It may be surprising to know, but I do believe in a higher power. Not as one might believe in fate, or as a horoscope. Nothing so indefinite. I know there are rules that the universe must follow. I know some rules cannot be broken. Fate, horoscopes, destiny, superstition? They all fly in the face of that. I was part of a species that was born from chaos, striving for order. I myself am an unfortunate result of chaos. But there are some things that I can’t explain. But unlike others, who believe in a god and choose to worship said being, I don’t pray. I know better. This higher being, whatever it was, most likely set us down like a petri dish, laid back and observed. God is a scientist.
God is an asshole.
So if there were strings of fate, I’ve believed for a long time that they were left in the divine supply closet to gather dust, rot away, or be tied together by the same forces that mess up the earbuds in your pockets. I guess you could say I was humoring Zecora when she wanted to read me my future through tarot cards.
“Listen Ze, I don’t really see the point of all this,” I said as she began shuffling the tarot deck. “I already know my future. I don’t see the point of using a bunch of cards to tell me I’m going to go through.”
“Hush, you silly teal colt. From this you shall not bolt.” The zebra managed to send the cards flying into the air in a line from one hoof to the next before placing the pile one the table in between us. “The cards you must choose are five” --Zecora placed both her forehooves on the pile and spread them apart, revealing the pile spread out, face down, in a straight line “--for your pasts, present, and futures to derive.”
Okay, points to her for showmanship. Showmareship? Showzebraship? No, no, the female zebra is also called a mare. I blinked a few times to clear my head. Never mind. Choose a card so I can get out of here.
I picked a card at random and Zecora flipped it over. A five overlapping a sword was at the top of the card, with a stallion mournfully picking up swords on a battlefield as a flickering flame behind him bellowed smoke. Flickering flames and billowing smoke? I blinked once more to see the card was immobile, but it definitely seemed to have once been in motion. Either I’m going crazier than normal, or Zecora’s herbs are starting to get to me.
“You have struck a few unlucky chords; this is why you picked the Five of Swords. Your monumental defeat scars you even today, but unless you let go, it will never go away.”
“True enough.” I nodded. That could be said about anyone, really.
Zecora motioned for me to pick the next card, so I obliged. A big zero was at the top of the card this time, a smirking white earth pony rearing over the edge of a cliff. Did it just wink at me?
“I do not mean to be cruel, but this one is called the Fool. You decided to go where the wind took you, escaping to begin a life anew. Possessing little more than hope, you ran away so you could cope.”
I had to keep my eyes from widening, almost clenching my jaw in surprise.
“Spot on,” I said nonchalantly.
I flipped over the next card and almost gasped. Below the number nine was an image of a stoic pegasus stallion in a cloak, leaning on a staff. His hazel eyes blazed with determination, and his disheveled black and white mane blew in the breeze. Okay, it’s not moving, but that’s obviously me. Either I’m being blackmailed, or this is Zecora’s weird voodoo magic. Doesn’t really make a difference either way; I’ve made sure that my employers understand my history, and Zecora’s just doing her thing. I spared a glance. Her weird, mystical thing.
“The Hermit came from far indeed, giving guidance to those in need. But he is too proud to admit he needs aid. Perhaps it is because of those that betrayed. He cannot rely on that rotting stick; he must accept help from one just as thick.”
I nodded silently and picked the next card.
Well, that’s just grim. A smiling skeletal pony stared back at me, white scythe cutting down swaths of wheat. It was strange, almost scary, how this card remained motionless. A thirteen was emblazoned across the top. I didn’t need Zecora to tell me which card it was.
“Death. Bringer of change.” Zecora nodded at my statement.
“This being that is bony is called the Pale Pony. This is less clear, but you needn’t fear. Great changes come, a transformation if you will. A change of mind or of soul you shall fulfill. Good or bad we cannot know, but it will not be low.”
I gulped nervously, but pointed to another card.
“This is the last card, as you can regard.”
With that the final tarot card was revealed. A beautiful phoenix flew across the card, a golden twenty shining at the top. The wings flapped, leaving glowing embers of fire across the image. When I blinked, it was motionless, but I could swear I saw a glint of emotion in its golden eyes.
“Judgement means you will walk through fire, flames of which you will not expire. From fire you will be born once more, shedding what you had once wore. Changes brought about by Death, finished with each new breath.”
Nice and cryptic. Well, I can do without all this freaky voodoo or drugs or blackmail. Whatever this may be, I’ve got my money, so it’s time to leave.
“Thanks for this, Ze.” I smiled. “This was enlightening to say the least.”
Zecora returned my smile and collected all of the cards.
“I hope my fortune-telling eased your mind. Now you won’t have to face the future blind.”
