Purple Heart grumbled under his breath as he considered the map he had laid out while he took a break during his lonesome trek towards Mistakwe. Biting into an apple, his cobalt eyes flicked across the parchment, picking out landmarks as he recognized them, matching them to those he had seen so far over the course of his travels since first arriving to this...land. He noted the clearing where he had first ‘disembarked’ Discord’s crazy rainbow flash, where he had met Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash before being set upon by that Wandering Pine. Another bite at the apple as his eyes skimmed the path that met another to make the crossroads where they had fought the bandit patrol. Eventually, his gaze passed over Roads Crossed where they had saved the village from bandits.
A twig cracked, drawing Purple Heart’s attention away from the map for a brief moment, his eyes flashing with alertness as he scanned the surrounding forest and the path that split it. A cleft of rocks at his back could provide a nice vantage point or high ground should he be assaulted from any direction.
“I use Perception on the surrounding forest to pinpoint the twig that snapped,” Purple Heart whispered, hoping not to alert any interlopers seeking to disturb his break. A few seconds passed, during which silence was the purple earth pony’s only response.
Then, “You see and hear nothing out of the ordinary,” the Discord-voice said. That didn’t settle Purple Heart’s mind. Being a barbarian didn’t give him any favors in the intelligence department, so either there was nothing there, or he just didn’t have the smarts to see any threats.
Wish I had a ‘Sense Threat’ skill, Purple Heart grumbled to himself. At least then I’d know if anything around here wanted to do me harm.
Sighing, but not releasing any of his tension, Purple Heart returned to the map. He skimmed down the road he, Rarity, and Fluttershy had taken towards the capital, the same road where he’d met and subsequently been hired by Amber Glitter to rescue her maid. That was followed by a jaunt through the forest to deal with Boomer and save the maid, then he’d finally reached Gallopilli, capital of Roania. There, he’d accidentally insulted a lord’s daughter at a ball, got arrested and sentenced to fight in a coliseum that nopony had ever won their freedom from, helped depose a monarch while putting another back up, and finally dealing with a relationship that shouldn’t have even seen the light of headcanon. Truly, his travels these past months were fantasy story material.
The sound of another snapping twig set Purple Heart on edge. He hastily repacked the map before tensing his shoulders, waiting for any threats to appear. More twigs cracked, this time accompanied by the clanking of metal on metal and the muffled words of somepony singing to themselves. The tune was familiar to the purple earth pony. He crept out into the middle of the road, coming to his full height as he looked down the path.
Approaching Purple Heart was a portly looking male unicorn the color of burnished platinum. His slightly shaggy mane fell from his slightly balding scalp in a white curtain, giving him an aged but wise look. A wide beard and fluffy mustachios added to the appearance, as did the crooked horn and wire thin spectacles. A dark green robe fluttered in the soft breeze, kicked up by the levitating pack the size of a small elephant. The unicorn’s eyes were closed as he hummed, seemingly oblivious to the roadblock he was advancing on.
Purple Heart arched an eyebrow at the travelling pony. The unicorn couldn’t have been a noble; a noble wouldn’t have deigned to carry their own luggage and would certainly have an entourage for that sole purpose. A crafter would have a cart and would at least have some kind of guard to protect their wares. This unicorn though...was probably a powerful mage travelling as a merchant. At least, that’s what Purple Heart guessed.
“Um, excuse me?” the purple earth pony called, trying to get the unicorn’s attention. The platinum pony cracked an eye open and looked at Purple Heart.
“Oho,” he said jovially, opening the other eye as he trotted to a stop several paces in front of Purple Heart. “A travelling stranger. What can I do for you, youngling?”
“Erm,” Purple Heart hesitated. “My name is Purple Heart. You wouldn’t happen to know of a blacksmith, would you? I have a piece of equipment I need for them to appraise.” The old pony arched an eyebrow in interest.
“I am known as Tinker Tempest,” the unicorn introduced himself. “As for a blacksmith, a supplier and buyer of mine resides in a town nearby. I could lead you there.” Purple Heart grinned and inclined his head in thanks.
