Chapter 3
As everyone was packing up the camp, Mors reached into his personal bag of holding and took out the amulet he took from Camellia’s corpse after executing her for murder in that basement in Drezen. He had gotten lucky that the equines, specifically the unicorn sorcerer and zebra shaman, had not thought to check his alignment. He had been complacent in his uncertainty of there being intelligent life on this planet and had foregone this in favor of an amulet of natural armor, in case they encountered anything truly dangerous and he needed the extra defense. However, now that he was aware intelligent life existed here, this amulet became a necessity.
The undeniable fact was that he was evil. He was very well aware of it and he accepted it. After all, in a war with monsters sometimes one had to become a monster themself to fight back, as was the case with him. Regardless, he had no idea how these creatures would react if they discovered he was evil. They might try to execute him for all he knew. Not that they could, but he would rather not start another war so soon. At least not until he had time to learn as much about this world and these equines as possible. He wasn’t a fool. Information was key to any war and information was the one thing he had a serious lack of at the moment. Though his potential enemies had a similar lack of information.
Troops and resources he could acquire easily enough by killing the Equine forces and conquering territory. Undead slaves made for excellent laborers as well as soldiers after all. He also knew how to manipulate the masses and convince the living to side with him as well, if need be. And he could even turn some of the most educated and well-spoken of the living into vampires through profane necromantic rituals to serve as diplomats and nobility to help him with political affairs and managing his armies. He could build an entire kingdom of the dead with ease if he so desired, becoming the next lord of the undead as Tar Baphon was.
However, all of that was completely meaningless if he lacked the information necessary to carry it out as his potential enemies could have weapons, strategies, or powerful entities at their disposal or on their side that he might not be prepared to deal with. So until he could learn what he was dealing with, his alignment needed to stay hidden.
Back on Golarion most would immediately realize that all undead are inherently evil, but here… Here they thought of undead as a mere fantasy, if the equines’ words were to be believed, and that meant they had no idea what to expect. So they would not know he is evil just by the fact he was undead. So the longer he could keep the fact he was evil hidden the better as he would be able to gather more information and the longer he would have to be able to prepare.
Besides, he needed the equines to be willing to cooperate so he could pay them to build his new ziggurat for him. That was merely a matter of convenience. He could have undead laborers build the ziggurat for him instead but acquiring the resources on his own would make the process slower and he didn’t want to start raising more undead and risk inciting a panic and a subsequent crusade against him until he was ready. Plus he still had several hundred thousand gold available to spend. He would most likely have to exchange said gold for whatever currency they used in this land but that hardly mattered to him.
Or if worse came to worst and he couldn’t exchange his currency, he could always just have Woljif help him plot a massive heist to acquire the necessary funds. He was sure the tiefling would be willing to do so if he asked. After all, Mors had worked very hard to guarantee the loyalty of all of his followers. Besides which, Woljif was a thief to his core so he would likely be elated to have the chance to put his skills to the test again.
He did wish he had a second amulet like this, however, as Areelu was also evil. It would be inconvenient if that was discovered as it could impact him and his group’s ability to gather information. He could easily come up with lies such as the fact he was constantly keeping an eye on her to make sure she didn’t do anything evil and Ember and Arueshalae were working with her to make her good again.
That was the truth, to an extent. Ember and Arueshalae would likely try to work with him and Areelu to redeem them. It wouldn’t work, at least not on him, but they would certainly try. However, he didn’t know if the equines would accept this. So while it was inconvenient after he went to so much trouble to have Areelu ascend with him and the others, he was prepared to sacrifice her to keep up a neutral image if he had to. After all, he could always just resurrect her after her execution using what he learned about resurrecting demonic essences in the Abyss. It wouldn’t be as easy as resurrecting a mortal, especially not after absorbing the power of Nahyndrian crystals, but he should be able to do it. At least in theory.
“Commander? Or can I just call you, Mors?” Twilight asked.
“Either works. What is it?” He inquired, looking down at the tiny equine.
