Equestrian Souls: Fires of War

EQUESTRIAN SOULS
Written by TheCrimsonDM
Chapter two: friends

While we had taken a short rest at the old bar, I explained my plan to Storm Feather. We were going to go inside the old church, and make our way up to the bell tower. Hopefully there would be some more clues along the way as to what happened to Reed. And if I had too I would ring the bell myself, and follow him into whatever dark places he was heading. We moved past the unlit Altar where the fight between us and some hollows had taken place before. I did my best to avoid looking at the corpses. We made our way to the front gates of the church pretty quickly. The church gates were cast iron, and stood nearly ten feet tall. I found a sturdy looking lock on the gates themselves preventing me from entering. I turned to Storm Feather and sighed saying disappointedly. “I guess we will need to find another way inside after all.”
He gave me an odd look so I explained to him that the gates were locked, and I wasn’t going to attempt climbing over them. He then laughed saying. “Did you forget I could fly?”
I was about to ask him what that had to do with anything, and then I realized what he meant. I face hoofed. “Okay, so you can fly me over the gates.”
He nodded.
“And you aren’t going to drop me?” I asked feeling a little nervous.
He smiled and bowed his head to me saying. “I swear on my honor, that I Storm Feather the griffon, member of the crusaders. Shall not let go of you, nor shall I let harm come to thee this day.”
I began laughing at the display of chivalry, this was not something that I was used too, it was also kinda cute. After that he wrapped me up in a tight embrace, and together we lifted up into the sky, and over the gates. After landing on the other side I began to have a new found respect for this griffon’s strength. I asked him if he could fly us to the top of the church, but he explained that it would make us exceptionally easy targets for everypony. I suppose that means exploring inside would be the best bet, it shouldn’t be too bad. The old church was only two stories tall, with the bell tower being just above the roof. Stealth and speed were still the plan for this part of the mission.

We entered the church via the front doors; I realized then, that this was more of a cathedral. We found ourselves inside the atrium. Inside were several sets of pew’s which were aligned with one another, with a break in between them for a walkway. There was ceiling over the pews that opened up into the atrium. My hooves clopped quietly along the stone floor. The walls were made of similar stone bricks. There was a staircase at the end corner of the room.

At the end of the atrium was a pedestal with a small metal box, the box was red with gold trim that shined in the afternoon sunlight. The second thing I noticed though was the black knight that stood just in front of the box; the black knight was not as shiny. This black knight stood completely still, holding a double sided sword, again each side was larger than the length of my body. I didn’t have time to appreciate the size of these creatures during my last encounter with one. This time I took a good look at it. This one stood at least ten feet tall, and holding his huge weapon at his side, I could only imagine him wielding it with great expertise, and little effort in combat.

I quickly hid behind one of the pews pulling out my crossbow as I moved, I did not want to fight this thing, but I refuse to run away now that I am so close to finding out where Reed went. I looked at Storm Feather who just stood there looking at me with a slightly worried expression. He then asked me. “What are you doing?”

“That black knight is going to try killing us, and I am going to fight back” I explained while glancing around the corner of my cover. The Black Knight had not moved an inch.

I heard Storm sigh before explaining to me, “In my experience most Black Knights don’t just attack without reason. They usually guard objects, and only fight when you try to take them. That being said, the ones in Asylum have always been more vicious. Either way if we be careful and quiet we should be safe from it. Just don’t provoke it.”

I looked the Black Knight again, it hadn’t moved at all maybe he was right, and I was being paranoid. We continued moving forward cautiously.

We made our way towards the stair case that lead up to the second floor, located in the corner of the room. This entire place had been abandoned for a long time now dust had settled on the stone work floors, I then noticed a mural on the wall behind the knight, it was a depiction of the sun. When we walked up the stairs they creaked with every step.

After getting onto the second floor, we found ourselves in what looked like a dinning area. Wooden tables were placed about, a few of which had fallen onto there sides, most of the tables had chairs adjacent to them. There were some bits in a pile on one the tables, with cards strewn about the floor; I suppose Somepony had been up to a card game once long ago. I pocketed the bits, and collected the cards off the ground; I could only hope we would have enough to cards to play a game.

The second floor of the atrium was visible from the dining area. The walkway lead all the way around the sides of the atrium and into a hallway on the other side of the room. On our side of the room there were shelves lined up against the walls full of canned food, although from how long abandoned this place looked, I wouldn’t be the first one to try eating it. Lastly there was a doorway leading up into another staircase. Presumably it went to the bell tower.

I began walking over to there when I heard some hoof steps coming from the stairs. Before I could even react Storm had grabbed me, and we took cover behind one of the knocked over tables. I was a little surprised that this table was able to provide decent cover for the griffon. I took a peek around the table to see what was coming up the stairs behind us. I saw three hollows wearing chainmail, red capes, and holding long swords with their white colored telekinesis. These hollows were unicorns, and they still had magic.