I nodded and sat up, gathering my bits in my wing. I gave a small wave and sauntered out of the hut. It was only when I was completely alone that I allowed a shudder to pass through my body. That gave me the heebie-jeebies. Although in retrospect, that tarot reading may have been close to the truth, but it was vague. My past was pretty spot-on, but with enough research, you could pretty much get the first three cards without fail. A little bit of sleight of hoof, and bam! Mysterious card reading. I shook my head. As for the next two, well, they put the capital ‘V’ in vague. It’s only natural for people to remember change. I stopped at the end of the path between the Everfree and Rambling Rock Forest.
“Like that.”
A manticore was slumped by a tree, its jaw bloodied with the viscera of some poor creature. Or not. I noted the lack of bones and the general area around the monster. I slowly approached it from the air, taking into account its shallow breaths. This was not the sleep of a satisfied predator, but that of a knocked-out opponent. There were little drops of blood leading away from the manticore’s mouth. Whatever had escaped from the manticore seemed to be in quite a hurry, the droplets of blood being more and more separated, heading directly towards…
My cabin.
I rushed back to my home, pushing a sizable amount of energy in my wings, dodging trees nimbly. I almost knocked down the door in my haste, but I found Val applying some Bui-Bui leaves to her arm as Steel Fang stared at her warily.
“Are you alright?”
I could almost hear Val raise an eyebrow.
“Are you actually showing concern for me?”
“I don’t hate you Val.” I rolled my eyes. “I dislike what you represent: either a figment of my imagination or proof that I’m in another world.” I went over to a small chest where I kept my medical supplies and got some alcohol and some bandages. “You’re in limbo. On the off chance you are real, it would be wrong of me not to help you. Take off the leaves.”
Val complied and winced a bit at the sight of her own blood flowing freely.
“A manticore bit me.”
“So I saw.” I dunked some of the bandages in alcohol and began dabbing at her wounds through the gauntlets, ignoring the prickling sensation in my spine.
“Do you think it was poisonous? Or that it got a major artery?”
“Unlikely. It’s a lot of blood, but your nullification appears to have sapped the manticore of most of its strength before it could put more force into its bite. As for a venomous bite, I doubt that it would be equipped with poisonous sacs on two different ends of the body, and certainly not on the feline part. The way things seem to be going, you’d have more to worry about a human bite than this one.” Val fidgeted as I poured alcohol on the wound to be absolutely sure no bacteria got in. Foreign pathogens are such a bitch. Can’t have my imaginary friend catching equine smallpox or bubonic plague.
“Why?” Val cocked her head. She was getting better at showing or hiding her emotions when she needed to.
“Human mouths can hold a variety of bacterial strains. If you break skin, there’s a chance you might get a tamer version of a Komodo dragon bite. I use the word ‘tame’ relatively, of course.”
Val continued staring at me silently as I wrapped her forearm in bandages.
“I don’t understand something,” she said.
“Then ask,” I responded in my usual neutral tone.
“You act like some sort of smart guy, but then I get a bunch of stuff from you that just screams ‘rough and dirty worker’.”
“The two aren’t mutually exclusive.”
“Yeah, but I hardly know anything about you. I’ve told you about my life in Alabama, my mother’s and my split, my move to New York, hell, I’ve even told you where I’d go if the Reds nuked us. But I know so little about you. Your name is Windell. You’re pretty smart, if a bit emotionally dull. You’ve worked in sewers. You love your father. And your sense of smell is pretty bad.” Val threw her arms into the air. “I don’t even know if you’re American.”
“You forgot the fact that I’m not mentally stable.” Val rolled her eyes. “But yes, I’m American. Second generation, with a Canadian father.”
“And your mom?” I tried to rip the bandage off the roll, to no avail.
“Died when I was an infant,” I said.
“But where was she from?” Val’s eyes narrowed.
“Hold on, I can’t cut the bandage. I’ll go get a pair of scissors.”
I escaped the conversation successfully, taking my time to find a pair of scissors. Holding it gently in my mouth, I made my way back to Val. Only to stop and drop the scissors when I went slack-jawed. Val was petting Steel Fang. With her bloody gauntlets. With a flap of my wings, I was there, pushing Val away from him.
“What the hell, man?” she yelled, rubbing her lower back as she got up
“We have to go, now.”
I turned to look at Steel, who was shaking his head and backing away from us, a rust red palm-print staining his head. Keeping a calm head, I dragged a confused Val out of the door and hastily closed it behind us.
“Follow me, don’t get lost.” I began running away from my cottage.
“What’s going on?” Val looked back at the door but reluctantly followed.
“Your blood. You touched him with your blood.” I grit my teeth. “You managed to push the magic out of him.”
“Wh-what?” Val shrieked. “But…why wasn’t it instantaneous?”
