Outside The Temple

Princess Celestia was many things to her subjects but being worried to the point where she had canceled most of day and night court was not one of them. Her guards and subjects watched as the Sun Goddess paced in the same spot for about two weeks waiting for any sign that her student and assistant would be found.

It was very early in the morning and she, Princess Cadence, and Prince Armor were all waiting in the throne room and with each and every report that came in they strived to maintain faith that Twilight would be found. Cadence was sitting next to the window that detailed Discord's defeat, as she examined the colored glass she found her gaze going from Twilight to her friends.

Shining Armor had barely taken the new without running out to find his sister. The moment it reached him he was ready to scour each and every possible place in Equestria, but the Diarchs of Equestria prevented him. He continued to pace by the guards standing in front of the pillars and grunted everytime he turned around. His mother and father were no better, as it took both he and his father to calm down their hysterical mother. What had started as a visit turned in to a very somber meeting as his father tried to remain strong for his wife.

Princess Celestia sat on her throne awaiting the next report and at the same time wondered where her sister had disappeared to. The nobles were trying to press more laws on to her everyday that Twilight had been missing, but she refused to allow them to pass new laws that would desecrate Ponyville. She had tried sending letters to Spike but the messages wouldn't turn to their magical form and remained where they were.

"THAT'S IT!"

The silence was ripped asunder, and the monarchs and guards snapped towards the outburst. Shining was standing a ways away but his magic was active and steam exited his nose with every breath.

"Shining Armor, you need to relax-" Cadence tried to sooth but was cut off.

"Don't tell me to relax Cadence! Twily's out there and for the last two weeks we haven't heard or seen a sign of her anywhere! Spike's message magic isn't working, Mom is going hysterical, Dad is losing faith, and I am about to EXPLODE!" He seethed.

Cadence's face changed to a stern look as she trotted over to Shining and brought her hoof down on his head. He flopped on the ground and slowly brought his hooves to his head in pain.

"Ooooooow, why Cadence?" He moaned.

"Because you're not the only one who misses Twilight! Don't you dare think for a second that we won't find her, Twilight's friends are searched night and day to find her, the guard's search parties are still scouring Equestria, and Luna is still trying to find her through her dreams! We are going to find her, but it's going to be more difficult if you or anypony continue to lose their heads!"

Shining slowly pulled himself up while rubbing his newest bruise and met Cadence's stern eyes. Ever since they had been married he had always tried to be his best, and when they had Flurry Heart he couldn't have been happier. Yet having to deal with an entire empire, raise a kid, and manage guards was taking its toll on both of them.

"I miss Twilight just as much as you do, but the one thing you can't do right now is flip out because we haven't found anything," she finished with a few tears. Shining sighed rubbed the tears away, she held his hoof and they shared an embrace.

"I'm sorry Cadence, but I am just worried that something has happened to her and Spike. I want to go find them but I know I can't do that," he conceded as she tightened the hug.

"We'll find her Shiny, just be patient ok?"

"Okay."

Princess Celestia smiled as they martyred each other, it was always a sight that she loved see. As Celestia watched the scene, the door glowed with blue magic and in walked Luna with a content look on her face.

"As refreshing as it is to see thine martyr each other, we have joyous news Sister," Luna said as she trotted to her sister's side. Shining, Cadence, and Celestia's eyes widened as they looked at the Lunar Diarch.

"We have found Spike's dream and found their location, they are in the uncharted west of Equestria," she explained. Shining reeled back in glee, but Cadence brought him down before he could run off.

"Thank you Luna, with this new information we will call back the search parties and send a retrieval party to this Uncharted West. I ask that you lead us there," Celesia said standing up and trotting down the steps from her throne.

"Oooooooooh, So Twilight has been found eh? That's wonderful!"

A cocky voice echoed through the throne room and Shining was the only one to groan. "Oh come now Mr. Armor, you should be used to me popping in and out from time to time."

Suddenly the stained glass that depicted Discord's defeat warped and the dragoneques in question stared down on them with a smug grin. Shining rolled his eyes and Discord appeared in a flash in front of him.

