Chapters The Life of Dominus Vitam Mortem
Et Amor Patriae
“Diligere omnes, confidere paucis facere nulli debeatur injuria.
The day was dark, not black, but a gray, misty fog color that hurt one’s eyes, and it was all too common for Dominus. He was tired of the boring, dreary feeling it left in his heart when he looked at it. He decided to leave the barren hill where he stood and head back towards his small home where his family lived since his great-grandfather settled here.
His family worked in the gold mine that was built by his great-grandfather long before Dominus was born. He lived in a unowned, somewhat civilized desert valley which a group of earth ponies had found a long time ago, but abandoned when they found out that the land was barren, dry, and nearly impossible to farm.The land was changed drastically by the unicorn magic of his ancestors since then. The original group went to the mountains toward the west to the lands beyond in hope of finding better farmland, it was believed by Dominus that they had built a paradise city in the mountains.
Dominus had just walked in the door when his father walked up to him and said
“Son, I think it’s time you learn the family trade.”
Dominus had occasionally looked down the mine but he had never stepped inside. His parents had always told him that he shouldn't go down because it was not safe for a young colt, but now, he was old enough to work there.
His father led him outside and the began to walk towards the mine, which lay about a five minute trot from the house, as they walked, his cutie mark, a silver pickaxe stuck in a stone with a crack down the middle, shone in the foggy light. This made Dominus bitterly aware of how he was still a blank flank, which was extremely uncommon for a colt of nearly thirteen. As Dominus thought about his cutie mark might be, his father looked at him and spoke.
”Son, you’re gonna do what our family has been doing since your great-grandfather built this here mine over one hundred years ago.” said Dominus’ Father, far too dramatically, considering what the family trade was.
“What’s that Pa?” Dominus said out of respect to his father’s dramatics.
“Minin’, of course!” said his Father, acting surprised that Dominus hadn’t known.
Dominus was not exactly thrilled to hear this, as his father had been telling him since he was old enough to talk.
“Listen Dom, I know that the idea of minin’ doesn’t thrill you, but it’s what our family’s been doin’ since they settled here, and it’s what you’ll do until you’re old enough to choose your own path.” his father said.
“Alright Pa.” Dominus said, not very uplifted by his father’s speech.
When Dominus awoke the next day the first thing he did was contemplate the misty gray sky. It seemed grayer today than it usually was.
As he walked toward his hill, he heard a voice call out to him.
“Hey, Dom!”
It was Chip.
“Hello Chip.” Dominus said glumly.
“What’s the matter Dom?” Chip said in a cheerful tone, his ‘S’s whistling between the large gap between his teeth.
“Nothing” Dominus said trying to get Chip to leave.
“Well, if you wanna see me I’ll be down in the mine!” Chip said catching Dominus’ hint hidden within his tone of voice.
Chip was an earth pony about four years older than Dominus hired by his father to help in the mines.
Chip was like a brother to Dominus, he had known him since he was a small colt, though in recent years, Chip had been spending less and less time with Dominus since he started going out with one of the local mares from the neighboring rock farm.
Dominus again looked out into the gray sky, thinking of how his father had said he could choose his own path when he was of age.
“Dominus!”
“Oh, hey Ma.” said Dominus.
“Breakfast is ready, you should come eat in a few minutes.” said his Mother.
“Alright.” said Dominus, in a depressed tone.
“Are you okay Dom?” said his mother, sounding concerned.
“Yeah, just thinking about what Pa said.”
“You know you don’t have to work in the mines forever dear.”
“That’s what Pa said, but everypony who’s been in our family’s worked in the mines til’ the day they died, what if I’m different and I let Pa down?”
“You won’t let him down, Dom.”
“If you think so Ma.”
“Stop worryin’ Dom, let’s go eat, I cooked up some carrot stew.”
“Alright Ma.”
As she left, Dominus noticed her cutie mark, a bar of gold, glint in the misty light.
“Damn I wish I had my cutie mark.” Dominus said beneath his breath as he walked back towards the house.
The Life of Dominus Vitam Mortem
Chapter 2: Mortem
“Sed ambulantes umbra vitae, pauper ludius, quod graditur super theatro et frets hora eius, et audietur ultra illud est fabula narrat idiota, plenum sonum excitantis, nihil significans.”
Dominus woke up before the misty sky had even begun to hint at lighting up to get to work at the mine. The work was tiring, difficult, boring and repetitive. He rarely found anything, but mining was all he knew how to do, every book in the house was on mining, mining theory, mining journals, even a miner’s songbook.
After a breakfast of cold leftover oatmeal, he left towards the mine. Dominus looked at the sky, like he did every day.
“Yep, gray as usual.” Dominus muttered under his breath
Two years. Two years since his father had told him to work in the mines, that means one year since Chip’s wife, Jade from the rock farm, had her first foal, and three months since Chip had died in a cave-in. Even after all that time, he still didn’t have his cutie mark, his flank was as bare as a newborn foal’s.
Dominus yawned as he neared the mine entrance. His mother had started working in the mines since Chip had died, and Dominus was getting tired of eating cold oatmeal for breakfast. He wished his father would just hire a new worker for the mine so they could eat an actual breakfast for once in a long time. While Dominus was thinking of carrot stew and sweet apple pie, he heard a bird call, a thump, and a loud rumble all at once.
The ground shook underneath his feet, then he fell. The last thing he remembered before blacking out was seeing the mine’s entrance door falling on him, the brass doorknob hitting him between the eyes.
He woke up, barely able to tell what was happening.
“Ma!, Pa! Are you okay!?” Dominus screamed.
That’s when he realized he was lying in a bed, with a cold washcloth on his forehead. He looked around, he wasn’t in his room, that was for sure. The walls were striped pink and white, there was a large mirror adorning one wall and a small nightstand with a few books stood next to the bed. He realized that he was in Jade’s guest room at the rock farm.
He tried to talk, but his throat was too dry. After about half an hour of laying in the green sheets, he tried to get up. He was sore all over his body. He walked over to where Jade stood.
“Ugh, what happened” Dominus said.
“There was an earthquake, and it caused a cave-in at the mine, I have no idea what happened to your parents, the rest of the Rock family is searching the rubble right now.” Jade said in a soft, far-off tone.
“I need to see them.” Dominus said in his dry cracked voice.
“Dom, you can’t leave in the condition you’re in, you need rest and some water.”
“No, I need to see my parents!” Dominus’ voice cracked in the middle of his sentence, making it lose it’s assertive effect.
That, is of course, the point when he passed out from dehydration and his concussion.
Waking up several hours later, Dominus felt far better, but a little worried.
As he walked into the kitchen, he smelled something he hadn’t smelled in a long time, warm oatmeal.
“Well you seem to be feeling better, Dom.”
Jade’s voice startled Dominus, he had been so focused on the smell of the oatmeal.
“Yeah, thanks.” Dominus said in his dry voice. “Do you have any water, though?”
“Yes.” Jade replied, pointing toward a long table with a large barrel of water place next to it.
Dominus limped over to the barrel and drank what felt like all of the water.
“Well, you were thirsty.” Jade said staring blankly at the oatmeal
After about five minutes of silence Dominus asked “Has there been any news about the mine?”
“I was afraid you’d ask.” Jade said, flinging her black and jade green mane out of her eyes.
“They’re dead aren’t they.” Dominus said solemnly.
“Yes.” said Jade in the same tone.
Dominus didn’t know what to think.
‘My own path’ Dominus thought. So many emotions shot through him, anger, grief, pain and some sort of sick, twisted happiness. The only thing he could think about was what his father had said to him two years ago. In some insane way it seemed to make sense, and things seemed to resemble a coherent whole.
“I’m going into town.” Dominus said, assertively.
“If you must.” Jade said as though she had not really heard him.
Dominus limped out the door and followed the dusty road toward the center of town.
Town itself consisted of a general store, a farmer’s market and the burial ground.
Dominus went to the general store first and bought a map of the surrounding areas, a compass and a traveler’s cloak.Then, he visited his home for the last time, only to grab some essential supplies and his mother’s jewelry box. As he headed west toward the hills he glanced back at his hometown, realizing that he would most likely never return.
