Skiadrum looked around the desolate waste lands, seeing no life. This must be what the inside of his heart looked like. The little amounts of plants that were here were dead, petrified even. There were statues. Lots, and lots, of statues. This land barely had any life, so he wasn't sure how he was supposed to find that flower herb. If he did this, perhaps there was the possibility that he may be welcome within his old home. Medianoche was his baby brother, so it was his job to look after him. La Sombra Del Sol would be happy, father would be happy... The being he called mother may tolerate his presence. Why did he even care at this point? He had a little sister, and a niece apparently, but he hadn't seen her for eight Umbrum years, so it mattered little when it came to her.

His ears perked as he heard something, it sounded like a snake moving. Fog started to grow, and the fog started to get thicker every second. The old stone was barely visible, even with his cat like eyes. He sniffed, smelling a reptile. It was snake based. For whatever reason that put Kanashimi in his mind. Odd, he'd spoken with the snake tailed creature a very few times and he's bothered to remember his name?

"Who dares come to my domain?" said a voice that had much emphasis on the S. Skiadrum assumed it was female, but then again, assumptions was what got him in his emotional prison thanks to his bitch of a mother. Wait. Did he just refer his mother as a bitch? That Draconequus was rubbing off on him "An Umbrum... I do not have one of you in my collection... Not a Prince anyways." the horns and wings were a dead give away, they were a symbol of royalty. Skiadrum stood tall, alert and waiting "Such a beautiful creature... You would make a beautiful statue..."

It was a gorgon. Of course, of course a gorgon. He looked around, spotting many cockatrice in the area. Funny word that. The plural and none plural was spelt the same. On its own it's called a cockat-reece, but when there's many it's called cockat-rice. but hey stayed away from the gorgon, a lot of them even running away back into the forest. How odd. Anyways, Skiadrum looked around, following the sound of slithering. This was going to hurt, a lot. Gorgons were very hard to kill, but they found it very easy to kill you. So this is what a rabbit feels like. He thinks?

"I desire Aacries, the Sacred Moon Lavender." he heard laughing, and didn't know if she was angry or upset "Does something amuse you?" he asked, the slithering now sounded louder. She was getting closer, the fog even thicker. He still felt nothing. He was supposed to feel fear, supposed to feel a tightness in his chest and feel his hearts beat against his rib-cage like it was trying to escape... But, it didn't. He felt nothing, and he thought that, that is why she was laughing. He was a living statue, it was his nickname at this point.

"I sense nothing from you, that's why... In all of my pets, i have never met one as empty as you... It must be terrifying, so much so, you feel nothing... You can't feel fear, if you're nothing but fear." that made little sense, but he had been hanging around a Draconequus, so this probably made a lot more sense to someone else's ears. Was this fear? This deep oblivion, the abyss that felt as if he was always falling. Always drowning in darkness with no light to balance it out "You've been broken too many times... The mere idea of emotions terrify you..." the spaces in her speech were getting annoying "I can't imagine it... Drowning in so much fear you no longer feel it."

Then he saw her. Yep, it was a her. She had the upper body of a human in pale green that seemed natural, her large eyes a beautiful emerald green. Her hair was made of snakes, live snakes that also had eyes of green, all hissing with minds of their own unless she commanded otherwise. She wore a breastplate made of bark with mystical runes carved into it that glowed lime green. She liked the colour green he assumed. From her hips all the way down for eight metres was pure anaconda, thicker than the bark of a tree and had enough muscle to crush a rock. The back of the snake body was swampy green, darker green stripes on the back, and there were lighter scales on her underbelly. Her humanoid hands were crossed, her face in a smile, showing off her thin poisonous fangs.

"I expected, more..." she wasn't attractive in any way. He barley found anyone attractive. She slithered closer and closer, her human hand gracing under his chin. He still had the goat beard the filly gave him, he'd grown to like it. She twirled her finger around it, still grinning. He didn't look right into her eyes, he was wise than that. She noticed he was avoiding her eyes, and was disappointed. He was a beauty, she wasn't going to deny that. Only the blind could believe other wise.