“I just wanted to ask about that amulet… It’s uh… a bit intimidating looking. And I think I can feel some traces of magic coming from it. What is it?” She asked.
“Ah, this? It’s nothing. A mere trinket really.” But a useful one, he didn’t add. “Its original owner used to be a part of my group here. Then she turned out to be a crazed murderer so I killed her and took this from her corpse.”
Twilight’s eyes widened in horror and surprise as did the eyes of Applejack and Fluttershy. Zecora just had a grim look on her face but didn’t look surprised.
“You’re judging me, I can see it in all of your eyes, but what would you have done in my position? I couldn’t have her murdering my troops and citizens after all, despite the fact I could just raise them as undead later if I so chose, and worse yet I caught her in the middle of the act. There was no need for a trial when it was clear she was guilty, and had she been given a trial she would have been executed regardless. And as the Knight Commander of the Fifth Crusade it was well within my authority to put her down. In fact I would go so far as to say it was my responsibility to the people I lead.” Mors explained.
Continuing he said, “But you’re probably wondering why I kept this after that. After all, its previous owner was a murderer. I could give you a dozen reasons and all would be true. But instead I’ll just give you just one. At the time I still had my emotions and I was quite sentimental. Before learning what she was, I considered her a friend despite her personality which was as abrasive as a wood rasp. So at the time I took it as a memento to remember the one I used to consider a friend, the sentimental fool that I was. Of course she was never truly my friend, it was merely a deception so she could have more opportunity to continue her murderous behavior right under my nose. Though I didn’t want to accept it was a deception at the time.”
Twilight’s expression softened. “O-oh… I… I’m so sorry…”
“Don’t be. You had nothing to do with it. Now, as for why I just put it on despite no longer having any such sentimental attachment to it, I fear my illusion to change my appearance may not be enough to blend in fully. I merely do not wish to risk causing a panic by allowing my true nature to be discovered so soon. This amulet should help with that. That is all.” Mors told them. And it was the truth. There wasn’t a single lie in any of his words. It simply didn’t give them all of the information. Not a lie, technically, but a half truth shrouded by the ponies’ sympathy from the “tragic” story of betrayal.
“Speakin’ of causin’ a panic. I don’t think y’all should bring that manticore skeleton with ya into town. Even if ya could make an illusion to make it look alive too, most folks are scared of manticores. They sure as sugar wouldn’t appreciate ya bringin’ one into town.” Applejack said.
“Hm… How unfortunate. Very well. I shall send it to stalk the edge of the forest closest to this settlement, while remaining hidden. That way I can call upon it at any time I require it, but there will be no panic over an undead creature. Is that more acceptable?” Mors inquired.
“Uh… What are the chances it might be seen?” Twilight asked.
“How stealthy are living manticores?”
“Well, they’re typically ambush predators so I guess they can be pretty stealthy when they want to be…” Twilight said.
“And that is despite not having a pelt color suited to blending in with this forest, which I presume they are native to, unless they are an invasive species. So natural camouflage does not factor into it. That means it will have no trouble remaining unseen now that it is dead either. Though it’s not used to its eyes being two glowing green orbs of necromantic light, so its eyes might be seen in the shadows from time to time but that's it. At most you’ll start hearing ghost stories of glowing green eyes in the dark, which should be dismissed as just that, ghost stories, by the majority of the local population.” Mors stated.
“Or a timberwolf.” Applejack commented.
“A what?”
“A timberwolf! They’re basically piles of wood animated through some unknown magic that resemble wolves and are native to the Everfree. All of them have green glowing eyes so it’s possible everypony would just think your manticore was one of them that strayed a bit close to the edge of the Everfree. They actually seem pretty similar to your manticore, now that I think about it. Except they’re made of wood instead of bones.” Twilight explained.
“I see. I will have to investigate these creatures at some point. However, there is one thing I must disagree with you upon. There is no resemblance to necromancy in these creatures whatsoever. If anything these creatures are likely animated through some sort of druidic magic, closer to what ‘earth ponies’ use. I can not take a random pile of wood and animate it like I could a skeleton nor could a druid take a corpse and animate it in the same way as these ‘timberwolves’.” Mors told her.
