Ch. 01; Quest For The Temple
A vast sea of rolling dunes shimmered in the heat of the late afternoon. The desert stretched on, seemingly without end, unbroken but for six riding lizards and their riders, mares all, two unicorns, two pegasi and a pair of earth ponies, all swathed in hooded cloaks and light robes, that were slowly crossing the burning sands, “Why are we doing this again?” one of the pegasi grumbled in a raspy voice as she brushed a lock of her multicolored mane back under her hood.
“Really, Rainbow?” one of the mare’s companions chided, pulling a veil down to reveal a regal, white-haired unicorn as she frowned at her friend, “Applejack and Twilight already explained all of this, didn’t you pay any attention at all, darling?”
“Sure I did,” Rainbow Dash protested, “… sorta. It’s just I don’t get all of it, is all, Rares, I mean if this Orange Swirl stallion’s sword was so important, why didn’t Celestia take it when he died, why send an angel to hide it away? And now that somepony has found it, why send Applejack to get it? Why not send one of the knights of Sol Invictus? Tartarus, why doesn’t one of the Princesses just go get it themselves?”
“The Princesses can’t 'just go get it themselves’,” the second, smaller, unicorn sighed, as she reached up a purple hand to rub the bridge of her muzzle while holding up a finger, “Firstly, while I think even Celestia might like to get away for a while to go on a little adventure, and Luna and Cadance definitely would, they just can’t, they have too many duties. Secondly,” she held up a another finger, “These lands are disputed territory between Equestria and Saddle Arabia, if one of the Princess came here, it could be seen as provocation by the Sultan, and would likely invite one of the other divines to also come here to investigate her presence, and not all of the other divines are on good terms with the Princesses – especially here in Hippeia. So, we’re handling this ourselves.”
“Besides, that’d be too easy, Dashie!” laughed a pink-coated earth pony, her muzzle shining with cheer through the stains of travel and her mane a poofy mass, despite the weight of her hood and accumulated sand, “While it would be great for AJ to say ‘this is tha sword of Orange Sherbet, give unto me by tha hands of Princess Celestia herself’, it’s even better to tell how we recovered the sword from evil cultists and had to fight creepy undead and how we reluctantly resisted the advances of pleasantly plastered fey who wanted us to join them in a nonstop party for a hundred years and have our foals! So, of course, we go with the one that makes a better story!”
The other five ponies all stopped to stare at her, with Twilight being so flummoxed she didn’t even correct her friend on the stallion’s name, “Um, Pinkie?” the second pegasus finally asked, “We’re all mares, how could they have our foals?”
“Because they’re the fey, silly filly,” Pinkie Pie shook her head at Fluttershy’s naivete as she patted the mare on the head, “They’re like mini-Discords.”
“That’s tha part ya ask about?” the last mare, a strongly-built earth pony, grumbled good-naturedly as she raised an eyebrow at the now furiously blushing pegasus, “And Ah don’t sound like that,” she retorted at Pinkie, drawing amused eyerolls from all of the others, “As for why we’re doin’ this quest, it’s because that weird sage pony came ta tha Apples, not ‘em fancy soldier ponies.”
“Applejack!” Rarity and Fluttershy reproached the farmer, causing her to blush slightly.
“Sorry, fillies,” Applejack apologized, “Ah know tha Order does a lot of good, it’s jus’ … tha Apples have been members of tha Fellowship of Harmony for as long as anypony can remember, an’ both tha Order of Sol Invictus an’ tha High Astral Temple have always treated us like poor cousins, backwards bumpkins that were only ‘playin’’ at doing tha Princesses’ work an’ gettin’ in tha way of tha real religious orders. But if’n we can brin' back Orange Swirl’s sword, then maybe they’ll start showin’ tha Fellowship a mite of respect.”
“Well, that angel filly did a good job hiding this ‘Temple of the Justicars’,” Rainbow said as she idly rode out ahead of her friends, “The last town was two days back, and we haven’t seen a soul since.”
“Eeeyep,” AJ nodded, “Plenty of grit, dust an’ heat, but not a soul ta speak of. An’ ma thanks ta you an’ Zecora for that potion of yers,” the blonde mare smiled at Fluttershy, “It tastes right foul, but Rainbow an’ me would be cooked in our armor without it,” she added, rapping her knuckles on the cuirass she wore under her robes.
Fluttershy giggled, “Actually, Zecora originally used that potion to help her deal with Ponyville’s winters, I guess snow is something of a shock when you’re used to jungles and veldt. I’m just glad it works for the heat as well.”
The sun was dipping behind the horizon when the little band made camp, raising light tents, and starting a fire to cook dinner, as each pony went about her accustomed chores with the speed of long practice.
“Is everythin’ a’right there, Pinks?” Applejack asked with a worried frown as the party pony wandered distractedly through the camp, “Ya look like yer a hundred miles away, somethin’ on yer mind?”
“I don’t know AJ,” Pinkie replied, her muzzle wrinkled in confusion, “My Pinkie Sense is warning me that a dozy is coming, but it’s so faint, I can barely feel it ….”
The other five mares exchanged concerned looks, “We’ll keep a triple watch tonight,” Twilight declared, taking a firmer grip on her staff, “And we’ll get an early start in the morning,” she added, ignoring Rainbow Dash’s groan at the prospect of lost sleep, “Maybe we can avoid whatever this dozy is.”
Grogar’s hour was waning as Applejack, Fluttershy and Rarity stood guard, the silence of the nighttime desert disturbed only by the crackling of the fire, the occasional shuffle of the riding lizards, and Pinkie Pie’s snoring.
The peace of the night was broken by howls as Pinkie suddenly bolted from her tent with a shout of “It’s here!”, while four lanky, wolfish hounds with fiery eyes and flame-wreathed teeth appeared out of the air, flanking Rarity and Fluttershy!
“Well lookie here, Gloomy Grace,” a cold voice laughed from above, “We go out for a ride, and prey is just waiting for us.” Applejack drug her eyes away from her embattled friends, only to settle on a pair of mares, an earthy pony and a unicorn, mounted on inky black riding lizards whose maws spouted flames as they ran across the sky, their claws somehow striking sparks from the air itself. Even as AJ readied her maul, the unicorn began losing arrows into the tents with a sadistic cackle, while the earth pony couched her lance and charged at Applejack. Her hooves stumbling in the loose sand, Applejack flung herself aside, allowing the lance to glance off her breastplate with bone-numbing force rather than running the mare through. Rolling back to her feet, the farmer quickly whispered a prayer to the Princesses, causing her hammer to gleam with divine light, as she set herself to face another rush.
Meanwhile, the enemy unicorn found her aerial superiority challenged as a mostly naked Rainbow Dash, leg streaked with blood from a glancing hit, took to the skies, bow in hand, “Shooting ponies in their bedrolls? Is that the best you can do, you nag?” Rainbow punctuated her words with a trio of arrows of her own; one rebounded from the unicorn’s mail hauberk, but the other two bit deep, only for the mare to snarl, revealing needle-like fangs, and rip the unbloodied shafts from her body, “Ah, tartarus, vamponies!”
Twisting out of the way of the undead unicorn’s return shots with a bit of fancy flying, Rainbow risked a quick glance to see how her friends were doing; two of the hounds were down but both Pinkie and Twilight were bleeding and burned from the demonic dogs’ blazing fangs, while the last two hounds were crouched submissively before a scolding Fluttershy, as Rarity warily stood guard nearby.
