Chapters Prologue: Beginning of the End
4000 years prior to Twilight's Ascension
The sun was centered in the horizon, and the clouds that surrounded the sun were drenched in the orange light. Canterlot castle illuminated in the distance, once a beautiful and pristine castle, now it was ravaged and laden with holes. The city around it fared no better, as many building lay burning or destroyed.
On all surroundings creatures were fighting with an weapons they could manage, and against them dark shadows clashed with them using blackened weapons and dark magic. While many times the creatures had waged war against each other, they now had a common enemy that threatened all these creature's way of life.
The alicorns were on the front lines alongside the griffons and minotaurs fighting the main front of the enemy. The griffons had supplied their best weaponsmiths, armors, and sheer numbers to combat the number of magical weapons that came against the union. The minotaurs were the strongest soldiers in terms of strength and durability, and with their affinity to their ancestors they held a small immunity against the magic they fought. Finally the Alicorns researched every type of magic they could to counter the dark corruption that had spread among their wounded. Their magic could match the enemy but not for long.
On the inside of the Union the Changelings and Zebra's handled healing and evacuating cities to strongholds near the castle. The changelings were skilled in assassination and sifting through enemy ranks while the Zebra's utilized all their knowledge of herbs and concoctions to heal and strengthen their individuals. They were led by the last remaining alicorns of the royal family.
Celestia, The Elder Sister and Princess of the Sun, had gone to each of the individual leaders of their respective races and begged for aid against the rise of dark magic. Luna stayed and trained each of the races in what to watch out for when fighting, but despite all of the preparation they had it didn't fare well in the face of the Dark Alicorns.
The Dark alicorns were lead by another alicorn who was once a close friend to the royal family, but his betrayal was lead by the deaths of King Artemis and Queen Solaria, the mother and father to the sisters.
Celestia stood on a cliffside looking out over the carnage below, and she felt a tear fall down her muzzle at the amount of life lost every minute. She may have been a hardened leader in front of her subjects and allies, but underneath she could only just maintain her mask. Celestia looked towards her setting sun and she felt he mask begin to crack.
The plains were drenched in blood, and under the setting sun gave way to a red sky. A horrible sight yes, and one that would haunt all who saw it for many years to come. She had ordered the leaders to act as generals and give orders where she couldn't in separate parts of Equestria. Luna walking up to the cliffside where her sister resided. Celestia stared off towards the maelstrom of dark clouds behind the enemy lines, but no matter how much she wish it was a bad dream reality was a cruel mistress.
'Don't worry Celestia I will always be there for you'
'You and Luna are sisters and you must rely on each other'
'You both have learned much, but there is still more to know'
'No matter what happens I always cared about you two'
'I am merely the means to an end, and you two are just in my way'
Celestia could still hear his voice, but it was the voice of her friend Mystic Rune, not the voice of her enemy Black Aether. He was a mentor figure to both her and Luna just by being there when their parents couldn't. He was hired as a mere foalsitter back when both she and Luna were young foals, but soon grew as leader to her subjects and a friend to their family. Her mother and father trusted him with their lives, and for a long time he was leading their forces against any and all skirmishes.
His betrayal hadn't been apparent, but he had been acting strange in the days leading up to his betrayal. They could've found out had they paid better attention to his demeanor but he always shrugged it off as exhaustion and hard days. Luna touched down behind Celestia and stared at her sister in silence.
"Mystic Rune, what happened to you? What happened to make you despise magic so greatly?" Celestia murmured more to herself than her sister.
"Sister, art thou troubled?" Luna asked her distant sister.
Celestia visibly jumped in surprise and turned towards her sister, "Oh tis you Luna, we didn't sense thine presence."
"Obviously, but thou art visibly troubled. So tell us sister what bothers thee?" Luna queried.
Celestia didn't answer immediately and turned back towards the war below. Luna turned her head in confusion, and trotted next to her sister. She too looked down at the war and grimaced at the horrid sight.
"Sister, is this what bothers thee?" she asked.
"No Luna, This is mere paltry to what truly bothers me," Celestia whispered. Luna turned towards her sister and looked expectantly for an answer but her demeanor fell as she saw her sister's saddened eyes.
"What bothers me is his betrayal," she murmured sadly, "We wish we could have stopped it and with it stopped the loss of life, but never before have we felt such guilt for something we could've done, but chose ignore."
"Mystic's betrayal didn't his just you sister, it hath hurt us as well," Luna said with a steeled look.
"We know Luna, but still is there anything we could've done to stop his fall? Is there one detail we failed to read? What did we do to fail so miserably Luna, what did we do?" Celestia sobbed. Luna wrapped a wing around her sister and nuzzled her neck in response to rare sight of her sister's tears.
Luna couldn't say anything, it wouldn't change the fact that Mystic was gone and Black Aether remained. She turned her head towards the battlefield and stretched her magic towards the fights below. The union had gained an upper hand and were about to rout the enemy, but despite the heavy losses the dark alicorns suffered they remained in their places even when dead.
Celestia opened her eyes to the field and she too let her magic stretch downward, and alongside her sister they searched the warzone for one particular pony and soon their magic locked to him and he knew it. Wiping her tears away Celestia stood proud as her father had and Luna matched her sister with the same determination.
"Pray tell sister, what ist thine plan?" Luna queried.
"Now that we have sensed his location, we must do battle with him," Celestia answered.
"But he's expecting us, shouldn't we bet on surprise?" Luna questioned as a shiver went down her back.
"No Luna we must face him head on, and then and only then will the war be finished," Celestia asserted. Spreading her wings she took flight towards the dark alicorn.
Luna watched in silence, but spread her wings and followed.
On the battlefield
A towering alicorn stood on a small hill watching his underlings as they fought to their demise, on his right another alicorn stood with a battle axe in her magical grip. The Leader was Black Aether himself and he watched in silent glee at the death that unfolded before him and his right hoove, Crimson Rose. Black Aether's mane and tail were a maelstrom of black, ethereal shadows and his coat was deep bluish black. His eyes were shining white, and his pupils were absent from his face. Lastly, he cutie mark was white, black and red runic circle that seemed to pulse with dark magic.
Crimson Rose, had a shining red mane and tail that flowed in the wind, but lacked the ethereal nature her master had. Her coat was pink but was shrouded in shadows and her eyes were pulsing red. The one similarity between the two was their horns had sharpened and curved to a thorn-like appearance.
"Master why do you not let me finish their forces?!" Rose hissed at her master.
"Oh Rose, thou art still so naive despite being my right hoove. It's simple, you would cause too much of a disturbance that they would focus their forces on you instead of my underlings and we wouldn't get the enjoyment we wish for," he resolved to his ever-angry servant.
Her mane shown in red light in response to her rising fury, but a quick glare from her master's empty eyes forced her back in to submission. "Thou art so narrow-minded Rose," he murmured turning back to the war, "This isn't about you or us, it's all about revenge and that's all you need to know."
She opened her muzzle to retort but he raised a wing to silence her and stared towards the sky. "We need you to return to the academy, We have guests to indulge. Finish the ritual with Black Void and await our orders," he commanded. She bowed in response and disappeared in a flurry of petals, his eyes were fixated on the clouds. They blew apart and Celestia and Luna landed in front of him breaking the surface from the impact.
The stood up and were clad in the war armor and armed with their respective magical weapons, in Celestia's magical grip a large, gold-colored halberd and Luna held a shining, silver scythe. Both their weapons and armor matched their weapon's designs and were covered in runes that modeled the sun and moon. He couldn't help but smile at the sight of his first students standing before him in such righteous defiance.
"Thine tyranny ends now Black Aether!" Celestia bellowed in the royal-canterlot voice. Luna said nothing but stood strongly beside her sister matching the defiance.
"Tyranny? Oh please Celestia, you of all ponies should know that I am no tyrant," he spoke in a mellowed tone.
"Not a tyrant? You have murdered countless lives and ruined many more! Have you nothing to say for thyself?!" Luna thundered, her wrath flashing through her eyes..
Black Aether chortled at Luna's righteousness of her position, and then stopped as if somepony had disturbed him. He seemed to roll his eyes and then they closed, and when they reopened his white voids had ocean-blue eyes staring back at them in sadness.
Celestia and Luna's muzzle dropped in shock, despite the different appearance that was the look of their friend who still had some semblance of a sane pony.
"I know you see me as a tyrant, but I have to do this...It's the only way for the world to see the truth as I have," he whispered.
"What truth?" Celestia pleaded hoping to gain a proper answer.
"You'll realize it soon enough, both of you will but I believe we have wasted enough time. Wipe your emotions, and steel thyselves, for I have no mercy for cowards!" he shouted raising his own magical weapons which took the form of black dual blades.
Celestia and Luna shared a look and raised their own weapons. The wind blew around them and their stances were as still as statues. Black Aether's eyes had returned to their empty white voids and his swords were raised in a defensive position. Luna couldn't match her sister's patience and launched with her scythe in the striking position.
Aether merely watched as she her slice came right to his neck, he blocked it but it launched him to the right. His body flew through the air and Luna teleported behind him aiming an upward slash forcing his body in to the air. Celestia, while crossed at her sister for acting first without thinking, blinked above him and bucked him in to the ground.
Aether spun and landed on his hooves, but Celestia fired a beam of her magic at him. He sank into the ground as a shadow and darted into Celestia's shadow. He reappeared behind her and threw his swords down towards her back, but Luna intercepted the blades and knocked him back. He recovered and dashed some distance away.
Celestia and Luna gave chase and fired yellow and blue beams at him. He twirled and flew right next to them dodging each and every beam. They burrowed into the surround field giving the appearance of a wounded battlefield. He stopped and shot a beam of his own, it was purple and blue and it flew towards the sisters. They raised their weapons and combined a downward slash that split the beam and reflected it in opposite directions. Activating their magic, they sped through the air and clashed together with Aether's swords, the result was them rocketing to the ground and burrowing across the surface ground and knocking any unfortunate soul in their wake.
The sisters hopped back and fired more beams at his unmoving form. He sped through the cloud of dust and thrust his swords towards their middle, but he was stopped by blue and yellow runic pillars. They fell and surrounded him, and he looked up at the runic circle stretching upward towards the sky.
"FEEL THE WRATH OF ALL THAT YOU HAVE MURDERED!" the sisters said as one and the spell fell upon him. A large beacon lit up the sky and surrounding fields forcing everyone to stop fighting and stare. The sisters had felt their exhaustion creeping through their bodies, but they remained strong and determined.
