What happens when a battle hardened medieval warrior is sent to a land of magical talking ponies?
When two worlds collide, bad things usually happen. When gods battle, bad things usually happen. When worlds are dragged together creating an internal conflict between gods, something bad is definitely happening, especially when mere mortals are the ones controlling the situation.
Henric was one who lived on death. He was trained at killing any other living creature, and wouldn't just rip the heart from his target and crush it into the ground with his iron clad feet, but would make an art of it. He could with ease bring down the largest of beasts, or cleverest of men, but sometimes it is not that which counts.
The slayer of the royal city of Talinshrine had just been hired for what was going to be his largest raid yet. Though no dragons needed slaying, and no clan leaders needed a gentle nudge at their throat with a knife to help convince them rebellion on the high throne was a bad idea, forces of pure power and thousands of year old magic were at work.
In the second age of this world, there had lived who many scholars of his time believed to be the greatest necromancer ever, Cornelius Thornbearer. When he understood, at the age of two-hundered and thirty-seven, that death could be delayed from his still, somehow, mortal body no longer he finally gave up with his dreams of immortality, but not without the conjuration of his most powerful spell ever, and probably the most powerful this world would ever see.
Deep beneath a temple of a once great necromancer, now long dead, there was a dungeon which twisted and wound like a maze downward. None living had ever reached the bottom, and some believed that it would continue until it dropped down from the bottom of the earth, sending one who made the mistake of venturing that deep plummeting down forever into the black abyss that was the heavens. Obviously the boy who hired Henric was not one of these men. His client was no more than fourteen years of age, but already reached levels of power unobtainable by many practiced magicians of the time. He believed that Cornelius would not punish one who navigated his way through to the bottom of the great dungeon alive, but instead gift them with great treasure. He believed this treasure was the vast sea of knowledge that the undead master of ancient had received. Henric was to venture into the tunnels with twelve other mercenaries, all armed to the teeth with the latest alloys of metal and designs of weapons to aid them in their pillage of this crypt, find the bottom, take what was to be found, and return it to the young lord. Simple enough.
~*~
By The next cycle of the ancient saint's names Henric was prepared. He had battled with the late Cornelius's monstrosities and packed as such. He brought a light pack with a full water-skin and a couple pounds of dry meat because he knew it would most likely be a long and trying journey, but he had no doubt he would find at least semi-sufficient resources on his descent, as the dungeon master whose final resting place he was to defile was definitely an honorable one. His armor was no more than hardened leather with some chain mail around his joints and throat, due to the fact that one of the ancient necromancers favorite spells was one he invented, animating a skeleton and bringing a weak magical spell to move its joints, this spell would slowly drain power from its surroundings until with time the force became stronger and stronger until eventually when the corpses were as ancient as these would be had the force of a thousand men behind their blows. Although infinitely powerful, these beasts were slow moving and would need to be avoided, not fought. As for weaponry he brought silent, his trademark short-sword enchanted by the high priest himself so that it could slice through flesh like butter, and when against his victims throat would would not allow them to be able to emit even a whisper from their soon dead lips. His favorite shield, made from an extremely rare strange blueish metal, both light and strong was packed so that he would be able to deflect some blows from his body. He had also packed, as a long range alternative a pocket crossbow, currently slung around his left shoulder with five iron bolts on a strap above his leg. He was ready for anything this old death-twister could throw at him.
At the entrance of the tomb it was apparent that some of his allies were not quite so battle ready as he, wearing heavy armor and broadswords, possibly the worst choice of arms for this particular situation. He was absolutely sure several of them would die almost immediately on this dangerous expedition.
Henric, after the minimum possible greeting with his to-be brothers in arms, told the rest of the group to remain behind him, as he opened the door to the ancient crypt, somewhere no man had been in more than a thousand years.
The air, what little there was among the dust in the first chamber was cool and musty. Almost immediately Henric felt a sapping of his strength, justifying to him that his skeleton hypothesis was correct. He used his small aptitude in magic to light a fire to shine in front of him that would move as he did making the dank dark room they were occupying glow. This revealed that they were currently in a chamber carved from stone. At the far end of the room was a stairway leading down into a pitch-black abyss. He spoke one of the meager supply of words he supplied to others with his own voice saying a simple, harsh, raspy, "This way." and so the greatest venture of his life to that date began.
~*~
Stairs descended straight down on and on with the occasional trapped room with a couple of skeletons inside to keep the trek interesting. Henric thought of the struggle he would have coming back up, but then looked towards the bright side of the situation as he realized that the chain of idiots following him would most likely be shortened considerably. This brought a ghost of a smile fighting hard to capture a spot at the corners of his mouth, the most emotion he ever really showed, but this was killed instantly when a creature dropped from the top of the crypt and landed directly on his head, snarling.
He reached upwards, grabbing the beast, and slammed it on the ground with all his might, making a sickening crunch, he then slammed his foot down using all the strength he could muster on the forty pound nimble beasty in front of him. This would probably have killed nearly any living creature under twice the weight of the skilled assassin, much less the unfortunate wall hugger that was tired of munching on old bones. Henric was furious, not at the beast, nor the human train following behind him, but at himself. He had let his guard down and made himself appear weak. This was why he hated feeling. Why he hated being constrained in a silly human body, with silly human emotions, and why he needed to rise above the filth of this world and ascend to near-godhood.
~*~
Henric was worried. Not panicked, or scared, he would never allow himself to be as weak as to feel those emotions, but he had a deep feeling of dread welling up deep inside him, knowing that ancient devil whose grave he was traipsing through definitely had something waiting, something dark, something bad. He took his feeling to action and said to the person behind him "Johan, would you please take up point? I am not feeling to well right now and you seem more than capable to lead us", and with that he took the second-to-last place in the line.
Of course, Johan, the big dumb brute took the chance. He was overconfident and cocky. Henric knew when something exceeded his own ability and would not take a dumb risk, but for honor, Johan would do just about anything. If you told him a true test of strength was to chop off ones own balls, he would go right ahead with it. It pleased Henric knowing he would soon be gone from the world.
Once again Henric's instinct had proved true, when they descended into a plain, stone room. Johan, the idiot he was, stepped directly on a piece of earth that slid down, making a grinding sound with his weight. Tortured souls of those who perished down in the crypt rushed from the walls wanting only revenge on he who had awakened them. They rushed toward the massive bodied, minuscule brained knight and began literally tearing off his limbs and eating his flesh. Johan screamed what were to be the final utterances of a brain-dead warrior.
The rest of the way down was riddled with dangers, with the skin from one being melted off by a magical barrier here, and an axe swinging from a wall to decapitate another there, but there was still no conventional battles. This told Henric that there really was something good to be found at the end of this all.
