Death is Truth

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4

Chapter 1

A Fathers Proposal

Reign of the Sun Goddess
Day 23rd Month 3rd Year 997 5:57 PM

In a small forest next to a tall mountain, a quiet little town resided. It went by the name of Hollow Shades and provided coal and ores from a nearby mine, as well as lumber to other nearby towns and cities like Ponyville and Hoofington. There was not much else aside from the resources there as the town was not close enough to any of the main roads or train tracks to make it any real place of importance.

However, in spite of the quiet atmosphere, the town was far from perfect. Families had their share of squabbles and children dealt with growing pains just like in any other village, and in the house of the resident archeologist, Rock Duster, one such discussion was taking place.

“I just really think this would be good for you,” Rock Duster said to his son with a determined look, standing in front of the entrance to his room.

The contents of the room held one window with a bed just underneath it which was currently in use by the lounging Ricktin Shade. There was also a chest of drawers on the opposite wall from the bed and a closet next to a piano opposite the wall with the door. The piano was surrounded by crumpled pieces of sheet music as well as a neat stack on top, and pencils and paper littered floor.

Ricktin turned towards him, his dirty blonde hair moving out of the way for his dull, steel gray eyes to give his father a bored look. “And I think it would be a waste of time, we’ve tried this a few times already, I’m just not interested in digging through rubble and dust for old pots and dead bodies,” he replied.

Rock Duster’s tail gave an annoyed swish as he let out an exasperated sigh, but he didn’t falter, and pressed on in his attempt to get his son to do something other than stay in the house.

“It’s called Archeology, and those pots and dead bodies, are relics and ancestors that could give us information on a piece of the past that we don’t know about yet.” Ricktin gave his father a dismissive grunt and turned away, kicking his hoof on the floor absentmindedly, having listened to this before.

Rock Duster took on a hardened look staring at the back of his sons head with his dark greenish eyes thinking of a way to bring him around to the idea. “You haven’t made any progress on finding a job for the last two months, most of what I’ve seen you do lately is sulk in your room, and eat.” Ricktin flinched, his ears flattening slightly as Rock Duster Took a step forward, continuing, “If you don’t do something soon you might just end up sinking into that bed.”

Ricktin bent his neck down slightly and gave an uncontrolled snort as his father’s face changed from serious, to a more concerned grin.

“You need something to do, and this would give us something to do together, you know, some father son time,” Rock Duster said as he cocked his head slightly and gave a bright smile hoping the idea of some bonding time would persuade him.

Ricktin did not turn to face him but the tone of his voice sounded less gloomy. “I’m still not going,” He said with finality.

His fathers smile dropping a little as his son continued, “You already had me try ‘Archeology’ and I had no interest, or any real luck with it,” his voice dropping back into the depressed, bored tone as he laid his head on the bed staring at the opposite side of the room.

“This isn’t another attempt at seeing if your cutie mark is going to be related to my work. I actually need somepony to help me get up to where the place is,” His father replied with a slightly pleading tone

Ricktin still did not turn to face him but instead gave his father a sideways look. “So, what you’re saying is that you want me to be your pack mule,” he said as pulled his head up and turned to face a nearby window raising his voice and saying “No offense!”

Pulling himself back from the window to face his father after hearing a quiet ‘none taken’ from the towns only resident mule.

His father rubbed the back of his head, mussing up some of his already ruffled graying brown hair as he let out a chuckle. “I guess you could put it that way,” he said, still smiling. “But it’s not like I’m trying to take advantage of my only son, I am going to pay you for helping me with this.”

Ricktins ear flicked slightly as he heard this.

He stayed silent for a moment his ear twitching contemplatively, and then asked, “And you said the place where this old cave is supposed to be isn’t too far away?”

His father, realizing he had him snagged, gave an ‘mmmhm’ to affirm his sons question.

“It’s actually right between us and Hoofington so it’s only about a three days travel from here,” Rock Duster turned and started heading out the door.

“I’ll give you some time to think about it,” The purplish unicorn stallion prepared to close it right before saying, “Oh! And your mother says dinner will be ready in about an hour. Maybe you should go take a walk; it might clear your mind. “

After that he closed the door and his hoofsteps could be heard making their way down the hall of the house. Ricktin rolled over facing the ceiling and let out a short, thoughtful ‘hmm’.

“I guess there’s not really much choice, I need to start making some kind of income.” He rolled to his side and looked out the window.

“Even if it’s basically just a hand out from my dad,” He sighed peacefully as he watched the sun start to set on the cool spring day.

Ricktin closed his eyes for a moment before reopening them, rolling off of his bed and heading for the door. “It shouldn’t be too hard doing some lifting work, and if I remember how he works it should only take a week.”

His mind finally set on something the red earth pony stallion opened the door and headed down the hall to tell his father that he’d help him on the excavation trip, and the walk sounded like a nice idea to clear his head of some pestering thoughts as well.

Reign of the Sun Goddess
Day 24th Month 3rd Year 997 7:48 AM

As Celestias sun was just beginning to move above the horizon, most of the town of Hollow Shades was in the process of rising from their beds, while some were already up and about getting ready for work or enjoying a meal to start the day.

Two residents of one house in particular were enjoying a delightful breakfast of pancakes and celery. As the purplish mare and stallion ate their breakfast, another plate sat at the table waiting for the red stallion that had just entered the room, having finally gotten out of bed after Rock Dusters third session of knocking on his door informing him that he was going to eat his pancakes.

He let out a quiet yawn as he stumbled slightly over to the table.

As he sat down he let out another tired yawn before looking over to his father “you do remember I’m not a morning pony right?” letting his eye twitch to show his annoyance at the early hour.

Rock Duster stopped eating for a moment released his telekinetic grip on his utensils to let out a chuckle.

“Well the cave we need to get to ‘is’ three days away, and I thought it might be a good idea to get a head start so that we could take a break sometime today, I’m not exactly young anymore you know,” He said before picking up his fork and knife and returning to the pancakes.

Ricktin simply gave a tired, irritated nod before lifting his fork and placing it in a pancake so that the knife in his mouth could work on the cooked piece of batter.

As they ate, Mind Heart, Ricktins mother talked about some recent events with a neighbor along with a current counseling assignment she’d taken.

There was also a pony she had taken under her wing as the little pony had recently discovered his Cutie Mark that delved into psychology.

Rock Duster talked a little about the goings on within the archeology association.

He spoke of some recent additions to the Canterlot museum, as well as rumors passing around the group about some newly discovered temples that were being Dominated by a few over enthusiastic associates.

He did not comment however about himself doing the same thing on this new venture.

Ricktin stayed mostly silent, commenting every once in while when he found he knew of a part of a topic or when his parents wished for him to join in the conversation.

