> Thief of Redemption
>  by One Tin Soldier
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 0
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A timeless being sat on his throne

Cursed to wander, forever alone

A tool that serves no purpose again

Forced to cower and seek no haven

The endless darkness is my abode

Yet many seek to see me untold

I wander, wander, forever dead

And life burns in me, or so I said

I cannot find the thing I must seek

Forever hidden, forever bleak

Many will ask, "And who might you be?"

"I am the one who cannot tell thee."

And when they look away, astounded

I turn away, forever shrouded

So I cast out my hand upon a new land

To force, to keep, and continue to seek

For where I go, there is nothing but snow

And where I turn, hate begins to churn

And where I step, where I truly step,

There is nothing.
> Chapter 1- Time: Awaken
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ouch...

Wow, my head hurts.

My eyes opened and I looked up at the clear sunlight. 

Where am I?

I slowly got to my feet and looked around. I was just in some average woods, as far as I could tell. A little dirt trail led between the bright trees. Little rocks and bushes dotted the sides. Still, something seemed... off.

Hmm.

So I started walking, looking around for any sign of well... anything. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary as I followed that little path. Until I came to a rock, that is.

I think it was sedimentary or something (I was never good with rocks), but something else compelled me to look at it further. It was a small rock, maybe a little larger than my fist. Then I realized I had been looking at it for half a minute already. I was about to turn away when a large spider crawled up over the side.

I jumped back a little, since I was really unlearned when it came to spiders. It was a nasty thing, too, with a hairy black abdomen and eight grey legs. It literally had giant red eyes and its fangs were dripping some kind of venom. Needless to say, it was a real lady-killer.

Then it whipped out a bunch of flowers.

Dang.

What do you do about that? Refuse them and hurt his feelings? Or take them and risk touching it. Or perhaps it was a ploy to get me to come closer...

Wait, what?

What was I even thinking about? Spiders don't have feelings and definitely don't plot against humans in such clever ways. 

But then, how was it holding flowers like that? His legs shouldn't have enough friction to clutch them in such a way. And yet, they did. Creepy.

Ah wait, this is all just a dream. And a good one at that! And now, since I am aware of such a thing, I have complete and total control over everything. 

"YOU!" I dramatically pointed at the spider. "BRING ME YOUR FINEST MILKSHAKE!"

The spider looked devastated. His eyes teared up and he slowly dropped the flowers before scuttling off into the undergrowth beyond the rock.

Hahaha. Now, the sky shall be purple. 

I looked up.

It was still blue.

"Purple, I say!"

Blue.

"Darker blue!"

Nothing happened.

Darn it. I pointed at the nearest tree. "Become alive!"

Oh wait, trees are already alive.

"Start walking around and be my super cool bodyguard with mystical powers!"

Nope. Nothing.

Hmm.

This probably wasn't a dream.

So I started walking down the path again. The sun kept shining, birds kept singing, and little animals scurried through the undergrowth. Dang, this place was beautiful. I just had no idea where I was.

Wait, how did I even get wherever "here" is?

Ah, no matter. A question for another time.

So I kept walking.

Probably around an hour or so later, I emerged from the forest. I looked around the grassy plain I was now in and immediately noticed a village to the south, if the sun did indeed rise in the east and set in the west.

I started walking towards it, hoping to maybe get directions back to someplace I knew, or a bigger establishment where I could find an airport or something.

As I came nearer, I noticed some things about the town. First, all its houses were literally made out of painted wood, with what looked like hay for roofs. That's gotta be nice in the rain. Second was windows. I don't know why I thought of windows second, but if they could afford windows, like lots of decent windows, then why did they have hay roofs?! And third, I noticed a smallish red horse pulling one of the houses with an annoyingly thin rope and in short bursts, as if he was... bouncing.

What the heck?

It appeared his target was an extremely garnish building (I lack better words to describe it) and I saw two very small horses digging a hole in front of it with shovels gripped in their teeth. I saw another tiny horse behind the larger red one who was trying stop/slow him down.

My first thought was to go and cut the rope with a knife or something and watch that thing fall on its face. My second was to question my sanity and maybe find a way to kill myself to relieve the grip of this iron dream. Then I decided to just have fun with it while it lasted. I looked around for a knife with which to cut the rope.

Since I was in a grassy field, I did not find a knife in the first 3 seconds of my search.

So as I ran nearer to town, I saw more of these weird horse things, with vibrant colors and pictures of common things stamped on their flank. I have a weird imagination to think of something like that.

Anyway, I got near that moving house that actually happened to leave a trail of ground up dirt in the middle of the already dirt road. Free tilling service!

The orange baby horse still hadn't noticed me yet, but no matter. Lacking a knife, I just bit down on the rope. Maybe dream logic would see me through this one. Nope. Turns out, ropes  actually taste pretty bad.

The rope was a lot thicker up close, but still nowhere near the ability to pull a house without snapping. I mean, really. I was then promptly crushed by a moving house.

I woke up with hospital beeps and half-open eyes. I was in a hospital bed, with one of those weird blanket-sheet things over my body. Also, my whole body hurt everywhere.

As the light being applied to my eyes became more manageable, I opened them fully. Uh....

There was a purple horse's face right in my face.

Well, just a few inches away from it.

She (it looked like a she) began looking at my eyes curiously. I looked at her face, because horses aren't supposed to have eyelashes. Also, her eyes were positively massive, like that spider's. I was no science expert, but she should be blinking a lot more to keep those eyes from collecting a whole bunch of dust. Then my mind thought of eyes so large not blinking quite enough. Eww.

Then I realized there was a horse in my face.

"Boo." I said.

"Ahhhh!" She jumped back, and her feminine voice confirmed my assumption.

I sat up and looked around the hospital room. Pretty average, but no TV or mini-fridge. There was another hospital bed in the same room and it looked like a white curtain could separate them. Still, I'm no expert on hospitals, but I was pretty sure patients were supposed to get their own room, not share it with someone who might give them some horrible disease. 

The purple horse, which I just realized had a horn on her head, making her some kind of unicorn, was huddling under the other bed. I realized then that the little orange horse had tiny little wings, and not paper clips or something.

"Hi," I said.

"Wh-what are you?"

"Uh... a human, God's blessed beasts on the earth."

"And who is... God?"

"I don't know. Who are you?"

"I— what?"

"Yeah, who are you?"

"Uh... I'm Twilight Sparkle."

"That's your name, or your username or something?"

"I don't know what you're talking about..."

"Oh come now, don't be shy. That username isn't too bad. I've seen much, much worse. So do you spell it with an underscore, a dash...?

She just stared at me blankly. Oh, and she was also out from underneath the bed. "Hmm, so it's your actual name?"

"Yes."

"Do you know anything about technology?"

"Well, I have studied various forms of intense magical technology such as trains, cameras, and large fan operated machines."

"Oh."

"Yes, it's really quite intriguing the way magic is used to force materials into a certain velocity along guided tracks, or to capture light and transfer it permanently to paper, or even to spin blades to create high speed wind."

"That's... great. Where am I? Because this place is definitely a dream, and yet it almost certainly is not."

"You're in Ponyville. And I can understand your nonacceptance of this place, because I have never, ever read anything in any of my books about your species and Princess Celestia told me she hadn't either. She'll be coming here sometime before nightfall to decide what to do with you."

"Is she hot?"

"What!?!" She was flabbergasted. "How could you say something like that!?"

"I don't know. Celestia kind of means 'sun', I think, so that was most certainly what I meant."

"Oh—Okay." She visibly seemed to relax. Seriously? "So, you said you are a human. Where are more?"

"Well, I don't know. I kind of just woke up in some forest north of here."

"Hmm, we'll have to investigate that... Anyway, do you mind if I ask you a few questions about your body?" Her eyes were shining and she had creepy grin.

"Sure...?"

"Why are your eyes so small? And why is one blue, and the other green?"

"My eyes are both normal, yours are just really large. And what do you mean, one's blue and the other is green? My eyes are both green."

"Here." Her horn started glowing pink. Woah. Then a small mirror appeared and was levitating in a pink grasp. Well, why not?

The mirror levitated in my direction so I could see my face. Huh. My right eye was indeed blue, and my left eye was still its normal green.

"Yeah, I have no idea why that is. Is that somewhat common around here?"

"No, not at all. That's why it's so intriguing. I was hoping you would know."

"Well I don't. That's some pretty cool stuff you've got going there with your horn."

"You've never seen magic before? Then again... there would be no focal point for a human to use it with. Do any of your kind have wings or a horn?"

"No, I'm pretty sure no humans have natural wings or horns."

"Hmm... well in that ca—" A nurse opened the door with a red cross stamped on her flank.

"The princess is here to see the strange creature."

Twilight smiled widely. "Alright human, I'm gonna go get Princess Celestia now. She'll decide what we're going to do with you!"

And she and the nurse trotted out the door.

I didn't notice this before, but it looked like I had some sort of healing tubes attached to my body. I was feeling a lot better than I should have been after being crushed by a house. Though I still hurt a lot, as I mentioned before.

Hopefully this Princess Celestia person was not in a real position of power. Princesses usually aren't, but I was never good with royalty. Then again, I was never bad either since I hadn't met any royalty.

So this place had small horses as its main inhabitants it seemed. Ruled by a king and queen, perhaps, in a monarchy. That or they were just figureheads, but where there is a princess, there is a king and a queen. The level of technology was somewhat decent, according to what Twilight said, but based on the town, it was less abundant than necessary to consider this place more than medieval times. And what they did make ran off of magic, rather than electricity. Perhaps they did not develop as much technologically because they lacked the need to, with their fancy magic.

That Celestia should have been here any moment now. I stared at the door, daring her to open it. Instead, I heard a chuckle beside me.

I instantly turned my head and beheld... something. Its body was just messed up, with goat leg, a lion paw, an eagle talon, some reptile's foot, a deer antler, an ibex(?) horn, and a real nice white beard. Red mismatched regarded me calmly from their yellow embrace.

Woah.

"Hello," it said.

"Hi,"  I said back.

"Well, aren't you a nice fellow." He whipped out some sick shades and put them on slowly. "I'll— hold on..." he looked closer at me. "Well, isn't that a doozie."

"What?"

He pulled out one of those yellow tape measures and started measuring me down as if it were important. "You are definitely an interesting one," he said as he pulled off his now clear glasses. "Hmm, yes, well. I'd better be off now! Ta-ta! Have a nice day."

And with that, he vanished with a white flash.

"Huh."

Then the door opened and in walked... a normal sized horse. She was white and had a long horn coming out of her head. Large wings adorned her back and I couldn't see if there was anything stamped on her flank. But what really got me was that flowing, ethereal hair. It just, flowed on its own wind, with pink and white and light green hairs.

She was about my height, I think, if her neck was all the way straight, and her horn didn't count. Twilight came in beside her.

"I understand that you were recently injured by a... conflict, of sorts." Her voice was like a mother's, but with a honeyed undertone. I almost wanted to say 'No, I wasn't. Who'd you hear that from?', just to contradict what she said, but I was sitting in a hospital bed and I didn't want her to stab me with her horn or something. Words like hers meant that you were always supposed to follow along, and if you didn't there would be big consequences. This princess would be a very dangerous political opponent, especially if she really did have the power that her tone suggested. 12 words, and I got that much from her. I smiled and leaned back.

"Yeah, I was. Is it often that people get crushed by houses around here?"

"No. But there have been similar... incidents around Ponyville lately." Twilight seemed taken aback by that, so I assumed she probably lived in that town, which I was almost certainly in also. "Twilight and her friends have been doing their best to take care of any situations, but I am truly sorry for what happened to you."

"Oh yeah, I forgot to ask. How long was I out before I woke up?"

Twilight spoke up. "Just a few hours. It's nearing night now."

"Ah yes," Celestia said. "I must go back to Canterlot soon to lower the sun. Human, if that is what you call yourself, do you have a name?"

"Uh. No?"

"Do you not remember anything? Surely you aren't a foal?"

"Uh, well I kind of just woke up in some woods north of here. I don't remember anything before that, no."

"Well, I will see what we will do with you tomorrow. Rest well, my little human."

"Ouch. Don't every say something like that again."

But by then she was already out the door, Twilight following her. She kicked the door closed on her way out. 

I leaned back on the pillow. These creatures were horses but smaller, kind of like... ponies. Yeah. Ponies, but with wings and horns and gigantic eyes. Great.

Since it was nearing night, I decided to start planning my escape. Sure, I would probably be sought after by that princess and her parents, but no matter. It would be better than going with them and facing whatever this magical ponyland had to offer. I decided it would probably be best if I escaped at midnight, and that way I could get some sleep in before I left.

There was also a tray of some gross-looking food on a little bedside dresser that a nurse had probably left there because I was, you know, asleep.

The food tasted terrible, but I ate it anyway, hoping it wasn't poisoned. After that, I settled down and set the magical alarm clock to 23:59 and smiled. Then I quickly fell asleep with the help of pain in every pore of my body.

When the alarm went off, I thought it was almost too loud, and I quickly slapped the snooze button. Then I disengaged the alarm so it wouldn't go off again. I was feeling considerably better than before, after about 4 hours of sleep.

Getting the healing tubes off me was easy, since I just had yank them off. It was weird because they were stuck on like magnets and somehow pumped healing into my body through my skin of something. Then I got out of the bed and realized I had nothing to take with me but my clothes. Thankfully, I still had them on and not some weird hospital gown.

My clothes were a little battered and dirty from being crushed by that house, but they were still fine. 

I made my way to the door and slowly eased it open. It was the last door in the hallway. Then I realized I could probably just go out through the window. I closed the door and walked to the window. Nope. Second floor.

I eased my way back into the hallway, closing the door to stall my disappearance as long as possible. I then made my way down the hallway and to some stairs. I tiptoed down, but tripped on the last step. I landed loudly on the floor, but thankfully, nobody came. I quickly found a back exit on the first floor and exited the building with no problem.

It looked like I was decent ways off from town proper, but I would need to find a train or something else to get out of here fast, so I headed that way, keeping to the shadows. Most ponies would probably be asleep at this time, so I wan't too careful in sneaking around.

I finally found what I was looking for after about a half hour. Two male pegasus ponies were hitching themselves up to kind of wagon, while a female pegasus was loading the last of whatever they were transporting in the back.

I circled round towards the back of the wagon. When she finished, she moved up front to hitch herself up to the wagon with the other two guys. I took that opportunity to sneak out of my cover and try to look in the back of the wagon. 

As soon as one of my feet touched the ground near the wagon, bam! A tendril of red magic shot out of the ground and wrapped itself around my foot. My other foot quickly went back and got wrapped by another tendril. I had a feeling I if I put my hands or knees down a similar thing would happen. So I just stood there, awkwardly trying to keep my balance.

A black unicorn with a shaggy red mane came around the corner of the wagon. How did I miss him? "Well, well, well. What do we—what do we have here?" His voice made him seem to slightly older than most of the ponies I had heard so far.

"I'm a human," I said helpfully.

"Huh." By now the three pegasi had come up behind him. "And what were you doing behind our wagon?"

"Uh... watching the stars. I must have taken a wrong step. I'm so very sorry. I'll be on my way now." I struggled against my bindings to no avail.

"Ah yes, of course. You know what, why don't you come with us? We could use somepony like you to protect our goods."

"Hmm, do I get anything out of it?"

"Well, we'd pay you. And you don't really have a choice, anyway."

"Yeah, not really."

"Well then, human. I am Starstone, and I lead a group of mercenaries. We haven't had many jobs lately, so we've taken up selling some... 'goods' in the meantime."

"Aha! I knew it! All that stuff is totally illegal, isn't it!"

"Yes. We didn't make as many sales here as were hoping. Then again, there are very few stallions in this Ponyville anyway." His horn lit up for a moment and the bindings dissolved. "What is your name, human?"

"Uh, I don't have one."

"Oh. Shall we give you one then?"

"No, I'll think of something! How about: The Great Manbearpig!"

"What."

"What?" His withering expression was just the reaction I was hoping for. "How about... Mr. Cool?

"I assure you, you get one more try before I name you something stupid and never stop calling you that."

"Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, oh I know!" His gaze focused back where it had gone down during that moment of contemplation. "My name is Time's Grave."

"Well it's better than what I was going to name you. Come on then, Time." He waved his hoof. "We've got places to go."

Soon enough, we were up in the sky, because magic. I peeked my head out the back cover where I was residing with the 'goods', and watched the stars whisper away above me.


<:---.'.---:>


I woke up as the wagon was stopping. I peeked out the back and saw that it was still night. My body felt much better despite having been crushed by a house quite recently. I got out of the back of the wagon and saw the pegasi ponies unhitching themselves from the wagon. We were in a grassy moor and the cold night wind chilled me to the bones.

Starstone had just gotten off of the front. He walked back towards me. "We're just stopping for the night, Time."

