Chapters “Thirty more minutes Flash, just keep it together....”
Flash Sentry was never a fan of garden patrol- a relatively new route added to the guard after Discord’s escape and subsequent tirade of chaos. For one, the gardens were almost empty save for the few other guardponies who patrolled the maze-like hedges, and the presence of the statues that had a now-present threat of turning into some monster or other only added to the anxiety of the situation.
Of course, that didn’t imply that they weren’t intimidating already; large “sculptures” of demons, monsters, high-profile criminals and the like, all of which were stuck in aggressive poses with fiercer expressions, always seemed ready to leap out and kill whoever looked at the for too long.
Now, of course, with the possibility of that being reality, the fear they instilled was marginally greater, which would likely have delighted said villains should they not be encased in stone. Thankfully it had been a year after Discord's breakout, and no other statues showed signs of coming to life, so there remained that relieving factor, at least.
Even still, with how nervous these figures made him, Flash Sentry made to pass the time by reading the plaques as he passed by each mounted pedestal; a pastime he enjoyed as much as he was discomforted by it.
“Discord... Aldair the Mad... Grayclaw... The Sisters... the....” He stopped dead in his tracks and turned back, warily resting his eyes on the pedestal he had just passed. The short, wide marble slab with the plaque reading “The Sisters Grim” was one that he passed every Thursday while on patrol, and the statutes upon it were ingrained in his memory.
Two female humans of identical height, with similarly lengthy hair, though their physical features were completely obscured. One wore a tight-fitting, long sleeved shirt or some cloth material, her hands, which were posed as if strangling someone, had fingerless gloves covering them, and she wore tight, course pants with thick leather boots.
Her face was hidden by a tight-fitting, cloth scarf covering the lower half, and a strange mask, looking like like the upper half of a human skull, was strapped to the upper portion. The only features visible were her piercing eyes.
The other was dressed almost identically, however her clothes were covered by an open jacket and a second, free-falling scarf, which were both partially concealed by an open trench coat. She was in a position as if about to stab someone, the petrified knife in her hand only asserting the assumption.
That is, of course, what Flash Sentry would have seen, and what he had seen for every Thursday for an entire year. Now, however, only a small pile of rubble took the places of each statue, leaving the pedestals terrifyingly empty of its previous denizens.
It took only a second of processing the sight before him before he was off, galloping back to the hedges he passed through into the small clearing. He had to, at whatever cost, warn the Princesses, he had to-
“Ah-hck,” he choked as he felt some invisible force grip his throat, stopping him in his sprint to the garden’s exit.
“You’re... not going... anywhere....” He heard a raspy, female voice wheeze out.
“W-who...?” Flash attempted to say, his voice strained by whatever was choking him.
He was violently lifted off the ground and turned around, and he found himself face-to-face with the Sisters Grim, their green eyes glaring at him through their masks.
The less heavily dressed of the two was making a similar motion to when she was stone; her hands were stretched out before her as if choking someone, and the tighter she closed her fingers, he felt the weight on his throat increase.
Desperately he trip to pull off whatever constricted his throat, but the force only crushed down more fiercely every time he brought his hooves up.
Suddenly he was thrown away, and smashed head first into the pedestal the two sisters previously stood upon. He lost consciousness almost immediately.
[***]
Having just thrown the... pony... away from us, I turned to my sister, Elizabeth, who was placing her knife back in her coat.
“What... what happened, sister...?” I asked, “Where are we?”
“I... I don’t know, Victoria... all I do know is...” she glared at the pony, “that... is our enemy....”
“You felt it too?”
She nodded, sighing, “Yes... I did.”
I suspected as much. The moment I had seen that pony I felt an overwhelming sense of anger, and almost fear. Whoever it is, it isn’t something we want to associate with, it would only spell trouble. I suppose Elizabeth felt it too.
After glancing back at the still unconscious pony, I looked to Elizabeth and asked, “What should we do?”
She remained silent, glaring vehemently at the pony for a number of minutes before grunting and bringing her right arm up. A swirl of black and orange dust amassed around her open hand, and I witnessed a similar mass appear around the pony.
The dust around the comatose form condensed itself into a maw of pointed, flaming teeth suspended in midair, and my sister clenched her hand into a fist. In tandem, the teeth slammed shut, biting into the head and neck of the pony, easily piercing the golden armor it wore.
There was a brief moment where it lurched and made a sick, pained gurgling noise as blood leaked out of its mouth after a few teeth had tore into its cheek, and then it fell limp.
“That’s... certainly one way to take care of the issue.” I had almost forgotten- like almost everything else -about the powers we had obtained. I vaguely recalled them being like those of a demon; hers was a control over ash and fire, mine....
“Sister...” Elizabeth turned at my words, “what element had I control over? I... cannot seem to remember.”
I could see her scarf shift as she frowned, “I... I do not recall either, Victoria, but... I am sure we will find out sooner or later.” She let a small orb of fire appear in her hand, “I only just remembered mine; I used it on instinct, more than anything.”
“Ah....” I sighed. I was disheartened to know that I might not regain memory of my power as quickly as her, but there was no use in lamenting over it; there were other issues to deal with.
“Where should we go to find answers?” I asked.
“What do you mean?”
I gave a half-hearted shrug and looked around, “Well... obviously we don’t remember much of anything about how we got here, or why theses... ponies are out enemies....” I looked back into her eyes, “Shouldn’t we seek out answers, try to figure out what got us here in the first place?”
She put a hand to her chin in thought, “Hm... you’re right.... Well...” she turned around, in the direction the pony had tried to run previously, “I suppose we should head out, then. We won’t find any answers here.”
“Right....” Silently, we made for the exit into the surrounding maze of hedges, stepping out the small clearing we awoke in. Thankfully, the hedges simply appeared as a maze; they were actually set in a rather easy to follow pattern, with signs pointing out the right way to the exit.
