Arrows walked out of the prison. He was happy that Pain was in custody, but still a bit worried for some reason.
Dark walked out of the prison alongside Snow and her family, "So who has been life?" she asked. "I'm still haunted by what happened on that day, but I just put a smile on my face and push through." Snow said, "Midnight here was lucky enough to be too young to remember the event and Winter wasn't even there." Dark nodded, "Of course. Now how about we go grab some lunch?" the others instantly agreed in order to take their minds off the darker parts of their lives.
Karl looked at the two guards protecting the gate. "I wan't you to guard this door with your life. The only one to come in is me and a fox named Tyro, ya hear!?" The guards stomped the spears in the ground and replied, "Sir, yes sir!" Karl walked inside and looked at the big hallways he had acquired. "Now to get this place fixed up." He said, gettig ready to make preparations for him to open a gate to The Rift, the one place where one could meet The Clockmaker.
Entering the new palace was difficult. It was something he hadn't imagined he'd have to do for years. He was in royal employ, if somewhat unofficially in his fiegned status of post-mortem. It was interesting that the armour, despite being quite light and having quite a bit of space between some of the plates was able to help him survive an explosion that destroyed the first Canterlot. It was barely dented with all the rubble he was pelted with. Surely he would have been crushed under one of the larger rocks? He trots behind the backs of two more guards, slinking behind a raised flowerbed as they trotted away. He then moves into the castle grounds properly, looking around partly for guards and partly for Karl. He makes no sound on the finely cut grass lawn, birds chirping overhead while he leaps over lines of flowers. His ears twitch and pivot to keep alert for possible guards. Karl should have said something about where he'd be meeting him...It would make this a whole lot easier. The new castle doesn't have the same ways in as the last one.
Karl looks around the newly decorated room. He had built a big iron gate for the gate to open in, with a terminal to stabilize it with. He had drawn markings all over the room, giving it a taboo effect, with four mediocre big spots. This wasn't only for decorations though, this would help him localize Tyro. He uttered the words "Jera Cinza Älaud." And souls began flying all over the place, vanishing into the four spots, making them glow. "Nizer Kesan Lorveta." He uttered, and his eyes perked up. He sensed the fox. "In the garden. Tyro, i'm at the hallway, take a left. Look for two guards guardking a golden door. Ask them to come in, when they ask you your name, answer Tyro." He said, sending out a telepathic message to his furry friend. It was soon time to open the gate. And the result might come to change Karl completely.
On his way back home Dark Shine flew down into the forest and picked several yellow flowers. They were Buttercups. Wow... My sisters must be gutted... They lost a triplet... Now they are just twins. He then flew to Canterlot and went to the guardens. There, he placed down the flowers and lowered his head. Dark Shine stayed there and then thought of something. Why was Pain so calm... He is under control... Right?
Let's try once more, Snow thought, as her and her family sat at a table in a Canterlot diner, owned by Mark Co like virtually every other restrauant in Canterlot. She concentrated again, she was trying to see if she could set up a massive mental link like with her and Dark with the other Elements. Ever since Snow had learned of how the Elements of the Ancients were made, and what form of magic formed them, she has been trying this. She has been slowly chipping away at the mental barriers for the last ten years, and she was confident that it would break soon. Then, blam, it gave way and she suddenly found that she could 'feel' where every other Champion was, Hey guys! She sent, It's me Snow, it finally worked! We can communicate with each other, like I am doing now, across vast distances! Don't worry, only things you want seen shall be seen. So how is everypony? Okay, maybe her experience with her link with Dark made her a bit comfortable with it...
Karl looked around him. "Snow? Is that you? You... no, not now." He thought. He looked around the room once more. "It's should all be set. Now i only need to wait for Tyro to get here..." He quietly said. He asked Snow, "Hey, is there anyway i can shut off this psychic link? The Rift can be very damaging to ones mind..." He said, looking at the gate he had built for the portal.
Dark Shines head suddenly perked up. Snow?! Thats awesome! I just found out my family is still alive! Except... Well... My sister, Buttercup... This is wonderfull though! We can keep in contact! Since I moved myself into the center of the Everfree forest I kinda got lonely! He looked around. Kinda odd communicating like this! We should just meet up! Talk properly!