"Shining Armor so good to see you! How's little Flurry Heart doing?"

"She's doing fine Discord," he growled as Discord appeared inside his mane. The now mini Discord chuckled and reappeared in front of Celestia still smiling and Celestia matched with her own smile.

"It's nice to see you Discord, how was your visit with Fluttershy?"

"It was very pleasant visit, we had tea and our usual chats. However she wasn't doing well since Twilight's disappearance, she'd been crying quite a bit, but Rainbow visits as well," he explained. Celestia nodded and trotted to the guards in front of the door.

"Notify any remaining guards to come with my sister and I to retrieve Twilight and send a message to the search parties to return to the castle," she ordered. The guard saluted and trotted out of the room.

"When will we leave Princess?" Shining queried.

"Immediately, after I raise the sun."

***********************************

The sun rose over the horizon and the light landed on Ark's face making him squint in frustration. His eyes slowly opened and he smacked his mouth a few times to try and clear his morning mouth taste. He yawned and looked around the makeshift campsite, Spike lay a few feet away from him, Twilight's tent wasn't moving so she was still asleep and the fire was now a smoldering pile.

"Now that the sun's up, I have a quick errand to run," he whispered. Turning around he trotted over to the entrance to the temple and entered the darkened temple. He looked down the hall and the bodies from yesterday still lay broken and decayed. As he passed each pillar he placed volcanic rune on each one and continued on his way.

As he approached the main entrance to the temple he looked down the stairs and saw only an abyss.

"Why are you looking down Arkaytis?"

"I am making sure none of the corrupted were coming up right now. Why do you ask if you know the answer?"

The voice chuckled and responded, "Simple, I'm wondering why you bother looking when you know that the door sealed itself the moment the key was taken?"

"Screw you, it doesn't hurt to be thorough," he snapped.

The voice chuckled again and it escalated to laughter, and it bounced around Ark echoing from wall to wall. Ark then felt a presence behind him, but he couldn't move his hooves. Turning his head to look behind him and activating his magic his eyes narrowed in fear as he looked at the pair of white eyes.

"You fear me...That is good otherwise you being an overconfident host would cost you dearly.

Ark wasn't prepared to meet face to form with his dark companion, but he regained his thoughts and looked away. "You may hold my strings, Master, but I'll be free of you one day," he asserted.

"HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA You really think you can escape me?! I own your soul and body, I wonder where you got the delusion that you'd be able to escape me." The voice echoed wistfully.

"I got the "delusion" from Spike, because if I am correct he ancient draconian magic should be able to cut connections in dark magic. I'd have to teach him, but then I'll be free of you and I can finish my business," he said a bit smugly.

"You think that whelp is stronger than me? You're a fool Arkaytis Rune."

"If I am a fool then what does that make you?" he snapped.

Ark didn't get an answer and turned away from the staircase and began trotting towards the door but the voice wasn't finished with him. He felt the air in his lungs disappear and he was thrown against a pillar repeatedly until he was laying on the ground trying to regain his breath, but the presence applied pressure around his neck.

"It makes me your master and remember Arkaytis, you are not in control of you dark magic I AM. Should you disobey me or try to get rid of me I will kill you and the one you care for the most. Also I don't appreciate sass."

The voice went silent and the pressure disappeared, Ark could only breath heavy before pulling himself up from the ground and stumbled towards the door. As he braced the light of the world once more, he saw Spike and Twilight were talking next to the fire pit.

"Spike I still don't think we can trust Ark."

"Come on Twilight! He's saved both of our lives and helped us get out of that crazy temple. At the very least he deserves some explanation of what'll happen when the Princesses get here."

"I don't know Spike, he hasn't shown us anything but a steel-faced front and Celestia level of keeping his cool. I think there's something he's keeping away from us."

Spike shook his head and responded, "Twilight he told us why this place was here, what they did, and how he played his part in it. He's made it clear that we needed to trust him to get out and now that we are we should bring him to the princesses for him to explain."