As the beacon left the fields, a deep silence fell across the battlefield and the cloud of dust that picked up was being blown away. The sisters looked at the center of the spell hoping to see the tyrant defeated, but the only visible object was a rising shadow. Suddenly, the dust blew past the sisters and it revealed Black Aether, but his body was regenerating the lost parts. He began to chuckled that gave way to full laughter, and it echoed over the plains.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Oh sweet faust I must say that was quite painful. You two have definitely grown as mages, but you forgot one important detail," he trailed off as the regeneration ended, "I gave you the spell so I know how to stop it." His eyes glowed in a bright white light.
"Now that Mystic's psyche has decided to let me take over, I will no longer hold back against you two," he said grimly.
The sisters didn't even breath before he appeared in front of them and let loose a repulse that knocked both out of their stupor. They regained their footing and circled him, but before they could act on their next plan he appeared in front of Celestia and sliced through her armor and in to her body. The wound only appeared one second and golden blood sprayed the next and the impact forced her in to the ground.
Luna's eyes widened in anger, and she blinked behind him slashing her scythe through his neck. It hit the target but just sank slowly into the muscle like a worn knife in to fresh meat. He turned his head and gave a nightmarish grin, before knocking her black with simple beam. No chance to recover was given, and Luna was grabbed by his hoof and he rocketed her in to the ground. The impact forced golden blood out of her mouth and air out of her lungs, and his hoof began to crush her armor.
Celestia rose up with her halberd and she blinked to his side and slashed his horn.
"AGGHHH DAMMIT!" he shouted in pain and flew back holding his head. Celestia's eyes widened and she believed she had found a weakness in his invincible form but he just laughed.
"Just kidding," he cackled before bucking Celestia in the opposite direction. Not wasting time, he wanted to end this battle as quickly as possible, so he readied his swords and flew towards Celestia and almost stabbed her through the neck, but she dodged and swung her halberd though his body. Black blood sprayed across the field and some landed on Celestia's hooves.
Celestia's whole body burned in pain and exhaustion, the large gash had sealed itself but not healed and her right wing had been broken in the impact, she couldn't feel it because of the adrenaline. It mended itself, but when she turned back to Black Aether he reappeared in front of an unconscious Luna with his sword raised. Her heart stopped as she realized he would win the moment his sword met her sister's body, activating her last magic she burst forward and shielded her sister from being impaled.
Aether's eyes widened as his blade dove into Celestia's body and at the golden blood that followed from the wound. His mind had blanked and the felt his heart ache at the sight of Celestia's fatal wound. He pulled out the sword and let his magic heal the severity of the wound, but he left the main surface pain and Celestia could only halfway stare at his eyes.
A tear fell from his face and he lowered his head to hide the tears, but then he turned in response to someone's voice and he just flew away. Celestia watched his figure disappear from view and she lowered her head as sleep overtook her.
Author's Note
Hey there! I am new to being a legit writer for audiences and I am open to criticism but I don't want to here a bunch of whining of how this story is bad or how it's a rip-off of something that I haven't seen and if there is a similar story I assure you haven't read it and I will take measures avoid problems. Tell me what you think about this first chapter and give me some pointers on what I can do be better.
Revision: The previous message was from the original version of this chapter, but it still applies and I plan to make this as good as I can. Also to any first readers, make no mistake Spike is the main focus of this story, it will work up to that very early on.
2 Years after Twilight's Ascension
Spike's mind was blank and despite his consciousness returning very slowly, he wasn't prepared for the stinging pain that followed. His body was decorated with shallow scratches and dried blood, followed by a very deep gash across his right side. His mind finally rebooted despite the pain and he opened his eyes, but scrunched them shut in pain. He could feel stiffness made worse by what felt like bruises on his tail, legs and lower torso, and his arms had small bandages wrapped around them indicating that there had been either scalpels or shots administered to the spots.
Spike reopened his eyes and he was met with a dark blurry ceiling and room, and the only light was the light emanating from the crack underneath the door. His vision didn't clear, but he felt circulation fly through his arms and legs and he started with moving his fingers and toes. Cracks emanated from the joints and he repeated this procedure until his whole body stiffness had lessened.
"Oooooooooh," Spike moaned in pleasure, "That feels great, but I still need to get up."
He turned his hands down towards the stone table he laid upon, and pushed his body up slowly to avoid a head rush. He sat up and his vision finally cleared to a very small blur, and he circumviewed the room. The walls were stone, but were painted with silver with ink depicting what appeared to be alicorns. The room itself was nothing special, but it appeared to be a research room. The floor had disarrayed papers, broken ink vials, and black stain on some of the papers.
There was a chalkboard, but it was too dark to see what was written. There were some papers on the table he sat on, but they were still unreadable in the darkness. He turned his legs towards edge and pushed himself down to the ground, but his body still wasn't awake enough to take the landing and he collapsed on his side with the gash.
"AAAAGHHHH," Spike screamed clutching his side in pain. He his hands met a warm, sticky substance and when he raised one of his hands to his eyes he could make out the fresh blood staining his fingers. He returned his hand on to the gash and looked around, hoping to find something to patch it with. His eyes landed on a roll of bandages laying on the wooden chair a few feet away.
Pulling one hand from his gash he pushed himself up and stumbled over to the chair. He fell down next to it and his body felt a fresh wave of pain, it began to dull his senses and the world was returning to it's blurry state. But Spike wouldn't let himself lose conciousness and he reached to one of the chair legs and tipped the chair over. The bandages rolled on to the ground next to Spike, he grabbed them and let out of a grunt of contentment. Pulling his other hand from the wound he pushed himself into a sitting position and began to wrap the bandages around his body.
"They need to be tight, but not too tight," he muttered remembering the words Nurse Redheart taught him. After a few more times around his body and the wound was covered by the bandages. Pushing himself up and grimacing in partial pain, he placed one foot in front of the other and walked to the door. Putting his hand on the chilled metal he pushed it open and was met with an overpowering light. He covered his eyes, and pushed himself forward. The light faded and illuminated below him was a foyer of sorts with golden colored pillars decorated with a architecture he hadn't seen before.
With the light illuminating the second floor, he turned his head back to the room he exited. Walking to the doorway he looked at the papers that weren't ruined by the ink and the chalkboard that had a runic circle drawn in chalk with papers listing meanings or ingredients.
"Whatever the ponies were doing here, it seemed like they were preparing for a ritual," Spike muttered to himself. He had seen Twilight and Glimmer use runic circles in some of their experiments but what was odd was how those circles seemed concise and neat.
"But these seem corrupted or something," he whispered. The main difference was the symbols used detailing the constructional formula, they seemed rougher or more ancient than the ones Twilight used. Glancing back down the hall he placed one hand on it for support and began to move towards the stairs. As he walked down the hall he took more of his surroundings.
The hallway walls had murals painted on them, but what was interesting is they all showed alicorns instead of the main pony tribes. He stopped and stared at the one alicorn picture near his hand, it was black with white eyes and similar smaller alicorns were shown beneath him. There pictures melded from radiant and powerful detailing before what appeared to be a rather grim war.
Strangely enough, similar symbols were painted on the wall but they were rushed and had dripped down the wall. Spike stopped and stared at them, it was strange as to why somebody would deface a mural such as this. He turned his head to the other side and looked out across the foyer. The seats were stone benches and they lead to a large ebony stage. That stood out to Spike, with all the time he had spent with Rarity he had began to pay more attention to detail and it seemed odd to have a completely black stage as opposed to the old gold, silver, and brown stone that made up his main predicament.
Turning back towards the stairs he took his hand off the wall and walked a little shakily down the hall. As he neared the stairs, he heard a distant bang like someone hitting the wall with a bar and he turned in the direction. He couldn't pinpoint which hall it came from, but it seemed closer than he would like. But before turning away, he looked at another mural that showed to alicorns one with the sun and the other with the moon.
"Wait that's the princesses," Spike spoke in confusion but then put it to a bit more thought, "Then again it makes sense why they would be in this temple, but that begs the question how old are Princess Celestia and Luna?" he wondered placing a claw near his lip. Storing the question for another time he reached the first step and with one at a time he walked down the stairs. As he neared the turn to the last set his nostrils were hit with a revolting odor that threatened to raise the bile.
"UGHH! What is that," he groaned in disgust.
Covering his nose he pushed past the turn and looked down the stairs, and the sight made his heart freeze middbeat. The remains of a mare lied at the bottom step, her coat had turned a sickly dark green, there were puddles of coagulated blood around her body, and what's worse was her eyes were missing from the sockets. The body was covered in bite marks, and large chunks of flesh had been ripped from the underside and forelegs revealing the decaying muscle and dark bones underneath. Spike could only stare with his hand covering his mouth and nose.
The mare's head was positioned in a way that made it look like it was looking at Spike, it's mouth was wide open and flies buzzed in and out. Spike could no longer stand the sight of the mauled corpse and he willed himself to turn around and move as quickly as possible back up the stairs. The mare's empty, decrepit, abyss-like eyes continued to bore in to his mind. Not being able to hold it down, he dashed to the ledge and released the building bile from his maw.
The poor drake threw up twice more before falling next to a pillar and curling his tail around his legs. Tears began to rush from his eyes and sobbing tore itself from his throat. This was nothing compared to he scary stories he, Big Mac, and the other stallions would read to each other, it was real and that image had seared itself deep within Spike. Hugging his arms around himself, he put his head in to his legs and quietly continued to sob.
"Tw-Tw-Twilight...where a-a-are you," he sniveled. Twilight had always been there to calm him when he was hurt, bullied, or he just needed somepony to care. Spike's train of thought slowed as he remembered every one of the times Twilight comforted him. When he was a newborn and he cried she would sing a lullaby that her mom sang to her. She taught him how to sort books, clean up the room, and how to read. All those things that a mother would do.
"Mother...." he whispered. Twilight to him was his mother, as for all his life that's what she has been to him. Sometimes she was a sister, but the memories like that were few and far between as his memories of her motherly side took hold.
"Mother....Twilight's my mother," he murmured and then sobbed. He craved her calming touch and hugs, the way she whispered to him that it would all be ok, and all the times she tucked him back into bed when he passed out from Nightmare Night.
Spike's sobbing quieted down and he snickered quietly at all the times she had to catch him from a sugar rush only for him to fall down fast asleep. He sniffled and wiped his eyes, a small smile stretched itself on his face and he continued to snicker at all his antics on Twilight.
"I always made it hard on her when she took care of me. I remember I once burned her favorite book and sheesh...she was absolutely livid," he chuckled at the memory.
