"Summer Dream," Nightshade confirmed quietly. "She's down there. Standing with the monsters. I put her there. I loved her, and I trapped her here." *************************************************************************************** "I suppose it could be thought of like that," Black Flag mused. "It was my body, twisted as it was, but I was not in control."
"You gotta go talk to her," Asmo said bluntly. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "I-I dunno what to say," Maya admitted. "Spent my whole life thinking you never changed..." "I don't blame you if you still hate me," the unicorn said quietly. "I know why you are here, darling. So much for me to say, and I've been gifted so little time. Belial. A wide crevice, south of Necropolis, leads straight into your friend Asmodeus' homeland. The fumes in the crack can melt skin from bone, but if this ship of yours could survive the flames above, it can handle the gas below." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Barely," Raven replied. "Don't think you were born made of ice. Unless you were. In that case, sorry for being racist. Or icist."
Selena: I don't know. I've never met any entity or being like that. I suppose I'll find out when I die, if I even can die. I've survived a lot... Including a collision with a meteorite fragment...one of the worst days of my life, let alone weeks. Spent three weeks in a hospital afterwards. Can't remember anything about the three weeks. I only know it was that long because the nurse told me. I don't even think it was a direct hit from the fragment.
"And say what, exactly?!" Nightshade snapped, "'Sorry I killed you, I thought you were a changeling?'" *********************************************************************************** Flag chuckled. "Nothing so interesting as all that. I was a simple flesh and blood unicorn."
"Quit being a puss," Asmo hissed back. "We're gonna be here a minute, and nopony wants you cowering up on the ship because you can't work up the guts to even look at her! Figure it the buck out! You called Az a wuss for feeling down after a loss, but you can't even go talk to somepony? Get real!" Azrael nodded slowly. "...What he said." ~~~~~~~~~~ "Hey, so something ate your heart after you died," Raven said, making chatter. "You're not gonna need that to move on, right?" ~~~~~~~~~~~ Maya continued chatting with this unicorn for a few minutes. Afterwards, the two of them started to make their way slowly back to the ship. ~~~~~~~~~~~ "Any idea who this unicorn is?" Navaja asked, peeking out.
Selena: Nope. (Walking onto the deck, to see everything better.) Rep: Well, all you would need to do to contact me is, well...hmm. If you can generate a subspace pulse, attach my name to it, and send it at a frequency level of Omicron, towards galactic coordinates, 4591, 3413. I'll be listening, and if I see my name pop up in the subspace log, we'll intercept the signal. We'll be putting a ship between the subspace relay located in that direction, and Equus, so we will act as a basic relay booster, receiving and logging signals, before continuing the transmission. At most we will see the Log Tag, of origin and intended destination, along with a general tag of who sent it, organized by Organization.
Nightshade snarled, her wingtips glowing faintly. "You don't... ugh. FINE." She dove over the side, landing hard on all four hooves, and trotted towards Summer, who by this point had seen her. A large crowd of defeated foes gathered to block her path, but quickly stepped aside as the leader was tossed aside like a rag doll. A few moments later, Nightshade stood in front of her old marefriend, who stared at her wordlessly. Finally, Summer stepped forward. She looked Nightshade up and down, then smacked her upside the head with a *thwack* that could be heard back on the ship. As Nightshade reeled from the shock of the blow, Summer grinned and pulled her into a hug. "You deserved that. And I've missed you." ********************************************************************************* Flag shrugged. "Everything seems to be where it should be, so I suspect it should not matter."
"Hey, heard anything about that Belial?" Raven asked casually. By this time, Maya had escorted one Clover Heartstrings up onto the deck, albeit somewhat reluctantly. A chance to prove herself a changed mare. The unicorn calmly said, "I've been sheltering the reptilian ones who come to Necropolis, fleeing that monster. I have a fair amount of information. If you need it." Raven stared at the unicorn mare in surprise. "Maya. Is this..." "Long-lost sister," Asmo cut in. "Gotta be." "She must be," Azrael agreed. "The resemblance is uncanny." ~~~~~~~~~~ A tall, blue bat pony with jet black dreadlocks could be seen among the Necropolis crowd. Curiously, she intently studied the ship from a distance, specifically focusing on Raven.
"I was upset at first," Summer explained to Nightshade after breaking the hug. "But when a bunch of changeling showed up right after I did, I realized what happened." She shrugged. "Such is the way of Chaos." Nightshade sighed. "For what it's worth, I have never been more sorry about anything in my entire life. If I'd have thought, even for a fraction of a second, that it was the real you... dammit." She stomped the ground angrily. "And now you're stuck down here. This place... this... purgatory. And it's my fault." She glanced at the palace. Within lay Anubis. The Balance. The Gate. "I need to make this right." ******************************************* Blackout stared out at the faces in the crowd. He'd put more than a few of them there. But there was one that seemed familiar for a different reason. He'd met her only once, when she'd walked in on a sparring session to talk to Silver, but that mane was unmistakable. "Serana..."