“So there’s no translating abilities from one form of magic to the other? There’s no overlap whatsoever?”
“Essentially.” Mors stated.
“Strange… Usually there’s at least some overlap between different forms of magic, even if they’re polar opposites…” Twilight said.
“Hm… Well admittedly, I know very little about druidic magic as I have never had a need for it. I specialize in necromancy and arcane magic. From what very little I understand, druidic magic is primal magic derived from communing with nature, similar to how the divine magic of clerics and paladins is derived from prayer and communing with their gods and is thus fundamentally different from arcane magic. So perhaps I lack the knowledge to see an overlap. However, I doubt there is an overlap to begin with, as they are completely different on the most basic levels.”
“Wait, wait, wait… You listed three different kinds of magic. Arcane, primal, and divine. Could you explain the difference in more detail?” Twilight requested.
“Later, perhaps, when we have a bit more time. I don’t mind speaking of magic. It’s simply a complex and detailed subject.”
“Oh… Alright then. I’ll ask again later.” Twilight stated, sounding disappointed once more. “Are you at least willing to tell me a bit about the undead? Like, how did you turn yourself into a ‘lich’?”
“That’s quite personal, and I didn’t do it by myself. My teacher, Master Zacharias, helped me ascend to true lichdom. The methods we used are a secret only to be discussed between master and apprentice. I will not disrespect my teacher by divulging his secrets and explaining it to someone entirely uninitiated in the arts. I will only divulge this information to one I take as an apprentice, and only once they’ve achieved true mastery of necromancy and I deem them worthy of ascension. In this case, you can think of it as a sort of ‘trade secret’. That said, I am open to a discussion in regards to the many different types of undead. For example, in our world, there’s even an entire kingdom where the undead and the living coexist. It’s called Geb.”
Twilight perked up a bit, taking his bait. He needed to give her something to seem less suspicious considering how much critical information he refused to divulge. Telling her about Geb, without discussing the “chattel” and other such unsavory issues within Geb would lead her to incorrect assumptions about the undead, painting them in a far better light. That was exactly what he wanted. During the crusade, Geb and Ustalav had both been a thorn in his side so he had low opinions of the two kingdoms. But Geb, in particular, was a tool he could use to deceive and manipulate these equines. An advantage he was not going to let go to waste.
“Really?” She asked. “Is that where you and Master Zacharias are from?! What’s it like?!”
“Neither Master Zacharias nor I are from Geb. Nor have I had the pleasure of visiting in person. My mother and I are from Sarkoris. And if I’m not mistaken, I believe Master Zacharias was from Mendev. Though during the 5th crusade Geb sent ambassadors to Drezen, the city I governed. So I do know a bit about it from sources who lived there, but I am only able to tell you what I’ve heard and what I’ve read in history books. It’s ruled by the ghost of the necromancer who founded it, Geb. Rather arrogantly Geb named the Kingdom after himself, but there’s no accounting for individual eccentricities. That said, as far as I’m aware, most of the day to day affairs are managed by Queen Arazni, who is a lich. She has ruled in his stead for around eight hundred years or so.”
Mors continued to tell her a bit about Geb, never lying but leaving out key details that would reveal the true nature of the kingdom. He did tell her some of the flaws and faults of the kingdom, telling her just enough to make it seem like he was trying to remain unbiased without embellishment. That it was simply a normal kingdom like any other, just with the living and undead coexisting as equals.
“Alright. Everything’s packed up. We’re ready to head to this village of yours anytime now.” Lann stated.
“Oh, okay. I’m going to teleport us to the very edge of town, where most ponies won’t see us. That way we won’t immediately start a panic. Then I’ll go and make an announcement in the town square and tell everypony about you before introducing you. That way they should know what to expect and thus shouldn’t panic. Sound good?” Twilight asked.
“I can cast a mass invisibility and mass see invisibility spell on us so we will be able to follow you effectively. Just tell me and I will dispel it, revealing ourselves.” Mors offered.