"I'm pretty sure that's where she first gained a pyrokinetic mane, and it somehow burned the roof!" he laughed as tears streamed down his face. He just laughed at all the times he and Twilight had growing up from Canterlot and then to Ponyville. As his laughing died down he stared down at the floor, his thoughts were now focused on Twilight.
"That's right, Twilight would want me to be strong, after all I am her number one assistant!" he claimed to the decaying foyer.
"Now that I think about it...how did I end up here?" he queried at the question he should've answered earlier.
"If I remember correctly, Twilight and I were at the train station waiting for Thorax to arrive for diplomacy reasons and catching up," he reminisced piecing the first parts of his memory.
"The train was running late, and I was getting pretty tired. Twilight had asked me if I wanted to go back to the castle but I said no because I wanted to see Thorax before I went to bed," he finished.
"We waited for five more minutes, and then we saw the train in the distance but right as it arrived everything went black," he trailed off in confusion. He bonked his head few times trying to spur some sore of epiphany but his mind kept drawing blanks.
"It doesn't make any sense!" he said exasperated and pushed himself back up to his feet, "But first things first, if I ended up here then there is the possibility that Twilight did as well."
"If that is true, then I should try to find out where that bang came from. There could be another pony here and chances are it's probably Twilight trying to fight for more scrolls or books," he quipped.
He turned back towards the stairs and the corpse flashed through his mind and sent a shiver down his spine. His legs began to shake but he willed himself down the stairs and when he rounded the corner he came back to the position just above the dead mare. He felt the bile rising, but he pushed it down and quickly ran down the stairs past the pony and towards the main door.
He stopped and gasped as the bile was forced down, it hurt but it was worth it to keep what little lunch he had left. Looking up at the door he slipped through the cracked doors and came in to a split hallway one way leading to what appeared to be a turn at the end and the opposite leading to where the noise seemed to originate.
"How many horror characters die is by going to the problem instead of just running," Spike quipped again, "But this time I think I can make an exception." He turned and walked down the hallway in the direction of the noise. The murals decorated the walls on both sides, but they were faded so he couldn't make out some of the depictions. However, one in particular had remained fresh and it showed the same black alicorn, but it as him standing above what appeared to be Celestia and Luna who were knocked on the ground.
Spike raised a brow in confusion,'Why would Celestia and Luna not be able to match this pony?" he wondered. His eyes were the captured by more black writing except this time it was equestrian what it said unnerved him.
FAUST HELP US
The mere words were enough to scare Spike and it he looked around at the hallway noticing that it was too quiet, especially for a place that would've been bustling with small animals. He walked forward a little bit until his foot his a piece of a broken vase and it was kicked in to the door. As if on cue, he heard a raspy breathing echo from the door followed by uneven hoof steps.
Spike couldn't move, despite every fiber of his being wailing at him to run away. The door rattled with a large bang and Spike let loose a scream before dashing behind table turned sideways against a pillar. His heart was pounding against his chest and the door banging had increased ten-fold. The door flew open and the raspy breathing filled the hallway. Spike dared to look through the crack between the table and pillar and the sight was something he wasn't expecting.
Instead of a zombie pony, the stallion had a light grey coat, but it was unnaturally colored light grey and there were black veins stretching from his face down his neck and in to his body. The stallion's mouth was hanging open and his eyes were a piercing yellow. It's head flopped right, away from Spike and then towards the direction of the table.
Their eyes seemed to meet of a split second before Spike pushed himself back behind the pillar. Covering his mouth to stifle his breathing, but the uneven sets began to come towards the pillar and the raspy breathing began to increase in pressure. Spike, as quietly as he could, moved farther behind the pillar until he was between the ledge protector and pillar. The steps came to the table and paused he heard the pony put his hoof on the table and move it slightly, and for what felt like hours it just stood there staring at the spot.
Spike spotted a small rock next to his foot, and he got a quick idea. He inched downwards and picked up the rock, he prepared his arm and launched the rock back where he came from. It echoed through the hallway but it did the trick. The stallion's head snapped towards the sound and his uneven steps echoed down the hallway as it ran to find the source.
Spike uncovered his mouth and let loose a long sigh. He pushed himself from behind the pillar and snuck down the opposite direction, towards what he hoped would be Twilight. But just before the pony disappeared from view Spike ran into a table and a vase flew from the impact. Time slowed and he outstretched his arms to catch it but too little too late, it hit the ground with loud shatter. Spike froze and snapped his head back towards the stallion, it had turned its head towards the new sound and its eyes glued themselves on Spike.
Spike quickly pushed himself up and dashed down the hallway, he heard uneven steps dashing behind him and the raspy breathing increasing in frequency. Spike lost all sense of where he was and just focused on getting away from whatever that thing was. He rounded few corners and right before he made it to the end of a hallway a door flew open right before Spike could process it.
The impact knocked him back and he felt his world going dark and before it all disappeared he saw a blue shape exit from behind the door and pass him.
3 hours later
Spike's head was throbbing and his thoughts were a jumbled mess. He pulled a hand to his head, and he rubbed the new bruise. As his senses began to return to the world, he smelled something that made his stomach growl.
"Well well well, look who's awake," a voice spoke.
"Wh-who's there?" Spike asked. The voice was male and he turned his head toward the direction the voice originated, and he opened his eyes just barely to see a blue blur coming towards him.
"It's alright kid, you're safe now. You were lucky I found you before that corrupted got you, if only few seconds later you'd be dead," he said grimly.
Spike's eyes tried to widen, but the blurriness prevented it and he held a hand to his throbbing head.
"Easy now, I hit you with the door pretty hard. At least that dragon durability prevented a concussion," he chuckled. Spike then felt a magical grip pull him up and he floated towards the smell. The crackling of fire reached his ears and he felt the grip lower him to a sitting position on a small cushion. The blurred world started to clear and he could make out a cooking spit hanging above the fire.
A blue light shone is his vision and a bowl filled with the food lowered into his lap. He wrapped his hand around it and he lifted it to his mouth and tipped it towards his mouth.
"Hold on there kid," the blue stallion said and levitated a spoon to his bowl, "We got to have a few manners here." Spike chuckled and filled the spoon and lifted it too his mouth. His eyes widened in delight, and dove into the dish. In just a matter of seconds he had devoured the food. He heard magic activate and he turned towards the stallion who was writing something down in a brown leather journal.
Spike turned his head and looked around the room, and it was bigger than the room he first awoke. There were a few chalkboards, but instead of the same runic circles, there just maps of what appeared to be the ruins and notes were written around them. In the corner there was a desk that wasn't turned over or destroyed that had more notes. There was a makeshift bed in the opposite corner, and where he had woken up there was a couch.
"Getting used to it yet?" the stallion asked, "I can understand seeing as you just woke up."
"Who are you? Where am I? What happened here?" Spike stammered out question after question.
"I am Arkaytis, call me Ark, you're in my safehouse, and as for what happened that's a bit tougher," he answered without looking up from his journal. Spike frowned in response and he set his bowl down.
"Can you tell me what happened and if you've seen a purple alicorn with dark violet mane with one pink stripe?" he pleaded. Ark closed his journal and stared at Spike.
"Sorry kid, I haven't seen an alicorn in here and to be honest I don't know if anypony is still alive in here. I don't know the exact details, but the cause is what I am trying to figure out. Basically that pony you saw is a corrupted, and the corrupted are basically ponies who's souls have been filled with dark magic," he explained showing Spike a few pages out of the journal. Spike examined the details about each symptom and the page turned to a full body picture of a corrupted stallion and mare.
"We were researching the old rituals that took place here under restricted orders. In other words, we received a job we came to do it, but nopony knew who the client was. All we knew was they wanted something here. We've stayed here for five weeks, and then my coworkers started disappearing," he trailed off looking off into the notes.
Spike took a moment to look at the stallion, his clothes were that of a mage, his coat was a deep blue, his eyes were light brown and his mane and tail were a darker brown and he had a few patches on him meaning he had been in a few fights.
"Oh I didn't introduce myself, I am Spike and have you seen any signs of more survivors," he asked breaking the silence. Ark turned back to him and gave a small smile.
"Nice to meet you, I haven't seen any signs of other survivors. But, something tells me if this alicorn is here then she'll be fine," he asserted.
"Mr. Ark, can you help me find her? She's pretty much my mother and I don't know where to start," Spike admitted. Ark shared a look of deep thought, and he stared at Spike and the door.
"Sure I can help you, but you need to help me get to the exit so we can get away from here," he said.
"Deal," Spike accepted without hesitation holding a hand for a shake. Ark shook it and he went over to his satchel, packed a few items and picked up a metal rod. He turned back towards Spike and tossed the rod towards him. Spike stumbled to catch it and was successful and he looked at Ark confused.
"What? You need to have something to protect yourself," he stated as a matter of factly. Spike opened to retort but he then nodded in agreement, and he went over to the door. Ark joined him and they pushed it open and stepped back into the temple.
Author's Note
Here's chapter 1 completely redone as I had taken too much from KOTOR 2 the first time and it's no problem I understand what I did so I changed the setting, the meeting, and gave Spike a bit more time to walk around and get his bearings unlike last time which was just a carbon copy of Peragus.
Revision: currently 1:19 A.M. and I am half asleep going to go pass out see you later.
Next time: Chapter 2: Two mages One problem
Chapter 2: Two mages One problem
The door shut silently behind them and Spike took his time to look around the hallway they were in. This hallway was a bit more decrepit than the part of the temple he was originally in as the walls and columns had more cracks and vines growing on them. The vases and tables that were usually outside the alternate doors were either destroyed and/or turned over.
Ark looked down both sides of the hallway and there were no corrupted in sight. He gestured with his hoof for Spike to follow and they began their trek further in to the broken temple. The trotting and footsteps slightly echoed through the hallway, and the silence was just adding to the haunting factor. Spike trekked silently alongside the robed stallion, and he just stared at his stoic face.
Ark had obviously seen some action throughout this event, his face had a few shallow cuts and small bruises. The robes had few holes in the legs and chest area, and the blue and white had faded due to time without proper care. His mane and coat were messy, the brown main had many messed patches and had a small semblance of brushed, long hair. The coat's blue had a few patches of dirt and dried blood, but he was overall still in pretty good condition all things considered.
"You need something Spike?" Ark asked without turning to him.
Spike jumped in surprise but quickly calmed himself, "Sorry...I was just looking at some of your wounds and clothes and I've got to ask, how long have you been here?"
Ark chuckled and responded, "Haha, well I've been here for about four months, but I've been in the company of corrupted ponies for about five weeks." He looked around the corner and checked the other direction.