"He's hurt innocent ponies Spike, and he can control dark magic! If anything he is a danger to the princesses and Equestria and he must be imprisoned before that happens," she whispered in anger. She stamped her hoof in frustration and put a hoof to her face.

Spike didn't answer and looked at his hands, Twilight sighed and opened her mouth to tell Spike it'll be ok, but a large bang echoed from behind them and they spun towards what was Ark placing boxes and small boulders in front of the door. His magic was pushing another box in to this makeshift barricade and it was straining him and his magic.

Finally it fit in to the spot and the barricade was finished, he wiped a bit of sweat from his brow and admired his work. Twilight and Spike went over to him and looked at the barricade in confusion.

"Ark, why did you barricade the door?" Twilight asked.

"To keep the blast from spreading, we need to back about fifty feet away," he said.

"Wait blast?"

"Yep follow me Miss Sparkle and Spike," He answered while trotting the other way. Twilight and Spike shared a look before following him a distance away. They got behind a larger boulder and Ark prepped for the next step.

"Ark how're you gonna keep the corrupted in there exactly?" Spike asked shakily.

"Simple, I'll bring down the top floor because it's the only way in and or out of there. Of course there is a possibility of a back door in that temple and it may get found at one point, but that will be long after those corrupted have died," he said with a smile.

"How though doesn't dark magic support them and their bodies?" Twilight queried.

"No actually, the dark magic will wear down their bodies to the point they can't move because the bodies have no nutrition to sustain themselves, even dark magic has its limits with body preservation. It technically could, but it would have to be regulated, and since there is no mind in the corrupted body it'll just decay until the dark magic remains," he explained.

Twilight nodded and watched as Ark prepared his spell, his eyes were closed in focus and the blue light around his horn was getting brighter and the magic was surrounding the barricade. Suddenly, there was a flash from his horn and his eyes widened, "QUICK DUCK AND COVER!" He screamed as he grabbed Twilight and Spike and braced the three of them against the rock.

A great resounding boom flooded their ears and the wind rushed past their cover along with the remains of the barricade. Spike hugged against Arks barrel and Twilight did the same. Ark wrapped his two arms around them and pulled them closer as the boulder that protected them shifted just a bit, and after the wind died down he open his eyes.

The wind had blown the barricade in to pieces and some landed a ways in front of them and when he strained his head out to see he also saw the tents had been blown into the trees and in pieces.

"Okay, I think we're good to move out this cover," Ark whispered as he unwrapped his arms and got up.

"How much of that explosive spell did you set in there?" Twilight asked.

"One on every pillar I could see."

"Are you insane?"

"Probably if it caused that much damage."

"I didn't realize that explosion spells were this strong," Spike said walking from behind the boulder and following Ark with Twilight still yelling in his ears. As they surveyed the damages, and while most of the damage was superficial most of their supplies were gone or crushed.

"This can't be good," Spike muttered picking up some crushed food.

"We'll have to salvage what we can, look around Spike and Ark there's got to be something here to help us," Twilight ordered. Spike and Ark spread out into the remains of the camp. While Spike was searching some broken down boxes he found a fully intact satchel that had the name "Near Infinite Bag" making him look at it in confusion.

Spike looked up from the satchel and his gaze fell on the ruined entrance to the ruins, and he felt a sense of calmness rush over him.

'The nightmare is gone, I don't ever have to look at that place again,' he thought happily. He walked back towards Ark and Twilight and sat down next to the ruined fire pit. Eventually after Ark and Twilight had gathered enough supplies to at least make it through the night they joined Spike next to the pit and looked out towards Canterlot castle.

"How long do you think we've been gone?" Spike asked to the pair.

"I don't know Spike, I've been here for about five months," Ark answered, "As for you two, you both arrived about two months after myself and Twilight was the first to awaken from what I've read in the reports."

"How'd you get the reports anyway? Did you sneak in and get them after the event?" Twilight queried.

"Yep, don't get me wrong, I did try to help others survive, but our small survivor group just dwindled little by little. Then it was just me, Crystal Quill, and Power Hooves."

