Crossing Over the Arcane Hiatus

Chapter 15: A Double Edged Sword

“So, why exactly did Princess Luna call me to Canterlot?” I asked Commander Ares as our chariot touched down in front of the castle.

“I don’t know,” he replied bluntly with authority, “But if I did know, I still wouldn’t to tell you.”

All my previous attempts to start up a conversation with him had been shot down the same way. Then again, he’s in charge of the entire Royal Guard and only takes orders from the two Princesses themselves, so I guess it makes sense he’s rather ignorant. The two of us hopped off the chariot and onto the cobblestone porch that led into the castle. Simultaneously the chariot left and the front doors opened, revealing some dozen or so guard ponies in their signature golden armor.

“Security,” Ares uncomfortably reassured and motioned for me to follow him inside, like I have a choice, and we made our way through the labyrinth of hallways that made up the interior of the enormous castle. The guards that accompanied stayed close to us, eight on either side, in a tight formation. I don’t know if they led or if Ares did, but the group moved as a whole in a single fluid motion.

“A lot of guards here for a small walk. I didn’t know you could be ambushed in your own castle.” I mumbled sarcastically to myself, just loud enough to be overheard. I could hear a few of the guard ponies snicker to themselves nervously, and the one next to me look away in hesitation. It dawned on me just how tall I am compared to these Royal Guards. They’re intimidating in every sense of the word, but somehow they weren’t when I stood beside one. I’m a good foot taller than them, not counting the crest on their helmets. The show probably helped make me not that afraid of them even though any of one of them they could probably kill me with a single, well-placed kick.

“Times are… tough,” Ares sighed. “I’m sure you’ll find out more soon enough.” He knew what was going on and why it was happening, but still kept it to himself.

“We’re here.” The guard at the front of the pack knocked on a set of doors before nudging them open. The formation broke in two halves, one on the outside and the other followed Ares and I in and stood on either sides of the doorway. The room was rather small however. Actually, it’s the same room from where I was interrogated when I first arrived. Princess Luna sat at the far end of the room smiling at me as Ares and company approached. The chest that previously stood there was gone, but the large metal table was exactly where it was before. Luna sat where I had been, comfortably shifting around in a beanbag chair. Ares looked to me and nodded, and I followed him up to the Princess. We were about to bow when Luna raised a hoof for us to stop.

“I appreciate the gesture, but no need for formalities here,” Luna said with a smile. “No go on. Get.” Luna playfully waved her hoof at Ares, wanting to kick him out of the room.

“I… what?” He took a step back in confusion.

“I assure you he isn’t dangerous. His body is no physical shape to even defend its own being in any event,” she said with a small chuckle. “I am more than capable of defending myself. Plus, I’m pretty sure the mere presence of several guards would make him nervous with fright. And we don’t want that…”

Thanks...

“What? But Princess Luna-“

“I don’t want to hear it. What happens in this room will only be between those allowed. Now shoo.” She playfully waved her hoof again, giggling to herself. Ares stood in shock, but grunted and complied with the order. He turned to face me, asserting intimidation and power.

“If you so much as breathe the wrong air, I will kick down that door and personally shove my hoof up your-“

“Commander!” Luna bellowed in a tone I had never heard conceived possible. Her voice shook the air with gale-force winds, almost knocking me off my feet. Her voice shook the air with gale-force winds, almost knocking me off my feet. “Leave!”

Ares looked up to her like a puppy that just upset its master. He shrugged, and after briefly glaring at me, left. The rest of the guards who awkwardly sat out the ordeal followed behind him, shutting the door.

“Sorry about that,” Luna spoke in a sympathetic tone, nothing like the words she just screamed. “That was the ‘Royal Canterlot’ voice. I try to not use it anymore, but it does come in handy!” She awkwardly smiled as if that brief explanation solved everything that just happened. Oddly, it kind of did.

“Come! Sit!” she added, floating in a beanbag chair out of nowhere and set it down next to her. I walked around and took my seat, gently laying my backpack on the ground.

“So…” I tried to begin.

“I’m sure you’re wondering what I called you here for.”

“Yeah…”

“Well that will have to wait. ‘Tia is on her way and I’m sure she’ll want to be here for this.”