I examined Storm Feather’s face as to judge his reaction to this, and he frowned with worry. We stayed vary quiet, and vary still for almost two minutes. After the unicorn hollows moved onward to the other side of the room and into the hallway we relaxed. “So,” I asked,” why didn’t we just fight them?”
He rubbed his forehead answering. “Magic users are simply not fun to fight. Magi and necromancer’s are far worse, but you never know which unicorn hollow is going to light your tail feathers on fire.”
I looked at him, and back to the hallway the hollows had left to. I didn’t want deal with any more monster ponies. I sighed and asked, more to myself then at him. “How did this all happen?”
Storm answered me, striking a tone that felt somewhat like a teachers tone to me. “It all started after Equestria lost the war, Celestia and Luna disappeared, along with the other princesses. Demons began to run rampant, and undead began to rise. It was far worse a few years before I was born, but it got much better after the eclipse was over. Clippers itself was too close to the Grey’s, that’s why the ponies here had to abandon the town, demon invasions became too much too handle. The undead moved in after that, they tend to move in to abandoned places.”
I stared at him for a few moments, there was a part of me that just couldn’t accept the idea of Equestria losing the war, I couldn’t even pinpoint why I felt this way. I sat down, and tried to find out why. I was mentally trying to find a reason, a memory, something to explain what was going on. The demons, the undead, and black knights, why did this all feel so wrong. My head began to hurt a little, but just didn’t give up, I kept trying to find an answer. I pushed through the pain that was quickly building up inside my skull. I closed my eyes, and concentrated on what he had said about Celestia disappearing, and everything stopped hurting all of a sudden as I slipped into another memory.

***

I found myself standing inside of a library in front of a large wooden table; there was a map of Equestria sitting on top of it. Little white pieces marked locations of Equestria’s troops stationed at different locations, while a much larger force of red pieces were scattered throughout the map. It looked like we were losing. Across from me sat a large white pony nearly three times my size with both the wings of a Pegasus, and a unicorn horn. Her cutie mark was that of the sun. She stared outside the window at the rain falling over the city. She looked back at me here mane of blue, green, purple, and pink strands flowed around her as though a breeze was carrying her mane. She was wearing such a sad expression across her face. I looked down at the table again frowning, this was wrong; we could not be losing to a bunch of rebel’s.
I sighed, and began telling her my assessment of the current situation. “I don’t see any way out of this situation without bloodshed. I am sorry Celestia, I have replayed the situation in my head a thousand times over, and there is no hope for a peaceful solution.”
I dared to look her in those sad eyes again, she looked hart broken. I suppose that after a peaceful rule lasting over a thousand years, when your citizens decided to revolt it would be hart rending. She looked on the verge of tears, her eyes all watered up. I had to look away; I was not able to look into those eyes a second longer, just seeing her like this made me want to cry. I know she always made herself appear strong to everypony, I am not entirely sure why she has been so trusting with me, as too allow me to see who she really was underneath.

She was not as strong as other’s had always viewed her, she was fragile inside, and growing more so with every passing day. I had come to the conclusion that after a thousand years of keeping her stuff together, locking away all her pain, self doubt, and torment she was bound to explode one day. I first noticed how she felt after the first rebel attack, she simply could not handle the thought that she had been a bad ruler, that she had somehow wronged her citizens. Although that’s all she worried about anymore it would seem. She was a good ruler, neigh she was the best ruler for Equestria. How dare those low life rebel scum cause her such torment, they should simply bow their heads in shame, and leave forever. I was not naïve enough to believe they would do this, these ponies were obviously power hungry.

Celestia’s soft voice broke my train of thought. “I was afraid of this. Eventually the battles will become worse. I didn’t want this to happen; I would simply give up the crown if it would satisfy them. Why does it always have to end in fighting?”
I knew she was serious about giving up her crown, she would give her all to protect her people, but these ponies made their choice when they decided to rebel, they are no longer her people. Even if she did give up to them they would not be happy, not until she was dead, and our entire country in disorder. I would have blamed discord for this rebellion if he had not been instrumental in helping us root them out. I knew there wasn’t much more we could do here, the plans had been made, the pieces put in place, all we could do now was ride this out, and hope for the best possible outcome.

After another ten minutes of going over troop position again, we decided it was time to head out. Celestia donned her strong, kind, and motherly expression. She could not afford to let any pony see her weakness, for fear of others loosing strength in their belief in her, although I found strength in it.

Outside in the courtyard we found a group of five pegasi guards wearing the traditional golden suits of armor, if we were attacked these ponies would be able to protect us. I still felt angry inside at how the rebels have hurt the princess, I felt angry way too often anymore, but I smiled as best I could at the guards on our approach. I got a sickening feeling all of a sudden. Nausea and dizziness hit me, and I felt like something was wrong. I was terrified but I wasn’t sure why. I looked at the guards who seemed to be looking around with worried expressions, I felt like they might be experiencing this as well. Celestia too looked worried. There was nothing in the courtyard except the statue of Celestia which resided in the middle of the area. Then I heard one of the guards shout. “Its above us, move. Move. Move!

Celestia and I walked backwards away from the statue, and the ball of purple fire that was heading right at it. The ball of fire crashed into the statue, exploding in a dark purple light. The ground shook violently, and I was barely able to catch myself from falling. After a few seconds I looked up from my hooves towards where the statue had stood. Now there was nothing but a giant crater where the statue had stood along with specs of purple flame scattering the ground. The guards all looked serious, and Celestia looked paralyzed with fear. Then I heard the terrible sound of deep breathing, and I looked closer at the crater. A giant grey hand sticks out of the crater, and grabs the ledge of the hole; this hand alone was larger than any pony here, even larger then Celestia. The sickening feeling became even worse as this hand pushes on the ground, cracking the stone around it. A giant arm appears from the crater along with the monsters head. The head had two horns on top of its bald skull. The rest of the giant’s body began to pull itself from the hole, stopping only at the waist which looked almost stuck inside the crater.

