Fallout Equestria: Desperados V3 (Bonds of Platinum)

Fallout: Equestria

Desperado’s V3: Bonds of Platinum

Ch 27, Blood of Platinum, Part 2.

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Our hoofsteps echoed down the long ancient stone stairway. Slight imprint of those who came before us had subtly carved itself into the stone, the over a thousand years of ponies trotting in and out of the tomb taking its toll. The stale dry air reminded me of my family vault, along with ancient and complex magic that lingered around me.

Braziers ignited with magical blue flames as we descended, lighting our way, leading us to a large room filled with boxes along the walls. At the center was an altar there to greet us, in which it had a bronze torch displayed on it.

Lair smirked as she saw the torch, which was all I needed to know, she knew exactly what that was. But for everypony, including me, was confused.

“Wh… what is this?!” Purity nearly shrieked out. “This is a damn storage room, not a tomb!”

“Maybe there's a secret door, like at the mega mall?” Fizzy suggested as she tapped on one of the boxes.

Mag shook her head. “No, that's a Blackroot habit. From what I knew, the royal family didn't have a tolerance for simple secret passages. They had too many princes and princesses sneak out, as well as other things sneak in.”

“Right, that's how a few of my ancestors got assassinated prior to the founding of Canterlot.” I said, remember my family history. “Maybe there's a clue here?” I asked as I trotted to the bronze torch.

Utopian had his priestess open a box, revealing a preserved large painting inside a glass box. Seeing it caused Utopian to gasp. “This painting is a Van Gogh!”

Even from a distance I could see it too, the rough but beautifully imaginative painting. Though I would need to get closer, I was sure it was the real thing.

“As impressive as that is, it's not what we're looking for!” Purity yelled. “Open the rest!”

“Must you?” I said to Purity, but she just ignored me as she motioned for her hench ponies to continue.

One by one the boxes were opened, revealing priceless works of art of all kinds. Books, paintings, jewelry, sculptures, clothing, and even a few ancient weapons. But nothing significantly magical.

The priest annoyingly opened another box without care, this one had a marble statue of a unicorn stallion holding a Lyre. Strangely, though beautiful, it resembled the style of stonework of wartime Equestria imitating the ancient stonework pre-Equestria. There was no way that heeded to be kept here outside sentimental value.

“Explain, Princess!” Purity demanded.

But I had nothing. Everything here were items of cultural value, but not what we were looking for. This was a tomb, but where were the bodies?

“I don't know? Maybe there is a secret.” I told her.

Purity let out a huff. “Then find it, we don't have all day!”

I looked over at Lair, and the bronze torch. “Can you help me?”

Lair nodded as she studied the torch. “This here is probably a symbol of the Dread Queen. Legends have it that you need a bronze torch to visit the underworld. Though how they work isn't certain, as it seems that each bronze torch works differently, if the legends are true.

Looking at it myself, the torch was a work of art in of itself, and looked absolutely ancient. It had some sort of writing on it, but the language wasn't one I knew. “Maybe… there's a clue here.” I then turned to Mag. “You knew about this, didn't you.”

She nodded. “I've entered this part of the tomb many times, but never have I solved its mysteries.” Mag told me as she trotted up to the torch. “Truthfully, I didn't even know the significance of this thing until just now. I suspected its importance, but not how it was important.”

That was just great, the one pony I thought would know the most was just as lost as I was.

Taking a closer look at the artwork, none of it made any sense other than as storage. As priceless as they were, they didn't have anything to do with my family. Then I stopped at the marble statue, and something clicked. “A lyre?”

“Noticed something?” Lair asked.

I nodded. “Of all the artwork here, this is the only one that isn't priceless, and not as old.” I then pointed at the instrument, “Also, though it probably doesn't mean anything, the lyre was the symbol of my home land, the Orphic Queendom.”

“Orphic? That's odd, yet familiar. “Wait, as in the Orphic mystery cult!”

I cocked an eyebrow high at that. “A cult?”