We walked at a fast pace, both hoping to leave the... garden, I suppose it was. I don’t know whether Elizabeth felt it, but being amongst the statues and trees put me on edge, but the equally fast pace and occasional glances at our surroundings told me she felt the same.
Unfortunately, at what I could guess was halfway to the exit of the garden, we were interrupted.
“Stop right there!” A male voice shouted from behind us.
We turned to find another guard, also dressed in gold armor, though this one had a white coat, as opposed to the orange tint of the one Elizabeth killed.
“The park is currently closed ,” the guard went on, “and trespassing carries a very hefty fee. Now, if you’ll-”
I growled, “Shut up....” I felt a strange prickling sensation shoot up my right arm as I swung it forward, and a thin wave of black shot out, impacting the guard and sending him barreling backwards.
After he hit the ground, I saw a large gash in his armor and in the flesh under it, blood gushing out into the grass underneath.
I stared, slightly stunned that I accomplished such a thing. I-
*
I screamed as I saw Elizabeth disappear in an eruption of fire, the Eye suspended before her spilling out black smoke and spewing flames to fuel the inferno.
“Elizabeth!”
I tried to run forward and stop it, but I found that the Eye I held was now before me, much like my sister’s. I stared at it, mesmerized by the inky blackness that seemed to swirl around the blazing green of the iris.
It wasn’t long before I found myself surrounded by the same shadows.
*
I felt a hand shake my shoulder, and I heard Elizabeth shout worriedly, “Victoria! Are you alright!?”
“I...” I shook my head furiously, “I... yes, I’m fine.” I stood, realizing I had fallen to my knees, and reassured her, “I just... had a flashback; I remembered when I got...” I summoned a small orb of black in my hands, “this....”
She simply stared at me for not even a second before pulling me into a tight embrace, “Thank God, I thought something had happened....”
I returned the gesture, giving her a gentle pat on the shoulder, “It’s alright sister, I’m fine....”
We held each other for a few minutes before breaking apart, and Elizabeth started down the path again, though marginally slower than before.
“Alright,” she said, “let’s get out of this garden, and find our answers.” I made to follow her, but she stopped only after a few feet.
“First, however...” she turned back, looking past me and igniting large plumes of fire in her hands, “this garden... I don’t like it....” She narrowed her eyes and took a stance as if about to throw something, “Get ready to run, Victoria, I’m bringing this garden to ash.”
[***]
As the day neared its end and Celestia’s court would give way to Luna’s, much as the sun to the moon, the two sisters met at the center of the throne room, one tired and worn by the day, the other much the opposite.
“I take it you’ve had a rough day, dear sister?” Luna inquired, seeing the almost haggard appearance that her usually regal and refined sister carried.
With a sigh, Celestia lowered her head and gave it a soft shake, “Like you wouldn’t believe, Luna. Countless documents, be they financial, public or what have you, a chorus of nobles and common folk alike seeking council, and more guard-related issues than I’d prefer to deal with in a day.”
With a frown, Princess Luna attempted to think of anything to say or do that might take some of the stress off of her sister, aside from the mandatory takeover of the court, that is. She seemed to be dealing with so much pressure that even the action of switching court duties wouldn’t alleviate her stress as it usually did.
Unfortunately, any words Princess Luna wished to say and any rest Princess Celestia hoped for were dashed almost immediately.
One guard, with charred and soot-stained fur, burn skin and partially melted armor, charged in through the doors of the throne room, almost cracking the walls they slammed into with the force he opened them.
“Princess Celestia, Princess Luna,” he shouted frantically, the urgency in his voice catching their full attention, “there’s been a large fire overtaking the gardens; the entire grounds are alight!”
“What!?” The elder sister all but shouted, “How did-”
She was cut off by a more disturbing sight. Another guard, this one with blood staining his coat and the breastplate of his armor, stormed into the hall with a look of fear in his eyes.
“Your highnesses,” he cried, “three guards- Cpl. Sentry, Pvt. Spring, and Pvt. Charge -have been found dead in the gardens!”
“What!?” Luna demanded, “Who could have-”
“It’s worse, your highness,” the second guard cut her off, “Cpl. Sentry was found dead against the pedestal of the Sisters Grim; their statues are missing!”
As a crushing silence filled the throne room, Princess Celestia realized what was happening. The gardens burning down in a raging fire, three guards found dead, and the statues of two notorious criminals missing, all after the events of another sealed criminal escaping confinement.
“But how-” she muttered, but broke her own sentence with a soft gasp.
The Demon of the Crystal Empire, King Sombra, had been recently killed; it wasn’t even a week ago that he had returned and subsequently been put to rest. The Sisters Grim carried the Eyes, it had to be the reason!
“Guards,” she said suddenly, “send out an order to the Generals; they are to inform all troops to be on diligent lookout for the Sisters Grim, and are to stop at nothing until they are apprehended. Is that clear?”
The two were slightly startled, but nonetheless saluted and chanted in unison, “Of course, your highness!” They galloped off straight afterwards, to pass on the order.
The room was, once again, left in complete silence. Or, it would have been, but now that her attention was drawn to it, Celestia could hear the faint crackling of the fire roaring in the gardens, and the muted shouts of the guards who were obviously working to quell the flames.
“Sister...” Luna said quietly, a worried hitch in her voice, “you don’t think...?”
Celestia, for all she was worth, could only shake her head and say, “I don’t know, Luna, but I pray this assumption isn’t correct....”
“Come,” she continued after a pause, trotting swiftly to the open doors, “we should not leave our guards alone in their endeavor to suppress the fires.”
Choking back her fear, Luna nodded and followed after her sister, muttering, “Of course....”