“I’d be most grateful if you showed me the way,” Purple Heart replied respectfully. Tinker coughed a laugh as he turned to face the direction he’d come.
“Finally, a youngster who respects their elders,” the platinum unicorn chortled. “Been a time since a youngling has spoken to me in such a proper manner.” Purple Heart shrugged.
“If I hadn’t been respectful,” the purple earth pony explained as the pair began to walk down the path side by side, “you would have been less inclined to assist me.”
Tinker’s eyes widened. “Such big words for a pony of your age,” he mused cheekily.
Purple Heart snickered. “I like reading and writing. That’s why my vocabulary is so much greater than that of a normal pony.”
“So I noticed,” Tinker agreed. “If you don’t mind me asking, were you the pony that got himself arrested and then freed through fighting in Gallopilli’s Coliseum?” Purple Heart balked briefly before continuing his slow pace of walking beside the merchant.
“What of it?” he asked, his voice cold. Tinker chuckled.
“Nothing really,” the unicorn replied. “Just curious as to why the Champion of the Coliseum is traveling without his band of cohorts.” Purple Heart visibly relaxed before replying to the platinum pony’s deduction.
“We’re on something of a holiday,” he lied. “I’m visiting the town of Mistakwe while several of my friends are travelling to Ade.”
“Travelling alone?” Tinker asked. “Is that from arrogance?” Purple Heart grimaced, remembering parting ways with his two colt comrades.
“More like out of separation,” he amended. “One of my colt comrades went off to help a noble who’d been travelling with us to find an old relic and the other took a tumble down a cliff. So, here I am, chatting with you.”
“Hmm,” Tinker Tempest hummed, his eyes on the path ahead. He probably didn’t believe what Purple Heart said. But he gave no outward sign to promote that theory. “Well, it’s your own business. I’ll stop prying then.” Purple Heart nodded and the two ponies fell into an amiable silence as they continued down the path.
As they walked, the sun reached its apex in the partially cloudy sky and then began its usual downwards arc towards the horizon, bringing the soft colors of the afternoon with it. Several times, the pair struck up more conversation to pass the day. Tinker even brought out a few choice pieces of his inventory from his travel bag and tried to get Purple Heart to buy them. One or two of the items caught his interest and he promptly purchased them to take them off Tinker’s hooves. They even broke into song, both of them singing a song of adventure that Purple Heart was surprised the old pony knew. Not many ponies he interacted with knew Binky’s Cider and even fewer knew the lyrics.
The duo were settling down for a break about halfway through the afternoon when all sounds of the forest suddenly, and inexplicably, ceased.
“Well that’s not worrying at all,” Tinker mused warily.
“Indeed,” Purple Heart agreed, his eyes scanning the treeline on either side of the path. “Is this part of the forest inhabited by dangerous or aggressive wildlife?”
“Only the odd pack of Timberwolves and the occasional bear,” Tinker replied. “But there are legends of a hidden grotto that’s protected by a strange antlered beast with a terrifying visage.” Purple Heart blinked, gulping in fear. He didn’t put it past Discord to make a parody of that thing. Best choice would be to avoid it at all costs.
“I don’t think Timberwolves or bears could be responsible for instilling this much fear amongst the wildlife,” the purple barbarian deduced. Tinker nodded and the two resumed trotting, albeit at a much more sedate and cautious pace. They’d barely gone five steps when a large boar careened out of the forest to their left and onto the path. It snuffled angrily, swaying its massive, bloodstained snout from side to side as if tracking an elusive scent. Misted beady black eyes stared around the path, blindly passing over the frozen Purple Heart and Tinker Tempest as the boar lowed in pain. The hefty creature stumbled from side to side, almost toppling over as its bulk shifted.
Purple Heart and Tinker Tempest both watched in morbid fascination, Tinker a bit more so than Purple Heart as the boar grunted and snuffled. Blood dripped from its snout onto the ground as black, worm-like tubes waved independently in regard to the boar’s shivering. Purple Heart stiffened upon recognizing the parasitical worms and couldn’t stifle a sharp inhalation when he noticed the grass die as the boar’s obviously corrupted blood made contact with the trampled stalks.
