“Come on, it should be just over this hill!” Shouted an excited purple unicorn, pulling a decent impression of Pinkie Pie as she bounced around joyfully.
“Twilight, you’ve said that about the last five hills.” Said Rainbow Dash, hovering just behind Twilight.
“I know, but it’s really close.” She said, beaming up at the rainbow-maned mare.
“Yea, yea. Remind me what we’re looking for again?” Asked Rainbow, as the other four caught them up.
“Last night, whilst doing a bit of stargazing, I saw four streaks of light fall to the ground near Ponyville. I think they were meteors.”
“And you’re sure they landed near here?”
“Positive. Over this hill is the last possible place they could have landed.” Twilight replied, visibly trying to restrain herself.
“Sugarcube, are ya sure it was here?” Asked Applejack in her rustic accent, looking sceptically at Twilight from below the rim of her hat. Twilight nodded energetically, before bouncing up the hill, Pinkie matching her bounce for bounce. Fluttershy followed more timidly.
“Oh, I do hope no animals were hit by them.” She said, nervous as always.
“Darling, I’m sure if there were any nearby they had the sense to run before they landed.” Rarity said, trying to salve her friend’s worries. Fluttershy smiled shyly at Rarity.
“I hope so.” She said quietly, as Twilight peered over the hill.
“Oh my…” She muttered, her eyes going wide.
“What is it?” Asked Rainbow, peering over the ridge as well. “Well buck me…” She muttered in shock, as the others crept up to look as well.
At the bottom of the hill, in the middle of a large crater, four very strange ponies stood. Three of them were stallions, one was a mare. The mare was the smallest of the four ponies, though they all looked big. The largest of them had a white tail, with black fur. The pony wore heavy-looking armour, with a massively armoured left foreleg. A disconcertingly large blade was secured on the stallion’s back, the massive weapon apparently as long as him. The stallion also wore a red robe, the hood covering their head, so only the tip of their muzzle was visible, making it impossible to tell if the pony was an earth pony or a unicorn. The black stallion was talking heatedly with one of the others.
This one, a pegasus, had a black mane and tail, and brown fur. The stallion was smaller than the hooded pony, and had lighter-looking, yet still formidable, armour. The armour was fairly thick, though opposed to the larger stallions it looked like it followed the contours of his body, other than his wings and tail, rather than just being a series of plates, save for the gauntlets on the front hooves, which were larger, and appeared to have a series of tubes built into each. The stallion also wore a mask of similar design to his armour, though with thinner metal.
The third stallion, a unicorn, sat near the arguing pair, apparently deep in thought. He had a similar build to the pegasus stallion, though seemed more lightly built. His mane and tail were black, and his fur was an off-white shade. His armour was more traditional than the pegasus’, though it was fairly limited, extending only to a pair of gauntlets, a skeletal mask that covered his mouth, paldrons and metal plates along his back and sides. This stallion had a pair of short-handled scythes attached to his sides.
The final pony, a mare, stood slightly away from the group, looking around at the world. The smallest of the group, she was also the most lightly built, and another pegasus. Her armour was of a similar design to the pegasus stallion’s, but it was thinner, barely thicker than sheet metal, and was black in colour. It also covered less of her body. She possessed a purple tail and mane, and what was visible of her fur was white. A long handle was secured to her side, and though it was difficult to make out from this distance, something seemed off about her front hooves.
“An… Interesting bunch to be sure.” Said Rarity, swallowing.
“I suppose you could say that…” Mumbled Fluttershy, trying not to be rude about the four ponies.
“They look like a bunch of nut-jobs.” Muttered Rainbow. “Seriously, who wears that kind of stuff?”
“We should go introduce ourselves.” Said Twilight.
“Are you serious? That big one looks like he could snap you in half.” Dash protested quietly.
“The only way we’re going to find out anything more about them is if we meet them. Plus, those two look like they’re about to come to blows.” Pointed out Twilight, before standing up and starting down the hill before anypony could stop her.
“Twilight, wait.” Said Applejack, getting up to chase after her.
“Oh don’t pretend that you know what’s going on, brother.” Snarled the masked pegasus. “You’re just as lost as the rest of us.”
“I’m sure they had a good reason for sending us here.” The larger stallion replied, growling as he tried to keep a civil tongue. ‘You are trying my patience brother.’ He added mentally.
“Or they just dumped us on a random world once our job was done. Face it, without the need to maintain balance, they have no need of us, but no one was brave enough to come kill us.”
“So why send us to this place rather than a dead world? There are plenty of them.”
“On a dead world we could still make trouble. For example, the world of the Ravaiim. How many dangerous artefacts do you think were left there?”
“If you two would stop bickering for a moment.” Interjected the mare. “You’d have noticed we have company.” The two stallions looked at the mare, who gestured towards the six ponies coming down the hill. The smaller stallion tensed up and began raising one of his gauntlets, but the, until-now, static unicorn quickly stood and forced the limb down with his own hoof.
“They may be the only chance we have of learning what this place is. We play nice.” He admonished the pegasus, before turning to the advancing party.
“Well, they’ve defiantly seen us.” Said Twilight, her smile faltering slightly. “No turning back now.”
“What do you think those two were arguing about?” Rainbow asked.
“No idea, though the pegasus with the mask appears less than pleased.”
“They all do.” Observed Fluttershy, trying to hide behind her pink mane.
“Let’s hold off judgment until we talk to them. Remember what happened with Zecora?” Asked Twilight, smirking at her friends’ reactions, a mixture of guilt and embarrassment.