Turning her full attention back to her adversary, Rainbow was forced to dodge again as an arrow scraped along her ribs, the honed edges drawing blood. Choosing to risk more darts from the vampony, the pegasus took a moment to line up her own shot, her return arrow punching through the armor over the vampony’s left breast, causing her to shudder and slump slightly in her saddle. A pair of arcane bolts, one cast by Rarity and a second, brighter, one conjured by Twilight, lanced up from the ground to strike the mare in the head and chest, making her wobble, and then a pile of armor, filled with ashes and bits of bone, fell from the back of the demonic riding lizard to crash on the ground.
Whilst all this was going on, Applejack was trading blows with the other rider, her maul flaring with divine fire every time it struck the vampony, while the undead mare, her lance splintered, hammered away with her sword, as her riding lizard’s fangs rent the farmpony’s robes and scored the armor underneath. Applejack’s arms ached from repeated impacts, she knew she was strong, but the undead earth pony’s might put even her brother and Snowflake to shame.
Hearing the noisy clatter behind her, Applejack didn’t even blink as an arrow streaked down from above to punch through the narrow gap between the vampony’s spauldron and gorget, sinking almost to the fletching, as two more shafts bit deep into the tartarean mount’s flank, sending the riding lizard rearing and bucking.
The undead mare quickly brought her mount back under control and turned back to the annoying earth pony, only to find that her five friends had joined her, their weapons at the ready and horns aglow with magic, while behind them, her compatriot’s mount fled across the sky. With a snarled curse, the vampony reined her riding lizard aside with brutal force and fled back into the desert, mount and rider alike vanishing like an image in the fog between one stride and the next.
“Ah guess their gone, maybe?” Applejack asked hesitantly, drawing uncertain shrugs from her friends. Turning back to their camp, the ponies found that the last two hounds had also disappeared, leaving only corpses and ravaged tents to show that anything had happened at all.
Late the following day, guided by the ancient sage’s words and Twilight’s knowledge of astronomy, the six mares came to a cleft between two hills of tumbled red rocks. A half-hour ride later, the narrow path opened into a box canyon, its far wall composed of worked stone, pierced, seemingly at random, by several dozen archways, each flanked by bas-relief statues of armored knights.
“We found it,” Applejack breathed, “The Temple of the Justicars, we’re here!” she continued, while her friends cheered.
“Hey, Applejack?” Pinkie spoke up as they started down into the valley, “What is a Justicar, anyway?”
Four days later, even Pinkie’s cheer was beginning to reach its limits. The valley floor was searing hot during the day, and freezing cold at night, while monstrous scorpions inhabited the caves, each twice the length of a riding lizard. The giant vermin proved immune to Fluttershy’s talent with animals and completely single-minded, forcing the ponies to reply with deadly force, much to the shy pegasus’ distress, whenever one came down into their camp or when the mares entered the archways in search of the Temple.
As for those archways, only a handful were at ground level, the rest scattered across the stone face of the valley, and with neither ledge nor trail to provide access to them, the ponies were forced to laboriously scale the sheer rock walls in order to check each doorway in turn. And once reached, and the arachnid squatter that seemed to infest about half of them was dealt with, every single arch had opened onto a short tunnel that ended in a carved chamber, occupied by a stone sarcophagus crafted to resemble an armored knight. Nowhere could the mares find any sign of the Temple itself.
As the shadows lengthened, Rarity gave a tired sigh as she looked over their stores, “I’m beginning to fear we might be on a wild goose chase, darlings, and we only have enough supplies to last us another two days before we simply must head back.”
“I’m telling you, I saw something gleaming over there last night!” Rainbow protested, “The Temple’s there somewhere, I’d bet my Daring Do collection on it!”
“And I searched that entire area,” Rarity countered, “and found nothing.”
“Well, maybe AJ needs to be the one to look?” Pinkie suggested, “After all, it’s her quest.”
“You may have a good point there, Pinkie,” Twilight mused, “What did the sage say about finding the Temple again, AJ?”
“‘Only somepony prayerful, who sees with tha eyes of faith an’ truth can find tha Door ta tha Temple’,” the farmpony repeated dutifully, “But Ah’ve already been prayin’ plenty,” she added.
The academic frowned, her eyes gazing blankly into the distance, “When did you see the glow, Rainbow?”
“Just after midnight, why?”
“I think we’ve been going about this the wrong way,” Twilight explained, “Instead of looking physically, I think we’re supposed to be looking symbolically,” turning back to Applejack, she continued, “I know it’s a longshot, but maybe if you start fasting and praying right now, and keep it up past midnight, and I cast a True Sight spell on you just before midnight, well, then you’d be actively prayerful and seeing the truth of things ….”
“It’s worth a shot, Ah guess.”
“I don’t suppose you see anything?” Twilight asked hopefully as the magenta glow faded from her horn.
“Eeenope,” Applejack replied dejectedly, “Not a thin’ … wait … yes! Ah can see it, sugarcube, tha door’s right there!”
“Wonderful! Do you think you’ll be able to find it tomorrow?” Twilight sighed in relief at the farmpony’s nod, “Good, I think we’ll all do better with some sleep before we go inside.”
“Umh, Applejack? I don’t see any doors.”
“Trust me, ‘Shy, it’s right here,” AJ assured her friend, gesturing across the opening.
“Whoa, how did you do that?” Rainbow demanded as she leaned against the solid stone wall that the other mare had just waved her hand through.
Applejack’s lips curled in a small grin, “Jus’ like this, RD,” and, with that, she grabbed the pegasus and dragged her through the hidden archway, Rainbow’s startled squeak sending the farmpony into a fit of laughter.
The other four mares were quickly brought through, Applejack trying to control her giggling the entire time, before the little group turned to look at the ten-foot-wide tunnel that slanted windingly away from them into darkness.
Rarity sniffed as she raised a glowstone lantern to light the barren hall, “Rather austere for my tastes, but here we are. Well, Applejack’s holy relic won’t just find itself, shall we be off?”
Several minutes later, the hall opened into a large room, lined with caryatid-style pillars carved to match the armored knight theme of the archways outside, and lit with everburning torches, “Now things are starting to look like a temple,” said Rainbow approvingly as they started across the chamber, only to stop and stare as a thing floated in through the tunnel opposite; a nauseating mass of floating, dripping, fanged, intestines tangled about a massive, fang-filled mouth.
The ponies response to the arrival of this twisted aberration was immediate and violent; Pinkie, Rainbow and Applejack plunged forward, swords and maul drawn, while Rarity and Twilight hurled bolts of magic, and even Fluttershy, her gentle face twisted in horrified disgust and her eyes wild, called upon the powers of Nature to blast at the abomination with lightning.
For its part, the perverse-looking thing seemed undaunted by the mares’ attack, eagerly snapping and tearing at them with its mouths, even as one intestine turned to vomit forth a gout of caustic bile that barely missed the rose-maned pegasus.
Their own assault did not go quite as the six friends had hoped, either; the horror’s soft, pulsating flesh resisted blows like the hardest armor, and what ichor they did spill burned like acid, but they continued fighting. As if consumed by madness, the ponies attacked with ever increasing ferocity and recklessness, scarcely thinking to defend themselves at all.
Its moist hide rent by weapons and blistered by spells, the abomination seemed to flicker, teleporting behind the mares, where it poured a swirling green fog from its mouths. Rainbow, Applejack and Pinkie started forward, only to pull back as the obscuring mists seared their skins and set their eyes and throats to burning.
