Stories in Stone
Lost Empire
By TDR
Gone Home [ Journey's End ]
[New Canterlot. One month after the defeat of Tirek. Summer.]
“Let me see if I have this straight.” Luna sighs rubbing her forehead with her hooves.” You want to preemptively hunt down possible threats to Equestria....”
“Not just Equestria, but all of Equss.” Twilight corrects.
“.......All of Equss. And you expect me to let you two.. who are still highly unstable I might add, run off and kill things while both of you are still clearly suffering from some form of PTSD.” Luna continues.
“To be honest nearly every one on Equss has some type of that by now.” Bleu chimes in.
“As I was saying, the most potent spell caster on Equss and a stallion who ranks a PDR of two on his own.....”
“I'm hoping to get it up to rank one before Hearths Warming.” Jer'rahd chuckled.
Luna let her hooves move to the base of her horn to keep her head up as she sighed. She spared a pained look over to Celestia, who had said nothing yet, then back to Bleu, Jer'rahd, and Twilight, all of whom had grins on their faces that looked like something she would have seen from the Cutie Mark Crusaders when they were younger.
“Jer'rahd you have still not gotten used to your form yet and don't Spike and Bleu have things to do and what about your foals...? Are you simply going to leave them with us?”Luna demands.
“This isn't going to be a solid year we are going to be gone, it's a series of missions to locations we already know to hit and take out possible threats before they happen. We already know we succeed in them.” Twilight adds in.
“And lets face it Luna. Both of them have tried therapy, Jer'rahd made a couple of therapists wet themselves and Twilight wound up offering therapy for a few others when she out brained them or what ever.” Bleu snarked.
“I didn't even do anything.” Jer'rahd protests rolling his eyes..
“It's called reverse Psychotherapy. The ones trying to treat me clearly had more intricate issues than I do.” Twilight muttered.
“Let me see this book Spike.” Celestia stated suddenly walking over and taking the book from the dragon. The white earth pony mare flips through a number of pages blinking as she read them before flipping back to the cover of the book and the decorative Hydra that dominated the front.
“'Foul beasts and how to slay them.' By A.K. Yearling?” Celestia asks.
“She's our fifth. It took a bit to find the proper title. Everything written by Jer'rahd was little more than books of names, and nothing Twilight wrote matched the contents we needed.” Spike states. “So I started looking for just the content and came across this. The publish date is two years from now. Yearling has already agreed to tag along with us and document everything.”
Celestia flipped more through the book whistling at some of the things listed in there before arriving at the last chapter and her eyes narrowed before she stared back up at Spike.
“She's not going to like this.” Celestia adds.
“And that's why it's the last chapter.” Jer'rahd points out.
“What is.. let me see that?” Luna states her magic making a grab for the book before Jer'rahd steps in front of her.
“Luna do you remember what we talked about a few days ago?” Jer'rahd muttered leaning up closer to her nearly nibbling the Lunar mare's ear.
“What?..... you mean about the...... yes I do,” Luna grumbles softly her ears flattening out of Jer'rahd reach. “But what does that have to do with this?”
“This is a way to make sure and build up enough of a reputation that it won't be contested at all.” Jer'rahd grinned. “Something no one else managed before from what you've said.”
“But that was just.......... oh you think you are so smart. “ Luna snorts. ”Fine. But you better check in each time you finish with something. I am not going to run two nations and raise two foals by myself.”
“I can say the same Twilight. Little Elusive is adorable, but you were the one who wished to care for him.” Celestia adds.
“At most we will be gone a few days maybe a week at a time. “Twilight placates.
“Fine.” Celestia sighs, giving the book back to Spike.
“So we are good to go then? Awesome! Time for some preemptive payback.” Bleu giggles.
“I don't think that's how it works.” Spike ponders.
===================================================
[ One week later. Unicorn plains, Summer]
Jer'rahd sighed flicking the blood from his sword as he looked down at the last of the bandits. He had expected a group of ruffians named 'The Deadly Death Destroyers' to be something impressive. Particularly since they were in the book and known to be terrorizing the north eastern part of Equestria. But for a first mission a couple score of bandits was a flop. Most of them had surrendered or ran at the sight of him coming into their supposedly hidden camp. Twilight easily grabbed the ones who ran and the ones who fought back Jer'rahd cleaned up rather neatly.
First mission was a success without any issue and A.K. Yearling was sitting by Spike writing it all down. Likely she was adding the dramatic flair he had see when he first read the book Spike had found. It was a bit upsetting that the awesome fight he had read about was in the end nothing more than fantasy, but at the same time the goal was about destroying evil, not challenging himself.
Still, he hoped they weren't all like this.
==============
[New Canterlot]
The day was dreary, the wild weather from over the Everfree had taken over with Cloudsdale no longer in the air, although it was much less problematic than many had predicted. The sheer number of pegasi that had been recovered now kept the worst of the weather away from the towns near the forest and there were plans to use the broken top of the Maneterhorn to start building a new Cloudsdale.
School had finished early this year due to the circumstances, but it would start earlier next fall. Pip, and the Lilies were staying at Sweet Apple Acres while the castle was being rebuilt. Still aside from the massive hole in one wall, Luna and Jer'rahd's quarters were one of the few sections of the castle left relatively intact. Likely it had to do with all warding spells around the place that had been set up after one of Luna's cooking attempts had summoned a minor elder god.
Luna was thrilled that some things had survived, including Pip's macaroni picture and several of Brush's paintings. Brush didn't seem to care about collecting anything but one unfinished picture of a pink mare that had been in the courtyard. It had been damaged some, though Brush had started work on repairing it almost immediately. Berry had reclaimed a few of her toys, most of which Jer'rahd recalled Rhede having given her, though didn't seem concerned with much else either. Pip unsurprisingly just wanted his sword back from where ever it had landed in White Tail Woods, he didn't often hold onto things he didn't use, like Jer'rahd. Although there was a picture Jer'rahd had Brush paint of his parents and grandparents. The original was long gone, but he could easily recall it from memory, and his description was more than enough for Brush to do a painting, thankfully that still hung in the hall.
Another section of the Castle that survived was the rocky mountain top that had come down along with Canterlot, evidently there was something in there that Celestia had warded the crap out of as well. Jer'rahd was curious, though both Luna and Twilight had told him it was full of memories and to let it be.
The rest of the grounds were devastated, the throne room, the libraries and storage areas and surprisingly Twilight's lab were all flattened. Twilight was freaking out over the loss of the books until Spike started pulling them from the Library just before the blast hit. Twilight had them all moved to Golden oaks library, much to the new librarian Trixie's annoyance as there was no where near enough room in the small tree house.
===============================================================
[Former Griffon Empire]
“ BWAHAHAHHAHAHAH None of you will be able to stop me! I am King here! I AM A GOD, ALL WILL BOW TO MY MIGHT!”
Lightning crackled and struck blasting chunks of rock and stone off the ponies hiding place.
Jer'rahd kept a shield behind the pair just in case the rock gave out under the onslaught of the massive lightning storm the ranting figure had conjured.
“You just had to insult him didn't you?” Twilight snorts.
“Seriously. Also when some thing asks if you are a god you say yes....” Yearling shouts over the thunder.
“I mean you are a bucking god even, why the heck did you say no?” Twilight snaps.
“Because it's a freaking hamster! No where in the book does it say this target was a hamster that spits lightning.” Jer'rahd snaps. “ Especially not one named Zhu Zhu. Seriously?”
“Not sure it's a real hamster. I think it's some sort of construct like the book says.”Spike adds looking through the book trying to ignore the cackling mad creature on the other side of the rock formation.
“Great because some one bucking BUILT a hamster golem that shoots lightning.” Jer'rahd growls. “Because my idea that it was an actual hamster god wasn't far out enough?”
“Hamster's don't have gods!” Twilight snaps wincing at the sound of thunder echoing in the quarry around them.
“Well excuse me for not knowing that, I'm not a bucking expert on rodents!”Jer'rahd snaps back.
“Where's Bleu?” Spike asks suddenly forcing the others to look around for the blue dragonling that had been with them a moment before.
A sudden high pitched shriek preempted the sudden stop of the lightning and thunder followed by a loud crunching.
The group peers around the rock , to see Bleu sitting on a lightning scored rock, chewing on something.
“Sokay guys he was a golem.. mostly copper wiring... bit of quartz in there too.... oo I think his eyes were ruby.” Bleu mutters through a full mouth, sparks dancing over her teeth with each chew.
=========================================================
[ New Canterlot ]
The first chance Jer'rahd got, he, Bleu, Starfall, Peach Blossom, and Luna took a trip to the Sibete Emperiyon. That his favorite bar remained standing after the explosion and everything else was a bit of a marvel to him. More so when Bleu reminded him that it had survived the Second Dragon War, Nightmare Night, the War of the Night, and the War of Gods without so much a scratch as well.
The discussion continued past their entering the bar and a while after they took their usual seats at the bar, leaving three empty for those no longer with them.
The small group was deep enough in the discussion that they almost missed Zecora poking her head out of the back room. The zebra mare had spotted them and ducked back into the room quickly the moment she spotted the group. Luna however had seen and recognized her niece and her gaze was immediately turned to the one winged half pegasus zebra standing behind the bar.
Luna's direct gaze to the stallion had the others focus on him as well. For the first time they all felt they were getting a good look at the bartender.
“One winged half zebra....... cloud cutie mark shaped like a star...........” Jer'rahd mutters. “Been coming here for over a thousand years and it's just now clicking that you've always been the tender ...”
“What I want to know is why my niece is trying to hide in the back room of your bar.” Luna demands.
“What I wanna know is where's that drink I ordered when I came in.” Bleu demands.
“Errrrr.....” Starcloud mutters. “I can explain......”
“Drink first.” Bleu interrupts.
“Oh for the love of the stars they aren't leaving are they!?” Zecora curses from behind the door.
“She didn't rhyme?” Starfall asks.
“No Sunshine we are not.” Luna snorts.
Zecora pushes open the door striding out of the back room, her mane rather frazzled as she drops down on a chair behind the bar glaring up at them. Luna raises an eyebrow at her niece though Jer'rahd hadn't taken his eyes off Starcloud who was fixing Bleu's drink.
“I don't always Rhyme you know.” Zecora grumbles. “It's mostly just a training exercise to help focus. Something I oft need with the chemicals I work with.”
“I heard it was actually the best way to translate ancient zebra.” Jer'rahd comments.
[“Oh I'm terribly sorry I didn't realize the pony that can't even speak or understand Zebra might know more about it than an actual Zebra goddess.”] Zecora snorts.
[“I can speak and understand zebra just fine.”] Jer'rahd responds as he takes a sip of of the drink put before him.
The whole group suddenly turns from the pair of actual zebras to the gray and orange half dragon with his tail curled around the stool.
“WHAT?!” the unanimous shout rocked him back, particularly since Luna was using the Royal Canterlot voice for the question.
