Death, Darkness, and Fire

by SpellBinder

Arrival

It was a normal day in the world of Equestria, well, as normal as it could be at first. Twilight Sparkle and Starlight were, of course, busy with more Friendship quests. Unfortunately for the pair, As they were leaving a town near the Equestrian Outskirts, they were met by a strange icy cold mist. It was strange considering the town they were leaving was in a warmer climate.

"Umm, Starlight. do you see what I see? Please tell me that I'm not the only one seeing this." Starlight was just as puzzled as Twilight was. They had never seem something like this. Strange happenings were normal for Equestria due to the magical properties in the air, but weather phenomenon happening outside of specific climates was new. Especially since the mist was so thick.

"I do, why is there a mist around here? What should be warm feels cold." Starlight looked behind herself. "I'd say we should go back, but I can't even see the village we just left anymore." The pair had no choice but to continue forward since the mist had completely enveloped them in the short distance they had traveled. It was only a few short minutes before what looked like another town came into view, and what they saw, scared them beyond belief.

Twilight was the first to speak. "Is that the Hollow Shade?" Starlight simply nodded. The princess looked more closely and she froze. There were ponies walking around the abandoned town. Sunburst had said years ago that the village had been abandoned nearly around the time that the Pillars of Equestria disappeared, and now there were ponies walking around and partaking in life as if no time had passed from them. Why was the long forgotten town in use again? Surely as a Princess, Twilight would have heard about it. After a brief moment, she looked to Starlight, and she nodded. They decided to continue moving forward.

Little did the pair know, that they were being watched from high up by a mysterious bipedal figure clad in Blue armor that had arrived in the Hollow Shade mere days ago. Another unknown to the princess and her student was that the ponies they had seen were undead. The reason for this was the presence of the unknown figure. The increased magical energies in the air overcharged the being, and made him involuntarily use his powers of ice and undeath. He knew he was the cause of the predicament below. The figure hoped that the pair of ponies he saw before him were luckier than the other traveler that had passed through just after he had arrived. The undead villagers had collapsed on the passerby and trapped them in a building. They were likely starving to death as the moments passed.

The figure wanted to both watch the pair and hide. Should the living pair of ponies see him, along with the state of the villagers, he knew they would turn on him. He would need more time to hone and attune his strength before he would be ready to confront anyone. Without the practice he had been undergoing daily, merely being in the presence of another being could freeze them solid and introduce them to his world of death. He would need more time to re-hone his skills if the figure were to interact with any kind of life.

The figure had worked hard to control those powers back on his home world, and would not introduce himself to the sentient beings of this world without proper control. Unfortunately for the figure, however, Starlight looked up, and saw him. He knew he had been spotted, but still tried to remain as hidden as possible.

"Twilight! Look up! There's something on the overlook of rock above the village." Starlight spoke quickly, and with latent fear in her voice. Simply looking in the direction of the figure had chilled her to bone and caused her teeth to chatter. Whatever the figure was, it was not normal.

Twilight looked up and at first, saw nothing, but upon a closer look, she spotted the icy flame emitting from the figure's pauldrons. "You're right! Do you see the same little flame that I do?"

"Yea! Do you think we should go up there and investigate?" Starlight both exclaimed and inquired.

"I'm not sure. perhaps it would be best if we came back in a few days. For all we know, it could be an Usra Major!" Twilight was hesitant and tried to apply logic to the situation, but Starlight was having none of it. They would have to investigate now if they had any chance of seeing what the icy flame is. Otherwise, it could disappear in a days time.

Starlight sighed. Knowing Twilight was just as scared as she was was comforting for some reason, but Starlight knew they had to see what it was, or else the anomaly could be gone within the hour. "Twilight, if we don't go up now, whatever is up there may be gone by the time we get back. We have to go investigate now."

Twilight, knowing that Starlight was right, hesitantly agreed with her and the two began their trek towards the town to see if they could get to the top of the rock-face. Normally, they would have teleported, but the mist in the area was preventing spell-casting for some reason.

The figure on the rock was surprised by the pair of ponies conviction. Either they did not know what was happening to the spirits below, or they were just ignorant and trying to get a better look as to what he was. He couldn't run the risk of them finding him, but the figure had little choice as to where he could go. He sighed. It was only a matter of time before the two found him. The figure resigned himself to his fate and meditated, hoping that he could gain some sort of control over his powers before the pair of ponies eventually reached him.

---

It had been a few hours since the Mysterious rock figure had seen two ponies enter the village of undeath, and he was starting to get worried. He could sense that they had considerable power, so if any of his accidental misuse of power had come in contact with them, it should have been easy for them to deal with it. As he got up and looked over the rock-face, the sight shocked him. The two ponies from earlier were almost across town, but were stuck on a roof. They looked to be freaking out over something, a something he was all to familiar with, Undeath.

