Nugatory Vigil

Reynald felt his body being stretch impossibly wide,and crushed to bits at the same time.He was blinded by the colorful shapes all around him,as he floated through the abyss.He was in it for a moment,or,perhaps,for centuries.He felt unbearable pain and numbness at the same time.He began wondering if this was his punishment for striking down a being of cosmic power,when he awoke with a gasp.A splitting headache wracked his head,as he heard a familiar male voice yell “Para,Junes,Reynald’s up!”.

Paracelsus woke up on the cold brick floor shuddering from the horrifying experience,that was being consumed by the Heart Of Darkness.She saw hundreds of thousands of maddened minds,heard their unending screams,experienced the suffering of thousands of souls,shared their fate as a small piece of bigger whole.And yet,she opened her eyes.

A moldy ceiling crawling with cobwebs and spiders greeted her,a drop of water imacting her forhead.The Plague Doctor wondered if it was another memory or,perhaps,and fantasy her mind conjured up to escape from the disturbing existance withing the Heart.She dicided to put that theory to the test.

She pincehd herself,”Ow!I felt that!”-she heard herself,and only herself.Was...was she alone?She decided to listen if that was the case.She heard niether screaming,nor the sound of tearing flesh.She definantly didn’t hear the creatures.Not the skeletons,she would’ve heard the ratteling of their bones.She didn’t hear the wretched pigmen,she would smell them before she heard them-

Smell.She rummaged through her bag,finding the right vial, having learned them by touch by now.She took a deep breath and regretted it immideatly,as he jerked upright by the scent.

“Right,ammonia,better that a cup of coffee!”-she exclaimed,before noticing three familiar shapes.

“The others!”-she cried,picking herself up and rushing to the first body,feeling the pulse.She could feel Junia’s pulse,and put the ammonia vial to the girl’s nose.

“AAAHHHH!”-the young Vestal screamed as she jerked upright,eyes wide and watering.

”By the Light,what is this foul smell?!”-she said,to no one in particular,observing her surroundings-”And where the hell am I!”.

”Your guess is as good as mine,Junia,but i can assure you,it’s not the worst place i’ve woken up in.”-a familiar voice declared jokingly.

“Para!I’m so glad you’re okay!You are okay,right?Ohholyflameareyoualrightissomethingbotheringyouthatheartwashorribleletme-”-her blabbering was cut short by a loud groan coming from her left.

Dismas woke up feeling lightheaded and rather cold.He produced an audible groan before a wave of familiar warmth filled him.

“Dismas,don’t move you are very hurt!”-the Vestal yelled with concern clear in her voice-”I can keep you stable for some time,but we must stop the bleeding!”

“I’ll see to that”-The Doctor stated with sympathetic sigh.She took off his jacket,revealing a bloodied right hand.

”Well,you’ve suffered a blow,didn’t you?I’ll patch you up,but please,do try to jump away from attacks,not into them.”-she remarked,bandaging his wound.

”If i knew you’d be this snarky,i would’ve stayed dead.”-the Highwayman retorted venomously,he’d bet all of his gold she was smirking behind that bird mask of her’s.

“I can make your wish come true,buttercup~”

“Oh.stop it you two!This is no time for bickering!We still don’t know if Reynald is-”

“REYNALD!”-Dismas jumped to his feet just as the doctor finished bandaging him-”Where is he?Did any of you see him?”-he said,before noticing the unconscious crusader a few meters away from him.

He rushed to feel the holy man’s pulse,and was satisfied,when he felt his heartbeat.Despite being alive the man was still unresponsive.Paracelsus rushed over to the crusader’s side,putting a flask of ammonia to his nose.

“Strange...He’s not responsive.Your foul mixture always wakes people up!”- stated the Vestal,concen clear in her voice.

“So...What do we do now?”-she continued

“We probably have enough wood to start a campfire...I’d say we stay still for a bit,see if the big guy wakes up,and them get our sorry asses out of this place”-Dismas shared his plan with his two accomplices.

“We do need a little break before moving out,i feel so utterly exhausted”-Junia agreed.

“I feel kinda sore,plus i need to organize my medicines for easier access”-concured Para.

“It’s settled then.I will stay up to guard our party from any intruders,better safe than sorry.”

“Yeah,suuure our party,you definently won’t watch over Reynald all ni-”-but before she could finish,Paracelsus felt Junia elbow her in the ribs.

“Oh shush you!Dismas volunteered to keep guard,don’t be so harsh on him!”-Junia reprimanded her friend.

