It was a good day in Ponyville, which is to say there had been no monster attacks, ponies with ill-intent, malicious lingering, escalating friendship problems between vital artefacts of national security or unadvised magical accid-
A flash of light burst from the Golden Oaks library, severely startling a pony who was ‘draining the lizard’ on the road outside. The lizard, for its part, gave the pony a vaguely disappointed look until he sheepishly picked it back up and adjusted the little reptile again. The thought occurred to Caramel to check what that light was but decided to continue what he was doing. He sighed, promising himself that he would never offer to look after Gummy again. He smiled awkwardly at a passing mare, who gave the strange pony holding a tiny alligator while it peed a vaguely disturbed glance before moving quickly on.
It was an average day in Ponyville, which is to say there had been no monster attacks, ponies with ill-intent, malicious lingering or escalating friendship problems between vital artefacts of national security. There had, however, been an unadvised magical accident.
On the bright side it was not Twilight Sparkle’s fault. Mostly, anyway.
“Found it! Sorry for the wait Derpy, but I did a little reorganising last night and this must have been knocked under the bed.” Twilight called out, pulling her head out from under her bed. A package followed her out in her magical grip, wrapped in brown paper and ready for posting.
“Um....”
Twilight trotted happily back towards the stairs, smiling at the sudden silence. It was a welcome peace after a morning of trying to control Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash. Patience, she lamented, was definitely not a virtue of either energetic pony. Except where baking was concerned in Pinkie’s case. She checked the package when she was about a hoof away from the door and frowned.
“Oh, I think Spike made a little mistake. Just give me a minute to fix the address.” Twilight called down, turning back to her room. Her will extended with the ease of practice and her nearest quill and inkpot floated over.
“...Twilight...” Derpy’s guilty tone failed to register in the pleased pony’s ears.
“I really am sorry, this will only take a minute.” Carefully removing the outermost layer Twilight began to swiftly wrap it once more. “This is a very special package I would hate to lose. You see that crystal on the next to you?”
There was a very deliberate silence for a moment. Twilight did not notice.
“...I saw it...”
The emphasis on the past tense flew right over her head with an equal amount of verbal grace.
Twilight’s tongue poked out the side of her mouth as she began to concentrate on rewrapping the package. “I wish I could wrap this as well as you, Rarity. And that crystal is the twin to the one I’m sending to a specialist in Manehatten. It’s very delicate so I had to cast a lot of protection magic on it.”
For some reason Rarity failed to reply to compliment on her telekinetic dexterity.
“You did?” Relief flooded the unseen mailmare’s voice.
After a nod she belatedly realised could not be seen Twilight called back “Yes, everything I had went into this.” She chuckled slightly. “In fact, I used so much magic I didn’t have enough left to cast any on the other crystal I’m keeping. I was planning to cast them this morning but then the girls showed up for breakfast and it slipped my mind. It should be fine, of course, if somepony doesn’t try to lick it again.”
Again, strangely, none of her friends spoke up. Pinkie didn’t even reply to the reminder of her earlier stunt.
“Uh, that’s not really going to be a problem.”
Confusion was written on Twilight’s face by furrowed brow and scrunched expression. “What do you mean?” She asked suspiciously. Finally, the package was wrapped and the proper address spelled out clearly.
Taking it slow, the unicorn made her way back to where she could see down stairs. She couldn’t imagine the mess the crystal breaking would cause!
“Is something wrong Der...” Stepping out, Twilight stared down the stairs.
A very large, solid circle of colour-shifting energy where the floor should be and five other mares very conspicuously and very definitely not there, Derpy Hooves gave Twilight a sheepish look.
“I just don’t know what went wrong.”
It turns out alligators, even very small ones, have very large bladders. Caramel was discovering this fact very much to his displeasure. Whatever Pinkie did to pull objects half her size out of nowhere HAD to be responsible for the amount of pee Gummy had been letting out for the past five minutes. If not Caramel seriously considered finding a therapist.
His musings were interrupted by a strange, high pitched sound coming from the library. It sounded to him like somepony who was trying to scream but their vocal cords were simply too overwhelmed to manage anything so coherent.
The stallion was tempted to go check, but found a pair of unblinking, soul-piercing purple alligator eyes staring into him. He sheepishly kept Gummy in place, sighing.
“DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU’VE DONE?!” Twilight’s scream filled the library when she finally recovered. She looked into the shifting pool from the lowest step of the stairs while several dozen books pulled themselves from shelves throughout the library, floating around Twilight like a very eloquent swarm.
Surrounded by all this as she hovered above the pool, Derpy had only one real answer. “Nope.”
“WELL GOOD, BECAUSE NEITHER DO I!” Frantically trying to read every book at once, Twilight’s mane was only stopped cropping up into random chaos by an illustration that caught her eye. Normally she was against such things as pictures, but here was a picture identical to the crystals. She began to scan the words, absorbing them as quickly as possible.
Watching the librarian, Derpy hesitantly raised a hoof as though asking a question at school. “Uh, Twilight? Is there anything I can do to help?”
The scholarly mare lowered the book to peer at Derpy intensely. “Yes.” She said quietly, far too quietly considering how loud she had just been. “Yes there is. You were here when the crystal broke. What happened?”
Derpy scratched her forehead as she through, eyes wildly skewed. “Uh, I...kinda bumped the table when I stretched my wings. The sound of it breaking made me jump so I didn’t fall in. Everypony else kinda...fell in.”
“I guess that explains why you didn’t get caught by it. No offense but I would have thought Rainbow Dash would react faster than you.” Twilight admitted.
“Heh, none taken! I already had my wings spread and I think she was wrestling with Applejack at the time.”
Listening to Derpy, Twilight filed away that little titbit. Reminding those two that wrestling was not tolerated in her library was just another reason to find them.
“Right, I think I know what we need to do. This...stuff is a portal. I think it sent them somewhere. The only similar crystals never created a portal this big. In fact, from what this book says they were only a fraction of the size, barely bigger than a one bit coin. They last a few minutes. This one...” consulting the book again Twilight made a rough estimate of the circle’s size. “I have no idea.”
“Could they just come back through it?” Derpy asked, looking down at the portal hopefully.
Twilight shook her head sadly. “I’m afraid not. Tests on the smaller portals showed they were apparently one-way. The researchers theorised that if another crystal was sent through a portal it would ‘lock’ the crystal’s energy to match that of the original portal. Break it on the other side and a portal connected to the original would form. It’s all just theory, of course.”
Derpy rubbed her forehead, her brain feeling slightly overused. “Uh, okay. So...what now?”
Looking up, Twilight locked eyes with Derpy. “Now I’m taking the other crystal and going through. I will not leave my friends.” She answered, her tone flat and determined.
“W-what?” Staring at Twilight’s expression of iron determination, Derpy managed to align her eyes for a moment. “Okay....I’m coming too!”
“Derpy, I’m a trained spellcaster and have been in a number of dangerous situations. I can’t let you-” Twilight protested.
“It’s my fault! I know I make mistakes all the time, but I try to fix them. Please Twilight.” begged Derpy desperately. Her misaimed eyes were large and wet as she looked at the scholarly unicorn beseechingly.
Sighing, Twilight relented. She could understand the sort of guilt Derpy must be feeling and the need to help save those she had endangered. ‘I really should have done more to keep the crystal safe though. It’s just as much my fault as hers.’ She thought to herself with more than a tinge of guilt.
“Alright, alright, you can come.” Sighing, Twilight’s horn lit with a slight shine of her spell-light. Matching spell-light formed over a quill and a piece of paper on which a warning was quickly sketched. With a pop of displaced air it was teleported onto the exterior of the front door.
The spell-light moved to the door itself as Twilight cast directly onto it. Magic affixed the door firmly in place so nopony could open it and risk falling into the portal if they ignored her warning.
“Spike shouldn’t be home for a few more hours, but I made sure the warning has instructions on what I want him to do.” Moving back upstairs Twilight again penned another note which she left in clear view of the balcony she knew Spike would inevitably climb up. She even put a paper-weight on top to make sure it didn’t blown away. Life had a way of being very difficult at times and that was the last thing she needed right now.
Derpy nodded along, hovering behind Twilight as she worked.
