Guilt. That is what Oleander had been feeling these last four years. Despite being proclaimed by the nobility as a skilled mage and a master tactician, all her victories against Barrad’s foes tasted like bitter ashes. Dark magic was supposed to be a means to save everycreature from plight and suffering and yet her campaigns against the Kasa Free State and Austurland had been anything but saving them. She saw the horrified look on her enemies faces when she fought against them and how those same faces would be resurrected to serve her either by Silver Star’s necromancy or by Asinti’s summoned demons via possession. She had thought that the curse that had consumed Barrad would consume her with madness as well. And yet, for some odd reason, silence, calm, and uncertainty had recently spread throughout the land as if tartarus itself had closed its doors.
It was with this silence that Oleander now found herself awaiting an audience with none other than the mad Count Ambrosius himself. She wondered why the mad count would want an audience with her and not with the rest of the Pentarchy. Speaking of the Pentarchy, where had they gone and what happened to them? She hadn’t heard about their whereabouts since the odd silence over Barrad began. The last thing she heard about them were that they had been working on a big project that required a massive amount of resources to complete.
Was it the massive temple that Asinti had constructed? No, that couldn't have been it as the land would have been flooded with demons by now.
Was it more of Silver Star's Necromancy? Everyone would have been dead before that happened.
Maybe it was one of Leopold's projects? Certainly not. His clockwork creations would have been mass produced by then.
Perhaps it was one of Viira's research projects. Maybe.
If it was Viira then what had happened to her? Was she the one that killed off the other three? Were all of the side projects that the Pentarchy had been making all pieces of a larger plan? Was this silence just a calm before the sto-
"Miss Oleander? The count is now ready to see you," said Gąsienica.
Oleander then perked herself up and entered the Count's mansion after his right hoof Griffon General had allowed her to come inside.
She followed the Griffon with unease as, despite the calm that lay outside of Count Ambrosius' home, his mansion continued to be imbued with madness and dark magic. It was opulent as it was ominous as the manor's windows turned the morning light outside into dark hues of purples, greens and red. As Oleander continued to follow Gąsienica, she noticed just how mad the count could be as there seemed to be staircases and hallways that lead to nowhere as well as doors that seemed out of place.
"Might they be portals to other places in Barrad?" She thought. "Perhaps portals to other worlds?"
She then perished the thought as both of them soon arrived just outside of Ambrosius' private library.
The Griffon soon opened the door to the Count's private library and stoicly stood guard outside. The unicorn, meanwhile, did her best to maintain her composure as one wrong move and the Count might fry her alive or transform her into some abomination.
Oleander then approached him slowly and respectfully, stopping just a few feet behind him to keep her distance just in case. It appeared that the Count had been busy reading several books as a stack of them were piled just beside him.
"You wished to see me your highness?" she asked.
"Yes." Count Ambrosius turned to look at her. "I trust that this conversation will not leave this room?"
"Of course your highness."
She was somewhat startled to say the least as the Count looked sane and well mannered. His straight and regal poise combined with his sagely expression made him look like just another noble from the neighboring Kingdom of Wittenland.
After her brief examination of the Count, the curtains of the library suddenly closed with the candles lighting up the room shortly afterwards.
"Are you sure?" he asked again.
"You have my word your highness. Whatever we will discuss here shall not leave this room or be discussed with anyone else," replied Oleander.
"Good. I apologize for the precautions but what we are about to discuss regards the Pentarchy and where the direction I am taking this country in moving forward.
"I see. If that is the case your highness then might I ask where the rest of the Pentarchy are?
"The other four are dead.
"What?!" The black unicorn was shocked. "How? Did you kill them?"
"No. They killed each other in the pursuit of power. More specifically, Viira manipulated Leopold and Silver Star into killing Asinti. After that, she then killed the other two once they have served their usefulness which only led to her being killed by the very power she sought," Count Ambrosius explained.
"What kind of power are you talking about your highness?"
"The power that behind Barrad's anomalous climate.
"You mean that madness that consumed this land? But it feels as if it's-
"Gone? Yes but a more correct term would be that I cleansed it.
"Cleansed it? Forgive me your highness but I find it hard to believe that it was you, the Mad Count Ambrosius, who cleansed it. Is this another one of your games?