"Didn't we just start going? Looking at your pegasi, it seems like they should have a lot more stamina. When I was in Ponyville back there, I got crushed by a house that a stallion was literally pulling like it was nothing."

"...Seriously?"

"Yeah. And it hurt, too."

"...Okay then. And to answer your question, no, we didn't just start. We've been going for about twenty-four hours straight, a pretty good amount of time when it comes to pegasi with a wagon. I've hired these pullers before, because they're some of the best."

"Oh. They're not your mercenaries?"

"No. My mercenaries just... aren't here right now. I'll tell you about them later, if you prove useful." He walked past me. "I'm gonna make a fire now, if you're cold."

So he made a fire using some wood he brought along for just that. It was pretty nice.

An hour or two later, we got back in the air. Apparently we were going to some village in the Smokey Mountains, wherever that was, and we would be getting their around midday. As we flew, I saw some pretty cool things out of the back of the wagon. I had never flown in an airplane, but it was probably similar to this, except that we were going a lot slower and we were a lot closer to the ground. I was pretty sure I had always like heights and this no was no different.

As we neared the foggy mountains in the distance, I couldn't help but feel... right, like what I was doing was perfectly natural. Then that scared me, because if I was the only human in a world like this with seemingly no way to get back, I should have no right to feel as good as I did.

Then as my thoughts echoed against my brain once again, I realized something horrifying. I didn't remember anything of my life on Earth. I remembered airplanes, mannerisms, ideas, and... and anything else, but I lacked any reason to. It's like the knowledge was there, but none of the experience to go with it. Well, I had probably led a pretty terrible life anyway, so maybe this was God's way of punishing me.

God couldn't think of anything as bad as this.

Since that was clearly out of the question, I decided that I would try and figure out a way to regain my memory and find a way to return to Earth. It was something to do, at the very least.

All them unicorns and them magicks might help. It shouldn't be too hard to rip a hole in the fabric of space and time, right?

Rightttt?

And I was not referring to myself when I said time. I would much rather keep my clothes intact, thank you very much.

Then I realized I did not even know what I was wearing. I looked down at myself. I was wearing random normal clothes that were all dirty from being worn for 40ish hours and which had also been crushed by a house. You'd think I had a hospital gown on, or something, but the hospital probably didn't have anything to fit me properly.

I don't think I would ever forget the house incident. It would come back to haunt me time and time again.

We had just entered the mist at this point. The pegasi had to fly higher so as to avoid any sudden mountains in our path. Starstone had also told me that there were pirates in this area, but we were small enough a target to not be noticed or even worth noticing. He was right, because we made it to the village without a hitch. Well, technically not true, since they pegasi had to get hitched to the wagon to transport it here.

The village was a nice place, if you didn't mind the snow. From what I had seen, it was probably Fall around here. I don't know why some people call it Autumn, because Fall sounds so much better.

Anyway, this place was elevated enough that they had snow in Fall, and the mist really didn't help the temperature feel any better. But then again, they were pony things, so they were probably just fine because of their fur. My fur did not keep me body warm, and the small amount on top of my head did little. The village had maybe around fifty houses, and these were like the houses in Ponyville, except few had windows and the roofs actually made sense. Oh, and paint did not exist up here, save for what looked like the town hall or something.

We slowed down over a small clearing in the village and slowly alighted on the snowy ground. Starstone had told me to that the pegasi would be staying with us until Los Pegasus, since that is where he usually stocks up and where these pullers were from.

I hopped out of the back of the wagon and walked up to the front, where the pegasi were unhitching themselves. Starstone was up there too.

"Alright," he said. "We're going to be up here for two days and two nights. During the day, we act like normal travelers, here to do this, here to do that, that kind of thing. If people seem interested point them toward the wagon and tell them we're open at night."

"Dude, what are you selling, anyway?"

"Drugs," he said simply.

"Oh, okay."

And that was that.

I wandered into the village, thinking. That Celestia person was probably after me for escaping like that, along with that silly purple unicorn that seemed to be highly supportive of her. Since I was the only creature of my kind in the world, and also quite sentient, I would probably be coveted by all who knew me. 

Well, I just want to singgg- No, stop that!

I smiled.

Celestia could go eat pigeon crap, for all I cared.


<:---.'.---:>


A dark hallway loomed in front of the chained pony. Little alcoves with candles adorned the sides of the corridor. A shove from behind sent the pony moving once more. Toward oblivion, he might think.


<:---.'.---:>


A random shop caught my eye. It was a blacksmith's shop. I ducked inside, feeling the warm air and creaking floorboards beneath my dusty shoes.

The counter was empty, but my entrance caused a little bell to ring in the back. I looked back at the wooden door and saw a rope tied to the top left corner leading along some hooks in the wall towards the back, where my line of vision was obscured by a wall.


<:---.'.---:>


At the end of the hallway, steps led up to a dim room lit only by a few hanging candles and a beam of moonlight. A small floor rested in front of a large, dark throne. On that throne sat a massive beast, shrouded in shadows, so that he could not clearly be seen.

The pony was led up to the floor and from there, was shoved on to the ground. He got up shakily and could now be clearly seen. He was a dark blue earth pony a windswept bright white mane. A large visor that looked almost like it was made of bone obscured his eyes, reaching down to his mouth and coming up over his ears like little wings. It had flowing brown carvings on it, like some grand puzzle.

A massive growl came from the throne, "Speak, Whisper."


<:---.'.---:>


An old, burly pony came up to the counter. "Whadda you want?"

"You're not surprised to see me?"

He squinted at me. "We get all sorts o' things up here. What makes ya think yur so special?"

"Well, I guess I'm not special." To you, at least.

"So, whadda you want? Besides wastin my time so much, I mean."

"Oh yes, I was wondering if you had any kind of armor or clothing that I might be able to wear."

"Well, we got some gloves for a minotaur. You look like ya have five fingers though, so I don't know how well that would work for you. Nothing else looks like it would remotely fit you, so you'd have ta commission something."

"Well, I guess I'll do that then."

"A rough estimate of your body, and I'd say it'll cost ya upwards of 600 bits if you want a decent set."

"Uh..."


<:---.'.---:>


The pony's voice was little more than a hoarse whisper. "The one you seek is not of this world, but of another."

"But where is he?" the monster growled.

"He—" the pony winced. "He is—" the pony collapsed on the ground.

Two shadows, which were now shown to be massive minotaurs, closed in and hefted the pony to his hooves.

With no support from his own body, the stallion just barely managed to whisper, "Stormfall peak," before his head lolled, held up only by its joints.


<:---.'.---:>


After being rudely told that I could go waste someone else's time and was herded out of the shop, I looked around for something else to do. After meandering for a few more minutes, something caught my eye. It was something black, hurtling out of the sky towards the village. Before I could register properly what it was, it slammed into the middle of the village with a massive explosion, throwing me back onto the ground.

From my daunted position, I had a clear perception of the changing skies above.

Holy smokes.

Three massive, black airships descended out of the sky, rocketing down more of those cursed explosives. Mayhem and general panic ensued all around me. The anarchy was disorienting for a moment, but I cleared my head relatively quickly. I tried doing one of those cool kick up things to get back on my feet, but instead I kind of flopped back down on the cobblestone.

So I got up and looked around, wondering what I should do. My answer came quickly when incoming heat began to bathe my face. I looked skyward and voila! One those explosives was coming straight at me.

I instinctively started to run away as fast as I could in some direction, but I tripped.

I got up again and started running again. BOOM The explosion hit about ten feet away, and I was hurled at a nearby building. I impacted it with sickening crunch.

Why did it all have to come to this? I should've just been crushed by that stupid house, I thought. I lay there at the bottom of the building (which now had crack marks where I impacted), wondering what to do with my life. Fires burned around me, ponies screamed and wailed, and I myself was just having a jolly good time.

You know, like, making jokes about words that I was currently thinking about in my head at that exact moment.

Now that today's quota of silliness was done, I went back to more serious thoughts, like how I could get Starstone to eat bacon if he was back on Earth.

That done, I tried getting up. Annnnddd, my right leg was broken. Fantastic. I had never had a broken leg before, so I didn't know what I was going to do with that once this craziness was over.

Nothing else was broken, except for my right ring finger. I played with it for about three seconds before the pain caught up.

So I shaggily got to my left foot and leaned against a wall of the building. A wall which apparently was not strong enough to bear anything more than a fly now. It collapsed and I fell into the building with it, ruining my shoddy attempt to begin extricating myself from this mess.

This building looked like it was once a funeral home, or an orphanage, or something. Now it was just a blazing inferno. Almost the whole building was made out of wood. The wall I had just collapsed through was close to being set ablaze.

My lungs felt as if they had been pumped full of dry, fraying string. As I struggled to breathe, something in the middle of the charred floor caught my eye. It was a child's toy.

I crawled closer to it and beheld it. It was like a little girl's doll, except a ponified version. Little buttons for eyes, old yarn for its mane, and literally rags that had been sown together finished its bedraggled look. The thing had the posture of being well used, as if it had recently been someone's best friend. But not... anymore.

I reached out and grabbed it. It felt like it could ignite at any moment, so I pulled it close to my chest.

As the raging fire grew around me, I gave up trying to fight the smoke. I curled up around the toy and waited for oblivion.

It never came.
> Chapter 2- A Fool's Errand
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I woke up in some kind of prison cell. How did that happen? I thought. Dark bars went down vertically all around me, except for what appeared to be the back wall. The whole prison was unnecessarily dark, with only a few torches on some of the walls in front of me. Looking to my right I saw another an empty cell or two. Looking right, I saw the same.

So I propped myself up against the solid wall and waited. It was pretty fun, counting the individual stones that made up the dungeon. This was definitely a dungeon. What else would it be?

After a while, something finally happened. At first it was just noise. The sweet sound of jingling keys and the sound of large hooves clopping on the floor in a strangely off rhythm. Then I saw a shadow moving in the torchlight. My distance gauge was probably way off, but by the look of the torch and the shadow moving in it, in accordance with the sound reaching my ears, the thing was definitely fourteen meters tall, bipedal, and about seventy-two meters away (give or take a few).

It then dawned on me that the roof was only about six meters above me.

Well, whatever.

The thing got closer. Its shadow was probably really warped, but it looked kind of like some deformed human. Oh and really, really buff.

Trepidation crept up on me as it got even closer. This thing was actually really big. Maybe it was the devil, here to take me to hell.

Well, the devil couldn't make it any worse than Ponyland, so I was all in for it.

Turns out, he wasn't the devil. He just kind of looked like him.

The big guy stopped in front of my cell and looked down at me. It had blue eyes, intense ones that seemed to glow when you looked right at them. The torchlight behind him gave me his form. Massive upper body and absurdly beefy arms. Horns came up from his head in a menacing misdemeanor. His lower form looked a bit pitiful, but strong nonetheless. Finally, a short tail seemed to wave around behind him. It was probably 5 meters tall.

I would probably appreciate it if this guy was on my side. Somehow, I doubted it.

Maybe it was waiting for me to talk. I don't know why, but that seemed like my best shot.

"So what, you talk first, I talk first...?"

"I speak first," came its overly loud voice. If death was a dragon and could talk, it would have this guy's voice. Then it hesitated for a moment, confused. "You will bow to me."

"So I will." And I did just that, more splendidly then most gentlemen can manage.

He glared at me, for it was most certainly a 'he' (or at least, I hoped so). "So you are the human."

It wasn't really a question, so I wasn't really going to answer like it was.

"What is your name, human?"

"My name's Time, Time's Grave. And who are you, oh generous host?"

"I am no one to be trifled with, runt."

Well, if we were going to talk like that, then... "Oh come now, who is but the form of the function of what, and what you are is no one to be trifled with, but I am asking precisely who you are."

"I am Untergang."

"So your name name is basically Doom? Downfall... something like that?"

"I know not what you are speaking of, but cease it. I am the leader of the Doom Brigade, and we will see that Equestria falls beneath our hooves."

"Ah, good for you. Go for it."

"After that, I will go on to conquer the rest of Equus and destroy all who oppose me."

"Oh, well, turns out that I actually don't oppose you. In fact, I'll help you get what you want if you release me."

He seemed stupefied at the notion. Apparently it had never occurred to him that some people would be more than willing to fight along with him, rather than die in prison.

"Good. I was going to make you do such a thing anyway, but your compliance only makes it easier."

Now, I didn't know this then, but it turns out that whenever anyone says the word "compliance," your life gets marginally worse.

Mr. Doom reached out with his ring of keys and opened my cell door. Then he reached in and pulled me out. His hand  almost fit around my entire body.

He set me down next to him with a plop. I didn't even try to get up. Apparently he didn't know I was injured, because he knelt down next to me on the hard floor. "What is disturbing you?"

Without a word I pointed to my right leg, which was splayed out awkwardly. He slowly put one of his hands on it, the armored plates on it started glowing azure, and immediately rushing blue energy consumed both my leg and his hand. I felt my leg instantly straighten and then heal. Some of the magic jumped up to my broken finger and fixed that, too.

It was incredibly jarring, but my body felt much warmer then before, and my appendages were all normal again. I glanced at him. "Thanks, man."

He just glared at me with those silly eyes. Then he looked directly at my forehead.

"Now to ensure your compliance."

No! I had been doubly-complianced!

He lifted a single one of his massive fingers and poked my forehead with it. The feeling of it did not go away immediately, so I tried edging away, but I felt locked in place.

Doom was looking down at the floor, whispering under his breath with his eyes closed. He then shot his head up and his eyes flashed brightly. Then I felt a searing pain in my head, like a 400 degree brain freeze.

When my head cleared, he said, "I now have the power to instantly obliterate you from any distance and by my sheer will. If my spymaster tells me you have been doing anything at all I deem unloyal, you will do no such things any longer. Or anything else."

Well, so much for actually gang-ing up with this guy.

"Well, I suppose that's a good way to ensure loyalty. What exactly are you having me do that none of your dudes can?"

"You will be finding the seven shards of the Seeker. The Seeker is a weapon which I will use to destroy all who would oppose me."

"You called it the Seeker. Do you even know what it seeks?"

"No. I do however know that it is the tool I will use to bring down Celestia and the rest of her welp. After Equestria has fallen, then the rest of the world will crumble to my will."

"It seeks the truth," I said with a smile.

Wait what?

So now I'm just randomly saying things?

"How do you know that?"

"I was, uh, making it up. I mean, it's gotta seek something right? You know, if it's called the Seeker?"

"I care not what it seeks. I care only about my possession and capitalization of it."

"...Great. When do I start?" for I was indeed getting tired of keeping up the charade of not being completely and utterly terrified of this fellow and his likely upstart power.

"You start once we have finished this conversation of ours. You will be going with the help of someone you have not yet met. He will guide you from shard to shard and will help me put them together again once you are finished."

"Oh. Okay."

"He will join you shortly after you have reached the surface."

"Wait, we're undergrou—" and...... suddenly I was blinking in sunlight. I felt and just barely saw little sparks of blue lightning crackling up and down my body.

My clothes were really messed up. I'd definitely have to find a way to fix them/get more of them soon.

I looked around. I was standing in a little desert. I knew it was little because there was grass in view in all directions around me. Based on the position of the sun, I knew that it was to the North that I saw a distant line of trees. To the East, West, and South, the land kind of just dipped away. Shrugging, I got up and started heading South. I was starting to feel mighty thirsty, probably because I hadn't had anything to drink for an obscene amount of time. Where land went away, water had more of a right to exist.

Unless, in this world, water preferred high places. Probably not, though, because gravity seemed to persist in the same way it normally would. Well, unless magic was involved.

I had just reached the grass, when I felt something... warp next to me. I looked over and— wow.

There was a pony next to me. This guy had a pale blue coat, like the color of wind if you gave wind a color. His mane was white, though he didn't look particularly old. But the thing that made him stand out was his mask. He had this whitish mask that looked as if it were made of bone that had brown carvings etched into it, swirly distinguishing patters that probably meant something or another. It raised up above his ears in the back like little wings. The picture on his flank was that of surprisingly normal looking eye, half-closed in thought. He was frail looking and unlike other male ponies I had seen. This one lacked the strength and body-build of a lot of them.

I was pretty sure (91%) that this was the guy who was supposed to be my guide. He looked all... prophety.

"I'm a seer," he said, scaring me out of my observations. "Not a prophet."

It took me a moment, but I recovered fast enough to say, "What's the difference."

He didn't even seem fazed, as if he had been asked this question many times. "A prophet sees the future. A seer sees the present. And the past sees the rest."

"Oh great. Are you really going to be like that all this time?"

"Why should I not?"

"Because it's incredibly boring! Don't be boring!"

"Be... entertaining?"

"Yes! Entertaining is the opposite of boring, so yes, be that."

"Like... how?"

"I don't know! Make jokes, speak casually, don't speak like a ten-year old trying to impress his friends at a slumber party! Stuff like that!"

"I am currently eleven years old."

Oh.

