The Guitarist
Chapter 6: The Barn
The air was extremely cold to the point where I could see my own breathe in front of me. I couldn't make out anything else out in front of me, suddenly I heard a demonic roar. "Kiniro... " I heard in a very unsettling voice. "I have come to consume you, as I have consumed all those who have risen to oppose me." I couldn't recognize the voice at all but I began to feel my very soul being sucked out of me from that voice. I reached for my guitar that was slung over my back.
"Who are you?! What do you want?" I yelled at the darkness.
"Is it not obvious, your world is on the brink of despair, and now I have found you, and a new world to consume."
"You will do no such thing!" I yelled at the voice. "What ever you are, you will have to fight me first!"
"Your time will come young Minstrel."
I positioned my guitar to play and began to play a few simple chords. "You don't scare me, can harness power beyond belief and I will use it to stop you!" My guitar began to glow light blue, and I quickly became to combine the chords and melody to form the song of Ragnarok. With a sudden burst, the blue aura had surrounded me and I felt the power of the gods flowing within me. "You will yield and you will stop!"
"Is that so minstrel, even if it is me?" The voice said.
I stood there in horror at what I saw, but I did not stop myself from playing the song of Ragnarok. Satan Morroc himself had materialized in front of me. I continued to play quicker and quicker to charge my spell. But Satan Morroc with a swift stroke knocked me back of his arm.
"I will... find a way... I will find a way to stop you." I said with gasping breathes.
"You're time has come and this new land you have found for me will be ripe." With a burst of his red aura I was blinded.
I screamed out for my ultimate demise. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Everything went black, but I still heard my voice screaming out in pain! Suddenly I felt a large thud on my head.
"Are ya' alright there darling?" I heard a familiar voice call out to me.
My eyesight quickly returned to me, and I saw Applejack staring down at me. "Uh.... my head.... Where am I?" I questioned. I also found myself laying in a pile of hay and I was completely covered in it.
"Yer' in the barn." Applejack said in a comforting voice.
I quickly looked around to confirm this, and as I looked around, I saw a purple unicorn with a purple mane with one stripe of pink running through the middle. She seemed amazed, concerned and mystified all at the same time, but was still afraid to approach me. "Uh... Hi?" I asked hesitantly.
"Well now Twi, don't be shy, he won't bite ya." Applejack reaffirmed.
So this purple unicorn I assumed was Applejack's friend Twi that she had been going on about last night. "I'm sorry I don't mean to be rude, but my name is Kiniro. Pleased to meet you." I extended my arm out to greet the new pony.
"I'm sorry Kiniro, I'm not trying to be disrespectful to you, but human's shouldn't exist, you shouldn't exist." The purple pony explained.
"Well I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but I'm right here." I retorted back.
"Twi, don't be mean to our guest here, he's just as surprised to be here as you are." Applejack claimed.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be mean Mr. Kiniro. My name is Twilight Sparkle, special student to Princess Celestia."
"Nice to meet you but please, just Kiniro."
Twilight sparkle just nodded in agreement. "So Applejack tells me that you know how to use magic. Is this true?"
"He sure does know how to use it! He proved it to me last night Twi." Applejack interrupted.
"I know Applejack, but I have to see this for myself."
"Alright alright, I'll see what I can do, I still feel very weak but I will definitely try" I responded. I slowly picked myself up from the ground, and brushed off the hay that was still sticking to me. "Uh... where is my guitar?" I asked as I tried to locate it.
"Right behind you." Twilight answered.
"Oh... right." I blushed slightly for making a bit of a fool of myself, but I quickly recovered and picked up my guitar. "Again I feel a bit weak, not physically but spiritually. I haven't recovered my mana after this entire ordeal, might be a while before I can do anything back up to my norm."
"That's quite alright Kiniro just show me anything." Twilight asked with a slight frustrated tone.
"Alright." I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "Here goes." I began to perform a small melody and began to focus on myself. As I focused myself, my guitar began to glow light blue, and after a few seconds I felt myself become weightless and I levitated off the ground by a few inches.
"By Celestia..." Twilight responded with a shocked voice.
"See I told ya he knows magic!" Applejack stated with a smug face.
"Who knows magic?!" A third voice stated with a very high pitched screech.
This unknown voice had completely thrown me off and made me fall from my levitated state and I crashed onto the ground. "Ow... damn it." I had fallen on my behind and closed my eyes a the pain shot up my back.
"Oooooooooh, that was a cool trick do it again!" I heard the voice say again. As I began to open my eyes I saw this pink pony just staring me right in the face. I jumped back slightly due to the shock of the surprise. "How'd you get your guitar to be all glowy?!" The pink pony asked and then quickly inspecting my guitar.
"Pinkie!" Both Applejack and Twilight stated.
"Yeeeeeeeeesss?" The pink pony responded and began bouncing around me. "Oh! You there! Mr. Fancy pants, my name is Pinkie Pie! Sorry I didn't mean to startle you! But I just saw this bright blue glowing light and I was like! 'Oh that light is really pretty' I have to go see what it is. Then I saw you floating and your guitar was like shoooooom, glowing in this blue light and..."
Applejack had quickly put her hoof into the Pinkie Pie's mouth. "Uh, sugarcube, mind giving us a quick minute with this? Thanks. We are trying to figure out why he's here." Applejack then removed her hoof from Pinkie's mouth.
"Okie dokie loki AJ!" Pinkie Pie responded. Pinkie then proceeded to plop herself right beside me as I still sit in pain on the ground.