The rest of the time though, he spent working on his food or gazing off into space, simply letting his thoughts drift.

His parents noticed when he did this, but didn’t say anything due to the frequency of the occurrence.

As they finished breakfast Rock Duster gulped down his last bit of pancake and turned to Ricktin and asked, “Have you got everything packed for the trip?”

Ricktin was putting his dishes in the sink and turned to face him with a slightly leaning posture, scratching the back of his head while holding an innocent smile. “Ehheh, define packed.”

Rock Duster let out an exasperated sigh as he got up and started moving for the front door. “Well, start getting it all together and I’ll have the cart ready for you when you’re done.”

Ricktin groaned unhappily remembering that he would be the one pulling the cart.

“Alright, I’ll be out in about forty five minutes,” Ricktin said.

Rock Duster gave an acknowledging nod as he exited through the front door, while Ricktin left through the opposite door as Mind heart moved towards the sink to get started on washing the dishes in the sink.

She chuckled and said to herself, “One day I’m going to get those two to do this, and then I can finally relax,” as she started on the dishes.

Reign of the Sun Goddess
Day 24th Month 3rd Year 997 8:30 AM

Ricktin took in a breath of the morning air as he waited for his father to come out with the last bit of equipment he needed. He had already gotten situated in the cart harness while he had been waiting. The ground was still wet from the morning dew, making him forgo sitting, in exchange to getting on the harness and simply standing there waiting.

He tapped his hoof while waiting for his father. ”And he was the one that said I wasn’t ready to go,” he mumbled, looking around as the small town in which he lived slowly began to wake up.

Most of the townsfolk were still in the process of their morning routine, while several of the more early risers were already out and busy at their work.

One of which was a dark green Pegasus on the weather patrol taking care of some of the unruly clouds high in the sky that had drifted into the area from the far off Everfree Forest.

As he was working the green Pegasus stopped.

After a few moments he began gliding down towards Ricktin with a cloud in front of him.

Ricktin was finishing up with tightening the harness humming a small tune he had made up to keep focused.

After he had gotten the harness tight he looked towards another house across the road.

He gazed at the house for few minutes, his mind off in space.

Once he regained himself he looked back to his family’s house. “What is taking him so long?”

As he continued waiting he thought he heard the sound of wings but could not pin point where it was coming from.

Soon after he heard a huge *BOOM!* causing him jump and nearly tip over the cart.

As Ricktin was catching his breath and turning back to make sure nothing had fallen out and gotten wet the Pegasus was relaxing on the cloud he had used to scare his friend.

He chuckled as he watched his friends reaction saying “You should have seen the look on your face, heh, priceless.”

After everything was accounted for in the cart, Ricktin turned to face the Pegasus and gave his eye a twitch as he looked at him with irritation, attempting to hold back a grin. “I don’t know, I think the price would be your flank getting kicked Sleek,” he said.

The Pegasus, Sleek Breeze, simply crossed his front hooves and continued to grin as he looked at his friend. “You sure you want to do that? You remember who learned more from the basic training White Wall showed us before she had to return to Canterlot right?”

“She never taught you how to get a mare though, did she?” Ricktin retorted, allowing a cheeky grin to appear on his face.

Sleek Breeze lowered his hooves onto the cloud. “And she still hasn’t taught you how to make a good joke has she,” he said with blank stare. “In any case, what’s with the cart, are you going somewhere finally?” He asked with a grin.

Ignoring the last word in his friends question Ricktin scratched his head and replied, “Yeah, my dad is checking out a cave that he’s heard is some kind of old temple, or something.”

Ricktin placed his hoof back on the ground and continued, “He asked me to help him with his work by pulling the cart, and probably a few other things when we get there, not sure what yet though.”

“I see,” Sleek said as he tapped a hoof to his muzzle, he then pointed said hoof at Ricktin and asked, “Is he paying you though?”

Ricktin raised an eyebrow at his friends’ question. “Yeah, why?” he said

Sleek Breeze gasped and pointed an accusatory hoof at Ricktin and exclaimed, “So you’re mooching off them ‘and’ getting them to pay you!”

Crossing his hooves and shaking his head he continued, “So scandalous.”

Ricktin pulled back in reproach. “WHAT, NO!” he said as he stomped his hoof and gave his friend a glare. “Why would you even say that?”

Sleek Breeze grinned and leaned down from the cloud to nudge his friend on the shoulder, which he quickly shrugged off.

“Oh relax, you know I wasn’t being serious,” he said, rolling his eyes.

Ricktin lost his glare as he returned his friends blank stare. “No, no I didn’t.”

As Ricktin and Sleek’s conversation had been going on Rock Duster had come out of the house with the last of the equipment, closely followed by Mind Heart, and had been placing it in the back of the cart.

Once finished Rock Duster and Mind Heart moved to the front of the cart. “Well that’s everything, are you ready to get going son?” Rock Duster asked Ricktin after trotting up next to him.

Ricktin turned his head to his father. “Yeah dad, I’m all set up,” he replied.

Rock Duster nodded as he turned to face Mind Heart. “Well I guess that means that we’re heading out now, and we’ll see you when we get back,” he said as he gave her an affectionate nuzzle.

She returned the nuzzle as she said, "I can't wait". Ricktin averted his eyes and blushed, while Sleek smiled at the scene.

Rock Duster turned to the two younger stallions as they stopped. "Alright Ricktin let's get going," he said as he began to move towards the exit of the small town.

Ricktin turned to sleek and said with a grin, "I guess I'll see you in about a week Sleek."

Sleek nodded and grinned back. "Yeah, and I hope you plan on keeping that promise!"

Ricktin began to walk in the direction of his father as he said, “I'll be sure your flank is thoroughly kicked this time!"

"Yeah right!" Sleek said as he flew back to his job waving good bye, while Mind heart went back to the house for the day.

Once Ricktin had caught up, right outside of the town, and started to walk next to him, Rock Duster turned to Ricktin and said, "This is going to be an exciting trip don't you think?"

Ricktin turned to his father and smiled. "Yeah, it should be nice," he said as they trotted down the path.

Author's Note

so. first Chapter. I had worked on this for while, gotten some feed back from friends, family and others on errors I'd made, the flow of the chapter, and if it was actually interesting. apparently it was satisfying enough for them to say yes, so I now post this here to see if the same answer is true. if it is, that's good because I am working on the next one and hopefully it won't take as long as the months of delayed work this one did. I'm not really saying much am I? well, in any case, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I will try to get another out there soon.