“Princess-”

“Please, just call me Luna. Like I said before, there’s no need for formalities. And I see your leg is healed already!”

“Yeah, thanks to one of Zecora's potions."

"Yes, that zebra is marvelous at what she does."

"Okay… So if I may ask, where is Celestia?”

“Sister is down in the archives. She’s…” Luna covered her mouth, stopping herself from finishing the sentence.

“What?”

“You’ll have to wait and see.” Luna sorely said, but abruptly snapped out of it and a large grin spread wide across her face.  “So I told you to bring your technology~!” she hummed, throwing her face very close to mine and eagerly smiling from ear to ear. “…did you?”

“Luna?” Celestia had walked into room, accompanied by Twilight who closed the large wooden doors behind her, absentmindedly straight into the faces of a few guards who stuck their heads in the room. I realized that having Princess Luna’s face pressed up next to mine wasn’t likely the best impression to make on her sister. Blushing, I tried to scoot away but fell over onto the floor. Luna erupted into laughter and Celestia let out a soft sigh. Twilight awkwardly stood beside her mentor double checking her saddlebags for something.

Celestia cleared her throat and I sat back up beside Luna. “I’m sorry about our previous meeting here,” she began. “It didn’t do a proper introduction justice, and unfortunately we spoiled any previous opportunity to do so. Although, it seems you already knew a lot about us, yet we still know very little about you. That is, except what you told and have shown Twilight. But I prefer to get my information from the source.”

Blushing, Twilight’s ears folded down as she tried to hide a sheepish smile. Celestia approached the table and sat down, Twilight following close behind. The two of them sat opposite of me and Luna and Twilight opened up her saddlebags, taking out that black book again, a pen, the dictionary, and a strange white book. Luna nudged my shoulder, pointing to my backpack. I took the hint, opened it up and placed its contents on the table; my laptop, phone, and the iPod. Celestia took interest in the items and picked up my phone, examining it.

“Chris, sorry I haven’t been around that much recently,” Twilight apologized.

“Yes, I have been having her come to Canterlot to deliver daily reports on…” Luna finished for her but trailed off herself. Although it was probably due to the disappointing glare Celestia shot her.

“Twilight Sparkle, I do not believe it will be necessary to document what will be said today. Right now, anyways,” Celestia said. Twilight reluctantly returned everything but the dictionary to her saddlebags.

“Anyways,” Celestia sat my phone back down on the tabletop. “Why don’t you tell us a bit about yourself, Chris?”

“Well, I don’t really like talking about it.”

“Oh come on, we won’t tell anypony.” Luna playfully elbowed my arm. I looked at her blankly and her joyful smile slowly faded.

“Moving on,” Celestia broke the awkward silence. “Why don’t you tell us how you got here? From start to finish.”

“Well,” I started. “I never told anyone this, and I’m kind of confused as to exactly what happened…”

“Well what do you remember?”

“…there was lightning. There was a thunderstorm above me, it was late at night, and I was camping underneath a tree. This tree was sitting all by itself on top of a hill. Suddenly there’s this static noise, and I can’t hear anything…”

“Static: noun – Interference due to electricity.” Twilight said aloud after looking through the dictionary.

“…and I saw a bright white orb floating in the middle of the field, just flying around in circles. Next thing I know, it rushes me and flies through my tent, burning a hole in it. And then… and then… lightning stuck. But it didn’t hit me. Rather it was almost like the ground was emitting it. The lightning like, stayed there, unmoving from the spot it struck. It still zigzagged its way into the sky though. Oh, and it was a hot pink.”

“Pink lightning?” Twilight looked up from the book. Luna looked at me in surprise and Celestia raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah, and the weird thing is that it stayed put and didn’t evaporate or anything. And then… four more like that one. These ones were orange, another was a light blue, one was a dark red, and the other a shade of purple. They sort of made a pentagonal pattern. And then… it stopped.”

“Just like that?” Celestia frowned.

“No, not the lightning. The static, the rain, the gravity, the wind, it all just stopped.”

“Gravity stopped?” Luna looked at me showing signs of confusion and horror.

