The Light and Dark of Insanity

A few months have passed sense Lucky, Rain, and Peaches had returned to Canterlot and had spoken to the princesses following the incident involving the obsidian castle. They had stayed a few weeks in the nearby house that Celestia had for them while they figured out where to go and what all had happened.  The government was somewhat in chaos from how easily a couple unknown intruders pony napped the princesses. The Town of Verre had to rebuild slightly and rehabilitate its members that were abducted by the castle and its cult.

With only a matter of weeks passing the alicorn amulet had gone missing, throwing even more chaos and worry into the mix. Dream Prism had it under close watch in her house locked away, but it went missing while she reported the town’s condition to Canterlot the day before.  Only Dream should have known the way to get it out of its case, but once she returned it was missing without a trace left and none of the spells broken. A search team has been sent out by Celestia and Luna during day and night to find it; no progress has been made thus far.

The obsidian castle and its cave networks have gone completely missing, absurd to think about but the truth. The search team sent out by Canterlot was unable to find it by air, or ground. The cult must have moved it somewhere else or it must have crumbled and the cult dispatched to a new life.

Progress has been made though; Lucky, Peaches, and Rain one night were all sitting in their temporary home in Canterlot discussing their situation on what they would do after everything calmed down. It was a topic they wanted to discuss, but had avoided because they didn’t want to separate after being with each other for so long, and with their homes not seeming like homes, they were eager to move anyways.

A soft knocking hit the door of their room and Lucky got up to answer, opening the door without a sound as Celestia comes in and she motions her guards to stay outside.

“Sorry Princess, we didn’t know you were coming or else we would have… made some food and cleaned up this place. It’s not as clean as when you invited us here sadly…” The multicolored yellow and blue haired unicorn awkwardly smiles at the princess.

“Oh, no need to worry yourselves, I should be apologizing. I usually would not be visiting any pony at this hour in the night, especially without warning. But this is not anything formal, just rather… friendly advice from some pony that can get you some special privileges.” Celestia lets out that wink and slight smile she does every once and a while.

“Wait, privileges?”

“Yes, I managed to get you girls something I think you all will enjoy-” Celestia lifts up a rolled up letter with the Equestrian symbol and begins to read “-Lucky Diamond, Dream Prism has accepted you as a student to help you learn how to control your newly learned powers.”

“I was just about to ask her about that…” Lucky looks up towards Celestia while wondering how she always seems to know what to do in the right times.

Celestia brings out another scroll, unraveling it while putting the previous one away. “Rain Breeze, you have been enrolled into the Verre medical clinic and will be taught various medical techniques and first aid, assuming that is something you are interested in. They are in need of any help they can get with the wounded form that castle.”

“That sounds ok with me,” Rain lightly whispers from the corner.

“And Peaches, I have found you a… rather unique combat instructor… I think you will enjoy it after you figure it out, so try not to quit or lash out too soon.”  Celestia lets out a short giggle with a pleased look on her face.

Peaches’ look of happiness is quickly filled with slight confusion. “Where is this combat instructor anyways? It sounds like you managed to get every pony else in Verre so I hope they are to?”

“Well, not quite. But they are not that far away. And on the topic of Verre, I think Honey Darling has you three a place to stay and will inform you on everything else once you arrive there. You may leave whenever you see fit.” Celestia rolls the scrolls then puts them back with her light levitation from her horn.

“What’s wrong Peachy? You have that look like something’s wrong again.” Lucky ask her friend as Celestia walks out the door and goes back to her castle. “I thought you wanted to ‘put up more of a fight’?” The unicorn lowers her voice and tries to act all buff to mock her friend in a playful way.

“Oh it’s not that, we just have to ride that darned old train again…” Peaches’ voice slightly trails off as she looks to the ground.

One of Celestia’s letters appears above Peaches and lands on top of her head just about making her kick the air in fright. It reads “The train ride won’t be quite so long this time; we cleared some rubble that was blocking the way that it would normally take through the mountains.”

“What the heck! Does she stalk us or something?” Peaches stomps on the letter and her friends giggle behind her. Another letter appears and hits Peaches on top of the head, this time reading “Nope”

The three make their way onto the train in the morning, taking their things with them. Celestia was right; the ride was much shorter than before. Upon arrival in Verre they are greeted by the townspeople and shown around the town to all the, now undeserted, buildings. The hospital, where Rain will be spending her free time, is up and running again with full speed. A new house has been constructed in the middle of town, flowers planted in the middle and everything.