Eeyup, just close up and when you want to connect again just open back up. Snow told Karl. And Dark Shine, I established this so we could speak at distance so whenever we are in danger we aren't alone.
Dark Shine nodded. You mind telling me where you are? I am kind of lonely so want to see somepony I know. Well I know you guys and I just visited the remainder of my family.
I'm in Canterlot, but I can be there in a second, Snow told him. "Alright, we're going to see Dark Shine!" Snow told her little group. "Wait Snow, wait!" Winter started, before they disappeared in a flash. They reformed next to Dark Shine, "Hello Dark Shine!" Snow said.
Due to the sudden "Hello Dark Shine" Dark Shine jumped. "Wah!... Oh hi Snow! And hi Winter!" He turned around to face them and smiled. "Sorry, I was not really expecting you to suddenly appear next to me! hahahaha!" he chuckled a bit. "So. How have you been during the 10 years?"
Midnight cleared his throat, "Um hello I guess." he said. Snow glared at Midnight at then looked to Dark Shine, "Sorry about shocking you Darks, but we've been getting along." Snow looked around and realized she recognized the clearing barely, "I've been here, so many years ago, back when I was just a barely of adult age filly, when I first came to Ponyville." she said. She wondered over to a corner of the clearing, plucked a flower, and returned levitating a white flower, "I planted a White Hope here many years ago, this is one of it's children."
Dark Shine looked to Midnight. "Hey, i have not seen you since you were tiny! And Snow, that sounds awesome. I just came here to respect the loss of one of my sisters." He then pointed to the Dual Pegasi Amulet. "During my seclusion, however, I managed to find out some stuff about this amulet. Whenever I get angry, it seems to unleash my anger and feeds off that instead of my 'soul energy'. For you see, it works by taking the bearers energy and using that as fuel. When it uses anger as fuel, the bearer, being me, would get pretty much 'controlled' by the amulet. I figured this out when I was attacked by a pack of bandit ponies. I dont know what happened, but I woke up to see that any tree still standing were set alight. I cant remember anything, but over time, I learnt what happened."
Snow nodded, "Much like my essence magic. When I was young, I didn't have near the control over my emotions as I do now, and let's just say that when you use essence magic, the last thing you want to be is angry. Last time an 'incident' as I call them happened, I almost blew up Ponyville."
Dark Shine shrugged. "The thing is, I had been angry while wearing it several times, but only then, did it activate. I have learnt that it pretty much returns all energy it has previously taken and uses it to almost transform my body." He taps his chin.
Tyro had to cover his muzzle with his paws to stop him from crying out. There were voices in his head and it was causing one hell of a headache. His eyes swam, his head felt nauseatingly numb and his tails had stood to attention to make him look utterly ridiculous. After a short while, his brain managed to sort out the uninvited data into two difference messages: Karl's and Snow's. What the heck just happened? Give me some warning before you do that? With a groggy swagger, Tyro takes the left towards the castle and enters, moving towards the two guards up ahead like he'd been drinking heavily. His expression longing for the misery to end, he watches these two guards and their expressions for a few seconds before realising that they weren't alerting anypony. They must be Karl's guys. Although, why two guards would be taking orders from a maniac, he hadn't a clue. Why he was even trying same said maniac is more complex but largely boils down to curiosity. Rubbing his temple with a paw, Tyro glares like a zombie at the guards, struggling to keep his eyes open. "I'm Tyro. That mean anything to you two?"
"Yes sir! Karl has been expecting you!" The two guards opened the big doors to reveal the room, complete with Karl and markings. He himself had drawn a tribal tattoo stretching across his left side all the way up the his left eye. "Hello, Tyro. Welcome to the 'sending end'." Karl was sitting infront of the big metal gate, reading a book. "We'll be opening a portal. From this side, to the other." He said, closing the book and standing up. "If you're prepared, then we can continue, however if not..." He said gripping his hatchet. "Then i'll have to take some... unforseen actions." He looked at Tyro with a serious face.