"Give me a second..." I quickly took a deep breath and gathered my thoughts. "Well I'm actually a Minstrel, from my world I'm a magician who uses his catalyst by playing music. I also have a few other tricks that come in handy."
"Oh?" Twilight questioned.
"Yeah, so... this one slightly embarrasses me, but I have a unique ability to freeze people in a block of ice who get stunned from me telling a horrible joke." I said with a slight blush. "Its because I'm a horrible.... comedian."
I saw all three ponies' reactions and needless to say, it looked like they had their jaw's drop due to my shameful skill.
"So you're telling me Mr. Fancy pants that if you say a bad joke, if it stunned me, I'd be frozen in a block of ice?" Pinkie Pie asked.
"Yeah, that's the skinny of it." I responded.
"Oh oh oh! I want to see this." Pinkie asked feverishly.
"Pinkie you don't know what it can do!" Twilight explained.
"No its quite alright, it doesn't hurt, its just used to slow people down, the ice isn't permanent, it shatters rather quickly. Watch, Hey Pinkie what happened to the peanut that walked into a dark alley?"
"He got a-salted." Pinkie pie responded.
Ice formed quickly around me and made me still for a moment. Man this was cold, I got stunned by my own horrible joke because Pinkie Pie knew the punch line!
"Ooooo, we have a Kini-Pop!" She then proceeded to lick the ice. "You know I thought this would taste sweet, but just like his joke, it turned out sour!" Pinkie Pie laughed, and then shortly ice formed around her and she was covered in ice!
My ice shattered around me, and my jaw dropped seeing that I wasn't the only one who could do that trick. Both Applejack and Twilight were stunned to see what happened. Shortly after Pinkie also thawed out. "Wooo! That was fun! Lets do it again!"
"NOOO!" All of us screamed.
"Why did the Banana put back his skin?... To get a peel!" Out of no where I heard what sounded like a rim shot of a drum, but none was insight. Pinkie just stood there as if waiting for something to happen. "Nope, guess it was just a one time thing." Pinkie just smiled and nodded.
"So... Kiniro, Applejack pretty much filled me in on what she knows about you, but your arrival here is just... shocking, sorry I can't get over that." Twilight explained. "Plus..."
"Oh! The fact he's from Rune Midgard, and he can channel magic through his music, and that he's human, and that he shouldn't exist, or that he can perform a really powerful magic spell and its probably the reason why he's here, and..." Pinkie pie suddenly had a hoof placed in her mouth again my Applejack.
"Sugar cube, you know you shouldn't be running yer' mouth like that sometimes, especially when others are trying to talk." Applejack stated with a slight frustration.
Pinkie only responded with a muffled "Ok." Applejack the took her hoof out of Pinkie's mouth.
I was shocked at what she knew about me, granted this was the first time I've met her.
"Pinkie, how did you know all this?" Twilight asked.
"Well duh, I read everything you need to know about him about 2-3 chapters ago." Pinkie responded.
"Pinkie... what are you talking about?" Twilight questioned.
"Twi... don't bother, when she gets like this, none of us know. I'm sorry there Kiniro, Pinkie means well, she just gets very excited." Applejack told me.
"Oh speaking of which I have to throw you a party since your new in town!" Pinkie made large gasping sound. "I HAVE TO GET EVERYTHING TOGETHER." And quickly as she arrived she left.
"What was that all about?" I questioned.
"That's just Pinkie." Twilight stated. "Look I know I can't help you much here, I need to do some research at the home, and see what I can help you with. I'm going to head there soon and get a head start. Applejack think you can bring him over soon as nightfall when everypony is asleep?"
"Can do Twi!" Applejack responded.
"I can't wait for you to come over later tonight and see what we can do, and don't take this the wrong way or anything, but, I want to study you and how you use your music to channel magic!"
I was slightly shocked and embarrassed by the request, but if I was to get back home, I had to oblige. "Um, sure, why not, definitely!"
"Ok then! See you at nightfall!" Twilight quickly exited the barn humming as if she had been given the greatest gift in the world.
"Well looks like she's taken a fancy to you Kiniro." Applejack nudged me.
"Oh hush you, I bet she just is interested in me because of magic abilities."
"Well I suppose your right, but I've never seen Twi light up like this before, especially something that wasn't concerning a book, at least not outright anyway." Applejack claimed. "Well anyway, go get some rest again, you seemed to have quite a bit of a scare earlier, must of been from a nightmare. We have a couple hours till nightfall, I'll come back and get you when the time's right."
"Right, yes... a nightmare. Ok I'll see you in a few hours!" I responded back.
That nightmare... was too real for me. Did Satan Morroc really know I was here? Or was I just wildly imagining things. At this point I wasn't so sure. I quickly scanned the floor as I continued to think about my nightmare and I saw the arrow I had tossed out from the night prior when I was proving my friendliness to Applejack and Big Mac. I got myself back up even though I was in some sharp pain still. I looked down at the arrow again. "I think I might need this, as far as I know, no one else makes these here" I said aloud, and loaded it quickly loaded back into my guitar.
I stared at my guitar for moment, and wondered if it wasn't just a dream, would I be ready to fight Satan Morroc if he did come here, and every time I doubted myself. After I reminded myself that these ponies who I had barely met just even a day or just minutes ago, would be willing to help me especially with something, a world that doesn't concern them. Made me remember that there are just some things no matter how far gone they are, you can't give up on. I know that those still in Midgard haven't given up fighting, hoping that I return soon.
End of Chapter 6