Eventually through all of the blood and death there was light at the end of the tunnel. A room was reached with a single glowing orb levitating in the center, this must have been it. Including Henric three were still alive, the knight ahead of him and the one behind him. The first warrior ventured forth and from the very floor beneath them sprung demons of pure rage and flame. They grabbed the one trailing him by the legs and gouged into his flesh with their claws. As the knight howled in pain, one demon stood climbing from the very earth and ripped off his head, ending all there would ever be for him. They were everywhere, flanking and screaming as they ripped apart the flesh of the once living being as the door they came in on closed.
Henric wasted no time, he sprinted to the center holding his shield ahead of him and breaking through the wall of solid demon, until he reached the orb, then he grabbed it.
~*~
A certain ancient necromancer chuckled a bit in his grave beneath the tomb, he had never truly died, trapped forever in a limbo due to his ever-frequent exposure to spells against the forces of death, he knew that the clever one had not quite found what he was looking for, though it was in a certain way his lives work that had been activated.
Henric saw a nothing but pure magical light, as a shockwave of energy powerful enough to split apart worlds warped the very meaning of reality and brought forth a hole between dimensions. This eternal void sucked in Henric, bringing him to somewhere nothing in his great mind would be able to prepare him for.
When Henric opened his eyes he figured he had been given severe brain damage from the blast. When he opened his eyes he saw a new world. A world not yet defiled by him. A world bright, vibrant, and full of love, an emotion he had never experienced. He saw true beauty for the first time.
After a few minutes Henric toyed with the idea that maybe this was the real world, he had never seen something so bright, coming from a world where people would be dying of consummation while floundering among their own feces in the middle of the street. This was definitely new.
One of the first things he noticed was a new found much more powerful existence of magical power, this was not like his worlds dark, twisted power that lay dormant and needed complex runes and incantations to emerge. This was more arcane, and needed only a spark to be brought to life, as well as being brighter, like most of this land.
His first order of business, he decided, was to find some sort of food and water sources, as well as shelter. He scanned his environment and saw a stream in the distance, as well as some lush evergreen trees a bit further off. He thought to himself how easy that had been as he jogged towards the running water. The stream ran pure and fresh and some small gray fish who swam in schools up and down the center of the body of water, probably trout,a viable source of food once his meat reserves ran out.
He sat by the creek and filled his nearly empty water-skin, and drank from it heavily. He pleased to find that the water was sweet and cool. He realized he had not eaten through this whole ordeal so far and wolfed down a hunk of the salty, preserved flesh. When he was finished consuming calories to keep himself from simply collapsing he wasted no time in standing up and moving to the forest, lush and bristling with life his shelter would be here. He did not know what creatures had lived here, but the fish had proven animal life, and he was used to the danger of massive man eaters in the land he came from, so he would stay safe and get off the ground, resting in a tree.
After searching the forest for about another hour, he found a perfect spot. It was about twenty feet up and a number of branches lined each row of the evergreen, making a sort of platform. He set his shield and blade on the ground, and seeing the sun was already very low in the sky, strapped himself in with the pack and drifted to sleep.
~*~
Twilight Sparkle was reading a book. Twilight Sparkle was usually reading a book, in fact if she wasn't reading a book she was usually either with her friends or making a list, which she also did quite a lot. Tonight she was reading the book , "A Complete Guide to the Magical World of Death Metal" by Vinyl Scratch, until an arcane surge of pure magical energy shot through the air, knocking the book from her hands and forcing her to shove her eyes shut in order to keep from being blinded. Being a unicorn, and abuser of magical energy the force bled into her horn causing an excess of power and giving her a massive headache, until the force was channeled from her horn ripping a hole in her ceiling.
Something big had just happened and Miss Sparkle was not one to waste time when something big had happened. As such, she paid absolutely no mind to the three foot by three foot gap in her home's top and instead shouted at the top of her lungs "Spike!" before realizing that the dazed dragon she was looking for was standing next to her.
The young reptilian beast replied with a subdued "Jeez Twilight, i'm right here, but how can I help?"
"Did you not just see that solid wall of arcane power split through equestria with enough power inside it to destroy entire worlds?" the slightly annoyed purple mare questioned
"Well sure I saw that, but I just figured it was another explosion from pinkie's." the young dragon replied, "It seems like those happen on a regular basis now days."
"No Spike, that was definitely not pinkies special baking ingredient this time, that was magic, and I think I can use my power to locate the epicenter of the blast. Lets go get the girls and investigate!" The curious unicorn said, charging out the door, completely disregarding the fact it was ten o'clock at night.
~*~
The manticore was hungry. It had been nearly a week since his last meal and he was growing desperate as the painful knots of hunger were constantly nibbling away at his strength, but that didn't matter now. He smelled flesh, and it was near him. His powerful nose had led him to a tree, a large evergreen, and there was definitely something to end his pains at a branch higher up, but how was he to get to his prize? This conundrum filled the beast with rage because an answer to all of his problems sat about thirty feet above him, yet he was not able, in a million years to reach it, so he began bashing himself against his new wooden enemy.
Henric awoke to this bashing and quickly righted himself up, clinging to the branch as to not loose his balance. He glanced down seeing a manticore, except in brighter colors and less spiky than the ones he was used to. He had killed hundreds of manticores through his life and decided he could take this one down easily. His weapon and shield were below him on the ground, making his task quite a bit more difficult, but luckily he had slept in his armor.
He hung there for a good planning every step of the battle before finally dropping directly from his perch onto the creature's back. Its tail struck at him, but he had anticipated this and grabbing the scorpion's stinger, snapping its head right off, using its brittleness to his advantage.
This action made the dumb beast loose its concentration and howl with pain giving him time to grab his sword and shield and get into a good stance for combat. By this time the beast had recovered and was eyeing him with pure rage, until the the most dangerous thing in the world right now charge forward at him. This, the monster did not expect, so it reared up in surprise giving Henric the opportunity he needed. He slid under the creature with his blade thrust in the air, cutting a large gash down its stomach and giving freedom to its entrails.
The manticore did not genuinely think anymore, it felt no hunger, no rage, only pain. This is all it felt while its so thought prey-to-be jumped on his back and thrust his weapon down trough his skull and into his brain.
~*~
Twilight Sparkle and her friends had arrived near the center of where the pure power had originally spread from just in time to see a full grown, two ton manticore being disemboweled and killed by a strange creature, the likes of which they had never seen before. It was not massive like the manticore, but was still large and they would probably only stand up to its waist, although it was a biped, so their weights would be more similar than if they were both on the same number of legs. It obviously possessed great strength, but did not bulk out, and instead had compact, tight muscles.
This must have been it, what had come from the blast, this is what twilight was thinking as she walked right up to the unknown beast.
Henric, having just finished the slaughter of another beast, knelt to clean his blood-smothered blade. He was rubbing the enchanted sword on the leaves beneath him when he heard a feminine voice shout, "Hey, you!" as he was lifted from the ground. He found himself totally immobile a few feet of the ground with the tingling of raw power encircling him. Abusing the much greater magical field of this planet, he surged out with a shock of energy breaking whatever spell he was under and dropping him to the earth. He landed cleanly on one foot and one knee and spun to face his assailant. What he saw rekindled his theory that the blast had only given him severe brain damage.
