SPQR

Chapter 12

Excavation Site, Crystal Empire

Twilight and Gaius followed Blueblood as he led them to the main area of the excavation site. Before them was the entrance to what appeared to be an ordinary mineshaft. To the untrained eye, such a discovery would have seemed utterly unremarkable. Upon closer inspection, one crucial detail stood out about the mine’s entrance. The timbers used to create the entrance were petrified, indicating that the site was positively ancient. Twilight, ever the scholar, couldn’t resist rubbing her hoof against the ancient lumber.

“Remarkable. The fact that these trees are petrified indicates that this site could possibly be thousands of years old…”

Blueblood chuckled. “Come along Princess, the really interesting stuff is inside.”

Gaius had no idea what in the seven hells “petrification” was, nor did he particularly care. However, he did find it a bit odd that any creature would go out of their way to caress a piece of timber. He shrugged his shoulders, deciding that such strange behavior from the princess was merely a quirk of her personality he’d have to get used to.

As they ventured deeper into the mine, they witnessed fewer and fewer workers to the point where the three of them were completely on their own. Twilight, who was already feeling nervous due to a slight case of claustrophobia, was now on the brink of a full-blown panic attack. There should’ve been at least a few workers down here and clearly, not a single one was present. She was about to question Blueblood about it, when she felt a strange sensation wash over her.

Immediately she felt the air become significantly colder, sending a shiver down her spine. But it wasn’t so much the cold that bothered her. What truly made the hair on her mane stand on end was the oppressive feeling in the air. It was almost as if it had malicious intent behind it, daring her to continue, lest she suffer its wrath.

The rational part of her mind scolded her for fearing something as intangible as a bad feeling. After a few moments of mental tug of war, the more primitive parts of her brain emerged victorious when she decided to completely ignore rationality and huddle against Gaius’s leg.

 The centurion was slightly surprised when he felt the trembling alicorn brush up against his leg, but knew better than to protest. It was his job to keep her safe, even if that meant lending her emotional rather than physical support. His thoughts immediately drifted back to Fausta when she had been spooked by a wolf. Whenever she was frightened or needed to calm down, he would whisper to her in a hushed tone and gently stroke her mane. Even though it might be a bit awkward, he decided to do the same with Twilight.

 “It’s alright princess, I’m here.”

Twilight whimpered. “S-sorry I don’t normally freak out in situations like this but…something is horribly wrong with this place.”

“Hmm, there is something off about this place. It feels as if we’re being…watched.”

Blueblood cleared his throat. “Ah, so both of you feel it too? I’m afraid that’s why there isn’t anypony else down here. They all started freaking out, claiming that they started hearing voices or that somepony was staring at them the whole time. But I’m afraid it’s only going to get worse.”

Twilight’s ears flattened. “How could it p-possibly be any worse than this?!”

Rather than verbally reply, the Canterlotian noble gestured his hoof towards a large, circular stone slab at the end of the mineshaft. Both Gaius and Twilight gaped in awe, reveling in just how massive the door truly was. It encompassed the entirety of the mineshaft from floor to ceiling, which dwarfed the gates to the palace in Canterlot.

The entire door was comprised of black granite, a very expensive but extremely durable stone that could last for ages without eroding. But what really took Twilight’s breath away was the myriad of runes etched into the door, suggesting that it was magically sealed in place.  One thing was for certain: whoever created this didn’t want anything getting in or out of the area beyond that door.

“Here is the main attraction my dear friends. This is the door which neither I nor my workers could open. As you may well have guessed, it is positively covered in runes, preventing anypony but the most powerful spell caster to unseal it. And that…is where you come in Princess Sparkle.”

“What do expect me to do about it? I don’t even recognize what these runes even mean. If I’m even off one hair from the magic frequency of that door, it could collapse the entire mineshaft.”

Blueblood waved his hoof. “Not to worry, I’ll simply summon a barrier to protect us should the worst come to pass. Please, all I ask is that you at least try. I mean, aren’t you the least bit curious as to what’s on the other side? I know I am.”

“Alright, I’ll try. But you’d better be ready with that spell because I’d never forgive myself if either of you got hurt or killed.”

Twilight braced herself as she concentrated a fair amount of magic in her horn. Within seconds her lavender aura enveloped the door as she desperately tried to move it. Try as she might, the door didn’t even so much as budge. She grunted in frustration and decided to apply as much power as she could, short of obliterating the door. As magic continued to pour out of her horn, the alicorn’s body began to levitate while her eyes glowed white.

The whole entire room became filled with lavender light as a massive beam of magic surged through her horn, unsealing the slab with a thunderous roar. One the door opened, a blast of fetid air rushed out, a result of having been trapped in the room for countless centuries. Meanwhile, Twilight stopped levitating and collapsed onto the floor, utterly exhausted from expending so much magical energy. Gaius immediately rushed over to the fallen princess, checking to see if she was ok.

“Princess, are you feeling well? Do you have the strength to walk?”

Twilight weakly shook her head. “I’m…so tired. Sorry Gaius, but I barely have the strength to talk…let alone walk. You’ll probably have to carry me.”

