Ponyville Library, Ponyville
As a new day in Ponyville was beginning, Twilight Sparkle was making the final preparations to receive Princess Celestia for the Ponyville Harvest that would be tomorrow, she also was preparing herself to talk to both Princess Celestia and her friends about Raziel. While the first part was an easy one, since all of Ponyville have been preparing for this event and she made sure that everything went according to the list, the second one was still a hurdle for her to tackle. How was she going to explain about Raziel to Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Princess Celestia? Should Spike attend the meeting? How could she talk about Raziel's possible links to the most recent events in Equestria, those being the Ursa Minor incident, The Dragon and now his encounter with Applebloom?
The more Twilight thought about this, the more fear penetrated her being and pushed her once again to postpone this meeting, but she wouldn't do it again. She would have this meeting and nothing would stop her, she was sure of it.
She started to formulate her case, she started to remember all the details she could about her encounter with Raziel, all of what he said, how he acted, how he helped her and how she saw him as. She was sure that, while the Ursa Minor and the Dragon would give her a hard case, she was sure that whatever happened with Applebloom could help her to prove that Raziel was a good friend they should trust. That is, if this was the same Raziel that she met on her encounter with Nightmare Moon. For all Twilight knew, this could have been a different being that was using his name but she wasn't sure how to prove it.
She saw her Library and remembered the first party Pinkie made there, she remembered her friends and how much they meant to her, she wondered how things could have been if she hadn't met them and, as the sunlight penetrated the Library through the windows and gave the wooden house a natural clarity that could only be treasured on the mornings, Twilight filled herself with that morning brightness to treasure her friendship with Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash promising that she would never let anything nor anyone to disband it and that she would give her hardest to include Raziel among her friends, so they could see the great figure he was.
Twilight closed her eyes and took a deep breath through her nostrils, she smelled the essence of the morning mixed with books and well cared wood and with her lungs filled with the essence of her new home, she prepared for whatever the day could throw at her, after all, she decided to organize her books the day before so it could be easier for her to help the rest of the town for the Princess's visit.
36 Hours Later
Everfree Forest
The relative peace of the Everfree Forest was something that very few were capable of enjoying. The deathly creatures living inside the forest, the deathly plants, its ever changing weather, finding a moment of peace, a moment when you knew you could relax without a fear of being attacked by anything, was something very hard to do. For Raziel, this kind of moments were very useful to stop and think about his location and to prepare his next tactical step. He have read many of the books located in the ancient castle and he have come to the conclusion that he needed to purify the elements so they could harm the Elder God, which is why it was so vital to befriend the ponies, if the ponies were pure, then they would have the spiritual means to fight that monster.
The humid air of the forest along its dark atmosphere went through Raziel's features as he analyzed the situation at hand:
From what I could gather, the Elements of Harmony were somehow tied to its bearers. They could only be worn by those who represented their qualities and they could only be used to face creatures that represented the opposite of them, the logical thing to conclude is that said Elements would banish the Elder God from this world should the ponies find it. But how effective could they be?
It cannot be forgotten that both I and The Elder God doesn't belong to Equestria, for all I'm aware off, this world's rules doesn't apply to me or it. As such, The Elements of Harmony wouldn't be able to affect it if said possibilities are true, and said possibility leads to the conclusion that they would need of my powers to be capable of destroying It. The same conclusion can also be applied to me.
I can still remember how I couldn't even scratch its tentacles due to The Soul Reaver's nature as a wraith blade, those are heavy implications considering that my Spiritual Reaver was powerful enough to harm it when it was combined with the Physical manifestation of the Soul Reaver. Without a physical vessel that could harness the purifying powers of the Reaver, I was unable to give it a fight. In conclusion, without my powers and the elements joined together, there would be no way to defeat the squid that was trying to destroy this land.
But how do I proceed?
Should I purify the ponies so the Elements could gain the power needed to fight the Elder God or should I imbue my Reaver into the Elements so they could gain the Reaver's properties?
