//------------------------------// // 33: Back Track... // Story: An Equestrian Witcher // by OblivionShadow //------------------------------// Oblivion teleported himself out of the castle and back to the forest they had just left. Winter had told him to look around and he might be able to see an item she left behind. According to what she had said it would help him to find and understand Asmara. Though he knew her story well, he had to admit that earning a further understanding of her motives and possible thought process would aid him in later interaction with her. As he began to walk slowly through the trees to a location that she had described briefly to him he paused as his eyes scanned his surroundings. “Go into the forest beyond where we first met. Look for two trees. You’ll know them when you see them. Go past them and look for a sign. I had a feeling that meeting you might be the end for my plans, so I made arrangements and left it for you to find if you knew about Asmara. I promise you one thing… It will be clearer once you get there.” Oblivion looked around him as his eyes scanned the area. He was about to walk to his right when he stopped in his tracks. He looked between the trees and a laughed barked from him. He jumped over a small fallen tree and was confronted with two trees that were bent toward each other. They crossed to form a very large X. As he stared at the symbol he had to give the mad mare credit, her description had been right. He walked forward and stood in front of the trees. His eyes narrowed as he looked over the tree trunks and a scent caught his attention. It wafted from behind the trees and he ducked under them to follow it. It smelled faintly of chemicals that he could recognize as being used in the preparation for a body for burial. His nose led him as he scented the trail, setting his hooves slowly down as he tracked forward. He felt the ground slope and paused as he looked around him. He startled and a loud yelp escaped him as the ground collapsed under his hooves. He spread his hooves and dug his claws into the sides of the small pit. He stopped a few feet away from the bottom and an exasperated grumble pulled from him. “Stupidity.” He cursed at himself as his horn lit and he teleported out of the hole. With his hooves firmly back on solid ground he glanced around. His head tilted as his eyes scanned around him, noting slight indents in the ground. Oblivion walked over to one the areas he had seen and set his hoof on the top of the mound and watched as it caved in. He groaned under his breath and began to pick his way through the numerous traps and falls. The stallion paused as he looked around him and a growl escaped him. “This is foolish. There are more than enough traps here to delay me. While I have plenty of time, I loathe wasting it.” A chuckle suddenly escaped him as he spread his wings from his sides. He had not used them much during his time here, though now seemed to be a good time to work on his hovering. He had the information from Rainbow about how to accomplish hovering, but he had not used the information. As his wings slowly beat and he lifted from the ground, he suddenly tilted and his hooves went back to the ground. With a quiet snarl he pushed off the ground, his wings catching and allowing him to move without touching the ground. His nose led the way as he allowed himself to go back to the ground after a short five minute flight. His hooves went back to the ground as a patch of dirt caught his attention. It was raised slightly and the soil on top had been disturbed. He prodded the ground with a hoof before his horn lit and he used his magic to shovel layers of the earth aside. A sudden shine caught his attention as he moved a layer of dirt away from the hole. His magic reached out to grasp the small bundle and levitated it in front of him. His magic pulled away the thick cloth around it to reveal a medium sized crystal. The surface shone and glittered in his aura. He leaned closer to it and felt the cold coming off of it. “It’s not a sheer crystal. Its ice.” He spoke aloud as he turned the shard around to analyze it. “So you found it!” A voice shrilled out and he balked, dropping the ice shard. His ears flicked as he scanned around him, trusting his ears. When nothing showed up around him, he paused as his mind went over the voice. “That was her voice.” He whispered aloud and reached out to grasp the crystal in his clawed hooves. No sound came from it as he moved it in his hoof. “Maybe…?” His magic gripped it once more and it spun slowly in his aura. “I had a feeling that I might not be able to beat you so I figured I would leave something behind for you. While I hoped that you and I could get together and be on the same side, I think I knew that it was not going to happen. So I decided that if I lost then I would leave