Hollow Mask

Olivia was sitting on the floor in the library. The Angel was reading a few books about Equestrian History, a field of study that was entirely unfamiliar to her, like many others.

A white flash alerted her of the presence of her boss.

Lucifer stood in the middle of the library, inspecting Olivia’s new home.

“It seems nice,” he commented.

Olivia sighed, “What’s up, boss?”

“You are drafted,” Lucifer simply stated while locking his gaze with Olivia’s.

“Why?”

“Protocol ‘Far Fall’ has been activated. We suspect that the Lich King is responsible for the Fate manipulations and he is on the loose.”

“You know I have a important job here,” Olivia tried to defend herself.

“This is more important. Leave a note.”

Olivia sighed, “Understood, … but I will not be the one responsible for anything that might happen.” She quickly wrote a note for Hunter and pinned it on the door.

Lucifer smirked, “That is not of your concern. If anything happens, I will take responsibility.”

Olivia nodded and they both vanished in a white flash of light.

About 300 kilometers higher, Hunter was watching Rainbow and Twilight eating a few bacon strips. The ships food supplies were generous at the least and had allowed for a Bacon-&-Egg-Breakfast.

“Dead pig,” smirked Hunter.

Rainbow stopped chewing and Twilight looked aghast at Hunter, “WHAT?”

“Like I said, normally it’s made of dead pig parts. The ship assembles it from various proteins, though, so it is technically veggie,” Hunter was short of laughing at this point. Rainbow reacted by shrugging and continued chewing her meal.

Twilight on the other hand looked like she was about to puke, “That’s disgusting. Why didn’t you say that before you let us eat it?”

“Because I’m evil and you never asked?” Hunter countered sarcastically.

Twilight deadpanned, “I hate you.”

“I get that a lot lately, especially from you,” Hunter laughed out loud, “Now, look at the time.”

She stood up from the table, taking the three empty plates and putting them into the cleaning unit.

“You two should buckle up. Reentry is a lot more dangerous,” she warned and then paused shortly.

The three of them entered an awkward silence, which Rainbow broke first, “Well,....”

“Yep,” Hunter agreed and they left the dining area.

Hunter entered the cockpit first and sat down in the pilot’s seat. She flicked two buttons overhead and the lights on the cockpit lit up.

“Now, I have to warn you. I’ve never done this before, except in simulation and this is extremely dangerous,” she explained while entering data into the computer.

“And what exactly will you do?” asked Twilight curiously.

“Reentry. I will reduce our velocity until we will dip back in the atmosphere. We will use the drag and air compression to slow us down. There are many dangerous outcomes. If I get the angle wrong we will burn up or bounce back into space…”

“Bounce? On air?” interrupted Rainbow.

“We are moving at roughly 10 kilometers per second. There isn’t much difference between air, water or concrete, except that the last two take a bit longer to get out of the way,” Hunter explained, “Now, as I tried to explain, I have to check the course the ship and maintain altitude through lift. The engines won’t operate at these speeds. We could do a direct entry, but I’m not very skilled with the main engine yet.”

“And how is this thing going to generate lift? It is about as aerodynamic as the castle in the Everfree,” interrupted Rainbow again.

“If you interrupt me ONE more time, I will throw you out of this ship WHILE we are still in space. Anything will generate lift if it’s moving fast enough” - Hunter lowered her voice - “or has enough boosters.”

“Any more questions?” she asked.

“Nah,” responded Rainbow Dash.

“Good. Along-sih!”

“Do I look like I fucking care? No? Good,” retorted Hunter. She pushed a few buttons and Twilight could see little blue flames at the edges of the windows in the cockpits.

Twilight saw how everything around them was spinning and moving around, giving her a feeling of nausea.

Hunter pushed the throttle forward when the movement stopped and watched a few counter ticking down. When she was satisfied with the numbers she cancelled the thrust again.

The ship had been surprisingly calm during this maneuver.

“Good… goood. Our reentry angle will be almost 5 degrees,” Hunter stated, “Reentry in T minus five seconds.”

Twilight mentally counted down the five seconds, but nothing happened. “Did we miss it?” she asked.

“Nope. We are on reentry. Might take a few seconds…” said Hunter absently.

