Chapter 3: True Danger
If there's something whose importance can be very relative for Raziel, that must be time. Raziel has seen how time can be changed over and over again through time travel and time paradoxes, he has also been on a realm where time can be as meaningless, as food can be meaningless to a vampire or blood can be meaningless to him. But for all of this, Raziel really understood the importance of time overall: He knew it when he tried to save Janos Audron while he was being slaying his past human self and he knew it when he was trying to recover Janos's heart once he got the chance to do so. But Raziel also understood that going on a haste would only bring failure the same way he only brought a worse fate to Nosgoth by bringing back Janos from the dead without even thinking of the consequences of it. So Raziel understood the importance of time and the importance of taking things slowly, Raziel knew that he was on a time limit and that he had to find fast the new location of The Elder God and befriend the Ponies, but he also knew that he had to be careful on his approach, otherwise things could go in the wrong direction very fast. But there was a problem that Raziel still hadn't solved yet: How he would do both of those things?
The Elder God was too weak to influence in the land, even less to be detected. There was no way that Raziel would find him very soon and even if he had an idea of where he might appear, he still needed the help from the Elements of Harmony to vanquish him from this realm. Without a physical mean, his Spirit Reaver was just a wraith incapable of harming it. And then we had the ponies who barely knew about Raziel himself, and what little they did know about Raziel scared them (since they now considered him a beast). To fix this issues he would need help and quickly, but how to get it when the only ones capable of helping him are scared of his presence alone? Well, there was a possible solution for that: Twilight Sparkle.
The Element of Magic and the princess protegé was a very proficient mare: she knew who he was was, she had the means to allow the rest of Ponyville to accept him and she was the one that would most likely accept his request for help. Sadly, she lived in Ponyville and she never wandered off from the little town. The only time she has journeyed to the Everfree in recent time was for that stage player and Raziel couldn't contact her because of the other ponies, he needed to find a better way to contact her, one that would allow him to tell her that he needed her. But how?
In the meantime, Raziel decided to analyze the other elements based on what he has seen the last days he has been in this land. He looked at the pictures of the elements and thought of their new bearers:
Applejack, The Element of Honesty: true to her friends, close to her family, protective of anything she holds dear and determined to prove herself to others through hard labor and constant work, with Her honesty being shown through her actions rather than her words. Her stalwart personality is a primordial evidence as to why the Element of Honesty chose her. The difficulty of befriending her would come by the challenge of deceit, any attempt of deceiving her would result in the creation of a schism or (in other words) make it harder for me to befriend her, I must go to her clean as crystal. But how to tell her the abysmal truth of who I am and why am I here without wrecking her world apart? How to explain her that the fragility of her world may be shattered unless she trust a monster that she doesn't even know about? How to prove her that my demonic abilities will be used for the good of this realm when She can have any right to doubt me? So far my questions were lingering in a zone of doubt that would have to be fixed soon, or else this world would meet the deviousness of Nosgoth and how far it can destroy the trust of even the closest of friendships.
Fluttershy, The Element of Kindness: lover of the animals, keeper of nature and a social hermit. While in Nosgoth she could have easily been the Guardian of Nature, here she represent something that would be considered nonexistent in Nosgoth, the capability of treating others with affection without expecting anything in return, and she has a personality that would make her a perfect target for any monster in any other realm, a fearful creature that prefers to live by herself and would rather live under a rock instead of facing the harsh world that would eat her up if it weren't for her friends (ready to protect her). The second hardest befriend for we are of opposite natures, she's a pacifist while I'm a warrior; she loves and breathes life while I am the embodiment of death; she protects those who cannot defend themselves while I destroy those who dare to abuse of the weakest. While we're both of altruistic minds, we have different natures and nothing will ever change that.
Rarity, The Element of Generosity: the perfect representation of the old human nobles and high ranking officials among the vampires. Prideful, boastful of their wealth, and always worried of their appearance to the rest of the world. But, unlike those nobles of Nosgoth, she's willing to help others and sacrifice parts of her wealth (or appearance) so those who need help can advance in their life and surpass the obstacles that only the coin can destroy or, in other words, generous. What a better way to prove your worth than having so much in your hands and still have the will of letting it go for others who may never be able to repay you? Someone who I respect and hope to befriend very soon, for there are certain things that only certain groups can talk about.
Pinkie Pie, The Element of Laughter: having the capability of laughing at uncertainty and danger to the face is a proof of bravery, will and strength. Someone who could easily fool anyone both here and Nosgoth with her friendly nature and deceitful attitude, and while her abilities to bend the will of the world to her favor are there, she doesn't look like the type of creature that would be using her abilities for evil. A true wildcard who might be either the easiest or the hardest one to win.