The grey being loomed over us its black shark eyes. And for a few dead silent seconds, everything quiet save for the rains pitter patter. The giant monster began moving its arm slowly towards us. I was frozen completely out of fear. Celestia however regained her composer faster than me, and ordered her guards to attack the monster.

She then started shooting beams of golden energy at the creature which would cause small fires to start across its body, as well as opening up wounds in its flesh. The guards had flown upwards above the monsters height far into the sky. I watched as the guards, now only appearing as little dots in the sky turn around, and come rushing downwards toward the monster before us. Their wings extended they fly downwards along the back side of the monster, blood trails spurting out of the beast from where the guards armored wings had sliced its flesh.

The giant monster did not like that much letting out a horridly loud howl that sent shivers down my entire body. His arm moved to the side with speed that I would not have thought possible for such a large beast, and with his arm he swatted one of the guards out of the air, the guard hit the ground with such force that his body bounced off the stone, and into the air a few yards before hitting the ground again. The guard lay in a bloody pile of broken metal, his armor completely destroyed from the attack. I looked away feeling numb save for the fear that had taken control.

I spotted a brown earth pony wearing red robes running on top of the building next to us, and from the way he ran on his hind legs, I knew it could only be one pony, Reed. Reed leapt from the roof top, heading towards the monsters face with great speed. In mid air Reed moved his body so that his hind legs were facing the monster. When Reed collided with the beast’s face, he used both of his hind legs to produce a powerful kick; the kick forced the monsters face backwards. Reed landed on the creatures shoulder, and jumped backwards doing flips in the air before landing in front of me. He looked back at me; his expression was serious, and worried. He then looked back at the monster and said in an angry tone. “What are you doing Celestia, teleport her out of here, NOW!”

I felt a wing wrap around me and then my vision went white. I struggled with my blurry white vision for a moment before it cleared, and I realized where I was. I now stood inside the Library again, the table undisturbed from before, still held the map and colored pieces. I saw Celestia looking more than just a little tired as she slumped against the wall. I shook my head trying to clear myself of the terror that had me frozen from before, and with a little effort I managed to walk forward towards her.

She sat next to the window looking outside of it, she must have teleported me inside, and from the looks of it she was exhausted from the effort. Was it just me, or was she getting weaker than she used to be? She began trying to stand before giving up and continued using the wall adjacent to the window for support while taking quick shallow breaths. I couldn’t think of anything to do, so I asked the only question that came to mind. “Are you okay?”
She looked grateful for my concern, and smiled. She nodded as she said in near whisper. “I am fine Light, thank you for asking though.” She looked outside the window her face turning grim. “I can’t believe it, they summoned a Demon.” There was a pause of silence as she caught her breath before she stood up, this time she succeeded. She looked at me and said in a protective tone. “Stay inside this building, it’s protected by magic wards. It should shield you from the danger outside.” She allowed a moment of silence to pass between us. She closed her eyes, and her horn began glowing with concentration. She said one last thing to me before teleporting out, she said in a sorrowful voice. “I no longer believe there is a peaceful solution to this war, you were right.” She then teleported out of the library in a flash of white light, leaving me alone.
I stared out of the window watching the fight go on outside. Reed, Celestia, and 4 guards were not enough to defeat the demon. The monster then grabbed a Pegasus out of the air, and proceeded to throw him at the window I was watching from. I shrieked and fell back on my haunches as the guard’s body slammed into a wall of red energy that appeared in front of the window only at the last second. I stood back up only after the body fell to the ground, the red energy wall disappeared a few seconds later. I watched the fight go on. The battle continued for another minute or so before a red flash appeared in the air behind the demon, and the purple alicorn that came from it was now hovering there in mid air, she looked ready to put an end this battle. A beam of Red energy coming from the purple alicorn’s horn sliced down the creatures back, and the demon let out one final howl of pain as blood sprayed out of its back and covered the courtyard in red.

I sat there feeling numb, this monster had appeared in the middle of the courtyard, it began killing without mercy, and no one pony could bring it down. It took five pegasi soldiers, Reed, and two alicorns to take it down. The battle probably would have continued if she hadn’t shown up. I had never fully appreciated Twilights magical ability until that moment. Then again I had never really seen her use much magic before. I now realized though that I was useless, the demon appeared and I was so completely useless…all I could do was come up with strategies, and even those were failures half of the time. I felt hot tears run down my face; my emotions were a wreck at the moment. Should I have been scared, mad, ashamed, because I felt all of those things.

***

I opened my eyes only to find myself laying on my side on the dirty ground, Storm was sitting next to me, and looking around with concern before looking back at me. When he saw my eyes opened he smiled, but as the tears began running down my face again he looked more concerned than before. I didn’t know what to do other then cry, so I wrapped my forelegs around him and cried as silently as I could into his chest. He didn’t push me away like I was afraid he would, instead he wrapped his arms around me and held me. He held me in a tight embrace that was also very tender. I began to see that although he was exceptionally powerful he was also capable of being very gentle. I am not entirely sure how long we sat there, or how long I cried into him, but it took long enough that I somehow managed explained to him what I had just remembered. I was glad to have a friend like him.

