• Published 10th Mar 2014
  • 4,634 Views, 367 Comments

The Fable of the Zealot - Silentpegasus



With Crimson and his friends stationed in Ponyville, the mages must now balance their work and personal lives. Friends will become enemies, enemies will become friends and forces will clash as everything Crimson holds dear is threatened.

  • ...
13
 367
 4,634

Chapter VI: The Forest King

Chapter 6

The King of the Forest

The Smog, The Forbidden Forest, Forest of Death. The names go on and on, none of them appealing. Most Academy agents were taught to avoid the forest at all costs. The place was filled unnatural magic and made the red mage’s skin crawl as he lead the trader and the dragon hybrid through the swamp. Clouds covered the forest, blocking out the sun. The tree roots were thicker than the man’s thigh and were covered in moss and slime.

The air was thick with mist seeping from the bog which seemed to be bubbling. For seven agonizing hours the man lead the two unsuspecting males deeper into the forest. The man kept his guard up and used his blade to cut his way through the foliage. The group came to a clear spot beside a lake and looked around the area. The ground was level for the most part and had a cushy bit of moss and grass.

“What’s up?” The trader asked as he looked at the man.

“We’ll make camp here for the night.”

“Why? It’s only four o’clock.” The dragon hybrid stated. “I’m not tired.”

“It ain’t about being tired. It’ll be dark soon and we don’t wanna go tripping over these roots with zero visibility.” Crimson stated. “Besides, most of the animals here are nocturnal and we don’t wanna run into most of them.” Fetch shrugged and started to make camp. “Fetch, set up camp. Spike, see if you can find some fire wood.”

“What are you gonna do?”

“I’m gonna set up a perimeter around camp. In case something does try to jump us I’ll get a heads up.”

“Wait!” Spike yelled. “What if I get lost?” He said with a gulp.

“I was just getting to that.” Crimson sighed and slammed his hand on the ground. A red cloud of smoke engulfed the spot and a husky sized three headed dog appeared.

“The hell is that?” Fetch said in surprised.

“This is Cliff. He’s an expert tracker and fighter. If there’s a problem then he’ll communicate to me and I’ll come running.” Crimson stated.

“How? There’s three of us and only one of-” The trader stopped talking as the three headed dog split itself into three individual dogs of the same size. “Oh.”

“If I’m not back in an hour then I’m most likely dead.” Crimson said as he and one of the dogs walked away. Spike gulped and looked at the forest in front of him. The dog barked and started to walk ahead. The hybrid kept his hand on the handle of his sword and started picking up the dry sticks he could find. The red dog also picked up a few sticks in it’s mouth before resting them on it’s back.

The dog’s ears perked up for a moment and scanned the area with it’s dark red eyes. The dog let out a low pitched growl and Spike decided that it was time to go. With two armfuls of wood, Spike and Cliff started making their way back to the camp. The two found themselves back at the camp fairly quickly thanks to the dog’s sense of smell. Fetch had put out a tripod with a fire ring over it. The two gulped when they heard the bushes rustle.

“When did you guys get back?” Crimson asked as he and the third dog made their way through the brush.

“Just now.” Spike said as he held up the sticks. Crimson set up the wood in a log cabin configuration and pulled out two shiny rocks. He scraped them against one another and a red spark ignited the kindling. Spike saw the three dogs morph back into their original body and lay down next to Crimson. The red haired man reached into his bag and pulled out a cooler the size of a lunch box. Crimson reached inside and pulled out a a few slabs of meat.

“What’s that?” Fetch asked.

“Manticore meat.” Spike gulped. Crimson tossed three of the slabs to each of the dog’s heads and the animal chowed down. Crimson then pulled out a few sausages and stuck them on a stick. “I like to have a good meal after a long day.”

“Mind if I try?” Spike asked. Crimson nodded and handed him one of the pieces of meat. After a few minuted of roasting the meat to perfection, Spike and Crimson each chowed down. The green haired boy was surprised at the flavor. “Pretty good.”

“I try.” Crimson said as he swallowed.

“Hey you said something about Thestrals. What are those?”

“Twilight never mentioned them?” The boy nodded. “They’re what’s puling the cart.” Crimson said as he pointed to the wagon.

“I don’t see anything.” Spike said as he squinted.

“Most people can’t.” The man stated as he reached inside his bag and pulled out a glasses case. He opened the case to show a pair of old wire rim glasses. “Put these on and you’ll see.” Spike held them up to his face and in an instant he saw the monstrous looking winged horses.

“Dude that’s creepy. What are they?” He asked as he looked at them.

“No one knows for sure.” Fetch stated. “They date back to the Discord era.”

“You can see them too?” Fetch gave a nod. “How come I can’t?”

“They can only be seen by people who have seen or embraced death.” Spike gulped. He knew that Crimson saw his parents die and that he was a conduit tot he creature that did so.