The Town is filled with new ponies, some the trio recognize. While some are new ponies that they assume are from the enslaved group rescued from the castle, now nursed back to health. There are stands selling different things in the town market, flowers planted pretty well anywhere they can be that would look decently. And now, amazingly, the town looks like any other perfectly normal Equestrian town.

Familiar green eyes come to the attention of the three ponies, an all light honey colored pony with brown mane and tail makes her way to the three. “I see you are all jumping right to the greatest attraction already!”

“Honey Darling! How is a house the greatest attraction?” Lucky greets the earth pony with a question yet again.

“I am sure that Celestia told you that we had a place for you to stay?” Honey points back towards the house, putting on a little bit of a playful face and tone while doing so.

“You don’t mean… This is our house? We can’t possibly take such a large debt from the town!” Lucky raises a hoof into the air as if to raise the effect of what she has said more.

“And we can’t just let you three go unpaid for solving our ‘plague’ as the guards called it can we? Besides, we would love for you three to live here.”

The three look back at the house, plenty large enough to fit three ponies in it, a happy home in the middle of the town that started their new lives. “I guess if you put it that way…”

The three begin to unpack their things into their new home. Each pony has their own bed, their own closets, everything they could ask for and more compared to what they had. Filled with all the things they would need to be comfortable, including a sofa big enough for themselves and friends if they ever invited others over.

“Your classes begin as soon as possible, Lucky and Rain you two should know where to go. Peaches, we will show you to the train when you are ready in the morning.” Honey Darling makes her way out the door but is stopped by Lucky’s voice, on the brink of tears.

“Thanks, you have no idea what this means to us.”

~Meanwhile in the obsidian castle~

One of the cult members is walking down one of the long hallways in a lab coat. Then an all too familiar shadow begins to form around him and a voice rings into the air.

“Has the machine been repaired fully yet?”

“How long have you been back? I thought they sucked you into that amulet?” The scientist looking pony says it as if he has been startled, but his body language never changes.

“Oh you couldn’t have actually though that worked? I am one with this castle; I simply let them take a bit of my power. Hopefully with any luck some pony will steal it hearing of its magic potential, and then we will gain a very powerful brother…” The smog swirls in the air with every word.

“But how do you know they will join us?”

“This amulet they made does not simply have just my power; it has a bit of my desires and psyche along with it.”

“Oh, you plan too much ahead for me.” The pony in the lab coat snickers to himself.

“Be you are our scientist, I hope you are smarter than that?” The black smoke swirls around the other pony.

“Yes, but one cannot hope to understand your power, at least not all of it.”

The two have made it into the room where Peaches broke the last machine, this time a new machine has been built in its place. A large, blank room that has recently been refurbished recently, instead of dirt walls and floors it has obsidian like the rest of the castle. The machine appears like a large pillar in the middle of the spacious room, encased in a clear material.

“This machine serves the same purpose as the last one… managing the magic we gain and sending it around the rest of the castle.” Like a teacher leading children on a field trip the lab coated pony begins explaining the new machine to his leader.

“I know full and well what it does, I am the castle. I know what happens in this place like my own body, but thanks for the explanation. Thanks to you this castle is what it is today and I commend you for that. Perhaps if we ever recruit new members your speeches will be used.”

“You give me more pleasure than I deserve. Should we head onto the next machine, the one that you are probably looking for more?” Once more his body language does not change, just his speech ever so slightly wavering.

“Yes, let’s head to that one.”

The two walk into a large, very clean room with a simple pillar in the middle.  A strange, mechanical pillar at best, only reaching partway down to the floor leaving enough room for a large pony to stand underneath it. A switch is on one of the walls and the scientist goes to it. Wretched Darkness, the smoke like creature, forms into a pony like figure before opening up its side releasing the corpse of Ornament and Vexation. Both bodies fall to the ground alongside a small poach of gray dust, similar to that released when Regal was defeated.

“First we shall reanimate Regal; we don’t want him blowing away now.” The scientist chuckles at the rather awkward joke.

“I also appreciate the changes done to this machine. With what you have done to it and what I have done to it with my magic and through the castle, our members should be near immortal this time.” Wretched Darkness heals back the large opening in his side that the bodies came from, returning himself to a earth pony like form made of smoke.

“Once again you give me too much credit; I am simply your servant. If my work pleases you I am happy beyond words.”

Wretched Darkness places all the dust under the pillar that is halfway hanging from the ceiling. A loud hum fills the room; magic energy fills the pillar and shoots down onto the dust. It blinds every pony in the room until the magic dissipates. A familiar gray and black brute of a pony is under the pillar like machine.  It has resurrected the dead, brought the already near immortal guard back to life and this time with something a bit… off about him. Something other worldly is given off by his body.