We moved onward towards the door on our side of the second floor, this door lead to a staircase that wound around the outside walls of the room. It was a little darker in here than in the atrium due to the lack of any large windows. As we made our way up we passed by several jail cells, which begged a new question. Why did a church need jail cells? I pondered this question while we passed the second cell. We stopped at the second cell, looking up at the staircase. The staircase had not only collapsed before reaching the top, there was a ceiling in here made of wood. I guess this was not going to take us to the bell after all. I heard Somepony in the cell cough and speak as I turned around. “Hey, any chance you could help a pony out?” the stallions voice was rough and dry.
I got closer to the cell, and peered through. It was even darker inside his cell; there was a bed in the corner although it had rotted away a long time ago. There was a pony inside this cell; however he had been chained to the wall. A collar around his neck was chained to the wall, as well as his forelegs in similar fashion. I felt pity for this pony, although I didn’t know who he was, I knew he was suffering. This was no way to keep prisoners. I floated out my canteen, and brought it towards him, his horn began to glow as he grabbed the canteen from my grasp. His telekinesis felt weak. He brought the drink to his muzzle, and while he drank from it I asked him. “How long have you been in here?”
I noticed Storm looking at me, and towards the prisoner with suspicion. “Its okay, I’ve got this” I tried to reassure Storm.
After his drink the prisoner began speaking again this time his voice sounded much smoother. “Thank you for your kindness.” He thanked me before explaining further. “I have been in here for a long time now, couple of years I think. My care taker hasn’t brought me any food or water in a while. I was afraid I would die in here. I don’t want to go hollow.” There was a resigned tone in his voice that supported his fear. It was like he had already given up on any chance of living. I didn’t like hearing that tone, it made me feel sad for him, but at the same time some part of me was angry. I wasn’t sure whether I was angry at him for giving up on life, or at the pony who had locked him up, and left him here to die.

“Why are you here?” I asked him with a gentle tone in my voice.

He took his time before answering me, and when he did continue there was a sense of resentment in his voice. “I choose loyalty towards my friend, and that got me locked away. My care taker has been trying his best to coax me to his side, but I refuse to betray my friends.”

I stared into the dark room at the pony chained up to the wall for a few minutes, he was loyal, and I respected that. Judging by how long he has been here and in this condition, I can’t see any reason to expect the pony holding him prisoner was a good pony. I knew what I was going to do, despite the fact it would probably lead me into more trouble. I sighed before asking. “How do I get you out of here?”

Storm Feather looked at me, and warned me. “We don’t know anything about this pony; he could be an evil murderer.”
I knew the risk but I was not going to give into maybes and what ifs, not when this pony was suffering like this. “I won’t let him die like this; if he truly is an evil pony then let him redeem himself by fighting. No pony deserves to starve to death. That is not the warrior’s way, not the hero’s way.” I looked Storm Feather directly in his cool blue eyes; I was determined to set this prisoner free. Storm held his stare at me for a moment before he looked away; I had beaten the griffon’s will with that of my own. Now I just have to find a way to free this pony.
The pony inside the cell coughed a few times before talking again. “There is no way to free me; you should take a look at the lock on my cell.”
At his advice I did so, and found something a bit odd but very familiar. Instead of a normal lock, like one that would have used a brass key to open, There was no key hole, only a dimly glowing rune, the rune was shaped ironically enough like a key hole. I recognized this kind of lock, it was magic seal, no amount of magic, or skill could break these locks, as far as I knew. Instead one would need the rune stone that had an identical symbol on it in order to unlock the door. We could try to break the door down with physical might, or destroy the wall surrounding it if we had the material, but either plan would be noisy and take too much time. My best bet would be to find the pony that had the rune stone and take it. I looked at the pony in the cell again and asked. “Where is the pony that has the key?”

“They have an office at the end of the hallway on the other side of the second floor atrium; I have been brought there for…treatment.” He explained. I really did not the way he said treatment, whoever was keeping this pony here must be an evil pony.

Storm Feather and I walked back down the stairs towards the second floor, but stopped when we heard the sounds of hooves walking about just outside the doorway, we had left the door open as well. I was a little worried that the possible hollows outside the door would notice the door had been opened, so we waited in silence for a few moments. After a while nothing happened, the hollows were still outside hissing at each other now and again. Looking at Storm Feather I began to realize his armor was very heavy, and very loud. Daring a peeking glance outside the door revealed five hollows on the second floor, three of them were unicorns, and on our side of the atrium. The other two were on the far side of the room, standing on either side of the hallway.

I whispered to Storm Feather that he needed to stay here, and to stay hidden. He did not like my plan, but only one of us could get by with sneaking; besides only one of us had a lucky crossbow. Crossbows were exceptional weapons of stealth. ‘These hollows were already dead they just didn’t know it yet’ I thought to myself. I remembered the hollows guarding the barricade just outside of the church, and felt very guilty for using that reference.

