Chapter nine: allegiance

EQUESTRIAN SOULS
Chapter nine: allegiance
Written by TheCrimsonDM

We stepped inside the old castle and watched as the world transformed into a perfect night with a full moon looming over the ruins, casting them into a deep solitary light. The ruins actually looked to be in better condition on the inside. It felt almost like this was a place stuck out of time.

Rainfall flew around the large entrance hall searching the room for something; she then flew up and out of the hole in the roof. I looked at Moon Shadow for an answer as to what she was doing, but he seemed more concerned with the banners hanging from the walls.

I followed him as he walked up to one that looked almost brand new. He continued staring at it for a moment before saying. “This banner was repaired by Rarity, seeing this now…it’s almost like she was only here a few minutes ago.”

I looked at the old cloth woven banner depicting Celestia in all her ancient glory. Did Rarity really work on this piece? Is that why it looked newer then everything else here? I looked at Moon Shadow and said. “It’s a beautiful piece.”

Moon Shadow looked at me and with a sad smile as he said. “It really is.”

Rainfall swooped back down into the entrance hall and landed next to us saying. “Okay, this place is freaking huge. But it’s also completely abandoned. Splitting up may be the best way to find what we need here.”

I looked from her to Moon Shadow, I didn’t like being alone. but I contemplated what she had said for a few moments. We needed to find the Moonlit Butterfly’s soul, and if this place was truly abandoned. I closed my eyes not liking the idea, but said anyway. “Okay, we will split up. Come back here in an hour if you don’t find anything. If you do find something come back here and wait for the others. Now what exactly are we searching for?”

Rainfall put a hoof to her chin and pondered for a moment. She then explained. “I was told that the soul of the Moonlit Butterfly was a small orb, about the size of a hoof. Its brilliant white light illuminates the darkness, and that to find it we must look inside that which carries it. So we’re probably looking for a shiny inside a chest or something.”

I looked at the staircase leading off to the side and then asked. “How big is this castle, how many floors are there? And how big is each floor?”

Rainfall answered quickly saying. “Well there is the first, second, and third floors. There is also most likely a dungeon underneath us, and we have a big tower out in the back. Each floor is relatively huge with large sections either collapsed or damaged from time.”

I thought for a few moments and decided a course of action for the three of us. “Okay, Rainfall I want you searching the third floor, I’ll take the second. Moon Shadow I need you to take the first floor. Nopony is to enter the tower until after we all arrive back here. I don’t trust towers.”

The second floor was exceedingly quiet, and I didn’t like that. I found myself in the servants’ quarters, or maybe these were guest quarters? I couldn’t tell since most indications of what this area once was, had been lost long ago. I kept stumbling upon rooms with rotted furniture, and paintings that have been decimated from age. A few suits of old armor still stood proudly, but after closer inspection it was obvious that they had never been meant for battle. They were decoration, and useless.

I eventually found a hallway that overlooked a courtyard, though the entire wall overlooking the courtyard had long ago collapsed. You could see the rubble on the ground below. This hallway looked so familiar to me. As I stood there looking at the moonlit courtyard below I sat down. I knew this place from somewhere, but where…

***

I was sitting on the collapsed hallway with my legs dangling off the edge playfully as Reed sat beside me. He was staring longingly into the moon, and something felt different about this night for me.

Reed then said. “You don’t know how hard of an adjustment this has been for me. Everything I once knew is gone, everypony I know is gone…aside from Luna, I’m all alone.”

I looked over at him and could see the sadness in his eyes. I reached out with a hoof and placed it gently on his shoulder. He looked at me a little surprised, and then I said. “You’re not alone. I’m here for you Reed. I’m you friend.”

He smiled a little at me, just as a slight chill in the air made me shiver a little, and then Reed reached over and embraced me. I felt my face warming up as he did, but instead of pulling back, I nuzzled into him. His robes were warm and he was holding me so gently. We stayed like that for a few minutes before I finally looked up at him to see him staring at me.

Reed leaned over a little and whispered. “You’re right Light, I’m not all alone.” He then pressed his lips gently against mine. This was my first kiss, and it inspired both fear and excitement inside of me. As he pulled away I knew that I had just fallen deeply in love.

***

I came back to my senses in a flash and now knew why this place was so familiar. I also began to miss Reed again. This was the exact spot where Reed and I had shared our first kiss. I didn’t want to stay here too much longer; it was beginning to pain me seeing this place again. So I moved on.

