//------------------------------// // A Meeting of Perceptions part 1 // Story: The Dark Sage // by thirdgod //------------------------------// Twilight Sparkle "What? oh never mind i'll deal with that later" I sighed to Pinkie Pie while she just looked at me with that same insane grin on her face."She really gets on my nerves, no Twilight that's mean she's your friend now" I scolded myself, though to be fair to my self we had only been friends since today after we defeated Nightmare Moon thanks to the Elements of Harmony in the very castle we were in earlier today back now because I got a letter from Princess Celestia telling me to go back to the Everfree castle because she and the newly freed Princess Luna silenced a dark magic presence appearing and fearing it was possibly Luna's nightmare come backed. I couldn't helped but think of my newest friends as we wondered down the hall of the castle going to the throne room ahead to start our investigation. Applejack the bearer of the Element of Honesty a very tall orange earth pony mare with a blond mane and tail and bright green eyes at 6' 0" with a very toned body thanks to the small but strong mussels she had developed working on her family's farm Sweet Apple's Acre, and with her ample C cup bust I was sure many a stallion wanted her with her customary stetson hat on her head, flannel work shirt, denim jeans and her cowboy boots and accent she was a regular old timely cowpony. Then their's Rainbow Dash the bearer of the Element of Loyalty a average sized cyan blue pegasus with her namesake rainbow mane and tail with purple color eyes at 5' 10' and with a toned body herself but with a more athletic feel to it than Applejack's and the smallest bust size out of us at an A cup. She was in her running shoes, jogging shorts, and her T-shirt with her wonder bolts logo was the picture of an all star athlete which she bragged all the time she was. Rarity a pure white unicorn at 5" 7" with her perfectly styled purple mane and tail and dark blue eyes and her curvy hour glass body, hated to get sweaty or dirty in anyway was complaining to herself under her breath about getting her predestine blue blouse which showed a modest amount of cleavage from her DD bust a pure white short skirt that showed off her long legs along with her black high heel shoes they were of a kind handmade by her own hand because of her skill she was a accomplish clothing designer in Ponyville and because of that level of skill she already owned and ran a clothing store the Carousel Boutique along with being the bearer of the Element of Generosity. Fluttershy the butterscotch yellow pegasus at 5' 0" she was by far the shortest of us with pink main and tail with teal eyes, and the bearer of the Element of Kindness and where Rarity was a obvious beautiful mare Fluttershy was absolutely adorable and was by far the most quiet and ironically shyest mare I have ever met in my life even her hair and clothes went about to hide her. With he long pink mane covering her face and wearing a big baggy sweater that hid her body ad also did a good job at mostly hiding her rather huge bust I don't know how big she really is but to still show curves in that thing they must be at least F(and to be honest i was jealous)and a long skirt though surprising she tends to wear thick but comfortable boots probably dew to her work with animals she did at her cottage that she liked at near the Everfree. Actually she was the first pony i meat after getting the letter from Princess Celestia and before I got the others I was surprised when i saw her at my door. After telling her about the letter she told me that's why she was their, she had said all of her animal were suddenly afraid of the Everfree even the manticore she had befriended earlier today had showed up afraid. And finally their was Pinkie Pie the bright pink earth pony with matching pink mane and tail thought of a darker hue than her fur and bright blue eyes and despite the copious amounts of sugar she must consume to have all that energy was skinny but at 5' 4" she was a inch taller than me wearing a bright yellow blouse with a short frilly blue skirt and pink tennis shoes. Though I worried about the baker and her sanity as I watched her C cup bounce while she laughed and hopped around though being the bearer of the Element of Laughter I really wasn't all that surprise and being the towns proclaimed party pony she spread a lot of laughter around. Coming out of my train of thought as we entered the throne room, turning to the girls behind me to get ready to split up into groups of two and go investigate the castle when I heard a ominous voice from the shadows yell out combined with a massive surge in dark magic suddenly me and others were wrapped up in black chains, as i looked up at the source of the voice I felt my heart freeze in fear at the being before me with a swirling black cloak with a dragon skull for the hood its bone yellow with age seemed to snarl at us, his hand ended in vicious claws and it's eyes glowing with an emerald green glow seam to pierce my very soul. Acerbus "I HOPE THIS WORKS GO SOUL SHADOW CHAINS!" I yelled as the spell took affect the pitch black chains cover the six woman before me. Though I was more concerned with the leader of the group seeing as she was more than likely she was needed to trigger the CREATION spell. "What n' tarnation are this things" "OH WHAT THE BUCK ARE THESE" "MY CLOTHES YOUR RUFFIAN THIS IS NOT HOW TO TREAT A LADY" "eap" "HAHAHA they tickle" "Girls are you okay" "Now seeing as that worked all of you lady's calm down for a minuet and hear me out please" I said to them, now that were bound up I took a closer look at the leader seeing as she was the most dangers. I was