Heart of Raven Black

by Vin Diesels Go-Kart

Chapter 5: Means and Ends

Apple Bloom didn't know what happened. At first she was walking on the path back to Ponyville, but somehow she had gotten turned around and now didn't know where she was.

"Ah shoot, I really gotta stop gettin lost in thought when I'm walkin." she said, scolding herself. The forest she travelled in was thick with brush, but the filly could see a break in the trees ahead. Relief washed over her as she ran toward the light that crept through the trees. Breaking through the treeline, Apple Bloom found herself next to the trail leading to Ponyville from the mountain where she and the other crusaders were held prisoner. The relief that she was feeling quickly turned into sorrow and anger.

Why did I have to end up here of all places. she thought. A caw jerked Apple Bloom out of her internal conversation. She looked over to a tree and saw a large Raven sitting in it, watching her intently.

"Oh hi there, ya startled me." Apple Bloom laughed. The bird continued to observe her silently. "Uhh, yeah well, I'm gonna go now."

The Raven shifted its gaze past the uncomfortable filly and over to the pathway coming from Ponyville. Apple Bloom followed its stare until her eyes fell upon a massive flock of crows heading her way. The unease she was feeling quickly turned to fear, and she hid in a nearby bush. Peeking out from her vegetated fortress, Apple Bloom saw the flock of crows fly close to the ground and then fuse together. She quietly gasped as a dark figure appeared from the flock, silently walking down the road toward the mountain ruins.

"T-Thomas?" she quietly asked, noticing the uncanny resemblance of the creature before her. It was definitely a human, that much she could be sure of, even from that distance. Her heart skipped a beat and the urge to call out to him almost overcame her, but the filly's voice got caught in her throat as she realized it definitely wasn't the Fireman.

Daniel continued to walk down the dirt path, keeping a brisk pace as the ruins gradually came into view. His Raven gingerly flew over and landed on his shoulder, cawing quietly.

"Where is she?" he asked in response. The bird cawed again and Daniel nonchalantly looked behind him, scanning the nearby bushes. "If she keeps her distance, then don't worry about it, but keep an eye out all the same." The Raven nodded and flew off once again.

It didn't take long for the Zealot to reach the ruins where his brother had died. Even being so close to his tomb, the Crow didn't feel anymore remorse for Thomas' passing than when he had first heard the circumstances surrounding it. Daniel noticed the occasional flash of sunlight reflecting off a piece of metal. Upon further investigation, he discovered a plaque mounted in front of the former cave entrance. He read the words slowly to himself.

In Memory of Thomas Miller.
His is a flame that shall never go out,
for we are its bearers.
Forever loved and eternally missed.

He laughed as he read the plaque again. "You really did waste your life for these heretics, didn't you?" he said, looking at the pile of boulders blocking the entrance. "I'm not going to judge you for what you did while you were here. You had your reasons, I'm sure."

The area was dead silent. Nothing stirred around the mountain, and the passing clouds occasionally blanketed the area in partial darkness. "I just came by to let you know that your sacrifice wasn't in vain. Your arrival in this place may have been accidental, but because of you, the city can now be saved." The Zealot heard hoofsteps behind him, but ignored them, finishing the conversation with his dead sibling. "If my hunch is correct, then both the Prophet and Columbia can be spared the coming destruction that Booker and Elizabeth will inevitably bring about. This world will be the perfect catalyst to pursue that end."

He put a hand on the plaque and lowered his head. "I'll see you soon Thomas." he smiled. "I do hope you have a front row seat."

Now that his brother's case had been closed, it was time to get down to business. Daniel had much to do, and the Crow didn't know exactly how much time he had to do it.

"Hello?"

He turned to see a yellow filly with a pink bow adorning her head. She stood at a distance and looked at him cautiously, waiting for a response.

"Umm, did you know Thomas?" she asked, sensing he wasn't going to answer. A smile crept over Daniel's face, concealed by his mask.

"Yes, I like to think I knew him quite well." he replied, then started laughing malevolently. Apple Bloom didn't notice as a large number of crows surrounded her, cutting off any possible escape.

"W-who are you?" she asked fearfully.

"I'll tell you what I'm not." he said, taking a threatening step toward Apple Bloom. "I am not like my brother."

Apple Bloom's fear finally got the better of her, and she screamed as loud as she could. Unfortunately for the helpless filly, only the crows were there to hear it.

* * *

"So, you want me to send a letter to the Royal Guard?" Spike asked Twilight, still confused by the request. The princess and her five friends had hastily made their way to the library, reluctantly allowing Trixie to tag along as well.

"That's right Spike. Send the letter to the Captain of the Royal Guard." the alicorn replied.

"You mean Shining Armor?" Rarity inquired.

"No, my brother isn't in Canterlot right now, but there's always a captain stationed at the castle." Twilight finished writing the letter and neatly rolled it up, giving it to her dragon assistant.

"And why exactly are we asking for a platoon of guards?" Rainbow Dash asked. The princess hesitated. She didn't want to tell her friends about the dream just yet, there were still too many unknown variables, and getting everypony riled up at this point wouldn't help in the slightest.

"We're going to place Daniel under arrest." Twilight declared, looking serious. Gasps swept over the group as they took in what she just said.

"What do you mean, Twilight?" Fluttershy said with worry. "He hasn't done anything wrong, we can't just arrest him because he scared us a little."

"Fluttershy's right, he ain't done wrong by any of us. Takin him in would just cause more problems." Applejack added.

Everypony seemed to be in agreement.

"We have to keep him under lock and key until we can discover his true motives." the princess tried explaining.