The figure had two options; He could jump down and assist the two frightened creatures, at risk of them being terrified of him, before they could even speak, or, he could let them be and hope they come out of the situation with little damage. As much as he wanted to help them, he still did not feel in control of himself, even after days of retraining himself in this new, magically enhanced, environment. With a deep sigh of regret, the figure opted for the latter option, and let the creatures be, hoping things would be all right. The figure resumed his meditation.

After some time, the figure heard talking near the bottom of the rock-face, and to his delight, saw more than just two ponies. Now, there were 3. It would seem that the traveler from before had been more resilient than he had originally thought.

"What are two doing out here? Not a pony has tried to set foot in this village for days, not even treasure hunters. With all the angry spirits running about the place, you'd think something woke the dead." How right that pony was, much to the chagrin of the figure. Hopefully, the figure could control his power soon, and put the spirits back to rest.

It took a moment before Twilight realized that their savior was talking to them. "Oh! Um, we're not entirely sure how we got here ourselves. We left a town about six hours ago, and both of us were pulled into the strange mist out there, though it was a lot heavier those six hours ago. It dragged us out here for some reason."

The stranger nodded in understanding and spoke up again. "The mist rolled in about a week ago, I think. At first it was light, and I thought nothing of it, but within the day, you couldn't navigate the area without getting turned around and brought here. I've been stuck here since that mist showed up." The stranger seemed nice enough, so Twilight and Starlight looked at each and both came to understand that could could trust the pony in front of them. "Might I ask why you two took the risk of crossing town though? Doesn't seem all that smart to try and cross a village of walking dead."

Starlight was the one to speak up and respond this time. "We spotted a figure up on the overhanging rock. We wanted to go try and see what it was, but as you can see, we kind of caught ourselves in this predicament."

"Hmm. Well, if you want to head up there, I can help you two get to the path leading up there. The sooner we fix this mist, the sooner all of us can get out of here. No telling what's up there though, so be careful now, ya hear!" The strange pony seemed genuinely worried about the pair.

"We will be, so long as you follow your own advice." Both Twilight and Starlight responded in tandem. All three nodded in agreement and parted ways. Starlight and Twilight headed toward the path, while the stranger went to the center of town to try and create a distraction.

The figure on the rock grew uneasy. He knew that he himself had traveled up that path, and his mere presence had chilled the area and killed all the plant-life nearby, and perhaps some hidden wildlife. The idea of the two ponies finding him, and then trying to attack him because of that, was not the greatest. He knew they'd reach him within the hour. He had no choice but to confront the ponies and try to explain the situation, hopefully before they attacked him.

---

An hour had passed, and the Figure had been getting antsy. He sat down by the fire he had set up recently, and once again meditated. It had only been a few minutes before a very faint voice could be heard. The figure knew his time was up. All that could be done was hope the small purple ponies didn't attack him.

"What do you think is up here Twilight? We've only got another minute or so before we actually get to the top." Starlight's eyes sparkled with excitement, as well as fear. They could very well be discovering a new species! but the prospect of it being potentially life threatening made her shiver in fear. Or was it the frigid air?

Twilight was about to respond, but some caught her eye in the edge of her peripheral vision. It was the same icy blue flame she had spotted at the base of the overlook. "Starlight, before I answer that, come with me." This sent Starlight into a miniature panic attack before Twilight explained herself in a low voice. "I can see the flames from earlier, Whatever it is, it seems to be chilling the air around it." Twilight was apprehensive about moving forward and considered turning around and trying to find a way out of the village. She shook her head and cleared her mind and pushed onward. She motioned to Starlight to follow.

As they neared, the figure stood up, revealing its size, and faced the pair. Upon seeing the figure, Twilight gasped in fear, and nearly fainted. The figure stood roughly six feet tall, was clad in dark blue plated armor with icy flames emitting from the pauldrons and carried two short serrated swords with a similar icy aura encompassing them. He had a smooth face with long pointy ears. The most disturbing fact, however, was the way his eyes glowed with an eerie light blue, and seemed to be devoid of life.

Starlight and Twilight backed up briefly in shock before looking at each other and coming to the same conclusion. It was fight or die. The figure saw the determination in their eyes and knew what was coming. They were in fight or flight mode. The figure turned back around and went to sit by his fire once more before turning to the ponies as he sat.

The trio of creatures stared at each other in silence for what seemed like an eternity before Twilight finally decided to break said silence. "Who, and what, are you?" She asked tentatively. Twilight was laser-focused on the strange being. Not daring to break eye contact with a being that exuded as much power as he did.

The figure stood up, bowed briefly, then responded. "I am known as Eslon, a Blood elf." Eslon paused for a moment before continuing. "or rather, I used to be." He paused once more." I would tell you more, But I fear my origins would scare or traumatize you. I am not from the most peaceful of places."

