The Age of Fire and Shadows

Chapters

Intro: Undead Asylum Part 1
Intro: Undead Asylum Part 2
Welcome to Firelink Shrine
Entrance to the Undead Burg
Welcome Back
Magicians and Exposition

Intro: Undead Asylum Part 1

In the Age of Ancients, the world was unformed and shrouded by fog. A land of gray crags, Archtrees, and everlasting Dragons. But then there was Fire and with fire came disparity, Heat and Cold, Life and Death, and of course, light and dark. Then from the dark, They came, and found the Souls of Lords within the flame. Celestia, first of the Alicorns, The Witch of Friendship and her Elements of Harmony, Sombra, the King of Shadow, and his loyal knights. And the Princess Luna, so easily forgotten.

With the Strength of lords, they challenged the Dragons. Sombra's mighty dark blasts peeled away their stone scales. Celestia, first of the Alicorns, weaved great firestorms. The Witch of Friendship unleashed a miasma of calm and harmony. And Discord the scaleless betrayed his own, and the Dragons were no more.

Thus, the Age of Fire began. But soon the flames will fade and only Dark will remain. Even now there are only embers, and Equine sees not light, but only endless nights. And amongst the living are seen, carriers of the accursed Darksign.

Yes indeed. The Darksign brands the Undead. And in this land, the Undead are corralled and lead to the north, where they are locked away, to await the end of the world. This is your fate.

Only in the ancient legends it is stated, that one day an undead shall be chosen to leave the Undead Asylum, in pilgrimage, to the land of ancient lords, Canterlot.

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In the years before his imprisonment in the Undead Asylum Quicksilver wandered the midnight skies of Equestria alone, oft offering his skills as a mercenary to any who had the bits to hire him. One day however his employer betrayed him over to the Asylum forever robbing him the freedom of the skies. Gazing upwards to the cruel hole in the ceiling of his cell Quicksilver basked in the sun's rays pouring through.

Closing his eyes he spoke, the first time in what had been years, " . . .H. . .How long. . .has it been now?" His dry voice rasped off the walls of his solitary cell. Silence reigned as his question went unanswered until a meaty impact jolted him from his melancholy. Amber eyes snapping open, Quick Silver jolted forward seeing a motionless undead lying before him, quickly turning his gaze upwards to see an armored stallion pointing to the corpse before him before leaving.

Minutes passed before Quick Silver got up to check the unmoving undead, his limbs stiff from disuse, joints popping as he stretched. His hooves searched the desiccated undead corpse finding a key as a great crash rang throughout the asylum. Quick Silver jumped key gripped firmly in his hoof, halting as he listened but from the confines of his cell heard nothing more. Moving to the cell door Quick Silver dared not hope but to his great amazement the cell door slowly creaked open and with it came the sounds of the asylum, heavy footsteps reverberating through the hallway outside of the cell.

Cautiously he moved into the hallway past a hollowed out undead who's dark sign, that ugly mark, was fully present on their flank, Quick Silver shook his head in pity. Hearing louder and louder steps Quick Silver turned to the right and jumped back, wings pressed against the wall as he spied through the bars of the hallway a massive corpulent monster pacing the chambers adjacent to the hallway. Noticing that the creature seemed to ignore him Quick Silver peeled himself from the wall and moved on past the hollowed undead and up the stairwell. He came to a small chamber, a cistern, and noticed that the Undead kneeling in the pool of water was staring at him.

"Easy now fella." The hollowed mare glanced at him for a brief time longer before it returned it's gaze to the pool it resided in, Quicksilver moving past the pool to a nearby ladder and quickly scampered up it opening up to a open courtyard.

Quick Silver found himself pulled to what appeared to be a blade embedded in a pile of ash in the center of the courtyard instinctively raising a hoof to cares the blade, gasping as the pile of cinders ignited. Quicksilver felt as if a part of him had become connected to the bonfire and he basked in the heat of the flames, feeling almost rejuvenated. Quick Silver gazed into the fire before forcing himself away from it and up the stairs of the cathedral before him. He pushed open its massive metal doors and entered the Asylum's Chapel.

Urns filled the spaces between the pillars of the chapel, but Quick Silver had eyes only for the doors at the other end. His hooves clipped clopped down the length of the floor before Quick Silver noticed a quickly descending shadow over him. He dodged to the let but was thrown from his hooves as the monster from before crashed to the floor where the stallion had stood just moments before. Quick Silver rose to his feet and faced the, what he assumed to be a demon, it's great corpulent bony form towering over the equine, it's massive club raised high in its green claws ready to smite down the undead that dared to leave its Asylum.

Quick Silver jumped to the side as the massive club slammed to the floor, quickly circling the demon as it's club missed it's mark twice more. Facing the demon's back Quick Silver scratched at it with his wing's claws, the blows bouncing off its bony hide. Wincing in pain Quick Silver missed the demon quickly turning and slamming the club into him sending the wounded pony through the air and through a open door.

He rolled down the stairs and bounced off the stone floor into the cistern's pool. Pain blossomed as he lay crumpled against the stone wall of the pool, the Stallion trembling as he slowly rose to his hooves. He stood leaning against the cistern wall as the torches lit the room, Quick Silver's eyes cracked open and as his eyes cleared gasped at what he saw. In the reflection of the water he saw a tall slim stallion, his grey coat matted with dirt and dried blood, his swept back mane twisted into knots of silver and cobalt. The Stallion wore a coat of browns and greens, his leathery wings mutilated and bare. His amber eyes stared at his reflection as blood dripped into the water.

"This. . .this is me." Quick Silver wept as he saw himself for the first time in decades. "It's been so long. I had forgotten. I forgot myself." Something in him reawakened as he stared at his image in the water, the Darksign shrinking on his flanking ever so slightly, and so he chuckled weakly, " I had forgotten just how handsome this mug was."

Quick Silver had found himself.

Intro: Undead Asylum Part 2

Chapter 2: Asylum pt.2

Quick Silver stared long into his reflection, time seemed to stand still, but eventually forced himself away out of the pool and sat at the rather convenient bonfire raising a hoof to caress the blade igniting the cinder pile. His injured head healed, and the dried blood disappearing.

‘It seems that this curse has some benefits after all’ Quick Silver mused before getting to his hooves and leaving the room.

