The Spectre of Phalanxia

Whilst Shining Armour and Princess Cadance went back to the Crystal Empire, Twilight and company continued their journey with Invictus and his sons, but they didn’t know what to do. First things first though, before they would continue, they would get something to eat first. All of them had a picnic as Applebuck and Bucky chose to cook for them, as they cooked veggie stew, that both sides would like, seeing that its mostly vegetables.

‘Since when did y’all learn to cook?’ said Applejack when she saw them cooking.

‘Well, see it’s like this,’ said Applebuck when he explained ‘Our father may have taught us on how to fight and be warriors, but our mother taught us how to cook. If you had the right ingredients that is.’

Fluttershy leaned closely as she sniffed the stew, which made her admire the aroma with a smile ‘Hmm, they smell lovely.’

‘Like it?’ said Bucky when he had a spoonful ‘Well have some.’

Bucky fed her a bit to give her a taste sample, which surprised her when she never realized on how delicious it was. She suddenly got excited and jumped a bit ‘Do you happen to have a recipe for it?’

‘Of course, got a list right here.’ said Applebuck when he showed them the list.

A while later, all of them were having stew, as all of them began to enjoy it. At the same time, Applebuck served seconds, whilst serving both Celestia and Luna first. ‘My this is truly exquisite.’ said Luna when she admired it.

‘I aim to please your highness.’ said Applebuck when he served Celestia next.

‘You simply must cook for us.’ said Celestia when she thought of something ‘We were thinking of organizing another ball and we would be delighted if you would serve this.’

‘Of course, I am honored.’

At the same time, Knight looked at Rainbow Dash with a smile ‘I bet I can eat this faster than you can.’

‘You’re on.’ said Rainbow Dash with a smile as the two of them gulped down the food to see who would win.

Pinkie and Copper made pigs out of themselves when they ate so much food, especially when she offered cupcakes and cakes for desert. The EG Mane 7 were having a great time with Don and the others around the fire when they traded stories. Chivalry offered a nice spot near the flowers for Rarity to sit next to, to which she enjoyed. Thunder was busy having a heart to heart talk to Tempest, who decided to use her name Fizzlepop Berrytwist. At the same time, Twilight chose to talk to Invictus, with Merlin sitting right next to her.

‘So, those weapons you have,’ said Twilight when she wondered about them ‘What’s so special about them?’

Merlin used his magic to lift the axe and showed it to her ‘This axe is made with very special runes. Both Brock and Driskle made it for my mother. She was quite the gifted warrior. But before she died, she handed the axe to my father, allowing him to control it as well.’

Twilight observed the axe and saw the runes on it ‘Wow, they look amazing. I’ve never seen great craftsmanship on them.’

‘Dwarves are known for their creativity,’ said Merlin when he explained to her of the feats of the Dwarves ‘They’re known for being great miners. Any mountain, cave or mine they dig in, they can find any hint of gold, jewels or whatever. But they’re also skilled craftsman. Any element you give them, they can create almost any weapon they desire, as long as they have the right minerals, resources and tools for them.’

‘I see.’ said Twilight when she began to take notes of this information. ‘And what about the swords?’

‘Well uh…’ said Merlin when he was nervous to answer.

‘I never wanted these swords.’ said Invictus when he muttered, gaining Twilight’s attention ‘They were given to me…and in turn, scarred me in ways no one could ever imagine.’

Twilight pointed at his wrists when she got curious ‘May I?’

Invictus grunted, but held his left arm out in order for her to perform a proper investigation. She noticed that his wrist was bandaged, as were the other one, but focused only on the left one. When she partially removed the bandages, she could see the burning scars of chains on his wrist, which surprised her when she saw of how much damage was. She looked at the chains of his swords, and figured that it had something to do with them. ‘Did the swords do…this much damage?’

‘When I first had them they were burnt onto my wrists to show my loyalty.’ said Invictus when he tried to hide as much of the truth as he could ‘But after when I challenged a warrior to a fight, he stripped them from me, ripped the chains from my wrists.’

Twilight was shocked when she didn’t know that others beside him were that cruel. But whilst they continued their conversation, Celestia and Luna decided to speak to Caldor, now that Celestia had gotten over her grudge with him.

‘So where do we go next?’ said Luna after she had wiped her mouth from the good food ‘Now that we have the chisel, where to next?’

‘We head straight back to the Rainbow Bridge.’ said Caldor whilst he placed his bowl away.

‘Back to the Rainbow Bridge?’ said Celestia when he was curious about it ‘Do we have to travel to another world?’