Lair nodded. “It's the predecessor of the Secret Priesthood, among many other mystery cults in this world. Essentially, it was founded by a pony by the name of Orpheus, a famous musician of his time, who successfully traveled to the underworld and back.”

Looking at the statue, it matched a bit too much. “Let me guess, he played the lyre?” Lair nodded again. “But why did he travel to the underworld? Actually, what do you even mean by the underworld?” I then asked.

Lair trotted over examining the statue herself. “He lost his lover to a pit of vipers, and went to plead to the gods of the underworld to have her back. Another name for the Underworld is the land of the dead, or Tartarus as its known today. Moved by his honest plea and beautiful music, the gods showed him mercy, and granted his wish, but only if he succeeded in a simple test.”

“Do not look back until you return to the surface.” I said.

“So you know the legend?” Lair asked.

“Mother would tell me a similar story when I was very young. Something passed down to every royal.” I explained. “Mother told me that the story is the origin of the Queendom’s name, Majesty using it as a reminder that we must not turn back until we return home, or be doomed to never have returned what we lost.”

My eyes then looked back at the statue of Orpheus, something clicking. “But maybe Majesty wanted to keep that story fresh in the royal family's mind for another reason.” I pulled the magical harp from my saddlebag.

“If it involves Orpheus, then it makes sense that music is involved. But are you sure?” Lair asked.

“Majesty named the Orphic Queendom, and she left this harp with Arras.” I put my hoof on the statues, scanning its base, then seeing it, a signature. “Majesty?… she made this!”

Fizzy joined us, looking at the same thing. “You mean one of your ancestors, the one on the posters?”

“Ya… she probably knew it would be a long time until any royalty returned here, and prepared accordingly. The Queendom's name, the story, her jornal, this statue, and even a lullaby.” Picking up the harp, I let out a sigh. “Makes sense now that it was a Harp I was trained to play and not the Lyre.”

I strummed a few strings on the Harp, and magic filled the room. A flicker came from the center, and we all turned to look at the torch. Strumming a few more strings, the torch then flickered more with a blue flame.

“It can't be that simple?” Mag said in bewilderment. “Yet… Majesty, you shrewd mare. Even now you're teaching me.”

Trotting over to the touch myself, I began playing a simple rhythm, the lullaby my mother sang, and though she was tone deaf, I remembered the tune perfectly. It was a sad melodic tune, filled with a sense of loss, yet deep love. As the tune came to an end, the torch flared to life with a strong but dim blue flame, causing our shadows to dance along the walls.

No, not our shadows, there were too many shadows, too sharp, too different. Putting the Harp away, I took the torch and raised it up as high as possible, banishing the shadows and revealing a… Door?”

Lair looked at the door, then up at the touch. “Well I'll be. That must be Orpheus's torch itself. It would explain all this. Meaning, that door must lead to Tartarus.”

“Which would make the perfect place to protect the honored dead and dangerous artifacts.” I added.

Then a strange thought came over me. “Wait, but aren't entrances to Tartarus impossible to move? Not even Celestia could move one, so how did it get down here?”

“Who said it was moved?” Lair said with a smirk. “Now moving a hill, I bet Celestia could do that easily.”

“Hmm… that would make a lot of sense.” Mag said as she looked at the door. “Such as why Clover the Clever chose this hill, despite it being so far from early Equestria. She must have been the guardian of this door, and used the herbal garden as cover.”

An annoyed stopping of hooves quickly closed in. “Enough history, get moving! No telling how many more of these asinine puzzles there will be.” Purity then stopped her hoof on the ground several times. “you two, open this door.”

The priest and priestess rushed over and began pushing on the door, and slowly it creaked open, letting in a warm dry air. On the other side was another starway, the walls made of large solid stone that radiated a foreboding magic. With the torch held in my magic, I took the first step inside.

