Making choices

About an hour after he fled from the company of Dagger, Hase felt something weird beneath his hooves. The ground had somehow become much softer. When he looked down, the stallion saw, that their group was walking on grey powder.

" Ashes. " Cobalt confirmed his thoughts.

" We've entered the Ashlands. Smith's Keep is no further than 1 hour walking. " Forge informed them. They were going to reach their destination.

The smith was right. Exactly when Hase thought they were lost and that they were never reach the town, the fog ended, revealing the last hundred feet to the town. The group gathered together on the edge of the fog to take a look at the city. Just as Forge had said, the town was in the foot of three huge volcanoes. They weren't currently errupting, but the fact, that the clouds above their throats were all painted red indicated, that they were active. Those volcanoes formed a triangle, which was occupied by the town. Many large chimenys could be seen, letting out white smoke. The town wall was made of basalt, as probably the rest of the town, since with three volcanoes nearby, that was the most common material around, and besides that, the only one, that wouldn't catch on fire.

The only problem was that there wasn't any fog to conceal Formidon anymore. After Hase thought for a second, he turned to their earth pony guide:

" Do any dragons live on the slopes of those volcanoes? "

" Yes. " Forge confirmed.

" They never attack the town, since there isn't any cattle. The locals are used to seeing one or two a day, soaring above. "

The inventor than called for his dragon friend. When the dragon looked down at him, the pegasus asked:

" Do you think you can blend in? I'm afraid you'll have to stay near one of the volcanoes until we leave. "

" No problem. " the black dragon assured him.

" The Hellish Horseshoe, the furthest from here, has the least dragons, since that's where the lava channels for the town begin. Most dragons aren't great fans of it, but I was assured you have no such problems. " their smith guide told Formidon, as he was preparing to fly away.

" It'll be just like a warm bath in the end of the day. " the dragon assured the group before flying away.

After Luna, Celestia, Twilight and Vortex disguised their wings, just like in Aseamos, so that they wouldn't draw much attention, the group could proceed. The ponies stayed in a compact mass, in order to hide the Sentinels of the Elements, who were going to get into the city a different way. With every step Cobalt sunk more and more into the ground, until he became one of it. Blaze simply turned into a flame and flew over the town wall, Tempest blended with the air, and Neptune and Hydro somehow managed to evaporize so much of themsleves, so that the rest of them fit into the bottles of the group. The strange group had turned into the most unsuspicious one.

" Just don't make us do that again. " Hydro called from one of the bottles in the saddlebags on Applejack's back.

" It's not very comfy in here. "

" Will you tell us more about the town? Specifically, those lava channels. What do you need lava for? " Hase turned to forge.

" I'm glad you asked. " the smith smiled.

" Smith's Keep is the most technologically advanced town in Runcinia, due to its use of steam power."

That sentence sounded ludicrous to the scientist, but he kept his mouth shut.

" The town has taken advantage of its natural location. Initially, the constant lava flow, coming from the Hellish Horseshoe, was a large obstacle for the creation of a village. However, at some point, a natural basalt barrier was formed, splitting the stream in two. The obstacle suddenly turned into an advantage: the village was going to be naturally protected from any attacks. Smith's Keep began as a small village hundreds of years ago, not bigger than Graywood.  Sadly, it had no chances to expand because of the lava flow, until one hundred years ago, Grains What found the use of steam power. That great discovery, almost ominously, was on the same date another inventor, Limestone Pickax , found out basalt can easily be digged and tunnels could be formed. These two discoveries lead to the industrial revolution in Smith's Keep. Tunnels were digged beneath the city, forming a complicated net, before returning to the common magma source of the three volcanoes 2 miles bellow the town.  The hot water spring, that used to form a pond in the center of the town, was redirected, until it vanished from the surface. On the locations, where it's needed to, this water is poured on the lava, immeadietly evaporating. The steam goes through the chimneys of the factory and than to the sky, but not before spinning the turbines, which move the machines in the factories. The town could be expanded and new machines, facillitating smithery, a prevalent business in the town because of the rich iron deposits in the mine on the slope of the Left Horn, could be used. That sums up the story of this town. " Forge completed the story.

