//------------------------------// // Prologue // Story: Fallen Equestria // by Kickass222urmom //------------------------------// Prologue “I don't like this,” Wyntir exclaimed grimly as he examined the graveyard, and the shambling corpses within, that lay before him. His grip on his newly acquired sword, one once used by the Undead Legion, tightened. “What is it? More undead?” Kara asked, her hand firmly attached to Wyntir’s shoulder for guidance. Wyntir turned his head to look at his blind maiden, her eyes white as snow. He considered lying to her, but decided against it. “A whole mess of them, too many for me to comfortable lead you through.” Kara’s face showed her displeasure at his response, “Then we need to find a way through.” Wyntir repressed a sigh, and looked over the scene before them. The paths were too narrow, with hollowed undead close together. There was no going back either, as the group of undead who hunted them were surely close at this point. “Those hollowed undead ahead of us don't look too tough, maybe I can cut through them and make a path for us...” He trailed off, his right hand readjusting the swords blade on his black pauldron while his left hand gripped the hilt of the longsword sheathed on his hip. “Can you do that?” Kara asked, eager to move forward on their journey. Before Wyntir could reply, the sounds of plate armor and chainmail running up the path could be heard behind them. “Ahead! I see them ahead!” the lead undead exclaimed, followed by the cheers of the many undead behind him. “Change of plans, we're running past them,” Wyntir exclaimed as he turned and threw Kara over his left shoulder. He then sprinted away from the sane undead as they let out mock howls, imitating wolves on the hunt. Wyntir expertly and agilely, despite his stone like armor, weaved his way through the mass of undead, dodging their slow swings when he had too. Behind them, the Undead hunters were not fairing as well. With the hollowed undead being railed up by Wyntir zooming past, they began to converge on the hunters trying to follow him. Up ahead, Wyntir ziq zaged through the paths, hoping that his randomly chosen paths won't lead to a dead end. However, just as he jumped over two hollows, he found himself in a pit. A pit filled with hollows and too steep to climb out of. Wyntir cursed aloud as he sat Kara down, allowing her to stand on her own. “Do not move.” He commanded, to which she nodded. He turned to the hollows in the pit and held the fairly large sword firmly in both hands. The hollows, meanwhile, were starting to advance on them. Angry growls coming from deep down in their throats. With a grunt, Wyntir swung the sword horizontally, cleaving through the first few. Just as the sword cut through the last one, he redirected its momentum and swung it back through the small crowd in front of him. After two more passes, the last of the hollows fell. “Quickly,” he urged as he grabbed Kara’s hand and began to move towards the back of the pit. But as they reached the back wall of the pit, there was a sudden pop above them, like the sound of lighting. Wyntir looked up, his sword held defensively in front of himself and Kara. But what he saw caught him off guard. In the sky above the pit was a dark cloud, with evil green eyes staring straight down at them. “What in the name of...” was all Wyntir could say. “What is it?!” Kara demanded, her voice filled with freight. Wyntir didn't know what he was looking at, before he could comprehend what he was seeing, the hunters suddenly poured into the pit. From the way they acted, Wyntir could tell they hadn't taken noticed of the green eyed cloud above them. Thus, he chose to ignore it till it showed itself to be a threat. He then focused all of his attention on the group before him. They didn't say a word, they just rushed Wyntir. But they all immediately backed up when he cut down the first three with only two swings of his large sword. They were at a loss for words, but that only lasted a moment. “You need a big sword to fight, coward?” one of them snapped at him. “Too afraid to fight with honor like a real man and use a normal sized weapon?!” Wyntir just stood there, his stance unwavering as he held the sword in a defensive manner. He knew what they were trying to do. They were trying to play at his ego, trying to get him to cast aside his large sword. It was a good tactic, and would work on anyone who is openly proud of their skills in combat. They needed an edge to tip the battle in their favor. Well, Wyntir could care less about honor. But they wanted an edge, and he'd give them one. In one motion, Wyntir dropped his sword and drew the longsword. Before his larger sword had time to hit the ground, he was already in a fool's guard stance, body leaning forward with his sword angled downward. This caused a smile to form on all the faces of the few undead left. They again rushed him, believing that attacking all at once would yield