Shadows of the Night

Both containment pods were still in place, their white spherical bodies dulled by the absence of light. It was no longer needed now that I held control over his body. Checking up on this minutia was one of the memories that I was most grateful for assimilating. While the original was slightly degraded with time, the name Peter was strongly tied to a list of top 100 things to comply with in order to minimize the luck of those who opposed my plans for peace. According to the containment readings Somnium was still moving about, though the constant forceful drain of power would certainly cause enough pain to illicit such frenzied movements. The one holding Rumor, which drew no power, was another story. It was fascinating the way he would jerk and shudder with seemingly no pattern to go with it, however, the oddest thing was that the movements came nowhere close to the edge of his containment, but rather stayed closer to his representative core. Not that it mattered in the slightest, he had only ever held the power to keep me at bay, and now that I was in complete control, there was no amount of force he would ever be able to muster that would overcome me.

Pushing the walls aside I slipped from the room that held them and a bevy of unused pods and proceeded to the memory hall where I could most easily interface and receive better detail upon recall. Another white room, it remained blank until I enter, upon which three wires writhed down from the ceiling and pierced through my head. My mental representation began to lose some of its definition as the process of selection began through my own recent memories.

***

Two days prior, upon my ascendance to constant control, I’d just finished spending time with the landlord, Sprocket. She had attempted actions of endearment in order to minimize the danger she thought Rumor might pose to others, but mostly to himself. She had been quite verbally-direct on that account. Pushing things forward, a hug had been given, initiated by myself, and a word of thanks given in a caring tone. She had been placated, for the time being, and it had allowed me to go to the Eastern station to update my profile as well as report to my lack of knowledge regarding the explosion or my own transformation. My reported emotional duress was more than sufficient to allow them to keep my body there for undue amounts of time, and an assurance that once I got back on my feet that I could easily begin working again, but with a new headquarters.

All minor efforts, but it was the body language and the demure manner that took the most effort to portray. Worse, it was an overly relaxed posture which inhibited reaction time to surprise threats. If I did things correctly I could get into a better stance in roughly a month without overt notice. After that it was time to sow some potential seeds of distraction. I didn’t know how much I would be monitored by the Tartarusfire Club, but I knew that close tabs would be kept. Rolling through my options I decided that spending my time within the library would do some good, in the children’s section, reading up on what ponies considered to be rare or mythical. Stories with pictures were preferred, and I’d spent the last two days reading finding out of such creatures as Kitsunes, a fox like race particularly skilled in illusion magic, and Quetzali a winged serpent race that used sun magic and fed on the positive emotions of their prey much like changelings, though were less reviled. This was most likely due to the lack of black or snake-like head. In fact, both species were rather humanoid, which I’d thought was quite odd given the dominant life forms upon the planet were quadrupeds.

My time spent in small chairs and bright organized colors did not last long after that as the second day ended with a simple summons, sent via telegram, and left at the front desk for me to find as I left that evening. I was required at the club.

***

Walking into the room I remained silent, as I noticed the diamond dog, Crowley, standing next to his desk as I see the indigo unicorn, Trance, sitting in the plushly austere chair. I remained silent as a sliver of light flashed across his eyes, and his teeth begin to part from the gentle smile that adorned his face.

“It’s nice to see you again, read any good books recently?”

His voice had remained sweet, like a father crooning over a daughter, but there was something else there as well.

“Well, as I’m sure you know, we’ve had a major cutback in our revenues with so much attention being drawn to our fair city, and we’ve come to believe a little diversifying is in order.”

The way he subtly lilted across the words, it sounded as though he about to start a lover’s song, but it came out with such ease it remained a calming agent.

“So we’re going to send you on a small trip up the coast for a little spelunking,” turning to Crowley, “please hand him his papers.”

“Yes Master Trance,” Crowly replied in his deep voice as he stepped around and pulled out an envelope from inside his black pinstriped coat and handing it over to me before he silently returned to his spot, to the left of Trance.

“Thank you so much for your time Rumor,” he said wearing a smile, “you’ll find your transportation down by the docks, and will depart at the top of the hour.”

I had looked over to the grandfather clock, it read 3:15.

“Oh don’t worry,” Trance said as I looked back over to him, his eyes faintly sparkling, “I expect you’ll be back tomorrow morning.

***

Pulling out of the memories I pushed out and again began to take stock of the outside world. The transportation Trance had mentioned was a pegasus and a griffin, both of which had only grown more agitated upon my arrival, but quickly took to the air as I stepped into the chariot. The mission had been a touch of a surprise. Apparently I was to turn dragon slayer so that its hoard might be repurposed.

The dragon in question was… interesting. A great beast, it housed a thick, scaly, hide of deep purple scales, of which it was suggested that I damage as little of them as feasible. Its own natural powers of flight, strength, durability, and fire breathing aside, it was purported to be gifted with extraordinary senses, even for a dragon.

Looking over the side, taking stock of location, the land further north was riddled with volcanoes, and was pockmarked with stretches of brown and red rocks which I could only assume were where fires had not blackened it. Rumor had looked at maps before, according to the memories the sanctioned land of Equestria end very near Bitsburg and after that it was dragon country. It was really quite disappointing that a broken landscape was all these supposedly intelligent and powerful creatures could manage.