shocked by her appearance not only was she a beastman but a pony with purple eyes and fur with a mane and tail with a pink and purple stripe so with that horn in her head she must have been what was called a unicorn back when they were alive back home, she was wearing a simple black blouse that some what showed of her mildly plumb figure and with her modest B cup bust with black pants and simple but function black heels and as I looked at the others I saw the other unicorn was white, the two regular ones were orange and pink, and the last to the ones with the wings must be called pegasus a flying cousin of the unicorns back home were yellow and blue they all looked to be about my age and of course each of them had their artifacts with them and I have to admit they are all pretty cute. "Let us go now you you thing" the purple one said while glaring at me I realized I had been starring at them for about a minuet and with my current appearance it must have been frighting "Oh I'm sorry how rude of me let me explain, I need you all to promise not to unleash CREATION on me and have a discussion with me as calm and rational person and beastmen we are." "BUCK YOU WHEN I GET OUT I"M GOING TO KICK YOU FLANK" the blue pegasus shouted at me. "I'm with a rainbow, you their thing I'm going to show how an apple fights when i get out of this here chains" the orange regular pony said. "BEAST who are you to call me a beast i'll teach you a lesson about insulting a lady" the white unicorn said then her horn started to glow and i could sense magic building up in it. "UHUHUH I would't do that" I said then raising my right hand I showed them the black orb that had appeared in it "See this,see all the colors in it?" I spoke to them they then all turned to the orb and watched the blue, pink, orange. yellow, purple, white, and silver colors swirl in it. "OH pretty i want one" the pink one gasped "Now let me explain this thanks to the spell I cast on all of you, you can't move further more if you use magic on me it will also affect you seeing as the colors in this orb represent our souls and the fact that they are now bound together now I don't now if it would work if you all used CREATION but seeing as if you used it on me I would most certainly die and it could possibly kill you all too. Now as I said I need You to calm down." "Why should we trust a monster like you" the purple one said to me calmly. "A good point I have three good reasons why, One I knew very well that you had the capability of destroying me and seeing as I heard ya'll coming instead using SOUL SHADOW CHAINS a binding spell I could have used BLACK BOLT which would have flayed all of your skin off." I calmly said to them. At this all but the blue, orange and pink one faces paled a remarkable feat for the white one the pink one on the the other hand had a big smile on her face and the yellow one outright fainted afterward and the two who had threaten me just kept their glares on me."Two after we talk I'll be letting ya'll go and finally what you see before you is not how I actually look like and I will revile myself when ya'll agree to talk." "Oh very well we promise not to use CREATION though I have no idea what that is." the purple unicorn said to me with a sighed. "Now do as you said and show us what you really are." "BUCK THAT Twilight why should we trust anything that monster say's, I say we go right on and kick his flank" the blue pegasus snarled while looking at me. "Now hold up their Rainbow we can't because of thees here chains and also that monster seams to be telling us nothing but the truth." the orange spoke to the blue one trying to calm her down. "Applejack is right Rainbow our only option is to talk while I can still use my magic that orb is giving off allot of magical energy and it may work as it said." spoke Twilight the purple unicorn whose name I now knew. Turning to look at me I could see the fear in her eyes as my spell DARK PRESENCE working its affect on her but I could see her gathering her courage to speak to me. "Now as I said we promise not to use the spell you mentioned so now show us your real form and tell us your name." "Good, thank you very much for promising I would rather not fight cute girls such as yourselves." I spoke with a smile on my face as I reached up to take my hood off which will also be temporary dispelling the DARK PRESENCE I told them my name "I am Acerbus the Black Sage a pleasure to meet all of you." Twilight Sparkle I was in complete shock when I saw what Acerbus really looked like I was suspecting a monster but instead what was under the dragon skull hood was a boy about my age, with a silver mane of shoulder length, though his eyes were still a very bright green they were no longer glowing with their previously piercing glow and at about 6' 6" he was only about a couple inches shorter than Applejack's brother Big Mac. What struck me most was his face, it was much flatter than i have ever seen before and wasn't covered in fur or scales or even feathers when he had said what we were seeing wasn't his true appearance I assumed he was from a another country but not an entirely new creature with his smooth but pale skin, with his nose being much sorter than a pony and with a more rounded face. From his smile I could see canines among his teeth meaning he was probably a meat eater. Further more his cloak was no longer as black as it was a moment ago if anything it looked a bit dirty and ratty, and while his hood was still a dragon skull it wasn't as intimidating anymore and his hands were no longer claws. "Now that the DARK PRESENCE is no longer active and you all have calmed down let me lay down the ground rules. One this is an exchange of information so any question you ask