" I suppose you were a smith's apprentice here? " Hase made a guess. The smith nodded.

A small piece of ash gently soared through the air and landed right on Rarity's muzzle. She quickly removed it and got rid of the gray stain it had left on her white coat.

" Is the weather always so dreadful? " she asked, as she looked at the sky. What could be seen from it was all covered in lead grey ash clouds.

" I'm afraid so. " the smith replied.

" Ash falls down from the sky all the time. The air isn't very clean. It only cleans up after it rains. "

" I suspect that's a common occurence, with all of that steam in the clouds. " Twilight mused.

" About every second day. " the stallion answered.

As if to confirm his words, just as the group was passing through the city gates, a shower began pouring down from the sky.

Slightly down in her mood, Rarity took a look at the town, trying to distract herself from what this ( Twilight said it was probably acid, with all of those volcanic gases in the air) rain would do with her mane. It was in deed all made out of one type of rock. It would have been very monotonous, as she had expected, if the citizen hadn't painted most of the buildings, a sollution for which the fashionista mare thanked them in her mind, even though most of the colours were horrific.

They diverged from the main street in a side ally, in order to wait for the Sentinels of the Elements to materialize again. That had another bonus - they could get a rest from the opportunistic clerks along the main street, that were trying to sell them incredibly expensive raincoats. Even though he didn't want to, Forge had found himself forced to buy six, in order to conceal the non- material bodies of the six sentinels. That cost them 24 bits.

" The hotel isn't too far away. It's on the central square. " Forge told them, as the group got back on the main street, which, just as the rest of the town, was tilted towards the town gates. 6 figures, hidden by horrible brown cloaks size XXL, that, Rarity supposed, probably didn't even protect the Sentinels from the rain (since only the one on the back of Blaze had remained dry).

The central square was the only horizontal surface in the whole town, excluding the insides of the buildings, which were artificially made horizontal for the comfort of its inhabitants. It wasn't very big, probably only about 50 feet wide. Its center, which, according to Forge, was once taken by the mineral pond, was now taken by a statue of two ponies, probably Grains What and Limestone Pickax. Their " hotel ", the " Lucky Minner " inn, was on their left. Opposite stood a big pub with the not very clever thought out name " Beer'n'Hammer " (Rarity could barely hold in her laugh as she saw the label), that according to their guide was the most popular pub in the whole town.

Their inn wasn't too big. In fact, most of it was reserved for their group. Only one room was taken by somepony, called Ms. Glittering Star. The innkeeper only had room for two. Forge was going to be in Room 101 with his sister, Dagger and Metal Chord were sharing Room 102 (nopony else wanted them in their room), Celestia and Luna were put in 205, Twilight, Spike and Applejack were in 204 (since the innkeeper had generously decided Spike shouldn't be paid for, since he was considered "a pet". The purple alicorn had barely managed to hold the little dragon not to burst fire in the innkeeper's face), Rarity and Pinkie Pie were in 203, Dash and Fluttershy - in 202, the Sentinels - in 103,104 and 105 ( which Cobalt shared with Midnight Bell) and finally, 201 was shared by Hase and Vortex. The only room on the third floor, 301, was taken by the other pony.

Since the group didn't exactly have much luggage, they quickly separated in their rooms. Most of the group wasn't going to do anything in Smith's Keep. Only Forge would visit his friend in the morning, in order to get weapons and something to hide Formidon. So all Hase could do was lie in his bed and fall asleep after the long day, full of shock. 10 minutes later, his father peeked through the open door, as if to check on Hase. When he was sure his son was asleep, he took the key, closed the door and locked it from the outside. He than knocked on the doors of 202, 203, 204 and 205, giving the same answer to everypony, who opened the door and asked what was going on:

" In the lobby, after 5 minutes. "

Even though they were confused, all, that were called by the black alicorn, stood before him in the lobby 5 minutes later: the two Princesses, the Mane 6 and Spike.

" I need to talk with you all about something very importrant. " the stallion with the violet mane, which, in its disguise, was falling down as a normal mane, turned to the small group of Equestrians.