“Yeah... I learned it not long after the war in the Zebra lands.”Jer'rahd admits.” Figured I would need it. Same as I picked up a bit of Diamond Dog after that war.”
“Then why....... “Starfall demands.
“......Did I pretend not to understand a lick of it all this time? Because I thought it was funny. And it annoyed the crap out of Rhede.” Jer'rahd smirked as both Luna and Bleu smack him in the back of the head with their wings.
“We will have words about this later Jer'rahd.” Luna snorts.” But first what is going on here? And with as many times as I have come here why have I never realized you are the same pony..err zebra....also which of those terms is correct?”
“I tend to consider myself more a pony than a zebra, but I was born in the Zebra lands.” Starcloud comments rubbing the back of his head with a hoof. “ Long story short I was born a bit before the Discordian war, but my family left the Zebra lands when the Warlord era started to keep me safe.”
Luna blinks though the others seemed to be adding the numbers up in their head.
“You are older than me......” Luna mutters.
“After a thousand years of looking like a pony barely in their twenties does it really matter actual age?” Zecora mutters.
“No I suppose not.” Luna admits looking to Jer'rahd who was being strangled by Bleu for his joke.
“Ooh am I gonna get invited to another wedding?” Bleu asks her tail still wrapped around the half Dragon's neck.
“Not likely. Sunshine and I tend to have a on and off again relation ship. We get together every decade or so, but both of us like living alone to much to get married.” Starcloud adds setting a glass before Jer'rahd as he frees himself from Bleu only to have Starfall hit him with a chair fussing about how annoying his language barrier had been. “Besides I'm a city dweller, not sure how well I'd handle hanging out in the woods all the time.”
“And before you ask, yes mother knows.”Sunshine sighs.”The spell I used to hide myself was something Starcloud taught me and how we met the first time.”
“Hey I bet they could teach that spell to Rynthia too.” Peach Blossom points out, trying not to laugh as his wide pummels Jer'rahd while he tries to down his drink.
“She can learn it if she wants, but she's not going to have to hide herself.” Jer'rahd states.
“There are still tribes dedicated to the destruction of the zebra gods where ever they show up Jer'rahd.” Sunshine mutters. “I've met a few of them in recent years.”
“Yeah well. They haven't met me.” Jer'rahd growls into his mug as Starfall settles back down, not drinking anything herself this close to her child's birth.
“Given that we have adopted her do you really think there would be anything left of any one who attempted to do her harm?” Luna explains her eyes narrowing. ”They didn't managed to hurt you any did they niece?”
The air in the bar suddenly got quite cold for some reason at the question as both Jer'rahd and Luna pause as they waited for an answer. Thankfully Starcloud managed to derail the stare a little by putting a large fruity looking drink in front of Luna.
“Lost my wing to them centuries ago, but that wasn't long after the whole warlord uprising. I was still a colt.” Starcloud added.
“So why have we never noticed you before this point?” Starfall asks.
“Because that's my power, I sort of slide any attention directed towards me away unless some one's specifically looking for me. I sort of blend into the back ground other wise....... as to why you noticed now... well with Sunshine here I certainly didn't want her not to focus completely on me....”
The zebra mare turns a deep red as most of the others laugh, save Luna who simply rubs her forehead with a sigh.
“So wait since we know the secret now, does this mean we get free drinks if we don't tell?” Bleu questions.
“Buck no. Not with as much as you buy. Your tabs have gotten me through three prohibitions. Besides if you tell any one it just means I'll have to leave, and poof goes your favorite bar.” Starcloud explains.
“Damn it!” Bleu curses.
=======================================================
[ Manehatten, old warehouse]
“So this is it?” Jer'rahd asks.
“Certainly seems it.” Twilight sighs. “That's a lot of skeletons.”
“Bunch of them seem really old too. Not just pony either, looks like a bunch of different races.” Bleu whistles.
“There are tales of something like this going back a millennium or more. Many differing records from a number of cultures.” yearling explains. “Supposedly this was created by a powerful wizard of the second age. Though the legend states he was it's first victim.”
“wait there's ages now? When was the first age?” Jer'rahd asks.
“Before recorded history, the second age came about around the dawn of civilization of the three tribes. The third age was Started after the Exodus and the fourth began after the defeat of Nightmare Moon.” Daring explains. “That's where we are now.”
“Neat boss we've lived in two ages.” Bleu adds.
Spike simply stood behind the gathered ponies, an annoyed expression on his face as he looked to the object in the center of the room. Certainly there were a number of skeletons around it, and quite a lot of dust. The object seemed to be made out of a reddish wood with four thick legs evenly spaced under it, the high back of it seemed enough to be at just the right height for a ponies head if they were seated upon it. Padded patches of light cream cloth covered the top and backrest of it giving it a rather homely feel despite the obvious expensive wood used in it's construction.
“Of for bucks sake it's just a freaking chair!” Spike snorts.
“Not just any chair.” Yearling corrects. “The worlds most comfortable chair. Once you are in it's clutches... you are doomed.”
“Oooh “ the others monotone.
“This is completely ridiculous.” Spike growls pushing the others out of the way and exhaling sharply, bathing the wood and cloth chair in red flames, burning the piece of furniture to ash in just that one puff.
The others blink looking at the ash pile as Spike turned storming away, fully annoyed at this lunacy.
“YAY! Spike defeated it!” Bleu cheers.
=====================================================
[New Canterlot]
It was on a muddy field that used to be a training ground that Jer'rahd stood,facing two opponents at once. He still needed to work out some kinks in his new body and the pair before him were helping him work out some kinks before he and Twilight went after anything more dangerous.
Both were mares, one wore a fairly over sized ambassador's robes with a hood, and the other wore some impressive, if brightly colored hydra armor and wielded a crystal spear.
The two were both rather surprised to be here and even more surprised at the challenge though they had accepted after a small conversation between the two of them. A blue unicorn in crystal armor stood nearby watching.
Minuette had taken over for Shining Armor's position as Guard Captain of the Crystalline Guard only a few days ago when the stallion announced he was stepping down fully from being a Guard Captain. Princess Cadence had finally taken the title of Empress of the Crystal Empire at the last Council meeting just so she could have a bit more weight to throw around when it came relations and politics. Shining had grudgingly accepted the title of Emperor at his wife's behest, or nagging, it was hard to be sure.
The blue unicorn had barely opened her mouth to utter the word 'begin' when all three of the combatants were in motion. Jer'rahd was using a wooden training blade, though the pair of them were allowed to use what they were most comfortable with so long as it was not star metal. Jer'rahd was highly resistant to the material's magical dampening effects, but a wound from it still took as long to heal on him as it would a normal pony.
A shield was brought up in an eye blink as a length of razor wire whipped across where his eyes would have been. The steel sparked across the shield obscuring his vision briefly and forcing him to leap to the side as the spear wielder came crashing down where he had been standing. She was up and away from him standing on her two back hooves faster than he could bring his blade around against her.
He dropped his head quickly as another wire whipped over where his head was and a second crashed into a quickly raised shield.
The pair of them were not giving him a moment of thought. The unicorn rushed at him again and the pair traded blows, his wooden weapon splintering against the crystal spear from the mare's fierce blows. A flash from his side forced him to move again as the place where he had been standing was suddenly full of daggers. He tossed the shredded bit of wood towards the cloaked mare noting that the spear wielder deflected it before it got close to the other mare.
He yanked another training blade from the rack whirling about to rush the green mare, gripping the weapon in his teeth. He ramped his shield galloping up it and leaping off towards the armored mare.
The mare moved quickly,setting her spear to impale him as he landed only to find that he had formed another shield just at the tip of her weapon and had bounced off that to make a dive towards the cloaked figure.
The cloaked mare flung out her fore limbs sending a dozen plus lengths of metal cable at him, they went past and hooked on the worker' scaffolding, the ground and several training dummies locking into place. The mare pulled her forelegs together bringing all the cords tighter around the large half pony in some sort of cats cradle of doom.
Jer'rahd exhaled sharply, tucking his tail under himself with his legs stream lining his form as he barely slipped through a rapidly closing gap in the wires landing outside the trapped area. He quickly brought his weapon around to knock the clocked figure out of the fight. His swing was knocked aside by the armored mare's spear being flung from the other side of the anchored wires, the attack gave the cloaked pony the chance she needed to fall back away from Jer'rahd.
Jer'rahd frowned putting his blade back in his mouth as he glanced to his left and right. The pair had him flanked now, though he still had the armored mare's spear close at hoof.
Or he did before a cable whipped out and flicked the spear back over to the armored pony.
Jer'rahd frowned as he felt a cable whip around his tail from the armored mare rather than the cloaked one. He cursed a little glancing back to see one of the wires wrapped tight around his tail. The spear wielding mare had probably snatched up one the ones the other mare had anchored. As he moved to pull it free another series of wires wrapped around his neck and forelegs yanking tight.
“Guess that's match?” the armored one snarks before Jer'rahd moves.
The armored mare had wrapped the cord around her own fore hoof to keep him secure, while her back leg stance worked well to give her elevation with her spear, binding a target who was stronger and in a better position with more traction.
When Jer'rahd turned and whipped his tail, the armored mare was caught off guard by the strength behind it and was yanked off her hooves. The other mare yanked back her forelimbs, releasing her hold on the other cables, but she was not fast enough to avoid getting slammed into by the slung armored mare.
The resulting crash made both Jer'rahd and Minuette wince, though the latter called the spar as Jer'rahd went over to check on them pulling the wires off his limbs.
“Owchie....” Bon Bon whines.
“Oh you caught me... my hero.” Lyra chuckles.
“Please get your plump ass off of me...” Bon Bon grumbles.
“If I'm fat it's because of what you feed me.” Lyra chuckles pushing herself off of the other mare.
“You two alright.” Jer'rahd asks pulling off the last of the wires.
“Been better, made a few mistakes there I shouldn't have.” Lyra groans helping Bon Bon up. “Not that I don't mind a bit of exercise, but what's with this sparing thing?”
“Two reasons. First, I need the practice, and second Celestia shoe horned me into Guard Captain Hospice Moskau's old position. “
“And he's already looking for a replacement.” Minutte called out trotting up.
“Yes well, not really. Peach Blossom is already taking over for Guard Captain Armor's position here, and Starfall is considering Nicker's position. I was moved to take over the six sixty sixth as Moskau announced her retirement. Given Heartstrings former ranking in that posting......”
“Nope. I retired a long time ago. Still am.” Lyra snaps. “ You're stuck with it.”
Jer'rahd blinks and sighs.
“All right then Agent Sweetie Drops...”
“Sorry, but I'm not a military type.”
“I wasn't offering that position to you.” Jer'rahd stops her glancing over to Minuette who nods, her horn glowing as a shield forms around Jer'rahd and Bon Bon. Lyra blinks looking at the shield though shrugs, anytime some one called Bon Bon 'Sweetie Drops', something she likely didn't want to know about was happening.
