//------------------------------// // The One She Wants Dead // Story: A Norseman Raids Equestria // by Timemaster //------------------------------// Alrik Taking mental suggestions from the beast within his mind, Alrik flew over to a forge. With a wave of his hand, his axe and jarids swam through the air mercilessly and decimated the ponies who lived in the forge. As the forge was in the middle of the forest, there was no real worry about their screaming, but it would be nice to not have anybody spot him. He sighs and removes the magical gear that he had received after his death, taking off any last bits of his flesh as he did so by accident. Alrik contemplates as he looks at the armor, which squirmed and writhed to his thoughts. Alrik sighs, " How exactly do you work...?" Alrik ran his hands against the armor, " Do I even need armor anymore? It doesn't help against blunt attacks... hmmm" Alrik sighs and sat down on top of a dead horse, whose blue fur was kind on his bony behind. "What do you want from me?" Queen Chrysalis asked within his mind Alrik, " I would like to know who, exactly, is the man that killed you." Queen Chrysalis mentally sighs, "A beast like you—" "A human." "A human like you that has taken upon the blessing I give upon my people, but somehow did not pay the price of obedience. He is said to be called Urist." "Interesting name. How strong is he?" "He seems to be extremely strong, capable of killing me in seconds." "Aren't I the same?" "Indeed, but his strength seems to be unstoppable, especially with his thick chitin." "I'm pretty sure my jarids can go through him." "Yes, but after sorting through your memories—" "... You were what?" "Er..." Alrik sighs, "Fucking... just continue." "Well, after that, I saw that your jarids were held back for a while with unicorn magic, no?" "Yeah, so?" "Us changelings have far denser magic than ponies, we just need to recharge, but with his intense strength and seemingly unneed for the consumption of emotion... his magic may be intense. How can you stop that?" Alrik thinks for a bit... then reaches a decision, " I'll just cut him." "But he could stop the axe" "Then I'll choke him." "Then he'll stop your body" "Then... I'll get more bodies into this." " . . . how? You are hunted throughout all of Equestria and the Changeling Kingdom!" "Well, are there any other warrior like countries?" "There is Gryphonia... but they are allied to the Equestrians." "Gryphonia?" "The land of the Gryphons." "Gryphons?" "Bird-lion creatures. Very carnivorous and head-strong in general, although some are very intelligent tinkerers." "Are they close allies?" Alrik probes "Not particularly. In fact, I'm pretty sure they have some tense relations... but they are still allies." "Does every griffon know of me?" Chrysalis thinks, "Not likely. I'm sure most of the news of you is contained in Equestria." Alrik 'smiles', "then let's go get some griffons." Alrik walks into the forge and forages out a map, which he puts into his bag of riches... Alrik takes his bag of riches out into the forest and marks a tree. He digs a deep hole and proceeds to bury a large amount of his riches like a squirrel an acorn. He saved about a tenth of the riches and the map in the bag. Alrik starts walking back to the forge. "So, why bury all the gold and stuff?" Chrysalis asked. Alrik, " I need to, as there isn't another secure place for my goods." Chrysalis nods in his head and Alrik 'smiles'. Alrik sits on the bench and puts on his armor, which wiggled and writhed onto his body to match his skeletal shape. Alrik, " I'll be back in a bit to find out how my armor truly works, but for now... I need meat shields." Alrik got on his boat, grabbed his axe, and flew off towards Gryphonia. Chrysalis chimed in, "Just so you know, Gryphonia is having tough times. Perhaps we can use this to our advantage?" "My advantage," Alrik said, "and how so?" "Well, it seems there is a faction war between the Gryphonic Republic, who are a democracy, the Gyphonic Empire, who are an autocracy. We have to focus on one side to recruit from, as I'm sure there are bitter rivalries that'll form otherwise." Alrik nods, " I see. I need to keep my meatshields happy." Chrysalis mentally nods. Alrik swam through the sky, which was beautiful and blue... (ex) Queen Chrysalis Chrysalis sat in a chair within Alrik's mind, looking out the two glowy windows that were his eyes, then following the trail of light that is from the cracks in his skull. Chrysalis talks to herself, " it's very interesting... how the world looks in first person when you're not in control. She sips a rather peculiar cup of tea.