Revenant

by Zimprus Nalune

Firsts

I slowly set back out into the streets of Ponyville. I sighed and hoped that the walk to town hall would be less eventful than the walk to Pyrite’s house. I then stopped and blinked as I came to a realization.

I had no idea where town hall was, and no idea how to get there.

I stamped my hoof down at my own stupidity before remembering I could just find it from the skies. I spread my wings and took off, circling above Pyrite’s house until I was high enough that it was no longer distinguishable from its surrounding buildings.

From my new height, it was easy to see the few unique buildings in Ponyville, among them the hospital, a literal ‘tree house’, the building made of sweets I had seen earlier, a carousel-shaped building, and another circular building that stood higher than any other structure in Ponyville. Assuming it was the town hall, I turned and started flying towards it at a leisurely speed.

Along the way, I noticed pegasi flitting from cloud to cloud, pushing, pulling, and generally redirecting them. They were probably setting up for a rainstorm, so I quickened my pace towards my destination, not wanting to be soaked through when the rain came.

I landed in front of what I could confirm was town hall and quickly spotted the billboard Pyrite mentioned. I walked up to it and started looking it over, noting how it was virtually covered with posters and flyers, many layered on top of each other. Looking at the board a few times, a noticed that a good dozen or so flyers were all ‘Missing’ flyers, with pictures of small grey unicorn filly from every conceivable angle. I quickly snatched them off the board, smirking as I realized I could use them as a guide to create a new disguise, hopefully on that was even less obvious than my current one.

That aside, I scanned the board and focused on my real objective: finding a job. A great deal of the job ads called for some sort of workplace experience, which I had none of. I finally found one ad who’s only requirements were a ‘good set of legs’, labeled “Apple Bucker”. Mission completed, I held all of my newly acquired fliers in my mouth as I took off once more, quickly making my way back to Pyrite’s.

I landed and opened the door to the house, not bothering to wait until I had fully entered to revert to my changeling form. I walked inside and closed the door behind me, looking to my right to see Pyrite sound asleep on the couch. I grinned sadistically and walked over to her, depositing the fliers on the center table as I walked by.

Lowering my head, I slowly moved forward, my horn pointed directly at Pyrite’s side, until…

“AAAAHHH!!!” Pyrite screamed in shock, shooting into the air faster than I could and crashing back down to the couch just as fast. I burst out laughing the moment she reacted and continued even after she crashed and flailed about, trying to right herself. She finally managed to do so, and quickly shot me a death glare that only made me laugh harder.

“That thing’s sharp!” She yelled, pointing at my horn while rubbing the side I had poked her. “Watch what you’re doing, you could skewer somepony with that!”

I stopped laughing at the last bit of her outburst. I thought for a moment and then smiled widely again. “Thanks for the idea!”

Pyrite sighed dramatically and finally noticed the fliers on the table.

“What are these?” She asked, using her magic to sift through the fliers.

“Most of those are just for a new disguise,” I answered. “But there’s a job flyer for ‘Apple Bucking’, whatever that is.”

Pyrite looked up and grinned. “Of all the jobs on that board…” She shook her head and chuckled, getting up off of the couch and heading upstairs, leaving me completely confused.

“Coming?” Pyrite asked, snapping me back to reality. I nodded and followed her upstairs, both of us stopping outside a somewhat small room with a single bed pressed underneath a pair of windows that completely took up the far wall. The only other furnishing in the room was a small sidetable next to the bed.

“I take it this is my room?” I asked, slightly liking the small and sparse room. Pyrite nodded.

“Yep, and don’t even think of sneaking into my room,” She snapped. I chuckled softly.

“Now what makes you think I would ever do such a thing?” I asked in a mocking tone, receiving an eye-roll in reply. Pyrite pointed to the bed and I followed her gaze, now noticing two stacks of books, a little over a dozen total, running the gamut from small and thin to large and thick.

“I thought about your comment while we were in the hospital, about learning a healing spell or two-“

“Hey,” I interrupted. “I said you should learn some spells, not me.”