Twilight blinked as the lunacy that clouded her mind lifted somewhat, “Fillies! Too me!” As the other ponies gathered around her, Fluttershy and Pinkie blinking in confusion, Twilight’s aura flared as it wrapped around her friends and whisked them all past the caustic fog. As they reappeared beside the aberration, the wildness claimed the six mares again, and they immediately rushed to the attack, with Twilight freezing the horror in ice, while Rarity and Fluttershy blasted at it with lighting, and Applejack, Pinkie and Rainbow frenziedly hacked away at the rime-shrouded creature until it finally lay in a dismembered, oozing heap on the floor that quickly dissolved into a noxious mist and dispersed.
“What happened?” Pinkie asked as the six mares looked at each other, their faces flushed from exertion, and a sudden shame at their excessively violent behavior, “That wasn’t like us at all, we’re good ponies, not screaming, crazy, meanies!”
“The … thing, I think it was a qlippoth,” Twilight replied, her ears dropping flat as she wrapped her arms about herself and shivered, “Celestia told me about them once, but I’d hoped to never encounter one. They’re from outside of the Realm, from before the Creation of the Realm, just looking at one causes insanity in mortals.”
“Is that why I could think clearer while it was behind the fog?” Rarity asked, “Because I couldn’t see it clearly anymore?”
Twilight could only shrug, “Maybe? At least I think so.”
“So, what the hay is one of these qlippoth things doing in a bucking temple?” Rainbow demanded.
“Rainbow Dash! Language!” Fluttershy chided her friend, even as she treated the athlete’s wounds.
“She’s got a point, though,” Applejack observed, “Ah mean, one of Celestia’s angels put a holy relic in here, this place ought ta have all sorts of enchantments an’ prayers on it ta keep demons an’ such-like away.”
“Maybe the abjurations have just faded over the centuries?” Twilight suggested uncertainly, “Or the protections have been broken?”
The six mares, once their injures had been treated, continued on down another featureless, winding tunnel, although now they kept their weapons at the ready, and their ears swiveled constantly, searching for any hint of sound.
After several minutes, the faint sound of chanting reached the ponies’ ears, carefully sneaking forward, the little band came to the end of the tunnel; lit with everburning torches and carved from sky-blue marble inlaid with holy glyphs and images, a temple to Celestia, tiered like an amphitheater, stretched before them and opened into a pillar-lined secondary chamber containing a towering statue of the Solar Alicorn, her arms spread wide in benediction, and her muzzle raised to the sky above, while a wide, mist-filled pit separated the statue from the rest of the chamber. Five robed figures danced around the near side of the fog-shrouded abyss, singing hymns in ancient Unicornian.
Pinkie quickly shot out her hand to stop Rainbow from stepping into the temple, “There’s something wrong about those ponies,” she whispered urgently, “I think they may be really not nice.”
"I think there might be something wrong with this entire place," Twilight added, gesturing at the grandiose temple, "The runes have all been subtlety defaced, and those hymns sound ... off," her muzzle wrinkled in a confused frown, “And why haven’t we seen any side chambers or halls? Where do those ponies even live?”
“Sounds like ya was right about tha protections bein’ broken, Twi’,” Applejack said as she drew her maul and whispered a quick prayer, “Well, let’s go and have a look-see what’s goin’ on … quiet-like.”
Despite their attempted stealth, the five robed figures whirled around as soon as the mares entered the temple, a crackling blast of black energy filling the chamber as they flung aside their garments to reveal what lay beneath; while generally bipedal in shape, the creatures’ elephantine feet, tusked and horned heads, clawed fingers and barbed shoulders made it clear that they were very much not ponies, or anything native to Equis, for that matter. Unfortunately for the six mares’ sensibilities, the displayed figures were also manifestly, grotesquely, male.
Pushing through the wave of sickening, oily, freezing darkness that washed over them, the six ponies closed upon the demonic dancers, who merely watched as they advanced, lips curled in fanged smirks.
Then, as Rainbow and Applejack drew near, a great cloud of putrid smoke erupted from nowhere, blocking the mares’ path. The haze quickly thinned, displaying a small horde of misshapen, cancerous blobs, each about half the height of a pony, with twisted, dripping faces and malformed arms, that immediately oozed forward to surround the two warriors in a wave of rending, clawing, putrescent flesh.
As the swarm surged forth, there were five flashes of sickly yellow light as the dancers teleported to the back of the ponies, surrounding Fluttershy and Twilight, only to have their reaching talons rebound from a hastily conjured magenta shield.
Rarity and Pinkie promptly turned back to aid their besieged friends; pushing through a second wave of tartarean energy, they rained down sword blows, and a carefully placed arcane bolt from Rarity, that staggered one of the hulking demons, the dazed brute quickly falling to the two ponies’ flickering blades.
One of the monstrous dancers sneered at his fallen comrade, before lowering his horns and rushing at Pinkie, throwing her several feet into the wall, where she collapsed in a bloody heap.
Fluttershy gave an anxious cry, while the Twilight let her shield fade, only to immediately conjure a circular wall of ice, driving the horned demons staggering back, and giving the librarian an opening to conjure a bolt of magical force that rammed into the back of the demon that had attacked Pinkie, and sent him flying in turn.
Applejack and Rainbow, meanwhile, had managed to cut their way free of the throng of misshapen, malignant, midget monsters surrounding them and rushed back to their friends’ side, the farmer pausing long enough to bring her maul smashing down on the stunned dancer’s head as the demon lay sprawling.
Twilight blasted her ice wall with a wave of telekinetic force, shattering it and raining the demons with razor sharp frozen shards, reaching over to grab Fluttershy’s hand, the two ponies ran over to where their friends had gathered around Pinkie Pie. Dropping to her knees, Fluttershy began tending the groggy baker’s injuries, “Where did all the birdies come from?” Pinkie mumbled, as the other mares readied themselves to face the onrushing mob; Applejack and Rarity stepped to either side to anchor the magical shield Twilight raised to protect Fluttershy and Pinkie, while Rainbow took advantage of the chamber’s vaulted ceiling to pepper the demons with arrows from above
“Hah! These little stallions are nothing!” Rainbow crowed as each shot transfixed another miniature monster, “All they got is numbers!”
“That’s all a bee swarm has, too!” Applejack shouted back, “Don’t get cocky!”
Rising unsteadily to her hooves, Pinkie took a firm grip on her rapier and charged forward, tumbling between Rarity’s legs, and those of the horned demon she was fencing with, to rise behind him. The tartarean dancer only had time to blink in surprise at the two mares flanking him before he was impaled from both sides. Cartwheeling away from the surge mass of small, oozing demons that reached for her, the party pony retreated behind Rarity, only to stumble and collapse back into Fluttershy’s arms.
On the other side of the tiny redoubt, Applejack and Rainbow pounded away at another of the horned demons with hammer and arrow, while Twilight tapped into the power stored in her staff to blast it with rays of fire even as she maintained the arcane wall that sheltered them, until the tartarean figure finally toppled, its body crushed by hammer blows, pierced with arrows and smoking from Twilight’s spells.
The last surviving dancer raised his hand with a snarl, only to stop as a blinding golden light suddenly filled the chamber. The mists filling the pit roiled as a statuesque, white robed, pegasus mare rose from its depths, her scarlet mane flowing behind her and a brilliant silver sword glowing in her hands. The horned demon recoiled from the angelic figure as the remnants of the tartarean swarm faded away like smoke on the breeze.
Swooping down, the angel smote the cowering demon with her sword, sending it reeling with a loud cry, while a second stroke stretched the tartarus-spawned figure motionless upon the temple floor.