Without the slightest hesitation, Gaius gingerly hoisted her onto his back and carried her piggy-back style, to avoid injuring her wings. Even though she knew it was necessary, Twilight still blushed furiously. It embarrassed her because she felt like a helpless little filly. While her human protector couldn’t see her blush in the dim lighting of the mine, he did notice how warm her muzzle felt against his neck.

“Don’t worry milady, I won’t mention this to anyone.”

“Oh…umm good. I already feel bad enough for making you…”

“Stop speaking so you can conserve your strength. And before you protest any further, know that I don’t mind doing this for you. I gave Princess Celestia my word that I would protect you and that’s precisely what I aim to do.”

Twilight didn’t say anything in response; instead she chose to relax her head against Gaius’s shoulder. With his new passenger in tow, he slowly made his way into the chamber and nearly dropped Twilight from the utter shock of what was contained within. The entire floor was littered with the skeletons of hundreds of earthponies, along with what appeared to be the carapaces of dead changelings.

Many of the ancient corpses were still clad in rusted armor, clutching equally brittle weapons. It all suddenly made sense to him as to why the air in this place felt so oppressive. A great battle had taken place here and the agony of those who perished still lingered. He heard Twilight gasp and felt her tense up as they continued further into the chamber. Strangely enough, Blueblood didn’t seem bothered by any of this at all. In fact, it was almost as if he was expecting to find all of this carnage.

Gaius was careful not to step on any of the remains or injure himself on any of the degraded weaponry. He had heard tales of people who had injured themselves on rusted blades and ended up feverish for days. It was simply not a risk he was willing to take. As they continued towards the center of the chamber, Gaius noticed something strange.

While the rest of the chamber was littered with remains, the center was completely devoid of them, save for two sets of remains. One was a heavily armored unicorn, which was unusual, considering that the rest of the skeletons were earthponies. Even more bizarre was the hulking changeling carapace underneath it. It was wildly different from the standard drone, sporting two curved horns, a segmented tail with a barb on the end, and a full set of blade-like teeth.

Twilight gasped. “T-that’s impossible! Changelings can’t grow to the size of fully matured dragons. Whatever that monstrous changeling was, I’m glad it isn’t alive anymore.”

Gaius merely nodded in agreement. While he would admit that taking down such a large creature would have been difficult, the unicorn on top of it had clearly done so. As to how he (Gaius assumed it was a male unicorn) slew the massive changeling was fairly obvious. The hilt of a sword was sticking out from a section of the beast’s chest plate. Without any shred of decency or common sense, Blueblood galloped over to the remains of the giant changeling carapace and broke off a chunk of its horn.

“After all this time, I’ve finally found the remains of Empress Arachnia! Now, I have the most important piece needed to summon her back to this realm.”

Blueblood barely took one step away from the remains, when the entire room became bathed in eerie green light. Hundreds of changeling carapaces began forming together, creating an army of the undead willing to punish the fool who dared desecrate their empress’s sacred remains. The fleshless horde produced a high pitched screeching noise as their chitinous hooves scrapped across the stone floor.

Gaius carefully placed Twilight on the floor, simply because her weight would encumber him if he needed to fight. To her credit, the princess tried to stand up and summon a bolt of magic but instead she slumped to the ground clutching her temples. She was just too exhausted to fight right now. Gaius unsheathed his gladius and took a defensive stance in front of her as the changelings made their advance.

        Blueblood, in a state of pure panic, dropped the chunk of horn in a pathetic attempt to appease his undead assailants. As one might expect, it did absolutely nothing. While he was generally a very vain stallion, even he would admit that his magic skills weren’t exactly the best in Equestria. But he had to at least try to fend off these horrible creatures because…well his life pretty much depended on it. He began to fire golden hued bolts of magic at a few of the changelings, which seemed to shatter their weakly bound bodies. Unfortunately, they just reformed and continued their advance.

        Gaius was having an equally difficult time trying to destroy the abominations. One of them lunged at him and started gnawing on his arm. In response, he drove his blade into the creature’s throat but it still continued to chew on him as if nothing had happened. He withdrew his blade and decided to switch tactics. The roman lifted his arm and charged headlong into a nearby wall, hoping to crush the creature against it. When he impacted against the wall, there was a satisfying crunch, breaking off a few chunks of the changeling’s chitin. Feeling encouraged, he repeatedly smashed the creature’s skull against the wall until it practically disintegrated, making the rest of its body follow suit. Although he had figured out how to destroy them, his feeling of accomplishment quickly evaporated when dozens more came charging at him.

        As the changelings began to encircle him, Blueblood felt a familiar presence creep into the back of his skull. It reminded him that he was not entirely in control of either his mind or body and this was one of the worst possible times it could occur. He tried to resist but his master’s will was just too strong. The stallion whimpered in pain as he curled into a ball on the floor.

        “Please m-master, not now! I…have…the situation under control. J-just give…me time to escape.”

        “How utterly pathetic! I gave you the opportunity to take care of this little errand on your own, and yet again you fail me. To this day, I have yet to understand why my mother ever struck a contract with your family.”

