“With all due respect Princess, WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!?” Twilight shouted, loud enough to create a gust of wind inside her library.
Celestia raised her hoof and nodded. “I understand your concerns Twilight, but if I did not meet his demands with respect, this could have all ended in a bloodbath.”
“I don't understand, aren’t you supposed to be the most powerful magic user in the world? Why can’t you just restrain him?” Twilight asked.
“Magic has an interesting effect on him. At first when we captured him, our magic behaved oddly, like it was losing its potency on him, and now its like his body has adapted and built up a resistance that almost completely nullifies my magic.”
All of the ponies just stared in awe and shock. “What about the Elements? Could they work on him?”
“I do not know, but that is the last thing we will consider if it comes down to it. If Aran suspects anything, he will kill you and the other elements without hesitation.” The last words Celestia uttered really hit the ponies hard. They gave each other worrying glances as gruesome scenarios of what the human would do to them if he caught them began to race through their minds.
“Why is he like this?” The timid voice of Fluttershy came from the back. “Why would anyone do such things?”
Celestia looked down in guilt over her misjudgment of the once noble human. “I want you all to take a look at this. It will clear things up and answer most of the questions you have.” Celestia called upon her magic, summoning a tattered book that floated in front of the six mares. On the cover of the book, the ponies leaned so as to make out the red tint of the title: Legacy.
***
Unknown entry:
“Several days have passed and I have nothing to ease my mind. I’ve tried to distract myself so as to stop worrying about my family. It’s easier said than done, of course. My mind always wanders back to her. I remember once when she started crying on a beach just because she couldn’t spot me.... How would she react if I never came home…”
Unknown entry:
“I don’t have any more of that green ooze from the prison walls to write with, I was forced to dip the feather in a pool of my own blood that have been dripping while my wounds are still healing… I can’t sleep without seeing… it. I can’t eat the hay that they keep offering me, I’ve tried to cry out for cabbage or anything that is digestible, but the guards just spit on my face and throw the water bowl on my head… when I get out of here-.”
Unknown entry:
“My stomach is gnawing on my flesh… My mind won’t leave me alone… I can’t sleep without seeing that blue monster in my dreams and I can’t stop thinking about my friends, my family… I will never see them again.” The last word had been slightly blurred by a drop of a some sort of dried out liquid.
Unknown entry:
ITS ALL BECAUSE OF THEM!!! I didn’t have the best life, but I had one! I wasn't imprisoned without reason, I had friends… family, and I’ll never see them again, because of them!
Final entry:
“My time has come… I have barely enough strength to hold the feather and with my blood almost completely dried out, I am afraid this will be my final entry… I’ve lived a hollow life… A life I wasted because I did not treasure it when I had the chance… Now I will die in a cell, with my family not knowing where I am and what has happened to me… This is i-.” The final letter was dragged down, appearing to have slid down from the parchment, to the cover of the book.
The ponies looked horrified at what they had read, they had no idea what the human had been exposed to, and it answered many questions they had pertaining to his dark and brutal nature, but with the truth revealed, more questions surfaced. Fluttershy was sitting in the corner of the room, in shock, rainbow dash had stopped flapping her wings and was sitting on the ground, her eyes boring into the stone. Twilight’s mind was racing, she found herself in utter shock at the cruelty her mentor and mother figure had put this poor creature through.
“Princess… please tell me you did not capture it-, I mean him without a good reason?” Twilight asked looking up to her mentor with wide and somewhat fearful eyes.
Celestia, despite her normal stoic appearance, flinched at the look she received from her beloved student, still, she pressed on, to answering Twilight’s question. “It was the night after you and your friends defeated Nightmare Moon, I had returned to Canterlot with my sister, when Shining Armor informed us of his existence. While in my absence, an unknown creature had somehow fell into the throne room, it was Aran. He had been mortally wounded from the fall and was bleeding severely. Shining Armor, having been taken by surprise, commandeered the guards, and struck Aran down with his magic. After 4 bolts, the creature gave up and fell to the ground, exhausted from its battle.” Everypony was intently listening to the princess’ story and Twilight nodded for her to continue. “In all my years I had never seen a creature such as him, when your brother confronted me about what had happened, I inspected the creature in the dungeon. It was chained up and protected with the strongest seals that your brother could conjure. I ordered Shining and several other guards to carry him to the castle medical wing, where we removed the large shards of glass embedded in its body, however, before we could begin, we had to see how its body works and what needed treating….. So, we were forced to perform a… vivisection.” Fluttershy and Rarity both gasped aloud, followed by their unconscious bodies thumping to the floor due to the shock. The rest took on a ghastly shade of green, mixed with an expression of horror and disgust. “I wish to tell you more, but in short, we made a big mistake and now he thinks without a doubt, that I want to harm him. Which is why he shows complete hostility towards all ponies, however, my scouts told me that he is neutral when it comes to minotaurs and gryphons.”