I continued searching the old castle for a little longer until I came across a small room filled with bookshelves and a table. There was a treasure chest at the end of this room, and this excited me. I walked over to it feeling energy rising inside of me as I approached. This had to be where the Moonlit Butterfly Soul was located.

A sudden force hits me from the side and knocks me off my hooves and onto my back. With my back lying on the cold hard stone I looked up at the zebra that was now holding me down. I opened my mouth to yell or shout, and Void Runner, my zebra nemesis prevented me from speaking by shoving her muzzle against mine and kissing me. I could taste her tongue moving around against mine as I lay there dumbfounded.

As she pulled away I couldn’t help but notice the trail of saliva stringing between us. She wiped it off while staring at me, her entire face now a deep shade of red. I worked my mouth trying to speak, but the words just wouldn’t come out. Void Runner then said. “I-uh…that didn't go like I had planned.”

I was about to ask her why she just kissed me when a sudden flurry of green energy shuriken began flying at Void Runner from the doorway. I rolled her out of the way a few moments too late as a few of them cut into her forelegs. After rolling her over with my back facing the direction of the energy shuriken I shouted. “STOP SHOOTING.”

Silence took over the room for a few seconds as I cradled Void Runner defensively in between my legs. Finally I heard Moon Shadow ask. “Are you crazy? She had you pinned and I saved you.”

I turned my head towards him and give him a harsh stare as he stood in the doorway. I then say very evenly. “You are not to shoot her again.”

Only after he gave me a nod did I let go of the shaking zebra lying in my legs. Void Runner was cut on her forelegs, and a small cut across her muzzle. I helped her up and noticed just how scared she looked. I give another look at Moon Shadow and asked him. “What are you here for?”

He looked away and said. “Rainfall found something important. I needed to tell you to meet us in the entrance hall.”

I gave him a nod and said. “Go on, I’ll meet you there.” He gave me a curious stare, and I gave him a stern look in return. He opened his mouth then thought better of it and skulked off.

I turn my attention back to Void Runner. Now that Moon Shadow was gone I instantly began scraping my tongue clean with my hooves trying to get the taste out. I've never been kissed by a mare before, and this was absolutely disgusting. I noticed Void Runner's worried expression and stopped over exaggerating. I forced myself to calm down and ask kindly. “Why did you do that?”

She shook her head and stammered. “I-I-I…j-just wanted…I like you…okay. You gave me mercy and I…I thought it might mean…something.”

I shook my head and explained. “I’m sorry but I’m not into mares. Besides you’re a little too young for my tastes.”

Void Runner looked away ashamed, and I gave her a hug and said. “I may not like you that way, but I don’t hate you either. We could still be great friends, if you promise never to kiss me again.”

Void Runner nodded before looking up at me with tears in her eyes. I then asked her. “But why did you have to tackle me, there must have been easier ways to kiss me.”

Void Runner then explained. “Oh…um I wasn’t going to do that at first, but then I noticed you almost open that mimic chest and I had to stop you.”

I found myself feeling ignorant so I asked her. “What’s a mimic?”

She looked back at the treasure chest and explained. “A mimic is a monster that pretends to be an object, like a treasure chest. Then they wait for their pray to get close enough to eat. And then snap, they eat you up, their very dangerous.”

I took another look at the treasure chest, and noticed that there was something off about the way it sat there. It looked like it wanted me to open it, in fact I thought I could almost see it moving. I decided it would be best to leave now.

On our way back I struck up a conversation with Void Runner. I asked her. “Why are you here? Are you following me?”

She looked away as she explained. “I was kicked out of the Silver Knights…I didn’t know what to do and I saw you in Ashwood. I thought maybe I could…I don’t know…fallow you maybe.”

I felt bad for her, all she wanted to do was impress this Silver pony and now…I looked ahead and asked. “So tell me about what you were doing before the Silver Knights.”

Void Runner looked at me sadly and said in a sorrowful. “I was a slave.”

I froze and looked at her. As she stopped next to me I asked. “What?”

She looked at me with the pain clear in her eyes as she told me. “I come from a small village called Void, my real name is Myst. When I was a very young filly, before obtaining my glyph mark, my village was raided and destroyed. I lost my tribe, my parents and my world that day. The…stallions who took me made me there personal slave.” She clenched her eyes shut as she added. “They did things to me, bad things. I was their…toy for years until Silver and his knights came down and killed my owners. They saved me and many others that day, although since I was the only child amongst the slaves I had nowhere to go.”

Her expression softened a little as a tear ran down her face as she then finished. “Silver took me in as his own kin. And he raised me, teaching me everything he knew. I became his daughter, and his scout. I had family and purpose. But since I broke his commandments when I chased after you, he abandoned me. Now I have no one.”