Bright, colorful ponies. Some with horns some with wings. Not only had they apparently an inherent grasp of the powers of their worlds magic, but also seemed to be able to communicate via his native language. This told him a few things. One that they obviously were as intelligent as any damned human he had ever met, meaning that they were probably predatory and on the top of this planets food chain, and that there was a good chance that they were demons of some sort. Deducting this knowledge, Henric bolted into the woods fast as his mortal legs would carry him.
~*~
When Twilight Sparkle shot out towards an obviously very dangerous alien creature in the middle of the night, she was driven forward by a pure urge to know everything. She did the first thing that came to mind and shouted at him, as well as picking him up with her simple telekinesis-like magic. The creature within seconds of this used a strong surge of unrefined magic to burst free of her field and bolted into the forest. After the pain from having a spell disbanded from pure brute force had faded, Twilight, not willing to loose a chance at knowledge of another world like this, put on a witch-like vibe and shouted, "After him! Don't let him get away, I'll get the princess!"
This was all rainbow needed, chasing down an alien for one of her best friends? she couldn't miss a chance like that she thought as she flew at breakneck speed down a crowded and dangerous forest after a monster she just saw swiftly and brutally destroy a full grown manticore in one-on-one combat.
~*~
As Henric ran he knew he would be chased by these new horse-demons, but he didn't expect it to be like this. A cyan one was flying up at him at an unreal speed, weaving nimbly in and out of trees. He looked back and estimated that it would be upon him in three seconds, then one second, then he spun around instantly facing the blue streak and ducking, holding his shield like a ramp. This had exactly the effect desired when the small monster whacked against his shield, making a loud bang and slid straight up, headfirst into a tree, before falling down leaving a bloody stain on the bark. Surly it was now dead, but if that was so how could this incarnation of speed itself be a true demon, bleeding mortal blood and dying mortal death?
~*~
Twilight Sparkle had said to her number one assistant one of her trademark lines, "Spike, take a letter."
The scaly green dragon-nymph happily obliged, taking a quill and piece of parchment from the librarian's saddlebag and whote down all she dictated to him.
Dear princess Celesta, I am sure that if the magical blast was as powerful as I think, it has traveled through to the Canterlot palace. I have made discoveries I think you would be most interested in at the start point of this surge, near Ponyville, I hope that you will be able to make it soon so I may show you what was learned.
Your most faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle
No sooner was this scroll enveloped in green flames and sent to Twilight's beloved ruler and mentor than a blinding yellow light of pure energy shot through the area, but this magic was controlled, refined, and was based upon the horn of a god-like alicorn. This was runoff from an immensely powerful and long-range teleport only about two creatures in this world could complete, both of whom were now in the meadow at the edge of the forest, with worried expressions.
~*~
After the death of the blue one, Henric could see no threat on the horizon, so he walked up to investigate the body. He lifted the pegasus from the ground. It was still warm and the massive gash on its head was still bleeding. To make sure of its demise he felt the neck of the creature he was now sure was not a demon. There was a pulse. Not strong, but steady. It was faster than a humans showing the higher metabolism that comes with smaller creatures. He decided it was already brain dead, so the moral thing would be to finish the job, Not that he cared about moral or anything anyways.
As he reached down for his blade, an unthinkable event occurred. The flying horse that less than a minute ago he thought was dead, fluttered open its eyes after bashing its head solidly against a tree at near-sonic speeds.
~*~
Rainbow Dash opened her eyes to see the face of a beast. What had happened? Why was she here? Her vision began to come to focus and she began to remember. She was flying. She was flying fast. Why was she flying? She was chasing. What did she need to chase? The beast holding her. At this moment the pain of a crash that severe came to her. She could not scream though, even when she saw the bade to her throat, she could not scream. Was this demon going to kill her? Normally she would have brushed this thought off, the amazing Rainbow Dash could not simply die! But right now she was not invincible, she was filled with nothing but pain and primal fear, but try as she might she still couldn't scream.
~*~
Henric was about to sever the blue ones karroted artery, which would have had her dead within a couple of seconds, but at that moment another of the rare events where he was not prepared occurred. A blinding yellow light shot through the air, making him slip up just enough to release the somehow living creature, that could somehow fly straight. After it was out of sight he thought back to himself maybe it was a good thing he hadn't killed it. If his first day in a new world he was killing the locals, he would have become as legendary, hated, and feared as the monsters he was sent to slay back at his home, then these intelligent beings would have stopped at nothing to hunt him until he was found, and pour knights at him until he died. He decided that this was a bad place to stay as the one that should have been dead would lead the rest there. While hiking deeper into the forest he wondered what had caused the light.
~*~
As the two deities spoke with the unicorn about what on Equis could have caused a gash between worlds powerful enough to bring through an entire life form, probably sentient at that, a blue blur shot towards them from over the heads of the trees, until stopping a second before crashing into them.
Twilight spoke first, asking worriedly, "Rainbow Dash! what happened to your head? are you all right? Did you catch the creature?
To this barrage of questions the cyan tomstallion replied with an almost incomprehensible scream of, "Itwasgoonakillmeithadaknifeanditwouldakilledmebutthebrightlightand-"
A pink one with cotton candy hair stepped in, shoving her hoof in the rainbow maned one's mouth, then and with a high pitch voice said, "Jeez slow down Dashy, no one can understand you,!"
After a few minutes Rainbow had calmed down enough to tell her story, the details of which deeply horrified the mortals and gods of the group alike. Especially the dark blue on with the starlight mane. She was filled with rage at this beast just breaking through to her kingdom and attempting to kill her subjects, she would not rest until she had this new demons head.
~*~
Underneath the bottom of an ancient crypt,in a stone box a robe clad skeleton was thinking. He had originally planned for this spell of great power to be a last hurrah to show off his true power, but it did not seem fully appreciated, and he had a new idea. Through to the new world he could see magic. An almost endless supply of it, all the magic he had ever used in his great works had not even used one billionth of the magic available in this new world. He was sure that if he had access to this supply he would be ably to roam in a true body again. But how would he get this supply?he had a few plans, but he had very limited energy in this body-dead state. He had left a very small, about one by one millimeter by one millimeter, opening left to the other world and could definitely operate with this, he just needed a strategy.
"How had the creature survived?" This was all that Henric thought as he walked through the total darkness of the night and deeper still into the forest. It was going at well over one hundred miles for every hour it flew, and its head went square into a massive, solid, evergreen tree. Surely this had shattered its skull and snapped its thin neck right apart, but no. How could he harness a similar power to the blue one? If he himself could remain so resilient to damage he would be able to evade even the smallest chances of death. Normally he would have gone to investigate, but right now he had nearly invincible demon ponies who thirsted for his blood after him. As he walked he came to the realization he was getting far to deep into the forest and had no clue as to where it would come out on the other side. He didn't like it when he was clueless about something he was to face, so he began making a wide loop back the way he had come. He hoped to cross back by the horses on his return, going unnoticed and shaking them off his tail.