"Well, in that case, ignore the last part. But still!"

"Right, got it."

"What's your name anyway, oh great seer of things that are happening right now?"

"My name is Whisper."

"Oh. Most pony names are longer than that, and seem to have two different defining words. Is there something you're not telling me? Because if we really are traveling for a long time, you're going to have to tell me everything and you're gonna have to lose that mask, because I like looking people in the eyes, and that mask is just creepy. How do you see out of it anyway?"

He seemed dumbfounded. He then placed his hooves slowly on the mask and pulled it off. As soon as it was off his head entirely, it vanished from existence. 

I immediately saw why he probably wore that mask in the first place. His teal eyes were quite obviously blind.

"I can call it back whenever I want. It helps me focus, but I don't need it. As for my name, it's Stormy Whisper. I see things around me by focusing on such things. I also don't see color, though I know it exists."

It took me a while to process this. This guy certainly must have some sort of contract going with someone to be able to do all this random crap. 

"Well okay Stormy—"

"Call me Whisper."

"Well okay Whisper, where is the first shard of the Seeker? You seem like a guy who outta know."

"I do not yet know precisely, but it currently is in that direction." He pointed his hoof more or less South. "It will reveal itself to me better when we are closer, I believe."

"Do we have to find them in a certain order? Because that would be rather annoying."

"Yes, we do have to find them in order. They will not reveal themselves if we do otherwise. I may be able to sense them, if we happen to be fairly close perhaps, but in order to obtain them, we need to do it in the right order."

"Well darn. Whatever. What do you say we should do?"

"Finding some water would be good. Those ruffians barely fed and watered me, so getting both would be good, though water would be more necessary."

"I am definitely going to agree with you. Let's start heading South, then."

And so we did.

When we crested the edge, our options suddenly became much, much wider.

We were looking at a peninsula jutting out into a massive ocean. A gentle hill went all the way down from where we were to a city. Yes, an actual city, not some random town. It looked like a port city and was probably some sort of trade capital. 

It took us an hour to get down the hillside. When we arrived at the bottom, the town kind of just started a little ways off.

"Okay, so what's our plan," I said. "You got any money?"

"Money is a thing of this world."

I just looked at him pointedly.

"Yeah, I don't have any money," he said with his ears drooped.

"Okay. Great. Do you know any places here that would give us free water without us having to buy anything?"

"I've never been here before."

"Drat! We'll just have to wing it, then."

And so we did.

We walked into town, and the first tavern we saw, we waltzed right in like we owned the place.

Everyone who was inside didn't seem to pay us any attention, probably because there were only two, and they were both snoring on their table.

However, a barkeep did come up to the counter. "Ain't seen one of you, before."

"Ah yes, I am the peak of natural selection, nice to meet you."

"Right... you and yur friend look pretty banged up. You need some water or... something...?"

His confusion probably had something to do with the puppy dog eyes I was giving him.

"I'll take that as a yes, then. Sit down and I'll be right over."

Stormy and I sat down. The bar stools were weirdly high for me, probably because they were made for ponies. I towered over the bar.

He didn't take long, and came back with two shot glasses with water in them. Then he seemed to remember it was water we were getting and went back to exchange the tiny cups with much bigger glasses.

When he got them to us, we drunk our fill. That water was the best water I had tasted in my life. Literally.

The barkeep did ask us who we were though.

"Ima human. My name's Time's Grave. I am pleased to meet you."

"Yes, and I am Whisper, seer of the unseen things."

"What's a seer like you in doin' in a place like this?" the barkeep said.

"I am here on a mission. And if I step out of place, I will be killed."

Ah, so that's why this guy's helping this process.

"Tough place to be... say maybe you could use a short break? There probably not gonna be many people here for a while still. I can give you two a bed if you'll help me out with a little problem I have."

We glanced at each other. Rest actually did seem fantastic, but we could probably just sleep on the ground outside if we wanted that.

We looked back at the pony. "No thanks," I said.

"Actually," said Stormy, "he meant, 'What is it that you would have us do?'"

"Well, my wife lost her necklace a few days ago. It was an expensive one she got from... uh, a fair. I was hoping you might be able to find it."

Stormy lifted his head and instantly pointed a hoof at a spot on the line where one of the walls and the floor met. "There. It's lodged just under that board."

The barkeep looked surprised for a moment, but quickly recovered and walked over to the spot. He looked around for something to pry up the board, so I just walked over to him and bent the board up a little.

Sure enough, a pretty little gold necklace with a tiny compass rose in the middle was sitting under it. "Sweet Celestia..." the barkeep muttered before scooping it out. "Well, the rooms are in the back. Feel free to use the shower and any of the rooms until around 6 o' clock." He pointed a hoof in the right direction.

After a few minutes and a short shower. I was in one of the beds. It was kind of small, and kind of musty, but it was a bed. The hospital bed was better, but I was bruised and injured. The wagon was cramped and shifty, and I was still a little injured. Oh yeah, and sleeping in the middle of a burning orphanage? Yeah, I was definitely going to do that again.

This was definitely the best sleep I was going to have gotten since I had arrived here.

And the best sleep I'll have gotten for a while.


~/\^/\~
Rules of my Descention
.I.

I will be like any other mortal, except that I cannot die.
~\/v\/~


I was awakened by the tapping of Stormy's hoof on my shoulder. I sat up in bed and stretched.

"Come, Time's Grave," he said.

I hopped out of the bed and walked after him. I could hear one of the most infamous sounds throughout all time and space echoing from the front room: a woman's yelling.

We made our way back into the main room of the tavern to find a disheveled crowd watching the barkeep and the owner of the raucous voice fighting with words. The woman was an orange pegasus, with a silly looking hat on her head. Her mane was shades of gray to black, and her special tattoo was that of a compass rose.

"—if you hadn't tried to steal it, it wouldn't BE lost!"

"Well, you came in here with it, so you should've expected someone to steal it!"

"Yes, and that someone was YOU!"

And with that, she leaped onto the barkeep, wings flailing in desperation.

I glanced at Whisper. He glanced back with a look of warning in his blind eyes. Then he pointed his hoof at a worn paper that must have fallen out of the pegasus's pocket. It had drifted right by my feet.

I snatched it up and looked at it. It was a map of the surrounding area, or so it seemed. It had the peninsula we were on, and the city taking up most of that. But beyond the city, out in the ocean, was a little island with an X scribbled over it.

Whisper whispered, "That is almost certainly where the shard is." He pointed at the X.

"Well, if it's not, it might be buried treasure, or something! I say we go for it, either way."

By this point the scuffle between the hot-headed pegasus and the ruffled barkeep was over. The pegasus was also proudly wearing the pendant we had found earlier. In fact, the compass rose on the pendant seemed to directly match the one on her flank. Odd...

And wait, she just realized that her map was missing. I glanced at Whisper. He quietly said, "Let's book it."

So we carefully edged ourselves away from the crowd and booked it. How I was not noticed by the crowd was a mystery to me. Then I realized a lot of them were probably mildly drunk.

Whisper and I ran through the now-darkened streets of the city in the direction of the tip of the penisula, the moon lighting our paths. We stopped after some time, saying goodbye to the beautiful comfort of the starry sky for a while.

We ducked into a little alley and rested behind some random boxes, hoping to avoid any unwanted activity with other ponies around.

I decided to learn more about my new traveling buddy.

"So how'd you get caught up in all of this?"

Stormy rested against one of the boxes with his hooves behind his head. Yeah, the ponies here had crazy joints and weight dispersion compared to real horses.

"My power is in knowledge, nothing else. Against those who would want to use me, I am powerless. They learned of me. They came for me. Somehow, their leader knew of you and made me tell him of your whereabouts. He seemed quite intent on having you gather the shards."

"Well that's definitely strange. Okay. So... can you see the shard better now?"

"Yes. It is on that island, though some ways underground. I am not sure how we will get to it quite yet."

"Hmm. That's a weird development. Say, we could really use some help right about now."

"Do you have any friends, Time's Grave?"

"Well, you can probably just call me Time, I guess. And uh, now that I think about it, no, I don't have any friends in this world. I've made enemies with everyone I've met, besides maybe you. Everyone I've met here has been kind of mean to me, again, besides you. Well, there is this guy named Starstone, but he kind of just roped me into helping him a little... Why do you ask?"

"Well, you seem kind of heartless..."

"Go on..."

"From what I've seen, you don't really have any moral boundaries."

"I do know what both of those words mean, but they have no resonance together for me."

"Basically, you kind of have no sense of right or wrong. For you nothing is right and nothing is wrong."

I was not really concerned. "Well, I have only existed in this world for sometime more than forty-eight hours. If I did have a 'moral compass,' then it would have had to have been programmed into me, or I would've had to retain it from whatever I was/did before."

"And what were you before?"

"I don't know! All I remember is... is everything, but I have no memory to accompany it. It's just... knowledge I have no reason to know. I currently lack reason to do anything I do. The prospect of dying does not resonate fear within me. I just have a slight curiosity as to what will happen if I die. That, in itself, frightens me."

"Well that was incredibly confusing," Stormy commented. "We should probably move on soon."

"Wait, how does Doom actually spy on us? Do you know?"

"Doom?"

"Untergang."

"Oh. He has a spymaster who gathers information from informants everywhere. We've actually probably been seen by lots of informants working for completely different people already. They'll have quite some interesting news to report."

"No, that's not it. He told me that he had a spymaster, too. The problem with that is that he's trusting us with the pieces of one of the most powerful weapons in the history of this world. A spymaster could not obtain information about us from a distance so far in any short amount of time. In the time which Doom receives information about us, and the time which we actually did whatever he learns about, we could easily cause massive chaos and overthrow his whole plot if we did it right. No, he most likely has some way to spy on us using that fancy magic of his. My guess is that when he used his magic to establish that death link, he also linked our eyes to some viewing port or something."

"Well, I don't really follow your train of thought very well, but that could quite possibly be true, and we should consider it in everything we do. He also probably didn't like that we just figured it out if indeed he is watching right now somehow."

"Hey, you rhymed! You really can have fun!"

"Yes," he got back to his feet with his head held high. "Ha ha."

I ruffled his mane and said, "Oh, you're too fun." Then I thought for a second. "By the way, I really like calling you Stormy..."

"No."

"Aww..."

And we were off again.

We managed to take some food from someone's house when we were almost to the edge. Just some bread and grapes, but it was good and filling.

We finally came to the outskirts of the city at the crack of dawn. The city was built just up to the tip of the peninsula, where some water from perhaps sewage formed a small stream all the way down to the very tip. Little plants dotted up here and there, and it was like a large garden.

Stormy and I walked to the edge and I sat with my feet dangling off. He just sat on the grass.

Then sun was rising to our left, just above the crests of the waves beneath us and casting its light out on the nearest clouds. It was pretty. I could just make out the tiny island in the distance. I had no idea how we were going to get there.

"Hey, can you like, sense any boats, or something?"

"There is one down there." Whisper pointed his hoof at the ground.

"And is there a passage we can use to get to it?"

"Here." He pointed his hoof toward the west-side of the tip and got up. We walked over to where he was pointing, and did indeed find stairs carved out of the rock and leading down the cliffside.

We made haste down the steps. It took us around seven minutes to get down, I think.

And there was our boat. It was one of those classic rowboats, so I knew who was doing the rowing.

About halfway across the boat-leg part of the journey, Stormy got tired of rowing. The sun was now high in the sky, approaching noon. 

"Why don't you row for a turn?" he asked.

"Because this is a pony made rowboat. The oars and the seating would make it impossible for me to row properly, if at all." This was, of course, completely untrue. I just didn't feel like rowing.

Whisper grumbled and sat back. "Well I need a break."

"Okay."

So he took a break. I took a break, too.

"So Stormy, how'd you get your powers?"

"Call. Me. Whisper."

"Right, right, fine."

"I got my power from my demise as a foal."

"...what?"

"When I was a foal, I was extremely sickly, and almost died only a few days after I was born. But something came into me, and healed me. My eyes were already dead, but the power gave me the sight I now have. And more."

"Well that explains nothing. Okay."

"Is there something else you wanted to know? Because you keep asking me questions at different times. Get them all out at once!"

"Yeah, I was wondering what your favorite color was."

"You know I don't see colors. I told you that before."

"But you did say that you knew of their existence. So, from everything you've heard or felt or sensed, or whatever, what is your favorite color?"

"I... don't know. How would you expect me to?"

"Well, colors are important. A lot of times, color of things such as eyes, armor, weapons, magic, even hair can mean a whole lot about that person."

Yeah, my mind is gone. Now I'm making up things about colors. Maybe I'll start talking about how different flowers are important.

"Yes, I've heard that before, but the sources are always questionable."

"Yeah, so from everything you've heard, what is your favorite color?"

"I guess, I guess it's blue."

"Haha, like my right eye?"

"Your right eye is blue, but the other is not?"

"Yeah, my left eye is green. Isn't that cool?"

"No, that is disturbing, in a number of ways."

"Clarify?"

"I'd rather not."

So he kept rowing.

We arrived at the island mid-afternoon. It was a small island, little more than a beach, some grass in the middle, and a few bushes.

We pulled up the boat far enough from the water so that the tide wouldn't capture it and then walked to the middle of the island.

"So how are we supposed to get to it? Do you sense anything?"

Whisper put his hooves above his head and brought down his mask onto his face. When it was in place he stood perfectly still, before saying, "It is approximately seventy meters beneath us. It seems to be in the heart of some sort of giant subterranean structure. An entrance is just a meter or two below us. We'll have to dig it out."

So it turns out that ponies suck at digging, and I wasn't too good either. After some arguing, he finally let me use his mask as a scoop.

It took a while, and my hands were really hurting and full of dirt, but I managed to uncover some sort of rotting wood, which I easily broke through. After clearing the hole enough for Stormy and I to fit, we slithered in.

We were now sufficiently filthy. From the light coming in through the hole, I could see we were in a stone corridor with little carvings all over the walls. However, there was no way we could light the way to be able see. We should've really brought a torch or something. Not a flashlight. A flashlight would make it creepy.

"Hey Stormy. How are we going to get through here witho— hey! Where are you going!?"

Stormy had started walking down the corridor. "Why are you not following?"

"Dude, it's, like, really dark down here. How are we supposed to— ohhh." Stormy didn't need light to see. "Okay, dude. I can't see down here, cause it's really dark. How about I hold on to you and you tell me where to go?"

"Oh. I am sorry. Yes! Let us do such a thing."

And so we did. I held onto one his mask's wing tips.

We started traversing the structure. Whisper seemed fairly confident he could navigate us to the shard. We also encountered a fair number of traps which Whisper did a good job of finding and outsmarting.

I was clueless the whole time, but whatever, he did a good job of guiding me. 

Ha! The blind guiding the seeing. But in this case, it was the seeing leading the blind.

We had gone through an absurd number of hallways and down an absurd number of staircases, and up some too, that I was fairly certain Stormy had only an idea of where to go.

But, as I walked on the stone floor, he whispered to me. "We are basically in the antechamber now. This last run of stairs and we will arrive in the main chamber where the shard is located."

I merely nodded, though I wasn't sure if he was focusing on me. 

Sure enough, we came to a flight of stairs leading down. It was relatively short and we ducked through a archway to the right.

My eyes found light once again.

It was a massive chamber, like an underground cathedral. The eight walls were riddled with carvings in some dead language and skulls, bones, and weapons dotted them. The floor was layered, with a massive, slightly raised circle in the middle. The floor and the ceiling were filled with the same carvings as the walls. And a massive sword hung from the ceiling directly in the middle, its gargantuan hilt hanging by a tiny cord and its tip reaching halfway to the ground. The blade was infatuated and its shape looked devastating, but also extremely hard to wield, if it were sized for a normal person. The whole place smelled of ruin.

But the most eye-catching thing was the glowing green light attached to the far wall. It was a burning, sickly green that bathed the chamber in its glow, leaving most of it in shadows. It was not in the center of the wall, but a little to left, which was strange.

I let go of Stormy's mask and walked out into the chamber. I reached the center and looked up at the tip of the blade, now hanging directly above me. What was the point of such an ornament?

Stormy caught up with me. "The carvings on the floor are all talking about survival and how it important it is."

"Well, that's strange."

We continued on to the far side. There was an inscription directly in the middle, and Stormy read it.

"Give up all things for survival, for without it, we are nothing."

"Hmm. Creepy as heck. Let's get the shard."

We walked over to the spot where it was embedded in the rocks. It almost blinded me, that's how bright it was up close. That, and my eyes had recently had nothing to look at for a while.

Whisper put his hoof on the shard. "This is the earth shard. It's power is in fear."

"Fear?"

"Fear is a powerful thing, Time."

"You know, I'm really liking that name. I'm glad it's the one I chose. What do you think?"

"It's fine."

"Hmm. So what do I do, just take it?"

"I don't know. We have to get it somehow."