My reverie was broken as the pair began to circle downward, towards a strange outcrop of mountains, which formed a concentric ring, at the center of which stood a great path which went into the mouth of a cavern.

Landing just outside the ring, the massive red mountains towered over us. Stepping off the landed vehicle I noted the suppressed shivering forms of the two flyers. Their eyes kept darting about, and even as the roasted air keened about the rocks above us, I could just hear a slight whimpering.

Walking towards the shadow of the mountain, the sky would be too bright for my liking for just a few more hours, still, I stopped just as I passed the quivering pair, and said “You will fly back now. Your presence is no longer required.”

I started walking again until the griffin spoke up, saying, “But we were ordered to bring you back.”

Phasing my face around Rumor’s skull, the black spot and half smile stood at full bear upon the griffin, “I do not require your presence to return. Tell your masters to leave the lights off in the white room.” When they did not immediately move I grew displeased. Jumping backward, much to the surprise of the two flyers, two white chains snaked out my back and wrapped around their forelimbs and jerked them towards my face. In a pleasant tone, devoid of any echoing I calmly said, “You’ve already made me waste enough energy with words. Please don’t make me waste any more. It will only end poorly for your family, friends. And acquaintances.”

Letting go of them the air shimmered like heat waves as they sped through the air.

Turning around I made my way to the base of one of the massive mountains and began to open countless holes within my body and let Rumor’s darkness stream out and cover me. I’d need to wait until nightfall before I began.

***

As the last of the sun’s rays died behind the mountainous crags over the horizon I again brought my awareness to bear against the outside world.

Opening countless microscopic holes I allow Rumor’s natural darkness to flow out. Another failing of that fool, unable to realize the boon he was given. Magic does tend to differ across different realms. Apparently a conjuring of darkness was an extraordinarily basic spell in the realm it originated from, but here, it was a different story entirely.

Pushing out the darkness I subtly shaped it to deaden not only the air, but also the rock below, removing the vibrational disturbance I create through existing.

Moving forward the moon began to quickly rise over the horizon, dissipating the darkness and lengthening shadows. Knowledge of lunar magic was something Nightmare Moon had kept from me. But she had given me so much more in the way of magical knowledge. Darkness was indeed good for all the things I had told Rumor of, just not exactly how it could be applied.

Stepping through the shadows I silently lance across boulders and treacherous stone ways as I cross over the tall crags, and quickly alight upon the ground on the other side. In front of me lies the great cavern. Wrapping another layer of darkness around me I descend into a cavernous tunnel, seemingly entirely glassy smooth. Looking closer towards the rock, I realized that it took on absurd twists and turns where it was not completely blackened.

I small effort of thought and the excess darkness shifts away, making another clump of itself a few yards away from myself, in effect drawing magic into another place in order to draw potential attention. One of the things most creatures in this world failed to realize was how old a dragon is. Though finding such basic things of their biology was permissible considering they might turn you to ash with an errant sneeze. But a lesser known fact of dragons still remained that the older one got, the more it was able to consciously tap into its own great reserves of magic which allowed to breathe fire without internal damage and simultaneously survive in literally every single environment the world had to offer. Be it the cold crushing depths of the ocean, or the magma near the center of the earth. Simply put, it was never wise to underestimate such powerful creatures.

Reaching the bottom of the great tunnel, the slope having remained gentle for nearly one-thousand feet, I finally caught a glimpse at what would have been the makings of a completely hollowed mountain, were it not filled entirely of jewels, gold, and all other manner of precious items. An entire line of ornate armor lay heaped along the perimeter of the massive cavern nearly a full six feet high, though this was dwarfed by the piles of gold that were mixed evenly with every conceivable rock and crystal. Most of them remained uncut, but something had gone to the trouble of making sure nothing save the impurities within them marred their appearance. This was made more apparent upon closer inspection as most of the gold seemed partially melted. And on top of the entire complex of wealth, laid the dragon. Even in the perfect dark of the cave the great creature held a sheen about its scales that the wealth simply could not match. It was, cute. A very skillfully done illusion.

Of all that I told Rumor of darkness magic, the fact that it had nearly no use unless it was pair with another element was something I had, though in my damaged state it might have also been due to the fact he’d been able to tap into his passive magic and solidify actual darkness without water or earth was probably a mitigating factor. On its own, darkness could do little more than blind or silence someone, nothing that did actual damage in a combat situation. It did however hold one distinct caveat to that rule, darkness could shatter illusion magic. And if there was one thing someone like Rumor who was so connected to the darkness could do, it was spotting an illusion, no matter how expertly crafted, even though an organic as his current level wouldn’t recognize one of this caliber.

A wave of darkness continued to grow behind me as I added the tinges of Rumor’s own shadows to it, and then let it loose. But rather than the dragon turning back into mere wisps of imagination, the entirety of the cavern began to shimmer and waver into nothingness. All of it disappeared, and what was left was a single round wooden door, like a port hole, lying in the exact center of the cavern floor.

“Well well well, what have we here?” a deep silken voice rumbled behind me.