A Hardened Warrior

A/N: This chapter takes place during the same time as ‘Retribution’.

also, I'll be taking a little break. Family stuff, etc. is keeping me busy.

Chapter 20 - Evil’s Rising

”Deep inside the Everfree Forest, lays a temple with locked doors. What lies beyond the doors of said temple, is forbidden. As per the decree of Princess Celestia herself... Hidden from the prying eyes by a vast number of magical enchantments and wards. It is said that something worse than Tartarus itself is hidden within. The princess has been asked on several occasions why it was locked up, her response being: ‘The things beyond those doors, are not for mortals to see. It will bring the end times, the destruction of the world and more.’ Any further questions were later ignored or disregarded.”

Someone had been reading aloud a passage in an old newspaper, Hidden in black cloth outside the royal palace. A deep masculine voice repeating the words on the paper.

“Hah... they think our master is locked away...” A feminine voice sounded off, quite loudly.

“Silence, unless you want the guards to hear us!” A hushed, masculine voice reproached.

“Right... sorry...” Came the quiet reply.

Three dark figures with padded hooves ran within the royal palace. Stopping in the forbidden libraries.

“Damn, nothing about the enchantments in here...”

“I told you, we need to search the other magic wing. This one won’t have anything o-” The masculine voice was cut short as two lunar guards walked in, brandishing weapons.

“Who goes there?!” Shouted one of the guards.

“Run!” was heard before two loud explosions. The three shrouded figures flying out of the palace from the windows.

“Gah!” the guards shouted, covering their eyes and ears.

“That was close...”

“No it wasn’t. We were prepared. Besides, Moondancer, why did you bring us to the ’forbidden’ part of the library?”

“Err...”

“Thought so... Master would be displeased.”

Moondancer removed her mask and cloak, revealing a white coat, with a crimson mane, along with a crescent and stars for a cutie mark. The others followed suit, the masculine pony being chocolate brown, with a charcoal black mane, named Promontory. The other, was a deep orange color, with a golden yellow mane.

“So what’s your name rookie?”

...

“Hey! I’m talkin’ t’ya!”

...

“Moondancer, I don’t think he can speak. Look at his throat.”

All that came out was a soft spoken “Oh...”

“Well, we’re gonna have ta wait for a while before we go ‘n raid the place again, aren’t we?”

“Yes.”

“How long?”

“A few days. Let’s go back to the hideout until then.”

A nod from the Orange pegasus.

“Alright, let’s go.” They headed off to a cliff, and took off in the direction of Ponyville, or rather, the Everfree Forest. They’d arrived at the edge at noon, hiding in the brush when they heard a group coming their way. They decided to follow them through, to make sure they were safe. There were six, two unicorns, white and purple, two pegasi, blue and yellow, and two earth ponies, pink and orange.

A while later, they stopped.

“Yes, Applejack, I’m sure he came this way. My horn doesn’t lie.” Coming from the purple one.

“Ah’m just saying, Winona cain’t find nothin’.”

“AJs right Twilight, isn’t this an ursa home?”

“Yes, I’m sure Rainbow Dash, he’s here somewhere. Besides, the ursas aren’t here anymore.”

“Yeah... but how would he know that?”

“I don’t know, but what I do know is he’s... here... really close by.”

“What’re they doin’ here?”

“I’m not sure, be silent.”

The purple unicorn picked up on the voices.

“What was that?”

“What was what?”

...

“Nevermind.”

“Are ya’ll okay?”

“Just fine.”

The group headed into the cave, pouring dread into the three hidden ponies.

“Looks like we need a new hideout...”

“How’d they find it?”

“I don’t know... What was that?” Clinking noises were coming inside the cave.

“Sounds like metal.”

...

A large flash of light beamed out of the cave, blinding the ponies.

“GAH!”

...

When their vision came to, they decided to look inside.

What they found, was the six ponies, and an unconscious... thing.