II- Shadows in the City Streets
I sighed as I leaned back against a wall, Elizabeth following suit. We had left the garden after she had set it ablaze, killing another guard on the way out, and we found ourselves hiding in the dark alleys of the city below the castle.
“So... sister, where to now?” I asked.
She grunted in frustration as she cleaned the blood of the third guard off her knife, “I don’t know, Victoria. I don’t recall anything about this world, or this city, or anything... at the moment, we’re blind.”
“Of course....”
She pushed herself off from the wall with a sigh, “Alright, let’s- ah-hck!” She suddenly clasped her hands around her throat, coughing and sputtering uncontrollably.
“Sister, what-” I went to grab her before she fell to the ground, but succumbed to a choking fit of my own. With every hack I felt a cold, prickly sensation build up in my throat, much like the feeling when I first remembered my powers.
I felt a strange sensation build up in my stomach, quickly rushing up my throat and to my mouth, barely giving me enough time to pull my scarf down.
I briefly saw Elizabeth do the same, before I clenched my eyes shut as some cold, painful liquid spewed from my mouth, spraying the ground beneath me. Opening my eyes and blinking the blurriness from them, I found myself staring at a thick, viscous pool of some black ichor, with small wisps of black trailing off into the air.
Hearing my sister gag, I looked over to see her bent over a puddle of thin, orange and black liquid, with small flames and plumes of smoke emitting from it. That's when I noticed the Eyes.
In each of our puddles was a large, spherical eye; pure white sclera and dark, piercing green color marked by shrunken black pupils. The sat in our respective pools, twitching madly and darting their vision at the world around them. The second the one I vomited up locked eyes with me, I felt my body seize up.
*
Elizabeth and I stayed stone faced as the mare screamed. She had just woken up and began thrashing wildly, pulling at her restraints.
She shouted something about her nobility, either trying to plead for her release or threaten us with her status.
I drowned out the cries as I reached for one of several small, bladed instruments; after the process was complete, she wouldn’t be shouting much anymore.
-/-
She only screamed louder through the initial stages of the process, and now it was starting to grate on my nerves- I could see the annoyance wearing down on my sister as well.
I sighed and carried her now-removed eyes over to a nearby shelf, placing them in a jar of preservative fluid, which also doubled as a solvent for the remaining blood covering the optic nerves.
“Please...” she begged, “I have a child, please....”
I stopped and turned back to her, my Eye in my hand, ready to finish the process. I stared long into the empty, bloody sockets in her skull.
“That is of no concern to us.” I said simply.
She shouted her voice till it cracked and broke as Elizabeth and I implemented the new Eyes into her skull, which immediately silenced her, as their effects took over.
*
I regained my senses, but all I saw was anger. All around me, everything I laid my eyes upon seemed to trigger my rage. Even worse was that I could feel that the Eye I had spat out- which had embedded itself into my right hand -was responsible for my anger. It pumped adrenaline into my blood, and dark, twisted fury into my mind.
Forgetting my sister momentarily, I screamed trying to vent some of my anger and stormed down the alley and out between the buildings, into the streets. So many innocent civilians and guards, all staring at me in confusion or worry.
I screamed again and threw my hand out, launching a small blade of darkness out at the nearest pony. She had only a second to cry in pain before it tore into her shoulder, cleaving the attached limb off and sending a spray of blood to the pony next to her.
There was a pause as they all stopped and stared, horrified; I didn’t.
I rushed forward at the blood-painted pony still frozen in fear and gripped the sides of her head. She clenched her teeth, and I felt her sweat seep through my gloves as she started to shake. I held a long glare into her eyes before I twisted her head to the side, eliciting a snap as her neck broke.
The next thing I knew a guard was bearing down on me, ready to swing a sword at my head with his own magic. I didn’t bother to dodge and simply grabbed it, bearing the painful, sharp sting as I tore it out of the air and threw it away.
He backed up slightly and I instinctively held my left hand out before me, as if holding a bow. To my slight shock, darkness crept up my arm and into my closed palm, forming the two arms of what looked like a longbow. Again purely on instinct, I made the motions of notching an arrow with my right hand, and to significantly less shock an arrow and string formed from my darkness.
Stupidly, the ponies seemed more stunned than I at my actions, as the guard who I stole the sword from simply stood in awe. Seeing my opportunity, I drew back the string and let the arrow fly, and it embedded itself just to the side of his left eye, all the way to the fletching.
The arrow disappeared, evaporating into black mist and fading into the air. I took a brief second to marvel at my now-remembered ability, but I was broken from my thoughts by Elizabeth.
“Victoria!” She shouted.
I felt a wave of heat wash past my back, and I turned to see a dying wall of fire pass over a guard, who fell to the ground in agony. It seemed that the guards had at least regained mental ground, and were retaliating against my actions.
Elizabeth and I stood back to back, surrounded by the five remaining guards, all of which had some form of sword, spear or dagger.
“Please, sister,” Elizabeth hissed under her breath, frustrated, “do not go storming out into the open, killing as you please. We only just escaped what I can easily deduce was imprisonment; we need not draw more attention!”
“Right,” I said and I shook my head, attempting to clear some of the anger, “I... I apologize it’s just....” I looked down at my right hand, “This Eye....”
“I know,” she whispered, in a much kinder tone, “but we must deal with the situation at hand- namely these guards -and leave from this city before we stop to discuss these...” she flashed her left hand, and I saw the eye she had expelled, “these Eyes....”
“Righ- dammit!” I ducked and swung upwards, automatically dispelling the bow and sending a wave of shadows up at the guard who had leapt at me.
He screamed as it cut through his armor and into his flesh, sending him back a few feet where he landed in a heap. One down.