As Raziel was walking, he saw something very unusual: a big ball rolling into him.
Raziel wasn't sure of what it was or why it was coming from Ponyville, but he wasn't going to let it crush him, so he took out his Fire Reaver and, in a powerful swing, he sent an inferno towards the huge ball. As the sphere was burning, Raziel could hear the multiple screams of living beings dying out, burned alive and having the last moments of their life in total agony as Raziel wondered what creatures he have just murdered. Potential guilt washed over Raziel as he saw how the hundreds of creatures started to leave their souls, becoming in a spectacle that would have easily be confused with fireflies had he been in the middle of the night.
Nonetheless, Raziel decided to not waste their souls and ate them before they could be snatched away by any of the Elder God's underlings. But knowing that it came from Ponyville, Raziel had a very important reminder, he wasn't allowed to go into the town and if he wanted a chance to get in better terms with the ponies, it would be better if he stayed out.
I suppose that, in the time being, I won't be able to find out the former. As long as I'm not allowed to enter the town, any chance of purifying them will be met with serious problems.
That leaves...
In that moment, Raziel started to see back at the mountain containing Canterlot Castle. House of the two current princesses of Equestria and the place where, he supposed, were housed the Elements of Harmony. Raziel was sure that it would take him multiple journeys to Canterlot to figure out where the Elements where located and how to avoid the guards as well as its citizens, but this would have to do for now.
So, as Raziel started to plan out when he would go to Canterlot and which would be his fastest path towards it, he managed to take a glimpse of Princess Celestia going towards Ponyville, which meant that Canterlot only had one princess guarding it and said Princess supposedly worked at night. Raziel knew that this was a golden opportunity and he wasn't going to waste it, so he shifted the planes and prepared for a quick journey towards the city that originally received him when he first landed on Equestria.
Ponyville
Twilight was feeling very alleviated right now because, thanks to Pinkie Pie, Ponyville was finally free from the parasprites but Princess Celestia had to leave to Fillydelfia and she wasn't sure if she would have time to talk to her friends now that they had to fix Ponyville but, as she was trying to reschedule everything, she heard Rainbow Dash's voice giving her some hope:
"Hey, don't think you can use this as an excuse." - Twilight looked at Rainbow Dash with a questioning look, at which she explained, - "once we finish cleaning all of this. You'll be telling us about that Raziel dude." - Twilight smiled and nodded towards her friends, grateful to see that they could make such sacrifices for her and responded with a big and pure smile - "Sure!"
As Twilight and her friends were cleaning out everything with the rest of the town, a wave of eagerness flooded Twilight as she prepared to tell the tale of how she met Raziel to her friends. She started to remember her encounter with him and prepared herself for any type of questions her friends could've done about it, she tried to think on any reason why they could doubt of him but none came to her mind.
As time passed and the streets got repaired (the rest would take a few more days), Twilight and her friends went to the Library to discuss about Raziel and, as they passed through the devastated Ponyville, they took note of how quickly the village was recovering from something that would've devastated a city like Los Pegasus and how, even after such chaos caused by the parasprites, the atmosphere in Ponyville and its inhabitants felt calm and welcoming. This sensation stayed in their minds as they started to wonder how something like "Raziel" would be welcomed here, something else that would've to be discussed.
As Twilight and her friends entered into the Library, Twilight felt relieved of seeing it already cleaned up thanks to a very tired and sleepy Spike that was resting on a bench, waiting for Twilight. She was going to reward him for that, Twilight would make sure of that but, for now, Twilight would pick him up and let him rest on his bed as she put him on the embrace of softness and a warmth feeling with the same care and love as she gave him when he was a baby.