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The trip downward wasn't as far down as the stairway into the tomb was, but we had traveled a different kind of deep. Entering a much bigger Undercroft, this one looked strangely clean, and polished. It was like a long hallway, with an archway on the left and the right, and a bigger archway on the far end of the room, blocked by some sort of metal fence.

The sound of hoofsteps caught me off guard as a figure trotted over to us, its hoofsteps were loud, heavy, and far from smooth. As it came into view, we saw a slender robot of white and gold. A light MEW gatling gun hung off one side, and a claw like appendage on the other, with its head being another MEW weapon in of itself.

“Is that an… Assaultron?” I asked, feeling confused by the murder bot.

“A Novatron to be exact.” Mag answered. “The Blackroots had made them near the end of the war. We used to have two protecting Platinum Hill, but without spare parts, they broke down after twenty years, and were later donated to the Steel Rangers.”

The Novatron came closer and bowed to me. “It has been too long since the royal family has paid us a visit. We are honored to report that no disturbances have occurred since your last visit.”

That was at least good to know. “Thank you, can you tell me what is down here, and what rooms are for what?”

Novatrom's lights flickered for a moment. “Yes, my lady. The honored dead are resting in the far end room, protected by the iron gate of Hades. On your left is the royal archives, and on the right is the royal vault.”

“I believe what we're looking for is in the Vault.” Lair suggested.

Purity let out a sigh. “Yes, let's go look there first.”

“Take us to the Vault room.” I told the robot as I passed Fizzy the torch.

Trotting further into the undercroft and looking back, the stairway out faded and vanished, which made me a bit nervous. Looking around, I could see that on our side was some sort of statue near the gate of Hades, a withered tree wrapped around it, giving off a faint magic. It was surrounded by arcano-tec, and several robots. Concerning, most of the robots were damaged, some practically scrap metal.

The archways to either side of us had similar arcano-tec, though alongside much older magic connected to a magical barrier.

Turning to the archway to the royal Vault, the Novatron came up to a terminal and with the claw arm, pressed a few buttons. “Please present yourself?” It asked me

Trotting to the barrier, there was a pedal with a hoofprint at the center. Placing my hoof on it, I felt magic reach up out of it and into me, making a connection. After a moment a beep went off and a green light turned on, followed by a sigh of relief from Mag as the barrier dropped.

I looked back at the Elder. “You doubted I was a princess?”

She let out a chuckle. “I doubted the reliability of wartime tech. Never know when it will just stop working right.”

Fair enough.

“Stop stalling ya slag!” the priestess growled.

“You do know not all of you need to return.” Lair warned the priestess.

I tapped on my pipbuck getting a signal from Order. “Watch the entrance.” I told it.

“Yes my Lady.” It responded. Order was going to be our backup in case, but also a distraction from Alpha. I didn't know if they knew she was here, but if Purity tried anything, they would go after the drone first.

With a sigh, myself, I trotted onward. Entering the vault, it reminded me of the vault back home, but made with ancient magical stone, and lit with magical light. It was a large circular room with two floors, displays inside alcoves lined the walls, showing the full glory of each item in the collection. This was as much a trophy room, armory, and museum as it was a vault.

The lower floor had a large round table, in which a massive map layed on top, and along the walls on its level were ancient suits of different armor and weapon, each distinctively different from the other, with one noticeable nearly empty spot which held only two swords and a mirror. I didn't need a closer look to understand what was down their, that must be the remnants of Pendragon's knightly order.

The upper floor, that we were on, had a more random assortment of items, and was likely where the pistols were. Actually, I didn't even need to look far, as one alcove had the black flag with Stars cutie-mark on it.

I pointed at the pirate flag. “Over there, the pistols are there. And nopony takes a step down to the lower floor!”

“Do not presume to tell me where I can and cannot go!” Purity sneered as she stretched her hoof over the edge, only to be blocked by a barrier.