“Success! Regal, how do you feel?” The scientist celebrates by turning the machine off.

Silence

“I guess that means he is the same Regal as before… sorry but he seems to be mute as ever. Our machine as failed you sir.” The scientist’s head bows in shame.

“No, you have not failed. Regal is as alive as ever! Look at him, sure he may still be unable to speak, but we are still graced by his presence.” Clearly pleased with the results, the shadowy figure comes closer to Regal and helps him from under the machine. Dying and coming back must really take its toll on a pony. “Regal, I am sorry you died before today, but it was not in vain. For you are back with us, and this time you will not have to worry about pain or death ever again! Your body has been reborn, your strength tenfold at least, and I depend on your still. So please forgive me.”

The unicorn nods slowly and begins to take his own steps as his soul begins to bond to its newly formed body. The shadowy figure picks up Ornament and places the corpse under the machine and the doctor flips the switch, a familiar scene takes place and another nightmare is reborn. The same thing takes place again as Vexation is revived. Now all three deceased have been brought back, and the changelings at least are expressing their thirst for vengeance.

The group makes their way back to the innards of the castle. They find their selves in a large dining room filled with the cult’s members. Wretched Darkness, Ornament, Vexation, Regal, and the scientist take the throne area and the cult applauds and cheers with their leaders reborn.

A single cloaked pony makes their way up to Wretched. “I am sorry to interrupt, but we have a visitor and they are asking for you by name. No pony ask for you by name, sir.”

A smirk appears on the scientist’s face. “Oh, could this be that amulet you were speaking of?”

Wretched makes a stand and begins to walk towards the doorway, the rest of the newly revived group and the scientist stand and walk with him. They follow the messenger pony to the outer reaches of the castle.

“We have reached the holding room where I told her to stay, the pony is inside.” The cloaked messenger backs away so the others can make their way inside the room.

Wretched opens the door to see the affects of his amulet on an otherwise normal pony. Their skin color is a tan-ish color, but so light that it is almost a white color. Spiked yellow and black stripped hair shaped much like the DJ from Ponyville the last time they had seen the hair style. A cutie mark of lighting to match the rest of this Pegasus, a physically fit one at that, but the thing that pleased Wretched the most was the fact that she was wearing his amulet, and thus their cult has grown by another member.

“Welcome, sister, to your new home. What may we call you?” Wretched bows to welcome the new pony, if he had a face it may be smiling.

The pegasi’s head snaps back to face the group, an insane smile on her face. Her eyes are so dilated that only a hint of her blood red irises can be seen, the irises and pupils are so small that it looks unnatural, bloodshot with insanity. The affects of the amulet have been shown; no pony could have been like this without that amulet’s effects.

“I think I was Crimson Lightning.” The pony begins to let out a sickly giggle for no apparent reason.

“Good, come inside and meet the rest of us, Crimson.”

~Back in Verre~

“Well, I guess we begin training our new skills in the morning girls.” Lucky yawns as she gets ready for the night.

“I don’t want to do any surgeries…” Rain begins to shiver.

“You shouldn’t have to, not on your first day at least.” Lucky tries to comfort her friend with her knowledge on the subject, however small it is she knows that a novice will not be performing any surgeries.

“I am still wondering’ what this ‘combat instructor’ is going to be… I never thought I would be cut out for any sort of combat. And why would we need it anyways?” Peaches looks out the window towards the moon.

“After what happened three months ago with that weirdo fog thingy we need to be able to defend ourselves I guess. That’s all I can figure out with it-“ Lucky sits next to her friend by the window “-after all, we all heard the news. The castle just disappeared, I have a feeling this is not over yet…”

Morning arrives fast and the three split up and go their separate ways, well at least until night time when they would come back home. Lucky to Dream Prism’s house to learn magic, Rain goes to the hospital to learn medical training, and Peaches goes onto a train to learn some new combat of some sort.

“Hello, Dream, I have come like you wanted.” Lucky walks up to Dream’s house like she was told to do.

“Come on inside, we will start as soon as we can.” With this greeting from Dream’s voice, Lucky opens the door and walks inside.

“So… why do we need to start as soon as we can anyways?”

“I am sure you have felt it to, this new power you wielded in the battles three months ago was not temporary. And it was not a joke, it was something we need to look at and get under control. We don’t want you to lose control of it and hurt any pony would we now?” Dream once again seems to have a lot to say right away.