Turning back to the mares, the angel smiled as a voice, so melodic and otherworldly it was almost painful, sounded within their minds, :May Celestia bless you for freeing me from my long captivity,: she said, :Long ago I brought this sword to this temple to await the next worthy wielder, but hordes of evil priests and their demons overwhelmed me, imprisoning me in the pit before you. Your presence and actions disrupted the ritual they used to keep me captive, allowing me to regain my freedom,: turning to Applejack, the angel held out the sword, :To you, champion, I bestow this weapon, the holy sword of the great hero, Orange Swirl. You have proven your worth to succeed him, may our lady, Celestia, bless you as you go forth and bring just retribution to evil in her name.:
Hesitantly, Applejack took the offered blade, “Um, thank ya, Ah guess?”
The angel smiled down at her, before disappearing in a blinding flash, leaving the six ponies’ injuries, and the blade shining in Applejack’s hands, as the only sign that anything had happened in the ancient temple at all, for even the fallen demons had vanished.
The sun beat down as if it had a personal grudge against anything that dared to move upon the sands, but the six mares, their spirits buoyed by the success of their quest, rode through the wastes with their heads held high, their cheerful chatter sounding across the dunes.
“I told you this would be a way better story than just being given the sword!” Pinkie declared.
“My achin’ wounds disagree with ya there, Pinks,” the farmpony grumbled good-naturedly.
“And we didn’t meet any fae,” pointed out Fluttershy.
The party pony’s ears drooped for a moment, “Yeah,” she admitted with a pout, “But we ran into demons, and they sorta count for being the cultists!”
“I’d prefer that we not encounter that vampony again during our return journey,” Rarity added with a sniff, “I think we have quite fulfilled our quota for ‘creepy undead’ already, Pinkie’s storytelling impulses notwithstanding.”
“I don’t think that’s likely,” Twilight reassured the fashionista, “Even if she stayed around, it would be very foolish of her to attack us all by herself,” she frowned in aggravation, “And the design of that temple still makes no sense! Even if the cultists and demons attacked before it was finished, why didn’t they at least make living quarters for themselves after they took over?”
Rarity raised a finger, “Perhaps we were dealing not with ‘cultists and demons’ but with demon-cultists?” she suggested, “The stories do say that demons have no need of sleep, or food, or any mortal comforts at all.”
“I guess …,” Twilight grumbled.
The next morning, Rarity gave a slight frown as she noticed shadows beneath the farmer’s eyes, “Did you sleep alright, darling?”
“Like a log,” Applejack replied with a shrug, “But it’ll be good ta be back somewhere we can get some proper food instead of these here trail rations,” she added as she poured travel cake mix onto a small skillet.
“Oh, yes,” Fluttershy agreed as she passed out some of their dwindling supply of dried fruit, “Some soft bread, a little cheese or fresh fruit, and maybe a nice cup of tea would be wonderful.”
“We’re only two days away from Ramaneyah,” Twilight reminded the ponies, “And then its just a few days back to Somnambula, booking passage back across the Starfall Ocean, and then on to Ponyville. We should be home in a little more than two weeks.”
“Home,” Pinkie Pie sighed, “I love going on adventures with you fillies, but it’s always good to be back home,” the other mares nodded in agreement.
“At last,” Rarity sighed as the walls of Ramaneyah rose out of the dunes, bathed in the glow of the setting sun, “Soft beds and hot baths, here we come.”
“Whatever,” Applejack grumbled with a yawn, “Let’s jus’ get our rooms an’ be done with it.”
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Fluttershy asked her, “You really don’t look like you’ve been sleeping, if you don’t mind me saying.”
“Ah told ya, Ah’ve been sleepin’ jus’ fine,” the farmpony retorted irritably, before slapping the reins on her riding lizard and heading into the town.
Left behind by AJ’s grouchy departure, her friends looked at each other in concern, “Whatever Applejack says, she hasn’t been getting her rest,” Fluttershy declared with a worried frown, “I’ve seen her sleeping in the saddle at least three times since we left the Temple.”
Pinkie nodded, “I caught her asleep on watch last night, but she didn’t remember it when I woke her.”
“Wait, AJ asleep on watch?” Rainbow scoffed, “Come on, she’s, like, the definition of dependable.”
Pinkie pouted at her friend, “I’m not making this up, Rainbow Dash!”
“We never thought you were, darling,” Rarity said soothingly, “But you must admit, such behavior is wildly unusual for Applejack.”
“Maybe we should keep an eye on her?” suggested Twilight, “Either way, we really should catch up with Applejack before she gets too far ahead.”
“I’m stuffed,” Rainbow groaned happily as she leaned back from the table, the common room’s hubbub surrounding the six mares as they finished their dinner.
“Quite good,” Rarity agreed, “Even if the date wine was rather syrupy for my tastes. Now, if you fillies will excuse us, Fluttershy and I have reserved the bathhouse for this evening before we turn in.”
“Ee’yep, an’ Ah think Ah’m goin’ ta attend tha late service at tha shrine ta settle ma nerves,” Applejack declared.
“Shouldn’t you at least leave the sword in our rooms?” Twilight asked pointedly.
“After everythin’ we went through ta get it, Ah’m not lettin’ this here sword out of ma sight until we get back home,” the farmer replied, tipping her hat to her friends as she headed for the door.
Pinkie idly popped a piece of flatbread into her mouth as she watched the three ponies leave, “I hope going to mass helps Applejack feel better, she’s been all cranky-pants almost since we go Orange Sherbet’s sword back.”
“Orange Swirl,” Twilight corrected absently, “I think whatever is keeping her from sleeping properly may be affecting her mood, otherwise I suspect Applejack would be ecstatic about receiving a holy relic from an angelic being ….”
“Hey, why do you think Celestia had an angel holding the sword, anyway?” Rainbow asked, “I mean, in all the stories and histories, when the divines don’t deal with something themselves, they send mortals, so what’s the deal with the angels? What do they really do?”
Twilight’s muzzle wrinkled in thought, “I’ve never considered it before,” she admitted, “I’ll have to do some research when we get back. And where are you off to?” she asked, glancing up at her hyperactive friend.
“I’m off to the shrine,” Pinkie replied blithely, “You said we should keep an eye on Applejack, after all, and besides, maybe the priest will have an idea about the whole angel thingy.”
The three mares quietly slipped into an empty pew at the back of the shrine just as the local priestess of the Alicorns, a donkey, was finishing the opening prayers. As the service continued, Pinkie listed raptly to the readings and eagerly joined in on the hymns, while Twilight was more subdued in her devotions, her attention mainly on Applejack, who was sitting about halfway down the nave. Rainbow was mostly just trying to not fall asleep.
Partway through the sermon, Applejack rose to her hooves, causing the priestess to pause as nearly everypony in the shrine turned to look at the earth pony in confusion. Applejack gave the gathered ponies a polite nod before her muzzle twisted in a manic smile as she ripped her sword from its scabbard and brought it down on the mare beside her!
A magenta shield flared into existence, cracking under the force of Applejack’s attack, as the shrine exploded into chaos; Pinkie and Rainbow fought their way through the screaming mass of fleeing equinity while Twilight desperately conjured shield after shield to protect the targets of Applejack’s wild, hammering, swings, and to keep her clutching hand from catching any of the escaping ponies and dragging them back to her.
Finally reaching the crazed farmer, Pinkie jumped on her back as Rainbow frantically ducked under a swing that nearly decapitated her before latching onto Applejack’s arm. Between the two of them, the mares managed to drag Applejack away from the crowd of panicked ponies. Once they were clear, Twilight encased Applejack’s legs in ice, while Pinkie and Rainbow tried to wrestle her down.
