New Trottland Yard Case 03 - Silver Cross and the Legend of the four crosses

Silver Cross

and the Legend of the four crosses

Chapter 2

I wasn't out for long. Only a moment after my face had hit the ground, I jolted fully awake again. I looked around frantically, but I wasn't in the forest anymore. I was in front of a ruined building, and the rest of the city I was in didn't look any better. There were bullet holes in the walls, and most of them had collapsed. What caught my eye however, was a pure black Earthpony mare, fighting several Changelings not far from where I was. I struggled to my tired hooves and galloped to her aid as fast as I could.

She dodged and weaved around them, striking their necks with her bare hoofs. The strength she used to do that however, was enormous. I could see their necks snap with each of her strikes. Suddenly a few of them fired arcane bolts at her. I was almost there, but I wouldn't make it in time to knock her aside. What came next almost rooted me to the spot. Her shadow came to life from under the mare, enveloping her fully and disappearing into the ground. A moment later, she reappeared behind the group that had tried to use their magic on her. Her hoofs rained down blow after blow, until all of them lay motionless.

A bigger one, looking almost like a twisted version of the legendary Alicorns, came out of a building to the mares right. She didn't seem to notice it as it charged at her. I switched into high gear and slammed my head right into the things flank, shortly before it could impale the mare on it's horn. We both tumbled over the ground, the strange Changeling hissing and biting at me, while I brought down my cross three times on it's head. The forth hit finally crushed it's head, splattering me with green blood and brain matter...

Somepony put a hoof on my shoulder carefully, and I turned around. The mare from earlier was grinning at me, her amber eyes gleaming with joy. Her mane and tail were soaked with Changeling blood, so I could barely make out their original gray color.

“Good job there Silver. You saved my sorry flank once again. Guess I owe you.”, she said, looking down at the crushed head of the Changeling.

“How... how do you know my name?”, I asked confused.

The grin on her face disappeared as she mustered me from head to hoof. When her gaze fell onto the right side of my face, she gasped. Her hoof shot forward, pointing at the bite wound I had suffered there.

“What the hay? You don't even know who I am, are you? Oh this is such a mess....”, she cursed, beginning to pace up and down in front of me.

“What... what's going on here? Where am I, and...”, I started, but the mare just waved an impatient hoof at me.

“Look, you shouldn't be here. Well... you should, but not you YOU.... Argh! Ok, let me try to make sense of this. That wound on your cheek... When I first met you, it was already long healed. You never told me where you got it, but I guess I know now. Oh this is such a mess...”, she whined. Unconsciously, my hoof went up to my cheek. What was the meaning of this? She knew me? This wound had already been healed when she “first” met me?

“Answers please?”, I asked weakly. My head started to hurt, trying to make sense of it all.

“Ok... Well... My name is Shadow Cross, but my friends, including you, usually call me Nighty. You are... about ten thousand years in your relative future, and well... I am the bearer of the Luna cross.”, she rattled down so fast that I took me a moment to get the meaning of her words. When I nodded, she held out a foreleg and I noticed the cross that was strapped to it. As the one Dancing wore, this one was basically the twin of my own cross, except for the symbol etched into it. On the right side of her cross was the image of a crescent moon.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Several hours had passed since I had ended up here, and Shadow and I had set up camp in one of the ruined buildings. It took me a while to digest what she had told me. Right now, she was explaining the crosses to me since she thought I ought to know about them.

“You see... About... thirty thousand years ago, Equestria was ruled by three Alicorn Princesses. They ruled fair and the land enjoyed a very long era of peace and harmony. A fourth Princess ruled the Crystal empire. In your era it should be known as the badlands. It was destroyed during the first Changeling invasion, but the Alicorn ruling it could escape to Equestria. After the Changelings had been defeated, their Queen allied herself with some kind of demon from Tartarus. It granted her enormous power. That creature changed the entire Changeling swarm. They are servants to the Nightmare since then. The swarm almost overwhelmed Equestria, had it not been for the four Alicorns. They fought valiantly, and finally defeated the Nightmare. The Alicorns however, had been weakened by the battle as well, and so the Nightmare was able to banish them to Tartarus before it died. It took the demon several millenia to regain it's strength, but the Alicorns knew that it would. Still trapped in the underworld, they used the only materials they had on hoof... They used their own flesh and blood, forming them into the four crosses with their magic. Each cross holds the power of one of the Alicorns. Only one bearer was intended for each cross, which means that the mission they were made for will fail if one of us dies, before she fulfills her destiny...”, Shadow explained, while I listened intently.

“Our destiny? What is that?”, I interjected.

“To defeat the demon, and to seal the gates to the underworld forever. The spell the Alicorns used to send the crosses to this world however, went slightly wrong. They got scattered through time and space, as did the souls of the intended bearers. Luckily, Twilight Sparkle the Alicorn of friendship, connected the crosses with each other. That little spell she cast on them is the reason you are here right now. I was in a bind, and your cross brought you here to help me... It's how it works. The only one who can travel willingly is Dancing, the bearer of the Cadence cross, but she's never been much of a help to me to be honest. “, Shadow elaborated.