"True motives? Twilight, the man came here to find his brother, and now he's going to pay his respects because he just found out that Thomas is dead." Rainbow Dash pointed out.

"No girls, you have to believe me, he isn't here about his brother. Something is going on, and I fear Equestria is in danger of whatever it is." the alicorn pleaded. The other ponies all gave her skeptical looks. Finally, Trixie could hold her tongue no longer.

"Oh of course, you would try and arrest a human simply because he didn't come to you first. If Princess Twilight can't have a human, then nopony can, is that it?" the unicorn accused, her nostrils flaring.

"What? No! It's nothing like that. I have suspicions that he poses a threat to the land!" Twilight defended.

"Oh? And what evidence do you have to support such a claim, miss high and mighty?" Trixie inquired.

Twilight didn't answer. She couldn't believe how much resistance she was getting. Of course Trixie would argue, but her friends? Why were they so skeptical of her?

They didn't have time to continue the discussion as Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo entered the library. "Hey, have you guys seen Apple Bloom?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Ain't she with you?" Applejack replied.

"No, she seemed really bummed out and left the clubhouse early, but we got worried and went to go look for her. She isn't at the farm or Sugarcube Corner, and we don't know where else to look.

Everypony looked at each other, all of them thinking the same thing. "We have to get to those ruins!" Rainbow Dash shouted. After putting on the Elements of Harmony, the seven mares plus a baby dragon quickly made their way out of Ponyville.

"Do we even know the Elements will work on him? He is from a completely different world after all." Rarity pointed out.

"Hopefully we won't have to find out." Twilight replied.

"None of you better hurt him. He hasn't done anything wrong, so stop talking like he's a criminal." Trixie warned.

"Why are you so protective of him?" Rainbow asked, perplexed.

"Because Trixie found him first and he's Trixie's ticket to fame and fortune, that's why!" she defensively replied.

Before long, the ponies reached the mountain ruins. At first they didn't see anyone around, but then Daniel's figure slowly came into view. Twilight scanned the surrounding area, attempting to spot any crows that may have been around. Surprisingly however, there didn't seem to be a single bird in the area. As they reached the stationary Zealot, Applejack was naturally the first to speak.

"Where's my sister at?" she demanded. Daniel stood all the way up and turned to them.

"What makes you think I know where your kin is?" he asked mockingly.

"Don't give me that hooey. You had somethin to do with her disappearance, I just know it!"

The Crow's eyes narrowed. "Accusations like that usually demand evidence before they are given serious consideration." he looked around the baron landscape. "And it seems as though you have none." his eyes fell upon Trixie. "Ah, I see waiting at the cart grew tiresome for you. Unfortunately, you're probably going to wish you'd stayed there."

The magician stayed quiet, not knowing what to say. It didn't take long for Daniel to notice subtle differences in the ponies from the last time he saw them. "Lovely jewelry." he joked. "Do you always play dress-up before searching for missing persons?"

"This isn't jewelry, silly." Pinkie Pie blurted out. "These are the Elements of Harmony! Together, we can call on like a ginormous amount of power to defeat enemies from all over Equestria! Isn't it awesome?"

The other ponies looked at her in disbelief. "What is the matter with you Pinkie? Why would you tell him that?" Twilight demanded.

"Oh don't worry Twilight, it's not like we'll even need to use the Elements. I mean come on, as soon as the platoon of guards gets here, they're just gonna take him into custody and lock him up anyway, right?"

The ponies all face-hoofed as Pinkie realized her mistake. "Oopsy."

Daniel was surprised. Sure he had made the ponies sweat a little bit in the apple orchard, but he didn't think he'd given them enough reason to call in the troops. It didn't matter though, this simply meant his plan would be put into motion sooner than expected. He knew this confrontation would only be settled through violence. It was time these ponies found out who they were really dealing with. Almost mechanically, the Crow drew his sword out of its sheath. The blade sung as it cut through the air effortlessly, its tip stopping just above the ground.

"So, I see you've decided to make things difficult." the Zealot's tone grew cold. "Well at least things start to get interesting from here on out."

"No, we don't want to fight you." Twilight assured. "We merely want to ask some questions." The last thing she wanted was for the situation to escalate into physical conflict, and there was no reason why it had to turn into that.

Suddenly, the group of ponies began hearing strange noises. It sounded like muffled moaning and groaning, as if some creature was trapped or injured. Even Daniel seemed caught off guard by the sudden noise, he turned his head to look behind him just as the ponies realized where the moans were coming from. Horror swelled inside them as their eyes fell upon the coffin still chained to the Zealot's back.

Comments

[MrBark45]

Crap.

[SCP Pinkamena]

....Ah fuck

[Xray]

A wild Zubat appeared from the coffin while in the cave!

[Bandana The Reaper]

You really need to make sertain that whoever is in the coffin is DEAD before putting it on Daniel.

[Bubbabob]

I'm going to have a hay of a time trying to sleep tonight.

[Xomniac]

2596210

Unless of course his companions prefer *gulp* fresh meat...

[Echo Dash]

Am I the only one who wants Daniel to fight them?

[Fugly Duckling]

shit's gonna hit the fan...
4.bp.blogspot.com/-qTXvTGNGguA/UT5jlGHAlGI/AAAAAAAALn8/ZmgnU96qUtg/s1600/shit-hitting-the-fan.jpg

[subjectdeltapunch]

It's his brother rising from the grave through the coffin.

[GhostlyReader]

...Lady Comstock's in there or something. I swear...

On to the next chapter then...