Chapter 2

Mountains High Cavern Deep

Reign of the Sun Goddess
Day 26th Month 3rd Year 997 6:28 PM

Large mountains loomed in the distance as great fields of grass stretched on for miles, blowing in the breeze. Celestia’s sun moved down towards the horizon as the sound of cart wheels could be heard rolling down a dirt path. Ricktin Shade and his father Rock Duster were trotting towards their destination, Ricktin pulling the cart, as Rock Duster had started to talk in more detail about the place they were going.

". . . And I believe it is a temple for a cult that may have been disbanded nearly fifteen hundred years ago," Rock Duster said, while he continued to walk down the path, talking enthusiastically. "The cult supposedly used the temple to conduct regular rituals that they hoped would give them increased magical power. It was even suggested to affect Earth Ponies and Pegasi!"

Ricktin nodded as he listened politely to his father while walking beside him. He would occasionally take a look around at the scenery as his father continued to speak. This carried on for some time until the two ponies had passed into some woods at the base of the mountain, and only half the sun remained as a crescent moon rose over the opposite horizon signaling the end of their second day of travel.

Rock Duster looked around. "I don't think we'll be getting any farther today."
He looked at a map and then turned to face up the mountain. "The entrance to the cave should just be a few hours hike up from here."

Ricktin was unbuckling the cart harness as he spoke. “Great, it's not gonna be a steep climb right?" He raised an eyebrow looking to his father for an answer as he finally freed himself.

Rock Duster shook his head. "No, it won't be too bad, we'll be able to criss-cross the mountain all the way up to the site," he said while moving over to the cart. "As long as nothing stops us, we'll get there right on time," he said, and began to rummage through the cart for their camp gear.

Ricktin trotted a short ways away, flopped down on the grass and closed his eyes as he said, "Great, then I'll go ahead and get some shut eye."

Rock Duster looked over at his son, in amusement, before setting down a bag from the cart. "You’re not even going to set up a tent?"

Ricktin rolled over, his tail flicked slightly. "Mmnope," he said as his father got some poles out of the bag.

"All right, but don't blame me when you wake up freezing in the morning," Rock Duster said, and then started to set up his own tent.

Reign of the Sun Goddess
Day 27th Month 3rd Year 997 8:47 AM

The sun was starting to become visible over the eastern horizon when Ricktin opened his eyes. He pointedly refused to acknowledge that his father had been right, even as he shivered from the drop in temperature and the condensation that had accumulated on his back during the night. He got up, shook himself off and then, still shivering slightly, trotted over to the burnt out campfire that his father had set up last night, and started re-lighting it for breakfast, and warmth.

Rock Duster stirred, his eyelids flickered open as he leaned out of his sleeping bag. He took a short yawn, then slowly stood upright and stepped out of the tent. Seeing his son tending the fire he made his way over to him. "So, how did you sleep last night?" he asked with a grin.

Ricktin shrugged his shoulders. "Pretty easily," he said not making mention of the cold, early morning dew that he had dealt with.

Rock Duster nodded, tapping his chin. "Well that's good, because we've got a long day ahead of us," he said after he replaced his shit eating grin with a calmer smile.

Ricktin showed no reaction as he continued working on making some coffee over the fire, only giving a subtly sarcastic, "Great."

Reign of the Sun Goddess
Day 27th Month 3rd Year 997 1:47 PM

A few hours later the two were moving up the mountain after having eaten breakfast and packed up the camp. Rock Duster was climbing up a slight rock face while Ricktin was a little behind, having to climb with the cart.

Turning back to look, Rock Duster called to Ricktin, "Come on son, you should be in-front of me not lagging behind like an old man."

Ricktins eye twitched as he continued to pull the cart slowly up the hill. "You know damn well this bucking mountain is the only reason you're ahead," he mumbled before shouting "Hey, maybe this trip’s giving you back your youth."

Rock Duster chuckled as he turned back to the effort of heading up the mountain. "Maybe, but the cave should be just a little farther, you should be able find your way there without me holding your hoof," he shouted as he moved up past some more stone, “See you there," he shouted before he passed by a larger pile of rocks and disappeared from view.

Ricktins eye continued to twitch for a few minutes until he stopped grinding his teeth and tried to calm himself down by humming a tune he'd thought up back home.

Finally making it up to where his father had been shouting, Ricktin took a break as he stared up the mountain, breathing lightly. Squinting against the sun in his eyes, he saw what looked like a small outcropping on the side, which he could only assume was where the cave was located. He could see his father just about to reach the top of it.

After reaching back and readjusting the harness, Ricktin continued up the hill so that he could catch up with his father. As he trotted past the pile of rocks, behind which his father had disappeared, he stopped, taking notice of some oddly defined pieces of rock lying amongst the boulders. As he took a closer look, they seemed to be pieces of some kind of structure, or maybe a statue. Searching through the rocks for a few minutes he found one that seemed to be some kind of animal head.

He raised an eyebrow as he examined the face. Its expression gave the appearance that it was screaming in pain, or perhaps laughing? Ricktin looked back at some of the pieces of the statue that he had come across. None of them seemed like they would match the head. Ricktin shrugged assuming the pieces must have been from several different statues and placed the pieces into the cart thinking his father might be interested in them, but groaned as he realized how much more he had to lug up the mountain. Deciding to focus on the climb ahead, Ricktin pushed everything else out of his mind and moved forward.

Half an hour later, after finally reaching the edge of the out cropping Ricktin pulled the cart the final few feet and collapsed onto the flat rock, letting the wind cool his heated muscles.

Rock Duster turned back from the cave entrance, a note pad near his feet and a pencil in his mouth. He raised an eyebrow curiously. Turning his head back for moment and letting the pencil drop out of his mouth, he placed it and the pad back into the saddle bag and trotted over to Ricktin. "You took a while to get up here, did something happen?"

Ricktin got back to his hooves and removed the harness while addressing his father. "No, nothing happened dad, I just picked up something that you didn't see on the way up."

Rock Duster’s interest piqued; he started looking in the cart and found the statue pieces.

As he examined them, an enthusiastic smile rapidly spread across his face, until it faltered and he gave his son an inquiring look. “You did mark down ‘precisely’ where you found the pieces correct?”

Ricktin paused and rubbed the back of his head as he gave a slight grimace, not looking directly at his father. “I… might have forgotten to do that.”

Rock Duster face-hoofed and sighed. “I guess that doesn’t detriment the research too much, but try to remember that next time, alright?”

Ricktin nodded while Rock Duster continued looking at the statue pieces. “Yeah, ok dad.”

"Well, either you found a large assortment of nature statues, or our cult members were followers of chaos magic."

Ricktin finally got out of the harness, walking over to the edge to feel the breeze looking over the edge at the steep drop. "Isn’t chaos magic an old legend linked with those dragon-quis things?"