“Huh?” Sweetie Drops asks before her eyes narrow. ”There's only one other position available Guard Captain, and that's not really a position.”
“No, officially it's not. The ambassadors will still maintain the structure they have built up, even if no one else gets how their ranking system works.”
“We like it that way.”
“Never the less. What Luna has decided is that there will be a different branch of the Ambassadors. One that will be specializing in the things best not spoken of in polite company. She's calling it the Black Hoof .”
“Doesn't naming it ruin the secrecy?” Sweetie Drops questions.
“Not really. It was given a name because fear can be a wonderful tool. If the rumor of a black ops organization in Equestria gets out it will make some of the possible threats to us think twice before committing wondering what you might be capable of. The unit will answer only to the Guard Captains and the Princesses themselves. Primarily Celestia, much like the Ambassadors. Unlike the Ambassador's your jobs will be to stop conflict as efficiently as possible, rather than talk about it.”Jer'rahd explains. “The goal is to neutralize threats before they become threats, either some spell components get mixed up and an assassination spell doesn't work, or some one planning something vanishes without a trace.”
“Wet work.” Sweetie Drops mutters.
Jer'rahd raises a brow that the mare even knew the term in this supposedly peaceful age , but he didn't press.
“While the rumor you exist needs to be fed, we want no one to have any proof. How you run this will be up to you. This is a very hooves off project, though I expect Celestia will want to keep tabs on you. Because of this you personally will be taking over the roll Nicker had in advising the Princesses. You get your team, you have them do the missions, we would prefer to not have you go out yourself.”
“What if I say no? This sort of information could be problematic at best if it got out.”Sweetie Drops swallowed glancing around the shield bubble doubting she could do much against Jer'rahd inside of it.
“Then you say no and we find some one else.' Jer'rahd shrugs. “You would of course be expected not to say anything. Rhede trusted you and some others with information that he didn't trust me with and I was the Element of Loyalty. I trust his judgment in this matter. If you accept the official public position you would be expected to stay in New Canterlot for the most part. Something I recall you were pushing for any way. Your official title will be Royal Adviser. Celestia's given that position to civilians in the past, given her cake addiction, no one is going to be the slightest bit surprised that a baker has it now.”
“ Candy maker and I am known as a Agent by some you know....”
“And? The most many of them would know is you are a retired Ambassador, who found favor in a new position. If any one else found out the truth I'd say you were not doing your job right. Any way Celestia and Luna will tell you more if you accept, I'm just the messenger here. So then Agent Sweetie Drops, or Bon Bon, which every you prefer in this instance. What's your answer?”
=======================================================
[ Diamond Dog Lands]
The monster roared, the sound not unlike the screams of the dying in the middle of a tornado. It's claw smashed into the ground where Twilight and Jer'rahd had been a moment before, bits of rotted flesh and bone scattered every where from the impact, the creatures claw splattering from the impact. The monster didn't even notice the damage as it's hand pulled back together as it withdrew it from the crater it made.
Crossbow bolts from Diamond Dog archers filled the creature's hide though given the rotted state of the massive undead thing it likely didn't feel any of it. The whole monster looked like a towering Diamond Dog made up of numerous corpses of hundreds of Diamond Dogs, Ponies, and other animals.
The thing was a remnant of Tirek and he had made a few of them to send into the tunnels after the Diamond Dogs that dug deep to get away.
This was the third such one that Jer'rahd and Twilight had encountered, the others at least were away from civilization. They had been tracking this one when it found one of the refugee's warrens and attacked the underground city.
The defenders had started fighting back immediately, though they were rather ineffective against it they managed to hold it off until the hunting party arrived. A few of the jumpier dogs had attacked the group when Jer'rahd, Twilight , Bleu, Spike and Yearling had shown up.
The two mares had been protected by the dragons, who's thick scales deflected the bolts, and Jer'rahd just ignored the few that hit him, yanking them out only if they got in his way.
The sight of a arrow ridden half dragon in close combat with the goliath monster while a pair of dragons and a unicorn offered fire support was like something out of a story. That the group of them ripped the monster apart with practiced ease simply made it seem more so.
Those witnessing it repeated the tale to others and the fear and awe of the one calling himself the Demon of Dullahan grew among the nation of Diamond Dogs
Jer'rahd was quite alright with that.
Bleu was a little miffed that they glossed over her part however.
===================================================
[Crystal Empire]
Jer'rahd trots down the hall with a giggling Dawn on his back. Luna carried Rynthia in a saddle bag as she walked along side him, the little zebra godling watching Dawn being bounced on Jer'rahd's back.
A much more obviously pregnant Starfall trotted on the other side of Luna.
The zebra filly was still unreadable, as she didn't seem upset by, or happy from, anything. Luna commented something about the little Zebra not showing any sort of past life after images in the godling's dreams. She also didn't mention what she saw in Dawn's dreams, though for a while Jer'rahd noted she seemed wary of her own daughter, though that had passed quickly.
“Well I will admit I am surprised. After your little trip to the west the Diamond dogs are much more willing to be open for trade with us. What exactly did you do?” Luna chuckles.
“Took out some things Tirek left behind and found Princess Puffy Tail. So the Diamond Dog god count is at at least one.” Jer'rahd states shifting his tail to make sure Dawn didn't slide any.
“Remind me to send you into the Zebra lands, they are being unusually reluctant to do anything with us.” Luna sighs.
“Two more chapters.” Jer'rahd states.
“Huh? Oh right the book.” Luna recalls.
“In the Zebra's defense we did pretty much threaten to rip their land out from under them over where to bury their first Queen. “ Starfall states. “ I expect they are still cross.”
“I suppose, though it's almost time for the running of the leaves and we're all behind in reconstruction and harvesting. Not to mention we have a sizable influx of refugees from settlements that were destroyed. We may have to play host to the Griffons and Kirin if they cannot get their shelters rebuilt in time, plus we need to get winter supplies up to the crystal Empire before the snows set in. It is going to be a thin year.” Luna sighs as the group turns the corridor heading back to the nursery.
“We'll be fine, just tell your sister to lay off the cake and we'll have enough extra food for months.”
Jer'rahd chuckled before getting a white wing slammed into his face with enough force to sting, but not enough to dislodge Dawn.
He shook his head glaring up at the white alicorn standing in the doorway of the nursery.
“Ahh I see Cadence gave you back your power then?” Luna states. “The therapist cleared you?”
“No.” Celestia sighed. “But they are certain enough that I am not going to run off and do something. Also the therapist knows both Kaisur and Rose so he understood quite a bit of my issue right off.”
“Ahh I see.” Luna nods. “ Well it is good to have you back up and about and at least mostly back to normal. I am sure Twilight is thrilled as well.”
“She is. She's in the nursery now trying to teach Elusive his ABCs ...”
“Oh this is going to be a interesting thing to watch.” Luna chuckles.
“The way that mare is I need to ask her mother if she was born reading something.” Jer'rahd mutters, frowning as Celestia lifted Dawn off his back.
“So hows my little niece?” Celestia smiles blowing a raspberry into the giggling dawn's belly and nuzzling the tiny Kirin.
“She's doing well, though do be careful Tia Dawn tends to be a bit......” Luna begins, flinching as the tiny half dragon clamps down on the white alicorn's nose. “....bity.”
Jer'rahd falls over laughing while Starfall at least tries to pretend it's not funny, though Celestia just sighed pulling the small ball of fluff and scales away from her nose before rubbing it with a hoof.
“Why do they always go for my nose?” the Goddess of the Sun mummers.
====================================================
[ Frozen North, Underground Temple ]
“So these structures predate the ruins of the pre Exodus empires?” Spike asked looking around at the massive cavern and the buildings standing under the massive ice cap that stretched over the top of the stony cleft where the city lay hidden. The small form of a nearly frozen and heavily bundled up Bleu sat on his back complaining about the cold.
“That's what we've found any way. I discovered these things years ago and no ones been able to make heads or tails of them. Most of the buildings here are filled with single rooms that only open up to the outside. All the buildings are structured in such a way that there are no corners, and every edge is rounded. There's no trace of any writing nor any magic that we can find. The architecture doesn't match any thing of anything we have found from any other age.” Yearling sighs. “We've been trying to figure out who made these and why for years now.”
“ Yet this is where we were supposed to be.” Jer'rahd comments.
“I don't know why, this place has been fully explored and mapped, there's nothing here.” Yearling states , waving a map.
Spike leans over looking at the map curiously. “It looks like some sort of ritual circle on the map. A seal of some kind.”
“We considered that , but any sort of seal would have some sort of magical residue, and even if that faded and what ever it sealed escaped or died there would be traces of something. All that's under this place is solid rock.”
“Twilight?” Jer'rahd mutters.
“The book doesn't explain how we summoned this thing only that we fought it and here's how we killed it.” Twilight sighed as Jer'rahd looks over her shoulder at the book while the others talked Yearling didn't know they had what she was going to write, the all thought it better Spike's powers were kept under wraps.
“What's this bit here at the bottom?” Jer'rahd asked pointing to some text at the bottom of the page.
“Huh? Oh it's just her notes, this one is just an insult directed at you. She's made a few of them before already.”
“Yeah yeah I need to be nicer, whatever... So what's that one say, your hoof's in the way.” Jer'rahd asks.
“Let's see.... 'Kaisur uttered something so obvious and stupid while clearly thinking he was clever, my retort was drown out by the monsters roaring arrival, clearly it agreed with me.' Not much to go on.” Twilight sighed.
“ I think it's plenty. Clever huh...... you don't think?”
“Oh please that can't be it. That's just a stupid coincidence.... that keeps happening.” Twilight mutters.
Jer'rahd grinned and looked back at Yearling. “Hey Yearling. I've been meaning to ask this before but I never had the time.”
The pegasus looked back at him clearly more interested in discussing something with Spike then what ever he had to say.
“And what's that?”
“Your hoof writing. I've finally figured out where I saw it before. “ Jer'rahd barely managed to stifle a grin as Twilight face hoofs behind him. “You're Daring Doo aren't you?”
The pegasus mare stared at him as the two dragons blink in confusion at the sudden obvious revelation.
“Oh for bucks sake seriously? You just now figured that out, well aren't you a clever pony!?” Darning snaps back throwing her fore hooves in the air..
A massive roar shook the cavern as several of the buildings quivered and started to topple. A giant stone clawed hand bursts up from the ground rising into the air as the whole cavern seemed to quake.
“There's no damn way that should have worked!” Twilight yells.
Jer'rahd simply grinned and griped the Waning Moon between his teeth, galloping forward towards the rising stone monster.
=====================
[ Crystal Empire, Far side of the northern mountains bordering the Frozen north. ]
One hundred and eight changelings had come with their Queen to this desolate place. All of them knew why, Luna made sure of that, she also made sure that they had no choice in the matter. This was far more of them than she had expected and the drain of forcing them to her will was tiring
Most of them were natural born Changelings that had been swayed by Chrysalis's corrupted words or had just enjoyed themselves in the attack. These were the ones that had set fires or killed out of malice rather than capture as ordered.