I heard two more screams and the crackling of fire, as Elizabeth presumably killed to more. That left-
“Agh!” I felt a sharp pain in my side, and looked down to see one of the guards had stabbed me with their knife. I heard Elizabeth scream something in anger and the guard was ripped from my view, so I turned to face the last one.
My vision wavered through the pain, so I simply resorted to throwing several blades of darkness at random. The shout I received in response told me at least one hit its mark.
“Ah-hrgh!”
I flinched as a charred, mutilated body flew past- the guard who had stabbed me -and I felt a hand grasp my shoulder.
My vision started to fade- I could feel myself losing focus on the world around me, as Elizabeth picked me up and began to run.
“Don’t... rry... I’ll ge... s out... f hear....” Was the last thing I heard her say before I slipped into unconsciousness.
View Online
III- Buried several miles under Canterlot's Sins....
The Sisters Grim had escaped, that much was certain. Eight guards and two civilians dead, and the entirety of the Canterlot gardens burned down in a massive fire, leaving countless millions in damage costs.
The Princesses had not expected this; they never would have with how many years it had been since they had sealed the Sisters away in stone. Now, however, everything had changed, and they needed a way to stop them before they returned to their former actions of destruction.
They wouldn’t send the Elements. For one, Celestia was far too fond of Twilight Sparkle and her friends- especially so after the threat posed by Sombra’s recent return -and she couldn’t bear sending them to almost certain death. Even if she could, their power with the Elements was far too limited compared to her and Luna; they would never succeed.
No, now they needed aid from a source they never thought they’d see again, and wished they never would.
**
(Canterlot Asylum )
Commander Steelhoof trotted nervously alongside Princesses Celestia and Luna. He may have been a high-ranking soldier in Canterlot’s Royal Guard, but there was one place not even the bravest would feel safe; the Canterlot Asylum.
Honestly, he had no idea why they were even there- the place had been decommissioned and abandoned twenty years ago due to various, unspoken legal incident a certain group of doctors had gotten themselves caught in. The institution was closed, the doctors tried and jailed, and the patients moved to the Canterlot Medical Center for proper care and rehabilitations; it was all common knowledge.
So, for the life of him, he could not figure out why the two monarchs had ordered him to accompany them. They only said they were retrieving a necessary- if slightly unwanted -asset to quelling the recent string of criminal activity in the capital. He couldn’t understand who or what could be located in the old, decrepit building that would be anymore use than the battalions of guards they had on standby.
But, being the loyal soldier he was, he followed them inside, though he immediately wished he hadn’t.
The building looked horrible from the outside; peeling paint, cracked walls, shattered windows, and stains of age already marking the once-prestigious building. The inside was a whole nother story.
The halls were filled with trash and litter, ranging from crumpled old paper to discarded medical supplies from the asylum’s glory days. The floors, walls and ceilings were in a state of rotten disrepair- mor stained and broken than the outside, only with the odd busted light and hanging, frayed wiring.
Their hoofsteps echoed off of the silent walls, every step grating more and more on his already strained nerves. There was no light aside from the magi provided by Princess Celestia, and the absolute silence- the resounding clicks of their hooves notwithstanding -was intimidating, eerie hanging overhead and looming down on him.
The Princesses seemed to be feeling it too; they’re quick glances from side-to-side matched his own, and he could see sweat glistening on their fur, just as his own.
He felt himself flinch as a loud drip of water came down from somewhere nearby, it’s sound only enhanced by the otherwise silent structure. The Princesses fared no better, as they all stopped in slight discomfort and surprise, before shaking their ridiculous fears aside to continue onward.
Twenty minutes of walking through the increasingly fear-inducing halls lead them to an old, rusted gate, which held an elevator behind its seemingly ancient doors.
“This is where it will only get worse,” he heard Celestia murmur, “and worse and worse and worse...” She appeared slightly dazed, with a far off, hollow look in her eyes.
He heard Princess Luna sigh, “Let us get this over with. Sister, Steelhoof, please enter the elevator.” She seemed just as putt off as her sister, which only worried Steelhoof even more. He, nonetheless, complied.
The gate gave off a horrible screech as it was forced aside by Luna’s magic, and the old metal of the lift itself creaked and groaned under the stress of their bodies, sending a haunting cry through the empty building, and far down the elevator shaft.
The gate screeched once more as Luna closed it, and her magic operated an old wheel on the floor of the lift, an aged steel cable uncoiling with every slow, grinding rotation. Lethargically the elevator began to descend, and Steelhoof had to wonder; how old was this? Certainly it must be older than the asylum itself. The building was only opened fifty years ago, and this type of lift had been outdated over a century before.
“What you are about to see,” Celestia said suddenly, as if hearing Steelhoof’s thoughts, “is older than even this city; it’s been buried here since Everfree was the capital of Equestria.” She turned her head and stared into his eyes with a harrowed gaze, “This is a very ancient, very dark secret our rule has held for almost three thousand years, and I trust you will not divulge what you are to learn here today.”
It was a statement more than an order or request, one which Steelhoof shakily and readily agreed to.
“O-of course, your highness....” He would have managed a slute, but his nerves had gotten the better of him, and he simply resorted to a respectful incline of the head.
“Good.” The two sisters said with an edge to their voices. He could have sworn Princess Celestia said something else under her breath, but he didn’t catch it, and was not compelled to inquire about what it was.
The ride from there on out was silent, aside from the scraping, grinding whine of the elevator as it descended into the darkness. The stone walls crept by slowly, and there seemed to be no sign of stopping anytime soon. In fact, there were no floors beneath the one they had departed from, a fact which only disturbed Steelhoof the more hundreds of feet they dropped.
Of course, he wished it had stayed that way.
A floor which they had not stopped at- a fact for which Steelhoof would be eternally grateful -held a sight he never expected to see in his lifetime, and never hoped to see again.