Though still wary of the figure now known as Eslon, the way he spoke was almost soothing, in a way, and eased some of the tension that the pair of ponies was carrying. "Why are you here? And do you know anything about whats going on down below?" Twilight asked the second question because she had just noticed that the mist covered nearly everything, except the area all three creatures were conversing.

Eslon looked away in sadenss. "I am here because my world is dying, and not a thing has the power to heal it. Myself and two others went in search of a distant world where we could hopefully find a cure for what ails our world, but we have been unsuccessful so far. Before you ask, I know not of where my companions are. They left before I. I had hoped to find them and continue my mission." Eslon stood up and walked to the overhang and watched the chaos below. The stranger from before was on the roof of a building, and had somehow managed to lose the undead ponies roaming the village. "As for the situation below, That is my doing. Not intentional mind you, but with the increased latent magics in the air, it is hard to control my abilities. One of my power and nature must relearn control if they are to be safe to be around, hence why I have exiled myself here for the time being."

The answers prompted more questions from the pair, only this time, Starlight had beaten Twilight to the punch. "What exactly are your abilities, and what do they have to do with your exile? Who are these companions of yours?"

Eslon sighed and turned back to face the pair. "Simply put, I am what people on my world call, A Death Knight." This prompted Starlight and Twilight to back up with a terrified expression in their faces. Eslon noticed this and tried to ease their minds. "Worry not, I have no intention of hurting you. However, my powers were born of an unfortunate situation, one I would rather not speak of. I am not proud of what happened then." This put the pair more at ease. "You see, I can manipulate the power of death and disease. The mist you see around you is a product of my abilities, though, not of my own volition. The spirits and Ponies below were disturbed by my presence because I had no control over myself. They rose up to inhabit the town."

Starlight and Twilight sat down in awe and continued to listen intently. This brought a smile to Eslon's face. He was glad that the apprehension and fear was slowly dissipating. The fact that he loved telling stories was a bonus. He made sure to watch the pair for any ounce of disgust or malice. "I am technically neither living, nor dead. I noticed you two staring into my eyes as if trying to see what was there. There is nothing." He saw Twilight shed a tear. Was it for sympathy or empathy? He would likely never know.

"As for my companions, they are similar in nature to myself and are Blood elves, only, they are living. One follows the teachings of what we call, Fel Magics, and uses it to fight beings of such power, that some of them would make my abilities look like child's play. The other follows Void magics, a primal force so powerful, that only its counterpart, Light magic, can effectively counter it. They hide in the shadows as the best assassins on my world."

Starlight and Twilight had such a hard time wrapping their head around all the information that they did not see Eslon approach them and kneel down. "I must apologize for what you have seen and heard in the past twelve hours. It is never my intention to scare or hurt innocents. I know the pair of you possess magic, and I must also apologize because my abilities can act as a natural magical nullifier. I had planned to stay here in secret until I had proper control of my abilities, but then the pair of you somehow got caught up in my mist. I, again, must sincerely apologize."

Starlight and Twilight tilted their heads in confusion and wonder. Here was this 'Blood elf' as it called itself, that commanded power over the dead, and it was trying to be sincere and polite. They simply couldn't understand it. "Eslon." The elf turned his head up to face the two ponies as Twilight spoke up. "Why don't we help you learn to control your powers so that we can fix all this, then maybe we can go to see Princess Celestia and try to find your friends. Is that ok?"

Eslon smiled. "I'll gladly accept your help. I just hope this princess of yours is as understanding and kind as you two are Miss....?"

"Twilight Sparkle." Eslon Looked at Starlight.

"Starlight Glimmer."

"Ah, Miss Sparkle and Miss Glimmer. Thank you again for your offer. Before we start though, I must warn you that you may see displays of power that are likely to be disturbing in some ways. Are you two ok with that?" Eslon wanted to make sure the pair were ok working with his abilities before he started working on ability control.

"We are aware of your abilities now, So long as you don't actively raise the dead, I think we'll get along just fine." Twilight had a big smile on her face as Eslon extended a hand in an offer to help her up.

"I will make sure to keep that in mind Miss Sparkle." And so began the unlikely friendship of an undead Elf and two Purple Ponies.

Author's Note:

I feel as though my writing skills have bettered themselves exponentially since I last wrote on this site, and I hope the flow, as well as structure of the story here is indicative of that. Please let me know if you find any spelling or grammar mistakes. It would help greatly until I find an editor. Unfortunately, I can only do so much myself. Regardless, I hope those of you reading this story enjoy it! Anyone that can provide feedback, in any form, would be greatly appreciated!

Please note that heavier Warcraft references will be made in future chapters.