“Yeah. And the tree was on fire. Now I’m floating up towards the fire, and I see the white orb is floating in the sky above the tree and then… I fell, broke my leg, and I guess you know happened from there.”

“This is troubling. Sister, you know what this means, right?”

“Of course I do Luna. The prophecy does not mention how he was to arrive here, but it troubles me more is that that’s how he got here.” Celestia hung her head. “The High Council will surely have to answer to this.”

“I’m sorry to interrupt Princess, but what is going on?”

“Hmm? Oh, forgive me. I almost forgot you two were still here…” Celestia trailed off and let the sentence die. “Before we dive into your technology, Chris, I have something I want to show you.” Celestia’s horn began to glow a dim white, and a heavy cloth materialized in front of us and fell on table with a dull thud. The linen cloth, aged and torn beyond belief, was tightly bounding a long object with fraying ropes. Luna let out a depressed sigh and looked away as Celestia undid the binding, revealing the last thing I could have ever been expecting, and to Twilight’s apparent dismay; a sword.

Still in its metallic sheath, Celestia rotated the weapon slowly above the table. Twilight and I stared at it speechless, and Luna did everything she could to look away. A symmetrical pattern was etched into the sheath and I recognized it as the Tree of Life pattern on the obelisk thing, ‘The Dodecahedron,’ in that hidden away room buried deep into the mountainside. The same symbol was also mirrored on the other side, along with some sort of cryptic letters. Frowning at something, Celestia slid my laptop out of the way to make room and set the weapon down in front of me. Luna took the silence as an opportunity to leave the room. Several guards stuck their heads in the room again as she exited, only to have the doors slam in their faces. Again.

“Th-That’s a sw-sword…” Twilight stuttered. “…for k-killing…”

Celestia slowly rubbed Twilight’s back, trying to calm her down. I don’t think it was working.

“I’ve seen them in mu-museums before, b-but… these types of we-weapons are outlawed!” Twilight screamed. “Only the g-guardsponies can use s-such weapons, but none are as an-ancient as this!”

“Sssshh, Twilight. It’s alright. Allow me to explain.” Celestia released contact with the lavender unicorn, who was now visibly trembling and refused to break her gaze off of the weapon. Celestia turned her attention back to me.

“Chris, we know nothing about this sword aside from what we can see now. The sheath is made of solid titanium and the hilt-“

“Titanium!?” Twilight cried out. “Why did you not just melt it down? That’s enough titanium to buy Ponyville!”

“I take it titanium is precious here…” I commented.

Twilight shifted to me, “Of course! It’s the rarest natural element in Equestria! Just one gram is worth at least a thousand bits!”

Well, that’s a bit of a surprise. The sheath alone must weigh at least a kilogram of titanium, so that’s like… This thing is worth at least a million bits! That’s like ten thousand dollars if my currency conversion is correct.

“Twilight, dear,” Celestia interrupted and stopped her student from continuing her rant. “I’ll get to the point. This artifact was discovered in the same location where the Arcane Prophecy was discovered long ago in the ruins of the Old Kingdom. Nopony knows where it came from, how it was crafted, or even what it looks like. This sword had never been drawn. It can’t be unsheathed.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. Luna and I had countless times to remove it, but it resisted every method. Even our magical strength combined was not enough. The weapon’s blade has never been seen.”

Twilight shot a worried glare at the princess. “This wouldn’t happen to be that sword, would it Princess?” The lavender unicorn looked up to her mentor with curious eyes.

“Yes, Twilight Sparkle. The legends are true.”

“What legend?” I asked.

“That ancient blade was found embedded within the remains of a Draconequus,” Celestia said eyeing me for some sort of response. My confused look prompted her to continue, “A Draconequus is a spirit physically manifested into the world. They are often capable of indescribable amounts of magic. Physical attributes vary greatly between any given specimens, since every limb is that of a random animal. We have a statue of a Draconequus, specifically Discord, the spirit of chaos, in the palace garden. Perhaps I can show you some time.”

Discord… wasn’t he going to be in the second season’s opener? Damn, and it was only a few weeks away too.