“You can? That would make things a lot easier so please do.” Twilight said.
“As you wish.” Mors said. “Woljif, before we go I would like a quick word with you. Sincerest apologies, my equine acquaintances. This shouldn’t take but a moment.”
“Oh, no problem.” Twilight said.
Mors lead Woljif off to the side, well out of earshot, before turning to him.
“What’s up, chief?” Woljif asked.
“Two things. First, while I know you may be tempted to do so during the time we are invisible, I’m going to need you to not steal anything whilst we are in this settlement. As of right now we are guests and I don’t want to risk getting on our hosts’ bad sides until we know more about them and this world. Is that clear?” Mors asked.
Woljif frowned at him and rolled his eyes. “Come on, Chief, do you really think so little of me…? I mean, I was thinking I might swipe a couple things if anything really caught my eye but come on. It’s not like I steal all the time and even when I do it’s not like I let myself get caught.”
“No. In fact I hold your skills in very high regard. You are a true master of your craft after all. And under normal circumstances I would even have complete faith you wouldn’t get caught even if you did steal something due to your impressive skills. However, it would be unwise to risk anything at the moment given how little information we have about this world. We are on the other side of the maelstrom. For all we know, wards and enchantments to protect money and products from thieves could be extremely common in this world, or any number of other magics, so trying it may get you caught and have guards bearing down on us immediately. So please, just give me a few days to verify it is truly safe for you to do so. A few days to check for magic, that’s all I ask.” Mors requested.
Woljif tried to hide a smile at the complement. “Aw, come on Chief, I’m not that impressive…” He then sighed in mock exasperation. “Fine. I’ll keep my hands to myself for a while if you’re that worried about it, I promise. So what was the second thing you wanted to talk about?”
“I can’t discuss it in much detail as the ponies may be listening, and it may not even come to this, but should they be unwilling or unable to exchange Mendevian currency for the currency of this kingdom, we may need to find other methods of earning money, if you catch my meaning. I’ll want to talk to you about that when there are less ears to hear us.” Mors stated.
Woljif’s eyes widened and he smiled gleefully. “Oh! Hahaha! Yeah, I think I get what you’re saying. We can definitely work something out if we need to. But like you said, not really the best time or place to talk about that right now. So, should we head back?”
“Indeed. Thank you for your cooperation, Woljif.” Mors said before turning and heading back.
“Of course, Chief. Any time.” Woljif said, patting Mors on the shoulder as he walked alongside the lich.
“You two done?” Applejack asked.
“Yes.” Mors responded simply.
“Alright then. Is everypony else ready?” Twilight asked.
“I believe we are. Yes.” Areelu Vorlesh told the pony.
Twilight nodded and her horn started glowing with purple light. Suddenly there was a flash of equally purple light and the group found themselves on the very edge of the forest overlooking a small village.
“Before we start all this, I noticed how you were able to fit all your camping supplies in those little bags you carry. Some spatial warping enchantment on the inside, maybe? So if there’s still space inside them, would you all mind putting your weapons away? Ponyville is a pretty peaceful village so I promise you won’t need them and carrying them might scare some ponies.” Twilight requested.
“Hm… Fine. We can put away our more obvious weapons, but we will continue to hold less obvious side arms. Daggers and the like for self defense. I’m placing some trust in you by agreeing to this at all, but we are strangers. You can not expect us to take you entirely at your word.” Mors said.
Twilight looked a little uncomfortable but nodded. “Okay, I guess… You won’t need them, but alright.”
“Very well then. Weapons away, everyone. Grab a side arm instead.” Mors said, putting his scythe back in one of the party’s bags of holding and pulling out his Decaying Dagger. He vastly preferred his scythe since it could cut the souls of his victims even if he missed hitting them directly. However, his decaying dagger could still kill and leave rotting necrotic wounds on a person’s body if anyone got close enough to force him to use it. Mainly through his own power as a lich. And it had a built in curse that would slowly turn any living enemies around him undead, should he decide to use the curse. He could cast similar curses, of course, but using the dagger was quite convenient if anything got close to him.
