Heir to the Shadows

Chapter 15 - The Fire's Out

As soon as the violent winds subsided Ashijinir rushed her bulk back into her throne room. The ancient dragon spied the two immortals. Knit together at the neck they fell from the air. Acting before balking, she maneuvered a wing out as she stepped into the vast, churring pit of lava that had once been her cavern. Rocks slid and crumbled as she did. The mountain was erupting.

In the next moment Gusty and the Shadow-kin landed in her wing. She did not have time to assess them more and Ashijinir chose haste. Quickly rolling the leathery appendage she pulled the wing below her belly and began exiting the mighty chamber.

Once out, she clawed down stone and covered her exit as best she could. It would not hold if the whole volcano went, but it would decidedly buy her mother time as Ashijinir carried her to safety. After all, lava was not going to harm the dragon or the demon.

So down the tunnel the Queen of Fire stalked. Her mind was running wild at what she had witnessed. The flashes of power, the battle of wills she only detected in the briefest of instants. The strange dark creature that the Shadow-kin had devoured. The horrifying realization that once it was eaten the evil presence she had felt since Gusty had arrived disappeared. Ashijinir did not understand. In all her years she had never seen or even heard of anything like it. A loud gasp of a pony in front of her drew her attention.

It was a zebra, an earth pony, and a pegasus. They were huddled together against a wall. With pause, the Queen of fire grabbed them all with a paw, gently placing them in her free wing. They were witnesses, agents of Gusty or the Shadow-kin. She had questions -demands- that she needed answered.

She quickly came upon another pony. Even Ashijinir could tell he was dead. Even so she grabbed him up and put him in the wing with the other three that had been in the tunnel. Then when she finally broke into the sun, with all her size and grand emerald scales she heaved a breath. Her only regret was that the Shadow-kin had locked his jaws onto Gusty, if he had not she would have left him to be crushed by the mountain.

She turned and faced her once forever bed. Smoke and hot gas flew up from its mantled peaks. They were more a collection of smashed points now than the single collection of mighty stone they had been. With a careful grace Ashijinir walked away from the sight, the cave-tunnel to her golden throne starting to glow behind her. While it would take most creatures, even other dragons, quite some time to reach the place where her fellow elders circled the sky, clawing their way over trees and along rocks, it was a trifle to the Queen of Fire. Her superior size and length made the journey easy.

As she slithered and grabbed her way to the basalt plateau that had been chosen for the ponies to land on, Ashijinir huffed a smokey sigh. Her pony passengers had not moved and this troubled her. Finally she was there, several of her attendants landing near her, circling the strange vessel that sat on the dark stone.

Her subordinates started to approach the so-called “airship.” However, the vessel was surrounded by what was best described by a potent bit of shield magic. With a nod she coaxed her kin away from the Midnight Onyx, the ceasefire was official now. The Shadow-kin possessed no threat, if he had survived. Gusty had done quite the number on him. Ashijjinir still wanted to crush him. However, this came first.

“Princess Luna. Are you alive in there?” She boomed. Her voice rattled the shield bubble and skybarge like she had shaken a snowglobe.

There came no response. In the meantime the Queen of Dragons slowly extracted her carried ponies. The Zebra and the earth pony started actively quivering as she began to move and set them down. They were no bigger than the smallest of her claws, they had every right to be scared. Ashijinir had not exited her throne in over a thousand years. Beholding her glory in Celestia’s sun struck fear into anyone save a Shadow-kin or Alicorn. The bowed head of her kin proved such.

Finally, she gingerly lay Gusty and the Shadow-kin out on the platform before her. The beast that clung to her surrogate mother, had his jaw attached to the lower half of Gusty’s neck. It would not have been effective as a killing blow. This begged the question why. Most of his actions had made her ask the same question. Ashijinir had initially thought that he had sought to capture Gusty as his kin once had done so long ago. After what she had seen she was not so sure. Her eyes wandered to the other ponies and the unicorn’s body.

The great dragon noticed that the pegasus she had grabbed was motionless. No longer distracted by the chance of losing Gusty, she saw blood on his armor near his little chest. He too was dead. The Earther was missing his rear legs. Only the zebra seemed physically unharmed. However, he lay on his stomach shivering uncontrollably. It was an unnatural illness that shook him, that was all Ashijinr knew.

“Please, Princess Luna. There are ponies that need medicine. We cannot provide it.” She called out again.

This time there was a response, but it did not come from the airship. A hoarse gasp drew her attention to Gusty and the Shadow-kin.