Rainbow Dash, The Element of Loyalty: not even a dog could defeat her in loyalty, but her brashness and pride could be harmful to her or her relationship with her friends and I've seen others using that mask of confidence being crumbled away when the test comes. Thankfully, I Am sure that she'll be able to survive any obstacle that dares to face her with the help of her friends. The hardest one to befriend for she'll never trust me until I manage to prove how far I'm willing to help them.
Twilight Sparkle, The Element of Magic: the one that joined them all together and the only one that may jump immediately to my aid when I ask her for help to find the Elder God. But I still have to find a way to contact her for, unless I manage to gain her friendship, I'll never be able to succeed in this land by my own.
The Six Elements of Harmony, like the pillars of Nosgoth, they represent what keeps the land intact and pure. The only thing that worries me is that they need each other to survive, should someone manage to take them down one by one or turning them apart from each other, then this whole world may befall in danger. Nonetheless, I am here and I will make sure that none of it happens.
Raziel looked around at the castle he was now living in, he looked at the bookshelves filled with knowledge long forgotten and how the walls were starting to crack as time went on. This castle was a specter of a time long gone and it saddened him that he would never see how glorious it once were. But as of now, this was the residence of another specter who would treat it with the respect it deserved.
As Raziel went to the main entrance of the building, noticing the fungus and webs forming in the windows and walls close to the exterior, and after looking back at how far he has come. He decided to explore around to see if there was something he could do, he then looked at one of the nearby mountains and noticed that it was smoking. Now he had something to do today.
Fluttershy's Cottage, border with the Everfree Forest
This was starting to be a wonderful day for Fluttershy: she was feeding the otters with fish, the birds in their trees with [nasty tasting] worms, but Angel Bunny was giving her a hard time because he didn't liked to be told how to eat (she just wished that he was a teeny bit more obedient) but sadly that wasn't all of it. Over the course of the days the animals in the Everfree has been each day more and more scared, they're now trying to live outside of the forest (Mister Manticore started to live with her now) and many ponies are worried over the possibility of an invasion. Twilight Sparkle has been trying to make some research on the matter, but she hasn't found anything of value. All that would be left for them is to go into the Everfree and see what it's scaring the animals, that was the original plan, but then came Trixie...
Trixie's story about "The Everfree Beast" was originally heard as another way to boast, something that couldn't be taken seriously, but after that night and how fast she left the town many in Ponyville has started to grow anxious over the possibility of a beast living in the Everfree. Fluttershy was now speculating that perhaps this beast was scaring out the creatures in the forest, but what could be so dangerous that it was capable of defeating an Ursa Minor and cause a massive emigration in the Everfree? More importantly, when did this creature came and what was it's purpose? Fluttershy was so immersed in her own thoughts that she almost miss that Angel Bunny, trying to run away from his food, started to cough. - "Oh, goodness, are you ok?" - She noticed that Angel Bunny was starting to look at the sky with worry while coughing a bit more.
"Are you coughing because you have a carrot stuck in your throat?" - Angel Bunny just cough stronger while looking cautiously at the sky. - "Because you need some water?" - At this point Angel Bunny got annoyed and decided to give a big cough while pointing at the sky, he then took her head and moved it up so she could see what was Angel Bunny looking at: One of the mountains was smoking. At this Fluttershy gasped. - "Because of that giant black smoke!?" - A piece of carrot was hurled at her, when she looked down, Angel Bunny was giving her a mean glare. Fluttershy made a sheepish smile and assumed. - "I'll take that as a yes".
Fluttershy looked at the smoke and tried to think what it could be: There was a chance that it could be a volcano, she heard of those, they tend to be very destructive but there aren't volcanos near Ponyville. It could be a fire, but how could a fire be made in a mountain? But if it weren't a volcano nor a fire then it could be a dragon. After thinking on the three possibilities, Fluttershy started to prefer it to be a fire because at least those weren't dragons. Fluttershy now had to go to Ponyville and warn everypony, but first she was going to take Angel Bunny home. - "Come on Angel Bunny" -. But when she looked at Angel Bunny he was now looking at the distance while shaking in fear.
"Angel Bunny? What's wrong now?" - This time she decided to look at the same direction Angel Bunny was looking at and she saw the Everfree Forest on a terrible condition. The animals were running, once again, from the forest and even though manticores, chimeras and some monsters she has never seen before were crossing her, they either didn't notice her or they just ignored her. At this Fluttershy was starting to get anxious, could it be - "The Everfree Beast"? - Fluttershy started to move closer to the forest.
As the animals were running out of the Everfree Forest, Fluttershy started to get near the forest, mainly for curiosity, she wanted to meet this creature, perhaps it wasn't that bad, perhaps it was just a new creature claiming its territory. Perhaps it was an Ursa Major, perhaps it was a giant golem. Fluttershy, trapped in her own mind, didn't noticed when the animals stopped flowing out of the forest. By the time she finally did noticed, she realized that she was a few hooves of distance from the Everfree and that now she was at the mercy of the beast, if it was actually it.