I managed to sneak past the hollows fairly easily; they did not move very much or even look in directions other then ‘straight ahead’ often. All that was needed was for me to crawl low to the ground, using the tables as the perfect hiding spots. I did come to a crossroads though. There were two hollows on the other side of the atrium, standing next to the hallway. They were going to see me no matter how quiet I was, there simply was no hiding places between us, but I had a crossbow.

Aiming very carefully I sighted around the two looking for a distraction; I found a flower pot on a table near a window. One bolt went flying towards the flower pot with hell bent ambition to destroy its target. Upon contact with the bolt the pot shattered on the table and dirt went flying everywhere. The two hollows standing next to the hallway looked over towards the window, and began walking to investigate the loud noise.

I crawled out from beneath the table, and continued making my way towards that hallway. I snuck around the side of the second floor atrium; the walkways were on the side of the room, allowing the middle of the room to be an open air drop to the first floor, a good thirty, or so feet down. Why did they make this church so darn huge? I managed to sneak by the two hollows, which simply stood in front of the flower pot staring at it, as though it was the most interesting thing they have ever seen. Then again this may very well have been the most interesting thing to happen all day, hell maybe all week.

The hallway had four separate rooms, two on each side. I checked the one on my close right first, and after poking my head inside I found a ladder going upwards. This may be my next target location after rescuing the prisoner. We had to try something to get to the bell. I left this room alone for now.

The door on the left was a small bed room. I walked inside and closed the door behind me as quiet as a mouse. The bedroom had a ratty old bed with a quilted blue blanket full of holes; there was a lot of clutter on the floor, and a hole in the wall in the corner, big enough for a pony to fit inside. There was also a door, but I figured the door would just alert whoever may be in there to my presence. I decided to check out the hole instead, just in case there was something in there. It was a little bit of a tighter fit then I would have enjoyed, there was also a step mound of rubble that l had to climb up and over to get through the hole.
The hole itself lead into the bathroom which was adjacent to the bedroom, inside the bathroom was a toilet full of nasty black…sludge. The smell in this room was toxic, and I wanted to throw up from the scent, but I toughened up and decided to simply live with it. There was also a bath tub with a curtain still hanging from it. Other then these things, there wasn’t much else, and I began to wonder how wise it was to crawl into a useless smelly bathroom.

I turned towards the door about to leave, when I heard some hoof steps coming from the other side of the door. They fast paced, and were getting louder. I looked around, wondering if hiding would be my best bet. I decided that I didn’t want to get into a fight with a magical hollow, so I jumped into the only hiding spot in here.

From my secret hiding spot inside the tub, complete with the curtain pulled across the side to help conceal me, I laid on my back with my crossbow held against my chest. The door opened to the bathroom with a creek, and Somepony took a few steps inside before gagging. “Buck this,” the mare said, “It smells horrible in here, and I don’t even want to know what’s inside the toilet. I’ll just use one of the other rooms.” After that I heard her hoof steps go out the door, along with the door shutting behind her. I don’t know who was just in here, but I didn’t feel like trusting them for a second without my powerful griffon companion. I guess I really didn’t like being alone, the faster I got back to Storm Feather the better.

I left the bathroom behind, and made my way back into the hallway very silently. Just past the bedroom inside the hallway I found three dead hollows lying slumped on the ground, their helmets had been dented inward, blood trickled down their faces, they had not been here before. I didn’t even hear any fighting, whoever this mare was, she was indeed both a talented fighter, and a quiet one. I moved onwards towards the last two doors, the one on my left this time was slightly ajar, I could hear some water trickling from inside the room. The other room was closed but had the word office written on it.

I decided to go inside the office, being very quiet, and closing the door behind me after I entered. Inside was a small table, with a dead unicorn lying on top of it, this one however was not hollow, he had yellow fur, and wore a brown jacket. He was beginning to smell bad which indicated that he was starting to decompose. I studied him for a few moments, and found myself thinking about how I found myself feeling happy that this one was not a hollow. I guess you can still die as pony, and stay dead after all. How did hollows come about though, that was now something I was very interested in? I decided not to think too much on the subject and instead redouble my efforts for finding the rune stone.

I searched his body for a few seconds before finding it; it was located inside his jacket. He also had a more normal kind of key on his person. There was not much else on him though, and this room although once filled with lovely stuff, now had books which were half rotten, and book shelves that had begun to decay. This room aside from smelling like death also smelled like mildew. I decided it was about time to return to my friend. Before I left I considered taking his jacket, and mentally smacked myself for the thought. I may be forced to kill undead ponies, but I will not steal from a corpse for self gratification.

I snuck out of the room very carefully, and found the door across from the office no longer ajar, it was now fully open. Inside I could see it was a supply closet, with a chest inside it. I fancied the idea of it being a treasure chest, and entertained the idea by walking up to it with the key held aloft with my telekinetic grasp. I arrived at the chest; it was made of wood, but still looked to be in good shape. I took one more step forward so that I could get a better grip on it with my hooves, and stepped into a puddle of water on the floor.

