The Legend of Sol, Titan, and Morgan: The Dracolich

A thing of immense and terrible power, the Dracolich was not merely a fearsome and vile beast, but also a ruthless and cunning one. He was a foe who looked at them with both cold intellect and a sly, cruel grin that told them he enjoyed their pain, he thrilled in their suffering... and he thought he had an advantage on them, that would prevent them from attacking it outright.

And for the moment, Sol did hesitate to strike: she knew that such creatures were cunning and deceitful, but that they were driven by baser things than loyalty or honor: no, with the right threats and the right encouragements, the creature would gladly surrender information to them. It would have to be destroyed, that was certain... but Sol would be glad to allow the monster to live a little while longer if it gave her the right answers.

The Dracolich bowed its head humbly when she demanded information from it: it visibly hurt the creature to do so, but it played the part of the submissive well, saying that it would stand no chance against them and thus had no wish to do battle. Titan was wary did not believe its words, but Morgan was bolstered by it... and her senses were dulled by the fact that the poisons she so desired were so close at hoof, maddening her mind and all her emotions.

Sol took control of the conversation: interrogating the beast. And every question she spoke, it gave her an answer for, an answer that made her angrier, yet also pleased her. Its words were venom, and Titan tried to urge her sister to turn away, but Sol would not listen.

Veliuona had created an empire for herself, far away from the reaches of the ponies. Veliuona sought now to fortify and protect that land, while Sol chased out the Tyrant Wyrm. Veliuona, and all other creatures of Equestria, hated the Tyrant Wyrm, that was true: but the Goddess of Cursed Shades was thinking far ahead, readying her own home for her inevitable betrayal. When the time was right, she would turn on all of Equestria to make them submit to her evils, after what she viewed as the only true threat to her supremacy was wiped out.

The Dracolich told this all, without asking for anything in return. But all the same, his desire was clear... and yet Sol's reward was a swift and merciless strike to the Dracolich once her information had been gleaned. The beast had made one fell mistake: he had stated that Veliuona would gather all dark things to her cause, and was already sending out emissaries. Sol would not allow the Dracolich to remain ally or emissary for her foe.

The battle was harsh, but the three emerged victorious all the same, rending the Dracolich apart. Yet all the same, Sol knew it would rise again in a matter of months, as its phylactery was hidden away: a cunning move on the part of the Dracolich. But she did not care. The point was made, the damage was done: the Dracolich would not be able to serve in Veliuona's army. And the creature should be grateful for such a mercy.

Sol stated that they would spend the night in these ruins. Titan was loathe to stay in the camp of the enemy, even if taken, but Morgan was eager, and her Paladin all too happy to agree with his lover. The Blood Seer sided with Titan, but if anything, this only made Sol all the more determined to spend the night here, so she could find more evidence of Veliuona's wrongdoing and bring justice against her.

Titan feared, however, that this was only a plot of the Dracolich: such creatures were known to be capricious and vicious, and the battle had been too easy, and his answers too simply given. And it was well known that such beasts often thirsted only for ruin and destruction, and were capable of great and savage schemes: it would be easy for such a fiend to compel others to serve it, and to desire destruction of another 'lord of death,' as it so were. Perhaps the creature wanted Veliuona destroyed so it could take her place as head of the empire: perhaps, it only wanted death and destruction, not so differently from the Tyrant Wyrm.

All Titan knew was that this was a bad idea. And he feared that all of this was only the beginning of a path of worser things yet to come.

The Legend of Sol, Titan, and Morgan: Accusation

Sol chose their path, and led the way. She let her siblings and compatriots rest little along the way, and swore bitterly at them every time they begged to stop. Sol was angry: at the world, at her siblings, at everything. And most of all, she desired vengeance.

For weeks now, they had been harried by the pawns of the Dragon Cult: Sol was beginning to suspect that whoever their true master was, they recognized that all they were doing was delivering more pawns to their death... but they were also delivering more poison to Morgan, who was sneaking the Dragon's Blood behind Sol's back.

Bold and strong as it made her, Sol thought that more, the Dragon's Blood made Morgan a coward, and pathetic. But she also recognized grimly that if she wanted to get to the root of the problem, then for now, there was no point in addressing it directly. Morgan, instead, was able to sense where the Dragon's Blood was, making her invaluable when it came to predicting ambushes from the cult, and moreover, in tracking where the cult members had tread.

This allowed the siblings to hunt down the root of the cult within a few short weeks: Sol was unsurprised to find their headquarters guarded not simply by more cultists and mercenaries, but Dead Dolls and other deathless puppets that defied both the natural cycle and natural morality.

Sol led a frontal, vicious attack on the enemy: as so many of the cult's living forces had been used in ambush against them, she expected their defenses to be weak, and centered around the undead. She was proven right: monstrous, deathless drakes and swarms of zombies of every shape and size swarmed out to meet them, only to be rebuffed in but moments by powerful exorcisms and blinding holy magic that made even Morgan flinch.

There were no games this time, no playing, no suppression of power for the sake of fairness or mercy. There was only the blinding, hellish wrath of the sun, as Sol punished her way into the cult's fortress. She did not care who she tore apart or tore into: slave, conscript, thrall, or fanatic, all fell before her magic, as her siblings followed behind her and their comrades backed them up as best they could.

Sol fought her way quickly to the inner sanctum, sparing no mercy and no curiosity: she was focused on her objective, and her objective was not the leader of the cult, whom she did not let speak a single word before blowing apart and storming past: it was the creature past the cult leader, the beast that had puppeted this cult and provided their dark magic, their raw materials, their poisons and enchantments and reason for being.

There, in the heart of the fortress, Sol found the Dracolich, and as they gazed upon each other, she had but one question for it:

"Did Veliuona send you?"

And the Dracolich, smiling its lipless smile, with a gaze of cold, calculated cunning and ruthless wisdom, replied simply:

"Yes."