, and his mouth clamped shut afterward. He couldn't get his vocal cords to vibrate. He just wanted to ask a simple question, yet his body was resisting him.

Grandiur took a deep breath. Don't worry, he thought, there won't be an everlasting grudge. Just ask. Another deep breath, and the question fell from his lips like water. "Radi, what's wrong?"

Radi looked up at him and sighed. "Grandiur," she started, "did I make you feel... uncomfortable?"

Grandiur recycled this question over and over in his mind, trying to find an honest answer. "A little," he replied, "I just wasn't expecting you to do that."

Radi looked back down at the floor, closing her eyes. "I'm sorry, Grandiur. You've done great things to help us. I didn't know how to express a proper thanks beside that."

Grandiur managed a small smile. "It's alright. You just surprised me, that's all."

"Yeah, you say that..." her voice cracked. Grandiur bit his lip. Was she really getting all worked up about this? He walked up to her and sat next to her, wrapping a hoof around her. "Radi, I like you, really. Don't get all worked up about a small act of gratitude. I forgive you."

Radi sniffed. "Really?'

"Really really."

Radi leaned into Grandiur. "Thank you," she said softly. This time, Grandiur accepted this offer to snuggle, resting his head on top of hers. Crimson walked in seconds later, stopping as he saw the cute scene. "Oh, well, I think I stumbled into the wrong room! I'll just stay out here." Radi and Grandiur exchanged looks, then continued the cuddling, as if nothing had happened.

Chapter VI - The Heart of the Mountain

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The morning broke, unleashing light into the small household. The three woke up, remembering the task at hand. "So, what would rid darkness from a person?" Crimson asked, probably a rhetorical question.

"I don't know..." Radi responded verbally, "Athelas?"

While the other two messed around in the small shelter, Grandiur paced outside. The statue lied at the heart of the mountain. They were taking their precious time with this endeavor, at no haste at all. Ricordo will hold up, he hoped, Everypony else will as well. They survived two years with those things. I shouldn't be so worried. But there was always that twinge in his gut that he was going to fail at this rate. They had already spent more than two weeks on their quest. Will Equestria last while they sought the statues? Grandiur snapped himself out of his anxiety. He needed to think more rationally.

"You're wearing a line in the ground," said the orange mare they met the previous night. "What's up?"

"I'm just really anxious," Grandiur replied, "you know, having to save the world, and all."

"You shouldn't have to worry. We held our ground against those creatures for two years. We're not going to give up any time soon."

"Orenji!" yelled the purple mare, "We still have patients to take care of! Get back on task."

The orange mare, Orenji, sighed and kicked the ground. "Well, it seems duty calls. Murasaki is the strictest sister you could have." She turned and walked toward the infirmary, her blue mane flopping as she moved. Grandiur caught her flank, a cutie mark in the form of a right angle, the red lines pointing down and left.

Grandiur started pacing again until Crimson stopped him. "Woah there, buddy, you'll start eroding a chasm if you keep pacing like this!" Crimson said, putting a hoof in front of him.

"I just can't... bear... the anxiety." Grandiur explained, lightly panting in the brief pauses.

"You can..." Crimson pushed against Grandiur to stop him from pacing, "...and you will." Grandiur stopped his pacing, breathing heavy. "Look Grandiur, there's nothing to worry about. We're making fair progress!"

"Fair, but not sufficient..." Grandiur said, his breath becoming heavier.

"Hey, look here," Crimson knocked one across Grandiur's face to get him to focus, "You've got nothing to worry about!" he repeated.

Grandiur rubbed his cheek. "What the hell was that for?" he snapped.

"You're focussing, good. Come on, we've got some work to do."

"How the hell's a punch gonna make me focus?"

"Just come on, Grandiur."

They assisted Orenji and Murasaki with the patients while they were waiting for Zecora. They wet rags at the aqueduct, and helped clean up any at all messes that occurred. There wasn't that much for them to do while they were waiting for Zecora. Just these small things that could make a big difference. They repeated these jobs until the afternoon, when the visitor approached the village.

Zecora inspected the patients inside the infirmary, noting every ailment that afflicted the villagers. She turned to face the others, speaking in a heavier accent. "For this illness, there is no physical cure. But there is one more challenge the unicorn must endure."

Grandiur cocked his head to the side lightly. "What must I do?"

"There is one spell that can cure this disease. The answer is in the statue, you'll learn it in a breeze."

"Great," Crimson said semi-enthusiastically, "we can hit two birds with one stone."

"Wait, how do you know I can interact with the statues?" Grandiur asked.