“What’s wrong with it?” Tinker whispered, awestruck at the event before them.
“I dunno,” Purple Heart replied truthfully. He knew of similar effects to another boar he’d seen, but he didn’t know if the cause was the same. “I don’t think I should mention this to ‘Shy though...”
“She’s the one who likes animals, correct?”
“Jah,” the purple earth pony confirmed.
“A wise decision,” Tinker agreed.
Any more conversation between the two ponies was forgotten when the boar let out a keening rumble that shook the forest to its roots. With a final shudder, the boar collapsed, its blood forming a ring of dead grass around its carcass, the shaking worm-like things settling on the boar’s coarse fur before slipping off and falling to the ground. Silence settled on the path for several seconds before the sounds of the forest returned, along with Purple Heart and Tinker’s voices.
“Okay,” the purple earth pony mumbled. “Foreboding event, death to plants, parasitical worms... Perhaps a metal ball is responsible?”
“Pardon?” Tinker asked, quirking his eyebrows in interest. “Do you know what could have caused this reaction?”
Purple Heart shook his head in denial. “Nothing comes to mind,” he evaded. “Just curious.”
Tinker nodded his head in agreement. “Indeed,” the aged pony said. “I think keeping a good distance between us and the corpse would be wise.”
“No argument there,” Purple Heart said, gesturing for Tinker to lead the way. The two stallions edged warily around the ring of dead grass surrounding the corrupted boar. As Purple Heart passed it, he looked into the forest where the boar had come from. He gasped, stunned at the trail of dead plant life and devastation that disappeared into the bowels of the forest. He hastily pulled out his map and peered at it, tracing the approximate path directly towards-
“Hey, quit lollygagging!” Tinker snapped from further ahead. “You wanna get to Mistakwe, right? We’ll have to pick up the pace to get there before sunset.”
“Roight,” Purple Heart called back, his eyes glazed as he stuffed the map back into his pack before completing the circuit around the fallen boar and cantering off after Tinker. The purple barbarian hoped the mares were all right. Considering the boar had come directly from the town of Ade.
* * *
A pair of green eyes watched the two stallions as they prepared to make camp for the night in a small area just off the path. Ever since that boar had died before the travelling ponies, the eyes had been tracking them, following them down the forest path, all intentions known only to the eye’s owner. Leaves rustled to the left of the eyes, causing the glowing orbs to turn towards the sound, narrowing in suspicion. Seeing nothing, the eyes returned to staring at the ponies down below.
“How goes the stalking of ponies?” a voice whispered from the other side of the eyes.
“SHH~” A mouth opened beneath the green eyes, hissing at the newly arrived figure beside it. “They’ll hear us!”
“I doubt that,” the newcomer scoffed silently, retaining the same pitch it had used previously. “Neither of them are rangers. Calm down and relax, Bean. We’ll grab them after they fall asleep.”
“That one is a wizard or mage of some sort though,” Bean pointed out. “He might have cast some kind of detection spell.”
The newcomer sighed in exasperation. “You are a serious nerd.”
“Know your enemy,” Bean scoffed. “Ever heard the phrase? Or do you prefer to stay with your hammers, Tong?”
Tong rolled his eyes that were an equally green shade matching those of Bean. “At least I get out and about. You never left your house of books and only left the lair under orders from the Master.”
Bean grimaced. His friend was right. Prior to serving the Master, he prefered to stay in his little library-like house and read his many tomes, scrolls, books, and journals. Now here he was, under protest, spying on a potential candidate for the Emerald Seed. The unicorn was of no consequence as magic users didn’t react well to the transition. All subjects had died. But the earth pony… His strength would increase tenfold upon receiving the treatment.
“Looks like they’re beginning to nod off,” Tong noted.
Bean huffed, rolling his eyes in irritation at the blacksmith’s observation. “I know. I can see them too, you hammer swinging git.”
“Aw, you know you love me.”
“Under duress.”
Tong chuckled and turned around to face the other hidden ponies on stand by. He gestured towards the now sleeping stallions below them. “It’s time,” he hissed.
