The edge of an ancient knife
Edge of the ancient knife
Rarity cringed at her bedroom door. She listened to the crashes and wet splats of thrown blood and flesh. No way she was leaving her bedroom to find out what was going on. The afternoon had started out so nice.
Just an half hour ago, she had been enjoying the company of Ancient Find(AF), an archaeologist friend from Saddle Arabia. AF told such wonderful stories about the horses and ponies in that area. She knew how to make history interesting. Rarity probably knew more about that region than some professors. The items and pictures were also intriguing too.
Rarity had five folders of clippings and photos of her childhood friend's adventures. AF sent Rarity a knife. No, must not think about that now. They had met in school. AF liked to talk a lot and get into trouble. Somehow the two managed to strike up a friendship that lasted for years. Well, until this afternoon.
AF showed up at Rarity's Dress boutique with two bulging saddlebags. Business was slow so it was easy to put up the closed signs.
"What wonders are you going to show and tell me?" Rarity asked warmly.
She could not wait to hear the latest news. Ancient Find gave a wan smile. Rarity felt a pang of worry. What was wrong with her friend? AF usually showed up at her door a little tired but this was different. She seemed weaker, less vibrant, drained.
"Rare, stop worrying. The last dig was just a bit too much," She said and smiled. Rare was her pet name for Rarity.
Some of the old AF was there but it was still weak.
"Why don't you take the bags off and sit down and I will get you some tea," Rarity offered.
Ancient Find nodded yes slowly.
Rarity ran out to the kitchen to get something to eat and drink. Her mind whirled with thoughts about what was wrong with her friend. Deep down she wondered if it was worse than she could imagine.
Later on, Rarity came out with the lemon cookies and violetgrass tea. They took a slow trot down memory lane. In some ways it was nice but others it just made Rarity feel worse. Her friend had changed that was true but why and how? Rarity looked at her friend to see if she could get some ideas on what happened.
AF is a earth pony with a beige coat, brown mane and tail. Her brown eyes looked back at Rarity. A look of fear flitted across her face and was gone. She looked at her saddle bags.
"OK, Rare, lets get this done. Confession is good for the soul," Ancient Find said with a tired voice.
"AF, you can stay here overnight or as long as you need," Rarity offered.
"I know, thanks," AF said tiredly and gave Rarity a smile that was just a ghost of AF's usual smile.
Rarity almost wanted to cry but she managed not to. Her close friend of many years was in such pain. There was probably nothing Rarity could do to help. Maybe.
In a halting voice AF told Rarity about her latest adventure.
"We went to a new area, Zifar I'rradhim. Looking back now, I should have just said no to the cider stinking stallion professor but I was curious. I am not a cat, I am a pony. Things are not going to end up well for me. Anyway we poked around, dug up stuff and we found clues. They were vague but somehow we ended up getting a bunch of them and we got closer to the truth," AF stopped and showed Rarity pictures and her notes.
"Thousands of years ago there was a cult that worshiped something alien and evil. The cult had enough power to build a city far out in the desert. We found the city. This was the worst dig I have ever been on! During the days, it felt like we were being watched but we could not see anypony watching us.
Every night one pony would disappear from our party. A dwindling scream and thats it. We would search for hours in the night and cold but we would not find the missing pony. Here, look at these. I plan to burn them when I get home," AF continued and showed Rarity four photos from the city.
Rarity looked at the pictures. There was something familiar about the designs on the weathered columns. She had seen them before but where? She got a chill. Her fur on her back bristled.
"We were going to leave after we lost the second pony but a brutal sandstorm came in from nowhere. I guess it was a sandstorm. I have been in many but this one was different. The suddenness and the voices. Could not understand what they said. There was a lot of shrieking and howling. The other ponies acted like they could not hear them.
The storm uncovered some sort of hallway. I should have pushed harder to leave but the other ponies wanted to study the hallway. To leave now without something to justify the deaths of the other ponies seemed wrong. Damn! We should have left! Sorry Rare I destroyed the photos of what we found later. It was just too awful. We did get this. I can't bring myself to destroy it," AF said regretfully.
She rummaged through the other saddle bag and put a sealed grayish white vase on the table using her mouth.
"What happened to the evil cult?" Rarity asked.
