Bellum tyranni sol et luna Benedictus

By ChAoS pOnY

Occultus civitate Vapor est , anni , et terrorem. (Part 2)

"I think she's coming to." a voice said as Maud started to wake up. "What did they hit her with?"

"Mostly themselves and half the temple until one finally was able to choke her out while the rest dog piled her to hold her limbs down." Starlight Glimmer said as muad tried to open her eyes. "After that, the rest of us went down pretty quickly. They dog piled me and grabbed Sunburst when he tried to save me and Sunset just surrendered after they cornered her several times and wore her out by forcing her to teleport so much just to try to stay free. Does anyone know why Muad has a rock in her pocket?"

Maud's eyes finally snapped open as she sat up, reaching into her pocket for Boulder and finding him there. "Told you she would snap out of it if she thought Boulder was in trouble." Sunburst said as he wrote in one of his journals, trying to get down every detail about the train in front of them leading into a darkened gigantic cavern. He could just imagine this thing in a grand train station.

He watched as Flim and Flam started to get up and protest when their self-propelled wagon was carried down and put onto the train by three of the Clockmen, but one of the Clockmen guarding them grabbed them both and forced them to sit back down. After that no one tried to protest when more of their things were brought down, including Maud's, Daring's, and Ahuizotl's camps. "Okay, I have to ask why do you have a Antique Chineighs Rosewood Opium Bed Ahuizotl?" Starlight Glimmer asked as everyone else looked at her in surprise. "What? I happen to like Antique Chineighs Furniture."

"Celestia has made it difficult to keep a house for very long. So anything I collect while looking for a more permanent home has to come with me or stay behind to be sold or destroyed when things don't exactly work out." Ahuizotl said as he snapped his fingers on his tail and the bed burst into blue flames the color of his fur and reappeared next to the Clockmen who had been carrying it. "At least until I learned summoning, which I used the opium bed as a test summons. It's compact, enclosed style it is in made it a good camping bed until I'm ready to try to set up something more permanent."

"Wait, you have God powers, why not just smash your way out of here and take us with you?" Starlight asked.

"Minor or local Gods are often easily vulnerable to and can be overpowered by certain elements like earth, wind, fire, water, metals, stone, wood, magic, certain animal types, lightning, or combination elements." Sunburst explained as he watched the Clockmen pick the bed up again and carry it into the train. "Given that the file on Ahuizotl places him around 500 years old, he's actually very young for a God and hasn't discovered his full power, he is still vulnerable until he does. Then he moves into being a regional God and there he'll be repealed by prayers, singings, chanting, or playing of musical instruments in honor of a more powerful God, like Celestia. It's only when he becomes a major God will he only have to worry about another God, since that will be the only thing that can kill him, like Discord or Celestia herself or a Demi-God empowered by a major God, like the Archangels."

"Okay, how do you know so much?" Ahuizotl asked.

"Former royal librarian in charge of the black archives means unlimited access to it and lots of free time on my hands between visitors." Sunburst told him. "Do you really think I didn't read anything I was responsible for? I might not be as powerful as Sunset and Starlight, but I make up for it with knowledge from some of the darkest tomes you can imagine. Need to know how to raise a love one from the dead or how to lay them to rest? How to build Diamond Dog Steam Bombs that can break mountains or how to disable them? Need to know how to summon daemons from Tartarus or how to send them back?" Sunburst then tapped the side of his head with a finger, "Then I'm your stallion. I can even tell you how to bypass the limits of being a minor God and go straight to being a major God, but the downside is you'll be a magic beacon for every other God out there for several days and that will be long enough for Celestia to find you. Unless you're crazy enough to release every God she has imprisoned at once and hide in the ensuing chaos."

"Yeah right and what good would that do?" Lightning Dust asked.

"Throw a major monkey wrench in her plans, unleash a lot of her enemies at once, put a huge crack in her armor, destroy the public's confidence in her, create so much chaos she won't have time to look for us, and give us a better fighting chance." Sunset said.

Lightning Dust had been about to say something when Maud began reading the Armor of the closest clockmen guarding her out loud,

