Magi Chronicles: Fires of Equestria

by Xeadin

Chapter 7 -- Apprehension

Panic.

It was at the tip of his mind. He did not know what made him panic, nor why. He just decided to run. It was the only thing that motivated him to run, at this point. The boy’s close encounters with several armed horse-like creatures narrowly landed him a capture back into captivity. Had he not have had the stone in his hand, it would’ve been a reality. Luckily, he pulled off a simple teleport spell, which forced the armored stallions to collide into each other. The Grand Hall filled with the commotion of several other garrisons that came in like a flood to help the immobilized stallions.

He still panicked. Facing what was to be the edge of the great palace grounds, he took a leap of faith and dashed right through what looked to be the front gate. Three guards appeared from the outside, blocking his path. It only took him a moment to realize the implications of his next action. As he drew closer to the blockade, the figure lunged the lower end of his body towards the floor, to the point of skating along on his knees. As he skid toward the iron-clad horse figures, he gripped the stone tightly and disappeared in a luminescent purple essence.

Puzzled, the guards looked whichever way, until one of them turned around to see the boy standing upright—gleaming back with a poised look locked on to his face. The stallions prepared to charge him; before they could even take one step forward, though, the boy crossed his arms and thrust his left fist forward. This sudden movement sent a gust of wind straight for the guards, and pushed them back towards the incoming garrisons, whom were prepared to apprehend the boy. The slight distraction of the whirling guards was enough for the figure to dash out of sight, without leaving a trace of his direction for the rest of the troops.

Panic was still at the top of his mind. He had made a few daring close calls, but he felt his luck grow thin. A strange presence peered above him, as though the sun had taken a consciousness of its own. It was an odd feeling, but one he could not shake off, nor dare to. His mind peeled forward with the intention to escape this, seemingly, exquisite paradise. He did not want to take any chances. In the back of his mind, he knew he could’ve used more devastating powers against those iron-clad stallions, but he also realized the implications of such actions. Not only would they have drained him of valuable energy, but it would’ve doubled as a beacon for familiar sources—that being his aggressors. Any sort of use of the elements would’ve meant serious trouble, but as long as he maintained a low profile, he’d be relatively safe.

It didn’t take long for him to reach the last of the stone stairway that led up to the palace above. He heard a strange, droning noise from above, but soon realized that they were the palace horns. ‘Call in the cavalry, why don’t you?’ He scolded to himself. ‘What is this place?’

Upon asking himself that question, he heard the faint whistling of rushing air, which soon drew closer at a quick pace. He didn’t bother to look, but he knew that it was not a pleasant sound to hear. ‘Spotted, again.’ He grabbed the stone, and within moments disappeared in the same purple mist, before being met with a rainbow streak that dashed through with extensive force. The mist dissipated, and was reflected on a lone cyan pegasus with rainbow-dyed hair. The pegasus held a sour look on its face, and looked whichever way it could across the tall grassy plains. The boy had taken refuge against a large boulder, next to the pegasus, keeping himself out of its sight.

He could not, for the life of him, get that sinking feeling out of his head about the lingering presence that loomed above him. It did not feel natural, as if the sun was peering upon him like a scrying glass. Essentially, he had no idea that his intuition would be proven right, when out of the blue he heard something flapping above him.

“Ahem. Going somewhere?”

He looked above to see the cyan pegasus smirking down at him. He opened his mouth and attempted to say something, but he was met with the pegasus pushing him against the rock in the blink of an eye, sending the stone out of his possession to the ground next to him.

“And just who do you think you are trying to get away from the rest of us, huh!??” the pegasus, angrily, shouted in the boy’s face in harsh, raspy voice, in almost a ‘tough girl’ tone. She raised a clenched hoof before him, as she kept him anchored against the rock with her other arm. As she was prepared to slug him in the face, they were met with the sudden flash and appearance of a large, elegant white mare. It sported a long radiant mane in a fashion of gentle colors, much like the pegasus. The figure was adorned with a golden crown, chest piece and… ‘Horseshoes? Never seen that kind before.’

“Rainbow Dash,” the white mare spoke in a harmonic tone. “Let him go.”

The cyan pegasus, known as Rainbow Dash, released her grip on the boy and dropped to the ground on all fours, carefully peering her way towards the boy. As he recovered his breath, he heard the clanking of metal hooves closing in on the rock, and iron-clad stallions encircled—forming a cordon around the two mares and the boy. One of the iron-clad figures stood forth and brandished a spear before the boy. “By the law of the land, you are, hereby, under arrest before her majesty!”

“Stand down, Fire Blitz.” The authoritative tone of the tall stallion grabbed the attention of the one who had held the spear before the boy’s abdomen. The figure let down its guard on command. The boy studied the tall stallion, who was outfitted unlike any of the other guards. ‘Hmm, the ranking officer. This is very interesting…’

The tall stallion locked his eyes with the boy, carefully calculating the strange figure’s motive. His blue and white hair blew effortlessly and loosely with the breeze. “What is your name?”

The boy could not think straight, being asked an arbitrary question out of the blue. ‘What an odd thing to ask on such short acquaintance. Are they that curious or frightened of me?’ He scanned the crowd that was surrounding him, and he began to open his mouth. Before he could say anything, a strange voice could be heard from within his own consciousness. It was as if he was hearing the sun, itself, above him speak.

‘You need not be afraid of us. We are not here to hurt you. We just want to discuss a few things with you.’

The voice sounded, if not, exactly like the white mare. ‘What…? How did you…?’

‘Reach in to your mind? That is simple. Shouldn’t someone, like you, be familiar with such a talent—with all your magic inside of you?’

‘Well… yes, but… telepathy is not something we carry out every day.’