~*~
Although she did not show it as much as her death hungry sister, Princess Celestia wanted the demon away just as much. She believed all could be done humanely, so sending it back where it came from would be a better course of action than killing the alien outright. Rainbow Dash was still alive, so murder was not committed yet and what the alien did could be taken as self defense. As of yet she had no way to split between worlds, but containing the monster would be a good start. She spoke out saying, "We will camp here tonight. It is late and the beast's nest can not be too far in. We will find it tomorrow morning and see what should be done about it."
This pleased every creature there except for Princess Luna. She was nocturnal so had no desire, or need to sleep like the rest of them. She would venture in alone for this demon. She held a grudge on demons ever since she killed every last one of them on equestria because they antagonized her beautiful night.
Celestia had called over the royal guard who were worried, to say the least, after her sudden disappearance. If the princess had been harmed in any way they would probably have been imprisoned for failure to complete their job, and now at the same time both of the royal family members had disappeared in a flash of energy. Upon the princess's call they tumbled into the royal chariot as fast as they could while the royal pegasi transportation team flew them to the magical beacon set up by the princess. There was a small plot of land there placed under a protective spell against the beasts of the night, but once the ruler saw the soldiers, she weakened the field enough to allow them to pass through.
The camp was not large, but it was safe and at the late hour it took no time for everypony to fall into the deep, warm embrace of sleep. All but one. Luna, hearing the gentle snores of all those around her decided it was time to act. She rose from her simple lodgings and headed out, blasting the shield once to weaken it enough for her escape into the cool night of her creation.
~*~
Henric had walked hours into the forest and now he had gone for hours out. Though he could tell that morning was coming, though the sun had not yet made any sort of attempt at a capture of the horizon. He had finally come to the edge of the forest like he wanted, but the horses had decided to nest here instead of deeper in as he had hoped. He stood and watched, planning, and thinking when a large one about his hight emerged and stared directly at him.
Luna was looking at the fabled demon, but it did not strike her with as evil a vibe as the little ponies had described it would. She had expected a red skinned, horned, bipedal demon, but what she saw was not hulking or rage filled. Instead it was something that needed its armor, not just for show but for defense. Even so she new it was deadly and charged for him, horn pointed for his heart and anger in her eyes.
He watched as this larger pony took a few seconds scanning him over and observed that it had a horn and wings. It was probably much more dangerous than the smaller members of its species. The beast then charged Henric. He decided to use the opportunity for a closer look. He grabbed it by the horn and used this protruding bone that tingled with power to swing himself onto its back. Then he spoke, realizing the creatures did not know he even had basic sentience with a, "Can you speak like the little ones?"
When Luna thought she would have penetrate the flesh of the demon and send energy coursing out from her horn in order to disintegrate the beast, something else caught on her horn, a hand. The demon swung itself onto her back and then he spoke asking her, "Can you speak like the little ones?" Its voice was quiet, and raspy. It sounded like it need to be oiled.
The blue princess replied by flinging of the monster, yet it still landed on his feet, and charged her horn to fire a stream of magical energy to kill it, shouting, "Begone foul demon from another world you never should have come!"
This amused Henric and he replied, "I believe you are mistaken for you are the demon here, not I, and it was not based upon my own will that I have graced your bright world with my presence."
These words enraged Luna. This murderer was now saying that she was a demon. This was obviously just a lie from its forked tongue, so she channeled all the force she could muster through her horn and sent it directly at the beast, while it in return flung its shield in her direction.
~*~
Cornelius Thornbearer was confident that the clever one would be alright as he watched the events of this new world unfold before him. The young devil had bested too many of his most deadly dungeons to simply be defeated by these horse demons. He was also channeling a bit of his own power through to the one called Henric to ensure his survival, as he was his only way to look through to the new land. Cornelius chuckled as he began sending dark powers of the dead through his portal like a deep, red mist.
A young magician was sitting in his manor, very displeased with his raiding expedition for its failure. He had tried to make absolutely sure it could not fail no matter what, but none had returned and he definitely had no new knowledge for all his trouble, except that even if everybody tells you that a man is the greatest slayer to ever live, and you pay a massive amount of gold for his services, he can still fail. Prince Landen wanted what was at the bottom of that tomb very, very badly, and in his desperation he came to the conclusion to get what he wanted himself. He had great magical abilities and more than enough wealth to fund any expeditions down to the darkness below.
~*~
The royal guard, Shining Star, awoke with the others to the sound of an immense amount of magic being discharged. Having been trained for situations like this, he was up from the ground in seconds and wide awake, along with the rest of his troop. The royal guard scanned the surrounding area for the source of this power until he saw Princess Luna herself battling the demon he had been sent to compromise. Once Celestia had awoken and saw what was going on, she had dispelled the magical barrier surrounding the encampment, allowing the honorary soldier to sprint out towards the spot of the conflict. He lunged at the beast that was doing battle with his beloved ruler. Unfortunately for him it somehow saw him coming and spun around, stabbing him right where spine met skull, killing him instantly.
~*~
So these horses were mortal, his blade had proved. Why was the first one not killed by the direct impact with the tree, there was surely much more force in that then his arm's swing, Henric thought as he swung back to face the raging beast ahead of him. Seeing its horn charging for another blast, he ducked into the forest and started running. The creature was able to at the last minute convert the blast spell she was about to fire into a simple telekinesis spell. With all the power she had charged it was powerful beyond belief, Henric could not escape from this one.
The deep blue one spoke, "What do you have to say for yourself on the murder of a royal guard and the assault of Rainbow Dash?"
At these words Henric felt himself grow stronger. Red mist encircled him and flowed inside him. He could overpower this beast, and he knew it now. He replied with the speaking of an ancient hex from the time before his world was conquered by the great king, Alzarda, and demons of hate incarnate were the gods of all.
The very ground beneath Luna's feet became flame as a portal to the underworld made by Rishna himself opened and began tugging at her soul. This commotion understandably caused the princess to lose her concentration, releasing Henric, who watched as the goddess of the night was sucked directly into hell.
~*~
Celestia watched in complete horror as her sister was taken to an unknown dimension. There was no doubt that this was a wicked nasty demon now, but still she thought she could not outright destroy it. The beast probably was the only key to retrieving her sister, and after a thousand years without her, she knew losing her again would do herself in. In desperation, for now she knew the power of the creature and would not directly confront him, she decided reasoning with the strange demon would be a good way to go. Celestia was very wise and she knew that demons could be tricked by those with the cleverest of tongues.
"Please, Stop!" she cried, "We do not wish to do harm to you, guards stand down!"
The armor clad ponies preparing for a would have been thoroughly epic battle backed off leaving Henric free to speak, so he took advantage of this lack of hostility and replied, "Then why has all you have done while I was hear been trying to hurt me in some way?"
"We apologize for that," the sagacious alicorn replied, "But now with the promise of no further hostilities, would you please bring back my sister?"