"I know because I'm friends with the five. They told me that the last of the young guardians was alive."

Grandiur recalled Inky mentioning him being the last guardian. "I know..." he sighed.

Zecora glanced at the three, nodding. "You should go now, when the sun is still low. When it reaches its peak, you'd wish you were below."

The three walked off, after filling their water supply and gathering some food. Orenji, Murasaki and Zecora saw them off, making sure no immediate dangers faced them. "One thing hasn't changed about you, Zecora," Orenji said.

"Hm?" Zecora responded.

"You still speak in riddles."

Zecora chuckled, "Yes, yes I do. If you've known me, it's nothing new."

---

The three hiked the mountain toward the peak. There was some life around their area, though the dry climate had still persisted. Any trees were void of leaves, sagebrush scattered around them, cacti not a rare sight. The ground was relatively flat, with dips occasionally, the ground getting steeper as they progressed. As time went on, the desert climate crescendoed to its max, the temperature scorching hot, the air as dry as paper. They progressed slowly, the height of the mountain coming closer and closer. Finally, they reached the mountain as the sun was high in the sky and a warm breeze wrapped around them. The shade of the mountain was over them, giving them relief from the sun. Looking forward, they could see an opening to the mountain, possibly a shaft of an old mine. A weathered iron frame supported the entrance, darkness blocking their view from the outside.

"We need a light," Crimson proposed. Grandiur stepped in front of them, popping his neck. Time to put what I've learned to use, he thought. Closing his eyes, he focused his magic energy to light his horn. After a couple of short lived sparks, the light grew to life, illuminating the passageway beyond. He smiled back at his friends at his success. "Let's go," he said, walking toward the cramped mineshaft.

The jagged walls only allowing one pony to pass without possible injury. Grandiur lit his horn as much as he could so his friends could see better from behind. They traveled through the passageway, turns here and there. They descended, small stalactites forming on the ceiling. Watching their heads, they continued. After a while of descending, they finally reached a wide open space. Not far in, Grandiur ran into an extrusion from the floor that was as high as his chin. Grooves were carved into it, covered in dark reflective material. Radi studied the substance, scratching it with the tip of a hoof. "It's amber," she announced, studying the scratches.

"Amber..." Crimson repeated, "that stuff's flammable, right?"

"Yes. This might be a system to light the mine. If only we had fire."

Grandiur studied the grooves. It would be a tight fit, but maybe...

"Back up," Grandiur commanded, "don't want to set any of you aflame." He focused the energy emitting from his horn to separate into a smaller orb of energy. He visualized the orb of energy flowing into the grooves of the extrusion. The orb of energy did as he visualized, and lit aflame in the groove. The fire spread fast, splitting at a fork, wrapping around to the wall behind. Torches mounted high on the wall lit in sequence, also lighting chandeliers that hung overhead. The place illuminated, revealing a large area, with a gap separating one side of the area to another. As light quickly filled the space, a loosened bridge hanging between the two platforms was revealed. On the opposite platform lied a figure. A figure that glistened like marble.

"The statue!" Radi exclaimed. The alicorn statue had a normal figure, while a poof-y mane and tail were visible at her about-face position. She was rearing, but unlike the statue of Rarity, it looked more playful than graceful. Crimson squinted. "Could that be a statue of Princess Pinkie Pie?" he asked.

"Yes..." Radi answered, "but why here? Why would any of the six be in a mine. Of course, there was that one time where Rarity was captured by thugs... but why Pinkie Pie of anybody?"

"Something tells me that the places aren't all that representative..." Crimson mumbled. He raised his voice. "Grandiur, do you think you can use your magic to crank the bridge up?" He gestured to a crank near the lip of the platform.

"I'll try," he responded. He focused his magic energy to move the crank from the other side, but before he could put the crank in motion, an image flashed in his mind. A pink mare, same mane style and tail style appeared in his mind, mouth open but no teeth, big eyes darkened and leaking with dark ichor. Next thing he knew, he was tossed against the wall, screaming in surprise and pain. He fell on his side on the ground, grimacing. His friends galloped toward him. "Are you alright?" They asked in unison.

"Yeah, yeah..." Grandiur said through gritted teeth, "... just gotta walk it off..." He gathered himself to his hooves, flinching.

"So magic's out of the question..." Radi noted. She surveyed the area, spotting a point of interest. "There is a mine shaft over there. Maybe if we go through that, we'll be able to reach the other side?"