"Guys... This is is my-" Maya was interrupted when Serana invited herself up the ramp with unnatural quickness. Raven took a startled step back, eyes growing wide with shock. "Mom?!" Maya tilted her head slightly, studying her. "Serana?" "How you doin' baby?" Serana moved quite literally faster than one could blink, trapping Raven in a hug. Breaking it after several seconds, she gave Clover a quick pat on the shoulder. "Y'got here first, old momma, I must be slackin'." "I-I'm doing really good," Raven answered, confused as to what would actually be appropriate to say. "She hasn't moved on," Azrael said under his breath. Asmo sighed. "Yeah, Az, obviously." "Maya, honey," Serana said, growing more serious as she continued speaking. "You're a smart old girl, damn near indestructible, too. Blackout, I know you came straight down from Black Flag here. Selena, I've uhh... heard of you, gotta be strong like ya' grandpa. Got the legendary Azrael, too, and that hybrid all the lizards keep talkin' about. You' all strong, and got reasons to keep my daughter safe. So would anypony like to explain to me why the hell y'all flew my baby through a volcano into the underworld?" "Let this run its course," Clover warned quietly. "Do not sass back."
"Because the bastard that killed you is still around," Nightshade replied, climbing up with the ladder with Summer right behind her. "And he's managed to steal the power of a god." She turned around to help Summer aboard, then continued. "Your... baby... is coming to help us kill him."
"Nightshade!" Serana lit up, trotting over to give her a hug. "You grew up a hell of a lot, kid. Heard from a lotta dead fools you're with Raven now, baby, that's cool, ain't nopony gonna mess with her with yo' crazy ass around. And uhh, whaddya mean he's back? I saw him go to Tartarus. Long sentence, too." "This is too much to take in at once," Raven hissed quietly, siting down on the floor where she stood.
Selena: (Shocked that someone down here knew her) Wow...word does indeed travel. (shivers) *Selena was sensitive to something that most weren't, Energy. She had been since birth, and it only grew stronger until she reached general maturity. At first, growing up in her family, she'd always feel a buzzing around her biological grandparents, less so around her parents. When she was young, just being around any power plants larger than a small solar array, or small group of water mills, would be so overwhelming for her that her parents had to move away from cities to the countryside. It is due to this that she knew that Rep was traveling through a quantum link, finding out that detail after the fact, and why she shivered when it happened. She could sense her families' energy traces, explaining how she felt Rep's traveling, even from so far away, and other energy sources that were of a high enough caliber to override her training that she went through after being overwhelmed by any of her family heirlooms, and finding out what her ancestors did and wanted to help. As she trained and grew older she gained a tolerance for Energy, and can now withstand most sources. But every so often...*
"I'm sure you heard about Apophis," Nightshade said, sitting beside Raven and wrapping a comforting wing around her. Summer arched an eyebrow at the display of affection, but said nothing. "We needed all the help we could get. Belial, if nothing else, was strong. So he was revived. And we lost control of him. And then he managed to fuse with a piece of Apophis' soul. Barely a fraction of a percent, but that snake was just so damn strong. We don't know much, but we know he has followers in Tartarus, and he's getting stronger. Worst case scenario, Apophis' soul might be regenerating... with Belial in control."
"So we kill him," Clover said plainly. "Apologies, but I must prevent a cliche question. I did indeed say we. Sheltering the reptiles, I've learned how their monster captor behaves, straight from the victims themselves. I can also help you navigate. Whatever sensors your ship has will be disrupted by the environment." "Makes no sense," said Serana. "Necromancer boy here shoulda purged his soul from existence itself. Why the buck wasn't that done, Azrael?" "I was distracted by Discord," Az replied. "Is that Summer?" Raven asked Nightshade under her breath.
Nightshade nodded. "Yeah. That's her." ******************************************* Blackout looked his ancestor over. The dead unicorn looked very much like him, only slimmer. Flag's horn was longer, with curve that simultaneously graceful and menacing, like an ornate scimitar. "So... you're the first. The original Black. Are you...?" Flag nodded. "A blood mage, yes. As was my son, and his daughter, and her children, all the way on down to you. As will your own children be."
"Is this gonna turn into a messed up love triangle, babe?" "You're her mother," Azrael said aloud, studying Clover more deeply. "That Clover. Clover Heartstrings." Clover nodded. "Tis I, I'm afraid." "What?!" Asmo growled, stomping closer to Clover, his nose almost making contact with hers. "What you did to her, tell me why I shouldn't bite your throat open!" "Because I would just respawn," the old unicorn answered calmly and gently. "I have changed. At least, I've tried my best. I only want a chance to help you all now." "Asmo..." Maya gently nudged the hybrid back a few steps. "I trust her. Give her a chance, big guy. We can deal with her if she's lying. Please?"
"No," Nightshade replied, "It will not." She sighed. "I'm... there's something I have to do. And I'm not going to tell you what it is, because I think you'd try to stop me." She glanced at the palace again. It had been her plan from the very beginning to use the gate, but not quite like this. She'd loved Summer. Still did. And Summer didn't deserve to be trapped here. She was a good pony. She deserved Paradise. There was only one way for Nightshade to fix the biggest mistake she'd ever made. She had to go to Anubis and face judgement.