“We have no idea what’s on the other side but we don’t have time to get more supplies either.” Twilight groaned, rubbing her forehead. She settled for getting on her saddlebags and placing the heavily wrapped crystal into one of them. Gathering food and water in what containers she had handy after a quick teleport down to the kitchen Twilight returned to find Derpy gnawing on a muffin.
She was fairly certain there were no muffins in her house and Derpy’s mailbag had been empty since she arrived.
“Where did you get that?”
“Muffin-button.”
Twilight stared her for a minute for dismissing it as ‘Derpy’, which was a similar category to dismissing something as ‘Pinkie Pie’. Whether this was a good thing was largely up for debate between individuals, and their disposition were largely determined by the state their mail arrived in.
Trotting down the stairs, the pair stared at the mercurial surface of the portal.
“Derpy, are you sure you want to come?” Twilight tried one last time.
The mailmare shook her head furiously. “This is my fault! I have to help!”
Acknowledging that Derpy wasn’t about to back out, Twilight reached out and grabbed her. “Hold on to me.” She said seriously. “We have no idea how the portal works and for all we know if we enter separately we might end up far away from one another. Oh hay, for all we know time works differently too, several theories suggest other realities might run on time different to ours, relatively more time passing here or there depending on-”
Twilight could, and in her nervousness probably would, have gone on for hours.
So, Twilight’s hoof held tight, Derpy jumped in. Twilight had time for a brief shriek of surprise before she found herself falling through an endless void, all at once every colour assaulting her senses and somehow surrounded by nothingness. The next thing she knew a flash of light overtook them-
-and Twilight hit something hard. Behind her the sound of flapping wings was ignored in favour of the hard, dirty stuff she was lying on.
It was also very hot. A groan forced its way out of her throat as she pushed her hooves against the hard ground. Lifting her head Twilight had to shade her eyes at the fierce sunlight. The change from her well-shaded library to the searing light of a very bright day was a sudden difference for her eyes to adjust to.
A thud next to her told her where Derpy had landed. Still shading her eyes Twilight looked down. She could feel the coarse, sandy ground unpleasantly against her fur. Running her hoof across it she frowned when she reached what felt like a crack. Standing fully she began to look further along.
“It’s like a dried up river bed.” She muttered.
“Twilight?” A hoof poked her side. “Its, uh, kinda...”
“What is it Deeerrrrrrrr.....” Twilight trailed off as she looked up, staring blankly at the world before her.
The ground was the same in every direction, like the bed of some vast dried up ocean. But twisting spikes of brown rock thrust up at the sky cruelly. They were placed haphazardly, almost like a forest of stone. What drew her gaze, however, was the sky itself.
They stared up, a pair of gobsmacked ponies with their eyes cast up at the orange sky. It was surely a sun but a thousand times the size of Equestria’s. It burned with a harsh light completely different from the warm embrace of Celestia’s solar charge, as though the sun itself hated the world it glared down on. Yet it lacked the same intensity that made looking at it for long a bad idea, merely a vast ball of flame hanging ominously over their heads, almost as if the sun wanted the creatures below to behold its flaming surface.
“...wow...”
Derpy nodded in agreement. The sky was red and cloudless where the colossal sun wasn’t burning mercilessly. Her attention moved from the sun to a shadow at the edge of her often unfocused vision. The sun’s central position left little in the way of shade so the dark shape she could just make out over peeking what seemed to be a hill in the distance.
“I think I see something!” Flapping her wings against the dry air Derpy took off.
“Derpy! Wait!” Hooves crunching on the sandy ground Twilight ran after her. She was soon sweating fiercely and her breath became pants as she tried to keep Derpy in sight. Her saddlebags weren’t particularly helpful to her in this situation, burdening her and rubbing the sweat beneath them into her fur.
When she realised they were going uphill Twilight nearly gave up. But she powered on, dragging herself up until she reached the now sitting pegasus at the open. The mailmare sat on the bare summit of the small hill staring at something.
Twilight flopped to the ground. She lay there panting for a few minutes. The scholar promised herself that she would get a bit more fit once they were home. A bottle of water hovered out of her bag and she greedily gulped some down before offering it to Derpy without looking up.
After a short rest to regain her energy Twilight peeked up from her position lying spread on the ground. “D-Derpy, why did you-“ she croaked, interrupted by Derpy lifting her hoof. Curiously she followed the mailmare’s hoof.
“’Cause of that.”
‘That’ was a building in the distance. Despite being clearly way off the structure was obviously huge and complex. Looking at the spires reaching from its wide shape Twilight was put in mind of the royal palace of Canterlot. There was a certain majesty visible even far aware to its design that was clearly grand in intention and appearance.
“Well.” Twilight muttered when she found her voice again. “I think we know where to start. Good eye Derpy.” It took a moment for Twilight to think back on what she had just said and a blush lit up her cheeks. “Um, I mean-”
Derpy turned with a wide smile on her face and she beamed at the laid out unicorn. “Nopony has ever said that before!” She frowned. “Wait, no, I think somepony said it but they were being sarcastic. Thanks!” She smiled again.
Sighing in relief that her faux pas on a sensitive topic hadn’t caused her companion any distress Twilight clambered back onto her hooves. “No, thank you for seeing it. With any luck the girls landed in the area and saw it as well. If I know Rainbow Dash she would be flying the moment she arrived and that palace would be easily visible from a distance.”
The two set off, trotting down the hill towards the palace. A forest of rock spires rose up between them and their destination. It put almost looked to Twilight like the rock deep beneath their hooves was striving to free itself of the dying world but could only extend so far.
Nothing happened. That was the main feature of the next three hours. They walked, they stopped to rest, they walked again until they had to rest. Derpy couldn’t even muster the energy to fly in the dead, dry air as heat beat at the from every direction. More than once Twilight worried she would faint in the heat but she forced herself onward. Derpy was, if anything, more determined. She kept on going without faltering. She would do anything to make up for yet another of her mistakes and no big scary sun was going to stop her!
The palace – for that was what it most definitely was, Twilight decided as she saw more of its features – grew closer yet towered above and before them. It grew with each step until it loomed darkly like a mountain. It loomed darkly in a purely metaphorical sense, much to the annoyance of both ponies. A little dark looming with shadows and shade would really hit the spot.
At last it towered up before them, so far both mares had to nearly look straight upwards to see its curved, spire riddled summit. With more relief than either could be bothered admitting they dragged themselves into the shade of the vast arch preceding a massive door. The door, like the rest of the palace, had been curved seamlessly from a dark brown rock matching the rocky spikes dotting the dried up plane.
“Now” Twilight spoke first after ten minutes of nothing but enjoying the relative chill of the shade, eyeing the ten-ponies tall door of unadorned sandstone coloured rock, “let’s see if we can find a way in.”
Between the two of them they scoured the door for several minutes unsuccessfully. Twilight’s horn burned with spell-light as she scanned magically for switches or spells to activate some hidden mechanism while Derpy’s wings let her look along the entire length of the tall door.
“Greetings and welcome, my most wonderful guests!”
Twilight and Derpy stared at the figure before them, their jaws dropping down. Its flat face continued to smile pleasantly at them as the three limbs on its left waved towards the now-open door to the vast stone palace while the three limbs on its right beckoned them. Two of the limbs reaching out to them ended in softly nailed hands with four fingers and two thumbs each, twice as many thumbs as Spike had. The third arm was tipped with four claws arrayed in a circle, clutching in together at a single point almost to form a drill.
Perhaps nine feet tall the being seemed carved from stone itself, veins of dark brown running through a yellow-sandstone skin. It walked on a single pair of legs ending not in hooves but, strangely enough, feet. Looking closely Twilight even counted a total of six toes on each foot with brown nails to make the veins. A cloth that looked as though it had been cut from terracotta was wrapped around the creature’s waist like some combination of belt and underwear, a single massive opal set on its front.
It spoke its greeting as its many limbs, arms of all things reminiscent of Spike’s yet equally as alien as they were familiar, moved and waved. Lacking in a muzzle its face was still readable and comfortably similar to that of ponies. Its eyes, Derpy was quick to notice, were really small. She almost blushed when she realised how much attention she was putting on somepon- something else’s eyes considering her own. So what if they didn’t look as big compared to its head as pony eyes did, or that they looked like they were made from red rock. They were just eyes, after all. Yet somehow its face seemed both perfectly formed yet somehow...uncanny. Unsettling.