The lift’s slow crawl let him see through the glass doors of a floor he had never knew existed, some few hundred feet below the main floor of the asylum. Behind the glass doors was a long, dirtied hall, with large maroon stains across the walls and floor. He suspected what they were stains of, but decide not to dwell on that thought. Instead, his focus was drawn to the floor.
Hundreds of white bags- body bags, for which he recognized after the odd murder case in Canterlot -were strewn across the ground. None of them laid flat, they all had a vaguely pony-shaped lump held within, and each one sat stained maroon as the walls.
“Only half of the patients made it to the medical center,” he heard Celestia mutter in a haunted voice, “the rest never left this place....”
If his nerves hadn’t locked his body completely, he would have vomited then and there.
**
(The Bottom Floor )
Steelhoof struggled to leave the elevator, and the the almost volatile state of their destination floor made no issue with deterring him from stepping off.
There was almost no light save for the dim, mostly shattered bulbs overhead, that only served to illuminate what could be described as a nightmare. Broken equipment, trash and waste, maroon stains on the walls and scattered debris, what could barely be identified as claw marks in the tiled floor. The smell was the worst part.
The horrid stench of rotten... something filled the air- the bones here and there telling Steelhoof full well what had decomposed, even if he denied it in his mind. A lingering fume of waste- urine and feces -filled the air alongside the rotted smell, mixing into a mask of odor that made not just the commander retch, but the Princesses as well.
“It has been... far too long,” Luna mumbled, “but not long enough....”
“Come, Steelhoof,” Celestia started down the hall, her sister in step behind her, “it is only a short walk....”
He swallowed the bile building in the back of his throat and stumbled forward into the seeming abyss of the hallway. The sounds of their hooves were muted here by the caked muck layering a majority of the floor, leaving them all in complete, utter silence as they pushed forward.
Steelhoof swore he could hear whispers in the darkness; strange words being passed between unseen entities that watched them from nowhere. Low, dark tongues muttered amongst what he could not see, and should never be able to hear.
‘Pay them no mind,’ he thought to himself in an attempt to calm his racked nerves, ‘they are just figments of your imagination....’
They never grew louder nor quieter, much to his relief and dismay.
Still they marched on, as the conditions became worse and worse, and Steelhoof saw more of the remains of what he hoped were not ponies strewn amongst the ruined floor. He did not take note of the time spent walking down this hall; he simply wanted to keep his thoughts on anything but the asylum by then.
Finally, however, they reached what he guess was their final stop; a large, steel door, probably almost several feet thick, with a series of locks and bolts lining the surface. There was a series of clicks as blue and gold magic enveloped these locks, and the door groaned to life.
“This,” Celestia said fearfully, “is Death’s door.”
IV- Where Death itself doth Sleep
(At Death’s Door )
The door creaked, grinding against the stone that surrounded it. The churning, clunking sounds of ancient machinery moved amongst the walls as the locks and bars clicked in and out of place, allowing the massive entrance to slowly sing open.
Inside was a sight Steelhoof wished was impossible.
The room which existed beyond that steel wall revealed itself to be a nightmare, one far surpassing that of the disastrous state of the asylum itself. In essence, there was little of a room to speak of, which lead to the surge of terror that swept through Steelhoof, and less noticeably the Princesses.
Through that door was only a narrow, crumbling stone path that floated in an endless void of pure black. It sat suspended in nothingness, blanketed by the emptiness around it. There could have been a bottom- he saw the path was built up from somewhere in the abyss below, but it stretched so far down that the rock gave way to nothingness.
Surely the pure absence of space went down deeper than actually possible? It certainly seemed to climb higher than the distance they had travelled down, it made no sense.
And the shadows that surrounded them, they were the most crippling experience of the “room”. Steelhoof swore that he saw shapes- uncertain figures squirming around in the darkness. They twisted and turned and slithered about in the heavy darkness, moving just out of sight, even if Steelhoof could feel the weight of their gaze on every part of his being.
Whispers, just like those outside the room, were traded between these unseen entities.
“Come,” Celestia’s shaking words cut briefly into his fear, “let us push forward. It is only a short distance now.”
They all proceeded, with staggered steps, down the shadow-drowned pathway. It was a silent walk, save the whispers, until Luna began to speak. What she said only unsettled Steelhoof further.
“And on this path we walk,” she muttered under her breath, looking nowhere but down at the stone path before them, “silent as the dead we seek/only speaking words of prayer/To pass those who find death unto death.”
It was a prayer of some sort, that much Steelhoof was sure of, but he had no knowledge of its origins. Princess Celestia, meanwhile, seemed to be following along in silence.
“We walk down this path of life/under the everbearing shadow of Death,” she continued on, any constitution in her voice gone, “and we hope to greet thee in kindness. We art stained on body by blood/we art stained in soul by strife/we art stained in mind by terror/and we come to thee in fear of what is to come after thee.”
Steelhoof’s nerves now were beyond calming- he felt that after today, he would never be the same, and never be able to forget what he would witness.
“And in the last lights of our day/when all semblance of life doth leave,” Luna’s voice carried a strange echo as it was carried through the void, “we will meet thee in dignity, or in pity/and you stand waiting at the edge of the world/whispering silently in our live at all times.”
They stopped walking, Steelhoof noticed, and stopped in front of a hunched over figure.
“And in this last of lights we gaze upon thee,” the figure said in a hushed, otherworldly tone, “and see thine figure against the darkness of the afterlife/where all ceases to be.”
The figure looked up, and stared each of them in the eyes, “And we shall say unto, as many said unto us in passing.”
Celestia, Luna and the figure finished their prayer in unison, reciting the last words together.
“We bring to thee our souls, and come to the in reverence/and by our eternal right to die we welcome thee yet shun thee. With mortality we speak unto thee; Death.”