I couldn’t just let her go like this, she was a broken po-er zebra. I embraced her tightly and said. “You can stay by me, so long as you promise to get along as best as you can with everypony. I’ll be your friend, and so will everypony else.”

I pulled away and brushed some her black curls out of her face. She sniffled a little bit and said. “Thank you.”

We then continued to go and meet up with everypony.

In the entrance hall I found Rainfall hovering in the air next to Moon Shadow. Moon Shadow gave us a sour look and Rainfall rolled her eyes at him. Rainfall then said. “I don’t know what happened between you two, but I’ve found something important involving the butterfly thingy.”

I looked up at her ignoring the looks from Moon Shadow and asked her. “What did you find?”

She smiled and said. “I found a giant monster that kinda looks like a butterfly guarding the old tower. It was sleeping underneath the bridge leading to it. I believe that the Soul of the Moonlit Butterfly is being guarded by this thing.”

Void Runner then said surprised. “Wait a minute, are you three planning on taking the Moonlit Butterfly’s soul? Do you have any idea how tough those are without ranged combatants?”

I looked at her and asked. “Wait do you know what the Moonlit Butterfly thing is? How do we get it?”

She looked at me and said. “You have to kill the Moonlit Butterfly in order to get its soul. But those things are huge, and full of magic.”

Things were getting complicated now, like they always did.

The four of us advanced toward the tower located behind the castle. The only way there was through a bridge located on the third floor. The tower itself was very tall and very old. There was a stone bridge stretching from the third floor all the way to the tower. The bridge crossed over a deep gorge.

I looked at everypony and said. “Okay, we will need Range to deal with this thing. I have my magic, although I am still feeling a little exhausted from our earlier battle. What about you guys?”

Rainfall rolled her eyes and said. “I’m a huntress. I use bows and arrows duh.”

Moon Shadow said. “I’m still capable of using my energy shuriken.”

Void Runner looked shyly away as she said. “I…can punch things.”

I looked at her and remembered how she had fought us in the past, I suppose that she didn’t actually have any ranged combat skills. But surly she had something. I then asked. “Is there anything you can do?”

She looked at me and said. “I’ve been learning how to do alchemy, but unfortunately it’s really hard and time consuming. I don’t have anything else I can do at the moment.”

I let out a sigh before saying. “Okay, we need to bring it down onto the bridge to kill it anyway. We can’t risk killing it over that gorge. Once we bring it down with ranged moves, you need to crush its skull in.” after she nodded I looked forward to the tower and said. “Let’s do this.”

We stepped out onto the bridge together and walked across it. When we got to the middle I asked. “How do we get this thing out in the open?”

Rainfall gave me a sly grin before jumping into the air and flying over to the side. She then unfolded her bow and grabbed an arrow with her mouth. She lined the arrow with the bows string pulled back, and loosed the arrow. The arrow flew under the bridge. A loud humming sound began to emanate from under the bridge. I took a nervous step back and prepared myself for what was coming.

A giant butterfly with four teal colored wings and a dark green body flew up from underneath the bridge. Its antenna looked more like horns, that were spun around one another. The butterfly left sparkles in the air as it flew, the humming sound followed it. The hum almost sounded like a beautiful note being strung out. Its head was half as big as my entire body. This was the Moonlit Butterfly, and I was going to kill it.

Rainfall flew around the front of the Moonlit Butterfly firing arrows into upper left wing. Six orbs of blue light floated off of its horn and then quickly fired lasers of blue energy at the pegasus. She dodged them all easily enough. Moon Shadow fired a few of his green energy shuriken into the upper left wing as well, while I shot a fireball into the right wing.

The fireball flew in an ark before crashing and exploding across its wing. The wing caught aflame where the fireball had exploded, and the butterfly turned its attention towards us. It began flapping its wings at a faster pace in an attempt to extinguish the flames. A single large orb of blue energy floated of its horn and then became a large beam of blue energy aimed right at the three of us on the bridge.

I pushed Void Runner down behind the cover of the Bridge’s parapet. Moon Shadow and I both dropped to our bellies just as the beam raked the side of the bridge causing it to shake and shudder. After a few seconds it was clear that this monster wasn’t going to give up. I stood up and fired dual fireball’s at the Butterfly’s right wing.

As they collided and exploded the creatures note became sorrowful and it flew underneath the bridge. It rose up on the other side and shot the fast blue lasers at us on the bridge. The three of us ran towards the tower and took shelter inside; luckily none of us were hit by the beams.