“So how did....Never mind.” The hybrid said as he adverted his eyes from the trader.

“My wife. Two years ago.” He said in a flat tone. “Bad case of feather flu.”

“Sorry.” Spike said in a guilty tone.

“It’s all right. Ain’t exactly a fresh wound and I've moved on since then.” Crimson finished his meal and sent the dog away in a puff of smoke.

“Spike, get your sword.”

“Why?”

“Might as well teach you how to use it.” Spike got to his feet and un sheathed the blade. “I take it that you’ve seen movies with sword fighting right?”

“Of course.”

“Good I want you take all that info, gather it in one spot in your brain and dump it like its expired milk.” Spike raised an eyebrow. “All that stuff in movies is fake.”

“Figured.”

“Okay, first I’m gonna teach you how to block.” Crimson said as he pulled his sword out. “You have to think of your sword as an extension of your arm and extremely hard and sharp extension.” Spike chuckled. “You need to make slow, fluid and strong motions.” Crimson said as he swung his blade.

“How come yours is different than mine?” Spike asked as he pointed to the longer blade.

“Well, yours is a standard enchanted blade with a a double edge, meant for chopping and throwing your weight around.” Spike gave the blade a swing. “Mine is meant for clean and fast strikes. The blade has two enchantments on it.”

“Two?”

“It can neutralize an enemy’s magic if I hit them with the back of the blade.” Crimson then grabbed a rock and banged against the blade so that a small chip of metal broke off. “The second one is in the blade for cutting.” The man cut into his own hand and Spike gulped. The blood seemed toe seep into the blade and the chip was repaired. “The blade can absorb the iron in blood and use that iron to repair itself.”

“What about your hand?” Fetch asked. Crimson slid a finger over the wound and it closed.

“No problem.” Crimson said as he took a fighting stance. “Now get ready.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hours later the three fell asleep as Luna’s moon shined brightly in the sky above. The moon’s light reflected off the water like a mirror as it just started to lower in the West and Celestia’s morning sun just started to peek over the hills in the East. Two shadowy figures quietly made their way into the camp where the three slept. One of the shadowy figured pulled a knife and held it over the red haired man. The other figure shook his head and the shade sheathed the blade.

“Why not? This is easy!” One of them said in a hushed tone.

“That’s not the job.” The other said in a low tone. The two started rifling through the boxes looking for something. “Jackpot!” One of them said.The other came over and pulled out a small box out from a bag of rice.

“Now isn’t that interesting?” The two shades turned around to see the two red eyes of death itself.Crimson slammed both his fists forward into their jaws and threw them out of the carriage. The two attackers got to their feet and got in a running position. “I wouldn’t do that If I were you.”

The two turned around to see a menacing looking three headed dog growling. “Cliff here loves a game of tag.” Crimson said a firm hit collided with the back of the thief’s necks and crumpled to the ground. The red haired man hauled them over to a tree and tied them up. Crimson then walked over to the small box and looked inside. Crimson gritted his teeth and walked over to the sleeping trader and stomped his foot right next to his head.

“Get up!” Crimson bellowed.The hybrid stirred and rubbed his eyes.

“What’s going on?” Spike asked as he got up.

“We need to talk.” Crimson said as he grabbed a bucket and filled it with water from the bog. The other two boys followed the man over to the two people tied to the tree. Crimson splashed the water on them and they both gasped. “Wake up time assholes.” He said as he ripped the masks off them. A man with jet black hair and tan skin shook his hair dry. Next to him was a woman with dirty blonde hair and piercing blue eyes.

“Who the hell are they?” Fetch asked.

“That’s what I wanted to know.” Crimson said as he crouched down and stared them both in the eyes. “Out with it. what are you two doing here?”

“We ain’t talking!” The woman said as she spat in the man’s face.

“I don’t need you to talk.” Crimson said as he pulled out a small pocket knife. “All I really need you to do is bleed.” Both of them gulped. Crimson grabbed the man’s hand and ripped his glove off and pricked his finger so a small bit of blood appeared on the knife. The thief cursed. “Oh don’t whine.” He said as he licked the blood off the knife. The other people around the mage raised an eyebrow as Crimson closed his eyes.

“Your name is Silent Filch, age twenty-three and is currently in a relationship with Ms. Tip-toe Sneak here.” He said as the two gulped. “It’s also your first mission from the Black Claw Bandits.”

“Who?” Spike asked. Crimson pointed to a black claw painted onto their clothing.

“They’re a small group of bandits that like to raid traders and pillage small towns.” Fetch growled. “Now that introductions are out of the way, we can get down to why they’re here.”

“For this.” Crimson said as he walked over to the small box. The man opened it to show a pendant with a bright red jewel in the middle.

“What in the name of the sun is-”

“Alicorn Amulet!” Spike yelled as he pointed at the object.