"That's right! You mentioned Crystal Quill while you and I were in the library, what do you think happened to her?" Spike asked.

"Well, we found her notes, but as for where she went I have no idea. When she and Power Hooves went out to find more supplies and research notes they never came back and we already found Power Hooves," Ark answered in a quick voice.

"You do know that Celestia will demand an explanation from you correct?" Twilight said in a curt voice.

"I know she will, but we're getting ahead of ourselves and we'll deal with that when the time comes," Ark answered calmly. Spike and Twilight shared a look and looked back into the fire. "Tell me about yourselves, seeing as we have the time," Ark said wanting to break the ice.

"Well, Spike and I are from Ponyville and we were originally waiting for a conference with King Thorax. But because of this little ponynapping King Thorax has arrived and doesn't know where we are, he and Spike are great friends and he's probably worried sick, and we're off schedule, and now MY SCHEDULE FOR THE LAST THREE MONTHS IS OUT OF PLACE!" Twilight continued to rant in a bout of hysteria while Ark and Spike just watched in muffled laughter.

Ark could feel his mouth trying to stretch into a grin and Spike was no better. It escalated to snickering and they had to cover their mouths just to keep it down while Twilight continued on about schedule loss and disappointing Celestia.

"We should probably stop her before she has an existential crisis," Spike said calming down. Ark nodded and trotted to Twilight's hysterical state and placed a hoof on her shoulder.

"Hey I haven't met Celestia personally, but I know she's very understanding about these types of things. I mean come on: you've been kidnapped, fought off a bunch of experiments gone wrong, and survived and that was just today," Ark encouraged.

"Yeah Twilight, if anything Celestia is as worried as our friends in Ponyville about our disappearance," Spike offered standing next her.

"Exactly, and besides even if you missed a bit of scheduling I'm sure everypony will let it slide," Ark finished wrapping an arm around Twilight much to her surprise and Spike hugging her arm.

"Thanks Ark and Spike you guys are right," Twilight sighed in a thankful tone and a few tears going down her face as she returned the hug. They kept the hug going for a few seconds longer before the parted with a few smiles.

"You're the type of pony who blows things out of proportion, panics at the thought of disappointment, and flips at what she can't understand aren't you?" Ark asked bluntly. Twilight and Spike starred in shocked silence at his disregard for the importance of the moment. The next moment Ark was thrown against the nearest tree and it was about to continue but Spike had to hold Twilight back.

"TWILIGHT CALM DOWN!" Spike screamed.

"HE RUINED THE MOMENT SPIKE! IN EVERY HEARTFELT MOMENT IT IS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE SHREDDED LIKE THAT!" Twilight screeched while Ark pulled himself up laughing up a storm.

Spike managed to calm Twilight down and Ark was still giggling at the whole ordeal, but his laughter was cut short by a spear missing his face by an inch. He spun towards the source with his magic flaring and fired a beam that almost made contact with another stallion. The stallion brought up a shield and the beam bounced into the sky and even parted some clouds.

"SHINING!?" Twilight caterwauled.

It went unnoticed by the two stallion mages as they stared each other down. Ark kept a calm look about him as he stared at this soldier and his spear, while Shining stared back in contempt at the one he believed responsible for his sister's disappearance.

"SHINING ARMOR STAND DOWN!" A booming voice echoed out and forced the two stallions to look at the moon goddess in all her glory.

"But Princess Luna, we don't know who he is! He could be the one responsible!" Shining growled turning his gaze back to Ark who stared back with a bored look.

'I am surprised he honestly thinks he's on par with my magic' Ark thought.

"And we told thee to stand down Prince Armor, as this stallion still needs a chance to explain himself," Luna shot down and Shining bowed his head in resignation. Celestia descended down and the guards around her bowed in reverence, even Spike, Twilight, and Ark.

"Arise my little ponies, Twilight you have no idea how happy I am to see you unharmed," she spoke in a motherly tone as she wrapped her wings around Twilight and Spike. The guards around her arose and surrounded Ark who rolled his eyes in annoyance, and with their spears pointed a guard opened his mouth but was cut off.