I just put my hand on it. It was warm, and it almost felt... alive. Then it started getting hotter and hotter. "Huh?"

I pulled my burning hand away. The rock in front of me cracked. Then again.

Stormy and I started backing away. The wall cracked again.

More and more little fissures popped open.

BOOOM

The entire wall burst open. The shard itself moved with it and suddenly we found ourselves facing a massive dragon, its burning gaze on us.

The earth shard was its right eye.


~/\^/\~


I was hoping they would pet its eyeball.
> Chapter 3- The Erector of Fear
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

My first thought was: Is it dangerous? This, of course, was obviously the case.

The dragon twisted his head back and roared. Its might echoed throughout the cavern and waves of fear crashed over me. However, I wasn't really afraid of anything in particular, so it didn't do much to my stance.

Stormy, on the other hand, was parylized in position. His mask probably hid his cowering expression, but he was visibly shaking. Crap. 

"STORM!" I yelled. "STORM, MOVE!"

The dragon was bearing down on him. He didn't budge.

Crapcrapcrapcrap. I ran at him and tackled him out of the way. The dragon's head crashed into the ground where he existed not a moment before. Pieces of the ground came flying out everywhere and one hit me on the chin.

Storm finally seemed to snap out of it. "W-what do we do?"

"We get out of the way whenever that thing tries to kill us. A good example would be RIGHT NOW."

I jumped over the dragon's oncoming tail. Storm failed to do this and was smacked across the room. He landed on the far-side floor and didn't get up.

Guess this was up to me.

Let's see, what do I need to accomplish?

I dodged the dragon's massive head again.

I needed to literally steal his eye.

The dragon seemed to smart up and I saw the inside of his mouth heat up.

So that probably meant killing it or doing some really slick manevour.

I started running the moment the dragon released his fiery wrath, a burning trail of death following right behind me.

And I needed to get out with Stormy.

Now I was right next to him, his unconciense form barely breathing.

All without weapons. Great.

Ah, wait. There was that giant sword hanging from the ceiling. By a tiny. Little. Cord.

The dragon looked like he was getting ready for another bout of flame. I ran over to the nearest wall and yanked an old looking sword out. It handled surprisingly well, for a probably x amount of years old.

I leaped away from my spot just as flame bathed it in fury. I ran across from the dragon, baiting it forward. It did just that and lifted one of its front feet to try and crush me. I dodged backwards and sliced off one of its claws at the same time.

The dragon roared once again, but I was over the constant terror now. Instead of addling me, it only fueled me further.

I yelled back in return and dodged out of the way once again as its other foot came down. The dragon recovered quickly and started running straight at me. Its size in comparison to the chamber caused it to the crash into the walls with its head, wings, and tail as I ran for my life.

Pretty much my only hope would be to cut that cord. I'd just have to get lucky enough for it to land on the dragon. How I would get up there was my problem.

My answer came in the form of a massive claw crashing into the ground under me as I jumped.  I landed on the back of it, and the dragon seemed surprised at this for a moment. I wasted no time in whipping around and scrambling up its forearm and clinging to one of the spines on its back.

The dragon shrieked and flapped its wings, throwing itself into the wall in the hope of shaking me off. I hung on. Barely. The dragon repeated this action and flew up into the ceiling , then the floor. Pieces of the walls, ceiling, and ground flew everywhere in the dragon's desperate attempts to fling me off.

Then, at the perfect time, I flipped off of the dragon's back using its own momentum and landed on top of the massive sword's hilt. The dragon noticed I was gone and crashed to a halt in the center of the room. It looked up at me and roared once again. Its mouth heated up to shoot a wave of fire at me.

Only to be impaled straight through as the gargantuan sword crashed down on top of the dragon. It smashed all the way through its mouth, body, and even part of its tail before crashing into the ground with a tremendous BOOOM. A fourth of its blade had sunk all the way into the ground.

I had rode down on the hilt but had flown off when the collision happened. I landed roughly on the ground, hard enough that I was knocked out.

I don't know how long it was before I came to, but Stormy was standing over me and prodding me awake.

I sat up and immediately groaned. My head hurt like the dickens. I put my hand on Stormy to help stand my body up. I got up and leaned on my sword and Stormy for support.

Then I beheld what I had done.

The whole place was a mess. Shattered bits of stone were everywhere and there were gouges in the walls and ceiling and floors. In the middle of the room stood the impaled dragon, rising up from the floor with its mouth wrenched open by the sword's irregular blade. The light from the earth shard still shown, though only on one side of the room, with the other side cast in shadows.

Yeah, I had done that. Sweet.

I hobbled away from Stormy and got to the body. I found the inevitable strength to begin climbing up its corpse. When I reached its right eye. I stabbed my sword into its socket and pried the shard out of it. It fell to the ground. I sighed and half slid-half climbed back down.

Stormy was waiting for me. I walked over to the shard and picked it up. It was a lot smaller than it looked. I watched as it just melted into my hand.

"Is it supposed to do that?" I asked.

"Try calling it back."  

I did. It worked. The moment I lost focus, though, it melted back into my hand. "Well at least we won't have to worry about people stealing them. Hopefully this method doesn't have any negative effects, though."

"I'd doubt it."

"Well, let's get out of here, I guess."

"A-are you going to keep the sword?" Stormy asked, pointing a hoof at its spot in my hand.

"Yeah, and I'll try to find a scabbard for it also."

"O-oh."

"What's wrong?"

"Eh-nothing..."

"Okay, let's go."

And so we did. The entrance from which we had come in was partially blocked, but we were able to get through it.

From the rest of the way up, I realized that I was partially glowing a faint green light and was running off of pure adrenaline. Stormy and I didn't talk at all on the way up.

When we reached the hole in the ceiling, I picked him up and brought him high enough that he could grasp the edges and climb up. I followed after him by jumping and grabbing the lip.

We emerged in the middle of the night. Stormy had just taken a nap (by getting knocked out), but I really needed one. We got in the boat and he started rowing. I started sleeping. It didn't take me long.

I woke up as we were nearing the shore. I felt leagues better. My head had cleared and I sat up feeling refreshed.

"Oh , you're awake now."

"Yeah, I'm feeling a lot better. A lot of what I did back there kind of felt like a haze."

"I know what you did, but I don't know how you managed to pull it off."

So I recounted to him how I had slain the dragon the best I could.

"Wow. Have you ever used a sword before?"

"Well, not that I can remember, but I don't really remember anything before coming here."

"Only unicorns can wield swords like that. I wonder why there were so many down there..."

"No clue, man."

We arrived at the shore just as the sun was starting to stretch the horizon. We got out and left the boat where we had originally found it. Climbing up the stone stairs was annoying, but we managed. After arriving in the city, we kind of just stood there, wondering what to do next.

Some ponies that were walking the streets looked strange at me. I genuinely smiled at them. Most of them scowled and continued on their way, though some frowned, and one or two smiled back.

Then a little baby pony came up to me and Stormy. "Do you know where my mama is?"

"Uh... what, little one?"

"Do you know where my mama is?" The pony repeated.

"Uhh... oh hey, Stormy. Where's her mom?"

Stormy was looking down at the ground.

"Stormy."

Nothing.

I put my hand on his back and lifted his chin up to look him the eye. "Where is her mom?" Stormy just shook his head slowly.

"You don't know?"

Stormy looked away again.

"Dude, talk to me!"

The little pony was looking at Stormy with hope.

Stormy sighed and motioned for me to bend down. Then he whispered in my ear. "She's gone."

"Like, she abandoned the kid and left?" I whispered back.

"No. She's dead."

I took a step backwards. Oh.

I turned back to the little pony. "Look, kid, your mom's dead."

Stormy whipped around and looked at me in shock. The kid's wide eyes filled with tears and her ears slowly fell down.

Then she ran off, sobbing.

I turned back to Stormy. "Alright, so what shou- what?"

"HOW COULD YOU JUST DO THAT TO A LITTLE FILLY?"

I took a step back. "Uh..."

"YOU DON'T JUST TELL A FILLY THAT HER MOM'S DEAD! HOW CAN YOU NOT EVEN CONSIDER THE IMPLICATIONS OF THAT!?!"

"Well, it doesn't really affect us. And she asked."

"YEAH, BUT, YOU CAN'T JUST DO THAT! HAVE YOU NO HEART!?!"

"WELL, you did say that before. Maybe it's true. Anyway, we should get a move on to try and find the next shard. What direction is it in?"

"No. We will go and help that little filly. After what you did to her."

"But why? There's no point."

"Because sometimes, we think about others instead of just ourselves."

"I don't see the logic behind that."

"Well then I won't be seen behind you!" And he ran off in the direction of where the filly went.

Great. Now I have to find him.

I didn't really feel like doing that quite yet, so I started to stroll through the city in search of a park. Maybe it would calm me. Then again, I wasn't really in need calmness. But whatever.

After an hour or so of not finding anything, I decided to find something to eat. 

I found an alley and wandered down it in search of some small bar or restaurant or something.

I found neither, but instead found the back door of a large manor. And it was locked. That meant there had to be something good inside.

I found a tiny length of metal and unlocked the door with it. Pony locks were terrible. Probably because only the ones with horns could be dexterous enough to unlock it, but even then, there were probably wards or something on the locks.

I carefully opened the door and slipped inside, closing and re-locking it behind me.

In front of me stretched an extremely garish hallway. Bright carpeting and exotic rugs covered the floor, and you could barely see the wall in between the ornaments adorning them. I heard nothing, so I carefully crept forward, ignoring a few doors on the right and one on the left.

The hallway opened up into a large living room, and I could see a balcony stretching all the way around it, with a large piece of glass making up the 2nd level wall in front on me. Random pony furniture dotted the room, along with a piano.

Wait, how were ponies supposed to play that thing? Wouldn't their hooves be to fat?

Whatever.

I quickly found a kitchen and a refrigerator, both of which were noticeably more empty when I left.

Instead of leaving right away, I decided to explore the second floor.

I climbed up the stairs and was going down another hallway when I heard crying coming from within the rooms down it. Manly crying. Not a common sound.

I sidled over to door, which was open a crack, and peeked inside. A stallion with a blue hide and purple mane and mustache was sitting on his bed, crying his eyes out.

I opened the door further and strolled inside.

The stallion was up immediately and scrambled off the bed to fall on the floor. He stood back up (slightly dazed) and looked at me fiercely.

"Who are you, and what do you want?" he asked.

"I'm Time, Time's Grave. I just happened to hear you crying and wanted to know what was the matter."

"Nothing's the matter! Now, get out of my house, intruder!"

"How about... no."

"I- I have security!"

"I doubt they could get up here before I could slice your head off."

He gulped.

"So, what's the issue?"

"Nothing's wrong."

"Alright then. So you own this place?"

"Y-yes."

"Cool. Think you could get someone to make a scabbard for this bad boy?" I waved my sword at him.

"Of- of course."

"How 'bout some armor?"

"That too."

"Cool."

"Is there anything else, y- you would require?" his voice shook in fear.

"Nah, that's all I need. No wait. Do you suppose you could get me a drink?"


~/\^/\~
Rules of my Descention
.II.

I will be like any other mortal, except that I cannot stay unconscious for more than 7 days.
~\/v\/~


I strolled down one of the many streets that interlocked throughout the city. I twirled a small pouch of bits around my arm before letting it slide down like a purse. Then I moved the strap over my head so it was more like a satchel. Satchels are more intimidating than purses.

According to the stallion's instructions, I was nearing the spot where I could commission a scabbard. Then I wouldn't have to have it unsheathed with me everywhere I went. You know, that was probably why a lot of the ponies directly avoided my path.

I looked around and waved my sword around more for emphasis. The ponies hurried along.

I made it to the shop in the next few minutes without any disturbances. I was feeling good, and entered the door in high spirits.

It was a home-owned thing, a wooden affair that for a moment reminded me of the burning orphanage. It had a little waiting room in front and stairs leading up to presumably living quarters. I sidled up to the counter and pushed the little bell I found on it. I heard someone yell, "Coming!"

An male orange unicorn came hurrying up to the counter. "Hi," he said. "What on earth are you?"

"Yeah, I'm a human."

"Oh. Right. What can I do for you?"

I placed the sword on the counter with a clang. "I'd like a scabbard for this."

He picked it up in his magic and looked over it. Then he set it down and looked back to me. "What kind of scabbard do you want?"

"I'd like a kind of light, but sturdy metal scabbard. Not too heavy, and an adjustable leather strap to go around my waist attached to it."

"Leather strap?"

"Yeah, my source told me you'd be able to make me a scabbard with a belt."

"Yeah, I can do that, but what's leather?"

"It's—" Oh wait. Ponies were herbivores. Or at least they were back in the real world. But better safe than sorry. "It's nothing. Use whatever you would use to make such a thing."

"Alright then. Should be good to go in about a day or so. It'll cost you sixty bits."

That sounded about right, based on what that rich guy had said. "Done." I counted sixty bits out of the bag and placed them on the counter.

"Come back tomorrow some time after noon to pick it up. Can I have your name?"

"Time's Grave."

"Bob."

I moved to shake hands, but stopped. "Your name's Bob?"

"My real name is really embarrassing."

"Bob it is." And we shook hands.

Or hooves.

His hoof and my hand! Shaking! In agreement!

After I exited the shop I looked at the city map that old twat had given me. I'd get some armor a few blocks from here.

Now that I didn't have that sword constantly in my grip, ponies were slightly less disturbed my presence. I put on a good cheery smile. They continued to scowl or just frown. Ponies.

I arrived at the blacksmith shop after a few minutes. The reason Bob was making the scabbard and not the blacksmith was apparently because Bob was better at making stuff like that and charged far less.

The blacksmith shop was a lot more official. It was only a shop and a forge, and was open from seven a.m. to nine p.m. The whole interior was metal for some reason and reminded me of that dungeon back at Doom's place. Like that, but a lot brighter and without bars and cages everywhere.

I walked up to the counter and rung the bell resting there. Another few seconds, and hey! Bob came up to the counter! No wait. This guy was slightly darker orange and was a normal pony instead.

"How may I help you?" he asked in a much more burly voice than Bob's. Why were all blacksmiths burly?

Burly was a fun word. Burly, burly, burly.

Oh wait, I should probably answer him. "Hi, I was hoping to commission a set of light armor for myself."

"'Kay. What kind of light armor?"

"Well, I was kind of hoping for some sort of open helmet, a solid cuirass, some smaller pauldrons, some vambraces, and some greaves."

"I can make a helmet. I have no idea what the rest of what yur talking about is."

So I spent the next hour explaining and showing him precisely what I wanted. Then another half-hour with him taking measurements and asking various questions.

All in all, it cost me a little more than the rest of the bits I had gotten. I forked them over with the promise that I'd get him the rest tomorrow along with a little tip. He grudgingly accepted and told me it would be done in five or six days.

After that was done, I decided to head back to the rich guy's house to grab some more bits.


<:---.'.---:>


Some days ago...

A white alicorn knelt next to a hospital bed. Why would he leave? This threat could not go unanswered.

Her star pupil stood next to her, anxiously rubbing her fetlocks together. "What are we going to do, Princess?"

"You are going to stay here and assemble the Elements of Harmony together. I am going to follow the human back to his source."

"Yes, Princess." Twilight left the room in a hurry.

Celestia laid her horn on the hospital bed, where she knew the human was at one point, before casting the pathfinder spell. "Where were you?" she muttered.

She opened her eyes and the human's path through time revealed itself to her. From his point on the hospital bed, it would trace his path back to its source.

She followed the afterimages, and navigated through town before seeing where his path led north, to Whitetail Woods. Celestia spread her wings and flew to and then above the trees. Her eyes followed the path, both real and magical, that the human had taken. There!

The trail stopped. Celestia circled down lightly and landed neatly in a gap between the trees. The human's path stopped in the middle of a small clearing. He had been lying on the ground for an undiscernable amount of time before getting up and following the path, seemingly without a care in the world.

How had this happened? She sensed the area and found no magical disturbances. Even the veil had not been torn or even bent here. That left her with one explanation left. She did not like it. Not one little bit.

With a loud pop she teleported to the gardens in Canterlot. It did not take her long to find her least favorite statue. A statue that refused to be anywhere else.

A cold breeze blew through the air, making Celestia shiver. Then she faced the despicable statue. "Discord."

"Oh, you called?" said a voice behind her. She turned around quickly but nopony was there. 

She turned back to the statue to find Discord, unstatufied, studying his lion claws before bowing elegantly. "How may I help you?"

"I'm not here to play games, Discord."

"Oh, you say that every time, but you never mean it."

"I always mean it. I do not want you harming my little ponies."

"Yes, yes, but you can't stop me from doing that, so why bother saying it?"

"I don't know why you pretend to be a statue when you know that both Luna and I know you're still around, messing things up."

He appeared behind her and put a hand on her shoulder. "Yes, and I could easily make you forget." He looked her right in the eye. "But I don't," he said before slithering away.