“That’s not all, though.” The deity of the sun continued, “You probably noticed my sister’s… behavior… towards this weapon, and I don’t blame her. It has had a dark past, to say the least. Please don’t bring it up to her, or bring it anywhere near her.”

“Wait, “bring it near” her? You’re giving me this?”

“Princess! You can’t just-“ Twilight protested for a second, only for her lips humorously turning into a zipper that shut itself with a glow of Celestia’s horn.

“I’m not sure myself if I should be giving this to you, Chris.” Celestia continued, oblivious to Twilight who had just undone her spell.

“As you can see there are these markings on the side,” Celestia twisted the sword around to show the ancient text. “These are runes. A long dead form of magic that had been lost with the fall of the First World, which existed millennia before Luna or myself came into existence. Very complex, they do not interact with the world the way normal magic does, and only four examples of runes have ever been known to exist. The best of which is what rests on this metal.”

“Furthermore,” Celestia rotated it to show me the worn hilt, the only exposed part of the weapon. “On the bottom of the pommel, embossed in gold, is a unicursal hexagram. The same symbol that is…”

“Burned onto my arm…” I finished for her. Lifting up my shirt sleeve, the scar tissue hadn’t quite healed yet and the same symbol was barely visible.

“Correct.” Celestia said. “The runes’ language dictates a locking mechanism of sorts, and since you bare the same symbol as what’s on here, I would like you to try to remove the sword.” Celestia sat the weapon back down on the table. Twilight, obviously disturbed by its mere presence, became overcome with curiosity. Slowly I reached out and set a hand on the cold metal that was the sheath. I ran my hand up to the hilt and grasped it tightly. Upon contact, the gold stenciling that made the hexagram on the pommel literally melted away in a bright green glow.

I dropped the weapon out of shock, and the second I released it the glowing stopped. It fell onto the table with a loud clang. The three of us eyed it intently, Twilight and I each with our jaws slack and Celestia was doing her best to keep her eyes inside her head. I slowly drew my hand back to the weapon and grabbed it by the handle again. The green glow started once more, and when I put my other hand on the sheath the runes started emitting the same shade of green. I quickly yanked on it, and the sword easily slid out.

It was a straight sword and double edged, one side being menacingly serrated. Now that I held it, it was surprisingly lightweight considering it was probably made out of titanium too. The blade was maybe two feet long, coming into a very intimidating point at the end, and in all reality it didn’t look anything special. It was weathered, old with small dings and scratches here and there, a small patch of dried blood, and a few faded gold engravings. The only unique thing about the weapon aside from the serrated edge and the hexagram was right above the guard. Etched into the titanium and filled with what looks like a single piece of carved jade, was a simple word.

”Cindersbane.”

No one moved after I said that. The sounds of everyone’s hearts beating hard against their chests could clearly be heard by everyone as we oddly sat in excitement. Celestia’s for seeing the blade for the first time in her life, Twilight’s for the new artifact that could now be studied, and mine for simply holding the thing in my hand. The green hue from the pommel and sheath had both flickered out of existence. Curious, I plucked a hair from my scalp and let the thing fall onto the sharpened edge, half expecting it to be to cut cleanly. It wasn’t, and simply fell off and onto the floor.

Don’t know why I did it, but temptation got the best of me. I’m surprised neither Celestia nor Twilight bothered to even try and stop me as I tapped my finger against the blade.

“Thing’s dull,” I frowned and prodded it again this time using more force, but I didn’t even knick a layer of skin. I tried to poke the tip of the sword expecting some sort of tingle, but got nothing. I even ran my palm against the serrated edge a few times.

“Huh.” I gently tapped the blade against the corner of the metal table in front of me.

The sword cut into the solid steel like it was butter, stopping only after I jerked my hand back off the handle, which left the weapon embedded about half an inch in the metal table.

“Erm…” I looked up to see Twilight and Celestia were once more speechless, their jaws sagging much like the first time we met in this same room. I pulled Cindersbane out of the table, cautiously running my finger against the same part of the blade that just cleanly cut into the steel. It was dull to the touch.