It smiled at them continuously, not a single break in its expression as they stared. The stone-flesh of its skulled was sculpted up into a grand crown of geometric design, adding a strange visual heaviness to the creature’s appearance.
“Uh....hello!” Taking a deep breath, Twilight took a step forward and inclined her head respectfully. “My name i-is Twilight Sparkle and-DERPY?!”
Lifting her head up Twilight’s voice became a sudden scream as she saw her companion hovering in front of the creature, tapping its heavily muscled chest curiously with a hoof.
“Oh, Twilight, he’s made of rock!” She turned, beaming down at the unicorn.
The creature’s face seemed to shake for a second, as though it had changed expression too fast for Twilight to comprehend yet not fast enough to hide the change. Yet it simply smiled in apparent benevolence.
“Indeed I am. Well met Twilight Sparkle. I am the Prince of Scorched Stone and I welcome you to my home. Please, do come in.” It – he, judging by the voice – gestured again.
Closing her eyes Twilight took a deep breath, organising her thoughts against this strange turn of events. When she opened them again the Prince of Scorched Stones was still smiling down at her as Derpy fluttered about next to him. The grey mare was asking questions the Prince seemed to be ignoring.
“T-thank you for the offer, your Highness, but we can’t accept. I’ve never seen a being like you before and I wish I could stay to find out more about you but I’m looking for some friends of mine.” She explained quickly. There was something about this ‘Prince of Scorched Stones’ that made her nervous. It was huge and its arms looked powerful enough to easily hurt either of them.
His expression flickered mysteriously again before he smiled once more. “Such a shame. I do so rarely have guests. But perhaps...you seek other ponies, yes? I believe we may be of help to one another.”
“You’ve seen others like us? Ponies?” Gasping in relief and joy Twilight jumped closer, looking up at his face from the ground. “Can you tell me where they are?”
The heavy stone head-and-crown shook slowly. A few seconds into the gesture his expression changed from his welcoming smile to one of commiseration. “I am afraid not. They left days ago. But please, come in. There is a small deed I wish to ask of you. Do this for me, Twilight Sparkle, and I promise you will see your friends again soon.”
Landing next to Twilight as he spoke, Derpy gave her a reassuring nod. She was clearly content to let Twilight decide. Looking up into the creature’s blank rock eyes she gulped.
“There is little else around us to follow their tracks.” He pointed out, japing several fingers at the forest of spires.
‘We don’t have any other clues and this...’Prince’ says he can help us. I’m not sure we have any other choices.’ She thought, rubbing her eyes tiredly for a moment.
“Alright.” Conceding Twilight led the way into the building. As she reached him the Prince turned with her. She was forced to increase her pace to match the long reach of his bipedal legs while Derpy flapped along behind them. “So, uh, your Highness, how can you help us?”
He smiled once more, the expression disconcerting for reasons neither pony could rationalise. The grand door gave way to a hall of the same blank stone. It was vast, larger than even the sweeping halls of Canterlot Castle and utterly without adornment.
“I am a creature of great power but I have long been confined to this ‘palace’.” With crisscrossing gestures of its many limbs the Prince indicated the empty halls around them. Lesser halls led away at regular intervals to give the interior a distinctly orderly feeling. It was almost chafing in the heavy air that filled the life void building.
“Confined implies you were put here on purpose.” Twilight noted sharply. This merely earned an appreciative look from their host.
The Prince nodded at her approvingly. “Correct. I know you wish to learn of what I ask of you in exchange for bringing you to your friends but the tale is related to that which I am going to ask of you. The landscape beyond my palace continues forever, a testament to the greatest evil this world ever saw. An evil which was also the final evil to befall it.”
“Woooooow.” Derpy stared at him, her eyes wide and mouth opened in an ‘O’. Though he barely seemed to acknowledge her presence the Prince seemed pleased by the reaction.
As he spoke his arms moved and wheeled. Dust floated around them and soon an image began to play out within the swirling cloud.
“Eons ago the land around us was not an endless desert but a marshland. From within these marshes a race of savage reptilians who learnt to bend nature to their will spread. They mastered the power of life itself and in their arrogance sought to expand their marshes across the entirety of this world.”
Within the dust cloud an impression of vaguely lizard-like figures appeared. The ponies stared into the cloud, moving only to keep the entrancing image in view. Despite being made from dust particles both could see clear images like a reel-played movie. The lizards appeared to be having their claws as they marched through an endless array of lands. With each step they took the lizards brought the marshland in their wake and overtook countless indistinct shapes that moved and suggested other creatures.
“Eventually the greatest wielders of arcane lore of all races gathered to seek a way to stop these barbaric invaders. They grew desperate as fully half the world was consumed by the marshes. Finally their work paid off and they located a powerful elemental, a being of hard earth and stone, with a heart of magma to feed a searing world-flame. Sacrificing their lives in a vast ritual they summoned this being to their world in order to counter the encroachment of the marshland and its dark masters.”
Figures gathered in a circle, lifting varied limbs to some unseen sky in prayer or spellcasting. Slowly they began to melt away, the dust figures bursting apart one by one. As each ‘died’ the dust gathered in the middle of the circle to form a shifting mass until the last of the circle was gone. The shifting mass took form, an eight limbed figure with crown over its head.
“They summoned me.”
Now the Prince’s voice took on a mournful presence. Again his face took several moments to change to match it.
“I came onto this world nearly mindless. The voyage between realties taxed me greatly, you see, and I was not fully prepared. In that state I reacted as a maddened beast to the threat of the marshes. I am a being of stone and heat, of harsh flame and unloving rock while the marshes teemed with plant-life and a million lifeforms I could not fully comprehend. My presence upon this plane began a process that drained the power of the marshes from the druids and shaman of the lizards, but I could not reign it in. Soon it spread to encompass the whole of their world.”
Now the marshlands of dust retreated, withering and drying as every scrap of vegetation was slowly burnt away. The lizards who sought to walk against the tide of death received the same treatment.
“In a final act of spite the greatest warlocks among the would-be conquerors raised this palace from the earth and crafting a binding stone to hold my power and constrain me. This very act returned my mind to me but too late, for I was left with a world devoid of all life. It is not merely the land around my ‘palace’ that looks as you have seen but all this world is dead.”
With a gesture the dust cloud burst and floated away, leaving the Prince to look down on the ponies with a sorrowful expression. Both returned the look with shocked, saddened eyes.
“That’s...that’s so...” Twilight sniffed. An entire world and all its life, dead because of greed? Looking up at him, she took a deep breath as she tried to collect herself. “W-why did you tell us this?” Her voice was strained but clear as she asked.
The Prince’s lips curled in a satisfied smirk. “Because the binding stone is within this palace. Only the magic of a mortal may affect it, else I would be long free.”
Understanding dawned quickly despite the harrowing tale she had been told. Next to her Derpy sniffled wetly, taking comfort in a hoof around the neck as Twilight gave her a one-legged hug.
One of the Prince’s more monstrous hands pointed down at Twilight, almost aimed right between her eyes. “Break the power of the binding stone and I shall be able to find anything that lives on this world. Nothing will be beyond my power.”
All Twilight could do was nod. Drawing back from Derpy slightly, she lifted the mare’s head up to look her in the eyes. Well, nearly in the eyes as it was quite hard to match stares with both of Derpy’s eyes at once.
“Derpy, I’m going to go help the Prince.” Twilight murmured softly. “I have a feeling the magic is going to be a bit dangerous. Do you want to keep looking around or-”
Rubbing away the wetness in her eyes Derpy gave her companion a warm if shaky smile. Hearing that an entire planet had died was more than a little nerve-shaking but she knew she couldn’t hold Twilight back from finding the others.
“I’ll be fine, gotta go to the toilet anyway.” She turned a hopeful smile at the Prince. “Um, do you have a-”
One of his hands pointed down a nearby hall. “That way.”
Derpy’s head twisted as she looked down the hall he was pointing at. “Just straight down it?”
Something like impatience entered his voice and expression for a moment. “Yes. Now go.” Another gesture, a dismissive wave and he began to move away. “Quickly, pony. The binding stone lies at the centre of the palace. The sooner its power is broken the sooner I am free to bring you to your friends."