They followed Radi into another cramped mineshaft, now lit by a flaming groove near the low ceiling. It was then they ran into their first problem. The shaft forked off into three directions, one to the front, one to the left, and one to the right. On each of the walls were markings, the roman numeral 'I' on the farthest left, 'II' in the center, 'III' on the farthest right. "I've seen this somewhere!" Radi exclaimed, "I've read bits about this. The route we want to take is I, III, III, VII."

"That is an interesting pattern..." Crimson said.

"So, are you absolutely sure that is the route we take?" Grandiur asked.

"Positive. I wouldn't recommend it otherwise." She confirmed.

Path 'I' was simple to access, the first 'III' had to be climbed to, and the next 'III' was the most difficult. It required all of them to get up to 'III', Grandiur stacking rocks to build unstable stairs, Crimson to pull them up, and somepony to stabilize the rocks. Grandiur made sure the rocks wouldn't budge, but he couldn't sustain the spell and walk up the stairs he had created. So, he went for it as fast as possible, knocking over his flight of steps, being caught by Crimson before he fell among the pile.

After that ordeal, VII was child's play to reach as compared to the second 'III'. All that was required was to jump across a sizable gap, not hard to jump across, yet not entirely easy. They walked through another narrow shaft, until they finally broke to the open, onto the platform the statue was built on.

"I will draw the bridge," Radi volunteered.

"Shouldn't one of us guys do that?" Crimson spurted before thinking.

Radi rolled her eyes, "It doesn't take that much to maneuver a crank." She continued to reel the bridge up.

"Okay, Grandiur," Crimson said, "do your thing." They approached the statue, Grandiur focusing his magic energy to shoot into the jewel around the statue's neck.

All went white. Grandiur covered his eyes from the sudden release of light. He studied the area, noticing that nothing surrounded him but white. He couldn't tell if he was looking forward, right or left, nonetheless north, south, east, or west. He looked down at his hooves and looked back up to find the pink alicorn in his face. "Hello!" She squeaked, Grandiur jumping back a couple feet, "Who must you be?"

Grandiur was tense. This was the same mare that flashed in his mind, except her eyes weren't leaking blood. In fact, she looked more friendly than that disturbing image. He loosened. She was an alicorn after all. If she was a psychomaniac, she wouldn't be. "I'm Grandiur," he introduced, "I am on a quest to activate the statues around Equestria, and deploy the shield to prevent -"

"Those dark and nasty creatures of the night!" She said, rearing up on her hind legs, hoovering her hooves over her head.

"Yeah, that..."

"Oh, by the way, I'm Pinkie Pie!" She beamed, giving him a big contagious smile. Grandiur chuckled, the smile spreading to him. Well, he thought, this isn't so bad...

"But, why am I here, in this... this..."

"This big white area? Oh, it's a great place, where you can just make things appear by imagination! Here, look!" Without the aura around her horn, she flew up in the air, producing a cannon out of thin air, the metal hunk crashing to the ground. She landed, and pulled the fuse. "Party cannon!" she exclaimed as loads of confetti, balloons and ribbon shot from the nozzle into the distance. Most of the decorations fell onto the ground beyond Grandiur anticlimactically, the balloons flying up into an endless void of white. She held her excited stance for a moment, than returned to a normal stance, raising an eyebrow. "Huh, I expected it to hang on something.

"But why you're here... there were distress calls from the village on the mountain. A sort of dark disease that cannot be cured with physical resources."

"How do you know about these things so fast?"

"How? Spike! I'm surprised you didn't see him yet!"

"So pretty much, this Spike fellow is spying on us."

"Well I wouldn't necessarily call it spying..." she hesitated for a moment, "... yeah, it's spying. But we need to have information about your status. The fate of Equestria does lie in your hooves, after all.

"But, back on subject. I was sent here in your subconscious to teach you a spell that will dismiss the darkness from the afflicted. Personally, I think that Twilight should've come to teach you. She is a bookworm in these type of things. But she's recovering from an injury from a battle at Mikaz."

Grandiur blinked. He was... sleeping?

"But," Pinkie continued, "since I'm not here to complain, I will teach you this spell." She started bouncing up and down. "Yay! I get to teach someone!"

Grandiur half-smiled. He'd never met somepony this enthusiastic.

"This spell is very energy sapping. Be prepared to fall into a layer of Limbo when you perform this here. Close your eyes." Grandiur did as she said. "Good. Now, light your horn. There you go! You're going like a pro! Visualize the light from your horn compressing and getting more powerful. Great, you're doing it! Put as much energy as you can. The Essense is no pushover. Great!! Now release all the energy!" Grandiur saw the light flash through his eyelids, the force of the release pushing him back. He opened his eyes, to see Pinkie Pie wobbling around, eyes extremely dialated. "That... was... really... well... performed..." she slurred, her horn glowing with a pink aura. The aura surrounded her face, and an instant later, her pupils were back to normal size, and stopped swaying like a drunkard.