" But not here. " the stallion than sat down on one of the horrible couches in the lobby, until Luna suggested:

" Why not the pub opposite? "

Even though drunk ponies yelled, drunk ponies laughed and drunk ponies snored, the " Beer'n'Hammer " was quiet enough for the 9 equestrians, sitting on a table in the corner, to be able to listen to eachother. Drooling at the sight of such a large group, the waiter honed in on them as a vulture, but after Vortex threw him a glance, the waiter realised they were one of those customers, that one would do best to stay away of, and got back, after letting out a loud sigh of dissappointment.

As the equestrains sat around the round table, Celestia immeadietly asked, a bit concerned:

" What do you need to talk about, uncle? "

" About Hase. More specifically, about his new weapon. " Vortex spoke.

Everypony's mood went significantly down, as they remembered the major event of the day. Nopony amongst them had thought Hase was capable of something like that.

" Those thieves have probably killed a thousand ponies, but that fact doesn't excuse Hase. The only thing, that partially excuses him, is that he was driven by rage, caused by you being threatened. "

Vortex was speaking to everypony around the table, but the glance he threw at Rarity made it very clear to her who he meant with the word " you ". The white unicorn felt a bit uncomfortable.

" We can do nothing about it. What has been done has been done and we would all do the best if we try to forget it, since there isn't anyhting about it we can do anyway. What worries me more is that weapon. "

Rarity remembered how the mace Hase had picked up had continued levitating even after her coltfirend had stopped holding it with his telekinesis. She also remembered seeing it move, as if on his command, but at that time she was too shocked to comprehend. Apparently the situation was the same with the rest of her friends, even with the Princesses, since all seemed to think about it right now. Vortex, however, interrupted them:

" There is no use making new theories. I know this weapon. "

" You do? Why didn't you tell us? " Twilight was surprised.

" I didn't want Hase to hear me. We shouldn't instill fear in him, since, as you'll understand later, that may have bad consequences. Promise me not to tell him anything about it. Pinkie promise. " he said the last sentence with such a voice, that "Pinkie promise" sounded like some kind of blood oath. After everypony "stuck a cupcake in their eye", Vortex got a lot less nervous than before.

" I thought I had got rid of this weapon a long time ago. I threw it in the Void, after all. " he spoke.

" Why didn't you simply destroy it? " Dash wondered.

" I would have... if I could. This is the Mace of Rage we're talking about, " Vortex revealed the name of the weapon.

" ,it can't be destroyed, until every single piece of rage vanishes from every world there is. You now understand yourself, that this is impossible. "

" The Mace of Rage? Who created it? " Fluttershy asked, small signs of fear present in her voice.

" That's a long story. " Vortex replied.

" But we aren't in a hurry anyway.

Back in the times when Solarion and I lived in the old Equestria, as a part of a noble family, we were friends with another alicorn. His name was Azure Spark. He was the third son of the king, but that didn't give him much admiration. He was overshadowed by his two big brothers, the heroes of the kingdom. They fought dragons, saved mares, participated in tournaments - what the sons of a king are expected to do. Knowing full well he'd never become king, and not finding any sence in knighthood, Azure instead enlisted to magic school, like us - at first encouraged by his mother, who knew, that her son didn't need to become like his brothers, since the kingdom never looks up to the third son anyway, but follow his dreams, - than driven by his own thirst for knowledge. He was constantly taunted by his brothers, by the knights from their company, mocked even by the castle guards and ignored by the common folk, since he was physically weak. Still, he had friends in the magical school and was good at magic, and that was all he cared about.

Centuries passed by. We three were already 1000 years old. We remained friends. Having nothing better to do, we had become teachers in the Magical Academy we studied in ourselves. But one day, during a diplomatic mission, the king's chariot fell in a cliff. Azure's oldest brother inherited him. He was a good king, but he never had any love for Asure and continued to mistreat him , even though he was the ruler and was supposed to be just and all. Azure was forced to waste his time with arrangements a guard could easily complete. Even though he knew that was just his brother taunting him again, he didn't abandon his duties, no matter how ridiculous they were.

