Alligatum Custode

by RainingDashReborn

Scavanger

Alligatum Custode

Scavanger

Thresh's mind drifted in and out of consciousness. Where he was, he did not know; all he perceived was inky darkness. He couldn’t say how long he had been in this place either, time seemed to be moot or nonexistent. Suddenly, the world was filled with color. Drab, grey toned color, but color all the same. For a moment, the Warden did not know what he was observing until he focused, and truly saw the scene.

It was his own death.

Not, mind you, his most recent death, at the hands of Lucian the Purifier. It was his original demise, when he was one with flesh and mortality. He looked on as the scene played out, as though he were standing off the side as a mild-mannered witness.

First he heard the laughing of more than a few voices and surprised and outraged cries, of furniture being broken against stone walls, and of the heavy smack of fist on flesh. He heard and then saw as men coated in grime and clad in tattered rags, men he had jeered at centuries ago through iron bars, dragged yet another familiar body in their midst; one still thrashing and fighting against them. He looked on while they dragged him to the cell at the end of the corridor, where Thresh had liked to have his ‘fun’, and saw the ex-prisoners bind his hands behind him and throw a loop of his finest chain about his neck. He watched as he slowly suffocated, hoisted aloft by the men who now laughed in his bloated face and danced jigs of freedom and revenge.

He watched all of it and chuckled to himself. Those were both the worst and best moments of his afterlife, being the beginning of so much more. A sudden pain rocked his consciousness, cutting short the fond reminiscing. He felt an odd sense of loss and void, a growing emptiness in his mind.

He stared at the scene once more, and realized he couldn't recall such events!

"I must be losing my memory," Thresh deducted coolly, grimacing at what this entailed. Even an ethereal presence could hold onto the past, and he doubted he even had that left. "No matter," Thresh said as he let the flashback fade away permanently. He connected his being with his lantern, using the last of his mana to reinforce the link. "You will be my vessel, and my savior. I am bound to find you after all," the Warden crooned to the lantern as he poured his essence into its damaged frame.

The Warden's body released the glowing cage, and the two lonely objects drifted apart through the blackness of the void. What remained of the terror that had stalked Runeterra for hundreds of years nestled safely in the glow of the lantern, his insanity locked away and saved in his ghostly prison. He cared little for his former shell. Though it had been faithful, it was a proverbial leaking lifeboat. There had to be more seaworthy vessels adrift, he thought with his fading mind.
For the Warden always reaps his just due.

Three days later...

The Everfree forest was certainly a daunting region of Equestria. Filled with untamed monsters and unknown perils, it was indeed a dangerous place to be. That was, however, unless you were of a more capable sort, someone well suited to the dangers of the wild. This was the mentality of the three young fillies currently roaming there, pursuing their ever evasive cutie marks.

"Remind me again why we’re here, Sweetie," Apple Bloom said a bit apprehensively, observing her surroundings as they further progressed into the forest.

"Yeah!" Scootaloo remarked, taking in a sharp breath as she almost tripped over an outgrown vine. "You just hauled us over here without telling us what we’re doing. Don't get me wrong, I want to find my Cutie Mark and all, but the forest still kinda gives me the creeps."

The snow white filly in front of them slowed down her pace from a trot as she explained. "Rarity told me that she and the girls are going to a wedding in a few weeks, so I thought we could find something we could sell for tickets."

Scootaloo sighed aloud, not very content with the fact that she was doing something as dangerous as braving the Everfree just to go to a stupid wedding. In her view, not exactly worth the trouble.

"And, uh, maybe we could find our Cutie Marks along the way?" Sweetie Belle grinned sheepishly, the other two eventually breaking into smiles as well.

"Well if it means that much to ya, ah don't see why not. Ah personally think Scoots would make a great flower-filly," Apple Bloom said. Both she and Sweetie chuckled lightheartedly as they walked further on.

Before Scootaloo could put in her two bits, Sweetie Belle shrieked with delight. Galloping ahead, she suddenly stopped by a low shrub, turning around to her friends grinning like a mad mare. As her two companions caught up, they saw what had caused so much excitement.

A rather old looking boot.

"SCORE!" The young filly shouted, leaning down to grab the boot with her mouth. Although it proved to be fruitless as it would not budge from its resting place. The pegasus and earth pony only glanced at each other, then to their friend.

