Chapter One: Dhar, The Wind of Suffering
Chapter One: Dhar, The Wind of Suffering
Imagine this, if you will...
A beautiful summer's morning, all the ponies of Equestria are getting ready for the Summer Sun Celebration festival and already it had been two years since Twilight Sparkle and the Elements of Harmony had freed Princess Celestia's sister, Luna from the curse of Nightmare Moon. All had been rather peaceful since Starlight Glimmer had been shown the error of her ways and rescued her friends from a Changeling abduction, with all she had learned and the friends she had made prepared her for this day... the day when Twilight followed her destiny of learning under Princess Celestia.
"Hey, Twilight?" called out Rainbow Dash, "How are the preparations for the celebration coming along?" the young princess had stuck her head in a box looking around for where she put her decorations. "Well to be honest, Dash..." she said pulling her head out with cobwebs in her hair, "...I haven't had much luck with finding the proper decorations for a celebration of this caliber." Pinkie Pie, the rosy trickster popped her head out of the box Twilight was looking in. "This place has more than enough glitz!" Twilight jumped back in shock from the sudden surprise.
Rainbow Dash shrugged and added, "Yeah, any more decorations and Rarity would declare this castle a crime against innocent eyes." And as if her ears were burning, Rarity with a sour look on her face and replied, "Don't be silly, Rainbow Dash. Oversaturation of shindig decorations would only be charged with a fine for disruption of peace." Applejack had carried in the barrels of cider on her back, "Hey, where is Fluttershy? Isn't she tryin' to round up a band of critters for the entertainment?"
And on cue, a stampede of several woodland critters ran past the castle with the pastel yellow pegasus on their trail. "W-wait! Where are you going?" Fluttershy called out as loud as she could muster. The others stepped out to see why there were all manners of animals running through the town of Ponyville. "Fluttershy..." asked Twilight. "What's wrong with the animals?" Fluttershy panted a bit to catch her breath and replied with, "Something must of scared them, I don't know what it could be." Rainbow tapped her chin and said, "I could have sworn that the skies were going to be clear today, so there's no sign of a storm." Applejack tapped her hooves on the ground, "An' Granny Smith hasn't been gettin' that ache in her legs, so Ah guess that rules out an earthquake." Pinkie looked up at the sky and guessed, "Do you think it has something to do with that dark gray fog in the sky heading to Canterlot?" and as she described, there was a shapeless, gaseous mass in the air. Fearing for the worst, Twilight charged up her magic reserves to teleport herself and her friends to Canterlot to ascertain what was approaching their capital. "Hang on, Girls!" she called out as her spell reached the breaking point and warped the ponies into the Kingdom of Canterlot.
In the center of Canterlot Square, a bright flash came and went as its passing revealed one pony princess and her five confused companions. Rarity asked, "My word... How did you do that?" Twilight had been worn out because she had never trained herself to warp more than two individuals. "It wasn't...easy. I've still got a lot to learn." her eyes suddenly widened in a state of panic, "Wait! Where's Spike?!" Applejack pat Twilight's back, "Don't you fret, Twi. Spike's hangin' out with Big Mac for their game night. Remember?" the purple alicorn sighed in relief. "I've been so wrapped up in getting ready for the celebration, I must have forgotten... I'll do my best not to let it happen again." The mysterious form came closer to its destination, the ponies could see the clouds of what looks to be small bodies grouped together. Celestia stepped out with a group of guards to investigate the sight. The dispersing clouds turned out to be a cluster of strange beings which came from the cosmos, all the equine folk were worried of this supposed menace.
As the bipedal creatures clad in armor had landed on terra firma, they awaited four bigger forms which were possibly their leader and the leader's bodyguards. As their feet touched the ground, they could see these creatures were tall, they looked like balding chimpanzees, their skin was a deathly pale and their armor glistened in the sunlight. The leader, whose long face had a permanent grimace of contempt, he looked like being here was an embarrassment. His grey eyes scanned the populace and glanced over to the Princess of Equestria.
