He Who Walks The Graves
By: The Zealot
Chapter 12: … and Death's His Only Friend
The Forest of Darkness greeted me, as a familiar friend might upon a cold day in autumn. I was bewildered at first, of course, why was I once again in this realm of shadows and mist? But then, of course, it came to me. I must have fallen asleep in my endeavours to better armour the pony races, although I had an acute feeling of having been finished upon my untimely rest.
“Well, it seems this shall be my night, yes? Better get to work then, it ended when I brought that poor mare to her light, may as well see where one of those red lines goes.” I said to myself, adjusting my hood and gripping my scythe, I stepped out into the mist of the forest.
It took not moments to reach the end of the line I was following, in the center of a clearing in a puddle of what seemed to be blood, there was a pegasus stallion. The color of his coat I could not tell, covered in blood as it was, his eyes were forest green, madness and hatred shining clear in them. He was laughing, quietly, chained up as he was in iron ringlets, covered in the grime he himself revealed in. This pony, as was evident by his psychotic laughter and cutie mark of a bloodied knife, had been a murderer of many in his life.
My face, were it visible from the shadows of my hood, would have been one of disgust, and sorrow. I shook my head, and blocked out his ever louder laughter, for it had grown upon his notice of me, and marched through the trees over to the poor creature before me. It made sense now, golden lines were those of the good in life, and the black and red were of the opposite, the scum, the evil.
I lifted him, using the blade of my scythe to carry him by his chains, it was enough. A line appeared in the mist, this one dark as onyx and laced with blood red energy, I gave a sad sigh and shook the stallion to break him of his constant laughter, before marching forwards.
[???? Ka’h Ve;k Dj’cl Zar’ksh]
*****
Iron gates, blackened spikes, and flames aplenty. The very vision of Hell that many of religion carried in their minds, it seems this land had made it a reality, or at least for whatever you call this place that I reached in my sleep.
Perhaps I was cruel, but I tossed the now screaming stallion deep into the gates, his screams flowed from the door until it slammed shut of it’s own accord, the surface glowed a deep orange, a shadowy red crystal was emptied from a slot in the center, down to the ground which it shattered upon. My job was done, for now, and the world recognized this, sending me away as suddenly as I had come.
*****
I awoke with my cheek against the warm and clinging wood of the desk that had been provided to me, a crick in my neck from where I had fallen from my state of awakeness. As I fully awoke, I pushed aside my helmet a bit more, as it was obscuring the papers I had slaved over for many hours through the night.
Upon these papers were drawings, designs, all of the sort, detailing armors for the ponies. Three different designs for three different races.
I had called upon a favourite game of mine for inspiration on these suits of protection, and came up with quite the good idea. I would adapt a number of armors from the game that is Dark Souls so that they may be worn by ponies, the decisions were obvious.
Earth Ponies, strong, dependable, tough, like rock they were, and like rock they would become. I gifted to them suits of granite, recreations of Havel’s armor made for the pony body. They would be the only ones capable of wearing it, their great strength was required for it’s use.
Pegasi, fast, agile, and dexterous, so like the wind and blade they were, I sought to make those attributes one. To them I gifted the Lord’s Blade armor, light in design with armor covering the important parts, it would give them no limit to mobility as well as adding much needed defense to them, some light enchantments may even allow them to strike harder and faster, in teams they would fight, one distracting the enemy as the other snuck in and struck them with the fury of the skies.
Unicorns, intelligent, studious, and with an eye for all things academic, in the books they lived, their souls one with magic, and so they would become more so. I could not gift to them such simplicities as mage robes, no, they would still need armor were they to be on the front lines. I adapted for them Elite Knight’s armor, it would provide them with good protection while being light enough for their, admittedly, non-athletic bodies to manage, as well as providing many pouches and belts for their sorcerous items.
My work had been completed, it seems, shortly before my unintended trip into the Forest, lucky I am for that as it seemed to be midday, glancing at the clock in my room revealed that it was, in fact, just about lunch time. I gathered my papers into scrolls, bound them with lines of tweed, and slung them over my shoulder upon the removal of my rifles and shotgun. I grabbed my helmet from the desk, pulling it over my face and sealing it, I began to make my way down to the dining room where, hopefully, the sisters princess would be.
[1189 Y.R.S. 11:46am]
*****
It seems that I had made it right on time, for as I pushed through the doors to the dining room I found myself presented with bountiful plates of food, fruits and vegetables as well as many grains, and surprisingly enough, meat. It was a surprising development due to the fact that most, if not every, species that Equestria had allied itself with were herbivores.
“Ah, Reaper, glad you could make it. We were all wondering what had become of you, but it seems you’ve made it in time.” Celestia’s voice sounded from across the room, a bit of humor in her voice as was always present, and a smile upon her face.
“Hm, I do apologize for my late appearance, working late into the morning was perhaps not my best idea, and how time flies when one sleeps, no?” I responded, doing the same as I had last time I was eating with the princesses, I went around and gathered an assortment of fruits and vegetables and, to my everlasting thanks, a nice chicken breast, before sitting down to the right of Celestia.
It was when I had almost sat in the chair so generously provided that I remembered the, perhaps not quite, valuable scrolls I carried. With an exclamation of remembrance, I set down my plate before me and slung the assorted scrolls from my shoulder, taking great care not to crush them, as that might ruin some aspect of the designs imprinted upon the parchment.
“I keep my promises, Princess. Here are some designs I drew up for some better armor that your soldiers would benefit from using.” I passed her the scrolls of armor designs which she, after looking through the first sheet, set aside in a wooden lock box reinforced by iron.
“I will look into these more thoroughly later, thank you though Reaper, hopefully whatever you have come up with will help to protect the ponies I am forced to send out daily, I am not a fan of sending my subjects to danger you understand. But let us not dwell on such things, it is lunch and it is a most beautiful selection if I might say.” She said in regards to my plans, I could understand what she meant, if I were a ruler I would certainly not be one for sending my citizens to their possible deaths, especially in a WW2 esque scenario.
At her words I gave her a simple nod of understanding before removing my helmet and proceeding to dig in to the, admittedly, absolutely delicious meal.
[1189 Y.R.S. 12:12pm]