“-So I dug around the house and found some spellbooks for you to study.” Pyrite patted me on the back. “Have fun with your required reading.”

With that, Pyrite turned and walked further down the hallway, through a set of double doors that I assumed accessed a much larger room than mine. Shrugging, I walked into my room and used my magic to levitate the books off the bed before I jumped up on it, shifting around for a bit and trying to find a comfortable position.

Once I had settled down, I levitated the first four books from the piles into the air, cycling through them as I read the titles aloud.

“Let’s see what we’ve got here… ‘Advanced Healing Techniques’… ‘Standard Book of Spells: Volume I’… ‘Advanced Magicks’… ‘Beginner’s Guide to Combat Magicks’? Well that’s one book I didn’t expect to see…”

I randomly chose to start with the ‘Standard Book of Spells’, placing the other three books back on their piles. Noting how large the book I had chosen was, I expected to be in for a long read. I opened to a random page, which happened to be the intro to ‘Chapter 7’. Surprisingly, at least half of what I was ‘reading’ was diagrams and charts, apparently made to go along with the actual written lessons. I began reading, paying attention to everything written down and remembering everything important.

“Hmm… oh hey, these are lock-opening spells!”

***

I closed the ‘Standard Book of Spells’, having memorized Chapter 7. I knew how to open any kind of lock, normal or magic, with what I hoped would be no trouble at all. I mentally thanked Pyrite for getting me these books, as I was sure they would only help me more as I continued to read them.

I levitated the large book back onto its pile with the rest of my material and shifted a bit more, finally getting into a comfortable position and closing my eyes, slowly drifting off to sleep.

This is my new life… and I’m happy with it.

***

Flashes of things…

Everything…

Nothing…

Something…

It was something… I couldn’t describe…

Swirling…screaming…crying…just a face…over and over again…

It’s gone…

What’s…who’re…

Flash…

She led me through the hive. She smiled. I smiled.

Flash…

My heart beat faster, even as it died. The end was coming, in more ways than one.

Flash…

Her offspring was different than the rest. Just as I had requested.

Flash…

They were back. I knew they would be back.

Flash…

Kill them all, my children. Let them know we are not who they think we are.

Flash…

It’s gone wrong.

Wrong.

ALL WRONG.

It’s gone wrong, all of it.

Flash…

Sleep, child, sleep…just like FATHER!

Black.

***

A sudden, piercing pain in my chest, as if I had been stabbed, tore me from my slumber, making me practically scream in agony. I clutched at the right side of my chest as I convulsed and fell off my bed, the impact feeling like an itch compared to my chest.

I screwed my eyes together as I tried to wait out the pain, but it dragged on for what seemed like hours, my chest feeling like it had come apart every time another pulse of pain erupted. I was faintly aware of my back hoof kicking something, which was then followed by an extremely dull thudding. The pain felt like it was getting worse as time dragged on, and the rest of my body started becoming numb as the stabbing feeling in my chest grew.

I eventually cracked open my eyes amidst my thrashing and saw the door to my room fly open and who I could faintly recognize as Pyrite running over to me and saying something that was too muffled to hear. In response, what sounded like a thousand voices screaming in terror went off in my head, giving me a migraine rivaled only by the stabbing feeling in my chest.

The two began building in a horrible harmony, forcing me to endure an ever-increasing amount of anguish as they continued unrelenting. Finally, I felt myself slipping into unconsciousness…

Then it stopped.

All the pain vanished as if it had never been there. In its place was a simple tingling, something that felt soothing compared to what had been there previously. My throat felt like it had been torn to shreds and reassembled, leaving it the only part of me still in any real discomfort.

I breathed heavily as I struggled to my hooves, Pyrite helping me up. The room was spinning and it took a moment for me to get my bearings. When my vision finally corrected itself, I looked over to see Pyrite looking back at me with a mixture of fear, worry, and horror.

“What happened?” I croaked.

