The Book of Ethereal Secrets

Chapter 2

Of course they would have pegasi patrolling the allies and streets around the hotel. I had to hide in a dumpster to evade two flying through the ally. Now I smell like garbage, and I'm being chased by a.. cult? That's probably right. Though I would have expected robes instead of jumpsuits. I risked a peek at the ally I was in, and it seems clear. I stepped out as quietly as I could.

I only made it a block away from the hotel. Why is everypony so damn interested in knowing where that is, it confounds me. Princess Celestia even told her citizens that it was a danger and is off limits to the public. And now I'm being hunted by deranged cult ponies who probably want to sacrifice me to some 'greater being' and feed my innards to the monsters that inhabit Fort Hoffen. I heard footsteps behind me, shit.

I turned around and saw the two pegasi I saw flying about earlier. They had a smug grin that begged me to take it from them, but I figured it would be better for my physical condition if I ran. I looked towards the other end of the ally and saw three earth ponies enter. "Well then." was all I could say be for a sharp pain hit the back of my neck. I reached back and plucked the offender from my flesh. It was a dart. Why me? Why do they need ME? Why a cult? WHY IS EVERY THING BLURRY? Were my last thoughts before the darkness overtook me.

Ignoring the strange weather, I continued down the path towards the blacksmith. Hammer Watch provides the guards with weapons and armor. He also provides the public with items such as silverware, metal parts such as hinges and the like, and tools. I was welcomed to Fort Hoffen first by him. He's a good sort to every pony he meets.

He stands on a ladder repairing his shop's sign. The last Everfree storm tore the town a new one, a few houses were utterly destroyed, and it has taken a month to get where are today in repairs. We aren't even halfway through with the new houses. The ladder began to wobble, so I quickly moved in to steady it. Hammer looked down to see what steadied him.

"Afternoon, Steel," he spoke through the nails in his teeth.

"Afternoon, finally finished the new sign, I see," I responded.

"Eeyup," he took the nails from his mouth, "hopefully the newer hinges will survive the next storm." He looked to the sky, noticing the strange weather. "Well shit, looks there's gonna be another one today." He finished hammering the last few nails in, and climbed down. I noticed a long gash along his forehead. It didn't look fresh, but it hadn't completely healed yet.

"Ouch, what happened there?" I pointed to the wound.

He looked up and rubbed his index and middle finger along the length of it. "Got it from the old sign when it fell," I grimaced at the image of the large 3 foot by 4 foot sign smacking into his cranium, "hurt like hell, but it would make one hell of a story." He grinned as he headed for the outdoor forge and pulled out metal pieces that he would heat up and hammer into the shapes required for whatever he was ordered to craft today. "How's the sword and shield holding up?" He motioned to the shield strapped to my left arm.

"The sword cuts clean through the practice dummies, and the shield managed withstand a manticore's stinger," I lifted the shield and pointed towards the shallow dent in the center, "six times." He smiled, obviously proud of his handy work.

"Glad to know that the fruits of my labor have managed to save your ass." I let out laugh as I began to walk away, but then I heard him call my name and looked back at him. "How have things been with you and Joy?"

I smiled, "Things couldn't be any better." I looked at the bracelet on my left wrist that read 'I am forever yours'. She was a teacher at the school, which is why I look forward to these calm days on patrol. "Later Hammer, I have schedule to keep." He waved me off with his hammer in hand. I continued down the path towards the school.

Water covered me head to toe as I awoke. I saw an orange unicorn with a green mane. He was wearing that red jumpsuit the others wore, but he had a blood stained, white apron. His sleeves were rolled up, and he had brown leather gloves, well they were brown. He was holding an empty bucket. I looked down and noticed I was tied to a wooden chair. My jacket and shirt were missing. He snapped to get my attention.

"Great, your awake," He said as enthusiastically as a filly on Hearths Warming Eve. "Now, I need a bet of information from you, we could do this the easy boring way, where you just tell me the truth, OR we can do this the fun, hard way, where I beat, cut, chop, and tear it out of you." this is gonna hurt, bad. "So, where is Fort Hoffen?" he picked up a small club. I remained silent. No way, no how, am I going to let anypony who doesn't already know, know where Fort Hoffen is. His smile only grew with the silence.

The club collided with my head, and caused a ringing in my ear. Another swing connected with the opposite temple. A headache was forming and I felt warmness flow down my right cheek. "Let me ask you again," he cleared his throat, "where is Fort Hoffen?"

"I heard it's out in the middle of nowhere, try looking there," I spat. The club connected with my jaw, hard. The familiar taste of copper filled my mouth. I spit the mouthful at my interrogator's hooves. He cackled.

"Oh, feisty~" he sang. I was hating his guts more and more every second. He put the club down and picked up a scalpel. "This is my favorite part," He walked up to me and placed the blade under my left collar bone. "Where is Fort Hoffen?" the scalpel was digging into my skin.

"It's up your ass, couldn't you tell." The blade cut deep and I screamed in pain.

"You frown to much," He gripped my jaw, and placed the now bloodied scalpel on the side of my mouth, "I'm gonna make you smile." The door slammed open showing a grey pegasus. My torturer looked annoyed; then, he released his grip and set the blade on the counter as the two had a conversation quite enough that I couldn't here it. "Damn it, if you want to do something right, do it yourself!" He screamed as he marched out the door with the pegasus hot on his hooves.