“If I had to guess, a combination of the miniscule amount of ‘you’ that touched him and his intelligence taking its time on the way out.” There was a terrible cracking sound heard from behind us. “I just rebuilt that door!” I wailed.
Seconds passed as we tried to run away from the hunter that used to be Steel Fang; seconds passed as we heard the predator’s panting get closer. The snapping of branches, the crunching of leaves, all were signs. Signs of a pursuer. A pursuer with the face of a friend. But with the teeth of a killer. An idea struck.
“Go on ahead, Val! I’m going to do something risky.” And with that, I veered away from her, flapping loudly before going into stealth mode, generating enough silent lift to get me just below the canopy.
And I watched.
I watched as the beast that was once my close friend stop and sniff the air, growling at prey that it could not reach. I watched as the monster continued its hunt for easier to reach prey. I watched as the direwolf turned towards Val and ran after her.
I could let it happen. I grimaced. But I don’t think I can bear the weight of another death on my shoulders. Withers. Whatever.
I soared silently after the direwolf, careful to keep downwind.
It was only a matter of time before he found his quarry. I won’t lie, I was impressed with how far Val had gotten before she found herself trapped at a cliff face. Val turned around to face the direwolf as it slowly advanced upon her. She knew there was no way out. Worse still, it knew. A low growl rose from the beast’s throat. Val matched its growl with silence as she readied her fists. I watched from the shade, body tense. I had one shot.
The direwolf prowled closer to Val. Matching each of her steps back with a step forward. Val reared a fist back. The beast coiled like a spring. It pounced, but I was faster. Unleashing most of my energy at once into both my wings and my forelegs, I became a teal bullet, crashing into the direwolf as it pounced in the air.
Steel was knocked into a tree with a pitiful whine, and I rushed over to see if anything was broken. I sent a flow of energy to my brain to properly assess the situation. Ironic that I only use bullet-time outside of conflict. I observed the area I hit under the effects of the time dilation. There don’t seem to be any breaks, but I should consult a professional. There’s going to be some serious bruising, and there may be some internal bleeding. Fuck.
Time returned to its normal pace. I gently rubbed my hoof between Steel’s ears as he whined. He tried, weakly, to snap at me, but he was incapable of moving.
“I’m so sorry buddy,” I whispered.
“Did you use me as bait?” an angry voice asked from behind me.
“It was the most effective method I could come up with.” I tried to keep my tone level.
“But you made a promise.” Val seethed. “A pledge on basically everything that you would at least tell me before endangering me.”
“I told you I was going to take a risk. I took your silence as an affirmation.”
“I didn’t say yes!” She threw her arms in the air. “Is that how it works for you? As long as a girl doesn’t say ‘no’ anything is fair game? I bet you just loved going to the bar!” Memories of a beautiful girl with a cruel smile flashed across my vision.
“Don’t you EVER!” I flew up to her face in an instant, forcing her to take a step back. “Even imply I would do such a thing!” I pushed her back. “You think I don’t know what it’s like to be controlled? To be nothing more than a pawn, a tool? You blithering idjit, you’re the reason Steel went beserk!” I advanced on her some more, pushing her back. “You think you’re so observant, Miss Artist? Then why didn’t you see the consequences of your actions?”
“I…I just wanted to be accepted by him,” Val stuttered. “So you could show some positive emotion for once.”
“Well, look what that has brought!” I was nearly frothing at the mouth, pointing to the injured Steel Fang. “The irony in all of this is that you’ve tried to get me to show some emotion or accept that you’re real!”
“This wouldn’t ̶ ”
“I don’t care!” I snarled before pushing her against the cliff face. “Have you ever wondered why I even bothered with you? Why I wasted time and resources on helping you adapt?” Val tried to take a step forward, but I slammed a hoof right next to her face so hard the rock cracked. “And don’t say ‘Maybe because you wanted eye-candy’, because news-flash: Every time I look at you, there’s this strange urge to kill you. I almost crushed your skull in when I first found you!” I exhaled loudly. “No, the reason I helped you was so that you would go far away and wouldn’t come crawling back when you needed me for whatever asinine reason. So, congratulations! I know Steel is real. I know something affected him. You proved to me you’re real, in some shape or form. Now get out. Leave. Don’t ever come back.” I flew back to Steel Fang. “You’ve already done enough,” I muttered, rubbing my friend’s neck gently.
There was the sound of hurried footsteps, and when I turned around, Val was gone. I stood by Steel’s side for a while longer before I began to gather some wintergreen. I chewed up the plants and managed to massage it in Steel’s fur. Hopefully the oils will help ease the pain while I go get Fluttershy.
Moving as fast as I could with my depleted energy, I made it to Fluttershy’s cabin, huffing and wheezing. I took a few more breaths before standing up straight and regaining my composure. I knocked at the door thrice and waited. I didn’t need to wait long.