"My name is Aladjinn... the Gorgon of the Hollow Shades... Keeper of the Petrified Gardens and Watcher of the Sacred Moon Lavender..." she licked her lips, backing up, her snake babies hissing at the stranger. She wanted him, this Umbrum had obviously been yet to be graced with the touch of a female. That thought made her smile. A mixture of gorgon and Umbrum hatchlings huh? That'd be wonderful. Not for him, but for her, creating a new more powerful species "Why do you want my, ahem, 'flower'..." he didn't catch the innuendo, but was aware he shouldn't respond to that.

"I am taking the Sacred Moon Lavender, whether you like it or not." for his baby brother, he would do it. His wings were outstretched, making himself look larger than he really was. This was gonna hurt, but it would be nothing new.

Noche and looked around everywhere, and hadn't seen Skiadrum anywhere. Somehow that seemed out of character even though it totally was. He was very anxious about all his children right now who had many guards around each. He walked into the infirmary, frowning at the sight of his sick son, but Skiadrum spent a lot of time here, so the Draconequus might know. He was getting worried, and it was plaguing him. Anxiety gave him physical pains that lasted days, after all. He needed to see his eldest was ok, or this stress was going to eat him alive.

"Kanashimi," he started, glaring at the Draconequus who was still using his healing magic. Kanashimi looked up, seeing the King of the Mountain. Or Mountain King? Whatever "Have you seen Skiadrum lately?" he hid his concern, and unfortunately, he wasn't going to like the answer he would be given. See, the Hollow Shades was called that because it was cursed by a Gorgon. Magic there didn't work, it was a magical dead zone. A trap so that the Gorgons prey couldn't escape.

"He went to get a Sacred Moon Lavender for me to help Medianoche. I told him what i needed, where it was, and teleported some time ago?" Noche was glaring fire at the oblivious Draconequus. No way would Skiadrum be able to teleport right inside the ruins, he'd likely appeared outside the dead zone and gone in. Why? Why did he go!? "Sir? Is something the matter?"

"Yes!" he shouted, the ground beneath him cracking at the power of his voice. Cracks actually showed in the aura of Kanashimi's magic, something that shouldn't be possible, not even for a Draconequus that wasn't their king! His wings were outstretched, showing their prism of lively colours. Beautiful, if not for the rage of his face. He turned around, the door blasting off the hinges into a wall without him even having to look at it.

"Where're you going?" Kanashimi asked in both fear and surprise. Mountain King indeed, this guy was stupidly powerful! And he didn't even know why he was so angry! Imagine what'd happen if he deliberately angered Noche?

"To save my son!"

Catrina watched it all through her mirror, prepared for what was about to happen. With the Draconeqi around, it had thrown a wrench in their plans, but the master said he had a new idea which sounded even better. She couldn't help but smile at his intelligence, something she wanted herself. Ahuizotl looked at the mirror as well, opening his large mouth to yawn for a moment. It was falling into place, the new plan anyways.

She looked up at the castle they'd just escaped from, her muzzle growing a smile as a gardener grew a flower. The witchweed was doing what she needed it too, and if the living statue perished then it just made everything easier. If he survived, then it would sap away the father's attention, and everything would crumble in on itself. Celestia was crucial to that. Her foalishness would be their downfall. Ahuizotl whispered into her ear, the Abyssitire grinning as if she'd caught a parakeet. Today, there would be Umbrum blood to fertilise the dead Hollow Shades.

Aladjinn cackled as the Umbrum before her tried to use magic, and some how it was even funnier to see his stone face not change a cell at the fact! Skiadrum leapt at her, biting onto her arm and bringing the might of all his jaw muscles to take it with him if she got him off. She'd be armless, one less limb to worry about. The snakes on her hair hissed, one managing to get his ear. He let go, jumping back a couple of feet. A little bit of blood leaking from both his ear and a snake's twin fangs.