Shadows broke away from the tree line, all of them sliding across the grass towards the two sleeping stallions. A gibbous moon hung gracefully in the sky, dimly illuminating the small clearing the traveling stallions slept in. Green eyes glowed in the darkened forest as a dozen ponies advanced towards the center of the clearing. Within seconds, the the green eyed ponies had surrounded the slumbering duo, looking down at their quarry in silence. Eyes blinked as the group waited for their next order. Tong and Bean walked down from the bluff they’d sequestered themselves upon while waiting for their quarry to arrive.
Tong moved through the ring of ponies towards the purple earth pony while Bean joined the ring. Cocking his head to one side, the blacksmith pony tapped the sleeping stallion on the shoulder.
“You gonna wake up?” he asked benignly.
“What are you doing?!” Bean hissed, taking a step forward to stop Tong’s antics. “He could wake up!” Tong looked over his shoulder, an eyebrow arched at the book-loving pony.
“So you didn’t cast Sleep on them?” he questioned.
“Of course I did!” Bean snarled. “The only way he’ll wake up though is if I release the spell or you poke him enough!” Immediately, Tong backed off.
“Oh,” he grunted. “Oops.” Bean rolled his eyes and gestured to four of the heftiest ponies in the group.
“Carry the purple one,” he ordered. “We’re taking him to the Master.” The four ponies grunted as they lifted the purple earth pony between them before trotting off into the tree line, six more ponies protecting them in a box formation.
“What about the unicorn?” one of the two remaining groupies growled.
“Leave him,” Bean waved dismissively at the trader. “He serves no purpose. He is of no consequence.” With that said, Bean departed with Tong and the other two ponies trailing after him as they left the unicorn alone in the night.
* * *
Purple Heart awoke to a smart hit upside his head. Instantly, his eyes opened as pain assaulted his brain. He blinked several times, squinting as the pain became a dull throb. A torch sparked and spat in a bracket on a stone wall some ten paces away from him, illuminating the small chamber he lay in. A small groan snuck past his lips as he tried to stand. A clinking sound reached Purple Heart’s ears and he glanced down, his eyes widening when he recognized the thick chains shackling him in place.
“Aw, c’mon,” he groaned before a coughing fit wracked his body. “Blast... Water. I need water.”
“Welcome,” a breathy voice whispered beside Purple Heart’s ear. The purple barbarian jerked in surprise at the abrupt greeting from directly next to him. “It’s such an honor to have you here.” Purple Heart tried to calm his racing heart before responding with a witty comeback.
“Welp, I’d give you my opinion on my being here if I knew where here was,” Purple Heart rasped succinctly. Wits End would not be impressed.
“Ah, I do believe I can’t tell you exactly where,” the voice said, its voice mildly apologetic, “but I can tell you that we are underground.”
Purple Heart nodded in understanding. “Aha. Charming.”
“It is, isn’t it?” the voice agreed, moving around to stand in front of Purple Heart in the light of the torch bracket. The purple earth pony blinked and cocked his head at the bright blue pegasus with a curled mane and tail the color of freshly cut grass. Her blue wings were folded to her sides. Green eyes ringed with a band of gold gazed amusedly at Purple Heart. A glowing green mark stood out on her flank...
A tree between a sun and moon.
Purple Heart cleared his throat and swallowed. “Who’re you?” he asked. “And am I being held prisoner by some cult that wants to make me some kind of braindead grunt with a jamba juice?”
The pegasus blinked and giggled. “Three out of four. Not bad,” she mused. “As for who I am, my name is Navee, the Sprite.”
“Oh. Shiny.” Then Purple Heart blinked in return. “Wait, wut? I was right?”
“Surprisingly yes, on three counts,” the cyan pegasus confirmed, nodding.
“Huh,” Purple Heart grunted intelligently. “Why?”
“Why what?” Navee asked.
“Why am I being held here?” he elaborated. “I mean, being the Champion of Gallopilli’s Coliseum can’t be the only reason you decided to capture me. Do you think I’m dumb enough for you to be able to control with little to no difficulty?”
There was a pause after Purple Heart asked the question. The two ponies stared at each other, neither speaking. Then Purple Heart’s eyes widened.