"Stop stalling, Discord."

"Oh, but my dear, you're the one stalling here."

"Did you make the human?" she asked bluntly.

Discord stopped the picture he was painting and turned his head a hundred and eighty degrees, whilst another head continued the painting. "While I will say that that fellow is quite interesting to watch, I couldn't possibly take responsibility for creating such a fantastic creature. Besides, if I was going to do something like that, I would've given him fish gills on his head."

"How do I know you're not lying?"

"Oh, you'll just have to take my word for it. Believe me, even I couldn't come up with something this interesting to watch."

"Do you know if he could be a threat, then?"

"Yes."

"As in, you do know if he could be a threat?"

"Yes." The other head had vanished and he was just busily painting now.

"And could he be a massive threat to my little ponies?"

Discord finished painting, then turned towards her. He repositioned his reading glasses before saying, "Yes." And then he vanished, the statue popping back into existence. All that was left behind was the painting.

It was of herself, her face twisted in confusion of what to do.

Equestria first.


<:---.'.---:>


When I got to the front door, I forgot that I didn't have a key, so I just pounded on it instead. 

One of the random servants that seemed conspicuously absent before hurried to the door and opened it. "Yes?" she said.

I ignored her and walked past into the house, despite her meek protests. Quickly finding the stairs, I made my way back to the rich guy's room. Imagine my surprise when Stormy was there.

Yeah, he was right there with that little filly from before, talking to the rich twat.

I knocked on the frame beside the door. Both looked up. The rich guy's eyes found me before dilating. Stormy just sighed. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, I kind of need just a tad bit more of money. About forty bits."

"Well, Poison Oak here just lost his wife. And little Cherry Oak lost her mother. And now you're demanding forty bits from them. And you took money before that?"

"Well... I didn't take it. He gave it to me."

"I gave it to him so he wouldn't cut my head off," Poison interrupted.

Stormy just sighed again. "Look Poison, I'm sorry for wasting your time. We'll just be on our way now."

I kind of felt bad now, after what Stormy said. And now I wouldn't get money for the blacksmith or Stormy would probably run away again. 

"Wait!" Poison called. "You two are together?"

Stormy and I glanced at each other. "Yeah," he said.

"There... there must be some way I can thank you, Whisper."

Hmmm. I could think of a few ways. "I–"

Stormy cut me off. "I'll only accept help if my friend apologizes for what he did to you and your daughter."

I gaped at him. You lying, stinky, traitor. I'll make you pay for this. Stormy prodded me forward. I glared at him openly before sighing. "I'm sorry for stealing from you. And rubbing salt in your wound."

"I- I forgive you. I have enough money that what you took mattered little."

"But it was still uncalled for. I am ashamed of it." Not!

"Tha- thank you."

I moved to step back, but Stormy wasn't satisfied. He blocked my retreat with a hoof. Then he motioned to the filly. I could still dried tear tracks on her face.

"I'm sorry for rubbing salt in your wound, too. That was really mean of me."

"You said that before. What does it mean?"

"I'm sorry?" Both ways.

"No, rubbing salt in a wound. What does that mean?"

"Oh. It means making that matter more painful that it already was. It's a truly dreadful thing to do."

"Okay. I forgive you then." She nodded, as if satisfied.

I smiled. Turns out this situation did affect me. For the better, if Poison would offer his services.

Which he did. He told Stormy and I that we could take guest rooms for the next few days and gave me those last forty bits. If we ever need anything more, we simply had to ask him.

All in all, it was pretty nice. Though I do think Stormy got the better room.

The next morning I woke up late and had to find my way to the dude's dining room. It wasn't that large of a house, but still big enough to get confusing.

Stormy and Poison were conversing. Little Cherry was wolfing down pancakes like nobody's business. I sat down at an isolated spot, leaned back, and scrunched up my face like life sucked, but I was going to suck even more. Then I snatched a pancake and took a bite out of it.

And abruptly spat it back out on the table. What was this stuff made out of!?! OATS!?!

This stuff was made out of oats! What is this?

Then I realized the three of them were looking at me funny.

"Well, yes, sorry about that."

Stormy and Poison went back to conversing, but Cherry kept glancing at me and giggling. I glared at her, but that just made her giggle more.

So I stood up and cleaned up my mess. "Is there something besides panc... uh... oat...cakes?"

"There's some fruit in the refrigerator and some flowers in a vase, if you prefer those for breakfast," Poison said. Flowers, too? Eww.

"And the kitchen is...?" He gestured behind him. "Behind you, got it.

I made my way to the kitchen and found a few apples in the bottom of the fridge. I grabbed three and didn't bother washing them. As I made my way back to my spot, I bit into one. Crap, these are good.

Then I shot down whatever Stormy and my new old man were talking about. "So, Poison, your name really doesn't fit you, but I don't actually want to talk about that. Instead, I was wondering if you knew any tailors who could make me clothes. And if you could let me have some money to go get some. I'm already going to be out and about today, and I think new clothes is really on my agenda." Last night was a testimony to that.

Poison just wrote down some instructions on a piece of parchment and handed it to me, then went off and grabbed the same bag that had those last forty bits it it and dumped a bunch more in. This, he also handed to me.

"Thanks, man. Your name really doesn't match. You're a really nice guy."

"You are welcome and I hope we can be friends in the future, too."

"Yeah." And that was that.

After breakfast Stormy asked me to meet him in his room. I just followed him there, since I had no reason not to.

We sat down at the table in the middle, he on one of those pony chairs, and me on the floor.

"So," he said. "How long are we planning on staying here?"

"Well, I have my armor being finished in probably four or five days, and I'm planning on commissioning some clothes, too, and I don't know how long it'll be before those are finished. Anddd, I'm also going to see if I can get this other guy to do some stuff for me."

"Gearing up for war, eh?"

You Canadian. "More like getting dressed for the day. That dragon back there was just pretty dumb to stand right beneath the giant sword. I'm going to want to be a little better prepared next time, I don't know, something happens."

"Well, that's probably a good idea. But in the meantime, what I am supposed to do?"

"Uh... relax, have fun?"

"I could, but I think we should consider locating the next shard much more clearly."

"You can do that?"

"I can locate almost any object or being, but I'll pass out for the next twenty-four hours. I have just enough time to say the name of the location before I go."

"Hey, why didn't you do that before, then? Oh wait, twenty-four... hmm. Well, if you're just going to be sitting there, why don't you do it now."

"That is why I wanted to ask you. I'd wake up tomorrow around this time."

"Sweet. Go for it, man." 

"Alright. Remember to listen to what I say right before I pass out."

"Got it."

Stormy re-materialized that mask back on his head and then bent down close to the table. I could faintly here him whispering weird sounding words, probably from some old mystical language, or something.

Then his head shot straight up, and his whole body started slumping to the floor.

"Canterlot," he gurgled before collapsing properly.

Canterlot. That's where the second shard was.

I left him to his slumbering and meandered outside again. Since it wasn't quite noon, I decided to find the tailor first. At first I thought the directions looked pretty easy, but I was wrong. I found myself wandering around, searching for a familiar street name. It took me nearly half-an-hour to find tailor, when it should have only been six or seven minutes.

In short, the business was owned by a brother and sister. They agreed to make some clothes for me. I told them I didn't want any designs on them, just normal clothing. It only took half of the bits I had, and they said they'd be done in three days tops. Handy.

By then it was noon, so I made my way to Bob's place, since the way kind of just seemed to open to me. This city was so weird! Like, everywhere I had already been was super easy to find, but finding a new place was pointlessly difficult. 

I got to Bob's place and rand his bell. A familiar voice called, "Coming!" And he did indeed come. "Ah, Time's Grave, nice and early." He reached below the counter and pulled out a black scabbard decorated with silver designs. "It's a beauty."

"Okay, I have to ask, how on earth did you make that so fast?"

He tapped his horn with a hoof. "I'm gifted in Malleus magic. I can adapt and bend things far easier than most unicorns."

"Huh. Cool." I snagged the scabbard. The black, leather like substance that made the belt hung off the side. I pointed at it. "You got more of this stuff?"

"Yeah. Viumin. Tough, flexible, slightly resistant to magic. Why?"

"Think you could make me some gloves and a tunic?"

"Hmm. Gloves maybe... tunic... maybe. Gloves I might be able to have done tomorrow, tunic might take a while longer. I'll have to get paid hefty for this, though."

He named his price, and it took almost all but the last forty required for the blacksmith. "Hey, by the way, do you know where Canterlot is located?"

"Well, it's the capital of Equestria, and right smack in the middle of it too. It's half of Equestria north from here."

"Ahh. So we're at the bottom of Equestria right now?"

"That's correct."

"Good, good. And what is Equestria, exactly."

Bob looked concerned. "You're really not from around here, are you?"

"Nope."

"Huh. Well, Equestria is by far the biggest pony nation in the world, ruled by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. Canterlot's the captitol. We're down here in Brown."

"Oh. So that's the name of this city."

"Yeah. Not too fond of it, myself. I'm hoping to move out of here one day."

"Just not this day?"

"Not this day. You're a cool guy, Time. Enjoy your scabbard. I hope I'll be able to make what you want."

"Agreed. I'll see you in a few days! Thanks again!" I called as I walked out the door. Then I slipped on the scabbard. After a few adjustments, I had it on nice and snug. It felt good, and didn't chafe too much. I'd be getting better clothes, and armor, at that, too, so it didn't really matter anyway. I unsheathed my sword, relishing the crisp sound of such a thing.

The blade was mostly silver, with the center being black all the way down. The hilt was a simple affair, though it was reinforced with that viumin stuff. Still quite good, though. I whipped it around a few times before re-sheathing it. If I could really learn how to use one, that'd be fantastic.

I caught the blacksmith next and paid him his last forty bits. After that, my coin purse was empty, so I spent the rest of the day finding out more about Canterlot and ponies in general.

Stormy woke up the next day (hungry), and we talked a bit about the world, Equus. After that, the next few days went by in a blur.

I got the clothes I ordered, plus an enchanted bag which could fit an obscene amount of things inside. I wondered briefly what would happen if I somehow got stuck inside, but then waved it off. I also collected my armor, which I practiced the procedure for putting it on and taking it off several times. Since it was only a few parts, it wasn't too hard to get on or get used to the extra weight. Finally, Bob did indeed have success with making the gloves and tunic. The tunic was kind of like a dress on the lower portion, with the front half gone, and the back part split into three equal flaps. It kind of felt weird, but putting that and the armor on together gave me just what I was hoping for. I also had four pairs of black pants to put on with it, too.

Another day, and Stormy and I were preparing to set off North via train.


<:---.'.---:>


Two ponies, a pegasus and a unicorn, stood atop a nearby roof. The female unicorn's pelt was a pale yellow, while the pegasus stallion had a orange coat like the rising sun. The unicorn's horn glowed a soft pink.

"Target located, Captain," she said, looking down through a window at the unsuspecting human below.

"Good," her horn seemed to say back. "We'll be arriving shortly with backup."

Her horn stopped glowing. She met eyes with the pegasus.

This was going to be a bumpy ride.
> Chapter 4- A Little Skirmish
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I stepped into the living room. Stormy had his bags packed, which contained some dry fruits, some bits and pieces, and not much else.

I had my armor and tunic and gloves on. They were pretty much a set now, and I had gotten used to them by wearing them everywhere for the last day or so. Besides that, I had my sword in its scabbard strapped to my side and that same coin purse filled with bits. Oh yeah, and that shard infused in my body.

Weird, eh?

Stormy started and looked up. He materialized his helmet over his head and grabbed his bag. "Time!"

An arrow shattered the stillness of the morning by crashing into the large balcony window. Time seemed to stop as shards of glass flew through the room. I barely dodged the actual arrow, though I was pelted with glass. "STORM, GO!"

Stormy bolted for the back, and I wasn't far behind. I glanced behind me and saw an orange pegasus wielding some sort of crossbow flying through the window and looking intent on stopping our own flight. Another Bob? 

Stormy got the door open and started racing into the alley to the left. I followed closely and slammed the door behind me, almost feeling the impact of another arrow half a second later.

"Storm. Go and find the train station. I'll distract them. Wait for me as long as you can."

"But–" Another arrow impacted the door, causing it to split slightly. "Ah, whatever. You'd better get there before it leaves. If there even is a train there." He looked up for a moment and then started galloping down the street to my left. 

Yet another arrow caused a hole to form in the door. I backed away from it slowly and glanced to down the way Stormy had went. Then I tore off in the opposite direction. 

The alley quickly came to a close and I found myself near the front end of the house, faced with one of the city squares. It even had one of those fountains in the middle. I heard the door splinter into pieces a ways off behind me and quickly sprinted toward the fountain.

Sprinting out into the middle of an open city square is pretty much the best way of telling your assailants: "I'm right here!"

In fact, they were spread out on buildings facing the rich guy's house. Most of them noticed me quickly and took to the air, some carrying unicorns in their grip.

They quickly surrounded me and the pegasus from before slid to a halt at the end of the alleyway, fixing me with one of the worst kind of stares. A stare that meant: "My first loyalty is to my duty alone, and you suck."

Who knows? From what I've heard, he's pretty spot-on.

I scanned my attackers. About twenty of them. Something about the way they held their spears, or twitched anxiously, seemed off. They looked almost... uncomfortable, as if this was somewhat new to them. All except...

There. That one was more confident, and something told me she was the leader. They all donned symbols of the sun and moon, which most likely meant Celestia and Luna, as I had learned from the ponies of Brown. 

The pony I had bet on stepped forward, confirming my suspicions. She was a hot pink pegasus, with a lacy, royal purple mane. Her cutie mark (another term I learned from the residents of Brown) was covered up by that military uniform.

"Stand down," she said.

I looked around me. "I'm not sure how to do that, ma'am."

"Drop your weapon, then."

"Oh, this?" I gestured to my sheath. "No."

Now she looked triggered. She gave the tiniest nod to a unicorn next to her. 

I looked down at my sword. The hilt was encapsulated by an orange glow for a moment, before it flickered and died out. I saw the unicorn's horn light up again as she struggled to probably pull my sword out of its sheath. Instead, the magic kind of just drained away, leaving tiny runes on the hilt glowing orange, before those too faded.

I marveled at the sword. This thing was definitely a winner, and I was glad I had gotten an awesome sheath for it.

The leader pegasus thing called out again. "Will you surrender to us peacefully?"

"Maybe," I called back.

"Yes or no!"

"Then my answer is..." I pretended to think for a moment. "Yes."

The leader seemed surprised and fairly happy with this. She gestured to two of the other guards and they came up to me. 

One looked like they were about to put some kind of handcuffs on me, before I yelled, "PHSYCE!" and whipped out my sword, slitting the throat of one and decapitating the other in the same motion.

Their bodies crumpled to the ground on either side of me. I looked around me at the other seventeen rookies. Their eyes were wide and pinned on me.

"Charge him!" the leader's call rang out. They all started and then started racing towards me. I turned tail and fled, dodging one and scoring a gash down another as I raced past. I ducked into the nearest alley and held out my sword for any inexperienced flyers to crash into. The first barely stopped in time, causing the others to slow and bump into each other. In their confusion, I ran.

I had no idea if I was going in the right direction, and something told me I could take them if I wanted to. However, like that little filly back on the street, hurting or killing these ponies might cause negative rippling to somehow effect me.

Actually, screw that. I had already killed two of them, might as well kill the rest. If I only killed two, it would just seem weird and get awkward whenever anyone talked about it. Better to just kill them all and be seen as a bloodthirsty monster that no one should trifle with. That way, nobody would really waste time by getting in my way.

Then again, I had all the time in the world. Maybe I should just– you know what? Nevermind. I'm in the middle of a freaking battle. No need for logic and plans and morality here.

I ground to a halt and turned around slicing my sword skywards. Just as I had hoped, one of the pegasi was right there, and was sliced all the way down the belly. They fell sideways and crashed into one of the walls before falling to the ground on some garbage. 

"Oh, does your tummy hur–"

I was pummeled from behind and smashed flat on the ground, held down by that stupid orange pegasus from before. Ambitious little guy, aren't you? Fury twisted his features to the utmost degree. Why was this guy so mad at me?

He raised a hoof and punched me in the face. I felt my head knock into the cobblestone street. Funny, that blow felt far weaker than it should have, coming from a horse.

He decked me again and again, and I felt blood ooze from various spots on my face. When at last he stopped laying into me, I said, "You're weak, boy."

He decked me again, extra hard, but it was like your seven-year brother punching you in the face. Pitiful.

Even still, it was getting slightly annoying. I heaved him off of me and kicked him away from me. I took off down the alley again. 

A few seconds later, I felt a very unwelcome presence in my back. The force of it almost made me trip, but I kept going. From what I knew, I imagined having an arrow in your back was very painful, to say the least. It was actually a lot better than I thought it would be.