With an ugly laugh, more fitting to Discord at his worst than the Element of Honesty, Applejack tossed the other two ponies off and brought her sword slamming down, nearly shattering the ice binding her hooves. She raised the sword again, but staggered as Pinkie belted her over the head with a rubber chicken she had pulled out of … somewhere.
Twilight quickly blasted the dazed Applejack with a stun spell, while Pinkie hit her again with the chicken, and Rainbow punched her in the solar plexus, overwhelmed, the farmpony toppled over into unconsciousness with a faint groan.
Applejack blinked tired eyes, ‘Why in tarnation am Ah so tired all of tha time?’ the farmer wondered with a disgruntled grumble as she reached up to rub at her eyes, only to find her hands manacled behind her back, “What in Tartarus?” looking around in alarm, Applejack saw that she was in the back of a wagon, her friends riding about her.
Pinkie glanced back at the Applejack from where she drove the wagon, “AJ’s awake!” she called to the others.
“Applejack Apple!” Rarity cried as she rode up to the wagon, “What in the names of all the divines is wrong with you!”
“What’s wrong with me?” Applejack demanded, meeting the fashionista glare for glare, “What tha Tartarus is wrong with all of ya?! Why am Ah all chained up? Where are we goin’?”
Twilight reined her riding lizard closer, “What’s the last thing you remember?”
“I was in tha shrine, listenin’ ta tha sermon,” Applejack replied warily, “Why?”
“Because, darling, during the sermon, you went crazy and tried to kill several parishioners,” Rarity held up a hand to forestall the farmer’s objections, “Rainbow, Pinkie and Twilight were all there, Applejack, they are the ones who restrained you before you could hurt anypony.”
Applejack dropped her muzzle to hide behind her hat, “Ah really did that?” she whispered dejectedly, “Ah attacked ponies?” at her friends’ reluctant nods, she continued, “Then why ain’t Ah in jail where Ah belong?”
“That’s because of me,” Twilight admitted, her face burning with embarrassment, “I sort of … claimed authority over your case as Princess Celestia’s student.”
Applejack wrinkled her muzzle in confusion, “That doesn’t make a lick of sense,” she protested.
“Well, umm, no, it doesn’t,” Fluttershy admitted, “But it worked anyway, so now we’re taking you to Canterlot. I’m certain the Princesses will be able to help with whatever is wrong with you,” she added confidently.
Four days saw the little group back in Somnambula, with Applejack having shown no further signs of madness, although her sleep continued to deteriorate … and found no ships departing for Equestria any time soon.
“Now what?” Rainbow groaned, kicking at a rock in the road, “I don’t want to sit around on my tail for a week or more waiting for the next ship to head out.”
“So why don’t we ask one of the Royal Guard airships to takes us back?” Pinkie suggested as she nibbled on some fried, syrup-soaked, dough she had bought off a street vendor, “We are the Bearers of Harmony, after all, and fixing whatever made Applejack go all crazy-meany would probably count as a mission for the Thrones if we asked the Princesses nicely.”
“Pinkie Pie,” Twilight smiled at her sugar-loving friend, “You’re brilliant!”
“Well, yeah,” the hyperactive pony grinned, “But it’s nice of you to notice.”
The Throne Room of the Equestrian Empire was a sight to behold; the hall of pale blue marble veined with threads of silver and gold stretched over four hundred and thirty hooves long, while pillars held up the vaulted ceiling. Tapestries and the light streaming through massive, floor-to-ceiling, stained glass windows gave the hall a warm feeling, as glowstone chandeliers filled the chamber with light (a clear yellow during the day, switching to blue witchfire at night). The Dual Thrones of Equestria sat on a dais at the far end of the hall (the Lunar Throne recently refurbished and returned to its former place), while a mural of the Sun and Moon rose behind them, enchanted so the appropriate celestial orb would glow for whichever throne was occupied. As happened several days a week, a line of petitioners hoping to speak with their Diarch stretched the length of the hall, and the elder Princess was currently engaged with a minor noble and her attempts to squeeze more bits out of the commonponies, “I’m sorry, Silk Stocking, but road upkeep is already paid for by the Royal Exchequer,” Celestia said, her voice filled with gentle disapproval, as a small commotion at the doors briefly distracted the waiting ponies, “And I will not approve a special tax on road usage for your demesne.” Glancing at the worried frown on Raven Inkwell’s muzzle as the mare returned from checking with the doorguards, the solar alicorn decided to finish things up a bit early, “This concludes this session of the Day Court, thank you all for coming, my little ponies, and we will resume tomorrow.”
As the assorted supplicants and court sycophants filed out, Celestia leaned over to whisper to her assistant, “What seems to be the problem, Raven?”
“The Bearers of Harmony seek audience, your Highness,” Raven replied, “But they are holding the Bearer of Honesty prisoner … they even have her in chains.”
“I see,” the Princess of the Sun frowned, “Please send them in, and then go rouse my sister, I suspect she will want to hear about this firsthand.”
The six Bearers of Harmony stood before their Diarch, shuffling their hooves nervously as the Princess tried to engage them in inconsequential small talk, seemingly oblivious to Applejack’s manacles. Despite Celestia’s efforts, the young mares were clearly troubled; even the usually boisterous Pinkie Pie was standing quietly beside her friends, rather than roaming the hall looking at the tapestries and windows, or searching for secret passages (she had already found two on previous visits). “Ah, Luna,” Celestia said as her sister, mane rumpled, and clothes disarrayed, finally entered the Throne Room and took her seat, “Thank you for joining us. Now, my little ponies, why don’t you explain why you’ve apparently arrested Applejack?”
“Ah, well, you see, Princess,” Twilight began nervously, “Applejack went sort of … crazy and started attacking ponies during services while we were in Ramaneyah. Afterwards, she didn’t remember anything, and with her acting a bit off ever since we recovered Orange Swirl’s holy sword, and the attacks being completely out of character for AJ, we wanted to make sure she wasn’t being influenced somehow, so, we sort of claimed authority over the case and brought her here,” Twilight turned bright eyes full of trust and confidence on her Diarchs, “Please, will you tell us what’s wrong with Applejack so we can find a way to fix it?”
Luna’s eyebrow shot up, “Fair Applejack went ‘crazy’?”
“It was like she’d chugged a whole bottle of hotblood wine, Princess,” Rainbow confirmed, “She wasn’t thinking, just trying to hurt anypony she could reach.”
“I see,” Celestia nodded pensively, “And how had Applejack been acting ‘off’?”
“She was all cranky-pants,” Pinkie replied, “And she was distracted a lot, and yawning a whole bunch.”
“Applejack also mentioned headaches and feeling uneasy a few times,” offered Fluttershy, “But she insisted that she ‘felt fine’ and was sleeping well when we asked her directly, but she was falling asleep in the saddle and … even on watch.”
Luna leaned over to her sister, “Who is this ‘Orange Swirl’ and why would anypony be seeking his blade?”
“Orange Swirl was a paladin of the High Astral Temple and a devout champion of Equestria eight hundred years ago,” the solar alicorn explained, “His sword was a rather powerful magic item, and was seen by many as a symbol of his authority and my blessings,” Celestia gave the six mares a puzzled frown, “Wherever did you find it?”
“At the Temple of the Justicars,” responded Rainbow, “You know, with the angel you sent to guard it?”
“Orange’s sword was lost when he fell,” the Princess of the Sun said perplexedly, “And I have never heard of any ‘Temple of the Justicars’, may I see this ‘holy’ sword you’ve found?”