"Four months? What exactly were you doing here anyway?" Spike queried, "Those aren't normal mage robes seeing as instead of just being some sort of cape that covers the body, it's actually a shirt and pants with a cloak only covering the legs. I don't understand what type of job would call for different clothes."
Ark didn't answer, he had his ear on a door that had some damage on it and after he pulled away he looked forward. "The clothes are custom-made actually, and I needed the clothes for job mainly distinguishing among the staff. Normally it's usually lab coats, but that's in another part of the temple," he explained.
Spike gave a small chuckle and looked around in the hallway, the murals repeated the same story he had seen before but now there were two more ponies alongside the main black alicorn. Ark spared a glance and his eyes brightened at the sight, he trotted over to the mural and squinted at the depictions.
"This was part of what I did here actually; being the part-time chronicler and chemist was basically all I did," he said pointing at the mural.
"Wait you can understand this? I mean I can kind of see what the story is, but I still don't get what actually happened," Spike mumbled looking down.
Ark smiled and turned back towards the mural, "Basically this is a rather unknown story about Equestria before the three pony tribes. It is known as 'The Age of Alicorns' and as it implies this was the only existence of ponies at the time. However, that black alicorn is known as Black Aether and he was the first dark alicorn to rise to power by utilizing dark magic," he explained in a scholarly tone.
Spike then turned to an alternate mural that depicted ponies, dragons, griffons, changelings, and zebras fighting against multiple dark alicorns. At the back of the unionized creatures were two alicorns one with pink mane and white coat the other with a blue mane and a dark blue coat. He gasped and Ark turned towards him, he took a look at the mural and gained a look of recognition.
"These are Celestia and Luna right?" Spike questioned. Ark trotted next to him and looked silently at the mural.
"Yes actually, but the odd part is that this time of alicorns dates back to four thousand years before Princess Twilight's coronation. Which doesn't make sense does it? Celestia and Luna came in to history when they brought the three pony tribes came together right? So, why does this story exist Spike?" Ark grilled question after question.
Spike was stumped,'He's right! There has to be something wrong here, but if this story true, then why would it not appear anywhere?' he wondered. Ark saw that distant look in the drake's eye and smiled a little smugly.
"Stumped are ya? Doesn't surprise me, I mean who would want the most bloodiest time in the history of Equus to be known it was caused by the ponies?" he questioned.
Spike turned to him with wides eyes, "You mean that--"
"Yep, Equestria was built on the deaths of others, but Celestia, Luna, and the other leaders at the time didn't want the story to get any farther. So they destroyed each and every document detailing the ordeal, wiped the memories of most of their respective populations, and hunted any and all practitioners of dark magic. All that remains are the memories of Celestia and Luna, the small stories passed along from ruler to ruler, and the shattered remains of story that are just told as legends," Ark finished and let loose a small sigh staring distantly at the mural.
"But this can't be right! Why would the Royal Sisters cover up something like this?!" Spike cried.
"Shhhhhhhhhhh!" Ark shushed pushing his hooves on to Spike's mouth, "Will you be quiet!? You could've just given away our position!" he growled. Spike pushed his hooves off his face and glared at the stallion. Ark shook his head and resumed his trotting down the hallway with Spike following suit. They continued through the hallway in silence and Spike cast a few glances at Ark.
Spike and Ark soon came to a large door, activating his magic he pushed it open and walked in. Spike watched and followed.
'I don't get it what was so bad that they tried to erase it from history?' Spike wondered. It didn't add up to him, as Celestia and Luna had both proved to be benevolent rulers, but none of what Ark had told him could possibly be true.
'Wait, how does Ark know all about this? He didn't explain it completely, and he did say he was a 'chemist.' Spike thought and his eyes widened. He ran up to Ark to question him, but was stopped by the sites in front of him. Walls towered above him halfway filled with books, and the tables had many of the books in stacks. The vines and cracked foundations had reached this library as well, but it still held some of the luster it must've had in its prime. The cold stone floors were replaced with grey smoothed wooden floors, the walls were now ivory white with golden flower design stretching up to the ceiling.
Spike stared up at the ceiling which depicted what looked like alicorns that looked older than Celestia and Luna but the moon alicorn was a stallion and the sun alicorn was a mare.
'Are those their predecessors?' Spike wondered. He looked back at Ark who was rummaging through a few stacks of books his eyes focused on each title. Spike turned to different table and saw saddlebag lying on the table, curious he walked over to the bag and shook whatever contents it had. A few ink bottles, parchment, and quills spilled out onto the table.
The parchment had runic symbols and notes detailing each one, but the strange thing was they resembled the circles he saw that had rougher symbols and overlapping lines. He saw they all had numbers at the bottom, so he hopped on to a seat and began to organize them. Ark had a few papers in his magic grasp and he placed them in his saddlebag. He looked around and saw Spike looking at the papers, wondering what he was looking at he trotted over to him and Spike had finished ordering them.
"Finally!" Spike sighed as he stared at the small stack. Ark looked over the shoulder and his eyes widened in surprise, 'Holy shit! That hoofwriting is Christy's! I thought those notes were lost with her...That means this is her saddlebag. But where is she?' he wondered.
"What?" Spike gasped spurring Ark look down at the notes, ""Change in appearance, injections, victims?! ARK WHAT THE HAY IS THIS?!" Spike bellowed whirling on Ark.
"SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" he shushed loudly, "Haven't we been over this!? Be quiet!" he ordered.
"Don't you dare dodge the question Ark! What was that thing you said about being a chemist!? These note detail some liquefaction ritual and then injecting the liquid in to victims which caused them to turn in to these corrupted! What were you really doing here? It obviously wasn't history," Spike snarled. Ark backed away in a bit of fear but he stood firm in the face of Spike's hateful gaze.
"You really want know? Simple, the whole history chronicler was a coverup, I was the pony behind making that liquid you read about and those notes belonged to my assistant Crystal Quill," he answered.
"We were tasked with finding out how to utilize the ritual in order to create puppets that could go almost or on par with Celestia," Ark muttered in disdain, "It's not like we had a choice to stop them, we were held at swordpoint and if that didn't phase us they threatened friends or family."
Spike could only sputter in response, one one hand this pony was a killer but at the same time he was forced to do their bidding. "If what you say is true, why did you take the job?" Spike asked.
"I needed the bits and it was a high paying job and things took a bad turn and now ponies are dead," he put it simply with a small shrug.
"HOW CAN YOU BE SO CALM?! YOU'VE KILLED PONIES AND YOU'RE JUST SHRUGGING IT OFF?! DON'T YOU REALIZE YOU'VE HURT PONIES, OR ARE YOU JUST A COLD-HEARTED KILLER TO REALIZE THAT?!" Spike caterwald once more.
Something snapped in Ark, and it was like lightning spread through his body before he surprised Spike with a wrathful stare, "'A COLD-HEARTED KILLER AM I?! LISTEN HERE YOU UNDERDEVELOPED LIZARD! I REGRET EVERY SINGLE DAMN ACTION I HAVE IMPOSED ON THESE PONIES, SO DON'T THINK FOR A SECOND I AM SOME APATHY-DRIVEN ASSHOLE WHO DOESN'T CARE FOR WHAT HE CAUSED?!"
His voice ricocheted off the walls and out some doors, and Spike was left in shocked silence. Ark, granted he only met him a few hours ago, had always been nothing short of calm and collected. Spike didn't know how to respond, especially after what he called Ark.
'I messed up big time....Nopony deserves to be called a killer, especially with that reaction.' he mulled over sadly.
Ark's furious gaze burrowed down on Spike, but it withered at the sad look in the hatchlings eyes. He gave a sigh of resignation, it wasn't fair for him to explode on Spike, nor was it fair for him to make Spike seem like a fool.
"I'm sorry Spike....it was hard on me too you know I just...I..." he trailed off. Spike looked back up to him and opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off by a door bursting open and the multiple origins of raspy breathing echoed through the library. Spike and Ark snapped towards the door and in stumbled three corrupted ponies. The lead corrupted had fallen on the ground and wasn't moving but his breathing was still audible. There were two stallions and a mare, one on the ground the others shambling towards the pair.
Spike's breath got caught in his throat as he stared at their yellow eyes and black veins spreading from their faces. Their muzzles had dried blood, their clothes and coat bore cuts and bitemarks, but the worst sight was the black substance petering out their mouths.
Spike watched the corrupted stallion shoot towards Ark and tackle him to the ground, he raised his arm to help him, but the mare had crashed in to the table knocking him to the ground. He felt his back scrape against the ground and he skid in to another table, he raised his head to look at the mare who had already recovered to prey upon him.
Spike groped to his side, not taking his eyes off of the mare, his hand picked on to a book and he heaved it in to his grasp. As the mare was face to face he swung the book with all his might against the mare. The impact knocked the mare away two feet, but his grasp was lost on the heavy book.
Spike spun around and ran in to the opposite end of the library, looking for something to knock out the mare. He shot a glance towards Ark who had gotten the stallion off of him and whacked him with his metal pole. Spike watched the stallion fly in to a bookcase and the remaining books fell on top of it. Spike's heard raspy breathing to his left he spun around and came face to face with the mare.
More of that black substance leaked from the mare's maw and it's raspy breathing radiated across his face. The heat from the breath sent shivers down his spine and he jerked back and slashed her face. He pushed himself to his feet and ran the opposite direction, the mare hissed and gave chase. He jumped up on to the table and climbed up the book cases tossing book after book down at the mare.
Spike didn't care if they hit or missed he just continued to scale the bookcase hoping to get as far as he could the crazy mare. He then felt a tremor travel up the bookcase and he held on for dear life. He turned his head down and saw the mare ram in to the bookcase causing another tremor to travel up the bookcase and make a few books hit Spike's hands and head. He grunted in pain and his grip began to slip.
The mare crashed into the bookcase once more and Spike's grip broke and he began to fall from two and a half stories. Spike felt small memories of him and Twilight flash before his eyes, and he felt a few tear sweep away from his eyes into the air. Just before Spike accepted his fate he felt something surround him and he saw a blue aura surround him. His eyes darted to the source and he looked at Ark holding the stallion away from his face, but holding Spike at the same time.
He lowered Spike a ways from the mare and gestured to run and get away from the mess. Spike shook his head and he turned back to the mare who screeched in anger. He jumped back as the mare swiped at him and he tripped over the books on the ground. Spike's heart pounded harder against his chest, and the gave an unearthly hiss before lunging at him. Acting out of instinct he opened his maw and let loose a small jet of green flames that engulfed the mare face. It reeled back in and gave a screech of pain.