One day this all changed. Archeologists had found an ancient town on the border of the kingdom. For the first time, the king pittied Azure, and knowing how much he was interested in ruins, he appointed him to be the archeologists' magical consultant, so that he'd explore together with them.

He found something there. Something, that bound itself to his mind and brought forth his desires, his darkest wishes and that part of his feelings he had always supressed.

The Eye of the Necropolis. Or at least, that's how the archeologists named it.

Nopony knew what it was back than. The archeologists later told us Azure had told them he'd bring it back to a museum. There was something like that in the Ancient Civilisations Museum in Banastor, the capital city, but it was probably a copy. We thought Azure wore a copy and the original was in the museum. Actually, it was the other way around.

The Eye of the Necropolis was a medalion. It was in the shape of a star, formed out of tiny amethyst crystals. In the center, there stood a polished malachite circular plate with a black circle in its middle. The amethyst crystals began from the edges of this malachite plate.

All this time we did nothing, because we knew nothing. All this time the Eye was messing with his mind. Later we found out, that when it messes with somepony's mind, an image of themselves appears in one's mind, speaks with their voice, as a future them with all of their deepest and darkest wishes having become true. We only managed to withstand that temptation for a few moments, and luckily, that was enough. Of course, having the Eye around his neck all that time, Asure couldn't.

The Eye gives one significant dark magical powers... "

" Of a Sombra scale? " Celestia asked.

" Yes. Even bigger. " Vortex confirmed.

" It really wasn't the Azure we knew anymore. It was his anger and spite, supressed for 1000 years. More powerful than any of his brothers, nothing stopped him from killing his king, and crowning himself. He renamed himself to Crimson Dawn, since according to his own words, Azure Spark wasn't a name fit for a ruler.

The whole kingdom rose against him. The first to attack were the gryphons, the most loyal allies of Azure's second brother. He led them to the castle, in an attempt to bring down his mad little brother. But Crimson Dawn hadn't wasted his time. In the meantime between killing the king and the assault of his second brother, he had become a Chaotic, with one single purpose - to have an army. He met his brother on the fields next to Banastor, and driven only by rage, much like his uncontrollable Voidian army, slaughtered everything in his way. "

The last part reminded Rarity of the events, that happenned earlier during the day. Of course, Hase had acted on a much smaller scale, but he was driven by rage as well.

" There, on the battlefield, he did something so horrible the rumours of it made the Gryphon Kingdom refuse to take part in the upcoming war. Knowing full well the gryphons entered the battlefield as angry as possible, believeing this would grant them victory, he bound the angry spirits of the whole army to one mace he found on the battlefield, using the dark magic of the Eye. Then he ripped off every gryphon nail he could find, and again using the dark magic, used them to create 40 indestructible black nails he used to replace the spikes on the mace. He named the weapon the Mace of Rage and it went notorious during the upcoming war.

It began soon. The whole kingdom united against Crimson Dawn and his uncontrollable Voidian army, which was starting to eat away the world. Dragons joined the rebellion, crystal ponies from a neighbouring kingdom became their allies, even the changelings, back than still beautiful and wise beings, led by the benevolent Queen Chrysalis... "

It was the first time Twilight heard somepony tell something about the past of the changelings. Interested, she took a mental note to ask Vortex more about them later.

" ... came to support us from another world. The army of the Allies, as our force was named, exceeded 4 milllion units. We were officers in this army. We all thought there was no way we could lose this war. But we did. After only a single battle.

The lines of the earth ponies were first. They attacked with bravery, that couldn't be described. One of the earth ponies' troopers even managed to hit Crimson Dawn. There, for a moment, Crimson Dawn was gone and Azure Spark was back. Survivors spoke the night afterwards, that he had stopped in his tracks, paralysed by the despair he felt from what he was doing. If we were there back than, probably we would have stopped the war. But we weren't. With the Eye of the Necropolis bringing forth his worst memories, he quickly remembered how even earth ponies threated him like something bellow them. Crimson Dawn used the despair of Azure Spark to gain strength for the attack. The despair was then passed to the earth ponies, as the mad king killed half of the troops himself. Soon, when most of the earth ponies were dead, Crimson Dawn did what he had done with the gryphons: extracting the desperate spirits of the earth ponies, that had fallen in battle, he bound thousand ponies to a single whip, that quickly went black in colour, just like the mace before that. That is how the Whip of Despair came to be.