(At the Edge of the World )
Steelhoof chose that moment to let his fear take over, and he fainted. The Princesses and the figure paid him no mind, as they were focused on each other.
The figure was a tall human woman, almost reaching eye level to Celestia even when curled up on the floor. Her body- save for the head -was bound completely in old, time-stained white clothes, made of a heavy cloth and covered in straps and chains, confining her completely within. A single noose hung around her neck, frayed a few feet down.
She had untamed, wild black hair that fell down around her, and would easily come close to her own monstrous height in its length. Her skin was pale, matching the almost blinded look of her eyes, which were stark white, with thin black lines marking where her iris might be, and no pupils or color to speak of. She was thin and gaunt, looking sickly and almost appearing as dead, if it weren’t for her being able to move and speak.
Scars marked from her mouth and chin, all the way down her body, though the majority were covered by her heavy attire. More scars, though only a small number, crawled down from the bottoms of her eyes.
“Why have you sought me?” She asked the Princesses in her strange, hollow voice, which echoed across the void, “Am I finally to die?”
“No!” Celestia shouted quickly, receiving a frown from the figure. She tried to regain her self, “No... that’s not why we are here....” The figure stared up at her with a blank expression, making the Princess even more uneasy.
“A pity,” she finally said, “but I should have suspected. You did not let me die when my purpose was fulfilled, and you would yet allow me to now.” There seemed to be a slight pressure growing in the air as she spoke, “Instead you torture me by keeping me in this cell; I am to die when my purpose is over, yet you deny me my right. It hurts me more than dying ever would.”
“We... we could not let that happen,” Luna muttered, “especially not with the recent events....”
The figure turned to her, “Recent events?” She stared off to the right, into the void, “Yes, several guards have died today, all in a manner much more gruesome than any sane being could accomplish. What has happened?”
Celestia traded a glance with her sister, becoming extremely uncomfortable under the increasing pressure bearing down, which only added to the immense feelings of unease she had in such a place.
“It would seem...” she finally whispered, “that we were correct in keeping you here, alive. Your purpose never ended....”
The pressure immediately ceased.
“Tell me. Now.” The figure demanded.
“T-the Sisters Grim... Victoria and Elizabeth escaped their prisons.” Celestia swallowed a lump in her throat, “They never died, they were only trapped, and waiting to break out....”
The shadows in the void around them seemed to twist and contort even more violently, and the whispers turned into harsh screams of anger and suffering. The Princesses reached up and clasped their hooves around their ears, attempting to drown out the cries, though they were fruitless in their endeavors.
Slowly, pushing herself from whatever invisible force separated her from falling off the edge and into the void, the figure stood. She almost doubled Celestia in height, at a towering ten feet, looming over and casting a shadow over Steelhoof, who had fainted between the two monarchs.
“I require payment to leave this place... the Sisters are not a guarantee, as with their last run of terror on this realm....” She looked down to Steelhoof’s prone form, “I suppose he is to suffice?”
Guiltily the two sisters nodded, and Celestia muttered, “We brought him for that purpose, even if he did not know it....”
“Deceiving as ever.” The figure said. She lent forward with an outstretched hand and looked ready to grab the Commander. Instead, however, her hand phased through his body, leaving her wrist-deep into his chest, with not a drop of blood.
She slowly pulled her arm back, pulling along a thin, spectral white string, which fluttered in a non existent breeze. His body went limp the moment the last inch of the string left his body.
“I thank you for this most grievous payment.” She said simply, and let go of the ethereal strand. It simply floated off into the void, disappearing into the screaming shadows.
“Now, let us leave.” She started down the path, over Steelhoof’s corpse and past the two Princesses. They quickly followed, making a decision to leave Steelhoof’s body behind; the less evidence of what transpired, the better.
As they marched back across the stone pathway, the darkness swallowed what they left behind, always staying just inches behind their heels, waiting for them to leave so that it could devour the rest of the room.
As the heavy steel door slammed shut behind them, the locks clicking back into place, and as the void at the rest of the world beyond it, the figure spared herself one thought, and one thought only. A small memory of when she had last met the two sisters, Victoria and Elizabeth.
**
She was thrown away by Victoria in anger, slamming painfully into a wall. She heard a loud crack from her right shoulder, it’d surely been broken by the impact. She cried and placed her hands over her eyes as the pain only became sharper- they had planned to implant those demon’s eyes in her own head and take control over her. It had failed, and now she sat there, blind and in agony.
“You are worthless to us now,” Elizabeth said indignantly, “either leave on your own accord, or we kill you. As far as your feet carry you, if it is still within the bounds of our reach, we will end your life.”
She desperately clawed at the ground, trying to pull herself away so that she could escape. It was futile; her legs were broken and bruised, and the immense pain in her shoulder made it impossible to drag herself away. she resigned herself to her fate there on the floor, waiting to be killed.
“So be it.” Victoria said.
She felt a stab into her chest and screamed.
“What is....” She faintly heard someone say.
Pain, followed by a cold, stinging sensation shot through her entire body, and her vision went white.
**
She remembered nothing from that day afterwards, but one thing stuck out in her mind; something she recalled saying sometime- maybe years -after she was killed, a revelation she’d had.
A small few sentences, which might be viewed by others in any other context as being a result of madness. But, for her, it was something that stuck with her for thousands of years, a statement of what she was, who she was.
“Those who walk in the shadow I cast,” she muttered, “leave no footprint on the waking world.”
The Princesses barely heard this, but the tone and content of what she said disturbed them, just as it always had.
“For those who tread in the shadow of Death, may leave no mark on the world of the living.”