Spike watched in horror, his flames had only ever been used to send messages not burn somepony. The pony dashed around the library crashing in to the walls and other tables. The flames spread farther down the mare and it soon fell to the ground in twitching ball of green flames.
Spike's entire world froze, his eyes dilated at the now blackening mare, and it screeching just faded away as the world shifted in to dead silence. His breathing slowed and the whole world faded out.
'I killed her.....
What have I done........
Am I a murderer........
What...would...Twilight...say......'
At the very edge of the thought Spike's mind shut down and he passed out. Ark whacked the stallion in the head and the stallion fell to the ground. He panted in exhaustion, and turned his head to look for Spike. He saw the poor drake curled on the floor out cold, and the remains of the mare that was attacking him was starting to die down.
Ark winced and trotted over to Spike, who laid there unmoving. He went to pick up Spike with his grip, but just as he activated his magic he heard a yell and the first stallion had jumped on Ark and dug his teeth in to Ark's shoulder.
"SON OF A BITCH!" Ark swore loudly. His voice echoed once more through the library and he tried to shake the stallion off of his shoulder. The teeth seemed to dig even deeper and his skin broke and blood flowed from the wound. Ark charged his side against the bookcase knocking the stallion repeatedly in to hardwood and books.
He grabbed books and table pieces and launched them against the corrupted, but it did little to deter the biting. The stinging was morphing in to a searing pain, he felt the flesh and hair being pulled and ripped from his shoulder. Adding more and more magic to his projectiles he rocketed them toward the head of the corrupted.
The pony began to let up, but only slightly and Ark was tired of having to deal with this stubborn stallion. He hopped, bucked, and galloped around the library ramming his rider in to the table and walls. Ark felt his horn glow in power and he picked up his metal pole and shot it towards the pony's head.
The stallion was knocked off and Ark pulled and aimed the sharp end at the pony he impaled it through the head in to the wall. The body twitched and black blood sputtered from the point of entry. Ark sighed in pain and exhaustion he had enough of a hard time with dealing with the first pony, but they just wouldn't stay down.
He turned back to Spike who still lay unconscious on the ground, and letting loose one more sigh he picked him up and placed him on his back. He trotted towards where they had their bags and notes, picked them up, and trotted towards the now open door.
Two hours later
Spike's mind began to reboot and he felt a lot of soreness in his arms and legs. He opened his eyes and looked down on his body, bandages covered his chest, and parts of his right arm and left leg. He looked up and saw Ark laying down without his top robes on and a bandage around his shoulder and he let a small snore escape indicating he was asleep.
Spike saw a barricaded door and flopped down back on to the floor. But then the memories of what felt like it just happened returned back to him and he began to shake at every breath. He felt tears begin to flow from his eyes and small, quiet sobs rip themselves from his throat. The sobs began to escalate, and they filled the empty room and his sobs had reached the ears of his companion.
"What's up Spike," Ark mumbled still exhausted.
"I-I-I k-killed-d somepony," he sputtered out between sobs. Ark's head rose and turned towards Spike.
"So have I Spike so have I," he trailed off not knowing what to say next.
"How are you ok with that? Knowing that pony once had family and friends and you took them from the world, how can you stand that?" Spike whispered holding his hands over his eyes.
"I don't," Ark answered prompting Spike to uncover his eyes and stare at the stallion.
"What?"
"I said I don't Spike. I can't stand that Spike, and nopony truly can ever stand the fact they took another life. Here's my two cents if you wanna hear: You don't get used to killing, you just get numb to the pain," he said. Spike only stared at him confused and he rolled his eyes in response.
"What I mean is no one is used to it and sure it becomes easier over time, but the pain won't go away and the best thing you can do is just find a way to dull it," he explained. Spike looked away and crawled over to sit next to Ark.
"I feel horrible though, how will I deal with that fact?" he whispered.
"Everypony deals with pain in their own way Spike, and talking about it just happens to be the most therapeutic thing you can do," he concluded with a small hoof gesture. Spike laid his head against his companion's unharmed shoulder and sat in silence for a while.
"Hey Ark, how do you want to leave your mark on the world?" Spike asked suddenly.
"That's a tough question Spike, why do you ask?" He queried.
"I am just curious, and I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours," he said with a ghost of a smile.
Ark chuckled and responded, "I want to finish what my brother asked me to do, and what he asked me to do was "Bring the sun and moon down to Equestria," I still don't know what it means but I'll figure it out one day."
"What was your brother like?" Spike asked.
"He was like you I suppose he was always curious, confident, mature for his age, and many more things. Simple qualities you seem to hold very similarly to him," he muttered.
"That's nice, but I guess for me I just want to find my parents," Spike mumbled.
"You're an orphan? I thought Princess Twilight was your caretaker," Ark wondered.
"She is, and no I am not an orphan. I just don't know who my real parents are and I want to find them," Spike trailed off before continuing, "I've always lived in the pony world, and whenever I try to be a dragon all I do is cause problems. Dragons are greedy, self-centered, and horrible while ponies seem to scared, xenophobic, and mushy," Spike muttered.
"You feel you don't belong in both world and it's aggravating isn't it?"
"Yeah! Also no matter what I do, I'm always left behind on Twilight's adventures, and I just feel like-"
"Your next line is going to be "Like I'm not truly part of any family and that I won't ever find my place in the world" am I correct," Ark asked and finished with smug smile. Spike stared flabbergasted at Ark who had just predicted his line and the look on Spike's face was enough to send Ark laughing his head off. Spike soon joined in and the two clutched each other while continuing to laugh.
Suddenly, a bang hit the door and it, along with the barricade flew off the hinges, both Spike and Ark ceased laughing got up.
"Buck our lives, it's just one fight after another today is not our day Spike," Ark growled picking up his metal pole and preparing for combat. A purple aura cleared the dust and a purple female alicorn, with a velvet mane with one hot pink stripe, trotted in with her magic at the ready.
"TWILIGHT?!" Spike shouted.
Her eyes widened in response to the voice, "SPIKE?!"
"Well this just got more convoluted," Ark remarked.
Author's Note
Here's another chapter, I plan to take this as far as I can and I hope that whoever reads thoroughly enjoys it. See you in the next chapter.
Next time: Perfectionists don't Mix
Chapter 3: Perfectionists don't Mix
"TWILIGHT?!" Spike shouted
"Well this just got more convoluted," Ark muttered as Spike dashed towards the purple alicorn. Twilight was no different as she galloped down the stairs, and Spike jumped towards her. She caught him and hugged him as tightly as she could, Spike felt some air leave his body but not too much to cause harm. As the two shared a deep hug and whispered to each other Ark looked at them with a ghost of a smile.
The way they hugged reminded him of his little sibling and himself. Vergil and he had always stuck together, and whenever they saw each other from being away that's how they always greeted each other. Ark's small smile turned to a frown as he looked at the ruined ground and felt reality slightly fade away.
"I wonder what he'd be doing if he knew what I was up to right now," Ark muttered.
'Big brother!'
Ark's heart stopped as a haunting and childish voice shook inside his head, and he snapped towards the source. He saw nothing but ruined books and furniture, but the pounding in his chest had not subsided.
'I can't wait to work with you big brother!
WOW! You're so cool!
We'll always be together won't we big bro?'
Tears began inch out of his eyes as the voice continued to echo around him and a few small sobs tore themselves from his throat. His eyes once again settled on the pair who were still hugging. He let out a shaky sigh and wiped his eyes, but that didn't stop fresh tears from taking the places of their predecessors.
'That was once us wasn't it Vergil....' He reflected on the old memories of his brother. Ark hadn't thought about his brother in a while, but that didn't ever make it any harder when he thought about what his brother could've been had the event not happened.
"I'm so glad you're ok Spike!" Twilight exclaimed prompting Ark's attention away from his thoughts back to the pair.
"I'm glad you're safe as well Twilight! But how did you get here? How did we get here?" Spike threw question after question towards Twilight. Twilight frowned as it wouldn't be easy to explain, but before she could explain her eyes met with the brown ones that were watching herself and Spike. Her mouth widened in shock as she stared at the stallion who stared back at her confused.
"I don't understand why you're surprised, but anyway we can have a nice reunion later when we're in a safer spot. Listen I know h--," Ark was cut off by a large purple beam blasting him in to the wall. Cracks sprung like a spider web from the impact and he fell to the ground dazed, and Twilight scowled at him with her horn still glowing.
Spike was flabbergasted, the only time he had ever seen Twilight so furious was when she tried to figure out Pinkie's Pinkie sense. Spike watched as Twilight grinded her teeth and began to stomp towards Ark who was trying to pick himself up.
"Y-Y-You're the cause of all this mess!" Twilight screeched, her voice bouncing off the walls. Spike flinched and his eyes widened, they couldn't afford to give away their position so he ran to the door Twilight came out of and pushed it shut.
"How could you do this to innocent ponies!? You've tortured them and turned them in to these...these things!" Twilight caterwauled. Ark stood up and shook his head to break the daze, as his vision stopped rotating he met his eyes with Twilights.
"I knew you were known to be intense, but this is just foalish and asinine!" He quipped with a small glare.
"FOALISH!? ASININE!?"
"You heard me 'princess', but now is not the time to start attacking each other. These things are drawn to sound so you need to shut the hell up before you end up bringing all the corrupted down on us," he snapped barging past her to shut another door. Twilight stared at his blatant disregard for her position and she followed him.
"I'm not done with you!"
"I don't give a buck!"
"You caused these ponies suffering so explain yourself!"
"I don't have to explain myself to a self-entitled brat like yourself!"
"That's rich coming from a second-rate apprentice!"
Ark stopped mid step and his hooves began to shake in poorly contained rage. "Second-rate am I?" he sneered out. He spun around and pointed his hoof right in front of Twilight's face.
"I've studied each and everyone of Starswirl's archived spells of transmutation! I've lifted an entire building and built it by my own magic alone! I've taken down guards with just using magic while standing in one place! So before you can call me a second-rate apprentice, check your Celestia damned privilege!" he thundered stomping down a hoof, but Twilight wasn't phased.
"I've studied under Celestia herself and deciphered ancient text otherwise deemed unreadable! I've saved Equestria alongside my friends numerous times! I've ascended to an Alicorn state and that hasn't happened to anypony in centuries! So you check your privilege before you think you can talk me down," she countered with stomp of her own and pushing her face closer to his. Ark's eyes narrowed even further and he pushed his forehead in to her's crossing horns in threatening way.