Day One was over. The Allied Forces retreated to their camp. We thought our enemy would do so as well. But he didn't. Overnight, we lost half of our army.

Crimson Dawn was well aware of one of the crystal ponies' major weaknesses: fear. They are very vulnerable to it, as Sombra demonstrated in the Crystal Empire. So in the darkest hours of the night, our enemy created illusions, that were horrible beyond description. Designed for each crystal pony personally. All Crimson Dawn had to do was to use the dark magic to acess the ponies' brains and than simply materialize their fear. Horrified, the crystal ponies all fled. Extracting the power of their fear, the alicorn used it to create yet another horrible weapon. From a normal metal shield, left lying on the field, the pitch black Shield of Fear was crafted, with the help of which Crimson Dawn could bring forth one's worst fear, made almost real. In fact, so real, that even if one knows it's not, they are still terrified.

Our former friend applied a simillar tactic with the changelings. This time his illusions took forms of normal ponies, who insulted our otherdimensional allies, threated them as animals and even fought them. Shocked by this discriminative demeanor, Queen Chrysalis left the very same night. From their deception another of the weapons was formed - the Mantle of Deceit, a black mantle, that can twist everything but the most pure things and deceive anypony but the most dedicated.

The next day, the last day, was when the last four Weapons of Devastation, as they were known from there on, were created. Unicorns, dragons and pegasi attacked together. The pegasi squad was first, and since most of them were from the royal guard, Crimson Dawn finally had the chance to have revenge for all the smirks behind his back. A bow was added to the pitch black set of weapons, the Bow of Vengeance, that could be charged with any magic and fire it as its arrow.

To the unicorns, who our former friend saw only as nobles, he felt pure hatred. After the battle, he cut the horn of every fallen unicorn he could find, even those, who weren't dead yet. The Eye's dark magic allowed him to form it into a 5 feet long rod of unicorn horn, with great magical potential prisoned inside. Three black metal spikes span around its top, held by this innate magic. The horn rod lost its colours, turning pale white. It became known as the Spear of Hatred.

He didn't waste much time for the dragons. He simply flew towards their leader, sticking his newest weapon, the Spear, right into his forehead, and warned the rest of them, that their doom awaits them, if any other amongst them dared to attack him. Before his eyes, he created an illusion of their valley, with dragon corpses and bones lying everywhere, slwoly being dissolved by acid. The dragons fled the battlefield. Combining his own armour with the scales he ripped off the dragon's alpha, he created the unbreachable Armour of Doom.

The two day war was over. We were lucky enough to be amongst the survivors, but Equestria's population had been reduced from 5 millions to 5 thousand ponies . Crimson Dawn crowned himself Ultimate Emperor and completed his enchanted armoury by killing all the Voidians, who aided him in his quest, forming their bodies into black metal with the help of his magic and forging a helmet out of this metal. He put the Eye on it, above the forehead, as a beautiful and deadly decoration, and the last Weapon - the Helmet of Supremacy - was brought into existence.

Two months later, due to an unexperienced Chaotic, Voidians fludded the realm. That was the best time to attack, while Crimson Dawn was repelling them. We stroke, and although we almost failed, we managed to vanquish him. But the Voidians couldn't be stopped. It was too late. I put my brother into a cocoon of energy and we fled to the Void, knowing our world was beyond saving. You know the story from than on. " Vortex finished, turning to Celestia.

As they heard this story, Hase's friends understood while Vortex was so worried.

" Hase would never do any of these things anymore! You saw how he reacted to killing all those ponies." Luna defended the pegasus.

" Of course not. Azure Spark wasn't sane when he comitted all of this. The only thing, that worries me, is if Hase will get the rest of the weapons... and what will happen, if the Helmet of Supremacy appears next to him, along with the Eye of the Necropolis. " the black alicorn replied.

Everypony had sunk in their thoughts, when they got back to the hotel. Everypony were thinking about what the future holds for their friend.