Rolling my eyes at her, I trotted off. Passing by the first display of artifacts, I quickly understood why they were here, as behind a protective barrier of their own I could feel the magic radiat from them. In the first alcove was a series of gemstone stone daggers, each one with a complex and ominous magic imbued into them. “The ceremonial daggers of the priests of the dragon god Quetzalcoatl. Given over to Celestia after being conceived to end their live sacrifices.” I read on a plack.

Lair let out a whistle. “Even I can feel the dark magic from those, I wonder how many creatures were killed by them.”

“Clearly not enough, since those savages still inhabit the jungles to the far south.” Purity said condescendingly.

The next alcove was far less magical, but no less exceptional. “Princess Gusty, Gusty the Great” I read. It was just a simple cloak, boots, and some non magical climbing gear, but it was historic.

Utopian let out an unimpressive huff. “How plain, what's so important that it's kept here?”

I glared at the uncultured fool. “Gusty was Princess Platinum's granddaughter, and first hero of Equestria. She defeated Emperor Grogar, and hid away his Bewitching Bell so that it may never be misused. A feat that even Celestia admitted that she couldn't do.”

“A princess, yet she had such… rudimentary garments.” The vain pegasus again commented.

“Equestria was still being built at the time, not much more than a few towns surrounding the castle of the two princesses.” I told him before trotting off.

The next set of artifacts was much more depressing, looking more like a memorial than a thing of pride. It was several tapestries, robes, and symbols of royalty, all in the colors of silver and dark blue. Unfortunately all of them had damage of a sort, with tears or burnt marks. “Luna's belongings, we miss you, Auntie ~ Gusty.”

“This must have been placed here after Luna became Nightmare Moon.” I said as I moved on.

“How tragic.” Fizzy wiped a tear from her eye as she followed.

“Agreed.” Lair commented

The next alcove wasn't anything as impressive… not at first. It was a large and detailed painting, with very lifelike portraits of a mare, an exceptionally regal looking mare. Then to my shock, she began to move, yelling something at me, but no sound came from them, likely because of the barrier. “Here imprisoned the vampire Ashwood, of the Equestria royal family, may her shadow never fall on these lands again.”

“Beautiful.” Utopian practically swooned as he locked eyes with the vampire. “Almost as beautiful as me.” Ashwood then gagged, and returned to a chair inside the painting.

Lair let out a sigh looking at the painting. “Vampires, now that's a troublesome lot. Never met one myself, but supposedly my grandfather, on my mothers side, died destroying an infestation of them. Had to burn down an entire town to be sure he got them all.”

Ashwood flashed me a smile that held two very long fangs.

I quickly moved on.

Then we came to the alcove we were here for, and it didn't disappoint. Stereotypically, there was a treasure chest filled with gold, jewels, and other valuables. On the wall of the alcove were an impressive amount of weapons, both flintlock guns, and a lot of swords and axes. “Pirate Queen Alginate's horde. Enchanted weapons and very cursed treasure.”I read out loud. Among all of it, and on their own pedal were two flintlock pistols, the exact same as the ones displayed above, but these ones had a powerful and dangerous magic to them. Just feeling the magic made me reconsider taking them out of the alcove.

“Are those the pistols?” Lair asked.

I nodded. “I do know what kind of magic is on them, but it's powerful.”

Lair scratched her chin as she looked at them “I bet, Alginate was the daughter of a powerful oracle, so it wouldn't surprise me if they had a connection to the Dread Queen and King. Speaking of which, could we hurry up, the longer we're here the greater the chance we gain their attention.”

“Yes, hurry up!” Purity grumbled.

I still didn't know what Purity was planning but I knew she wasn't going to just leave.

Reaching out to the barrier, it resisted me, the ancient magic was still strong. I doubted that I could just open it, or there would have been a risk of some mad royal getting in here and taking anything. Ashwood being imprisoned here was an example of one such danger that mustn't be set free. But yet, something felt strange about the magic here?

“Any time now!” Purity impatiently said.

“You okay? Can you open it?” Lair asked.

“Y… ya?” I said, feeling confused.

“What's wrong?” Lair further asked me.