"If it were, you wouldn't be still be standing here now would you?" Count Ambrosius retorted.
He was right of course. She knew that she would have been a dead pony if it were one of the Count's games or insane projects. And yet all this left her with was more questions as to what had happened to the Count to make him this way and what was this power he spoke.
Embarrassed, Oleander then sat and turned her gaze down onto the floor to calm herself. "Y-Yes. Forgive me your majesty. I just have so many questions regarding recent events, your recent return to sanity and now the dissolution of the Pentarchy."
" sigh I understand. If it will help to clear away the doubts that cloud your mind, I shall take you the place where Barrad's madness used to reside. And I assure you that there will be no tricks or deceptions on our way there.
"Would you really do that your highness? Even for somepony outside of your inner circle?
"Yes Miss Oleander. I have made many mistakes and it is time that that we, our land and our citizens move forward to a bright new future."
Ambrosius then lent a hoof towards the black unicorn. His demeanor stern but caring. Oleander soon turned her gaze back up to the Count's face. Her eyes narrowing as she tried to look for any signs that this pony before her was about to pull some deception on her. Try as she might, she could not find anything within his body language or his facial expressions that showed that he was being insincere. After some hesitation, she took his hoof and allowed him to guide her to the source of Barrad's power.
"Ah yes. I almost forgot." Ambrosius grabbed the book that lay on the table behind him. "We will need this."
"Is that-
"Indeed. It is Viira's Journal and whilst on our journey, I want you to read as much of it as possible. At least the pages that I have bookmarked for you.
"I see. I take it that she has made several observations that allowed you to understand this power?
"Correct. And while this power has been tamed, I still want you to prepare yourself for the encounter regardless."
Oleander did a short nod and soon exited the library with Count Ambrosius. Gąsienica was then ordered by the Count to stand at ease and after a few more discussions, the three of them then began to prepare for the journey ahead.
...
Just like Ambrosius had ordered her to, Oleander began reading the bookmarked pages of Viira's Journal during the trio's journey towards the location of the power behind Barrad. Despite the observations that Viira had made regarding the various happenings in Barrad, it seemed so far as if Viira had written down what this power had been capable of instead of what it ultimately was.
"Your highness? It seems as if the Journal is incomplete regarding its description about this power," said Oleander.
"Hmm? How so?" asked Count Ambrosius.
"From what I have read so far your highness, Viira seems to have only listed the effects that this corrupted power had on the land of Barrad. Such as the strange rock underneath Asinti's temple, the mutant plant that attacked the villages near Gryphus and the Titan that attacked Leopold and Viira during our mining operations.
"Ah then you seem to have missed a few of those bookmarked pages I told you to read. Read further as the answer to what it is might surprise you."
The black unicorn was slightly annoyed by the Count's answer but nonetheless continued to flip through more of the Journal's bookmarked pages. Her blue eyes scanning them hungrily as she focused more on the finer details of Viira's discoveries. Slowly but surely, truth behind Barrad's once strange environment began to reveal itself to the inquisitive unicorn. According to what the deer seer described from her interactions with the machine cult, the power behind Barrad was strange machine deep beneath the mountains. Said machine released an enormous amount of power that had enough magical energy to manipulate the land itself.
Oleander's eyes widened with awe and surprise. "Your highness! You mean to tell me that five of you had been working on perfecting this ancient machine for the last four years or so? All that manpower and all those resources just for that one machine?
"Unfortunately so. We were blinded by our curiosity and lust for power that we forgot how much pain and suffering we were causing. How foolish we were for thinking that we could control it.
"Then is that how Viira died? By interacting with the machine?
"Not quite." Ambrosius stopped in his tracks as he, Gąsienica and Oleander had arrived at an entrance to an underground cavern. The entrance itself was closed off with a door that looked more like complex puzzle filled with various hidden mechanism and random pieces of junk that seemed out of place. A door only the once mad Count Ambrosius could come up with. The count then nonchalantly ordered the Gąsienica to move the pieces carefully and in a specific order so as not to damage the door's various mechanisms. After of an hour of the griffon flying back and forth to operate mechanisms and move pieces around, the door finally opened. The Count once more ordered the Griffon General to stand guard outside whilst he and Oleander ventured deeper into the cavern.