I felt another arrow make a clanging sound as it bounced off of one of my greaves. That awful pegasus. He needed to die.

I had a feeling that the longer I had the arrow in my back, the worse, so I found a side street that I ducked into. I reached back and ripped the arrow out of my back. My back felt slightly worse, and I looked at the arrow. It wasn't barbed, but it was dripping blood. I could feel half my backside soaked with blood, too. Something like this should hurt far more than it did.

Ah wait. I held out my hand and conjured up the earth shard. Immediately my back exploded in pain and I almost fell over as a wave of exhaustion and pain crashed over me. So that explains things slightly. I get a weird version of leprosy. 

I let the stone melt back into my skin and stood up again, as the pain went back to being a dull throb. Where all those other soldiers were at, I didn't know. I did know that orange pegasus was out for my blood, though.

I needed to find the train station. I couldn't afford to lose Stormy, and fighting these guys was just a distraction anyway. I looked at the shabby building next to me. There was literally some sort of service ladder going up the side. 

Soon I was on top. I still couldn't see much, but I heard a train whistle in the distance. The topside of Brown was almost easier to navigate; most of the buildings had flat tops and many extended over the streets.

That evil pegasus flew up a ways to my left. We made eye contact for just a moment before I tore off in the direction of the train whistle I heard. He flew after me at unfair speeds. 


~/\^/\~
Rules of my Descention
.III.

Only I and those I appoint worthy can recognize and obtain the shards of the Seeker.
~\/v\/~



Stormy glanced back the way he had come. There was still no sign of Time's Grave. He hoped Time had gotten away from whoever was attacking. 

A few other ponies milled about on the train platform. It was a larger train station, and had four different tracks which led to four different places. The earliest departure time would be coming any minute now, and, luckily enough, the train it conceded headed somewhat North.

The station was surrounded by a flatter area with tracks and even a full-blown freight yard. A metal chainlink fence surrounded the whole perimeter. 

CHUUU CHUUU, a train whistle jolted Stormy to turn his head and sense down the tracks. Soon enough, a train found its way to the platform and halted.

A train ticket pony got off once the rest of the ponies exited the cars. "Departure in fifteen minutes!" he called.

Stormy waited and waited, but there was no sign of Time's Grave.

"Hey, you!" the ticket pony said after about fifteen minutes. "You getting on?" 

Stormy had been waiting there anxiously. He dipped his head and boarded the train. A few elderly ponies and a young couple turned their heads towards him, most likely looking at him. He found a spot somewhat isolated and turned his head toward a window.

C'mon, Time. Hurry it up!


<:---.'.---:>


I hurried across the new terrain with a strange, practiced ease, while Mr. Hothead back there kept ramming into things. The horrible part was that he didn't even seem phased when he'd collide with something like a chimney, or a heap of bricks. Heck, there was even a fridge up there.

Then I saw it. Ahead of me, the rooftops opened up into a large field at the edge of the city. Train tracks tied themselves around a single, large building in the middle. There was a train stopped at one of the platforms. 

Too soon, the roofs came to an end. Lacking anything better to do, I jumped off the edge of the last roof, relying on the earth shard to make my fall meaningless.

I felt weightlessness for a moment, and then I seemed to simply glide on the air. I looked around, for I was getting even higher. The beautiful sun, and the clouds, and the seagulls; it was amazing. I looked down at the ground and saw my shadow pass over a fence. I had wings!

My shadow had wings, and I was elated. I turned around to look at them and saw the grinning face of the orange pegasus. Oh crap. He dropped me and suddenly, I was plummeting towards the earth.

I landed face down in the mud. For a forty foot drop, it could've been worse. Then again, I almost felt the artificiality of my body working on literally only magic.

I got up and slipped back down into the mud again.

"Fine, just," I muttered. "Just, ugh, let's go." I got up again and absolutely pelted towards the train. I tripped one or two more times on the way there. 

About halfway across, I was met by the orange pegasus again. He tackled me from behind, sending us both sprawling into the mud. The sky seemed darker now, for some reason. Weird.

He lost his grip on me when we decided to use the muddy ground as a slip-and-slide course, and I recovered first. I ripped the blade out of its scabbard and charged over to where he lay. He saw me coming and surged forward using his wings, crashing into me and knocking the blade loose. I kept my footing and he backed away.

We stood five feet from each other, having a staring contest.

"What's your deal?" I asked.

The pegasus spat on the ground. "You are a worthless scumbag. You are the reason I have to be here, instead of helping the soon-to-be prince. He was my best friend, and now I have to come here to capture some low-life threat to Equestria."

"Listen, I'm not your friend. But seriously, do you have a name? I keep thinking of you as 'the orange pegasus'."

"I'll not give you the honor of knowing my name!" He flew at me.

What the pegasus had not realized was that in the few moments of our conversation, we had circled each other slightly, and I had picked up my sword at that last moment. I slammed upwards, the flat of the blade connecting with the pegasus' jaw. The pegasus fell backwards into the mud from the brutal uppercut. I almost wanted to finish him off, but the train whistle told me I had no time.

I turned around and raced toward the locomotive; it had already started moving. Hopefully Stormy was on this train, otherwise, I didn't really know what I would do. I felt the magic of the earth shard ebbing away as I ran. Something told me I had pretty much exhausted its power and was almost back to the drawing board.

I had almost made it to the train, running sideways ever so slightly for maximum chances of catching the train. The caboose had almost passed.

I leaped toward it, but my hand didn't catch a good enough grip, and I tumbled down on the tracks behind the train.

Nope, not quite right.


<:---.'.---:>


I leaped toward the caboose, extending my arm as far as I could, but it caught in the railing and I was flung off to side, my hand throbbing.

Still not correct.


<:---.'.---:>


I leaped toward the caboose, my hand catching the side of the rail and flinging the rest of me over it into the tiny car. Regaining my footing, I found a smallish door and opened it, finding nobody inside of the small seating area at the very back of the train.

I clamored up onto one of the weird seats and slumped my head down, feeling the speed of the train increasing every second until I fell asleep. 

Ah.

There it is.
> Chapter 4 1/2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Remember what Coris said back there, on the boat? He talked about colors.

He's right, to some degree. Colors are indeed very important. So when colors get mixed, as in the eyes of Time's Grave, for example, things tend to... get messy.

The color blue, especially in an eye, means quite a lot. And the color green, especially in an eye, means quite a lot.

White for light. Black for darkness. Red for trickery. Simple things like that.

But then you get into things like orange for order, and blue for chaos. Grey for evil, gold for good. Green for peace, green for pain, green for love.

But just because something happens to be the color of one of these traits, that does not mean that something is indeed a catalyst of it.

Time's Grave's eyes, for example, mean nothing of peace, and love, and chaos and the like. They mean something quite different, which will be revealed in due time.

Now, as I look at everything that happens, I find myself swooping around, changing things and adding things and blocking things. I launched this attempt quite blindly, wondering what might happen. If all goes well, as I believe it will, I will have gained a glimmer of what I will need in the far future, when this little game of mine finally does end. I so wonder what that day will be like, when I finally figure out the truth...

Anyway, I have decided to add a new factor to the mix, both helpful to my purpose and destructive toward it, so that the victory will be hard-earned, and not simply handed over in meekness.

--{Perhaps intentionally leaked thoughts of "Malevolence", regarding colors and a game}--
> Chapter 5- Rest and Quest
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A gentle breeze blew around him as he got up from where he had been lying down. He looked around. Sky. White clouds on a blue sky stretched out around him. Looking up, he saw a little spire, supported by four small pillars, rising up above him. Looking down, he saw tan stone, set ablaze with white flame, as if it held a million tiny candles.

He took a step forward, out of the middle of the square. The flames died down, but there was still a trace of lingering dark magic upon the stones. He bent down. These stones had been used as catalysts for countless dark magic endeavors before.

He straightened once more and lifted one hoof in front of his face. Grey. Soft. He put his hoof down and walked to the edge of the sacred stones. Peering down at the ground, he noticed that he was 356 meters above the ground below. Ivory stone stretched down before him to the ground, little neon lights dotting its side. A gust of wind should be able to blow this tower down, unless one third of its true length was actually underground.

Looking back at the tiny sanctuary he was in, he wondered how he might get down to the ground. At the mere thought, he felt wings unsheath themselves from his back. Shiny grey feathers stretched out, ready to propel him onward. Then, he hesitated.

Where would he go? He felt something in his mind, a presence that told him he needed to find something. What was it? Something that no one in this world should have seen before. No, someone. But who?

And who was he to find someone this world had never seen before? The answer existed, but only within his own mind until he said it aloud. "Root." His voice was rough and scratchy, as if it had been a long time since it was used, if ever. "I am Root."

And with that, Root launched himself off the edge of the spire, not noticing the tower vanishing behind him.


<:---.'.---:>


I woke up, dawn light casting its fingers though the windows of the train. We were still moving, and nothing in the room had changed since when I had arrived.

I sat up, feeling my back disagree in pain. Looking behind me, I saw blood smeared all over the wall and cushion from where I had been sitting. I felt the little hole in my back with my hand. It was all crusted, but when I pulled my hand away, it still had new wetness on it. Man, I needed to find a mirror. I was guessing that earth shard was helping me out a little, because I felt strangely calm as I got to my feet.

I stretched, wincing in more than a few places. I glanced out the window my eyes found first. Rolling hills. A few trees. I wondered where I exactly I was, or how close to Canterlot I was now. Hopefully this train even went towards Canterlot. The sun was rising towards me through the window, which meant that we were indeed going North.

Huzzah.

I really felt weary. But instead of just lying down again, I decided to try and find out if Stormy was on this train. I couldn't afford to lose him now, and I had sent him to the train station before. Might as well find out so I could plan properly.

Just as I was about to open the door that led to the next car, the train started slowing. I retracted my hand from the knob and looked around. It appeared we would be stopping in a little village for some time.

I grabbed my stuff (nothing), and opened the door to the caboose. I walked out onto it and jumped down onto the ground when the train stopped. A little filly at the station saw me and gaped in horror. "Mommy! What's that horrible monster doing here?" she poked her mom with one hoof and pointed at me with the other. I was too tired to really care. I just gazed dumbly back at her with a dull expression upon my face.

I looked over at the passengers emptying the train. No Stormy. Ah wait, there he was. I walked towards him slowly, ponies around me giving me a wide berth. Stormy seemed not to notice me, and hurried away into the village on some uncommunicated task. Huh.

I looked back at the village before me. I shrugged.

It was a nice place, just big enough to hold people you don't know, but small enough to feel comfortable and cozy. I meandered through the marketplace stalls, just enjoying the feeling of being alone, with the breeze and cool air and sunshine.

"Can I help you there?"

I must have stopped at one of the stalls on accident. "Oh, uh, not really, I don't think." What was this guy selling? Oh. Carrots.

"You look pretty messed up. What are you, anyway?"

"A human. Spread the knowledge so I don't have to say it everywhere I go."

"Huh. So what are you doing here, human?"

"I have a name. As for what I'm doing, I sure don't know. This sucks, man."

"Oh," he seemed somewhat confused by my terminology. "What's your name then?"

"Time."

"Neat. Do you think you could get me an autograph?"

"Sure! Do you think you could get me a thousand-year-old hidden relic that's actually a shard of a ridiculously powerful weapon located in Canterlot that'll grant me some mystical power while I hold on to it?"

His expression almost made me smile. I gave a short cough. "Why are you so talkative, anyway?"

"Well, I really haven't had very much business all day."

"Well, it's still pretty early in the morning. Actually," I noticed the guy was a unicorn, "do you think you could get rid of some sort of magical enchantment on me?"

He leaned forward, eyes squinting. "Here, let me try." His horn started glowing softly. He scrunched up his eyes in frustration. After about a minute, he stopped. "Listen, I can't really help you. There's a veil of strong magic that just seems to shroud even your most outside parts. I've never really seen anything like it, but if I had to say, you'd need a real powerful magic user to break that enchantment."

"Oh. Hmm, that's actually not what I was talking about. I was referring to a death link someone put inside of me."

"A death link!?! Wow! You'd have to be a class four magic user to cast magic so powerful! This fellow most likely put this shroud of darkness on you, too, to protect his enchantment."

"Right. How do I level up?"

"Excuse me?"

"Yah, nothing. Where can I find a powerful magic guy to bust open this vault inside of me."

"Actually, one lives in a cave a little ways North of here, or, so the legend says."

I rubbed my ears. "Seriously?"

"Yeah, he might be able to break your curse. But be careful, his lair is supposed to be extremely well-guarded, and even then he might just kill you if you make it to him."

"Wow. Thanks."  Never thought I'd be so lucky. Now I just need to find Stormy.

I walked away from the stall and thought about where Stormy might go. What kinds of things does he even do, anyway? When I'm not around?

Hmm.

He's probably off buying new shoes or something.

If what that guy had said about a dark wizard living right over there was true, taking Stormy might be a good idea. Man, if only we had walkie-talkies. That would be really fantastic.

I was strolling through town, looking for Stormy, when I finally found him. Or rather, he found me.

I was minding my own business, just contemplating what pony flesh might taste like, when BOOM, he collided right into my side, completely knocking me over.

I got up, spluttering, and glared at him. "What was that for?"

He looked up at me. "Uh... Time? Look behind me."

"You mean: 'look behind you.' It's not said: 'Look behind me,' cause that's just silly."

"No, I mean look behind ME."

I looked behind him. A ten foot tall red minotaur was looking at me with unconcealed rage. "Oh. Right."

I took a step backwards. The minotaur took a step toward me. Stormy Whisper scrambled out of the way.

"So what's your deal?" I asked.

"DIE!" was his logical answer.

He dove at me and I leaped out of the way. Sadly, he was quick on his hooves and launched at me again. I didn't have time to recover, which ended with me sprawling in the dirt with the hideous beast right on top of me. He didn't seem to have a weapon, so he just decked me over and over.

I'm sure it would've really hurt, but because of that green shard, it didn't.

I slipped out from under the minotaur and unsheathed my sword slowly, letting the ring of it loudly pronounce itself. A small crowd had gathered, and their breaths seemed to quicken.

I saw the minotaur size up my blade, as if comparing its sharpness with his own brute strength. Then, he charged.

I dodged to the right again and brought my blade in a quick arc down into his neck. The blade bit in, but it was more like a hide than skin, and the minotaur leaped and grappled me again. This time I kicked him in the jaw, then stabbed the sword upwards into his chest. It probably would've killed him if it had been a stronger blow, but my positioning was awkward and swords don't really work the best in ground combat.

I slipped out from the ground underneath the guy, hoping to maximize my sword's potential, but instead a massive kick from the minotaur slammed me backwards into someone's market stall, scattering fruits and vegetable everywhere. The minotaur was coming at me again, so I turned and ran between two buildings.

I went down little alleys and spaces between buildings, hoping to lose the red thing. Then, when I was sure I had time, I found a stack of crates and used them to climb on to the roof of the building next to it. I steadily creeped around the top, hearing the minotaur's voice loudly tear at the ambience of the village. It was coming closer, closer...

There. It was charging down the path I had just taken. I poised myself to jump. Just a moment closer, and... BAM I landed straight on the minotaurs shoulders, slamming my sword down into his skull. He crumpled beneath me and I extracated myself from him before his face hit the dirt. Blood shone dark on my blade and I absent-mindedly stared at it.

Weren't you supposed to clean the blood off with something? I looked around. Nothing but my tunic and pants, since the minotaurs rags were blood-soaked already. I didn't really feel like getting my clothes blunked up, so I resolved to let the blood stay there on the sword. You know, because why not?

I looked through the minotaur's coin purse. Nothing but three bits, two nuts and bolts, and a tiny little bone. Nothing special there.

Wait.

Two nuts and bolts? I fished them out again. Huh. These were human inventions and I hadn't seen anything involving nuts and bolts around here. What on earth? Hmm.

Well, they'd probably explain themselves eventually. For now, I dropped them into one of my little pockets and headed back towards the town square.

I found Stormy coming towards me before I got there. He stopped and looked at me in horror.

I felt like I should know why, but I was light-headed and couldn't really think straight. "What?" I asked him.

He rushed over to me. "Dude, how are you even standing!? You look horrible."

I stared at him dumbly. Oh yeah. Hmm. "Stormy?" He looked up. "Hey, are my eyes glowing green?"

He raised his eyebrows, then stopped and looked me square in the eye. "I have no idea."

I smiled briefly. "Cool." I looked down at my hand and summoned the earth shard. Immediately I felt blackness drag me backwards toward the ground and was unconscious before I hit.


<:---.'.---:>


It had been a day since the princess had left to go back to Canterlot. Even though Twilight knew that her mentor would have the situation under control, she still wanted to investigate things on her accord. In fact, if she studied hard enough, she might even figure out something that the princess hadn't!