"What sister?" Replied Henric confusedly, "Oh, you mean the blue one. No, once one has entered Rishna's lair you will have to physically bash your way through every decayed soul who has ever had their life taken from them, and hope you reach the one you want to save before they have been consumed. None have ever returned." And with that he teleported away about a hundred feet through into the forest and sprinted to his left, staying near the edge, but the horses did not know this.
~*~
The goddess of the night had just been sucked into another dimension. This was all she knew. Upon examining her surroundings she found she was in a barren, red landscape that seemed to be made completely of flame. There were far off moans coming from all around she thought she could see spirits forming in the wind every now and then. She began treading through the fire, noting it did not even feel warm, but instead icy. What was she to do? there was no food, water or sustainability in this wasteland, then she saw him.
Rishna was the demon lord of death in the world Henric was native to. He was made mostly of fear and a bit of anguish, so had no definite shape that he was restrained to. He was in fact the underworld itself and could manipulate any part of it as easily as a human could close his own hand, but for meetings like this he chose the form he had before ascending to godhood. He had been one of the three most powerful demons to walk the world, before his soul had been bound to the realm of his creation. This monster's was the form he had decided on before his planet had even been fully formed. He laughed as he approached Luna, but the sound was not emitted from the creature, but from the very walls they were contained in.
Rishna spoke, the world around saying, "It is not everyday a true goddess is sent to my humble realm, and bound with that mortal body too. Please, enjoy your stay."
The goddess of the night replied to the very incarnation of death by spitting out, "You foul demon of demons. Release me back to my own realm before I bring down the very heavens to split apart your putrid soul and release thy own demons to devour it!"
Rishna chuckled again. This new one was brash, angry, and did not seem wise as a god should be. Almost as if she had lost a thousand years of existence and had never had time to catch up to being a true god. Even so, he liked her. He knew he would release her when the time came, as a god of any sort could not be kept from their own land for long, but this did not mean he could not have a bit of fun first. With this death itself receded back into the realm it was, leaving behind Luna, alone, again.
~*~
Henric was tired of this monotonous game of cat and mouse he and the ponies were playing, as it was getting him nowhere fast. He decided the best thing to do would be to learn what he was dealing with. How many of them were there? What were the differences between this world and his own? How could he leave? He decided to look for a pony settlement he could start from, nothing to big. He would work his way up from here until at the lead government of these creatures. He would probably assassinate their rulers and take this world as his own, binding him with the magic around making the barriers between worlds easier to manipulate and aid in his return. Once back he would track down and kill that child who had sent him to do this, not for his own sake but to show to others that he was not to be fooled with.
~*~
The one who had sent Henric on his task was now entering the tomb of his magical idol. This Cornelius could feel from his crypt. He could manipulate the grounds above to kill the intruder just about instantly, but he did not. He had plans for lad on top of being a little fond of him, after all, he was his eighteen-generation great grandson. This connection of bloodlines would make it less energy consuming to see what he saw than with Henric. He would wait for the young man to come within a safe range for him to call out with his voice, and coax him through the portal. He could then instruct him on what to do from there on out, and channel his energy through him. He would gain power until he had enough to construct an immensely strong demon, which he would take control of and use as his new body. This was the plan.
A/N: After reading back over the previous chapters I found that the story seems to be shallow, with only step by step events being told. I also feel that our main character, well he doesn't have much character. In order to try to keep this story flowing, and give some suitable fleshing out of Henric, as well as room for his character's progression, I will dedicate this chapter to him, as well as trying to maintain more of his point of view in coming chapters.
Henric had been running at a steady pace for under an hour before he decided to emerge from the forest. It was late morning now and he heard the distant chatter of voices. This was probably a pony settlement, exactly what he was looking for, so he decided to investigate.
Out of the forest there was a hill that lead down to what appeared to be a small town. Like much else in this strange world it was much brighter and more cheerful than he believed a town rightfully should be, based on what he had learned in his gloomy existence. This pony colony did not intimidate him in the least bit, much less the pastel colored residents navigating happily through it, but he would not be fooled. He decided to get into the town with extreme caution, trying his best to remain undetected. He walked to the bottom of the hill and took cover among the bushes around a "Welcome to Ponyville!" sign. The writing upon the sign in the most painfully obvious of ways confirmed that this was indeed a pony inhabited town. From this cover he walked deeper into the heart of the village, moving from hiding spot to hiding spot in order to remain undetected while picking up on the banter of the surrounding ponies, trying to find any information that could prove useful.
After quite a bit of hopping around, Henric had a basis to plan his assault on this race with. The one in charge of this town was called "Mayor Mare." Apparently this ruler had no extra-ordinary powers over this town and the citizens just listened to her due to their need for leadership. This was not a strong bond as leadership could be provided in many different ways, so starting a rebellion would not be difficult. If he could bring down any leading figures, anarchy would break out and the residents would look up to anything they could get for some sort of order. He would be there, although not directly. He would pull strings from behind this stage until everything pointed his way, and with a militia of these magical beings he could expand to amazing heights.
~*~
Manticores, although definitely not social, did have a kind of unwritten code of kinship between themselves. They would not hunt each other, and if an alpha of their species was killed they would band together, smell down the one who did it, and tear them apart. This was knowledge passed down generation to generation within this species of monster, basicly to keep them at the top of the food chain by eliminating any that opposed their strength. When one of the largest male alphas was found sliced and dead with a very distinct scent path leading directly from his body, something was going to be done about it. Once the manticores had all conjoined around the body, a hair raising bellow bringing them, they seemed to come to an agreement and all lumbered through the forest to the left at a frightening speed.
~*~
Henric was making his way to city hall, his best guess as to where the mayor would be found, when he heard low growls and screams coming his way. The one who could only be the mayor based on her appearance that he had pieced together in his mind based off of the talk of the ponies around town passed the bush he was hiding behind, right as a herd of manticores overtook her running and tore the mare apart. That was one thing off of his to do list, but now it got more difficult with these angry lion-like beasts swarming the town. When the manticores that had killed the mayor reached the bush he was behind they stopped, and sniffed the air. When they began to converge on him, Henric knew he had been found. He had hoped to wait this one out, but it was probably him that they were after anyways. Thinking this, he leapt from the shrubbery that had been his only shelter, landing atop one of the larger of the beasts. He broke off its tail when it shot out towards him and cut open the face of the massive creature he was on, before jumping to another manticore as it lunged for him, effectively causing a brutal manticore-lision that shattered bones and killed both of the beasts. He pulled out his crossbow and shot it for the eye of an advancer, imbuing the bolt with the energy of fire. The shot struck directly in the attackers eye, boiling blood and catching its head on fire. The beast howled in pain as the fire spread inside of its head, effectively melting its brain. Henric used his small size to an advantage, darting beneath a behemoth and ripping open its throat before spinning around to face the rest and seeing a paw flying towards him. He only had enough time to lift his shield before the blow hit square-on sending him flying backwards.