The next thing I did was rather stupid admittedly, but somehow I thought it would work after this pattern I’ve seen. So I outstretched my arm, in plain view of the two equines in front of me, and with all the strength I could, drove the sharpened blade down onto my skin. Gasping, Twilight’s horn glowed a furious purple and covered Cindersbane in the same aura, but whatever she tried was either too late or magic simply didn’t work on it. Celestia sat in dumbfounded enthrallment as the sword harmlessly bounced off my arm, rebounded making me lose my grip on the handle, flew through the air behind me, and embedded itself halfway into the stone wall before coming to a stop. The loud thunk of the impact echoed through the room, just loud enough for Luna to stick her head back through a crack in the door to see what was going on accompanied by the curious muzzles of several guardponies.

Luna quickly pushed them back and slid into the room, shutting the door behind her.

“Forgive me for… leaving,” Luna hung her head. “But, I’m feeling more confident now. And what was that noise?”

Her answer was me pulling Cindersbane out of the back wall, staring at the weapon in fascination. Luna took a look at myself, the sword, the faded color of Twilight’s paralyzed body, and Celestia’s usual content self.

“P-P-Princess…” Twilight was able to fumble the words out of her mouth. “That... that… ma-magic doesn’t, it-it doesn’t work. N-Not on that.”

“I thought I said that before,” Celestia mused, bringing her attention back to me. Luna slowly approached the table and sat next to her sister, noticing the small newly-formed notch in the metal framework. Celestia’s smartly floated the sheath my way. Taking the hint, I sheathed Cindersbane and went to retake my seat at the table. Luna, still uncomfortable around the weapon, had been overcome with interest. Celestia let the mental gears shift in her head, and the colors of Twilight’s stunned body began to slowly reemerge.

“Chris,” Celestia began, closing her eyes. “Please sit still. I want to try a… an experiment.” Her horn began to glow an unsurprising milky white, but a few seconds later it slowly began pulsating like a kaleidoscope. Celestia opened her eyes, the pupils gone entirely and replaced with a bright white light; much like Twilight’s had when she used the Elements of Harmony to defeat Nightmare Moon. And in a bright flash of golden light, everything stopped. Celestia blinked her pupils back into existence. The royal alicorn was obviously disturbed by whatever she just did, and did little to hide it.

“Alright, now to confirm this…” Celestia unknowingly said aloud to herself, getting curious stares from the rest of us. “Please remove… Cindersbane… and keep the sharpened blade pointing skywards.” I complied, following her exact order. Twilight flinched as a small glimmer of light bounced off the metal as I unsheathed the sword, and Luna looked at my hands confused as to why I was so easily able to remove it. A small spark emerged from the tip of Celestia’s horn, and it grew into a glistening bubble about the size of a baseball. Luna’s eyes widened as she watched the bubble fall slowly onto the edge of Cindersbane which cleanly cut through it like nothing was there. The small bubble erupted in a tiny explosion before vaporizing into the air.

“…What was that?” Twilight asked. It almost looked like she had asked the sword itself for the answer as I carefully sheathed it.

“Twilight Sparkle, my faithful student, have you ever used magic on Chris before?” Celestia answered with a question of her own.

“Um, well, I floated things to and from him…”

“No, have you ever tried anything deeper? Such as seeing into his memories or something simpler like hindering one of his senses? Even manipulating one of his limbs?”

“Why would I ever need to do that?”

“I see…”  Whatever thoughts went through Celestia’s head also went through Luna’s as she the deity of the night stared at me in bewilderment. Twilight and I glanced at each other confused as to exactly what just happened.

“Do you want to tell them or should I?” Luna asked her sister.

“No, it’s fine. I got this,” Celestia cleared her throat. “That spell, just now, was a master level defense spell. A ‘force field’ if you will, albeit a small one. The mere fact that Chris had removed this weapon so easily while countless ponies, myself included, had failed to do over thousands of years…”

Twilight’s jaw fell slack for the nth time in the past hour, as she slowly gained a grasp on what Celestia was saying.

“…And also seeing as it was dull to his touch, but more than capable of slicing through the strongest form of defense in the known world can only mean one thing.”

“No, that shouldn’t be possible!” Twilight squealed. “That must mean that this-“

“Cindersbane is enchanted with the dark magic of a Draconequus, and Chris is its chosen wielder.”