Trotting quickly to catch up with the increasingly distant elemental, Twilight turned her head back to smile reassuring at Derpy. “Wait for me there when you’re done.” She called before following the Prince around a corner and out of sight.
The chance to find her friends was clearly calling Twilight to hurry in her decision, but Derpy just shrugged it off. Twilight was really smart, she would know what to do.
Trotting down the hall the Prince had indicated Derpy smiled to herself. Once Twilight had done the stone thingy they would find the others and be home in time for muffins!
Roughly three minutes later she was beginning to doubt she would get home in time for muffins. Even worse she might not be home in time to pick up her little muffin from school! Derpy continued to trot down the dark corridor, staring at the blanket stone walls around her. The original corridor has ended at a T-junction and she had been forced to choose between them. Now Derpy suspected the insides of the building were even more labri- labin-...more like a maze than she had thought.
With another turn Derpy continued forward without a thought. She was already lost and by her way of thinking the best way to find her way back was just keeping getting lost. Odds were she’d end up where she needed to be, she always did.
Her ears twitched and she froze mid-step. They twitched again.
Voices. Barely audible but voices were whispering at the edge of her hearing. Derpy grinned and turned towards where she was as certain the voices were probably coming from. With every step the voices grew louder and Derpy’s delight grin grew bigger. She could recognise the voices now, two very familiar mares clearly arguing.
“Seriously AJ, you are so wrong it hurts!”
“Ah’ll show ya hurt in a minute if ya don’t zip it!”
“Oh yeah? Come over here and say that- oh wait, you can’t! Ha!”
“...ya know yer in a cage to, right?”
“....shaddup!”
Derpy jumped into the room, its doorless entrance no different from every other room or corridor leading off from the hall.
“You’re here!” She cheered, grinning. It dropped a moment later as she realised what she was looking at.
Five familiar mares stared back through the bars of their cages. Three square alcoves were dug out of the wall on either side of the hall, thick bars of red stone preventing exit and each had an occupant save the sixth cage which somehow seemed darker than the others. She ignored it in favour of shouting gleefully at them.
“Yep!” She nodded frantically and her eyes shot in opposite directions. Even as she did so Derpy noticed that Rainbow’s mane seemed longer than it had hours ago.
“Derpy, darling I have never been so relieved to see you!” Rarity practically squealed. “Oh you must have come after us with Twilight! Where is she? I have missed home so!”
Fluttershy crept towards the bars, smiling weakly at Derpy. “H-Hello Derpy. It’s good to see y-you.” The pegasus hiccupped and seemed to sniffle wetly. But the look her eyes was pure joy.
“If it isn’t my faaaaavourite mailmare! I knew they’d come after us guys, I told ya so!” Pinkie bounced, although the term ‘jittered’ might have been more accureate, in place with a wide grin on her face.
“She’s also the one who broke the darned magic-rock an’ sent us here.” Applejack reminded her exuberant friend but was smiling in relief nonetheless.
Wincing at the reminder Derpy found herself frowning. “But why are you down here, and locked up too?!”
“They were left here because they were useless to It.”
Derpy squeaked and jumped at the sudden hiss. She looked frantically in the direction of the strange voice, backing away from it.
“W-what was that?” She asked, looking at the caged mares. To her surprise they seemed completely at ease. Rainbow Dash was actually rolling her eyes of all things.
“That’s just Hiss.” The pegasus said, blowing her mane out of her eyes. “Come on Derpy, ignore him and hurry up and break us out! I gotta pee and I am SO not using the hole again.”
A raspy laugh filled the cage hall ominously. Derpy eyed the shadow filled cage from which it came nervously.
Rarity sighed tiredly. “Hiss, please do be a dear and come out. Derpy, this is a new friend we made after that brutish fellow left us here. He is a bit...odd, yes, but really I think I may have gone mad were it not for him keeping us enthralled with tales.” She laughed shrilly and Derpy wondered if the unicorn had really managed to avoid going crazy.
Something slithered in the darkness, stirring the shadows. A silence that seemed to Derpy to hold a thoughtful air lasted a few moments before the voice returned. “Very well. Brace yourself, little one.”
Derpy would have done just that, if she had time to find something to hold on to. ‘I wonder if he’s going to make the floor shake.’ She mused briefly, not taking the exact meaning.
The clink of something hard and the pad of something soft repeated a few times until the occupant of the shadowed cage appeared. Viridian scales with wavering touches of teal shone in the light despite the grim dirtying their surface. Hardened spines flexed and spread fine webs, running in a straight line from between the eyes set on a long, reptilian snout. Muscles shifted beneath its scales as the creature strode forth on a single pair of legs tipped by claws clearly the source of the sound.
“Greetings. I am Hiss.” It folded the obscenely long forelegs it strangely wasn’t using to walk on and gave the pegasus a slight bow. Already in an upright if stooping posture this gesture only lowered its height slightly.
“.....” Derpy’s disobedient eye wandered away from the odd creature as she tried to stare at him. “You must get cold without fur.”
Reptilian eyes blinked at her for a moment before Hiss broke into another un-equine laugh. “Oh yes, I find the cold less than pleasing! How interesting your response is, broken one.”
“Broken?” She asked curiously, tilting her head to the side.
“Hey, don’t call Derpy names!” Shouted Rainbow Dash crossly. She glared at the lizard-creature. “Even if she DID break that crystal thingame, you can’t call her names!”
Hiss snorted, his slit-nostrils twitching. “I do not insult her, I merely address her according to fact. Even one such as I can tell she is broken. A weakness of body, no doubt. Tell me, were your eyes broken at birth or did injury bring about your flaw?”
“Derpy, don’t answer. Y’all better rethink how yer talking ta her, mistah. Anymore o’ this hooey an’ Ah’m gonna give ya a right bucking.” Applejack called out crossly before the pegasus could reply.
“I would welcome the chance, for you would be required to have broken free and thus perhaps be capable of freeing me.” Hiss shrugged. A long, sinuous tail that must have been at least five or six feet long stretched out to lazily rap at the bars of his cell.
Looking on Derpy took a few steps back. Hiss was...cold. His eyes continued to watch her without hint of emotion, not even caring at her failure to answer or the apparent anger of his fellow prisoners.
A pink hoof reached from the nearest cell to pat Derpy’s shoulder comfortingly and she looked around to find Pinkie beaming at her.
“Don’t let that sad-scales get you down! He might sound a bit mean but Hiss is really nice once he gets used to you. He’s just acting like this to make the others angry so things are a little different. I think Hissy-wissy just wants a little fun and he’s been down here sooooooo long the only thing he has left to do is find out how we react.” Pinkie giggled, putting one hoof over her mouth before adding “He put the moves on Dashie when we realised he was trying to make us angry on purpose. It totally worked too, she got all flustered and her wings-”
Derpy turned to peer at a red-cheeked Rainbow Dash, who spluttered incoherently for a few seconds. “P-Pinkie! Shut up!”
Hiss laughed. His mouth displayed an array of long, razor teeth as he did and his long tongue danced around them. After Rainbow Dash fell silent with a last huff he spoke again.
“I am pleased to have yet another to share this misery with. I wonder where your cell shall be placed.”
“Huh?” Shaking her head, Derpy tried to remember what was important. “What did you guys do? He seemed really nice to me, he’s even showing Twilight something. It’s magic or something but he can help us find you...wait...”
A few seconds passed while the prisoners let Derpy’s brain work out what was going on.
“He already knows where you are! You’re here!” She exclaimed, jaw dropping open and uncoordinated eyes growing wide.
“Yeah Derpy, we are.” Rainbow Dash sighed loudly. “We showed up and the dude just threw down into his maze.”
Rarity was frowning thoughtfully, cutting in once Rainbow Dash was done. “Darling, did you say he was showing Twilight something? Did he not send you down here too? Hiss- oh goodness, Hiss! Are you alright?”
The lizard had gone completely still, his eyes locked on Derpy. At Rarity’s exclamation he jerked and leapt at the bars.
“What is It showing her?” He demanded with a voice of urgency. “You must tell me!”
Looking around Derpy was relieved to find she wasn’t the only one startled by his harshly voiced demand. Rubbing her forehead she tried to remember what the strange being made of stone had been talking about with Twilight before he had dismissed her.