“..... What do we do now?” Applejack asked, her care for her sister overcoming the shock, as she stepped up to Celestia.
“I trust that Shining Armor will meet Aran’s demands, and once they are met, he will gladly hand over Applebloom, so that he can be left alone.” Applejack was still not entirely convinced, her brow furrowing, displaying her doubt. “Believe me, Applejack, Aran has no interest in keeping or harming her.”
***
Aran kicked open the faulty door that served as the makeshift entrance to his cabin, he threw his dull axe that was stained with yellow sap, the lifeblood of a timber wolf, into a wall, which by some miracle (or maybe due to rotten wood) found itself embedded there. Applebloom watched from afar, as her captor dragged his chair to the table. He pulled up the bottle which he had used before to clean his cut and proceeded to drop his head back to drain whatever was left in it. He reeled from the strong taste of it and glanced at Applebloom who was intently watching the whole thing. “Look at me, I’ve become an alcoholic father.” He said with a cheesy grin. “I’m guessing that orange pony is your mom?” Applebloom did not answer. “Stop with the I’m afraid bullshit and just answer my question already, the least you can do is humor me for the final moments we have left before Celestia comes and picks you up.”
“Shes not my mah...Shes my sister...I-. I don’t have any parents.” She said with a weak grieving voice.
Aran raised an eyebrow at the reveal. “How did they die?” He asked nonchalantly.
Applebloom did not answer right away, she knew that he wouldn’t hurt her, but was still not sure if she wanted him to know. “Why should I tell you?” She said with an obvious spiteful tone in her voice. She had expected the human to react negatively at her retort, but instead- he did something even more terrifying… he laughed.
The human continued to bellow out a laugh and proceeded to slam the table. “You’re feisty, I like that!” He saw how the young filly was completely confused by his unexpected reaction. “I’m just askin’ I don’t care if you tell me or not, I’m just bored. If you want to keep staring at me, I won’t stop you.” And so she did. “But could you answer me this.” Applebloom peaked her ears up in curiosity. “Did you enjoy it?” He asked with a slight amusing smile appearing on his bearded face.
Applebloom did not understand. “Enjoy what?” She asked.
“Did you enjoy shafting the wolf’s jaw to the tree?” Applebloom’s eyes widened in surprise. She was speechless, as to why he would be interested in that.
“Why do you care?” She spat back.
The human kept his crazed gaze on the young filly. “Just curious.” He said, raising his hands up in the air. Applebloom didn’t answer again and kept quiet. “Buzzkill…” The rustling of armor and the grunting of guards could be heard outside. Aran stood up, ripped the axe out of the wall, grabbed Apple Bloom by the neck, and made for the door to collect his ransom.
***
I slowly opened the door with the young filly and her neck wrapped around my fingers. I saw dozens of armed guards, one of the them particularly stood out. It was a white unicorn stallion that wore purple and golden armor as well as a slightly bigger helmet than the other guards. “Shining Armor!” I said, with fake cheer in my voice, “Its been awhile. I hope there aren’t any hard feelings for what happened to your friends?” I said, smiling maliciously. I could see that the Captain wanted to skewer me with his sword. But even if I didn’t have a hostage, he wouldn’t dare attack… not after what I did to the guard that was personally guarding me.
He cleared his throat before speaking. “We have brought you your ransom, now release the filly!” He waved his hoof and three guards stepped forward. One bearing something similar to an axe but not a wood-cutting one. The second guard was hovering a barrel of water and the third was a simple sleeping bag, made perfectly for my size. They must still have all the data on my body back in Canterlot. I slightly gritted my teeth in anger over the fact that they experimented on me. Something however was off with the situation… I saw that the one carrying the water was… unusually calm as to normal form of fear or loathing I could sense from the other guards. “There, you have them, now release the filly!” Shining ordered, as the items were laid in front of me.
I raised an eyebrow at the suspicious unicorn, its magical glow was blue when it had a golden and white cutie mark engraved upon its armour… something was off by a long shot. “I won’t ask again, release the filly. NOW!” Shining shouted.