Walking through the barren desert wasteland towards the purple mountains that the fabled civilization lay beyond, Dominus thought. He thought about how gray the sky was, he thought about how thirsty he was, but, most of all, he thought about magic. What magic was, what it did, and how it interacted with the world around him. Back at the mine, magic was only used to break rocks, or to clean them to see if they contained gemstones or gold, very rarely to melt gold and refine it. But Chip had told him of ponies who could do other things with their magic, like turn things invisible, or kill other ponies with a single thought. Dominus had always thought these were foolish foal’s tales, told during a late-night campfire.
After about three days of traveling, Dominus encountered his first signs of civilization, a smoldering campfire and some empty food tins. He saw a few hoofprints heading in a vaguely westerly direction and decided to follow them. After following the hoofprints for a few hours, they just vanished, as though the pony who had left them had disappeared.
“Or flown away” Dominus muttered under his breath, wondering if flying was some sort of unicorn magic.
After three more eventful days of traveling through uninhabited, barren land, he stumbled across a small encampment of three earth ponies, huddled around a flickering orange campfire, one telling the other about a huge metropolis inhabited by unicorns and earth ponies alike.
Dominus decided to stick to the shadows and listening to the tales the ponies told. The first continued his tale of the metropolis, which he said lay on a large mountain beyond the hills that they were camped on. Dominus thought that could be the settlement he was headed for.
“That’s nonsense Dusty, and you know it.” said a tan mare seated across from beige mustachioed stallion called Dusty.
“I’m tellin’ ya I saw it with mah own two eyes!” Dusty said, trying to make a convincing argument. It didn’t seem to be working very well.
“Dusty, everypony knows that earth ponies and unicorns haven’t done anything but fight for over a hundred years.”
“Aw, shut up Darin’” Dusty said to the brown mare.
That’s the point when a huge black figure swooped down from the sky, set fire to everything at the camp,and left, shaking the ground as it took off. Dominus hightailed it out of there, about an hour’s gallop away Dominus set up camp, but he still feared that whatever it was that killed the camp of earth ponies would come back and kill him in his sleep.
After having walked for an hour after breaking camp, Dominus realized what it was that had torched the earth pony camp: a dragon. Dragons were only myths to Dominus, but he had heard stories of what dragons did, they flew (check), the were huge (double check), they had scales (check again) and they breathed fire (check on that one for sure). Dominus was scared now.
“What if the dragon comes after me?” he thought aloud, sounding like a colt talking to his mother after he had seen something scary.
“Well, that’s when I kill it.” Dominus said, in a deep, gruff stallion’s voice.
“Oh, rejoice the day is saved, Dominus is here to slay the terrible dragon!” Dominus mock-cheered, trying to sound like a large crowd of ponies.
“I’m going insane aren’t I?” Dominus said to the barren hills, half expecting an answer.
“Guess it’s just sleep deprivation and loneliness, then.”
Dominus continued to talk to himself throughout the day, whether it was loneliness, insanity, or to stave off the threateningly familiar silence, he continued. He talked about food, he talked about the ground, he talked about how annoying it was that he had kept talking to himself. He talked and talked and talked, until, once the gray had darkened slightly to show that night was coming, he stopped. He didn’t think of stopping, he had just… stopped. inexplicably, and deafeningly stopped. He wondered if he was sane again, then, he passed out.
When Dominus awoke, he was no longer on the dusty, barren hill he had been walking on. He was in some sort of room, there were no windows, the only light in the room came from a torch held in a bracket on the wall. The walls were stone and had some sort of moss growing on them. Having observed this, Dominus decided it was time to see what he was laying on.
He looked. It didn’t make him feel any better.
He was bound by rope to a metal sheet that was raised above the ground by about four feet. Dominus tried to free himself from his binds and found that he couldn’t. This was the first time in his life that Dominus couldn’t use telekinesis, and it made him worried. He looked up, his horn was still there, thank goodness, but he still couldn’t use telekinesis. Dominus tried using one of the melting spells that they used in the mines to refine gold on the rope. Nothing. Dominus went back to trying telekinesis, even though that hadn’t worked before.
“Well look who’s awake!” said a voice in the shadows. I was bubbly
“You were quite the catch, little unicorn.” the voice continued, in its bubbly, ecstatic tone.
“What do you mean catch?” Dominus said, confused.
“Well, you walked into my insanity trap without realizing something was happening, most ponies realize something’s wrong when they start talking to themselves.”
“Insanity trap?” Dominus asked.
“Yes, a little homemade magic I use to lure my prey into my web.” the voice said.
“Why would you do that?” Dominus said, now he was getting scared.
“So I can dissect them, of course! Don’t ask such silly questions!” the voice said keeping up with the ecstaticism, but now with a sharp edge, like a knife.
Then the source of the voice stepped out of the shadows. It was a beige unicorn with a bloody knife cutie mark. Now that Dominus looked at him more closely, he realized that the unicorn’s horn was pink, which didn’t match his coat. Then it dawned on Dominus that he must have cut it off of a unicorn. Then Dominus noticed his necklace was made of unicorn horns. His skin was covered in a cloak made of other pony’s cutie marks. Some of the parts of its cloak were still bloody. Dominus shuddered to think of what had happened to the bodies that those cutie marks belonged to. One of the most distinguished thing that he had were his scars, lines cut from the edges of his mouth all they way up to his ears, in the shape of a smile. This ‘pony’ brought new meaning to ‘ear to ear grin’. Dominus gulped.
“Couldn’t we just talk this out?” Dominus squealed, now truly afraid of the ‘pony’ before him.
“Now why would we want to do that?” the butcher-pony said, its voice sounding truly confused.
“Well...uhmm..ah… well you see…” Dominus said, trying to come up with a reason as he watched the pony pick knives off of a wall, both magically with the transplanted horn, and with its mouth.
“Oh stop whining, silly, I’m just going to cut your lungs out, you can keep everything else.”
“The thing is, I need my lungs.” Dominus replied timidly.
“No you don’t, you have plenty of other organs to do… organ-y things.” The butcher-pony said.
He was convinced he was going to die. He was going to die because of an earth pony with a severed unicorn’s horn sewn onto his head. He was going to die because some monster wanted his lungs for its personal collection.
“Why can’t I use my magic?” Dominus said, his tone emotionless and blank.
“Because I put a dampening amulet on your horn, stupid.” the butcher-pony said, with a malice in its voice, any trace of his ecstatic tone gone.
Well that made sense, but what was an amulet?
Dominus tried to squirm out of his binds, this time getting somewhere.
“Hey, stop that!” the butcher-pony screamed, its voice turning into a pitch that made Dominus’s ears bleed, it was magically augmented.
Dominus nearly had his right hoof out of the binds, but now the butcher-pony was galloping toward him.
Dominus nearly had his hoof free… YES! it was out! Then the butcher-pony was right next to him, a large knife held in his mouth, so Dominus did the logical thing, he punched the butcher-pony in the face, knocking it out cold.
Dominus picked the golden ring off of his horn, he instantly felt better, like he had just had a good night’s sleep.
After he had cut himself free, Dominus wondered what to do with the butcher-pony, then it woke up. The butcher-pony was quick to the draw, picking a cleaver off of it’s knife wall with it’s morbidly attached horn. Running towards Dominus with the cleaver in front of it, prepared to cut Dominus into tiny pieces. Dominus again did the logical thing, he telekinetically picked up the knife he had use to escape and used it to stab the butcher-pony in the gut.
Dominus was shocked and also exhilarated, stabbing this… thing, had given him some sort of sick, twisted pleasure.
He withdrew the knife from the butcher-pony’s gut and stabbed it in the ribs, piercing a lung. The butcher-pony screamed bloody murder, begging for mercy. The butcher-pony’s gruesome cloak fell off of it’s writhing body.
Dominus stabbed the butcher-pony in the eye. The butcher-pony screamed and writhed, then moved no more.
Dominus stepped back, realizing what he had just done.
“He’s dead.” Dominus said numbly
“He’s dead.” Dominus repeated to himself, this time with some understanding in his voice.
“HE’S DEAD!” Dominus screamed, thoroughly disgusted at what he had done.
Dominus galloped through a large wooden door near the butcher-pony’s knife collection. Dominus realized, after leaving the dungeon and checking his map and compass, that he was on the other side of the hills he had been crossing. The space before him was grassy, with a large waterfall coming down from a large, spire-like mountain, about a days trot from where he now stood.