“Gah!” he shouted as an arrow flew down the opened hallway into his left forelimb. Quickly he ducked into a nearby cell tripping over a leather shield lying in the entryway. He snapped off the shaft of the arrow and with the new-found shield in hand charged down the hallway towards the archer. The undead attacker fled down the next corridor dropping a familiar weapon that stopped Quick Silver in his tracks.

“Is that? . . . It is! I’d recognize you anywhere!” There before him lay the weapon he had long favored years ago before his incarceration in this prison, back when he offered his services to the lords of Saddle Arabia. This treasured scimitar’s blade swept upward along the shape of his wing and a special harness to attach and detach from the wing’s length at a moment’s notice. So caught up was Quick Silver in equipping his weapon’s harness that he was caught unawares by another arrow that slammed into his barrel.

“Sonuva. . .Come here!” Quick Silver launched himself at the mindless undead and slew it in but a brutal slash of his now weaponized wing. He kicked the corpse and jumped as a cloud of what looked to be fog whipped into him from the corpse. ‘What was that?’ Quick Silver mused as he returned to kicking the corpse,’ whatever it was I feel stronger now. Fascinating.’

With one last spiteful kick Quick Silver entered the stairwell and came to a doorway filled with what appeared to be thick fog, solid yet malleable, and when pressed upon his hoof sunk into. ‘Here goes nothing.’ A shuddered breath and Quick Silver stepped through the white veil and saw that he was not above the courtyard of the bonfire he had rested at previously. He considered hopping the railing before he shook his head and turned right down the walkway and left up the flight of stairs. Hearing a rumbling Quick Silver dodged to the side and down a flight of stairs as a heavy metal ball barreled past him. He lay crumpled at the bottom of the stairs, pained, but mostly unharmed. Spying the courtyard’s bonfire through the doorway at the bottom of the stairs he lay he turned right and opened the door limping over to sit down at the bonfire. Quick Silver sighed in contentment as his wounds washed away in the fire’s warmth.

He walked back to and up the stairs to see a hole in the wall where the boulder must have smashed through and saw the armored pony from before laying in a pile of rubble.

“Hey buddy,” Quick Silver moved to the knight, “you hanging on?”

The cough of a dying stallion answered his query. “Oh you…the one I freed. You’re no hollow. Help me out will you?” the coughs wracked his frame.

“…I owe you my freedom. I’ll hear you out at least.”

“Best I can ask for I suppose.” Quick Silver could feel the smirk behind that helm.” My family has a saying. ‘Thou who are undead, art chosen… in thine exodus from the Undead Asylum from the Undead Asylum, maketh the pilgrimage to the land of Ancient Lords… When thou ringeth the Bell of Awakening, the fate of the Undead thou shalt know.”

“A hell of a saying. Bit mouthy.” Quick Silver drily noted which the knight chuckled in agreement.

“It is that. I didn’t say it was a good saying now did I?” He began to cough again his wounds catching up quickly. “But it is. . .was my mission.” The Knight weakly clasped onto Quick Silver.

“I beg you. Take up my mission. Make pilgrimage to Canterlot…and ring the Bell of Awakening.”

Quick Silver clasped the knight’s hoof in turn,” …You have given my freedom. I shall take this pilgrimage. I owe you that much at least.”

The knight laughed and handed Quick Silver a stone flask filled with glowing yellow liquid. “You will need this. Drink the estus from this flask and your wounds shall heal.” He shook his head as Quick Silver moved to remove his helmet. “It is too late for me. Were I undead…No. It is too late.”

Quick Silver stopped his efforts at this,”…I can make it quick if you wish. You need not suffer.”

“No. My death will not be at your hand.” The crushed knight denied.

“May I know your name?” Quick Silver requested of the dying knight.

“Heh…back home I was known as Filthy. Filthy Rich of Astora.”

“…Quick Silver. I shall remember you Filthy.”

“Rich. Filthy Rich.” The Knight asserted strongly.

“…Filthy Rich.” Quick Silver nodded, tied the estus flask to his belt, and turned to leave only halting as Filthy Rich’s final words hit him,

“Thank you.”

Quick Silver turned back around and saw his savior’s last breath leave him. He sighed and left the chamber and up the stairs. An Undead mare attacked at the top of the stairs only to meet a preemptive strike. ‘You’ll need to do better than that.’ He mocked the hollowed undead before opening a door onto a pathway overlooking large mountains under a shadowed sky. Taking a moment Quick Silver imagined himself back up there in the sky soaring at speeds unknown to those born to the ground. His wings ached, the torn membrane reminding him of the freedom forever lost to him because of his employer and this prison.

Several guttural hisses broke his reverie as two hollowed undead slammed into him broken swords clenched in their muzzles slashing wildly at the stunned wanderer as an arrow broke against the wall beside him. Quick Silver smacked at the two hollows with his bare wing, knocking them away from him, and leapt back slashing at the flailing attackers, one falling from his retaliation as the other grabbed ahold of the thestral as two arrows pierced his coat nicking his rib cage. Growling in anger he twisted his hooves to turn the one holding him into the path of the incoming arrows. After it stilled he dropped the pincushion and charged down the balcony and heavily swung upwards at the archer deflecting its final flown arrow with a twist of his wing. The hollow fell to the ground, it’s bow split in twain.

Quick Silver pulled out the arrows stuck in his coat and took a swig of the flask Filthy Rich had given him. Instantly he felt his wounds knit together. “By the gods you would have been useful back when!” Now he stood in front of another fog door and strode through the fog finding that he now stood above the demon that attacked him before who now stared up at him. Quick Silver saw his chance for retribution and with a feral grin and laugh dove off the balcony impaling his beloved scimitar deep into the hulking demon. “Vendetta!” he snarled.

The demon threw off the enraged pony and swung at the falling stallion with its hefty club smashing into a nearby pillar. Quick Silver’s hooves dances as he got his groove back. “You think that you can keep me here?” The pride and fury dripped from his snarled tone “I have slain timber wolves far bigger than the likes of you! You are nothing!”