Fluttershy looked at the forest with fear, she started to realize that she didn't want to meet the beast (even though she wanted to know what it was), her friends would be very happy to know and perhaps through knowing what it was they could figure out how to stop it from scaring the monsters in the Everfree. As each second passed, with nothing happening, her body was each time screaming more and more the desire to run but her legs and wings were frozen, she was incapable of running and now she felt dumb for putting herself at risk of some unknown creature without the protection of her friends but then, she heard a crack. Whatever it was, it was here.
At this point Fluttershy got even more scared, she didn't think the possibility that this creature could be a very hostile creature desiring to eat anything it could encounter, like a dragon, Fluttershy was really hoping it wasn't a dragon. She kept looking at the forest, the anxiety was eating her alive, she was starting to hold her breath, Angel Bunny (who managed to get out of his stupor) was trying to take her out of there but she was too heavy for that. It was getting closer, Fluttershy could feel its presence (like a chill) getting closer and closer, it was suffocating her, she didn't knew if she was capable of holding out anymore and, suddenly, the feelings were gone. She felt nothing anymore, like if there wasn't a creature to begin with. Fluttershy was about to leave when something spoke to her from the forest itself.
"Good morning lady pegasus, how are you?"
At this Fluttershy almost jumped out of fear but, before she did, she tried to look at the forest to see who, or what, was talking to her but she couldn't see nothing. She tried to use the best her sight could give but she couldn't see anything, she was about to surrender when she got to see something, a pair of blue shining eyes, in the middle of the shadows of the Everfree. That it was probably it.
"Are you feeling well?"
The voice asked again. Fluttershy quickly realized she was being spoken to and decided to respond. -
"Oh, sorry, I was trying to see where were you, mister..." - She left her voice hanging, expecting him to catch on what she meant. When the eyes opened up a bit more, she knew that the voice understood her.
"My apologies for not introducing myself lady, but courtesy dictates that when somebody asks your name, you must first give yours."
At this Fluttershy realized that he was speaking in the same way Rarity did, with class and distinction. Perhaps this wasn't the beast, perhaps this was just somepony that got lost, but first, she had to respond accordingly (she wasn't going to be rude to somepony who was treating her nice).
"Oh! My apologies, my name is Fluttershy. And you are?" - She said with a bit of shyness while looking at the pair of eyes and how they were looking at her, almost like if they were analyzing her.
"Raziel, my name is Raziel" -. He said in an even tone, not too loud, but not too soft, just enough for her to hear clearly. Before Fluttershy could ask about him, Raziel asked - "And what are you doing here so close to the Everfree Forest, dear Fluttershy? This forest is dangerous and you could find something that could hurt you" -. Fluttershy gave this a thought and responded:
"Well, there's a big, black smoke that's coming from the mountain and it could endanger the lives of the ponies of Ponyville, in case you haven't noticed..." - while saying the last part in a lower tone, Raziel decided to look up and saw how the smoke was growing above the town.
After taking a quick glance to the smokestack, Raziel responded to Fluttershy: - "You're right, but the smoke would be dangerous not only for the town, but also for the whole territory."
When Fluttershy heard this, she got shocked, now she was starting to get anxious.
"What? How do you know?"
She looked at the pair of blue eyes, trying to see a reaction or something (in the middle of that darkness that covered him) that could tell her how he looked like. But as much as she tried to find a figure, all she could find were those shining blue eyes. It was almost as if Raziel were just a pair of blue eyes with a nice voice.
"I've seen smokestacks like that one before and, provided of enough time, they tend to increase their size until they can cover the sun itself."
Now Fluttershy was getting more scared. - "Oh dear, I have to warn my friends in Ponyville" -. She was starting to move to the town when she realized that she didn't thanked or said goodbye to Raziel, so she turned around. - "Oh, thank you Mr.Ra-" - When she looked back, the eyes were gone (along the chilling feel) like if they never were there. Fluttershy tried to think on this, but the smoke reminded her of the danger that was growing more and more and decided to first warn the town about the dangerous smoke.
Sadly, she wouldn't be listened for her soft speaking and being too shy to actually try to be noticed by the town. Only when Twilight came and warned everypony of the situation (and announce that it was because of a dragon) would the ponies realize the weight of the situation; at the same time, the announcement of the dragon, and Twilight's decision to add Fluttershy in the journey, made the pink maned pegasus to forget about her encounter with a creature that was almost as dangerous as the dragon.
Mountain close to Ponyville, close to the smokestack
Raziel was now moving towards the smokestack to put it out, it didn't looked too far neither too difficult for him (if it were a fire he could easily turn it off, if it were something else he could easily take care of it). He took a look at the smokestack in the mountain.
And now, I was on my way to stop the smokestack that looms on destroying life in Ponyville as they knew it, the irony of this action wasn't escaping me.
