//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 Where The Shadows Lie // Story: A horseshoe to rule them all // by Bronycommander //------------------------------// Chapter 1: Where the Shadows Lie It was a sunny day in Ponyville. Four fillies by the name of Dinky Hooves, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle played together in the grass, enjoying the sun and warmth. “Down the hill again!!” Dinky exclaimed in joy as she and her friends rolled down the small hill. “That really is fun, Dinky!” Scootaloo smiled. “Pity though Katja and Blau Streifen aren’t here with us, I’m sure they had loved this.” “Yeah, it’s a pity, I hope Mitta gets well soon.” Dinky replied as the grandmother of her new friends had caught a nasty cold, forcing them to stay home and take care of her until she had recovered. Some time ago, Dinky had suffered an accident where she landed on a planet called Earth, with creatures called humans, who were only a myth in Equestria. Katja and Blau Streifen were siblings from an alternative Equestria,, the former a human girl, the former a earth pony colt, being children of a human father and pony mother. They had suffered a similar accident as Dinky, befriending her as they spent time together before one of Princess Luna’s best guards from Dinky’s Equestria brought them back home. “Me too, their company is very pleasant to enjoy.” The yellow Earth pony said as they got up the hill again. “Up, up and away!” Dinky giggled as she laid flat on her belly with her forelegs outstretched and slightly cushioning her face, rolling down the hill again. This never ceased to make fun, the little periwinkle unicorn could still remember how she first met her friend Pipsqueak that way. During her time on Earth, she had also befriended the guard that was tasked to bring her home, a unicorn stallion called Fletcher Fray. For her, he was part of the family, an uncle to her, regularly visiting her, but at the moment, he was with Princess Luna, having a discussion as far as she knew. But that didn’t meant she could have fun with her friends and she enjoyed it to the fullest. “I wonder if Rainbow Dash and White Wolf could be soul mates or distinct relatives.” The Pegasus mumbled, “I mean they have many things in common, like loving it to fly and are tomboys, kinda.” “That very unlikely, Scoots. They’re familiar, yes, but if they would be related, Rainbow’s family would know.” Apple Bloom pointed out. “Yeah, just popped in there for some reason. But Wolf’s a great friend as Rainbow is! And flying with both is so much fun!” Scoots exclaimed. “Yep. Midnight’s a great help on the farm, Ah’m happy every time he helps out. He reminds me of Big Mac somehow. And playing hide and seek with him is so much fun, not no mention his stories about his time with Luna when she was a foal. ” The Earth pony replied with a smile. “And Fletcher, he always knows some old stories to cheer me up on a bad day or if I’m bored. His relative Wagensroll also helps my daddy with repairs, I find his technological knowledge fascinating.” Dinky told her friends with pride. “Don’t forget his cooking skills, I improved a lot thanks to him. I wonder where he learned to cook so well.” Sweetie Belle said before they rolled down again. Dinky reached the end first, smiling as her friends followed, the white unicorn shrieked as she landed in a ditch with a thud. Clang! “Ouch!” Sweetie Belle yelled in pain as she hit something hard. “Everything alright?” Dinky asked with concern. “I’m fine, I just landed on something…” She paused as she picked it up. “A horseshoe?” Scootaloo inspected it. “Cool! It’s golden! I bet a rich pony lost it!” “We should bring it to the lost-and-found office, I’m sure we get a reward.” Apple Bloom suggested. “I’m not so sure,” Dinky had doubts, eyeing the horseshoe with suspicion. “Who would lose a horseshoe in a place like that? Plus it isn’t dirty or anything, like somebody dropped it here on purpose.” “I doubt that, Dinky, maybe it just landed softly here as the owner-“ Sweetie Belle cut herself off as the horseshow started to glow, causing her to drop it with a shriek. “What did you do?!” The orange filly asked in alert. “I did nothing, I swear!” The horseshow glowed brighter and brighter, causing the foals to cover their eyes before they felt how something sucked them in and they screamed. The only thing they heard was their terrified screams. Then a voice, a whisper, hollow and eerie, speaking in a language unknown. Yet each strange word echoed in their heads, one after the other. Ash nazg durbatulûk. Ash nazg gimbatul, Ash nazg thrakatulûk Agh burzum-ishi krimpatul. Apple Bloom groaned in pain as she came to. “Uhh, my head. She looked around. Sweetie Belle was still passed out, lying next to her Sweetie Belle, wake up!” The yellow filly gently shook her. The unicorn stirred. “Ugh…Where…are we?” She asked as they both looked around. They were on a meadow, but in the distance, everything looked like blasted wasteland and a volcano was visible in the distance too. “Where are Scootaloo and Dinky?” The white pony asked confused. “Ah don’t know.” “Wait…does this mean…” Sweetie’s eyes started to water as she slowly realized something. “Mama…” She started to sob bit her friend quickly hugged her. “Don’t worry, remember when Dinky was gone and Fletcher brought her back? If he managed to bring her back, he can do the same with us.” Apple Bloom gave her friend a confident smile. The white filly slowly smiled