“Seriously?!” he squeaked. “Just because I’m a tank barbarian, you think I can’t resist any mind control?”
Navee nodded. “Yeah,” she confirmed. Purple Heart slumped to the ground, chains clinking against the stone floor.
“Aw, don’t feel bad,” Navee soothed. “After being exposed to the Emerald Seed, all your worries will be gone.”
The supine earth pony cast a baleful gaze at the cyan pegasus while she walked to the entrance and spoke to somepony on the other side of the cast iron door.
“Just because I’m a barbarian doesn’t mean I’m stupid. I’m smart. I can remember things. Not all the time, but my intelligence is better than average if I do say so myself,” he growled under his breath. “Besides, I’d rather not be in a Sukiyomi world or other. I like freedom of will, thank you very much.”
Navee turned around and placed a small chest several paces away from Purple Heart.
“Lemme guess...” Purple Heart sighed. “Chaos emerald.” Navee quirked her brow and cocked her head to the side, blinking down at the purple barbarian in confusion.
“No,” she denied. “This is the Emerald Seed, creator of daemons, given to us by Lord Bael.”
It took a significant amount of willpower for Purple Heart to not choke on his own spittle upon hearing that...thing’s name.
“So you’re...” he hesitated. “Daemons? All because of whatever is in that chest?” Navee nodded, grinning widely.
“Yeah,” she said. “All we have to do is expose you to the Emerald Seed and then you’ll become a daemon. Isn’t that cool?”
“Not really,” Purple Heart grumbled. “There isn’t any way I can convince you to let me go, is there?”
“Nope,” Navee said cheerfully.
Purple Heart groaned. “Greeeat,” he whined. Then he sighed. “Fine, let’s see if my willpower allows me to withstand the effects.”
“I wouldn’t hold my breath,” the pegasus commented.
Purple Heart arched an eyebrow at Navee. “I’m a barbarian,” he said flatly. “75% of my success is based on willpower. Loathe as I am to admit it, I do possess some of the typical traits for a shounen protagonist.”
“I’ll believe it when I see it,” Navee snorted, opening the chest. Purple Heart squinted as a blinding green light filled the chamber, emanating from a small, finely cut green stone nestled on a plush pillow.
Navee spoke a word, most likely the activation phrase and the glow intensified, blinding the occupants of the chamber. Purple Heart could feel something foreign enter him, like a tendril of thought from a mind probe. The light dimmed briefly, allowing the purple earth pony to see Navee’s gleeful grin through the glow. Darkness began to cloud Purple Heart’s vision and his head lolled to one side, his eyes drooping closed. Apparently, this was when the green eyes happened. He took a deep breath and settled as the foreign feeling shot through his body, taking hold.
And then disappeared.
Very suddenly
The glow from the Emerald was cut off when Navee shut the chest. She waved at a something behind her and several ponies entered the chamber. Once again, Purple Heart was surrounded by ponies.
“Open your eyes,” Navee commanded.
“Why should I?” Purple Heart grumbled.
“Open your eyes,” she repeated.
“Nope. Don’t wanna.”
“Open your eyes!” Navee snapped.
Purple Heart winced and sighed. “Fine.”
Purple Heart’s eyes flicked open to reveal normal cobalt blue orbs. No green. Whatsoever. The group of ponies gasped in surprise.
“It didn’t work!” one squeaked.
“Why didn’t it work?” another asked.
“He’s immune!”
“How?”
“He could be the First.”
“The Progenitor?”
“Of course! Lord Bael said he was created from the emotions of a purple earth pony! Maybe this is the one he was referring to!”
“Is it possible?”
While all this was going on, Purple Heart’s mind was racing. It makes sense, he mused. If the Emerald Seed was derived from Bael’s essence, I’d be immune to the effects of the Emerald, as Bael was derived from me. Ow, my brain hurts.
“Lord!” the daemon ponies cried, breaking Purple Heart from his thoughts. He turned towards them and blinked. They were kneeling before him.
“Huh?” he replied intelligently.
“Hail the Progenitor, First Daemon!” they saluted. Purple Heart blanched.
“...Aw carp.”