I turned my head back to Shining armor. “I will if you do one more thing for me.” I said with a smile.
Shining armor was taken aback by my comment. “No!” He replied sternly. “Release her now or we will attack!” He said, charging up his horn.
“You’re bluff won’t work on me. This is my territory, I have the upper hand here, and don,t forget, even if you manage to kill me, what would your sister think of you if you let one of her best friend’s sister die? Not only that, you would become the disgrace of the Royal guard once again!”
Shining armor went pale from my knowledge of his sister. “How… how did you know…..?” He asked horrified.
I chuckled, I relished in the terror I had caused him. “That doesn’t matter right now. What does matter, is that you do what I tell you to do, and I won’t kill this filly, simple as that.”
Shining armor gave a long and drawn out sigh. “Very well… what do you want now?” He asked in submission.
“You!” I stared directly at the guard levitating the barrel. The stallion did not react nervously
which only caught my attention even more.
“Yes?” He asked grimly and stepped forward.
“What is your name, guard?” I asked pointing my axe just mere inches away from his face.
“Dawn Star!” He replied with no hint of loathing or fear in his voice. You would think that a six foot human pointing a weapon an inch away from your face would make you just a bit nervous.
I smile crept onto my face, as my suspicions seemed to be correct. “Well Dawn Star, before I hand over the filly, would you mind taking a sip of the water? You know, just in case it’s not poisoned or anything.” I said with a humorous tone, but I was very serious.
“I don’t mind at all.” He responded with a friendly smile. That, however surprised me.
He leaned down and open the cork on the barrel with his magic and was slightly turned to gulp the water that was flowing down. He put the barrel down and faced me again. “Will that be all?”
Another smile crept onto my face, but this one was sincere. “Yes, thank you.” I replied back to him with the same civil tone that he showed me. He stepped back to his position. “Well then, I guess you are free now Applebloom, I will miss our little talks.” I said lowering the filly down on the ground. She did not run to the guards however. She was staring at me the whole time. “Now you can all get the hell off of my property!” I said kicking over the barrel, making all the water run out. Shining armor was speechless as to why I had done that.
“NO!!” A feminine voice called out. Before I could react, a batpony dived right at me with her clawed horse shoes. I was almost cut to ribbons, if it wasn’t thanks to my old axe, the blades would have pierced my throat.
“Battle formation!” Shining Armor shouted out “Stand down guard! You are not authorized to engage the human!”
The batpony was stronger than any other pony I had fought. She was slowly getting the upper hand and the wood of the axe couldn’t hold out much longer. “You will die now, Human! If my princess demands it, I shall kill you, even if you take me with you!”
At that moment… when I had lowered my guard and was ready to go back and continue to live out a meager existence. I was deceived and taken advantage of again by these same damn poniest. A swelling feeling began to rise inside of me “That. IS. ENOUGH!!!” My anger soon got the better of me and I lost myself completely to my fury.
***
Aran let loose loud war cry causing many of the trees in the forest to shake down to their very roots. In his rage, he grabbed the mysterious batpony by her throat and slammed her against the wall of his hut. He was pressing the axe handle up against the batpony’s throat, depriving her of air and turning her head red.
“Attack!” Shining armor called out. Aran quickly turned his attention on the charging ponies, he let the batpony drop from his grip, which was now unconscious, and with his first strike of his new axe, cut of the first pony’s head in one fell swoop. The body fell limp immediately with spurts of crimson red blood shooting out of the corpse. Aran look at the one responsible for all of this. His blood-shot eyes settling on Shining Armor.
“ARMOR!!!” He charged with the axe like an animal. Two guards moved to intercept his path. One was knocked out by the backside of the axe, the other had it implanted in its skull.
“NO!” Armor called out in horror. He was losing good ponies by the hoofful. “Dawn Star, take the filly to safety!” He did not have time to take a better look at Dawn Star, for if he did, he would have noticed that he wasn’t looking so good…
The sickly guard nodded and levitated the young filly as he galloped back to Ponyville…
Shining armor turned his attention back towards the rampaging human who just managed to take out the axe impaled in another pony’s head. “Guards, shields up!” He ordered. The guards created a shielding bubble that Aran could not hack through.
He gave out a loud maniacal laugh. “You can’t hold that shield up forever, and once it falls, I will KILL. YOU. ALL!!!”