As quickly as she could Derpy related the tale that had brought her to them, from their discovery of the palace, the exhausting march to reach it, their surprisingly welcome admittance and Derpy’s need for the bathroom.
Hiss was silent for all of two seconds. Words that she didn’t understand burst from his scaled muzzle and his claws clashed against the bars. The cacophony continued for nearly two minutes, the shocked mares looking on in fear. Despite the difference in facial features they could all tell what the lizard was thinking, even Derpy who had only known him for minutes.
Anger and fear.
At last he began to calm down though his claws still gripped the bars tightly. “Nngh! Broken pony, go! You must warn the mage, she cannot undo the binding stone! It was forged by the powers of the Ideals, imbued with the very force of all six of the Mantles. It is all that holds the Prince of Scorched Stone to this world!”
Derpy recoiled from the harshly barked commands. “Wha-what?” She stared at him with wide, unfocused eyes.
“The Prince was lying!” Rainbow Dash yelled in exasperation. “Hiss told us ages ago, the Prince just invaded this place and...and....”
“That monster murdered my world!” Hiss roared when the pegasus hesitated, clearly uneasy with speaking about global genocide. The lizard seemed to have no such hesitance. His burning yellow eyes were set on Derpy very much like the eyes of an enraged predator.
Derpy turned around, looking at the mares in their cages. All were looking back with urgent eyes.
“I can’t just leave you guys!”
“Derpy, darling I know you want to help but you have to warn Twilight.” Rarity told her quickly. “You can come back for us after, but you have to fly as fast as you can!”
“Um, I...d-didn’t Derpy get l-lost?” A quiet whimper whispered through the room and they call froze, staring at Fluttershy. She whimpered and hide behind her mane. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry, sugarcube, y’all are right. Derpy only found us ‘cause she went an’ got lost, tha’ varmint never meant fer her ta find us.” Growled Applejack, stamping a hoof.
A powerful crack rang out as Derpy bucked a hoof into the lock on Hiss’s cage and snapped it in two. She grinned at them.
Even the lizard’s eyes were wide open as he stared at the shattered lock. “How...? Impossible, that lock was-”
“I break rocks all the time! I, uh, crash a lot so I work out so most stuff breaks instead of me. I once made a hole in the wall of Canterlot Castle!” Derpy informed with cheerfully, pulling open the door to his cage easily.
“That does not- the lock was crafted by a demon’s magic- what are you?!” Hiss hissed, staring at her as he strode free.
Shrugging, Derpy went to work on the locks to the ponies’ cages. Applejack, who had spent the better part of her stay attempting to buck her way free, stared at Derpy in shock. She glanced at Hiss uncertainly.
“Ah thought y’all said it would take a-” She began before Pinkie cut her off.
“Ssssh.” Pinkie held a hoof in front of her mouth as she shushed her friend. She pointed a hoof at Derpy as the pegasus was bucking the lock from Rainbow Dash’s cage. “Don’t tell her or it’ll stop working!”
Apparently unwilling to waste time deliberating, Hiss crept to the exit and peered around the corner. He still feared a trap, some game to amuse the demon but in light of what the broken pony had shared he doubted It would be wasting time on such things. Its power only extended over the material of the palace in its general area so as long as It was distant he could act with little fear save wards it may have placed.
The ponies were gathered behind him as his eyes began to glow with teal light. For the first time in untold eons his mind was free once more and he reached out, feeling the shape of their thoughts.
They reminded him of distant memories. Their minds were warm and welcoming, utterly unlike his own. Yet there was something...familiar.
Ignoring them, Hiss focused his powers outwards. His mind stretched from his physical form to touch the non-material world. The power that blazed in the palace had not changed since the last day of his freedom so long ago, the power of the Ideals echoing from the binding stone at the building’s centre.
Yet he found no traps, no wards. The demon had left no defence and no alarms to warn It should he escape.
“Arrogance.” The word hissed from his scaled muzzle, equal parts glee and fury at being underestimated.
“Come on Hissy-wissy, we need to go warn Twilight!” Pinkie bounced into palace next to him.
A claw was lifted up to halt her and the glow dimmed in his eyes. “Patience even in times of crisis. It is a fool, mad in its arrogance but I had to ensure nothing stood to bar our way. Now we must go, and quickly.”
With that his long body stretched out, arms reaching down to act as a second pair of legs. Without warning he burst into a sprint, tearing down the hall.
“Darn it! Come on gals, after tha’ lizard!” Applejack shot off after him. She had been impatient to run to Twilight straight away but with their only guide standing at the door doing nothing but staring with glowing eyes she had been forced to wait.
Rainbow Dash had been little better and now her wings pumped into action. “Come on Fluttersy, flap those wings! If you can’t fly fast enough, just bite my tail and hold on!”
Even Rarity was galloping, and together the six mares ran (or in three cases flew) in the wake of their scaled friend.
At each corner Hiss simply leapt up, bouncing up from wall-to-wall-to-floor without a pause in his speed. Endless halls of stone passed around them in a blur as the lizard led a charge into the heart of the palace, fury burning in his eyes.
Without warning, all six ponies heard a voice that resonated into being without pausing to pass through their ears.
‘It has taken me some time to adjust to your minds, but I have. Now we may converse.’ Hiss’s thought-voice whispered in their minds at the same time.
Nearly all of them tripped over in shock, particularly Fluttershy.
“What the hay?!” shouted Applejack as she regained her footing and pulling Rarity back up.
‘Calm down you silly-fillies! He’s just doing that mind-talk thing he told us about, remember?’ Pinkie’s mind-voice, as exuberant and cheerful as the mare herself echoed between them and they all nearly fell over again.
A moment passed as each contemplated the consequences of Pinkie reading minds.
‘Fear not.’ Hiss murmured to them. ‘I have linked your minds. Think what you wish to share and it will be done.’
A sudden mental image of Rainbow Dash in a Wonderbolts uniform posing slapped at each of their minds. Rainbow Dash went red as they looked at her. “Hey, wasn’t me!”
‘Cease wasting time and increase your speed.’
As the group continued their sprint through the building, guided by their alien ally, Derpy asked a question that popped into her head apparently at random.
“What’s an ideal?” She asked aloud.
“Darling -huff- now is no-ot the time.” Rarity puffed as she ran fighting for each breath.
‘The Ideals were our final resort, a set of relics with unimaginable power. Never appearing without consequences, never used without great reason. From among our people one would arise to bear the Mantle of an Ideal. Together the Ideals were capable of altering reality in ways beyond imagining.’ The lizard’s voice whispered into their minds as though he was were listening to them. ‘Even my mental art, the power of a psion, paled in comparison.’
Allegiance. Selflessness. Truth. Compassion. Joy. The five Ideals that formed the basis. The sixth was the spark that lights the fire of power between them, forming the link that allows the Mantles to unite.’
‘Magic?’ Inserted Rainbow Dash curiously.
‘No. The sixth Ideal is Choice . Only with the ability to think and decide, only with free will are the other Ideals possible. To contemplate and choose to do what is right, to choose to be selfless or be compassionate, that is the power of Choice In the final days, as the demon drained the last of our world’s strength, I wore the Mantle of Choice. The last shaman had died long ago, and our druids could draw no strength from nature for there was near to none left. Only our psions, those who wielded the internal power of the mind, had the might to resist the demon left. I was born to the final generation, and to my clutch the Mantles fell. Why I do not know, but I and my five clutch-kin together wielded their power.
If the Ideals had been ours at the beginning we may had been able to defeat It. Not by then. It had drained all the life from our world and soon only the power of the Ideals through the Mantles kept my clutch alive. We were the last and we had not the strength to defeat it. So instead my clutch sacrificed themselves to trap him here. As each departed this world their spirits gathered in a stone we had prepared. Wielding the full force of the Ideals I forged the binding stone and this palace around it to imprison him. We may not have been able to defeat It but no other world would suffer the same fate as ours. The binding stone I made untouchable by the power of an immortal yet somehow I was tied to the stone. Just as it would bind the demon for eternity so would I suffer the cruelty of unending life.’
‘Wow, immortality, that sucks.’ Rainbow Dash interrupted again, sarcasm laden thought-voice.
Hiss’s thought-voice struck like a knife at her. ‘Yes, what possible downside is there to living forever in a world empty of your kin. To look around and know that never will the marshes flourish once more, that the sink-cities that once prospered lie parched and dead will never know the bustle and life of my race. Alone save the murderer of your family for eternity.’