They began to push against each other, and both horns began to glow. Before they could unleash whatever spell they could on each other, two purple hands interjected and pushed them apart.
"BOTH OF YOU! Now isn't the time for this! We need to work together and we can't do that if we're all holding a sword to each other's throat," he bellowed glaring at both of the ponies. Ark and Twilight starred in surprise at the drake's sudden confidence boost, and they turned back to each other.
"Spike makes a good point, we'll finish this later. But make no mistake I don't trust you and I demand an explanation after this, but until then we'll hold a truce agreed?" Twilight asked holding a hoof out for a shake and deactivating her magic. Ark took it and shook in silent agreement, and they stepped away from Spike's hand who then sighed in relief.
"Great...I'm glad we avoided that so now I think introductions are needed. Twilight this is Arkaytis, AKA Ark. Ark this is Twilight Sparkle," Spike said hoping to mediate the atmosphere.
"Nice to meet you Mr. Arkaytis."
"Charmed."
"Alright now Ark, can you explain what's going on now? With Twilight here we might be able to find a solution and a cure for these ponies," Spike queried hoping that Ark would come through.
"Well first things first Spike, the only cure for these ponies is a quick and painless death," Ark responded.
"That can't be true!" Spike muttered in disbelief.
"I apologize Spike, but I don't know what else to tell you or Twilight. I've been here for longer than I should've trying to find a cure and the only findings I have are in this journal," he explained pulling said journal out with his magic. It was quickly snatched by Twilight who began to scan each and every detail within and outside the journal.
"Basically these ponies are victims of liquid dark magic injections. We were trying to replicate a ritual used by the ancient dark alicorns to create a 'super pony' so to speak. One that could possibly rival an alicorn in strength and mind, but the problem was that it came with pretty nasty side effects," he continued as Twilight looked at the notes, but kept an eye towards Ark.
"Injections!? What kind of drugs were you making?! This isn't Breaking equestria!" Spike cried. Ark giggled at the reference having watched the show plenty times.
"Hahaha, very funny Spike but I digress, while they were technically classified as drugs they were administered by professional doctors. After the ponies who got administered the injection were left alone for a while that's when we realized that there were certain stages to them becoming what they are now namely three stages," he finished.
"Three stages? Your journal talks about it but I haven't seen any diagrams detailing any of the symptoms," Twilight said flipping through the journal looking at each of the pages.
"Last few pages are the pictures," he answered. Following his words she turned to the back pages of the book which held three versions of corrupted stallions and mares all with varying symptoms. The book lit up with blue magic and the pictures floated off surprising Twilight and she dropped the book. The pictures floated over to Ark and they expanded into full grown apparitions as if they were the real thing.
"The first set here are the first stages of the injections. They start out with a paling coat, coughing, and nausea. There could be some vomiting here and there, but usually they retain who they are and seem to be alright. Apart from the paling coat there are a few black veins, but that's it," he projected and explained the first set. They smiled tiredly and waved as if they were normal, but then they disappeared back into the book. The second pair trotted forward and they appeared in a considerably worse condition.
The second set of ponies now had visible black veins and their coats had paled even more along their eyes had started have a piercing light. They seemed even more exhausted, sick, and even in pain.
"The second stage as you can see portrays many of the same symptoms albeit they are much worse and very apparent. Following the veins and coat comes the eye color change and more extreme nausea. Logically, this causes enough pain to deteriorate their mental state and they'll claim that they "hear voices" or "something is watching them" and it causes even more erratic behavior," he continued as he showed each of the symptoms of what he witnessed from the victims.
The mare and stallion looked extremely paranoid, and their eyes were darting in each direction. They ran around in fear, fell on the ground and curled up into a ball, and silently screamed at emptiness. Twilight and Spike stared at the ponies in shocked silence, Spike was horrified at what could theoretically happen to him and Twilight.
Twilight was more disgusted than scared as this had proved that whatever happened here, Ark was partially responsible for these ponies death's. She stayed silent as Ark continued to explain. The second set of ponies disappeared back into the journal and the last set of corrupted had shambled forward, and boy was that a sight to see.
Their mouths hang open revealing rotting teeth with a black liquid flooding from the back of the throat. The black veins spread like webs from the inside of their faces outward and disappeared into their upper bodies. Their coats were now a near bleached white and their manes had lost their natural color and were now greyed. Their eyes were the worst of the symptoms, they were now a piercing yellow and black veins had replaced the red veins and the same black liquid slightly leaked from the bottom of the eyes.
Spike's eyes widened in horror, these ponies looked like zombies and the way they breathed didn't do anything to deter the thoughts that sped through his and Twilight's minds.
"The final stage might as well be a death sentence as they have lost their entire sense of self. The symptoms have worsened even more and they now are no longer aware of their actions, as you can see they act like zombie ponies to say the least. But on the bright side they cannot infect through biting or salivation so I'm safe as I have been bit in the shoulder many times," he noted with a smile.
Spike and Twilight remained silent as they watched the ponies shamble around looking for no one thing particular, but still they acted as if they were missing something of value.
"Unlike stage two where they are partly gone and have a smaller chance of being saved, stage three there is no chance that a cure could or even would work on them," he finished as the two flew back into the book and with the demonstration finished it fell into Ark's magic and he placed it back in his saddlebag.
Twilight and Spike didn't say anything as they stood there processing the information that they had received. Spike didn't know what to think as the pony who had saved his life was also responsible for the damnation of others. Twilight realized that there were misconceptions in what she read about Ark, but at the same time how could somepony with such a kind heart be so merciless?
"Let me get the straight," Twilight began slowly, "You created the liquified dark magic, you had professional doctors administer it to ponies without their will nor consent, something happened and now they are all confined to a fate worse than death. Have I missed anything?"
"No," Ark shrugged.
"You have a lot more explaining to do once we get out and fix these ponies, but for now we just need to find a way out so do you know where the exit is?" Twilight asked quietly. Ark raised a brow at her, but shrugged in response.
"I know where the exit is, but there is bad news and worse news what would you like to hear first?" he asked.
"The worse/bad news," Spike and Twilight said at the same time.
"The exit is locked and the key is with my used-to-be boss," he remarked. Spike and Twilight groaned seeing as the universe was against them and every other survivor.
"But there is a silver lining, I know where my boss is," Ark said with a smile, "He is in an alternate library that's a few hallways down from this one, but there probably are more corrupted in there because he never worked or researched alone." Twilight's eyes lit up at the prospect of more books, but it quickly died when the mention of more corrupted came up.
"So how do we get there?" Spike asked shakily.
"Through this door we'll come to the main entrance hall and the alternate library is located down a mirroring hallway," Ark explained trotting over to unlock a barricaded door.
"Well I suppose we should get going," Twilight said while gathering a few books that had a lot of studies over the Alicorn society. Ark and Spike nodded and they pushed the door open back in to the halls. The halls around them still held signs of decay and cracking, the tables were still knocked over and/or broken, and a few adjacent doors hung open.
Spike walked next to Twilight, instinctively placing a hand on one of her front forelegs, and grimacing at the aging architecture. Twilight had noticed this action and made sure to walk a little closer the young drake, but she turned her attention to the stallion in front of her. Ark walked past the destruction, barely sparing anything a glance, all he had was a steel gaze cemented forward.
'Arkaytis is strange, despite all that's happening around him he doesn't bat an eye. But most stallions tend to maintain a macho stallion demeanor, yet unlike other stallions his standing isn't forced.' Twilight thought.
Ark continued to trot down the decrepit hallways with the pair following behind him. They soon came to another door and Ark placed his ear to the rotting wood, and he held it there for few seconds listening for sound. Pulling his ear away he pushed the door open and cringed at the smell that flooded his nostrils. Pushing himself in to the room he was met with a gruesome sight.
Inside the main entrance there were seven corpses of what appeared to be three doctors and four workers. Their bodies were decaying and all their mouths hang open. The coagulated blood was stained to the floor and their bodies and they all lay in the direction of the entrance. As the trio kept their lunch inside their stomachs they turned to the towering door.
"Why would you need such a large door if you're going to coming in and out," Spike asked.
"Well long before our time this temple must have been above ground so ponies could just come and go," Twilight answered. Spike mouthed an "oh" as he stared at the door. The main entrance branched off into three places: the place they came from, a mirroring passage across the room, and down the center it lead into a foyer.
The columns, though aged, still maintained a pristine white, the floors were black and white marble and they all seemed to center towards the foyer. The walls still maintained the same murals, but a few had faded too much to understand what was shown.
"Sheesh, whoever made this place really was obsessed with this story," Twilight quipped. Ark and Spike snickered in response to her snark, but what was odd was the first mural that showed four alicorns two of which were Celestia and Luna what appeared to be their parents.
"Well we better get that key if we wanna get out of here," Ark said trotting towards the next hallway. Twilight and Spike wordlessly followed him and they were lead down many more hallways and past more doors until they were standing in front of another grand door. Not even needing to put his ears to the door he could here the shambling and raspy breathing behind the door and Ark couldn't even distinguish how many corrupted.
"So how're we gonna get that key?" Spike wondered aloud.
"Well we need to get in first and find the boss, then we need to distract them to get the boss, get the key, and get the buck out of here," Ark answered.
"But how do we get in there?" Twilight asked. Ark pointed to a broken window on the wall leading inside, and in few flashes they were standing on the window sill looking out into the library. The library was similar to the previous one, but this one had much more destroyed furniture and more corrupted. There were nine corrupted in the library and many walked around aimlessly.
"There, that's the key and my boss," Ark whispered pointing at a large corrupted but it was in the farthest point of the library and far away from the window they stood on.
"Come on, there's a few adjacent shelves that's shield us from view below us let's go," Ark muttered and he teleported down. The noise drew them attention of the ponies but Twilight had flown down before they noticed them and she clonked Ark on the head.
"*inhale*" Ark started before Twilight and Spike covered his mouth and they shushed him quietly. Ark's eyes widened at his own stupidity and smiled sheepishly rubbing the back of his head. They removed their hands/hooves from Ark's face and they looked around the room, luckily the corrupted didn't notice the trio and they continued their aimless walks.
There were five stallions and four mares, the large stallion that Ark had pointed out was a stage three corrupted while everypony else were in between stage two and stage three so there was no spark of life in their eyes, just the piercing yellow eyes. Ark took out his journal and a quill and ink and began to write, Spike and Twilight looked over the writing and began to read.
Alright guys I have a plan, Twilight you and Spike need to throw something to get their attention I will sneak around to my boss to drag him away. However we need there to be at most three surrounding the boss. So what we could do is pick them off or cause a distraction and try to keep them separated from each other.