the best results. However, as the first one to reach him lunged forward, ready to impale him, Wyntir leaned his body back and sliced his sword upward. This caught the Undead off guard, and before he could correct himself, Wyntir’s sword slammed right into his face. As he fell, another undead took a swing at Wyntir. Unexpectedly, instead of dodging, Wyntir allowed the sword to hit him. It bounced off of his armor, the Undead not wielding enough strength to cause any kind of harm to Wyntir. In retaliation, Wyntir struck the Undead in the face with his gauntlet ed hand, easily shattering all bone it made contact with. But just as he landed this blow, the last of the Undead came at him, their sword already coming down towards his helmet. Acting on instinct, Wyntir quickly shifted sideways, causing the swing to miss. The undead stumbled, but quickly caught himself and turned to face Wyntir, holding his sword straight out in an attempt to keep the large man in black armor at bay. Wyntir merely looked at the Undead with disgust. “Don't point that thing at me!” He then, in the blink of an eye, grabbed the sword by its blade and effortlessly pulled it from the undead's grasp. All the Undead could do was watch in shock as Wyntir raised his own sword, still holding it by the blade, and slammed it straight down on his head, the guard of the sword easily puncturing his thin helmet and embedding itself deep in his skull. Once the last of the Undead hunters fell, Wyntir returned his gaze to the floating black cloud. The green eyes looked mischievous, as if delighted with what they'd seen. “We're done here,” Wyntir told Kara as he retrieved his large sword and sheathed his longsword. “That sounded interesting,” Kara remarked as she searched for him with her hand grasping at the air, and returning to his shoulder once she found him. Wyntir didn't reply and instead began to lead her away from the pit and the strange floating eyes. But before they reached the exit from the pit, the eyes suddenly shot down and blocked the exit. Reacting quickly, Wyntir pushed Kara back and was already mid swing with his sword angled with the eyes. But just as it was mere inches away from them, they disappeared and the world went black. In a panic, Wyntir turned to see Kara a few feet behind him, looking confused. He quickly grabbed her and pulled her to him, scanning every which way. All around them was darkness, with nothing else but a cold breeze. Kara began to shake, “I can feel it... The dark, it's here... All around me, biting at me... Wyntir...” Suddenly, behind him came a low chuckled. Wyntir spun around, his sword in a ready position, but nothing was there, at first. Out of the darkness, a form began to appear. As it started to fully appear, Wyntir slowly raised an eyebrow. What stood before him was quite strange, a decently sized dark grey horse with a red horn atop its head. Plates of armor adore it's body, accented by a red cape on its back. To sum it up, it looked ridiculous to Wyntir. They stood in silence for a long minute, both just sizing the other up. Then, it spoke. “You must be confused, being brought here like this,” the horse said, a smirk on its face. Wyntir, unfazed by the fact that the horse could speak, just pointed his sword at it. “And where is here?” The horse laughed, “A medium between our two worlds, but soon we'll be in my palaces throne room. But for now, lower your weapon.” Instead of complying, Wyntir changed to a ready position. “Why have you brought us here?” “Because of her,” the horse said, a hint of malice in his voice. “She has a power deep within her, and I want it.” It lifted a hoof, pointing it at them At this, Kara whimpered, her knees starting to wobble. “The dark, it's hurting me... Please, I need relief... Wyntir, please, it's almost too unbearable... Your promise...” Wyntir dropped his guard and placed his hand on her shoulder, and she relaxed a little. “Bad news for you, horse, she ain't going anywhere with you.” Wyntir said with confidence. “That's sadly not up to....” the horse stopped dead, a look of anger suddenly splashed across his face. “... Celestial.” “Sombra,” a feminine voice said from behind them, a hint of anger in its voice. “I see you're getting desperate, trying to find outside help to aid you.” There was a tense silence between the two. Wyntir took this opportunity to look behind himself to see who this ‘Celestial’ was. And what he beheld caused his jaw to drop. A nearly blinding light surrounded the most majestic pure white horse Wyntir had ever seen. This was no ordinary horse, however, it had a horn like the darker one, but in addition it also had a set of very large wings sprouting from its back. Wings of a Angel. “The sun...” Kara said, dropping her hand from Wyntir’s shoulder and turned towards the white horse. “I feel the sun, washing away the darkness...” “Kara.” Wyntir warned as he widened his stance so he could watch both of the horses at