Raziel advanced through the forest, with the animals (now fully aware of who he was and what he was capable of doing) stepping away from him, only one or two chimeras tried to stop him now from time to time. But just by evading their fireballs and a good swing of the Water Reaver was enough to shatter them to pieces and put out the fire that they could create.
When I was a Vampire Lieutenant, serving for Kain, along the help from Turel and Dumah, I was involved with the conquest of the northern mountains to start the creation of the smokestacks that would eventually doom Nosgoth to a life of Sunless existence, an eternal night if you will. Now I was going to ascertain that this land wasn't deprived of the one thing that could destroy any vampire, irony at it's finest.
By this point, Raziel was now at the feet of the mountain, looking up at the growing smoke he had memories of multiple times: When the smokestacks started to produce the clouds that would protect his clan from the scorching murderer in the times of his vampire servitude, when he started to move to Dumah's territory to kill one of the brothers that threw him into the abyss when he started his crusade of revenge, when he was starting to climb Janos retreat in his search of purpose. All of those times something meaningful, or at least important for his quest, happened to Raziel and he was expecting that this would also be the case. He didn't even moved when suddenly a big noise came from the top of the mountain.
What was that monstrous sound? Something is telling me that the origin of that smoke isn't normal, or at least, not normal to my standards.
And thus he started to climb the treacherous mountain and, thanks to his claws, he took the steep path, allowing him to climb the mountain faster than he normally would on foot. The climb was long, but every certain amount of time he would find a stop that would allow him to take a break and look at the land, he mourned for Nosgoth (for he left it in such a disastrous way) and hoped that one day it would find a prosperous future, one where all of it's inhabitants could live peacefully under the dead sun (in case the smokestacks were never removed). Eventually he reached the top of the mountain, he could see how the smoke was coming from a very large cave.
As I entered the cave, I began to wonder what kind of creature could be large enough to both inhabit and be a source for smoke equivalent of one made by a volcano. The only creature that I was sure could do something like this would be a dragon, but the only one I've seen so far is the young Spike. Perhaps I'm about to see how big can dragons become, I hope an agreement can be reached peacefully regarding his stay in this mountain or else this could turn into a very violent encounter.
As Raziel got more and more inside the cave, he started to see a golden splendor, it was shining each time more and more until he found that it was actually gold and, on top of that gold, was one of the largest creatures he has ever found. It was a surprise that the cave was large enough to fit it, it had red scales and crimson spikes in it's back, it's mouth was big enough to swallow Raziel completely and it's nose was producing the toxic smoke that was causing a vampire's dream.
Raziel knew what to do: he first got close to the dragon (Reaver blade guarded as a sign of diplomacy) and tried to wake him up by using his scales and a soft tone.
"Good afternoon" -. Said Raziel in a courteous tone, the dragon was waking up but he wasn't in a really good mood. He tried to shush away whatever it was that was trying to wake him up, but three things happened that he didn't saw coming:
The first one was that his tail didn't hit anything, the second one was that the air seemed to get higher and the third was the smell of molten metal. The dragon opened his eyes to see that some of his coins were melted and, seeing his treasure (his precious) being damaged by another dragon, that woke him up to his fullest. The dragon searched on the cave, trying to figure out, where was the creature that dared to trespass his new sleeping room and attack his precious gold. Seeing no one, he decided to speak with a deep and resounding voice that, far below, would be heard by a group of ponies that were trying to scale the mountain but they were taking too long for a certain scared yellow pegasus. While the ponies would hear his voice, they wouldn't be able to understand the conversation since the dragon was too high above, so only the dragon would be listened properly but not the one he was speaking to:
"Who dares to enter my domain?"
He sought in the cave with his huge and penetrating eyes, but he couldn't find the intruder; it didn't stop said intruder from, suddenly, and out of nowhere, to respond.
"Someone that, although apologizes for what happened to your horde, needs to speak to you."
The dragon tried to search for the source of the sound, but it seemed like it came from everywhere within the cave, creating the illusion of the voice being the cave itself. Seeing that the intruder wouldn't continue talking, the dragon decided to respond while adding literal heat to its words.
"What reason could an intruder has to wake a dragon with a sleeping need? Don't you know, intruder, of the consequences of waking up a dragon from his sleep?"
The Dragon stood quiet and waited for his new prey to respond.
"A town in danger is what drives me into the precipice of confrontation with you, mighty dragon. Your snores are causing a smokestack that will block a town of the sun and I cannot abide that, so I have now come here to kindly ask you to take your horde with you and move away to another place."
Before this ridiculous petition, the dragon couldn't start but to laugh:
"HAHAHAHAHA. You're too brave or too foolish to dare to come here and demand me that. I have enough strength to burn the whole settlement should I desire and even give a fight to princess Celestia herself."
And the next sentence was said with the coldest and most threatening tone the dragon could ever produce.