Not shortly after that, the Alicorn-turned-Human noticed the first effects of reentry. Little flames were licking at the lower rim of the windows. The whole ship began rocking around and rattling, sometimes a high-pitched whistle from the rushing air cutting through the orchestra of sounds.

It felt like an eternity until it became even worse. The flames changed, growing into a living inferno, that promised to devour any unprotected piece of the ship and the sound of air crashing into the ship, the forces enough to break apart the molecules in the air and ionize the leftovers.

An outsider would see a burning tail of fire behind the ship, which itself was a bright sun against the sky as it fell downwards.

Twilight and Rainbow observed this process in silence. The Pink Pony Princess tried to calculate the forces acting on and around the ship, but stopped when she realized that most models of chemistry and gases wouldn’t work under these extreme circumstances.

Another eternity later the flames died down. It was almost anticlimactic seeing the fire outside die down within seconds, when the speed of the ship reached almost normal levels.

Hunter reached up and flipped two switches over. The metals of the ship screamed under the forces as the engine ignited and reduced the speed, the ship was traveling at, further. The cacophony of the ship reached a new apex with the rushing of flames and groaning of bending metals.

The two ponies could only see blue sky outside. It was clear, without clouds. Slowly a mountain rose out of the lower rim of the windows. They descended slower and slower, until a golden and white tower appeared in view.

The ship came to a halt, essentially hovering in place as the engines held it in the air. On top of the golden tower was a balcony. On that balcony stood a white alicorn, which Twilight recognized as Princess Celestia. She waved awkwardly at the princess.

Hunter smirked. Twilight was confused by the Unicorns gesture. ‘Why would she show her middle finger to Celestia?’ Twilight mentally contemplated while Rainbow growled on her seat. The pegasus knew the gesture from her childhood friend Gilda.

In a completely different place, again, in a small forest near Equestria’s border to the Griffin Kingdom, a small energy orb appeared.

Lightning bolts shot out of the sphere, impacting the environment and starting a few small fires. The noises attracted a few local predators, even two Manticores, to the area.

A minute passed before the orb disappeared again. The two Manticores stared at the empty space, the prey the hoped for now gone.

Within the blink of an eye, the two Manticores were dead. Anything in the area, that the orb had appeared in, dropped dead instantly, all color and energy drained. The fires died down, as if choked below a blanket, now only producing smoke.

In the middle of the area stood a skeleton. It was devoid of any live, only small bits of rotting flesh clinging on it’s bones. It was almost 3 meters tall, otherwise mostly humanoid and bipedal in stance. The only exception were the horns on top of the skull, one broken off, the other intact. It remained motionless for a short while.

Two green dots appeared in the eyes of the empty skull. They inspected their surroundings. They gazed on the two dead manticores for a second before diverting again.

It began to walk. Each of it’s foot steps was pounding like a giant drum. It left the death circle it’s arrival had created.

Each time a foot came down on the ground, the grass and plants withered away, even their color leaving them.

A brave, third Manticore, who had taken longer to arrive, attacked. Mostly for prey, but also to retaliate for his fallen brethren.

The skeleton stopped and turned. The Manticore’s attack wilted and it even took a few steps back.

>>HALT<<

The sound of the creature’s voice wasn’t normal. It was absolute, a commanding power nothing could overcome. And it was cold. Devoid of life and harmony.

The Manticore froze on the spot. Everything seemed to fade away as him had to watch the creature walking closer. When it was about to touch him, its jaw moved again, the voice out of sync with the movement.

>>Do you know what I am, creature?<<

The beast of the forest understood and hesitantly shook his head. His body was shivering, feeling his death approaching.

>>I am the Lich. I am the King. The finality of existence. The end of life. You are a puny creature, making the absurd attempt to stand in my way. I am the end. Your end.<<

The Lich reached down to the Manticore’s head. When he touched it, the Manticore screamed up in pain.

The evil creature seemed to enjoy this moment of lust, before the puny little life in front of him withered and died. The body crumbled into ashes, falling on the ground and being slowly blown away by the wind.

The Lich laughed. The sound of the laughter echoed in the forest, sounding hollow, without emotion and dead.

>>Darkness and Fire shall consume this world.<<

It continued it’s march towards Ponyville. Nothing could or would stop it from fulfilling its mission while the gods were concentrating on the bait he laid out. Nobody and nothing would protect them.