“I… I don’t know,” Pyrite stuttered. She slowly let go of me once she was sure I wouldn’t fall back to the floor and allowed me to stand by myself. “I heard a few thumps and a crash, and when I came in, you were rolling around and clutching your chest like you had been stabbed. And that’s not mentioning the soul-piercing scream you were letting out the entire time.”

I couldn’t help but shiver at Pyrite’s description. I never wanted to experience that pain ever again. I started walking shakily out of my room, desperately trying to ignore the slight throbbing in my head.

“Well, I should be going…” I croaked, hoping that Pyrite would just let me go. “Can’t be late for work, now can I?”
I buzzed down the stairs and up to the door, shapeshifting with a flash and levitating a pair of saddlebags onto my back with a short burst of magic. I heard Pyrite running down the stairs behind me, but I ignored her shouts for me to wait as I dashed out the front door and spread my wings, taking off into the air.

Like before, I circled above the house, gaining altitude until I could see, off in the distance, a large orchard that was likely the ‘Sweet Apple Acres’ that was the location of my new job. I began flying towards the orchard, trying to forget the events of moments before.

***

As I approached Sweet Apple Acres, I circled around a large red barn a few times, confirming that it was the only significant structure for a good distance in any direction. I touched down in front of the barn and knocked, waiting for a response.

After what seemed like a few minutes, I began growing impatient. I tapped my hoof on the ground, still waiting for someling to answer. I was about to knock again, when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I whirled around and reflexively readied a blast of magic, the green light of my horn lighting up the face of the stallion that I was standing face-to-face with.

He was a bit taller than me, and his coat was a reddish color. His mane was orange, and his eyes were green. I noticed he had a yoke around his neck and a piece of hay stuck in his mouth.

“Y’all might wanna be careful of them magics,” he said with a thick accent. “We do things th’ old fashion’d way ‘round here.”

I blinked as the stallion chewed on his piece of hay. I slowly dissipated my magic and smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of
my head.

“Eh, sorry about that,” I apologized. “I thought you were trying to sneak up on me.”

“If’n ya figure Ah was tryin’ ta sneak up on ya,” The stallion said slowly. “Then why’d Ah tap ya on th’ shoulder?”

I shrugged. “I dunno.” I held out my hoof. “Sorry, name’s Night Wing, I’m here for the apple bucking job.”

The stallion shook my hoof firmly. “Big Macintosh. Ya sure yer ready fer this?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be.”

Big Macintosh nodded and opened the door to the barn, going inside for moment before coming back out with two baskets held together by a pair of straps that the held in his teeth. He placed the buckets on my back, and I grimaced as they crushed my wings to my sides.

“Now,” he began. “Yer job is ta go out there inta th’ orchard, and buck them apple trees till them apples fall inta yer bucket. Then bring ‘em back here an’ get yerself another set a’ buckets. Wash, rinse, repeat.”

“Okay,” I said. “Doesn’t sound too hard.”

Big Macintosh grinned. “That’s what th’ last one said…” He chuckled, walking off and leaving me alone and confused. And slightly afraid.

With a sigh, I reminded myself that I had signed up for the job, and had to see it through. I began walking away from the barn and into the apple orchard, noting how most of the trees close to the barn were already bare of fruit. I began wondering why he called for help in the first place.

After a good walk, I finally came to an apple tree chock full of fruit. As I walked around the tree, observing, I looked over the hill I was currently standing on. My jaw dropped.

The orchard was a lot bigger than I thought it was, as I could see trees filled with apples stretching on farther than I could see. I gulped and turned back to the tree I had been circling around. Endless fields or not, it was time to get started.

I turned around and started lining myself up as best I could with the trunk of the tree. Once I was sure that I was aiming squarely at the center, I reared up on my forelegs and gave the tree a solid buck. The entire plant shook as I hit it, before a good portion of the apples in the tree fell into the buckets on my back, not a single one hitting the ground.

