“Dialogue”
“Words in a foreign language.”
“Quoting in thought”
***
Spitfire's hoof steps echoed loudly in the marble hallways of the castle. The corridors were long and winding, making it very easy to get lost if one didn't have the layout memorized . It was probably designed that way for a reason, she thought. She eventually found her way into a small room in the servants’ wing and knocked softly before stepping through the thick wooden door.
“Hey Cap'n, what did Celestia want us for?” a light blue stallion called from his spot on the mattress of one of the small beds that occupied the sparse room.
“Address me with some respect, Soarin. I don’t want you to get written up if one of the goldies hears you.” The fiery haired mare rubbed her temple with a hoof. Soarin could be such an idiot sometimes.
“Relax, Captain, with the military out of town they all got redeployed to the rest of Canterlot. Hardly any in the castle now. So why don’t you show us what you got?” The stallion rolled around, his normally well-groomed blue mane now a mess of bed hair.
Spitfire sighed and rolled out the parchment on the floor. The always energetic Soarin hopped down from his perch to look over her shoulder. Another mare almost bled from the shadows in the corner of the room - the mare was a darker blue than Soarin with a white mane that didn't look like it would lend itself to stealth. The mare walked calmly from her corner of the room joining the small huddle.
“Fleet, could you not do that? It is seriously creepy.” Soarin shivered and Spitfire rolled her eyes at him.
“Shouldn't you be used to that by now? I mean seriously, how long have you two been on the same team?” Spitfire pointed a hoof at Soarin accusingly.
“It’s still creepy,” he moaned, before Spitfire’s glare immediately shut him up.
Spitfire glared at him for another second and not seeing any more dissent, continued with her briefing. “That’s what I thought. Okay, now that we have everyone settled, this is the situation.”
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Spitfire sat on a roof at their objective, keeping watch over the grid of streets she could see from her vantage point. A tiny shiver of dread crept down the back of her neck, the same niggling feeling she had been getting since the moment they arrived. A heavy thump behind her signaled the return of Soarin. “Find anything?” she asked without turning around.
“Sorry, Cap'n, all I’ve seen is just a lot of empty buildings. This place is seriously starting to give me the creeps.” The blue stallion nervously shifted from one side to the other; ever since he entered the borders of the rumored “Everfree City” he had felt uncomfortable. He felt almost like a rookie donning his heavy armor and spear for the first time. This place was unnatural; it seemed to scream wrongness.
I know what you mean. That is probably that dark magic Celestia talked about, everything here just seems unbelievably strange. Any sign of activity?” Spitfire turned to look the nervous stallion in the eye, trying to keep her own composure.
“Yeah, spotted the windmill easily enough. It’s a strange thing though, I couldn’t see any water pumps, or grindstones, or anything. It was just the blades and hub on a stick, weirdest thing.” Soarin sat back on his haunches, taking some of the weight off of his poor hooves.
Spitfire took a deep breath, ready to ask another question, but nearly choked when Fleetfoot tapped her helmet to get her attention. “Don’t do that!” She turned to see the quietest member of the team standing right next to her where she was sure there was nothing just a moment ago. “Did you find something?” she asked. Fleetfoot pointed off down one of the streets. In the distance Spitfire could make out movement from... something.
“Well, alright then. Let’s go check it out, team. Stay low and for Celestia’s sake, be quiet.” Spitfire took off, flying closer to the flicker of movement with her two subordinates not far behind.
They touched down silently and crept over to the edge of a single story building that overlooked a small square of unpaved land. There was a single creature moving around below them, picking weeds out of a plot of tilled earth. This thing was unlike anything they had ever seen. It was tall, bipedal and looked to be mostly hairless, but was dressed in rough, baggy clothes.
“What the hay, is that some kind of minotaur?” Soarin whispered almost too loudly.
