He Who Walks The Graves
By: The Zealot
Chapter 3: The Subliminal...
I left Luna’s room, a smile on my face, as I returned to the night. I had things to do, yes, things to start. First I would find a defensible location to act as a forward operating base. I snapped my finger and I was off, into the aptly named ‘Everfree Forest’.
I had created this place, to drive the princess from their old hall. I was wandering aimlessly, until I felt something, a presence? I walked for two hours, finding myself inside a cave. I looked around until I saw a bright golden, glowing… rune? No, you must be fucking kidding me. The summon sign for Solaire of Astora! Oh, how unfortunate that I don’t have any humanity, ‘twould be badass to fight with Solaire.
What? I used to play Dark Souls, and that guy is awesome. With a shake of my head and I sigh I left the cave, and kept looking for a place to call home, well, a home of sorts.
[1014 A.B. 2:23am]
*****
It seemed fitting, where I now sat. I had taken the place of the solar ruler, sitting in her throne in the old castle. I could remake it, turn it into a proper base. It could be great again. And, of course, there was that amazing sense of irony in my being here.
First I snapped my finger and destroyed the platform the thrones rested on, reconstructing it from obsidian, along with a new throne of onyx and plush red velvet. Black and red is so overdone, yes, but it does look good.
With yet another snap of my fingers the throne room itself was reconstructed in black obsidian, with a rich red carpet leading from the entrance to the steps of my throne. Dim yellow light shone from candles that floated in the corners, and from a chandelier of rainbow crystal.
“Hm, perhaps I should limit myself, wouldn't want the princesses catching on and finding out where I was. Good thing there were all those underground catacombs. So nice of them to show me where they were on my last tour.” I spoke to myself, keeping my voice soft so it didn’t cause anything to shake about. I never had figured out how that worked, a deep voice is nice, but it could sound like the rumbling of an earthquake. However, I suppose it does make shouting orders or challenge easier.
My decision made on how I would make my base I decided to have some fun. Well, more like to find some information. I was gone for one thousand years, things are bound to have changed, and it would be good to know what had happened.
[1014 A.B. 4:30am]
*****
Canterlot, what a peculiar name. It matters not, the library in the palace was extensive, as it should be. It seems that much had, indeed, changed in my time away. The elements were taken up by six new mares, seemed that they had shown themselves to be formidable, hell, the element of magic is an alicorn. But really Celly, you're giving out alicornism to anyone nowadays?
I looked to the corner of my right lens, seeing a clock pop up in black. Seems my reading had taken a while, it was eight in the morning. You may be thinking that the sunlight should have tipped me off, well, I was sitting in a corner of the library away from any windows, so shush, you.
As I was closing the book I held I heard a gasp and the thump of books on thick carpet. I snapped my head to the noise, seeing a shocked looking lavender… alicorn, the element of magic, oh joy. Thing is, she didn’t seem to know who I was, seems that good old Sunny hadn’t told anyone about me, oh how fun this could be.
“Might I help you, dear miss?” My voice emanated from my helmet, shaking some of the books on the shelves as I spoke. It seemed to knock her from her shock, that or the book falling on her head.
“What- sorry, who are you? And um, if you don’t mind, what are you?” She asked in a bookish tone (Yes, that’s a thing now), curiosity evident in her voice. At least she didn't ask me what I was first, that would have been rude.
“Who am I? Now that is a good question. You may call me Reaper, my dear. As for what, well, the annals of history never recorded my kind, but I am Human. Pleasure to make your acquaintance, please, sit down.” I motioned to the plush couch next to me, setting the book I held on an end table.
She nodded and moved over to the couch, taking up a spot next to me. Picking up her books and placing them on the ground beside her, she looked back over at me. “Um, I hope I’m not being rude but, well you see, I've read pretty much every book in here, and I've never heard anything about any ‘Hoo-mans’. Would you mind, uh, telling me a bit about your race?” She said, a happy smile replacing her look of trepidation. She was forthwith, I’ll give ‘er that. Well, I could explain a bit about myself, I suppose. Good chance to be semi-philosophical, well, not really.