weakly. “R-Right…Now, we need to find the others. But how?” The Earth Pony thought for a moment. “Got it! Do you still remember the tracking spell Fletcher thought you?” Sweetie Belle grinned. “Of course! One moment.” She concentrated and her horn sparkled and glowed. “And…found them! They are not far away!” “Then let’s go!” Apple Bloom exclaimed and they moved out. They both wondered what had happened here, noticing that there was barely anything left of forests, mostly ash was left. After a while, Sweetie Belle’s stomach growled, causing her to look down in embarrassment. “Sorry, haven’t eaten since breakfast.” “It’s fine. There must be something to eat.” The farmer looked around until she spotted some mushrooms growing on the ground. “Those should do it.” “Are you sure they ain’t poisonous?” The unicorn asked unsure. “As a farmer, I can tell this just by looking at it.” Ab said proudly and ate one, chewing slowly. “Not bad.” “If you say so.” Sweetie Belle also ate one, enjoying it. The yellow pony spotted something in the distance, looking familiar to a human. “What is that?” She asked as the humans appeared to be coming closer. In the distance, they had seemed human. Barely. Their clothing was sparse, baggy threaded pants and boots with belts and tunics of leather, none of it clean. A few were decorated with belts or sharp pieces of metal. The few pieces of armor they wore were coal-black and battered. Those with hair wore them unkempt, only a few tying them into tails or topknots behind their heads. And as the foals focused their eyes, the faces of the newcomers emerged. Coarse, gnarled skin formed monstrous faces, bizarre mismatches of wolf, pig, bat or lizard, unlike anything any of them had ever seen before. And as they'd noticed each other, the bipedal creatures had all drawn sharp, menacing cutlasses and had changed their pace to a charge, straight towards them. Apple Bloom stepped back, turned to her friend with a terrified look and yelled, “Run!” She hadn’t to say this twice. The two foals ran as fast as they could, but never came far. They both overlooked a root and tripped over it, falling into a ditch, the impact strong enough to make them dizzy. The last thing they heard was a voice. “Look what we have here. Nice catch, boys!” Dinky and Scootaloo groaned as they wake up, looking around. “My head…What happened?” The Pegasus asked as she noticed the wasteland around them. “I can’t say…I guess this horseshoe opened a portal or something…” Dinky suspected, still dazed. “Then where are we?” The unicorn thought for a moment. “I don’t know.” The orange pony blinked, trying to understand. “We…are lost? Unable to get home?” She let a tear escape, looking to the ground. The unicorn took a deep breath, she had experience for this. “Don’t worry, I’m sure Fletcher is already looking for us. We should try to find Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom.” Scootaloo grinned. “Good idea…” Suddenly her expression became terrified. “But first we should run!” Dinky turned around and her eyes went wide. A group of human-like creatures was closing in fast. Both foals looked around, the unicorn spotted a light in the distance, it looked like a glowing tower. “Follow me, we will be save there!” Dinky assumed and ran ahead. “Are you sure?” Scots asked as they only saw only a ruin but followed her friend nevertheless. "Here." Dinky said breathlessly, stopping by the ruin "We're safe." "What are you talking about?!" Scootaloo screamed as the creatures drew closer, barely feet from them. "It's just a stupid, old ruin! Have you gone cuckoo?! Dinky, we need to run! We're not..." Clang! The earth seemed to shake as the sound of a metallic clang rang in their ears. Behind them, the creatures had stopped in their tracks, stepping back as they looked high up towards the sky. Scootaloo did the same, looking up at the ruin. Somehow, the ruin had elevated high above them, nearly half a mile high. Instead of the sodden, blackened stone it had once been, it now shone a strange, slightly blueish silver. She stared at Dinky, then back at the tower. "Safe..." she whispered. There was a thump behind them. Dust flew up, causing them to cough. Before them stood a human. He had a beard, long and scraggly brown hair and matching eyes, dressed in armor and a sword on his back. The unicorn noticed that he was briefly holding a white, transparent bow in his hand. The chasing creatures looked in shock at him before one of them snarled, “So we missed one of you at Narchost, eh? An easy mistake to fix!” The human in return drew his bow and fired two shots, scored headshots on two of the creatures, they fell backwards with blood splattering from their heads. The fillies went to cover behind a wall as the man drew his sword as the creatures charged at him. “You shall suffer for what’ve you done!” The human yelled as one of the creatures swinged his sword, but the human blocked it and kicked him into the chest, making him stumble. In the moment he recovered, the man sliced him into the throat, killing him. The last creature charged at the human, he ducked to avoid the club, then hit him into the chest and kicked him back, defeating him. The ponies stared in awe as the man sheathed his sword and turned around to look at them with a neutral expression, but he had probably saved their lives. “Watch out!” Dinky warned as she saw another of those creatures, dressed in black armor, climbing over a wall behind the human. The creature