While Dominus trotted at a leisurely pace through the grasslands towards the spirelike mountain where he expected the town to be, he saw alot of small woodland creatures, mostly rabbits.
The waterfall from the spirelike mountain emptied into a large lake, which fed the grasslands and meadows where Dominus now walked.
When it started to get dark, Dominus found himself already half way up the spirelike mountain, he decided camp on the road which had been roughly carved out of the mountain itself.
In the morning Dominus continued up the mountain, getting about three-quarters up before encountering any problems. THe one he did encounter was pretty awful as it was. Dragons. Two dragons to be exact. The first was about his size, easy enough to handle with some telekinesis, then the other dragon emerged, this one was at least the size of five full-grown stallions. the smaller dragon scuttled around, digging its claws into the steep rock of the mountain, the other simply stood in the middle of the roughly carved road. Dominus stared into the dragon’s eyes. The dragon stared back. Dominus took a step back, the dragon took this as a sign of aggression and launched a jet of flame from his maw.
Without thinking, Dominus moved the jet of flame around him using basic telekinesis.The dragon stopped its onslaught, believing Dominus to surely be dead. When he saw that he wasn’t, the dragon was very perplexed. Dominus took this as a moment to start running. He didn’t get very far. The smaller dragon, which dominus had ignored, had stopped climbing up the mountain and had tried to sneak up behind him, The instant that Dominus had turned around he saw the dragon standing there, on two legs, with a claw outstretched, ready to chop his head off. Dominus used more telekinesis to move the dragon’s arm, intending to throw him into one of the many caves that dotted the walls. He overshot, ripping the dragon’s arm off, sending it deep into the heart of the mountain. The dragon howled in pain. Dominus stabbed it through the gut with his horn, and used a melting spell to turn the dragon into a puddle of melted flesh and scales, throwing it off of the mountain before it even singed his coat. Dominus galloped down the mountain, gaining speed. Adrenaline ran through his body like a river, making him jittery with excitement. He was running down the mountain, when he realized that he would never make it to the town if he ran away.
Running back up, Dominus thought of ways to kill the larger dragon. A more powerful melting spell might work, but the amount of time it would it would take to generate enough energy to melt something that size would be enough time for the dragon to eat him. Dominus was still considering the melting spell when he reached the point where the dragon still stood, now with a small dragon army behind it. Dominus decided a melting spell wouldn’t work.Telekinesis would be the only way then. He could use the larger dragon to smash the smaller ones, still, to pick it up would require quite a bit of concentration.
While Dominus was thinking about this, he didn’t notice the three small dragons, each about half his size, flying straight for his face. By the time he noticed them, they had already made at least six gashes across his torso. Dominus used telekinesis to throw them back. They flew backwards, hitting the side of the mountain with several resounding thuds. While Dominus was examining his wounds they flew back, now in greater numbers. Dominus curled into a ball while the dragons cut his skin. Then, the strangest thing happened, Dominus felt a sense of calm wash over him, and he started floating in the air. By the time he was at least half of his height above the ground, he could feel his horn burning with a massive amount of magical energy. He opened his eyes sleepily, noticing red magical energy that usually adorned his horn wavering in front of his eyes.
Dominus saw the dragons backing away fearfully. Then there was a release of magical energy, like when he used a melting spell, but on a much larger scale. It was a huge red burst of power that washed over the dragons like an ocean of blood.
Dominus felt as though he was channeling the power of millions of ponies through his head, he felt like he was using a magic older than civilization itself. The pure power of the spell made him want to cringe in fear, it made him want to hide in a cave for the rest of his life, it made him want to die. Then the spell ended, sounding like a crack of thunder, and Dominus fell to the ground, passing out before his head touched the rough stone road.
The Life of Dominus Vitam Mortem
Chapter Three-Scientia
“Stultus putat se esse sapientes, stulti sapiens se nosse.”
When Dominus awoke, he was still lying on the rough stone road. But something was different. Then he saw it, the bodies of over thirty dead dragons lying around next to him. as Dominus stood up he also noticed the dead plants that had, until recently, been growing out of the rocky outcroppings on the spirelike mountain. Dominus stared at the corpses of the dragons, wondering what had killed them. Dominus stopped thinking about that and quickly skirted around the dragons, attempting to avoid any sort of contact with their rotting bodies.
The road beyond where Dominus had just left was functionally the same as the roads before it, it was roughly carved from the side of the mountain, and was narrow on some parts and exceptionally large on others. The road continued in the same manner until he was near the top, where it ended in a fast-moving river that was fed by a large waterfall. Dominus could clearly see the town on the other side of the river, it was surround by a stone wall.
Dominus could see the large collection of wooden shacks that were inside of the wall, most seemed well cared for. Dominus called out towards the town.
“Hello?”
There was no response.
“I need to get across.”
again, no response
“IS ANYPONY THERE?” Dominus hollered.
That’s when a mare’s voice spoke up, yelling across the gap.
“WHY DO YOU NEED TO GET ACROSS, YOU’RE NOT A DRAGON ARE YOU?”
“I CAN ASSURE YOU THAT I AM A PONY, MAY I COME ACROSS NOW?” Dominus hollered, his voice almost as loud as the mare’s.
“I’LL BELIEVE YOU ONCE YOU’RE IN.” the mare hollered suspiciously.
The mare lowered a large drawbridge across.The bridge looked rickety and unsafe. Dominus stepped on it and it felt sturdy enough, but he was still uneasy going over it. Dominus walked slowly past the waterfall that ran adjacent to the bridge, feeling queasy from the rushing sound it produced.
“WELL COME ON THEN, I HAVEN’T GOT ALL DAY!”
Dominus snapped back into reality, galloping across the bridge.
As Dominus walked into the town through a gap in the wall where the drawbridge would be if it were up, he saw how prosperous the town actually was. There were shacks, but even those were well cared for and large, but most of the buildings that made up the town were made out of brick and stone.
“What is this place?” Dominus asked, looking in awe at all of the vegetation that grew throughout the town, unlike his home, where the only plants were shrubs.
“Canterlot, the only truly free town in the whole known world.” the guard mare that had led him into the town said, sounding extremely grandios.
The mare was a magenta earth pony with a short, black mane that clashed with her coloration. Her cutie mark was a sword. She had three scars across the left side of her face, going over her eye.
“What’s your name?” Dominus asked the mare.
“Most ponies just call me Clash.” the mare responded.
“Why’s that?” Dominus asked
“Look kid, do you want me to take you to the chief’s office or not?” the mare responded, her face turning even more red than the rest of her coat with embarrassment.
After an awkward silence, Clash asked Dominus a question.
“How old are you kid?”
“Fifteen”
“That old, and you’re still a blank flank?” Clash said, astonished.
This time, it was Dominus’s turn to be embarrassed.
“Could you not ask about that?”
They didn’t talk again until they reached the chief's building.
“Well here it is.” Clash said awkwardly, pointing her hoof towards a small stone fortress with green flags adorning the facades and towers.
“Thanks.” Dominus replied, not making eye contact.
The chief was a lime green unicorn mare with a yellow mane, her cutie mark was a map with a knife stabbed through it. She had a scar on her throat and an eye patch covering her left eye. As soon as she saw Dominus, she left the desk she had been writing at to meet him.
“I’m Lemon Tart, and you are?” The mare said, her voice gruff.
Dominus, of course, blurted out the first thing that came to his mind.
“You’re the first pony I’ve met whose name doesn’t match their cutie mark.”
“Well then…” Lemon Tart said, at a loss for words.
Realizing what he just said, Dominus’s face became red with embarrassment for the second time that day.
“Oh...uh… sorry about that…” Dominus said, pawing a hoof at the ground.
“Just tell me your name.” Lemon Tart said, almost cracking a smile at Dominus’s embarrassment.
“Dominus, Ma’am” He said, trying to be polite.
“How old are you?” she said, levitating out a piece of charcoal and some parchment, writing down his name.
“Fifteen” he said quietly.
“A bit old to be a blank flank.” Lemon Tart said, as though it was only a passing remark.
“I know.”
“And you’re a unicorn, correct?”