Everyone else replaced their weapons as well, except for Woljif who was already carrying a pair of daggers anyway.
When they were done Mors said, “I shall be turning everyone invisible now.” Right before he started casting the spell. Suddenly everyone in his party turned invisible, except for the ponies. He then cast a second spell so everyone, including the ponies, could see each other in spite of the invisibility.
“Done. We are ready to get this over with whenever.” Mors stated.
“Alright. Zecora, Fluttershy, Applejack, do any of you want to come or do you want to just return home? You don’t need to stay if you don’t want to. I can handle introducing them to Ponyville.” Twilight said.
“I need to go home and check on the animals… Sorry, Twilight. Um… Miss Arueshalae, Miss Ember, would it be okay if one of you could bring little Jharsy and Soot to visit some time? Um… If that’s not too much of a bother… They’re both just really cute, and Jharsy is so different from dragons here… I would love to learn more about him, if you have the time…” Fluttershy requested.
“Of course! Soot likes you so she definitely wouldn’t mind visiting you some time, would you Soot?” Ember asked the currently invisible raven on her shoulder. Said raven cawed happily.
“Well, technically Commander Mors is who Jharsygax chose as his guardian, even if we were assigned to help with that, so you should be asking him. But we would be more than willing to visit with Jharsy, if he’s okay with it.” Arueshalae responded.
“I care not, so long as my charge is returned to me by the end of the day and is unharmed. I will not tolerate my future apprentice being kidnapped or injured under my watch. But I trust you and Ember to not let that happen, despite what certain powerful entities may have ordered.” Mors told them
Arueshalae smiled at Mors. “Thank you, Commander. I promise we won’t betray your faith in us.”
“I did not expect you would.” Mors stated. And it was true. He didn’t expect they would betray him. At least not so soon. Their loyalty to him was just too strong, despite the orders of Pharasma and Iomedae. He had made sure of it. But in the future… It was uncertain. He would trust them for now, but once his ziggurat was fully constructed and he had finally remade his phylactery he would have to keep a much closer eye on Ember and Arueshalae in particular.
He had not originally planned on raising Jharsygax Aghamornalyandre to be a lich like him when the dragon first hatched. He had only planned on raising the ultimate dragon to be his loyal companion and training it as a powerful weapon against any who may oppose him, but that was the extent of his plans. However, since the goddesses mentioned him following in Mors’ footsteps to lichdom and very specifically didn’t want that to happen, that’s exactly what he planned to do, just to spite them. In a few centuries, after Jharsygax was fully grown, the ultimate dragon who was meant to lead the entire dragon species to greatness would become the ultimate dracolich and would instead lead them all to undeath or drag them all to the grave. Mors would make absolutely sure of it.
He had no interest in killing Ember or Arushalae but should they try to follow the orders of the Goddesses, he would have no choice but to kill them and bring them back as undead. Though some almost infinitesimally small part of his former self rebelled at the idea of harming let alone killing either of them. A small dying ember of care for his ‘friends’ left over from when he was still mortal. He suppressed the feeling and crushed the small flickering remnants of his humanity under the weight of his nigh limitless apathy towards all life. They didn’t matter to him. None of them did. They were just useful tools to be used, manipulated, and disposed of as he saw fit. And when they broke or outlived their usefulness as living beings, he would kill them and raise them as undead. And depending on how loyal they were to him at the time of their demise, he may even reward them by letting them keep their free will to varying degrees or even completely.
“I’m afraid I must adjourn as to home I yearn to return.” Zecora stated.
“Alright then. I’ll talk to you two later, Fluttershy, Zecora. Applejack, what about you?” Twilight asked.
Applejack shook her head and glanced at what she saw as the translucent form of Mors. “Nah, I’m stayin’. I got somethin’ I wanna talk to ya about later. So I may as well stick around fer the moment. It ain’t like my chores are goin’ nowhere, they can wait a bit longer.”
