//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 // Story: Canterlot Wedding Aftermath Prt 1 // by Lugitorix //------------------------------// Regretfully a very short chapter, however, I cut out the original Authors Notes to put them on this site. This chapter is important in a few ways, and this whole first half of this story just generally is... fodder xD wait til chapter 8 and 9. --- In that dark place... The sound of an amused chuckle, flounced around the empty tunnels... when the light shown on it, it seemed to be an old... tomb. Or... perhaps a temple of sorts... who's location is beyond even a greater knowledge. As back in the most dreary of places... where only one shard of light could reach... but twas not pure, it was not clean, it was very pale. And it all shined directly into... that room. Again, the candle burned, being the very focal point of any real light... but it's presence was, as one would put it... very indifferent, as even it's old flame couldn't dispel one foot of the darkness. But then, the flame died, as though blown out temporarily, as the Colt himself had done so... yes, the one from earlier that day, “Satisfied?”, he asked. “I take it... she refused?”, the walls on the far side of the room, of old, pale cut stone, covered with both moss, and damp, dirt, and even grime. The eyes emerged, from the Colt's view, whatever they were attached to... was nearly two thirds as tall as Celestia herself. “Oh heck no, she conceived almost instantly... set the crown down right on that there fancy dinin room table uh hers.”, the younger, very broad Unicorn strolled around the small alter, eying the candle, his own eyes glowing a bit, but he was the only true visible being in the room. “And she did not take you seriously?...”, they asked, tilting in the air, they had a very dark, scarlet color this time... as they seemed to change regularly. “Ha... could ya even consider it a joke?”, the colt replied, leaning agaisnt the alter, “She had me thrown out the door before I could even finish.”, a smile shown across his face, “Though she did command one of her captains ta double the guard uh course... But save fer that...” “Solster... my boy, you've done very well... perhaps I should have sent you with the Changelings... might have been so much more of an... amusing success.”, they slowly floated towards him... the body they seemed to sillhuoette looked more like a cloud of shadows, than a real form... as they glided so smoothly through the air. Solster chuckled, sitting back agaisnt the cold stone... which warmed upon his very touch, “I'm flattered-” “But I still have my doubts...”, they turned away, approaching the wall, dismissing the Unicorn so easily. The Unicorn sat up, “Hey!”, his eyes narrowed, before he groaned, approaching from behind, and off to the side, “So... what exactly did ya have in mind after this?...”, his eyes fell lamely, almost dissapointed with this being. “Isn't it obvious?...”, they looked back at him... though now they RAISED from off the gorund, nearing many times his height, gazing down upon him with those... eyes. “Well no ya never actually told me beyond this mornin.”, the Colt looked aside, still unimpressed... he found it a bad idea to doubt, as the eyes came screeching down to him, growing in size, and ferocity, taking on size of a creature that probably could not even fit in this room. “DON'T Question MY sanity, BOY!”, they commanded, the voice very cackling, and dark, “For one so smart, ye should not have trouble assuming my next move!”, they turned aside, a harsh force smacking the unicorn upside the head. “Ah!”, he grit his teeth, his pale red mane began to steam, his eyes glaring, “...Nah...”, he calmed down soon, “Sorry... but I don't really know what ta expect from you.” They shrunk again, before falling into that of their OWN, unimpressed, and irritated gaze into the distance, “And I call you an apprentice...”, they seemed to shake, before they chuckled deeply... looking back to him, “Have you not... gazed into the fires?...” Solster stared back, before slouching almost with a sigh, “Yes...”, he grumbled, “I've taken a look once or twice?-” “And what did you see?...”, the entity asked with a very mundane voice, those eyes, were now low, and... tired. He raised his head once more, “I saw another festival.”, Solster replied. “That festival...”, they began, “Is the return of the newly wedded couple;... Shining Armor, and the Princess Cadenza... on as five years ago to the day of this... festival... Shining Armor had been inaugerated as Captain of the Royal guard.”, the eyes turned full round to face Solster, “That is where I shall make my true appearance.”, they announced. “So, lemme get this straight...”, the unicorn stepped forward, dare not entering the blackness of the entity... but he paced before it, “You want to enter Canterlot, just like Chrysalis... and this time purposely show yourself to Celestia?...”, he asked, cocking a brow. “That is correct... my boy.” “...Old man, yer startin ta scare me inta thinkin workin fer you is a baaad idea.”, he slouched against the wall. But they merely chuckled, even closing, stirring back and forth, “Dear child...”, they began, “You fail to understand the magnitude of what power I can tamper with.”, they reopened, glaring his way, though... with a tauntish, very knowledgeable gaze. But they mellowed rather boredly, looking aside, “You shall see... very soon...”, they seemed to clear their... throat? “Did you bring the girl?...” Solster raised his head, “Who?-oh...”, he looked away, “Yeah...”, he seemed rather tired from his travels, figuring he may rest for a while, even in such an unpleasant environment, “She said she would arrive in the mornin...” The eyes turned around, to look upon him, “...Good.”, they darkened rather quickly, dimming until they were barely visible, “... You did, tell her of the consequences, correct?...” The unicorn turned over onto his stomach, gazing into the blackness, “Yes.”, Solster Fire replied, his long, sharp ears falling, “She said she didn't care fer the cost... only that she got what she wanted... She said she'd do anythin ta see it through...” They fiercely widened a little, before narrowing again, “Good...”, they began to nod, “Very good...”, in a short manner of silence, the room grew... colder, “Now... leave me...”, they turned away again, floating to the darkest part of the underground... The unicorn sat up, “Heh... thought you'd never ask...”, he rubbed his eyes, before standing... but before he left, he halted, and looked to the blackness, “You wouldn't know anything about... attraction... would ya?”, he asked. The eyes, before they vanished, halting very... abruptly, before looking back, “... Why do you ask... Solster.” The unicorn's ears fell, his mane falling more limply, “Just... wonderin-” “Enough to know that it can escalate into something far greater...”, they looked into the darkness that was it's refuge, “Something that can destroy you...”, with a very slow... blink, “Or in my case...”, they narrowed, “Feed you.”, a low, despicable huff escaped the throat, something very short of a chuckle, or laugh. they had been amused just now... and Solster knew it. “...Right.”, he turned away, readying to leave this place before it left him alone to face the... other dark. But before he could make for the passageway... “Solster Fire...”, came that voice, “Don't let it consume you.”, it echoed... That got him to leave in all the more haste... escape to the far more welcoming darkness the night time wilderness had to offer... where in the world they were exactly?... one would not know. But it did not matter... Not now... Not ever...