“Clearly”
“Ok then, you’ll be staying in the guest room here until we can find you permanent housing.”
“When should that be?”
“Whenever we can find you a job.” Lemon Tart said, and started walking him towards the fortress’s guest room.
The next morning Dominus trotted into the chief’s main office, only to find her talking to someone else. She was talking to a cream-colored unicorn stallion with a gray mane and tail, his cutie mark was a cylindrical object with what looked like a glass front end. He had a brown spots all along his coat.
“I’m tellin’ ya there was at least thirty dragons, and- BOOM! dead, thirty dragons, at least two full-grown adults,dead, I don’t know how, but they were.”
“Look,Spots, no-one has ever killed a dragon except for me and Star Swirl, and that was only one at a time. Killing thirty at once is completely impossible.”
“Aw c’mon miss Lemon, I know what I saw I-- Hey! that’s the guy over there!”
Spots was pointing to Dominus, a look of awe on his face.
“What, that kid?, he couldn’t kill a single dragon.”
“Maybe, but he could kill thirty-seven.”
“Spots, go back to your post, I’ll talk to the kid.”
“Yes miss Lemon.”
Spots left, leaving Dominus alone with Lemon Tart. She walked over to him.
“So, that was Spots, he keeps an eye on what goes down on the road up the mountain. Says he saw someone kill at least thirty-seven dragons three-quarters up. Now he says it’s you. Is that true?”
“I don’t really remember much from the way up, but I did wake up next to a big group of dead dragons.”
“Whaddaya mean ‘woke up’?”
“Well I woke up,I don’t really remember anything before that, except for some thunder. And red, something was red.”
Lemon Tart looked him over, like he was the strangest thing in the world.
“I want you to see Star Swirl, he lives at north edge of town, you have a compass, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Then get going!”
The first thing Dominus did was bump into Clash, knocking her over.
“Oh, hey Dominus, I was looking for you. How’d the stuff with Lemon Tart go?”
“Fine, she sent me to see somepony named Star Swirl at the edge of town.”
“You mean the old conjurer? I don’t know why she’d send you there.”
“What’s a conjurer?”Dominus said, thoroughly perplexed.
“You really don’t know? You’re really not from around here, are you.”
“Well, what is a conjurer?”
“It’s somepony who specializes in illusion magic or summoning.”
“Oh, well how do I get to his house?” Dominus said, only half paying attention to what Clash was saying about conjuring.
“Walk down that road there all the way to the very end, that’s where his house will be.”
“Thanks Clash!” Dominus said galloping down the road.
“See ya later Dominus!” Clash called back.
“Yeah!” Dominus called back, already out of hearing distance.
“--And that is the basic function of a shield spell, remember, I want a scroll on the use of shield spells tomorrow. Class dismissed!” said the middle-aged blue-gray pony who stood behind a desk stationed in the small wooden hut.
Dominus had walked into Star Swirl’s hut expecting only him to be there, instead he found a group of seven unicorns gathered around a single stallion, Star Swirl. He had been teaching them the basic uses of shield spells, which Dominus had never heard of before.
He had decided to stand and watch the class before talking to Star Swirl, and had learned quite a few things about shield spells in the process, something he intended to try once he had a place to stay. Star Swirl walked up to Dominus, his garish star-covered robes swishing behind him.
“Who are you, little one, another unicorn that requires the teachings of, The Great Star Swirl!”
The garishly dressed unicorn announced himself in a way that was meant to inspire some sort of awe. Dominus was not impressed.
“Actually, Lemon Tart sent me down here to talk to you about getting a job.”
“Oh yes, she messaged me about that, she told me Spots had seen you kill multiple dragons with a single spell.” Star Swirl said, examining Dominus as though he were some alien creature who had just asked what he thought of the weather.
“Well, that’s what he says, I really don’t remember it that much.” Dominus said, trying to get Star Swirl to stop gawking at him.
“Well, you’re either being modest, or you’re telling the truth. I can’t tell which.” Star Swirl said, still scrutinizing Dominus. Dominus remained silent.
“Alright, I want you in my class, tomorrow, 8 AM, sharp.” Star Swirl said, turning his attention to his mug of coffee.
“What’s an 8 AM, sir?” Dominus said, as he had never heard of such a thing before.
“It’s a time. Don’t you-- Oh, that’s right, you’re new here, you wouldn’t know what a clock is.”
“No sir.”
“Well, I have invented a revolutionary way of telling time.” Star Swirl said, ducking below his desk to go rooting through some of his drawers. “It uses gears and springs to keep accurate track of what time it is.” He said, telekinetically moving the disc object over to Dominus who picked it up with his own telekinetic field. “AM means the morning the hand points to whatever time it is, see it’s about half past 10 now.”.
“Thank you sir.”
“You don’t have to call me sir you now, I’m just a teacher.”
“Oh, sorry sir, my Pa taught me to treat everypony with respect and integrity.”
“Well, it’s nice enough. Most of my students just call me Mr.Swirl, which isn’t exactly very impressive.”
“If you think so, sir -- I mean, Mr.Swirl.”
“Well, you’d better be off, don’t want Lemon Tart to think you’re some sort of delinquent, do you?” Star Swirl said, chuckling.
“You’re right sir, I’ll be off, thank you for the clock!” Dominus called, galloping out of the hut.
Dominus examined the clock, watching the stick of metal that Star Swirl had called a “hand” move around the thick discus that was the clock. It had numbers labeled 1-12 around the perimeter. It produced a slight ticking sound as the hand moved. Dominus was busy examining the clock when Lemon Tart walked into the first room of the small fortress, where Dominus had been examining the clock for the past hour.
“I see Ol’ Swirly gave you one of his little mechanical doohickies.”
“Yeah, he calls it a clock, it’s supposed to tell time with complete and precise accuracy and--”
“Yes yes, I know, he gave me the whole spiel a few months ago.”
“Oh, of course.” Dominus said, his face turning red.
“Did Star Swirl tell you anything about work?”
“ Actually he said he wanted me to be part of his class.”
“Which one?” Lemon Tart said, sounding slightly exasperated.
“He didn’t say, he just said to be at his hut tomorrow at 8 AM,sharp, then he gave me this clock.” Dominus said, remembering everything with perfect clarity.
“Damn that old fool, we can’t send every new arrival off to magic school!” Lemon Tart said, sounding angry.
“Well I can still work as well.” Dominus said, fearing that he might upset the chief of Canterlot even more.
“No, it’s fine, you go take your class, I’ll talk to Ol’ Swirlhead.” She grumbled. Dominus remained silent.
“I’ll have clash show you your new place. CLASH!!” the mare hollered at the top of her lungs.
“What do you want, I’m right here!” Clash hollered back, poking her head out of the doorway directly behind Lemon Tart.
“Dammit Clash, don’t sneak up on me like that.” Lemon Tart said, Dominus couldn’t tell if she was joking around or not. “Take the new kid here to his appointed housing.”
“Uhh, about that….” Clash replied, her eyes directed toward the stone floor. “The building kinda sorta… imploded.”
“What do you mean imploded!?!?” Lemon Tart yelled
“It imploded, just fell in.”
“Dammit, where is this kid supposed to stay now?”
“I do have an open room in my house…”
“Fine, just get him out of my sight.” Lemon Tart said, leaving through the doorway Clash was standing in.
Clash’s house was three stories high, and was carved into the side of the mountain.
“I know it’s not much but…” Clash said rubbing her left foreleg against her right.
“Not much?!, it’s huge and made out of a mountain!” Dominus exclaimed, staring at the grey stone hole in the wall that was Clash’s house.
“Well when you put it that way…” Clash said, blushing.
As Dominus entered the house through the thick wooden door that adorned the entrance to the carved-out house, he gasped, because the building was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.
Every piece of furniture that inhabited Clash’s house was carved out of the mountain. Everything had carvings that told stories, tales of war, tales of peace, the images were mind-numbingly beautiful.
“Woah...” Dominus murmured
“Well… make yourself at home… and… uh… stuff…” Clash said, Dominus wasn’t paying attention, he was busy examining one of the chairs that face the round table near the entrance to the house.
“Who did all of these carvings?” Dominus asked Clash, still absorbed with the chair.
“My Father did, befo--, before he… died.” Clash said, having trouble getting the words out.