"How much further your highness?" asked Oleander.
"A little bit more," replied Count Ambrosius. "By the way, were you entertained by how complex the door to the cavern was?"
"I can't say that my attention wavered from the sight of its unlocking.
"Speaking of sights, you notice anything about the cavern we are walking through?
"Now that you mention it your highness, the walls appear to be scribbled with what looks to be various schematics. I assume that this formed the basis for the machine you and the rest of the Pentarchy made?
"Yes although most of the credit for the research and construction of it goes to Asinti, Leopold and Silver Star. It was their resources that helped to make it possible.
"What about Viira and yourself your highness? Didn't you say that you and her were just as heavily involved in the project as the other three?
"Not that much. Viira was busy 'managing' the whole project by carefully goading Silver Star, Leopold and Asinti to donate their resources first as a show of 'strength'. All while working behind the scenes to pool her resources to finish them off when the time came for her to acquire the machine's power for herself. As for me, I was too insane to be of any use in assisting them thoroughly. Looking back at it, I had more or less hindered the machine's construction by a few months. The delays ranging from sacrificing resources to fund my insane projects or by causing rifts between the five of us through my nonsensical rumor mongering.
"Right. I suppose that deer seer got what she deserved while you had a chance to redeem yourself after you regained your sanity correct.
"Yes. Although I still have much more to do before I can truly achieve redemption." Ambrosius stopped once more. "We're here."
Oleander's attention soon turned towards the ethereal blue glow that lay ahead of her and the Count. It was the machine that the pentarchy had made. Count Ambrosius watched on as the black unicorn took her first steps to approach it, her trot slow and steady. The world around her started to slow down as she neared the reactor. As she reached out to touch the machine, a calm voice soon called out to her.
"Oleander."
The black unicorn quickly turned her head. "Who said that? How do you know my name?"
"I am the spirit within the machine and I have witnessed much of your deeds.
"You're alive. But how?
"I am consciousness born out of fusion of the consciousnesses of seven ancient unicorns. The machine you see before you feeds me with magical energy needed for my continued survival.
"If the machine was all you wanted, why then did you shroud this land with madness and suffering?
"I did not want to cause this suffering but the one you call Ambrosius had unleashed a dark power that had corrupted me. This corruption had soon spread throughout this land, shrouding it in darkness and misery.
"A dark power you say? What kind of power could be dark enough to... No... NO..." Oleander's face turned pale.
"What is it?" asked Count Ambrosius.
"I-It can't be... H-he said we'd save the world together.
"Who said so? Tell us.
Oleander stood frozen in disbelief as the realization of what her life had led to hit her harder than any foe she had fought.
"Give us a name.
"The Unicornomicon! The demon within the book corrupted you! I had found it when I went here to learn about dark magic but to think it was responsible for all this." Oleander breathed heavily.
"Then time is of the essence. The book must be destroyed before it brings this land back into madness."
Count Ambrosius nodded in agreement and dragged the black unicorn with him back up to the surface. Hastily making their way out of the underground cavern as the future of Barrad depended on it.
...
"Your Highness!" Gąsienica exclaimed.
"No time to waste! We must go miss Oleander's residence with all haste!" The Count hurriedly closed the cavern's door. "Is the liquid fire with you?"
"Yes your highness! It is on my belt as always," replied the Griffon General.
"Good." The Count took the bottle containing the flammable liquid. "Lock the entrance and let nothing come inside. Understood?"
The Griffon nodded and and the two ponies then trotted off far away into the distance.
Both the Count and Oleander soon arrived at the latter's residence. Sweat dripping from their heads as they had expended much magical and physical energy just to get here. The two wasted no time rummaging through the house as they desperately searched for the accursed book. It didn't take long for the Unicornomicon to reveal itself to them.
"FHTNG!" exclaimed Oleander.
"Aww. No pet names for me Oleander? Is Fred not cute enough?" said the demon.