At least these Changelings had the decency to be a separate species. There were a sizable number among them who were changed from other races and were not drones. Criminals who had fled Equestria, or avoided capture. There were a number of these as well, easily two score of the ones that she had forced to come with her.
Few if any of them had no remorse up to this point. They saw ponies as food, or an enemy to destroy. These were ones who had either avoided the fight with Tirek or fought because they enjoyed it, rather than to help.
These were the ones beyond redemption. She could see it in their minds, they could hide nothing from her. They held no remorse, no guilt, no regrets for anything they had done, and she saw that some would do it again. Some already had in the confusion of combat in the Empire.
The few that had shown any regret for their former actions were still in the Empire. There were some like this lot who had seen the error of their path and had tried to atone, or at least felt guilty for their actions. They would be watched, but so long as they sought to atone Luna would do nothing to them.
The ones here were not such Changelings.
The only regret she felt from any of them was that they got caught, though many blamed her for being a weaker leader than Chrysalis. She could see many plans of them going back to their old ways in the hives, how things were before.
Granted when the other mare arrived a few moments later the lot of them had a number of other regrets, and a great deal of fear.
“Are you sure of this?” Celestia asks glaring down at the gathered Changelings.
“There have been no mistakes Tia. I can read all of them as easily as I can a book. These are ones that cannot be excused for their crimes.” Luna states.
“ We should simply put them in the Garden.” Celestia suggests, the comment making Luna smile a little that her sister would return to the more peaceful route on her own like this.
“Turning them to stone would not work as we would still hear them in the hive mind. Likely even louder as they would have nothing else to do but scream into it. They also might learn to transfer their consciousness into a drone or a young one who cannot resist them and wreck havoc before they could be stopped. Turning them to stone will not work.“
“That rules out placing them in a prison some where as well.” Celestia sighs.” Fine then....... I am a little disturbed you have made them all dig their own graves however.....”
“It is but a small punishment for what they have done. To know what is coming and to be powerless to do anything about it. They did not give their victims even that. I am big on forgiveness Tia, but I have my limits. We punish our little ponies when they act as this lot acted. They will not suffer as much as many would wish. Well these will not. I regret to say there were a few that did not make it out here. I suppose I can tell my foals that justice has finally been served for those that they lost.....”
“You are going to feel all of this if you stay.” Celestia points out.
“Yes.”
“You do not deserve that Lulu.”
“I have children and a husband who loves me, a family and friends who care for me and I have done many a horrid thing in my own past that I do not believe I deserve any of what I have at times.”
“.......”
“That said I need to remain any way to block them from the rest of the hive so no one else will feel their deaths, particularly Shin.” Luna sighed. “A bit more pain will be worth it to save that pain from others. Make it quick sister.”
Celestia nods looking over the group of Changelings frozen before holes they themselves had dug, with markers of stone etched with their own names above, carved by their own hoof or claw. Some were defiant, some seemed ready to cry and others looked to be cursing the names of the two sisters.
Celestia spared a last glance at her sister who was meeting the stares of the Changelings before her with her own sad visage. The disappointed stare of their queen, the last thing they would witness before they were sent to the afterlife.
The white alicorn sighed as everything around her, save her sister, burst into flames.
========================================================
[Frozen North]
Jer'rahd slips under a claw, his fore leg coming up to smash into the jaw of the creature, he could feel teeth shattering under his hoof.
This rogue tribe of Linorm were being more difficult than the others they had tracked down. Glacier had happily helped them find other tribes and a sizable number of them had joined Glacier with little fuss after realizing it was in their best interest to do so. Occasionally Glacier had to 'convince' them, but that rarely took long. Then there were others who needed to fully be shown the error of their ways.
Jer'rahd really didn't care what this tribe called themselves, Blood ... something, he just knew they didn't talk and immediately went for the throats of the dragons that had come along with Yearling, Twilight and himself. He, Spike, and Glacier had taken the brunt of the attacks, though they had healed up just as quickly from the swarming Linorm due to their deific nature. Bleu had not been as lucky and had received a number of bites and claw attacks.
Of course injuring Bleu had been a 'very' bad mistake. Jer'rahd immediately stopped trying to talk and started laying into them full force. There was a growing pile of bodies and blood stains around him and he had yet to even draw the Waning Moon.
He took note that Spike seemed almost as angry and was protecting Bleu and the other two ponies while ripping apart anything that came near him. Glacier was not far behind the other two gods, but the Linorm was not as brutal as the others, something that seemed to worry the new god considerably.
The fight, if one could call it that, was brutal, savage,and over very quickly. There was nothing left of the Linorm tribe but a few unhatched eggs that Glacier was going to bring back to his own tribe to raise
Jer'rahd spit out a mouthful of scales looking over at Bleu and noting she was hamming it up for more attention from Spike, clearly the wounds were not that bad.
“You made a offer before that I refused.” Glacier states looking down at Jer'rahd with a hint of worry on his muzzle. “ Perhaps I should rethink that.”
“I am willing to train you. But it will be through the next Guard training I do. You've got a lot to learn from Spike first.” Jer'rahd states, guzzling from his canteen before spiting the bloodied water from his mouth trying to get rid of the taste. “Knowing how to fight and kill is fine, but you'll need to know the reasons for it. A lot of it is gonna be boring, but most if not all will be necessary for you to lead the Linorm.”
Glacier nods a little looking over at Spike who had clearly caught on Bleu was faking the worst of it and was trying to untangle the blue dragon from him.
Jer'rahd looks around at the carnage around him. This sudden attack made him worry a little for Bleu and Twilight's sake, but they had gone in expecting trouble and they were prepared when they found it.
Still this was a easier time than a few weeks ago when they fought that odd worm like thing with multiple jaws,limbs, eyes, strange teeth, limb like tongues and other things Jer'rahd wasn't sure what they were.
There wasn't much of a description of the creature in the book aside from the name 'Rover Glug' or something like that. That fight had been brutal, and painful and had resulted in quite a bit of down time for the party after wards.
Jer'rahd just wondered why the thing had been hiding at the bottom of an old well.
==================================================
[ Crystal Empire.]
Dusty, Luna, Cadence, and Celestia were discussing things that were going on while in the nursery in the Crystal Empire. Most of the foals were laying on a thick rug between them either trying to crawl or in Talon's case trying to not fall over. It was less a formal meeting of leaders and more a meeting of a group of mothers and guardians to let their foals meet.
Talon was just over a year old and the Hippogyph hadn't developed his first proper feathers yet and was still covered with a fluffy light blue down. He was just starting to move around on his own and the fluff covered wings looked adorable as he flapped them to try and keep himself upright.
The next eldest was Shin at a year the black and red Changeling usually spent most of his time glomped onto some one. It didn't seem to matter to the foal whether that some one was Cadence, another adult or one of the other foals, he had ceased being bity and was now very clingy.
Glimmer was the next oldest at eight months. The pink and white pegicorn whined a little in protest when she was put near Dawn or Elusive, but she didn't break out in a screaming panic like she did with any other half dragon. Much to Jer'rahd's annoyance.
Dawn and Elusive had reached half a year old and were working on learning how to be mobile themselves, both of them clearly attempting to follow Talon's lead. The sight of the two flapping their tiny wings madly trying to hoist themselves up onto uncooperative limbs tended to keep the mood rather light.
Rynthia the, youngest, had yet to try to crawl or move on her own but she seemed content simply being held and watching everything. Much like always.
Celestia was currently laying on her belly with Rynthia laying between her forelegs on her back, her head resting against Celestia's chest.
Dawn was trying very hard to climb Luna with little luck though the tiny Kirin did stop every so often to try and chew on her mother.
Elusive had given up and was laying on his side in the middle of the large rug while Shin and Glimmer both squirmed for a spot in Cadence's lap.
Talon was still wobbling about and he managed to totter across the rug from Dusty to Celestia before his legs gave out and he fell over in a fluffy heap before the white alicorn.
Celestia leaned her head down to nose the little hippogryph onto his hooves again. The struggling foal managed to latch his front claws onto her nose. Celestia froze wincing as the godling managed to lift himself up again and totter off before collapsing again closer to his mother.
“Are you alright Celestia.. I'm sorry about that....” Dusty stammers.
“It's fine, let's face it by this point the only one who hasn't bitten or clawed my nose is Rynthia.” Celestia sighs rubbing her nose with a wince, a bit of blood welling at the scratches. “I think I'm getting used to it.”
Celestia sighs looking down as Rynthia squirms on her fore limbs. “I suppose you are next to bite me hmm? Best get it over with.”
The little zebra lifts on hoof up poking lightly against Celestia's nose. A sudden flare of power from the touch made every one jump, particularly Celestia, though Rynthia didn't seem very bothered by the tumble on the rug as Celestia jumped to her hooves.
“What was that!??” Luna demanded moving over quickly to check on the little Zebra.
“My nose.......” Celestia blinked scrunching her muzzle. Her nose felt a bit numb from the touch, though Cadence was first to get close enough to look over.
“Auntie.... the scratches... they're gone. Even the blood is gone......” Cadence blinked looking down at the Zebra that had shifted to nestle into Luna's grip, while dawn hung from one of the dark mare's wings.
“Healing magic? Well this is going to be interesting....” Luna muttered.
=====================================================
[Castle of the Gorgon, far to the east of Equestria.]
Jer'rahd snorted walking along the ruined castle hallway with Yearling and Twilight in tow.
“Honestly I expected something a bit stronger when we read the description. A black steel scaled minotaur that breaths petrifying gas?“ Jer'rahd commented. “That would have been a proper fight.”
“It's not the creatures fault that the moment you saw it you cut off it's head with that sword of yours. It was exactly like the description.” Yearling snaps back. “ And what is with you wanting a good fight? I thought this was eliminate threats?”
“Not saying a easy fight isn't bad. No one got hurt and we get to check off another threat, but only a few of these have really felt like they would be a issue to Equss as a whole. I mean heck the Gorgon had evidently been here for a while doing little more than petrifying and eating the local wildlife and any one who got too close to the castle. Bad, but not world shaking.”
“ I know how you feel. It's like a lingering doubt that we are really doing as much good as we want to be. I have the same feeling every time we take something out without any real effort.” Twilight sighed. “We just have to keep in mind that things like this are a threat to some one and we stopped it..........do you hear that?”
Twilight stops her ears perking up, the other two do the same slowly looking around at the sound of hard thuds and thuds against the stone and rotted wooden walls further down the hall.
“Sounds like a fight. Bleu and Spike should be around here some where, come on.” Jer'rahd states galloping forward with the other two hot on his hooves.
The two mares round a corner just as Jer'rahd plowed into a heavy double door that was some how still intact after the hundreds of years that this place had been abandoned. With the last remained intact door way shattered the three ponies skid to a stop in what used to be a grand dining room.