They nodded but Spike picked up the journal and began to scribble in response.
So how do me and Twilight cause a distraction? Throwing books could work but they might land too close to us and give us away We could also knock over some of the cases and pin a few down but that would really give us away.
Twilight lifted it from his grasp and began her scribbling
That could work, but we need to pin at least six of them down and make sure that the big pony isn't pinned too far under the bookcases. So Spike and I will distract them and you get the boss's attention got it?
Ark nodded and put the journal, ink, and quill back in his bag and they got in to position. Ark locked his eyes on his boss and and the three closest to him, he turned over to Spike and Twilight who nodded in response.
"HEEEEEEEEEEY OVER HERE!" Spike bellowed his voice ricocheting off the walls and the corrupted all snapped to the source. Spike stuck his tongue out and pulled an eyelid down, but all that was bring attention to him. The corrupted shambled closer to the space in between bookcases but there weren't enough to make the job easier. Spike frowned and soon he had an idea to egg them on a bit more, turning around to a neighboring bookshelf he pulled book after book and launched them at the corrupted.
"SPIKE DON'T DAMAGE THOSE BOOKS!" Twilight hollered drawing some of the corrupted's attention.
"NOT THE TIME TWILIGHT!" Spike hollered back. Three were in the first space, two were in the second space, one was in the final space. Jumping back from the book cases and his back landing against back shelf he gave the signal to Twilight who launched her magic against the shelf causing it to topple over and they fell like dominos.
BAM BAM BAM BAM
The first five corrupted were pinned between the books and bookcases, but the last one had managed to slip out and grab Spike. Spike screamed and he shot out his hands to keep the pony from biting in to him. Its rancid breath flooded near his being and it was quickly overpowering him.
"SPIKE! Don't worry I'll-," Twilight was cut off as another corrupted almost grabbed her and she held it back with her telekinesis. Spike looked at the shelf and back to the pony, using all his might he launched his hand to his right and he took the head with him. It banged against the shelf and left a visible bruise, but it just made the corrupted angrier.
It's teeth neared Spike's face and his movements grew more and more frantic, he tried to push it back into the shelf but it resisted. Suddenly, he heard magic activate in front and behind him and a purple beam flew right next to his face while a blue beam shone behind the corrupted. They both hit the head of the pony and the impact dropped Spike to the ground, he pushed himself away from the pony who was grabbed by Ark and shoved hard into the shelf repeatedly.
"KEEP. YOUR. FILTHY. HOOVES. OFF. OF. HIM. YOU. CELESTIA. DAMNED. BASTAAAAAARD!" he screamed punctuating every word with every slam. The pony's head was now black and red with the blood and dark magic mixing and Ark hit it once more before letting it fall to the ground. Ark stood there panting, and Spike wondered how somepony could be so brutal.
Twilight was still dealing with the other corrupted despite having shot the alternate beam, Spike picked up book and ran towards the pair before jumping and hitting the corrupted's head and knocking it back. Twilight pulled a mountain of books and launch them all on to the corrupted and it didn't move after the barragee.
Suddenly, the boss barreled into Twilight and pinned her down and Spike's mind shut down before he could process what happened. His vision just flashed as he ran towards them and then he was up close followed by a green flash of fire that launched the boss off of Twilight. He saw a green flames burning harmlessly on his hand and the saw the world spin and blur.
Ark was amazed at what he witnessed, but it was short-lived as the boss rose up despite being slightly on fire. Twilight grabbed Spike and flew up and stared down at the pony, but before they could get to another plan the large corrupted let out and earth-shaking roar.
*GRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA*
It echoed throughout and outside the library and Twilight and Ark could only look in shocked silence.
"Celestia dammit," They both said in response to the increasing banging on the library door.
Author's Note
Chapter 3 is down and # left to go. Hope you who read this have enjoyed and continue to enjoy it! I have an idea for a hollow knight crossover but don't know how to go about it. Any ideas?
Next time: Chapter 4: Arcane and Dark Arts
Chapter 4: Arcane and Dark Arts
Ark and Twilight were simultaneously casting magical bindings over the corrupted boss and as a finishing touch Ark placed a muzzle binding over the boss to keep him quiet. As they admired their work they heard a bang against the library door their hearts stopped, and when their eyes met the door it was slightly open and a corrupted was pushing against it. Twilight activated her magic and pushed it close while Ark activated his and gathered tables and bookshelves to stack against the door.
Their barricade was slowly coming together but on the other side of the door the force on the door was getting stronger. After a few minutes most of the library laid bare and white marble floors reflected in the torch light and ceiling lanterns.
"That's not going to last long Ark, what're we gonna do?" Twilight asked.
"Well first things first, get Spike and the key."
Twilight nodded and scooped up the unconscious drake as Ark pulled the key off the boss. They heard more bangs on the door and the barricade was shaking in response.
"Shit! Twilight I know this is a stretch of imagination, but maybe there is a secret switch inside the bookshelves and it might lead out of here," Ark rationalized backing away from the boss.
"That's a very large stretch Mr. Arkaytis but one I can work with."
Twilight spun towards the shelves and began pulling book after book off the shelves while Ark did the same on the alternate side of the library. In a very short time books were covering the floor and both ponies were feeling the paranoia flooding their senses. The creaking from the barricade was getting more frequent and louder. Unfortunately there was no sign of a switch on either side, and the doors slowly revealed a crack in between.
"Son of a bitch!" Ark swore.
"What now Ark?!"
"I DON'T KNOW! If there isn't a switch there's no alternate way out. The window is a possibility but they would notice the noise and then we would still have their attention," Ark rambled trying to scrape any plan to get out.
"What about teleporting back to the entrance? That's easy for both of us," Twilight suggested.
"You have a very good point but we don't know where they're coming from so for all we know they could be at the entrance as well or at least passing through but that's enough to get to us."
"I think it's a better plan than staying in the library Ark! So it's either more of them or less of them!"
Ark wanted to disagree and say it was too dangerous but at this point it his options were limited. Nodding he got closer to Twilight and they activated their magic and as blue magic mixed with the purple magic they were surrounded by a sphere of aura and in a flash they were gone.
In the next instant, they were back in front of the giant door and surrounded by the bodies of the doctors and workers. The smell carrion flooded their nostrils and they cringed in response. Ark shook his head and made a dash towards the door key in hoof, but just as Twilight followed a corrupted grabbed her from behind knocking Spike off and away towards one of the bodies.
"AHHHGGG!" Twilight wailed as she tried to push the pony off. Ark spun around and launched himself towards Twilight as fast as he could. It's raspy breathing right next to her and a second later it bit in to her wing. She wailed even louder and Ark's eyes narrowed in anger, instead of a blue beam, a purple-ish beam flew from his horn and it shot through the corrupted's head.
The pressure vanished and the body fell off Twilight who held her wing in pain, but her thoughts were short-lived as Spike filled her head and she dashed towards the drake. She picked him up and was relieved to see him unharmed. Ark's magic changed back to blue and his thoughts cleared, and he looked towards the entrance hall. More corrupted were coming in and there were too many for just Twilight and himself. Taking out the key once more he dashed up the stairs and shoved it into the crevice.
The key turned from grey to amber and the color bled into the door revealing the sun and moon insignia on the door and it pushed itself open. Twilight saw this and galloped up the stairs up to Ark but something bothered her.
"Wait Ark! What if these things get out? They would ravage Equestria!" Twilight hollered.
Ark stopped at the midway step and Twilight stopped a few steps above him.
'Dammit she's right, we have to keep these things from escaping.'
That would be easy wouldn't it Arkaytis?
Ark's eyes widened at the voice but he could wonder about it for long as growls echoed below him and the corrupted were gaining on the pair.
"Twilight run!" He yelled and they both continued their ascent above them they saw more pillars and it stretched into a grand hallway leading to a final door with light shining out.
"Ark what're we going to do about the corrupted?!" She screamed as they fled down the granite floored hallway. The brown pillars showed even more wear in contrast to the marble pillars downstairs.
"Simple you keep running and I'll hold them off."
"Are you insane?! You can't take on that many corrupted even if you were an alicorn!"
"Well it's good thing I'm not an alicorn and I happen to know a few spells that will help. Just go and get out of here and if you find help then go with them and take Spike to safety, and I will catch up. Now GO!" Ark bellowed. Twilight was about to refuse but his magic pushed her back and with one last look she continued her gallop towards the door.
'You're willing to go through with this?'
"Just get it over with," Ark grumbled.
'Very well then, brace yourself.
Twilight reached the door and she shoved it open to reveal a grassy landscape with a few mountains around them and forests on the edge, and in the distance, despite being aggravatingly small, was Canterlot castle. She smiled as she felt the sun's warmth on her coat, but then a large boom echoed out of the door and the force pushed her face first on the ground. Pulling herself out she shook the dirt out of her hair, and Spike had landed next to her and groaned in pain.
Spike's eyes were slowly opening but he couldn't move. He saw a purple coming towards him and he felt a magical grip lifting him up, and he could barely make out Twilight's face as she pulled him close into a hug. His eyes grew heavy and he felt his small consciousness dissipating and soon he was once again knocked out.
She sighed in relief and took a moment to look around. She placed Spike on her back and flew up to the top of the temple, it barely protruded mountain that covered it, the and looked out over the stretching landscape. Directly in the distance, was Canterlot castle and looking the other way she saw the sun was a few feet above the horizon and was slowly descending. To the North-east she could barely make out the snowy mountains that guarded the Crystal Empire, but those were the only recognizable landmarks
Flying down from the top of the Temple she landed next to where Spike had previously landed and it was now that she saw the boxes that were placed out of the way.
"I wonder if there's any indicator here of where we are," She wondered aloud.
Another boom echoed out of the door and she turned to it in fear, whatever he was doing it wasn't normal unicorn magic. Placing Spike next to a few rocks and placing a shield spell over him she galloped back to the door and peered back into the temple.
Her eyes had to readjust to the darkness.
"Wait that's not right, there was more light in here before so why is it so dark?" Twilight wondered while slowing to a small trot and continued towards the stairs. She was getting closer but the darkness kept growing until she couldn't see two feet in front of her and the light from the door seemed like a candle in the dark. This darkness wasn't natural that much was apparent, but if it only came from after she left the ruins then only one pony could've created it.
'Ark did say he knew some spells that could help him but what did he mean,' She wondered, yet Ark still remained more of a mystery than ever.
'Ark is obviously a skilled mage, he always maintains a calm expression even in the face of death. However, that means he's been in similar situations prior to this one and if he's this use to it...what could've happened to make him appear so cold?'