I looked down at the puddle, it was warm for some reason, and smelled…off. I then looked around to make sure there wasn’t another water hazard around here. There wasn’t another hazard; in fact I couldn’t even see the source of this puddle. The trickling sound was also gone. I remembered then about what the mare had said, about using another room. “Oh sweet Celestia, did I just step into, what I think I stepped into?” I said as I jumped up onto my hind legs, nearly shrieking with disgust, thankfully I stopped myself from making too much of a ruckus.
I tried to calm down by focusing on the chest, if I was going to step in a puddle of…ugh, then I deserved a reward for it. I opened the chest with the key; using my magic I opened the chest. Inside were two crescent moon daggers, they were curved blades with a symbol on their sheaths. The moon was on one of them, and the sun on the other blade. They looked to be part of a pair of weapons; you wouldn’t simply use just one of them, they went together. I took them with me and left the horrible little, disgusting supply closet behind, making sure to wipe my hoof on the floor before leaving.

I found the other hollows on the second floor dead as well, but kept quiet just in case she was still here. I made my way back to the jail cell where Storm Feather had been waiting for me. I showed off the rune stone, and he looked relieved to see it, or to see me maybe, I hoped. I placed the rune stone with the keyhole symbol down upon the ward, the two faces touched and glowed for a second, and then the lock made a clicking sound. I opened the cell, and let Storm go to work on the chains inside. I guess we would have to find a way to break the collar and cuffs off later. The prisoner stepped outside of the cell; he was a unicorn with bright green fur, covered in dirt though, and a soft purple mane which was long and messy. His face had several scars across his muzzle as though claws had once been raked upon it, his body had collected numerous scars as well. His cutie mark was a two bladed shuriken.

He looked up at the window in the stairway, and even though you could just barely make out the orange sky beyond He was smiling. He looked at me, and with a tear running down his face, he smiled at me saying. “I can’t believe it, thank you so much.” He sniffed and wiped the tear off his face with a hoof. He then looked a little confused as he continued looking at asking me. “Light…Altar Light is that really you?”
I felt dumbstruck to say the least, this pony seemed to know me, and I was about to ask how, when it happened again, this time I could feel it coming though. Like something tugging at my conscious, before dragging me away completely into another memory.

***

I found myself standing in front of a portcullis with two levers one of either side of it. I walked to the one on the left, while my bright green companion went to the one on the right. We each lifted a hoof placing it on our respective levers. I looked at him; he was wearing a black leather jacket with the two crescent moon blades at his sides. He grinned back at me. “So,” I began saying, “Moon Shadow, when we are done with this, what’s next?”
He looked at me, and his grin faded a little bit as he seemed to contemplate my question before answering in his bright and cheerful demeanor. “I guess since we rung the bells and all, we can get the legendary artifact of the sun. That way we can complete our plan, unless you got any idea’s Altar Light.”
I shook my head, then sighed, and nodded at him. Together we pulled the lever’s and the portcullis began rising upwards. We were going to do this, and this time we would succeed. We walked together through the entrance way, into the Grey’s.

***

I sat down hard, feeling a little dizzy after that memory. Was it just me or were these memory flashes getting worse. I think they were. I simple looked up at the two worried people in front of me. I shook my head, and apologized “Sorry, another memory flash. How are you holding up Moon Shadow?”
Moon Shadow looked at me, and grinned, his grin had lost most of the energy it once had, I found myself noticing how much older he now looked. “I am free now because of you Light, after our plan worked we kinda split up, I guess. Anyway I was captured before that happened by this crazy mare and old unicorn. Been here ever since, stuck with those two as they tried to take my memories from me. I still have enough of them to stay loyal to Reed though, and to you.”
I looked up at him, chewing on my lip as I felt fear creeping up; what if he knows what happened to Reed, what if Reed was dead? I took in a deep breath, and facing my fears I asked. “What happened to Reed”?
He looked at me a little worried and answered. “I don’t know, I can’t remember what happened after we got inside the Grey’s. I think something bad happened, but I was told that our plan had worked…so I guess its all okay”. He didn’t sound too sure himself but after being stuck here, tortured for a few years I can see why.

I noticed him eyeing the daggers I had found in that chest. I realized that they were his, and I blushed a little as I lifted them up and gave them back to him, I was going to keep them as loot. But now that seemed kind of inappropriate. Of course his captors would stick whatever property they found on him in a chest. Now I felt silly, and a little bad for trying to steal his weapons.

I explained to him about my amnesia, and how I woke up at Asylum. My frightening escape and heroic rescue by Storm Feather the griffon. Finally I explained that I was retracing Reed’s steps, hoping to find him that way. I offered to let Moon Shadow join us, and he accepted. I guess everypony felt a little lost without Reed. We decided it was time to head up to the bell tower now.

We made our way across the second floor, and into the room with the ladder. We would have to climb over to the roof access since the stairs had been destroyed. No pony enjoyed walking past the dead hollows, something felt wrong about them even before I explained that I was not the one who had slain them. The ladder lead up to a small room and outside that room we found ourselves standing on the rooftop. The roof was flat with a two foot high guard rail, the bell tower was across the way from us, and all we had to do was get to the bell.

About half way across the bell tower we began to hear laughter and a mare say. “So your still alive Altar Light, I knew you wouldn’t die so easily.” Then she stepped out of the bell towers entrance, she was walking on her hind legs. She was a zebra with black fur, and white stripes, her mane was jet black, and curly. In addition she wore a black jacket; she clapped her hooves together as we looked at her. She also didn’t have any weapons on her person.