I tried to use my magic to undo my restraints, but there was an anti-magic ring on my horn. Looking around, I tried to determine my location. There were boxes against the wall, and hooks hung from the ceiling holding slabs of meat. I must be in a slaughterhouse, probably in the griffin quarter of Trottingham. I thought. I heard the door open, and looked to see the last thing I had expected to see. Daring Do was crouched at the door, she grimaced at what that sadistic bastard did to me. She silently came up behind my chair and cut the bindings holding my hands.

"What?" Was all I could think to say as I rubbed the bruises around my wrists.

"Shhh, we need to go before they notice," she whispered.

"I'm not leaving without my jacket," more like what was in my jacket. She rolled her eyes at me. "I'm not leaving without it." I deadpanned.

"Fine, I think it might be in the first door to the right," she motioned to the door. We sneaked into the surprisingly unguarded hallway. I opened the door on the right. I looked around, and saw my jacket on a counter with a sink. I also saw a naked stallion tied to a chair similar to the one I was just in. I walked up and put my jacket on. Checking the pockets I found the bracelet, I sighed in relief. Then I noticed my pack, along with my sword and twin flintlocks, next to the counter. After my equipment was in place, I turned around and froze.

The stallion was red with graying hair. He had a cutie mark of an anvil on his left pectoral, and a scar going along his forehead. He was covered in bruises and cuts. His knee caps were exposed to the world, and he was missing a hand and three of his fingers on his other. Tears flowed down my face as I dropped to my knees in front of the dead stallion. "Hammer, oh Celestia no." I choked out as I looked him over.

"What's taking you so.." Daring stopped when her eyes fell upon the scene. I had lost another friend in this world.

"Three," I said quietly. Daring had a look of confusion on her face. "Three of us left, ten made out of Fort Hoffen, now there are three." I said as the anger grew inside.

"Steel, are you going to be okay?" She asked with a hint of fear and concern in her voice. I was about to respond when the handle on the door began to turn. I looked around and saw a few large crates, and motioned to them. We scurried behind the crates as a certain orange unicorn walked in.

"Ah, good morning Mister Hammer, no no no.. don't get up on my account." He laughed as he approached a table near the door. His magic picked up a butcher's knife and pair of clean latex gloves over to the sink as his magic turned it on. "That friend of yours... uh, what's his name..Oh yeah, Steel Aegis, he's a fun one." He was organizing the other knifes on the table as I started my way to the counter. I felt Daring grab my wrist.

She mouthed 'what are you doing'. I pulled myself free from her grip. My steps were masked by the running water in the sink. It was almost full when I grabbed the gloves and cleaver. I approached the unicorn, who turned around and opened his mouth to alert his friends, and stuffed the gloves into his mouth. His horn lit up, but I grabbed his head and slammed it onto the table. I raised the knife and chopped of his horn at the base. His muffled scream could not be heard outside the room. I then threw him into the counter. He tried to stand up but I grabbed his head again.

I pushed his muzzle into the sink water, and it turned red from his horn, or the lack there of. He struggled for air, but I pushed down harder. Daring ran up to me and tried to get my attention, but I was focused on the creature that killed one of the few friends I had left in this world.

"Steel, stop it, you can't just kill him!" She silently yelled.

"Why the fuck not, he killed, why should I show him any mercy." I spat maliciously.

"Because your better than that." She had tears in her eyes. I sighed, she was right. If I killed him, I would no better then the filth I'm holding down in the sink. I pulled him out. His muffled coughs echoed through the room. I knocked him out with a punch. there was a moment of silence.

"Alright, let's get out of here," I finally spoke. Daring motioned me to follow her. We were almost caught a few times, but we made it out and headed to the motel Daring was staying in. She doctored the wounds I received while in the sadist's custody. While she did so she told me what she knew about the cult who was after me. They are called "The Eyes of the Harbinger", and they are looking for the book, which is why Daring is looking for it.

"So will you tell me where it is know?" She asked.

"No," I calmly stated, "We need to stop them before they find out, besides even if they do find out, the place has a powerful shield keeping any thing from entering," I narrowed my eyes, "or leaving."

"So how would one get past the shield?" She has an otherworldly curiosity.

"Let me think, usually only the ones who put the shield up could bring it down, but the Everfree has a certain magic about it that has most likely has taken over the shield and made nigh invincible." I sat back in the chair. "The only way I can think of getting through that barrier would be a very powerful inherent bypass spell."

"An inherwhat now?"

"Some unicorns have an inherent magic that manifests itself into a specific spell." I stated

"Do you have one?"

"Yes, I can suppress another's magic with my own, but really powerful mages and the princesses have far too much magic for me to use against them." I half gloated.

"How do you know so much about the shield?"

"Because, I, along with four other unicorn guards, put it up. We didn't want those monsters getting out." There was a silence afterwards. It wasn't awkward, it was thoughtful.

Daring decided to break the silence. "You said there were only three of you left?" I nodded "Where are the other two, they might be in danger." I thought hard about it.

"Sour is still in Canterlot I think, and Zylus is still Manehatten last I heard from him."

"Zylus sounds like a zebra's name," I nodded again, "I thought only ponies lived at Fort Hoffen."

"We needed an expert on the local flora, turns out most zebras outside their homeland are alchemists." I chuckled at the thought, and I didn't know why.

"So."

"So."

"Lets head to Manehatten."

"Great, I promised my mom I would visit anyway." I honestly couldn't remember the last time I saw my sister.

"Taking me to meet the parents? moving fast aren't we?" Daring smirked. I merely responded with a deadpanned stare. She chuckled, "Lets go."

We made our way to the train station and bought two tickets. It was going to be a long ride, but for once, I wasn't alone, so there's that.