"'And I looked and beheld as the last of their kind clashed in the last battle of a vicious war that had consumed all of the rest of their kind. I wept for the fall of the once mighty cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, fallen not in the rage of a wrathful God or to a powerful enemy, but to love turned to hate as husband fought wife, child fought parent, and brother fought sister. So mighty was the rage that consumed all that none fled the battle until all but two children of the once might Shadhavar remained. I wept for the tiny babes as they cried in the broken cities, but not with tears of sorrow, but of joy, for fate had smiled upon them that day. For so mighty was the sound of the war that the Gods themselves came to bear witness to the destruction. There in the rubble of Sodom the boy was found and named by Pony Goddess Princess Celestia after her long dead friend Starswirl the Bearded. And in the rubble of Gomorrah the girl was found and named by the Griffin Goddess Arden and named after the legendary hero who closed the gates of Tartarus and ended the Daemon Wars, Pandora. The two children never knowing of the other, were taken to be raised by the Goddesses. Starswirl grew to maturity, sharp of mind and wise beyond his years, he was raised in secret and trained in the arts forbidden to all other, crafted into the finest mage and craftsman in Equestria. Pandora also grew to maturity amongst her many Griffon brothers and sisters, cunning of mind and with a brutal practicality, she was forged in the fires of many border skirmishes and weathered by long years of training into the finest warrior of the Griffon Empire.' It then goes on about various things they did or this particular Clockmen has done before picking back up about how they met, fell in love, and combined their talents to build the Clockmen with his knowledge and her military training and fighting style. It also talks of them drinking from the fountain of eternity, making them immortal, and earning the titles of The Curse Born Lord and The Dark Lady of Suffering. It seems this Starswirl the Bearded might have found out what caused Sodom and Gomorrah to destroy themselves and imprisoned it in himself and can use it as a weapon. There is also bit about how her wielding 'The Blade of Suffering Reaper' that grants her the ability to kill anything including Gods, but at the price of suffering unspeakable pain and agony while siphoning their life force into her." Turning back to them she then said, "They're also in a death like slumber in a city of gears and steam hidden in a place where even the Diamond Dogs will not dig. As for why we were captured, they can only be reawakened by a mortal who can translate the riddles inscribed upon their tomb."

"So they just grab the first group of people they find and hope for the best?" Lightning Dust asked.

"They might not be as stupid as you think." Shim said as she watched the last of their stuff be loaded aboard the train. "Consider the fact that we freed them stone and reactivated them means it's safe to assume either Celestia sent us or that we are smart enough to figure it out." She watched as the Clockmen seemed to debate with sign language, pointing towards Ahuizotl several times during the exchange. "And given the makeup of our group, they might not be that far off." Finally they seemed to figure out what to do and joined the ones guarding them and began herding them onto the first car.

"Okay, I'm impressed!" Starlight said as they enter the lavished first floor of the car.

"The space is warped in a way that makes it bigger on the inside. Don't be surprised if there is a whole mansion in the first car." Ahuizotl mentioned as they looked around.

"I would say it was Platinum's Peculiar Castle spell, but there is none of the tell tale signs of our colors fading a little or the shimmering effects often seen when it is used." Sunburst said as he looked around.

"The spell would have faded by now if it was." Sunset said as she ran her fingers along the back of a chair, feeling how plush it was. "This is high level enchantment."

"Well I can't remember how many times you told us how powerful Starswirl was." Flam pointed out as he opened a book and frowned at the strange looping and twisting lines that made up the text.

"Besides, wouldn't the Petrification spell protect the spell." Flim asked as he opened a cabinet and pulled out a bottle of scotch and gave it a sniff and a drink, just to make sure it was good.

"Warping space like this makes it immune to regular space's rules. Sure the train was covered in stone, but in here was protected by it's own rules. Even time is warped in here, frozen until a room is in use." Sunset told him. "That scotch would have gone bad by now if it wasn't, but we might want to be careful about checking what we eat in here."

"Why? You said it should still be good." Sham asked as she looked through another cabinet and came up with a funny brown strip of something that smell like spices and salt.

"Because you're holding a piece of meat jerky." Daring said as she walked past her and sifted through the snacks in the cabinet and handed her a bag of peanuts in the shell and putting the Jerky back. "Shadhavars might have looked like a strange unicorn, but they were omnivores who leaned heavily towards the carnivore side. That's where the rumors about dark rituals and vampirism came from. That and the fact that many of the Shadhavar nobles believed drinking the blood of their kills they personally hunted down made them stronger, more virile and lustful, and lived longer."

"There is also the fact that Countess Carmilla and Count Dracula were both based off of real Shadhavar nobles who took it even further by hunting their fellow Shadhavars." Maud said as she sat down in one of the chairs. "The real life Countess bathed in the blood of her victims after she tortured them to death and her husband the Count enjoyed drinking his victims blood from an open vain while raping them."

Then they heard a bell ring out before the room gave a little lurch. Looking around, Sunset realized the room they were in didn't have any windows and walked to the nearest doorway to find it lead upwards. Following it she came out onto an observation deck and watched as the huge lights on the sides and front lighted up the cavern they were in as the train picked up speed. Then the ground fell away as they crossed an underground lake as they traveled on a very long and very tall bridge made of stone and steel. Below them she saw shapes moving in the water and gasped when she saw a huge glowing squid attacking something and realized it wasn’t a lake, but an entire sea filled with life that had never even seen the sun. Then she looked up and saw millions of pinpoints of light. For a moment she just stared in wonder as she realized it was those glowing crystals. It was beautiful, an entire underground sea with an eternal starry night sky.

