Reunited in the Dark.

Chapter 14 - All Coming Together.

Through the freezing cold late evening, Saber, Stello and the Dark Lord travelled through the eerie forest heading back towards the Crystal Empire. It wasn't a long journey, and it took them about a couple hours for the Empire to appear in the far, dark horizon.

Saber's heart started to beat faster has he exhaled worriedly. This was the first time he saw his home in a while, and he felt weird knowing how close his father was. Luckily for him, he had his uncle Stello there who always gave the reassurance he needed.

A small distance away from the Empire, the Dark Lord stopped the two alicorns asking for their attention. Saber stood close to Stello, sharing body heat as they listened to what the Dark Lord had to say.

"I will not go into the Empire... You two have an easy job, go retrieve the corpse from the from there, and bring it here. We will then take it back to the cave to proceed with the ritual, understood?" The Dark Lord questioned.

Stello nodded, finding the instructions quite clear, but Saber frowned and tilted his head. "Why do you not want to go into the Empire with us? What if we get in trouble? We could use your help." Saber suggested curiously.

The Dark Lord remained silent for a moment, as though he had to think about his response. "That does not matter Saber, now go do as I ordered." He said coldly.

Saber sighed and nodded, proceeding to go further with Stello and leaving the Dark Lord behind. They cautiously approached the edge of the Empire, looking out attentively for any guards wandering around.

"So where exactly is your mother buried?" Stello whispered curiously.

Saber slowly pointed his hoof up at the large structure in the middle of the Empire. "There, in the castle garden. It is blocked off from the public, but a Pegasus can fly to it from the top." He said, putting his wings up.

Stello sighed and nodded, looking over to the west horizon where the sun just vanished, leaving the sky in a blended mass of deep navy and dark burgundy colours. "Hopefully it's dark enough that we won't get noticed..." Stello mumbled, also spreading his wings.

The two alicorns then took flight, both trying to gain as much altitude as possible. It would have helped them remain less visible if they were nothing but small specs in the dark sky.

Soon enough, they found themselves hovering high above the castle garden. They looked down, trying to make out what was below. Aside from all the typical royal garden stuff, there were four night lamps which would make them more noticeable, and three guards they had to look out for.

Stello frowned as he started forming some kind of plan in his head. He wanted to go slowly and carefully, making sure they don't raise alarm. He took notice of how the guards where moving, and all the well lit spots they had to avoid.

"Okay Saber, I got a plan. We will fly down to t-" Stello paused, noticing that Saber was gone and already flying down into the garden. "Oh shit..." Stello groaned, as he dived down to follow Saber.

The two alicorns sped down towards the garden, landing softly in some dark area. "We need to stick together!" Stello whispered sharply.

Saber frowned and shook his head. "I know this place ten times better, so you stick with me!" Saber whispered back.

Stello groaned and rolled his eyes. He knew that Saber had a point, but he wished he was the one in charge instead. The two alicorns peeked over a large nearly cut bush, taking a quick note of where all the guards were. It seemed as though one of the guards constantly stood that the door, whilst the other two circulated the garden, being on opposite ends to eachother. This meant that one of the guards seemed to have been heading their way, and would've soon walked past the bush which they were behind.