“Shut up, you idiot, it's going to hear us!” Spitfire scolded, but it was no good. The strange lanky creature below had already heard something and was searching for the source. It began looking around into buildings and staring down streets and alleyways. Strangely, it never once thought to look up. The three soldiers kept low on the rooftop, watching the creature closely. Eventually it returned to its previous task digging in the small plot of soil. They silently watched it work for several hours, observing how it moved. Spitfire waved a hoof at her two teammates, a signal to retreat. They crept back over the roof away from the creature before taking fight again ending up on a roof several streets away.
“What the hay was that thing, what do you think it is?” Soarin could barely keep on his feet, flying so quietly in heavy armor was difficult, and with the oppressive feeling all around them, it was even more straining.
“I don’t know, but I have a feeling it might be able to lead us to the source of this mess,” Spitfire said, before Fleetfoot tapped her on the helmet again and pointed in the same direction as before. In the distance the creature was seen putting away its tools and quickly walking off down one of the streets.
“Quick, after that thing and keep out of sight!” The three quickly took to the air, stalking it all the way back to its home. The three watched as the creature strolled right through the heavy wooden doors. Spitfire waved a hoof and the trio split up, looking around the outside of the strange building. It was only a few minutes until the bell in the small tower attached to the building started to ring. They used the opportunity to move around quickly, taking in the terrain. The place looked like it was made of some kind of light brown stucco and was covered with strange statues, all of them representations of the same species as the creature. The grounds were clean and well kept, and the path to the front door led up a small flight of extremely narrow stairs.
“This place totally looks like some kind of evil temple. This has got to be what we're after,” Soarin whispered. “I'm going to go for it.”
Spitfire called after him in a harsh whisper, “NO! Soarin, what are you-” She didn't even get to finish her sentence before the stallion slipped through the heavy wooden doors. Spitfire and Fleetfoot quickly flew to the windows on either side of the door. “That idiot!” she cursed. “When he makes his move, get ready to support him,” she called to Fleetfoot who nodded in confirmation.
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I stood there, frozen in fear. The creature was only half my height but it wore armor and carried what looked like a spear at its side. This was obviously one of the native people, but a pony, really? I could see its eyes narrowed through its visor, looking rather suspicious and agitated with me.
I instinctively held my Bible to my chest in front of me like some kind of shield and took a few steps back. The creature snorted and took a few steps forward. I raised my hand trying to make soothing gestures and calm things down. I didn’t know what it might have been capable of and I really didn’t want to find out. I started to speak slowly, in what I hoped was a soothing voice. “Easy, easy, it’s Okay, just be calm.”
“In the name of Celestia, surrender!”
Oh God, it was shouting at me!
“Just calm down, I can’t understand what you’re saying, please just be calm!” I knew it wouldn’t understand me, but I had to try. As adrenaline began to pump through my veins, I felt less and less inclined to be diplomatic. This thing looked like it’d probably be easy to overpower... NO! If I just relaxed and used my head, everything would work out fine. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, I chanted in my mind. I might be scared, but it wouldn’t be right to just fly off the handle. Right? The little creature brandished its spear, jabbing it in my direction and forcing another step back towards the door. “H-hey, please just hang on a second. I’m sure if we can just talk a little, there won’t be any need for violence.”
The creature had other ideas. The windows behind me were abruptly shattered by something and I suddenly found myself wrapped in a rough net. I tried to pull it off but something was trying to pull me down and made it difficult. Finally, I managed to wiggle out of it, rapidly crawling in between the pews and looked over at my new attackers. I caught my first glimpse of two new creatures that had apparently broken through my windows. They wore the same armor as the first one but their coloration was wildly different. A striking red orange and yellow flame motif for the one on the left and a pale blue and white for the one on the right. They must have left their weapons elsewhere, since I couldn’t see any spears or other pointy things on them, thank God.
“Just surrender, monster, you’re not getting away from us.” The orange one spoke, and from the voice I guessed it might have been female. It definitely sounded feminine.