"Your next line is "By order of Princess Celestia, you are under arrest for the ponynapping of Twilight and Spike Sparkle" am I correct?" Ark smirked pointing a hoof at the guard.

"By order of Princess Celestia, you are under arrest for the ponynapping of Twilight and Spike Sparkle!" The guard growled until the realization hit him and those around him.

"WHAT!? How did-"

"I know what you're going to say next? It's quite simple, all I did was analyze your demeanor of you and those around you and I cast my prediction," he admitted with a smug grin.

"That takes more than just analyzing one's demeanor Mr. Arkaytis," Twilight quipped, "And you're not always right when it comes to predicting as you have failed it before."

Ark's head fell down as his pride had taken a nasty blow. Some of the guards grinned at Ark's wounded pride, a wing whipped through the air and the guards relinquished their attack formation and chuckling. Princess Celestia and Luna walked forward, and stood towering over Ark who despite his calm outside couldn't keep the sweat from dropping down his head.

Celestia stared at Ark in mild interest as he stared back in fear of angering the sun goddess, and while each watched each other many around them whispered about this silence that had entrapped the area.

"You remind me of an old friend I once had, he stood with the same strength as you," Celestia whispered.

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing my little pony, anyway I ask that you explain yourself and what has happened in the days past."

Ark was horrified to say the least, but he proceeded to explain his job agreement, the experiments, the hostage situation, the ponynaps, and the corrupted ponies that now lay trapped in their eternal tomb. As he went on with his story the ponies around him began to look on with fear, disgust, and hatred which changed to sympathy and sadness.

Luna was troubled to say the least as she felt an old fear resurface from days she thought long forgotten. She understood why Celestia felt a familiarity from this pony named Arkaytis, as she too felt the presence of Mystic Rune echo out from his stance.

Celestia's suspicions were confirmed as Ark finished his story and awaited her reaction. She could barely hold her face in stillness as she felt the dread reach over her, Black Aether's rise still haunted her nation til this day and his magic was never fully found and destroyed.

"You say that these ponies were trying to create the same corruption from ancient times, yet they didn't yield the results desired and the corrupted escaped. Didn't they realize what horror they would unleash upon the world?" Celestia asked in a broken tone. The guards that were stationed around them gasped as they watched a tear fall from her closed eyes.

"They knew and they thought they could become gods themselves. I and many others were held hostage to try and create the corruption, but there was something missing and all that remains available to you are the notes I took and the notes we found," Ark explained while indicating Twilight and Spike.

"So you've maintained illegal notes and history that was supposed to be wiped away," Celestia said in a curt tone. Ark gulped in response and nodded sweat poured from his forehead and he stared in fear.

"This confession is enough to get you and your would-be associates a banishment not from Equestria, but to the Sun and Moon."

Ark felt his heart stop for a mere second, and he almost passed out, but the Princess continued, "However, I will look past these crimes if you return to Canterlot with myself, Luna, Twilight, and Spike to further discuss these new unearthments," Celestia finished.

Ark's mind cleared, but his exhaustion had finally caught him. Despite the rest he had obtained before the spell and dark magic had taken its toll and he could only nod in response. Princess Celestia smiled and turned back towards her carriage, but Luna didn't follow immediately she spared him another glance of fear and followed her sister.

"Ark are you ok?" Spike asked holding his arm.

"..."

"Ark?" Twilight spoke up behind Spike as they and a few others stared in confusion until Ark fell to his side unconscious.

"ARK! Ark are you ok?!" Spike screamed shaking Ark's limp body.

'What a surprise, and here I thought he couldn't be shaken.'

'.....Weak.....'

Author's Note

Chapter 5 took a lot longer than I thought, but I got it out and I've finally reignited some inspiration to keep going. I've returned to planning the story arcs and how everything will follow to the end. I hope that whoever has read this has enjoyed thus far. Please don't hesitate to post a comment on what you like or don't like, I am always ready to keep making it better

Next time: Ark's First Lesson