Prompt: Deep Castle
Tentative Title: Ghosts Ascendent

A/N: Unfortunately, because I am a hack, this is now a sidestory to my main story because I only know how to write one thing.

Like usual, the weather was unusual. Everfree’s trees creaked in the wind, sagged under rain, or loomed silently under a clear moon all within a single square kilometer.

No one living nor sane would dare venture into a particularly chaotic weather front. Fortunately, the two Interlopers were neither living, or sane.

“Are codenames really necessary?" the non-living one asked, “My face isn't exactly unknown here. Anyone would be immediately suspicious if they caught us here.”

“The only ones with a significant lack of self preservation will almost definitely not be native here,” the insane one replied, “But, considering the party going still going on, a full day after her return, I can stop if you want. Of course, you have an interesting relationship to names, don't you Lily?”

For a moment, Cheerilee was confused. But then she remembered that she had been using her rebirth name for much, much longer than her birth name. She stared into the long shadows for an eternity between heartbeats, until the regular, artificial rhythm slowed into a background murmur. “Cheerilee isn't needed here,” she finally decided. “I can be Lily for tonight. I'll follow your lead, Seer.”

“Ha, of course, there is no Octavia here tonight either. Wonderful.” She fished a stick of distilled mana and lit it by scraping the tip off against a tree, sticking it between her teeth and breathing the green flare. Fuel rich exhaust vented out of her nostrils. She adjusted her newly forged blade across her back. “Let’s go.”

The two stepped through the forest, the Seer with her eyes half lidded as she stared into the shadows cast by time. With motions that seemed unnatural to any outside observer, she started, stopped, backtracked, turned, started again. They spared a glance down at the side of a cliff face, where the scrapes of hooves sliding down were still visible.

They walked past gnarled trees that resembled the skulls kept back at their base.

The one interaction of note was when a Manticore stepped across their path. It snarled at the sight of them, but that slowly petered as Lily stepped forwards, and stopped. She stopped breathing, stopped the micro twitching of all life, stopped keeping warm. She could've been a statue.

The Manticore’s eyes widened in fear, and dashed back into the underbrush.

The Seer walked up to pat her back, cold and clammy. “Not too long now, your femurs still need breath.”

“Right.” Lily closed her eyes and forced a full body shudder down her spine, a tiny bit of heat flowing through her cheeks again.

The pair came across a river, its flow calm, but still rapid, and neither could fly. But they had the next best option. Lily’s blood sliced open around the edge of her hooves, curling out like snakes. Once the Seer clambered onto her back and got a secure grip, Lily set off, her blood solidifying into long stakes that punched through into the mudbed below. The same technique was fortunately not necessary for the upcoming bridge, Lily glad she didn't have to filter out more chunks of clots.

A few steps more and they stepped out of the forest and into a small clearing, the old castle looming high above them. Lily gave a nostalgic look at the cobblestone path still somewhat visible beneath the nearest tree routes. “To think, all these centuries later, I'd end up so close to where my old home was. Somewhere around here...”

“The magic used here twice still lingers,” the Seer said. Reaching over her back, she slowly unsheathed her weapon. Ascendent’s Bite was a departure for her previous creations, built primarily out of woods and metals, the only magic that flowed through them were only what its wielder provided. Terror’s Bite was still in active use, but its construction wouldn't be durable enough for the upcoming challenges ahead.

She needed a trump card, and for this she relied upon the expertise of the secretive organization she led. There were many cities lost in the wake of Discord’s upheaval, and the unified government also obsoleted the fluctuating city states and warlords, those old capitals no longer necessary.

Millennia of history forgotten.

Millennia of history, stolen.

The world’s most secretive organization didn't have the bodies to do the research and growth required to keep up with continent spanning superpowers, but they had more time than anyone on the planet, to wait to catch the detritus.

No one but its ghosts saw Heartspire’s first visitors in thousands of years. Its old caretakers were quite fond of mausoleums, and nearly all were still intact, buried deep within the walls of the spires. The most magical of Equus’s races, all in rows gathering dust. Some were now missing horns.

Rumors said the abandoned city of Derecho flew into a mountain range and was torn by the alpine trees. Few cared enough to doublecheck the mountain ranges filled with dense fog, to find the hidden city buried beneath. No one sees the city’s first nonpony visitors, the records of its patrols stolen, where the bones were left behind.

There were few bones left within the lost city of Lith, most turned to ash. But their beloved leaders were still honored, in their own time, protected all these centuries later.

Ascendent's Bite hummed imperceptibly from the latest magic in the air. Carved, solid bones formed its grip, the blade portion a shell of hollow bones fused together to protect its magical core. Still, like all of her others, this too had no true cutting surface. A concession, so her second in command could eliminate her if she ever stepped out of line.

Through the broken double doors they went, going deeper and deeper down the castle halls, clambering over rubble and leaping over chasms, led by the constant hum of the Seer’s sword.

After a long march, or maybe no time at all, the pair stood across from an empty pedestal. Lily’s flowing blood, still exposed after hauling the Seer over a wall, began to smoke.

The Seer waved off Lily’s concern. “You'll get used to it, if you come on these kinds of expeditions enough.” She moved ahead, towards the dias, and the broken throne, blade held high. With a mental flick, magical channels opened, and old bones came alive.

Terrasi, Pegasi, and Unicorns, bound with Magic, a false destiny completed.

Deep in the ruined castle, where alicorns were torn apart, a false dawn ascended.