He charged at the demon dodging left to avoid the smash of the demon’s club and jumped off its corpulent belly upwards to rip his impaled sword out of the demon’s shoulder. He sliced at the demon as he leapt off the demon over it’s arm. Quick Silver dodged right to avoid a smash of its club and left to avoid another. The demon lost its balance and seeing his opportunity the thestral rolled past another swing to slash at the demon’s ankles causing it to fall to its knees leaving a target wide open. Taking this chance Quick Silver’s wings spread out and flashed forward and twice struck powerfully at the beast, scimitar clenched in his mouth, across the belly and throat, wings billowing out to scratch at its eyes. The Asylum’s corpus demon fell, hate lingering in its dead eyes, and exploded into a stream of fog that flew into Quick Silver.

“Nothing will keep me in this hell.” Quick Silver growled out in victory, scimitar drenched in demon blood and ichor. A feral smirk of satisfaction remained on his face as he moved towards the doors below the balcony he leapt down from, slowly pushing them open.

“No. Nononono!” Quick Silver tried to deny what he saw but he could not deny reality.” Who digs graves into a mountain top!?” Before him was a jutting cliff that looked as if it had once belonged to something greater but had been torn away leaving but the graveyard attached to the Asylum. Quick Silver raced up the broken cobbled path to its highest peak that overlooked an endless sea of snowy grey mountains. “I... I... Maybe I can glide down? I think I see a road down there. . .maybe. I refuse to stay here. I cannot!” Quick Silver peered over the edge of the cliff and heard a deafening shriek. He jumped back and looked up to see a massive raven swooping down talons outstretched towards him.

“Oh, come on!”

Welcome to Firelink Shrine

Chapter 3: Welcome to Firelink Shrine

“You know? I’m enjoying this a lot more than I expected. Thank you for this.” The wind swept through his mane for the first time in decades as he lay clutched in the raven’s claws. Chirps answered his thanks as they flew over great forests and desecrated townships at speeds greater than even he had gone in his heyday. ”So…Where exactly are we going?” Quick Silver asked his captor.

“Creee!” The crow shrieked in reply as it swooped up a mountain, it’s wings fluttered in the Jetstream. Quick Silver gasped as the full moon crested over the clouds above them.

“Could I ask a favor of you?”

“Chrp?” The Raven twitched its head to the side listening to it’s captive.

“…Could we go as high up as you can and do a flip in the glow of the full moon?” he hesitantly asked,” I used to do it before,” his wings twitched, “well before.”

“Chrp.” The Great Raven nodded and began to flap its wings harder, faster, until the pair of them were speeding upwards into the night sky until they pierced through the shrouding clouds, bathing the two winged beings in the light of the full moon. The pair basked in the pale glow for several calm minutes until the raven flipped over and dove back through the clouds towards a basin covered in ruins. Turning back upright Quick Silver saw their flight taking them past a towering fortress and over a misty forest. A few great flaps had them flipping into a loop as they passed an aqueduct and Quick Silver felt the raven’s talons release him left to glide downwards towards what appeared to be a ruined shrine of some sort.

‘Come on. Nice and easy. That’s it.’ He struggled to keep a steady downward descent, but managed to land in the center of the shrine ruins next to a roaring bonfire. Quick Silver sat before the bonfire and rested until a sardonic voice broke his rest.

“Well look what the flying chicken brought in. Another less useful chicken.” Speaking to him was a griffin clad in chainmail roosting upon the ruined remains of a wall. “Let me guess. You’re another chicken brought to the slaughter.”

Quick Silver got up and walked towards the armored griffin. “And you are?”

“The names Gilda. Knight of Griffonstone.”

“I am Quick Silver. Former Mercenary to the lords of Saddle Arabia and other significant parties.”

Gilda smirked at him.” Clearly not significant enough to not get locked away. Did you enjoy your time in the coop.?”

Quick Silver snarled “Listen here feed for brains. I am only on this pilgrimage to keep a debt. So, tell me what you know or shut it!”

Her talons glistened as she snarled back “It was a joke ‘Quick’ to anger. Back off!”

The two glared at one another until they both found themselves laughing at the other, both extending a forelimb. “Gilda.”

“Quick.”

“So. The Pilgrimage huh?” Gilda scratched her head,” Don’t know why you’d want to do that, but it’s no skin off my gizzard. What do you want to know?”

Quick Silver paused and thought back to what Filthy Rich ‘s family saying,” …Do you know where I might find the bell of awakening?”

Gilda laughed,” You don’t know anything do you? All right, here’s the deal. The Bell of Awakening is above the Undead Berg maybe a few minutes that way.” She pointed over the canyon to the top of the wall. “And the other bell is...”

“Other bell?”

She smirked, “Yeah the other bell is way below us. Not as easy to get to unfortunately, there are massive bugs that attack anyone who tries to fly down there. . . but then you should have no issues with that huh?

Quick Silver gritted his teeth and shook her claw once more. “My thanks for the help Gilda. I suppose I should head off.”

Gilda laughed at his politeness,” Ease up on the stiffness there champ. It’s not as if you’ll succeed anyway. ‘Sides before you leave you should go introduce yourself to the mute and the dweeb back there.”

Quick Silver blinked in confusion. “Who?”

Gilda pointed to a nearby stairwell “The mute is in a cell right down there. She keeps this fire going and is a great listener.” She tolled her eyes and pointed a talon over her shoulder in the opposite direction “The obnoxious dweeb is back there. I won’t blame you for not talking to him though. He isn’t worth the effort.”

Quick Silver chuckled lightly before he waved and walked down the stairs to meet this fire keeper. He rounded the corner and there just as Gilda had said in the cell kneeling in the dirt and clad in the dingy robes of a priestess was a mare. He knelt down to eye level and asked her “Mam? Are you alright?” The ash covered maiden shook her long grey mane and curled away from him, her bloodstained skirt pooling at her hind hooves. “Can I do anything to help you?” Though she shook her head once again Quick Silver saw her shiver. ‘I’ll try to bring back some blankets . . .and some books from the Burg.’ Quick Silver got up and headed back up the stairs to the sarcastic griffin.

“Have a nice chat?” Gilda snidely remarked.

“Not really. You try to get her out of there?”

“Not after the first time. The mute FREAKED. Only time I ever saw her anything but miserable.” She said slightly amused.