Near one of the walls a pair of dragons lay partially coiled about each other, both of them staring red faced at the ponies that had burst into the room.
“Oh wow...” Yearling muttered.
Oh geez guys, couldn't you have gotten a room...?” Twilight grumbled.
“We had a room until you broke into it.” Spike responded with a small growl.
“Damn Bleu, did you at least buy him dinner first?” Jer'rahd quiped before the blue dragon's tail whipped forward shoving them all back out of the room followed by a long series of curses in several languages.
==================================================
[New Canterlot, Ponyville District, Early Fall]
“Alright that's the plan. Any questions?” Sweetiebelle asked looking over the small room. Button, the five Changelings that had been back up singers with her, and oddly Regent Breezy Mist were all sitting before her looking up at the chalk board behind the white unicorn. A chalk board that was covered in scribbles, little drawings, and hoof writing that no one could decipher.
So it wasn't a surprise to any one but Sweetiebelle when every one in the room raised their hooves.
“Oh come on it's not that bad.......” Sweetiebelle moaned. “ Button....”
“I'm not saying it is Belle, but this was kinda dropped on us suddenly. Your agent wants you to go on tour? “ Button Mash questions.”I mean it sounds like fun but there's way too much to set up... and this is a world tour, we don't have the faintest idea of how to go about setting this up. It takes a lot of time and bits to get something like this going and you want us to start right after Hearths Warming... Just us......”
“Correct. My agent believes that this is the perfect time, every one is at least some what recovered from Tirek, but he's still fresh in everyone's minds enough that a distraction would be perfect. This is even more so given that it will take place in the first part of the year when it's still cold and no one can really do anything. I've got several bookings already.” Sweetie explains. “Besides I'm trusting you to get me a stage crew Button. I know you know some ponies.”
“Ahhh crud... and Fallout Equestria 4 just came out.......” Button grumbles.
“Tough, Melody?”
“Why us?” A pink maned Changeling without wings or horn asks. She was the smallest of the group and had a singing voice that almost was a a match for Sweetiebelle's” I mean you kinda just met us a bit ago....”
“Because of how that meeting went, you guys were awesome and don't think I can't see the advantages of being able to alter your own throats to hold any pitch or tone you want. Besides Button said you could all play something too. We're gonna need that.” Sweetiebelle answers. “Carol?”
A blue maned Changeling puts her hoof down to push a pair of glasses up on her face. She seemed the oldest of the lot of them.” Um we are kinda Changelings, we're not really gonna be well accepted any where…..”
“That's something else this tour is gonna do, if we want everyone to accept Changelings now, you can't just hide. Princess Luna agrees with me on that. Touring with a group will help with that, particularly since it's an musical aid group. Shanty?”
A yellow maned Changeling who seemed to once have been a Hippogryph lowers her claw. “Will the Queen even let us go? She's been trying to get every one to help rebuild for some time now. I mean I don't even know construction, but thanks to the hive mind thing I can build a wall like a master brick layer. Something like that sorta requires all claws.. err hooves.”
“I asked Princess Luna and she said it was your choice. She's been trying to stress she's you're leader, not your master. You can ask her yourself, but trust me when I say we had a long talk went I went to see my nephew, Aria?”
A pure green Changeling lowers her hoof, considering a moment how best to word the question. With the way the mare's voice sounded normally, it was a wonder if she just hit puberty with how often her voice cracked and changed, though when she sang there was no trace of this issue.“ What exactly are our roles in this going to be?”
“Well depending on what you play I'll need some music for the new albums I record, on stage however I'll need back up singers, primarily. Don't worry you'll be paid in bits and if you feed off the on coming adoration as well, well bonus.” Sweetiebelle points out. “Ditty?”
“So what's the name of this group?” a orange maned changeling asks, it was hard to tell what gender it was though the voice seemed male even though his features were quite feminine. Button had put money on male, just from the way some of the other female Changelings looked at him.
“ We have two names actually. The touring group we are forming is going to be called the ESO. Not sure what that stands for, but my teacher was very excited over it. Princess Luna said it was a very important thing in the past.” Sweetiebelle states. “ Our personal group will be called …...”
Sweetie lights up her horn pulling a rolled up poster from where it lay against a wall and unrolls it.
The poster showed a purple swirl of color that curved in such a way that it could be the right side of the letter R, or a B. The left side of the letter was missing and a pair of blue feminine eyes stared back from under the top curve of the purple.
“Rarities” Sweetiebelle finishes.
“Isn't that the symbol for your sisters clothing line?” Button asks.
“It is and it will still be used as such. Coco Pommel is going to take over my sisters businesses with over seeing by my parents until Elusive comes of age. Fifty percent of the proceeds are going to fund a charity organization that is now set up in my sister's name as well as the ESO. We are going to be the face of the clothing line and the charity, but our profits stay within the group because we are going to have quite a bit of over head with these tours for a while.” Sweetiebelle explains. “Yes, Breezy?”
“Why am I here? I have a kingdom to rebuild. Also I have like, zero musical talent. I couldn't carry a tune if you put it in a suitcase for me.” Breezy sighed fanning a wing.
“That's easy. You were in town and I want to buy the Storm Cloud.” Sweeitebelle grins.
“What?” Breezy blinked.
“You got it working again, sorta, though it's in no shape any more to be a combat vessel. So rather than scrap it I'm offering to buy it outright and then pay for it to be completely fixed up to be the transport for the ESO. Of course there's a few loans and some side deals going on, but I think the offer that I can provide will be fair. And as bad as the griffons were hurt, you need the bits far more than a nearly junked warship.”
“I can't just sell you a warship, no matter what shape it's in....” Breezy stammers.
“So unmake it a war ship, put the guns on the thing Princess Luna wanted you to make.“
“What, the Jupiter? That's not even anything more than a bunch of plans I sketched out. There's no way we can afford to build that.... I told Luna that last time it was mentioned.” Breezy sighed.” Wait she brought it up again?”
“Yeah when I talked to her, you can speak with her when you hash out the details. But the ship would be for Equestria, not the Griffon nation, though you and your wife decide what that means now from my understanding. Just keep in mind, I used up my favor from Princess Luna to get you the chance to have a influx of supplies and bits to keep your Griffon's busy, so letting go of a decommissioned much much smaller, former warship, shouldn't be any issue to pass by your wife....”
The Changelings look back and forth between the pegasus and the mare. All of them were a bit shocked at the rather shrewd and savvy planning they were seeing here. Given how Sweetiebelle usually acted, they expected the mare to just be a talented ditz. The ones who questioned Luna in the hive mind did receive a response that everything Sweetiebelle said was on the level.
“Wow. I haven't seen that sort of reaction to you talking about something since you fired your last agent after catching his screw ups.” Button chuckles amused at how often ponies underestimated his mare friend as a complete lunatic at best. “ So who's the new manager any way?”
“Discord.” Sweetiebelle grinned.
=============================================
[ Saddle Arabia. Far to the west]
Jer'rahd stared at the pony before him.
The blood red furred pony stared back with eyes as black as coal, his mane, made out of fire and smoke, whipped in an unseen gale. Fangs like a crocodile's filled his maw snorted sparks when he breathed out. Black and red armor covered his form, festooned with spikes and blades and making him look twice the size he really was, even so, he towered over Jer'rahd, and was likely taller than even Celestia.
Neither had dawn their weapon. The Waning Moon hung at Jer'rahd's side and a massive ornate battle ax that dripped a bronze icor, hung at the red stallions.
Twilight, Bleu, Spike, and Yearling hung back behind the gray half dragon. Behind them was a city filled with ponies and refugees from ravaged villages to the south.
Behind the red stallion stood three others.
A bloated yellowy brown horse that frothed around the mouth and had multiple sores and open festering wounds. He leaned heavily on a staff that seemed a mockery of the medical caduceus with cobras, hoods wide and fangs dripping with venom, bat wings rather than pegasus wings, and a spiked ball at the top that looked to be covered with blood and chunks of rancid meat.
To his left was another horse, one covered in a long hooded black robe that hid everything but the tip of its nose and his hooves, all of which appeared skeletal. A glowing blue scythe lay across its back and a chill filled the air around him despite it being in the middle of the desert.
The last was gaunt, nearly skeletal horse though it seemed more like the soft brown horse was starving rather than afflicted with anything like the other. He held no weapon, but he yawned once and it's entire head and neck opened to show uncountable teeth and a black hole of a gullet.
Behind them was nothing but wasteland, every city, every animal, and every plant was dead and rotted.
Jer'rahd and the other stallion stood frozen, gazes locked with each other. The pair had been like this for nearly an hour.
No one was quite sure what was going on but both the red stallion and Jer'rahd had told the others to hold as they met one another.
Finally one of them moved.
The red stallion flinched taking a small step back.
Jer'rahd grinned wide as the armored horse snorts glaring down at him before turning and starting to walk back towards the wasteland behind themselves. The other three look to the stallion with shock that was even apparent even on the skeletal one.
“THIS IS NOT OUR WORLD. WE GO BACK.” The red stallion commands.
The others turn after a moment and follow. Jer'rahd simply smiles after them until they were gone.
“What the heck was that about?” Bleu shouts finally.
“I've made my wife flinch first once or twice in a stare down.” Jer'rahd chuckles. “That pretender to one of her titles didn't have a chance.”
==================
[ New Canterlot. ]
“This is the best we have?” Peach Blossom sighed from where he hovered in the air looking around the room that ten ponies could fit in comfortably, currently it was packed with twice that number, a table, a number of supply crates and some building material.
“For the moment yes, Guard Captain. We will make due with the bare minimum until we are sure that all of Equestria's Citizens are cared for first.” Celestia states over the din in the room.
“We're not arguing the merits of that princess. But with as many petitioners and meetings we are going to need something bigger.” Starfall calls out from the other side of the room from atop one of the supply crates.
“We are only using this because the field we have been using is unsuitable to do in light of the storm.” Luna answers for her sister from half under the table.”We still do not have a proper weather factory and few of the ponies from Cloudsdale that survived have the knowledge of how to build one. With New Canterlot, the Griffon Nation, Harpy Nation, and Cloudsdale destroyed the plans to put a new one together are currently lost some where and need to be found again. A great many libraries were destroyed and we are only finding bits and pieces of the plans in private collections. It may be some time before we can fully put the weather back in our control.”
“Did Lady Dust agree to your plan Princess?” Minutte asked.
“Yes, she seemed quite surprised that we had the bits for it with the castle destroyed.” Luna commented. “Every one always seems surprised when they find out the Royal Vault isn't full of bits. Much safer to keep everything in high interest accounts at the First Royal Bank of Equestra. The wards on that place would likely stop even the CMC in their prime.”
“They did once when they tried to get their bank robbing cutiemarks.” Peach Blossom adds.