The fact that he said ‘we’ made the white mare raise one eye. ‘You don’t suppose you mean ‘we’ as in the Precursors, do you?’

He felt his gut tie up into a knot when he heard those words spread throughout his mind.

“Celestia,” The tall stallion grimaced as he drew his head close to her. “I hope you’re not playing your mind tricks, again.”

“Don’t worry, Shining Armor. He’ll be fine. I just wanted to reassure him that we are not here to inflict any harm.”

“Mmhmm. Did he ever mention his name?”

Celestia shook her head. The boy took one small step forward, and knelt down towards the rubble. He was just about to grab a hold of a multi-colored rock, when it flashed out from underneath his hand. He shook his head to try and find where it had went, but then he looked up and noticed that it was floating before the mare and stallion.

“What an interesting rock you’ve found.” She smiled. “I’ve never seen anything quite like it before.”

“Wait! I need that!” The boy quickly stood up and took two steps before getting backed away by a few guards. He held his hand out above the shoulder of one of the guards. Both Celestia and Shining Armor made eye contact with the boy.

“I need that.” He held his hand out, reaching toward the floating rock. Celestia looked toward Shining Armor, then back. Within a moment’s silence, the stone, softly, floated toward the boy’s palm. When it finally touched his hand, he felt the stone’s energy recirculate through his body, empowering his spirit.

Shining Armor tapped his hoof firmly on the ground, and the guards surrounding the boy let down their stances, returning to the circle. “If you may, you can return to the Canterlot grounds, so that you may discuss matters with the princess.”

The boy raised a brow. Things were starting to get even stranger for him to understand. Then again, he had been through pretty unusual situations in the past. None of those events were like what he was now being put through. “The… princess?” He swallowed.

Celestia nodded. “I, Princess Celestia, hereby welcome you, on behalf of all, to Equestria.”

The boy put the stone in his pocket, and stood face to face with Celestia. “I am Asura. It is a pleasure to meet your acquaintance, princess.”

---

A lone male individual had lain on the mossy stone floor, fatigued from a sprint of fate. Beams of flashlights peered from the other side of a crumbling pillar of an old-standing structure, which was once a courtyard to the Osceliar Forum—a lone refuge out in the far corner of the civilization’s reach. The man, knowing full well where the lights were originating from, took it upon himself to crawl over to the next pillar.

At one moment, he felt that he was in the clear—able to clear the gap without wasting his breath. The next moment, he heard something big slam down behind him. The man was, forcibly, lifted off of the ground from all fours, and was rammed in to the back of a pillar. It sent a shockwave of immeasurable pain throughout his body.

He stared in horror, as the face of the Rygolith clan leader, angrily, peered into his eyes. The heavy breaths of the beast slowly began to wallow his senses, as the pain subsided, to the point where all he could fell was the cool stone on his back and the clenching fist of the aggressor captain. The figure was much taller than him, and, despite having a feminine posture, effortlessly kept the man off of his feet. Her eyes were of a deep biting orange, and she smacked her tongue a few times with a gleeful smile in between.

“Oh, how I wish to carve my blade deep inside of you and rip your heart clean out,” the leader spoke with malison intent, attempting to intimidate the man into early submission. She continued to feel the man struggling within her grasp, and she responded by gripping tighter, digging her claws slightly in to the man’s skin underneath his tattered bronze rob, which was beginning to become slightly stained with red. The man let out a shrill yelp, as the pain of the Rygolith’s clenching grip re-ignited his frail senses.

“Please! Don’t—don’t kill! Don’t kill me!”

“Then TALK, or I’ll have you squealing like a mud pig in a mouse hole! Where has the boy gone?”

“I… I don’t know… I, honestly, do not… akGGH..!” The Rygolith, relentlessly, squeezed harder, driving her claws deeper into the man’s chest. The red stain on his robe became more apparent, and she finally drew her short blade—a black, crudely-sharpened dagger, that began to glow with viscous violet energy.

“You, Precursors, are pathetic. You are all like the plague—protecting the ones you hold most dear, while you let yourselves carry on, uncaringly, in this hellhole you call your home.” She spat on the ground in morbid disgust. “I am giving you this one, last chance to talk. Where has the boy gone to, now?”

The damp air hung above, as the clouds thickened. Raindrops started to fall in sparse number, which grew in a choir of patters and plunks on the stone floor. The splash of water from both the man and the figure began to soak both of their outfits. The water made the man’s wound sting even more.

She drew him closer, shaking him around. “WHERE IS HE!??”

The man cried in bloody murder. “AGGH! I don’t know!!” He continued to sob as he attempted to endure the pain he was already going through. “I don’t…”

The leader scrunched her nose and licked the outside of her lips.

“Very well then. This planet shall be your final resting place.”

In a swift stroke, she drove the blade straight through the man’s chest, piercing cleanly through and let large amounts of blood trail out and fall to the tan stone floor. Before giving it any last thought, she turned the man’s head, exposing his fragile neck. She, then, brandished her ivory canines and chomped down on the man’s neck, savoring what blood was left from the grievous wound she had already inflicted. It was a, truly, grotesque sight.

‘The taste of royal blood is sweet.’ She continued lapping what blood was left, leaving the man twitching unnervingly as the last of his life started fading away in to a dark mist. ‘I must admit—these fools have strong hopes for each other. Too bad this hooligan didn’t have his head on straight. I would’ve enjoyed killing him slowly.’

As the last drop of blood fell from the tip of the blade, she quickly took it out, licking what remained on it, and let it sit out in the rainfall. She looked up toward the clouds, envying her blood-thirsting rage. She, silently, whispered up towards the churning storm clouds “This is what I will do to the boy, once I find him and once he fulfills the master’s plans. I will enjoy savoring every last drop of his royal blood.”