The Immortal's Game

Chapter 7: Crypts

Celestia sat upon her throne, awaiting her remaining Reapers. Rogue was furious for what Walker had done to Rosy, who had slipped into a coma after giving the information regarding her fight with Walker. Rogue had gone to visit her and was not exactly in the best emotional state to fight somepony like Walker. That left Raze to go after him. Rosy was a decent friend of his, so Celestia was bidding on his rage being great enough to fuel his magic into action.

Celestia heard a knock at the door, it was soft so she assumed It was Raze. “Come in.”

        The door opened slowly, and a white unicorn with a light blue mane and tail walked in. “Hello Miss Celestia. Did you ask for me? One of the guards came to get me.”

        “Yes, Raze. As you know Walker’s on the run from me. And so far he’s hurt Rune and Rosy very badly. As you could guess, Rogue is in quite the angered state so I don’t want to trust him with something like this in his current mindset. I believe that Walker is going to be somewhere in Manehattan, and I want you to go there and attempt to stop him.”

        “I’ll try, Miss Celestia. But you know I’m not that good at controlling my magic. He’s not violent so I don’t think I would be able to do much since he wouldn’t fight me unless he has a reason to.”

        “I know, Raze. I wanted to suggest that you put all the anger from him hurting your friends to use and think about how he’s hurt ponies like Rosy. Because of him she probably will never fly again. Just stop for a moment and think about that.”

        Raze looked down at the ground, his brow furrowed and he became visibly angered. His mana began to swirl around him, forming tendrils of energy, one lashed out and carved into a pillar within the throne room like it was a hot knife through butter. He blinked and then yelped, severing his use of magic. He looked at the damage he had just caused and gulped. “Oh no! I’m so sorry Miss Celestia, I’ll clean this up right-”

        “Don’t worry about it, Raze. The next train to Manehattan leaves soon. You should probably get going if you want to catch it.” Raze nervously shook his head and headed to the door. As he was about to open it, the door shot open, revealing a clearly aggravated Rogue.

        “Celestia, we need to Talk. Now.”

        Celestia glanced at Raze. “Leave. I guess I’m going to have to deal with this. And give a message to one of the guards that I need to have a meeting regarding setting up a public bounty.” Raze walked out of the room, clearly distraught for what he had accidentally done. He left the room and Rogue stepped forward.

        “I want to go after Walker.”

        “No, Rogue.”

        “Why? He’s already taken out Rune and Rosy both. Raze is about as unpredictable as rolling a pair of dice. Sending me after him is a death sentence in and of itself. I have a little score to settle with that bastard for what he did to Rosy.”

        “Rogue, I know you visited Rosy yourself and that she told you about her being defeated and nearly killed by a new associate of Walker. He’s not the reason Rosy may never fly again.”

        “I know. But I have a plan. I’m going to make Walker suffer for hours, no, days at a time. I will find out who it was that hurt Rosy, and I will make them suffer so much more. I’m heading to Manehattan to capture Walker.”

        “No. You’re not. If you go after Walker in Manehattan, I will be forced to suspend your rights within the castle. I will also take direct command of the Reapers. Do I make yourself clear?”

        Rogue was furious. His position was quite precarious already in the whole scheme of things. He was not exactly loved by many of the nobles, being a bat-pony and all. One wrong move could end badly, and as much as he wanted to watch the life drain out of Walker slowly, he couldn’t risk it. He had other things that could be just as fruitful in his life. He began to walk out of the Castle, a path plotted in his head. It was time to head to Hollow Shades.

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We arrived at the Hollow Shades train station, after an overly-long train ride. I had a crick in my neck from sleeping weird and Scarlet seemed to be in a bit of a happier mood. Hollow Shades was a bit of a sleepy town, not too much happened here over the years, given it was so isolated. In a way it was like Ponyville, if there was an air of depression hanging over the whole of the town. Back when Mari was first “buried”, there was nothing more than a few odd shops. He was in a set of ruins that could restrict the magical powers of anything inside it.

This hides him from ponies like Celestia from noticing he’s still alive when he should be dead. The ruin entrance was made a very long time ago, and looked like an elaborate tomb. To a degree it actually was a crypt, given it’s only resident was not actually alive, persay. Hopefully Scarlet’s natural affliction would keep his magic hidden and we could have him tag along with us. I doubted that Celestia even knew about the tomb, and if she did she wouldn’t dare go in because of the inability to use magic inside.

“Alright, time to go meet Mari. I think he’s anxious to meet you, Scarlet.” I started leading her to the crypt entrance.

“Hey, so who is this guy exactly? I mentioned that he was one of the Reapers like you and Dark. He was a necromancer as well, right? Isn’t that a banned magic to study?”