something behind for you. I know I’m not the best pony to some. But I think you will understand things better than another pony.” Oblivion dropped the ice into his hoof, interrupting the voice coming from the shard. The black stallion was quiet as he twirled the ice on his hoof. “Hmm.” His mind went over the possibilities that the ice shard could be a trap or another mind game of hers. While he knew that was a strong possibility, his mind leaned toward the mare being stable enough to not try to harm him again, after their second meeting. While her death had ended things completely now he still remembered the meetings before that clearly. His aura picked it up once more and Winter Snow's voice flowed easily from it. “But I digress. So you may wonder about this little gem I made here. I found an old spell book and there was a spell to create an item that could hold a message and send it to a pony. It is called Eternal Messages. I created it in ice so it's my version. Now I would think that this would be so much easier to use, considering that letters are subject to the postal service. But this little gem does have a limitation. While it is being created you have to think of the pony you want to read it. Now that is a problem. It only reacts to magic. So it kind of means only a Unicorn can use it. So that’s a bit of a pain. I wasn’t sure it would work at all since I don’t know your name. So I focused on the Element of Spirit. Figured that was close enough. But I also left more presents for you. I put my saddlebags at the bottom of this hole. Now I admit that I put them in there and then forgot what I was doing. In my defense, I was busy trying to figure out how to make you mine or to kill you, so I was a bit…Scattered. But then as I was covering the saddlebags, I remembered that I still had the ice shard in my hoof. I know, crazy thing to forget.” Oblivion heard the mares giggle resound in his ears. His skin twitched and his wings flicked at his sides. “But then I remembered and I will wrap it up and put it down in the hole for you as well. But for now, I still need to explain things.” Oblivion heard her sigh and he could make out the sounds of grass and leaves as she was walking and speaking from beyond the grave. His ears flicked as he locked past the shard and began to uncover more of the hole and reveal the dirtied saddle bags. “I know that ponies won’t understand what I have done. Sometimes I don’t even understand it. But in the end, I keep moving and always remember my goals. You seem like you’re the same. Asmara said that you were a pony to be reckoned with. I honestly didn’t believe her when she said that you had defeated Princess Luna in combat. But after seeing you tear through the monsters I have to admit she was right. It seemed effortless. I…” She paused and Oblivion stopped pulling the saddlebags out of the hole to regard the gem in his magic. “I…” Oblivion sat back on his haunches as he heard a sniffle come from the shard. “I envy you. I did from the moment you were mentioned. But at the same time, I wanted to be better than you are. After seeing you in motion I know that you’re beyond me. I honestly think I can out think you. But I…I know I can’t outfight you. But, that’s no longer an issue. Anyway. Inside my saddle bags, I have left the tomes that I…borrowed from a certain library in Canterlot. Don’t worry about it. So I left them in there for you. You should probably read through them. They have information that I don’t think is meant to be known by common ponies. Asmara and I borrowed these tomes from a section of the library that had a sign saying forbidden on it. Honestly, they put a sign like that up and it’s a challenge!” She laughed and Oblivion still heard her walking, her voice resounded around him, making it sound like she was walking around him. “But to lay things out. Asmara and I aren’t friends to be clear. She is broken in other ways. She let me use the gem on her necklace since she had found out how to use it to summon monsters. Which is perfect for what I wanted. I had no idea who held the Element I wanted.” Oblivion set the gem down and reached a hoof into the hole and gripped the girth strap with his claws and pulled it to him. While he was not as concerned about the books as he was the information about Asmara he still held the curiosity of their contents. The saddlebags were sat down in front of him as he sat down and reached into with his magic to levitate the tomes around him as he read their titles. The thickest of them had no title on its front and he reached up a hoof to spin the tome around to see the spine and the back. Still, there was no title. He pulled it to him and held it in his hoof as he opened it. His eyes widened at the simple title on its inner cover. ‘Pre-history: The Beginning of Magic’ Oblivion closed it and set it inside his own