Quick Silver sighed and moved past her into the ruins of the shine and through what remained of a desiccated doorway into a plaza filled with urns and a silent stallion both muscular and fat in equal measure. The large stallion saw him approach and snorted in disgust.

“I do not believe we have had the pleasure of meeting. I am Biff of Thoroland.” The Heavily armored stallion sniffed in disdain as he took in Quick Silver’s slit pupils, “I would ask that you stay away from me, unless we have some business to discuss?”

‘No. I am not dealing with this right now.’ Quick Silver turned away and left without saying a word to the large stallion. Gilda saw the tense frown on his face and laughed as he sat back at the bonfire.

She snickered at him, “You see what I mean by not worth the effort?”

“. . . Never has ANYPONY made me want to stab them in so little time.”

She smirked, “Not even little ol’ me? So… you heading out on that fool quest now?”

Quick Silver sighed. “I suppose. Which way was it?”

Gilda pointed past the canyon at the high wall,” Just fly on up there.” She noticed Quick’s glower, “Or I suppose you’ll just have to hoof it through that aqueduct.” She pointed past him to the aqueduct in the distance.

Quick Silver got to his hooves and nodded his thanks to Gilda before he walked past a well and a tree on the corner of he stairs leading up to the Aqueduct. “Suppose ‘tis time to start this pilgrimage.” Quick Silver sighed and took his first step on the path to the Undead Burg.

Entrance to the Undead Burg

Quick Silver’s gaze followed the breadth of the wall past the crevasse, it’s enormity filling him with unease with each step up the cliff stairwell and stopped when he crested the top of the staircase. ‘Hm. This could prove irritating.’ There in front of him Quick Silver saw four undead warriors, clad in their piecemeal armor. They stood on the cliff’s path with their weapons at the ready and so Quick Silver unsheathed his beloved scimitar and walked along the edge of the cliff attempting to draw one of the warriors away from their positions.

“Hssck!” Two of the Undead Hollowed warriors took his bait, the closer aggressor leaping at Quick Silver with its chipped sword clenched tightly in it’s mouth. Quick Silver stepped backwards avoiding the blow and as the undead warrior regained it’s step he swung his bladed wing across it’s barrel in two quick strikes, their thin frame and rotted armor protecting it not. The other warrior dropped down the next stairwell and charged at Quick Silver, who waited until the last moment before stepping aside to watch the attacker charge off the cliff to its death.

“Easy enough,” Quick Silver smirked, “now then. To take care of you.” He spied a more heavily armored undead stationed below another undead positioned near a large box on the ledge. Quick Silver ignored the higher elevated hollow and prowled forward, his blade raised in wariness, and advanced on the more heavily armored hollow.

“Arrgh!” He screamed in shock as a heavy object hit and burst on his back exploding in a wave of flames. Quick Silver leaped away and landed back at the cliff’s edge, his coat and wings singed but unharmed, “Who bucking dares?!” His furious glare sought the source of the explosion and spied the previously thought unarmed warrior on the higher elevated position tossing small black balls that fell just short of Quick Silver. Quick Silver reached back and took a small sip from his estus flask and watched as the undead continued to futilely throw the explosive balls at him.

Several minutes of non-stop throwing later Quick Silver began to ponder. ‘How many of these... fire . . .bomb. . .things does it have?’, he watched the husk for a opening and moved towards the stairway on the left and observed for a lull in the barrage. ‘There!’ Quick Silver gritted his teeth and charged through the flames of a hastily thrown bomb and cut down the bomb thrower as it reached down into her box for another bomb. An Axe chopped at him from the side, it’s blunt head tangling in his fluttering coat, and Quick Silver turned and decked the attacker with his front hoof before he sliced at the now unarmed attacker. Heavy hoofsteps pounded on the stonework above him so Quick Silver turned bucked the incoming warrior into the stairs before dodging to the side as it bounced off and fell to the cliff below. Quick Silver eyed the box of volatile explosives next to him and kicked it off the cliff towards the fallen hollow and saw as they crushed the undead before breaking and falling off the into the crevasse below.

“Well. . .I hope to never see those bombs again.” Quick Silver sighed and headed back down the stairs. “Now then. Where were we?” He took a swig of his estus once more and took note of the emblem on the heavily armored hollow’s shield.

“That. . .That is the symbol of King Sombra.” He was shocked to realize just how bad things had gotten since his incarceration.

Quick Silver cautiously stepped forward, the hollowed soldier breaking position to attack him. The Soldier jabbed forward with its blade, but Quick Silver shifted half a step right and grabbed the hollow’s blade arm, bringing his sword’s pommel down to smack the hollowed soldier’s skull denting its helmet. The blow knocked the hollow’s head back stunned long enough for Quick Silver to pull it forward to the ground before grabbing his scimitar from his wing, clenched the blade in his mouth, and impaled the hollowed pony through it’s unarmored midsection.
‘How did King Sombra’s realm and people devolve like this?’ Quick Silver sighed in dismay and wiped his hooves of grime on the grassy cliff. ‘I doubt that the journey will have hopeful answer.’

“Now then. With that out of the way.” Quick Silver moved up the three flights of stairs to the entrance of the Aqueduct. “Time to get my hooves wet.” With a shudder he stepped inside the mossy enclosure, the running water cleaning his hooves and overgrown fetlocks, his ears perking upward as snarls echoed off the wet stone walls. He turned his head left towards the snarls and froze in disgust. ‘. . .A giant rat. . .a giant bucking rat.’ He craned his neck to see over the rat and spied that it was feasting on not an undead, but a young mare’s corpse. Quick Silver took his sword, growled, and leaped at the vermin.