        “B-but I retrieved a piece of the horn like you asked! How…could I have….p-possibly foreseen an army of the undead attacking me?!”

        “Silence! Your whining means nothing to me. Due to your weakness, I must intervene directly.”

        Blueblood howled in pain as his entire body was consumed by crimson flames, similar to how a changeling would transform. A few seconds later, a human male replaced his equine form. He stood a foot taller than Gaius with olive tinted skin positively rippling with lean muscle. The man chose to wear hoplite style bronze armor, complimented by chains and studs and a flowing red cape with gold accents.

Behind his plumed helmet a pair of blood red eyes glowed, surveying the situation before him. The bronzed warrior grasped his spear, enveloping the tip in a crimson aura. With a thunderous echo, he slammed the blunt end against the floor, causing all of the surrounding changelings to become trapped in his aura. His eyes flashed and immediately afterwards the changelings were consumed in crimson flames.

Now that Gaius wasn’t fighting for his life, he took notice of the hulking warrior across the room. He blinked several times, just to confirm that he was seeing another man. A strange mixture of emotions washed over him as he observed the warrior stride towards him. Surprise was at the forefront simply because he hadn’t anticipated seeing another person ever again. But he was also somewhat wary, only because this man looked incredibly dangerous and intimidating. With his gladius still drawn, Gaius cleared his throat.

“Greetings stranger! I am Gaius Septimus, Centurion of Rome and guardian of Princess Sparkle. What business do you have here?”

The warrior slowly turned his head. “Greetings son of Rome. My business is none of your concern and you would be wise to stay out of my way.”

“Please sir, I meant no offense. I am merely curious.”

“As insignificant as you are, I will sate your curiosity. Only because it amuses me.”

“Who are you?”

“I am Phobos, son of Arachnia.”

Twilight scrunched her eyebrows. “Wait a minute. I heard Blueblood mention that name before and come to think of it, where is he?”

“The stallion is merely my vessel to this realm. My spirit has inhabited the first born son of every Blueblood for countless generations. It was part of the pact they made with my mother before she was vanquished in this very chamber.”

“So…that giant changeling over there was your mother? B-but how is that even possible? There aren’t any other humans in Equestria!”

Phobos chuckled. “Correct, little mare. I wasn’t born in Equestria; I was born in the world of men.”

“How can that be? She’s clearly dead.”

“Only her physical form. Thousands of years ago, she nearly conquered all of the lands in this world but a lone unicorn king vanquished her by splitting her spirit in two. This was the only way to ensure she couldn’t return. One half was banished to the bowels of Tartarus, while the other was sent to the realm of men. Even though her spirit was weak, she managed to inhabit the body of a beautiful young maiden, who caught the eye of a great conqueror.”

Gaius held up his hand. “Who was this conqueror?”

“Iskandar of Macedon. My mother claimed that she sensed great strength in him, so she felt he was worthy of her affection. For as level-minded and ambitious as my mother is, she very much enjoys pleasures of the flesh. And so, after a night of heated passion, I was conceived.”

“That was ages ago! How are you still alive?”

 “Fortunately, I am a human/changeling hybrid, which has granted me the boon of my mother’s abilities. Let’s just say that mortality has never been a concern of mine.”

Twilight struggled to her hooves. “Wait…you’re trying to resurrect your mother, aren’t you? That’s why Blueblood funded this entire excavation. He needed a piece of her original form as a bonding agent for the two halves of her spirit!”

“It seems my slave was correct when he claimed you were a smart mare. Rest assured, my mother will rise again and claim what is rightfully hers. Neither you, nor any other being in this realm can do anything to stop it.”

“My friends and I will stop you! The elements are the most powerful…”

Phobos chuckled. “Do you truly believe that those little trinkets will stop me? The magic that courses through my body is so ancient it is beyond your comprehension. I AM FEAR ENCARNATE!! And fear is not something you can simply purify.”

“I’m not afraid of you.”

“Perhaps not, but you should be.”

Phobos’s eyes flashed once more as he encased Twilight’s head in his signature crimson aura. Twilight screamed as she felt herself get dragged headfirst across the floor towards the powerful hybrid. Once she was close enough, he grabbed her by the neck, suspending her in front of his helmeted visage.

Twilight was so exhausted by this point that she only had the strength to croak out Gaius’s name for help. In response, the centurion charged across the room and drove his gladius straight through the flesh of Phobos’s bicep, causing him to drop Twilight. Luckily, he managed to catch her before she hit the floor. Rather than howl in pain or rage, the demigod slowly pulled out the blade and tossed it across the room. The deep cut in his bicep immediately began to heal as turned his attention to Gaius.

“Very brave but very foolish, Centurion. I’m afraid that ordinary weapons have little effect on me. Commendable effort though.”

With his sword well out of reach, Gaius frantically searched for something to defend himself with. He eventually found an old spear. The thing was so old that he didn’t trust the wood to hold, so he broke off the tip and fashioned a makeshift dagger. He grit his teeth and prepared for the worst.

[Phobos Concept Picture ]