The alicorn slowly pulled herself free from the demon’s maw. She stood up quickly, rubbing her neck. There were no injuries. Confused, Ashijnir only watched as Gusty took a series of double-takes, her head snapping around quickly as she absorbed her environment. However, her gaze settled on the dragon queen herself.

“Ashijinir! Ashijinir you’re huge! When did you get so huge!?”

The mighty dragon-daughter froze. What had happened to Gusty’s memory? It had never been this bad. Perhaps she had taken a blow to the head that Ashijinir had not seen.

“Mother? What do you mean when?” She answered.

For a long moment Gusty started up at her. The mare’s face was a perfect look of confusion. Then the befuddlement vanished and the alicorn turned a surprising neutral. Ashijinir nearly gasped in surprise. Gusty had not looked that reserved since the dragon queen had been a hatchling.

“Nevermind, that’s not all that important. What’s going on here? Did we come under attack? Are there more Shadow-kin than this one?” The alicorn rattled off the questions too fast for Ashijinir to answer.

How could she answer? Gusty should know these things. The only answer Ashijinir could think of: what she had witnessed in the throne room. And what had transpired did not a simple answer make.

Out of her power and out of her sorts, the Queen of Fire had witnessed magic so ancient and unsettling she had frozen. Vanity was a dragon and only she would ever know she had balked so severely. Ashijinir was thankful for that. However, the Shadow-kin that now lay dejectedly on the ground near Gusty had done something. She had seen it. Recklessly he had ripped some dark piece of disgustingly evil, Nyxian magic out of her mother. The emerald dragon had thought such a sight an illusion. Surely her eyes had been fooled. Her mind could not believe that the monster that had stormed into her chambers and so soundly declared himself dark lord had removed something that ailed Gusty.

His action had caused her inaction. It was why she did not crush him out of existence now that her surrogate mare-mother was free of him. This Shadow-kin was something different. He had proved himself far more powerful and more dangerous than any of his forebears. To have such control over the dark arts was unfathomable.

She had thought his intentions were to send Gusty into the berserk rage that had destroyed her room and gold. When he stopped her, his body withering and decaying before her eyes as he did, Ashijinir had again frozen. It pained her mind to even consider her failure. But somehow, regardless of her inability to protect her mother, the dragon queen now sat staring at the very mare she had once lost so many years ago. At least she had managed to move to grab Gusty from falling into the lava. That triumph she would have to relish in, if only to make the fear she had felt in the moment seem a distant memory.

However, that bit of arrogance returned to Ashijinir her grudge. This Shadow-kin had killed her mate. This was likely her only chance to take revenge. Without ceremony the Queen of Fire raised a paw in the air above his body ready to strike. There came a yell of protest from her mother but she ignored it.

“Don’t make me say it!” Gusty’s tone suddenly shifted.

Ashijinir looked down at the alicorn. Her brow was folded in the most scolding of manners. There was only one thing that Gusty could have meant by her exclamation. The Queen of Fire did not dare move her paw down. She was no Big Green Meanie. The rest of her kin would not be told she was, under no circumstances.

“You may not kill him. I have questions for him...if he’s still alive.”

Ashijinir only nodded. It stung to be cowed so effectively. But the burn was worth it to save face.

“Listen to me. Something happened. I don’t know how to explain it. My mind is-is-is...it's jumbled.” Gusty stammered trying to explain.

“Who are these ponies? At least tell me that.”

The dragon was unable to answer. She did not recognize the two that were alive, the zebra and the burgundy earther. A calm shrug was Ashijinir’s response.

“That poor fellow is missing his back legs! What in the world is going on around here?!” Gusty cried.

The hum of magic filled the air. The earther initially struggled as her magic took him, but he went limp when he saw her properly. Then Gusty got to work. Ashijinir marveled as her mother’s prowess went on full display. Less than a minute later, the pony stood on all fours fresh rear legs looking like they had always been there.

“There you go! Good as new!” Gusty chirped happily, deed complete. The earther just stared at her in awe, vaguely shaking his repaired appendages.

“And you curious mind-zebra, you’re actually real?”

He nodded his head, jaw agape. No one but Gusty knew what she was talking about. Even as unfamiliar with pony body language as she was, Ashijinir understood the vacant stares. They were as lost as her.

“Zeccaran? That’s your name right?” Gusty tried to confirm to the zebra

He nodded again.