Celestia studied the sheathed blade intently, as Luna looked over her shoulder, even partially drawing the sword to look at the inscribed runes, “This is the sword I helped to forge for Orange Swirl … but somepony has almost completely altered its enchantments … I’m not even sure what some of these are meant to do ….”
“That looks like a mind control charm, an immensely powerful one,” the lunar alicorn remarked, “And that looks much like a curse, we would need to take it to a sanctum for detailed tests to learn more.”
“Laboratory,” Celestia corrected absently as she continued to study the sword.
“What?”
“They’re called laboratories, now,” the Princess of the Sun explained as she passed the blade to her fellow diarch, “But you’re right, I need you to conduct a proper investigation to determine what has been done to the blade and if it has had an effect on Applejack.”
Luna’s ears drooped as she blushed, “It hath been only a year since mine return, are thou sure thou want me to perform the assessment? Would it not be better to give the task to one of thy maguses?”
“Of course, I’m sure, Lulu,” Celestia assured her sister, “You always were better at magical theory and unraveling curses than I was, and you are easily as adept at arcane research as any of my maguses or scholars.”
“Thank thee, ‘Tia,” the Princess of the Night smiled shyly, “But what shall we do with fair Applejack whilst I perform mine inquiry?”
Celestia tapped her chin with a finger as she thought, “Applejack does face serious charges … but her actual volition in these crimes is in question …,” she turned to a pair of guards, “Please escort Lady Applejack to the West Tower guest room. Once there, you may remove her manacles, but post two guards at her door, and she is not to go anywhere without an escort.”
As the guards shepherded the farmpony to the door, and Luna headed for her chambers, the sheathed sword in her hands flickered, then disappeared in a flash, only to reappear in Applejack’s hands as the shackles fell from her wrists. The mare immediately ripped the sword from its sheathe, continuing her swing to cleave through armor and flesh, pitching one of the stallions escorting her to the floor in a bloody, screaming, heap.
As Applejack turned to the other guard, a magenta shield sprang up to surround him, while a trio of magical bolts, light blue, golden, and dark blue, streaked towards her. Applejack batted away Rarity’s spell with a snarl, but the Princesses’ stun bolts both struck true, dropping the earth pony in her tracks.
Celestia and Fluttershy headed directly to tend to the injured guard, while the other ponies clustered around the unconscious Applejack, “This will make studying the sword more difficult …,” Luna remarked.
The next evening, the six mares (accompanied by Appplejack’s escorts) joined their diarchs in Luna’s study, “I hath examined this sword in detail,” she began, “And I hath learned that if this isn’t the sword of Orange Swirl, then it is a most amazing replica. That said, this blade has been perverted from what mine Sister and it’s other crafters intended it to be.”
Pinkie perked up, “So it is cursed? It made Applejack attack those ponies somehow?”
“Thou are quite correct, Pinkie Pie,” Luna confirmed with a nod, “I hath not fully unraveled all of the invocations laid upon the blade, but I do know it includes both the mind control spell I noticed earlier, as well as an even more potent spell of forgetfulness. It would be quite possible for the sword to compel somepony to attack others, even drive them into a berserk rage, and then erase all memory of their actions.”
Rarity put a hand on Applejack’s shoulder, “How do we lift the curse?”
“I’m sorry, gracious Rarity, but we cannot,” Luna sighed, “The curses are too strong to be dispelled, and the blade has been enchanted so that it cannot be destroyed by any conventional means.”
Fluttershy gave a small whimper, “Isn’t there something we can do?”
“There is, dear Fluttershy,” Luna assured the pegasus, “But it is most dangerous. Mine divinations hath revealed that the sword can only be broken at ‘the altar where it was forged’ and that it must be done by Applejack herself, putting her at great risk of the curse assuming control of her again," she grimaced, "Whichever demon lord, or one of our fellow divines, blighted the sword hath a most twisted sense of humor."
Celestia’s muzzle wrinkled in confusion, “But we didn’t use an altar when we forged Orange’s sword.”
“I suspect it refers to where the blade was re-enchanted into the accursed relic it is now,” Luna replied, pulling out an abacus to double check her calculations, “While we hath distressingly little to go on, it seems most likely that the altar we seek is hidden somewhere within this ‘Temple of the Justicars’ where you acquired Orange Swirl’s sword in the first place.”
“Then we need to go back to Hippeia,” declared Twilight, “The sooner, the better.”
“Yes,” the solar alicorn agreed, “But not alone. While you may have managed to extract Applejack from the local authorities, she is still facing several criminal charges, and a representative of the Thrones’ Justice should accompany you, preferably one who has been trained to deal with curses and other dark magic.”
Rainbow Dash slumped against the rail of the airship that was ferrying them back to Somnambula, “So, what do you think of our minder?” she asked Twilight, flicking her ears at the yellow coated, orange-maned, unicorn standing across the deck watching the birds fly by.
“Magus Candy Corn?” Twilight replied, “She seems polite enough, if a little reserved, but then she is supposed to be watching Applejack both as a victim of dark magic and a possible criminal, so it makes sense that she might want to maintain some professional distance.”
“Hey, did you ever want to become a magus, Twi’?”
“Oh yes,” Twilight nodded, “A few of my ancestors were maguses, and with my big brother going into the Royal Guard, it was only natural for me to consider it. And besides, access to the rarest of spells? Traveling across Equestria protecting ponies from dark magic and helping the gendarme and police as one of the Princesses’ hands? What little filly doesn’t occasionally dream of that? But there was too much internal politics involved, and as I got more and more involved in my studies, I stopped thinking about it.”
“I always wanted to be a Wonderbolt, actually,” said Rainbow, “But I get your point. Hey, wait, we are the Princesses’ troubleshooters now, so, in a way, you sort of did join the Magus Corps!”
The two mares exchanged grins, before looking up at the unicorn walking over to them, “Baroness Sparkle, Lady Dash, we should reach Somnambula tomorrow,” Candy reported, “The local Guard post will provide us with mounts and enough supplies to make our journey without having to pass through Ramaneyah.”
“Why wouldn’t we want to stop …,” Rainbow started to ask, before stopping in embarrassed realization, “Oh yeah, AJ’s probably not real popular there right now, huh?”
An argument arose as soon as the group disembarked; “You cannot be serious!” Rarity protested when the magus refused to unshackle Applejack.
“Completely serious, Lady Rarity,” Candy replied, “Look, I’m aware that Lady Applejack is not in full control of her actions right now, but that is exactly why she needs to be disarmed and shackled, for our own protection, as well as that of anypony we may meet.”
“Let it be, Rares,” sighed Applejack.
“And what good did manacles do in the Throne Room, hmmm?” Rarity challenged, “Absolutely none!”
“These shackles will at least provide us with a warning if anypony but me removes them,” Candy retorted, “Which is a good sight better than the possible alternatives!”
“She’s jus’ doin’ her job, sugarcube,” Applejack said, putting a hand on Rarity’s shoulder, “An’, ta be honest, Ah’d feel better knowin’ that there’s somethin’ ta slow me down, even a little, if’n tha curse takes me again.”
The ponies were on their second day out from Ramaneyah when the rumble of approaching thunder made them rein in their mounts, “There! Sandstorm!” Rainbow declared, pointing to where the entire southern horizon had turned blood-red, lit by intermittent flashes of lightning.
Candy frowned, “Coming out of the south, at this time of year?” she turned to Rainbow, “Lady Dash, I know the storm is still distant, but could you check it for magic?”
“At this range?” Rainbow’s ears perked in surprise, “I mean, I am awesome, and that stormfront is really big but …,” she frowned in concentration, “Damn, that front is really moving …,” her eyes widened in fear, “Fillies! That storm is awash with magic, and its hungry!”