The sound of Rainbow Dash gulping loudly and sweating at the force of his mental-hiss was just audible above the sound of their pounding hooves. She failed to interrupt again.
‘I have paid a heavy price and now we risk it coming to naught. Quickly, we are nearly there. If It has any sense the entrance will be barred to ensure nothing interrupts them. It will take me time to marshal the strength to open them. Use the time to catch up, and prepare yourself for battle. The demon will attempt to take your friend and force her to undo the binding stone once we have revealed its treachery. We must shatter its physical body longer enough for you to return to your world.’
They were silent as they ran until Derpy spoke up again. ‘Uh, what about you Mister Hiss?’
He never replied.
*
“And now,” The Prince waved at the huge gate before them, striding through as it swung open, “we come to its resting place. The centre of the palace, where the binding stone has taunted me.”
Twilight gasped when she beheld the room. It was a circular chamber at least a hundred metres wide. After a moment she realised it wasn’t just circular but in fact spherical. The floor she was trotting on was platform that extended roughly twenty-five metres before reaching out either side to run parallel to the curved wall until each path met on the other side of the room. Her gaze was drawn to the pillar in the centre of the room. At the very centre it narrowed from both above and below in cones that hovered a hoof apart without touching.
Her strange companion pointed with three fingers from different hands at the object floating between the points of the cone. “There, you see it! The binding stone!” His voice hissed the words like a curse. Twilight looked up at him and blanched at the expression of sheer unnatural fury on his strange features.
‘He’s been trapped by it for centuries.’ She reprimanded herself. ‘Of course he would be angry with it.’
Together they approached the ring platform. The gate slammed shut behind them, a pair of stone discs slipping through before it shut. The discs waited at the edge of the platform as steady as bedrock despite floating on nothing more than empty air.
“My power over the palace does not extend to this room.” The Prince admitted to her as he stepped on the first, larger disc. “My power is contained by the stone as well as trapping me here. Once it is broken I shall be able to reform even continents with but a flick of my will!” His mouth opened wide and a deep, more than slightly menacing laughter erupted from deep in his chest.
Twilight smiled despite the unpleasant feeling the Prince’s laughter stirred. There was something to it that was familiar. Not personally familiar but reminiscent of something she had heard before. Like it shared a common element with another sound to have once graced her ears.
For some reason she shivered before shaking her head. Whatever it was, it wasn’t important. Finding her friends was and the Prince was offering to help if she did something for him. If doing a good deed was all she had to do, well, then Twilight was more than happy with the arrangement.
They reached the centre of the room and the scholarly unicorn stared at the binding stone in fascination. It was a perfectly portioned twelve-sided gem of six colours. Purple, green, orange, red, black and teal.
Despite knowing what it did Twilight couldn’t help but find the gem beautiful. There was something calming about it and instinctively she felt drawn to whatever power radiated from it. And what power! Its energies weren’t even directed at her but Twilight could feel it in the air. She had never before seen such a concentration of magical energy in one place before let alone in one object. Her first instinct was study it and learn everything there was to learn.
‘It’s probably just a defence mechanism. Don’t let it get to you.’
Taking a deep breath Twilight closed her eyes and focused on the gem. “I’m going to try to break it. I don’t know how long it will take but I’ll do my best.” ‘For my friends.’ She added privately.
A grin that held a millennia of anticipation spread across the Prince’s features. “Thank you, Twilight Sparkle. I promise, once I’m free you will see your friends again. Soon, you’ll be home, all of you.” With a throaty chuckle his disc backed away and he left her to her work.
“Right.” Spell-light played across her horn and Twilight fell into her spell work.
Reaching out with her magic Twilight found with surprise no resistance. The gem seemed to accept her power without attempting to fight back. ‘Its only counter-measure really must be preventing immortals from affecting it. As a mortal pony its just letting me do whatever I want. This is...simple!’
Gathering her power Twilight concentrated on a single concept and fired it into the gem.
‘Break.’
A flash of light played across the binding stone’s surfaces. Her magic gathered in her horn and she sent her command a second time, greater than before and with her will behind it. It wasn’t accepting her command, merely consuming the energy and ignoring her first attempt to assert control.
‘Break!’
This time every facet glowed at the same time. It absorbed the energy but not the command, shaking in place. But only the straight edges between facets Twilight saw the glow of her magic for a second. The gem might not have broken but a chink had been opened she could exploit.
“Hngh.” Twilight panted as her horn began to burn with ever-greater magic. Beams of light shone in every direction like the rays of an alien sun. This time every shred of power she could gathered built into
‘BREAK!’
The glows of her horn and the binding stone would have stunned any normal eyes witnessing it. But the only eyes in the room other than Twilight’s shone with insane anticipation.
The crack was a tiny sound, barely worth all the effort. Releasing a flash that outshone even the previous bursts the gem shattered, flying apart in six pieces.
At the same moment the gate shuddered and shook. As the light added a hundred factures appeared across its breadth and it erupted into countless fragments.
Staggering woozily Twilight panted heavily. Opening her eyes she smiled at the result of her work. Where once a single perfect gem now six broken pieces floated at a slow pace as the energy holding them aloft dissipated.
Before she could enjoy her victory a cry cut through the chamber. It took her a few moments to realise it was actually two sounds. One was a deep, hungry laughter. The other was a cry of agony and rage.
“No!” the cry transformed into. “What have you done?!”
Looking around Twilight blinked. She was still exhausted from her feat of magic but....was that a giant lizard at the door.
“She has freed me, beast. No longer does your pitiful stone trap me. No more am I bound by your filthy Ideals. The Prince of Scorched Stone is free once more.” The Prince’s voice had changed, deepening and becoming somehow even more alien. It felt like words being formed from the grind of rock against rock and her ears were in agony after so few words.
“G-girls?” she whispered, blinking dumbly as her eyes began to regain focus on the splotches of colour. “Is...is that you?”
“Twilight!” They called only to be cut off by the Prince.
“It is. And now that I have fulfilled my promise – you have seen them after all – we have no more business.” With every second his body seemed to be swelling. The air stank of dry, dirty heat and swelting power as he turned a sinister grin towards Twilight. His head rotated to look back at her without the rest of his body following.
“What?” Something about that grin made it click. The recognisable resonance to his laughter suddenly returned the forefront of her memory. But this time it played against another sound, another laughter. The laughter not of an alien creature of stone but a god-thing made from random animals. The common element was suddenly so clear Twilight was amazed she hadn’t realised it before.
It was madness.
The disc crumbled under Twilight’s hooves and she fell.
The Prince turned his leering grin back to lizard and gathered ponies. His red-stone eyes were wide with insane glee and his grin became larger and less restrained by the second as his body swelled with demonic might.
“And now, my little lizard, I will break-“
A blur shot past him faster than he could track leaving only a trail of rainbow in its wake.
Twilight, her magic all but depleted and without hope of teleporting to safety, found her fall arrested before it could she could even fall very far. She stared up into magenta eyes as hooves grasped her tight.
“Geez Twi’, you just can’t avoid trouble for five minutes can ya?” A joyously familiar voice ribbed her gently.
Twilight’s hooves went around Rainbow Dash’s neck and she held on tighter than she thought was possible. Not because if she fell there was a good chance her skull would crack open on the curved stone floor but out of sheer relief.
“Rainbow Dash!” She sniffled against her friend’s neck. Words failed her even as she tried to speak again.
To her surprise the pegasus’ voice was strained. “Time for sappiness later, I’ve kinda been locked in a cage for a couple weeks. Ngh, just..gotta...”
Twilight pondered her friend’s words, since as far as she knew it had been a few hours at most, before finding herself dropped onto a hard floor and smothered by welcoming hugs.
“Girls! Derpy, you found them! Thanks so much!” Twilight lifted her head free of the press to beam tearfully at Derpy, thanks shining in her eyes. The mailmare just blushed at the praise and looked away.
“Very touching.” That evil voice ground out. “Yet too late. My power is returning with every second that passes. Without the Ideals to stop me I am free to scour life from a hundred worlds.”
Hiss’s tail whipped across the floor in agitation as he glared up at the towering demon.”You will find no more worlds to ravage, demon. Even your kind cannot violate the barriers between worlds without aid. Free of this palace you may be but only to haunt a dead world!”