“That’s sucks, both of my parents are dead.” Dominus said it as though it was some passing remark, something he said to anyone he met. Clash looked at him oddly, he was now sniffing the underside of the table.
“This table smells like carrots.” Dominus announced as he moved on to examining a large wall covered with intricate carvings.
“Well, yeah, I own a carrot farm.” Clash said, unsure how to act.
“I thought you were a guard?” Dominus said, directing his attention from the carvings to Clash.
“I am, but my father was a carrot farmer.”
“Well that explains it.” Dominus said, redirecting his attention to the intricate carvings.
“Do you want me to show your room?” Clash said timidly.
“Oh, sure, that sounds great.” Dominus said, still looking at the wall.
The wall itself had a carving of a large stallion, with a horn and wings, he had two smaller, winged-unicorn mares beneath him. His lips were drawn back in a sinister smile, his teeth were sharpened. In the background there were multitudes of horrific creatures. Things that looked like ponies, but with holes through their bodies. Monsters that were half bird, half lion. And a large monster made up of a massive amount of different creatures.
“What’s it supposed to be?” Dominus asked Clash, before they left to see Dominus’s room.
“My mother thought she could see into the future, said she saw that in one of her ‘visions’.”
“Could she really see into the future?”
Clash snorted “I doubt it.”
As they walked up to the second floor, they passed all sorts of decorative vases and oil paintings, as well as more stone carvings.
“This is where you’ll be staying, it’s my mother’s old room.” Clash said, pointing with a hoof to a wooden door, which was adorned with carvings of horrific things similar to what Dominus had seen on the stone wall in the main room.
“Like I said before, make yourself at home.” Clash said, opening the door.
“Okay, thanks Clash.” Dominus said, poking his head into the room.
“No problem Dominus. I’ll get you when dinner’s ready.” Clash called back, going back down the stairs.
As Dominus entered the room, closing the decorated door behind him, the first thing he did was sneeze. Everything in the room was covered in an inch of dust. Books filled the floor in piles, some at least Dominus’ height. Dominus pulled the curtain off of the window that made up almost half of the westward wall, letting the misty light of day in, allowing Dominus to see everything in the room. The walls were carved, the floor was carved, the ceiling was carved, even the windowsill was carved. They all showed the same thing, the winged-unicorns, the monster made up of other monsters, the hole filled ponies, the lion-birds, the winged ponies, and all sorts of other horrors that Dominus couldn’t quite make out. Dominus turned his attention to the books that littered the floor. The books were all either about fortune-telling or stone carving. Dominus picked one up, and sneezed, the book released a puff of dust as he opened it.
‘Practical fortune telling’ the author was Crystal Shard. Another one, ‘Decorative stone carving for beginners’ also by Crystal Shard. Dominus telekinetically lifted several more up, looking only at the author. Crystal Shard, Crystal Shard, Crystal Shard: on and on it went. Dominus kept doing this until he had gone through every book, stacking them all neatly on the wall adjacent to the door. He flopped down on the stone carved bed, hitting his back on something that was neither stone nor hay, he searched through the sheets to find it. It was a book. The book was bound in stone, rather than a normal cotton or paper binding. the stone had a blue gem inlaid in the middle, the title was expertly carved into the cover, ‘Natural Earth Pony Magic’. The author was Star Swirl (The wise and intelligent). Dominus realized that this must be the Star Swirl whose house he had just visited. Dominus opened the book. It was filled to the brim with illustrations and neatly written words. The book was about the innate magics possesed by earth ponies. Dominus started to read:
‘--Earth ponies seem to have some sort of connection to the ground, as they have always been far more successful in farming and mining endeavors than unicorns have been in all of observable history,--’ ‘--Earth ponies also seem to have a power similar to arcane fortune telling, which allows them to predict events that will occur in the near future--’ ‘--The earth pony in question is Crystal Shard, a Canterlot resident, wife to Daucus Colonus, and mother of two. Crystal believes that she has the gift of fortune telling, I’m going to witness and report on today’s seance--’ ‘--As the lights dim, I see a large crystal lighting with ethereal light. The crystal floats up, hovering a about my height in the air. The crystal illuminates the faces of Crystal Shard and her client, a mare who recently lost her young colt. Crystal says a prayer to an earth pony god, and they begin the seance, pressing their hooves together across the stone table. The seance continues like this for a short time, then the strangest thing I’ve ever seen in my life happened, Crystal Shard’s eyes glazed over, then started glowing, she started hovering about a hoof’s width above the ground. That’s when she spoke. Her voice was layered, as though multiple ponies were speaking in unison. I think I may have heard a bird call or two, maybe even the roar of a dragon. Crystal Shard spoke: What do you wish to know, mortal? The mare asked about her colt. Then Crystal Shard’s jaw unhinged, opening her mouth beyond normal physical limits. A grey smoke escaped her mouth, forming the shape of a young colt, about two years old. Mommy? it said, it’s voice tiny and foal-like, matching it’s shape. The mare just stood there, a look of horror and deep disturbance in her eyes. I can’t see you, mommy! the colt said, shrieking, wailing. The mare cried too. The colt was drawn back into Crystal Shard’s mouth, howling. The mare was found with a noose around her neck, hanging from the rafters of her shack two days later.--’ ‘--Crystal Shard only performed two more seances in her lifetime--’
Dominus closed the book, Clash had arrived in the doorway, telling him it was time for dinner, so he went, leaving the book on the bed.
Dinner was carrot stew. Clash was already eating by the time Dominus got there, and so were the two stallions that sat at the table. When Dominus approached the table, Clash lifted her head from her food, which led the stallions to stop eating.
“Oh, hey Dominus, your seat’s right there.” Clash said casually.
Dominus sat down on the carved stone seat, which was surprisingly comfortable.Clash began to introduce the two stallions that sat at the table:
“Dominus these are my brothers, Iron Breaker--” she pointed to a muscular grey stallion with an emerald green mane. “--and this is Carver.” she pointed at the lavender stallion with a brown mane. The muscular stallion spoke.
“Who’s this kid, Clash?”
“This is Dominus, he’s going to stay with us until Lemon Tart can find him some permanent housing.” Clash replied curtly.
“OOOHHHH, CLASH HAS A COLTFRIEND, NA NA NA NA NA NA!” Carver hollered jumping from his seat and galloping in circles around Clash. Clash punched his face.
“You’ll get used to it Dominus.” Clash said, smiling sheepishly.
The Life of Dominus Vitam Mortem
Chapter Four-Vitam
“Vita longa bis narrantia, vexando hebes aure somniculosae hominem.”
Dominus stood in a line with seven other unicorns who were presenting their prowess with basic shield spells. Star Swirl was observing and taking notes. One of the unicorns was able to maintain a shield for almost an hour. There was a round of applause afterwards.
Dominus held his shield for only five minutes, but he had not practiced so the other students thought it impressive. Dominus got a few claps on the back later during a telekinesis test when he lifted a massive boulder with minimal strain. Dominus cornered Star Swirl after class.
“Mr. Star Swirl, I wanted to ask you a question.”
“Ask away my colt.”
“Who was Crystal Shard?” Dominus asked
“I, uh, seem to have forgotten the thing.. at the.. place... and such, I must be off.” Star Swirl almost galloped off, towards the back entrance to his home.Dominus sighed and went back towards Clash’s house. As Dominus opened the door to Clash’s mountainside home, he noticed that Clash wasn’t there.
“Hello?” Dominus called out, no one answered. Dominus walked up to his temporary room and wondered where everybody went. He picked up another book, and began to read.
“The Unicorn-Earth Pony Wars, a Soldier’s Journal.” The author was Bonecrusher.