"That area is a desert now but back then it was a fertile area supporting many cities and towns. The ponies in the other areas attacked the city and razed it. The cultists were all killed," AF finished her story and looked at the vase.
At first it was just a plain gray white vase but there was something subtle in the shading on the surface. Rarity looked closer. Yes, there was more to this. Hidden designs revealed themselves to her. Each one was more sophisticated than the previous one. Have to memorize these, could be really useful for my dresses, she thought. More designs came to her delighted eyes but there was something not quite right about these.
The newer designs seemed more playful, wait not quite, tricky. Later patterns moved to playful, naughty, rebellious, mean, malicious and worse. Rarity stopped looking deeper and just looked at the vase. Now it just seemed to be a foul crouching thing on her table.
"Rare! Are you all right?" AF asked.
"What?" Rarity replied in a daze.
"You have been staring at that vase for five minutes without saying anything," AF said.
Rarity looked back at the vase. Now it was just a pretty thing smeared with something disgusting. No way was she going to put her hooves on that.
"Really?" Rarity replied.
"Rarity, you have been a real good friend to me. I am quite lucky to have known you," Ancient Find said. A strange look was on her face. It was a mixture of fear and resignation and something else.
Rarity's eyes stung and filled with tears. It sounded like AF was going somewhere and never coming back. She would never see her again. Why was Ancient Find talking like that?
"Its been an honor," Ancient Find whispered.
She turned and kicked the vase to pieces with left rear hoof. A grayish pink mist rose up. The fog wrapped itself around Ancient Find. She started groaning.
"Ruuunn!" Ancient Find screamed before the mist tore her apart.
Rarity had been watching the fog but when AF told her to run she managed to gallop into her bedroom with tear filled eyes. She had been spared the sight of her friend's death. Rarity was not spared hearing her friend die. Thank goodness Sweetie Belle was not home. Who knows how she would have handled what happened or if she did not get into the bedroom in time... Rarity made sure the door was locked.
Whatever was on the other side of the door was pretty busy. She could hear all sorts of sounds coming from the boutique area. The silences were the worst. Maybe the vapor was outside her door listening to her? Then the noise would start up again. What was going on?
After a long silence, Rarity heard hooves. How did another pony get in? No, the doors are locked. Maybe the gray mist was a pony now? She could hear the sound of hoof steps walk up to her bedroom door.
"Rarity, lets talk like civilized beings," The mist or what ever it was said.
"Why should I talk to something that killed my friend?" An angry Rarity replied. Poor Ancient Find.
Why did the fog's voice sound so male?
"You can call me N'riss. I will keep it short. Your time is so limited. I need worshipers and a high priestess. You are a good candidate for both. There are many rewards to serving me," N'riss offered.
Rarity could smell the scent of an aroused stallion wafting under the door. Its been a while but somehow she managed to keep her focus. No one is going to kill me with my tail raised, she thought.
"The choice is real easy. You serve me or I come through that flimsy door. It won't be too pleasant for you. I will give five minutes for you to make a decision," N'riss said.
This time it was not the smell of a frisky stallion but more of a battleground of rotting dead ponies sliding under her door. Rarity backed away with her hoof over her nose. After a minute, the stench stopped assaulting her. She looked around her room to find something, anything to fight back.
While looking though some boxes, her magic sense was drawn towards a small box. Inside it was the stone knife Ancient Find sent her. Rarity remembered the two weeks of strange dreams and the time she spent staring at the dagger. After that she resolved never to open the box and look at the dagger ever again. Why did Ancient send me this? Nothing else in her bedroom came close enough to being a weapon though.
Rarity used her telekinesis to open the box. The dagger sat inside but it was different. Strange patterns danced on its surface. Almost against her will, she looked closer.
Rarity found herself in a strange restaurant. Everything was all sharp angles, no curves could be seen anywhere except on Rarity. A gray pony sat across from her at a triangular table.
"Let me do what I am supposed to do, white furball!" The angular gray pony said.
"What? I am not a furball! My name is Rarity!" Rarity replied.
"White furball Rarity listen to me carefully. I have been made for the purpose of tasting the blood of the Avatars of N'riss. You have little time to waste. Work with me and you will not have to fear what waits outside your door," The gray pony said.