Her steps stopped echoing and soon the only thing she could hear was her growing breathing. Suddenly something landed next to her making her jump into pillar in fright. She screamed then groaned and she looked at where she thought the object had landed. Her own horn light up she felt better knowing that she could see a little bit more and she trotted towards the now illuminated body.
She froze in horror as she stared at the corrupted body as it now was even worse. The body had a blotches of necrosis covering the back and the forelegs, but the coat remained the same grey and the veins were still present. But as she trotted even closer she looked into the face of the corrupted and was met with glazed empty eyes.
She covered her mouth and another body landed behind her making her jump in fright. She then turned her eyes towards where the darkness was still at it's darkest and she gasped at what soon came into view.
Five Minutes earlier
"Just get it over with," Ark grumbled.
'Very well then, brace yourself'
The corrupted were nearing the top of the stairwell and soon they would be upon Ark, but as they reached the top Ark was nowhere to be seen. They looked for any trace of the stallion but only saw his hoofprints in the dust.
A cold wind blew through the temple and the corrupted watched the torches flicker out one by one. The last torch was snuffed out and darkness blanketed the entrance.
The raspy breathing was still audible, but the corrupted could no longer sense each other's presence. Suddenly a grunt was heard and they snapped towards the sound but were met with nothing. They all walked over to what they believed to be the origin spot of the noise, but with nothing to find they continued to shamble about.
A purple ball of light fluttered down from the center and caught the attention of all of the corrupted. They all stumbled towards it and stared and as swiftly as it had come it disappeared and a figure burst down blowing them away. One corrupted moved to get up but when he looked back the figure had disappeared. The corrupted turned around and it came face to face with glowing white eyes.
The other corrupted stumbled towards the victim of the eyes, but it had disappeared. The corrupted may have been reduced to base instincts, but it was base instincts that told them there was a predator in here with them.
Seven corrupted remained in the blackened and in the darkest reaches of the room a demon roamed and it wouldn't let any of them leave. Another light flickered in the dark, but this one shone above them illuminating the ceiling and slightly lighting the room.
Once again the figure appeared in the center but this time his features were illuminated. He was drenched in oily black shadows, his eyes were glowing white, his horn remained the same, but black miasma emanated from it as well as his hooves. One of the remaining corrupted charged him, but right as it made contact with the figure it flew through it.
"Hahahahaaha," the figure chuckled.
"I don't know what was funnier, the fact you thought it would work or the fact you tried. Oh wait you no longer understand basic language."
The figure turned towards his attacker and grabbed it by the neck. Using his magic, he wrapped his magic from his hoof around the neck of the corrupted and proceeded to strangle it. The others ran towards him and jumped on top of him only to fall through the shaded body. They all got up and swiped at the shadows, but they couldn't grasp the figure.
"I thought I said it won't work, but then again you're all nothing but animals," the figure said.
"I don't understand why Ark would hold back against any of you all this time, but he is kind hearted so I suppose it only means he wanted to help you."
The choking corrupted felt something draining from its body and soon the figure's foreleg was lit with the magic spreading towards him. The corrupted started to struggle even more, but it could do nothing as its vision blacked out and its body fell limp. The body fell from the figure's foreleg and the other corrupted were still swiping at his body but to no avail.
He groaned boredom and let a his magic push them back. The six remaining were not ready to give up and they all charged him, but he made no movement to stop them.
Suddenly, black tendrils sprung from the ground beneath him, impaled the corrupted and held them three feet above himself. The black blood dripped from the wounds and down the tendrils, but as it hit the floor it disappeared into the abyss. More of the magic was being drained from the victims and they couldn't move to stop him.
Soon the bodies grew lifeless one by one and when the last bit of magic was drained from the they each fell to the ground. The figure soon came to the last remaining corrupted and stared into the yellow eyes of the pony.
"Power Hooves...I see they got you too,"he whispered.
"I am sorry that you were the victim of this tragedy. I hope that you ended up in a better place."
The large pony growled and snapped at him, but soon the light left the eyes of the pony once known as Power Hooves. He gently lowered the body to the ground and sighed.
"I told you to go find help Twilight Sparkle," he said as the shadows fled into the ground and Ark was all that was left. The darkness in the room lifted and the light from the door had partially illuminated the rest of the entrance way.
Twilight stood away from him with disgusted look and she stared at the decaying bodies of Ark's victims. The bodies may have just lost their magic, but that shouldn't have caused necrosis to appear in their wounds.
'Tirek made sure of that, and when he took their magic they were exhausted. Why does his magic cause their deaths?" She thought.
"Your next line is going to be "You have a lot of explaining to do Arkaytis" am I correct?" He asked pointing a hoof towards her.
"Oh you have a lot of explaining to do Arkaytis but instead of trying to guess my next line you should bother explaining that to the princesses," She snapped.
Ark's eyes widened in surprise at her and how she saw through his small trick.
"Very well then I will answer to her, but I have only done my job that I was asked," he finished as he trotted past her towards the door. She stared at the bodies once more and followed him.
As they both exited the temple they cringed at the light and as it went away slowly they stared at the now setting sun over the horizon. Twilight trotted over to Spike who still lay asleep and picked him up. She placed him on her back and began walking in the direction of Canterlot Castle, but a hoof on her shoulder stopped her.
"I don't think that is wise Princess. It's getting late and even if you can teleport to the castle it will be better for all of us to get some proper rest. There are some provisions in these boxes so we should make use of them while we can," Ark proposed.
Twilight looked at him and then to Canterlot,'As much as I want to disagree with him, he has a point.'
"Fine Mr. Arkaytis, what's the first thing to do?" She asked.
Ark went to a box and pried it open with his magic. He then pulled out a couple of tents and a makeshift fireplace. In ten minutes he had set up a campsite and had a fire going. Just as he finished the sun had set and the moon had risen.
"Well let's see here," Ark muttered as he continued to dig through the contents of the other boxes. Twilight had laid down near the fire with Spike sleeping next to her side.
"Eureka! We have some food!" He hollered. Twilight picked up a stick and wacked him from behind.
"Ouch! What was that for?!"
Twilight pointed towards the sleeping drake and then the woods and Ark realized his mistake.
"Oh."
Ark shrugged and then began to cook the food. Twilight went back and laid down next to Spike before wrapping her tail around him. Ark looked at them while the dried hayfries and veggie patties cooked.
"You two are pretty close huh?" He queried.
"Yes, Spike and I have been together for a very long time. It wouldn't be the same without my number one assistant."
"Number one assistant? I thought he was your adopted son or something," Twilight flinched and looked down at Spike's sleeping form.
"You aren't the first one to say that, sometimes even Celestia says that I am a mother to him," Twilight muttered.
"Well regardless of whichever role you prefer it's a nice thing to see," Ark claimed as he finished the food. He put some in a plate and gave it to Twilight.
"Thank you Mr. Arkaytis."
"Please Princess just call me Ark."
"Very well, Ark."
The shared a laugh while they enjoyed their meal. After their bellies had their fill Twilight had retired to her tent for the night and Ark stared up at the sky. It wasn't often he got to stargaze and it has remained one of his favorite pastimes to do with his brother.
"Vergil, I wonder if you see can see the stars as well," he wondered aloud.
'Then again I guess from where you are it's something you see all the time.'
"Who's Vergil?"
Ark jumped and saw Spike sitting next to him with a very distant look. Ark relaxed and pulled himself up to a sitting position.
"Vergil is my brother, unlike me however he was more into straight archeology rather than the forgotten arts of old," Ark explained wistfully.
"That's not too far different from the same job Ark," Spike said with a raised brow.
"I know but he's more in just discovering and excavating. I am the one who examines and finds the meanings behind the things he used to find," Ark corrected.
Spike mouthed an Oh before falling silent, and Ark took notice.
"So Spike are you doing alright? You've had a pretty rough day," Ark asked.
"I could be better, but I could be worse. I am pretty tired though and I don't understand what happened in the library. How did I do that magic?" Spike asked.
"I have a theory Spike, it could be the ancient draconian magic from the Age of the Alicorn," Ark offered. Spike turned to him as he was crazy.
"Are you kidding? You yourself said that magic was cut off from them and every other creature on Equestria during the The Rise of the Dark Alicorns how could I have magic that's otherwise non-existent?"
"That's my question as well Spike," Ark answered.
Spike opened his mouth but he didn't have anything else to say. He and Ark sat there staring at the sky and soon the moon was straight above them, and it's shining light lulled both of them in to a deep sleep.
Spike's Dream World
Something was out there, but he couldn't see where it was. Spike was running from something and whatever was chasing him wasn't going to let him just escape. He was running the destroyed hallways of the temple and passing the corrupted with each and every turn.
He jumped over the destroyed furniture and broken glass but it didn't stop him from slowing down despite trying to run as quick as he could. He rounded another corner and came to the main foyer except instead of the once pristine architecture he saw instead it was broken and decaying and one the floor below him there was a black oily substance covering the floor.
He heard a groan from behind him and he looked down at the floor. The world around him was closing in and it was either the floor or the monster, and he chose the former.
As Spike fell through the air and looked back at where the monster would've been, but there was nothing there. Spike landed in the substance with a muffled splash and tried to keep moving.
YOU SHOULDN'T COME HERE SPIKE
Spike froze in fear as the voice echoed through his head and all around him. The substance started to creep up his legs and when he noticed he tried to scrape it off but it then began to drag him down. He was starting to hyperventilate and as he continued to to struggle he felt himself falling farther and farther in to the abyss.
COME WITH US SPIKE
YOU'LL BE SAFE
SinK INto ObLIVioN!
The substance had reached his face and began to flood his mouth, and he felt his body shutting down from the exhaustion. With his last bit of energy he force his hand above the substance and reached out for something or someone to help him. The substance covered the top of the head and all that remained was his weakening hand.
"BEGONE FOUL NIGHTMARE!" A voice thundered from nowhere.
Suddenly the substance was gone, the temple was gone, and Spike lay there on the glass-like floor. He looked up and saw the moon but a blue blur was also flying down to him.
"Sleep young Spike, our sister and I will be there to find you tomorrow."
Spike felt his eyes grow heavy and soon they shut and he drifted back into a dreamless sleep.
Author's Note
Here's chapter 4 and I hope you all enjoyed it. I am sure you're aware that this is my first fic so constructive criticism is always appreciated. see you in the next chapter.
Next time: Chapter 5: Explaining and The Princesses
Chapter 5: Explanations and The Princesses
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