Rock Duster shook his head. "Dra-co-ne-quus. Fact,” he enunciated. “And I see you remember the Canterlot exhibit on chimeras."

Ricktin turned around and looked at his father, smiling irritatedly as he replied, "Barely, and only because you dragged me there."

Rock Duster shrugged and said, "Thinking back though, it was good that you went, am I right?"

"I guess so."

Rock Duster continued examining the statue pieces before heading back to the entrance of the cave. "The only draconiquus I can think of to be able to make ponies’ worship their power was Discord," Rock Duster continued as he pulled the pencil and pad out again looking at it, "but he's been gone for so long... there must have been others before and after Discords' reign."

Ricktin trotted over to his father, as he looked between his notes and the top of the cave entrance. There, Ricktin could see a series of ancient symbols that looked like some form of writing. He returned his curious look to his father. "So what does it say?"

Rock Duster looked up from his notes at Ricktin and dropped the pencil onto the pad. "Well it's in Draconian. The knowledge we have of their language is still a bit rough. Relations still being sketchy and the best I can put together is -gift of chaos- and we already have a good reason why that's there," he said looking back up and focusing on the writing.

He then lowers his head, rubbing his muzzle in thought, continuing, "I can't seem to translate the last part though, it seems to be -in- something, but the rest of it is scratched out and I can't translate it." Rock Duster pulled out a slightly beaten tome, opened it and scanned the text as he tried to decipher the cave entrance’s writing.

Ricktin returned his attention to the words and wiped some sweat off his brow as the midday sun warmed the side of the mountain. Looking over them he then looked straight into the entrance giving a sidelong glance at his father, tapping his hoof impatiently. "Well, while you're coming up with ideas on what the last part is, shouldn't we start moving on to exploring the cave?"

Rock Duster took a glance at Ricktin, then back to his notes before he grinned and pulled back his head tossing the pencil in the air and let it land, catching it securely behind his ear. With that, he started moving into the cave, still holding the tome with his magic, a smug smile on his face. "Right, let’s get going shall we?"

Ricktin rolled his eyes and followed. "Show off."

Reign of the Sun Goddess
Day 27th Month 3rd Year 997 4:02 PM

As Ricktin Shade and Rock Duster moved through the cave, they passed by many more runes and writings strewn across the walls, most of which would have been readable if not for having been worn away. It would have taken too long to figure out which letters were which; there were very few smudged, yet still recognizable words. One easily noticed occurrence, that his father found, was the word -gift-, it seemed to come up frequently in the text that they passed.

The cave having only one passage to follow, the two ponies moved into what appeared to be a large carved out chamber with more writing on the walls and some sort of engraved ritual circle with supporting pillars placed in an octagonal pattern around it. Some of the pillars appeared to have cracked and shattered over time, while the others seemed to be in great condition, and still covered in carvings and ritual markings. The area directly around the circle was surrounded by a dark chasm. While the outer walls of the chamber had plenty of space to stand on, the only way to the ritual circle was a stone walkway leading from the entrance of the chamber.

Rock Duster was hesitant for moment, but shrugged it off and trotted over to some of the writing on the wall using his horn to make notes on his pad as he rubbed his chin. "Interesting. Early Equestrian and Gryphon languages alongside the draconian writings. This definitely appeals to idea that the cultists were here longer than should have been possible..."

As Rock Duster was translating the walls, Ricktin stepped along the stairway to the center to take a look at the pillars. Stepping onto the circle, he stood in front of one of the pillars and examined the carvings along its surface.

The carvings seemed to depict one draconiquus chimera hovering over the three different pony kinds with some wave like lines moving from it down to the ponies. Taking a look at some of the other pillars, there was also a gryphon, and one that looked like a dragon; the other pillars were too shattered to distinguish much of anything. The pillars that were still whole both had the same picture as the first pillar and they were all covered ritualistic symbols just like the walls.

"Hey dad, come here and check out these columns!" Ricktin shouted to his father as he looked to see if he could find anything in the broken pieces on the ground that could tell him, or his father about what was on the other pillars, making sure not to step on any of them.

Rock Duster however didn't hear him as he was still engrossed in translating the walls of the cave. "vers majaktor... ekess wer plythu... zyak batobot astahii... nomag lehhav... persvek wer treskri... majaktor..." Rock Duster muttered as he read and shook his head as he looked at some symbols of the other symbols as he thought about the ones he had just translated.

He then turned to find Ricktin and his expression became concerned as he saw him on the ritual circle and shouted, "Son! Get off of there!”

Ricktin looked stood straight and looked back at his father “What? Why?”

“What you're on is the ritual ground for the goings on in this cave! This place has had chaos magic used, for whatever purpose, so it might still be active!”

Ricktin rolled his eyes "Dad half this thing is destroyed and the other half looks like it's ready to fall apart, besides a few of the pillars! I don't think anything could still be 'active' in this place," He shouted back while he still looked around the platform.

“You still need to get off of there! If enough of that stone is still in good condition it might actually still be able to be used for its intended purpose!”

“And that is?”

Rock Duster had started moving towards the entrance cave. “I’d rather not find out! Come on we still need get set up for the night, then we can try and decipher some more of the draconian writing in the caves hall before it gets too late.”

Ricktin looked around one more time before he started to follow his father. “Alright, I guess we should-” as Ricktin walked down the stone pathway to the entrance, something lightly hit the back of his head. He turned around, in surprise, glancing warily around the cavern.

“Ricktin, we need to get the camp set up. Let’s go.” Rock Duster shouted from the entrance.

Ricktin shook his head and he continued down the stone walkway towards his father. “Yeah, yeah I’m coming.”

Chapter 3

Magics' Form. A Swift Exit

Reign of the Sun Goddess
Day 27th Month 3rd Year 997 8:13 PM

Ricktin and Rock Duster had returned to the outcropping to set up camp and look around for the rest of the temple that the cavern was allegedly attached. Hopefully, they could find something else that could tell the tale of the mysterious room.

Rock Duster was not keen on either his son, or himself spending too much time near the ritual circle, as he had heard rumors from other archeologists of an excavation party going into a section of what used to be the crystal empire and uncovering markings on a stone slab, frozen in an ice cave. It pertained to some ancient black magic, which they incidentally, in their fervor to discover its meaning, activated with the incantation and returned to Canterlot with odd ailments. He did not hear much more about the fiasco other than the horns of the unicorns that had returned were covered in some sort of black gemstone that prevented them from focusing their magic. While unicorn horns do not have many nerves, the gems supposedly penetrated deep enough to cause pain, the earth pony’s and pegasi were much worse off. He shivered at that thought. While he had never seen the ponies involved in that expedition, he had heard enough of the rumors to know to be wary of any magic that had to do with something unknown.