‘Not really.’ said Caldor when he leaned forward ‘There is a secret room underneath the temple of the Rainbow Bridge. Galahad, one of the gods like Eros, created a secret room below, storing vast amounts of treasure there. From there we can find a special tool to help us create the special key we needed to cross to Adularia.’

‘What else does the vault contain?’ said Luna when she was curious.

‘Mostly weapons that were once wielded by many warriors from different realms, but other times they also contain many other trinkets and artifacts that represented them too.’

‘When should we depart?’ said Starlight Glimmer when she and Sunburst overheard their conversation.

‘We rest up after the meal and then we’ll set off back to the Rainbow Bridge.’ said Caldor whilst he finished the last of his stew.

Sure enough, after they were all rested up, they headed straight back to the Rainbow Bridge. All of them continued following the pathway, until Caldor said ‘This way now, it’s not far.’ whilst he led them to a staircase that leads right down. They continued to follow the walkway after the stairs and a few more steps ahead to the left, was a large door. ‘Ah, we’re here.’

Invictus was able to open the door, allowing them to enter. But when they arrived, they noticed that there was nothing, only a pedestal.

‘Uh, you sure this is the right place?’ said Sunburst when he looked around.

Thunder noticed something about the pedestal and used the magic from his horn. But he looked at Fizzlepop and signaled her to join him, which she did. The two of them focused their magic together and were able to activate the pedestal. Which in turn, ended up activating the entire platform they were standing on. The platform ended up lowering them as it slowly descended. But along the way, they ended up seeing painted hieroglyphs of folks from the past.

‘Who is that?’ said human Rarity when she looked at the paintings.

‘Aye,’ said Caldor when he saw ‘Now that happens to be Galahad, he’s a different kind of god. He’s the god of war, but also of peace and justice. It’s his task to influence those to engage in war, and later finds a solution that would bring them peace and help find justice to those that have lost their lives.’

‘Wait,’ said Applejack when she wondered about something ‘So this feller’s job is to create a war, then stops it?’

‘Uh, that’s a little twisted.’ said the human Rainbow Dash when she crossed her arms.

‘That’s just their responsibilities.’ said Caldor when he continued ‘See many gods have different responsibilities. There are those that controls the ocean, the undead world, the sky, even the sun and the moon.’

‘Wait,’ said Celestia when she looked at Caldor ‘There were other gods that could control the sun and the moon?’

‘Of course,’ said Caldor when he looked at Princess Celestia and Princess Luna ‘There are plenty of gods and goddesses that can control the sun and moon. This world’s gods, both Apollo and his sister Athena can control the sun and moon, until Eros killed the two of them that is.’

‘How much longer,’ said Rainbow Dash when she got impatient ‘I can’t stand waiting around here any longer. This is more boring than the time Applejack dared me into waiting in line without losing my cool.’

Human Rainbow Dash whispered to Princess Twilight ‘Has the other me always been this impatient, or grumpy?’

‘You have no idea.’ said Twilight whilst she rolled her eyes.

Atreus felt the lift slowing down and let the others began to know ‘The lift’s slowing down. I think we’re almost there.’
Sure enough, they ended up landing on the ground floor. But to their surprise, they saw many traps that could even crush a termite if need be. ‘This…is going to be harder than we thought.’ said Don when he looked at the traps.

‘Don’t worry,’ said Sunset, trying to sound confident ‘I’m sure we’ll be able to find a way through here. We just need to find a way to cross and time it just right.’

‘Or we could just find the off switch.’ said Copper Plume when he pointed the obvious.

‘Oh please,’ said Caldor when he told them otherwise ‘This place has been designed to be impenetrable, there’s no way that there is going to be an…’

‘Found it.’ said Blue Barry as he pressed a random button.

When all of a sudden, the machine shut themselves down and ended up disabling the traps. Many were shocked to see that there really is an off switch. ‘Huh, what do you know,’ said Caldor when he couldn’t believe his eyes ‘I guess there really is an off switch.’

All of them continued onward with their journey, trying to uncover what Galahad might be hiding from underneath the Rainbow Bridge.

‘Are all these traps really necessary?’ said Fizzlepop when she saw so many traps all around them.

‘It is,’ said Thunder as he walked next to her ‘Many times there are those who wish to steal treasures from other races, so protecting it in this manner is necessary, like a dragon protecting its gems.’

‘He’s not wrong there.’ said Spike whilst he flew by to accompany Twilight.