“Rrraggh!” The scream of bitter anger bounced off the walls just as his impact caused the rat to bounce off the floor. “Hah. . .hah. . .” Quick Silver panted as he tried to reign in his anger. “If I ever see another of these. . . damnedable vermin again it will be far too soon!” He looked up and stared at the half-eaten corpse and carefully shut her eyes, and winced as memories came to him unbidden before he about faced and marched away shaking off his revulsion. Quick Silver shortly came to a dimly lit passage out of the water and up a stairwell. He saw the sun’s rays shining down the stairwell and followed them out to the open sky. Quick Silver knew he had arrived at the Undead Burg. He quickly had this confirmed when a undead soldier leapt at him and rakes his side with it’s weapon. Quick Silver gasped and fell onto his side as he slid half way down the stairs. He rolled to his back and in a panic brought his scimitar to bare just as the soldier landed on him, blade piercing it’s chest, his eyes wide as he squirmed around it’s death throes. As it stilled Quick Silver slowly turned and pushed the corpse off him and leaned against the wall as he held a hoof to his sliced hide. This kind of wound was familiar to him though it had been a great many years since he had been caught so unawares so badly. “Hssh.” Quick Silver hissed as he placed pressure on his bleeding wound, his other hoof reaching towards the stone estus flask, before he swallowed a large mouthful of the glowing liquid. His wound all but disappearing leaving but a long thing scratch along his side. “…Clearly. . .I should be paying more attention.”

Quick Silver leaned over and pulled his sword from his assailant’s chest and clutched it in his mouth before slowly moving up the stairs. There at the top he spied another warrior staring at him from across the way and with head and blade low to the ground, stepped forward to goad the mindless beast. After a few steps the undead leapt at Quick Silver who swerved right only to have the Undead’s axe bounce off his back. In return he twisted his neck and slashed into the hollow’s barrel, his strenuous blow nearly bisecting the emaciated warrior. Quick Silver glared at the warrior, “That! That was griffin dung!” He began stomping on the hollow’s chest and began to vent his anger. Venting as he was Quick Silver was unable to hear when another hollow warrior, drawn in by the fighting, ran up behind and attacked. The Hollow’s blade running through Quick Silver’s back and leaving him pinned to the stone walkway. “Not…like…this.” He gasped as the light went from his eyes.

Welcome Back

Chapter 5: Undead Resurrection

All the world was fire until with a blossom of flame returned to smoldering bonfire. There unconscious at it’s base was a lone pony. His coat turned mangy and his flank left exposed as his dark sign pulsed angrily before settling back on his haunches. Quick Silver slowly blinked his way back into consciousness” . . .What. . .where. . .no.” His bare ears perked upwards as snide laughter filled the dead air of the shrine.

“Look who got beaten with the ugly stick. You act as if you’ve never turned hollow before.” Gilda seemed to take eager joy at his confusion.

“Hollowed?”

Gilda pulled a compact mirror from one of her saddlebags and threw it at him.” Open up and see for yourself.” She smirked and watched his face as he fumbled and caught the mirror.

Quick Silver quirked a brow at her cheerfulness and opened the compact mirror only to nearly drop it a moment later. Staring at him from the mirror’s surface was a pony akin to those he had been fighting this past night, it’s cracked leathery skin almost scaled in how it cracked, his coloration had turned a sickened and greyed blue. His once glorious mane had withered to nothingness, and his reflection’s once beautiful and piercing eyes naught but twin hollow pits of shadow met in shock and horror. “. . No. .no. . no no no no no.! There must be a way to fix this.” He trotted over to the griffon and grabbed her in his panicked state “Gilda! What has happened to me? How did I come back? And in . . .this hideousstate?”

“Calm down Quick. It’s a rather easy fix.” Gilda pointed behind Quick Silver. “See that corpse over there? Yeah that one. The dweeb bent halfway down that well.”

Quick Silver turned around and saw what she was referring to. “. . .I see it but how does it help me?” He flared his wings in irritation.

Gilda rolled her eyes. “Just listen alright? See that corpse? Go check it’s saddlebags.” She smirked as he did as told.

Quick Silver grumbled as he moved to the corpse, his hooves driving furrows into the dead earth. The corpse lay over the mouth of the well, it’s legs barely keeping it from falling in. He leaned over the well and bent over the corpse, wrapping his forehooves around the corpse’s barrel and heaved it out of the well. “Now then. Gilda? What am I looking for here?”

“You’ll know it when you see them!” She yelled back at him.

Quick Silver reached into the corpse’s saddlebags and quickly removed it when something crawled onto his hoof. “What. . .is this it Gilda?” He raised his hoof into the air holding a squirming black mass of something.

“Yep. Now bring it here!” The Griffon crooked her talon at him, motioning to come back over.

Quick Silver stepped over the heaved corpse and trotted over to Gilda. “So . . . what is this thing Gilda?” he asked plaintively of the Griffon Knight.

Taking the black mass from him Gilda smirked. “This newbie is what is going to bring your pretty little face back. It’s called Equinity, don’t know why ask the loud mouth if you want to know more about it, and it is quite easy to use. Give me your hoof.”

Quick Silver smirked, “Why Gilda. Moving a bit fast are we not?”

“Ha! As if Quick. Especially while you look like that.” She grabbed his outstretched hoof and placed the squirming mass on top. “Now I tend to crush it in my talons but obviously that won’t work for you. So you need to crush it somehow . . . I don’t know? Crush it against your chest? Or stomp on it?”

With quivering mass in hoof and quivering breathe in chest Quick Silver glanced between it and Gilda before with a grimace he grasped it firmly and slammed the black mass into his chest. “Guuuh!” Instantly the dry air of the ruins became crisp with each breath he took. Quick scrambled over to where he dropped the mirror and quickly snapped it open and sighed in relief. “. . .There’s that face. Glad to have you back.” He gazed deeply into the mirror making sure that everything was back in place, his eyes checking out the finer details.

Gilda smirked at his abject relief, “If your done admiring yourself you can come back ever here. You owe me now and I know exactly how you’re going to pay me back.”

Quick Silver admired himself in the compact mirror for a few moments more before he shut it and trotted over to the smug knight. “You have taught me something quite useful. What can I do to repay this debt?”

“Two things really, quite frankly I doubt you’ll be able to do either of them but it can’t hurt to ask.” Gilda snidely drawled out. “First off, I need you to keep an eye out for a golden crown, shaped like my talon’s entwined. Rumor has it that it, and Griffonstone’s last king. . .that great dimwit, were last seen in that ruined city below us.”

“Why do you…”

“Shush. Let me finish. I also need you to help me take down dragon in the sewers of the Berg. Doubt you’ll be of much help outside of bait but I will take what I can get.”

Quick Silver huffed in indignation and he pressed a hoof against his temple, “Back up a bit. You said below? I thought the only ruins around besides . . .well here,” he flared his wings out in emphasis, “were up there in the Undead Settlement.”