V- Words Hanging from a Rotted Noose
The woman which the Princesses had retrieved from under the asylum accompanied the two monarchs back to the castle. Her presence startled many of the guards and castle staff, and after numerous questions were only told two things, and were ordered to spread word to the rest of the castle’s occupance.
Firstly, the woman was called “ema”. Secondly, all guards, maids, servants, dignitaries- anyone that was currently within the castle grounds -were to regard “ema” as if she did not exist. They were to not speak with her or interact with her in any way, they were to ignore every word she says, whether she is addressing them or not, and they are to avoid any and all physical contact with her.
The Princesses and ema stopped outside of two large doors, which led to the throne room. Before stepping through however, Celestia turned and looked up at ema with a questioning look in her eye, accompanied by her now-natural unease around the woman.
“Before we introduce you to a few... rather important ponies who will become involved with the hunt for the sisters,” she sighed, “is there anything you will need?”
She only turned around, putting her back to the Princesses, “Only for you to undo these bindings; I will be of substantially less use if I cannot move about freely.”
“Of course,” Luna muttered, her horn beginning to glow, “of course....”
The glow subsequently covered the sleeves of the straight jacket. Several small ‘clinks’ issued from the locks, and the sleeves fell free. Luna immediately regretted the action, as the rotten remains of the bones of ema’s right arm fell from the fabric, followed by a foul odor akin to a fetid corpse.
“Apologies,” ema said emotionlessly, “but if you remember, my arm was particularly lacerated when I was locked down there, and with no way to treat it, it decomposed.”
Swallowing the bile rising in her throat, Celestia choked out, “Is there... anything else...?”
“No.” ema stepped towards the door, “My current state will suffice for now. I will require a few personal items later, which I am certain you have been keeping locked away for this situation. Return them to me simply within the next ten hours and I will not be tempted to remove your horn from your head.”
ema let her eyes fall on a small, almost invisible line at the base of Celestia’s horn, and upon noticing this and registering her last statement, Celestia felt a nervous sweat break out all over her body.
“Alright,” Luna suddenly stated, hoping to break the tension, “let us continue, shall we?”
Quickly nodding, Celestia stepped towards the doors and enveloped it in her magic, slowly pushing them open. Once removed from their path, the three stepped through, greeted by the sight of six ponies; the bearers of the Elements of Harmony.
“Princess!” Twilight Sparkle, a purple unicorn, ran up to the small group. “We came as fast as we cou-” She skid to a halt as she processed ema next to them. “Um... Princess...?”
The Princess sighed, “While I wish I could give you the same order as the rest of the castle...” she glanced nervously back at ema, “the situation demands that I do not. You are aware of the recent events here in Canterlot, correct?”
“Y-yeah... The fire in the gardens, and the guards... Dying.” She nodded. “You told me in the letter.”
“This...” Luna gestured to ema, “is realistically our only chance of stopping these events from escalating. This is ema.”
Twilight nervously waved. “H-hello...”
ema stared at her silently, then turned to Celestia, “You are a fool. I told you to send notice to the remaining descendant of Starswirl’s clan, and you bring me her?”
“That will wait,” Celestia said through gritted teeth, “this is another matter that is of similar importance. These six ponies helped to quell several threats that would have ended in disaster, and while they may be unable to stop the Sisters on their own, they will be able to aid you, at the very least.”
ema looked between the ponies with a blank stare, simply saying, “I do not know how much information you all have been provided with, but know that if this results on your deaths, I will not be held responsible.”
‘Or maybe I shall’ , she thought to herself, ‘but that remains open at the moment.’
“A-alright...” Twilight backed away a little. In the back Pinkie waved happily.
ema stared at the gathered ponies silently before turning back to Celestia and Luna, “I would rather you two leave while I converse with these six; I’m sure you have duties to attend to, after all.”
Celestia noticeably tensed at her words, but nevertheless sighed and nodded, “Fine... but we will return shortly to make sure nothing has happened.” She cast a worried glance at Twilight, which ema picked up on.
“Do not worry,” she said quietly, so that only Celestia could hear, “if I were to do something that would upset you, I would have it done in your presence.” She narrowed her eyes, showing a small hint of anger, “I have much to repay for nearly three thousand years of confinement.”
Celestia looked ready to respond, but held her tongue and simply turned around, walking stiffly out of the throne room. After mirroring the increasingly worried looks on the faces of the bearers, Luna followed, the doors slamming shut behind them as they left.
“Now...” ema said, sitting down before the ponies, “we have much to discuss. If you have questions ask them, and I will answer to what I please.”
“Um I don’t mean to offend...” Fluttershy looked at her. “But, what are you?”
She locked eyes with the pegasus and said simply, “I have no obligation to tell you that, and I am sure Celestia would be displeased if I did.... Simply put, I once was human, as the two sisters we will hunt, but after their twisted experiments failed to bend me to their will, I became the only thing that could stop them. Simply put... I am their death, and nothing else.”
Fluttershy eeped and nodded.
Twilight raised an eyebrow. “How do you know the princesses?”
ema turned to her, “After the Sister’s attempts at subduing me failed and I became what I am, the Princesses begged for my aid. After they used me to lure the Sisters out, Celestia and Luna trapped the two in stone using the Elements. My purpose fulfilled, I only wished to be left alone to die. The Princesses, doubtful that the Sisters were truly stopped, locked me several miles underneath Canterlot, where I was left to my own realm with no hope for food, sleep, nor death. They recently decided to dig me up and put me to work again, and are likely going to deny me my only wish once this is sorted.”
“W-why would you want to die?”
She frowned, “When I said I became the Sisters’ death, I meant it. When they die, so should I. It is simply how the universe has decided to play out, and I am not one to argue with forces beyond my comprehension.”
Twilight simply stayed silent as she looked around awkwardly. Pinkie looked over with a smile. “What’s your favorite color?”