“The what?” Fetch said.

“It’s an old amulet that’s said to amplify a mage’s magical energy ten fold, in exchange for the user’s sanity and sense of reasoning.” Crimson stated.

“So why do these guys want it? If they were mages then they would have used magic.” The trader asked as he looked at the two.

“Better question is why do you have it?” Crimson’s red eyes focused on Fetch like a hawk does on its prey.

“I have no idea! I’ve never seen that thing in my life!” Fetch yelled. Crimson sighed and looked at the man who was keeping his mouth shut. Crimson walked over to the woman and pricked her finger.

“Leave her alone!” Silent yelled. Crimson tasted the blood and closed his eyes for a moment.

“They got hired by someone name Mrs. Smith. Typical code name. Their mission was to lead the trader with the amulet into the Smog forest and steal it by any means necessary.” Crimson stated.

“How did you know about our ambush?” The woman asked.

“Cliff here caught your scent while he was with Spike.”

“No way is that mutt that good.” Silent scoffed. The three headed dog walked over to them and bared it’s teeth.

“I’m a lot smarter than you think I am.” Everyone except Crimson was struck in surprise.

“That thing can talk?” Fetch yelled.

“I think we’ve established that.” Crimson said as the dog chuckled.

“Can I eat them?” The thieves gulped as the dog licked it’s chops.

“No, Creator knows where these two have been and you had your manticore last night.” The dog whined as Crimson made the cerberus vanish in a cloud of smoke. “Now about you two.” The man turned back towards the two tied thieves. “Since I am a generous man and you have caused no harm to me or my associates, I’m going to let you both go.”

“You what?” Fetch and Spike yelled.

“However, if I see you guys with that bandit mark again. Then I’ll kill you both so fast that you won’t even know you’ve passed from this world to the next.” Fetch tapped him on the shoulder.

“Are you nuts? These guys will just come after us again!”

“For their sake,” Crimson then looked at the blonde haired woman. “and the sake of their kid they’d better not.”

“Kid? What kid?” Silent asked as Tip-toe gulped and bit her lip. “Tip what’s he talking about?”

“Umm.” She said as she tried to avoid her lover’s eyes.

“Well, it looks like you two have something to talk about.” Crimson said as he started to pack up his and the other’s belongings. “That rope is magically enchanted. Once we’re far enough away it’ll come undone and you’ll be free to go.”

The group packed up their belongings and continued to make their way through the forest. After a good hour of walking Crimson snapped his fingers and a bunch of rope appeared in his hands.

“Hey Crimson,” The man looked back at Spike. “how did you know all that stuff about them?”

“Blood never lies my friend.” Fetch’s ears perked up and looked at the man. "I can absorb people's blood. Through that I know everything about them. Their age, name, memories, what kind of magic they use, anything."

“I thought so. So you’re a blood mage then.” He said as he frowned.

“Yup.”

“Weird, here I thought they were extinct.”

“Guess you thought wrong.” Crimson stated.

“Extinct?” Spike said in confusion.

“Never mind.” Crimson said in a flat tone. The man continued to lead the group through the dark forest. By some miracle they managed to avoid most of the hazards with little difficulty and made good time. Crimson stopped for a second and threw up his hand.

“There a problem?” Fetch asked.

“Shhh!” Crimson summoned his scythe and took in his surroundings. He could hear the birds chirping and the tree creaking in the wind. He felt the humid air beat against his face and a smell lingered in the air. It smelt like fresh mulch after a rain storm. “Get back!”

“Why? What’s wrong?” The group heard a monstrous roar coming from the forest. They heard what sounded like trees crashing against the forest floor. Tremors rocked the ground beneath the mens’ feet and Spike fell back on his rump. A larger tree seemed to rise above the others and come into view.

“What’s up with that tree?” Fetch yelled.

“That’s no tree.” Crimson said as another roar shook the ground. The trees in front of the group were thrown aside. There standing in front of them was a twenty foot tall figure made of wood. The bottom of it’s legs looked like the trunks of trees. The legs were covered in old bark that looked like it was rotting away.

The chest looked like a convergence point for the wood. The arms were like the legs and were covered in moss and bark. The hands looked more like the oversized roots the group had seen the day before. The creature’s eyes were like two small yellow dots in a field of green moss that hung off its form like a cloak. The top of it’s head was like that of a tree top in the winter. Devoid of life, leafless. The creature looked down and saw the small cart and the three humans. It tilted it’s head to the left in confusion.

“Maybe it’s friendly!” Spike said in a hopeful voice. The large creature then let out another loud roar that shook the ground.

“Run!” Crimson yelled as he jumped and fired a few bolts of magic at the creature. The beast roared in anger and grabbed a rock the size of a house and hurdled it at the man. Crimson just barely dodged the boulder. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Spike and Fetch zoom forward and rocket down the trail. Crimson snapped his fingers and summoned Cliff.