As Twilight went back to the meeting at the Library's entrance, with her friends waiting for her, she realized that it never passed through her head a way to start the conversation. Twilight was starting to feel uncomfortable but, as she was trying to see what to say, Rainbow Dash quickly asked who was Raziel and why did everypony reacted in such a way to that name. With an open path to start the conversation done, Twilight decided to begin:
"Thank you for the question Rainbow Dash, it's the best way to start this meeting" -. This made Rainbow Dash raise her chest in pride as Twilight continued. - "Now, to explain who Raziel is, or was, I first have to go back to our encounter with Nightmare Moon. You must be aware by this point that I came out of that a little bit affected, right?"
"A bit?!" - Said a very enthusiastic Rainbow Dash. - "You were so sad and depressed that it took us weeks to make you feel better, even Celestia had to send you those tickets so you could finally improve. Did that Raziel do something to you? Because I can go and kick him on the-"
"Thank you, Rainbow Dash dear, for your concern" -. Interrupted Rarity. - "But I think it would be better if Twilight could continue the story before we can make any type of judgement, right?" - In that moment, Rarity looked preemptively at Fluttershy with a look of 'this also goes for you', at which Fluttershy whimpered a bit.
After that little moment, Twilight decided to proceed:
"Yes, thank you Rarity. As I was saying, the reason why I was feeling so down was because of something that happened when I met Nightmare Moon in that room. That room where I and the Elements were transported contained something else that neither I or Nightmare Moon ever saw before: A Knight".
This brought the attention of Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy as they wondered what kind of creature was this that Twilight gave it such title and, as she kept talking about it, the more her eyes shone with a daydream feeling.
"This knight came to Equestria to defeat Nightmare Moon and help us to regain the Elements. In fact, he was actually defeating Nightmare Moon when-"
"Wait!" - Interrupted, once again, Rainbow Dash. - "He was defeating Nightmare Moon alone?! Was it that powerful!?"
Twilight quickly decided to respond and continue.
"No, he wasn't as powerful as Nightmare Moon, in fact, his magic was very simple. But what made him so amazing was how he used his spells: he made sure to use them when Nightmare Moon didn't expected them and then attacked her when she lowered her defenses. It was a tactical genius!"
"Wait!" - Interrupted a very energic Pinkie Pie this time around. - "Does that mean I have to use as a banner 'Welcome Tactical Knight that helped us save Equestria' or 'Thank you magical-tactical Knight that helped us save Equestria' for his celebration party! Because I don't think it would be fair to celebrate Princess Luna return and not make him a party because parties-"
As Pinkie was talking, Applejack shut Pinkie's mouth and said - "Pinkie, sugarcube, Ah' know you want to ask. But can you please wait until Twilight here finish her tale?" - After a very fast series of nods, Applejack let Pinkie open her mouth and allowed Twilight to proceed:
"Thank you Applejack. As I was saying, this knight was helping me by fighting Nightmare Moon as I was trying to figure out the spark to activate the Elements... but then Nightmare Moon decided to attack me instead, forcing him to protect me from the attack, and ending his life."
As Twilight said this words, which hung on the air like smoke and were as dense as ice, everypony (who wasn't aware yet of why Twilight felt so bad for all that time) finally understood and they all quickly went to hug her friend to ease her pain and hope that she could recover from that very soon.
"Yes" -. Continued Twilight, - "that's why was feeling so bad back then. I was feeling guilty and weak for not being able of helping more on that moment. Don't worry, I have already recovered from that and I'll let you know if I ever feel like that again" -. Twilight then took a deep breath and continued. - "And that is why I was so worried when Applebloom said that 'Raziel' protected her. Raziel is supposed to be dead, there's no way he can be on the Everfree Forest."
"Oh, that's so good" -. As Fluttershy said this words and felt a series of judging eyes looking at her. - "I mean, it's very sad that he's death, but that means that it cannot be the same Raziel I met back in the Everfree."
Those words, instead of easing Twilight, only made her feel worse. Was Raziel, somehow, alive or was this an impostor? She had to figure it out.
"Wait, Fluttershy, did you saw his figure? How did he looked like?"