The Prince of Scorched Stone chuckled, the deep sound magnified by its now bloated body. It was tall enough for its feet to reach the bottom of the chamber and remain at eye level with the group of mortal creatures.
One massive hand rose, cupping something. Its fingers spread as it spoke. “How wrong you are, lizard. I must thank you, Twilight Sparkle, for not just freeing me but providing a portal to your realm.”
Twilight stared at the slender crystal embedded within the flesh of its stone palm, one of her hooves reaching into her saddlebag. It was empty. Her eyes were wide with horror as she realised how thoroughly she had been played.
“I was bound to this palace but my sight extended far. I saw you and your defective-“ it sneered the word and Derpy flinched. “-companion and knew my chance had come. I know how your ‘friends’ arrived in my domain and I know how to use this crystal to forge a new portal. A portal to your world.”
“...no...”
“YES!” It opened its massive jaws to laugh again.
A piece of the stone gate twice the size of a pony slammed into its eye.
All attention turn to Hiss as he hefted another fragment of the stone door in the teal of his psionic power.
“No.” He stated calmly. Free of his apparent despair driven trance his eyes had gone cold and hard. “No.”
His tail snapped out to touch its tip to Twilight’s horn. She jerked and gasped as information flooded into her mind. The true tale of the Prince’s arrival and destruction of this world, the forging of the binding stone by powers eerily reminiscent of the Elements of Harmony. The weeks he had spent in company of her friends, the first company he had been blessed with in a thousand years.
‘Hope is not lost. When the stone broke the power of Choice, my Ideal, returned to me. Your friends have told me of your Elements of Harmony. They spoke of the Magic of Friendship. Your bear Magic, and in your world that is Friendship which acts as the uniting bond of the Elements.’ A voice she now knew to belong to Hiss murmured into her mind. ‘I bear the power of Choice, which serves the same part among the Ideals.’
A shiver ran down Twilight’s spine as something flowed from Hiss into her.
‘I have granted you as much of Choice’s power as I can risk. We still have time to reforge the binding stone before the power of the other Ideals fades entirely.’
Shaking her head free of his tail, Twilight found her reply coming to mind quickly. She could feel the knowledge Hiss had of the binding stone’s original form bubbling to the surface of her thoughts and found her understanding without a moment’s hesitation. ‘But, but to remake the stone requires something to focus the fragments of the original on!’
‘Yes. Be prepared, Twilight Sparkle, for the choice will be yours.’
With Hiss stood to his full height. Somehow only a moment had passed in real time as they conversed. A glance at her friends told her they had heard as well.
‘The rest of you have but one purpose if you wish to spare your world. Reclaim the crystal!’
“Demon!” Hiss roared. His eyes began to burn with teal power and he floated a few inches off the floor as he stared down the massive, bloated monster before him. “I will see you trapped here, if I have to tie you down myself!”
“Ah ha ha. Come and try, little lizard. I will crush you as I have desired for so long. I have no more end for you.”
‘Attack!’
Every piece of stone bigger than a fist was lifted in a teal veil and shot forth in a cloud of debris. Hiss flew in their wake buoyed by his own power.
“Come on gals, we got a job to do!”
The Prince roared, swiping an arm through the cloud of stones. Its fist crashed into the platform and gained an orange passenger. Applejack tore up Its arm, hooves pounding against stone muscle as she galloped up. One of Its other hands with a four-pointed claw slashed down at her only to find a rainbow blur spinning around it, powerful kicks raining down.
“Come on you big ugly monster!” Rainbow Dash bellowed in her cracking voice. “You might be big but let’s see how fast you are!”
For emphasis she shot past Its face and gave It two hooves in the eyeball.
An enraged bellow shook the chamber and It would have turned Its claws to catching the annoying pest the hooves of the ignored orange mare not rammed her far stronger hooves into Its chin and knocked its head back.
“RAGH!” Its head twisted sharply and swiftly, huge jaws closing on Its own stone-flesh. In the moment of distraction that pesky pegasus zoomed down and caught Applejack when she leapt away.
Something tapped lightly against the top of Its head.
“Hmm.” Pinkie frowned from her place behind Its rock crown. “Sounds hollow to me!” She said brightly.
The stone-flesh around her surged and a dozen grasping claws grew from it. They struck with deadly speed but Pinkie moved as though she could predict each and every movement, bouncing from arm to arm without missing a beat.
The crystal in the only hand to stay distant from the conflict shook as something pulled at it. A great red eye turned to glare at the meagre yellow pegasus flapping her wings as she struggled to pull it free of Its grasp.
Slowly looking up, as though afraid of what she would see, Fluttershy’s eyes shrank when they met the furious stone orb.
“Uh-oh.”
A cloud of razor fragments began to rain into the eye. Rarity, standing proudly on a piece of stone big enough to hold her that floated at the behest of their scaled ally, frowned severely at the demon.
“Do not even think of hurting darling Fluttershy, or I shall give you such a- gah! You brute!” Rarity ducked and her stone lowered her enough to avoid a swipe of a massive clawed fist.
Fluttershy’s wings beat again and again but the crystal failed to come loose.
“You will not preva-” The Prince began.
“Let me help.” Hiss floated before the far larger demon surrounded by an aura of teal energy. He lifted a claw in an upwards slash and the power obeyed the gesture. Teal light flashed for a moment in slashes along the wrist of the hand.
For a second nothing seemed to happen until the stone wrist suddenly separated. Smooth, flat edges were exposed before it fell to the floor. Almost instantly it began to regrow but the crystal, and Fluttershy, were already too far away for the demon to retrieve immediately.
Its howl filled the chamber with a sound so full of hate and pain that it shook all but Hiss to the core.
“Fight on!” The lizard rasped, unleashing a wave of kinetic force that slammed the demon back against the wall. He turned his attention to Twilight for a moment to ensure the floating orb of force he had encased her in was closing on the place where the binding stone’s fragments hovered at the pillar’s cone-flanked centre.
‘The demon is still recovering Its power and has not fought for eons!’ He sent out the warning. ‘Keep It angry and off-balance until the binding stone can be remade!’
They all nodded in unison.
The dismembered claw shuddered and lifted with a surge of force, knocking Fluttershy away with a squeak.
The demon lifted Its head to glare at them hatefully. “You think to defy me? I am the Prince of Scorched Stone, a Lord of the Third Circle. My very presence defiles this reality and yet you resist? Your torment will be everlasting!”
The hand floated upwards, palm rotating to face downwards, until it reached Its head and the demon distended its maw hugely. Hiss snarled in realisation.
“It intends to consume the crystal! It must not!” His claws thrust out and power poured around them but he knew the time required to build it to a level strong enough to do anything would be too long.
Unnoticed until now, a grey missile fell from the roof like a comet. It slammed into the hand, grey furred rear hitting with the force of meteorite. The hand shuddered at the impact and cracks spread across its surface.
Derpy grinned at the shocked expression of the demon and from the broken hand’s palm a glittering crystal fell.
“No! You will pay, broken thing!” It snarled, throwing Its entire body down to with maw opened wide.
“I’m not broken.” Derpy returned without losing her smile as she avoided the clumsy bite. “I’m Derpy.”
The crystal vanished in a wink of purple light.
The demon’s head twisted to glare at Twilight as she reached the centre of the chamber. The slender crystal lifted into the centre, floating calmly between the two points of the cones. Around it orbited the six gem fragments, each a different colour.
Floating in a cushion of borrowed power Twilight closed her eyes and lit her horn. She knew more about the binding stone this time, and more; she know what the touch of Hiss’s mental magic was like. With a surge of will she pushed her mind out into the energy of the binding stone that awaited only a mind able to reunite it.
*
“He’s gotten sloppy.”
“Oh shut up, you see how-” “-you do after that long in a damn cage.”
“I’ve spent that long in a damn rock!”
“So-”“-have we.”
“I’ll tell ya who got sloppy, that great stone bastard. If the demon wasn’t mad as scale-lice those little ponies would be little stains on the wall.”
“Oh yes, he’s become-” “-so very stupid.”
“The three of you will be silent or I shall pull your skulls from your head and-“
“Oh uh, I think you’re-” “-scaring her.”
“-in them!”