“Ok... so... How are we supposed to do that? I mean, if we are all scattered like that? There has to be a way to get us all in one place, right?”

“Dancing is the only one who knows all the details, and she is very scarce with any information. I figure one of us, most likely you, will have to face the Nightmare and your cross will summon the rest of us to join the fight... Sorry that I can't tell you more about that, but our dear sister in destiny isn't very talkative lately....”

Shadow let her head droop a little. She was obviously devastated that she couldn't help me any further, but I didn't blame her for it. Dancing hadn't exactly been forthcoming with information when she talked to me either...

“Don't sweat it. We'll figure it out. So... how do I get back home, and why do you think I will have to face the Nightmare alone and summon all of you?”, I inquired, looking down at my cross.

“It's your era in which the Nightmare is coming back, so I think it's only logical. What you see all around you is what will happen if it's plans succeed. It will destroy the world, and enslave all of Ponykind. That big Changeling you killed earlier was one of it's surrogate bodies. They are like bad copies. Not very strong, but dangerous because they can move silently.”

“So... ehm... that fight earlier. You used some pretty neat tricks there. Looked like magic, even though you are an Earthpony.”, I wanted to know.

“Oh that? Amplifying magic, combined with shadow walk and shadow spears. Nothing special. It's all my cross really. Yours is much more amazing.”, she chuckled, pointing a hoof an my cross. I cocked my head. Amazing? I had only ever hit things with it, or fired that blast of sunlight. Oh and then there was this weird glowing coat thing, which I had no idea on how to activate it... I told her as much, and she went serious once more.

“You... Ouch... Ok how long have you been a bearer? I bear my cross for almost all my life now, and still haven't unlocked all of it's powers.”, she said seriously.

“Well... ehm... about three months I guess.”, I answered honestly. Shadow facehoofed at that, and I felt like a foal that did something wrong.

“So you're still at the beginning of your journey... That explains it. Look, I first met you when I was about ten years old. During that encounter, you took out a fully grown dragon without moving an inch! You gave me a piece of advice back then, and I will give it right back to you: Don't just take your cross for granted. Explore it's powers and history. Learn about the Alicorn whose powers you wield. That is the only way you can truly use it to it's full potential. Understood?”, she said in a serious tone. I nodded, wanting to move on to another topic entirely.

I wanted to ask how she had found her cross, when the wall behind my companion erupted in a rain of rubble. We both jumped back, readying ourselves for a fight. I had expected one of these big Changelings, or maybe even several of the smaller ones, but I couldn't be so lucky, could I? A giant scorpion like creature with a burning hide stood in the hole in the wall.

“Hell Scorpion!”, Shadow snarled and disappeared into the ground with her little shadow trick. I was left facing off against a Scorpion that was as big as four Timberwolfs, and whose chitin armor was burning in white hot flames...

“Here goes nothing!”, I shouted, running farther into the ruins, hoping that the thing didn't follow me. Alas, it did. Walls crumpled as it simply charged through them. I ran as fast as I could, wondering where the buck Shadow Cross had run off to, when I hit a dead end. There was a wall there, and I was too exhausted to try and beat it down with my cross. The creature came up behind me, and I could feel the heat emanating from it as it screeched in anticipation of a meal.

Just as it's burning stinger came down to meet me, the ground in front of me turned dark. Shadow emerged from it, her eyes glowing in a silvery light as she took the blow that was intended for me. Her body was flung back against the wall that had blocked my way earlier, knocking it down in the process. I had just managed to jump out of the way in time to avoid being crushed. The giant creature pulled back it's stinger, and I ran over to Shadow to see if she was still alive.

She was, but the light in her eyes was flickering on and off as she was panting hard. Her right side looked as if several of her ribs had been broken, along with her shoulder and hip.

“So...rry... I... I... lied... to … you...”, she panted as I tried to scoop her up on my back. Shadow just shook her head, holding her uninjured left foreleg out to me.

“Take... it.”, she added nodding towards the cross that was strapped to it. I hesitated.

“No. No come on, you'll be alright. I'll get you out of here.”

“Don..'t be... a foal. I won't... make it. Go on... take it... I was... only... safeguarding it.... for... you. It was... my... destiny...”, Shadow panted, now pressing her foreleg against my chest to make me take her cross.

Feeling the heat of the flaming creature on my back again, I took the cross from her foreleg. It erupted into a blinding flash of light and I saw Shadow grin before everything went white for me.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

When I could see again, I was about two meters in the air, dropping down onto somepony. It turned out to be my boss, sitting on the toilet. My eyes fell upon my cross as my plot landed on his lap, and I saw that there was a crescent moon on it's right arm, in addition to the sun symbol at the top....

“Silver Cross? What the.... Where the hay have ya been?”, my boss growled from under me.

“Long story boss, long story... And I doubt you'd believe me even if I told you...”, I replied tears streaming from my eyes as I looked down at my cross....