“That is a pointless question,” ema said flatly, “I am blind.”
“Oh...” Pinkie blinked. “What’s your favorite food?”
“I do not eat, and have not eaten for almost three thousand years. If you remember, I was locked away with no hope for any sort of food.”
“Oh....” Pinkie sat down and looked at the floor before looking at ema. “Have you been to a party before?”
“Perhaps once before, back before the Sisters entered my life. I do not remember, and frankly I have no desire to attend a party. There is no cause for celebration in what lies ahead, so there will be no celebration, simply put.”
Pinkie frowned. “Oh... Okay....” She slowly trotted back to her friends.
“Um darling...” Rarity stepped forward. “Would you mind if I made you something to wear?”
ema stared at her, “The Princesses, if they are inclined to follow through with my request, will be returning my possessions from where they are currently being held. Among these possessions is my clothes.”
“Would you mind if I fixed them up a little?”
“The material from which they are made would be unaffected by any attempts to “fix them up” unless done by my own power. Simply put, no.”
The group stayed silent for a little before Rainbow threw up her hooves. “Oh for the- Why are you so creepy!?”
ema blinked and frowned in her direction, “Various reasons could be attributed to me being “creepy” as you put it. First and foremost, I suppose, would be the nature of my existence as solely being the death of two other beings. I suppose it could also be that you are currently speaking with what is, in all senses, a walking corpse.”
“What!?”
“I died over two thousand years ago, when the Sisters failed and killed me for my lack of use. The only reason I still walk in this world is to kill them. That is why I must die when my job is done, as I will have no more reason to exist.”
Rainbow stared at her for a few seconds before speaking again. “So... Let me get this straight... You’re dead, blind, haven’t had a party, and you haven’t eaten in over three thousand years?”
“Yes.” ema said simply. She cut off any other words that might have been said, “Now, I believe it would be wise to make sure we are all on equal ground; how much do all of you know about the Sisters Grim?”
Twilight perked up. “Well... They were imprisoned, they recently broke out, and burned the gardens down.”
“Hm... minimal knowledge at best....” ema muttered, then asked, “Do you know of the Demon Sombra?”
“King Sombra?” Twilight nodded. “Y-yeah. He was destroyed when Princess Cadence recovered the crystal heart.”
ema tensed, staring at Twilight and asking in a low tone, “Who is this “Princess Cadence”?”
“Um....” Twilight backed away at her tone. “The princess of love... She’s an alicorn.”
The pressure in the room seemed to increase, and the temperature felt as if it dropped several degrees, while ema simply stared past Twilight with no emotion on her face. Slight whispers seemed to echo from the shadows in the corners of the room, which appeared to be creeping out further and further every second.
“Whoever this Cadence is...” she said passively, “she will require a very strong reason for me not to end her life the moment I see her....”
“Hey! She’s my sister in law.” Twilight scowled at her.
Everything in the room seemed to stop, and suddenly Twilight felt thousands of invisible eyes glaring at her, as ema’s gaze landed on her.
“If she has destroyed Sombra, she has also destroyed the only conceivable way of stopping the Sisters. They hold in their hands the Eyes of that Demon, and returning them to his body is the only action which can stop them.”
ema rose from the ground and stepped forward, standing over Twilight and looking down at her with malice in her eyes.
“The only way reverse this is to find Starswirl’s descendant, whoever that may be, and forcibly gouge out their eyes and let the Sisters implant them in their skull. Even then, the descendant would only be under the Sisters’ control.”
She leaned down, her face only centimeters from Twilight’s, “Unless you wish eternal suffering on an innocent life, there is nothing we can do thanks to the actions of this “Cadence” you speak of.” She tilted her head to the side and asked, “Would you like to volunteer?”
Twilight backed away quickly. “N-no thanks!”
ema stared at her for a few seconds, and suddenly the pressure let up, and the temperature returned to normal. She turned slowly and walked to the doors, pausing just before them to say, “Then there is little hope now, for what may come in the future.”
Silently she stepped forward, passing through the doors as if they weren’t even there, leaving the bearers alone in the throne room.
Interlude I- Nightmares Plagued by Eyes
I found myself in a vast, empty void; complete darkness from every way I looked.
A single eye, the one embedded in my right hand, floated before me, glaring its shadows into my own.
“You forget who I am.” A dark, warped voice hissed from the Eye.
I simply nodded, “Yes, I have. Being trapped in stone has fogged my memory.”
“But you know what I can do, what I do for you, what I have done for you, and what I shall do for you.”
I shook my head, “No, I do not.”
Its pupil dilated, and the voice seethed, “You will remember in time.”
“Of course.”
I felt the shadows creep out from the Eye and wrap around my body, consuming me and leaving only an opening for me to still see the Eye itself.
A second Eye appeared, this one trailed by fire and ash, and I felt its heat surround me as well.
“Your sister is no wiser than you,” it growled, “but in the same way, she will remember in time.”
“Find me the sixteenth in the line of the Starswirl clan,” they said together, creating a demonic tone, “bring her to me. She has been touched by my magic, as was her ancestor. She will suffice for the Ritual.”
“Where do I find her?” I asked impassively. I felt nothing while in this... place, and the strange, hypnotic effect of the swirling shadows, ash and fire put me in a sort of trance.
“She is located somewhere in Equestria, the nation you and your sister are currently in. She has close ties to the Princesses, who will stop at nothing to capture you. Do not let that happen.”
“Of course.”
The Eyes moved forward, just inches from my own, and I felt as if they were burning holes into my mind with their glare.
Even if I could feel no emotion in my trance-like state, I could feel an almost primordial, mortal fear somewhere in the back of my mind, screaming at me to run from the Eyes, even if I knew I could not.
Before everything faded to nothing, I heard the voice say one last thing to me.
“Do not fail.”