So naturally, the first thing she did was cast the pathfinder spell her teacher had taught her not too long ago. Twilight knew that the human was in the hospital in Room 214 precisely four days ago, and so that's where she cast it. Then she followed the human's afterimage to the center of Whitetail Woods, one of her favorite places to go during the fall, when the leaves were all lovely shades of red and yellow and brown.

Apparently the human had simply morphed into existence. The magic in the air and ground around the clearing were all perfectly normal, suggesting that the creature defied all laws of physics and magic completely. 

Twilight moved in and around the clearing for some time, studying every plant and tree for some sort of hint. She was missing something here, she knew it!

As time went on, she found herself drawn to the center of the clearing once more, this time just staring at the afterimage of the human.

Wait. Afterimage.

!!! Her mind jumped erratically. That was it! How could the human leave an afterimage in the magical field of Equestria? The only way he could do so would be if he himself was a part of the magical field.

The human was connected to Equestria's magic! She had to tell Princess Celestia her revelation right away. She teleported in two short bursts back to the library. Spike was already there, lounging on his little basket bed. "Spike!!"

Spike jumped and fell out of his bed. "Huh? Wuh?"

"Spike, quickly, this is important! Take a letter!"

Spike (who, of course, was used to random stuff like this all the time) immediately got up and ran over to a little shelf. He snatched some ink with a quill and a parchment. "Ready!"

"Good. Dear Princess Celestia, As you know, the discovering of a new species in Equestrian has caused both of us to leap into action, you, diplomatically, and I, investigatively. Therefore, I think that it is important that you know what I have learned thus far, that being the fact that the human is definitely a part of the magical field of Equestria. This is good news, and also bad news. The good news is that we can definitely track him magically and the like, as well as manipulate him magically and the like. The bad news is that he, being connected to the magical field, may have access to magic and, if not, may be able to learn to use magic. Also, since he apparently ran away from the hospital, he must have been well enough after being crushed by a stinking house to be able to do so. This signifies that the magical healing salves being applied to him must have worked at least double time, or he already has significant regenerative powers. My guess is that he responds well to magic, and it seems to amplify around him. After all, his afterimages seemed brighter than I remember the afterimages of other creatures being. Perhaps this is the case, or maybe a combination of the two?Either way, this is what I have learned so far. I will continue to update you as I find out more information. Your Faithful Student, Twilight Sparkle. Oh – and P.S. Since the human is part of the magical field, couldn't you send Princess Luna into his dreams to try and talk to him or get his location somehow? Let me know how that works!"

Spike collapsed on the ground in exhaustion, held the parchment up to his mouth, and blew it away to Princess Celestia. Twilight leaned back onto her bed, wondering what Princess Celestia would think of her discoveries.

Either way, she could definitely still continue her own research. She put both her hooves to her cheeks gleefully, thinking of all the exciting things she would learn.


~/\^/\~
Rules of my Descention
.IV.

I will be like any other mortal, except that my mind cannot be altered by supernatural experiences.
~\/v\/~



I was having a dream. Yes, I was aware of it. Because of my screwed up existence, I knew that some people thought that if you were aware of the fact that you were dreaming, you could change the dream. I knew this was a dream, and I kind of felt like I could control it, but I decided to just let it play out. More interesting that way, you know?

Anyway, I was in a dark room. Because of the lighting, I was pretty sure the room was completely white, but it had just a tiny bit of light, making it a really weird dark. Stark dark. Yeah, that was it.

In any case, I wasn't alone in the room. There was this guy standing right before me. All cloaked and stuff so that he took on the appearance of just pure darkness. I don't know, maybe he was trying to hide a bad haircut.

He extended a gloved hand and looked up at me. First, the hand wasn't withered and old; it was pretty normal looking, besides the black glove. Second, his eye (only the right one was showing) was just a pure green. That's the only way I can think of to describe it. Pure.

Hmm.

It almost looked like he wanted me to take his hand. I kind of wanted to, but then I realized it would be a sucky idea.

Well...

Who cares if it's a sucky idea? Sucky ideas make things more interesting.

I reached my hand forward to grasp the other guy's when it bumped into a hard surface just before the other guy's hand. The other guys hand was also touching a hard surface, but just on the other side it seemed. Then I looked up again and noticed something.

I was looking at a mirror.

The moment I realized that, it vanished into dust, leaving me in the dark room once again. I looked down at my black robes and chuckled to myself.

Then the serenity almost seemed to shatter. I felt a niggling anxiety and looked behind me. Ah crap.

There was a freaking pony behind me. A really big one, kind of like that Princess Celestia, but dark blue instead. The crown and resemblance meant that this was almost certainly Princess Luna, the other ruler of Equestria.

The very same Equestria that had just assaulted him with twenty guards. The very same Equestria that he had completed disobeyed the ruler of. And the same Equestria in which he had killed some of its forces.

Yep, this wasn't gonna pretty.

Oh, even worse was that the princess was wearing a casual smile. Oh man, how do you deal with that?

Well, I'll let her talk first. Like in a game, I can respond to her first move intelligently, instead of me playing the first move.

She regarded me cooly before speaking. "Hello, human."

Hardly a beginning. "Hi," I said back.

"My sister tells me that you maimed several of her guards, and murdered a few as well."

I knew it! "Well, looking back on it, I'm pretty sure I didn't injure any of them. Anyone I caused damage to is dead. Well, except for crap-face."

"Crap-face?"

"Nevermind. Whatever the case, they were the ones attacking me and assaulting an innocent home. How do you justify that?"

She seemed undeterred. I decided that I really didn't like her. "Well, my sister received a tip that added quite a bit of weight to a certain side of the scale. She is quite convinced that you are a threat to Equestria."

"Oh yeah? Who told her that?" Even though whatever the reasons they might have for thinking I'm a threat to Equestria are probably loose and unreasonable, the truth is, I'm literally working on creating the most powerful weapon in the world for some guy who's literally named Doom to use on Equestria. Now that's funny.

"To be honest, she didn't tell me. Her captain gave her the mission report and Celestia was just seething. She told me what happened on the mission, her general disposition about you, the obscure 'tip' she received, and Twilight's idea."

"Twilight's idea?" That one purple unicorn back in Ponyville? Memory of her should deem her unworthy of remembering, but she seemed important, somehow. Almost... familiar.

Man, that's weird.

Oh crap, she's talking!

"...thought it'd be a good idea for me to visit your dream and talk to you."

"Yes. Great."

"Celestia's actually just incredibly busy these past few days. Things are pretty hectic in Canterlot right now. I'm all tied up, too. Celestia insisted that I talk to you before I take my shift at the watch, so that's why I'm not really in the mood for pleasantries."

"Okay..." Perfect, that means I just need to stall! "So what did you want to talk to me about?"

"Whether or not you're a threat to Equestria," she said bluntly.

"Oh, okay."

"So.... are you a threat to Equestria?"

"I don't know. What do you think?"

She thought for a moment before replying, "No, I don't think so. Your general posture and mood seem to be that of a friend. You do not appear to care about things such as political power or ruthless slaughter, but instead seem to be uncaring about everything in general as of now. A position such as your own is in no way a threat of any kind."

"I'm glad you can see that, unlike your sister."

"She has not gotten the pleasure of a conversation with you, as I have. Plus, she's a little paranoid at times," she added.

"Well, being the ruler of a nation does that to you."

"Indeed. I suppose I shall be going now. It was fun." She started backing up into the wall. "Friend."

She disappeared completely and I let out a sigh of relief. In general, it seemed like the pony race was pretty stupid. Stupid people with lots of power = a real mess and pointless complications. 

I mean, it's easier to trick them, but that's about it. Now I had one princess kind of on my side, and another somewhat against me. Hmm.

Crappy.

Well, whatever. Could be worse.

A lot worse.

Then the dream seemed to shut down, almost like an old tv screen.


<:---.'.---:>


I woke up in some grass. 

The sky stretched out blue in front of me. A few traces of clouds lingered near the sun. A bird passed by.

I sat up. The village was near, to my left. I was sitting on a gentle hill.

I felt the grass. It felt good. I saw a little beetle near my hand, too. 

I smiled gently. How peaceful.

I saw Stormy coming at me from the village. I waited for him. 

He arrived and looked down at me. "You seem to be in a good mood."

"Oh. Yes, I suppose so..."

He held out his hoof and a small, pulsating green stone morphed out into his cup. "I brought this for you."

I reached out and took the shard, savoring the feeling of it coursing through my body once again. I felt a little bit more alive. "Thanks."

He sat down next to me. "So how are you feeling?"

"Pretty good, considering what that minotaur did to me."

Stormy sighed. "You were out for about a day."

I arched my eyebrows at no one. That long?

"Why'd you ask me if your eyes were green?"

"I... don't know. I must have forgotten you can't see color."

"Regardless, why did you want to know?"

I thought for a moment. "I don't know, whenever I'm relying on that thing, I kind of feel this burning sensation in my eyes. I wanted to know if it was physical, or just mental."

"Interesting." He laid back. "You'll have to ask someone else, I guess."

I laid back once again, and we just sat there for a few moments, looking at the sky.

"You ever wonder if there's anything up there?" I asked.

"Up where?"

"The... oh."

"What?"

I sighed. "Nothing."

A few more moments before he said, "So where are we going now? The only train that comes here leaves sometime soon, I think."

I got up and brushed myself off. "Actually, we're going to go visit an evil wizard."

He scrambled up. "What?! Wh-"

"He might be able to break that death link Untergang has on us."

"He- really?"

"Yeah, let's go."

He practically bounced on his hooves, then stopped suddenly. "But what about if what you said before is true. That he might be watching us right now, somehow?"

"Hmm, you're right. But you're also wrong."

"How so?"

"Untergang needs me alive to get him the shards. He needs you alive so I can find them. What part of him killing us would help his plan along?"

"I guess it doesn't. But it does mean he could just kill us if we go rogue on him, which means-"

"That he did indeed put the death link on us to ensure our compliance," I finished. "So he really did think this through. Crap. Either we can take our chances and go for the dark wizard, relying on luck, or we can hurry on to Canterlot."

Stormy and I glanced sullenly at each other. Chances or not, I felt like the wizard was the worth the risk. 
Slightly irrational, yes, but it just felt right.

"Well, let's go for the wizard."

Stormy just nodded in submission.

So we started heading North, Stormy on the lookout for a cave.

As we walked, he asked, "So we're going to visit this evil wizard who lives in a heavily guarded death cave, counting on the hope that Untergang won't just kill us for trying to escape his death link? Why, exactly, are we taking such a dangerous detour?"

"Intuition," I answered.

Stormy stopped and turned his head toward me and I could almost imagine his eye twitching inside of that mask. "Intuition? Seriously?"

I kept moving.

He caught up with me, saying, "You're crazy!"

I turned back and faced him. "Well, we could just avoid this and lose your chance to possibly be free of Untergang. That sound better to you?"

"Uh... no," he said sheepishly.

"Then let's go." And we did.

It wasn't long before we found a cave on a hillside. We had come to marshier ground, and there was plantlife everywhere. What would have been invisible to the naked eye could not hide from Stormy, and we found the opening behind some draping stuff. I didn't even know what it was, it was just green and hanging over the entrance.

On the other side of the entrance, a tunnel stretched out in front of us, with a slightly downward shift. Sunlight shone eerily through the stuff at the entrance and cast moving tongues of light on the tunnel floor. It was a big tunnel, too. Tall enough for me to walk quite comfortably and wide enough for two or three ponies two walk comfortably.

The air inside of the tunnel was cold and smelled of stone and mildew. I actually really liked the smell of mildew, so I felt a little more at ease. Stormy, on the other hand, was almost trembling in place.

I gripped one of his mask's winged horns and said, "Well, here we go."

And on we went.
> Chapter 6- A Dank Dark Wizard Dude
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Torrents of water poured from the sky, like teardrops raining down from the heavens. Not a soul was foolish enough to stay out in weather like this.

Yet hooves came down upon the wet ground in the small village of Kalmar. Striding down the main street in search of something. The lampposts flickered and cast a yellow sheen through the night, the light dancing on every drop of rain.

Finally, the stallion found what he was looking for. An old building, but in good order. He looked up and squinted at the sign above the double oak doors. "Historic Library of Kalmar". He slowly walked up the steps before finding the door to be locked. The stallion unsheathed his wings and sliced the door in half almost instantaneously. The momentum of this swung the stallion around to buck the remains of the door into the library with a crunch.

The stallion folded his wings back in and walked into the library. The inside was musty and smelled of books. A lamp on the front desk shone warmly and made the pegasus's grey fur look almost metallic. Root stepped past the front desk and continued on to the "L" section.

He soon found a book titled Legends of Equus, Both Real and Untrue. Flipping open to the table of contents, he found an entry called "Dread Magnus". Finding the page confirmed his suspicions.

This was who he was looking for. It had been more than nine years since Root's quest had begun. This was the first real lead. All others were either burned or scribbled out in the places he needed.

The page had no illustrations and was mildly short. It detailed his great success in the arena of Shadowskull Ridge. Apparently, in the first century of the second beginning, Magnus has shown up out of the blue, and beaten every monster and contestant the crowds threw at him. He did it with only his bare hands, it seemed, and every fight looked like some sort of a joke. But he never took any of the tibs(money in that era) the winner normally received. Nobody knew why. Then, one day, Magnus defeated the most powerful warrior in the land. After the fight, Magnus had a quiet word with the warrior, Jahg, who was king of the Red Plains. After that, he vanished, and no one ever saw him again.

The only description the book gave of him was that he held darkness in one claw and truth in the other. 

The validity of this tale did not occur to Root. This was who he was looking for. He did not have any idea why, but such was his goal, regardless.

Root flipped through the book and found Jahg, King of the Red Plains. A minotaur, stronger than any of its own or any other. His might was unrivaled by any in that raw time. He created the first known minotaur republic, known as the Taurus Empire. It began in the first century of the second beginning and spanned for over seven hundred years before collapsing. They made technological advances unbeknownst to any other era, it seemed. Then, all that knowledge was lost in the dark ages just before the third beginning. Various scientists and explorers claimed to find lost relics of the Taurus Empire throughout history thereafter, but nothing of merit was ever confirmed. Jahg was buried in the first city, Tindera. He was appraised by many for his glorious and righteous rule.

Root looked up and closed the book. If he could somehow locate Jahg, it might lead him to Magnus.

Root exited the library without looking behind him. He looked up at the stormy sky, raindrops obscuring his vision. Root unsheathed his wings and took off into the maelstrom.


<:---.'.---:>


The tunnel had a gentle slope downward as if we were entering the throat of something. The walls, too, helped with that illusion. And strangely, the light did not fade away as we got deeper; instead, the walls themselves seemed to glow a pale green. Darkness yawned ahead of us.

The air grew chillier as we continued downwards. Only my face was exposed to it, though, so that helped. I glanced at Stormy. He glanced back and we continued walking. I guess neither of us wanted to talk.

Gradually, the slope got steeper and the tunnel got narrower before we came to the first step. A set of stairs leading down into the darkness, with the passage being narrow enough that we'd have to walk single-file. I glanced back at Stormy again and shared his unease.

I stepped down onto the first step and immediately a symbol ignited to my right. I leaped back and fire sprayed where I had just been a moment ago. Oh snap. Stormy was fifteen feet back into the tunnel. "You still sure this is a good idea?" he meeped.

"Well, yeah."

The symbol had already faded away into the wall again. I knelt down, put my finger on the step, and pulled away as the flames shot out again. 

I looked back at Stormy. "You got any ideas?"

He came back down to me and shook his head.

If only we had one of those unicorns... Still... I snapped fingers. That's it.

I unsheathed my sword. I hope this works. I put the blade of the sword near where that rune appeared. Sure enough, yellowish energy seeped out of the wall and into the sword. I wonder if this thing has a charge, or something.

I stepped onto the first step again. Nothing.

I looked back at Stormy and smiled. I started down the stairway and was immediately electrocuted.

After recovering and slowing making our way down the long stairs, scraping runes off the wall with my sword, and literally EVERY step was rigged, we arrived at the bottom. A somewhat circular stone room with a few torches burning brightly. There were five passages leading away from it, not including the stairs we had just come down.

I looked at Stormy. "If I was an evil wizard, which passage would lead to my quarters, and what would the other passages do?"

"The middle one?"

"No evil wizard would just make it the middle!"

"Well, maybe that's why he chose the middle one. All the other passages loop in on themselves."

"Man, it's really easy to forget what you can do. You're awesome, man."

"What is a man, and why are you calling me it?"

"It means 'Golden Hero' in some old language."

"Really?"

"Yes, now let's go."

"Thank you!"

I shook my head and we continued into the middle passage. Almost immediately, we came to a dead end.

"I thought you said this was the right way," I said.

"It is. Why'd you stop?"

"I..." I watched as he walked straight through the wall. I facepalmed and followed him.

On the other side, it was much hotter. The walls looked like were from hell, or something, and veins of magma coursed through them and into little pools. The way twisted and turned ahead. I hurried to catch up to Stormy.