Moon Shadow hissed in a near whisper. “That’s the crazy mare who kept me locked up here.”

Storm Feather looked at her and said in confusion. “Void Runner, what are you doing here?”

She looked at him for a few seconds before answering. “Crusader huh, well I am here to finish my task. Silver has been kinda pissed off that she might be alive, and after I saw the lit up Altar, I knew she was here.” She looked at me again before continuing.

I looked at Void Runner, and how she walked, it bothered me deeply, she walked the same way that Reed used too. I pulled out my crossbow and aimed it at her, this only made her smile. “Back down, and leave here now, this is your only chance.” I warned her. I didn’t think she would go for it, but if I could avoid a fight, then that would be good. I couldn’t help feeling some primal energy flow through me at this time though; I was scared, but excited. I really wanted to fight her.

She grinned at me, she looked almost manic her smile reaching from ear to ear. I had seen an expression like this before, I knew it, and it scared the crap out of me. She began advancing slowly towards us saying. “There is no chance for any of you, I only want to kill Altar Light, you guys can leave here alive…if you abandon her.”

Storm Feather pulled out his axe, and shield. While Moon Shadow pulls his two crescent daggers out with his telekinesis. I fired my crossbow at her, watching as the bolt flew towards her face. She deftly dodges the bolt, and turns into a full on run, while still standing on her hind legs. Time seemed to slow down as she rushed us. Storm Feather charges her, only for her to slide underneath him. She bounces back to her hooves after passing him, and Moon Shadow jumps in front of me. He swipes at her with his daggers, and she dodges expertly before upper cutting him in the face with her left foreleg. The green unicorn sails into the air a foot off the ground from the force of the blow! She then looks at me, still grinning before kicking my legs out from under me, and while I fell she used her other hind leg to kick me in the chest sending me sliding backwards on the ground a few feet.

I watched Storm Feather standing behind her swing his axe sideways. She jumped into the air doing a back flip before landing on his back; she then jumped off his back sending him down into the ground hard. I stood up pulling out my sword with my magic at the same time. My friends were down for the moment but not out, however my opponent was going to be a challenge no matter what we did. I wished I knew some attack spells for times like this, but I did have my sword maybe I could do something with that.

I charged her swinging my sword at her as I approached. She ducked underneath my blade. I swung again, and again, and again. But every time I did so, she would dodge like she already knew what I was going to do. Eventually she stopped dodging and grabbed me by my foreleg and swung me, over her head, and hard into the ground behind her. Before I could even react, or think I found her sitting on top of me hoof raised high, she then struck me in the face. The pain was horrible, I could feel my skull fracture, and the pain sent shivers of even more intense pain down my entire body. The pain stopped right after that though, as she pulled her hoof back for another blow. A purple glowing shuriken made entirely of energy flew at her from out behind her, forcing her to jump off of me in order to dodge it. She then looks at Moon Shadow, whose horn was glowing as it summoned another glowing shuriken, his scared face showed his anger towards her. She charged at him, dodging another one of his attacks in the process. I simply laid there for a few seconds. My entire body had gone numb, but I couldn’t just let her hurt my friends, I couldn’t die here, not before I find Reed.

I rose slowly to my hooves, and I picked up my sword in my mouth. I looked at her just in time to see her striking blows at Moon Shadow, but he was almost as good at dodging as she was, almost but not quite. She landed one of her blows on his side, and he screamed in pain as he fell to the ground. She stood over him preparing to strike the final blow. I wouldn’t allow that, I charged towards her. Or at least I tried to do that, my right leg took a step forward, but my left leg forgot how to work and I fell to the ground. Blood was beginning to obscure my vision; the left side of my face was covered in my own blood, forcing my left eye to close.

I looked up and saw Storm Feather had begun his assault again. She dodged his powerful axe blows, one direct hit from one of his attacks, and I doubt that even she would be able to move again. Eventually he over estimated his swing and she took this opportunity to slip under his arm, and punch upwards at his elbow. I heard a horrible cracking sound, and winced at the sight of his armor as it dented in that spot, before bending in the opposite direction. Blood began soaking out of his armored elbow. But even though his arm was now broken he refused to give in. He began swinging his shield like a bashing weapon; she was forced to block the first attack, even with her blocking it she was sent sailing into the air. She corrected herself mid air and landed on her hind legs though.

I looked around myself, and found my crossbow, unloaded but I had bolts on my person. I fumbled with my magic for a few seconds before finally grasping the crossbow. I looked up again, seeing her knocking Storm Feather down to the ground. She took the time to smash her hoof into the back of his head, I had felt that hoof, and it was very bad. She walked over to Moon Shadow, preparing to do the same thing to him. As she pulls her arm back I take to aim at her with the crossbow, and I fired the bolt. She was barely able to dodge the bolt as it flew past her face. She turns her head to look at me, and I see a red line start to bleed across her face from where the bolt scratched her. She stopped grinning, and looked at me with anger.

I managed to stand up just in time for her to run to me. Grabbing the crossbow with her hoof, she throws it behind her at the far wall. I tried taking a swing at her with my sword using my telekinesis. She simply put a hoof out, stopping the blade with her bare hoof this time. She then head butts me! I fall down to the ground my vision flashed black for a second. I watch in fear as she raises her hoof, preparing to strike me with the powerful attack again, when a crescent shaped dagger fly’s right into her arm. She screams before pulling it out with her teeth. She looks behind her to see Moon Shadow standing up again, and she spits the dagger out.