Fluttershy looked down, trying to remember, but all she could recollect were his dark blue shining eyes and his smooth voice, which didn't helped much to Twilight, who never payed attention to Raziel's eyes and the voice wasn't enough to make the connections. Applejack would ask later to Applebloom about him and if she managed to see his appearance. Now, all that was left, was to hear why Fluttershy was so happy of not being Raziel.
"Oh! You see, when we were about to go to the Dragon and found him death. I met him first and told him about the smokestack, he then disappeared. He told me a few days later that he was the one who murdered the dragon. So, if he isn't the one who saved Twilight, then he must be an impostor, right?"
Twilight waged the options: Even if this wasn't Raziel, that didn't changed the fact that this was the same individual who killed an ursa minor and a dragon; this 'Raziel' was dangerous and it had to be stopped but they would need Princess Celestia's help to defeat him, she would send a letter to her during the night. The other option was that this was the same Raziel, that meant that the Raziel she knew wasn't so good or had a good reason to kill those two beings... and that Raziel was living on the Everfree for some (very justified, now that she remembered his appearance and how Ponyville reacted to Zecora) reason; if this was the same Raziel then Applebloom was safe.
As Twilight communicated this to her friends, it was decided that the Mayor would be advised that "The Everfree Beast" was real and that all the residents of Ponyville would have to be extra secure whenever they had to pass close to the Everfree Forest, a letter would be sent to Princess Celestia and that Applebloom would be banned of going to the forest alone. All of that, just as a precaution as this mystery was getting bigger and bigger. Twilight was really hoping this would be solved soon and, if this was the Raziel she knew, that he didn't do anything that could worsen his potential relationship with Princess Celestia.
Canterlot Outskirts/Spectral Realm
Raziel was getting close to Canterlot. It took him a long time to make the whole trip but, thankfully, the time bending on the Spectral Realm would make it look like as if only a few seconds passed. After finding a small graveyard on the outskirts of the town that he could use to plane shift, and making sure that he didn't scare anybody for disturbing the dead, Raziel took a moment to see the city of Canterlot once again. It was passed midday but Raziel was sure that he wouldn't have the time needed to find the Elements before Celestia came back to her castle.
As I got closer to the city that welcomed me into this land, I decided to pause myself and take a look at what was before me. The City that housed the two princesses of the land were there, if I created any type of chaos or engaged the guards, I could create a tough situation that would deteriorate any potential relationship with the princesses. Stealth was my top priority if I wanted to find the Elements.
After activating the Dark Reaver and becoming undetectable to the equestrian eyes, Raziel started to move into the city by jumping the rooftops. He would make sure that not a single pony could touch him by accident. As Raziel was moving along, he managed to notice certain peculiarities of the city that he would make sure to note for his next visit. Things like being predominately unicorn or how the buildings reminded him of his old city back when he had a clan, small details that were either interesting or that he could exploit later.
This city... the fact that its main population are made up of unicorns could be a subtle way of telling who's the dominating species on this kingdom. Capable of using magic, market and gifted on science, I wonder how this kingdom's rule of order would be hadn't they be dominated by an equine that represents all three species together.
By jumping through the rooftops, Raziel managed to remember all the places of importance that he could use for later: A Library that, while it didn't helped him for the Elements, it could contain knowledge for magic spells, a Train Station that he could use to escape the city if he ever needed to escape without shifting, the castle (as majestic as ever) that Raziel was sure was going to be visited very soon, the School where he could find new sources of information and what was being recently researched, the market where he could eavesdrop to see what kind of goods this ponies valued, the parks and the likes to hear what was on the minds of the elites and, finally, a huge and isolated tower that didn't have any indication of housing anyone or being of importance for society and that it was separated from the whole city.
Raziel took notice of the tower, how huge it was, how defended it was, how little visits it got from the civilians. He had a hunch of what that tower contained but he must first had to find a away to get close to it.
