Chapter 63: Everfree

Everfree Forest was probably the place least affected by the absence of the two Princesses, if any place could be said to be least affected. The entire forest, which covered more than a hundred thousand strides in every direction from where Theory Point was now, had been abandoned by ponies ever since the legendary battle between Celestia and Nightmare Moon had destroyed it more than a thousand years ago. Of course, the forest had long since recovered, and now the only evidence that the epic battle had ever occurred here were the ruins of the Ancient Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters. But the ponies had never returned to the forest or resumed control of the weather here. Now, the forest was ruled by creatures out of nightmares. Manticores with their deadly, stinging, tails, three headed hydras that lurked in the swamps, packs of marauding timber wolves, and the feared cockatrice, whose gaze could turn you to stone. But despite the wildness of this place, even here, the Sun and Moon did not rise or set without the command of the Princesses.

Theory Point shivered as a cold blast of wind hit her, icy drops launching out of the trees and penetrating deep into her fur like thousands of stinging, frozen darts. The gust got under her cloak, ripping part of it off of her and causing it to flap madly in the wind like a flag being assaulted by a hurricane. She used a little bit of magic to pull it tightly around herself and re-knot the ties that held it in place. Being occupied with her cloak, she failed to notice the tangled, fallen limb just barely sticking out of the ground in front of her. Her left front hoof caught it, and for at least the third time since entering the forest, she found herself pitched forward, her chest, neck, and muzzle digging deep into the snow as both her front legs went out from under her.

Cursing, she picked herself up again. The cloak she had just finished tying was now full of snow, and felt like frostbite against her fur. Again, she used magic to untie the cloak, unwrap it from herself, and shake the snow out of it. As if the weather had some foul, sinister mind of its own, another arctic blast, even stronger than the first one, slammed into her unprotected fur and also threatened to rip the cloak away from her magical grasp. Her magic won out, though, and after shaking the snow off of herself, she rewrapped the cloak around her and tied it again. She wished she were somewhere else right now. Anywhere else. Everfree Forest was dangerous enough no matter when you went tromping through it. At night in the middle of winter, it was downright deadly. But at least she had no fear of being spotted anymore. No pony in their right mind would be out here right now. The question of whether she was in her right mind herself was something that certainly hadn’t escaped her attention.

She cast a light spell now, illuminating the area in front of her for about two or three hundred strides, like the beam of a powerful spotlight piercing the dark. She was no longer worried about the light attracting unwanted attention. Out here, it was more likely the light would frighten away such attention. For a moment, all she saw was the black silhouette of trees as she scanned the area in front of her. She passed over an area, but then quickly returned her attention to it. Broken spires jutted up into the sky like the crooked fangs of some giant dragon laying dead on the ground with its gaping mouth exposed to the air. That was her destination. The ancient castle of the Royal Pony Sisters. Part of her wanted to hurry closer, anticipating the warm fire that would await her inside. The other part of her wanted to delay as much as possible, dreading the process of facing The Council (as the group was calling themselves), and informing them that she had been discovered. She thought the name of the group was intentionally chosen to mock the Royal Council of the Princesses.

Eventually, she came to the bridge over the now frozen moat and made her way across it quickly. As she crossed it, she noted hoofprints, and the prints of gryphon paws in the snow. She shook her head in bewilderment. The Council should have abandoned the ruined castle as their base of operations as soon as the first snowfall had come, she thought. Those tracks would be like putting out a red flag for any passing Royal Guard patrols to see. After all, no pony would venture out to the castle in this kind of weather unless they had something to hide, or were trying to hide themselves from someone. But the Council had thought that no Royal Guard patrols would be coming here anytime soon. They had bigger problems to worry about than patrolling a forest that nopony would be in, the Council had said Theory Point wasn’t so sure. The very fact that ponies rarely came to Everfree Forest made it a popular hideout for thieves and other wanted folk. And besides, they already knew that the Royal Sisters had been suspicious more than a year ago that something was going on in the ancient castle. Luna had even secretly come out to investigate, although she had found nothing. At that time, the Council had only been using it as a sporadic meeting place, and keeping one spy there on a rotating basis to watch for any other activity. Several months and passed, and neither Luna, nor any other pony, had returned after that one incident, and so the Council thought the Royal Sisters had become satisfied there was nothing of interest going on in the old ruins. It was then that they had decided to use the ruins as a permanent base of operations.