Gusty continued on, asking the two the same questions she had asked Ashijinir. It felt pointless somehow. It did not matter who they were, not when there was still a Shadow-kin alive. The Queen of Fire could just narrowly sense his breathing, shallow and weak. He was broken, she could see it. Slowly, new holes against his ribs opened up and oozed a putrid black substance. Likewise his face tightened, his features were lined and harsh, made worse by his open jaw and darkly yellowed teeth. However, Ashijinir held back the urge to smash him. He would be dead soon. She just needed to wait on Gusty to focus.

The dragon still did not fully comprehend what had happened to her mother. Her musings on such things were stopped when a shout arose from the two stallions Gusty’s chattered at. Together they tackled the alicorn to the ground. Confused but gracious, Gusty accepted the dogpile of a hug. The big fellow openly cried, while Zeccaran kept repeating: “We did it!” It was strange, a part of Ashijinir told her it was wonderful that they were happy. Where the feeling came from she could not tell.

“That’s enough! I get it you’re happy I’m alive, boys. But I don’t know why that’s so significant right now.” Gusty hefted the two stallions off of her with her magic.

They went silent at her words. Ashijinir agreed with their silence. However, now was her time to speak.

“Gusty. There was a dark magic upon you. I know not its origins, only its touch. If you are confused I would believe that its removal has caused damage to your mind.” The dragon queen answered.

“What? What are you talking about….wait then who removed it?”

Extending a long dark green claw, Ashijinir pointed at the Shadow-kin. Gusty balked in shock. She gestured as if to confirm that the dragon was not lying. Ashijinir nodded.

“Then the memories…but even so why would he...”

“My question exactly.” The Queen of Fire rattled. She did not bother to conceal her contempt for the monster.

“Look, that's a really long story and honestly he should be the one to tell it to you.” The zebra piped up.

Gusty and Ashijinir looked at him. The striped pony looked like he was about to collapse from exhaustion. The only thing that seemed to keep him standing was an intense conviction that glimmered in his eyes.

“So are you gonna help him or what?” Zeccaran asked with a nod towards the Shadow-kin.

A long squeak sounded, interrupting any answer. At completion of the sound the airship's shield suddenly disappeared. The snap-splash! of a teleport spell went off and before the gathering of dragons and ponies Amethyst appeared. Ashijinir rustled her scales involuntarily. The young pony was sure to see the dead. Out of a motherly instinct she carefully placed a paw over the bodies. Thankfully, the filly was transfixed with Gusty.

“M-mom?” Amethyst questioned.

The alicorn cocked her head.

“What?” her voice was too questioning to be aware of the truth he filly spoke.

Ashijinir puffed out new smoke. The Shadow-kin had much to answer for, surely Gusty would allow her to kill him for making her forget Amethyst. However, it did not seem to matter to Amethyst. Her horn blazed with surprisingly powerful but visually ineffectual magic. All that Ashijinir could perceive was a vague sparkling around Gusty’s body. A look of bitter determination washed over the filly’s face, her horn glowing as bright as her mother’s had during her fight with the Shadow-kin.

Then her magic ceased. The wind it caused blew the mane out of Amethyst’s eyes. They sparkled with wonder and joy. A huge smile broke across the filly’s face and she rushed into Gusty. She buried her face into the alicorn’s chest fur, hugging up to her elder’s neck.

To her credit the confused alicorn wrapped a hoof around her and cast a worried look up at Ashijinir. The dragon attempted to non-verbally tell her patron that Amethyst was right, she was in fact the filly’s mother. Gusty did not understand. Instead, her face moved down to the dying Shadow-kin. Her brow furrowed. With an affectionate motion she wrapped her neck around Amethyst for a moment.

“I’m going to wake him.” Gusty’s words were directed at Ashijinir.

Finally, the time had come. As if possessed by the alicorn’s will, Amethyst slowly released her and stepped aside.

“H-he’s withered and...he looks dead.” The filly commented, her face drooped with horror.

“Not yet. Just injured severely. But, lucky for him I have just the thing to bring him around.” The alicorn responded.

“What’s that?” Amethyst was as inquisitive as ever.

“Alicorn blood.”

The phrase Ashijinir’s scales ripple again. It brought with it dark memories and the screams and death wails of far too many good ponies and dragons. Thankfully, it was without more ceremony Gusty strode over to the Shadow-kin. A glow on her horn and the sharp hum of compressing air pulled a magic blade into existence.