once. “You're the one who is desperate,” mocked the dark horse. “You're just too proud to admit it.” Unfazed, the white horse just spread her wings wider, filling the dark void with light. “Don't be so smug, Sombra. Your reign and this war will be over very soon, mark my words.” Suddenly, the darker horse began to slowly disappear, the light gradually pushing away the darkness. “You wench!” Sombra yelled as he tried to to keep from vanishing, his horn starting to glow. “I'm not leaving without my prize!” Kara let out a choked scream, causing Wyntir to whirl around to face her, as her body was engulfed in a shroud of blackness. She began to be slowly dragged towards the dark horse, but Wyntir quickly grabbed her around the waist with his free arm and began to play a deadly game of tug of war with the dark horse. “Release her!” the dark horse commanded, trying desperately to pull Kara to himself. Wyntir remained grounded, holding tightly to Kara. His muscles bulged, threatening to break the straps and buckles that held his armor to his body. The darkness around Kara increased, and Wyntir was sure she'd be torn in two at this rate. Just as the pull was starting to become too much, a glowing aura suddenly spread over his and Kara’s body. Almost like the sun itself was wrapping around them. The darkness around Kara instantly disappeared, and a great feeling of relief washed over the pair. “No, how dare you!” screamed the dark horse as it completely disappeared and the light filled the area. Kara let out a sigh of relief as she leaned against Wyntir, the sun like aura still around them. Wyntir looked back at the white horse to find it glaring at him. Before he could ponder this, everything around them brightened further and a sense of nausea washed over him. Moments later, objects began to fade into existence. At first it was just the ground beneath their feet, but slowly chairs and tables began to appear. After that, creatures began to fade in as well, all around them. It took a moment for Wyntir to recognize them to be horses as well, yet they were smaller than the other two he'd seen. Once everything faded in, he found himself in a large tent, armored horses all around him. The white horse, taller than all the rest and obviously in charge, still glared at them. Wyntir slowly let go of Kara and raised his sword to shield himself and her. “What's going on? Wyntir?” Kara asked in a whisper, but she went unanswered. “Restrain them!” snapped the taller horse. Instantly, every other horse began to advance on the very confused pair. With nowhere to go, and no way out of there, Wyntir pushed Kara down to the floor and stepped over her protectively. As the horses closed in, Wyntir braced himself and lashed out with his sword, easily cutting down three of the horses. Before they could react, he turned his body and cut down two more on the opposite side. This clearly surprised the horses, as they backed off in fear. They were all armed, but this creature before them had just effortlessly killed five of their own in only two swings of its sword. The taller white horse, anger clear on its face, stepped forward. “How dare you!” In response, Wyntir pulled out a small talisman and eyed the large horse. “I don't know what's going on, or what you are, but you better play this smart and have those fools step aside.” The angry expression left the horses face and she looked at Wyntir, no emotion showing on her face. “Creature from the depths of Tartarus, lay down your arms, and you will be unharmed.” “Horseshit,” Wyntir replied, not buying it for a second. He focused his power and slammed his hands together, sending out a mostly harmless shock wave, which sent all the horses around him flying backwards, the taller one included. In the moments he had, he reached down and pulled Kara to her feet, and in one motion threw her over his shoulder. He then sprinted towards one of the tents walls, jumping over and stepping on all the horses in his way. Upon reaching the wall, he swiftly sliced his sword through it, creating a door for himself. The moment he stepped through the hole, however, a powerful wave of energy slam into his back. He was staggered and a sense of weakness ran through his body, but he resisted it and took another step. Suddenly, another wave of energy hit him, followed by another, and his body gave in and he fell to his knees, dropping both his sword and Kara. As he sat there, his body getting weaker, he found himself being surrounded by even more of the armored horses. One of them walked up to him, with gold accented armor, and came face to face with Wyntir. Wyntir wanted to spit into the horse's face, but his helmet prevented that. So instead, he used the last of his strength to slam his head forward, bashing the horse in the face and sent it reeling backwards. Wyntir smirked as a few more bolts of energy hit him, causing him to finally fall forward. He was unconscious before his body hit the ground.