“Grievouswind!” Candy shouted, “Get everything under the tents! Ponies and lizards both! And stake the tents down hard!”
The riding lizards hissed in alarm as Applejack, Pinkie and Fluttershy pulled them to the ground and hastily lashed their legs together, while the other ponies hurriedly raised the tents around them as one, rough, pavilion.
Candy had to shout to be heard over the growing wind, “Baroness Sparkle, Lady Rarity! Once we’re all inside, we’ll need to take turns reinforcing the tents with shield spells,” she stopped to stare as Fluttershy slammed the butt of her staff into the sand, causing it to flow and solidify, rising up to cover the pavilion in a rough half-dome of stone, “… Or we could do that.”
Huddled within the cramped pavilion, the glow of horns barely keeping back the weight of the darkness pressing down on them, the mares waited as the storm shrieked outside, “The thunder sounds like laughter,” Pinkie said quietly, “But not good laughter, nasty, mean, laughter.”
“It is laughter, Lady Pie,” Candy replied, drawing a shudder from Fluttershy.
Rarity raised a brow at the other unicorn, “Perhaps, Magus Corn, you might tell us just what we are hiding from?”
“Fair enough,” Candy agreed, shifting slightly as she sought a more comfortable position against her riding lizard’s shoulder, “Grievouswinds … at their core they’re just what Lady Dash felt with her weather magic; a sandstorm, filled with magic, and given will and the desire to kill. They come out of the deep desert or the Burning Sands, and occasionally one will roll into the Sultanate and the Synod will have to deal with it … for whatever reason they seem to avoid Equestrian territory, although one hit Somnambula about three centuries ago.”
Twilight nodded, her eagerness to learn temporarily overcoming her discomfort, “What causes them?”
“No pony seems to know, Baroness,” Candy replied, drawing a disappointed pout from the academic, “Somnambula’s archives have little information other than that Grievouswinds exist at all, and some of the warning signs … the Canterlot archives don’t even have that much on them, most of what I know I picked up from other Maguses or talking to travelers while stationed in Somnambula. I suspect the Saddle Arabians have more information, but the Synod is very reluctant to part with any of the knowledge they’ve horded, and it would probably take a direct order from the Sultan himself to get them to share anything with the Magus Corps,” she glanced at the spell-enshrouded canvas overhead, “Anyway, it should blow itself out, or get bored and move on, by morning.”
The roar of the storm had stilled, letting the ponies drift off to sleep, when a horrible shrilling filled the sweltering darkness, jerking them awake. Candy’s horn immediately flared as a golden field enveloped Applejack, clinging to the farmpony like she was trying to swim through tar, and absorbing the force of her stab so that the strike stopped just short of Rarity.
Applejack snarled at the other ponies as Rarity crawled away in the little space inside the pavilion, then twisted her blade, cutting through the magic ensnaring her and causing Candy to grit her teeth in pain at the backlash from the sundered spell.
The three unicorns all hurled stun bolts at Applejack, while Rainbow leapt on her from behind, bringing the farmer to the ground, where Candy quickly re-manacled her. As Fluttershy and Pinkie scurried over to check on Applejack, Candy gave Rarity a pointed look, causing her to grimace, “Fine! You had valid concerns about Applejack and keeping her in your enchanted manacles proved … useful,” she grudgingly admitted, “But that doesn’t mean I have to like it!”
The following evening, the seven mares found themselves back in the box canyon, standing before a canyon wall that, once again, seemed to be made of unyielding rock, “It looks like the charm to enter the Temple has a time limit,” Twilight observed as Applejack pressed futilely against the stone, “I guess we’ll just have to perform the ritual again tonight.”
“Well, let’s get camp set up then,” Rarity sighed, “I do hope the scorpions leave us alone this time.”
Candy Corn looked up from where she had been inspecting the hidden entrance, her ears flattening, “S-scorpions?”
“Oh, yeah,” Pinkie replied airily, “Mostly about as big as two riding lizards, they’re all through these canyons and the caves.”
“As big as two riding lizards?” Candy asked weakly.
“Oh, don’t worry,” Fluttershy reassured the unicorn, “Most scorpions are more afraid of us than we are of them.”
“Are these?”
“Well … no,” Fluttershy admitted, “The local variety seem to be, umm, mindless killing machines,” she smiled at Candy, “Isn’t nature fascinating?”
“W-wonderful,” Candy gulped.
In the morning, after Candy, reluctantly, returned the farmer’s weapons and armor, Applejack once again pulled her companions through the doorway that only she could see. Once they had recovered, the little band headed into the temple, weapons and spells at the ready, expecting a demon or cultist to leap out at them at any moment.
Deeper and deeper, they went, their only company the shadows on the walls, until the archway to the temple proper loomed before them. “Should we even try sneaking?” Twilight asked, “They seemed to notice us just fine last time.”
“If we can’t surprise ‘em, then we may as well rush ‘em an’ hope for tha best,” suggested Applejack, “If there’s even anypony in there at all.” When no pony offered up a better idea, the farmpony took a firmer grip on the haft of her maul and stormed forward, the other at her heels.
Three horned and barbed demons, like the ones the ponies had encountered previously, whirled about to face the little group, hissing explosions of black energy filling the amphitheater as the demons pointed taloned fingers at the charging mares.
Fighting their way through the wave of dark magic, Applejack and Rainbow pounced on the closest demon, Pinkie close behind, while Twilight bound the second tartarean figure in a web of magical energy as Rarity and Candy Corn pounded it with spells. Meanwhile, Fluttershy held herself at the ready to tend her friends’ wounds.
With a flare of noxious yellow light, the last demon teleported right beside Fluttershy, only to find his down-sweeping claw blocked by Candy’s staff as Rarity spun about and delicately plunged her blade through the exposed armpit and deep into his lungs, “We’ve seen that move before, ruffian,” the fashionista said, pulling her sword free with a twist, as the demon toppled over, bloody froth pouring from his lips.
As Applejack, Pinkie and Rainbow beat down their opponent, leaving him stretched lifeless on the floor, the remaining demon, bleeding ichor from the unicorns’ barrage of spells, snarled at the ponies and teleported away.
“Coward!” Rainbow yelled after the disappeared demon, “Come back here and get your plot kicked!”
“That seemed a lot easier than last time,” Pinkie remarked while Fluttershy treated their wounds.
“We did have a noticeable advantage in numbers, darling,” Rarity pointed out, “And we already knew about their teleportation trick this time.”
Fluttershy glanced up from healing a nasty cut on Applejack’s arm, “Where did the last demon go?”
“If it has not simply fled?” Candy asked, “Most likely it has reported back to its master, the false angel should soon know of our presence, if it doesn’t already.”
“Then we best be findin’ that altar,” Applejack declared, “Where should we start lookin’?”
“How about it there?” Rainbow suggested, pointing at the mist-filled well, “The angel came out of there, after all,” walking over, she gave the fog a contemplating pat, “There’s definitely some weather magic mixed in here, but nothing I can’t break.” With a quick flap of her wings, Rainbow was hovering over the center of the pit, and then, with a sharp stomp of her hoof, she dispersed the haze, revealing what lay below.
“Aw, is that it?” pouted Pinkie as she and the other mares gathered around the edge of the well to stare at the empty chamber forty feet below.
“I suspect there is more to this chamber than meets the eye, Pinkie, darling,” Rarity disagreed, “Let’s have a look, shall we?”