“Alright Twi, we’ll give them a shot.” Said Applejack, smiling at Twilight. The unicorn nodded, and turned back to the four strange ponies, before walking forwards again.
“Hello!” She greeted them, stopping a few yards away. Up close, it was obvious how big they were. The smallest of the four ponies was taller than Twilight; the two smaller stallions were as tall as Big Mac, whilst the biggest of them all was at least a head taller than Mac.
“Hello.” The masked unicorn replied carefully.
“Who are you?” Asked the massive stallion, in a deep baritone voice.
“M-my name’s Twilight Sparkle.” She said, her tone faltering as the giant spoke. The mare looked incredulously at Twilight as she stated her name.
“Nice to meet you.” Said the unicorn. “And the rest of you?” He asked, looking at the other ponies.
“The pegasus trying to hide behind her mane is Fluttershy.” Said Twilight, glancing back at the named pony. “The white unicorn next to her is Rarity.” She smiled at Rarity waved nervously. “The pony with the hat is Applejack.”
“Nice to meetcha’.” Said Applejack, tipping her hat politely.
“Likewise.” Said the masked unicorn, eying Pinkie Pie as she bounced around the four new ponies.
“That’s Pinkie Pie. Word of advice, don’t try to rationalise anything she does.”
“Hi! I’m Pinkie Pie! You guys look soooo cool! Oh, that’s a really big sword!” She said, bouncing over to the largest pony, who didn’t even flinch.
“And the pegasus who appears to be sizing you up is Rainbow Dash.” Twilight scowled at Dash, who appeared to be glaring at the assembled ponies, especially their weapons. “Dash, be polite.”
“Hi.” She said flatly.
“Now that you know who we are, do you mind me asking who you are?”
“I am Death.” Said the masked unicorn. “These are my brothers and sister. War, Strife, and Fury.” He gestured at the largest pony first, before pointing at the pegasus stallion, and finally at the mare. “In our world, we were known as the last of the Nephilim, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.” The natives in front of him froze, and even Pinkie Pie stopped bouncing. “Though I assure you, we mean you and your people no harm. Truth be told, we have no idea how we got here, only that we did not wish for it.”
“Why are you here?” Asked Dash, a bit of fear entering her suspicious tone.
“We do not know.” Said ‘War’, his voice causing the smaller ponies to shudder. “Pray that the reason does not become apparent, for your sakes.” He continued, his tone promising doom if the reasons did come clear.
“In our world, we were responsible for maintaining the balance between the forces of good and evil. At least, until the End War.”
“The End War?” Asked Twilight cautiously.
“The Apocalypse. Judgement Day. Call it what you will. The point is, after the End War finished, there was no need for us. As you can imagine, no one felt comfortable with us staying, so we theorise that they sent us here so we couldn’t cause any further trouble.”
“Whose they?” Asked Dash, crossing her forelegs.
“The Charred Council. A number of powerful beings. Even the Creator himself. We do not know. All that matters is, we are here now. We might as well do our best to fit in.” Said Death, giving a pointed look to Strife.
“Now how exactly are you plannin’ on doin’ that?” Applejack asked, somewhat incredulously.
“We do not know.” Said Strife, glaring back at Death from behind his mask.
“Ok, I have a few questions.” Said Dash.
“By all means, ask them.” Death said expectantly.
“Firstly, what’s up with your eyes?” Twilight took a second look at the ‘Horsemen’, blinking as she realised what Dash was talking about. All four of them had glowing eyes of different colours. War’s were white; Death’s were green, whilst Strife and Fury shared a yellow colour.
“This is simply how our eyes are. We have no control over it.”
“Ok, next question.” Dash flew slightly closer. “How do we know you won’t just attack us as soon as our backs are turned?”
“Look around you pegasus.” Said Strife. “Do you see any witnesses? Anyone to stop us? If we wanted you dead, you’d be bleeding into the dirt by now.” Fluttershy shrank back more with a scared noise. Even Rainbow blanched slightly.
“Ok, fine. Final question.” She looked at Fury. “What’s up with your hooves?” Everypony turned to look at Fury, who held up a foreleg. The native ponies expected to see a hoof, but were instead greeted with a set of curved claws.
“Well, one of my weapons was a set of claws.” She said with a grin. “Plus it helps me grip this.” She grabbed the long handle from her side and lashed out in a safe direction with it, a tongue of flame leaping from the handle like a whip. “Can you imagine me having to do that with my mouth?”
“No...” Squeaked Fluttershy, hiding behind Rarity.
“I might have an idea as to how we could fit in.” Said War thoughtfully, apparently having not noticed the recent exchange.
“An idea? That’d be a first.” Muttered Fury with a grin. War shot her a look before continuing.
“Is there by any chance a force meant to protect the innocent in this realm?”
“Well, there’s Celestia’s Royal Guard.” Said Twilight.
“Celestia?” Asked Death, tilting his head.
“Princess Celestia to be exact. She’s one of the two rulers of Equestria.” Twilight blinked and looked towards the sky. “It looks like she’s on her way as well.” The assembled ponies turned to look where Twilight was looking. They were met with the sight of several chariots descending from the sky towards them, accompanied by multiple pegasi, both from the Celestial and Night Guard, who moved to encircle the group. The chariots touched down nearby, two ornate ones, the personal chariots of Celestia and Luna, circled protectively by the more basic, yet still gilded, chariots of the Guard. The Guardponies who had encircled them all glared at the four new ponies with hostility, clearly willing to risk their lives if they turned out to be hostile.
“Well, this is new.” Muttered Fury.