Count Ambrosius then began performing several rituals to seal the demon back into the book from whence it came with Oleander doing her best to close the book. The demon fought back with all its dark strength to keep the book open. Screaming obscenities at the two as well as mocking the black unicorn for being such a naive fool to trust him. She yelled back loudly as a surge of magic flowed from her horn. Tears streaming down her face as she felt betrayal and guilt at what she had let herself be a party to. The Count spoke the words of the rituals much more loudly as he continued to beat the demon into submission. The struggle had lasted for half an hour with the demon eventually being sealed back into the Unicornomicon.
The Count pulled out the bottle of flammable liquid and performed one last ritual to make it more effective at banishing demons. He then poured its contents all over the book. "Burn it."
Despite the hesitation, the unicorn obliged and used her magic to burn away the book. The demon screaming that it will return as it faded away from reality. The color of Oleander's coat and mane soon changed from gray, black and pink to a dull white and blue as the dark magic left her being.
...
The two felt drained after the whole ordeal and decided that it would be best if they rested outside for a few moments. The count had saved Barrad once more and just as before, no one but a select few would know of his efforts. Oleander though felt a great emptiness inside of her. She had helped to save the world from a great evil and yet it seemed as if a part of her died today.
"My life is over." The unicorn wept with her hooves covering her face.
"Now why would you say that?" asked the Count.
"Dark magic was all I've ever trained for your majesty. I feel incomplete without it.
"You are complete Oleander. You are strong even without dark magic. All that you need is a strong effort of will and you can achieve anything you set your mind to.
"But that's just it your majesty. I don't know where to go from here.
"Then perhaps I can show you a path. One that will allow you to help make the world a better place as you have always wished to do.
"What path might that be your majesty?
"Become a headmistress. Help me form a new generation of Barradians that could truly make a difference. Not with dark magic and insanity, but with science and reason. Would you be interested?"
The unicorn then wiped the tears off her face as she pondered on the Count's offer. He has been quite the gentlepony so far throughout this whole adventure. It would only be fair to repay him for all that he had done, not just for her, but for all of Barrad itself. Perhaps this time, she can fulfil her destiny.
"I'd... Like that your majesty. I accept your offer."
Oleander knew that starting fresh as the Headmistress for Barrad's 'School of Applied Sciences' wasn't going to be easy. What she hadn't known was just how quickly that reality would set in for her.
"I'm telling you miss Oleander, deciphering the Pentarchy's written works is a fool's errand. We simply must start over!" said one Griffon schoolmaster from the Elisay province.
"No!" The cultist schoolmaster from the Roughers province stomped her hooves. "We must do everything we can to decipher these texts. The secrets they hold would make our nation the most advanced in the world!"
For two months now it had been the same back and forth spiel between two factions of schoolmasters: Those who want a curriculum based upon the most developed nations of the world and those that want a curriculum based upon the interpretations of the Pentarchy's works. The arguments from both sides for and against their respective curriculums each had their merit.
On the one hand, copying a curriculum like Yale's would produce more innovative students in the long term at the cost of a slower pace of modernization for Barrad in the short term. This also made education more expensive for the average Barradian. Especially for those who are still struggling to pull themselves out of poverty.
On the other hand, the alternative curriculum promised Barrad wealth and prestige through advanced technologies made from the Pentarchy's discoveries. This was under the assumption that the Pentarchy's various schematics, formulas and recipes could not only be deciphered, but also mass produced for the benefit of the common Barradian. A risk that might not even bear any rewards given that said works were written in a near disorganized way. It would also make the new generation of Barradians heavily reliant on the nobility for new innovations in science and technology.
After Oleander had thoroughly examined each of their curriculums and their arguments for them, she finally made her decision. She then grabbed a pen from the desk with her magic and began writing letters that would be sent out to the staff members of the school.
The next day, all of the school's staff gathered and sat down inside of school's the auditorium as they waited impatiently for the headmistress. They did not have to wait long however as the neatly dressed unicorn entered from the right side of the auditorium's stage and took her stand upon the podium.
"Greetings esteemed faculty and staff." The headmistress' voice boomed throughout the room. "I have gathered you all here today to inform you about the school's finalized curriculum for the next ten years."
The faculty and staff looked at each other with confusion on their faces. Muttering amongst themselves as they wondered why the headmistress had decided on having the curriculum last only 10 years.