“Lead them out of this death trap!” The dog whimpered. “Go!” The dog barreled after the two. Crimson then turned to face the giant. “Okay, my turn.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Spike felt his heart beating against his chest. He thought that if he stopped then it would break out of his chest. He saw a red blur run up beside him and get in front.

“This way!” The dog yelled as he made a right. The cart was right on the child’s heels. Spike felt a strong hand reach down and grab him by his hoodie and seat him down on the wagon. The two saw the dog charge ahead and they saw a speck of light in the distance. The wind was whipping at their faces and dodged tree branches from taking their heads off their shoulders. Soon the cart roared out of the forest and into a clearing.

As the wagon came to a sudden stop. Spike felt himself launch out of the seat and land in fresh, soft green grass. The hybrid groaned and sat up as the red dog walked over to him.

“You okay Spike?” Fetch asked as he ran over to the teenager.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” He said as he got to his feet. “What about-” The boy was cut off as he saw a dark red object fly out of the forest and crash into the grass. Spike heard a familiar grunting noise and hurried over to the red mage. “Crimson!”

“Hey, you guys okay?” He said as he panted. Spike could see that the man was bleeding from his scalp and bruises forming on his face. The dog vanished again and the man sighed.

“What the hell is that thing?”

“Forest King. Never thought I’d run into one of those.” Crimson groaned.

“Forest King?” Spike gulped.

“They’re ancient creatures. Usually the servants of a master druid and peaceful. Looks like this one has reached the end of it’s life cycle and his brain has literally started to rot.” Crimson sighed. “Damn thing absorbed a lot of my magic, so I can’t keep Cliff around to help us out.” The trio then heard the same roar. “Fetch how close is the mid way point?”

The trader looked towards the sky and saw evidence of smoke coming from the opposite direction of the forest.

“There! It’s only a few miles down the road.” He said as he pointed to the smoke.

“Good.” Crimson looked at Spike and crouched so their eyes met. “Spike, I need you to go with Fetch while I deal with this thing.”

“No way am I leaving you!” Spike said in a firm tone.

“This isn’t a democracy.”

“But I-”

“Twilight told me to protect you and this is the only way I can!” He said as the beast cleared the tree line. Crimson grabbed spike under his arms and quickly dodged a punch from the tree monster. Crimson pulled out his blade and slashed through the beast’s leg. He gulped when he saw the wood instantly grow a new limb and slam its foot down on his back. Crimson felt blood fill his mouth. A bright green object then cut him free and the creature roared in pain.

Crimson looked to see Spike holding the sword that now had the blade engulfed in green flamed with purple tips. The beast screamed in pain at the burning sensation and went to smash the small green object. Spike was frozen in fear. Despite the orders his brain was giving, his body wouldn’t respond. Spike closed his eyes and waited for the pain. He felt something grab him by the scruff of his neck and throw him out of harms way.

The young drake opened his eyes to see Crimson barely holding back the creature’s fist. The roots in the tree’s hands started to latch onto the red haired man and sap him of his strength. “Spike!” Crimson yelled. “Use your fire!”

“But my fire doesn’t work on something like that!” Spike said with a gulp.The conduit felt the reserves of his strength fading.

“Think of everyone that will be in harms way. Think of Ponyville. Think of Twilight.” An idea came to the man. It had to work. “Think of Rarity!” The words echoed through the young drake’s head like a siren going off.

Spike felt a burning sensation in his chest. It was as if he had swallowed a hot ember that was now trapped within him. He felt smoke coming out of his nose and mouth and pour coursing through his body. The boy let out a devastating roar and felt his teeth grow longer. His nails became razors and purple scales covered his wrists and some spots under his now fully spliced eyes.

The boy's body was seeping out torrents of green magic that had a purple tint to it. A long purple scaled tail came from his back along with a pair of purple webbed wings. The boy grabbed his sword and charged forwards with green flames dancing along the blade. He slashed wildly and set the red haired man free. Crimson backed away and dropped to knee as he watched the child charge forth.

Spike slammed the blade against the monster’s tough bark and the blade started to crack. Soon the blade broke and the young drake opted for his now scaled fists. As he pounded away at the bark green flames encircled his hands and started to light the large beast on fire. The forest King screamed in pain and dropped to it’s knees. Spike was acting on instinct as he felt something building in his throat.

Spike opened his mouth and shot a massive green fireball with purple tips swirl and become a raging inferno. The Forest King felt the massive fire ball hit him square in the chest and cried in pain as the flames ate away at it’s body. After a minute the beast was nothing more than burning pieces of wood. Crimson looked at Spike who was panting heavily and his tail had receded back into his body. Spike felt a hand on his shoulder and looked back to see Crimson smiling at him. The drake then felt the adrenaline wear off and everything went black.