“The barrier is strong, and probably can last a thousand years without being touched, but… it’s so simple?” The barrier magic here was the basis of the basics, ya it was drawing power off from a near limitless source from within Tartarus, but the spell itself was still rudimentary.

Lair frowned. “I see. For most ponies, magic like this must be insurmountable, a thing of legends. But for those who've been educated in magic-”

“It's basic.” I said finishing what Lair was about to say. “Modern magic has so many failsafe and extra spells woven into them, that this is like a brick wall compared to whatever Stable-Tec walls are made of.”

“Makes sense.” Lair said as she pressed her hoof into the barrier, it pushed her back. “Even I was surprised with how simple most ancient magic is when my uncle showed me the old places. Powerful, but simple. Such magic has come a long way since ancient times, and the great war did push both Ponies and Zebras to improve them even further.”

That made too much sence. “This must have been the most advanced barrier magic of its era, but now it's just a simple basic barrier attached to a massive powesourse.”

“Will you two stop the nerd talk!” Purity demanded.

I blew a raspberry at her before focusing on the barrier. And though I could turn it off, the fact that whatever was powering it was seemingly endless, and the spell was engraved into the room itself, I only had a limited time to take anything. “I can open it, but only for a short amount of time. When I do, Lair will grab it, so don't distract me.” I told them.

Lair then tapped me on the shoulder. “You ready, they're going to make their move as soon as we get the pistols?” She whispered.

I nodded. “They'll likely try and take me, stop them if you can, but Order and Alpha are waiting for them if the worst comes.” I whispered back, then looked at the pistols. “Now let's focus on the task at hoof. I can only open the barrier for a short time, so you have to take the pistols.”

Lair nodded back. “Only the pistols, gotcha.”

She didn't fill me with confidence, seeing a hungry look in Lairs eyes, but I trusted her to help get the job done.

Concentrating my magic, I felt the spell, and twisted it. There was so much magic flowing through it that it felt like a river, and I was pushing it back to divert it. After a long moment the barrier finally dropped, but after a quick second it quickly came back. Leaving me a bit drained.

My assumptions were right, and though simple, this spell was far from inferior. If I wasn't a Mirage pony, wasn't super magical, or well educated in magic and talismans, this might have been impossible on my own. But I just needed to redirect the magic and alter the spell, and a window would open for me. Just like altering the spell on a talisman, and draining the magic of power armor at the same time.

Thank Celestia for my royal blood.

As I felt the spell, magic engulfed me as the wellspring of energy diverted from the barrier, through me, and sprayed out as intense shimmering. It actually physically hurt with so much magic flowing to me, causing me to wince as I was reminded of when I got shot all over at the prison, speared by the Lurkers, and bit by Star Charter.

My vision became fuzzy, and I stumbled back, getting caught by Lair and Fizzy.

“Harp, you okay?” Fizzy asked.

It took a moment for me to catch my breath. “Ya, just that was more magic than I've ever felt before. Did we get the things?”

Floating in the air were two flintlock pistols, andfa bunch of gold coins. Lair smirked back at me as she quickly pocketed the gold. “I just scooped them up with the pistols, didn't mean to grab the gold.”

“Cursed gold.” I reminded her.

But Lair shrugged. “all gold is cursed.”

Getting up, I stumbled again, feeling light headed. After a moment to collect myself, I turned my attention to Purity's group. “There, we got the pistols, now we're going back up.”

Lair slowly passed the pistols over to Purity, who quickly pocketed them. Purity looked less than happy about having phem, acting more like one annoyance was over and done with then achieving a victory. “Why in a rush, this is your ancestry right here.” She then pointed down below and at the one nearly empty alcove. “And look, there's my own ancestry right there too. Stolen by yours!”

I had a feeling the alcove with the mirror was Lancelots, it had a sense of vanity to it that I didn't like.

“Down there are the swords Aroundight and Secace, blades used by the most perfect knight. And the mirror, Lake of Diana, symbol of his nobility, my nobility. All that must be returned to their rightful owner.” Purity demanded.