“Oh come on i was joking!”-the Plague doctor was gathering rocks for their campfire.

“It’s nothing serious,we’re still friends,right Dismas?”-she placed the rocks in a circle formation.

“Sure,nothing serious!But the next time you see a shiny new trinket,keep it close,okay?These things are expensive,if I find the right client,that is”-he grinned,arranging the pile of wood within the circle.

Twilight woke up feeling very tired.Even though she went to sleep extra early yesterday,to ensure healthy 10 hours of sleep she still felt drowsy.Today was going to be a very stressful day for the young alicorn.Not because it was the day of Summer Sun Celebration,the event itself was gong to be held in Manehattan,so she wasn’t the one doing all the planning.Not because she’d be spending all day with her friends,she did that all the time,after all!The reason for her worrying laid on top of the nightstand near the bed.It was a simple-looking envelope with a red stamp,depicting a semicircle crossed with several black notches.

When she returned home after the whole “Tree of Harmony” debaucle a few days ago she was already tense.With the elements gone,what will stop Discord from unleashing his chaos upon Equestria,consequence-free?Sure,Fluttershy was his friend,and draconequus seemed to care about their friendship dearly,willing to help them clean the town...And yet,there was a small part of her that was unsure of his intentions.The lavender pony put that thought to the back of her mind,trying to distract herself from it when she noticide a small envelope nailed to the door of the Golden Oak library.
“Why would anypony deliver the letter in such a crude way?”-she frowned before picking it up with an aura of purple magic.She was surprised at how taxing the action was on for her.

“It feels like i’m holding a small rock,not a piece of paper.Could it be enchanted?”-she mused,opening the door and placing the strange mail on the table.Entering her library the mare picked up a good dozen of books on the subject of spells and enchantmets.She spent a few hours going through them,finding a few weigh-enchancing spells,that were mainly used to anchor something in place,be it ships sailing through the oceans,or a tent on a stormy night.She scanned the letter for any kind of magic,and was surprised to not find any weight-enchancing spells.

She was,however,stunned when she found something worse.The letter dripped with arcane magic,and not just any arcane magic,it felt...old.Ancient,even.She tried her best to descipher if it was enchanted with any arcane spells she knew of,and found nothing.By all means,it was as normal as any other letter,barring the weight and arcane magic shenanigans.And despite the letter’s wierdness she was as curious as ever.The pony opened the letter,thinking that whatever it was,she probably faced worse.After all,her friends were not far away,if something happened,she could always call them to her aid and they’d figure it out!

The lavender librarian opened the envelope,waiting for a few moments to see if anything would happen.When nothing did she let out a sigh of relief,and stated reading the letter.Her relief was short-lived when she saw what it contained.It was splatterd with,what seemed to be,blood.The wrighting itself was incomprehencible,with what little she could descern speaking about disgusting monsters,a manor,and the catacombs beneath it.Her eyes darted to the only legible sentence at the bottom of the letter.

“A moment of respite. A chance to steel oneself against the coming horrors.Be ready.Tomorrow.”

She stared at the letter in shock.

“Wh-what?Respite...Coming horrors?What could it mean?”.Her eyes went wide at the word tomorrow.

“Spike!Can you please come here?I need to send a letter,it’s really important!”-the alicorn called her assistant-”I have to alert the pri-”-she stopped at the word.

“The Princesses...Could it be another test?”-the mare thought hard about it.Even with the arcane magic,it was still well within Celestia’s or Luna’s abilities to enchant and send that letter.But what about the manor?And the catacombs?

“AH!”-she gasped at the realisation.”Castle of the Two Sisters!Of course!They want me to go and look for something there!”-she was happy about the opportunity to explore a new place,and at the request of her Mentor and her sister,no less!She still had questions about the blood,and the writing,but she wrote it off as a test of her courage,her determination!The blood was probably fake,and it doesen’t take a genius to write random gibberish.

A little dragon stumbled out of the kitchen,wearing a cute pink apron.He grumbled for a few seconds before facing Twilight,colorful crumbles of crystal visible in the corners of his mouth.

“I’m ready Twi!What do want me to write?”-the dragon asked,taking a piece of paper with a quill and an inkwell out of a near drawer.

Twilight pused before replying -”I`ll write the letters myself,Spike,i just need you to send them to each of my friends.”

Spike arched an eyebrow -”So...Can i go back to making dinner?”-he questioned.