“Firstly, my dear, it’s ‘Human’ not ‘hoo-man’, pronunciation can be so troubling, yes? As for my race, well, that would be hard. You see, every one of us was different. Some were similar, yes, but none were the same. From looks to mind, from language to habits. I suppose I could try though. Firstly we are a species without magic,” As I said this her face took on another look of shock, before she suppressed it and motioned for me to continue, “instead we have ingenuity, imagination, and perseverance. We are connoisseurs of science, and have found many ways to do anything we needed with it. We've put a man on the moon, and deep below the seas. We can send messages instantly, to the other side of the world. We can transport hundreds at once. We have explored most every part of our world, and you could find people living most anywhere. We are adaptable, we have to be. Without any natural defense, our minds are our biggest asset. That, of course, does not mean everything is fine and dandy. But why sully such a nice conversation with topics such as those?” I finished my lecture, looking over to her I noticed she had written everything down, and placed a final period before looking up at me.
“Thank you so much! This is, just amazing! I’m afraid I have to go now, I need to tell the princess about all of this, it’s simply fascinating. It’s been great talking to you Mr. Reaper!” And with that she started to walk away, she would have no doubt left had I not reached out and put a hand on her withers.
“I’m glad you found my lecture informative, now I would ask some information of you. What is your name, my dear?” I asked, leaning back in my chair, had I not been wearing a helmet, she would have seen my smiling face. It is so hard to find anyone interesting to talk to, even rarer to find someone interested in listening.
“Oh! Right, how silly of me. I’m Princess Twilight Sparkle, Element of Magic. You don’t need to worry about the princess thing though, I’m pretty new at it.” She said with an awkward smile, I would assume that becoming a ruler would be a difficult process.
With a nod of my head and a wave of my hand she left, carrying with her a stack of notes, and forgetting her books. I was always told I had a way to weave stories, but I never thought it would extend to such a boring subject as what I had talked about. Perhaps, it was just her. Curious mare she was, this Twilight Sparkle.
I decided to make my exit not soon after that exchange, it was midday and I was feeling peckish, perhaps I could pick something up from a market in Canterlot. I put up the books that Twilight had left there and left through a window. What? Sometimes it’s fun to drop a few hundred feet into a roll.
Normally I wouldn't have tried walking the streets, but none of the ponies around, including the princesses, should know I was there. Well, until Twilight gave Celly her notes. But I would worry about that when guards showed up.
After some aimless walking I found myself in the middle of a market, perfect. I will admit, I was honestly surprised nobody noticed me. Although most of those ponies had their head so far up their asses- sorry, in the sky, that they didn't even see me, I guess that’s how it works now.
I saw a pear stand! I do indeed like pears, they can be quite delicious. Walking over to the stand and resting my arms on the counter I asked a question to the attendant, snapping her out of her daze. “Excuse me miss, how much for six of these?” I said, keeping my voice soft and motioning to the pears.
“I-wha- the pears are two bits for one, so that’ll come up to twelve bits. Would you like a bag for those sir?” She asked, it seems that she just fell back on her training, because she was obviously shocked at my presence not two seconds ago.
“A bag would be wonderful dear, and here are the bits, keep the change.” I said, dropping fourteen ancient bits on the counter. I would think they would be worth much more than the modern day ones, considering how currencies age.
The mare nodded and handed me a bag, nudging the pears into it and scooping the bits into a pouch on an apron, with a smile she waved me off. Well, she was rather nice, really. With that I snapped my fingers and left in a swirl of shadow, mid step, mind you. Appearing in my throne room and sitting down I broke the seal on my helmet and pulled it off, ready to enjoy some pears.
[1014 A.B. 1:25pm]