Rock Duster had just finished searching the area immediately below the entrance to the cavern with no luck and had finally returned to the camp. Celestia’s sun had already begun to sink down over the horizon and her moon was already making its rise into the sky above as he entered the camp to see Ricktin waiting for him near the cliffside. He hoped his son had been luckier in his search around the summit above them.

Ricktin took a deep breath of cold air and immediately exhaled; shaking his head slightly as he turned around to see his father standing near the campfire that he had lit. He shook his head some more and trotted over to the fire to sit down. “So, did you find anything interesting?” Ricktin said, looking through a nearby bag for something.

Rock Duster shook his head as he pulled a can of vegetable soup out of another bag. “Nothing but some samples of dolomite, limestone and a few gems.”

Ricktin pulled out a pot from the bag along with a canteen and filled the pot with water from the canteen before handing it to Rock Duster as he said with a hint of sarcasm, “I thought your Cutie Mark was for archeology, not geology.”

Rock Duster opened up the can with his magic and poured the contents into the pot as he laughed and then put the lid on the pot and placed it on some of the fires coals saying, “You don’t need a talent to know a little bit about rocks, and hey, maybe mine stands for both!”

Ricktin’s eye twitched as his tail flicked in annoyance. “Heh, yeah, except for the fact that the basics on pony talents states that ‘a Cutie Mark only stands for the specific talent that the pony excels at’.”

Rock Duster held up a hoof. “Ah, but even though that is true, a pony can still follow other avenues and, while they won’t learn as fast as they would with their own talent, they will still make progress in that direction.” He placed his hoof back on the ground and used his magic to check on the pot of soup while Ricktin angled his head to face the ground, his hair hiding most of his face as Rock Duster continued, “the point of a pony’s Cutie Mark is to represent what he or she enjoys, as well as what they excel at, but that does not tie them to that path, some ponies do not like the path shown to them and decide to make their own path.” He pulled the pot of the fire and placed it on a nearby rock to cool. “I know I’m being a bit repetitive here, but I just want you to know that you don’t need to get a cutie mark to do something you enjoy and do well in it, if you just focus you ca-“

“I GET IT OKAY!” Ricktin cut him off still facing the ground as he yelled in anger, “I Know I haven’t done anything to better my situation, but you don’t have to lecture me on something I already know!” his chest was heaving slightly as he tried to calm down.

“But I wasn’t try-“ Rock Duster started but was cut off again.

“Forget it, I’m not really hungry, I’ll see you in the morning.” And with that, Ricktin trotted quickly to his tent and disappeared through the entrance.

Rock Duster sighed sadly, opened up the pot and poured himself a bowl soup. As he ate he pulled out his notes and began to read the old tome he had been carrying around the entire day again, taking a sip of water from a nearby canteen now then. After getting through half of his bowl of soup he inspected something closely in the book and then looked back at his notes, then back at the book. Soon after he shut the book and put it and his notes into his saddle bag, slinging it onto his back and hesitantly headed for the entrance of the cave.

Reign of the Sun Goddess
Day 27th Month 3rd Year 997 11:48 PM

As midnight approached on the mountain side Rock Duster had returned to the ritual room to try and find more in the writing that dotted the walls after having made a break through with some of the text.

“Hmm… ‘Gift of Chaos, in Harmony? Those chosen are blessed by the gods… to shape the world…?’.” Rock Duster furrowed his brow and rubbed his eyes, which had bags under them from being up most of the day. “Damn, still incomplete, what is it. Blessed by the gods, Draconiquus obviously. To shape the world, but for what purpose…?” He continued reading, occasionally looking behind him every now and then. The room seemed to have taken on a dark presence, giving him the eerie feeling of being watched. Soon he found a word in the draconian text he could not read and had to use the tome. Glancing at the page he had flipped to and the word he needed to translate and began to enunciate it. “Ta-le-ush… Tlush.” As he said it out loud, a large flash occurred on the ritual circle as a small dark glowing ball silently darted down the entry way. Rock Duster quickly turned around right as the flash disappeared, he stared at the ritual circle for a good five minutes, waiting, watching.

Nothing happened. He rubbed his eyes, shaking his head and mumbled, “Must be getting too tired,” and went back to reading the text.

Reign of the Sun Goddess
Day 28th Month 3rd Year 997 12:03 AM

Ricktin tossed and turned in his tent, a grimace of confusion on his face, “why in the world did I blow up like that? I’ve never done that to dad before.” Ricktin got up, stepped out of his tent, sat down and looked up at the mare in the moon. The moon shone bright with the effigy of the night princess from children stories who had been banished to the moon for trying to create eternal night in an attempt for attention. As he stared up at the night sky he put his hoof up to his head, closing his eyes and grunting in slight pain. “Buck, what’s with all these damn head-aches…?” to busy with the pain in his head, Ricktin did not hear the light whistling noise until it got very close. His ears perked up. Opening his eyes he turned in the direction of the sound just in time to have something smash into his forehead knocking him onto his back making the back of his head hit the ground and lose consciousness. After a few moments Ricktin started to hyperventilate and struggle slightly. He quickly stopped though and his body was calm. The next time he opened his eyes, they were glazed over and vacant. Getting back up, he began moving, like a puppet on strings in the direction of the cave.

While he moved down through the cave the writings on the walls began to light up as he passed them and when he reached the entrance to the ritual room the light show went ahead of him and lit up all the writing on the walls. Rock Duster had, by now, turned around to face the approaching glow from the entrance and watched, shocked as the entire room became ablaze with blue, glowing words. Even what was left of the pillars on the ritual circle had come alive.

Reign of the Sun Goddess
Day 28th Month 3rd Year 997 12:24 AM

“What in the name of the equestrian noble house...” Rock Duster said, stunned from the abrupt change in lighting. His cognitive skills returned as he saw Ricktin walking down the stone pathway up to the ritual circle. “Ricktin!” Rock Duster Shouted and started running around the outer circle to get to Ricktin, as he did though, the ground under his hooves began to melt and rise, reforming around them to hold him in place. He struggled against his stone binds as he fired energy blasts from his horn in attempt to break them, but he was only able to make minor chips in the stone.

Ricktin stepped to its center, a prismatic burst of color engulfed everything inside the ring of pillars as they began to shine white and those that were rubble reformed themselves into their pristine condition. “SON!” Rock Duster shouted again, his voice cracking as he did, the erupting energy beginning to darken, slowly losing its color as it crumpled in on itself until it was a compact dome just inside the pillars, vibrating slightly as if it was spinning, or having difficulty holding itself together. Rock Duster saw this and doubled his attempts at freedom as the dome rose a few feet off the ground and shrunk slightly to become a black vibrating orb.