She charged towards him, jumping over him as she approached. She lands behind him. He turns to face her with only one dagger left, and before he can react she drops to her forelegs using both of her hind legs to kick him square in the chest. Moon Shadow goes flying into the air, and He hits the ground rolling over once.

I looked at him, blood dripping out of his mouth. His eyes were closed. Storm Feather didn’t look to be in any better shape, I knew it was over. All three of us were going to die here. But some part of me did not accept that. I could hear some mare screaming at me, but it was far away, and echoed. The mare’s voice was commanding me. “Get up; I know you can still fight. You’re not a filly anymore, time to get up, and show me what you’re made of.” Her tone became a little softer, and more arrogant as she said. “I know you can beat her, in ten seconds flat”.

Something deep inside me began to stir, my vision began flashing red. My breathing became shallow, and fast. I stood up, ignoring all of my injuries. My mouth began moving but it took a second for me to hear what was coming out of it, I was singing.
“I fight for the sun, and I fight for the moon. I fight for myself, and I will not lose. I carry your doubts, I carry your fears. There all on my back, your burdens I bare. The fires are stoked, the fires are hot. The fires of war are all that I got”.
A look of panic was spreading across Void Runner’s face, but then again seeing your enemy, who was practically breaking and entering into Deaths house; stand up and start singing might scare the crap out of anypony. I must have been completely cracked to even start singing in the middle of combat, but I don’t think I was in complete control at that time. I kept singing this song as I walked towards her. To make matters worse by the time I had closed half the distance between us, I had grabbed my sword with my magic again, and I began walking on my hind legs. I had no idea how I was doing it, this felt almost like a dream.
When I finally got within melee distance I began swinging my sword, the amber glow of my telekinesis cast light on her as she of course kept dodging me. I kept advancing with every swing, and Void Runner kept backing up. She hit the wall with her back pretty quickly, and I took the time to cut her across the chest. She was now bleeding pretty badly. She still stood though, and now trying to fight back. I found myself dodging almost as well as Moon Shadow had been dodging her. She got one lucky strike in on my face, and I swayed back from the hit, but I rolled with the motion, and I grabbed her arm with both of my hoofs as I swung around. I locked her arm into place, and with strength I did not think possible I began swinging her around myself in a circle. Once around, then I spun faster, twice around me, and faster still, the third time’s the charm, and I let go of her then. Her body went over the edge of the roof and fell into the graveyard bellow, she screamed the whole bloody fall. Then I collapsed.

I didn’t fall asleep or anything I just could not keep moving like this, injured as I was. If Somepony didn’t do something soon we would all die from our injuries. I then remembered the healing flask in my saddle bags. I used my magic to reach out for it, I found it quickly. I brought it to my lips using my magic, I found myself saying. “It will make it more painful”. Before I unfastened the top with telekinesis, and I took a drink from it.

The feeling I received was like Somepony had breathed into my entire body with warm fuzzy air. I opened both my eyes, and stood upright. My entire body seemed to have been healed, although I was still covered in blood. I quickly tried to give a drink to Moon Shadow, although he informed me that it was empty. I guess it was a single use potion. Together we were able to drag Storm Feather’s exceptionally heavy body complete with armor over to the bell tower.

Right inside the entrance was another Altar; Moon Shadow told me I should light the fire. I didn’t see why I should, but I trusted his judgment. I focused my magic on the Altar and the sword caught on fire again. Storm Feather sat up at that instant looking around with a little confusion, and Moon Shadow seemed to be a lot better too. I was a little more than confused to say the least, but Moon Shadow informed me that the Altars were able to do all kinds of things when lit up like this, one of those things happened to be healing injures.

I had the feeling I should take a look at my healing flask out of curiosity, and I found a glowing orange light inside of it. Moon Shadow explained at my curious look, that the Altar’s could also refill certain items of their magic properties, healing flasks included.

I stepped away from the group after a few minutes, making my way up the stairs to the actual bell itself. I took a hard look at the bell, nothing special about it, except for the engraving of the sun that was on two of its sides. I looked over the town bellow us, it was getting darker outside, and the sky was now a purple hue. The town itself was too dark to properly see any details, but I had the feeling that there were hollows walking around, and possible something far worse. I looked at the mountains around us, and could make out between two of the mountains around us the top of some buildings in the far distance, the buildings were grey and square shaped. I heard Somepony coming up the stairs, but I didn’t really feel like talking at the moment. Instead I looked at the bell again. ‘So this is the bell that began our journey last time…I wish I could remember that’ I thought to myself.

“Hey, you should come back inside before it gets too dark outside” Moon Shadow said from the door way.

I nodded at him, and started to go to the door, but I had one thing I wanted to do first. I grabbed the clapper of the bell, and swung it back and forth several times, causing the bell to ring. Really loudly, in fact it was so loud I bet that the ponies all the way over at Camp Hope could hear it. My ears rung, but I found myself smiling at Moon Shadow. He scrunched up his face at the noise. Then he looked at me and hissed, like a cat. I found myself laughing at him, and after a moment he laughed back. It was nice to have friends.