I jumped up and ran to the other side of the room, away from the creatures, and like a well-oiled machine they sprung into action. This was one of the most terrifying moments in my entire life and suddenly finding a small terrifying creature in front of me, I reacted in said terror. My Bible was still clutched in my hands and before I could even think about it, I pulled it back and smashed it across the creature’s face. It cried out in pain and the other two shouted in anger. I quickly sidestepped my stunned opponent and bolted for my quarters. The narrow hallways and unfamiliar layout would make my escape all the more easier. I crashed through the hallways, tipping over decorations, trying to put as many obstacles in between me and them as possible.
I barreled through my bedroom door and slammed it closed; there was no lock so I pulled over the desk to act as a barricade. I could hear them right outside the door. A moment later I heard a crash - they were trying to break it down. Gasping for breath, I stuffed a few necessities in a small duffel bag. I didn’t know how far I could get, but if I got away I wasn’t going unprepared.
“Alright, enough of this! Soarin, breach the door.”
I heard the door start to splinter behind me and turned to see the shiny, razor sharp tip of the spear sticking through the wood. Shit, they were serious! The spear tip started to pry back and forth widening the gap in the flimsy plywood. I grabbed the shaft behind the iron head and pulled, hard. I heard someone yelp and then a crash against the wood of the door. Somewhere beneath all the layers of fear I couldn’t help but find that a little bit funny.
I didn’t pause for long before I jumped up onto my bed, pushed open the window that sat high on the wall above it and quickly slipped through. I pulled the window closed behind me, figuring the longer they spent searching the room, the farther I could get before they figured out I was long gone.
The sun outside was still as bright as ever; occasionally a cloud would pass by and cast the street in shade. I stalked down a dark alleyway, getting closer to the center of town. I hoped to make it to the fire station where I had stored the few vehicles I used on a regular basis. If I could get to my fuel truck (It being the closest one capable of going off road), I could beat a retreat and even head out through the forest or maybe even over the mountains if I could find a path. I realized then the absurdity of my plan. I was going to leave my town to just three little creatures. I had fought off giant demon lions and wooden wolves all this time, but now something that can talk shows up and I bail, just like that?
I shook the doubt from my mind. I didn’t want to leave, far from it. The town had been my home for nearly a year before the event and I loved the place... all of the memories. I had to shake my head to clear the sudden rush of bittersweet images. I couldn’t bring myself to seriously hurt the locals that came after me. Even if they weren’t human, they were obviously people in a respect. I refused to put myself in a situation where I would be forced to kill them, or let myself be hurt or killed. Honestly I shouldn't have even been thinking of killing them at all, as they were thinking beings with souls of their own and spilling innocent blood was not something I wanted on my conscience.
The center of town loomed ever closer and my mood lifted when I could see the sand-colored brick of the fire station only a block or so down the road. I almost stepped out into the street, but then I heard a strange noise. It was a sound not unlike the sound a bird’s feathers make before landing, but the muffled thumps that came next betrayed that whatever was flying, it wasn’t a bird.
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Surrounded by a seemingly infinite black void, a small spark of dark energy grew. To this spark, across the bounds of space and time, all the darkest emotions that had ever been felt in this world were drawn - all of the anger, all of the sorrow, all of the hatred that had ever been. For the blackness was not a void at all, but instead the perfect medium to grow, and the magic of this new world the perfect sustenance.
A/N
Well there we go chapter 2. The action is starting to pick up and we get a front row seat!
I would like to thank L0n3w0lf for his help with editing this and chapter 1. Its him that has assured only the best possible quality work gets back to you the reader and The Missionary would not be anywhere near as successful without him.
I would also like to thank the other prereaders who have helped me up to this point, they have also helped with things like punctuation or making sure i have my facts right.
And lastly thank you to everyone who has read and enjoyed this, as it is you who inspires me to keep writing.
Author-Radon18