saddle bag. His orange eyes fell on the next one which also had no title. He opened the inner cover and startled. It had a simple line that held the mare’s name. He immediately recognized what he was looking at, the mad mare’s journal. He opened the first page, checking to see if he was right. “So this is the first time I have ever used a journal or diary. I hope it helps with the thoughts I can’t get to stop running through my mind. I have been told by a few ponies that it helps them. I’m not sure I believe them. They only want me to be like them. Docile and quiet, giving in to what I am told to do.” Oblivion closed the journal and slid it into his saddlebag. The other two were brought to sit in front of his snout for him to look at. The tomes were the next two volumes of the history books. He had read through the history books in Twilight’s library and they started at a certain time in history. Oblivion slid them into his saddlebags and glanced to the gem on the ground. His claws reached out and he held it gently in the grip of his claws. The black Alicorn was quiet as he suddenly tossed the gem into the air and his aura gripped it, starting the mare’s voice to run aloud once more. “I wanted to do more. I know I should have given myself a smaller goal. But at the same time, why bother with small dreams? Go big or go home. I have heard that said many times and at first, I ignored it, thinking it was a foolish thing to say. But as I kept going I started to agree. So I dreamed of leading the world. Can’t get much bigger than that can you? But if you’re hearing this then I lost. Which is actually kind of okay? So as I finish this message to you I leave you with a few gifts. One is, of course, the contents of my saddlebags. Happy reading! Another gift is this Eternal Ice. Once you have heard this message the gem will store it and you can use the gem to give a message to another pony. It still will only work on Unicorns so bear that in mind. They also need to be a bit better at magic than the average commoner. So they should be able to summon it or you have to supply the magic. Good luck figuring that out. So here is the end of the message for you. I have a feeling that you will have gotten me to speak with you and you’ll have more information. So I guess I can give you the few things that I know. If you go to the farthest location of the monsters I brought to Equestria. You will find a pony at the edge of town. Past him is a desert. If you pay him, he will take you to an old ruin. Inside that ruin is a hideout. I used it many years ago and I told Asmara about it. I think she uses it more than I ever did. So if you go there you might find her. It doesn’t have a name. Or if it does I don’t know it. It’s a long walk through so take a lot of supplies. Okay, I think that was it. I keep thinking that there is more I should tell you. I included my journal in my gifts to you. Don’t worry about reading it, there is nothing mind shattering in it. I used it to write down my thoughts, they become deafening after a while.” She paused and Oblivion heard her halt in her walking. “I guess that it everything. In the end, I got a few things I wanted. Which is more than most. But in the end, I was stopped once more. I don’t mind though it seems. I must be as crazy as ponies think since I am leaving gifts for you, even as I know what the future holds for me. I won’t live through our encounter, and that’s okay. In the end, I hope I can choose how my life ends or at least be given a chance to speak. Okay. Good luck on your hunt, Element of Spirit. I wish you a swift hunt. Goodbye.” Oblivion waited as the mare's voice faded out and went silent. He set the Ice into his saddlebag and looked back to her saddlebags on the ground in front of him. He looked into them and found they were empty. Oblivion's magic engulfed them and burned them into ashes. He pushed himself to his hooves and refilled the hole with the dirt he had displaced. He shook himself and shifted on his hooves as he analyzed his options. Sasa would have joined him if he permitted it, but he wished to continue on his own for now. He had grown accustomed to the feline’s presence, but this time his mind yearned for solitude. His wings flicked at his sides and he released the binding on his mane, allowing it to fall onto his neck. The black wings spread and he rolled his shoulders before he looked to the sky, a beat of his wings later and he tore through the air and began to fly above the tree line. He glanced to his wings and a slight smile tugged at his mouth as the wings held firm under his weight and the winds around and under him. ‘A desert at the end of the road? Interesting.’ He pulled out his map and angled his body toward the horizon and with another beat of his oversized wings the ground gave way as he tore through the air above the ground.