Rainfall got its attention again by firing a series of three arrows into its left wing. We had to get the thing close so that it could die on the bridge. Otherwise we would lose the chance at getting its soul. I ran out of the tower and fired a single fireball at the monsters left wing, its right wing was still burning.

After shooting the fireball I suddenly felt dizzy, my head began to ache and my vision became blurry. The Butterfly began charging towards the bridge, but as I tried to move I nearly fell over. As it gained speed I felt something push me over onto my side. Just in time to miss being rammed by the Butterfly’s antenna horn.

Void Runner lay next to me, having just pushed me out of the way of the monster. We both watched in horror though as the Moonlit Butterfly began charging a large blue orb over its horn. Void Runner ran up to it and yelled. “NOT TODAY!”

She then apple bucked it in the face with such force that it was sent flying backwards off the bridge, and its magic disrupted. The Butterfly then flew up high and positioned itself over the bridge. As it began charging the large blue orb over its horn again, I shouted. “HIT WITH EVERYTHING YOU HAVE!”

I unleashed another dual fireball into its right wing, Moon Shadow sent a few green shuriken and a red one into its left wing. Moon Shadows explosive shuriken went off just as Rainfall swooped underneath the wing and then flew upward in a powerful spiral. Her serrated wing blades sliced right through the monsters wing as she flew through it.

The Moonlit Butterfly began falling towards the bridge and the three of us on the bridge ran away, towards the castle. Its large body crashed into the bridge hard. It lay there trying desperately to flap its broken wings. The song it was singing was very low, and very sad. Like a violin string. I felt pity for the broken creature.

Void Runner ran up, jumped into the air doing a flip and landed with her forehooves coming down on the monsters skull. There was a sickly crunching noise and with a sudden jerk the Moonlit Butterfly went limp, never to fly again.

Void Runner somersaulted off the head shouting excitedly. “We killed it, were so awesome.” She then threw her bloodied hooves into the air in triumph.

Moon Shadow wore a sad expression on his face as he said. “We just murdered it, a beautiful creature of magic.”

I looked at him and said. “I don’t necessarily like it either, but I promised the Soul to someone.”

Rainfall landed next to us and said. “Yeah, but we shouldn’t do this again. There aren’t very many of these things left. I don’t know what Masquerade wanted this for, but I don’t like killing these things. They say that Princess Celestia herself once made friends with a Moonlit Butterfly.”

I was a little shocked to hear that, I never would’ve thought about these things interacting with ponies in a social fashion. I really hoped Celestia wasn’t mad with me. I shook my head and asked. “So where is the soul?”

Void Runner said still excited. “Just watch, you’ll love this.”

We watched for a few seconds as nothing happened, I was about to open my mouth when the Moonlit Butterfly’s body began glowing a bright blue. The body then dissolved into motes of white and blue light, which then floated off into the distance. The only thing left behind was a white glowing orb. I picked up the orb and placed it inside my saddle bags. I now had the Soul of the Moonlit Butterfly, we could leave now.

Suddenly the bridge gave a horrible shudder, and the tower at the end was being enveloped in orange light. I looked up and noticed that the sky was quickly changing from midnight to afternoon. The orange light spread across the bridge like a tidal wave, and where it touched the bridge suddenly aged and fell down into the gorge far below us. Time was returning here and it was coming in with a vengeance.

We turned and ran for the exit. On our way out we had to dodge falling pieces of stone as the ceiling began collapsing from age. At one point a large piece of ceiling was falling over Moon Shadow, and Void Runner jumped up into the air and kicked it out of the way a second before it crushed him.

We got outside of the castle just in time as even the entrance collapsed and a tidal wave of dust swooped over us. We all stood still for a few moments panting, worried, and covered in dust. I finally looked back at the castle and was disappointed to see that almost the entire castle had now been leveled. The last three hundred years had not been kind in the slightest to this building.

Void Runner bounced up and down squealing. “That was AWESOME. We fought a giant monster, than we escaped a collapsing building. What are we gonna do next? Fight a dragon? Fight a demon? Sink a ship?”

I let out a sigh and then smiled at Void Runner, she really was a filly. I then looked at Moon Shadow and asked. “How did this happen?”

Moon Shadow stood up and said. “The fey energy that kept this place stuck in time is gone. It must have been the Moonlit Butterfly keeping this place alive. Congratulations, you killed a beautiful creature, and destroyed the Castle of the two sisters.”

I gave him a stern expression that meant for him to shut up, and he did. I looked back at the castle and said. “Well now we just have to return the Soul thingy to Masquerade.”