While Aran was furiously chipping away at the barrier, Dawn Star was drowsily running through the Everfree forest. He could feel his magic about to fade and felt that at any moment he would fall and hit the ground.. Applebloom as well, saw how the stallion could barely stand, and that frightened her… Could the water have been poisoned like Aran had predicted? Would the Princess risk her life just to get rid of Aran?
The howling of wolves could be heard. Both Applebloom and Dawn Star stopped breathing. If the wolves were on the hunt tonight, along with a monstrous human on the loose, none would be able to escape with their lives. But for Dawn Star he knew it was the end for him. His magic broke and Applebloom was dropped to the ground. “Little filly...I won’t be able to make it… You have to keep following the path and get back to Ponyville!” He was quickly losing consciousness.
“Is it true? Was the princess trying to poison Aran?” She asked the half dead pony.
“Follow… the-” He fell to the ground. Applebloom was terrified. Once again she had seen something die in front of her. But the howling began to approach closer. She glanced back at the corpse and then the road. She couldn’t run back on her own… only Aran could keep her safe from the encroaching wolves and whatever else lurked in the shadows. A loud growling could be heard just 20 yards away from her. The green eyes that she had come to fear, were hunting her once again. Terror got the best of her and she ran back to the cabin. Unbeknownst to Applebloom, the body of the white unicorn stallion was shifting back to its original form, that of Tempest
The sounds of banging could be heard from a good distance away. The barrier could not take much more, from the unrelenting assault that Aran was beating into it. The axe had been shattered and the human was now slamming his bloodied knuckles against the magic made walls. He took a quick breather, As he was sweating something fierce from overexerting his body, the adrenaline from his rage, having worn off. Aran desperately looked around for another weapon to use against the barrier while he caught his breath. He saw the axe that was part of his ransom. But this was no woodcutting axe. Now that he got a better look at it he noticed that it was in fact a minotaur axe. It was perfectly made to fit someone of his size.
He smiled maliciously, and hastily picked up the axe from the ground. It was oddly light, and from the look of it, was enchanted to resist damage to it. He wanted to test it out just to be completely sure, though. With one full sweep, the axe collided with the barrier, a screeching glass shattering sound echoed throughout the entire forest when the axe collided with the barrier. The crude cabin shuddered and leaned to a side. The human was sent flying into one of the cabin’s walls from the resulting blast wave. The ponies as well, were sent thrown every which way by the blast.
Shadow was slowly waking up from her previous encounter with Aran. She carefully stood up again and tried to get back on her hooves. However, as she woke up, she saw that her claws were gone and she was left bare-hoofed with her own strength to fight the human. She saw that he was still down. A light glowed in her eyes as she realized this was her chance to kill the human. She flew towards the fallen human and was about to smash his skull in with her hooves. It was all for naught, however, as Shadow’s hooves were intercepted by the human’s hands. She jumped back at this and saw that he was still very much awake. She tried to get out of his hold, but despite her impressive strength as the Princess of the moon’s right hoof, she was still no match to the raw physical strength of the human. He quickly broke her hooves with a loud snapping sound that echoed throughout the clearing. Shadow screamed in pure agony, the pain surging throughout her whole body. Aran let go of her front hooves and let her fall off of his body. Shadow was paralyzed with pain and fear, her wings twitching feebly, in an attempt to escape...
Aran stood up at his full height again and he saw how she trembling with fright, her eyes now mere pinpricks. Aran saw the barrel was half-way cut open. He saw the poison that was meant for him….. an evil thought found its way into his mind. Poetic justice if you will. He grabbed Shadow by the neck and slowly made his way towards the barrel.
“You… you will d-die, n-now or 100 y-years from now, it d-d-does not matter. My mistress will live forever!” She gave a coughing, stuttering, maniacal laugh.
He lifted her face, making her eyes meet his own. “Wrong! Once I’m done here, I’m going to track down your pretty, little, backstabbing princess, and I will give her a taste of her own ‘medicine’.”
“No! You can’t!” Those were Shadow’s final words before he dipped her head in the barrel. Her broken hooves flailed uselessly against the barrel and tainted water, but it was inevitable. The bubbling noise was music to his ears. Her death would mean that Luna would suffer their loss.
He raised her up from the water to get the last word. “Yes I can, and it will be all thanks to you!” His chuckling couldn’t be held back anymore, he started to laugh out loud at his victory.
But neither were coming out of this victorious. A sharp stinging pain was felt in his other hand. He saw the small piece of the barrel stuck in his flesh. Aran was going to throw her back in the water, but her laughter caught him off guard. “I...Did it-” She coughed. “It takes only one drop to kill you… if introduced into your body it will kill you… eventually….. Looks like my mistress will live forever after all.” She smiled maddeningly, and threw her head back into the sky, laughing as loudly as he could. She was right. She had won.