She looked at the harsh bite on her arm, knowing it'd scar. The Umbrum had some nasty teeth, but he was not the only one to have bitten her beautiful skin and wouldn't be the last. Aladjinn looked at his yellow eyes, wanting to get an emotion out of them. How? Through pain she imagined. Without his magic, this little pet wouldn't be that hard to defeat, which was a cute thought to have when you didn't know much about Umbrum.

Skiadrum ran at her with a burst of speed, his horn embedding itself in her side. Hissing, Aladjinn whacked his own side with her heavy tail, the force pushing him out of her. He skidded backwards, his wings protecting his sides from more hits. He looked around, taking in as much of the area he could as much of it was smothered in thick fog. He spotted a large looking rock that seemed as if a giant had picked it up and placed it there. He ran towards it, the gorgon following behind him with impressive speed. He ran up it, the moment his back hooves touched the top and propelled himself backwards, using his wings to guide himself. Skiadrum landed on the gorgons back, digging his hooves in her scaled flesh. Quickly he looked around, searching for the flower so he could grab it and go.

"You think i'm going to let you go that easy!" Aladjinn shouted, glee in her eyes. Her body started absorbing his life force, a wonderful and pleasurable little ability that gorgons had. The Umbrum forced himself off her back, his wings beating against the air as he stayed airborne. She'd done something. He could feel something coming from his hooves into her body, and now he felt abnormally tired "You touch me, i absorb some of your life energy... I haven't had this flavour before... such despair and longing..." she needed to get him to look into her eyes, that way she could have him as an ornament and could very slowly feed upon this addictive taste. It gave her shivers all over her scales "Hm...?" she was then suddenly greeted with Timber Wolves? They were bigger and whiter than normal, mist blowing out of their muzzles, signalling ice breath.

They weren't interested in her though, they had bigger birds to ice. The stallion landed on top of the large rock, counting at least nine of these creatures, ten if he included Aladjinn. well, this was annoying. his ear flicked, a faint sting irritating him. he watched the flick black a smidge of fog out of his eyes, and started flapping his wings to push the fog away. a small speck of white caught his eye, the thing he had dragged himself here for. Sacred Moon Lavender. Aladjinn saw he'd spotted her precious flower, and also noticed the Krussion Timber Wolves weren't going after her but were looking at her target. it seemed she had allies.

he prepared, and with a beat of his wings jumped into the air, going for the flower. not having magic really sucked at the moment, but he could manage. the moment he landed on the ground three Krussian Timber Wolves jumped onto him. he wrestled them, jumping onto his two front hooves and bucking two of them off of him and managing to kick one in the face, shattering its jaw into splinters. the one remaining on him opened its maw and bit down onto the join that connected Skiadrum's wing to his back.

Aladjinn felt like she was going to orgasm is happiness. yes, this is what she loved. to see those who hard hearts of stone be in pain. she could see it in his wondrously yellow eyes, watching them widen as the wolf's teeth sunk into his flesh, blood squelching outwards and staining the white wood a wonderful crimson. she watched the delicious substance start to paint the stone floor as the Umbrum started shaking his body about, trying to shake the large Krussian off of his body. when he did get it off of his body, his left wing was hanging limply, the bone broken and blood running down in long marathons. more wolves went for the kill, and he refused to stop fighting. against his wishes, Skiadrum had to run from he reason he was even there with the threat of these piles of lumber treading on it.

He was emotionally numb, but not physically. it hurt like hell. but it meant he was alive, so as long as it remained he had no reason to give up. the moment he felt nothing again even if his wing was missing, he would have to assume he was dead. nobody would miss him, so it wasn't a total loss. the one he'd de-jawed swiped, the claws bringing three fresh marks on his flank. immediately after the claws left his skin, he bucked the thing in the skull, stamping on it to ensure it was now in Cadaver's hooves. that left eight more to go.