They walked for at least five minutes down the hall, until they eventually had reached a door. ‘Stand back now,’ said Caldor as he took a step forward ‘Luckily for me Galahad taught me on how to open this.’

Caldor concentrated his magic through the tip of his right pointing finger. He placed it against the top center of the door and stroked it down with it, allowing the door to glow as if it were highlighting its way around. Slowly but surely, the doors began to open, revealing darkness from within. Caldor took a step forward and said ‘Flam moss.’, allowing the room to instantly lit up every torch within. But the moment the room was lit, all of them were in awe when they saw many tables, containing tons of treasures and artifacts.

‘Whoa.’ said both Rainbow Dash and her human counterpart at the same time ‘This is awesome!!!’

All of them except for Celestia, Luna, Invictus and Caldor, ran around the place when they wanted to get a closer look at the treasures from within. ‘Amazing,’ said Luna when she saw all of this treasure ‘This is from every realm?’

‘From every gods, yes.’ said Caldor when he pointed at the treasure.

Rainbow Dash flew up to Caldor and showed him a helmet that nearly looked like her Cutie Mark, with feather wings on both sides ‘Whoa, check this one out, this helmet almost looks like my Cutie Mark.’

‘Ah,’ said Caldor when he pointed at it and explained to her ‘That happens to be the helmet of Hermes. He was from the Greek Gods, as well as both a messenger and also the fastest. Not as fast as you, but they did have a Pegasus that’s equally fast as you.’

‘Whoa, awesome.’ said Rainbow Dash whilst she flew back.

‘Amazing,’ said Rockhoof when he looked at a specific artifact that was a replica of Thor’s hammer with ancient runes on the side that he recognized ‘These nearly resemble to the Mighty Helm, my old village.’

‘That happens to be the replica of Thor’s Hammer, the god of thunder and also from the realm of the Norse gods of both Asgard and Valhalla.’

‘Oh my,’ said the human Fluttershy when she looked at the flute she was holding ‘This flute is beautiful.’

‘That would be from Pan,’ said Caldor ‘He was known as the god of the forests and a caretaker of nature.’

‘Oh my,’ said Rarity when she was holding Egyptian jewelry ‘These artifacts are amazing.’

‘Even if some of them are a bit tacky.’ said human Rarity whilst holding a helmet of Egyptian origin.

‘Those treasures are from a great desert land,’ said Caldor when he told Rarity and her counterpart ‘There the most powerful god there is Ra, the Egyptian god of the sun.’. He looked at Celestia after he was able to gain her attention ‘You would’ve liked him, he’s an excellent conversationalist.’

Pinkie Pie and her counterpart kept on jumping from one treasure to the next, until they bumped into a large ring and were surprised by it. ‘Oooh,’ said Pinkie Pie when she looked at it ‘That ring must belong to one of the giants.’

Twilight founded something and brought it to Caldor ‘Excuse me, Caldor, I think this belongs to you.’

‘By the beards of the ancient fathers,’ said Caldor when he accepted it ‘That’s my old journal, I used to catalog this about the other worlds when I first set out on my journey.’

He ended up turning a page and saw a picture. He ended up smiling and signaled Celestia and Luna to look at it. When they did, it was a picture of Caldor when he first started out as a scholar, with Celestia’s mother, Princess Faust, and their father Mighty Wing. Then there was Celestia when she was a filly, then Luna when she was just a foal. ‘Its…us.’ said Luna when she smiled and shed a tear.

‘That was…so long ago.’ said Celestia when she felt the same way.

‘Aye,’ said Caldor when he agreed ‘I miss the old days.’

Celestia then thought of something, and made her decision under careful consideration. ‘Caldor,’ said Celestia when she asked a favor from him ‘Do you think you could come visit us again? It would be nice to talk about our parents again.’

Caldor ended up smiling as he closed his book ‘I would like that very much.’

But whilst they were enjoying looking through the treasures, Invictus ended up spotting one large table that gained his attention as he walked towards it. For as he made his way to the table, he recognized the treasures on it, for they were treasures from his home of Phalanxia. Among them was a spear, containing a sword from within, a large shield nearly half his size with lightning bolts on both sides, as well as a helmet with blue feathers on top. The helmet appears to be what you would expect from the Knights of the Medieval era. He began to think of during his time, when he was one of them, leading them to victory against those who would dare to threaten the peace of their homeland and its neighboring countries. Right next to it was a standard Phalanxian longsword, favored among the Phalanx, whilst deciding to keep it with him for old times’ sake.