"Come on girls, I think it's stuck," Sweetie Belle said, as her friends also took the hint to find a hold on the garment, pulling on it with all the force their little bodies could muster.

With an audible pop, the Cutie Mark Crusaders had gained their prize. While Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were busy overlooking the boot, the former a bit dubiously, Scootaloo just stared where the boot had once rested.

"Hey Scootaloo, how much do ya..." Apple Bloom trailed off as she saw what Scootaloo had been staring at.
A fleshy appendage lay in front of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, protruding from the bushes.

"What in tarnation do ya'll think it is?" Apple Bloom said as she and the other crusaders approached the now bootless appendage.

Scootaloo leaned forward to it, taking a curious examination and sniff. To this effect, she cringed with an exaggerated recoil. "I believe it's a foot," Scootaloo concluded, raising her head up proudly at her investigative triumph.

"A what now?" Apple Bloom said as she looked at her friend with the tilt of her head.

"A foot. You know, Spike has them," Scootaloo said, gesturing to her hind hooves. “Kind of a weird looking one though…”

The realization hit the fillies simultaneously as they turned around and slowly moved backwards from the limb. Their eyes would have told it all; curiosity and fear. Somehow, they had failed to realize that a foot is usually attached to a body.

An audible groan arose from the shrubs as the foliage shook and shifted. Parting the brush, a lengthy creature staggered to an upright stance, one completely unlike any the Crusaders had ever seen before. It might have matched Celestia herself in height, although it looked couldn’t have looked less like the benevolent diarch. It was bipedal, and had flesh instead of coat. Its color was ghastly pale, although a shade darker than Sweetie Belle's coat. It had a mane; long and white, that branched off into four separate locks of sorts, each ending in dark black hooks braided in place.

This image frightened the Crusaders to no end. They were too scared to run, to make a sound or even to breathe.

The creature’s eyes, unfocused and glassy, suddenly looked alive as it took in its surroundings. It was not long before they came to find the cowering trio of fillies in front of it. Although it looked like it was about to speak, one hand moved seemingly on its own to rest on its waist. The Crusaders saw on its tattered belt hung a large, rusty looking sickle.

This last proved too much, and the three young ponies screamed in pure terror, running deeper into the forest, heedless of the direction they ran towards.

Thresh blinked for a few moments, not at all sure where he was, or in fact who he was. But his curiosity was piqued, and lacking a better option trailed after the sound of screaming, already a bit hushed by distance.

Author's Note:

A huge thanks to my editor, Dergmann. All my loves to you for this chapter. <3

Comments

[Talguy21]

Oh, this might just be good. Now if only there were an appropriate evil grin smiley... Fix that, knighty.

[Conqueror777]

Hey, you updated the story. Also, I'm happy you managed to find an editor. Keep up the good work.

[ABitterPill]

Hmm.. So does Thresh not have is undead appearance anymore? Is his body a living being? I'd personally prefer it if he were still his glorious undeathly self but that may not be possible. I'm curious how his body survived if his soul and mind are currently anchored to the Lantern.

[RainingDashReborn]

3829614 Although we will get into that after I finish this one shot I am currently writing, in basis, he has attained his older human body, his undead one gone with the lantern.

[ABitterPill]

3829808

If his undead body is gone with the lantern, along with his soul, insanity, and powers, then I must ask if he is Thresh at all in that case in anything other than name?

[RainingDashReborn]

3840406 It's like his old morality compass was reset from Orderly Evil, to Neutrality with a hint of evil. This new world will shape a new Thresh, however, he will keep seeing some of his old habits, and maybe even his older self in chapters to come.

[ABitterPill]

3840624

Hmm. Fair enough then. I look forward to the next update.

BTW, the title, "Alligatum Custode". My knowledge of Latin is limited to Goggle Translate, but I'm wondering if it has a less literal meaning than "Tied Warden".

[RainingDashReborn]

3846581 Depends on it's three Latin translations.

The most current Latin we have translates Alligatum Custode to Tied Warden, which I was not aiming on. The older versions of Latin literately translate it to Chained Warden, HOWEVER it can also mean ''the Burden One,'' as in the oldest Latin and Greek languages often depicted Chains as a symbol of wrongdoing and burden.

The more you know.

[ABitterPill]

3846924

Ah hah. Very very interesting, and how very appropriate to boot.

The more you know.

Indeed!

[King Leoric]

Why does the feed say that this is a sly Cooper crossover when the description says LOL crossower? seems wierd.