“--Training exercises were a pain in the flank today, the general was out at Canterlot, trying to negotiate some kind of treaty with the unicorns that annexed the place. That meant that the Sergeant was in charge. She’s such a bitch, making us hike up and down an entire mountain four times. My hooves are going to ache for a week.” “--I don’t even know why we’re even trying to be diplomatic, the whole point of our military is kill those unicorn mutherfuckers that invaded our homes in the first place!” “--We had our first actual fight today, it was really more of a skirmish, we held off at least fourteen unicorn archers. We sustained heavy casualties, one of which was the sergeant. She didn’t make it. I’m not exactly sure I’ll miss her. With the sergeant dead, I’m the highest ranking officer, which puts me in command. I’m not exactly prepared.” “--The general got back today, he reported that he’s negotiated a treaty with the unicorns which would cause us to share Canterlot.He’s a fucking coward.” “--We had another ambush today, on our way back to Canterlot. We were right outside the gate, when some unicorn extremists run out, screaming about ‘Earth pony injustice’ or some crazy shit like that. We lost two men to suicide bombers, one to a soldier, and the gate guard got shot by an archer. The guard had his little filly with him, she saw him die and she started crying. Then she gets up, her daddy’s sword in her mouth, jumps off the wall and offs four unicorns. Then this unicorn mare casts this spell, summons up a little dragon. The little bugger cuts off my left foreleg and scratches up the filly’s face, three claw marks on her left eye, before one of our guys kills the dragon and the unicorn. The filly got her cutie mark, a sword. The whole ordeal was tough. The filly’s okay though. But they say I may never walk again.”
‘“Dominus?”
It was Clash, she must be back from work.
“I’m up here.” Dominus got up from the bed and went downstairs.
“How was school with Star Swirl?” Clash asked.
“Fine.”
“Well okay then. Dinner’s in about 3 hours, see you then.”
“Alright Clash.”
“You should go out for once, see the town, have fun.”
“Sure.” Dominus said, grumbling.
Dominus didn’t like being outside. He’d spent most of his life inside, either in his house or the mines. It had started raining, and Dominus despised it. He was tired, why wouldn’t Clash let him stay inside and sleep? He stood moping outside of Clash’s house until she came outside and told him to ‘Get his flank off her porch and do something’. The only places Dominus knew were Star Swirl’s house and Lemon Tart’s office. Based off of Star Swirl’s reaction when he asked him about Crystal Shard, he didn’t want to see Dominus earlier than he absolutely had to. Dominus decided that he would go to Lemon Tart’s office. By the time Dominus had reached Lemon Tart’s small fortress the rain had turned from a light drizzle into a torrential downpour. Dominus opened the fortress’s door and went inside, welcoming the warmth radiating from the torches on the walls. Lemon Tart was lounging around on one of the couches that lined the walls, but she got up when she saw Dominus.
“You come in because of the rain?”
“Yeah.”
“Why aren’t you at Clash’s?”
“She kicked me out.” Dominus hung his head.
“Well you’re welcome to stay here ‘till it clears up.”
“Thanks.”
Dominus sat down on one of the couches and took a nap. He had the strangest dream. He dreamt he was attending one of Crystal Shard’s seances. She spoke in her multiple voices all in sync, and called Dominus a fool. Then she exhaled the living smoke, but instead of the shape of a colt, it formed his parents. The smoke form of his father laughed at him, while the smoke form of his mother screamed at him, saying she wished he had never been born. Dominus shouted at them to shut up, to go away, but they didn’t, they just continued laughing and yelling. Dominus felt terrible, he felt hateful, he despised these evil shadows of his parents. He screamed and there was a burst of red light from his horn and a crack like thunder, and they were dead. They had turned from smoke in the shape of his parents into the dead bodies of his parents. Crystal shard was gone, and he stood with his parents in the darkness. Then the bodies of his parents writhed, changing shape, becoming twisted and evil. His father laughed, his mother screamed. Then Dominus woke up, gasping for air. Dominus looked around. The window next to him was black, telling him it was nighttime. Then Dominus saw Clash. She was standing in the doorway, looking at him with the strangest look on her face.
“What was that all about?” She asked, the same look still on her face.
“What was what?” Dominus asked.
“You were crying in your sleep.”
“I had a dream. About my parents.”
“Oh. Umm…okay. Do you want to talk about it?”
“Later.”
“Fine.”
“When’s dinner?” Dominus asked, his eyes losing their drowsiness as he thought of food.
“Two hours ago.” Clash said, trying to stop herself from smiling.
“Did you at least save me some?” Dominus said weakly.
“Yeah, sleepy head. Let’s go back home and you can eat.” She was chuckling now.
The next day Dominus was well-rested and ready to learn some spells. He had his new saddle bags and a packed lunch. He also had a gargantuan amount of questions to ask Star Swirl. He said goodbye to Clash, stuck his tongue out at Carver, who stuck his out in turn, and saluted Iron Breaker before leaving. He knew his way to Star Swirl’s house well enough, and found his way there without a problem. Class was interesting, they had moved from shield spells to minor offensive combat spells. During lunch Star Swirl approached Dominus.
“Dominus, I wanted to talk to you.”
“Yes Sir?” said Dominus, who had been sitting by himself, contemplating life.
“I am going on a research excursion to an abandoned dragon’s nest at the top of the mountain, and I wanted to know if you were interested in coming along.”
“Of course sir!” Dominus had lept up in excitement and knock over the pile of books next him.
“Then meet me here in a week at six A.M.”
“Yes sir!” Dominus sat back down and finished his lunch in a hurry, he wanted to tell Clash about it before his lunch break ended.
Later that day, Dominus was reading in his bed when Clash got home, he went to greet her, bouncing down the stairs. He couldn’t wait to tell her about the expedition. When he saw her, she was hanging her sword upon the wall near the door. He ran over to her and started bouncing again, excitement pulsed through him.
“Clash! Guess what?” Dominus exclaimed, he sounded as giddy as a school filly.
“What?” she said apathetically.
“I got invited to join an expedition with Star Swirl.” Dominus said importantly.
“Oh, that thing. I got invited to that too.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s great, we can go together and it’ll be awesome!” Dominus started bouncing again.
“Do you understand how dangerous this is?” Clash said, look at Dominus seriously.
“It can’t be too bad, it’s just a hike up the mountain and then a little dig, right?”
“A dig into a dragon’s nest.”
“Star Swirl wouldn’t ask me to go if he didn’t think I was up for it.”
“Maybe.” Clash said, unconvinced.
6 A.M., a week later. Dominus stood with Clash, about to climb up the steep path to the top of Canterlot mountain. They sat and waited for Star Swirl to join them but their wasn’t any sight of him. Star Swirl didn’t arrive until almost half of an hour had passed.
“Oh I am dreadfully sorry, one of the springs in my new clock was loose, so it was a little slow.” He had his cape on inside out and his straggly goatee was unkempt.
“Were you trying a new design?” Dominus asked, looking at Star Swirl quizzically.
“Actually yes, this one uses smaller springs to allow for a more compact design.”
“How large was the clock itself?” Dominus asked, eyes wide in interest.
“It was about a fourth of the size of the standard design, which allowed for easier placement on any surface.” Star Swirl held his head high and puffed out his chest, glad to be receiving praise for his work. The talk between continued between Dominus and Star Swirl in this manner for the next few hours. Dominus would ask a question, Star Swirl would answer, and a lively conversation would ensue. Clash and the other two guards began to talk amongst themselves; mostly about fighting tactics and weapons. By the time they had reached the top of the mountain, the entire entourage had exhausted its topics of conversation. The sigh of relief when they reached the top could have been heard a mile away. The top of the mountain was curved like a bowl, with a bottom of soft sand. Bones littered the ground throughout the entirety of the mountaintop. Dominus flopped down on the ground and panted. Star Swirl sat and procured a cup of steaming hot tea from thin air, which he began to drink. Clash and the other guards stood and studied the layout of the area, looking for potential ambush sites. After a short tea break, Dominus and Star Swirl began using small brushes to search for bones and dragon egg shells. Every time they found something they would lift it up, examine it, and put in a large sack one of the guards was holding. By dusk Dominus and Star Swirl had almost filled the entire sack with dragon egg shells, and some cracked gems. Clash was walking toward the duo, who were examining their spoils, when a massive tail shot up through the sand. The tail was scaly, but not unlike a scorpion’s in shape. It ended in a point so sharp it seemed to cut through the air as it moved. The tail stabbed downward as soon as it had come up, it’s point driving straight through Clash’s lungs. She let out a scream that ended in a sigh. Dominus stared blankly in horror at Clash speared on the tail, her head lolling to the side as she gasped for air. the tail shot back under the sand as the head of a massive dragon rose up. After the head were the shoulders, then the wings. When the dragon had completely come out from under the sand, Dominus saw that the tail was attached to the dragon, and Clash was still speared on the tail. The dragon lifted the tip of its tail to its face and examined Clash, determining that she wasn’t good enough to eat; it through to the ground and turned its attention to the guards. The guards were standing completely still, huddled in a circle, cowering. The dragon picked them up, and swallowed them whole. The dragon turned it’s attention to Dominus, who had knelt over Clash’s body, crying.