“Even so bits are not the problem, building materials and food are. The farmers were only really stopped a week, but given we have several cities worth of ponies without cities any one place for the refugees is strained.” Luna comments. “The bits paid for that ship will help the Griffons rebuild without making them think they are getting a handout, their pride remains intact.”
“Are our hunters back yet?” Celestia asked shifting to allow a scribe to move closer and offer her some papers to look over.
“Yes, not long ago. Jer'rahd has Dawn and Rynthia are all staying out at the farm. He's gotten calmer with this little quest chain of his, but you can nearly watch him melt when Dawn's near.” Luna chuckled.
“Elusive is with his guards at the Sparkle's old home. Thankfully no one had purchased after they moved out and we were able to get it for fairly cheap, given the damage from the explosion.” Celestia nods. “I expect Twilight is there if she's back.”
“Go join her Tia, it is time for my shift and getting you and your Guards out of here might give me room to breath.” Luna sighed.
“Was that a fat joke?” Celestia frowned.
“JUST GO!” Luna shouts exasperated.
========================================================
[ Zebralands ]
Twilight stunned another zebra thrall, shoving the mare to the side as she fell. The ground rumbled as the titans clashed in the cities center. Bleu and Yearling were nearby her, the pair having their own gathering of thralls to deal with.
The hunting party had come to Asclipius, capitol of the Zebra lands for over a thousand years. They hadn't been in the sprawling city long before they were 'captured' by a sizable group of zebra's and brought before some sort of undead zebra that had been living in the necropolis below High Town, the part city under where the last warlord's strong hold had been.
In true villain fashion the creature had outlined it's plan in great detail gloating about it before the doomed interlopers.
The creature called itself Mummy- Ra and had been free since Tirek had been sealed. Since then it had been gathering mindless thrall slaves from the local area and had been making it's presence felt across the Zebra Kingdom. It's plan was to conquer everything before it's creator returned to the world so that it could destroy Grogar and take his rightful place as lord of the undead.
There was more to it of course, but Yearling could only write so fast while tied up and by that point the small group was busy taking down the thralls. By the time the mummy / lich / zebra thing noticed, it's throne room had been emptied, there were only a few of it's thralls left standing, and those had been the ones that ran.
In response it had of course started with several spells of death and doom which Twilight easily countered, while Bleu taunted it.
Either the countering or Bleu calling it a gumfa'tait was enough for it to rage and transform.
The smell of rot and death filled the air as the creature swelled, growing far to large for the cavern to contain it. Twilight teleported the five of them and all the thralls she could grab back to the surface just as the monster broke through the top of the plateau scattering Zebra's who had not yet been made into thralls and setting the remaining thralls after the small group.
Jer'rahd had wasted no time changing himself to the monstrous Beast, plowing into the creature and sending both of them tumbling off the top of the plateau and into the lower city below. Spike followed the warring pair blasting flame at the large undead whenever he could following the same tactic as when they went after Tirek's monsters. This thing was smarter, but The Beast was a much bigger threat than it had expected, so Spike was largely ignored.
Asclipius had grown massive in the thousand plus years since it's founding. The old warlords plateau strong hold had become much like New Canterlot, with those who could afford it living up top and the less influential and snobbish living below. The city was a marvel, stretching for what could be leagues in all directions. Far in the distance the actual Palace/ Hospital of the First Queen sat surrounded by the old city on the spot where Velkorn's old camp had once been.
The Beast and the titanic bandage wrapped mummy were fighting on the other side of the plateau, where most of the more industrial and military structures were, it seemed Jer'rahd was making quite sure to keep the massive undead monster away from the the more populated side of the city. With the creature out in the open air it vaguely resembled a giant scorpion with the head of a zebra and a large tail with multiple stingers rather than one. Four giant claws and six lesser ones dominated it's front, and the whole thing oozed a glowing green icor that seeped between the massive rotting bandages that some how still covered it's form.
Soon the influx of thralls slowed before coming to a stop, some of them coming back to themselves in the middle of fighting and simply looking confused as to what was happening. The Zebra Royal Guard took this time to show up, although a few of them looked as if they had already been fighting among themselves, it was hard to tell who had been ensnared by this creature and who had not.
In the distance the pair of titanic fighters had managed to make it outside of the city limits. The creature was ablaze with flame and bits of it had already been ripped free of it's body by the claws of The Beast.
Twilight scanned the top of the caved in plateau that had swallowed most of the Upper City, before her horn flashed brightly and a gold encrusted box popped into the air before her. She wasted no time crushing the ornate box with her magic, the massive monster screaming in panic as it's phylactery was destroyed.
The zebra's around on the plateau stared in horror at the fight as Jer'rahd finally tore the titanic scorpion thing in half smashing the two parts together until there was little left but burning rags and dust. After a snort and a blast of it's own black fire The Beast lifted it's head and roared out it's triumph, the sound echoing across the Zebra Lands.
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[New Canterlot, Day Court, edge of The Garden, late Fall]
The field was closed off with high hedges and rings of Guards around all the access ponies. Paige's and scribes darted about the grassy field with documents and letters going to an from the day court. Celestia sat on a large, but comfortable chair on a small raised dais in the middle of the field, Agent Sweetie Drops was giving her the latest report while court was at recess for tea.
“So the Zebra leader claims most of his threats and words were not his own, but of a creature that held him and his council under their sway. This corresponds to the report given by Twilight Sparkle and Guard Captain Kaisur about their mission in the area. The Zebra Nation has now begun sending the supplies that were promised, however due to the damage done in the fight it will only be half the size that was promised and many of the workers that were to come have also been redirected.” Bon Bon reports, sipping from a tea cup.” This is rather good, peppermint?”
“It is you have no idea how hard it has been to find good tea lately. But yes that's fine, at least they are free now, anything they send will be of help. Winter has not even started yet and we are already seeing the strain of what Tirek managed to destroy. All of Equestria's surplus has already been sent to the Crystal Empire to resupply what we used and to Gallopagos........... now what?” Celestia looked up from her cup of tea at shouting coming from the front of the hedged in field as Prince Blue Blood forced his way past the Guards demanding to see his aunt.
The noble unicorn looked some what the worse for wear after trying to push past the Guards, in fact if Celestia had not nodded slightly for them to allow him to pass, it was not likely he would have managed more than a few more steps before he was struck down. The Guards were not in tolerant mood lately. Most had now kicked themselves up into heightened protection mode feeling that they failed to properly protect her from Tirek. Celestia didn't have the heart to tell them that no matter what Tirek would have beaten them.
Seeing Blueblood Celestia simply sighed into her tea, it had been quite a number of months since she had last seen him, and then his jaw had been wired shut. But such peace only lasted so long and he evidently had just had his wiring removed recently. She had made time for him... after tea, but he was as impatient as ever. Still he had a good bit of clout with his family and she could use that.
Blue Blood started airing his grievances, most of which seemed directed at both Luna, par for the course, and the unfit conditions he was dealing with. Thankfully she was distracted from his whining as Sweetie Drops gave her sealed letter she had in her robes, gesturing that the Princess should read it.
The letter was sealed with a wax stopper that bore Rhede Pelt's Cutie mark.
She glanced to the mare next to her. Sweetie Drops was sitting there calmly listening to Blueblood rant something about squatters on the corner of his land. Given the size of the land he claimed was his in New Canterlot, and other places, Celestia was amazed he had noticed. She looked back to the envelop opening it with her magic and started reading the letter, her eyes narrowing as she recognized Pelt's hoof writing.
“ …............Then out of no where the mare simple decked me, broke my jaw in three places and forced me to seek dental reconstructive surgery in the middle of a war, that clearly was not possible so I suffered with that pain for months.... and that damned Orange is still free simply because everyone is afraid of her father, justice must be served here auntie, that mare, no that whole lot of them need to be locked away for everyone's safety. Honestly who willingly becomes one of those bugs!?” Blueblood rants on. “ Are you even listening auntie?”
“SHUT UP! “ Celestia bellows, the command nearly stunning the white unicorn, as he nearly chokes on what he was saying.
Celestia slowly lowers the paper that had been in the envelope as she finished reading it, her eyes locked on Blue Blood, her mane flicking wildly with flame. She glances to Sweetie Drops. “Did Kaisur know about this?”
Sweetie Drops shrugs a little. “My note told me he was there at the start and knew the connection, but not what Pelt was doing. Pelt informed him to stay back, and he did, other wise I am quite sure we would still be picking pieces of Blue Blood off the castle lawn.”
“So be it. Get him here when he returns I'll have words with that ass.” Celesita growled standing up and glaring down at Blueblood, keeping him silent with her glare.”You are no longer allowed to consider yourself related to me. The BlueBlood line is of Avianna's decent, not mine. Something that you have shown far more often than I cared to admit, but it ends now. GUARDS!”
The troop of Royal Guards that Blue Blood had pushed past surge forward weapons at the ready, pointed at the white unicorn, a star metal rod pressed quickly to his horn as if daring him to cast something.
“What.. what is the meaning of this.” Blue Blood stammers.
“BlueBlood Blueblood......by the stars I always hated that name..” Celestia muttered the last. “Charges against you have been brought to my attention. Charges that are long over due for punishment, particularly in the light of current events. The Charges are as follows; One that you willingly did commit treason against Equestria by conspiring with her enemies, including and not limited to aiding and keeping them hidden from proper justice. Two, that the release of the raider group known as the Blood Hooves was planed and carried out by yourself along with a few others. Three, the murder of said other collaborators so as not to have any one left to implicate you after the end of the War of Gods.”
Blueblood stared up at the nearly burning mare trying to say something to his defense, but the words were not coming in the face of some one who seemed to be straining not to simply turn him to ash.
“In light of these current accusations I am adding more. Due to the fact nearly all of this started with a conflict with the aforementioned escaped Red Hooves. An incident which cost us Major Kaisur, a large number of our Guard, and set the stage for Tirek to rampage across Equss with the power he stole, power he would not have had access to had you not freed the Red Hooves. Thus causing the necessity of the mission where Kaisur was taken. I am placing the responsibility of what Tirek has done as well as the charges listed onto your head. While these additional charges may not hold up once the hearing begins in Equestria, other nations may very well take them to heart directly. At this moment all Blueblood holdings are seized by the crown to be utilized as is seen fit, all titles and ranking shall be held until such time as this court is settled. “ Celestia snorts then tilts her head thinking on something before smiling in a way that made Blueblood and several of the Guards very nervous.
“I believe the families tradition is that the head of the family is always the eldest male? Well then I believe I already have the new head of household in mind. Oh is he going to be pissed.” Celestia chuckled, her mane and tail ceasing their flickering of fire as the amusement strikes her. “ Inform Hospice Moskau that her retirement is postponed until after this hearing. Since these charges were performed in war time this will be a military matter and she is to hold this court with up most haste, we do not have the resources available for a drawn out hearing at this time. Take him away and make sure he's stripped of everything before you put him in solitary, I don't want him trying to kill himself or any one else to do that for him once word of these charges comes out. He is to have no contact with any one save a lawyer willing to take his case, now get him out of my sight.”