"This spell is crucial to expel darkness from the civilian's bodies," Pinkie stated, "If you don't do it soon, the disease will... do something, I dunno! But, cure the civilians as soon as possible, capiche?"

"Okay," Grandiur responded, "I will do that."

"Okeydokeylokey. Now I just need to figure out away to escape your dream, so..." she reared up and waved her hooves slowly in front of her, the dream fading slowly into reality.

Grandiur awoke laying belly-down in front of the statue. The light from the jewel aimed toward the exit, going through a small hole in the ground. He stood, shaking off dirt on his coat. "Crimson?" Grandiur called, looking around.

"Grandiur, I'm right behind you." Crimson responded, the closeness of his voice confirming his position. Grandiur studied the area around him again. "Where's Radi?" he asked.

Crimson gazed around. "I'm not sure, actually. She went back into the mineshaft last I saw."

"Why would she go back into the mineshaft?"

"Once again, I'm not sure." Crimson repeated, "I'll check on the other side."

"Right," Grandiur responded. He studied the area around him, searching every nook and cranny of the place. After doing a full scan, he recognized a figure at the back wall. It was Radi! What was she doing there?

"Radi!" Grandiur exclaimed, "Where have you been?" She stood facing the wall, not responding. "Radi," Grandiur approached her, "is everything alright?" He nudged her with his hoof, and he was immediately surprised that she was cold. As cold as the darkness.

Before he knew it, he was pinned to the wall by the neck, hanging off the ground. Radi grinned darkly at him as she applied pressure to his neck. Grandiur gasped for air as he reached his hoof up and hit her. She screamed as she let go of him, Grandiur being dropped onto the ground. The scream seemed much more gurgle-y than Radi's. The mare rushed at him again, pinning him to the floor. He hit her across the face a couple times until she released her grip. He then bucked her backward, her figure degrading, random holes appearing on her legs. Her body darkened, growing a black, jagged horn from her forehead. It bore sharp teeth, an endless void for eyes.

"Shit! Changelings!" Crimson yelled the other platform. "We're outnumbered! Grandiur, we need to go now!"

"On it!" Grandiur responded, more of the changelings gaining on him. He sent out a pulse of energy from his horn to knock them aside. He galloped across the bridge, the changelings in hot pursuit. He proceeded through the exit, whipping around narrow turns and stalactites on the ceiling. He could make out two figures, one was obviously Crimson, but the other...

"Radi, is that truly you?" Grandiur asked.

"Of course!" Radi responded, "Who did you think I was?"

The three broke to the outside of the mine faster than expected. Adrenaline pumping through their veins, they continued to run. Up ahead was the village, though many changelings were flying over it, though they didn't seem to be attacking. They galloped as fast as their legs would take them toward their destination.

---

Upon arrival, the village was a mess. Houses crumpled and broken, shacks completely demolished, the infirmary collapsed. "Radi, Crimson, Grandiur!" A voice called. The voice belonged to Orenji, hiding under remnents of a house along with Murasaki, Zecora, and the young mare they'd met the day before. "Get over here!" Orenji commanded. Without hesitation, they took cover with the other four. As soon as the trio joined them, Crimson was the first to speak. "Where the hell did the changelings come from?"

"Well," Murasaki said, "They are the villagers."

"What?"

"That was the sickness. The darkness inside them corrupted everything. Their appearance, their way of thinking, everything just void. So, they became the changelings."

"Zecora, is there any way to change them back?" Grandiur asked.

Zecora nodded, "Maybe, maybe, but I wouldn't count on it. It would take the spell and some wit."

Grandiur nodded. "I'll do my best." He ran out of cover into the open, drawing their attention to him. To aggravate more of them, he pestered them with rock throwing. The whole group of them flew down to persue him. Grandiur closed his eyes, and focused. Energy around his horn compressed and intensified, becoming a bright ball atop his horn. He grit his teeth and locked up, head pounding and heart racing. He'd never spent this much effort on a spell before. Finally, he released the energy, flashing light upon the changelings. He opened his eyes, and realized that half the changelings that were chasing him down were back to normal. The other half, however, flew off into the distance, leaving the wreckage of the village.

Grandiur fell to the ground, breathing heavily. His vision would no longer focus. Not unexpectedly, he fell unconscious, now knowing he was prone to doing so when over-exerted.