Dominus turned on the dragon, his eyes red from crying.
“YOU!” Dominus screamed , the red in his eyes growing.
“THIS IS YOUR FAULT, YOU KILLED HER!” his eyes were glowing red with magical energy. His head was thrumming with the voices again. He heard voices screaming in his head, goading him on. His horn glowed with five layers of magic spark. There was a crack like thunder, then dragon’s head exploded, blood and brains flying everywhere. The light in Dominus’s eyes subsided, as did the voices, and he ran over to Clash’s body. When he reached her, he was crying again, and he tried to pick her up with telepathy. He couldn’t, his magic wouldn’t work. He collapsed on Clash’s body, sobbing uncontrollably. Star Swirl emerged from where he had been hiding and looked at Dominus. Dominus continued sobbing.
“Dominus.” Star Swirl said tenderly.
“WHAT!” Dominus screamed in reply.
“Your horn is glowing.”
“What?” Dominus said looking up. He saw that his horn was glowing, but not in its usual color, rather than red, it was a cream color. Dominus started hearing the voices again, but they weren’t screaming, they were singing. They sang a melancholy tune, growing louder with each passing second. They sang so loud that Dominus could hardly stand it. He screamed, and a tendril of cream colored energy flew from his horn, into Clash’s eyes and mouth. After several painful seconds, the glowing ended, but the singing didn’t. Dominus heard it growing quieter until he couldn’t hear it anymore, fading from his memory. Clash stirred, she took a sharp gasp for breath, blinking.
“YOU’RE ALIVE!” Dominus exclaimed.
“Yeah, I am, so what?”
“You were dead, and now you’re not! That’s amazing!”
“I was dead?!?”
“Yeah, you didn’t notice?”
“No.”
“Huh, not what I would’ve expected to hear.” Dominus pulled Clash up by her sword sheath with his mouth.
“I like your cutie mark by the way.”
“What!?”
“Your cutie mark, the one right there.” Clash pointed to his flank. Dominus looked and saw what his cutie mark was, the image that would predict his future, that he had waited for his whole life. He was disappointed. It was two scythes, one white, one black, forming the shape of a heart. The heart-scythe lay in a drop of blood.
“What does it mean?” Dominus said.
“It means that you are a very important stallion.” Star Swirl said gravely.
The Life of Dominus Vitam Mortem
Aliqui nascuntur magna aliqua consequi magnitúdo, et quidam habent magnitudinem vulnere super eos.”
Dominus swaggered into town, Clash leaning on him. People stared at his cutie mark as he walked past, muttering amongst themselves. Star Swirl led the duo into his house, holding the door open. Once Clash was laying on Star Swirl’s couch, her head between her forelegs; Dominus and Star Swirl sat on either sides of his desk and talked.
“So, I assume you have questions.” Star Swirl said, looking Dominus in the eyes.
“Yeah, you said my mark made me ‘a very important stallion’, what does that mean?”
“Remember when you asked me about Crystal Shard?”
“Yes.”
“She was Clash’s mother, and she was a very advanced psychic.”
“The whole thing with predicting the future?”
“Yes. She could predict the future, to a certain extent. She had visions, where she saw things. Dark things. Terrible things. You’ve seen the carvings in her house.”
“I had questions about one of those carvings, the one with the winged unicorns.”
“I’m getting to that.” Star Swirl said, waving Dominus away with a hoof. “She carved the things she saw. One of which was your cutie mark.”
“What?!”
“Just before she died, she carved your cutie mark into the floor of the security office; where Lemon Tart lives now.”
“How did she die?”
“That’s hard to explain…”
“Could you try to explain, sir?” Dominus leaned forward on Star Swirl’s desk. He was sucked in.
“I shall. To be brief, she exploded.”
“She what?”
“Exploded. In a big ball of light. It was one of the most terrifying things I’ve ever seen.”
“How did it happen?”
“She came down with a terrible fever, and they brought her into the security office, which was also the medical clinic back then. She was burning up, and the doctor sent for me to help. By the time I arrived, she had started carving into the floor. The doctor and I tried to stop her, but there was some form of magic force field around her. She carved that image, your cutie mark, onto the ground, before collapsing. When she fell, smoke flew from her mouth, and it said, ‘beware the unicorn’, thus predicting the Earth Pony-Unicorn wars. Then she exploded in a ball of light, all the while we heard her screams. The mark is still there, I believe Ms. Tart covered it with an ornamental rug.”
Dominus was silent, he simply sat there, slack-jawed. After a few moments of staring at Star Swirl, he closed his jaw and stood up. He nodded to Star Swirl, lifted Clash onto his back, and walked to Crystal Shard’s old home.
By the time they got back to the house, Clash was asleep, and Dominus was so worn out from carrying her, that he fell down in the doorway of the house. When Iron Breaker got home, he had to pick up Clash and Dominus, who were both asleep in the doorway. When Carver returned home from school, he jumped up and down on top of Clash and Dominus, whom Iron Breaker had carelessly thrown on a couch together.
“Clash and Dom sittin’ in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!” He sang jumping on Dominus’s rib cage.
“AAUUGH!” Dominus wheezed as he awoke to find Carver bouncing on his ribs. “Get off me!”
“HA-HA!” Carver laughed running back to his room.
Dominus closed his eyes, seconds later, he opened them in surprise, he had felt something wrapped around his chest. He looked down to find Clash’s foreleg wrapped around him. He closed his eyes again, smiling.
“And remember class, stay still, stay focused, and visualize where you want to be.”
Nova, a mare in Star Swirl’s class closed her eyes, her worn glowing, and disappeared in a flash of light.
“Very good Nova!” Star Swirl said, clapping his hooves at the mare, who had reappeared on the other side of the room. Nova walked back to her spot in line, her knees shaking. Dominus was up next, and he quickly felt his horn strain as magic pulsed through it. He visualized the other end of the room, and found himself there. Everyone clapped respectfully, and he walked back. The process repeated with the next six unicorns, until everyone had attempted to teleport.
During lunch, Dominus and Star Swirl sat down and talked.
“So what does my cutie mark mean, exactly?” Dominus asked, munching on his sandwich.
“I’m not sure, but I can take a guess.”
“And what would you guess?”
“Spots said he saw you use a spell to kill a large number of dragons, correct?”
“Yes.”
“And I witnessed you bring Clash back from the dead.”
“Go on.”
“So, I can assume it heralds the coming of something to do with the concepts of life and death.”
“That’s a bit melodramatic.” Dominus said, finishing his sandwich in one bite.
“It is.” Star Swirl chuckled. “Oh, and Dominus.” Star Swirl called to dominus while he walked away.
“Yes sir?”
“I want you to start a journal, it’s good for your mental health.”
“Of course sir.” Dominus said, rolling his eyes sarcastically and walking away.
Dinner was cooked by Iron Breaker, who was quite the talented chef, so Dominus could actually stomach it. He was eating with Clash in her room, because she was so tired she couldn’t move.
“How are you feeling?” Dominus asked when she woke up.
“Alive.” she said, yawning.
“Thats great. I brought stew.”
“What kind?”
“Carrot, of course.”
“I despise carrots.” she said, as Dominus telekinetically lifted a spoonful of stew to her mouth.
“Why’s that?”
“They’re the only things I’ve eaten in my life.”
“Maybe I’ll get some potatoes at the market, much less bland.” Dominus said, as he and Clash chuckled.
“Star Swirl asked me to keep a journal, do you know where I could get one?”
“Actually, yes, my mother always kept a few.” Clash said, digging through a nightstand next to the bed. “Ah, here we go!” she said triumphantly, pulling out an empty journal and handing it to Dominus. “We have some ink and quills somewhere…” she mumbled, digging through the nightstand again and giving the ink and quills to Dominus.
“Thank you Clash.” He said, taking the miscellaneous writing utensils and leaving for his room.