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[ Everfree Forest]
“Alright I will admit..... these are the most adorable threats to Equestria that I have ever seen.” Jer'rahd stated as he galloped through the forest with Twilight, as Yearling and the dragons soared over the top of the trees looking for a way to extract the pair.
“Where the heck is Fluttershy when I need her!!!???” Twilight screamed.
“Well she was supposed to meet us here some where. Hey, do you think this is Angel's tribe?” Jer'rahd ponders glancing back as a swarm of small white rabbits with big nasty, pointy teeth and claws hop after them.
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[ Sweet Apple Acres, Winter]
Applejack, Fluttershy carrying Wolf and Fox, and Big Mac strode off towards the edge of the farm, with a very rotund Rainbow Dash draped over the large stallions back.
Dash was not happy about it, but she could barely fly which made her even crankier. The group of them often joked that the foal would be as big as Big Mac when it was born. Dash had taken to being a very moody mare this late in the pregnancy and Mac was stretching himself thin trying to cater to her every whim.
Applejack and Fluttershy were rather surprised by the drastic swings in Dash's mood, though they concluded it must be a pegasus thing as Starfall was doing the same thing. Jer'rahd had protested that Luna had done nothing of the sort when she was pregnate with Dawn, though his observations were ignored simply due to Luna being an alicorn.
Currently the small group was on their way across the farm due to something odd going on.
The first snowfall of the year had begun. However the skies were clear and sunny, and the weather was warm. It was Rainbow Dash who had suggested something was screwing with the weather and had pointed out the general location of it before breaking into sobs at how pretty the snow was.
Setting out the small group followed Dash's directions to the grave yard at the edge of the farm. The snow there had accumulated a few apples deep, and the reason why was clearly apparent.
Gathered around Rhede and Velkorn's graves were nearly three score of Windigo.
The small group froze in place watching as the tall, gaunt, pale white creatures remained still, with all their heads bowed. Eventually they all slowly raised their heads and looked back to the small group before all but two of them galloped into the air.
The remaining pair approached the small group One of them was a tall lanky stallion, who towered over even Big Mac, the other was clearly younger, and was smaller than any of the others they had seen. The larger one had a stoic expression, though the smaller one oddly seemed, at least slightly, more friendly.
>”Greetings dweller's of the summer lands. I take this place is one you claim?”< The large Windigo asks.
“Eeeyup.” Big Mac comments looking relatively unphased by the question.
>”We apologize for our intrusion here, but we wished to pay our respects. The Zebra Queen was a ... friend ... to us.”<
“S'fine.“ Applejack comments. “Ain't gonna stop no one from paying their respects tah family. Specting snow soon any way, nothing left of that harvest that a bit of ice would hurt. Surprised yah didn't come sooner.”
>We do not do well in the heat of this place during your summer. Otherwise we would have made the trip here sooner, perhaps even in enough time, to aid you when you needed it.”< The Windigo actually looked apologetic as it glanced back to the graves.
>”These two do not have it.”< The smaller one commented in a lighter some what wispy feminine voice looking at the two zebra foals sitting in the bags at Fluttershy's sides. >”They are however cute. These are two of the Zebra Queen's offspring are they not?”<
“Um yes.. though her youngest is with Jer'rahd and Princess Luna.” Fluttershy stammers trying not to flinch from the Windigo Both Fox and Wolf seemed fascinated by the strange mare, following her every movement with eyes wide. Though Fox was also drooling heavily on Fluttershy's side.
>” The newborn is in the care of the Ruler of Ponies and the Widow Maker?!”< The larger Windigo took a step back in shock, though the smaller one did something very unexpected.
She laughed.
The sound was odd, reminding Applejack of cold wind blowing through the leafless trees of the orchard in the dead of winter. To Fluttershy it reminded her of the soft cry of a hunting bird in the far off distance. To Dash it was the sound a tornado made from the inside. To Mac the laugh reminded him of family he lost. The sound was not unpleasant, though it was a little unnerving to all of them.
>”I think perhaps father, that we worried for naught. If those two are the guardians of Meadow Dew, then there is nothing in this world that will be a threat to her.”< the younger Windigo states.
>”True.”<
“Scuse me, but what are ya'll talking about? What's going on with Rynthia?” Apple Jack demands.
>” That child is special. When they last visited our lands it was there that they... conceived their last offspring....< The larger Windigo looked a bit sheepish. > “The nature of our race and lands may have had some effect on the child.”<
“Some effect? Oh dear.” Fluttershy mutters.
>” Nothing harmful we expect.”< the smaller Windigo states. >” Though we expect she may share some of our traits. We would like to meet her at some point while she is still young to determine this, just in case. We must depart. Our presence here has likely caused more issue than we desired to these lands.”<
“Heywaitaminute.” Rainbow Dash states rather loudly getting a small wince from the others. “Why are you different from the others?”
The blue pony points at the smaller Windigo, her wings flapping wildly as she rose a little into the air with all the grace of a bumble bee. Applejack was about to cal her on being rude, though with Dash it was a lost cause, and she was slightly curious herself.
>” Because I am still young yet. The Zebra Queen aided in my delivery. I am the only pure blooded Windigo to have been born in thousands of years.”<
“Young? Velkorn was only free fer about eleven years. Did she deliver yah before she was sealed in stone?” Applejack asks. “Yer speaking with an air of some pony much older than a half score a years.
>”No, my birth was only six seasons ago. Windigo do not exactly have a foal hood, just a time when they are smaller. Having a connection to all the winds brings quite a lot of information, that we are also born knowing all our father and mother know adds to that effect........ you are giving me a odd look. Did I say something amiss?”<
“Nah, but I think yah might have just given us a reason why lil Rynthia is a might disconcerting.” Applejack responds.
“Eeeyup.” Big Mac responds as Rainbow Dash lands on his back again, processing everything.
>” Hmm perhaps our meeting with Meadow Dew and her guardians should happen sooner rather than later.”< the larger Windigo considers.
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[West coast of Equestria]
Twilight and Bleu slap their foreheads as both Spike and Yearling watch the trail of dust left by the rapidly retreating Jer'rahd with confused expressions.
“I'll go get him before he winds up back in New Canterlot under his bed or something.” Bleu sighs taking off from the ground. “Can you lot handle this thing?”
“I've got a few ideas, go grab him. I should have known he wouldn't be much use in this fight.” Twilight sighs. “Miss Yearling, I would advice against putting what just happened in your book, we don't need this sort of information becoming widely known or some one might try to take advantage of it and that will not end well for any one. If he can't get away from water, he'll freak out and try to fight it. You've seen what he can become and a out of control giant monster is not what we need. Ever.”
“Also it wasn't in the book.” Spike mutters mostly to himself as he looked out over the beach and up at the titanic elemental composed of so much sea water that it's insides were dark with the depth of it.
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[New Canterlot, Late Winter]
“So everything's official now?” Jer'rahd sighed looking up at the newest edition to The Garden, a one Blueblood Blueblood. ”By the stars that is a stupid name.”
“Indeed as the eldest male of the Bluebloods you are now in charge of the family and all it's practices. Welcome to nobility Jer'rahd.” Celestia grinned.
“Laugh it up wide load, all this means is not only do I get to be a thorn in your side, now I can do it during your court sessions too. All officially and crap.” Jer'rahd snorts. “Oddly this feels like some sort of insanely complicated, yet petty revenge for my mother, but ehh, I'll take it. Though I am changing the family name to Kaisur, after that hearing the name 'Blue Blood' is gonna leave a bad taste in every ones mouth for a long time. I still can't believe every single charge stuck......including the ones that were my mistake....”
“You never would to have gone out there if he hadn't released the bandits, and without your shields Tirek would have been killed in Gallopagos never having left Equestria to hurt any one else. It's a butterfly effect to be sure, but he did wrong and is a convenient scapegoat for everyone wanting to blame some one.” Twilight states glancing back at the saddlebag she carried that held a softly snoring Elusive. “I'm more concerned with why you agreed to the conditions of the adoption of Elusive that the Kirin gave us.”
“They need some one to keep things in check and after this last hunt we are done any way. I can easily keep tabs on all this noble business from there. Not sure why they wanted me to lead them until Elusive is of age however.” Jer'rahd ponders.
“Lion Heart often spoke highly of you. Also I made the suggestion personally.” Luna stated glancing back at the soft yawn from Dawn dozing in one of her saddle bags. She glances to Rynthia as well, the small zebra filly was still asleep in the bag on the other side. “It is small wonder they would not want some one with your skill dealing with the politics of running a country, I doubt your usual brash methods will be easily countered by those used to sweat talking everything the way they want. Also you are for all purposes a Kirin now any way.”
“Yeah, yeah. I suppose it gives me a reason to not be around when Pip and Scootaloo enter Guard training this summer. Means some one else is going to have to take over for the six sixty sixth however.”
“No it doesn't. Gallopagos, and by exstention the currently being constructed city of LionHeart are still quite close with Equestria. Given the number of outposts the Monster Hunters division has, putting it's HQ in Gallopagos would be no issue.”
“Actually I assure you there is a very big issue with that. I'll have to look at some of the maps , but some of the forests on the mainland shore that are part of Gallopagos would be more fitting for the HQ.”
“You are still afraid of the water aren't you?” Celestia sighs.
“Damn right.” Jer'rahd snorts.
“Even though that area is just supposed to be Luna's tears?” Twilight added making the dark alicorn wince.
“That makes it worse.” Jer'rahd mutters thinking of the last hunt listed in the book..
“I will admit now that perhaps a bit of that story was fabricated.” Luna muttered. “ I honestly didn't think any one would recall it after a time.”
“Ehh?” Twilight quips.
“She didn't sit in one spot and cry until there was a sea, she went to that spot and bucking cut loose in a blind impotent rage, she didn't cry a sea, she blew a hole in a mountain and let a formerly underground sea rush in. That's why the Hooper sea had no life in it for the longest time, not that her tears were too salty, it was full of sulfur.” Celestia explains. “She basically threw a massive tantrum and destroyed the landscape around her for leagues. Though I am sure there was a lot of crying involved too.”
“I don't want to hear it from you little miss 'I burn everything'.” Luna snorts.
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[Northern edge of Equestia, just south of the mountains bordering the frozen north. Start of Spring]
Jer'rahd, Twilight, Spike, Yearling, Bleu, and Glacier look down at the frozen circle in the dirt before them and the chunk of matter in the middle of it. A brief glance back showed what remained of the forest was little more than brightly colored gems laying on the ground that was stripped of life from the start of the river all the way down the mountain and nearly up to the next peak. The rest of Glacier's tribe flew over head, searching for anything left that might be causing this.
“This things been around much longer than when Luna fought it.” Twilight stated.
“If I cared enough I would have that mare woken up to ask where she found it to experiment on.” Jer'rahd snorts.