After crossing the bridge, she stepped into the ruined courtyard and made her way to the main door. She let the light on her horn go out, and with a great deal of effort, she forced the large door open, then closed it after stepping inside. It closed with an ominously loud boom that echoed off the vast, empty corridors and arches of the ruined entry way. No torches were lit and she found herself in complete darkness. Again, she used a small amount of magic to light her horn, providing about the same level of light as a lantern. She walked towards a ruined corridor that lead off to the left, proceeding down it until she found the set of stairs that lead downward. She followed the stairs being very careful since some of them were broken, and it was a long fall if one were to fall through a broken step. Eventually, she reached the bottom, coming out in a ruined, long hallway that gave the illusion of going on forever in the darkness. She started down it, her own hoofsteps echoing alarmingly loud in her ears. She doubted the structural integrity of the walls and ceiling around her. She hated coming here. Everytime she did, she wondered if the ceiling would collapse and bury her alive. The way things were going, perhaps it would be best if the ceiling did collapse and take out the entire Council in one blow, she thought to herself. Not that it would do any good at this point. The Council had already unleashed their doomsday plan when they ordered the go on the operations to capture Celestia and Luna. Destroying the Council now would be too little, too late.

Eventually, after navigating a maze of several twisting, turning corridors, she came to a large, iron door that blocked any further progress. The door was guarded by four guards dressed in dark cloaks. One was a unicorn, another an earth pony, and the other two were gryphons. None of them said anything to her, but the two gryphons turned to open the door for her. Flickering light pierced through the crack as the door began to swing inward. She stepped in, and the warmth of the room hit her like a blast furnace compared to what she had been enduring outside. The two gryphons closed the iron door with another loud boom.

The room she was in now was sparsely furnished, with only a high stone fireplace set into one wall, a large, rectangular table in the center of the room, and several flickering torches on the walls. At one time, those walls had been covered with richly woven tapestries. But time, fabric eating insects, and souvenir and treasure hunters had long since left the walls bare. Now, they were just dark gray stone. There were stone sitting blocks set around the table. Some were occupied by ponies, others by gryphons. She also noted the presence of a couple of changelings. The changelings, she’d never seen before, and assumed they must have been in disguise the other times she’d appeared before The Council. At the head of the table, directly across from her, sat a white unicorn mare with a coat almost as white as Celestia’s. But her mane and tail were a deep blue with white stars in them. But unlike the stars in Luna’s mane and tail, this unicorn’s stars had a dead quality to them, like dimly glowing remnants of stars that had long ago exhausted their fuel supply. It was hard not to look at those dim, dead stars and wonder if they weren’t a prophetic sign of the role this strange unicorn had played in putting Equestria into its current, frozen state. Her eyes were a deep crimson red, and looking at them was at the same time like looking into deep pools of blood, and looking into nothing at all. It was easy to get lost in those eyes, and very dangerous to do so. Her horn had taken on a crooked appearance, so that it looked like a chipped, deformed giant fang growing out of her forehead. The unicorn hadn’t looked anything like this when Theory Point had first met her. At that time, she had looked young, exuberant, and compassionate. Her mane and tail had been a lighter sky blue color, and her eyes had been sea green. She had also been very charismatic at the time, able to win over almost anyone who spoke to her, pony or otherwise. It all must have been a clever illusion spell, Theory Point thought now. Years of practicing dark magic is what had given her her present appearance, she assumed. One thing had not changed, though: Those eyes. Those eyes could still draw someone in. As if they could make you agree with her without even realizing how she had convinced you to agree with her. Those eyes, sea green or blood red, had always been dangerous. She didn’t know what the unicorn’s name was, and she didn’t think anyone else did either. She only knew that despite her crooked horn, she was not a changeling. between the show white coat, and the blue mane and tail with the strange stars, she almost resembled some kind of demented and twisted combination of the two Royal Sisters. But as far as she knew, the unicorn had no relation to the Royal Family at all.

“Why have you come to The Council before your appointed time, Theory Point?” the unicorn spoke in an emotionless voice that made her shiver slightly. If death itself had a voice, she thought that’s what it must sound like.

“I was discovered. The human knows I’m involved,” she responded, deciding it was best not to beat around the bush.

“And why is the human still alive? So that he can rush off to the Regent and tell her everything he knows?” the other asked. There was no emotion at all in the voice. No anger, no malice. Nothing. It was even more unnerving than if the voice had been laced with rage. This was the voice of someone who had no emotion, no empathy. no feeling at all. Someone who was cold, calculating, and made every decision based purely on objective outcome.

“He doesn’t know anything other than the fact that I’m involved. I told him nothing else. The human is still valuable to us. Perhaps even more valuable to us now that he knows what we were actually trying to do. Soon enough he will realize that the only way to save Equestria is by helping us complete the star project.”

The white unicorn shook her head, her dark blue mane flowing over her neck like a frigid waterfall sick and dying stars. “That’s not what this council believes. This council believes that your … heart is no longer in this cause. That you are no longer dedicated to it. Indeed, we believe your heart may be somewhere else and that you may have become infatuated with the human.”

The warmth of the room disappeared as suddenly as if she had been cast back out into the cold. An icy chill of fear took hold of her. She was tempted to turn and run, but she knew she wouldn’t even make it as far as the closed door, much less have time to open it before they were on her. Attempting to use magic or teleport out of the room was also out of the question. The unicorn across the table from her was far more powerful than she was, and would be able to block her magic before she ever had a chance to cast.