However, as the apples quickly fell into the buckets, I felt their added weight pressing down on my wings, the pressure quickly going from uncomfortable to painful. With a green flash, I shapeshifted my wings so that they were resting on top of the basket’s straps and were no longer being crushed. I sighed in relief before turning my attention back to the tree, bucking it twice more to get the rest of the apples down.

Once that was done, I began heading back to the barn, reflecting on how being an ‘Apple Bucker’ wouldn’t be so bad after all.

Once I came back to the barn, I noticed that an orange earth pony with staw-colored hair and a cowpony hat with a large cast on her left rear leg doing a rapid three-legged hop-walk towards the barn. She looked like she belonged on the farm, so I levitated the baskets off my back and placed them with a stack of other buckets that hadn’t been present when I had set out.

“Hi!” I called in the friendliest voice I could. The earth pony whirled around to face, looking panicked before she smiled nervously .

“Oh, uh, hey there,” she replied quickly. “Are uh, are you th’ new farmhoof Big Mac was talkin’ about?”
I raised an eyebrow at her nervousness, but quickly switched to a smile. “That I am. Name’s Night Wing.” I held out a hoof, which the mare looked at for a few seconds before extending her own and shaking weakly.

“Name’ Applejack,” she introduced. “Ah’d uh, ah’d usually be out in the fields with ya, but mah leg’s not so good fer buckin’ anythin’ right now…”

I chuckled and pointed to her injured leg. “You should probably see a doctor for that. They could probably fix you right up.”

Applejack seemed to settle down, narrowing her eyes and giving me a slight glare. “Ah don’t need none a’ that magic hoohah. Ah got mah granny’s care, and nature’ll take care a’ the rest.”
I shrugged. “If you say so.”

Applejack and I stood unmoving for a second, the silence becoming slightly awkward. Finally, Applejack nodded towards the barn behind her. “Well uh, it was nice chattin’ with ya, Naght Wing, but uh, I need to talk to ma brother ‘bout something…”

As Apple jack turned to leave to go into the barn, I grinned as she bumped into her brother, who had just come out of it. She stumbled back awkwardly due to her injured leg, and Big Macintosh raised an eyebrow.

“Big Mac!” Applejack cried. “Ah was just about ta come see you!”

Big Macintosh nodded and then looked at me. “And Ah was about to come see you.”

I stepped towards the siblings. “What do you need?”

Big Macintosh pulled a roll of paper from his yoke and hoofed it to me. I looked it over briefly before levitating it into my saddlebag. “What’s that for?”

“Jus’ some supplies we need from a zebra named Zecora,” Big Macintosh explained. “She lives in a small hut in th’ Everfree Forest. Ya can’t miss it if ya follow th’ path.”

I nodded. “No problem. I’ll be back on a jiffy.”

“Ah’d be careful if Ah were you,” He warned. “Yer an alicorn an’ all, so Ah’m sure you’ll be fine, but some ponies goin’ inta the Everfree don’ come back out.”

I chuckled and flared my wings, letting my horn light up green for effect. “I wouldn’t worry too much. Like you said, I’m an alicorn. I’ll be fine.” Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Applejack was sweating buckets. I turned to her.

“By the way miss, you look like you’re coming down with something. You might want to see that doctor I mentioned.”

With a wink, I turned around and started running down the path Big Macintosh had mentioned, smirking as I made my way to the Everfree. I couldn’t believe he was worried. Disappearing ponies or not, I was ready for anything the forest could throw at me.

Comments

[Slip Kid]

And then everything exploded...

[DeadSpaceLuna]

This fic, I like it.
ANOTHER!!!!

[Zephyrus Scary]

This has... potential. Looking past the OC (I would be a hypocrite if I didn't), the current plotline is decent for what it is as an introduction.

However, before the end I expect a strong rationale for Pyrite continuing to help Revenant... dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/Mr_Cake.png

[nobodyreallyimportant]

“It’s jus’ some supplies we need from a zebra named Zecora,” Big Macintosh answered. “She lives in the Everfree in a small hut, ya can’t miss it if ya follow the path.”

"thats not in my job description, so fuck you."

also, honey pony pyrite dont care