Rock Duster's attempts were practically fruitless. Any progress he made seemed useless as his prison kept reshaping itself back to its original form. The pillars around the orb seemed to be getting brighter until they lit up entire room like it was outside in mid-day. Soon after, the pillars shot beams of white into the orb forcing it inwards as it seemed to fight and push back, bulging and spitting out in randomly in different directions. The pillars continued to shoot their beams until none of the orb was left, revealing Ricktin at the apex of where the beams met. The pillars stopped, losing their glow and returning to its normal lighting. Black and red flashed across Ricktin’s eyes, but faded as they closed and he fell to the ground, blood seeping from his mouth.

Rock Duster’s stone prison was suddenly still, its magic once again dormant. A few energy blasts later, he had himself and run over to Ricktin immediately checking for his breathing and pulse. He sighed in relief as he found both and wiped the blood off Ricktin’s mouth. Taking a moment to look around in concern at the renewed ritual circle, Rock Duster shook his head, lifted Ricktin as quickly as he could onto his back with his magic and took swift leave of the cave.

Reign of the Sun Goddess
Day 28th Month 3rd Year 997 1:07 AM

After Rock Duster exited the cave he carefully placed Ricktin into the cart, then quickly loaded it, making sure nothing would fall over and land on Ricktin. After everything was loaded and Ricktin was safe and secure, Rock Duster moved the cart up above the cave and moved several nearby boulders to just above the entrance. He then kicked them off the edge where they landed, blocking it up and returned to the cart. He then hooked himself up and started the long trek down the mountain and back home, using his magic for extra strength in pulling the cart.

Reign of the Sun Goddess
Day 29th Month 3rd Year 997 8:57 AM

On the way back, he was hurrying so fast he had to have made two days’ worth in one, occasionally looking behind him every now and then to check on his son.

He finally pulled into an open field near the road and set up camp. Exhausted as he was, Rock Duster got his tent set up and moved Ricktin into it, making him comfortable before lying down next to the entrance since there was no more room inside. Making sure he could hear Ricktin’s steady breathing, he finally let his eyes close and fell asleep.
Waking up the next morning Rock Duster heard some quiet groaning from inside the tent, hurriedly got up and looked inside to see that he was finally awake. “Oh thank Celestia,” he said as he placed his hoof on his face closing his eyes and letting relief wash over him.

Ricktin attempted to get up, but ended up just falling back into his sleeping bag holding a hoof over his forehead. “Ugh, it feels like I got mauled by a manticore.” He said while trying to focus on his father. “What happened…?” Ricktin felt the earth beneath the tent. “We’re not on the mountain… dad, what happened?” he asked, giving his father a concerned, but inquisitive look.

Rock Duster kept his hoof on his face in thought. Finally, after a few moments, he lowered his hoof back onto the ground and asked, First off do you remember what happened after you went to bed?”

Ricktin thought for a moment then shook his head still giving his father a concerned look. “Not in the slightest. Why? What happened?”

Rock Duster sighed, Replying, “Well, after you had gone to bed Ireturned to the ritual room to finish deciphering some of the draconian text. The writing seemed to pertain to the draconequus’ offering up their power to the other races so that they could change the world in some way, for them or for someone else I don’t know.” He seemed lost in thought, but then shook his head and continued, “Anyway, at the end of the draconian text there was a word that took me a while longer to figure out. Unfortunately it seems it was some kind of activating word. When I said it clearly, something happened on the ritual circle while my back was to it and before I could turn around and see what had happened it was already over. I didn’t really expect one word to do so much, so I assumed it was just my mind playing tricks on me. After I had returned to my work though, a blue glow steadily grew from the entrance until it rushed in and lit up everything on the walls. You were following close behind.” Rock Duster took a deep breath for a break. He then continued with the rest.

Ricktin tried moving again, but winced. “Mnf. I don’t remember any of this. How could I have gotten all the way from my tent, to the cave without remembering any of it?” he said confused.

Rock Duster put his hoof back to his. ”What ever happened before must have done something to you and, by its will, gotten you to move into the cave. I’m still trying to figure what the hay happened in there myself.” He sighed and sat down, hoof still to his head. “Right now though, I can’t really think too heavily on it. Let’s just focus on getting home for now.”

Ricktin ceased his attempts at movement and simply laid back in his tent. “Well, were you at least able to get the research you needed done?”

Rock Duster gave him a sad smile. “I think I got enough research from this to last me a life time,” he said as he got back up and moved farther into the tent. “But now that you’re awake, we need to check to make sure you don’t have any broken bones,” he gave an affirmative nod while taking hold of one of Ricktins back legs.

Ricktin winced as his leg was gripped and started grinning nervously. “Come on dad, you don’t have to do this. I mean, couldn’t you have checked while I was unconscious? And can’t you use your magic, so that, you know, you won’t cause me pain?”

Rock Duster shook his head and replied, “Nope, there was too much going on and it would have been too difficult to check for any fractures while you were unconscious.” He then raised an eye brow continuing, “And what. You think I’m Celestia’s personal student?” Rock Duster chuckled, “I don’t know everything. Now hold still, I’m going use some yoga techniques your mother showed me so that any fractures won’t be disturbed.” Rock Duster started to raise Ricktin’s leg.

“Well wait now hold onthere I’m notready wait holdon wait waitwaitwaitwait AHGK!” Ricktin all but shouted as a popping sound resounded in the tent, his body shaking slightly.

“Well looks like that one was only out of place. If that’s the case then I’m sure the rest will go just as smoothly,” Rock Duster said as he laid the first leg down, rolled his shoulders and got ready to ease the next one up.

Ricktin’s body twitched slightly as he heard this and a grin slid across his face as his eyes fell half shut appearing to generate bags under them and he said hoarsely, “Great.”

Chapter 4

An Unwelcome Return

Reign of the Sun Goddess
Day 30th Month 3rd Year 997 6:57 AM

It was very early morning when the two ponies returned to Hollow Shades. Celestia’s moon was still on its westward drift and her sun had yet to show itself on the opposite horizon, but signs of light were peeking across it. Rock Duster seemed like he was about to fall over while Ricktin was sleeping in the back of the cart, unable to do much of anything. The trouble sleeping and the constant headaches he’d been having on the way back didn’t help keep his sleep restful either. The entire town had yet to wake up. The few weather ponies that were awake, were focused on flitting around in the skies, finishing off a hoard of clouds that had drifted above the town during the night, so the two ponies went unnoticed as they made their way back home. Once they arrived, Rock Duster unhooked himself, trotted up to the front of their house and knocked on the door. After a few minutes Mind Heart answered, her mane still askew from having just awakened.