As the effects of a severe concussion set in, all was blurry to Henric like he had had to much mead. He still rose to his feet. His arm had been broken in six paces, and no mortal had the right to still be conscious after that, but he was. He was not only conscious but still alert, although his mind was not so dead-set on fighting anymore. He estimated about twenty manticores were left, and all of them were rushing his position. Knowing there was no way to take them on in combat, he put an aegis of flame up around him, that would withstand damage until he grew too weak to maintain the field, or his concentration was entirely broken. His left arm hung limp by his side, shield still attached and his sword arm was up and ready to strike. He put a magical charge through his enchanted weapon, so all that was needed for a kill was contact with the enemies flesh and started his own charge towards the advancing wall of beast. the first one to come near him made a slash with its paw for Henric's head, met with the flat end of his blade. An extremely powerful magical current flowed through the monster stopping its heart. Another tried to pick the slayer up in his mouth, but only caught a mouthful of magical flame, which burn off its very head before consuming the rest of the manticore. Henric then tried some on the offensive darting around and made shallow incisions is three beasts, killing them all, before they caught on. As six members of the pack flew at him, Henric filtered as much magic from the around him as humanly possible through his very essence, moulding it into the pure energy he wanted, and sent it surging from him in all directions. This disintegrated the assaulting members of the team.
After this brutal bash to their assaulting force, the remaining nine manticores were far more careful with the attack on this strange creature. The one who had injured him was still alive, so they followed that alpha. The manticores spread around the smaller beast and began weaving in and and out of combat with it. Suddenly the creature shot a beam of magic, effectively cremating two of the attacking creatures.
Henric saw now only seven members of the attack squad were left. This was a much more manageable number, but he was growing weak. He had to pull down his spells due to lack of strength to sustain them with, and put up a more defensive stance. Hexes and incantations used far less energy to complete due to the fact most were actually calls to some deity, but they could not deliver a clean kill. He put up a hex to sap the strength of the remaining monsters, and deliver the energy to Rhaja, the archdemon of war. This would both weaken his foes and earn him favor on the battlefield. They kept lunging in, with grace and tactics. He was parrying their light, fast blows, but was still tiring faster than they were. He quickly learned their intricate dance of combat and held his blade at an angle which cut the throat of an oncoming manticore. He used the surprise of the others at this sudden death and leapt upon one of the remaining six manticores stabbing down into its brain. He leapt behind the carcass narrowly avoiding a blow from another of the beasts. He used his last bit of strength to send a wave of force-precussion magic at the five manticores still alive, sending them off in various directions. After this, he collapsed to the ground unconscious. Unbeknownst to him nearly the whole of ponyville had watched the entire event.
Henric awoke inside the ponyville hospital. He could not believe that he had awoken. If he had been the ponies who had found him, he would have killed himself. Maybe these creatures were more forgiving than his own, or maybe they just had some sort of honor to their battles. His arm was in a sling, and a cast. He had never seen an actual plaster cast, due to the fact that they didn't exist in the world he had come from. This new contraption intrigued him, it seemed it would hold his broken bones in place so that they would heal correctly.
He sat for a few minutes examining his surroundings, taking note of how everything looked white and sanitary. Where he came from, most medicine consisted of bleeding out infections, using some medicinal herbs, and praying for good health. Here there were magical sciences and logic at work to try to extend the lives of any who came seeking help in their sickness, meaning that many of the things he saw here were completely new to him.
As he was taking in the drastic change of scenery, a white coat, strange hat, and soft pink mane walked in. She noted that he was awake, and left the room. When she returned a few minutes later it was with some guards and a mob of anxious ponies. Some of the ponies looked scared, some amazed, and some genuinely full of thank. Henric had expected to see the scared faces, but he had also expected hate, rage, and murder.
All of the amazed horse-like creatures seemed tense, like they were waiting for him to jump on him and attack, so he decided to set them more at ease, after all a readied enemy is much harder to bring down then an oblivious one. The manticore-slayer spoke saying in simple, low voice, "I thank you all for seeing to my injuries. I surely would have ended up in a far worse condition than I currently am in if it had not been for your concern."
At this the crowd erupted. They had been half expecting this murderous alien, who had incidentally saved them all, to jump upon them and slash off all of their heads. This kind manner they definitely did not see coming, but it still thrilled them. The terrifying monster that had single handedly killed a large part of the manticore population in the Greene Forest had just spoken their language, and it was friendly.
Henric saw the admiration in these creatures expressions, and heard the praise they gave him. It was just a little bit, but as much as Henric hated to admit it to himself, he felt something at this. He basked in the warmth that their smiles gave off. It felt good. He knew that his shield of staidness from living a life in darkness had begun to chip away in this new world of happiness. Henric had taken his first step on the long and twisted path that lead to love.
~*~
Twilight Sparkle ran. She ran like she never had before, her body was protesting based on its previous bookish and non-athletic life, but she still pushed it on. She and the rest of her party had just been informed that the violent creature that had intruded her world and whom they were pursuing had just come to in the ponyville hospital. She ran for knowledge, and answers for what in equestria was currently going on.
They all ran for about ten minutes before arriving in town, all winded, bar the one remaining goddess. The first thing Miss Sparkle noticed was the smell. The very scent of death was emanating from all around the quaint town. Next she noticed the blood in the streets, and finally the bodies of many gargantuan manticores lining the streets. Most were mangled in some way, charred or chopped up. She knew it was the work of the beast they had seen earlier, what else had the power to do something like this?
The ever joking Pinkie Pie stated facetiously, "Wow does this guy really hate manticores!" before backing off when she realized none of her friends were in very laughing moods.
Celestia, repulsed by al of the death creeping around her, fired from her horn a blast not quite hot enough to melt the stone pavings of the street, but instead burnt away the carcasses littering the way. She then proceeded, without speaking a word, to the hospital where the beast was being contained. She wondered how her little ponies were doing in holding up against the rage it would surely have after awakening to find itself in containment. She shuddered and hoped for the best as she walked into the house of healing, the rest of her party in tow.
Celestia was stunned upon entry of the room she had learned held the beast who had killed dozens of manticores and murdered one of her loyal royal guards, as well as assaulting Rainbow Dash. The monster was not struggling against its containment, and the ponies had no need to battle to keep the monster from wrecking havoc through the world they called theirs. It appeared that the alien and her subjects were socializing, and happy. They were chatting, the onies with amazed looks in their eyes as they questioned the foreign creature in the room.
Celestia decided to get their attention, so she cleared her throat, making an exaggerated,"Ahem."
This act instantly bought the eyes of everycreature in the room towards her instantly, with some saying things along the lines of, "Princess Celestia, please forgive me!"
Celestia was always a little bit irked with how over-respected she was by her subjects, but she would not bring up the need for more casual greetings now. She needed answers.
"Everypony please leave, besides the elements, and you." She said directing her vision at the strange creature that lay in the bed, with its ice cold eyes staring right back at her.
