//------------------------------// // Semi Re-Write // Story: The Powers That Be // by fieeesh //------------------------------// I was supposed to die. That seems as good a place to start as any. The events leading up to my demise have gone hazy, fragmented, I’m unsure of what happened in between, but I’ll try to piece together a narrative A snowy highway, cutting through the forest, it was December I was headed back to an empty home. A voice, a sinister, cold voice that sent chills racing down my spine, ”Matt Linnwood. I offer you power from your wildest dreams. You must only serve me.” A semi-truck careening towards me, sliding on the slick ice of the road. My own blood pooling beneath me, shouting, tugging at my body, but I could only feel the cold embrace of the snow, and then…..nothing. I was abruptly awoken by a howling wind roaring through my ears, looking around I saw that I was in some kind of throne room, black marble covered the floor and walls, monolithic pillars spaced around me. About a hundred feet away sat a massive cloud of darkness, through it I could only make out the faintest of distinguishing features except for a pair of glowing red eyes that seemed to be filled with nothing but utter disdain. The cloud spoke in that same haunting whisper I had heard on the road except much clearer and much more real. "I have a proposition for you, Matt Linwood of Earth. Do you accept?" I could barely force a word through my throat, as clammed up with fear as I was. "Who are you? How do you know me?! What do you mean by proposition. I’m supposed to dead!" My voice broke as I shouted at the last of my words. I could feel my heart pounding a mile a minute. The cloud loosed a sadistic kind of laughter at my panic. "Who am I? Well now that’s an awfully rude way to speak to your benefactor. But I suppose it’s only reasonable you’d react this way. You can call me….The Maker, and for how I know you, why that’s simple Matt, it’s because I’ve been watching you. Watching and waiting till your untimely demise, and now you’re mine. My offer is simple, I give you a second lease on life, in exchange however, you will aid me in my destruction of those miserable wretches who’ve imprisoned me here." The Maker’s voice oozed with barely contained sadism. I took a second to calm myself and replied. “Who imprisoned you? Why did they do it? How could I possibly help you?” The Maker’s movements were hard to decipher behind the fog but he seemed to nod. "Yes,yes. All very good questions, and I will answer them to my satisfaction. The ones who imprisoned me are the rulers of a land called Equestria. They stole my throne from me and imprisoned me in this hellish pit they call Naraka. The only reason they could even hope to match my power is due to an artifact called The Charmstone. As for how you will aid me, worry not child, I will provide you with the power you need.” I shook my head and sat down. "You don’t really leave me any choice. I get the feeling that denial on my part wouldn’t end with a slap on the wrist." "I'm glad you see it my way. Now I will send you back 1000 years before my return use your time wisely and find The Charmstone." The Maker extended a rolling cloud like arm and grasped a nearby jar. "This is a pithos; a storage jar. This contains the mixture that will grant your powers." It handed me the pithos, looking inside I saw a dark red liquid sloshing about. Steeling myself I brought the jar up and began to drink deeply. It tasted like nothing I had ever drank before, it burned and froze and sent a tingling throughout my entire body. I coughed and spit as I dropped the jar. "What in God’s name? How will I live for a thousand years? Humans don't live that long." "Do you truly believe me so short-sighted? No matter. You will live, I assure you." My vision started to get narrower as a spike of pain stabbed through my head. I screamed in agony as I felt like I was simultaneously being burned alive and crushed with a steamroller. I began to black out and as I fell I saw a chromatic stone in my vision. "This is what you must retrieve." and my vision faded for the second time today. =============================================================== I awoke lying on a balcony attached to a large castle,a stained glass door stood in front of me, I walked over and gently eased it open, what greeted me was a large bedroom wich featured a prominent Night motif, heavily focused on constellations and dim lighting, from my right I heard a gasp, I pivoted quickly and came face to face with a strange horse thing. The being was about 5 feet tall with a dark blue….Skin? Coat? I was unsure of what the beings body was covered in, its hair was an odd color reminiscent of the night sky, and when I say that I meant literally, its hair was the night sky, finally to round out the oddity of the being, it possessed both a horn, like a unicorn, and feathered wings. The woman, which I had deduced from the creatures body structure and clothes, stared at me in shock before loudly proclaiming. "HOW DARETH THEE TRYETH AND ATTACKETH US! THEE SHALT PAYETH FOR THINE CRIMES ASSASSIN!" The horn atop her head glowed a deep blue and I felt an instant of weightlessness before being flung into the wall of the room. Staggered I was unable to act before I looked up and saw her fire a beam of energy at me. I knew I couldn't dodge it, so I could only attempt to look a bit more dignified in death, I stood tall and let the beam hit me square in the chest. The beam collided and I felt my body begin to freeze as it spread out from my chest, I tried to move but was unable.She looked at me and smiled. "Thee shall maketh a fine decoration." She then picked me up with that same strange energy and deposited me next to a window overlooking a large garden where I saw several other statues, what kind of monster could she be petrifying people for decorations? She then did something I found pretty unexpected, considering my current ideas on what kind of person she was.She just stripped down and went to bed, just like that, no gloating, no nothing. I felt kind of insulted, truth be told. I was expecting a bit more of an evil monologue. I sat next to that window for two years, and I swear I saw the weirdest shit. Luna, as I would later come to know was her name, would, at least three times a week usually more, come in with I assume were different guards, I couldn’t really tell them apart they all looked kinda similar, and just have sex. She wasn't even considerate of me, not even a blanket over me so I wouldn't have to watch, and I swear there was a statistic that said something like the average person would have sex 112 times a year, she would do that monthly. My complaints about others sexual promiscuity aside, by my third year in Equestria Luna had come to the conclusion that I was her personal therapy statue/diary. She would spend hours telling me about the most inconsequential bits of her day to day existence, but over time she began to tell me more and more about her problems, now obviously I couldn’t help her but I could tell she was taking things pretty hard, apparently her sister Celestia was getting all the attention and Luna was feeling insulted, I never heard about her parents which was odd but I learned plenty of info about her and her sister. This went on for the next couple of years, during which Luna began to get less sad and more mad towards her sister, until one day I heard a crash from the direction of what I assumed to be the throne room and saw who I assumed was Celestia flying after a very pissed and evil looking Luna, I waited for a few hours but didn't see much until Celestia returned to the hall without Luna. After that I never saw Luna again, nobody ever came into the room and the only things I heard was either nature or the occasional guard patrol walking by, luckily the magic calendar I had been using to keep track of the date still worked. I waited in that room for a thousand years, after a while I began to fall asleep for long periods of time, which was nice I suppose.But still, to learn The Maker was right about the whole immortality thing, that changed a lot. Eventually though the door to the room swung open, propelled by a large red fist and in walked a large centaur, who began to walk around the room, his horns barely touching the ceiling. The centaur spoke up when he saw me. "Hmph. What’s this? Another poor soul imprisoned by the Princesses." Hearing him say that, made me even more distrustful of whoever ruled the land, if Luna and Celestia regularly petrified people, what were the King and Queen like? He bent down so that we were face to face and studied me. "Who were you?" I didn't respond as I was still a statue. He ran his finger across the top of my head and brought it to his mouth . "Ah lunar magic, quite old too. Now why don’t I see about getting you free." He opened his maw and sucked the magic encasing me off, it peeled away like a snake shedding it’s skin. "So then creature, what will you do now that you are free? Do you wish to aid me in killing the tyrants of this land?” I stood up and stretched before responding. "Sorry but I already have someone I'm working for. Plus I wouldn't be of much use seeing as I’ve been stuck here for so long." (This stops shortly before the end of chapter 1)