She rubbed her eyes and gave him a slightly confused, yet happy look. “Rock honey, you’re back early?” she looked around for a moment as she became more alert.

Rock Duster nodded and leaned to the side slightly, blinking his eyes a couple of times. “Yes, something happened when we got to the temple location so we had to make fast tracks back here.”

Her face became more confused and concerned. “What happened? Where’s Ricktin?” she asked as her head scanned the surroundings more thoroughly.

He shook his head and stood straight again, looking back at the cart. “He’s in the cart, sleeping right now. We ran into a bit of trouble on the mountain… our son… might need some mental therapy.”

Mind Heart snapped her head back to her husband and gave him a stern expression as he looked back at her. His ears lowered, giving her a sincere look of exhaustion. “I’ll tell you once we’ve had some time to rest, right now though I need your help getting Ricktin to his bed. My magic is mostly spent and I don’t think I can carry him on my own.”

“You take our son on your trip. You said that nothing could go wrong, that you could handle it and you bring him back, a day early and hurt!?!” Mind Heart nearly screeched.

Rock Duster flinched as he back up a few steps. “Ye-yes, yes I did and you need to keep it down, Ricktin hasn’t slept well the last night or so. He’s finally getting some rest, so please, help me get him to his to bed.”

Mind Heart took a deep breath to calm herself, nodded and followed Rock Duster to the back of the cart to get Ricktin out. They heaved him out, still asleep and put him on Mind Heart’s back.

“I expect a ‘full’ explanation after this,” she said, still giving Rock Duster a stern look. He nodded his head, using his magic to lighten her load slightly as they carried Ricktin into the house and to his room. After they had gotten him into his bed Mind heart led Rock Duster into their bedroom. The room had two dressers, one on either side of a king sized bed that sat with its head at the back wall just below a window, a thick, soft rug covered most of the polished hard wood floor. Mind Heart guided him over to the bed, pulled the covers back and laid her husband on it. She then got in with him and pulled the covers over both of them. Rock Duster had already fallen asleep, but Mind Heart could not join him. With a worried look on her face she held onto her husband and waited for him to wake up. The light of Celestia’s sun was becoming more prominent through the window.

Reign of the Sun Goddess
Day 30th Month 3rd Year 997 2:14 PM

The sun was high in the air when Ricktin Shade opened his eyes. Not being able to call on much strength he simply laid in his bed. He stared blankly up at the sky through his window as if recalling past events. From what his father had told him, if whatever it was wasn’t physical then his mother would most likely know what to do.

Ricktin let out a haggard breath like he had been galloping non-stop for several hours fear coursed through his system. He grunted in pain, suddenly jerking one of his front hooves to his head, pressing on it tightly as another headache hit him. The consistency of the headaches had begun to annoy him and he was about ready to slam his head against something hard, praying it would somehow miraculously stop the incessant throb of his skull. Sadly, unable to get out of bed, he could not follow through with his idea, as well as common sense telling him that it was just stupid, so he laid there, the pain in his head steadily increasing as he waited for someone to come check on him. The sun was getting in his eyes

A few minutes later Rock Duster and Mind Heart trotted through his door, his father simply stood next to the door as his mother took a spot next to the bed, taking one of her hooves and running it through his mane. “Hey there honey, how are you feeling?”

Ricktin wriggled slightly, his eye twitching as he looked up at his mother with a soft smile. “I’ve had better days, but I’m fine.” Both of his parents looked at him worriedly as he shifted around some more, turning his head to see his father. He gave him a waveringly strong look. “So what are we going to do about… whatever happened to me back at the mountain?”

Rock Duster looked at Mind Hear. “Well, I thought we could let your mother run through some of her ‘techniques’ and see if she can diagnose anything.”

Mind Heart nodded and said, “Your father already told me all of what he remembered and all that you told him, so most likely whatever happened at the point that you can’t remember is the catalyst. All we have to do is reopen that memory.”

Ricktin nodded, the twitching stopping as his tensed face relaxed, only raising a brow as he looked at his mother and attempted to blow some hair out of his face. “So, how are we going about this?”

Mind Heart worked on making him more comfortable as she talked. “Well, all you have to do is close your eyes and relax. Just listen to what I say and I’ll take care of the rest.” She gave him a confident smile.

Ricktin nodded and turned his head back to the ceiling and closed his eyes.

“Now just take deep breaths, calm your mind, don’t think of anything and just listen to my voice.” Ricktin inhaled; then exhaled slowly as his mother continued talking to him. Once she had him deep enough into a trance, she began.

“Now Ricktin I want you to go back to the night you were on the mountain… are you there?” He nodded his head. “Good, now, tell me what is happening?”

Ricktin’s brow furrowed for a moment then spoke. “I’m… telling dad off after he had brought up… something.” Mind heart looked back at Rock Duster, he shook his head and she turned back to Ricktin.

“Alright Ricktin I need you to go a little farther, what happened after that?”

“I… went to bed early, but I had trouble really getting to sleep because I was a bit shook up about how I had yelled at dad. I left my tent to see if I could find dad and apologize, but I didn’t see him anywhere in the camp site so I decided to just watch the moon and stars and wait for him to get back.” He began to sweat a little as he started to twitch slightly, Rock Duster swiftly moved over to the bed next to his wife as she stamped her hoof to wake Ricktin up, but it didn’t work as he continued to talk. “While… I was watching the moon… something hit me, in the back of the head…” Rock Duster was shaking him to no avail. “Everything went black, I was yelling trying to find a way out, I felt myself falling asleep and then I heard something say…”

They were both knocked back as pure black shadows hung in the air and crept along the floor as Ricktin opened his eyes and got out of his bed, his voice sounding very off. “I said~ perfect,” Ricktin said, drawing out the word as he stood, surrounded by vine like shadows, his hair disheveled, the whites of his eyes had turned black while the coloration of the iris had gone from grey to a dark yellow, the pupil having turned an ominous shade of red. A smug grin was present on his face.

“What-ghk!” Rock Duster was cut off as a one of the black limbs stabbed into his chest. He shook slightly, watching as Ricktin moved toward him. Leaning down to face Rock Duster, Ricktin chuckled darkly and raised his eye brows, giving him a small venomous smile.

“After being stuck in that cave for so long… I think I’m quite tired of ponies” Rock Duster only had a moment as his eyes flashed, widening right before a blade of darkness came from the side and sliced his neck, letting his blood quickly flew from his neck, splattering on the wall as he gasped for air. His son watched with that little smile. His eyes were nearly closed as he gasped for air one last time and then went limp.