“I guess you are right… I have felt, uneasy to put it simply. It’s hard to explain, it’s like something’s constantly watching. No, that doesn’t make sense does it… umm…” Lucky puts a hoof to her chin as she trails off in thought.

“This won’t make sense Lucky, because this is not what some ponies would call normal. But after some research I think you have some sort of ancient form of magic instead of the usual magic unicorns have.” Dream levitates a book down from one of her shelves and onto the counter.

“But I can levitate things as normally as every pony else and do all the normal things. Wouldn’t that all be different?”

“Not necessarily, I think it takes a certain amount of stress to awaken the holy and dark properties of your magic. This stress can be in the form of anxiety, battle, loss, or hopefully we can get you to the point where you can control it so you don’t have to have stress to awaken it. And the only place I know to start is with self control training. First we will start with simple exercises-”

“BUT LUCKY SAID NO SURGURIES!” Rain’s voice booms out into the town.

In the hospital’s lobby a few ponies are sitting I chairs, their eyes huge as their attention is turned to the blue Pegasus hyperventilating in the middle of the room. It was nearly impossible to ignore that scream.

“You are not performing the surgery… your simply watching to get used to it.” A nurse in a white gown tries to calm Rain down after the outburst loud enough to stop Dream Prism from talking on the other side of the town.

“Oh… I guess that’s ok then… Sorry” As blue turns to blushing red on Rain’s face the regular pony doctor walks in.

“The scream lets me know I am ready… did you forget to knock them out?” He snickers with his joke and the nurse whispers to Rain that he was joking, that he wouldn’t harm any pony. They make their way to the medical room and find a small filly knocked out on the exam table. The nurse leans towards Rain before whispering to her, “We have her asleep already.”

“How exactly did this happen?” Rain puts a hoof over her mouth at the shock of all the cuts, gashes, and injuries on the small filly.

“She was trampled in the nearby forest by a group of beast. We were the nearest hospital with the technology to fix her up. Many bones were broken and some punctured organs, we have to re align them and possibly stitch some things together.”

Rain stands off the side out of the way as the doctors do their work, saving the life of the young filly.

Peaches gets off the train and heads up a series of steps towards a temple. A pony that appears half asleep is waiting for her at the top near the entrance. He is wearing a cloak and his mane has been cut a bit short.

“Hello, I was sent here by Celestia from Verre on that there train for some sort of combat training or something.” Peaches slowly walks up to the other pony.

“Yes you have.” He slowly opens his eye  to face Peaches.

“I know I have…” Peaches’ eye brows arch a tiny bit, she knows she can’t let her anger get the best of her yet.

“And so do I.”

“So… when do we start?” Peaches tries not to slap some sense into this know it all before her, instead she tries to redirect the conversation.

“Whenever you are ready.”

“Well I guess I am ready?” Alright, perhaps this is actually going to get somewhere.

“Come inside then, and let’s see if you can even put up any sort of a fight.”

“What do you mean if I can put up a fight?” Peaches’ eye brows tighten and she runs up to the monk like pony to buck him, but misses and slips. The monk like pony moved slightly sideways and shoves her to the side forcing her down the flight of stairs she just climbed up.

“Now climb back up the stairs, you pony.”

“You’re a pony to!” Peaches growls in anger.

“You are correct.”

“I know I’m correct!” Peaches runs up the stairs and inside the temple, shoving the other pony over as she makes her way inside. “Ha! Now who can’t put up a fight!”

“I am going to have you expelled if you keep doing things like that… bullying my new student just like the last one.” A larger pony with a few swords makes their war over to the stairs outside, the monk like pony has finally made their way back up them. “Be gone!” With a shove the monk imposter is down the stairs again and the sword carrying pony comes back inside.

“Sorry about that, he sits around here whenever I am supposed to get a new student and does that to them… I really should kick his a-“

“So… you are the combat instructor I was sent to see?” Peaches purposefully interrupts the swearing of another.

“Why yes, and you are Peaches I assume? I was told that you should be taught to carry a sword, and not any sword, but a very large sword… a very, very large sword for some reason…”

“Why?” Once again Peaches is stumped on the ways of Celestia’s thinking.

“I don’t know, you would have to ask the princess that one.” The sword wielding pony shrugs the question off.

Right then another royal letter hits Peaches upside the head, it reads “because I said so” and then gets stomped into the ground.  “What the hay is wrong with her!”

“Well, I guess that means we get started then?”

“I guess so…”