“Yeah, we were the original Reapers. Dark was the leader of the group, with Mari and I being there for ‘support’. He was a pretty powerful mage, and was one of the reasons the study of necromancy might have been banned. What he did was difficult, and if he had failed at it he would probably just be dead, without his spirit attached to a corpse. And it’s more so just controlling the movement of something from a distance, and he could summon spirits to possess bodies. Because of that he was a lot more varied in how he worked instead of just “raise the dead.’

“He was also one of my close friends, and he was incredibly smart. However, he lacked common sense some of the time. He’s the only one that knows how to take down someone with your ‘affliction’ using lower level magic.” We continued on our merry way through the graveyard and eventually found a rather large tomb with a singular coffin inside. It was ornately decorated with various scenes of death and destruction. By the stars did Mari have bad taste in decor. “Alright, help me move this lid.”

“We’re defiling his tomb? Is that really a good idea?” Scarlet asked.

“Well, it’s not so much a tomb as it is a home. Well, I guess one could call it a tomb since he’s technically dead. However, he’s also “alive” so really anything from a grave to a home would work. And this is just a lid, his real abode is deeper in. Hope you like spiders.”

“Sometimes, I wonder if you can read my mind just to mess with me. I hate spiders almost as much as I hate guys that hit on me.” I was about to reply to that when she continued. “And yes, that is a physically possible thing to surpass.”

        We began to descend into the tomb/house/grave and navigated through the passageways, careful to avoid any of the traps that had been installed. We came across a couple of skeletons, likely adventurers who’d thought this place contained treasure. It was a labyrinth which could have even put Rune’s mind to shame.

        Scarlet and I didn’t talk much, aside from my occasional instructions on getting through traps. After all was said and done, we got through to Mari’s room with little more than a few singed hairs and an inch shorter tail on Scarlet. She was panting lightly after out running a rolling boulder that she had accidentally triggered when she had sneezed. “Honestly, what kind of psycho would have something like that installed?”

        “That would be me, Miss Scarlet.” Came a voice from the center of the room. “And I would like to think of myself more as an artist rather than a psychopath, thank you very much.” If he was actually offended, he couldn’t show it.

        “Walker. I have one quick question.”

        “Yeah?”

        “Why in the name of the stars did you forget to mention that his eye sockets are ON FIRE?”

        “Because it didn’t really matter all that much? He’s already a thousand year old talking skull who was one of my best friends, and after all that you’re concerned about the fact that he has purple flames coming out of his eyes?”  Scarlet remained silent at my question, so I decided to continue. “Alright, Marionette Strings, meet Scarlet Wing. Scarlet, meet Mari. Oh, and despite anything he says always call him Mari, he loves that name.”

        “No I don’t. Anyway, we should probably get going. I’ve been mulling over your adventures, Walker, and I think I know why our dear employer is so different now.”

        “Wait,” said Scarlet, “you mean she hasn’t always been covertly hostile?”

        “No, she actually used to be quite nice. But this isn’t the place to relay stories about who she used to be. We need to get going.” I shook my head in agreement then used my magic to levitate him into the empty pocket of Scarlet’s saddle bag.

        “Hey, would it be appropriate to recite Flankspeare or would that be pushing boundaries?”

        “Okay, he stole that entire play from me. So yeah, it would be pushing the boundaries on two fronts. Anyway we really should get out of here as soon as we can.” I walked over and pushed an brick in the wall, opening a hallway. “Especially before the spider trap activates.”

        Scarlet rushed ahead of me without another word. I knew there was no spider traps, but I figured that it would get her moving quickly enough. Being a thousand years old doesn't mean that you’re mature or wise, it simply means that you’re a thousand years old. I followed behind her. As soon as we exited we would test if Mari’s theory was correct. I was confident that this would actually work and we’d be closer to defeating the tyrannical Celestia.

        We got to the top of the passageway, which had been just barely inclined even though it seemed straight. Scarlet was waiting at what looked like a dead end. “Hey, why didn’t we come in here this way?”

        “It’s a one way passage, for the sole purpose of leaving.” I pressed another button on the wall and it opened into a cellar. We continued forward, albeit with Scarlet bearing a confused impression. The door closed behind us, blending seamlessly with the wall. We went up the steps out of the cellar and arrived at a bar. Several heads turned our way as we had just come out of the employee’s only door. “Excuse us, just passing through.” We exited the building and then stopped outside.

        Scarlet looked back at the bar. “The Fancy Hat bar? Walker, please tell me that you’re not the one that named this.”

        “Hey, I needed to make sure that the exit would be in a sensible place that somepony wouldn’t accidentally stumble upon. So I had this bar built. And if you say it’s a terrible name I will make you go through the crypt again.”

        She smacked me over the head. “Walker, you’re a jerk. You do know that, right?” I gave a slight chuckle and we began to walk back towards the train station. “So, where to next?”