“Okay then! Come on, everypony. Applejack and I will lead you all to the town square. Just try not to bump into anypony while you’re invisible.” Twilight said before turning and walking towards a bridge across the river between them and the village. Applejack walked right alongside her.
Mors and the others followed invisibly behind them. All of their weapons remained sheathed on their hips, except in the case of Ember who wasn’t carrying a weapon at all.
Entering the village proper, they saw ponies going about their daily business unable to see the strange newcomers. Men, women, even a few children. All in all, it was a quaint peaceful little village.
All Mors saw, however, was resources. Useful tools he could pay to build his ziggurat for him and potential undead slaves, servants, and soldiers. The children he could capture and let grow to a useful size before killing and turning them into undead as they were near useless for anything but scouts and stealth operatives as small and underdeveloped as they were, whereas the rest he could kill immediately and raise as undead with but a single gesture. Of course he could let some live, as having some living to produce more living to eventually turn into undead was useful as it meant his servants would be renewable instead of finite.
He made that mistake once in Drezen, killing every living person and leaving none left to reproduce. A rash decision made in the heat of the moment. He only realized just how incredibly foolish it had been later on as the war progressed, unsure as he was about how much longer the war would last. Had Deskari and Baphomet been more intelligent, they could have held off his armies for quite some time. Decades, maybe, depending on how long it took him to figure out how to raise demons from the dead. Then his influx of new soldiers would drastically reduce as people would eventually cease volunteering to go to the World Wound with him active there. Except, perhaps, individuals from Geb, Ustalav, and Cheliax, and he would have had no means of producing more mortals to turn undead on his own. That rash decision could very well have dealt his crusade a serious blow. Thus he had no intention of repeating such a mistake ever again.
Instead, if he decided to conquer this land, he could create individual slave ranches of sorts for each intelligent species so he could constantly produce more souls to harvest and enslave every year like a farmer reaping his crops. A far superior method to just killing them all and leaving none to reproduce. The slaves could even have a modicum of comfort and security and they could potentially even train in individual professions all to make them complacent and unwilling to attempt to rebel against him while being more useful to him when they eventually joined the ranks of the undead.
Or he could build a kingdom with a system similar to Geb, maybe. It was faintly irritating but he had to admit, Geb had corrected for the mistake he had made centuries before he had even made it. Though he could easily take the concept of their society and remold it to suit his purposes, taking out every little thing that he saw as a flaw. And there were plenty of flaws that needed to be removed.
But all that was purely hypothetical, of course. A matter of if he decided to conquer this land, which he was as of yet undecided upon. He needed to build his Ziggurat before deciding on his ultimate goals in this world.
Eventually they reached the town square and Twilight stopped. “Oh! I see Mayor Mare! Everypony hold on, I’ll go talk to her. We would be fine doing this without asking, but getting her permission first would be even better.” She then bolted ahead to talk to the pony she had mentioned.
“So, Miss Applejack… While we’re waiting for her, what can you tell us about Ponyville?” Areelu Vorlesh asked.
“Ain’t much to say really. We’re just a small town smack dab in the middle of Equestria. My family’s been here since the village was founded and we own a farm and orchard right next to the Everfree called Sweet Apple Acres. Some of my friends own or work at a couple businesses here in Ponyville. Twilight owns the library, my friend Rarity owns the Carousel Boutique, and my friend Pinkie Pie works at the best bakery in town, Sugar Cube Corner. Other than that our town is pretty dominated by Earth Ponies. So we’re a superstitious and conservative bunch here in Ponyville. So, uh… No offense but I can’t imagine many folks will react too well to a lich like Mors.” Applejack explained.
“No offense taken. You already explained that undead are usually depicted in horror stories. It is only natural, then, that your kind would view the undead and necromancers with suspicion and fear. Such misplaced prejudice existed back in our world as well, so it comes as no surprise to me.”