"What is going on? I also do not appreciate your tone of voice or what you are calling me!" Rarity was getting angry.
The pony put its head in its hooves for a second then it looked up.
"Listen to me white furball Rarity if its the last thing you do!" The gray pony said in a tone that was serious as Death and as sharp as a newly honed blade.
"N'riss is a being of great evil. He will change your world in ways that will make you wish for death as the best thing but you will be denied! Your friend had most of the story right. I will fill in the missing parts. A hero found me and used me to slay the Avatar and his many followers. Once the Avatar died the cult fell apart. The city fell and was forgotten. I was dropped by the dying hero when he slew the Avatar.
Unfortunately, I did not slay the whole Avatar. Some of it was stored in a vase inside the throne. A trusted cult member hid the vase somewhere. Your friend found the city. N'riss was able to influence the minds of her party so they were able to find the vase and restart the cult. Your friend killed the rest of the party members but she took the vase with her. Now the Avatar is here. Fight with me or flail and die," The gray knife pony said.
"How do you know these things if you are just a knife in a box?" Rarity asked.
"I am MORE than just a knife in a box. I can see the past and some of the future," The angry knife pony replied.
"Why would my friend take the vase after killing her party members?" Rarity asked.
Its almost unbelievable that Ancient Find could just kill her friends like that. Rarity had pictures of them in her folders. They seemed so happy back then.
"Your friend did not know the connection between the vase and N'riss. N'riss also wanted to start a cult somewhere with a lot of followers. It would have been easy for him to guide your friend with subtle clues after she destroyed the cult members," The gray knife pony explained.
"So the Avatar told Ancient Find to come here to me?" Rarity asked.
"Its possible near the end that your friend suspected what was going on and tried to go to someone who could help or she was still being manipulated. Enough about your friend! Are you going to help me? Time grows short!" Knife pony said and stared at Rarity.
Rarity said yes and she found herself looking into the box.
The stone knife had changed. The blade looked sharp enough to cut the wind.
"I need some of your blood to anchor myself to this world," The knife said.
"Well?" Rarity replied.
How much blood does this thing need?
She sensed annoyance coming off of the weapon in waves.
"You have probably spilled more of your blood in small accidents over the years," The pissed off knife said.
Rarity sighed and said, "Fine."
She held out her left leg and picked up the knife using telekinesis. A quick stab. A ruby red drop appeared on her leg. The dagger sucked up the blood. She raised the dagger.
"No! You must put me in your mouth like an earth pony. N'riss has a great affinity for unicorns. If you use your magic, he will snatch me away and you will die," The knife explained.
She lowered the knife slowly to her mouth. The handle is kinda big. While Rarity was still deciding what to do the knife jumped into her mouth. She choked and gagged a bit.
"Open the door and run at him so I can taste his blood," The knife sounded almost hungry.
Rarity opened the door and galloped straight at N'riss. He had a surprised look on his face. She had a quick look at his muscular gray and pink body until the knife impaled him in the chest. Darkness and pain covered her. Somewhere a pony was screaming. Before Rarity passed out she recognized the voice as her own.
One and a half months later:
Its cold and damp but Rarity wanted a bit more time at Ancient Find's grave marker. There was no body in the grave. It was not found in the ruins of Rarity's Dress boutique. Other than Rarity nothing was intact. The upper floors just turned into a pinkish gray dust. Rarity was found half way buried unconscious.
She tried not to dwell too much on her time in quarantine. The weeks of having her fur removed or not being able to see any ponies face to face was almost too much to bear. Rarity had picked up some strange magic that caused ponies to become obsessed with patterns on her fur. The obsession led to insanity. No pony could look at Rarity until the strange magic was gone.
Rarity was almost isolated. Ponies could talk to her from behind a wall and letters were appreciated. The worst part was hearing the yearning in Sweetie Belle's voice when she visited. She wanted her life to be back to normal. Back then it seemed like Rarity would never be free of the strangeness.
Now the whole affair is over. Time to carry on. Rarity could see Sweetie Belle waiting in the carriage. Soon they will be going to their new home in Ponyville. Good bye Ancient Find, AF. I miss you terribly. The rain mixed with Rarity's falling tears as she slowly walked back to the carriage.