“Of course Spike,sorry for bothering you.”-she smile sheepishly

“There’s one thing i want to ask for”-the little dragon asked-”can i deliver the letter to rarity personally?”

“Sure you can Spike,you can also tell her to prepare a few saddlebags,can you do that for me?”

“Yeah,i’ll do that.Why do you need the saddlebags anyway?And these emergency letters...”-the little dragon put two and two together-”Are you going somewhere?”

“Yes Spike,we’re going to the Castle of The Two Sisters tomorrow!”-Twilight declared.

“Are you...Going to be there for long?”-Spike inquired,a little saddened that his mother figure was going away so soon.

“Don’t worry,it won’t take more than a day.We’ll probably be back by tomorrow’s evening!”-she said,hugging the downcast dragon,who hugged her back.

“If you say so...I guess i’ll go back to making dinner,call me when you need me Twi!”-her little assistant said as he made his way to the kitchen.

Twilight sighed and began writing the letters.

After recalling the events of the evening Twilight got out of the bed,and went with her usual morning routine.

She met her friends on the edge of the Everfree forest,near Fluttershy’s cottage around ten in the morning.When the pleasantries were over she explained her plan.

“Okay girls,as i’ve said in the letter,we get to the castle and try to explore the catacombs beneath it.Stay close to eachother,don’t wander away,the Everfree is still dangerous.”-she warned her friends,before looking at Fluttershy,who was even quieter than usual-”I doubt Discord will make those vines disappear,even if we ask him nicely,no offence,Fluttershy.”

“None taken...”-replied the yellow mare.

“So,have any of you girls noticed anything strange yesterday?Apart from the whole Tree of Harmony fiasko.”-Twilight asked.
Everypony raised their eyebrows,before repying.

“Can’t say ah had,sugarcube”-replied Applejack-”Ah spent the rest of mah day in the orchad,those dang vines almost got to it!”

“Didn’t see anything wierd from up above”-Rainbow said-”Although i was pretty preoccupied with being awesome”-she boasted-”And arranging the clouds above Ponyville.That forest screwd with our weather scedule!”

“I’ve been helping the Cakes,the whole day!They were so worried about the whole situation,they needed my help to finish their order!”-Pinkie Pie said gleefuly,jumping in place.

“It took me the entire day to clean up the whole boutique,those vines made such a mess!”-Rarity cried dramtically,putting a hoof above her head and closing her eyes-”If I step on one more thorn,I’m going to scream.”

“I...actually have something to share something with you girls...”-she almost whispered-”It’s probably nothing,but...”
“Sure thing Fluttershy”-Rainbow Dash interfered-”We’re all ears!”-she exclaimed.

“Please dear,pardon Rainbow for her rudeness,but yes,we’re listening.”-Rarity said,casting an annoyed glance at the rainbow pony,who thought she did nothing wrong.

“Uhm... So,after Discord finished cleaning yesterday,I went to my cottage,but before i entering it,i heard some rustling in the nearby bushes.”-she explained-”I thought it was an animal,so I decided to check on it.”-her face became a little pale,and she spoke quietly as she continued-”I saw four creatures,hiding in the bush.One of them had a long mask,that reminded me of a bird’s beak,it wore a long robe,and had a few bags on itself.The other wore some armor,similar to the royal guard’s,it’s face was covered with a helmet,so i couldn’t see it’s face.The third wore a long coat,and a mask on his face,the only thing i saw,were his brown eyes”-she gulped-”he...he was glaring at me with suspicion,but i didn’t do nothing!”-she cried-”The last of them was a mare,from what i could gather.She looked young,but tired,her blue eyes glanced at me before notifying the others.When they noticed me they stood high on their back legs,and the mare approched me.”

Fluttershy’s friends looked shocked,ready to bombard her with questions,Twilight initiating said bombardment,but they let Fluttershy finish her story.

“I was shocked,so i can’t remember the details,but i remember them asking about a town,a tavern,and a hospital.I pointed towards Ponyvile,and...f-fainted...When i woke up,i was in my cottage.”-she concluded,embarassed of her cowardice.
Rainbow was the first one to ask.

“Are you alright?They didn’t hurt you,did they?I’m gonna kick their flanks so hard if they did!”-she said,looking ready to buck something.

“N..-no,they didn’t”-Fluttershy replied.
“So,they’re probably in the town right now,doin’ whatever,while we’re standing and chattin’!”-Applejack interfered-”So what are we waitin’ for?!We need to find them!Right now!”

And just like that,they started running towards Ponyville.