Weapon summoned, Gusty held it to the side of her neck where its base reached her chest. With an elegant draw the sword whistled and the alicorn did not flinch. She lay down next to the monster and gently lifted his head up with her hooves. The sight set a gout of flame belching out of Ashijinir’s nostrils. It was unintentional. The dragon simply could not stand her mare-mother giving the terrible beast such mercy. She even snarled when Gusty carefully closed the Shadow-kin’s mouth most of the way, and placed it against herself. As soon as she did, a line of blood began to run down her chest and right into his nose and partially open maw.

Though her ichor flowed onto his tongue, it took sometime before the Shadow-kin moved. First he moved his hooves towards Gusty, and then his mouth moved. His fleshy tongue raced along the open wound. Ashijinir growled.

“Do not worry, my emerald ward. If he bites me I will teleport away and you can crush him.” Gusty winked at her.

“He’s not gonna bite you, mom. Well...unless you asked him to.” Amethyst interjected. There was a blush there.

Gusty cast a disapproving look at the filly. However, they all were quickly distracted by a low groan. The Shadow-kin woke. His eyes fluttered open and he looked at her. His pupils were greyed. In fact much of him was grey, sickly. The usual black mane had streaks of salt and ash down it. Ashijinir had merely thought this his natural state, the creature being a warped abomination afterall. However, now that Amethyst had mentioned it, he looked terrible. It matched his demeanor which seemed tired and reserved.

His previous calm was suddenly shattered. His eyes focused. Even greyed and milked over by the signs of age there was a clear and unbridled determination in him. Ashijinir raised her claws up ready to strike. Surely he would bite Gusty in the next moment. However, her matriarch did not flinch as the demon greedily pressed his whole mouth over her cut. Her confidence was admirable, even if it did make the great green dragon nervous.

Then, as if possessed by some unseen force, the Shadow-kin ripped himself off of Gusty and pushed himself up to meet her gaze. His blind eyes did not inhibit him in the least. That was when Ashijinir felt it. The sudden return of powerful magic, his magic. It may have not been the vile gut-churning darkness that had been there before but the dragon queen was not taking chances. A puff of angry flame shot out of her nostrils and a shout rose to her throat. However, Gusty raised a hoof. The simple but controlling gesture held Ashijinir in place.

There they sat, the Alicorn and the Shadow-kin, staring into each other’s souls. The moment transfixed itself and even the wind stilled. There was no rumble of the volcano behind them, no breath was taken. Every single creature present froze. The clash of invisible magic between the two immortal beings was all that decided the fate of existence itself. Ashijinir did not know what to make of this. In fact she could barely think. All that the Queen of Fire could perceive was the mass conflux of magic. Two pools of power that danced together before her. The sensation against her scales and the picture of the exchange in her mind’s eye were equally real. It stilled her thoughts as she realized how insignificant she was compared to what transpired just outside of her perception...

It was with all his might that Guardian Angel reached out with his mind. Admittedly that meant very little strength but he had to try. Gusty's mind had always been open and willing, that was what gave him his chance. The confusion on her face would give way to comprehension. She would know herself once more.

The magic surrounding them bent to his will. Gusty reacted in kind, her spirit reaching out and meeting Guardian Angel. He let the power of her consciousness wash over him. He relished the feeling. The dormant connection between their minds activated at full force in the next instant. The demon-stallion pushed that momentary feeling of bliss away. He could not maintain the connection for longer than the paralyzed moment that had taken over his every sense. He had to convey everything in that microsecond.

Guardian Angel held nothing back, pushing forward into the abyss. He could not only hear Gusty’s thoughts but could feel the cold touch of his own skin against hers. Then there was no gap between them. The link was complete and his whole mind pressed into the alicorn’s. Desperately, he hoped it would give her all the context she needed, the memories she required to look upon Amethyst and Bunker with love. Gusty needed to know she had surmounted impossible obstacles and survived the darkest of hours and most vile of poisons. She deserved the happiness he had once promised himself he would give her. Gusty would know, maybe she would even remember all that the Mytsn had taken from her. Shock washed over him but it was not his own. It did not matter, his time was up.

Guardian Angel’s breath caught and the knot that bound their minds together fell apart. It was enough for him. For it had been in that finite infinity of the tiniest spaces of time that not even electrons move through that he had grasped victory from the belly of defeat. Thus, he relaxed...

Time lurched suddenly forward and Ashijinir blinked rapidly. She watched as the Shadow-kin slumped forward. Gusty instantly wrapped her hooves around him. The sight made the dragon stifle a gag. Her mother was both too bold and too merciful for her own good.

“Guardian Angel! Guardian Angel, stay with me!” Gusty cried.