~*~
Sir Samuel was Prince Landen's must trusted hard. He had been born wealthy under has father, a very renowned knight, and had learned great combat skills at a young age. The prince, who was about ten years younger than he, had snapped up the opportunity to hire this honorable swordsman. His father had served for the royal family for quite some time and Samuel and Landen had forged a nearly fraternal bond together. Landen did not go many places without Samuel by his side and Samuel did not go many places without Landen. It would not have ever occurred in a million decades that Landen would go through these crypts alone, because Samuel would be by his side no matter what. Samuel had ventured into this tomb with Landen, he had heard the voice of the necromancer with Landen and now he was going deeper into the unknown than ever before with Landen. The voice had instructed them to go through a portal. Landen had searched the room with his magic for said portal, until he found one speck of power seeping through one world to another. He had used an immense amount of power to enlarge the split between worlds, and they had stepped through.
The new world was amazing. They had gone in one stride from a musty dungeon that scarcely had fresh air to breath, to a wonderland. There were signs of an abandoned camp nearby, and the voice had instructed them to follow the tracks until they came to a town. Landen would listen to whatever the voice would tell him to do, and Samuel would listen to whatever Landen told him to do.
They had followed these tracks o the town which the voice had told them they would arrive to. It seemed colorful, and surreal. The town had a surreal feel to it and was overly colorful. The town also seemed to be deserted, and struck the two companions as very creepy.
The voice told them to travel deeper in, which they did, until they saw a creature. They stared at this creature, and the creature stared right back at them.
Henric had found the creatures very easily fooled into trusting him. Henric was probably one of the last beings you would want to trust in the universe. If he saw that your death would lead to his personal gain in even the most slight of ways the killer would go right ahead with insuring your death, after all he had assassinated his own father at the age of sixteen years due to the fact that he needed to surpass him to be called the best slayer of the realm. All that the ponies needed in order to give him their complete belief was a friendly word and a bit of help. He guessed that this trust was due to the fact that this was a very peaceful place. This would also explain the inefficiency of their combat skills due to lack of experience in battle.
Right now Henric was staring at the party of creatures he had seen in the forest. He noted that the ones the white larger beast had ordered to leave the room had referred to it as a "Princess". This suggested that this intelligent specie's government was much like his own, with a royal family ruling over the lower common folk. This was useful information as it told him who he needed to kill, and he guessed one of them was already gone.
~*~
Celestia was worried. Her subjects now liked this murderer, and on top of that she was without her sister for guidance. She had never been a good ruler alone. She was too gentle, and would not adequately act forth, or give punishments. Luna was the opposite, being strong and harsh. Without one of the two it did not work quite as well. Their rule was all one big balance of light and dark, good and bad, yin and yang. She would need to adapt to be more powerful as she had in the thousand years of her sister's absence.
Celestia put on a harsher tone than usual and told the beast before her, "It is time for answers. Explain yourself."
~*~
"Kill it quietly and stow the body away. Remain unseen, move as a whisper. We must move deeper in and learn of our enemy."
The voice spoke from inside their heads. It was not just suggesting, or even commanding. It was in a way forcing. While the two would have willingly done the tasks, the power of the necromancer had been seeping into their minds and taking some control over their actions. It could not actively move them or really force them to do anything, but it could impose its will more, and make things be on the top of their agendas.
Landen took to the orders of his idol and made a void around the head of the odd bright monster. This cut off all air supply from its lungs, and made sound unable to move past its lips. It had fallen unconscious in about thirty seconds, so Landen held the spell about another Forty to ensure it would not survive. After he had dropped the void and released it back into the realm of emptiness he walked to the body.
He held his hand over where he had decided, with his great education in anatomy, its heart would be and felt no pulse. It was neither inhaling nor exhaling. Samuel hoisted the beast over his shoulder and dropped it behind a nearby bush. It would stay well-hidden there for about a week before the smell of the body's rot revealed its location.
"What do you think it is?" The larger of the two, Samuel, asked his friend.
Landen replied, "I do not know for sure, as I have never seen anything like it. By its hooves and anatomy I can deduct that it is equine in nature."
"Why do you think he asked us to kill it?" The armor clad one asked.
"It is probably dangerous, seeing as it is jauntily traipsing around around this town, with a brightly colored coat." replied his companion, "Did you not also see it moving its mouth as if to speak while I was holding the void around it? These are probably the masters of this world."
Samuel chuckled a bit before stating, "A world run by horses. A wonder there isn't more shit in the streets."
The two friends had a bit of a laugh at this before the voice cut in saying, "There is no time for this! Remember remain unseen and try to work through the city. You are foreign to this world, and it is best you keep it that way. I would also like it if you kept the number of casualties at a minimum."
The two took to these words and ducked through the city. It was nearly empty, but they did have to dodge away from a couple of the "horses" from time to time.
A pair of the equines walked passed them and they heard a bit of a conversation from two of them.
"What do you think it was?" a beige one had asked.
A green on replied, "I have no idea, but can you imagine how well it must be able to play the lyre with those appendages?"
This had proven that these were the masters of this dimension, and perhaps even more unsettlingly that there were more humans here.
"Maybe," Landen thought aloud, in nothing more than a whisper, "my raiding party was not quite so unsuccessful as I had first come to believe."
~*~
Cornelius was behind the wheel as he liked it to be. He could pull strings on his puppets, getting him everything he wanted, and never get his own hands dirty. All his complete control of the situation needed was a couple of sentences of instruction here or there to keep his puppets dancing. He was slowly draining energy from his hosts, albeit not enough to harm them or let them notice, but he was slowly and surely getting back on his feet. He could feel a fire growing in his consciousness and now he was sure it would not be blown out by a gust of wind provided by a modern mage finding his existence. There was no way to stop it now, Cornelius Thornbearer would live again.
~*~
Luna had been fighting. Fighting souls of unthinkable creatures and demons that nothing, god or mortal, should ever have to see. She had been fighting the very hell that she was contained within and all of its contents. She had been fighting for her soul and her mind and her pureness. She would not stop fighting until she was where she belonged. All of this Rishna knew. He also knew it would destroy her world if he kept her much longer.
Luna was strong, and she had been wearing down on the very being of death itself. Slowly but surely, this lesser god had been destroying Rishna. Rishna knew this too. He decided it unsafe to contain her for too long and so he spoke to the enraged goddess ripping apart pieces of his consciousness.
"Little one. Why do you strain your powers so hard to return to your realm?"
Luna replied with rage in her voice, "I must return to my subjects! I must not desert them!"
"Ah so you have left the ones you love before and fear it happening again?" the realm of the dead replied.
Lunas tone softened a bit and her tone lost a bit of hate, "That was long ago and behind me. I can not leave them again. My world needs me!"
"That it does little one, the flames of the underworld replied, "It is not often I say this but as you have learned not to leave the land you belong in, unlike some from the realm most directly connected to mine, you may leave."
The flames dissolved from around the princess of the night and she was left standing alone in the field which had been the last place she had seen her world.