Gilda sighed, “Right. I forgot that you’re new here. Underneath this shrine lies the ruins of a huge destroyed city that used to be called Tartarus. If you want the history of the place talk to the loud mouth, I really don’t care. You can reach the ruins by the elevator right past the mute.”

Quick Silver quirked a brow, “This is the third time you’ve mentioned this ‘loud mouth’. Who are they and where are they?”

The taloned knights scoffed in derision, “She’s just some loud-mouthed unicorn staying down in the ruins. Just the way she talks pisses me off. If you’re lucky she’ll be hollowed by the time you get down there and you won’t have to listen to her yap.”

Quick Silver sighed, “I’ll head down there soon then I guess. Now then…” He gave her a disbelieving glare, “you mentioned something about a dragon? A immune to all but bolts of dark magic, Pillars of fire, and great bolts of bucking lighting dragon?” He stared at her in irritated disbelief as she laughed at him.

Wiping a tear from her eye Gilda said, “Hahehe. Easy Quick Easy. It’s not what you think. This dragon is NOT like the ancient ones. It’s all weird and toothy and should be easily slayable with the two of us.” She grinned toothily at him, “Besides as you said. You owe me.”

Quick Silver gritted his teeth before he nodded in affirmation. “Fine. My dept will be payed then. You said that there was a way into this city?”

Gilda turned and indicated past the bonfire with a toss of her head feathers,” Down there and past the mute. It’s really not that hard to find. Really.”

Quick Silver turned with a flick of his mane and walked past the bonfire and down the crumbling curved stairs. He paused briefly and stared at the silent mare imprisoned beneath the shrine before walking past her with a shrug to find a stairwell leading deeper into the shrine. He trotted along the open hallway and took note of something. ‘This must have been a tower or something.’ “Woah. Look at this!” Quick Silver gazed off into the distance. “This area must have been walled off from the rest of the city. It looks like they walled off and isolated several areas for some reason.”

He leaned over the ledge, wings braced against two pillars,” . . .is that lake where I’m going?” He pulled back and continued into a closed off part of the stairwell and found an iron gate pushed open into a circular chamber. “Huh. Hope this thing still works.” Quick Silver said as he inspected the rusty chains. Sighing he said, “Here goes nothing.”

Quick Silver stepped onto the elevator in the center of the chamber with not a little trepidation and gulped as it began it’s slow descent into the depths.

“I hate these things.” Quick Silver murmured as the rusty mechanisms of the elevator lowered him slowly into the depths of the shrine. He sat and watched the moss on the wall be torn away by the downward weight of the stone elevator. “Must have been a while since Gilda came down this way.” With a sigh Quick Silver settled down and shut his eyes to rest.

“This is the Life.” He flew through the air as he returned to the camp of his current employer. Landing by the command tent he heard a holler and saw Framandar Rashid grinning at him.

“Our wayward scout has returned it seems. Tell me my friend, what have you found for us?

Quick Silver saluted his robed and heavily armored superior, “Well not too much I’m afraid. Just the enemy encampment about four leagues south of here. Looks like they’ve dug themselves into some badly damaged temple.” He grinned smugly. “But I’m sure that means nothing to you.”

The Saddle Arabian clasped him tightly across his shoulder, “You have done well my friend. Tonight, we celebrate! You have done a great service to us and Lord Wolnir will reward you greatly. Tonight, we feast, and tomorrow we shall assault these rebels once and for all. Will you be joining us?”

Quick Silver briefly considered his options before laughing off the question. “As if I would miss it my friend. Besides your Lord Wolnir pays quite handsomely, in both fortune and reputation.”

Elated at the reply Framandar Rashid pulled a horn out of his saddle bags and brought the camp to a halt with a resounding blast. “Soldiers of Carthus! Tonight we have received the information we need to put down this rebellion once and for all!.” Muttered cheers broke out among the soldiers.

“These Priests of Shadow have refused to bow their heads to the lords of Saddle Arabia and have refused to heal our sick and wounded brethren for far too long. No longer shall they hide behind their walls and hoard their healing artifacts for themselves!” The murmurs grew louder and angrier as Rashid stoked the flames of their ire.

“No longer shall they refuse to serve their destined lords. For in the morning we shall march on their temple and, should they refuse their last chance at mercy, we will bathe their precious temple in blood!”

The Soldiers cheered with bloodlust in their eyes, hooves stamping the ground in their excitement.

“For tonight however, we shall celebrate! My friends, my soldiers, tonight I want you all to be as well fed and rested as possible. Tonight, we feast!” Their Farmandar basked in their cheers.

“Before I release you, I have your shifts prepared. Now then; Ibrik, Khouril, Kurek!” He called out. “You three shall be taking first watch, I want our perimeter locked down. Shaheed, Omar, Nasir! You three will be taking second watch. Jibril, Bara, and Samad will be taking final watch before the morning shift!” Rashid barked out his orders as his Cataphracts saluted and let his face fall into an easy smirk.

“The rest of you head on over to the mess hall. We have a feast to eat and wine to drink!” He sidestepped and watched his soldiers charged in unison to the erected Mess tent.

“Quite the speech Rashid. Has our great Framandar been practicing?” Quick Silver slyly asked his friend and employer.

Rashid laughed.” Not this one my friend. That came right from the heart. This conflict will finally be over after so many years.”

Rashid draped his arm across the shorter stallion’s neck and began to drag him towards his tent. “Not then my friend, tonight I want you to drink with me in my tent. . .and allow me to win back some of my gold.”

Quick Silver smirked at him. “ . . .Heh. Why not? Just don’t expect me to go easy on you because you’re getting me drunk.”

Arriving at his tent Rashid shoved Quick Silver inside, “I would never! Not with my pride at stake, my friend.”

*KLUNK*

Quick Silver, startled from his sleep, jumped to his right and slammed his head into the stone wall. “Guuuugh. What? Where?” He shook his head to clear the mental fog. ”. . .Oh. Right. Elevator.” Taking a look around Quick Silver saw statues engraved into the recesses of the elevator’s chamber depicting four crowned ponies.