        “I’m not quite sure yet, I was thinking that we should probably head-” I felt a blow to my chest, like Black had just hit me with another one of his pillars. I was sent flying and landed hard against my shoulder.

        “Walker!” Scarlet screamed, alarmed at what had just happened. A laugh filled the air, sending a chill down my spine as I clearly remembered it.

        “Well I’ll be damned. I come down to this little haven of darkness to see if I can get a dark mage to fix Rosy’s wings, and I find the guy I was hoping to beat to death.” I felt pressure against my neck, like a hoof that was using me as a step. No, not like a hoof, it was a hoof.

        “Show yourself, Rogue.” I said through a somewhat strainful manner.

        “If you insist.” There was a shimmer of magic in the air, and a gray-brown bat-pony with a golden mane and eyes stood above me, his hoof was pressing hard against my neck. He had a sort of studded gauntlet on his hoof that I recognized as his weapon of choice. “Now, shall we get down to business?”

        “Get away from him!” Out of the corner of my eye I saw Scarlet rushing towards him. I needed to warn her that he would defeat her, but the pressure that Rogue was applying was far too great. I mentally linked with Mari, telling him to warn her. He quickly relayed it to her who Rogue exactly was and she stopped. “You’re the leader of the Reapers, aren't you?”

“Yes, I am the one named Rogue. Now if you excuse me I have a few bones to break here.” He raised his hoof and brought it down on my side, cracking a few ribs. I knew that was going to really hurt in the morning, assuming that I actually survived this.

“My name is Scarlet Wing. I’m the one that hit Rosy with a crane in Baltimare.” He was bringing down another strike, but after Scarlet had finished her sentence he had stopped inches from my spine.

        “What? You’re the one that put her in the hospital?!” It sounded as if Rosy had survived, which was a lucky break and a very, very unlucky break for us. Scarlet, what have you done?! He slammed his hoof into my jaw, dislocating it and stepped away from me. “Well, it’s just raining wishes for me today, isn’t it?” He turned invisible again and I quickly lost track of him

        Scarlet backed away, not sure how to handle this new foe. Rogue was the only Reaper to ever beat me one on one in close quarters combat, and I was sure he had gotten better at it since. I looked at her and then saw a grey blur appear in the air next to her, it stopped moving and I saw Rogue frozen in the air with a strained look on his face, ready to strike. He was catapulted backwards and hit the ground sliding.

        I wasn’t sure what exactly happened there, but I was glad it was. I tried to stand up but I fell over again. Rosy rushed over to me, seeming not to have noticed what had just transpired with Rogue. I knew he had been in her blind spot when he had become frozen, but I would have thought she’d notice. Mari, what did you just do?

I didn’t do anything! I’m not exactly the best at defence and i’ve never seen magic like that before. “Scarlet, bring me closer to Walker. I think I might be able to-”

        “Alright, now I’m pissed off!” Shouted Rogue, now back on his hooves. He bucked a tree, splitting it in two. He began walking over to where Scarlet and I were. “And by the creator will it be FUN to watch you two suffer.”

        “You see, that’s where you’re wrong, Rogue.” Said Mari, hidden from Rogues view in Scarlet’s saddle bag. “There’s three of us here and you will most certainly not be watching us suffer.” A circle of magic energy and runes began to swirl around us. “Now farewell.”

        I felt us being launched a great distance via teleportation magic, although I couldn’t tell where we were going exactly. I felt us stop, so I tried to look at our surroundings. I saw a small bright-green building with a caduceus symbol on top. Oh creator, not here.

        An elderly mare with a green coat and a blue mane stepped out. “What’s going on out here?” She looked down at our little group and gasped.

        “Cross, I know this is kind of an awkward time to ask this,” said Mari, “but we sure as all of tartarus could use your help.” The mare looked at us shocked, then motioned for Scarlet to help bring me in. For the first time in three centuries, I had lost a fight.

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        A unicorn in an ornate top hat and a black tie sat on a bench in Los Pegasus. He was sitting contently and thinking about his recent winnings at the poker table.Man, what a bunch of suckers. He figured he might as well see what was going on in town so he went to the notice board at his hotel. He usually took odd jobs now and then since he didn’t really feel like constantly cheating the casino.

        He took his hat off got to the board and began searching for something at least mildly entertaining to do. There were a few requests for body guard duties and freelance photagraphers to get pictures of a star or two, but he’d done those things in the past and wasn’t a big fan. Then he caught sight of a bounty poster and began to read out loud. “Wanted, Dream Walker. Reward given dead or alive, five thousand bits. Crime: attempted assassination of our beloved ruler Celestia.” He smiled to himself and put his hat back on. “Well, looks like I’ve got something to do for the next couple of days.” He began walking towards the train station. “Now, let’s see if I can figure out where that old colt is.”