“That … that’s not true,” she stammered in response, failing to keep the fear out of her voice.

“Is it not? Word has reached this Council of your, shall we say, extra-curricular activities with the human. Your frequent visits to nightclubs. The date you went on with him.”

A surge of fear shot through Theory Point at those words. They had been spying on her? Calm down. You don’t have anything to hide, she told herself.

“Our relationship was purely professional. We talked of work related topics And I was trying to earn his trust. Not his friendship,” she responded, trying to keep a note of fear out of her voice. She didn’t think she had succeeded.

“Really, now ...” The unicorn across the table responded, her expression not changing at all, her entire figure unmoving, and her gaze fixed solidly across the table. “I wonder, Theory Point … Are you familiar with Star Swirl’s prophecy of the Two Who are One?”

“I’ve read it. The part of it that survived anyway.”

“We believe he is one-half of the two who are one. They who will cause all of the stars in the universe to be consumed. They who will bring about the end of the third age. They who will set the heavens ablaze and destroy the horizon. He is one-half of the doom of Equestria.”

“We can’t say that with any certainty,” Theory Point responded a bit more confidently, finding some source of courage within her, although she knew not its source. She even managed to look the other unicorn directly in the eyes. “It’s apocalyptic writing. It should not be taken literally. And besides, the prophecy is incomplete. Only a small fragment of it survives. It’s dangerous conjecture to make a conclusion like that about it.”

“Is it? We believe Luna saw the truth in it, which is why she was so hostile and distrustful of him. Her sister didn’t see it, soft-hearted fool that she is. And Luna never spoke of the prophecy with her sister.”

“Then what of us? The prophecy also stated that the Sun shall swallow the Sun and the Moon shall swallow the Moon. I warned you that even with the human unwittingly helping us, the star project would not be ready in time. But against my advice, you decided to carry out the operation prematurely anyway. Because of that, we are responsible for the fact that the Sun and Moon are not rising. Maybe we fulfilled part of the prophecy ourselves?”

“It is the opinion of this Council that Luna saw the doom of Equestria in the human, and that he is one-half of the prophecy. We don’t yet know who the other half is,” the white unicorn reiterated. It wasn’t lost on Theory Point that the white unicorn had skirted around her question instead of addressing it.

“If Luna did believe that, she changed her mind. Luna is very close with the human now. And if she never spoke of the prophecy with her sister, it’s because she herself understood that it was dangerous conjecture, and chose to keep her fears to herself.”

“Defending one of the Princesses now are you, Theory Point? One could hardly be blamed if we were to mistake you for a … loyalist.”

The implication was clear. The courage she had found evaporated instantly, like a single drop of water placed on a red-hot coal. Immediately, she broke off eye contact with the white unicorn and shifted her gaze towards the stone floor.

“That … that’s not true. I still believe in deposing the Princesses,” she stammered, unable to keep the fear out of her voice now.

“Then understand this, Theory Point. Our enemies are cunning. Luna has become close to the human because she was ultimately deceived and taken in by him. Just as her sister was right away. And just as you have now become. That both Princesses were so easily deceived by him, even though it took Luna longer to fall victim to his deception, is all the more reason to judge them unfit to rule.”

“I’ve not been taken in. I’m still loyal to and dedicated to the cause,” she responded, feeling her fur starting to become damp with sweat. The warmth of the fireplace was now completely overwhelmed by the chill of fear as she began to seriously doubt that she was going to get out of this room alive. Her glance wandered momentarily to the gryphons and their razor sharp claws and beaks, but then returned to the white unicorn across the table from her. Of course, she wouldn’t need the gryphons to do the deed for her. There was no telling what she could do with her dark magic.

I’m still dedicated,” she emphasized again.

“Are you …” the white unicorn responded, looking her over with a piercing gaze. Her eyes held no more emotion than her voice. Those deep red pools of blood that descended to uncharted depths, holding mysteries and dark secrets no pony could fathom. Looking into them was like looking into nothingness. Perhaps like looking into the Beyond itself. Theory Point shuddered again, knowing the other unicorn was trying to read her, and having no idea what she was capable of doing.

“Are you indeed,” The white unicorn said again. “You created this mess. You will clean it up. Kill the human, Theory Point. I don't care how you do it. Hire someone else to do it for all I care. But make sure it gets done. I expect to see you again before this council in five days time reporting that it has been done. But do not dare to return unless it actually has been. Kill the human.”

“It … It will be done,” she responded. Then, she took a couple of steps backward, turned and walked towards the door. The two guards on the inside opened it for her, and she stepped through.The door closed behind her, echoing as the sound of doom itself. She walked slowly down the hallway, her heart pounding in her chest. When she was sure the four guards could no longer see her, she broke into a run, making her way for the stairs at a gallop. She didn’t slow down when reaching the stairs, heedless of the danger of tripping, heedless even of the danger of falling to her death through one of the broken stairs. Only one thing was on her mind now: Placing as much distance between her and that emotionless voice as she possibly could ...