Quick Silver took in a deep breath, smelling and tasting the air, “. . .Water? Gilda did say that this place flooded right?” Getting up on his hooves Quick Silver trotted out of the elevator chamber and down the crumbling stairwell, pebbles cascading down and announcing his passage, and stopped in his tracks at the sight before him.

“Oh. . .that’s what she meant.” He was lost for words seeing the vast cavern before him, the ruined metropolis’s ruined buildings barely peeking above the flood waters, stretching farther then his eyes could see. A thick mist hung in the air dampening the already moist feeling air and atmosphere. He sat there and took in his surroundings, absently kicking a stone into the water below.

“You there!” A voice rang out from his left.

He turned his head towards a voice and rubbed his eyes to make sure he was not still dreaming at what he saw. There in the desiccated ruins of this once great city sat a purple roofed wagon encapsulated by a large magical dome barrier. In front of the wagon was a mare ,wearing a large wide-brimmed magicians’ hat, with a cerulean coat sitting at a glowing blue anvil and a tea set resting atop.

Glaring at him the, in his opinion gorgeous, mare brandished a glowing hammer and narrowed her glowing red eyes before raising her voice towards him once more. “You dare disturb the Great and Powerful Trixie?!”

Author's Note

I want to apologize for this chapter being so late. Outside of getting sick, being without insurance sucks by the by, I just found myself beating against a wall with this chapter until I realized something. I was being a damned fool with how I was trying to right this story. It should not be a transcript of the game made Pony but it should be a melding of the worlds and adventures allowing it to take its own form.

With this in mind I should be able to put out chapters quicker then I have but I make no promises. I have a oneshot, unrelated to this story, in mind for the rest of NaNoWriMo and I still need to update my other story and finish up the introduction chapter of another story I have on the back burner.

So with all that said please let me know what you think in the comments below. Criticism and questions are ALWAYS welcome.

Magicians and Exposition

Magicians and Exposition

A blast of crimson sorcery blasted the rubble at Quick Silver’s hooves. “Easy! Easy! The name’s Quick Silver! I was hoping that you could help me in a job of mine.” Quick Silver said as he took cover behind a nearby ruined pillar.

The Magical assault ended as quickly as it began and the mare’s voice called out to him, “Perhaps Trixie was a bit too hasty. Come over here.”

Quick Silver carefully peeked around the corner and, seeing no more attacks in coming, stepped over to the purple roofed wagon to see the cerulean coated mare sitting back down at the blue glowing anvil with a noticeable smirk on her face.

“So. . .what kind of help do you need from the Great and Powerful Trixie?” she asked after a sip of her tea.

Quick Silver sat down facing her across the surface of her glowing anvil, ready to leap away at any threat from the mare, and answered with an easy smile. “Information mostly. I was told by a mutual friend of ours that you know a great deal about the Undead Curse and the history of this land.”

Trixie’s eyes narrowed as she let her cup clatter against it’s plate. “A ‘mutual’ friend hm? Does this ‘friend’ of ours have a name?” A red have leaked from her eyes.

Quick Silver hesitated at the sight of the angry haze leaking off of the unicorn but with a cough and a shaky grin he replied, “Gilda, A Knight of Griffonstone it seems. She suggested introducing myself to you.”

The Red haze dissipated as quickly as it appeared as the boastful mare leaned back in a burst of laughter. “So that featherbrain actually still lives? Trixie thought she would have gotten herself killed by now.”

Quick Silver swiped a sip of her tea and replied to her glare with a roguish grin. ““So you know her then? I’m afraid that our friend up there neglected to tell me much about what was down here.” He briefly looked at the vast cavern around them. “Just that a beautiful magician of great knowledge and power awaited in the ruins below, though it seems that she downplayed your beauty.” He said with a cocky wink

Trixie raised an eyebrow in amusement before she smirked in reply and cuffed the roguish thestral upside the head with a quick but painless blast from her horn. “Trixie appreciates the praise, but she knows when she is being buttered up. A bit thick don’t you think you flirt.”

Quick Silver chuckled with an almost overwhelming amount of smugness, “Perhaps I did, but did I speak falsely at all?” He raised an eyebrow back at Trixie.

Their amused eyes held a gaze for a moment. “Trixie supposes not.” Said Trixie, silently basking in the unexpected praise. “All right you have Trixie’s attention for now. What can I help you with?”

Quick Silver sighed, laid his head on a hoof, and replied “Knowledge of the land. I was in that damnedable asylum for who knows how many years and so I appear to have missed the downfall of civilization. What in the lonely moon happened out here?”

Trixie whistled, “Trixie may love the sound of her own voice but even I don’t want to talk that much. I will just cover the basics. . . For now at least.” The mare got up from her seat and strutted away before turning towards him with a flourish “Now behold as the Intelligent and knowledgeable Trixie wows you with her tales!” From beneath her cape came a cloud that hung in the air between them and slowly began to take shape. Trixie’s voice, amplified as it was, seemed to hang in the air. “Long ago in the distant past there was an age of stagnation where nothing changed, no wonders were created, and everything was grey. This was the age of the Eternal Dragons.”

Quick Silver raised a hoof and spoke interrupting her “ Trixie I know this. Everypony does.”

Trixie shushed him with another smack upside the head with her magic aura, “SHUSH. The context matters!”

Quick Silver quirked a brow at her theatrics but leaned back and watched as the cloud separated into four distinct shapes. That of a Unicorn King flanked in shadows. An Alicorn wreathed in flames, a Smaller Alicorn surrounded by ponies, and a fourth shrouded and featureless.

“But one day something happened to break that stagnation and world of grey. A great flame erupted from the depths of the land and with it’s birth came the stirrings of life. And death. Heat and Cold.The Great and the Powerful.. .and the Light and the Dark. “ The Magician echoed and reverberated throughout the caverned ruined city. “

Quick Silver watched as three of the figures seemed to grow larger.

“From the dark arose four great beings of power who each claimed the fire for themselves. The first was the Umbrum King Sombra who reigned over them all and shrouded us all in his darkness. Then came the first of the Alicorns, Princess Celestia, who created the sun above. The third was the Princess of Friendship who shared her strength with her friends, and finally there was the Princess Luna, whose deeds are forgotten.”