The great dragon exhaled. Why was her mother upset? Shouldn’t she be happy that the monster was dying? Even if she had questions, they mattered little compared to the death of a Shadow-kin. The alicorn shouted out for her warding spirits again and that was when Ashijinir realized just who she called for. It was unmistakable.

Guardian Angel was the Shadow-kin’s name.

Gusty cradled his head. She desperately tried to slap him awake. Out of obligation Ashijinir examined his body. The wounds on his side had grown, she could see what she assumed was supposed to be ribs. Around them his flesh seemed to melt, becoming an inky and unsettling substance as he died in Gusty’s hooves. It had to have been excruciating for him.

“Mother, what is the meaning of this?!” She shouted finally, her frustration boiling over at having felt a scant amount of sympathy for the Shadow-kin.

“I-I-I-I don’t have time to explain...he-I-we...There’s so much he just showed me!” Gusty shouted desperately. Her concern left the dragon tasting bile.

Their shouting, to Ashijinir’s shock, roused the monster from his death’s doorstep. He gave a long whining groan and Gusty pulled his face up to meet her own. Likewise, her distance away, Amethyst scooted closer. Ashijinir lowered her head too, so she might hear his last words. If only for her own closure.

“You remembered my name.” He murmured.

His voice was kind and soft. He sounded nothing like how he had in her throne room. Gone was the bluster and anger. Somehow this quiet tone felt more genuine. The sensation held back her anger and piqued her curiosity. With her head right next to them, Ashijinir kept the eye she had facing them glued to his lips and waited.

“Don’t speak. You need to eat more, I won’t lose you!” Gusty replied desperately.

Just what had he shown her!?

That was the only thought the Queen of Fire had. It just kept repeating itself in her head, demanding an answer.

“Sweetheart. It's too late for that. I just made it too late.” Guardian Angel gazed up at Gusty as he spoke. With some effort he moved a portion of the alicorn’s mane behind her ears.

“What the hell does that mean?!” Gusty questioned her eyes beginning to water.

The demon gave a short chuckle. More of the black ink rolled out of his lips as he did. Gusty wiped it from his face fervently. She lowered her still bleeding neck to his mouth with reckless abandon. To the dragon queen’s shock, the demon nosed her mother’s ichor away.

“I’m not going to eat you, Luna, and Ashijinir, just to have a vague chance of surviving. It's over-”

He started to cough. His whole body convulsed as he did. It was an unnatural trembling that made Gusty stammer, her face whitening in horror. She desperately wanted to do something, it was clear, but it was obvious that she could not offer him aid. The sight tore at the Queen of Fire’s heart. How dare he make her mother feel such remorse over him.

“I...I couldn’t just let you forget everything...I...I had-had to make sure you were still in there. I made-made sure you’d...you’d be…” His voice trailed off. His eyes defocused as he pawed at her chest with a hoof.

“Be everything you remember me to be.” Gusty finished his thought.

Guardian Angel grinned contentedly. That was what he had done. He had shown her his memories. The currents of magic and the frozen moment of time. Their minds had touched. Ashijinir understood.

“Why?! You could have lived had you just let me forget!” The alicorn half-snarled half-sobbed. She carefully held his face in her hooves.

His grin turned into a wide smile that spread his features and for a brief moment he looked healthy and young within her grasp. Then the light faded from his eyes and his cheeks drooped. It was his end. Ashijinir could not even feel his magic. Still a small grin creased his face.

“Well...I’m pretty sure you already know the answer to that sweetheart.”

His grin stayed but his eyelids relaxed. The unsteady pace of his breathing went still. He was gone. The last of the Shadow-kin died there within Gusty Twilight’s hooves.

Ashijinir wanted to roar in triumph. She had her vengeance. She had seen to the destruction of the greatest threat to all living things on the planet. Yet she could not. She could not cry forth a great beacon of fire and joy. All she could do was watch her mother-mare hold him.

Gusty kept stroking his mane, whispering ‘no’ repeatedly. She would call him occasionally, tears streaking down her face. Amethyst joined the alicorn and they both stared at his still features. Neither moving or becoming hysterical, they simply laid there as if they could not believe it.

The sight stirred a great sadness within Ashijinir. Her victory was hollow and she did not know why. The dragon queen could not fathom any reason that Gusty would sob over the loss of the demon, but seeing it happen hurt her. She felt as if she was some pawn in a much bigger game that she had not known was being played. And like a pawn the Queen of Fire sat waiting to be called upon. Whatever Gusty needed she would provide it. That was the least she could do.