“She found it much the same way we did. A chunk of ice drifted south from the mountains and had a bit of the substance in it. When the ice melted it ran amuck until she caught it. “ Spike states reading from an old book he held.
“I though cold killed it, how did this bit ride the ice south?” Bleu asks.
“Sable lists a number of theories including that it was an egg frozen in place that broke free of a glacier. She never went to study the location with any effort.” Spike reads. “There could be a lot more of these further in the north trapped and waiting.”
“I'll have a team set up to go have a look come spring. If we find anything we'll be sure to let you all know. We don't need this happening again. If this took place in a more populated area..” Yearling looks back at the lack of any life behind her.
“These gems... makes me wonder if it hasn't covered Equss a few times in the past given how gems like these are found every where both near the surface and deep under ground.” Spike mutters. “It strips life of it's energy and leaves behind a crystal as waste for what ever it consumes. Size doesn't seem to matter much on what kind of gem is left.”
“So we've been eating this things poop? Yeah I'd rather not think about that.” Bleu snorts.
“Well this is the last bit of it any way.” Jer'rahd stares down at the blob of green wiggling in the middle of a ring of frost from one of Twilight's spells. He hadn't been able to be more than bait in this situation. The thing even ate his shields. “ Glacier, finish it.”
The Linorm nods exhaling a killing blast of ice on the remaining bit of Smooze.
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[New Canterlot]
Jer'rahd winced as he's slammed into the wall, Luna's furious features right before his, though the half dragon couldn't meet her eyes.
“How could you... This was JUST brought up again a few weeks ago. And then you all went and fought another SMOOZE!!? Without telling me!?!?” Luna shouts.” Did you even think about what I went through last time!?!?”
“You wouldn't have let us go if you knew.” Jer'rahd stammers as the wall behind him starts to splinter and crack from the pressure Luna was putting on him. Twilight, Spike, and Bleu stood on the other side of the room wincing. Celestia had been there to hear the report as well, though currently she was simply staring blankly at her sister.
“We stopped it and we may have found a source of them so we can stop another Smooze from every appearing again.” Spike adds in. “ That sort of information was worth the risk. Particularly since we already knew we would beat it.”
“That much is true I suppose.” Celestia added looking over the book. “Yearling has started work on this by now I expect?”
“She has.” Spike adds.
“Boss are you gonna be okay...?” Bleu comments looking at the two concerned.
“She's not going to complain I almost died and then kill me Bleu...” Jer'rahd mutters.” At least I don't think so.”
“ We are going to have a long talk Jer'rahd.... You are also not going out on another one of these hunts.” Luna grumbles finally letting him down.
“That was the plan anyway. We already knew this was going to be the last one. It's what the book said.” Twilight adds.
“ You should go easy on him sister. Thanks to this hunt of theirs Twilight, Spike Bleu and even Kaisur are considered heroes across Equss for what they have stopped.” Celestia explained. “It has made things considerably easier with some of our negotiations. Everyone knew we were stopping evil, but it was all viewed from a distance. Now that they have traveled the globe saving everyone directly and personal their fame has become much more pronounced.”
Luna looked to her sister then back at Jer'rahd. “So I take things went well in the end. I am still pissed at you. Still what is your opinion on this then Jer'rahd?” Luna mutters resting her forehead against his. “Is she ready?”
“Sudden change in topic, but I know you've read all the reports and heard from others. She's still green, but she's much better prepared for this than you were I'm sure. It's not like she hasn't already touched it as well.” Jer'rahd muttered back as the others in the room blink, not able to hear the low conversation.
“Fine.. though we will still have a talk later. You've spent the year with her, I don't wish to think you are trading me in for a younger model.”
“Pfft why would I trade for something worse. She likes your sister, clearly a horrid taste in partners, much like Orange.... still can't believe that she and Hunter... ugh....” Jer'rahd grumbles.”Ehh still better than Blue Blood I guess.”
“Hmm” Luna smiles and turned heading for the door. “Twilight would you come with me. I would have words with you.”
“Um alright....” Twilight stammered glancing to Jer'rahd as he pulls himself from the wall and then Celestia before she followed Luna.
Spike and Celestia both move to follow after, but a green panel shield forms over the door forcing the pair to stop to look to Jer'rahd.
“Let them go, this is a conversation only they need to have.” Jer'rahd sighs.
“What are you talking about Kaisur?” Celestia demands.“What's going on?”
“This little romp of ours had a secondary purpose. I've been finishing up Twilight's training and helping her learn how to take command of hectic situations. She's been doing quite well. Particularly in finding the difference between book learning and hooves on.”
“Training ? What sort of training, you already said she had finished all you could teach her with the sword?” Celestia asked, her eyes narrowing as several things click together. “ She isn't.......”
“She is... she's been wanting to for a while now and not only is Twilight the perfect candidate, the timing couldn't be better. They are already calling her loyalty into task given she's now the Queen of the Changelings as well as a Princess of Equestria. This will fix that issue.”
“No it won't, it will make things worse....” Celestia mutters.
“Seriously Celestia. You have two of the most tactically minded ponies planning out something for over a year now, something we had been considering long before that, ever since the War of the Gods. Plenty can go wrong, but we have plans for that too, and it's not like either of us are going to be going any where thanks to The Books.” Jer'rahd snarks. “Let's also not forget this ends one of your biggest concerns too, of course she still has to accept.”
Celestia opened her mouth to respond, though she shuts it again looking at the door.
“Well I'm still lost.” Bleu grumbles.
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[New Canterlot, Two days later, sunset. One year after the defeat of Tirek]
Jer'rahd leaned on the railing of the balcony, watching the sunset and playing with a steel bottle in his magic. New Canterlot had come a long way in a year. The castle was nearly rebuilt, though it was still a stone skeleton of it's former self and the roof was still missing in some places.
His ears perk as he looked back watching Celestia trot up to lean against the railing nearby.
“Almost time.” Jer'rahd muttered.
“It will be her first. She's going to recall this forever.” Celestia stated.
“I bet.”
“What's in the flask?” Celestia asks.
Jer'rahd brings the flask closer, the slosh of liquid inside heard. The metal flask looked as if it had seen better days, it was dinged and scratched, and the lid seemed crushed closed.
“Rhede gave me this the last time I saw him. Said it was a gift for celebrating the birth of my first foal. Some how it survived everything Troph did in my body, even though the saddlebag it was in was nearly destroyed. It's in bad shape, if I open it I'll have to drink it.”
“What is it?”
“The last bottle of Lord Talon's home brewed whiskey. This stuff is supposed to be potent enough that it can get gods drunk. Breezy confirmed there was nothing left of Talon's home after Tirek attacked , including the still he made. So the secret of making it is lost to time.”
“Surprised you haven't drunk it yet.”
“Missed sharing it for Dawn's birth, was gonna wait for a special occasion. I think this may count.” Jer'rahd stated gesturing to the six shot glasses placed on the railing near him.”One for each of us, plus Rhede and Velkorn as I promised.... There it goes.”
Celestia looked up watching the moon rise rather shakily into the sky. The silvery orb seemed reluctant to make it's way into the sky over the horizon, though soon it was rising rather smoothly over the distant mountains.
Celestia clapped her hooves lightly in applause and Jer'rahd smirked.
“Seems she got the hang of it quickly enough.”
“My Twilight was always a fast learner.” Celestia smiled.
The sound of hoof steps drew their attention back towards the empty room behind them as a pair of figures strode in from the courtyard.
“You did well for your first time, better than I did at least, and much better than Celestia's first attempt, she nearly drove it into the sun.”
The speaker was a mare about the same size as Jer'rahd with dark blue, almost purplish fur. Her mane and tail were a platinum blue coloration though the trailing edges of them seemed filled with gaps or holes. Her limbs were much the same, her legs having a few holes just around her hooves and her odd bat like wings were filled with same. She had a few chitinous black plates like armor covering her chest and back. To any one who didn't know her she would look like a pegasus, though with her ability to change forms she could be whatever she wished.
Queen Luna of the Changelings, Goddess of War, chuckled softly looking to her sister and her not quite husband yet, moving up beside him before looking back at the other mare entering the room.
The tall lavender mare moved slowly into the room. Her dark purple mane and tail, streaked with a strand of magenta, waved around her like a billowing nexus dotted with stars. A tall horn poked up from her head, and a pair of feathery wings twitched on her back as she moved closer to the balcony.
Princess Twilight Sparkle, Goddess of the Moon, and books, came to a stop next to Princess Celestia, only an apple or two shorter than the white mare now.
“Thank you, I didn't know it was that much of a effort to move the moon like that.” Twilight stammered looking down at the glasses on the railing.”What's this?”
“A toast of sorts.” Jer'rahd's magic shifts, popping the jammed cap off the top of the metal flask, tilting it and pouring the contents into the six glasses before them. The air around the glasses seemed to shimmer as the liquid was poured. “One for each of us, one for the provider of this fine beverage and his wife. I'd offer a glass to LionHeart and Rarity, but he didn't drink much and I doubt whiskey would be her thing.”
“I'll burn a nice red wine for them later.” Celestia states as Twilight nods picking up the shot glass flinching at the smell.
“Never understood why you burn a glass of alcohol for some one.” Twilight states.” Why not just pour it out?”
“Because burning the booze kills it and sends it on it's way to the after life where the dead reside and can enjoy it, dumping it out just wastes it.” Luna explained growing a horn and lifting the glass with her magic as Jer'rahd and Celestia lift theirs.
“To better times ahead, and the memory of those we lost.” Jer'rahd states somberly lifting his glass to the star filled night.
The others nod and do the same before they all quickly knock back the shot glasses downing the liquid.
Everyone but Celestia staggered from the shot, coughing and gagging for air. Jer'rahd was the first to recover as he slammed the glass down on the railing letting out a sharp exhalation of breath.
“By the stars.. that actually burns.... reminds me of the first time I tried a rain boom.”
“I can't feel my face.” Twilight stammered.” Am I supposed to not be able to feel my face?”
Luna remained silent, although she seemed to be struggling to keep her form as it was.
Celestia just shook her head and licked her lips. “ Amateurs.”
“Well since you're so tough sun butt, you light the drinks.” Jer'rahd snaps.
“Fine.” the Goddess of the Sun snorts her horn sparking and setting the haze over the two remaining glasses alight.
==========================================
Pip looked up from where he was sitting on a hill overlooking Sweet Apple Acres, a brilliant flash of blue flame igniting the sky over the distant castle.
“Wot was that?” he asked.
“Better question is, why are you looking over there when you should be paying attention to me?” another voice asks as a orange limb curled up around over his shoulders and a magenta maned pegasus pressed against his back leaning up to nibble his ear.
“Sorry Scootaloo.... thought I saw a bright flash of light was all.”
“Yeah yea... back to smooching....”
“So long as yah don't set me on fire this time too.” Pip chuckled, his ears perking as he swore he heard his ma's voice shouting about how 'even the stone work was burning'. He dismissed it turning back to something that was more important right now.