The air was sweet, the sun was gentle, and the grass was green. The birds were chirping, the fish were swimming, and the princess of the night was hunting down an out of place demon from another realm, revenge on her mind.
"Yes I will answer any questions you may have, but may I first request a glass of water?" Henric spoke to the group of ponies before him.
"Yes of course," Princess Celestia replied, "Nurse, would you please be so kind as to bring our guest a glass of water?"
"Certainly your majesty." the one they called Redheart said as she hurried out of the room.
Henric rose to his feet, finding his armor's top removed, lying next to him along with his bag. He used his free arm to lift this leather pouch and withdraw from it the salted beef he had taken with him. As he began to chew on a slab of the flesh, the ponies gasped.
One of them said, "What in tarnation is that?"
Henric replied simply through his mouth full of food, "Cow."
The purple one began furiously scribbling on her notepad, but the yellow one looked genuinely enraged, shouting at him with a look designed to make a stone cringe in fear, "I knew you were a meanie, but now you are eating nice cows! Drop that at once!"
Henric mentally chuckled at the small creatures vain attempts to intimidate him, and continued chewing on the preserved beef.
The ponies were now looking sick to their stomachs, so Henric spoke, "You are the masters of your world yet you do not rise to the top of it. What is the meaning of that silliness?"
"Why do you consume others this way? are you a carnivore?" the big one questioned.
Henric replied to this, still shoving the beef into his mouth, "I am an eater of both plant and flesh, but for a longer journey I am sure the plants can produce nothing even close to the equal efficiency in energy for weight, or last as long. That is why I have brought this with me."
"But why would you eat a cow?" the white one replied, "Surely it would be quite a bit more humane to consume something of less intelligence?"
"The cow is far from what I would call intelligent." Henric replied through his full mouth, "Besides, have you not seen other meat eating creatures here? Those manticores were obviously flesh eaters."
The orange one spoke in what sounded like a Khadrian accent, with quite a few differences, "Now wait here mister. Just because cows may not be the brightest folk to walk the fields, you have no right to call them unintelligent, let alone eat them.
Henric replied, still eating, "Cows can hardly be described as folk, for one who does not even possess the ability of higher communication has obviously not been blessed by their gods."
The orange one responded saying, " What d'ya mean no higher forms of communication? I just had a conversation with Bessie down by the farm yesterday mornin', and she seemed all right in the head."
"Our perception of cattle is obviously very different, for if one were found speaking to a bovine creature back in my realm they would more than likely be executed on terms of insanity." Henric replied, "But then again, I have not yet questioned my own sanity seeing as I am currently speaking to brightly colored quadrupedal equines who have taken me captive."
The orange one, obviously becoming flustered by this continuing confrontation replied, "And i'm the one talkin' to the stuck up inter-dimensional bald monkey!"
Henric, growing amused was about to make a clever retort, when the big white one cit in saying, "Stop this foolish bickering. There is much to be done and there is not time enough to spare wasting it on this angry back and forth." in a stern, yet reassuring voice.
"Please show some restraint while devouring intelligent life in front of my subjects," she said magically pulling the dried meat from the murderer's grasp. "Meanwhile there are serious questions to be answered!"
The pony nurse walked in with a glass of water atop a tray, which Henric took and began sipping from. It appeared he was out of things to stall the ponies from gaining more knowledge about him, which could lead to an advantage over him on their part, and would now have to offer up some stilted and bent of the truth.
"Alright where would you like to begin?" he stated.
~*~
"What exactly are we searching for here?" The young Prince Landen asked.
"You are looking for any information on this species you may come across." the disembodied voice of the necromancer spoke, "Anything of culture, anatomy, magical ability. I have a feeling there is something significant about these horses."
The two companions were examining the corpse of a fallen pony. They were not masters in the art of stealth, so confrontation by one of these creatures was inevitable. This one had been quickly and quietly dispatched, like the first with no mutilations given to its bright flesh. It was pure and good to examine.
"I'm not sure it can fly. If this world's physics work in a similar fashion to those of our own, I doubt it would be able to get off of the ground even by an inch." the young prince observed, "Maybe it could glide, or fly with some magical help."
Samuel added to his friend's statement, saying, "The one I dragged behind that bush wasn't too light. I don't think it had wings either."
"I have noticed that." Landed replied, "It appears there are a few subspecies of these horse-like beings. I have seen horned and winged ones so far. There may be more."
"So, it probably wouldn't hurt to get a few more horse-cadivers in order to get more into the study of this species?" Samuel inquired hopefully.
His friend replied, "Well, we have been instructed to gather as much information as we can, so a few more fatalities may prove to be beneficial."
"Good," Samuel replied with a smile, "A bit more leeway for unavoidable incidents."
Landen withdrew from his robes a scalpel, which he brought along the belly of this current specimen.
"I want to look inside," He explained. "We know nothing about the anatomy of these things. Their internal workings may be different from ours in every aspect. This could explain flight for such a proportionately awkward being."
~*~
Princess Luna flew at a nearly sonic speed towards her sister. She could feel the solar energy emanating from the spot, so always knew where she was.
She did not stop to look at the sign which read, "Welcome to Ponyville" or enjoy the scenery of the small and peaceful town. She had but two commands instructing her body on the way she should interact with the world around her. Find the demon. Kill the demon.
Luna would have gone right through the wall of the hospital she knew her sister was in, but something that she viewed as just as urgent popped into her path.
Demons. Evil demons and they were killing one of hers. She did not even stop to evaluate the situation like she normally would have. She just shot a beam of energy directly from her horn.
The powerful attack did not strike, as the smaller of the two demons dispelled its force using a barrier with magic of its own. It maintained fairly powerful magical force.
She quickly reminded herself that it did not matter how much magical force these demons had. She was a goddess, and fighting from her own land. It was true she had the most power in the night time, but she could still draw energy from her world during the day. She could overpower anything these demons would try. She launched her full attack with this in mind.
She bashed and stabbed and melted and burned and froze the intruders. She did not stop he assault until their corpses had been reduced to nothing but ashes. The demons flew away in the wind, and she shot off again towards the hospital.
~*~
As his minions were being brutally murdered, all Cornelius Thornbearer could think was, "Dammit, I thought she had been taken care of by my first subject."
He was not pleased with this interference to his plan, but decided to try and reformulate his plan around it, instead of changing his attack strategy entirely. This blue one obviously had great power, and wasn't that exactly what he was looking for? He sent out his conscience and latched onto her mind. He could now use her like he had his other hosts.
The first thing the necromancer noticed upon entry of the body of the blue creature was the massive amounts of energy she possessed.
"My," he thought, "Am I in the presence of a world builder?"
This thought delighted him. He had accidentally stumbled into the most powerful thing this world had to offer. What better or faster way to grow enough energy to execute his plan? All he had to do now was continue drawing its energy and remain undetected.
The parasite had found a host, and everything was going to be easier for him than he could have hoped.