"Greetings." Celestia broke the silence and introduced herself. "I am Princess Celestia, what is your name?" The raven haired stranger said nothing as small talk was an inconvenience. The silence was eerie and unnerving but Celestia was willing to ask, "What brings you here to our fair city--" the stranger raised his hand, cutting her speech off. "My name is Lord Ryder, I am the Warlord of the Val'kyr.I have come here because we need a place to stay and in return, we shall protect you from outside dangers."
Ryder's companions stuck around, "This is my wife, Megan." he gestured to the auburn haired female who simply bowed. "And these are my daughters, Phyaun." looked over to the burly, pink haired warrior. ",,,And Ascentia." he turned his gaze over to a demure woman who looked a lot like her mother, Megan. "We have been watching you for a while and I must say your methods of self defense are severely lacking." Rainbow Dash blitzed in front of the stranger, "Who are you to judge our prowess?!" she saw the Warlord fade in front of her only to retort from behind, "I think having a billion years under my belt gives me the right to judge you and I do not like what I am seeing..." he looked over at the equines and sighed, "However, you are capable of showing improvement despite your questionable policies."
Celestia asked, "What is the problem that requires your assistance?" Ryder conjured up an image of a giant cervid in full musth. "The caribou hordes have found The Rod of Dominance, they plan on besieging your capital and making you their slaves! I am the only thing that can stop these barbarians." Twilight said, "Listen, Lord Ryder. The Caribou are up north, if there was an invasion force, my brother and sister-in-law would have informed us that they would be coming our way." Ryder shuddered in frustration, forgetting about Shining Armor and Princess Cadence, "Suppose you never got the message because the Caribou have destroyed them and their way of life!" the ponies gasped in terror. One pony clamored, "We can't risk waiting, Twilight!" another added, "We'll need all the help we can get!" Resigned to the will of the public Twilight said, "Alright, you can help us." Celestia asked the stranger, "When will they mobilize?" He looked over at the sun in the horizon. "We're currently nearing the summer equinox, so... I would have to say during their winter migration... four months from now."
And so the months had passed as the cosmic settlers had made themselves at home and trained the soldiers in their higher quality forms of martial arts and self defense. As the populace trained their bodies, Twilight flexed her brain muscles, looking through the records of the Caribou and the mysterious Rod of Dominance. "It doesn't add up!" She groaned as Spike, her diminutive dragon companion gave her a mug of hot coffee. "What's wrong, Twilight?" he asked her, showing some concern in her frustrated state. "I've been looking around these books for months but I haven't found any article about this so called 'Rod of Dominance'. I can't believe we're being taken advantage by a stranger who claims to know more about Equestria than we do!" Spike said, "That's it, Twilight! You are a hero to these ponies! There's no way they could ignore what you have to say... Unless it's a boring lecture." She groaned at the joke but appreciated the support. "Thanks, Spike. I'll be right back."
Twilight and her friends had made their way to Canterlot to speak with Celestia and Luna to deal with these cosmic squatters. As Twilight went to convince Celestia to send them away, they saw Ryder and his daughters standing in front of the hallway. "Ryder!" Twilight barked at the despot with venom in her voice. "Lady Twilight." said the Val'kyr, feigning ignorance. "What brings you here to Canterlot?" Twilight said as her friends stood by her side, "I know you're trying orchestrate a sham so you can rule Equestria! There is no caribou threat, or a Rod of Dominance!" Unphased by this challenge, he offered this retort, "And how do you know all of that?" Twilght shot a retort at the would-be king, "I read it up in my history books! Something you neglected to do before you oozed your way into power!" Rarity chimed in, "Seems like billions of years worth of knowledge are nothing if you don't take the time to learn new things." The Val'kyr's fist shook in anger but his face remained calm. 'I'll be right back, Lady Twilight. I'm going to apologize for taking advantage of everyone."