His ear was starting to get on his nerves, and now he had the snake woman slithering up towards him, a disgusting look of lust on her face. the eight wolves circled him, icicles dripping from their mouths. Skiadrum watched each and every one, his ears perked and getting ready to fight. his wing was useless, so he'd need to find another way to deal with them. he licked his teeth beneath his lips, deciding to go old school and tear these things apart as his ancestors had in ancient history so old even the Elders barely remembered. a time only Last Legacy recalled.

three leapt onto him. the Umbrum stabbing on it the eye with his horn, using the broken bone in his wing to impale ones chest and bit onto the neck of the third, throwing his head down and in turn flipping the heavy animal onto its back where he rose up and stamped on its head, splinters stabbing into his hooves. two down, seven more to go. the one he'd impaled with his broken wing was limping, its leg useless, and blue liquid was dripping from one of their eyes along with down his horn. everything was painful, breathing was starting to ache, which was odd. he shouldn't be this tired, he'd lasted in fights a lot longer than this with far more powerful opponents. then with a literal slap to the face from a scaly tail, he was reminded the bitch absorbed life energy. she was draining him, and likely these wolves, while he fought them off.

"You're so addictive... my sweet shadow," said Aladjinn as she licked blood off of her tail tip. her scales turned upwards, now spikes. her tail was now a bladed whip mace, just perfect. Skiadrum ducked a second swipe from her tail, giving a wolf the chance to bite into his neck.

the second he felt it's cold breath, Skiadrum pulled away, unfortunately that was straight into another swipe of her tail, hitting just below his eye, actually sending him through the air, along with the Krussian. when he back slammed against another rock, the wolf was killed behind him, but it meant bits of white wood was now sticking from his back. he could still feel it, how she was absorbing his life force, along with the feeling of blood escaping many places of his body. his ear flicked madly, starting to itch insanely. it was getting bad. if he had his magic this would've been over in a minute at least, but it had dragged on for who knew how long thanks to this fog.

"Piss off already!" he was tired, he wanted to be home and he just wanted to sleep. the remaining six were crouched, aiming towards him "Shit..." the six that remained jumped on him, and he was forced to fight them off. claws, teeth and hooves collided with each other, blood and splinters decorating the ground. a flurry of limbs and bodies all slammed against each other, all being enjoyed by the wicked snake witch.

"I must say... it is a true shame to have to damage you... in such a way..." Aladjinn sighed, watching them fight like wild animals. Skiadrum, even when she had absorbed a lot of his life force, blocked his magic and poisoned him, he still fought on. he was incredible at hiding his pain, but she could still see it, and it was delicious. she wanted him to be hers, to be part of her collection that she could play with for eternity. the poison was taking a little longer than it should, but she didn't mind. all of her was poisonous, even her scales which she'd whacked him with and her very blood which he'd probably ingested.

He was winning. she watched his increasingly damaged body fight these beasts from Krussia that were twice as big as the Timber Wolves she normally saw. a beast indeed, it aroused her to no end. all of this for a little flower, how adorable. she slithered over, keeping her distance from the large wolves. the bucked, he bit, he jabbed and he body slammed. he stamped, he roared and took the hits like a boss. such determination. he was weak from so much blood loss and yet kept going, an utter power house of black shadowed might!

When the final Krussian Timber Wolf breathed its last breath, he felt as if he'd do the same. the fact he was still standing as impressive. he was filled with broken bones, his body with more red bleeding marks than stripes on the coat on a zebra. he felt light headed, the pain surging throughout his body was tear inducing. though it was not tears that left his eyes, but blood. he was leaking blood from his nostrils as well, even when his snout had been mostly untouched. his ear was now burning as if it was on fire, unbearable to withstand. even so, he still moved.

thanks to the running around and constantly being thrown by those beasts, he'd gotten to it. the Sacred Moon Lavender was in his mouth, and he was doing his best not to swallow it or show that he had it inside his maw. he needed to get out, which meant getting past the gorgon. he didn't even hear Aladjinn as she got up close to him, grabbing a hold of his chin and forcing his head up. he closed his eyes, well aware what she wanted. her other hand grabbed his throat, squeezing, constricting his airways. her snake body started to slither around his body with the intentions of squeezing his eyes open.