I reached over to the edge, feeling the barrier blocked entry to the lower area of the vault. “Sure, take it if you can.” Something didn't sit right with me. Her plan couldn't be her just demanding I open the way. Unless she was expecting a ministry style barrier that had a genetic lock on it. If so, she was out of luck. So I pressed on it more, getting pushed back. “But as you see, the barrier is rather primitive, not a pass through for those with the right blood, and this one is stronger than the other, not to mention another barrier likely inside. So sorry to burst your bubble on this, but those pistols are all you're getting, you understand!”

The Bishop was clearly annoyed, but even if I wanted to, I couldn't go down there. Likely there was a key, or some sort of spell, but fuck was I going to say anything about it, much less look for it.

Purity let out a long sigh. “I heard you talking about that barrier, about how basic it is.”

“Basic yes, but not weak. You saw what it took for me to just get those guns out.” I reminded her.

She then chuckled, which ticked me off. “And it was amusing to watch. But like you said, it's basic magic. The same magic the Zebras figured out how to beat.” There was a spark in Purity's eyes as I realized what she was getting at, and her grin grew wider.

“What did you bring?” I demanded.

A cylinder rolled out from behind Purity, and with a flash and a bang, I was both blinded and defended. Then pain as I felt a hoof hit me before I hit the floor.

As my senses returned, the priest was holding me down as Lair pointed her sword at him. “Let her go!” Lair growled.

The air tasted fuzzy and felt distorted.

The priest smiled. “Not today Lady Darkheart.”

Some kind of pulse exploded out, blowing away all the magic around us like a candle in the wind. Lair's swords dropped, and as soon as it hit the ground, the priestess had launched herself forward, tackling Lair. The priest quickly bound my hooves with rope and tossed me onto his back, completely overpowering me. Fizzy attempted to come to my aid, but the priest knocked her back with a simple slap to the face.

Purity laughed. “You thought you had won, but I knew this place would have some form of magical bullshit protecting it. You know what beats all magical bullshit, an anti-magic pulse bomb!”

With a thud, Utopian landed next to us, holding onto both the brass torch and the mirror. A strange pipbuck was around his fetlock, given off a stable field of magic around him.

Purity put her hooves together in prayer. “Oh glory to the goddesses and the Pop for their wisdom, bequeathing us these artifacts so that our work can be done.” She then laughed as she glared at me with murderous intent. “Amazing isn't it, how easily all your plans can be made impotent.”

“You're not going to succeed.” I snapped back at her.

Purity shrugged. “Don't you see, I already have. Your friends up top are likely having troubles of their own by now. Speaking of which, it's time we go join them.”

The priest then bound off with me, followed by Purity and Utopian. Looking back, Lair had drawn her large pistol with her muzzle, but then had it kicked out by the priestess.

Taken out of the vault, I knew all they needed to do was get to the upper tomb, and the other priestess would be able to use slip teleportation on me, and it would be over.

But only a few steps into the undercroft the priest froze in place as the jaws of Alpha clamped down onto his neck. Then with a jerk, I was tossed off the stallion, followed by the sound of ripping flesh. Looking over, I saw the priest stumble back, his throat ripped out, and blood splattering over the floor.

Purity growled in frustration and charged over to me, but acting fast, Alpha jumped between us, letting out a series of snarling barks as her tail rattled furiously.

“Mother, we don't have the time.” Utopian pleaded as the magic around him flickered and he looked back to the exit.

Though I was safe behind Alpha, we weren't blocking the exit.

Purity let out a frustrated sigh. “Two out of three isn't bad, until next time… that is if you can get out of here.”

The two galloped off, the stairway out appearing as they got close to it, and vanishing as they trotted up.

Again I had been outmatched, I had avoided getting taken thanks to Alpha, but everything else had crumbled to one move from Purity. I felt like an idiot, and all I could do was scream, “CELESTIA DAMMIT!”

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