He stepped out onto the balcony to address the adoring public, “My Equine Subjects…” Twilight was aghast with this puppeteer’s audacity, calling himself the ruler! “…I come bearing troubling news. In the five years I had spent here training everyone to combat the approaching Caribou threat.” Rainbow Dash was dumbfounded by that statement as he droned on, “He’s only been here for three months! For an advanced race he knows squat regarding the length of time.” Applejack shook her head and replied, "Or maybe his power of influence must be stronger than we thought." she said looking at him, "Ah've noticed that every time he tries to persuade ponies, he raises an eyebrow." Pinkie was shocked, "Wow, you're pretty good at this kind of stuff, Applejack!" Applejack said, "It doesn't take magic to fish out a rat. We jus' need to figure out how strong it is and how many ponies he's beguiled."
“…and with a heavy heart I must leave you because Celestia and Twilight believe my methods are unnecessary. ” he stepped within the castle as the ponies talked among themselves, the murmurs slowly turning into a rumble reaching their peak in an unimaginable roar. Twilight Sparkle had heard things she never thought would ever be directed at her such as “Death to the Nonbeliever”, “Tear off her wings” and other vulgar, violent threats.
“You!” She shouted at Ryder running into the edifice. “What have you done to them?!” The visitor had a smug smile on his face, “I just told them the truth.” He answered her bluntly. “I’ve studied you for ages and your methods of diplomacy are heavily flawed. You let a changeling queen escape with her life, you allowed a chaos spirit to live and your strongest weapon drained a demonic centaur that could easily gain his powers back. Am I to believe that the power of ‘wuv’ will do anything? Ha! In your battles, you only won because you got lucky.”
Twilight barked back, “You think you can assert yourself as the ruler because you come from another planet?! Respect is earned through understanding and compassion! All you’ve done is clouded their minds with cynicism and self-doubt!” Ryder looked at her with an unflinching glance, “Do you really want to test me, Little Pony? I’ve honed my skills in magic and combat for billions of years. I’ve taken down tyrants without breaking a sweat, I’ve brought down big-talking braggarts who claimed they could kill me in one blow… The magic in my pinkie is more than enough to reduce you to atoms.” The silence in the corridor was unsettling, the stand-off between the two grew tense. Twilight conceded, “You win… but mark my words; don’t get too comfortable. I may not have enough magic to beat you, but if I’ve learned anything… Hope can topple even the most terrifying titan!” The stranger just laughed at her saccharine and replied, “Sure thing, Sweetheart! I must warn you though… the crowd thirsts for your blood!”
Elsewhere on an island nation in another universe, two brothers are watching a most unusual self contained maelstrom. They were similar to the Valkyr in physical structure, but they had more life and color in their face. Here stands Teclis, a Prince of Ulthuan and the High Loremaster of Hoeth. He was easily considered to be one of the greatest magicians of the old world. His twin brother, Tyrion was standing beside him as they watched a giant maelstrom suck in energy from all the corners of the world.
"Can you believe it, Tyrion?" Teclis said to his brother, "The Vortex was created thousands of years ago, in an attempt to drain this world of the taint of chaos." Tyrion nodded and replied, "Caledor Dragontamer and many other great loremasters had sacrificed themselves for the good of the world, We should not forget what they've done for us to keep everyone safe, from the humans that live beyond the grey mountains, to the Dawi that protect their underground kingdoms at the World's Edge Mountains." Teclis looked at his brother and said to him as he placed a hand on his shoulder, "Brother... I have sensed that Malekith and his forces from Naggarond will be here soon. Is your army prepared?" Tyrion clashed his sword against his shield, "My men are always ready to protect Ulthuan, Brother. Just leave it to me!" Teclis smiled knowing well his physical prowess exceeded his a considerable gap. "I have a feeling you'll be--" his speech was cut off as he faded from existence.
Tyrion was startled by his twin brother's disappearance. "Teclis? Teclis?! Where are you?!" He growled in frustration, "This must be the work of the blasted Druchii! I won't relent my offensive until they bring you back, Teclis!" he rushed back to the barracks to rally his men into battle. But where had the High Loremaster gone? Had he become one with the Vortex? Only time will tell.