"Who do you think you are, to come here and demand me like if you were a creature of a higher level? Have you seen the dawn and fall of empires and kingdoms? Have you seen the born of constellations? Have you seen the passage of time and generations pass in the blink of an eye? Have you collected treasures as reminders of the achievements of your life? What have you done to come here and demand to a mighty dragon to move just because a town that nobody cares about could suffer? And what if I say no? Will you try and force me or just stare me until I cry like a toddler?"
Silence is what the Dragon met, he waited and waited, but he wasn't getting a response. The entrance to the cave was just in front of him and nothing has passed it, it couldn't be gone. Whatever it was, it must have been debating if responding or not.
After a big amount of silence, he heard a response right in front, and a little below, of him.
"To respond you in order:"
There was nothing there that could cause the sound when, suddenly, something appeared. Something whose appearance made the dragon shiver, for it was no common creature, it was a creature that could have easily came out from someone's worst nightmare. What it had, and what it didn't had, showed just what kind of demon was talking to him and the dragon was now wondering how much of an advantage it had against it considering that it was small.
"I'm Raziel The Soul Reaver; While I don't consider myself of a higher level I do consider myself of enough power to confront you. I've seen the dawn of empires and the destruction of kingdoms at my own hands. I've seen countless generations pass away as I stayed young. I used to be the most powerful and richest Lieutenant, only surpassed by my king himself. I've fought demons and monsters that could come out of your worst nightmares and surpassed trials that you wouldn't even dream on; and I demand you to move because I. Care. For that town. And if you say no".
The creature's right arm created a light blue sword that moved like a flame (deep down, the ponies would barely feel the magic coming from it) and the dragon knew right away that he better avoid to be touched by it.
"I will try to force you out".
At this threat, the dragon decided to breath in all the air it could inhale and expelled fire from his mouth towards his new victim.
Middle of the Mountain, below the cave
Twilight was a having a hard time right now, she was trying her best to not dismiss Fluttershy (especially considering how up in the mountain they were) but she was dragging her party so much. It was a good thing they survived the rockslide that the dragon caused, but she was wondering how much worth it was to bring her (no matter how much skill she had with creatures in Equestria) if she was going to delay them so much.
And suddenly, a big fire came from the top of the mountain. The dragon was awoken now and the smoke was no longer coming out, but if the dragon was awake and spewing fire, that meant that something woke it up and it may be in danger, perhaps it was whatever it was speaking too? Now, more than ever, Twilight and her friends had to go up there.
"Wow, what it's that?" - said a chromatic pegasus, - "I better check it out" -. She was about to speed up when her tail was grabbed by applejack's mouth (once again).
"Oh no pardner, it's dangerous right now an' you might get hurt if you go alone."
"Applejack is right" -, responded Twilight. - "But we must hurry, something definitely woke the dragon if the dragon's voice wasn't enough evidence of it a while back, and now it must have made it angry, we must speed up and help whoever it was that decided that Rainbow Dash's idea was good" -. All the ponies, including a worried Fluttershy, sped up and tried to get in time to the top of the mountain.
"Hey, my idea isn't that bad, at least the smoke is gone."
Inside the cave
The dragon stopped spewing fire and decided to wait until the smoke could go away to be certain that the intruder was burned down. He was certain that the destroyer of gold would be gone but, to his surprise, he wasn't burned at all, everything surrounding the creature was blackened, but not the creature itself.
The creature was just aiming his blade at him, like if the sword had just blocked all the fire (which should be impossible since he wasn't an unicorn), leaving it fresh and cool. The creature kept its aim at the dragon, this was followed by the sword starting to concentrate energy that was quickly released into a single shot that went directly into the dragon. The dragon decided to block the attack by raising his right arm. The shot (originally aiming at the dragon's face) was blocked by the dragon's arm but, rather of feeling some type of pain, the dragon felt nothing. The dragon got mildly concerned over the idea of not feeling anything on his arm after getting shot at, so he looked at his own right arm and noticed that it was releasing something that resembled a lot like frosting. Then he noticed that, as much as he tried, he could not feel his right arm nor move its claws.
"What did you do to my arm?" - Demanded the furious dragon, the creature just kept his sword aiming at him and concentrating another shot. The Dragon wouldn't allow it, he wouldn't risk the possibility of getting such attack on his body.
The Dragon moved his tail and swung it against Raziel to stop the incoming attack, Raziel jumped away from the dragon and, to the dragon's surprised, changed the color of his Reaver from blue to green. The dragon thought nothing of this and moved his right arm (the one that was numbed down) against Raziel. The dragon prepared himself as Raziel swung his reaver blade against the dragon's arm and, instead of a powerful crash of swings as the dragon expected, the frozen arm got shattered into multiple pieces leaving only a stump right after the elbow. It dawned in the dragon in that moment what happened to his arm and what had this creature done to him. It froze his arm with his sword; his sword, somehow, had the power to freeze individuals. The dragon looked to the creature (now using the blue sword) with anger and hatred, he underestimated it but he wasn't going to commit the same mistake again. The dragon started to breath fire to the whole place, not leaving a single place where the creature could use his freezing sword, and nothing, not even his gold, would be spared.