“What in Tartarus is that?!”

“I... don’t... know...”

The silent pony took the sword from the body.

“That thing is huge...”

“No kiddin’.”

They quickly squeezed into the crevice that Roderick was pulled out of, hitting the boards at the end to knock them loose, and crawl into the hideout. Crossbows, bombs, and other assortments of weapons littered the walls and tables. It was an underground abandoned bunker that their cult had found and maintained, as well as equipped. The torches were burning low.

“Long live the darkness.” they individually said as they entered the bunker.

On the table in the middle of twenty square foot bunker, was a creature of Encablossa. Still living, and breathing. Hardly able to move. It adjusted it’s eyes to Promontory, speaking to him using the same method as it’s master, telepathy.

“No, master.”

“We will.”

“Y- Yes... master... We will retrieve your heart.”

“Long live the darkness.”

They each bowed their heads to the beast, and covered it up with a thick blanket. Replacing the burnt out torches, the three began plotting how to invade again.

“We won’t... mess up again. Will we Moondancer?”

A furious glare came from her.

When the plotting was done, they decided to look around for other uninvited guests.

When they crawled back out of the crevice, they noticed Roderick was gone. With a concerned glance from each other, the continued quietly. Roderick wasn’t far, however, they noticed that much. The walking metal giant was silent, and was walking away. It continued to do so until it came to a half sunken cart in the mud.

“What’s it doin’?” Moondancer whispered.

“I’m not sure. Keep watching.”

Roderick began to wedge the cart back and forth to free it from the mud. When he pulled it out, it had only three wheels on it. The back left wheel being the one missing. He set it up right, and began pushing it back the way he came.

“What’s he doing with that cart...”

“I hope it’s not what I think it is. I hope he didn’t find our hideout.”

They followed him all the way back to the cave, he stepped in, and came out with one of the six unconscious ponies. He repeated that process, until they were all in the cart. At which point, he began to pull the cart towards the nearest town...

“Oh... I thought he was going to eat them.”

“I thought he was going to raid our hideout...”

When Roderick was gone, they also noticed a little dragon that was hiding behind a tree coming out. It was following him.

“What’s up with that dragon?”

“Would you keep those rhetorical questions to yourself?”

“Sorry...”

“He’s gone, let’s go back in.”

And so they did, to sleep for the day.

Four days after the recent occurrences, the three were ready for another round of sneaking into the palace. This time, they took the map.

When they arrived at their position, they knocked out the two lunar guards standing in position in front of the doors with blackjacks, snuck in, and found the room they were hoping for.

“The Royal Archives... find the ‘enchantments’ section.”

The two others dashed off, scanning through the multiple sections of the room.

“Got it!” Moondancer shouted in a quiet voice. The two others quickly headed over to help look for information on ‘Illusionary enchantments’.

After nearly tearing the entire shelf apart to find it, they found one.

“Aha!”

“Did you find one?”

“Yep! This one makes things locked, can’t unlock it with a key.”

“Perfect, take it. We’re getting out of here.”

One thing the silent pegasus hadn’t noticed, was the giant crystal ball he was standing next to. It was on a pedestal, and he happened to jerk his next in it’s direction.

The ball fell. The guards heard it.

“There’s no windows in here!”

“Then we push out. Hurry!”

The three pegasi bolted through the door, into the presence of dozens of lunar guards. They took off overhead, dashing through the windows.

The guards didn’t take kindly to trespassers, especially the lunar guards. They chased them all throughout the night. By the time morning came, they were all exhausted, and the three pegasi had nearly passed out, but managed to escape. They were hidden in some brush in the White Tail Woods.

“Alright... Lets... Go.... Home...” The stallion said, in between various amounts of pants.

“Yeah... Sounds good...”

A/N: Here you go, the antagonist returns.

If you’re curious as to what Encablossa is, click here

An Encablossa spawn is a much smaller, human sized version of him, curled into a ball.