But he also saw a large amphora that almost looks like a 1.5 Liter bottle. He opened the amphora as he removed the cork, whilst taking a whiff of its contents. He closed his eyes as he remembered where he had smelled it. He hadn’t smelled the scent for who knows how long, for he could never forget it during his days as a young warrior. He opened his eyes and closed the amphora, taking it with him as well. But when he looked to his left, he saw a large vase. He walked over to it and recognized the picture. He kept staring at it, whilst bringing painful memories of his past. He nearly wanted to grip on the vase, but tried to contain both his anger and strength.

At the same time, Copper had a helmet of a Celtic Warrior over his head whilst standing next to Invictus. ‘Father?’ he replied.

Invictus, not wanting them to see it, ended up tossing it aside, breaking it in the process, but slowly gained their attention in the progress. ‘Uh, Invictus?’ said Sunset Shimmer when she was curious about something ‘Are you alright?’

‘I’m fine.’ he replied, trying to keep calm from within, whilst walking away to help search for what they were looking for. Whilst he searched, the Mane 7 and their counterparts, as well as Sunburst and Spike, wondered what he was hiding.

‘What kind of a vase is it?’ said Spike when he wondered what it was.

‘I think this is a vase of something from a long time ago, similar to what the Crystal Empire keeps on doing.’ said Sunburst when he looked at it.

‘Let me see here.’ said Twilight as she used her magic to put it together.

When Twilight had placed them together, they were surprised who they saw. They saw a man wearing a type of Roman kilt wrapped around his waist, wearing roman sandals and two cuffs around his wrists. It had a red tattoo line from his right arm and over his right eye, looking like he was screaming in rage, whilst holding two swords that were identical to the one Invictus was wielding.

‘Whoa, that’s…Invictus.’ said Sunset Shimmer when she got a good look at it.

Twilight looked at Invictus and saw him still looking around. She kept wondering why there was a vase painting of him, and why he didn’t want any friends. She remembered that he told her that he hated the gods, which he couldn’t explain. Eros she understood, but the others, not so much. ‘Why don’t you want any friends?’ said Twilight within her thoughts, thinking of why someone like him wouldn’t want any friends.

At the same time, whilst he was exploring, Invictus had found a special kind of blade lying near artifacts which he recognized of what his wife told him; the “Adularian god killer”, specifically designed to kill any god, no matter what realm they were from. He kept it with him as he placed it in his pouch. At the same time, Knight flew nearby and showed his father an ancient rune.

‘Father, is this it?’ he said as he showed it to him.

Invictus took it and observed it. But to make sure, he tossed it to Caldor, allowing him to catch it. He recognized it when he got a better look at it. ‘Excellent,’ said Caldor when he looked at it ‘Whilst we travel there, I will use it to combine its magic with the chisel. It’ll be ready in no time.’

They left and headed straight for the elevator. But not before Rarity used a spell to take a huge amount of treasures with her, and shrunk it down in a bag as she placed it inside her side saddle. All of them eventually reached the platform, but it also produced seats so that all of them could sit down.

‘Oh boy, mah feet are killing me.’ said human Applejack whilst she took off her boots and rubbed her feet a bit.

‘Y’all feet, mah hooves.’ said Applejack whilst she rubbed her aching hind hooves.

But at the same time, Invictus took out the large amphora whilst he looked at it. Twilight noticed as she sat forward. ‘Oh, what’s that you’re holding there?’

Invictus removed the cork of the amphora and looked at Twilight ‘Aegeanian wine. From the island of Aegean, near the place of my birth.’

Twilight took a whiff at it and nearly felt disgusted by the smell ‘Smells like rotten eggs.’

‘They have that effect.’ said Invictus ‘I would offer, but I do not know if it’s enough…’

‘Oh, no problem.’ said Twilight whilst she used a spell to duplicate them. Noticing, the others gathered around and wondered what they were doing. Twilight each handed them an amphora and returned the original to Invictus. She handed each of them an amphora as all of them accepted it.

Invictus raised his amphora a bit and said ‘To the close end of our journey.’

‘Is it any good?’ said Rarity out of curiosity. She took a sip of it, but was surprised of how tasty it was. ‘Oh my, that is excellent.’

Each of them took a sip of their amphorae and also liked it. ‘I must say, this is excellent.’ said Luna when she agreed.
However, Twilight turned the wine back to the way it was made, which also turned into seeds, making Invictus realize that she wants to put it at a local vineyard so that they could make more of those. Invictus on the other hand downed his as he drank the wine with so many glugs as he could. He then tossed it aside as he sighed of relief, something he hadn’t felt in years. He looked up and realized that they were nearly topside, allowing him to stand up as a result.