"I have decided that our school's curriculum shall focus on deciphering the written works of the Pentarchy. As the goal of this school is in the application of science, must do our best in bringing forth the light of reason from the depths of insanity and ignorance. What better way to show this than to bring the discoveries of the Pentarchy to the public and pave the way for a modern society. said Oleander.
"That's all well and good headmistress but how do you plan on making the decipherment process faster? asked a school reporter.
"By basing the curriculum's core values on the tenets of the scientific method and literary criticism. This shall allow the students to be critical thinkers as well as giving them the tools take part in the decipherment process.
"Yes but how will giving these two tenets help the students of this school make the Pentarchy's discoveries more accessible to the general public?
"It shall help the students by giving them the ability to remove the excess language that makes the Pentarchy's works all but impossible to read. The mixture of purple prose and insane ramblings evident within said works necessitate the need for the students to be both creative and critical thinkers which is what our 10 year curriculum intends to accomplish. Now are there any other questions you'd like to ask?"
Oleander was now trying her best to hide her frustrations at the student reporter. Was she talking to a rude moron when she answered those questions? She then held that thought and now tried to hide her embarrassment as she remembered that it was only recently that the ponies and griffons of Barrad were even given the right to education. As such, some of them had little idea common courtesy.
"One more thing headmistress. Why is the curriculum that you have made only valid for 10 years?"
"Because we as a society currently need to modernize and I believe that once we have done so, the needs our society will changed drastically as we acquire new knowledge through these changing times." Oleander smiled happily. Envisioning a brighter future for Barrad ahead.
...4 Years Later...
The excitement in the air was palpable as the Ponies and Griffons of Barrad soon gathered all along the forgotten coast to watch a special announcement by none other than Count Ambrosius himself.
"Fillies and Gentlecolts. Griffon Men and Women. I have gathered you all here today to witness the dawn of a new age for our humble nation." The Count's voice reverberated throughout the short patch of coastline where the crowd had gathered.
"We have come far from the madness of old and here we now stand as beacon of science and reason. It is we who had discovered the world of wonder metals and it is we who had discovered the elixir of knowledge that now enlightens our society. And yet even now, there are those who covet what we have achieved. Those who wish for us to go back into the dark!"
The crowd yelled with patriotic fervor, their hooves stomping and their claws clapping in agreement.
"For too long we have lived under fear that our existence and our way of life shall be destroyed. Swept away by barbarians and brutes who seek only to destroy rather than build. I tell you now that this fear shall be but a thing of the past for today our best and brightest minds have guaranteed our independence."
The crowd now stood mystified at the Count's statement. Amongst those watching was Oleander who pondered the meaning behind what he just said. She began wonder kind of invention could possibly be powerful enough to guarantee a nation's independence.
Unless...
Out of nowhere, a countdown had started and eyes and ears from all over the coast had turned towards the horizon as they waited anxiously for something happen.
"Barrad. May I present to you"- The count paused as a massive explosion appeared from the horizon behind him -"the Wendigo device."
All the Griffon and Ponies gathered had been momentarily blinded by the massive blast before turning their gaze back at the horizon where a mushroom cloud had sprouted from the sea.
"This device, so aptly named after monsters that feed on hatred and war, shall be our nation's sword and shield. For now, it shall only be used as a last resort during times of war against a foreign aggressor. In the future, it shall render the concept of war unthinkable as to do so would bring about the end of the world. Mark my words all creatures of this world, the age of light is here!"
The crowd stood in silence for a few brief moments before cheering loudly at the dawning of this new age. Oleander meanwhile, felt a large pit in her stomach for only she and select few knew where that power had come from. New questions filled her mind as this event was reminding her of how foolish and naive she was. How easily she used to justify dark magic as a means of saving the world. And now Barrad seemed to be on a path to mirroring her experiences with the nation using powers that it does not fully understand.
"Was this truly the way to save the world?" she wondered.
Whatever the answer may be, one thing was now certain. Barrad, Griffonia and the rest of the World would never be the same again.
Author's Note
Thank you for reading this far. I hope you enjoyed my first fic here on Fimfiction. Not too proud of the execution of this one but it seems good enough for now. Might've rushed this one out too quickly as I wanted to put more stuff in it and flesh those ideas out more. Regardless, I fun challenging myself in writing a lot of words in a short time.