“Yeah… Thanks for understandin’. Never heard of ‘demons’ before, but based on y’all’s explanation, being evil souls from this ‘Abyss’ place or what have you, the same probably applies to you and Arueshalae, Miss Areelu. So I wouldn’t go tellin’ anyone what either of you are if I were you, even if you both redeemed yourselves like Arueshalae says you have. Or at least I wouldn’t go into much detail beyond the name, since nopony’s ever heard of ‘demons’ before.” Applejack told them.
“I understand. Thank you for the warning.” Areelu stated, giving Mors a look that told him she would have words for him when they had a few moments alone.
After that the group fell into silence for a few moments before Twilight returned with a smile on her face. “I’ve explained the situation to Mayor Mare, and convinced her to let us use the town square for the announcement. She’ll be ringing the bell on top of town hall to gather everypony then I’ll give the announcement outside. How much longer will your invisibility spell and the illusion you use to make yourself look alive last, Mors?”
“Both can last up to a full twenty four hours if I so choose. Or I could dispel them sooner if I wish.” Mors explained.
“And you can dispel one without dispelling the other?” Twilight asked.
“Of course.” Mors stated.
“Great! Then come on. We’ll wait just in front of Town Hall until there’s a decent crowd. Once enough ponies know what’s going on, word will spread really fast which should eliminate any chance of anypony seeing you causing a panic.” Twilight stated before leading them to the front of Town Hall.
Soon the wooden slats protecting the bell on the roof of the Town Hall opened up and the bell began to ring a bit. Hearing the bell and seeing Twilight and Applejack standing in front of the building, curious ponies began to gather wondering what was going on. After about three minutes, the crowd grew large enough that Twilight was satisfied with it.
Clearing her throat she started. “Hello, everypony. I just wanted to make a quick announcement. I just met some interesting creatures in the Everfree. Don’t worry, they’re not hostile or anything like that, they just aren’t ponies. So Ponyville is going to be having some interesting new guests for a while. They are all currently invisible behind me so no one would panic upon seeing creatures you aren’t familiar with. Before they turn visible again, I’ll tell you. They are big and bipedal, sort of like minotaurs, but they’re a bit different. So they might be a little intimidating when you first see them, but I promise they’re really nice just like Zecora. So, Mors, would you mind letting everypony see you all now?”
“Of course.” Mors responded before dispelling the invisibility on all of them, while leaving the illusion that made him look human in effect.
There were several gasps and a bit of muttering from the crowd, but no one immediately started screaming.
Twilight smiled at the lack of immediate fear. “Alright, would you mind introducing yourselves to everypony?”
“Ember, you are the most charming member of our group. Would you mind introducing us to these kind folk?” Mors requested.
“Me? Are you sure? But I’m not charming at all. I’m just a silly little girl.” Ember asked, somewhat surprised by this. “Arueshalae is much more charming than I am. Maybe she should introduce us instead.”
“No. You give yourself too little credit. You are very charming, otherwise you wouldn’t have gathered such a large following in Drezen. Nor would you have been able to redeem a Demon Lord like Nocticula. You are the face of our group and I’m sure all of us would agree with that sentiment. Right?” Mors asked.
Everyone else agreed with this, except Areelu who didn’t care and thus remained silent. It was true, after all. Ember was the friendly face of the group whether she realized it or not, whereas Mors was the unfriendly face of the group when a more intimidating hand or a show of force was necessary as well as being the leader. They each had their roles and Mors was well aware of which roles each of them fit into and how best to utilize them for their respective roles. So he knew Ember was the best choice to introduce them, especially considering how the girl managed to convince even Nocticula, a Demon Lord, to redeem herself.
“Well, alright then…” Ember said before taking a couple steps forwards to stand next to Twilight and Applejack. Giving the crowd a friendly smile, she waved at them “Hello, everyone! I’m Ember and these are my friends Commander Mors, Arueshalae, Woljif, Lann, Nenio, Areelu Vorlesh, Jharsygax Aghamornalyandre, and my raven Soot! It’s really nice to meet you all! You all seem like really nice people, so I hope we can all be friends.”
The crowd seemed to react quite positively to Ember, as Mors had expected. Good. That should make things easier.
“Is there anything else I should say, Miss Twilight?” Ember asked.