This tower. It's not visited by civilians and it contains enough guards to make a delusion of any attempt of direct assault to enter it without alerting the princesses. No, the only way to enter into this tower would be through stealth but, to achieve that, I would have to inspect this tower for a long while and find the least defended spots for me to enter. I was sure that this tower contained the Elements, after all, what else could it contain with enough value that it needed as many guards as a castle? Now that my objective has been found, it was time to investigate the city a bit more to find out what kind of entities I was trying to save.
As Raziel was about to leave, he saw how the Tower's doors were opening up and revealing something new to his sight: A pink Alicorn coming out of there and escorted very closely by a guard with heavy armory, a white coat and dark blue mane, that had all the indications of being a general. The Soldiers saluted the two individuals as they left the tower grounds in Raziel's direction. This was more than enough reasons to Raziel to wait for them in the moment he saw them going on his direction and, while the roofs were a bit distanced away from the ground, thanks to his vampire hearing he was more than capable of hearing their conversation:
"-sure that this amount of guards are necessary General Shining Armor? I understand that this are the Elements of Harmony we're talking about, but there's no threat that could try to take them. In fact, we should only sound the alarm and either Princess Celestia, Princess Luna or me would be more than enough to face the intruder and that's not even counting the magical lock protecting them".
That voice was smooth, high toned, with a tint of royalty but filled with humility. It was quite clear that Equestria must be a very safe kingdom if she was capable of speaking this sort of things on the open. Her wings and horn made it quite clear that she was a royal, maybe a minor one if she wasn't as well known or famous as Celestia and Luna but with a lot of power to back her up. Raziel was making sure to remember her as the couple was passing by. Very soon, they would pass Raziel.
"I understand your concerns Princess Amo-" before the General could finish the sentence, the princess gave him a stern look that made him change his wording. - "I mean, Cadence, my apologies. It's just that we're working and I'm used to act like that as general of the Royal Guard. As I was saying, I understand your concerns Cadence but those are the orders made by your aunt Princess Celestia. She doesn't think that the magical lock is enough and I won't question her or her logic when it comes to the Elements, I think that any type of security is good and the more the better".
This voice was male, confident but careful, he walked with certainty and always aware of his environment and Raziel was sure that he would have a spell ready had they been attacked by surprise. The minimum standards that Raziel, or his brethren, would demand of a good general. Raziel was thankful that these two were talking about his main objective and now, with the reassurance of where the Elements were, all he needed was to find a way to enter and open the lock containing the Elements. For a moment, Raziel thought that the couple would give out more information but, right when they were below him, Princess Cadence stopped and started to move her horn on every side possible.
"Cadence" -. Said Shining Armor. - "What's going on? Have you detected something?"
The pink Princess silenced him and kept moving, each step done closer to Raziel.
"Yes General. I think somepony or, rather, something may be listening to us. Quickly! Activate your radar shield so we can find it!"
Raziel wasn't sure what those words meant exactly but he knew that running wouldn't be enough so, before the General or the Princess could detect him, he shifted planes and left Canterlot by jumping down the mountain. As Raziel fell down, he took notice of how those two could become a problem when he tried to enter into that Tower and attempt to purify the Elements of Harmony. His next visit would have to be prepared meticulously to make sure that nobody could interfere on his plan.
Canterlot Garden/Physical Realm
The Canterlot Gardens were a peaceful representation of Equestria's history, all of that represented through statues of ponies that were the living embodiment of the virtues that ponies should try to copy. Virtues like "Honor", "Courage" and many more were there, built in the shape of the pony that better showed said attributes. But there was one statue that was impossible to miss, not because of how beautiful or meaningful it was but, because of how much different it was from the other statues.
This statue, to begin with, wasn't a pony. This statue was a mash up of multiple species done together: a lion's paw on the right and an eagle claw on the left-upper side of his body while the lower side had a horse hoof on the right and a dragon's claw on the left side of its body, a long and skinny body that made it look like a serpent being. It had a goat's head with one horn belonging to an antelope and the other belonging to a deer and it had one long tooth coming out of its mouth. This Statue, a mishmash of animals that was petrified while singing a song, was labeled perfectly on the garden below the Castle in Canterlot, a label that was fitting to its nature and what it represented: Discord.