Anger instinctively took over and her laughter was cut short after a mere second, as he impaled her throat on a jutting, sharp, wooden part of the barrel, ending her life with her eyes staring straight forward, uncomprehending forevermore. Crimson life fluid gurgling from her snout, and the new breathing holes in her windpipe..
Aran fell to his knees. He had no idea of the potency of the poison, but knowing Luna, she would have cooked up something special just for him. The cold feeling of despair started to wash over him. He had fought tooth and nail everyday to survive, and a simple splinter soaked in poison would be the thing that would kill him. Was he really ready to lie down on the cold ground and die?
´´Yes...´´ He answered to himself coldly. He embraced death with open arms, at least he would gone from this lonely world. He dropped down to his hands and knees, facing the dirt and waiting for the poison to flow through his body.
“Aran!”
***
Applebloom ran as fast as her hooves could take her. She could sense that the timberwolves were closing up on her. With her heart pumping faster and adrenalin rushing through her veins again, she was fearing for her life. She could only trust Aran to keep her safe. She arrived to the place she had been before, but she was shocked to see that the house was knocked down. She also saw the dead guards with either decapitated heads or giant holes in their skulls. She couldn't believe it but she was starting to get used to seeing death. She didn't know what was worse. The wolves chasing her, the fact that she was easing up on the idea of death or the fact that she was asking to be protected by the human that had clearly stated that he did not like her.
After a few more seconds of scanning the area, she saw the human on his hands and knees.
“Aran!” She called out, worrying that something may have happened to him.
Aran raised his head and saw the little filly. What was she doing here?! He thought. Why would she return to him and most of all, why would she risk her life like that?
“Applebloom?” He looked at her in confusion. She...She was smiling to see that he was still conscious. He was about to ask her what she was doing here, but his sharp eyes caught the green glowing eyes that were prowling behind her. “Applebloom watch out!!” He snapped.
Applebloom turned around and saw the pack of wolves that had gathered. She let out a high pitch scream. The wolves were enjoying the easy kill that were in front of them. The others of the pact made sure to surround Aran and Applebloom.
If Aran would not stand up and fight, she would die...He was already a goner. But why did she return? At that moment, a spark lit in his eyes. With new found strength, Aran stood up from the ground. “Applebloom! Get behind me!” He called out. The filly quickly agreed and ran to her protector. He raised his axe and gazed the wolves down.
He quickly lifted the little filly from the ground and put her on top of his shoulder. She was sticking out on top of his head, looking from a height she had rarely seen from.
“Hold on tight, I’ll keep you safe.” And she did just that. She held his head with her hooves, almost depriving his head from blood rush.
The wolves gave a final howl before they went for the attack. Two were in the front assault and one coming from behind. A quick swing of his axe, and the ambushing one was dead, while the two kept jumping back and forward to try and get a quick snatch at him. Aran however, leaped forward and cleaved the two wolves easily. The pack leader howled and in an instance, two or three more groups of wolves were surrounding them. This was a no win situation. He could not keep his ground against so many...He made a assuming guess that there were about 15 to 20 wolves that were after him. This was no coincidence...They had planned this. They waited until the day where they could finally outnumber me. With me gone, they would be the dominant species of the forest.
“I...I have no choice…” He said with sorrow in his voice. He knew that the only way now for him to escape dying by their hand, was to escape and let the poison take its effect soon. The wolves charged and he turned his back and ran. The wolves that had guarded his back, were cleaved in half. He sprinted away from the fight and kept an eye on where he was running and were his feet were landing. After living in the forest for several months, he had become a master of the forest. He knew every tree like the back off his hand. Any slippery roots or hidden borrows were avoided, while the wolves were caught in them. The leading packt of the assault was far behind by now, giving him a bit more distance, but the others were still tailing him. They ran with a devilish speed, unmatched by the human. They would catch up to him soon. The only way for Applebloom to have a chance to live, is if he would accept death. The trees were gone now, instead of a lush and thick forest, it was at the edge of a waterfall that had a very steep drop. Would he jump, there would be a big chance that the rocks below would kill him. But he was already a dead man. “Applebloom, hold on tight, whatever you do, hold on to my head!”
“Wait, are you gonna-!?” She didn't get the chance to finish her sentence as he leapt of the edge.