“No. You did very well, Ember. Thank you. Alright everypony. Applejack and I will be showing them around and they’ll be staying in Ponyville for a while. So they’ll be around if you have questions or want to talk to any of them. That’s about it. Thank you for your time!” Twilight told the crowd.
Hearing this the crowd started to disperse.
“I think I saw Pinkie in the crowd. Heh. Knowin’ her… Well I won’t ruin the surprise for her. Anyway, Twi, I still want a word with you. It’s sort of important. Would you mind talking for a sec before we show them around?” Applejack requested.
“Hm? Oh. Sure. Sorry everypony, would you mind waiting here for a moment?” Twilight requested.
“Very well.” Mors stated.
“Thanks.” Twilight said before walking a short distance away with Applejack.
“What do you need?” Twilight asked.
“Twi, I don’t trust them.” Applejack said in a quiet tone.
“What? Why?” Twilight asked, now speaking in a quieter tone as well. “This doesn’t have to do with the fact they eat meat does it? They said it themselves, that manticore attacked them. Besides, even Griffins eat fish and dragons like Spike eat meat sometimes too.”
“Nah. It was intimidating when we didn’t know anything about them, but that ain’t the problem. Twi, Mors is a dang skeleton. An undead necromancer. That alone is suspicious but you heard everything they said back at their camp about a war, this ‘World Wound’, the ‘Abyss’, and demons. Even Lann said his people became like that from cannibalizin’ some poor sap and all the rest of his people became slaves for a demon because of it. And they pretty much admitted Areelu was outright evil and was the one who made this ‘World Wound’ thing in the first place. And they all got weapons. How can you trust any of them after that? No. No way. They’re all dangerous.” Applejack told her, glancing back at the group. She saw Mors was staring at her and shuddered as she felt like his illusory eyes were staring straight into her very soul. Which they probably quite literally were, all things considered.
Twilight bit her lower lip and took a deep breath. It was hard to argue with that. She did remember everything they had said, and not all of it was good. In fact, most of it was pretty scary. “I get your point. I’ve actually been thinking about that too. But if it’s true and they are dangerous, it’s better that we keep them calm and warn Princess Celestia. They seem… cautious. Guarded. I don’t think they’ll try anything for at least a few days even if they are dangerous. So right now our priority should be to make them think we trust them so they let their guard down. During the surprise part Pinkie is probably setting up as we speak, I’ll send a letter to Princess Celestia and ask her what we should do. Just try not to provoke them until then, alright?”
Applejack sighed but nodded. “Alright Twilight. I trust ya. At least I know you’re seein’ what I’m seein’. Just… be careful, okay? I don’t want you or anypony else gettin’ hurt because we trusted the wrong group of folks. Anyway, that’s all I wanted to say. Let’s head on back. Don’t want them gettin’ all suspicious just yet.”
Twilight nodded and the two of them walked back over to the group. “Sorry about that. Okay, everypony follow us and we’ll show you around town.” She said with a smile.
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Honestly, I wasn't sure about this — not a huge crossover fan. But I've played Pathfinder before and love the lore. Also, good (if a bit verbose) charachters, each with their own goals. The Ponies are a bit . . . naïve, but I'm interested to see how that will factor into the story. Very interesting premise. Followed.
You know, you can cut two-thirds this chapter out and loose nothing important to the story, and I mean it. It's all just trivia info dump about the aliens world, and most important, its useless info that I'm pretty sure will never be needed in the story. You don't need a wall of text about ghouls and Whites, and vampires in some random chapter for no reason. You wait until you introduce the creature or threat, thats when you give the information. More important, thats when it makes sense to give the information.
No offense, and I really don't mean this offensively. Its like a Harry potter fan just talking in multiple, twenty minute lectures about the plants in Professor Sprouts class. To someone who will never go to the class, or even encounter the plants.
What we have to be careful about as Authors is this. We all know readers skip walls of text, trivia. If half our readers skip over the walls of minutiae, was it worth taking the time to write it? Or is it time better served writing other things?
Monk