The fire spread in the whole chamber as the dragon intended, all the ground was being charred by fire just to make sure that the evil intruder could be burned to death. The fire was going so strong that, way under the mountain, the group of ponies could see the fire going to the air in distances that nopony expected to be possible. Twilight was starting to worry about whoever could be facing said dragon and, as much as she wanted to rush into the mountain, she couldn't leave Fluttershy behind. Meanwhile, in the cave, the Dragon was keeping his fire going for more time that he had ever done in many years, he was going to make sure that all that would be left of the gold burner couldn't be distinguished from the rest of the ashes staining the walls and his now burned gold but, little did he know, that he was so focused on throwing his fire, that he didn't noticed that there were no screams of pain neither smells of flesh burned. Raziel had managed to survive the living inferno for the moment by going to the roof of the cave.
As Raziel was now holding himself in the cave's roof, turning himself invisible of course, and his mind was figuring out how to defeat the dragon quickly before he could, not only burn Raziel to a crisp but, start a real fire. Raziel had his wings already scorched and the heat was weighing in his body as he tried to avoid falling into the hellfire for physical exhaustion. There had to be a way to stop the dragon, but how? In that moment, he looked at the roof and noticed the stalactites above the dragon, now he knew what to do.
The dragon kept his fire going, if he wasn't going to find him then he would scorch him to death, not sparing anything in his sight. His gold was getting melted, his diamonds and rubies were getting scorched like charcoals, his arm's remains were already pieces of charcoal being consumed by the infernal heat, the cave would no longer be habitable and he would have to leave and, heck, he wasn't sleepy any longer. All the dragon cared for was the elimination of this trespasser, this danger, this monster that was willing to kill him for nothing. The dragon stopped expelling fire in the moment he noticed that the cave was shaking - "an earthquake?" - he wondered, but he noticed that the ground wasn't breaking at all, it was the roof. The dragon noticed the trespasser in the roof (holding himself through one of his claws) and with his green sword crushing the roof with a strength that only himself could match. It didn't took him too long to realize what he was trying to do but, alas, the roof started to collapse on top of him before he could do anything and very soon he found himself with his body entombed by the mountain of rocks and only his head was capable of being mobile.
Mountain High, hour away form the cave
The tremors were felt by anyone who was in the mountain, including Twilight and her friends. As they were keeping their march upwards, they had to stop for a moment to try and keep their balance, the rocks were (once again) falling down and they had to evade them again. This time it was Applejack who showed concern for the current situation.
"What in tarnation is going on up there? Why is that Dragon causing a tremor?"
But before Twilight could respond, the tremors ended and the mountain calmed once again. The group of mares looked at the top of the mountain and they were now very curious to know what was going on up there. They continued their travel, this time with a faster pace.
Inside the Cave
When everything got calmed again inside the cave, all that was left of the treasure were mountains of molten gold that would, eventually, cool off and become a part of the mountain and, a few centuries later, a group of diggers would go there to take it for their own sake. The dragon was now trapped under a literal mountain of rock and crumbles that would asphyxiate him in a matter of days and, should the cave be closed down, the dragon would be dead very quickly due to air deprivation. Nobody would even know of this fight until someone decided to clean the entrance. Raziel then decided to get close to the Dragon, Water Reaver in hand and being charged, and asked one last time:
"If I ask you to leave now, will you do it?"
The Dragon looked at Raziel and, in a one last ditch effort (drowned in a mix of desperation and rage) he tried to burn Raziel with his fire. As he began to breathe in the fire, his attempt was quickly shot down by Raziel with an ice blast that went directly into the dragon's mouth, entering his mouth and going directly into his lungs, freezing him on the inside and giving him a slow death. During his last moments, the dragon pondered into his last action and, had he got enough time to be alive, wondered what would have happened if he had said yes from the very beginning. He died too fast to even try to wonder in that possibility.
Raziel saw how the soul belonging to a now dead dragon was going out of it's body and, for a millisecond, he debated under the necessity of eating it but this was solved in the moment Raziel decided that absorbing it would be better for him (since, being a reaver of souls, he needed them to stay in the physical plane) so he opened his scarf and sucked the frightened soul of a dragon that would never know eternal rest and, for a moment, Raziel felt how the fire breathing dragon could empower him but he would realize how much later. Now that everything got calmed, Raziel had to think on his next step:
The danger was gone. The dragon, now dead, would no longer cause harm to anyone else in this world. Sadly that didn't meant that I would be accepted. In this world of peace and friendship, this kind of approach (even though I tried diplomacy at first) would never be condoned or approved by anyone, so what should I do?