As she watched, an island emerged from the darkness and she saw the fungus jungle on it with a tiny fishing village inhabited by the spiders they had fought. Many were just looking up at them as they passed and she thought she heard something like a cheer coming from them as they passed back into darkness. Then she noticed movement next to the train and watched a flock of large moths with beaks flying next to the train before scattering as a giant bat swooped down and snatched one out of the sky. All around her she now noticed the explosion of life. There were more islands, some with huge pillar like glowing crystals and farms and cities. She watched spiders herding beetles and centipedes. She saw scorpions hunting in packs, chasing a giant molerat through the fungus and finally taking it down. All that and much much more as they speed along.

As they traveled on into the eternal night she saw ancient cities crumbling into the sea and old monuments to ancient creatures alien and long dead pass them by. There was something mournful about the giant statue of a female centaur looking onwards in defiance with her head and spear held high, never yielding. To think that an entire race could fall so far as to be banished to Tartarus. Down to the very last man and woman went, not even the children were spared banishment. She didn’t even know what had caused the 5th and final Daemon war, but the centaurs were banished to Tartarus at the end of it and swearing terrible vengeance for what they saw as a betrayal. She realized what the translation meant that Maud had told them, even after all this time the diamond dogs would never dare to dig in the centaurs territory. In a way it made sense to hide something down here because almost every other creature in equestria knew better than to dig where diamond dogs wouldn’t dig.

As she watched another statue passed them, a large impressive looking statue of Discord upon a throne. It’s eyes seemed to follow her as they passed and she could have sworn the wind of their passage sounded like laughter for a moment. She almost decided to just go back inside, then she saw light ahead and watched as a crack above revealed the sunlight drenched island floating in the air that was covered in real trees and plants as they approach it. Looking up further, she saw that part of the cavern had caved in onto a ledge as thin waterfalls spilled over its side and allowed the shaft of light. She didn’t even hear the others as they walked out onto the observation deck, but smiled at them when Flam placed his hand on her shoulder. They watched as the little piece of the world they knew passed over head and then faded behind them.

No one spoke as the train continued on, just watching as it passed a Volcano inhabited by what looked like beings made of lava and fire. They all watched in wonder at a city whose streets were made of molten lava passed them, a few inhabitants close enough to be seen waving and they all found themselves waving back. Still the train moved onwards through the eternal night of the underground.

Then they saw the far shore approaching and there was something a bit sad about the approaching end of their journey. It was as if something magical was coming to an end and they just didn’t want to let it go just yet, but as the train got closer they felt it slowing and soon they were in a city like they had never seen before. But what really got them was the silence, a city like this should be filled with noise, yet all they heard was the train and it’s echos.
Finally it was Maud who pointed out what was wrong. “Shouldn’t the petrification spell have been lifted when we woke up the Clockmen?”
“Normally yes, but I think this was cast by someone else.” Sunburst said. “Celestia prefers to use marble in her petrification spell and this is all granate.” He added as he looked to Sunset who nodded in agreement.
“So who want's to be first to leave the train and enter the creepy city frozen in stone?” Ahuizotl asked. As they all stared out at the city and its felt a chill go up their spines.

Author's Note

This one did not turn out as long as I thought it would when I started it. I will be taking a few days off from writing because my black berrys are ready to be harvested. I will try to get back to writing as soon as possible. Also check out my Patreon here or toss a few bucks in my Tip Jar. Every little bit helps and also check out my blog entry here. The voice (Thats right, he let me in here to cause trouble!) will show you how not to do an appearance in a story. As well as the do's and don'ts for any one willing to donate $10 to my patreon to get their OC into the story. The next chapter will be the first one not published right away, so those who donate $1 dollar can read it 24 hours before everyone else on Patreon and 48 hours for those who donate $15.

There in the rubble of Sodom the boy was found and named by Pony Godess Princess Celestia after her long dead friend Starswirl the Bearded.

My take on Starswirl the Bearded is he is like Robinhood. Some historians believe that if Robinhood existed it was not one man, but a series of men who took up the name and what we get is actually a composite figure made up of various deeds and adventures done under the same name by different men, each adding to the name and legend. Given that Starswirl pops up over the span of centuries in the show, I look at him as being several wizards with simular names and a beard. Each added to the name and the legend until the last one, who died knowing the Princesses and their Immortality made it impossible to continue the tradition. In a way, the last one killled Starswirl the Bearded and became the face everyone associated with the legend.

Don't worry, after this arc is over I am going to try to move up to when you see some major things start to go down fast. Oh and there won't be one set of friends heading out to get the Elements but 4 when the time comes has been confirmed. guess the other 3 besides the mane 6.

I have a Patreon account here or you can just toss a few bucks in my Tip Jar.