After just a little ways, we came to an almost planky-looking bridge spanning a large river or lava. Man, we came to the wrighn place.  What looked like flaming bats rose from the lava and dived back in.

I looked back at the bridge, my heart racing a little. Stormy took the first step forward. The bridge held. He started moving across and I took the first step. I wasn't sure if I was lighter or heavier than Stormy with all my armor on. Anyway, I carefully and speedily crossed the bridge. On the other side, I marveled at how easy it had been. Then I felt something land on my shoulder.

I slowly turned my head toward it and found myself facing a small, grinning, demon-like face. On fire. The whole bat-imp-thing was on fire! It screeched super loudly. Now Iwas on fire! I jerked myself to the ground and started rolling around all over the place. When I was sure the bat had flown away and the fire was out, I looked at my awesome robe-cloak. It was singed where the fire had been, but was otherwise okay. Phew...

I got up and dusted myself off a little before seeing that Stormy was getting way too far ahead of me. "Hey!" I yelled at him.

He stopped. I absolutely hated how you could never tell if he was paying attention and he never looked you in the eye when speaking to you. Sigh.

I jogged up to him and patted him on the back. "Alright, buddy. Where to now?"

"There's just this one passage ahead."

I looked and saw that such was true. "Oh. Well I was just trying to be personal."

We continued on. After a while, we came to a circular room that was empty. Well, more like ovular. There was a throne at the far end. Random banners and pools of darkness littered the room. There was no foreseeable light source, but then I remembered how the walls of this place glowed green just a little.

I cautiously took a step into the room. Nothing. I whipped out my sword and scratched at the floor around me a bit. No runes came off. I slung my sword once again. "Alright, Stormy. I think this is where the dark wizard dude is at."

Stormy cautiously stepped into the room. "Well it looks like there's random scoops in the ground, so make sure you avoid them. You can see them, right?"

I eyed the pools of darkness. "Yeah, I think so. I've never thought of this before, but can you see magic, dude?"

He tipped his head a bit. One of his ears twisted a bit. "Sometimes. Mostly not, though. I think if it's physical, I can probably see it."

Weird. "Well, alright. Let's head to the throne and see if this dude can help us out."

We picked our way across half the room when something said, "HALT!"

I halted. Stormy did too.

A tornado of puplish, blackish and greenish energy twisted together in the middle of the room (just in front of me) and formed into some sort of a dark mix between a sad clown, a fish, and a vampire. It was REALLY weird-looking. It's voice was a low baritone, with barely any emotion. It was also twelve feet tall.

It regarded me steadily and said, "I am the dark wizard you seek. For me to listen to you, you must answer me three questions. Any flippancy is also a wrong answer."

And I was just about to say, 'Will you define "listen" for me?'

Instead, I simply bowed and said, "If that is your wish."

I think Stormy backed up a little bit, probably frightened for some reason.

The apparition came a tad closer. "What do you believe is the wrong answer to this question?"

Hmm. "I believe that nothing is the wrong answer to this question."

"Indeed. True, and yet completely not. That will work fine."

He glared down at me with nothing but dreariness in his gaze.

"What do you believe is the right answer to this question?"

"Anything." I didn't even hesitate this time, it was so easy.

The wizard seemed a little baffled, as if he was surprised to see someone use simple logic.

"Well, fine then," he said. "You will not get the last one right." He paused, likely expecting me to object.

I said nothing.

This likely made him a little more uncomfortable with my indefatigable presence.

Then he stooped down until his face was only mere inches from mine.

"When will you die?"

...

What kind of a last question was that? Pathetic!

"I'm already dead."

Hey! That's not what I was going to say! What the heck!

The wizard bent back away from me. "You don't say..."

Then he faded away into the invisible breeze.

Then we heard a voice from the end of the ovular room. It was like a really thick swath of ivy. "Oh great! What do you guys want?"


~/\^/\~
Rules of my Descention
.V.


I will be like any other mortal, except that I shall possess unprecedented crystallized intelligence.

~\/v\/~


We looked to the throne and saw... ewww.

It was big hog. Lounging on the throne sideway and picking meat off a bone, he looked really gross. Yet, there was an intelligence in his eyes. He was annoyingly looking our way. "Well, come closer," he said irritably.

We shuffled a bit closer. Stormy was really reluctant. He probably just needed to get out more.

We got about ten feet away from the hog. I could smell his stink quite well from that distance, and really didn't want to get closer.

The hog was wearing little bits of some kind of green armor all over the place and had one them giant nose rings. Jewels littered his fingers and he looked mildly bored.

'Well," he grunted, "why are you here, and what do you want?"

Careless redundancy... "We're here because we heard there was a powerful dark wizard who lived here. Are you his second in command, or something? And what was that thing back there?"

He held up his weathered hand as if to say: 'Take it easy.' It was a hog with hands. Weird hands, but hands. Man, that just looked wrong! He lounged a bit more in his chair and said, "I'm the dark wizard you heard about. That guy back there is just a filter so I don't get crappy people bothering me all the time."

"Isn't that what the lair is supposed to prevent?"

"No, the lair is to prevent weak people from bothering me. The ghost is to prevent dumb people from bothering me. I'll listen to whatever you have to say, because I'm not dumb. Then, I'll decide whether to kill you, help you, or something else entirely. But remember, I'm the one in control here. I'm not really that mean, but if you are a smackhead, I'm just gonna roast you."

"Alright then."

"So whadda you want?"

Hmm. If I played this right, I could probably get him to do what I wanted. "Me and him both have a death link implanted in us. We were hoping you would get them out for us."

"Death link, eh?" He pointed to Stormy. "What's his name?"

Stormy shrank back a bit and I said, "His name's Stormy Whisper."

The dark wizard dude looked really unimpressed. "Hmm, well, okay." Then he shot out his hand at Stormy and a wave of dark green magic flew at Stormy. He disappeared in a puff of dark smoke and something clattered to the ground.

"DUDE!" I yelled and turned to where Stormy had just been. Something caught my eye and I stooped down to pick it up. It was a compass.

I turned back to the wizard, who was picking his nails with his teeth. "Hey! Why'd you do that?"

The hog faced me again and said, "He was annoying."

"That doesn't mean you should just kill him!"

"I didn't kill him. I just turned him into whatever object best describes him. I wonder what would happen if I used that spell on you..."

"No, please don't. I'm just struggling to understand why."

"He looked pathetic, mopy, shy, weak, and wouldn't even look me in the eye."

...

He did have a point.

"Alright, so can he come back somehow?"

"Yeah, the spell will wear off sometime between a year or three from now."

!!! "That long?"

"Well, yeah. Or maybe if a strong enough magical burst hit him, or something."

"Well, he's kind of my guide."

"So that's why he turned into a compass. I'm not so sure you really lost him, then."

I looked down at the compass in my hands. Its needle was spinning slowly around the surface it rested, as though it were  carefully exploring it. I leaned close and whispered, "Stormy, you there?"

Nothing.

I glared up at the wizard. He didn't seem to care or notice.

I forced down my anger and pocketed the compass.

The wizard smiled and turned to face me again. "I like you, boy."

He waited for me to respond, but I didn't.

He climbed down from his throne and approached me. I was used to the smell enough by now that I could bear his close presence.

"Alright. I'm gonna put my hand on your head and get it out. Don't you worry about a thing."

He came face to face with me and closed his eyes while stretching his hand toward my forehead. His hand began glowing a softer, swelling green.

He placed his hand on my helmet. After two seconds, he removed his hand and said, "Well, buddy, looks like you're all clear. There was no death link, no nothin' in you, really."

I took off my helmet and saw a glowing green handprint splayed out on the front. "Uh..."

He eyed the helmet in my hands. Then he slowly facepalmed.

"Okay, try number two," he said, and once again reached out his glowing hand. We both closed our eyes. This time I felt it connect, and my mind seemed to pull hard against the hand's grasp. Then the hand let go and drifted through my head. It was incredibly weird. If you've ever had stitches where they numb you really hard before hand, it was like that, but with a whole hand moving around inside your head.

When at last he let go, we were both breathing deeply. I wasn't sure how much time had passed, but it seemed like it could have been either very short or real long.

The hog staggered back a bit more and sat down heavily on his throne.

I took a few uneven steps forward and sat down on the stone floor.

It was a few minutes before he sighed deeply and blinked slowly. "So," he rasped, "I oughta tell you a bit more about all this. 

"There are many forces in this world, but the most prominent and well-grasped is that of good and evil. Most people have a pretty good idea of right and wrong, but they don't really understand the reality of what makes something "good" and what makes something, well, "evil."

"Good is anything that lowers yourself in order to elevate others. Evil is the opposite, lowering others in order to elevate yourself. Some minds are twisted so as to believe that what they are doing is good, when they're actually doing evil. This happens surprisingly often, and the results can be devastating.

"Now, there's three types of magics: light magic, dark magic, and trickery magic. Light magic is much weaker in general, and far more limited, compared to the other magics. Ponies, predominately, are light magic users. There are very few ponies who lack the ability to wield light magic, whilst many other races consider one who is blessed with the tiniest amount of light magic to be a king. Princess Celestia is the peak of light magic, and she's probably about twice as strong as I am."

"Princess Celestia?"

"Yeah, real turdblossom. She's the ruler of Equestria, the land of ponies. Which we are actually currently in right now. Now, back to my lecture.

"Trickery magic is a little more common than light magic among the other beasts of this world, and it's usually a bit stronger, too. Some entire races possess trickery magic, similar to how ponies usually have light magic. Not really sure if any ponies have ever had trickery magic, but I wouldn't really be surprised. Anyway, trickery magic is less about direct power, and more like... uh, trickery. It deals with, like, bending the mind, extreme teleportation, and trickery is just limited enough that we can deal with an extreme case of it, but you can do some pretty weird crap if you get good enough at it. 

"And then there's dark magic. Dark magic is excessively rare. Maybe one in two thousand would possess it. You can always obtain magic in certain ways, but obtaining dark magic is incredibly difficult, due to the rarity of such power. I have dark magic, born with it. But while light magic's peak of capability is about Celestia, and trickery's capability is about twice that, dark magic is supposedly limitless.

"Depending on how powerful your dark magic is, you can do any number of things. You just take that raw power and will it to be/do what you want, and it will conform. The stronger you are, the more you can do. I'm very weak when compared to the capabilities of dark magic, even though I can shred most creatures that live in this world. There's a fellow who was in charge about a millennium ago. His name was Discord."

"Oh hey, I've met him."

"Really? I thought he was still entrapped in stone... Anyway, that's neat. What'd ya think of him?"

"Odd fellow. Said he'd be watching me."

"Oh, I'm not surprised, not at all. Well, Discord uses dark magic, and he's pretty powerful, I think, though Untergang might be stronger."

"You know who Untergang is?"

The hog was picking his nose. "Yeah, I know him. He's a pretty tough dude. Hardcore, too. He wanted me to join him a while back, but I told him I didn't really feel like it. Then he got kinda mad, so I teleported back home. Well, here. He's also the one who put the death link on you."

"Yeah, I know."

"Yeah, so Untergang is really powerful with his dark magic. He did put that death link on you, and it's far too strong for me to be able to relieve. Sorry, dude. Also, he's got a curse on you that allows whatever you're seeing to be broadcasted to a some viewing portal whenever he wants to know what you're up to."

"Geez, are even my thoughts safe!?"

"Well, I think so," he said uncertainly. "But underneath all that, I noticed something... darker."

"Darker?"

"Darker."

"Darker..."

He laughed and said, "Yeah, darker. I couldn't really get past it, though I did notice something WEIRD."

"What's that?"

"There's like, some sort of keyhole to it! I've never seen anything like it before. It looks like if just the right signature of magic attends to it, it'll open that whole barrier, and everything'll just come rushing out. I can't wait!"

"Uh..."

"Oh, and there was one last thing in there, but I'm not going to tell you what it was, or you would be far less interesting to watch."

"And what do you mean by "watch?"

The hog got off his throne and whistled like no whistle I'd heard before. Man it was like someone screaming in your ear, but a whistle. Uhhhhgh.

Immediately a fiery bat zoomed across the ovular room and landed on the hog's shoulder. I looked at its little demon face and it looked back at me with an applaudible amount of hatred. Then my eyes widened and I almost snarled at it. It was that same little jerk from before, who burned my shoulder! He seemed to silently cackle when he saw my recognition of him. That little-

"So! This is Koko, and I'm sending him with you. He'll be my eyes and ears for when I watch you. Oh! And if you're ever in trouble, just scream in his direction, "HELPMEOUT, DUDE02!"

That got my mind off the evil rascal for a moment. "Dude-o-two?"

"Yeah, that's what people used to call me before I moved down here."

"Dude..."

"Yeah, and I'm real proud of it, so don't get any ideas. Just go out the way you came in, and you should be all set. Koko can take care of himself, and he won't get in the way, won't you, little Koko?" He said this last part as he cuddled the flaming hellbat close to his cheek. Koko just looked at me with an evil grin.

I shuffled my feet a bit before saying, "Anything else I should know about?"

Dude02...(sigh)... I'm not going to use that name for him. THE HOG looked up for a moment. "No, I don't think so. You have a nice day, and holy smokes was it a pleasure to meet you. Now, off you go. Ta-ta!"

And that was that. I walked out of the oval room and took out the compass. I stared at it for a while. The needle was deathly still. I sighed and put it back in my pocket before exiting the rest of the lair without issues. When I emerged from the lichen cover, Koko flew past me and disappeared into the marsh all too fast. 

I looked up at the sky. I guessed I would have to make this next part of the journey more or less alone, and I felt mildly refreshed. But that refreshment also came with a glimmer of loneliness. Such a duel feeling left me blankly staring at the sky for a while. A few raindrops started to fall, and I began to head North through the marsh.
> Chapter 7- The Woes of Adventure
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Root flew through the storm, dodging dark clouds on either side, lightning cracked the sky right in front of him and he had to stop and twist to the left to avoid it, though he could still feel its raw power. He continued down the corridor of clouds, the rain pouring down around him. Then the clouds shifted and he dived down, his wings skimming the condensated water on either side.

Root burst through the cloud barrier and hurtled toward the ground. He pulled up before he got too close and used the momentum to glide through the air toward the Everfree Forest. The thing was massive and was supposedly growing larger. Ponies had warned him not to go in, but there were too many leads about a relic of the Taurus Empire that might give him some clue of how to find Jahg or Magnus. If there was any way he could find either of them, or some link in between, he had to go for it.

Root was now above the canopy a good ways in, and he dived down to see what would meet him.


<:---.'.---:>


Fuddgy howled with laughter and clonked his tankard against his companion's head. Slifter cackled and smacked it away, sending beer all over the place. Fuddgy and Slifter froze and looked at the liquid starting to stain their fur. Then they erupted into laughter again, not even bothering to help me tend the fire. I sighed.

I'd found these two wandering through some woods North of the marsh, and they just happened to be heading in the same direction I was. I didn't realize they'd be so weird. And pathetic. We'd traveled North some more before settling down for the night. And their packs seemed to contain infinite space inside them, like some crazy cartoon. I had no idea how they fit sleeping bags, a nightstand lamp(they had nowhere to plug it into, either), dishes, silverware, a massive hunk of meat(it was surprisingly good), some sort of potato salad, and a large keg of beer. What on earth?

Now the moon was getting mighty high and the two just wouldn't shut up. They didn't notice as I grabbed one of their tankards and doused the fire using water from the nearby stream. I curled up in the sleeping bag they had kindly given me and tried to block out their raucous tantrum.


<:---.'.---:>


When I awoke, I found myself sleeping with my face right next to a log. Funny, I didn't remember that. I rolled over and saw the two ponies sleeping in weird positions. Right. I got up and bonked my head on the ceiling. What!?

I had to stoop down, for all around us was a small structure built of logs with a way too low ceiling. What the heck!

I crawled over to the unicorns and smacked them awake. "Which one of you did this?" I demanded.

They looked around and snorted, giggling to themselves. Oh great.

"We didn't do it."

"Right... well then WHO DID??"

They looked around again and shrugged. "We don't know."

"Arghh." I crawled back to my side and started banging on the logs. "LET US OUT!" I yelled.

Then I noticed that some of the logs, no, most of the logs were singed in places. This was... really weird.

Sigh...

"Well!?" I shouted to the unicorns. "Use your magic or something!"

Oooo.

This is where it ends.

How interesting.

In case you are wondering, this was an experiment. I took a story I'm writing and tried converting it to the MLP universe, for a secret reason.

Also, this is a REAL story, which will be published in due time. It's called Thief of Redemption. It is a trilogy, and part of something much larger.

Follow Time's Grave to far greater places. 

I thank you for reading this far. It must have been fairly bad reading this unedited, ported mess of a story. Good job.

To the few that have read this, or perhaps many more, I offer you a secret, in my Dragon cypher.

Owsby.