Raziel went out of the cave, now a murder scene, and decided to look down the mountain to reflect on his actions and gaze at the beautiful landscape (that went even beyond Equestria itself and allowed him to enjoy the beauty of all of this, for who knew how long it would last and when he would have another chance to see this spectacle) and while this allowed him to relax after his most recent confrontation, it also made him realize two things: One was that, in this moment, all he could do was to protect the land from any danger he could see and he would try to validate his case once the ponies could get to know him better. The second was that the six ponies that he should befriend with were getting close to his location and Raziel knew that it wasn't a good idea to present himself like this.
It aches me in my dead heart to leave this place under this conditions, but it's never a good idea to try a friendly approach on a murder scene. I only hope that I can find a moment to meet them under more peaceful terms and that I don't find myself forced to talk to them, for that would be very inconvenient for all of us.
Raziel used the Dark Reaver to become invisible and jumped into the air, using his wings to glide himself down into the ground, passing just on top of the Mane Six (and almost touching Rainbow Dash in the process). He would later touch the ground in the middle of the Everfree and wonder, could there have been a better approach if he had the ponies friendship?
Inside the cave, a few minutes later
Twilight and her friends were trying to understand what just happened inside the cave. All they could see were mountains of molten gold, charred gems and a dead dragon. Nopony knew how to properly react to this, for it was unprecedented the idea that something that weren't an alicorn could defeat a dragon and that wasn't even counting the carnage of the battlefield, with the whole ground burned down and the dragon's empty look as if he saw death while being alive.
For Twilight Sparkle, this was just like the Ursa Minor: signs of magic and a struggle everywhere with clear indications that the victim (in this case, the dragon) died under very weird circumstances with, in this case, the dragon being frozen to death from the inside. The main difference now was that this happened just a few moments ago, the burns were too recent, the gold was still hot and she and her friends saw the fire coming from the top of the mountain, twice, felt the tremors and heard the dragon speaking while they were climbing the wall, there was no other conclusions that this was a recent event. So how was this possible? What creature could do something like this and how could it be possible to leave this scene without her or any of her friends noticing it? She didn't had a clue because, well, the only clue she could have died long ago so she wasn't sure for now. She would later send a report to the princess and ask her to make a more proper research on the area. Although she did noticed another similarity between the Ursa Minor and the Dragon that she preferred to not mention to her friends, perhaps for now.
For Applejack, this was unnerving: what could possibly kill a dragon? There were no signs of being an alicorn and they never saw what killed the dragon going out. It may even still be here, but she wasn't sure of it since they haven't been attacked yet and Twilight already confirmed that the cave was empty, but that wasn't everything. Twilight was hiding something from her friends and it wasn't just the usual stuff of the events with Nightmare Moon, she noticed something here and she wasn't telling what it was. She wasn't going to pressure her now because of Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, but she would try once she could be in private with her.
Rarity was totally saddened, this was a catastrophe of terrifying proportions. Nothing like this have ever been done before in the history of Equestria and whoever did such monstrosity should be disciplined very hardly. A banishment to the sun or moon wouldn't be enough for this type of vandal act that should never be forgiven. How could somepony be so vicious to melt all of that gold and burn those beautiful gems. Oh, the horror!
Pinkie Pie was feeling down for she was expecting this to be a great moment to have fun with the dragon, showing how much you could enjoy to be awaken and maybe that way stop him from sleeping near Ponyville for a few years (or at least convince him to leave after a departure party), but now she wouldn't be able to do it because the dragon was dead and, to make things worse, her pinkie sense was telling her that something else happened, something very bad that she better wasn't sure of what it was for it would depress her too deeply.
Rainbow Dash was feeling kind of awesome. It was proven that her approach was the right one (for now there wasn't any problem in Ponyville) but she didn't want the dragon to be dead (which wasn't very cool at all) but it doesn't take away the fact that she was right. Granted, she wasn't sure how to react to this when it happened, but it didn't went the way she wanted it to happen and that was already bad. She would later try to forget the face of the Dragon and take away from her nose the smell of ashes.
Fluttershy was trying to get a grip on the situation. The dragon, what she feared the most, was dead, but that didn't made her feel safe or accomplished. She only felt responsible because if she hadn't been delaying her friends, perhaps she would have stopped the battle or, even better, made sure that it never happened in the first place. Now, with all of this, she wanted to go back to her animals and try to relax so she could finally have enough time to think properly. She knew that this was her fault somehow, but she didn't want to voice her opinion just to not worry even more her friends and the best thing she could do was to stay quiet and shut.
During all of this, Applejack got close to Twilight Sparkle and decided to ask a bit more.
"Twilight, sugarcube, are you sure that this here is everything you can come up with?"
Twilight looked at Applejack with a curious face - "What do you mean?, the scene? Yes, I'm sure that this is all I can get. The dragon started to breath fire to burn down whatever it was fighting against and he ended up getting frozen."
Applejack looked at Twilight, trying to figure out what was it that she was hiding.