From the journal of Dominus.
“Today I executed a perfect teleportation spell, and Star Swirl was very impressed. The only other student who did was Nova, who’s at the top of the class. I brought Clash back from the dead, and I guess that’s pretty interesting. Star Swirl says my cutie mark makes me important, which is also pretty cool. Also, my room used to belong to Crystal Shard, who had mystical powers. She also liked to read, so I’ve been reading her books. I think Clash has a crush on me.”
Dominus put the quill, ink, and journal away, before turning over in his bed and preparing to sleep. Before he drifted off, he resolved to take a few writing classes.
In the morning Dominus was alone with Star Swirl, pouring over maps of Canterlot mountain. Star Swirl was planning another expedition, this time into the center of the mountain, right into the dragon nests.
“Look, if we go here” Dominus said, pointing his hoof at a spot on the map. “We can avoid the bulk of the nests.”
“But the point is to examine the nests, Dominus.” Star Swirl countered.
“But that’s dangerous.”
“I know, but I want to test a few theories that those bones brought to me.”
“Well at least tell me we’ll have a few guards?”
“Of course.”
“how many?”
“Well… two?” Star Swirl said sheepishly.
“We’re going into a mountain filled with dragons, and you want to go with only two guards?!? You’re crazy!” Dominus half-shouted at him.
“There’s a method to my madness.” Star Swirl replied.
“And that is?”
“If we go in with a small army, we’re all going to draw attention, the smaller the group, the more stealthy we are.”
“Fine. Who are the guards?” Dominus sighed..
“Clash and her brother.”
“What?! you can’t bring Clash with us, do you remember what happened last time?” Dominus exclaimed.
“If memory serves, you brought her back from the dead.” Star Swirl glared at Dominus defiantly.
“I don’t know how I did it, I can’t guarantee that I will be able to bring someone back to life again.”
“Dominus, I know you can do it again; I believe in you.”
“Well, you believing in me isn’t going to keep Clash safe.” Dominus said. “Or her brother!” he added quickly.
“Ha, sounds like someone has a marefriend.” Star Swirl chuckled, taking a sip of coffee.
“Oh lay off.” Dominus grumbled.
“So, you’re fine with the way it’s planned?” Star Swirl inquired.
“Sure.” Dominus said, turning tail and walking out of the door.
About a week later Dominus, Star Swirl, Clash, and Iron Breaker were standing at the main entrance to Canterlot, prepared to entered the dragon tunnels.
“Alright lower the gate!” Clash bellowed to the guards manning the wall. One lowered the gate, while the other lowered the drawbridge. The motley assortment of ponies walked across the bridge, single-file. Clash first, the Star Swirl, followed by Dominus with Iron Breaker in the back. When everyone had left the bridge, the guards closed the gate and pulled up the drawbridge.
“Everyone ready?” Star Swirl hollered over the waterfall. There were a chorus of shouted yeses. Star Swirl hollered again: “Alright then, Dominus, would you do the honors?” Dominus nodded in agreement and prepared to use a drilling spell Star Swirl had taught him. His horn glowed red with bright energy. The the energy spun like a tornado, gathering speed. He pushed forward, and rock disintegrated and flew behind him. When they reached the catacombs the that filled the mountains like chambers in an anthill, Dominus cut off his drilling spell and both he and Star Swirl summoned balls of mystic light to float in front of them. Clash and Iron Breaker tensed and bit down on their swords. After an hour of uneventful walking, Dominus heard Clash shout something from far behind. She repeated it as he got closer.
“Guys, look at this!” she was pointing a hoof at a heaping pile of gems and other treasure.
“Beautiful!” Star Swirl exclaimed as he approached the gems.
“I second that.” Dominus said, gaping. Iron breaker remained silent, keeping watch over the group.
“Give me a moment.” Star Swirl said, holding up a bag and filling it to the brim with treasure. He filled three more bags with glimmering and glittering treasures. After loading up everypony with a bag of gems. They turned to leave the tunnel, but were stopped by a pair of glowing, reptilian eyes.
“Why hello there, my little ponies.” a deep, gruff voice hissed out of the darkness. “have you come to give me a little snack, or were you here to steal it?” light filled the room, which revealed itself to be a massive chamber. The light poured from a wall of torches that had been lit by an army of smaller dragons. In the center stood a dragon almost as tall as a quarter of Canterlot mountain. Its eyes were the ones that had been glowing earlier.
“Oh, I recognize you, you’re the one who killed so many of my subjects.” the dragon hissed contemptuously, lifting Dominus by the tail up to its eye level. “I will let you know that you haven’t even begun to make a dent in my armies, hatchling.” From the corner of his eye, Dominus saw dragons creeping up on the rest of the group.
“Now, hand over my gems, and your deaths shall be quick and slightly less painful than they would have been.”
“How’s about no.” Dominus said defiantly, teleporting to the top of the dragon’s head. Dominus felt the now familiar sense of death welling up inside of him.
“That can’t fool me! I will find you!” The dragon roared, fire jetting out of his maw. Dominus started to hear the voices, screaming at him. He felt his eyes cover with magical energy. His horn burned.
“WHAT IS THAT SOUND!” the dragon roared. “THE SCREAMING BURNS MY EARS!”
“AAAUUUGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!” the dragon roared while his internal organs disintegrated. As the dragon imploded, Dominus passed out and fell towards the ground.
“NO!” Clash screamed, running towards Dominus’ falling body. But, before she reached him, Dominus snapped his eyes open. He saw himself hurtling towards the ground and opened his wings to catch himself.
“WHAT WAS THAT?” Clash shouted at Dominus.
“I THINK THEY’RE WINGS!” Dominus shouted back, effortlessly gliding around the spherical chamber, firing off melting spells at every passing dragon.
“THAT’S GREAT DOMINUS, BUT CAN YOU COME BACK HERE?”
“WHAT?” Dominus replied, having too much fun killing dragons and flying to pay attention to Clash. Clash rolled her eyes and started to kill more dragons with her prized sword. After several more minutes of all-out war against the dragons, Dominus having killed most of them with another killing spell, the dragons retreated to lick their wounds.
“Well that was more fun than I’ve had since the first dragon war.” Star Swirl said, panting.
“Calm down old stallion, that was nothing compared to the battle of Canterlot.”
“Yes, I remember.” He responded, pulling out a canteen of coffee, which he warmed up with magic.
“WOOHOO!” Dominus shouted, landing next to Star Swirl, causing him to spill his coffee.
“Where did you get those?” Star Swirl said, putting his coffee away and examining Dominus’ newly found wings.
“I have no idea.”Dominus replied. sitting down and taking deep breaths.
“Who cares Swirly, they saved our flanks.” Clash replied galloping back to the stallion trio.
“Well, as to the wings saving us, I don’t think so. Now if Dominus hadn’t gained his wings, he would be dead, and subsequently so would we.”
“Swirly, you just repeated me but with fancier words.” Clash said, examining a dragons body, before ripping out one of its teeth to keep as a souvenir.
Iron Breaker spoke up: “We should probably get going.” He started, shifting uneasily on the ground. “We don’t wanna be here when the dragons get back.”
“Of course, of course.” Star Swirl said quickly, gathering up the bags of treasure and passed them to each member of the group. “Onward, my compatriots!” Star Swirl exclaimed, returning to the entrance of the chamber. As Dominus walked out, something caught his eye. He walked over to where it was. It was a small mirror, maybe the size of a stallion’s head. He picked it up from the rubble, along with a necklace he had seen. As he looked into the mirror, he almost screamed, it hadn’t shown his reflection, but a hideous beast. He ran as fast as he could, telekinetically filling another bag with any items he saw that were out of the ordinary.
The group walked back into town, except for Dominus who flew, panting and sweating from the walk. As Clash ordered the guards to open the gate and lower the drawbridge, Dominus simply flew into the town, landing on the other side of the gate. The guards stood on the wall, mouths agape, staring at Dominus. It wasn’t until Iron Breaker threw his sword at one of the guards, narrowly missing her head, did they open the gate. Once the group was across, one of the guards ran down from the wall and up to Star Swirl.
“Mr. Star Swirl! Did that stallion just fly?!?”
“Yes, yes he did.” Star Swirl said dismissively, walking off.