Making their way down into the pit, most of the ponies stood back to give Rarity, assisted by Pinkie and Rainbow’s sharp eyes, room to work as she meticulously went over the walls and even the floor.
As the fashionista worked, Candy Corn gazed contemplatively up at the image of Celestia looming above the pit, “It’s a pity that the statue is too large to move,” she sighed, “It would be nice if something good came out of this corrupted place."
Meanwhile, Rarity had stopped her searching, her hand resting on a patch of bare wall, “Here … yes, here. Is everypony ready?” she asked, glancing back at the others, at their nods, her fingers dipped into what appeared to be a solid wall. The ponies’ ears flattened in pain at the grating racket as a section of the wall rose upward, and a second barrier shot out twenty feet above, trapping them inside the pit.
As the rising wall “clunked” into place, a wave of purple-black energy washed over the pit, leaving the mares covered in putrefying wounds as they beheld the chamber beyond; three of the horned demons stood defiantly before them, while the angel sat on an onyx altar at the back of the room. But the angel was no longer as the ponies remembered her; her wings had turned from feathers to leathery batwings, she was pale as a drowned corpse, but her mane had darkened to the color of blood, and four arms sprouted from her shoulders, ending in taloned hands, :Ah, you actually managed to not fall,: the false angel thought at them, :Pity. Oh well, we can always try again, the crypts in the canyon are littered with ‘holy warriors’ we’ve despoiled, after all.:
Even as the tartarean angel was finishing her monologue, the three unicorns were desperately raising shields as the mares were once again enveloped in oily, nauseating, frigid darkness, while multicolored bolts of ricocheting energy leaped randomly between the ponies.
As the darkness faded, a fetid miasma appeared, a dozen deformed, diminutive, demons surging out of it, but as the wave of cancerous, clawing, flesh rolled towards them, Fluttershy stepped forward, “Not this time,” she said firmly, as thorny vines erupted from the stone at her command, wrapping around the swarm of miniature monsters and holding them fast.
“Way to go, ‘Shy!” Rainbow cheered as she lunged forward, her paired blades dancing, while Applejack charged beside her, the farmpony’s heavy hammer awash in holy flames. Two of the horned demons leapt forward to intercept the oncoming ponies, while the third attempted to circle around, only to be confronted by Pinkie and Rarity.
Twilight and Candy quickly began flinging spells at the four-armed demoness; jagged shards of ice, fiery darts and beams of magenta or golden light, bolts of lightning and blasts of concussive force, flew about the room as the pair of unicorns unleashed the full might of their spellcraft upon their tartarean foe, who battered their invocations aside and replied with hexes of her own.
As the battle raged about her, Fluttershy stood amidst her friends, her muzzle wrinkled in concentration as she intoned an enchantment, her staff glowing as she drew on its power, until a wave of green light, that, oddly, smelled of new leaves and rain, poured out from her, healing the worst of the ponies’ wounds and washing away their fatigue.
Filled with new energy, the mares threw themselves at the demons; Applejack and Rainbow Dash soon beat down their opponents’ defenses and left them lying bleeding and broken on the floor, while Candy Corn, with a shouted prayer to the Alicorns, conjured a massive detonation of golden light that obliterated the last horned demon as it was unleashing another wave of tartarean energy and sent the false angel staggering back with one arm clearly broken, bringing a cheer from the ponies.
The tartarean angel snarled at the mares facing her and gestured with one hand; space seemed to twist and bend, and Candy was suddenly hanging from the demoness’ fist! Candy Corn’s startled cry was cut short as the demon’s claws slashed down, before the false angel contemptuously tossed the unicorn’s broken body at the other ponies’ hooves, drawing a horrified cry from Fluttershy.
Surging forward, Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie Pie boxed the demon in against the chamber wall, while Rainbow took to the air to harry her from above. For her part, Twilight conjured a beam of pure, concentrated magical power that sheared off one of the demoness’ wings, as Fluttershy summoned forth lightning to blast the tartarean angel.
The demon’s angry shriek echoed inside the ponies’ heads as the false angel writhed under the mares’ assault, even as she flattened Rarity with a single blow. With an enraged cry of her own, Rainbow descended upon the demoness, her blades hacking. After a brief scuffle, Rainbow was knocked back, her armor rent and blood seeping from fresh wounds, but another of the demon’s arms hung limp.
“We’re wearin’ her down!” Applejack cheered, “Keep at her, fillies!”
Fluttershy began summoning her healing magic again, but the demoness hurled a howling blast of artic cold and tearing ice at the pegasus, knocking her from her hooves and disrupting the spell.
The false angel unleashed a torrent of flames against the ponies facing her in melee, but Pinkie Pie leaped aside, while Applejack and Rainbow weathered the assault. A bolt of lightning staggered the demon, opening her defense to a crushing blow to the knee from the farmer’s hammer, dropping the demoness to the ground with a howl.
The ponies descended upon the crippled demon in a stabbing, smashing, spell hurling mass, their assault continuing until the false angel, her body a broken pile of meat and ichor, finally dissolved into a noxious mist and faded away.
Once the mares’ injuries had been tended, and Candy Corn’s body wrapped in her cloak to take back to Equestria, Rarity scoured every inch of the chamber until she finally found a hidden catch that caused the extending wall to retract, opening the way out.
“Ah guess its time ta finish all this,” Applejack sighed, as she began to unbuckle her armor.
“Whatever are you doing, darling?”
“Ya all did hear what Princess Luna said, right?” Applejack asked, “Ah have ta be tha one ta break this here sword, an’ tha curse will probably try an’ take me over when Ah do, so it only makes sense for me ta make things as easy as possible for ya fillies if’n thin’s go bad,” the ponies looked at each other, and then nodded their grudging agreement as Pinkie hefted Applejack’s hammer and attempted to glower sternly.
“Well, let’s get this over with,” the farmer sighed as she walked over to the onyx slab. Reaching the altar, she grabbed the hilt … and froze, the sword half-drawn.
As her friends anxiously watched, Applejack, teeth gritted and sweat spring forth on her brow, drew Orange Swirl’s accursed blade with agonizing slowness and held it over her head, her muscles straining as her arms shook.
Rarity reached out and put her hand on the farmer’s shoulder, at her touch, Applejack shuddered, and then brought the sword whistling down with a yell; both blade and stone shattered with a shriek more like a living thing dying in agony than that of splintering metal, while the force of the blow threw Applejack back into Rarity’s arms.
“I’ve got you, darling,” Rarity assured the farmpony as she gently set Applejack back on her hooves, “At least that is over with,” she said with relief, “These demons and their vile trap won’t hurt anypony else.”
“We didn’t save Candy Corn,” Fluttershy pointed out forlornly as she wiped the drying blood from the magus’ muzzle.
“No, we didn’t, sugarcube,” Applejack sighed as she crouched next to Fluttershy, “The simple truth is we can’t save everypony, all we can do is try our best,” she reached over and wrapped the pegasus in a hug, “Ah know that don’t help none right now, an' Ah don't mean ta sound preachy, but we gotta keep tryin’, for those we failed to save as well as everypony else who’s countin’ on us.”
The little group simply stood for a time, each pony lost in her individual thoughts, before Twilight finally broke the silence, “It’s a long way back to Somnambula, and we still have to break camp,” she observed, “We should probably get going.” The other mares nodded as they turned to head back up into the desecrated temple, Rainbow and Applejack carrying Candy's corpse between them.
Author's Note
The Magus Corps is the creation of Chengar Qordath. If you would like to see more more Magus adventures, I suggest checking out his Freeport and Lunar Rebellion stories.