"Sugarcube, how is it possible to freeze a dragon? And from the inside? That doesn't make sense" -, Twilight looked back and responded with the best she could understand at the moment, - "I know Applejack, but that's what I can figure out by seeing the dragon. And looking at the dragon is too hard already. I'm feeling sick just by standing here."
"You and I both darling" - interjected Rarity - "it's so disgusting that this situation had to end in such a way. So uncouth and barbaric, and now I need a shower to clean my fur from all of this ashes" -, and then added in a much lower voice, - "and not a single gem survived."
She then looked at Fluttershy and asked - "Fluttershy, dear, are you ok? We're sorry for having to force you to this trip only to see this disgusting situation."
Fluttershy looked at her and, after thinking a lot, she added: "Don't worry, it was actually my fault because I was delaying you with my fear over dragons and-"
"Wait" - interrupted Rainbow Dash - "You're afraid of dragons!? Well, that explains why it was so hard for you to come up here, and why you didn't told us before!?" - After that, the conversation went, albeit slowly, changing the topic from the dead dragon to Fluttershy's fear.
But both Twilight and Applejack would never forget what they were about to talk about, for Twilight didn't liked being interrupted and Applejack knew that Twilight must have analyzed the situation with more than just her eyes.
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Glad to see this story continue; I really like it.
7446809
You welcome and tell me, what did you like about this chapter?
7446817 I like the fact that Raziel is written in character. That and I like that although Raziel is doing good, you show that it's not in a way the ponies would be used to. I look forward to reading more.
7447089
Thank you, I'll see if I can make the next chapter (the part I had to cut out) very soon.
Not bad. I like how you used an extensive vocabulary for Raziel's dialogue and narrations.
However, there are a couple of things that I feel I should point out.
1: Careful with your sentences. I've noticed several that could be multiple sentences instead of run-on sentences.
2: You keep mixing up words like "Dead" and "Death." When you said "the dragon was death," it made me think of the Grim Reaper (though Raziel is technically one in his case.)
3: Applejack's accent. Using words like 'dat' or 'dis' are used mainly in accents like Jamaican. However, it is not country-talk. Applejack can say things like "that" and "this,".
Other than those nitpicks, it was a good chapter.
7447412
Ok, fixed (I hope) the part of dead/death and that little detail in Applejack's speech pattern (is hard to write it down when I can barely notice it myself in the show, I kinda take things slow when it comes to detect speech patterns).
As for the sentences, I use the period to finish them but if they're related among themselves (and the paragraph is too short) I'll have them together. I'll use the period and apart when the subject changes (or the paragraph gets too large).
Edit: The trick for the extension of the language is that you start to implement it to your life, that way it becomes easier to write it down.
7447603 And you need to eat a thesaurus.
You're quote on how Fluttershy could be Nosgoth's Nature Guardian was really interesting. I've never thought about the Mane Six as six of the Pillar Guardians. I've actually started on some art for their outfits if they were guardians. I got three done. Three more to go.
Fluttershy: Nature Guardian
Applejack: Time Guardian (She was the hardest to place. Figured the Time Piller would want someone honest since Mobius was a snake)
Rainbow Dash: Conflict Guardian (obvious)
Pinkie Pie: Dimension Guardian (very obvious with her 4th wall-breaking powers)
Rarity: Mind Guardian (manipulation of people and the uses of Psychic powers in fashion)
Twilight Sparkle: Energy Guardian (had trouble between Energy, States, and Balance Guardians)
This leaves Death, States, and Balance open.
7447824
Well, there you have something that you can use if you want. I wrote as a little reflection but now I realize that it could have been used for the story (should have been needed, now it cannot fit). You can use it if you want.
But considering that Twilight is magic (the unification of the other 5 elements of Harmony) I would also put her as the Balance guardian so it can fit her role
I would also add Luna and Celestia as the Death and Energy guardians respectively.
7447941
But then who will be the States Guardian?
7447988
IDK honestly, Zecora?
7448084 What about Starlight Glimmer?
7448087
Could be if you think she fits the role.
7448104 I've just figured something out for the States Guardian
Trixie can be the States Guardian! She's an illusionist. Sometimes, magicians use chemicals to create things like smoke bombs to improve the act.
7448124
Excellent choice, now you have your guardians. Use them wisely.
7448434 Sweet. I'll work on their outfits tomorrow (I've already finished the Mane Six's). Once I'm finished, I'll post them on Deviantart and send you the links.
7448434 Took me a while, but I got them all done.
Here's the folder for Equestria's Circle of Nine
7451012
It looks very well done. That and you work really fast.
7451256 Well, I had some time to kill. But I put in as much work as I could with only Microsoft Paint and poor drawing skills.
Two chances for the main six to grow now lost...
Raziel has a good heart at the core. While I disagree on the Ursa Minors death, I agree on the Dragons death...
Raziel is doing what the Equestrian can't even if their morals would get them killed...