Signature Heroes, Elements of Harmony

by Dimentio

Chapter Six: Don't Panic Zanik

Chapter Six:Don't Panic Zanik

Girls, get away from that thing!" Rarity cried as she found the Crusaders playing with some sort of grey monster. Unlike the 'humans' that had appeared before, this one had almost normal sized eyes and an orange mane, there was no true reason to think of it as a threat, but that rugged dirty cloak it wore made her worry. She didn't want to have to force Sweetie to take another bath before being fashionably late to Pinkie's 'Welcome the New Creatures That Just Saved All of Our Lives from a Super Scary Monster!' party.

"But Zanik's cool!" Scootaloo protested as Zanik ruffled her mane.

"Err, let me expl-"Zanik began only to be interrupted by a trio of armed humans.

"Zanik!?" Ozan exclaimed as he lowered his bow. "How did you get here?"

"Ozan? Wait, Ariane and Sir Owen too! Where's the Raptor?" Zanik asked as her eyes lit up at the sight of something familiar.

"Oh, he...we didn't untie him did we?" Ariane asked as she scratched the back of her head awkwardly.

"No, no you didn't." The Raptor said as he trudged up to the group. "Zanik...I was hoping there would be something to kill here."

"What!?" Rarity recoiled in fear and disgust. "You...you want to kill things? I thought you were all heroes of some sort."

"The key phrase is 'of some sort' " Ozan clarified hesitantly. "While we are called heroes, the term speaks of our deeds more than our actual personalities. I can promise you that Ariane, Owen and Myself would never hurt an innocent. In fact, we've all placed ourselves in danger for people we don't even know. The Raptor on the other hand, is a slayer. One who is known for defeating great opponents for no other reason but the challenge."

"Ozan, that was probably the most intelligent thing I have ever heard you say...at least the most intelligent thing you have said honestly" Ariane said, clearly impressed.

"But...that's barbaric, how could anypony kill for anything but necessity?" Rarity argued now staring horrified at the large pink warrior.

"I don't have to justify anything." Raptor said passively.

"In a world of peace it is very easy to make the aggressive seem villainous, just as in a violent world it is easy to make the peaceful look moronic." Owyn said wisely. "Raptor is a slayer, it is his calling. None would ever judge you for being a tailor, unless you were in a war zone."

"I...you can't....errr." Rarity responded unable to argue. She still didn't seem to accept the view that violence could be one's way of life, but Owyn's argument made too much sense. She wondered if the world that they had come from was truly so violent.

"That's not right."Zanik shook her head disapprovingly. "Fighting for the sake of fighting is just wrong. If you truly believe that it is a just cause you're no better than Bandos and his lot."

"Odd to hear from a goblin."The Raptor grunted in response, considering the possibility of crushing Zanik. Ultimately he decided that she wouldn't be a challenge and turned away.

"What was that?" Zanik asked as her glare hardened.

"I said that it was odd to find one of you little green weaklings that didn't want to fight for your 'great' god of war." Raptor said without even looking over his shoulder. "At the very least, they have the ambition to be strong."

All eyes turned to Zanik as she gripped her crossbow. She quickly glanced down at the foals that were cowering behind her and holstered the weapon deciding that she wouldn't let The Raptor get to her. As she watched the armor clad slayer walk away, she felt the mark upon her forehead burn with Bandos's disapproval, something that made her grin as she fought the pain.

"Sometimes I really don't know why we associate ourselves with that sociopath." Ozan said, left a bit uneasy by the recent exchange.

"As I said before, he's a slayer. It's a part of who he is." Owyn said stoically.

"I know, and that's fine for him, but what happens when he decides that you would be a challenge to him?" Ozan replied.

"He won't, you may not see it, but he's not as terrible as he seems." Ariane interjected. The conversation went on for a few more minutes before Rarity interrupted.

"Well, it's time that the Crusaders got to bed." Rarity said and the foals in question groaned.

"Can Zanik hang out with us?!" Came the distinct squeak of Sweetie Bell.

"Er...well." Rarity began, attempting to find a reason to say no. "I'm sure Zanik and her friends have much to discuss."

"Not really." Zanik and Ozan both said.

Rarity gave them a defeated look and sighed. "I suppose the girls have room for a fourth if you need a place to stay for tonight."

"That'd be great!" Zanik exclaimed. "It'd be nice to get some rest."

"Awe...." The Crusaders moaned in unison once they heard that Zanik wouldn't be helping them get their cutie marks that night. Rarity, Zanik, and the CMC departed almost immediately.

"I suppose it is late." Ariane said with a light yawn. "I'm sure Twilight wouldn't mind me staying the night in the library, I'd like the excuse to attempt to learn to read Equestrian."

"I'll stay out tonight, after the incident with the Ripper I think it's best that we keep watch." Sir Owyn said, gaining concerned looks from his comrades. "We have to stay on guard in case something else attacks."

"Yes, but you need rest." Ariane said.

"Tomorrow night perhaps, one of you can stay up tomorrow." Owyn responded.

"Ehehe, shouldn't the ponies post guards? I'm sure they have some kind of military, even if the place is mostly peaceful." Ozan said.

"We are posting guards." A bored voice said as an armor clad stallion walked around the corner. "The princesses insisted that we set patrol routes all throughout Equestria because of you creatures."

"Excuse me? Princesses?" Ozan asked. "We only met the one with the sun on her ass."

The guard gave Ozan a hard glare at his disrespect for Princess Celestia. He obviously didn't really care for the laid-back attitude of the ranger.

"We'll ask about it later, come on Ozan, I'm sure Twilight can accommodate all three of us." Ariane said dragging Ozan by the scruff of his shirt.

"She can accommodate both of you, I'd still like to stay out and help the guards keep watch tonight." Owyn said as he walked off into the dusk.

"Stubborn as ever." Ozan sighed as he broke free of Ariane's grasp and walked with her to the tree library thing.

Author's Note:

If you can't tell, I decided to use the tracks from Runescape for titles, it gives me plenty of options. I'm sorry for the incredible amount of time between these last two chapters, I can't guarentee that I'll post too many updates, but I promise to try.

Comments

[Voltsthevoltvolts]

4341776
19 weeks too late but....

They have a lot of villains such as Lucien, The Red Axe, those dastardly penguins and the Zombie pirate hordes.

As for good characters you have the rag-tag group from Salt in the wound, the void knights for their quest series. Uhhh nerd mode deactivate?

[Dimentio]

5030779 Well villain wise, there are quite a few. I kind of wish that I'd thought of the KGP before... As for the Salt the Wound group, I think the only one with much background is Kenneth.

[Voltsthevoltvolts]

5031300

Indeed, the other two didn't really have much back story par say, but I still enjoyed there company while it lasted. It was just a shame that they only popped up at the end of the quest line.

I wish the would hurry up and finish the darn Penguin quest line, or at least make some effort with it.

[Dimentio]

5031309 It'd be nice, there are many quest lines that they really need to finish. Unfortunately, I don't do much skilling so I can't really do some of the newer quests.