“Oh, good afternoon, Windell! It’s very nice to see you today!”
“Likewise, Effie.” I managed a smile, just like always. “And as much as I would like to be here for some impromptu tea, I need your help with something. It seems Steel Fang was injured, and I need some help to get him back on his paws, so to speak.”
“Oh, dear!” Fluttershy gasped and held a hoof up to her muzzle. “What happened?”
“I’m not sure. A feral something slammed into him and flew away before I could see what it was. I managed to get him to swallow some wintergreen, which should ease the pain, and he doesn’t seem to have any breaks, but I need someone more capable to help me.”
“The poor dear.” Fluttershy blinked and leaned closer. “Windell…have you been crying?”
“What?” I rubbed my eyes with my fetlock before looking down to see matted fur. “No, I must have run into a few sparse raindrops. You know how the weather is around here.”
“If you’re sure…” she said, cocking an eyebrow.
“Come along, I’ll lead you to him.”
“Just let me get my supplies and I’ll be following you.”
<><><>
Traveler knows that something is coming. It can sense the ripples. This was another one that came from Outside without any interference. Whatever this opponent is, it is very careful. But asking about would bring nothing more than more trouble.
But for now, this incursion takes precedence. Another magical creature is about to spawn, judging by where the ripple is originating: Right on a major ley-line intersection formed by an extremely powerful spell being used every day, twice a day, for centuries.
The ripple is just on Celestia’s porch. It is difficult enough being near a ley-line, but the fact that Traveler has to act quickly, efficiently, and stealthily while the thrum of one of Equus’ highest concentrations of magic disturbs its essence may have put a damper on its day.
The ripple swells, and Traveler tenses in preparation. A flash of light, nullified by Traveler absorbing the excess energy. And there, on the porch, stands a very confused elf. Traveler considers its options. It would be difficult, but it could make another wormhole to deposit the elf elsewhere. But doing so now, and so close to magical flux, would disrupt the fabric of space-time, possibly opening the way to more incursions. Not to mention, doing it would also make space-time too unstable to make more wormholes. But waiting for too long would rob it of its chance to use a wormhole due to the natural progression of instability before the universe separated. Traveler mimics a sigh. Dark energy is so difficult to work with.
The entity gets back on track. Perhaps the elf will provide its own solution?
“What?” He, judging by his voice, looks around. “Where am I?” He raises his arm in the air and snaps his fingers. There is a flash of light, and his arm catches fire. “What? No! That’s not what that spell is supposed to do!”
The elf panics as the fire begins to burn closer and closer to his body. Oddly enough, he isn’t screaming, so he must have not felt pain from the fire. It takes only an instant for the essence to realize what is going on. Different magicks have different effects on one another. Apparently the native magic and the foreign magic do not agree with one another. The elf’s nerves are being deadened by the clashing magicks as the volatile combination consumes his arm.
“No! NO! I have to warn my liege! The wedding is naught more than a front!” The elf pulls a letter from his coat as the flames begin to lick at his chest, igniting a bit of the letter. He throws it on the ground and begins stamping it out as the fire spread across his chest. “I’m sorry…milord,” he rasps, before falling back over the balcony, reduced to a falling flame. If it were night, one might have mistaken him for a shooting star, but in the bright day, this bright light burns and is extinguished without another soul knowing.
That worked out, Traveler muses sadly, although it could have done without the death of the elf. Though this letter might provide Celestia the evidence she needs for the wedding. The elf might not have warned his lord, but he did end up warning another ruler of an invasion. Once more, Traveler is baffled by the coincidences that make up the multiverse. It picks up the letter and starts reading.
My Liege,
I have reason to believe that the orcs will try to invade during the royal wedding. There is a traitor is your midst who will let them in to slaughter you and your court while you are unprepared. The invading force will be enormous, more than we’ve ever seen before. I’ve discovered this plot at the peril of mine own life, and I leave my most trusted friend to deliver it. Even now, they try to hunt me down, and I fear that by the time you read this, it will be far too late for me. I implore you-
And the rest of the letter is charred beyond saving. This could be useful. Traveler prepares a tendril and edits the letter so that it would be more appropriate for Celestia. With a few deft slashes of the burning appendage, the letter is ready to be left atop the Solar diarch’s pillow, with a few stray feathers to imply the nature of the writer’s ‘friend’.
My Liege,
I have reason to believe that the orcs will try to invade during the royal wedding. There is a traitor is your midst who will let them in to slaughter you and your court while you are unprepared. The invading force will be enormous, more than we’ve ever seen before. I’ve discovered this plot at the peril of mine own life, and I leave my most trusted friend to deliver it. Even now, they try to hunt me down, and I fear that by the time you read this, it will be far too late for me. I implore you-
Much better. And now, it must wait for events to fall in place.