Twilight floated in a white void, hearing voices. They were arguing, which wasn’t a good sign.
“Calm down. You’re in a mental, spiritual.....thing. Time isn’t passing out there.” The voice that failed to use her ears to communicate was comforting if raspy.
“Thing.” She questioned dryly with a voice that wasn’t really a voice.
“Yes, thing!” the voice became irritable. “We can’t all speak all with all these other wording....things!”
“Please be quiet before I am forced to cut out your voice box.” The threat was delivered lazily, as if the speaker couldn’t really be bothered.
Before the irritated voice could snap a reply Twilight interrupted. “Okay, stop it and show yourselves. I know you’re there.”
There was silence in the void for a moment.
“Very well.” A curt voice that reminded Twilight of Hiss said simply. Granted, she had only known Hiss for a few very chaotic minutes anyway.
Twilight blinked and five figures appeared before her. Each resembled Hiss, but each was different.
One towered above the others, its scaled thick and overlapping like scale-mail. Muscle bulged behind the violet scale, very different from Hiss’s spiny ridged form and lacking any of the frills. Even its muzzle was blunter and the lizard’s overall appearance was that of a creature built for physical power right down to its thick blunt claws.
The next was the complete opposite, even more slender and streamlined than Hiss. Its scales were muted blues and greens that put her in mind of the ocean, indeed its claws both on its arms and legs were finned. Everything about this one told her it must be some aquatic variety that was born to glide through the waters of a river.
The third and forth were a match, seeming to mirror in reverse their colours. One was a warm orange with slashes of bloody red while its twin was red slashed with orange. They seemed to occupy a middle ground being neither as slender as Hiss nor as heavy as the towering lizard. Small round spikes sprouted from their scales frequently and matching green frills were laid closed against the back of their heads.
The last had the squattest build but its scales were like plates of armour. Dull, pitch black even its claws seemed more deadly. Its tail swayed gently behind it, its tip a dull spiked club. Like its larger kin it lacked any frills or webbing between spines or spikes. Every inch of its body looked designed to withstand and endure against the mightiest of foes.
“Greetings, Twilight Sparkle.” The curt voice rumbled from the massive violet lizard. “We are those who in life were the Mantles of the Six Ideals. You may know us by our Mantles. I am Compassion.”
The aquatic blue-green lizard stepped forward, thrusting out its chest proudly. “In that case I am Allegiance! Yes, my scale-pattern is beautiful, I know.” It spoke in an arrogant, clearly male voice. As far as she could tell this one was the one who had grown irritated at her questioning its wording.
The orange and red lizards moved together, twisting around the other’s frame. “So beautiful-“ “-I could throw up!” They even spoke together, although Twilight was unable to tell which voice belonged to which. “We are Truth-” “-and Joy.”
“Let me guess, you’re twins?” Twilight asked with an arched eyebrow.
They grinned, displaying dual pairs of fine fangs. “Born from the same egg!” They said together. Twilight wasn’t even sure if their voices were male or female. There wasn’t much to use to distinguish between genders as far as she could see.
“Selflessness.” The last muttered simply, shrugging his heavily armoured shoulders. She was fairly certian he had been the one to threaten the others.
“It’s...a pleasure to meet you?” She offered helplessly as they continued to look at her.
“Our comrade has gifted you with the power of Choice. And so you must make a choice.” Compassion rumbled, his eyes piercing her. “We have the power to rebuild the binding stone so trap the demon here forever. Choice knew that you could have to make a decision to use the full power of the Ideals.”
“He didn’t say anything to me.” Twilight pointed out.
Allegiance snorted. “Of course he didn’t, mysterious bastard. He thought the Choice would be to strand yourselves here by sacrificing the crystal to remake the binding stone or let the demon go free, of course he wasn’t going to say it out loud.”
“There must always be a choice.” Said Compassion. Looking closely, something like amusement was lighting its eyes. “However, there is nothing saying this choice has to be fair.”
“Stacking the deck.” Selflessness provided.
All five lizards gave her looks of deep satisfaction. Moments of conversation later, she returned it.
*
“No!”
“Yes!”
The demon and Hiss howled their cries at the same time again but now reversing their feelings.
With only a moment’s work Twilight had reunited the six fragments, now bound to the crystal.
Turning it furious gaze down upon the ponies the demon screamed at their expressions of triumphant even as its body began to shrink. “You celebrate?! You have lost your only way home, your only path to your own realm! You will spend eternity here suffering at my hands!”
Twilight’s voice rang out, strong and passionate. “Now that is where you’re wrong!” She smirked at the shrinking demon’s befuddled expression. “This binding stone works a little different. That crystal was impossible to interact with before, but now I have a medium to work through. Just one use to link it back the portal at home.”
“Then I will wait until another mortal stumbles upon my world and I shall have them use the stone to guide me to your world! I have forever to wait and no matter how long you prepare the knowledge of my coming will fade. I will feast on the soul of your realm!” The Prince of Scorched Stone screamed her at hatefully, shaking its many fists.
It would likely have gone on had a ball of teal energy not smashed It into a wall.
Hiss levitated those ponies unable to fly with him, hovering in a circle around Twilight.
“Its words contain truth. It is weak only for a moment. One day a more hapless travellers of worlds will find their way here.” He warned her darkly.
To his surprise Twilight just smiled. “That’s where you’re wrong. This crystal can make a portal by matching frequency with the portal back home. Once the portal on the other side fades this crystal will still be keyed into the same frequency, forever thanks to the effects of the binding stone but there won’t be a matching portal for it to attach to.”
Her friends grinned and wooted, basking in triumphant of Twilight’s magic. Even Hiss nodded appreciatively.
“A fine plan.” He agreed.
“That’s not all.” The look of surprise he gave her was understandable despite the different facial structure was satisfying. “The original binding stone affected this entire world, preventing it from dying any further or the demon from escaping. Now it’s also going to ‘lock’ this world to the same frequency. Only portals matching that frequency can be opened here – from this side or any other.”
Silence ensured at the ramification of this statement, appreciated fastest by the demon and Hiss
“No! I will not allow it!” The demon roared, scrambling at the curved wall in a desperate attempt to reach them. “I will not be left here!”
“You won’t.” Snarled Hiss darkly. “I will be here, your warden.” He glared down at the demon as a light the colour of Twilight’s magic sprung into being behind him.
“Actually....” He spun around to face Twilight whose smiled had turned shy. “I had to make a choice, you know.”
“I assumed you would, yes.” The lizard admitted warily, eyes narrowing.
The light of her magic spread over his body as it did her friends. “Your friends gave me a choice. They didn’t want you to be alone. So you’re coming home with us.” She beamed at him.
“Woo yeah! Taking the awesome-scary psychic lizard home!” Rainbow Dash cheered.
“Oh, I can’t wait to introduce him to all my animal friends.” Fluttershy whispered and smiled at him from behind her mane.
Rarity ran a hoof through her mane contemplatively. “Oh darling, with your lovely colouration I’m sure I can make a suit or two for you, even if you are such a different shape from most of my clientele.”
“If y’all need a place ta stay we got plenty o’ room at the farm.” Offered Applejack quckly.
“Oh, guess what this means?” Pinkie was practically shaking place as the portal enveloped them.
Pinkie giggled. “You’re half-right! Welcome party!”
“...with muffins?”
“Yepper-roonie!”
“Yay!”
Hiss mused numbly at this change, vanishing into the quickly fading portal to a beautiful sound. The roaring, despairing cries of the Prince of Scorched Stone.
He glanced back, his last sight the six-faceted gem that gleamed with not just power but thought. He raised a claw in farewell and, as the portal finally snapped shut, the gem’s light seemed to wink back.
‘Thank you, my friends.’
They fell through the void between worlds, their destination a library. But really, in the end, home.
“Wait, I never found the bathroom!”
Author's Note
I hope you enjoyed this story, particularly Roarin. The request called for Twilight and Derpy having an adventure.through a portal Derpy sent the others through by accident, and here it is. I had quite fun designing another world for them to go to. Its a tad more comedic than I intendeed in places but I can't really help it sometimes.
Hiss, the Prince of Scorched Stone and all related stuff on the other side of the portal originated from my own brain.
Still, Roarin, I hope you enjoyed it. If it not, I am very sorry but hey, hopefully it doesn't come to that!