Trixie saw Quick Silver’s brow furrow in anger at the mention of Princess Luna but when the stallion didn’t speak up continued with the tale. “Together the Royals planned to claim the world from the Eternal Dragons when late one evening *he* came, Discord the Mad Draconequus.”

Trixie waved a hoof at her spell and it coalesced and formed a creature sharing the features of many others. “Discord the Draconequus. The Eternal dragon that was changed irreversibly by the birth of fire. He betrayed his kin for boredom’s sake and was promised a barony of his own to rule by the Great King.”

Quick Silver watched as she summoned up another cloud that formed into several dragons that hung above the now five figures and began that began to collide in battle.

“Soon the Royals raised their armies and warred upon the Eternal Dragons to claim the age for their own. The Umbrum King’s dark magic smote the immortal dragons his great crystals piercing their hides and turning dragon against dragon, The First of the Alicorns weaved great storms of fire that sheltered the defenseless just as they turned their enemies to ash. The Princess of Friendship and her disciples spread harmony throughout their ranks leaving the Dragons defenseless to the other’s onslaught and pacifying others into service, and the Mad Draconequus created Chaos in their ranks. Soon the Age of Stagnation came to an end and so began the Age of Fire and Shadows.”

At the detailing of each action the respective Royal cloud destroyed another dragon before dissolving into nothingness.

“And that is enough of the *really* ancient stuff*.” Trixie grinned at the amused mercenary, “Years after the Undead Curse began to spread the Princess of Friendship established a Asylum to protect the accursed and study it’s effects. However, when the primordial flame began to die her majesty left the Asylum in the care of the King while she sought to prolong it. She and her friends came together to try and fuel the fire. . .only to disappear. From her realm came the demons. King Sombra and his knights slew the Demon King and searched for the lost Princess. The enraged King blamed Princess Celestia for the disappearance of the Princess of Friendship and drove her deep underground.”

Quick Silver wryly chuckled, “That would explain why the sun is so dim.”

“Quite.” Trixie smirked.” This conflict was the beginning of the end for Canterlot. Bereaved and trusting nopony the King gathered what remained of the flame and hid it below his city. He took half of his knights with him when he sealed himself and the flame away and they were never seen again. Soon after the Undead Curse consumed the land and Canterlot fell to ruin. Only the Barony and the now named Crystal Empire exist today.”

With great delight, Quick Silver applauded the show. “Quite a performance.”

Trixie smirked and proudly bowed her head at the praise, “Oh you have no seen Trixie perform. Still it is nice to be appreciated.”

“But I still have questions. What *happened* to Princess Celestia? What is the Undead Curse? And what is Equinity?”

“No creature knows” Trixie said shaking the wisps of smoke from her cape ” A curse of immortality that affected everycreature but the Royals, and Trixie believes that Equinity is the dregs of a creature’s essence. For some reason they allow hollowed creatures to return to their true forms and minds. . .those who are not too far gone at the least.” Trixie quickly rattled off the answers to the now annoyed stallion. “Now then I believe that Trixie is owed some payment for her knowledge?”

Quick Silver sighed and dug through his saddlebag for his few remaining gold bits only to be stopped by the Cerulean mare.

“Trixie doesn’t want your bits. What Trixie wants is your hooves. In exchange for Trixie’s information I need you to find a couple of books for me.”

Quick Silver blinked, “. . .Allow me to continue to ply you for information when I need, and I have no problems with that. You have a deal Trixie.” He gave a toothy smirk, “So where am I going and what books am I looking for?”

Under the shadow of her hat Trixie’s grin seemed to glow, “The Great and Curious Trixie needs you to visit the Baron Discord’s library.” Trixie let out a cute laugh at the Thestral’s twitching eye and smirked, “And you are to retrieve and bring to me *Sombra’s Treatise on Curses* and *The Applications of Alteration Magic*. With the latter Trixie might even be willing to unclip your wings.”

Quick Silver’s blade whistled out of his sheath as he brought it’s tip to the magician’s throat with a snarl, the blade’s tip and his wing’s claws grinding against her summoned barrier. “ . . .Do not promise what you cannot pay!”

Trixie’s eyes glowed red and she levitated the angered Thestral into the air above her, “Trixie is doing no such thing. So long as you do Trixie’s bidding and retrieve her books, she will keep her word.”

Quick Silver struggled in her hold for a moment longer, flapping his wings in frustration, he sighed and sheathed his blade, a easy smile falling onto his muzzle, “Well alright then. How do I get there?”

Trixie dropped him from her hold and shrugged, “Ask the featherbrain. She knows how to get there.”

Quick Silver caught himself from the fall and gave a cheeky smirk, “Couldn’t let me down easy huh beautiful?”

The beautiful magician smirked at his flirtatious quip, “Maybe next time,Trixie will consider catching herself a rogue. Now off with you.”

“Not going to head up yourself? I’m sure that our mutual friend will be glad to see you again.”

“Trixie will consider it. Just remember to send the elevator back down for Trixie. She has something to take care of first before she decides.”

With that the unicorn turned her back on the thestral and entered her wagon leaving him alone in the vast underground cavern. With a sigh and a wry chuckle he turned and headed back to the elevator platform. His hooves trotted up the crumbling steps of the circular stairwell when one of his wing’s talons snagged on something on the way up the.

Quick Silver stopped and looked at what he got snagged on and smiled. “Well know. . .what is a beautiful thing like you doing jammed in a random wall?” He examined the hilt protruding from the wall and noted that beneath it’s rust the metal still held firm. He grasped the weapon in his hooves but was unable to make it budge. With a grimace he bit down on the hilt, the rusted iron bitter on his tongue, and began to pull the hilt side to side finally wedging it lose. With a grin he dropped the hilt from his mouth and began to pull the blade out from the wall at an angle, it’s rusted blade sliding out inch by inch.

“. . .Huh. It’s one of those Ponish Estocs. It’s master should be ashamed at it’s condition.” His gaze ran up and down the blade pondering what to do with it.” . . .It’s not my style but I’ll take care of you for a bit. . At least until I can fix you up and get you a new master.”

With the matter settled the thestral clutched the ponish blade to his side and climbed his way up the rest of the stairwell and stepped onto the elevator platform. With a great sigh he laid down, head resting on his hooves, and as the elevator began it’s slow ascent he shut his eyes as he entered the darkness above.