managed to throw the human against the wall and tried to punch him, but he blocked it and touched the creature’s forehead. To Dinky’s surprise, his hand glowed blueish silver, pushing the creature back, falling backwards to the ground. What happened next fascinated the unicorn. A blueish silver sprit appeared next to the human, wearing armor. “Go back to him,” He said and vanished as the man moved towards the creature who was trying to recover and grabbed it by the side of the face. Then he tightened his grip, turning into the spirit, saying something he couldn’t understand, the creature grunted in pain. “What do you know of the Black Hand of Sauron?” “He is a fiend! Made of thin air…” The creature replied in pain. “What more?” The sprit demanded to know, increasing pressure. “A slave I had…swears he fought him…” The sprit increased again, causing his victim to grunt in pain. “I sold him….and two little talking horses…for a keg of grog…to Gimüb the Slaver.” The sprit then let go, causing the creature to flee terrified. Dinky tried to process what she had just heard, her friends enslaved? “That is where we have to go.” The spirit said as he appeared next to the man. “If we can trust an Orc.” “Trust has nothing to do with it. His thoughts cannot lie.” The spirit pointed out. Turning, the man stopped dead in his tracks and stared blankly at the two foals. His hand fell back on the handle of his sword as he spoke, his voice grim and somewhat edgy. "What manner of beast are you?" "Please, sir. We need your help." Dinky pleaded "He said two little talking horses. We think they're our..." She stopped and stared, open-mouthed, as the spirit appeared again. He didn't look quite as human as the other. Even as this silver ethereal shape, there was something off about him. She watched tentatively as it examined her, tilting its head. "A unicorn?" its voice was male, deep and growly "And a Pegasus? This world has not seen their like since the First Age. How is this possible?" "We're not from here." Dinky answered, feeling her heart pounding against her chest "I don't know how we got here but our friends need help." The spirit drew back, his azure eyes wide. The bearded man turned to him with a look of confusion. The spirit whispered, looking directly at Dinky for the first time. "You...you can see me?" "Yes, of course I can." "H-how?" "Um, I don't know. Scootaloo, do you still have that horseshoe?" she turned to her friend who stared at her with equal confusion. "Dinky?" she asked. "Yeah?" "Who are you talking to?" Dinky pointed at the spirit. "Him." "The bearded guy?" "No, no, the one next to him." "Dinky, there is no one next to him! It's just him!" Scootaloo’s eyes were boggling "Dinky...you're kinda' starting to scare me! Are you sure you're feeling alright?!" "Enough! Neither of you say anything! I need to think!" The bearded man yelled, turning back to the spirit only Dinky seemed to notice "What now?" The spirit craned his head towards Dinky, looking at her with cold suspicion. "Find out how she can see us. We are not safe until she knows." Dinky felt beads of sweat form on her brow as the spirit disappeared and the man drew closer. “W-what?” Dinky asked in confusion, slightly trembling as the man walked towards her. Scootaloo jumped between them with an angry expression. “Don’t you dare to hurt her!” The human in response knelled down. “I'm afraid this will be...quite painful. But it may help find your friends, wherever they are. I will make it was quick as possible.” His expression was honest. “O-okay.” The unicorn said slightly trembling as the man touched her forehead, becoming the spirit again, preparing for the pain that would come as he said the same incomprehensible words. To her surprise, she only felt a slight headache, like as if he she bumped her head. Scootaloo watched in awe as Dinky’s expression was neutral, slightly hissing and grunting but otherwise she seemed fine. The Pegasus never expected that Dinky could be so tolerant towards pain. As the sprit looked into the unicorn’s thoughts, he saw a brown stallion bringing her to bed, apparently her father, also traveling with a blue box, fighting various enemies, a blue winged unicorn, apparently using a spell to raise the moon and three ponies in dark blue armor fighting by her side, also protecting the filly from harm. It terrified him so much that he instantly retracted from the child’s thoughts. The human looked at him in confusion before the spirit warned him, “Do not incur the wrath of her guardians, Talion. They are beyond us.” The man sighed. “Very well. If your friends are where I'm headed, I don't see any reason why I can't help you. But I expect you to keep up and stay out of trouble.” The unicorn slowly smiled, “I know to appreciate it.” “Dinky, how can you trust him after he did….this to you? Scootaloo asked with distrust. “If he meant harm, he had reacted this way, and I’m fine, Scoots.” Dinky turned to the man and spirit. “What’s your name?” “I’m Talion.” The human introduced himself. “I don’t have a name anymore.” The sprit said before he vanished again. “I’m Dinky Hooves and this is my friend Scootaloo.” The unicorn pointed to her friend who waved in response. “Dinky...and Scootaloo...” Talion massaged his temples tiredly, “Fine, fine. Stay behind me.” “Of course.” Dinky replied as she followed him. Despite being still distrustful, Scootaloo did the same sharing the same thought with Dinky. I hope it isn’t too late for our friends.