"SKIADRUM!" Aladjinn looked upwards at the noise only to see an explosion of colour in the sky. it was magnificently beautiful, but then a hoof was planted in her face, sending her hundreds of feet away. the force was so strong it dislocated her jaw. no, it was shattered! she looked up with tear filled eyes, only for them to be filled with colour. such colour that she'd never seen. The Mountain King. she tried to get up, but the shock waves from what just happened had temporarily paralysed her.

Noche looked over his sons injuries, which was grave. he was so caked in his own blood it had started to change his fur colour. the father knelt down, nudging against his sons muzzle, almost coming to tears himself when feeling a hot breeze come against his cheek. he was still alive thank the sun, moon and stars for that! from the nudging, Skiadrum's jaw opened, revealing the reason he was there. The Sacred Moon Lavender. he'd done it, he'd gotten the flower for his baby brother.

"No!" Aladjinn somehow managed to scream when she saw the flower. he'd gotten it. when, when in the hell did he get it!? Noche nudged it carefully out of his sons mouth, more concerned about his condition for now. being as careful as possible, Noche manoeuvred his son onto his back.

Noche's wings stretched upwards so that he could have his son secured, his head laying limply against his own chest. if he was conscious he'd hear his fathers rapidly beating hearts. he was terrified. he knew it'd be bad, but this? no, never did he think he'd come across this. he needed to get home and get home fast! he could feel the life in his son slowly fade. no, Cadaver would not have his son, any of them! with mystical speed, Noche De Neón suddenly disappeared into the sky, a rainbow streak left behind him.

Kanashimi was a little worried. they'd been gone a while. had something happened? he was extremely concerned. Kanashimi turned his gaze to little Luna who was in some kind of deep sleep. they hadn't told anybody about it out of fear of Celestia's reaction, but it was strange. the nurse was doing well at caring for her. he sighed, feeling a little tired at fighting this strange fever that was being a pure pain. why did everything have to be so difficult?

"How is he doing?" Kanashimi looked at a unicorn who looked exhausted. this must be that student of the stallion he was working on. Kanashimi told him what he told everybody, that Medianoche was stable for now. the pony used his magic and brought a chair over, sitting on it and watching his teacher "They act like gods, have the power of gods but in the end are just as mortal as we are..." Kanashimi agreed, noticing a teach in the stallions face. wow he really cared for this guy. well, this King was loved by many, you'd have to be a fool not to like him. the shared moment was cut short as they heard something coming, and fast "do you hear that?" suddenly Starswirl teleported the nurse and blue alicorn filly to his side, creating a barrier over all five.

the wall exploded, a large rainbow doused form crashing against the other wall, just barely not going through it. they were stunned by what they saw. the Nurse, Toque Dulce, screamed at the side. there in Noche's shaking forelegs and overworked wings was the prince Skiadrum, looking half dead and half something else. it wast he first time they'd seen an expression on his face, and it was of pain. Noche's face was filled with rage, confusion, relief and fear. great fear of losing one of his sons. he looked up to them, his eyes so wet they wouldn't be able to see a burning fire if it was on his own snout. Kanashimi saw the Sacred Moon Lavender in Noche's teeth, using his magic to teleport it to him. The Mountain King, shook violently as he could no longer hold back the waterfalls that threatened to wetten all it touched. with a croaked voice from the speed he'd flown and crushing force against his chest, along with the few times he managed to take breath, he uttered two words before he passed out for the over working of his body and the overload of stress...

"Help... him..."

Author's Note

Longest. Chapter. I've. Ever. Written.