//------------------------------// // Bounty // Story: Fated // by dragenfire68 //------------------------------// I took in the form of Blue Blood, I heard the stories of thestrals and how they looked, but here was far different, the piercing blue fire for his irises was a calming blue, his mane and tail were like ethereal blue fire, but his form intrigued me the most, no rotting skin, no hideous malformations and certainly none of the horrific transformations of the cultists. He was slightly see-through, but still, he didn't float like the ghosts, he looked very much connected to the earth and no injuries suggesting a painful death or conversion process, meaning that this Luna must've known what she was doing and serves the Light. "Uh Twi, not all of us are well versed in ancient history, so can you fill us in," I heard applejack ask. "Celestia and Luna during the early years, had many enemies both political and natural, and while Celestia is more powerful because of the age difference, Luna had much better control over her magic so when Equestria needed special elite soldiers, her bat ponies were the first to volunteer," Twilight explained, which made sense to me. "If they are so great, why are there so few," I heard rainbow ask. "From what I read the power to create thestrals was huge, not to mention the cost to Luna herself, to create a thestral she had to surrender a sliver of her soul and then empower the subjet getting it, all in all, a very demanding process," twilight explained "What are the powers of a thestral, to break off pieces of your soul has to painful as well as the temperament to keep the spell going," Rarity asked, I had not expected one such as her to have a decent concept of spellcraft. "The ability to shrug off even the most powerful spells on the condition that the attacker didn't see you, your existence is hidden from anyone who has not yet seen another living soul die, and all the powers of pegasi and earth pony, the Unicorn side is sacrificed to give the thestral its magical powers," Twilight explained to us. Interesting, usually a king or queen in my world would use that spell in reverse, where they would steal the soul of anyone they deemed capable, then again in the short time I've been in this world, these ponies have proven that they are better than the shit humans that live in my world. "I see that Luna has skills, the spellcraft that went into this makes it impossible to untangle without destroying the subject and spell along with them," God said as she circled Blue Blood, who jumped because he had forgotten she was there. "Coming from you that means a lot," Blue blood slightly bowed. God simply smiled before a frown crossed her face and she turned to the Castle entrance raising her hands, causing the doors to swing outward leading into a white void, everypony looked in and saw nothing until a tall dark figure stepped into the light, causing them to all step back. "Welcome to Equestria, Darius, The Bounty Hunter," God said, Darius simply tilted his head in acknowledgment. "damn, what manner of Evil got you old friend," I say having jumped from my seat when Darius entered. Darius said nothing, but instead spoke in hands, I nodded in understanding while the girls and blue blood simply stared in confusion, Darius then went and Leaned over the large crystal table motioning for me to sit down and explain while the girls simply sat and waited for me to explain. "Alright friend, by killing the Vampyre queen and her court you have earned the right to another life, where there is no eldritch instead this world has its own set of demons and monsters so worry not about your bounty hunting," I explain to the ever stoic Hunter. Darius stopped leaning over the table and once again spoke in hands, I nodded in understanding as he turned and started to head for the castle exit, I started to follow him with the cup in hand this time with god trailing behind us. "Wait, where are you going?" Twilight asked as her senses came back to her. "I, Darius, and god are gonna take our leave for today, I'm exhausted, Darius and god here need to catch up," I say while walking. "Where do you plan on sleeping?" "We are gonna sleep in the forest obviously." "THE EVERFREE FOREST, ARE YOU TOTALLY MAD!?" "Yes dear Twilight, we are but why the worry, it is pretty tame compared to other places where I had to rest, hell the ground is pretty soft." "Well, you three could stay here." "Don't get me wrong but I feel we must decline your offer, the wilds suit people like us better as out there people like us don't have to worry about stabbing someone in our sleep." Twilight watched as the Trio walked out the door and then turned in the direction of the everfree forest, she was at a loss for words because she knew just from the memories, that it would take a very long time for the humans to acclimate to Equestria. "I take it we are gonna follow them?" Applejack said when she was completely sure they couldn't hear her, gaining looks from Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Rarity. "That is highly unadvisable, the young woman is their Celestia and I doubt she would appreciate us following them around like lost puppies." Blue Blood said, having reattached the amulet. "You can't seriously trust them, They have suspicious written all over them," Applejack said, hoping to convince her friends to pursue the Trio. "Applejack what has gotten into you, why are you so dead set on stirring the hornet's nest?" Twilight asked in concern. "Look Twi, I understand that as a princess and Element you want to see the best in everything, but the amount of dodged questions and secrets has to have raised a few red flags." "The jester gave me insight into their world and I can tell you right now is that I would be fine going back and never seeing that ever again, the things that they saw in their world are vile and corrupt." "See Twi that's the problem, how could they know if it is supposed to be a secret, why would they even go poking around it?" "Well applejack, from what I understand, if they were to ignore the problem it would have only gotten worst so to prevent that, they had to learn the secret first so that they could put a stop to it," Rarity said. "Fine I won't pursue them but I refuse to trust any of them, they carry far too many dark secrets for my taste, how many of them do you think they carried into Equestria?" Applejack questioned, while Twilight merely shook her head. Despite being told a small part of their adventures, she knew that the Flesh she saw wasn't the worst thing they had encountered, in fact from what she could tell, there were worst things, but she is perfectly content with never learning or seeing them, her curiosity had been completely squashed.