The Statue of Discord has been on Equestria for a long time, long before any other statue was ever made and its origins were lost to time by the Equestrians, all of them, except the princesses. The Princesses of Equestria would never forget the statue's origins and how hard it was to make and, thankfully, it would stay in there for a while longer. But today, something happened. Something that made the statue to do something that never attempted to do on its whole time in the gardens of Canterlot Castle, it decided to talk. It talked on a low tone, as if those listening didn't need ears to listen or were close enough to understand it and whoever it were directed those words, it listened very closely:
"I may not know who, or what, you are. But I do know when I'm getting a bad deal and that you're quite clearly in the wrong franchise, so I warn you right now: If I ever come out of this prison and figure out that you're still here, I'll make sure to get you out of this realm. I know what kind of being you are and I won't allow you to ruin in any potential way the fun I could have here. So leave and don't you ever come close to me again"
If there was someone, or something, listening, only the statue knew, for nothing on sight was in the gardens that could hear the statue speaking neither were aware that it could speak.
Everfree Forest
Applebloom had a hard day, after clearing the Apple farm the whole day due to the parasprites chaos, and now she didn't have enough time to find something to show tomorrow at school that she could show to her peers. So Applebloom decided to come into the Everfree Forest (very close to the exterior) and hoped to find Raziel so he could go to school, she was sure that they would all be amazed of her friend Raziel and how he was capable of scaring the creatures of the Everfree Forest. She wasn't sure of where to find him but she hoped to find him soon before the night came to Ponyville, or else she would have to go to school tomorrow with her empty hooves.
As she was calling out for Raziel's name, she felt a chill besides her that made her move back and prepare to run back home at full speed. She heard a weird and disgusting sound, as if a beast were eating its prey from the inside, that stopped very soon with a silence that was scaring Applebloom but, before she could do anything, a pair of dark blue eyes came out of the bushes. Once Applebloom realized that it was Raziel, she got very happy and called his name. As the pair of eyes turned to her and recognized her, all Applebloom could hear was a worried tone.
"Applebloom? What are you doing here? I told you already that it's dangerous in here."
Raziel said while closing his eyes in a menacing way. Applebloom understood what he was saying, but she felt that the shame of not bringing something to school was worse, so she proceeded on her request.
"I know that you said that, but I needed your help, you see, tomorrow I have to show to my friends something and I had all the day busy helping my family on the farm. So I was wondering if you could go to my school so I could show you to my schoolmates."
As Applebloom made her offer, a worrisome silence permeated the area until Raziel spoke back at Applebloom.
"Applebloom, I doubt that its a good idea to present me to your friends, especially when you don't even know my appearance. There's a reason why I live in the Everfree Forest."
Applebloom shrugged it off and complimented Raziel with the infamous frase: "Oh, come on! You probably look nice."
As she said this with an innocent smile, a very terrifying claw came out of the bushes and started to get closer to her. It was beyond anything Applebloom ever saw, it were three huge claws connected by a blue limp whose skin looked beyond normal. As Applebloom saw the claw retracting itself back to the bushes, she could feel her body trying to run but she didn't knew what was holding her back and, as her mind was slowly calming down, time passed as if it didn't exist. She wasn't sure how much time passed but, eventually, she finally heard Raziel's voice asking her if she still believed that he could be well received by her school.
It took a few seconds for Applebloom to understand what Raziel meant with that, she wasn't even sure if she could ever see him as a whole, if his claw looked like that, without having a panic attack. So, after getting another warning by Raziel, Applebloom said her goodbyes to Raziel and moved back to her house, in the middle of the night, and get reprimanded by her entire family for going to the Everfree Forest alone.