‘Invictus,’ said Celestia when she wondered something ‘If I may ask. Why did you leave your homelands? Was there a reason you couldn’t go back, because of the gods there?’

Invictus only grunted when he didn’t want to give them an answer, for it was something he wasn’t comfortable to talk about. ‘It’s just,’ said Luna next when she wanted to know the same thing ‘We’ve seen your hatred of the gods. But Galahad had proven that some gods can be good, even you. But do you only kill those deserving?’

He slightly looked at them, not wanting to make eye contact of what had happened. He only replied ‘Yes.’

‘Aye,’ said Caldor when he asked a difficult question ‘But who is worthy enough to judge?’

However, just when they had reached the surface as the platform stopped, they were met with unexpected faces. ‘Applejack?’ said a familiar face.

When they looked, to half of their shock, they saw human Apple Bloom, human Sweetie Belle and human Scootaloo. The EG Mane 7 were just as shocked to see them. ‘Apple Bloom?’ said human Applejack as she walked over and gave her sister a hug. She held onto Apple Bloom’s shoulder as she looked at her with both concern and worry ‘What in tarnation are y’all doing here?’

‘We were busy having a walk out in the woods,’ said human Sweetie Belle when she spoke next ‘But then we saw that big bridge over there. We didn’t know that there was a bridge out there.’

‘Girls,’ said human Rarity when she spoke to them ‘It’s too dangerous to be out here.’

‘Why?’ said human Scootaloo when she was curious.

‘We’ve come across some bad people,’ said human Rainbow Dash to the kids ‘And they really mean business, and not the good kind.’

‘They are, but where are they?’ said human Sweetie Belle when she looked around.

‘We were able to lose their trail,’ said human Rarity whilst she held onto her little sister’s shoulders ‘But we do not know for how much longer.’

Human Apple Bloom felt her backpack’s string nearly got loose as she tried to tie it again, whilst replying with ‘Dang it.’

‘What’s wrong Apple Bloom?’ said human Applejack when she saw her struggling.

‘Mah backpack’s string got broken when it got caught in a tree branch. Ah’ve been trying to fix it, but it just keeps breaking.’

Bucky noticed and walked on over. ‘Hang on there little miss,’ he said as he gained human Apple Bloom’s attention ‘Let me see if ah can’t help there.’

He pulled out what looked like an arrow, but it was coated in green as if it were made of emeralds, but ended up snapping the tip of the arrow whilst throwing the rest away and kept the tip and partial wood of the arrow. ‘Whoa, what’s that?’ said human Apple Bloom when she looked at it.

‘This here’s a mistletoe arrow. Made by the finest Elves of Alfheim, the finest hunters and bowman there ever was. It says to bring you good luck,’ said Bucky as he used it to tie the string together, but strongly. ‘So you will be lucky to have this tied with you.’

After he was done, human Apple Bloom tested it, and it worked, which left her surprised ‘Wow, thanks mister.’

‘Please, call me Bucky.’ said Bucky when he was trying to be a gentleman. He ended up looking at Apple Bloom as he tilted his head whilst he was thinking. He dug in his backpack and pulled out a type of cowboy hat for her. ‘Got something for you. Figured you might need something with your unique charisma.’

Human Apple Bloom was surprised that she got a new hat whilst she accepted it. She placed it on her head and it was a perfect fit. She instantly hugged Bucky with a smile, whilst he hugged her back too. After that she ran off and waved to them with her friends joining her ‘Ah’ll see y’all later Applejack!!’ she yelled and later disappeared.

Atreus ended up bumping him against Bucky’s shoulder with his elbow as he said ‘You big softy.’

‘Come,’ said Invictus ‘We must continue our journey.’

As all of them left one by one, Bucky was about to follow, until Human Applejack stopped him. Instead she was smiling ‘That was a generous gift you gave her.’

‘Figured she was due to have one of her own.’ said Bucky as he tilted his hat backwards ‘Besides she already looks up to her sister, figured she could also have a signature hat of her own.’

Human Applejack ended up kissing him by his left cheek, which left him surprised. ‘Ah appreciate it.’

She walked off ahead as Bucky looked at her surprised. After a few steps, she signaled him to come with her, which he did as he accompanied her. That said, with the Chisel and what they needed finally in their possession, they now have the means to create a special chisel to open a portal to Adularia, the realm of the First Ones