me I will answer so I expect the same from all of you. Second after we are all satisfied with answers I will let you go and if you still want to fight I will honor you dissension but be warn I will not go down easily and their is no guarantee that any of you will walk away alive understand." "So are we all in agreement with the rules?" he asked as with a surprising soft voice. "I guess the voice I heard be for was from the spell he mentioned" I thought to myself. "Okay we agree but you answer my question first." I said to him "Fine by me Twilight what do you want to know" the said to me with a smile on his face. I was surprised he knew my name but then I realized he must have heard one of the girls saying it. I thought about a minute what to ask him when I realized he was speaking equestrian and being an unknown creature that was impossible. "How are you speaking our language?" "Oh that's easy it a translation spell called TRADER SPEECH,Now for my question where in Derwrath did I end up in I could have sworn I ended up in a undiscovered realm but here you are a clan a beastman pony's?" I wandered at this statement does that mean he came from another realm but that was impossible while the theory of other realms was agreed upon no pony has ever been able to prove it. "HE SAID IT AGAIN I AM NOT A BEAST I AM A LADY" yelled Rarity at Acerbus he turned to look at her with a confused face. "Why are you so angry at me calling you a beastman that is what you are and that's what ever one of your kind has called themselves." he responded to Rarity still with a confused look on his face. Rarity getting redder in her face with rage was about to yell at him again when I interrupted her. "She's right we're ponies not beastmen and this is Equestria not Derwrath I have never head of that place and what do you mean another realm does that mean your from another realm?" I asked him. "Well yes I am, I'm from Zaraith the war realm well used to be its gone now that I destroyed it, sorry about that i know how you beastmen were the avid users of it. Though I had never heard of your clan or heard of Equestria before but I never got to explore Derwrath and so I thought the only clans were the Cat, Bird, Rabbit, Snake, Bear, and Dog". He responded calmly which frighten me seeing as he just told us he had destroyed his entire realm without hesitation I could here gaps coming form the girls behind me at his confession. "How can you be so calm, you just said you destroyed your home without hesitation like it was an after thought how could you be so evil but I shouldn't be surprise seeing as your a dark magic user how many died from your actions." I asked him slowly with an edge in my voice from my rising anger. "Ya'll must not really be bestmen and this isn't Derwrath because if it was none and you were that question wouldn't be asked because you would have already know the answer to your own question, Zaraith was already dead. Now I'm putting a stop to the questions for now seeing as it's let what with the sun setting and seeing as you have kept your word so will I. I'm going to release the binding spell and if ya'll still want to fight I I'll oblige it but if ya'll still want answers i'll be more than happy to answer them so what will it be?. He told us as he simultaneously released the spell and looked at us waiting for our answer. "Ah yea you already know the answer I'm going to kick your flank" Rainbow said as she took off into the air getting ready to dive bomb Acerbus. Suddenly black lightning started to crackle around his body remembering his early warning I yelled out to Rainbow Dash. "RAINBOW STOP HE'LL KILL YOU" thankfully she stopped mid air, she turned to me wearing a confused look on her face. "Now Acerbus I don't trust you but I can sense you are very powerful and are correct that in fighting you we may all die so I'll take your proposition and continue our talk back at my place in Ponyville provided on two conditions. One you must leave your hood down seeing as if you left it up you would scare everpony and second you swear you will not use your magic until we have finished with our discussion." I calmly spoke to him while looking directly at his eyes while he still crackled with the black lightning. "Very well Twilight I'm more than happy to meet thous conditions provided you meat one of mine." "Okay what condition" "You provide me with a place to sleep I don't care where but I would like a bead seeing as it's been a year since I've slept in one" "Very well I'll give you a bed for the night now promise not to use your magic" "Fine I Pro" "WAIT you have to Pinkie promise" Pinkie suddenly interrupted mine and Acerbus's conversation by appearing in his face. "Pinkie what are you doing and what is a Pinkie promise?" I hissed at her as she turned to me with her big grin on her face. "It's a promise that you never ever break because it's a promise between friends" she responded looking extremely serious at me. "Pinkie he may very well be evil their is n way he'll keep such a promise!" I exclaimed I was about to continue when I heard Acerbus say. "It's fine by me but I don't know what a Pinkie promise is" Acerbus told her with his own grin on his face. "Oh is easy all you have to do is say cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye and den do this" Pinkie then crossed her heart and put her hand to her eye. "HAHAHA marvelous very well cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye I will not use any magic until our discussion is over." He promised with a chuckle I just sighed and turned around to leave before the headache I was getting got worse. "Okay Okay lets's get going back to Ponyville then, Oh will someone please either carry or wake you Fluttershy."