Ricktin stood up straight as he let out thoughtful ‘hmmm’ smiling to himself “he lasted longer than I thought he would, good stallion, strong. Oh well.” He then turned to the only other purple pony in the room. Mind heart was frozen on the floor unable to anything, but stare open eyed at the scene before. She snapped partially out of it as Ricktin slowly moving toward her in jaunt, almost as if he was swaying to music. “Ri-Ricktin what ha-have you-. “

Ricktin stood in-front her smiling the sweetest smile as moved his muzzle down to eye “Sorry ‘mommy’ your little foal is not available, it’s just you and me I’m afraid,” he said. There was a flash behind him and he passed a glance that way, noticing an odd black, cloaked smiling figure in-front of two scythes had appeared on his flank. Turning back to Mind Heart he exclaimed sarcastically, “Oh look ‘mother’! I got my cutie mark.” His smile turned smug as an eye brow raised and his voice became more lighthearted but not the one she knew. “Now please don’t scream and I’ll make sure you won’t even feel it.” Mind Heart was breathing heavily as she saw one of the shadows ready itself above Ricktin. Eyes widening and pupils shrinking, half the town heard her scream before it was cut short.

Ricktin stepped out of his room, a flat look on his face and one of his red eyes twitching. “She just had to ruin the pleasant come back,” he said, sighing and taking a moment to gather himself. He looked to the door his smile returning. “Oh well, nothing to do but make sure the pretty little princesses can’t get anything concrete to follow me with. Now, what is this place called…? Hollow Shades? Excellent! Well Hollow Shades, say hello to the bringer of your destruction!” with that, he exited the house while humming a sporadic tune, leaving a room with a blood covered floor and two motionless bodies.

Reign of the Sun Goddess
Day 30th Month 3rd Year 997 4:28 PM

Hollow Shades billowed with smoke clouds which could be seen for miles around as a smiling Ricktin happily pulled one of his shadowed appendages from the chest of a pony, looking around he blows a piece of hair out of his face. “Don’t tell me that’s everyone, I was sure there a few mor-“

“Ricktin!” three Stallions stood behind him two of them unicorns and one was a pegasus. It was Sleek Breeze and two of their friends.

Ricktin gave them a big grin, red eyes shining in the in the fire. “Oh! There you are! I was wondering where the last of you had gotten off to, you ponies are so good at hiding.”

Sleek Breeze stepped forward, brow creased and face set. “Ricktin, what happened to you? Why did you do…? This!!!” he waved his hoof around at the town. Ricktin surveyed the town, looking at the majestic flames spewing from the surrounding buildings and the intricately placed bodies strewn across the ground, covered in gouge marks, many with eyes wide open in shock or disbelief.

Ricktin shook his head as he turned back to the ponies facing him. “Honestly, no respect… I keep telling you silly ponies, Ricktin is not here, just I and I did this because you don’t let something like me get bottled up in a cave for almost a thousand years; it can really backfire on you, you know?” he said and chuckled.

“You’re not Ricktin? Then what the hell are you!? Why in the name of Celestia would any ‘thing’ think that murdering an entire town would be a good idea!!!?” Sleek Breeze was crazed, barely holding himself back, his two friends just stared in horror at the pony giving the most honest to goodness innocent smile they had ever seen as he put a hoof to his chest looking hurt.

“Aw now that hurts, no one remembers me? Oh well, I’ll leave you to figure that out, but! I will give you a riddle, I haven’t done one in so long! I might even be a little rusty!” Ricktin seemed to shiver with glee as his hoof returned to the ground. “All right, all right, here we go.”

I am the whipping wind, I am the falling seeds, I am the cracking earth, the flashing storm, the blooming flower, the growing forest, the wild fire and the dousing rain. I am everything from nothing, I take everything and make nothing. All look upon me and feel terror. All see my work and feel joy. Madness far from what I desire and to break those with hearts filled with fire, but the world is my toy. Play carefully.

“Ohhh that was ‘so’ much fun.” Ricktin chuckled

Sleek stomped his hoof, his tail whipping behind him. “I. Don’t. Care about some stupid riddle! If Ricktins not in there anymore, I guess that means I don’t have to worry about feeling regret!” he flew at Ricktin and threw a punch with all his might. Only for it to be effortlessly blocked by the shadow limbs that floated around him.

Sleeks two companions, seeing Sleeks attack brought to a grinding halt, his two companions made the decision to save their own skins and high tailed it out of there, not getting far as they were soon done in by their own shadows, which stretched all the way back to Ricktin as he clucked his tongue. “Tsk, tsk, seems you really can’t find good friends these days, huh Sleek?” he said holding the Pegasus up by his neck with one of the shadows.

“How-gha do you know my-my name, I thou- thought you weren’t Ricktin?*gasp*”

“Oh please, just because he’s not here doesn’t mean I can’t see what his life was like.” He moved sleek close to his face, a venomous smile present. “Now, how would you like to die? Slowly? Or painfully?” Sleek spat in his face. He rubbed the spit out of his eye as a new glint formed there. “Painfully it is then.” He then began make deep cuts in areas where very few blood vessels resided. Sleeks cries of pain fell on dead ears

Reign of the Sun Goddess
Day 30th Month 3rd Year 997 5:15 PM

“Well, this is getting boring rather quickly,” Ricktin sighed as Sleek panted, barely conscious as he was pulled back up to face his friend. “I think it’s about that time Sleek my friend.” He could only watch as Ricktin stepped back letting one of the shadows take his place readying to run him through.

“Goodbye Bre-gah!” Ricktin started coughing, covering his mouth with a hoof, he soon pulled it back, covered in blood. “Oh… well that’s not good.” He grimaced as he looked back at Sleek as the shadows receded back to their original positions on the ground. “It seems you get to live, and your ‘friend’ gets his body back, for now.” He waved his hoof in a flourish in Sleek’s direction as if bowing out after a big show. “Until next time Sleek! And do try to be more entertaining in the future!” soon Ricktin’s eyes returned to their normal grey and black hue as his whites were revealed again.

Ricktin blinked for a few seconds as he returned to himself. “What. Wha-“ He looked around in confusion and terror seeing the burning buildings and dead bodies everywhere. He then turned to see his friend Sleek Breeze laying on the ground, covered in blood. “Sleek! What happ-“ Sleek glared at his once friend breathing softly, unable to do much else.

Ricktin took a step back, then another and another, until he had finally turned around and began galloping away from the town, not following any set path, just running as fast as he could to wherever he could get to that was not there.

After a while he was feeling pain in his muscles, whatever adrenaline that had coursing through his body had left him. He dropped to his side in between some grassy hills that into a heavily dense forest. He laid there, coughing up more blood, crying and confused and not sure where to go. “What the hell happened…?”